MLB 2K10 Challenge

Pitchers and catchers are reporting to training in less than 18 hours; football fans are strung out across the country in serious withdrawal, waiting for the baseball season to start.

Meanwhile, gamers across the country are training for the inevitable pulled muscles, carpal tunnel development and getting ready to stay glued to their TVs come March 2nd...but for good reason. On March 2nd, MLB 2K10 is released for Xbox 360 and PS3. Many gamers have either reserved a copy or will certainly try to get their hands on a copy and start playing right away, striving to pitch a perfect game.

So what's the good reason you ask? 2K Sports, the creator of the game, is offering 1 million bones to the first person to pitch a perfect game in the game before May 2nd. Yes...$1,000,000. Gamers posted videos on YouTube last year of their perfect game performances with MLB 2K9, but this year's edition has upped the ante on pitching control and feel.

So you've gotta think...considering how many hours serious gamers dedicate to playing video games even without extreme incentives such as this, the perfect game must be virtually impossible to achieve if this company is offering such a bold contest. Well apparently that's not the case...2K Sports has essentially put aside a million dollars in anticipation of the winner. Chris Snyder, director of marketing even said "I would be shocked if someone doesn't get it."

Game on people. More info here.

Daft Punk is Back...I Think

Daft Punk is mysterious. The French duo is one of the most unique, eclectic groups and a huge contributor to the worldwide popularity of electronic/house music. Two of their albums, Homework and Discovery, are easily on my top albums of all time list. Without them, Kanye West would not be as popular (or hated, depending on how you look at it) as he is today. Not counting the live album they released in 2007, it's been almost 5 years since they've released an album. So they're due for a new album, right?

Based on a few things, I'm thinking (and hoping) yes. The first thing is their recent contribution to the "spin"-off of Guitar Hero, DJ Hero (yep...I just punned). I haven't gotten my hands on this game yet, but they apparently contributed about 11 new mixes for the game and appear as playable characters. They appeared in promotions for the game, such as this one:



The second item to support my belief that Daft Punk is coming back is their work on the score for the new Tron: Legacy film. If you're the least bit geeky, you heard about this movie in the works. If not, this sequel to the 1982 Tron will be released at the end of this year. Daft Punk has apparently composed 24 tracks for the film and rumors speculate that they make a cameo in the film also. Some tracks were leaked out which is a testament to Daft Punk's popularity; when else have tracks to a film been sought after over a year before the film even comes out?

The third Daft Punk sighting I experienced was for a recent Adidas campaign. This awesome campaign is for Adidas' Star Wars line. Just recently, Snoop Dogg and a storm trooper marched through the streets of New York to the Adidas shop, where a guy had been waiting since 1 am to get the first pair of Luke Skywalker sneaks. Anyway, this promotion came out online last month, showing a glimpse of the helmeted French duo:



So what's the deal Daft Punk? Rumors have been spreading about a 2010 tour but there were false rumors about a tour last year; apparently, they stick to Myspace (yuck!) for official tour news, so I suppose we'll all have to eagerly await.

The Current Status of the Nintendo Wii

Remember back a year to a year and a half ago when people were selling their organs for a 6 month advance reservation for a Nintendo Wii? It had some tremendous buzz and Nintendo had created momentum for a video game system that arguably no other manufacturer or developer had ever done.

Now, Wii owners are twiddling their thumbs, waiting for the next worthwhile release. The Wii is without a doubt much different than the competing Xbox 360 and PS3...the Wii is a multiplayer interactive, fun, family-oriented system (though some of the "interactive" nature can humorously be misinterpreted:)



The PS3 and especially the 360 are putting out the best-sellers for the "true gamers": the single-player storyline shooters. But do developers for the Wii have to stick their guns and create fun games for the whole family? If so, then put out some games worth buying! The last Mario game released was Super Mario Sluggers, which was subpar at best. Mario Tennis is coming out in about a week, but how much better can it be than the simply-stated tennis game from Wii Sports that virtually every Wii owner has? It looks exactly like Super Mario Sluggers adapted to tennis. Some games that have potential on the horizon are The Ghostbusters and a remake of Punch Out.

But back to the question I posed...can the Wii release single-player games to compete with the other systems? Why not? I want to see some more games like Resident Evil 4. One issue when comparing systems is the controller...Wii has controller overload...the original controller, a nunchuk, a classic controller, the balance board and about 50+ add-ons for these. Apparently Japan is working on releasing "The Classic Controller Plus" which looks more like a Xbox or PS3 controller. My hope is that with the release of this comes a release of "gamer" games...

