idiosyncrasy Today

Scathing social commentary meets the gamer generation.

Friday, March 30, 2007

Platinum Gundam

While bumping around the ether this morning I spotted a rather amazing item over at Kotaku. It's a platinum Gundam figure, complete with a .15 carat diamond in his brain.

The figure itself stands 125mm, and weighs 1400g (3 lbs).

It was made as a collaboration between Bandai and Japanese Jeweler Ginza Tanaka, and it valued at $250,000.

I want it.

I don't know why, other than it's a huge, heavy, sexy Gundam. But maybe that's enough :p

\\drew

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Gears of War ad in Japan

Here in the states when Gears of War was on the Horizon we had a series of commercials with dramatic game sequences (Mad World) and pretty music. What did the Japanese get now that's it's looming over on the opposite side of the pond?

A teenage school girl in a creepy room, talking about becoming a shoe designer of course.



And then being attacked by evil!

Then there is the follow up commercial, complete with the little girl playing with the demonic beast under her bed.



I'm especially fond of how she screams "Baka" at the end calling it an idiot.

Ah viral advertising.

\\drew

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Command and Conquer 3 Character Trailer

I find this grimly fascinating. While I love the command and conquer games I'm not sure how to take this trailer.



Come on, Grace Park! She's a hot Cylon. That other chick, she's in House! And then there's the immortal Michael Ironside (as seen in Star Ship Troopers as Lieutenant Jean Rasczak and other BA roles in other movies).

The glitz and glam aside, why is this trailer full of atrociously shitty acting? Grace should have done well, she's type cast in science fiction and she's playing a part similar to her current role. You do this for a living, be good at it.

When I heard the line up of the characters I thought to myself hell yeah! But if the voice acting resembles what's on this trailer my slight mahogany granted due to futurist military combat will have been mistimed.

\\drew
\\sad panda extraordinaire

Lord of the Rings Online

So this game... could have been so much more. While the trailer looks pretty slick, it seems to be lacking something...



I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it just doesn't look at me and say "Pay for me, I'm worth it." Perhaps that's because I was in the beta and saw that the game controlled like WoW's retarded cousin that Blizzard hides in the basement when company comes to visit.

\\drew

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Man steals 93 pounds of women's underwear

This is a great heart warming story, and in all honesty I don't really know what to say about it.

The guy steals 1500 pairs of women's and then gets caught. Sure, someone willing to steal 93 pounds of women's underwear is probably not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but come on, you don't want to get caught being a perv.

"We were kind of concerned about how to match up bras and panties with victims," Tennant said. "Based on the unique descriptions from a couple of women, we can tie him to those thefts."

I don't know how I would feel about reclaiming stolen panties and bra's. Kinda sketchy if you ask me :p

Full Article Here

\\drew

Shoko-Tan gives the Otaku rundown

Shoko-Tan, the otaku friendly Idol has recently done a whole skit about what it means to be an Otaku. These are pretty hilarious and certainly worth a gander.



oh, and the spicy lil thing at the beginning of this video? That's Akiko Wada. <3

Check out the second and third parts also on YouTube, quite funny.


\\drew

Monday, March 26, 2007

Woo! Got it working!



I'm not sure the issue, but these tags seem to be falling out of the main body html and causing errors out the yin yang.

\\drew

Korean Salsa Competition?

I was skeptical when I first heard this rather unconventional utterance, but then after I saw their presentation I was hooked.

Video Link (Because I still can't seem to embed video)

I love it! Especially when he throws a hadouken right in the middle of the dance. Good times! Big thumbs up for cosplaying dancers.

\\drew

Friday, March 23, 2007

Sony dished out HD's

At the recent PS3 Midnight launch in London Sony gave away free 46 inch Bravia LCD's to the first 100 customers. Not only that but they also gave free cab rides homes for each of these lucky individuals.

My guess? The cab rides were to help them evade being murdered and having their PS3 and shiny new Bravia TV being stolen.

How hard-up is Sony if they are dishing out $2500 televisions with a purchase of their $600 gaming system? It seems a bit extreme to me, but what do I know about business.

Full Yahoo article here

\\drew

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Taiwan no longer stealing Wii's

Apparently TaiPei Airport has been yoinking Nintendo Wii's when they pass through the station, but don't worry! Not anymore!

