Posts Filed Under: brief nerdity

San Diego Comic-Con has quickly become my favorite annual event to attend, a vast collection of nerd delights–You’ll see Data and Deanna Troi in person! Thousands upon thousands of toys, comic books and video games surround you! You’re never the biggest nerd in the room!

While most of what I did at Comic-Con 2010 was video game related and required sitting in panel after panel for games like Dead Space 2, Twisted Metal and Super Street Fighter IV, there were plenty of other diversions. Here’s a quick sampling of SDCC’s people, places and things.

I’ve always had a thing for Starro the Conqueror, the giant evil alien starfish of the DC universe. Not that big a fan of the DC universe itself, where a thing like Starro exists, but the character design (cyclops, tentacles) combined with its weirdness (giant evil alien starfish) almost made me stand in line for a plastic Starro mask. Almost.

On Thursday at the Con, Capcom had a rooftop party featuring Big Boi. Liking Big Boi less than Starro, I decided to mingle. Ran into Street Fighter IV producer and friend of Meat Bun Yoshinori Ono, Blanka and David Crislip of Capcom. Ono’s always thrilled to take a picture.

Also ran into Adrienne Curry, America’s Next Top Marvel vs. Capcom 3 player. She’s a geek. That’s a World of Warcraft t-shirt she’s wearing. That’s Barndi on the left, who was too shy to ask Adrienne for a picture. I was drunk enough to be That Guy.

Earlier in the evening, watching Geoff Keighley interview Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski. I have a lovely shot of Cliff getting his make-up done, if I ever need it.

One of the things I wish I’d played at Comic-Con was I-Mockery‘s Abobo’s Big Adventure. It’s a weird Legend of Zelda-clone that sees Abobo–you know, from Double Dragon?–wander through mazes shaped like a penis. The marquee and side art on this thing was top shelf stuff.

If I had a trillion dollars (OK a billion will suffice) I would invest in things like Sideshow Collectibles. Like ultra-detailed Guile sculptures and sexy Psylockes and that Tyrannosaurus Rex that was infested with a Venom symbiote. I’d have the most amazing room full of nerd shit that no one would ever see.

That same room would have a perfect recreation of Skeletor’s army invading Castle Grayskull.

Oh, if you ever go to Comic-Con, stop by the Mega 64 booth and spin the Wheel of Mystery. Rocco may sing karaoke at you–Alice DeeJay’s “Better Off Alone” for example–or you may share an Awkward Moment.

Not included in the Nerd Lair would be tons of Ron English vinyl toys. This and the entire Gargamel line would be prominently featured somewhere near the entryway to my home. Trolling the vinyl toy zone at Comic-Con–the cooler side of nerdy toy collection–is where I spend about 10% of my entire time during the show.

Mike sent me an IM, “You want to go see the new Tron in 3D IMAX on Saturday?” I’m like, “Hell yeah!”

Driving down, we had a suspicion it was just a trailer from all the chatter across the web leading up to the event. Rumors were even flying it was attached to an early screening of the new Alice in Wonderland. That made the most sense, with Tron still being 10 months out, and Alice being just a week. Besides, Disney owns both…

It turned out it was only the new trailer, shown twice. (For some proper journalism on the event, check out Mike’s recount on Kotaku.)

The screening was at THE BRIDGE: Cinema de Lux in The Promenade at Howard Hughes Center — my old stomping grounds in Culver City, CA. Culver City also happens to be the place where the original Flynn’s Arcade stood. Now its a swank restaurant called Akasha.

Both Tron directors were on hand — the original, Steven Lisberger, and the new, Joseph Kosinski. This gave me some hope that the movie may turn out all right. That, and the trailer was pretty stunning. It is going to be a must see in 3D IMAX.

From what I gathered during the 20 minute Q & A session (while the film rewound), Daft Punk was heavily involved and will be in the movie, Disney will be recreating Flynn’s Arcade, and expect a game. Sometimes avoiding questions can say more than any press release.

Aion is one beautiful game.  Apparently I’m not alone in that opinion.  It’s currently topping the PC Sales Charts as a pre-order!

NCsoft makes it possible to create some of the most attractive avatars I have ever seen.  Ici here is one of six other beauties I made during the last beta trial (the next is this weekend, July 31 through August 3).  She’s Asmodian, so she gets black wings and her eyes glow fiery red when attacking. How cute!

