Nerusama no Densetsu

Screw Attack Salsa-Eating Contest

Sat, 17 May 2008 06:23:13 GMT

Wow... This is just... WOW! Little Ben looked as though he was going to die.

Gaijinworks?!

Fri, 16 May 2008 23:00:40 GMT

www.Gaijinworks.com

Created on the heels of the death of Working Designs, Gaijinworks' existence on the internet has been something of a mystery for nearly two years. The gaming world has sat around patiently for Victor Ireland to break his silence and explain himself. Thus far, the site sits quietly with only a logo present since January 30, 2006.

Is it a new localization company? Will Victor Ireland join us in the 21st Century and finally abandon the CD format? Will this new company project itself beyond the scope of its predecessor? Or could it possibly be a front for the reimergence of everyone's favorite localization team, Working Designs?

One of the things that doomed Working Designs, even before their death at the hands of Sony's draconian ways of business, was their reliance exclusively on the CD format. (Remember? Some early PS2 games were actually CD-based.) Well into the PS2's life cycle, Working Designs was still exclusively a CD publisher, which was during a time when the CD was rapidly losing ground to the more versitile DVD. And, while I can understand why Working Designs never entered the cartridge race, I can't for the life of me figure out why they never published anything on the DVD format. If Victor Ireland wants to come back to the video game market, he needs to realize that it's much different than it was in the days of the Sega CD and Saturn.

Additionally, the US RPG market is much smarter than it was back then, which is partially his doing. By making highly literate and competent translations of seemingly obscure Japanese titles, Ireland had set a precedent in the medium for higher quality translations. While I wish Working Designs could have kept translating games forever with their particular flavor of humor, I do realize that they had become obsolete by 2005. Why have a third-party translate the games when you can do it yourself?

Yeah, they blamed it on Sony, but I think Working Designs' biggest problem was its inability to change with the times. I hope Vic Ireland keeps that in mind should Gaijinworks ever emerge from its now two-year slumber.

Schtuff

Wed, 14 May 2008 23:51:47 GMT

I usually do crossposts with DasienComic.net when my art stuff and real life stuff intersect, although lately I've been doing it more frequently. I usually do it so that people who read my regular blog could, if they're interested, go over there and subscribe. That's basically the reason I've got the hypno-butt avatar out.

So anyway, there are a couple spammy things I wanted to go over. I did a couple minor edits to the Drunk Duck Wiki page a little while ago, because it badly needed it. I'm hoping that by bringing it up, that some of my LJ friends who are more in the know with Drunk Duck could maybe either expand upon the changes I made or do a V8 headbonk to the ones who normally watch over the page. Namely Spang, Volte, and Black Kitty.

Also, I thought I'd bring your attention to the Crossoverlord comic forum that we set up a few weeks ago. We've gotten a lot of hits, but you know me. We could always use more. Go there and spread the joy. ...And marvel at Al Shroeder's comicbook nerdiness.

And as long as you're at it, check out Crossoverlord!

New Crossoverlord! Page 5

Tue, 13 May 2008 21:04:29 GMT

It's time for Mindmistress to make her official appearance. She's not too happy about being summoned into cross-reality battle. Just wait until she finds out who her partners are!

For you Drunk Duck users, click the following URL:
http://www.drunkduck.com/Crossoverlord/?p=395218

If you've got a Webcomics Nation account, click this one:
http://webcomicsnation.com/crossoverlord/crossoverlord/series.php?view=single&ID=111836

If, for some reason, you want to check it out on Comic Genesis, here's were to go:
http://crossoverlord.comicgenesis.com/d/20080513.html

What Video Game Should Neil Play Next?

Mon, 12 May 2008 04:25:56 GMT

Okay, so I have a little delemma. I have a stack of unplayed RPGs. I go through them at my liesure, usually for an hour or two before I draw in the evening. There are quite a few of them that I own which I haven't played, though. Some of which are well past the decade-old mark, but I don't care about that. I'll still play them, because I like retro games. And nothing is more retro than playing a game that was actually made in the classic era! To paraphrase NBC, if I haven't played it, it's new to me!

