Well, I ended up going to KublaCon for more time than I originally intended, simply for more Shadowfist. And, yes, I bought Grave Robbers from Outer Space, a game that I will have no problems getting Ed to play ("Wait. You said there's a chainsaw in this game?"). Thanks to all the people who helped me shake the rust off of my kung fu, including Frank (who kicked my ass handily in Who Wants Some) Max, Eric, and all the others. Special props to the guys who gave me the Golden Gunman and the White Ninja (pictured above in the awesome art by Kaja Foglio) for pretty much free. I'll definitely be heading to the Proving Grounds this summer to go in for some redemption action... muhaha.
In other news, E3. I didn't go myself, electing instead to sit back and hold down the fort at the office--IE take some paid vacation time, since everyone I would have dealt with normally was down in LA running around the floor begging for the next appointment to be closer. The VP of creative services gave us homebodies a few free lunches in the bargain, so I don't think I missed much there--well, except an opportunity to kick Greg Dean's ass. And make more fun of Hot Soup.
But what I did get out of E3 was a picture of my future. And it is full of ninjas. Well, just one. Shinobi ate my quarters in the arcade, it owned my soul on the Sega Master System, and filled up lots of my Genesis time. And now that Sakura Taisen is effectively done, Shinobi can begin again.
Meanwhile, Panzer Dragoon Orta looks like it'll be great--except I'll be freaked out when it turns out to be an actual sequel for once, instead of a cryptic prequel. I'll be absolutely shocked, given how Zwei and Azel were connected to the first.
Yes, I'm a Sega fan.
But beyond just Sega, some more games I can't wait to get my hands on are Steel Battalion--which my editor said made him nervous, because the controller for that thing is huge and made him feel as if his father was forcing him to pilot the world-saving robot--and BloodRayne, which has some interesting concepts if they can pull it off (cough cough Munch'sOddyseecough) and Deus Ex 2, which suffers from being in the same show as Doom III, but which I don't doubt will do just as well.
I guess a rant on E3 wouldn't be complete without mentioning my roommate's insatiable lust for Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball. So there it is. I shall speak no further on the subject.
Now if you'll excuse me, it's time for me to craft some war. Goddamn double hero rushers...