Well I have been gone for like the past five or so days if you haven’t noticed. There is a ton of things to talk about this week. Actually since I didn’t write this on Friday night like I should have I think I am going to give you a special little treat, the week and a half recap. It seems so much has happened this week already that I might as well get into those as well. First order of business is the whole Washington D.C. sniper issue (and yes it pertains to games). Next up I will try and give you some sense on the whole Zelda title mess. Third on the list are the outstanding sales prices of Super Mario Sunshine over in Europe. After that I will give you a special three in one bonus paragraph that will include Nintendo’s plans to spend one hundred and forty million dollars on marketing this holiday season, their plans to release a DVD packed full of game trailers, and the ASCII keyboard controller controversy. Last on the list, and yes I will leave you on a good note, the new Biohazard 0 trailer that was released on Friday.

Obviously He Plays Videogames!

It is simply amazing; the media cannot go one murder without blaming it or connecting it somehow to the videogame industry. This D.C. sniper is obviously very skilled at what he does. I don’t think in his spare time he is down in his basement playing a little Goldeneye or Halo on the side. Videogames do not kill people, they do not encourage people to kill others, and they sure as hell don’t teach people to kill others. Videogames are meant to be for entertainment purposes ONLY. No game developer makes a game thinking in the back of his head, “Hey you know what?! This game could brainwash little boys and girls to go take an AK47 and scare the living shit out of all America.” They make the game because they think people will have fun playing it and because they can obviously make a lot of money off of it. Videogames have changed since I and many others were little kids having fun eating magic mushrooms and jumping over green pipes. Today’s youths want realism and the developers understand that. I may not be sure who this sniper is, where he is, or what he’s trying to accomplish by killing people in cold blood but I can assure you all that this crazy jamoke does NOT play videogames. Like Carl always says, “Another example of the media needing to shut the fuck up!”

The Legend of Zelda: Something Blah Blah Blah...Wind

Ok so the game we all cannot wait for finally has a title, Legend of Zelda: Kaze no Takuto. That’s just peachy, we’re all very happy and we can stop asking questions right? Well I can because I am importing but you guys still get to be confused. Apparently there are about a million translations for that title. Be patient and I will rattle them all off for you. These seem to the most popular; Rhythm of the Wind, Melody of the Wind, Cycle of the Wind, Wand of the Wind, Tact of the Wind, Takuto of the Wind, and Stick of the Wind. I am just wondering why hasn’t anyone tried to find a Japanese person and translated it properly? I particularly like Takuto of the Wind; it almost sounds like it would be an instrument used to control the wind. Kind of like how the Ocarina controlled the Time. But seriously, no one knows what a “takuto” is, just like no one knew what an ocarina was when they announced the title for the first Zelda game on Nintendo 64. I actually think The Legend of Zelda: Takuto of the Wind sounds pretty damn cool. After taking a short break to go look at few of the millions of fan ideas for titles it appears that no one is even close to guessing the correct title. So we got a title and it didn’t answer any of our questions. In fact it just about added a lot more fuel to the already well lit fire.

Mario A Badass After All?

I say take that Sony and Microsoft! It would appear as though the world’s most famous plumper has struck yet again. Who says you need to have guns, blood, and gore in videogame in order for it to be successful. In its first three days on the shelves in Europe, Super Mario Sunshine sold a record breaking one hundred and seventy thousand copies. The second place finisher was not even close to that. It goes to show that people will buy games that are fun. Sure your game can look all nice and cherry but does it have anything else in there for me? If I wanted to watch some nasty shit I would pick up an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie (and yes I looked up the spelling of his name) or turn on the late news. With the recent launch of Super Mario Sunshine in Australia I would have to say that worldwide Mario sales have reached over one million units sold. Perhaps it will get the highest achievement in gaming and be awarded the game of the year. It would be sweet for all of us Nintendo fans to see Mario on top yet again. If he doesn’t win I say we start a revolt because that vote would have to be rigged.

Three In One Bonus Time!

Well I am pleased to hear Nintendo is going to step up their advertising market this year. I can’t wait to see Nintendo ads across the television this holiday season. Nintendo reported that they would increase their budget twenty five percent from last year making their total budget somewhere in the neighborhood of one hundred forty million dollars. Console wars? I think a more appropriate name for the upcoming months would be “software wars.” I love what Nintendo has decided to do next; put out a promotional DVD with over twenty five titles jam packed into eighty minutes. Let the kids, parents, and “mature” gamer decide if Nintendo is right for them. Metroid Prime, Resident Evil 0, TimeSplitters 2 (which is out today!), and James Bond 007: NightFire are plenty of future hits that are good enough to please the “mature” gamer. Now to list all the other E and other T rated games coming this year, oh wait there is about one hundred of those! Not only that but Nintendo online is coming soon with Phantasy Star Online. Which leads me into my next topic; ASCII has supposedly said they do not plan on selling the keyboard controller that would work beautifully with online games. Sega told an undisclosed source that they are working with other third parties to try and get one out as soon as possible.

Zaaooooooorhhn...

Can you all say “Zombie fest?” I wish today were November 12th just so I could walk my ass down to Funcoland and pick that badboy up and play for a week straight. It seems that Capcom released its final trailer for the game last Friday and I must say, it shows the true beauty of the game and reveals a little more on the story as well. Thank God for that; I for one did not want to walk into playing that game and have no clue at all what the point or story are. I advise you go to the Capcom website here and check out the movie if you haven’t seen it yet. I suggest watching the oldest one first and then work your way up to the newest. It is astonishing to see the game grow as much as it did with only seven to eight minutes of video trailers. If you use logic, common sense, and have played REmake then you should be able to sit down and come up with a pretty accurate description of the story for Resident Evil 0. That’s it this week guys, I promise I will be on schedule next week!