So, How Was YOUR Day?

Posted on November 12, 2014 by geelw

Fine? Good for you, then! Oh, how was MY day? Hmmm, let’s see now… I hung around at home all day because the kitchen needed to have a little issue dealt with. I was planning to head out early this morning to go to an event because this stuff was supposed to take place tomorrow. Boy, was I surprised when there was a posse outside with all sorts of fancy and not so fancy tools and such. Well, phase one is complete, but there’s still a long way to go as you can probably gather. The asbestos cleanup seems to have gone fine, but now I need to wait for the wall and ceiling to be completed by the plasterer and painter. Of course, with the other renovation work that’s going to go on here next week (and probably into next year), I’ll be wanting to sleep under my bed instead of ON it. I was a wee bit too stressed to write up anything entertaining, but I think I’ll be okay tomorrow.

Of course, tomorrow I have a press event downtown in the evening, which will be great for two reasons. Seeing cool stuff to scribble about and there’s going to be food there, which means since I can’t use the kitchen here for a bit, I can at least get out and get a meal and not need to worry about paying for it. Not that I’m cheap, mind you. I’m just trying to save a bit of money over the next few months…

A Day Early, A Dollar Short!

Posted on November 12, 2014 by geelw

GYAAAAAH. So, we were supposed to have a big asbestos abatement TOMORROW here, but guess who showed up A DAY EARLY? Yup. Anyway, no big posts today because I’m stuck here with a big box tent in the living room, no access to the kitchen (but stuff has been moved out, so the fridge is safe) and no wi-fi at all. Bleh. There were no posts yesterday because I was moving furniture around and had a meeting in the afternoon followed by CES Unveiled in the evening (where I got my pants ruined at the end when someone dropped a hot Sterno can and I got splashed from about ten feet away. Oh well, it was to be expected with the month I’m having so far. But I saw some fun stuff and will write about it soon.

Ha. I wondered why I couldn’t sleep well, popped up at around 2am and started moving more stuff around in the living room. It’s a good thing, too. Okay, off to banging my head against a wall as my kitchen gets the big work done. If I can get out of here later this afternoon or early evening, I’ll post something else, as my inbox is PACKED. Okay, back to the land of destruction. I could use a more productive week, that’s for sure. Hmmmm… I sense a theme here in these last few posts.

The Internet Arcade: Your Monday (and Every Other Day) Just Got A LOT Less Productive…

Posted on November 10, 2014 by geelw

Holy Cats. And here I thought archive.org was a disorganized mess of free movies and music files of assorted quality plus the home the not so perfect Wayback Machine where one can dig up archives for old websites no longer online. Well, the Archive’s Jason Scott has compiled over 1000 classic arcade games running on the MAME/MESS/JMESS emulators (which were cooked up by many other creative folks) and you can lose a week playing as many as you can for FREE.

The catch? Well, you’ll need the latest version of your current browser, meaning you’ll be online when you’re supposed to be working hard on those spreadsheets or whatever. However, be warned that Firefox works the best over anything else, meaning you Chrome and Safari users may have issues with running this perfectly. So, yeah… so much for getting to do important stuff like walking the dog, raising a family or stocking your zombie-proof shelter. Also, a controller is recommended, as keyboard controls are going to be funky on many titles. That’s being tweaked as we speak. Finally, the sounds and music will be a bit garbled on some games. Crank down the volume if you’re using headphones so your eardrums don’t crack when some high-pitched MIDI tune blasts them.

I’ve scanned that list of games and my eyeball popped out of my head a few times. If I had a controller with me here at the away office, I’d be playing some BLASTER, Q*Bert, Crystal Castles, Crazy Climber, The Three Stooges and way too many others to list here. This is a work in progress, so it’ll be fiddled with and fixed as time passes. I’m NOT going to go back to that page today at ALL or else I’ll get nothing done at all. YOU can boogie on over there yourself just to ogle all the awesome marquee art. Consider this your museum trip for this week. Yes, another excuse to call gaming educational is always a great reason…

My Not So Productive Sunday Was Possessed!

