Screw You, Weather

Grrr.

Stone Gods

Because I am a grown-up that doesn't know what is going on anymore, I didn't realize that the Darkness had morphed into a new band called Stone Gods in the wake of their lead singer's departure. That dude was awesome, but man he must've had some real drug issues to screw up that gig. Stone Gods are not released in the US, and they sound a little too generic for my taste, but nice to know that those guys continue to rock. I saw the Darkness perform back in 2004 or whatever and it was one of the most dynamite rock shows that I've seen.

More Image Fun

Whee! So here's a little web app that lets you make Warhol-ish images. Not as robust as Obamicon...probably predates that one, by the looks of it. But still pretty fun, especially if you're Photoshop impaired like I am.

Something About History and Being Doomed to Repeat It

Here we go...Real Networks and the Hollywood studios go to court today over RealDVD. Check out the NPR report here. I totally understand the content holders' desire to protect their stuff, but seriously? Were these guys asleep the last ten years? You can't stop the bum rush. Gee, maybe if the studios figured out how to make a digital storefront for movies, and maximized their distribution deals with partners like Netflix, they won't end up like the record companies. Instead, that's EXACTLY where they are headed.

Sigh...

Kids Research

Here is an interesting NY Times article about Disney's marketing and research efforts surrounding Disney XD. Some people get prickly about the "Big Brother" aspect of media corporations doing this kind of research, but I don't see why it's weird for a company to want to gather information about its audience or consumer. I suppose there is an additional "creepy factor" when your consumers are kids. But what really gets my goat is that the "expert" that is profiled in this piece does not have any kids of her own. I find that hard to swallow. But whatevs!

Phew

It's a relief to learn that TNT, TBS and Cartoon Network are still securely in the top 10 of all cable networks. Damn that USA!!

Regarding Vampires and Other Cults

There's a very nice article in the recent New Yorker about vampires. The writer discusses the vampire myth in general, and how books like Bram Stoker's Dracula have maintained its popularity throughout the modern era. Truth is, since Stoker, vampires have enjoyed a cult following in fiction, movies, television, etc. In explaining cults of this type (there's a "culture" pun here that I am missing), the author, Joan Acocella, says that "cults often gather around powerful works of the second rank. Fans feel that they have to root for them."

I thought this was a great way to put it, explaining fandom very succinctly. I'll remember that one!

Thanks, Internet

Did I mention this was fun?

Obamicon

This is fun. Make your own "PROGRESS" poster in the Obama style at Obamicon.me. Warning: the site is a bit slow. Thanks to Eric for bringing this to my attention!

Cat-22 Fanart!

.: Calling Cat 22 :. by ~pollo-chan on deviantART

500th Post!

Yowza!

FYI, Intelligentsia

Well, the New Yorker has really beefed up its web offerings, including a complete digital version of the magazine every week. Too bad the user experience TOTALLY SUCKS ASS. Take that, snobs!

MC Flow - Incredible

Check out MC Flow's video for "Incredible" -- aw, yeah! Go, Abby!

RFTC Back From the Dead

Somehow, I missed this back in August: RFTC's All Systems Go, Vol. 3 on Vagrant Records. Just picked it up from Amazon. See? Speedo just won't die!!

Cream of Sum Yung Gai

OMG, this is awesome. Thanks to KJ for the head's up. There is nothing more to say, other than: hilarious!

Renaissance, Indeed!

Q-Tip has a new album out, entitled "The Renaissance" -- his first album since 1999's "Amplified", the initial solo outing released in the wake of Tribe's demise.

First of all, I was really excited to hear that Q-Tip had a new album out. But it got me to thinking about "Amplified" and a nagging question that has bugged me for almost a decade (seriously). To wit: why the heck was "Amplified" met with such a lukewarm reaction from both critics and fans? I still don't get it. I have listened to "Amplified" on and off since its release, and I still enjoy it to this day (despite the horrible -- HORRIBLE -- closing track with Korn).

The merits of "Amplified" are pretty clear to me: strong beats, smooth rhymes and two really awesome singles ("Breathe and Stop" and "Vivrant Thing"), but I think the album failed to meet expectations. (Once again, the Schwartz Theory of Media Consumption rears its head.) To be specific, I think fans and critics were expecting a Tribe album, and didn't get it. But that doesn't mean that "Amplified" was a failure.

I have a theory that Q-Tip just wanted to make a party record after Tribe imploded. "Amplified" is a simpler kind of album when you compare it to Tribe's stuff. Definitely poppy with slick production. Maybe without Phife to counter his rhymes, Q-Tip came across as rather flat. (Remember Chuck D's solo album?) Anyway, the point is that I like "Amplified" for what it is, and not what it isn't.

As for "The Renaissance" -- I have listened to it a number of times, and it's good. But not necessarily as good as "Amplified". I'm sure I'm in the minority opinion on that one. But there are people who agree:

From an Amazon user review of "Amplified":

i don't understand why this album's so undervalued...
yes, it may be far different from atcq albums, but is certainly a big part of 'him' anyway that still lives!

just loved it. n' still loving it :)

This got me to thinking further: are there other really good albums in my collection that just didn't resonate with critics and/or fans? I'm sure there are. I'll have to ponder that one.

The Search Is Over

Five words: Harvey Leeds - State of Shock. 'Nuff said.

