SPOILER ALERT: This review may cover plot points that will spoil MGS2. The Story Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty picks up several years after the first MGS. Snake is still retired from FOXHOUND, but he is a part of the anti-Metal Gear proliferation group Philanthropy with Otacon. Snake and Otacon actively collect intel and information on Metal Gears and release them throughout the world to keep the global balance of power even and it’s rumored that they even destroy some Metal Gear models outright. This is where you come in, as Snake in the “Tanker Chapter.” It’s also where the shit hits the fan. Snake’s mission is disrupted by the arrival of Ocelot Revolver, one of the bosses from MGS and a former member of FOXHOUND, only his hand has been re-attached…or has it? He periodically lapses into another voice and mental state where he sounds and acts like Liquid Snake, Solid Snake’s “brother” (they are both clones of Big Boss). As you might be able to guess, the routine mission becomes anything but. Ocelot steals the Metal Gear RAY, destroys the tanker, and sinks Solid Snake to the bottom of the ocean. ...

Insert another credit, because it’s time for your weekly video game news and you’ve just hit the Game Overview screen. Tired of Metal Gear coverage on this site yet? Man I hope not, because we’ve got even more news. Thanks to my Insider subscription to IGN, I’m eligible for the Metal Gear Online beta (!). MGO is a standalone multiplayer title set to tie in with MGS4 once it launches. I don’t know much about the game other than that it features man-cannons, persistent character development, cardboard boxes (comic for the old MGO), and that it will most likely include body dragging that will inevitably degenerate into corpse-humping. I’ll have more details once the beta opens on Monday. ...

Not to take too much away from today’s iPod Touch post, but who else thinks that the Papal service in Nationals Park is, to some degree, an effort to bless the team out of it’s losing streak (outside of their opening season 3-game win streak and another Braves win)?

So my iPod Video decided that my right ear was incidental, so it stopped transmitting sound to my right headphone, unless I applied pressure is some sort of arcane, randomly determined direction at all times. Lucky for me, since I got it pre-owned off of eBay, I put a SquareTrade warranty on it, so they will cut me a check to replace my old iPod. With said money being more than half the cost of an iPod Touch, I forked over the cash to pick up a brand-spanking new iPod touch. Let me just say that it is awesome. Here’s the Pro/Con breakdown ...

You’ve probably heard the saying that hindsight is 20/20 on Monday morning, so just imagine how well I can call ’em two days later on Wednesday. That’s right, it’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up. Intramural Softball I thought it was spring. This past Sunday in Ithaca we had some snow (apparently) or some other kind of precipitation and the temperature sat in the 30s for most of the day. As a result, softball was canceled. Oh well…at least weekend forecasts don’t show 58 and rain after a stretch of 70 degree days on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday…Oh wait, it does. Stupid Ithaca. ...

The other day when I was talking about Persona 3, I got a comment about the SMT series being a Western-based RPG instead of a JRPG. To start off with, the original game for the Famicom was based on a Japanese book about using the digital world to summon demons. From this point forward, no matter how much the first-person dungeon crawling might be reminiscent of Ultima or other Western RPGs, we cannot call the game Western, but we can do better than just this. ...

Deep from the trenches, it’s time for your Monday video feature: Embedded Reporter. If you’ve been reading this site since its inception, it’s no surprise that I’m on a bit of a Metal Gear kick at the moment. Back before Super Smash Bros. Brawl hit the shelves, IGN posted a video feature showing strategies for effective use of Solid Snake as a brawler. The music they used for the feature immediately caught my ear and I fervently hoped that it would appear in the game. ...

After three and a half years of refusing to succumb to the pressure, I finally caved and started watching Lost last month thanks to my Blockbuster.com membership. I’ve burned through the first two seasons and 1/4 of the third season. Just in case you’ve been living under a rock, Lost is about a group of castaways who crash landed on a tropical island in the Pacific. Anyway, it’s Sunday and I’m feeling pretty lazy, so just know that Lost is worth a watch if you don’t mind a mystery that won’t be solved until 2010, I think I last heard. Also, if you’ve got a blu-ray player and a TV that can display in HD, you MUST get Lost Season 3 on blu-ray, there’s no other way to watch it. ...

The Story Last night I finally got around to completing the Japanese stealth tactical action game: Metal Gear Solid. You play as Solid Snake, a veteran of (at least) two prior missions completed for the U.S. Government as a part of the secret, black-ops organization FOXHOUND. You’re sent to Shadow Moses Island to save some hostages and investigate terrorist ability to launch the nuke they are threatening to launch. If they can launch, you must stop it. ...

Insert another credit, because it’s time for your weekly video game news and you’ve just hit the Game Overview screen. About two weeks ago baseball season began and I dusted off my copy of MLB Power Pros to enjoy what was probably my favorite Nintendo release of last year. For those of you who don’t know, MLB Power Pros is the first US localization of the Japanese Jikkyō Powerful Pro Yakyū series that has been releasing since 1994 on the Super Famicom. Why hasn’t this game showed up stateside until September of last year? Take a look at this video: ...