Why Brock Lesnar's Retirement Doesn't Surprise Me At All

After losing via TKO to Alistair Overeem at UFC 141, Brock Lesnar announced his retirement from Mixed Martial Arts. The retirement is being seen as a surprise by many sports analysts and devastating to UFC, who has lost their biggest star and main attraction.


Brock Lesnar first came to prominence when he won the 2000 NCAA wrestling heavyweight championship after placing 2nd in 1999. After college, he and his roommate, Shelton Benjamin, decided to pursue careers in professional wrestling. They began their careers in Ohio Valley Wrestling, a developmental league for the World Wrestling Federation, where they quickly rose to prominence and made it to the big time. Shelton Benjamin went on to be very successful in the WWF and has since gone on to become on of Ring of Honor's main draws. Brock Lesnar received a major push after wrestling a few dark matches, clearly demonstrating his talent in the ring.


In his time in the WWF/E (the company had changed names due to a lawsuit from the World Wildlife Fund) , Lesnar became the youngest WWE champion of all time, at age 25. Even though the push he received was incredibly heavy and quick, Many people saw Lesnar as being the future of the WWE and professional wrestling in general, now that the Monday Night Wars were over. With his win over the Rock and feud with Kurt Angle, it was clear that Lesnar was over with the crowd and was cemented in his superstar status.


At the end of his career with the WWE, Lesnar had a dream feud of sorts with Goldberg, a wrestler that Lesnar had been compared to for quite some time. At their match at Wrestlemania however, it was well-known that it would be Goldberg's retirement match and that Lesnar would be leaving the WWE to seek a spot on the roster of an NFL team. The crowd reacted very negatively to the match, giving loud applause to guest referee Stone Cold Steve Austin when he gave both wrestlers Stone Cold Stunners on his way out.


Lesnar's NFL career as a defensive lineman lasted 4 preseason games for the Minnesota Vikings marred by unsportsmanlike conduct and very hard hits that were not tolerated even before the NFL made their illegal hit rule more strict. Lesnar stated that he wanted to try out because he "didn't want to be 40 wondering if he could have made it in the NFL." Following Lesnar's failure to secure a spot on the VIking's 53-man roster, he faced much ridicule in the WWE. A year later, Lesnar returned to wrestling in New Japan Pro Wrestling, but was dogged by lawsuits from the WWE that seeked to have Lesnar barred from competing in professional wrestling or mixed martial arts.


Lesnar eventually won the lawsuits and was allowed to compete in MMA. Lesnar had a very hyped up career in UFC, defeating big names like Randy Couture, Frank Mir, and Shane Cerwin before losing via TKO to Cain Velazquez. Despite the hype and super-high salary though, Lesnar's time in UFC is more memorable for his 2 bouts with diverticulitis, a disease that I have had the unfortunate pleasure of also dealing with. After is 2nd diverticulitis attack, Lesnar opted to have surgery to remove 12 inches from his large intestine to fix his colon and bowel movements.


At UFC 141, Lesnar was visibly shaken after taking a hard knee to the gut from Alistair Overeem mere seconds into the fight. To a sufferer of diverticulitis like myself, it was clear that Lesnar's surgically repaired large intestine was not prepared to take hits of any sort, having only been repaired in May of this year. Lesnar's facial expression during the match was one of "why the hell did I think I could do this fight so soon?" Lesnar is also 34, an age that is considered very old in combat sports.


Any sports writer expressing surprise at Lesnar's retirement has no clue how devastating diverticulitis can be and doesn't fully realize that the surgery to remove a foot off the large intestine is one that can take several years to recover from. Also, Lesnar is 34, dude. He's old and done when it comes to sports.


Happy New Year, UFC. Have fun trying to get a new main draw since Brock Lesnar, Randy Couture, and Frank Mir are now all gone and Cain Velazquez proved to be a big flop, easily losing to the experienced boxer, Junior dos Santos.

Yep, I'm Making a Gossip Post

In October 2011, British comedian Russell Brand and Californian singer Katy Perry got married. Their marriage shocked most people in entertainment media who did not even know the couple knew each other. Many doubters of their relationship wagered bets that their marriage would not last a year, given how incredibly busy Katy Perry is with her concerts and Russel Brand with his comedy shows and film schedule, notwithstanding most insider's total inability to understand what, if anything, they had in common.


Well the couple in fact did last more than a year, but only by a few months. The couple has officially divorced and will both begin 2012 as single divorcees! This is wonderful news for pretty much any man between the age of 18-90 because now Katy Perry in her infinite weirdness is back on the market. Russell Brand is uh... also weird and I pray for the poor woman who has to listen to his voice on a daily basis.


Hey, it's a slow news day, cut me some slack Jack.


Update!: The Brands did not sign a prenup! Because of their wildly differing incomes, Katy Perry stands to lose A LOT of money.

The Dalls Mavericks are Officially the Worst Defending NBA Champions of the Post-ABA Merger

The last time an NBA champion opened a season with a 0-3 record was when the Boston Celtics played their first season after the retirement of Bill Russell. Today, the Dallas Mavericks have equaled that remarkably terrible statistic to become the worst defending NBA champion of the post-ABA merger. What makes these 3 losses worse though, is that they never had a chance to win any of them.


Their opening game against Miami was absolutely terrible and showed that losing TWO players from the bench and their starting center was absolutely devastating to the team. In their 2nd game against the Denver Nuggets, they were outplayed by a team with Nené as their best player. In their 3rd game, the Mavericks were outplayed by a team that allowed 26 turnovers and were visibly frustrated, picking really stupid fights and getting 4 technical fouls. Sending Lamar Odom to Dallas for a trade exception is beginning to look like the smartest trade Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak has ever made.


So what's a defending champion to do in a case like this? The last time a defending NBA champion was this bad, Shaq was playing for the Miami Heat. Before that, the 3-peat Lakers were saddled by numerous injuries throughout an entire season. And before that, the double 3-peat Bulls had lost Michael Jordan to retirement twice. These Mavericks have no excuse for being this bad other than their general manager being incredibly inept and owner Mark Cuban being unwilling to spend money to re-sign J.J. Barea, Tyson Chandler, and Rudy Fernandez. If Cuban and his lackey GM have some kind of grand scheme to get Dwight Howard, their team doesn't look very appealing at this point.

