06/22/2009

“If that was real, it would be such a tragedy!”

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

So instead of my very first New York Asian Film Fest report, since I’ve only seen two movies thus far, and I like to wait till I have a million things to talk about before filing a report, how about another post filled to the brim with gaming news and nonsense? But first, the weekend, starting with yesterday…

A Story About A Vampire, Finger-Banging A Japanese Woman, Or Something Like That

So the zine show at the Ding Dong Lounge was… interesting. To be honest, I kinda feel bad for complaining, especially since there’s really wasn’t much to bitch in the grand scheme of things; to begin with, both Katie and I had zero expectations going in, given how unpublicized the entire affair was, neither of us were expecting a mint. Plus after MoCCA, we both wanted something far more laid back and less pressure sensitive, which we certainly got. The tables were absolutely dirt cheap, which also lessened any pressure, plus there was free booze and bagels. And the girl running the entire thing was nice as could be.

The entire affair could be best summed up as this tiny little thing run by a similarly modest and seemingly tight-knit community, more or less for themselves it felt like, that myself and Katie along with our friend Jenny, total strangers, were somewhat crashing. It was by far the smallest show I’ve both attended and participated in; there were only six tables selling stuff in total by my count, and when you exclude both me and Katie’s set-up as well as Jenny’s, that means a grand total of four, with everyone else appearing to be good pals, so the vibe on that end was definitely on the weird side. At least Katie and I had the coolest table!

The three of us had zero idea how publicized the event was, though going in we had this sneaking suspicion that it basically wasn’t, which was later confirmed by the extremely low amount of attendees. As in virtually none. Though the primary issue was how it echoed the punk rock mini comic shows that used to run (and perhaps still do), which tried to combine comics and live performances to poor effect. Yet instead of blaring loud music in a tight confined space, which was fine if you’re there to enjoy the music, but which made both selling and checking out comics, primarily interacting with either artists or customers whatever the case may be, just flat out annoying, here we had assorted folks reciting poetry and short stories. And not to be a douchebag, but a lot of it was flat-out awful.

Things kicked off with a pair of ultra uptight feminists, and it was funny how Jenny noted that she was invited to attend something similar at that same time, to hear a bunch of Latino women talk about their day to day affairs, such as preparing food, meaning stories about rice and beans, and here she was instead, hearing about… how to eat quail. Along with numerous issues and problems that only white people could possibly related to. Surprisingly, only one of the two bitched about their mothers. And not just these two dames, but practically everyone on stage that afternoon was able to convey to the rest world how little they get laid by how hard and heavy they emphasized any word that had anything to do with sex. But the lowest part was how for whatever reason, a mom and dad came showed up with their eight year old kid, and around that time one of the chicks starting going into her boring sexual exploits, and the parents immediately made their exit.

Not all of the acts were totally wretched, thankfully. There was this dude whose an art teacher in the Bronx that put on a puppet show based on anecdotes from the job and that was pretty cool. The puppets themselves were actually nicely rendered illustrations done in black & white, and then made into paper cut outs, but they still had a good degree of motion. Also the accompanying set was pretty fab; unfortunately, couldn’t take a pic of anything since the stage was dark, the puppets themselves were pretty small, plus I think my camera is dying. Then there was this other dude who told a story, but it was a work of fiction, about a wannabe vampire who finger-bangs some middle aged Japanese divorcee that he finds on Craigslist, or something. To be honest, I couldn’t really follow along, but because the dude telling it wasn’t at all pretentious like his fellow storytellers, plus he had a pretty neat looking cowboy hat (also, he bought stuff from us), I didn’t mind.

