Book of the Month

Okay, so I'm not Oprah (thankfully), but I've decided to jump on the "book club" bandwagon so to speak and start up the occasional "Book of the Month" post to let you guys know what I think would be worth reading. To start things off I'm giving you a two-for-one deal, with the book "How to Be a Villain" and its sequel "The Villain's Guide to Better Living", both written by Neil Zawacki.Both books are insightful looks into the world of supervillains. Hey, being evil is hard work (trust me), and Zawacki's helpful "How To" manuals are extremely informative to you up and coming supervillains.

In "How to Be a Villain", Zawacki guides you through everything from choosing your evil name and building your secret hideout, to choosing which minions are best and how to handle to pesky "heroes" that cross your path. And for those times when the creative juices just aren't flowing right, the book even offers up a useful Evil Plan Generator to help you in your quest for world domination. This is definitely a "must have" for any aspiring world conquerer.

Once you've got you've got your secret lair and your legions of minions, it's time to move to Zawacki's follow up book, "The Villain's Guide to Better Living". In it, Zawacki explains how to get the most out of your villainous lifestyle. This guide covers everything from home decor and personal health to how to land that cushy corporate job and throw a wickedly "wicked" party for your evil friends ... all by making the most out of your villainous experience.

Both books are seriously fun reads, as well as educational references for those of us with a more ... flexible ... code of ethics. Pick both of these books up today and tomorrow you could be well on your way to earning success the old fashioned way: by crushing all resistance and forcing humanity to work under the yoke of your iron fisted rule.


"Villain" covers 

"I'm a Superhero"

So I've dusted off the old tights and put on the mask again for a return trip to City of Heroes. If anyone feels like joining up with me there, I've got my main character, Crimson Thunder, on the Freedom server. I've also started a superhero group called "The Stacked Deck" for anyone who lets me know they saw the team in the blog.

Earning my geek badge

Alright, so I've decided to earn my place in the geekdom of video gaming. As a part of its pre-E3 press kit, Nintendo included an exclusive skin for the Nintendo DS system, designed by Shigeru Miyamoto. I was debating on whether or not to include the skin as a part of the ever growing "swag bag". In the end, I decided I'm too much of a video game fanboy to let something like that go, so I went ahead and slapped it on my DS. Take a look at it and tell me what you think.

Rough day at the "office"

So, we all know that my "office" is actually wherever the closest PC to me is at the time (either my desktop or my laptop). Anyway, I got the articles I needed to have written done last night and planned to get some sleep. Yeah, the whole "get some sleep" part of that plan didn't work out too well. I've been trudging through the day and feeling like the walking dead. Going to try to unwind again tomorrow. I'll let you guys know how that works out for me.

On another note, my review of Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (GBA) went up earlier ... AND they decided to roll with my decision to have it as an Editor's Choice game. Made me feel pretty damned good about my review. Also, the article I was working on last night (my contribution to GameSpy's Annual E3 Awards: 2005) went live today as well. My contributiions were for #20 - Full Auto (Xbox 360), and The Godfather (which apparently got cut from the top 25).

Drilling for a new well of creativity

Well, I just got out of my third shower for the day (simmer down, ladies). No, I didn't do something that made me feel particularly dirty, physically or emotionally. Actually, it just seems that for some reason, some of my best ideas come to me in the shower. Anyway, I had an assignment sprung on me at the last minute tonight for GameSpy. I'm contributing to their E3 Editors' Choice awards this year, and I had to quickly put together my thoughts on the games Full Auto and The Godfather ... by 9am tomorrow. Meanwhile, I also had to wrap up the review of the new GBA Fire Emblem game. Luckily, I got everything done and in on time now. So, unless something unusual comes up, it looks like I may get a day off tomorrow. Technically, I still have a pitch or two to put together, but there's no real deadline there.

Moving right along, I expect to post some interesting stuff up here soon. I'm working on the merchandising ideas as well as some cool giveaways/contests. But before any of that, I'm going to treat myself to a decent night's (morning's) rest.

Oh, and before I forget, my review of Need for Speed Underground 2 (DS) went live earlier on the GameSpy website. Check it out when you get the chance.