Bill Maher's Hilarious Tweet About Tim Tebow

Bill Maher is an outspoken atheist comedian and makes no apologizes for offending religious people in his commentary. Some people are saying that this tweet is offensive. Some people say that Maher is "insensitive." That's a load of bullshit.


Tim Tebow prays before every game. And during the game. And after the game. He talks about Jesus being important in his life. He talks about Jesus being "partly" responsible for the result of football games. Every time he wins a game, he thanks God and/or Jesus for giving him a win. He never says Jesus was on the other team's side when he loses, of course.


Obviously, if Tebow, the guy whose life seems to revolve around either football or Jesus, loses a game that he says Jesus affects, then the devil must be smiling somewhere, taunting Tebow from the underworld.


A lot of people who are decrying Maher's tweet are also the same people who oddly enough believe that political correctness should be done away with and that this so-called "War on Christmas" needs to end. It's funny how those same people who hate political correctness also don't want anything negative being said about them.

The Wild NBA Season Has (Finally) Begun!

After a very long wait, the 2011-12 NBA season has finally started. The Mavericks raised their (incredibly ugly) championship banner to the rafters of the American Airlines Center and then proceeded to immediately play like shit against the Miami Heat.


Before that game, the New York Knicks fought an unexpectedly close game against the Boston Celtics and defeat the Celts for the first time in 9 games.


The Lakers and Bulls had a very close game, with the game being decided by questionable refereeing and a spectacular layup by Derrick Rose, followed by Kobe getting his game-winning shot blocked by Luol Deng.


The Orlando Magic also played terribly, especially Dwight Howard who clearly was not one with team chemistry, losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder.


To close out opening day, the Clippers beat the Warriors in the debut of "Lob Angeles"


And then Day 2 happened. The Mavericks again played like absolute shit, getting blown out by the Denver Nuggets. The Lakers were defeated by the Sacramento Kings in a game that was never close. The Chicago Bulls also stank it up against the Warriors, getting absolutely embarrassed.


Some other notable results:

• The New Jersey Nets looked strong against the Washington Wizards, especially Kris Humphries who quickly quieted the crowd that initially booed him
• Kemba Walker looked fantastic in his debut with the Charlotte Bobcats, leading them to a 1 point victory over the Bucks
• Dwight Howard played better, but the real star of the Magic's second game was Hedo Turkoglu
• Kyrie Irving, the #1 overall draft pick was absolutely terrible in his professional debut with the Cleveland Cavaliers, scoring only 6 points
• The Thunder fought a close game against the Timberwolves, winning by 4 points
• The Spurs got revenge on the Memphis Grizzlies, beating them by 13 points
• The new-look Hornets defeated the Suns by 1 point at Phoenix
• The Blazers and 76ers played a very close game that came down to the final seconds, but the Blazers won by 4

After 2 days of basketball, it's pretty clear that this will be one of the most unpredictable seasons of basketball yet. The teams that were good last year have been terrible while the teams that were bad last year have been excellent.

So far, the best performing teams in the league are the Miami Heat, the Los Angeles Clippers, and the Oklahoma City Thunder. In a lockout shortened season that will feature as many as 5 games a week for some teams, it may be the dawning of a new era in basketball.

The Dallas Mavericks are unquestionably the worst team in the league right now and there is speculation that they might not even make the playoffs. Right now, the Lakers got the last laugh out of that Lamar Odom trade. The Mavericks are on pace to become one of the worst performing NBA champions, ironically, on par with the Miami Heat from a few years ago.

Of course, in a season that is shortened to a ridiculous amount, there is always a surprise waiting.

Zelda Timeline Expressed by Logos

This is the official Zelda Timeline, as depicted in the Hyrule Historia, edited by Zelda series director Eiji Aonuma. The concept of a 3rd timeline is proving to be somewhat controversial, but it fits so perfectly considering the number of inconsistencies between A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time. Prior to this timeline, many thought that A Link to the Past takes place after Twilight Princess, but now it appears that they may occur concurrently in different timelines.


Here's how the timelines break down:


Timeline A: The Hero of Time is defeated by Ganondorf or his minions, leading to the War of Imprisoning. The Knights of Hyrule and Seven Sages are successful in sealing Ganon away in the Sacred Realm, which would come to be known as the Dark World.


Timeline B: The Hero of Time defeats Ganondorf and returns to the Present where he leaves to the land of Termina shortly after. Ganondorf is then tried and executed for plotting to overthrow the Kingdom of Hyrule, but is then revived by the Triforce by unexplained means, granting him the power of the Triforce of Power. He is then sent away to the Twilight Realm.


Timeline C: The Hero of Time defeats Ganondorf and returns to the Present, but Ganondorf escapes his seal made by the Seven Sages to wreak havoc on Hyrule once again. The Hero of Time does not re-appear and Hyrule is only saved thanks to the gods flooding Hyrule after commanding people to seek shelter on mountain tops.


The ends of these timelines all end very differently. In Timeline A, Ganon is revived at least twice, finally defeated by LoZ!Link. By this period of time, Hyrule has spread out and is made up of several small towns thanks to Ganon's armies destroying most of Hyrule. In Timeline B, Ganondorf is revived once, but quickly defeated by FSA!Link, the latest wielder of the Four Sword. Hyrule is prosperous in this timeline. In Timeline C, a new Hyrule is eventually found on a new continent, which ends up leading to a Hyrule that utilizes steam technology.


EDIT: I goofed on the placement of 2 games. The Minish Cap is supposed to come before Four Swords. I'll fix their placement later.

The OFFICIAL Zelda Timeline is Quietly Revealed

Click for full-size image

An artbook detailing various sketches and concept art of The Legend of Zelda series was recently released in Japan, which included a curious extra.


