Time to get some paint buckets.

I now know what my dream room will look like.

Currently Playing: Azumanga Fighter

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Arc System Works never fails

Yes, that's a knight with a chainsaw battling a magical bunny names Watson. I don't care what you think, Arc System Works rules character design!

The game is entitled Battle Fantasia and it should drop sometime 2009. I want it dammit.

Metacritic Taunts Me.

Something Ebert said miffed me. In his review of The Dark Knight, he said this:

"Batman" isn't a comic book anymore. Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight is a haunted film that leaps beyond its origins and becomes an engrossing tragedy.It creates characters we come to care about. That's because of the performances, because of the direction, because of the writing, and because of the superlative technical quality of the entire production.
- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

You're wrong Ebert! "Comic books" have been like The Dark Knight for a long time now. How can Nolan's film "leap beyond its origins" when The Dark Knight is the best comic book movie to emulate its source material, it's mythos, on screen?

As much as I hate to admit it, it seems that despite movies like The Dark Knight, people still think that comic books "can't be that good."

Of course, the existence of superdickery.com proves me wrong. But that's like using Homo Erectus to point out the faults of Homo Sapiens.

All in all, I can't blame Ebert. It's his opinion after all - half the world knows Adam Wests's Batman, and the Superfriends, and the other half knows The Dark Knight Returns, The Long Halloween, and The Killing Joke.

The Avatar Weekend.

The torrents have been fruitful. Only a few more hours, and two more episodes to go. I had to choose between the Avatar: The Legend of Aang Finale (and an afternoon with the family) or an afternoon screening of afternoon screening of The Dark Knight.

Sorry Ledger, baby saliva always win.

A "Dante" for men?

Bad ass witch bitch! (With hair-dragons, guns, gun-heels, and most importantly, glasses!)

Most important part of her character design? No uber-fun-bags. Nice to see a female character in a Japanese "action" game to have normal-sized boobies. At last, those other Japanese pervs with other odd fetishes get representation.

Check it: Bayonetta

Robin you queen!

I'm a bit sad that Sony Online Entertainment is going to be responsible for DC Universe Online. SOE doesn't really have a reputable track record when it comes to MMOs, and since the Marvel/Microsoft foray into MMOs didn't really push through, this is our last chance at playing super hero in an online world other than City of Heroes.

So far it seems to follow the established MMO formula, only this time, the DCU characters are NPCs that are a little bit more active in the world, instead of just being there to dole out missions and award XP.

For example, reports on the 'tubes say that running around Gotham and causing general mayhem isn't considered wise. You might have to end up aggro-ing the Batman - something that isn't a generally wise idea.

I hope that if the gameworld is as reactive as the proponents of the game claims it is, they include ways for one to get recruited by the likes of Slade. Better yet, they should include "training" maps for those unlucky few who find green glowing power rings or odd blue scarab beetles. Wishful thinking? Probably... it's SOE afterall.

Why I now love TED

"When you start looking for something you tend to find it. This wouldn't be like Simon Newcomb, the great astronomer, who wrote a mathematical proof that heavier than air flight was impossible and published it a day before the Wright brothers took off. I'm talking about people who found a pattern in nature and wrote several scientific articles and got it accepted by a large part of the scientific community before it was generally agreed that there was no such pattern, it was all just selective perception."
- Robert Anton Wilson

MTGMINTCARD.COM: Sell your MTG Cards to Hong Kong!

If you're a bit out of the loop when it comes to the local common trading routes of Magic: the Gathering in your area, I might have the solution to your problem. I was browsing for things-that-shouldn't-be-there on a global auction site, when I ran into this seller: MTGMINTCARD.com.

Apparently they have a service wherein they will buy from you the cards that you have and send the equivalent dollars to your PayPal account. The condition is that they have to get the cards you shipped to them in 10 business days. Where are they located you ask? It depends on your address, or so the site says, but from where I'm located, they say they I have to send the cards to Hong Kong.

They even have a handy form, complete with prices, a drop down list, several check boxes, etc. for easy invoice creation.

Personally, this is something worth considering, or at least investigating. I'll try selling a few dollar rares first just to test the waters - it may be a scam after all. If it isn't though, then all I have to say is this: booyah!

The anime reference isn't so exciting.

