Believe it or not, there are limits to my nerdity. Once such limit is nerd-themed bands that sing about specific science fiction franchise are other such geeky topics.

For example, I’m not a fan of Star Trek-themed bands. In fact, I can’t stand them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not some anal retentive Star Trek fan who thinks that Trek should always be serious. No way; I enjoy nitpicking and making jokes as much as the next fan. Themed bands, however, take the silliness to a level I’m just not comfortable with. I don’t want to hear some whiny punk rock kid wailing about Kirk and Spock! It just sounds retarded.

It’s the same problem I have with nerdcore, though I don’t think the themed rock ‘n’ roll outfits are as pretentious as their hip-hop counterparts. It’s just retarded; maybe I’m “too old” for this kind of stuff, but I still think it’s stupid.

I’ve mentioned in the past how much I hate the fall release schedule for video games. This post will go into a bit more detail as to why it sends me into a blind rage.

First off, let me explain that I completely understand why game publishers do this; they want to capitalize on the holiday season, plain and simple. From a business standpoint, it makes sense. However, the problem is that there’s such a tsunami of software that unless you’ve got a ton of money, no job, and no life, you couldn’t possibly have the cash and time to enjoy them all!

Then, once we move past the holiday rush into spring, game releases really slow down, and when summer hits…it’s practically a dead zone. There’s simply no excuse that shit. Publishers are still going to make a shitload of money on high-profile titles, no matter when they’re released. You need look no further than the successes of Resident Evil 5 and Street Fighter IV for proof of this…and those were released in the spring.

This year’s E3 announced a bunch of hot titles coming out this fall, as expected. As I’ve detailed earlier, I’m not getting all of them. (In fact, I’m not even getting half of them!) If publishers would spread those releases out a bit, then perhaps more gamers would buy each and every one on launch day. I’m know I’m alone in this.

Good morning, ignorant pigs. Put down your crack pipes and your beer bongs, and pay attention. I’ve got an important job for you.

This past week, Nintendo released The Legendary Starfy for the DS. While it may not appear so on the surface, this is actually one of most important game releases of the year.

You see, The Legendary Starfy is the fifth game in the Starfy series; in Japan, it’s known as Densetsu no Stafi: Taiketsu! Dire Kaizokudan. Yes, it took them this long to finally bring the series to the United States, and it’s your job to make sure they didn’t do so in vain.

Your task is simple: get off your lazy ass, go to your friendly neighborhood video game retailer, and buy a copy of The Legendary Starfy. Buy it for yourself, buy it for a friend, buy it for your kids…I don’t care, as long as you buy it. Sales equals popularity, people, and if Nintendo sees this one doing well, then we’ll get more of them. And not just future installments, mind you; developer TOSE has expressed interest in possibly localizing some of the previous Starfy titles!

In the interest of fairness, I suppose I should tell you a little bit about the game itself, so you’ll know what you’re getting into. The Starfy games are platformers, similar to the Kirby series. The player controls Starfy himself, and travels through various colorful oceanic worlds. Over time, Starfy learns new moves with which to trounce his enemies and unlock hidden areas. There’s loads of extra content in the game, ranging from hidden treasure chests to secret levels. Starfy also teams up with Bunston, a rabbit-like amnesiac prince who can grant him various powers. For example, when Starfy uses the Monstar ability, he turns into a firebreathing dragon! (These skills are highly reminiscent of the animal teamups in Kirby’s Dream Land 2.) Plenty of other characters are on hand to flesh out the story and assist our star-shaped hero, like Moe the clam, and Starfy’s younger sister, Starly. And yes, kids, there’s even multiplayer mode. If you want more information the game, just check out the official site.

Now then, I don’t want to hear any complaining about how the game is “too cute.” I’ve already called out the haters in that regard, so that excuse doesn’t fly with me. Sure, the graphics are colorful and the characters are happy-go-lucky creatures, but that’s part of the game’s charm. (Starfy’s voice alone is saccharine enough to rot your teeth.) All in all, the game is just good plain fun, and we definitely need more of those in this day and age. Don’t give me your bullshit excuses; get out there and pick up The Legendary Starfy right now, and show your support! And look, here’s a picture of the boxart, so you won’t have any trouble identifying it:

Every time Dream Theater comes to our local venue, I always attend along with a friend of mine. (Yes, that’s the same guy who runs Ryo-Ohki’s Anime Loft.) We’ve been going to these biennial shows for many years now, ever since we got out of college. Considering I’d also seen Dream Theater live before that, I’ve honestly lost count of how many times I’ve seen the band at this point. I’ve been a fan of theirs for seventeen years, after all!

However, after this summer’s show, this longstanding tradition may be coming to a close. It’s not the band’s fault. It’s the fault of the ticketing agency; in this, those fuckers at Live Nation. We all know ticket prices just keep skyrocketing, but it’s gotten beyond aggravating this time. The tickets for the upcoming Dream Theater show start at $38 for nosebleed seats, and $48 for regular seats. We opted for the regular ones, of course, since you get much better sound quality sitting there. I expected the usual annoying service charges on top of that. What I didn’t expect was just how high those charges have gotten: $12.50 per ticket! Altogether, a measly pair of concert tickets came to $121. That’s fucking insane. I don’t care how nice the venue is; that’s way too much money.

Dream Theater has always been one of my favorite bands, but this may be the final time I see them. I’m sorry, no band’s worth that much cash out of pocket. Fortunately, Dream Theater always puts on an excellent show, so I have no doubts that the upcoming concert will be a grand sendoff.

Even video game fanatics get the blues.

I’m trying to scale back my gaming a bit, but not in the way you’d think. I’m already buying less games, but that just makes smart financial sense. I’m still playing games for around the same amount of time (though I should probably fix that, too), but I’m trying to enjoy my games longer. For example, I’m about ten hours or so from the “end” of Pokémon Platinum. Now, any Pokémon fan can tell you that once you “beat” those games, a whole bunch of new stuff opens up; the games never truly end. So, once I complete the main quest, as it were, I plan to continue playing the game for many more months, and try to get as much of the extra stuff as I can. It may not be my primary game, but I’ll always go back to it. I’ll play another game for an hour or two, and then pop in Platinum for twenty to thirty minutes to nab a few more creatures. (It makes a great lunch break game, too!)

There are two strong motivating factors behind my recent decision. The first is the ridiculously packed fall schedule of game releases. I really hate that, and I always have. (I really need to assail that whole bullshit system in a separate post, and soon!) For starters, the fall season’s going to see the release of a shitload of highly-anticipated sequels, like BioShock 2, Modern Warfare 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, LEGO® Indiana Jones 2, and so on. I’m interested in all of them, but I don’t want to pick up a single one on release day. I’m content to wait an undetermined amount of time; the games certainly aren’t going anywhere, after all.

The second factor in my downscaling is equally important: I want to get back into replaying older games. (Especially a bunch of NES classics!) I mean, what’s the point of owning a large video game collection if you’re not going to go back and replay your old shit?! I never did finish off the 150cc races in Mario Kart Wii, or nab all of the stars in Super Mario Galaxy, or complete Advance Wars: Dual Strike…you get the idea. Finally, like any other gaming fan, I’ve got a few games I haven’t even started yet. Ugh!

I’m really hoping I can stick with this, and get back to enjoying games on my own schedule, instead of that of the publishers. Fight the power!