Yesterday I received an email asking for my participation in a quick survey on the behalf of Netflix. These types of email are quite common and drew no notice until it began to ask console specific/internet connectivity questions. Last March, the rumor mill began to spin when Netflix released a similar round of surveys asking, if streaming functionality were available to the PS3 for a fixed fee, how likely would you use it?
In this batch of questionnaires, the offering by Netflix was a streaming disc provided for free. Without sounding too much like a spokesmodel, I am a Netflix junkie. The more ways to get my movie fix is great for me. *Fingers crossed*
The part of Kyōto I visited first was a small town, neighbor to some stunning gardens, shrines and pieces of architecture. What really caught me about Kyōto is that by just walking around the gardens and temples, you got a real sense of history. There was just this feeling that every building you saw had a story behind it which spanned hundreds of years. Walking around the grounds was incredibly tranquil and calming. Despite the number of people around and the bustle, there was barely any noise other than the birds tweeting in the trees and the sound of leaves in the wind. Sounds poetic doesn’t it? That’s Kyōto for you.
Another month, another Final Fantasy game on the cards. Square Enix’s latest chronic milking of the series is tentatively titled Four warriors of light: Final Fantasy Gaiden. Not a great deal is known about this game. But it’s Final Fantasy. So there’s not a great deal to know really. It’ll probably play like all the rest, with a couple of changes.
The characters are designed by Akihiko Yoshida, who is also responsible for the games’ official artwork. And the setting will be an old school setting. Dragons, witches, castles, kingdoms and all that good fairy tale shit. We can also expect Final Fantasy Gaiden to be a new off-shoot of the franchise, as with Crystal chronicles and Tactics.
If Square didn’t roll out so many FF games that looked the same, I’d care more. I’m sure at least one of these non-main-entries-into-the-series Final Fantasy games are really good and worth the time. But when you click on gaming websites and see a Famitsu scan of a new game every other month, you feel like losing the will to even bother with half of ‘em.
It took 2 years, a batch of trailers, finally getting an Xbox 360 and finding out more about the story to finally get excited about Final Fantasy XIII. So it’s gonna take more than just a magazine scan to peak my interest in an FF game. A lot more.
It’s cool that the DS is still getting major third party support though, especially in the way of RPG’s. Of all the systems and consoles out right now, the DS probably has the best library of RPG’s to choose from.
You can check out the official website for the game here: complete with a cool piece of artwork, and a hot piece of retro, 8-bit, muffled and compressed to hell music.
The DS is a great handheld device. True it may not be as powerful as the PSP, but it has a good deal more battery power per charge. However, watching any multimedia is quite a laborious task. A special DPG video format, time encoding your files; it’s all a big hassle just to watch some video. A new product aims to take all the frustration and guesswork out of this process, simplified in a handy DS cart.
The iPlayer is a video hardware decoder supporting multiple video formats (AVI, RMVB, RM, FLV, ASF, MPG, WMV, MP3,DivX, and XviD) and a MicroSD card up to 32GB. It also plays MP3s and homebrew (this makes me think it’s an upgraded R4 cart). E-tailers are selling it for around $45 bones. This isn’t designed to replace a video player like an iPod, but makes for a good solution when you’re trying to cut down on multiple gadgets.
Splinter Cell removed what is often seen as a common complaint of Metal Gear Solid, long cut scenes with quirky dialogue. These elements helped define MGS, but it left gamers who wanted fast espionage action, mashing buttons shouting, let’s get on with it.
The rebirth of protagonist Sam Fisher in SP: Conviction gives us impressive action, flexibility of style and a lot more attitude. With an anticipated street date for Christmas 2009, new predatory skills such as “mark and execute” and “Sightline Silhouette” give players the upper hand in using stealth as a means to stalk and hunt; rather than the defensive posturing of previous games in the series.
It’s the summer, schools are out and now is the time when flirtation kicks into high gear. The subtle hair flip, the cutey laugh, you ladies know how to pull out all the tricks. Although there are those times when your makeup goes a little too far. This is where I come in, I’ve scoured the net to bring you BubzBeauty. Ever wanted to get that anime eye look, but just not sure how to pull it off quite right? Bubz takes some of the guesswork out beautification and gives you some tips for the natural look rather than some other tutorials out there.
Knowing is half the battle. So go out, get dolled up, and get ready to show us those big beautiful round…
Wednesday 1 July 2009 @ 12:20 pm | By David 'KidKobun' Bruno
Unless you’ve been living in a monastery high atop a secluded mountain there’s really no excuse not to have either seen or at the very least, heard of Noboru Iguchi’s blood soaked action film Machine Girl and/or the perversely twisted Tokyo Gore Police from Yoshihiro Nishimura. If you haven’t already seen or heard of these films then let me be the first to provide you with a little insight of what you can expect to see: copious amounts of gyser-esque, high-pressure blood spray, gratuitous violence, highly creative and suggestive weapons, a dash of twisted sexual innuendo (like only Japan can pull off) and of course large body counts that have the potential to rival the likes of Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger. If your interest has been peaked, please, read on.
For their next film, RoboGeisha, the duo will team up-Iguchi writing and directing and Nishimura handling the film’s special effects. As you can see from the debut trailer above the two haven’t lost any steam coming off of either project. Look for RoboGeisha to hit in early 2010.
The end of June is a somewhat somber occasion, but this month we saw a lot action. DarkDiamond celebrated our bday. The Japanese invented non-meltling ice cream. Project Natal appears to be the next big thing for immersion in games and many more topics that got the conversation going.
With a recent announcement of acquisition by the Swedish tech company, Global Gaming Factory X, The Pirate bay seems to be going the way of Napster. The company reportedly paid around 7.7 million dollars for the online piracy hub, which for those of you who are curious, is well above the old owners recent legal fines of 3.6 million.
“We would like to introduce models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site,” said Global Gaming CEO Hans Pandeya.
With this announcement, they are clearly trying to move the site and community forward past these recent legal troubles into a completely legitimate operation. I wish them the best of luck, but we all know how well Napster did after trying the same thing.
You had a hell of a run, TPB, and will be sorely missed by many.
Amazing ball point artist Shohei Otomo mashes-up old world Japan with modern themes. Permeating each page are high contrast designs and a provocative subject-matter. While image has a very distinctive look, all display the same manga-influenced style that are just begging to be silk-screened.
I’ve included a gallery with some of his (more tame) illustrations. Consider yourself warned; his drawings are powerful, intense, and often violent. A full list of his works here.
Another month, another Final Fantasy game on the cards. Square Enix’s latest chronic milking of the series is tentatively titled Four warriors of light: Final Fantasy Gaiden. Not a great deal is known about this game. But it’s Final Fantasy. So there’s not a great deal to know really. It’ll probably play like all the rest, with a couple of changes.
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Abraham 'Velcor' Duarte
David 'KidKobun' Bruno
Ivan 'Nahu' Lozano
Random J
