blakerson.com

More videogame talk. Because I'm a nerd, and I have two hours to kill before my haircut.

E3 is going to happen next week. E3? The Electronic Entertainment Expo, the annual trade show for videogaming. Every year it's a huge buzz to see all the newest games that are going to come out this year, or the year following. There's also basically an unwritten "competition" to see who "wins" E3 with the best showing. 9 times out of 10, it's one of the big console-making giants - Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sega - who wins, unless a smaller developer makes enormous waves with a really highly-anticipated game. (Konami did that a couple years back with Metal Gear Solid 2).

So this year, everyone's writing all their previews and so on and so on. Instead of getting gritty with the videogame jargon, I'm going to help all you not-quite-so-nerdy-as-me videogame lovers and tell you what you're going to hear about in the next couple weeks, and when they're all coming out.

Nintendo: will win E3. They're finally getting their act together for the Gamecube, and nobody's going to introduce any new hardware, so they're in the green. Expect to see F-Zero GC, an 8-player Mario Kart with LAN support, new versions of Mario Tennis and Mario Golf, a sequel to Metroid Prime, Pikmin 2, a new Pilotwings game (finally!), and all that's just being developed by Nintendo. Outside, expect the usual versions of mediocre games that come out on every other console, but they've got one last ace up their sleeve: A 'director's cut' style remake of Metal Gear Solid (the first one) with graphics matching MGS2 (which sucked, but was visually revolutionary). MGS was one of my Top Five Games of All Time, so this should be worth everyone's time.

Sony: will take a close second, just by quality over quantity. Expect lots of sequels to those mediocre games that came out last year: stuff like Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, etc. However, there's lots of good stuff to make up for it. Final Fantasy X-2 will make its American debut, which will make fans happy. SSX3 should get a big following. The PS2, if any console, will be likely the exclusive (or at least first release) for Metal Gear Solid 3, which will be announced and excite the hell out of everyone there. Jaws will drop, however, when we all see Gran Turismo 4 in action.

Microsoft: will ride the one-trick pony once more and show off Halo 2. The only way they can not lose this E3 is to convince Rare (the studio that made Goldeneye and a bunch of Nintendo games way back when; Microsoft bought them from Nintendo to make Xbox games) to show off everything they've got. If Rare can show their prequel to Perfect Dark, Xboxes will be sold by the dozens. If these guys resort to saying they'll get Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City in 2004, even updated versions, that's waving the white MS flag.

Sega: has all but gone down the toilet. Expect this to be their last E3. You'll see the 2K4 series of sports games, which won't ever beat EA's games despite everyone's wishes, and about seventeen crappy ports of Sonic games to various consoles.

PC: won't quite steal the show, but will have a strong showing. Half-Life 2 will eat the place alive, but it won't drown out the buzz over GT4 or the new Nintendo collection. Expect a few fans to get happy over Thief 3 and Deus Ex 2, also (I'll be first in line for DX2).

I have seen the light. I have driven, and fast. I have cornered like a motherfucker. And it is good.

Today was racing lessons/competition at a shindig put on by Mazda, up at Texas Motor Speedway. I dragged my ass out of bed at 7:30 and arrived on time at Alex's house at the extremely early 8:00. Here's the short-hand account of what happened, since my A.D.D. is kicking in and I don't want to write seriously:

-Raced all the way to Texas Motor Speedway in two cars. Call it warmup. Driving with a set of two-way radios is fun as hell - and you've never experienced teamwork in driving (whoda thunk it) until you've driven in two cars with a set of those.
-Arrive. Check-in. Olivia manages to switch which hand her bracelet goes on (which suddenly enables her to drive the many cars around the place), and we take off test driving. First came a Mazda6i (four-cyl). It wasn't far off from what I expected, only that the steering and braking were both a lot stiffer and tighter than what I had expected.
-Racing lesson lectures. Surprisingly, all the things they "taught" to the drivers were things I already did intuitively.
-Slalom training. This is where I learned both the power of the 6s (V6) and the true turning ability of the thing. Sadly, the 6s is a lot slower in first gear than I had expected. For someone who does a lot of launches, getting the 6-cyl over the 4 doesn't help at all. It's still a very fun car - while its exterior style is *very* close to a smaller version of a current Camry, the interior is apples and oranges.
-Full course training. Did a 34-second lap on a 30-second course. But at least I started to get a feel for what the car could handle.
-Races begin. The three guys (myself, Aroon, Alex) each had two turns on the track and our times were staggered so there was always one guy ready to drive, one guy in the back of the line, and one guy in the stands with the girls (Nathalie and Olivia) cheering on whoever was driving. Aroon went first with a time of 37 seconds. Then I went: 38. Alex trash talked and said he could beat Aroon by one second and me by two. When the time came in, he proved himself right: just over 35 seconds. In the second round, Aroon killed a whole set of cones which jacked his time up into the 40s by penalties, since he turned too hard into the final hairpin and spun into a set of cones. I went again, this time deciding to experiment with the manual mode on the manumatic transmission, and the simpler use of gear switching (read: sticking in second gear) brought my time down to low 36s. As I climbed out, Alex congratulated me for surprisingly beating Aroon. Alex, meanwhile, brought his time down to a ridiculous 34 seconds, netting him a 'gold medal' (read: cute little pin about the size of a pinky nail), while Aroon and I both claimed Bronze.
-Checking out other cars. A foursome of us (one of the guys was off doing something) sat inside the new RX-8, which is an oddity of a car. I was in the backseat, which was obviously cramped, but so swankily designed that it distracted me from the cramp-ness. Naturally, they didn't let anyone drive one of those.
-Final test drives. My most fun drive of the day was my sampling of the new Miata on the test course. That car can handle curves unlike any other machine I've ever seen, much less driven. And I didn't even feel squished inside. After that, I hopped straight into a Protoge5, which was miserable in comparison. I felt confident enough to take it into manual mode, and on the 'sudden lane change' square curve I forgot to downshift and took out five cones. Whoops. Needless to say, the Miata was the better ride on that run out.

