Who am I to fight all of these reasons?  Uncharted, Fat Princess, Resistance, Little Big Planet, I await thee.

The first warrior was a grizzled veteran with a history as a law-man but little experience in fencing.  Strong and intimidating, with his shaved head an authoritarian aura, he stood several feet over his unassuming opponent.  The young girl in front of him couldn’t have been more different — Petite but mischievous, she seemed to convey no threat at all though the observant noticed her hand movements were a bit too controlled for a true novice.  There was more to her than first impressions might suggest.

Suddenly, the crowd quieted.  The warriors tensed.  Swords were readied, drawn up to their bodies in a defensive posture.  Silence.

Pandemonium.

A shout broke though.  Screams, grunts, and whirling swords on the battlefield, the weapons began moving at speeds beyond comprehension.  The crowd cheering them on, laughing at the flailing opponents.  A hit there, a retaliation there.

Suddenly, the young girl gained an advantage as her feverish swings knocked back her opponent.  Again and again.  Just as quickly as it began, it was over.  The crowd roared in approval, the girl basked in their adulation.  The defeated warrior hung his head but momentarily; after a brief pause, he steadied himself and demanded a rematch.

Wii Sports Resort is awesome.

My family, a lot of my family, crashed my house this past weekend.  I had planned on possibly putting off purchasing Wii Sports Resort until after I had finished some of the other games and books I had picked up recently but changed my mind with the thought that my nieces may enjoy it.  The first time I put it in, I setup my sisters boyfriend, a police officer, against my 7-yr old niece, placed a controller in each of their hands, and told them to click the Sword Fighting game from the menu.  I wasn’t sure what to expect — I had heard good things but in the world of gimmicky games, wariness is usually justified.  However, as Nintendo proved with the first Wii Sports game, they know what they were doing.  Wii Sports Resort is fantastic.  The first battle between my sisters boyfriend and my niece, with the whole family watching from around the living room, was worth the price of admission.  Absolutely hilarious.

Considering the rust that certainly exists in my poker game, I decided to just play using “FTP” points that I had accumulated from back when I was playing more regularly.  I had used the vast majority of the reward-like points for acquiring poker paraphernalia, such as a nice poker chips-set and a few poker books, but still had a few thousand FTP points to mess around with.  I promptly won a 90-person satellite tournament Saturday night which gave me entry into a bigger tournament the next day.  A much bigger tournament.  Full Tilt was attempting to set a record for the largest tournament in history with a 50,000 person tournament.  My buddy Brian also won a seat into it and I was really looking forward at turning my $0 entry into potentially $45k (1st place money).  I mean, there were only 49,999 players standing in my way — how could I lose?  Well… it wasn’t to be as I made a few bad plays, had little to work with card-wise, and then I managed to get all my chips in the middle, drawing dead, about 30 minutes into the tournament.  Oh well!  Brian lasted awhile longer though he too didn’t have much to work with, either.

Not one to let a stupid mistake hold me back, I decided to enter a much smaller, more standard tournament: a 90-person, knockout-style, tournament.  Knockout means you get a bounty for each player you knock-out.  This reduces the pain of the buy-in if you place out of the money but manage to take out a few players before you bust-out though obviously it reduces the prize pool a bit for those that DO make the money (the top 9 finishers).

I managed to hold steady at above-average in chips much of the tournament but when it got down to around 20-30 players, I made a move into 3rd-6th in chips.  I continued to play well and we eventually got down to around 12 people remaining.  At this point, I took a nasty beat and dropped from 3rd to 11th in chips.  My persistent ability to bubble out of tournaments seemed ready to rear it’s ugly head and remind me why poker is not a game for their faint of heart.  I struggled and struggled and managed to outlast several opponents and somehow squeaked into the top 9 and the money.  Then I made another run and moved from 9th to 2nd in chips though the chip leader had everyone vastly outchipped with a monster stack.  Steadily, players started dropping until it was just 3 of us.

