As you may have noticed this is no longer on the main page anymore. I chose to replace the main page with a basic "I'm not a scary devil man" type text blurb so I wouldn't scare off potential clients... yeah, given that TFO.net is starting to be a very important tool in my job hunting, it probably wouldn't do to have my employers start up the browser and see, oh, say, the last sentence of my previous post.
Traded in old crap to get Donkey Konga. I wish I hadn't. There are literally only four songs in the game that I can stand. Still, it's a unique concept for the 'Cube and hopefully it will catch on. It's just very disappointing that the setup relies so heavily on being a Donkey Kong-themed game, and thus for kids.
I'm still having trouble getting anywhere in the Palborough Mines... even after getting the map I seemed to have come upon a bit of trouble. I went in this morning and did some exploring, when all of a sudden eight beetles and four Quadavs started in on me. No, I do not know how I managed to gain 12 creature's aggro, but I suspect it might have had something to do with the beetle I tried to kill from the other side of the underground river. Note to self: ranged attack plus barricade does not equal OMFG NO AGGRO.
The Pop'n blitz has taken a bit of a slow turn of late as I've been trying to balance time between the myriad projects I still have open (which reminds me, sending reviews now...). Still, I am progressing on 9-line mode, slowly but surely. Probably a bit too slowly as everyone seems to be beating every single high score I manage to set.... rrrgh. I'm not mad, really. Just a little frustrated that there's still only 24 hours in a day and that I have to spend at least nine of them sleeping.
I'd promised a report on Season 2 of Babylon 5 in my last post, and to be honest I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fourteen plot twists that were in the last episode. I do like Sheridan a hell of a lot more than Sinclair; Delenn really should not have grown hair, it just looks dumb; Lennier, Vir, and Na'Toth need to just kill everyone else and run the diplomacy thing themselves... Oh, and Londo needs to pull his head out of Morden's ass PDQ. But Rangers? Come on, you could have picked a better noun than Rangers... I keep expecting them to have bows, or at the very least cowboy hats and tin stars. But no. They're fricking spies. Call them spies! Rangers are elven, these yutzes are spies! ...yeah, I'm nitpicking. And who woulda thought that Kosh-- ah ah ah... no spoilers; you are not ready.
I miss Karsh. Heck, I'd even settle for Koch.
The Erie crew is asking (demanding, really) that I watch RahXephon. I am about seven episodes in and so far am less than impressed. All I really understand is that Ayato was in the big marble-looking thing; now he's not, and he's piloting a giant mecha which is explicitly not an Eva unit, and there's something weird going on with sounds. Oh, and Quon makes no #$%@ing sense. Cute chick, but what comes out of her mouth isn't really a discernable language of any type, so much as random babble. That's cool, just as long as she needs me to help her with the front hooks...
ahem
And finally, Shaolin Soccer. It's been a week and a half since I finished watching it, and I'm still amazed at what a great movie it was. An excellent climax and a pretty good message... it wasn't as good as I'd heard, but it was worth what I'd paid. Maybe we'll see it sometime.
Anyway, oh, hey! It's October, meaning a new AMV! I'll get on that right away.Wednesday, October 6, 2004 4:21:23p: *
So yeah. Seeing as this is almost a week since I last made mention of my continued existence, I figure I ought to make mention of a few things that have struck me.
First, to Rick: damn you to hell, you and your vile, treacherous Pokemon-catching. I dug out my old Game Boy Color and picked up a used copy of Crystal, primarily because of you, but also because the whole atmosphere here in the beginning of October, the nascent days of summer and autumn rising, always reminded me of the game ever since Gold and Silver were released. Yeah, I'm a great big sentimental moron. Still, having the GBC nearby reminds me that the new DS will not support the old library; so I still don't feel too bad about ditching the SP back in April or whever I did it. I do feel a little pang of regret that I got rid of the GB Player, and Sapphire along with it... but the DS is mere months, yea, weeks away and I am a patient man. Still, Rick, consider yourself duly damned.
