Best Unexpectedness.

There's going to be a Street Fighter 4. This is the gameplay-less teaser:



I must admit I was beginning to think (not that I think about Capcom fighting games as much as I used to) that this day would never come...meaning the day when it is known that there will be another real Street Fighter game. Now I look forward to when that new Street Fighter game comes out. Considering the advances in graphics and processor power and whatnot since the release of Street Fighter III (back in '97. 1997!!--and it still looks pretty amazing) this game could be really gorgeous and really awesome. PLEASE no 3D. Please please please please please. Not even 3D modeled characters. Maybe 3D backgrounds like in the Marvel vs. Capcom games, maybe.

There's supposed to be a "Capcom Event" on Friday, I assume it must be the announcement of something official regarding this game.

Best Have I Ever Posted a Game Before?

If you're waiting for your copy of 80's Guitar Hero, this is sort of a substitute:

Up Beat Keep the rhythm and rock the party!

Play this free game now!!

For about a minute I had the game imbedded in this post, but that was a disaster.

Best Chicago, So Far

Here's stuff that has happened so far since I've come home to Chicago.

I ate enchiladas at Las Fuentes for lunch on Thursday.



Thursday evening, downtown, I ran into an R2D2 mailbox.



Thursday night I got my parents to play Wii. Here's Dad beating up Greg.


Friday afternoon, after renewing my driver's license, Mom took me to a place called Culver's for butter burgers. I think she was trying to kill me.



Here's Mom and her concrete.


So that's some Chicago stuff, so far.

Best XIIIth Gathering: The Prequel

When people come over and play Guitar Hero for the first time it's pretty rare that they don't say "It'd be cool if there was a game where you played the guitar, and the drums, and sang" or something like that. Yeah, that would be cool.

And now it's happening. Harmonix has announced their new project, "Rock Band", for the X-Box 360 and PS3. It's going to be a monster.

Read the news.

Best XIth Gathering

The Afterparty. (turn up your sound!)





My fellow Fanciers: Make sure to show your parents these videos in case they were worried that the fun you were having in New York was not both good and clean.

PS If you didn't figure it out, this isn't karaoke, it's a karaoke video game ala Guitar Hero or DDR.

Best Great Achievement

At approximately 1:55pm on March 19th, the Land of Hyrule was freed from the clutches of the Dark Lord Ganon.


This was the official ending screen, but it didn't stay up long enough to pose with.


Since January, Tess, Collin, Jeff and I have logged many an hour with the Twilight Princess. Monday's final victory was sweet, but no sweeter than these cherished Zelda memories:

• Catching escaped goats and herding angry goats ("Goat In!") in the first village
• Sending a hawk after a chicken, having that hawk actually catch the chicken, then joke about flying from the hill with the chicken, then discovering that this was actually what we were supposed to do all along and we had only been joking about the endeavor.
• My Jumps, My Jumps, My Little Doggy Jumps.
• Slapping monkey bottoms in the first dungeon.
• Howling duets with the golden wolf.
• Focusing all efforts on finding a grappling hook (not knowing if one even existed in the game) and then finding a grappling hook (or "clawshot", as it were)
• The Tony Hawk style confrontation with the desert boss.
• The wild west shootout in the forgotten town (maybe my favorite sequence of the game?)
• Talking with cats in the forgotten town.
• Finding out that Tess talked to all the cats for us while we were away.
• The Yeti knocking the reek fish, cheese, and pumpkin out of me.
• Figuring out the cannons.
• Smashing things with the ball and chain.
• Clawshotting between flying plants during the sky palace dragon boss (once I remembered to z-target, that is)
• Giving Zant a thorough and merciless beat down.
• The escalation of the soundtrack as the final battle drew closer.
• I like that, after so many intense locations and different weapons, it all came down to a swordfight out in a field.
  

Absolutely not highlights:

• Bobber fishing.
• Chasing the Skull Kid through the Sacred Grove.

Although things are well in Hyrule once more, word on the street is very bad things are going down in Athens right now. If you'll excuse me, I must tend to these matters.

Best Taco Night After Party

Another Friday night, another trip through snow and ice to get tacos. And after the tacos, another ride down to Emily and Tess's on the bus. And then the Wii excitement begins. (Look how cool I make it look!)


These photos look fun (right?) but really they're sad because most of them were taken by Tess to remember what playing Wii after eating tacos was like because she's going home real soon. But let's not dwell on that.

Wii sports bowling. Let's look at the form of the different players:

Collin.


Don.


Becky.


Looks like normal bowling. At least a little, right?

Now look at first-timer Michelle caught mid-spin doing her trademark spinning bowling ball toss that she invented that night. And guess who bowled nothing but strikes and spares the first time she ever played Wii bowling ever? Go figure.


Now, Emily works late every Friday night so she can never go to tacos with us and always has to come home to us playing her videogames so we surprised her Friday night with a cake!


Not just any cake, but an oreo cheesecake with her name on it in mini-M&Ms!


Back to Wii Sports . . . as you can see, never an awkward moment.


Oh, hey. Looks like Tess has got some interesting photo on her camera or something? I wonder what it could be of?


Oh! It's of me! Looking awesome!