While Kojima's taking his time teasing your sorry asses, Contra makes a come back!

Forget about the sadistic Kojima and that empty teaser site! Instead, clean up the dust layers on your Wii and make sure it's gonna work by the time Contra Rebirth hits North America.





ALL YOUR AWESOMENESS ARE BELONG TO US!





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Limited OR Collector's Edition?

^{THIS THING looks sweet, but 143CAD? I'm thinking real HARD}

At the time like this when the term Collector's Edition means nothing more than "I'm throwing in bunch of shits to your face and you pay 20$ more!". Publishers got smarter enough to change the term Limited into Collector's since LE usually stick to lower quantity in order to stay limited (well, what else?) and desirable among consumers while CE means they can produce as many copies of these special editions and sell at premium price to consumers who thought they got something really special (where in reality, each person in the whole neighborhood has the same thing sitting on his collector shelf), remember seeing this scary image (click Read More to see) at any game retailer near you?

^{This scary mother of all over-supply theory}

Like the T2 set I mentioned above... if it's really a Limited Edition (say, 500-1000 sets ever produced) then I would have already placed the order long ago. But when the trend now is that everyone will probably own the same thing because they can produce near limitless (exaggerated) supply of Collector's Edition... consumer with the right mind might want to think again since CEs are not THAT special like the way LEs were.

It might be fair to say that Collector's Editions are just extortion schemes by publishers to take more money away from us. Have you seen Metal Gear Solid 4 CEs collecting dust on game shelves recently? I think CEs defeat the original purpose of having SPECIAL product packages in the first place... I think it would be cool if they go back to LE again, it would be hell but it would be fun... like people who got (and failed to get) this Lineage 2 Limited figurine.

P.S. Although I stated my opinion about CEs, but the Endoskull of this T2 set is seriously tempting!


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Gaming Deal: Buy Killzone 2 and save 50% on Dualshock controller

Amazon.ca is having a great gaming deal of the week, get Killzone 2 for the Playstation 3
and save 50% on a Dualshock 3 Controller. (Amazon.ca says the deal will valid until May 9, but it's definitely a typo ... the deal will work until May 16 or until they're totally sold out)

Not a bad deal especially if you still haven't got the game and still short of controller (it's selling around 55CAD at retailers so 25CAD is pretty sweet!)... and don't forget, you get free shipping for order of 39CAD and up so these sweet babies will be delivered to your doorstep hassle-free.






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Pixar coming to Van?

A lot of us CG people might be shaking in their boots holding their pee right now LOL

The Vancouver Sun: Pixar Animation, one of the world’s leading computer animators and a multi-Academy Award winning studio, will build a 20,000-square-foot facility in Vancouver to produce its popular short features.

Walt Disney Studios, with whom Pixar merged in 2006, is scouting locations in the city, concentrating on the downtown area. It hopes to have the new studio up and running by this fall.

The studio will hire 75 to 100 people, most of them Canadians, and will make all of Pixar’s three-dimensional, computer-animated short films, which usually run three to five minutes. All Pixar theatrical features will continue to be made at its main studio in Emeryville, Calif., which employs almost 900.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE (BEFORE 'JUMP FOR JOY') ---> HERE





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CONTRA IS BACK! (for the 100th time)

Anyone who can read Japanese, please do human race a favor and translate THIS

I only know it's for Nintendo Wii, it costs 1000 Wii points, and coming out on May 12 (next week... in Japan?)





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Skynet Research Infomercial

You think infomercials are stupid and redundant? Think again because this is the infomercial from the company which will change your world forever...

Why donating your CPU to space researches or cancer analyzing when you can contribute your valuable resources for a well known organization like Skynet Research?

See more details HERE





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Spartans meet their maker in this Darkest of Days trailer

When guys in Village People's costumes think they're at the top of the food chain, give them a split second to think again or use your shiny things to change their mind.

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Army of Three 12: Red Steel Explodes Angry Nerd

Red Steel 2: Wild West Cyber Punk + Motion Plus = WTF

Remember Red Steel, one of the most anticipated launch title for the Wii? If not, then remember seeing the image below in the discount bin of any game retailer recently?


Now you know what game I was talking about. Despite the mediocre stamp it received as average from critics, it was still one good game to play especially if you are tired of shooting the axis (of evil?), mutated life forms or even aliens from other dimensions (Oh! Did I forget to mention zombies?). It had flaws in many parts, but the concept was promising Ubisoft just need to polish thier next sword-swinging title into better shape before putting it on shelves.

Now Ubi just released the debut trailer for their upcoming Red Steel 2 but do not think you'll get to put yourself into some gaijin's shoes and start blazing your Uzis and swinging your Katana against some Asian mobsters this time around...

