the-inbetween.com

1-player-2-player Ikaruga

I started writing some thoughts about the old Playstation game Carnage Heart and its parallels to the esoteric befunge programming language. However, I got tired and couldn't flesh out a complete thought so, in its place, I'll link to this crazy 24MB Ikaruga play video.

I can barely chain through a stage as it is; I can't imagine doing it while controlling two ships... at once. Those crazy Japanese geeks!

Also, this retro gaming collection craze is really gaining steam. Midway Arcade Treasures 2 has been announced. The best thing about this? The compilation games are coming from progressively later generations, with this new Midway collection firmly planted in the 16-bit era. NES*, SNES, and Genesis game compilations is exactly what we need more of (especially from you, Konami)! I'm sick of the same 20-year old games being constantly rereleased.

* At least the Mega Man Collection is a mere two months away.

March Releases and Lifeline

The tentative release schedule for March is surprisingly varied. Apart from the obvious titles like Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, the PS2 HDD with Final Fantasy XII, Ninja Gaiden, and Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (the latter two of which don't interest me much, though I'm curious about SC's online modes), there's a number of curious low-key games.

There's the soon-to-be-published Worms 3D; the wonderful (about time) Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life; there's the absurd, giant controller powered Steel Battalion: Line of Contact; the must-have at a budget price ($20USD!) Colin McRae Rally 4; the sequel to one of my favourite early PS1 releases, Destruction Derby Arenas ! (I don't expect much, though; it won't be the same without the Psygnosis logo); and some other games that are garnering some interest (Drakengard; Mafia for XBox; PSO Ep.3; Samurai Warriors; Bomberman Jetters; The Suffering; etc...).

Then there's Lifeline (gamespot preview).

The Lifeline Corporate Line is:

In this first-ever voice activated action adventure, players must work together with the main character Rio by verbally directing her through numerous obstacles and challenges including deadly duels with horrifying creatures.

How sweet is that? I'm sure there's some kind of underlying sexual appeal that comes with vocally commanding a perky blonde, and maybe that's part of fun (though it's sort of been done in Japan), but this does seem like a natural progression for the adventure genre. Far more so than "point and click".

I've always found text adventures to be too obtuse and uninteresting, and point-and-click adventures to be too easy and random. The hope is that Lifeline brings something new to the table. Depending on how it functions, it could be a great "middle-ground" sort of adventure. Of course, it could also suck. Irregardless of that, it's a unique title that, in this time of sequels and remakes, deserves to be supported. The publishers need to know that there's still a market for originality and innovation. To that I say: "do your part!"

I will. Which is why Lifeline is my most anticipated title of March.

Think You Know Game Music?

Try GamingFM's Name that Game Contest. I thought my level of geekery in regards to game music was decent, but this contest has humbled me. I can only get three with any degree of certainty, even though many do sound familiar. Here's my list so far:

1. Sounds like it could be Halo? I don't have it, so I can't tell for certain. Confirmed, thanks Boy!
2. Arg. I know this, but I can't figure out from where.
3. Earthworm Jim 2 - Subterranean - thanks Jenn for the reminder and confirmation.
4. Star Control 2 - thanks JP!
5. Mega Man 2. Sounds like Bubble Man's theme, but slightly retuned -- perhaps from the Genesis Wily Wars?
6. Shinobi PS2 - thanks PawelMaji and Boy (for the confirmation)!
7. Streets of Rage 2, which I still have never played.
8. Panzer Dragoon Orta - thanks Boy! I *really* should have known this one, as it's one of my favourite current-gen soundtracks.
9. ??? Some dance/rhythm game perhaps?
10. ???
11. Blaster Master - thanks bassbeast!
12. Final Fantasy VII, duh.
13. ???
14. Dracula X - Rondo of Blood - thanks wedge55!
15. ?? On second thought, it doesn't sound like SEGA CD at all.

I suck.

Game News Feeds

There are many gaming-related weblogs out there, all with the default syndication options enabled -- so there are many such feeds out there. However, one thing that has always been difficult to track down is a gaming news feed. There is the news aggregating GameTab, which rss-ifies the latest headlines, but I've always found it limited as it only displays the headlines with no excerpts or briefs.

Yesterday, to my surprise, I discovered that Gamespot now offers RSS feeds. Useful.

Of course, after I learn of this I find out that Ferrago Games also has an RSS feed.

Now if only Insert Credit, Games Industry and *ahem* Games Are Fun could get some syndication options going.

Now if only I could find a means to inject streams of information directly to my brain intravenously.

Odds and Ends

I want this Samus action figure. There are Animal Crossing plush figures!? Compared to Olyntho Tahara's models, though, the previous toys are piss-poor. I especially love the Babylon 5 cast figures.

The Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell: Innocence sites have new trailers!

Speaking of which, the Silent Hill 4: The Room trailer has a very strong The Ring video feel to it.

