My random musings are guaranteed to annoy you slightly less than a Fergie song.

Things are pretty quiet on the gaming front at the moment.  The summer blitz is over, and the big holiday releases are still distant on the horizon.  We had E3, Peter Moore's "megaton" announcement, and a confession from Microsoft that their Xbox 360 is slightly less stable than Mariah Carey.  Most of the current news out there is, quite frankly, filler material, and all the good stuff has been covered by other editors.

Rather than my standard one news item, I'm going to briefly discuss five news items (most of which annoy me in one way or another).  I'll give my opinions, and in the field below, you can tell me how wrong I am, how stupid I must be, et cetera.  Sounds like good, clean fun for the whole family, eh? So without further ado, here are five items that caught my eye, in no particular order:

1.  Microsoft's Multiple-SKU Pricing

First there were two versions of the Xbox 360.  Then two versions of the PlayStation 3.  Then the cancellation of one version of the PS3.  Then a new version of the 360.  Then a price drop for the PS3.  Then the cancellation of another version of the PS3.  Then rumors of the cancellation of a version of the 360.  You now have more console options than STDs you can acquire from sitting on a Jack in the Box toilet.

In an effort to clarify things, Microsoft enacted price drops… a different one for each edition of the 360.  Wow.  Somebody actually outdid Sony in the battle for retarded supremacy.

2.  IGN's "Top Ten Tuesday"

Sometimes the full-blown awesomeness that is GotNext is just too damned much to bear.  You need to get away before the synapses responsible for orgasms and sticky messes run amok.  Under such circumstances, you might find yourself at IGN.  And if you've been there, you might be familiar with their "Top Ten Tuesday" feature.  It's essentially a "best of" countdown list (a format that Travis loves oh so very much).

Anyways, this week's list was titled "Best 8-Bit Soundtracks."  First of all, every item on the list was an NES game.  Even if you take this slight against Fantasy Zone inhabitants out of the equation, the makeup of the list is rather suspect.  Blades of Steel had a better soundtrack than Mega Man 2?  Castlevania over its immediate sequel?  The infamous Moon Level from DuckTales rightfully deserves its very own slot.

3.  Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Box Art

Okay, the actual art isn't so bad.  Focus on the actual lettering of the word "corruption."  It's hideous.  It gives off an aura of apathy.  It looks like something straight out of Nintendo Power, circa 1995.  It's downright awful, and needs to be changed with a quickness.  It puts the lotion on the skin or it gets the hose.  (I had to sneak that one in, as I already broke my rule on starting multiple sentences with the same word.)

4.  Dragon Quest Ports on DS

In a move certain to rock the gaming community, Square Enix is re-releasing something they haven't re-released three times in the past three years.  A new generation will experience some awesome pieces of RPG history (III and IV), and perhaps I will finally be able to play legitimate English versions of V and VI.  Just brace yourselves for the inevitable rehashings on PSP, Wii, N-Gage, Game Gear, and the iPhone.

5.  Unavailability of Wii

It has been almost nine months, and I still don't have a Wii.  Granted, I haven't been looking that hard; then again, this far after launch, I really shouldn't have to.  Why can't Joe Consumer walk into Game Store Monopoly Inc. and purchase one on demand?  It's absurd and tragic, especially since I had money for Nintendo games that will just have to be spent elsewhere.  So sad.