God, what a week. These past two days in particular have been insane, to the point that I just want to pass out. Let’s see…
- Today was my last day at SVA.
- Today was my first real chance to settle down and get to work at my new job.
- Also found out today that the company I somewhat attribute to killing my own outfit is more or less dead.
- Yesterday I found out that I am no longer in the running to be Microsoft’s latest official blogger. Oh well.
- And the day before that I found that my big trip to Japan, which I was recently to believe to called off, is on again. Okay!
… Again, I just want crash, but I still have work to, primarily on the television pilot that I’m helping to develop. Some Friday night, eh?
From Out Of Nowhere
Oh, and also from yesterday, last night to be exact: I went to another EA press event here in the city. They had a bunch of stuff on-hand, with the definite highlight in my book being Boom Boom Rocket.
Its basically Fantavision (that first gen PS2 puzzle game with fireworks) mixed with Dance Dance Revolution (I have to assume most everyone knows what that is). And it happens to be the latest creation of Bizarre Creations, the folks behind the hit Xbox Live Arcade title, Geometry Wars. Boom Boom is also a Live Arcade game, EA’s first actually.
Any music fan is gonna totally eat it up. The game is drop-dead simple: rockets go up and you have to hit the appropriate button once they reach a line at the top of the screen to trigger an explosion (hit the button too early or too late or the wrong one, and no explosion, but more importantly, no points). Each rocket is color coded, according to the button on the 360 controller, plus they even have arrows to show where it is orientation-wise, which really makes it feel like DDR. I got to play a round of the one player mode, which was excellent, but two player mode is where its at; each person has their own half of the screen and again like DDR, you have to see hows got better rhythm. I played against the producer, in endurance mode, in which we dueled with the same song, three times in a row, and each time it gets faster.
Hella fun. Too bad you can’t use your own mp3s, but apparently they experiemented with it, and it just wasn’t possible (due to game balancing issues, and anyone that’s tried Vib Ribbon with their own music will know what I’m talking about). Another downer is that its not two player online, both folks have to be present. But still, I’m pretty sure its probably gonna be Live Arcade’s next big thing.
Also played the Burnout for the PS2. I think its called Dominator? Whatever, I’ll just call it Burnout 5. Anyway, EA has done the impossible: make one of my favorite series boring. I dunno… I just couldn’t click with it. Maybe if I had more time with it. At least now you can hit traffic head on, which was the dumbest part of 4 (and I’m pretty sure Criterion heard everyone’s bitching and moaning loud and clear).
Saw the new SSX for the Wii and it looked… okay I guess. Really wish I got the chance to play it, just to see if I could play it, because, for whatever reason, I fucking FLAT OUT SUCK AT SSX. Seriously. I’ve been playing the series, or at least have tried to, for literally years and can’t do shit. But the last game that truly impressed me… and I know folks are either gonna laugh or think I’m on crack, but it was the new Def Jam game (you know, the one with wrasslin’ rappers), Icon. I guess it all started with screenshot I spotted over at NeoGAF…
… I’ve actually decided to zoom in a bit and focus on the background. That building looks weird right? Well in motion, it actually “pulsates”. In fact, everything in the environment moves, to the beat of the music. Remember those Sketcher shoes ads from a few years back? Basically think that in a game. And trust me when I say this: it looks really awesome. Anyway, I didn’t get a chance to play Icon myself, but I did watch Steve give it a spin, and it looked fairly decent. For what its trying to be, its hits the mark. Especially the outlandish super moves, in which rapper scratch the air, to an invisible turn table, which caused environmental havoc, like the out of control helicopter in the background to come forth and knock one guy out of the way. The demo unit had an iPod Nano attached, so I have no idea if Janet Jackson’s Nasty Boy is part of the game or was added, but as a big fan of that song back in the day, it really helped sold the game for me.
And From All Sorts Of Places
So, with all the crazy shit I mentioned that’s been going on (and some stuff that’s TOO HOT to talk about), I really haven’t had any chance to surf the web for game related news. So instead, I may as well pass along some random pics I’ve been meaning to pass along that I just haven’t had the chance to “fit in” anywhere. Including…
- Actually, this is from this morning. One of the lab assistants at SVA decided to give me a going away present; a box of Japanese candy featuring pandas!
She also wrote this very nice note….
… if you can’t read it, a part of it says: “I hope you like Japanese biscuits, since you didn’t get to go to Japan” with actual Kanji used for Japan (a reference to when I thought the Japanese trip was dead, though as I already mentioned, it might not be). But there’s also a small message attached, also in Japanese, which she had no idea what is says….
Maybe someone out there could translate?
- Something else that’s cute, and from Japan: a Parappa the Rapper toaster. You toasting good!
- Courtesy of Jay comes the cover for some flick that, unfortunately, I can?t add to my Netflix que…
The original sized version can be seen here.
- Here’s a quickie from the Gaming Age Forums. There are two things you are guaranteed to get from that place: folks bitching about EBs and Gamestops, and folks who love to screw around in Photoshop. This image combines both, and I even I don’t know why I find it so funny…
- And here’s some Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtles…
… btw, has anyone seen the trailer to that new piece of shit looking CGI flick? Yikes.
- Sticking with comic books/fine art, check out a Mexican delivery guy as Superman…
Robin as a male prostitue…
And Aquaman working in a fish market…
… from this site, which features various Mexican immigrant workers dressed up as assorted super heroes.
- MK passed this along: some guy who likes to create fan art featuring characters from the Simpsons and Futurama, all animu-ed, and it was popular/impressive enough to get him a job at Tokyopop. I’ll abstain from making the obligatory “they’ll hire anyone over at Tokyopop” snide comment since they do published a few good things. Anyway, for what it is, it?s actually not pretty good! And I have to admit, I have to give points for the Futurama one for including Fry’s dog (and I’m not ashamed to admit that I always get teary-eyed by that episode… always). Though having Space Pope would have been PERFECT…
… Not passing along the Simpsons one because I personally find that one creepy as all fuck. But instead, here’s something a friend of mine passed along many years back. Something that one of the actual animators created while screwing around, which I’m not sure has been passed around the web too much…
- And finally, a short whiles ago, Katie drew for me Hermione to go along with a mix CD she had created. She apparently had never seen what the character looked like from either the books or the movies; Katie only knew of my…. obsession for the character. Anyway, aside from being super rad, its super close too!
