joe randel's art dump

Do you like to play video games?

Do you like to watch people play video games?

Well, if you answered “yes” to both then this show is for you. It’s called Game Center CX (or Retro Game Master) and it’s about a guy that plays video games… and you watch him. Actually, it’s a bit more in depth. It stars Shinya Arino, one part of a comedy duo in Japan, and he plays some of the best classics from the golden years of gaming. His challenge for each episode is to beat the game he’s playing in one day (sometimes it goes over for two days). He has Assisstant Directors there to help him if things get really challenging during the game play in the way of moral support or level help. He even has titles for his position at the game center. The better he does (more games he beats) the higher his rank and the better the office he gets to play in. If he does poorly and doens’t complete his challenges, he might drop down a rank have to go back to a lower standing office. This actully happend once when he failed to complete 4 games in a row (UltraMan, Final Fight, Adventure Island and ActRaiser).

One of the neatest angles of the show is that Shinya Arino has never played these games before. So you get to see, and sort of relive the experience of these games though his as a first time gamer. How cool is that? He plays game that we know and love like Contra NES, Super Mario Bros 3, Mega Man 2, Ninja Gaiden and Prince of Persia and less known or Japanese only ones like Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom, JJ & Jeff and Doraemon. There are also segments where he visits old arcades, plays old systems in his home and even interviews some game desingers.

The show has gone on for 10 seasons now and even has DVD released boxsets in Japan (and maybe in North America too). You can watch a lot of the episodes here as I’ve been doing but be warned, they are all in Japanese. But that doesn’t mean you can’t watch and understand the frustration or joy on Shinya Arino’s face and he attemps these game challenges.

Oh, here is a site with full info on the show. Check it out. I higly recomend it. ^_^

This past weekend I helped my Mom move.  That part was easy.  The driving part sucked balls.  I put just under 2000 km on my van in 3 days.  One way trip was about 6 hours.  With the van and the trailer packed to the tits, it was about a 10 hour drive from there to the new place.  Then I had to drive home.  Well… me and my brother in law really.  He came to help me, and boy am I glad.  Just having someone to divide the driving time was a great asset.

I drove to his place on Friday (2hs) and slept over.  We left at 7:30 am and drove for about 7 hours.  Pack up the van.  Slept.  Got up and packed the trailer.  Headed out at 12:30 pm and got to our destination at 10:30 pm (10 hrs).  Slept over.  Drove back home which took another 3.5 hours.

Ugh… I don’t think I want to drive for a good long while now.

So what’s the most you’ve ever driven in one day or a short span of days.

This past weekend I helped my Mom move.  That part was easy.  The driving part sucked balls.  I put just under 2000 km on my van in 3 days.  One way trip was about 6 hours.  With the van and the trailer packed to the tits, it was about a 10 hour drive from there to the new place.  Then I had to drive home.  Well… me and my brother in law really.  He came to help me, and boy am I glad.  Just having someone to divide the driving time was a great asset.

I drove to his place on Friday (2hs) and slept over.  We left at 7:30 am and drove for about 7 hours.  Pack up the van.  Slept.  Got up and packed the trailer.  Headed out at 12:30 pm and got to our destination at 10:30 pm (10 hrs).  Slept over.  Drove back home which took another 3.5 hours.

Ugh… I don’t think I want to drive for a good long while now.

So what’s the most you’ve ever driven in one day or a short span of days.

Happy Thanksgiving America… you do know that this actually happened a month ago right? ^_^

Ummm… let’s see… what can I write about today?

Oh, I know.  Have you heard about this guy?

He’s a 78 year old man in Japan and he LOVES his American made first person shooters.  Yup, you read that right…. love’s em.

Akira Kitajima first started on DOOM II when he was 65 and never looked back.  Now he even has a web site up with a list of games he’s played and the walkthroughs he’s made up for them.  That’s hardcore in my books.  I’ve been playing games since I knew what they where and I’ve NEVER written a walkthrough (and I don’t plan on it ether).  He has some 25 titles under his belt and is waiting, and wondering, if Far Cry 2 will ever make it to Japan.

Good on ya old man.  I hope I’m as hardcore as you are when I reach that age.

Funny how as we get older we’ll pick up new hobbies we might not have been interested in our younger days.  I have a friend who’s Dad took up wine tasting after he retired.  Took classes on it and now makes his own.  Crazy… I wonder what things I’ll want to try when I get on in years…

Oh, and congrats America on the largest simultaneous rick roll during your Thanksgiving day parade. ^_^

Today, I was feeling bummed and a bit depressed over the whole “studio might be going down the tubes” thing so I doodled somethings for my daughter over MSN Messenger.

I liked them so much I thought I would share them. It started with me drawing a dinosaur in reference to an old computer. My daughter saw it and asked for a princess. After that a few of those I thought the two might want to get together. My favorite is the one where the dino is wearing the crown. ^_^

When the sketch option in MSN came about I thought it was great. I used it to draw funny pictures for people. But the thing is… if the other person doesn’t draw (or have a tablet), then you don’t really get any in return. Oh well, I still have fun drawing things for people.

My sister in law actually prints them out and puts them on her cork board. That’s me… making people happy one doodle at a time. ^_^

Got the word yesterday that the studio is cutting the amount of work hours by 15%.  Why?  Because it looks like we’re going to lose another project.  Publishers aren’t paying the studio for the work we’re doing.  Why aren’t they paying?  Because they’re not getting any money from the distributors for the games they’re publishing because of the crap-tastic economy.

Joy…

So yeah, next month my pay will be 15% less then normal.  I’ve already made contacts with people that I know in close by studios.  Maybe get a tip on what they’re looking for in a folio that will help get me in the door.

Man am I depressed.

Best guess is that the studio will live until February and then it’ll be done.

I hope I’m wrong.