August 2006

08/31/2006

Who’s Ready For Zombie Whales?

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

So pretty much more of the same since last time: still trying to get stuff done despite all the nonsense that’s getting in the way.

Didn’t end up going to that chiptunes show on Saturday night after-all. I know I mentioned that I would be too busy the previous evening, but I sorta figured that both MK & I might be able to squeeze it in, but that didn’t happen (depsite the fact MK has been wanting to check out Jeremiah perform for a while now); we simply had too much work on our plates. Though after I got done with some writing, I went over to Robin’s, who was helping MK assembled books, and after dining on pasta, we all watched the Wizard People: Dear Readers DVD that Jeremiah passed along the previous weekend. And it was pretty damn funny, even if the narrator seemed to run out of steam near the end. Then we all watched the classic replay of SNL, which didn’t feature a guest host that particular episode, so it was just the cast in assorted sketches (since this was back when, you know, the show was good and everyone in the cast was actually funny, unlike the shit they put on the air these days) with the highlight being Eddie Murphy in the classic Poetry Behind Bars/”Kill My Landlord” sketch.

On Sunday MK & I went over to John and Marion’s for dinner Sunday night, and it was nice to catch up with them since their lives have been pretty hectic as well. MST3K somehow came up, and John mentioned that Mike Nelson, the head writer for the show, as well as the guy that replaced Joel Hodgson, has a site in which he does “commentary” for more popular, mainstream flicks. It’s called RiffTrax and I’m eager to find out if his take on Star Trek V (along with Kevin Murphy, who did the voice of Tom Servo) is any funnier than the time Mike Simses & I did more or less the same exact thing, mostly to poke fun at Mike Rovin since he’s such a big fan of it (seriously).

Also during the weekend I stopped by the Barnes & Noble in Park Slope to finally check out the issue of Retro Gamer with the big cover story on the Sega Genesis that I helped out on. Reminded me that video game print media is not necessarily dead, just in this country; it’s still alive in and well in the UK, as well as Japan… I can go on and on why American game magazines are so atrocious, but I guess that’s best saved for a later time, and when I totally ready to burn all those bridges. Meanwhile MK picked up an issue of a magazine called Clamor that features an article on American Apparel that goes into all the shit that I’ve heard from various folks I know that deal with the fashion biz: the guy who runs the place is a pedo, the people who work there are treated worse than sweat-shop workers, allegations of rape, and assorted other craziness. Can’t wait to read the article myself.

On Monday night I ended up going to bed crazy early, like at 9:30, so obvliously nothing really to report there. Last night, MK & I were going to finally start watching the Lost DVD set that I’ve had forever now (I’ve seen bits and pieces of season 1 and none of season 2… I think I either teach when it airs or its movie night), but I ended up showing some choice episodes of SCTV instead. And earlier this evening we had a chance to check out a Miho Hattori show, but since Wednesday is also movie night, free movies won over paying to see music (even if its one half of the Cibo Matto, and one fourth of the Gorillaz… the fact that I’m rather poor these days also played a part in the decision making process). I brought along the Venture Brothers DVDs for the evening and everyone really dug the Fantastic Four parody episode, which I guess is no real surprise since its so damn perfect and brillant and all. Then it was Clockwork Orange in high-def followed by the last episode of Slings & Arrows which was very much excellent. Once again, if you’re a Kids in the Hall fanboy, as well as Canadian television in general, Netflix it, and get some Trailer Park Boys while you’re at it, which I just discovered via Robin is availalbe in the State!

Okay, time for what most people really want: video game talk…

- I recently got an email from Jerry Chan, a reader who both pointed out my taste for fine gaming shirts (which I’d like to think I have), as well as informed me of one that he’s designed himself. For the fans of Shadow of the Colossus…

It’s quite nice as you can see, and it’s available this upcoming September 9th, but in limited quantities, so get your check books (I guess that’s PayPal accounts) ready.

