Okay, since I have some time to kill (look at the time, do the math, and feel SHAME! 😉 ), I thought what I’d do is dump some news stories from the past week onto the blog and throw my colorful commentary in for good measure. If nothing else, it’ll be fun to cover several subjects in a single post.

First up, we have the announcement that the final Wheel of Time book, A Memory of Light, will actually be broken up into three volumes and the first (entitled The Gathering Storm) is due out November 3rd of this year. This is incredibly welcome news, as the last WoT book came out back in 2005 and… that’s a long time ago. But, it’s hard for the news to not be sad, as well, given that it just brings to mind Robert Jordan’s tragic passing. I await this book with some mild trepidation, because Jordan’s style is one that I respect a lot. I’ve said it numerous times, but the man was able to engage me from page one and have me interested in every single conversation that ever took place. In an incredibly dense fantasy series, that’s saying something. While I sympathize with his later detractors over his verbose descriptions of clothes washing, or the sometimes snail-like pace of the later books compared to the first, the bottom line for me was that any time the man released a book, I bought it, I devoured it, and I wanted more. In this day an age, going back and rereading books is a luxury I seldom get to indulge in– simply don’t have the time– but I have with Jordan. And I’ll do it again.

Which brings us back to the fact that The Gathering Storm, while based on Jordan’s outline, won’t be Jordan. I won’t know how it actually winds up until November, but it has me feeling cautious. That said, a word about Brandon Sanderson. The man is good. He’s nowhere near Jordan’s level yet, but he could be one day. His own work is remarkably well done (expect some posts on Elantris and Mistborn in the near future) and worth checking out. He chooses to emphasize some thing Jordan didn’t, and I don’t know if the nobility in his own worlds is exactly analogous to Jordan’s, and I can’t say his books have grabbed me the same way Jordan did– but I’m not entirely sure those are fair criticisms. For instance, the nobility in Elantris is different from the nobility in Mistborn, so I’m sure the nobility in Wheel of Time would be recognizable, because we haven’t seen him write in the WoT universe yet. The man’s forthcoming blog posts fill me with hope, though, because they clearly show a man who cares about giving the fans– and Jordan– what they deserve. Incidentally, after reading the press release linked above, be sure to also read Brandon’s blog post about the AMoL split. Fascinating insight into the writing process.

Onto the next tab, we have the announcement that Timothy Zahn is writing a new Star Wars novel! This makes his 9th, and makes me a very happy camper. Zahn has been a perennial favorite of mine since I first cracked the spine of Heir to the Empire and I’ve been a faithful reader ever since. His non-SW work is excellent, his SW work is outstanding, and there’s nothing the man writes that I won’t buy. (Ironically, I was browsing Barnes & Noble earlier today and discovered he wrote a tie-in to the new Terminator movie. It’ll be the first time I’ve followed Zahn into another independently-owned universe, but follow him I shall.) It’s been somewhat interesting to see the reaction to this news on Star Wars forums (I lurk, haven’t posted in years), because I’ve witnessed almost a seismic shift from the days I’m familiar with. While I’ll always consider Zahn the King, Stackpole the Prince, and Allston the Jester Baron of SW literature, the announcement has been met with some hostility. Some because it’s a follow-up to his last entry, Allegiance (set between ANH and ESB), but a lot just don’t like Zahn’s stuff. Color me shocked. I guess I’m just out of touch with SW EU fandom these days. In any event, new SW from Zahn: good.

Speaking of our beloved Jester Baron, I was shocked and dismayed to read that Aaron Allston had suffered a heart attack while on tour and had to undergo quadruple bypass surgery. I don’t like to hear that my favorite authors are suffering hardships (and I’m sure it really pisses them off 😉 ), so I wish him a full and speedy recovery. Since first diving into Wraith Squadron oh-so-many-years-ago, Allston has been the go-to guy for laughs in the Star Wars universe, even while being one of the architects of the dark days of Jacen’s fall. I just picked up his latest entry, Outcast, last week and mean to dive into it soon. His entries were the bright spot of Legacy of the Force and I expect the same will be true for Fate of the Jedi. Get well soon, man.

Next tab over, let’s change gears and tackle some video game BS. I mean news.

Sony lowers the PS2 price to $99 and says this will cut into Wii sales. I cry BS. I mean, seriously? Is that the best they can do? The PS3 is struggling to find a base, it’s prohibitively priced, it’s in desperate need of a price-cut (I wrote about this late last year, even), and they choose to slash the price of the nine-year-old system instead? And then claim it will cut into Wii sales? Excuse me, but do I have “STUPID” tattooed on my forehead? The PS2 was a great system, I don’t think anyone can deny that, but it can no more compete with the Wii than the Virtual Boy can with the PSP. The Sony exec emphasizes the PS2s large library, but if you walk into your basic store these days, you’ll find very few PS2 games on the shelves, outside of the bargain bin aisle. That’s because it’s an old machine that isn’t getting major studio support anymore. As for the Wii, deficiencies aside, it’s still the hottest thing out there and only now am I regularly seeing the system in stock. Two years after its release. Sony, spin is to be expected, but at least try, and for God’s sake, recognize that the PS3 cannot survive on the back of the PS2 forever.

Ah, but then yet outdid themselves. With today’s release of the Nintendo DSi, Sony got snarky. Blahblahblah Nintendo “kiddy” blahblahblah. This spin was just embarrassing, even moreso than the last one. I mean, we’ll skip over the tired “kiddy” accusation and tackle the substance of the claim. To show the “diversity” of games for the PSP, the Sony exec cites four games. Ostensibly this is to show that the PSP is more mature than the Nintendo DS. But, let’s run through them.

