Well, now. Here is the kind of news that would make my head explode fifty times over if physics permitted. I was going on the Telltale website to download and replay “Tales of Monkey Island” when right on their front page was the announcement of their next two adventure game series:
“Back to the Future” and “Jurassic Park.”
Fresh off of finishing the brilliant “Ghostbusters” for the PS3, I’ve been itching to see more childhood favorites return to PCs and consoles. In fact, just the other week, me and Brit sat down to watch BTTF again, and I kept thinking that the movie would work so well as an adventure game. I had the same gut feeling when a group of us watched JP months earlier. Now all I want to see is “Bill and Ted” make their way into a game and my life shall be complete.
In the light of this news, I actually sent another follow-up to Telltale’s HR department. I liked where this company was going before. Now I’m convinced I need to be in that office.
“Back to the Future” is a good choice for this company in my opinion. Their last two seasons of “Sam & Max” relied heavily on fourth-dimensional thinking in order to solve puzzles and tell the story, so bringing in the DeLorean wouldn’t stray far from what they’re already good at.
“Jurassic Park,” on the other hand, is a little different for the company, given how Telltale is renowned for making comedies. They have had success with their CSI games, but in this case, we’re dealing with a horror franchise where in every movie, people are trying to escape an island full of killer dinosaurs. So they’ll really have to expand on the situations and characters if they plan to make it episodic (unless they make it a comedy where we get to play as velociraptors trying to start a rock band.)
So yesterday I attended a GameCamp convention – it’s this thing where about 20-40 people from the gaming industry around Edmonton all get together in a pub, show off demos, and talk about the industry. I figured it would be a great place to make some connections and even find some employment opportunities. Ironically, everyone there turned out to be unemployed.
However, there was a demo that really caught my eye – something that’ll probably be the future of gaming in the next five years: super casual gaming. Gaming that’s so casual, you don’t even need to be playing a video game to play it. By using your iPhone to scan barcodes around the world, or even individual people, the system can take what you do in real life and carry it over to your game character. Doing things like going to the gym, shopping, attending local events and even climbing Mt. Everest could grant you in-game experience points, money, trophies, and so on that will carry over to any MMORPGs or Facebook games you’re playing. It’s basically gaming that’s designed to get you out of the house.
I keep thinking that super casual gaming is somehow going to lead to the end of the hardcore gamer. In the gaming world, nerds rule because they sacrifice a social life to hone their skills. But it can all be in vain if, while playing Warcraft, they happen upon a player who visits the gym several times a day and is already at level 5000000 because of it. Now they’re competing against people who can beat them up in video games and in real life. It’s like “Revenge of the Jocks.”
Anyway, on the topic of video games, here’s a follow-up to that other Mortal Kombat video I posted a while back. Enjoy!
Here it is: the next chapter in my trilogy of nephew stories. Time travel has always been one of my favorite subjects, so I had fun coming up with my own take on how somebody could screw up the past, especially if that somebody is Dewey.
I’m still convinced that J.J. “Mystery Box” Abrams is spying on me somehow.
Chris Ushko, Box of Mystery 2010
And here we at the end. Eventually, I’d like to review non-anime shows as well, but all these hour-long programs like “Lost” and “Dexter” take significantly longer to watch and don’t show any signs of ending anytime soon.
Maybe I’m brainwashed by the mainstream media, but Japan is awesome. We need to agree on that. Awesomeness just seems to flow out of that country like a natural resource. They’ve got sushi, they’ll be the first to invent giant robots, and if you set a “Fast & the Furious” movie in the country, it’ll automatically be the best of the franchise.
I think my site’s still glitchy, but I can’t tell if it’s just me or not. Sometimes when I log on, all the formatting is all screwed up, and other times, nothing’s wrong at all. It doesn’t seem to happen when I use the Mac, so I’m wondering if it’s just PC related. If anyone notices anything strange in the website, please leave a comment so I can address the issue accordingly.
Also let me know if you notice images missing. I seem to have to keep deleting my cache just so that my banner can appear.
I just found this in my repository of posts I forgot to finish writing.
Anyway, for anyone who doesn’t know by now, my friend Brittany and I are huge “Dragonball Z” fans. So much to the point where Brittany had me download most of the animated movies so we could watch them for our hang-out-and-eat-ice-cream nights. And just for kicks, I decided to review all 15 of them in one post.
