Mick discusses the evolution of gaming in GENETOS, Jordon and James return to Rapture with Bioshock 2 and Richard goes back to 2001 with New Play Control Pikmin.  Also, the gaming industry is saved, again.

Song Credits:
Pikmin – Title Theme – Super Smash Bros Brawl

Mick talks shmups, James bounces around the Killzone, Richard explores Mass Effect 2 and Carrie opens fire on the FPS genre.

Song Credits:
The Concept Of Love – Hideki Naganuma – Jet Set Radio Future

Richard, James, Mick and Tia tackle their top 3 games of 2009.  In addition, everyone tries to lend hand to a company in need of help, Square-Enix.

Song Credits:
Wind Garden – Super Mario Galaxy

Mick covers a few Xbox Indy Games (Arkedo Series – 03 PIXEL!, Leave Home and Jewelry Master Twinkle), Jordon and Richard talk Borderlands and James goes to some Uncharted territory.  Finally everyone tries their darnedest to save the Star Fox series.

Song Credits:
Korobushka (Tetris) – Ryu*

There has not been much game news, but Jordon, Mick and Richard have plenty to discuss about what they’ve been playing.  James explores his feelings for Dead Space.

Song Credits:
Donkey Kong Country ‘Christmas Cave’ – deim0s

In today’s episode, Mick reviews Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Richard gets nerdy about Venture Bros and Star Wars, Carrie is helping children with Child’s Play and Gift of the Yeti and James discusses his feelings.

Song Credits:
Level Music – Panzer Dragoon, Sega Saturn

Welcome to the first episode of the BRUCast.  This a new podcast being brought to you personally by Team BRU.  We promise that it will be updated more regularly than this site, and provide the gaming news you can use.  The show will feature reviews, topics about saving the games industry, comedy sketches and character battles.  We hope that you enjoy it.

Starring:
Richard Franzen
Mick Synodis
James Franzen
Jordon Huxford

Song Credits:
Intro/Outro – Katamari on the Swing (SEXY-SYNTHESIZER ALL ABOUT namco Mix)

According to the New York Times, Sam Raimi is set to direct a film based on World of Warcraft.  Or at least based on the Warcraft franchise, since there were other games in the series besides WoW.

The success of the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter movies has caused Warner Brothers to look for more money in fantasy film genre.  Of course, this is the first post-LotR fantasy film to come out based on a video game series rather than a book series.  With Sam Raimi at the helm, there’s a good chance this will be a fun film.  Unless the studio gets too involved, then we could have another Spider-Man 3.

Source: New York Times

One week ago, Asura and I decided to take a nice Sunday drive up to Tacoma, taking the back roads of Dupont for a nice drive around the bay. After some good lunch and window shopping around the area, we decided it was time to head back to Olympia. However, there was one stop we wanted to hit before making it home. A place we had only seen online and were curious about, Animeniacs.

No, not these guys.

Actually, Animeniacs (cleverly using an E instead of an A in the name) is an anime store, that while online for a while, has a storefront which has popped up within last year or so. Being a fan of all geeky stores in the Puget Sound area, from the O.C.C. all the way up to Pink Godzilla, we had to check it out. Unfortunately, the Google map we had printed up lead us here:

Why would an anime store be here?

After a couple back and forth trips down the road, we concluded that no one was selling bootleg anime out of their garage on this street, and retreated home in failure and confusion.  Thinking something was awry, we checked the Animeniacs website and realized we should have taken their map rather than GISing our own.

It turns out that we should have been looking for a Subway and not into peoples houses. Not yet defeated, we vowed another trip to find this mythical place.

Enter today, the last day of January. After some kickass Mexican food, we decided the time was right to mount another expedition. This time, we were prepared, actually having bothered to remember the map on their website. After a quick trek up I-5, down 512 and into Parkland, we finally found that legendary Subway. The place we had been seeking the whole time was right around back.

What could be hiding behind this humble exterior?

We held our breath and pushed through the front doors, unsure of what to expect. We had been burned in the past by many mall anime outlets, and were unsure if we had stumbled into another Hello Kitty store, where the newest anime related merchandise was Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball stationary, and $20 starter sets of Pokemon.

But no! This was actual, honest to God anime store. And a pretty good one at that.

Otaku and wall scrolls, like peanut butter and jelly.

Merchandise ran the gamut of dvds, including used and foreign, for the price conscious shopper. There was plenty of manga, musics CDs and artbooks to go around, as well as figures from popular anime and video games. Throw in some Japanese food and candy, and you’re ready to throw a hyperactive otaku bender.

Try explaining the bikini-clad Rei Ayanami on your computer to your friends and family.
Bonus points for covering its importance in storyline canon.

Content that the had not been wasted trying to find this place a second time, Asura and I left content in our discovery, with slightly emptier wallets.

But what was this? On our way in to Animeniacs, we discovered that it was located right next to another geeky store, Northwest-Toyz.  Hot damn, we’re on a roll today, lets go and check it out. Our first indicator of what was in store for us was a car parked outside.

Whelp, let’s head inside shall we?

…

..

.

Oh, holy SHIT!

Expecting just a regular comic shop or hobby store, I was surprised. It turned to mostly be a toy and card shop, featuring Star Wars, GI Joe and Halo action figures, as well as a selection of Magic singles and various card games. But what was the best thing that we found was the food selection, a venerable smörgåsbord of delights.

Hell yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. All the essentials at your fingertips.

Walking into this store was like walking into a heated gladiatorial tournament, where men were competing for dominance in the field Magic The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh. My fiance, Asura, commented later that she felt transparent in this den of manliness. These are truly competitors with their eye on the prize.

Fighting the good fight.

We bid farewell to both of our new discoveries, content in solving a week long mystery of nerdy proportions. To Animeniacs and Northwest-Toyz, keep up the good work with providing another geeky hotspot for the residents of Puget Sound. The trip was well worth these two discoveries.

Technology website Ars Technica has an interesting breakdown of the recent Final Fantasy XIII trailer, examining the battle footage and picking out the peices.  According to observations, the new battle system eschews the MMO combat from FFXII in favor of the fast paced, ATB system from FFX-2.  In addition, some of the features shown in the video are reminiscent of FF8’s battle system, where only the HP is shown on screen.  In addition, the trailer makes no suggestion that Magic Points will be a part of the battle system, another similarity to FF8.  This is all speculation at the moment, as more information will become available when the Japanese demo launches soon.

Source: Ars Technica