Poke Mania: The Aftermath

Poke Mania had reached a peak in my life, but was far from over. I couldn't stand the sight of Pokemon cards. I couldn't stand the sight of anything to be honest. I remember feeling so ashamed as I emptied out hundreds of Pokemon cards from my pockets. It changed me. I tried to distance myself from the dumb things my friends would do. The easiest way to avoid all of it was to stay in the house. I began to watch the show.

I used to watch it whenever it was on, but I began to watch it religiously. If I wasn't up by 10:00am on Saturday my weekend was ruined. Those were the days lol. I remember I saw a commercial for the game Pokemon Yellow. I began to think of my friends at school who would play Pokemon Red & Blue all the time. They looked like they were having fun, so why shouldn't I? Well for starters I didn't own a GameBoy. I saw an ad in the paper for the Limited Edition Pokemon Yellow GameBoy Color going on sale for the holiday season. I knew what I was asking Santa for Christmas.

I was skeptical about whether or not I was on Santa's naughty list after that whole mall incident, but I figured I wouldn't know unless I tried. Christmas came, and Santa came through. Boy was I a happy camper that morning as I began my adventure with Pikachu in Pokemon Yellow. I then realized that the Pokemon series was a role playing game which I despised. I was shocked. I thought I did more than tell the Pokemon what to do. I decided to give the game a shot, and I'm happy I did. I stopped watching the show not long after that. I became determined to catch all 151 Pokemon. I managed to do it in about a month. (Here's how: http://bit.ly/auPz9c)

It's February 2000 at this point and I'm learning about the new Pokemon Gold & Silver version. There was word that 100 new Pokemon had been added bringing the # of Pokemon to 251. I found out the game had been released in Japan that past November and wasn't due in the US until the upcoming fall. I was determined to play the game as a result. I wanted to be the first kid in my school to see these new Pokemon. I went to Ebay.

Remember how I told you I had a paper route back then? I still had it, and I saved up to buy imported copies of Pokemon Gold & Silver. The first seller I saw had both games for about 50 dollars. I won the auction, sent him the money, and never heard from him again. Salted. I was more determined than ever to play these games as a result. I found another auction a few weeks later and won. I sent my money and waited a week. Nothing showed up. A week to a 12 year old is like a month. It was brutal. I felt defeated after 10 days went by and nothing showed up. I began to lose hope. The next day my aunt tells me I have a package. I almost cried I was so happy. I Pokemon Gold & Silver 7 months before any of my friends at school did. Sure they all clowned me because I couldn't read Japanese, but I didn't care. I was able to navigate my way through the 16 badges and the Elite 5 so it wasn't so bad. Besides everybody knows the story stays pretty much the same.

I had thought Poke Mania had left my system, but the truth is it had evolved. What started as a trading card fad evolved into a passion for a video game franchise. Pokemon is the reason why I've owned a GameBoy Color, GameBoy Advanced, and a Nintendo DS. I could give up the trading cards and the show, but I could never give up the games. I used to keep my love for the series on the low because of my crazy past, but I don't care. I still have Poke Mania. Gotta Catch em All.

Poke Mania

Poke Mania was a time in the late 1990's when children of all ages became obsessed with Pokemon.  You knew someone who watched the show, battled with trading cards, or traded their Geodude for a Kadabra on their GameBoy's if you were a kid. It was everywhere.

I fell in love with the trading cards first. My card collection began after we stole a few cards from some kids we were trading with. This evolved into going to stealing packs Pokemon cards pretty fast. We were on the bus heading to the mall in about a week.

We would start at Sam Goody where they left  packs of Pokemon cards  on the front counter. I'd go to the music section and start acting crazy. My friend would grab some Pokemon cards and bounce. That's how I ended up listening to the Slim Shady LP now that I think about it, but that's another story. Sorry Eminem.  I had a paper route at the time, so the option of buying packs of cards was there. Pokemon cards always looked better when I got them for free. There's a certain shine to a stolen 1st Edition Holographic Charizrd that a purchased one doesn't have.  We got to the point where we got tired of stealing individual packs. It was time to graduate to booster boxes.

A booster box contains 36 packs of Pokemon cards which equals some really huge pockets for the dummies who steal them. If you're ready to graduate you better have a plan. My friend and I were walking around Waldenbooks when we realized they keep Booster Boxes in the front display. Why not sneak behind the registers and grab one? We grabbed a box and headed for the escalators. The rush started kicking in. We knew we had some nice cards we could either sell or trade with people. We've got all of these cards. Why not get some more? We headed back to Waldenbooks to grab another Booster Box. We were sloppy this time around. We were spotted running to the escalators with a box of Pokemon cards in out hands. I was far more concerned with finding out which holographic cards were in each pack. We walked around the mall opening packs of Pokemon Cards. Twenty minutes later we're walking around the mall with pockets full of 72 packs of open Pokemon cards. We headed for the bus stop outside, As the bus pulled up we were stopped by 2 security guards who asked us to empty our pockets.  Busted.