This artbook, which is printed by Nintendo, contains the first comprehensive timeline detailing exactly where each and every Zelda game takes place and how they connect to each other. Most of the timeline is fairly close to GameTrailers' own theory, creating a split timeline with the Child Timeline and the Adult Timeline, but Nintendo has gone a step further and introduced a THIRD timeline which follows the hypothetical events of OoT!Link failing to defeat Ganondorf. The timeline... well it makes perfect sense considering the events that take place in each and every game.


But because of this timeline, doesn't Nintendo now have their hands tied on making future Zelda games to fit within this timeline? It's not like they can just keep making games that place earlier and earlier. I do admit though, because of the timeline finally being out there, I'd like to see some official sequels to some very old games to further the story of Hyrule(s) and create new bad guys who are the reincarnation of Demise's hatred.


I'll post a photo using game box art later to better illustrate this timeline.

"On Any Given Sunday, No Team is Safe"

Amazingly, on short rest, the Indianapolis Colts, now led by Dan Orlovsky, the quarterback responsible for the Detroit Lions' 0-16 season, have won 2 games in a row, one against the Houston Texans. With the Colts' win over the Texans, they become the first team in NFL history with less than 2 wins to defeat a team with 10+ wins.


The "perfect" Green Bay Packers also shockingly lost to the Kansas City Chiefs this past Sunday. The loss exposed glaring flaws in both the Packers' defense and offense, making the door much wider as to which teams will even make it to the Super Bowl.


These 2 teams are just evidence that there are NO easy games in the NFL. Even the best teams lose and even the worst teams win. I'm sure that everyone in the NFL paid attention to the end of this Thursday Night Football game, because it just shows to everyone that there is no such thing as "impossible" in the NFL.

The David Fincher Spider-Man Movie That Never Happened

Before Sam Raimi was given the reins of making a Spider-Man movie, one of the directors scouted for directing the first Spider-Man was David Fincher, the director of such acclaimed films (at the time) as Seven, The Game, and Fight Club. Ever since Fincher rejected Spider-Man, he went on to direct Zodiac, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network, and the just-released The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.


It's interesting to speculate how the Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning director would have handled things, which until now was all guesswork. Recently however, Fincher revealed in an interview how his Spider-Man would have differed from Sam Raimi's. For starters, Fincher was not a fan of the overall tone of the film, saying he would not have made a Genesis story. Fincher says that the idea of Peter Parker being bitten by a red-and-blue radioactive spider that gives him super powers was laughable and he couldn't possibly direct the film with a straight face. He does say that he would have included the Green Goblin as the main villain, but he would have taken the approach that The Amazing Spider-Man is doing by including Gwen Stacy as Peter Parker's primary love interest.


And then Fincher was going to kill Stacy in the same manner as the comic books.


The movie was going to take an approach more similar to Batman, where Peter Parker has already been Spider-Man for quite some and is comfortable being a superhero. As far as explaining his origins, Fincher says the film would have opened with a 10-minute recap in music video or opera style, detailing how he got his powers, the death of Uncle Ben, and "the loss of Mary Jane"(?).


I really like David Fincher's movies. I really, really do. Seven and Zodiac are in my top 50 movies ever. That being said, I'm really glad Fincher rejected Spider-Man. Before Spider-Man, there was a trend in superhero movies to stray away from the source material to create more mainstream characters that the general public would like more. Since Spider-Man, comic book movies are sticking to the source material more than ever, especially as seen in Marvel's films. If David Fincher had directed Spider-Man, I don't think we would have ever gotten Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, or Captain America.

Big Boss as Che Guevara: The Reason Behind Peace Walker's Characters' Views

With Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker having a much wider release thanks to the HD Collection released for both PS3 and Xbox 360, the online community has generated more buzz concerning the anti-American views carried by the majority of the characters in Peace Walker. Of particular note is that Big Boss is constantly compared to Che Guevara during the game, at some points being mistaken for him. Today, it's not uncommon to see college kids wearing t-shirts with Che Guevara's face on it, the vast majority of said students not having any idea how much of a radical Guevara was.


Even Big Boss expresses admiring Che Guevara and renouncing America, though his reasons for his anti-American views are well-founded thanks to the circumstances of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, and the existence of the Patriots. Big Boss isn't necessarily anti-American, he's opposed to the Patriots taking a stranglehold on American politics, giving him good reasoning for creating Outer Heaven and becoming a nuclear power: the destruction of the Patriots.


It must be remembered that this game is fictional and depicts an America (and later world) that is run entirely by Zero (and later A.I.s) controlling all actions to achieve the "perfect" result. Nevertheless, Amanda and Chico display clearly anti-American views that are not unfounded in mid-1970s Central America. To the Sandinistas, Che Guevara was their hero and ideal leader before he was killed in Bolivia. Today, finding anyone south of the U.S. border who admires Che Guevara is difficult. With the Cold War over and the "threat" of communism (mostly) gone from Latin America, the very idea that Che Guevara attempted to take a small band of revolutionaries to take over Bolivia is just plain laughable.


To really drive home the point that possibly none of the characters in Peace Walkers are on the "right" side is that none of them are anti-nuke and are more than willing to become a nuclear power. Che Guevara infamously said that if Cuba had possession of the nuclear weapons in the Cuban Missile Crisis, they would have fired them at their enemies.


Another point that is lost on some people, it seems, is that Peace Walker is supposed to tell the story of how Big Boss went from a hilariously cheesy 1960s style action movie hero to the villain of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2. Depicting the fall from grace of a likable character is not easy, but Hideo Kojima perfectly did it, causing the fanbase to not like Big Boss' reasoning to creating Outer Heaven, even if it was to fight the Patriots.

Metal Gear Solid HD Collection

How do you appropriately review a collection of games that have already been released years ago (MGS2 & 3) or on a totally different gaming format (MGS:PW)? Basically, this review is going to analyze how well Bluepoint handled the HD conversion.


