FORT90

In this post:
1. my two cents re: Ubi Soft’s upcoming holiday line-up, including Avatar
2. my review of Flower, Sun, and Rain.

Yesterday was an Ubi Soft press event, and I managed to nab a last minute invite. What did I see, and play? Well…

- RED STEEL 2 (WII): Never played the original, mostly cuz I heard it sucked, and I guess it doesn’t matter since Ubi basically went to the drawing boards with the sequel. Concept is simple; you’re some dude in a post-apocalyptic landscape that’s littered with samurai cowboys and most defend yourself against such ruffians. You have a gun for quick and dirty defense, but the real hotness is your katana, which is controlled via the Wii Motion Plus. I must say, yet another game in which I wasn’t exactly feeling the true 1:1 level of control that the device was supposed to deliver… the sword fighting in Wii Sports Resort honestly felt more responsive. But there was some kind of issue with the lights at the hotel that made things flat out not work for me, so they may have added some lag as well, plus the control scheme itself is actually quite complex, with plenty of combos and special maneuvers possible. I personally found running around a group of bad guys, dodging and blocking their attacks, before picking them off, one by one, quite satisfying, plus the cell-shaded graphics were neat, so I’ll definitely be interested in the final product, come this early 2010.

- TMNT: SMASH-UP (WII): Not that Turtles In Time remake as I had originally thought it was going to be. Nope. Instead, it’s a Super Smash Bros-type fighter featuring, you guessed it, assorted characters from the TMNT universe. It was okay I guess, but here’s the interesting part: it’s by Game Arts! You know, the same people behind Lunar the Gun Griffon. The story from it’s producer goes something like this: Ubi Soft was looking for a studio to produce a fighter featuring the ninja turtles, and someone he knew recommended Game Arts, which was one of the studios that Nintendo contracted to do work on Brawl. One thing led to another and, there ya go. The funniest part of out conversation was finding out that he had previously worked at Midway and was the producer of Stranglehold (you know, that direct to video game sequel to John Woo’s Boiling Point) and was able to tell the guy what a guilty pleasure that game is for me!

- ASSASSIN’S CREED 2 (XBOX 360/PS3/PC): Again, never bothered with the first game, but now I feel like testing it out since part 2 looked pretty neat (unfortunately, no hands on time with this one). Once more, you’re an assassin from the future reliving the past, via some Danger Room/Holodeck simulator, but this time the past is Venice, circa the 15th Century I believe. Or whenever Leonardo Da Vinci was around, cuz in this game, he’s you’re best friend! he hooks your guy up by making all sorts of wacky contraptions for you! Basically, seems like the first game, but with extra weapons, as well as enhanced abilities; you can now swim! Looked or at least sounded good to me, though the demo I checked out seemed a bit rough around the edges. Though it’s still being worked on, plus I was checking out a PS3 build, so you just know the 360 version will look much nicer in the end.

- AVATAR (XBOX 360/PS3/WII): The movie based on the upcoming James Cameron film that I’m already sick of hearing about. Long story short, the 360/PS3 versions are basically Gears of War, but much brighter and prettier. Also, in 3D, assuming you have a HD set with HDMI capabilities. Which I don’t have. Anyhow, it just looked like a generic sci-fi shooter; the level of graphical detail when it came to the environments was amazing, yet still oh so, well, generic. Plus I found the animations of the humans to be pretty wonky. I asked about multiplayer and was not given any answers, which I found to be silly considering the game comes out in just a few months. Then again, maybe there’s some amazing new gameplay mode that they’re afraid Bungie might steal from them for ODST. Or maybe there isn’t one? In that case… yeesh.

Almost passed on the Wii version, but Totilo recommended that I check it out, and I actually found it more impressive than the “next-gen” versions, due to the very nice graphics and well implemented cooperative gameplay. I also like how additional game modes are available if a Motion Plus module is handy (nice to know that someone other than Nintendo is supporting the add-on). Still not a fan of the goofy, ten foot tall aliens with long-ass tails and blue skin, but that’s not Ubi’s fault but James Cameron’s.

