Well, this isn't so bad! I'm now named after Capcom currency. If you ever played Forgotten Worlds in the arcade or Breath of Fire, chances are you'll know what Zenny is. If not, don't worry about it. Speaking of Capcom....

Next year is Mega Man's anniversary, and it seems as if Capcom is seeking repentance with the Blue Bomber. Street Fighter X Mega Man, a homebrew game developed by Singapore programmer Seow Zong Hui, is now available for download from Capcom's website for free. I got a chance to download it and the guy who programmed it did an outstanding job. Basically, it's Mega Man 3 with eight Street Fighter characters as opponents. The notorious difficulty is ever present, especially when battling the Street Fighters. It's pretty dead-on to the Mega Man legacy of NES games---so much so that Capcom decided to help produce and distribute the game as an "olive branch" to Mega Man fans. Making it free was also a smart move as well. There aren't any plans for console releases (Zong Hui did not have a license for console development) but Capcom is considering that option.

I also picked up two new games for the Wii U. Unfortunately, they aren't exactly GREAT games. For one, Epic Mickey 2 is a huge disappointment. Many of the problems that plagued the first game (i.e. camera, floaty platforming, redundant backtracking, etc.) have not been addressed in the sequel, and Oswald's AI is incredibly stupid and useless. The story is cut and paste from the original with little to no character development whatsoever, and the GamePad functionality is supremely wasted. Tank! Tank! Tank! was a game I thought would have been fun, but it is actually very boring -- even for four players. I played it with my buddies and they were yawning within the first half of the game. Not worth the $50 asking price.

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm really concerned about the future of the Wii U. Developers have expressed little confidence in porting their games to the system, saying that there are no plans to jump ship to Nintendo's new console. Even industry luminaries like Ken Levine and Randy Pritchard, who beamed about the Wii U's potential early on, have said games like Bioshock Infinite and Borderlands 2 would not be ported to the console at this time. I don't want to say Nintendo blew it yet again, but I'm not as confident of its chances as I thought I was--especially when Sony and Microsoft introduce their new consoles in 2013. Once that happens, the Wii U will likely trail third just like the original Wii did against the 360 and PS3. I'm certain Nintendo isn't looking to be competitive, but it needs to consider the audience. The only REAL hope I have for the console now is the first-party IPs. Zelda, Smash Bros., F-Zero -- they might give the Wii U a fighting chance. It just seems like Nintendo cannot rely on the third-party support or the hardcore demographic that it once sought after when they made the Wii U in the first place.

On a brighter note, I caught wind of the new Lords of Shadow 2 trailer. I'm so excited. Of course, I'm still waiting to do my homework on that one, but considering how much I loved the original Lords of Shadow, I'm eager to see how the gameplay will turn out. I won't say anything more on the game for those who haven't beaten the original, but the latest trailer for LoS2 reveals a major plot point that exasperates all throughout. In other words, something happened to Gabriel after LoS. That's all I'm going to say. Watch the trailer if you're curious -- but you've been warned!

That's all from me. Hopefully I can give you another update in the near future. Until then, happy gaming.