It’s dangerous to go alone!

I mentioned a couple of posts back that I started a new gaming blog. Well, sometime soon after I started the blog, I decided to give it a more permanent home. It’s not that I don’t like Posterous, it’s just that I felt it needed something more. So now, the blog is housed at WordPress (alongside this one) and is called It’s Dangerous to Go Alone. The name is based on this seminal moment from the very beginning of the Legend of Zelda:

See? It’s not only a Nintendo reference, it’s also a co-op gaming reference. Here’s a quick round-up of some of the posts I’ve already hastily pounded out over there:

Obviously stuff you won’t care about unless you’re remotely interested in gaming. And even then, you have to care about gaming on Nintendo platforms, which I know is a stretch for a lot of people. But it’s fun to write, and it gives me an outlet for talking about games that doesn’t take up space here. There’s also a post there about my boys, along with a picture. Get your kid fix there, I suppose. It also talks a bit about what gaming what like for me when I was a wee little one, cautiously tapping at the tiny, clicking buttons of my NES controller so very many years ago.

I might pop in one of these “what’s going on at my OTHER blog” sort of posts every now and again, just to remind those of you that still read this tripe here that there’s another place where I yammer away nonsensically about things that interest me. You know. If you’re into that sort of thing.

Neil Gaiman deserves a bit more credit

You’ve probably heard about this new Coraline movie coming out, perhaps? It’s the one that looks provocative, yet somewhat nauseatingly creepy. Yeah, that’s the one. It’s the movie that’s based on a novella written by one of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman. You probably didn’t know that, because the commercials for the movie never even mention Neil Gaiman. I think that’s a shame, honestly, despite whatever reasons there may be for not mentioning the person who wrote the story in the commercial for the movie. Maybe he opted out of that sort of thing. I’m sure his name will be in the credits, somewhere. I mean, he only won a Nebula AND a Hugo award in 2003 for the story, so it’s not like he’s already accomplished anything with it.

In any case, here’s more reason his name needs to be attached more often to the project. It appears as though Neil has just received the Newbery Medal for his recent children’s book, The Graveyard Book, and from what I hear, it is a well-deserved award, indeed.

So, there you have it. There’s a reason (among several more, actually) that Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors. One of the other reasons is Neverwhere, but that’s for another post at another time.

Ficlets REBORN! (sort of)

I missed this news by a solid week, but it bears mentioning. Kevin Lawver has finally posted the entirety of the recently deceased Ficlets library online, and it is a thing of beauty. Beautiful not just in the fact that it contains thousands upon thousands of miniature stories, the bright flashes of life and insight from a myriad mixture of vessels of pure storytelling. It is also beautiful in the fact that that this sacred monument to the once thriving Ficlets community is even allowed to exist in the first place.

Kevin somehow convinced AOL to publish Ficlets stories under Creative Commons licensing rules, essentially giving Kevin a fantastic backdoor loophole to retrieve the Ficlets library just in case AOL decided to implode his creation. It turned out to be exactly what was needed, and now Ficlets lives on as Ficly. For the moment, it’s nothing more than the library. I located my works, so I know my content is safe. I had already downloaded my stories, but Kevin was able to save most everything, including the prequel and sequel connections between stories, the author bios, and even story comments. It’s fairly impressive the scope of the rescue operation he orchestrated, and I’m very pleased with the results.

In the meantime, I’ve signed up at Ficly to be informed of when the new site gains sentience. Until then, my writing will likely remain hidden in the wastelands of the internet. Google Docs. CoG writer’s guild. I might have another go at Protagonize, as well. But applause and champagne all around for Lawver and his ilk. I look forward to seeing what Ficly becomes, and what it has to offer us former Ficlet-eers.

New blog!

I know, why do I need another blog? Well, it’s simple. Every now and then I like to talk about video games. And even though this blog is appropriately called “Nerdflood”, I don’t necessarily want it to become a games-centric blog. I want it to be about me and my penchant for nerdiness.

Henceforth, all gaming topics will be posted at my new Posterous blog: the Nintendo Gamer. I’ve considered even inviting some Colonists to join and group blog our Nintendo fandom for all to witness.

Why Posterous? It’s a dead simple blogging platform. I don’t want to fuss with template designs or widgets. With Posterous, I can email posts to the blog quickly and easily and not worry about anything else. It’s also really simple to do group blogging there. Just add another email address in the admin area, and have them email in posts just as easily as I do.

