Sunday, September 30, 2007
Oh That Whacky Print Medium
The afternoon was spent wandering around Queen's Park, near the Royal Ontario Museum, checking out an annual festival here called "Word on the Street." It's essentially a place where big book/magazine publishers and small or indie book/magazine publishers gather to celebrate the wonder of print. Having spent the last ten or so years in Singapore where such an event, gathering up Singapore's entire print industry, would have filled up maybe a quarter of a small, closet sized office, this was something of a boggle to my mind. The Wife was mostly there to hit up the various magazines (of which there are a lot) that might use illustrators for their work, and she came away with business cards and e-mail addresses. She also got a book she'd read as a child and lost, and now she is happy that her Nostalgia Factor can be reinvigorated once again. I myself simply enjoyed the ambiance, and really liked the fact that there were so many people and so many literary publications. I don't know if I could ever do work with any of them, but it sure made me realize I've got a novel sitting around, unfinished and unsubmitted, so it's probably time to do something about that once more.
And, in the meantime, here is a quick sample of the character creation system from Rock Band. I expect that something similar will be available for the PS2 version, just possibly with slightly rougher looking graphics.
The afternoon was spent wandering around Queen's Park, near the Royal Ontario Museum, checking out an annual festival here called "Word on the Street." It's essentially a place where big book/magazine publishers and small or indie book/magazine publishers gather to celebrate the wonder of print. Having spent the last ten or so years in Singapore where such an event, gathering up Singapore's entire print industry, would have filled up maybe a quarter of a small, closet sized office, this was something of a boggle to my mind. The Wife was mostly there to hit up the various magazines (of which there are a lot) that might use illustrators for their work, and she came away with business cards and e-mail addresses. She also got a book she'd read as a child and lost, and now she is happy that her Nostalgia Factor can be reinvigorated once again. I myself simply enjoyed the ambiance, and really liked the fact that there were so many people and so many literary publications. I don't know if I could ever do work with any of them, but it sure made me realize I've got a novel sitting around, unfinished and unsubmitted, so it's probably time to do something about that once more.And, in the meantime, here is a quick sample of the character creation system from Rock Band. I expect that something similar will be available for the PS2 version, just possibly with slightly rougher looking graphics.
Labels: Books, Mean Streets Of Toronto, Rock Band
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Surviving The Reading
In the end, the Wife didn't have to read the book. She did have to go, and she did have to talk about it, but since she'd been written up as an illustrator, they were more interested in having her draw something, so the bulk of her talk was showing off the pictures in the book, briefly summarizing the plot, and showing the kids how she penciled and inked something.
And now, back to Skate.
In the end, the Wife didn't have to read the book. She did have to go, and she did have to talk about it, but since she'd been written up as an illustrator, they were more interested in having her draw something, so the bulk of her talk was showing off the pictures in the book, briefly summarizing the plot, and showing the kids how she penciled and inked something.
And now, back to Skate.
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, Games, Writing
Friday, September 28, 2007
Another Humdrum Friday
Interviews were transcribed, Skate was played--or more precisely, subjected to one grievous injury after another, and not much else. The Wife is now getting ready for her first reading tomorrow morning of this:
It's the children's book she illustrated. She's going to go down to the library to read it to an audience of children.
In the meantime, it's back to more bodily abuse...
Interviews were transcribed, Skate was played--or more precisely, subjected to one grievous injury after another, and not much else. The Wife is now getting ready for her first reading tomorrow morning of this:
It's the children's book she illustrated. She's going to go down to the library to read it to an audience of children.In the meantime, it's back to more bodily abuse...
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, Writing
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Broken Bones & San Vanelona
I started transcribing today which is, of course, No Fun At All. I love interviews, and I love big, meaty answers with substance, and I got that from yesterday's interview, but of course, it means a lot rewinding, relistening and retyping, since I'm one those journalists that rips out a digital recorder, puts it on the table and then just lets the guy GO. This, obviously, means a LOT of answer to get through. But it'll be worth it.
But now let's talk about the game to the left, Skate, developed by Black Box in Burnaby, BC, owned by, of all people, Electronic Arts, the Company That Can Do No Good. Except that miraculously, this time, somehow, against all my expectation, they have made something very good.
The story behind my sudden enthusiasm is a lesson in hype. Recently on the Playstation Store, free demos of both the latest Tony Hawk game, Tony Hawk's Proving Ground and this game were made available. I downloaded both of course, but immediately started up the Hawk game, remembering how much fun I'd had with the first two, then recalling with minor sadness the gradual downward spiral the series had experienced over the years, getting needlessly complicated and clumsy to the point where I just ignored it. I thought maybe they might have recovered.
What greeted me upon trying that demo was a dark, gritty, somehow mean-spirited demo that calculatingly portrayed skaters as rebels fighting for freedom on the streets. It was an obvious, shallow attempt to "celebrate" skating as a cool, anti-authoritarian, completely non-commercial movement, that just happened to be filled with some of the big names in skating, and the now traditional, almost clunky Tony Hawk control system that hasn't changed too drastically in the 8 years the game has been out, except to become even more ornate and unwieldy. A dark, gritty, New York-esque, crumbling sprawl from out of a decaying 80's is what greeted me, with hard-nosed gangs of skaters that fought for territory and even each other as they struggled to "Skate because they couldn't do anything else." Throughout the entire demo, I kept getting the nagging suspicion that someone was whispering to me, "This is cool, this is anti-establishment, this rebellion, JUST LIKE YOU, brought you to by Activision. Activision, purveyors of fine software for cool kids, just $59.99 at a store near you." It smacked of an incredibly obvious attempt to be "commercially subversive," and I kind of resented it. It didn't help that the game itself was just as Not Fun as I'd remembered previous versions that followed in the wake of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2.
Then thinking I was going to end up deleting the demo within minutes--'cause let's be fair, this is ELECTRONIC FREAKIN' ARTS WE'RE TALKING ABOUT, MERCHANTS OF SWILL--I booted up Skate, confident in my expectations that this was going to be an even more incompetent, badly conceived, clumsily executed, poor man's rip off of the Tony Hawk games.
I was so damn wrong it's not even funny.
I went into this game with zero expectations. Actually that's a lie, I went in with full on NEGATIVE expectations, I was already hating it from the moment I saw that "EA HD" logo on the screen, because that logo has already become synonymous with unoriginal crap destined to be recycled for the next 20 years and people will STILL buy it.