… That new Splinter Cell that wowed everyone at E3 was also there, but it looked just as generic and boring as everyone other entry in the series, so I didn’t pay much mind to it. Also worth noting were the two other reporters/bloggers/whatever who were at the food and bar area the entire time I was there, one of whom was wearing a WWE championship belt, lol. And yes, I did ask about the Scott Pilgrim game, but was able to get zero bits of info. Hey, I tried!

As for what I’ve been playing on my own accord, I’ve recently decided to jump headfirst into the wild world of Shin Megami Tensei. For a while, I had the itch to start Persona 4 up again, but almost immediately, Katie began playing it, so I’ve been mostly just watching her and observing her different in-game dating habits. Thanks to the urging of Joe and Mia, mostly via this forum thread, I’ve recently begun playing Nocturne, and thus far, it’s awesome! And later this afternoon, before hitting a party at Kotaku/Gawker HQ (hey, what is a blog without shameless mentions of special, invite-only affairs?), gonna stop at Gamestop to trade in some crap games that I’ve finally decided to part ways with for a copy of Devil Survivor. Especially now that my DSi is finally unoccupied by…
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REVIEW: FLOWER, SUN, AND RAIN (DS)

Two things need to be stated up-front. For starters, as some folks already know, I absolutely hated Killer 7, which was the first game that made people take notice of Suda 51 and Grasshopper Manufacture. In case you weren’t around Insert Credit or Select Button at the time, to hear me rant and rave and explain myself, it was a title that I desperately wanted to love (I watched the teaser trailers literally hundreds of times in frothy anticipation). And despite some truly groundbreaking art direction, a captivating cast plus story, plus a compelling story, I found the actual experience of playing the damn thing to be absolute torture, mired by a mixture of underwhelming gameplay and shit being too weird for the sake of being weird. The latter of which by itself is not the worst offense in the world, but when said nonsense got in the way of actually playing the game, especially when there’s not a whole lot to do in the first place, then you have a serious problem. My favorite train of thought from one of its apologists, and there were many, was how “it’s not supposed to be fun to play.” Oh God.

The next important thing to note is how I’m fully aware of how most of the world absolutely hates Flower, Sun, and Rain, a DS remake of Suda’s very first PS2 title, from way back in 2001. I’ve looked around and virtually everyone has given it either 4 out of 10 or Ds. Hence the whole point of this particular review, to defend the game, rough edges and all, and to possibly shed light on the fact that… and I know I’m going to get a ton of flack for stating this… it’s actually one of the finest DS games to come out this year, without a doubt, and quite work of genius. And I know already that most will point and laugh since I’ll be contradicting myself over statements made regarding Killer 7.

FSR revolves around the exploits of Sumio Mondo, who defines himself as a “searcher” and basically makes a living by finding people’s lost items. Sumio has been invited to the tropical resort island of Lospass by Edo Macalister, the manager of Hotel Flower, Sun, and Rain to help prevent a crisis; a terrorist has planted a bomb on a plane that’s set to detonate shortly after taking off from the island’s sole airport, and it’s up to Mondo to track down and defuse the explosive before disaster strikes! The game starts with Sumio checking into his room and attempting to make his way to the airport. Problem is, people keep getting in his way, mostly their problems, which boils down to them needing something and Sumio having to find it, everything from a personal item to one’s motivation in life. Once a dilemma has been rectified, Sumio is able to move on, but by then it’s too late, as evidenced by the exploding plane in the distance. Yet it’s okay, because the very next day begins with Sumio waking up and realizing that the plane hasn’t exploded yet. Eventually he realizes that he’s stuck in a time loop, with the same day repeating itself over and over again, a la Groundhog Day. Each day a new problem is solved, and you make it a little bit further, but not by much; I forget how days it takes to get even outside the hotel, though it’s more than a few.

