Don’t get me wrong, I used to love the series. Most people had their formative video game experiences with Super Mario Bros. I had mine with Final Fantasy II on the SNES. I remember begging my parents to purchase an obscenely priced Final Fantasy III cartridge for $74.99 at a specialty shop. I even had my relatives pick up an import copy of Final Fantasy V from a trip to Japan even though I knew no Japanese whatsoever. Hell, I was determined to learn kanji as a 12 year old solely to play that game.
Final Fantasy used to be the reason I chose a particular console over another. It was why I wanted the Super Nintendo, Playstation, Playstation 2, and Playstation 3. Each new entry in the franchise was an event. I would spend every free moment lost in the world of Final Fantasy until the epic tale was over.
It took me nearly five months to finish Final Fantasy 13. There were stretches of multiple months where I didn’t even touch the game. I eventually finished the game, but it took a herculean feat of self-motivation to do so.
It wasn’t due to deficient game playing skills on my part or any bugs or faults with the game’s programming. No, I had a tough time playing through Limbo because I was genuinely unsettled by the hauntingly melancholy game atmosphere with its grainy black and white visuals and sparse, yet disturbing ambient sounds and audio cues.
You may think I’m talking about a new survival horror game, but I’m not. Limbo is a 2D platforming puzzle game.
“How is this possible?” you may ask. Just watch this short trailer:
I found it appropriate that the protagonist of the game is a young boy because a lot of what disturbed me in Limbo scared me as a child. I have a ghastly fear of spiders, insects, and man eating plants that crystallized in my youth somewhere between the piranha plants in Super Mario Bros. and the insects in Daikatana.
Death in Limbo is also an infinitely more powerful on screen event because it is happening to a little boy. My first death happened via running into a bear trap on the ground. The trap chomped my boy into an aerial concerto of bloody body parts which then collapsed limply to the ground. It quickly became obvious that I wasn’t going to be playing Rayman.
One particular scene early in the game has you walk by a white butterfly on the ground who flies off towards a tree that is clearly harboring a giant black spider lurking in the branches above. I must have spent a good five minutes sitting in my chair, paralyzed. I saw no obvious route around the tree, yet there was no fucking way I wanted to walk under three giant spider legs. Given that the game had established a precedent for grisly deaths by that point, I especially did not want to see what this spider was going to do to the little boy.
Eventually, I excruciatingly faced my fears and found a way past the spider situation. The game may “just” be in black and white, but the realistic animations of the boy and the world combine with the game’s desolate atmosphere to create a completely immersive experience.
Who are you? Why are you here? Where are you?
These are questions Danish developer Playdead want you to wonder about while playing through Limbo. And they did, in fact, linger in the back of my mind throughout the game’s first half, especially with the appearance of other humanoids (dead and alive). However, as the game progressed, I found myself caring less and less about these things and just focusing on what my next destination was and how to reach it. In other words, gameplay became the driving motivational force, not the search for greater meaning in the story.
A word about the gameplay: much of it is based on a “die first, figure out why after you respawn” paradigm. During your first playthrough you should expect to die often and die unexpectedly. This may sound like a frustrating nightmare, but for the most part isn’t, because there are bountiful checkpoints that place you close to your place of death. However, there are a couple of places in the game where I repeatedly yelled “Come on!” at my screen because I could not discern a certain goal and the death checkpoint forced me to play through a previous section before I could take a crack at it again.
Comparisons to Jonathan Blow’s breakthrough “indie” game, Braid, are bound to pop up due to both games belonging to a similar genre. I’ll take a shot at declaring a “winner” by saying that Limbo doesn’t quite reach Braid from both a gameplay and narrative standpoint. Overall, Limbo’s puzzles aren’t as elegantly designed as Braid’s. Many of the more difficult ones require precision timing and button pressing dexterity to solve problems, rather than imaginative and cereberal solutions. That’s not to say Limbo is poorly designed – there are some wonderfully devious puzzles that give a real sense of fulfillment once you figure them out. It just doesn’t feel as naturally rewarding as Braid did.