- And someone over at Insert Credit pointed out other snazzy gaming shirt, this one from Cave, based on Mushihimesama…

- Back to SOTC, remember the statue I mentioned a while back? Well more are on the way; here’s some pics of them from Wonder Festival 2006 which took place recently…

- Not really video game related, but very close to it: Comic Market/Comiket also recently took place in Japan, and IC has compiled a number of links from various sites and blogs that provides plenty of coverage. I first heard about what appears to be the biggest, and most craziest indie comic shows on the planet from Jeremiah during Otakon and I’ve been trying to read up more on it ever since (as well as dreaming about eventually going, if only to see crazy shit like this, as well as the folks who would buy it, in person). I think its safe to say that a good deal of the indie comics folks I know on this part of the world would be totally blown away by it if they only knew of its existence.

- I also found out about Operation Darkness via Insert Credit this past friday night, the strategy role-playing game set in WW2 (sorta) for the Xbox 360. I was going to mention it last time, but since I’m not much of a SRPG fan, I sorta thought, “why bother”, but since everyone seems transfixed by this piece of game art…

… maybe others might want to see more after-all. Even on the battlefield, who’s got short shorts?

- Oh, and here’s a batch of screenshots from Onechanbara X. Plus some more.

- A few might also recall me mentioning that’s yet another possible “last Dreamcast game ever” on the horizon, which is a shmup of course. It?s called Karous and its from Milestone, the maker of Radilgy. Well here’s a couple of videos from a test location (YouTube vid 1 and YouTube vid 2), and even though the quality is pretty crappy, the game still looks pretty decent (and every Radilgy-like).

- Dave (Goldstein) just passed this one along: an article that talks about the new drug culture that seems to be stemming from hardcore gaming. It’s actually a pretty crazy read; it would seem that the LAN scene has it’s own version of steroids, and its Red Bull.

- I’m also still trying to catch all the impressions out there for Xyanide (that shmup for the Xbox 1 that recently came out, which most people seem to say sucks), but otherwise, I’m actually pretty in the dark when it comes to the major gaming headlines (well mostly because its pretty boring). Though I do know that Sony is still getting a pretty vicious beating across the boards. I recently spotted this GAF thread that features pics of all the different slots on the PS3, which includes ones for Compact Flash, SD/Mini SD, and something Pro. That’s a lot. Yet… there’s still no room for a PSone/PS2 memory card slot? Fucking bullshit.

Also, I don’t understand all the details here, but according to this, the PS3 is becoming less and less powerful. This actually conforms to all the other things I’ve heard, about the much touted cell processor’s immense power being greatly exaggerated. Also, it now seems that EVERYONE officially hates Blue-Ray.

- Though the real big news in my book is that Manifesto Games finally launched earlier this week. This is awesome news, and not just because they’ll be distributing Spready Bear! Whenever its finished that is.

- So with so much shit going on, do I have any time to actually play any games? Actually, yes. Aside from quick bursts of Meteos and Dotstream, I finally got to take Burnout 2 for a spin, thanks to GameFly. It’s a nice game, and I can appreciate it for what it does (or should I say did)… but once you’ve played 3/Takedown and 4/Revenge, it impossible to go back. I really enjoy clean 3D graphics, but its pretty boring compared to the later installments, and while the intricate crashes were pretty impressive back when it came out (and I’ve been playing the Director’s Cut for the Xbox which has extra “crash points” or whatever compared to the PS2 and GameCube versions), its rather dreadfully boring to the spectacular wipeouts in the sequels. Plus they bring the game to a dead halt (excuse the pun). And I can’t figure out what’s worse, the dreadfully generic techno in part 2 (the music was actually pretty good in part 1… I even have a few mp3s that I listen to regularly) or the dreadfully generic emo/shitty excuse for punk rock (a.k.a. EA Trax) in 3/4. BTW, the best part about GameFly is that its allowing me to play all the games that I’ve always known to be shit but am still compelled to play. Next up, Auto Modellista.

- And thanks to Robin, I’ve finally been able to play Rakugaki Showtime, which I’ve been dying to do so for years now. It?s basically a not very well known arena fighter from Treasure for the PSone. All the characters and graphics look as if it was drawn in crayon. From what I’ve played, its a lot of fun, though I will confess that I haven’t played more than a three minutes, mainly because I’ve been too busy playing all the other PSone titles that’s been on my hard drive for years now and which I’ve only learned how to properly burn on my Mac (again, thanks to Robin). I have no idea why I’ve had Samurai Shodown RPG for so long, given that I can’t play it (due to not knowing Japanese and all). I’m also trying to get ahold of Tomba 2, and I found a torrent for it late Sunday night that I’ve been trying to download ever since. I got up to 97.4% and have been stuck there since this morning. God I hate BitTorrent.