The (one-time monster) chip-leader had about 120k in chips, I had ~90k, and the 3rd place guy had about ~30k.  The blinds were astronomical and aggression and a willingness to risk it all had been the status quo for the last 15 or so players and that continued.  Eventually, I got the 3rd place stack all-in drawing slim as he made a stand with A9 vs my AQ.  The 9 on the flop was devastating.  Then, my KK was cracked by the same players Ax.  This second blow dropped me well down in chips such that I had to virtually go all-in every 2nd hand for several hands in a row though passive play from the other two players helped me recover a bit.  Eventually, I worked back up to equal in chips to the other smaller stack and we got it all-in again, this time with me holding AA against his A2 — an overwhelming favorite and I put him out of the game.

The chip-leader had been playing pretty passively 3-handed but had picked it up shortly before I knocked out 3rd place and had me outchipped by a significant margin which expanded as I was getting nothing but rags.  That said, he wasn’t the strongest player I had ever faced and despite the massive blinds forcing a lot of aggressive push-and-hope moves, I managed to slowly chip up and then double-through him.  This left us about equal in chips for the next hand.

Blinds were 500/1000 with our stacks both around 120k, him slightly ahead.  Realizing I had enough chips to try and outplay him post-flop which plays to my advantage since I felt I was a much better than the other guy, I limped in from the button with Qc6c.   He bumped it up to 25k, a modest raise considering the blinds and my limp, so I called to see if I could catch the right flop w/ my modest hand.  A flop of Q x x wasn’t as good as a 2-clubbed flop but I felt I had almost certainly had the best hand.  Not surprisingly, my opponent pushed all-in which helped confirm that he didn’t have a monster that had me beat.  99% certain I had the best hand, I called and he turned over a K J — no pair, no draw, and only 3 outs of 44 cards remaining to win — for this pot which represented 95+% of the chips in play — essentially, the tournament.

The turn:

It’s hard to be disappointed by a 2nd place finish in a decent-sized tournament when you’ve been away from poker for so long but it’s always heart-breaking when you get your money in as a significant favorite (~85% to win for me at this point) and are set to take away the grand prize.  That said, I had mostly avoided bad beats throughout the tournament (other than the two hands against 3rd place mentioned above) so I guess I’d rather the bad beats come once I’m in the money than earlier in the tournament.  Overall though, a 1st and a 2nd place finish isn’t a bad way to get started back into poker.

• Microsoft still has money to burn – Microsoft is throwing money around at an atrocious rate and are continuing their agenda to buy out as many Sony exclusives as they can.
• Sony is still incompetent – The base price for a PS3 is still too high and, despite superious hardware and more, better game exclusives, Sony is playing catch-up on too many things Microsoft is getting right — e.g. online integration, Netflix.
• Nintendo is still content to mint money – Ever since the Gameboy came out, Nintendo hasn’t had to succeed on the home console front to make gobs of money.  The additional runaway successes of the Wii and Wii Balance Board have only reinforced their corporate mentality to ignore conventional wisdom.  The results of their lackadaisical approach have mixed results but pretty much universally infuriate Nintendo fans.  However, Nintendo showed no interest in changing their ways as indicated by the announcement of the mind-numbingly pointless Vitality Sensor device.  That said, they have another monster success in the making with the Wii Motion Plus.

On the “Wii is eating us for breakfast” hardware side of things…

• Sony Wand – In its attempt to compete with Nintendo, Sony wants to add a Wii to it’s massive collection of underutilized features instead of trying to compete with games.  Attempts to seize the award of “Worst Accessory Name” from the Wii-mote but loses to the other hardware upstart…
• Microsoft Natal – Not content to mimic Nintendo, Microsoft tries to out-do the Wii with a whiz-bang, controller-less device.  End result: Microsoft throws a lot of money into advertising Natal.  It amazes at some things and fails at more.  No one writes games for it and ultimately becomes a pointless afterthought like the Live Vision Camera.  Microsoft throws more money at it and incorporates it into the XBox 360².  It does, however, take the title of “Worst Accessory Name” from the Wii-mote… seriously?  Natal?
  