So, I don’t plan on blogging anywhere more often than I already do. I’m just shifting certain content away from here. Which would probably make more sense if I blogged more often.

Home cooking with DS homebrew

So, now that I have a DS Lite, what’s next beyond just playing some great games? Homebrew.

I’ve already ordered a new microSD card and, based on suggestions and pointers from a known homebrewer on the Colony, I also ordered the R4DS cart from System Gears. Both shipped within the past couple of days, and I should be able to get started early next week.

The first thing I plan to download and get into (and a majority of the reason I wanted to get into homebrew in the first place) is Colors DS. It’s a fantastic little app that uses the touch sensitive screen of the DS to allow you to create wonderful tiny pieces of artwork.

In addition to this, the R4DS firmware contains an app called Moonshell that plays music and can display images. Although, I also plan to download DSOrganize, which can do all of that, plus has PDA functionality, a web browser, an IRC client, and more.

Beyond that, I plan to check out some homebrew games, including the DSCrawl rogue-like game, DSChess (which should be obvious), and LemmingsDS. According to this page on Wikipedia, there is an absolute metric ton of classic PC games that have been ported to the DS as homebrew titles. Some of them look like a lot of fun.

However, one thing that I do NOT intend to do is participate in any emulation. That’s one thing that I am adamant against. I don’t approve of ROMs and emulation, and I won’t support those efforts.

Any other homebrew projects out there that you feel are worth checking out? Let me know! I’m open to the possibilities.

The Wii and DS games of 2009

So, 2008 wasn’t really the year of the Wii RPG that I had hoped it would be. 2008, as a matter of fact, wasn’t really the year for a whole lot on the Wii of any real substance. I’m not trying to discount everything that showed up on the Little Console that Could™. There were a handful of games here and there: Mario Kart Wii, No More Heroes, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Tales of Symphonia come to mind, and those games were fantastic. But the games I was truly expecting to see in 2008 simply never appeared. That’s probably why I ended up with a DS this Christmas. The Wii just hasn’t been giving me my fill.

But there is hope! All of that could potentially change in 2009. So, as we gaze somberly towards our future here in 2009, here’s a concentrated dose of what I’m looking forward to, both Wii and DS. Now, I don’t intend to pick up every game on this list, obviously. But it’s what is on my radar for the year. Only time will tell if any of it is worth acquiring.

Wii games

The Conduit
Genre: FPS
Dev: High Voltage / Pub: Sega
This one is kind of a no-brainer. A high-quality, cutting-edge, NON-WORLD WAR II first-person shooter on the Wii. I can get into this. Some preliminary videos have shown the enemies to be just a tad bit brain-dead, so I’m hopeful that the AI won’t be taking a hit just because the game is appearing on the Wii. If they can give me a stellar FPS experience with a quality AI, I’m sold.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: the Crystal Bearers
Genre: RPG
Dev/Pub: Square Enix
Now that Square Enix has confirmed that this game actually exists, I’m once again looking forward to it. Though there hasn’t been much in-game footage or screenshots released, they had me at “action-RPG set in the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles world with a heavy emphasis on single-player progression”.

Arc Rise Fantasia
Genre: RPG
Dev: Image Epoch / Pub: Marvelous Entertainment
There has been a significant amount of footage of this game in action, and it looks spectacular. It has all the markings of a quality RPG game, with an immense amount of effort devoted to making it a tried-and-true fantasy epic adventure. I trust Marvelous to bring the quality, and they have already confirmed a stateside release. I’ll look to the Japanese review scores in late January / early February to be the signal of whether or not this game meets its own hype.

Sin & Punishment 2
Genre: Action
Dev/Pub: Nintendo
The minute the Wii was first announced, my first thought was that Nintendo HAD to be hard at work on a sequel to the N64 Sin & Punishment that would make use of the pointer controls. While I half-expected the game to appear closer to the system’s launch, I’m nonetheless overjoyed just to see it coming out at all. Initial screens make me hopeful, and you can’t really go wrong with Nintendo’s tireless devotion to quality.

Muramasa: the Demon Blade
Genre: Platformer
Dev: Vanillaware / Pub: Marvelous Entertainment
Fans of Odin Sphere should look no further than Muramasa for their Vanillaware fix. Once again, Marvelous is setting the bar for guiding quality content on the Wii. Muramasa has the action and style to be a game of the year contender should it make its expected fall 2009 release.