- Finally, been giving OMGWTFOTL a try. It’s definitely interesting…

4 comments

08/25/2006

The Beat Goes On

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

So I’m still alive. Didn’t run fall off the face of the earth or anything. Though for a while I did have to fight off the urge to spend whatever money I had left to buy a bus ticket to Canada and start my life over there, by living in a trailer park, perhaps Sunnyvale (that’s a Trailer Park Boys reference for the 99.7% who didn’t get it btw). Oh, and fort90.com still lives!

This whole week I’ve been busy trying to “take care of business”. Hasn’t been easy in the least: as indicated, there’s been a million little things that could have gone wrong, and I didn’t pay attention, it would have spelled disaster. The whole process has also been one big “one step forward, two steps back” song and dance, but as of today, a resolution you could say has been achieved (though it could seriously blow up in my face on Monday… but I’m just too damn to worry about anything else at this point). Also, the resolution isn’t much of one, and its actually so hilariously insane that I almost can’t wait to tell friends about it; when I told my roommate about (she returned last night, which means she wasn’t obliterated by a volcano, thank God), her jaw literally dropped.

At least things things got ironed out just in the nick of time, as far as this website’s concerned; the bill from my web-host is due tomorrow, and I will be able to pay it. Though for a while I was thinking about something Ed suggested, which is basically a “Save Fort90.com” campaign, by setting up a donation via PayPal button or something. I like that better than cluttering up the site with Google ads personally…

Anyway, despite all the nonsense, I have been able to go on with my normal life, at least a tiny bit. For example, on Tuesday night, I finally saw Snakes on a Plane with MK and Robin. And I liked it! As far as B-level disaster flicks goes, it was pretty spot on: great introduction of characters at the outset, primarily folks you want to see die, and the satisfaction of the pay-off, as well as the ramping up of dangers and obstacles. To be totally honest, it was far more cohesive and even more logical than a majority of the “serious” films I’ve seen from Hollywood as of late. Oh, and the snakes and the havoc they cause was pretty awesome; I never had an aversion to them; but now I think I’m kinda freaked out by them! My only disappointment was that the kung-fu guy didn’t roundhouse any snakes, but overall, well worth the $4 I spent (I had $6 left over from a gift certificate I got from Jason during Xmas).

And as I’ve stated before, I’m starting to do more freelance now (though I sorta have to). On Wednesday night I attended IGDA‘s Demo Night 4 on the behalf of Gamasutra. Though I primarily wanted to see Dave Gilbert show off his game, The Shiva. Some might recall me talking about his game a few weeks back, which is very much like Monkey Island, but very Jewish, back when he showed it to me on the last day of class. I believe I was actually the first person to bring the IGDA to his attention when I first met him a few months ago, and there he was that night, in front of all his peers, showing off his handy-work, and I sorta felt proud for some reason. You’ll have to check out my report for the details, but I will say that everyone in attendance was super impressed; it was my favorite game of the whole evening, though the shmup that was also in attendance was also very very nice; not only is it based on Time Pilot, which is a very excellent game to take from, but its built for OS X!

Also… and I know this sounds so insane, given that I’m extremely spread thin these days, but… it would seem that I will becoming more heavily involved with the NY chapter of the IGDA in the near future. I was asked to lend my talents personally by the new head of the chapter, Wade Tinney, one of the head guys over at Large Animal Games, and I’m pretty excited by what Wade can bring to the table, and wouldn’t mind being all for the ride. Also, Wade’s smart; getting folks to do stuff on a voluntary basis is extremely tricky, but he knows the real key is to ask folks to do stuff they were already doing. Hence why he asked me to be the official chapter reporter. Hell, I attend all the events, and write reports on them, so I’m basically going to do what I was already going to.

I also found out that I’m heading to Philly in a few weeks. For the Philadelphia Zine Fest, which I had never heard of, but MK uncovered. I’ll be there, along with MK, Robin, and I believe Liz and Laura. And it’ll be the debut of RMK Book, which is a new imprint which MK came up with; we needed something to call ourselves at shows, that would encompass everyone’s stuff (there’s a website on the way, which means one convenient place to buy everyone’s books). So what does RMK stand for anyway? Well… Reed, Mary-Kate, or Robin, Matt, and Katie, or… a whole bunch of stuff, really. That also means that Katie’s books will be at the show as well!

