Monday, March 31, 2008
All Infidels Assassinated
I have to give Ubisoft credit for trying something different. The story was intelligent, morally ambiguous and actually provoked some interesting questions. Their heart was definitely in the right place. And I did enjoy playing the game, but only because I paid less than half price for it and could forgive--even enjoy--the unspeakably bad artificial intelligence that would let me get away with "stealth killing" someone right in front of the guards, only to have the guards march over while I got behind them and scream "WHO DID THIS?!" just as I did the same thing to them.
They have a perfect graphics engine for the next game if indeed they decide to continue the series (the ending is all too obviously set up "to be continued," though it doesn't end on a cliffhanger), but the mechanical problems are so apparent that it's no surprise the game wasn't the commercial or critical hit Ubisoft was hoping for. It's an okay game. But definitely not worth the $60 retail tag for all the problems so apparent in it.
I have to give Ubisoft credit for trying something different. The story was intelligent, morally ambiguous and actually provoked some interesting questions. Their heart was definitely in the right place. And I did enjoy playing the game, but only because I paid less than half price for it and could forgive--even enjoy--the unspeakably bad artificial intelligence that would let me get away with "stealth killing" someone right in front of the guards, only to have the guards march over while I got behind them and scream "WHO DID THIS?!" just as I did the same thing to them.
They have a perfect graphics engine for the next game if indeed they decide to continue the series (the ending is all too obviously set up "to be continued," though it doesn't end on a cliffhanger), but the mechanical problems are so apparent that it's no surprise the game wasn't the commercial or critical hit Ubisoft was hoping for. It's an okay game. But definitely not worth the $60 retail tag for all the problems so apparent in it.
Labels: Games
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Scariest Hour Of My Life
In retrospect it was actually not that big a deal, but today I had the worst period of time in the entire period since I've returned to Canada. While doing the laundry, my wedding ring slipped off and ended up in the machine. I didn't know this at the time of course; all I knew is that while we were walking down the street to our favorite diner, I suddenly noticed that as I was unconsciously rubbing my pinky against my 4th finger, it felt different, and realized to my horror that my wedding ring was gone. We theorized that perhaps it was indeed in the washing machine, but we ate first, waiting for the machine to finish and I was absolutely miserable. Suddenly losing that little piece of metal was weighing very heavily on my shoulders and I have a difficult time explaining why.
In the end, the ring did indeed end up in the machine and I found it once more, as well as an enormous sense of relief that likes of which I don't recall having experienced this strongly.
In retrospect it was actually not that big a deal, but today I had the worst period of time in the entire period since I've returned to Canada. While doing the laundry, my wedding ring slipped off and ended up in the machine. I didn't know this at the time of course; all I knew is that while we were walking down the street to our favorite diner, I suddenly noticed that as I was unconsciously rubbing my pinky against my 4th finger, it felt different, and realized to my horror that my wedding ring was gone. We theorized that perhaps it was indeed in the washing machine, but we ate first, waiting for the machine to finish and I was absolutely miserable. Suddenly losing that little piece of metal was weighing very heavily on my shoulders and I have a difficult time explaining why.
In the end, the ring did indeed end up in the machine and I found it once more, as well as an enormous sense of relief that likes of which I don't recall having experienced this strongly.
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, Icky Couple Stuff
Friday, March 28, 2008
Bears On Parade
The Wife agreed to contribute to a "tour of bears" that's going on in Toronto. Seems a company has created Do It Yourself designer bears known as Bax Bears that are essentially blank slate plastic bears that are meant to be drawn and/or painted on. To kick it off, the Vancouver-based company that created the bears asked Canadian artists to take a bear and do what they would with it.
This is the Wife's end result, which was put on display at a neighborhood gallery when the show went up today:
The Wife agreed to contribute to a "tour of bears" that's going on in Toronto. Seems a company has created Do It Yourself designer bears known as Bax Bears that are essentially blank slate plastic bears that are meant to be drawn and/or painted on. To kick it off, the Vancouver-based company that created the bears asked Canadian artists to take a bear and do what they would with it.
This is the Wife's end result, which was put on display at a neighborhood gallery when the show went up today:
Labels: Artwork, Mean Streets Of Toronto
Thursday, March 27, 2008
It's Up
My first article for the website High Def Digest has gone up. It's here. And now, back to killing infidels that dare to defile the Holy Land with their outrageous Christian God.
My first article for the website High Def Digest has gone up. It's here. And now, back to killing infidels that dare to defile the Holy Land with their outrageous Christian God.
