link love 122309

Hurray for game studio holiday breaks! Looking forward to spending the next week catching up on video games, starting a new restoration project, and uh, writing up design docs for work.

A Video Game Timeline (1967-Present)

Last month, Simon Parkin interviewed competitive Street Fighter legend Daigo Umehara. Go read it at Eurogamer.

Jeri Ellsworth is designing and building her own pinball machine. Here’s her progress so far: day 3, day 4, and plastic bending in a toaster oven.

Jason Scott is taking pre-orders for his text adventure documentary GET LAMP. 25% off until the end of December.

McBain

I was going to write a review of the 1991 James Glickenhaus (director of The Exterminator, The Protector, and a handful of other similar-league releases) anti-drug revenge movie McBain, but honestly, you’ll learn everything you need to know about McBain simply by watching this brief/horrible/awesome scene from the film:

As far as I can tell, it’s been out of print for years and never officially made it to DVD in the United States. I ended up purchasing a Hong Kong 4:3 release of nebulous legality, which honestly makes the whole McBain viewing experience that much more special.

McBain trivia! The movie’s release prevented the Simpsons writers from referring to their own character of the name same (star of a fictional McBain series of films), so they invented a real name for the character, Rainier Wolfcastle, to use instead.

link love 090309

How is it only September and I’m already facing game overload? Thank God half the holiday releases were delayed.

Composer Frank Klepacki has written a handful of Making Of articles for his Facebook page over the last month: Command & Conquer, C&C Tiberian Sun, and his solo albums Morphscape and Rocktronic.

A fan art tribute to the Sega Dreamcast. I want to host a Dreamcast anniversary party next weekend.

I don’t know if I feel this way because I’m been playing too much Batman, but surely, this is the makings of a Super Villain.

Lastly, check out these 1980s film poster paintings from Ghana. [via Boing Boing]

Three frames.

Gif log threeframes.net is awesome and hypnotic, and I couldn’t resist building a few of my own.

S. Darko review.

Say you’re in art school. There’s this guy and his friends, all untalented hacks, but they like to slap each other’s backs and exclaim how brilliant and creative they all are.

In general, quality abstract art takes a heck of a lot of ability to pull off well. A strong foundation in the basics, in lighting, perspective, color theory, anatomy — the better you know the rules, the more thoroughly (and skillfully) you can break them.

Now this guy, he doesn’t care about all that. He just knows that it looks a hell of a lot easier than realism. And besides, he might not be able to paint worth a damn, but he’s a brilliant creative guy, see, and abstract art would be just the way to show off his True Creative Burning Spirit without slogging through all the dirty work of actually learning how to handle a brush.

He sets out to build his masterpiece. He googles a bit, looks over a handful of Jackson Pollock pieces, eyeing the seemingly random cords and splatters of poured paint and color, the fame and notoriety of the artist, and says, I can do this.

And so he lays down his canvas, spread out across the floor, and begins. Instead of brushes and other tools, techniques for each that demand to be learned and mastered, he just flings colors wholesale from buckets, creating clashing and clumsy puddles that pool and seep into each other haphazardly.

And instead of paint, he uses shit.

That’s S. Darko.

Flynn’s and Space Paranoids. Compare!

1982 TRON Flynn’s:

2009 Comic-Con Flynn’s:

1982 TRON Space Paranoids cabinet:

A closeup of the above shot… In this original version, Space Paranoids is played entirely with buttons (looks like three for movement, and one to fire), ala classic games such as Asteroids.

2009 Comic-Con Space Paranoids cabinet:


In the new version, Space Paranoids is played with a flight stick (looks like the Gomez design) and a trackball. Were this a production cabinet, the stick and ball would most likely be positioned equidistant from the edges of the control panel, with the trackball on the left.

1982 TRON Space Paranoids gameplay:

2009 Comic-Con Space Paranoids gameplay:


Not quite a 599,000 point game, but this gives you the basics…

[Movie shots captured from the TRON 20th Anniversary DVD, Comic-Con images and video courtesy of Tron-Sector user Daddyo.]

Flynn’s Arcade

Update: Good Lord almighty.

[via AICN]

He’s not any kind of program, Sark. He’s a User.

Via Comic-Con: Flynn’s Arcade, home of TRON, and Flynn Lives.

Here’s a Space Paranoids cabinet as shown on the Flynn’s page. I’m guessing it’s not a prop (awkward controls and positioning, 1990s cabinet design, etc), and was ’shopped up completely for the web marketing campaign, but still… neat!

If anyone has a lead on the Flynn’s tokens they’ve been sending out to the press, let me know!

Seriously, I’m ready to unfold the chair and start camping out right now.

link love 06-12-09

Looking forward to a weekend of beer, tools, sandpaper, and paint. Oh, and a date with my wife.

TILT: The Battle to Save Pinball, the fascinating story behind Pinball 2000, is now available on both iTunes and Netflix. You can buy the dvd, too.

The Making Of: Asteroids. Keep doing these stories, Edge! [via Arcade Heroes]

Scribblenauts: How a Nobody Game Became the Talk of This Year’s E3.

And finally, a Harvard psychiatrist explains Zombie Neurobiology.

Las Vegas classic movie screenings

Here’s the combined schedule of upcoming retro screenings at Tropicana Cinemas and Aliante Station. Big thanks to Mr. Kindred for compiling the list, I’ll update these as more dates become available.

June
Monday, June 8 – Singin’ In The Rain – Aliante 6:30 PM ($5)
Wednesday, June 10 – The Birds – Trop 7:30 PM ($8)
Monday, June 15 – Rebel Without A Cause – Aliante 6:30 PM ($5)
Wednesday, June 17 – Wet Hot American Summer – Trop 7:30 PM ($8)
Monday, June 22 – Breakfast At Tiffany’s – Aliante 6:30 PM ($5)
Wednesday, June 24 – Jurassic Park – Trop 7:30 PM ($8)
Monday, June 29 – Some Like It Hot – Aliante 6:30 PM ($5)

July
Wednesday, July 1 – Breakfast At Tiffany’s – Trop 7:30 PM ($8)
Monday, July 6 – Mary Poppins – Aliante 6:30 PM ($5)
Wednesday, July 8 – Top Gun – Trop 7:30 PM ($8)
Monday, July 13 – Casablanca – Aliante 6:30 PM ($5)
Wednesday, July 15 – Grease – Trop 7:30 PM ($8)
Wednesday, July 22 – Temple of Doom – Trop 7:30 PM ($8)
Wednesday, July 29 – 2001 – Trop 7:30 PM ($8)

August
Wednesday, August 5 – Pink Floyd: The Wall – Trop 7:30 PM ($8)
Wednesday, August 12 – Willy Wonka – Trop 7:30 PM ($8)
Wednesday, August 19 – Blazing Saddles – Trop 7:30 PM ($8)
Wednesday, August 26 – Enter the Dragon – Trop 7:30 PM ($8)

September
Wednesday, September 2 – The Fifth Element – Trop 7:30 PM ($8)
Wednesday, September 9 – Pulp Fiction – Trop 7:30 PM ($8)
Wednesday, September 16 – Reservoir Dogs – Trop 7:30 PM ($8)
Wednesday, September 23 – Back To The Future – Trop 7:30 PM ($8)
Wednesday, September 30 – Jaws – Trop 7:30 PM ($8)

October
Wednesday, October 7 – The Exorcist – Trop 7:30 PM ($8)
Wednesday, October 14 – Muppet Movie – Trop 7:30 PM ($8)
Wednesday, October 21 – Interview with a Vampire – Trop 7:30 PM ($8)

There’s a lot here, go see an old movie.