You have no idea how full I am
As always, Christmas dinner was great, and as always, I ate way way too much. But as far as I’m concerned, that’s what christmas is all about - having a good time and stuffing yourself full of fatty delicious foods, candy, and all sorts of others unhealthy things.
I got some real nice presents too. I got 300 on HD-DVD, so I’ll actually get to see it soon! I also got a few books that look pretty interesting as well as some money and gift certificates, and all in all I’m very satisfied with this year’s christmas haul. Quite excited to actually go spend some cash too! Some of it might go to a DS game or something.
Once digesting food and staying awake doesn’t take all of my energy, I’ll try to upload some of the photos I’ve taken. Among other things, I intend to give a rundown on some of the culinary high points of Swedish christmas celebration. 
Before that though, I think I need to go sleep for 20 hours or so…
Merry Christmas!
At 00:07, 2007/12/24, it’s now officially christmas. So enjoy!
God Jul!
Merry Christmas!
Feliz Navidad!
Fröhliche Weihnacthen!
メリークリスマス！
More holiday updates to follow.
Who Watches the Watchmen?
In the last couple days, I did something I’ve been meaning to do for years - I finally took the time to read the nigh-legendary graphic novel “Watchmen“.
For those of you unfamiliar with it, I could give you a synopsis, but as it turns out Wikipedia does a much better job than I could:
Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. Originally published by DC Comics as a monthly limited series from 1986 to 1987, it was later republished as a trade paperback,[1] which popularized the “graphic novel” format. To date, Watchmen remains the only graphic novel to win a Hugo Award,[2] and is also the only graphic novel to appear on Time Magazine’s 2005 list of “the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present.”[3]
Watchmen is set in 1985, in an alternative history United States where costumed adventurers are real and the country is edging closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union (the Doomsday Clock is at five minutes to midnight). It tells the story of a group of past and present superheroes and the events surrounding the mysterious murder of one of their own. Watchmen depicts superheroes as real people who must confront ethical and personal issues, who struggle with neurosessuper powers. and failings, and who - with one notable exception - lack anything recognizable as Watchmen’s deconstruction of the conventional superhero archetype, combined with its innovative adaptation of cinematic techniques and heavy use of symbolism, multi-layered dialogue, and metafiction, has influenced both comics and film.
I had made an earlier attempt to read it a few years ago, but for some reason I didn’t really get into it. I don’t know whether it was the fact that it starts off somewhat slow, or that I was reading it on a computer monitor, but I just couldn’t be bothered to read past the first issue.
However, it has definitely stayed among the top of my figurative list of Graphic Novels I Definitely Should Read At Some Point (as was Batman: The Dark Night Returns, which I incidentally read a couple of months ago. It was good), and seeing my brother’s copy sitting in our bookshelf over the past few months or so, it’s felt increasingly enticing until I eventually took the bull by its horns and just decided to start reading it. Coming off a healthy diet of the previously-mentioned DKR, 8 volumes of Hellboy, and recent Marvel comics in between, I was hungry for more comics to read, and Watchmen seemed like a perfect choice.
My enthusiasm was quickly stifled by the fact that my brother, for whatever reason, apparently had a Swedish copy of Watchmen. I really hate reading anything translated if it’s possible for me to read it in its original language, but considering the hype I had already built up for myself, I decided I wasn’t going to let that fact stop me from reading something I should’ve read long ago anyway (my pride took kind of a bump along the way, though). Besides, I figured it’s most likely the kind of book I would like to re-read, so I’ll just make sure to read it in English the next time around.
Indeed, it is most certainly the kind of book I would like to re-read. In fact, I’d love nothing more than to read it again straight away. I don’t want to say anything about the plot really, as I would warmly recommend the book to anyone and would hate to spoil any of it. Suffice it to say though, the book is extremely well-written, and definitely lends itself to deeper thought and analysis (even though I personally have very little interest for that sort of thing, generally speaking). It was very exciting the first time through, but now I’m left incredibly curious how I’ll see things when I know how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together.
I guess my timing wasn’t exactly impeccable though. Having finally read the book I’m of course a hundred times more excited about the upcoming Watchmen movie than I was before - and it’s not coming out for another year and a half! Unbelievably, I still haven’t seen 300 (thank you very much, Japanese cinemas, for delaying it until I had all but lost interest), but director Zack Snyder also made 2004’s Dawn of the Dead, which I really, really enjoyed; so as unfilmable as Watchmen may be, there’s not a lot of people I’d rather have at the helm than Snyder, and I’m very curious to see how the movie will end up.