So, I finished Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door a little while ago. Actually, I had played both Paper Mario games back-to-back. And let me tell you, that was something else. It was a lot of fun, but I was glad it was over. And yes, I beat both the Master and Bonetail.

But now that those two games are out of the way, I need something else with which to unwind when I get home. I'm looking through my stack of unplayed RPGs, and I'm rather undecided. There are some here that I bought many moons ago, and I'm just drooling to play them. The question is, WHICH ONE!?

You'll notice a few of these are bundled together. The reason is simple. In cases such as Golden Sun, one game continues into the next. In fact, you can transfer your game save data via the GBA link cable. A similar system is included with Arc The Lad, where game save data can be moved from one game to the next. And since Arc 1 is supposed to be a really short game, I have every intention of playing it back-to-back with Arc 2.

But then I have stuff for like the Saturn and Sega CD that is crying to be played. I have all those Shining games. I've played the Shining games. They're awesome. I really should get around to playing the four that I've missed. Especially since one of them is a Working Designs release!

And then there's Begger Prince. I've actually played some of it, but it was at a time that my attention was really divided. I really want to get back to it, but since it's technically a new game, I keep pushing it off in favor of others.

So, here's the poll. All you need to do is vote for the game that you think I should play next.

View Poll: What Video Game Should Neil Play Next?

(And yes I voted, because I wanted to see the results. I didn't realize that I didn't have to do that. Oh well...)

Someone pulled a sneaky on Wiki

Mon, 12 May 2008 00:21:41 GMT

Every now and then, I do a Wiki search for ol' Das, just to see if anyone has sneaked her into an article. Apparently, someone snuck a quick mention into Wikipedia's Superhero article. Okay, I didn't do it. I swear!

"However, with people adding their own definitions of superhero to the mix, Superhero may mean a specific type of superpowered hero, such as in the webcomic Dasien."
~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superhero

The full context of the statement, I think, is that a superhero in the Dasien universe means that you actually have super powers, as opposed to the DC universe, where a powerless hero like Batman fits the definition. Again, I think that's what it means. Otherwise, I think one of my fans apparently thought they could sneak a little Dasien reference into Wikipedia, which is fine. I won't throw a fit, though, if someone deletes it.

That reminds me. I should take advantage of this and update, but I'm so backed up with work. I have to finish some crossover stuff first, and then you'll see some new Dasien.

Sorry 'bout that.

Superman in Metal

Fri, 09 May 2008 08:00:03 GMT

Call me dorky, but I've always kind of thought that of all of John Williams' scores, the Superman theme would be awesome if it were to be adapted into heavy metal. The theme opens with that swelling chug, it's got a gallop that would make Steve Harris proud, it's got lots of powerful sections that would work excellently on guitar, and, best of all, it's even got several parts where you KNOW there's a cue to sing Superman's name along with the music.

Look up in the sky!
Who's that guy?
Beat up the bad guy!
SUPERMAAAAN!

...Er ...Actually, that would be the lame version, but I posted that knowing that it will be stuck in your head from now on, thus torturing my readers for years to come. Every time you hear the Superman theme, you will hear those lyrics in your head and curse my name. Yes, I am such a bastard.

Anyhoo, I went over to Youtube to see if anyone out there shared my warped revelation that the Superman theme should have a metal tune. Much to my surprise, there are actually a couple people out there who've recorded themselves playing it. None of them are particularly outstanding, but this one sort of has the right idea, I think.

...Not to sound like Strong Bad or anything, but that could have used a lot more chugga-chuggas and meedly-mees, but not bad.

Of course, the worlds of heavy metal and superheroes have crossed, and just like Mr. Reece getting chocolate in his peanut butter, the result was oh, so good! Thank you, Paul Gilbert!

Crossoverlord Page 4

Thu, 08 May 2008 22:44:53 GMT

There was a new page of Crossoverlord last Tuesday, even though I completely forgot to mention it. Guess my attention was really divided this week.

http://www.drunkduck.com/Crossoverlord/index.php?p=395217

Dead Debbie's introduction concludes this week. Next week: MINDMISTRESS! ...And then two weeks after that, DASIEN!