Night all.

Home again, home again ... jiggety jig

E3 is wrapped up and in the books. Here's the last couple of previews I wrote up before I hopped on the flight out yesterday:

• Infected (PSP)
  
• Demonik (X360)

Also, I added some content to GameSpy's pre-show and post-show commentaries. Check 'em out to see what I thought.

I'm wrapping up reviews of Fire Emblem 2 (GBA) and Need for Speed Underground 2 (DS) this weekend. Hopefully I'll have them done and up on GameSpy come Monday night. Either way, as soon as they go live, I'll let you know.

One more thing before I zonk out for the night ... I was fairly wrapped up in work at E3 all week, BUT I did still manage to score some goodies from the show. What I'm going to do is start putting things together in a collective area called my "swag bag". Promotional items, reviewed games, etc. will all be dumped into this bag for me to pull from for the occasional promotion here at Stacking the Deck. Having said that, DON'T start emailing or IM-ing me asking me for particular games or gadgets or anything of the like. Trust me, I'll be giving out plenty, but in creative ways ... okay?

Well, right about now, I'd go into my usual rant about my groupies and such ... or some other fun topic. But after working the show all day yesterday, flying cross-country all night, and catching up w/ a week's worth of homefront stuff, I'm too damned tired to be witty at the moment. I'll make it up to all of you later. I promise (Heh)

Getting ready to head home

I'm flying outta L.A. in a few hours, but I wanted to put up a quick post with a few more articles I wrote up:

• Evil Dead Regeneration (Xbox)
  
• The Outfit (X360)
  
• Fatal Frame III: The Tormented (PS2)

Okay ... I've got more going up tonight, but I'll be on a plane until sometime tomorrow so I'll have to post the rest later.

Current E3 coverage

So obviously I haven't been out here in L.A. just taking pictures and killing time. I HAVE actually been working. Don't believe me? Take a look at these previews and articles:

• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (GCN)
  
• The Godfather (X360)
  
• Spartan: Total Warrior (Xbox)
  
• Sega's Look Ahead to Next-Gen Gaming (X360)
  
• Kingdom Hearts II (PS2)
  
• Trapt (PS2)
  
• S.L.A.I. (PS2)

I've got more that I'm working on too, and I'll post it as soon as it goes live.

Special requests

I took some quick shots of things for particular people with the camera phone today. You know who you all are.

Full Auto

Okay. I don't even HAVE an Xbox 360, and I want this game so bad I can taste it. It's one part Burnout and one part Twisted Metal ... And all SORTS of fun. Cars go "BOOM!!" a lot. Plus, there's a unique "unwreck" feature which rewinds time for a bit so you can try to avoid something you may have crashed into. Think Prince of Persia and you'll have an idea. Expect me to be pimping the hell out of this game.

Oooo ... The Batmobile

The new Batmobile from Batman Begins is on display at E3. It's also something I just though was really cool.

Shadow the Hedgehog

I just thought this looked really cool.

Booth stuff

All sorts of booths on display. Here's a few fun things. More will come.

Old friends

I ran into Marla Anyomi, from back at my days at Top Cow. She and her man have also made the jump from comics to games. We're all going to
try and spend some time catching up on Friday.

More pics from Nintendo's pre-E3 press event

Thanks to my press contacts and the good folks at Nintendo, you guys don't have to wait to check out some images from the Nintendo pre-E3 press event. Check out these pictures and tell me your thoughts.


Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo, shows off the Revolution prototype 

Tina Wood and Shigeru Miyamoto toy with Nintendogs 

Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's Executive VP of Sales & Marketing. 

Press image of the Nintendo Revolution prototype 

Press image of the new Game Boy Micro 

Los Angeles Convention Center, Home of E3 2005

Just a quick post of the first shot I took of the con center while on my way to pick up my badge for the show.

Los Angeles Convention Center 

Nintendo's pre-E3 news

It was a busy news day for Nintendo today, as the company geared up for its pre-E3 Press Event. I took couple of quick shots on the phone to post here, and I have more from the digital camera which I'll post when I get back to Jax this weekend.


