Bronycon: Bronies and Q Hit the Meadowlands This Summer
Bronycon is a convention for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fans in New York. It's a semiseasonal convention and the next one, Bronycon Summer, is June 31-July 1. It was going to be held at the Hotel Pennsylvania, which is a nice venue for small conventions. It won't be held there anymore. Instead, Bronycon is going to be held at the freaking Meadowlands. No, it's not a pony-themed play on words. The convention will be held at the Meadowlands Expo Center.
Okay, it's not the Meadowlands Sports Complex/Racetrack/IZOD Center, but it's still a pretty big venue. The good news is this means the show's attendance cap has been increased from 1,500 people to 4,000. The bad news is New York bronies will have to go into New Jersey to attend. It's just a 20 minute bus ride from Port Authority, but still. That's not the only news. Besides show creator Lauren Faust, Bronycon Summer will get another guest: John de Lancie. Even if you're not a brony, you know him as Q from Star Trek. And if you are a brony, you know as Discord he basically played... Q from Star Trek. Either way, he's pretty awesome.
The convention organizer, Purple Tinker (that's her brony name), notes that the convention is five months away, and that there will be other announcements. Possibly more voice actors will come to the convention. Even if you're not a brony, it promises to be great for any sci-fi, cartoon, or animation nerd if any other voice actors attend; Twilight Sparkle was Truffles from Chowder, Applejack was Maki from Black Lagoon, Pinkie Pie was AndrAIa from Reboot, Spike was Chiaotzu from Dragonball Z and Near from Death Note, and Princess Celestia was detective Kelly Blaine from Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. And I know way too much about voice actors. Fun fact: Alison on Eureka was Elisa Maza from Gargoyles. And Kevin Bacon has had no notable roles in animation.
Admission for both days of Bronycon Summer will be $65, and over 600 people have already pre-registered. One more bit of brony news, since I'm laying it all out as the bizarre nerd I am: My Little Pony toys are coming to Happy Meals in March. Keep an eye out, because they and the blind bag figures usually have much better sculpts than the larger ponies you can get at toy stores, which stick more to the older My Little Pony molds and please stop me what am I doing with my life.
Resident Evil 6: The Elder Scrolls VI: Raccoon City?
Just saying. And isn't it better to notice that the Resident Evil 6 logo looks like the Oblivion and Skyrim logos than to notice that it looks like a giraffe getting a beej?
Listing Restlessly: Graphical Ages of Gaming
Welcome to Listing Restlessly, a new and irregular feature where we look at geek concepts and try to put them into categories that make some amount of sense. There's so much vagueness in gaming ("role-playing games," "casual games," "retro games,") that we need some way to separate these ideas. Let's start with the ages of gaming, an amorphous yet steadfast concept that everyone knows but few can define beyond "today's consoles" and "yesterday's consoles."
We've used "current-gen" versus "next-gen" versus "last-gen." Well, generations change. We've used "8-bit" versus "16-bit" versus "32-bit" versus "64-bit." Well, the Atari 2600 was 8-bit, and the Atari Jaguar called itself 64-bit when it wasn't, and the 64-bit Nintendo 64 lost the battle against the same-generation 32-bit Sony PlayStation. Instead of looking at bits and vague generations, let's look at what really defined the generations: the graphics. Specifically, what they looked like, and not what drives them. Here are the new ages of gaming. Four clearly defined ages and one semi-clearly defined half-age that run from the beginning of home video game systems to today.
2012: The year of Square-Enix?
2012. The year of dragon. The year of the apocalypse. An Olympic year. An election year. The year that vampires inherit the earth
10 Sketchy Toys and Gadgets From China (That You Can Get Delivered Here)
The toys you get at Toys R Us and the electronics you get at Best Buy (or both you get at Amazon) are nice, but they're limited by pesky industrial regulations and licensing laws. That means everything you buy is relatively well-built to safety standards and any characters or famous people on them are there with the express permission of the copyright holder. That leaves out the awesome rip-off and downright strange items you can get at dollar stores, flea markets, and the dark corners of the Internet. The products imported directly from China to be sold out of trucks, on cheap folding tables, or on rusty pegs in disreputable stores. Or to be relabeled and sold by nerds for a huge mark-up, but the idea still stands.
