12/03/2004

THAT’S Mr. Miyagi?!?

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

So for most of this past week, I’ve had to work 13 hour days since we’re short one staff member at SVA. Which means that I’ve mostly been sitting around surfing the web for hours and hours. It’s not healthy to say the least, hence why, even though my bronchitis is gone, I still can’t get rid of my nasty cough. But thankfully, there’s been tons of shit to dig through…

… I know this must be super old news, but I just found out that the newest Godzilla flick, Godzilla Final Wars (which is basically another Destroy All Monsters, which has him fighting virtually every other big rubber monster out there) which opens up tomorrow, is directed by Ryuhei Kitamura! This could be pretty fucking awesome. Granted, his films are all style and no substance, but replace the actors with rubber monsters and I don’t think anyone will really notice. As someone on the GAF put it best, “I hope there’s a scene where the camera rotates around Godzilla and another character for a minute like in his other movies. That NEVER gets old!”

But it gets better! Apparently, uber design-smith Kyle Cooper is working on the movie’s credits. Plus, there’s rumors that Hideo Kojima might be contributing in some unspecified manner. Kojima, as you all know, is the man behind Metal Gear Solid. You might all recall that it was Kitamura who re-directed the cinematics in Twin Snakes (too bad that game didn’t turn out so hot).

Though for most people, the big draw will be seeing the original Godzilla face off against the American version, which can be best described as a CGI abortion on the big screen. In the movie he’ll be called “Zilla.” Here’s some more info taken from a translated article from a few months back:

FW Update: Godzilla vs Zilla

Translation by Jim Figurski and Takashi Matsuda, August 27, 2004
Source: Sponichi

For the 50th anniversary of the Godzilla series, in the movie finale FINAL WARS, the American Godzilla will be making an appearance. The X-seijin who plan on conquering the earth, create and release a murderous kaiju called Zilla in Sydney, Australia. An all-out battle unfolds between Zilla and Godzilla. In this dream battle between the Japanese and American Godzilla, Kitamura said with confidence, “I wanted to do something that nobody would expect.”

The American Godzilla has a gigantic head, a long tail that makes you think of a lizard and thin limbs. After 6 years since its debut, it?s been revived. Now he challenges the Japanese Godzilla for the title of “Godzilla”.

Even in Japan, Godzilla (98? American version) was a hit, taking in around 30 million dollars. However, there was a controversy about the design regarding the pros and cons of it. Director Kitamura is one of the critics too, and says he can watch and enjoy the American Godzilla if he keeps in mind that this is not the real Godzilla. In order to have the Japanese Godzilla protect his own namesake, the American Godzilla was selected to do battle with him.

The production staff makes sure the rights to use Godzilla are exclusive to Toho. In America there are imitation products on the market that have the name”Zilla.”Producer Tomiyama has the ability to get rid of these products if he chooses to. Tomiyama thinks that the American Godzilla is a representation of these imitation products therefore he named the American Godzilla in FINAL WARS simply “Zilla”. The significance of this perfectly suits this kaiju who has had the word “God” taken out from the name “Godzilla”.

When Zilla appears in Sydney, humanity?s last hope is a revived Godzilla who is beneath the ice in Antarctica to do battle with it. The details of the battle are under wraps, but the Sydney street will be decimated. Kitamura, who studied film direction in Australia, said it would be an honor to have Godzilla destroy his second home.

“I want to compete with America. I want to overwhelm the American Godzilla (which is a symbol of CG) with the Japanese technique of suitmation,”says Kitamura. In the movie, Godzilla is made from a suit, and Zilla is made from CG. “I?m putting in the movie what people all over the world want…Zilla. I want to reach the height of the series and return Godzilla back to being strong and cool again. There are times also when Godzilla behaves affectionately and humorously which I think will make Roland Emmerich laugh if he sees this movie,” Kitamura says with confidence. FINAL WARS opens December 4th.

… Check this out: a Karate Kid musical.

