Crybringer here!  Miss me?  No?!  Didn’t think so.  That’s why I brought gifts! 

On a HUEG Gradius kick after firing up the old SNES.  Not much to say other than working hard on comics, doing more art posts here from now on (there’s great writers here that cover enough obscure topics for my tastes, lol) and looking forward to next week’s post.  

Also, I want a Ruger/Rugul toy.  Wouldn’t it be neat to have a little remote control zako of your own to annoy the neighborhood pets with and shoot your mailman’s cart with airsoft bullets?  Just a thought.

 [PLEASE CONTINUE.]

Or maybe like Graham Aker’s Union Flag Custom.  Personally, I like the black trim more than red.  But I digress — March went by in a blur!  Sorry I was away folks, but a LOT of things happened, and some really awesome events demanded my full attention. 

-I’ll be in the UDON Comics’ Darkstalkers Tribute!  Among 2070+ submissions, I’ll be in their monster sized tribute book!  Look for “Crybringer” and I hope y’all like it!

-Mighty Flip Champs, an announced downloadable Nintendo DS title by Wayforward Technologies has my artwork in it!  Took 10 days and a LOT of work, but that’s one for the record books!

-ShamrockFest 2009 was a blast, and DJ Enferno is not to be missed or messed with!

-I’ll be driving 11 hours down to Nashville to attend Middle Tennessee Anime Con 2009 this weekend, so wish me luck.  Angry Viking Press is rolling out their premier line of comics with Haven/Enemi Distribution in your local comic book stores.  “The Demon Mages”, my seven-issue miniseries for 2009/2010 will be among them, so check it out!

That’s all for now.  See ya sooner than later!

(Whoa, whoa, WHOA.  Now, I could have sworn this posted properly last night… Don’t mean to interrupt, Don!)

…Your resident Crybringer, here!  Not much to talk about — I skipped on Katsucon for the most part, and the news front is quiet until I get my hands on either Street Fighter IV, Deathsmiles or The Seventh Dragon, gaming-wise.  But as it’s almost a year since I started using a little program called OpenCanvas (version 1.1!) I think I’ll spend the next few posts going in-depth and sharing what I learned.  It’s become one of my most invaluable tools and I heartily recommend it.

See ya’ll inna few — I’m going to revive Art on Saturdays!

Christmas came eleven months early!  Are you kidding?!  Crazy powerful shooting game goth lolitas fighting holiday creeps in the sequel!?  DO WANT.  Street Fighter IV has the frothing demand of most gamers out there, but I will wait patiently for my chance to have Deathsmiles 360, or maaaaaaaybe a domestic release, along with the host of other quality shooting games currently on import for the system.  Get thee behind me, Wii!  To the depths, PS3!

—————————

So, in the past two weeks what’s happened?  Oh I don’t know… driving (through blinding, Silent-Hill-esque snowfall) to Ohio for Ohayocon.  Sold every single copy of The Demon Mages we had and signed them all.  Got lots of new fans interested, and made lots of plans for the remainder of the year… minor stuff like that.  Oh, then there was also the EPIC remodeled bank we stayed in, where the breakfast nook is the VAULT, the walls and architecture are all still intact and it’s in the heart of downtown Columbus!  Then just today, got to speak to an elementary school class about comic books — being in the industry, how to get started, what kinds of material is out there… it was a lot of fun!  Kids nowadays have a bounty of resources to make art, write stories and be as creative as possible; it makes my role as an elder comic book artist more meaningful too.  Next trip on tap is Katsucon ‘09, then some quality down time between here & April.

Also to report, there’s rumblings of a doujinshi from yours truly; I’ll have posts throughout the Spring to keep y’all informed of what’s going on.  It’s a dazzling road to Comiket, so look forward to that.

