If you've read my status, you'll know I am mad at Harmonix. Why is that? Well, think of it this way. I own a Wii, and I own Rock Band 2 for the Wii. Now, I actually bought some Wii points in anticipation of the Music Store on the Wii. Now, I expected it to come out sometime before 2009, especially since the label says "Over 150 songs... available by

1. They haven't opened the Music Store on the Wii yet
2. I've contacted them numerous times, and I've gotten absolutley no replys.
3. I can't send it in for repair, even for a price. No way, no how.

Last year was owned by Nintendo with some great releases at the end of 2007, plus their E3 2007 excited many with classic franchises being introduced to the Wii, and then another being delayed for 3 months. Overall, Nintendo dominated. This year however, Nintendo did mediocre.

At the beginning of the year, Nintendo introduced a few new classics for the Wii like Super Smash Bros Brawl and Mario Kart Wii. They also introduced the new Wii Wheel peripheral, and they continued their OK play on the Wii Zapper. They also released Wii Fit, which continues to outsell other titles. Unfortunatly, most of this excitement ended at E3 2008. A lot of people and fanboys tuned in to watch Nintendo keep introducing good games, but they got overall, the exact opposite.

During E3, a few new titles that were exciting were announced like Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars, Call of Duty World at War for the Wii, and Animal Crossing: City Folk, but those were it. It may have been the lousy, hardly funny comedy that Reggie and friends attempted, but it was horrible. Plus this big announcement that we anticipated was only something we've been looking for since 2006: Wii Music. I'll admit that the drummer's appearence was nice, but that was all the excitment over Wii Music. What this E3 did was horrible. Because of their poor preformance at E3, no real gamer had anything to look forward to until the release of Call of Duty. Now we can play that for about 2 months, then play GTA for 4 more, and then we can wait on new and good games. Does that sound fun? To me, no it does not.

And E3 has always been the main event for big announcments, but Nintendo didn't give any big ones besides GTA on the DS. So who will dominate this year? Probably not Nintendo; they won't be introducing any good games that holiday shoppers want and don't already have.

So that's about it in short terms. Nintendo was on a 2 1/2 year streak, and now they have blown it, all because of E3. If they could blow it that easily, they do not deserve my good review. Maybe next year Nintendo, you can make at least a 1/2 year streak, and then continue that for a few more years. Do they stand a chance? Maybe, but we will have to see.

Let me make this clear first, yes, literally, a new Beatles music game will come out.

Now, Harmonix has recently announced they will be creating a new game in an exclusive collaboration. It will be developed by Harmonix, and is planned to be released in Q4 2008 during the holiday shopping city. But one thing is being made clear, this will not be a Rock Band title.

Harmonix co-founder, Alex Rigopoulos, had to say, "Let me make this clear. This game is not just a Rock Band expansion pack. It's a full, new music game built from the ground up." He said this referring to the AC/DC Rock Band track pack. He did confirm, though, that it will still be compatible with the Rock Band instruments as well as "instruments from other games." However, no instruments were mentioned.

Yeah, so recently, the kick pedal on my drums set broke. Yes, I was and still am real pissed off, but guess who's coming to the rescue? The system of lawsuits!!! Yes, Harmonix has been sued, and it's over the controversial problem with the kick pedal. According to the plaintiff, Harmonix is in violation of the implied warranty that all items of Rock Band were of "merchantable quality and fit for the purpose for which defendants marketed, advertised, and sold such products to plaintiff and the proposed class." In other words, they are upset because if the kick pedal does break, they don't replace it and you can't play it the way it was advertised. The suit also mentions that Harmonix and MTV Games were aware of this problem, but continued to sell the game as it was. It also notes the change on the Rock Band 2 drum set to a metal kick petal, yet the original version remains to be plastic.

The plaintiff Morgan and those he is representing are seeking reimbursement for the cost of the Rock Band kit, for MTV Games and Harmonix to stop selling the defective item, and any other damages deemed by the court.

If you want to know why I support this, it's because my kick pedal has broken, and they have refused to fix it since the warranty has passed. Even though I plan to buy Rock Band 2, I am upset because I couldn't play it because the kick pedal broke and I couldn't replace it. So yes, I, of course, do want this reimbursement.

I for one, think that it is a bad time for these new introductions. The DS series, first of all, has gone on for 3 systems now. I think our pockets are full now Nintendo. This new DSi is going to cost probably a bit more than $179, considering the economy in America and the value of the $. That's over $300 you could spend on DS's. Then we now have a series of the Wii. What is after Wii HD? How about Wii HDi, or Wii HDMI? Or will we finally have a new name? I think introductions are a little early for Nintendo, especially for the Wii. I mean, this generation, considering the systems, are going to be at least 8 years old, not 6 years old, again. The DS, however, again, has too many improvments. Good or bad? I have know ****ing idea. But point being, Nintendo really needs to think these introductions over.

If you are planning to get Rock Band 2, Harmonix has given even more the reason to do just that. Though there has been a problem with it, Harmonix has resolved just that and has opened a Web Site where you can get 20 free

Oh, and by one final blog post, I mean one more before I make some Zzzzz's. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was announced for the DS at the Nintendo 2008 Press Conference, and frankly, I am shocked about what Rockstar Games is putting into it. They are putting in a drug dealing minigame. Oh, see, that was so unexpected that I bolded it like this.  Thank god Nintendo makes their first hardcore title for the DS, but does it have to be that criminal like? I mean I didn't want a game rated T for Teen; I wanted an M title. But this is the motherlord of controversy. I didn't know Nintendo even had the spirits to do this. Wow Nintendo! You have reached the next level, for the moment.

In other related news, I have found an official release date for the game. February 1st, 2009. Or at least that is what IGN said. Also, for those who haven't noticed, I saw on Giant Bomb some photos of the game. Check it out.

Activision is starting to take advantage of the industry in music/rhythm games. They are apparently taking advantage of the process of trademarks too as Activision has recently trademarked another game.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was announced at E3 2008 during the Nintendo E3 2008 Press Confrence. Not many details were released besides location and characters, but E3 isn't the only place you can find juicy information.

On the official Rockstar Games site at www.rockstargames.com, a list of there games comes up. One newly added title was Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, and it is a link. If you click on it, it will drag you to the information page. There, not much information can be found, but one thing you may find is the Nintendo WiFi Connection logo. What it means is that there is somehow going to be online play, but the question left after that is how?

Those details remain unclear for the moment, but what is forseeable in the future is the release of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars exlusivly for the Nintendo DS this Winter.

So from the sounds of it, you'll guess I saw Hancock recently. Well guess what? I did. Pretty freakin' sweet. I don't want to go into spoilers, but it's tough not to. I'm not going to say Hancock deserved as much fame and glory as The Dark Knight, but I will say if you were to watch only two movies for the remainder of the summer, Hancock would be the second one. If you've seen the commercials, you'll know he's trying to be a superhero, but he's doing a pretty poor job. Everyone, including Nancy Grace, hates Hancock. So what is he to do when this happens? Well, he doesn't let little people get in the way of him. If anybody calls him an asshole, he will hurt them. And he ain't soft in jail either.

Ok, I'm already trying to give spoilers, but I won't! See it yourself, it's awesome.