Seriously, this shit has to stop. How many times this year alone have we seen yet another 80′s movie turned into play to cash in on nostalgia. I suppose I would object if it wasn’t for the fact that everyone in these productions weren’t so fucking actor-ish. I’m all for colorblind casting, but having this guy as Mr. Miyagi is pretty fucking ridiculous…

Plus this guy looks way too much like Billy Zane….

Actually, I’m sorta of a fan of the guy, but the world only needs one Billy Zane.

… Remember that really cool commercial for the transforming car that I linked to a whiles back? Well here’s an article about it. And would you believe that everything was computer generated? Those environments look insane.

Then a person showed me this, which is also pretty damn cool. Hey, it’s the guy from Appleseed!

… Everyone, meet my new hero. Or is it maybe this guy? Sorry, but it’s definietely this guy:

… So this week I stumbled across some new chiptune musicians. First is YMCK. And by digging around their site, I came across Blasterhead, Covox, MIDR2 (who has a great cover of the main tune in the Goonies game), and the very awesome GOTO80.

… Also this week, my friend (and future collaborator) Barry has a new book that just came out this week. It’s perfect for anyone who wants to be a super-hero, but doesn’t know how.

… In video game news, the original PlayStation turns 10 today. Holy shit do I feel old. Plus, check out this killer screen shot from Lumines. Dear God does it look beautiful.

… As for the rest of the week, nothing too exciting to report. Last night, I taught Kitty how to do soul brother handshakes (she’s originally from the far east). Today, there was a pretty interesting conversation with my boss and coworkers regarding people who masturbate in public, which lead into a conversation into mole people. On, and I did see some women in bikinis toss around a beach ball on 23rd Street the other day.

… And I really don’t like to talk about too much personal personal stuff here, but I guess you can say that MK & I are “official.”

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12/02/2004

Dual

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

Yesterday I got Metal Arms, another one of those awesome little games that got lost in the shuffle, and therefore no body bought when it came out last year (meaning it’s shared plenty of shelf time with Beyond Good and Evil). And I snatched it for the incredible price of $10 at the Best Buy near SVA. I also got Paper Mario 2, a game which I’ve been meaning to get, just not right then and there. In fact, I made it in my mind that the next big game purchase would be Metal Gear Solid 3.

So what prompted me? This is a pretty pathetic reason, but here goes…. As a few folks might have noticed, recent Nintendo GameCube releases, specifically Paper Mario 2 and Mario Power Tennis, has been seen with a label that says “Best Seller” on the front. It’s not a sticker, it’s printed on. It covers a portion of the admittedly mediocre box art (at least compared with the far superior Japanese version and even earlier iterations of the US cover), but its gaudy as all hell. In fact, many people have tried tracking down a version of the box that doesn’t have the ill placed label (which have been few and far between, at least at this point, weeks after the game’s release). Needless to say, these people have encountered a certain degree of ridicule (especially with the really retard online petition… sorry, but those never work). And to be honest, I see both sides. But bottom line is that I’ve held on from buying my copy till I lucked up a copy that’s “clean” and I was totally shocked to find one at a Manhattan Best Buy. So I couldn’t pass it up. Yeah, I’m a total Nintendo whore.

I still intend on getting Snake Eater. I have to. It’s fucking Metal Gear Solid! And yes… it’s better than part 2, which has gotten far too much hate (though I still have to agree that its story so stupid that it’s practically insulting). The plan is to sell off some of my CDs to Fye like Jason once did, to get some extra credit towards the game, plus secure some shelf space back. But that means sitting down and listening all these CD that I really don’t care about, but since I spent good money, I have to listen to them to see if they’re worth ripping into mp3s (just blindly ripping them all, despite the ease and time saved, is “a waste”). Plus there’s the issue of what formats to rip them as, mp3 or AAC, and what bit rates and the such, which meant spamming message boards. And that all lead to the same conclusion: rip one song multiple ways, and find out what works. Great in theory, but when you have bad hearing like I do, everything sounds alike. Plus, all this effort for just CDs that no ones going to buy anyway (has anyone actually tried to sell their used CDs recently?)…. Okay, I’m rambling.