What truly makes the game so fascinating and enjoyable is it’s cast of characters, starting with Sumio, whose an all around nice guy to a fault, which those he encounters are often quick to point out, due to his willingness to help anyone that crossed his path, no matter how undeserving or flat-out annoying they might be. One constant highlight is the back and forth between him and Edo, an extremely enigmatic but ultimately nice fellow (to a certain degree), and it’s primarily from this interplay that Sumio begins to slowly evolve as the days go by. Of all the years I’ve been playing video games, which is a lot, I simply cannot recall another title that features such richly defined characters. Rockstar’s offerings, with their “sophisticated” personalities (i.e. they’re poorly conceived ethnic stereotype that also curse a lot) can’t hope to possibly come close.

As for how Sumio, and the player, solves people’s problems, he uses a suitcase called Catherine that allows him to jack into virtually any object or person, and the answers always lie within a guidebook that Edo hands to you in the very beginning of the adventure. This is where the complaints start popping up, but I personally love the idea of some innocuous looking pamphlet, similar to what everyone has already seen if they go to any hotel or travel agency, that’s just filled with random information like topographical information, local radio station frequencies, the menu at the hotel restaurant, ads for products, and the like that also happens to be the key everyone’s problems in life. I love adventure games and all, but am not a fan of fine combing through assorted locations for whatever tiny clue, so keeping everything nice and compact is a Godsend. Especially since the ways the clues are hidden in the book is always inventive and never frustrating, plus the level of writing of said book is outstanding, as is all the dialogue throughout the game, all of which is delivered in a garbled tongue, similar to something found in Banjo Kazooie that’s never tiresome to hear. But back to the splendid characterizations, when you finally solve a problem for a character, it’s intensely satisfying, because you honestly feel as you’ve helped someone out. The writing is just that good.

Keeping all the answers in one central location also helps to offset all the destinations you’ll be traveling towards, though it’s not so much that there’s a ton of places to go, but how everything is spread out. Add the fact that there’s hardly any vehicles, you’ll be doing a LOT of running, sometimes back and forth, which is another primary complaint. Yet I never grew bored or frustrated, not once, and back to Select Button real quick: one concept they helped to popularize was the notion of a “lonely game” in which it’s you and you alone, with the weight of the world, in a desolate landscape, and I honestly can’t think of a better example than FSR, in which you’re constantly going here and there for the dumbest of reasons, and not for the job you’ve been hired for. I have a feeling that was the intent; as you run around, you can’t help but ask yourself what the hell is going on and why you are doing this. I suppose the real question though is if any of it is “fun”… and I could go on all day trying to argue that it sorta is, yet I still can’t blame anyone for hating this game. It’s most certainly not for everyone, that’s for sure.

Though helping quite a bit is the amazing soundtrack, making those long stretch of road running tolerable, which even the game’s most vocal critics can’t help but gush about. Most of the music is based upon the works of Satie and Gerswhin and is brilliantly implemented; it’s very soothing and calming, plus helps to reinforce the locale, whether it be a five star hotel or just the landscape of a tropical paradise, quite effectively. The original PS2 had the same soundscape (which btw is the brainchild of Masafumi Takada, the one video game composer that hardly anyone talks about, sadly) and I’m impressed that much of it came along without any major bumps and bruises. Too bad the same could not be said for the visuals, which are admittedly pretty rough; the original FSR was very nice looking, yet quite obviously a first gen-title, which you’d think would carry over well enough, but sadly not. The FMV videos that are so beautiful on the PS2 are just pixelated messes on the DS. Still, the art direction and overall presentation is jaw-dropping, and only further enhances and reinforces the esoteric and enigmatic qualities of the game as a whole. Coupled with the cast of kooky characters, the deceptively simple plot in the beginning, the pleasant upfront but definitely unsettling underneath vibe, along with the simple fact that it revolves around a hotel, makes Flower, Sun, and Rain feel like very loose video game adaptation of Twin Peaks, or at the very least a love letter. So in that case, could Suda 51 be heralded as David Lynch of video games? Maybe?

