Endangered Gamer

yeah, I've given up on doing that ryu beadcraft thing . the lack of colors and the insane detail made me realise that i better work my way up to that level SLOWLY, and not warp to world 4-1 before i have the skillz .

via No Es Bueno

Finally, an alternative to Madden....... Imagine Rice, Unitas, Butkus, and Singletary. In their prime. On the same field. Maybe even the same team. Imagine preparing a precision squad of mercenaries—even building your own players. Imagine football action the way football is really played. Now imagine the best gridiron game coming back for more. Imagine Football Resurrected. This is All Pro Football 2K8. This summer… the legend returns .

i just got a email from Microsoft, and my new (or repaired) xbox 360 is on the way...... thank baby moses!!!!!!!!!

for anyone who's interested in doing that pearler bead stuff i was working on this weekend, here's a list of websites i used to get the sprites. PNG format works best to zoom in on the images with no (or very little) distortion, and most of the images are in that format already, so it's alot easier than using jpeg or gifs. This site has alot of fan-made sprites, and covers anime, fighting games and a huge assortment of videogame sprites. the users are a tad bit protective of their work, but i still took a shitload of images off them. dedicated not only to videogame sprites, this site has more general purpose art and design sprites, and a lot of really detailed stuff that's just nice to look at. This site is dedicated mostly to Nintendo, with a emphasis on NES and Super Nintendo stuff. the sprite sheets are HUGE, but it's mostly stuff taken directly from the roms or fan-made mods.

Just when you thought the Halo 3 beta's end would send all those people who bought Crackdown running to Gamestop to trade their copy in, Microsoft releases one, (count 'em) ONE screenie of a new vehicle. It resembles a dune buggy, and some speculation at Xbox 360 Fanboy suggests that there might be a bump in the amount of co-op players, from 2 to 4 just cause of the 4 buggies in the pic. Not sure about that, but any new content to keep the game out of the trade-in bin is welcome. now all we need is that freaking " reset the bosses " update.

I got Bust a Move, Price of Persia: Rival Swords, Sonic and the Secret Rings for the Wii , and Pokemon Pearl and Pokemon Diamond for the DS and 2 DS headsets today, in a ginormous box. I'd post some pics, but i'm too lazy. I played a bit of Sonic ( it's fast, and looks good) and Bust a Move (it's the same game, with 8 player multiplayer , can't wait to try that out....) but the jem of the bunch was Prince of Persia. Pokemon will have to wait till....i don't really know. forever, maybe. I'd go as far as to say it's the Best Wii game since Twilight Princess. the classic PoP gameplay from the Xbox and PS2 versions is all there, but the addition of the wii controls make the game surprisingly fresh and exciting. yes, i said EXCITING. the game does a great job of sensing what you're doing, deciding the context of your actions, and not getting in the way of having fun. for such a complex move set that the prince has, i never had to struggle...

let's see now.... sway-walking, nice explosions, not too diffrent than Halo 2, whoa, WTF???? this is Zanzibar?? they really made the base HUGE!!!!! anyways, the guy playing the leaked footage sucks, i'd totally pwn him. ( if i had a xbox 360......dammit)

here's the source image. I modified the few pieces near where his sword would be so that you can tell it's actually a sword, and added 2 purple pegs for the hilt. other than that, it's fairly decent. Note to self: make sure the pegboard is big enough for the piece you're trying to make. I had to get creative when i realized that the Ryu's foot wouldn't fit on the pegboard i had, so i had to Magyver a solution and iron the foot on later.

I finally took the plunge this weekend, and dove headlong into making Pearler Bead NES characters, after stealing the idea from this Flickr photoset. I've been wanting to do this for a loooong time, and Saturday i found myself in a hobby store, wandering around while my wife shopped for yarn. Inspiration grabbed me by the nuts, and i walked out with 2 sets of Pearler beads. after getting a sprite of Mario to try it out, i sat down to get busy. I bought bucket and a smaller package with the clear pegboard to make it a bit easier to copy stuff i print out. the ghetto bucket, with 6000 pieces the template i used for mario the finished mario piece. I'm going to try and make some more complicated characters once i get used to the process. that flickr photoset has great examples, but i really do want to make original stuff. we'll see how long it takes to get bored.

I started playing Portrait of Ruin a few weeks ago, but in small chunks. The game itself is pretty good, with a good amount of exploration and some evil bosses. so far, I'm about 5 hours in, and was getting my ass handed to me by Death. for some reason, i kept getting beat, and in frustration, my friend Gil ended up passing the bastard for me. One boss battle later, (the two creepy sisters) the castle gets destroyed, and THE GAME ENDS. just like that, the Game Over screen comes up and BOOM you're back to the main menu. What the Hell????? since when does a game end with such a lack of fanfare or even acknowledgment???? Never in my life have i played a game with such an abrupt ending. i was shocked and pissed. I called gil up and his explanation was that i got the shitty ending (o rly?) because i only found blah blah percentage of the weapons and i need to find some secret to fight another boss. FUCK THAT. even with that other shit, the game was only 6 hours long??...

I'm posting the results of the last poll early, because the asshats at Bravenet have been sending popups at this site ever since i added their shitty poll HTML code to the sidebar. fuck them, i'm going to find a new poll site, but for now, it's gone....

the official pot smoker's holiday.

a bunch of contractors in Iraq decided to get down, death star style.

this might be the most insane woman i've heard in quite a while. when you thought it can't possibly get worse, it does. possibly nsfw.

Even though my xbox is dead, i'm still following relevant news, and this Destructoid post revealed a super-talented artist and his blog full of 360 dashboard-worthy images in 1920x1080 glory. Seriously, some of these images are fucking awesome, and as soon as i get my 'box back, they're going up, Halo 3 theme be dammed.

I love nights like this. for the first time since 1991, a Sox pitcher threw a no-hitter in chicago . Mark Buehrle gave up just one walk to the northside pariah, Sammy Sosa. ( he picked him off a few moments later) . 2 Homeruns by Thome and a grand slam by Dye sealed the deal. After coming off a dismal season last year, he's back up to speed, and hopefully the Sox can make another run for the championship. and if it seems too early to talk October, you must be used to losing. by the way.....when was the last Cub no hitter???? 1972

seriously, the single best fan made film i have ever seen. don't forget to watch ALL the credits.