So here we go! *spoilers ahead*
1. The Dead Zone: A little pickle monster kidnaps Goku’s son. Goku shows up and fights his henchmen. Then Krillin and Piccolo show up to save Gohan. Then pickle man becomes big pickle man and fights everybody. Then Gohan gets angry and uses his hidden powers to save the day. Also, Gohan goes on an acid trip. General Impression: Well, that was all right! We had a few good laughs, they beat the bad guy, and it was all over in about 45 minutes. A good solid adventure.
2. Strongest of the Strong: A giant brain kidnaps Master Roshi and Bulma. Goku shows up and fights his henchmen. Then Krillin and Piccolo show up to save Gohan. Then the giant brain becomes a giant robot and fights everybody. Then Gohan gets angry and uses his hidden powers to save the day. Then Gohan has another acid trip. General Impression: Something about this movie seems very familiar… and why is Piccolo alive? According to the DBZ timeline, this should take place when he’s dead. I’m sure it’s just an honest oversight…
3. The Tree of Might: An evil Saiyan plants an evil tree that eats the world. Goku shows up and fights his henchmen. Then Krillin and Piccolo show up to save Gohan. And Tien, Yamcha, and Chiaotsu help too. Then evil Saiyan turns Gohan into a giant monkey who fights everybody. Then Goku gets angry and uses the Earth’s hidden powers to save the day. Also, Gohan gets a pet dinosaur. General Impression: Okay – hold on – Piccolo? You’re dead. Tien? You’re dead. Yamcha? You’re dead. Chiaotsu? You’re dead. Goku? You’re in a body cast right now. Gohan and Krillin? You’re supposed to be on planet Namek! Continuity, people! Continuity!
4. Lord Slug: An evil Lord Slug shows up and freezes the world. Gohan shows up and fights his henchmen. Then Piccolo shows up to save Gohan. And Goku and Krillin help too. Then Lord Slug turns into a giant Lord Slug who fights everybody. Then Goku gets angry and uses his awesome hidden powers to save the day. Also, Gohan teaches his dinosaur to dance. General Impression: Okay, you know what? I give up! Screw continuity! Wheeee! Everybody’s alive and fighting together on the same planet! And look at Icarus! He’s dancing! Wheee! Everybody dance!
5. Cooler’s Revenge: An evil Cooler shows up and beats the crap out of Goku. Gohan runs off to get some senzu beans to heal Goku, but gets attacked. Then Piccolo shows up to save Gohan. Then Goku throws Cooler into the sun. Also, they go camping. General Impression: Finally! They throw somebody in the sun! Why don’t they just do that with every villain?
6. The Return of Cooler: Cooler comes back as a robot somehow and uses his new robot powers to eat a planet. Goku and his friends go fight him. Then Piccolo shows up to save Gohan at one point. I forget how it ends, but I’m guessing they win. General Impression: Wasn’t he… sun… thrown in? …Okay. Whatever. Wheeee!
7. Super Android 13: Pimp robots show up and starting killing people while Goku is shopping with his wife. Then Super Android 13 shows up and punches Goku in the balls. Then Piccolo saves Gohan again. And Vegeta and Trunks help fight too. They all turn into Super Saiyans and beats Android 13. Also, a fish jumps. General Impression: Brittany and I rewound and watched that fish jumping scene a billion times. It’s just so random!
8. Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan: Goku is pulled away from a parent-teacher interview to hunt down someone who just destroyed a whole galaxy. A lot of stuff similar to plot development happens. Then Broly shows up and just starts screaming a lot. And Vegeta becomes a pussy. And Piccolo saves Gohan yet again. Then everyone just fights Broly for 45 minutes. It’s pretty sweet. General Impression: This movie would be a lot more awesome if they cut out 10-20 minutes of Broly screaming.
9. Bojack Unbound: A bunch of space pirates ruin the World Martial Arts Tournament for everyone and Goku can’t help ’cause he’s dead. And then Piccolo saves Gohan. And then Goku gets really pissed off and makes his fist come back to life long enough to save Gohan as well. Gohan needs saving too much. All the pirates are beaten and Satan takes the credit. General Impression: Hurray! Mr. Satan’s joined the cast! We am much happy now.