Seeing photos of MGS2 and MGS3 isn't enough to appreciate this HD collection. By moving the games from 30 frames per second to 60 fps, the games look that much better. The conversion from a resolution of 4:3 480i to 16:9 720p is also a huge leap, something that most screenshots cannot accurately express. Basically, the closest you will ever get to seeing MGS2 look this good is if you can somehow get your hands on the elusive PC version which can run at 1920x1080. MGS3 did not get a PC version and it's easily the best looking the game has ever been.


MGS:PW received the biggest improvement of all, however. The few CG and real-time cutscenes in MGS:PW were just plain awful looking on the PSP, giving good reasoning for the comic book style cutscenes through the majority of the game. This HD remake however, greatly improves Peace Walker to be near the same graphical quality as the PS2 games. The addition of a 2nd analog stick also makes Peace Walker control more similarly to MGS3 or 4, but because of the easier camera control and maneuverability, the game's difficulty has dropped significantly beyond its already low difficulty. The increased resolution also causes soldiers to stand out much more, making sneaking much easier. I haven't gotten to gillie suit soldiers yet, so it remains to be seen if those missions will be easier with the increased resolution.


Considering that this release marks only the 2nd time a Metal Gear game appears on a Microsoft console, this collection is huge. Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance was originally an Xbox exclusive, before being ported to the PS2, but the other MGS games never saw even a hint of an appearance on the Xbox or Xbox 360. Like the Metal Gear Solid: Essential Collection released for the PS2, MGS2 and MGS3 are the Substance and Subsistence versions, although the MGS3 released for the Essential Collection did not include Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, or the monkey mini-game. This release now includes all those features, but still does not include the 3rd disc, "Existence" which was Metal Gear Online, most likely due to the MGO servers shutting down years ago.


The best feature of this HD revamp however, is the audio. While MGS2 was compatible with DTS, it never sounded this good. MGS3 and MGS:PW and get the DTS treatment as well, making their jungle environments far more interesting, but also causes MGS3's difficulty to dip slightly since you can now clearly hear soldier's footsteps from around the corner, causing less need for the movement sensor.


These HD collections are getting rave reviews as they should be, but the biggest news is that for the first time, a PSP game has been converted to a PS3/Xbox 360 game. Many people have felt that several games over the years have been squandered on the PSP (Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Dissidia: Final Fantasy, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, God of War: Chains of Olympus, and God of War: Ghost of Sparta), so this may fuel game developers coughSquareEnixcough to transfer more excellent PSP games that have been overlooked over to the PS3 and/or Xbox 360. SE has already announced an HD remake for Final Fantasy X  that will hit both the PS3 and PS Vita, so why not a transfer of Dissidia?


Humorously enough, Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 also got the "HD" treatment, having full MSX surround sound and better defined pixels that are more square than ever, similar to the Wii's Virtual Console games when played in 480p.


I would have liked to see Metal Gear Solid and/or MGS: Portable Ops included with this collection, but the PS1 polygons are so outdated and pixelated that doing an HD remake would simply not be possible, while MGS:PO was simply not very well received and was excessively time consuming.


Correction: The MGS HD Collection runs at 720p, not 1080p.

Texas Rangers Post Record-Breaking Negotiating Bid for Yu Darvish

The Texas Rangers are seemingly prepared to spend a lot of money this offseason, having posted a $51.7 million posting bid for Yu Darvish. The Rangers have 30 days to negotiate a contract with Darvish and his agents, or else the Rangers get their money back. With the loss of C.J. Wilson to the division rival Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of America of Earth though, the Rangers will more than likely try to grab Yu Darvish at any cost. The bid placed by the Rangers beats the old record set by the Red Sox's bid for Daisuke Matsuzaka.

More news as it develops...

(Hopefully not until next year)

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Has a Game-Breaking Glitch of Massive Proportions

The PS3 version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has such a game-breaking glitch, it appears that Skyrim will not contend for Game of the Year awards and faces steep diminishing sales, as well as massive damage to the brand of Bethesda. The 360 and PC versions possess this glitch as well, but not to the extent that the PS3 version has.


Upon accumulating more than 60 hours playtime (Skyrim has infinite quests), the game generates an unusual amount of lag that cannot be fixed under any circumstances. The lag occurs randomly, for a random amount of time, and reduces the frame rate to unbelievably low levels. Bethesda has suggested turning the auto-save function off, which does alleviate some issues, but the lag persists.


Those knowledgeable with the PS3's hardware have said that it may be impossible to correct this glitch, due to the way the PS3 saves data. IGN has said that if they had known of this glitch, they would have rated Skyrim much lower, with other gaming websites and magazines agreeing.


Just another reason why I refuse to play Bethesda games, folks.

(Hopefully) My Last Sports Story Until Christmas, Other Than Yu Darvish

Remember that incredibly stupid trade Boston Celtics GM Danny Ainge made last year near the trade deadline that sent Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson to Oklahoma City in exchange for Jeff Green, Nenad Krstic, and a 2012 1st Round Pick? It turns out that the incredibly dumb trade Ainge made which infuriated the team and coaching staff has just gotten a lot worse. Jeff Green will miss the entire 2011-12 season (if it can be called that, since the 2011 part will only be 6 days) after having surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm. An aneurysm is when a blood vessel develops a bubble, similar to a hose having too much pressure. Over time, pressure builds until the bubble, or aneurysm, explodes. An aneurysm in the brain or aorta (the gigantic blood vessel that encircles the heart) is almost always fatal. Green should feel incredibly lucky to be alive, but Danny Ainge at this point has to be slamming his head in a wall.

Ainge had also hoped to re-sign Perkins after the previous season was over, but Perk was so offended at being traded out of nowhere that he re-signed with the Thunder just 5 days after being with the team through the 2014-15 season. Perkins' replacement on the Celtics, Nenad Krstic, also caused the trade to go spectacularly awful, signing with CSKA Moscow during the lockout for a 2 year contract.

