More often than not, review copies either collect in a pile by the door for trade-in or they're used as prizes at PAX. I'm aware that this is sort of rude, but we have our own opinions on which games warrant advocacy. As yesterday's news was a thin, absolutely homogenous gruel, we turned to a reviewable copy of Odin Sphere received earlier in the week. It was poking out from beneath a chair leg and it took some time to find.

Hours later, we realized that a comic had not been written.

The game has interesting systems in place - I would describe it as clever, with its five interlocking stories, elaborate food options, and the Action RPG sugar-rush that binds men's souls. But against this game's art, no other feature breaks the surface. Like a soaring hawk, I often hear the cries below - the deep lament of those who crave the certainty and power of the second dimension, the dimension cast aside by budgetary realities and market demands. Odin Sphere's luscious animation must been seen to be appreciated, which is why I linked to a trailer page above - but even that is insufficient. We'd certainly seen screens and trailers before, but we'd never seen them writ large - seen the incidental animations that add so much life and spirit. Gigantic player sprites do battle with boss enemies that dwarf even them - sometimes literally dwarf them, because this game has dwarfs in it.

Being 2D, each skirmish area takes place on a circular track similar to Defender. You can go all the way around it either way, and when you've defeated all of a zone's enemies (and been rewarded based on your performance) you can leave that circular area for another one, travelling through an entire map made of these nodes. When you run before multiple layers of painted, parallax countryside... I mean, when was the last time we got to say parallax? I would say that we had travelled back in time, but games of this type were never as beautiful. It's really more like we have travelled sideways, into another timeline where the sprite is still king.

Because this is a DVD-R in a small plastic case, I don't know who handled the translation - if Atlus brought it over complete or if they managed it internally. It's so good that I'm leaning toward the latter. Seriously, I dug the sender's contact information out of the trash so I could call and thank him. That might be rude, too, I suppose - hopefully I can be forgiven.  I wasn't aware they were making games like this anymore.

(CW)TB out.

ransom notes keep falling out your mouth

Yesterday I mentioned that Todd Goldman had started unleashing his lawyers on sites that were posting about his latest act of thievery. He wanted all slanderous material taken down. This from a guy who's initial reaction to the accusation was to call the guy he stole from a pedophile.

Honestly before this latest dust up I'd never heard of this Todd Goldman character. I hit up his website and was immediately unimpressed. I pegged him as a hack artist with some catchy slogans that he knew how to market. There's nothing wrong with that at all. The problem is that it’s looking more and more like he’s also a thief. I had a dozen or so readers direct me to this site after my post yesterday.

Then, later I got an email from an illustrator/graphic designer that was pretty interesting. He asked me not to use his name but here’s what he had to say:

Hi, Gabe.

I love your work, and I've been a fan for ages. I myself am a designer/illustrator, and I've got some extra info on Goldman that you might find interesting.

About a year ago, David and Goliath contacted me to produce a series of 'Threadless like' shirt designs. I no longer have the original email, so I can't say for sure whether it was Goldman who emailed me personally. Anyway, I declined because I'm pretty good friends with the guys at Threadless and I didn't feel like ripping their style for someone else. It turns out he didn't need me after all, because this week David and Goliath released this series of shirts, which bears a striking resemblance to those currently for sale at Threadless. Check the comparison image linked below:

You can look at all that material and come to your own conclusions about the guy. Personally I’m leaning towards thief.  

Judging by the ferocity of his lawyers I’d say he’s genuinely worried about a hand full of people on the Internet potentially doing some real damage to his multi million dollar company. What's funny is that his company is actually called David and Goliath. I have a feeling the irony is lost on him.

So our ping pong games have not been going so well. We've taken steps recently to ensure that our future games go better. I don't want to say too much right now but here's a picture. This arrived yesterday morning.

-Gabe out