Marc's Blog

New photos at Flickr!

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 05:02:05 GMT

Tons of new pictures at my flickr account. We went to Hollywood yesterday and Quizno's today! EXCITING!!!

Lock your children away

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 22:39:14 GMT

Another day, another level

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 11:52:01 GMT

That's how my days have been, levelling a blood elf paladin until my eyes feel numb and my head concave. I've been ignoring my friends on WoW, opting to play with the new horde race than draw ever nearer to the coveted level 70 with my former main character, a level 59 warlock. This is inherently a not-so-nice thing to do, although I tire of the monotonous dot-dot-fear routine. And as I'm aware of respec'ing and how it can affect a class's style of play, it doesn't interest me much. I'd much rather play a melee class, a melee class with healing and AoE capabilities. I'm having more fun with my paladin, as well, and that's what games should be: fun.

SO!

Skylar spends all day at home, and I spend most of the day at work or asleep. That's our routine. It, too, is growing old, and we're in desperate need of a change. Where are our friends? I don't see them. We're willing to put ANY of our Jonesboro peeps up with free room and board if they'll just make the effort. Give us a couple months, and we'll even buy your plane ticket. They're pretty cheap this time of year, but that always changes with the seasonal extremes, Summer and Winter. So get it while the gettin's gettin. And not gotten.

Skylar and I just saw The Number 23, and it's a good flick. Builds drama well. I suggest watching it. I also suggest liking it.

Thought of the day: When you begin referring to your class in the first-person collective, as in "we," "us," and "our," it's time to pad the walls.

Slashdot blog ads, cancellation imminent

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 23:09:42 GMT

Okay, I may cancel my Slashdot RSS feed. They're using ads now, and that doesn't sit well with me. I don't like having ads on my once ad-free Livejournal blog, the main reason I've stuck with this particular web logging service. This happen with anyone else?

To all my Arkansan peeps

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 22:54:22 GMT

This reminded me of you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwoM5fLITfk

And I really don't know why, but it's a nice jam. So just roll with it.

It's been a year bitches

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 20:46:33 GMT

HAVE YOU SEEN SKYLAR'S POST!!!

IT'S TEH BIZZITY-BOMB!!!

SKYLAR'S LJ OMG!!!

This time's for real

Sun, 18 Dec 2005 06:06:17 GMT

DOWN WITH URBANIZATION IN GAMES!! ANIMALS WITH GUNS!!!

I've been thinking of getting back into this whole livejournal thing.

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 03:42:42 GMT

It would make some sort of sense. I've a few better things to do with my time, but, like most in the Jonesboroan LJ community, it's a tool of catharsis, a way to purge the stressful mind. And I'm working for RPGamer, which is more reason to do this since I'll be spending far more time at the computer than ever.

Let's take a poll: all in favor, say 'aye.' All opposed, get me a very expensive Christmas present, and we'll call it even.

Tue, 26 Jul 2005 07:41:19 GMT

I HAVE UPDATED THE GALOSHES
YOU WILL READ. YOU WILL LIKE. YOU WILL SEND ME FLOWERS AND EMAIL EXPRESSING GREAT LOVE AND APPRECIATION FOR MY WANG. GO THERE NOW, AND BE FREE!!

Sat, 16 Jul 2005 08:20:12 GMT

Golf?
A new online gaming trend seems to be a multiplayer game by the name of Golf?, which may or may not resemble the athletic pastime of the same name. Using first-person shooter controls, the player navigates an environment meant to represent a golf hole by means of a ...giant robot and shoots balls from cannons Or is it more giant robots? It's difficult to tell. All I know is it looks interesting, and Windows users should download it as soon as possible.

News courtesy of Golf?.

It's like the King of France up and died in my pants. Consider this at your leisure.