So what did the Celtics get out of the trade? The Thunder's 2012 1st Round Draft Pick. With a strong possibility that the Thunder will finish in the top 4 of the West, that draft pick is largely useless in a draft where you need a top 15 pick. Oh they got cash, too. If this trade was to clear cap space to attract free agents they haven't been very successful. Chris Paul infamously stated before he was traded to the Clippers that he did not want to be traded to the Celtics because their team was aging and it was only a matter of time before the Big 3 all retired.

Although Ainge successfully obtained Kevin Garnett in the epic trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves a few years ago and Ray Allen from the Sonics, it seems that Ainge has gone batshit crazy, much like his Lakers counterpart, Mitch Kupchak.

As Mike Breen said after the Celtics were eliminated from the playoffs last season, there's a BIG difference between winning 1 championship and winning 2. How many people remember the Detroit Pistons and Miami Heat winning championships this past decade? The Celtics are in danger of becoming flukes like the Pistons and Heat if they don't a hell of a lot younger quickly.

The Four Billion Yen Man

The Toronto Blue Jays are rumored to have posted between $40-50 million for Yu Darvish, making them the favorite at this point until the air of secrecy is closed. The Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs are also said to be very interested in Darvish, posting large amounts of money for the Japanese ace. Rumor has it that one team's bid is actually more than $50 million, meaning that if that team's bid is successful and the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters accept the post, the Fighters will get $50 million cash in exchange for Darvish, pending his agreement with the team to join.


More news as it develops...

The Greatest Sports Story of the Year

The man with the sourpuss look on his face is Sam Hurd. Hurd was undrafted in the 2006 NFL Draft, but was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Dallas Cowboys, where he played 5 unremarkable years and signed a 3-year contract with the Chicago Bears this past offseason. At this time, however, Hurd is now a free agent after being cut from the team. Normally, a player like Hurd would probably seek to play in the CFL at this point, but the circumstances behind the Bears cutting him from the team are absolutely hilarious.


On December 14, Hurd was arrested by federal agents after he attempted to buy drugs from them. Oh, but the story doesn't end there! Hurd was attempting to purchase (and then later distribute) between 15-20 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana per week. Hurd was attempting to purchase such massive quantities of these drugs at prices of $25,000 per kg of cocaine and $450 per lb of marijuana.


To make matters worse for Hurd, ICE traced a phone number to him that was on the caller ID of a drug dealing ring arrested in California earlier this year. Now why in the world would Sam Hurd have been speaking to drug dealers in California when he was in Dallas? Hmm... 


Needless to say, Sam Hurd is in some deep shit and will probably never play football again as he awaits swift justice and a lot of time in federal prison. It's not like he's Michael Vick or Plaxico Burress who were excellent football players sidelined by prison; I'd never heard of Sam Hurd until this absolutely hilarious incident.

Yu Darvish is [] This Close to Crossing the Pacific

This is Yu Darvish, widely considered to be the best pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball. Prior to the 2004 NPB Amateur Draft, Darvish was scouted while in junior high school by the Anaheim Angels and Atlanta Braves, but Darvish made clear his intentions to play for NPB, not MLB. In 5 years playing for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, Darvish has amassed some very impressive numbers including:

• 93-38 W-L
• 1.99 ERA
• .98 WHIP
• Reigning 2-year Strikeout Leader (498 K)

Darvish is the son of an Iranian father and a Japanese mother; his full name is Yu Darvishsefad, but shortened to Darvish more than likely due to the difficulty in pronouncing his real last name.

So why am I making this post about Yu Darvish? Because he just a week away from potentially joining Major League Baseball. Darvish has been posted to MLB, where teams will bid for him in a silent auction. The silent auction has ended and MLB commissioner Bud Selig has informed NPB commissioner Ryozo Kato as to Darvish's asking price, but not the team that won the bid. The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters have until Tuesday, December 20th to accept the bid, and then a 30 day window for Darvish's agents to accept or reject his new team's deal. The Washington Nationals have reportedly expressed interest in Darvish, while the Los Angeles Dodgers and Detroit Tigers have confirmed that they did not bid for him.

Darvish's only weakness at this point appears to be his batting ability, hitting under .090 BA. Of course if an AL team wins the bid, that point will be moot.

More news as it develops...

New York City: The Mecca of Basketball? I Don't Think So, Tim.

Remember this image, because it could be the last time for a very long time that these two players will be seen in different uniforms. It is official, Chris Paul has been traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. Here's how the trade breaks down:

• Clippers Get:
• PG Chris Paul
• 2 Future 2nd Round Draft Picks
• Hornets Get:
• SG Eric Gordon
• F Al-Farouq Aminu
• C Chris Kaman
• Minnesota Timberwolves' 2012 1st Round Draft Pick

This trade is incredibly lopsided for the Hornets, seeing that it is entirely likely they get a high probability of getting the #1 pick of the 2012 draft, at this point (subject to change) likely be Anthony Davis from Kentucky. The team also gets a replacement for the departing David West in Kaman, but he isn't even close to the same level. However, the fact that a star at the level of Chris Paul will be playing for the Clippers, the B-team of LA, means that the Clippers will now attract a wide variety of free agents wishing to play with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.

New York, the Mecca of basketball? Hardly. It's all about L.A., baby.

Nintendo's Ambassador Program Concludes This Week - Revelations of GBA Games

The Game Boy Advance. It began as Nintendo's next step in portable gaming, to produce a handheld system that could reproduce the graphics of the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. It ended up being a revolution in handheld gaming, one that fueled the success of the Nintendo DS and the creation of the PSP. The GBA was known for its legendary library of games, offering developers the opportunity to continue making 2D games in a console era that largely rejected them. Because of the GBA, we received the revival of Megaman, Golden Sun, Metroid Fusion and Metroid Zero Mission, the Ace Attorney series (although it would be delayed to the DS in the US), brilliant remakes of old Super Nintendo games, and many many others.


When Nintendo decided to apologize to early purchasers of the 3DS, they did so by offering the Ambassador Program, 20 free games from the NES and GBA. The first 10 games were all legends from the NES era, allowing the play of The Legend of Zelda and Balloon Fight on the go. Today, Nintendo announced the full list of GBA games that Ambassadors (like myself) will be getting for free, to be available December 16th in Japan. The NES games were never directly announced for the US, but they were all made available at the exact same time as Japan.


