October 31, 2004
Halloween special: GNAA hacks Dremel pumpkin carver product page to display Goatse pumpkin! (Vaguely, but not really NSFW - since Slashdot mentioned it, the trolls managed to get to it!)
Oh my God, Yancey-Hausman almost killed Lord British! (..and Origin programmers commemorated it in Ultima VI, too - hurrah for Internet trivia.)
'Thinking Machine 4' visual chess prediction art (Create art, get spanked by the AI at the same time - via Richard Cobbett.)
Archive.org: Various Artists - 'Comfort Cake' double album (A free first birthday release from the insanely good, Otis Fodder-run Comfort Stand exotica/outsider music/kitsch netlabel.)
Japan Today: 'The wacky world of love hotels' ('A couple in their 70s came and brought a tiny "shichirin" (a BBQ grill that uses charcoals). They proceeded to grill fish in a room, setting off the fire alarm.')
Al Lowe comments on new (Lowe-less) Leisure Suit Larry game ('Those who seek 3D boobs, profanity, and fart jokes will be pleased. Those who fondly remember the earlier games will be severely disappointed.')
October 30, 2004
Morrissey says we should vote for John Kerry (And he bears more grudges than lonely high court judges.)
ffwd: 'On Fragdolls, Ubisoft, and hidden agenda hilariousness' (In case you don't read the main ffwd weblog, a new post by me on some 'interesting' game-related stealth marketing.)
O'Reilly: 'O'Reilly Books Make Ideal Gifts for the Technophiles on your Holiday Shopping List' (Oo, look, Gaming Hacks mentioned. Proper press release next week, I'll shout about it more then.)
Disturbingly non-kiddie new Nintendo DS commercial (But the games are largely insane cute, how does that tie up?)
Computer Gaming World Museum (Look, the first ever issue has an article by Chris Crawford listed - he sure gets around.)
October 29, 2004
Kuma Reality's 'Halloween-themed' Kerry, Bush, Bin Laden, Saddam multiplayer models (Apparently, the excuse is that it's OK to dress up on Halloween.)
1UP: GTA San Andreas mini-survival guide (Good stuff, not over-encyclopedic, just a 'best bits', including base jumping (!), plane sneaking, oyster catching, truck driving.)
Gamasutra: 'The New Studio Model' (Free reg. req, Shiny's Stuart Roch argues that "the real lack of creativity is in our approach to the fundamental management structure" in the games industry.)
Jim Rossignol's recent PC Gamer UK article on EVE Online space-based MMO (PDF) (Lushly-illustrated Rossignol article on the MMO that's slowly building support.)
Veer.com: 'Mask Infusion' movie featuring Aleksi Virta @ Monotonik music (Advertising the sale of the mask images for pro artwork, I want all of them.)
Upcoming.org adds most popular section (Still a smart idea, now you can see who's using it.)
'The New Adventures Of Sigmund Freud' comic excerpt (There's a second page, too - from the rather marvellous-looking Commercial Suicide 2.0 indie graphic novel.)
Archive.org: The Internet Archive's book scanning robot (Skip to right near the end to see it working unaided - amazing stuff from a custom set-up.)
October 28, 2004
UK house prices to stagnate for the next 10 years? (Could/will this ever happen in California? If so, not for a while.)
Grandtheftendo - GTA III ported to the NES! (Mm, creamy homebrew retro goodness.)
Infinium Inc. gets funding for Phantom from... a synagogue?! ("On October 27, 2004, we entered into a Bridge Loan Agreement with... Congregation Mishkan Sholom"? Some might say they were scrambling for financing.)
Snarkout: 'Go Ask Alice' - Charles Dodgson/Alice In Wonderland links (And the new Gwen Stefani video is Alice In Wonderland-inspired, too...)
Firefly's Chinese Pinyinary ( _Still_ being updated w/ all the Mandarin language from the great, shortly-to-be-movie Joss Whedon TV show, accurately translated.)
No Rock&Roll Fun: 'Truly, It Was The Peelenium' (A great compilation of newspaper covers and online articles about John Peel's sad death.)
October 27, 2004
Gamasutra: Indie Postmortem - Nayantara's 'Star Chamber' (Free reg. req., the somewhat overlooked, rather smart indie PC online CCG gets a detailed postmortem.)