FSR is a very important piece of the mythology of Grasshopper Manufacture, and a must play for any Suda 51 fanboy, which I myself am, despite not liking Killer 7 (once again, for the record). It’s actually the second installment of the “Kill The Past” trilogy, which Killer 7 served as the closer. The first title, The Silver Case, came out in Japan for the PSone and it too was going to be released on the DS, but recent comments from Suda casts heavy doubt on that project now, unfortunately. Which really sucks since there’s more than a few connections between that and FSR from what I understand, and I’m dying for the whole picture; Sumio is in that game as well, plus a few other Grasshopper Manufacture, and FSR references can be found across the board (just check out No More Hero’s Sylvia Christel’s panties in this Japanese ad for that game). Also worth noting is how Edo makes an appearance in Killer 7 that’s pretty downright ingenious, but I don’t want to risk spoiling the details (though simple check out some FSR/Killer 7 fan-sites for the full explanation). Suda has also stated recently that he’d love to bring back Sumio someday, which would be fantastic, since… and I say this with absolute sincerity… he might be one of the most compelling characters in the history of video games. And my personal dream game would star both him and NMH’s Travis Touchdown in some kind of buddy flick/game.

Anyhow, to wrap things up: Flower, Sun, and Rain is simply a work of misunderstood genius. If you get your hands on it and are instantly turned off, I won’t be upset, since I’m not one of those idiots that claims that one must endure 5 hours of boredom and frustration cuz that’s when the game gets good. As stated, it most certainly is not a game for everyone. Just keep it mind that it’s still one of the finest games to come out in a long while, that’s all.

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In this post, I’ll be going over:
1. my two cents re: Wii Sports Resort
2. Street Fighter 4, plus assorted other fighting titles
3. the US debut of Dragon Gate
4. San Diego Comic Con/Wonder Fair 2009

I suppose an update is in order. So what’s been going on? Guess last Thursday is as good a place as any to start from…

The Last Place One Would Expect To Get Sand In Their Shoes Is Times Square

… Because that was the day Nintendo came to town to set up a mini tropical paradise in the middle of Times Square. They transformed the small island located on 7th Ave and Broadway, between 43rd and 44th Street, by dumping sand on-top of it, and then liberally placing Wii Sports Resort kiosks on-top of that. Add calypso musicians playing assorted Super Mario tunes and Nintendo’s army of PR folk, along with the usual army of tourists, and here’s what you got…

It was pretty crowded, but I managed to get my hands on a few of the mini games, including archery and fencing, which would turn out to be the best the package has to offer. It’s worth noting, though not at all surprising, how one could do absolutely nothing till one put on that stupid Wii-mote wristband. Failure to do so would result in a PR person getting shot on the spot, or so it felt like. Though one mini game that I didn’t play but only saw, yet was still enough to make me haul ass over to the Nintendo World Store where the package was being sold before the official launch date of later that weekend, was Wii Bowling version 2.0.

And now that I’ve spent the past couple of days with the title, how is it? Is it worth $70? Which is after-all the price of the game plus the Wii Motion Plus module, along with a second one, which is an absolute must. It’s… okay. Some of the activities work super well, primarily archery, while others, like fencing, does not offer the truly immersive experience that one had been expecting. For a while now I’ve heard that certain games that utilize the add-on were too precise and therefore frustrating to play. I guess Nintendo turned the sensitivity down for Sports Resort, since it honestly felt no different than all those times I swung the Wii-mote around for Boom Blox. Okay, I exaggerate; there IS a difference, but not a true sensation of 1:1 as had been touted. The new bowling works just fine, but it’s hardly any different, and I’m undecided as to whether the new ping pong is indeed an improvement over what’s been offered in Wii Play. Meanwhile, other activities like canoeing and especially basketball are just a pain in the ass.

Overall, I kind of feel stupid for not getting Punch-Out for the Wii first, but I finally got off my ass and nabbed a copy from Amazon via a $5 off coupon (was somewhat expecting a copy from Nintendo when it came out, but it would seem that with the cancellation of Nick Mag, I have fallen off their press list… not complaining, that’s just the way it is). I also love how the Wii-mote is the new Dreamcast controller: Wii-mote, which is $40, + the nunchuk attachment, which is $20, + the Motion Plus add-on, which is another $20, just ten dollars shy what the DC controller, plus VMU, plus jump pack used to cost all together.

