IGN Video: Scribblenauts Nintendo DS Walkthrough - E3 Demo

I stand by my belief that if Scribblenauts even comes close to meeting its potential, it will be an awesome game.

IGN Video: Scribblenauts Nintendo DS Walkthrough - E3 Demo

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Abstract Thought of the Day

Demon negotiation is a tricky business in the world of Shin Megami Tensei. And why on earth are so many demons disturbingly playful children who know grown up things they should not know? If you weren't helping me fight evil, I would totally leave you guys alone...

"Run That Through Your Clicker... Boom!"

AP is now reporting that long time sportscaster and gaming franchise leader John Madden is retiring. Madden notes that it was time to go and that he wanted to spend more time with his family. Makes sense to me, but let's translate it to Madden speak:

"See, what this means is that he's old, and his anniversary is coming up, and he wanted to spend more time with his family. So he's going to retire so that he can do that."

Yeah. Pretty much filters out there, too.

Of course, EA Sports has yet to announce if this will have any effect on their long running Madden NFL series of games. The only serious negative consequence so far has been the announcement that Cris Collinsworth will replace Madden in the booth for Sunday night games, finally giving all of America a reason to watch The Simpsons.

Oh, yes I did say it. Collinsworth is a hack. I'm not afraid to say it.

HouseTV: WCG Ultimate Gamer

Or: how I learned that even I could find a reality show that I can't watch.

Seriously, I'm as shocked as anyone else here. I've proven that I will not only watch but also will enjoy virtually any show with a reality or elimination format. There have, of course, always been exceptions to this. For instance, I was never a fan of some of the half hour dating shows (Elimi-Date comes to mind immediately, if only because I had that stupid theme music stuck in my head for years), and I cannot stand any of the Bachelor(ette) shows, if only because I can't wrap my head around there being any one person worthy enough to have a dozen or so people fighting over them.

But I'll give most hourly shows a try. And most stick with me enough that I at least want to see how they end. But WCG Ultimate Gamer? Nope. Don't know, don't care.

For starters, the premise sounds cooler than it is. Each week, the chosen group of uber-gamers participate in two challenges based around a given game. The first challenge is a reality challenge, meaning they have to compete in some real life aspect of the game in question. For instance, during the Rock Band 2 episode, the gamers had to perform in an actual rock band. They're all ranked in this challenge and a round of playing the actual game later. The scores are added up, and the lowest ranked player is automatically marked for elimination. The highest ranked player then gets to choose who that person will face in the "Elimination Stadium".

Why does this idea fail? For starters, see my previous comments on why Starcade was superior to Nick Arcade. For a show based around games, there is surprisingly little of any given game shown. Even the final elimination showdown is edited down to the point where you barely get to see the game. It seems that maybe they should have put more time into that, especially after noting my second fault with the show.

The fault? What else? The contestants. I'll be the first to admit that not all gamers fall into the stereotype of being boring or geeks or losers or whatever it's trendy to call them these days. But the problem is that I find it hard to care about any of these people. They try to make interesting stories of rivalries or potential hookups, but the pseudo-attachment that normally forms with reality contestants is lacking here. I think, as best as I can tell, that they're just boring people, and forcing them to live in the same house together (Reality Show Convention #3) just doesn't give them the chance to be more appealing at all.

I really want to give the show more of a chance, but I don't think it's going to happen. Boring players + boring premise = me finding something better to do with my time. G4's dalliance with professional gaming fared much better in my opinion, but then again, they actually focused on... you know, the games.

HouseTV: Retro Retro Gaming

Someone reminded me that I hadn't provided the link I claimed I would to this site here yet, so I might as well get around to doing it. Honestly, I hadn't remembered that this show existed at all until I ran across the website.

For those of you that recall the early days of G4 (back when it was much more gadget and games friendly and less Cops and Cheaters centric), you may recall the old game show Starcade. If you don't, then here's a quick primer: kids played video games and won prizes. Seriously, it makes its own gravy.

I know what you're thinking: how is this show different from the kids game show Nick Arcade? For one, Starcade does not suck. The two problems I always had with Nick Arcade were that the "quiz" portion of the game ran on for far too long and almost never ended without time running out. The true novelty of the show - getting to play video games - became uninteresting once you realized that these kids had seemingly never touched the games that they thmeselves were choosing. If someone gives you a goal like 800 points in level 1 (and it was always level 1!) in 30 seconds, you should be able to figure out the basics of the game enough to pull it off.

