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Tycho

Fear not - though it might appear that today’s stork spearheads a nightmarish foray into dreaded Continuity, you may put your mind at ease.  The devious machinations of Thomas Kemper will assuredly bear bitter fruit, but they certainly aren’t going to do it tomorrow.

We just set up an E3 appointment (5:30pm, Wednesday) with a group that doesn’t even want me to say who they are.  I’m starting to freak out a little bit about the Expo in general, and I have a hard time thinking about things that don’t have some kind of Expo Angle.  If it were up to me, we wouldn’t be doing this, but Gabe says he’s going to, so that means I am.  We’re going to be in the Kentia Cafeteria, at 12:00pm, on Friday the 24th for about an hour.  Last year we just set up shop at Kiko‘s booth, but since he’s going Civilian this time around we’re just going to hijack that food court.  I found it very difficult to stop shaking last year when we met readers, and I am sure that this year will be no different.  Come to Kentia if you want to see me stammer and wiggle.  Should be a fucking blast.  A young woman asked me to sign her chest last year, and I refused, because I thought this might have ramifications for my blissful, state-recognized union with Brenna.  I told her about it when I got back.  “Can you believe that?” I said, in a way that implied that I found the whole thing highly distasteful, as opposed to super-hot.  “I mean, honestly.”  You know what Brenna said?

“Well, did you do it?”

And I’m like, “No.  Of course not!  That would have been wrong (I moved so that I was standing in front of a billowing American flag)!”

And she said, “Why not?”

Well, that’s a turn.  I wonder if they sell special “breast pens,” or you can just, like, use any pen. 

A bit of information:  Kentia is what we have referred to colloquially as “The Gaming Ghetto” every year we go, which isn’t exactly fair to all the participants.  At the far end, you often have very high-profile organizations that do back-room demos - but the rest of the place is taken up largely by entities who (it would appear) can’t afford or aren’t interested in the deafening, glamorous main halls.  As such, it’s always interesting what you come up with.  If I’m not mistaken, this was where we first saw Belkin’s intriguing line of Nostromo peripherals, some of which have gone on to considerable acclaim with our kind.  But for every Nostromo, you’ve got like six bizarre Korean machines, big pink ones, machines that let boys pretend to be girls and wear little dresses.  I’m not making that up, and I’m not casting judgement on it.  I’m just saying that Korea must be an interesting place.   

I’m going to sit down right now and crack out two articles today if it kills me.  I do realize article-related deaths (per-capita) can’t be expressed as a number larger than zero, but I like to incorporate a sense of drama into mundane tasks.  Keep an eye out, I’ll be back with my review of Gundam Vs. Zeon DX, like I’ve been saying I would for probably a month.  I like it, I just haven’t set it down on paper - and I don’t want the piece hanging over me undone when my Zettai Zetsumei Toshi arrives this month.  Also, I’ve got one o’ dem new Xbox controllers here, and I’ll collect my thoughts on that today as well.  I mean, If I don’t die.   

I went to Pork‘s birthday last Friday, which largely consisted of industry types working on game projects at Microsoft.  It was fascinating.  Pork mentioned as much when I was there actually, that it was interesting having a room full of those who work in it, and I had to remind him that I’m not really in anything you might call an industry.  He saw fit to give me honorary status, which I appreciated, but that’s like saying that a barnacle on a seagoing freighter is somehow involved in the shipping business.  It’s a hard case to make.     

(CW)TB out.

i think my dad’s gone crazy

Tycho
  • Invasive Advertising:  This is fascinating stuff, I almost wonder why it took them so long.  Seriously though, article guys, listen.  You’re calling these pieces of advertising software that install themselves via known security holes - viruses, essentially - anyway, you’re calling them Malware, and that is a pretty stupid name.  I don’t even care that you didn’t come up with it.  Why not Warewolves?  Or maybe Badvertising?  That took like five seconds.

  • Strange Horizons:  I think it’s adorable when people use the term Speculative Fiction, it seems like a code-word catch-all for geek shit.  Well, Strange Horizons is a weekly journal of that, and I’ve had some pretty good times there - John Scalzi (whose Agent To The Stars you might have read recently) dropped Alien Animal Encounters, but that’s only one example.  They update every Monday, but if you’ve never been there before, it doesn’t really matter what day you go.  You haven’t seen it anyway.

  • Cartoonist’s Choice Awards:  If I recall correctly, last year’s Cartoonists Choice Awards were a sort of front for the Keenspot Awards, or at least any reasonable person would have assumed that from the list of nominees.  If you are a cartoonist, they are seeking out your favorite online works in a handful of genres, like “Best Something Something” and “Best Stuff.”  We turned down our nomination last year as one of the Best Gaming Comics - you are welcome to call me a fucker for it, but I don’t have any intention of vying for position in a genre I helped create.

