Join sisters NinJaSistah and Pandalicious and the rest of the ESH Crew each day as they discuss video games, tech gadgets, anime, manga... pretty much everything within the geek chic lifestyle.
From Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and PC game reviews, previews, news, and gushings to audience questions and rumor mill seeding galore you'll find it here at ESH!
Ok, so I suck at getting pictures fixed, cropped, and upped on a fast basis but don't yell at me...I'm a team of one at this event dude.
In any case, here are pics from day two and three of the PAX expo. Please note the very happy pic of me and MajorNelson. I'm hoping that this time he'll remember both the site and my name. Two out of three ain't bad. Did I forget to mention the third one? It's by me a drink. When you meet me at an expo/con/event/street, you need to remember my website/podcast name, my name, and buy me a drink. These are simple rules people, simple rules.
It's the last day of the PAX convention, and I'm sitting here trying to think what is left to see or do. My self tells myself, "PLENTY!"
N'Gai Croal will be in town today moderating a panel on Sex, Violence, and Video Games which I want to attend and hopefully get to see N'Gai again.[CES was fun.] I'm hoping to get hands on with Fallout 3 today, if nothing else just to shut Pandalicious up about it. I also want to talk to SEGA about about Yakuza 2 coming out on the PS2 and not PS3 and why, and I figure cap my time off with a bit of people watching and photo snapping.
I may even stop by the Bioware booth as they are giving away fake tattoo sleeves as their swag. After all of that, if I have any energy left in me, I'll probably hit the freeplay rooms for a bit and get my game on with some other gamers which I haven't been able to do much of this entire trip.
Stay tuned for the final words from PAX and more pics!
Games that start off with a description involving scantily-clad women usually don't rate high on my radar, so Oneechanbara was definitely not something I had been pining away for since it's development.
If you said to me three months ago, "NinJa, there is this game out there where you are one of two asian chicks either in a school girl outfit or your undies and a boa fighting zombies and you are going to love it..." I would probably have laughed in your face and cussed at you for a very long time, but after seeing Oneechanbara trailers for the first time I kinda changed my mind. D3 helped me seal the deal a bit her at PAX 08.
Even though they are not demoing the game at PAX, D3 did bring a teaser video that had the opening of the game and some gameplay elements on loop at their booth and after spending a bit of time with one of the PR reps, I'm sold on this game.
In Oneechanbara you play one of two asian sisters Aya or Saki and are forced to hack and slash your way through zombies that are after your blood for some reason. There is something in your lineage that makes you prime targets for the zombies and it is up to you to find out what it is and rid the world of these damn things. The game is a bit different than other sword slashing games in that you have a gauge indicating your weapon's bloodlust [which when filled your weapon has a good chance of sticking in to enemies making you have to yank it out] and you have to clean your sword constantly to keep it from doing less damage or sticking in a enemy leaving your vulnerable. I was able to find these bullet points from the D3 website, even though a search for the title on their site didn't find it:
Control Two Super Sexy Sisters and Their Sword Swinging Samurai Skills – Master sword swinging martial arts at their finest on the ground and in the air, slashing, swinging and thrusting into zombie enemy hordes.
Exclusive Dress-Up Mode – Go behind the scenes to expose the hottest samurai wardrobe on the planet. Unlock an arsenal of customized clothing and looks to maximize and personalize the Onechanbara experience.
Go Deep Inside Aya, Saki, and the Legend of Onechanbara in Multiple Gameplay Modes – In addition to the main Story Mode, players can experience the game in Free Play Mode, Survival Mode, Quest Mode and more to let gamers dive deeper into the Onechanbara experience.
Killer Combat Control System – Each character has a variety of moves, weapons, and throws to combat enemies on the ground and in the air, and can unleash killer Rage Mode attacks when desperate and surrounded.
Co-op Multiplayer – Invite a friend to join in the fight with Co-Op mode and try unique fighting styles together to rid the world of zombie infestation.
D3 is kinda tight lipped about a ship date for Oneechan but it will be available for the XB360 and Nintendo Wii at some point.
The Royal Quackster is here, days before he and Pandalicious go off on their final semester at The College That Must Not Be Named. Today's Anime Calamity takes a look at the series "Library War" (Toshokan Sensō). In 1989, the Japanese government passed the Media Betterment Act to protect the youth from being influenced by negative materials in the media. To counter this, the country established the "Library Defense Forces" to prevent the Media Betterment Act agents from infringing on people's right to access media deemed as banned material. One day Iku Kasahara had been accosted by an MBA agent after finding out that she had a banned book in her possession in a local bookstore. After being saved by an LDF agent, Kasahara decides to join in the Library Defense Force. Gradually, her passion and exceeding athletic capability leads her to become a member of the elite unit, the Library Task Force. Through her battles against the MBA and her own teammates Iku does her best to be the best in the Library Task Force.
After sitting through this series, I came to the conclusion that there is absolutely nothing special about "Library War." Granted there are some good action sequences and humorous moments, but there seems to be nothing attention-grabbing in this show. The animation is pretty good, but sometimes it looks kind of shoddy. The characters are okay, but they seem too run-of-the-mill. The show gets repetitious, even when Iku’s parents show up almost unexpectedly. That would’ve given the writers a chance to spice things up on the show, but instead they took the easy way out and made the parents one-shot characters. The only thing that deserves praise for “Library War” is its plotline. It’s reminiscent of the old book burning incidents, and the series could be a seemingly wake-up call to those wishing to keep their favorite novels still in print and uncensored. However, a show too mediocre like this will not be an easy eye-catcher for the average viewer, anime fan or not; and it is possible that it’ll fall through the cracks of obscurity by the end of the year.
"Library War" gets a C-average. The idea of the series is good. Everything else is just lacking the magic needed to make a stand-out series.
This is King Baby Duck: Ain't born to lose, baby, I'm born to win! I'm so Goddamn slick, baby, it's a sin!
I was not a big fan of the game FEAR. I thought it was a bit dark, and a bit cumbersome to control when I started playing the game, so for the most part, I had written Origin off. After what I’ve played here at PAX I think I might have changed my mind.
