If you're like me, you like webcomics. A lot. It's an unhealthy obsession, and the last thing you need is more.
With that said, I have some webcomic recommendations to make, hopefully flagging some you may or may not have missed along the way.
Girly Online - Josh Lesnick's sequel to CuteWendy. Largely, I recommend this because of Lesnick's ever-increasing talents, which is a rare find in comickery. It's incredibly vulgar, off the wall, random, stupid, and yet... incredibly charming.
Least I could Do - Ryan Sohmer's writing and Lar DeSouza's art style come together and create one of the funniest and best comics out there today. Though the earlier stuff features some absolutely godawful artwork, it still manages to be hilarious, a fair bit vulgar, nerdy, and has some of the worst advice you could ever take from a man.
XKCD - Nothing more than a regular stick figure comic at first glance, but it doesn't take long at all to realize just how genius this thing is. There aren't a lot of comics that can pull off humor in physics and math.
Questionable Content - Indie music and the people who listen to it. It's a fantastically humorous comic, has a great overarcing story to it, and is just relevant enough to the mainstream for just about anyone to get.
Sinfest - Actually... You probably already have this bookmarked. However, Tatsuya Ishida is a force to be reckoned with. Who else can utilize a vaguely Calvin and Hobbes-esque style, Easternize it oh so subtly, and make it last as long as it has and STILL be a superb comic?
Looking For Group - Another one by LICD forerunners Sohmer and DeSouza, this comic takes a lot from fantasy tales of old, with a particular inspiration from Warcraft. Fantastic characters, solid story, and... well, Richard. You'll see what I mean.
Three Panel Soul - The remains of Mac Hall... And all for the better. While a full story has been ditched, it is instead a rather intriguing investigation on Ian McConville's art style, and furthers a lot of the one-shot humor which Mac Hall is known for. What's particularly great: no two strips look alike. Don't be surprised when the art style changes radically from strip to strip.
Gone with the Blastwave - A visually amazing style, and one of the slowest-updated comics I've ever seen, with the exception of my next comic recommendation. It's incredibly funny, with a bit of a Red vs. Blue style of humor in a post-apocalyptic world.
Lackadaisy - I wouldn't make it a point to post a furry comic, largely because of the stigma they have in pop culture, but... Seriously. This is one of the best drawn comics around, and features a great concept: Take the Roarin' 20's, prohibition-era crime-laden atmosphere in St. Louis and replace people with anthropomorphic cats. You'd be surprised how well this works. Always reminded me of "Cats Don't Dance," a WB animated movie in the late 90's, and that is a VERY good thing.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Activision vs. Harmonix
In a story that would make any sane man go "WTF?!"...
The PS3 version of Rock Band comes with a slight... Issue. Unlike what was previously promised, the GH3 Les Paul controller does NOT work with the PS3 version of Rock Band. Harmonix was pretty surprised by this.
Well, according to this, Harmonix was totally on the ball. They'd already had the patch made and ready for about two weeks, submitted it to Sony, and it was ready to be released over PSN for automatic download once you plugged in the Rock Band disc.
Well, according to THIS, Activision says Harmonix is full of shit, and Activision's been trying to reach an agreement with Harmonix for a while now which keeps getting turned down.
Now, let's look at this carefully. What does Harmonix have to gain from disallowing GH3 controllers to be playable solely on the PS3 version? Well... Not much. With individual instruments not due out until February, there are a lot of people wishing they had a second controller for RB, thanks to two different duel modes and a full band mode that needs two guitar controllers to play. They're at nothing but a disadvantage.
What does Activision gain from the GH3 controller not being playable on RB? An edge on its opponent. People don't want to pay for a product they feel is inferior, especially when there are plenty of Guitar Hero controllers available to play GH3 with. Of course, this doesn't make much sense, either; with RB's individual controllers arriving so late, there are people who want individual controllers -now-, meaning they go to the GH controllers. Purchase of these controllers goes to Activision, and increase sales. This is a benefit, right? Apparently, Activision must not have thought so, as they still seem to be trying to reach an "agreement" with Harmonix.