Sat, 09 Jul 2005 07:44:23 GMT

House of the Dead 4, location test
IGN has posted a report about the House of the Dead 4 location test, which occurred at the Sega Gigo arcade in Ikebukuro, along with a couple of images displaying the game's HD display and machine gun controller. Noticeable changes include high-definition compatibility, greater numbers of on-screen enemies and a new gameplay mechanic involving shaking of the gun. The controller is apparently motion sensitive and has generated opportunities for more creative gameplay situations that, according to the report, Sega has obviously taken advantage of. Such situations include enemies grabbing hold of the characters, requiring the player the "shake" them off.

News courtesy of Sega.

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 08:33:47 GMT

Ibara footage, Arcade-Extreme.com
The first decent footage of Ibara (to my knowledge) has finally made it to the Internet at Arcade-Extreme.com(Itallian language). It's a demonstration video played by a popular single-credit superbeing known as HOLLOW. The video is nothing short of fantastic, the footage showing giant explosions and Raizing-influenced chaos. It can be found in the forums in the 'Shmup Video' thread about halfway down the page. Users will have to register to access it. Most of the available videos are supsrplays, including one of Mushihimesama also performed by HOLLOW. The site also offers combo demonstrations from fighting games, as well as... other stuff.

Courtesy of Arcade-Extreme.com.

OpenID now supported by Livejournal
In a move that will probably make the entire Livejournal community happier than happier, Livejournal is now supporting OpenID, a non-centralized system that allows users to post comments at any site that supports it (non-Livejournal blogs, for example) in an authorized and personal manner without registration. This would make one's author line appear as "[X user] at [Y site]," e.g.: "steamyrobotlove at Livejournal," instead of "guest" simply by entering a name and your URL. Very handy, indeed; more details can be found on the official site.

Courtesy of Livejournal.

Wed, 29 Jun 2005 12:10:46 GMT

Penny Arcade comic, just because
Yeah, I laughed my ass off, too. I laughed so hard I probably laughed YOUR ass off, as well. It's okay, though; feel free to reattach your ass and resume laughing. If you don't get it, well, you don't, and I guess there's nothing I can do about that. What I CAN do is ask everyone who doesn't know about Penny Arcade to read it frequently, for it's the webcomic genius of our age. Witty; provocative; offensive--it's everything you could ask for, and probably a few things you didn't. Click the image to be directly re-directed. That's 50% MORE direction than the leading livejournal.

Courtesy of Penny Arcade.

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 12:34:42 GMT

Happy Ready Go!, an internet music movement
Something interesting is occurring in the Japanese music market. Posters from the 2ch message boards, a highly popular message board where users have complete anonymity, have banded together to push sales for the next Mahou Sensei Negima release, an album featuring several pop songs from voice actors of the Japanese anime of the same name. The recent Mahou Sensei Negima album recently reached the number-3 position on The Oricon chart, the Japanese equivalent of the Billboard Top 40, yet was mysteriously missing from the countdown upon its weekly televised reading. This angered several a 2ch poster, and they're encouraging everyone near and far to purchase the next album. Their actions have been so influential as to cause the manufacturer of the album to drop the price to 700 yen (approx. US$7)--this from a country that slaps an initial price of 3000 yen on any newly-released pop album. This is a MAJOR movement in the Japanese music industry and will hopefully set a precedent that influences record companies to more reasonably price their albums in the future.

News found at Insert Credit.

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 10:58:46 GMT

New Cowboy Bebop game, Bandai
You wanted an update? YOU GOT IT: a new Cowboy Bebop game from Bandai is in the pipeline, and it looks to sport the once-trendy cel-shaded look a few years too late. Little else is known about it, as yours truly can barely read a lick of Japanese. From screenshots, it appears to be a third-person action game, equal parts shooting and hand-to-hand combat with all of the main characters making an appearance. Will keep a lazy eye on this one.

News found at Majoria's News.