Wii Sports Resort
Genre: Sports
Dev/Pub: Nintendo
Yes, I’m looking forward to Wii Sports Resort. Wii Sports is still played in our house (though, honestly, not by me), and the sequel offers more games with better control through the Wii MotionPlus attachment. Plus, it will be one of the few ways to obtain the Wii MotionPlus attachment, so it will be a nearly essential title. Plus, sword-fighting! I mean, c’mon!

Kizuna
Genre: RPG
Dev/Pub: Jaleco
Kizuna has a lot of potential: both good and bad. In screenshots, it looks like a gorgeous action-RPG with elements reminiscent of Shadow of the Colossus. It has a great style that includes some kind of grainy, pencil-y sketching effect in the front texture layer that makes me really want to know more about the story behind the game that requires that effect. But I remain cautiously optimistic, as I’ve seen no actual gameplay of the title, and it has the potential to play horribly. Use the Wii remote to find the big bad boss’ weakness and then attack that spot? Could be setting itself up for failure.

Ghostbusters
Genre: Action
Dev: Red Fly Studios / Pub: Atari
It’s Ghostbusters! Do I really have to explain why I’m excited for a new Ghostbusters game?

Red Steel 2
Genre: FPS
Dev/Pub: Ubisoft
Another game where I feel cautiously optimistic. Red Steel was a good first attempt at putting an FPS game on the Wii. Adding the sword controls was too much, and felt unnecessary to the overall game. Had they simply focused on making a quality FPS game, it probably could have done a better job of setting the stage for later FPS successes on the Wii. As it was, it was passable, and largely forgettable. I’m hoping they fix everything in the sequel that they broke in the first game. They accomplish that, and I’m there the first day.

DS games
I may not comment as much about the DS games as I have about the Wii games mainly due to the fact that I just started tracking DS games. Like, last week.

Dragon Quest IX
Genre: RPG
Dev/Pub: Square Enix
I’ve only played the old, old, OLD Dragon Quest games. Old, as in, back when it was on the NES and still called Dragon Warrior. I played the first, and the two corresponding sequels, and then nothing after that. I’m looking forward to IX purely because I hear it’s supposed to be one heck of a game. Plus, Dragonball art style.

Elebits: the Adventures of Kai and Zero
Genre: Adventure
Dev/Pub: Konami
I downloaded the demo to this game from the Nintendo Channel last week and played around with it for a while. I wasn’t interested in it at first because I loved the original Wii game. When I heard the DS game wasn’t going to be the same concept (adventure instead of crazy gravity-gun FPS), I was a bit disappointed. The demo turned me around, though, and I suppose that’s what demos are designed to do.

Moon
Genre: FPS
Dev: Renegade Kid / Pub: Mastiff Games
They say FPS games can’t be done on the DS. Moon is an attempt to prove that idea wrong. I’m hopeful. Initial screens and videos look promising.

Phantasy Star Zero
Genre: RPG
Dev: Sonic Team / Pub: Sega
Like the Dragon Warrior/Quest games, I’m an old-school Phantasy Star gamer. I’ve heard tell that Phantasy Star Online was a pretty good game, so this one is on my radar. I’m not so sure it will end up being acquired.

Tales of Hearts
Genre: RPG
Dev/Pub: Namco Bandai
I don’t allow myself to miss Tales games that appear on consoles I own. It’s quite simply a rule to live by.

Winds of Nostalgio
Genre: RPG
Dev: Red Entertainment / Pub: Tecmo
Get a load of this description from Wikipedia: “Taking place in an alternate reality steampunk version of the 19th Century, the game follows Eddie, a London boy and son of a great adventurer as he and his friends travel the world in an airship in search of his missing father. The game will feature both standard turn-based combat and aerial battles between the player’s customizable airship, the Maverick, and enemy airships.” Yep! ON THE LIST.

Shining Force Feather
Genre: RPG
Dev/Pub: Sega
Once again, old-school Shining Force fan (I believe that Shining Force, Phantasy Star, and Sonic were the only Genesis games I ever played). This one looks to be cut of the same cloth, and that’s enough to merit a radar watch from me.

So, it’s quite the monstrous list when laid out in such a fashion, but even so, I’m sure there are games I’m still missing. What are you watching out for in 2009? Anything I’ve not listed that I need to keep my eyes on?

