Hey, its been a week already!
If I Only Had A Camera
… I’d been able to take a picture of the ultra awesome Ultraman gashapon I treated myself to the other day. Basically, there’s a series in which he’s dressed as a lowly Japanese businessman and each figure depicts him at a certain time of the day. You have him getting up for work, stressing out at the office, playing pachinko well past his lunch hour, sheepishly serving sake to his boss at some work related dinner, and the best of one all, the one I really wanted and am so glad I got, Ultraman late at night, falling asleep on the train, with his head drooping onto the shoulder of a fellow late night commuter, who happens to be one a bad-guy, also in business attire.
… Also, if I had one this past weekend, I would have been able to take a snapshot of the monkey puppet that I picked up for MK‘s mom, which is going to be an Easter’s present. I believe I’ve mentioned previously how she’s somewhat of a budding ventriloquist; a whiles back I got a stuffed panda for MK and apparently all her mom does is walk around with it and make it talk. So now she’s getting something with a movable mouth.
… Plus I could have taken a pic of the old lady in Chinatown that somehow managed to get her hand stuck in one of the new R2 D2 mailboxes, and her desperately trying to escape (a cop was on-hand to lend a hand, so I didn’t really need to do anything).
Other highlights from the past few days include yet another book party at Rocketship and entertaining my out of friends Steve and Suzanne, both of whom I’ve known since high school. It was just fun seeing them validate all the batshit insane stuff that I’ve mentioned to MK about growing up in Washington. “Yes there is an insane asylum just a few blocks away from where we lived… and yes, there really was a prison island that went kaput, with all the child molesters taking refugee in our town… and yes, we remember Crutch.”
There was a chiptune show that went down this Saturday night, but I’ve been so saddled with work that I had to pass. Though to blow off some steam from said heavy workload, I wanted to finally throw the much talked about shitty movie night, plus plays some Def Jam Icon for the 360, but then I realized that both Jeremiah and Josh are off in Japan for Chipstock.
Which reminds me, I REALLY have to get my ass in gear and get a passport for my trip in a few weeks.
I even missed Wrestlemania! I’m no where near the the wrestling fan I used to be, but I always at least try to catch the biggest show of the year, or the very least have a copy not to long after its done. I didn’t even know it went down till someone mentioned it earlier this afternoon. From what I hear, it really sucked, with the best match being the one with Undertaker, which I have to admit, is nice to hear since I was such a big fan of his as a kid (I still have fond memories of the the whole Undertaker vs. Undertaker match, along all the build up, with Leslie Nielsen). I was also shocked to hear that Vince McMahon lost the hair vs. hiar challenge against Donald Trump. Almost no one thought Trump had a chance of loosing. No one except for me that is. According to my friend Marc at the Soap Opera Weekly, Trump knows that his haircut is atrocious, but knows that the minute he changes it, there will be all this unwanted attention. So I figured, him losing his hair (along with an appropriate kick-back) would give him the perfect chance to ease into a new style without the abruptness.
What was I talking about again?
Anyway, but yeah, just been busy with work, work, work. I was actually up till 6:30 this past morning finishing up on one project, and the plan was to sleep till 4 in the afternoon, but the creepy Russians that my roommate Stephy hired to re-build the deck made too much of a ruckus to make that possible. So now my brain is kinda shot, yet I still have lots more to do, like finishing up on my piece for the latest 1UP-Zine….
BTW, I finally updated my GSW column this past weekend.
I Must Be Blind
- As for what’s playing, I finally got my hands on Disney’s Meteos Magic. And what I’ve been hearing is actually correct: its actually a pretty damn awesome game, and the change to the gameplay that many thought would wreck the game (including myself) actually works on quite well! I almost want to say that it might be a tiny bit better than the original! Though I want to hold final judgment till I’ve spent more time with it. Maybe I’ll do a full-on “review” or something, I dunno. Though I will say that I don’t have a problem with holding the DS that you’re apparently supposed to, like I believe Dave had.
I actually got my hands on a ton of stuff recently, including Lost in Blue 2, which MK has been playing mostly, though at a certain point she grew frustrated and went back to Chulip. I also received Metal Slug Anthology for the PSP, and its pretty dandy thus far, though I’ve only been playing X and 3… still haven’t checked out 6, which I hear is “not that bad”, at least compared to the dogs that were 4 and 5. Finally started playing Tokobot, and I’ve enjoyed it thus far…. And due to some mix-up, Disney accidentally sent me Lumines Plus for the PS2 instead of Lumines 2 for the PSP. Gotta say, its just kinda weird to play part 1 and not have Shake Ya Body pop up when it supposed. I dare say its just plain wrong.