—————————

A brief word through the din of work, con preparation and falling ice — I’m off to Ohayocon in Columbus, OH this weekend.  I feel absolutely terrible that I was unable to deliver an apropo inauguration post… two weeks ago!  Thus, in the spirit of the original message and a reminder for myself — as well as a notice to all of you, I deliver this message and a man of the new century alike:

Spwug, may I introduce comedian Katt Williams.  Profuse profanity ensues, thus a NSFW ruling is in effect.  Watch at home & laugh at your leisure!  But pay attention, a very worthwhile message lies within… Motivate yourself, don’t let others tear you down, be happy with yourself and what you’ve got going for you!  That’s taking care of your star player.  CB here’s gonna try –how about you?

Heyoo, Spwug-ites!

Just a brief, but loud notice:  I don’t say this often, but I mean it here — “If you missed it in theatres (for it’s limited release), if you don’t already have it on DVD; if you missed Persepolis — GET PERSEPOLIS NOW.”

I got to see this last Friday.  Released in 2007, it’s an adaptation of Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel about her growing up during the Iranian Revolution.  I can’t say enough, and I’m keeping it brief to let you viewers praise or dismiss it on your own.  But I can say, I absolutely loved the development of this spunky, hilarious Iranian girl into this snarky, bitter, but hopeful and resilient woman.  It deserves all the accolades it gets, so go and get it, should you know where to find it.

(Casper, from Deathsmiles — from a session with the creator, art crew and friends of Skullgirls.)

In the meantime, I’m getting ready for this weekend — the American side of things says I get the Super Bowl two weeks early, as my hometown heroes in Baltimore clash with their divisional rivals in Pittsburgh!   Also, there’s rumblings of a new UDON artbook in the works.  Two words.  Dark. Stalkers.  Oh yes.  So for now, enjoy the little dash of art, folks.  Oh yeah, and don’t hurt yourselves in this blinding cold trying to advantage of liquidation specials at Circuit City!

-CB, ooooooout!

Happy New Year, Spwug!

Man, do I wish I had a working camera last weekend. Magfest 7 was a five-day bash in Alexandria VA to start 2009. From the ball drop to the Sunday zombie march out of the Hilton, it was wall-to-wall-to-wall-to-wall gaming, music and comraderie!

(0) BUT FIRST, BREAKING NEWS.

-According to reports that went out today — Electronic Gaming Monthly, a 20-year veteran magazine, and one of the most well known gaming publications out there, will launch it’s final issue this month.

EGM, and parts of 1UP.com were sold by it’s parent company Ziff-Davis to UGO to stave off it’s losses, after filing for Ch. 11 bankruptcy protection last year. Simply put, UGO now owns 1UP.com, and maintains that the website’s features will remain, but the side effect was EGM’s sudden conclusion.

This blogger remembers vividly the first issue he’d seen in 7th grade — a blitzkrieg of gaming news and info in the heyday of 1990, when Mega Man 3 graced it’s cover. I had no idea just how deep the well of video games ran, and EGM was the light on my helmet. Yeah, Gamepro is still shambling along, and I still have a dusty pile of GameFan magazines laying around, but there was an air of legitimacy with EGM. If it wasn’t covered by EGM — and what wasn’t in that magazine? –then it must not have been good. Time sure have changed, but I sincerely hope those dedicated folks are able to bounce back and find a new mag — or build an even better one.

(1) MAGFEST 7 GAMING, or CRYBRINGER’S CAVE-TASTIC WEEKEND.

Old friend I hadn’t seen in years, much old and new school gaming, and another fantastic performance by The Smash Brothers describes my overall experience with Magfest 7. But honestly, my MISSION as soon as the cabinets got turned on were THESE. I finally got to play three of the most popular shoot-em’-ups by CAVE/AMI! The original arcade boards, in full glorious stereo sound, rich graphical detail, and housed in modern seated cabinets. All three games were runaway hits at the con, bringing in a constant stream of players, and rousing exclaimations of “OMG” or “How can you DODGE that!? That’s ridiculous!” If you’ve read my previous posts, I’d made mention of one or more before. But with several loops and about six hours of total play under my belt, I’m a changed man.