Braid’s narrative benefited from the use of prose in its introductory and ending sequences. These words really tugged at me emotionally and provided context for the story it was trying to get across. Limbo, on the other hand, does not have one word of text within the game. It relies solely on its greatest strength, its visual and audio atmosphere, to convey its message. Limbo starts off strong in this regard, but the sense of uneasy wonderment slowly peters out until the ending is reached. It’s an ending which I feel tries to capture the same level of existential meaningfulness as Braid, but ultimately falls short.
Having said all of this, Limbo still comes highly recommended if you enjoy playing puzzle platformers and/or delight in immersive and unique art styles. It’s unquestionably the best downloadable game I have played in 2010 thus far. Just be warned if you have qualms about viewing gruesome child deaths or have fear of giant insects.
One final tip: Don’t read the game’s description on Xbox Live Marketplace if you can avoid doing so. I think the game’s ultimate meaning is far more interesting and thought provoking were I not to have read the short premise on the description. For me, it was a throwaway fact that served to only narrow the possibilities of the game’s conclusion.
Limbo costs 1200 Microsoft Points ($15) as a downloadable title from the Xbox Live Marketplace. There is a trial version that encompasses the first two game chapters.
Postgame is a new experimental segment on the blog where I give my thoughts on a recently finished game. It’s not as comprehensive as a review, but not as brief as a tweet.
Sam and Max Visit The Alien Brain
Playing Sam and Max Episode 1: The Penal Zone on the iPad was like dating a gorgeous, funny woman who was prone to random crazy breakdowns. You put up with the crazy stuff because you love the highs and try to ignore the lows. The Penal Zone has gorgeous graphics and fully voiced characters. The game’s presentation is pretty much exactly what you would see on the PC or Xbox 360. Unfortunately, it’s pretty obvious Telltale Games didn’t have access to a preproduction iPad because the number of technical issues that plagued this title were abundant. Random crashes, freezes, sporadic long load times, and framerate slowdowns plagued my playthrough of the game. (Coming from a PC game “save early and often” background, the crashes never set me back too far.) I’m sure they did the best that they could to make the launch date given what they had to work with, but telling the user to reboot the iPad each time he wants to play, DOS boot disk style, is almost too much to ask. On the bright side, I think Telltale knew this and that’s why the price of the game was lowered to $6.99 (from $9.99).
Max Versus Stinky
I’m going to be honest and say I have never been that great at adventure games. Inevitably I’d always end up using a walkthrough for some or most of the game. With that said, I’m proud to say I completed all of The Penal Zone without looking to the internet for help. I’d like to say it’s all due to my leet deductive reasoning skillz, but it’s mainly a credit to great game design. There’s an excellent subtle hint system manifested through one of Max’s new psychic powers, future vision. With it, you can see what the future of certain items/people brings. Armed with this information, you can divine what you should do next. It’s a great way to help dense players like me get on the right track while making them feel awesome for figuring things out own their own. Max’s other main psychic power, teleportation, adds an almost Portal-like way to approach problems.
RAWRAHGUAHRHG
The Penal Zone is a great adventure game. You’d be hard pressed to find a more high quality 3-4 hour experience on the iPad. It’s just a shame the technical issues mar the otherwise awesome game. If you have the patience to deal with some slowdowns and random crashes, it’s a recommended purchase on the iPad since it’s only $6.99. Otherwise, I’d recommend getting it on the 360/PS3/PC/MAC platforms. It’ll cost a bit more, but you’re paying for stability.
Sup biddies. I dove into the Halo Reach beta for a few hours over the weekend and fumbled my way through the new gametypes, maps, powers, and weapons. I’m here to distill what I’ve learned into a short guide on what to expect when you fire up the beta with an emphasis on what’s changed from Halo 3. One thing to keep in mind is that the auto-aim assist has been turned way down – you’re going to have to earn those headshots now, son.
Protip: If you want to keep the controls similar to Halo 3, switch to the Recon control scheme. Otherwise, be prepared to use RB as your melee attack, X as your reload/weapon pickup, and B as your grenade type changer.
Armor Abilities:
The biggest change is the addition of special armor abilities that you can pick from each time you spawn via a loadout selection menu. Loadout options will change based on the gametype you get in matchmaking. These abilities are not consumable and will recharge if you do not use them for a bit. You can see your ability status on the bottom left corner of your screen via a circular meter around the icon. The default button to use your ability is LB and you can deactivate the power up at any time by pressing LB again to conserve energy.
