Growing up with technology gains one a reputation; labeled as ‘nerds’ and ‘geeks’, we trudge on, keeping up with technology with almost mythic levels of dogged determination. We shrug the name-calling aside; orn as is more often the case these days, we accept these labels, opting to wear them as badges of honour.
I used to take character names so seriously when I was a kid. Generally, I cribbed them from my favourite movies and books—Raistlin, Gimli, Madmartigan, Khan, Roland—but there were a few made-up names that found their way into heavy rotation. Like Thon Malus; that was my go-to name for close to a decade. I’m not sure how it came to me exactly, I only know that I used it so often and so consistently that twenty or so years later, when one of my childhood friends met my son for the first time, he said, “So, I guess this must be little Thon…”
The halls around the office don’t echo with the light-hearted banter that it once did. When Shaun was picked up by The Electric Playground, a good deal of the wind behind the sails of this site changed; our momentum started to diminish. Truthfully, Shaun is a dynamic and incredible person with enough work ethic, enthusiasm, and creativity to power a small country. Perhaps that may not make a lot of sense to some of our newer readers, but to those who know Shaun, it is probably an understatement.
Metanet’s amazing Valentine card (source).
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, meaning thousands of fighting couples around the world may be putting aside their petty arguments and trying to get along. The greeting card industry has deemed it so, and so it shall be. Shouldn’t we be more open with our feelings for our loved ones year-’round?
But there are perks to the non-holiday. For instance, the day after, you can buy a lot of chocolate and cinnamon hearts on the cheap! I’m down with that. Secondly, there’s that time-honoured tradition of sending Valentines to everyone in your life. From an early age we distribute awful pun-ridden cards to everyone in our classrooms, desperately wanting one back even from the people who steal our lunch money daily.
Still to this day, it puts a smile on my face to receive them, especially from those who take the time to hand make them. That said, I also enjoy the saccharine puns found in gaming-related Valentines created by the community. For instance, Capcom’s Super Street Fighter IV and Mega Man 10 Valentines are sappy enough to evoke smiles despite the groans.
Toronto’s Metanet Software, on the other hand, went the more subtle and way less cheesy route with their pixel art Valentine (shown above), making it my favourite V-Day card design of the year.
CBS rejected this Super Bowl ad for the upcoming game, Dante’s Inferno. Telling one of the largest television audiences ever to go to hell is not cool with the broadcaster. Go figure! An edited version of this spot will run, replacing “Go to Hell” with “Hell Awaits.” See? Much more family-friendly.
It’s almost as if Electronic Arts is trying to mess up every promotional attempt for this game – and they’re doing a great job of it so far. Still, the game looks like it can speak for itself. EA may as well strap firecrackers to babies and let the good times roll*.
Source: thrfeed.com via @J_Lab
I spent most my weekend playing No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. Having played the first game, I wasn’t sure I’d even enjoy the sequel. The original had some pretty cool ideas, both stylistically and in terms of actual play mechanics. But for some reason a lot of the side jobs were very grating – probably because they weren’t any good.
Thankfully, Desperate Struggle is way more enjoyable than the first. If you’re looking for some absurd, humorous, and hyper violent gaming action, check it out. I’ll be playing it a bunch more before writing my review, so watch for that sometime soon-ish.
On Friday night, Jorge and Mike Jackson came over to my place for a night of gaming, eating, and all-around good times. Surprisingly, Adam also made an appearance despite being neck-deep in PhD work. The trick to get him out of the house? Telling him I needed some computer help (which I did). Mike turned out to be a real hero for bringing over not only samosas (21 of them, at that) but also some refreshing Thums Up cola (which tastes like soda did before high-fructose corn syrup became the status quo), imported from India.
Most of the night was spent on DJ Hero. Jorge, having purchased and conquered the Renegade Edition of the game, was a force to be reckoned with. I played against him, on medium, while he played expert and I barely finished ahead of him. Mike, who had never played the game before, was also playing on expert. Granted, he was a real-life DJ some years ago (turns out he’s got a rich and storied past that includes, among other things, Muay Thai kickboxing).
Things got rather intense with Mike and Jorge trading trash talk throughout the mixes, leaving Adam and I to look on with shock at how many crazy moves the two were making on their turntables. They didn’t seem to blink, either, and the look of determination on their faces said more about how lost in the game they were than words possibly can.
We’re in the last week of Movember, and participants are starting look a lot less goofy. I have a mustache full-time, so it’s pretty cool for me to see some friends try to grow facial hair that doesn’t look too bad. Michael Jackson, here, has one of the best Movember profile pics I’ve seen in a long time. Just look at it.
Ah, who am I kidding? The dog makes this photo.
Today I added a new electronic instrument to my noisemaking collection: A reproduction Stylophone. The instrument was originally invented in 1968, and according to many online sources was even used by the likes of David Bowie and Kraftwerk. Cool stuff!
Tonight I dug out both my DS systems and jammed along on my Stylophone to preset beats from both handhelds. It sounded okay, but nowhere near good enough to share with the world yet. After I get more practice in on this thing, you can look forward to some lo-fi recordings released under my DJ Finish Him alias.
We spent most of last night partying and otherwise not taking photos of ourselves, but Jorge and I did manage to pose together for one, shown above. Right now we’re still recovering from candy hangovers. Actually, does it count as a hangover if you’re still eating candy? I guess recovery is why we have Mondays.
