Another seven days, another update. First up…
This Past Week’s Subway Highlights
During the past seven days, on the subways…
- I saw yet another person playing a white PSP. That makes for a grand total of three this March alone!
- Also spotted a Chinese Muslim woman. When I first saw her, I wondered why she was wearing a shall when it was so warm in NYC that particular day, and then I realized that it was actually a burka. Next I noticed the man next to her, who seemed middle eastern and to be her husband since he was playing with her kids. All girls, all cute. Anyway, you don’t see that everyday, even in the Big Apple.
- The post movie night ride home featured the awesomest subway performer in the longest time. Just a crazy, wise-cracking homeless black guy sitting on a milk cart with a huge Casio keyboard. The whole train was totally dead to his antics, but not me, so I couldn’t stop giggling like an idiot, which not surprisingly is why he started to address me after a bit. The best line had to be when he asked me if I was Asian or Oriental, and how “There’s a difference! You don’t look like no rug!” Or something to that effect… also, once again, I love how certain friends and colleges that knew me for years had no idea I was Asia, but random (crazy) folks can spot it in a heartbeat.
On a related note, I finally have a new poll running that’s subway themed, if you haven’t noticed. But anyway…
Gotta say, this past week has been a real blur. Been busy doing lots of stuff, but I honestly don’t have too much to show for it. Aside from job chasing (and all the unemployed folks out there can attest to how thrilling that can be… btw, this week’s “Jesus fuck, why in the hell didn’t I get that job” has to be this other professional video game blogger gig that I signed up for, and this time it wasn’t for some high profile outfit like Microsoft but… well, I don’t know who, but still, come on, I’m THE man for the job, what the fuck?!) I’ve tried doing lots of writing, but my writer’s block is back and worse than ever. And the unemployment doldrums has me so tight that I can’t even maximize my time goofing off. I still have a whole stack of comics, untouched. And don’t even ask about Chulip.
Though the week hasn’t been a total loss. For one thing, Nintendo finally sent me a Wii! Thanks again! Though I haven’t gotten the chance to really do anything with it since its at MK‘s!
As For What’s Playing…
Though I have been messing around with my PSP all this past week. Finally got my hands on Salamander (Life Force) Portable. And man… sure am glad that I didn’t spend $50 on a copy for myself. The Famicom/NES version is still the best one, by far, and its not included?!?! What the hell. But instead, Konami throws into the mix the MSX port of Gradius 2?!?! Why not, say, the PC Engine version while they’re at it? But its not a total loss, since the legendary Xexex is also included, and it does live up to the hype. The music is fucking boss… especially the first stage, which I can’t get out of my head, no matter what.
Also been playing Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on the system. I’ve been laughed at previously, primarily by certain folks at Select Button, when saying that the game, at least to me, is really hard. Well, I’m giving it another shot, and once again, I’m finding it really tricky. Guess I’m a weaksause or something.
Oh, so on the Friday, my writing partner in that game centric television show that I’m helping to develop stopped by my place to finally get her hands on some games. I’m handling all the video game elements as well as the primary players’ game-oriented character traits while she takes care of the plot, but I figured that it would be best for her to finally check out what its all truly about. Most interesting reaction was towards Shadow of the Colossus; I tried hard building up how the colossi are simply noble creatures that mean no harm and are actually victims to the main character’s pursuit to bring back his lost love regardless of the cost, but I went a bit too far. She was seriously pissed about the entire scenario, and no matter what I said, such as how all the great love stories throughout history are all about dumb people doing dumb things for love, she just wouldn’t have it. And now I’m wondering how she would have reacted to Ico…
And when demoing Grand Theft Auto, she got annoyed that I had forgotten how to have sex with prostitutes.
Life Of The Party
The next evening was MK’s post birthday bash that I kinda threw together. It was at the Revival bar near Union Square, which has long been my fave hang out and chat and get drunk spot in the city. I guess the highlight would be this crazy old guy who was trying to get folks to see these mini, multi-colored flashy bulbs, and how Marion told the guy “get lost”. But he wouldn’t since he figured he had a sale. Why? Because I couldn’t stop starring at the pretty lights like a friggin’ retard. I was already drunk early on the evening, and became even more so as the night progressed, to the point that I was yelling on the street about nachos or something as we all made our way to some post drinking-grub. I really don’t know.
… other highlights from the past couple of days include watching Total Recall with MK (it was her first time seeing it, though she knew well in advance that its like one of the greatest sci-fi/action flicks of all time), and having both Japanese food AND a corndog in one night with Katie (who’s in town for spring break).
