Thanks to the seemingly never-ending flow of work and general shit to do, not only is it next to impossible to find any time for this site, I’m also now constantly exhausted, hence why I’ve also become rather lazy about doing updates. But, in an effort to avoid yet another backlog of announcements, news, links and random bitching…
- I believe I’ve mentioned this before, but here’s the official announcement: this coming May, I will be participating in a game design debate called Hi-Res vs. Low-Res. that’s being produced on the behalf of the IGDA and GIGGRAPH. For the specifics, just check out the news page.
- On a completely different note, I’m not sure if I’ve made myself clear on the subject thus far, but just to clarify: I CANNOT FUCKING STAND THE NEW YORK CITY SUBWAY SYSTEM.
The most recent subway debacle took place on late Tuesday afternoon, during rush hour. MK has just flown back in from San Fran and I was coming from my place in Brooklyn, having spent the day at home working, to meet her in the city for dinner before her evening class. I took the R train near my place to DeKalb Ave to transfer to an express D train, which would take me right to where we’re meeting. After waiting a few minutes, I hear some garbled (of course) message over the intercom regarding debris on the tracks or something that was disrupting service on the D and Q trains. The weird thing is that the stations that were affected, at least from what I could make out, where ones in Queens, so why the hell would trains have to be re-routed off Manhattan Bridge, which is all the way in Brooklyn? Another R shows up, so I get in that one… and then witness a D roll into the station on the express track. Ugh.
Anyway, the ride is going fine, especially since I have plenty of comics to read, but then the train comes to a dead stop. Apparently a person fell onto the tracks at a station (the Whitehall stop, the first one in Manhattan, where we were literally three feet away from) Since it was rush hour, it took forever for medical assistance to arrive, and to avoid the guy getting zapped, they killed electricity to the line, which lead to no power on the train, so most of the lights and the AC was cut.
So there I am, in the dark, unable to read comics, and starting to sweat like crazy, and above all else pissed that I’m gonna be late to meet my girlfriend whom I hadn’t seen in a while for dinner in an already tight time frame. Did I mentioned that I was fucking starving since I hadn’t eaten a single thing all day? And the last thing I needed was to witness the train operator and conductor joke around and say “It’s 7 already? Hehehe…” And of course, everyone on the trains eventually became all restless, like some old woman who was pissed that she couldn’t read her book, the ten or so folks rushing to the first car to see what the fuck was going on, and some nit-wit Euro-trash super model-type who decides to show off her “free sprit” by swinging around the car via the bars, then goes on t kick everyone in the knees and comes close to knocking herself out as her head swings around violently (with her Euro-trash boyfriend taking pictures of the whole spectacle).
It took an hour to get the guy off the tracks. So you’d think we’d be on our way then, right? Wrong, because then they had trouble restarting the subway train. In the end, it took collectively an hour and forty minutes to get to arrive at my destination in the city, and of course, it was too late for me to have dinner (MK’s class was just about to start). And all because they can’t decent fucking speakers in the stations…
And then last night, it took MK an hour to meet me in Brooklyn after her class! And again, it was at a place to eat and the wait was pure torture since I hadn’t eaten anything all day yet again. I’m going to start living life like a pro wrester from now on; many wrestlers, the ones who are into body conditioning, will eat very small meals every two or three hours of the day. Though if I really want to go the full nine yards, I’ll also have to start watching tons of wrestling matches from Mexico and Japan. That’s not such a bad thing…
- But yeah, MK returned from APE with a gift: the Cherrypepper collection. That’s right folks, my girlfriend came back from her trip with the gift of porn. And just any regular porn, the kind I like: cute nerdy chicks in glasses (and none of that overly pierced/tattoo shit that’s really popular in the counter culture porn scene). If that doesn’t cement MK as the best girlfriend I’ve ever had, nothing will.
- Like I’ve said before numerous times, I’ve been reading a lot more comics thanks to MK. I just got done with the first Blue Monday collection, which is one of here fave’s, and I have to say, its one of mine now too. Plus I read the second Hopeless Savages collection, and I’m also becoming a pretty big Bryan Lee O’Malley fanboy.
- Also last night was class. In addition to playing the board-game which they had created the week prior, I also brought in a PSone to show off some games which most people have never played, but should, including Vib Ribbon. This time it was Rez, which thankfully, managed to entrance all the students. Once again, Sega really dropped the fucking ball for failing to re-release the game last winter.
And I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit this publicly, but what they hell… one student brought in memory card that had a Tekken 5 save with every character, except one, unlocked, and he let me make a copy of it. Sorry, but I just don’t have the time or the patience to deal with such inconsistent and cheap-ass A.I. Like I said, not every character is unlocked, so I have the burden of getting Devil Jin myself.
As for “real” class work, I just had everyone create the ultimate mascot character, and for homework they have to design a game for one of these specific audiences:
1. terminally ill children
2. people with the fear of heights
3. the elderly
4. deaf people
5. garbage men
6. poor people
Can’t wait to see what they come up with!