Mushihimesama:

-I’ve actually had a BRIEF run in with the import PS2 release of Mushi, but hardly cracked the first stage. Having done two full runs on both Normal & Maniac difficulties, I can say this is about as pure a vertical shooter as you can get. The title Mushihime (Insect Princess) character Reko has three types of weapons (normal vulcan, wide shot and focused beams,) with two flavors of helpers that either shadow her movements or form up on either side. Said helpers fire long lasers that compliment the main weapon. Tapping the fire button, as most modern shmups do, means faster movement. Holding the button gives a constant stream of firepower with slower movements to get through the stickiest of enemy salvos. Mushihimesama is five decently sized stages, promising a blistering amount of enemy fire throughout. From the smallest of foes to the stage bosses, each hit or kill adds to a combo counter that multiplies the score — seeing a big fat +20,000 hit counter rapidly climbing as the player punishes a boss is a real rush. I’ve long since memorized the soundtrack and drawn plenty of Mushi-inspired artwork, so it’s easy on the eyes & ears… but that’s about it. While it allows 2 players, it feels like a purely solo affair is the best way to clear it and see any extra bonuses. After clearing Maniac difficulty, I was well satisfied and looking for crunchier, more complex shmups to dig into. Luckily…

Ibara:

…There’s Ibara. And “crunchy” is a great description. I tried this in a PS2 re-release — and it’s clear that it’s not nearly as tight or crisp visually. Gameplay is identical, but the devil’s in the details: Ibara pits 1 or 2 players against the assault of the gothic lolita-dressed Rose Sisters, and their army of very-not-child-safe tanks, airships and fortresses; COVERED in spikes, blades and all sorts of painful looking details — said guns and cannons firing shurikens, broadswords(!), knives and Really Big Bullets. The player gets to answer back with five different weapons to pick up in battle, equipped individually on up to three drones, in any combination. Thus, a player can have their main gun, with a flying rocket launcher, flamethrower and 5-way spread gun all at the same time! On top of that, with each super bomb in stock, the player can charge said bomb up, and fire an invinicible super beam; the “Hadou Gun” that nullifies any enemy fire that runs into it, does insane damage to enemies trapped in it, and stays on screen for minutes at a time. Even with that safety net of hot lead, player death erupts in a shower of bullets that does damage to the enemy too.

If it sounds busy, it is. If it sounds intense, believe me, IT IS. Ibara revels in it’s bold, stylish presentation, and delivers on some heavy gameplay — although compared to Mushihimesama, it’s a bit easier in difficulty. Not much, but enough to notice. The last of the three though…

ESP Galuda 2:

…is a big, beautiful, sexy, steampunk inspired BEAST of a vertical shmup. CAVE/AMI pulled out all the stops for the third of their ESP “series” (Galuda 1 & Ra.De.) Stay with me on this one: Genetics, super-science, alchemy, whatever you want to call it, but the three characters; Tateha, Ageha & newcomer Asagi, wage a battle against an imperial family of cyborg psychics (this author assumes…) Shot types differ between the three, and the most basic system is like Mushihimesama. But instead of support drones, the old ESP Ra.De. powered shot and chargeable super bomb/shield returns. And then there’s Kakusei Mode. Pressing the secondary button engages/disengages a ‘bullet-time’ mode that drastically slows down enemy fire. Normally as you kill opponents, they drop green gems, and these gems power Kakusei Mode. If an enemy launches a volley of bullets and is killed before nailing the player, their bullets are converted to gold instead of gems, and racks up extra points. If the player uses up all their gems (a total of 500 to collect) Kakusei Over mode kicks in, DOUBLING the bullet speed and making enemies attack more aggressively! A screen full of fast, angry red bullets is a scary thing. But ESP Galuda 2 goes even further, as if the Kakusei mode button is held, the screen goes into a negative image and Zesshikkai Mode is on.

Now, instead of just changing to gold, every enemy killed turns the screen full of bullets turn into MORE bullets… now AIMED at the player. The player gets an even bigger bonus score for each ‘flip’ of curtain fire from normal to homing and so on, but the same rules apply. Slow down enemy fire for gold, or risk a Zesshikkai Over mode with faster aimed bullets!

Whew! Deep, huh? One can play the game without ever using Kakusei, Zesshikkai or their Over variants (or if they REALLY wanna challenge themselves, they can waste their gems and tackle the whole game in fast-forward!) But the risk vs. reward aspect is VERY tempting and the mechanics of the game are very well executed througout!