Move Aside Guitar Hero

Are you a Guitar Hero addict but struggle to admit it because of its evil sacrilegious association? Well fear not...take action against your addition this Lent with the Guitar Praise!

Ok...I fear for the direction that I'm going in by poking fun at something associated with religion. The horrible jokes that can be made are just too easy. But I just can't help but laugh at this apparently real product that I stumbled upon:

Guitar Praise

Yes...it's real. They even have a "Dance Praise" in the style of Dance Dance Revolution. Guitar Praise is a version of Guitar Hero, but instead of the demonic music of Black Sabbath and Michael Jackson, it features ALL Christian music. You know...that music that they have infomercials about to try to get you to buy like a 30 CD Set of songs with lyrics such as, "Our God...is an awesome God"

My worry is that conservative parents out there restrict their children to listening to Christian Rock, if anything. If that's the case, chances are they'll restrict them to playing Guitar Praise. If you have the freedom to be exposed to all types of music, and you're moved by Christian Rock on your own volition, good for you. People are moved by all kinds of music, so there's no reason to judge anyone for listening to Christian Rock...some of it's pretty catchy. I just hope that young children have the option to listen to what they want. Music is a big part of many people's lives; I listen to music every day and I can't imagine what life would be like without it.

That said, this thing costs 150 freakin' bucks for a 2 guitar package that runs off of a computer! What's up with that??

Stuff White People Like

A popular blog called "Stuff White People Like" is something that you should read if you are not aware of it yet. It's made me realize how white I truly am while at the same time making me laugh a lot...and of course it has never offended me - I guess they should make a post about "Poking fun at ourselves." It's also proven how, like it's done for music, the web can be a great outlet for writers - it got a book deal. The book, aptly titled, "Stuff White People Like," will be available next week on July 1st.

This concept of making a blog into a book has obviously been met with criticism, especially for its environmental impact (note: this guy may be a bit extreme but he made the analogy that the publisher of this book is the poison monster from Fern Gully - awesome). I slightly agree that simply transferring something that's online into lots and lots of paper isn't the smartest thing to do, but at the same time admire how the writers got the deal. Also, the trend toward making a lot of reading materials digital just won't fly with everyone. I read pretty much all of my news online but I'm definitely not jumping to get a Kindle...I enjoy physically flipping through books and magazines too.

Anyway, Stuff White People Like had a contest for its readers to come up with their own post, the winners of which would receive a free copy of the book. I failed to win them over, despite my 0.7% chance of winning, but thought I would post my entry here. Enjoy:

Beating Video Games

White people have been striving to beat various video games for a long time. Beating games quickly is the ideal - preferably as close to the release date as humanly possible. "Did you get a copy of GTA IV yet dude?" "Oh, GTA IV?...yea, I picked it up at Midnight...I beat it already though...only took me 14 hours straight." A response like that can gain an enormous amount of respect (atleast until the next edition of that game comes out).

One trend that stormed through the world of white people was timing how long it takes a person to beat an original NES game. Admitting that you never were able to beat Super Mario Brothers when you were a child will usually be met with roaring laughter. That will lead into a competitive discussion about who was able to recently beat it in the shortest amount of time. Professionals have released their performances on YouTube.

This leads to what systems are proper to play - you can either go original or new. For example, you can either play an original NES system or the latest Nintendo Wii. Playing "Jet Moto" on the original Playstation system is so not cool anymore.

Being able to brag about completing a video game took on a whole new meaning when Guitar Hero was released. For some reason, being able to play "Free Bird" on Guitar Hero on Expert is way better than being able to play "Free Bird" on an actual guitar. Real guitars are for chumps nowadays. The real rockstars are out there in their apartments at 3 AM every night, perfecting their finger response to "The Devil Went Down to Georgia."

The Nintendo Wii has thrown white people for a loop with the Wii Fit. Apparently the point is not to beat the game but to regularly use it as exercise. Chances are that that the honor in this game will be in the amount of time committed to playing it. Stay tuned for updates.