There are now four weapons in the game and not three with two new types of grenades [shrapnel, and incendiary] The gameplay is crazy fluid on the XB360 and it looks as terrifying as ever.
While I’m not a big fan of FPS games, I am looking forward to Project Origins. Sure I’ll have to play it in a well lit room, but when don’t I have to play an FPS that I like in a well lit place? Let’s be honest, the only FPS titles that I ten to be attracted to are the thriller/survival based titles.
I love Gears [don’t ask me to play as I say unto thee that I sucketh] and Bioshock took a lot out of me and still haven’t finished it. [There aren’t enough daylight hours to play that thing, seriously.] But there is something about Origins that excites me more than it scares me. I find the story really engaging, which I don’t feel happens enough in FPS titles, and I hate to be shallow, but aesthetics have always played a small role in whether or not I spend the time it takes to finish a game.
Origin is not a sequel to FEAR, and is to focus more on how Alma came to be so gawd damned powerful. I have been sitting here at the Microsoft booth, with Fable 2 and Infinite Undiscovery being manhandled over and over again, and kinda blown away by the fact that few people sat in for the Origins demo, but many showed up for the Gears 2 demo. I don’t know if the name change is hurting the title on the brand recognition side, but something is definitely up and I hope this post [and the subsequent ones to come] help Origins find homes across the land when it launches Fall of 08.
I got to spend some time with a PR rep for D3 publishing to talk a bit about two games: Oneechanbara which I will definitely talk about at a later time, this article is about Bangai-o: Spirits.
Bangai-o is a classic arcade shooter. You will spend the majority of your time button mashing like a fiend a-la-harrier type in order to blow up everything on the screen. But why would you want to play this game? Generic mecha art aside there are a few things that set Bangai-o apart from other arcade shooters, one of which is it’s level editor.
In the game you can edit a level in real time, meaning as you are in the middle of it. Level too difficult? Edit that boss out. Level too long? Shorten it. While this may sound cheap or gimmicky, keep in mind this is a DS title. If you're playing on the go on the train, you might just want a short level to play through during my commute to help keep me you from missing my your stop.
Taking the level creation thing a step further, D3 has added a sound transfer system that allows you to share any level you have edited or created with a friend using the speaker/mic built into the DS to wireless send your stuff to their stuff. As the feature was explained to me, it sounded a bit complicated, but D3 has a tutorial online to help you get the hang of audio sharing.
It’s been a while since I bought a DS game, but I think I might give Bangai-o a try. Check it out, and rent it if you can.
I know it's like beating a dead horse, but I just am becoming more and more impressed with Little Big Planet from Sony.
Today I got to actually play a hands on demo before show hours of the game at Sony's booth, and it really made me want to steal the dev-kit it was running on.
LBP is a side scroller at it's core, with multiplayer racing game mechanics on the facade. You create a puzzle level, and then post it on the PSN or simply play it on your system. The game supports up to four players, and is a downright hoot! I was privileged enough today to play two levels, the "Skulldozer" level and one that the developer had just created earlier that morning.
In the "Skulldozer" level, we had to get to the finish line of the level without being touched by a bulldozer made out of skeleton bones that gave us chase...and from the rear no less. While you do have a limited number of times you can respawn in the game, being able to watch others play is a huge piece of the game play. At no point in time during the day today was the line for LBP shorter than a 45-1hour wait, and that I think says a lot about the game.
One of the first things that strikes me about the LBP demo is that the level creation is ridiculously deep. LBP has it’s players moving left to right through each level on three planes of existence depth wise, which is really the only difficult piece of the game controls to get used to. Everything else in the game deals with you jumping, grabbing, pulling and pushing objects in the level using the “X” and “R1” keys making LBP an easily picked up and played game. It will be a game that I think I can even get ESH Mom to play when she comes to visit. Now back to the level creator, and it’s being deep.
LBP does need some way to rank you though for finishing the race, and that's where bubbles come in. During the levels of the game you have to collect these bubbles as they are the equivalent of points in the game, and she who has the most points laughs last... or something like that.
There is not firm ship date on LBP yet, but I'm not going to work on whatever day it is.
I landed in Seattle late this afternoon with no idea who was going to be here from the AGR family or when they were descending, but I did send an email to a friend that wound up delivering a great surprise.
As many of you loyal readers/listeners know I shed a lot of love on Destructoid.com. Niero [the DToid founder] gave me a lot of advice when I was a young and anxious ninja first exploring this "video game blog" thing, and has been a great friend to the ESH Crew over our two years of existence. And while papa DToid has been awesome to us [and me specifically] we've never met in person.
We have played "I owe you a drink" for two years; events that I was going to be attending, he was not and vice versus. I would be coming into town on a day when he was leaving or already gone... it was like a crazy "missed connections" from craigslist or something. Until tonight.
I finally met up with Niero from DToid tonight, and I got to tell you, it made my night. Sure, I had already had a drink or two by the time we met up, but it's a conference... who hasn't had a few already. The meetup at the Redwood bar was great. Food was awesome [and fairly priced] the drink we strong, [and cheap compared to DC] there was a big screen TV with football blaring in the background, and the place was full of gamers, geeks, and the artistic... a great way to end night one in Seattle.
Freeloader Megwin was with me, and we had a ball. She'll be running around the show floor with me this weekend so be on the lookout for some of her stuff. It was a great way to kick off my first PAX. Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow.
His story.... over mine... his story will be his story And my story is a waste of time (aaaah-aah-aah) (TLC reference)
Welcome to once again another Throwback Thursday.I'm your host Pandalicious coming to you live [well as live as a post is] from the ever so popular ESHLAND. This Thursday however, I thought I'd slow things down and give much love and much respect to the ladies. You see women are...in two words: simply awesome. All the great men who were responsible for our history,culture and addictions had great women right behind them,,most of which proclaiming that they were fools. However in the gaming world there was one pair that this wasn't so. There is one pair that to this day were seen as equals in my mind. This pair is...you guessed it. Mr. and Ms. Pac-man.