Saddest Thing Ever/Greatest Thing Ever
So I really haven’t had much of a chance to check out what’s happening online, though MK was kind enough to send me what is seriously the most depressing thing EVER….
It’s from this. But yeah, pretty depressing isn’t it?
Though on a much lighter note, get ready for the fucking (and latest) MOST AMAZING YOUTUBE VIDEO OF ALL TIME!!!!!!! If you are a fan of A) The Golden Girls, B) shitty computer effects, C) cannibalism, or D) all of the above, you owe it to see this greatest of great things.
And I think I just found a new favorite web comic.
As well as the car of my dreams…
The Weekly Game News Round Up… Kinda, Sorta
- As for what’s going on in the world of games, things are kinda mellow for the time being, at least as far as I can tell. We just had the GDC, as everyone knows, with most folks’ highlight being the latest, and totally hawt video of Super Mario Galaxy.
A bunch of stuff went down, like the crazy Gamecock party I keep hearing about, as well as other legitimately cool sounding things, like how the creator of Tetris apparently won the traditional game designer’s challenge by coming up with an idea for a game that involves sewing…
But as for other “headlines” from the event, Sony announced a bunch of stuff, such as their PlayStation Home project/initiative/virtual hang-out-thingy, but truth be told, I so don’t give a shit about PS3 stuff these days. Though at this point, as far as I can tell, its basically Animal Crossing with zero personality or fun.
- I also hear that someone spilled the beans regarding a re-designed PSP, and at this point, most folks really don’t care. Anyone who has wanted a PSP already has one (such as myself), and since the main reason to have the system is to hack it and do actually interesting things, which everyone knows is going to be pretty much impossible with the new system (Lord knows its already pretty tricky with the existing… I swear, I practically shit a brick every-time the screen goes haywire on my end), so what’s the point? Again, Sony bashing is so pass? at this point, which is why you rarely hear me even talk about them anymore.
- Back to the GDC, and on a personal note, Dave Gilbert alas did not win the award for Best New Studio, which Dave’s Wadjet Eye Games was nominated. Which is too bad because, aside from deserving the win, Dave promised me he was going to give me a nice shout out during his acceptance speech and give out the URL to this site at least twice. But at least he told John to tell me that I was a punk-ass for not being at the show (trust me Dave, I know), so I still got some love, and that was nice.
- Insert Credit the other day first passed along info about some new J-pop CD coming out that’s a bunch of covers to classic anime songs done in chiptunes. The official site has a sample jukebox that’s pretty snazzy and well worth wasting some a couple minutes on.
- Meanwhile, via GameSetWatch, comes word that Panic has new Katamari Damacy shirts in stock. And once again, the best part is seeing what Keita Takahashi (the game’s creator) has to say about each one.
I might get one, even though I just missed out on the Katamari shoes.
On a semi-related note, Robin first gave the head’s up on this last week: Space Invader socks.
Though, back to shirts; are the new Katamari tee’s as cool as the animated Pong shirt? Eh…..
- AutoFire2k7 is over with, and the winner for the best homebrew shmup is Clean Asia, which I’ve mentioned previously. So, I guess I should mention two runners up, Force Majeure and Gravitron, neither of which I can play at the moment, since I’m on a Mac, but I’m hoping that by passing along these links I’ll be playing them soon enough at Dave Mauro‘s or Joe Salina‘s.
- And finally check this insanely cute, and neat, looking new freeware title called Gesundheit! Unfortunately its Windows only, of course, so once again, us Mac users will have to be content with just looking at the pretty pictures.
Coming Up: New Arcade Found!
Again, I may go over some of the more interesting tidbits from the GDC in my next entry, but I will say that for the most part, the show stayed the course, despite some Kenta Hall-ness here and there as Simon and others have pointed out. But at least it didn’t feel like some huge trade show event, since once again, with E3 gone, everyone’s looking to replace it somehow, and there was fear that the GDC might be ruined by this need. And actually, I’m kinda more happy than ever that E3 is dead since now game companies are more eager than ever to come to NYC to show off their wares, and as a result, my appointment book is more jam-packed than ever. So expect more hand’s on reports from this point on.
Also, I recently stumbled across a brand new arcade in Manhattan! Or at least came across one that I had no idea existed (nor have heard about anywhere else). Its called Cake-O and is near Chinatown, on Allen St. I believe. There were various arcade units and… cakes! Time for another field investigation…
I will hopefully have a report next time as well.
