# posted by Chronodin @ 12:28 AM
 
Aww, man! Just as I was about to post this, uh, post, I came across this link to a ton of still shots from the upcoming Ninja Turtles movie.

I really think it's good that they're taking the movie seriously, giving it a dark tone and what appears to be a relatively mature storyline (more similar to the original Turtles movie, rather than the second or third one or the original cartoon), but at the same time, not trying to take themselves too seriously. This can be best seen with the images of humans, who are more in line with The Incredibles than, say, Polar Express. The reason I think that's good is, essentially, because of the uncanny valley syndrome, that being, when artificial graphics or the like become TOO realistic, you notice the differences between that and real life, rather than the similarities.

Staying in the vein of upcoming movies I'm super pumped for, I just found the first shot of Optimus Prime from the upcoming Transformers movie, and a trailer, as well! And let us not forget the sequel to The Fantastic Four, descriptively titled The Rise of the Silver Surfer. This movie also looks awesome, and I only hope it has Galactus in it.

.:[ Gaming Links ]:.

• Square-Enix DS scans - Scans from Dragon Quest IX, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates and It's a Wonderful World, all for the DS!
• PS3 scalpers giving up hope and returning their consoles - I shouldn't say that I get a certain smug satisfaction at hearing this, buuut...
• Wii sells 3 million - The Wii, on the other hand, is doing VERY well. (Bwa ha ha ha...)
• Wii-controlled Smarthome - Wow, this guy hacked his Wii so that it can control all sorts of things in his house, like heating, lights, his TV... tons of stuff. It's really amazing.
• Goldeneye Source beta released - Haven't tried yet, but I hope it's good!
  

.:[ Other Links ]:.

• Save the world from an asteroid, win $50k - Sounds easy enough.
• The Great Google Ad Conspiracy - Heh. Make sure you read all the way to the end.
• Daily Monster - Interesting... haven't seen this site before, but my brother linked me to it, and it's pretty neat.
• Mechanized beetle - Googleshng said it best in reference to this picture: weird freakin' hobby.
• Snow structures - The ice sculptures on the next page are especially impressive.
• George Carlin is a Modern Man - I haven't heard much from him in a while, but this shows that he's still got it.
• Ninja Words - All this is is a dictionary... but a really fast one. So fast that it refers to itself as "A really fast dictionary... fast like a ninja." And as we all know, there is nothing faster than a ninja. And it really is. This is definitely nicer than dictionary.com, which is more like "Fast like peanut butter."

No Remix of the Day today, considering it's like 1:45am. I'll try to post one tomorrow if I think about it... and can pry myself away from Twilight Princess. No guarantees, though!

Speaking of which, anybody out there have a Wii? If so, either comment or e-mail me your Wii number! Mine is 6260 5458 0504 5478.

-Chronodin  4 comments links to this post   

# posted by Chronodin @ 11:07 AM
 
Merry Christmas!

I'm currently writing this post from my Wii, just because I can. That should also give you some indication of why you haven't seen any other posts from me yet.

But no worries! I'll have a real post up later today.

-Chronodin  0 comments links to this post   

# posted by Chronodin @ 11:41 AM
 

I can't even begin to tell you how much this spray paint artist amazes me. What he does with layering and the different techniques he uses to achieve the final product are just incredible. I had this video ready for the last post, but decided to wait so that I could feature it at the top because of how impressed I am. I dunno, maybe I'm just a big spray paint fanboy.

I decided to do today's post a little differently, considering a lot of the links I have are kinda related. It's kind of like the good, the bad and the ugly in the world of consoles.

THE GOOD

I am referring, of course, to the Wii. I found something interesting regarding the Wii-mote. You see, Google has their new Patent Search Beta online, so I was fooling around on there, and came across this, which appears to be a patent describing the Wii-mote. The catch? This patent was filed back in 1993. I'm not sure what exactly it means, if anything, but if I hear anything else, I'll be sure to report it.

Also in regards to the Wii, it looks like their online service is really coming into its own. Not only is their weather channel now up and running (so I'm told... grumble), but Opera is releasing a trial version of their web browser for the Wii on December 22!

Oh, and if you're interested, here is a video preview of their Wiither Channel. Sorry, I don't think I can ever pass up the opportunity for a bad pun.

And here are some wacky prototypes considered for the Wii originally. Why is this under "The Good"? Easy: because they didn't choose any of these. Particularly that god-awful star one in the middle.

