R.I.P E3

Wow. E3 is cancelled next year and forever. Ouch. This is the event I waited to go to every year. To be totally honest though, E3's cancellation is long overdue. These companies have been spending millions of dollars for what? So a bunch of fan boys like me can drool over the new games that may or may not come out this year? Its all glitz, glamour, and lots of gooey goodess, but its also expensive, loud, and tiring. I will miss it all, but with a baby coming (hopefully) around May next year, I probably wasn't going anyway.

I hope the big companies can focus more on other forms of promoting their games. I remember right before the Playstation 1 launched, (I think it was) EGM that held mall tours and the Mall of America played center stage for a cool little gathering of what the PS1 was all about. Of course this was before my first E3. The rotunda was full of classic gaming goodness. I remember playing Battle Arena Tohshinden and loving it.

Nintendo has also done similar tours around the country. I remember the Virtual Boy coming to the Mall of America in the Sears court. I wasn't that impressed with it but I still bought it anyway because I <3 Nintendo and their crazy gadgets and I had high hopes for the future. Also wasn't there some kind of Gamecube party on the 4th floor and some Mountain Dew tour? Too tired to remember. I applaud these kind of events and I pray that there are more on the horizon.

Celebs that DDR

I had a few questions about the SuperNova upgrade so I called Betson, the company that is doing all the distributing of the game. I spoke to a friendly guy that not only answered everything I had, but told me about some of the celebrities that also bought Supernova machines from him. Not even sure how it came up, but Chuck Norris, Tom Hanks, and even Ron Howard have purchased machines from him. Maybe they got them as gifts but its interesting anyways. Can you picture Forest Gump Burnin' the Floor?

Just as I start getting into Prey for the 360, the game freezes on me on the "Jen" level. I checked the forums and its happened to others as well. Could be a sign that I need to send the game back and get my next Gamefly game.

Speaking of Gamefly, I bought the Rub Rabbits for the DS used for $20. It came today in pristine shape. Not that its an awesome game or anything, but I wanted to pick it up before it became another Phoenix Wright.

Nintendo announces the new line of budget titles for GBA and they are good ones. http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/721/721379p1.html

Sony announces more prelaunch losses for PS3 but says they should be successful in the long run. Maybe.

SuperNOVA at Gameworks

Alright I had to go check it out. The WoW servers were down all morning and I didn't have to work today. So I take a nice little stroll into Minneapolis and go confirm the rumors. Yes DDR SuperNova is there and its very pretty. The cabinet is the new Supernova cab and yes it is expensive. About $1.50 for 3 songs. They still have Extreme but they moved it upstairs.

I played for about 2 hours trying out the song list, nonstop courses and challenge (oni) courses. It was cool to be able to play without a line behind you like at E3. My favorite songs had to be Passion of Love, Max 300 super-max-me mix, and Paranoia Respect, but man are those songs hard. Too many jumps.

Passed my first Challenge course. Naoki's new one. It wasn't too hard at all. Can't Stop Falling in Love Euro mix is way too easy to be a last song for an Oni.

In other news, Nintendo announces its DS release list with few surprises. They finally announced Final Fantasy V for GBA on Nov 6th. VI will probably be next year.

I had to send Daxter back to Gamefly. It is a fantastic platformer with a few few flaws. I think I got half way through it. Been itching to try Valkyrie Profile next. I'll buy Daxter when it cheapens up a bit.

Speaking of which, Sony has announced its line of Greatest Hits for PSP for $19.99. Lumines, Star Wars Battlefront, Untold Legends, Wipeout and more.

Circuit City has a nice sale this week on Perfect Dark and Kameo for 360 for only $19.99. Where is PGR for that cheap?

Well, I had some cell phone pics from Supernova, but this site won't let me upload them now. I'll try later.

A New EQ Expansion?

You gotta be kidding me. Since 1999, Sony has come out with about 11 expansions for the mother MMO. Now there is another. The Serpent Spine or something. This one looks interesting though. Raising the level cap to 75 and a whole new area that you can be from level 1 on. With Warcraft, I'm not returning to EQ anytime soon, but I spent quite a few years supporting Sony and their great game. Its quite amazing how many changes went into EQ over the years and people still love it! You go SoE!

Circuit City has Perfect Dark and Kameo for 360 for $19.99 each! Nice Pricing for happy times!
Do I smell Platinum hits coming to 360? With budget titles, 360 may be the place to be this holiday.