To recap, these are the games Nintendo previously announced:

1. Metroid Fusion
2. Mario Kart: Super Circuit
3. Mario vs. Donkey Kong
4. Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3
5. WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$

By no means a stellar list, but WarioWare and Metroid Fusion were beyond excellent. The idea of including a port of a port is still questionable to some, but Yoshi's Island was still an awesome game. These are the other 5 games that will be available:

1. F-Zero: Maximum Velocity
2. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
3. Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
4. Kirby & The Amazing Mirror
5. Wario Land 4

Now that's more like it. Curiously enough, with the revelation of an F-Zero game, that means that there will be 2 racing games made available.

Remember my Top 3 Free Agents Post? Here's What Happened to Them

Tyson Chandler is now the starting center for the New York Knicks, joining Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire to become what could be a strong competitor against the Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, and the fading Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic. His signing to the Knicks involved the Mavericks receiving Lamar Odom from the Lakers to clear cap space that allowed Chandler to leave town. He signed a 4-year contract worth $56 million ($14M per year).

Marc Gasol re-signed with the Memphis Grizzlies for a 4-year contract worth $48 million. The Grizzlies were prepared to match any team's offer for the younger Gasol, but Gasol always made his intentions clear that he wanted to stay with the Grizzlies ($12M per year).

Nené re-signed with the Denver Nuggets for a 5-year contract worth $67 million. Like Gasol, Nené made his intentions clear to stay with the Nuggets, despite being an unrestricted free agent. With the highly likely imminent departure of controversial figure Kenyon Martin via amnesty, the Nuggets will now be Nené's team ($13.4M per year).

So far, free agent news has been fairly boring, although random unexpected signings like Chuck Hayes to the Kings and Daivd West to the Pacers makes this relatively weak free agent class more exciting. It's easy to see why ESPN can't shut up about whether or not Chris Paull and/or Dwight Howard will be traded.

In related news, apparently both the Lakers and Clippers are still in talks to trade for Chris Paul. If the Lakers acquire Paul using a modification of the Lakers-Rockets-Hornets deal, the Lakers will sacrifice their best players to (finally) get Derek Fisher's replacement at PG. If the Clippers acquire Paul using a modification of their failed trade, they will lose 4 of their starting 5 and many of their young talent drafted in recent years. It's pretty clear at this point that the NBA is desperate to keep Paul in New Orleans, although everyone in the universe knows that he has zero loyalty to the team and wants to win championships, something that he will more than likely never achieve with such lackluster management.

The Elephant in the Room

Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun won the 2011 NL MVP in a tight race against LA Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp just a few weeks ago. At the time, no one really complained over the selection, stating that the award really could have gone either way and could potentially end up as a tie. Braun was widely viewed as a heavy favorite by the East Coast media, while those who had actually seen Kemp's play argued that he should win the award despite being on a bad team; the true definition of valuable player.


This past weekend however, it was announced that Ryan Braun had failed a PED drug test. Braun's test revealed elevated testosterone levels and was sent to a European lab for further results. This 2nd test revealed that Braun had synthetic testosterone in his system, enough evidence for MLB to issue a 50-game suspension. To make matters worse, Braun's positive drug test had its results known to him 2 months before he was announced as the NL MVP.


This is a disgrace. Ryan Braun is (supposedly) part of the post-steroids era, having first played after MLB stepped up its drug testing methods. He knew exactly what will and won't be identified on a drug test and that MLB will not being testing for HGH until 2012, so why go for the synthetic testosterone that most have viewed as causing painfully obvious changes i.e. Barry Bonds' head?


This news comes at a really bad time for American sports as well. Baseball has apparently not learned to step away from steroids, basketball is being ruined by a corrupt commissioner and power-hungry owners from small markets, football is being fundamentally changed by increased penalties for hard hits, and hockey's biggest star has been sidelined for almost an entire year after suffering multiple concussions. To make matters worse for the management and owners of the Big Four, soccer is getting increased attendance and viewership, to the point where the average attendance of an MLS game is actually higher than that of an NHL or NBA game.


Soccer won't even become the #4 sport in the US and Canada in the foreseeable future, but it's clear that each of the four major sports has its own problems that may not be fixed immediately. 

Metal Gear Solid: Rising is now apparently called Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

A few years ago at E3 2009, Hideo Kojima revealed to the world the next 2 Metal Gear projects: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, starring Big Boss and taking place after Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and before Metal Gear, and Metal Gear Solid: Rising, starring Raiden and taking place between Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The MGS:R trailer didn't detail very much, but it was generally viewed that the trailer would explore how it was exactly that Raiden became a cyborg ninja and his exploits between games, including contacting Big Mama to locate the body of Big Boss.


Since then, information about MGS:R has been limited to a few small trailers here and there, including one showcasing the game's cutting mechanics that are an obvious rip-off of No More Heroes and Afro Samurai. Many jokes spread through the internet that MGS:R was "The Real Watermelon Cutting Simulator," lampooning Gran Turismo's slogan and a questionably lengthy segment in one trailer showing Raiden cutting apart watermelons.


Japanese parent groups were also concerned with the game's emphasis on dismemberment, having successfully managed to get extremely violent images off of Japanese television and tone down the violence of games released in Japan. Japanese trailers for MGS:R had scenes of Raiden dismembering soldiers censored out of the videos. After no news of MGS:R appeared at E3 2011, there were concerns that the game had entered development hell, especially since Hideo Kojima had earlier announced that he would only be serving as a producer, not director.


At the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards, there was a surprising trailer for the now-named Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Featuring a LOT more blood, cyborg human enemies, one enemy in particular who looks a lot like Vamp, Raiden reverting to his Jack the Ripper persona, and Raiden throwing a Metal Gear RAY with his bare hands, the game was also revealed to be now developed by Platinum Games, the makers of Bayonetta, headed by the creator of Devil May Cry.