Skate wasn't that. It wasn't anything remotely like that. I played the demo. The control system was new, fresh, fun and brilliant. It was one of those moments where you lay your hands on the controls, see how they've done it, and question "Why in God's name have we never done it like this BEFORE?!" Somehow, Black Box pulled a Guitar Hero in that, despite the fact that is obviously NOT the real thing, they have managed to create a control system that mimics to a certain degree some of the basic mechanics of skating. When you want to crouch, you pull back on the right analog stick, to jump, just flick it up. To jump to the right, flick up from that couch slightly to the right. None of this hit "X" to auto-skate/crouch, and then release to ollie followed by steering the left stick around to maneuver in the air. Suddenly, just like a real skater, when you were in the air, the only thing standing between you and a bail was your own skill, a little luck and gravity.
Also, the demo took place in a sunny, fictional, California city called San Vanelona, a combination of San Francisco, Vancouver and Barcelona. It was a bright, beautiful town, perpetually drenched in sunset light, and it looked the kind of place you'd actually want to live. It was also, unsurprisingly, filled to the gills with advertising from actual skate companies and Adidas, who are major brand sponsors, and yet, somehow, because this is EA, I expected no less and it didn't bother me; they, at least, were being honest with their crassness.
I played the demo, enjoyed the controls, played some more, and somehow ended up playing that demo every single day. This was the first time since I'd started messing around with Playstation Store demos that the intended purpose of the demo worked; instead of me playing through it thinking "Glad that showed me what a stinker THAT title is," I was hungry for more. I saw the gates locking me into the skate park with that whole town outside, and I wanted to explore it.
So when the game went on sale, on the same day as Halo 3, I surprised the EB Games clerks by buying Skate instead of The Big One, since they had lines of people wanting that.
Since then, I've been enjoying the game like no one's business. The Wife loves it because she finds the constant abuse of the skater (which looks painful in the EXTREME) to be a source of never-ending hilarity. She's actually cried tears of laughter at some of the accidents I've gotten my poor bastard skater into, and feels that so far this is one of the best purchases we've made based on sheer entertainment value for viewers.
I myself am really digging the game for a variety of the reasons. There's that control I mentioned before, but there's also the fact that unlike Tony Hawk they've really toned it down, and brought the game more to the level of a simulation. Tony Hawk games had gotten to the point where skaters were routinely grinding across an entire series of rooftops before careening off at sonic speed to bounce of flagpoles and eventually the tips of skyscrapers. In other words, Tony Hawk games had turned skate games into a ridiculously exaggerated parody of the sport. Skate made something as basic as grinding off a stair handrail difficult and just aiming for it, doing your ollie and STAYING on it was a major accomplishment in and of itself.
On top of that, there is an AMAZING online component to this game. You can play modes where you simply have a time-limit and try to score the highest within that amounted time by doing tricks, you can play with others at a designated spot, battling to see how can pull off the stunt at a dangerous location, or you can race to see who gets to a certain position first. You can play "ranked servers" in that your accomplishments go towards determining your overall score within the entire Skate community, or you can create your own "unranked server" to just mess around with friends.
But what I really love about this game is the built in video-editor. Skate is constantly caching roughly the last 30 seconds of whatever you're doing, so that if you pull off a spectacular grind, or an even more spectacular accident, you immediately jump into "replay mode" and choose the exact length of your "skate clip" choose camera angles, drop in effects like B&W or sepia tones, change the speed for slow motion at critical junctures, and save your video. Then, at the press of a button, you can upload your video for the entire Skate community to see. In just a few short days I've seen some AMAZING tricks viewed directly from an in-game menu that connects you to the internet. It even has a feature called "SkateTV" where you can check into other games as a spectator, and see how other people are doing real-time, or even check in to see what the currently highest ranked skater who happens to be online is playing at that very moment, to see how he does it live.
The game's not perfect, obviously. You can't do handplants, a glaring omission, and for some reason, in character creation, you're stuck with a male, they decided that girls don't skate. Another irritating point is that you're stuck to your board, so if you see a flight of stairs, you can't simply get off your board and climb them, you either go looking for a ramp, or get up enough speed to ollie over them.
But these are minor issues, and, as horrified as I am to say this, you can bet that Electronic Arts will address them.
In the inevitable sequel.
Which I now know I will get.
If I had to review this game--which I'm actually kind of now regretting I didn't get the chance to--I'd give it an 8.5 The game is a jewel with a few rough spots here and there that is already fun to play, but shows immense promise for a sequel. But I'm going to stop writing now so I can get back to playing. The Wife is cruising around San Vanelona right now on my behalf, looking for a gnarly ramp...
I started transcribing today which is, of course, No Fun At All. I love interviews, and I love big, meaty answers with substance, and I got that from yesterday's interview, but of course, it means a lot rewinding, relistening and retyping, since I'm one those journalists that rips out a digital recorder, puts it on the table and then just lets the guy GO. This, obviously, means a LOT of answer to get through. But it'll be worth it.
But now let's talk about the game to the left, Skate, developed by Black Box in Burnaby, BC, owned by, of all people, Electronic Arts, the Company That Can Do No Good. Except that miraculously, this time, somehow, against all my expectation, they have made something very good.The story behind my sudden enthusiasm is a lesson in hype. Recently on the Playstation Store, free demos of both the latest Tony Hawk game, Tony Hawk's Proving Ground and this game were made available. I downloaded both of course, but immediately started up the Hawk game, remembering how much fun I'd had with the first two, then recalling with minor sadness the gradual downward spiral the series had experienced over the years, getting needlessly complicated and clumsy to the point where I just ignored it. I thought maybe they might have recovered.
What greeted me upon trying that demo was a dark, gritty, somehow mean-spirited demo that calculatingly portrayed skaters as rebels fighting for freedom on the streets. It was an obvious, shallow attempt to "celebrate" skating as a cool, anti-authoritarian, completely non-commercial movement, that just happened to be filled with some of the big names in skating, and the now traditional, almost clunky Tony Hawk control system that hasn't changed too drastically in the 8 years the game has been out, except to become even more ornate and unwieldy. A dark, gritty, New York-esque, crumbling sprawl from out of a decaying 80's is what greeted me, with hard-nosed gangs of skaters that fought for territory and even each other as they struggled to "Skate because they couldn't do anything else." Throughout the entire demo, I kept getting the nagging suspicion that someone was whispering to me, "This is cool, this is anti-establishment, this rebellion, JUST LIKE YOU, brought you to by Activision. Activision, purveyors of fine software for cool kids, just $59.99 at a store near you." It smacked of an incredibly obvious attempt to be "commercially subversive," and I kind of resented it. It didn't help that the game itself was just as Not Fun as I'd remembered previous versions that followed in the wake of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2.Then thinking I was going to end up deleting the demo within minutes--'cause let's be fair, this is ELECTRONIC FREAKIN' ARTS WE'RE TALKING ABOUT, MERCHANTS OF SWILL--I booted up Skate, confident in my expectations that this was going to be an even more incompetent, badly conceived, clumsily executed, poor man's rip off of the Tony Hawk games.