Before the herds of press 


Nintendo pre-E3 crowd 

Before the show, a bunch of us in the press were playing around on our DS systems in the PictoChat when we got an interesting surprise. Shigeru Miyamoto (the creator of a host of great Nintendo games and characters, including Mario) popped into the chats for a quick "Hello" ... along w/ a quick Mario sketch. I'll post the pic once I get back to Jax.

Moving right along, it was a busy day for Nintendo in terms of news. I'll try to fill you in as best as I can:

• Nintendo DS goes online
  Okay, so this has already been announced unofficially, but Nintendo finally detailed the new upcoming Wi-Fi gaming options for the Nintendo DS. The new software is a collaboration with GameSpy and will allow DS owners around the world to compete against each other. Matchmaking services will also allow players to play against only people in their friends lists, or against unknown players of comparable skill worldwide. Among the initial games supporting the new online play are Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing DS.
  
  
• Nintendogs
  G4's Tina Wood was on stage to play around with this title, which allows players to raise their own virtual dogs, similar to the virtual pets of a few years ago. I've got to admit that the more I see on this game, the more I want it. One interesting feature in the game is the use of the Wi-Fi connection to locate other nearby dogs to play with. During the presentation, Tina's dog was visited by another dog named Mario, complete with a Mario Hat for an accessory. Who else would have a dog like that? None other than legendary game designer, creator of Mario, and designer of Nintendogs ... Shigeru Miyamoto. In one of the funniest moments in gaming, while Tina and Miyamoto were talking on stage, their two dogs were apparently getting a little "friendly" on the big screen. This got a huge laugh out of the crowd. Anyway, this is definitely a game to watch for.
  
  
• New Game Boy system
  Rumors were flying all over the place about Nintendo showing off a new Game Boy device, but no one seemed to know what was in store. Nintendo finally put the rumors to rest by unveiling the new Game Boy Micro. This device will be released later this year and plays all of the current GBA titles on the market, yet weighs in at about the size of an iPod Mini. The device will not replace the current GBA, but will give gamers on the go a new option in handhelds. It looks EXTREMELY cool, and I'll end up having to get one as soon as they come out. I've got a couple of pics from the presentation I'll post after I get back to Jax, and I'll take some better ones if I can from the show floor.
  
  
• Say you want a Revolution?
  Nintendo finally showed off a prototype design for its upcoming next-gen game system, the Nintendo Revolution. The system looked pretty sleek in design. Nintendo still wants to keep most of the specs under wraps, but it did confirm a couple of things. First, the system WILL have Wi-Fi online capabilities built in. Also, with a small attachment, the system will be capable of playing standard DVD movies. And finally, the new system will be backwards compatible. However, Nintendo has decided to take "backwards compatibility" to a whole new level with the Revolution. Besides being able to play current Gamecube games, Nintendo is billing the Revolution as a "virtual console" and will allow gamers to download TWENTY YEARS worth of Nintendo titles from the NES, SNES, and N64 ... all playable on the Revolution game system.
  
  
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
  Nintendo showed off a brand new trailer for the game, which still looks like it's going to be pretty damned good. Apparently, Link gets turned into a wolf for at least part of the game as well. There's not much for me to say about this right now, as I have a hands-on preview going up on GameSpy tomorrow (though there was no "Link-wolf" in my demo). Anyway, the trailer looked really cool, and hey ... whadda ya know? The folks at Nintendo decided to give everyone in attendance a special Nintendo DS cartridge containing the new E3 trailer. Guess what's going in the swag bag?

There was a lot of quick trailers showing off some upcoming titles for all of the Nintendo systems, but I'm skipping that right now as I'll probably have more on those during the show. Anyway, as always, keep checking out the blog and let me know what you think.

Hey look!! A guest star!!

So Nintendo had their pre-E3 press event today. We had to be at Hollywood & Highland by around 8:30a. Since I'm still on East Coast time, this was no problem for me ... but a few people weren't quite awake yet ... including none other than G4tv.com's own Laura Foy. We talked for a few minutes before ducking inside to cover the press event, and Laura was gracious enough to let me catch her "morning look"


G4 in the AM 

Square-Enix Press Conference pics

Check 'em out. More to come.

