April 2006

Despite the fact that I’m totally swamped with so many things and am super stressed these days as a result, plus how I have to do my taxes later today, I’ve been feeling pretty good all these week. Why? Because the weather has finally been nice for more than just a few hours at a time, and that has meant just one thing: BBQ! I’ve been firing the grill for dinner every evening this pas week, and its been pretty sweet; the act of char-broiling meat is one of the few “manly” things I engage in, really.

Last night, Raph and Deeanna, who are both in town from San Francisco, along with a bunch other folks came over for dinner. It really felt like the Muppets Christmas special, because one of the steps on the deck was broken, so Steph & I had to constantly warn people about it, but whenever anyone new showed up, we were always too late, so almost everyone at one point or another almost slipped and broke their neck. That was until it finally broke, which goes just fine with the broken railing in the front stairwell, which a neighbor of ours also tried fixing last night, despite it being past 11 at night (the guy’s a handyman, plus his wife has been out of town all week, so he’s like super bored). I unfortunately couldn’t hang out for too long since sorting out my receipts from the past year beckoned, plus Steph set up the projector in the backyard to screen Walk The Line, which I had already seen (decent flick, but I’m not exactly compelled to see it again). I was sorta miffed that she had also gotten Ben Hur, and I suggested we all watch the chariot race scene, but no one was into the idea, though the real problem was that everyone thought I was wanted to watch the whole movie, and that’s just crazy.

So like I said, I simply went back to my room to work on my taxes, with the Red Dwarf season 5 DVD playing in the background, which I only got for $10 the day prior! The Suncoast in the Manhattan Mall was closing down, so everything was massively on sale. Most of it has been heavily picked over, but I still found quite a few buried treasures, but since I’ve been dirt poor all week (I got paid today, thank God), I only got a few things, such as Cromartie High School Vol. 1 for $9, Gregory Horror Show for $7, and the Red Green Xmas special for just $4 (yeah, I’m into that show… its a Washington thing, I guess).

Later that Wednesday evening, I had dinner with MK, who had just arrived from San Fran. She told me all about APE, including how one of the aforementioned Brooklyn indie comic chicks read the nipple boy story from Unlucky #2 and became seriously distressed and ill, which is absolutely insane, yet pretty funny, and even a tiny bit flattering. MK also told me how everyone has asked her “Where’s Matt?” and it was nice to hear that I was somewhat missed. I also really loved her response, which was “He’s poor.” She also mentioned how during a conversation with Dave, it was agreed upon that I really need to start making shirts again, and I think they might right. MoCCA is right around the corner…

Then it was off to movie night. The feature was Ravenous, which stars Guy Pearce and Robert Carlyle. Its starts off about cannibalism during the era of the Spanish-American war, but turns into a vampire flick, with philosophical overtones. Never has there been a movie with a more intrusive, yet totally captivating soundtrack. Anyway, it was pretty awesome, and I was actually interested in seeing the movie when it first came out, but I guess it got totally lost in the shuffle that year, which was 1999, when about a million other amazing movies came out (Being John Malkovich, Run Lola Run, Fight Club, Iron Giant, Toy Story 2, Three Kings, Magnolia, and others I’m probably forgetting), but primarily because in the trailer there’s a shot of a campfire, and I recalled seeing what appeared to be a Game Boy in the fire (which I didn’t catch this time around… maybe I’m thinking of another film’s trailer?).

Jeff had also saved the previous week’s episode of South Park, so I was able to catch up on what I had missed and get up to speed for that night’s second parter. All I have to say is the Family Guy parodies were so spot on that they could have seriously been the real thing. Its just too bad that Comedy Central had to pull the rug from underneath the show at the end like that, but then again, its all par for the course, seeing how all networks these days are scared shitless of the religious right and lawmakers that are using their vendetta against movies, TV shows, and video games as a smokescreen for all the other unbelievable bullshit that’s going down, primarily in the Middle East, and how they’re toying with our freedoms, even well-being, all for the sake of making an obscene profit, but I’ll save that rant for another time (or maybe not, since I basically said all that there needs to be).