I was so damn wrong it's not even funny.
I went into this game with zero expectations. Actually that's a lie, I went in with full on NEGATIVE expectations, I was already hating it from the moment I saw that "EA HD" logo on the screen, because that logo has already become synonymous with unoriginal crap destined to be recycled for the next 20 years and people will STILL buy it.
Skate wasn't that. It wasn't anything remotely like that. I played the demo. The control system was new, fresh, fun and brilliant. It was one of those moments where you lay your hands on the controls, see how they've done it, and question "Why in God's name have we never done it like this BEFORE?!" Somehow, Black Box pulled a Guitar Hero in that, despite the fact that is obviously NOT the real thing, they have managed to create a control system that mimics to a certain degree some of the basic mechanics of skating. When you want to crouch, you pull back on the right analog stick, to jump, just flick it up. To jump to the right, flick up from that couch slightly to the right. None of this hit "X" to auto-skate/crouch, and then release to ollie followed by steering the left stick around to maneuver in the air. Suddenly, just like a real skater, when you were in the air, the only thing standing between you and a bail was your own skill, a little luck and gravity.
Also, the demo took place in a sunny, fictional, California city called San Vanelona, a combination of San Francisco, Vancouver and Barcelona. It was a bright, beautiful town, perpetually drenched in sunset light, and it looked the kind of place you'd actually want to live. It was also, unsurprisingly, filled to the gills with advertising from actual skate companies and Adidas, who are major brand sponsors, and yet, somehow, because this is EA, I expected no less and it didn't bother me; they, at least, were being honest with their crassness.I played the demo, enjoyed the controls, played some more, and somehow ended up playing that demo every single day. This was the first time since I'd started messing around with Playstation Store demos that the intended purpose of the demo worked; instead of me playing through it thinking "Glad that showed me what a stinker THAT title is," I was hungry for more. I saw the gates locking me into the skate park with that whole town outside, and I wanted to explore it.
So when the game went on sale, on the same day as Halo 3, I surprised the EB Games clerks by buying Skate instead of The Big One, since they had lines of people wanting that.
Since then, I've been enjoying the game like no one's business. The Wife loves it because she finds the constant abuse of the skater (which looks painful in the EXTREME) to be a source of never-ending hilarity. She's actually cried tears of laughter at some of the accidents I've gotten my poor bastard skater into, and feels that so far this is one of the best purchases we've made based on sheer entertainment value for viewers.
I myself am really digging the game for a variety of the reasons. There's that control I mentioned before, but there's also the fact that unlike Tony Hawk they've really toned it down, and brought the game more to the level of a simulation. Tony Hawk games had gotten to the point where skaters were routinely grinding across an entire series of rooftops before careening off at sonic speed to bounce of flagpoles and eventually the tips of skyscrapers. In other words, Tony Hawk games had turned skate games into a ridiculously exaggerated parody of the sport. Skate made something as basic as grinding off a stair handrail difficult and just aiming for it, doing your ollie and STAYING on it was a major accomplishment in and of itself.
On top of that, there is an AMAZING online component to this game. You can play modes where you simply have a time-limit and try to score the highest within that amounted time by doing tricks, you can play with others at a designated spot, battling to see how can pull off the stunt at a dangerous location, or you can race to see who gets to a certain position first. You can play "ranked servers" in that your accomplishments go towards determining your overall score within the entire Skate community, or you can create your own "unranked server" to just mess around with friends.
But what I really love about this game is the built in video-editor. Skate is constantly caching roughly the last 30 seconds of whatever you're doing, so that if you pull off a spectacular grind, or an even more spectacular accident, you immediately jump into "replay mode" and choose the exact length of your "skate clip" choose camera angles, drop in effects like B&W or sepia tones, change the speed for slow motion at critical junctures, and save your video. Then, at the press of a button, you can upload your video for the entire Skate community to see. In just a few short days I've seen some AMAZING tricks viewed directly from an in-game menu that connects you to the internet. It even has a feature called "SkateTV" where you can check into other games as a spectator, and see how other people are doing real-time, or even check in to see what the currently highest ranked skater who happens to be online is playing at that very moment, to see how he does it live.
The game's not perfect, obviously. You can't do handplants, a glaring omission, and for some reason, in character creation, you're stuck with a male, they decided that girls don't skate. Another irritating point is that you're stuck to your board, so if you see a flight of stairs, you can't simply get off your board and climb them, you either go looking for a ramp, or get up enough speed to ollie over them.
But these are minor issues, and, as horrified as I am to say this, you can bet that Electronic Arts will address them.
In the inevitable sequel.
Which I now know I will get.
If I had to review this game--which I'm actually kind of now regretting I didn't get the chance to--I'd give it an 8.5 The game is a jewel with a few rough spots here and there that is already fun to play, but shows immense promise for a sequel. But I'm going to stop writing now so I can get back to playing. The Wife is cruising around San Vanelona right now on my behalf, looking for a gnarly ramp...
Labels: Games, Journalism, Writing
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Journalist Day
We're almost back to normal human being hours, in that this time we got up at around the same time farmers normally do. Had a fairly productive day in that I went down to the Toronto HQ of Sony and was offered orange juice, bottled water and an obscene amount of food. Sadly, no games were offered, but I suppose that would fall under a compromise of journalistic integrity.
Can't talk too much about what happened, suffice to say that I now have to transcribe a 38 minute interview with the guy who created this:
And now I'm going to face plant a few more cars...
Also, the Wife has been so tickled by the various crippling mutilations I've subjected my character to in Skate that she was prompted to create this:
In short, I still suck.
We're almost back to normal human being hours, in that this time we got up at around the same time farmers normally do. Had a fairly productive day in that I went down to the Toronto HQ of Sony and was offered orange juice, bottled water and an obscene amount of food. Sadly, no games were offered, but I suppose that would fall under a compromise of journalistic integrity.