THE BAD

No surprise here, I'm talking about the Playstation 3, my sworn enemy it seems. And for those of you who want one, what are you doing here?! I just thought I'd mention that as I was walking into Gamestop today, somebody walked in right before me and either returned a PS3 or sold it back to them, I couldn't tell which. That's right, I had an easy opportunity to buy one, and I passed it up without so much as a blink. Well, okay, I blinked, and I DID consider it, but only for reselling purposes. Sure, I'd make some cash, but I'd become like those who I'm so outspoken against anyway (I'm not a fan of reselling new systems... just doesn't seem right), so I declined.

Now, that's not why I mentioned the PS3 here. No, rather, once again someone from Sony has said something ignorant and/or stupid. They're continuing to brag how little of the PS3's power the current games are actually using. Fine, then how come some launch titles are choppy when run at the highest resolution? Ah, must be the developer's fault, of course. Can't be Sony's. *cue halo above Sony's head... no, not THAT halo*

What really gets me is the quote on that page, though. Phil Harrison says that the major problem with today's industry is that games are supposed to be "fun". Err... what?

I fervently believe that the biggest challenge we face is that our industry is referred to as 'video games,' and games are supposed to be fun. Games should deal with fear, should deal with comedy and with death. They should deal with peril, with drug offenses.

Just a coincidence that that is the very driving force behind the Wii being a huge success, huh? That it's "fun"? Let's beat them up and steal their lunch money, too.

And finally, that brings us to...

THE UGLY

And what else could that refer to but The Phantom? It seems people are still giving them money. Really, I don't think I need to say much else about that. The only good thing about the Phantom is their keyboard and mouse design, which seems pretty decent for a console system. Other than that... why??

I will be incredibly surprised if this system ever becomes even a minor success... no, I take it back. I will be SHOCKED if the system is ever actually released. I still think we're going to find out that the whole thing is a huge ruse and it was called Phantom for that reason.


And that's that. Oh, and I found a few fun online games for you, like Grow v1, which is... interesting. And Winter Bells, which is too darn cute for its own good. My best score so far is 17000.

-Chronodin  3 comments links to this post   

# posted by Chronodin @ 2:45 PM
 


Actually, I hope you can, because here it is.

Well, supposedly. I haven't tried it out for myself, but according to this video, the PS2 emulation on the PS3 is... well... utter crap. Look for yourself, and you'll definitely see the difference. Like I said, I haven't experienced this first-hand, but if what the video says is true, then that's a major no-no on Sony's part. They have this believe that nobody cares about backwards compatibility.

I disagree.

If I had a PS3, I would love to be able to use just that system to play both my PS2 and PS3 games. And I have, mind you, an Xbox, PS2 and Gamecube sitting under my TV, and I plan on getting a Wii quite soon. Granted, I plan on using the Wii in place of the Gamecube (particularly since I don't play a lot of Gamecube anymore except for a few games here and there anyway), but you get my point.

I can only come up with two possibilities for this, and neither looks particularly sparkling on Sony's part. One is that they really, truly believe people don't care, so they didn't want to waste time and effort on putting quality emulation for PS2 games in. The other is that it's a business tactic. You see, 2006 was a good year for the PS2, and 2007 looks to have some quality games, as well. God of War 2, anyone? PS2 sales have been pretty decent this holiday season... I just wonder if they're hoping to squeeze a few extra PS2 sales from people who aren't satisfied with the PS3's backwards compatibility. That tactic seems risky, though, and if anything, I would think it'd persuade people who own neither the PS2 or PS3 to purchase a PS2, if the alternative is buying both systems. I don't know, that conspiracy theory isn't the most solid, but at this point, it's not out of the question for Sony.

And as for some news that I find both good and bad, they're making a Final Fantasy Tactics remake! That's obviously good, as FFT is one of my all-time favorite games, and one of very few PS1 games I ever return to (the others being Chrono Cross and FF9). The bad part? It's for the PSP.

I refuse to buy a PSP. Even more than I refuse to buy a PS3. I love Final Fantasy Tactics with all my heart, I really do, but that's not enough to sway me to the dark side. Not gonna happen.

Especially because that link also mentions Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2. Which is awesome, but does that mean they're making it for GBA? I think that's great, but it's dangerous; I fear the GBA might be dead by that point, with Square-Enix being one of the very few companies to really support the system these days. I think that they would be better-off making the game for the DS. The second screen could be used very well for statistics and whatnot.

