Music Wednesdays – The Monkees’ “Daydream Believer”

R.I.P. Davy Jones.

Music Wednesdays – Jose Gonzalez’ Take on “Teardrop”

Jose Gonzalez did Far Away for Red Dead Redemption, but he’s a great singer/songwriter beyond that exquisite song, too.  This cover of Massive Attack’s “Teardrop” shows off his interpretive skills, and he has done a wonderful spin on the well-covered tune in my opinion.  Neat video, as well.  This is off of his album “In our nature.”  Great disc, worth a listen.  Happy leap year!

Leap Yearly Whose Line? – Superheroes, Scenes from a Hat and Hollywood Director!

Three special games that relate to “leaping” for you on this bizarre anomaly we live every four years.  Enjoy!

This one does feature an unfortunate skip in the middle – just know that Brad got decked by Colin. :p

Taking a little time off.

Well, I’ve got a fair amount of chaos to handle school-wise this week, so I’m going to announce a hiatus until Sunday for myself.  There will be a special Whose Line? post and a Music Wednesday post tomorrow, but otherwise I’ll be trying to accomplish some of the tasks and assignments I’ve been slacking off on, plus I’ll be attending a symposium all day Saturday on the Popol Vuh.  Neat book of Maya creation.  Anyway, I’ll see you all on Sunday.  I will likely not be eating any donuts a la Vash – it just seemed appropriate. :p

Nester – If you’d like, you can handle Weekly Whose Line? this week!

Trailer Tuesdays – Jet Set Radio and Project X (1987)

Jet Set Radio (Smilebit, Sega)

With Jet Set Radio HD scheduled to hit Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network and Windows this summer, here’s a look back at the trailer for the original Sega Dreamcast version.

Remember, kids: graffiti is art, but vandalism is a crime.

Project X (20th Century Fox)

Every time I see a commercial for the new film Project X, I immediately think of Matthew Broderick with a chimpanzee. I guess that just goes to show how old I am. So, here’s the trailer for that 1987 film of the same name.

Artistic Discussion – The Good and Bad of Gaming Box Art: 2/27/2012

Good – Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (Wii, XSEED/Namco Bandai)

XSEED seems to have a solid knack of selecting excellent art assets for their covers, with Fragile Dreams serving as yet another perfect example.  It has a wonderful sense of mood thanks to the excellent coloring and detail, the two main characters are lovingly accentuated, and the logo, while a bit too wiggly for my liking, is not blocking any prime art real estate.  In short, another great box.

Bad – Freestyle Metal X (Xbox, Midway)

Ugh.  This is attacking one of my phobias – eyeballs. XD  But beyond that creepy sensation this box gives me and me alone, it’s not really all that hot.  It’s featuring a rather unappealing “big-head-cheat” motif for character design, and it forces the viewer to suffer it three separate times!  There’s very little to entice me to look further at this box – it’s about BMX apparently, but its “XTREME” attempt to win over my gaming dollar does not work.  It’s unappealing, unattractive and unlikable.

Wildcat’s Art Sunday – The Last Story Fanart

Click to see the full size:

I think this is pretty self-explanatory – I had a lot of fun drawing this.  With all this school stuff entering my life, my art has definitely taken a back seat, so it’s great to find some time to do some art.   Thanks again, XSEED and Nintendo!

Gamer’s Playlist – “The March of the Black Queen”

Continuing from a couple of weeks ago, here is Queen’s complex “The March of the Black Queen,” which was the namesake for the subtitle of SNES strategy RPG Ogre Battle. It ends abruptly, as it originally segued into the next song on the album.

Title: “The March of the Black Queen”
Artist: Queen
Composer: Freddy Mercury

Looking Back – 1986 is Updated!

I’m on fire, apparently, and I’m really getting into writing these awards, with a particular high note thus far with the ones I’ve done for 1986.  I think I’m getting to the point where I am feeling much stronger about the topics at hand due to prolonged exposure to them – it’s one thing to say I like a game from 1984 I discovered relatively recently (Balloon Fight) to being able to rant about a game I’ve never liked since I was young (Trojan).  So, I think these awards are really, really insightful into my gaming psyche.   Anyway, I rant about Trojan quite a bit, praise my first best heroine Sayo-chan (Pocky), and marvel over the stunning Darius poster.

Maybe I’ll actually write a new article in this series soon, too.

Weekly Whose Line? – Three-Headed Broadway Star

Here’s a great game I don’t seem to post much of.  Enjoy this cheesy rendition.