Can't talk too much about what happened, suffice to say that I now have to transcribe a 38 minute interview with the guy who created this:
And now I'm going to face plant a few more cars...Also, the Wife has been so tickled by the various crippling mutilations I've subjected my character to in Skate that she was prompted to create this:
In short, I still suck.Labels: Games, Gaming Industry, Journalism, Writing
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Feel The Pain
Nothing says agony quite like doing an ollie on the street, going for the grab on your board while in mid-air, trying to flip yourself and hitting--face first--the windshield of a car.
Done it three times now.
Man, I SUCK...
But it's FUN.
Nothing says agony quite like doing an ollie on the street, going for the grab on your board while in mid-air, trying to flip yourself and hitting--face first--the windshield of a car.Done it three times now.
Man, I SUCK...
But it's FUN.
Labels: Games
Monday, September 24, 2007
The Cheating Time Travel Post
It's not actually the end of the day chronologically speaking, but the body clock says it is now Officially Late and so the post time on this blog post reflects that. First, I have now ranted ad nauseum about my take on the Games As Art debate with a truly monstrous essay that crossed the seven page mark when written in MS Word. The rant, however, is not on GameAxis, or even IGN, and instead is now gracing the blog of Ragnar Tornquist, a recent buddy of mine and creator of The Longest Journey and The Longest Journey: Dreamfall. Anyone who's curious to read this thing--and you do so at your own peril--can find it here.
Also, it looks like there is an interview with a truly interesting and new game developer on Wednesday, and tomorrow, fates willing (and mobs of Halo fans notwithstanding) I will pass through the hordes of Xbox 360 fans desperate to "finish the fight" with this:
It's not actually the end of the day chronologically speaking, but the body clock says it is now Officially Late and so the post time on this blog post reflects that. First, I have now ranted ad nauseum about my take on the Games As Art debate with a truly monstrous essay that crossed the seven page mark when written in MS Word. The rant, however, is not on GameAxis, or even IGN, and instead is now gracing the blog of Ragnar Tornquist, a recent buddy of mine and creator of The Longest Journey and The Longest Journey: Dreamfall. Anyone who's curious to read this thing--and you do so at your own peril--can find it here.
Also, it looks like there is an interview with a truly interesting and new game developer on Wednesday, and tomorrow, fates willing (and mobs of Halo fans notwithstanding) I will pass through the hordes of Xbox 360 fans desperate to "finish the fight" with this:
Labels: Games, Journalism, Writing
Sunday, September 23, 2007
I Was Asleep When This Post Should Have Been Made
Got out of bed at 2 am. Previous to that was a trip down to Bloor for an art supply run and some food at pretty decent Japanese restaurant. I blame the recent fixation on Japanese food squarely on Persona 3, since it seems like every 5 minutes in that game is a scene where the characters are eating ramen, sushi, or some kind of katsu beef bowl...
Got out of bed at 2 am. Previous to that was a trip down to Bloor for an art supply run and some food at pretty decent Japanese restaurant. I blame the recent fixation on Japanese food squarely on Persona 3, since it seems like every 5 minutes in that game is a scene where the characters are eating ramen, sushi, or some kind of katsu beef bowl...
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, Games, RPGs
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Resetting The Clock Continues
At least there's the second replay of Persona 3 to keep things moving...
At least there's the second replay of Persona 3 to keep things moving...
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, Games, RPGs
Friday, September 21, 2007
Messed Up Days
Disorientation continues as we got up at around 9 pm today. Things still feel floaty.
Disorientation continues as we got up at around 9 pm today. Things still feel floaty.
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts
Thursday, September 20, 2007
The Hours Have No Anchor
Things are getting confused again as we once again undergo rotating sleeping hours in an effort to get ready to actually get up in the morning in a week or so. The reason being the Wife is going to be doing a reading in a public library for her first children's book. More on that when I'm feeling slightly more grounded.
Things are getting confused again as we once again undergo rotating sleeping hours in an effort to get ready to actually get up in the morning in a week or so. The reason being the Wife is going to be doing a reading in a public library for her first children's book. More on that when I'm feeling slightly more grounded.
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Being A Geek
And devouring information coming out right now from the Tokyo Game Show, a gaming geek's early Christmas gift if you're into Japanese RPGs or anything else juicy that comes out of the land of the rising sun. Also, Persona 3 is that much closer to being finished. For the first time. I still have to play it again one more time after this...
And devouring information coming out right now from the Tokyo Game Show, a gaming geek's early Christmas gift if you're into Japanese RPGs or anything else juicy that comes out of the land of the rising sun. Also, Persona 3 is that much closer to being finished. For the first time. I still have to play it again one more time after this...Labels: Gaming Industry
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Worky Sort Of Day
Started on a new article for IGN, sent out some writer-ly related e-mails clarifying details of other articles, and spectacularly failed to find any of the rare weapons I was looking for in the bowels of a Persona 3 dungeon.
Just another day in the life of a geek, folks...
Started on a new article for IGN, sent out some writer-ly related e-mails clarifying details of other articles, and spectacularly failed to find any of the rare weapons I was looking for in the bowels of a Persona 3 dungeon.
Just another day in the life of a geek, folks...
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, Games, Journalism, My Life, RPGs
Monday, September 17, 2007
The Sword Is Sheathed
I've pretty much played the hell out of this game, and have now unlocked everything I can possibly can. I've even submitted my review to GameAxis for it, and although I was wavering for days on it, torn between a 7.9 and a full 8, in the end, I gave it an 8. A just-barely-scraping-the-line 8, but an 8 nonetheless.
First of all, I'm pretty sure that, at least until next year, when the Heavy-Hitters come out, this is currently, hands-down, the single most beautiful looking game I have ever seen. This is one of the first games I've seen on either the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 that, when you think the term, "next generation graphics" THIS IS IT. The cinematics, done in real time, with the actual game engine, look like pre-rendered scenes shown on the PS2. They are flat out amazing.
Part of this has to do with the fact that the PS3 is simply more powerful, but more of it has to do with the fact that the developers, Ninja Theory, actually hired Andy "Gollum" Serkis to be the "dramatic director" for their cut-scenes, and the first thing he did was take the work over to WETA Digital (who, of course, MADE him Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies) and they tried out a much more ambitious form of motion capturing, similar to what's being done for Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf movie. They got all the actors together, stuck them in motion capture suits, put dots all over their faces that the mo-cap cameras could pick up, and then had them perform their scenes together. The final result is the most realistic facial animation ever done in real time for a game, at least 'till next year. It also helps that they've got some real actors as well, so the performances hold up to the visual splendor. A critical part of my brain felt that Andy Serkis went a little crazy in encouraging the various actors to "move for movement's sake" and so many of the scenes have the actors giving off twitchy, jerky, quirky body and facial ticks, simply because they can, to emphasize how precise this technology is now. While it can be noticeable, it's also obvious that this technology DOES work great, as even the tiniest pouting of a lip to indicate sorrow is evident on the these amazingly designed characters.