DDR Supernova at Gameworks in Minneapolis? Not confirmed, but not interested. Gameworks is out of my way and way to expensive. I hate going into downtown especially by myself. Might have to check it out though. Its Frickin' DDR!

Epic Legends

I cannot wait for this book to come out. Sure it contains comics that I can view online for free, but the books contain descriptions or some kind of back story for each strip even if it is a sentence or 2. The first book was great and is available now at Gamestops. The second book should be out very soon.

I hit 48 in WoW today. It took me a mere 4 hours from 47. I could get 60 in 3 weeks if I really try, but thats pushing it. I am enjoying new spells and equipment. Thanks Tommy!

If you go to Burnsville's arcade, you will notice a nice new Time Crisis 4 machine. It will only be there for a short while so go check it out and support our arcades! They did take out Percussion Freaks though =(

A new MMO from Square Enix? I think its possible. Wouldn't be out for 2 years though. They really need to ditch the whole PlayOnline thing. Please.

Fatal Fury Collection Vol1

When Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition reigned supreme at the arcades, there were no decent console games that I can remember. Enter SNK's NEO GEO machine. At a whopping $650+ these machines can duplicate the arcade games right in the comfort of your own home...if you were willing to shell out $200+ per game. I worked hard for $4.80 an hour to build up a collection of games. My favorite at the time was Fatal Fury and then Fatal Fury 2 shortly after. I must have played FF2 about 2-3 hours a day for many months, but no matter how good I thought I was, the last boss, Wolfgang Krauser beat me like the stupid booger that I was. Man, I loved those games.
Now SNK wants to bring some healthy retro luvin to PS2 owners everywhere..in Japan. This awesome collection contains Fatal Fury 1-3 and Special in one disc with online play. Lovely. I wish they would do this for XBOX Live Arcade, but it would NEVER be anywhere as cool as Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat.

And Speaking of UMK3 for Live, I thought Live arcade games were supposed to be under 50 megs. How are they gonna squeeze every frame of animation with backgrounds and other junk in such a small file? Just curious.

A Day Wasted?

It was storming this morning. I had a lunch date with Paul Big and I didn't want the weather to mess me up. I played WoW all morning while the Cloning Clyde game sat waiting for me. I only gave it 10 min of my time. Didn't even touch Prey or Frogger or even Daxter. I did play almost 2 hours worth of DDR and not to toot my own whislte, I am proud of some recent accomplishments. My scores are on the rise and I can go long faster and harder thanks to some slightly increased stamina. I should have gone to the hospital earlier but I am waiting for Teri to get home.

So in a nutshell, I didn't clean or do anything productive except burn calories. I need to cancel my gym membership, renew my gaming license and organize some junk in the computer room, but I lack initiative. Tomorrow is another day.

In gaming news, PS3 is said to be in production already in Asia. That is great news for Sony as they just might have units on the shelves for the holidays! The truth is however many units they ship, it won't be enough.

Brady Games, the publishers of some fairly decent guides including the recently released WoW Dungeon guide have just announced they are reprinting the guides for Final Fantasy VII and VIII. That's interesting considering how old the games are. The guides themselves are decent enough but the FFVII guide is not as good as the classic and super rare Versus guide. Speaking of the WoW dungeon guide, I did pick it up even though it had an ungodly $24.99 price tag, but I have to say it is worth it. The amount of info in this 446 page tome is amazing and its presented very well in nice colorful pages. Also, I found out that there will be a limited edition FFXII guide. My guess is $30 but it will be so worth it.

Stars and Strikes

So my buddy, Ken (aka Flash) has left Burnsville for a better tomorrow. He is now the games manager at the brand new Stars and Strikes Entertainment center in Wyoming, MN. I had a chance to visit his new place today and I liked it. It is a bit far for me though. 50 miles north of Burnsville Center. The place is beautiful with 24 lanes of modern looking cosmic bowling, bar, restaurant, billiards, and of course the arcade. He has an Extreme machine in great condition. Its a bit low for my tastes though. All the buttons work good. He also has Daytona 2, House of the Dead 2, Time Crisis 3, and more. Hope to go back soon.

Just hit 47 in WoW today. Movin' on up!

Cloning Clyde and 2 New PSP RPGs! Yatta!