This is pure speculation, mind you, but an "agreement" usually has terms in these situations, right? Harmonix wasn't looking to pay or be paid for their completely voluntary work to fix a problem with their game, and have constantly made open-arms approval of Activision and their GH controllers. Activision, on the other hand, feels there's still some issues to be settled first. It could be a monetary value, or a stock issue, or something completely arbitrary.
Or, we could go with the more realistic option and say Activision got caught in a rut when it turns out Harmonix fixed the problem, and Activision doesn't like looking like the lazy one, and is trying to save face. This isn't exactly surprising, as damage control is a large part of big business [for reference, see the Jeff Gerstmann issue at GameSpot, as they do fantastically horrible damage control on that whole problem]. However, this just feels as if it were a completely childish debate. While Harmonix did butt heads and claim it was Activision's fault before, they had since redeemed themselves by fixing it, and everything's ready to go as we speak. So why the hold-up, Activision? What issues hold back the ability to make some customers happy?
Maybe it all comes down to a money issue. However, I'm more inclined to believe Activision's just getting greedy with its newest total acquisition of Guitar Hero, and doesn't want to give Rock Band any edge whatsoever, looking at it from a strictly competitive point of view.
Which sucks, 'cuz, damnit, I need a second guitar for RB!
The PS3 version of Rock Band comes with a slight... Issue. Unlike what was previously promised, the GH3 Les Paul controller does NOT work with the PS3 version of Rock Band. Harmonix was pretty surprised by this.
Well, according to this, Harmonix was totally on the ball. They'd already had the patch made and ready for about two weeks, submitted it to Sony, and it was ready to be released over PSN for automatic download once you plugged in the Rock Band disc.
Well, according to THIS, Activision says Harmonix is full of shit, and Activision's been trying to reach an agreement with Harmonix for a while now which keeps getting turned down.
Now, let's look at this carefully. What does Harmonix have to gain from disallowing GH3 controllers to be playable solely on the PS3 version? Well... Not much. With individual instruments not due out until February, there are a lot of people wishing they had a second controller for RB, thanks to two different duel modes and a full band mode that needs two guitar controllers to play. They're at nothing but a disadvantage.
What does Activision gain from the GH3 controller not being playable on RB? An edge on its opponent. People don't want to pay for a product they feel is inferior, especially when there are plenty of Guitar Hero controllers available to play GH3 with. Of course, this doesn't make much sense, either; with RB's individual controllers arriving so late, there are people who want individual controllers -now-, meaning they go to the GH controllers. Purchase of these controllers goes to Activision, and increase sales. This is a benefit, right? Apparently, Activision must not have thought so, as they still seem to be trying to reach an "agreement" with Harmonix.
This is pure speculation, mind you, but an "agreement" usually has terms in these situations, right? Harmonix wasn't looking to pay or be paid for their completely voluntary work to fix a problem with their game, and have constantly made open-arms approval of Activision and their GH controllers. Activision, on the other hand, feels there's still some issues to be settled first. It could be a monetary value, or a stock issue, or something completely arbitrary.
Or, we could go with the more realistic option and say Activision got caught in a rut when it turns out Harmonix fixed the problem, and Activision doesn't like looking like the lazy one, and is trying to save face. This isn't exactly surprising, as damage control is a large part of big business [for reference, see the Jeff Gerstmann issue at GameSpot, as they do fantastically horrible damage control on that whole problem]. However, this just feels as if it were a completely childish debate. While Harmonix did butt heads and claim it was Activision's fault before, they had since redeemed themselves by fixing it, and everything's ready to go as we speak. So why the hold-up, Activision? What issues hold back the ability to make some customers happy?
Maybe it all comes down to a money issue. However, I'm more inclined to believe Activision's just getting greedy with its newest total acquisition of Guitar Hero, and doesn't want to give Rock Band any edge whatsoever, looking at it from a strictly competitive point of view.
Which sucks, 'cuz, damnit, I need a second guitar for RB!
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