The Prelinger Library in San Francisco (Rick Prelinger, whose Prelinger Archives are now officially under the PD Creative Commons license, has a great side project, an unconventional SF 'public library'.)
Wil Wheaton is news reporter in GTA: San Andreas (..which is mindblowingly good, incidentally.)
Randomdialogue: 'City Of Heroes' adds Halloween trick or treat gameplay! (Knock on the door, fight monsters, win prizes - great idea! Here's one of the spooks in question.)
Chris Kohler: 'How Japanese Video Games Gave The World An Extra Life' book (There's a sample chapter from this great-looking new book from the GameSpot editor/Gaming Hacks contributor, too.)
Archive.org: Guerrilla News Network's video for Eminem's 'Mosh' (Wow, amazing video, powerful song.)
October 26, 2004
XM Radio MyFi portable device (Now, do I get this or an iPod Photo for my new commute? Or neither?)
Newsweek cover story on the PSP (Seems to be a fairly glowing profile, interestingly - via Waxy.)
British Telecom turning UK phone boxes into (virtual) jukeboxes? (There's going to be an iTunes Music Store on every corner, now!)
Dragon Quest Slime PlayStation controller (Unwieldy, dumb, but reasonably hilarious.)
Legendary Radio 1 DJ John Peel dies (Wha? I was listening to his BBC World Service show a couple of days ago - this is really, really sad.)
LegalTorrents: Wired Magazine's Creative Commons cover-CD, 320kbps MP3 version (I received, ripped, uploaded, torrented, in just a couple of hours - 16 great, freely redistributable, remixable CC-licensed tracks from Beastie Boys, David Byrne, etc.)
Undead Art - autopsy CC zombie movies for Halloween! (Uses two Archive.org-hosted zombie flicks, asks offers a zombie pinata for the winner of the movie remix contest.)
October 25, 2004
Archive.org: Various Artists - 'Intelligent Toys Vol.2' (Insanely good freely downloadable idm/electronica compilation, including Ulrich Schnauss, Multiplex, plus Monotonik-related artists like Lackluster, STM, Sabi, Sense.)
Gamasutra: AMOA International Arcade Show 2004 report (Free reg. req., Frank Cifaldi discusses the perceived "mid-life crisis" of the coin-op industry in the U.S - also includes best arcadepic combo evah.)
Archive.org: Seism - 'Number Stations' recording (It's amazing that these shortwave radio code stations [see also other new Seism recordings and the great Conet Project album] are still transmitting in late 2004.)
BBC News: Oscar Wilde musical closes after just one performance (The UK equivalent of a Casey Kasem-penned musical about, say, Mark Twain flopping horribly.)
'GORA' Turkish comedy movie trailer (.MOV) (Lots of CG, guys in moustaches spoofing Star Wars and The Matrix, what else could you want?)
Hunter S. Thompson: Fear and Loathing, Campaign 2004 (Missed this last week - he may be pickled, but he still has a way with words.)
October 24, 2004
Billboard Digital Entertainment Awards finalists (including games, tech) (Cuban a visionary nominee, EyeToy and BitTorrent creators as innovator nominees, an 'advergaming' category including SubservientChicken? Uhm.. wow.)
British workers return from lunch all drunken? (My old work in the UK probably had 7 or 8 pubs within easy walking distance, and that's not crazily unusual.)
Hollywood Reporter on game preservation and legal ROM selling (Includes interview with me, mentions IGDA Preservation SIG prominently.)
Ben '222' Turner gets virtual plant watering duty (Now when your room-mates are out of the country, you have to water their digital plants, not their real ones.)
SignalStation: Relatos de Presidio ("Prison Tales") comic excerpts (Wow, twisted, and it's #488 in a series, too.)
October 23, 2004
Jess Nevins: 'Fantastic Victoriana' entry for Henry Haller (From the forthcoming half-million word (!) 'Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana', based on the amazing web resource, from the extraordinary Extraordinary Gentlemen annotator.)
Forbes: Top earning fictional characters for 2004 (Winnie the Pooh surprisingly highly rated, Yu-Gi-Oh also kicking some ass for a Pokemon rip-off.)
