1) http://www.theonion.com/onion3904/yankees.html :D
2) Spring Training starts in a week... almost time to start hoping our teams (Hey, is anyone here a fan of a WINNING team?) won't fail again... and then have those dreams dashed once the season is underway... :(

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_747...theadlines

How cool is that?

The first part of the first animated Matrix anime can be found here.

The first of several animated Matrix shorts is called "The Second Rennaisance" and is directed by Mahiro Maeda of Blue Subarine No. 6 fame. It's a prequel to the movies and tells the story of how the machines took over mankind. Part of the story was done in the first wave of the Matrix online comics at the official site. So go check out the movie! It's very cool.

This game appears to be continuing the tradition of SNES/GBA-esque style RPG's but it looks very colorful and I'm hoping the US gets to see what it's all about.


The site:

http://www.skiptokyo.com/giftpia

It's in Japanese, so you'll have to run it through Babelfish for an even poorly translated version. Sounds like themes from many SNES RPG's as I've said before. Take a look, draw your own conclusions.(Other than of course the decidedly primitive AC-esque graphics)

Boy, I'm actually pretty bored of the whole non-stop debate thing going on over here. You have people like ABF who believe their own opinions are "fact", and then people like ABF who can't admit when they're wrong.

But I digress. From this day forward I will make a conscious effort to argue as little as possible unless it's in the debate forum! I will even be the bigger man by letting notoriously wrong people like ABF and Hudson tell everyone their crazy opinions on things without responding to them in a mean and spiteful manner.

:D I jest.

Do we really have to disagree on everything? Everyone has their own opinions, and they shouldn't have to be afraid of speaking their mind because someone might get mad at them for it. So let's all try to be a little nicer to each other, okay? I'll be the first one to start.



Cheers!

http://www.n-philes.com/php/epuufzepelvvlfzuaku.php

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Quote:ACADEMY OF INTERACTIVE ARTS AND SCIENCES (AIAS) ANNOUNCES FINALISTS FOR 2003 INTERACTIVE ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 4, 2003 – The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences today announced finalists for the 2003 Interactive Achievement Awards, which will be held at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, February 27, 2003. The Academy will present awards in 30 craft, console, computer, and online categories. Award highlights include an overall Game of the Year as well as Game of the Year in different genres, and the prestigious Hall of Fame Award.

“Each year we see even more games that demonstrate the innovation, creativity and diversity with which videogames push the envelope of modern entertainment,” said Paul Provenzano, President of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. “It is satisfying to see such an exceptional mix of savvy veteran videogame developers and bold new studios among the finalists.

Metroid® Prime from Nintendo of America Inc. and Retro Studios earned an Interactive Achievement Awards record ten nominations. Several games received six nominations apiece including, Electronic Arts’ Battlefield 1942™, Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Sony Computer Entertainment of America’s Ratchet and Clank™ and Ubi Soft’s Splinter Cell™. Nintendo of America and Electronic Arts lead the field of videogame publishers with 26 and 25 total nominations respectively.

Finalists for 2003’s Game of the Year include:

• Animal Crossing™ for the NINTENDO GAMECUBE™, published by Nintendo of America Inc., developed by Nintendo Co. Ltd.;
• Battlefield 1942 for the PC, published by Electronic Arts, developed by Digital Illusions;
• Ratchet & Clank for the PlayStation® 2, published by Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., developed by Insomniac Games;
• Metroid Prime for the NINTENDO GAMECUBE, published by Nintendo of America Inc., developed by Retro Studios;
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for the PlayStation 2, published by Rockstar Games, developed by Rockstar North.

Finalists for 2003’s PC Game of the Year include:

• Age of Mythology™, published by Microsoft, developed by Ensemble Studios;
• Battlefield 1942, published by Electronic Arts, developed by Digital Illusions;
• Medal of Honor Allied Assault™, published by Electronic Arts, developed by 2015 Inc.;
• Neverwinter Nights™, published by Infogrames, developed by BioWare;
• Warcraft III®: Reign of Chaos, published and developed by Blizzard.

Finalists for 2003’s Console Game of the Year include:

• Splinter Cell for the Xbox, published by UbiSoft, developed by UbiSoft Montreal;
• Ratchet & Clank for the PlayStation 2, published by Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., developed by Insomniac Games;
• Metroid Prime for the NINTENDO GAMECUBE, published by Nintendo of America Inc., developed by Retro Studios;
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for the PlayStation 2, published by Rockstar Games, developed by Rockstar North;
• Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem™ for the NINTENDO GAMECUBE, published by Nintendo of America Inc., developed by Silicon Knights;
• Animal Crossing for the NINTENDO GAMECUBE, published by Nintendo of America Inc., developed by Nintendo Co. Ltd.

SEGA®’s Yu Suzuki will receive the Academy’s coveted Hall of Fame award.

For a full list of finalists in all categories, visit http://www.interactive.org.

The Interactive Achievement Awards will be presented as part of the 2003 D.I.C.E. Summit (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain), the only event presented to focus exclusively on game design.

About the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences

Located in Los Angeles, CA, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is an official professional academy of the $7+billion interactive entertainment software industry. AIAS is supported by the industry’s leading companies and counts among its board of directors representatives from Activision, Bioware Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Ensemble Studios, Infogrames, Insomniac Games, Interactive Digital Software Association, Microsoft, Nintendo of America, Oddworld Inhabitants, Sony Computer Entertainment America, Sierra Entertainment, and Carnegie Mellon University.

For more information about AIAS, or to register for the DICE Summit, visit the Web site at http://www.interactive.org, or http://www.dicesummit.com.

It's newly 2003 so it's time to prepare for the best three days in every gamers life: The Electronic Entertainment Expo. I know, May is pretty far off right now, but it's never to early to talk about E3. Post your comments, thoughts, plans, and anything else E3 related here.

I got the latest OXM in the mail today and much to my surprise a demo of the game was included with the issue as well as the first review. It got a fantastic 9.0 from OXM, and I'm very happy to report that the game plays wonderfully. The combat is excellent, the controls are solid, and the camera is pretty good as well.

Unfortunately it's only coming out for the PS2, PC, and X-Box. But those of you that have one of these systems should be looking forward to this February release.

I'm about to have dinner so i'll make it short.

Halo will be renamed - and released on Gamecube and Playstation 2. Those of you who know why get a star. The rest of you need to go do some research.