Since game controversies had proved to be dreadful for developers and can halt games in progress, playing as a white guy shooting up Asian and colored gangsters as well as saving Geishas from evil Mama-san could be considered as "Racist", so the safest bet is to abandon all the setting from the original and let players play cowboy and place them in a surreal world where they can shoot and slash as many masked (apparently evil) people as they want. Yes, I made all those up... just watch the trailer, it really looks interesting!

And you've got (some high on drugs) Splosion Man video and the newest episode of Angry Video Game Nerd after the click!




Splosion Man: This is what you've got when developers took weed brownies while working!

Explosive trailer, that laugh was creepy!

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You Favorite Nerd is BACK!

X-Men Origin? Forget about the movie... it's not gonna be crappier than these old school X-Men titles!


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It's BROKEN! It's coming... and it's RAD!

Broken Steel coming tomorrow. That was all I needed to say.





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Army of Three 9: 256 gang-bangers online?

My life and things had gone really really MAD recently. Been getting a lot of headaches from work, too tired and unable to continue making my own 3D and manga projects, my RPG gaming weren't progressing ... AND ... getting robbed by the beloved annual income tax!

But despite all those things mentioned, I still feel the need to post something ... to keep doing things I normally do ... yeah, blogging can take my mind off those trouble for a while (or so I hope)

MAG Trailer: Talk about hail of bullets



This MAG thing (I mean the game, not the cosmetic!) is looking kind of cool. I'm not a hardcore online FPS-ter but thinking about a match with 255 other people in it (minus the lag) it could turn out to be a really exciting online experience, unless you're at the wrong end of the barrels :)

2 more videos from this Massive Action Game after the click...



MAG: Architecture Interview



See and listen to what the good people at Zipper Interactive have to say about this conceptual FPS.

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MAG: E3 2008 CAM Trailer



Old stuff but still cool to watch.


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Army of Three 7: Ninja Medias - Dos and Don'ts

What the hell are Ninjas? Why they became so popular in the west these days? Actually Ninjas has blended into western culture for quite some time already (remember this shit? or this cool thing?), but personally I think it was this punk who brought the Ninja hype in the west up to the level it is today.

Who are they? You could probably find out about Ninjas here and there on the internet. And you might like or dislike these Ninja stuffs, but what I'm going to show today are little examples of Dos and Don'ts for the uses of Ninjas.

DO(s)

Cute/Fun Ninjas



I love this trailer of Mini Ninjas from IO and Eidos. It has cute looks, nice animations, good overall look and fun to watch (and hopefully fun to play too).

Although this is not likely the first image that came to my mind when I heard the term 'Ninjas', but a lot of people (especially kids) loved, still love, will love these kind of ninjas. There are a lot of cute and fun ninjas out there ranging from old school types to modern ones. Here are some examples...

Hattori-kun: This cute ninja by Abiko Motoo or Fujiko Fujio (A) from Fujiko Fujio Duo had captured many young hearts (a lot have become middle-aged or elderly people by now) since the 60s' to late 80s'. They (both manga and anime) were really fun, funny and had a lot of things to teach young kids.

TMNT: This cartoon about turtle ninjas, ratman, pigman, rhinoman, slimy brain, cyborgs and a cool villain called Shredder was one of the most favorite TV shows among children in the late 80s' to early 90s'. Its easy going tone and cool fighting sequences made this show a fun and memorable action-comedy cartoon.

Jubei-chan: Although it's an anime about a girl who possesses the power of Yagyu Jubei, a samurai, but she looks more like a ninja (and definitely fights like one). Secret of lovely eyepatch? Hell yeah, this is one lighthearted and fun ninja-ish anime to watch.

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Serious ninjas and Ninja's Don't after the jump
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Deadly Ninjas



So these are the ninjas which appeared in my mind. The deadly ninjas or assassins, the people living in the darkest shadow of history performing dirty and lethal tasks. This type of ninjas reminds you of what these people really are. Here are a few examples...

Iga vs Kouga: Classic rivalry between these 2 clans shown in Shinobi and Basilisk series (video shown above) are the example of how dangerous and deadly these ninjas could be. These tragic love stories full of political agendas, surreal techniques and incredible amount of blood and gore might change the way you think of ninjas.

Assassin Ninjas: As long as they are ordered to kill, it doesn't matter if they are androids or not. Ninja Warriors and Robocop 3's Otomo are those ninjas with any cool stuffs (like Titanium Endoskeleton?) but magical abilities.

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DON'T(s)

Ninjas WTF?!?



Bad example of the exploitation of ninjas in pop cultures, just because kids these days like ninjas as well as pirates doesn't mean putting them into the same environment, let alone doing some sports, would succeed. I really wonder whose magnificence idea was this? Or were they just responding to people's needs? If you're about to point fingers at this game's developer, I'd say wait until you've seen forum post like this. Seriously I've been seeing a lot of these questions for many years now, Ninja vs anything from worm to cowboy to even Chuck Norris!!!, why don't they throw in Jesus or even better, the Earth into the combination also?