Public outcries for leniency from the NCC (National Communications Commission) have made them take it a bit easier with their regulations. The NCC checks all electronic goods passing through to see if they are considered health hazards and as of yet have not officially tested the Wii to certify it as being hazard free.

Howard Shyr of the NCC says in regards to the Wii-Scare:
There was an incident in the past where the use of wireless microphones near the airport nearly affected aviation safety. Unexpected consequences might occur with unregulated products.
So check this out. I can paraphrase his sentences here as "this one time this guy had this thing that almost did stuff".

From my paraphrased sentence sure that could have been shady with all sorts of malicious intent. You know, or it could have just been a guy with a microphone, or a Wii... traveling through the airport. I guess I'm just not safety savvy.

\\drew

Monday, March 19, 2007

More Idol M@ster Gear

I wonder if this title is ever going to come to the states? I'd totally buy it, but then again I'm a creepy otaku, though I'd like to entertain the notion that there are more of us in the US then people would like to own up to.

Well they have now released new items in the XBOX Live store,, some of them being Mr. Driller parts!

How fantastic is that! Being a Mr. Driller fan, this is pretty damned cute. Everyone likes a girl that can drill.

List of all new add-ons here

\\drew

Plasma Pong

I've played pong before, but never like this. It's like the gods of plasma effects have decided to gift us non-believing heathens with a tasty morsel of pong with special effects action.

Video (Sorry, my embed feature isn't working)

So when's it coming to XBOX Live Arcade?

Edit: Found the executable!

\\drew

Friday, March 16, 2007

Eidos signs up with Steam

In a recent press release Steam has announced that Eidos, developer of such titles as the illustrious Tomb Raider series, Hitman, and Commandos have joined forces to release many of their classic titles via Steam's web-based distribution system.

Now angsty 14 year old boys who haven't figured out how to download torrents can get their yaya's by downloading electronic Lara Croft boobies anywhere they are assuming they can jack in.

As a note to these 14 year old boys. Play Tomb Raider 1, it was a good game, ignore the rest. If you really think that higher poly jumblies will make the difference contemplate biting on a horse bit while smashing yourself in the Good 'Ol Boys will a ball peen hammer, the gameplay here is about as enjoyable as playing Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, and my proposed activity is cheaper. Well... actually maybe not, the price on that game has certainly plummeted and ball peen hammers are useful.

All in all though I think this is pretty slick. I'm a big fan of digital distribution and more companies should embrace the ideology. Though I will admit ripping into a freshly packed new video game is riveting. It's like I'm 9 again on Christmas morning only Daddy isn't yelling at Mommy and my sister isn't crying that she got a board with a nail in it.

Ok, so my childhood was nothing like that, and I don't have a sister, but damn I love my memories.

\\drew

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Sphere - The Flash Game

So I started playing this flash game called Sphere, it's pretty addictive. Challenging in that old Myst sort of way, for those that like games with no real fun or excitement.

Your objective? To escape the room. How to do it? That's the puzzle.

Sphere

Me and some coworkers are about 20 minutes into it, and we're still pretty far from the end (I think), I'd divulge the current situation but I don't want to reveal the puzzles.

\\drew

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

GDC 07 Paper Mario

Check out this interview with Localization writer Erik Peterson (loc writers are the people who take the rough translated text and make it sound like a real person said it).



The game looks absolutely amazing. We'll see once it actually hits, but as of right now I'm giving Nintendo a pat on the back for coming up with a new twist on the classic 2d side-scroller.

\\drew

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

New Mega 64

You know a couple of fanboys of Nintendo titles have "made it" when Miyamoto himself makes an appearance in your Nintendo viral video homages to the greatest gaming company of all time.

The Video:



Mega 64 - Watch the ICO one if you haven't, it's hilarious.

\\drew

The Restaurant Game Project

The Nut Graph:
Contribute to the first collaboratively authored computer game and earn Game Designer credit!
The Meat Graph:
The Restaurant Game is a research project at the MIT Media Lab that will algorithmically combine the gameplay experiences of thousands of players to create a new game. In a few months, we will apply machine learning algorithms to data collected through the multiplayer Restaurant Game, and produce a new single-player game that we will enter into the 2008 Independent Games Festival. Everyone who plays The Restaurant Game will be credited as a Game Designer. It's never been easier to earn Game Designer credentials!
The Take:

This is a pretty cool idea, take learning algorithms, add the average Joe's desire to make video games professionally, toss in a slick 3D interface, advertise on Digg, ask for 1000 participants. Hit 1000 mark easy, up mark to 10k.

