A whole ton of crap

Maybe that was an exageration, but there is some stuff to post about. Bullet for my Valentine's new album "Scream Aim Fire" was released today. I don't have it and probably won't til this weekend (maybe I can get a review or something out then), but you can check it out. If you wanna get it, your first option is obviously to go to the store and buy it. But, if you're fat and lazy, you can download it from the iTunes store at this link: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=272102094&id=272102066&s=143441. You can also get it here: http://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/3514796/Scream-Aim-Fire/Product.html?P36=79GZ6P (though you have to pay it Euros - Europeans will be fine with this). Best Buy also has it on their website for 9.99 (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8660157&st=bullet+for+my+valentine&type=product&id=1787308).
Also more news on my 360. Its fun. I like it. I beat Call of Duty 4 :( Not that that's a bad thing...but now all I have is arcade mode cuz I don't have Xbox live, and no one else in my house is in to gaming in any way. So I'll have to get Live and/or Bioshock pretty soon. I would tell more but I don't know what else to say.
I would put news about SSB: Brawl in this paragraph but on account of there's been ZERO interesting news lately, I won't. All I can say is that you obsessive American Wii gamers could get it imported from Japan tomorrow (Jan 30) if you're willing to go through the trouble (tell me how awesome Olimar and Trainer are).
Finally Taste of Chaos tickets are now up for sale (and if I remember correctly, they're cheaper now that in the Presale [suckers]). I don't actually know if they're on sale everywhere, but they are in the place I care about: Orlando. So, visit www.tasteofchaos.com to see if the tickets are on sale if your city.
That's all I can think of to post, so I'll probably go play some Call of Duty 4, or eat or sumthin.

360!!!!!!!!!!!

So, pretty much anyone who knows me knows that I've been basically obsessing over getting a 360 from about the time Bioshock came out, approx. 1/2 year ago. Well, Saturday, January 26, the day of victory finally came. I got a 360. And Call of Duty 4. But since I'm tired and am about to shower, I'll hafta keave you there and write more about it for tomorrow (total cliffhanger yo! wtf holy crap you moron how can you do that you piece of crap wtf?). Yay!

Avenged Sevenfold

If you ever needed proof that Avenged Sevenfold is awesome, just go to Iron Maiden's "Somewhere Back in Time" tour this year. What's this got to do with A7X? "British heavy metal legends IRON MAIDEN have announce that AVENGED SEVENFOLD will join them as special guests at Twickenham Stadium on July 5, Paris Bercy July 2 and 3 and a number of dates in Finland and Scandinavia on their 'Somewhere Back In Time World Tour.'" The full story is here at http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=89224. So, all I can say now is, Suck on that A7X haters!!! And, be sure to catch A7X on the Rockstar Taste of Chaos Tour with BFMV, Atreyu, Blessthefall, and Idiot Pilot (http://www.tasteofchaos.com/).

More BFMV

Hey, for those who can't wait for BFMV's new album, "Scream Aim Fire," they now have it streaming in its entirety on their myspace at www.myspace.com/bulletformyvalentine.

I'm posting something about Ashley

I response to an e-mail I sent...

"sweeeet..... now add sometihing about me." -Ashley

...There you go.

"Casual" Gamers

I don't like casual gamers. "Why?" you ask? Myself, or any fan of Nintendo can tell you exactly why. Everyone's (especially Nintendo's) focus right now is on casual gamers. What's that mean? Why doe it matter to hardcore gamers? It means that everyone *coughnintendocough* is coming out with all these crappy, family friendly games that have no real value. "So?" you ask? Let's put it this way, the hardcore gamers, yes, the gamers who game as a hobby, who love video games and who enjoy video games - especially good ones, are being neglected. Let's make a list here. Using Nintendo as an example, because Wii owners understand the annoying pests that are "casual gamers" more than anything. We can say that the Wii probably already has more games out than the Gamecube ever hoped to have. That's a good thing. Right? Wrong. Let's make a list of good Wii games, that people have heard of, and are enojoyed by hardcore gamers.

Metroid Prime 3
Super Mario Galaxy
[Eventually] Super Smash Bros. Brawl
The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess

That's about as good as it gets. That's even including 3rd party games (notice how there aren't any 3rd party games there anyway). Now, let's see all the crappy Wii games meant to appeal to the casual gamer.

Mario Party 8
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games
Wario Ware: Smooth Moves
Carnival Games
Wii Sports (count this, if you will.)
Wii Play
Boogie
Game Party (wtf?)

...that's just some of them. And essentially all any of those games are is about 20 minigames in 1 box. What was going on there was Nintendo was using big names (Wario, Mario, Sonic) to attract casual gamers who will recognize these and buy them simply for that reason.