'A Wail In The Desert' - ATITD MMO controversy explored ('We have a story that fits perfectly into the gameworld, covers some real issues (no matter how lightly) and that made people care.')
XM Radio to unveil wearable XM receiver next week? (Just in time for me to start using it on the train, when I switch commute methods? Depends on launch date, mind you.)
Eminem - 'Mosh' (.RM) (Here are the lyrics - so, as rumored, the first single _was_ a zany fake-out for some heavy album content - via BB.)
October 22, 2004
'Socks The Cat Rocks The Hill' - the unreleased SNES videogame?! (Bill with sax on cover? Wow, and not fake, there are some preview scans in this Lost Levels thread, even.)
Watch the Sturkenboom family re-enact The Sims 2 for an EA Holland promo? (No, really, you can watch them now - they were playing videogames (doh!) last time I looked.)
ONLamp.com: Gaming Hacks for Geeks, Part 1 (A Michael Zenke-authored hack to promote my book - there are updated example hacks in PDF on the book's homepage, too.)
Mercedes-Benz 'Mixed-Tape' Vol. 3 out (Using the netlabel/free music scene for promotion, interesting, latest update has track from Monotonik's Izmar, too.)
Gamasutra: 'Tokyo Game Show: Developer Conversations' (Free reg. req, some painstaking retranslation by Brandon Sheffield + friends means great mini-interviews with ICO, Sonic, Silent Hill creators.)
Nintendo Japan TV commercials for tilt-sensitive GBA Wario Ware Inc. (Also see the second set of commercials, particularly when schoolgirls go 'shakey'.)
Private Eye: Pseuds Corner, Issue 1117 (Great, pretentious stuff - this concept would make a great weblog, incidentally.)
October 21, 2004
Nintendo DS box art from now to end of year (Particularly worth noting - the insanity of Sprung (formerly 'Crush'.))
Regret The Error: a weblog covering media retractions (Makes me feel better about occasional typos - via Waxy.)
Western Australian government approves wholeheartedly of poms, wogs, dings. ('My best friend is a ‘ding’ and he has no objection to me calling him that.')
Cinescape: A plethora of Angel rumors (WB wants 6th season? Lorne is going to play Lois Lane?)
Ron 'Grumpy Gamer' Gilbert on the economic of the contemporary 2D adventure game (Conclusion from the Monkey Island creator? Niche 2D adventures aren't financially viable.)
October 20, 2004
Final Fantasy XI 1-year party @ Metreon, San Francisco (Cosplay a-go-go, innit?)
Ningyoushi: Japanese noodle capsule toys (Why can't we get some of these in the U.S., instead of just Homies?)
Slashdot: Neal Stephenson interviewed by Slashdotters (Find out the results of his William Gibson fight series, only here.)
1990 World Of Nintendo catalog (Ahh, Big N nostalgia plus plus - via Negatendo.)
Lifeform Project netlabel launch party flyer @ Atlanta (Wow, great new U.S. netlabel - a sneak peek at their tunes, too, particularly neeto = Inceptdate EP from an Adult Swim musician.)
October 19, 2004
Video-Fenky digs out hilariously Japlish 1991 Seta press release (Also see great Front Fareast ad, with semi-mythical, very warez-y PC Engine backup devices.)
Martin Hollis on Rare's creation of GoldenEye 007 for N64 (Halo's Brosnan-totin' daddy, some might say?)
Game Genealogy: GTA San Andreas (According to Toastyfrog, it's descended from... Shaq-Fu?!?!)
Motley Fool's Halo 2 leak conspiracy theory (It was Microsoft! In the study! With the dagger!)
Lukas Nystrand/Mortimer Twang's Ageema netlabel (I have a page compiling his early work, all freely downloadable, but check his new MP3 material, too - many new updates.)
Amazon: Fox TV DVD box sets, 75 percent off! (Missed this before, but it's still valid - Angel, 24, Buffy, Futurama, Simpsons seasons for $15? Wow. Via Loonyboi.)
October 18, 2004
Pixelsurgeon reviews 'Fat Slags' (The bizarre UK movie version of the infamously NSFW Viz comic strip, before you ask. A 'Spice World' level Britcom tragedy?)
