The Hotdog Laserhouse

When the bombs drop, I’ll be ready.

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:42:36 -0600

When the bombs drop, I’ll be ready.

are you a youtube partner yet

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 23:09:00 -0600

I am an old-fashioned Youtube partner, meaning I am partnered with Youtube directly. Youtube is very strict and does not pay terribly well.Youtube has only allowed me to monetize roughly four of my videos and rejected the rest on the grounds that I do can not go through the right legal channels to have permission to monetize that content. Since setting up the direct Youtube partnership sometime late last year, I have made a whopping $0.68.

I have been scouted by five or six Youtube Partnership programs now, notably Fullscreen. Rather than go with them I was hoping to join The Game Station, because they sound pretty cool, but after an initial email exchange TGS seemingly does not want to talk to me, so I am considering going with Fullscreen instead. Fullscreen was “the hotness” before TGS came along anyway, so settling for the #2 partner probably isn’t the end of the world.

I have been too busy to really deal with that at the moment, though, as I have been too busy making games. Once I finish in the next week or two, I plan on making my plea one last time to The Game Station just to try and get literally anything out of them (even if it’s a “no”) and then replying to the Fullscreen scouting email I got a month or two ago.

My cousin and I partnered with Zoomin.tv for our Let’s Play channel and are apparently making slightly nicer money from that - enough to where Youtube might be paying a meager amount out to us at the end of this month (which we have decided should probably go to paying for web hosting).

Taking a short break from game creating to browse VGmusic.com...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 14:44:00 -0600

Taking a short break from game creating to browse VGmusic.com and see if anyone posted anything from Sonic Lost World that I could play around with in FL Studio. Instead, found this MIDI, and ran it through my sound fonts and effects. Took about 10 minutes.

The MIDI itself seems a bit simple, but Mario music generally is, right? I dig the main melody, at any rate. But this probably won’t go up on Tindeck.

How do you even

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 08:23:00 -0600

Use web.

What do you think of MLP or the brony fanbase?

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 15:42:00 -0600

They’re large enough that making sweeping generalizations is probably a bad idea. Just like I am a Sonic fan who is (hopefully!) not one of the weirdos, I know some people who still watch and enjoy MLP and are not greasy slimeballs with Twilight Sparkle fleshlights.

There are bad eggs in every fandom - how many bad eggs there are is proportionate to how large the fanbase is. It’s simple math: if 10% of every fandom is made up of weirdos, and you have a million fans, then that’s 100,000 weirdos. Which sounds like a lot! And kind of is!

But it also can’t be helped. I’ve been on the internet a long time, and I think I’ve sort of reached the status of that crusty old sea captain who’s seen it all - there’s no shortage of perverts drawing Mega Man lolicon, or Princess Peach being erotically devoured by a Piranha Plant, or anything else. Heck, there’s a whole website who’s motto is simply, “If it exists, then there is porn of it.”

There are just… a lot of Bronies. And all you get by saying “All Bronies are pedophiles” is an argument with somebody you’ve just offended.

I have seen maybe three or four episodes of Friendship is Magic way back when it was just a bunch of my friends telling me how it was a legitimately enjoyable cartoon. The term “Brony” hadn’t even been coined yet. It was enjoyable enough, and having friends who have tried to break in to the “cartoon industry”, I can see why some people would be so enamored with it. Maybe not quite to the obsessive levels we’ve seen, but again, 10% of bad eggs and all that.

What's the most amount of bullshit you have had to go through or put up with that wasn't on or involves the internet or computers? To me, majority of my problems are computer related...

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 12:10:00 -0600

The car that was totaled in an accident last year had $5000 worth of work put in to it and it was still busted. Speedometer didn’t work most of the time, it had serious electrical problems (turning on certain dashboard functions would trip the temperature sensor). My Mom drove that car for six years, and at least four of those years were with it having major problems. Every time we took it to a mechanic, it would either come back not fixed at all or something else would break. It was like plugging a leak in a dam with your finger - it would just reveal a problem somewhere else.

Even though our new car has its share of quirks it seems like it might be holding together a little bit better. Time will tell.

