It’s Friday, the end of another week, and despite the fact that not a whole lot went down, how about a semi-brief update filled with odds & ends, just for the hell of it?
New York Comic Con 2009 Extra
As mentioned during my NYCC 2009 wrap-up, I had a photographer on tap if I had gotten the call to cover the show for another party, whose services I didn’t end up enlisting. But this individual still took plenty of pics, many of which are quite awesome! Here are my favorites…
… As previously noted, I’m no longer ga-ga for Star Wars. But when I saw R2 rolling around, holy crap did I ever mark out like a little schoolgirl.
So not only does Cobra Commander enjoy the Wii, but he’s also a Diet Coke drinker. Interesting…
I believe I saw Wreck-Gar at last year’s Comic Con, or at the Anime Fest, but never saw his best friend Guts Man before!
Sorry, but this Catwoman is simply hella cute…
No joke: I think the girl dressed as Alyx is a former student of mine!
Not sure what I’m more upset about. Not personally encountering Darkwing Duck at the show…
… Or pajama suited Spider Man…
I don’t know why, but this fat dude as the Terminator just cracks me up. I think it’s the shoes…
Also insanely awesome? These Asian kids doing Sweeney Todd…
Once again, sorry, but I’ve always had the hots for the Invisible Woman as a kid…
Here’s someone else I forgot to note in my list of awesome costumes I wished I had snapped a pic of, the dude who dressed up a Pez dispenser of himself…
… The rest of the pictures can be found here btw.
The Dreaded Red Rings
I guess the big thing for me this week was how my long-awaited Xbox 360 debug, which had actually arrived last Wednesday but was left untouched due to craziness that was Comic Con, Katie’s birthday celebration, and Pat staying over, was finally hooked up this past Monday. And almost immediately I sensed something was afoot… When my very first 360 gold disc arrived and wouldn’t run, my suspicions that the machine was in fact for store demos and not a full-on debug unit was somewhat confirmed when I passed along all the facts and info to Tim over at Capcom. His response was simply a three-word email: “You got hosed.” Gotta admit, that made me laugh.
But then I discovered that it was indeed a debug! The OS was simply out of date. So I went about the steps to update the machine, and… it red ringed. Again, I had to laugh. Since this was late at night and my MS contact was out of the office, I called the general tech support line. Perhaps I should have waited the next morning, but I was somewhat of in a state of panic because I was convinced that I had done something wrong during the software update and was therefore the culprit. You folks don’t even want to know how much these things cost (everyone who is gets one has to sign a “you break it, you pay it” contract). And for literally years I’ve heard that phone support for the 360 was hell on earth, and as it turns out, everyone was pretty much on the ball; it took almost an entire hour to inform the woman on the phone that my machine had not been purchased at Gamestop or Wal-Mart, but was “special.”
Though in the end, everything has been ironed out and my replacement is on its way! Unfortunately, that means I’m going to be a bit behind on certain reviews, but at least the copy of Halo Wars I got works on my regular retail machine. Can’t really go into details at the moment, but I don’t think it’s against the rules to say, thus far, it’s pretty awesome! I’m normally not so into real-time strategy games, though this one is totally approachable, at least to a brain-dead console gamer such as myself. The key is the controls, which are easy to process and are dare I say intuitive? Didn’t spend that much time on it, but I found myself having a hard time dealing with Red Alert 3 a short while ago…
As for what else I’ve been playing, I’m almost done with Moon for the DS, though Retro Game Challenge has put the kibosh on that one. It’s more or less exactly the same game as GameCenter CX, which is both good and bad; I appreciate the faithfulness to the original game’s set-up, but only because I’m familiar with the source material and know what the heck is going on. Those who haven’t seen the original Japanese television program, which has to account fo 99.99% of gamers out there in America are going to be confused. But despite having the original for some time now, I never got very far due to my inability to understand Japanese. Though will I still import the sequel? But of course!
Plus there’s Ketsui for the DS. Again, I really want a PSP port so I can have the full on arcade experience on the go, but the way its set-up still works quite well (plus I understand one of the original game’s levels is completely recreated or something like that, which one has to unlock). And Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles arrived earlier this week as well; playing House Of The Dead: Overkill the other week made me realize how much it sucks in comparison, but which I still didn’t have. Didn’t realize that it’s somewhat hard to get, but someone on eBay had a decent price for a brand new copy.
Oh and My Do It All just showed up! What the hell is that you might be asking? It’s a PDA-like application suite for the DS. Here’s a video that illustrates its basic points. I guess ever since that one Olsen Twins title for the Game Boy Color many years back, I’ve always been into stuff that turns portable game devices into personal organizers. And while Do It All is way too much of a kid’s toy for my tastes, the interface is still pretty slick. I’m actually surprised no one has tried creating one that’s fully featured and aimed at adults, though I guess that’s ultimately why we have the iPhone and smart phones in general. Then again, that’s basically what the DSi is for as well.
