Acid for Blood

Samus Aran Phazon Suit Statue

I don't think Santa Claus exists, because I wrote a very eloquent letter a couple years ago asking for the First 4 Figures limited edition Samus Aran Varia Suit statue, but he didn't come through.

First 4 Figures are at it again, and they've produced this completely awesome limited edition Samus Aran Phazon Suit statue, complete with over 25 internal LED lights and mirror base.

Check it out:

The statue is not available until 2009, is limited to 1 500 pieces worldwide, and comes with a $225 price tag. Yikes.

[Thanks, Twyst, for the tip and for starting my morning off with an internal struggle to stop myself from getting my credit card out. Must. Resist!]

EDIT: Shit. Okay, I pre-ordered it. They won't be charging my card until the statue ships though, which is nice.

Variety.com Reviews Metroid Prime 3, Fails

Video Game Media Watch criticises Variety.com's review of Nintendo's latest Metroid game:

I’m not familiar with the reviewer, Tom Chick, and I probably won’t become familiar with him, either. While he’s done his homework and he possesses some knowledge of the franchise, the reader can’t really tell if this is through true experience or more of a Wikipedia job. While I’ve warned against ingrained game industry journalists taking a haughty stance with the mass media, there’s a difference between fearing their intrusion and rightly noting the deficiencies in their ability, at times, to opine on actual game design.

Here's a quote from the Variety.com review:

In addition to being borderline nonsensical, "Metroid Prime 3" is also difficult. It has the audacity to say, "Welcome to this strange place. Now go figure it out." Much of the game consists of groping around strange places, puzzling out devices, and traveling back and forth to find new powers, which serve also as "keys" to get to previously unreachable areas.

Exploration of new and unfamiliar territory, retracing one's steps, and finding new powers to reach new areas are key elements of the Metroid series. Yes, these things are difficult, but they are also defining aspects of Metroid. Audacious to non-gamers, perhaps. Not so much to gamers.

Another quote from Variety.com:

Too much of the time, though, "Metroid Prime 3" is more tedious than epic. This is particularly true of the boss battles, which are exhaustive affairs requiring dedication, patience, and most importantly, a familiarity with the vocabulary of videogames: double jumping, circle strafing, shooting weak points for massive damage, etc. Those who previously used the Wii only for party games will need a 13 year-old boy to explain it all.

Again, this guy doesn't appear to have played videogames before, because he seems surprised about how boss battles work. That "13 year-old boy" comment is even more ignorant.

EDIT - 1 October 2007: Video Game Media Watch responds to criticisms of its criticism of Variety.com's Metroid Prime 3 review.

Missing Metroid Month

Nintendo have announced that August 2007 is Metroid Month. Metroid and Super Metroid are due to be released on the Wii Virtual Console on August 13 and 20, respectively. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption has an August 27 release date, with an August 28 retail street date. This must be about the fifth time that Nintendo have re-released Metroid, and only the first time that they have done so for Super Metroid. Nintendo, could we please get Super Metroid released on the GameBoy Advance? I'd like to play it on the go.

I have deliberately avoided all of the media and fan hype about Metroid Prime 3. I didn't even know the exact release date of Metroid Prime 3 until Jeff mentioned it this week. As I wrote before, not only is a new console not in my budget this year, but the Wii unfortunately sits at the bottom of the list when it comes to console purchases. I think Nintendo's great and I love Metroid, but not to the point where I will buy a console to play the only Wii game that interests me.

Come on, Nintendo and third parties! Let's get some mature games out there with some serious storylines! The Wii and the Xbox 360 are nearly at the same level in terms of sales. I think that the people making games for the Wii should also be making games that aren't novelty games. I don't buy games like Mario Party. The novelty games that I do enjoy are rhythm games like Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution, neither of which are available for the Wii -- yet. DDR: Hottest Party is out for the Wii in October, but I expect the same poor treatment that the GameCube version of DDR got.

Corruption does look awesome, but I will be sitting on the sidelines for another Metroid release. I didn't actually get Metroid Prime at launch, because I didn't buy a GameCube until over a year after it launched. I'll try not to let envy get the better of me as I read the glowing (I hope) reviews of Metroid Prime 3.

On the Metroid Prime 3 Release and Future Console Purchases

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is scheduled for release on 20th August. I do not own a Wii and a new console is not in my budget this year. I'd like to buy a console to play more than one game, and quite honestly there aren't any other games on the Wii that appeal to me at the moment. I don't want to buy a Wii to play old games. I want to play Wii games.

The Xbox 360 has more games out right now (or coming soon) that I would like to play than the Wii.

The PlayStation 3 also has more games that I would like to play than the Wii.