I've always been a fan of indie development, most of the time we see new trends and innovations there first because they are more likely to take risks. Developers have a lot of pressure on them to produce a game that's acceptable for their publisher (see: have to), and publishers from my experience are concerned with the bottom line. As they should, seeing as how they have kindly given the developer multiple millions of dollars on the assumption they will turn out a consumer friendly title capable of selling and recouping the initial production cost and well beyond.

This project looks as though it could do some very interesting things... assuming that the software doesn't decide to veer away from restaurant sim'ing and turn to making better, faster, and stronger bipedal humans with which to wipe out humanity.

I'm a big fan of computers not thinking, we have enough crazy people in the world that do far too much thinking (or in some cases not enough). Many of them already have itchy trigger fingers that hover centimeters above big red buttons. Well I'm an opponent of adding any such powers to the world.

I'm not saying all thinking machines will hire a certain Californian Governor to murder important people in the past to help them in the future, I'm just saying we should do our best to keep guns away from the machines. Machines don't kill people, gun wielding machines bent on world domination kill people. Well, them and zombies, zombies kill millions.

The Restaurant Game Project - Sign up, get your name in the credits :p

\\drew

Monday, March 12, 2007

Pimp Magic the Gathering Player

While I have been an avid MtG player for over ten years (started up in beta), I have always accepted the fact that it has made me a dork. I made peace with that in Middle School, I reeled from ridicule in High School, and then came into my own during college.

While my trials in the lustrous world of Magic have not always been pleasant I have always understood that this is a geeky activity.

This guy right here however has decided to break the surmised trend by invited 2 blondes to his gaming.

Not only that, but he apparently can't be troubled to hold his cards, or (heaven forbid) tap his own land.

This is actually Mike Elliot, a senior designer for Wizards working on Magic, but still, this picture is fantastic as he does his best to rock the persona of geek bad ass.

\\drew

Flash Tron

Being an old school gamer fan like I am, when I found this site I just about jumped for joy. Tron, one of my favorite line based games of all time is making a come back thanks to the internet and clever flash programming.

Check out this free flash game. For those who haven't played Tron before, think Worm (you know, that game where you eat apples and make your snake longer, but can't hit your own sides) with the objective being to make some other dude on a motorcycle crash and burn before you.

Flash Tron!

\\drew

Thursday, March 08, 2007

13 Most Beautiful Avatars?

Italian Artists Eva and Franco Mattes have made 36 x 48 inch prints of avatars from Second Life recently in a collection they are referring to as "The 13 Most Beautiful Avatars".

While the canvas mounted prints are done by the aforementioned artists, the actual avatars were made by people within the Second Life community.

Their selection was based off of physical beauty only and did not reflect any achievements in-game these avatars may have met.

The list and images here.

\\drew

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Zelda Cel for sale

For those old-schoolers out there who remember the Super Mario Brothers Super Show, you may also remember how Fridays were Legend of Zelda day, so instead of having the low budget Mario cartoon there was a low budget Link cartoon.

Back during that time all animation was done on Cels but now it's all going digital, and apparently someone who has amassed quite the collection of such art is selling his collection.

One such item up for sale on ebay is a cel of Princess Zelda in a nightie looking like she's about to tear it off. While this doesn't ring a bell, the cartoon was pretty poor in hindsight and they probably needed to do whatever they could to keep interest with the impressionable youth watching the program.

Check out the auction here, I may just have to bid.

\\drew

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Political and Relgious Magic the Gathering

BSAlert recently put up a selection of religious and political Magic cards. Somehow I don't believe these managed to squeeze their way into Planar Chaos.

The List

I'm partial to this one.

Hey look! Superman!

I win!

I wouldn't be so funny if it wasn't so frightfully true...

\\drew

We don't need no stinking reflections

A team of researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has created the world’s first material that reflects virtually no light. Reporting in the March issue of Nature Photonics, they describe an optical coating made from the material that enables vastly improved control over the basic properties of light. The research could open the door to much brighter LEDs, more efficient solar cells, and a new class of "smart" light sources that adjust to specific environments, among many other potential applications.

This is pretty awesome, now we can finally have invisible helicopters, all the better to blow up people with :(

Full Article Here

\\drew