digitaltaco.com

FINISHED PRODUCTS

when matt and i arrived home from work yesterday evening, we were surprised to find that amber had come to town. she had positioned herself into carlos's desk chair for a bit of wow; carlos had taken a place at my desktop to join her online as any good nerd boyfriend would have. it was a lovely sight indeed.

in fact, the only thing that could have been lovlier would be a few photos of the tacos we had last night -- i've been very poor about photo-documenting lately... sad. we've been frequenting the best taco shop in the mission, you see. it's called la taqueria, and it's wonderful. they claim to have the "best tacos and burritos in the whole world." it wouldn't be wise to argue. number one: their meat is so well-prepared. carlos has mentioned that it tastes as if it's come from the bbq at a giant family cook-out. i can imagine it might. they use the most amazing tortilla techniques, as well. like any good taco, they are prepared using two corn tortillas -- only the inner one has been fried and covered in melted cheese. it's soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo lovely. why go on. come visit me. i'll just take you there.

following our feast, carlos, amber, christian, matt, and i took a few hours to watch the entire first season of mega64. i've been helping the boys out a bit and have thus seen it all many times. the others have all had various levels of exposure to the material, but they had never simply sat down and watched it all. and the verdict? it played very well to an audience of taco-filled nerds, i'd say. much laughing ensued. i'd say that "the rise of mega64 is neigh," indeed. watch for it, soon!

i meant to mention this much sooner, but i simply forgot; thank the madness of e3. my old roommate britton, brother of old roommate -- and partner in cryme -- ryan, has finally completed a project he's been working on for years. yes, the boy had been toiling over this project even when he was living with ryan and i back in san diego. and now the world, or at least anybody with a computer capable of running SCUMM software, can interact with the fruits of his labor of love. it pleases me to announce the release of No Action Jackson, a PC adventure title built using the SCUMM engine and similar in design to the numerous LucasArts titles that have been released in the genre over the years... think monkey island. of course, i'm referring only to gameplay mechanics here. the story, dialogue, characters, and puzzles have all been created by britton for this project. it has been a long time coming but the result is pretty stunning. retrogamers take note: this is a fun little experience. hopefully it'll land the boy a job in the industry somewhere. tim schafer, i'm looking in your direction, buddy!

it's inspiring to see the work people are completing around me. it's makes me wish i had one really excellent piece of work to show... one finished product.

BOOTH BABES SUCK

they're at all of our trade shows... they smile... they are groped... they hate every moment... and worst of all, they cheapen the image of our industry; a near-naked woman handing out fliers and press kits to showgoers doesn't help to dissuade the perception that videogaming is only for adolescent boys, does it?

i hate booth babes. not the girls themselves, so much as the fact that marketing types still consider them a necessary addition to a trade show booth. i mean, even the ziff booth was full of them at e3. why? who knows?

i saw a link to GameGal's E3 2004 Hall of Shame on Slashdot. The pictorial looks at the "best of the worst from the many examples of sexist marketing practices at the Electronic Entertainment Expo." It's a bit short and unfulfilling, but the sentiment is sound.

SLIDING THROUGH THE MUSHROOM KINGDOM

there's this video you've gotta see. i'm gonna do as little describing here as possible. all i can say is that it's mario-related and it's from the eighties. and it's unbelievable that i missed this as a youth. prepared to be entertained.

take it, miss milano!

best video ever?

RIDDICK

i left work yesterday evening with a copy of the OXM demo disc and a single agenda: to record as much video from riddick as possible. i'd only recently become interested in the game following a vivendi pre-e3 press event; for the unitiated, the chronicles of riddick: escape from butcher bay is a game based on the movie that's appearing in theaters this summer. actually, the videogame is a prequel to the film and helps shed a little light on riddick's background. but what's really interesting is that the game will very likely be much better than the film.

i have no interest in the riddick films -- pitch black, any of that. i could care less about vin diesel. but i do like good first-person shooters. and i have been known to be a bit of a graphics whore. starbreeze, the developer of chronicles of riddick, has somehow created a game that is not only immersive and fun to play, but they've also crafted a proprietary graphics engine that is very similar to what carmack built for doom 3. the real question is "how?" this game came outta nowhere. and if the demo and videos i've seen are any indication, the rest of the game should live up to what i've played so far. and the game comes out june 1st, so the wait is pretty much nonexistent.

as in breakdown, the game places the player inside the characters body. it's one of those, really first-person first-person shooters. like, if you look down, you see your body. as such it has some really cool melee combat, interesting platforming and climbing elements (which are often played in third-person) and some nice, though short, cutscenes; using a health charger triggers a really good example of this.

so take a look at riddick if you have a chance. the demo is available now and the game ships in a few weeks. my videos should be available on fileplanet soon as well.