New Family Pics

New photos of the kids are available for viewing on my Picasa webpage.

The Life and Times of Tim

Excitement abounds in my household, as HBO is debuting an original animated comedy series called The Life and Times of Tim this weekend. Oh, but how that excitement has been tempered by the first promo I saw, which featured the main character (Tim, duh) with his lady pal in the video rental store (see picture). Guess what happens? The store clerk tells Tim that the porno that he rented is a million days overdue! And he does it in a REALLY LOUD VOICE, which is, like, so totally awkward! Hoo boy...a tired gag in a tired location that most HBO subscribers haven't set foot in since 2002. This doesn't bode well...

I watched more clips on the website. The show seems to have ripped off the Soup 2 Nuts (Home Movies, Dr. Katz) style wholesale. Yeesh! So it would appear that there is nothing very original about The Life and Times of Tim , but that doesn't stop it from being sorta funny. One clip, entitled "Corporate Challenge" (in which Tim's boss wants to do some "gay stuff") made me laugh. But seriously: the tropes, the timing, the pacing, the voice direction, even the crappy drawings...it all screams Soup 2 Nuts.

The show seems to have a decent pedigree, not to mention the backing of HBO. The creator, Steve Dildarian, has a background in advertising and attended SVA. There's clearly some talent behind this thing. And I'm sure it will have its moments. (I liked the arm wrestling bit on the airplane.) But I predict a pretty limp showing on HBO, followed by a quick trip into animation oblivion. Or to Adult Swim. Too bad. A missed opportunity!

Facebook, I'm Dead to You

So I was at the Austin Game Developer's Conference this past week. At some point during the conference, my Blackberry started exploding -- and no, it was not due to my amazing networking skills. Apparently, my Facebook account had spammed nearly everyone on my friends list with dumbass link posts on their walls. Meanwhile, I'm at a conference for three days with the means (laptop) but not the time (or, frankly, the desire) to deal with it. In any event, I am thusly laid siege by a barrage of emails like this one: "Dude, I think your account has been hacked..." and this one: "What the hell is this link?!?" and this one: "Change your fucking password!!!" Gee, great. Thanks, Facebook.

I will say this: I can appreciate Facebook as a platform and find it to be a pleasant distraction. On a "meta" level I can also see how it (and sites like it) are changing the landscape of how we communicate with each other. I also find it to be a giant pain in my ass, and therefore, Facebook: I'm dead to you. Our relationship lasted a little over seven months, and I never even got a blowjob.

Oh God Please Don't Fuck This Up

Louis Letterier, the guy who made "The Transporter" and this summer's "Hulk" movie is in pre-production on a remake of Clash of the Titans -- my favorite movie of all time.

Love Question

Okay so regarding Love's seminal 60s album "Forever Changes" -- is the "changes" in the title a noun? As in, "These aren't just regular changes. These are forever changes." Or is it a verb? As in, "Don't worry, kiddo. Forever doesn't stay the same. Forever changes."

Cat of Record

Well, it's official: Calling Cat-22 is in Wikipedia.

Thumbs Up

Toonzone's forums report that Calling Cat-22! is "funny". Hooray!

Calling Cat-22!

Watch an episode of Calling Cat-22 on Cartoon Network Video now, then watch for more episodes this Sunday, June 15, during the "Not-So-Smart Toons" Marathon (12p-6p)!!

Cartoon Network = Boys

Great article about Cartoon Network's new direction, from last week's Variety.

Gawesome, Part Deux

I was just reading some of the comments on that Emily Gould piece while I was eating lunch. It's surprising how many people take time out of their day to write mean gibberish, just like this Emily girl used to do for Gawker. Nevertheless, her writing is sharp and the article was good, as many readers seemed to realize. (Whether you thought it deserved to be on the cover of the magazine is really beside the point.) And anyway, she's cute ("marginally attractive"), so she has that going for her, too. This comment cracked me up:

Well, Emily, like the old joke goes, in your 20s, you worry about what people think of you; in your 40s, you decide that you don't care what anyone thinks of you and in your 60s, your[sic] realize they weren't thinking about you at all.
— Bob, Virginia

It's funny 'cause it's true!

Gawesome

I don't know Emily Gould from Elliot Gould, but I was totally blown away by her article in this week's NYT magazine. She speaks about her history with Gawker Media, the purveyor of snark, and reveals her struggles -- both public and private -- with her professional decisions and personal relationships. Now I couldn't care less about the insipid Gawker and its preoccupation with non-news and cewebrity (even though I read the growing-ever-more-snarky Gawker-sibling Kotaku). But I am fascinated by blogger culture, the obvious need for some people to share (and some to overshare) incredibly intimate details of their lives, online, for strangers to idolize or vilify. Sure, I'm writing this blog post. But no one is reading it, probably. And if they are, fine. I'm not talking about my genital warts or whatever.

Anyway, kudos to Emily Gould for a very entertaining piece, even though she still suffers from that myopic twentysomething point of view that we all once had. The events she describes in the article occurred way, waaay back in 2006, after all. Reading the article, you'd think she was talking about her misbegotten days of youth, not the summer before last. This too shall pass, Emily. And ultimately, no one really cares what you're doing every blogtastic minute except you and the person or people you're doing it with. The sooner you realize that no one is thinking about you as much as you think they are thinking about you, the better off you are.