"Oh, it has Mario in it, it must be good." Is what they're thinking. Now, if Nintendo's going to continue going down this path, I would like to give them some advice. Go ahead, cater to casual gamers, just because there's more of them than hardcore gamers. But if you're going to do this, at least put some more 3rd party games out there. And not crap like Call of Duty 3 and Medal of Honor. I mean good 3rd party games. Studios like Ubisoft, Bioware, 2k Games, [sometimes] Capcom. Buy out Square Enix if you will (I'm not a fan of FF, but I know they're out there). Just try harder to appeal to everyone, and not just focus on the money (that includes yen). You won't have to work harder to crank out great games, it will make hardcore gamers hate casual gamers less, and everyone can be happy. Do you know how well Call of Duty 4 and Bioshock sold? Those are Hardcore gamers playing those games. And think of it this way, you can still make your precious cash off of stupid, gullible casual gamers, along with the extra money made from having good games hardcore gamers will want to buy. I hope I made my point clear, and didn't appear to be rambling on and repeating myself here...

Bullet for my Valentine

Yay! 1 week from today, Bullet for my Valentine is releasing their 2nd studio album, "Scream Aim Fire" They released their "Scream Aim Fire" EP record earlier this month with the singles "Scream Aim Fire" and "Eye of the Storm" They're music video for "Scream Aim Fire" is also now up on Youtube. So far on their site, they haven't posted any sites to where you can preorder the album. So I guess you'll either have to find it on your own or just get it in stores January 29. Also, go to www.myspace.com/guitarhero3 to vote for Bullet's song "Tears Don't Fall" to be available on Guitar Hero 3. Or you can vote for System of a Down's "Chop Suey!" Just don't vote any of the other ones, they're no good :) Finally, be sure to catch Bullet for my Valentine, along with Avenged Sevenfold, Atreyu, Blessthefall, and Idiot Pilot on the 2008 Rockstar Taste of Chaos Tour. You can get dates and ticket information http://www.tasteofchaos.com/

Video Game News

I thought I might as well make my first post about gaming. I'm gonna miss Otronicon this weekend (shut up Carlos), which is sad. But, to make myself feel better, I'll post about gaming and gaming news. I'll start with Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

For those of you out of the loop on this, I'll add some recent updates here. But seriously, if you really care, you'll go to http://www.smashbros.com/.

Some big news this week, another delay! Now the release date is scheduled to be March 9. I feel safe posting this given that I'm at my commputer...alone...out of harm's way.

Also, Sheik has finally been added as a character. The bad news? She hasn't changed. A bit. Every move is exactly the same. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but really, they couldn't have just spiced her up a bit? Like Link (I'll use this comparison since he's from the same series), they made his boomerang now unleash a tornado when used, making it more powerful. They couldn't have at least let her use her chain to grapple? Or maybe lit some dem darts on fiah. But maybe there's a reason for this. But I don't know (or really care...).

More character news. Olimar!!! Your favorite little dog-like thing from Pikmin! I'd say he's my new most anticipated character, now replacing Pokemon Trainer. I like these guys simply because they've got such a unique fighting style. I'm most excited though, to see the Pikmin in action. Those guys are awesome. I want to see each of their effects on enemies...what the red ones will do, blue, yellow, purple, white...And their final smash was also announced this week. It's called "End of Day," and fans of Pikmin will understand how at night Olimar and his pikmin leave the planet so as not to be slaughtered by nocturnal creatures. Like gangstas (but not really). Their final smash will be just that. They jump into the ship and fly out of the stadium. In their absence, the remaining brawlers are mauled by nighttime creatures. And to finish it, the ship comes crashing back down in the morning and causes an explosion, which will hopefully finish whoever didn't get KO'ed by the animals.

Now since I don't have a Wii, nor do I really care for one, I'll put some other news here. 360 games to come in 2008! (I don't care if they not exclusive)

Fable 2 - Sequel to one of Xbox's best games, due out Q3 2008.

Lost Odyssey - Due out in America Febrary 12. One of Microsoft's attempts to appeal to (no offense) ignorant Japanese gamers...you know, the ones who play Final Fantasy 24/7. The good news is, this one's made by Mistwalker, which was founded by *ahem* Hironobu Sakaguchi. You might know him better from Square Enix.

Halo Wars - got no news on when this is supposed to be shipping. Just think, Halo RTS.

Too Human - One of my personal favs. These guys been workin their butts off still, after so much bad luck and so many cancellations, Too Human's finally due out in '08. This one's story is for another post, or you could check it at http://www.ign.com.

Turok - Didn't appeal to me at first, but it's shaping up to look like a good game. Due out 2/5.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 - Not being a big fan of the franchise, I got no comment. Due out 3/11.

Dead Space - I know, its developer is EA, but I think it has potential...a lot. And the director's comment on how he plans to make "the scariest game ever" has got me psyched. Due out some time in 2008. Gamestop says it ships October something.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames - First game was awesome, let's hope #2 (which is working under a different developer) will be better! Due out April 08.

...that's all for now. Yes, there;s other games, but I have to pack, and my mom wants me off the compy. My next post won't be til at least Monday. Til then check out my friend Carlos' (http://carlossspot.blogspot.com) coverage of Otronicon at OSC this weekend.

First Post - Welcome!

Mah first post here. Yes, this is the blog of me, Josh, and no, I'm not emo. Right now, I'm not sure what I plan on putting here, but so you know what to expect, I'm a HARDCORE gamer, love music, could be considered a musician, and, uh...I do stuff. Ya. So, check back here whenever, if you care. You could also check out my Facebook profile (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=643085850) if you wanna know more in your endless quest for knowledge.