HD Remix - 1st day of release video

This video is brought to you by Neil 'CigarBob' Atkin. I've known Neil for about 12 years now. We first met via AGSF2 and me sending him a B3 tape on VHS and him sending me some 2nd Impact footage from Southern Hills Golfland that Eddie Lee went to. Over the years me and him exchanged a lot of videos and a lot of excuses (oh man - the package got returned, wrong address - my bad!') but I still heart the Neil. While I am sad that he didn't send me this video in the mail I'm glad that it does exist.

I'm not sure if that is Neil's laugh or not but that very well may be the best laugh on the planet.

NOTE: To be fair to Sirlin this juggle with Ken has been removed for a while. Made it into the beta though. Don't expect this to be in the final version that comes out.

Dear Sony - Please update your PS1 games on the PS Store

So last night I turned on the old BBQ to play some Conan (more on that after I beat it...) and of course I had to update the damn thing. While I am sick of pointless updates I hit OK and agreed to the 1.1 user agreement (don't they need to update that thing one of these days?). After the update I decided to hit up the PS store since I never use that thing.

I got all excited since I've been playing my PSP here lately (the 2nd syphon filter game if anyone is curious) and thought maybe I'll grab some new PS1 games to put on the PSP. While I am excited for R-TYPES (seriously - who came up with this name? Terrible) I'm so fucking sick of seeing the same 9 games that filled up the PS1 section for the last 12 years. I get it - Jet Moto and Crash 2 are good games but damn I swear these are the only games that have been on sale in Best Buy and now online for what feels like over a decade.

Quickly scanning the 21 titles for sale (exhausting...I know) it's obvious the majority of the library is limited to Sony titles. However with stuff like Tekken 2 and Symphony of the Night (something I did buy and played through like 3 times on a trip to Shanghai) it gives me hope that maybe some more are coming. But damn...when!?!? Where is Tobal 2, Final Fantasy, Tekken 3, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Metal Gear, etc? I'm sure there is probably some problem with games that had multiple discs but if the PSP scene can figure out a solution then I'm sure you guys can also.

While I'm on the subject of PSP - seriously STOP PORTING PSP GAMES TO PS2!! Ratchet - Size Matters on the PS2 is a mess.

Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows

When I first started working at Activision this was one of the many games I worked on (I obviously can't talk about them all but I did mention Kung Fu Panda earlier) and this trailer has really blown me away.  



Tom, Tim and Shaheed have done a really good job of elevating Spider-Man to a new level never seen in previous Spider-Man games. It's really weird looking back because before when being involved with video games I would be knee deep in the day to day stuff and implementing and bug fixing and all that. With WoS it was a more hands off approach and a lot of documentation and just meeting with them face to face. It's kind of cool to see how far those 3 (and I shouldn't forget the animators either - Alex and James) have come given all the obstacles that have been in the way.

So yeah - disregard those screen shots that got posted earlier. Those things don't do the game justice what so ever. In fact I'm not sure if any screen shot really does a game justice. What a weird concept huh? Taking something that is moving and selling it with a static photo? Eric and myself used to always joke that one day we hope when you turn videogames over in the store to see the back of the box that instead of a photo it would somehow show a video clip of the game. Totally off topic tangent here but when I went to go see Indy 4 the theater had taken plasma screens and turned them vertical using them to show off video of up and coming movies. Was way more impressive then a traditional movie poster.

Back to Spider-Man though! Hopefully everyone will check out the trailer and get excited - I know it's been rough for Spidey fans - the 3rd movie, Kirsten Dunst in general, and the 3rd game wasn't so hot either. Stay strong true believers!!

Oh! And screw all those haters on Spider-Man: Friend or Foe. That game was a lot better than anyone gives it credit for. It was a fun Lego Star Wars type of game but somehow the press just didn't see that at all and slammed it. Time to stop rambling.

Interesting look at Star Wars Galaxies from an insider

So I know nothing about this game what so ever aside from what friends have told me about it.  All I really remember was a lot of drama about who could be a Jedi and what it took to be one. Plus compared to WoW every MMO seems like a failure to me so I don't know if it really was or not. However I stumbled across this and found it an interesting read.

Ruben Field has this to say:

"So we were given the directive to make Galaxies better.

Not just make Galaxies better, but make it succesful. Not the 200k subs it had, but really succesful. The idea was that we had the most valuable IP in the entire world, and we fucked it up to the point of having 200k subs."

Like I said - I gots no real knowledge on this game, had to look up what in the world NGE (New Game Enhancement) even meant but I found it an interesting read.  Not often do you find such a detailed look at what went wrong with a game.  

Click here to read the rest.  

GBA Micro

I believe I have talked about one of my favorite devices but if not, allow me to indulge.  

The image you see to the left is my famicom gba micro that I bought from NCSX when they were first announced.  Of course I bought the Japanese version thinking there is no way it would come out in America and of course it did haha.  Oh well - I think mine has a mario or something on the back and the American version does not.  

I don't know what it is but handheld gaming definitely speaks to my heart a lot of times over standard console games.  I like the immediacy (usually) of turning something on and playing for a few minutes then turning it off.  The GBA Micro may very well be my favorite handheld of all time.  The D-Pad is one of the if not the best D-Pads on any console regardless of size.  In face I play Super Turbo nonstop with this thing.  Of course I don't play single player but the training mode in that game is surprisingly fun and accurate.  I've spent way more time than I would care to admit doing stupid stuff like cross up, overhead, low forward into super with Ryu vs. Gief or jump in fierce, low jab x2, standing jab into Guile versus Fei Long.  

While I definitely love my DS and even my PSP on occasion I keep coming back to my GBA Micro.  Not only do I never charge the thing and it lasts for an eternity but the GBA catalog makes me smile as well.  Both Metroid games are good - ok so the first one sucks a little but the second one is amazing, Aria of Sorrow, Drill Dozer, Zelda, Wario, Rhythm Tengoku (best game on the GBA?), Mario & Luigi, etc are all phenomenal games.  Even the GBA Wario sequel which I didn't like all that much at first - Wario Ware Twisted is a billion times more fun on the GBA Micro. 

What really made me remember how much I love my Micro is this thread on NeoGaf.  That guy makes me want to run out and buy 3 more to say the least.  

I know the Micro got a bad rap when it first came out - if I'm not mistaken DS Phat was already released and the screen was considered too small by a lot of people (something i completely disagree with) and the shoulder buttons being a little whacky (something I will sheepishly nod my head to) but it has been one of the best things I ever bought.  While I don't condone piracy I did buy a flash cart so I could play NES games on it and let me tell you - having a portable NES was truly gaming nirvana for a while.  Every time I was sitting in the boyfriend chair at the mall I could get some Mike Tyson's Punch Out going on.  Yeah - it's totally being a geek but oh well.  007-373-5963 FTW.  

*I don't know how readily available they are in America these days but play-asia is still selling the famicom version for reasonable.  

Radiohead covering Portishead

I don't normally do this but I found this cover by Radiohead this morning and figured I would share it with everyone. The original is by Portishead and is called, 'The Rip'.

God Of War 2 Combo Video

Combo Maniacs (tm) Majestros and Magnetro came out of the woodwork with what may be one of their best videos ever. Of course I'm biased since it's based on a game that I poured my heart and soul into but the creativity and the editing on this thing is some of the best I have ever seen them do.



Check out Magnetro's Page where a higher quality version can be found.

Check out the Transcription explaining what is going on with every combo.

Check out Majestros' page of his craziness.

Last but not least thanks to SleazyC from GAF for posting this on Vimeo and letting me jack it without asking first ^_^

The last combo is INSANE!!!