The Jap... er, "Empire of the Rising Sun" gets tech that you pretty much expected they would get. Let's make a list

• A Valkyrie - check
  
• A Gundam - check
  
• A Gatchaman plane - check
  
• An aquatic tank/siege-vehicle from Voltron (the vehicles) - check
  

Wow. That was pretty umn, derivative.

They better get include the damned classics. Like a Zero fighter, and the legendary Battleship Yamato.

When ICO meets Assassin's Creed...

You get the latest Prince of Persia. As always, the art-direction is an optical feast, and the previewed gameplay has enough "borrowed concepts" in it to raise eyebrows.*



* The third Prince of Persia (third on the PS2) adapted some God of War context-based timed button action, and mixed it with some traditional stealth gameplay. God of War 2 in turn meshed some platforming evolutions from the PoP series into it's formula. It's a platforming tradition!

The Fallout I remember...

Wasn't about the funny lines, or the isometric perspective, or even the turn-based tactics-based combat. It was about playing an RPG where decisions and interactions with the world mattered. It was a game where things you did affected people in the world. Not just several dozens of people mind you, but whole cities and towns.

It was about being of consequence.

The person in the video mentioned that in Fallout 3 you can play any type of character you wanted: sneaky, brawny, or social. I'm a bit disappointed that the four minutes of gameplay they decided to showcase involved only one of the three archetypes.

Where are the people?! What happened to social skills? Can't you even shout, or talk, or scream, at folks you run into? You know, before they spontaneously open fire at you for no apparent reason?

I mean, even the random encounters on the world map of the previous game had the thugs at least say something like "hands up," or "your money is mine," before they started gutting you with vibro-knives.

Oh well. It's only a demo after all. I'll give it more time. My main gripe still stands though: even if the game is still in the works, they should've at the very least, demoed the RP part of this post-apocalyptic RPG.

At least they got the flavor of the whole thing kinda-right. Ron Pearlman should've been in the official trailer though.

It was only a matter of time.

If you're part of the Sony Defense Force, you can't really blame Squeenix. Face it, the company knows what sells in which territory.

So yeah, Final Fantasy XIII is still a PS3 exclusive... in Japan that is. In the US and in Europe it's available for the Xbox 360 as well on launch.

I wouldn't be surprised if some Squeenix exec has several characters on his copy of Song Summoner spawned from Shake Your Money Maker.

As always, guitar rifts make it sound better.

Clover, how I miss thee.

If the loss of a truly artistic videogame development team was enough reason for you to mourn the dissolution of Clover, then good for you. I have a much more selfish and greedy reason why I hope CAPCOM didn't decide to split them apart.

Take the sensibilities of something like Okami, and apply it to the engine that you see in the game below:

Makes you wish, don't it?

Epic Fail: I picked Elves because I thought they'd be cheap.

When the news broke that Eventide's Nettle Sentinel was a 2/2 Elf Warrior for one green mana at common, somewhere deep down inside I rejoiced.

When I heard that it untapped itself when you played a green spell, I looked at my Heritage Druid based Elf deck and I rejoiced.

When I heard that there's a new green chase rare that's "in-tribe," I printed a picture of Michael J. Flores, tacked it to a cardboard box, looked for a knife, and proceeded to stab said picture with my knife. I was fueled by the murderous intent of some dark, forgotten, Summerian god.

Damn you Wizards! My wallet hates you.

Moriarty does it again.

Unlike Harry Knowles, Moriarty generally tries to stay away from hyperbole or any other reference to orgasms or release of reproductive bodily fluids.

He's a great reviewer -- I know that -- his latest one however, still managed to catch me off guard.

I am now more than eager to watch Hellboy 2, and The Dark Knight. Sad that Mr. Ledger is dead and all that. Oh well, such is life.

On a tangent, yes, before watching some movies, I let others think for me. I like going to something with preconceptions and prejudices. That way, if I'm proven wrong, it's always a pleasant surprise. (Why is tricking one's self such a round-a-bout process sometimes?)

Having said that, will the two comic book movies manage to surprise me? I hope. I wish.

It was alive at some point. Alas, no longer.

I'm sad that the possible Marvel MMO was ultimately killed by a Faceless Microsoft Executive (tm). I'm even more depressed by news that development reached the point where in the X-Mansion was done and fully explorable.

