So, I get a call today from my sister.  She had, just days before, talked to our good friend Vlatko (President of Bethesda Softworks).  He said he would get me a copy of Fallout 3, have it signed by a bunch of the guys, and then mail it out to me so that I don't have to travel all the way to the East coast.  I very much appreciate it, but still plan on heading to the East coast considering I haven't seen him in about 2 years.  

Meanwhile back at the ranch.. I had already pre-ordered the special edition of Fallout 3.  So I took a walk down to GameStop and cancelled my pre-order.  It made some guys day because they were all out of special editions and since I cancelled mine, he was able to get one.  I felt good about that, besides the fact that it really was no effort on my part.  I just wanted my money back.  Anyway, since 30 dollars of my pre-order was paid with store-credit I got everything back as store-credit.  It just made things easier.  So I had 85ish dollars burnign a hole in my pocket at that very moment yearning to be spent on games I have overlooked.  Overlooked... or simply held out on in hopes that they wopuld get cheaper.  I thought about the Orange Box, Burnout Paradise, and a few others.

In the back of mind I thought about how an hour earlier I was powering through Lost Odyssey.  I made a promise to myself that I would finish it before I started anything else.  Right now I am in the Temple of Enlightenment.  I'm not lost... as many people get in this Temple... I am, however, not strong enough to beat Master Fu.  My characters are hovering between 50 and 65.  I have many powerful attributes... such as fire cannot hurt any of my characters... it actually heals them.  There are some other cool things, but straight up brute force via Master Fu knocks my characters on their respective asses in about 5 or 6 turns.  

I'm doing my best to power through it, even though the Temple of Enlightenment is a side-quest-- it will allow me to beef up my characters making the end of the actual game not such a pain in the ass.  I've heard that some of these side quests are actually harder than the final boss. 

Any, tangents aside, when I was down at gamestop a couple buses emblazened with Guitar Hero characters pulled up.  Apparently at the best buy around the corner a concert was going to kick off the launch of Guitar Hero World Tour.  This peaked my interest because someone mentioned that Smashing Pumkins were going to play.  My first thought was, "They're still a band?".  I went over to best buy to investigate.  First, It was a VIP event so I couldn't go into it.... to the concert part anyway.  I am actually sure I could have gotten in, but I really didn't want to expend the effort.  

So, as a patron you could play Guitar Hero World Tour at various stations that they setup outside the store, but to actaully get into the concert  you had to be VIP.  I suppose I could have asked, but I didn't care enough to as what qualified you as being VIP.  

My question is, if not for the fans, who would actually be buying the game, who the hell would they put this concert on for?  hmmm   questions.....