through the looking glass

Grasshopper Manufacture can do no wrong.

JP just dropped this on my desk saying here’s your porn. Then I looked at it and thought, “it does look suspiciously like porn…”

Though Chandra is looking hot on Michael Komarck’s awesome cover.

Dead Rising 2: CASE ZERO is an Xbox Live exclusive demo of the upcoming title Dead Rising 2. Billed at 400 MS monies, this translates as $5 in American monies.

Dead Rising 2′s original street date was today but has been pushed back to September 28th.

In Case Zero, we are introduced to our hero Chuck Greene and his daughter Katey. Two years have passed since the outbreak at Willamette (Dead Rising), and the events at Fortune City (Dead Rising 2) are three years away. Escaping Las Vegas zombie outbreak, the Greene family stops 47 miles out to the small town of Still Creek. Chuck pulls into Brockett Gas Station for some fuel, taking Katey with him inside to check the place for supplies. Katey is sick. Really sick. Zombie sick. Little Katey has been bitten and the only hope she has is for Chuck to administer the zombification halting drug Zombrex every 12 hours.

Zombrex was designed by medical technician Isabella Keyes in Dead Rising to save Frank West. Zombrex is rare, expensive, and deadly if taken before or after the recommended every 12 hours prescription.

In horror scene fashion, some ass hops into Chuck’s truck and hauls away, leaving Chuck and Katey stranded in Still Creek. Worst yet, all of Katey’s Zombrex was in the truck. The undead residents begin shambling toward the gas station, and Chuck barricades the door, knowing he’s gotta come up with a way out. With Katey secure in the makeshift safehouse, Chuck decides to risk going outside into town. Checking his watch, it’s 7 AM. Daddy’s got to get his medicine…

Inafune quotes: “I have always had doubts about doing a demo…Everyone seems to want to do them. Rather than create a demo for Dead Rising 2 I wanted to set up a different area and let people see what the game play is like.”
“This is definitely a test case.”

This demo is short though the replay value is high.  If you loved the first game, you’ll dig this for sure.

BONUS FACT: After playing Dead Rising at my cousin’s house in Albuquerque, three days later as soon as I got home in San Francisco I bought an Xbox360 and a copy of Dead Rising .

You will run around Still Creek, bashing zombies, looking for weapons to bash zombies with, and experiment with combining items in the maintenance rooms to better bash zombies with. You will run into survivors and be introduced to the different methods of rescue which consist of giving them the inventory item they desire, kill all the zombies around them, talk to X person, carry the injured, and escort. You will have a fucking great time. All this is optional. The only required things to do are the 5 case files, but the demo is set to let you achieve every side quest within the time limits of the main missions. Once you get all the achievements though, the title loses incentive to replay. Though you can carry over your Prestige Points and Money from Case Zero into Dead Rising 2 so that may appeal to the grinders out there.

Reviewed from a release build provided by the publisher. Played to completion at least 6 times. Stopped at about 440,448 Total PP.

Creator’s of the Rock Band franchise had approached Jrock Revolution asking which Japanese rock bands fans would want to see added to their playable track list. A great opportunity for Japanese music to entertain us, those who don’t live in the land of the rocking sun. Yes. And hell no. Harmonix has glossed over (perhaps accidentally) the fact that JRR is a site dedicated to the promotion of primarily Visual Kei bands. As a listener of VK (I’m listening to 9GOATS BLACK OUT – TANATOS while writing this), I’m not self loathing here, just simply pointing out the fact their question needs to go out to additional people. Results from the JRR fan poll:

1. the GazettE
2. Dir en grey
3. X JAPAN
4. MIYAVI
5. GACKT
6. An Café
7. D’espairsRay
8. Nightmare
9. L’Arc~en~Ciel
10. Versailles ~Philharmonic Quintent~

source

Okay, if Rock Band is going to add a VK Shock Pack with primarily VK artist, then hell yeah! But what I do know about the Rock Band folks is that they try and cover as many genre’s as possible to include as playable tracks as long they are fun to play and, well, rock. If Harmonix is looking for Japanese rock, they looked in the wrong place. Why not talk to the JaME folks or cruise last.fm? Well both are not exclusive to the US Japanese music fanbase. Judging from the reaction to Beatles: Rock Band, global community input would be a plus.

I decided to grab some data from Last.fm.
Ranked by number of listeners and using the larger of numbers for bands listed under different spellings:

1. L’Arc~en~Ciel 11,774,711 plays (184,009 listeners)
2. Dir en grey 22,851,599 plays (180,294 listeners)
3. ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION 9,646,907 plays (157,400 listeners)
4. the pillows 9,488,349 plays (142,707 listeners)
5. X JAPAN 5,395,297 plays (116,097 listeners)
6. GACKT 11,093,197 plays (115,575 listeners)
7. Maximum the Hormone 5,879,766 plays (91,725 listeners)
8. Polysics 2,931,644 plays (87,277 listeners)
9. Nightmare 2,885,468 plays (84,215 listeners)
10. 雅-miyavi- 7,955,352 plays (81,931 listeners)
Miyavi 4,348,297 plays (55,203 listeners)
11. Shiina Ringo 5,713,815 plays (80,611 listeners)
12. ムック 8,041,826 plays (78,557 listeners)
13. PUFFY 1,243,935 plays (69,196 listeners)
14. D’espairsRay 7,065,326 plays (65,559 listeners)
15. the GazettE 7,508,947 plays (50,781 listeners)
ガゼット 7,679,897 plays (63,238 listeners)
16. OLIVIA 2,408,932 plays (62,947 listeners)
17. Mr.Children 3,890,571 plays (61,640 listeners)
18. Dragon Ash 1,382,356 plays (61,568 listeners)
19. B’z 3,797,961 plays (59,996 listeners)
20. GLAY 1,831,737 plays (55,517 listeners)
21. Versailles 1,945,444 plays (43,559 listeners)
22. くるり 3,500,454 plays (36,226 listeners)
23. An Café 1,407,565 plays (32,879 listeners)
アンティック-珈琲店- 2,559,837 plays (33,589 listeners)

I just grabbed random artist that tend to be popular in the US. Well not random, I didn’t include hip hop, R&B, or pop which would pepper this list with Ayumi Hamasaki, Utada Hikaru, Kanno Yoko, Johnny’s, and Hello! Project’s. I picked bands that Rock Band would consider.

L’Arc is listed as #9 on JRR’s poll while here they are #1 with three times as many listeners as The Gazette which is their #1. Adding non-visual artist pushes only four of their poll’s artists out of the top 10 which proves that JRR’s poll is still influential and shouldn’t be discounted.

Many Japanese artist are adored outside Japan and I’d love to see them in Rock Band.
I sincerely hope that Harmonix isn’t using only JRR’s community as their only source of possible artist suggestions.
Harmonix, hit up JaME, they tend to cover a wider variety of genres. Also cruise last.fm.
And to the folks at JRR, I still love you! Keep spreading the word on the music we love!

And for me, bands (non-indies)I want to rock the fuck out to on Rock Band:
Dir en grey, MUCC, Blue Hearts, BUCK-TICK, The Tigers, Kuroyume…
Though my last.fm may tell you otherwise.

Following the the trailers for the fan made Street Fighter: Legacy film, is, well, the film. Enjoy!

My take:
Opening has too many fast cuts, fight is not bad but not as awesome as Beginnings End, and the quality damn good. Ryu’s hadoken trapping after a knock down had me laughing. Overall: We need more of these fan films!

Time is almost up on Capcom’s goal to donate $25,000 to a charity if the Lost Planet 2 demo hits 1.5 million downloads. If you have a 360 or a PS3, download the demo and help a good cause!

Street Fighter is getting lots of love this month with the release of Super Street Fighter IV as well as two fan made film projects.

Street Fighter: Beginning’s End

Street Fighter: Legacy (Trailer 1)

Street Fighter: Legacy (Trailer 2)

E3 is over. Currently spending a little time with friends and family here in Los Angeles.

Valve has announced DLC for the good time that is Left 4 Dead. Included in the package will be the inclusion of the two remaining campaigns for Versus mode as well as new mode dubbed ‘Survival’. Also rumored to be added is an achievement called ‘Outbreak’, which requires players to catch an infection and spread it to another player. Details about availability for Xbox360 and PC to come, though slated for Spring 2009.

Source: Left 4 Dead Mods

The FPS genre is a cruel beast, prejudiced by stereotypes, solo games where the run-and-gun style got old a decade ago, team games where everyone forgets they are on a team, and plagued by some of the most douchiest douche bagologist within the community (not all, but you know you’ve met plenty of these guys in Halo and CS). Valve on the other hand has a history of enriching the FPS genre with intriguing stories, unique game play additions, puzzles, and thorough play testing and tuning that maximizes fun and balance. This is how Left 4 Dead is a FPS game like no other.

Gameplay: The action is intense with well placed/paced moments of calm that build up anticipation yet simultaneously providing relief. You never really feel safe in the game and often won’t believe how you could have survived the previous encounter despite endeavoring it with your own hand(s).

In this game, it’s all about being a team. All the best things in life are those which you can do with others. Left 4 Dead encompass’ everything a FPS game is, with a team element, and makes the game play revolve around staying and working together, all while increasing each individual’s level of entertainment the more they work with others. The AI is made to overwhelm the individual, and quickly assisting one another makes progress smoother, satisfying, and most importantly, more fun.

Example: Bill get pounced by a hunter zombie, Louis rushes in to melee the beast off, while Francis (and his shotgun) keeps a zerg of zombies from getting any closer, while Zoey bandages Francis’ wounds. Now if Louis decided to not help Bill, and run off and be a one man army, a Smoker zombie could have bound Zoey, trapping her and leaving Francis wounded and probably gonna die soon, while poor Bill is mauled to death.

Everyone keeps everyone else alive. L4D has many events where one player cannot survive and needs another to assist them. Help each other and you live, and get to blow stuff up more. By and by, you can also play as the zombies. That’s right. Even playing as the undead, team work is still integral to succeeding.