Starcade seemed to find kids that had at least stepped foot in an arcade, and even claimed to give them time to practice the games prior to the episode. Don't get me wrong; some of the kids are pretty crappy at the games. But the worst appearance on Starcade dwarfs the best appearance of any Nick Arcade kid.

So check out the website here, which lets you watch old episodes of the series among other things.

Good News For HeroClix Fans?

Could the epic game of miniature comic book combat be on its way to a revival? Saveheroclix.com's Jake Theiss (also part of the producton staff of Pinata Games) made an announcement on their website on March 10th. Part of said announcement follows here:

1) We (Pinata) have reached a deal in principle with the new game company formed to purchase HeroClix. We're on-board and once their deal with Topps closes, we'll be back working fulltime on HeroClix. Whew!

The new company will staff up to support the transitioning brands, and Pinata will be one component of the new company's operations. We'll still be based out of Seattle, and we'll spend the vast majority of our time planning for and relaunching HeroClix.

2) Hammer of Thor will be the first product release post-relaunch. We're working with several vendors now to see how fast we can get it to market (without sacrificing any quality).

So basically, while a new company will have the rights to HeroClix, Pinata appears to have a deal with them in place to work on the property. And on top of that, the Hammer of Thor set is still slated to come out at some point. Later posts have asked site members what they might want from a starter set, so at the very least ideas for future sets are still being discussed/bounced around.

I'm usually the first to say I'll believe something when I read it definitively, but seeing as just a few weeks ago they couldn't say anything regarding any deals, this at least sounds like a positive sign. Even another set or two woul dbe a welcome addition to my army of tiny warriors.

The Greatest Game in the History of Gaming

I've played RPGs. I've played FPSs and RTSs. I've played action games and fighting games and beat-em-ups. But believe me when I say that - despite the fact that I have made this claim before - this is, in fact, the greatest game in the history of gaming. If you don't need the walkthrough to finish it, you simply must be godly.

On the Gaming Front: Dark Knight Rising

Behold the new trailer for the upcoming game Batman: Arkham Asylum. You pretty much don't have to see the trailer to figure out what happens, but it's still pretty.



Yes, that apparently is Conroy and Hamill. Yes, I'm entirely neutral about it.

Persona 4 is the ****.

Yes, that's right. After having only played the game for a handful of days, I have determined that Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 for the PS2 is, in fact, the ****.

It hasn't quite unseated Persona 3 just yet (and frankly, I think my love of Persona 3 may never find a true equal), but the game has enough going for it to be an easy contender for RPG of the year, if not game of the year. It's just. That. Good.

If nothing else, the soundtrack gets stuck in your head. Now if only it wasn't so foggy for the past few days. Talk about bad timing...

Music Lives! Music Lives!

(And by 'music', I mean HeroClix... maybe... sort of.)

For the uninformed and uncaring, a brief recap. Many will remember the events of November 10th, where beloved comic book minitatures game HeroClix ceased all operations, leaving me very not happy with the state of my gaming world. Much has gone on in the past few weeks. Several former WizKids employees banded together to create a new company, Pinata Games, with the express purpose of acquiring the up for grabs rights to HeroClix. They even made a website dedicated to saving HeroClix entitled, oddly enough, Save Heroclix (and I'm sure it was har dto come up with the web address, too).

Flash forward to today, where the afforementioned website made this post referencing this announcement. Again for the link-hopping impaired and/or lazy:

Two companies that were making a play to acquire HeroClix from Topps in the wake of its WizKids shutdown (see “Topps Shuts Down WizKids”) have joined forces. Catalyst Games, which announced that it had made a bid for all of the WizKids properties (see “Catalyst Bids on WizKids Properties”) and Pinata Games, formed for the purpose of acquiring HeroClix (see “Interview with Pinata’s Jake Theis”), have formed a strategic alliance, contingent on Catalyst’s successful acquisition of the WizKids properties.

