Old Grey Kart, She Aint What She Used to be

Mario Kart is somehow the only successful kart franchise in the world of gaming. It’s a basic racer that’s been copied ad nauseum yet no one holds a candle/match/flare to this franchise that children cherish and Nintendo fans clamor for. Its popular enough to garner mass production of a driving wheel shaped piece of plastic.

Throwing red shells at cars was fun four iterations ago, this new version is hardly a re-imagining, if anything it’s a puddle composed of all previous Mario Kart games with motorbikes thrown in, which makes the Kart label redundant. They could’ve hired a hobo off the street to dream up a new offensive weapon from the Mario franchise. Even recycled items from previous games would’ve done the series justice. Turnips from Mario 2? A Raccoon leaf that let’s your kart hover? A Tanooki suit you can wear as you drive allowing the option of turning to stone mid drifting? How about coins that speed you up permanently like in the SNES? FIRE BALLS EVEN? I just thought up those ideas only stopping to pick my nose once.

To be fair they did try to implement the POW Block (No, it does not take you to a Chinese prison camp for a lap through a charred bamboo forest), the ultra big orange mushroom, and a thundercloud. The Orange Mushroom is a star, but with different music. The thunder cloud is the only unique item this game has spawned; it gives the driver a boost until a) they hit another kart, tagging them, and passing the cloud off to them or b) the cloud gets pissed and emits a shrinking lightning bolt. The POW Block spins out dumb drivers who can’t time a waggle at the third pound of the block to avoid the tremors.

Tracks have even become mundane and recycled. Who keeps giving Luigi money to build the same circuit over and over again? Does he know any other shape besides the figure eight? Nintendo is supposed to be the helm of creativity and a master of design yet these courses could have all existed back in the SNES or N64 version, some of which actually did. For some odd reason, Nintendo has been including retro cups as if to say to the player, “Our old games are awesome and innovative, you still like them, right?” At which point I arrived at the harsh realization that Nintendo no longer loves me like it used to.

They have tried to freshen things up by littering the tracks with ramps. You can now obtain a boost by going to the outer edge of the track (the longest possible route) and flying up into the air off of a XTREMEZORZ half pipe where the Kart spins seemingly endlessly in mid air, giving the player a great vantage point to see the opposition speed away in front of them, then lands back onto the track with an apologetic boost seconds behind those who chose the shortest path. These “trick” ramps are literally trick ramps. They serve no advantage except to work out your wrist, as a waggle is required to actually initiate sub-rad tricks.

The added Bikes of the motorized persuasion can wheelie, which leads to an increase in speed on the straights instantly giving them a better advantage. Sure they can drift like the Karts until gold sparks appear giving a longer more potent boost, but the tracks that have turns big enough for that are sporadic at best.

Why do you continue to do this Nintendo? Please utilize your creative resources and make some really fun tracks instead of throwing a bunch of different game design elements into a bag and implementing them poorly.

Money changed you, man.

-JT, DT

"These Band Games Are Getting Crazier!!!" by Nintendude07

Nintendude07's second comic for Scout Rush.

Battlefield: Bad Company Demo

Civ Revolutions is to Civ 4 is to Brian as Battlefield: Bad Company is to Battlefield 2 is to Seth

Get it?

Two weird new console versions of great pc games landing on the same day. I played some Bad Company today and after a while the multiplayer grew on me. The single player was totally lame. Here's how I judge voice acting: "will it cause someone in the next room to make fun of you?" It did, and I turned the dialog off completely.

The game is a pretty good multiplayer fps demo. The vehicles are fun, especially the choppers. Sniping, shotty combat, mid-range 3 round bursting, it all worked well. I got the sense that ps3 players aren't used to worrying about team damage. Teammates kept finding themselves under my tank treads.

My favorite thing about the demo is the load music-- major homage to Transit Tycoon.

Civ Revolutions

I downloaded the PS3 demo for Civilization Revolutions, being a hard core (well, medium core) Civ fan since the Civ2 days. (I even bought the expansion pack with the crappy dinosaurs and stuff).

The demo only allows you to play as the Egyptians or Romans, and only until 1200 AD.