Wait, weren’t there games there, too?

• 360 is still for shooters, PS3 is for variety – Despite Microsoft’s best efforts (see above), the PS3 still has a larger variety of games, more exclusives, and shares all but a couple of the must-have games with the 360.   On the other hand, the 360 will continue to churn out FPS’s at a mind-numbing pace and benefit from the best online multiplayer experience.
• It’s a good time to be a Wii owner - After a bit of a drought, the next year is set to be amazing for the Wii.   Tales of Monkey Island, Super Mario Galaxy 2, New Super Mario Bros. (2 new Mario games?!), BoomBlox Bash Party, Punch Out!, Swords & Soldiers, Little King’s Story, Overlord: Dark Minion, The Conduit, and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories are all on my radar as must-play games. In addition, Wii Sports Resort will be a monster success and …
• Unlike Natal & Sony Wand, the Wii Motion Plus add-on is taking motion-control gameplay to the next level now - If they are ever released in a functional state, Natal & Sony Wand may supersede it eventually but they are each at least a year or more away from release.  Wii Motion Plus integration with games like Tiger Woods and Grand Slam means that for the first time in a very long time, sports games on a Nintendo console are now the best ones to get.
• Monkey Island! As far as I’m concerned this was one of the biggest announcements of E3.  Not only is LucasArts creating an updated version of the Secret of Monkey Island with updated graphics and voiceovers but TellTale Games, the same development company that makes the excellent Lego Star Wars games, is creating Tales of Monkey Island, all new episodic adventures in the Monkey Island storyline.  I’m giddy and practicing my sword fighting insults now.
• For non-Wii/DS gaming, Assassins Creed 2 is the game I’m most looking forward to. The first AC was a brilliant game marred by repetitive missions.  If AC2 can maintain the same quality of gameplay while fleshing out some of the missions, it will be an instant classic.
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat 2 looks amazing but… I’m finding myself lacking enthusiasm for a sequel.  I think I’ve played one too many shooters on the 360.
• The 360 is looking mighty thread-bare these days.  Other than the aforementioned Secret of Monkey Island SE and Assassins Creed 2, there are very few 360-specific games on my radar.  Overlord 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Bioshock 2, and Dragon Age Origins are the only games I can think of that look interesting off-hand and most of those are available on PS3 as well and, other than Dragon Age, not necessarily more compelling than a rental.
• If Scribblenauts is half as good as it sounds, it’s going to be amazing.  A game limited by only your imagination, it’s no wonder many publications are declaring this game the best in show.  The legend…
• Speaking of DS games, is there any more successful product than the DS that is as under-appreciated?  The stable of truly compelling, great games on the DS is massive, still growing, and puts every other video game system to shame.  Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, and Golden Sun DS were, rightfully so, crowd-pleasers on display at E3.

One of the big releases on the PS3 & 360 recently was RE5 and I gave the demo a go.  The Resident Evil series has always been hampered by questionable control schemes and the latest iteration is no different than most.   It looks great and it has excellent co-op features, but the controls are brutal.  What’s surprising is that Resident Evil 4 for the Wii provided a dramatic improvement and is still one of the very best Wii games I’ve ever played.  Why they didn’t release RE5 for the Wii is beyond me –If they ever release a version for the Wii with the RE4 controls, it will be at the top of my “to play” list.

Speaking of games hindered by their controls, Chris got me interested enough to try out the HAWX demo.  Talk about a game that shoots itself in the foot: The controls in that game are so horrid they make Resident Evil 5’s seem fluid by comparison.  For what it’s worth, the release of the game did spur the best opening paragraph I’ve seen in a game review (from IGN):

What’s the one thing that enters the consciousness of every warm-blooded American when you mention dogfighting fighter jets? If the answer isn’t a movie starring a bunch of sweaty dudes playing beach volleyball in tiny jean shorts with Anthony Edwards wearing a painfully awkward cutoff t-shirt, then you’re lying to yourself. Luckily that very same flick is home to some of the coolest aerial battles ever set to the silver screen. It’s called Top Gun and it has more man material than anything you’ll find on Cinemax.