Before I go any further, I just have to say (once more), I LOVE YOUTUBE Its positively the greatest thing ever, next to ketchup and air conditioning. The site just has EVERYTHING. Case in point, I was hanging out with Rob and Michele this past weekend (to watch the Stan Winston/Lance Hendrickson 80′s horror classic, Pumpkinhead) and I was causally talking about how I had once heard Lisa Loeb mention on the Howard Stern show that she once appeared on her reality show in just a thong, which I had always been curious on checking out, but I couldn’t since I didn’t have cable (plus I did see a bit of the show when I was back in Washington, but I seriously wanted to blow my brains out after 30 seconds, Lisa Loeb or not… sorry, but I just fucking hate ALL reality shows, they’re all annoying and one of the main reasons why television is such shit these days… though I will admit that I really enjoyed the Littlest Groom… you know, the one about the dwarf guy who had to choose between dwarf women and regular sized women… which really did prove that God doesn’t exist, because I’m pretty sure He wouldn’t simply said “fuck it” and blew up the world the start over). Anyway, when Michele heard this, she went onto YouTube, and within 15 seconds, came up with this. Thanks again Michele!

Anyway, I recently uploaded all the game related videos which I was previously hosting (primarily to save some money, since the traffice they generated somewhat contributing to my monthly bandwidth charges). So if you haven’t checked them out already…

- early work-in-progress version of Rez, back when it was still going by K-Project video #1

- early work-in-progress version of Rez, back when it was still going by K-Project video #2

- early work-in-progress version of Rez, back when it was still going by K-Project video #3

- even more footage from the cancelled Sonic Xtreme

And I was going to upload the following, till I found that they were already up there…

- Mario on ice and Mr. Belvedere as Bowser (the best part is perhaps Jason Bateman trying to explain to Alyssa Milano how to play Super Mario Bros)

- one of the greatest feats ever performed in a fighting game (and the best part of this vid is when watching it with Joe, and hearing him scream “NERDS!!!!” immediately afterwards)

The next step is to start uploading all the weird wacky game related vids I have just lying around my computer. There’s one in particular that simply has to be believed, but I just can’t seem to find it anywhere, so instead, here’s a clip of really creepy Street Fighter cosplayer. And I believe its actually a dude.

One last YouTube clip, here’s a look at the Silent Hill 2 dog ending. Its plenty kooky.

As for gaming news, there’s nothing really exciting to report, other than that Guitaroo Man is heading to the PSP, as well as Silent Hill 1, which will not only receive a graphical upgrade, but new elements to reflect the movie. So we’ll soon be getting a game based on a movie that’s based on a game (yes, just like Street Fighter: the Movie: the Game).

Oh, and here comes yet another piss-poor and ultra transparent to (sorta NSFW btw) “empower female gamers by eliminating the negative online stereotypes towards them”. Yeah… whatever.

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I’ve been both too busy and distracted as of late to pay super close attention to gaming news (which will be the case for a while, now that I’m putting focus on my book front and center). But one thing I have been following, or at least trying to do so, is the Sonic Xtreme controversy, which came about last weekend. Ever since, I’ve been looking everywhere for details, but they’ve been hard to come by (sources will pop up, then disappear… more on this later). So I may as well pass along the story thus far, at least what I’ve been able to piece together from various sources, primarily Lost Levels and folks from the Insert Credit forums…

Everyone knows about Sonic Xtreme, right? It was supposed to mark Sonic’s 32-bit debut on the Saturn, as well as Sega’s big gun in their face off against Sony and Nintendo during the console wars (and later on it was supposed to go ahead against Mario and Crash Bandicoot, back when having a mascot was super important). The target release date was Christmas ’96, which was when the Nintendo 64 was set for release in the US. But the Saturn title had originally started out as a 32X title, which was then moved to a new cartridge based system that Sega of America was developing (Sega at the time was a disorganized mess, with both Sega of America and Sega of Japan each devising their concepts of what the next console would be), and finally to the one system that finally decided upon would carry the company, the Saturn.

