I’d like to thank everybody here at Mediabreach for putting up with my shenanigans but I’m going to be taking a vacation in the mead filled halls of Skyrim’s various cities soon. Bethesda has been keeping the hype caravan going over the course of this last month by posting videos depicting various behind the scenes goings on. I love that stuff as much as the next guy when it come to games but this video is making want to storm Bethesda’s gates and plunder me a copy of it so that I can play it already.  So please, enjoy this slice of Skyrim’s day-to-day business as much as I did:

This is the kind of thing you want to start your morning off with – validation that your perfectly natural crush on a girl half your age is normal. Actually, I didn’t need that as both Emma and I were born in the same decade. I’m just happy Jim decided to work out his feelings in a youtube video so we could all laugh uncomfortably together.

Even better is the fact that Emma Stone’s the one that posted this. I love a girl that can take creepiness in stride and even laugh about it.

Yup. That was it.

I have to say, this feels noticeably underwhelming when comparing it to the initial video released last summer. In that first video, there was a discernible amount of cheese but I loved it because it was unmistakeably a Mortal Kombat variety of cheese that was just aged a bit differently than the main brand. Granted this is the first episode so they’ll have plenty of time to build up the tension (or actually have tension) but this only left me wanting more because I’m thoroughly in the thralls of the current Mortal Kombat renaissance. Had I not known this was associated with the franchise in any way, I would’ve written this off as a B movie my childhood self would’ve ignored while thumbing through cable channels on a weekend. When I wasn’t ignoring them, I fast forwarded through most of the action sequences in this episode which means I fast forwarded through 75% of it.

In the long run though, I’ll keep up with this because it’s free and I have lunch breaks with time to kill. I really hope it picks up though.

• Thundera,¬† the Thundercats home planet in the original series, now appears to be kingdom that exists on Third Earth itself.¬† How they’ll handle this will be interesting considering one the driving forces behind the narrative in the original was how everything on Third Earth was new to the Thundercats and it basically allowed the writers to go nuts with original ideas.
• Hearing Larry Kenney as Claudius but sounding exactly like old school Lion-O is kick ass.
• We get our first glimpse of Slithe, leader of the Reptilians and in the original series, the Mutants as a whole.
• Our first full look of Mumm-Ra in his standard, little old mummy guise.¬† There are just some characters that didn’t need a whole lot of reimagining, visually speaking, and it’s great that this show’s creators get that.
• First look at Jaga and his Ian McKellen-esque voice over which works just fine.
• Lion-O sounds like an older kid.¬† This’ll probably rub a lot of people the wrong way but it worked for me.
• Panthro’s still M.I.A.
• First look at Wilykit and Wilykat in motion

This is shaping up nicely.¬† It’s very apparent that the show’s creators know their Thundercats and are very respectful of the source material.¬† Even the original show’s musical themes pop up here but in more dramatic fashion.¬† There’s still no word on the series premiere which is a shame because I need to know when I need to get cable again.

Whether or not you like FPS’s, mechs (who doesn’t like mechs?), or things blowing up, you have to admit that this is a goddamn pretty game. I mean, REALLY pretty, especially for a PSN/XBLA/PC release. Also, major props for some fantastic sound design.¬† It’s great to not hear space marines rubbing one out when they get shot for a change.

As fan of both the first Armored Core and the two Zone of the Enders games, this is right up my alley and this is with it still being in a very early stage of development. As far as a release date goes, it’s got the frustrating “done when it’s done” time stamp on it but hey, I’m liking that I’m frustrated; it means I give a shit. [via PikiGeek]

Cockpit. lol.

I’ll break it down for those you who aren’t in the know. They’ve got a texture pack running to make it look like Chrono Trigger that I need to download as soon as possible and they recreated the switches revealing a secret room with in game red stone circuits. Also, here’s how Enhasa looks in Chrono Trigger:

Original Enhasa

So yet again, the Minecraft creative community prove themselves kings amongst nerds and why they’re another reason I can’t stop playing this game. Kudos to youtube user Kaiassc; this actually made me giddy.

Hey, doper. Your Queen's nuts.

There’s a current dialogue going on in my head that’ll best sum up my feelings about this game:

Positive Me: “Hey, wow!¬† This is looks like Wind Waker and Twilight Princess made a sweet fun baby!”

