Human Sacrifice, Dogs and Cats Living Together...

...Mass hysteria!

So, apparently the planets have aligned, for this week carries many of the greatest of all geekly events ON TOP OF EACH OTHER! I refer to, among others, the first episodes of Heroes Season 2, The Office Season 4, and the debut of Halo 3. I don't even own an X-Box (much less a 360) and I'm excited about that!

...Actually, I don't even KNOW someone with a 360!

Then, there are the new shows. To be honest, my Heroes-inspired insanity has kept me from being all that aware of them, but Chuck (the tv show) looks especially promising. Reaper also looks like it has potential, but that's one I'm especially wary of. Some shows sound good on paper and then crap out in execution. Not to mention celebrity directors make me nervous. Especially on first episodes. I can stomach them during sweeps, but the first episode? Ride your own wave, man!

Not to mention, Cricket is suddenly doing comics again! Astounding!

Still, it almost doesn't seem fair that EVERYONE gets to see Heroes start tonight. ...er...Everyone in the US, anyway. Le Cricket, for instance has only been watching Heroes for, what? Two weeks? I've also heard unconfirmed rumors that tonight's episode may also be on the DVD set, though I couldn't say for sure. Being broke, and all. It's bad enough that he didn't have to sit through the month and a half long breaks between episodes, but now, he doesn't even have to wait through the summer off-season!

GRAVE INJUSTICE!

In the name of fairness, I demand that he ONLY watch Heroes on DVD. Thus, he will have to wait until early next September!

As the Refreshments once sang, that seems fair...

And Now a Word From...

Bow to your corporate masters!

I know this is probably unethical on some level, but I'm really psyched about the new Spider-Man movie. The above banner is actually for the tie-in game, which will hopefully rock as hard as Ultimate Spider-Man, but I suppose we'll have to wait and see. It's been proven, though, that a good Spidey game CAN be made, so here's to hoping!

You gotta feel sorry for the guy...

I scanned an interview with Nolan Bushnell, the guy behind the Atari system back in the day. He was saying how video games should be a force for social good, how he wanted to save the world from Grand Theft Auto (probably the magazine's words...like I said, I only scanned the article). To this end, he's been working on a new multi-player, multi-color team Pong.

The whole time I read it, I couldn't help imagining Pandora trying to shove everything back in the box.

The problem is that what he's doing, essentially, is the same as colorizing Leave it to Beaver to save television. But nobody wants to watch Leave it to Beaver anymore. That's why its on TVLand and TVLand just happens to NOT be the most popular cable network.

I'm not suggesting that Grand Theft Auto is fine. Especially not for kids (I am guilty, however, of having taken out my frustrations on the citizens of Liberty City using a baseball bat. And a tank. And a sniper rifle. Etc.). I'm just saying, you can't fix anything by going backwards. You want to change the course of video games, make something that appeals to today's gamers, not some retro party game that doesn't have the staying power of something like, say, DDR. It reminds me of a couple of lines from Back to the Future: Part II (one of which was delivered by Elijah "Frodo" Woods):

Video Game Boy #1: You mean you have to use your hands?
Video Game Boy #2: That's like a baby's toy!

Mr. Bushnell, that's what gamers are going to call your "new" game. A baby's toy. You want to save the world? Try NOT ripping off yourself from 30 years ago.