Posted on November 9, 2014 by geelw

(thanks, MovieClips!)

Oh, what a Sunday I’m having! Let’s see now, I dropped and broke my travel mug on the way to do laundry much earlier and had to do said laundry with my left sneaker and foot soaking wet. Hey, I got up at 5:50 this morning, wasn’t quite awake when I made that coffee and that new shopping cart here is SUPER funky because it has independently turning wheels that tend to not go in a straight line at all. Also, on the way to the laundry about a third of the bottle of Dr. Bronner’s soap I took with me leaked. Fortunately it was into the fleece jacket it was sitting on top of. That soapy jacket ended up doing the entire load of laundry in one big machine. Well, at least my left foot didn’t fall asleep while I was trying to stay awake.

Later, I knocked over a cup of tea onto the carpet in the home office and not too long after that, the game I was playing froze up after a long and tough section. Bleh. Oh well. I suppose I shouldn’t complain, as there are more pressing problems in the world. Hey, at least I have clean laundry now. Er, except for some blankets, as I need to do those after spilling the remnants of a second cup of coffee on those later in the afternoon. Hmmm. I think I need a nap or something. Yes, it’s been one of those days. Oh well – Monday will be a lot more productive… Right?

Hikari Friday (On a Saturday, Oops!): Spidey 2 The Rescue!

Posted on November 8, 2014 by geelw

Okay, my email inbox was SO packed this week that I’d not even seen the note from Funko about this week’s Hikari Friday giveaway. OOPS. That said, this week’s potential freebie is a HUGE one you’ll always see if it lands on your doorstep. Say hello to the…

New Dimension Spider-Man Hikari Premium Sofubi Figure:

You KNOW how to get a chance to win this one, right? Yup, boogie on over to one of Funko’s social media channels, enter and start making room on a shelf or in a cabinet somewhere.

http://www.facebook.com/OriginalFunko
http://www.twitter.com/OriginalFunko
Instagram @OriginalFunko

If you don’t win, you can buy one of these limited to 1500 pieces collectibles this month at a Funko retailer near you.

GTA V Online Screens: One More Reason To Hop In For The Long Haul…

Posted on November 8, 2014 by geelw

The hit parade keeps on coming as Rockstar Games drops these new Grand Theft Auto Online screenshots. I’ll keep it short because these images are so nice. Take a look and see for yourselves:

In addition, Rockstar has also released a list of the many changes the console and PC versions of GTA V and GTA Online will feature over the last gen versions. Get ready for all this coming your way soon (well, as soon as you click away and head below the jump):

Continue reading →

Show & Tell: On Ray Harryhausen’s Fairy Tales

Posted on November 8, 2014 by geelw

In regards to every well-worn fairy tale, “It’s not the tale, but how it’s told” is the order of the day. Parents and other creative adults well-versed in story time voices and acting have this mantra branded on their brain cells and know how to make any yarn they spin keep kids at rapt attention. Still, for many of his longtime fans, Ray Harryhausen’s incredible stop-motion versions of Mother Goose stories and five classic fairy tales are some of the most memorable versions ever created.

Save for The Tortoise and the Hare (which was incomplete until its 2002 premiere), I can recall some of these films along with his earlier Mother Goose shorts being shown during assembly hall sessions or in the occasional class where a regular teacher was out sick and the substitute called in hadn’t time to whip up a proper lesson plan. While most of these 16mm shorts were part of my childhood, I’d imagine plenty of today’s little (and more tech savvy) whippersnappers haven’t a clue who Harryhausen was or what made (and still makes him) him great and such a huge inspiration of countless filmmakers and visual effects artists to this day.

