Friday = Tired Me.

I ended up grabbing Marvel VS Capcom 2 on XBLA. Naturally.

I guess I convinced myself it was the only logical thing to do. After all, I already had an official Street Fighter 4 Fightpad which I've barely had a chance to use. Also, I also saw a couple friends playing it, which will likely never happen on the PS3. So I went ahead and bought it. And it's predictably awesome.

The Fightpad work great, and I've already had some epic matches. I've played friends and strangers, and I've been winning about 90 percent of the time, which is unexpectedly awesome. I have a feeling I've just been lucky to not get too many people who are just ungodly good. It's coming, though. Eventually the only ones left will be the hardcore.

Fat Princess also finally came out last night, so I grabbed that as well. I played a few matches. I did pretty well, but it would be nice to have someone to organize some strategy with... The game is really charming. It's fun, and cute and charming. That's all I can say.

It's Friday, so I'm predictably tired. I try my hardest to go to bed early, but I can't seem to hit the hay anytime before 2 am. By Friday I'm always wiped, and I always want to just go and sleep, and Lindsay never lets me.

We're heading up North this weekend for a friend's wedding. We've got some planned activities squeezed in there, too. Sea Kayaking and Golf are the main two events on the agenda. Lindsay's never actually played a game of Golf, she's only been to the driving range and we've practiced chipping and putting. I think it will be fun, but I picking up and leaving for a few days can be kind of hassle.

But maybe I'm just tired and cranky.

I wanna take you (two) for a ride...

Marvel VS Capcom 2 hit the Xbox Live Arcade today...

A digital, online enabled re-release of one of my favorite fighting games of all time.

I already own it. I had it on the Dreamcast but I lost it, and a while back I re-bought it for the PS2. It's rare and it cost about a hundred bucks...

But it's just that good.

I know I'm going to get the re-release when it comes to Playstation Network in a couple weeks, so I can use my Arcade Stick with it.

So the question is, do I also just go head and buy the XBLA version? I do have a special edition Street Fighter FightPad just itching to be used. Plus I have more friends on Xbox who I could rumble with...

That would be 4 times that I've bought this game in my life... and I still think it's a good idea. That is why I am dumb.

(some) PETS!

Twink doing his best "bat boy" impression.


Atari is thinking hard.


...really hard.


Twink is thinking hard about being a weirdo.


Cute, tiny Jade drinks from a tiny tea cup.


So does big, fat, tiny-headed Oliva.


Twink is a happy guy.


Jade isn't a very good listener. She get's bored easily.


So cute but so ugly but so happy.


Lazy naked baby.


Deep in thought. "Where does water come from?"


Lindsay and Jade share a moment.


Atari at attention.


After crawling into in the fridge and setting up camp, Jade decides to leave right as I try to take a photo.

Japanese things are cute and indecipherable.

It's Sunday. I just made something cute.

On Friday I was so tired that I couldn't stand it. I'm still recovering from the dread disease, so I was pretty rough, even though I felt good. I stayed at work until about 6 to avoid traffic, but then I went home and crashed.

Lindsay forced me to get up and go to the Studio to work. I was kind of cranky. I'll admit it. I really, really just wanted to keep sleeping.

Adam and Chris C came to the studio and we all worked on stuff, to some extent. I did revisions and finished up (hopefully) the Sandbox Theatre project for good. Then I started an illustration which resulted in the piece I alluded to in the beginning of this post. It's not even close to being done, but it's started...

Lindsay worked on some hand cut paper artwork. Chris C did some drawings. Adam... kind of sat there and tried to distract us all. He finally gave up and started drawing about 3 hours into the night.

We got some Pizza Luce and ate it at the studio. I think we went home at nearly 2 am or so. I created a Japanese PSN account to download some stuff off the Japanese PSN store, for some reason. It just seemed like a good time.

I happened upon some "game" that features the Sony mascot, Toro. It's called Mainichi Issho, which means Everyday Together. Or so I'm told.

It's kind of like Home, as in it's more of a "place" or an "experience" than a game. It's pretty much entirely menu driven, and it's all in Japanese, so I have no idea what the eff is going on, but dang if it's not cute!



