Waugh!  Yesterday was Wednesday wasn’t it?!  Don’t you hate it when one day transposes itself over another?

Anyways, quite a few things going on worth mention:

 -The Demon Mages, Issue #2 is on the threshold of completion.  Took a little extra time, but significantly less OT than before.  Look for that in and around the time of…

 -SAN DIEGO COMIC CON!  I’ll be happy to give you readers the extended post-con coverage (August 2nd.  Let’s be fair; jet-lag) , but in the meantime, a few lead-up articles will get passed around, starting next week.  There’s not much to say here, except that packing for ten days in two bags will be… interesting.

-Almost directly afterwards is Otakon 2008.  This blogger lives moments away from it, so like the event horizon of a black hole, it seems many individuals may be drawn into it’s vortex.  Convention roundup on that one as well will be posted, come August 13th. 

-Pixiv.net & Nico-Nico Douga are neat!  Even if your Japanese is lackluster, it’s easy navigation & content abounds!  I’m there most every day!  Google searches readily turn up non-native registration instructions, so there’s little chance of getting lost.

-BONESAW IS REA-DY!!!  Tough as heck with a keyboard, a little imprecise, but still an impressive game and I chuckled at most of the humor.  A cool homebrewed time waster.

-In the spirit of our nation, I watched Paul “John Adams” Giamatti in probably my most favorite role I’ve seen him play — as the whip smart, buck-nasty Mr. Hertz in Shoot ‘Em Up.  Funny to me to see commercials for his HBO special, and super-impose Mr. Hertz’s cellphone ringing.  Or maybe an extended gunfight with Ben Franklin. 

And now, some new art!  Both done by hand, with markers & pens — the second from back on June 13-15th for the Anime-Mid-Atlantic weekend.

That’s all for now!  See ya next week!

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Greetings, Centurions!

Today’s installment is going to be a little shorter than you’re used to.  My sincere apologies.  I’m still dealing with things right now in regards to my friend Scot, and it has put me slightly behind on my other obligations.

Be that as it may, I’m still going to give you something, dagnabbit!  Oh man.  Sorry about the harsh language.  Stress can really wreak havoc on a person.  Sometimes a guy – any guy, but maybe one with a beard and long hair who looks a little like Silent Bob – just needs to find him something to help him relax and relieve the tension of the long day.

(Here’s where I use that clunky bit of exposition above to segue into my topic for today’s installment.)

You all know that I have a PS3 now.  I have some good games for it:  Metal Gear Solid 4, Grand Theft Auto 4, The Incredible Hulk.  But there is one game that I can’t seem to get enough of…

To make a long story short (too late), I love me some Lego Star Wars.

I mean, I already bought both the first and second Lego Star Wars games for the PS2 when they first came out.  I’ve beaten both of them.  When I got my PS3, I immediately picked up Lego Indiana Jones, hungry for more Lego misadventures.  But, though I did love Lego Indy, it just wasn’t as expansive and diverse as Lego Star Wars.

So, when my friend Eric decided to pick up The Complete Saga for his PS3, his tempting offer to play the co-op online mode was too sweet to ignore.  I went out and picked it up for myself.

Holy cow.  I haven’t played any of my other games since I popped this in.  I love this game!  It has quite a number of changes to make it worth purchasing even if you already bought the first two.  The game play is extremely fun.  It’s challenging, but not too hard.  You can get through it quickly enough.  Thing is, there is just so much more game to play in The Complete Saga.  I’m swiftly taking this game in whole with a voracious hunger.  There’s just so much to do and so many cool new unlockables to get and use.

If there was one thing that was off about this game, it has to be the online co-op mode.  It’s not easy to just get online and play with a friend.  But, after some research, Eric and I were able to make a few small tweaks that allowed the online mode to work really well.

Despite its minor flaw, this game never ceases to be an enjoyable experience for me.  I’m addicted!

Crap.  Now I have another problem to stress me out.

The Don is a Lego brick… house.

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This past Saturday was World Wide Knit In Public Day (no I am not making this up.) The point, I think, is somewhat dependent on the person who is knitting in public, but for many people it is a way to get others interested in knitting. It’s a way to start a dialog with the public, many of whom stop and ask questions and comment on the work.

I started pondering this as I prepared my projects for Saturday (I decided on my lace shawl, if anyone’s interested,) and I started thinking how impossible this sort of thing would be for video gamers. First off knitting is a bit more portable. Also it doesn’t require electrical outlets.

Sure there are handheld game devices, but they seem to somewhat defeat the point. It would be nigh impossible to drag a big enough screen out into a public square to ensure that the public could see the game in question, thus hopefully sparking conversation. Then there is the insanely wide variety of games to showcase- ranging from Old School Super Mario Brothers to Grand Theft Auto to Dance Dance Revolution. And, naturally, no matter what game one chooses others are sure to have extreme objections to that game.

It’s kinda sad, I think really. There’s a great capability for common ground and community for this sort of thing, if it’s taken out of the scary (and loud, and often dark) arcades and brought into the sunshine and the public, but the very things that make it so powerful and interesting and varied are the very things that make it impossible to ‘take out to the people.’ I guess I’ll have to stick to knitting video game inspired sweaters, and explaining them to anyone who asks.