I was going to comment about the full, 300MB Paris video that is making the rounds (the torrent is out there), but that's already a tiresome subject. However, I do need to say that the dude in the video is one major fuckasstard. A complete fuckasstard.

And that's how my Valentine's weekend was spent: Metroid, a lousy hockey game, a long download, and Paris' hipless naughty bits.

Don't Call Me An Addict

I'm hesitant to use the word "addiction" as that's been bandied about in regards to many, many articles about "media addiction", and I don't want to associate myself with that bunk. Instead, I think the proper term is "obsession."

Yesterday, I acquired R-Type Final, WipeOut XL (for $9! How could I have possibly passed on that?), Europa Universalis: Crown of the North and Cossacks: European Wars (on clearance, $9). The last two of which were purchased to quell the strategy bug that has bitten me. They're also games that can run on my computer, which is always a plus.

Cossacks, in particular, I find interesting. Set during the game-worthy period between the 17th and 18th centuries, it doesn't forget that Europe extends beyond Germany's eastern border. Most games (and, indeed, media) do forget about that region, which is a shame as there's a lot of intrigue, conflict, alliances, wars, battles, innovation, and culture there. Particularly in the 17th century. Sure, I'm rather biased (being born there); but a very long browse through the Military and European History sections in Chapters reinforces the sense that it's all ignored. It all comes part of living in a Western-European based society, I guess.

Rant aside, it is the first game that I have encountered that lets me control the Hussaria (aka. "Winged Cavalry"). So I look forward to many a speedy attack with those.

Finally, regarding Metroid Zero Mission, the following pretty much says it all:

Three and a half hours!? Yeesh. Luckily, the first three quarters of that were thoroughly enjoyable and nearly flawless. The last quarter, though, was... different. I have some thoughts, but I'm going to replay the game on hard before I divulge them. Besides, anything that could be said about that last section will be unavoidably spoiler-packed.

Yup. Obsessed.

Zero Mission Initial Thoughts

Oh how fortuitous! My first payday in many months happens to land in Metroid Zero Mission release week. Technically, it comes a few days after the release date, but these are the situations for which Visa was created. Ahem.

I was going to briefly check out the game before going to sleep. Without realizing it, "brief" became about two and a half hours long. I enjoyed every second of it. This is the game that Metroid Fusion should have been.

Being a Metroid veteran, "ball jumping" is a skill I already possess. Thus, as soon as I got bombs I began to will myself to areas that I won't have easy access to until later in the game. The original Metroid's near-the-start hidden-in-the-ceiling energy tank is an example of this. Normal procedure dictates that you get to it by getting the Ice Beam first; I ball-jumped to it. I love that Zero Mission gives me this option. And while there are some areas specifically designed to keep you out, no matter what your technique (yellow and green doors, pit-blocks a plenty, etc), they aren't nearly as blatant as in Fusion.

Yes, progress is slightly more "directed" than in Super Metroid, but it doesn't feel nearly as forced as Fusion -- which, with this franchise, is a definite negative. So where I felt like I had to go from point A to point B to point C in Fusion, here I already get the sense that I can, if I so choose, "sequence break". As though I can go from A to C, then to B. [This is good].

Mix in the throw-back environments, a full version of the original Metroid, and redone versions of many classic tunes (Kraid's theme! Brinstar. The original theme. etc...), and you've got: [this is great].

All this raving after a mere two hours of gameplay -- I must really be biased in regards to this franchise.

New Browser Day!

You know how it goes by now: Thunderbird 0.5 is available, as is, er, the browser-formally-known-as-Firebird 0.8 (which was formerly known as Phoenix). Great browser and all, but this constant name changing is getting tiresome. Firefox? Bah. It ruins the whole "bird" connection with Thunderbird, which should have -- logically, one would assume -- been renamed Thunderfox anyway.

Large scale open source lesson: never leave naming and branding in a programmer's hands!

That beef aside, the browser is still good and if you haven't switched already, do so now. Especially if the manual installation scared you away before (it has a Windows installer now). Clean, free, standards, secure, yadda yadda, Internet Explorer sucks monkey shit... you should know the reasons for using it by now.

There is one negative, though. The newish download manager seemed excessively slow and buggy to me. While trying to download something, it would take three times as long for the manager to come up than to download the file. And trying to clear the history would cause the browser to hang or crash. So I checked my profile directory and noticed a downloads.rdf file there. It was over two megs in size! It had, in its contents, a record of every file I downloaded since the start of December! (such records could be quite incriminating.)

Thus, I pass along this information: if the download manager is slow, delete the downloads.rdf file, restart Firebird--er-fox, go to Options-> Privacy -> Download Manager History and set it to clear on exit or on download completion.

After doing that, everything will retorn to working order. Foxy.

Grammy Crap

Didn't know the Grammys were today. Didn't care. Then my sister IM'ed me with something akin to "Christina Aguilera is actually wearing clothing! Being all anti-controversial". At which point, I switched channels and began the two way barrage of interjections and insults. It made the whole experience watchable.

