Happy Up Here from Röyksopp on Vimeo.
This video is incredible! There’s nothing about it I don’t like.
Thanks to Gilbert for sending this my way 
When she's not busy blowing the heads off of enemies to get to the next level, she's usually playing video games.
Meet Kate —
The Game Dame™
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TheGameDame
Posted on February 26th, 2009 in Videos.
13 Comments so far
This video is incredible! There’s nothing about it I don’t like.
Thanks to Gilbert for sending this my way
Posted on February 24th, 2009 in Pre/Reviews.
3 Comments so far
So I’m killing time while downloading GTAIV Lost & Damned and I came across this ad for Dante’s Inferno from EA Games. Ho-lee-crap. Watching the trailer made all the little nerdy hairs stand up on the back of my neck in excitement. Right now the official site only has a trailer and a sign up list to get notifications about the game – which I immediately filled out. Here’s what I know about it for now:
Eurogamer has written an excellent piece about the upcoming game which gets me so excited I might be sent to the second circle of Hell. It’s pretty lengthy, but you should totally read it. They’ve actually gotten their hands on a demo and – even though the official release is set for some time in 2010 – they’re raving about it. The article says that the controls are exactly like God of War – which makes it easy for GOW fans to pick up and play. That makes me happy. I can’t stand games with controls that don’t make sense. And I can’t stand games without a good storyline. Looks like EA Games has gotten it right. There’s a great quote in the Eurogamer article from Jonathan Knight, executive producer for Dante’s Inferno:
“Obviously we want a game that feels absolutely long enough so that you feel you’ve completely got your money’s worth. That goes without saying. But more important than length is that every level and every zone of every level gets attention from a designer. The way we work is each zone, even if it’s just a combat arena, there’s something about it, some object or some configuration of the enemies of the chest, or there’s some little puzzle element to it or some secret area or clever way of moving the camera… Something that makes it unique from every other zone of the game.”
Hooray for attention to detail in gameplay! So we’ve got good controls, good gameplay AND a good story? Am I dreaming? After playing the RE5 demo and being totally and completely disappointed, I’d almost lost my faith in ever being able to play a good game again. I envisioned myself sitting outside of a gamer’s lounge reminiscing about the “good ole days of gaming – when story lines mattered and developers actually remembered the single-player campaign lovers of the world.” But maybe I won’t have to. Hopefully this game will be as good as I think it’s going to be. And hopefully more developers will follow the trend. And while I’m thrilled about seeing a classic poem in game form, I hope that developers keep their creative juices flowing and don’t limit themselves to classics. They should be stay inspired enough to create new ones like Heavenly Sword.
Read the awesome Eurogamer review»
Visit the official game site» (BTW – wonder how much EA Games had to pay for the URL?! Some AP English teacher must be bankin’ right about now.)
Watch the trailer» (Is “Go To Hell” not the coolest, most appropriate tagline EVER?!!?!!)
Posted on February 18th, 2009 in Pre/Reviews.
No Comments so far
Did everyone have a good Valentine’s day? I sure did. I started off as the lucky recipient of a home-cooked brunch, then, full-bellied, got taken on my first trip to The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. In addition to being a gorgeous facility with incredible art, this trip was extra special for me because artist Jeff Elrod was being featured. I’d never heard of Elrod before, but I was thankful for the introduction.
(SIDE NOTE: For some reason, these images won’t appear if you’re on IE 7 on a PC. Try it in Firefox if you have problems. Firefox is a better browser anyway.)
Elrod painted Endgame in 1994 – an important early work that gives a shout out to Abstract Expressionist Barnett Newman and Space Invaders. Like Newman, who used masking tape to make his famous zip paintings, Elrod uses tape to define space in his work. If you get close to Elrod’s gallery pieces, you can see layered textures created by removing tape from beneath dried paint.
Rather than creating artwork completely on the computer or completely on the canvas, Elrod began combining those processes in 1996. “I’m not into drawing on the computer and then sending out to have a print made of it,” says Elrod, “I’m into figuring out how to put the drawing onto a canvas so that it becomes a part of the painting history dialogue. I have to think of how I’m going to make a painting, so using a computer drawing simplifies that process … I guess I’d say I’m lazy, in a thoughtful way.”
To create his pieces, Elrod roughs out drawings on a computer screen using a simple, vector-based graphics program, then transfers it onto canvas by tracing the forms and masking out certain sections with tape to create lines and shapes. Starting his art using the computer connects Elrod to his youth and the warm and fuzzies he felt when gaming. He describes the sensation of drawing with a mouse as “physiological warmth,” saying, “I hadn’t felt that feeling in twenty years and it felt good. But I wasn’t just playing Pong; I was developing a framework for making art.”
Well, keep it up Jeff Elrod. Your show rocks and I’d love to see more. If you’re near DFW and can make it out to The Modern before March 29th, 2009, do it. It’s worth seeing these pieces in person. Digital blogs don’t do them justice.
Posted on February 6th, 2009 in Techie Tidbits.