But this is an MMO.  And I only flirt with MMO’s during their beta phase.  No clingy commitments, no messy break-ups, no hurt feelings.  Nice and tidy.  Though LotRO is always calling me, and hanging up.

The word “extreme” has forever been tainted in my mind.  Instead of the excitement marketing departments hope to conjure up by its usage, I prepare myself for an experience devoid of any subtlety.

While not actually using the term “extreme” yet, Dragon Age: Origins might as well.  BioWare is definitely aiming its sites firmly on the “Xtreme” crowd.   But at the same time, they are trying to call it the ‘spiritual successor’ to the Baldur’s Gate series.  That’s hard to swallow.  I’ve played Baldur’s Gate, and Baldur’s Gate II, and have just finished Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the the Betrayer.  That’s days of game play right there.  All excellent.  Never once did I hear anything remotely Marilyn Mason-like in any of the sound tracks.  Nor was I exposed to the extreme levels of gore I witnessed in the trailer or on the dragonage.bioware.com website.

But, alas, this is the new shit!  Prepare for tribal tattoos and plate mail-clad warriors with corn rows!   From the trailer, it’s looking like Dragon Age is more a spiritual successor to Doom 3 than anything else.  But instead of everyone’s favorite puffy space marines, you get outcasts from The Witcher.  And like The Witcher, its been revealed this week that DA:O is working the titillation angle as well.  Yay.

I want subtlety reintroduced into game development, especially in D&D style games.  I want to fumble with lock-picking and learning cantrips.  I want to feel like I stepped into carefully crafted sets like those of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  I want there to be a visual difference between a first level spell and a ninth.  And I want care in the story telling and character development like NWN2:MotB did with Kaelyn the Dove, or Oblivion did with the Dark Brotherhood line of quests.  Then we can start passing around the title of spiritual successor.  Until then, hold the Marilyn Manson and the Extreme Chilli Heatwave flavoring.  I’m feeling a little sick.

Mike and I usually agree on most things, especially when it’s video game related.  But a recent conversation about PlayStation Home found us on opposite sides of an issue.  Maybe it was that we were overly hungry, waiting an hour to be seated at Red Square in the Mandalay Bay hotel (way overpriced, and sub-par at that if you were wondering).  Mike seems to think Home is a colossal waste of time, money, and energy; completely impotent in it’s ability to move any PS3s.  And he’s not alone, our pal who was joining us totally backed him up.  They both predict Home will be about as popular as Sony’s handling of the Star Wars franchise with SOE’s Star Wars Galaxies Online.  Ouch.

What they fail to realize, I think, is that there are a lot of MMO fans out there.  Having been one, I can honestly say what appeals to this style of gamer is collecting loot, and surprisingly sometimes hanging out and doing nothing.  Sony got this concept a while ago, and added apartments to all their MMOs that served as a showcase for your spoils.  Now they are opening this option up to the console crowd.  A whole new market of gamers will be able to upgrade their avatar’s wardrobe, and fill their virtual pad with virtual, yet working arcade machines like Galaxian or DigDug.  “Quests” like the Japanese Home’s Siren mini-game are actually fun!   Complete it, and now your avatar can walk around as an undead zombie nurse (or at least wear the same nasty puss-filled outfit).  It was quite an accomplishment to pull off in the non-localized version, and then import it to the US version.  Spoiler map below.  But now it’s coming to our shores, so forget trying to translate it with your limited Japanese gleaned from hours of watching hentai.

On May 14th to May 21st, Home will allow you to upgrade your pad to the setup pictured below.  Yes, that is a giant tree with a face rooted in your new courtyard.  Questionable coolness aside, you can not beat the price: free.  With your new digs on the cheap, maybe you can switch out of your puss-filled zombie nurse outfit, once the novelty wears off, and buy some Diesel branded texture mapping for your virtual personification.

They finally made it.

Unfortunately, the ‘they’ in the sentence above does not refer to Aperture Science (or the Japanese).  Instead cosplayer “emilyskeith” is the proud owner of one of the finest pieces of simulated technology I have ever seen.

I even believe Chris Cunningham shed a tear in awe when he saw it.

Real Portal Gun Won’t Leave You Tasting Blood [Kotaku]