G.O.O.D Friday's

Kanye hasn't tweeted much since his "G.O.O.D. Friday's" tweets. He declared that he will drop a new song every Friday until Christmas. That's a bold statement for an artist with a new album (Dark Twisted Fantasy) due November 16th, and a performance at the 2010 VMA's. Call me a pessimist, but I'm not sure the upcoming Fridays are going to be as good as Kanye claims.

In Kanye's defense, he's had a good track record with dropping songs he tweets about. He promised a new song on Angie's show, and the next day the world was vibin to "See Me Now." There was also the release of the Power remix. He tweeted it was coming on a Friday and it did. It might have been a week after the Friday he claimed, but it's all good. You can't rush greatness.


That's my problem. You can't rush greatness. I listen to the Power Remix, and it's too much. All Kanye had to do was add new verses to the structure of the song, and it would have been a wrap. I was expecting Jay on the first verse, then Kanye spazzing on the next two. Case closed. Jay-Z's fire verse gets interrupted by the chorus and a new spin on the part of the original version I couldn't understand. Jay-Z kills his verse, then Kanye kills the second verse. It really is an inspirational song. Is that John Legend singing in the background? I do like the way the original beat sounds different. This song is feeling like an official remix.

Then Swizz Beatz shows up. Why? It seems Swizz Beats new thing is he produces a five minute song for about 2 minutes. He did it on Drake's song "Fancy," and he does it here. It seems to be working. He's got Kanye tweeting that Swizz Beats is the best producer of all time. I don't know about that, but Kanye does go in on the Swizz Beats track. This song is a DJ's dream right here. Let's ignore the remixes by Jae Millz, Young Jeezy, and others to just play verses from Kanye West and Jay-Z. Sounds like a party to me. Overall I give the song an 8 for the lyrics and overall message.

I can't give the song a 10 because I've been on a really chill vibe with my music lately. Even since I heard "Shades" by Diddy featuring Lil Wayne and Justin Timberlake, it's been on repeat. It's been my party and hangover music. This song is infectious. I'm listening to it right now. I've been sipping Ciroc Red Berry as a result. That probably explains why I'm so broke.

Madden in the U.S.A.

Madden launches are as much of an American tradition as Thanksgiving dinner and Super Bowl Hangovers. What other game has President Obama in it? Some gamers complain that Madden is overdone with it's yearly releases, but the millions of dedicated fans beg to differ.

The Madden franchise is probably the only game I look forward to watching other people play. I enjoy watching the improvements to the graphics, sound, and overall enjoyment of the players each year. Watching diehards play helps me figure out the gameplay differences between each Madden. Apparently there's no sprint button in Madden 11, and my friends were having trouble kicking the ball as well. That's pretty much all I can say about the gameplay.

I do have a request for Madden 12. Get Bill Belichick in the game. It must drive EA Sports crazy that he's not apart of the Coach's Association. It would be nice to immortalize a person with the legacy he's left in New England. Even if he's only in one Madden game I'm sure Patriots fans would be happy to see the name Bill Belichick instead of NE Coach.

Why Mass Effect Should Stay an Xbox Exclusive

Earlier today EA announced that Mass Effect 2 is coming to the Playstation 3 in January. This is great news for owners of the PS3 as Mass Effect 2 (a January release) is in the running for Game of the Year by many critics. Shepard making his/her debut on the PS3 is probably bringing more questions than answers at this point. The biggest being "Why isn't the first Mass Effect coming to the Playstation 3?" The obvious reason is Mass Effect was published by Microsoft Game Studios which all but guarantees it will never see the light of day on the Playstation 3. I for one think the first Mass Effect should stay an Xbox 360 Exclusive.

Mass Effect 2 was the game that introduced me to the series. I played the first one for about an hour before my patience grew thin. I'm not saying the first one was a bad game, but it took a while to get interesting. Mass Effect 2 does a good job of describing what went down in the first one. It took me a second play through to realize it, but it does. It's a shame PS3 players don't have the option of experiencing the events for themselves, but at least they can get a grasp of what's going on. It's not like the game expects you to know everything from the moment you control Shepard. PS3 owners still get the short end of the stick when it comes to importing a character and decisions from the first Mass Effect. Bioware could make up for this by making the Cerberus Network free (one can hope) on the PS3. Either that or adding some exclusive content like Bioshock did.

The problem with porting the first Mass Effect (besides the obvious) is the game was released in 2007. A lot has changed since the days of long elevator rides and driving the Mako. Mass Effect 2 polishes a lot of the small annoyances that hindered the first one. What about Mass Effect 3? There's no way the people that played through the first 2 on the Xbox are switching to the PS3 edition. My only recommendation for the PS3 edition of Mass Effect 2 is a lower retail price. Nobody's going to pay regular price for a game that is cheaper on the 360. I don't care how new it is.

More Uncharted 3 Suggestions

Uncharted 3 Suggestions