[Impaler]

Resident Evil 4

Amazing video game. The graphics, the sound, the AI, the 2 dozen or so MMGMYEE (most-memorable-gaming-moments-you'll-ever-experience), the level of polish, Gamecube retailing for 100 bucks or less, everything. Really, the only reason you shouldn't buy it is out of respect for other games. Once you play this, all the other games you own will be coated with a distasteful grime.

Nausicaa

One of Hayao Miyazaki's first movies has finally been released on DVD. Prior to this, the only way to obtain a copy was either on Laserdisc (200 bucks, i think) or on Japanese-language VHS. Even if you don't like Anime, go buy this. I guarantee you'll come to our side.

This is an open-ended thread, so if anyone else has suggestions, post them!
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QED, sort of.

[Ragnarok]

Finally Nausicaa has arrived in Dvd! It's one of my favourites of Miyazaki.
Anyway, if you liked the movie, read the manga, it's 10 times better (the movie tells the first two volumes of the manga, which spans to six, and also the end of the movie isn't present in the manga)

About recomendations, any Studio Ghibli film, like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away.

Sadly I don't own a Gamecube, but my cousin does so I might be able to play RE4 with him.
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"Ever forward, my darling wind." -Master Yuppa
Seigetsu

[Diruo]

Nausicaa is my favourite Miyazaki movie, I think. Though it varies. Maybe it's just because Nausicaa is the most recent one I've seen. They're all fabulous! I want to see Howl's moving castle NOWS!


Oh, and if we're adding to the list: The PC game Planescape: Torment, one of the most wonderful and neglected PC games around. Oh, and Morrowind and Daggerfall of the Elder Scroll's series. I've been playing them both loads lately and they are hugely underrated. Daggerfall especially.

[Bandados]

music and film suggestions:

Amon Tobin - chaos theory (splinter cell 3 soundtrack)
and his other albums...

Spirited away
One flew over the cuckoo's nest
Finding Neverland
City of God
Leon extended edition
requiem for a dream
memento
brother

[Sumaleth]

The Devil's Hall of Fame by Beyond Twilight. My all-time favorite album, and almost no one has heard of it. Jorn Lande on vocals. It could be described as unusual 'doom metal', with progressive, symphonic, and epic overtones.
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Art Links Archive -- Artists and Tutorials

[skullmonkeys]

Nausicaa the film dosen't even come close to compare with the graphic novel.
it's 5 volumes in length. Miyazaki spent 13 years doing it and he considers it his life's work.

If you are only watching the movie, then you aren't even getting half that of the book. The movie ends abruptly at the 2nd volume of the book.

As good as the movie might look, compared to the novel, it feels unfinished, and rushed. So check out the graphic novel. I'd highly recommend it.

[Impaler]

skullmonkeys: I can't seem to find the manga anywhere. Do you have a general idea where I might be able to get it? (not online..)

MORE STUFF

MF Doom - mm... food?

If the only rapper you know is Fiddy Cent (whether you like rap or not), then you're not listening to enough rap. This guy is consistently badass with his rhymes and production quality. You'll get madfly street cred if bump this album proper, too, yo.

PDA screen protectors

Yeah, you know. One of those $20 packs you can get anywhere. Use these on any LCD screen you have, like on your digital camera, or your cell phone, or your new Gameboy DS. They'll cut down on glare a LOT (good for your digital camera, especially), they're easier to keep clean and you can worry slightly less about scratches.
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QED, sort of.

[skullmonkeys]

Well, in canada, just about any comic book store has it. As well as anime specialty stores.

You might be suprized to know that Kusana in the manga is actually Nausicaa's ally, not a psychotic bitch as she is in the movie. The character is more complex

These guys released it officially. http://www.viz.com/products/editorschoice/ maybe you can email them and find out if they retail at your location.

http://nausicaa.net/miyazaki/nausicaa/faq.html
there's more info about how the movie was changed there.

[gLitterbug]

Dude, did you just diss fiddy cent?

