Than dryer sheets, I think. I've got a handful of them here and I'm just pressing them against my nose.

At least, that's what it looks like to me. Not that I'm complaining! I've been watching videos of Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles on IGN insider, but I noticed that EA linked to one somewhere else. Four player, action-oriented Final Fantasy. Delicious.

I would like to welcome everyone to the 53rd Annual We're Right Awards. Here's the first part of the Ceremony itself, let's talk a little bit about how this is going to go.

I finally got a hiptop, and I'll be honest with you: I've always fantasized about making a little update from somewhere when I'm completely messed up at some party. We'll, here I am, and it's pretty rad.

Or, as it was called by my role-playing group, "The Temple Of Elemental Boredom," is seeing new life thanks to Tim Cain and Troika Games, creators of the inventive Arcanum. The classic adventure is getting a few coats of paint, courtesy of the third edition ruleset and a turn-based battle engine (!!!!!!) - if you are a big dork about D&D like I am you'll want to read Gamespot's great new interview about it.

For some reason I though I had an extra week between now and Christmas. I was thinking about all the shit I have to get done before we go back to Spokane and I figured I had plenty of time. Everytime I thought about all the comics we would have to do for the week we will be out of town or finishing the Samus wallpaper I just planned on getting them done during this imaginary week I had before we left. I felt like I had plenty of time so I spent most of the day yesterday playing Guilty Gear XX. This game has a grip on me and I could not put it down. I recently learned however that Christmas is this week and we are in fact leaving on Sunday. With this new information I think that my time yesterday was probably ill spent.

Here's the Onion article about the PS5. Bon appetit!

We have made a comic. The comic is about The Sims Online. We considered doing a Two Towers comic, but I do not believe there will be a shortage of them. For my part, what's to say, really. It's fun to watch. The one word review is Yay.

My Dad always likes to call me whenever he sees some story on the news about video games. I usually try and watch it because I like to see how the main stream media twists our hobby into a perverted pastime for violent whack jobs. He called me tonight and told me I should switch to CBS because 60 minutes was doing a segment about games. When he called I was a few missions into Medal of Honor on the PS2 (I have been watching the Band of Brothers DVD's). I thought for a moment about watching old men talk about video games or continuing to struggle with the terrible controls of MOHF. I ended up flipping over to CBS just in time to hear them announce that they were at Acclaim Entertainment. I then watched the ancient correspondent from 60 minutes questioning Ben Fischbach from Acclaim about BMX XXX. It was like the whole thing was happening in slow motion. "So, (in BMX XXX) you look at Strippers?" the white haired news man asks. "Well you're looking at a woman dance on screen for a very short period of time." says the middle-aged hipster who thinks his company is still relevant. "You look at strippers." asserts the decrepit reporter from a bygone era. "Ya, you look at strippers." concedes the despicable huckster from Acclaim. I imagined all the old people sitting on their plastic covered couches at home, watching this exchange and shaking their heads in disgust as their antiquated views on videogames were reinforced. I watched on as Mr. Fishbach opened his mouth again and this little nugget fell out:

My head hurts so Goddamn bad. I'll be honest with you, it feels like my brain is the wrong size for this model head. I kept thinking about trepanning off and on the whole time I was at the midnight showing of Two Towers, not that the film wasn't enthralling or anything but I kept fantasizing about relieving the growing pressure in my skull. It's like four in the morning at this point and I'm trying to figure out if I need a Makita power drill, or if a simple Dremel would be up to the task.

Yes it's true that we played a shit ton of Halo last night. It was my first opportunity to check out the multi with that many people and it was damn cool. Before you go sending me mail about how glad you are that I like Halo now or whatever let me point out that I still think the single player game should have only been six hours. I don't blame the guys at Bungie for this though. I am sure someone at MS told them their kick ass six hour game had to be twenty hours long and with a deadline fast approaching all they could do was cut and paste the same levels over and over again and then make you play through the entire thing again backwards. I will agree with Tycho that last night's gaming made me a lot more interested in Halo 2 then I originally was.

The hardcore no-doubt reverberate with anticipation for Nintendo's "Megaton" announcement, a revelation so grand in scope that to know it would unravel your mind and leave you a gibbering idiot. If you were already a gibbering idiot, and I'm not saying you are but I just have a feeling about these things, it might make you gibber more, I don't know.

I talked a couple times last week about home theatre and more specifically my love affair with Monster Cable. I got lots of mail from people with questions about home theatre stuff. I think as more and more games come out with support for things like Dolby digital sound and progressive scan more and more gamers will be beefing up their systems. I don't have time to answer all the questions myself and quite honestly I don't think I'm even qualified to answer many of them. Have no fear though because I know someone who is. After my love letter to Monster Cable I got an email from a guy who actually works there. I guess I shouldn't be surprised anymore when I find out that PA fans are everywhere. I have no doubt that many of you have infiltrated the highest levels of our own government and are even now merely waiting for my signal to bring the whole thing crashing down. So anyway, I have been talking to Josh for a few weeks now and we have had a lot of really good conversations about gaming and home theater stuff. The man is a well of information when it comes to that sort of thing and he even gave me some tips on how I could hook up the components I already have in a way that would get me a bit more bang for my buck. I asked him if he would be interested in answering some of the technical questions I was getting and I'll be goddmaned if he didn't jump at the opportunity. So it is with great pleasure that I give you the Hook up. In this first installment we learn about component video and switch boxes. Feel free to send your questions about televisions, speakers, receivers, wiring or whatever to Storm Shadow ( any man who picks cobra's deadly ninja assassin as his handle is okay in my book) and he will answer them as he has the time. If he answers your question on the web site he will also send you a Monster Cable game cable for the system of your choice. Now that's pretty nice of him I'd say.

Apparently there's a new Tribes game in the wings, but the days where news like that would have gotten a free pass around here are over. The only thing Vivendi's thrall race Sierra could do to get me back in the fold now would be to license Tribes out to a third party I actually trusted. It is my secret hope that the release of any new Tribes title will stir up that ancient enmity between ourselves and the vile TribalWar, as I look back with fondness on our original conflict. When you say smart things that engage the mind and then your opponent says ridiculous, idiotic things that make people dumber just for hearing them, well, everything is right with the world.

If you don't like Equilibrium I'd say you are just too fancy for your own good. That's understandable though, I mean every one is fancy about something. Tycho won't read a book if the author's name is bigger than the title. I think Thomas Kinkade is a fucking hack. If all the moms between the ages of forty and sixty were to disappear tomorrow the man would never sell another print. I am sure that everyone feels like they are an expert on something and that only the best of that thing will suffice. The problem is that most people who review things are the very people who seem to have the most hang ups about that thing. This makes their reviews worthless to the rest of us who simply enjoy watching movies or reading books. So Mr. Moviereviewerman, you think Equilibrium had a "derivative, punch-the-keyboard plot." You think it was "crude, but occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, merely for its sheer ridiculousness." You think that a movie like Equilibrium is just too far below your standards. Well I bet you twenty bucks you have a painting in your house that you bought because it matched your couch, how fucking pedestrian.

Two new pieces from people who makes games today, the first from Morgan Jaffit (who has been with us before) and the second from Chris Stewart, on the recently completed Treasure Planet: Battle At Procyon. Take a look.