Author Archives: TheUser

The Aquabats!

aquabats

Do you see that photo up there? That’s me with the Aquabats, the most fun and awesome band ever (obviously)! They were at Comic-Con, and gem snapped this photo of me with them while they were autographing.

Aquabats Poster

This is the poster they signed for me. Sadly, it mentions a show that I didn’t attend; I was tempted, but it seemed better to spend my Comic-Con time actually at Comic-Con. I usually catch there Christmas show in LA anyways because they include past band members.
The MC Bat Commander, lead singer, asked if I wanted it addressed to me as he autographed it, and I told him I’d like it signed to “Peter and gem.” Not only did he do that, but he also started singing a little song. “Peter and gem, together again!”
gem got something signed as well, but I’ll talk about that in a later post.
Besides the poster, we also bought a pack that came with Aquabats boxer-briefs and a sweet, light-blue t-shirt featuring the Aquabats “A” symbol in the center. Later we were walking in downtown at night, and I saw some clothing on the ground. I wouldn’t normally pick up something like that, but something made me wonder if it was Aquabats merchandise. I kicked it with my t-shirt, and it was! We had found a t-shirt for The Aquabats! Super Show!

Aquabats Cosplay

For those who don’t know, the Aquabats have a mythos that they’re superheroes from Aquabania. Over the course of their albums (and now TV show), they’ve accumulated enemies. One of them, from the album called The Aquabats vs. the Floating Eye of Death, is (as expected) the Floating Eye of Death! This was some pretty sweet cosplay.

I attended their panel on their TV show, The Aquabats! Super Show! Unfortunately, I wasn’t sitting near the front, so the video isn’t great. On top of that, they showed a lot of clips that I wasn’t allowed to record, so I had to edit them out. Even so, I’m glad I recorded it.
One of the things they showed was a Mega 64 video that was given to them to put in the show as a fake commercial. Unfortunately, the Hub, their TV channel, didn’t allow it. It was a commercial for a kit to turn a garage into an adventure play set for kids, built around the idea of a child pressing the garage door button and then rushing to get under it before it closed like Indiana Jones. It was pretty funny, but we couldn’t record it.
I think the most interesting part of the panel was finding out that one of the adults in attendance wrote a letter to the Aquabats years ago as a child suggesting a particular hand motion to do during one of the songs, Martian Girl. After reading the letter, the Aquabats have used that hand motion every time they played the song.

Aquabats Table!

The Broken Yoke, a restaurant in downtown San Diego specializing in eggs, was redone to be a restaurant based on The Hub. Our table featured the Aquabats!

Menu

There was a section on the menu called “The MC Bat Commander Breakfast.” Of course, I had to order from it; I had Betty’s Southern Biscuits and Gravy.

Gloopy Catsup

As part of Mega 64’s collaboration with the Aquabats, they created commercials for fake “Gloopy” products. Here’s some ketchup rebranded to look like Gloopy Catsup.

Gloopy Eyewash

Here’s one last thing to share – Gloopy Eyewash. “Pour directly into eyes.”

General Comic-Con

Chalkboard

Last weekend was Comic-Con, and I went with gem and Antonio. I had a ton of fun, and I wanted to share a few things over a series of four posts. Above, you’ll see the chalkboard that was in our hotel room. I don’t know why they’d put one in a hotel room, but it was fun. gem customized it for us!

While waiting in line for an Archer panel that filled before we could enter, we saw these two Atlantians yelling at us land–dwellers. They were pretty entertaining; if it wasn’t for them, being in that line would have been wasted time.

tokidoki hat

I bought a tokidoki x Marvel hat from the tokidoki booth featuring Captain America, one of my favorite heroes. Simone Legno, tokidoki creator and artist, was there, and he autographed the hat. He also drew Adios and the tokidoki symbol of a heart and crossbones. Adios is my favorite tokidoki character. In fact, Simone has also drawn him on my 360.

Seymoure

I wasn’t expecting Little Shop of Horrors cosplay at Comic-Con, but it’s one of my favorites so I was happy! Here’s Seymoure and the Audrey II. It was a puppet, so he could control the plant.

Behemoth was there again with a great, arcade-like booth. Although they did have Castle Crashers, they were heavily featuring their new game, Battleblock Theater. It’s a very fun platformer to which I’m looking forward very much.
I’ll have posts about gem’s toy, the Aquabats, and John Scalzi soon!

Manny Pacquiao: Pound for Pound

Manny Pacquiao: Pound for Pound for iOS | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Boxing

After boxer Manny Pacquiao was robbed of the WBO Welterweight title on June 9 by two judges who must not have been watching the Pacquiao-Bradley fight, I wanted to see Pacquiao redeemed. Because he doesn’t fight on my command, I settled for playing Manny Pacquiao: Pound for Pound on the iOS. This boxing game is presented in third-person with the camera behind Pacquiao featuring boring fight mechanics, an upgrade path that isn’t fun, and a ridiculous story.

I gave it a 2/10.