The original name btw was going to be Super Cool, or something like that, which was what my boss back at Ubi Soft used to say whenever she saw what I was working on. Invariably she would be less than impressed, and her chief complaint/suggestion was always that it needed to be “more super cool!” At first I tried asking what the hell that meant exactly, but I never got a clear answer, just some stupid/dumbfounded look as if I was missing the obvious. And I guess I was to a certain extent: she was an idiot.

On, and I since I forgot to pass this along a whiles ago, there’s not better time than now I guess: here’s a pretty lengthy, and pretty awesome interview with my girlfriend, about her books and a whole lot of other stuff.

And despite my shortage of time, I have been able to sneak in some time to surf the web here, and there, though nothing substantial (again, I know it may seem stupid, but I have to blow some steam off and allow myself just a little bit of opportunity to goof off, especially in the face of soul-crushing bullshit). Though I’m pretty out of the loop…

I know this is really old news (hey, I’ve got a legit excuse!) but for those who don’t know yet, here’s what the new Optimus Prime looks like (its not the best picture I know, so when I find something better, I’ll replace the pic). And here’s the new Megatron….

And I know exactly what you’re thinking: what the fuck is this bullshit?! So it would seem that the good guys, the Autobots, are human-like (sorta), and the bad guys, the Decepticons, are more bug like in their appearance. They all look vaguely Terminator and Guyver-esque in their appearance. And naturally, the first real question is, given how ultra complex each character looks, how in the hell are they going to transform? And I know I risk getting a ton of flak for saying this, given where I work during the day, but the answer, to me at least, is somewhat obvious: given that the designs seem to be heavily influenced by the current state of computer animation, the transformations will in all likely hood be completely extravagant and needlessly showy. In the end, it’ll be a complete fucking eyesore.

The names of the characters was also released, or leaked, and one of the Decepticon, Frenzy, transforms into a stereo. Some might recall Frenzy being the name of one of the cassettes that was associated with Soundwave, who was the original boom box, but is now a a motherfucking HELICOPTER so now the change officially makes absolutely no goddamn sense.

As for video games, once again, I really haven’t been able to keep up, so I can’t comment on any truly hot topic issues, but I will mention the last truly amazing thing I’ve seen: a video that shows the first ten minutes of Senko no Ronde for the Xbox 360. And goddamn… this along with Dead Rising (which I know EVERYONE is playing right now), really makes me want a 360 (that and Silpheed 3 and all those revved-up Simple Series games coming out, like Oneechanbara X and Earth Defense Force X).

And here’s a thread that I ran into during my ten minutes at the Gaming Age Forums from the past entire week: a great deal of info on the booming DS homebrew scene. Just the idea of playing old LucasArts adventures on the go is SO exciting; I can maybe finally finish Grim Fandango. I’m not clear on all the details (to be totally honest, I simply haven’t had all the time to check out all the available info), but I believe you have to “flash” your DS, which I hear can be sorta dangerous for the Lite, but totally safe for the original. Hence why I’m really glad I have both!

Also, just discovered that there’s a Penny Arcade video game in the works. This news is going to either make people very excited or furiously annoyed, depeding on one’s view of the comic strip, naturally. All I can say is, hey, at least it’s not VG Cats! Though I personally would like to see a Perry Bible Fellowship game eventually.

Plus, Jeff Minter has a new game on the way for the 360, and its called Space Giraffe…

Okay, now there’s yet another reason to get a 360. Oh man…

Back to the internet as a whole, Dave (Mauro) alerted me to what I ‘m guessing with be the next “big thing” online: preved. And what is it? Its apparently a meme that originates from Russia of all places. You can read up on the whole story here, but basically, its based upon some watercolor painting of a couple having sex in the woods being surprised by a bear (kinda NSFW). So now a bunch of folks in Russia have been Photoshopping bears in all sorts of photos for comedic affect or simply playing around with the character. Here’s a taste…

Man, the internet. And Russians…

Anyway, I better get back to work. Right now, MK is off at some drawing party with Robin, and Liz I think. Better get to that Gamasutra article and get as much doen before she heads over. Though I might try to read the Fart Party mini’s that MK left over a few days ago… As for my plans for the rest of the weekend, more work, which means I’ll probably have to miss out on the Anamanaguchi new album release party/show tomorrow night at the Tank. Looks like it’ll be fun, so I’m bummed out that I’ll have to miss it, but responsibility becons. And besides, maybe one of you folks can take my place!