Even though, I as a gamer recognize this pair as equals they were not brought into existence at the same time. Sadly, though not entirely sad, Pac-Man was the first of the pair to be created. As much as I'd like to say that Pac-man was an american creation I would be a bold faced liar. Japan brought him into the world, along with some of my other obviously favorite things. [Cough Anime Cough Cough]. Anyway he was developed my Namco, but brought over here to the U.S by Midway. You might recognize Midway through some other famous titles such as: Mortal Kombat [Deadly Alliance, Deception, Shaolin Monks and Armageddon] Pac-man via Midway hit the U.S in 1980. [So for age reference, Ninjasistah was a little over a year old, and I was still in the pre development stages. Barely on the radar, if you catch my drift ~^]
Needless to say droves and droves of a budding gamer nation were sent in crazes of joy upon playing Pac-man. It was an overwhelming sensation and widely addictive, kind of like any drug you can imagine minus the drooling, hallucinations and uncontrolled bouts of gambling or raging libidos. Thusly Pac-man was flagged as a gamer icon, and a landmark in gaming history...
As much as I like to boast about Pac-Man, I cannot idly sit by and just be content with talking about the male aspect of things. I cannot walk away without bringing a much needed guest to the forefront and give her a voice. She is known as Ms.Pac-man.
Too much of my surprise, the origin of Ms.P did not stem from the same place as her male counter part, which for this senario is idle. So sorry pervs of the world , there is no gamer incest here. Originally rumors were leaked that Ms.P ( game formerly known as Crazy Otto) was a bootlegged copy of Pac-man made by the programers over at the General Computer Coporation. They were highly impressed with what they did, and rushed themselves over to Midway. They liked what they saw. After fighting all the red tape, and buying the necessary sprites to the game. She was renamed and released here in the U.S. This all went down in 1981. Midway had grown fed up with waiting for Namco to release Super Pac-man. Not only did the release of Ms.Pac-Man make Midway happy, but at the time she was also a prominent answer to a question that the gaming community still addresses today: How in the world do we appeal to the female gamer fanbase?!
Like I mentioned previously, the Pac-man game was blood success! It was seen in arcades all over the place so needless to say the game mechanics are simple to the average gamer today. However, taking a seasoned gamer from today and placing them back into primitive forms of gaming is indeed interesting to observe.
Take for instance myself. Add me to say either the Pac-man or Ms.Pac Man game via the technology of the XBOX360. [God do I love ports when done right!] Timing and precision are key as they were for these two games back in the 80's. I came to find that my timing was completely off which once again made the game physically challenging. Since the game's premise was already known. I found my hands to be stressing out faster with each passing level and those ghosts once again pose a serious threat to my existence. ...
This classic will always bring warmth to my gamer soul. If not for the quality hours I spent playing it...then for the personal reason of thriving in it while Ninja did not. [This is why Siblings were made, and why gaming displays the strengths and weaknesses of those siblings.]However, if it wasn't for either of those reasons that it was for the Panda of the 80's...all six years I spent in them.... for desiring to be yellow and round and wanting everyone to play with me...for wanting to rock a styling bow and for [unbeknowst to me at the time...gave me hope that other girls wanted to do the exact same thing]
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU Gameloft! Why am I thanking one of the most successful cell phone game developers? I'll tell you why. Gameloft has given me Chuck Norris Brings the Pain for my cell phone! They have managed to take all of the bad assosity that exudes from Chuck Norris and poored it into one cell phone game.
Chuck Norris Brings the Pain put you in the boots of Chuck as he roundhouse kicks his way through a rogue Soviet army to rescue POWs from Cambodia. Wait! He's not finished. After that Mr. Norris has to save America from an invasion! This work of art shouldn't be classified as a game, but as documentary of a day in the life of Chuck Norris.
Check out the gameplay. There's no sound to the video, but are you surprised? Chuck Norris NEVER let's you hear death coming.
If you do, PangeaSoft would like to offer you a reduced price on their game Enigmo for a limited time. And I do mean "limited."
Starting today at 9am PST, [that's 12pm for those of us on the other coast] through 9pm on Wednesday, September 3, those that purchase the game for their iPhone or iPod touch [running version 2.0 software mind you] will receive a special promotional price of $5.99, which is a four dollah drop from the normal $9.99 price point.
If you don't know, Enigmo is a 3D puzzle game in which to complete each level the player has to manipulate various streams of flowing liquid so that the droplets can reach their ultimate destination. Liquids (water, oil, and lava) fall from droppers, and will bounce off walls based on the player moving various types of bumpers, sliders, accelerators, and sponges. Your job is to divert the flow of the falling droplets, and the faster you complete each level the more bonus points you receive. Sounds simple right? Wrong.
Enigmo is a challenging, frustrating, and ultimately fun little iPhone diversion. Just make sure you don't miss your stop off the train because you have to solve this one damn puzzle like I do.
As you were all aware, we as hosts were given this mystical tokens that once given out would bestow magical "gift" properties through the allgames network.
As stipulated....I set up a challenge that if someone formally challenged me in ten rounds of SC4 and beat me they could win my token, or if I was challenged in a Civ Rev game and was defeated could also get you to token land.
Well I awaiting challengers and no one came until the strong and powerful....[though I hate to admit it....] Alphabox. YES he was a fighter of epic proportions, he was fighter by chance, and he used Yoda too....
However Alphabox claimed the token of another host of a different all games show...so I devised a way to sort this out...through the power of delegation. Alphabox was able to pass the token won from me to a close friend of his in the allgames community And...the winner of this sacred delegated token is......ZAPPY
So Zappy you know the drill as you are of the community!..Enjoy Alpha's victory because with out it, you wouldn't be getting presents...
In this episode of the podcast the girls talk about the anime series "SpeedGrapher," mis-steps and corrections that SCEA can make with the PS3 to recapture the bulk of the gamer market, things that make Panda want to punch babies in the face, EA games, PAX, PAX preparations, the fact that Pandalicious is not going to PAX but NinJa is, "Watchmen" the movie versus the graphic novel, and more. Don't believe me, check out the titles we didn't use for the show.
