Apr 23, 12:00 pm
I know I say this every year, but I had the best Comic Con ever! This year’s NY Comic Con already beat last year’s times ten. We spent all weekend at the Ubisoft booth playing LOST and RSV2, while running raffles and giving away tons of cool LOST, Assassins Creed, and Frag Doll prizes. Sounds like tons of fun, right?
Anyhow, it was Friday, the end of the first day of Comic Con. It had been a great day so far. Pyra and I had met a celebrity (I’ll let her talk about that) and Brookelyn and I had bought a few WOW comics. She bought them because duh, it’s WOW, and I bought them because I noticed that Jim Lee had done the covers (I’m so out of touch with the comic world). I was doing my last run around the con, checking out cool tees, toys, cosplayers, etc, when I noticed who was signing at the WildStorm booth – none other than Jim Lee. If you’re wondering why this was such a big deal to me, you need to read last year’s blog from NY Comic Con 2007. I quickly rushed back to the Ubisoft booth, grabbed the girls, and I somehow convinced them to line up with me at his booth. When it was my turn, I said something like “Um, I’m not sure you remember me…” but he immediately said “Oh! The gamer girls!” Of course that put a smile on my face. I decided to give Jim Lee one of our brand spanking new “Get FD up” shirts that had barely made their public debut. He did the signing, and we took pics while talking about games the entire time. I think everyone in line hated us for taking so much time; I actually felt like I was rushing to leave in order not piss people off, but either way, it was a great day.
Now fast forward to Sunday. We had just done another huge raffle and I was chillin’, er, I mean working hard at our booth when all of a sudden, someone came up to me and said “Are you Emily? Jim Lee is requesting you.” My mind went blank and I suddenly got butterflies. ME? Jim Lee was requesting ME? I lugged Pyra over to the WildStorm booth and gasped when I saw that Jim was wearing our “Get FD up” shirt. He motioned for me to come take a picture with him. The rest was a blur, but as I sat on my plane waiting to fly out of NY, I was still fathoming the idea that someone who I had idolized since I was 14 not only remembered my name, but was now requesting my picture! Forget that the pope was literally driving by in his limo while we were waiting to take off - this was nothing compared to my weekend.
Apr 15, 1:50 pm
You might have heard, but recently there was a couple who got engaged in a very nerdy but cute way - over Bejeweled! The hacker, Bernie Peng, reprogrammed his girlfriend’s copy of Bejeweled and when she hit a certain score, there was a proposal! You can read the full article here and even details on the boyfriend’s blog. I have to admit that I love geeky love stories - people falling in love over XBL, Brooke and JB considering WOW music for wedding music, or even USB Swarovski engagement rings! The world seems fascinated by people falling in love in the nerdiest way possible. Or maybe it’s just me since that’s been on my mind lately… because recently I got engaged as well!
My story isn’t nerdy at all - we got engaged over snowboarding, another love of mine. We have spent countless hours playing video games together though. And although frustrating at times, we have made almost every single player game into a multiplayer game by taking turns. We’ve gotten into fights over video games and computers. We’ve attended conventions together, discussed in what order we will show the Star Wars movies to our kids, and we’ve gone shopping for Star Wars action figures. Okay, so maybe we’re a little bit nerdy. But we’ve definitely had the important conversations about life and the meaning of Star Wars. I’m usually not the type to “announce” these kind of things, but when I read the article about the Beweled guy, I knew it was about time. And with that, I’ll leave you with some awesome Star Wars valentines so that you too can feel warm fuzzies.
Mar 25, 10:45 am
This past week, I decided to put down my Patapon for a while and pick up Professor Layton and the Curious Village (here is their not-so-helpful site). I found myself playing at home, at work, on the train, while watching TV, and in bed under the covers (not sure why I was under the covers since it’s not like I live with my parents...). Anyhow, I was obsessed. First of all, I ADORE brain teasers and puzzles of all kinds. I started out with these when I was a kid -
In college, I moved on to this Chinese Ring Puzzle (one of the coolest puzzles imo):
Last year at PAX, expo gave me one of these puzzles from Japan:
Taken apart, it looks like this, but dang, it took me forever to put it back!