Wow...

Wed, 07 May 2008 04:03:33 GMT

The most amazing thing happened today.

But before I even get to that, let me backtrack a bit and tell you about my family. My sister and I were never brought up with any sort of religious values. It was completely absent. We were told that there was a God, that he loved us, and, if we're good, there's some magical place we go when we die. Now, that may sound like religion to you, but there was no practice beyond that. We never went to church. We were never taught about Jesus. We didn't even have a Bible in the house. It was basically a universalist upbringing.

Of course, it didn't take me very long to look around at all my friends and realise that there were other flavors of theism. Of course, I wanted to know why we believed one thing and other people believed another, and there was never an answer. After a while, I started asking even more interesting questions, such as the strange preference for monotheism over polytheism. Honestly, what's so implausible about the latter if we already believe the former? Again, no real answer.

So, obviously, I came to the conclusion that this belief that we had was tacked-on and completely unnecessary. And from that point on, it was kind of strange approaching the subject with my family, because it felt like I had walked away from something that everyone else seemed to value intensely, even though our brand of theism was as innocent as it was (universalism is about as secular as theism gets, next to deism).

So, today, my mother has the whole family over tonight, and we're talking over dinner. Now, my family knows that I'm an atheist, but nobody's ever really cornered me on it. ...until tonight, that is! And it wasn't at all what I expected. I expected a lecture. Since I have a tendency to speak out against believers, I expected to hear, "You shouldn't be disrespectful of people for having different beliefs.". ...but that didn't happen. Instead, my family totally came out to me. My mother, my sister, and my uncle all basically told me that they are totally agnostic.

Now, normally, I would groan at the term "agnostic", because of several run-ins I've had with certain internet agnostics. You know the types. The ones who think that it's arrogant for atheists to outright reject the alleged existence of whatever arbitrary supernatural being (in this case, a god) they think we ought not to dismiss. And yet, the same argument could be applied to other supernatural things, such as pixies, but nobody's agnostic of pixies. The notion of pixies is dismissed outright, as it should. Atheists simply argue that gods are in the same realm of unverfied claims as pixies.

Rather, the agnosticism that I encountered tonight wasn't that kind of agnosticism. Rather, it was a refreshing sense of indifference. In other words, to the subject of God's existence... eh... they could really give a damn. But there is a definite preference for people who choose to think about morality rather than fishing it out of an archaic book written by ancient sheep hearders. Better to be thoughtful than mindlessly obedient.

It was just so strange to hear this, because I never knew that unbelief was a progressive force sweeping through my family. For all I knew, they were still the same bunch of God-Lite believers that they were when I was a kid. I just assumed that I was the black sheep and they were just letting me have my little space and they politely disagreed. Absolutely not! Somehow.... somewhere... my family finally kicked away the final vestige of theism.

...of course, considering that we started out universalist, it wasn't exactly a tough shackle to shake free.

And then the conversation turned into this really funny topic about how characters from the Bible, assuming they even existed, would be in jail today. We speculated as to whether or not Jesus would be locked up, but we concluded unanimously that Moses and Abraham would definitely be in jail if they existed in today's society.

My mom even went on to state that Abraham, who is the founding figure of all three of the major religions, was clearly delusional or perhaps even eating shrooms on the day that he decided to sacrifice Issac. But thank goodness he had that second hallucination in which God told him to stop!

It was just a laugh-a-minute table conversation over dinner. It was good and therapeutic.

And best of all, the weirdness isn't there anymore.

Well, I'm gonna sign off for now. I'mma go watch TV. There's a special about the disappearance of Madalyn Murray O'Hair on Investigation Discovery starting... RIGHT NOW!

Jackie Chan is Awesome

Tue, 06 May 2008 23:27:25 GMT

James Rolfe provides yet another tribute to Jackie Chan.

By the way, if you're reading this RIGHT NOW at 6:30, tonight is the airing of the episode of Wheel Of Fortune I attended. You can't see me in the audience, though.

Holy Crap, Mrs. Crapperson! It's the Strong Bad Videro Game!