Anyway, yesterday, after work, I went to my old neighborhood in Bay Ridge to go game hunting. I can’t believe I live in such a hell hole. Don’t get me wrong…. Bay Ridge is nice…. I just didn’t live in the exceptionally best part, at least not one to justify such a hellish commute. And all this time I’ve been bitter that I moved out just as the track work was finally completed (which made for some hellish three waits for trains late at night) cuz it still took me almost an hour to get there.

And it was all for waste: the first store which was this hole in the wall that sold various cheapo toys and YuGiOh cards, as well as some interesting and dirt cheap PSone and Game Boy Color games was totally gone (and I had sorta heard this from a Brooklyn-ite on the IC forums). So I guess I missed my chance to get Metal Gear Solid for the GBC. Fuck. Next was an all game store which opened right before I moved out of the neighborhood. I recalled them having, among other hidden gems, Robotic Alchemic Drive for the PS2. I should have gotten it when I had the chance since they too were gone, this time replaced by a store that had a curious combination of PC parts, some games, and those huge deluxe action figures and busts based on movie characters. There’s another independent store in the area that’s still opened that somewhat justified the long trip. They had some good prices on older Xbox titles that I was half-tempted to get, but I should really get the system first before buying anymore of their games. And finally I stopped by the local Gamestop to find a surprise, which there was none. The only eventful thing there was hearing some fat employee get angry cuz his guy wouldn’t allow him to reach to the back part of some bottom shelf. Man, I really should have gotten R.A.D. when I had the chance.

Man, over eight hundred words later and I really haven’t said much of anything. This is by far the most “blogg-ish” entry thus far (and this statement is simply icing on the cake).

Anyway, onto what’s happening elsewhere (and yes again, some of it is sorta late, sorry)…

… So a little over a week ago, the Nintendo DS came out here in the states and sold about 500,000, almost it’s entire shipment. That’s pretty damn good given the nature of the item. Then again, maybe the Nintendo name does still mean something after all. Nintendo expects to move one million units by year’s end, and it looks like they’ll meet that goal with no problems. But the key is to maintain that momentum, and having it not being in stores across the country is not helping. Afterall, the Dreamcast sold like a million units on day one, and it took almost no time for that to fizzle. And again, Sony had a lot to do with that.

But what’s even more amazing is to hear that in the same time frame of last week, 800,000 GBAs moved, setting a new record for hand-held sales. Holy shit. Anyone who’s afraid that the GBA market is going to all of a sudden go away (which constitutes a good number of my friends actually) really have noting to worry about now, but they never had a reason to the first place. Hell, even Nintendo said it quite a few times early on: The DS is the third pillar, not meant to replace the Game Boy Advance. That’s the job of Game Boy Next….

… Speaking of, I’m still shocked by how people have virtually forgotten about it. It does somewhat validate Nintendo’s assertion that the “DS is not in competition with the PSP” since the GB Next (or whatever it’s gonna be called) will have the real horsepower it needs. Nintendo is totally correct: it’s not how it looks but how it plays, but one can’t deny that the PSP games thus far look really good. Sorry, but Ridge Racer DS looks like ass next to Ridge Racer PSP (or Ridge Racers). I hate to say this, but ultimately, the DS is a test bed for ideas and concepts for the GB Next….

… Though one way to keep the DS alive and strong is to appeal to different audiences. So it’s no surprise that Nintendo is aggressively marketing the system to women in Japan (the system just went on sale today). Here’s just one recent example…

… And here’s another, even trendier means to reach an audience. Special thanks to neo2046 btw, who’s quickly become the best source for news in Japan on the GAF….

… This reminds me; I wonder if those limited edition Rez shirts that Beams was offering is still available? Probably not…

… Plus a pic of a train that’s a part of another DS campaign that’s pretty neat…

… Meanwhile on the PSP side of things, and speaking of trains, here’s some pics of some bizarre train station display which was outlined in this article…

… And here at another train station is simply one giant PSP…

… For myself, and for quite a few others actually, the only game I really care about is Lumines. The official site just opened, so take a look (and turn on your sound)….