I�d recommend to go see "The Machinist" with Christian Bale. Very weird, but great movie imo.

I�d be thankful vor book recommendations. Finished reading "I am Legend" some day ago and I�d recommend it too. It�d be great if anyone could point me to books that are maybe a bit lovecraft like. Not meaning someone who picked up the cthulu myth and writes books in that universe, but more of books that are as creepy and well written as lovecrafts are.

P.S.: I found Morrowind to be more overrated than underrated. Everybody loves it so much, but it�s one of the few games I ever sold. Rather get Planescape Torment then, as it is indeed the most underrated rpg ever, because I�d say it is the best there is.

[Mikko K]

We should all buy the new Nine Inch Nails album once it comes out. If it sells enough, maybe the next one will be released before 2011.

[Diruo]

glitterbug: well.. Morrowind is one of those games you either love or hate, I guess. You think people like it too much, I think people like it too little.

Did you perhaps play it on the X-box? For me the PC version plus several sound-mods and graphics improvements were required for it to become truly enjoyable.

I'm glad we can agree on Planescape: Torment though.

[Impaler]

Alien Hominid

Come on now, how often do you get to play a game drawn entirely by a Sijun member (besides by just going to Synj's website. . )? Toss in the fact that the game itself is pure awesome manifest into a physical format, and you really have no reason not to play it. I have these friends, right? Hardcore gaming-type friends. They exalt upon Contra (and all subsequent iterations) as perhaps the finest distillation of transcendent gaming available. I showed them Alien Hominid, however, and they were instantly transfixed. Synj, if you ever read this, great job. One of the best games I've ever played.
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QED, sort of.

[synj]

[balistic]

Hey Synj, has AH done pretty well, commercially? I've been rooting for it since I heard about it. Yay for indie games on major consoles.
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brian.prince|light.comp.paint

[gLitterbug]

I still cry over the fact that alien hominid is not available on pc. Not going to buy a console, especially not only to play one game on it. Really hope it did commercially well though.


I played Morrowind on the PC. I pre-ordered it caus I was so very looking forward to playing it, but then it kind of let me down. I mean I liked it at first, but the fact that it didn�t run well on my quite good pc and fighting being a slow pain in the ass spoiled the game for me. But mostly it was that I got lost in a higher level area while looking for a quest-location and things like that which threw me off into selling the game.

It�ll just be like that with their next game I think. They try to emulate a living world, which is very brave to do and I appreciate their efforts, but it�s far from being working right yet.

I guess it�s that I prefer my single player game to be story driven and immersive and linear rather than a world you get thrown in. Especially after starting to play World of Warcraft I wonder what use it is to make a game that tries to be an offline mmorpg.

[Ragnarok]

Look what I found:

[KOM.Nausicaa]

Hi all,

on games I would like to recommend the Metal Gear Solid series. It's on Playstation (and pc I think?) and there's just the third part released of it.

Like many japaneses games it has many very original and refreshing moments, an unbelievable sense for detail and a good script. I love it for that last part especially; the dialogues are always great, often very funny, it's full off suprising story-twists and great characters.

I play games since 15 years...must have done over hundred or more There are many good ones on PC, I could make a long list, lol, too long for here.

But the Resident Evil series was great as well, thats true... I loved the first ones as well, when they still had these static backgrounds, which would flip in perspective when you moved your character. I found them sometimes stunningly well done....I wonder until today about the technique they were created in. The japanese had pushed that very very far. You could see the same technique of hyperrealistic but static backgrounds in the Final Fantazy series and "Galerians" and many others.

I'm a huge fan of Miyazaki's work too. Discovered it the first time 10 years ago or so, when some buddies brought this obscure videotapes from Japan. Nobody understood much, but we were all impressed when we saw the first movies, like Nausicaa, Totoro, or Castle in the Sky.