But then you had this “collective” in which one guy would tell a story and another guy provided a soundtrack (or a “soundscape”; I never actually heard that term being used, but they totally seemed the type to throw such terms around) with a theremin, which would have been cool if not for the fact that instead of the generic theremin hum it was programmed to play annoy crowd sounds at even more annoying frequencies. The first of two speakers had a tall tale about a Russian woman going to a job interview with a chainsaw, and it’s amazing how such a premise that’s ripe with potential could end up so mind-meltingly boring. The second one I couldn’t understand because he literally had the mic in his mouth while he spoke, and in the ensuing headache from the feedback was both me and Katie’s signal to get the hell out of dodge. This was near the end of the show, but with almost two hours left, a part of me was afraid that we’d be missing out on some last minute influx of people, though Jenny who stayed behind noted that nothing of the like occurred. Then again, she left only twenty minutes afterward; her final Tweet from the show was, “Reader used phrase ‘escape my privilege’. I’m outta here.” So yeah, that’s more or less it. Wish I could say more, but there honestly wasn’t much else. Show kinda blew, but once again, it didn’t cost us hardly nuthin. Besides, it’s always been about this weekend’s zine fest in Brooklyn anyhow.

Afterwards was a trip downtown, to the ITM Lounge in SoHo, for the opening reception of Joe Simko’s one-man show!

… Unfortunately, Katie and I couldn’t stick around too long; the day before she wasn’t feeling so hot and was still trying to recover, while I myself had only three hours of sleep the night before. Which meant missing out on most the musical performances, including Deth Race. Bummer.

Hey, I Actually Like Grand Theft Auto 4 Now! Somewhat

The day before, Saturday, was the Mermaid Parade, but didn’t go due to the crap weather. Actually, it wasn’t all that horrible, but just didn’t feel like taking that risk of getting on the train while there’s only a light drizzle out, and then arrive in Coney Island an over later with a full-on tornado all of a sudden going on. Plus, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey was involved this year, and can’t say I’m a big fan of that. Yes, I’ve heard that they’ve really stepped up with their treatment of wild animals and all, but whatever.

Instead, just stayed at home (no else felt like leaving their houses that day either) and played a much of games. My copy of Flower, Sun, and Rain arrived the day before, courtesy of XSEED, so kept me busy in the morning. Came at a good time too; needed a break from Ghostbusters for the 360, which for whatever reason hasn’t been clicking with me. Among other things… it’s not very funny. A related issue is the wonky visuals; just not a fan of the graphics nor the animation, which clearly aren’t up to snuff for rendering Bill Murray and company, which in turn kills much of the comedic performances. But I’m still early into things, so gonna reserve final judgment till a bit later on, though games generally start out super polished and become progressively rougher around the edges, never the other way around.

Then you had the OutRun Online session later that evening, with literally half the time spent on trying to figure out how to host a game so my pal Rob in California and I could play together. I thought this stuff was supposed to be simple? Afterwards was some Burnout Paradise; I really dig Big Surf Island because it’s tight and confined, whereas its far too easy to get lost in the main game, though I still find myself going into showtime mode whenever I get bored, plus it’s the only thing I’m actually good at in the game. Katie thinks it’s hilarious, yet the spectacle of it all still managed to illicit the quote at the very top. She does have a point there.

Also, believe it or not, had a grand old time with Grand Theft Auto 4 the night before, courtesy of Dave Maruo; it would seem the only way to really play the game is with a pal online, but with no other players or cops to get in the way. Bonuses include lots of awesome firepower being readily available, along with the best cars, plus Manhattan is easily accessible. We blew almost an hour trying to create a gigantic car pile in the middle of Time Square for a gigantic chain react explosion via rocket launchers. So yeah, just another Friday night.

Oh, finally gave Virtual On Marz a spin; recently got a brand new PS2 modded and been running it through its paces by firing up assorted domestic, imported… and yes, bootleg… PSone and PS2 titles, including that one. Got the game maybe three of four years ago, but never actually got around to checking it out till this very weekend! And it does indeed suck as much as everyone has said it does. Goes nothing it going to beat the Sega Saturn version. There’s also a few others that I wanted to talk about, but can’t think of them at the moment, so moving on…

Shia LaBeouf Hates People Who Like The Wii

When was the last time I went over a bunch of random game related items for those who might have missed them? Feels like ages. Again, it’s sure to be old news for most, though I’m confident some of it will be new to somebody out there…

- One of the biggest news items from the last week was Activision’s head honcho telling Sony that either the price of the PS3 is dropped or they stop making games for it. Needless to say, Sony is rather non-plussed by such a demand.