Final Fantasy XIII looks like a game I'd like to play, which may come as a surprise, considering my lack of patience with Final Fantasy VII. The more I see of Final Fantasy XIII, the more intrigued I become. I wasn't remotely interested in this game until I saw a picture of the main character, Lightning. She looks really, really cool. Like, so cool that 'cool' doesn't even describe how cool I thinks she looks. I love her costume. I think I have a little crush on her, and I don't even know her story. I want to find out more about Lightning!

Still, the bottom line is: no console purchases this year.

In other hardware news, my PC is out of commission for the moment. I won't go into boring details, because it's a bit complicated. I'm waiting for a part to come through so that I can start working on it. For now, I am computing from my notebook computer. This means no extended Guild Wars sessions because I quickly get fed up of the small (14-inch widescreen) screen, but this was the reason behind getting the small screen in the first place. Yes, I am odd.

In gaming news, I'm reviewing the indie game, Mr. Robot, for the PC. I managed to get a couple of hours in before my computer broke, and the first Play Rating is up at The Game Chair.

Samus Aran vs. Spartan #458

Okay. Stop telling me about this video. I know about it. I'm linking to it. Here. If you haven't seen it already, and if you have any interest in Metroid and/or Halo, then you may want to see it.

I've thought about the video a bit since watching it, and I'm going to give my opinions without spoilers. There were things that initially irked me, which were slightly irritating, and after thinking about it, I figured out why they were irritating. Then my irritation increased.

The video is full of fan service, in every way, and over-the-top fan service at that. The action scenes were quite entertaining, which is the main thing going for the video.

I didn't particularly care for the other content (the "story"). This video was made by a male, for a male audience, with male fantasies in mind.  It's like when children would get their action figures together and make up absurd stories so that characters from completely different universes could find some excuse to interact with each other. Except in this case, there was no explanation for why they were in the same universe, interacting.

The reason why they started fighting cast Samus Aran in a poor light, and quite honestly I couldn't imagine her going about it in that way.

The turning point of the video and what followed after were rather forced. Pure fan service, poor storytelling. I don't oppose either of them being that way, but the setup was clumsy, unrealistic, and totally contrived. Something less overtly fan service-y would have been more enjoyable, or at the very least less worthy of eye-rolling/facepalming.

Some Halo fans are up in arms about one aspect of the twist ending. They need to read the video's FAQ. Samus Aran is not fighting Master Chief.

The creator clearly did not intend it to be accurate to either game, though I can't speak for the accuracy of the Spartan armour. Samus Aran's Grapple Beam, for example, is on her left arm, not the same arm on which she has her cannon (her right arm). Samus Aran also can't do quite a lot of the stuff she does in the video. I'm actually fine with this.

I did enjoy that the creator used a remixed Metroid theme by The Wingless.

I hated the bit at the very very end, after the credits. The animation was good, but the content was stupid, and again, it was created for men to look at. It was pretty cringe-worthy. I'm not opposed to Kpop, but seriously. Terrible.

[Via a bunch of sites on my Bloglines feed, and via people who know I like Metroid and told me about the video]

A Metroid Valentine

Some nerd gave me this:

[More cards at VGCats]

Samus Aran Varia Suit Statue

Dear Santa:

I have been very good this year.

For Christmas, I would like a Metroid Prime Samus Aran - Varia Suit statue. It is limited to only 2 500 pieces worldwide, so please get a move on. I know that the $99.99 price tag may be a bit high, but I have been really really good. I swear.

Even though the Metroid Prime Samus Aran - Gravity Suit statue is even more limited, to 250 pieces worldwide, and available only through the First 4 Figures website, I do not want it because I do not like the Gravity Suit.

Ideally, having the statues of Samus Aran in the Varia Suit, Light Suit, and Phazon Suit (possibly Dark Suit as well) would be the best, but the other statues are not out until next year. The Samus Aran Varia Suit statue comes out just after Christmas.

I am a Metroid fan and I love Samus Aran, so having a statue of Samus would be great.

Thank you,

Brinstar

[Thank you to Dragon for dropping me a note about the Samus Aran statue. :)]

A Metroid Tattoo That Isn’t the “S” Symbol

Nice.

Acid for Blood in Wikipedia

My blog is listed in the Wikipedia entry for Luminoth Temple, the now defunct, exclusive Metroid Prime 2: Echoes fan forum. Scroll down to the bottom. The blog post I made about the offensive discussion of booth babes by forum members in the Luminoth Temple is cited as an "Example of leaked information." Also, a screenshot of the page I encountered when I discovered that I was banned is also on Wikipedia.

Hehehe. Awesome. I think?

Personal Metroid Game Rankings

In a comment to my previous post, Jeff from Jefftovers asked me to "list the Metroid games in order from [my] most-loved to most-despised". I've never actually ranked the games in terms of how much I liked them and why. My response warrants its own post. BTW, I don't despise any of the Metroid games, but there are some I liked more than others. :)