The Facebook PSN updates used to say something like "Joe Fourhman has purchased The Simpsons Arcade Game on the PlayStation Network." Now it seems your PS3 is going to offer up a little bit more detail, specifically promoting the PlayStation Plus service. While I like the new language, that yellow Plus icon is going to get pretty boring.
I'm sure most of my non-gaming friends have turned off the Facebook PSN notifications anyway.
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Someday, when we've got some time, remind me to tell you a long, fascinating story about Igor Krasnodymov's Haunted Village. (Available for sale for 25 euros under the Games tab right here.)
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How many more months are we going to have "The New 52!" proudly stamped across the top of each cover? Not really judging, just curious. Now that we have word of some original New 52 titles being cancelled, it sort of busts up the assumed magic of 52 books, right? Now it's just back to business as usual of publishing comics, without the mythical number.
So where am I on my personal New 52 journey? As predicted, the Lantern books are my core. I like how Sinestro has been turned from a cliche Silver Age embarrassment into a complicated and entertaining asshole. Seriously, when I started reading GL books, back in the Hal-has-gray-hair and Kyle Rayner years, Sinestro was almost completely ignored. Written off as one of the franchise's dopier elements, best forgotten. Now he is routinely one of the best characters in the book. I'm intrigued by the Third Army thing, I love the evolved Red Lanterns (an actual team of characters instead of just grunting psychopaths)... although I'm tired of the Guardians Gone Bad thing, yet again. It's easy to see why DC dumped the Guardians for so many years, because their role seems ever doomed to be the cause of everything bad that ever happens.
In the Justice League books, I do like the new League origin. But I wish I wish I wish they had run through this origin in a weekly series concurrent with the New 52 launch, rather than dragging this "five years ago" flashback out over all these months. The nest of the DCU is six months in, and we still have little reference for where the Justice League is in the contemporary setting. Both Justice League Dark and Justice League International have mentioned the core League in passing, but it still seems like a big black hole in the DCU right now. None of the member books bring it up (at least, there's no mention of the League in Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Action, or any of the Batman books.) It's just weird.
Note: the attached JL panel is lousy. For Jim Lee, that's a pretty lame bit of pin up work.
I'm slowly stepping backward away from the Bat books. The end of the first story arc means I can safely stop getting them. So I've already dropped Nightwing, and the other four Batman titles are soon to follow. Nothing personal, really. I just need to keep my list flexible. There's this Earth-2 stuff coming up and I need room to check that out.
I also stopped Teen Titans, which is probably a good thing, since they're about to launch a third Teen Titans family book and I'm just not that into it. The art on Teen Titans was pretty terrible as well. Very '90s.
Speaking of bad art killing books, Mr. Terrific was cancelled (I think it will last through issue 8 or so?) I really hope he lands somewhere cool, and not just slumming in one of the DCnU's many super-secret acronym organizations, like when they dumped him in Checkmate. Does the new Justice League have a rotating roster? Who the hell knows.
I'm getting Swamp Thing, but it's more of a prank I'm pulling on myself, to see how many issues I'll buy until Swamp Thing actually puts in an appearance. So far, I'm up to around $20. No Swamp Thing in sight.
So I'm getting back to my normal equilibrium. Probably not buying more books in the New 52 wake, but not buying fewer books. And definitely enjoying the discovery of what's different, what's new, and what's coming next.
I do wish DC would stop being stupid in those awful DC Nation All Access Pass text pieces. Last week's synergy-centric blurb has Ian Sattler raving about how he was stopping typing right now to go download Arkham City Lockdown for iOS. Jesus. Stop writing like marketdroids and talk to us like actual human beings. I can't stand reading more mindless jabber about how EXCITED the editorial staff is about the BIG CHANGES and INTENSE ACTION, and how INCREDIBLY COOL outside media project X is going to be. I especially hate when they start teasing BOY I'VE SEEN SOME PAGES FROM UPCOMING BOOK X AND WOW ARE YOU GUYS GOING TO LOVE IT BUT I CAN'T SPOIL IT AND WOW AGAIN. Grow up.
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Guitar is what I play the most, although I never play Expert, so there's no doubt that high rank for "Don't Stand So Close To Me" is from when Mike was over. Although I can't say why in the hell we would have done a Police song, as they are completely horrible. It is interesting to me that absolutely no song on that list is anything close to what I would consider a favorite. Vocals are a little more personal...
All those Billy Joel songs? Now those are me. Comes from listening to BJ's Greatest Hits on repeat for most of my adolescence. Or maybe we have similarly shaped throats; I'm not a doctor.
"Misery," "This Love," "Still Alive," "Take on Me," and "Eye of the Tiger"... that's Rhonda's scores.
My absolute best rank is from drums on "Imagine," where I am currently 184 out of 67,778. Fascinating.
]]>Check out the above video of guests trying out Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. I've been following this one, because I love the Kim Possible game over at World Showcase in Epcot. These early vids, however, are not very inspiring.
