"The State of the Sushi Address"

                                                                                                                                                 No, this isn't a speech about how the sushi has gone bad.  It's a speech about how I feel regarding the things I enjoy.  Sports, video games, movies, music, television, and more will be covered.

        Video Games:  We are entering into a golden age of video gaming.  WE have extremely powerful systems on the horizon, and some exceptional looking games.  But who will win the latest round of the "Console Wars"? 

        SEGA:   First out onto the market was the Sega Dreamcast.  A great system capable of producing amazing graphics.  The first games were good, but only a few really stood out.  Now, a year later, just how many good games are there for DC??  Soul Calibur, NFL2k(1), Crazy Taxi, Resident Evil: CODE: Veronica, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, but what else?  There are many, many other games, but none of them are as well presented and nicely done as those I listed.  This lack of quality software won't necessarily kill the DC, because there are several really good games still to come:  Jet Grind Radio (the one I'm personally looking forward to), Metropolis Street Racer, Soul Calibur 2, Half-Life, Quake 3 will be amazing.  Sadly, though, it has been predicted that with the other new systems coming out from Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft, that the Sega Dreamcast will by dying by next Christmas.  The DC is severely underpowered, and hasn't sold very well, so third party developers are leaving to develop for newer, more powerful systems.  As a long time Sega hater, I'm not really surprised by this, but as a hardcore video gamer, it's sad to see the DC die so quickly

    SONY:   The Sony Playstation has sold 70 million units worldwide, and has many, many great games.  Now, Sony is releasing a new system.   Immensely powerful, but difficult to develop for.  It plays DVD movies, and has a ton of new/innovative features such as the ability to take screenshots and save them to the PS2's hard drive.  Or Sony's trump card:  backwards computability, a feature never seen before in a "good" system (I have to say "good" because older systems created by Atari and Mattel were also backwards compatible).   Dozens of great games are coming out on launch day, or in the months immediately following it.  Tekken Tag Tournament, Gran Turismo 3, Dead or Alive 2:   Hardcore, Smugglers Run, Madden 2001, Ridge Racer 5, as well as the entire library of games from the original Playstation.   This means that not only will PS2 launch with it's own great software, but also the 800+ games for the Playstation.    PS2 offers far more for the money than other systems.  Complaints that it is very difficult to develop for may turn smaller developers away, but big name developers such as Konami, Capcom, Namco, Electronic Arts and Squaresoft have already shown great interest in PS2.  These big developers, producing some amazing games, are almost a guarantee for the impending success of the Playstation 2.

    NINTENDO:   Nintendo's entry into this race for the best system with the GameCube may be the most impressive.  An amazingly powerful system (even moreso than PS2) will produce amazing looking graphics, and run them at good speed.  Nintendo also has the best, well known characters in the video game industry, and some of the best console games ever will get ports/sequels on the GameCube.  Also interesting is the redesigned controller Nintendo will use.  A two "pronged" beast rather than the 3 "pronged" oddity that was the N64's controller.  It places the D-pad, control stick, R+L+Z trigger, a-b-x-y buttons all within easy reach.  The C-buttons have been turned into a second control stick that will provide precise control over in-game cameras.  Also, the Game Boy Advance can be used as a controller as well.  However, Nintendo has chosen to use a Mini DVD rather than the full sized DVD.  By dong this, they only have 1.5 GB/disk rather than the almost 5 GB/disk of normal DVD's.  It seems Nintendo has shot themselves in the foot once again by using an inferior storage device.  Cartridges crippled the N64, and the mini DVD's may very well cripple the GameCube.  Also, Nintendo has decided to not include DVD movie playback, a feature which all of the other upcoming systems will have.   Nintendo is doing things wrong once again, but it will have great games from Rare, and series such as Zelda, Mario, Metroid, Wave Race, Star Wars, and PokeMon will be present.  The games will certainly be great, but some developers will be turned away by the downfalls of the hardware.  Truly, only time will tell if Nintendo can win.

    MICROSOFT:  Microsoft is entering the console video game market for the first time.  Supposedly, it is the most powerful of the new systems, and will sport a Pentium 3 and a graphics board produced by Nvidia.  It will also use a slimmed down version of Windows 2000.  All this means is that it will be very easy to develop for, and will have the power to produce great graphics.  Before, it was rumored that X-Box would play PC games, as well as X-Box developed games:  that rumor has been shot down by Microsoft's own development team, however.  The games which will appear will be developed by Microsoft's own teams, as well as several developers from the U.S. and Europe.  Thanks to Konami's deal with Microsoft a few months ago, they are the first and only Japanese developer to sign on with X-Box so far.   The system will use Microsoft's Sidewinder controllers, and will have a built in modem and hard drive.  The design of the system is expected to be somewhat extreme, and sketches and mock-ups I have seen seem to point in the direction of new, revolutionary, and completely new.  The lack of quality developers will hurt the X-Box, but we'll have to wait and see.

    Who will win the console wars???  Only time will tell.   Each system has some advantages, and the are all well designed, user friendly machines.  But, each one also has it's drawbacks.  It will only be a matter of how much you want to spend, what games you like, and whether or not you can live without DVD movies.  I personally feel that Sony's PS2 will be the system of choice, followed closely by Nintendo's GameCube, and with X-Box and Dreamcast fighting for the third spot.   I am going to try and get all of these systems.  PS2, GameCube definitely, X-Box maybe, Dreamcast. . . . HECK NAW!