The Verge Reports on Toshiba’s Windows 8 Devices

Toshiba shows off first Windows 8 prototypes: convertibles, sliders, and tablets | The Verge
The Verge offers a nice little article on Toshiba’s new Windows 8 devices. These include a tablet that connects to a keyboard similar to the Asus Transformer as well as a tablet that slides open to reveal a keyboard. It can also slide up to look like a standard laptop.
I hope I get to beta test these.

Reaction to Nintendo’s E3 press conference

E3: Nintendo’s Press Conference and a Touch of Yesterday | Blog | Game Boyz
The bad:

  • Some ports of older titles

The good:

  • New Mario game for Wii U
  • New Mario game for 3DS
  • Wii Fit U with pedometer
  • NintendoLand amusement park game for Wii U with other Nintendo franchises as minigames
  • Moving a game (not all) from TV to gamepad
  • Zombi U, Ubisoft’s survival-horror, with real-time inventory management on gamepad while game world on TV

Jackie and Kenneth

Thanks to Jackie and Kenneth visiting, we had an eventful weekend. Friday night we went out for Korean tofu. I hadn’t had it in a few months now, so it was about time.
Delicious Ocotopus
The menu happened to list “ocotopus” as one of the possibilities. I’m not sure what an ocotopus is, but it’s now my favorite animal.
After dinner we decided to see if Mochilato was still open. It’s a mochi/gelato store. We cut through Mitsuwa, where I found this sign.
Strawberry Roll Cake
I swear, I wasn’t the only one who giggled. That looks a bit like a certain part of female anatomy, doesn’t it? Anyways, Mochilato was still open, and it was tasty. It was very packed though. The last time I had eaten there, it was a relatively new restaurant and not that popular. It’s not amazing, but it’s a fun little place.
On Saturday we went to a picnic at Corona del Mar with Jackie, Kenneth, and some of their friends. There were a couple people I knew, but no one else I knew very well.
The Return
We decided to take a break from the picnic to go out on the rocks of the jetty. gem had a bit more trouble than me, but we managed to make it to the end. My photos are here. I got to take some cool shots, which is always fun.
On Sunday, we went to Metro Pointe to watch Men in Black III. As expected, it was really fun. It had the same MIB humor and high quality as the first movie. The second movie was not as good. I saw some people complain about time travel plotholes in IMDB, and I’d like to point out that it’s Men in Black. Just enjoy the crazy humor. Will Smith’s awesome.
Afterward, we stopped by Color Me Mine to pick up our completed pieces. They wouldn’t give me the shards of the broken piece at first. Why call and let us know they’d save the pieces for us if they were going to throw them away. She eventually let us keep them though. Then we headed to Barnes & Noble where Amanda was working. We spent a few minutes catching up, which was very nice. She seems to be enjoying it there. Now I just need to find time to stop by Rich’s new store.

Chuck’s Challenge 3D Beta – Package A – Full Playthrough


After sharing a short clip of the Chuck’s Challenge 3D beta the other day, I decided to record some more. There are different packages of levels, and this is a full playthrough of the first package. Keep in mind that this is only the beta. Things are likely to change.
Despite playing Chuck’s Challenge on the iPhone, I had a great time playing CC3D. Besides being 3D of course, there were a few other changes that made it different enough to keep it fresh. If you fond memories of playing Chip’s Challenge on the PC, make sure to try out Chuck’s Challenge 3D!

Guns of Icarus Online Beta Gameplay Video


I recorded my first match in the Guns of Icarus Online beta. I don’t have the intention of writing a full preview right now, but I have a little bit to say. My opinion on the game is mixed. As a proof of concept, it’s good. We’ll just need to see how popular the game is when it retails and if the bugs are fixed.
Audio is fine, and the style of the graphics is very cool. It doesn’t look to be a AAA title in this department, and that’s okay. However, the gameplay is a little troublesome. I had a lot of trouble just running around the airship. The core concept of the game is fighting with other ships; the core of the gameplay I saw was trying not to fall off the ship, especially when it felt like I’d sometimes move through the railing.
The beta didn’t have enough people playing to have full teams. This meant that I was running back and forth between gunning and piloting. I imagine the game would be much more awesome if I was working on a coherent team. Note that I said “coherent team.” Simply being on a team that doesn’t work together isn’t enough. However, if the person piloting is actually talking to the gunners, it could be very cool. The game pitted two ships on the red team against two on the blue team, I think. It would help if I could figure out whether another ship was red or blue though!
It’s too early to know for sure how the game is going to be. I’m definitely still excited to play it more. I think the true test will be when there are enough people to have full games!

Chuck’s Challenge 3D


The beta of Chuck’s Challenge 3D was released for some Kickstarter supporters recently, and I had the chance to try it out. It’s a port of the iOS game, Chuck’s Challenge, which is itself similar to the amazing Chip’s Challenge from the Lynx and PC. The video is short because it’s just a quick look at the game. You’ll have to excuse a couple times where nothing seems to be happening; I was trying various inputs just to see how it worked.

Sonic x Vapor

Sonic x Vapor | Blog | Game Boyz
Nike has a campaign called “My Time Is Now” that uses an interactive video. As the video progresses, you can click on various soccer players to read about them. You can also sometimes find areas to click that branch the video in a new direction.
One of these branches leads to a playable Sonic game, Sonic x Vapor!