Weee! Which makes me realize I've been playing a random scattering of games. In addition to that and some other random Japanese demos I grabbed, I played and beat The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition on XBLA. It was cool. The art was terrible, and I tried to look at the original graphics as much as possible, but I also liked the voice acting, which is only available when you view the new graphics.



I also played some Shatter, a PSN Arkanoid-esque game that's pretty stylish and fun. I don't know why I picked it up though. I blame late-night bad decision making and Playstation's lack of demos. Don't get me wrong, I like it and it's totally not bad. I just didn't need it and slight curiosity turned into a purchase simply because I couldn't just download a demo to just SEE.



I also started GUN, which I had on my Goozex list and recieved a couple weeks ago. A friends brother did alot of the concept art, so I've been curious about it for a while now. It's ok. It's obviously an early first-generation Xbox 360 title that was just a ported version of the Playstation 2 version. I've only played an hour or so, but it's pretty rough...

And I've jumped back into Psychonauts, thanks to my growing Brutal Legend desire. I like Psychonauts for the story, the characters, the art... But I hate the collecting. Man, there's a million things to collect, I can't even keep track of it. But I'm giving it another chance and I'm not allowing myself to be caught up in collecting anything. If I need it to progress the story, I'll get it. Otherwise, eff it. Eff it so hard. I've only played another 1/2 hour or so, but already I'm remember how great parts of it are... The parts that don't involve picking up a million random piece of BS.



So, yeah. I guess I'm playing clearing out the back-log a little bit. I also played one level of World of Goo on the Wii, and I reminded how awesome it is, and how the Wii makes every game less appealing because I just don't even want to turn it on...

Oh yeah, I also went and test drove a new car. It's a Japanese car. And I guess it's cute, too. It's the car I'm going to get, but I think I'll wait until after the wedding, just incase we need any last minute funds to be diverted to that...

Nothing too exciting.

My bronchitis problem is getting better. I'm no longer contagious! Probably.

I still cough an unbearable amount all night long. Something about being vertical just triggers unending fits. But I've returned to work and I actually feel pretty darn good.

While I was sick I finished my Target project and got it 100% approved. I only had to make one tiny revision, just swapping a color. I love it when there's no changed.

The Sandbox Theatre one is less easy to nail down and still ongoing, but it's not bad. The changes are a case of sacrificing some of the artistic license for the sake of things like legibility and being congruous with the themes of the actual production. So that's fair.

The muscles in my legs hurt, probably from not being able to go to the gym or run for the past week. I did some stretches at work that hurt in an awesome way.

Thankfully being sick has afforded me the chance to hit level 60 with Kittenface, my new Death Knight in World of Warcraft. After however many years, I hit the level cap for the first version of the game. If only there hadn't been two level-cap raising patches since then...

I went to to Roat Osha with Chris C and Lindsay after work, and I was so tired I could barely stand it. The food was good, but by the end I was just aching to go home and lie down. Which I did, kind of.

I went home and sprawled on the couch, until Battlefield loaded, at which point I alternately kicked butt and got my butt handed to me with Adam, Chris C and Ryan. I was so tired that after a few rounds I couldn't stare down my iron sights anymore and I quit out. I worked out a tiny bit, but I am exhausted, so I played a couple minutes of The Secret of Monkey Island. But eventually my eyes just wouldn't say open. I need to go to sleep right now. So I will.

Kittenface Cometh.

Remember in my last post how I said I wasn't that sick? I lied. I'm sick. I've got bronchitis...

I finally made a doctors appointment, even though I"m feeling a little better. I am still coughing the night away, which is intolerable and painful.

This weekend was a bummer, I was terribly sick on Saturday. I stayed inside and spent most of my time playing World of Warcraft or watching My Name is Earl on Netflix.

I did a little bit of work, but I was feeling terrible. Sunday started out not much better. Hacking all night long doesn't do much for my sparkling personality, But I just lied in bed with my eyes shut and tried to ignore the coughing. Eventually, I went out for a walk with the dogs. I just vowed to walk and walk until I felt better. And eventually I did. Although I'm pretty exhausted.