So basically, Catalyst (which by the sounds of it was in a much better position to make a bid for the property rights) has teamed up with Pinata (which by the sounds of it is in a much better position to handle the game property) and created a win/win situation. Assuming, of course, that they actually make a successful bid. But the good news here is that there are definitely people at work trying to keep the game up and running. So that should count for something.

And now, because I can, I will show you a promotional piece that someone somewhere dug up when what would be the next HeroClix set, Hammer of Thor, was first being promoted. And while I can't verify that 100 percent of the poster is technically accurate, I can verify that it most certainly should have been, as it no doubt would have sold many a case of 'Clix.

"You Just Got Contra'd."

The sad part? This was just an up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right away from making me want to actually see it appear in theaters.

(Don't) Believe the Hype.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't particularly care if the old blog ever really picks up heavy traffic. It's more a side project and an outlet for my occassional need to express myself. If anything, I consider it writing practice and a good place to keep ideas in case I ever really do want to put them somewhere of import.

Still, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want some attention. And I don't mean direct attention. People proclaiming it the best place to be and the like is just rhetoric and wouldn't be true, anyway. Not so long as there's so many pR0n sites out there. Wait. Must not remind people about the pR0n...

It's not like I don't get people here. I have two followers, I have at least one other person that said that they might add me to their watch list, and I swear someone said that they check my blog sometimes and that someone else they know does, too. That means that up to 5 whole people may actually look at my blog in any given week. And almost half of that group might actually read something that I post here. Scary, huh?

Anywho... I've decided to give the old hype machine a good cranking (not a euphemism, get the pR0n out of your heads...). And as all good hype machines must, I should use pointless statistics and useless and easily disputable information in this effort. It is for that reason that I hereby declare this blog, House Rules!, the 857th greatest blog dedicated to comics, gaming, television, and/or other stuff in all of the interwebs.

Now I know what you're thinking. There have to be at least a few thousand other blogs about comics. Thousands upon thousands of gaming blogs. 18 billion TV blogs. 14 quadrillion blogs dedicated to games and gaming. But I ask you this: how many cover "other stuff"? And of those that cover other stuff, how many cover things in Thomas Houston's life? That's right... three (I assume that everyone has at least one stalker out there...). And of all of those many, many places, how many cover it not as an and, but as an or? Or an and/or?

(I know, confusing. But stick with me, because this is where I bring it home...)

So House Rules! is not only the 857th greatest blog dedicated to comics, gaming, television, and/or other stuff, it is also THE Source for all things Thomas Houston. No one else can tell you that... unless my mom started blogging when I wasn't looking. I can't put anything past her...

Search your heart. You know that it's true. I just made a vague reference to Star Wars. That's a movie. I didn't even talk about how I sometimes cover movies. Suck it, Roger Ebert! Did I just tell Roger Ebert to suck it? Holy crap, I must be controversial, too.

Look out world! Controversial blog writer Thomas "HouseT" Houston, presents House Rules!, the 857th greatest blog in the world dedicated to comics, gaming, television, and/or other stuff and THE Source for all things Thomas Houston. And the ride don't stop now. Look out number 856, because I's a'comin' for you!

...

No, I don't feel particularly bored. Why do you ask?

With Apologies in Advance to IGN...

Just so that we're clear on what took place last night, and also so I can vent about the events of last night...

I swear it was supposed to be one of those easy, no hassle posts that get knocked out in a matter of minutes. I didn't even put much thought into the text of it aside from making a last second mention of Simon Sez Santa (which is still cool). Drop in the YouTube clip of one game and drop in an IGN embed of Scribblenauts. How hard could it be?

Except for some reason, I don't get an imbed of the Scribblenauts trailer. No, no, no. I get some clip of what appears to be strategy breakdowns for various games. Which is cool, except that I really wanted to imbed the Scribblenauts trailer. And I have to stress, I was really jazzed about showing this game. Three whole people will really care about it when they see it here. But somehow, I can't pull it off. I check and double-check and triple-check the code, but nothing. I do a web search to see if it's anywhere else, and find that while it is, virtually every site has it... you guessed it... succesfully embedded from IGN. So now not only can I not do it properly, but I'm somehow the only idiot in the entire internet who can't. I feel brilliant.