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Greetings, Browncoats!

Some of you may be aware that Anime Mid-Atlantic is this weekend in my backyard of Virginia Beach. Some of you may be excited to go. Me? I’ll be there on Saturday, but I have a different reason to be excited.

Tomorrow I am finally joining the rest of the Next-Gen Console folk. I’m getting a PS3.

“Why the PS3?” you ask. Excellent! I’m so glad we’re back to our usual conversations! You’ve been quiet for awhile. It’s so nice to be talking again.

But anyway, back to your question.

My reasons for choosing the PS3 are simple. BLUE RAY. Not too long ago (before I moved into my current humble abode), my DVD player decided he didn’t like me anymore and departed for that place that unused Beta recorders and Scott Baio’s career go. And we all know which disc won the most recent movie media format war.

That’s right. Scott Baio.

Wait, what? NO.

So yeah – Blue Ray won. Now, put two and two together, mix with tapioca pudding, and voila! We just made a mess. And I decided that getting a PS3 would not only solve my DVD playing issues, but would also finally give me the ability to play all of the next-gen games I’ve been wanting to play for quite some time.

Not only that, but I have a PSP. So now I can finally download PS1 games to play on my Portable. With that option now open to me, I may actually finish some of those PS1 games that have been sitting on my shelf unfulfilled. What? I said I’d call them. I didn’t say when.

With all that in mind, I’m pretty excited to be picking it up tomorrow, er… I mean my lovely wife will be picking it up for me tomorrow while I’m at work. And the timing couldn’t be better – tomorrow is the day they release the 80GB bundle pack with Metal Gear Solid 4. Between that and the other two games I picked up the other day, I have plenty to be excited about.

Tapioca pudding.

The Don lives in his world, but sleeps on your couch.

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Working on new computer, brb!

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By now, you’ve probably seen the above. Very entertaining. Almost hypnotic with those stripes.

Clearly, the guy is taking video of his girlfriend without her knowing. Now she knows. And while she was apparently fairly pissed off when she first discovered her boyfriend’s indiscretion, she’s now quite comfortable with her fifteen minutes of fame.

Although part of me thankful that he posted the video (now I know Wii fit has a sexy hula hoop game! Maybe my ass will look that hot after hours of Wii), part of me also wonders if maybe our lives in this digital era are a little over exposed. Playing Wii Fit in a t-shirt and undies is something you do in private. It’s certainly not as private as having sex, but it’s not meant for the rest of the world. And yet, even these tiny little moments are exposed to the world.

This is the age of user generated content. We all have opinions. We all do crazy things. And we can all share our ideas in ways never before possible. The crazy thing? There’s an audience! Everyone wants to know what everyone else thinks or says or does. In some ways, it’s a little voyeuristic. But in some way, we all seem to be fascinated with the lives of other people no matter how random or mundane.

In previous generations, posting such a video would have been a one way ticket to single town. These days, hell, even a sex tape might not be enough to break up over.

Anyway, back to gawking at the hula game.

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Hey Spwug readers!  (oh wait — what? — it’s not Wednesday?!  Whoa and last week’s post didn’t post after all!!! Dang it!)  *ahem*

You read that right.  Giant. Robot. Schoolgirls. But I bet she wouldn’t stand a chance against a fearsome looking Maid Guy.  He has x-ray vision, levitation and nightmarish mental projection powers.  In a few days though, I’ll be spirited away to fight devil dogs and collect skulls instead, or at least that’s what I’ll hear.  But wait! Never fear!  George Washington (NQSFW) will save us! 

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Ok, so we kinda caved a bit this weekend and downloaded the new Wiiware Final Fantasy game “My Life as a King.” I might be a bit of a sucker for both the FF mystique and also for a shiny new city builder. And this is definitely both shiny and full of Final Fantasy goodness.

You start out, a child king, walking into an empty city with your two advisers- Chancellor Chime, and Sir Hugh. After a quick chat with the giant glowing crystal in the middle of the town’s main square, you get right to work effectively summoning houses (thus conjuring a population to live in your city) and other assorted buildings. The twist to this RPG-lite is that you can’t go clearing out the dungeons yourself- you must commission adventurers and send them off to do the dirty work for you while you stay in town chatting up the common folks and basically waiting.

The game is divided up by days (Chime also acts as nanny, sending you “to bed” to cycle through the days,) and at the beginning of the day you issue behests, thus telling your adventurers what you want done. I’m only about a ‘month’ into it, trying to collect buildings from the dungeons so that I can find out about the shadowy monster mastermind, and solve the riddle of what happened to the old king who disappeared mysteriously years before.

I’m really enjoying this game, and look forward to the inevitable million or so hours that I will be lost to it entirely instead of participating in “Real Life.” Hell, I was barely able to tear myself away from the game to go out to a Jonathan Coulton concert last night, and man, I’d have missed one hell of a show. I didn’t know that three average-to-geeky guys could remove clothing that fast!

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Greetings, people of Earth!

