So the past couple of days…
Tis The Season To… Place Bets?
At movie night, and I forget what lead up to it, but I made a bet with Mike concerning the film Trading Places. You know, the old Eddie Murphy/Dan Akroyd comedy from the early 80′s? There’s a scene where Akroyd is all destitute and, while dressed like Santa, crashes a party, where he pockets some food which is later eaten on the bus, and I distinctly recalled that the hunk of meat he chomps down on is a huge slice of ham. But Mike said no, its a piece of fish, so as someone who’s seen the movie literally a billion times as a kid, I bet him $25 that it was indeed ham and told me to later that night watch the movie and make screencaps. And he did…
… and I was wrong. And I was so certain. After-all, I figured, if it was a piece of fish, wouldn’t it crumble to pieces? Oh, and we all saw 1776 that night, which is the film adaptation of the musical about the founding of this country, something that I’ve been gay for since junior high, and no, I’m not an actor or anything (thespians love that movie). Why? Simple: the voice of KITT as John Adams. Nuff said.
And earlier that evening, as a joke, MK and I tried figuring out what the worst possible Christmas gift we could possibly give each other might be, and she won that contest hands down with: a baby.
Anyway, the rest of the week has also been not so terribly exciting. Thursday night I had some drinks and dinner with Job and Colin, and the personal highlight for me was discovering out one possible reason why I seem to command zero respect over at the Gaming Age Forums. Apparently my constant inquiries regarding Lumines Plus for the PS2 is kinda annoying and stupid! Oh well, but hey, people need to know!!!
As for yesterday, I simply stayed close to home. Did some work, such as filing in my latest movie review for GameSetWatch… one day late of course (I should really ask Simon to change my column from due every other Thursday to every other Friday since that when I’ve mostly been getting them done… then again, this is just my way of getting back at Simon for perpetuating my desire to get a PSP… anyway, its here for those who are interested), though for the most part, played video games. Speaking off…
Another Zelda Update
So I completed the Forest Dungeon, the first one in the game, and am now running around Hyrule Field, and yes, I do enjoy the game a lot more now than I did before. But there’s still minor quibbles here and there, and I’ve discovered that I’m not the only one who feels that Shadow of the Colossus really stole Twilight Princess’s thunder. And regarding my complaints about the controls, some of which still stands (the boss fight was kind of a chore, having to use the boomerang to retrieve a ticking bomb into the various mouths of the big bad monster, primarily due to the semi-complicated button scheme for performing such actions in such order), I’ll just save any complaints from this point on by stating, yes, I know I should be playing the superior Wii version.
Otherwise, I’ve also been playing The Minish Cap over on the GBA (yeah, I’ve got Zelda fever… might even dust off the Game Boy Color for some Oracle of Ages action… or Seasons, whichever one I have), Mega Man ZX, and Guitar Hero 2.
While On The Subject of Video Games
- Since I’m officially on “holiday”, I haven’t really been keeping up to date with video game news.
BUT, I do know that Virtua Fighter 5 is coming to the Xbox 360, and my reaction, like many others is, holy shit. Quite the coup for MS, and yet another MAJOR blow for Sony. Well, there goes literally 50% of any interest I have in getting a PS3! Then again, ask me again when Team ICO’s game finally rears its head, though that won’t be for a while me thinks, and hopefully the system will be a bit reasonable, cost-wise, by then.
By the way, I’m kinda shocked (but not really) to hear that one can somewhat easily find the PlayStation 3 quite easily in many stores. They’re just stilling there on shelves; seems as if the excitement is officially dead and its even a lame duck over at eBay, which is apparently flooded with the system, and no longer fetching the crazy mad amounts it did around launch time. Before it was a matter of those who wanted a unit to actually play games not being able to get their hands on one. Now it just seems as if those folks no longer want it since, well, there are no games for it, at least good/exclusive ones. Then again, things could be quite different this time next year. Things always change.
So will having VF5 change things for MS in Japan? Hence why this news is shocking, since everyone keeps hearing how dead the 360 is over there. Then how in the hell did it manage to score one of the biggest games in the entire country? Also, one has to wonder how it will turn out. I asked Sega last week about a possible 360 port, and got a flat out “NO” and the primary excuse cited was that the reason why the PS3 port looks so arcade perfect (and drop-dead gorgeous) is that both the Lindbergh arcade board and the PS3 share the same NVIDIA graphics chipsets, and it would be pretty difficult to pull off something similar on the 360. But once again, everything changes… and given how user friendly the 360 is develop, maybe Sega’s got some tricks up their sleeves.