I learned that waaay back in 2005, when I was 32.

Photo Updates

Lots of new pics have been posted to my Picasa web album. Check out photos of our new house and our family photo shoot!

ABBA = Spinal Tap

ABBA's drummer has died in a bizarre gardening accident. Well, it was really more of a bizarre glass-partition accident. But still. Come on!

Out of the Demo

Today I am officially outside the 18-34 demographic. Sigh. The ad sales community finds me to be completely worthless.

DC's New Frontier

Darwyn Cooke's New Frontier is easily one of my favorite comics ever. I'm not even a DC guy, but New Frontier is seriously awesome. So I watched the new movie over the weekend, which I enjoyed, but it was a disappointment overall. Mostly because there was simply no way for the producers to cram all the story into a one-hour running time. However, the movie is filled with great moments...it just doesn't come together as a whole. I'd write more, but Toonzone does a very good job of summing it up.

Sigh...FINE

Okay so I set up a Facebook profile. Happy now? Can't wait until it becomes obsolete so I can set up another stupid profile. Oh yeah, and don't forget to read this.

Cloverfield Rulez!

I just got home from an advance screening of Cloverfield -- GO! And go soon, because there's some fun surprises that will quickly be ruined by word-of-mouth and reviews. A great movie to see when you pretty much know nothing at all. I will say this...SPOILER ALERT...this picture is a fake or a decoy.

Happy Birfday

This weekend Aviella had her birthday party, which she shared with two of her classmates, Annabel and Sydney. The cake said:

Happy Birthday
Avieloa, Annable and Sydney

(They got "Sydney" right.)

This prompted Gideon to remark upon a hilarious internet photo, displayed below:



I love the internet!

Cleaning Up

Today I am at work cleaning up my work space. It is an absolute mess of papers and toys and magazines and crap. I hope I can be a bit more productive in 2008 if I have a cleaner work area. While I was organizing/trashing, I found the scraps of a script idea that I had. This was supposed to remind me what the plot points were so I would not forget, because I clearly did not have enough time to get all my thoughts down. I reproduce it here verbatim:

truck - load, drive, girl
stops - stolen, shot, dumped
villain - pays guy, corn
broker - brewer, vibration, bees
camp - kids, cars
villain - returns

I'm sure this is absolutely brilliant, but I have no idea what it means. Actually, I think it might be the bullet points for my killer bee movie, entitled "Swarm". (I'm being totally serious. Tagline: "Bee Afraid.") Maybe one day it will come back to me.

Photo Updates

I spent the Christmas holiday uploading new photos of the kids. I also restored my albums from Seoul and Tokyo, complete with captions. (I'm really pleased that I was able to do this.) View it all right here.

New Netflix Record

So Netflix shipped the movie "Babel" to me on June 26, 2007. I finally got around to watching it last night. It only took about six months! (Note: Amitai arrived on July 14, 2007.) Anyway, I thought the movie was fantastic.

Some critics found the movie's message ("We're all connected!") to be too simplistic or straightforward. Sure, it's "a small world after all" but if that's all you take from the movie, I think you missed the point. I was impressed with the different levels of meaning to the intertwining stories, with the common theme of communication (or lack thereof) tying the whole thing together. The performances were excellent and it is always refreshing to see unique characters that don't step out of central casting. I can't think of another movie to feature a deaf-mute Japanese teenager, can you?

So, it was worth the wait. Now let's see when we get around to viewing "The Lives of Others".

Great Gift Idea

I just gave some of my colleagues personalized storybooks from My Child Book, and they were a big hit! Aviella received one of these from a friend, and when I was thinking about what to do for work gifts, I decided this would be perfecto! I got a Justice League one, and a Marvel one, a Scooby Doo one, etc. You enter the recipient's name, their age, their hometown, a few friends, and this is the result: "John, age 32, from Atlanta, Georgia, was hanging out with Batman and Superman at the amusement park!" And so on. Great fun!

I was very tempted to get the horribly generic (and terribly illustrated) title called simply "Ninja" (pictured), but went with the licensed stuff instead. Recommended! And it won't break the bank, either.

Ben Gets a 10

Big news about the live-action Ben 10 movie, Race Against Time, which scored huge numbers (for Cartoon Network) when it aired the night before Thanksgiving.

BEN 10: RACE AGAINST TIME Scores as Cartoon Network’s
Most-Watched Telecast in Network History and #1 Show of the Day Among Boys
Live-Action Superhero Beats All Cartoon Network Programming Among Kids 6-11, Kids 2-11 Since January 2002
Cartoon Network Also Posts Its Most-Watched Total Day Ever with Kids 6-11, Kids 2-11

Young Ben Tennyson proved his supernatural delivery and ratings strength last Wednesday night when Cartoon Network premiered the original live-action movie special BEN 10: RACE AGAINST TIME (8:00 p.m., ET/PT), setting all-new records as the most-watched telecast in Cartoon Network history, according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research. The 90-minute live-action film delivered 3,987,000 viewers age 2+, out-performing the network’s 2002 presentation of Dragon Ball Z, which previously held the #1 ranking. This outstanding performance propelled BEN 10: RACE AGAINST TIME to the #1 telecast of the day on all television—among both cable and broadcast—with boys 6-11 and boys 2-11. Moreover, Cartoon Network posted its most-watched day ever in total day delivery with kids 6-11 (785,000), kids 2-11 (1,101,000), boys 6-11 (615,000) and boys 2-11 (840,000).