Labels: Games, Journalism
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Killing Infidels
It was all about the assassinations today. And flag collecting. And random rampages through the streets of Jerusalem and Damascus. My nick name for this game is "Grand Theft Islam."
It was all about the assassinations today. And flag collecting. And random rampages through the streets of Jerusalem and Damascus. My nick name for this game is "Grand Theft Islam."
Labels: Games
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Cheap Kills
Thanks to the miracle of eBay and titles that didn't meet with the critical reception people were expecting, I now have the game on the left, which is set in the crusades period.
It got average to somewhat good ratings, with most people citing the repetitiveness of the game as the chief weakness. All I know is you've got an Islamic assassin wandering around with an American accent when everyone else sounds either Arabic, British or French.
Gotta' hand it to the art design team though, the environment is absolutely huge and gorgeous. It's one of those games that lives up to the Next Generation reputation, but I can already see some weaknesses in the game design. Man, am I glad I got this used...
Thanks to the miracle of eBay and titles that didn't meet with the critical reception people were expecting, I now have the game on the left, which is set in the crusades period.It got average to somewhat good ratings, with most people citing the repetitiveness of the game as the chief weakness. All I know is you've got an Islamic assassin wandering around with an American accent when everyone else sounds either Arabic, British or French.
Gotta' hand it to the art design team though, the environment is absolutely huge and gorgeous. It's one of those games that lives up to the Next Generation reputation, but I can already see some weaknesses in the game design. Man, am I glad I got this used...
Labels: Games
Monday, March 24, 2008
The Cat's All Right
After a 10 day wait, we revisited the vet with Zero in tow. His mouth seems to be healing up okay, so it looks like even though we had to give up with the antibiotics due to his amazing resistance, the first few days under the influence were enough for his feline healing factor to do the rest.
Also I finally got around to creating a new Rock Band character and am laboriously playing my way through the setlist. I dunno if I've got it in me to actually try to do the Endless Setlist again, though.
Oh well, at least there's a Boston "6 pack" with More Than A Feeling this week...
After a 10 day wait, we revisited the vet with Zero in tow. His mouth seems to be healing up okay, so it looks like even though we had to give up with the antibiotics due to his amazing resistance, the first few days under the influence were enough for his feline healing factor to do the rest.
Also I finally got around to creating a new Rock Band character and am laboriously playing my way through the setlist. I dunno if I've got it in me to actually try to do the Endless Setlist again, though.
Oh well, at least there's a Boston "6 pack" with More Than A Feeling this week...
Labels: Games, Rock Band, Them Crazy Kitties
Sunday, March 23, 2008
All This Progress... Lost... Like Tears... In Rain...
It took a while but today I finally got around to firing up Rock Band on the PS3 only to encounter a moment of near total horror. I checked with the Harmonix technical support forums and it would seem there is no current way to circumvent this.
All our Rock Band progress is gone. It would seem that the game save files for Rock Band are also tied into the songs that you can purchase and download. As a result of some fairly extreme and digital rights management protocol to prevent people from sharing DLC songs, the game data is directly tied into the unique ID of every console. So once we got the new PS3 as a replacement, we could no longer access our characters, bands and platinum status for finishing the Endless Setlist are gone. We still have the data, we just can't use it unless we miraculously found our old console and stuck the hard drive in that.
What an utterly demoralizing discovery to make on Easter...
It took a while but today I finally got around to firing up Rock Band on the PS3 only to encounter a moment of near total horror. I checked with the Harmonix technical support forums and it would seem there is no current way to circumvent this.
All our Rock Band progress is gone. It would seem that the game save files for Rock Band are also tied into the songs that you can purchase and download. As a result of some fairly extreme and digital rights management protocol to prevent people from sharing DLC songs, the game data is directly tied into the unique ID of every console. So once we got the new PS3 as a replacement, we could no longer access our characters, bands and platinum status for finishing the Endless Setlist are gone. We still have the data, we just can't use it unless we miraculously found our old console and stuck the hard drive in that.
What an utterly demoralizing discovery to make on Easter...
Labels: Rock Band
Saturday, March 22, 2008
It's Coming
I've known that it's been coming for quite some time, but now the clock is really starting to count down. Due April 28th, one of the most controversial games in the history of the medium is going to get its newest sequel, and boy oh boy am I anticipating it. One of my all time favorite things about the Grand Theft Auto series is the insanely funny radio stations, in particular, the talk radio stations. GTA radio has frequently reduced me to tears of hysterical laughter and now, in some shameless marketing, they are releasing radio "widgets" that can be embedded. I gave this a listen, the Rockstar magic is still alive and well:
I'm sooooooo looking forward to this game on April 28th. My only regret is that that the Xbox 360 version is, in some ways, superior to the PS3 version. While it's quite likely that the PS3 version may edge out the Xbox 360 version in terms of graphics, frame rates and all that other stuff, there is on vital component where the 360 wins; Downloadable content, or DLC. Microsoft paid Rockstar $50 million smackers to create two DLC "episodes" for GTAIV that--at least Microsoft is claiming--may approach Vice City and San Andreas in scope, and add many, many hours of additional game play. Of course, that $50 million bucks was also to ensure the Playstation 3 doesn't get it. Sigh... Microsoft... you really know how to win the people over...