Lots of goodies this week. The highlights include NCAA Football for multi platforms, 2 RPGs for PSP, and Monster House (based on the upcoming movie) the football game should be huge for fans who were let down by Madden for 360. In fact, certain Gamestops are doing a midnight opening in Tuesday for it. Cloning Clyde is also available for XBOX Live Arcade on Wednesday. I am kinda excited for Blade Dancer and Valkyrie Profile for PSP though. Not sure if I will buy it yet. I might rent them.

Speaking of that, I got Prey and Daxter from Gamefly and I must say that I am impressed. Firstly, after 3 days of waiting, I get the 2 envelopes in the mail and rip them open like they contained Wonka's golden tickets. Raced to the 360 and threw in Prey. I am not even a huge fan of the FPS, but I am getting a kick out of Prey. I like the fact that there are cool things like gravity switches and wall walking. Also it runs on the Doom 3 engine which I happen to like. I am only on level 7 and I think there are about 25 levels or so.

Daxter is very good so far. I only have an hour or 2 played. It has some pretty good graphics and control. My only main gripe is the camera. Does not auto adjust as much as I would like. L and R buttons have to be pressed to keep you on track. Good control and character.

I guess DDR Supernova machines are popping up everywhere according to DDRfreak. Nothing in MN yet, but Konami did confirm that there are unlockables and playing the game over and over will unlock things. I will keep a close eye on the forums. I am willing to drive about 30 miles to play it if I have to.

The Magicbox has uploaded new pics for Final Fantasy 3 for DS. New things such as the airship, Chocobos, and Cid are revealed. Looking very good, SquareEnix =)

DS Lites are cracking? Thats whats going on. There are reports on the hinges between the 2 srcreens falling apart. Mine is ok so far.

Please select it from a left menu

The big news out of Redmond is that XBOX Live will be getting a new arcade game every Wednesday for the next 5 weeks. http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3399&Itemid=2. Frogger was just released today for $5 and I am happy. I had about an hour to kill with it so far and I think its worth the price of admission. Simple simple game over all and a great way to pass time. This is the first game since UNO released during E3 which was 7 weeks ago. Street Fighter 2 finally gets a date too. We'll see.

Konami of Japan has launched the DDR SuperNova Gateway. http://www.konami.jp/bemani/ddr/sn/ A great site that details the final songlist and courses. It looks like there are gonna be 30 Oni courses to start out with. Not sure if this number includes the unlocks which are sure to be there.
In DDR Max 2, there was a point system for unlocks. The more the game gets played, the faster the goods get unlocked. The goods being new songs and courses. For every song that gets played and cleared, 1 point came off the counter. On the average, 750-1000 songs had to be played before the next unlock. That could take anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks depending on the game location. In Extreme, Konami leaked out unlock codes which had to be entered in the game setup. This made it so that every location had the same unlocks everywhere. I used to check DDRfreak every day for the unlock code. That was over 3 years ago now.

I started playing Mario and Luigi for the DS. Great game so far. Good RPG with action elements. What sells the game is the voice samples and character animations. Cute and funny at the same time. No macho men need apply here. This game looks like its for pre-teens, but the combat is fun for all if not confusing. Alot of button pressing and timing especially if you have all 4 characters in combat. Lots of puzzle elements when walking the map too since you control Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, and Baby Luigi.

The Star Tribune ran a story on Tuesday regarding Sony's new patent for the PS3(possibly). This is old news but still scary. They have found a way to "assign" a game to a specific console. For example, if you buy Warhawk for PS3 and then you let you friend borrow it, he won't be able to play it since it is now "soulbound/attuned" to your machine only. Interesting. That means forget about renting or buying used games. Sony has not confirmed that this new technology will be included in PS3 yet and the Cowlauncher thinks its very unlikely. The used game market is just booming and people have become too used to being able to trade in their unwanted games. The big argument is that this will stop piracy. Yes, but for how long. Pirates have overcome just about any obstacle thrown at them. Oh Sony, thou art so silly.

Road of Cowlauncher

Back in the day, a DDR player made this banner for me. Its a parody of the Oni course Paranoia Bros. I loved it. Captures the spirit of Cowlauncher.

What?! Okay!!! Yeah!!!!

