10/31/03

10/30/03

After burning a half dozen discs and playing twice as many emulators, I've come to the conclusion that emulation on the Dreamcast is more of a novelty than anything else.  It's a great opportunity for hobbyist programmers to demonstrate their skills, creating software on an outdated game system with few development tools.  Unfortunately, it's not always as fun to play these emulators as it is to design them.  Older systems like the NES and ColecoVision play beautifully on the Dreamcast, but anything more advanced is slow, slow, slow.  In addition to that, the menus in many of these emulators are needlessly cryptic, forcing you to hold down combinations of buttons to access some features.

Unless you absolutely, positively have to play video games on a video game system, you're better off sticking with your PC for emulation.  It's faster, easier to use, and compatible with a wider range of games.

10/29/03

Your eyes do not deceive you... I've brought back Zoo Logic, starting with this special Halloween episode inspired by (what else?) Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.  If you don't get the joke, play the game for a while, and it'll all come into focus.

Here's some advice for all your aspiring Dreamcast disc makers out there... Sbiffy! makes the process a whole lot easier, but you'll still want to pay close attention to the directions included with every emulator and homemade game you download, lest you be left with a spindle full of wasted CDs.  The discs themselves may run on the Dreamcast, but that doesn't mean any of the games on them will.  Don't learn this the hard way... read those README files!

10/27/03

I'd say it was time for a new review... and I'm not talking about one of those crappy little ones at the bottom of the page!   It shouldn't be too tough to guess what I'll be reviewing, since it's almost Halloween and I've been expressing my undying devotion to one game in particular over the past week.  However, I think you'll really enjoy this review, even if you're not especially surprised by it.  Click here to read all about Konami's fantastic Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

10/24/03

It's been reported that Sony has lost millions of dollars this year, due in large part to its Playstation 2 game system selling below expectations.  Respected analysts have predicted that this will have a profound negative effect on not only Sony, but the entire video game industry as well.

So why is this man, a devoted fan of video games since the days of Pong, smiling?

It's because he thinks the effects of Sony's losses will ultimately be good for the industry.  Third parties like Acclaim, which have survived by paying millions of dollars for hot movie licenses and attaching them to lackluster games, will no longer be able to afford these properties, forcing them to either improve the quality of their software or go out of business.  And Sony, which has become increasingly arrogant and ineffectual over the past eight years, will finally be forced to take their customers and licensees more seriously.  Sony's policies on content will become less restrictive, allowing third parties to release great games like Metal Slug 3 and King of Fighters 2001.  Best of all, Sony's losses will make the playing field more level for competitors like Nintendo and Microsoft.

Don't listen to the naysayers.  We as gamers only stand to benefit from Sony's losses.

10/23/03

I've got a LiveJournal now!  If you just don't get enough Jess on this web site, you'll find even more of my bombastic opinions here...

http://www.livejournal.com/users/mneko

I just started the journal yesterday, so the layout's a little plain... I hope you're not expecting a slick background or cute emoticons that express my every waking emotion.   That stuff's going to have to wait until I'm a little more familiar with LiveJournal and how it works.

Well, enough about me.  I've got good news for everyone who's still fiercely loyal to their Dreamcasts.  There haven't been any new games released for the system, but you can still play plenty of old ones, thanks to the emulators on this site...

http://imrtechnology.ngemu.com/emulators.htm

10/22/03

It's no secret that I like bears, so it should be equally unsurprising that I had looked forward to Disney's next animated movie, Brother Bear.  However, if the early reviews I've read are any indication, I'd probably be better off just taking my seven dollars to the nearest zoo.  According to the critics who've seen it (as of this writing there's only been a small handful), the movie is so politically correct that it makes all humans- even American Natives!- look like villains for hunting animals, even going so far as to refer to them as "monsters".  Oh, puuuuhleeease.  While I certainly agree that it's selfish and wrong to kill a bear just to add a conversation piece to the center of your living room, it's a different matter entirely when you're freezing your ass off in northern Canada and nobody's invented cotton-polyester blend sweaters yet.

I've also become increasingly annoyed with the two moose in the film, who Disney has groomed to become their next wacky animal mascots (I'm guessing that a crappy television cartoon is just around the corner for them...).  Michael Eisner's trying to pass them off as clever new characters, when the truth is that they're just half-baked copies of the McKensie Brothers from SCTV, even sharing the voices of Rick Moranis and Dave (not the burger guy) Thomas.  If you're thinking of watching this emotionally manipulative, bleeding heart drivel just for these two characters, do yourself a favor and listen to the McKensie brothers' 12 Days of Christmas on Dr. Demento instead.  You'll save yourself a fistful of dollars, and more importantly, your pride.