I've known that it's been coming for quite some time, but now the clock is really starting to count down. Due April 28th, one of the most controversial games in the history of the medium is going to get its newest sequel, and boy oh boy am I anticipating it. One of my all time favorite things about the Grand Theft Auto series is the insanely funny radio stations, in particular, the talk radio stations. GTA radio has frequently reduced me to tears of hysterical laughter and now, in some shameless marketing, they are releasing radio "widgets" that can be embedded. I gave this a listen, the Rockstar magic is still alive and well:I'm sooooooo looking forward to this game on April 28th. My only regret is that that the Xbox 360 version is, in some ways, superior to the PS3 version. While it's quite likely that the PS3 version may edge out the Xbox 360 version in terms of graphics, frame rates and all that other stuff, there is on vital component where the 360 wins; Downloadable content, or DLC. Microsoft paid Rockstar $50 million smackers to create two DLC "episodes" for GTAIV that--at least Microsoft is claiming--may approach Vice City and San Andreas in scope, and add many, many hours of additional game play. Of course, that $50 million bucks was also to ensure the Playstation 3 doesn't get it. Sigh... Microsoft... you really know how to win the people over...
Labels: Games
Friday, March 21, 2008
First Impressions Of Season 3
Good God...
Also, for some reason, episode 15, Dirty Hands was one of my favorites this season, which probably isn't going to be a very popular choice...
Good God...Also, for some reason, episode 15, Dirty Hands was one of my favorites this season, which probably isn't going to be a very popular choice...
Labels: Battlestar Galactica
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Marathon Midpoint
So I just finished watching episode 12 of the third season of Battlestar Galactica.
Holy crap. I will never see a TV series this good again in my life time.
So I just finished watching episode 12 of the third season of Battlestar Galactica.Holy crap. I will never see a TV series this good again in my life time.
Labels: Battlestar Galactica, Boring And Insipid Posts
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Marathon Material
No prizes for guessing what I'm going to be up to now that it's arrived in the mail...
No prizes for guessing what I'm going to be up to now that it's arrived in the mail...Labels: Battlestar Galactica
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Easy Tuesday
Little bit of writing, little bit of Devil May Cry 4... that's about it.
Little bit of writing, little bit of Devil May Cry 4... that's about it.
Labels: Games, Lost In Loveless, Writing
Monday, March 17, 2008
Level 2 Music
Tonight we went to Sneaky Dee's in the Annex. It's the kind of venue that veterans of Guitar Hero and Rock Band would identify as "second level" because it's a step up from playing in your basement or high school gym, but not as flashy as a more established joint. We went down to check out a new Indie singer The Wife randomly discovered on the internet named Thao Nguyen. She's essentially what would happen if Bjork were Vietnamese and sang folksy/reggae-ish sort of stuff. It was a pretty good set. The band all played on Expert, hit all their unison phrases and nailed the Big Rock Ending, likely gold starring all their songs. They still need to get more fans and stars before they can play the bigger venues and trade up from a van to a jet, so I don't think they're going to be doing their World Tour yet, but all in all, it was a very enjoyable performance.
Afterwards we walked over to a 24 hour eatery known as the Montreal Cafe and had some poutine, onion soup and some smoked meat sandwiches which we couldn't even touch as a result of the abundance of other food and ended up bringing it home. Unfortunately I can't figure out a way to work a music videogame metaphor into that, so we'll just have to leave it at that. I love living in this city...
Tonight we went to Sneaky Dee's in the Annex. It's the kind of venue that veterans of Guitar Hero and Rock Band would identify as "second level" because it's a step up from playing in your basement or high school gym, but not as flashy as a more established joint. We went down to check out a new Indie singer The Wife randomly discovered on the internet named Thao Nguyen. She's essentially what would happen if Bjork were Vietnamese and sang folksy/reggae-ish sort of stuff. It was a pretty good set. The band all played on Expert, hit all their unison phrases and nailed the Big Rock Ending, likely gold starring all their songs. They still need to get more fans and stars before they can play the bigger venues and trade up from a van to a jet, so I don't think they're going to be doing their World Tour yet, but all in all, it was a very enjoyable performance. Afterwards we walked over to a 24 hour eatery known as the Montreal Cafe and had some poutine, onion soup and some smoked meat sandwiches which we couldn't even touch as a result of the abundance of other food and ended up bringing it home. Unfortunately I can't figure out a way to work a music videogame metaphor into that, so we'll just have to leave it at that. I love living in this city...
