Go Speed Racer, Go!

The Inquirer has an article up claiming that the PS3's specs have taken yet another hit. They're not exactly the most reliable source of news, so take this with a grain of salt. But if they're right, Sony's about to take yet another PR beating.

Blue Laser Blues

Saw over at Joystiq that both Sony and Toshiba are having trouble producing the diodes required to make the blue lasers required for both HD DVD and Blu-Ray. It looks like the console wars will be well on their way to being decided by the time production is back on track at the beginning of 2007. How this bodes for the PS3 is yet to be seen, but Sony has supposedly been dedicating what little supplies they can get to making sure they hit their launch target. It just goes to show the remarkable savvy of Microsoft to stay out of the HD format battle so far. They can keep prices down and avoid such shortages. And they can still have their cake and eat it too with their add-in drive, making them a solid bet if the war winds up going Toshiba's way.

Metal Gear Squalid

Gametrailers has some footage (found via Joystiq) of a new Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer. Joystiq seems rather excited by it, but I'm not sure why. Yes, it's pretty- very, very pretty. But we knew that already. Where's the gameplay? Is it going to play exactly the same as the past three iterations of the series? If that's the case, it just goes to prove Nintendo's point: there's nothing new in gameplay, and all developers seem to know how to do is make us play the same games over and over- just with nicer graphics. Come on Kojima, prove me wrong.

Zelda Wall Hanging

This is the wall hanging I commissioned from my mother. It's based on this Wind Waker promotional desktop wallpaper with some modifications for material and sanity (Link's shield is obviously more detailed in the drawn version.) I was inspired both by the "best gaming tattoo ever" and previous quilts that my mom made.

The quilt took several months to finish and uses several different techniques. On my end the hardest part of the process was creating a black and white image with simplified design elements. After that I created several different colour schemes (some with the intention of making the quilt "easier" to make) and eventually settled on one that was similar to the original design. The black and white outline was then transferred to an overhead transparency and enlarged. From there the pieces were made while I played the waiting game and received tantalizing email updates somewhat akin to a reverse ransom demand as I saw bits and pieces of Link come together rather than fall apart. I'd love to go into more detail about the construction of the piece, but I was only present for the final bits so I'm not entirely certain on the process.

There are five more "stained glass" desktop images on the Wind Waker website (most of them are dead links, pardon the pun, but the images can be found elsewhere on the web) but I have no plans of asking my mom to finish up the set. I think I might find myself having to pay, one way or the other, if I did that. For now I am content to have the one quilt hanging in my livingroom.

Click the right-hand image for a detail shot of Link.

What the Hell Nintendo?

You've done it again. "Wii Prove our Promise" and reveal nothing but a pair of new games. Sure there are a hell of a lot of playable games in Leipzig, but it kind of seems like you might be running short on time. We want a release date.

We (and by that I really mean you, Nintendo) need a release date. We need it to place pre-orders and to start setting aside money that might otherwise go towards other things (games on other platforms etc.) Without a release date many retailers won't take money down, or at least won't be very honest about it. Don't do it for me, do it for yourselves and keep the buzz going.

September 14th is your next and possibly last chance. Don't screw it up.