At this point, the trailer is getting mixed reviews. Although the game looks successfully as ridiculous as Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, it is simply too bizarre even for a Metal Gear game. The game also no longer takes place between MGS2 and 4, now being a direct sequel to MGS4. The reason for the change in time placement is to allow Platinum more creative freedom, probably out of fear of Platinum creating time paradoxes.


Look for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance on PS3 and Xbox 360 (no PC release) most likely in late 2012 or early 2013.


Fake Update made to look like an Update: Hideo Kojima is reporting that Metal Gear Solid: Rising was actually cancelled when the dev team ran out of ideas beyond Raiden cutting up people in the time between MGS2 and 4. Platinum Games expressed interest in the game, so Konami gave the reigns to them to see what they could do. Hearing that Kojima was so down on the game that it was cancelled doesn't bode well for MGS fans who treat Kojima's opinion as fact.

Chris Paul to the Lakers for 5 Players and a Draft Pick is Not Allowed, but Lamar Odom to the Mavericks for 2 Draft Picks Is. WAIT WHAT?

Yes, you read that correctly, the Lakers have sent Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for the Mavericks' 2012 1st and 2nd Round Draft Picks. Oh, and for a trade exception too which allowed Tyson Chandler to go to the Knicks. Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher are totally flabbergasted by the trade, although Kobe says he has faith in Mitch Kupchak's decisions.


I, however, do not have faith in Mitch Kupchak anymore, because it seems that Jim Buss wants to run the team his way and does not care about winning like his father or sister, enough to the point of seemingly overpowering Kupchak's decisions to save money and turn the team into the Clippers.

More NBA Drama from the Orlando Magic and Dwight Howard; My Thoughts as an NBA Fan on the 2010-11 Season and how Basketball is Becoming Less Interesting

According to the Orlando Magic, either Dwight Howard, New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokorov, or Nets GM Billy King are guilty of tampering an violating league rules in their efforts to make a trade that would send Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu to the Nets in exchange for Brook Lopez and 2 1st round draft picks. The Magic are also claiming that the Houston Rockets were involved in tampering, but the Rockets are denying ever having contacted Howard. Howard and Prokorov deny meeting in Miami last night.


This shit is just ridiculous, but I honestly saw all of this coming years ago. The draft class of Lebron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, etc. saw almost nothing but small-market teams get high-level talent after having suffered for eons. Brandon Roy went to the Blazers, Kevin Durant to the Sonics, Dwight Howard to the Magic, Chris Paul to the Hornets... Every small-market team being absolutely horrible was a recipe for disaster. Once Lebron got his way and was allowed to be an unrestricted free agent, a giant can of worms opened up as all the other stars learned that they could just wait out for their contracts to expire and sign with whatever team they wanted to, rather than being loyal to the team that drafted them, while also being able to pocket a hefty check.


Last year, the end seemed to be beginning with the Carmelo Anthony fiasco. Anthony made his intentions clear (unlike Lebron) that he was not planning to stay in Denver and jump to New York once his contract expired. Because of this, it gave the Nuggets the brilliant idea of attempting to trade Anthony to the Knicks in exchange for at least some residual players; something the Cleveland Cavaliers could not once Lebron left. The Nuggets rejected a few trades early in the season, eventually having to cave at the last second and accept a very bad trade to simply get a few players out of Carmelo Anthony's eventual departure.


Before this season was even locked out, many predicted that Chris Paul and Dwight Howard would be traded before the season began to both prevent a Lebron situation and to secure a good trade as early as possible. Just one day after the new CBA was made official, the Lakers' GM Mitch Kupchak seemingly was going to work his magic again, working around various loopholes and dealing with incompetent GMs to try and secure trades to get both Chris Paul and Dwight Howard. While most predicted that getting both would be impossible because there is only 1 Andrew Bynum, the Lakers-Rockets-Hornets trade showed that it was very possible for the Lakers to get both players, even at the cost of losing their entire team chemistry just to get younger.


I honestly can't believe any of this shit is happening. There is a real danger to having the stupid amount of small-market teams the NBA has, and it's become quite clear that the owners fought a 4-month long lockout over nothing. It's really mind-boggling to me why the NBA does not have the Franchise Tag like the NFL, but I supposed even that wouldn't be enough to stop Lebron James from getting the hell off the Cavaliers or Shaq going to the Lakers all those years ago.


It's not like any of this is new. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won a championship with the Milwaukee Bucks (as Lew Alcindor), but jumped ship to the Lakers because of his conversion to Islam, citing that Wisconsin did not have any mosques at the time. Derek Fisher did the exact same thing, although it was much lower profile, desiring a trade from the Jazz to the Lakers, Clippers, Knicks, or Nets to be closer to his daughter's doctors in either L.A. or New York.


At this point though, if the NBA allows Chris Paul to be traded to New York, Boston, Dallas, or Chicago, but not to the Lakers, or even Clippers, then it will become obviously clear that David Stern caves to pressure from small-market owners who have an incredible bias against the Lakers. Major League Baseball has done nothing to stop the Yankees from signing stupidly expensive contracts and attracting various big name free agents over the years, so why should the NBA do it? Because they happen to "temporarily" own the team? You have to be shitting me.


I will always be a Lakers fan, but consider me no longer a fan of the NBA as long as David Stern is the commissioner and poorly performing small-market teams are allowed to dictate where the best players go.

Chris Paul-Lakers Mega Trade Nixed by David Stern

The lockout may be over, but apparently someone hasn't told David Stern that now is not a good time to start acting like a tyrant again. The mega trade that would have sent Chris Paul to the Lakers has been nixed by NBA commissioner David Stern a midst pressure from "several" small-market team owners saying the deal was unfair, citing a conflict of interest due to the Hornets currently being owned by the NBA. Apparently, until the NBA can find a new owner for the Hornets, the 29 owners of the NBA can approve or disapprove all trades or free-agent signings the Hornets make from now on.