I have to reconsider my previous thoughts on Donkey Konga since being away from the game for a while. (I brought none of my gaming gear with me to Sharon this trip save the GBC, which I had honestly forgotten was in my laptop bag for some inexplicable reason, and the laptop, which I needed in the continuing pursuit of employment.) Tycho claims that the game's core mechanism, spec. clapping and/or striking, twangs something deep within all people. He's probably right. I'm probably very jaded by years of DDR and the Eurobeat/trance/strangeness of Bemani, and thus probably ill-equipped to make a fair assessment of DK. Still, you have to look at the Gamecube's core constituency-- younguns, and those hardcore enough to yearn for the old days that Nintendo so eagerly doles out, in that order. Appeasing one will alienate the other. I'm thinking Nintendo may have marketed themselves into a nice little corner there by trying to play both sides of the fence. And y'know what? Ultimately it returns to the DS. Big N has a very interesting proposition here, claiming that the DS is not meant to replace the GBA; designing the system to include the decidedly not-kids'stuff Pictochat as part of the machine's firmware is a step in diverging the demographics. And all things being equal it is a very, VERY risky proposition. Nintendo could strong-arm its developers into leaving kids' fare on the GBA and focus the DS development on more mature content, but that would be suicidal given that they've very shakily regained third-party trust since the N64. Alternately, they could abandon all pretense of coexistence and dump the GBA within six months, similar to the N64. They're not exactly in a position like Sony, where they could attempt to continue milking the older platform 'till the end of time... but it's close enough to spit, to paraphrase Pez in full dwarf regalia.
Speaking of that, I'm thinking I need to get my D&D on soon. I've got a decent plan set out with a couple ready-made modules, but I could use a little bit of polish. I'll be workin' on that for a couple weeks, so the DDR crew should keep their eyes open.
Anyway, last in the news this evening comes word that one of my own personal heroes, Rodney Dangerfield, passed away this week at the age of 82. I was always a fan of his comedic style, the self-deprecation exaggerated to a hilarious point. To say he influenced my own style would be a bit of an understatement. In any event, he will be missed. Sleep in light, Mr. Dangerfield. You have my respect, as always.
I should be back in Erie tomorrow evening, to witness the Return of the Jew. Caleb's back in town, boys and girls, and he's going to bring it Hebrew-style.Thursday, October 14, 2004 10:57:29p: *
Holy balls, Batman! ("The Pope is in trouble, Robin?!") I'm sort of slacking off here, aren't I?
First, and probably most important. I am working on a few bits of code here and there to add a new Dynamic Toy to the site, this one featuring l337 P3r1 ski11z. I'm thinking an English-to-Vorlon translator or some other highly text-based setup. Perl shines brightest when handling text manipulation, and I want to make an example of its utility.
I hadn't really given much thought to Season Three of Babylon 5 just yet as I'm still reeling from the shocks. I left off just deep enough into Season Four to know that yes, for the most part, the status quo remains on board B5. Well, give or take a few aliens and body parts, that is. I am really becoming impressed with how much Londo and Vir are developing as characters... just as much as I am becoming irritated with Marcus. Please don't tell me all the Rangers are like that. Still, he does fit the "I look like Aragorn" part of the Ranger description nicely. If what they did to Sinclair is at all like what they did to Garibaldi, it's no wonder they're both as grouchy as they are. I miss the old flippant Garibaldi. I also miss the non-stressed-out-of-her-mind Ivanova. I was wondering when Sheridan and Delenn would get around to doing the horizontal polka diagonal mambo... come to think of it, if those are the beds, it's a wonder there are any little Minbari running around.
Oh yeah, how many Minbari does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Just one. But she has to spend seven weeks ritually purifying the bulb before she begins and another four months eulogizing the old one after she's done.
Yeah, I went there. I took the one-way bus into Nerdsville, population: me. Anyway.
I still have not watched more of RahXephon primarily because what I did see did not impress me in the slightest and quite frankly I think Quon is a big tease. Among other things. Though if I do finish up Season 4 before I get a job I might be persuaded to check it out.
What I did pick up as well with a few bonus point vouchers was Azumanga Daioh 2 & 3. Having practically memorized most of the series up to this point I skipped straight to the last episode on Disc 3 solely for the "Nyamo is totally blitzed" scene. And yes. This single scene is the key balance that would decide whether or not I'd ditch what I had or continue collecting the US-release discs. ADV handled the dubbing of my favorite scene in the entire series-- in pretty much all of anime to this point...
....really, really well. I was impressed! Genuinely and truly impressed. Despite the atrocious casting and shout-acting I think it worked really well and I would relish the opportunity to see how they handled everything else. So my fears are, to a certain extent, assuaged. It's still the only scene I'll turn the dub back on for. And I do kind of miss the fan subtitles. "All pervy and stuff"? Ergh.
On the plus side, I did get the neko-conecco pin out of it. So it's not all bad.
Some of you may have noticed a change on the Links page, adding a new disclaimer to the Gaming Sites tab. Yes, I am now a guest reviewer for NetJak, working alongside the accursed bones of my eternal Poke-rival, Rick. (Unless he happens to have a Vulpix he's willing to part with... I didn't see I couldn't get that one in Fire Red...) I hope that soon I'll be able to bump that to full-fledged staffer, but we'll see. In the meantime I'll be plumbing the depths of my collection looking the the best, the brightest, and the most stellar examples of absolute crap. I swear to you now I intend to write one unflattering review before I make it to the top, and if I'm lucky it won't just be one.
