Bobby and J are joined by Kevin and Jimmy for a big Year in Review podcast that you do not want to miss. It also features part two of our dramatic reading of the Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest Worlds of Power novelization and sample some Japanese candy sent to us by GFOTS Erik.

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Music by virt

Things have really started to heat up over at Adam Miller’s site Camp Academy!  He’s been posting some great pieces on bad films as diverse as Witchboard (1986…starring Tawny Kitaen!) and National Lampoon’s Lost Reality (2004).  I’ve been lucky enough to recently contribute pieces on Won Ton Ton, The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) and The Happy Hooker (1975).  Plenty more on the way, including a double-header on Robert Altman’s Popeye (1980), and a review I did of the British sci-fi-softcore film Zeta One (1969).

Today marks the debut of the Summer 2009 issue of The Modest Proposal, your low-key literary/review journal of choice.  The two main highlights are a long interview with Sam and Rebecca Umland about their book Donald Cammell: A Life on the Wild Side (2006, FAB Press) and a photo-essay on elephants by Roshan Patel.  On top of that, we’ve got four lengthy book reviews.  Stay tuned for another issue of The Modest Proposal in the Fall!

On the video game side of things, the extended VF crew recently got together in Richmond, VA and recorded a star-studed, all-in-the-same-room edition of the Low Score Podcast.  Discussion runs the gamut, from Fallout 3 to IP saturation.  Check it out.

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I wanted to quickly point out some recent wisdom on gaming bargains.  Sure, I occasionally get lucky with game purchases–in fact, just yesterday and I snagged a copy of Jade Empire for about $2.  According to our buddies at X-Strike Studios, there is a pretty massive, YMMV (your mileage may vary, i.e. apparently different from store-to-store) sale on right now at FYE (not, as far as I know, online, though).  On this forum thread, Mr. Tim Ekkebus outlines some of the great $1 and $2 games he was able to get thanks to FYE silently lowering their prices, to absurdly low levels, on last gen Xbox, PS2 and DS games.  If you are gaming on a budget this summer, and you probably are, be sure to check it out.

So, by way of Summer discussion, have you gotten any ridiculously good deals on games lately?  Secret sales?  Flea markets?

And this past week we’re focusing on the biggest story in summer gaming: E3. Ah, the E3 Expo. The Electronic Entertainment Expo Expo. Wait, wha? Hm. Irregardless, Bobby and J are here to provide commentary on the big three press conferences, games the developers showed off, and what is just really a fine example of second-hand journalism.

We talk Project Natal, vitality sensors, PSP Crunchwrap Supremes (because it’s good to Go), and most importantly lots and lots of games. Interested in the new God of Castlevania? We got it! New Super Mario Bros high-functioning multiplayer? That’s us! Class-based shooters with light RPG elements? Ding ding! Yeah, we got it all covered.

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Awesome tunes by virt

Nintendo’s ultra-popular Wii gaming console is a piece of hardware that, out of the box, is designed to do more than play games. The Wii comes a number of “channels” that aren’t related to video games. These serve as dedicated portals for a few different media formats. It’s worthwhile to note that the Channels attach themselves to the familiar namesake of television while behaving more like Internet sites.

The Photo Channel assumes that the Wii is the kind of thing a person might have in their living room and would turn on to share their photos friends and family. The presence of the Forecast Channel suggests that the designers at Nintendo wanted the Wii to be the kind of hardware that people turn on in the morning like they would sit down at a computer. The same can be inferred by the News Channel, which was added a couple of months after the Wii’s launch and was clearly a part of their original design plan for Channels. Nintendo did not just want a media hub like the video and audio streaming Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but rather they sought to encourage people to integrate play into their daily habits and their daily habits into play.

I must admit that as a regular game player more interested in a console with great games than multi-faceted software, the News Channel put me off. I assumed that because I had a computer with a world of information at my fingertips that there was no need for a News Channel in my life. However, as I’ve become more fond of convergence devices (my iPhone is yours if you can pry it from my cold dead hands) I have actually grown an appreciation for what the News Channel is trying to do.

The News Channel is actually quite a pleasurable experience that stands apart from other methods of news delivery. For one, it isn’t plastered with overlays, scrolling graphics, and ads. Instead, it uses large fonts, minimal colors, and plays a typical soothing Wii tune while browsing. The opening screen is a menu of “sections” as seen in print newspapers and print-emulating websites. These sections include national news, international news, sports, arts/entertainment, business, science/health, and technology. Selecting a section brings up a list of headlines, clicking on a headline brings up an AP story taking up 3/4 of the screen and a satellite image of the globe flashing the related location. The user (player?) can increase or decrease the font size, which is rendered nicely for high-def televisions, go back to the list of headlines, or choose to use the globe as an interface for browsing stories by location.

Browsing in the Globe view is one of the more satisfying experiences on the Wii. You can use the hand icon to click on a part of the Earth and drag/pull the planet around. There is a nice tactile feeling associated with this action and I dare anyone not to spin the planet around like they did a globe back in elementary school. News events show up on the map as either little newspaper icons or as photos pulled from the stories. Clicking on them brings up a list of regional headlines. You can also zoom in and out on the map to refine regions. When I zoomed out as far as I could I noticed that almost all the United States stories get lumped into “Chicago Area”, but rotating it a bit causes “Chicago” stories to be populated in a US city more close to the center of my television. This seemingly insignifcant sorting algorithm actually illustrates the complicated nature of geocentric news.

