I Really Am 8 Bit

So I went to Capcom's party at Gallery 1988 tonight (which, for the record, is near the intersection of Labrea and Melrose) and bought something from the latest edition of I Am 8 Bit! It is called, "Zebes Welcoming Committe" and features some of the baddie creatures from Metroid. I also bought a poster print by Seth Fisher, which immortalizes the game Rampage, and was one of the last things he did before he died (tragically and unexpectedly) in Japan. Great night.

P.S. I decided that all the artwork at I Am 8 Bit could be called one of two things: 1) "My Wife Is Gonna Kill Me," or 2) "It's Going Right to the Office, Honey."

Wii Are Psyched!

So, this is what I hear: Super Smash Bros. for Wii. (Solid Snake as a playable character?) A Metroid game featuring Samus sans suit, and Kid Icarus next-gen!

GameTap @ E3

GameTap has posted its schedule for the E3 live clientcast. Space Ghost interviews Peter Moore? Well, that ought to be interesting...

Hilariousitination

I was just purging my work inbox when I came across an email from marketing that used the word "operationalizing" in the subject line. Isn't that funny? Let's take our learnings offline.

Concert Hall!

Seven songs confirmed for Guitar Hero II and probably playable at E3!

Psychobilly Freakout - Reverend Horton Heat
Strutter - Kiss
Who Was in My Room Last Night - Butthole Surfers
You Really Got Me - Van Halen
War Pigs - Black Sabbath
YYZ - Rush
Arterial Black - Drist

Off to See the Wizard

My conflicted feelings about YouTube aside, it is definitely nice to find the trailer for The Wizard, the awesomest Nintendo movie ever. Come out on DVD, already!

Ubwiisoft

Ubisoft continues to show its support of the Wii with the addition of Rayman Raving Rabbids to Nintendo's slowly growing launch lineup. I guess the game is multi-platform, but they did include an awesome picture with the press release...



In the game, Rayman will fight "Ultra-Crazed Evil Rabbits" -- which sounds like a pretty good start, anyway.

Haiku of Halitosis

This, and other hilarious subtitles, can be found one click away at the Castlevania title generator! Link brought to you by Joystiq.

Wii Respond

Game developer types respond to the Wii over at Gamasutra. What do we learn? Probably what we already knew: yes, it's a silly name, but ultimately, it's the experience that really counts. If the console and the games are awesome (looking likely), then they could have called it the Nintendo Doodybomb and it wouldn't have mattered. Right?

Excuse Me, Mr. Moore? Mine's Broken

Everyone has heard about the Xbox 360's so-called "quality problems" -- that is, the manufacturing defects, overheating, etc. (I have also heard rumor that a new chipset will be offered as soon as Q4 that has less tendency to overheat.) Anyway, no one I know has had this kind of problem with their 360, so I imagine most of this stuff is proliferating on the Internet. (What a shock.)

In any event, I don't own a 360. But whether you do or you don't, this story from the San Jose Mercury News will certainly raise an eyebrow. The most incredible thing? The guy found nine Xbox 360 games worth owning.

Zing!

Emulatores Is Awesmoe

And this, ladies and gents, typifies my love it/hate it relationship with the Internet: dummies who feel that they are entitled to everything for free.

Whee!

The Nintendo Revolution has a new name. I'm not going to tell you what it is, though. You've really got to see it for yourself.

Grid Wars 2

You've probably heard all the hubbub about Geometry Wars on Xbox Live. Well, if you're like me and don't have an Xbox 360 OR Xbox Live, you'll have to make due with Grid Wars 2, a pretty awesome clone for both PC and Mac that you can download here.

Megaman Megamix

OK, this totally warrants a post: big-name music acts like Metallica and R.E.M. are ripping off Megaman! Witness "Seek and Destroy" meets Flash Man and R.E.M. versus Elecman. I can't wait to hear Linkin Park cover Dr. Wily!

Thirty-Three and a Third

So, my friend Mark sent me a book about the making of Paul's Boutique, one of the best albums ever.


What I've discovered is that the book is one in a series of books about great albums: Doolittle, Let It Be, Exile on Main Street, blah blah blah. The blog for the books is here. The publisher, Continuum Books, is here. But a comprehensive list of all the titles in the series is...where? Can't find it. But you can link to Powell's and Amazon from the blog.

Anyway, what's that sound that you hear? Why, it's the sound of more money flying out of my wallet. Yay.

Movie Quickies

I have seen some really good movies lately! (Also a few stinkers.) Here are some of them.
Serenity - I did not get on Joss Whedon's Firefly bandwagon. I watched this movie with almost no exposure to the TV show. Needless to say, I was blown away! Awesome sci-fi action, great script, and the best villain I've seen in ages. It's better than all three recent Star Wars epics, which is saying both a lot and a little at the same time. Seriously, see this movie!
Lord of War - Best opening title sequence ever (follow a bullet from its birth in a factory to being shot into someone's skull) leads to a nearly unwatchable film. Nicholas Cage is so miscast it's laughable. I made it about 40 minutes in and turned it off.
Saw II - I liked Saw. Not loved, liked. Saw II was even better. A really tight script, some truly grisly moments, and a story that keeps you hooked. Pun not intended.
Howl's Moving Castle - Again, the theory of low expectations wins out. The reviews of Miyazaki's latest were lukewarm, especially when you consider that most critics gush over everything the man does (with good reason). In any event, this movie was brilliant, although not as good as Spirited Away...but what is? Some of the imagery will stick with me forever.
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children - I'm not a Final Fantasy fan at all, but I've picked up on most of the stories through sheer force of geek osmosis. The film is gorgeous to look at, with some of the best (if not THE best) CGI action sequences ever created. I was thoroughly entertained, although I have no clue what happened. Might warrant another viewing, someday.
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room - The first half hour of this Oscar-nominated documentary is confusing at best. But stick with it to experience a disturbing portrait of a unique brand of American greed.
The 40 Year-Old Virgin - I was prepared for the most hilarious movie I have seen in my entire life, and I am happy to report that this title is still held by Airplane! Sure, this movie is funny. But it's really long and totally in love with itself. Again, high expectations are shattered as easily as low expectations are proven wrong.
Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins - I loved this movie as a kid, and recently TiVo'd it. Man, it holds up surprisingly well. Joel Grey's borderline racist performance as a Korean martial arts master is forgiven due to its sheer awesomeness. Fred Ward is great, too. This film was supposed to launch a franchise, which never happened. Remake!!

The Opportunists

I was interested to discover Metacritic's coverage of The Opportunists, the last film I worked on before giving up on the movie business.


Seems as though some people liked it, but I didn't know that anyone had actually SEEN it.

How About That? x 2

Well, someone has made a modern-day Rescue Raiders, entitled Steam Brigade! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check this post here. Then go download the game and let me know if it's any good, because I frankly have no time to play it!!

How About That?

Between today and yesterday, my profile recieved 23 additional views. I guess sex sells, after all.

Zombies 3, Ambulance 4,085

How about this for a totally cool concept? It's Crazy Taxi, but in an ambulance. And instead of people, your fares are zombies. Get them to the hospital on time, or they eat you!! (Forget about Kentucky Fried Chicken.) It's The Zombie Versus Ambulance, and it's brought to you by Japan, world famous developer of ninjas and tentacle rape. What a country!