The game, unfortunately, does not quite live up to its stellar presentation. It's a good game. I enjoyed it. Most important of all, I had A LOT of fun with it. But when you're taking your inspiration from one of the legendary games of our time (that is, the God of War series) you have a LOT to live up to; engaging story, killer graphics, flawless control and unparalleled gameplay. Heavenly Sword only gets half this equation right. Like I said, the game's not bad. But it's been under a microscope since it was first hinted at in 2005, and since then, Sony fans, desperate for a hit, have trumpeted time and time again that this game was So Impossibly Awesome that it would forgive sins, cure cancer and deflect stray asteroids from hitting the Earth. In other words, they made it out so this game was guaranteed to be the single greatest experience a human being could have, bar none, except, perhaps, for realizing the error of their ways, and trading in that Xbox 360 for a Playstation 3. And, of course, it isn't.
The combat is fun, and for the most part, it works. It's almost impossible not to simply button mash, and pull off some kind of balletic swordplay that is impressive in both carnage and gracefulness. But it wasn't really designed for multiple opponents from all sides, something the game throws at players often. Curiously, the game has an "auto-block" function in that you can't actually block blows yourself, the computer does it for you, ASSUMING you're getting attacked from the front. This game, unlike most martial arts movies, throws multiple opponents at you, at the same time, attacking from all directions. So while you may be blocking those two goons in front of you just fine, the one coming from the rear is going to get you and there's nothing you can do about it. The other problem is one of pacing. Too often the game takes you out of using that All Powerful sword and has you firing cannons, shooting arrows, or hurling shields through the air to ring a gong. This wouldn't be so bad in itself, since I like a change of pace, but these sequences go on for too long in a game that can be finished in 6-8 hours, and so even though the game is called Heavenly Sword, you actually only use the titular weapon a little over 1/2 the time. I also didn't like the fact that, compared to God of War, there are just TOO FEW enemies. In this game, you get "Guy with topknot," "Guy with hat," "Guy with helmet," "Guy in gorilla armor," and "ninja girl" as your enemies. That's it. An indirect side effect of this is despite the fact that you have a frightening number of attacks at your disposal, the small number of enemies ensures you don't really need to use most of them. Compare this with God of War where you were fighting everything from soldiers to Cerebus, to cyclops, medusas, skeletons, demons, and tons of others I can't even remember, and you begin to realize the elegance of design that Sony Santa Monica incorporated for God of War; each different enemy had a different strength and weakness, forcing players to become efficient with their weapons and develop different skillsets. In Heavenly Sword, once you get comfortable with an attack that breaks an enemy's guard, that's all you need to finish the rest of the game, and all those amazing, fluid combat moves become unnecessary, and even slow you down if you're trying to kill as many people as possible. But all that aside, there is no denying, I enjoyed the game. A LOT. It's far from perfect, but there's nothing actually badly done about the game, so much as many missed opportunities to make the game a worthy equal to God of War. If it had been longer, if it had had more enemies, if it had had more varied levels, if it had incorporated more puzzles aside from just throwing a shield around to hit gongs... All of this could have pushed the title from being fun game with amazing graphics to amazing game with amazing graphics.
As it is, I like it. But the God of War series is in no danger of getting dethroned for the next couple of years.
I've pretty much played the hell out of this game, and have now unlocked everything I can possibly can. I've even submitted my review to GameAxis for it, and although I was wavering for days on it, torn between a 7.9 and a full 8, in the end, I gave it an 8. A just-barely-scraping-the-line 8, but an 8 nonetheless.First of all, I'm pretty sure that, at least until next year, when the Heavy-Hitters come out, this is currently, hands-down, the single most beautiful looking game I have ever seen. This is one of the first games I've seen on either the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 that, when you think the term, "next generation graphics" THIS IS IT. The cinematics, done in real time, with the actual game engine, look like pre-rendered scenes shown on the PS2. They are flat out amazing.
Part of this has to do with the fact that the PS3 is simply more powerful, but more of it has to do with the fact that the developers, Ninja Theory, actually hired Andy "Gollum" Serkis to be the "dramatic director" for their cut-scenes, and the first thing he did was take the work over to WETA Digital (who, of course, MADE him Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies) and they tried out a much more ambitious form of motion capturing, similar to what's being done for Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf movie. They got all the actors together, stuck them in motion capture suits, put dots all over their faces that the mo-cap cameras could pick up, and then had them perform their scenes together. The final result is the most realistic facial animation ever done in real time for a game, at least 'till next year. It also helps that they've got some real actors as well, so the performances hold up to the visual splendor. A critical part of my brain felt that Andy Serkis went a little crazy in encouraging the various actors to "move for movement's sake" and so many of the scenes have the actors giving off twitchy, jerky, quirky body and facial ticks, simply because they can, to emphasize how precise this technology is now. While it can be noticeable, it's also obvious that this technology DOES work great, as even the tiniest pouting of a lip to indicate sorrow is evident on the these amazingly designed characters. 
The game, unfortunately, does not quite live up to its stellar presentation. It's a good game. I enjoyed it. Most important of all, I had A LOT of fun with it. But when you're taking your inspiration from one of the legendary games of our time (that is, the God of War series) you have a LOT to live up to; engaging story, killer graphics, flawless control and unparalleled gameplay. Heavenly Sword only gets half this equation right. Like I said, the game's not bad. But it's been under a microscope since it was first hinted at in 2005, and since then, Sony fans, desperate for a hit, have trumpeted time and time again that this game was So Impossibly Awesome that it would forgive sins, cure cancer and deflect stray asteroids from hitting the Earth. In other words, they made it out so this game was guaranteed to be the single greatest experience a human being could have, bar none, except, perhaps, for realizing the error of their ways, and trading in that Xbox 360 for a Playstation 3. And, of course, it isn't.