Holes First, Person Second
I'm Anything But Cheap
A Hot Bed of Gamer Geek Sausage
Belching With Joy
Did They Put Pudding In Your Bowling Ball Again?
Suck It Up, Build It In (That Sounds So Dirty)
NinJa Rags On Sony Again
If Sony Was Bachelor No.2, It Would Lose Again
Someone Shot My Smilie Face
Geometry Wars Doesn't Suck Asteroids
It Makes Me Want To Punch Babies
If You Think There Was A Lot of Breaststroking At The Olympics, You Should See SpeedGrapher
For the last year I have been working and finishing up a second degree at GWU in DC. To celebrate surviving school I wanted to have a barbecue with a group of girls I graduated with, their families and then all my work friends from Apple. Normally my different groups of friend have no trouble mixing but with the addition of my friend’s families the party become two separate parties. My Apple friends were inside playing Rockband while my college friends outside with their families.
Luckily for me someone suggested that it would be fun if we could get all of the parents to give Rockband a try. Now after watching my father try and play Guitar Hero over Christmas and not make it through the training session let alone a song I admit I had my doubts.
The Players: THE DOC: On drums we have my father…. who has no musical talent and even less rhythm though sadly he thinks that he does.
THE WIVES: For vocals we had Amanda’s mother and stepmother who from what I understand are not really on the best of terms, lucky though both could sing.
THE SINGLE MOM: Reluctantly Caitlin’s mom agreed to play the bass guitar… having raised a very girly-girl on here own, games like this were a complete mystery to her.
THE ARTIST: We rounded out the group with Amanda’s father taking the lead guitar, he seemed more comfortable behind his camera then the guitar.
The Game: ROUND ONE: Each parent received a quick tutorial as to how the games is played by our local Apple Clarendon Creative team, and then the group was ready to select their song. The Last Train to Clarksville by the Monkees was picked because they figuring that at least would have a fighting chance of knowing the words.
ROUND TWO: After getting over the shock of not completing the song the parents promptly demanded that they be allowed to try again. More quick pointers from the Creatives and the group was off again ………
ROUND THREE: With spirits high the group decided to give the song one more go…. they started out strong and even figured out how to save another player who had failed out. Sadly they did not even come close to completing the song but they did manage to complete 24% of the song, which was meet with a rousing cheer from the whole room.
The Wii has received much acclaim for its ability to bridging across the generation gab and if my party was any indication Rockband can be added to that list. It was a great vehicle for breaking the ice between two different groups and even if the parents did not complete the song they had a blast trying and everyone else got kick out of watching them try.
I never thought that having my family failing out repeatedly on a song at 24% would save my graduation party….
I'm not kidding. While we never wound up getting any love out of the ESA in order to roll three deep to E3 this year, we did get a nice reach around from PAX and will be on a plane to Seattle next Thursday.
What am I looking forward to? Well, I'm looking forward to hitting the booths for EA, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, D3, and Activision to name a few. I want to see what is going to go down with the rhythm game wars, if Oneechanbura is going to be one of the games that makes it to my "Replay Classics" list, and if Sony has "Home" ready to go.
And bee-tee-dubs, when I say "we'z goin,'" I mean that "I" [just NinJaSistah] will be in attendance. Pandalicious punked out and will not be heading to the coast with me. I'm sure she'll refute the "punked out" piece of that statement, but it's the truth folks.
How about you, what do you want to see come out of PAX 08? I'll try to spend some time checking out some of the titles you want to know about.
Ring Ding Dong...Ring a ding..ding ding dong (Dr. Dre Reference) Yo! Yo! Yo! Como Estan? Beeches. Pandalicious here to bring forth a new installment that should have hit y'allz earz last Thursday but brotha let me tell you what had happened...
You see what had happened was.....[insert flashback CG ripple effects] that I'm about as lazy as the next person. So last Thrusday I was out with my Crew we were gonna go steal some pants...BECAUSE I AIN'T GOT NO MONEY! (Unforgiveable Reference) I'm just playing. In all honesty though, I just plumb forgot! So Here Comes some old school flava with some old school thought!
I figured I would start with what I know best...The first real time I can remember liking video games wuz when I would engage in a hunt....a hunt...for ducks....no that doesn't mean I maliciously hunted down the all the casts of the Mighty Ducks, or any spin offs that may or may not occur. Though there were many of times were I had wish this gun controller had had the power to do so.
TO most of us Ataris and Nintendo's were the big deal. To most of us here in the United States rather [let me state that now] that is. One of the first real exposures to the FPS that i can remember...and by remember I mean being really little with the control and sitting faceplanted on the television. [Now that I think about that I'm sure all those early afternoons of playing like that most likely resulted in my now having to wear glasses...Oh Fuck....] Though many of us played this cult classic in the comforts of our homes however is was also found on other platforms besides the NES. It was also on Famicom and Arcade.
Duck hunt was not a game that people woke up at 7am for and dashed to their local Walmart to get..in fact..Walmart did not exist then [Yes I know that for most of you, you cannot beleive that such evil did not rear it's satanistic side until it branched off from its primary store which came into existence in 1962..YES it's that OLD] It was a game that was given onto us to get a a response off of it. Thinking back now, who would have thought that letting people take fake guns and shoot ducks out of the sky to our trusty loving bloodhound...
If Nintendo had been in REM's music video for "Everybody Hurts" this is what we as a budding gaming nation would have saw.
(Scene: Children on bikes in slow motion riding by the glass window at the Nintendo headquarters. Inside the window a meeting of several official to talk about the questionable progress of "Duck Hunt"
Man in suit #1: Well surprisingly enough people actually like this game... (thought bubbles appears) FUCK! I hope we don't have to deal with PETA again...
Man in suit#2:Who knew that people would actually enjoy a game based on a desire to kill (thought bubble appears) Now if only we can redirect this towards something that we can continue to market and not worry about organizations putting their stamps of disapproval...like....bigger animals...animals with advance thought...oooo yes and will power...they should be intelligent...like humans...Oh My God Humans! That is brillant, I should head over to development right now..