Some feel that such a move would be reminiscent of EA’s refusal to support the Dreamcast, which is believed it be one primary reason why that platform died prematurely. Interesting analogy, but the video game world of today is quite different from back then; EA was one of the few software powerhouses as the time, and their Madden was easily one of the hottest things going at the time… still is today, though there’s plenty of others out there. Meanwhile, Activision is just one of many big time publishers, and their ace in hole, Guitar Hero, is not exactly on fire these days.

The real funny this is how it’s actually one of the least douchiest Activision-related headlines as of late. Aside from all the retarded sounding Guitar Hero spin-offs that they plan of flooding the market with, there’s them suing Double Fine to prevent the release of Br?tal Legend. And to a lesser extent, their assertion that people are not interested in a game based on Generation One Transformers. Yet people are willing to buy Guitar Hero Van Halen, filled with Weezer songs? Give me a break. But yeah, they’re definitely up there on my list of game companies that I wish would just disappear or something.

- Meanwhile, one guy at MS says there’s gonna be a new console, and another guy says no. Eh, if it happens, it happens. Again, totally not thrilled about it, but the time for such an announcement is now, especially for MS who technically has every reason to: their current console is the oldest on the block, plus they have this hot “new” technology to exploit. I just wonder if I’ll get the Xbox 720 before or after I get a PS3?

- Not nearly as big, but noteworthy nonetheless in my book: Nintendo for whatever stupid reason is is pulling the plug for posting screenshots, replays, and custom maps in Super Smash Bros Brawl at the end of this month. Huh? Then again, this is Nintendo we’re talking about. It’s clear as day to anyone… especially Brawl players out there… that they clearly do not care about online play. What a shame indeed. I wonder how many people even bother with online Brawling in the first place?

- And in not so nearly as bad news, a new Tingle game is on the way! Sweet. No idea what it’s gonna be just yet… maybe another RPG? Will it actually come out in America this time? Will one have to import the European version? Will there be a European version at least? That’s the questions I want to ask the fortuneteller on the teaser site.

- Speaking of Nintendo, Raina Lee passed this one along, mostly for the zine, since she knows that I’m into brilliant and heinous examples of video game fashion. Hipster-dipster Brooklynites plus Mario equals

… Reminds me of this but even lamer. EDIT: Here’s some more, for anyone that’s interested. I’m a big fan of sexy ladies, not just in the flesh, but in video games, and even like it when they merge, such as in cosplay. But I find burlesque in general to be… not my cup of tea.

- Sticking with hipsters and video games, though I’m guessing unintentionally, comes this

- Meanwhile, when it comes to video game themed shoes, these Galaga kicks are not so bad in my book

- As for this week, thus far the big news is how Grand Theft Auto’s Chinatown Wars, which was supposed to be this big DS exclusive, is being ported to the PSP. Hey, I thought the whole reason for leaving the PSP in the first place was because prior installments for over there were such huge bombs?

- And this week’s biggest non-news item, and back to Transformers for a sec, has to be Shia LaBeouf, who is starting to get up there on everyone’s top ten list of annoying and arrogant young Hollywood hot-shot that would just OD and die already, and his opinions of the Wii…

Q: “What’s wrong with the Wii?”
A: “This is how in a simple way you can find out if it’s a gamer you want to play with. Ask them if they have a Wii. If they say yes, get the f*** out of there.”

The rest of the interview provides further insight when it comes to his video game tastes. He also really likes Godfather 2. The video game. I can’t believe I used to find that kid entertaining. I also can’t believe that out of anyone from Even Stevens, he’s the guy who makes it big. There is no God.

- Guess which game has been officially classified as a bomb? The Bionic Commando revival, that’s what. The reason? I actually completely agree with Kotaku’s assessment that it was mostly the absolutely horrid demo’s fault. I too was all excited to learn how this crazy new beast would perform, and next thing you know, I’m in the middle of this multiplayer melee with absolutely zero idea what I’m doing, nor any advice to get started.

It was actually pretty high on my list of games to play the first chance I got, but it also came out at a bad time for me (and Capcom never passed along a copy either). Will get it eventually, if only for the Mike Patton fan in me.

- Metal Gear Online recently got an update, giving gamers lots of tits to play around with. It goes without say that Sankaku Complex is all over this news.

