Video Games: Legos? in 3D?

Everytime I go to the GameInformer website I am dumbfounded by its incredibly slow speed. Despite its graphics/video-intense content, its design is relatively bland, and I would think that the herd of nerds that works there would be able to figure out how to make a predominantly black & white website run at full speed.

Anyway, GameInformer recently informed me of a few things:

• Puzzle Quest 2 for Xbox Live Arcade is finally being released today
• Nintendo is yet again updating the DS, to the Nintendo 3DS, which apparently can display 3-d images without the need for those awesome glasses*
• GI likes Lego games a whole lot

I have long awaited the arrival of Puzzle Quest 2, which I thought was being released in May, but then it was delayed until last week, when it was released for DS, and now it is finally available for XLA download. Yay! Why are video game release dates so often delayed?

I feel so behind with my DS Lite. Soon after I got it, the DSi came out, then the DSi XL (not that I'd want that anyway - the purpose of a portable gaming system is defeated when said system can no longer fit in my purse), and now the 3DS, which uses something called autostereoscopy to produce "3D effects without the need for any special glasses." The 3DS made an appearance at E3 earlier this month, and will be released sometime...after it is released in Japan. I don't really understand how it works, and I don't really care about it unless the console comes in pink and allows me to see Pokemon in 3-d, so whatever. (Actually, it might be pretty cool, but with the release of new hardware also comes the inevitable harassment from Game Stop employees asking "do you want to preorder a 3DS? Are you sure? They're gonna go fast. You can trade in your DS Lite. Come back if you decide to preorder. Are you sure you don't want to preorder a 3DS?" every time you walk in or out of a Game Stop, so I think I'll avoid everything 3DS-related until I can actually see the thing).

As for Lego games, I do not understand them. Why bother with Lego Indian Jones when there's regular Indian Jones? or Star Wars or Harry Potter or whatever else. Aside from the novelty of seeing characters break into pieces when they die instead of fall to the ground in bloody agony, I don't see any differences between regular games and Lego games, except that Lego games are cute (and no one dies in Lego Rock Band, so there's really no point to that one). They're also WAY harder than anything that cute should be. (Well, I've only played Lego Indian Jones, but it was NOT easy). Anyway, in honor of the release of Lego Harry Potter, GameInformer compiled this list of Lego games they'd like to see. Their graphic renderings are actually incredibly adorable, especially the Lego Toy Story one. And who wouldn't want to see Lego Pulp Fiction and Jurassic Park? I was going to suggest Lego Gears of War, but Lego Half Life is on the list, so I guess that covers the genre of 'games that are too complicated for me and involve a lot of killing.'

*I have yet to see a 3-d movie, but despite their increasing popularity in recent years, I still think of them as incredibly 80's. You know, back when the glasses were cardboard and had red and blue lenses. I can't think of 3-d movies without thinking of my favorite movie of all time, The Muppets Take Manhattan: "your poppin' corn's in...3-d!"

TELEVISION: T-Shirts and Nielsen

or Nielsen and T-Shirts, because I am resurrecting the blog so as to detail my experience with a Nielsen TV Diary, which I will be starting this Thursday, July 1, and completing the following Thursday.

I would now like to focus on the t-shirts some of our favorite characters have been seen wearing on the small screen. Who the hell picks this shit out? Of note are the following:

• Ted Moseby, of "How I Met Your Mother," wearing a Shaker Heights High School t-shirt in an episode I cannot recall at the moment.
• Roy, of "The IT Crowd," sporting a Guided By Voices t-shirt my all-time favorite episode* "The Red Door" (S01E04).
  
• Ray Drecker, everyone's favorite male escort in HBO's "Hung," wearing a Museum of the Rockies t-shirt in the season 2 premier, "Just the Tip."

The first example is the least interesting, as Ted is meant to be from Shaker Heights, Ohio. The t-shirt in question was in support of some sport, but I don't remember what. Either way, being from Shaker, it is noteworthy that a character on a major network sitcom was wearing an authentic 'Shaker Lacrosse' (or baseball, or hockey, or whatever) t-shirt. (I can only assume it was authentic, given that one of the show's creators, Carter Bays, graduated from Shaker High).

The second is the most random. "The IT Crowd," a hilarious British sitcom, is, well, British. How Roy comes to hide a CRT monitor under a Guided By Voices t-shirt is beyond me. Perhaps some of you know GBV, an indie-rock band from Ohio, whom I was lucky enough to see perform at some outdoor music festival in Cleveland sponsored by Case Western Reserve University's student radio station in what must have been 2004. GBV has since disbanded (hence why I was "lucky" to see them live...I really couldn't care less, I'd never even listened to them before), but perhaps they were more popular in the UK than I'm giving them credit for, which would explain the t-shirt's appearance.

And lastly, Ray Drecker can be seen bowling with his ex-wife in last night's season 2 premier of the HBO original series "Hung" while wearing a Museum of the Rockies t-shirt. Whether more people know of the Museum of the Rockies or Guided By Voices I cannot say, but suffice it to say that they are probably equally random. The Museum of the Rockies is a natural and cultural history institution affiliated with Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. Travelers and residents of the Western United States may be familiar with it, but many people may only know of Bozeman thanks to the episode of "The Big Bang Theory" entitled "The Bozeman Reaction" (S03E13), in which Sheldon decides to move to Bozeman after his apartment is robbed, in order to avoid the crime-ridden hell hole** that is Pasadena, California. It's always nice to see Montana represented on the small screen, but said episode of BBT theory doesn't do the state much justice, as Sheldon gets mugged right after stepping off the bus in Bozeman. This is a grossly unrealistic depiction of Montana, as crime in this state mostly consists of incidents such as "area man robs medical marijuana dispensary."

Stay tuned for more TV-related commentary, including the guilty pleasures of VH1 reality shows, a more biting take on "Friday Night Lights" than you will find on Slate.com or the New York Times "TV Watch," and my disappointment that my TV Diary takes place before several highly-anticipated summer premiers, including that of "Eureka," which premiers just one day after I am to return my diary.

*My favorite episode to date. Season 4 is now airing in the UK, and while I don't foresee anything overtaking "The Red Door" in comedic brilliance, it is possible.
**I'm unsure of the extent and nature of crime in Pasadena, CA.