Negative Me: “Pfft.¬† Yeah and like any baby from a royal family, of games in this instance, it’ll probably be boring and not very good at conversation.¬† Ha!”

Positive Me: “…Negative Me, that was a terrible attempt at metaphor.”

Negative Me: “I don’t care!¬† I’m sick of Zelda.¬† I’m sick of dealing with a goddamn mute Legolas and his helpless tit of a hole.¬† Lemme guess, there’s a new bad guy that looks moderately interesting and by that I mean ‘he doesn’t look like Gannon.’”

Positive Me: “I suppose, I don’t kn…”

Negative Me: “I’m telling you right now, it’s going to be fucking Gannon in the end so shut up.¬† And the story will be tedious, and there will be a fetch quest, and an annoying gimmicky dildo-shaped something…hell it’ll be an actual dildo. A magical dildo that you’ll use the wiimote to wave around in some convoluted pattern to summon or unlock some bullshit that could’ve easily been unlocked or summoned by summoning your thumb to press the A button.¬† AMIRITE?!”

Positive Me: “…But our wife loves playing it and loves when we play it with her.”

Negative Me: “…GODDAMMIT.”

So is this what it’s come to for me?¬† I’m getting marginally excited for a game because my better half likes it?¬† I really found Twilight Princess to be a choir in a lot of ways: the story was just a mess, the wolf gimmick was forced as fuck and Okami handled wolf controls so much better, etc.¬† But the basics, the reasons I love any Zelda game, the puzzles and dungeons were on par with any of the other 3D installments’ offerings.

This trailer, however – like the first one – barely did anything for me.¬† Yet there’s a definite feeling of comfort that I’ll at least know this game vicariously through the Mrs. and I’m hoping that once I begrudgingly give it a try, that I’ll recapture that love for the series that I’ve been missing recently.

…fuck it, I’m gonna go play LttP.

That’s not the case with Thundercats, in fact, it’s the inverse. I can still pop in a DVD of Thundercats and be entertained by what I’m watching. The characters were wholly original if not borrowing slightly from Masters of the Universe in very superficial ways. The stories were just as bizarre as those characters and served to build a extremely interesting lore around bigger mysteries within the series like what the fuck happened to Earth to make it “Third Earth?” I always thought it was great that we never really found out despite subtle hints here and there but still, I wouldn’t mind knowing.

Hence my high hopes for Cartoon Network’s redo of Thundercats.

There are a lot of things to like about that trailer and I’ll just list them off.

1. It looks like we’ll get a good dose of Thundera – the Thundercats home planet – before they leave for 3rd Earth.
2. Lion-O’s age looks to be about 16 -18; maybe a compromise between him being a child as in the first series who was artificially aged into adult and I’m okay with that.
3. Grune the muthafuckin’ Destroyer!¬† Easily underused in the original, the turncoat’s back in this new series and we’ll probably get to experience his betrayal first hand as opposed through flashbacks.
4. Mumm-Ra the Ever Living in full effect (well at least his reflection).
5. And we’ll aparently get to know Claudus – Lion-O’s dad – first hand, again, as opposed through flashbacks or awkward time traveling.¬† Bonus pts. he’s voiced by Larry Kenney, the original Lion-O.

On the negative, I can’t see a whole lot and it’s hard to really say I hate anything about anything with a dialogue-less teaser.¬† You either like or hate the anime-ish look of this new series and I actually like it.¬† But from what I’ve heard, Snarf doesn’t talk and Wily Kit and Kat aren’t nearly as annoying so they’re already off to a good start.¬† Now they just need a kick ass theme song opening like the original and this’ll feel set.¬† Thundercats is set to air sometime this year.

Midriff: How you top a leotard.

Nintendo Wii: The (Mixed) Family Console.

*Your orgy participants' appearances may vary.

To put it very bluntly: I have the worlds hardest boner for this game. ¬†I’m sorry that you had to picture the abomination that resides in my pants just now. ¬†However, it’s the only to properly convey just how excited I am for Bethesda’s next entry into the series, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

This is getting way too long.  There are dragons.  Magic.  Gorgeous looking graphics and locations.  Max Von Sydow makes love to your ears and then BAM, the music unleashes a torrent of hot love that washes all over you.

Watch it.  Now.