Spartan(common loadouts listed):
Sprint – (Scout Loadout) Makes you run faster – you can use it in bursts or all at once. Especially fun if you have the sword or hammer.
Active Camouflage - (Stalker Loadout) Like the old powerup, it makes you invisible. You will also act like a mobile radar jammer, filling all radar screens around you (including your own) with red dots, so don’t rely on it to find enemies.
Jetpack – (Airborne Loadout) Makes you fly! Keep in mind, the rules of physics will still apply. If you’re falling like a rock, it’ll take more juice to keep you afloat. Think Tribes more than Duke Nukem.
Armor Lock – (Guardian Loadout) As long as you hold down LB, you will be invincible and immobile. It also acts like an EMP, draining the shields of anyone next to you. Very useful for defending an area as you basically become an attention grabber, buying valuable time for your teammates to help. (MMO Tank!)
Covenant:
Evade – (Both Loadouts) As a Covenant Elite, your armor ability makes you do an evasive roll in the direction you are moving. Use it to avoid bad things. On a fully charged meter, you will be able to evade twice before having to recharge. Keep this in mind if you get into a skirmish with someone.
New Gametypes:
There are two new gametypes currently available, Stockpile and Headhunter.
Stockpile – You’ll see this in the Grab Bag playlist. Basically there are two bases on the map, indicated by giant colored columns. Neutral flags will spawn randomly across the map. Your goal is to bring and drop those flags into your team’s colored area. BEWARE: the marker colors for the bases on your HUD are not necessarily the colors of the bases. Make sure you are going to the right team’s base! A timer at your base will count down every 60 seconds. When it reaches zero, the game will reset the flags and give each team a point for each flag inside their base. First team to 10 points wins. Remember that you can screw with the other team by removing the flags from their base. Even if the flags are a little outside the cylinder they will not count.
Headhunter – This one appears in FFA. Each time someone kills someone, a flaming skull will drop. The goal is to collect these skulls and bring them to the designated drop off area. First one to 25 dropped off skulls wins. Or, if you drop off 10 skulls at once, you’ll get a skullamanjaro and win instantly no matter what the score is. You just have to run over a skull to pick it up. If you die, you will drop all of the skulls you were carrying, Sonic The Hedgehog style. The game will put markers on people, indicating the number of skulls they are carrying so you can prioritize your kills. Also, be mindful that the drop off areas will move periodically.
Covy Team Slayer – Not really a new gametype, it’s just Team Slayer with everyone playing as Covenant.
New Weapons:
DMR – It looks like a Battle Rifle, with the key difference being that it’s single fire action. Use it as you would the BR, aim for the head at medium-long range.
Needle Rifle – The covenant version of the DMR, it looks kinda like a long Needler. Needles will still explode dudes if you stick them with enough. Same usage scenarios as the DMR.
Focus Rifle – Think of it like Quake’s Lightning Gun. It’ll fire a constant beam that you’ll have to train on an enemy. Has surprisingly long range and you can zoom in twice. Looks kind of like the Beam Rifle did in Halo 3.
Plasma Repeater – Unlike the plasma rifle in previous Halos, this one consumes ammo. Think Covenant version of the assault rifle.
Grenade Launcher – It’s not as easy to use as the rocket launcher is, but just as powerful. If you’re good with it you can bounce it places for the win.
Plasma Launcher – Use it like you would the Spartan Laser. When you’re ready to fire, hold down the RT to start charging it and paint your targets. Watch your crosshairs – it will fire after 4 dots have lit up at the corners no matter what. When you let go, plasma balls will home and seek your target, even if you die right after they fire.
This should sum up what you need to know before heading into Matchmaking. If you want more detailed info, read Bungie’s Official Beta Guide.
(Updated on 5/3 with stuff I learned playing this more over the weekend.)
Without question, one of the killer apps for the iPad is the ability to read comics/graphic novels digitally. While the screen size of the iPad isn’t exactly 1:1 with the size of a comic, it’s close enough to provide an almost identical reading experience. It might be even better than the real thing, since you can easily screen shot pages and email them to friends. No other device on the market currently can offer this capability. In fact, I’ve probably spent more time reading digital comics on the iPad than doing anything else on it so far.