In France, Miyazaki got since really popular, they brough all his movies to theatrical release, and there is right now an exposition of original artwork in Paris. Haven't seen his last one yet, but some did and thought it was great.
I regret that it is not more popular in the States. Disney is for a big deal responsible for that, unluckily.

If you are interested in artwork, design and storyboard from his movies go to this site:

http://www.buta-connection.net

It's in French, but you can download there for every movie ton's of artwork, including BG's, Character design, set-design, layouts and much much more.

Here's the direct link:

http://www.buta-connection.net/ghibli.php3

Go to "galeries", you then see a list of all his movies with a little icon on the right side, which permits you to download related artwork as a package directly from the server. Attention, the files are huge.

Best,

nausicaa
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KOM.Nausicaa

[Impaler]

I picked up the first two volumes of the Nausicaa manga. It's a pain obtaining it here. I might just order directly from VIZ.

Anyway, the manga really is amazing. The linework is so expressive, yet so clean. There isn't a panel that fails to inspire and keep your interest taut. Just when I thought I couldn't be any more of a Miyazaki fanboy. . . .

THE WILD BUNCH

It's surprising how many people haven't seen this movie, especially with Tarantino being all the rage these days. If your vocabulary of great American directors is limited to Spielberg, Lynch, or Scorcese, I'd like you to learn a new word: Peckinpah. He combined a great sense of aesthetics with a raw lust for the expenditure of blank ammunition (more shots were fired in this movie than in the Mexican revolution of 1914, supposedly). Check it out.
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QED, sort of.

[skullmonkeys]

MGS3
I really liked that game's ending. the last boss fight was awesome! Both graphically and emotionally.
What really let me down was the sub bosses. In the past mgs titles all of them had a very interesting story to tell. Like their motivation for planning whatever is going on in the game. The sub bosses in MGS3 were just, stupid.

Kingdom Hearts
Just finished this game and WOW. I loved it. Yes, I was one of those people who thought merging of FF universe and disney characters was childish but I was wrong. The story was great, it gets pretty dark. Pretty suprizing since there are disney characters in it.
Not a big RPG player, but I loved this one to death [only rpg I played was xenogears and this i think] I got the ulitma keyblade, beat sephiroth[this duel was awesome!] and did every sidequest.

Miyazaki Daydream Data notes

This might wet your fanboy appetite more Impaler.
It's like his concept art book about his personal independant stuff. There are various things like manga shorts, mechanical designs like tanks, battleships and airplaines in pre WWII style. Really fun to look at. It's in Japanese tho. It includes a short Porco Rosso short manga as well. Which inspired the movie of the same name.

[KOM.Nausicaa]

Skullmonkeys,

but I loved that old guy "the End" and the sniper fight in the woods
also the one in the realm of the death....hmm, will not say more.. don't want to give it away for guys who haven't done it yet...

Naus
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KOM.Nausicaa

[Lunatique]

Hmm, it would take pages to list all the stuff I'd recommend, so I'll just list a Desert Island 10.

Not in any particular order:

Steam (Hamam: The Turkish Bath) Soundtrack - Absolutely one of my favorite film scores. Incredible blend of traditional authenticity and contemporary grooves.

Trois Couleurs: Rouge (Three Colors: Red) - One of my favorite films, and the best one by far of the Three Colors trilogy. This film demonstrates what I love about European Cinema.

Third Star by Trey Gunn - My favorite prog rock album ever. It's the grooviest prog rock album I've ever heard, and all the Dune references make me geek happy. And that fold-out album cover design--whew!

The Longest Journey - Best Adventure game I've ever played. Would make an awesome sci-fi/fantasy epic film. April Ryan is one of the best characters ever created in games. Just beautiful visually and deeply immersive story.

Firefly - One of the best TV series ever made--sci-fi or otherwise. Joss Whedon's best work to date. He's taken everything he's learned as a creator/writer/director over the years and injected all that experience and knowledge into Firefly, and it shows. It's far superior to Buffy or Angel in terms of storytelling, character dynamics, ensemble cast chemistry..etc. I cannot wait for Serenity to hit the theaters.

