I read the news today, oh boy...

Sooooo...lots of stuff going on from when I last posted. Let's discuss a few things, shall we?

• The ESA is ramping up their lobbying efforts, it looks like, and while I like some of what's being discussed (First Amendment protections yay), others are a little worrying to me. Virtual property taxation? The first sale doctrine? Since I haven't found out much more about it, I'm just hoping this'll turn out to be good rather than bad. We already know what happened when certain copyright owners lobbied to increase copyright terms...
  
• The Tokyo Game Show is going on, and lots of good stuff is to be had: Metal Gear Solid 4 playable, Metal Slug 7 (for the DS!) shows up, Soul Calibur 4 looks the same but different, Mr. Destructoid hangs with the booth babes there...lots of stuff going on, and it's too much to mention here.
  
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl is turning out better and better by the day: first we get a music selection feature, and then we have confirmed online play, and we're still getting all kinds of new characters out the wazoo right now, especially with Snake being reconfirmed today. His attacks look more tactical than we're used to with mines and rockets and such...this could get interesting.
• SNK Playmore USA announced a lot of great stuff: the aforementioned Metal Slug 7, another King of Fighters collection, a pack of old SNK arcade games under the moniker "SNK Arcade Classics" (I'm a sucker for retro compilations), and Samurai Shodown 2 for Xbox Live! Of course, we're getting Neo Geo titles for the Virtual Console as well, so hooray.
• Resident Evil 5 is now officially said to be set in Haiti. I honestly don't think this setting is racist, like some have said. After all, many of the original beliefs about voodoo and zombies originated in Haiti, so I think this decision makes some sense. I'd have to see more of the game before I make a final judgment, though.
  
• I think I'm going to buy a Sega Master System soon. It couldn't stand up to the prowess and console monopoly of Nintendo, but it still has some neat stuff for it. Of course, it's just going to add to all the stuff I already know...and God knows I have enough game clutter lying around already. But then again, I already committed to buy Zillion and the 2nd Alex Kidd game...so yeah.

And to finish off on that last note about the Master System, I think it's prudent to link to one of my favorite pictures...Brandon Bird, I salute you. Check out some of his other work, too, it's good stuff. (Hope you don't mind me linking to you, you're awesome!)

I'll try to actually get video footage and such up for you all soon, but I still need to get my equipment ready for it. Hopefully by that time I'll stop being such a writing hack and actually entertain you guys! A glorious day indeed...