The game looks pretty good, and it works well enough with a console controller. That being said, it didn't feel very Civ-like. Its small, claustrophobic, and bright. There's a lot of shouting in foreign languages, advisers fighting each other, units and buildings being gifted to you for no discernible reasons, etc. That and you don't feel any historical progression....Civ has always had such a dramatic shift between ancient times to medieval times to modern times....the map and everything just plays differently. Not the case in CivRev...and there's no worker units!! I love the worker unit, why did it go away? *sobs*.

One aspect of it I liked: the unique civ "bonuses" change in each age, which prevents a given civilization to be always weak in the early game or always weak in the late game.....etc. I am looking forward to the DS version, as it is seems perfect for mobile play. But I can't countenance playing it on a console when I have neglected Civ4 on my PC for so long.

The Secret to Good Sports Games

Long before there was an NHL 08 there was an NHLPA 93. Think I'm lying? Here's a screenshot chump! Yeah, someday you'll be old too and have to call whipper snappers chump and explain to them that ages ago there was a game called NHLPA 93 and that it featured the now defunct Que's as seen in the pic.
But this post isn't about the fact that I'm older than you. Instead it's about the most important sports gaming secret of all time. Only a few people have ever unearthed it, and some have gone mad with its power.

The only good sports games are released in odd numbered years.

I'll let you have a minute to take that one in...
minute's up chumps!

Starting in 1990 and 3, EASports releases NHLPA 93. The game turns the console hockey gamer world on its proverbial ear and shows gamers around the world a glimpse at the future potential of EASports (it looks just like TV!!!!).
Although some will argue that NHL 94 was the best of the traditional, top-down, EA, hockey games, I will argue that these people were playing Sega and should be ignored ;) . Their claim is largely based on the fact that 94 completed the expansion teams of that era (go Ducks?) and had players with "realistic" speed; however, my claim is that we weren't introduced to the true regular season mode, complete with stats, until NHL 95.

NHL 95 allowed users to play a full season, trade, cut, sign and create players. More gameplay features were added, defencemen would lay down to block shots, goal scorers could fake a shot, conduct drop passes, etc. A complete game, with fancy additions worth of $50. The next year fighting would return and the PC version of the game would be taken into a 3D environment. I played both the console and PC versions, they weren't done well...until NHL 97. Then what happened? ...oh yeah, the trend continued even after we were introduced to the superior NHL 2K franchise from Sega/ESPN/Take2/2K.
You still don't believe do you?
Fine.
NCAA Football 2003 featured 200 licensed fight songs, 3D cheerleaders and 144 different schools, redshirt a player, schedule non-conference games, real-life college football awards, etc.
versus
NCAA Football 2004 which featured Carson Palmer (who shouldn't have beat out Brad Banks for the Heisman) on the cover.
2005 - home field advantage, created signs and the matchup stick
2006 - a short sighted "race for the Heisman" mode
yadda yadda yadda... 2009 - online dynasty mode (friggin' brilliant)

Remember how cool NBA Live 95 was? So do I. Why? Because it was released in 1995 - an odd numbered year.
Might I direct you to my first post for Scout Rush? That's right Cricket 07 came out in an odd year.

Still looking for proof? Here it is chumps, with a quote no less! An excerpt from the NASCAR 08 review on IGN:

“

NASCAR 08 is bare-bones, unpolished and uninspired. When you don't even have any sort of ending wrap-up screen for the Season mode, you know you're in trouble. Hardcore NASCAR fans will no-doubt rally behind the title and say that the reviews are wrong and that we just don't understand the sport, but there's very little to the package. And believe it or not, it doesn't even turn left very well.

There you have it. So, the next time you're thinking about picking up a sports game, check the calendar and make sure you're getting an odd year!

Boring PS3 technical post!

I was having a hard time getting NAT2 on my new PS3. I was stuck at NAT3 even after taking all the advice I could find online... DMZ, port forwarding, UPnP settings. The solution, at least for my Netgear WGR614 was to upgrade my router firmware.

Just wanted to put that out there. I found many frustrated message board posts related to this issue; maybe this will show up in a Google search for someone and save the day.

Biggest problems with GTA 4 on PS3

Most of us ps3 kids have learned the fix for GTA 4 by now. Turn off the network connection in the Playstation menu, restart, play the game, save, restart the system and turn wireless/network back on. Everything is working for me now, and the multiplayer is incredibly fun. But here are some gripes that forced me to log off just now.

