I actually had a lot to say about this, but then I lost the draft, so it's all gone now. Google "Bring Back Toonami", and you'll get the whole story. That is all.

What it is: An RPG for the PC.

No, really: HUGE.

Hit: Makes Morrowind and Oblivion's worlds look like tiny islands. The number of quests, and their way of actually seamlessly blending in with everything, can be overwhelming. The amount of content you get out of just the vanilla game alone is pretty damn amazing. The PC version enhances this ten fold with an excellent modding community.

Miss: The initial release was kinda buggy, but they've pretty much fixed all that now.

Hit or Miss? It's consumed far more of my time since November than I'd care to admit. An excellent RPG, which is kinda hard to find these days. Buy it, if you haven't already!

Hello, folks, and welcome to this blog we run here in the middle of nowhere on those internets. I have been somewhat of a lacking host. There hasn't been anything new here for a long time. If there are still people that read this thing, other than spam bots flooding our comments, then you deserve a medal. That monochrome image of Tanooki Mario that was stuck at the top post until now pretty much sums up what the Shrine has looked like for awhile.

Coming up this weekend: We talk about Ready Player One, a book published by Ernest Cline last year (he wrote the screenplay for the movie Fanboys). I'll be reviewing Legend of Grimrock, a game that has nothing to do with Grimlock from Transformers (that we know of, anyway).

(Editor's Note: This, like The Cake, was indeed a lie. I apologize.)

There's no guarantees on anything staying steady here, but the Shrine will always come back randomly with no guarantees. I guarantee that!

So enjoy the show, and, if anything, we'll be back again in another six months or so. (For the record, that was our longest hiatus ever. Don't be hatin'.)

Also, our avatars are now from the excellent (cancelled) show, Jericho, in case someone was wondering.

PETA-- who apparently never played Super Mario Bros. 3-- has come to the conclusion through the new Super Mario 3D Land for the 3DS that Mario is a animal-hating fascist bastard.

Their new flash game, which is played from the perspective of what looks like that one guy kicking the smaller ball-shaped guy around on Death Mountain in Link to the Past's Dark World, tells the story of how Mario is a complete shithead who skins animals in 2D and apparently flies off with their skin.

Again, bear in mind: the Tanooki Suit evolved from the NES game we all know and love, Mario 3, which came out over twenty years ago. Apparently PETA didn't get the memo.

I have nothing else to say other than some input from my wife: where does the Frog Suit come in on this? What about all the frogs who Mario skins brutally, yanked violently from their quiet ponds by this vicious plumber? Think about that one.

Minecraft is a game. If you've played Terraria, it might seem awfully familiar, or vice versa. You build stuff. You have fun. There are zombies (there are always zombies, these days). It is available on Mac and PC for fifteen U.S. dollars.

However, when attempting to describe to co-workers, be prepared for subtle nuances in conversational changes that may disturb or ruin your build-up of the end result description.

Example:

"Hey, I play Minecraft. It's a fun game."

"What's it like?"

"Well, you dig stuff... and can build whatever you want..."

"Like The Sims?"

"Well... kind of.... except you make a character, and get equipment..."

"Like Runescape?"

"Well... kind of..."

"I like World of Warcraft."


At this point, you have failed. Display the trailer for the game and expect luke warm results. Maybe praise it's finer points while avoiding any similarities to... well, anything.

Here's an example of proper sentence structure (NOTE: This has never been actually tested in the field, proceed with extreme caution when using):

"There's this game I play that has a lot of stuff in it and you run around and there are enemies that explode and your house will blow up and it's fun. Please try it and I will be happy."

Another example, this time targeting the 18-25 male demographic:

"YO WASSUP DOGG!? XBOX IS LIKE WIGGITY WHACK! PLAY MINECRAFT!"

Explore other avenues of conversation when necessary.

Those of you who know me know how ridiculous my love for The King of Fighters series is - for those that don't - lets just say I own every entry in the mainline series on one console or another (and in KoF 97's case I own it three times, including on the actual Neo-Geo hardware).

I was exceptionally happy with King of Fighters XII a few years ago, but my one major dislike was that it was another dream match - at last though, I can see the finale to the Ash Crimson arc!

Whats more, Atlus is translating this game - meaning we might actually get some quality dialogue in the US version for once. If that wasn't enough, those of us who pre order get a sexy 4 disc soundtrack CD set with KoF music from throughout the series. I couldn't be happier. When capcom gives us a rehash of MvC3 the same year it came out with minor tweaks, SNK a few years later gives us a substantiatative entry in the series. Is it any wonder I love SNK so much? :D

and of course, here's the requisite trailer:

In what could best be described as... well, really dumb, Square has announced that the newest game in the classic Dragon Quest series, slated for the Wii, will be a pay-to-play MMO. Nevermind the fact that at this point getting a good release on the Wii in the U.S. is like asking for a blowjob from Grace Park while eating a Hot Pocket surfing Netflix-- not that we would know anything about that-- the game will also be updated and re-released on the Wii U.

This also follows Capcom's recent decision to cancel fan favorite Mega Man Legends 3. Let's not touch that one.

Frankly, I'm totally confused by the decision-making process, here. The Wii is not exactly the best online gaming platform. Pay-to-play MMOs have been biting the dust-- or going the free-to-play/microtransaction route-- for the last couple years, unable to compete with the addiction monster that is World of Warcraft. Sure, DQX will do well in Japan, but in North America it will bomb before it even begins.

The biggest problem, however, is how this will effect the series historically. With the Final Fantasy series, we now have two games that, someday, will only survive by sheer fanbase and private servers (XI and XIV, for those keeping track).

As I've said before, this is incredibly stupid. My kids, someday, will have one hell of a time understanding that mess, and why the only way you can play a very certain two in an otherwise incredible series is by joining up with a hodge-podge of about a couple hundred folks that still enjoy playing an old online game.

Dragon Quest was always different, though. Simple, concise, classic gameplay that set the mold of almost every RPG we enjoy today. It's a formula that's rarely changed, only slightly improving here and there over the years-- and that's fine. We loved it for that.

Dragon Quest X was one of the few on my radar I was genuinely excited about. Now, it marks a semi-interesting point in history (instead) where I just stopped caring, and I-IX will be remembered as the "classic" Dragon Quest games. Thanks to GameLife for the news.