They couldn't save my old 360 (RIP, old friend) so I was given a replacement by Future Shop. The new 360 has an HDMI port (which is useless to me) and seems quieter and I finally got a new phone after mine crapped out in May, it's an iPhone. It is an awesome gadget and I can see why Apple has such a crazy fanboy base. Also, If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch get Aurora Feint, it's a really good game which you can get on the iTunes app store for free.

R.I.P

Master Hermes' Xbox 360

Jan 27, 2006 - July 30, 2008

The above statement is pretty much a perennial argument by Nintendo's critics and it's also one of the biggest hoaxes in gaming. The notion that Nintendo hasn't created a new franchise since Pokemon in the late 90s is misguided and downright stupid if you really look into. Are Mario, Pikachu, Link and Fox shoehorned in games where they don't belong? Hell yes they are, but that doesn't mean Nintendo has had no new ideas. I'm going to go against the norm and say that Nintendo have, since the beginning of the GC-GBA era ( 2001-2008 ), published and developed a ton of new franchises. Let's start with the GameCube. Amidst the the torrent of rehashes such as Mario Party 4-7 and Pokemon Colosseum, people seemed to have forgotten new franchises such as Pikmin, Eternal Darkness, Chibi Robo, Golden Sun, Geist and Animal Crossing. The problem with the games I just mentioned is that they were either complete commercial flops (Eternal Darkness, Chibi Robo and Geist) or merely moderate successes (Pikmin, AC, Golden Sun).

My question is why should Nintendo create or foster new franchises if you all don't give a crap? When they makes a new franchise and it tanks don't expect them to just sit around pretending everything in A-OK, they're going to turn to what sells, i.e, Mario Party. Now while Nintendo has had a tougher time with new franchises on the GC and GBA, the DS and Wii have been fertile ground! Don't believe me? Here's a list (off the top of my head) of new Nintendo owned franchises on those two systems:

WiiSports

Endless Ocean

Elite Beat Agents

Soma Bringer

Hotel Dusk

Trace Memory

Brain Age

Big Brain Academy

Master of Illusion

Nintendogs

Electroplankton

Excite Truck

Clearly Nintendo is in a better position to innovate in software when they are industry leaders. I believe we can expect more new franchises from them in the coming years. I've listed a bunch of stuff here but that's just the surface, what about all the new franchises with old characters, Starfox Adventures, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, WarioWare? What about all the franchises that are new to all those outside Japan, Fire Emblem and Advance Wars? While Nintendo isn't innocent of exploiting their tried and true names, it is not guilty of being a tired old hack with no new ideas, if you want to point the finger at a company who is, I'd suggest EA or Square.

As a HUGE Harry Potter and BioWare fan I've had many fantasies about an RPG based in the HP universe done in the same style as a Knights of the Old Republic or Jade Empire. The problem has always been that if EA did it themselves it would probably really suck. Now, however, the stars have aligned. I see no reason why this game shouldn't happen, EA own the rights to the HP video games, they own the world's best western RPG developer and the HP franchise pretty much sells itself, it's a win win situation. When EA first bought BioWare they said they were working on around six or seven games and at least three of them where unannounced titles, let's pray a Harry Potter game is one of them.

MAKE IT HAPPEN EA!

Let me tell you what's missing from the above pic, dialog trees and a little something I like to call fun...

Anime North, which I am told is one of the biggest anime conventions in North America, was held last weekend and Otakus, fanboys, people who want to be Japanese and all manner of other scum and villainy flocked to it like a perverted Mecca. For the past three years friends of my who regularly attend the convention have tried to talk me into going, this year I finally did. While I'm not exactly the biggest anime fan, I did enjoy myself. For one, there was a tons of gaming related stuff there, which wasn't too much of a surprise as Anime and Gaming nerds share many common interests. Rare gaming goodies were on sale and while most of the REALLY rare stuff (like copies of FFIII for SNES or the REAL FFIII for Famicom) were well over the $100 mark, less rare but equally juicy gems such as Starfox (SNES) were only $10! So yeah, I spotted a copy of Starfox and childhood fav, Pokemon Snap, and bought them both. There were other good games but I didn't have enough cash for them all. I also ended up buying a pretty big Wario plushie (Wario is a god). Honestly though, the best part of my day at Anime North was when I got a signed sketch from Scott Ramsoomair, the cartoonist behind the VG Cats webcomic.

I'd be lying however if I said that their wasn't part of me that was scarred for life. I'm sure you've seen people in cosplay before, maybe on the Internet or a photo, but seeing these people UP CLOSE is a much different. Yeah, some of the costumes are pretty cool, but for every guy in a GOOD Cloud costume there is fifty fat chicks dressed as scantly-clad Yunas and twenty DUDES dressed as Sailor Moon. Also, I was promised hentai, but all there was when I arrived was softcore stuff! What a disappointment. My friend tells me the hentai didn't start until after 12:00am, some good that does me, I wouldn't be caught dead after nightfall near all those cosplayers...