The Asian Power Hour

Mike forwarded me to this conference on Virtual Worlds taking place next Tuesday (April 8th) at UC Irvine from 6-8 a while back, and after getting in touch with the program coordinators, they were kind enough to waive the entrance fee for USC IMD. I will be attending, so if anyone is interested in going and wants to carpool, please let me know.

Registration is required, and can be done at the link after the jump, just put USC Interactive Media in the company/organization line.

Please join us at for an engaging program on "Virtual Worlds", where we will hear from Chief Architect of Networked Virtual Environments for the Cisco Technology Center, as well as other experts in virtual world platforms.

* Experience a 3D virtual social environment;
* Find out about Cisco's vision for virtual worlds place in emerging consumer services;
* Learn how virtual worlds are used for prototyping real world projects;
* Discover emerging opportunities in the metaverse.

A little article I stumbled upon by J. Allen Brack of Blizzard on lessons in innovation that the team learned from the World of Warcraft. It's an interesting read, I've listed the 11 main points and linked the main article below that. While most of these seem like no-brainers, the way that Brack explains them in context to his work on WoW adds an interesting bit of industry depth. Enjoy!

11 Lessons in Innovation Learned from working on the World of Warcraft

1. Rely on critics
2. Use your own product
3. Make continual improvements
4. Go back to the drawing board
5. Design for different kinds of customers
6. The importance of frequent failures
7. Move quickly, in pieces
8. Statistics bolster experience
9. Demand excellence or you'll get mediocrity
10. Create a new type of product
11. Offer employees something extra

11 Innovation lessons from the creators of World of Warcraft

Being a big fan of the Gundam: Rengou vs Zaft arcade (wonderfully ported to PS2 and PSP) series, I had known about a new Gundam mash-up game that was a combination of a multitude of characters from 00 to G Gundam (Read: God Gundam and Master Gundam? YESSSSSSS). A lot of us has speculated this was coming since there was no way that there wasn't going to be another arcade style Gundam game after the success of the previous ones, and a mash-up was the only way to go since there wasn't enough mecha in just the 00 series (The PSP port was the system best seller for a while).

I saw a few screenshots in Dengeki online a while back but didn't get a real feel for how it was going to be until my boy Chris sent me a link to the official webpage. Seems like the game just came out in March, and damn, it looks like it plays much the same, but way faster and more intense than the previous incarnations. It looks like Bandai Namco are also planning on releasing the game on PS3 (No word on a release date as it's only just hit the arcade) only at this moment, and this is the first time I've looked at my PS3 fondly and thought; "Well, aren't I lucky that you aren't region locked".

Here's a little video of what the gameplay looks like and also the official webpage. The gallery page is in English, so take a look and browse through!

Gundam vs Gundam Official Arcade Website

So I ran across this box when perusing a gamestop during my lunch break and...well, I'm pretty much speechless at this point in time. I've seen random shit like Guitar Hero guitar stands, cases, and all sorts of random stuff, but this pretty much trumps it.

My friend Andre also pointed on the For XBOX 360 tag at the top. Speculations run from the Star Power sets off the light show, to the machine being USB powered. Coming soon, Summer 2008 folks, prepare to raise high your goblets of rock.

That being said, I'm totally getting 3 of these portable seizure, I mean, AWESOME generators.

So, everyone has probably gotten the Nigerian Prince email scam before, but I was thoroughly surprised to get this email from my dear brother, Capt. John Savimbi of the brave military force of Luanda Angola. Seems like he needs my help, and it seems that Facebook is the easiest way for him to reach me in his dire time of need.

It seems curious though, I keep trying to add him as my friend, but he won't add him, I mean c'mon, we'll just be facebook friends, it's not that big of a deal. Also, it seems he lives in Los Angeles, California. Weird.

Sometimes, I wonder if the people running these emails have even given a thought to the major demographic on sites like facebook? Either way, no matter, because of my TRUSTing nature, I'm going to be rich soon!

Ever wondered what Odin Sphere would feel like as an arcade style fighter? Well, Arc System Works is porting over their arcade version (Released April 2007) of Battle Fantasia to both the PS3 (Thank you Region Free!) and XBOX 360 in Japan at the end of May.

Battle Fantasia is a 2D fighter with 3D character models, giving it a pseudo 2.5D feel. The characters have individual classes/HP/all that sort of good RPG stuff, and can level up and increase their abilities and skills as they fight through the game. The unique character design comes from the same artist that worked on Nippon Ichi's Soul Nomad and the World Eaters, and the crazy Japanese and European fantasy setting melds together pretty well.

What drew my eye to this first though? One of the characters is a rabbit. In a wizard hat. And he hits you with his ears. It's pretty much cute overload. Check out a video of the fast and furriness paced action below. It looks like June will be a good month for fighters in my book.

Battle Fantasia Official Website

Was linked this amazing flash video by Egoraptor by my bud Chris tonight. Not much to say except, well, I guess the title says it all.

Click here for METAL GEAR AWESOME
METAL GEAR AWESOME 2

Linked this delightful little wiki of videogame tropes, honestly, it is a pretty exhaustive list of tried and true trends from gaming. From the absurdly ridiculous and retro to stuff we are sick of seeing, and seeing, and seeing (random battles anyone?) throughout the ages.

Click below for a link to the wiki, thanks Chris!

Videogame Trope Wiki

OK. I am struck dumb by this video. First, people in Asia again have too much free time on their hands. Secondly, this actually sounds like an amazing, legit piece of music. Check it out.

P.S. Chris, you spend too much time on the internet, but I love you for it.