1. People playing team deathmatch when all they really want to do is drive an Infernus at 120 mph away from the action.

2. All the people that are still just testing each multiplayer mode. Logging in for 2 minutes then switching games.

3. When the game host spends 5 minutes tweaking all of the weather/radio/pedestrian settings.

4. Most people suck at driving.

5. No one wants to play as the cops in "cops and robbers."

Still don't have GTA IV

Still don't have GTA IV. All stores in my area are sold out, so I can't do the impulse thing. I'm busy with other things though, and it would be bad to have the game right now.

None of the news has helped either. I don't even know which console to buy.


Brian: Yeah, me neither. Damn final. Besides, we have to figure out which gang we're going to join first. Beatle Brawlers or Brothers Wit Weed???

Seth: God... those are the two worst gang names I have ever heard. I have the game now-- and a PS3. I played a little and liked the new controls a lot.

The Invisible Hand of Pokemon

If I were not so into philosophy, I might try my hand at a degree specializing in the economics of online worlds and video games. Depressingly enough, that'd probably be a vastly better career choice. There are tons of economic interactions that defy real world economic practices...especially when it comes to information. Wikipedia and Gamefaqs.com are a few examples that come to mind where people expend an inordinate amount of their time in order to help out the many. But this isn't motivated by charity - when it comes to virtual worlds, people suddenly start taking an inordinate amount of pride in being resources for other people, when they wouldn't do likewise in any other situation.

There's a different kind of reversal that goes on with me and many video games...I have little or no desire to collect real world objects. If something isn't useful to me, I feel no qualms about throwing it out. The last thing I ever wanted to collect was baseball cards, and my complete Topps sets from 1987 and 1988 are worth less than I bought them for. But when it comes to completing video games....

I never had this problem until Grand Theft Auto and its 100% completion (although I must admit that I'm still quite aways from fully completing San Andreas's side quests, and it looks as though I'll never get back to that one). One of the more ridiculous tests of my dedication to getting every damn thing came in Final Fantasy XII, where I managed to fully complete the monster screen. In other words, when there's the lethal combination of a game I like plus the invitation to try and complete a tough collection list...I get sucked in.

Which is why it was downright evil for Seth to insist that I give Pokemon Diamond a shot. Since the TV show is ass-awful, I had blissfully ignored this phenomenon. But I gave it a shot, and suddenly I find myself trying to get every damn one of the buggers. Debating between which versions of the GBA game to get so as to unlock a bunch of other ones (has there ever been a good reason for why they make two near-identical versions of each game, or is it just wantonly to make money?), logging in every few hours to tend to the berries I've planted...all that stupid crap.

So congrats, capitalism. You've shown yet another means by which to run my life despite my best efforts.

DS on the Train

I ride the Chicago urban USA commuter elevated train line to and from work every day, and I always stare at the people playing DS. Before Pokemon Diamond/Pearl was released (and I bought a system), I just glanced at people’s screens with mild interest. Then I went Pokecrazy-- always looking for battles and taking note of everyone with a DS. I’m not playing Pokes anymore, but I still look over shoulders and take note of DS players.

Here are the last 5 games I saw being played in 2008:


Mario Kart
Mario Kart
New Super Mario Brothers
Mario Kart
Mario Party

The DS has a problem that the rumored lighter Lite redesign isn’t going to fix. Mario Kart DS has spent 2.5 years at the top of the review charts, and I don’t see the streak ending this year. All good fanboys know that games better than Mario Kart have come out in 2006, 2007, and 2008, but the public isn’t catching on.

Moms playing Brain Age on the train? Not any more. Little girls raising Labradors (and friends)? Gone. I never saw a single person playing Professor Layton despite the ad campaigns, and it's starting to discourage me. Even with all of the casual titles that keep coming out, it feels like the platform is starting to fall out of favor with commuters. Too bad. Looks like I'll never have the chance to challenge a complete stranger to an 8 AM Pokemon beauty contest.

Ikariam and Magic Pen - Browser games 4U+Me

Considering that I dedicated an entire post to a game that doesn't even work, I thought I would showcase two games just begging to be alt-tabbed away when your boss walks by your cubicle:

1. Ikariam. Syzlak gets the real credit for introducing me to this game. Basically it is kind of an online version of Civ, where you sign up to get a spot on an island - everything is modeled after Ancient Greek civilization (even though you can tech slightly beyond that point). Everything is in real time, so your success isn't determined by the amount of time you put in on the game, but instead being a mixture of efficient and patient. Very addicting. Remarkably well run for a browser game.