- They were also the first to reveal that Dream Club will prominently feature groping

- Related: Tiny Cartridge points out that some Star Radish footage is available in the latest trailer for Doki Majo Plus. Though I still can’t figure out if Eric is truly disgusted with the primary game’s little girl groping or is just trying to look dignified.

- Also on that note, another major story item that actually broke weeks ago, while I was too wrapped up with the Connecticut Film Fest and MoCCA to address in a timely manner, was how “rape games” have officially been banned in Japan. Once again, I realize I risk looking like a gigantic creep for stating the following, but this is pretty wrong. Sorry, but please refer to me any proof that a video game could possibly lead any sane person to rape another human being. And even if you can, I’ll probably quickly dismiss it since there’s a report to prove and support any point.

Yet it’s still business as usual, though certain parties are making necessary adjustments to avoid the law; my favorite example of this would have to be Gang Raped By The Entire Village/Girls Covered In Milky Liquid… now henceforth know as The Trap Set By The Entire Village/Bodies Covered In Milky Liquid.

- Those crazy kids at Something Awful are at it again, this time with fake title screens NES games based on B movies from its time

… I’m kinda shocked there was never a Howard the Duck game. After all, there was one for Hudson Hawk.

- I really, really, REALLY wished I was in LA last weekend. Why? To play the new J. Otto Seibold game, of course…

- Also pissed that I missed out on The Autumn Society’s 80s Pop Show, which took place earlier this month in Philly (which I could have totally made), due to assorted game centric pieces like this…

- At least here in NYC, we have X Initiative?s No Soul for Sale, which is set to feature a one night only arcade featuring games like Sexy Hiking, The Thrill of Combat, and something new from the always awesome Cactus! Hopefully my camera might be somewhat useful that evening.

- Then later this weekend is the opening for a solo show centered on the work of the noted 8-bit-guerrilla artist from France, Invader. But instead of just focusing on his Space Invaders-themed pieces, it’s supposed to cover his use of blocks as a whole, which he calls Rubickubism. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend since I’ll be in the midst of the New York Asian Film Festival, but hopefully I’ll be able to convince Dave to check it out and file a report!

- Meanwhile in Japan, there’s an exhibition going on called The Death of Mario. I’m unable to find many images, but at least the show’s poster is pretty neat..

- Since we’re here already, may as well spend a little extra time over at Offworld; as noted in the past, Brandon’s constantly striving to be the ultimate go-to guy for every single wacky Super Mario mod out there, so here we have Super Mario played with a theremin. Though I have to wonder how this is any different than using the U-Force.

- It’s also the best place for ultra hip, video game-y music vids, like this one.

- Hey, it’s a really old Game Boy commercial featuring a bunch of folks from The State/Viva Variety/Reno 911/Wet Hot American Summer/Stella? On a side note, thank God MTV is finally releasing The State on DVD!

- Check out this amazing Ninja Gaiden papercraft!

- Brandon was naturally the very first one to pass word of Reset Generation finally becoming available on the Mac, since he’s the biggest…. and only fan of the title I personally know of. The concept is pretty interesting, and is the execution, but… still not my kind of game.

- Seriously, there’s going to be a Lars Von Trier video game?

- This one guy’s attempt at uncovering the meanings behind the names of famous game characters is pretty interesting, but seriously, anyone above the age of 30 needs zero help figuring out who the Koopa Kids were based on…

- Mentioned it over at Life Meter just the other day, and I’ll bring it up once again, since it’s so damn awesome; here we have Post 217 as rendered by Edison Yan

- Hey, remember a while back when I mentioned that PS3 owners were getting their news delivered by Evangelion?s Misato Katsuragi? Well here’s what it looks like.

- Want to know whom I’m a fan of? The all female anime and manga group CLAMP. Not a cary carrying member of their fan club, but I was a big fan of Card Captor Sakura (is that any real surprise, huh?), hence why news that they’ll be designing special costumes for the home version of Tekken 6 doesn’t fill my mouth with the taste of bile!

- Despite the fact that I am not LittleBigPlanet’s number one fan (seriously, one of the most overrated games of this generation), I must admit that the Shadow of Colossus DLC that just came out looks might cute…

The trailer makes it awfully inviting, but I know damn well that it will be frustrating to play.