My personal take: I thought the movie was really very good and delivered exactly what it set out to deliver: a live-action Ben 10 experience! The alien effects were better than I expected and the performances ranged from good (Lee Majors) to acceptable (the kids) to over-the-top (Eon). In fact, I have very little bad to say about the movie. It's really well done. The only thing that I'm still getting used to is the idea of the live-action cartoon movie as a general concept, and where it fits on the air. Something still feels "off" to me, but it's probably just something we need to get used to. I smell sequel!

I Wish I Had Thought of This

Legion of Rock Stars is a bunch of musicians that plays fantastic covers of your favorite tunes. From their site:

Legion of Rock Stars (LRS) pioneered Pure Pleasure, in which the band listens to original recordings of classic rock and pop songs on 30db noise-blocking headsets, and then plays along.

The results are downright hilarious. Thanks to Dave for sharing the awesome Danzig clip below.

New Photo Albums

I have gotten with the times and created a Picasa web album -- finally! You can find it here and also with the handy-dandy link on the right.

Chowder Premieres Tonight

Cartoon Network's new show Chowder premieres this evening, and I'll be watching with Aviella (assuming she does good listening and cooperating and eats all her vegetables). Toon Zone has posted their review, which is pretty much on the mark. I found the first episode to be a nice mix of sweet and funny, with some really cool and unique visual touches. Here's hoping this is the breakout show we've been waiting for.

New Blog!

In the wake of the Great Jilly Crash of 2007, I've decided to create a new blog devoted to games and work-related stuff. I started to notice that most of my posts here were about gaming, so in the interest of keeping this blog more "personal" I thought, "Why not start another blog about games?" (Because, lord knows, what the internet needs now is another game blog.)

Anyway, I hope you will check out Metroid Crossing and tell me what you think. It's geeky!

We're Back

Jilly Boel went down, but just like some of Jilly's greatest songs, JB.com refuses to die. Hooray for technology! Hooray for KJ! Hooray for the forums! I'm happy that my blog is back up, but most of my images were lost -- so there are lots of broken links in the archives. You know, for all the people who read this thing.

Also, Aviella's album is down, in addition to all of my past image galleries. Fortunately, I have those all backed up, but I doubt I will re-post them. My image sharing software is horribly dated, and I want to start using Picasa. Also, I have two kids now, you know.

Sigh...

This gets me to thinking that I might need to start a new blog for gaming/work stuff and keep this one personal. There are just so many hours in the day, though.

Brutal Legend

The new Tim Schafer/Double Fine production is called Brutal Legend. It appears to be about a heavy metal roadie who goes to some alternate universe in which he cuts people in half with an axe and sprouts bat wings.

All to the tune of "The Mob Rules" -- which gets HUGE points from me.



Looks great!

EA WTB Bioware/Pandemic

It's been about a week since the surprise announcement that EA is going to buy Bioware/Pandemic. Industry analysts weigh in on the subject, and all seem to agree it was a good move on EA's part. It will be very interesting to see the games that come out of this merger/partnership/buyout. The best point made in the above article, I think, is that the games that both Bioware and Pandemic make (RPGs, action-adventure) nicely complement the games that EA makes (sports, driving, movie licenses).

More FusionFall Q&A

RPG Vault, part of the IGN network, has posted a new interview with FusionFall exec. producer Chris Waldron. Very nice to read, though I can't believe people still make the mistake of using the term, "Powderpuff Girls". Sigh.

FusionFall Newsletter

Hey, the first FusionFall newsletter was released today. Check it out, or better yet, sign up at the official site.

Top 5 Consoles

As I was drifting off to sleep last night, I started to think about the best gaming console systems EVAR. Why? Dunno.

1. SNES - The apex of 2D gaming and features some of Nintendo's finest first-party titles ever.
2. PLAYSTATION 2 - Seriously, how many games have been released for this thing? Something like 124,000? The best value bar none, and still going.
3. ATARI 2600 - Gaming in its purest form, when graphics didn't matter and it was all about gameplay. Not to mention the fond gaming memories.
4. DREAMCAST - Poor, poor Dreamcast. You were so much better than the PS1! And you had some great games! And a fine controller, too.
5. NES - Not only did the NES bring gaming back from the dead, it had River City Ransom. That alone puts it in the Top 5.

Creeping up: the Nintendo DS is my current favorite platform. It's so sassy!

Maple Story Ads

Some folks at work yesterday were talking about the new Maple Story TV ads which have been cropping up on cable. They are certainly attention-grabbing, although their effectiveness is debatable. (Hmmm, reminds me of an ad campaign for a certain all-you-can-eat games subscription service.)

Snails:


Fish:


Pig:


Despite the weird-for-the-sake-of-being-weird vibe, I have to admit that there's a certain charm to the line, "Is that pig wearing a gentleman's hat?" But: the fact that we do not see even one image from the game in these ads -- to tie it back to the live-action silliness -- is a shocking creative error in my opinion.

The ads can also be found here, on the Nexon site that launched in conjunction with the ad campaign. Wish them luck!

YTMND <3 DTMB

A few weeks later, and this is still cracking me up. Thanks, YTMND.