Though I haven’t heard Sony defenders/apologists saying anything about the graphics just yet (though again, I’m on vacation, and haven’t been at Gaming Age as of yet to gauge their reaction), but I have already heard people say “Well its won’t be online on the 360 either, so what’s the point?” which is an obvious reference to MS’s far more robust online gaming service that’s going to waste in this instance. And its true that it sucks, but the folks at AM2 are just adamant about not wanting lag to ruin the experience. And like I really care… I don’t online game anyway. At least not yet.
But anyway…
- The Wii browser was just released the other day, so everyone’s having fun with that. Plus I hear it has Flash support, which means one can play, among many other terrific game, Loop on your television!
- Though Line Rider, which is the current web game sensation, is officially coming to the Wii and the DS.
- New VC games have also been announced, which includes R-Type, Nice… but where’s Life Force?
- I also hear that Namco and Koei is making a Dynansty Warriors type game that’s set to star Gundam characters. Okay…
… Meanwhile, Insert Credit, which seems to have really become a happening place once again, all of sudden (maybe I should start posting over there again!) has recently pointed out that:
- The guy who created the ultra amazing Sega Fantasy and Michael (Jackson) Fantasy Flash vids has a new one staring the Super Mario Bros.
- Ever wondered what the infamous Tyson/Holyfield ear-biting match might look like in pixels? Well here’s your chance.
- Frank Cifaldi, the guy behind the super cool Lost Levels, has released a re-translated English version of the original Phantasy Star. Though as its been pointed out in the IC post, “Dark Phallus” was indeed the original name of the big boss.
- And Sega Saturn fans (which I most certainly still am) can know themselves out with this awesome archive of Japanese ads and flyers.
… Something else that Insert Credit also recently mentioned is this YouTube video that features 60 fatalities (out of 2196!!!) from Tattoo Assassins, aka that Mortal Kombat clone featuring the Hot Dog Guy! If there is only one YouTube video that you see the rest of this year, let this one be it! Be sure to keep an eye out for the Whistler’s Motherr and Burger Time fatalities.
I’m actually shocked at myself for not know about the Tattoo Assassins vid previously since its by the some person or persons who uploaded all the cutscenes from ZPC a whiles back, which is an old Doom-like game that frankly sucked (at least from what I can recall) that features art from Aidan Huges, the guy who did all the art for the KMFDM covers and music videos (and which I thought I passed along previously, but must have forgotten to). But yeah, check that one out too, especially if you were into Liquid Television back in the day.
- Something else which I can’t remember if I linked to before, and which Dave reminded me of its existence the other day: here’s an archive of all the Howard and Nester comics from Nintendo Power, which I totally dug growing up.
- Here’s everyone’s favorite, John Romero announcing a new game, and looking kinda high as he does it.
- Back to SoTC, here’s a totally awesome way to approach the third Colossi, once which I had no idea was possible.
- Time for more Second Life related hijinks. This time involving a floating penises crashing some party. A talk show to be exact, I think? I swear, I am so sick of people trying to treat Second Life so god damn seriously.
- Someone over at Select Button pointed this out: as everyone knows, I have a real love/hate relationship with game related apparel. Primarily the stuff sold at places like Hot Topic since, A) it appeals to the same exact audience that, twenty years previously gave me shit for exhibiting my video game fandom, and B) most of them are pretty terrible (Zelda’s my bitch? Jesus fucking Christ).
Well here comes the absolute worst one yet, courtesy of Saks Fifth Avenue. Not only does it look like complete shit, like a crappy iron-on transfer that you find in Chinatown or Manhattan street fairs (like the ones I used to attend, when I sold my Rocket Cat-Bat shirts years back!), but its fucking $175.00!!!!!!
- Also SB has pointed toward some interesting examples of video game porn. First, here’s a review of very poorly translated hentai game based on Phoenix Wright. Its really bad, meaning its totally awesome (as well as NSFW, obviously, but hey, its the holidays, so hopefully you’re not at work right now).
And here’s an article that features Ralph and Clark from Ikari Warrors and The King of Fighters. Also, NSFW and NSFTS (not safe for the soul… this one’s for O’Connor).
Finally, just in case anyone hasn’t seen it yet…. yes, someone’s tried it already (again, NSFW!!!).
Anyway, I gotta wrap things up right now. Gotta head to the city to watch some wrasslin’!
