I’m not really sure if this qualifies as a Grudge Match since there’s no real grudge here.  We could be sour about the fact that they misrepresented the scores from our previous match (FD 3, EGM 2 in RainbowSix3 Black Arrow?!  Puh-lease!  More like 5-0 Frag Dolls and we were holding our controllers upside-down).  But since WE KNOW they’re just protecting their fragile, masculine egos, and WE KNOW that THEY KNOW the TRUTH, it’s all good. 

In reality we get along quite well with the EGM crew.  However, for appearances sake tomorrow we’ll make sure to take a few pictures of us glaring daggers at these no-good, wussy, so-called “game journalists” while we wipe the halls of Factory with them.  And if Shoe is reading this he’ll now have to wonder if Eekers and Jinx are really going to pick Factory or if I’m just bluffing.  Haha… psychological warfare, baby!

Actually, Shoe’s unusually cowed behavior is a bit disarming.  We’re so used to guys talking mad trash before we play them, so having the gamers of EGM wallow so openly in their certain, future demise is strange.  Maybe they’re hoping we’ll underestimate them.  Fortunately, weathered gaming veterans like ourselves know better than to underestimate our competition in any arena.  Besides, the EGM guys are proven worthy adversaries.  Their skills in Halo2 can’t be denied (we could hear Bungie crying into their pillows the night after their fated match vs EGM), and I know that Shoe has clocked a decent amount of hours on Splinter Cell Chaos Theory because we’ve seen him skulking around Xbox Live.

Tomorrow’s match will play out as follows -

First we play Splinter Cell Chaos Theory: Eekers and Jinx vs. Shoe and Mark.
Then we play Halo 2: Valkyrie, Brookelyn, and Seppuku vs. Shoe, Mark, and some other EGM scrub…
We’ll rest our tired gamer thumbs for a bit and then dive into the just-for-funsies games:  Soul Calibur II, Lumines, MKDD, and Bomberman.  It should be a day full of intense gametude so stay tuned here for a recap and keep track of the action at the 1up.com EGM vs Frag Dolls Grudge Match Club.  Dan “Shoe” Hsu also has his anticipatory blog posted (scroll down for it); it’s worth a read.