Development for the game never got any easier from that point on… because of the aforementioned disorganized state of Sega, which was from top to bottom, its was impossible to get anything done. But a few people, including Chris Senn (the designer), Ofer Alon (lead programmer, who worked on the main game) and Chris Coffin (another programmer, who concentrated on boss stages). pressed on to bring Sonic into the third dimension (despite the fact that at one point or another, perhaps as a contingency plan of sorts, a “back-up” Sonic game had also began to form, and for the system he was born on, the Genesis). Among the two highlights (or perhaps more accurately, low-points) that is common knowledge: At one point, then head of Sega of Japan, Shoichiro Irimajiri, saw an early version of the main game and reportedly flipped out at how incomplete everything was. But then he saw a demonstration of the boss stage, he liked what he saw, so much so that he then proclaimed that the rest of the game be built upon it.

I guess its worth mentioning the differences between Alon’s work and Coffin’s. In an effort to deal with the problems presented by a camera in a three-dimensional space (which is something game designers even today still haven’t completely figured out), as well as set the game apart from everything else out there, Alon’s idea was to present all the action with a fish-eye lens. It was actually pretty nice looking, and something totally unique. Coffin’s camera on the other hand was far more traditional looking, at least by 3D platform standards (you can check it out in action here). There’s been no clues as to why Irimajiri preferred the more traditional looking level over the rather wild fish-eye look.

The second major set-back for the team was when they realized that they just didn’t have the tools nor the time to meet their deadline and they asked if they could use the NiGHTS engine which Yuji Naka (the original creator of Sonic, though its a fact that’s been contested in recent times) had created. At first, everything was a go (new Sega of America CEO at the time, Bernie Stolar, apparently helped set things up, since he was very eager to help out on the game), but once Naka heard that that some other team was given access to the NiGHTS engine, he had a meltdown and demanded that they no use it, or he would quit the company (in an incident that most people use as example number when explaining what a dick he is).

So the team was back to square one, and because both time was lost and one third of the team was axed, Senn began working overtime (by working 16-18 hours a day… he even set up a cot in his office), to the point that he had to be hospitalized for exhaustion (despite losing 25 pounds, being sick all the time, and even being told that he had six months to live, Chris continued working, till his body finally gave out). And with Senn out of commission, the days for the Sonic Xtreme were finally numbered. The game was officially announced to the press as being “delayed until next year” for unspecified reasons, until it was quietly cancelled months later. NiGHTS was then bumped up as the game Sega was banking on to sell Saturns, and the back-up Sonic game, Sonic 3D Blast, which again was primarily for the Genesis received a Saturn make over with some added 3D bonus levels (it should be noted that while Sonic’s first 32-bit title was a total disappointed, the new soundtrack by Richard Jacques was pretty awesome).

Fast forward almost ten years later…. almost immediately after its cancellation, Sonic Xtreme became a total mystery. Anything relating to the game, including screenshots, artwork, any information becomes a Rosetta Stone of sorts for Sonic diehards. And for almost a decade, a few tiny morsels of info would pop up, but nothing substantial. That was until Chris Senn’s NDA expired, and at which point he began to unveil tons of information which was previously unknown to the public. Needless to say, folks in Sonic communities, and retro gaming circles, goes nuts.

Among those in the latter group is ASSEMbler, who seeks to preserve video game’s past (who’s from Booklyn if I’m not mistaken), and in the course of doing so has amassed a sizable collection of rare game related items, such as prototype hardware, unfinished games, and the such. On his forums, a person claiming to have a working demo of the game, based upon the Chris Coffin engine is offered up for auction; the demo as it would turn out is just a single level test, with no enemies of anything (which is basically the animated gif that I linked to previously). I’m unclear of the details but I believe ASSEMbler tries to convince members of his forum to collect their money to get the game, which would then distributed among the community. Eventually it was sold to one person, someone unrelated to the forum for $2500 who decided to keep the game to himself.

One of the folks who has helped to provided some background information in all of this, John Szczepaniak, who’s a freelance journalist who’s specialty is retro gaming, mentioned that the person wanted to stay anonymous since Sonic fans have been “hunting” him for access to the demo. But I forget where, but at least one person says that this mystery buyer is the person behind this website, which might also serve as a clue as to what his plans with the demo might be.

