OBLIVION Persuasion Minigame hurts my brain

I finished all the XBOX 360 titles that I've picked up so far (and by finished, I mean played until they got too difficult or boring... yes, I'm talking to you Ridge Racer!), so I picked up the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The game is amazing, as the whole web-o-sphere is saying. Huge world, great graphics, lots of things to do. But I was chit chatting with an NPC in the game and saw that I had an option to "persuade." To what ends I would be persuading someone, I didn't have a clue, but what the hell, why not? So when I select "persuade" it starts this minigame involving a rotating pie chart. After three small screens of instruction, I have to start turning the pie chart and selecting things to do:flatter, boast, etc. Long story short, it was the most frustrating thing I've ever done in a video game (you can't stop once you've started so I just started mashing buttons till the "end" option became available) AND I had no idea why the fuck I was doing it or what benefit would be. So I did it again, this time reading every page of the directions which, for someone who's been playing games as long as I have, is a real chore. So I start again and...same frustrating shit. During this, there is an option to bribe so I'm like "Fuck it. I'm not above throwing money at a problem." and proceed to waste a ton of cash on persuading this office clerk to do something. Once I've finished the persuasion minigame, still confused by what the hell just happened, I talk to her again to see what the result of my hard work has been. Turns out, the bitch wants me to by a shitty apartment for 2000 Gold! Are you kidding me? I spent everything except my mead money on bribing you, and you repay me by selling me something? Brilliant.

When I get home from work, I'm going to go back to that office and try to persuade her with a worn leather boot up the bum.

You want it WHEN?!?

Well, well, well.

It looks like all of us who decided to get an Xbox 360 instead of waiting for the PS3 weren't being rash after all. 1UP has the news that the PlayStation 3 won't be out in Japan till November of this year, not this spring, as they had been saying for the longest time. Who the hell knows when the thing will be out in the USA? Next summer? Screw that. I'm sure I'm not the only person who thought about waiting for the PS3 to compare it with the xbox, then buy one or the other. Well, go out there and get yourself an Xbox if you're inpatient like I am. What else are you going to do with that flat screen TV? Watch movies on it? Please.

I, Too, Am 8-Bit

To be perfectly honest, I'm usually too chickenshit to go to art shows, but if you're the kind of person who would oh, I don't know, pay 5 bucks for a Super Mario Brothers ring tone (guilty), you might want to check this out. I Am 8 Bit is an art show here in L.A. from April 18-May 19 and all the work is based on retro gaming. Nice. The art isn't always the most deft and subtle, but what do you expect when the subject of the painting is the little dude from ExciteBike.

Let's Roll!

It's not often that a blog gets started by passing along some sad news, but 1UP is reporting that Me and My Katamari (for the PSP) is probably going to be the last adventure for the Tiny Prince, or at least the last one directed by the team responsible for the last 3 brilliant versions of the game. They used the term "wrapping things up" (or whatever the Japanese equivalent is)... doesn't sound too promising. Katamari Damaci is a cult hit because it appeals to those of us who play games simply for the sheer joy of playing, with its adorable characters, offbeat music and simple gameplay.

Plus, who doesn't like to roll flowers, tuna, and little screaming children up into a ball?