All entries from Jun 2001
30 Jun 2001
Do you ever get so bored that your Googling degenerates into complete nonsense just to see what'll come out the other end? Well be careful you're not being watched! Disturbing Search Requests documents the twisted query strings of pervy madmen, dug up from the depths of some poor innocent's log files.
And don't think for a moment that your offline conversations are safe either! InPassing.org records the overheard ramblings of strangers. (I'm slightly sceptical about the number of interesting overheard things per day though, since it's supposedly just one woman's eavesdropping that fuels the site)
SquareSoft's Hironobu Sakaguchi reveals to Gamespot that Final Fantasy XI the next edition of their long running RPG series will be multiplatform due to its online nature. Gamespot seem to think that the game will be making an appearance on Gamecube, but this seems very unlikely due to the bad blood between Nintendo and Square. If it does though, could this mean a re-emergence of one of the greatest partnerships in gaming history..
Brownie Brown have released a load of new screenshots of this highly anticipated game for Gameboy Advance. IGN also have some new info on the game's mechanics.
29 Jun 2001
Hitmaker have an archive of T-Shirts over at their site. You're suppossed to be able to buy them too but I cant find a link ?!!? If anyone's got a good enough grasp of Japanese can you post a url please :)
Hehe, some muppet tried to dye his GBA black with a bucket of hot water and four bottles of fabric dye. Very wise. Unsurprisingly, he also tried the contrast tweak.
28 Jun 2001
Just thought I'd bring to your collective attentions a couple of web oddities I've stumbled across recently, the first being filepile.org a public file sharing site brought to you by Andre Torrez among others. Secondly, there's qwer.org a (semi-)public scrapbook site (there's a bit more explanation here) brought to you by Kevin Fox of fury.com. Fury is a new addition to my list of "sites I regularly visit", if you're checking it out be sure to stop off at Kevin's other projects AOLiza and RandomPixel while you're at it.
Both FilePile and Qwer are fairly useless after a cursory exploration, but it's nice to see that new uses for old tricks are still being thought up by clever folk with too much time on their hands. Even if not every one of them's a hotornot.
27 Jun 2001
Is playing your Gameboy Advance into the small hours driving you blind? IGN have the lowdown on the current crop of light add-ons for Nintendo's wunderkind..
There's a nice interview with Dungeons and Dragons creator Gary Gygax in the archives at CDmag.com. He talks about how RPG's have evolved from the days of paper and dice, to the current state of the art Never Winter Nights..
And btw if you understand this post's title your secret's safe with me ;)
Reedy has pointed me in the direction of the awesome Handhelden, a site dedicated to handheld gaming nostalgia.
Handhelden is brought to us by the creators of the fantastic Electronic Plastic book, and features an absolute treasure trove of retro gaming action..
The site also features a nice links page if you fancy takeing your trip down memory lane further..
26 Jun 2001
Google have added yet another string to their bow with the addition of a beta version image search. Notable more for the total randomness of it's results than it's usefulness. It's quite easy to dig up sites from the depths of the internet with this that you would never normally stumble across with a straight text search.
Also worth a mention is the addition of Hacker, Elmer Fudd and Pig Latin to the pantheon of alternate language searches on Google.
And if you want to show Google how much you love them you'll be interested to learn that they may be going ahead with an IPO at some point in the not so distant future. Go on, throw all your hard earned cash at them! Just remember to do the research first.
EAGB have a review/article on the Flash Advance Linker for Gameboy Advance. This downloader and blank ROM cartridge allow you to backup GBA ROM images on to a blank cart for playing on your console.
Oh and it can be used as a Dev tool too..
25 Jun 2001
Tendobox have the details.
24 Jun 2001
fakejazz.com have a good interview with the kings of Mormon slowcore...
22 Jun 2001
While the world concentrates on the upcoming Next Gen console war. The real battle may be developing behind the scenes. SEGA and EA have a score to settle and there'll be tears before bedtime..
The New York Observer breaks the pre-release gagging order and gives a semi-review of Spielberg/Kubriks A.I. Sounds good too..
21 Jun 2001
Nude As The News have an interview with Matmos, co-collaborators on Bjorks new album..
Okay, I've seen some whacky case mods lately but this guy has just plain lost it. (Warning: not for public viewing).
IGN shake a huge stick at a whole load of XBox titles today. If you've been toying with the idea of buying into Microsoft's American Dream, then this is probably a good place to start making a decision. What do you guys think, I must admit I'm still not convinced...
Just to re-iterate our words of warning from yesterday's GBA contrast post: Nintendo have now issued an official warning. Apparently it's not a contrast control, it's a flicker control and messing with it could permanently damage your Gameboy in the long run.
20 Jun 2001
Chungking Express is finally getting a DVD release, if you're in the UK you can get it here..
Also check out Wong Kar-Wai's latest masterpiece In The Mood For Love if you get the chance..
Woah Brownie Brown have included a simultaneous quest mode in Magical Vacation for GBA..
I've been off work ill today, and have been spending my time watching footage from E3 on the GameNetwork on TV. One title stands out as looking fantastic and checking out a review on IGN they seem to aggree, Twisted Metal Black for PS2..
Yep its true, the Gameboy Advance has a secret contrast control hidden under the sticker on its rear. EAGB have the full instructions on how to adjust it.
