What makes a video game what it is? What makes art what it is? Can either of these things be quantified and turned into a digestible, definable explanation? Or are both questions answered only subjectively, purely open to our own interpretation?

The only thing we all know is that Roger Ebert must be an idiot.

Rocket From the Crypt were one of the- wait, scratch that- were THE best live band around. That gets thrown around pretty often, but it seems like there is a good consensus around RFTC truly holding the crown. I post some great live footage but they usually revolve around last shows. RFTC played absolutely every show like it was their last one. This video from some ridiculous British show I am entirely unfamiliar with (The lovely Miss Rebecca could probably help out on this one) is one of the best representations of why they were so great. They don’t necessarily do anything over the top, but the energy in the music and the performance is unparalleled. They don’t make bands like this anymore.

Somehow, my absolute love of pro-wrestling doesn’t make its way to my hallowed blog very often. Sure, you know that I’m a wannabe comic author, a video game journalist, and a pretentious hipster music fan, but I bet you didn’t know that my favorite sport is, by far, pro-wrestling. From watching the AWA and NWA with my dad to my current pipe dream of training with CHIKARA, I’ve been as big a smark as humanly possible.

One of my favorite workers ever, and probably one of the best ever honestly, will be leaving the world of the independents for the “big league” of the WWE soon. “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson will be leaving ROH. It should be interesting to see how things go for that league now, as Dragon was one of the men who, without argument, built ROH into what it is today. I think anybody who has ever even been a remote fan of the sport should be in attendance on September 10th and 11th in Philadelphia when he gives his farewell to ROH’s hometown.

Anyway, I stumbled upon this video and had to post it. If you aren’t into wrestling because you see the products that get forced down your throat on television, but still want to give it a chance, this is the match to do it with. The fact I attended this show with my heinous ex girlfriend isn’t even enough to dull the fact this was one of the greatest matches I’ve ever seen, and easily the greatest match I’ve ever seen live. This is what wrestling should be, and this is why I got so into it when my dad and I would watch Curt Hennig, The Midnight Rockers, Vader, The Von Erichs, and Terry Funk burn down buildings across the country, just pure athleticism and drama.

Do I get to give star ratings? Because this is *****. If you don’t like this, you don’t like anything.

The world is going to miss this when you are feuding with The Great Khali, Dragon.

Splosion Man is not just above average, nor is it made justifiable only by its price. It is justifiable by its seemingly simple concept, over the top entertaining gameplay, and volatile (2) sense of whimsy. The story is that your character, either red Splosion Man in single player or other primary color based Splosion Men if you are playing multiplayer, is tasked to break out of the labyrinthine laboratory you are currently being held captive in. To accomplish this goal, you must use your explosive (3) powers to platform your way across a large amount of levels and out to freedom.

The King of Fighters franchise has been around for a very long time and has been quite active the whole while. In fact, when comparing simply the main titles of the respective series, The King of Fighters actually has more releases than Street Fighter. Of course, where Capcom’s series has innovated over the years, The King of Fighters from SNK has for ages remained stagnant and has even used the same sprites and general gameplay mechanics for the majority of its history. Now The King of Fighters XII has arrived to improve things… at least aesthetically.

The older titles, specifically The King of Fighters 95, were decent time killers in my early gaming days, thanks mostly to an uncle with too much money and a love of the Neo Geo. Naturally, I played the the likes of Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter more, but for some reason the 3-vs-3 gameplay and the accurate arcade ports clicked with me. When I faced other gamers in those titles, I became something of a juggernaut. It also may have helped that nobody I knew really played the titles all that much, but still… I take my fighting game victories where I can get them.

Come on Japan, calm the fuck down. You are showing us all up.

Killie has members of Heaven in Her Arms and are pretty much just flat out amazing. I don’t know what it is about the Euro and Japanese screamo/hardcore/etc scenes right now and the fact they seem to be firing on all cylinders and just producing some ridiculous stuff. Maybe its because only the best of those bands trickles through the cultural divide and makes it seem better than it is, or maybe it is because of the gap between when those countries get to digest American culture and just now they are getting to the mid 90s when most of the powerhouses of these genres were at their best and almost any band in it could do no wrong. Or maybe it is all just some genetically engineered anime plotline and they are all going to shoot exploding bullets into our heads from their mechs.

Either way, I’m down. As long as everything stays as good as Killie is.

Tragically this isn’t the whole song, but you get the gist of why you should be listening to Killie.

Malady picked up right where City of Caterpillar and Pg. 99 left off and ran with it for all of one album before they seemingly disappeared into the nothingness. I almost prefer their one album to the catelogs of the bands that spawned them, but I shouldn’t go into that now to save myself a shitstorm. One of the best post-hardcore offerings to ever grace this world. Tons of energy and just some great songs. Check it out if you haven’t, I’ll probably upload it soon anyway.

The music starts at 1:34, there is some banter.

What did I do to deserve this fate, oh lord?

As a reviewer, I’ve had a pretty good streak lately. Every game I’ve gotten to write about has fallen somewhere between passable and great. During this streak I knew that, eventually, my lucky run would have to end. That one day soon the dregs of the gaming world would bubble up from some developers hell and make me rue the day I decided to write about video games.

On the surface, Infernal: Hell’s Vengeance didn’t seem like a bad choice. I remembered playing the PC version two years ago when it was initially released and it was an unspectacular and below average game. It wasn’t very popular or well received, so it gaining a 360 port two years after its original release is a little bit puzzling. Still, with two years to smooth out the wrinkles that caused it to be such a disappointment, it has to be better right?

Still going through my mp3s and sorting them out before I do my top album list. I know, I know, it is taking forever. Between writing and doing this I’ve been a busy beaver lately. In case you haven’t noticed though, a lot of the videos I’ve been posting lately are from bands who had albums come out last year, so, you know. Hint hint.

This is a great British band by the name of Grammatics. They are that over-dramatic type of indie rock we love so much, they really like messing around with sounds and song structure and are pretty easy to pick out of a lineup when you hear them.