Geek News

We get a brief news update every day from our research group here at the office. Today's email was chock-full of interesting nerd tidbits. Some of these items are probably old news, but these days, it's hard to keep up!

- Paul Dini is working on a new Gatchaman (G-Force) feature
- the same folks are also making an Astro Boy animated feature
- George Miller is going to direct the Justice League movie
- Tokyopop is doing a manga prequel of the Dark Crystal
- Genndy Tartakovsky is working on a new Dark Crystal animated feature

That's a lot of cool stuff!

Impossible Mission, Wii

Surfing the web this weekend, I came across the interesting news that Impossible Mission is being remade for the Wii! This is only one of the coolest old-school games of all time. Having played it again at some point in the last year or so on GameTap, it is definitely in need of a reface. Sad thing is, I'm not sure if it is going to be available in the US. The Amazon UK site has a boxed version for sale, though. Further inspection reveals that Impossible Mission may in fact come to the Wii's Virtual Console as a downloadable title. Is this true? Can a Lode Runner remake be too far behind? Seriously, this is all very exciting, but I can't imagine that there are too many gamers out there under the age of 30 who would be interested in something like this. Anyway, check out the screenshot:


I'll be keeping my eye on the Metacritic page. There appears to be DS, PSP and PS2 versions planned as well. I like this quote from a PSP review: "Retro platforming at its most hernia-inducingly painful." Talk about evil villainy. Mwa ha ha!

Halo 3 Psychologists

You probably saw last month's Wired cover story about the development of Halo 3. Microsoft's testing lab for the game studied an extraordinary number of gameplay elements to fine-tune the game for the largest number of players.

Today, NPR reports on the same thing, noting the "psychologists" that Microsoft employs to test Halo 3's playability. I've often scoffed at the mainstream media's insistence that game companies hire psycohologists to make their products "more addictive" -- but in this case, it appears to be the case.

Gee, I wonder if anyone is gonna buy this thing? Find out tonight at midnight!

Reviews = $$$?

Great article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal about Metacritc and its relationship to game sales. Side note: I love Metacritic.

Some may think that paying a royalty to a licensor for a poor-quality game (or poorly-scored game) somewhat bullyish, but I really don't see it that way. Why are there so many craptacular licensed games? Because when developers and publishers know they can make a quick buck off of a licensed property, it's not necessarily in their best interest to make a GOOD GAME.

(Actually, I think it is, if you read my earlier thoughts on the matter.)

However, for the Time-Warners of the world, well, they would rather have a better game. As mentioned in the article, Time-Warner may take an additional royalty from a publisher who makes yet another stupendously bad Batman game.

If sites like Metacritic actually help us get good licensed games, then I'm all for it. What's interesting is, as the article points out, many games sell well despite bad scores, such as Spider-Man 3. Hell, if they didn't, there wouldn't be any Spider-Man 4 to look forward to, right?

Metroid Manga

Hey, check out this pretty cool web comic about Samus Aran! I can't tell if it was authorized by Nintendo. Heck, I can't even understand it, because it's all in Japanese!


Fortunately, some of the nice people on the internet have a translation of the comic available, so check it out!

Zzz Hospital

You know, if I ever get down about the projects I work on, at least I can be satisfied knowing that I am not making a game like the creatively-named Zoo Hospital.


Sure, this game basically sounds like an animal version of Trauma Center, but seriously, look at that prone panda in the screenshot! "Help! I'm nearly extinct and trapped in this lousy game!"

Do I really want to "discover how best to calm stressed species through soothing touch" or "administer injections, apply ointment, pull teeth, remove deadly microbes, X Ray organs and much more"? There's even two-player co-op. Wow!

Space Plague!

Straight out of an episode of X-Files, a meteor strikes a remote Peruvian village and the locals come down with a strange disease. That's seriously weird!

MC Flow Update

Check out this piece on MC Flow in the San Diego Union-Tribune!

Genndy's Luke Cage

In case you hadn't heard (I hadn't), Genndy Tartakovsky is doing his take on Luke Cage/Power Man for Marvel:


Newsarama has a nice interview here.

Flash MMORPGs

Has anyone played Dragon Fable, a free massively-single player RPG for your web browser? I just signed up for an account to give it a try. It's a little clunky and ugly...but it's free! There's another one (from the same company, it seems) called Adventure Quest, which has to be the most generic game name ever. Why didn't they just call it "Hero Fight" or something like that?

Apparently, both of these games have something to do with Arch Knight -- the "Original Web RPG" that you probably never played.

Would You Like to Buy a House?

A charming bungalow in Oakhurst is for sale:


Click on the pic or follow the link here.

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

Indie game alert! Blogs have been pointing to Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, a game being made by the artist Michel Gagne. I felt bad because I never heard of the guy, but then Mario reminded me of the "Insanely Twisted Rabbits" -- which don't really look like this game at all. (Apparently, Michel Gagne also did some monster designs for CN's Juniper Lee.)

Anyway, the graphic design of the game is absolutely awesome and certainly something I would like to play. GameTap, are you picking up the phone?

