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MORE NINJA GAIDEN

i put up a giant story on the new content update with images and videos at GameSpy. if whacking stuff with a giant stick interests you, click here. oh, and i apologize in advance for fileplanet.

DISHES FAIL WHEN...

...you allow them to sit too long. carlos and i served a less than perfect version of out tacos last night in celebration of phu's birthday. we were attempting to make a presentable meal, but because of the miniscule size of our kitchen, it's difficult to prepare that much food at the same time. and when you let food sit, it gets cold. the lesson has been learned and next time, taqueria-style, all the way. oh, and we're making molé this weekend. come by if you're hungry.

oh, and the ninja gaiden hurricane pack vol. 1 thing i mentioned... hardest thing ever! now, i haven't played the standard game on very hard mode; that could be as difficult or even more so. but because i was playing last night with a purpose -- to capture footage -- i had to keep powerhousing through. i ended up getting so frustrated at one point that i grabbed the remote control for my dv deck and flung it against the wall. i haven't thrown anything in frustration since i was like seven years-old....

but the game is fun. just be prepared for torture. impressions and movies will be up on gamespy soon.

I BEAT ITAGAKI...

...in a game of dead or alive ultimate. and he beat me, as well. very hard. but the most important thing is that overall, ben and i beat ign. the game? it's dead or alive... but bigger... and prettier... and with perfect online play over xbox live. there will be international rankings and, of course, the virtual arcade cabinet. you'll be able to read more in our preview soon.

anyways, yeah... i beat itagaki. rock.

FEED YOURSELF

alton brown, of "good eats" fame, may be the smartest, and awesomest, man alive. "why," you ask? have you watched the show? that should really be enough to sway your opinion of him. but if you need more encouragement, check out this excerpt from a recent blog entry posted after he saw the film "supersize me:"

"We are fat and sick and dying because we have handed a basic, fundamental and intimate function of life over to corporations. We choose to value our nourishment so little that we entrust it to strangers. We hand our lives over to big companies and then drag them to court when the deal goes bad. This is insanity.

Feed yourselves.
Feed your loved ones.
And for God’s sake feed your children."

in fact, "there's a lot of wisdom in that post," as carlos mentioned to me when we read it last night. i do urge you to check it out -- it's the post from july 18, 2004. then do me a favor and cook yourself dinner. the food really does taste better when you make it yourself... or better yet, for others.

switching gears, literally: i saw a link to this video on che chou's 1up blog, and shit... is it ever incredible. if you wanna see some seriously amazing high-speed driving, i suggest you check it out. if only the guy had been able to avoid the cops longer...

today is the day that itagaki is coming to town to show us his latest game. who knows, i may even get to play a match or two against him. as that is the case, i spent a few minutes last night with dead or alive 3 to make sure i still remembered how to play. it's funny.... i had a really great time with it, too. that was quite surprising. i'd like to make him rue the day he ever created ayane... but who knows if my skillz will be enough to take down the man behind the game. regardless, i'll give it a try.

and a couple of final tidbits:

• katamari damashii is officially coming america this september! woo hoo!
• you can choose whether or not to believe me, but, anchorman is excellent. it has at least two super-duper genius bits... and overall it's an extremely gratifying comedy. fans of will ferrell have probably already seen it. fans of steve carrell need to get their asses out the door and see it now. classic stuff.

MASTER NINJA

i just returned to ninja gaiden for the third time... and bested it, finally. what a game! the final platforming sequence is a bit annoying, mostly because of the camera, but all in all, it's the best action game to come out in a long, long time. i think i finished in around 32 hours... that's nearly rpg length. jesus!

afterwards i thought i'd start up a game on hard mode just to see how difficult it is, as normal is stupidly difficult at times. while besting the standard enemies didn't seem significantly more laborious, the mayor, err... boss of the first stage seemed impossible to beat. but then, that was also the case when i first started playing on normal... so i guess i'll be practicing more, but not likely before hurricane pack vol. 1 is released. it is, by the way, amazingly awesome that itagaki and friends are releasing this free expansion for the game. the new content is totally welcome; i'm most excited about the reworked camera control, though. i am also pleased that it's been referred to as vol. 1. does this mean we're in for more downloadable content in the future? it appears so. i'd like to see (online) versus and training modes make their way into the game. that would make it near perfect.

and if you happen to be a developer other than team ninja, take note! this is the best use of xbox live that we've ever seen in a single-player game without a competetive online component -- master ninja tournament doesn't count, though it is intriguing. the download, which will be available august 2nd, will make the best game released thus far this year even better. i want to see more of this. and itagaki was right; ninja gaiden is only possible -- at least in the way it currently exists -- on xbox. he's coming to town for a visit on tuesday... strange that i've only been working in the industry professionally for 11 months and this will be the third time i've met with itagaki. thankfully he's damn cool. should be fun!

now back to work. i'm currently multitasking; the mega64 dvd must be completed soon, thus i'm cutting away on that project. and yet, i feel the need to get in a little bit of street fighter practice... you know the new one with the stick dude and the chain-whip girl... i love that 'intendo tape. word.

