"We just sort of made ours up."

Last week saw the boys at Penny Arcade celebrate their 5th anniversary. I probably speak for gamers everywhere when I say that these guys have our dream job: playing the latest games all day long, with the only worry being the idea for the next strip and typing up a post to go alongside it. And relative the gaming community at large, their opinions and their readership are a force to be reckoned with. In the words of Gabe, "Not bad for a couple of guys that don't know Frank Cho." Indeed. I wish them all the best and five more years of hilarious game related commentary.

Gamespy flexed its "industry muscle" again late last week and made the demo for Deus Ex 2: Invisible War a 24-hour subscriber exclusive. I got it along with 99% of the Internet yesterday, sans subscription. If anything Gamespy's shenanigans are merely an annoyance; if publishers had any business sense we would be swimming in bit torrents supplied by our favorite community websites where they can all share a piece of the adspace pie. I planned on saying a few words regarding the demo of one of the most anticipated titles of 2003, but for some reason the assholes at Ion Storm forgot to optimize it for a normal person's computer. Although I built my current system in October 2002, it's pretty beefy even by today's standards. There's no way I should have to watch a slide show at 1024x768. It's just not right. So rather than get all upset at what could have been a decent game, I'm just going to say download it at your own peril and enjoy the new cumbersome interface and linear style of gameplay. I wonder if the press will excuse Mr. Spector this time.

toase.net has kind of taken a Gamecube-centric slant as of late. The Wife and I picked up a copy of Mario Kart: Double Dash!! this weekend, so this not likely to change in the short term. We've played it quite a bit, winning all three 50cc championships in the amazing co-op mode. There have been some naysayers about this new approach to Maio Kart, but in my opinion adding a co-pilot to each kart is a welcome change. The game looks as good as ever and I intend to write about it very soon. I have not forgotten about my Game Machine, though - my Jedi Training is almost complete. Let it be said that the review is en route. Did I ever mention how fucking cool it is to decimate your enemies wielding dual lightsabers?

Happily, I learned that the Sword of Mana official site is now online. The game will be released just in time for the holidays, which makes me wonder how long this Xmas list of mine is going to be. I thought it was a wholly-original addition to the Mana universe that takes place before the SNES game, but it's actually a remake of Final Fantasy Adventure that was available for the Gameboy way back when. After Golden Sun, I'm hoping that this will fill the RPG void on my clamshell companion. Something interesting I came across related to our pals Square-Enix are their growing talks with MSFT for some sort of XBox exclusive. It's quite obvious that they are in need RPGs on their system (kind of like my precious Gamecube) and what better way to do it than with the most widely popular series in existence? I wish them luck, Squenix had to get a new development studio out of Nintendo before they'd supply them with Crystal Chronicles.

I caught a rumour about the price for Sony's PSP, which shows an estimate of $550 US. The specs are impressive - there's no question. But if Sony wants to compete, well that's another story. The fact that the first developer attached to the PSP claims they want to "distance" themselves from the "child-oriented" GBA is pure nonsense. What, you're going to make games that suddenly compel executives to trade in their 256-color cell phones with Centipede for one of these things? It's time to dislodge that head from your ass.

This weekend we also found some time to view Ang Lee's take on The Hulk. Eric Bana was pretty good as the Green Goliath, and Ms. Connelly as hot as ever, but what the hell happened to the plot? Maybe that gamma-irradiated french poodle got to it, I've no idea. The movie went from riveting to absurd in the space of a few scenes (see climax). I wonder, how is it that you can get guys like Nick Nolte - who supplied a brilliant performance - and have it mean absolutely nothing? Way too long and probably the weakest of the recent Marvel adaptations. Watch me as I step in line for Spider Man 2.

i'm willing to find out what impossible means