Woman in suit#1 (looking at Man in suit#2's thought bubble:I'm sorry Man in suit#2 that is fucked up. (thought bubbles appears but it's a little flash movie of herself kicking Man in suit#2 in the nuts. [Yes I went there, like you wouldn't]
Woman in suit#2: Well that might be true however we should do what is best for the progress of our company (thought bubble appears) Oh I can't wait to spend all the money I'll make on these games on therapy for my future teenage son who will shoot up his school because he thought it would all reset the next day. [yes this one is also bad but...come on....]
Anyway you guys get my point. But why do I like this so much, so much that in fact decided that this would be my first piece.... Well ladies and gentlemen of webspace....I can not remember a time that I did not enjoy playing this game, whether it was just with Ninjahsistah before the ninjafication.... or with our father who is no longer with us. It presented a time of innocence and a good time with just the bare essentials...and isn't that what we want in our games....simple satisfaction?
Gamestop/EB Canada is offering a gaming guarantee on the upcoming title, Star Wars: Force Unleashed. They are so sure that you will like this game that they're offering buyers the opportunity to trade the game in for full purchase price credit if they don't like it.
Gamestop did something similar to this with the Playstation 3 title, Haze, but was halted by Ubisoft. There is no current news of this program taking place in the states. Let's see if Gamestop is crazy enough to give this opportunity to Americans. Do I even need to go into how it would end up?
(Lucasarts has announced the Star Wars: Force Unleashed demo to be available for PS3 and Xbox 360 download this Thursday, August, 21st.)
Monday is here again, and so is a new episode of the ESH podcast. The girl team is complete on this one so expect randomness galore this hour and change.
The episode kicks off with Pandalicious and MagicMystic discussing how they came to love and specialize on the topics they, well, are experts on here at camp ESH. [In case you are new to the game, Panda shows anime some love while Magic takes us down the dark and [every once and a while] psychotic path of manga. While the girls chat about their passions and influences toward them, Ninja tries to keep up by hanging back in the corner.
When the dust settles, NinJaSistah jumps into the conversation to talk about the resurgence of the Science Fiction genre in mainstream entertainment and the pros and cons of it's new found popularity. It's another weird and wacky episode guys, check out the titles we didn't use for this one:
Off-Topic's the Best Place to Be
if I Had Known, I Would Have Worn Pants @ M4M Night
if It's Good For Your Heart, It's Crap
Fluff Is Not a Milk Substitute
My Blank Is Different From Her Blank
Tales From The Kids Table
This Tiara makes Me Completely Unrecognizable
Your Mom Should Never Ask What That Tentacle Is Doing
Panda's Guide to the Four Stages of Sex
The Pickle Distracted MagicMystic
This Isn't A Filler Episode - Everything Is Meaningful
That's Very Smexy
I Want to Punt Small Children
What Magic Is Tasting is The Combination Blue dye No.1 and Yellow Dye No. 5
The Flintstones Is Not Completely Historically Accurate Either
I have spent weeks trying to ignore games on the iPhone mostly because the last thing I need is another portable gaming device, but then I heard about this game Aurora Feint: In The Beginning and I got sucked in.
Aurora Feint reminds me of Tetris and Puyo Puyo Pop in that you spend the bulk of your time trying to get three or four items of the same type in a row in order to explode them and clear out space. In AF you spend your time "mining" elemental substances that allow you to gain new skills to level up your player. Sounds simple and light right? Wrong. AF is one of the most engaging and deep games that I have played on the iPhone. Many a metro stop have I missed as I was in the middle of mining earth stones in order to unlock a new skill or magic to make it over to the tower.
What makes AF so deep is it's gameplay. Unlike the puzzle games to come before it, part of solving the puzzles that make up AF is that the accelerometer in the iPhone is taken advantage of and used as part of the puzzle itself. In order to get three or four in a row you will at times have to push the puzzle along by rotating the phone so that the element stones will shift and more quickly reveal the next line of stones. You can only move stones horizontally at any time, so rotation of the playing field allows you to link more stones together and get a higher bonus. I used AF to get through waiting in line for "The Dark Knight" iMax [both times] waiting to board my plane to Mass, even getting through some long phone conferences that I had to participate in last week.
Aurora Feint: In The Beginning is a solid game, and is crazy good for being free... and now that they are through being "delisted" on the iTunes store for grabbing user info in a non-secure manner [it's been removed from the game] it's a definite on the "DOWNLOAD WORTHY" list.
I only ask the question because Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People is available on the PC and Wii now, and you might want to pick it up.
I was a huge Homestarrunner.com fan a while back, but ESH, the day job, and web comics pretty much eat up all of my time. But Telltale Games is pretty proud of the new game and have a whole page devoted to it. Check it out here, and read more about the game below... here.
From the press release:
In the season premiere, Strong Bad's plans to beat the snot out of his rival Homestar Runner backfire, and he ends up with an unwanted houseguest cramping his style. Now he needs to get life back to normal, by any means possible. Comical point-and-click gameplay progresses the story, with side quests, mini games, achievements, and an "extended play" sandbox mode that unlocks after the story is completed rounding out the game experience.
New episodes can be downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel each month for 1000 Wii Points, and the game takes advantage of the WiiConnect24 technology by giving players the ability to send Strong Bad-themed emails to Wii friends directly from the Lappy. Photos taken using the in-game camera feature can be attached to emails, allowing players to show off Easter eggs uncovered or hidden costumes collected during the game.
"We are very excited," said a Videlectrix spokesperson from his pretend high-rise office, "Our last game topped out at 8 bits. We've heard this one might reach 9 or 10!"
Downloadable versions of each Strong Bad episode will also be available for the PC exclusively from Telltale's website, with preorders starting today at www.telltalegames.com/strongbad. Episodes can be purchased individually for $8.95 or as part of a five-episode subscription for $34.95. As with Telltale's popular Sam & Max series, customers who purchase the full series from Telltale will later be eligible to get a disc version for the cost of shipping and handling.
After the "Homestar Ruiner" premiere on August 11, storylines in the monthly episodes will run the gamut from political struggles to rock’n roll to the world of videogames (of course), building to the exciting season finale in December. Many fan favorite characters from Free Country USA will appear in each episode, along with special new super 8-bit style mini-games from Videlectrix.