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- As for general gaming news, things are a pretty quiet. With E3 around the corner, everyone’s keeping their cards close to their chest. Microsoft and Sony was in a recent pissing contest in regards to who’s showing off their new toy first, which is now going to be on the same exact day, just three hours apart.
Anyway, remember Sega Fantasy VI from before? Well here it is again, but in English.
- Here’s a site for Electroplankton, a crazy new music making game for the DS. Despite the ever present burning desire to get a PSP (well, the ever present desire to play Ridge Racers and Lumines only, actually), I’m still interested in the DS.
- Another reason? Puppy Times of course! Check out these cool plushies:
- Here’s one person who at least has an excuse for acting like a four year old on Xbox Live: its Lil Poison, who’s billed as “the youngest ‘Pro Gamer’ in the world” Yeah, I feel a bit disgust by this as well.
This whole pro gaming bullshit has to end sooner or later. So what tennis shoes are you gonna wear? The one Tiger Woods wears while winning yet another gold tournament, or what some douchebag with a l33t nickname wears while he’s “pwning” “noobs” at Halo 2?
- Time for some awesome chiptune music: 8-Bit Construction Set. Like the New York Times said, its “…a testimony to nerdiness.”
- Normally, I totally despise licensed games, but there’s been one that I’ve been waiting forever for, and its almost finally here. A game based on the classic film, the Warriors! Its been a while… so long that many, including myself, were afraid that it was cancelled… but some news screens have finally surfaced.
- Meanwhile, the one big screen to game adaptation that made major headlines at the beginning of this year, the Godfather game, is getting trashed by the man behind the original film. For the IMDB:
“Francis Ford Coppola is up in arms over Paramount’s decision to produce (with videogame makers Electronic Arts) a videogame based on his The Godfather movies. In a taped interview due to air on AMC’s Sunday Morning ShootOut this Sunday, Coppola said that the studio had never mentioned its plans to release a Godfather videogame. “I knew nothing about it. They never asked me if I thought it was a good idea,” Coppola said. Calling Coppola’s movie, “one of history’s most revered masterpieces,” Electronic Arts says on it website that the game, due to be released in the fall, “serves as inspiration for the game as gamers will join the Corleone family and earn respect through loyalty and fear.” Coppola says that he was able to get a preview of the game. “They use the characters everyone knows … and then for the next hour they shoot and kill each other. I had absolutely nothing to do with the game and I disapprove.”
- So potentially the “very last” Dreamcast game came out in Japan. It’s a shooter (surprise!) and it’s called Trizeal. You can check out the game in motion here.
Now the game has gotten a bit of notoriety due to an “SOS” that the developers gave out in which they explained the rocky history of the game. Its seriously a compelling, almost sad, account of one person’s goal to create the games that he wants to play, and possible others, in the face of so many difficulties. You can check out the English version here. And that game that never was, “Project LAMBDA” doesn’t look half bad.
I now have to get this game. I’m still kicking myself for not getting Border Down when I had the chance. As for it being the last Dreamcast game ever, well I always assumed that Senkou no Ronde (another shooter, this one a shooter/fighter) will eventually be making its way.
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- As for non-gaming, but movie/television/music video news, word on the street is that the new Hitchhikers Guide To The Universe flick is really bad. Its been said that those unfamiliar with the book will be confused, and those who are will be pissed.
Fuck. And it was my most anticipated film this summer too. I’ll still see it of course, and I’m sure Mos Def will still rock. I guess there’s still the new Batman flick, which for some reason, I’m not so excited about, despite Christopher Nolan’s involvement.
- The Tribeca Film Fest is opening up next week and headlining the event is 2046, the recent Wong Kar Wai flick that I’ve been waiting to see for year, despite all the mediocre reviews.
I’ve still yet to see Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle; most people think I’m on crack when I say that Shoalin Soccer wasn’t the greatest thing ever. Sorry, but nothing yet has come close to touching his masterpiece, God of Cookery. Though I might be biased since I’m such an Iron Chef fan.
- Oh, and here’s a trailer for trailer for the latest flick from Teruo Ishii, called Screwed. Oh, as they say in the biz, it’s NSFW. I’m sure I don’t have to explain that it stands for Not Safe For Work, but to be on the safe side…
- Chris Cunnigham, better known as “that other dude” from the Director’s Label series, is set to finally release Rubber Johnny (the teaser trailer is on his DVD). You can check out the official site here, and find out more info, plus read an interview, here.
- Spike Jonze, one of the other guys on the Directors Label, has a new television commercial. You’ve all probably seen it by now (I’m not sure if its one the air since I can’t check; I haven’t watched TV in close to a month!), but even if you have, perhaps maybe its worth seeing again; his totally awesome Adidas ad.
- Speaking of commercials, the creator of this site really likes that new Burger King chicken sandwich.
- Again, I don’t have cable, so maybe this is all over the airwaves, but here’s the video for the Chemical Brothers.
- Here’s another robot vid, with dinosaurs!
- And here’s yet another robot vid, this one with chickens. And the internet?
- I’m not a huge fan of cute things bleeding and killing each other, but this vid is really well animated, plus I dig the music. The fact that it looks like a really nice Super Nintendo game also helps.
