March 31st, 2008 - The Raconteurs / Consolers Of The Lonely
Jack White's so called side-project superband has released their second album rather suddenly with no promo and it ROCKS. If you liked Steady, As She Goes, Broken Boy Soldier and Level, you'll be pleased to hear a more focused effort on Consolers. It's got more 70s hard rock stylings and even sounds Led Zeppelin III-esque at times. Listen to the first single.

March 30th, 2008 - Mugen Kairou (Echochrome)
I downloaded the demo to Mugen Kairou last night and am very pleased with what I see. It's a puzzle game where you manipulate the camera perspective to allow a mannequin to walk to the goal. Move the screen so that a hole is blocked from view to pass over it. Move it so that two floating paths are joined. Hard to describe without seeing it in action. Here's a more detailed explanation.

March 29th, 2008 - GTA IV In-game Music Downloads?
We all know Grand Theft Auto 4 comes out in exactly a month. I'll probably buy it at launch and only have time to play it in 2009. Whatever. But here's a curious news bit. Rockstar has tied up with Amazon to allow music tracks to be purchased through some GTA section of Amazon within the game online so you can grow your playlist. Curious (in a bad way), right?!

March 27th, 2008 - SFIII Third Strike Guide Updated
Remember that site a few months back that showed you how to properly play Street Fighter III Third Strike? Well, it's been updated recently and features some more techniques and a new Makoto guide. It's still a long way from being complete, but I am hopeful that it will someday.

March 25th, 2008 - Electrico / Everybody's Here
Released last week, do check out Electrico's new tune Everybody's Here in support of Audible Hearts, Singapore's online peer support network for those depressed teens out there. It is currently only available as a download.

March 24th, 2008 - Portal 2D
Here's another flash game that's been out for a while. It's the 2D version of Valve's Portal that was part of Half Life 2: The Orange Box (which I'm still deciding whether to invest the time in or not). Amazingly, the developers have managed to translate the 3D version into this 2D puzzler. How far can you go?

March 23rd, 2008 - Madonna / 4 Minutes
This is the video for Madonna's new single 4 Minutes from her upcoming final studio album with Warner out April 29th. Although this track is reeking of slick production chops from the ubiquitous Timbaland, feature Justin Timberlake on duet vocals, and screams of money, it is what pop is all about. And this track is rather...hot.

March 21st, 2008 - The House Of The Dead 2 & 3 Return
Yeah, this compilation is out and I've been playing it to death for the last 24 hours. Part 2 is still fun and HARD after all these years. Looks like they kept the Original mode from the Dreamcast version where you can find power up items. Part 3 is a welcome addition since I didn't have a XBox. Now where is an arcade port of Part 1? Or Part 4 while we're at it?

March 20th, 2008 - Talking Cock The Movie
I caught Colin's first film with Joyce last night and we enjoyed it, despite what everybody tells us. Maybe we saw a director's cut??? Heh. If you are interested (and I'm sure you are), it's currently showing at Sinema Old School for $5 which was MUCH more worth it than the Ice Caramel Macchiato I had after that. Eh, Colin. Why you tell Joyce don't watch har? Good what!

March 19th, 2008 - Mario Kart Wii Trailer
With Mario Kart Wii coming out in slightly more than a month's time, take a look at this quite complete trailer showing all the tracks and modes. This is finally the version we've been waiting for since Double Dash for the Gamecube didn't really capture the essense of Mario Kart. I'm skeptical about the wheel attachment, but I'm glad GC controllers are allowed.

March 18th, 2008 - Street Fighter: The Later Years
Jit sent me an email about these Street Fighter live action clips today. I stopped following them last year, but the final installment went up a few weeks ago. It takes about 40 minutes of skiving to watch them all.

March 16th, 2008 - Phantasy Star "Offline"
Yah, I'm a sad sack. I'm starting to play an old game that has been sitting in my "to-play" pile and, as such, have to make do with missing out on the "Online" part of Phantasy Star Online since the servers have long been shut down. If I want to clear through all the other 24 unopened games in my stack, I can forget about putting out new books for a while. There is never enough time.