Labels: Mean Streets Of Toronto, Music
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Idle Sunday
Not much of note. Some Devil May Cry 4, some writing of the children's novel, and some re-watching of Planet Earth.
Not much of note. Some Devil May Cry 4, some writing of the children's novel, and some re-watching of Planet Earth.
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, Games, Lost In Loveless, Writing
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Take You Down To Chinatown
Today was spent largely in the Kensington/Chinatown area of the Annex. The Wife needed to do some artist things that involved talking to people who are vastly knowledgeable about the fine art of silk screening, and she was very happy with the results. After that, much food was bought and consumed. We found a Vietnamese restaurant that, incredibly, served better food than any that we'd eaten in Singapore, and the price wasn't even ridiculous. Also, I am slowly recovering the progress I lost in Devil May Cry 4. It's all coming back...
Today was spent largely in the Kensington/Chinatown area of the Annex. The Wife needed to do some artist things that involved talking to people who are vastly knowledgeable about the fine art of silk screening, and she was very happy with the results. After that, much food was bought and consumed. We found a Vietnamese restaurant that, incredibly, served better food than any that we'd eaten in Singapore, and the price wasn't even ridiculous. Also, I am slowly recovering the progress I lost in Devil May Cry 4. It's all coming back...
Labels: Games, Mean Streets Of Toronto
Friday, March 14, 2008
Fail
Four pills later, Zero has successfully managed to avoid consuming any of them. Oh well... maybe tomorrow...
Four pills later, Zero has successfully managed to avoid consuming any of them. Oh well... maybe tomorrow...
Labels: Them Crazy Kitties
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Errand Day
In which laundry was done, minor groceries were purchased, a cat was force fed a pill, some Devil May Cry 4 was played (because the new PS3 refuses to recognize my game save as belonging to me and denies me access. Bleah, I hate re-starting...) and I finally saw the new Hulk trailer, only to be amazed to find that apparently New York bears a striking resemblance to Yonge Street, right down the Sam The Record Man store and Zanzibar club. I finished up my first article for the High Def Digest and sent that off, I expect it'll probably go up next week. I learned quite a few interesting things about the history of High Definition gaming in the process, so I'm quite glad I got to write it. I also put down some deposits at the local game store for the Atlus RPGs Baroque, Persona 3: FES and Grand Theft Auto IV.
April is gonna' be a brutal month for games...
In which laundry was done, minor groceries were purchased, a cat was force fed a pill, some Devil May Cry 4 was played (because the new PS3 refuses to recognize my game save as belonging to me and denies me access. Bleah, I hate re-starting...) and I finally saw the new Hulk trailer, only to be amazed to find that apparently New York bears a striking resemblance to Yonge Street, right down the Sam The Record Man store and Zanzibar club. I finished up my first article for the High Def Digest and sent that off, I expect it'll probably go up next week. I learned quite a few interesting things about the history of High Definition gaming in the process, so I'm quite glad I got to write it. I also put down some deposits at the local game store for the Atlus RPGs Baroque, Persona 3: FES and Grand Theft Auto IV.
April is gonna' be a brutal month for games...
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, Games, Journalism, Mean Streets Of Toronto
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
One Down 11 To Go
I gave my cat the first of 12 pills to keep his routine of antibiotics going. Thanks to his... recalcitrance towards pills I now have a hole in my hand courtesy of his left set of claws.
Gonna' be a long 11 days...
I gave my cat the first of 12 pills to keep his routine of antibiotics going. Thanks to his... recalcitrance towards pills I now have a hole in my hand courtesy of his left set of claws.
Gonna' be a long 11 days...
Labels: Them Crazy Kitties
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
My Poor Cat
The picture on the left is a somewhat more recent picture of my cat, Zero, as he lords it over the house-hold by his favorite spot, on top of the radiator upon which our katana sits.