10/20/03

10/17/03

Eduardo's at it again!  The man from Opcode, anxious to release another great ColecoVision game, has started porting titles from the MSX computer.  His first choice is Sky Jaguar, a Konami shooter with the intensity and variety that's often lacking in similar ColecoVision games.  He's hinted at even bigger and better things in the future, but he hasn't gone into specifics, other than mentioning the possibility of an expansion pack similar to the one Coleco themselves had planned to release... before introducing the ill-fated ADAM computer instead.

Well, I've started drawing again.  I'm slowly regaining confidence in my artwork, and I'm dabbling with different art styles, hoping to improve my technique.  In this drawing, I've borrowed ideas from a famous animation studio to give both Clyde and Byron an old school look.  However, I don't they're as happy with the results as I was...

10/16/03

Updates are going to be less and less frequent over the next few weeks... I'm looking for an apartment right now, and that demands my full and immediate attention.  Everything else in my life is going to have to take a backseat until I've found a place to live and the funding necessary to afford it.

10/13/03

All right, that takes care of the ColecoVision pages!  Hopefully, I'll finish up the 2600 page in a couple of days.  I wish I had time to add some new content, but I spent most of the weekend just formatting the ColEx, so that'll have to wait for later.

10/11/03

10/9/03

10/8/03

Yikes!  I didn't realize the California Raisins page had formatting problems until I examined it on another PC with a higher resolution... and oh man, were there ever problems!  It should look much better now, though.

In other California news, the state has a new governor.  Predictably, Democrats are already lamenting Arnold Swartznegger's election as the defeat of democracy.  I guess I just don't follow that logic.  The people of California weren't happy with their governor.  They asked for a new one, and they got their wish.  The will of the people was served... and that's what democracy is all about.

10/7/03

I suppose I shouldn't be at all surprised by Microsoft's arrogance these days, but a quote in a recent issue of EGM nevertheless floored me.  One of the marketing directors behind the XBox had the nerve to claim that Nintendo wasn't keeping pace with the digital revolution and that the company was ultimately just a toy maker.  Heh, those are big words from a company making software that just barely qualifies as entertainment.  Let's face facts, people... the only fun anyone gets from an XBox is by hacking it to play games that, mercifully, have nothing to do with Microsoft.  Bill Gates and his cronies still haven't come to accept this, but when you've got billions of dollars to waste on a system that would have led a smaller company straight to the poorhouse, you can afford to be in denial.

Anyway, we have a winner in the California Raisins contest.  You'll find the results of the competition here.

10/6/03

My apologies for the unexpected hiatus.  I took my computer into the repair store where I work to have it upgraded.  Unfortunately, things didn't go so well.  The new chip my boss had given me burned itself out shortly after it had been inserted into my computer.  Luckily for me, none of the other components were damaged, leaving me in what I like to call a "negative gain" situation.  I couldn't put any extra horsepower under the hood of my machine, but at the same time, I didn't ruin it and the trashed chip didn't cost me a dime.  So I'm a little disappointed, yet at the same time relieved.  It's much better to have a computer that works than to be left with nothing at all.

Enough about that... I should probably talk about the newest articles on The Gameroom Blitz, since that's what you're here to see.  I dragged my feet for a while on this one, but at long last, Tony Bueno's column on racism in video games is up and ready to read.  I was slightly hesitant to publish this.  Don't get me wrong; Tony did a fine job with the article, but starting an open dialogue on race relations in this country is about as wise as holding a sumo wrestling match in the center of a minefield.

In addition to that, I personally don't feel that the cheesy stereotypes in most video games are all that harmful.  It's certainly possible to take things too far, as the bowl-haired martial artist and Chinese restaurant owner in Clay Fighter 63 1/3rd proved.  However, I thought that the silly charicatures in Punch Out!! were more entertaining than hateful or insulting... and Nintendo wisely chose to poke fun at nearly every culture, including their own.  Perhaps I'm being insensitive, but it's ridiculous that people are expected to accept and respect the differences of other cultures, only to be viciously attacked when they dare to point out that these differences exist.

Off that touchy subject, the Fallen Angels strategy guide has been updated thanks in large part to Charlie Malekzandi, who supplied The Gameroom Blitz with a wealth of information about the game.  Thanks, Charlie!  Everyone at the Blitz appreciates your help... especially those of us who were going mad trying to figure out how to perform all of Cool and Yuiran's super moves.

One thing you're NOT going to see updated for a while is the comic.  Over the past year, I've felt the confidence in my artwork drain away... it's gotten to the point where I can barely stand to look at anything I've drawn.  I need to take a break, reconsider my drawing style, and try something new, because what I'm doing now just isn't working out for me.  I'm not saying that I'll never publish another comic on the site again, but there is a good chance that Zoo Logic will be an entirely different animal when it returns.

Just one more thing... I'll be judging the California Raisins contest entries in a couple of days.  If you haven't gotten your entry in by now, that's your own tough luck and sour grapes.