What do you think of Sonic Lost World's level design in comparison to other Sonic games? I personally dislike it because from what I've seen, the level design reminds me of a Crash Bandicoot game- fun to play but rather bland and generic, and while Sonic X- treme used clever designs with its use of gravity, Lost World feels like a normal game where anti gravity feels like a gimmick and totally unnecesary.

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 12:03:00 -0600

Nothing we saw from Chris Senn’s later PC builds of Sonic X-treme suggested anything about anti-gravity, it just looked like a regular ol’ 3D platformer with ugly, blocky level design and the same kind of pre-scripted loop sequences we got in Sonic Adventure.

I don’t think Crash Bandicoot had bland or generic level design at all. It had strong themeing - sort of like a Mario game, where you have certain world types and within those world types contain variations on base tropes like auto-scrolling, swimming, castle, etc. The PS1 Crash Bandicoot games were great - comparing Lost World to them makes Crash look bad.

We haven’t been given a ton to go on, though. But what we have seen looks EXTREMELY basic. Almost like, “Baby’s First Sonic” basic, going by Windy Hill and the first act of Desert Ruins. Lots and lots and lots of very straight forward, very flat level design. Whereas most Sonic games seem to direct you down a narrow, winding linear path, Lost World seems to give you a lot more width to move around in but not a lot to actually do there because it’s all flat, empty landscape. If we got more levels like what we saw of the 3DS version I’d be a bit happier.

I’m starting to feel like I am repeating myself.

orioto: 14 walls collection - Sega inspired There is also one...

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 21:10:00 -0600

orioto:

14 walls collection - Sega inspired

There is also one wallpaper pack for the 14 Sega walls, with 1080p and 1200p versions in it. It’s less expensive as there are less walls.

buy

This post was apparently my 1000th <3 on Tumblr.

What's your favorite and least favorite class in TF2?

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 21:05:00 -0600

When I first started playing TF2, I mostly picked Soldier. Then I stopped playing Soldier almost altogether and went mostly Pyro and a little bit of Scout or Engy here and there.

Since MvM went live, I’ve been playing a lot more Heavy, but admittedly I haven’t touched TF2 in months.

Least favorite would definitely be Spy. I don’t have the patience for it and everybody always figures me out even when I’m being as innocuous as possible. Nobody on my team EVER spy checks, but EVERYBODY on the opposite team ALWAYS spy checks, apparently.

My official TF2 stats are here. I did a tiny bit of idling/achievement farming one time years and years ago so some of those numbers are a little skewed.

Will you be buying or getting by other means any of the next-gen consoles? Do you know anyone that is?

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 20:45:00 -0600

Hopefully I am not revealing too much behind the scenes process here but it was very briefly discussed that some way or another a Wii U might be in my future so I can review Sonic Lost World for TSSZ.

My response to that was something like, “If we have to.” I don’t like costing my boss money on things like that (I am in no position to help pay for it), but I can’t really squirm too much if it’s a business sort of thing. TSSZ is a job and I get paid for it. Tristan’s the one who brought it up to me, so it’s not like I’m being greedy and asking for one, either. I just have to trust in him, whatever the decision ends up being in the end. I mean, technically he has a Wii U of his own, so he could very well just say “Nope, can’t do it, costs too much” and review the game himself. I’d support his decision regardless. I’m sure we’ll cross that bridge closer to Sonic’s release. Would be nice for Bayonetta 2, as well.

With that in mind, a Playstation 4 would be nice. But also keep in mind that the deciding reason I had an Xbox 360 this generation is because I got lucky and won $1000 in Gamestop gift cards from a Gametrailers competition. But apparently the Let’s Play Youtube channel me and my cousin co-run is starting to make a little bit of money, so who knows what the future holds.

Nobody I know is getting an Xbox One. Or, at least, not that they’ve said. I plan on entering that comical “Doritos & Dew” sweepstakes when it opens because I think it would be hilarious if my unusually good luck netted me a free Xbox One. Maybe I could sell it, get a PS4, and have $100 left over for some games, eh? But that’s counting my chickens a full three months before they hatch, so if there is actually any such thing as “good luck”, I’ve probably just jinxed it.

What is your stance on Pokemon testing for medicinal research purposes?