Advertising withing video games is nothing new. We're seeing it more and more every day. Players of World of Warcraft on the Dunemaul logged in yesterday to see one of the best displays of in-game advertising.
Blizzard has been cracking down on spam shouts and whispers from gold sellers in WoW, but these people will always find a way to get word of their product out to others. MMOInn, a gold-selling company, created an in-game ad in one of the major cities, Ironforge, for all to see using the corpses of dead gnomes. The "company" was so proud of their ad, that they had this pic displayed for all to see on their website. How will blizzard go about putting a stop to this form of advertising.
In March of 2005, a couple days after seeing the pillows live at the Knitting Factory in New York City, I went into Tower Records inside Trump Tower. The new Queens of the Stone Age album had just come out, and I went to purchase it. Sitting next to the new QOTSA album was an album from a band that I had (at the time) just recently heard of: "The Best Little Secrets Are Kept" by Louis XIV.
I had only heard their song "Finding Out True Love is Blind" on the radio and in an EA Sports baseball game, but I was enchanted by its album cover: the song titles written on the back of a naked woman. I had to own it. The next night I took a listen, and I was enthralled by its power and sound. The era of Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll had returned; and I was a happy little ducky. TBLSAK wound up being my favorite album of '05.
This year Louis XIV's third album "Slick Dogs & Ponies" was released, and it has proven to be one of this year's best. I went and saw them play last Monday at the Middle East in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and they put on a show that was almost too good for words.
I was originally going to interview the band, but by the time the show had ended my ride had arrived. I sent a letter of apology to guitarist/vocalist/pianist Brian Karscig, who told me to send him the questions; and then would proceed to email me back the answers.
The following email interview contains 10 of my own questions, 6 from the fans taken from the band's forum, and one final question from me:
King Baby Duck: Where did this asphyxiation for Louis XIV originate from? Why not another king?
Brian Karscig: Well, we recorded our first self titled album (out of print now, but soon to be re-released) at a friend’s flat in the Latin Quarter of Paris in 2003. We were just ending a long relationship in another band, and went to Paris to get away and take advantage of a cool place to record and free place to stay.
If our friend lived in England, we very well may have been Henry VIII.
KBD: When you go into recording an album or a single, do you have a special routine that you do (like something that motivates you to create and record)?
BK: There is no better feeling than completing a song, or any piece of art for that matter, and feeling good and confident about it...In fact, I think that is what has kept me a songwriter to this day, is chasing that feeling of accomplishment.
Jason, Mark, and myself have been friends since grade school, and have been playing in bands together since then....We have an irreplaceable knack with working together, and all love making music.
KBD: How was recording "Slick Dogs and Ponies" different from the process of making "The Best Little Secrets Are Kept"?
BK: Well, it was a little more difficult. We went crazy trying to figure out what kind of album we wanted to make, and there were points of anxiety and self-consciousness...
The one certainty we all agreed on is that we did not want to repeat ourselves and make the same album...
Louis XIV - Guilt By Association
KBD: Your band has some of the most unique album covers. Your first album had that sort of classic 1950s song-titles look, and then for both the "Illegal Tender" EP and "The Best Little Secrets Are Kept" you had the nude ladies (which fit the style of your music perfectly). For "Slick Dogs and Ponies" what made you want to return to the classic record look instead of the girls?
BK: I think we wanted to go back to the beginning in some way. Try to not over think anything, and set out to just be artists again....That was our mentality when the group started, so we brought it back.
KBD: One song in particular I’m interested in learning about is "Stalker." How was the song and its rhythm created, and is there a story behind the song?
BK: Jason came to the studio one day with the b-minor descender part on the piano, and made a beat around the sound of a gun shot, a match being lit, and a clock. I thought it was the coolest thing ever, and we both came up with a story of a stalker, because the groove had an evil feel to it...We both went out on the mic and started just kind of vamping melodies and wrote the words around them.
KBD: In "Sometimes You Just Want To" what is the meaning behind the lyrics "You used fucking as an adjective/But you can’t save time at a bank for kids"?
BK: It’s about my girlfriend...She's the most lovely woman in the world, but loves the "F"-word to describe everything.
KBD: In the song "Money Bunny" you say "Who wants true love when you can buy it temporarily." Do you truly believe in that? Why or why not?
BK: Not really, it was sort of a double meaning and tongue and cheeky at the same time...The song was about women who love money, so it just seemed suiting, but at the same time, we wrote it shortly after the success of “Finding Out True Love is Blind.” I was ready to move on from just being the FOTLIB band, so "Who wants True Love when you can buy it temporarily" was also in some ways a statement about moving forward into the next phase of the bands identity.
KBD: What has to be the worst show that you’ve ever played, and why?
BK: That’s a toughy...Probably NYC black ball with David Bowie, and Alicia Keys...It was mind blowing being on that bill, and Tom Cruise and his wife were 5 feet from me in the front row...Weird? But they were super cool afterward.
KBD: Recently, you lost a good friend: Natasha Shneider. On your website you talked about how "everyone whom she had contact with is better, different and changed." How did she do that, did she give any kind of advice to you that any one out there can follow?
BK: I still haven't come to terms with her passing...She's hands down the most talented musician we've ever worked with, beautiful in mind and spirit. I’ve taken a lot away from the experience with working with her.
KBD: What do you think of the state of American rock ‘n’ roll? Do you think it’s gotten better or worse in the past few years, in your honest opinion?
BK: That's a tough question...I don't really like speaking negative about anyone’s music or politics for that matter, but I think that American music is becoming more homogenized...Everything is starting to sound the same, and it feels very forced and sterile.
Bands that I listen to (i.e.: Led Zeppelin) used to make "albums,” and that’s what we like to try to achieve as LOUIS XIV, not just a "single" and 9 filler songs...which is what the state of the business seems to have become.
Louis XIV - God Killed the Queen (from the album "The Best Little Secrets Are Kept")
Now I would like to present to you the questions from the fans!