TACOS ALAMBRE +

the last great dish we discovered at taco mesa was the taco alambre. it's simple really... carne asada, bacon, grilled onions, and ranchero cheese atop a white corn tortilla. in our last days at taco mesa, the taco alambre became one of the most ordered items in our group of friends. good eats, indeed.

then we moved out here to sf and became accustomed to frequenting the mission's own la taqueria on mission between 24th and 25th. their claim to fame is not only their savory meat, but also the inclusion of a fried tortilla topped with melted cheese into a taco. this crispy tortilla sits atop a standard warmed soft corn tortilla and the texture is wonderful.

my aunt tina was in town on business and amber was visiting for the evening, so carlos and i decided to make them dinner rather than try to find parking at a downtown restaurant on a friday evening. because we had bested taco mesa in the past, we thought we'd try our hand again. and -- as you'd probably imagine -- the target of the evening's cooking was the infamous taco alambre that carlos and i had held in such esteem over the past year. the plan was fairly straightforward; we intended to cook our carne asada with bacon to give the meat a succulent and salty flavor. and in addition to the grilled onions, we incorporated grilled yellow peppers into the tacos as well. we mimicked la taqueria's fried tortilla technique with ranchero cheese -- after it melted, it served to hold the two tortillas together, whille also tasting delicious. than to finish, i made fresh roasted tomato/roasted tomatillo/chipotle salsa and fresh guacamole which we smothered atop the tacos with a little bit of crema mexicana.

the results: well, i did refer to them as the best tacos i'd ever tasted... and i do hate to gloat. but they were damn good, and i was quite impressed with our work. if you're a carnivore and you'd like dinner, just let me know and carlos and i will be glad to make another batch... 'cause it would give us a reason to enjoy them for ourselves again! anyways, we'll likely be working on some more concoctions of our own in the near future. i look forward to sharing!

here are some photos of the us and the tacos. unfortunately, not many of my photos from that evening came out -- and none of them containing tina were salvagable. blast! have a look!

WAITING FOR AN APPLE

i'm getting very annoyed whilst waiting for the latest fiona apple record -- "extraordinary machine" -- to hit. it's been complete for several months and sony has been sitting on it searching for a single, according to an old interview with jon brion. the guy who runs the p.t. anderson site i visit has posted the title track from her record online. it's really, really nice and it makes sony's actions more unbearable. if you're a fan of miss apple's, or need a reason to become one, check out the song.

UPDATE: and here's another track -- just move down the page a bit, eventually you'll find the link. i'm now growing even more preturbed... IF THAT'S EVEN POSSIBLE!

TRAILERS WORTH WATCHING

If you have a few moments, you may want to check out these movies trailers:

• Zach Braff's "Garden State" -- trailer
• Takashi Miike's "IZO" -- trailer

enjoy!

AMERICAN FILMS THAT SHOULD GO BY THEIR FOREIGN TITLES

thanks to christian for the link.

WHAT A RIDE, WHAT A TRIP...

i took last friday off so i'd have plenty of time to make the drive to southern california for a visit with the crew from orange.

friday: i made it out at around 9:40 am and everything was great until i got exactly an hour away and realized i had forgotten the concert tickets for the skinny puppy shows i was to attend; in my defense, i remembered everything else i was supposed to bring including a dvd player, an xbox, several dvds, my computer, and a firewire hdd. so with another two hours added to my trip, i didn't make it to pasadena until around 5:30, but luckily shane was in town to receive me. we spent the evening hanging out, dining, and drinking beer with his friend midori. we ate okonomiyaki which is like a giant pancake-shaped omelette filled with a seemingly unlimited number of savory fillings. mine had noodles, bacon, and seafood inside, if i remember correctly. it was quite delicious. midori -- the girl, not the melon liqueur -- is cute, friendly and an excellent source of information about japanese music and cinema. very cool... and silly me, i forgot to swap e-mail addresses.

saturday: the night of my first skinny puppy live experience. alex had been the evening prior and had had a less than stellar time; the venue basically sucked, he was with a bunch of non-puppy-fan haters, and the crowd was lame. he had also been disappointed that the show was less-theatrical than those in previous puppy tours had been.

