|
|
|
Hypercombofinish headquarters is officially moving to Philadelphia sometime this month.
Some people would call me crazy for willingly leaving New York city at this point in my life.
I'll tell you what's really crazy: PAYING IN EXCESS OF $1500 PER MONTH FOR A STUDIO THAT BARELY FITS YOUR TWIN-SIZED BED.
I don't care how much you profess to "<3 New York" -- there's no way you can convince me that's worth the price of admission.
I was playing Yoshi's Touch and Go for a while, and it's definitely one of the best games currently on the DS. Unfortunately, that's not saying much. I hope Nintendo is announcing some amazing things at E3 in May, 'cause the DS desperately needs more software.
I wrote a letter to Blizzard last week, asking them to port StarCraft to the DS.
Their response:
We have not made any announcements about plans to develop additional console titles. We are very excited that console gamers and PC gamers who own consoles will be able to experience the StarCraft universe from a new perspective with StarCraft: Ghost, and we will continue to evaluate the viability of bringing our other universes to new platforms in the future.
It's a bit upsetting; there's not even a hope-inspiring "we can neither confirm nor deny" line in there.
In any case, I've updated the links page with a list of my favorite webcomics. Enjoy! |
|
|
|
This week at the Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco, Nintendo released the first solid details about their next console, codenamed Revolution. So far, we know that it will be a.) backwards compatible with the Gamecube and b.) come with WiFi technology installed, standard.
The first item of news means that the Revolution must have something resembling a traditional gamepad, or at least facility to have one attached. The second item means that Nintendo may finally be getting serious about Internet gaming.
More Internet gaming love was spread with verification that WiFi-enabled titles are being released for the DS in the near future. Of course, nothing concrete has been specified yet, but there were hints that use of Nintendo's online gaming network would incur no extra fee, which would be wonderful. I've heard so much praise of Xbox live, but very few people bemoaning its monthly fee. As a part-time PC gamer, I'm far too used to playing online titles for free, and I don't think I'd ever consider online console gaming if it didn't afford me the same luxury.
Meanwhile, New York is still really damn cold.
I'm picking out a new apartment this weekend! Wish me luck. |
|
|
|
Okay, so Resident Evil 4 has pissed me off pretty badly.
First, the game is phenomenal. Action-packed, gorgeous, and all in all a blast to play. Then, I get to chapter 3-4, and I have to play as Ashley, the president's daughter.
She can't do anything but walk around and crawl under things.
I cut the game some slack, since it's done nothing but please until now. The slack runs out, however, when I am faced with the game's next surprise.
It's a slide puzzle. There is an image broken up into 8 square tiles, and you have to slide the tiles around until the image is properly arranged.
It was completely maddening. I have been at a standstill in the game for two whole weeks , thanks to the damn slide puzzle. Thankfully, Andy helped me out and finished it yesterday, but the anger still remains.
In other news, Quake 3 is still fun.
Check out the drawings page for some new art, in glorious COLOR. |
|
|
|
I'm still only halfway through both Metriod Prime 2 and Paper Mario 2, but that didn't stop me from picking up Resident Evil 4.
I was only attracted to the game recently, unable to ignore the positively unanimous glowing reviews it's been receiving.
And you know what? They're all right. It's good. It's damn good.
It's almost difficult to believe it's as good as it is.
I'm still writing a few reviews. I'm trying to fine-tune a format that works for me, but yeah, they'll be up eventually. |
|
|
|
Happy (for the most part belated) holidays. I hope you were all able to delve into some of the amazing titles delivered this season -- I just started Metroid Prime 2 and Paper Mario 2, and so far both are excellent in their own distinct ways.
I beat Half-Life 2 shortly after Thanksgiving. I liked it so much, I made it the topic of this week's comic.
You may notice that the site now has the long-overdue "prev"/"next" buttons on each entry. Since these are used for chronological navigation, I think it's fair to say that Hypercombofinish has entered the fourth dimension.
New reviews soon! |
|
|
|
I bought Lara a copy of Donkey Konga two weeks ago, along with the requisite extra bongo controller to facilitate MULTIPLAYER MADNESS™. The play is exactly what you'd expect from such a title -- a solid, respectable rhythm game. There aren't many bells or whistles to speak of, but it certainly accomplishes what it set out to do. The drum controller works very well, particularly the built-in microphone designed to pick up handclaps. There's even a thoughtful little indentation on the bottom of each drum that can be used to snap the wire's socket into place when it's not in use -- that kind of stuff makes my day.
Meanwhile, Lara is on the road to becoming a Konga fiend.
I've uploaded the demo of a brand new song called Professional Princess Savior. I played it at my first non-school show two weeks ago, and it seemed to go over pretty well. |
|
|
|
Sorry for the gap in updates. I'm trying my best to keep this kind of neglect to a minimum.
I'm working on making some nice "NEXT / PREVIOUS" buttons for these posts, in an ongoing effort to look more like a *real* webcomic. Look for those on the next update.
In other news, I think all the typing I've been doing recently is getting to me.
Another aside: Doom 3's multiplayer is surprisingly fun. We've been playing it during breaks at work, and it's *actually* pretty great. I just discovered the single best addition to FPS deathmatching -- weapon stealing. If you punch someone who's carrying a weapon, you steal it out of their hands. As a handicap, I've been playing with the self-imposed rule that I can only use weapons I have stolen. It's a damn good time. |
|
|
|
I beat Doom, so my life can resume its natural flow. It got REALLY interesting about 2/3 of the way in -- In fact, I'd go so far as to say it features the best realtime art ever seen in a videogame, period. The game tends to drag on a little bit towards the end, but all in all I'd definitely recommend a playthrough for anyone remotely interested in gaming.
On friday I played Ninja Gaiden for the first time and experienced its fabled difficulty first-hand. Yeah, it was rough, but I had a harder time wrestling with the game's moral questionability.
In between work this week I'll be playing through Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which is initially striking me as being really really dorky.
But intriguing. |
|
|
|
Okay, so the twice-a-week comic thing didn't work out last week. I assure you, that is only because of Doom 3. At this point I'm a good distance into the Delta Labs, so I should reach the end today or tomorrow.
I was originally planning on writing a review of the game, but I've decided not to. Everything there is to say about it has already been said, and anything I write about it would just be a waste of precious, precious time. In a nutshell, it's completely beautiful, wickedly atmospheric, and surprisingly well-acted, but it plays like any given run-of-the-mill shooter of the last decade. This is okay though, since Doom has always been about blasting the forces of Hell -- nothing more, nothing less.
I also got to spend some quality time with the girl this weekend.
I'm still working on the BIG revision, so hold just a little bit longer. |
|
|
|
After playing 500 Starcraft games online, you'd think I'd be used to teammates dropping in the middle of a game. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
No content update today, as I'm working on restructuring (enhancing) the site itself. Stay tuned for bi-weekly comics, though. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
