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Arcade in the Sky Blog: April 2010

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Ready For Freddy


Freddy_Krueger
Originally uploaded by HazeStudiosGames
Tomorrow the sun rises for the last time with all of humanity free of new nightmares. The remake of Nightmare on Elm Street will hit theaters. I felt it fitting to preface any future reviews with a little history of myself and the burned man.

When I was a small child, I was terrified of Freddy. This was the one movie monster that generally terrified me and game me nightmares, even though I never saw any of his movies. The idea of horror movies baffled me. Terror was... well terrifying. Why would someone devote hard earned money for a ticket to something that would only cause them pain and suffering? And so, I shunned horror movies up until the 2000s when Freddy VS Jason came out.

I just could not resist this movie. Being a big fan of Godzilla VS King Kong, I was intrigued enough to rent the DVD at least. OMG, what had I been missing? Freddy VS Jason is one of my fav movies of all time now. It's tons of fun, and manages to balance out both characters and a plot better than an VS movies I've seen. Years of my life wasted! I made up for lost times. I now have an extensive horror DVD collection and have gone back and seen all the classics and slasher movies.

I can now say I'm a Freddy Fan. I can't wait until tomorrow! Sweet Dreams!
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Thursday, April 22, 2010

Gravity Hill Game


IMG_1990
Originally uploaded by HazeStudiosGames
New arcade machines are rare, and new concepts in arcade machines are even more rare. This is my favorite in recent years. It is an analogue game where you balance a steel ball up a winding path. If you can get the ball all the way to the top, you get a physical prize. I love this concept, though I have never actually won a prize from this. This later version gives you a smaller prize, even if you loose, sort of the "play til you win" version.
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Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Marcade Systems Portfolio #1 (inlcudes Gamma Prime Arcade RAD work)



This is Gamma Prime, now Marcade, I worked on one of their games.
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Carl Macek Dead at 59



I have some tragic news. I uploaded this video yesterday when I heard the news; I thought I'd share it on my Blog as well.
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Official Marvel Vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds Announcement Trailer





Well, it's been announced. Looks like the roomers were true.
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Flickr

This is a test post from flickr, a fancy photo sharing thing.
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Monday, April 19, 2010

Too Many Games

Too Many Games Coverage



I had a great time at Too Many games. It was a lot of fun!
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Friday, April 16, 2010

Shamrock Shake

There are legends of mysterious drink only available after Valentines day and before St. Patrick's day. It is said to be the most delicious of its ilk. It is also impossible to taste because it is always missing.

Hard to believe that any food item on the menu at McDonald's could be hard-to-find. 'McDonald's' is practically an analogue for 'ubiquitous' in this country. But the shamrock shake is always either sold out, or not supported at that particular site.

I stopped into a McDonald's the very day after Valentine's and I still could not get a shake. After weeks of searching, however, I did find one. It was a the McDonald's a few blocks from the Menlo Park Mall in Edison, NJ. I just happened to stop in there for breakfast, and there it was! Having ice cream for breakfast might be inappropriate, but I was not going to let this opportunity slip through my fingers.

So, how was it?

Delicious. McDonald's shakes are by nature low-quality. The only thing they do well is Vanilla. When you ask for a chocolate or strawberry, they just squirt sauce onto the vanilla ice cream. They don't even mix it up to try to fake it. However, adding the mint to the vanilla works. They harmonize in ways the other combinations don't. This shake is definitely worth tracking down! I highly recommend it!
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Trying the iPad

When your life is a busy as mine, you need to use your down time wisely. I like to use the time to experience things I've never experienced before. One thing I've never done is go to the Short Hills Mall. aka The Mall at Short Hills. This is the ritziest mall in New Jersey, and possibly the country. No GameStops or Targets here, only the highest fashion stores, the kind that you'd have to mortgage your house to shop at. No food court, just a Legal Seafood restaurant. There are even lounges on the promenade with carpeting, designer furniture and large flat screens to watch.

It was weird walking through here. I felt like at any time a security guard would tap me on the shoulder and ask me to leave. After my initial fear subsided, I noticed the largest APPLE store I'd ever seen. This was just the weekend after the iPad was released. While curious, I didn't want to even try to shop for one, because of the legendary lines. This store was so large, however, that I could walk in and try out an iPad on display without hardly any waiting.

