Sep 6th, 2008 - Friendly Fires
Friendly Fires have been releasing a steady singles/EP march over the past two years with Photobooth, On Board and Paris. With the release of their self-titled debut album, they're finally complete. A blend of electro, synth pop and even disco, yet not so The Rapture, time to Jump In The Pool.

Sep 5th, 2008 - Death Smiles X360 Confirmed
The Japanese XBox 360 continues to torment me with another major shooter confirmed for this system, and a fantastic Cave shooter at that. I once said that I'd only get a 360 if the number of Japan-only games reaches 10. Well, my list is that much closer now. See this official page. Says it will be out in early 2009.

Sep 4th, 2008 - まもるクン　は　呪われて　しまった！
Mamoru-kun wa Norowarete Shimatta! by G.Rev and Gulti is in the final phase of production and their official site has been updated. This is a 1P Naomi vertical shooter featuring cutesy characters (aren't they all now?). They have movies on their download page, including wallpapers and an instruction manual. A Dreamcast port is unlikely so let's hope Zone X or Virtualand gets it.

Sep 3rd, 2008 - Glass Candy / B/E/A/T/B/O/X
It took me more than half a year to listen to Glass Candy's third LP, B/E/A/T/B/O/X. Their previous sound was more akin to the dance-electro-punk of Crystal Castles, but they're now like Blondie drenched in Italo-disco, which I am liking very much. Listen at their myspace. Their Kraftwerk cover of Computer Love is very cool and even better live.

Sep 2nd, 2008 - The Automatic / This Is A Fix
What's that coming over the hill? Why, it's The Automatic's sophomore album. The Monster boys are back with slicker chops from Fall Out Boy producer, Butch Walker. First single Steve McQueen didn't do anything for me, but don't judge this album from that alone. There's still evidence of their debut sound in tracks like Accessories, Make The Mistakes and Sleepwalking.

Aug 31st, 2008 - Phantasy Star Online
Today, I traded with my cousin 2 x NDS stylus for 1 x Gamecube, which is a fair deal if you ask me. Together with my newly acquired Gamecube modem, I can finally take my Phantasy Star Episode I, II & III online. The official servers may be gone, but that's where private servers come in. Email me if you have the hardware and are still playing this.

Aug 29th, 2008 - 1942 Joint Strike
1942 Joint Strike is yet another remake of an old Capcom game on the PS Network. I downloaded it yesterday and found it rather bland. It's got hi-res graphics and all, but it somehow isn't as shooter-y as I want it. Granted it is sort of a compilation remake of the 1942, 1943, 1941 and 19XX games but the overall result just misses the kind of magic the originals had.

Aug 28th, 2008 - The Last Guy
The Last Guy is finally out on the PS Network! I just downloaded it and it's fun, fun, fun. The game uses GoogleEarth-like shots of cities and you guide a zombie outbreak survivor through real city streets to rescue other survivors while avoiding monsters on the prowl. Check out the trailer here and the exclusive interview with the "creators" that is so wrong on all levels.

Aug 27th, 2008 - Vampire Weekend Videos
Remember this band I was really into a couple months back? I'm still very into them and since February, there are more official videos of their singles A-Punk, Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, Mansard Roof and the one continuous shot of Oxford Comma. It's all very in line with the current book I'm inking, which is a departure from all the stuff I've done in the past.

Aug 24th, 2008 - WARNING: A Huge Battleship Is Approaching!!
Hey Everyone, there's a week left till the end of August, but I would like to caution that the bandwidth is getting close to my monthly limit. Yeah, I run a really rickety operation here. A lot of people are coming in and I thank you for your readership. But if you see the white screen of death, then just wait till September. Thanks for all your emails too. I apologize if my reply is slow.