Jason 'BBS Documentary' Scott reviews 'The Last Starfighter: The Musical' ('If you live within driving, walking, bus or train distance of New York City, see this musical. Immediately.')
ToughPigs: Beaker Muppets Halloween costumes (Some more 'reliable' than others.)
P2P Politics: Archive.org-hosted political video shenanigans (As birthed by Lawrence Lessig - conceptually interesting, kinda.)
Monotonik: Bliss - Goodbye Brain, Hello Heart EP [mtk137] (Dreamy Swedish electronics @ my Monotonik net.label - also see his collaboration with Basement Jaxx/Plaid video directors Pleix [the 'NetLag' link].)
October 17, 2004
Activision's official 25th Birthday page (Look, some game publishers remember that they have a past! Mm, Zork.)
Dizzee Rascal - 'Dream' music video (.MOV) (The best-known-ish UK rapper chooses a great video director, sublime kiddie puppet show results ensue.)
Scaled Composites-built GlobalFlyer in action (The cockpit certainly _does_ look pretty uncomfortable.)
William Gibson's blog is back, and he's mad. (Almost Jon-Stewart-on-Crossfire mad, by the look of it.)
'The Urbz' recruits indie comic stars for Web promo (The game's concept is still calculated dreck, but, Evan Dorkin, Chynna Clugston, James Kochalka? Neat!)
October 15, 2004
Bye bye to Kauai - going home now. (Paradise, for me, is many intersecting data streams, so back to the linklog fun on Sunday.)
(In-progress) holiday reading - Bruce Sterling's 'Islands In The Net' (So far, a strangely utopian '80s view of cyberpunk-ish political chaos, but degenerating further.)
Photoblog Day 6: The still-amazing Na Pali coast, from that same boat (Seriously, seriously spectacular.)
Photoblog Day 6: So long, and thanks for all the fish (Wait, they haven't left yet?)
Photoblog Day 6: Na Pali coast, from a boat... (..which went up and down, and up and down, ugh.)
October 14, 2004
Holiday reading: Pat Cadigan's 'Dervish Is Digital' (Provocative, oddly 'Second Life'-evocative virtual reality hacker fiction, and yes, I'm a speed-reader.)
Photoblog Day 5: Kalalau Valley (Nearby, a ranger was telling little kids about a shirt containing the bones of a hapless hiker his colleague found on a ledge. Nice.)
Photoblog Day 5: Waimea Canyon (Very, very large and impressive.)
Photoblog Day 5: Mr. and Mrs. Guavahead (Totally tropical paper-mache!)
October 13, 2004
Photoblog Day 4: Waves crashing, Na Pali beckoning (4000ft sheer drops to the sea are not for the faint of heart.)
Holiday reading: Patricia Highsmith's 'The Tremor Of Forgery' (Marvellously taut, wonderfully human semi-mystery from the writer of 'Strangers On A Train' and 'The Talented Mr. Ripley'.)
Photoblog Day 4: Na Pali coast viewed from Ke'e (The same Na Pali as the Unreal Mission Pack? I ain't afraid of no Skaarj.)
Photoblog Day 4: Ke'e Beach (As far as you can go round Kauai anti-clockwise. Nice beach, too.)
Photoblog Day 4: Kilauea Lighthouse (The Northernmost point on the main Hawaiian islands, even.)
October 12, 2004
Photoblog Day 3: Wailua Falls (170+ feet straight down, apparently.)
Photoblog Day 3: Puka Dog - best. hot dog. ever. (Mmm, lemon garlic sauce, coconut relish - they even have an official website.)
Photoblog Day 3: National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai Bay (The path leads to more trees.)
Holiday reading: HP Lovecraft's 'The Thing On The Doorstep & Other Stories' (Perfect tropical reading! Immaculately annotated by S.T. Joshi, some wonderful stuff in here, including 'Under The Pyramids', the Egyptian-themed story ghostwritten for Harry Houdini.)
Photoblog Day 3: South interior of Kauai from coast (Random points on the island are still beautiful.)
October 11, 2004
Photoblog Day 2: Wipeout @ Shipwreck Beach, Poipu (Another guy, but lacking surfboard, attention to gravity.)