LIFE AS A BUNNY

i'm back after my rather lengthy absence -- one that was mostly caused by the hectic nature of e3 and its planning phases -- and i'm ready to talk again. i hope some people are still around and ready to listen.

though it was completely draining, e3 was actually quite fulfilling this year... definitely moreso than the last few, anyways. if asked to quickly list off the best things at the show, i believe i'd give really standard answers: Half-Life 2, PSP, & Nintendo DS. If you happened upon my e3 blog at gamespy -- or you've hit fileplanet recently -- then you've probably gotten wind of the new half-life 2 demo movie we posted. if you're a fan of PC gaming, or gaming in general really, you should try to check it out. if the filesize or the fact that it's on fileplanet bother you, Half-Life2.net should have a list of bittorrent links and probably even more compressed versions of my trailer.

it really is quite wonderful. though i realize that it'll be a rare occurance to a game with the overall quality, polish, and detail of half-life 2 anytime soon. valve, with their unlimited time and resources, have the ability to fine-tune the game to absolute perfection. the quality shows in every aspect of the game. (that's been shown so far) even the art direction is completely memorable and lovely. it seems impossible. oh, and the character interaction and emotional connections built with NPCs are truly ground-breaking, next-level stuff. i have no doubt i'll be giving a large chunk of my life to that game... then i'll finish the single-player and move to multiplayer. and before i know it, a year will have passed. it happened once before during my first year of college when its predecessor was released.

as much as i love hl2, i think that the most important product shown this year at the show was the psp. carlos and i have spent the days since its announcement -- or really, since the prototype hardware images were released -- brainstorming about the possiblities that sony's handheld will offer consumers. we knew it would be an important social device. as important as the cell phone? no. but if it takes care of enough non-gaming related, personal computing tasks on the go, then it could (and will likely) be hugely popular and successful. the fact that the thing plays movies and music is very important. it really needs a web browser and a stylus to be complete, and it appears that sony is already looking forward as such a peripheral was on display at the show floor. but the real reason that it's going to be so well-received is because it's a ridiculously sexy machine with the sony name on it. in the past few days i've referred to the psp as the sexiest piece of gaming hardware ever created. and i don't really see myself backing down from that statement. and beyond simple asthetics, the device is still extremely well-crafted. the buttons and d-pad are very similar to those on dual shock controllers; the analog stick slides pretty nicely as well, but it is unique from those you've used in the past; and the screen is absolutely beautiful, end of story. largely, though, the psp will function as a wireless game device. i had dreamed of playing multiplayer wipeout or soul calibur at a movie theater while ignoring "the twenty." and soon, that will be a reality... well, all except the part that namco has to take care of. get on the ball!

nintendo's ds is actually equally entertaining to me, though i know it won't have the same social impact. it rules not because it has two screens, but rather because one of them is touch sensitive and can be used with a stylus. the pictochat software on display at the show was highly amusing as it allowed users to chat wirelessly... but instead of typing or speaking, you simply draw on the screen. so cool. the new version of warioware and pacpix were clever, innovative, and fun. but it was metroid prime: hunters that really sold me on the the ds. most of the stuff i've read about it since the show seems to imply that while the game looks amazing, it's very difficult to play. i did not find this to be the case at all. in fact, i'd say that the stylus control they've implemented is a much better alternative to keyboard and mouse control than what a controller is capable of. though i admit that it could be improved. that said, i had nothing but fun with the four-player, wireless, handheld, stylus-controlled, metroid prime deathmatch. isn't that incredible? it seems impossible... but i didn't want to stop playing... i have no idea why, other than that it was really fun and i happen to be pretty good at it.

there was plenty of other great stuff at the show. i suppose i could list off stuff quickly -- jade empire, mechassault 2: lone wolf, (this came outta nowhere -- and it destroys) starcraft: ghost, metroid prime 2:echoes, final fantasy xii, metal gear solid 3: snake eater, god of war, paper mario 2, unreal championship 2, fable -- i'm sure there's more but that's the stuff that just came to mind. so yeah, the show was actually pretty ok, even if i was really tired the whole time.

and now i'm back home, taking it easy for a little while... the drive to and from LA can be rather draining. i've spent the weekend with vib ribbon and my recently modded ps2. goddamn is that game ever perfect. i've been going through my music collection trying to find which tracks make the most difficult levels. the winner so far: my bloody valentine's "blown a wish." jesus god is it ever complex. and yet, "to here knows when" is easy... hmm, crazy.

E3... WAAAAAAAAAA

i'm sitting at our e3 booth... i've been here for days already and the show doesn't actually begin for about another hour or so. oh well... as you can imagine, the event (and the week leading up to it) have kept me very busy and away from this site... so sad.

if you're a gamer and you'd like to keep tabs on me, i'm updating a temporary e3 blog at gamespy. check it out and keep checking back... i'll be back here very soon.