Neo Contra and the Empty Game Case Blues

Back in 2002 I rented Contra: Shattered Soldier for the PS2. Besides the swanky new visuals, the game play was a pure blast from the past: an excruciatingly hard difficultly level and nothing but pure action. I never made it through the entire game (I’m not overstating anything when I say it’s difficult).

So I was thrilled when I found a copy of Neo Contra for the PS2 in the bargain bin at a local electronics store. Although I’m aware that they changed the game play up a bit for this version, I was still rather excited to play it.

So I get in the mood to play, set up my Playstation 2, and then proceed to tear the shrink wrap off of the game case.

“Hmm, it feels a little lighter than most cases”, I though to myself.

And then I stare in horror at what I find inside. A bloody tampon!

Oh, wait. Never mind. No, that’s not it. That might have actually been preferable to what ultimately was in there. Nothing but the manual and a spot for where the disc should have been. Yep, that’s right – there was no disc inside.

Oh well. Maybe someone out there doesn’t want me to play this. The funny thing was that it was brand new and factory sealed – even with the old style plastic strip on top.

At least it was only a few bucks. And I now have a very nice case to look at.

The Long Awaited GTA: IV Trailer Will Be Soon Upon Us...

Ah, the Grand Theft Auto series. Whether you’re a hardcore gamer, concerned parent, or irrational politician, , you know about it. Hell, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years you don’t have to fit in one of the three mentioned categories to be all knowing of this revolutionary series. Praised for it’s open-ended game play, entertaining story-lines and characters, and mature-themes (for which it’s also criticized in the news media for), Grand Theft Auto was last generation’s utmost force in gaming.

Now, in just a few short hours, we’ll finally catch a glimpse of Grand Theft Auto: IV, which will be hitting the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 this October. The setting, characters, look and everything else will be unveiled soon. Rockstar was very clever in setting this whole thing up… making us wait all this time for a mere trailer. Well, I’ll update this post later when the trailer is finally unveiled to the public, and until then, these next few hours are going to pass by slower than geometry class did back in high school.