Sci-Fi Movies:   The current state of Sci-Fi movies is a bleak one.   In the past, such sub-par Sci-Fi movies as Men in Black, Independence Day, and others have earned a lot of money, despite having piss poor storylines.  And what about such big budget epics like Battlefield Earth, Supernova, and Mission to Mars which made far less than expected.  Or there is the "big" one, Star Wars: Episode One: The Phantom Menace was a poor, poor movie but still made 700 million dollars.   The special effects are improving while the storylines and acting are getting far worse..

    Hopefully, upcoming movies like Star Wars: Episode Two, Jurassic Park 3, Tron 2001, and the Resident Evil movie will get Sci-Fi out of this "funk".  Other games based on movies such as Duke Nukem, Tomb Raider, and the computer animated Final Fantasy movie could be what we've been looking for.  We can only hope.

Music:  Depending on age, location, religion, etc.  everyone likes different types of music.  I remember the steps I took.  First, as a young lad, I enjoyed country music (because that is what my 'rents liked).  Then, I moved to pop/rock music.  It was ok, but then I discovered a little band called Metallica.   I bought all of the 'tallica' albums I could find.  Then I moved to Guns n' Roses, Bush, AC/DC and others.  Next was Korn and I learned to enjoy their unique mix of rock.  Heavier music began to play through my stereo:  Static-X, Pantera, Powerman 5000. . my parents thought I was going insane.  Then I came across two bands that from the first time I heard them, I knew they were amazing.  Disturbed and Papa Roach:  both a mix of rap and heavy metal guitar riffs.  It's a great time to be a metal-head.

    What is next?  A new album from Guns n' Roses is being put together, and the first single sounds great.  Metallica is also working on a new album which will return to their heavy metal roots after their successful "Symphony & Metallica" album.    WHOOOO!

Anime:  The current state of anime is somewhat bad off, for me anyway.   The Sci-Fi channel used to show anime movies late on Saturday night: not anymore.   The Cartoon Network has series such as Tenchi Mayo, and Gundam: Wing which is great, but I don't have the Cartoon Network.  Fox and the WB show anime series, but they are dominated by kids shows like PokeMon (which isn't bad), Digimon, and Monster Rancher.  Of course, there are also shows that are over looked.  CardCaptors is a great show that is well animated and has a very entertaining story.  Escaflowne is an adult oriented series that features excessive violence, somewhat course language, and the scantily clad women we all love, and is somehow shown at the same time as kiddie shows PokeMon and Digimon. 

    While some of these series are great, they are not always available.   Stores such as On-Cue (locally) sell anime movies and series on video for when you need a quick anime fix.  While these videos are a good substitute, they are expensive.  Solution: Send letters to the Sci-Fi channel begging them to resume showing anime.  If we fight together, maybe we can get back our beloved anime, and make the world a better place.

TV:   The small screen ahs been a relative wasteland when looking for shows to watch lately.  NBC's "Must See Thursday"  is getting old and boring.  Survivor was cool as hell, and made the summer bearable, but there hasn't been much else.  The Rock Show on VH1 is a good show to wind down a Friday night.   They show heavy metal videos and are one of the few shows that still have music videos on.  Animated series such as The Simpsons, Futurama, and Family Guy are still going strong, and surprisingly, haven't run out of material yet.

    The much anticipated series "Dark Angel" has premiered to rave reviews.  It features an amazingly beautiful heroine, and a superb storyline that follows a futuristic "America sucks now" approach that has been seen before, but never this well done.

    Late night TV is as good as ever.  The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is still very successful, and the skits and jokes are still barely appropriate for it's timeslot.  Late Night with Conan O'Brien has taken the loss of "sidekick" Andy Richter in stride and is still as good as ever.    Their skits are the best on late night TV, and they truly push the envelope on what is and is not acceptable.

Pro Wrestling:  As a fan of wrestling for only a year now, I have learned to appreciate all of the different aspects of the sport.  I have watched wrestling every week since I watched Smackdown! as it premiered in August of 1999.  I wanted to know as much as I could.  I found favorite wrestlers, and got into the storylines of these characters.  Soon Monday and Thursday nights became consumed by wrestling.   I learned the lingo:  face, heel, hurricanrana, DDT, so that so, I could hold a great conversation with even the most seasoned of wrestling fans.  My favorites now include:  Triple H, Chris Jericho, Kane, Rikishi, Edge and Christian, The Hardy Boyz (Ironic huh?).  Current dislikes are:  The Rock (he's a piss poor wrestler, but has a cool character), The Undertaker (The American BadAss sucks ass!. . . I want him to be EVIL!), Chris Beniot and the rest of the Radicals, and Kurt Angle.  Right now, I know more about this sport than my friends who have been watching it for ten years.   I'm not too good with the "old-school" wrestling, but I'm all over anything that has happened in the last few years.

This concludes the "State of the Sushi Address".  If you have questions, comments, or just wanna say something to your mama, the e-mail me at sushix@pdark.com.