Everything that doesn’t fit into any other category.
I saw this featured a while ago on 4 color rebellion and have just recently started reading it.
It relies on popular culture “wackiness” including references to doctors, the irish, ninjas, lumberjacks, and gorillas. However, it’s fairly well-written (overall) and doesn’t come off as trite.
Conclusion: Freaking Hi-larious.
A very slight update to my previous post. I decided to make the console feature identical to the current PSP and got rid of the second analog stick.
I also played around with moving the start and select buttons to between the dpad and four-button-layout, but decided against it. I’m not sure if they are used for music playback control (and should be accessible when the unit is closed)… plus it looked stupid 😛
Update: Pictures of the back of the unit, and the unit when closed, are in the previous post.
I went to see Dinosaur Jr last night with my sister. I wasn’t really planning on going, but she called me in the morning (when she just found out about it) and was pretty keen. So, I picked up a couple of tickets from 78s and we headed down for Japanese dinner and very loud music.
The reason I was hesitant to go was because it was the original lineup. Now the problem with this is that they would be playing the early songs, and the problem with that is that… I don’t really like these much. They have their moments, but tend to be more… a continuous flow of insane guitar solos and crazy drumming rather than cohesive songs. Something that I would have been more in the mood for in high-school.
Still these guys’ skills are amazing, and it was (as always) quite an experience to witness. At the encore performance they brought out the classic song-like songs like “The Wagon”, “Freakscene”, and their cover of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven”. It was more comforting and less affronting. Speaking of affronting, I’m sure that the audience members without earplugs are sorely regretting it this morning. Even the opening band ended with “I hope you all brought your earplugs!”. Dinosaur Jr play really freaking loud.
All-in-all a good night out (in no small part because I was catching up with my sister). For me (and probably for all the fans screaming “Freakscene!”), the encore was the high point.
It had to happen eventually! After my multiple previous Nintendo DS redesigns and my XboxMove concept handheld, and with rumours of a new model PSP floating about the ‘net, I had to give the PSP a virtual makeover. I hadn’t bothered with a PSP redesign before because… well.. frankly, it’s already pretty damn sexy.
I decided to make this one a (much more practical) clamshell design, but tried to keep the style very close to the original PSP. After spending some time working with images of the original PSP, I don’t actually think Sony’s design is going to age well. That logo and silver circle on the back in particular… it’s so… 2005.
As you can see, I’ve recessed all the controls and changed the analog button (often complained about) to an analog stick, moved it somewhere useful (another common complaint), and added a second stick (everyone’s PSP dream!). The control layout is the same as the Dual Shock 2 controller, so that should keep people happy 🙂
So there it is. I like how the unit looks when closed, but there is something that irritates me about all that empty space when the unit is open. I feel like adding another screen… 🙂
Thoughts? Comments? All are appreciated.
A size comparision to the real PSP and individual images of the open console, front, and back are after the jump.
Update: Fixed images (dpad down arrow and playstation logo).
Update: Fixed “promotional flyer” image (the console was the wrong size!).
Another game I picked up recently was Psychonauts. It’s a game by Tim Schafer, the maker of Day of the Tentacle and (my personal favourite) Grim Fandango, and has received critical acclaim (but poor sales).
Like a lot of games, it’s taken a long time for it to get released in Australia. However it arrived recently and I decided to check it out. I haven’t played it much (at all), but I can honestly say that I have no idea what all the fuss was about!
It has very clean environments and animation, and indeed the standout feature appears to be the art direction. Aside from that it seems to be a standard platform game with simplistic “puzzle” elements and a helluvalot of collecting. Yes, I said a helluvalot of collecting!
The game starts with a dream sequence to calibrate the controls and explains that you have to get “psi challenge markers”, made of “psi cards” that can find, and “psi cores” that you need to buy. The next training level tells you about a whole swag of things to collect including “figments”, “cobwebs”, “vaults”, “bags”, and “tags”. Seriously, I thought about pausing the game and getting a pencil and paper just to write all this down!