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 20:31:00 -0600

Well, what else are they going to use? Animals don’t exist in the Pokemon world anymore. There were dogs in the first season of the anime and some promotional images, but now there’s only dog-like Pokemon.

Judging by how happy it makes Pokemon to beat the crap out of each other to please their trainers, who knows - maybe the Pokemon like medicinal research testing, right?

Ever played a Resident Evil game?

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 13:38:00 -0600

I have played at least ten minutes or more of most mainline Resident Evil games. I haven’t delved too deeply in to a lot of the spinoffs, however (Gun Survivor, Outbreak, Umbrella Chronicles).

The only ones I’ve beaten are Resident Evil 1 (DS) and Resident Evil 2 (PS1), and it’s been so long since I’ve beaten RE2 that it might as well not even count anymore. I went through RE1 as recently as August of last year, however, and got a PS1 copy of RE2 shortly afterwards with the intent of playing it. Obviously haven’t, unless you count a couple hours during a President’s Day livestream.

Besides RE1 and 2, the only other game I actually own is RE4 for the Gamecube.

Resident Evil’s pretty cool. Or at least, used to be, before somebody decided to make it incomprehensible and lame. Honestly, they probably could’ve ended it at RE4 and made Dead Rising their new “here’s our zombie game” thing. But of course, the RE brand name sells better than Dead Rising, so that couldn’t happen.

Hopefully the Resident Evil Revelations vs. Resident Evil 6 situation taught them a thing or two about what people want out of that franchise. Revelations was closer to classic Resident Evil roots with a RE4 control scheme and was, as far as I could tell, regarded as a better game for it.

Maybe they should just reboot Resident Evil. But I hate that line of thinking, though - the notion that “oh we ruined this beloved franchise, instead of doing something else we’re just going to sweep the crap under the rug”, because that’s an admission that you’re out of ideas and have completely effed up. Like filing for bankruptcy.

Though, of course, there are legitimate reasons one would have to file for bankruptcy, so there are probably legit reasons to reboot a thing, too.

aero-dude: blazehedgehog: Sorry, Blathers. I got a mortgage to...

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 16:20:00 -0600

aero-dude:

blazehedgehog:

Sorry, Blathers. I got a mortgage to pay.

HE LIKES IT

It’s okay. Verdict’s still out on whether or not I fall super deep down the rabbit hole like some of my friends have

But it’s moderately amusing to run around and shake a bunch of trees to see what dumb furniture is going to fall out of it today

Are you able to play animal crossing over wifi? Because I'm bored and there are like 7 people in the world who are playing this game and none of them have an open gate.

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 09:15:00 -0600

Weird thing is, I used to be able to get online with my DS. But for some reason, my router refuses to let it connect anymore. I thought I figured out a way to let it connect (have to specify Wireless B mode instead of B/G mixed) but that doesn’t seem to be working right now.

Sorry!

Sorry, Blathers. I got a mortgage to pay.

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 08:14:21 -0600

Sorry, Blathers. I got a mortgage to pay.

Do you still think Sumo Digital will do a kart racing cross over with Mario, despite MK8 being shown? (Presuming this is what the 'third' Sonic game is)

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 06:10:00 -0600

It’s definitely weird, but who knows - Sonic could actually be in Mario Kart 8 and they just aren’t showing him yet. Sonic’s actually been suggested for more than just Mario & Sonic crossovers for a while - I believe I remember hearing that as far back as Mario Kart 64, Miyamoto and Naka joked that it would be funny to have them showdown. It apparently very nearly happened in Double Dash for the Gamecube.

Regarding Sonic’s appearance in Smash Bros. Brawl, I guess they were in talks to get him in to that game almost from the beginning but Sega really dragged their feet on the legal stuff and he wasn’t approved until literally the last second - hence why he only appears at the very very very end of Subspace Emissary, because it was all they had time to do by the time he was approved. I’d like to think that the original concept for Subspace Emissary’s intro wasn’t Mario vs. Kirby, but Mario vs. Sonic, but that’s just me being a fanboy.

We’ve still got roughly six months before Mario Kart 8 drops, I wouldn’t count Sonic out just yet. It simply does not make sense for Sumo to have a separate kart racer with a Mario cameo.