The Difficulty With Games

Last week, GameSetWatch pointed to a really nice article about difficulty in games. Entitled "Game Design Essentials: 20 Difficult Games" the writer, John Harris, takes a designer's point of view when describing 20 of the most difficult games imaginable. This is really my favorite kind of videogame "think" piece. Taking an academic approach to some seriously difficult (and obscure) retro titles is both informative and fun to read. (And totally free of snark -- hooray!) If this were a mainstream piece, it would have been called "The Twenty Most Difficult Games of All Time." Instead, this is a carefully thought out list with some really good reflections on what designers can learn from the successes or mistakes of the past. I only wish the writer had carefully listed the platforms of each game!

In my humble opinion, the concept of "difficulty" is essentially the designer's balancing act between fun and challenge. Too much fun, and a game becomes a cakewalk -- unless that is the designer's intention. Too much challenge, and a game becomes deadly and too punishing. The key is to find the appropriate mixture of these elements so that the player enjoys the experience while also feeling a sense of accomplishment as a result of his/her actions. Creating a successful difficulty curve is one of the designer's toughest tasks. When factoring in the complex systems of modern titles, it is amazing to see when the difficulty tightrope is walked successfully.

Makes sense, then, that so many of the games on the list are older titles. With the rudimentary designs of yesteryear, it was probably easier for the designer to streamline the difficulty curve. Hell, you don't get much more "streamlined" than Kaboom!

Anyway, I really enjoyed the article, and I had some of my own games that I thought worthy of the list. Most of the games I thought of were lessons in what not to do, as opposed to being illustrative of good design. But then again, I'm the type of player that doesn't have much patience for difficulty, and will quickly give up and move on as opposed to banging my head against a pixelated brick wall.

Game: Battletoads
Platform: NES
Developer: Rare
Year: 1991
Description: This game is the stuff of legend. No one I know could ever beat it. The flying/racing levels, in particular, required such rote memorization of the obstacles that the fun ceased to exist. I have watched speedruns of this game just to see if it actually had an ending.
What We Learned: The guiding principle of "one mistake and you're toast" is not a good design conceit.

Game: F-Zero GX
Platform: GameCube
Developer: Amusement Vision
Year: 2003
Description: No surprsie that this game was developed by the same guys who made Super Monkey Ball (on the list of Gamasutra's 20). This game is T-O-U-G-H, and requires some of the highest "player skill" requirements this side of a monkey-filled sphere. Like Harris points out about Super Monkey Ball, F-Zero is totally fair. If you can't win, it's not the game's fault. You MUST have the driving skills. I actually adore this game...to a point. And I mean that quite literally: I got to a spot in this game and just COULD NOT PASS IT. Like Battletoads, there are some missions that require rote memorization of obstacles. I hate rote memorization of obstacles.
What We Learned: F-Zero GX had great graphics, awesome physics, a robust feature set, with impressive cut-scenes and scripting rarely seen on the GameCube. Too bad the game was TOO HARD to enjoy all the cool content. Deisngers: don't build an awesome theme park and then erect a 50-foot wall of rote memorization of obstacles around it.

Game: The Adventures of Bayou Billy
Platform: NES
Developer: Konami
Year: 1988
Decription: You're a guy that looks like Crocodile Dundee, and you have to save your girlfriend. To do this, you must get through fighting levels, driving levels and shooting levels. I remember bringing Bayou Billy home and being really excited to play it, but about 15 minutes in, I was like, "What the hell?!?" The game quickly demonstrates the concept of "unfair" design, in the sense that no amount of player skill will allow significant progress. The house's odds are simply stacked against Mr. Billy. He can't fight, it's hard to drive, lose all your ammo and you lose a life. When does the fun begin? Answer: it doesn't.
What We Learned: If anything, Bayou Billy reminds us to try to avoid mixing our gameplay styles. Only the most clever have been able to pull this off. (I'm thinking of games like Deus Ex, often called a "shooter/rpg" hybrid.) In other words, if you set out to make a fighter/driver/shooter, you will most likely do all of those things badly, instead of one thing really well.

Game: Ghouls 'n Ghosts
Platform: Various, Genesis
Developer: Capcom
Year: 1989
Description: Seriously, how could a game from the Ghosts 'n Goblins/Ghouls 'n Ghosts series NOT make the "most difficult" list? Only the leetest gamers have ever beat one of these games. I know I've never come close. But I did watch a friend of mine "beat" the Genesis version back in high school. When he defeated the last boss, we got to the end screen...and learned that the entire game was all a dream! Time to do the whole thing over for real this time. What?!? Oh, no you didn't...oh, yes you did. I think we gave his Genesis the finger, turned it off, and went outside.
What We Learned: This is true of almost any game, book or movie that isn't "The Wizard of Oz" or TV show that isn't "Newhart". Designers: don't tell us "it was all a dream" at the end, or we will feel cheated and hate you forever and then blog about you.

Game: Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space
Platform: PC
Developer: Digital Eel
Year: 2005
Description: Obscure game alert! I've written about this game before. It's actually a game of the hybrid variety mentioned above. Sort of a strategy sim meets space shooter. What's cool about it is that the galactic map is randomly generated each time you play, and there is enough variety in the types of enemies and resources and obstacles (and so on) that it feels like a new experience each time you play. Thing is, you won't get very far! I've never actually completed a mission in this game. I always die!
What We Learned: Sometimes, repetitive failure actually inspires the player to keep playing instead of just giving up. There are a number of other games that demonstrate this principle, but I like to think of Weird Worlds as a really good example. If you can make failure fun, you're not necessarily making the game too difficult. Failure simply becomes part of the experience. Despite never really succeeding at this game, I continued to want to play it. I wish I still had it installed on my machine!