Oh well, I'll buy it either way.

OH! And if you are of the variety that happens to routinely ignore my Remix of the Day links, don't do yourself an injustice and continue the trend today. The remix I'm linking today is definitely one of the more impressive ones... you could play this for someone, tell them it's a real orchestra, and it would be believable. I don't know the source material at all, but it doesn't matter. It's just that good. Be sure to check it out!

.:[ Gaming Links ]:.

• Nintendo to replace Wiimote straps wrist straps - I still don't even see why it's a problem, but this should at least give you some peace of mind. Free replacement for your strap!
• EQ2 with Wii-mote - Seems kind of impractical, but nifty for the novelty of it.
• Far Cry: Raving Rabbids edition - I think anything with one of these guys in it is hilarious, especially this teaser trailer. It's too bad the reviews coming in for this game are... well... not good.
• Sony's PR guy sucks - Okay, that's not really the title of this story, but it might as well be. Apparently Sony made this site which... ah, just click and read about it yourself. :) (Note: The site that this article references appears to be removed now, so if you try to go there and get a white screen, now you know why. Not the one I'm linking to, mind you, but the one it's talking about! Clear?)
• Rayman Raving Rabbids: Behind the Scenes (part 1) - Hilarious short "behind the scenes" video. Here's part 2 and part 3.
  

.:[ Other Links ]:.

• Verizon doesn't know how to count - It's incredible how many people don't seem to know the difference between .002 dollars and .002 cents.
• Tony vs Paul - Wow, I'm really impressed with this stop-motion video. Very entertaining.
• Cartoon Montage - A montage of the classic cartoons my generation grew up with! Mostly 80's and 90's cartoons, with a few from even earlier, like Voltron and Speed Racer. The best part? They included Silverhawks, aka. the best Thundercats clone nobody has seen! It was one of my favorites. This'll definitely bring back some memories if you're like me and recognize almost every one of these.
• A tribute to Lasse Gjertsen - This is a guitar video done in the style of that video I linked a while back (I can't actually find the link but it's there somewhere) where he recorded himself playing each note individually then syncing them into a song via video editing. REALLY cool.
• Shirt-folding machine - This is what I need!!
• Pencil sculptures - Impressive.
• Expandable table - Wow, this is neat. Tables that can quickly expand to double their seating capacity but still remain perfectly round. Doesn't sound like much, I know, but you should see the videos to understand what makes this cool.
• "300" trailer - There's just something very cool about this movie. I'm not even sure what exactly it is that makes it stand out, but I'm pretty excited for it.
• Ray Harryhausen creature compilation - You have to admit, these special effects are pretty spectacular for pre-CGI.

Remix of the Day: "Twilight of the Millennium" by Vampire Hunter Dan, from Phantasy Star 4 - I think I said above all that needs to be said about it. Definitely one of my favorite remixes. Don't miss this one!

-Chronodin  1 comments links to this post   

# posted by Chronodin @ 11:48 PM
 
Just released! A very cool trailer for Dragon Quest IX: Protectors of the Starry Sky that shows a good bit of gameplay footage. This game looks very interesting.


I have to admit, I'm a bit disappointed that the game appears to be an action RPG, but it still looks decent, and if they can further improve the action RPG genre (FFXII has come the closest, but it's not a true action RPG, really), more power to them.

-Chronodin  0 comments links to this post   

# posted by Chronodin @ 11:18 AM
 
If you know me, you might know that one of my favorite, if not my favorite, series of novels is The Dresden Files. You also may or may not know that they're making a TV series out of it! A new trailer was just released not too long ago for the show:



If you've never read any of these books by Jim Butcher, I can't recommend them enough. The first one is called Storm Front. You should already be on your way to the book store to get it. Don't even read the rest of this post. Do it when you get back.

.:[ Gaming Links ]:.