Watchmen seems difficult to adapt to a movie format for a number of reasons - not least its length. Hopefully whatever cuts are necessary to keep the story within a 2-3 hour frame won’t mess too badly with the flow of the story. And quite frankly, as much as I hope it will be a great movie, I would probably be quite satisfied just seeing the great characters from the book come to life, even if the movie itself ends up not being very great.
I’m still hopeful, though. Knock on wood or something, I guess.
Hell is cold, part 2
Following an announcement yesterday, 3D Realms have now released a teaser trailer for what may well be the longest running joke in the gaming industry; Duke Nukem Forever.
Obviously, the teaser doesn’t tell much more than, indeed, 10 and a half years after its original announcement, Duke Nukem Forever is apparently still in development, and still not heading to store shelves anytime before “when it’s done”. This is essentially the first life sign we’ve gotten from the project since 2004 or so, and the first time we’ve been able to see it in action since E3 2001.
As silly as it may sound, I’m actually quite excited about DNF. I mean, not heart-poundingly excited (like I am for Street Fighter IV), or perhaps not even morbidly curious (like I am for the inevitable trainwreck that is Mortal Kombat 8), but there’s certainly something there. I want to play it. I really liked Duke Nukem 3D (and the original platformer Duke Nukems really weren’t bad either), and I don’t see why DNF couldn’t end up being really entertaining as well. To be honest, that trailer from 2001 looks like a lot more fun than most FPS games on the market today.
Five or six years ago I would say DNF still carried the stigma of being a ridiculously delayed, over-hyped game in the vein of Daikatana (which upon its release failed to make anyone John Romero’s bitch) - but I don’t really think that holds true any more. For one, I don’t really think it’s particularly hyped. I think many gamers like myself still have that “They’re making a sequel to Duke3D!” feeling from 1997 lingering somewhere in the back of their heads, and there’s no denying the fact that everyone and their grandma at least KNOWS about the game… but hype? The hype machine from the late 90s, and even that following the 2001 trailer, died out before too long and has since stayed quiet. By this point, DNF’s state of being in limbo feels like it’s some kind of universal constant. It’s like, if/when the game does come out, we can worry about it then - for the last couple of years the release of the game has seemed so far off that there hasn’t really been any point in getting excited.
Needless to say the game could well flop (and what a punchline that would be), but as far as I’m concerned, it’s entirely possible that it’ll be really great as well. By having a potentially groundbreaking new game delayed, there’s always the risk of competitors making it to the store shelves first, running circles around you in the process. As far as DNF goes though, I don’t think the risk is very large; DNF was simply no more groundbreaking 10 years ago than it is now.
Although the 2001 trailer did show some player/world interaction that would admittedly still be pretty impressive by 2007’s standards, it was - seemingly - never much more than a straight-forward action game. Not any action game, sure; Duke Nukem carried with him a unique charisma and personality that are no doubt key to both Duke3D’s and DNF’s success - but what little we know about the new game say nothing about any new concepts or game mechanics that were going to set 1998 ablaze but will look hopelessly dated in 2008. As such, as long as the game is fundamentally good, I feel it has good chances of being every bit as fun as its predecessor. Fun is a keyword, as the sheer fun of 1995’s Duke Nukem 3D is what made it so damn great. Let’s hope Duke Nukem Forever - whenever it is released - doesn’t replace it with lighting effects and cheap gimmicks.
Read more about DNF’s troubled development:
Kamen Rider Kiba
The first picture has been released of 2008’s Kamen Rider series, Kamen Rider Kiba.
The picture doesn’t necessarily say very much but from what is visible I think the design looks pretty cool. Supposedly the series’ theme will be classic horror flicks, with the Rider’s four forms being based on classic monsters (note the bat motif on the helmet). Sounds cool! Seems like a good time to try to get into Kamen Rider again. This year’s series, Kamen Rider Den-Oh, never really appealed to me, but this I’m genuinely curious about. I really like the Super Sentai Series but would certainly like to expand my horizons by watching more tokusatsu stuff.