(2) SOUNDTRACK UPDATE!

-Even more CAVE/AMI fandom here, as I got an advance listen to the soundtrack for the latest game, Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu. I’ve mentioned it before, but for this gamer a soundtrack can make the experience (or break it.) I’m happy to say, I’ll be ordering this CD VERY soon. If I didn’t know better, I’d say composers Manabu Namiki, Yoshimi Kuzo & Asuza Chiba melded the DDP series (and Namiki’s signature) techno style with live guitar and a decidedly… hip-hop sort of rhythm! “Shadowing World ~ Obverse” hits it’s listeners with a funky R& B drumbeat, a slithering guitar solo and a very pop/game music flourish throughout. The end credits theme, “Who Decided About ‘Dying Peacefully?” at times feels like a young modern hip hop ballad. Of course, boss themes like “Element Daughter” & “Longhena Cantata” rage and throb with brutal 808 beats, and “][|/34<#!” (”Hibachi”, for the l33t impaired — the second half of this repeat video link) is one of Namiki’s better PSYCHOTIC Amen-breakbeat spamming sessions — you get points with Crybringer if you can trick him into thinking his speakers flatlined.

“Numerous Blinking Lights In The Night Sky Towards A Shining Future” and “The Battle Was Just ‘To Continue That Future” are just pure Namiki and a real showcase of his musical know-how. Elegant chord progressions, sharp melodies, excellent atmosphere… I CANNOT wait until an arrange album appears, as these are MUSTS to include. If the rest of Basiscape gets a hold of them, watch out…

(3) THERE IS NO NUMBER THREE.

(Mainly because Windows Vista seems to want to think for me instead of letting me do it. I love this new laptop, and don’t have a problem with Vista overall per se. I guess it’s just unfamiliarity with the machine that irks me… now– QUIT SELECTING WHEN I MOUSE OVER STUFF!!!)

That’s about it for now. Best to pace out the new year, eh? See y’all next week!

Heyoo, readers!  Remember, there’s a leap second to consider before kicking off 2009!

I’ll be on my way to Magfest 7 this weekend, and I hope to have a huge roundup of bands playing and games played!  Your resident Crybringer hopes you had a very Merry Christmas (while he celebrates with a new laptop!) and we can kick off 2009 in grand style!  Sing, drink, be happy with friends and good company tonight, and stay safe out there! 

 *ahem!*

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old times since ?

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

And surely you’ll buy your pint cup !
And surely I’ll buy mine !
And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Dear Santa. It’s CB from Spwug!

Yeah, my posting consistency has been oatmealish for the past few months, but I’ve done what I can to provide as much word-on-the-street, fresh-from-the-show reporting. I mean, I could go on and on and on about shmups (and plan to anyway.) But, you gotta admit, a geek report on Coldplay or local student orchestras playing Zelda covers is cool too!

Anyways, I think I’ve been good enough — I haven’t kicked any dogs or set fire to people’s trash cans! And your cadre of elves could use a real workout this time! Money’s tight, Wii’s are hard to find. And these gifts, don’t necessarily come with a price tag.

WHAT I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR IS:

(10) Comiket 75 is right after your big day, Santa. I can take late gifts. My birthday is only a week after New Years. Doujinshi. Lots of doujinshi! Make it happen, St. Nick!

(9) Reduce the number of double-crosses, trick plays and world-shaking plot twists in Heroes for next season. Thank goodness the Sylar/Elle loveaffair was short lived — but she’s dead now! There’s like FOUR other blondes you coulda bumped off! It’s gotten to the point that this staunch HRG fan has to settle on Hiro — and lemme tell you, he’s actually kinda cool this time out. Is it true he writes his own dialogue for the japanese segments?

(8) Bless the gamers and producers of games out there, and bring the Christmas miracle of a XBOX 360 CAVE/AMI library release Stateside! One can only survive on epic FPS’ and Castle Crashers but so long! I want Dododo-Do-do-do *KABOOOOM!* Dodonpachi DOJ & Ketsui to be on my 360 dashboard! Street Fighter HD Remix and IV will put the fighting game pedal to the floor — shmups new & old should be battling right alongside them!