The combat is fun, and for the most part, it works. It's almost impossible not to simply button mash, and pull off some kind of balletic swordplay that is impressive in both carnage and gracefulness. But it wasn't really designed for multiple opponents from all sides, something the game throws at players often. Curiously, the game has an "auto-block" function in that you can't actually block blows yourself, the computer does it for you, ASSUMING you're getting attacked from the front. This game, unlike most martial arts movies, throws multiple opponents at you, at the same time, attacking from all directions. So while you may be blocking those two goons in front of you just fine, the one coming from the rear is going to get you and there's nothing you can do about it. The other problem is one of pacing. Too often the game takes you out of using that All Powerful sword and has you firing cannons, shooting arrows, or hurling shields through the air to ring a gong. This wouldn't be so bad in itself, since I like a change of pace, but these sequences go on for too long in a game that can be finished in 6-8 hours, and so even though the game is called Heavenly Sword, you actually only use the titular weapon a little over 1/2 the time. I also didn't like the fact that, compared to God of War, there are just TOO FEW enemies. In this game, you get "Guy with topknot," "Guy with hat," "Guy with helmet," "Guy in gorilla armor," and "ninja girl" as your enemies. That's it. An indirect side effect of this is despite the fact that you have a frightening number of attacks at your disposal, the small number of enemies ensures you don't really need to use most of them. Compare this with God of War where you were fighting everything from soldiers to Cerebus, to cyclops, medusas, skeletons, demons, and tons of others I can't even remember, and you begin to realize the elegance of design that Sony Santa Monica incorporated for God of War; each different enemy had a different strength and weakness, forcing players to become efficient with their weapons and develop different skillsets. In Heavenly Sword, once you get comfortable with an attack that breaks an enemy's guard, that's all you need to finish the rest of the game, and all those amazing, fluid combat moves become unnecessary, and even slow you down if you're trying to kill as many people as possible. But all that aside, there is no denying, I enjoyed the game. A LOT. It's far from perfect, but there's nothing actually badly done about the game, so much as many missed opportunities to make the game a worthy equal to God of War. If it had been longer, if it had had more enemies, if it had had more varied levels, if it had incorporated more puzzles aside from just throwing a shield around to hit gongs... All of this could have pushed the title from being fun game with amazing graphics to amazing game with amazing graphics. As it is, I like it. But the God of War series is in no danger of getting dethroned for the next couple of years.
Labels: Games
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Sunday Is Game Day
Just more Heavenly Sword and Persona 3. Thoughts to follow tomorrow on Heavenly Sword.
Just more Heavenly Sword and Persona 3. Thoughts to follow tomorrow on Heavenly Sword.
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, Games
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Slow Saturday
Just the usual. A bit of Persona 3, a bit of Heavenly Sword, not much else...
Just the usual. A bit of Persona 3, a bit of Heavenly Sword, not much else...
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, Games
Friday, September 14, 2007
Another Quiet Friday
In which Upstairs Neighbors thrashed around with Heavenly Sword. Old diners were perused for kicks, and Yet More Gaming occurred.
In which Upstairs Neighbors thrashed around with Heavenly Sword. Old diners were perused for kicks, and Yet More Gaming occurred.
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, My Life
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Busy Thursday
Laundry was washed, movies were watched, demos were downloaded off the Playstation store, and a massive, opinionated GameAxis blog post about the state of the current "console war" was made that will be sure to generate a fair amount of hate since it didn't worship Sony. And as anyone will tell you, if you don't believe in Sony, you and all your family deserve to die.
Laundry was washed, movies were watched, demos were downloaded off the Playstation store, and a massive, opinionated GameAxis blog post about the state of the current "console war" was made that will be sure to generate a fair amount of hate since it didn't worship Sony. And as anyone will tell you, if you don't believe in Sony, you and all your family deserve to die.
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, My Life
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Heavenly Production Values
I got it, I'm playing it, and I can say that except for matters of aesthetic taste, this is undoubtedly the most beautiful looking action game I've played to date.
That doesn't make it the best one, though. The God of War series still seems safe from being dethroned, at least in my book. But it's a fun game so far.
More thoughts when I've finished it and written my review for GameAxis.
I got it, I'm playing it, and I can say that except for matters of aesthetic taste, this is undoubtedly the most beautiful looking action game I've played to date.That doesn't make it the best one, though. The God of War series still seems safe from being dethroned, at least in my book. But it's a fun game so far.
More thoughts when I've finished it and written my review for GameAxis.
Labels: Games
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Another Boring Tuesday
Today was spent with a little bit of Persona 3, a lot of writing an IGN article, a little bit of watching Superman Returns--which STILL kicks ass to me--and some shopping around the neighborhood. Not much going on today, but tomorrow, if no trucks laden with precious gaming get overturned on their way to various game stores:
Today was spent with a little bit of Persona 3, a lot of writing an IGN article, a little bit of watching Superman Returns--which STILL kicks ass to me--and some shopping around the neighborhood. Not much going on today, but tomorrow, if no trucks laden with precious gaming get overturned on their way to various game stores:
Labels: Games, Journalism, Movies, Writing
Monday, September 10, 2007
Dull Canadian Moment #3784
Aside from writing a comic script and watching Wife play more Persona 3 (she is mighty now. All tremble in her presence) GUM was purchased! And it was legal and everything! And we won't get charged or fined for having it on our person! I was slightly amazed when I realized that in the months since we'd arrived, I had completely failed to purchase a pack of gum, but now a pack of sugar-free Freedent sits in our home, ready to be chewed and enjoyed with legal sanction from the Canadian government. Wow, what a country...
Also, I got Superman Returns on Blu-Ray today. Whoo hoo. The man of steel in High Def...
Aside from writing a comic script and watching Wife play more Persona 3 (she is mighty now. All tremble in her presence) GUM was purchased! And it was legal and everything! And we won't get charged or fined for having it on our person! I was slightly amazed when I realized that in the months since we'd arrived, I had completely failed to purchase a pack of gum, but now a pack of sugar-free Freedent sits in our home, ready to be chewed and enjoyed with legal sanction from the Canadian government. Wow, what a country...
Also, I got Superman Returns on Blu-Ray today. Whoo hoo. The man of steel in High Def...
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, Movies, Singapore Stupidity
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Caught On Film
I got a note from the guy I'd hung out with at X '07 that he'd posted his thoughts on some of the events, and he decided to include some of the footage he shot. To the left is a screen capture from said video with me holding the Fender Strat that will go into both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Rock Band. In addition, however, he managed to catch on film my "Vanna White" impression of showing off the various features of the guitar, as well as some footage of The Hive's Main Offender being played with me on bass.
This is me showing off the guitar.
This is me not screwing up too much on Main Offender. Bass meter is the far right.
If you want to save this stuff, just right click on the above links and "save as."
Big thanks to "TrackZero" and the Evil Avatar website for the images.
Oh, and just to keep the Rock Band-mania going, WITNESS THE POWER OF ROCK!