Aug 22nd, 2008 - Humpback Oak / Pain-Stained Morning
Eightyhertz sent me a CD-R in the mail yesterday and it's Humpback Oak's debut album Pain-Stained Morning! 14 years on and this album still fucking rocks! I won't go into the details how hard it was for eigthyhertz to track down one used original CD (from Australia no less). But thank you! Circling Square for the win.

Aug 20th, 2008 - New Exhibit: Sketching Cars
An acquaintance of mine just bought a new car and invited me for a ride. It is one of those Lancer Evolutions and boy, is it fast. It's actually a lot scarier when you're the passenger and not at the wheel. Anyway, I made a new exhibit because of the experience.

Aug 19th, 2008 - Vocaloid 2: Hatsune Miku
Hatsune Miku is a Vocaloid 2 voice synthesizer program that simulates female vocals not unlike those found on anime theme songs. You can create tunes like this one from Patlabor, have her sing stuff in English but sounding Japanese and even construct instrumentation to Rockman 3! It's all very awesome. I've been wanting this for quite a while now but there is no native Mac version.

Aug 16th, 2008 - Bionic Commando Re-Armed
2 decades ago, there was a game on the 8-Bit NES called トップシークレット ヒットラーの復活 or Top Secret. It was known as Bionic Commando in the US. It had a guy with an extendable grappling arm. He swung around and shot up Nazis. It was a good game. It has been remade. It can be downloaded into the PS3. I did it. It is still very fun. It also has 2 player co-op now.

Aug 15th, 2008 - Update: New Location Added
OK, thanks to the generous folks at G & B Comics, you can now get both Tourist books from their shop in Bras Basah. You can still get it from Ani-Play as well. Thank you very much if you have purchased a copy. As for me, it's back to work on the next book. It is quite a different thing altogether.

Aug 14th, 2008 - Late Of The Pier / Fantasy Black Channel
People like to compare these blokes to the Klaxons, but they ain't the same. Late Of The Pier's long awaited debut Fantasy Black Channel is here and it is dark, drug-induced electro. That's the best way I can describe their sound. Bathroom Gurgle, The Bears Are Coming, Space And Woods, Heartbeat, Focker. Ready? Don't get scared.

Aug 13th, 2008 - Ida Maria / Fortress Round My Heart
When I first heard I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked, I didn't really care for the whole rock-vamp act that is Ida Maria. Now that her album is out, I'm starting to warm up to her. The lyrics aren't exceptional or anything, but listen to Oh My God, Stella, Queen Of The World, Keep Me Warm and Drive Away My Heart and you'll realize it IS that rock-vamp thing that is her selling point.

Aug 11th, 2008 - Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 DX
The location test for this has just ended. That means we should see these in arcades at the end of the year. WMMT3DX is an upgrade with 2 new cars, the new Evolution and WRX, and the new Nagoya course that adds more chapters to the Story Mode.

Aug 10th, 2008 - Quick Site Updates/Mods
It has come to my attention that names in the comments with URLs don't show up when they post. That has been fixed. Please refresh your browsers. If your comment doesn't show up at all, it's just the spaam filter and a time delay. Also, I have parsed out the browse page for TRT. It looks like an album tracklist now and should provide quicker access to pages.

Aug 9th, 2008 - The Resident Tourist (Part 3)
This was supposed to come out at the end of May, but delays, accidents and whatnot slowed the inking process down. Or maybe I'm just losing my touch. I dunno. I'm gonna take a very long nap now. I hope there are still people around when I wake up. Oh and HAPPY NATIONAL DAY, SINGAPORE. This one's for you. Time unlocked at noon, Singapore time. Apologies if the server crashes.

Aug 8th, 2008 - Guitar Freaks/Drum Mania V5 Is Out!
The 5th installment of Konami's guitar and drum Bemani game (in the V series) is out in Virtualand outlets. I assume Zone X will follow suit soon. With E-Amusement online connectivity as standard and 40 new songs, making a grand total of over 500 songs, and a new Grand Prix mode, it's time to Rock To Infinity! Or till you run out of money.