I tried watching 2006’s Kamen Rider Kabuto but never quite managed to get into it. The action was nice but I didn’t like the characters much, and the story didn’t seem to go anywhere in the half-dozen or so episodes that I did watch. I guess the fact that the Kamen Rider shows take themselves more seriously make them less accessible to me than the usually very lighthearted Super Sentai shows, too. Some of the designs are very cool though, and the action seems good as well, so I am interested in getting into Kamen Rider and other more serious tokusatsu. Come February I’ll make sure to at least make an attempt. Now if only we’d get some pictures and info about next year’s Super Sentai…
Awesomest Toy News in Years
Last weekend Japanese toy company Kaiyodo held their (presumably annual) Revoltech Expo, to showcase upcoming figures in their line. Revoltech is a line of highly articulated 5″ figures based on various anime and other licenses, predominantly in the giant robot genre. I try to keep my eyes on it, and I’m a proud owner of the Revoltech Convoy - the ass-kicking truck/robot known to people outside Japan as Optimus Prime. It is definitely a cool figure, but as I have little to no interest in most of the anime that Revoltech figures are based on, I don’t really collect the line. At this year’s Expo however, an announcement was made that absolutely rocked my world.
YES. KAIYODO WILL PRODUCE REVOLTECH FIGURES BASED ON HOKUTO NO KEN.
As most of my friends know, I am an absolutely huge fan of Hokuto no Ken. And if there’s one thing I like as much as HnK, it’s highly articulated action figures. I have often lamented the apparent demise of Kaiyodo’s Hokuto no Ken 200X line of well-articulated 7″ figures, but these are more than a worthy successor. The smaller scale means less shelf space is required, the articulation will be even better, and perhaps most importantly, they will be significantly more affordable. The Revoltech figures retail at 2000yen, whereas the second hand value of HNK200X figures often go up to 10.000yen and beyond.
The rather impressive list of characters announced for the line so far are Kenshirou, Raoh, Toki, Jagi, Souther, Rei, Shuu, and the generic grunt dubbed “Abeshi” (after the famous death scream in the manga - seen here in a T-shirt print). The lineup is surprisingly populated, but it does make the absence of iconic characters Shin and Yuda somewhat curious. Hopefully they will be released later, along with Yuria, Mamiya, and with any luck the Goshasei as well as lesser villains like Heart, Kiba…. well, you know, they can release just about anyone and I’ll want them.
I still have kind of a hard time believing it
As tough as it is to wrap one’s head around, Street Fighter IV is indeed on the horizon. The game has been shrouded in complete mystery up until this point. Who’s developing it? What characters will it feature? Will there be an arcade release? What will it look like? Will it be in 2D? Well, today the first few answers have started to trickle in as Capcom and 1up unveiled this:
So now we know that SF4 will use polygonal graphics - good looking graphics, at that - but retain classic 2D gameplay. Part of me really wanted to see traditional 2D pixel art, but realistically this is the only way things were going to happen. With the knowledge that the game will use 3D graphics, I am now left hoping it will be the first to succeed where others (Rival Schools, King of Fighters: Maximum Impact, Battle Fantasia, et al) have failed, and create a 2D fighter with 3D graphics that actually looks better than its contemporary 2D counterparts.
Judging from the screenshot I’d say things are looking pretty good - Ryu’s design is clearly influenced by Akiman’s art, and hopefully that can give an idea of where they’re going with the art direction and character designs in general. I suppose visuals based more on Kinu Nishimura, Ikeno or Bengus’s work would’ve lead to a game that looked more like SF Zero or SF3 - something much more desirable by certain fans - but I like Akiman’s art as well and it’s about time we see it translated into in-game graphics. On the technical side, SF4 has an advantage over the previously mentioned games in that it doesn’t look decidely last-gen. As far as I’m concerned it looks good enough to compete with Tekken 6, Virtua Fighter 5 or Soul Calibur 4 on reasonably even ground. As long as the game is well animated and looks as good in motion as it does in that screenshot, I have little to fear regarding the game’s visuals.
The screenshot was followed by a press release from Capcom, confirming aside from classic 2-dimensional six-button gamplay, the presence of classic fighters Chun-Li and Dhalsim, but little else. It is however clear that 1up will release more exclusive pictures, news and video footage over the coming weeks, and that its print cousin EGM will have a big SF4 article in its January issue hitting newsstands December 18th.
The tiny sneak peek we’ve gotten today really brings with it at least as many questions as it has answered, but it has undeniably set things in motion and the hype machine is most definitely running at full steam. I don’t like to speculate, so until now I haven’t given SF4 very much thought. With the first look at the game, along with promises of more information in the pipeline though, I guess things just seem a lot more solid, as all of a sudden I’ve found myself incredibly excited about the game, to the point where I have difficulty taking my mind off it. Frankly, I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited about a new game. But then, what could possibly be as monumental as Street Fighter Four?