Easy Money
Oh, so the other day, I saw some dude on the subway reading a newsletter called Lotto Stats. From what I could gather, it was filled with nothing but winning lottery numbers… from the future! The whole thing is written by psychics I believe. On a side note, I normally do not read over people’s shoulders while on the train (I just think its both annoying and simply rude), but this Chinese dude was reading a paper that looked like something people at the OTB use to figure out what stuff to bet on, and I’ve always wanted to see what those were like, but once I caught the title, I simply went “whoa!” in my head.
The funny thing is, when I told this to Katie, who used to work at the newspaper stand that her dad owns and runs, she went “Yeah, we sell those.” Katie then explained how her younger sister, for laughs, made one of her own… which also sold quite well at the newsstand.
Nothing Says Love Better Than Pizza
Speaking of Katie, tomorrow is Valentine’s, though we kicked off our festivities last night with a very romantic dinner at home…
… Yes, that’s the heart shaped pizza currently being offered by Papa John’s. And yes, I order from Papa John’s, even Domino’s on occasion, even though I live in New York City. For all of you that feel like yelling “BLASPHEMER” or “YOU A**HOLE” right now can all just shut the f up. Sorry, but pizza in the Big Apple is pretty damn overrated, I’m sorry to say. In fact, I still hold strong to my belief that New Jersey pizza is better than New York’s. Many people (well, Mike mostly) still can’t believe how I lived in Bay Ridge for well over a year’s (that’s a very Italian heavy section of Brooklyn) and not have a decent slice the entire time I was there. Not once. Though I must say, every time I’ve grabbed some from Queens with Dave Roman or Hilary, I have never been disappointed.
Actually, one of the few New Year’s resolutions that I made… and have yet to live up to… was my idea for a pizza blog. Basically, at least once a week I would have a different slice from someplace, here in the city, then take a picture of it and write a brief review. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some excellent stuff to be found here, but the crap outnumbers the good by about 200 to 1. Anyway, back to last night, the entertainment for our romantic dinner was provided by Netflix on the Xbox 360. What did we watch? Coach, that’s what? What the hell? It’s Katie’s favorite show growing up!
The fun continues later today! I’m meeting Katie in the Lower East Side, for some kind of surprise. All I know is that it possibly involves both cupcakes and booze. Can’t wait! Note to self: don’t forget to record wrestling later tonight. Cuz when sports entertainment falls on a day like this, the results are always spectacular!
It’s Basically Krav Maga From What I Understand
To end things, how about another dip into the forums? This time, a best of sampling from the awesome random video thread. Recent entries include…
… Anyone remember Radiorama? Me neither.
… But I fondly recall Captain Mark, and am pretty sure everyone my age who went to art school does as well.
… I once again strongly stand by my assertion that television used to be so much better than the crap that dominates the airwaves of today. Exhibit A.
… At long last, a sequel to the film Powder.
… It ain’t easy being a Cheetah Lady.
… Those magnificent men in their flying… suits.
… I’ve seen plenty of different Indian Supermans in my time (about three to be exact), but this one takes the case because it features Spider Girl.
… Seriously, God bless Mexican wrestling.
… Same goes for black metal as well.
… An oldie but a goodie: Bj?rk talking about her TV. Doesn’t quite top that one time where she rambled on for ten minutes about potato chips, but a close second.
…. Ever wondered what it would be like to use Crisco as shampoo? Well here ya go.
… I think the real reason why ESPN will never televise video gaming is that they already tried with Magic: The Gathering and it didn’t quite work.
… Man do I ever love when the local news messes up.
… A Goofy Movie, re-envisioned by David Lynch.
… We’re about a month and half into 2009 and we already have a front runner for this year’s newest, internet superstar.
… Apparently the best robots come from… Denmark?
…Kittens, inspired by… kittens!
I-CON 28: It Begins
And finally we have this video, which highlights all the different covers to the program guides from previous I-CONS. Ah, the history! Ah, the majesty! This year is going to be BIG, I can feel it. Perhaps I shouldn’t be spilling the beans (though in all honestly, I’m a pretty important cog in the hype machine when all is said and done), but according to one of the many internal email conversations that’s going on at the moment, and its about possible plans for celebrating the 40th anniversary of the moon landing.
Apparently, some dude in Long Island (of course) not only had a real-deal space suite but an actual lunar landing module! When I told this to Katie, her basic response was “F*ck Comic Con, it’s ALL about I-Con!” But yeah… is I-Con bigger than the NYCC? Is it better? Hard to say, but it’s definitely weirder.