Sitting outside for Square-Enix

David Chapman is back on the air!!

Before I get into the latest update, I know this post will probably look funny to most of you for a little bit. I recently discovered that the email on my Sidekick uses hard returns for wrapping text. This means that when it posts remotely, the formatting is a little hosed until I
can edit it. I will correct how things look as I can, but it the meantime, it's going to be a slight pain. Sorry.

So, yesterday was ... eventful. First off, my network connection on the phone went out. I could still use the phone itself, but any data
functions were nonexistant. That's why there was no update yesterday. After a couple of hours on the phone and a night's worth of engineering at T-Mobile, I'm back among the online elite (heh)

Moving on, I went to check in to the hotel yesterday afternoon and found out that I'm the only GameSpy person here so far. That wouldn't be a big deal except the hotel wanted to put MY credit card on file for all of the rooms' (plural) incidentals. And they wanted to put a $300 hold to cover it. I laughed my ass off at that, only to discover they were serious. Ugh. I ended up making a lot of calls, and lot of talking and in the end I got checked in but it cost and extra $100 to do so.

So I got checked in just in time to drop off my stuff and haul ass to the Nintendo sneak peek. Wouldn't you know it? I was the first one there. Eventually, I ran into Shane, my editor at EGM. We shot the breeze for a little bit and talked about me doing some extra work for them after the show. I also talked to Tina Wood from G4 for a little bit. Then it was time to go in for the game.

Nintendo had TV's set up for everyone to play, sandwiches and cookies to eat, sodas, and beer ... Yep, I said beer. A couple of Heinekens, some sandwiches, and one hour of intense gameplay later ... I knew a lot about the new Zelda game, was set to write my preview, and feeling a whole lot better about this trip as a whole. You'll get to check out my preview later this week, as its embargoed until Wednesday @ 10a PST.

Beyond that, I started the preview last night and got up early today to work on it before I hit the Square-Enix press event later today. I'll keep everyone posted more now that my Sidekick is up and running. And as far as pictures, I couldn't take any at the Nintendo event, but I WILL be posting what I can when I can. So keep checking in.

California here I come (okay ... so I'm already here)

Okay, let's try this again. I wrote this once, and the damn text box got wiped.

So I'm in LA finally, although not without just a little more drama. I got in to LAX a little early, got my luggage, and decided to call LeSean to see where he was in relation to the airport. Come to find out, he was still stuck at work and needed me to take a cab to his office. One $35 cab ride later, I finally met up with him and got over to his place to crash for the day. I've got the laptop hooked up for now and decided to go ahead and post the latest update.

There's not too much going on right now. Things start kicking into gear tomorrow. I check in to the Millennium Biltmore Hotel tomorrow afternoon around 3:00p PST. Then I need to catch a ride over to Nintendo's sneak peek for some serious 'hands-oning' (That's the new vocabulary word for the week, courtesy of Bryn Williams, Managing Editor at GameSpy). That'll be from 5:00p - 6:00p PST. And then it just snowballs from there.

I think I may crash for a bit soon though, just to catch up on some well deserved sleep. Although, since I have some down time before the show, I'm seriously considering working on some ideas for Stacking the Deck (SD) merchandise. One suggestion (made by the voice inside my head which always seems to relish in getting me in trouble) was to take the old WldCard avatar logo and slap it on the thong available on CafePress. After all, my hordes of screaming fangirls will need to have something to throw at me when they see me in public, right?

Hey, for those of you that know me, you also know that I'm naturally a smart ass. So I'm probably going to run this whole "WldCard groupies/fanclub" thing into the ground, laughing maniacally the whole time. Do I really expect to develop some "rock star" level of popularity where women throw themselves at my feet? Do I really think that I'm going to have hordes of fans clamoring for a chance to see me? Am I really THAT full of myself? Truthfully, no. But I'mk having a lot of fun with this. And besides, if there's one thing the boy scouts taught me it's to "Be Prepared." And no, I WASN'T a Boy Scout ... but I did stumble across the one troop lost in the woods that one time. Okay, it was actually HALF the troop ... the others got hungry and ate the weaker kids for survival since the Girl Scouts had monopolized the cookie market. But still, the point is, I need to be ready if I DO get those wild groupies lusting after me.