Obviously this is just my effort toward the apparent genius of other bloggers. For any publishers out there that may be reading my other posts though...I'm quite open to the idea of a book deal :)

Wii Fit

So I tried the Wii Fit for the first time over the weekend and was lucky enough to get my own copy thanks to my brother. I think it's pretty cool but wanted to clarify a couple of things:

• There was a debate over how "harsh" the game could be to people because it initially measures your BMI and places you in the official BMI ranking, which ranks from "underweight" to "obese" - BMI is nothing new though...it's the truth, it's not harsh. Hopefully this game can become effective for everyone though which I think it can definitely do.
• The Wii Age - after a "balance test," the game gives you an age - I think the game should allow the user to practice this balance test more before actually giving the test because I'm guessing most people can not adjust to it as quickly as it expects you to (case in point: over the weekend, granted I had attended a beerfest earlier in the day, it gave me a Wii Age of 42...today, it gave me 25)
• The game seems like more of a single-player effort, despite its 2-player jogging exercise (and possibly other 2-player activities) - multiple people can play it but you need to go back to the login to choose your respective profile first. At first, I thought this could be improved, but then I thought it was OK because some of these activities should be done alone in the privacy of your room. Especially the Hula Hoop (this is my brother...Sorry Pat):

WuChess

If you listen closely to most of the lyrics to hip hop songs today, you probably will not have any moments of intellectual inspiration. I'll admit some of them have catchy beats and are fun to listen to when you're out at the bar, but I usually shy away from downloading these songs or even listening to the radio stations that play them on repeat. I wouldn't even really consider these songs "hip hop"...they should be grouped with "pop" along with Britney and Madonna and all of them. I'll give Lil Jon some props for creating his own wine label, but his songs are mostly just different combinations of "what," "yea," and "ok." I have more respect for the talented, true hip hop artists such as Jurassic 5, De La Soul, The Roots, and of course Wu-Tang Clan.

Rza from the Wu-Tang Clan just started a website called WuChess, in hopes of promoting chess among the hip hop community. The site will have live chess tournaments, etc. and proceeds will benefit the Hip-Hop Chess Federation, which probably has the best mission statement ever: "Using chess, music and martial arts to promote unity, strategy and non-violence." The founders of this organization recognize that chess can develop life skills such as patience, focus, and thinking before doing.

Personally, Rza has inspired me to start playing chess. If I adopt it as a hobby, my goal will be to someday meet Rza face-to-face in a match. And I'll bring the ruckus.

Mario Kart Wii Tries Guerilla Marketing

If I lived anywhere near NYC, I would have definitely tried to get a view of this one...

Mario Kart Wii is a highly-anticipated game that comes out this Sunday, 4/27. Apparently, one promotion that went on today in NYC involved Mario and cabs. In fact, in midtown Manhattan, in the morning and around lunchtime, Mario was hailing cabs for commuters.

I would rather see Mario driving the cabs, but I suppose that's probably difficult for whoever is wearing the large Mario head. Plus most people in their right mind would not enter a cab driven by Mario (I, on the other hand, would absolutely love to).

I love guerilla marketing efforts like this because they really allow for creativity. They're less common, often a break from reality, and you can't really avoid someone dressed like Mario hailing cabs in Manhattan. Of course, they don't always go well...

In January 2007, to hype up the release of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie, aptly named, "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters," large LED blocks that animated a "mooninite," a popular character from the TV series (if you have no idea what I'm talking about right now, I wouldn't worry about it), were put up all over Boston. Apparently, the people of Boston did not react very well to it, because eventually the Boston bomb squad declared all of these LED blocks as "improvised explosive devices." Yikes.

Mario Theme via RC car and Wine bottles

I watched this video and I thought...

The people who took the time to create this video are absolutely geeks, but they sure as hell are creative...



P.S. I'm a geek too...I just got Mario/Sonic Olympics for Wii in the mail today. I'm just lazier and less creative than these guys...

Guitar Rising

Did anyone watch the South Park spoof on Guitar Hero? Guitar Queer-O? Stan's Dad (probably my favorite character) watches as Stan and company play Guitar Hero and decides to bust out his real guitar and play the real songs (which of course everyone thinks is lame). Then Stan's Dad tries out playing the game and can't hit a single note.

Point is...I love Guitar Hero...but it doesn't really have anything to do with playing real guitar. I love how when I played, people were like, "oh well you play bass guitar so that helps." Not really.

Here's where Guitar Rising comes in. Expected to come out late this year, it's a program that will come with a USB connection for real guitars (the ones that make real noise when you play them). It looks just like the Guitar Hero games, but it allows you to learn guitar because you're learning the actual notes and progressions (this means 6 strings and a pick...not green-red-yellow-blue-orange buttons and a "strum-bar"). Now kids (and adults like me) can actually have a real shot at becoming a Guitar Hero!

P.S. I know...I italicized "real" like 5 times in this post.

Mario Bros 2

Ok, call me a geek, but I think anyone who grew up playing Mario will think this video is AWESOME: (By the way...4 Posts in One Day! A New Record!)