There is much for me yet to do tonight, folks, so I'll cut this short. In the meantime, enjoy the evening.Friday, October 15, 2004 8:14:27p: *
Car accident. Nnnnrgh. Let's not talk about that 'till I know more. All I'll say is nobody was hurt and it looks like the Gustaff's days are numbered.
At the urgings of Pez, I am preparing myself mentally and verbally for NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, which is November 1st to 30th. The objective is the completion of a 50,000 word novel/novella in thirty days. Well, I did it before and I can do it again (the actual time spent writing "If God Will Send His Angels" was just about thirty days, given that there was a month and a half hiatus in there while I moved from Cuba to Erie). Given my style of writing this evens out to about three pages a day. I can do three pages a day, maybe more. I know I can.
I just have no idea what I want to write about. Unlike Pez, I never really had much of a framework for a story in mind after "Angels". And I certainly don't want to do anything fanfictionish. However, checking out the forums there, I am pretty much convinced that there exists the support base that I need. We shall see.
Anyway, doing some site-update work to prep for the event and then clearing my mind for a while. Later.Wednesday, October 20, 2004 10:21:13a: *
Hey. Not sure if I mentioned this at any point before, but Maple Story, a 2D side-scrolling MMO, now has an English-language client. I first saw it in RPGamer's Japandemonium column some couple months ago and it looked very intriguing. Seeing how as the game appears to be free for now, I'm going to download the client and go from there. I'm very impressed that the web site uses actual English and not the anguished groans that the first RO or Gunbound sites did.
Given that it's a 175 MB download I might use that as the AMV for November, since I certainly can't do both. I really do feel bad that I didn't put up a new video for October; I wasn't sure what I should have put up and none of the funny ones I had seemed very funny at the time. Well, we'll see what comes next, hmm?
Still no new leads on jobs. I'm searching more areas later today.
And that's really all I have to say. No game news just yet; once I get a better understanding of the WWE/THQ lawsuit and have something more substantial to report besides snarky comments regarding "racketeering" (snark snark), I might comment on that. Same goes for any news about Kirby & The Amazing Mirror. However, you will be pleased to know that I managed to pick up a Game Boy SP and Pokemon Fire Red with some trade-ins, so I'm keeping pretty busy there. Now if I could just get through the #@%$ing Rock Tunnel without having to run back to the entrance every ten seconds....
AYARGH! Client download failed, Furry ANGRY! Going to try from the other computer. Later, kids.Thursday, October 28, 2004 10:30:04a: *
You know, one of these days I'm going to remember to update this thing more than once a week. Since it's not on the main page anymore I imagine only maybe three or four people are still reading it anyway, but meh.
Actually, the real reason I haven't been updating is because being a jobless bum precludes me from being able to keep up with the latest advances in gaming, and also because without that angle my life is pretty boring. Although last night I did have a dream that I was using a lightsaber to cut down some old wood paneling in a narrow hallway, and that my sister yelled at me for it, even though she was taking the paneling down on the other end of the hallway. But that's just a dream.
Trade-ins have been good to me, though, and I'm catching up on budget and Greatest Hits titles that I would have overlooked. Specifically Katamary Damacy, Tony Hawk's Underground, and Star Wars: Rogue Leader. I did binge and pick up Mario Kart: Double Dash a week or so ago, but that's not much fun without a partner or three. I probably ought to get Final Fantasy X-2 back from... uh, whoever I lent it to so that I can finish it. And then there's the matter of my next review for NetJak... still torn between reviewing Lunar or dredging up something terrible from the pits of EB Hell. The Lunar review is written and just needs to simmer for a while 'till I can edit it; but I haven't yet fulfilled my promise of ripping a game apart and quite frankly I've been itching for a fight. Maybe I could go back even further and badmouth an SNES game that nobody's ever heard of-- HyperZone. I thought that game was the shizzle back when I was 12 and by the time I actually got around to buying it (at age 22)... boy, was I disappointed.
So, novel writing month. I'm still set to participate and the kickoff is merely days away-- so why am I now starting to worry? I know I can write three pages a day, as writing that much will probably only take me an hour or so each day-- but there are certain logistical issues which I have yet to address, such as: Should I make it viewable to the public? If so, where? When it's done should I just yank it down until it can be published? How will I be able to get feedback on my story if I keep it to myself? Should I just keep it to myself, since this is the first year and all? Should I participate in the Erie area events (which Pez is coordinating, and quite frankly doing a damn good job with)? At this point, three days away, I have so many questions and not enough answers.
On the plus side, I know what I'm going to write about. I probably ought to scribble down some notes on that now that I'm thinking about it.