B. Magic Pen.
This game is simple but neat - you have to get a ball to a flag, and you have to do so by manipulating the ball through objects you draw, and the size/type of things you can draw are (somewhat) unlimited. A browser game with a physics engine is pretty impressive.

Franchise Whore: Final Fantasy VII

Just about everyone that had a Playstation In 1997 was playing Final Fantasy VII. Half my high school football team knew what materia was. Level grinding for hours after class in my parents basement in lieu of homework was a daily occurrence, and the futuristic take on the genre was a refreshing change from the dragon fighting, chain-mail equipping RPGs of years past. If you've played console RPGs in the past ten years, you've probably played FFVII or a subsequent Iteration.

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, the latest installment of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII; Square-Enix's attempt to milk the game for everything its worth. With FFVII touted as "The Best Game EVAR" by most video game Internet forum goers since there was internet forums, how did anyone not see this coming? I remember when they announced Advent Children a few years back and thinking it was a remake or sequel to the original in video game form. I was sadly disappointed when it turned out to be a CG film that takes place after the game, or Final Fantasy: Shrek (see above for speculation on what that might look like). Personally, I don't think a continuation of the story was necessary in the first place. So far the compilation consists of CG movie continuation of the original plot, tertiary character side story console game, tertiary character Japan-only cellphone game, tertiary character game cell phone iteration of the tertiary character console game, and now an action-RPG prequel to the original game on PSP.



Thanks for throwing us a bone Square, but It would be nice if all the meat wasn't picked off of it.

Story wise, I would consider this the equivalent of the Star Wars prequels. Sounds awesome in concept, let down in its existence almost solely as a marketing gimmick. Gameplay-Wise, Its one of the best games Ive played on PSP so far, The new combat system is fun, the graphics are better than many PS2 games Ive played, and collecting Materia again is awesome. I love that stuff. This game could stand alone without all the FFVII tie-ins, but if you loved VII's story, compared to the other spin-offs, this one is not half bad and it actually gives me hope for future PSP games. The music is awesome too, kind of a mish-mosh of new compositions and ones from the original game played on a better sound-chip. Gameplay comes in bite-sized chunks which is probably a design choice for portablilty's sake, but i find you can tackle one mission in a few minutes or just knock them out for hours at a time. The combat system is single-player action based with all the menu elements going on in the background Like in Final Fantasy XII. I would've preferred a party system like FFXII, but this is much easier to manage on the go. I recommend it for raging final fantasy nuts, and someone who likes to see PSP at Its best so far.

7 dog bones out of 10 possible dog bones

-JT

Look Out Chumps

All right fools, put down your dragon toys, Syzlak's here talking sports. The fairy's behind Scout Rush (what the hell does that mean anyway?) asked me to come on board and write about sports gaming. You know what I said? Ok. You know why?

Internet gamer tail.

Ain't nothing finer than internet gamer tail, if you can think of something finer than you're a chump. Besides putting points on the board for the home squadron, the only thing Syzlak likes more is internet gamer tail. So queue up ladies, the line forms to the left.

Enough about me, let's talk sports. This review is a bit old, but I think its important to bring up again as it's almost that time of year...winter is fading away, the birds are singing, groundhogs are no longer accused of being liars, my libido's in full form and the sun is shining all day long. It's that time of year...


Cricket 07 from EA Sports is a tour de force in the heated realm of games about cricket, and it's about time too. Isn't it interesting that somewhere around 2005 all of EA's games really took a giant leap forward in terms of production and gameplay? For years, EA was a reliable company that put out gorgeous looking sports games that (outside of the Madden series) more or less missed the boat. The NHL series was poorly executed after the transition to 3D, and was reliant on breakaways and checking - hardly what I would consider true hockey. Basketball is such a fluid and fast paced sport that the NBA franchise always seem to play and look a little janky, and their baseball efforts tried to hard to be authentic...

I believe that 2005 was the year (could have been 04) where 2K Sports freakin' murdered EA in game ratings and reviews, and I must say it was with good reason. 2K approached sports in a way that EA never had: with accuracy. NHL, NBA and NCAA games were smooth and showcased a deep understanding of how the games are meant to be played both in real life, as well as at home.

Lucky for EA, they can buy the licensing rights to most of these sports and eliminate the competition.
Lucky for us, they actually tried harder to make better games.