Oh, and I’ve decided to finally shelve Polarium Advance for a while. I’ve been playing the game pretty much at least once a day since I first got it, which was January 8th according to the game. I’m up to May 15th puzzle, with just two or three that’s been unsolved along the way. Maybe I’ll go back on May the 15th. So now I’m rediscovering both Astro Boy and Super Mario Advance (Super Mario Bros 2) via the Game Boy Micro.
- And as for what’s going on, hell if I know. Again, been so busy that I just haven’t been able to keep track. Though I do know about the trailer to Grand Theft Auto 4, and even wrote about it a bit at the forum when it first hit. Basically, while I do kinda dig the New York feel, and am glad that they’re going with something a bit different, in regards to using a poor working immigrant as the protagonist and not some idiotic, and tired, wiseguy stereotype, I still don’t have much interest of faith for a number of reasons. Also, I wholeheartedly agree with the guy as GSW that would rather see another Uniracer instead of another GTA.
GSW was also the first place where I saw this posted: some bizarro comic that a game testing company recently produced, as a means of recruitment I believe, that features a pair of testers from the future, who happens to be hot babes wearing tight spandex. But anyway…
- I’ve also seen the new screenshots from NiGHTS 2, and for those who might have missed them, I also passed them along previously here. Now, as stated previously, I really haven’t had much of a chance to look around, so I’ve mostly been sticking to Select Button, and maybe they echo the opinions of everyone else, or maybe not, but they’ve got this really ridiculous thread where everyone is complaining about the redesign. But other than having a little added color in his eyes and having a slightly puffier shirt, I for one cannot tell the fucking difference. In fact, everyone keeps going on how “creepy” he now looks. Hey people, NIGHTS HAS ALWAYS LOOKED CREEPY!!!
On a related note, I too have heard Sega’s recent mission objective to “reinvent Sonic”.
- Speaking of Select Button, despite the place getting stranger and stranger by the day (and that’s putting it nicely… such all the “why won’t girls talk to me?” topics that have popped up as of late, one of which I tried giving advice… btw guys, in case you didn’t know, and I hate to say this, but being a 25 year old virgin hardly impresses women and is actually a major turn off for most), there’s still some interesting finds to be had. One just has to really dig for them. Case in point, just yesterday someone pointed out the deconstructulator, which is basically a modified NES emulator that shows how sprites and sprite memory is accessed and handled while a game is played. Neat!
- With so much going on, I managed to totally miss out on all the April 1st hijinks. If there was some mind-blowingly awesome/hilarious/retarded fake game-related news going around, I never caught wind of it. I even missed this year’s Irem April Fool’s joke, which are usually pretty awesome; the link for it was found here, along with several others by various game companies, most of which has been taken down, and those that are still up, I really don’t get. Though I did just find out from Joe that the kid who was doing a Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake in 2D and whom I had heard recently passed away actually faked his death to avoid all the constant “Is it done yet?” questions.
Pretty much the only April Fool’s gag that I did catch, and was even suckered by, was this news item about copies of Tron being confiscated by Homeland Security, but in my defense, it was written two days before the 1st.
- Want a sneak peak at what might be the next big, hit indie game? Take a look at Balding’s Quest, and while its still in the midst of production, you can at least check out how its coming along here. At the very least, it looks hella cool…
- So Guitar Hero 2 for the Xbox 360 is going to have a wa-wa pedal? Sweet.
- Hey look, Pac Man strategies.
- I also want this tie.
YouTube Theater: Another Mostly WACKY JAPPY Edition
Instead of reading about video games, I’ve actually been spending a lot of time watching them on YouTube as of late (partly due to my aforementioned upcoming 1Up Zine story), with recent favorites being…
- Apparently in Madden 92 for the Genesis, there was this bug where the ambulance that comes on the field to pick up injured players would also mow down everyone else.
- Super Mario Bros. 1-1 done entirely in Line Rider.
- As pointed out over at SB: the minus world in SMB, but on the Famicom Disk System, which is actually quite different. My only question is both the minus world in this game and the original Famicom/NES edition is intentional or not.