Photoblog Day 2: Surfing @ Shipwreck Beach, Poipu (Impressive waves - only a few feet from shore, even.)
Photoblog Day 2: Leaves keep messages, Poipu (Useful as a notepad alternative, karmically bad.)
Photoblog Day 2: Spouting Horn, Poipu (Apparently, some tourists from San Francisco got sucked in, once. Not us!)
Photoblog Day 2: Waves crashing on rounded lava boulders, Kapaa (The ocean is fairly harsh in some places around here.)
Photoblog Day 2: Rugged Kauai coast from Kapaa Beach (Volcanoes sure make pretty surroundings.)
October 10, 2004
Photoblog Day 1: Landing in Lihue, Kauai (Island-to-island flights in Hawaii give you great views.)
October 09, 2004
Holiday - off to Kauai until October 16th (No normal linklog updates until then - though there may be some photo updates if I can get online. Take care!)
October 08, 2004
Shou-Sama's insane Japanese videogame collection for sale (This is the single best game collection I've ever seen for auction, quality and rarity-wise.)
Kieron Gillen reviews Fable (A bit late, but endearingly daffy, so we'll forgive him.)
Namco - Famicom 20th Anniversary DVD (Soundtracks from all the Namco NES classics, and in-game footage to watch while listening to them.)
Everything2: 'An area the size of Wales' (Includes a link to the vitally important Wales-o-meter.)
IGN interviews Nintendo's Reggie (Next 3D Zelda _will_ be GameCube-specific, among other things.)
Betting on Nobel Peace Prize sees spurt for George W Bush (Actually, it's all over now - due to an outsider [not GWB!] winning, 'Centrebet spokesman Mark Worwood told CNN that they had lost money on the contest.')
October 07, 2004
Great compilation footage of Nintendo DS titles (Holy crapola, Nintendo have pulled it off.)
Ubisoft's 'Crush' for Nintendo DS - classy entertainment? (Or not. The full preview explains: 'a Ubisoft-developed dating sim written by a Fox writer?')
Nintendo DS Japanese launch titles (Some interesting stuff - although it's not a launch title, Meteos in particular.)
Sega's telling poll on which game websites people visit (Specifically: "Total Number of Responses: 3744 - 1UP.com - 219 -6%, GamePro - 309 - 8%, IGN - 780 - 21%, GameSpot - 1167 - 31%, Other - 1269 - 34%.")
Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime warms up for DS launch (Get ready for the ass naming and the kick taking - I think this Photoshop is E3 vintage, mind you.)
Timothy from Slashdot's SpaceShipOne launch pics (From the most recent, X-Prize winning launch - some great pictures.)
Magfest 3 videogame music concert recordings (There's lots of great bands, but in particular, try Smash Bros - an amazing VGMix supergroup!)
October 06, 2004
Bizarre Nintendo DS launch title - Feel The Magic: XY-XX (Lots more details - the mini-games using the stylus and microphone [for blowing out candles!] sound great.)
Khonnor's 'Handwriting' album reviewed on Pitchforkmedia (Professionally grumpy, intriguing review for ex-Monotonik artist's first CD.)
Archive.org: Ideal Standard netlabel mix (An excellent, freely downloadable 2-hour mix of current 'netlabel' electronica trends and tracks.)
'Funny Old World' - a dangerous soccer game. ('We don’t know what his tactics are, because we haven’t found him yet.')
'Managing A Mod Project' talk slides and explanation (With the project being The Cassandra Project, a highly interesting, once super-delayed Deus Ex mod.)
October 05, 2004
Schindler's Lifts (I saw truck belonging to company on way home, am now using linklog for tragic, horrid, Brit-centric puns.)
Gamasutra: Worldwide game releases for week of October 4th (Free reg. req - we're the only site doing this over all territories, mainly because it takes so bloody long :P)
Videogame characters, MTV tell you to 'Choose Or Lose' (If you don't listen to GWB, will you listen to Sonic?)
NFG: 'The Anatomy Of A Joystick' (Neat diagram - first part of a five-part series, apparently.)
Wired: 'The Long Tail' (The best piece of writing I've seen in Wired all year.)