The trade, if it had gone through, would have involved the following:

• Lakers Get:
• G Chris Paul
• Rockets Get:
• F/C Pau Gasol
• Hornets Get:
• F Lamar Odom
• F Luis Scola
• G Kevin Martin
• G Goran Dragic
• Rockets' 2012 1st Round Pick

I honestly don't understand what part of that trade is not fair. The Lakers get Chris Paul, probably the best point guard in the NBA, but they have to give away their starting power forward Pau Gasol as well as the reigning Sixth Man, Lamar Odom. The Hornets receive a shitload of talent as well as the Rockets' 1st round pick, and the Rockets get the replacement for Yao that they have been clamoring for. The trade was really a win for all 3 teams, but owners like Dan Gilbert (Cleveland Cavaliers) are so butthurt that their teams are undesirable that they will kill a trade that makes the overall league stronger.

Because of the trade falling through, Chris Paul is considering suing the NBA for preventing him him from being traded to the team of his choice. The Hornets management is also unhappy, since this refusal of trade only makes it more likely Chris Paul will leave the Hornets as an unrestricted free agent next year and join the Lakers anyway.

The trade rejection also makes it far easier for the Lakers to land Dwight Howard without having to give up as much as some would have originally thought, although word (from Chris Broussard) is that Howard has requested a trade to the New Jersey Nets, in a deal that would be centered around Brook Lopez.

Man, is it great to have the NBA back or what? Oh also, an NBA executive who will remain anonymous has said that this nixed trade is an insult to all 3 teams involved and all the players involved.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Famitsu Review

Final Fantasy XIII-2 comes out December 15 in Japan, so the most notorious Japanese gaming magazine has of course, reviewed it. For many years, Famitsu was infamous for hardly ever giving out perfect scores, reserving the perfect 40/40 for the absolute cream of the crop. The Famitsu scoring system is to take the total weighted score of 4 judges each giving the game a score of 1-10, for a total score out of 40, meaning the lowest possible score is a 4/40.


Today, Final Fantasy XIII-2 has joined the list of Famitsu perfect scores. But what exactly does a perfect score actually mean? Or even a near-perfect score? Here is the list of games Famitsu has given a perfect score, in chronological order:

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998, Nintendo, for Nintendo 64)
2. Soulcalibur (1999, Namco, for Dreamcast)
3. Vagrant Story (2000, Square Co., for PlayStation)
4. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2003, Nintendo, for Nintendo GameCube)
5. Nintendogs (2005, Nintendo, for Nintendo DS)
6. Final Fantasy XII (2006, Square Enix, for PlayStation 2)
7. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008, Nintendo, for Wii)
8. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008, Konami, for PlayStation 3)
9. 428: Fūsa Sareta Shibuya de (2008, Sega, for Wii)
10. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (2009, Square Enix, for Nintendo DS)
11. Monster Hunter Tri (2009, Capcom, for Wii)
12. Bayonetta (2009, Sega, for Xbox 360)
13. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009, Nintendo, for Wii)
14. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010, Konami, for PlayStation Portable)
15. Pokémon Black and White (2010, Nintendo, for Nintendo DS)
16. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011, Nintendo, for Wii)
17. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011, Bethesda Softworks, for Xbox 360 & PlayStation 3) - the first non-Japanese game to receive a perfect score.
18. Final Fantasy XIII-2 (2011, Square Enix, for Xbox 360 & PlayStation 3)

As you can see, Famitsu has an incredible bias towards Japanese games, Skyrim being the only non-Japanese game to get a perfect score, and it's also an RPG, a category favorite of Famitsu. Here are all the 39/40 scores given by Famitsu:

1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1991, Nintendo, for Super Famicom)
2. Virtua Fighter 2 (1995, Sega, for Sega Saturn)
3. Ridge Racer Revolution (1995, Namco, for PlayStation)
4. Super Mario 64 (1996, Nintendo, for Nintendo 64)
5. Tekken 3 (1998, Namco, for PlayStation)
6. Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram (1999, Sega, for Dreamcast)
7. Final Fantasy X (2001, Square Co., for PlayStation 2)
8. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (2001, Sony Computer Entertainment, for PlayStation 2)
9. Resident Evil (2002, Capcom, for Nintendo GameCube)
10. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (2004, Square Enix, for PlayStation 2)
11. Gran Turismo 4 (2004, Sony Computer Entertainment, for PlayStation 2)
12. Kingdom Hearts II (2005, Square Enix, for PlayStation 2)
13. Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (2005, Konami, for PlayStation 2)
14. Dead or Alive 4 (2005, Tecmo, for Xbox 360)
15. Ōkami (2006, Capcom, for PlayStation 2)
16. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (2007, Nintendo, for Nintendo DS)
17. Grand Theft Auto IV (2008, Rockstar Games, for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3)
18. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009, Activision, for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3)
19. Final Fantasy XIII (2009, Square Enix, for PlayStation 3)
20. Red Dead Redemption (2010, Rockstar Games, for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3)
21. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 (2010, Namco Bandai Games, for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3)
22. Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010, Activision, for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3)
23. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd (2010, Capcom, for PlayStation Portable)
24. L.A. Noire (2011, Rockstar Games, for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3)
25. Tales of Xillia (2011, Namco Bandai, for PlayStation 3)
26. Gears of War 3 (2011, Epic Games, for Xbox 360)
27. FIFA 12 (2011, EA Canada, for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3)
28. Final Fantasy Type-0 (2011, Square Enix, for PSP)
29. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker HD Collection (2011, Kojima Productions, for PS3)
30. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011, Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games, for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3)

As you can see from the list of near-perfect games, Famitsu hasn't shown any clear bias, especially in this console generation, giving foreign developers a good chance and even awarding near-perfects to first person shooters, a category that Japan is historically not interested in. Famitsu's reviews have apparently changed things, because Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has sold like crazy in Japan.

FFXIII-2 was also given an "S" rating by Dengeki, the 2nd leading gaming magazine in Japan; the "S" rating is the highest rating that Dengeki offers, grading games on a scale of S, A, B, C, D, and F.