I got a note from the guy I'd hung out with at X '07 that he'd posted his thoughts on some of the events, and he decided to include some of the footage he shot. To the left is a screen capture from said video with me holding the Fender Strat that will go into both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Rock Band. In addition, however, he managed to catch on film my "Vanna White" impression of showing off the various features of the guitar, as well as some footage of The Hive's Main Offender being played with me on bass.This is me showing off the guitar.
This is me not screwing up too much on Main Offender. Bass meter is the far right.
If you want to save this stuff, just right click on the above links and "save as."
Big thanks to "TrackZero" and the Evil Avatar website for the images.
Oh, and just to keep the Rock Band-mania going, WITNESS THE POWER OF ROCK!
Labels: Games, Gaming Industry, Journalism, Rock Band
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Saturday Is Game Day
Meaning that aside from a teensy bit of shopping it was an RPG day all the way.
Meaning that aside from a teensy bit of shopping it was an RPG day all the way.
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, RPGs
Friday, September 07, 2007
What Do You Do When You're As Boring As I Am?
You write outlines for animated TV show episodes and watch your spouse take a bunch of high school kids and repeatedly shoot themselves in the head to summon demons to fight in a giant supernatural tower that sits atop their school during a "hidden moment" called the Dark Hour that rests between 11:59 and midnight.
Oh well...
You write outlines for animated TV show episodes and watch your spouse take a bunch of high school kids and repeatedly shoot themselves in the head to summon demons to fight in a giant supernatural tower that sits atop their school during a "hidden moment" called the Dark Hour that rests between 11:59 and midnight.
Oh well...
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, RPGs, Writing
Thursday, September 06, 2007
I'm A Pretentious Jerk
Because today I slipped in a movie borrowed from the Upstairs Neighbor, I Heart Huckabees, and I laughed. And enjoyed it. Not a ton, not as much as Being John Malkovich, but I still found it cute, enjoyable and somewhat engaging, even if it was running a little shallow on the whole existentialism thing. But then what can you do with an hour and 45 minutes, really?
I'd vaguely heard about the movie, but it was only after being given the DVD that I was told a lot of people had some serious issues with the film. I'm sorry to say that I wasn't one of them, so I suspect this probably does make me a pretentious jerk. After reading some of the more critical reviews in wake of having just watched the film, I think a lot of people were overthinking this movie, because it wasn't that complicated. If I had to sum it up, I would say that it's a little Nietzsche, a little Sartre and a whole lot of Beckett style absurdism that all meets somewhere in the middle of the Nietzsche/Sartre thing, but with laughs. I mean, seeing Donny Wahlberg whack himself in the face with a ball so he can experience Being & Nothingness and enjoy how cool it is was, to me, FUNNY. I laughed at it. I laughed at a lot of stuff in here.
I am a pretentious jerk. I have now made peace with that.
Because today I slipped in a movie borrowed from the Upstairs Neighbor, I Heart Huckabees, and I laughed. And enjoyed it. Not a ton, not as much as Being John Malkovich, but I still found it cute, enjoyable and somewhat engaging, even if it was running a little shallow on the whole existentialism thing. But then what can you do with an hour and 45 minutes, really?I'd vaguely heard about the movie, but it was only after being given the DVD that I was told a lot of people had some serious issues with the film. I'm sorry to say that I wasn't one of them, so I suspect this probably does make me a pretentious jerk. After reading some of the more critical reviews in wake of having just watched the film, I think a lot of people were overthinking this movie, because it wasn't that complicated. If I had to sum it up, I would say that it's a little Nietzsche, a little Sartre and a whole lot of Beckett style absurdism that all meets somewhere in the middle of the Nietzsche/Sartre thing, but with laughs. I mean, seeing Donny Wahlberg whack himself in the face with a ball so he can experience Being & Nothingness and enjoy how cool it is was, to me, FUNNY. I laughed at it. I laughed at a lot of stuff in here.
I am a pretentious jerk. I have now made peace with that.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Day Of Errands
Just another quiet, pleasant day in the Annex. Bank stuff was done, groceries were picked up, walks down the street occurred, advice was dispensed about how best to play God of War II (I loaned to the Upstairs Neighbor, he's no longer getting any work done) and dinner was had in the backyard with all the neighbors to welcome Upstairs Neighbor.
Also, while walking down Bloor, we happened to walk past a used CD/DVD store and saw, brand new, in the window, this:
It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that we would pick it up, since the Wife is a huge fan of Go/dzilla/jira, and at $17 for a brand new DVD of the remastered version I'd heard about, this was impossible to resist. I don't think I'm going to be seeing this on Blu-Ray anytime in the near future anyway, so bring on the rubber-suited, model busting goodness.
I'm pretty happy with this particular version, since not only did they remaster it--as best they could, considering the deteriorating, surprisingly NOT archived state of the original--they also include the original 1956, bastardized American version with Raymond Burr as a reporter commenting on the carnage, and there is a pretty in depth commentary from some "Godzilla experts" and give a fairly detailed account of not just the production of Godzilla, but the post-war society and mindset of the Japanese that created one of the most famous rubber-suited monsters of all time.
Now to settle in for a busy next few days. The animated series requires some gearing up for writing scripts, the magazine still has one last article owing, there's the monthly installment of the comic book to crank out, and IGN has suddenly written in to pretty much say yes to ALL the article ideas I've thrown at them, so it's time to get some more game writin' in.
Damn, when did I get so busy?
But first, more Persona 3.
Just another quiet, pleasant day in the Annex. Bank stuff was done, groceries were picked up, walks down the street occurred, advice was dispensed about how best to play God of War II (I loaned to the Upstairs Neighbor, he's no longer getting any work done) and dinner was had in the backyard with all the neighbors to welcome Upstairs Neighbor.
Also, while walking down Bloor, we happened to walk past a used CD/DVD store and saw, brand new, in the window, this:
It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that we would pick it up, since the Wife is a huge fan of Go/dzilla/jira, and at $17 for a brand new DVD of the remastered version I'd heard about, this was impossible to resist. I don't think I'm going to be seeing this on Blu-Ray anytime in the near future anyway, so bring on the rubber-suited, model busting goodness.I'm pretty happy with this particular version, since not only did they remaster it--as best they could, considering the deteriorating, surprisingly NOT archived state of the original--they also include the original 1956, bastardized American version with Raymond Burr as a reporter commenting on the carnage, and there is a pretty in depth commentary from some "Godzilla experts" and give a fairly detailed account of not just the production of Godzilla, but the post-war society and mindset of the Japanese that created one of the most famous rubber-suited monsters of all time.