Oh, and for those of you that have never seen the old WldCard avatar that will be popping up on SD merchandise, it looks a little something like this:

WldCard avatar 
I'll try to get some stuff up within a couple of weeks after I get back from E3. So go ahead and start making suggestions about what types of SD merchandise would grab your interest. And remember, it's up to all of you to help make this one poor media whore's dream of being idolized by the masses come true. (Heh)

A bumpy start

Right now, I'm running on roughly a half hour's worth of sleep, so you'll have to excuse me if my wit isn't quite as sharp as usual at the
moment. So here's the latest update ...

I had a rough time getting to sleep last night. Originally, it has basic anxiety about the trip. Then when I finally wound down enough, my buddy in LA IM's me to say he probably won't meet me at the airport. Apparently he has some animatics to do by Monday and doesn't know if he can pull away. After a while, he finally decides that he CAN pick me up at the airport, but I'm on my own getting to the hotel tomorrow. (This is the condensed version of the conversation)

So, I look into cab fares, and it looks like between getting to the hotel and then to/from the Nintendo Sneak Peek, the cab fares will cost me about $60 tomorrow. Usually GameSpy would pick up the transportation tab, but no one from the staff is getting to the hotel before Monday.

Well, after dealing with all of that and finally getting my thirty minutes of sleep, Andrew met up with me and took me to the airport. And what happens when I get there? The first leg of my flight is cancelled
due to mechanical failure. So I get rescheduled and put onto one of those small connection flights to St. Louis (where I am now) and I'm supposed to be getting to LA two hours later. At least they upgraded me for the second leg of the trip to First Class. Ooooo. A comfortable seat to sleep in (heh).

Anway, I need some coffee now, so I'm going to wrap this up. I'll put a new update up later.

"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go ..."

Yep. I'm leaving on a jet plane ... of course unlike the song, I DO know when I'll be back again (that would be next Saturday, the 21st). My flight leaves at 6:35a EST and I get into L.A. at 10:14a PST. Lots of sleeping will probably been done in between, because I'm damned sure not asleep yet. Took care of some minor pre-trip craziness today. Things like new business cards (oooo ... pretty new picture), double and triple check of luggage, re-check travel plans, and all that jazz. I also got tagged with a few extra assignments today. On Friday, I'll be checking in with Jaime to see what's coming from Buena Vista Games. Also while I'm at E3, I'll be doing a plain old review of Need for Speed Underground 2 on the DS. And the last new addition to my writing docket is an invitation only hands-on sneak peek of Nintendo's new Zelda game on Sunday. I'd love to tell you guys all about it after the fact, but unfortunately the Big N is going to make everyone keep their lips sealed until Wednesday. But come mid-week, you can look for a fairly in-depth description of my experience with the game. In fact, check out GameSpy (and here of course) all next week for a lot of my thoughts on the whole E3 2005 experience.

Of course, GameSpy's not going to be the only work I'll be doing out at E3. I'll also be meeting up w/ the guys at Greedy and EGM, plus a bunch of my old comic contacts who've made the jump from the four color medium to interactive entertainment. Lots of meeting. Lots of talking. Lots of writing. And most likely, LOTS of aspirin. But also, a lot of fun. I had to write out a quick piece for GameSpy today detailing what I'm most looking forward to at E3 this year. I had the hardest time writing it though. The thing is, it had to be around 200 words. And try as I might, I couldn't come up with 200 words that meant "booth babes". Ah well ... I guess it turned out well in the end after all.

Oh, and SPEAKING of the fairer sex, my earlier topic on building up my own following of gaming groupies has actually been coming up in more than a few conversations. So hey, if you're interested in signing up as a groupie, let me know. Maybe I can do a membership card, secret decoder ring, or something of the sort. One thing I AM working on though is official Stacking the Deck merchandise. That's right, I said merchandise. After all, like Mel Brooks said in Spaceballs:

"Merchandising, merchandising. Where the real money from the movie is made."