You’ll need to download an app to read comics, as there’s no built-in function on the iPad to do so. I’ve been using Bitolithic’s Comic Zeal 4 for iPad since launch week and have put it through its paces.
TL;DR version of this review: While not perfect, Comic Zeal is worth the $7.99 price if you intend to spend any significant time reading multiple comic files on your iPad.
File Import:
Comic Zeal 4 supports the .cbr, .cbz, and.cbi filetypes for digital comics import. I haven’t come across a situation yet where I needed more filetypes supported, but if you need PDF or RAR support, you’ll need to either convert them or find another app. Transferring comics to the iPad is very simple. You plug in your iPad to your computer’s USB port, navigate to the Apps tab in iTunes, and click on the Comic Zeal icon under the “file sharing” section. From there, you drag and drop any number of comic files to transfer them over. I found transfer speeds comparable to those of mp3 files. Finally, the next time you open the Comic Zeal app on your iPad, there will be a short processing queue for all of the comics you transferred earlier. In the initial version of the app, this process took an unbearably long time. Fortunately, the 4.0.2 update addressed this and the queue is now a minor inconvenience. According to the developer, this extra bit of processing is needed in order to optimize reading performance for the iPad.
I’d like to see a form of Wi-Fi syncing in the future, preferably a solution that accounts for batch file importing. (Update: I’ve been informed that you can do this currently via Comic Zeal Sync, a free Java app downloadable from the Bitolithic website. It is very simple to use and sync. No fiddling with network settings is necessary. It would still be nice to have a solution that doesn’t require the installation of a standalone app, though.) I can see myself in situations where I’m away from my main PC, but would like the capability to add content to read. The recently released free Cloud Reader app offers this capability, but requires far too many clicks in order to get over a large number of files.
The UI:
Comic Zeal UI
As you can see above, Comic Zeal makes good use of pop-over window panes in its interface. The biggest strength of Comic Zeal is its thoughtful interface for organizing and navigating your collection. All of the comics in your collection are represented by icons of the actual comic’s cover. You can then sort your comics into graphically represented long comic boxes (think folders) via a slick tap interface. Once you go into edit mode by tapping the edit button, you can then tap the comics you want to select. Selected comics will jiggle, like when you manipulate icons on the iPad home page. From there you can either delete the selected comics or move them into an “other” or existing folder. You can also change the view to display only icons or text and icons. It’s pretty nice, but there are a few nits I’d pick. A “select all” button would be nice, along with a clarification that the “other…” selection on the move window really means “new folder”. Also, the ability to rename folders seems like an obvious oversight. Finally, as cool as the “jiggling” animation looks, it can be hard to tell what’s jiggling and whats not when you have an entire screen of icons selected. Some simple checkboxes may provide a more salient solution. Nevertheless, organizing your digital collection on Comic Zeal is a treat.
The other icons I didn’t find as useful. The “Recents” and “Downloads” sections are currently useless as they puts the most recently accessed or downloaded files on the bottom, forcing you to scroll through pages before getting to them. (Bitolithic has confirmed this as an issue and will have it fixed for a future release.) There’s also a “Featured” button which should be labeled most appropriately as “Download” or “Store”. From there, you can download selected golden age and Flashback Universe comics for free.
The Reading Experience:
Comic Zeal 4′s reading experience is polished. Your trusty swipe and pinch gestures make it intuitive to flip pages and zoom in and out. Unlike it’s competition, pages are displayed in the correct order and distinctly on each screen. Splash pages automatically resize to fit width-wise in portrait form. You’ll probably want to rotate the screen to landscape in order to properly read the pages without zooming.
There are a few puzzling interface decisions, though. I’ve been trained by iBooks, Kindle, instapaper, Goodreader, and countless other apps that single tapping the middle of the screen hides and shows the menu bars. Single tapping in Comic Zeal zooms in to wherever you tap. It takes a double tap (or a tap on the watermarked arrow) to bring up the menu. You can change this behavior by going into the iPad settings section, but it’s odd as to why the default settings aren’t set up like most iPad apps. I also found myself constantly wanting to tap the margins to change pages, but the app doesn’t have that capability yet. (Bitolithic promises this will be in the new version.)
