YOU GOT T-SHIRT

Now offered at the Capcom Store is the Mega Man 9 T-Shirt (to end all), which does not warn to ready one's eye bleach for those who will awkwardly look on with morose. The few will know of your prominent fanboy-ism upon throwing down $24.95 for the dark blue tee which mirrors the download-only game's official "box art," which doesn't include the $8 (most thrifty) shipping available.

Upon the recent release of the throwback Mega Man 9 by the Inti-Creates team, Capcom has shaken and taken the video game world into an 8-bit time warp fantasia with the release of the initially announced WiiWare title that struck it and competing console download services on September 22 and shortly after.

Since then, fanboys of the long-beloved Rockman (Mega Man to European/PAL and North Americans) series have been foaming at the mouth of the latest ninth in the series, which takes players back to a choice 1989-style graphics and presentation, with some polish to the later in the series, though much deviated from the last 32-bit based Mega Man 8, which featured full-on handdrawn, fluid sprites and full-motion video cutscenes.

It's so bad, it's just awesome. The box, that is.

THE MEGA MAN 9 BOX ART: COMPLETE WITH HORRID ART AND MOCK STICKER LIKE YOU FOUND IT IN THE BOTTOM OF A BARGAIN BIN! (Image mirror: The Kotaku)

To further keep fans breathless, Capcom USA has made the wonderfully cruel and unusual homage to the historically hideous array of box arts for Mega Man and its sequel including one U.S. fans known well as what's best described as the retarted grandpa iteration of our blue bomber on the U.S. region Mega Man box art; complete with pop gun and rubber suited foolishness in its geriatric fare. Living on with the tradition of looking like horrid low budget movies, this was designed more craftfully than the original's, made to gush the hardcores. Well, I think it looks most like the silver surfin' European region Mega Man 2 art, but you decide...

Shortly after the artwork's 'stunning' debut at E3, Capcom went ahead and announced a "mock" tangible version of the box, wrapped up NES-style and included "asset CD" within the plastic cart housing. Unfortunately, legalities impeding, Capcom announced they would not be able to mass produce the idea, leaving them in a decision to sell a good 300 of them right on their own newly established (errr... relevant) Capcom Store. With the mock box yet to be available (hopefully they will take preorders to combat the limited run announcement), Capcom will be servicing fans something second-to-nothing: this glorious T-shirt.

I've considered scoring one myself, though I'm only a good 20 minutes into the game (my childhood is obsessively rooted in Mega Man, but reactions on '9' forthcoming) but at $34 post costs included, I might yield for now. Now if only Capcom will start proding fans on retail details on that "moxart" or, heck, I'd even settle for a shiny poster.

PREPARE FOR A LANDING

Welcome to SHUFFLER IN THE DARK, a "comprehensive" web log of thought and opinion.

A brief introduction. I started a rather successful enterprise called THE CALDOR RAINBOW back in September 2006; a mostly reminiscent look-back on retail store chains, shopping malls and trends with original photos and research which received media attention by The Hartford Courant back in January 2008.

For the last couple months, I had once again questioned the future of THE CALDOR RAINBOW, realizing myself and other fellow "mall" bloggers (really don't care for that word "blog") had seen a significant slowdown in our news and productivity mill. As you'll know, sites like ours often requires travel for juicy stories to focus on and when the stability of daily life impedes that, you need a place to go on the downtime.

Upon thinking, I envisioned another endeavor parallel to that universe, a sanctuary whereby general interest and content could be shared and discussed amongst friends and strangers.

And here we are, at the precipice of a concept called SHUFFLER IN THE DARK. It's like a astro-jazz-lounge beyond the bounds of space, the stars, and a vibraphone soundtrack in the distance.

Like the infinite space, one won't know what to expect.

So please step into my outer space of opinion, interest and who knows, share a cup of coffee with me. I'll be drinking mine black...

Oh, and if you're wondering more about the title, you'll just have to stay tuned, won't you?