Lindsay and Chris C had a plan of going to Sam's Club for candy, so I came with. I felt pretty out of it, but I managed to have an alright time. LIndsay got about 10 pounds of candy and 10 pounds of crackers and 10 pounds of fruit.

Sometime on Friday or Saturday night, I finally hit level 55 with Chatsworth, my Main in World of Warcraft. 55 has been my goal for a long, long time, because that's when you are allowed to create a Death Knight. So Sunday night I finally dove into new World of Warcraft content!

I present to you my mighty and wrath-filled Blood Elf Death Knight...

...KITTENFACE.



Oh, yes. That name shall ring for eternity through the soulless ears of all who've fallen before my mighty blade.

Being a Death Knight is fun, so far. I played through most of the opening area, I assume, but I didn't quite finish, since I noticed it was 2 am right before I did (what I assume to be) the final quest...

And the rate they hand out armor and talent points is fantastic! I only WISH the rewards would come so fast and furious regularly.

By the end of the night, I looked much more badass, like this...



Finally. Finally. Finally. I don't play WoW very hardcore, and a while back, I honestly never thought I'd make it. But here I am. My parents would be proud.

Projects and sickness.

I skipped out on two days of work this week, but to honest, I wasn't very sick. I just had deadlines for projects I just couldn't meet otherwise.

But oh, cruel fate. Now I am actually very sick. But I've already missed two days and I'm feeling behind. I can't afford to miss anymore time, so I'm stuck in my current situation of feeling like crap, but dragging myself to work each day.

At least I wrapped up both projects I needed to wrap up. I've got feedback on the Sandbox Theatre project, and the feedback is exactly what I predicted. There's some changes to make, but it shouldn't be a huge deal.

I just sent off the Target project at about 11 last night, and I've got some feedback already, but it's very positive with one change so minuscule it will only take about 2 minutes.

So that's a relief, I guess. Maybe I'll post the Sandbox one soon. The Target project I won't be able to post until it hits the store shelves, and I'm unclear as to whether that's this coming Christmas season, or Christmas 2010.

That's what sucks about working in product design. I've been in 2010 mode since the beginning of the year. It makes time that much more condensed.

I have been up all night coughing and coughing and moaning and tossing. I barely got any sleep, and it feels like I swallowed a handful of razorblades. My voice sounds deep and gravely and sexy, though. So that's a bonus.

Sound Off.

This week Jesse jumped on the Battlefield bandwagon, which means that Jesse, Ryan, Adam, Adam, Chris and Chris (and me, Chris) can pretty much form our own army and roll over the competition... in theory. I've been playing it whenever I can, I do love me some Battlefield.

It's funny because everyone has their own "personality" when we play.

Chris C is a lone wolf, who always takes a sniper rifle and just kind of disappears. Not only does he head off in his own direction, but he also usually goes radio-silent. I think because he's concentrating hard. Or he doesn't want us to find him and give away his position...

Ryan always immediately teams up with someone, and the more the merrier. Every time he spawns he finds someone he knows (usually me) and heads straight for a tank or jeep and speeds from capture point to capture point. Shock and awe.

Chris S is the quite guy who acts like he doesn't know what's going on most of the time. Maybe he doesn't, but I don't really believe him. Maybe he just doesn't really care. When asked where he is, he usually responds with "I don't know. By a tank?"

Jesse always picks one tactic in a game and repeats it ad nauseum. In Rainbow 6 it was bouncing grenades off door frames, and in Battlefield it's bombs, preferably from the air. If he's not in a plane, he's waiting outside the air-raid bunker to cue up another bombing run. The only way he'll contribute as a soldier is by strapping satchel charges to things. Bombs are good, and firing a weapon is bad.

Adam H is the overly enthusiastic grunt who gives it his all, but doesn't have the battle-hardened wisdom to keep him alive. He'll run his head against a wall repeatedly as he tries to attack the same base, over and over. Instead of changing it up, maybe going around and attacking from the back, or retreating further away and sniping, he sticks to whatever it is he had his mind set on from the start. It's pretty common to hear Adam shouting "Gawd! That guy just shot me! WHAT? He did it again! MAN! He did it again! GOD, I CAN'T BELIVE IT! AGAIN?..."