A good 2008, an even better 2009

So, this year is finally drawing to a close. As it does, I look back on the experiences that shaped 2008, and look ahead and what to expect in 2009.

Watching the boys grow. This is easily the seminal moment of every year, but 2008 was different in this respect, in many ways. Caleb started Kindergarten and lost two teeth. Alex has been speaking more eloquently and interacting more intelligently (while we count down the days until he leaves the proverbial “terrible two’s”). They haven’t just been growing this year, they have really been expanding and exploding in ways I never expected. They have also finally gotten to the point where they are actually brothers, and speak (and fight) with each other as brothers to often do. I look forward to seeing how they progress next year, but this year has been especially eye-opening.

President Barack Obama. I know, he isn’t technically president yet. But Barack’s ideas are so drastically in contrast to this current, horrendously failed administration, that I am eagerly anticipating inauguration day. While I’m not walking starry-eyed blindly into some daydreamy, picturesque future, I am hopeful that things will at least be better than they have been. Though it honestly won’t take much for that to occur.

Youth ministry. This past year, I took over management of the teen outreach program at our church. It has been an amazing few months, with two girls accepting Christ, and one of them deciding to be baptized. I feel there are others on the verge of understanding, and I’m praying for God’s guidance in how to proceed with planning our topics for the coming year. Unfortunately, while our ministry has been blessed with amazing workers and an eager teen group, my coordination and planning skills have apparently taken a dive.

Writing. I attempted to start a novel this year, and I failed. But in failing I learned something important: I’m not so sure that I can write novels. At least, not yet. In 2009 I plan to spend more time working on and developing some short fiction ideas I have had floating around in my head for a while. I also intend to participate in more creative writing projects in the Colony Writer’s Guild to keep my skills sharp and my prose plentiful.

Video games. What would a post on Nerdflood be without a mention of video games? With Mario Kart, No More Heroes, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Lostwinds, and Tales of Symphonia, this was definitely a good year to be a Wii owner. Some people complained there weren’t enough games on the Wii this year, but that’s because those people have much more time to play than I do. There was a good enough stream of quality titles this year to satisfy me and my meager gaming schedule. Plus, I ended the year with a high-quality bang as I finally scored a DS this Christmas, along with a decent handful of games. There is no complaining here. 2008 was a great gaming year.

So, with all of that behind us in 2008, what’s left to look forward to in 2009?

Baby. This is pretty much the top item on the list for next year. Providing everything goes well, and it will, we should be welcoming the third Payne child into our loving little world sometime in July. The boys are already excited (well, Caleb is; Alex is still fairly oblivious). We’re not especially ready for the next child (I don’t think anyone is ever really ready for another child), but I already know Amanda is ready to be done with the pregnancy. A new baby means a few less hours of sleep, a lot more diaper changing, and a bit of grouchiness, but it also means a beautiful new child to love and adore, and a wonderful learning experience for the boys as they grow accustomed to a younger sibling. All in all, this will take 2009 from great year to excellent year.

New house. This is something we’ve been talking about for a long time, but have never been able to actually get to work. We’ve purchased new houses twice. We’ve attempted to sell ours three times. All with little to no success. I have no idea if the current economy and housing market is going to make this process easier or harder in 2009, but my goal is clear. My New Year’s Resolution™ this year is to do everything within my power to get. Us. Out. Of. This. House.

Video games. Of course, more games. I’ll do a separate post sometime after the first of the year outlining all of the Wii and DS games I’m looking forward to this coming year.

So, 2008 was a good year. I have no complaints about it. And 2009 is shaping up to be even better. In this coming year, I plan to make sure family is always first priority, remember to have some fun with some great games, get us into a new home, and try to write some more.

All in all, 2009 is looking pretty good! My hope is that it’s as good for you as I hope it will be for me and mine.

Christmas music for gamers

I admit it. I have a thing for chiptunes. Especially when the songs are developed using the same tools that crafted the music that shaped my childhood. The soundtrack to my youth consists of music from the Legend of Zelda, Mega Man, Castlevania, Super Mario Bros., Metroid, Bionic Commando, Final Fantasy, and Ninja Gaiden (amongst others). If you’re anything like me, you have a similar soundtrack playing through your head constantly. If that’s the case, then I have the Christmas music collection round-up for you.