Anyway, there were other games that I wanted to list above, such as Blaster Master (NES), Viewtiful Joe (GC, PS2), Pokemon Pinball Ruby & Sapphire (GBA), even GTA San Andreas (PS2, XB). But I need to get back to work!

Fun With Satan

Unholy crap! A totally rare Atari 2600 game has been unearthed from the bowels of Hell. I can't believe I never heard of this one. Check it out!


Ha, ha, ha. Did I fool you? That image was totally falsified using the super awesome Atari 2600 label maker. Oh, the fun we can have with teh internets...

Thanks, Atari Age! And thanks, person who made the label maker!

FusionFall Q&A

Gamasutra has an informative Q&A with FusionFall's exec producer, Chris Waldron.

It's A Small World, After All

Though it was previously reported that Sony was going to buy mini-MMO Club Penguin, turns out that the Mouse House got the goods. Disney may pay up to $700M! Okay, just how many original MMOs could you make with that kind of cash? We'll see if the audience was worth the sticker price.

WTS Wolf Pee

Wolf Quest is a new free game coming later this year, which allows kids to go online with a wolf and form "packs" with other players. This game showed up on a number of the game blogs today. While the video is indeed terrible, and the environments staggeringly barren and ugly, the game is an interesting concept. (I'm not sure what it's going to teach, though, other than wolves like to howl, pee and kill elk.) Hey, at least it's not dwarves and orcs for the gabillionth time. The game trailer is also here on Gametrailers.com.

CGE 2K7

Sure, some people go to Comic-Con, but the REAL nerds go to the Classic Gaming Expo, which was held this past weekend in Las Vegas. Wired's Chris Kohler has a collection of entertaining and informative entries on his blog. All the usual suspects were there, including David Crane, Garry Kitchen, Al Alcorn, et al. Bleep bloop bleep.

Haunted Memories

Every Comic-Con brings something totally unexpected and cool...like the guy a few years back who prefectly recreated the William Shakespeare statue that opens the Batcave from the original live-action show. This year, I caught a glimpse of Caveman Robot and dug through the best colleciton of He-Man/Filmation production cels that I've ever seen.

Even though I was only able to walk the floor for a couple of hours, tops on my list was Haunted Memories:


This artist takes real 18th century portraits and turns them into the creepiest lenticular art you've ever seen! For example, as you step past the photograph of a young mother holding her child, she turns into a vampire and looks at her baby with demonic hunger. Absolutely awesome!

A point of irony not lost on me: if I came home with one of these pictures, my wife would have killed me. So I bought a cel of Beastman instead!

More FusionFall

YouTube has the trailer up and running:


Fan reaction at Comic-Con was wildly positive! Everyone seems to be excited about the new look for the characters and the general creative direction. Kids had fun with the game, too. It really couldn't have gone better, actually.

FusionFall Trailer

I can't figure out how to embed this, but check out the FusionFall trailer here on the Warcry Network.

FusionFall Press Release

Check out the official FusionFall website for the press release. See you at the panel!

FusionFall

It's out of the bag...I will be trolling the web today, but caught a glimpse on Kotaku this morning. Stay tuned for more hits from teh internets.

What the--?

When I sent the Chore Wars link to my friend Katie, saying that I thought the game was gooftastic, she said, "Sure, but have you seen this?

Chore Wars

This is seriously awesome. Using Chore Wars, you can create RPG characters and level them up by doing chores in real life!! This is one of the kookiest gaming applications I've ever seen. What fun! "But daaad, if I don't get to wash the dishes tonight my dark mage can't equip his Eternal Fire staff!"

Destructoid brought us the link.

Amitai

Born: July 14, 2007 at 11:21 pm. 7 lbs, 13 oz.

1.18.08

The "Cloverfield trailer" is now available on the Apple trailers site, now dubbed "1.18.08". Thanks, Benjy!

FTWintendo

I just watched Nintendo's E3 press conference, and...wow. Who would have suspected that Nintendo would be in the position they are now, even as early as one year ago? I know it's a lot of PR song-and-dance, but Reggie's presentation was pretty awesome. Nintendo DS: 40 million units sold worldwide. Wii virtual console: 5.6 million game downloads. Super Mario Galaxy on November 12. Super Smash Bros. Brawl on December 3. Metroid Prime 3 just around the corner...will it come packed with the Wii Zapper? Or will it be with Umbrella Chronicles? Mario Kart for the Wii next year, with the Wii Wheel. Not to mention Zelda, Dragon Quest and so on and so forth.

Interestingly, Miyaomoto's big presenation at the end -- Wii Fit -- was sort of a dud. I can see what they are going for, but can real fitness people take those exercises seriously? All I'm seeing is a more interactive version of Wii Play, and a peripheral that will make awesome snowboard/skateboard/surfing games.

In any case, it's amazing and somewhat gratifying to see Nintendo on top of their game (no pun intended) yet again.

Faction of the Fox

This is an insanely entertaining video by some crazy bunch of Midwestern lunatics calling themselves Faction of the Fox. They wear bags on their heads and scream a lot. What are they so mad about?


