Daeval

Galactic Civilizations 2 Demo - If you've played Master of Orion, you already know the deal. Pretty interesting stuff.

The rest of it I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on, for lack of evidence if nothing else, but this part I'm not real sure about. Alchohol is the closest thing to a popular, legalized, mind-altering drug in the US, and its "novelty" has most definately stood the test of time. Tabacco too, though not as potent as Alchohol or other drugs, and losing ground in some areas due to new laws and regulations, is still in really common usage. Part of the problem is the addictive nature of these substances, which makes it hard for them to "wear off" on a user. Duration is another issue. Moderate amounts of alchohol wear off in a few hours. For many, even a small amount of weed can have side effects that last a day or more.

So I'm running a pen and paper Superheroes game soon, using Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Edition, for a bunch of players who aren't necessarily huge comic nerds. They're of course familiar with and fond of the staples, like Superman, Batman, Spiderman, the popular X-men, etc. But before they start creating their own heroes, I'd like to briefly introduce them to a few characters they may not have heard of. Preferably, these would be characters with backgrounds, origins, or abilities that are interesting or not really obvious superhero fare. So my question for you all is who are your most memorable not-hugely-obvious heroes (or villains)? They don't have to be comic book characters - video games, books, movies, and whatever else are all fine influences. They don't have to have "super powers" either - Batman and the Punisher don't have any powers, nor do countless martial-arts masters, etc. And finally, they don't have to be from any particular time or place - ancient fantasy characters are cool too, as long as they're interesting. A few that I've got already: Darkhawk [unusual collection of abilities] Ashitaka [Your average fantasy warrior with a twist that gives him personality and justifies his power] El Santo [A fun, and locally relevant (I live minutes from the Mexican border), alternative to the obvious Kung-Fu Master] Bill the Butcher [Villain, combines incredible charisma with crazy knife skills]

I was kind of hoping some of the older old games would be cheaper, like some of the NES stuff, but I guess it depends on what the titles are. Most of my old SNES and Genesis favorites I would be willing to shell out $4.50 for. As for the DS connectivity... I'm kind of skeptical. I could see it working for new games that were designed for it, but most of the existing games are designed with the DS in mind, so that moving one of the screens up to a TV would throw it off.

I don't think they really push Lobo anymore. He worked in the booming anti-hero 90s, but with the industry in something of a slump, a mainstream parody character doesn't fit in quite the same. That said, I would love to see Lobo again in something.

I'm surprised. Cosplay usually just drives me into a senseless, bloody-eyed rage, but that was actually kind of amusing.

Among my favorites (for various reasons): Secret of Mana Final Fantasy II (US) E.V.O. Ogre Battle Street Fighter II Rock n' Roll Racing Battle Clash (Yes, that's a Super Scope game)

Man, they are sure trying. Slyck posted some news regarding the Captain Copyright comic as well. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Those comics are awesome because they're completely irrelevant. None of the three cases of "copyright infringement" (only one is strictly copyright infringement) they give are really analogous to the kind of large-scale multimedia copyright violation they're trying to fight. Not only that, but the one time they actually depict the concerns of the consumer (overpriced textbooks), they remain completely unaddressed. What's more, any college student worth his salt would just borrow the textbook from the library or a friend and photocopy a few missing pages himself. flock $200 math texts.

She's from Earth 2. I'll just leave it at that. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I didn't say I cared. I just said she was hot.

Americans love to idealize the Japanese (especially in our own pop-culture obsessed nerd circles), but things like this make me wonder how safe that is. I'm a quarter Japanese, raised primarily by my first-generation (aka imported) japanese-american grandmother, and I'm really proud of that part of my heritage. There are a lot of beautiful things about Japanese culture, but I don't think this is one of them. Maybe I don't understand it the way they do, but things like this just seem to glorify and revel in some of the important social problems that they, and we the rest of the world, face. Sorry if that's not a popular opinion, but I had to get it out there.

Power Girl is hot. I have no idea what her deal is, but she's hot.

Yeah, Wario is in this one too. There's a trailer out there somewhere that was shown at E3. Gametrailers?

No, it's because he's the goddamn Batman. Plus, Batman's been known to be an excellent fighter. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Seriously. What kind of question was that anyway? Superman or the Green Lantern vs. any of the Street Fighter characters, now there's your mismatch. Unless blanka was in his yellow alternate... ok, maybe that was too much... [/nerd]

What country is this?

I was never a huge DC fan. With Batman, the Watchmen, and a few Vertigo titles enthusiastically excepted, their heroes were always really bland to me. However, they're undeniably a large part of comic book history, and as a closet comic book geek that makes this title immensely interesting. And I think we can safely expect it to be better the extremely imperfect "Rise of the Imperfects." Also, that link is largely useless (except for the part you posted), but the booth babe on the right in the Cars picture more than makes up for it.

Animal Crossing seems to be really hit or miss. People either love it or they hate it. Try before you buy. Try brain age before you put your money on it also. It's fun for some, but to others it's just fourth grade math. Advance Wars DS will be my contribution to the list. And I second the vote for New Super Mario Bros.

Just to prove I'm fair, I'm going to listen to some of their older stuff. But I warn you, if it sounds like screamo I'm coming back to deride them some more.

this girl name Crystal; her pics are sometimes posted on /s/ at 4chan. I want some cake now! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ah yes, I remember hearing about her earlier. Very nice.

That was basically my point.

Who's the girl in the pop rocks shirt?

Heh. I was going to call them emo too, but that was pretty harsh. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I pretty much agree with Drake on this one. AFI is too trash for my tastes. Radiohead on the other hand. is the greatest band in the world, up there with Dream theater, the beatles and Pink Floyd. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> See, I like punk. The Clash, the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, Rancid, Green Day (up to Dookie), stuff like that. Calling A.F.I. punk hit me on a personal level, but I was being nice.

Heh. I was going to call them emo too, but that was pretty harsh.

new guy ftw.

I figure as new episodes come out, the existing episodes will drop in price. I'll wait until a few are out and then get the cheaper ones or whatever bundles they're offering.

Eau D'Bedroom Dancing by Le Tigre. A friend gave me this song on a mixed cd and it kicked so much ass I bought the actual Le Tigre CD cold. First time I'd done that in many years. Every other song on the Le Tigre CD sounds like some kind of crappy 80's girl band pop.