Net Crawl: Mega Dump Oct 08

Haven't done a Net Crawl for a long time and my Bookmark's "temp" folder is BLOATED.

Well, here are some links that I think are still interesting/relevant.

Enjoy!

Net Crawl: The 40th post on this blog

Yes. I've only had 40 posts so far on my blog. BUT... almost every post here requires some time to research on and write so I dare say I've put a fair bit of effort into this blog... although I don't post very often.

Anyway, here's a bunch of links for you to click on.

• Chess champion Garry Kasparov has been arrested for leading a march through Moscow in opposition to Russian President Vladamir Putin. Like. Wow. You would think a true chess champion would have seen that coming.
  - Slashdot article
  
• When the Virginia Tech shootings broke out on the news, every gamer's favourite attorney, Jack Thompson, blames the shootings on video games when no information whatsoever was given. He simply assumed that the shooter trained for this event by playing games like Counterstrike. True enough, the shooter turned out to be a Korean boy with some skill in CS. Jack Thompson continued to spread lies on TV stations like Fox News, preaching anti-video games messages to the world. For those who don't know who Jack Thompson is, this is the guy who tried to ban sexually-explicit/violent games like Bully, GTA, and The Sims (YES, I'm serious. He claims The Sims has inappropriate sexual content similar to GTA's Hot Coffee mod). And then the following happened:
  - Kotaku dissects Jack's lies
  - MSNBC agrees with Kotaku
  - Jack calls for FBI investigation on Kotaku
  - Jack sues Kotaku
  This is one whacked-up attorney... Good news though: He's on the verge of losing his license to practice law because of... well... professional misconduct.
  
  
• No link here for you to click =\ only a bunch of interesting (well... at least for ninty fans) release dates appeared on Famitsu:
  

  July 2007: Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Fuuketsu no Grimoire (NDS, Square Enix)
  July 2007: MushiKing Super Collection (Wii, Sega)
  July 2007: Wii Health Pack (Wii, Nintendo)
  July 2007: Mario Party 8 (Wii, Nintendo)
  August 2007: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates (NDS, Square Enix)
  October 2007: Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, Nintendo)
  November 2007: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2 (NDS, Nintendo)
  November 2007: Dragon Quest IX (NDS, Square Enix)
  December 2007: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii/NDS, Sega)
  In late 2007: Wii with DVD playback (Nintendo)
  2008: Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (Capcom)

  FF Tactics on DS! I LOVED FF Tactics on GBA! I hope a US version comes out soon... but knowing Squenix and how long they take to translate/localise games...
  On the other hand, US gets Mario Party before Japan does, so let's hope we get Galaxy soon too ;)
  
  
• The Freakonomics Of Wii Shortages (Freakonomics blog via Gamespot via Kotaku)
  An interesting read...
  
  
• Finally, 2 cool videos:
  - Cool Wii picture browser art
  - REALLY cool Halo+Metroid fan movie

And that concludes number 40. I hope this has alerted you(the reader) about Jack "I hate video games" Thompson and his nefarious plan to ban violent video games. I hope he tries to ban America's Army.... hmm... that'll be very interesting......

I might start working on the next article very soon... something related to Esplanade, 7.30pm, 16 June 2007...

Net Crawl: The First

Yay! A new feature article! I've been wanting to expand this blog with guest writers and various regular features but, as with any other thing I do, I've been very very lazy to write much. However, things might change from this point on! Since I'm going to NS, I'm planning to blog AT LEAST once a week (unless I get stuck with guard duty). For the rest of the week, I'm hoping some other people might like to contribute some articles. Sooo.... for all those who have personal blogs for writing about their personal lives and have been wanting to write about their interests (namely Movies, Gaming, Tech and maybe even Anime) on a separate blog, Game&Tech (aka Victor) welcomes you to write here as a guest writer! All you need to do is email me at vsw1988@hotmail.com with your email address (preferably gmail) and you're in!

Ok so that might be a little far-fetched (since I currently estimate the total number of who know of this blog to be 10 at most and number of regular readers to be at 1 or 2), but it never hurts to dream......

Anyway, on to the main article.

FEATURE: NET CRAWL

This is where I Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V information/links from the web that doesn't belong to any other category. And it will be in point form for quick and easy reading (ok I'm just lazy).

• As some of you may or may not know, PLAY! A Video Game Symphony is coming to Singapore this June as part of the Singapore Arts Festival. They will be playing music from games like Mario, Zelda, Halo, and even WoW (0.o) Tickets ($20, $30, $40, $60, $70) are on sale now. They will be performing at the Esplanade on 15 and 16 June. As a special bonus for Singapore fans, Yuzo Koshiro will be on hand to DJ before the concert. Who is he? The composer for Streets of Rage. 'Nuff said.
  - Official PLAY! site
  - Singapore Arts Festival site (with links to Sistic)
• Guild Wars 2 has been announced! Basically, the main difference would be that the game will have a persistant world, much like WoW, EQ and any other P2P MMOs...... but with no monthly fee! Furthermore, the level cap will be something high (like 100) or unbounded. Does anyone else feel that Guild Wars 2 doesn't feel like Guild Wars anymore?
  - Kotaku report
• Nodame Cantabile for the DS. Nothing much to say about it. You can try it out at the link below. Nodame Cantabile fans, be prepared for disappointment......
  - DS Fanboy link (site includes a small flash game demo)
• C&C 3 is out. People around the world are JEALOUS of Singapore. Why? Because we have a really cool Kane's edition! Some are complaining that EA shouldn't spent so much money on cool stuff like that for countries like Singapore that are rampant with piracy. Meh. Check out the GameFAQs thread link below.
  - GameFAQs thread
• I knew that Snake from Metal Gear Solid was inspired by Snake Plissken from Escape from LA, but did you know that the main characters of Contra look exactly like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone?
  - Konami Characters and their 80's counterparts
• Flash Mob: A group of strangers who gather together in a public area (illegally) to do strange (and cool) things. Like in the following video, where a group of anime otakus gather to dance to the beat of Haruhi.
  - Cool Flash Mob
• Excel (MS Spreadsheets) the MMO??? WTF??? Hahahahahaha!
  - Excel the MMO
• Kotaku received a package from the people responsible for Pirate of the Burning Sea (MMO).
  "Yesterday I received a box in the mail. Cracking it open I found inside this odd assortment of a toy, some sweets, a little alcohol and an asset CD from the Pirates of the Burning Sea folks." " What the hell! I turned to my wife and said: 'Why would someone send me a YoYo, some HoHos and a bottle of rum?' and then I burst into laughter. Classic."
• Last but not least.... Chick Chick Boom. It's basically a game where you blow up chicks (as in, small yellow furry things, totally not like GTA) to unlock various Nintendo-related wallpapers. I don't know what chicks have to do with Wii Sports, Wario, or Kororinpa, but the game is fun! Tablet users will totally pwn this game.
  - Chick Chick Boom!

Edit: Subsequent Net Crawls definitely won't be this long.