Un Coeur En Hiver (A Heart In Winter) - Another favorite film. One of the rare French films that is highly intellectual without being pretentious and narcissistic. The psychological profile of the main characters are so well portrayed that you can't help but feel compassionate towards every one of them.

Going Home/Three - Going Home is a short film from Hong Kong that was released with two other short films (one Korean, one Thai) in a horror anthology titled "Three." Anyone who's seen the anthology immediately points out that Three is by far the best one, and really the only one worth watching in the anthology. There's a standalone version of Going Home on DVD with bonus material--get that instead of Three. Going Home is more than just a horror short film--in fact, there really isn't any horror in it--what it is, is a beautiful, touching, heartbreaking, and emotional film that transcends genres.

My favorite books are all in Chinese, and none have been translated, but for those of you who can read Chinese, here's my ultimate favorite book:

Journey (By Yun Ching) - A novel about the choices we make in life, the things we desire, and the heavy sacrifices we make in order to fulfill those desires--just to find out we've chosen the wrong path, and what we've lost along the way could never be recovered. Profound, complex, and moving.

Knights of the Old Republic - I'm not even a fan of Star Wars, but this game is just freaking awesome. Kickass story, great gameplay, highly enjoyable combat system, first rate voice acting and music, and epic length.

Macross the Complete - 3 disc soundtrack collection of the original Macross TV series and feature film. Incredible blend of orchestral and jazz, with 19th century impressionism leanings as well.

[Ragnarok]

[Max]

[Impaler]

Zatoichi (the movie, though the series is good too)

A poignant, sweet, hilarious movie interspersed with surreal (but never offensive) violence. Takeshi Kitano (as director) manages to weave all these personal stories into the story arc, without ever losing track of the main narrative. Highly reccomended, even if just as a popcorn movie.

Interpol - Antics

Atmospheric guitar, melodic drumming reminiscent of Smashing Pumpkins, disco bassline stretched out and made into something new, moody vocals. Make sure you wear a black t-shirt when you listen to this one.
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QED, sort of.

[Godwin]

[gLitterbug]

Would�ve any one said Grim Fandango is the best adventure game ever, I�d sign it any second. Not played it? Go out and get it now.

But Longest Journey is way overrated imo. Not to step on anyone�s toes, but April Ryan one of the best characters ever created in games? wow, I guess my taste is way off. I think it�s a good game, no doubt, but it�s just that and nothing more in any area imo, from character to puzzles. What probably got me disappointed most was the endless amount of dialogue that bored me to death in parts.

Still I�m glad they make another one, but I�m even more sceptic, since they introduce "action elements" now, which was the near-death to so many an adventure game.

[Sumaleth]

Yeah, Grim Fandango is the best adventure game for my money. I didn't enjoy Longest Journey all that much.
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Art Links Archive -- Artists and Tutorials

[Ragnarok]

I played Longest Joruney but didn't finish it due to bugs and some uninteresting puzzles imo.
I haven't played Grim Fandango, it must be the only Lucasarts adventure game I haven't played...


Anyone misses the old X-Wing and TIE Fighter "sims"? Lately we only get arcades, but those games were the sims I've enjoyed most.
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"Ever forward, my darling wind." -Master Yuppa
Seigetsu

[gLitterbug]

Yeah I do Ragnarok, I never played them all too much except Tie Fighter on my friends pc, but they rocked so hard.

I wonder why the hell Lucasarts stopped doing those when multiplaying just got big. I mean whats better than have a Tie Squad cooperative mission?

[Diruo]

There's X-wing Alliance. It's fairly recent. Still very playable and not too shabby looking. It's the best of the lot, though no-one seems to have played it.

It has multiplayer and customizeable missions too. Want to go head to head against 3 Star Destroyers with a friend in an X-wing? You can. You can fly the Millenium Falcon even. And the story is great, albeit HARD. Just as good as Tie Fighter if not better. And it ends with the final death-star battle.. yummy!