7 Comments so far
Sometimes I’m proud to be from Texas… like when people hack road signs in Austin to warn of upcoming zombies. Other times, however, like when Daniel Alvarez (also from Austin, TX) got arrested for allegedly strangling his girlfriend with a Wii controller, I’m not so proud.
So here’s what happened… Alvarez ate his girlfriend’s Girl Scout cookies. His girlfriend confronted him about it. Fighting ensued. Alvarez grabbed the Wii controller and attempted to strangle his girlfriend. She broke away and called 911. He got arrested. Alvarez has been charged with aggravated assault and is currently being held in a Travis County jail, with bail set at $40,000. If charged, he could be facing up to 20 years in prison.
Um… ok, Daniel. I know that Girl Scout cookies are good. And I know they only come around once a year. But there is a strict relationship rule you HAVE to learn if you ever want to get laid on a regular basis again: Never EVER eat the last of ANYTHING that your girlfriend likes. This is not limited to sweets like Girl Scout cookies. We’re talking queso, steak, the last piece of cold pizza. Don’t touch it. Don’t think about it. And if she says “Oh, no… you can have it. It’s fine.” Plan to eat half and offer her the rest or at the very least, a bite. 99% of the time, she’ll take you up on the offer. Also, you should probably get that whole anger thing checked out. Or if you can’t, at least do something that won’t be embarrassing to admit in prison. I can only imagine Bubba towering over you, sweat dripping from his dirty brow onto a grease-stained shirt and asking you “So… whatcha in for?” And you answering “I strangled my girlfriend with a Wii Controller.” That just doesn’t sound very cool.
Posted on February 3rd, 2009 in Pre/Reviews.
4 Comments so far
So I finally rented the latest Tomb Raider and played it through.
Um…
Yeah.
Ok, so here’s the deal with Lara. You know I love her character. I love her history. And I love the fact that Megan Fox is being tossed around as a potential candidate to play her in the next Tomb Raider movie. Lara is a great, strong, beautiful, marketable woman.
The games she’s in, however, piss me off. I had high hopes that because Crystal Dynamics was involved again, Underworld would kick ass.
FAIL
As far as graphics go, good job guys. The underwater settings were pretty fantastic and little details like Lara’s new brow wrinkles added some nice character expressions. The soundtrack was good as well, although, it did put me to sleep a couple of times when I was trying to figure out how to get out of one of many buggy-ass puzzles.
ON THE OTHER HAND….
CONTROL IT!!!
Jesus H. Mothereffing Christ, guys! Can you PLEASE fix the HORRIBLE CONTROLS we have ALL been SCREAMING ABOUT FOR FOREVER?!?!?! This game probably took me 10 hours longer than it should have to complete because I’d tell Lara to jump in the direction of a ledge only to watch her crash to her death. And because the auto-save feature was a joke, the game would often reload in a place that didn’t make any sense and it’d take twice as long to get back to where I crashed… only to crash again.
YOU’RE KIDDING, RIGHT?
So I’m cool with suspending disbelief in video games… but I have a really hard time with the fact that one of Lara’s clothing options before you explore the Arctic sea is a teeny bathing suit. And she swims through the icy waters just fine. Not only that, but as soon as she gets out on land, she kicks pots to search for treasures:
Not only would that probably shatter your frozen foot (if you hadn’t died from hypothermia first), WHAT THE FUCK IS LARA DOING SMASHING PRICELESS POTTERY INTO A BILLION PIECES??!?! She’s a treasure hunter. She values ancient artifacts… and yet she’s kicking the ever-loving shit out of potentially priceless pottery just to see if there’s something inside???!!!!! Riiiight.
ENDANGERED? PSHAW.
Lara into collecting pieces of history and keeping things fair. This is why I have a really hard time believing she would have no qualms about blowing the faces off of tigers – EVEN considering she’s under attack. What happened to fancy wall jumping to get out of their way?
About 1/3 of the way through my “I LOVE LARA” juices were hardly enough to keep me going through the rest of the game. There were glitches galore and hiccups that took hours to figure out. If it weren’t for the gamer points I knew I could earn for toughing it through, I never would’ve played through the entire game. NEVER.
The last level was a freaking joke. Glitch-o-rama. After an hour of things not working right, I had to restart the entire level. Which would’ve been fine if the enemies hadn’t loaded as INVISIBLE. Second restart… I WAS INVISIBLE. And the final cut scene/story didn’t make any sense. So the payoff was lame.
There’s more I could go into, but honestly, I don’t even feel like griping about it anymore. So I’ll end it here and let you know that – unless you’re just into torturing yourself with bad games – there’s no point in playing Underworld. And that makes me very, very sad.
Gamertag Radio
Interview
—September 2008
Game Heroes
Video podcast appearance
—June 2008
Sweet Flag
Interview
—May 2008
Attack of the Show
“The Loop” panelist
—November 2007
CrotchMail.com
Interview
—June 2007
TiedTheLeader.com
Interview
—April 2007
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