Buttons on the bottom bar allow you to snap a screen shot, lock the screen orientation, open a file, page forward and backwards, and seek to a page with a slider. I love the screen shot button, as it provides an obvious way to snap a page to share with people. In future versions, I’d like to see this expanded upon to allow for a screen shot of selected panels and easy access to share them via twitter/email/etc. It would also be great to have a way to read lots of consecutive single issues without having to navigate the collection through multiple taps. Perhaps the arrow keys on the bottom menu could be used for next/previous issue in a folder.
Reading in Comic Zeal is a breeze once you learn the quirks of the interface. It’s relatively clean, but could be so much better with a few small changes.
Conclusion:
At iPad launch, Comic Zeal was one of two solutions for reading your own comics digitally. It still is, with the difference being that the alternative app, Cloud Reader, is now free rather than more expensive. That being said, I still think Comic Zeal provides enough in the way of features to warrant the purchase if you plan on frequently reading digital comics. If you’re only looking for an app to demo to your friends or read a digital comic file here and there, you’re better off with the official Marvel app or Cloud Reader.
A promising sign with Comic Zeal is that Bitolithic appears to be listening to feedback and has provided transparency in their development process through their twitter feed. $7.99 is a bit more than an impulse purchase on the app store, but for an app i use constantly, I consider it worth the investment. If Bitolithic follows through on its promises and continually evolves Comic Zeal, it could be the beacon for a true digital comics revolution.
Well, due to the ineptitude of AT&T in providing adequate SMS or data service at Coachella this year, most of my tweets during the festival didn’t get out. All in all, I enjoyed the music and the festival. At least, when I could actually be in the venue.
Here’s a rough timeline of what would have been sent out (some of them actually did manage to squirm out):
Day 1
2:15PM – Left house at 12:30 and still stuck in immovable traffic. Had to pee on the side of a main road, public be damned.
3:30PM – Stuck in a immovable line to get wristbands for event entry. People are cutting in the front because there’s no security.
4:30PM – Officially pissed that I missed one of the bands I wanted to see the most, Yeasayer. Regretting coming to this thing.
4:45PM – Line is finally moving. Apparently the ticket scanning system went down for a couple hours. Heads better roll for this bullshit.
5:15PM – Feel a bit less cranky after eating some surprisingly good Thai BBQ. I can hear Tom Morello playing a song I don’t know.
6:00PM – She & Him is surprisingly entertaining. The songs are a lot more uptempo and fun than I was expecting. Delightful festival warmup.
6:05PM – Have to admit, zooey deschanel is lookin pretty adorable on stage http://twitpic.com/1g4wq9
7:45PM – Even a mediocre live band like Passion Pit can be great fun with the right crowd. Dancing/singing with the chorus of Little Secrets was a great moment.
8:15PM – I know everyone swears by Grizzly Bear, but I’m finding his set boring. It’s one of those “you have to know the material” situations. I didn’t.
8:25PM – Stopped by La Roux. She sounds okay, nothing extraordinary. Not going to wade through that crowd for “In For The Kill”.
8: 45PM – I only know the Echo and the Bunnymen hits. They’re not playing them, so I’m getting out of here.
9:15PM – The sound for LCD Soundsystem is amazing.
9:30PM – James Murphy is incredibly awkward on stage. He could have command of the crowd, but he’s rambling like a insecure nerd onstage.
10:15PM – LCD Soundsystem had a couple chances to be an epic set, but never quite got there. Going to walk by Vampire Weekend.
10:20PM – Heard Cousins being played and promptly turned around to get a beer.
10:30PM – Pretty ridiculous that the main stage is playing a recorded Vampire Weekend song while the actual band is on the other stage.
11:15PM – Jay-Z makes his entrance by rising from under the stage floor to the intro of “We Run This Town”. As the bass kicks in, he authoritatively commands the audience to bounce. We obey.
11:45PM – The soundsystem here is unreal. Hiphop bass has never sounded so clear. Best mainstream rap show I have seen so far.
12:25AM – Big Pimpin’ starts. The crowd starts to go nuts before Jigga stops it, telling us that we aren’t ready yet. He then continues on with another song. Fucking awesome.
12:35AM – No Dr. Dre or Alicia Keyes appearance, but we get Beyonce as the surprise guest.
12:45AM – Damn, I didn’t plan on staying for all of Jay-Z, but I couldn’t resist.
