I’m knee-deep in uploading media to Flickr and YouTube from this week’s Gathering ‘o Geeks, Gen Con Indy, and thought I’d sum up the high points of the convention. Before I get started, though, I should mention that most of the (presentable) photos I took this weekend are now available for your perusal at our Flickr stream. I can’t guarantee satisfaction, even of the vicarious sort, but there should be something in there for everyone (except, perhaps, David Hasselhoff fans). Enjoy.

That said, here’s what I did on my summer vacation:

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Not Solid Snake the character, of course, but the man who lent his vocal chords to the notorious badass, David Hayter. Hayter has a sideline as a screenwriter, having recently authored the script for Zack Snyder’s Watchmen adaptation. I figure if he can tackle that, he can certainly dress-up Capcom’s thinly-plotted arctic space-adventure.

I suspect that Lost Planet will make a better movie than it did a game. In true Capcom fashion, Lost Planet punishes you merely for playing it, with it’s constant heat-loss and subsequent character death. Granted, it’s not all that hard to stay warm as long as you’re killing stuff - but shouldn’t killing stuff be a reward in and of itself? Dead Rising suffered from the same problem, forcing you to hit numerous timed rendevous, some of which are necessary to complete the game.

I hope the movie doesn’t require the audience to hit the snack bar every 20 minutes to keep watching.

Kotaku reports that Final Fantasy XIII will appear on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console, on the same day as it hits the PS3.

Sony - you have been kicked in the nuts.

I’m not sure what Beer Pong is (I’m a non-drinker myself, but not for any moral reasons- I dislike the taste of alcohol) but here is a summary of the article: new Wii game may promote drinking. Parents outraged. Yada-yada.

http://www.ksfy.com/news/local/24103549.html

Here’s an idea: if you don’t want your kiddies to play the game, don’t buy it for them. Or forbid them from buying it.

Mario Kart is way more fun anyway! But oh, it teaches reckless driving…oh shit, and we have Mortal Kombat, which promotes murder and mutilation! Lock up the kids!

Wait, I don’t have kids, just a cat. Never mind.

I know everybody’s all pumped-up for the impending release of Capcom’s Street Fighter IV, but the brawler I’d most love to play is Capcom’s other project, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. Of course, as cool as it is, the general consensus is that TvC will never appear outside of Japan. Which makes Baby Jesus cry.

I hope Shinji Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion is tucked away in there somewhere. I’ve been wanting to beat his whiny ass to a pulp for about ten years now.

I want this game. Badly.

I wish we could say that we’re giving away copies of Dragonball Z: Burst Limit - but we’re not. But - the fine peeps at Kotaku are handing out freebies, so go bother them. All you have to do is craft your own Dragon Ball - small price to pay for video game swag, no?

Okay, so I’m sitting on a modest pile of tax-return money and I’m contemplating purchasing a Nintendo DS. I traded in my PSP a while back to fund my Xbox 360, and have lately been considering jumping back into the handheld gaming arena. But - for some reason, the DS has been catching my eye. So - should I get one? For a little over $100 it seems like a pretty decent system.

I’d like some of you to leave comments giving me a pro/con list to help me decide whether to nab one. Here are a few factors to take into account:

• My portable gaming time probably amounts to less than 2 hrs a day (more like 1 hour, on average)
• I owned both a Nintendo 64 and a Game Cube and felt burned on both (great 1st party support / crap 3rd party support - typical Nintendo)
• I dig classic RPG’s and strategy games
• I’m not too thrilled about the DS’ control scheme, but I haven’t spent much time with it either
• I really don’t care if it can run homebrew software or not

So - should I pick up a DS or not?

I stopped by my local Gamestop tonight to take advantage of their ‘Buy 2 Get 1 Free Offer’ which crops up once in a while and among the titles* I snagged was a used copy of Ninja Gaiden Black, the classic Xbox beat-em-up which was recently released as an Xbox Live download. While the virtual version goes for something in the neighborhood of $15, the copy I found at Gamestop was a solid $25. Of course, I didn’t hesitate for a second to pick it up. Why?

‘Cause it’s that damn good.

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