Which brings us back to Cricket 07. While I'm sure we're all riled up about the fact that Cricket 08 is not out yet long after November, one thing I think we can all be glad about is that Cricket 07 was such a treat to play. Adjusting to the "new" joysticks of...last gen gaming consoles, Cricket 07 revamped their entire batting structure, to allow the use of the analog sticks to control batsman placement and swing. This feels great. Now I can do a square cut or an on drive with ease.
On the flip side, bowling isn't nearly as fun. This is a bit frustrating to me, as EA made pitching so fun with their last MLB effort, that I was expecting something more involved. I know they're different sports, but still. Anyway, you can still choose which ball you'll be using and after your bowler is starting his over some special pitches become available.

All in all, a fine outing for EA, and a great improvement of this franchise. It's a good thing too, at least all of us have something to play until they release Cricket 08!

Game reach and gamer income.

Recently I've been enjoying the game related articles that show up every week in Advertising Age. John Gaudiosi's piece today taught me two things:

Activision's "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" sold more than 3.68 million copies in the U.S. according to NPD Group, but its reach is 2.9 times greater: 10.65 million gamers have played it.

I've never seen hard numbers for a game's "reach" before, and I found it interesting. Rental copies, used games, friends loaning games to each other-- these are all things that would raise the reach of a game. And these things are all lacking in the digital distribution model. If in-game advertisements become more prevalent and dynamic, it will be interesting to see how the disc vs. digital fight resolves itself. Right now it looks like physical media has eyeballs on its side.

I also learned a little bit about gamer income.

The Wii has a 54%-male audience (males 25 to 54 make up 28%) and a median household income of $61,139, the highest among next-generation consoles. Xbox 360 has a 72%-male gaming audience and a median household income of $44,527. PS3 has a 74%-male gaming audience and a median household income of $55,948.

Good to know. This just made up my mind; I'm getting a PS3 for GTA4. I was kind of on the fence for a while, but after checking an income to education chart, I now realize that the raving homophobes on Xbox Live aren't all middle schoolers-- some are adults with a 9th grade education.

Oh Snap!

But seriously, if these income statistics are correct, Xbox 360 owners are much more likely to suffer from smallpox.

The Dangers of Palette Swapping

More Internet Complaints

Brian-- your last post "I can has lobotomy?" gave me permission. I can post an Internet complaint of my own: decontextualized Japanese videos becoming American memes.

This week someone sent me "Cats Guy." Great. But I got this feeling that Americans are supposed to enjoy this without acknowledging the "Cat's Eye" source material. Maybe it doesn't matter either way... It's just that the interplay between Eastern and Western media/game culture has been bugging me recently. Not everything has to be enjoyed ironically; maybe the guy in the video is just making good jokes. And maybe if we open our minds a little, and spend a few minutes thinking, the humor starts to cross the cultural divide.


Someone (the Man, I assume) is trying to convince us that all Japanese TV is-- a) zany b) anime c) both of these, and that Japanese games are too weird for our soft brains. Capcom's Monster Hunter Freedom 2 G sold like a million copies in Japan this week, and how do American gamers respond? They crack themselves up with a bunch of stupid Godzilla jokes.

I just wish we could show a little respect and trust our friends across the ocean. If they are crazy for the game, that's good enough for me. Hit us with a media campaign and lets get this thing started. I've gone out of my way to watch the most popular TV shows in Japan, and its been fun. Bara no Nai Hana Ya (the #1 show this season) isn't zany, it's not anime, and it isn't overly complicated-- its just entertaining television. I think that American game culture needs to use the popularity policy. If its sells over there, it gets translated and released. If its sells crazy huge in Japan, we should get an immediate announcement of a localized release, and an American ad campaign.

I Can Has Lobotomy?

This rant isn't super strictly gaming oriented, but given the intertwined-ness of the internet, I can't go look at my gaming sites without encountering stupid lolcats junk, so I think my whining is warranted. Besides, this is the only means by which I have to get my message out to thousands (of hundredths of) readers.

Here’s the thing – the internet and felines have always gone together well. Stuffonmycat, infinitecatproject…these were both little absurdist exercises that were amusing concepts. But this lolcats crap...we all get it. Pictures of cats can be hilarious. But how and why did people start wanting to channel their fetishes for being retarded through these photos?

What are the appropriate reactions for an average, conservative, yokel who encounters an average lolcats "picture"?