12:50AM – I have to make a decision to see the end of The Whitest Boy Alive or deadmau5 – I go with Whitest Boy, but really wanted to do both. Damn you, scheduling!
12:55AM – Erlend Oye looks like a dweebier young Bill Gates, if that’s even possible. Still, this set is really good. I gotta see them when they tour next.
3:30AM – Fuck traffic and crowds and lines and godawful parking infrastructure.
Day 2
3:15PM – Well that wasn’t as bad getting in this time. Took a back route and lot. Missed my boy Frank Turner, but a noon start time is untenable.
3:30PM – Day two starts with bluegrass from old crow medicine show. Haven’t seen a guy string his own guitar in awhile. http://twitpic.com/1gmxkt
4:45PM – Have a nice spot by the soundboard for Beach House. The music is inoffensive, but not really grabbing me. Guess it’s a similar situation to Grizzly Bear.
5:40PM – Man does the girl from Gossip have pipes, this is an awesomely fun set. Crowd loves them.
6:20PM – Holy shit, the entire LCD Soundsystem band is on stage, along with more people I don’t recognize. It’s madness in here.
6:35PM – Stayed for the last couple songs of The Raveonettes set. I like them, but the end of their set was a far cry from the energy level of Gossip’s.
6:45PM – Well, The XX is good music for listening to while you’re eating dinner.
7:15PM – Seem to have found a great spot for Hot Chip with a raucous group of South Americans who sing and do chants. This is going to be awesome.
7:45PM – Steel drums are back, baby! I was wondering where they had gone, but I’m positive I’ve seen at least 3 bands use them so far.
8:20PM – Using Aterciopelados’ set to recover. They’re actually not bad rockers. Too bad I don’t understand Spanish.
9:35PM – Some kid tries to move past me in a crowd. He says he’s trying to get away from his mom who’s in the crowd behind him for fear she’ll ground him from video games for 2 weeks. wat.
9:45PM – Spent the last 50 minutes in the dance tent with Kaskade and David Guetta. Sensory overload. Bass made my entire body shake. Wish I had drugs.
9:55PM – Major Lazer is fucking amazing!! There’s two Chinese dragons onstage with a black chick in a wedding gown. This is a real party.
10:15PM – Get news that Danny Devito ran shirtless across the stage during Faith No More. That sounds fun.
10:30PM – Muse is way less intense than that dance tent was. They still rock though.
11:20PM – Man, The Dead Weather really vacillate between awesome and boring. Love the blues stuff, hate the slow shit.
12:00AM – F. Dee and mac from it’s always sunny in Philadelphia bumped into my friend wearing a paddys pub shirt at the beer tent and I wasn’t there!
12:15AM – Eating pizza while on a bench with a view of Tiesto on the main stage. I think I’d need to plan my day around Tiesto to properly enjoy his set.
12:18AM – Is it just me or does Tiesto look like Christian Slater? Also, lasers.
12:20AM – Someone brought the wrong visuals for Tiesto, the screen just addressed “Austin”.
12:22AM – There we go, Coachella lets make some noise!
12:50AM – Having to decide between the end of 2ManyDJ’s or Devo, I go with Devo in the hopes of getting “Whip It”. Got old dudes stripping into tshirts and boxers instead.
4:00AM – Fuck traffic and crowds and lines and godawful parking infrastructure.
Day 3
2:45PM – Really surprised to have made it inside the venue in time to catch the end of Local Natives. They were pretty good.
3:45PM – No idea what to have expected for Mayer Hawthorne, but this is kinda cool. Fairly young white dude singing soul. People are dancing, including shirtless pothead in front of me with a gut and no pectorals.
4:10PM – My friend explains to me the lols of Mayer introducing his “break up song” with “Coachella I’m sorry to do this to you but…” Hilarious.
4:15PM – Walk by Deerhunter, didn’t look like a meat jackpot Deerhunter set so continued to De La Soul.
4:20PM – De La Soul is pretty boring. Nothing else to do but sit on the grass and chill. Too lazy to walk to Florence and the Machine for a couple minutes.
4:50PM – Surprised to hear Sunny Day Real Estate play Seven so early in their set. Not complaining, this song rules.