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Friday Mail: More Work (and I’m Not Complaining)…

Posted on November 7, 2014 by geelw

Well, there’s nothing like coming home after a trying day to a nice surprise or two. Tales of Hearts R is being played as we speak (or as I type) and so far it’s quite a bit of fun. Er, wacky humor aside. I think this may be the kookiest localized Tales game I’ve played, but let’s see how it goes. I haven’t seen nor heard “rapscallion” used in a sentence in about three months, but I’d guess that some of you out there have never heard or seen the word at all. What does it mean? Um, you know how to use the internet, don’t you, ya whippersnappers? Look it up!

Um, spoilers? Nah, not really, angry Tales fans wanting to beat me with a busted controller right about now. These two scenes happen so early in the game that you’ll not get the context unless you’ve played the import already. Even then, I’d bet the original Japanese isn’t as goofy.

Anyway, back to it. It’s going to be a stupidly busy weekend and upcoming week here. CES Unveiled, some reviews to catch upon, too many previews and hopefully a certain developer will get back to be about a really bag bug in a game I need to review. There’s nothing worse in a game about killing bugs than a game-killing bug that stops things cold is all I’ll say. If it’s not my console acting up and in fact it IS a bad bug, then at least one review I’ve been pointed to by a friend needs to come down.

Granted, any fix probably won’t change the reviewer’s opinion one bit. But hell, it’s best to be fair to the developer and say you’ve actually completed the game you posted an unfavorable notice about rather than just knock out something that’s not constructive at all that doesn’t even mention the issue.

Nintendo Direct 11/15/2014: A Familiar Mask, Lots of Steam + Many Other Surprises in Store…

Posted on November 7, 2014 by geelw

More eye-popping news from Nintendo in this 33-plus minute Direct video. Seeing The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask return as a 3DS/2DS exclusive was a huge surprise for sure. Still, I’ll say I’m a tiny bit upset that it’s not gotten a proper HD reworking on the Wii U. The again, neither have any of the other N64 Zelda games, which is a shame. Anyway, MM looks spectacular on the 3DS and is an immediate must-buy game. That said, a new F-Zero would be spectacular and I’m still wondering when we’ll see some developer who can do it beg to make a new Earthbound game for the Wii U. It’ll most likely sell much better than the initially under-appreciated SNES game that now has a much more loyal fan base. Granted, that base may not be in the multiple millions, but it would absolutely appreciate a new (or old!) entry in that non-franchise… Continue reading →

Far Cry 4 Also Gets The Soundtrack Treatment…

Posted on November 7, 2014 by geelw

Cliff Martinez, formerly a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and composer of some fine film scores (“Traffic,” “Drive, ” “Spring Breakers”) is also the main man behind the tunes to Ubisoft’s upcoming FPS, Far Cry 4. Working with Ubisoft Montreal’s Music Designer for the game, Jerome Angelot, Music Supervisor Simon Landry and Audio Director Tony Gronick, Martinez has created an original score meant to flow flawlessly with the game’s action and cinematic sequences. While the game’s soundtrack won’t be getting the big deluxe box treatment Rockstar is giving Grand Theft Auto V, it’s a more than solid enough set of tunes to add to your own music library (especially if you’re a soundtrack collector).

Of his collaboration on the soundtrack with Ubisoft, Martinez says:

“It was an honor to be asked to write the music for the Far Cry 4 game as my first full-length video game soundtrack,” said Cliff Martinez. “It was exciting for me to be asked to take my usual minimalistic cinematic approach to the immersive game world. Any game where you can ride on a rampaging elephant is a project you can’t turn down!”

Well, I’m listening to the music as I type this post and really feel as if I’m in some very dangerous foreign land about to go on some rather wild adventure. Granted, I’m typing this post in a public place, so the worst that can happen is some old guy bumbles by and drops a hot cup of coffee on my shoe. But hey, I’ll settle for that tiny bit of excitement over dodging digital bullets and rampaging elephants any day of the week. Anyway, the Far Cry 4 Original Game Soundtrack digital edition will release worldwide on November 4, the limited 2-CD edition will release on December 2 in North America and on December 9 in Europe, and the limited 3-LP edition will release in January 2015. Far Cry 4 will be available November 18 worldwide for PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360 and Windows PC.