Two more tees, and that's it for now, I promise...
More t-shirts? Well, it is the San Diego Comic Con, and Offworld will be at booth numbers 5500 and 5570. As before, these designs will be up on their website for mass consumption soon. These are in the "front" of the hall, near the exits at either end, I believe. Anyway, the unicorn idea was one that came after my usual thought about unicorns, which is "I'm in a D&D game, and there's a little girl by herself in an isolated area, which means either a unicorn is going to attack me or she's going to turn into a dragon and kill me," but that was too long a slogan. Then there's one for advertising how superior your Science-Fu is! I just thought a lab coat could be as awesome as Batman's cape, given the same opportunities. Besides, it's a little-known fact that real lab coats are awarded in private ceremonies where an applicant proves they can break a stack of planks with their brain. One last science-related item: I think we've found a planet we have to colonize. It's within the parameters for supporting life as we know it, but the real reason we have to go is that it's part of a binary star system. If movies have taught me anything, you don't have a real galactic empire going until you have a world with two suns in the sky. Bonus moons are good, too. It could only be more perfect if it had a ring around it, but I'll settle for it as a fixer-upper. :)
Oh, cru-el fate! Why must you release DLC for the one game I can't bring myself to uninstall right before the San Diego Comic Con? "Old World Blues" just hit Steam, and the trailer I posted an entry or two ago for it is pretty accurate for the few moments I got to play with it. It's very much of the "Wild Wasteland," even without taking that perk which adds oddball things to the game, like (don't click if you don't want to spoil it) this scene from a facility that creates cyborg dogs. It's not only an homage to those "Big Science" movie monster films of the 1950's, but it's also a chance for some callbacks to previous games, including the original "Wasteland," in the form of the proton axe (whose predecessor was merely an "ax") and robo-scorpions, who seem to be an homage to the Scorpitron. Anyway, there's loads of Invader Zim-ish and Portal-like references to SCIENCE, a lot of apparent disgust/fascination with your "skinvelope" (body) by some scientists who've spent far too long as brains floating in jars, and there's even a gun that uses a dog brain as a CPU. This place of rampant experimentation is also, it seems, the source of many monsters you've run into in the Fallout universe, which does lampshade some of the more magical "mutations," like the half dog, half rattlesnake creatures called "nightstalkers." This DLC also references characters from the "Dead Money" add-on, as well as gives some foreshadowing to the final episode, "Lonesome Road," which involves some kind of climactic battle with a fellow courier named Ulysses. It's probably worth the ten bucks for the humor alone, though were I made of stronger stuff, I could probably have waited until Steam's holiday sale where (I'm betting) all of the DLCs will be available at a significant discount. Alas, I had to pay my "geek tax" to get an early look... FOR SCIENCE!
Onto movies, where "The Dark Knight Rises" has caused a small stir. I don't think it'll be a disappointment, but their teaser trailer wasn't all that exciting for a superhero movie. The Marvel vs DC guy has his take on it, and he does make a good point about the fact that the movie is a year away. The footage of Commissioner Gordon in a hospital bed might have been the alternative to showing a bunch of scenes where you could still see the wires and green screens. I'll just be happy if Christian Bale tones down his "bat voice" a few notches for this final outing in Nolan's trilogy.
And Batman had better watch his DVD sales, since Cartoon Network is going to air a live-action "Captain Planet" movie. Whether or not one likes an environmental message to a film, I find it an odd property to take seriously, the same way I do with other cartoons I watched in my misspent youth. The Captain has become a bit of an 80's punchline, especially Mati with "the power of heart." I do think Mati could have had a really good horror novel written about him where, sick of being put down as the weakest Planeteer, he uses his ring to create an army of Cujo-like animals that start a campaign of "cleansing" the Earth or something. This also doesn't address how a guy with blue skin and green hair will appear to the camera, though maybe "Avatar" and "The Smurfs" will make him seem commonplace.
Now I'm off to SDCC, feeling like a kid who's forgotten his homework. It's been a lean year for my self-published stuff, mostly because I had some writing projects that I thought would be done with by now. One of them I've completed and been paid for, but it looks like it may not see the light of day. I'm poking at some of the people I worked with on it to see if perhaps I could mention what I did or maybe even put some of the work up on the 'net, but a large entertainment company is involved, which makes me not want to get my hopes up. The other is yet to come and I think is pretty much a done deal, so as soon as I'm given the nod (maybe at the convention?) I'll reveal what I've been up to. Anyway, I'll be at booth 4423. Since I don't have anything mind-blowing of my own to offer, how about the thought that you were almost able to download Atari 2600 games on your original Atari 2600. After you've recovered, here's some other things that might shock and amaze:
- A man in Texas managed to file the paperwork allowing him to claim "adverse possession" of a foreclosed home for sixteen dollars. If he lives there for three years and the previous owner does nothing, it's probably going to be his.
- Accompanied by a censored yet internet-famous photo from last weekend comes a tale of a put-upon employee quitting Taco Bell. In his defense, he'd been made to work 22 days straight, didn't get the 4th of July off, and was a shift manager.
- I don't know if I could find a use for a wire bending machine, but it's more fun to watch than some TV shows I could name.
- Here's one of those brilliant ideas that seems obvious in retrospect.
- In case you know someone who thinks using the internet on one of those computational difference-engines is far too complicated, they might want to consider Internet by Typewriter.
- Mega Miner is what it sounds like. Use your mega-drilling machine to get resources, improve your equipment, and not run out of fuel while in the bowels of the Earth.
- This next item might require a sanity check when you see the results. A "Reborn" doll artist has created baby versions of Harry Potter characters, which are probably more psyche-scarring than a herd of Dementors just back from visiting R'lyeh.
- This flash game, Where I Go At Night says it needs a second player, but there's no reason you can't play against yourself. You're a werewolf. As the man, one player earns points by putting up barriers and finding elixir potions, then, when his time is up, the wolf takes over and earns points by eating townspeople.
- For a video game consisting of block-people and highly questionable physics, Minecraft 1.8 looks like it'll include things like having to eat food to live. What's next? Encumbrance? :)
- I've seen many irritations that students have put upon their teachers, but using the family signet ring on homework is a new one to me.
- Here's a 3D rendered art piece called "I Am Captain America." I love the art style, and it shows how Pixar really needs to do at least one Marvel Comics movie.
- Apparently there was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles anime produced in 1994 that was even more insane than the original concept.
- Stephen King's "Dark Tower" adaptation via Ron Howard is a broken Ka-Tet.
- And now for something completely different: A dog sucking on an orange.
- Keeping you up to date with casting in "Game of Thrones," here's your Stannis Baratheon and Melisandre. At least this will help "accent up" Westeros a bit.
- Soul Driver is a side-scrolling game where you're trying to race your jalopy the 42 miles between you and the Mexico border while eluding the police. Upgrade your car along the way, and enjoy the adrenalin boosts.