More DDR in classrooms
To fill space: Wired has an article about public schools in the Redlands, California school district placing Playstations equipped with DDR in their classrooms. With the obesity rate of children from low-income California families up to 14.1 percent, the schools are hoping to encourage weight loss in Californian youths with (here it comes) "exertainment." Again, I ask: Where was this when I was in school?!

News found at Wired.com.

Ibara, new shooter from Cave
This is a few months too late (like JANUARY late), but I thought I'd mention it: Cave is developing a new shoot'em up by the name of Ibara for the Japanese arcade market. It seems to draw tremendous influence from Raizing's Battle Garegga/Battle Bakraid games, obvious from the bomb counter and huge mechanized, prop-driven enemies. Check out the screenshots at the main page. All shoot'em up fans should be seething at the oral cavity for this one; I'll keep you posted.

News found at Cave's AM Visual page.

Sun, 05 Jun 2005 09:04:12 GMT

Final Fantasy: Advent Children release date, character list revealed
A short update: Gpara.com has published the release date and character list (found here) for the upcoming Square Enix movie production Final Fantasy: Advent Children. As far as what was gathered from a Google translation, the movie will be sold for Japanese and American markets simultaneously on September 14th. All of the major players make an appearance, along with a few new faces. Clicking the images reveals character and voice actor information.

News found at Majoria's News.

Fri, 03 Jun 2005 09:06:34 GMT

Inuyasha: Ougi Ranbu for PS2
New images of Bandai's latest game based on the Inuyasha franchise, Inuyasha: Ougi Ranbu (Inuyasha: Feudal Combat), have surfaced. From the looks of screenshots, it appears to be a freeform fighter in the vein of Power Stone. The game is slated for PS2 by June 16, 2005 for Japanese shores and August for American. This news is strictly for the fanatical Inuyasha fans who may read this blog. I know you're out there.

News and screenshot taken from the-magicbox.com.

Play-Asia: big inventory clearance
There's a huge Summer clearance sale going on at Play-Asia.com, with big markdowns spanning multiple items and platforms. Among the hundreds of items are great deals like $50 SwanCrystals and a $150 limited edition IIDX 9th Style, which includes the Visual Emotions II DVD and the V-Rare soundtrack, among other goodies. Products are limited, and they're going fast.

News taken from insertcredit.com.

Tamagotchi, cellphone bound
More news from Bandai: the company is set to release a version of Tamagotchi, the mid-90s fad which fell off the bandwagon long ago, for the cellphone market. This latest incarnation of the digital pet sports new features exclusive to the cellphone version, such as tougher resilience against hardships incurred from negligent keepers. Compatible phones and supporting carriers are as of yet unknown.

News taken from 1up.com.

Cave, location test of Mushihime-sama-based puzzler
Another of Cave's brilliant line of games that will never see the light of day in America, Mushihime-sama no Pazuru Ge-mu (Puzzle Game of the Insect Princess, tentative title) is a new puzzler from Cave which was on location test in Akihabara Hey for 15 days beginning May 12th. The game is based on Cave's own popular shoot'em up Mushihime-sama. Very old news but interesting that Cave would produce a puzzle game after a long and successful line of gorgeous shooters the likes of EspRa.De. and Guwange.

News taken from Cave's AMVisual page. Original image taken from the game's main page.

PSP gets the pr0n treatment
In a refreshingly tacky move to support the PSP's flaccid movie market, Sony has allowed aptly-titled company Glay'z to produce a line of adult films for the PSP on UMD video. Five videos will be available next July for the Japanese market. The current product line can be found here (not worksafe).

News taken from insertcredit.com.

This is the new format I'll try to keep updating at least every other day. Drop me a line to tell me what you think or just to say that I botched something about the format. Tell me what you'd like to see. I tend to lean towards the obscure Japanese market side of the gaming industry, so if you want leet Halo 3 screenshots or whatnot, let me know.

