Sunday O’ Dullness
Wrote GameAxis articles, wrote the children’s novel, played Final Fantasy IX and got some promising news about something I can’t talk about.
Another Convert
Today was a pretty quiet day consisting of doing some of the ground work and preliminary thinking for the Job With No Name, and just doing some minor chores and errands around the neighborhood. In the evening, the Old Friend came ’round, something she hadn’t done in a few months, and now with the apartment fully set up and functioning, I got around to the one the thing I’d promising her since I arrived back in Canada.
I sat that gal down, stuck a plastic guitar in her hands, and made her play Guitar Hero II.
It should not come as a complete surprise to anyone with exposure to the game that she found it a little bit intimidating at first, but, since she’d taken piano lessons when we were younger, I was sure that some of the discipline in fingering and rhythm would actually help her and lo and behold, it did.
Her first reaction after completing Surrender by Cheap Trick:
“Oh. My. GOD. THIS IS AWESOME!”
She managed to pass her first few songs on Easy level on her first try and after that, she was totally hooked. She nearly blew a gasket when, after sitting down to take a break with cigarettes, I informed her, “In a couple of months a Guitar Hero 80′s edition is coming out.”
I’m not completely certain now, but the fact that she’s moving to a new pad and thinking of finally getting kitted out with a decent High Def TV may now also involve a trip with me chaperoning to the nearest game store so that she can pick herself up a PS2 and whatever Guitar Hero package they’re selling.
Yep. Gotta’ spread the word…
Getting Tired Of Boring Posts Yet?
Well too bad. A Saturday afternoon on Bloor was followed by me doing some research. Yup, spine tingling stuff…
The Boring Friday
Work continues with another GameAxis article down and off. Just one more to go, but that can wait, since it’s a news article and that needs to be kept “fresh”. For now, I’ll just divert my attention to other stuff like another comic script for Liquid City, and some preliminary work that needs to be done on The Job With No Name. With any luck, it’ll be at least somewhat good stuff, and I’ll be able to move onto The Next Phase.
Semi-Productive
Today is really just about trying to tear myself away from the forums and get back to writing another script for one of the other anthologies. Speaking of which, I just found out that the Cities-themed anthology finally has a proper name. Henceforth, the story the Wife and I are doing will now appear in what is called Liquid City. I have no idea what the other anthology is called yet.
I also got a request to do some preliminary work on that Job That Shall Not Be Named, so I’ll have to put on the ol’ thinking cap for that and see what I can cook up. It will Very, Very Hard, but fun, I think.
Right, back to reading for-… er… working…
Yet Another Quiet Friday
In which a walk to Bloor for a short trip to pick up parcels turned into a full blown Usual Bloor Visit with cheese and coffee purchases, and an invite to dinner from the neighbors turned up. That quickly turned into a lovely dinner out in the backyard as the sunset with wine, lasagna, cigarettes, a lot of good ol’ conversation, and then a double feature of eXistenZ and Marie Antoinnette. Then some playing of Fatal Frame 2, a game so frightening that even after having owned it for nearly two years, I’ve been too scared to finish it.
Also, some preliminary efforts on The Work I Cannot Name may be starting up soon and that is looking DAMN FUN. Can’t wait to get started in earnest.
IT’S ALIVE!
I was beginning to have my doubts, because so little news had emerged since January and considering the fact that the original Guitar Hero creators have been split, it was possible that this project got canned, but once more, I HAVE HOPE FOR THE FUTURE AND LOOK FORWARD TO JULY AND/OR AUGUST WITH GLEE!
What was formally called Guitar Hero: 80′s Edition is now Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80′s and publisher Activision has confirmed that 30 songs will be on this “expansion” of the existing GH I & II games. They’ve already confirmed these seven tracks:
- “I Wanna Rock” (by Twisted Sister)
- “I Ran” (by Flock of Seagulls)
- “Round and Round” (as made famous by Ratt)
- “I Want Candy” (as made famous by Bow Wow Wow)
- “Metal Health” (as made famous by Quiet Riot)
- “Holy Diver” (as made famous by Dio)
- “Heat of the Moment” (as made famous by Asia)
The thing that has me the most excited? The fact that “I Wanna Rock” and “I Ran” DON’T have “as made famous by” beside them, which likely means that these are actual master tracks that Twisted Sister and Flock of Seagulls donated to the development of the game. My God, this news made me so damn happy I almost squealed. The only downer to all this (though not for me and at least one other Guitar Hero I know who regularly reads this blog) is that for now, this looks like it’s only going to be on the Playstation 2. Yup, no Xbox 360, no Wii and not even a PS3, since they have yet to make a guitar controller that works with that infernal machine.
My God, just looking at those seven confirmed tracks already makes me realize that this will be my all time favorite game of 2007. I am Harmonix’s bitch, and am damn happy about it. According to online retailers like Amazon.ca are already taking pre-orders, and they’re estimating a shipping date of July 17 in the USA and July 31 in Canada. I AM SO FREAKIN’ THERE, MAN… I’M SLAPPIN’ THAT MONEY DOWN AND STRAPPING ON MAH GEE-TAR!
Now I just have to survive the seemingly impossible song Psychobilly Freakout…
And please, please, Oh Gods Of Most Bodacious Tunes, I implore thee in the most excellent and triumphant way, include “Turning Japanese” on this game. It would be most heinous and totally bogus to ignore it…
There’s also some other Incredibly Happy News in the work department, but alas, employment obligations and a Non-Disclosure Agreement that I have to sign very soon preclude me from actually talking about this much. This may, in fact, be the last time I mention it for quite some time if all goes well, although I figure I’ll be allowed to mention my role at some point in the future once it’s all done.