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.

It is safe to say that we were both pleasantly surprised by the movie Equilibrium. Perhaps him more than me, but I'm still just learning to enjoy movies that don't have French titles.

Okay it's about 6:00 pm and I am going to reset the voting, keeping the top three contenders. Some people wanted pictures of the characters so I have added little thumbnails of each. Oh, and if Samus wins it will be a pic of her without her helmet;)

December is going to be a crazy month for me as I am sure it will be for many of you. It just seems like there is so much shit I have to get done in December. Our good friend Stephen is coming to visit this month. He is flying all the way from London to spend a few days here. I always enjoy hanging out with Stephen because I learn new words like Bollocks and Quid. We also treat him like he is from a third world country whenever he is here. We turn on the faucet and explain how in the US we have luxuries like running water. Then he makes a face like he is thinking about killing us. Its a little game we play.

I am satisfied that this speaks for itself.

I gotta crack out a Penny Arcade Christmas card today but I wanted to talk to you about advertising first.

Gabe's affection for straight-up action is slowly creeping into my own tastes, a failing for which I will have to answer to God.

I'm getting my stuff together for the MOP LAN Party this weekend, and when loading the CD's into my CD case it seemed to me such a motley connection of weird crap. I don't even know how half of this got in here, but it's such a messed up cross section of the last six years that I had to post it. Some of these things are shameful, but I'll leave that for you to determine.

I'm as shocked as anybody, but Gabe is completely into Asheron's Call 2. I invariably must play a game like this by myself until I find a somebody to crew with, but it's actually him that suggested it. Having never played a game of this kind, he couldn't understand the fairly random distribution of loot gained by victorious combat - i.e., what is this Rat Man doing with a lute? There are, of course, many possibilities - though only one seems truly plausible.