The short-story side of the blog isn't gone, just on hiatus. When it comes to me, I'll post this and a short story or a chapter of something. I'd like to get into gaming journalism, so for now, this and short stories will share the primary focus.

The best motivation for a writer is a blank page

Fri, 06 May 2005 18:19:40 GMT

Metroid Prime has been consuming all of my at-home free time lately, and I’m not exactly a worse person for it. Playing Prime has afforded me time to stay at home, which has given me time to answer phone calls, phone calls regarding future employment opportunities that soon turned into current employment opportunities that will soon turn into paychecks. And a paycheck is something I’ve missed over the last two months, my mark of accomplishment, proof that my week wasn’t wasted and that my time wasn’t siphoned into an endless void at the tail end space. Time bleeds together when you have more leisure time than you deserve, and a job is something that helps me remember what day it is, something that helps me remember that time exists.

Metroid Prime saved my concept of time and possibly my life. Don’t let anyone tell you that video games aren’t the entertaining heroes of today’s generation.

So I’m playing Metroid Prime, and I’m at a particular point in the game, the same as any other point in the game, really, since all points in all games lead to some other point in all other games, if not a point somewhere else^*. I found the ice beam not too long ago, and I now find myself in a scary, uncharted section of the Phazon Mines, an area of the game that blinked into existence on the map about fifteen minutes before I found the next bastion of hope, the next save point. So I saved it, and continued onward, onward into death and utter gamer disgrace as I reigned victorious over the next hulking mini-boss-like character and subsequently died by the hands of one of the more common enemies.

I don’t use scary in any light sense of the word; I mean I’m scared. The generalized map screen consists of conjoined hexagons to form an abstract shape that represents the whole of each unique section of the game world. Pressing the A button at this screen above any of the hexagonal sections will give you a magnified topographical map of that sector of that particular section of the world. Before finding the Phazon Mines, the game world as I knew it consisted of four distinct, fairly large areas. It would take me about 10 to 15 minutes to travel from one location to the next, across several rooms, if I were having a difficult time finding my way around, which happens more than I’d like to admit. However, I will, should you ask me.

Now the Phazon Mines have appeared. Although it occupies a comparatively small area of the map screen, wedged between the Tallon Overworld and the Magmoor Caverns, its presence is a thing of teeth-rattling intimidation. I can only imagine what awaits me at the end of this gauntlet-like zone of this trial-by-fire game.

It makes me wonder how a human being could possibly be petrified by a video game. There’s a reset button, after all, not to mention a continue option. Death is a non-issue, something that bears no consequence, save for having to continue from an earlier point, something of only the mildest of annoyance when the entirety of one’s life is concerned. To fear one’s virtual death should mean to risk embarrassment from one’s peers.

So why am I afraid? Maybe I don’t care what my peers think, although I doubt that's the case. Maybe I should just discuss this further with anyone willing to ask. Next time you see me, let’s discuss this topic, fear as it’s found in video games. I bet some interesting conclusions are afoot.

-----
*: I'm always compelled to throw in a bit of BS in anything I write. It makes things more interesting.

cow-tipping creativity

Tue, 03 May 2005 06:57:19 GMT

I like Insert Credit. I like them a lot. I like them so much that I linked them twice in the first two sentences of this update. So it should come as no surprise that I have COMPLETELY RIPPED OFF THEIR LAYOUT.

Or probably just their aesthetic claim to fame, the image map at the top of all their pages. Theirs is actually just the banner image with individual image-links underneath, but I'm lazy, so I used an image map. It turned out well, I think, even if it's uninspired and utter hack-ish garbage. Which it isn't, because I'm the man.

If there's something to be said for it, a comment that doesn't mention the slight discrepencies between our mutual layouts, it's that it's an efficient layout if nothing else. You have the site name, a pretty picture, the functional part, and the 'meat' part--that's all you need.

And that's all you get.

The calendar's pretty fewked, though, but who wants former-post accessibility anyway?