Tue, 06 May 2008 04:51:32 GMT

Riddle: What do you get when you combine the geniuses behind Sam & Max with the geniuses of Homestarrunner.com? Well, aside from a major release of every bodily fluid imaginable directly into your shorts, you'll also get Strong Bad's Cool Game or Attractive People!

Yes, so it seems that even hold-outs like me finally have an excuse to buy a Wii (other than Virtual Console, of course).

More awesomeness: http://homestarrunner.com/sbcg4ap.html

Too darn cute!

Mon, 05 May 2008 20:05:38 GMT

Wook at da kyute widdle squirrel!

This is a Thunderfoot video. According the video description, he found the baby squirrel abandoned and in the middle of a road. He rescued it, nursed it back to health, and then gave it a new home in an animal santuary.

Dasien this weekend? Maybe?

Fri, 02 May 2008 01:12:35 GMT

Working on it. Have a ton of stuff to do, but I think I can squeak one out.

Rocky Jumped A Park Bench

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:26:36 GMT

There are only a handful of people on the entire internet I'd actually like to meet. James Rolfe is one of them. Everyone knows him at the Angry Video Game Nerd, but when he's not taking a dump on old NES cartridges, throwing hadokens at old consoles, or harassing the Wally Bear hotline, he's actually one of the most astonishingly pleasant people I've ever seen. Even not having met him in person, I'm amazed everything I hear him interviewed or see him unscripted on the internet. He's almost bashful when confronted by his adoring fans.

It's rare that we get to see the real James in a video, but every now and then, he lets his guard down and gives us a moment where he is the one acting like a fan. Check out his recent tribute to Rocky.

New comics for EVERYBODY!!! YAY!

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:47:58 GMT

New Enerdas (from yesterday)
http://www.drunkduck.com/Energize_and_Dasien/?p=395124

And a new Crossoverlord!
http://www.drunkduck.com/Crossoverlord/?p=395216

Pat Condell: Cynicism With A Smile

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:06:00 GMT

There are a lot of great atheist YouTube channels out there, but this guy's channel is one of the best. Pat Condell is a great man whose channel you should subcribe to, because you won't regret it. Every time he updates, I squeal with delight.

Wasn't that great?! I love how he maintains a rather jovial and pleasant demeanor as he justifiably bashes George Bush and Tony Blair. Oh, those wacky British and their subtle humor! I love them so much.

Peace!

Why Atheists Always Win Debates

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:10:07 GMT

If you've ever been on YouTube and looked up science/creation or atheism/theism arguments, you may notice a pattern in the names people select for themselves. The following video speculates that perhaps the way people name themselves is a subconscious reflection of whether the person is on the side of truth and justice or has aligned himself with the forces of EEEEVIL!

Behold...

And although the video doesn't mention him, the phenomenon also applies to the heroic Thunderfoot.

EXCELSIOR!

E to the D to the Update, G

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:44:06 GMT

Another episode of Energize/Dasien on the internet, for you lucky people out there.

http://www.drunkduck.com/Energize_and_Dasien?p=394799

Drawing Female Tutorial

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:44:47 GMT

DRAWING FEMALE TUTORIAL by *StevenSanchez on deviant ART

This is actually a pretty neat tutorial in which Steve shares with us his theory for drawing women, which isn't a whole lot different from most other males. Personally, I usually draw the head first, but to each his own.

Actually, the reason I posted this has pretty much nothing to do with art. See, for years, Jen and I have been at odds over "proper" art supplies and what constitutes as the "right way" to illustrate. Jen not only teases me for pretty much using cheap paper anyone can buy at the grocery store; she lambasts me every time she sees me using a No 2 pencil and pink eraser. I don't see what the big deal is. The final product is going to be converted to digital anyway. The initial line art is essentially thrown away.

So, I boot up this video this morning, and I notice immediately that here we have a professional artist, showing us his tricks of the trade, and what does he have in his hand? A No. 2 pencil with a standard pink eraser.

Har-har, Jen! I win.

Possibly the most offensive thing I'll ever post...