I’d like to think that All-Stars Racing Transformed DLC is still coming, though - maybe it’ll be a cross-promotional kind of thing, where you get Mario DLC for ASRT and Sonic DLC for MK8? That would probably be just as weird, though.

Regarding certain opinions on Sonic Lost World, re: the controls

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 06:31:55 -0600

A couple people now are skeptical about what I am saying about Sonic Lost World (see: here, here, here), standing their ground on the notion that we should wait until we can play the game for ourselves to see just how it controls. Honestly? That’s smart.

But here’s the deal: I’ve played a lot of Sonic games, and I’ve seen a lot of other people play Sonic games. That also applies to 3D platformers in general. Enough to where I think I can spot what will be awkward to control.

Sonic Team has been, full stop, bad at making Sonic games control well. Even the “good” Sonic games had all kinds of funky problems when it came to platforming or turn speed or whatever. Some could argue that Sonic Team is good at ideas but poor at implementation. Even as of Sonic Generations, this is apparent (green level/city level/city level/ruins level/city level/city ruins level/city level/green level)

I also have awful flashbacks to Sonic 2006. In the months leading up to release, it was obvious the game had control problems - but at least speaking personally, I brushed it off as “Oh, well, it must just be the guy playing. I’m sure it’ll be fine once I get it in to my hands.” Having played it for myself, I now know better. Hindsight is 20/20.

Since then, I always watch gameplay videos with a vastly more skeptical eye.

I’ve also been making games for a while. To a degree, I get it: When you play your own game day in and day out for weeks, months, or even years, your perception of what constitutes good versus bad controls disappears - your brain says, “That’s good enough” and from that day forward that’s just how the controls are, forever. You are immediately used to them because you are the one who made them.

I’d also like to think it helps you perceive things better when you’re watching video of somebody else’s game - subtle oddities in control become more obvious. And in Lost World, the controls are looking both stiff and slippery in some pretty bad ways. That’s on top of some pretty awkward, blocky level design that definitely does not seem to be helping matters any.

I’m sure they’re the kind of controls that can be gotten used to, but at that point the argument is whether or not you should have to get used to controls and how long the period of adjustment lasts. That’s where things get fuzzy, and we won’t have a clearer picture until the game comes out.

But until then? This continues to be a bad first impression.

Yeah no I am having a hard time believing Sonic Lost World...

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 16:01:58 -0600

Yeah no I am having a hard time believing Sonic Lost World controls well. This dude actually seems to pick it up relatively quickly and still flings himself off one of the beautifully positioned 45 degree angle hairpin turns.

There was a gameplay demonstration on Gametrailers a few hours ago where even the Sega rep controlling the game ended up sailing right off in to the abyss at one point.

And this is probably the first level in the game.

It’s made even more ironic by the fact they REALLY REALLY REALLY seem to be trying to drive home the point that this is less frustrating than Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Generations because you’re more in control of Sonic and he doesn’t bump in to walls like he used to.

Yeah, now he just constantly falls to his death, I guess?

E3 recaps and opinions

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:54:56 -0600

So hey if you like reading my writing I’m usually tasked with summarizing and opining on the press conferences, and here’s me doing just that.

Microsoft

Sony

Nintendo

As I progress you can tell my brain started to turn a bit mushy - in the last 24 hours I’ve written something like 6000 words - that’s more than eight pages of text. Near as we get to Nintendo’s write-up, I don’t seem quite as opinionated as I was during Microsoft’s press conference (though that’s also because there wasn’t much during Nintendo’s to be fiercely opinionated about).

So yeah, enjoy, I guess?