Prettier livejournal layouts can be found scattered about elsewhere, and by scattered, I mean like finding your mom at a Star Trek convention: she makes a pretty Klingon, but you feel kind of dirty after seeing her. Using Livejournal's random search feature when attempting to find these layouts works as well as finding Jenna Jameson porn in Elmo's World. And overusage of uncreative metaphors in your writing can lead to fewer readers and the development of bad habits.

At any rate, I've updated my layout, and although no one looks at anyone else's layout without being told to, it makes me feel more comfortable, makes updating feel more rewarding. I feel like Bill Cosby after he was cloned into Sports Dad Bill Cosby, not Homemaker Bill Cosby, with an apron and duster.

Zee Inchiffireezir

Sun, 17 Apr 2005 12:56:29 GMT

http://kerry.lothrop.de/chef/

There are some things that demand an LJ update.

Paul Graham

Fri, 15 Apr 2005 05:19:48 GMT

http://www.paulgraham.com/

My friend Pete sent me a link to one of this person's essays at some point in the past. At the time, I didn't read it, but I told him I would. I say a lot of things, things I'll do that I sometimes eventually do. On most ocassions, though, I don't.

Anyway, I've finally read that essay Pete sent, and it turned out to be one of the most interesting reads I've had in a few months. The essays contain intelligent opinions from an intelligent person who does intelligent things. You can see where this is going. They don't bring sparkling new ideas to light, but he voices a lot of things that most people wouldn't say, like how high school students should keep their job options open instead of commiting too soon to a career, and all in an intellectual manner.

Paulgraham.com is now my bookmark of the week.

Free Shooters

Wed, 13 Apr 2005 07:20:58 GMT

http://nagoya.cool.ne.jp/o_mega/index.html

http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~cs8k-cyu/index_e.html

The above are links to sites offering free homebrew shooters. That's "shooters," as in R-type and 1945, not Counter-Strike. All games are Windows only^*, which means heavy usage of DirectX, so updating to the latest version is highly recommended. The file sizes range from 2 to 10 megs, so dial-up users needn't fear strangling their connections. For anyone interested in sharing strategies or gloating about scores, Insert Credit's forums has a few threads pertaining to some of the games.

Recommended downloads are Every Extend, Torus Trooper and rRootage.

These sites have been up for a while, evidenced by their wide selection of projects, but I wanted to share the old-skool shooter lovin' with everyone. I'd appreciate it if interested parties would leave their scores/opinions here or just leave links to relevant threads from any forum.

*I'm sure the 13373r enduser in all of us can get them running on a Linux box, whatever your distro of choice.

And I think I will

Wed, 06 Apr 2005 08:00:41 GMT

His hands flew across the keyboard. He didn't know what he was typing, but he knew it was significant to his survival. His vision was black with spots of grey and white--monochromatic's the word. Eyes wide open, all he could see was splashes of light from his computer monitor. His hands were a blur. Words scrolled upward at an inhuman pace. His heartrate sped the blood through his veins to the point of artery collapse for any normal human being.

He was a normal human being. How he survived the training was unbelievable to any who heard of it. It's this that he was trying to prevent, his yielding and becoming a part of their 'special project'. Earphones rested on his ears, and through them emanated sounds, sounds of indeterminate length and meaning. Sounds resembling those of wolves in the heat of battle, the throes of ecstacy, the melancholy of depressive mourning. It's impossible for any sane human to endure such torture, but to him, it wasn't torture. In his state, it was joy. Utter joy.

This isn't what he wanted. But they knew better. They gave him what he was ironically desiring, the very thing that sated his rebellious nature: sweet surrender. Such a reckless, anarchic existence is exhausting. It's drains the body of all energy, mental and physical, until there's no other option but to succumb. Anyone in power knows this. It's how MTV exists. It's how Disney can get away with charging three-hundred dollars for a two-day pass during the work week. It's the very basis for any politician's thought process. McDonalds. Coca-cola. Commercials. Fads. Repeat, ad nauseum, not until they stop fighting, but until they can't fight.