Street Fighter School

So Katie had plans to hang out with a coworker that following Sunday, which is the one that just passed, at Chinatown Fair. Yup, the arcade; the dude is a total gamer dork, and especially ga-ga for SF4. He wanted to test his Street Fighter 4 skills against the arcade rats that basically reside there (I’m still shocked that the game still gets so much play there, considering that the home version is vastly superior, thanks to the addition of home exclusive characters, among other things), and Katie wanted a piece of the action as well. Problem was, when it came to SF4 as well as fighting games as a whole, she’s somewhat of a novice and needed help. And for tutelage, to whom did she turn towards? Her boyfriend? The one that’s also a gamer dork, but not a very good one, and who especially sucks at fighting games? Of course not!

That’s why Friday was set aside for Street Fighter School. The location? Astro City, aka Dave Mauro’s kitchen. The instructors? Both Dave and Joe Salina. They sat down with Katie and went through the fundamentals of SF 4, as well as some of the more advanced techniques. Well, advanced for me. Here’s a shot from early on, with Dave going over the basics of Blanka via the game’s training mode…

When appropriate, I stepped in to provide Katie a preliminary workout, though mostly it was a chance for both Dave and Joe to sit back and analyze Katie’s skills-sets for enhanced instruction…

Eventually it was decided to move away from SF4 and give Katie a taste of the past, Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. From there it was onto Melty Blood, which myself, Dave, and Joe only really played many moons ago, for Fighting Battle Weapon. And we were all delighted by the discovery that it’s actually a pretty damn good! There’s actually more to the game than just Wolf Cock.

Next we all moved onto Tatsunoko vs Capcom, and while playing against Joe is when Dave recoded my hands in action; I ‘ve been long told that my method for tapping buttons is a bit on the weird side, but it wasn’t till I saw this video in which I finally realized what everyone had been talking about.

BlazBlue ended up looking like crap on the Astro City cab, sorta, since the game is stuck in a 16:9 letterbox ratio and never takes advantage of a 4:3 display, like my own television set. Plus both myself and Dave find the game intensely generic and boring; though Joe is a diehard fan of the game, and Katie is becoming a devotee herself…

Unfortunately, the same held true for KOF XII, looks-wise I mean; Joe picked it up earlier that day, which is odd since that very same morning, while following up with Ignition, I was told that my still in transit copy would probably arrive the day of it’s release, which is supposed to be today?! Looks aside, the game is a real mixed bag; I dig how it plays for the most part (though I really can’t make a final assessment till I get a good amount of time into it), but am still miffed by the super meager character selection, plus the is it a he/is it a she character designs are getting a tad bit out of hand.

Afterwards was a true classic, Vampire Savior, or Darkstalkers 3 as some folks know it by…

… Unfortunately, the arcade version is missing the additional characters found in the way awesomer Saturn port, but we made do. And in the end, Katie’s training came through! She was able to hold her own quite a bit on the big day. Meanwhile, where was I during all this? In the city of brotherly love actually…

“Good news, everyone. Fire Ant and Soldier Ant won their pro wrestling match here in Philly. I know you were all wondering.”

This past Saturday, Mooney and I made a trek to South Philly, to the historic ECW Arena, which these days is simply known as The Arena. The occasion? The US debut of Dragon Gate, a relatively new and small Japanese pro wrestling promotion. I guess the reason why the ass end of Philadelphia was chosen for their grand introduction to Americans was because the ECW Arena holds with it much history and reverence; back in the mid to late 90′s, during the last big wrestling boom, it was more or less the focal point of northeast indie wrestling, since it was the spiritual HQ for the original Extreme Championship Wrestling and played host to its most well-known and important matches, plus where many of its superstars who would go on to become the biggest names of indie wrestling and sometimes the big leagues (meaning the WWE) first made a name for themselves. That legacy continues today, despite the fact that the popularity of professional wrestling as a whole has waned significantly since those glory days; it still attracts the hardcore of the hardcore, the hardest to please, yet the most cultured wrestling fans out there, and if you can impress them, you’re future in the industry is almost assured. Almost.