I’ve been yearning for a really deep strategy game to sink my teeth into but I might have bitten off more than I chew when I picked up Europa Universalis III.  It is an epic game on a massive scale and in many ways, I can’t believe I avoided the series for so long.  It took me several hours, spanned across two days, just to get through the instruction manual so it is definitely not a game for everyone.  Definitely a game I could see myself getting into time and time again over the years.

Brian bought a PS3 and last night I joined him for a little co-op Little Big Planet.  More or less a platformer, it lived up to the hype with it’s immense character and customization.  Brian’s Soviet Soldier and my Skeletal Red Riding Hood Bunny worked our way through several levels last night.  The game takes advantage of a sophisticated physics engine and really shows what that sort of capability can add to gameplay.  Couple that with the enormous number of user-generated levels that are available (including some truly amazing ones) and it’s definitely a “system-selling” game.  I spent a not insignificant amout of times simply using my character to dance as you can control his arms and body movements independently.  The rest of the time, I usually was hugging and holding Brian as we careened around the level — much to his amusement, I’m sure.  In many ways, I wish I had gotten a PS3 instead of a 360 and Little Big Planet did nothing to dampen my regrets.

I could debate the PS3/360 all day but if there is one system no one could possibly regret owning, it would have to be the Nintendo DS.  The sheer quantity of titles in every conceivable genre is more than anyone could ever want.  The past couple of months, my evenings have seen me retire to bed to play Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift as well as my latest game from Gamefly, Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride.  Both are extraordinarily good and between the two of them, have stolen many, many hours from my sleep schedule… and I’m not close to finishing either.

Dear Shawn,

We recently received your return of an empty sealed envelope and game sleeve for game, The Godfather: Blackhand Edition. To enable you to return the game, we will send you a new pre-paid shipping envelope.

If we can be of further assistance, please let us know.

Sincerely,

GameFly Customer Service

Oops…

No, Christina, I don’t care who <insert random athlete here> is engaged to.  But you don’t care about that amazing play he made last week either so why don’t we agree not to discuss either one?  

– if only it was that easy…

One of the areas where we have been able to come to some sort of agreement is on our regular board game nights.   I feel board games are usually more suited toward guys who appreciate “defeating” his opponent in a match of sorts but the games we tend to settle on are more crowd-pleasing, party-oriented games than the ones I would have otherwise chosen.   I think this perpetual effort to get girls involved in board games, and thus something guys will enjoy as well, is what led to the creation of Battle of the Sexes.

If the goal of any game was to put guys “in their place” and pump up girls interest in gaming, this was the game.  Battle of the Sexes is the most ridiculously unbalanced game I’ve ever come across.   The nature of the game is simply that guys must answer questions about “girlie” things while girls answer questions about “guy” things.  However the disparity between the difficulty and details of the questions is absurd.  Guys simply do not stand a chance but if they’re looking for something to play that will make their significant other feel better, this is the game.

Anyway, I played Carl in my SEC Dynasty in NCAA last night and not only did I broadcast the game, I also recorded it to my gergi-TV channel.  

Carl and I had a pretty tight game until the very end… and even then, there was a crazy, almost successful, attempt at an equalizer to send it into overtime.

Vanderbilt on-side kick

Carl eventually led #17 Auburn past my upstart Commodores but I was quite happy with my team’s performance.  I feel Vanderbilt has one good upset pending in my SEC Dynasty.

I did not setup my webcam in an optimum location so the quality of this recording is not quite up to par. I adjusted it part-way through a bit but hopefully my future recordings will be better.  Update: If the above video doesn’t work, you can also watch it here.