- And on the subject of Shadow of Colossus, if you’re a fan of the beautiful art of the game, here we have an online repository or pretty much EVRYTHING. Including… the card game?

- A new trailer for Katamari Tribute was recently introduced. Aside from being the best look at the game thus far, which has to make even the most jaded Katamari fan out there interested, it also provided our very first decent taste of the remixed soundtrack. And just earlier today, via the PlayStation Blog, comes a few words from Yuu Miyake, the sound director for the game (as well as the dude behind some of my fave tracks from the entire series) and a closer listen to two of the title’s tracks, including one from YMCK. It still makes no sense to me that there’s no 8-bit visual filter, but whatever. Maybe they tried it and it didn’t work?

- Also on the PS3, something semi-interesting finally went down over the weekend at PlayStation Home

.. lol.

- If you’re an art school and you want to attract gamers, take a page from Tokyo Zokei University’s book and target Earthbound/Mother nerds

- Want to know what’s even sexier than the tall, leggy blonde lead in Bayonetta? Her guns.

- This has been slowly making the rounds all over the place: a blog about two homeless people in the world of The Sims 3. As much as I shouldn’t admit this, but I generally roll my eyes at 99% at similar projects at this point… sorry, but covering the gaming academia beat here in NYC for the past couple of years has made me, among many other things, extremely jaded on that end. But this one is actually pretty fascinating stuff!

- Brand new, almost guaranteed to be crappy video game movie on the horizon alert: the Asian dude in Heroes has an idea for a movie involving kids from around the world who play a MMO getting together to save the world or something. Actually, that’s not the worst idea in the world, certainly tighter than the concept for a television show that I was helping to develop a couple of years ago. Guess it wouldn’t hurt to spill the beans on that one at last… especially since I basically walked away from the project. Perhaps it’s in my best interest to detail the concept online, since the whole thing was so informal, meaning nothing official was signed. So if it ever does make it on the air, I have no real proof of working on the damn thing. But next time.

Moving on, the upcoming live action rendition of King of Fighters keeps looking like the dumbest thing ever

- I can’t believe that Hori is actually producing Twin Sticks for Virtual On 360…

… Best part is how it’s gonna cost $300! Is that still cheaper than finding ones for the Saturn and DC and a USB adapter? Is the game really that popular in Japan? I’d be first in line if not for the fact that it’s such an utterly broken port.

- Courtesy of the Capcom Unity Blog, here we have the Servbots planning out their strategy before going returning to work with the upcoming XBLA version of Marvel vs Capcom 2!

- Re: fighting games, as well as the recently published summer edition of the zine: there’s a part where I mention Justin Wong, noted pro game player from around these parts, mostly for his skills with fireball and dragon punch motions. But what he’s really famous for is this now legendary clip and his rivalry with fellow expert electronic pugilist, Daigo Umehara, the other guy in the video. While doing some research on the guy, I stumbled across this article that talks about the feud, which examines why Justin’s the bad guy while Daigo is everyone’s hero. Long story short: racism. Everyone loves the Japanese guy, and everyone hates the Chinaman. At least in the eyes of hardcore gamers, who generally speaking have an affinity for all things Japanese. The entire piece is… interesting to say the least.

- Remember how I mentioned how Dave got himself a Japanese 360 for dirt cheap? Well it arrived the other day, and he somehow was able to clone his American Xbox Live account to work on it. Anyhow, still haven’t checked it out, mostly since Death Smiles hasn’t arrived yet. But soon. And next on his list will be Mushihimesama Futari, which according to Siliconera will have cleaned up sprite! Not that it really needed it, mind you.

- And no, Dave hasn’t bothered to pick up DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou Black Lable Extra. BTW, the possible reason why that one came out so screwed up was recently revealed, along with further evidence of how inept 5pb truly is. What an epic fail.

- Back to Siliconera for just a sec, when I first saw the headline “Sega Racing Classic Sounds Like Sega?s Next Arcade Racing Game” in my PSS reader, I immediately began jumping for joy, cuz I assumed that Sega had finally smarted up and decided to release Daytona USA on XBLA, but with some generic name, since EA owns the rights to Dayton. But then I read further and discovered it was the name for some new arcade racer. Okay…

At least when I saw the title “Did UFO Interactive Snag Another Wii Shooter?”, my first hunch that it might be Illvelo turned out to be correct!

