So guess what. The mysterious author of one of my favorite blogs, Copperpott’s Cabinet of Curiosities, has been writing on-the-sly about indie games, Bill Mudron, and other things that I like. Here is his blog.
Years ago, I carefully investigated my washable menstrual pad options. I did. And here’s the problem. You need to carry a separate bag—kind of like a soft fabric ice chest—for walking around with your bloody pads until you can wash them. Seriously! So I switched to unbleached organic cotton tampons instead. The end.
As someone who actually really likes celebrity gossip—and as someone with a boyfriend who maligns her filthy, filthy habit every opportunity he can get—I was delighted when news outlets everywhere jumped all over Kanye West, pretending the VMAs were news. See? NO ONE is above loving celebrity gossip. Even the PotUS is all, "Kanye’s a jackass." // Here’s Kanye West harassing Link.
Jenn Frank ·
September 19, 2009 at 8:17 am
· Filed under Not Games
OK. I am not antagonizing the “Wee for Wii” program—most STIs are treatable, and young adults should feel responsible for their own health—but the odds of winning a free Nintendo Wii are comparatively bleak. Ouch.
Um. I just watched the ‘Antichrist’ trailer. And I can say with real certainty that I would definitely play its spin-off video game. So I googled "Eden Video Game" and OF COURSE Brandon already covered it in June. Damn you, Boyer. Anyway, I bet ‘Eden,’ along with ‘I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream’, will make a spiffy game night double-feature among the lapsed-Christian serious-religious-anxiety existentialist crowd—just a guess, I mean.
I recently moved from San Francisco back to Chicago. And while I was actually born in the Bay Area, I’ve never been so proud a Californian as I’ve been a Chicagoan.
This afternoon I took to my Xbox account, intending to update my Live profile with my new geographical status. And guess what. The Xbox will not let you enter ‘Chicago’ as your location. It’ll let you enter almost anything else—Austin, San Francisco, NYC—but as soon as you type “Chicago” (or “Fuckington, NJ”), it gives you a little pop-up warning.
At least one other Chicagoan has reported he has the same “location glitch” as I have. Et tu? Can you enter “Chicago” as your location in your Xbox profile? Let me know in the comments or in email, because I’d like to make a pie chart.
Update: Kevin Cogger—who is in the know about these sorts of thing—speculates that the trouble is with ”-cago” which, alone, is a crass word in Spanish. Spanish!
Yep. Gabe of Penny Arcade illustrated this, "Mr. Bubbles," the second in an artist series of reinterpretations of memorable BioShock characters and places. The print will be available for purchase at the BioShock 2 booth at this year’s PAX (that’s soon!). P.S. I hate the intercap in "BioShock." Why is that there?
"It’s easier on the eyes (I think at least!) than the original look of the stick and I’d like to think that psychologically, it improves my game." Unhappy with the Street Fighter IV Tournament Edition Fight Stick’s weird red, white, and grey color palette, master-of-all-trades Louise Yang improves on its design with this impressive mod. (Sorry—I’ve meant to mention this since 08/15 or so.)
Would you like to play a game? "In the next moment, a multicolored topographical map, orders being barked — and in my own mind, memories of Call of Duty graphics. And then, finally, two guys in front of a computer console, and the jarring punch line: ‘It’s not science fiction; it’s what we do every day,’ said the bold type, followed by a U.S. Air Force symbol."
Jenn Frank ·
August 2, 2009 at 4:37 am
· Filed under Ephemera
“You know, if you’re working full-time,” my boss/friend said, “Infinite Lives is probably going to turn into a toy blog! Ha, ha!”
She wasn’t very wrong. Since I started my new job (and unpacking! And assembling furniture!) last month,
I can tell you each of the Kidrobot toy releases, in order
I am daily asked, “What does it do” (to which I invariably, gaily answer, “Nothing!”)
I’ve started walking to work
I’ve started watching TV
I’ve started waking up at 9am
I’ve been playing a shit ton of Soul Calibur
which you’d never know, because my Xbox Live Gold account expired
I was booted from two Second Life groups (that I really liked!) because I haven’t logged in
I picked up Street Fighter IV and, frankly, could not understand the appeal (sorry)
I sleuthed out which PC game Bart was describing—it was Ultima VII
I reread a book
I stopped reading the Internet
Also, I realized that, if I saw it first on Apartment Therapy, I probably definitely missed it on Offworld two weeks prior
I reorganized my board games
I moved my 2600, RetroDuo, PS2, and Dreamcast to the “nightmare room”
Well, no: I’m not sure what I’m getting at, either. Last night, in my stupor, I named this very file as “tryagain.txt”—I think because it needed a rewrite—but now it feels different, like maybe I meant something else when I called it that.
Here are the un-re-written histrionics:
It isn’t that my gaming-life is dead, exactly. That isn’t what I’m trying to say. I think it’s this: games, for me, have returned to being something blissfully extracurricular. In some ways, that’s sad. It’s regrettable that I haven’t maintained much of a schedule or presence here—and I’d apologize if that weren’t such a relief. Why had I worked so hard to read industry news each day, or to play games on their launch dates? Who, exactly, am I competing with?
In short, this blog will no longer receive regular updates.
Kevin Bunch ·
August 2, 2009 at 4:14 am
· Filed under Music, Reviews
I really liked Bit.trip: Beat. The combination of retro gaming style, excellent music, underlying narrative, and addictive gameplay put it up among my favorite Wii titles. So imagine my surprise last Monday (editor’s note: Jenn sucks) when I noticed that a sequel, Bit.trip: Core had been released on WiiWare for 600 points!
As its predecessor had done for Breakout-style games, Bit.trip: Core takes the notion of classic, single-screen shooters and spins it off into a new, equally rhythmic direction. Whereas in the first game you were a paddle bouncing pellets to create musical notes, here you are an icon in the center of the screen capable of aiming and firing a beam in four directions, albeit only one at a time. Pellets will appear from all corners of the screen, and you must shoot them before they escape. It sounds deceptively simple, but the game is difficult. Ample reflexes, pattern recognition, and spatial skills –- which block will enter your range of fire first?—are important, but as with Bit.trip: Beat, to truly excel at the game you must lose yourself in it and the music. It’s a zen gaming experience.