DealExtreme brings those products online. There are plenty of web sites where you can get sketchy toys and gadgets, but DealExtreme is the least Engrish-filled one I've seen (and the most seemingly legitimate, with actual customer reviews, track records, and security things on its site). Think of it as ThinkGeek's ugly, cheaper, more-interesting-because-he-knows-how-to-score-drugs brother. It's a strange mix of relatively legitimate, generic products, gadgets no one would ever need, and toys that most likely aren't endorsed by Disney/Nintendo/Marvel. It's awesome, even if it's like playing a game of retail Russian roulette.
I found ten of the most sketchy toys and gadgets on the site that you can get shipped here. And one more that you can't (or, if you can, you probably shouldn't for legal reasons). I will only make two lead poisoning jokes in this story, because you deserve the best.
How to Make a Great Video Game Movie: Make a Crappy Action Movie
Put a bag on your head, because I'm about to blow your mind with the following two statements. You may rage. You may think I'm an idiot. But I'm right, and that's what's important.
1: Sucker Punch was a nearly perfect video game movie, and the template other video game movies should use.
2: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World was the perfect tournament fighter movie, but it wasn't a general video game movie at all.
You're not with me on this. That's fine, because I'm going to explain.
SOPA’s First Major Casualty: Sanity
As recounted by a friend of the site:
"[My father] just gave me an external HD and a list while saying, and I quote; 'I just heard about this 'SOPAPILLA' thing off the tv, I want you to download all the movies on the list and put them on this HD, please.'"
Later:
"Oh god some of this stuff is porn. I sure as hell doubt that there's a 'real' movie about there called 'Gang Bang Beauties 2'."
Later:
"Nice, dad. List a 9-11 doc next to the string of pirate porn."
Do you see what you've done? You monsters.
I Tripped Balls While Riding An Elevator In Half-Life 2
I spent 40 minutes in an elevator in a video game last Tuesday. No, I wasn't playing through Mass Effect again. This was all in one go, and while I was in the elevator I saw aliens, dinosaurs, cats, war zones, storms, fire, and demons. Now, thanks to the magic of video and the idea of a longplay, you can, too.
The game, or rather, add-on to a mod of a game, is Elevator for Garry's Mod for Half-Life 2. It takes everyone's favorite machinima playground and turns it into an elevator ride through different worlds. The floors are random, and can be beautiful, nightmarish, mundane, or utterly bizarre. It's a simple and safe ride that is still freakier than going on Disneyworld's Tower of Terror ride after chugging a liter of Dimetapp. It's utterly mesmerizing, and worth at least one playthrough by anyone.
A Really Funny and Informative Story About Your Favorite Game, Movie, TV Show, Comic Book, or Album
A lot of web sites are blacking out for today to protest SOPA. We're not. Instead, I'm going to give you a really funny, informative piece about your favorite game, movie, TV show, album, or comic book. I'm going to show you that there's nothing to worry about from a piece of legislation and an ongoing trend of legislation and technological measures to prevent the use of purchased media by consumers or creative professionals who want to copy, transfer, or re-purpose it under fair use. Nothing to worry about at all.
A Bar With a TARDIS: Brooklyn’s Way Station
Let me take you to a small bar in Prospect Heights, just a few blocks from Grand Army Plaza, north of Prospect Park. It's The Way Station, a sci-fi and steampunk-themed bar with great novelty cocktails, a great selection of liquor, an excellent happy hour, and a TARDIS bathroom.
Yes. It has a TARDIS bathroom. Life-size, police box, sign-that-says-pull-but-you-have-to-push, TARDIS. With a bathroom inside. Read on for photos and a video tour of the bar.
Navigation
Recent Posts
- Bronycon: Bronies and Q Hit the Meadowlands This Summer
- Resident Evil 6: The Elder Scrolls VI: Raccoon City?
- Listing Restlessly: Graphical Ages of Gaming
- 2012: The year of Square-Enix?
- 10 Sketchy Toys and Gadgets From China (That You Can Get Delivered Here)
Recent Comments
- Domain register on Hydrophobia: Splish, Splash, End (Review)
- Julie Ann Keene-Roppolo on Betabrand: Nerd Couture or Hipster Douchebaggery?
- cambin hill on How to Make a Great Video Game Movie: Make a Crappy Action Movie
- Alcholic005 on Hydrophobia: Splish, Splash, End (Review)
- How to Make a Great Video Game Movie: Make a Crappy Action Movie « Aggrogate on Review: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (Spoiler: the audience wins)
