Penny Arcade

Here is the dream my exhausted mind produced after this convention:

A combination of Greg Kasavin and our friend Stephen from London was coming into town, and we had decided to have a LAN party at my house from the sixth grade.  I assure you that this is not an exaggeration, in fact, I am no doubt leaving out a host of other incongruities.  In any case, many of the dorks in attendance claimed (rather facetiously) that we were going to “go out on the town” and “meet some laydays” when the truth couldn’t have been more remote.  We were, in fact, “staying right there” and “Playing Soldier of Fortune 2.”  The Greg/Stephen hybrid played along, asking in an incredulous manner what a “woman” was, anyway.  I said something that I though was quite hilarious while I was dreaming.  You be the judge. 

I said, “I believe it may have been, at one time, an acronym that has now passed into standard lexicon.”  That really got them going, and I punctuated the raucous belly laughter crying out the word “Vestigial!”

I am slowly regaining my composure after the event.  I did put up the guest comic that Scott sent us last night, and don’t forget that we’ll have a strip over there on his site tomorrow.  I’m looking forward to writing that today.

I don’t really know enough about my own country to make generalizations about the different areas we have, which makes me a piss-poor bigot.  I simply don’t have the lacerating turns of phrase and demeaning language apt to different areas.  I will say this, however: I am now of the impression that people from the middle of Missouri and Kansas are about the nicest people you could care to meet.  What’s more, at least compared to where I live in Washington, they have no accent to speak of.  I had assumed that once I penetrated the membrane that surrounds the Northwest, physically and culturally, that I would be exposed to an alien landscape where vaguely organic creatures would communicate via scent or minute flashes of light.  As it turns out, they just have really good barbecue and look more or less like human beings.     

The San Diego comic convention is very large, but I do not know that as a social experience it can compete with something smaller.  The second slow day of the con, I mean, shit.  Gabe and I were playing Puyo Pop until somebody would come up, sometimes with their own GBA or SP, and then it was on.  I even got a chance to play some of that “Four Swords” mode on the new Link to the Past.  And since Brad is there to do all the commerce, we never even touch that stuff.  When you come over to our side of the table, it’s all conversation about whatever the fuck you want.  We will certainly be back to that part of the country, in fact, that part specifically - human beings came from hours away, and I want to reward that.  They were so appreciative that we got out their way.  But many of these people said that they came to the con in question just to see us.  When I bought a bootleg copy of “Hero,” though, I saw on the bag that some of them had paid eighteen Goddamn dollars for the privilege.  If that’s at San Diego, fine - that’s one of the biggest, if not the biggest thing of its kind in this country.  There is a lot of shit there.  But Fuckhole’s Dog And Pony Show at the Kansas City Convention center, let alone us personally, it’s not worth it.  So, we’ll be back.  However, the plan is just to rent out the conference room of the hotel we’re staying at, buy a bunch of pop and snacks, and if you want to hang out with us or get something we’re selling, that’s fine.  This is something we can do anywhere, and don’t think that’s not the plan.     

There are apparently many, many Megatokyo fans who also read Penny Arcade, if the people we met at this convention are any indicator.  That means to me that though we may not be an exact fit thematically, hopefully the SakuraCon thing will still be alright.  In fact, I noticed in Piro’s post today that he mentions “two other well known comic guys,” I think he might be talking about us, I don’t know.  He is possibly suggesting that we might not want people to know we are going, and nothing could be further from the truth.  It is apparently SakuraCon that doesn’t want people to know we’re coming.  Their director of relations practically begged us to attend to the show, but even after repeated requests they haven’t put us on the site.  It’s perfectly fine by me, they can mention us or not - they can put our names on a password protected page in an ancient language known only to a handful of scholars.  If you’re reading this, then you know where we’ll be and that’s the important thing.     

I want to thank Allen and Joel for picking us up from the airport, and then taking us to the con, and then to our hotel, and then coming by the next morning and taking us to the convention, and then taking us to the hotel, and then taking us to Jack Stack, and then taking us to the hotel, and then taking us to Hardee’s, and then taking us to the airport.  One never knows how it will be when one meets new people, but when I got into the car and saw a d20 in a coin dish, a Third Edition Player’s Handbook in the back seat, and heard Portishead’s “Dummy” from the Stereo, I suddenly had no worries at all. 

(CW)TB out.

from the aeroplane over the sea

It’s brilliant, just brilliant.  I’ve never gotten to see Jet Li kick ass outside of “The One,” which some people don’t even consider a Jet Li movie.  I had no idea that Hero was a beautiful, historical action drama thing, I just heard it was excellent.  And it is.