It is I, once again – The Don. Man, these Thursdays really come around quickly, don’t they? I feel like I’m careening down a race track at breakneck speed in nothing but a thin, wiry frame, four wheels and a couple hundred pounds of power rumbling behind me, threatening to eat the back of my head with a side of rice and a biscuit.

Where am I going with this? I’m glad you asked.

This week I will be doing a review of the new Mario Kart Wii game for the Wii (duh):

It’s hard to pick a place to start, so I’ll break it down into categories:

The graphics – though all Wii players are very familiar with the fact that Wii games don’t hold up anywhere close to the other next-gen consoles, I swear this game is a drastic improvement over the GameCube graphically. I haven’t really had a chance to compare, but I think I can trust myself. I’d never lie to me, so there’s that. These graphics are superb.

The controls – Holy crap! Though you have the option to use either the Wiimote/Nunchuck, the classic controller, or the GameCube controller, this game absolutely owns when you use the new Wii steering wheel peripheral. It enhances the game play, making you feel more like you’re a part of each race. The button controls are easy to access from the wheel, and there are a few new tricks you can pull off while racing – like mid-air flips and side jumps. There are now all sorts of ways to earn mini-boosts, and the original mini-boost has been simplified somewhat, providing a more streamlined racing experience.

The content – There is a lot in this game! Even though the exceptional team-up ability that debuted in Double Dash has been left behind, there is still plenty of stuff to inhale here. I haven’t even begun to unlock everything yet. The amount of content may pale in comparison to the recently released Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but it’s no slouch either. There are, of course new courses to traverse, and man - are they wicked! There be some craziness lurking in around these roads. Oh, did I say roads? Sometimes where you’re going you don’t need… roads. I gotta tell you, just when you think Nintendo couldn’t come up with any more ideas for tracks, they prove you wrong. Sure, some of the tracks follow a familiar formula, but then they smack you upside the face with some creativity. From cold, snowy ski slopes to racing through the mall (yes, the mall!!), You won’t get bored with the scenery.

One of the coolest additions to Mario Kart Wii is the inclusion of the new vehicle class – motorcycles! I will admit, they are a little more difficult to handle than their 4-wheel counterparts, but once you get the hang of them you may not want to go back to the old, boring mainstays.

Now, any of you who have been a little irked at the online play offered by Brawl will find some solace here. Nintendo realized their mistake and have added a Mario Kart Channel to the game. The disc includes an install that will put the channel on your Wii menu so that you can see who among your friends is online before you even start up the game. This, plus a well laid out game menu makes this Nintendo title the first step in a better gaming experience.

Difficulty – Did I say holy crap already? This game is extremely fun to play, but I swear it has to be the most frustrating entry in the series so far. And this is coming from the guy who almost through his DS on several occasions while playing Mario Kart for that system. In fact, I eventually completed the DS version. This one however, is utterly insane! It’s like that neighbor you once had who smeared himself all over with jelly and shouted at your tool shed for an hour. But when you tried to shoo him away or call the cops he would simply grow wings from his face and fly off to faraway lands where he would be allowed to eat puppies.

Okay, not that crazy.

But, wow! The tracks themselves already lie in wait with the crazy – with twists and turns that put an M. Night Shyamalan movie to shame (okay, not that hard to do). Then the obstacles come out of nowhere and punch you in the hi, how are ya?. And that still pales in comparison to the amped up level that the other racers play at. I swear, I was bombarded every 2 seconds by everyone with every weapon the game has to offer. Yeah, I got a banana. Baby Mario gets an invincibility star, a Bullet Bill, and nuclear “Nintendo Doesn’t Want You To Win” device. And don’t even get me started on that first Rainbow Road track. Who smoked that one up?

Playing frustrations aside, this game is still loads of fun to play. In fact, the frustration is part of the fun, especially when you add other players to the mix. I’ve been a fan of the Mario Kart series since day one on the SNES. This addition only justifies that addiction, as well as its place as one of the top racing games worldwide.

Word of caution, though – do not threaten your wife with the Wii wheel. Never ever, even in jest. You won’t like how you wear your new accessory.

The Don is going the distance. He’s going for mead.

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Late again. Sorry, folks.

How many of you play video games? And how many of you care how good the games you play look?

As I’ve looked at the video games released in the past few years, there have been two trends that I’ve noticed when it comes to graphics.

One is the ‘we need to push the envelope as hard as we can’ trend, where games like Crysis require the absolute best possible machines to run them in their full glory. Games where it is not uncommon to hear, “I’m upgrading X on my PC so I can play Y,” in reference to that game.

On the other hand, though, there is also a movement of ‘let’s make it so this game can run on as many machines and consoles as possible’. Games like World of Warcraft and many of the games that are fully cross-platform, which garner comments like, “Well, it’s not the prettiest game out there, but it still looks pretty good.”

I understand the desire to have the most badass, beautiful game out there, but at the same time, as a member of the game industry, I’d rather have my game being purchased and played by as many people as reasonably possible.

It raises the question of how important graphics are to the average user these days. Is it worth satisfying one segment of the buying population to lock out another?

So, which camp, if either, are you in? Do you think games should always be on the bleeding edge of technology, or do you think games should be playable by the largest number possible?

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