And just a few months ago, I finally learned how to solve the Rubik’s Cube (one-handed behind my back! j/k)
So you can see why I would love this game. P. Layton has a total of 120 puzzles that potentially take 30 seconds to 1 hour each. Plus, you really get your money’s worth because once you finish the 120 puzzles, you can download more FOR FREE!! Sweet!! Also, the realistic-anime style graphics and cut scenes make this game visually outstanding, and the storyline is one of the most interesting that I’ve played in a long time. Not only are you trying to solve individual puzzles here and there, there are plenty of expansive mysteries throughout the town to keep you really intrigued. This game is pretty lengthy, too. It took me about 13 hours to finish all 120 puzzles (the last 5 were really hard to find!). Not giving anything away, here are some of the harder puzzles:
- Convert 16, 9, 7 quarts to 8 and 8
- Find the 7 squares in the pegs
- That tricky mice breeding one (I actually did all the calculations)
- Some of those card statistic questions
- And my least favorite puzzles were the multiple choice “Who’s lying” ones
Anyhow, I highly recommend this game. Even if you’re not great at puzzles, there’s no time limit and the hints are very helpful! I feel smarter already! Ha ha. Now I’m just waiting for the sequel...
Mar 18, 4:45 pm
Ok, maybe we haven’t evolved as much as I thought. Here I was thinking that things had changed a lot in the past few years with girl gaming stereotypes, and suddenly this dude came along and burst my accomplished bubble. I was in Tahoe for the weekend, staying at a cabin with 9 other guys and girls. I had just spent a glorious 6 hours boarding in the best powder I have ever been in. I returned to the cabin, showered, got in my comfy clothes and pulled out my PSP to play some Lumines (this was pre-Patapon by the way). My boyfriend Chewbroccoli and I have been in this neverending competition to be ranked 1st on the single player mode (he really needs to get his own PSP : P). Anyhow, he had just beat my score at 58,000 so I was determined for the rest of the night to beat that. HAH! 2 hours later and I was back on top at 75,000. Feeling accomplished, I decided to retire from Lumines for the night and try out some Guitar Hero 3. I was dying to try out my newly developed “expert” Rock Band guitar skills on GH since I had heard it was even more challenging. Awesome. It was then that one of the guys in the cabin started asking me about gaming.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind the general questions - “Have you always played games? How did you get into it?” or “Wow, a girl gamer!”. But this guy’s questions just had this weird vibe to them that made me feel more like an alien rather than a “normal” human being. He started bombarding me with questions such as “So, I don’t get it, you play games for fun? Does that mean you don’t do anything else - like sleep? I heard gamers don’t sleep. I can’t believe you just went from one game to the next! I’ve never met girls who do sports. That’s so crazy! Why are you into sports? And you do this for fun? Don’t you get bored? What else are people like you into?”. People like you? I felt like I was being analyzed under a microscope in a petri dish! While I played GH3, I tried to answer his questions as patiently and as calmy as I could without yelling out “Where have you been? Under a rock? You dolt!”. But now that I look back on this, it was actually quite amusing regardless of how weird this guy was being. He was in a room with 3 other girls who were only there to snowboard, a bunch of guys who played games like it was their life, and here he was acting like he just stumbled upon a rare 5-legged dog or something.
Quoting him, I guess there still are “people like this” who look at “people like me” and think we are some mixed genetically cultured hybrid specie. It’s kinda sad, but it was also a wake up call that there are still people who are totally unaware. Kind of puts you back on your toes, I guess. But hey, you better watch out becuase us “weirdos” are coming to get you!!!
Mar 11, 10:30 am
I’ve been having the hardest time describing this game. Let’s see… Well, you have these really simple creatures that look like eyeballs with legs. And actually, they’re a tribe. You’re kind of like their God and you control them by drumming these beats. But you have to be on the beat or they won’t listen to you. And when you drum, they chant and you can drum different things to make them either walk, attack, do a rain dance, etc. On top of that, they have these high pitched voices that make incoherent noises. The animation reminds me of a 60s retro style cartoon and the music is very tribal/high energy.
Ok, I’ve probably just described the weirdest game. But if you haven’t figured it out, I’m talking about Patapon – a new reason to pick up your dusty PSP. I had been hearing some buzz about it, but had no idea what to expect. But the moment I picked it up (and surprisingly it was only $20 at gamestop), I fell for Patapon’s cute and charming ways, it’s catchy rhythm and beats, and it’s aesthetically pleasing graphics.
I do have a few warnings/tips for when you play this game:
Have fun drumming!
PON PON PATA PON!
DOM DOM DOM DOM DOM.