An existence of eternal battle is not a humane existence. It's destruction of the self. Butting heads with the system is to fight a futile war.

Working within the system, however, is the alternative method, the more effective method.

And he knew this, for he was giving them what they wanted. But only for the moment.

-----

I say impromptu fiction-writing projects, and I mean it. This took less than 10 minutes to mock up.

But the post below is the significant one. Read that one.

Katamari Damacy: the review

Wed, 06 Apr 2005 06:53:59 GMT

Apologies all around for this delay in updating. This review took me about 8 hours from start to completion, the usual time frame when it comes to my writing. That's concerning reviews, anyway. I can pump out a few paragraphs of any impromptu fiction-writing project in a few minutes.

Anyways, blurb, LJ-CUT. You click. You read. You like. That's how it goes, 'cause I'm the man. The ONLY man on the Internet.

Who likes dating sims.

"The very simplicity of its visual style and play mechanic belies its utterly addictive nature, its nigh-indescribable quality that compels the player to forge ahead to the next level, to roll up that telephone, that giraffe, that adolescent girl in school uniform."

-----

Katamari Damacy
a positively glowing review, Marc Standley

Keita Takahashi is a man that developed his game design philosophy while looking through rose colored glasses, a philosophy that boils any game concept down to its core parts while injecting that much-coveted element of originality into the mix. While it may only be experiencing cult-hit status within the gaming community, Katamari Damacy,Keita Takahashi's creation, is a superstar in its own prerogative, steadily gaining momentum without need for a giant marketing campaign. The very simplicity of its visual style and play mechanic belies its utterly addictive nature, its nigh-indescribable quality that compels the player to forge ahead to the next level, to roll up that telephone, that giraffe, that adolescent girl in school uniform. It's quite a bizarre premise, one that should appeal to Japan-o-philes and others alike and one that is molded into the most wonderfully charming of packages.

One morning, just like any other morning, the entire world awakens to a brand new day and, in a hushed gasp, notices collectively that the stars have completely vanished. Apparently, The King of All Cosmos had recently cruised the universe in a more-than-slightly inebriated state, and as a result inadvertently destroyed all he once prevailed. The Moon, the North Star, all constellations--obliterated in a fit of substance-influenced galaxy hopping. The King is certainly displeased with this turn of events, the guilt resting solely on his shoulders, so, naturally, he sends his progeny down to Earth to clean up his mess by, using spherical apparatuses known as katamari, rolling up anything and everything possible in an attempt to repopulate the sky and return it to its former, scintillating self.

Through this strange and intriguing background story do we finally meet the protagonist of our journey, the pint-sized Prince of All Cosmos. While the Prince is only a few centimeters in height, through obligatory rolling, katamari sizes can escalate into the hundreds of meters. The little Prince pushes these monstrous clumps of objects around effortlessly, trekking over plains, cities, mountains, and ultimately the ocean.

Everything within the game's environments is collectible, and control is unbelievably intuitive. The game uses a tank-like control scheme, with the two analog sticks used for almost every gameplay aspect. Pressing up on both sticks rolls the katamari forward and pressing down on both sticks, predictably, reverses the rolling, and so on. A useful turn-around maneuver can be accomplished by pushing both sticks in, and a dashing effect is produced if both sticks are rapidly moved in opposite, vertical directions. This makes up the brunt of the gameplay mechanic, resulting in Katamari control requiring minimal effort.