Archive.org: 'Alan Kay - Doing With Images Makes Symbols' movie (There's also a Part 2 - important, wonderful stuff from 'the architect of the modern windowing GUI.')
108: rhythm, the world on unprecious things, and what made beethoven deaf (Continuing the terribly long, terribly entertaining [or not - it's a love-hate thing] adventures of 108, his ears, and his shoes in Tokyo.)
Datassette - 'Thomas The MF-ing Tank Engine' (MP3) (NSFW through speakers, particularly - supafun cut-up from Datassette, Vim-esque soon-to-be Monotonik artist.)
October 04, 2004
Super-limited 3-foot tall Andy Warhol Kubrick toy (Other cool new toys include Spiderman Doppleganger - he's a Spidey-lookalike bad guy - also see other kickass Marvel Kubricks.)
Gamasutra: Brandon 'InsertCredit' Sheffield on the Tokyo Game Show (Free reg. req. - a good look at Japanese gaming trends from my Game Developer Magazine colleague.)
Three new Gawker Media weblogs launch (Including Kotaku, which looks a bit like Joystiq, but seems a bit snappier.)
Archive.org: 'Purple Vomit Sequences' movie ('Every aficionado of ephemeral public-domain films is familiar with the gratuitous and ubiquitous "purple vomit sequences"' - CG + PD = silly.)
David Jaffe (God Of War, Twisted Metal creator)'s game design weblog (Scrappy writing style, but v.interesting content.)
Gutterbreakz: On Dr. Who's novel cover art, electronic soundtracks (Everyone must love Dr. Who... surely?)
October 03, 2004
Excellent, skeptical review of 'Fable' by Jason 'Loonyboi' Bergman (Molyneux is apologizing, but the backlash is still coming.)
LegalTorrents - Thinner MP3 Archives Vol. 3 (Stats are back, downloads are booming for some reason (iPodder? Looks like it!), and more new torrents are on the way.)
Puffy AmiYumi - 'Teen Titans Theme' music video (WMV) (Old, but fun - Guitar Wolf also plays on the theme to the very Jap-influenced show in which Wil Wheaton voices Aqualad.)
NTSC-UK: A history of UK videogame television (Dominik Diamond already becoming 'golden age' icon, uhoh.)
Archive.org: Various - 'The Noise & The City' electronica double album (Musicians had to 'record sounds inside their city, then reprocess the material as much as they like' - notables include Greg Davis, The Remote Viewer, Tim Koch...)
Most nonsensical Japanese T-shirt design ever ('All you birds come originally from beak, you know...' )
Atari/Infogrames and great homebrew site AtariAge have IP skirmish ('Four homebrew games were removed (Castle Crisis, Mondo Pong, JoustPong, and Double Breakout), several reproductions based on Atari titles (such as Saboteur), and most of the hacks.' Doh.)
Pinball News: Review of Stern's new 'Elvis' pinball machine (Stern are keeping pintables alive, just, yay - check out the Elvis playfield shimmy AVI!)
October 02, 2004
IFComp 2004 games available for download (Here's the full text adventure gamelist - via The-Inbetween.)
FPGameRunner - take an FPS, add a treadmill - kerpow? (Wow, they even have in-action Doom 3 and Quake 2 snapshots.)
Cover for latest (#54) Arcadia Japanese arcade game magazine (Via Click-Stick, who also has a great English-language feature on the yummy magazine.)
Rocco DiSpirito of 'The Restaurant' now hawking goods on QVC (From 'superchef' to shopping TV, so swiftly?)
Archive.org: Private SNAFU - The Home Front (Dr. Seuss co-created government war movies++)
October 01, 2004
Crop: a language for crop circles (Great stuff, more in the excellent Morphs, Mallards, and Montages book.)
Hands-on details on Yourself!Fitness for Xbox (Here's more info on the title - yep, it's really an interactive work-out/diet video in console game form.)
Paraglyph Press: Raph Koster - 'A Theory Of Fun For Game Design' (Not formally announced yet? Very interesting, nonetheless.)
Infinium announces Phantom's new launch pack-in (Free cat with every 'console'! Or so says Frank Cifaldi.)
Ebay: insanely rare NES Hero Quest cart (Wow, one of a kind, pretty much.)