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HAI, KONNICHIWA!

so, i've been in tokyo for a couple of days and will remain here for a few more. i had been planning to update this blog constantly, but i've been asked to keep a tgs-specific one running at gamespy for the duration of my stay here. "no problem, i'll do both," i thought. unfortunately, with ben and i sharing a room, it's been difficult to secure enough time with the connection to do so. so for now, i'll point you to it. if i have a chance, i'll be sending different updates here, but i can't promise that i will. though you should expect massive photo-filled updates when i return, if nothing else.

LOST AGAIN: RYAN'S TGS 2004 BLOG

TRAPPED IN OC

i was sent out here to cover an upcoming videogame. i was ticketed to fly out to the event at 6:30 this evening, in fact, but i found out early yesterday morning that the event was in fact happening this morning. so i flew out last night and crashed at my old pad. i got a carne asada burrito from the neighborhood taco shop. the quality had improved, i noticed. my family seemed well.

today, i met up with bryn and we saw the unmentionable game. it looked fine. i was mostly interested in getting the chance to chat with bryn as we don't much get the chance anymore. his life seems to be going rather swimmingly and he fatherhood sounds swell, as he describes it. and like any good nerd, he's currently obsessed with burnout 3.

after stopping by the old office to grab some old expense reports -- somehow grabbing the wrong ones, of course -- and taking a moment to chat with a few of the guys down in irvine, it was back to the airport... only this time, jason did the honors. i mentioned to him that i didn't feel like flying. i wished i was home playing burnout 3, rather. when i mentioned this all to jason, he remarked that i should just push my flight back until the next morning, come back to his place and play some burnout. i declined, of course, and made my way into the airport.

when i was checking in, i heard the desk attendant mention the fact that there were numerous delays in progress as she was speaking to the woman ahead of me in line. when she handed me my boarding pass, i was offered no further information. when i checked the monitors i noticed it was true. "shit." though strangely, my flight didn't appear to be affected.

DESTINATION ---- AIRLINE -- FLIGHT -- TIME -- UPDATE -- GATE
SAN FRANCISCO -- AA EAGLE -- 3178 -- 7:35 -- On Time -- 14B

i had arrived early, as is my tendancy, and began the hour-long wait prior to boarding. with a mere fifteen minutes to go, the departure time had changed on nearby monitor: SAN FRANCISCO -- 8:30. instantly, whatever was plaguing these other passenger's travel plans began to plague mine as well.

it seems that a power outage in la area caused the radar systems at most west coast airports to go down causing delays and cancellations. while it hadn't yet become clear whether my flight would be cancelled as well, i couldn't help but be convinced that i wasn't going to see home tonight. so i rang up jason and he was back in town thirty minutes later to pick me up.

he fed me, gave me shelter, hooked me up with transportation, and let me play burnout 3. i obviously should have just heeded his advice to begin with. muchas gracias, amigo. it was fun.

THE ANTICIPATION BEGINS

i know i probably shouldn't get super-psyched about an upcoming sequel -- shouldn't i be prone to get just as hyped about an upcoming game with an original property? yes... but i can't help but be excited about the sequel to ico: wanda to kyozou which translates to wanda and the colossus. some news was broken to the japanese press today, and we were pretty sure we'd be able to check it out at the tokyo game show later this month. and today, that seems pretty solid, considering the info and screenshot that hit the net.



the girl on the horse is called wanda, and the monster in the distant is the colossus. if nothing else, this image proves that artistically, the game is headed i the right direction. i expect we'll have to wait until tgs to know if the gameplay will follow suit as well.

so if you haven't played ico yet, do it! it's probably the best game ever. if you like beautiful things... and don't mind crying.

VIRTUAL WORLD TOUR

yesterday at work, miguel and i were both seated around my desk with the playstation 2 and xbox versions of burnout 3: takedown, the new arcade racer/crash simulator from criterion games and electronic arts. taking a glance a miguel's review will clue you in on just how good the game is... but if you're still not convinced, check out the movies we made; they are free to download or stream from our site with no waiting, btw. oh and if you hear random people yapping during those vids, they're just strangers we were playing against on xbox live.