I must say I was disappointed. The pad was not as responsive as I'd hoped. When I touch something, it's not completely guaranteed that the touch will register. Granted, I don't have an iPhone, so maybe I just need to get used to it. Long story short, it doesn't respond fast enough to make a good gaming platform--for casual or hardcore games. Perhaps I'm being harsh, but any vigor I had toward making an iPad game has been deflated.
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GDC 2010 Footage

Game Developers Conference was really great this year. Had some good meetings and got to see some great exhibits. You've read my post, now here's some footage.


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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Buckaroo Banzai

Another movie I saw finally was Buckaroo Banzai.

I had heard that is was quirky and fun, but I had no idea! If I had seen this movie in my youth, it would have been added to Goonies and Monster Squad as one of my all-time favorites.

The story concerns phenom Buckaroo Banzai, child of an American and a Japanese, who is a both a brain surgeon AND a rocket scientist and loves playing small gigs with his new wave rock band at night. He had a compound that rivals the X-men mansion and has a helpful network of fan called the Blue Blazer Irregulars. (I think this is a nod to Sherlock Holmes' Banker Street Irregulars)

We start out as Buckaroo finishes up some neurosurgery with Jeff Goldblum and asks him to join his A-team. Then he tests a new mach-2 breaking rocket car that has be ability to phase through solid matter. This 8th dimension turns out to be a 'phantom zone' like prison that held an evil general from another world called Planet 10. Buckaroo and his team must fight off the combined power of John Lithgow and Christopher Lloyd to save both the Earth and Planet 10.

The film is dated to 1984 pretty badly, but the quirkyness and fun still shines through. Fans are still strong, and I suggest visiting their website The Banzai Institute

Overall, I give it a thumbs up.
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Karin - anime review

Ironically, whilst ordering Thirst from Netflix, I also ordered the Karin series. This is an anime series about an un-vampire who generates massive quantities of blood, and feels compelled to bite people, just to inject the excess into them. Upon reading this summary, this seems like the most pointless premise imaginable, but it plays out in an amusing way, making this a worthwhile endeavor. This synopsis, did delay my watching the series for a while, but I'm getting to it now...

Karin is from the Marker family of Vampires, from Europe. They moved to Tokyo some time ago and have assimilated into society, claiming human blood for their meals. James Rolfe stated in his commentary of 'Dracula' that vampires come with a ridiculous amount of rules; and that's why each vampire story has to concoct it's of version of 'the rules'. Karin is no different. Here vampires are born as such, there is no 'turning'. They only take small amount of blood at a time, with no need to kill anyone--though only HUMAN blood will suffice. Here, vampires are born like humans and live without any powers or weaknesses, until puberty.

The main addition, and the impetus for most of the plot, is 'blood affinity'. Each individual vampire lusts for a particular personality trait in their victims. Some seek pride, other jealousy. Draining blood also takes these negative emotion temporarily. This puts the vampires at more of a symbiotic than parasitic place, at least in their minds.

This allows Karin to live a normal student life, only occasionally biting some stranger in the park to release the extra blood. Trouble starts when a new student transfers into her class-- Kenta Usui. A boy with nothing particularly unusual except that he has the evil-eye thing going on.

Karin is one continual story about Karin and Usui, the boy who meets her blood affinity so well that she can't stand to be around him. Because she is an un-vampire, her lust translates to spewing excess blood out of her nose. This is curious because this is a classic cartoon shorthand in Japan for carnal lust. If one were to watch from a distance and not read the subtitles, one would think Karin is just very randy.

Karin and Usui eventually become friends and then more, and many hi-jinks ensue. The whole piece is an elaborate twisted metaphor for a girl reaching puberty and starting to date. The parts all fit together by the end, though I will say that the pulled a ridiculously happy ending almost out of no where.

The art and animation are all par for the course. Even the music barely does it's job. Overall, a very, very average show. Despite that, it doesn't fall on it's face. So, I recommend it, but I would not say it's needs to be a top priority on your to-watch list.
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Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Thirst

I finally got to see Thirst, the premiere Korean vampire movie. I must say, it was very good. Not as good as Let the Right One In, but then what is?

It was definitely worth watching, though I don't think I'll be putting it on a fav list soon.
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Thursday, April 1, 2010

April Fools Takedown

I love a good April Fools post. Unfortunately, I've been so busy with our new game, Antipole, that I've had no time to prepare anything. I thought I'd just blog about other jokes I have found:

Destructoid



Dan Shive Comment



IGN list
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