I love Lil Jon. His song, Get Low just makes my monkey wiggle. The Dave Chappelle skits are pure gold. Now, you can hold Lil Jon in your own hand in the form of Lil Jon's Crunk Golf for Cell phones. Don't ask me if I downloaded it because I have been burnt one too many times on cell phone games, though Lumines is good and I am glad they brought over Taiko Drum Master. Other titles of interest that are out now are Street Fighter 2 and Age of Empires.
In news that excites me, the Rocky 6 trailer is out! It looks good too. http://www.moviehole.net/news/20060708_the_rocky_balboa_trailer.html

Bad Habits? Try Gamefly

I like to spend $50 on a game only to play it for a whopping 2-3 hours if that. So of course I am interested in this Gamefly rental service. Get all the games right at the click of a mouse sent to you 6 days a week. I am gonna try the 2 out at once subscription and see how that goes. The concept is a great idea. Its just Netflix but with games and they have a whole variety of games to choose from. They have a "cue" of sorts. When a game you want comes in, they ship it right out to you with free shipping both ways! Been watching the commercials and seeing the ads for awhile now.
The birthday went ok. My father is still in the hospital and is very weak. He is having a problem with carbon dioxide trapped in his body causing him to be tired. We spent alot of time with him today. I also went to see Pirates. Good stuff. For presents, I got cash, gift cards, a shirt, tie chain, Mario and Luigi for DS, and more!
Did not have time to do any DDR. I need to. I went to town on the popcorn with Reese's and then had Chinese for dinner.
I have Eyetoy Kinetic for PS2 which is an exercise game, but I still have not cracked the seal. I just don't have to drive.
Penny Arcade is coming out with another book soon. I just love their stuff. The first book was solid and I am just anticipating the next two. Today's post was a good read. http://www.penny-arcade.com/ Didn't really get today's comic though. I mean I get it, but it wasn't so funny. I guess they all can't be killers.

Turning 30 this Week!

Yay. I get to tell people that I am in my thirties starting tomorrow. No big plans going on, but Teri and I will go see the new Pirates movie. She asked me for a wishlist and I had to think hard. None of the games I really want are out until the holiday. My wishlist includes Guitar Hero, Lord of the Rings for 360, Big Brain Academy, Microsoft Points, Kingdom Hearts 2, and WoW time cards.
Picked up Sudoku Gridmaster for the DS. Very nice game if you like Sudoku. Interface is nice and easy. $20 too. Can't go wrong.
Star Tribune decided to review Beatmania for for the PS2 today. Not sure why. The game is now 8 weeks old. Slow news week I guess. They did say that the Wii might hit in October because final machines are now being produced. But it is unlikely.
Gamestop now has a release date and SKU for DDR SuperNova for PS2. Joy! Got that one reserved. Speaking of SuperNova, arcade machines are slowly leaking out to various locations. To celebrate, I am training my butt off on Oni courses in Extreme. Out of the 30 courses, I could maybe pass 7 of them. I need to get my Stamina up! I want to be able to pass 20 courses by the end of this month. I could do it, but I gotta play about an hour a day.
Gotta get some sleep. Worked all night at the casino and 6 hours at Target.

World of Cowlauncher

No biggie, but I decided to change the name of my blog to world of Cowlauncher. I have had the Gamertag Cowlauncher for awhile and most people from the arcades or Bemanimn still call me Cow.

Dead or Alive Xtreme 2

The new trailer is out for download from Marketplace. Don't let your girlfriend catch you watching it.

XBOX Thoughts

I was carrying my original XBOX up from the basement to see if there were any updates for Ultramix 3 online when I was thinking, ya know, its about time for the XBOX to get a remodel. Heck most every other system has been redesigned for the better and smaller. The Atari 2600, NES, Master System, Genesis, Lynx, PSOne, and more! Especially since Microsoft has cancelled production of the original machine. They are still bringing out games too. Look at all those Platinum Hits and no machines to go with them. With the way technology is nowadays, they can a release a box 1/3 the size of the original for under $100. Instead, they are using their engineers to craft an "iPod Killer". Not much is known about it, but it is not expected to play games. We'll see. Not sure there is room in the portable market for a 3rd.
Speaking of Microsoft, they updated their Live page to include not just one, but a handful of coming soon games. http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/livearcadexbox360/default.htm. I wish they were more specific with dates rather than a generic "summer 2006". Lumines should be out this month. /woot! Still no MK3 date. /sob

Chicken Payback

This is the best music video ever. Its not an opinion. It is a fact.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVzGWkM_8Gc

4 Gigs. Wow.

I know that there will be an 8 gig stick soon, but man, I want one of these. http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=802318&affid=2500&source=0705

Playstation 3 Delays and More Rare Games.