The video was directed by a dude named Mike Alfini. Nice work! Thanks to Charles for showing this to me.

Gold Farming on Marketplace

Great story last night on public radio's "Marketplace" program: gold farming regulation in South Korea. Best part is the closing interview:

Gagliano: Do you ever stop and think, "There's all this money and all this time and effort — and now laws and trading associations — being built up over these items that don't exist?"

Park: I would say never.

Them Koreans love them some virtual commerce!

My Daemon

I just went to the offial Golden Compass movie site and got my own personal daemon.

Her name is Aurora and she is a crow. A crow?!? Can't I get a badass leopard or something? This movie sucks! I want a leopard.

Cloverfield Trailer

Get it while you can...that awesome trailer for the unnamed J.J. Abrams project that ran before Transformers is popping up on teh internets, then disappearing just as quickly. Check it out and marvel at some amazing marketing that leaves audiences begging for more...clearly the best thing about going to see Transformers in theaters!

Guitar Zeroes

Awesome.


Thanks to Kellam for the link.

Remember this kid? He got outgeeked. PWND

More GTAIV

The new Grand Theft Auto IV trailer was posted yesterday. Why am I starting to get feelings of underwhelmitude?

Welcome to Demongo

And welcome to my new favorite website.

Clone Wars Returns

In case you missed Genndy Tartakovsky's brilliant take on Star Wars, the animated Clone Wars "micro-series" is now available for viewing once again on Toonami Jetstream. Sweet.

Thoughts on Game Writing

Fellow writer Richard Dansky offers some nice thoughts on game writing in this Gamasutra interview with Wendy Despain. Worth a read!

More Spore

Oh, and in case you missed it, Spore has been delayed yet again. This column has some good speculation as to why.

Sonic RPG from BioWare

Straight from the "weirdest marriages ever" department comes the announcement that BioWare is making a Sonic the Hedgehog RPG for the DS:

SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON (June 21, 2007) -- SEGA® of America, Inc., SEGA® Europe, Ltd., and Canada-based developer studio BioWare® Corp. today announced a partnership to create a new video game based on the classic SEGA flagship icon Sonic The Hedgehog. The exact name of the game is undetermined, and it will ship in 2008.

Based on the fact that just about every Sonic release since the Dreamcast has been utter crap, it's no surprise that SEGA had to do something drastic or risk having to take Sonic out behind the barn. I don't know if cascading dialogue trees with Knuckles will actually solve the problem, but it certainly sounds...interesting.

Nervous Brickdown

So there's a new Breakout-styled puzzler coming later this month for the DS, and it's called Nervous Brickdown. I'm psyched for this one, as I adore the genre and love seeing what developers can do to make it interesting again. (Check out Real Arcade for some awesome examples.) Nervous Brickdown seems to have wild cartoony graphics and some real pizazz. From Eidos.

Calamity Game

This is very cool, though I don't really have time to play with it. It seems to be a black-box Flash physics tool, with a bunch of stuff to create your very own "kill the rag doll" movies. Sweet.

Hitler's Ultimate Downfall

omg lolz


Once again, props to R2 for this one.

Thundercats, Ho?

With the recent announcement of the Thundercats movie, I am happy to direct you to a wonderful PSA (thanks, YouTube) from the 80s in which Snarf and Lion-O remind you kids to stay off the liquor. Give me sobriety beyond sobriety!


Oh, and let's not forget that He-Man is also on the fast track to become a "major" motion picture. Can Silver Hawks be far behind? Or Crystar? How about Rock Lords? Oooh! Perhaps even Rainbow Brite Unleashed? Well, we can dream!

This trend speaks to my theory about cyclical cultural phenomena: as the "tastemakers" of our culture, AKA the entertainment executives, come of age and get into a position of influence, they quickly reach into the entertainment experiences of their collective childhoods for ideas. Hence: retread films from the 80s. Just you wait...in ten years, we'll be seeing Tamagochi: The Motion Picture, starring a craggy Shia LaBeouf.

Hollywood is really a creative wasteland, isn't it?

Halo Clix

If you're like me, you're a geek. And if you're a geek, you might like comic books. And also board games. And maybe collectible minature games? Oh God, does that get too geeky for you? It does for me...sort of. See, I spent some time obsessed with HeroClix, the collectible miniatures game from Wizkids that lets you play as your favorite superheroes. Well, now...behold:


That's right, Wizkids is going to launch Halo ActionClix some time later this year. (I spotted a little blurb on Joystiq and then went right to the source.) So maybe you're a geek, and you like video games. And collectible miniatures. Then, boy howdy, are you in luck, Mr. Geek!

Awesome Ms. Pac Man Video

Fabulous.

Thanks to R2 for link.

Aviella: Hilton Head

This is a great picture of Aviella that I took during our recent trip to Hilton Head:

 

I have not posted pictures of her in almost six months! (Lazy, lazy, daddy.) So I am in the process of creating a new album, since her current one is so dated and crappy. I published this one picture using the new version of Picasa. More to come!

New MMOG Nation

GSW's excellent "MMOG Nation" column has moved to a new home on the 1up network. Now entitled Massive Update, it contains a lot of choice news and interesting tidbits about the MMO multiverse. Such as: Mattel's new Barbie MMO!

Starcraft II Trailer

Now that's a trailer!