Caught it over at Joystiq this morning.  Exquisite.  Just exquisite.

(CW)TB
 

As for the strip, minstrels are actually a perfectly fine choice - they are the "priest" option in Lord of the Rings online, just like their Hunter class deals the damage we associate with "wizards" elsewhere in the genre. Many MMO tropes are rejiggered for the setting - it's not a place where people cast fireballs or rain down frozen shards before they hop on a gryphon. I tend to suck the marrow out of these late-phase open betas, discarding the shattered bone once the game is launched, because Massives create desperate brain hungers with their insidious reward schemes. I'll be curious to see how long this terrible appetite persists beyond the launch.

We have altered the name of the product, but we were approached to advertise, um... something. I'm not exactly certain why he thought we would be a good match. We did run ads for Drakengard, I suppose - perhaps he thought we were amenable to objectionable content.

Reading a preview of the newest Harry Potter title - the one for the Wii, with motion sensing wand controls(!!!) - I've begun to make certain preparations for its eventual release. I've had my robes pressed, my scarf of blue and bronze dry-cleaned. I've also endeavored to secure certain... materials, shall we say, of a mystical nature to augment the experience. I was aware that Gabriel owned a unicorn, but I was not aware that he was operating some kind of supernatural zoo.

The ability to extend Guitar Hero with downloadable songs was main reason I made the investment in the next-gen version.  Investment is the right word, too:  I choked down that ninety dollars with a lot of twisting and full-body spasms.  It was like an anaconda swallowing a sheep.  But the idea that I'd be able to snag expansions and classic tracks straight over the wire was some comfort. 

The pricing on these new songs is simply a bad call - and knowing that Guitar Hero III is going to hit in a few short months makes me wonder how valuable this stopgap content actually is.  Five hundred points (or $6.25, in human money) for a three song pack is the work of a diseased mind.  These things should be priced like gumballs, obvious to any person who passes by.  Bundle them together.  Something.  Something that would make me feel like less of an idiot for buying your product again.

I understand that the songs are now 5.1, and that they include the second track for co-operative play - it isn't just the old shit hurled up on the auction block.  The pricing is still extortionary, and I've bought my last track. 

(CW)TB

Any opportunity to denounce my nemesis and his reprehensible Franzibilia is welcome - and I have seized it, just as King Ronard once seized his sword of gleaming rubian.

Sakuracon occurred, and we attended it. It was good to see Sam and Claire, to the extent that I actually did. The extended Questionable Content "kroo" also provided mechanically detectable amounts of joy. This was until I had to leave the convention unexpectedly, taking to the air in order to return to the ancestral homeland. This left Gabriel to manage a two-hour panel by himself in the convention's largest hall. I was distraught, but only regarding my dereliction and not because I thought he would be unable to manage it. He is the funny one, after all. It has ever been thus:  he the damaged genius, and I the loyal archivist who scrambles to collect his mad prophecies.

I don't believe it was ever referred to as Doobie Howser - even when the show was really big.  The news story we "reefer" to in the comic concerns a young schizophrenic who murdered someone after being high for a period of several years.  The article mentions Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in the body of the piece, but if we're trying to cook up a reason why this might have happened I don't think we need to work quite that hard.

I know it's late but I just wanted to remind everyone that we'll be at Sakura-Con starting tomorrow. We'll be bringing our new Heroism shirt, the RSPD poster and a bunch of other books and stuff. Sakura-Con honestly doesn't scare me like it used to. I made some discoveries at last years show that I'm excited to investigate further.

And to think!  I was actually depressed when I heard that Harmonix was moving on from Guitar Hero. I guess they're still there, sort of - they did the 360 version, and I believe they're also responsible for the upcoming 80's themed expansion for the PS2. It's got to be difficult to focus on those products when, right down the hall, their cohorts are busy annihilating the franchise.

The Emerald City Comic Con was - I feel secure in this point - a convention.

You might have remembered me freaking out about this adventure game from Frogwares, as it is basically a mashup of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and H. P. Lovecraft.  Really kind of unfair, I think, to bait the trap so richly.  Unsporting, in a way. 

It was brought to the front of my mind by the review over at Gamespot, where it picked up decent marks.  I hit up the websites for Gamestop and EB to track down the exact release date, and (apropos to today's discussion) there is no entry for it in either database.  The game is completely incorporeal.  It is available digitally, however, should you find yourself inexorably drawn.

(CW)TB
 

One last reminder that Saturday the 31st is your last chance to get the early bird discount for PAX 2007. You can get a three day pass for $40 if you sign up right now. We're selling tickets about twice as fast as we were last year at this time which is amazing. We're actually expecting about 30,000 attendees this year and thanks to the massive new venue we can actually accommodate that kind of crowd.

The origin of Gamestop's fabulous profits is pretty straightforward. After relating Wednesday's strange and sordid tale of "stock shortage," I've been deluged by mail industry-wide about life with their "partners" in the retail space.