I'm chalking this up as a test run, and maybe the full experience is not yet online. But as the video shows, there's no game here.
What happens is: you get a free set of cards to start, a key card and some spell cards. Beginning with an animated lesson from "Sword in the Stone"'s Merlin (holy crap! they remembered Sword in the Stone!) at the Main Street fire hall, you're sent off to find a specific Sorcerers location in one of the MK lands. To people not playing the game, the locations look like normal Disney theming. But if you wave the key card in front of the not-quite-hidden keyhole activator, you trigger another animated sequence... perhaps featuring a Disney villain working with "Emperor's New Groove"'s Yzma (holy crap! they remembered Emperor's New Groove!) to take over the Magic Kingdom. NOT ON MY WATCH, you say, and you wave a spell card in the air to attack the villain. And then you are told to find another sort-of-hidden keyhole elsewhere in the Park.
Soooo... no matter what spell card you use, you defeat the villain? What's the risk? Can you lose? Do you need certain spell types to defeat certain enemies, requiring you to either trade or borrow cards from other guests (or, duh, buy more cards.)
Kim Possible works because the mission locations are mostly obscured to the general public. The secret effects are triggered by your KP toy cell phone, making it a genuine scavenger hunt. Plus, it covers an area that is, let's face it, otherwise deathly boring for kids. And as nice as the Sorcerers animated segments are (yeah, it is cool to see a wanted poster in Frontierland magically turn into a portal to communicate with Pocahontas!), the physical audioanimatronics of Kim Possible strike me as more impressive.
This look at the cards says the game is set to "easy" and eventually will scale up so the cards' individual powers actually affect the battle. Which raises the question again of just how this game will work. Is it possible to not have enough cards to win the hardest version of the game?
It looks likely to me that the cards have been designed so that there's a game to play with them once your vacation is over. IE, you get five cards for free, but if you buy a pack of additional cards they come with rules for a regular card game to play later. The card stats seem to indicate a basic numerical attacking and blocking game, maybe like a super Disneyfied version of War.
But I know, I'm judging this based on sparse YouTube videos and a not-officially-launched version of the attraction. Maybe there's more to it, or maybe that's all this is... an excuse for kids to collect/buy cards and run around the Magic Kingdom.
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iOS users, you have GOT to get Hero Academy.
It's a turn-based game reminiscent of Nintendo's Advance Wars. You deploy randomized units to a grid; each dude has specific movement allowances, attacks and abilities. Your goal is to destroy your opponent's crystals. The game is smart enough to make everything really obvious, so it's easy to pick up. You get five actions per turn, so you get to set up little flanking strategies, attack combos and item buffs at your leisure. Then you send your move off and wait for your opponent to respond.
Clark and I are really into it right now, on my 4S and his 3GS. He thinks it's cool that he can send me moves while I'm at the office.
Hero Academy is FREE. But the a la carte menu of in-app purchases is definitely tempting. The free version comes with one army - the human Council - which is probably enough for some people. A second army, Dark Elves, runs $1.99... but if you buy them you permanently disable ads. Which turns out to be pretty useful as it keeps Clark from accidentally clicking banner ads for Sexy Singles between turns.
And households with multiple iPhones but a single Apple ID take note: any DLC bought on one phone will mirror onto the other, even though the phones can have separate Hero Academy account logins. I bought the Dark Elves on Clark's 3GS, and when I tried to re-buy them on mine, the game let me re-download for free.
My account name is fourhman. Send me a challenge! I'd certainly rather play this than smegging Words with Friends.
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Cinematic Titanic played the ol' hometown last night. I only heard about the show on Wednesday (thanks to an alert from my MST3K-loving aunt!), but Rhonda and I were able to land some decent enough seats. It was a smallish venue, and the place was packed.
The warm-up consisted of a few bits of standup from TV's Frank Conniff and Gruber (as in: "The Higgins Boys And"). Gruber did a faux history of York PA which was well received by the local crowd. Mary Jo Pehl and Trace Beaulieu each plugged their new books. J. Elvis Weinstein performed the MST3K theme... and then the patron saint of riffing, Joel Hodgson came out with a brief magic trick to kick off the movie.
Although we were surprised at the pre-show bits, it makes sense considering the bulk of the show is the cast with their backs to you, in movie theater darkness.
The movie was "Rattlers," and it was hilarious. It was great to hear Joel and Crow again, like it hasn't been two decades since I lived for this show. I drifted away from the show after Joel left, so it's been a really long time since I've had a fresh MST3K experience. Plus it was cool to hear modern, topical refs like Jerry Sandusky (BIG reaction from PA locals) and the Green Lantern movie.
"Rattlers" was, as expected, a supremely terrible film, where a poorly explained military bio-experiment shakes up super-aggressive rattlesnakes in the desert. There's a ridiculously awful 1970s sub-theme making fun of Women's Lib. (The male and female leads have an argument in a hospital hallway about how women ought to shut up and stick to women's' jobs... and just to drive home the point, the next shot is a patient leering at an obvious Playboy centerfold.) Snakes attack just about everybody in the film, although usually via safe cutaways and closeups of fake rubber legs. Classic stuff, perfectly suited for the MST treatment.