5:20PM – Decided to check out Yo La Tengo. Love the pop songs and synchronized light dancing, really dislike the masturbatory jam sessions. Cool how all 3 band members play everything.
6:15PM – Really dig the soundscape that Jonsi/Sigur Ros create. The songs seem a bit more uptempo than Sigur Ros. Plus he’s got a really cool festive outfit and headdress.
6:50PM – Made it into a nice spot by the soundboard for Miike Snow. The band comes out in masks and amidst smoke.
7:15PM – The album is good, but the live show is amazing. This stuff needs to be turned up LOUD!
7:30PM – Would definitely see Miike Snow again.
7:45PM – There’s a ridiculous amount of people for Phoenix, not going to bother getting close for this.
8:00PM – Just realized I only really like 1901 and If I Ever Feel Better from Phoenix anyway. Glad I got to hear those at the end.
8:15PM – Holy laser light show at Little Boots! She’s pretty fun too.
9:05PM – Caught the last few minutes of Orbital’s DJ set. Heard an amazing mix of Halcyon with Belinda Carlisle and Bon Jovi. Lamp shades baby!
9:30PM – As much as I love Radiohead, I’m pretty sick of The Eraser. Some of the songs just don’t translate well to large venues.
9:30PM – That being said, adding someone like Flea really makes the bass come alive for songs like Harrowdown Hill.
12:30AM – Forewent gorillaz to beat the coachella traffic. Surprisingly it worked! Already at the daily pint in Santa Monica playing shuffleboard.
Click through for a photo gallery. (Caveat: They’re iPhone camera pics.)
American McGee is best known for his work on DOOM, Quake, and Alice. The latter, which I found to be a deliciously twisted romp through the wonderland of Lewis Carroll. McGee’s past games have earned him an automatic “I gotta check out what he’s doing next” pass. His latest project is entitled American McGee’s Grimm and is a 24-part episodic game available exclusively on Gametap. New episodes are released every Thursday and will be available free to play for a 24-hour period, much like a television show. Grimm is based on the idea of “f’d up fairy tales,” with each episode centering on the corruption of a particular fairy tale, like Little Red Riding Hood or Beauty and the Beast. Gameplay is very simple and casual friendly. It plays kind of like Katamari Damacy in that you are guiding a character in a world with the objective of covering the most surface area possible. There is some light platforming as well.
With the number of quality music and games releases increasing as we inch towards the fourth quarter, we here at My Day Will Come will be starting a new weekly feature entitled “My Day Has Come,” where we’ll spotlight the most noteworthy releases of the week.
This week sees a couple of great downloadable games along with the 800 pound gorilla in the room.
Madden NFL 09 (PS2/PS3/Xbox/Xbox 360/DS/PSP/Wii) – 8/12/08 – The latest edition of EA’s golden goose promises to be the best edition in years. A really cool feature of the 360/PS3 versions is the ability to save a highlight from a game and immediately upload it to the web youtube-style. Get the Wii version if you’re planning on playing a lot of local multiplayer, otherwise go 360/PS3 if you want a deeper single player or online experience.
Strong Bad’s Game For Cool Attractive People (Wii/PC) – 8/11/08 – Strong Bad and the Homestar Runner cast star in their first point and click adventure game. It’s the first episode of five monthly releases. Definitely check this one out if you’re a Homestar and/or adventure game fan. Read our review from yesterday for more detail.
Bionic Commando Rearmed (Xbox 360/PS3/PC) – 8/13/08 (360) and 8/14/08 (PS3/PC) – I loved the original Bionic Commando on the NES back in the early 90′s. Capcom reimagines Bionic Command for modern game platforms. The game is a 2d platformer/shooter combo with the unique twist in that you can’t jump. You can only use your bionic grapple arm to navigate. An early review from IGN’s Hilary Goldstein calls it “the best downloadable game to date on XBLA and PSN.” Strong words from the dude who gave Braid an 8.8 rating.
I gotta admit, Homestar Runner was a huge part of my college days. Every Monday my friends and I would eagerly wait for the latest animated Strong Bad email to be posted so we could watch and quote it for the rest of the week. Though I stopped following the site in recent years, I was still very excited when Telltale Games announced an episodic adventure game based on the Homestar Runner characters and world. After a two month delay, the first episode was finally released yesterday on Wii Ware and for the PC.