So yes, in a moment of weakness, I went to extreme measures to get the job done. I'd say that I don't apologize, but that would make the thread title terribly untrue. So sorry to IGN.com. You are a cool site and I enjoy visiting you. I meant no disresepct, and I surely don't want to deprive you of any traffic or whatever would be the result of me successfully embedding the video clip from you. I just wanted to show a handful of my friends a cool thing that (at the time) only you had. Please don't be mad at me.

On the Gaming Front: Extra Quirky Edition

It's time to go over a few concepts in gaming that I've found strange, bizarre, and oddly compelling over the past few weeks.

First up is an odd little bit of info that I sutmbled across. While many people talk about making their own games, one man has actually put in the years of time necessary to get very very close to achieving his goal. Robert Pelloni has a game that he's simply entitled "Bob's Game" (go figure). And if his website and this preview video are any indication, he's quite dedicated to it.



Next up (and with a much firmer release date) is a Nintendo DS game that I came across recently: Scribblenauts. The concept, as IGN put it, is hard to explain in words but easier to grasp in a video. Which is good, because I'm feeling lazy and I don't even know how many words a 100 second video would translate into.



As the full preview article explains, they're apparently going through great lengths to have virtually every item imaginable available so long as you can write it down. The game itself seems to work on a system much like an advanced version of Simon Sez Santa.

And by the by, I had totally forgotten that Ol'Santa existed. I gotta go check that guy out again. Ah, the holidays.

Who You Gonna Call (In 6-7 More Months)?

On the gaming front (and possibly the movie front, too), there is a new trailer out for the Ghostbusters video game.



I don't know if the game itself will play like anything good, but with most of the original cast coming back to do voices and a plot written by the original writers (not a real stretch since they were in the original cast), this looks like it might be worth playing if only to see the story unfold.

Besides, who wouldn't want to get to be a Ghostbuster? Not one of the original four, but the "fifth Ghostbuster" hired to test dangerous equipment. And its nice to see Winston get a promotion from that position to "guy wh drives Ecto-1". I kid, of course. But it is nice to see Winston be established (or re-established) as integral to the team.

And darn it all if the Ghostbusters theme doesn't still make you want to get up and groove. And as the song makes abundantly clear, it's the only non-porn related industry where you can proudly proclaim that bustin' makes you feel good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Epic Comic Win

Why do I still buy comics when this book has already been made and can never, in the history of life, ever be surpassed? It's made of win, its father was Pwn, and it's mother was a transistor radio. I speak of none other than the Doom comic book.

No, not this Doom...







This Doom.

Someone actually kept up with this enough to link the entire comic on one page. Dig the environmental message mid-story. Weeping Side of Highway Indian would be proud. And for anyone that's too lazy to follow a link or to... you know, read... here's the audiobook version.



You're welcome.

On the Gaming Front...

In gaming news today, with Persona 4 on the horizon, Persona 2 says, "Not so fast, big brother!" Nintendo says, "Wii, Wii, Wii all the way home... and stay put when you get there."


Atlus' Persona 4 is due out on the PS2 this in jsut a few short weeks. I'm hyped, even though I haven't gotten around to finishing Persona 3 yet. But Atlus, true to form, decided to make a re-releease of the game Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. Old school Atlus fans, true to form managed to sell out the entire reprint run in just under an hour. I was bummed out that I didn't even have a shot at snagging a copy, but then I remembered that I already had one. One more in a big pile of RPGs that I never finished. But that's better than the pile that I never started. A sad, terrible pile indeed.

In other news, Nintendo has apparently decided that it's new Wii Speak peripheral (the one seen being pimped during some of their Animal Crossing commercials) is so cool you should buy it twice. Or as many times as you have consoles, anyway.

According to reports, the Wii Speak comes with a code that lets you download the Wii Speak channel (which you obviously need to do to use the device). The downside? The code can only be used once. That means that the mic is useless if you were to buy one used, which I guess is supposed to be the goal. On the other hand, it also means that you can't take the mic with you on a trip or over to a friend's house with another Wii. In theory, you could take your entire Wii over to their house, but who's really going to bother to do that?

I understand the principle of wanting to restrict secondary market sales, and really this is just a fancy microphone we're talking about here. But this sets a bit of a bad precedent for future hardware as well. Hopefully no one comes up with a nifty party or social game off of any new peripherals that might get handcuffed like this.

A party or social game... on the Wii? Never happen.