Video Games

I'm Loving Power Pros / Pawapuro / MLB Power Pros

Back in the early 1990s, I was a fan of Baseball Stars 2 for the insanely expensive NEO-GEO console. The only way I could play it was on a coin-operated NEO-GEO arcade machine. In 1999, I found it for free as a ROM file for the MAME arcade game emulator. And today, it is available for the PlayStation 2 as part of the SNK Arcade Classics anthology. Here is a video of action from the original Baseball Stars 2 ROM (1992):

As I graduated college in 1995, I wasn't aware that Japanese game developers were advancing the 'anime baseball' genre with the 'Power Pro Baseball' series. There have been 15 versions of the game in Japan, known formally as Jikkyō Powerful Pro Yakyū (or Netto Power Pro Kun, or Pawapuro, or Power Pros).

Here's a video clip of Pawapuro 14 for the Nintendo Wii in Japan (2007):

And in North America, we now have MLB Power Pros 2007 and 2008 for the PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo Wii. Here is some action from MLB Power Pros 2007 for the Nintendo Wii:

Power Pros is fun and addictive, and it is a great find for those who are sticking with the tried-and-true PlayStation 2. Here are some trade reviews.

Foo!

According to My Life in San Andreas>, I made it to mission # 66 today. I'm now over 50% complete. And I now like this mean-spirited classic.


I got another gang story to tell.
Peep, about how a black nigga was born in hell.
And right then and there it's no hope
cause a nigga can't escape the gangs and the dope.
Damn
And when its black on black, that makes it shitty.
Can't survive in the Compton city.
And fool thats bet.
Cause when you grow up in the hood, you gots ta claim a set.
Geah
Its not that you want to but you have to.
Don't be a mark, cause niggas might laugh you
straight off the mutherfuckin block.
Can't deal with bustas so they asses get clocked.
Geah
who gives a fuck about another.
Only got love for my fuckin gang brothers.
Geah
but I'm young so nobody would wonder
That the hood would take me under.

[scratching: always strapped and eager to peel a cap
The hood done took me under.]

Now I'm a few ages older
got hair on my nuts and I'm a little bit bolder.
And puttin in work, I has to do my fuckin part,
I'm down for the hood and its planted in the heart.
Foo
At school slappin on the girls asses
Fuck the white education so I skip a lot of classes.
Cause ain't no teaching a nigga white reality.
Teach me the mutherfuckin gang mentality.
Pop pop pop, drops the sucker
if he's from another hood I gots ta shoot the mutherfucker.
Geah
I'm in it to win it and can't quit.
Foo
And ready die for this shit.
One times can't fade the gang tuff.
Puttin my foot in your ass to make times rough.
I'm the neighborhood terror but I never wondered
that the hood would take me under.

Chorus:
+[police is hot, so I'm watching my back...]

I guess I'll watch my back cause niggas jivin'
Times heard this brother pulled a 187.
Who I thought was my homie dropped the dime.
So I gotta peel his cap with the nine.
Foo
so if its on then its on, fuck ya G,
because how the odds are looking, its either him or me.
So I loads up the strap and I step
cause my brain cells are dead and all I think is death.
Revenge. That's what its all about.
See the sucker, take the mutherfucker out.
Stare the fool down with the eye contact.
He try to swing so I draw on him with the gatt.
Blast was the sound that one times heard uh
Nigga 25 to life for the murder.
Was it worth it I've always wondered.
Maybe if the hood didn't take me under.

GTA IV Trailer Wrap-Up

As 9 million copies of GTA IV are sold, and over $400 million in revenue will be collected, we want to review the 4 trailers used to promote the game during the last year. This is because I don't own a PS3. And these trailers are good. And the second one is simply great.


Trailer # 1: "Things Will Be Different"

When this trailer was released last summer, it seemed that GTA IV would be ready for Christmas. I was at South Street Seaport waiting for a ferry to Sandy Hook beach in Jersey. I was looking up at a monitor at a Game Stop store, and my jaw dropped. I'm sure Rockstar took care of Godfrey Reggio, Philip Glass, and Ron Fricke for this.


Trailer # 2: "Looking For That Special Someone"

Like the latest Star Wars trilogy, the second trailer is usually the better one, or in this case, the best. The editing is impressive for a video game trailer. The music is perfect. The song is "Arm In Arm (Shy Child Mix)" by The Boggs, a Brooklyn punk/electronica/rock band. Can't get it out of my head now after downloading it.

Walking arm in arm, and we're on our way.
Dressed in my best lest you guess my age.
Let your fingers linger through the coming day.
We're on our way.


Trailer # 3: "Move Up, Ladies"


Trailer # 4: "Good Lord, What Are You Doing?" A.K.A. "Everyone's A Rat"