2/17/03

You'd think I'd have a Zoo Logic comic to go along with the news of Sega's merger, but nope... not just yet.  Frankly, I just didn't have the time for it.  My weekend was split evenly between a fun evening at Game Hits and the next day being stranded on another snowy road in the middle of nowhere.  The next time I go anywhere, I'm taking a map and a flamethrower with me.

Anyway, there's a new feature on the Blitz called El Libro, and I've brought back an article that was especially popular when it was first published here.  You'll find them both at this link. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll crawl into bed and collapse.  Wait, can you collapse after you've already laid down?  OK, never mind that last part.

2/14/03

It's Valentine's Day, and love is in the air... or some crap.  All I'm feeling is the bitter chill of winter and some lingering shock from yesterday's news that Sega and Sammy plan to merge.  Everyone else is taking this information in stride, but it came as a huge blow to me... Sega, the mighty creators of the Genesis, Saturn, and Dreamcast, are pairing up with Sammy, the fiends responsible for the games Death Crimson, Amagon, and, well, this?  It just ain't fair, I tells 'ya!

Oh well... at least I've got this demo of Rally Raid to comfort me.  If you're into shooters, you need to check this out.  It's an extremely polished shareware release for x86 computers with gameplay reminiscent of the masterful Dodonpachi and graphics that'll remind you just as much of Radiant Silvergun.  You should be able to get it from the author's web site, but if that doesn't work, I'll post a link to a huge collection of Japanese shooters in a few days.  What the heck... even if it DOES work, I might just post that link anyway!

2/12/03

I guess there's a first time for everything, and this was the first time I'd wound up in the ditch after driving in an especially brutal Michigan snowstorm.  I've got to thank to the good samaritans who stopped to offer me assistance (there were a lot of 'em, too!), and to the tow truck guy who somehow managed to reach the nearest town despite the blinding hail of flakes.  My hat's off to all of you... but I hope you don't mind if I quickly put it back on so my ears don't get frostbite.

So, it seems that after floating in limbo for nearly a year, Half-Life has finally found its way to the Dreamcast.  I've heard it's even better than the PS2 version thanks to more reasonable load times.  I'd be really excited about that... if it weren't for the fact that I'm just not that crazy about first person shooters.  Oh well, I'm sure a lot of other Dreamcast owners will appreciate the opportunity to play the game.  I just hope those sneaky hackers will eventually find even more unreleased games for the system, because there's got to be something out there that I'd love to play.

Before I go, I was wondering... I looked through the paper the other day and noticed that The Boondocks was conspicuously absent from the comics page.  It seemed as though the editors pulled the 'ol switch-a-roo and replaced it with a second rate knockoff called Housebroken, about a rapping pit bull terrier or some nonsense.  Are other papers around the country following suit?  If that's the case, I think this is astoundingly lame.  Sure, I was opposed to nearly every one of Aaron MacGruder's political opinions, and for me, reading his comic was like drinking a cup of hot urine mixed with crushed glass and thumbtacks.  However, I know there were a lot of other people who did enjoy it, and they're not going to be happy when they open up their paper and find some hasty, toothless replacement.  Today's newspaper comics say so very little, and this problem only worsens when artists are forced to quit and their space is instantly claimed by transparent toy ads like Mr. Potato Head and Pokemon.  If the editors insist on turning the comics page into a shiny happy place full of love, warm thoughts, and blatantly obvious product placement, people are going to give up on the newspapers entirely and find better comics elsewhere.  There's only fifty billion of them on the Internet right now. 

Mark my words... the comics in today's papers are headed down the same path as NBC's Saturday morning line-up ten years ago.  NBC was entirely dependant on hot licenses like The Smurfs, and when those licenses went cold, all the network had to offer instead was tripe like Camp Candy.  This spelled doom for their block of cartoons, and the same thing will happen to your comics page if its editors continue to stifle the creativity of artists like Aaron MacGruder.

2/10/03

A friend of mine was nice enough to sell me his copy of Versus Books' Street Fighter Alpha 2 strategy guide.  In addition to exhaustive coverage of what was arguably the best of the Alpha games, the book also contains great production artwork and scribbles from Capcom's design team.  This wasn't the most impressive of these drawings, but it's nevertheless one of my favorites, for obvious reasons.  It's a relief to know that the creators of the Street Fighter series hated Street Fighter: The Movie as much as the rest of us.

