The biggest gangster in video game history is back!

No I'm not talking about the Godfather 2 game. I'm talking about mutha-ing Tom Nook from Animal Crossing!

Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii was released to the masses on Sunday, and all of the poor bastards who bought the game will be in Tom Nook's debt until the day they die.

For those who don't know who Tom Nook is, or what Animal Crossing is all about, consider yourselves lucky. He may look like a cute little racoon-like patron of your small quiet town-- he's anything but!!!

Your naive little ass arrives to town one day, he "befriends" you and helps you get a place, and the next thing you know, you're owing him bells (the series' currency) forever. Just when you think you've paid off your debt, he'll literally make you an offer you can't refuse, upgrade your home and the make you owe him more.

Tom Nook deserves to be put up on the same mantle with people like Don Corleone, John Gotti, Tony Montana, and Tony Soprano.

Unless you want to owe a life of servitude to the mob, I'd suggest you say away from the new Animal Crossing game. Hell, stay away from all of them!


Now that I got that warning out of the way, let's switch tracks and talk about some Fable II.

I finished it last night, and while I love the game, I was surprised at just how short the main storyline seemed to be.

Despite how "short" the main quest felt, I realized that I had logged over 22 hours with the game from start to "finish", so perhaps it wasn't entirely a short experience. Part of that might have been due to the fact that my guy was pretty powerful, so I was able to dominate the opposition without too much resistance.

I also felt that the conclusion was satisfying, and a lot more fulfilling than other games of its caliber.

One thing that always made me laugh about the game, was how stupid the people of Albion were. They're either video game's dumbest assholes, or they're the most entertainment-starved people in the world. Nobody or nothing else in the world holds their interest the way you can once you start farting in the middle of town. Let 'er rip, and watch the town spring to life and flock to you! Put on a sock puppet show and watch them stare and clap at you like a group of 1.5 year olds -- I should know know, I have a 1.5 year old, and it's amazing how much smarter he is than the people of Albion.

In Albion, farting isn't used to impress people and make friends, it can also save your marriage!!! On more than one occasion, I was able to salvage my in-game marriage from total disaster by farting my way into my wife's good graces. In fact, I charmed her so much that we ended up takin' it upstairs to the bedroom for a little horizontal hubba-hubba afterwards. Who needs Dr. Phil when you've got flatulence?!

But in all seriousness, it was an awesome experience, and I look forward to continuing on with some of the side quests, as well, as playing through the game with a evil character next time around.

So, now that I'm done with Fable II, I can move on to the next game on my gaming dinner plate: Fallout 3!


I've been looking forward to trying out Fallout 3 since I picked it up on launch date. Until now, I have been unable to play it for two reasons:

1) there are so many good games out right now, that I've forced myself to play through them to completion before jumping into the next one, and

2) my Xbox red-ringed 3 weeks ago (the day Fallout 3 was released, btw) and I only recently got it back this past Thursday, so I spent all of my gaming hours focus on finishing Fable II.

Once the evening winds down at home tonight, I'll be firing this one up to see if Fallout 3 has the same level of addictiveness as Oblivion. (For my own sanity, I hope not!)

I've been a Washington, DC area resident for almost 20 years, and I'm interested to see how accurate (or not so accurate) Washington DC has been recreated. In fact, I only work a couple of miles away from the Bethesda Softworks office (which, ironically, is not in Bethesda, MD). I wonder if they allow visitors to swing by?

If you've finished Fable II, what did you think of the game?

If you're familiar with the Washington, DC area, how faithful was Bethesda post-nuclear recreation?