• The Ultimate Guitar Hero controller - I WANT THIS!
• Missing Wii safety pages - Funny stuff.
• Chinese MMORPG players given real land - Do this to World of Warcraft and you might get, like, half an ant.
• Nintendo investigating broken Wiimote straps - Like I said before, I really don't see why people are having problems holding onto their remotes.
• Heroes of Mana scans - I'm intrigued by this game and am looking forward to hearing more about it.
• Pulse VU - This makes the blue light on the Wii's disc drive do a fader-thing when it's not turned-on and respond to audio from the Wii when it is. Very awesome, but I wouldn't want to do a hardware mod on my Wii (when I get it... grumble). If a software mod is ever an option, I'm jumping on it, though.
• Ico "for realz" - Yet again, shows how silly some games would be if they really happened. But, hey, who's keeping score?
• Mega Kong - Kotaku got it right... Donkey Kong is much easier when you have a cannon attached to your arm.
• 2 SPICY - This is some Japanese arcade game from Sega, and looks pretty cool actually.
• Is this Master Chief's face? - I very seriously doubt that it is. Pretty sure it's just a crack in the faceplate. I think it's a Man in the Moon kind of deal, but even less so.
• Will Wright on the Colbert Report - It's Steven Colbert, need I say more? (And here's a behind-the-scenes look at the interview.)
• Mother has 12-year old son arrested for opening Christmas present early - Parents do some insane stuff, that part doesn't surprise me... but the cops actually charged him with petty larceny?? That's pretty outrageous.
• Buying an HDTV: What Gamers Need to Know - Doesn't apply to me this Christmas, alas. :( But if it applies to you, read on!
• Dofus - An MMORPG with a Final Fantasy Tactics-like battle system. I haven't tried it out, but I'm gonna! There's a free trial version. No time limit, but limited in your options while playing.
• Metroid in Quasi-Lego Blocks - Read on to see what the "quasi" means.
• Apple entering console gaming market? - Nothing definite, but some analysts think it's coming.
• Sony's rep killing Blu-Ray - As Sony utters what should become their official catchphrase: "Oops".
• Toys "R" Us overprices Wii cards - Yeah, see that 2000 point Wii card? Those are supposed to be for $20. See what TRU is charging? Yep, $24.99. Nice.
• 2 officers skip line to buy PS3s - Shameful, really.
• Final Fantasy XIII Versus trailer - Doesn't tell us anything in the way of gameplay, really... but, hey, it's pretty.
• WOW: Burning Crusade trailer from VGA - Impressive video.
• Final Fantasy 6 Advance Preview - Ooh!

.:[ Other Links ]:.

• Ugly Christmas Lights - The title certainly fits.
• Laptop battery fire video - This is what happens when your battery goes "kaboom".
• Nike + iPod is a security threat? - Only if being cool is illegal! Booyah! (Ed: I'm sorry, I have no idea where that came from)
• Day of the Ninja - Apparently this was December 5, and I missed it! >:(
• Liquid water on Mars? - As in, not a long time ago, but NOW. This is pretty interesting, and could very well lead to discovery of life on mars (microbacterial, but life nonetheless).
• Espresso machine modded with NES controller - This is kinda gaming, but kinda not... nifty either way. It combines two of my favorite activities!
• Damn Interesting - That's the name of the site, and the title fits: it has many different articles about a wide range of topics that are, well, really interesting! Check it out.
• Tilt - I don't think I linked this game before. It's kinda fun for a few min, though. Try it.

-Chronodin

Labels: links, the dresden files

 2 comments links to this post   

# posted by Chronodin @ 2:02 PM
 
My friends, I decided it was time for NerdCentral to expand once more.

So with that, I present to you... quotes!

Actually, I kept running out of room on my AIM profile and thought, hey, I should just make a page with quotes on it, much like my friend Penny does, who you will probably see featured quite extensively on my own quotes page. Conversations between the two of us are never boring.

It's just called AIM quotes for now because, hey, that's where they're all from. If I have some non-AIM quotes to include in there, then, well, the title will reflect said change appropriately.

Got a bunch of links to post later! Stay tuned for 'em! I realize how excited you all are. I know I am.

-Chronodin  0 comments links to this post   

# posted by Another Click in the Hall @ 4:31 PM
 



(found on a photoshop tutorial website)

Addendum: this just might be the funniest thing ever created.

Addendum, revisited: check out this one, too. Which is funnier?  2 comments links to this post   

# posted by Chronodin @ 11:52 AM
 
Okay, gonna try something else. I decided to enable comment moderation for the site, which means I'll have to approve the comments that go up. It's not a quality control system or a "Your comment only gets posted if you agree with Chronodin"-type deal, but merely to prevent spam comments from getting through.

Not that I'm not flattered that spammers have chosen my little corner of the web as a target.