The crowd who shows up to these things are themselves fairly notorious for demanding a lot from the performers. The term bloodthirsty is perhaps most apt; I predicted at least one “garbage” match on the card, not because a wrestler would necessarily want to wrap themselves in barb wires and jump head first into a table that’s covered with thumbtacks and on fire, but because the audience expected it, nay demand it. The people therefore were about as different from the folks who turn up to Otakon as one can get, despite both quotients being gigantic nerds. Then again, I was extremely shocked by the number of girls waiting in line when showing up, a few of whom were actually cute! As well as the presence of females period. One had a custom made Paul Bearer shirt (that’s the pasty fat dude who managed the Undertaker, for those of you who grew up watching the WWF) that I wanted to take a pic of, but abstained. Mooney suggested that I take pictures of the crowd like the previous weekend, but wrestling nerds are not nearly as receptive when it comes to being on display, and knew that taking a pic of the aforementioned girl would possibly push the buttons of her boyfriend.

I also didn’t take any pics of the actual wrestling, despite the fact that we were super close to the ring, due to a hard-line ban on photography of any sort. Which is a real shame since everyone had some awesome get-ups (the mullet clearly lives on in Japan), but then again, everyone was moving so fast and furious that everything would have come out super blurry anyway. As for the action itself, after many months of going to World of Unpredictable Wrestling, I had almost completely forgotten what legitimately awesome wrestling looked like. It all pretty much blew all three of us (MTV, I’m sorry, Kotaku’s Stephen Totilo was also along for the show). I’m not going to bother with the details, but those who are interesting in know who wrestled and who won can simply check out the blow-by-blow reports via the Wrestling Observer/Figure Four Online. Though a few things worth highlighting…

- As one person noted in their report, it was pretty hilarious that one dude who has this dancing gimmick almost took out one of his accompanying dancing girls while doing a back flip in the ring during his opening routine. Yikes. Otherwise there was no screw-ups whatsoever. One thing the ECW Arena crowd is legendary for is mercilessly ridiculing a wrestler if something was obviously botched.

- Speaking off, yeah, professional wrestling is not “real”. We all know this by now. But they do still hit each other, especially in Japan. It’s called “working stiff” and every shot to the chest and face was as stiff as imaginable. There were certain moves, generally the finisher, in which on wrestler would drop another straight on his head, and it was just painful to watch, let alone hear. But none got seriously hurt, thankfully. That’s just how they roll in Japan.

- I was expecting a mind-blowing, technically oriented match from the Japanese performers, then a cringe-worthy, hardcore affair from Americans, one after another, but didn’t happen. Despite there only being eight Japanese wrestlers present, the show pretty packed effectively booked so talent from the east enjoyed most of the spotlight. Helping things quite a bit was the brisk pacing; I honestly expected it to drag well into the night, like most indie shows, but the whole thing was around two and a half hours, which is more than enough. Though you had the rather old and somewhat crusty star from over ten years ago versus a new guy that recently got fired from the WWE, and that match both totally blew and dragged the proceedings down considerably.

- There was also a eight-man tag match from a group called Chikara, also Americans, though they mostly did Mexican-style stuff, who were just as faced paced as the Japanese (if not more so), and wowed the audience with tons of crazy, gravity-defying maneuvers. I personally enjoyed them (it was my first time seeing them live), though both Mooney and Steve were somewhat less than impressed, but that’s because they had no idea what they were, whereas I knew what to expect, and I think everyone reading this would be bored stiff we me explaining stuff like wrestling psychology, so moving on… Most important thing here is that one of the bad guy’s gimmicks is that he has a shitty tattoo, and on his back was something that looked like a poorly drawn cheerleader holding up a mountain, or something like that (that tattoo is not real btw, but clearly drawn on with a ball-point pen… at least I hope so).