A few weeks later, another person showed up on the ASSEMbler forum claiming to have another version of the game, this time near complete. Again, ASSEMbler asks for everyone to pool their resources to get the game instead of having it claimed a collector once more. There’s even talk of making a public release, by supplying all the missing elements (the one big thing’s absent was apparently the music, so that would be added) and then releasing it to the public for sale (via a pressed CD with a jewel case, printed cover, and instructions perhaps?) for $60 ($75 to non-members). You can check out the entire auction thead here, which is notable for a couple of reasons, if only since it validates the original mystery buyer’s note that Sonic fans are fucking insane. A number of issues are brought up, including ASSEMbler’s motivations in all this (many are irked that with all his attempts at preserving video game’s past, he has a tendency to plaster and watermark his name on everything he touches… again, refer to the animated gif), and the fact that he sought to make a profit from it all (once Chris Senn caught wind of what was going on, he had some words to say, including how if it was the auctioned game was for real, that it should be released to the public for free… which got several nasty responses from ASSEMbler’s forum members). Another issue was ASSEMbler’s attitude in general to those who questioned the legitimacy of the deal, since there was no supplemental evidence, such as screenshots and the such, plus the fact that it had been reported many times from several sources that the game was nowhere near complete (though it would later be revealed that the game in question was a PC version, which apparently was further along than the Saturn iteration… I never even knew a PC version had ever existed), especially with the lack of an overwhelming response right from the beginning, which resulted in a rather inflammatory “So far I have 17 PMs so sonic fans are failing spectaculary” [SIC] comment.

Shortly after this all happened, the seller decided to retract the offer since too much attention had been gathered (after-all, the seller was trying to profit off of piracy… which again, was something people were accusing ASSEMbler of doing as well). ASSEMbler and the members of his community, not surprisingly showed quite a bit of soured grapes.

Then, the folks who run a Sonic enthusiasts site, Sonic Cult claimed that they had the near-complete version of the game and were going to release it to the public via BitTorrent. To prove this was a never before seen video of the game in action. So everyone was convinced a bunch of people tried downloading the thing, including myself. This wasn’t on April 1st btw, but about a day or two beforehand.

The whole file clocked in over 200 megs, and mine stopped around the 93% mark and remained there for a few days. When I went to find out if anyone was facing a similar situation, I finally discovered that it was all a big April Fools Joke (again, one that was started on March 30, but I digress). As for the video, it was personally supplied by Chris Senn, so he apparently decided to help in on the joke.

Now as an aside, I’ve never been the biggest fan of April Fools jokes in relation to video games. Unlike other pranks online, it seems that game related ones are almost always a bit mean, since the worst (or should I say, the best) ones are things which seem totally plausible, and when its revealed to be false, the result is a bunch of people becoming genuinely upset. Perhaps this is simply indicative of how gullible video game fans are, and in the end, its stupid to whine about having the wool pulled over your eyes in relation to something as insignificant as video games, but that’s a discussion for another time. Though I still say that April Fools pranks days in advance is still pretty f’n retarded. So yeah, I guess I was upset a little….

… But no where near as upset as ASSEMbler, who was so outraged that he decided to respond with this absolutely insane response, with most of his ire directed towards Senn for helping out Sonic Cult in their pranks, making him public enemy #1 for “smashing the hopes” of Sonic fans and retro game enthusiasts everywhere. But believe it or not, its actually been toned down quite a bit, because ASSEMbler was originally so upset that he called upon Chris Senn to be fired from his job by posting personal information such as email addresses and even phone numbers to his employer, which I believe is Activision. Most of the hatred stems from the fact that he banned several others who were part of the prank from his forum, and they retaliated by initiating DDOS attacks on ASSEMbler’s site. Which is something to get upset about, and getting those folks in trouble makes total sense, but to try and get somebody fired over helping out on a pranks? Though in ASSEMbler’s defense, he eventually did cool down and removed the damaging emails and phone numbers from the post.

As for Sonic Cult, they initially mocked ASSEMbler’s enraged response, also viewing it as proof positive how of full of the person is of himself, as well as how crazy most Sonic fans are in general (which they even described as furries). But their response was eventually taken down as well. Which is what has made tracking down information about this event so difficult; evidence just keeps disappearing. Even supplemental pages that sheds light on the two different version of the game that has been up for auction has recently vanished. All that’s left is Senn’s own response to it all, in which he states that at this point, everyone is simply trying to come to terms for a possible peaceful co-existence with each other.

