More Quiet Work
Just another day in which a snow fall was avoided by hiding indoors, a GameAxis article was started and finished, more writing to the children’s novel was eked out and some Final Fantasy IX was played.
This, apparently, is what happens you’re “settled down.”
Goofing Around
Mostly just playing Final Fantasy IX and running a few errands around the neighborhood.
I Think I Need This
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When Harmonix first announced that Rock Band was going to embrace an “open standards” protocol for controls, that meant one thing; anyone that wanted to was going to be free to make peripherals for the game. Well the months have come and gone, and while there have been a few semi-decent attempts to create guitars as an alternative to the usual Fender Strat or Gibson SG, this may very well be the one I’d actually consider getting.
Dubbed the Starpex Sunburst (with two other siblings, and standard “Fender Black” Obsidian and the red Dead Rose model) this thing is built with actual guitar parts, a finished wood body and actual pegs on the headstock at the top. On top of that, according to some early hands on previews, it may just have the best strum bar out of either Rock Band or Guitar Hero peripherals, and has the select or “Star Power” button conveniently placed really close to the strum bar for the control freaks that don’t trust tilt sensors, or their ability to maintain a streak while tilting a guitar up.
Of course, the downside is a) this thing isn’t on sale until October. And b) it’s $190 dollars.
But it’s sooooooooooo shiny…
I don’t think I’m going to be able to resist this thing.
Full details about the other models and feature spec of the guitar HERE.
The Haul
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People who know me well know that I have no love for Objectivism, the philosophy I not-so-charitably describe as an excuse for people to act like jerks. So imagine my great surprise and glee when Bioshock (by famed designer Kevin Levine who created the excellent and remarkably frightening System Shock 2) announced he was creating a game that was–aside from being a first person shooter–a criticism of Objectivism. Although this PS3 version is a year late compared to the 360 version that won a ton of Game Of The Year awards last year, that has no impact on the quality of the gameplay, or the inherent cleverness of the theme. You play a guy who survives a plane crash in the middle of the Atlantic, only to find a lone light house out in the middle of the ocean. It turns out the light house is actually more of a “elevator shaft” that has a bathysphere which brings you to “Rapture,” an underground city built by Andrew Ryan, in order to house the best and brightest of the world from the greedy, uncaring, grubby hands of the mediocre above who would insist the gifted share their talents and work with the rest of the world. As you might imagine in a videogame, when you arrive, this is anything but a utopia, a la Atlas Shrugged.
This one, I have to admit, surprised me a lot. I knew picking up Resistance 2 was a foregone conclusion at some point since we have a friend at Insomniac and want to show our support and all, but the game actually is pretty entertaining. I thought it looked so-so from trailers and gameplay videos on the internet, but apparently those compressed images really, REALLY didn’t do justice to the colors and details because when I finally saw it on my TV, I was quite impressed with the quality of the visuals. The game itself also seems quite competently paced as an FPS, so the game has gone from being an obligatory buy for moral support to “Y’know what, this is actually a pretty damn good game.”
Just Another Boring Day
Aside from some Final Fantasy IX and some writing of the children’s novel, not much else…
Day Of Errands
Aside from running around the neighborhood eating at favorite restaurants, sending off mail, doing some grocery shopping and discovering a new gallery, not much of note… I love living in the Annex.
Recovery
Despite not actually having had any alcohol, we were both in fairly tired shape today. Then again, the Wife having sung for a few hours and me alternating on drums and guitar was inevitably going to take its toll. We took it easy, had bad for you comfort food, and finally got to the last level of Bionic Commando: Rearmed.
Wow
Today ended up being another run to the art supply store on Queen Street West (where we saw the fringes of the fire) and while in that part of town, I decided it was time to indulge in more comic book-ery. I’d heard many, many, MANY good things about The New Frontier and had passed it quite a few times in book stores in Singapore. I didn’t pick it up at the time because they were only available in hard cover, but seeing those price-tags in the Silver Snail comic store, equivalent to their American prices, and in two easy trade paperbacks, it was time to take the plunge.
My God am I glad I ever did.
It was an exciting experience reading this story. My brain was roughly divided into two halves, the “adult” that marveled at the writing, the characterization and social observations of the tale, and the kid inside that was screaming, “HAL JORDAN IS THE GREATEST GREEN LANTERN OF ALL! NO ARGUMENTS!”
The story is another one of those alternate-history tales that places the DC superheroes within the actual historical context of the late 50′s/early 60′s. The Korean conflict is winding down, Kennedy has yet to take office, and Sputnik has just shot into orbit. It is the dawn of the silver age of DC superheroes and local boy (yes, he’s from Toronto) Darwyn Cooke takes that turbulent setting and asks a–in retrospect no-brainer question–”But how would that period have REALLY affected the DC superheroes?”
This story answers that question to remarkable effect. The communist witch hunts, racism in the American deep south, and the questions of obeying your government versus doing the right thing are all touched upon in the story, and it is both uplifting and provocative to see how the iconic heroes handles these situations. It also helps that I’ve always REALLY liked Green Lantern and to see his origin story handled with so much more depth and characterization just had me grinning from ear to ear the entire time. Hal Jordan will always be Green Lantern to me, and to see it happening for the first time in a new light like this was fun in the extreme.
I loved this story. It brought out the best of modern comic narrative while at the same time somehow maintaining that sense of wonder comics usually only inspire in children yet to be jaded by the realities of life.
Also, the Blu-Ray direct to video animated version of this story goes on sale tomorrow.
I may have to pick that one up reeeeeeal soon.
Holy Hell.
I’ve been waiting since… oh, 1986 for a game like this to arrive. Scans from Game Informer magazine have popped up on a European website. 4 player co-operative play has been confirmed. A tentative release period of late 2008 has been announced. PLEAAAAAAAAAAAAASE don’t let this game suck, I NEED this game top be good…
Click to enlarge.
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