There’s a point at which one begins to wonder how they can take themselves seriously when they claim their channel is all about keeping it calm. It’s gotten quite sad. Mellow’s just a hangout for warezers, pirates and troublemakers, anymore. They cause trouble in the real channel, then they go to #mellow and behave, so they can convince themselves they’re really okay guys, and that it’s just the other channel’s fault that they’re trolling.

Sadly, I begin to worry that they’ve gotten so caught up in their drama and lies that they won’t ever admit to themselves the damage they’ve done, and that the way the split will end is when the DS is over. We’d lose half a dozen good developers that way.

It’d be nice if they’d grow up, get over the drama and come back. Joat, I’m looking straight at you.

Lots of blogs aggregate my blog, and most of them – surprisingly, even the homebrew scene aggregators – haven’t set this yet. So, let me just spread the love: the Wii will be released November 19, 2006 at a price of $250. Many details were given. Some games will use the DS as a controller, just as the GameCube used the GBA as a controller (examples from the past include Donkey Kong Country 3, and Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, which actually required a GBA for a controller.)  Nostalgic NES games will be $5, SNES for $10, and N64 for $15.

There’ve been a lot of good media clips lately.  This one, well, it’s pretty good.  Some of the lead-in visual gags are a bit tired, but they’ve also got several really good, really inobvious visual gags, so give them the benefit of the doubt.

[youtube]ewrif4WhHfY&NR[/youtube]

Very reminiscent of the Averaging Gradius project, but done with a certain eye for style in a much more modern and better looking game.  Averaging Gradius still holds my heart (and the title of progenitor,) but this really should be seen.

1K Project II: Trackmania

Some movies. There are three, so I’m hiding them behind the more button. Don’t mind the name, or the black-and-whiteness; you want to see these.
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For those who haven’t noticed, the dev channels from efnet for Nintendo hardware have moved to irc.blitzed.net . Affected are #dsdev, #gbadev, and #wiidev.

That PC sudoku client I keep talking about is starting to come together. Probably in the next week or two, I’m going to start looking for beta testers. Beta testers get 500 free puzzles, and don’t have to pay any money to be involved. If you’re interested, read on.

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Next-Gen has claimed that “senior industry sources” have told them that the world’s largest gaming convention, whose profits have just been going up every year, is suddenly over.

I’m calling bullshit.  I think this is a tactic to raise traffic, that it’s a boldfaced lie (or a prank on a reporter who refuses to report rumor as something other than fact,) and that it’s a sign that Next-Gen has finally gone down the tubes.

I’m going to paste the link, rather than link it, because I don’t want most people visiting the page, but I want there to be posterity.  http://next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3538&Itemid=2  Do not visit this page; it’s bullshit.

If Next-Gen doesn’t run a front-page screen-top apology for a month, their credibility has been shot to hell.  ‘Course, it’s not like they’re worth reading anyway, given that they rate games starting at 8 of 10, have appalling grammar, and never admit to passing rumor off as news.  (Sure, they’ve been caught doing it before, but saying E3 is over is a bit fucking much.)

E3 just started a network site, and accepted quite a bit of money to get people involved.  If they shut down after that, they’re in for tremendous trouble.  They provide massive marketing opportunities at comparatively low prices, make four to seven hundred dollars a head for a crowd of sixty thousand and have a massive impact on the direction of gaming.

I just don’t believe it.  Cite your sources or go the fuck home.  Next-Gen is nothing better than the Daily Sun.

Why does anyone listen to Jeff Minter?

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I’m looking for beta participants for my PC client!  See http://blog.sc.tri-bit.com/archives/151.

I’ve got a potential buyer for my PC and Nintendo DS Sudoku clients, so I’ve been working on them fairly exclusively.  I’m kind of hoping to have news about them soon, because in particular the PC client has a bunch of fairly odd new features which I am quite proud of.  But, first I have to get them sold.