BURNOUT 3: TAKEDOWN

so, what was my point? oh yes... i really wanted to head home and play the game last night, but unfortunately it's not available in stores until later today. the thing is that racing games tend to allow players to use their own custom soundtracks on the xbox. you can simply rip tracks off cds and organize them in anyway you'd like, then call the music up in the game at any time. and since publishers tend to build game soundtracks out of relatively terrible music, this is a welcome feature; it is also one of the few reasons that you've simply got to get the xbox version, if you have the means. so i started ripping a few cds: the new mouse on mars, radical connector, and chutes too narrow by the shins. this process takes FOREVER, unfortunately. so i stopped after two discs. then i got the urge to test them out, so i started playing project gotham racing 2, a game in a series i mentioned here only a few days prior.

because of the deluge of games that hit during the holiday season, my addiction to need for speed underground, and some stupid child thief who nicked it (and several other games/dvds) from my bedroom while i was living at home, i didn't spend much time with pgr2 even though christian loved it so much. the short story is that it's really, really excellent -- not only as an example of what racing games should shoot for, but also of what net enabled console games should be. i love that after completing a race, i'm shown exactly how well i've done compared to every other player who's attepted the same event, assuming they have an xbox live account. i love that i can download players ghosts to compare their techniques to my own, and thus improve my times. and i love that the console's hard disk frees me to do things like save replays and ghosts without so much as a care; i've never done this in the past knowing that having those extra files sitting on a memory card would simply eat away the amount of space i need for game saves and the like.

but beyond the actual gameplay, (which i love) the most important aspect of this particular title is the fidelity and care of the rendering of the game's real-world cityscapes. i mentioned a few days prior that i recognized areas of london in which will and i wandered simply because i had driven through them before. pgr2 has a number of different cities to careen through including stockholm, hong kong, florence, sydney, yokohama, & edinburgh. they are simply marvelous to behold. and while playing, i want nothing more than to be able to visit those locales in actuality just so i can compare the real with the virtual. in fact, my only complaint about the rendered environments in the game is that it appears as if a neutron bomb (thanks will) has decimated all living creatures in the area. the cities appear dead, except for the fact that there a few race cars making their way through the city streets. in fact, occasionally, a flock of birds will fly overhead and the game seriously takes on a whole new level of realism, simply because there's something else moving in the scene. when the machines have enough power to render people in these racing environaments -- like the number of people who exist on the streets of a european city at any given time -- then games in the genre are going to be incredible. but, to be sure, they really already are.

PROJECT GOTHAM RACING 2

so but an xbox... and buy some racing games. take virtual tours of the earth without leaving you living room. you can do so in the comfort of some of the world's finest vehicles and while enjoying any music you might have the urge to listen to. it's a great time to be a gamer. oh, and yes... the xbox is the best current-gen console available, imo. i never thought i'd say it, but it proves its superiority again and again on a nearly daily basis.

one final non-gaming-related thought: i've been listening to final straw by snow patrol quite a bit the past few days and i'm highly enjoying it; thanks for the recommendation, chris. it hasn't taken over my life in the same way that the shins have... and i haven't been completely addicted to it like interpol's antics -- i've trying to stop listening to that record, so i can better appreciate its actual release, but i can't -- but it's enjoyable nonetheless. give it a listen.

HOW TO HAVE FUN IN LONDON

as previously mentioned, will and i had completed all work-related obligations by the weekend and had saturday free; sunday would act as our travel day. we were pretty unfamiliar with london -- damn americans, that we are -- so we did what any nerds in our situation might: some research on the internet. our searches seemed to point us towards camden town.

after stepping out of the tube station, it was clear that we had headed to the right spot. the streets were filled with people, lined with cool music/clothing shops and a bunch of restaurants. it looked like the haight, but, you know... in london. we made our way into a giant open-air marketplace looking like anything but a normal, run-of-the-mill flea market. the goods available for purchase were high-quality and highly fashionionable. though the crowds should've let us onto as much... the london kids are hip, man. we were low on cash and thus decided to split pretty quickly.

further down the streets we spotted a the little falafel stand... two pounds for a sandwich. it was worth it. they know how to apply hot sauce in england, i'll tell you what. hot! after hitting a few more shops and walking for a bit longer, we headed back to the hotel for a break before heading out on a quest for dinner. our destination: piccadilly circus.