I'm probably most like Ryan. I like to attack in a group, and I give orders more often than anyone else. Maybe "suggestions" is a better word, I'm not telling anyone to do anything, just asking if they want to do something else. When I'm playing with 3 or 4 other people, I'd rather do something in unison than try to go it alone. I also call everyone a Dicksuck a lot.

What what? Weekend.

This weekend was kind of a hassle. Not in a terrible way, just in a busy way.

My friend Kelly came up to visit with her boyfriend. They brought their bicycles, and had an agenda to hit some of the Bike Film Festival events that were happening this weekend, as well as see a friend's show at the Triple Rock.

They stayed in our house, but they were gone most of the time. Of course, just having house guests is kind of a deal, you never quite feel comfortable because there's always the chance of someone walking in, so I couldn't hang out in the nude or anything. But it was cool.

I haven't seen Kelly much in the past... .... ....9 years? Holy crap. She did come up and visit when I was at MCAD, probably more than anyone else did, but it still wasn't frequent. And I rarely every had back to the Madison area, so it was good to really get to see her for a substantial amount of time.

Most of the time I spent working on my Sandbox Theatre, Target and other projects. On Saturday and Sunday, Lindsay and I went to the studio for 8-10 hour chunks of the day and just worked. I managed to wrap up one project enough to send it out.

Thanks to too much work, and house guests, I didn't get to play any games or watch some netflix or anything, and it was kind of an exhausting weekend. To make matters worse, I got the official word on Sunday that my parents are getting a divorce.

I've known it was inevitable for a while, but a year ago I would have said that was impossible. 30+ years of marriage and you don't really see it coming.

Sunday was a strange day. I spent 8 or 9 hours locked up in the studio working with Lindsay, Ryan and Chris C. I remember is being really dark in there, and everyone worked silently for the most part, with punctuations of conversation and jokes. I took a call from my mom mid-day, and I walked around the block as we were talking.

Towards the end of our conversation, Adam pulls up with his parents and brings them over to introduce me, so I had to just end the call and pretend I was thrilled to meet his parents. I helped him move a couple truckloads of crap into Adam's new apartments (above our studio).

Then they took off, and Ryan and I ran out to grab some Pizza Luce and we all took turns showing the stupidest youtube videos we could find. The winner?

Projects and 1943

This week I started to jam on a project I'm doing for Sandbox Theatre. It was going swimmingly, but then I needed some assets that I had to wait on, and I didn't get them until today. So that's all going to have to happen this weekend.

Which is fine, because I got in contact with someone from Target who wants me to do another gift card. They needed a color comp by this morning, so I spent the last couple nights working on that. So in the end, being held up on the Sandbox project was a good thing.

It's been hot and after leaving work and driving in traffic in a hot car, I'm not really in the mood to work on stuff, but thankfully I have no choice.

I picked up Battlefield 1943 on XBLA this Wednesday. It's a multiplayer-only shooter, and it's awesome. I've been patiently waiting for quite a while now. I really, really liked Battlefield Bad Company, but was sad because I didn't have anyone to play the multiplayer with. 1943 takes the same engine and design, so I was glad when Chris C was totally on board for getting it.



Having it a downloadable game a smart move, as well. The first night Chris C and I jumped in to play, and Ryan came online. He saw us playing, and decided to join in, so he plopped down his Microsoft FunnyMoney, and withing ten minutes we were blastin' fools together.

The next day Adam, who usually has no interest in realistic games, first person shooters, war games or games not for babies, decided to join in, as well, since the price was so easy to swallow, and the action was fast and furious. And latter than night, Chris S pops on as well, and we rock that team-based vehicle-infused combat together.

It's a great game, and I've been having a total blast, even when playing alone. The fact that the 5 of us are all playing together only makes it that much more awesome.

Super nice.

Adam and Me.

This post is an email exchange between my friend Adam and myself.

First a little set up: Adam and I have different definitions of what is "good" is. We agree on some things (Shadow of the Colossus, Okami, Street Fighter), but he likes licensed and "baby" games. If it's got Transformers or it's made for an 8 year old, he's all about it.