Senn also recently released even more assets from the game, which should serve as the definite repository of all the work, with the definite highlight being this second video.

And that’s the story folks. Pretty amazing, eh? What’s the moral of the story here? There’s several…. fans can be crazy sometimes… very crazy, even if they are (supposedly) well-intentioned. As for “preserving the past”, its always a dirty job for whatever the subject matter might be, and it all goes to show that video games is no exception to this.
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- As for other notable April Fool’s Day jokes… there really weren’t any. Though I thought this fake screenshot from Famitsu was kinda neat…

And while the award for simply not being able to take a joke goes to ASSEMbler, the runner up nod easily goes to the folks in Ravenna, OH due to them freaking out at some girls’ attempt at spicy up the community with Super Mario-styled questions blocks, though thankfully its recently been disclosed that they won’t be prosecuted.

But my favorite bit of post-April 1st news has to be how that the Bob Ross painting simulation for the Revolution has turned out to be legit after-all. Expect more details at E3 I guess….

- The next title that I have my eye on is the new water color-shaded adventure title from Capcom, Okami. First up, here’s some new(ish) screeshots from Jeux-France. Next is this Japanese site with an eye catching trailer. And finally, here’s the homepage of the artist behind the look of the game< ?a>.

- Slonie passed this along not too long: we’re guessing its the font used in Daytona USA, for car #41 aka the Hornet/Gallop (there’s even one for the car in Daytona USA Circuit Edition).

- Here’s a video of a funeral being crashed in Worlds of Warcraft. The backstory, as told me a person who was close to the shenanigans, goes something like this: a girl dies in real life, and since she was so beloved, her group (or guild) decided to hold an in-game memorial. The boyfriend decided to part of it by assuming her departed girlfriend’s character for one last time “for dramatic effect” (I find this one last part sorta creepy for some reason, yet not the whole memorial thing, which is just extremely nerdy, but its WoW, so there you go). The ceremony is to take place in an area that was a favorite of the girl’s. Sound okay, thus far right?

Well the problem is that its a PvP (or player vs player) server, which means that its a place where people are allowed to pick fights with each other. So its basically hostile territory, but everyone also decides to show up in the game’s version of formal attire, which are not battle ready. So another group, knowing this, decided to crash the party and pick everyone apart in quick fashion. There’s also some rule stating that one cannot change their armor while in the middle of combat, meaning the funeral party was literally caught with “their pants down”.

Pretty amazing stuff, huh? Its either fascinating, hilarious, or pathetic, depending on your point of view. As for myself, its just re-inforce how happy I am that I choose to stay the hell away from MMO’s. Thanks to LegatoB for the info, btw.

- And here’s a vid of some Japanese guy freaking out as he plays Resident Evil 2. Is it as funny as that vid of the two kids freaking out while playing Doom 3? Depends on your point of view, I guess. Though if there’s one thing these two vids (along with that WOW one as well) prove is that video games fucking rot your brains.

- Though some games can help by educating folks, such as one game which is helping kids face cancer.

- Staying on the educational tip, according to someone at the GAF (that someone being BuddyC, who’s one of the more upstanding members at the place… which btw is now called NeoGAF… its a long story), at least one school is thinking of using virtual classroom from a MMORPG (Second Life to be exact) in addition to a real classroom. Interesting…

- And as also pointed out on (Neo)GAF, here’s another MMO which I guess cuts away the bullshit and just gets to the point.

- Sticking with the subject of sex, comes the awesomest video game tie-in ever.

- Recently a video game law was struck down by a Michigan judge who deemed it to be unconstitutional. Obviously, there’s nothing wrong with have guidelines that prevent minors from getting ahold of games with mature content, but it would seem that this particular one, like virtually every single one before it, has wording that’s simply far too vague.

- Those who really dig Wario Ware might want to check out this interview with the folks behind the games. Oh, and it goes without saying that I TOTALLY want that Metroid shirt the one guy is wearing (Nintendo of Japan always get to wear the coolest things).