By the way, I haven't forgotten about the book reviews or the Fallen Angels strategy guide... I'm working on the latter and pondering layout designs for the former.  However, I HAVE added extra content to the Dan Hibiki page, for the first time in months.  If you're a fan of Capcom's beautiful loser, go to it!

2/8/03

I've finally got a Pen Drive, so it should be a lot easier for me to transfer files from my home computer to the Internet terminals I use to update The Gameroom Blitz.  All that extra storage should also come in handy for ROM files... I can finally start a halfway decent collection of X68000 games now that I can fit several on one storage device, rather than having to span one title across multiple discs.

So, what's this about Microsoft cancelling Kakuto Chojin?  From what I've heard, it's more than just a mere cancellation... they're recalling the discs and asking stores to destroy them afterward.  Now, if it were solely because the game was awful, that I could understand, but the recall was actually inspired by the controversial use of the Koran in one of the endings.  Forgive me if I sound insensitive, but I just don't think this warrants the biggest gaming cover-up since Atari buried thousands of ET game cartridges in a New Mexico landfill.  Christianity is subject to constant abuse, ranging from arrogant atheists on Fark referring to the Bible as "a fairy tale" to an artist submerging a cross in urine.  For some odd reason, all of this was not considered insensitive or blasphemous, but rather "progressive" and "daring".  Yet, when Islamic beliefs are called into question, that's suddenly horrible and wrong.  It's a load of crap.  If we had to put up with Xenogears, Muslims can take the lumps they're given from a game like Kakuto Chojin.  They weren't the only ones who suffered after playing it.

Anyway... Phil Estes was kind enough to keep the site up to date with a review of Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball.  If you're a sports nut, you'd better get your copy now.  After all, who knows how long it'll stay on store shelves with those naughty girls playing outside without their veils?

2/5/03

A student in my computer repair class had heard that Microsoft was going to merge with "the maker of the Game Boy" (presumably he meant Nintendo) and release a portable system called the XBoy.  Heh, that's certainly, uh, imaginative, but anyone who really knows Nintendo also realizes that they would never willingly surrender their complete domination of the portable market to one of their competitors.

Who comes up with these idiotic rumors, anyway?  This kind of crap makes me want to bash my head against a rock.

2/3/03

At long last, a Zoo Logic comic.  It wasn't the one I'd originally planned to put up, but I felt obliged to make a statement about Sega's Rez after playing it on the Dreamcast.  That statement is, "Huh?"

Seriously, Rez is pretty well done, and I'm glad designers like the ones at UGA are demonstrating that video games are every bit as much an outlet for artistic expression as a piano or a paintbrush.  However, this particular work of art doesn't click with me.  I liked Tron, and I like artwork inspired by Tron, but all the imaginatively designed flat shaded polygons and vectors in the world don't hide the fact that this is a pretty simplistic shooter.  The ability to add your own beat by firing at enemies in tune to the music seemed rather worthless to me as well... it's an amusing diversion, but it doesn't seem to affect the gameplay much.  Whether you blast the bad guys methodically or just hammer the fire button, the end result will be dead bad guys.  I don't see the point in expending that extra effort if you're not going to be rewarded for it.

Anyway, I've added reviews of N20 and Daraku Tenshi: The Fallen Angels, two games that went unnoticed by most of the public.  Hopefully people will read these reviews and realize they've been missing out on some great software.  I'm also working on a FAQ for The Fallen Angels in an effort to promote this excellent Psikyo fighter.  With any luck it'll be available both here and on Jeff Veasey's GameFAQs in a couple of weeks.

2/1/03

I just received a copy of the Digital Press Collector's Guide in the mail.  This thing is fantastic... in fact, it's so good that I'm making a page specifically devoted to it and other video game books.  That should be up in a week or two.  As for Zoo Logic, I've started a comic but it's tough to say when I'll get it finished.  If you enjoy reading it, cross your fingers and hope it's out by Monday.  If you don't, you won't feel too cheated if it's released later.

Mandi Paugh was kind enough to send me a review of Metroid Fusion, so that's been added to the site.  I'd chip in as well but I feel pretty lousy right now and don't have anything of merit to contribute.  I spent a couple of hours drawing a new banner intended as a tribute to the late charicature artist Al Hirschfeld, but because it turned out so poorly it probably won't be published on the site.  It would be a shame to have the man roll in his grave so soon after he's been placed in it.