Today we took the cats in for the annual check-up and vaccinations. It turned out that poor Zero had some kind incredibly bad mouth infection and his right fang needed to be pulled out immediately. It was. Took less than a second because it was apparently just barely hanging onto his gums. He is now incredibly cranky and hiding out under the couch, only meowing pathetically to remind us occasionally that he still exists but doesn't want anything to do with us since we're responsible for dragging him out of his home, having some guy rip a tooth out and then stick a thermometer up his butt before jabbing a needle in him. What he doesn't know is that as of tomorrow, for the next 12 days, I'll be ramming a pill down his throat to keep up the stream of antibiotics into his system now that he's got a gaping hole in his gums. Poor dumb cat. He hasn't been this pissed off since he got fixed. At least he had anaesthesia for that...
The picture on the left is a somewhat more recent picture of my cat, Zero, as he lords it over the house-hold by his favorite spot, on top of the radiator upon which our katana sits. Today we took the cats in for the annual check-up and vaccinations. It turned out that poor Zero had some kind incredibly bad mouth infection and his right fang needed to be pulled out immediately. It was. Took less than a second because it was apparently just barely hanging onto his gums. He is now incredibly cranky and hiding out under the couch, only meowing pathetically to remind us occasionally that he still exists but doesn't want anything to do with us since we're responsible for dragging him out of his home, having some guy rip a tooth out and then stick a thermometer up his butt before jabbing a needle in him. What he doesn't know is that as of tomorrow, for the next 12 days, I'll be ramming a pill down his throat to keep up the stream of antibiotics into his system now that he's got a gaping hole in his gums. Poor dumb cat. He hasn't been this pissed off since he got fixed. At least he had anaesthesia for that...
Labels: Them Crazy Kitties
Monday, March 10, 2008
Comics & RPGs
Final Fantasy IX was finally finished last night. Wow, that only took eight years...
I liked it, and enjoyed it, but not as much as other FF games in the series. Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the series, called it his favorite in the series, and in some ways, it does feel like a nostalgia trip. The game, even by the RPG standards of the PS1 in 2000, feel very traditional, and the story runs the gamut of themes and character revelations that Sakaguchi had previously explored in almost every other FF game he'd ever made up until that point.
Where the game really lost me though was in the ending. After playing games like Konami's criminally underrated Suikoden series, or the much darker--and much more intelligent--Shin Megami Tensei games of Atlus, the resolution of FFIX felt very artificial. Villains are cast away at the last minute to reveal new menaces, gigantic plot points that seem critical to the continued existence of the world are ignored, and completely implausible events (like surviving what amounts to apocalypse) have no explanation at all. On the the other hand, the game is easy to get into, the themes themselves of friendship and sacrifice can't be criticized and it was fun. It just wasn't as fun as other FF games or other RPGs by completely different companies that have come out in the last few years. Of the FF games I've played in the last several years, Final Fantasy X had a pretty good story and played solidly, coming off as a much worthier successor to the FF mantle than this. That's not to say FFIX was bad game, but it covered almost no new ground, and when that happens, you'd better at least have a hell of a story to tell. FFIX didn't.
On the comic front, now that Blogger is clearly working again, these are the goodies that were picked up. The first is volumes 1-3 of Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead. I read the first trade paperback back in Singapore and for some reason, it took me nearly two years to finally get my own copies. But I'm glad I did. The best way to describe this series is, in writer Kirkman's own words, "a zombie movie that never ends." Kirkman decided to do something decidedly crazy and tell the ENTIRE SAGA of one man's attempts at survival in a world where the zombies have taken over. He starts with hoary cliche of waking up in a hospital from a coma with no awareness of what's transpired, and eventually teams up with others, but aside from this archetypal beginning, he does what no movie or novel can attempt; he shows us the changes in his character as the weeks, then months, then years take their toll. A movie simply doesn't have the duration to develop the character properly in that huge amount time, and a novel could do it, but without the horrifying visuals to accompany. Kirkman is already up to volume 8 in TPBs (with each volume representing six issues) and it just gets more and more painful, horrible and compelling to read. I'm REALLY getting into this one.
WE3 is another one of those bizarre, off-kilter gems for Grant Morrison. You really just never know whether the Morrison book you're about to read is going to kick you in the intellectual groin, or make you feel uncomfortably emotional. WE3 struck me as the latter. Taking a fairly minimalist approach to dialog, Morrison tells the short tale of 3 cybernetically enhanced house-pets that have been engineered and trained to be lethal killing machines for the purpose of testing the viability of cyborg animal warriors. When they prove successful, they are, as prototypes, marked for disassembly. Of course, they don't stand for it, and it's hard to pin down what it is that's so difficult to ignore about the plight of these animals. A dog, a cat and a rabbit with rudimentary communication skills, struggling to survive against the American military. It's almost like Water Ship Down meets The Terminator. And it works brilliantly. It's not a long story, but it manages to tell itself in an elegant way, and Morrison keeps the "realism" of the situation firmly at the fore. And of course, it really makes wonder who the animals are, the humans or these incredibly loyal, noble and hideously manipulated pets.