Doctor Octoroc released the first nine tracks to his Christmas album 8-Bit Jesus a little over a week ago. At the time, he claimed that another nine tracks would be forthcoming to complete the album, and he has made good on that promise. Each track of the album is a lovingly-crafted masterpiece of NES chiptun-ery. However, not only is each song a spirited re-imagining of a Christmas classic, but they are also performed in the particular style of a classic NES game. Enjoy such creations as Ryu the Red-Nosed Ninja, Carol of the Belmonts, and Icarus! the Angels Sing.  Truly the best Christmas NES chiptune album I’ve ever come across.

A relatively new entry in the NES chiptune Christmas music scene (which is probably a pretty small scene, to be perfectly honest) is Merry Pixmas from Pixelmod Records. The Merry Pixmas album contains recreations of Christmas music with NES chiptunes, but with the artists allowing themselves a bit more “freedom” in how the songs were interpreted. This album also moves beyond the “classic” Christmas songs, and delves into territory that includes re-imaginings of Somewhere in My Memory (from Home Alone) and Christmas Time is Here (from Peanuts). Not without its minor flaws, Merry Pixmas is still a very festive album indeed, and an essential part of the Christmas music collection of any true gamer.

You can’t talk about Christmas music created with chiptunes without mentioning the 2003 album the 8bits of Christmas by the 8bit Peoples. Definitely the forerunner in the movement, 8bits of Christmas veers away from NES chiptunes and into the greater realm of 8-bit audio, including such classic machinery as the VIC20, Atari 2600, and yes, even a Japan-only Sharp X68000. This album adds a lot of variety to the formula with some very inventive use of the most archaic blips and bloops thought lost to time. 8bits of Christmas is truly an ingenious and inspired work, and deserves to hold several places in your iPod this Christmas.

Have you got more Christmas music that gamers should be listening to? I’m sure we would love to hear it. Leave a comment!

Ice and snow, cold and bother

So, this is what my wonderful state looks like at the moment. At least, what it looks like if all storm systems consisted of uniform colors and patterns.

It’s pretty nasty outside. We even had some of that thundersnow that Lewis Black screamed about on one of his albums. It’s ice raining. Hideous. I don’t rightly expect work to be one of the things I successfully venture to first thing in the morning.

So, what’s it doing in your neck of the woods?

Preparing for the New Year (some changes abound)

Lots of changes around here, and I’m not just talking about the new site design for Nerdflood.com. I want to change things up periodically, keep things interesting. The site was getting a bit cluttered, and I wanted to clean it up by going back to the original template I used when I first started the Nerdflood site. Most of the extraneous information I had in the sidebars has been moved to the online profile site I put together. It’s still a work-in-progress, so expect more changes there, even, as I find a way to present all of that miscellaneous content in a manner that is pleasing to the visual palette.

I haven’t been around much this month because, frankly, I’ve been very busy. During the day, working on massive corporate IT projects. And, in the evenings, working around the house, taking care of the kids, cleaning, washing dishes, doing laundry, etcetera. The wife has been bed-ridden of late; of course, I feel the need to point out, not due to laziness. She’s just been tired and queasy recently.

Being pregnant will do that to you.

We’re still early in the whole gestation process, so we know no specifics. The spawn is tentatively scheduled to arrive in or around July of next year. My wife and I are said to be “thrilled, with an odd blank stare that looks out into the vacant, desolate horizon”. Three rugrats will be an undertaking, for sure. However, Caleb is practically on his own these days as it is, the boy is capable of doing so much without any assistance. He also has better behavior than should rightly be expected of any child his age. Alex, being just shy of three years old, is a bit more “time-intensive”, and I mean that to sound every bit as sarcastic as typed text can possibly allow. But, so help us God, we do love the little brat. A third is just asking for trouble. We must just have a penchant for odd numbers.

There are holidays approaching, and a house and family that needs cared for, so expect little of my attention these next few weeks. Although, historically, very time I say I’ll be away for a while, I end up blogging like crazy. Just like every time I say I’m going to blog more often, I end up finding reasons not to. For now, I’ll just say that I’m busy. Busy doing what, I’ll leave up in the air. Maybe I’ll be busy blogging. Maybe I’ll be busy hanging mistletoe and stealing kisses from the wife. Maybe I’ll finally get some more gaming in. Who knows?

All I know is, Christmas is coming, my cherished Celtic Christmas music is droning sweetly in the background, it’s snowing, my family is (relatively) healthy and happy, and our president got a shoe thrown at him. All is, apparently, right with the world.