There comes a time in the week to reflect on what got into my reporter's notebook but didn't turn into Kotaku blog posts. Shall we?
I haven't been able to write one of these Notebook Dumps in a couple of weeks and am now giving you one a day early. Tomorrow is a rest day for me, a day of theoretically not doing any work, though I may start writing my Halo 3: ODST review (I played through it yesterday). It'll be embargoed until closer to the game's release. I'll also spend some of the weekend prepping some final pieces that stem from last weekend's Penny Arcade Expo. There were some fun interviews I simply couldn't get to yet. I'll get to that stuff. But there are other things that just don't rate posts. For example:
12-13 Inches: I wrote multiple stories about Bungie and Halo this week and stopped short of making a full post about an interesting fact mentioned by the studio's creative director, Joe Staten, at a PAX panel. Someone asked him about keeping all of the Halo lore straight, so he started talking about Bungie's Halo "bible." He said that if it was all printed out and stacked up, it would be 12-13 inches tall. Post-worthy? Nah. But now you know.
Cave Story Abridged: I'd heard a lot of good things about Cave Story, a Metroid-ish web game that is finally coming to WiiWare later this year. And then I saw an e-mail, forwarded to me by Crecente, by a reader who wanted to be sure we checked it out at PAX. So I finally tried the game at PAX. I played from a mid-game save point and a late-game save point and I was left wondering: How do I post about this fun little game I've played for only three minutes? I could tell you that it's a side-scrolling adventure game with weapons that you can level up. It has pistols and energy cannons and a gun you can shoot toward the ground in order to jump higher. It has fireplaces you can walk through and quests to solve. I could tell you those things, but all of that is known about Cave Story. If it's not news that the game will have an option that lets you switch from its original graphics to its polished Wii ones, then I have nothing for you. Sorry.
Gold Guy Vs Capcom Guy: It's been suggested that I'm not the guy to cover fighting games in any depth for this or any other outlet. There I was at PAX button mashing to Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom on the Wii. I played as the big gold guy who doubles as a lighter in real life. Rather than write the world's least-informed preview, I passed. Sorry and you're welcome.
Free Drinks: I posted a batch of images from my visit last week to Microsoft's Washington State Xbox 360 offices. I showed statues and banners but decided to save the images of Xbox champagne for a more frivolous moment, like the moment you're taking to read this. At the top of this post you'll see Aaron Greenberg, one of Microsoft's top guys of brand messaging, hoisting aloft bottles of Xbox 360 champagne. Greenberg took me on a tour of the offices for the Xbox 360 PR and marketing team, and nearly everyone he introduced me to had one of these bottles, unopened, near their desk. They commemorate Microsoft's E3 press conference, which Greenberg put together. He had a whole box of these bottles still corked in office, possibly to give away, possibly for a more depressing moment. He offered me one. I passed, but said we should take a photo. Here's a closer look at the label.
That's enough dumping from me. I'll be back next week with some interviews, some previews and some sense that Tokyo Game Show is right around the corner. I fly out in nine days. Enjoy Friday without me, folks!