10. Broly’s Second Coming: Broly’s remains land in a volcano on Earth somehow and he comes back to life. Goten, Trunks, and Videl show up and fight him for 30 minutes until Gohan comes to save them. Then Piccolo shows up to save Goha… wait! KRILLIN saves Gohan! What a twist! They win somehow. The end. General Impression: What’s with all the gangsta rap in these shows?
11. Bio Broly: Ummm… Broly is brought back through genetics and turns into a pile of poo. Goten and Trunks fight him for a while, and Android 18 helps. And then they win. And Satan takes the credit. Gohan isn’t in this one. General Impression: Huh. 45 minutes of fighting a poo monster and watching Trunks wet himself. Remember back when Goku used to kick ass? Man, that was cool.
12. Fusion Reborn: A big jellybean monster attacks the afterlife! Goku and Vegeta turn into Gogeta and fight it with their punches and kicks until it dies. Also, Goten and Trunks fight Hitler! Yes, really. General Impression: If you looked up “Wheeeeee” in the dictionary, a picture of this movie would be right next to it. It also features a nice tribute to “Ghostbusters 2″ where one character screams obscenities at slime for comedy relief.
13. Wrath of the Dragon: Trunks makes a new friend! And his friend unleashes a horrible skull monster on the world! So everybody fights it and get their asses kicked. And where has Piccolo run off to? Gohan’s getting his ass kicked without him around. Finally, Goku uses Dragon Punch to win. And Trunks gets his sword! Hurray! General Impression: Wait… if Trunks needed the Eternal Dragon to wish his friend into existence to give him the sword, then where’d he get the sword in the alternate timeline where the Dragon didn’t exist? Crap! I’m thinking about continuity again! Get out of my head! Get out of my head!
14. History of Bardock, The Father of Goku: Ah, a DBZ special about Goku’s father. This should provide some insight into… no, wait. His father gets the power to look into the future and it just becomes a clip show. Then his dad dies. General Impression: Ahhhh… so his dad dies! That explains why he’s not alive later on!
15. History of Trunks: Another DBZ special! About the story of Trunks’ history in the future! Which doesn’t even make sense when you do know what’s going on! And Future Gohan dies in it! This is all your fault, Future Piccolo! General Impression: Everybody dies! …..wheeee?
So was there any good ones out of the bunch? Well, the movies are mostly sold on the camp value, cheesy comedy, animated demolition, and made for the fans – although a couple of them like “Lord Slug” and “Broly” were pretty hardcore. Heck, Brit and I even introduced our friend Sandy to DBZ using “Lord Slug” and she got right into it. But otherwise, the movies are just fan-service for fans who are willing to forgive continuity errors by the barrelful.
However, there is actually ONE great animated DBZ movie in existence that I’ve actually gone out of my way to stick in my DVD collection and show to random people, but I’ll review that at a later time…
Every Friday for the last several weeks, I’ve been watching this fellow named Paw do a playthrough commentary on “King’s Quest 5,” and after 21 episodes, he’s finally done. These play-throughs are basically “Mystery Science Theater” for video games where the player provides a funny/frustrated commentary throughout the game. If you’re a fan of the King’s Quest series (and have a lot of free time on your hands – all 21 parts are just over 3 hours,) I recommend checking this one out. His reactions to some of the puzzle solutions are priceless.
He also does a short sketch halfway through the last video where he dresses up as King Graham and wanders around town solving puzzles.
AFTER-THOUGHT: There’s also another brilliant play-through I watched (these things are great to listen to at work) done by The Spoony One where he tries to review all of Final Fantasy VIII but gives up partway into the second disc to preserve his insanity.
Have I mentioned how much Telltale Games rocks lately?
From all the same guys who made the originals comes the Tales of Monkey Island! Just like “Sam and Max” and “Strong’s Bad Cool Game for Attractive People,” it’s five new mini-adventure games released in episodes for the PC and Wii. The only guy who isn’t back is the creator Ron Gilbert. He’s making a game called “Death Spank” right now.
As an added bonus: LucasArts is re-releasing a Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition for X-Box with new graphics, voices, interface, music, and the ability to switch between graphic modes during game-play.
Well, now. Here is the kind of news that would make my head explode fifty times over if physics permitted. I was going on the Telltale website to download and replay “Tales of Monkey Island” when right on their front page was the announcement of their next two adventure game series:
I just found this in my repository of posts I forgot to finish writing. 
Have I mentioned how much Telltale Games rocks lately?