3 comments

08/21/2006

Worst Summer Ever? Yeah… Maybe.

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

The past couple of days have been pretty tough ones for me. Most friends by now know what I’m referring to, specifically the bombshell news I received late Thursday afternoon, so I guess there’s no reason to revisit it (plus I still don’t want to go in specifics around here, out in the open like).

But before going any further, I just want to thank everyone for their kind words and well wishes. Its always gratifying to know that, when things are really bad, one can always count on friends for support. I sincerely appreciate it.

Again, not to go into specifics, but my situation is still rather bleak for the time being, though I am working towards a solution that will hopefully allow me to get on with my life with at least some sense of normalcy (the thing is, arrangements are being made, and if things pans out, everything will be fine, but there’s just so many little things that could lead it all to just fall apart, and if that happens, I’m seriously screwed). I guess the worst part is how much of a huge mental blow it’s all been, and I will admit openly that it?s really sidetracked my productivity and work-flow, which was already strained to begin with. And the timing of all this couldn’t be any worse (well then again, what time is ever good for bad news?), hence why for example I must “regroup” so to speak. I was supposed to visit Sony to check out the PS3 today for example, but at this point, more pressing matters must be taken care of first (I’m sure there’s still twenty page NeoGAF thread waiting for me with all the 411 anyway).

Speaking of, I was the most depressed Thursday evening, during which a bunch of folks asked what my Snakes on a Plane plans were (which, not to be all mister internet cool, but is something I’ve talkin’ about for years now, way before it became some pop-culture phenom, ya bunch of jumping on the band-wagon noobs). I had to decline, simply because stuff like movies and video games and surfing the internet just seemed so… distant, of so little consequence. I just felt like crawling into a hole and never coming out. But since then I’ve been feeling a bit better, and I’ve come to realize that totally shutting myself off from the outside world is maybe not the best idea. I even took up on Dave Mauro’s offer and stopped by his place this past weekend for some beer and to play Melty Blood: Act Cadenza. Its a pretty neat game btw, all the characters are either young school girls or maids, plus there’s one dude which has been affectionately dubbed “Wolf Cock”. I’ve even found myself surfing the web for game related news a tiny bit here and there, even though I really can’t afford to so right now (but doing what I would normally be doing, no matter how unproductive it may be, can be sort of a good thing).

In the end, I’m trying to keep everything in perspective. I really can’t feel too sorry for myself, not when far more horrific and crazy-ass shit is happening to all my friends. I can’t speak for everyone, but it just seems that everyone in my immediate circles are having the absolute roughest time this summer. Case in point, my roommate is missing. She went down to South America a few weeks back to do some traveling, and right as she was about to head towards the Amazon or something, her region got hit with massive (and I believe sudden) volcanic activity. No one’s heard from her since. Mind you, I’m only mentioning this because it sounds so out there, plus I have a feeling she’s okay (if Americans really do go seriously missing, doesn’t the news here go apeshit over such things?). As for my other friends’ struggles… they’re really not that “entertaining”, hence why I’ll stop right here. So I guess I don’t have it that bad, though I wish I could say “at least I have my health!” but all the stress is making my bloody ulcer even bloodier.

Anyway, with all that in mind, I might have to take some time off from updating this site, at least for a short bit. Not to toot my own horn, but I’m actually quite proud of the fact that what started out as a stupid little “writing exercise” and a means to just pass along stuff to my circle of friends has become something that a bunch of people enjoy. It’s been a great feeling. But there’s a price to pay unfortunately, and I’m afraid I might not be able to make this month’s hosting bill (yeah, I have that kind of problem). So if you see this site disappear, just check back ever once in a while.

Also, if my site gets killed, there’s a good chance my email may go with it, so if you send me something and it gets bounced back, try my other alternate email address (my main back-up, the PixelJump one, as you might recall is in limbo). It’s FortNinety at Gmail dot com.

Guess that’s it for now. Over and out.

2 comments