(7) Santa, when it comes to comic books, you deliver! No complaints! No requests! There’s a wealth of online comics, spectacular print comics, and Small Press Expo this year was an early present! Did I mention Small Press Expo? October in Bethesda/Rockville MD for the Washington DC region? Bigger and better every year? Shame on me. Readers need the likes of Wondermark or Remake in their Christmas haul.

(6) Crazy thing happened several weeks ago; up in Alberta, a meteor the size of a pair of semi trucks BLAZED across the night sky and brought it to daylight for a split second. Think you could fix that up for us again? Convince the unimpressed? Avert a potential apocalypse? There are calls for an asteroid shield, and that’d be kinda nice for the house.

(5) More Wyatt Cenac on Daily Show. The guy has to make his own promos.

(4) One of these. How you get it on the sleigh is not a crazy premise, considering the logistics of your one-night-only world tour runs smack up against the theory of relativity.  Make it happen, Santa.

(3) While we’re at it, one of these too. We’re a year out from 2010, THE geek culture year. Who would have guessed we’d have this figured out?! The whole flying cars joke is played out, but jetpacks more than diamonds dug out with the previously requested trencher are forever.

(2) You’ve already delivered me the gift that even fellow Spwug members probably raise an eyebrow at! A decent, if not amazing turnaround for the Baltimore Ravens! Last season was an EMBARRASSING 5-11 drubbing. This year might end at a complete REVERSE of that. 5 MVP bids. A confident coach. Wins to savor, losses to grow on. A fan of the past three seasons so far, I’m going to rest easy and enjoy Christmas Day knowing one gift has already been delivered!

*sob*, thank you Santa!

(1) My number one request — everything else can fall by the wayside for all I care! The one thing I want is to have a spectacular 2009! I’ve got a lot of travel plans, a lot of events to go, see and do and it kicks off almost IMMEDIATELY from January 1st!

Magfest! Ohayocon! Katsucon! A break in the spring so I can prepare for the epic return to San Diego Comic Con!

That’s my list, big guy. In return, I plan on being better than this year — how else can I score enough points to hit your list’s S+ Rank for 2009?

Merry Christmas!

-Your man with the Options,

“Crybringer”

No seriously!  The University of Maryland has a student orchestra that exclusively plays arrangements of video game music & themes!

Their 2008 Winter Concert was last night, at the Memorial Chapel at the very front doorstep of the UMD campus, to a faithful crowd of several hundred students, families, fans and of course, game music die-hards!

The show had 10 original arrangements, performed by the now 90+ person GSO.  The evening began at 8pm with a rendition of the theme of Starfox.  The Legend of Zelda’s myriad themes followed, with selections from Warcraft II, Final Fantasy VIII, Chrono Trigger as well.  Beautiful and unique selections all around — the dark strains of Warcraft II, the stirring main theme of Chrono Trigger, etc. — made the show more than just a orchestral shout-out to Mario.  And the post intermission selections were the the highlight of the show.  Stumbling and losing themselves on some key pieces like Starfox and Final Fantasy VIII’s challenging boss theme, the GSO seemed to suddenly hit their stride and handled solos and excellent transitions in melody with gusto.  A lovely piano duet covering the recent Odin Sphere set that pace.

Needless to say, the chorus opening their performance with the familiar “SE-GA!” intro brought the house down.  THEN they went into the Sonic & Ristar medley and earned every bit of applause.  Kirby Super Star was next, and just as the sleeper hit it’s taken from, the jazzy notes was a surprising show of depth (though this was about the worst of the last four selections they played.)

I hope to hand over some links or audio of their perfomance of Xenosaga & Tetris — the GSO’s aim of bringing the two decades of memorable game music shows real, healthy promise judging from those pieces.

In all, the GSO was really gracious, appreciative, and showed a real love for the games and soundtracks they played.  They have only need to improve their accuracy and develop more experience as musicians in general — I’ll be looking forward to their next performance!