SMASH BROS. U PREDICTIONS

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 06:04:15 -0600

<draks> sparkly anime eyes
<draks> SO CLOSE TO SMASH BROS
<Kyoma> Shut up stop jinxing it
<draks> cant stop wont stop
<BlazeHedgehog> more powerful than ever
<BlazeHedgehog> #goinape
<Kyoma> Newest Comer: Crash Bandicoot
<Kyoma> Naruto.
<Kyoma> everyone is baffled
<Kyoma> someone in the crowd hoots and hollers
<Kyoma> Everyone turns to him
<Kyoma> Don’t encourage them.
<Kyoma> Dark Pit
<draks> newcomers: dark pit. dark link. galactic mario.
<draks> bad mr frosty.
<Kyoma> lmfao
<BlazeHedgehog> The texan in the cowboy hat from that arcade arm wrestling game that came out before Punch-Out
<Kyoma> GET EM LIL BUDDY
<Kyoma> Clayfighter announce cuts in
<Kyoma> BAAAD MISTER FROSTY
<Kyoma> The footage of the game only shows sidescrolling stages
<BlazeHedgehog> Newcomer: Earthworm Jim. The version from the PC version of Toshinden, so he has a club for some reason.
<Kyoma> Sakurai explains he’s taking it in a new direction. An ever moving direction.
<Kyoma> rofl
<BlazeHedgehog> Newcomer: Queen Bee. For some reason has Waluigi voice samples.
<Kyoma> Sakurai appears and says that this game actually was going through severe budget problems
<Kyoma> But thankfully Subway has sponsored them to bail them out.
<Kyoma> Every stage covered in ads for Subway
<Kyoma> Mario has a subway outfit
<Kyoma> Trailer ends with Eat Fresh!
<Kyoma> newcomer: cheeto man
<BlazeHedgehog> Newcomer: Tarantula. Voiced by Billy Bob Thorton.
<Kyoma> the games story shall span the first 4 chapters of Tails Gets Trolled
<BlazeHedgehog> Man what if they let you fight as your Mii
<Kyoma> Sonic actually deconfirmed
<BlazeHedgehog> and he has that terrifying robot man voice
<Kyoma> NO
<Kyoma> UGH
<BlazeHedgehog> WUAGH WUAGHHHHHHH
<BlazeHedgehog> BOWOOOOOOOO
<Kyoma> He WILL NOW. THANKS.
<Kyoma> the price i pay to use Hank Hill
<BlazeHedgehog> Newcomer: Bayonetta. She wears a trench coat like Felicia in the Darkstalkers cartoon.
<Kyoma> roflmao.
<BlazeHedgehog> One of her skins is a red trench coat so everybody calls her Carmen Sandiego
<Kyoma> Doesn’t use guns either
<Kyoma> like Snake
<Kyoma> Newcomer: Dante. :|
<Kyoma> The emoticon is included
<Kyoma> Dante struts in. Everyone ignores him.
<BlazeHedgehog> Sakurai reveals he’s gotten rid of tripping but in its place the gravity now spontaneously reverses for no reason so you fall off the top of the screen and die.
<Kyoma> Newcomer: Metroid
<BlazeHedgehog> THE BABY
<Kyoma> you use
<Kyoma> the tablet
<Kyoma> to draw paths
<Kyoma> for the metroid
<BlazeHedgehog> THE BABY
<Kyoma> lmao
<Kyoma> Newcomer: Jill. It ends before elaborating on what Jill.
<BlazeHedgehog> the real tragedy is that Sakurai has decided to give Smash Bros. U a create-a-character mode and everybody in the game was made using it so they all look like slightly off brand versions of who they’re supposed to be
<BlazeHedgehog> and use stock animations
<Kyoma> rofl
<Kyoma> Newcomer: Real Dante
<Kyoma> his contract says Dante must appear in X amount of franchises
<BlazeHedgehog> actually the guy from Dante’s Inferno
<Kyoma> lmfao
<Kyoma> Sakurai shrugs
<Kyoma> holding a gigantic bag of money
<Kyoma> By popularest demand Newcomer: Johnny Gat
<Kyoma> Saints Row announced for Wii U
<BlazeHedgehog> but it’s just a port of Saint’s Row 1
<Kyoma> No worries about getting Daniel Dae Kim to voice Johnny Gat. Every single line he says is bleeped. Even his grunts when hit.
<BlazeHedgehog> They just recycle his dialog from Lost, which is all in Korean
<BlazeHedgehog> “Gat is very cultured now.”
<Kyoma> His final smash summons in Pierce. He does Luigi’s final smash while singing random vocal songs that are on Smash Bros Kerfuffles soundtrack.
<BlazeHedgehog> OKAY I HAVE TO STOP NOW BECAUSE I NEED TO FINISH THIS SONY THING