Bloorp.

I made HIS day? Talk about Backwards Land.

DeathSpank has been bringing me copious amounts of joy with such gems as:

“Well…don’t let what you just said ever happen again.”

“We sure have been through a lot together, like the time we overthrew the government using only a spatula & a shaved marmoset.”

“Fine, I’ll get you a pony. But it’s going to be an ugly one.”

I usually play it cool with it comes to stuff like this — after all, it’s part of my job. But there are industry people. And then there’s Ron Gilbert. Ron Gilbert. Just let me have this one, okay?

Jim Benton, a.k.a. creator of the hilariously blunt It’s Happy Bunny, recently pointed me to the latest piece he’d posted to Twitter.

There’s not much more to say other than the look on the father’s face in the last panel just made my day.

Oh, who am I kidding? The whole thing made my day.

It brings me back to a session he hosted at a recent KidScreen Summit in which he was creating stories and drawing on the spot based on audience suggestion — improv, if you will. Robot was the first suggestion, and he asked if it should be a boy or girl.

The robot ended up being both, split right down the middle: the female half sported a single high heel and carried a purse on one arm.

“Normally I’d ask for a conflict at this point,” Jim had said. “But I’d say in this case we already have one.”

What did he name the robot? Hermy, of course.

Playing video games with my cousins has become a sort of ritual at family gatherings.

This, however, became problematic at the last such function when we wanted to do four-player on N+ and found ourselves short one Xbox 360 controller.

My brother looked around the room and caught sight of the Rock Band drums resting by the wall. More specifically, the Rock Band drums with a d-pad.

You see where I’m going with this, don’t you?

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Japanese video games, it’s that trying to understand them is an exercise in futility. And I mean that with every ounce of sincerity and endearment I can muster. After all, Katamari managed to win my heart, so who’s to say that another crazy Japanese game couldn’t also do the same?

I know, Muscle March is not new, but I’ve been so preoccupied with addictive iPhone games that I’ve only just now gotten around to downloading this title. The gameplay is as delightfully ridiculous as the above video suggests, while the exhausting enthusiasm of the Japanese voiceover only ups its appeal.

And really, who needs English when diagonally flashing all-caps rainbow-coloured text and dual exclamation points are telling you NICE MUSCLE!! Not me, says I.

I’m not here to estimate. I’m here to ROLL.

— My buddy Casey expressing frustration at the Saturn level of We Love Katamari. I suppose I’m responsible for his frustration since I loaned him the PS2 game, as I am currently occupied with the four other video games bestowed upon me this Christmas, including—you guessed it—Katamari Forever.

Though not quite to this extent, it would not be unreasonable to say the comic above is sometimes an accurate representation of me and Matt, interchangeably.  That’s my fault for getting him The Orange Box and my fault for finding an excuse to own a Wii, DS, 360, PS2 and loaner PS3. It’s just too bad that we can’t play nicely together, the way a good couple should. (via thedailywhat)

If I knew what I was getting myself into, I never would have bought this game. Of course, thanks to n0wak for the indefinite loan of his PS3 while he wanders the streets of Paris, it was hard to resist.

Oh, who am I kidding? I knew exactly what what was going to happen. And I let it happen. Because I wanted it to happen. Besides, the last time I checked, I cracked the top five on the leaderboards in online co-op, so chew on that.

Critter Crunch by Toronto-based indie developer Capybara Games is easily a no-brainer purchase if you own a PS3 (though it’s also available on iPhone/iPod Touch). Seriously—cute colourful creatures, gorgeous art, non-stop eating, gross burping, and best of all, barfing rainbows. As the kids like to say, it is full of win.

I didn’t think the Katamari franchise could surpass its own awesomeosity…and then a trailer like this comes along and blows my fucking mind. My ever-growing PS3 void has just become unfathomably deeper.

And no, it is not enough that I own a 360, Wii, PS2 (and a DS, if we’re including non-consoles), no matter what you say. Sure, I have Katamari Damacy, We Love Katamari and Beautiful Katamari, but I can’t very well get Katamari Forever and Noby Noby Boy on any of those, now can I?

I’ve never played ChuChu Rocket!, and even my brother wasn’t enough of a gamer nerd to own a Sega Dreamcast. I don’t remember how I stumbled across this gem, but after you see this clip, you’ll be glad I did.

Sometimes, the Japanese make me happier than they’ll ever know.