Toronto Thumbs

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous
Paul Hunter is a Dreamer

Have you ever had a dream that scared the crap out of you? You know the kind: you are trapped somewhere; you are surrounded by the undead; you have no weapons; you look remarkably like Shia LaBoeuf and Megan Fox is nowhere in sight! Overcome with terror, you wake up in a cold sweat, afraid to close your eyes to return to slumberland…

Well, you can choose to stay awake forever - or - you can be like Paul Hunter over at NextGen Player  and pick up a controller to do some advanced training that might have real results in dream land. Nicole Baute, from the Toronto Star, has written an interesting article about how high-end gamers have a good chance of controlling the outcome of those nightmare scenarios.

Check it out »

Posted in News, Scientastic | 3 Comments »

Wish List
Canon 50D DSLR

Some of you may not know that I am an amateur photographer who has participated in a number of exhibitions (see Figtography for details). Recently, I have been noticing that the quality of negatives being returned to me after getting them developed in-store is decreasing, which is never a good thing when you have to work with them.

I don’t usually get the standard prints, as a lot of the work that I do requires that my output be 8×10″ and up. I usually get film developed and copied to CD for the sake of quick evaluation of what will possibly be the final prints that I will be working on. I currently own a Canon Elan 7E, which was an engagement gift from my wife. The camera is a rugged, quiet piece of technology with a variety of features that allow me to have a lot of control over my final images. But I think it’s time to move on to a digital model - the Canon 50D DSLR, to be exact.

I highly doubt that I will be getting this anytime soon. However, I am saving up to buy it next year. Plus, its price should be falling as the 7D just came out. For now, though, it remains on my wish list.

Posted in Scientastic | 1 Comment »

SCIENTASTIC!
The Venture Bros. Season 3 Out Today

The DVD box art for The Venture Bros. has always been great, but today’s release of Season 3 comes packaged in my favourite artwork so far. Not only does the box art and insert pay tribute to the Golden Age of videogaming, but the in-DVD menus do, too. I was considering posting a whole slew of images of the box set if various states of undress but figured this is the kind of thing one must appreciate first hand. If you’re a fan of the show, you need to get this! The set is uncensored as well, so you’ll be hearing all fun without the bleeps and seeing more than you might have wanted to.

Posted in Art, Awesome, Scientastic | No Comments »

REPORT:
Mad Catz Fightstick and Fightpad Effectiveness

Although they are hard to come by, particularly in Canada where they are an EB Games/GameStop exclusive, Mad Catz has released new controllers that were design with Street Fighter IV in mind. They come in three flavours: The Mad Catz FightPad is more like a traditional handheld controller but with a six-button layout on its face (Like the Sega Saturn controller). It also has no analogue sticks – all movement is controlled with the D-pad. The Mad Catz Arcade FightStick is a Japanese-style arcade controller featuring a curved eight-button layout. Lastly, we have the Tournament Edition FightStick, which offers up a bigger surface area than the Arcade FightStick and has legit arcade-grade buttons and joystick manufactured by the renowned Sanwa-Denshi (who are known for their superb quality arcade parts). All these controllers are adorned with great Street Fighter IV artwork, with the FightPads coming in various varieties, each showcasing the art of a different fighter.

We were able to get our hands on both the FightPad and the FightStick for the purposes of this review, but were unfortunately unable to track down the elusive Tournament Edition FightStick. We can only assume for the purposes of our following experiment that the TE FightStick would be all of our wildest dreams come true. In the meantime, however, we already had our hands full of controllers. When deciding how to best compare these Mad Catz products to what we’d imagine the majority of Xbox 360 owners to use to play videogames (the standard 360 controller), we ultimately came to the conclusion that the only fair method to gauge the quality of them all was through modern science and controlled (no pun intended) laboratory testing.

Therefore, we dug out our high school Physics notes and looked up how to write Lab Reports. Our apologies in advance if you are in fact one of these so-called “real” scientists. But be assured that we, too, are doing this for the good of mankind. What follows is our complete Lab Report.

Read the rest »

Posted in Awesome, Gear Reviews, Scientastic, Xbox 360 | 7 Comments »

Eighth Wonder of the World
Behold the iCast

Over at the CGCC forums, mad scientist Logicdustbin has unveiled the greatest technological achievement to date – and proven why I voted him most likely to conquer the earth with a robot army. This marvel of gaming aesthetics strengthens my belief that every appliance, device, and utensil, should in some way also be a Dreamcast.

Watch the video after the break, check the forum thread for more images, and then squeeze in a few more rounds of Under Defeat and Triggerheart Exelica with me before Logic’s Killbot legions enslave us all!

Read the rest »

Posted in Awesome, Mac, Scientastic, Sega Dreamcast, Videos | 8 Comments »

GO TEAM VENTURE!
Venture Bros. Box Art Pays Homage to Atari

Sadly, these are not actual boxes for upcoming Atari 2600 titles. But on the bright side, these are the cover designs for the upcoming DVD and Blu-ray releases of The Venture Bros. Season 3, which will be available in stores March 24, 2009. Not only is The Venture Bros. the greatest show to ever air on The Cartoon Network, it’s also the first Adult Swim show to be made available in Blu-ray format.

Both DVD and Blu-ray versions of the show include extras such as deleted scenes and commentary as well as all 13 episodes of season 3. But the Blu-ray version will also include a soundtrack CD. While details of the track selection haven’t been revealed, it can only be good. The show’s composer is none other than over-achiever J.G. Thirlwell, who has released albums under various aliases including Foetus and Steroid Maximus. I’d be surprised if the composers of the Skullmonkeys and Metroid Prime soundtracks weren’t huge Steroid Maximus fans, because the music in those games sounds like something Thirlwell would have done.

March is a long way off, but I find myself already wondering which version to buy. I don’t have a Blu-ray player yet, but am thinking of getting both versions anyway. On the topic of video games, a point-and-click adventure starring The Venture Bros. would possibly be the greatest game ever. Someone needs to get on that.

Posted in Awesome, DVD, Scientastic | 5 Comments »