Sony is really gettin alot of heat for the price point of the PS3. Also the 2 SKU deal is bogus really. If you are gonna drop $500 on a video game machine, why not just spend the extra $100 to get the whole package?
Sony has delayed their BlueRay player again and we are looking at a possible October launch of it. Can Sony keep their mid Novemeber launch of PS3? Only time will tell. I can picture a PS3 delay to next March, but it is highly unlikely. Sony can not afford to lose this holiday season to Wii and Xbox 360. or can they? A 4 month delay can really help the launch too. More games and much more units to go around. The PS3 is going to be so rare that its not even funny. They can unleash the system and Fantavision 2 (not announced..just an example) and still sell every last machine they make before the holiday. Its gonna be awhile before Sony can even compete with Xbox Live. Its not looking good for them, but miracles can happen. They can still launch over 3 million machines worldwide in November with 15 launch titles and no defects..snicker )
I love you, Sony. I will support you now matter how well you do. Just cut the ego crap, ok? You can't be #1 forever. Just because you sold 100 billion machines or whatever doesn't make you cool. Just hot.
Speaking of gaming rarity, 1up.com did a feature on some rare games. Its a good read. http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3151658

I didn't realize that Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow is now in the "rare" catagory. It is an awesome game and everyone with a DS needs it!

Oh and the new Lord of the Rings game comes out for the 360 this week.

Happy 4th!

Wishing everyone a happy 4th of July.

If World of Warcraft wasn't dominating enough for PC, they will have a Magic style trading card game soon. Looks interesting.
http://www.blizzplanet.com/?action=news&id=872

Japan gets a few portable gems this week. Capcom introduces a new Megaman franchise in the form of Megaman ZX and Namco gives us Tekken for PSP. Both games look really good and if I had the dough, I'd order them.

Speaking of ordering games, I finally placed my order for Phoenix Wright through Amazon.com. I went for the 5-9 day free shipping thing because I am not in a rush to play it, but I will as soon as I get it.

XBOX Live updated its Arcade site with Frogger. Should be coming really soon. Not only do I love XBOX Live Arcade, I enjoy giving Konami fistfuls of hot, wet, stinky cash and this is the latest way they are doing it.

Street Fighter Alpha Anthology

I picked this up last week and had little time with it so far. From what I seen, this game is a flawless home version of awesome arcade games. It takes advantage of the hard drive and the loading is non existent. The only beef I have with it so far is that the D-pad in the Dual Shock is killing my thumb. I had to dig out a controller I got from Gamestop a year ago. I hate to open it, but I have no choice.
I am actually surprised these controllers did not sell as well as they did. Gamestop is giving these away at about $10 now. There are different character themes too. Everything looks right about it. The buttons are in a good spot and it looks curvy enough to be comfortable. The pic is kinda dark, but the d-pad looks great. Sigh...guess I'll have to crack it open. Was hoping it was gonna be a collectible.
Speaking of unique controllers, I have to give props to the companies that take risks to release controllers that are out of the ordinary. My top ten list of unique controllers (in no order whatsoever) is as follows.
DDR dance pad
Dragonquest Slime controller
Konami's Beatmania controller
Namco's Taiko Drum Master
Steel Battalion the 40 button monstrosity
Logitech's Gran Turismo deluxe wheel
Power Glove...its so bad.
Err. I guess I can't come up with 10 good unique controllers =(

I used to drool over this in the old EGMs, but something tells me its a good thing I never bought it. The UForce for NES
http://cgi.ebay.com/NES-NINTENDO-UFORCE-U-FORCE-GAME-CONTROLLER-POWER-FIELD_W0QQitemZ300002605821QQihZ020QQcategoryZ41047QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Hey wait. I can own it with 50 nes games for only $10! Naw. just kidding. My prediction is that this auction will go for about $80-100.
http://cgi.ebay.com/49-Nintendo-Games-Zapper-3-Controllers-UFORCE_W0QQitemZ190004439575QQihZ009QQcategoryZ4315QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Oh yeah. The Prey demo is out for XBOX Live now. I played half of it so far and its pretty.

I know its old news, but my buddy sent me the link to the Angry Nintendo Nerd's review of TMNT for NES. Be careful, this review is rated M for mature content. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjUz8IT0CYg