- They also have a nice little interview with Atlus regarding their Shin Megami Tensei, which can be found here and here.

- Siliconera is also the very best place to hear about ultra wacky import titles first, especially if you don’t have time for NeoGAF. Like Saint for the Wii, that combines the Monkey King legend with Space Harrier gameplay…

- And you know, it’s about time Nintendo made something that combined Tamagotchi with everyone’s Mii’s.

- Another oldie but a goodie: Bioshock 2′s Big and Little Sisters, made all animu, courtesy of Famitsu…

- Back to video game clothing for just a moment: UNIQLO’s severely disappointing line of UTxJapan Game shirts recently revealed their Mega Man design…

.. Like pretty everything else in the line, about as conservative and boring as it can be. Though I totally didn’t notice the Virtua Fighter tee till now, and it actually looks interesting!

- Next are some of the more notable recent posts from GSW, like this recent interview with the developer behind the latest DUX, which might actually be the very last Dreamcast game ever, but for real.

- Next we have some diehard Genesis fan who created his own localized versions of Alien Solider!

… And it’s available for sale too. Though I’m just sad that I missed the chance to get a localized Pulseman cart.

- Coming soon, people will be able to Twitter via their Xbox 360s, once the dashboard has been updated, whenever that might be. But why wait when it’s possible now… via the Commodore 64?

- Here we have the skinny on an erotic cell phone game from Denmark. Most notable part is how its aimed at women! The description is fairly enticing, but I can’t make heads or tails from the video… and I don’t think it’s because I’m a dude. I’d download the demo myself, but I only have a lowly N81.

- Hey, those of you who want to spice up whatever film or project with video game sounds, forget the Super Mario music or anything else Nintendo, which almost everyone has done to death. Instead, maybe choose something from Falcom’s vast library of games? Especially since they’ve already given you their blessing… so long as it’s not for some other game.

- For whatever reason, GSW has been the go-to source for all coverage related to Let’s Tap. But now that I have the soundtrack already, I just don’t care about the game anymore, sorry.

- Onore no Shinzuru Michi wo Yuke also finally came out in Japan, which is that Cursor*10-esque title with ninjas for the PSP I mentioned not too long ago. Get this: same dude is behind both titles!

- I really wish this shump based on the life and times of Christopher Columbus had been completed. And on a side note, I really miss the look of screenshots of Genesis and Super Nintendo games from game magazines, especially EGM, circa 1991-94.

- And here’s a pair of videos featuring the Happy Button machine, one of which features by far the coolest dude in all of Japan.

- Plus, not trying to sound cool here or something, but I totally remember Nanatsu Kaze No Shima Monogatari from back in the day.

- If we’re going to spend some time at GSW, then we obviously have to spend a few extra couple of minutes at Tiny Cartridge! First off, the prospects of a domestic release of Retro Game Challenge keeps looking worse and worse.

- Time for the obligatory Made in Ore clip, this time featuring a homemade DDR/Spy vs Spy mash-up?

- After many years of both being curious about it, yet never spending that much time to think about it, here’s some info behind the chime that would play whenever the arcade version of Gradius would boot up. Followed by the remixes.

- And Space Invaders Extreme 2 has not only been confirmed for a US release, but for just $20! Though I agree with Eric that the Japanese cover rocks very much harder.

- Yet another dating sim that I would love to get my hands on, but will forever be stuck in Japan.

- Gotta admit, this is pretty cute.

- As is this

- Guess what Persona 4 fans: two new Teddie figures are on the way. It’s nothing to get exciting for unfortunately, since they’re so close to first one that was announced a while ago. Also, seriously, where the f*ck is my Chie figure?!?!

- And Mia scoped this one out; some kind of tribute to the game, which I can’t see since my Nico Nico account is apparently borked, but at least there’s stills

… What’s the deal with Rise looking so manish?