March 15th, 2008 - Superplays
Added SuperPlay! to the Links section. This database houses several avi movie files on complete run throughs of games, predominantly arcade shooters. All of these are 1CC runs, with some having 1LC (1 life clear). Watch a few to put you into place. Warning: Files are normally bigger than 100+ MB.

March 13th, 2008 - Segagaga Domain
Added Segagaga Domain to the Links section. This is a great site for those of us who still believe Sega makes fantastic consoles that somehow always go bust. The site features almost every game released on every Sega system from the Master System to the Dreamcast. Good for those of you who want to compare how complete your collection is. (Runs off to game room).

March 12th, 2008 - MGMT / Time To Pretend
Brooklyn based MGMT have been around for several years now, pushing out their psychedlic music with an EP and last year's Oracular Spectacular LP. While I'm not exactly into their style, Time To Pretend is one track that I like more for the lyrics than the song. There just hasn't been too many songs singing about the glorious rock 'n roll lifestyle these days. Live fast, die young!

March 10th, 2008 - The Teenagers / Love No Video
Update: Finally, the video for The Teenagers' Love No is up.

March 10th, 2008 - Autechre / Quaristice
The guys who brought us Second Bad Vibel, Gantz Graf and Chatter are back with their ninth album, Quaristice. After doing IDM for this long, it still amazes me how much more unexplored space is left in this genre. Perhaps it's due to the deconstruction of what constitutes a song and its reconstruction that creates this space. From the new album, Altibzz, IO and Perlence.

March 9th, 2008 - Ketsui Console Version
It seems that Cave is serious about their console release of Ketsui, arguably the best/hardest Cave shooter, with the recent announcement of a XBox 360 version. Yah. XBox 360! I really don't feel like getting another console just for one game. Although a new X360 + game + arcade stick is still cheaper than a used Ketsui PC board (US$790, last I checked).

March 7th, 2008 - Otomedius
Konami's side scrolling cute-em up (shooter with cute characters), Otomedius, is here! It features human personifications of classic Konami ships from Gradius and Salamander. The game is similar to Parodius. There is a touch screen that allows selection and targeting enemy bullets while in D-Boost mode. Very cool. The machines at Star Factory don't have an e-Amusement connection yet.

March 6th, 2008 - Line Rider
The internet create-a-ride game Line Rider is shaping up quite nicely into a retail version as seen in the video on their main page. I wonder if it'll have those screams of joy in the final version? It's really just a prettier version of Line Rider with a graphical overlay and music(?). But there could be extra features.

March 5th, 2008 - Facebook In Talks To Offer Music Service
Looks like the soul sucking system by Satan (aka Facebook) is in talks with the major music labels to offer some sort of integrated music download service. All DRM free of course. But will they be third party tracks on private user accounts? Or on artist pages like how MySpace has been streaming theirs. We shall see where this goes...

March 4th, 2008 - The Cribs / I'm A Realist Video
Oh, I didn't notice that The Cribs have this video for their next single, I'm A Realist. It's not as punchy as their other songs like Men's Needs, Moving Pictures, Mirror Kisses, and What About Me, but it's still good. How come none of these bands I like ever get played on local radio, har? Don't answer that.

March 3rd, 2008 - The Teenagers
Have you heard the DeLorean Remix of Love No by The Teenagers? They used it for their US tour Youtube footage. It's a little drowned by the handycam noises, but it sounds awesome. Oh, in case you don't know The Teenagers, they're the French trio that did Homecoming (you know, the chorus that goes "I fucked my American cunt") and Starlett Johansson. Kick ass band.

March 2nd, 2008 - Beatmania IIDX 14: Gold CS
So I guess you've figured that I like this game. For the uninitiated, Wikipedia has this stub on Beatmania IIDX. I'm not very good or anything. I can't even clear the songs for the Bemani Top Ranker online tournament. But I do enjoy playing the mostly electronica tunes that range from this, to this, to this, to this and this! The PS2 version has been announced for May 29th. We can fly!

March 1st, 2008 - Initial D Extreme Stage
What a way to start a month. Look here. There is ONLINE. Those jokers at Sega better not be messing around.