- So I recently got word from my editor/agent regarding the anime & manga encyclopedia project that I had been working towards is now effectively dead. We were unable to find any interested publishers that would provide a budget sufficient enough to make the project financially viable.
Needless I’m disappointed, but hey that’s how things go in the publishing world, and at least it gave me a valid reason to watch a ton of anime, and introduced me to quite a bit of good stuff I might have otherwise not seen or read.
When most people heard I was working on an anime related book, and even before that, and even today, they ask why I just don’t write one about video games. Well…. I’ve certainly thought about it, but the thing is, everyone and their sister is writing a book about video games. Perhaps the fact that there’s just so many shitty books out there on the subject should be a motivational device or sorts. But at this point, I would feel uncomfortable writing an entire book about something which, despite my experience with on a multiple number of fronts, is still do not enough about, at least in regard to the points that I want to get across. I’m still a student of the game and am always trying to learn new things, and feel that almost everyone should feel the same for the most part… hence why I have to laugh whenever some psyche major or a person that just reviews games tries to do something grandiose like creating a definitive tome.
That’s not to say that you have to be a game maker to be able to talk about video games, or that folks who approach them purely as a player has nothing good to say, far from it, its just that thus far none has really said much. And when you get down to it, would you rather read a book about movies/acting/writing/music from a director/actor/writer/musician or a second party? That’s just my preference, take or leave it.
I guess the real heart of the matter is that game writing is so knew that its hard for many to identify the bullshit (and you have to believe that many know this and are taking advantage of this simple fact).
Plus, back to doing my own thing, I’m not certain what I would want to write about. Though definitely sometime down the road I would like to do a definitive history of Sega as has been suggested by Jason. I’m confident that some folks would be interested in that.
- Once again, many of my friend this very moment are enjoying a plethora of comics, toys, and movie related crap at the San Diego Comic Con, which I’m disappointed that I can’t attend, plus I perpetually have a chip on my should that I haven’t once attended E3. But hey, at least I have America’s VideoGame Expo!
The “vgXpo” is actually the next step of sorts of the Philly Classic, a retro gaming convention which I attended last year. That ended up being quite a bit fun, so I’m actually looking forward to this. This year’s event takes place in November.
Plus I just found out about another game convention in these parts, the East Coast Gaming Expo which also happens in Pennsylvania this September.
As for the Big Apple, Digital Life is happening again this October. Considering how colossal a failure the GameOn NY component was, I really hope the organizers do something different.
I have to check when I’m legally allowed to do so, so when the time comes, I can talk about my brief stint as a consultant for the “GameOn killer” last winter.
- So The Behemoth, the folks behind Alien Hominid have a new game coming out. According to 1UP, its a funny take on Metal Slug and Double Dragon, plus the Guradian Heroes feel is fairly evident. It just premiered on the floors of the Comic Con and looks promising thus far.
- When commenting on yesterday’s entry, Job brought up Otocky, a game released long ago for the Famicom Disk system and who’s creator, Toshio Iwai, is also behind Electroplankton. When I first heard of Otocky, which was described as “the first real musical shooter”, hence Job’s equating it to Rez, I was immediately interested, but was unable to dig up any info since no one I brought it up with knew what the hell I was talking about, plus I could never figure out the proper spelling.
But now that I finally have it, I’ve been able to get some info, and it truly is the first musical shooter. So thanks Job! And to answer your question, I have a buddy in Japan right now who’s agreed to hunt for some games for me. I guess I’ll have him add it to the list! 
- Also on the GAF today, someone translated bits of a new interview with Aounuma and Miyamoto from a Swedish interview regarding Twilight Princess. They even spoke about past Zelda games, which lead to this interesting bit…
Aounuma: “When a project grows continuously, you have to split it to pieces. I was the director for Wind Waker, but I let different people be responsible for different parts of the production. I had control how things we’re going for them, but at the end of the production we fought against the clock and there were parts that I was forced to approve even though it didn’t feel complete. I apologize that we didn’t fix the triforce hunt at the end of the game. It was slow and dull.”
He got that right. Wind Waker is the only Zelda game which I never bothered to finish (Minish Cap doesn’t count since I just started that one recently and have “given up” on it). Got I hated that sailing, it was so long and drawn out, plus the whole task of digging stuff out of the water was needlessly frustrating. Speaking off…
Aounuma: “I have absorbed the criticism we got from Wind Waker that the sea was too big and the number of dungeons and caves were too few says Miyamoto. The new game will have more dungeons. Many more.”
Yes! The two dungeons in Wind Waker were beyond brilliant, which made the choice of cutting the third one all the more heartbreaking (it also didn’t help that it was so obvious that one was missing).
- I might have mentioned this before, but at this point I sorta avoid posting Katamari related links since I think I’ve done that to death, but here’s another actually interesting Flicker, this one about how to make a Katamari cake. And everyone knows, I love cake!
- And I know this is really old news, but check out Gizmodo’s blurb about folks getting a retail PSP game to work from a memory stick. It’s completely spot on about mainstream magazine’s write-ups regarding technology. Remember Newsweek’s “OMGBBQ the PSP is the new iPod” cover story.
Speaking of which, not a week goes by when at least one person asks me when a new good game, or just a game period, is coming out for the PSP. I’m sorry but all the “it takes time for the good stuff to come out” excuses are seriously worn thing, especially when you remember that the system had almost nothing to prove and all the exposure in the world; I can understand folks being hesitant about producing games for a brand new system that employs a totally different means of control, like the DS, but not for a scaled down, yet supposedly exact copy of the most popular and financially successful home console on the world, which also supposed to make the whole process of making game easier.
And has everyone seen the new shots for the PSP Madden? So sad. If I was a football fan, I’d be more pissed than ever with EA.
- Hey check out this Chinese commercial for Worlds of Warcraft and Coke.
- I know the whole world has already seen this by now, but here it is again: the keyboard with the OLEN keys. And I guess I’m brining it up because I’ve heard at least one person mention that something similar might pop up for the still very mysterious Revolution controller, which also employs a touch-screen like the DS and a gyroscope according most speculation. And considering that these days how most game consoles have 52 buttons, and how most games seem to use every one of them, having them uniquely labeled for each game would be really nice.
- As for the rest of the world wide web, last night I came across some guy from Alaska who’s selling a mech on eBay that he built, as well as a major spoiler from Harry Potter 6 last night (eh, I’m sure at least one of my diehard Potter friends would have spilled it by accident).
When I explained to a person who’s foolishly optimistic about the upcoming live Transformers flick by pointing out that Soundwave is a friggn’ helicopter, I was shown a pic of Soundwave as a jet from a recent line of the toys in Japan. Not bad I guess… but still not as good as a boombox.
Plus I came across easily the most sickest, disturbing, and insane thing I have ever seen. It’s basically people eating real human babies. I ain’t directing linking it, but you can check out my post about it on YayHooray (gotta admit, that Homer Simpson joke is pretty fucking funny).
- And finally, tomorrow is the Siren Music Fest, which I look forward to every year, and I swear to God, if it fucking rains tomorrow (as everyone has been saying), I am going to be beyond pissed off.