So what happened today? I learned a lot more about car handling and what a machine's limits are, I learned that 6s are as cool as I thought, and Miatas are surprisingly awesome. I've been forever turned on to great driving.

My eternal love to whoever can loan me a damn Quake3 CD so I can relearn this magnificent game.

4:07 am. I think to myself, where is my goddamned pizza? I've been waiting for an hour. As I look outside, as if on cue, a blue BMW convertible pulls into my driveway with the top down, obviously carrying my pizza. Nevermind that I haven't seen a pizza delivered in a BMW before, because BMW owners don't deliver pizza. I do the usual exchange of cash, take my pizza, and set it down on the nearby table and walk outside towards my mailbox. The blue BMW begins to drive off, then turns around and returns to my driveway and parks. For the first time, I notice that Whitney Johanneson just delivered my pizza in her blue BMW. She strangely pops her head outside the frame of the car as if she had to roll down her windows to stick her head out into the open air, and strikes up a conversation. Small talk, cracking silly jokes, the usual thing between us. Except she gets more and more endearing. Before I know it I find myself standing right next to her car in my driveway, talking about things that are unimportant compared to the things racing through my mind. As she says her goodbye, she sticks her head further out from the car and purses her lips. Holy moly, she wants a kiss. So there comes a kiss. Then another. Then a full-blown makeout session with her sitting in her car seat and me standing up, bent over to reach her. As we eventually pull ourselves apart, she starts to drive off as I squint in the sunlight and think I've got to order another pizza from the place she works at again.

4:10 am. Blake wakes up. Fuck.

A really gay survey for the sake of killing time. Thanks Erin.

1. WHAT IS YOUR FULL NAME? Michael B. Ellison
2. WHAT COLOR PANTS ARE YOU WEARING? khaki shorts
3. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Jazzmusique
4. WHAT ARE THE LAST 4 DIGITS OF YOUR PHONE NUMBER? wtf do you wanna know, asshole?
5. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Mongolian. Holy moly, it's so good.
6. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Cerulean. I love that color.
7. HOW IS THE WEATHER RIGHT NOW? Perfect.
8. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? dad.
9. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX? Face/smile
10. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT YOU THIS? Of course I do. I wouldn't steal from websites of people who don't intrigue me.
11. HOW ARE YOU TODAY? I kinda have a headache, and I'm a little overwhelmed from pre-grad activities, but beyond that I'm jolly.
12. FAVORITE DRINK? Dr. Pepper, Bawls, Twister
13. FAVORITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK? Strawberry Daquiri, though I need to try a Mike's Hard Lemonade.
14. FAVORITE SPORTS? Hockey, hands down, though I can stand basketball and football.
15. HAIR COLOR? Dark blonde, with a surprise in store very soon. :)
16. EYE COLOR? They change between green and blue
17. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Nope!
18. SIBLINGS AND THEIR AGES: Kris, 26.
19. FAVORITE MONTHS? October, without a doubt.
20. FAVORITE FOOD? Italian. It's my staple.
21. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Oh lord.. I'd guess The Matrix back when I got bored over Spring Break.
23. ARE YOU TOO SHY TO ASK SOMEONE OUT? Hell no I'm not.
24. SCARY MOVIE OR HAPPY ENDINGS BETTER? Both are great. I'm getting sick of happy endings for the moment, I'd like to spend my time creating some of my own instead.
25. SUMMER OR WINTER? Fall, hello?
26. HUGS OR KISSES? Kisses, but I prefer them together, you know a hug that turns into a kiss? 27. RELATIONSHIPS OR ONE NIGHT STANDS? I'm definitely on the 'relationship' end of the spectrum.
28. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? Chocolate. Except in the case of cake.
29. DO YOU WANT YOUR FRIENDS TO WRITE BACK? No. Seriously, wtf kind of question is this, ass?
30. LIVING ARRANGEMENTS? Home. I have two rooms and a connecting bathroom all of my own. This is about to become a shared dorm room and a community bath. I dunno what to think.
31. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Timeline, Get Your War On, the current issues of T3 and Popular Science. Just finished 2600 and PC Gamer, too.
32. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Blue. Lots of blue.
33. FAVORITE BOARD GAME? Mad Gab.
34. WHAT DID YOU DO LAST NIGHT? Had the best snowcone ever.
35. FAVORITE SMELLS? (i hate the smell of the beach) Popcorn, light/subtle perfumes
36. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING? Jesus fuck Christ, give me another hour.
PERSONAL QUOTE: "She called out a warning: don't ever let life pass you by." -Incubus