Now to settle in for a busy next few days. The animated series requires some gearing up for writing scripts, the magazine still has one last article owing, there's the monthly installment of the comic book to crank out, and IGN has suddenly written in to pretty much say yes to ALL the article ideas I've thrown at them, so it's time to get some more game writin' in.
Damn, when did I get so busy?
But first, more Persona 3.
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, Friends, Journalism, Movies, My Life, Television Production, Writing
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
First Day Of School! And Markham.
It was a 12 year delay compared to my peers, but finally, at long last, I too can be a sore winner. Today was the first day of school, and for once, I was living in a part of the world where this actually meant something, and got to enjoy that quiet, smug satisfaction that comes from knowing I didn't have to go to school, register, and start worrying about classes. Since I went off to Asia straight after graduating and stayed there for over a decade, I never got this feeling that my friends immediately experienced upon getting their degrees, roughly around the school year of 1996.
Aside from that, a friend of the Wife's invited us to hang out in his neighborhood, the area known as Markham, which has a 35% population of Chinese and thus, has many, MANY shopping areas catering to Asians, as well as an abundance of those whacky Asian people wandering around. We visited Pacific Mall, apparently the largest Asian-centric shopping mall on the entire continent. To visit it was a weird feeling, not because it was underwhelming, because it wasn't. Instead, it simply felt familiar. Aside from the fact that I was wearing a jacket, the sights, sounds and most tellingly, the SMELLS of the place felt exactly like being in any shopping mall in Singapore. There were videogame stores that didn't even have games out, just binders with a selection of games that you picked from, at which point, upon making your selection, they simply gave you a burned DVD of your choice for dirt cheap. Same applies to movies, of course. The fact that this was out in broad daylight, in Canada, of all places, stunned me. But upon thinking about it, they couldn't really call themselves an Asian shopping center if patrons were expected to buy legitimate copies of games and movies, so I guess this merely adds to the "authenticity" of the shopping experience here. Unsurprisingly, no PS3 or Xbox 360 games were available for purchase, as those systems haven't been hacked yet and pirate copies are not available, although plenty of Wii/GameCube games as well as PS2 games were on hand.
Once again, obscure food objects were purchased, including, to the Wife's delight, the much sought after "green tea kit-kat" which she had sampled a couple of years ago in Singapore, and then promptly failed to ever find again as they never imported it back to the island. Here, it was in abundance, which I think pretty much guarantees repeat visits.
It is good to know that while millions of kids across North America are going to bed at a reasonable hour once more, facing the prospect of another year of humiliation, marginalization, social politics of epically stupid proportions and possibly fatal shootouts as result of the previous, I am now well past all that, and will never have to hate a cheerleader in an intimate and personal way again.
Thank God school is over...
It was a 12 year delay compared to my peers, but finally, at long last, I too can be a sore winner. Today was the first day of school, and for once, I was living in a part of the world where this actually meant something, and got to enjoy that quiet, smug satisfaction that comes from knowing I didn't have to go to school, register, and start worrying about classes. Since I went off to Asia straight after graduating and stayed there for over a decade, I never got this feeling that my friends immediately experienced upon getting their degrees, roughly around the school year of 1996.Aside from that, a friend of the Wife's invited us to hang out in his neighborhood, the area known as Markham, which has a 35% population of Chinese and thus, has many, MANY shopping areas catering to Asians, as well as an abundance of those whacky Asian people wandering around. We visited Pacific Mall, apparently the largest Asian-centric shopping mall on the entire continent. To visit it was a weird feeling, not because it was underwhelming, because it wasn't. Instead, it simply felt familiar. Aside from the fact that I was wearing a jacket, the sights, sounds and most tellingly, the SMELLS of the place felt exactly like being in any shopping mall in Singapore. There were videogame stores that didn't even have games out, just binders with a selection of games that you picked from, at which point, upon making your selection, they simply gave you a burned DVD of your choice for dirt cheap. Same applies to movies, of course. The fact that this was out in broad daylight, in Canada, of all places, stunned me. But upon thinking about it, they couldn't really call themselves an Asian shopping center if patrons were expected to buy legitimate copies of games and movies, so I guess this merely adds to the "authenticity" of the shopping experience here. Unsurprisingly, no PS3 or Xbox 360 games were available for purchase, as those systems haven't been hacked yet and pirate copies are not available, although plenty of Wii/GameCube games as well as PS2 games were on hand.
Once again, obscure food objects were purchased, including, to the Wife's delight, the much sought after "green tea kit-kat" which she had sampled a couple of years ago in Singapore, and then promptly failed to ever find again as they never imported it back to the island. Here, it was in abundance, which I think pretty much guarantees repeat visits.
It is good to know that while millions of kids across North America are going to bed at a reasonable hour once more, facing the prospect of another year of humiliation, marginalization, social politics of epically stupid proportions and possibly fatal shootouts as result of the previous, I am now well past all that, and will never have to hate a cheerleader in an intimate and personal way again.
Thank God school is over...
Labels: Friends, Mean Streets Of Toronto, My Life
Monday, September 03, 2007
Labor Day
Another quiet day, except that I note that this is the first Labor in 11 or 12 years that I am spending in Canada. Weird how all these firsts keep popping up...
Another quiet day, except that I note that this is the first Labor in 11 or 12 years that I am spending in Canada. Weird how all these firsts keep popping up...
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, My Life
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Sunday At Home
Not much of note except for some Persona 3, some co-op Guitar Hero 80's with the neighbor and a talk with the Old Friend.
Right. Back to Persona 3...
Not much of note except for some Persona 3, some co-op Guitar Hero 80's with the neighbor and a talk with the Old Friend.
Right. Back to Persona 3...
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, My Life
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Too Much Sushi
Mental note to self:
The next time you go into a Canadian Sushi restaurant and order food, remember that the servings will be sized for North Americans far bigger than you, with much bigger stomachs, and that ordering a whole bunch of food thinking they will be in tiny Singapore portions will lead to a mountain of sushi so huge it will be painful to breathe in the aftermath.
My God, I'm still feeling bloated...
Mental note to self:The next time you go into a Canadian Sushi restaurant and order food, remember that the servings will be sized for North Americans far bigger than you, with much bigger stomachs, and that ordering a whole bunch of food thinking they will be in tiny Singapore portions will lead to a mountain of sushi so huge it will be painful to breathe in the aftermath.
My God, I'm still feeling bloated...
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, Mean Streets Of Toronto, My Life
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