Rock Band Unplugged. Okay, that’s a PSP exclusive. But, y’know, with the numerous Guitar Hero games on the DS, I don’t think the DS is lacking for instrument based games. Granted, these won’t work on the DSi, but the point remains. Rock Band and Guitar Hero are two sides of the same coin. Yeah, the DS doesn’t have Rock Band (yet), but they’ve got comparable.

Assassin’s Creed. Yep, that’s a mature game. No question. But, hey, what’s this? Oh, that’s Assassin’s Creed for the DS. From last year. Oops.

Dissidia Final Fantasy. Again, another PSP exclusive. So, yeah, it’s a game the PSP has that the DS doesn’t. But the exec was arguing markets and how the PSP addresses those the DS does not. Do we really think the DS is Final Fantasy deprived? (Might be hard to see, but there are six links in there.) I don’t think anyone can argue that with any kind of intellectual honesty.

Last, but not least, Hannah Montana. Let’s ignore the delicious irony of calling your competitor’s machine “kiddy”, and then citing Hannah Montana as a reason your machine rocks. Just ignore it. And consider… this. Oops again. (There’s even more than one, I simply chose the one not yet out since I assumed he was promoting upcoming stuff.)

You know, pointing out that the PSP has wireless store capabilities too is fine, fair. But the attacks above just insult me as a consumer. And I own a PSP and like the machine (the PSP remake of the original Final Fantasy still impresses the hell out of me, visually). But, since getting my DS Lite, there’s really been no contest as to which machine is the better one. Plus, when it comes to online stores, I’m spending points in Nintendo’s and Microsoft’s, but have yet to spend a dime in Sony’s. Not because I’m protesting or anything, just that there’s very little there worth spending on. PSone classics (always be the PSX to me) section has only two games that interest me, which is incredibly, incredibly disappointing. Bottom line, poor showing, Sony. No class.

Speaking of no class, we also have this story making the rounds, of supposed Star Fox “creator” Dylan Cuthbert dissing the current state of the franchise and Shigeru Miyamoto. Now, I suppose my first bit of puzzlement came from billing this guy as a “creator” of Star Fox– something commonly attributed to Miyamoto. Upon further investigation, I find that this is a guy who worked at the company that helped develop the original with Nintendo (but he isn’t credited with any of the major design roles), then came back and oversaw the DS installment, Star Fox Command— which, ironically along with the original, are the only Star Fox games I’ve never played. So, I think this guy’s opinion is being given somewhat inflated weight. Then he knocks the Wii as a “toy”– which all video game systems are, to a certain degree– and says he has no interest in working on a SF game for it. Okay. I wasn’t wanting one from him, so fine with me– neither, apparently, was Nintendo, because it doesn’t sound like he was even approached. Then there’s the gratuitous throwing Adventures and Assault under the bus, which while far from perfect, I enjoyed enough to complete (won’t be going back anytime soon, though). And then criticizes Miyamoto for good measure. Personally, I identify with Miyamoto’s position, that Star Fox should be more than just flying– I just think the problem is that it has yet to be executed right. Adventure abandoned flight almost completely. You can’t do that. Assault was developed out-of-house by Namco and felt stiff. Can’t do that either. But just because it hasn’t been done right yet doesn’t mean it can’t be or shouldn’t be. Find the right balance, you’ll have a decent game. Although, Star Fox 64 will remain the best in the series. Funny enough, a game that this guy didn’t seem to work on. Imagine that.

Okay, we’re at the last of my tabs, so here’s the final story. Yu Suzuki retires. Or gets phased out, if you read inbetween the lines. Now, I care about this because Shenmue is one of my favorite video game series and, well, we left off with a cliffhanger in 2 that now will never be resolved. Shenmue was Suzuki’s baby, his story, and with him gone the hope is dead. I came to Shenmue in 2001 when I picked up a Dreamcast on clearance, as well as a dozen or so games for dirt cheap (Shenmue being one of them). It was one of the major RPGs on the console and was something that had interested me– but once I started playing, I was sucked into the world. It had the right balance of everyday life, tracking down answers, doing your job, to pull me into the story and make me care about what happened to the character. Plus, mastering the combat system was incredibly satisfying. By the end of the game, when the main character leaves his home and all his friends to set out for Hong Kong, there’s a real melancholy in the air and the game’s music accentuated it perfectly. I didn’t waste anytime snagging a UK import of Shenmue 2 once Microsoft bought the exclusive North American rights to the game for the Xbox (although I did pick up the U.S. version once I had an Xbox). That was an involved process, requiring I track down a boot disc in the waning days of the Dreamcast’s lifespan, but definitely worth it. Breezed right through the sequel and loved it even more than the first. And just as we finally started to get some answers– like what “Shenmue” actually was (a tree)– the game ends with a To Be Continued. I say again, this was 2001.

Since then, I’ve held out hope Sega would be willing to try the series once again and let Suzuki finish his saga with Shenmue 3. Only now, with Suzuki gone, that will never happen. The Sega I once knew and respected has slowly but surely become a thing of the past. It’s a shame. More on that later.

Well, that’s the run down. I’d insert a break in here somewhere, but I’m not sure where would be appropriate and, well… don’t want to. 😉 Heh. If you made it through all these rantings, thanks. Leave a comment. Now I need to tag this baby. Oy.