TGO Special Message re: Japanese Earthquake

(UPDATED TO FIX FACTUAL ERROR.) Please consider making a donation to the charity or relief-organization of your choice to aid in the ongoing tragedy in Japan.

PAX schedule stuff PLUS "big" announcement

Okay folks, things have been and will be "sparse-ish" in the daytime 'round here for the weekend, as I'll be at PAX East for most of it. I'll probably turn up at the con itself around 4pm or so tommorow (got some business first) and be around for most of the evening after that... Saturday and Sunday? We'll see what happens, but I'm planning to be at as much as possible.

So... since I can't really blog from the con; I've gone and done the unthinkable... and signed up for Twitter. Yes, I'll be tweeting from PAX - follow me @the_moviebob. Let me know in the comments if that hyperlink works or not - Twitter's urls are weird, and I don't know if it "takes" like that. If it doesn't, just look up "the_moviebob" on Twitter itself - the other ones just called "moviebob" AREN'T me.

self-promotion

The OverThinker WILL be at PAX East 2011

Title kinda says it all. TGO, aka MovieBob, aka ME will be out and about at PAX East this year, so if you see me feel free to say hello ;) Can't say at this time exactly what days/times or in what capacity, but I'll be around.

Postscript for smart-aleck's: Astral-projection, that's how.

Unbeatable

Everything at once maddening yet undeniable about Nintendo's dual-existence as a corporate entity and Colonial Governor of a generation's memories; summarized in a single image:

Giving the keynote at GDC, President Satoru Iwata focused heavily on the upcoming 3DS handheld and dropped the customary not-in-any-way-shocking announcement that a new Mario title was in-production for the system. No screenshots or even title were given, save for the detail that it's being developed by the "Galaxy" team. Oh, and the "Super Mario" logo's shadow... has a familiar-looking TAIL.

And... there you have it. Waaaay more than half of any fans "on the fence" about the 3DS just made up their mind. That's another several-million systems presold, regardless of price or availability. Not because of a feature, or because of a full-lineup, or even because of a tangible game... but because they've vaguely intimated that we might at some point see Tanooki (re: Raccoon) Mario again after a 22 year absence.

THIS is why everyone else whose ever tried to sell a handheld console went bald early.

"Extra Consideration"

The Escapist decided to let Your's Truly, Zero Punctation's Yahtzee and Extra Credits' James Portnow have a lil' email debate and assemble the result into a column. In other words: Two of the most important voices in the gaming world... and, for some reason, also me ;)

Here we are, debating the state of console gaming: Take a look.

Episode 48: "The Zen of Grind"

UPDATE: As of 9/13/11 this video is at THIS LINK