Xbox Live match making and setup is a breeze and setting up a multi-player game is as easy as hitting the A button three times. I have yet to try the PC version but with Steam being what it is I will risk assuming it’s just as easy. With the game play being so team play centric, the douche bag factor is nil, most random games I joined were populated with fun and playful gamers such as myself (so I assume they are well attractive too). Maybe I got lucky, but finding mature and fun players on Live is like searching for an unconscious smoke inhalation victim in a burning apartment building.

Oh, I should plug my XBL Gamer Tag here now: honeys dead

If you’re awesome and we have the same games, let’s play! Being cute is a plus. Just kidding…

Oh! Valve jumped on and played their own game with the common folk. The XBL community and myself had the pleasure of kicking zamby arse with Brian Jacobson and Kim Swift. Brian was fun and laughed (nervously?) at our jokes, and made as much effort as he could to join as many game invites as he received, such a bad ass. Kim was quite kind. She endured a plethora of questions regarding game design, even staying later to answer as many as she could. Intelligent + Fun + Artist = Yours Truly raising an eyebrow. Too bad she’s so nice, I’m sucker for bad girls ♥

My thanks goes out to you Devs for your time and art!

Back to it. L4D is all kinds of cool and pays homage to Night of the Living Dead and 28 Days later, combining those two films with Fear, Counter-Strike, and Gears of War. Sound fun? Hell yeah it is. Get it on Steam or for your Xbox360 home video game console.

TLDR: Resident Evil Outbreak wanted to be this amazing survival horror game.

Gary Gygax, one of the co-creators of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, according to Stephen Chenault, CEO of Troll Lord Games.

RIP Gary, thanks for the good times.

WIRED

Penny Arcade Tribute

Looks like the rumor was true.

Fan boys gone wild site Kotaku, reported on a RUMOR for a possible application for the PS3, and is then black listed by Sony for the report. The application would merge concepts from Microsoft’s Live! and Nintendo’s Mii, creating a Sims/Animal Crossing environment which would comprise of player achievements becoming furniture or other enhancements to the environment.

Sony PR would later advise the story not be published, even threatening to restrict access to news and break previously booked interviews and engagements at next weeks Game Developers Conference.

Read more

Here’s a post about checking the volume on your DS. I too tend to listen to my PMP while playing my DS on my commute so I know to check my volume.

Too shy to ask for a friendly game of “Push”? Feeling akward about asking to be let into some strangers town? DS Buttons has created little signs for DS owners to communicate with each other for possible WiFi play. Socializing has never been easier…oh wait.

Mistwalker studios premier title is out! Toriyama Akira’s, Sakaguchi Hironobu’s, and Uematsu Nobuo’s Blue Dragon gets scored by Famitsu. Scoring: 9, 9, 9, 10 (37/40). (source: Kotaku)

No updates on the animation just yet but keep watching bluedragon.tv
Death Note’s Obata Takeshi is on the series. The manga has been spotted, leaks of the 2007 01 Shonen Jump shown below. (source: Kizuna)

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Mass media and torchbearers are so quick to jump against anything Rockstar does. I agree Grand Theft Auto shouldn’t be played by children. If only parents would stop buying it for their kids. So quickly people bashed the upcoming game Bully without a clue as to what the game was like. An interview with GTA creators sheds some light on Bully:

…Jeronimo Barrera, the lead producer of Bully and a Rockstar veteran. Barrerra used his own personal history as inspiration. He’s 34, an ’80s kid, a guy who worshipped at the altar of the Hughes classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. When he was in the seventh grade at A.P. Giannini Middle School in the Sunset District of San Francisco, he used to fight off “the punk kid” who would steal his friend Robert’s Dungeons & Dragons book. Robert was in a wheelchair.

Robert also works at the same company I do. His desk is right next to mine. Robert has also done voice work in Rockstar’s The Warriors. Robert still plays D&D. Robert is a damn nice guy. We asked him about this story and he confirmed it.

You damn devils at Rockstar. Curse your ways of defending others from bullies and your enduring friendships that span decades…

Jeronimo is a rad name.

Link

A former guild leader post his story about leaving his guild that he managed and quitting the game completely. A bittersweet tale of the life of an escapist and addict. I use(d) gaming as an escape inconsistently and know how harsh it can be to become addicted.

The thing that kicked me in the ass more than anything else was I really cared if my guildies were getting what they wanted out of the experience. I truly thought my efforts would make them happy. I wanted to make a difference to them. The greedy and socially phobic high school kid I thought I could help through the game, all of the couples (both married and not) who were falling apart because of the game I thought I could rescue, the girl who was deeply wounded by a guy who left her for the game
but was herself addicted I thought I could save, not to mention a host of others, I thought my efforts were helping.

Link

Vampire hunters rejoice. A film regarding the epic battle against the dark lord Tepes is under way. Blessed by Warren Ellis himself.

Apparently I can now tell people that I窶冦 writing a CASTLEVANIA animated film for Project 51 Productions. So, um. Yeah. Project 51 will be setting up a production blog for CASTLEVANIA in the near future.

So I’ve been reading a stack of manga titles, I should get around to posting a list here some time with recommendations. I’m also reviewing a few game based titles for a friend who happens to be writing a book on the subject.