Sans Nom: I always kind of wondered why they named their label The Pineapple Recording Group.
BK: We all lived in a house many years ago, and when we built our first studio in there, there were these bronze etched Pineapples...So we just named ourselves Pineapple Recording Group.
janna: What is their favorite city to perform in?
BK: I love a lot...NYC, Berlin, Paris, London of course, but also some of the smaller ones Montreal, Tolouse, and Zurich.
orangeblossom: Will Brian ever lose the beard?
BK: I'm sure I will.
samwise: I would like to know if they are planning to release another single from SDAP.
BK: None planned.
xxiolla: do they know about all the remixes that have been done to their songs and how do they like/feel about [them]?
BK: I haven't heard them, but would love to hear them...
Kat: Whatever happened to Dominique?
BK: The world may never know...
The final question:
KBD: What is Louis XIV’s plan on taking over the music industry?
BK: We will do what we've always done, and just make uncompromised music for ourselves, and keep challenging ourselves creatively, and hope our fans come along for the ride.
Louis XIV - Air Traffic Control
I would like to thank Brian for taking time out of his extremely busy schedule to answer these questions. My gratitude towards him and the rest of the bandmates is ever eternal. I would also like to thank the people on the Louis XIV Web Boards for their great questions.
Louis XIV's "Slick Dogs and Ponies" is available in stores now. It's one of my top albums of 2008 to check out.
This is King Baby Duck saying, "It takes a lover that knows I love her like no other."
It's another all-videogame podcast, but, as usual, the Sistahs careen dangerously toward the profane and near-profane.
While Ninja proclaims the goodness of the Pure and Braid videogames, Panda admits her love for retro games, particularly those that can be found through XBox Live. It all leads up to a future topic for the podcast: How to Turn Your Wii Into a Micro-brewery.
I think we all have to admit that would be quite effective in selling the Wii to hardcore gamers.
There's a new trend in overseas. Not only are colored contacts popular, but it seems that anime eyes are the big thing now in Japan. Anime eyes are usually characterized as large cartoonish eyes that are common in Japanese art and animation or "anime" as it's known in the states.
Japanese men seem to have a liking for large eyes on their women, but there's no cosmetic surgery that I know of that can make the eyes bigger. Some girls have turned to extra-wide contact lenses. They're not only tinted, but tinted prominently in the extra-wide outer ring. The result is the appearance of a bigger, wider iris.
The lenses are made by a variety of companies including Geo and Dueba, and cost in the $30-$50 per pair range. The contacts are not only cosmetic. If you send your prescription to them, the lenses will be made to order.
You probably have noticed that every CD that I have reviewed has been positive. This is not to say that every Japanese album I've listened to this year has been that great. Let's look at some of my biggest disappointments of January-July 2008!
March 5 saw the release of Asian Kung-Fu Generation's newest album in almost two years: "World World World." After the release of their last singles "After Dark" and "Korogaru Iwa, Kimi ni Asa ga Furu" I had very high hopes for this CD. Unfortunately those hopes turned into despairs. Sure the songs were okay, but the flow and style were quite dull in comparison to their previous albums. Not only that, but many of the songs lacked the variety seen in "Sol-fa" and "Fanclub." It was as if AKG were trying too hard to keep the average fans entertained instead of expanding their horizons towards new listeners. Unless you are a hardcore fan of Asian Kung-Fu Generation, I cannot recommend this album. (However, their recent EP "Mada Minu Ashita ni" has what "World X3" lacked. If only they replaced half of the album with the songs featured on the EP.)
In late 2007 POLYSICS released the CD single for the song "Rocket," their best song in recent memory. Before the release of their 2008 album "We Ate the Machine" the fans were told to expect a new, exciting sound from the quartet. What I heard, sadly, were some of the most annoying songs these ears were forced to hear. Granted, "Pretty Good," "Pony to Lion" and "Kagayake" had some good sounds, but tracks like "Kikai Tabechaimashita," "Mind Your Head," and "Digital Coffee" were too noisy to bear. Now I am for bands expereimenting with their music; but this had to have been the first time I had wished that a group would stick to what they know best instead of trying something different. POLYSICS is already a standout band, so there should have been no need for them to go forth with trying to widen their surroundings.
My final disappointment appeared in the form of FLOW's "Isle." Their last singles "Colors," "Answer," and "Fuyu no Amaoto / Night Parade" were all really good, but many of the tracks lacked the fun that FLOW is well-known for. In fact half of the time they sounded like one of those shitty boy bands out from Johnny's Entertainment. (NOTE: If you've never heard of this Japanese boy band company, then I envy your ignorance.) Their previous album "Golden Coast" was filled with radio-worthy tracks. "Isle," though, is too sappy for its own good. It made me want to fly to Japan myself and slap the band members silly for blindly taking the wrong path on this album. (Where's Rick Rubin when you need him? Seriously, if he could help Linkin Park make their best album yet, then he should have no problme getting FLOW back on track!)
These three great bands have all hit creativity speed bumps this past year. Let's hope that by next year these music powerhouses will keep their heads straight, and their minds well-tuned to some better song choices next time around.
This is King Baby Duck: Ain't born to lose, baby; I'm born to win. I'm so Goddamn slick, baby, it's a sin!
Blizzard has implemented a new "Recruit a Friend" initiative for existing subscribers. If you talk a bud into signing up for 30 days then, you get 30 days of free gameplay. Talk them into sticking around for 60 days and you get a nice swift Zhevra mount. Some of the other bonuses are triple the normal XP gain and for every two levels your friend gains, "they can grant one level of experience to any one of your characters of lower level." That's not a bad deal at all.
Here's the FAQ copied from Blizzard's website with more details on the program.
Recruit-A-Friend FAQ
What is "Recruit-A-Friend"?
Our new friend referral system allows you to recruit some of your friends to join you in World of Warcraft by sending them an invitation email containing a trial activation key. With this key, your friends will be able to set up their own trial accounts.
To start this process log on to the Account Management section and click the Recruit-A-Friend button. This will take you to the actual friend referral page, where you can enter a friend's email address and name one at a time. If you want, you can also enter a message that will be included in the invitation email.