I check my e-mail multiple times daily, though, so it shouldn't take long for your comments to appear. I like this better than the word verification method because I don't want people to have to do that every time they want to comment. Basically, this means less work for you and a little more for me. I'm okay with that.

Thoughts? Comments?

Oh yeah, do you guys like the pop-up comment window? Or do you prefer the old one? Let me know your thoughts!
 3 comments links to this post   

# posted by Chronodin @ 10:05 PM
 
Man, this weekend went by like nothing else. I can't believe tomorrow is Monday already. Even though I didn't have a ton to do, it was spread out just evenly enough over two and a half days that there really weren't any extended periods of "nothing to do" time. I do not feel sufficiently rested and am not ready for Monday! Monday, you're just going to have to wait a few more days before you appear.

Seems like it was a (relatively) slow weekend in nerd-related news. If you're into football (very un-nerdlike, I know), there was plenty for you this weekend. The WVU game was pretty good, but I feel bad for Rutgers; I wish they could have gotten a bowl bid even though they lost to WVU. They put on a great season. And the Steelers had a strong showing today against Tampa Bay.

Okay, okay, I know, you're not used to hearing me talk about things that are decidedly NOT fit for a website called "NerdCentral". Like I said, slow nerd weekend. I do have some links for your perusal, however.

I'm also still trying to think of ways to organize the links a little bit more. Either perhaps categorizing them further (not sure about this one) or icons depicting what kind of link it is, like Game-Related, World News, Technology, Movie/Animation, Playable Game, etc. I dunno... anybody have any decent suggestions? Or is the current way of doing things okay? If anything, maybe is there just one other category of links you'd like to see separated, such as playable games? Let me know your thoughts... either e-mail me or comment. All thoughts are welcome!

Except for the spam comments we've been getting now and then, but I'm doing my best to erase them as they appear. If it gets out of hand, I might have to deactivate anonymous comments, but I REALLY don't want to do that. That's a very last-resort action. I wonder if I can just set them to be approved before appearing... hmm...

As it stands now, though, anyone can comment! So... please do so!

.:[ Gaming Links ]:.

• Sam & Max Episode Two on the way! - That reminds me, I really should finish Episode One... whoopsie.
• More Red Steel on the way? - Hopefully they can fix some of the many complaints people have had about this game.
• Goldeneye Source - I didn't even know they made this last year, but apparently they did, and are releasing a new version Christmas morning!
• Treamcast SE - Portable Dreamcast! Score!! Well, portable to the point of playing it in your car. But still!
• Crysis trailer to break hearts, wallets - But if you're on the fence about upgrading your computer, your video card might just commit suicide after you watch this, forcing you to upgrade anyway.
• Fan-Made Wii Commercial - Pretty clever.

.:[ Other Links ]:.

• AM-DeadLink - A nifty program for finding dead bookmarks/favorites and also downloading favicons for all of them.
• Fast Food Freestyle - This is a great drive-through prank, if you can call it that. I wasn't sure at first, but watch the whole thing through, it's pretty funny.
• Injuries of Darth Vader - I don't know how much you'll appreciate this unless you're a big Star Wars fan (and who ISN'T??), but it is impressive the amount of research gone into this.
• White board animation - Very impressive.
• Four-Second Frenzy - A fun WarioWare-type game, though some of the microgames (as they're called) are quite difficult to figure out the first time through.
• 1.618 music video - A very interesting music video. The music itself is decent background music, but didn't blow me away... video is cool though.
• Drawing a car in MS Paint - Forget the question about how talented people can be... how does anyone have the PATIENCE to do this? /boggle
• SketchFighter 4000 Alpha - This is an interesting Mac game (sorry, Windows users) and looks like fun, but I haven't gotten a chance to try it out yet. First two levels are free, whole game is about $20.
• The Onion: Local news anchor mistakingly reveals salary during broadcast - I felt compelled to post this one since they based it in Pittsburgh.
• Happy Feet stomping on Casino Royale - I haven't seen Happy Feet, but I can tell you that Casino Royale is AWESOME. Go see it, it's not too late to retake #1!!

Remix of the Day: "Hyrule Party Mix" by NoppZ, from The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time - Now, I'll be honest... I didn't expect this to be my cup of tea, since the title suggests techno, and I tend to lose interest in techno pretty quickly, but as it turns out, I enjoyed it. It's worth a listen, at the least.

-Chronodin  4 comments links to this post   

# posted by Chronodin @ 3:59 PM
 
 0 comments links to this post