Seaguy on the other hand, is one of those intellectual groin kicks I was talking about. Bizarre, random, non-linear, and prone to driving you insane if you try to actually make sense of it, this is like a less directed version of other Morrison efforts such as The Filth or The Invisibles. The story, such as it is, centers on Seaguy, a man with no superpowers whatsoever, living in some creepy utopian version of our world where the heroes sacrificed themselves years ago to fight a final villain, and the world has been at peace ever since. His best friend is a floating, smoking, talking tuna that hates water, and his only goal in life is to become a hero so that he can gain the attention of an ample-figured amazonian warrior-ess sprouting a full, curly, Greek beard, known only as "she-beard." There's also a famous cartoon character and his massive theme-park empire known as "Mickey Eye," a new kind of living artificial food source called "Xoo," and don't even get me started on the true origin of the moon.
It is bizarre. I like it. I don't claim to understand it, but I like it.
And finally there's this. But I can't talk about it yet because I haven't read it. Which I can't do until the Wife is finished.
Final Fantasy IX was finally finished last night. Wow, that only took eight years...I liked it, and enjoyed it, but not as much as other FF games in the series. Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the series, called it his favorite in the series, and in some ways, it does feel like a nostalgia trip. The game, even by the RPG standards of the PS1 in 2000, feel very traditional, and the story runs the gamut of themes and character revelations that Sakaguchi had previously explored in almost every other FF game he'd ever made up until that point.
Where the game really lost me though was in the ending. After playing games like Konami's criminally underrated Suikoden series, or the much darker--and much more intelligent--Shin Megami Tensei games of Atlus, the resolution of FFIX felt very artificial. Villains are cast away at the last minute to reveal new menaces, gigantic plot points that seem critical to the continued existence of the world are ignored, and completely implausible events (like surviving what amounts to apocalypse) have no explanation at all. On the the other hand, the game is easy to get into, the themes themselves of friendship and sacrifice can't be criticized and it was fun. It just wasn't as fun as other FF games or other RPGs by completely different companies that have come out in the last few years. Of the FF games I've played in the last several years, Final Fantasy X had a pretty good story and played solidly, coming off as a much worthier successor to the FF mantle than this. That's not to say FFIX was bad game, but it covered almost no new ground, and when that happens, you'd better at least have a hell of a story to tell. FFIX didn't.
On the comic front, now that Blogger is clearly working again, these are the goodies that were picked up. The first is volumes 1-3 of Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead. I read the first trade paperback back in Singapore and for some reason, it took me nearly two years to finally get my own copies. But I'm glad I did. The best way to describe this series is, in writer Kirkman's own words, "a zombie movie that never ends." Kirkman decided to do something decidedly crazy and tell the ENTIRE SAGA of one man's attempts at survival in a world where the zombies have taken over. He starts with hoary cliche of waking up in a hospital from a coma with no awareness of what's transpired, and eventually teams up with others, but aside from this archetypal beginning, he does what no movie or novel can attempt; he shows us the changes in his character as the weeks, then months, then years take their toll. A movie simply doesn't have the duration to develop the character properly in that huge amount time, and a novel could do it, but without the horrifying visuals to accompany. Kirkman is already up to volume 8 in TPBs (with each volume representing six issues) and it just gets more and more painful, horrible and compelling to read. I'm REALLY getting into this one.
WE3 is another one of those bizarre, off-kilter gems for Grant Morrison. You really just never know whether the Morrison book you're about to read is going to kick you in the intellectual groin, or make you feel uncomfortably emotional. WE3 struck me as the latter. Taking a fairly minimalist approach to dialog, Morrison tells the short tale of 3 cybernetically enhanced house-pets that have been engineered and trained to be lethal killing machines for the purpose of testing the viability of cyborg animal warriors. When they prove successful, they are, as prototypes, marked for disassembly. Of course, they don't stand for it, and it's hard to pin down what it is that's so difficult to ignore about the plight of these animals. A dog, a cat and a rabbit with rudimentary communication skills, struggling to survive against the American military. It's almost like Water Ship Down meets The Terminator. And it works brilliantly. It's not a long story, but it manages to tell itself in an elegant way, and Morrison keeps the "realism" of the situation firmly at the fore. And of course, it really makes wonder who the animals are, the humans or these incredibly loyal, noble and hideously manipulated pets.