Coming up this summer,
- Ninjas vs Cowboys: Bank Robbery
- Ninjas vs Nerds: Hacking Battle
- Ninjas vs Pimps
- Ninjas vs Gangstas
- Ninja vs Moms
... the list goes on.

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Army of Three 5: Secret World with Pip Boy 3000

Secret World Debut Trailer: Simply Gorgeous!



This debut clip for the game 'Secret World' from Funcom (yes, the developer behind The Longest Journey and Dreamfall: The Longest Journey) is simply gorgeous.
Watch how well the editing was (as well as the lighting, rendering and visual effects)

After the click, I have interview with director of Secret World and a real Pip Boy!



Ragnar Tornquist Interview



Hear from the director, Ragnar Tornquist, what this game is about.
Yes, an MMO (as if you haven't found that out by now, duh) which is set to come out for Xbox360 and PC where you will be fight monster in modern day, but could they get rid of zombies though? I'm kinda sick and tired of those animated corpses already.

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Pipboy in real life?



This guy made this Pip Boy 3000 from the collector item and his Ipod Touch, looks pretty cool. The next thing you need to do, mate, Is to figure out how to bring VAT (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) into reality! (ha ha ha)

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Army of Three 3: Martial Death of Chipmunks

Today's videos, I've got Tony Jaa's actions and Disney's Death of Chipmunks, right after the click.



ONG BAK 2

Ong Bak 2 (2008)
by DjFreakazoid

Seriously, I didn't even know Ong Bak 2 was out in Thailand already (and I'm Thai!!!). Looks like a good movie to watch for action scenes, but I don't really understand why they decided to continue using the name 'Ong Bak' since the plot is totally different from that of the original Ong Bak. It's like having Arnold Schwarzenegger in a drama about a bodybuilder who travels around the globe in search of his lost hamster and put 'Terminator' in the title.

But yeah, more action from Tony Jaa = more fun!!!

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Dragon Around Part II: Death of Chipmunks



My friend Dong Hyun Kim from dksajin.blogspot.com sent me this video. After watching what this crazy wood chopper from hell could do, I recalled a memory about one of my favorite Disney's cartoon 'Dragon Around' (video at the bottom, highly recommended) and it made me think of a stupid idea that if Donald replaced his power shovel with this hell chopper, Chip and Dale wouldn't have lasted long enough to have their own show, that's for sure.

Now I hope you enjoy this!


Disney's Dragon Around (1954)



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Army of Three 1: Demon Blade Deceptions

A lot of websites have professional layouts which separate sections and stuffs but that means I'll always have to open the links to these interesting video in separate windows or tabs. They are good but as a person who works in the VFX industry where you always have to show your work-in-progress to a lot of people from supervisors to directors or clients, I like to keep my desktop (or at least my internet browser) tidy and clean.

So I made this Army of Three series as a place to group three interesting videos I found into one single blog post. Of course 3 aren't enough to show ALL goodies one might find in any given day (let alone every single second which new videos are posted throughout the net) and some videos might be a bit dated but I think it's better than spamming the post with 20 videos, right? So Army of Three will therefore reflect my personality and interests on a particular day.

Here are the three videos of Monday March 30, enjoy!



2D Goody! Oboro-Muramasa Trailer



In this new era that industries is steering away from traditional art style into the styles of 3D graphics and whatever hell these kinda things are (even giant such as Disney shut down its 2D studios), I feel good to see developers/studios (mostly Japanese) that are still keeping the looks of hand drawn arts. In my opinion, this Wii title will definitely be a 'must have' for 2D lovers who find themselves having Odin Sphere, Guilty Gear or any other 2D goodies in their collections.

source: GameTrailers

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Ubisoft's RUSE



This trailer is really cool, I love the directing and editing of this piece, although the CG parts (supposed to look 'in-game' I guessed) could use more details in texturing and lighting but it's a decent trailer for eyes and ears.

I really can't imagine how the art of deception would work in an RTS game. In my opinion, if RUSE is a turn-based strategy game like X-com or S²:Silent Storm, the deceptive strategies and decoy mechanics might work better since players who took the bait will waste their turn (as well as resources) and scratch their heads while witnessing enemies' wrath (just like chess where you have to really plan steps ahead and no tank rushes or cannon fodders to easily help you turn the table around)... yeah, this is just me who sucks at RTS games speaking.

You can check out more videos of RUSE here

video source: PoderMortal@Youtube

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How Benjamin Button got his face



Ed Ulbrich, the digital-effects guru from Digital Domain, explains the Oscar-winning technology that allowed his team to digitally create the older versions of Brad Pitt's face for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." - TED

This video might bore the hell out of most of the regular civilians. But for CG enthusiasts and digital artists (such as myself), this is something REALLY interesting as Ed Ulbrich, the visual effects executive producer at Digital Domain, talked about the processes and techs which made visual elements of "The Curious Case of Brad Pitt Geezer" possible.

Really good stuff!

source: TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design)

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