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:35:54 GMT

...although I don't know WHY! Christians went to go see this movie in droves. Clearly, they were happy to watch Jesus getting beaten, so why not make a Wii game out of it? One such YouTuber asked that very question...

You know, if they actually made a Passion video game, they should give it a combo system, hidden/unlockable weapons, finishing moves, humiliation movies (i.e., an end zone dance), a time-attack mode, and an instant replay mode.

See? I told you it would be offensive.

Neil pies Ben Stein in the face!

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:51:02 GMT

OH MY GOD, NEIL! SHUT UP ALREADY ABOUT THIS STUPID MOVIE!!!

Yeah, I know. But this is actually kind of cool. Last week, the National Center for Science and Education ran a contest last week where people could respond to Ben Stein's numerous lies and exaggerations about the theory of evolution. I, of course, picked the biggest whopper I could find. Ben Stein had the termerity to claim that nothing has happened in evolutionary biology since Darwin. I, of course, was ready, willing, and able to load the biggest, creamiest pie I could find and send it sailing into Ben Stein's big fat smug face.

And guess who the NCSE decided to quote. That's-a right! IT'S-AH ME!!!

http://www.expelledexposed.com/index.php/contest/on-advancements-in-science

Unfortunately, they only used a partial quote. I think my full quote is far more pie-tastic, but this certainly gets the point across.
Now, I haven't officially been announced as one of the winners. If I do win, then I get a year's subscription to the NCSE magazine. Keep those fingers and toes crossed, everyone! (Just kidding. That doesn't actually work.)

Think the eye was designed? Too bad!

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:53:16 GMT

The NCSE is releasing a series of videos on YouTube going after the various creationist claims, and right away, they go after a big one: THE EYE. While the video is simplistic (i.e., it lacks a formal explanation that would require much more time), it demonstrates the having a lack of imagination is not an argument for intelligent design. As usual, it's just an argument from ignorance, as ALL arguments for creation are.

One thing the video doesn't point out is a prefectly sound explanation of why the eye is essentially built upside-down. Photo-sensative cells that detect the top of the image are actually at the bottom, and those that detect the bottom of the image are at the top. But in the video demonstration, you can actually see why this occurs. As the photo-sensative cells cup, the cells on the bottom point upward, and the ones at the top point downward, thus inverting the picture as it enters the eye.

Intelligent design has no explanation for this whatsoever for the eye being built this way, and thus they have to fall back on the old canard, "It was designed that way". Ah, question-begging. Gotta love it.

Why do people laugh at creationists? Only creationists don't understand why.*

*slogan lovingly borrowed from Thunderfoot.

New Enerdas!

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:36:27 GMT

Dasien appears at last, and her costume is looking extra shiny and all kinds of sexy. Let the fan service begin!

http://www.drunkduck.com/Energize_and_Dasien/index.php?p=394648

I think I'll plug Energize's newest page, too:

http://www.drunkduck.com/Energize/index.php?p=395093

Now in the last scene, Mike and Misty were just starting to snog. So what does Nepath do? He skips ahead to the following morning. D'awww... T-rated comics. Oh well.

The Crossoverlord will continue next week, with Dead Debbie.

New cartoonies for you to look at:

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:56:49 GMT

*fwumps down on the couch*

Why can't I just go forever like I did when I was a kid? I remember when two hours was a suitable night's sleep. Now if I do that, I pay for it the entire next day.

*points lazily at the computer*

New Enerdas today:
http://www.drunkduck.com/Energize_and_Dasien/index.php?p=394647

Who's that whispy-haired heroine lurking in the shadows? One thing is certain. It's not Princess Peach!

New Crossoverlord too:
http://www.drunkduck.com/Crossoverlord/index.php?p=389449

Also, don't miss our mirrors, should Drunk Duck have server trouble:
http://www.webcomicsnation.com/crossoverlord/
http://crossoverlord.comicgenesis.com/

Also, don't miss my latest blog over at www.dasiencomic.net, where I basically reveal just how much of a lecher I really am.

Dasien returning soon...

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm not going to move for several hours. I'm even too tired to fap.

The Skeptologists!

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:22:38 GMT

Awesomeness...