Adam also hates the following things in games: First Person Shooting, aesthetic realism, mature themes or "war" games. Things like Call of Duty, GTA 4, Rainbow 6 Vegas, Halo 3 FarCry 2... Even though, for the most part, he's never given them a shot.

So when I mentioned I was looking forward to Battlefield 1943 and I concluded the email by pointing out a Ghostbusters theme was that is coming to Little Big Planet and even though he doesn't usually play LBP I knew this would get him interested, since it exploited his inner 8 year old... it started this email exchange.

ADAM: Ouch! Again with the low blows… Battlefield of Kill Duty Company 1943, huh? Sounds awesome. I bet there’s some sweet multiplayer, military-based shooting action with some vehicle driving thrown in to innovate the gameplay.

ME: Ooooooh, BUUUUURN.

Oh yeah, I meant to ask, how's that training bra that was packed in with "Banjo Kazooie: The Baby Game for Girls" working out for you? Not too snug? Just right? Just right for your pre-pubescent little girl boobies?*

ADAM: No way man! I threw it away! I let the suckers hang ALL OUT when I’m cruising along at two inches per hour in my multi-colored crayon mobile on my cotton candy Rare adventure. *guh-hyuck*

ME: Well, that's a relief. After that last dig, I thought you'd either laugh... or never speak to me again.

Anyway, I got to go take my testosterone injection in preparation for my big Call of Shootzone Bound to Honor War Machine 7 match tonight...

It's got all the best kills! Like the move where I place a bullet on the ground, then shoot a guy with bazooka in the nuts, grab his head, place his eye on the bullet, and stomp!

ADAM: Then don’t forget to tea bag him when you’re done…then call his mom a homo.

ME: Didn't I mention that when I put the bullet down, it's on top of a mirror, so i actually end up stomping his head into a mirror image of my crotch? And taped to my crotch is a picture of me in bed with his mom, from the previous night, when we had relations.

THEN, I teabag him.

ADAM: I figured as much…I mean that’s what you normally do right. The stinger is when you tell him that it was his grandma that was there taking the pictures.

*I don't actually think Banjo Kazooie is a bad game, it just happened to be what he was playing the previous night.

ID4.

I found out on Thursday that the office wasn't open on Friday, thanks to the 4th of July weekend. Nice.

So on Friday, Lindsay and I decided to work on stuff at the studio or a coffee house. But it was a slow start, and then we met Adam for some BBQ. And then Lindsay was too tired to work, so we went home.

Adam and I met up online and played Gears of War 2 Wingman and Burnout Paradise while Lindsay napped. We took the dogs for a long walk, and supervised Jade with the other pets. She's doing pretty well integrating with the other pets.

At night we ordered some pizza, played WoW and watched Dexter. We never made it to the coffee house. But we did today, and we've been here for about 4 hours or so. I'm getting a little restless, but I think Lindsay's in the groove, so I'll manage.

It was raining earlier, so I was thinking we might have to skip the fireworks at Powderhorn Park, but now it's pretty much perfect out.

Now it's much later, and the fireworks are over. They were cool and the night was pretty much perfect.

Now we're playing WoW and watching Die Hard. That seems like a perfect 4th of July movie.

Jade was sick, but now she isn't.

Jade helping in the studio.

Jade is a great little kitten. She's still super sweet, super calm, and super cuddly.

She's living upstairs locked in the studio until she gets used to the smells and sounds of the house. And also until we get her checked out to make sure she doesn't bring any disease or fleas to our other cats.

She has met the dogs now, and she was unfazed by either. She seemed mildly annoyed by, probably because he was prodding her with his nose. She was fine with Atari for a bit, but started to puff up and get nervous after a few minutes, but she didn't meow or hiss or scratch or anything. Both reactions are better than we could have hoped. It seems like she'll get along just fine.

This morning it appeared as though she was sick. I could hear her tummy gurgles across the room, and they were pretty constant. We had a check-up scheduled for this Thursday, but after I left for work, she vomited a bunch before Lindsay got up. We rescheduled her appointment to this afternoon, and she checked out to be just fine...

Maybe this weekend we'll fully integrate her into the house.


Jade helping to critique my work.