- And footage of Zelda 1 re-done for the SNES for the satellite game service for the Super Famicon that a few folks out there might already know about. This vid is actually from an old VHS tape, and its the second part of two, but I’m not link to that since its mostly just talk and not much else. At least here we see the game in action, though there’s still plenty of talking, which means some amount of fast-forwarding. But still, check out the amazing music… if its indeed coming from the game, then WOW,
- Wacky Gears of War viral video from Japan number one, Wacky Gears of War viral video from Japan number two, Wacky Gears of War viral video from Japan number three, and Wacky Gears of War viral video from Japan Wacky Gears of War viral video from Japan number four. Hey, you gotta give Microsoft credit for at least trying. And we all know that cute Japanese girls do = $$$.
- Here’s some dude that’s selling every video game he has. Why? Because of love.
- Another hidden gem courtesy of SB: a long play vid of an old Irem coin-op called Vigilante. Its pretty lenghty, but just hang in there for the wacky intro and the first minute or so of gameplay, which includes dozens upon dozens of skinheads with full heads of hair getting beat up, as well as an angry ice cream cone in the background.
- Time for some random Beatmania superplay vid.
- Yet another one from Japan, a live action version of Love and Berry (for more info on Sega’s hit game series for girls, go here). Its basically some word game and the winner gets to choose which article of clothing that she wants to exchange with the loser. From what I’ve been told, one’s a bikini model and the other is a comic whose apparent gimmick is that she’s dirty and not very lady-like (such as her inability to properly shave her legs). The only reason why I’m linking to the vid will be clearly evident in the first three seconds.
And for those who don’t dig video game vids, we have…
- … an absolutely amazing Stevie Wonder drum solo clip!
- … Star Wars + politics! Thanks to K Thor for the head’s up on that one.
- … Rosie O’ Donnell + (a naked) John Ritter!
- … quite possibly the worst Nickelodeon Guts player EVER.
- … some fan-dubbed live-action Sailor Moon!
- … another one from Japan, also featuring wacky costumes, but this time its a parody of those Super Sentai (Power Ranger) shows! Unfortunately its not dubbed, though its still worth watching at least the first minute or so for the ass rape and the outfits. And I guess its a re-accuring sketch because here’s one more.
- … anyone who’s does any message board surfing had undoubtedly seen the picture of some Japanese girl who shoves a cant’s entire head in her mouth. Well here’s the girl’s music video, and it even includes her cat swallowing hijinks, and a bit more. She only does it once, but afterwards, you can’t help but be gripped by the possibility (or fear) of it maybe happening again. And no, I have no idea why I eat this shit up.
- … and one last cat vid; this one’s short and furious.
- … but enough cats; how about a dog and monkey doing push-ups?
- … even more Star Wars; despite the fact that Episode 3 made Darth Vader a raging pussy, at least YouTube is able to do some damage control. That one’s from Ed btw, who might be the biggest Star Wars nut that I personally know of, or at least the one that hasn’t totally walked away from the movies.
- … and because its Passover. I love seeing all the wacky graphics that Japanese television has, especially when its in Hebrew.
Melissa And Optimus, Sitting In A Tree…
I guess I should maybe mention that two new trailers for the new live-action Transformers flick recently went live. And on the same page, you can check out what the Optimus and Bumblebee toys will look like, which I’m assuming is how they’ll appear in the film. And Jesus, Bumblebee keeps looking more and more stupid. For a while his face was kinda looking like Goldbug’s, but now I have no idea what to think.
I also recently discovered that in Japan, they have this line in which the Transformers get “powered-up” when kissed by human girls. This series, which includes a toy-line and a radio show, is called Kiss Players, and apparently, “Although this plotline may seem like a shift in demographics to little girls, it is said that this line was aimed at at a much older, (creepy) adult male audience. Indeed, the toys bear an “ages 15 and up” warning, and the subject matter of the accompanying manga is far from child-friendly.”.
Oh Japan… Anyway, further investigation has unearthed this:
Though, meanwhile in America….
Back to the movies, Grindhouse is finally coming out this week, and I’m definitely gonna check it out, despite what I’ve already been told.
And since I’m already looking at it over at my end: for those who might not already know, the UCB Season 2 DVD set is indeed a reality!