Anyway, that's life for now. I also had the insane idea that I wanted to start developing a CCG-style game for the site, and to that end even picked up some index cards and started making mockups of the cards to be used. I still want to do that but with the novel heating up it's probably best for me to set that on the back-burner and just go for one thing at a time. You know what my problem is? I have so many great ideas at the same time and I can only work on one at a time. Well, all right, I usually work on seven things at once but I'm supposed to just work on one thing at a time. Ciao for now, kiddies. I'll probably post a bit more often once I start writing on the novel.Friday, October 29, 2004 7:58:13a: *
So Peach is going to be her own hero this time. Part of me is thinking "you go girl!" but part of me also realizes it's going to be hella hard-- I mean come on, Bowser keeps kidnapping her, so she has to have a stamina of what, negative twenty-nine? Of course if she's backed up by an alien-busting super-soldier Peach might have a little bit more toughness this time... wait, no, she's just got that stupid umbrella. Whatsamatter, Nintendo, couldn't you have gone for the Full Misogyny and given her the frying pan or the golf club? She's only been a staple of the gaming landscape for twenty years, you'd think she's earned a little skill with something that could be used as a real weapon.
Oh God. Oh hells no. I just got a terrible mental image of Peach in a pink jumpsuit wielding Hattori Hanzo steel with the words "KIRU MARIO" in huge katakana in the background, and I am now officially scared.
On a related note, Ms. Taylor has the right idea. Win big in the game industry by being an integral part of two systems' killer apps. All she has to do is figure out how to join the cast of Metal Gear Solid 3 and she'll have the trifecta. We shall see... hey, it could happen-- look who's in the cast for Eternal Darkness.
Let's move on for the moment. I am, as I have always been, morally opposed to the use of cheat devices in video games (though I am not averse to reaping the rewards of cheaters-- say, knowing that a certain unlockable exists, for example). I am also horribly and completely addicted to Pokemon, and had for quite some time considered purchasing a cheat device solely for that game. Now, think of me what you will for that, but it's a quandary I've struggled with since the first time I was frustrated by the blue version's insane upswing in difficulty. (Somewhere between Pokemon Tower and the Silph Co. building, or more generally the fourth and fifth badges, the games always take a dramatic turn for the hair-wrenchingly difficult.) Now as I said, I won't cheat if I don't have to, and I especially won't cheat when I know that my cheating could put me on an uneven balance with my allies or rivals-- particularly in competitive games such as DDR or Pokemon. But it's getting to a point where even I have to wonder if it's worth it... Looking at it now, I realize that I can't get a full set of Pokemon without the Pokemon Colosseum, and actually I won't be able to then because I only have one GBA and can't trade between Fire Red and Sapphire without either a second one or the Pokemon Box software. Coincidentally, Box is useless to me until I finish the main quest in Fire Red, and to date I've only ever finished Blue and Silver, having given up on Sapphire long ago until rediscovering it. So, at minimum I'm faced with an additional purchase to Catch 'Em All(tm) the right way, or a purchase and just a few hours' hacking to Steal 'Em All.
Given that I have no idea when a job is going to present itself, the cheat device is looking mighty tempting... but then again, once I finish that, what will I do with all my free time? Oh yeah-- FFX2, Katamari Damacy, and THUG. Which of course brings me to my next topic, games are too short... but I've rambled on long enough and it's time for breakfast. Later, folken. I'll try to keep everyone updated on the Peach game as news presents itself.Sunday, October 31, 2004 6:48:14p: *
Quick note tonight: I have to say that while I like bees, I love beams. Nintendo's starting to get into the whole "negative campaign" spirit with this, but to be honest I think it's just meant to be a little tongue-in-cheek and only for the hardest of hardcore. Still, the ad was enough to give me a little chuckle. Thanks to GameSpot for mentioning it int he Rumor Control column this week.
No thanks to Zoe Flower and GameSpy who continue to dredge through the same tired old garbage. "Tee hee, I'm a gamer with two X chromosomes! Love me! But if you say anything sexist I'll quad damage your ass!" I'm continually offended by all the blatant sexism in games-- hey, just take a look at my comments below on Super Princess Peach-- but there's no point in belaboring the fact. Stop whining and do something about it. Girl gamers need to drop that moniker altogether and just go with "gamer" like everyone else-- which is Ms. Flower's point, but trussed up too deeply in the typical tripe I've come to expect from supposedly prominent female figures in the industry.
Just once I'd like to see Stevie Case answer a few questions about her career that make a point of not mentioning the fact that she has boobs or that she was once dating John Romero. Hell, I could date John Romero, but do you think that would make me instantly popular? Nope. (Besides, dating John is a very hypothetical situation-- particularly because we'd fight on whether to play Daikatana or UT2K4. And also because I'm not gay-- but don't even get me started on the "gay gamers"... same problem, different issue.)