Navigating the levels with any skill is another story altogether. The levels have the little Prince attempting to meet a size requirement within a very strict time limit, with collectible objects ranging from batteries and milk cartons to pedestrians and redwoods in the initial stages. Eventually, the size of the katamari escalates to the point of absurdity, with collectibles ranging from hot-air balloons and mountains to islands and even rainbows. There are also diversionary levels offered in the form of rebuilding constellations by rolling up specific objects such as crabs, fish, and swans. When you've completed everything the game has to offer in the single-player mode, there is a versus mode which pits two rolling aficionados against each other in split-screen competition. The enjoyment in this mode is short-lived, as there is only one sparsely decorated level and, aside from a plethora of selectable characters, nothing available in the way of customization.

The game pushes further into the realm of the surreal with an Escher-esque visual presentation. With the expansiveness of the environments, some graphical punches are bound to be pulled, as every object is accounted for by the PS2's processor, collected or not. This results in a blocky, low-poly graphical motif, unshaded, jagged edges and all, that has surprising appeal and never seems out of place. The sheer size of each level and the variety of things to gather is enormous, inspiring a sense of awe even at the pinnacle of the katamari's size. The item placement seems illogical at first, but after closer investigation, a pattern emerges where a string of small items segues naturally into a group of slightly larger items. Every level seems to follow suit in this manner, and in this way, the game possesses a rational flow concealed only by innumerable, ostensibly haphazard scatterings of objects. Interspersed among the levels are two-dimensional cinematics involving dialogs between the King and Prince which serve to explain the levels' forthcoming challenges. There's also a side story, displayed in two-dimensional artwork as well, involving a family of three and the disappearance of the stars, having little connection to the primary story, adding more fuel to the prevalent bonfire of the game's overall ridiculousness.

The music contained on the game's soundtrack runs a very small yet quirky gamut of swing, minimalistic techno and playful J-pop. While there are only a handful of tracks, they're memorable enough to warrant the barely noticeable repetition, and it is often that a tune or two will become firmly wedged in one's memory days after turning the game off. Other than music, strange and appropriate sound effects are produced by every object that is collected, from the ringing of telephones to the spiked pitch of rats' squeaking to the cacophonous screaming of bystanders, and not a one of them is unpleasant. It's a goal in itself just to hear the myriad sound effects the game has to offer.

Priced at twenty dollars, Katamari Damacy certainly isn't a strain on the wallet and should find its way into every PS2 owners collection. The overall presentation is decidedly Japanese, but it isn't so thickly cryptic, slotted into one particular niche as to alienate those with a broader taste for entertainment. Quite the opposite, it's a testament of how easily a truly original game design and excellent execution can appeal to a wide audience of players.

Professionalism

Mon, 04 Apr 2005 03:53:47 GMT

It's unprofessional to leave a deadline unattended. Even if editors can't meet deadlines set by themselves, it's better to let the readers know that there will be extra white space on the printed release before it's published. I guess that's why I'm writing this.

I'm extending the deadline for the Katamari Damacy review to Monday evening. I just can't find the inspiration to write a game review, but I've been kicking around a few short story ideas. These ideas are generally whimsical in nature. I'll just boot up my favorite word processor and begin writing whatever comes to mind. From there a wild, untamed beast is born, released to lumber through the rainforest of creativity or weave among the underbrush of... well, whatever.

The point of this post is I'm not updating in the expected fashion. Really sorry. I'll leave you with this.

"I awoke at about 8AM, and she was poised above my head with a large carving knife, part of a cutlery set I purchased earlier that week. I had intended on making breaded chicken cutlets the night before, but my schedule had prevented me from returning home until 11 in the evening. Sally wasn't happy with that. I couldn't persuade her to leave her room the entire night, though my efforts were exhausting. Through the carved mahogany of her door, I could hear the muffled sounds of writing and rope knotting. I wasn't sure what was going on in there, and I was steadily growing uneasy the more I listened. I'm getting used to that feeling.

So anyway, I was in bed, and she was above me with a serrated knife pointing blade-down at my left cornea. I was tracing the outline of the weapon with my eyes, making sure to pay close attention to the jagged edge, when I couldn't help but think, with a mild sense of irritation:

'This is getting old.'"