Thanks to the folks over at CafePress, you can expect to see Stacking the Deck t-shirts, hats, mugs, and more ... though unfortunately it looks like we'll have to wait for Stacking the Deck: The Flamethrower. Anyway, the shop has been set up over at http://www.cafepress.com/stackingthedeck/, but so far there's nothing in stock. I'm working on the designs and such, but nothing will be in place until after E3. Keep an eye out though. I think you'll be impressed by what I have in mind (or at least get a damned good laugh out of it).

Anyway, I'm out for now, but look for more from me all week. And remember ... groupie applications are always being accepted. Heh.

Xbox 360 Revealed (?)

Okay ... so I just watched the 30 minute MTV/Microsoft infomercial .. er .. "special", MTV Presents: Xbox 360 Revealed and I've gotta say something. I pride myself on being a media whore, but DAMN ... these guys put even ME to shame. At least I've got some SUBSTANCE to what I say!! I've never seen people talk so much without actually saying anything. We finally heard the official name for the system,: Xbox 360. Of course, we've known that "unofficially" for a few weeks already. We got to see the unveiling of the top secret design ... which we've ALSO known for the past couple of weeks. Hell, the "leaked" pictures show off more than the special did, such as the system's wireless controller, headset, and camera accessory. To be honest, the coolest thing about the show was the job West Coast Customs did on an ORIGINAL Xbox!! Well, at least they showed some footage from some upcoming 360 games, right? Sure ... and once I recover from the epileptic seizures caused by the stroble-like quickness of the clips, I'll tell you my thoughts on them. At least the Killers were there and, according to Elijah Wood, "like you've never seen them before". Umm ... did he mean in concert on a small stage? Because that's about the only difference I saw.

Y'know, as a self-proclaimed media whore, I'm used to pimping myself out to the highest bidder for my writing. I tell people I have no shame when it comes to what assignments I'll take. But this MTV special even managed to make ME feel dirty for just being in the same business. For once, I'd like to see a video game special that doesn't insult those of us in the industry. Just once I'd like to see something designed to appeal to gamers as REAL PEOPLE!! I think some people have the right idea and I'll be busting my ass to hopefully help their work see the light of day. I'm also committing myself right now to do what I can to promote the industry as whole WITHOUT cheapening it, or those associated with it.

Y'know, I've got a LOT more to vent about. But right now, I need a shower or three ... after this MTV debacle, I may never feel clean again. *shudder*

EDIT:
If you want to at least see something decent on the system from the MS camp, check out the video that posted earlier for people participating in the OurColony viral marketing campaign.

Sing it with me guys: "M-I-C ... K-E-Y ... M-O-U-S-E"

New material went up at GameSpy today. This time around it was a preview for Disney's Magical Quest 3 (GBA). Overall, the game is shaping up okay (though the music sounds like crap). The funny thing is, ever since I started playing that damned game, I've had the Mouseketeer theme stuck in my head. DAMN YOU ANNETTE FUNICELLO!!! If you're too young to know who the hell Annette Funicello is, then feel free to substitute in Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, or Justin Timberlake in her place after you've finish making me feel old and decrepid.

So I found out today that I won't be able to cover the Konami pre-E3 event after all. Apparently, GameSpy could only get one person in for the event and I drew the short straw. However, on Wednesday, I will be checking out another game behind closed doors over at the EA booth. What can I say? They made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

Oh, in case you missed the press release, Nintendo is teaming up with GameSpy to finally bring online capabilities to the DS system. For those out you who don't know, GameSpy doesn't just do gaming news. In fact, GameSpy has developed a popular online matchmaking program for PC, Xbox, and PS2 games. Now, Nintendo and GameSpy are teaming up to bring a DS version of the GameSpy arcade software to the the dual screen handheld. I don't have any more details than anyone else at this time, and the news was originally supposed to be announced at E3. I guess Nintendo just decided that they couldn't hold out for a few more days.