- And back to models for a sec, check out this totally sick model of R-Type’s third stage warship

… Which reminds me, Yujin’s third wave of Shooting Game Historica figures finally came out recently! And wouldn’t you know, they’re already sold out at National Console Support, and stupid me didn’t bother to pre-order. But I went over to eBay and picked up the entire set from some dude in Japan… who happens to read this site! Sup g-rizzle.

- Those who enjoy both Chrono Trigger and mixed drinks might want to see this list. The Chrono sounds the tastiest, though the Gato also looks right up my alley.

- Time to swing on over to GamOvr to see what new stuff they’ve managed to uncover, like this totally use animu chick crossed with a Vic Viper…

- Then you have this…

- The somewhat similarly themed pixelstyle has the following, whatever the heck it might be…

- And here we have another fine assemblage of pixels, one that’s ready to wear

- I for one am always happy to see vintage video game hardware, nicely photographed

- The following image seems to be quite entertaining for many folks. Even mind-blowing for some. I for one don’t get the reason for all the hubbub, but whatevs…

- Guess it’s time to check out a bunch of random vids, all relating to games in some manner of course. For starters, here’s something I totally forgot to mention a few weeks back, also due to my speaking and small press engagements? The 25th Anniversary of Tetris. Well, better late than never: a pretty damn fine documentary that tells you everything you need to know the greatest video game ever created.

- Here’s something from Keita Takahashi, to help commemorate Girl, from his latest game Noby Noby Boy, making it to Mars.

- Next we have the trailer for King of Fighters Online was recently unveiled. Looks like Final Fight to me, not some fighter. I’ll wait for the KOF shump, thank you very much.

- Air PIrates is something new from Cactus, and it totally has this U.N. Squadron vibe in my mind. Which is a very good thing! When I first heard that a new game of his was going to be at that thing tomorrow night, but once again, it’s supposed to be something in 3D.

- Hey, I’m actually interested in the new Tiger Woods game all of a sudden.

- Anyone out there familiar with Akatsuki Blitzkampf? It’s a doujin fighter, and the most important thing to know is that it features a Nazi tank with a skull for face, that can also jump, as a playable character.

- Guess it was only a matter of time before someone finally combined Mario and Keyboard Cat.

- Okay, I no longer mind the new look of Fret Nice. You were right Phil Fish!

- The Drunken Samurai (sup TDS) was the fine fellow who passed this one along: one of the greatest game related freak outs I’ve seen in a very long time.

- And finally, ladies and gentlemen, Sonic and Tails Adventure 2… trailer! And naturally there’s a remix.

… Anyone still there? Next up, my Microsoft report (they’re coming to town tomorrow) along with one from No Soul for Sale, plus pictures! Provided they come out okay.

  • http://www.dmauro.com dmauro

    The entire internet is probably rolling their eyes at the kid that made that Super Mario Bros. 3 image. Someone should tell him about how Super Mario Bros. 2 was just a dream and see if his head explodes.

  • http://www.jennydevildoll.com Jenny DevilDoll

    …and the best/worst part is that the quail eating woman wasn’t even actually reading about her sexual exploits, she was reading a letter from her Mom SUGGESTING she have more sexual exploits. A story about someone actually doing any of the things she mentioned would have been more interesting.

  • http://tinycartridge.com eric_c

    While I find the existence of the Doki Majo series interesting, loli-molesting isn’t really my thing. I might have criticized the game more than I usually do in that post, though, because I was annoyed by having to sit through so much junk for a few seconds of Star Radish (also, I was hoping to see if SNK Playmore revealed any other additional retro-style minigames).

  • https://www.fort90.com Matthew Hawkins

    Hey, it’s totally understandable. Maybe it’s somewhat the same reason why I’m so harsh against GTA4; I just found it so ridiculous that something could offer such a vivid recreation of New York City, primarily Manhattan, yet completely deny the player the pleasure of interacting with it from the get-go, and for the most asinine of reasons.

    Also, I again fully realize that fully embracing stuff like Doki Majo does me no favors, and is simply evidence that I’m so easily amused. Though once again, I just find it so fascinating on a purely cultural level. As for the games themselves… I actually own the first two and haven’t put much time into them, simply due to the language barrier, Perhaps their exotic qualities is what keeps them from being complete garbage in my eyes thus far?

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