Seaguy on the other hand, is one of those intellectual groin kicks I was talking about. Bizarre, random, non-linear, and prone to driving you insane if you try to actually make sense of it, this is like a less directed version of other Morrison efforts such as The Filth or The Invisibles. The story, such as it is, centers on Seaguy, a man with no superpowers whatsoever, living in some creepy utopian version of our world where the heroes sacrificed themselves years ago to fight a final villain, and the world has been at peace ever since. His best friend is a floating, smoking, talking tuna that hates water, and his only goal in life is to become a hero so that he can gain the attention of an ample-figured amazonian warrior-ess sprouting a full, curly, Greek beard, known only as "she-beard." There's also a famous cartoon character and his massive theme-park empire known as "Mickey Eye," a new kind of living artificial food source called "Xoo," and don't even get me started on the true origin of the moon.It is bizarre. I like it. I don't claim to understand it, but I like it.
And finally there's this. But I can't talk about it yet because I haven't read it. Which I can't do until the Wife is finished.Sunday, March 09, 2008
Day Of Artists & Comics
We spent the afternoon hanging out with the Wife's art group, which is an obscenely talented bunch of people. After that, before deciding to head home, we checked out the neighborhood. We don't normally venture into the College street area because it's a wee bit far for walking from our usual haunts, but since we were already on the street and since we'd seen a comic store quite often called "Dragon Lady" that I kept thinking "We really should check out one of these days," that day was today. We came, we browsed, we bought many books.
Unfortunately, Blogger is misbehaving today with regards to putting up pictures, which I'd like to do to accompany the commentary about said graphic novel loot, so instead I will put this in:
Ah, Grand Theft Auto... you never fail to please. Just a little over a month now and the mayhem begins once more.
We spent the afternoon hanging out with the Wife's art group, which is an obscenely talented bunch of people. After that, before deciding to head home, we checked out the neighborhood. We don't normally venture into the College street area because it's a wee bit far for walking from our usual haunts, but since we were already on the street and since we'd seen a comic store quite often called "Dragon Lady" that I kept thinking "We really should check out one of these days," that day was today. We came, we browsed, we bought many books.
Unfortunately, Blogger is misbehaving today with regards to putting up pictures, which I'd like to do to accompany the commentary about said graphic novel loot, so instead I will put this in:
Ah, Grand Theft Auto... you never fail to please. Just a little over a month now and the mayhem begins once more.
Labels: Games, Mean Streets Of Toronto
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Whole Day Inside
Toronto pretty much looked like the picture to the left for the entire day. This wasn't that big a deal to me, having grown up in Edmonton where 30 degrees below zero is pretty much a given at some point during the winter. It was also not a big deal to the Wife, surprisingly, because all the movies and my horror stories of walking to school in deep snow had led her to expect that all of Canada was one continental sized, never-ending episode of Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. This weather merely confirmed her expectations.
However, for most of our friends and neighbors here in Ontario (Best Friend, Tactician and Math Genius excepting who also hail from Edmonton) this was pretty severe and much chaos ensued from drivers totally unprepared for winter driving conditions, despite the fact that they are Canadian and have lived here all their lives. Apparently to the life-long residents of Toronto, the current weather is quite a big deal, and despite the fact that the snow still hasn't reached--at least for me--alarming levels, they are pretty much in awe of the weather this year. Oh these Eastern Canadians and their delicate sensibilities... how quaint.
Aside from that, a day spent gleefully cooped up at home resulted in the completion of grinding for all Final Fantasy IX characters, who are all now level 99. The only thing left to do now is finish off a couple an optional boss, and the game will be done. After sitting in my collection for 8 years, it will finally be done.
Also the biggest blog site about videogames, Kotaku, has made it known that they are looking for a Weekend Editor. I figured, "What the hell," and let them know I was available. Guess we'll see whether or not they can use me...
Toronto pretty much looked like the picture to the left for the entire day. This wasn't that big a deal to me, having grown up in Edmonton where 30 degrees below zero is pretty much a given at some point during the winter. It was also not a big deal to the Wife, surprisingly, because all the movies and my horror stories of walking to school in deep snow had led her to expect that all of Canada was one continental sized, never-ending episode of Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. This weather merely confirmed her expectations.However, for most of our friends and neighbors here in Ontario (Best Friend, Tactician and Math Genius excepting who also hail from Edmonton) this was pretty severe and much chaos ensued from drivers totally unprepared for winter driving conditions, despite the fact that they are Canadian and have lived here all their lives. Apparently to the life-long residents of Toronto, the current weather is quite a big deal, and despite the fact that the snow still hasn't reached--at least for me--alarming levels, they are pretty much in awe of the weather this year. Oh these Eastern Canadians and their delicate sensibilities... how quaint.
