Move Over Final Fantasy XIV...

Enter the real game of the show for e3 2009 - Star Wars: The Old Republic:



click here to view the incredible first trailer!

How did I miss this? Granted, there's no gameplay footage, but if an on-again, off-again Star Wars "fan" like me was willing to commit to purchasing this game on its release day, I can only imagine what the real Star Wars enthusiasts feel.

Then my brother curtly told me that this game, like FFXIV, is an MMO ("massively-multiplayer-online" game).

"You have been deceived." Indeed.

Why oh why must the most graphically impressive games be of a genre I absolutely despise? Well, ces't le vi. There are plenty of other games I'm looking forward to...like, say, the Nintendo DS role-playing game Infinite Space (which just released in Japan to a flurry of positive press and premiering at the very top of the weekly video games sales charts), or the intriguing , Let's Tap! for the Wii (a likely candidate for the next "kid-friendly games, parent-friendly prices" post, if nothing else), both of which happen to be published by Nintendo's former archcompetitor, Sega.

Unlike last summer, which proved to be quite the boon for gamers (high-profile video game releases of just about every imaginable genre graced just about every prominent piece of gaming hardware), this summer does look to be a tad on the slow side - which is probably better for an overweight gamehead like me, anyway. Gotta get some form of exercise besides Dance Dance Revolution, after all! Plus, with the Year of the Priest commencing today, one would think a seminarian would find something more Christ-like than lounging around playing video games all day.

So, to my fellow gamers - with the gaming pipeline so thin in the coming months, what do you plan on doing to beat the heat? What future releases do you have your eyes on?

St. Isidore, St. Gabriel, and St. John Vianney, pray for us!

Electronic Arts pulls Anti-Christian Stunt to Promote "Dante's Inferno" Video Game

h/t American Papist

Ok, look Electronic Arts, as much as the hardcore gaming community is full of the risible self-parodies known as the "freethinking" - the Richard Dawkins-loving, fundamentalist atheist, "I'm-so-much-smarter-than-you-are-because-I-don't-believe-in-God" types, I doubt that even they would actually be more likely to buy a game because they *think* that their ideological foes (the equally risible Fundamentalist Creationist, anti-Catholic, evangelical "Christians") happen to hate it. Gamers of all varieties will buy this product if its, well, actually a good game. So instead of engaging in a shamelessly anti-Christian stunt to promote your poor excuse of a product, maybe you ought to work on making this game, you know, something better than a blatant God of War rip-off and make it, ya know, something worthwhile?

Just saying...

UPDATE: InsideCatholic's Margaret Cabaniss has posted her own take on the whole affair here.

E3 and WYD Recap

Now that both E3 and World Youth Day 2008 now officially belong to the past (and God’s eternal “present moment”), a recap and reflection is certainly not out of the question, and seeing as the date of this posting happens to be a Sunday (a day that, according to the Tradition of the Catholic faith, is reserved for God-centered meditation and thanksgiving), I hesitate to share even the most modest reflections on either. Scrupulous? Perhaps, but since I haven’t posted in a while (my current employment situation leaves me without internet access for most of the week), I thought I’d post a brief update just so no one thinks this blog has died an untimely death – patience, everyone!

So, in recognition of the fact that I must “Keep Holy the Sabbath Day” and also not shirk my responsibilities to the readers of this blog, here’s a choice selection of some of my favorite moments from both WYD and E3 – without commentary:

WYD:

- “The mission of the Church is to help people be free,” – Cardinal Francis George, at the July 20 WYD mass

- The Pope’s decision to encourage reception of the Eucharist kneeling, and preferably on the tongue (as first reported by Sydney’s very own Cardinal Pell last week)

- “My dear young friends, if you take part frequently in the eucharistic celebration, if you dedicate some of your time to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the Source of love which is the Eucharist, you will acquire that joyful determination to dedicate your lives to following the Gospel”. – Pope Benedict XVI

E3

- The surprise announcement that an Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy 13 is indeed in the making

- The localization of Retro Game Challenge, a Japanese Nintendo DS game that was formerly seen as having practically no chance at ever seeing a release outside its home territory.

- Sony announcing more games for its Playstation Network, including the appropriately-titled and intriguing action game, Fat Princess.