Whoopii!

Well, I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays. Santa was good to me this year...among many other great gifts, I got a Wii (now you get the title of the post, right? It would be Whoopee, but since I got a Wii, it's Whoopii...get it? ha...ha...ok, sorry that was lame). My next step is to get some games, but my brother was nice enough to lend me some games for a few days. I dedicated the better half of my day off yesterday to playing, and chances are that this will become a trend. I do have a Gamestop giftcard to spend...anyone have any suggestions for a game that I should get?

Another gift that I got for Christmas was beer (surprise!). My parents got me some, and Hilary's parents got me some. With the variety of beer that I drink, I have always felt a need to keep track of the various brews that I consume. A while ago, I started saving bottles...eventually, I realized that I would be crawling through bottles in my bedroom if I kept that up. Hilary's Mom inspired me, however, to save the labels...which is exactly what I started doing (unfortunately, the label for "Santa's Butt Porter" ripped as I tried to get it off). If you have any ideas with what to do with the labels once I get a good collection, let me know...

One of the highlights of my time off was playing Cranium with my brother Dan and my parents (my Dad and I vs. Dan and my Mom). If you enjoy board games, and have never played Cranium, you should definitely go pick it up. I've mentioned how competitive my family is before, so board games can sometimes evolve into wrestling and yelling at each other. However, we managed to get through the game with no serious injuries...

The Attraction to the Inaccessible

In this country, businessmen and women often look at the demand of their product and produce enough to easily meet that demand, in order to gain as much revenue as they can (I know, the first sentences of all of my other blog posts usually head in completely different directions - i.e., television, gladiators, soy sauce, etc.) That business model seems logical in terms of seeking profits, but look at some examples of businesses that have headed in different directions...

The Nintendo Wii. Almost impossible to find one right now. From reports, Nintendo execs insist that failing to meet the demand for the system is not something that they want to do (suuuuure). However, look at the buzz surrounding the Wii. The fact that it is hard to find one available definitely contributes to the attractiveness of it. You can easily find a PS3 anywhere, but do you want to shell out twice as much money for something that you can find without effort? The PS3's are sitting on shelves, while the Wii's are barely touching the shelves before someone buys one.

With Christmastime around the corner, it makes me think of the classic holiday toy madness. Remember Furby? Tickle-me-Elmo? How about that awesome Schwarzenegger movie Jingle All The Way? Granted, the demand for some of these products was triggered by the puppy-dog eyes of begging children, but sometimes parents just follow the buzz of what the popular Christmas toy is for that year, regardless of what their children ask for.

The reason that this idea sparked into my mind is because of an article about a Belgian brewery (ahhh, now you all realize where I was headed with this one). As part of the several Trappist beers, Westvleteren beer is brewed by a monastery of monks. Never heard of it? You would think you would have since it rolls off the tongue...but you almost definitely have not heard of it and that's no accident. In order to get your hands on this beer, you have to travel to the gates of their monastery. But it's not even that simple. You have to call "the beer phone" in order to know when it is that you can get whichever beer that they have available. You are then instructed to call back at another time. Finally, you make a reservation day for when you are to go to the monastery to pick up the beer...you even have to give them the license plate number of the car that will be picking it up. THEN you go to the monastery to pick it up. It almost seems illegal how the process works. And the beer phone is ringing off the hook! They put traditional business models to shame.

It's all for good reason though. The monks are not looking to make any profit from their brewing. They definitely do not advertise...they don't even put labels on their bottles (if they did advertise, I'd go with the slogan, "You'll be swearin'...unless you get some Westvleteren!") Obviously, people have tried to go through the lengthy process and then resell the beer at astronomical prices. However, the monks not only mildly discourage reselling...they seek out people who do it and try to get them to stop! Despite the tiresome process that is involved with getting Westvleteren beer, people are claiming that it is some of, if not the, best beer in the world. Again, an attraction to what's inaccessible. There is no doubt in my mind that the beer is fantastic, but other Belgian beers are readily accessible around the world (Delirium, Chimay, and Leffe to name a few), and my guess is that Westvleteren would be rated among those (all of which are excellent) if it were distributed widely. Hell, years ago, Coors wasn't distributed to the East Coast so it was "cool" to drink it because it was different than the norm. I admit I love to tap the Rockies once in a while but I'm not bragging when I pick up a case of it at one of the millions of places of where it's sold. The process of getting Westvleteren adds to its excellence. It's like the Mount Everest summit to beer-lovers...and I'll have to organize an expedition someday...