- Here’s another thing that those who don’t follow wrestling regularly will have no idea what I’m talking about, but still needs to be said for those who do: the main reason why wrestling these days suck is how it’s become so convoluted. The storylines are needlessly complicated, as are the performers, who are way too many shades of gray. Half the fun of the show came from the fact that everything was so black and white: one guy was clearly the good guy, while another was clearly the bad guy. Nice and simple, thank God. No stupid swerves or “gotcha!” moments, which plagues the stuff found on WWE and the like, even WUW. That being said, it was still great having Mooney around to translate what all the Japanese wrestlers were saying, even if it was just “Yeah right!” or “You suck!” all of which was easily understandable via body language alone.

- The Dragon Gate championship belt is simply bad-ass. It’s big and rusty and has keys hanging from it. I guess it opens “the Gate” or something like that.

- Back to the venue, I was pleasantly surprised that there was air conditioning and how the bathrooms were gross, but not that gross. Again, the ECW Arena has a legacy and not all of it is splendid. Though I was severely disappointed by the merchandise; was expecting tons of awesome wrestling shirts from Japan and not a one was in sight. Though I did pick up a 5 disc best of Mitsuharu Misawa (he’s that guy that recently died in the middle in the ring back in Japan) compilation. Sure it was a bootleg, but you can’t go wrong with 6.5 hours worth of wrestling for just $20!

… Dragon Gate plans on visiting the US every three months, and the next closest show will again be in South Philly. Unfortunately. I really want to go, but it’s such a pain in the ass to get to, and once more, it’s not the nicest of neighborhoods. One reason I guess why Mooney was convinced that our cab driver from before was going to rob us both after pulling into some dirty looking side road off the highway, but that’s only because he didn’t notice the venue was right in front of us. Also nearby is an Aldi, for those who know what those are. Most depressing place on earth for those that aren’t familiar. Anyhow, the show we just saw will be on pay-per-view soon, and I highly recommend it!

Toys For Grown Men

Meanwhile, clear across the other side of the country, San Diego Comic Con went down this past weekend. I’ve had the chance to hit the mother of all comic conventions only once, but it was tons of fun and would certainly love the chance to go again in the future. Yet it’s still fallen off my radar in recent years, mostly because I don’t follow mainstream comics as nearly as much as I used to. Then again, it’s mostly about movies at this point, with video games taking a bigger piece of the pie each year it would seem, much to the chagrin of some of my cartoonists buddies I know. Though absolutely nothing on that end sticks out at all (never has for the most part).

Back to films, I hear the Iron Man 2 trailer was pretty awesome and naturally can’t wait to see it for myself. Though Tron 2 is the only thing I really care about at this point; despite a full year after the fact, I’m on cloud nine to finally see that “concept footage” in glorious high-definition. I’m still a bit iffy about the computer generated faces; sure why they just couldn’t superimpose regular actors, with the except of Jeff Bridges I guess. But hey, whatever, it’s Tron, and whatever faults will surely be made up by the Daft Punk soundtrack. Actually, one game related thing does stand out: the Halo anime series/compilation, which looks promising, though I know many Halo fans (well, mostly just Dave and Katie) find the whole thing cringe-worthy. At least you just know that Studio 4∞C’s segment will be awesome. And speaking of animu, the one for Iron Man doesn’t look half bad, just wish a more mecha-oriented studio was handling it, plus what’s the deal with Captain Harlock as the bad guy? Then there’s the Wolverine one, which just looks wretched.

Then there’s this LA Times thing which had the following: “We don?t believe that the Grand Theft Auto games, which are massive in scope and structurally complex, can be adequately compressed into a two-hour movie,” said Dan Houser, vice president of creative at Rockstar Games. LOL The real reason why a GTA movie wouldn’t work is because the source material is nothing more than a bunch of unimaginative and lazy tropes shamelessly stolen from Scarface and the Sopranos. Oh, there’s also word that a Castlevania movie has once again been green-lit, but there’s no word of James Jean being involved, so no buys! One final video game thing: a Tatsunoko vs. Capcom fighting stick was unveiled at the show,which looks neat and all, but rather unnecessary. Though I’ll grab one if it’s USB. At the very least it provided everyone their first look at the new American logo for the game.