!!! WARNING: Pixelised does not condone making this adjustment and doing so may well invalidate your warranty so dont come crying back to us when you break your shiny new GBA...!!!
Update: It's been confirmed, fiddling with this will permanently damage your GBA. We repeat, do not try this at home.
SEGA are diversifying out of the videogames market. Plans include a new arcade business based on fitness clubs, could this be an advanced version of Jonnyram's "Games can be healthy" post? They are also planning on developing their characters further. This is an area which Nintendo excells at, and harks back to Disney's classic business model.
They also seem to be planning on moving into the animated film and theme park markets.
In fact it sounds to me like they're trying to steal the Disney business model lock, stock and barrel..
The Star Wars episode one DVD. Who cares about the film, the six hours worth of bonus material stuff should make this worth the asking price alone.
Audio commentary from five different points of view, seven deleted scenes completed just for the DVD release, five behind-the-scenes featurettes, one hour-long documentary, galleries and storyboards and a partridge in a pear tree.
Check out the full rundown over at the official Star Wars site.
17 Jun 2001
Check out this review of Radiohead's Kid A..
"The butterscotch lamps along the walls of the tight city square bled upward into the cobalt sky, which seemed as strikingly artificial and perfect as a wizard's cap."
So if Samba de Amigo wasn't making you workout enough, here's the latest fad that's sure to have you shedding pounds. Happy Diet is Twilight Express' Diet Simulator. You input your height/weight and a character appears to match your dimensions. Then he makes a nice diet for you to follow and you can go jogging with him via the use of the "Stepping Controller". Some more details can be seen on the back of the CD sleeve.
16 Jun 2001
Bootlegactionfigures.com is full of not quite right ripoffs of action figures and merchandising for films and TV shows. Check out that Batman meets Lone Ranger toy, and doesn't that Foobie look better than a real Furby?
Have Koei come up with the coolest controller add on ever?
It's like some bizarre sea-monkey/zoid hybrid. I want one!
15 Jun 2001
Splendid magazine is running an interesting interview with Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai..
UK retailer GAME is reportedly taking pre-orders on Nintendo's Gamecube. They have it slated for a February launch at the amazing price of only
Infogrames are debating changing their trading name to Atari. Its one of the all time great gaming brandnames, but surely people will not be fooled by this sheep in wolf's clothing ploy..
13 Jun 2001
Sorry to lower the tone a little, but someone mentioned Knightmare in the Alien Front thread. So by popular demand here it is dungeoneers! But beware, for danger may lurk everywhere...
Update1: Hehee! Apparently the slightly unsettling decaying head that represented energy in the first few series had been sanitised into a cake with pieces being removed by series 8. Talk about losing your edge :)
Update2: This fan site even hosts an interactive online version of the show every once in a while. Season three is due to start in september.
9 Jun 2001
Remember those Matchbox cars you used to have when you were a kid? We'll Hitmaker are reviving the range with Crazy Taxi paper ones..
Amusement Vision, Sonic Team, AM2, and now Hitmaker are all working on Gamecube titles. When you look at the amount of games these companys are responsible for and then remember that until recently they were all part of Sega. Its just seems incomprehensible that the Dreamcast had such a short lifespan, cheers Sony..
PS: Try having a look at the Japanese language pages on the above sites they seem to be much more uptodate then the English ones..
8 Jun 2001
Sonic the Hedgehog celebrates his tenth birthday this year. On the 23rd June, Sonic Adventure 2 for the Dreamcast will be released worldwide to commemorate the fact.
Alan Turing was also born on this day in 1912. Thanks for computer science, Alan!
6 Jun 2001
This? But hang on a minute, removable tablet-style screen? Sounds suspicously like this 1994 prototype for a modular mac that Apple unceremoniously dumped when the media poo-pooed their handwriting recognition software. Methinks it would be met with much the same reaction now.
And what is it with all this dubious next-mac speculation anyway?
5 Jun 2001
Reminiscing over your Sinclair days, but need a little visual stimulus to jog that screen-addled memory of yours? Andrew Laggan's zx musem has all the eye-candy you can eat.
Thought the Zerowing intro was (set us up) the bomb? You should see the outro (featuring the california raisins by the looks of things). Zany video game quotes over at Overclocked has all your mistranslation needs covered. Resident Evil is easily in the runnings for the worst, but Barry's "What is it?!" is oddly missing.
4 Jun 2001
Tendo Box have an interview with Hiroki Kikuta one of the great composers of video game music.
3 Jun 2001
In the grand tradition of Gcoms safeplaces comes another great exploratory playground, vectorpark. Hint: if you can't find the fun, you're not looking hard enough.
2 Jun 2001
Golan Levin makes portraits from yearbook photos by varying the density of nodal networks. Golan Levin makes portraits of his workmates by procedurally coalescing scribbles. Golan Levin performs symphonies with the audiences mobile phones as his only instruments.
Scratch is a feature length documentary by Doug Pray which explores the history and culture of the Hip Hop DJ. With a cast that reads like a who's who of Hip Hop this film features the likes of, DJ Shadow, Bambaata, Grand mixer DXT, Mix Master Mike, QBert, Rob Swift, Premier, DJ Krush and more..
The film is to see a major theatrical release this summer with a DVD version to follow..
The Zulu Nation's website is an eye opener. Recomended viewings in their film section include Species 1 & 2 !?!?!
