Credits

Early last year in 2013 was when there was a Kickstarter campaign for reviving the Retronauts podcast.  I love this podcast so I pitched in some cash to where it was enough to have my name mentioned in a podcast.  Well, the season is coming to an end so they are now cleaning up some last minute items before the next season begins in December.  The podcast that went up this week included the names of the people who contributed.  My name was mentioned in there – along with approximately 1,200 others!  Jeremy butchered my last name a bit, but that’s expected as it’s not pronounced the way it’s spelled, so I don’t fault him for it ;-)

Hearing my name given as a thanks on a show I love is pretty cool.  Around a year ago is when I saw my name given as a thanks in the magazine Scroll for helping with its Kickstarter campaign.  With audio and print covered, I still need to see my name in the credits for Double Fine’s Broken Age, as I contributed to that, too.  Meaning, I still need to play the game to see the credits.

Audio, print, and electronic thank yous are neat-o.

The ultimate and final collection

For a Halloween treat check out this guy’s insane collection of Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake games.  It looks like he has every version, expansion pack, and sequel ever made.  He even has side things like the Doom board game, books, and even a video card that has a Doom 3 sticker slapped on the fan’s housing!  Man, if I had the cash I would seriously get in contact with this guy about buying his collection.  But alas, his starting price is way above what I can afford.

Below are a few extra up close images, but more can be found by clicking this link.

Feature Presentation of Software (FPS)

War 2004: Doom 3 vs. Half-Life 2

Ten years ago saw the launch of two incredible games for the PC – Doom 3 and Half-Life 2.  Actually, I would consider all of 2004 as a milestone year for gaming as so many fantastic games came out that year; similar to what many believe 1998 was for gaming, too.  But let’s narrow the scope and focus on just these two games.

More like a feature than compared to the traditional articles I’ve written so far, it will discuss both games in crazy details; describe some of the tech each game was built on; reminisce on the hype surrounding these two titles; and compare and contrast each game to one another to find out what they brought to the table for, not only their respected names, but for gaming as well.  And also to just celebrate these fabulous sequels.

Onward!

No TV and no beer make Homer something, something

About to watch a marathon of the Simpsons with all episodes from their Treehouse of Horror specials.  Check out FXX today to catch it.

Two Bad Neighbors

Dear neighbors,

Apologies for my dumb actions.  You see, I have a roommate, his name is Seymour Smoke and he gets very cranky whenever I use the oven.  Precautions have to be made due to the fact my apartment has terrible air circulation, so I always have to open every window to make sure my place is well ventilated to make sure smoke doesn’t build up when the oven is warming up and burns off whatever crumbs were left behind from the previous use.  I sometimes forget to open the windows, and well, Seymour wakes up and yells loudly until the place is cleared of any smoke; which normally takes about 15 minutes to accomplish.

Please note I don’t do this intentionally to annoy you.  It’s just an accident.  However, if Seymour yells constantly for a few minutes, then take note that he’s actually warning you something may be happening at my place so don’t ignore him.

Love,

Your neighbor

Sweaty palms

Just played about an hours worth of Neverending Nightmares and boy did that game do a number on me.  My tense meter was at 11 the whole time I was playing.  I'm still working my way through the game, but I wish I had more time today to play it (need to leave soon to visit the folks).

Cool thing about this game is that it changes the colors on my Alienware X51 PC.  By default it is a dark blue, but when I start the game it changes to blood red!  Other colors like grey will appear too during gameplay.  Neat-o.

Not made with Gundanium Alloy

You have absolutely no idea on how much I want this Gundam watch.

Apparently G-Shock teamed up with Bandai to create this boss wrist watch to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Gundam franchise.  A number of items tie the design of the watch to the show such as the colors (white, blue, red, and yellow) which match the exterior colors of the Gundam, the E.F.S.F. name located on the 12 location of the watch's ring, and the Earth Federation's logo on the wristband.

Check this link to see more images of the watch.

"The Place of the Silenced Spirits"

A part of my run this morning was looking very Silent Hill like.  Silent Hill 2 to be exact.  You know, the part near the beginning of the game where you’re on the outskirts of town, approaching your way to the city through that trail that leads passed a ranch and a structure that looked like an electrical grid.  Fears of a humanoid figure appearing from behind some shrubs and spewing acid in my face were high for a few minutes but vanished quickly as the fog lifted and I was attacked by the sun’s direct sunlight instead.

Digital nonsense

Jazzpunk

Jazzpunk is a game that’s hard to explain with words.  Video does a much better job with this task.  If my write-up doesn’t seem to make sense, then I recommend searching online for a trailer that does a parody to the ‘60s television show Thunderbirds.  Well, I think that trailer will make less sense, but you know what I mean.

Silly rabbit

Today was the day they brought Vib-Ribbon to the US and I just finished playing it.  Sad to say, but for a while I was a bit disappointed.  This was going to be a case where the game didn't live up to the hype.  Sure, I thought the included J-Pop music were neat and all, but the number of songs that came with the game were only a measly few. However, make a note that these tracks should only be seen as a sort of warm-up as the the game gives you a mode where you can use your own music with the game.  This is where the game got incredibly fun and its replay value seen as being endless!

I popped in my copy of Ill Communication and boy howdy did it get crazy!  "Sabotage" was the easiest while "Heart Attack Man" spiced things up a few notches. "Get It Together" was when things got sideways real fast (I'm still trying to beat it).  It was only after I played my own music was when I finally understood why people love this game so much.  It's so cool!

For those who are wondering: I think they did a good job of emulating the game as I don't believe there is any input lag as compared to the port of PaRappa the Rapper.  They also used the EU port, so there are a number of European region languages to pick from.  This is a cute game that is fully of character and is highly recommended by yours truly.

Update: "E-Pro" would be a great song to play in Vib-Ribbon, too.  The music video is kind of like the game both visually and gameplay wise, especially towards the end when Beck's jumping on the music notes.