After the show, we got in the autograph line (which was exceedingly well policed by the elderly theater staff) and got to meet everyone.
Look! It's me and the Mads!
I had them all sign my "Mitchell" DVD.
If Cinematic Titanic docks near your town, go see it!
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So yep, that's the new DC logo.
That looks sharp as hell on those covers. The left justification makes all the difference. DC is also planning on cutesy color schemes that mimic the characters, like a big luminescent green for Green Lantern or an electric spark blast for Flash.
ALL IN.
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Louie is the one in the lawsuits, Disney! Not Baloo!
Oh, and these DLC costume synopses are terribly hilarious:
Disney Universe Baby Elephant Costume ($0.99) Explore Disney Universe and suit up as the kind and caring Baby Elephant, from Disney's The Jungle BookDisney Universe Bagheera Costume ($0.99)
Play a part in the battle to save Disney Universe and suit as caring and responsible Bagheera, from Disney's The Jungle BookDisney Universe King Louie Costume ($0.99)
Create a rickus and suit up as rowdy King Louie, from Disney's The Jungle BookDisney Universe Mowgli Costume ($0.99)
Get into the action of Disney Universe when you suit up as independent man-cub Mowgli, from Disney's The Jungle BookDisney Universe Shere Khan Costume ($0.99)
Use his power to intimidate when you suit up as Shere Khan, from Disney's The Jungle Book
"Rickus." Heh.
You know what this means: Jungle Book Costume Pack #2 DLC, featuring Baloo and four buzzards.
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The big stink in the comics world yesterday was about a potential new logo for DC Comics. Well, that and DC giving Rob Liefeld three books. WTF.
DC last re-logoed in 2005, when they mutated the thirty-year-old DC Bullet into a hipper version. That logo has been all over the brand's modern crop of animated shows and movies, and while people bitched about it in 2005, it has since earned its place. Although, as I noted back then, the timing of the logo reveal was peculiar. The 2005 logo showed up right after the "Countdown to Infinite Crisis" miniseries began, as well as the re-launch of the Hal Jordan Green Lantern book. So you had one issue with the old logo and then the second issue went all new. Odd.
And now DC may have done it again. The new logo has leaked five months after the massive New 52 launch. It's just odd, is all. Maybe they didn't have a new logo in the works during the planning for New 52, but if they did, you'd think it would have been part of that effort.
My initial reaction is that this is more of an in-house logo, and in fact one version says "DC Entertainment" which is the overall corporate umbrella brand. For all we know, this design is part of a family look connected to some unseen Time Warner logo family reboot. Although not that DC hasn't undergone drastic logo changes before.
But the logo? It's clearly an attempt to "age up" the company with a classy, adult, arty look. Comics has always fought to be viewed as than more than kids/teen fodder (well, SOME comics), and an understated logo design might be a step in that direction. It's the classic comics conflict: they want to be perceived as fun and interesting and cool, but not necessarily juvenile. And keep in mind the reality of the average age of the comics reader: it ain't kids. So why not field a logo that communicates the line as being adult?
BUT. Even if kids aren't reading actual books, they are buying toys, playing games and watching cartoons with these characters. Is that logo going to fit alongside the products that are genuinely targeted at kids?
I see a lot of people calling it a sticker, but I imagine it's supposed to be more reminiscent of a turning page. It's a nice design. (Ignore the lack of color; this is the version filed for copyright and DC intends to use it with any color combination they want.) I'll be interested to see how (and if) it actually is used.
]]>We went to the Pennsylvania Farm Show last weekend, an annual event so important to the state that the facility that houses it is called, year-round, the Farm Show Complex. This probably amuses you folks from out of town.
Prior to this trip, I had never been to the Farm Show in my life. I mean, why would I. But we thought Clark would get a kick out of it. Lots of animals, oddball vendor stands, highly specified local businesses handing you pens... why not.
The Complex is a sprawling interior mess of warehouses and corridors that not even Janet Reno could adequately siege. There are multiple indoor rodeo stadiums; during our visit one was conducting a tractor pull and the other had a calf roping exhibition. You'd have to go pretty far to find topics of less interest to me, but, as I've said before, it is always nice to be around people who genuinely like where they are. I'm sure the oldsters learning about metal roofing while they munch on a fried cheese cube would be similarly lost at E3 or a gaming con.
The Farm Show's signature thing is the butter sculpture, a ridiculous weenie that resides in the center of it all like the very Sphinx. This year's sculpture theme was kids and the future or some shit.
At some point, Clark announced that he thought a cowboy hat would be a fine souvenir, and it was impossible to ignore such a genteel request. He wore the hat throughout the rest of our trip, and even during the Target stop afterward. It's a nice hat.
BONUS PIC:
Anybody who would choose to sit around a giant circle of dirt is clearly not my people.
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