How can I earn the exclusive in-game mount?
For each person you refer who upgrades to a retail version of World of Warcraft and purchases two months of game time, you will be able to give a character on the account you sent the invitation from an exclusive in-game zhevra mount. This unique mount can be claimed through the website, is only available to Recruit-A-Friend participants, and can only be applied to a single character.
What in-game benefits do we get while the accounts we play are linked?
1. Characters on both accounts can summon each other once per hour. 2. While adventuring with your linked friend/family member, you will each gain triple experience. 3. For every two levels the new player earns, the new player can grant one free level-up to a lower-level character played by the veteran player.
How long will I be linked to my recruit?
The link between the accounts will last for 90 days from the date that your recruit creates an account. Remember that for the link to work properly, your recruit must create a new World of Warcraft account using the 10-day trial key in your invitation email.
When my friend/family member upgrades from a trial account to a full version of the game, will that break the link between the accounts?
Nope! Your friend/family member will have to upgrade to continue playing past the 10-day trial, and the accounts you play will stay linked until the full 90 days have passed.
If my friend/family member recruits another friend/family member, am I linked to that person too?
No, these benefits only apply to the person that you referred directly.
Are there any limits on when and where I can summon my friend?
You and your recruit may only summon new characters of equal or lower level to the character you are playing. There is a one-hour cooldown on this summoning ability. Also, once one of the characters reaches level 60, the summon will no longer function.
Do I always gain triple experience while I am linked to my recruit?
No, only when you are partied with a character on the linked account and both players are present when slaying the monster or completing the quest. Also, if the two characters are not the same level, only the lower-level character is given the experience boost.
Is quest experience tripled too?
Yes, but only if the quest was not trivial (gray difficulty) for either character.
Do normal experience rules apply?
Yes, if a monster is trivial to either player, no experience boost is given.
How does this affect / stack with Rest State experience?
While you are partied with a linked recruit, any Rest State you have accumulated is not consumed. Only the tripled experience from the Recruit-A-Friend program is applied.
What if I'm partied with multiple recruits who I'm "linked" to? Do I get quadruple, sextuple experience?
No, you can only ever gain a maximum of triple experience regardless of how many linked recruits you are partied with.
Are there any limitations to granting levels to characters played by the veteran player?
Yes. The recruit may not grant a level to a character that is equal to or higher than the current level of the character he or she is playing. Additionally, the recruit may not grant a level to a character that is level 60 or higher.
How can I earn the free 30-day credit?
For each person you refer who upgrades to a retail version of World of Warcraft and purchases his or her first month of game time, the account you sent the invitation from will receive a free credit of 30 days of play time.
Can I use the free 30-day credit on a different account or at a different time?
No, the 30 days of play time are immediately applied to the account you sent the invitation from once your recruit pays for his or her first month.
Can I earn multiple 30-day credits and mounts with Recruit-A-Friend?
Yes! These rewards will be given to you for each account you refer that meets the criteria listed above.
If my recruit cancels the account before purchasing subscription time, can I still earn the 30-day credit or the in-game mount?
If the recruit later comes back, reactivates the account, and purchases subscription time, you will still be eligible for the rewards. Additionally, you can always invite more friends/family members to try World of Warcraft through the Recruit-A-Friend system.
It's the story about a MagicMystik who wasn't listening, a Ninja making profane T-shirts for children and a Panda who just couldn't wait. You might think of it as the latest episode of the ElectricSistaHood podcast, but we prefer to think of it as just another slice of life.
Magic starts it out by talking about the manga "Pet Shop of Horrors" and Ninja and Panda finish it up by giving their love to the new Soul Caliber IV. In between all that, they present another hour of hilarity for all of you.
Just get a load of the titles that were turned down for this episode:
Just Listen To It and Figure It Out
The Heartbreak of Numb Butt
When Naruto Met a Night Elf Chick
If a Tree Falls In the Woods, Does It Get Turned Into a Manga?
My Favorite Word of the Week Was Circle-Jerk
We Don't Really Have DILLIGAF For Kids
The Day WoW Was Not Played
Let's Not Talk About Boob Brutality
The Soul Caliber Unlockable for Windows? Clippy!
So Many Accessories, They Should Call It Sim Caliber
If Robert E. Lee Had Invisible Naked Chick Army, We'd Be Celebrating His Birthday
Soul Caliber Finally Realized I'm Fat
The T-shirt Has Yoda and Siegfried -- Where's Roy?
I Hate Being Pwned, But I Love the Attention
Maids Prefer To Think Of Their Hats As Tiaras
I Pahked My Cah Then Became a Shirt-Rippah
Mamma Mia, Not Another Musical Episode
Token With the Sistahs (Not, It's Not the New Cheech & Chong Movie)
In the "Skulldozer" level, we had to get to the finish line of the level without being touched by a bulldozer made out of skeleton bones that gave us chase...and from the rear no less. While you do have a limited number of times you can respawn in the game, being able to watch others play is a huge piece of the game play. At no point in time during the day today was the line for LBP shorter than a 45-1hour wait, and that I think says a lot about the game.
If you do, PangeaSoft would like to offer you a reduced price on their game Enigmo for a limited time. And I do mean "limited."
The Wii has received much acclaim for its ability to bridging across the generation gab and if my party was any indication Rockband can be added to that list. It was a great vehicle for breaking the ice between two different groups and even if the parents did not complete the song they had a blast trying and everyone else got kick out of watching them try. 
I'm not kidding. While we never wound up getting any love out of the ESA in order to roll three deep to E3 this year, we did get a nice reach around from PAX and will be on a plane to Seattle next Thursday.
I have spent weeks trying to ignore games on the iPhone mostly because the last thing I need is another portable gaming device, but then I heard about this game Aurora Feint: In The Beginning and I got sucked in.
I only ask the question because Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People is available on the PC and Wii now, and you might want to pick it up.
It's another 
It's the story about a MagicMystik who wasn't listening, a Ninja making profane T-shirts for children and a Panda who just couldn't wait. You might think of it as 