CMix: It's no secret that you're an avid gamer. Is there any comic character or title that you'd still like to see in a videogame that hasn't popped up yet?

BB: Well, you're talking to one of the executive producers of the ill-fated Marvel MMO that went away. I have my laptop here, and on it I have the "X-Mansion" level fully completed that only I and five other people have access to play. It's gorgeous and fantastic and no one will ever see it. So I feel bad, because I think that MMO was a phenomenal idea that was extremely well executed and it went away because some guy at Microsoft who we'll never know pulled the plug on it before it even got underway.

But adding to that, I think that they should take each of these Marvel events and turn them into a videogame franchise. "Civil War," which will be part of the next Ultimate Alliance, "House of M," "Secret Wars"...

CMix: "Secret Invasion?"

BB: "Secret Invasion." Absolutely.

And yes, Bendis is a marketing, merchandising genius. Worried about running out of MMO expansion ideas? Then tie the MMO to your comic universe's yearly "big event."

Smart bastard.

iPod gaming: perfect for geeks with real-life obligations

Damn you real life! You have parted me from my distractions. Not that it's a bad thing, but this rant space is suffering as a consequence.

Anyhow, time for a quick update. For those who are too busy with real-life and can't manage to sneak their DS lites and their PSP's past office security, I suggest you switch to iPod gaming. What games on the iPod you ask?

Behold: Song Summoner: the Unsung Heroes

My favorite part about the game? The game manages to take advantage of something that comes natural with it's platform. Sure, DS games make use of touch screen tech, PSP games take advantage of the processing and the disk space, this one takes advantage of the fact that it's on a music device:

Your Tune Troopers allies can also be "powered up" by listing to the tracks used to create them.

Think of it as Monster Rancher Portable, only a lot cooler.

D&D 4th ed, or, this game is for kids again.

One of the major difficulties of the 3rd edition of Dungeons &Dragons was the bookkeeping that was involved. It wasn't that the rules were too complex or too difficult to grasp that it alienated folks. The three core rules were still there:

1. Roll a die, beat a number, get to do something cool.
2. It's a game where the rules break the rules. Improving means you get to break more rules.
3. It's a game that's allow your group to bend the rules to your liking.

The main problem with the way the 3rd edition of the d20 system worked was that as you progressed through the game, book keeping became more and more tedious.

Gone were the days when your level 10 character fit in your piece of scrap paper you tore from your notebook. Most players of the game had to use laptops and excel spreadsheets to keep things in track.

The 3rd edition felt like a game that was trying too hard to match the age of it's audience: mostly college freshmen, and twenty-something yuppies with laptops and better-than-average math skills.

I like that the 4th edition feels "dumbed down." I like that it's "simplified." If you look up Dungeons and Dragons on Wikipedia or on Google images, you'll see that old nostalgic geeks were never the target audience.

The cover said: "ages 10 and up."

How old were you when you started on D&D? How old really? I was 12.

In the age of MMORPGs, and the concepts of a "striker," and a "healer," and a "nuker" is generally understood by our internet cafe going youth, the game is going in the direction where it should go.

Note that I said it only feels dumbed down. The new system does have it's technical merits. Aside from the multi-classing Feats being slightly half-baked, I really, like how they trimmed the skill list, changed the saving throw, and added other parameters of defense. The lack of "true" multi-classing is my only problem with the 4th edition, everything else in it was a nice effort in streamlining.

As for the books, I feel that they could've organized the information in the Player's Handbook a bit better. For instance, the class powers could've been in a separate chapter called "Powers." Seeing long lists that look like Spell tables after the class description was a bit jarring. No, wait, let me rephrase that: it made it look like a mess - it took me a while to get used to, and it really made me hate the editor of the book for not knowing what the term "Handbook" in the book's title meant.

Aside from those minor problems. I like it. More importantly, the kid in me likes it.

I've learned that when it comes to geekish pleasures, that's what really matters.

PS: I still miss the Bard. I have a feeling though, that they just saved other more "complicated," non-MMORPG analogous roles for the other non-basic, non-introductory books they'll be printing in the future. New player acquisition is the goal after all -- "keep it simple stupid" and all that -- and the Bard is anything but simple.