Like I said earlier, I haven’t played it much yet and my opinion may change. However, I’ve tentatively put Psychonauts into the “maybe give it another go later on when I have more time” basket… so I don’t know when (or if) I will get back to it.
General feeling: Dissappointed
Update: I should probably state that platform games with an overt emphasis on collecting things tend to irritate me. Unlike many other people, I could not stand Banjo-Kazooie.
I recently bought and finished Shadow of the Colossus.
It was an incredibly engrossing experience and easily the best game that I have played in a long time. The art direction is top notch and the gameplay is fluid and innovative.
The entire game is focussed on seemingly impossible battles with a series of giant creatures of ambiguous composition (they look ancient, spiritual, animal, and artificial all at the same time).
The battles are confrontingly visceral and really communicate the mindset of the main character. Because of this, I actually found the game a little hard to play at first. However, I perservered and it was very rewarding.
My only real criticism of the game is the difficulty and pacing. Most of the colossi were incredibly easy, but the final few were quite difficult. I spent around 3.5 hours on the first dozen or so, 2 hours on the second last one, and then 2.5 hours on the last one. That’s not very balanced!
A possible spoiler (but not really) after the jump.
Conclusion: Highly, highly recommended
Anyone who follows gaming sites has probably read their fair share of stinker rumours recently. I’ve amalgamated a few of the recent ones into a generic format below and included a few links to the stupidest ones.
First the general structure:
My [ friend’s | father’s | mum’s ] [ friend | father | mum ] works at [ Nintendo | Sony | Adobe | Electronics Boutique | Microsoft | unrelated graphics card manufacturer ] and they said that the new [ PS3 | Revolution | PSP | Nintendo DS | stupidly large Microsoft handheld ] is going to have [ implausible 3D projection technology | dual analog joysticks | an internal HDD | flash memory | touch sensitivity ]. This will undoubtably make it a [ PS3 | Revolution | PSP | Nintendo DS | Xbox360 ] killer !!!
Sincerely yours,
[ l337 | MS | SoNy | Nintendo ] [ fanboi | grrl | Gamer | H4x0r ]
BTW: [DS | Xbox360 | PSP] [ rocks | sucks ] !!!
And now an example:
My friend’s dad works at Nintendo and they said that the new Revolution is going to have implausible 3D projection technology. This will undoubtably make it a PS3 killer !!!
Sincerely yours,
NintendoGamer
BTW: PSP sucks !!!
On a serious note though, what is so implausible and funny about a “mom” working at Nintendo? I had hoped we’d be over that sort of gender stereotyping by now. 🙁
http://www.palgn.com.au/a…a225b7e178d8fb9
The complete Singstar Rocks! tracklist has been posted over at PAL Gaming Network Australia (It’s a good site for Australia specific gaming news).
Well, they may have posted the entire tracklist and they may have done it first, but I’ll be the one to only post the new bit of information that really matters:
“Take me to the magic of the moment. On a glory night…”
In an effort to beat the heat, I made some jelly yesterday. They are mostly port wine flavoured with peach slices, but there are a few Passiona (pronounced: Pash-huana) flavoured ones with some real passionfruit.
Stop by and pick one up before they are all gone!
Update: Apologies to everyone not in Perth!
It’s been uncomfortably hot the last few days, but most people I know work in an air-conditioned office (or have air-conditioning at home) and can’t really empathise. Well, damn you all!
We’re waiting on a an air-conditioning unit we bought on eBay and it’s taking its sweet time getting here. The eBay page was fairly informative, but I poked around the internet searching for more details. That’s when I found this:
Behold the plastic wood-grain! The logical conclusion to any industrial design question! Bask in its magnificence! Needless to say, we immediately contacted the seller to see if we could get it in “Luxourious burlwood”! However, they don’t have that style and it looks like we’ll have to be happy with standard silver.
We’re not quite sure exactly if this sort of cooler works very well, but the specifications look good and we will find out soon enough. Actually not soon enough! We want it now!