… Also, Mizuguchi just got a publishing deal through Bandai. All game will be under the qb imprint (q is for Q Entertainment, Mizuguchi own studio, and b is for Bandai of course). This is great news since it gives Tetsuya a chance to simply concentrate on making games instead of worrying about brokering some deal with a distributor. Though I have to wonder if Bandai will stick by his side after his more ambitious games later down the road completely tanks. They will be brilliant, I have no doubt, but their sales potential always has to be in question….

… Speaking of entertainment, and back to Nintendo, now comes word that they want to fully get involved in the business of making movies. They’ve had great success with the Pokemon movies, which they were a part of, but they were all produced by outside animation studios. Apparently, they’re aiming to do a film for 2006 with a production team that they will assemble themselves.

The man who made Nintendo the empire that it is (or was in certain regards) always wanted to do movies, so now’s the time. The first one will either be based on a game or a Japanese poem apparently. This could be interesting. Though at this point, I’d rather Nintendo spent all their efforts on just getting games on their platforms; Lord knows they really need them…

… In the past few days there’s been tons of conflicting info regarding the future of Super Mario 128 the “true” follow up to Mario 64. One report has Miyamoto stating that the game is still in development for GameCube, others say it’s for the next generation console, dubbed “Revolution” for the time being. There are even reports that the public will see this game at the next E3, but we’ve all heard that for years, so that really means nothing.

Personally, as much as I’d love to see it on the Cube (it would be totally appropriate, since it is a 128 Bit machine after all) I highly doubt it. It just makes more sense to have it as a Revolution launch title. And call it Mario 256….

… One last Nintendo related item, here’s some screenshots of the Legend of Zelda: the Ocarina of Time in 2D as envisioned by several folks. If you look hard, you can find some for Majora’s Mask and even Wind Waker…

… And finally, something Katamari Damacy related. I’ve been playing this game for months and I never knew of the Royal Warp…

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12/01/2004

I Wish…

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

So I got bored today at work and made this: an Amazon Wish List.

It’s that time of year… Christmas, which I totally love. I’m so into getting gifts for friends. Call it the thrill of the hunt; there’s nothing better than getting the perfect gift for someone. But the only problem is, it can be quite tricky, especially when you’ve been shopping for the same person after a number of years. And I know people have said the same about me. Then it becomes a game almost of who can top who, and of topping one’s self from the year prior, which in turn makes everything a drag.

Hence why I made a list in the first place. It’s something for friends to go by. If you’re a friend reading this, first off, hello! How’s it going? Hey how was your weekend like?

Anyway, back on topic, I want to make it clear that this list is a general guideline. You DO NOT HAVE to get me anything from the list. I’m DEAD SERIOUS ABOUT THIS. It’s just a reference point of stuff I’d like or am into. Though if I have say… Futurama listed, and notice that every volume except the first one is present, you can sorta assume it’s because I already have it.

Now, my big problem with Amazon and the whole wish list system is that it’s all rather impersonal. Instead of just ordering something online and having it sent in some brown box, I personally prefer buying the gift myself, wrapping it, and then presenting it in person. Plus, sometimes you can find better deals elsewhere when compared to Amazon.

So this is how things can work. Either you can just purchase something on the site and make it easy, or tell me that you are going to get me something. I will then email you the associated email address and password to you, and allow you to remove the item (I know this may sound sorta risky, but since I’m only doing with folks I know and therefore will hope nobody does something really weird). This way, you can get rid of the item from the list and not worry of someone else getting it, plus I won’t know who’s getting me what. Sounds easy, right? And I won’t be paying super close attention to the list, so I probably won’t be able to keep track of who might have gotten what.

But if I don’t know you, I won’t be giving out such info, sorry. But if you didn’t know me, why the hell would you be buying me something anyway? Sorry, but if you haven’t figured it out by now, I am not some cute girl who will show tits in exchange for free stuff. Though if you want to see pics of cute girls’ tits, I may not be one, but I have some I can pass along.

Okay, back on topic… this may sound incredibly stupid, but I figured it’s worth a shot. Remember, if you decide to get me something on the list, just say something and I will pass along the necessary info for you to make a change to the list yourself.

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