On another note, I've been writing professionally for a couple of years now and I realized something. WHERE THE HELL ARE MY GROUPIES?!? Geez ... you guys don't think I got into this line of work for the money, do ya? Or out of some misguided "respect for the industry"? I mean heck, when I started this gig I was SURE the women would be beating down my door within days. After all ... I write about video games. Ooo ... AND I also work with people in the comic book industry. Doesn't the combination of video games and comic books work like an aphrodisiac for most women? I should be irresistable by now, damnit!!

** PLEASE NOTE: In case there's one or two of you out there that actually took that last paragraph seriously in the slightest, you should know I was only kidding around and being sarcastic. The reality is ... I already AM irresistable!! (Heh)

E3 and other news

Well, I had a busy day today. I've been working on a few different projects today, including wrapping up a couple of reviews and jumping into a phone conference at GameSpy to detail what assignments I'll be working on next week at E3. I'll be covering Square-Enix, Konami, and Nintendo events happening prior to E3, and a host of different companies during the show including Sega, Atari, Tecmo, Majesco, and THQ to name a few. It'll be plenty to keep me busy while I'm in L.A.

Also today, I had two reviews go up at GameSpy ... well, technically three, but two are for the same game. The reviews that went up are Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (Xbox) and (PS2), and Haunting Ground (PS2).

I went ahead and picked up the movie Resident Evil: Apocalypse for the PSP today. I decided to do that for the plane ride there and/or back from E3. I figured it'll be a pain to drag out the laptop just to watch a DVD, and who knows what they'll show on the flight. Besides, I liked the movie. I also picked up the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Vol.1 DVD set. Why? Because if and when I DO drag out the laptop to watch something, I'm going to make damned sure I get a laugh out of whatever I watch.

On a side note for the whole E3 thing, I decided I needed to pick up some new clothes for the trip. The thing is, I've apparently lost some weight recently ... two inches to be precise. Now, a lot of people have said to me "Wow. That's great. I'd LOVE to lose a couple of inches off my waist." But considering the money I just dropped on five new pairs of pants and such ... I'd have rather spent a quarter of that money at a buffet and just gained the weight back so my damned clothes would fit again. Heh.

Anyway, it's late and I'm beat right now. As always, there's more to come.

Change is in the air

If you're reading this, you've probably noticed that I did some redesigns on the look of Stacking the Deck. Unless of course, this is your first time here and you never saw how it looked before. If that's the case then WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG TO VISIT?!? Okay. I now that I got that out of my system.

Anyway, I'm still as busy as ever ... actually busier than ever ... but I've decided to commit a lot more time here. There's going to be a lot of interesting things coming down the road. More Audioblog entries. More Moblog pics. And ... well .. just MORE.

There's also going to be more than just some cosmetic changes too. The focus of the blog is still going to be my work and the industry ... but it's also going to give a little peek inside the usual grind of my life in general and the adventures therein. If something fun, funny, or interesting happens to me ... you just might see it posted up here. Keep in mind though, I did say a "peek" into my life. Sorry folks, no deep dark secrets or personal "Dear Diary" entries. That just isn't me. This is meant to keep people posted on what's happening with me and to ENTERTAIN.

Since I already mentioned the moblog pics, I'll let you know of a couple of new things in the works. Blogger just recently added the ability to incorporate pics from mobile devices into blog entries like regular posts. Basically, I'll take a pic, send an email, and POOF ... instant blog entry. I'll be using this a LOT in my blog now that I've set it up. But for those of you who've checked out my Textamerica moblog before (look at the sidebar for the latest pic), it won't be neglected. Textamerica gives me a little more freedom in how I edit the pictures, so I'll still be using it as well ... just maybe not quite as much.

So keep coming back to see what's new, what's changing, and just what kind of trouble I've gotten myself into lately.

Oh yeah ... one week 'til I hit L.A. and E3.

A guy's day out

So, I got a phone call earlier from my sister asking if my nephews could come visit. It's a gorgeous sunny day, so I decided to stay outside. We went out to the St. Johns Town Centre and I bought all of us ice cream. Figured I'd share the experience.