Aside from that, a day spent gleefully cooped up at home resulted in the completion of grinding for all Final Fantasy IX characters, who are all now level 99. The only thing left to do now is finish off a couple an optional boss, and the game will be done. After sitting in my collection for 8 years, it will finally be done.
Also the biggest blog site about videogames, Kotaku, has made it known that they are looking for a Weekend Editor. I figured, "What the hell," and let them know I was available. Guess we'll see whether or not they can use me...
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, Journalism, Mean Streets Of Toronto, RPGs
Friday, March 07, 2008
Almost Done
Another day or two and Final Fantasy IX the game I bought nearly about 8 years ago and never got around to finishing, will finally be complete.
Another day or two and Final Fantasy IX the game I bought nearly about 8 years ago and never got around to finishing, will finally be complete.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
More Work
Aside from still playing Final Fantasy IX and writing GameAxis stuff, I also finally solidified an agreement to be a new contributor. I'll be writing articles for a website called The High-Def Digest, which I've been frequenting for a while now. They have the best reviews of Blu-Ray discs, and unlike other websites during the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray format war, they played a mean games of Swiss Neutrality and refused to endorse one format over the other. As as a result, it was a refreshing island of rationalism in a sea of frothing, boiling format fanboy hate. I'm looking forward to writing for them since I've enjoyed their content so much over the last year.
Aside from still playing Final Fantasy IX and writing GameAxis stuff, I also finally solidified an agreement to be a new contributor. I'll be writing articles for a website called The High-Def Digest, which I've been frequenting for a while now. They have the best reviews of Blu-Ray discs, and unlike other websites during the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray format war, they played a mean games of Swiss Neutrality and refused to endorse one format over the other. As as a result, it was a refreshing island of rationalism in a sea of frothing, boiling format fanboy hate. I'm looking forward to writing for them since I've enjoyed their content so much over the last year.
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, Games, Journalism, RPGs, Writing
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Routine Continues
Ran errands around the neighborhood, tried a new restaurant, wrote GameAxis article, wrote children's novel, played Final Fantasy IX, and that's about it...
Ran errands around the neighborhood, tried a new restaurant, wrote GameAxis article, wrote children's novel, played Final Fantasy IX, and that's about it...
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, Journalism, Lost In Loveless, Novel Writing, RPGs, Writing
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Dangerous Days
Despite having the Blade Runner collection now viewable, I am NOT watching the Final Cut. Instead I'm going through the extras first.
Man, I had no Darabont was such a huge Blade Runner geek...
Despite having the Blade Runner collection now viewable, I am NOT watching the Final Cut. Instead I'm going through the extras first.Man, I had no Darabont was such a huge Blade Runner geek...
Labels: Movies
Monday, March 03, 2008
Relief & Agony
The good news:
The new Playstation 3 arrived this afternoon, and after doing a quick check, it works.
The bad news:
After restoring the data from the external hard drive, I found, much to the Wife's horror, that while it saved almost everything, it DID NOT SAVE the old PS1 and PS2 files we had stored away. In other words, the hundreds of combined hours on more recent games like Persona 3 and Final Fantasy XII that we hadn't stored away on the old memory cards are now gone.
The Wife is more traumatized about this loss than she is happy about getting a console that works. Looks like there's a lot of work ahead re-playing those games to make back all the lost ground. Oh well... At least I can watch Blade Runner now...
The good news:The new Playstation 3 arrived this afternoon, and after doing a quick check, it works.
The bad news:
After restoring the data from the external hard drive, I found, much to the Wife's horror, that while it saved almost everything, it DID NOT SAVE the old PS1 and PS2 files we had stored away. In other words, the hundreds of combined hours on more recent games like Persona 3 and Final Fantasy XII that we hadn't stored away on the old memory cards are now gone.
The Wife is more traumatized about this loss than she is happy about getting a console that works. Looks like there's a lot of work ahead re-playing those games to make back all the lost ground. Oh well... At least I can watch Blade Runner now...
Labels: Games
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Sunday O' Dullness
Wrote GameAxis articles, wrote the children's novel, played Final Fantasy IX and got some promising news about something I can't talk about.
Wrote GameAxis articles, wrote the children's novel, played Final Fantasy IX and got some promising news about something I can't talk about.
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, Lost In Loveless, Mystery Job, RPGs, Writing
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Saturday Of Dullness
Some groceries and Final Fantasy IX. That's about it, folks...
Some groceries and Final Fantasy IX. That's about it, folks...
Labels: Boring And Insipid Posts, RPGs
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