- Check out this blast from the past: a vid from Nintendo’s Space World show, circa 1997, back when they were pushing the N64 with full force. Among the games highlighted is some early footage from Zelda 64 (I had totally forgotten how mindblowing the game was when if first hit the scene, and it still looks damn good today), Yoshi’s Story (which also looks pretty amazing be today’s standards, enough to make me want to play it again…. till I remembered how shitty it was), and Conker (back before it went all R rated).

- Plus, here’s some replay vids from the test location version of Virtua Fighter 5. Some have noted, with disappointment, that it doesn’t seem altogether different from part 4, though that might be because the series is “almost there”. Though I still remember when the original plans was to only have five games in the series, and that the final title would be the end all, be all of fighting games, at least according to Yu Suzuki. And I have to wonder how different things might be if he had stuck with it (I believe he wasn’t all that involved with 4).

- Fans of Super Mario 3 might get a kick out of this.

- For both shmups aficionados and users of OS X, here’s something totally different, and its not just the latest Kenta Cho shooter that’s been ported. It’s SketchFighter 4000M, a shooter that basically looks like the stuff that a Gradius junkie might scribble while on the phone, but put to motion. The videos are an absolute must-see.

- And then there’s this…

- Finally, some really quick bits, some of which is really old new I know, but which I haven’t had a chance to sound off on: one last bit of info from the GDC that fell under the radar for most was news that PSOne games will be made available for download for the PSP, which is obviously good, though I have to wonder how games that used both analogue sticks and both sets of shoulder buttons will be treated. Though I’m certain that won’t affect Klonoa 1, which is the only game that’s on my must have list (I never got around to picking it up when I had the chance). Also from the GDC was the first look at the Zelda for the DS, which looked pretty hot (especially the return to the Wind Waker esthetic). Back to the PSP, its now being reported that UMD movies are a big retail bomb (Gee, you think? I was at Gamestop the other day and noticed that there was a UMB for the Lost pilot movie for $20! Considering that for a little over twice amount the money, one can get about 24 hours more of the show, I have to wonder who the fuck okay such a dumb thing…), and back to Nintendo, people have been going bat-shit insane over scans from the new Game Informer featuring the “first look” at Ubisoft’s new Revolution game, Red Steel, which is some urban FPS. I’m reserving judgment till I know they aren’t target renders.
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- As for stuff outside of games, Joe passed this along last week: vinyl Transformer figures…

And then a few days later, Adam (“phooky”) alerted me of another example of Transformers as art. And if you thought the art world was already obnoxiously full of themselves, then you haven’t seen anything till you’ve checked out MisFormers. Hey, its neat and all, but seriously, its the same exact shit that we’ve all done as kids, just with an overdose of pretentious over-analitycal psycho-babble.

- As for art that’s actually… you know… art, check out the work of Minichi. I don’t much about the artist, other than, since first seeing his or her work at Insert Credit a whiles back, the person has become one of favorites…

- Anyone who knows me well is well aware of the fact that I simply cannot stand Family Guy (at least those who asked me all last week if I had seen the recent episode of South Park). To anyone out there that actually enjoys it, great, more power to you. But to me, its just a sad indicator how piss-poor most people’s sense of humor is these days. And the thing is, I know I’m in the minority, since most folks I personally know loves it to death. Well, Jason passed a blog rant the other day which shows that I am not alone. The guy is pretty much 100% spot-on, with the exception of his comments about the Critic, which is a show I actually I totally dig. And the comments section is fairly fascinating because it made me realize something that I hadn’t previously, and that is how I’ve been called “gay” or “faggot” more than once for hating the show. Its sorta like that once person who called me an asshole right in my face for not liking Firefly. Here’s a clue for everyone who’s offended by someone else not like what you like: ignore it. Because being called a name sure as hell did wonders in making want to check out Serenity (i.e. it didn’t).

Back to Family Guy, I guess I’m extra irked by the fact that the television watching audience eats up such trite while they reject something that’s genuinely inventive and funny like Arrested Development (which continues to die a slow, quiet death).

- And lastly, for those of you think they’ve “seen it all”, well… I wholeheartedly beg to differ (NSFW… seriously).

… Special thanks again to all the folks at Insert Credit for all the info on the Sonic Xtreme story. And that sick as fuck E.T. image (though that’s what I get for subjugating everyone to Bottled Fruit, Dolcett, and oink.mpg).

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