The truest thing said, though, was: "I was watching an award ceremony, and a concert broke out." I thought it was going to be an award show, but very few actual awards were given out. It was performance, performance, quick comment, award, commercials, performance, commercials, life time achievement award, commercials, performance, obituaries, more commercials, performance, award. Even the life time achievement awards were quick and secondary.

"We present this life time achievement award to some guy you never heard of".

*points at the guy in the crowd

"Also, an award to some other guy"

*points at him

"Here's a performance!"

It was lame. Odd pairings for the performances and presenters; gratuitous sympathy awards to artists that, conveniently, died (or had a stroke) within the last year; broken microphones; retarded attention-starved rappers; and more whining about "downlaods" (that's not a typo) -- nothing says hip quite like posterized stock photographs!

At the least, Andre 3000 is quite the entertainer; as is that weird, table-guitar thing playing guy, whoever he was.

Steak, mate?

Eating dinner at the Outback Steakhouse -- a generic Australian themed restaurant chain -- I thought: are there Canadian themed restaurants in Australia? Ones with hockey sticks on the walls instead of boomerangs; pictures of the Rockies and of Beavers instead of Ayer's Rock and Koalas; the mens washroom labeled for hosers instead of for blokes; and dishes with names like "Toronto Ceaser Salad" instead of "Brisbane Ceaser Salad"?

Then I realized just how tacky and faux-authentic the whole experience is, so I say: leave it to the Australians.

The Texans too.

Ads: I'd Buy That For A Dollar

Forget those multi-million dollar Super Bowl commercials (which I never would have seen -- had I cared -- thanks to stupid Canadian simulcasting). Instead, enjoy cheesy and nostalgic 80s commercials! It's a shame that most of them are Real Media, as that rules them out for me (and, hence, no Kool-Aid Man breaking through a wall), but the standard format clips they have are good.

Can't say that I remember them, though. I know the Zelda commercial, but that's thanks to the internet. The old Equalizer bunny introduction seems familiar, as do some of the Transformers ads, but that's about it. Even the Mario Bros. ad is unfamiliar as the Atari was before my time. Definitely not as known to me as the other Mario commercials, along with the still fondly remembered Mario 3 "Mario! Mario! Mario!" chant. That one ranks up there with the old SEGA "Blast Processing" (BS) commercial [mpg]. There's a lot of ads here too.

Also see: Aries Car Ad Parody.

Syndication nation

There was some sort of game today. Something to do with a breast. I don't know, I wasn't following it. I was watching Shall We Dance on TVO instead. How's that for counter-programming? Quirky film.

Anyway, I have updated my RSS feeds to be more complete and valid, using these MT templates. I'm not sure if I like the idea of a full content feed, as that defeats the purpose of syndication, but I'll try to see how it fits into places. Like my new bloglines account (my public view) for one, which will give me a means to check a vast number of feeds from a centralized web-based location. Even at times when I shouldn't be browsing them. *cough*work. (Yeah, I could use my own feed reader, but I want to ease server load as much as possible).

This got me thinking. With bloglines, and del.icio.us, and all those syndication oriented sites (localfeeds), and the geourls, and all the various user accounts at dozens of varied places and forums, I'm finding it hard to keep track of my own content. Everything is too decentralized, and with so much information flowing to and fro it all becomes a little too unwieldy. What I need is some sort of hub for all this external content. Hmmm...

Update: speaking of the Super Bowl, here's some nipple action for you. Sexy!

Thinking about disterbing subtitles

When dealing with Japanese games, there's a cetain expectation for lousy localization. It's a historical prejudice rooted in the days when games were low on text, lacked writers and translators, and were low on budget. Those days, quotes as Congratulation. The story is happy end. Thank you. were the norm rather than the exception. The "All Your Base" meme is a perfect example of this.

Writing has drastically improved since then, but outside of the video game context -- compared to other media forms -- things are still relatively poor. For example, film has an expectation for quality. You anticipate good writing and, for foreign films, good translations. When that level of refinement is not met, it is very noticeable. When subtitled, it becomes very distracting. "Disterbing", even.

Bad film translations "interrfer" with the enjoyment of the film; this, for the most part, was never a problem with games. But as budgets grow and themes mature, those expectations are slowly changing. More foreign game companies are embracing localization as am essential piece of the puzzle. Even Capcom, notorious for bad translations, is getting in on the act.

The firm's leader acknowledged a lack of polish in previous international conversions of Capcom games, and promised a change in attitude. He said that in the future Capcom would put a lot of time, money and energy into making sure that games ported from Japan to the American and European markets would feature very high-quality localization production values.

It's a good step for the maturation of the industry, but... *sniff* I, for one, am going to miss that irreverent dialogue. A loser is me.

Related Gamasutra article: Lost In Translation--Japanese and American Gaming's Culture Clash