Streaming .TV shows by Ustream

Join us… or die. Well, not die… but you’ll definitely be pissing and moaning in our forums about how you missed it. This Saturday, September 6th, at our normal time of 8PMish EST. As always, you can catch us LIVE on our UStream Page and witness something more profound than a statue of Mary that cries Hefeweizen. Also, you can chat with us live and tell us what a bunch of tools we are. We always embed the video feed and chat room here at the Nerdlog, but for whatever reason UStream doesn’t allow you to log into your account from here. So unless you want to be known as lame-ass ‘ustreamer-6539×32′ you’d better go make an account and log in.

So come on out and witness the comedic event that critics are calling ‘Clearly another podcast’.

Okay, so anyone who listens to that podcast we do knows that I’ve had a few choice words for those jokers out there at ‘1 Infinite Loop‘. I mean, don’t get me wrong… Apple makes a fine damn product. I just have an issue with rendering each previous hardware revision obsolete every time you make an update*. That’s why I can’t wrap my head around people running out and buying their stuff every time they add a new bell or whistle. It’s like Mac users are just asking to be crapped on. But I digress…

Recently, my boss was making changes to our company cell phone plan and decided to get us all iPhones for work. Initially I declined this offer as I really dislike cell phones anyway. The free one I got from AT&T was doing a fine job of text messaging my wife dirty messages during lunch and that was pretty much all I needed it for. Well, through some cosmic twist of fate I ended up with a brand new iPhone in my hands. After spending a couple weeks with it I think I’m in a position to write up some thoughts about it.

As a little experiment last week we tried out recording the live ustream video during our podcast session. Most of what you heard in Joe’s final mix went down exactly like you saw it happen live… except for this little gem that got discussed while we were warming up.

Sorry about the watermaker and the periodic voice saying ‘free demo’, if this looks like something people are into maybe I’ll buy the software. In the meantime I used a demo. Hope you enjoy!

Thanks to the peeps who came out last night. The full product will be up shortly.

Hey there Shamoozal Fans! We’ve just added 14 Brand new Avatars for you to download and enjoy. They’re 150 x 150 and average 50Kb so they should conform to most Message Boards out there. So show some Shamoozal pride and slap on one of your favorite Shamoozal GFGames characters!

We’ll also be adding some new desktops and forum sigs in the coming days, so keep an eye out! Download them here.

Like I mentioned during the latest and greatest Shamoozal Radio Podcast, I was submitting a skateboard for this year’s annual 3 Feet High show. I haven’t used actual paint in over eight years, so I was a bit daunted when I was about to start working on it. However, I had a blast doing this. Hopefully after GFG#3 is finished and I get through a certain sneaking mission I’ll be able to paint some more. Head here to check out previous year’s entries. There’s a lot of really great work by some amazing artists a few of which I am happy to have worked with both in the past and present.

Above is my submission titled “Hang’n Out”. I have a few other pics over at my blog. If you live in the area, head on over to Maxwell’s in Hoboken, NJ at 7PM this Monday June 23rd and check out the show. See ya there!

Thanks to everyone who came out last night, hope you guys had a good time. The final cut of the podcast should be available sometime later this week, so hang tight if you missed it.

I’m sorry, but I’m calling bullshit on Adam Sessler, Stephen Totilo and pretty much anyone else running the Konami restrictions story. I just caught a rerun of X-play where Sessler and Totilo had a conversation regarding the limitations on reviewers imposed by Konami in regards to Metal Gear Solid 4. Combined with the “Sessler’s Soapbox” that ran earlier this week, this is the second time Sessler has made an issue out of this publicly. Now, don’t get me wrong I’m a big fan of Mr. Sessler, I have been since the Extended Play days on TechTV. I guess this is why I’m so disappointed to see him making a big stink out of something that may or may not be a big deal and spouting half-truths to make his point. I don’t really know much about Stpehen Toilo’s work so I’m not gonna rag on him too hard. I will say however that whenever I see the brand-name MTV attached to something I immediately lose any confidence in it’s authenticity.

I have the latest issue of EGM sitting here right next o my keyboard. The magazine is open to page 87 which is the beginning of the controversial ‘non-review’ that everyone is so up in arms about. Now, the backbone of this argument that is being made is that EGM is not doing a formal review of MGS4 because of the limitation Konami put on reviewers in regards to things like: cut-scene length, mandatory hard-drive installs, and other technical aspects of the game. I’m starting to wonder if anyone at X-play or MTV actually read the EGM article because I’ve now heard Sessler say (on-air) on two occasions that EGM is not going to do a formal review of the game because of these limitations. Really? Because here’s what it says in the opening paragraph of page 86’s article:

So why don’t we have a full review this issue? Simply put: We weren’t happy with the limitations Konami wanted to impose on our comments, and rather than publish compromised reviews in the interest of being first to rate the game, we’d rather wait until next issue, where we can be completely open and thorough with our thoughts. (Page 87 EGM 230 -July 2008)

Suda 51, head of the “rock band” game studio Grasshopper, is a developer after my heart. Take his often over looked Gamecube/PS2 project Killer 7 for example, a game more genius than most people seem to realize. Killer 7 is probably one of the most streamlined game experiences out there. While people bitch about the lack of being able to walk anywhere they please in a game that appears 3D, they’re missing the point. In every single 3D game the player always has moments where they’re wasting time running in circles, bumping into walls, or fighting with the camera. Killer 7 did away with all that nonsense and had the player focus on what was important which was getting from Point A to Point B and shooting the living hell out of everything. Gears of War designer Cliff Blezinsky (the artist formerly known as Cliffy B) once described Gears as a “vertical platformer.” Instead of moving from left to right, you’re moving forward and backward. I don’t really buy that train of thought when it comes to Gears, but it totally describes what Suda did with Killer 7 years before. Which leads us to No More Heroes.

Thanks to people bitching Killer 7, not to mention its rotten sales and poor reviews, Suda decided to go (mostly) the traditional route of 3D with his recent Wii title No More Heroes. Here we have what appears to be a standard 3D brawler, coupled with your average Grand Theft Auto inspired sandbox city. What we really have on our hands is something much more akin to Shadow of the Colossus in that the whole goal of the game is to hunt down and defeat 10 insanely creative bosses. Everything in between the boss battles is nothing but fluff and mostly optional.