I just wanted to take a moment to mention how much I hate Windows Vista. I loathe it. It doesn’t like to work with my tablet, and it generally is very slow and lumbering. Today, I reformatted my hard drive and installed Windows XP instead. I know there are those out there who would boo at XP (such as Linux users, or Mac users–believe me, if I could afford a Mac, I’d have one!), but seriously: Windows XP is SO much better than Windows Vista. And look, I can use my tablet again in ALL programs, not just Photoshop. Huzzah!

All right. Now back to your regularly scheduled blog.

Title: Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
Company: Activision
Platform(s): PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, PSP, Nintendo DS
Rating: T for Teen (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii), E for Everyone 10+ (PS2, PSP, Nintendo DS)

Today has been an exciting day for me; I exercised my 19th Amendment right to vote, adopted a small dog to be a companion for my grandmother, and came home to find that Spider-Man: Web of Shadows for the Nintendo DS had arrived.

I’m going to sum up the DS version of Web of Shadows in four words: this game is fun!!

There are Venom sybiotes running amok in New York City as the game begins, and–of course–it’s up to a certain Friendly Neighborhood You-Know-Who to clean up the mess. Unlike the main console versions (which, I admit I have only seen in action at GameStop and through videos), the DS version is not 3-D. Rather, it’s a side-scrolling action-and-adventure game where Spidey finds his action inside buildings and down in the sewers instead of swinging from building to building and exploding the outside world like in the Xbox and PS3 versions.

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(To the tune of Plain White T’s Hey There Delilah)

Hey There OLR
Music by the Plain White T’s
Lyrics by Marron

Hey there OLR what’s it like in Sacramento?
I’m five-hundred miles away
But now I’ll listen to your show, just for you
No other podcast outshines you, I swear it’s true

Hey there OLR don’t you worry about your ratings
Your fans will download your podcasts, and share it with our friends
We’ll tell two
There’s no place else we’d go for news
You know it’s true.

Oh, 300 episodes
Oh, 300 episodes
Oh, 300 episodes
Oh, 300 episodes
300 episodes

300 shows seems like a lot
But don’t you stop, give it a shot
I know the show is running kind of late
DarkSakura needs to read FU’s
And Loki’s got some gaming news
And Bobby makes Skie start the show real late

OLR we can promise you
We’ll make comments in the chatroom
We want new gaming news every Sunday
You make our day.

Hey there OLR, you stay cool and keep podcasting
Record 300 more episodes
And keep on making history like you do

You’ll know it’s all because of you
That we get all our gaming news
Hey there OLR here’s to you
This one’s for you

Oh, 300 episodes
Oh, 300 episodes
Oh, 300 episodes
Oh, 300 episodes

Well, a week after it came out, I was finally able to get my hands on Ghostbusters: The Other Side #1. I was excited at the prospect of seeing a new Ghostbusters comic and, after reading the first issue, I’m not at all disappointed with the results.

The rest of this review, be forewarned, contains a summary and spoilers for the first issue of Ghostbusters: The Other Side.

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Q: What is the Classic Game Review of the Week?
A: As many of you know, I do video game reviews in association with Orange Lounge Radio. Every week, DarkSakura picks a “classic game of the week” that she recommends her fellow gamers take out of their vaults and play. Well, DarkSakura and myself got to talking, and thought it would be fun if, in addition to my regular video game reviews, I added another review article: The Classic Game Review of the Week. While I won’t be reviewing the same games that DarkSakura chooses (she usually chooses her game on the same day as the show), it should prove to be a fun way to look back at some of the “classic” games we used to love.

Title: ActRaiser
Company: Quintet, Enix (Square Enix)
Platform(s): SNES, Wii Virtual Console
Rating: E for Everyone 10+
Original USA Release: November 1991

Rated as one of the greatest games of all time by GameSpot, ActRaiser is a game quite unlike any other of its time. ActRaiser combines elements from other popular games at the time such as city and building simulators such as Sim City and side-scrolling action games like Super Metroid. It’s a unique combination that had never been seen before.

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