we ended up arriving at around 9:30, hoping to miss some of opener tweeker's performance. we succeeded there. it turned out that puppy went on at 8:45 that evening and we had missed half their performance in addition to all of tweeker's. after finally getting situated, the show was nearly over and we were pretty far back. i was bummed by the crowd who appeared to be only mildly entertained -- damned unenergetic goths. and the sound at that venue really isn't all that great. i left somewhat disappointed.

sunday: after the previous evening's experience, i was determined to see skinny puppy the right way. we arrived at the venue -- the grove in anaheim -- early and after a thoroughly invasive search we took our place at the gate in front of the stage. tweeker sucked. chris vrenna wants badly to be mr. reznor... and the song structures are so boring. alex decided that he should have learned much more after ten years with trent. oh well...

when the real band finally took the stage, i was finally excited about their performance for the first time. we were so close, and the sound was os wonderful at the venue. ogre took the stage during the band's second song wearing some strange suit that looked a bit like voldo's white costume from soul calibur 2. it was ragged and the top looked like some weird girdle/straight jacket combo. he also had two triangular white cotton prisms... one was worn as a hat and the other upsidedown as a mask. he looked evil... the way he hobbled made him appear like a weird bird. after the first song he removed the mask and hat and his costume began to bleed. then at any point in the set, if he felt too clean he could wander behind a piece of set and grab more fake blood, fake shit, or white powder to cover himself or the audience with. at one point he was given a modified paintball gun capable of firing fake blood which he pointed at video footage of bush... he proceeded to fire the blood into his mouth and onto alex, who looked positively evil following the show.

i was totally into the band's older tracks: "inquisition," "tin omen," "convulsion," "smothered hope," "the choke"... it was wonderful. ogre sang the chorus of worlock right to alex and i from a distance of about three feet... this would have been the best experience ever if i was still seventeen years-old; at my current age i would merely deem it totally awesome. many of the younger, and cuter, memebers of the audience seemed to have little knowledge of the older songs, and yet were thrilled to hear tracks from the latest album... though i still think the record is weak, i'm glad it has an audience. a few of the security guards at the event looked positively puzzled. twenty years will pass and they'll still have no idea what happened that night, chris (who also joined us in the front) and i decided. at one point, i glanced at one of the guards who was grinning and wearing an expression that said, "only white kids, man..." it was lovely.

so, it was a great show... it was the last night of the US tour and as is standard practice, the band was hazed by their road crew... watching ogre scream the lyrics to "smothered hope" while wearing sparkly, star-shaped sunglasses is a strange experience. but it was memorable and fun... what more can one ask for? well, simply... more, i suppose. skinny puppy may be touring with ministry in the fall... wouldn't that be wild. if only i was seventeen again.

REAL GAMING TELEVISION

matt just returned from an excursion to korea, where he was visiting kristina -- who is coming to visit next week -- yea! he came back with one of the coolest dvd box sets i've ever seen, and i thought i should share it with you.

as big as gaming is over here in the states, the scene just doesn't get the respect that it does in other parts of the world. as gamers, we hear tales about korean starcraft tournaments, and how important gaming is to their culture. but unless you actually see it, i think it's difficult to appreciate the difference. i had heard staggering figures like, one in four korean citizens has heard of (or played) starcraft. i've been told about the 24-hour starcraft television network... but again, i'd never seen it. well, now i think i have a much better understanding. the dvd i've mentioned is a 3-disk set released by starleague that is filled with 222 minutes of footage highlighting high-level starcraft players in tournament finals. it has commentary tracks, bonus features, a t-shirt, and even a package of player headshots. the production value is very high, with cg intros before matches and some of the highest quality pc game footage i've ever seen running on a television. and it's so serious. the announcers -- men who get paid to talk about starcraft matches on the air -- get very excited when the matches get heated. as does the immense audience... there are like giant concert halls filled with people watching two dudes play. and, boy are they into it. they cheer, and wince and cry... i wish i had a screen capture of these three young girls... they are huddled together, hands over their mouths in sheer terror when it looks like the boy their rooting for is about to lose. then when he comes back -- he amazingly took down some carriers with a few goliaths -- they yelp and scream and jeer. it's incredible.

the whole time carlos, matt, and i were watching, i kept claiming that, "we're so far behind..." carlos simply kept saying, "this is the best thing i've ever seen." i don't know what the people at g4techtv (get a new name) are doing, but they should be watching these dvds. seriously. why there isn't a 24-hour FPS competition channel in america, i do not know.

here are some photos of the discs and packaging. and yeah, that's one of the gamers on the cover.