But yeah, Comic Con was something I just didn’t care about this year… especially since clear across the other side of the world, Wonder Festival was going on in Japan! It’s one of the biggest figure shows in the country, and one simply needs to hit either Tomopop, Sankaku Complex, as well as Danny Choo’s homepage for a taste of the goods (some of the stuff is NSWF, but I’m assuming most of you knew that already). And the following are some of my highlights, along with pics of assorted items I’ve been meaning to pass along for some time now. EDIT: a few recently revealed garage kits, plus other pics I forgot that I had lying around have been added to the mix, enjoy!

This Samus Aran statue looks quite neat…

… Yet I’m far more interested in the one that’s fully armored…

The same folks are behind a Mega Man one that’s also fully posable…

Here’s a really sweet looking statue featuring a character from Odin Sphere…

Was never a big fan of the game, but this KOS-MOS from Xenosaga is just plain awesome…

… For a closer look, be sure to his this.

Hey, it’s the girl from Muramasa…

Okami here is actually from another show, which I kept forgetting to share till now!

I have no idea where this girl is from, but she sure looks pretty neat to me (and vaguely Range Murata-ish to boot)…

Same with these two, they’re just super cute…

Okay, so if anyone out there thinks it’s a bit ridiculous for me to be interested in such stuff, do keep in mind that I’m also a pretty big Strike Witches fan, and am therefore extremely interested in…

Though I also have my eyes on…

Better than both of those is this…

… But even I’m creeped out by the pronounced pubic region. Also, as much as I’d love to have all of those figures, there’s also the issue of money as well as space. Despite the fact that I have a pretty big apartment, especially by Manhattan standards, I kinda don’t feel like having the entire place filled with animu statues (my collection at the moment is pretty modest, but I already have two Rei Ayanamis, which is bit silly). Speaking of, I recently put money down for this…

… A brand-new Aigis figure, from Persona 3. My plan was to only collect characters from Persona 4, but it’s just too awesome looking to pass up. As for P4, I also have a pre-order for Rise in her school attire…

… My original plan was to only collect the female characters, but who the hell knows if there’s going to be Chie later down the road? After-all, no one ever did one of Yukari from Persona 3, which I’m still shocked about. But back to Chie…

… But those are just hobby kits I believe, and were not mass produced. Also, there was a Yukiko statue that was, but I totally missed the boat and now they cost over a hundred bucks on eBay. Screw that. Add in the fact that there’s no relatively consistency when it comes to scale, since they’re all from different artists and manufacturers, it’s basically an exercise in frustration. Also, just having a bunch of female figures seems a bit peculiar, hence why I also picked up Teddy…

Another not at all creepy but rather cute statue that I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on is this one from Fullmetal Alchemist…

And back to Daft Punk, these Kubricks based on them look pretty damn hawt…

Though ultimately, I can’t deny who I am nor my tastes. This statue of the new female lead in the next Evangelion movie is certainly up my alley, especially the glasses…

Yet I may just go for broke and get these two…

… According to Tomopop, each has been designed to stand alone, but you know what they say about two being better than one!

Gurren Lagann is red hot across the board, so not surprisingly, toys and figures based on the show are all over the place. Yoko without a doubt is the most popular character, but I kinda want this statue based on Nia, mostly because I’ve always liked her color scheme…

… Though I have seem some mighty fine Yokos as well. And I’ve yet to watch any Sora Kake Girl, but his statue of the primary girl makes me want to check the series out…

And if you think that’s the worst thus far, well of what I’ve shown pales in comparison to this.

BTW, this final one is for Katie…

Please also bear in the mind that I’m equally into collecting shump ships (God, what I would give to have at least one of the models featured here) and Japanese robots in general, but it’s something that I’m relatively new with, and therefore have no idea where to go get cool pics of those. I do know that at Wonder Festival, a new line of Virtual On robots were shown, but haven’t been able to find any images. Hey, Ollie, hook a brotha up?

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