A. Trying to wash away the memories in a flood of grits.
B. Writing letter of apology to Dr. Kevorkian. (I mis-judged you! Clearly some people aside from just black men in jail deserve to die).
C. Requesting appointment with Dr. Kevorkian (I can haz 4 pm on Thursday? Ah, screw it, I'll do it myself!)

Any of those options would be sensible. But everyone has instead chosen to go for secret option D. Let's pretend like it is funnee to speek lik dis!

Some have even decided that they needed to do a version of the Bible in this eye-searing speech. It isn't as though I'm surprised that so many find this funny - not in the age of Dane Cook and Larry the Cable Guy - but that it has persisted as long as it has. But what is surprising is that it has lasted as long as it has. Aren't our attention spans supposed to be shrinking at absurd rates? Here's the cyclical process through which most waves of internet-dumbass-speech goes:
Creation (either by means of convenience or accident), Mockery (how accidentally typing 1 instead of ! became "pwneddd!!!!!!1111111oneoneoneoneone"), and then tentative Acceptance into the internet lexicon of those phrases that either filled an essential niche, or were shortcuts for people who have no pride in language. Terms that aren't really all that necessary don't survive the mocking stage, and that's why you see things like "ROFL" or "LMAO" less and less these days (that or I just talk to fewer idiots nowadays).


But this lolcats crap...doesn't really exist in either space. It is not pure mockery, just....people saw the combination of irritating speech + cute picture, and decided that this was the next great step forward in comedy, and that we all needed hundreds of thousands of iterations of this junk. "Move over Margaret Cho...everyone's a comedian now!"

I had to play a ton of Contra4 to get out my aggression after thinking about this too much. Ah well.

100% real secret leaked info!

A well-placed executive at Nintendo's Japanese branch office sent me these world exclusive spy shots of what looks like a prototype for a new handheld device. Could this be the long rumored Nintendo TS? I called Asia and asked for confirmation of the rumor and I spoke with a very high up president by the name of "Mr. A Prilfolsjoke" and he confirmed it all! I couldn't believe my ears!

update-- OK I have to clear this one up. I got a bunch of calls from major media outlets asking about this story. It was all an ellaborate hoax.

Evidence of the great Wii shortage of '06, '07, '08.

I just wanted to briefly document the fact that in March 2008, 16 months after the Wii launch, a shopper can not buy the console in the Chicago Loop. News stories tend to take the unavailability of the system for granted, so I decided to stop and take pictures at the 2 downtown stores that do get intermittent Wii shipments.


FYE (a hilarious joke on the popular phrase "for your information", only they replaced 'information' with the word 'entertainment') had no Wii systems in stock. PS2's and 360's were in stock, as were HD-DVD drives, and wrestling action figures.


Sears has a display section for each of the three current-gen consoles. The PS3 section had PS3 display boxes, the Xbox 360 section had Xbox 360 boxes, and the Wii section had mini backpacks.

Rock Band is a Ravenous Beast Devouring my Soul

Rock Band is consuming so much of my time, it isn't even funny.

Not that I mean to complain, per se. You can't complain that a game has an absurd amount of gameplay value. But it has become a seriously huge bottleneck in my gaming pipeline. Oblivion calls. Half-life 2 needs finishing (not to mention episodes 1 and 2). I have yet to purchase CoD4, or Civ4: BtS. Or Bioshock. And with GTA4 looming...I just don't know where I'm going to find the time for any of this. And yet, Rock Band stands there ready to chew up all of my time. Why can I not break away from it? Because while you may LOOK like this:



You actually FEEL more like this:

(Image courtesy of Wet Riffs, a site that results from a fantastic, albeit not-funny, webcomic)

It has also become clear that I have spent more money on Rock Band than I have any other game ever before. The total tally:
$160 for the PS3 special edition bundle
$70 to buy a second guitar, drumset, and vocals from a guy selling his PS2 set.
about $120 spent on downloadable songs thus far, although since it has only been 4 months since the release, I have to imagine that this number will be much, much higher in the end.

There aren't many other ways to spend that much money on a single game that isn't a rare collectible. It would take a few years of subscribing to a MMORPG to rack up that kind of tally...and I guess people say they buy a computer "for" Crysis or some such things, but I don't think that counts.

Actually, my very writing of this post was interrupted by an impromptu Rock Band session...but hey, my 4 person expert band now has 6 million more fans! And so it continues.