Bit by Bit: May 2014

May has been one interesting month.  As we inch ever so closer to the biggest video game trade show of the year, the focus of game developers, publishers and journalists has slowly shifted to E3 2014.  Every piece of information released or news story ran relates back to E3.  Considering all the questions leading into the event, E3 2014 should be either an exciting onslaught of brand new games or a disappointing slog of new information for already announced games.  Personally, I am hoping for the former because I want to see the games that will truly get people excited about spending over 500 dollars on the current generation of gaming.  As of right now, all this generation has given us is shinier graphics and a massive drought of games.  We will see what the future of gaming is next month, but before that let us take a look at the month that was May 2014.

Game of the Month
Kirby: Triple Deluxe and Mario Golf: World Tour both came out on the same Friday at the very beginning of May and these are the two games that captured most of my time this past month.  Out of these two game, there can only be one Game of the Month.  The game that earns that title is Mario Golf: World Tour.  It has been a long time since Mario Golf graced a Nintendo system and World Tour is a return to what gamers loved about Camelot's golf game now turned up to eleven.  Early on your time will be mostly dedicated to the single-player Castle Club as you play in tournaments to improve your Mii's handicap, earn new attire and equipment and prepare yourself for online.  After some time in Castle Club, you will be ready to hit the online links where the meat and potatoes of World Tour is.  The online in World Tour is great as you play rounds against players around the world or in your region at your own pace.  Once you complete a round, you can post your score to the tournament or play again and see if you can do better.  The online is incredibly smooth and hardly caused a problem for yours truly.  Scouring new tournaments each and every week easily will become routine for Mario Golf enthusiasts.  Mario Golf: World Tour would not be some fun to play if the core mechanics of golf were not so well made and finely tuned.  If there is one game to pick up this month, it is Mario Golf: World Tour.  It has given me hours of enjoyment and will give plenty more thanks to online.  Guess I will be seeing you on the golf course.

TV Show of the Month
I wanted to change some things up this month.  Considering my most anticipated game of the month comes out at the very end of May and I have a whole article already drafted up and ready to be published this coming Friday, there really is no need to regurgitate what I will wrote here in Bit by Bit.  So the TV Show of the Month is back for another go especially since May marks the month when most TV shows air their season finales.  It seems like every week this past month there has been a major finale of some sort be it Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or Survivor.  Each person has their show they watch every week.  As of late, that show has been Person of Interest for yours truly.

I knew of the show, but never watched it until I caught my dad watching the show this past Fall.  Person of Interest has gripped me in a way that I have not experienced since Lost came to an end four years ago.  Currently, I have watched all of seasons one and two and a part of season three and can say the show has gotten better with every season.  Person of Interest is a show about the vigilante partnership between a computer genius Harold Finch and a burned CIA agent John Reese.  Finch and Reese receive numbers from an America-wide security system simply known as The Machine.  The number they receive indicates either a perpetrator or victim for a possible crime.  During the course of the episode, Finch and Reese have to determine whether their person of interest needs to be saved or stopped.  Interesting concept for a show that was initially a procedural.  Over these three seasons, Person of Interest has become much more serialized with overarching stories and reoccurring threats such as the corrupt police association HR and the rogue security corporation Decima.  In particular, Person of Interest perfectly walks the fine line between procedural and serial that makes it like nothing else on television today.  The season three finale happened just about two weeks ago now and I cannot get over how amazing it was.  The finale completely changed the course of the entire series going forward that I will not do a disservice in spoiling it here.  The finale has to be seen to be believed, it is that good.  With this finale, Person of Interest has sealed its place as must-watch television.  I highly recommend checking Person of Interest out as it is the best show I have seen since Chuck ended in 2012.

Video of the Month
What do you get when you mix the superb music from the Ace Attorney series with popular musician Brentalfloss?  Well, you get the newest "With Lyrics" video-- Phoenix Wright with Lyrics.  Taking the song Cornered from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and adding lyrics that parody the tropes of this series such as the well-endowed women characters and extreme juxtaposition between charming wackiness and brutal violence.  It is a fun song that fans of the series will thoroughly enjoy.

Hump Day Music: Take On Me

Well I listen to a lot of video game music in a week, but there are times when certain songs get stuck in your head.  Sometimes it does not have to have any relation to do with video games.  As Chuck ended last Friday, I would like to make this edition of Hump Day Music a tribute to everybody's favourite fictional cover band from Chuck, Jeffster.  Minor spoiler to those who have not yet watched the series finale of Chuck, in order to stop a bomb from exploding when the symphony comes to an end, Jeff and Lester jump at the opportunity to be the heroes and perform one last song.  From the fictional band that has covered many great songs from Africa to Mr. Roboto, Jeffster covered one of my favourite songs of all-time, Take On Me by A-Ha.

When it the song first started, it sounded familiar, but I could not put a name on it.  Then when the great synthesizers started blaring, I broke out laughing at how genius Josh Schwartz and Josh Fedak, the producers and creators of Chuck, were for picking this song as the final performance the Chuck faithful will ever see from Jeffster.  What followed was one of the best scenes in the series as Jeffster along with the orchestra they interrupt performs Take On Me while Chuck, Sarah and Casey try to disarm the bomb I mentioned earlier.  For those who have not gotten a chance to see this incredible performance, I am going to share with you guys a video of Jeffster's performance as shot by a person who worked on the show.  If you have not watched the series finale, go out of your way to watch it.  In my opinion, the best two hours you can spend watching anything on TV today.  And again, it has been a great five year.  Goodbye Chuck, you will be missed.

Goodbye Chuck

Yes, this blog is about video games, not TV shows.  But Chuck is much about games and nerd culture as it is about crazy comedy and dramatic spy action.  From one of the primary settings for the show taking place in a huge electronics store parody of Best Buy to many mentions of different real video games such as Call of Duty and Gears of War to fake video games such as Spy Attack.  Heck, there is even an episode of Chuck that revolves around Missile Command.  If you disagree with the fact I am talking about this show on a video game blog, leave your reasons in the comments below, but I don't really care I am going to talk about it anyway.

Back in 2007, I was getting into a couple TV shows such as Lost and Heroes.  Right around the time season 2 of Heroes started, this new show called Chuck was on an hour before.  After reading a review of the pilot on IGN, I decided I would check it out.  I watched the second episode and was hooked.  The great mix of comedy and action just melted my heart and I fell in love with this little sci-fi show.  Year after year, Chuck would get to end of the season and us fans would fight to keep the show going for another season.  As we came to the end of season four, news broke that season five would be the final season of Chuck.  Well last Friday saw the series finale of Chuck and it was one emotional two-hour ride as it was the final time we would ever see these characters that we have been watching these last five years.  From the numerous nods to the pilot to one last performance from Jeffster, it was an excellent set of episodes that truly brought a good close to this great series. Even after all that has gone on, I still feel sad that there will never get to watch a new episode of Chuck.  I guess that is how it feels to stick with a show from the very beginning to the very end, dedicate so much time getting engulfed in the mythos of the show.  It feels very surreal and may take a few days for me to get over it.

Well Chuck, it has been five incredible years.  As much as I and many others would love to see a movie or more seasons of the show, I am glad that the show ended on its own terms instead of being cancelled or overstaying your welcome.  You made myself and many others smile, laugh and get excited on a weekly basis for the past five years.  Thank you to everybody who worked on the show for everything.  It has been one hell of a ride.  Goodbye Chuck.  You will be missed.