before settling on an indian restaurant, (which turned out to be excellent) we wandered the streets for about an hour. after our meal, we just couldn't stop the adventure, and thus decided to wander around the city. what i started to realize is that i recognized much of our surroundings. i'll reiterate now that i've never been to london before. and yet, streets were looking so familiar. i realized that it was because i'd driven around them time and time again in the project gotham racing games. so when will pointed us towards trafalgar square, it was as if i'd already been there before. then i realized that really enjoyed walking around and checking out tourist attractions at night. you always see photos of them taken during the day...

probably the most incredible experience happen a few moments later when we rounded a street corner and saw big ben directly in front of us. we didn't know where we were so it was pretty cool to have it sneak up on us like that. it's quite a wonderous sight in the evening. just across the bank of the nearby river, we entered some building that had a namco arcade. after kicking it there for a few, we walked back towards home.

so how do you have fun in london? well, i'd aim for a landmark or destination of interest. then after you've gotten your fill there, just wander around for a bit. you'll find something to look at, for sure. here's a brief look at the night's adventures:

FISH, CHIPS, & FUN

we worked for 18 hours yesterday... from 9:00 am until 3:00 am. many stories were posted, including my impressions after playing halo 2 for the first time. the experience was pretty weak, though it was mostly the presentation rather than the game itself that was actually flawed. so my write-up is somewhat negative. i fear the halo fanboys a bit. their numbers are great.

i really do enjoy this city. like tokyo, the subway system -- referred to as "the tube" -- has quite a few different lines and trains come by very, very often. as such, it's quite simple to get where ever you may want to travel with little delay. so far, except for some chump standing behind the registration desk at ects -- the deadest trade show i've ever seen -- all of the locals have been very friendly. tonight, hopefully, we'll actually be able to just meander without a work-related aim or destination. with any luck we'll visit some of the more interesting parts of town.

british television is pretty crappy, in my opinion. late last night we watched some gaming show with a ridiculous american voiceover called cybernet. ha. they showed footage from games that were released around a year ago in the states and the reviews were vague and lacked true criticism. we've also watched a reality show called master and servant in which two families took turns acting as each others servants. the best bit was that the cute girl from the poor family fell for the cute boy from the rich family. they had a bit of a fling during the show, but his parents were clearly class whores, and didn't want him hanging around with her. after the show he broke up with her... and she was talking about marriage. i found it to be dreadful and entertaining at the same time, though i imagine this is how i'd feel if i watched any american reality shows. needless to say, i wasn't proud to have lost an hour to it... but what can i say? i couldn't sleep. this trip is surely my personal "lost in translation." except, i'm floating around with too much to do. and there is no charlotte.

the best thing about the tele here is the news. but then again, we can watch bbc news in the states, so... anyways, i wish i had a more exciting update, but we've really been working pretty constantly. tomorrow is a day off, then we fly back sunday morning and arrive sunday evening in the states. if something exciting happens, or i simply have more photos, you'll see them here. for now take a look at a quick batch of snaps from the past few days.

BLOODY HELL

according to the clock on my powerbook, it's 3:04 am... in actuality, it's 11:04 am here in london. i'm currently sitting in a starbucks with will. why? well, other than the fact that we need coffee -- it's 3:04, remember -- it's the only place we've been able to get a net connection around here. unfortunately, my t-mobile hotspot account from the states doesn't function out here so it costs 17 pounds a day for net access. that's a-fuckin' lot, mind you.

time has now advanced several hours... my laptop clock is telling me it's 10:28 am... thus it's 6:28 pm. my battery died over at starbucks before i could post. the issues with our wireless connection from the business center at our fake hotel seemed to have cleared up and thus we'll actually be able to write our stories tonight. thank god. london seems very nice. it's very expensive though. our cab ride from the airport to the hotel cost something like $120, all told. we've eaten two meals since we arrived two days ago: indian the first day and fish and chips last night. both were tasty, yet pricey. today i'm a bit out of my head because i'm still jetlagged. i got about 3 hours of sleep last night.

the show we're out here covering is totally weak. all the game's are old. for the most part, anything that isn't already out in the states is on display in e3 form. additionally, we didn't have any meetings set up ahead of time with publishers, so each moment has been a battle to find content. i had to write about the lego star wars game yesterday, which is basically a kid's title. not cool. oh well.

though we haven't seen much of it yet, i would say that my favorite thing about the city so far is --ready for it? -- the women. i know... i'm such a man. what can i say? they're fit. and the accent is a killer.

i should be able to post some pictures soon, now that our net problems have been squared. and i'll remember to tell you all about our fake hotel. stay tuned.