While certainlly not a news game, the News Channel is one of the best examples available of a gaming company thinking about how a game platform can be used to deliver information. Had this just been a series of menus and some multimedia, it would have been disappointing. Instead, it makes good use of the Wiis pointing and motion controls and presents the news in a simple and appealing way.

Mention the title Wii for Dummies to the general to those of us who often play games and you might receive a chuckle. “Wii for Dummies? The Wii is already the most simple thing on the planet!” they might say. But Kyle Orland‘s book is not for this demographic. It is targeted toward the other group that Nintendo has been trying to woo: people who have haven’t ever owned a video game system (or at least not in a while). For these people the Wii is not the intuitive piece of hardware Nintendo claims. It’s a complex piece of technology that requires hardware and software setup, has confusing system preferences menus, has unexplained features, and has an array of games that vary in quality. Wii for Dummies covers all these bases.

The Nintendo Wii is easy to learn, but to learn we need a teacher. Wii for Dummies is aimed directly at those people who want a Wii but have no one to teach them. It explains (with accompanying photos!) how to set up the hardware on a TV and how to navigate the system’s software. It explains the intricacies of creating Miis, how to use the various Channels, how to buy games on the Virtual Console, tips on browsing the web, and even a nice history of the Nintendo company.

Wii Sports and Wii Fit are also covered in great details in Wii for Dummies, two of the games that are the main draw for the non-game buying market. Kyle Orland also makes recommendations on games for different groups: the non-gamer, partis, and families. These mini reviews not only explain a bit about the game but make recommendations on who the game both is and isn’t intended for (though some of the reason are tenuous). Between these recommendations and the Virtual Console recommendations, the new Wii owner is bound to find something to make their investment worthwhile. If you haven’t played games in a long time (or ever) and need a teacher, Wii for Dummies is a well written and well organized guide that’s sure to answer all your questions.

We’re just busy doing things like this. In the normal Virtual Fools way, we’ll be back after we’re done with our obligations.

Source: Flickr ‘Big Daddy Traffic Cone’

Out buddies from PBC Productions did a video for a chap called Madhatter’s song “Overheat.” The event was partially filmed at MAGFest (boy, we got a lot of content out of this year’s con!!) and contains a very brief cameo by Bobby. I missed filming because I was sleeping. Oh well…

Finally, a “thanks” to MAGFest from the combined might of X-Strike Studios, PBC, and VF. I hate to re-iterate what is already well-known, but this WAS the best time I’ve had at the con, and as the video shows, I’ve been going for a while.

One last announcement. I have decided to revivify my old personal blog, now called (Visual) Notes on Culture. I will be posting “found” images a few times a week, as well as the odd bit of personal news. Add it to your feed-readin’ device!

X-Strike Studios records a podcast

Excitebike

Virtual Fools had its most active year in terms of events. Let me just describe some of these days to you. On Thursday we just hung out, saw some concerts, and prepared for the rest of the weekend. On Friday we woke up and hosted a panel at 11 on video games and the city which had our best turnout yet. Then we ran the video game edition of the Match Game, which featured X-Strike Studios as our panelists and four contestants we owe a debt of gratitude to for participating (Black Chad, Mary Jo, Steph, and Brittany). Following that, we went to the showing of X-Strike’s final cut of Resident Horror and stayed around for their Q&A podcast session. Then we rushed to the grocery store and dinner to get back in time for concert and party action. And that was just Friday! 

Saturday was basically as hectic. We woke up, I was an extra in PBC’s music video, had lunch, recorded the podcast that’s linked at the end of this entry, then prepped for the Video Game Improv show featuring X-Strike and PBC. We were all a bit nervous–Kevin hadn’t done improv in a few months, I hadn’t done it in five years, and the others guys hadn’t done it in a while either. Video game themed improv was something we had talked about in years past, but weren’t sure how well it would turn on. At the end of the 2-hour session, I must say I was really pleased. The videos are available online! We kicked it off with six improv games: vulture, party quirks, slideshow, return department, scene replay (and rewind), and debate. Then we did a longform scene based around the adventures of an RPG party (video will be linked when available).

Look at us "improving"

Right after improv we rolled to the events room to “judge” the fifth Name That Tune contest hosted by Tim Ekkebus and Zeiram. THEN we co-hosted a panel with Ryan Soloby on the future of gaming and convergence media. THEN Kevin was gracious enough to volunteer to take Rich of X-Strike out to get more cards printed for his social-game playtest session. And of course there was the usual concerts and partying, plus the playtesting sessions and a late-night trivia contest in which your last year champions Virtual Fools brought in a ringer from the UVA Gamers club to tear things up. JESUS THAT DAY WAS INSANE.

Robert V Aldrich coordinates zombie defense

Sunday was the typical solemn packing/cleaning as we looked at our hotel room and wondered what the hell had happened. I, for one, was wicked hangover (or still drunk) from gin and Bawls (thank you, Katie). We had to ditch out during the always-hilarious auction, but not before Kevin sold our Superbowl XXXVII Party Pack to Joecam and purchased a Sidekicks poster signed by Chuck Norris to someone also named Kevin. That alone would have been enough to make it a great weekend! 

Seriously, though. This was the best MAGFest yet on so many levels and post-con depression is still going strong on the Virtual Fools front. If the description of our insane schedule isn’t enough to make you want to pre-register for next year’s MAGFest perhaps you need to leave the Internet.

I wrote a blog entry for one of my classes which ended up on GCJ, so I decided to spread the love. It’s about the use of the Metro(rail) space in Fallout 3. Check it out, won’t you?