I said I would talk about Amplitude today, and I will.  Gabe and I will write Scott’s strip, I’ll do a little more remixing and beat a couple more Boss Songs, and I’ll hit you back.

(CW)TB

They aren’t songs by The Boss, Bruce Springsteen.  They’re songs you unlock after defeating all the others on a level.

(CW)TB

I’m sorry I didn’t put this Amplitude stuff up yesterday, but I ended up talking to Scott for a very long time on the telephone.  Then I had to adore my kitten for several hours, after which Brenna wanted to watch Igby Goes Down.  Claire Danes, I’ve missed you.

When we became enamored with Rez, many people suggested we try Frequency, which had come out the previous year.  Sony’s broadband adapter for the PS2 comes with a demo of the game, without which I might never have gotten around to it - but immediately I understood what the fuss was about.  Rez isn’t really about rhythm as such - any music that happens to occur emerges organically from play.  In Frequency, virtually every musical sound the game produces is the result of player actions.  Imagine Tempest, with the player at the mouth of a tube of sorts - each section of this tube is a track from the song, bass, drums, what have you.  By keying in increasingly complex button patterns, you slowly build an entire song.  Another thing that characterizes Frequency is a plethora of licensed music, from bands like No Doubt or Garbage, let’s say.  As a general rule, I do not listen to No Doubt.  There are certainly arguments to be made for not manually constructing their songs so that they remain inaudible.  However, I find that the music choices, even from bands I’m not nuts about, still make for good gameplay.  The selections are also fairly diverse, genre-wise.  After unlocking every song the game had to offer, I spent more time in the Remix mode.  It is possible that many people did not utilize the “remix” type of gameplay, where you take the samples that comprise each song and create your own version, but that is the main reason I own it.

Amplitude, Frequency’s successor, is identical to the original except in those cases where it is not.

Unlike Frequency (which required a free disc to unlock its online play), Amplitude’s multiplayer experience is built in and I believe includes some new game modes.  I might be wrong, I was sort of an evangelist about the first game and have been loaning it out to people so I can’t compare manuals.  Instead of a rounded tube, solo play takes place on a flat line - reminiscent of a fretboard or musical staves.  Visually, the levels are imagined extremely well, with what appears to be sharper resolution, richer color, and backgrounds that react to each press of a button.  I’m not sure if I like the musical choices quite as well on the whole, but as I mentioned, the gameplay is still quite sound - and even then, I still have a handful of songs to unlock.  Remix mode is much more streamlined, with each section being mixed being given an explicit title - Chorus, Verse, that sort of thing - which is altered once by you, and then takes the place of every Chorus or Verse in the song.  There is even an online repository where players can share their remixes, which is commendable.  Playing and defeating songs unlocks not only new levels with more songs, but also new parts to build your 3D representation, or “Freq.”  This little guy can be seen playing whatever track you’re on, sometimes with a Mic, sometimes with a keyboard, playing in exact time to your input.  They also accompany and identify you online, so it’s a nice way to personalize your appearance.

There are two choices about remix mode that I don’t know if I like as well, though the game still comes highly recommended.

You do have less control over the way vocals work.  They’re essentially pre-entered for you, rather than giving you the ability to play around with them.  Ninety-nine percent of the time, I’ll bet this isn’t a big deal - it was just nice to know I had the ability to change it.

There is a feature called “Freestyle” mode that gives you access to the Scratcher or the Axe which allow you to cut wax or generate notes, respectively.  While it looks a great deal cooler in Amplitude than it does in Frequency, I can’t say I support the new Scratcher.  The new Axe, that’s good!  Instead of just higher or lower pitch, you can filter the sound as well, which is much more analog in feeling and end result.  By comparison, the new Scratcher has these sort of pre-set scratching speeds that you cue up, compared to the old way, which was entirely controlled by the left stick.  The Scratcher and the Axe also seem to take place in a strange digital soundscape instead of the actual game, it doesn’t get recorded on the staves, so you can’t really use them as accents in a song.  By playing around with the pitch, I’m getting to the point where I can replicate the old way, but I just don’t feel like these were good decisions.

Don’t let that stuff scare you off, though.  Like I said, I’ll bet most people never even choose Remix in the menu.  If you’re looking for a challenging rhythm game that is also a lot of fun, you couldn’t ask for much better than Amplitude.

(CW)TB

Except Frequency.

(CW)TB