  • World RPS Society:  Yes, they do mean Rock, Paper, Scissors.  I had After Dark 4.0 for my 5300 where I used to work, and you can bet your ass I spent the whole day watching wily Rocks do battle with Paper which was also doing battle with Scissors at the time.  Hone strategies with he world’s best.

  • Roadies:  I’m always hearing that people from Britain or whatever need to be boiled right away, when really, I think that’s something we can put off for a bit.  I mean, who would make Flash games like Roadies, which is itself a sublime combination of Lemmings and The Incredible Machine?

  • Ludology:  From the site - “Ludology is a new discipline that studies games in general and computer games in particular. Here you will get news, opinions, upcoming conferences and links to articles.”  Well, yeah.  That sounds like a site I want to go to.

(CW)TB

Gabe

Sorry for the lack of posts. I honestly didn’t think anyone would care if I skipped a few days. It turns out many of you were interested in hearing my thoughts on the poor Star Wars Episode 2 reviews floating around. I’ll tell you Thursday after I see it. Oh and for those of you who have already seen it, please stop filling my mail box with spoilers.

I got another batch of import games from VideoGameDepot last week for our Land of The Rising Fun feature.  They moded my GameCube for me and were cool enough to send it back with two import GC titles. Battle Houshin and Groove Adventure Rave Fighting Live, the later of which they appear to be sold out of at the moment. I have played both of them and I’ll be working on writing down my impressions for you this week. Battle Houshin is sort of like a cute anime version of Dynasty Warriors and Groove Adventure is a Power Stone style arena fighting game. They are both heavy on the Japanese but so far I am having a great time with them. Hopefully I can get something written before E3.

I also got King of Fighters 2001 last week. I actually got all misty eyed when I opened the case. I told myself it was allergies but I knew damn well it had nothing to do with pollen. Many of you have probably never even seen a Neo-Geo cart and so you can’t possibly understand how beautiful they are. I snapped a couple pictures with my webcam this morning. You can see them here and here. I couldn’t help but feel a little like a proud father taking pictures of his baby. I’m not saying I am gonna print them out and carry them around with me in my wallet but…yeah I am. Batjew is a fellow Neo-Geo lover so he will be coming over to help me put KOF 2001 through it’s paces. Look for a very detailed review of it by both of us sometime after E3. I actually got off my ass and did some new KOF fan art this week. I hope you dig it.

Click for the full image

I need some help from you guys on something. We want to make Penny Arcade posters but we don’t know the best way to do it. I’m not interested in any of those online places that make prints out of your family photos. I’d like to hear from someone in the printing business who would be interested in working with us on a project like this. It would be cool if you were based in Seattle but it’s probably not necessary.

-Gabe out

Gabe

The Neo-Geo got mentioned on Slashdot today. I started to scroll down through the comments and immediately saw emulators mentioned. I quickly closed my browser window and took some deep calming breaths. I am not going to have this argument today. I am not going to have this argument today. I AM NOT GOING TO HAVE THIS ARGUMENT TODAY!

-Gabe out

Tycho

Writing reviews is like pulling teeth for me, like pulling my own teeth with no help and improvised tools.  Here’s your Xbox Controller S review.  I’m going to try to get this second one out, but I wouldn’t put much stock in it.  My keyboard and I seem to be fighting.

I’ve been saving myself for MOO3 such a long time, and it always seemed like trying the Imperium Galactica series would be cheating.  I don’t know, though.  That third one looks mighty fine.

Freedom Force enthusiasts, I neglected to mention it but there is a new “Soldier” model up, and he’s not really like anything else they have available.  I think you could do some good stuff with him and his three sensational skins.  Also, there are now some 3DSMax plug-ins to help you do the, uh…  Things.  I’d be lying if I said I knew how that shit works.

(CW)TB  

Batjew

HI!

Just a quick note to let you all know that Kara and I will be doing a webcast-thingy version of Love & Hate this Friday!  It will be over at PNet and the person hosting it actually knows who we are.  More information soon as I pretend to pay attention to what people are telling me.

ALSO: I am really looking forward to playing the new KOF2001 with Gabe.  I am hoping to assemble an entire team of fighters wearing chaps!  I’ll call it “TEAM CHAPS” and I’ll use my deadly “CHAPS-ATTACKS” moves on Gabe, all the while reminding him that everyone on my team is wearing CHAPS!

CHAPS