If Looks Could Kill - Graphic Art & Design

Cleaning out the toy room(s). Below is a sampling of the collectibles I’m horking on Ebay. Naturally, I’m keeping the most cherished ones.

(Click Here to View All)

Bits of randomness as my mind has already left for vacation.

Diana Graves (aka Phoenix) & I have been taking in local comic & horror conventions & loving it. Further evidence of me nerding out can be seen in my MySpace “Shitting Twinkies” photo album. ;)

Feel free to friend me if you wanna see, I’m not incredibly elitist. However, if you are racist or homophobic, don’t bother - low tolerance for intolerance here. Life’s too short, go find something productive to do.

Unrelated Items of Interest:
» Shadow Illusions (un-fucking-real shadows cast by crap & scrap)
» Mindfulness hits brakes on emotional responses
» Video Game Addiction
» Egon Schiele: Bio|Art: Inspiration for Peter Chung (Aeon Flux)

The Guitar Hero site is sorely lacking pictures of the character I play, Casey Lynch, complete with coffin guitar.

So I shot our TV screen because she’s bad-ass and you must witness it.

I think the appeal is that she reminds me of Sean Yseult, White Zombie bassist, the way she stomps around and holds her ground.

It is far easier to play guitar IRL than in this game, yet I love rhythm-based games, so I play the shit outta it!

It’s funny, considering how much I dislike guitar solos, but I also want to unlock a guitar looks like it might be a devil’s head, so I play on.

\m/ -_- \m/

Sometimes this seems a preferable alternative to the bullshit that goes on, though of course it would be self-defeating. For someone as visually-stimulated as myself, this would be ghastly, though sometimes I would rather…

What has me agitated:

Blaming Video Games for Violence

Faith-based regulations passing

Lack of food-safety standards in China snuffing pets

Seeking a positive side… it spawned a painting.

See it larger in the Gallery and nab some Icons of it.

Wii’s Virtual Console leaves MUCH to be desired. To date, there are only 20 Nintendo titles available, contrary to the vast library of retro Nintendo classics that were to be at our beck and call.

I can’t even imagine how they are determining what to release - it’s certainly not based on the title’s popularity, as they’ve released some mediocre, played-out titles.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the innnovation of the system and that it forces the player to be active and work up a sweat - it’s a great system that I definitely recommend. I just don’t understand Nintendo’s strategy, or lack thereof.

Another area they’ve missed the next generation boat lies in what compels people to play. Based on this report, motivators include “sense of independence, achievement and connectedness to others.” Xbox Live excels in this area from their unlockable achievements that add to your gamer points and bragging rights, to the social aspect - notifications when friends come online, voice chat and messaging, collaborative gaming.

In my opinion, the Xbox 360 is the best overall, since quantity and quality of available games are more important than the systems themselves. I will not even consider the PS3 based on its high price - there are no games that can justify that expense for a gaming console. More Wii’s have sold than any other next generation console, if they want to keep up the momentum, Nintendo had better make with the quality games, and lots of ‘em, both in stores and on its Virtual Console.

This irritates the hell out of me, but it would appear that Namco Bandai intends to release Soul Calibur IV on PS3 only - which we have no intent on buying at this point.

They had to slash projected income over 50% earlier this year after an underperformance from Soul Calibur III, which I might add, was released on PS2 only. You would think it would be in their best interest to be as cross-platform as possible while the console wars play out.

I don’t predict the PS3 coming out on top this time. Xbox 360 rawks ass graphically and the Nintendo Wii is highly innovative. What do you have to offer Sony? A grossly overpriced system that you are still losing money on per unit with nothing to offer that the other systems don’t have.

When shit was cheaper, yeah, a person might buy one just for a particular game - as an example, we purchased the Sega Dreamcast because of Soul Calibur II. With Sony’s blasphemously priced system, there’s no way I would buy it just to play one game.

Something to think about, Namco. Might I add that Tekken Dark Resurrection being available only on the overpriced PSP handheld is a sore spot as well.