yeah i just had to watch a freaking ad before i could log into lj

lj is pretty much dead to me now

well, m-bro is now on twitter (@mbrosatellite), facebook (just search for m-bro) and mbrosatellite.com should be working soon too (waiting on DNS to populate). :D

Feeling better today. lots of m-bro satellite ideas.

hey, speaking of, anyone have an in on cheap webhosting?

10 years of this lj. :o well not EXACTLY but i've still had it in ten calendar years so i'm allowed to be :o about it.

So in preparation for the wordvomit forthcoming as I work on my games of the decade list, I'd like to speak briefly about my games of the year. You know, that obnoxiously self-serving post I make every year that typically only Boon reads.

First off, things that came out this year that I have not played yet that would likely challenge for positions on the list:
Ratchet & Clank: Crack In Time
- The first one on PS3 was mindblowing and while I haven't played the PSN title that comes between the two games, I'm still very much looking forward to getting some time with this one.
Borderlands
- Here's the kind of game that I'm supposed to like, told I'll like, but there isn't anyone on my PSN friends list playing it and I don't have a 360 so it waits.
Muramasa
- I loved Odin Sphere. LOVED IT. It was gorgeous and this is two-player AND fixes the slowdown. How did I forget to buy this?
Lego Rock Band
- I so need to own this.
Dragon Age
- Again, something I'm "supposed" to like but we'll find out if I do eventually.
The Saboteur
- I've been looking forward to this game FOREVER and will likely not get the chance to spend time with it until the new year. :/ Too bad it's Pandemic's dying breath.

These are all games that I want to play but time just won't allow it right now. I also haven't put nearly enough time into Persona PSP or Dissidia to consider those.

First, though - THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE YEAR 2009.

This was a year full of delays and teases and awful news stories. And Tony Hawk RIDE. But this title will go to a game that actually did come out, and that I actually did play.
Nominees:
MadWorld - Ever since Yatsumi Matsuno left Square Enix I'd been waiting to see what he would work on next. I can't believe it was this. I loved the over-the-top commentary, but couldn't stand the way Jack actually moved. There was a lot to like here, plotwise but the game was just too repetitive.
BlazBlue - Great netcode....but so much more buttonmashy as compared to Guilty Gear. My entire strategy in this game is "Pick Noel -> D -> ABCABCABCABCABC repeat". :/
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days - Yes, it's Kingdom Hearts in actual 3D on a portable. And it's awful. It looks bad, there's not much new music, the storyline is 2 hours long stretched over 20ish hours of gameplay and the missions are BAD. INSULTINGLY BAD. Add to that that you MUST replay them many different ways to get the best items in the game and you have a strong runner-up for my disappointment of the year.

But by FAR the disappointment of the year has to be Resident Evil 5.
Take everything you loved about Resident Evil 4. Now take away the last bits of scariness. Take away the merchant and make it so you can only buy and sell at the end of stages. Take away the inventory system and add a much more limited one. Add a completely useless babysitting partner (unless someone is controlling her.) And bring Umbrella back into the story. Did I mention that the parasitic hosts in this game use guns against you? It's clear they wanted to make a Gears-esque shooter. To hell with that! Make a Resident Evil game! Leave the multiplayer-friendly stuff to the Lost Planet team and just MAKE THE GAME YOU'RE GOOD AT.

And now - the important stuff. The list.

10. Rhythm Heaven (DS - pub: Nintendo)

You take WarioWare and you make it even more instantly understandable. Add ridiculously catchy tunes that you'll never get out of your mind. I love Rhythm Heaven because anyone in the world can play it - you tap, or you slide. But it can get brutally difficult and precise; and sometimes frustratingly so and that's how it got 10th. Still, the vivid imagination and the delightful soundtrack make this worthwhile for anybody with a DS.

9. BlazBlue (PS3/360 - pub: Aksys)

Wasn't this on my disappointment list? Yes, but that only talks about one aspect. In the end BlazBlue is still an extremely competent 2d fighter with gorgeous art, an expectedly confusing storyline, and a ton of interesting gameplay systems to keep the action going. The best netcode seen yet in the fighting genre helps to make this game worth playing up if you like punching people in the face. I am seriously amazed each time I put this game in and play it online, still, because it just DOES NOT LAG. Bravo to ARC System Works and Aksys for pulling that off... now hopefully they can make the strategy go a bit deeper with the inevitable tweak release.

8. The Beatles: Rock Band (PS3/Wii/360 - pub: MTV Games/EA)

Rock Band's first whole game dedicated to one band illustrates perfectly the different views Harmonix and Neversoft have towards music games. One is content to make a few character models and stages and take 30ish songs by the title band and call it a day, the other creates a total love letter to the title band and its fans to the point of including studio conversations that have never been heard by the public, captured during the recording sessions of some of the most important records ever written. The Beatles: Rock Band is not a leap forward for music games the way that Rock Band once was, but the way in which the entire game IS The Beatles is. If you like even one song on this game you owe it to yourself to play the thing.

7. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3/360/PC - pub: Activision)

I'm not the biggest Activision fan, and even less a real-world FPS fan, but two years ago I gave Modern Warfare a nod here and MW2 is getting a spot for the same reasons. Its relentless pace and huge set pieces are what action games aspire to be, and while the graphics are not the sharpest on the block these days, moments like watching a nuclear weapon detonate over the Earth from space more than make up for it. In particular, the single-player missions in post-Russian invasion Washington D.C. are chilling and unlike a lot of other games I've played. The multiplayer is what most people come for, and while that's not really my thing, the inclusion of deathstreaks - abilities you get for continually sucking to level the field a bit - are a great idea to get players like myself hooked. Infinity Ward are truly masters of the carrot-on-a-stick school of game design as this thing constantly is giving you credit for something you did right (or wrong!)

6. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii - pub: Nintendo)

Again - not a revolutionary title but a damn fun one regardless. The first trip back to 2D-style Mario on a console in years is hopefully not the last. The addition of co-op really does help this title a lot, even if the levels aren't exactly designed with it in mind. Coming in from LittleBigPlanet this year, it's not the best 4-player platformer ever, but it is very fun (and very infuriating).

5. DJ Hero (PS3/360/Wii/PS2 - pub: Activision)

How on earth did this get here? After years of watching Western developers ape all of their music gameplay ideas from Konami, Activision managed to find a development house to make their DJ game that had somehow been in a cave and missed the release of beatmania. And thank goodness for that - DJ Hero is nothing if not refreshing. The learning curve is a bit steep but when the mixes - and there's a ton of them believe me - start coming out the way they're supposed to you feel as accomplished as you did the first time you played a Guitar Hero song on Hard. And that says a lot. Hoping for great things from this franchise from here on out.

4. Assassin's Creed II - (PS3/360 - pub: Ubisoft)

After the disappointment of the original Assassin's Creed two years ago the last thing I expected Ubisoft Montreal to deliver here was a well-paced, incredibly deep and compelling game but that's exactly what I got. The "kill-how-you-want" potential of the original game is finally realized with no two story missions playing out exactly the same. Some of the side missions start to feel same-y but with so many different things to do you won't often think about it. Did I mention they put a city-building minigame in here? The game truly includes something for everyone; well, everyone who likes stabbing historical figures that is. If you even thought the first game was remotely interesting - even if you absolutely hated it - play this game. Surprise of the year to be sure.

3. inFamous (PS3 - pub: Sony Computer Entertainment America)

"Sandbox" style games are also often not my thing...but maybe that changed this year, with this and ACII (see above). I like having a relatively straightforward storyline to push me through a game... but inFamous managed to keep me interested with its characters and moral dilemmas; to say nothing of the thrill of being an electrified, building-climbing badass. The powers are all useful without ever feeling overwhelming; the city is large enough to stay intriguing without sprawl. inFamous also stands out for making the game feel more different depending on your moral choices than a lot of other games which try to use this hook. Sadly, the story remains the same no matter which side you're on but Sucker Punch has a lot to work with here for the future.

2. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3 - pub: Sony Computer Entertainment America)

The original Uncharted has remained, until this year, the agreed-upon high mark of PS3 titles. With that, Uncharted 2 had a really high bar to hit; expectations were pretty out there. It isn't surprising that Naughty Dog delivered and then some, but the sheer scale on which they have is remarkable. It's like ordering a pizza and getting forty - and a team of Ninja Turtles to help you eat them all. The single-player alone is a hell of a journey, with several ways to approach most situations and events that will constantly have you grasping for your jaw, which you somehow misplaced when that building you're in a firefight in began to collapse with you and your enemies still inside and it's not some silly quick time event like in God of War, no, you're still in complete control and have to get to safety completely on your own. The gunplay feels great, the platforming is tricky and exciting, and that's just the single-player - the online multiplayer features every mode you'd expect plus a bunch of stuff you typically don't right down to a built-in Twitter client that lets your friends know you're online and ready to blow up gas tanks in their face. Delightful and a joy to come across and if you own a PS3, this should be in your machine already if it hasn't been yet.

1. Street Fighter IV (PS3/360 - pub: Capcom)

People lucky enough to live near popular arcades found out last year, but the Street Fighter rebirth is the most addictive game I've touched in years. If I have a spare few minutes it's almost always spent playing this. The characters are mostly well-balanced, especially for casual play; the online game modes are each unique and there are a lot of different single-player challenges to go through if you really want to get that deep. Of course the gameplay is deceptively simple with a lot of different ways of using every single thing in the game - it's Street Fighter. Watching a high-level player do work on this game is a joy in and of itself, to say nothing of learning new tricks and combos and pulling them off in matches. I can't wait to get my hands on Super SF4 next year, but until then I'm still going to be playing Street Fighter IV. 90 hours and counting. If you liked SF2 ever in your entire life, for the love of god, play this.

coming up soon: games of the DECADE...and other new crap.

can it be the new year yet? I swear I'm ready.

sup lj

been a while

exhausted. i have way more stuff than i thought.

i really wish i had enough time in between car accidents, getting sick, getting kicked out of my house, work, getting ready for conference for work, organizing extra things outside of work for people from other stores, visiting my dying grandmother, driving 40 minutes roundtrip to pick up my girlfriend, driving 40 minutes round trip to drop off my girlfriend, watching soccer at asinine hours of the night, arguing about soccer at asinine hours of the night, playing street fighter, reading gaf, and trying to be there for my mother, brother and sister as they all wrestle with my mom's seperation from my stepfather to do the things people accuse me of.

just wow.

omg persona 3 on PSP :o too bad it won't be out here til next year sometime :(