Archives for February 2008
Struggling with a very mythical pirate
25 February 2008 | Pirates | 4 Responses
Creation of the Gods, also known as Fengshen Bang (封神榜) or Fengshen Yanyi, was the first Chinese story I really fell in love with, much to the dismay of everyone I have ever talked to about the topic.
I should have liked Dream of the Red Chamber, Journey to the West or Romance of the Three Kingdoms. While I do enjoy Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I was just never as crazy about it as I was, and still am, about Creation — which has all the continuity and imagination of a fever dream.
So whenever I stumble on a new video game based on the story, well, happy times abound. And so it was with this new Famicom dump of Fengshen Bang. Not to be confused with C&E’s same-titled RPG, this installment is a fighting game.
And you thought FF7 was big?
24 February 2008 | Pirates | 11 Responses
My write up on Final Fantasy VII for the Famicom seems to have made multiple loops around the Internet, slamming the server with 20GB of incoming traffic in three days. Well played, Anonymous. I’ll see your 20GB of traffic and raise you a Chrono Trigger.
ROM dumping group SKY LEAGUE has posted screen shots of what appears to be Chrono Trigger, now on the Famicom home entertainment system and branded “时空之轮.”
From polygons to pixels: Final Fantasy VII
21 February 2008 | Pirates | 80 Responses
It was a very troubling time: 1997. The Super Nintendo had perished, the Sega Genesis was on its third revision with little new to offer and gamers were flocking to the banner of Sony, then a newcomer on the video game scene with its PlayStation console.
Gone were the blocks of the Atari 2600. Gone were the pixels of the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System. Gone were the vibrant colors of the Super Nintendo.
Polygons were all the rage, and every game had to have them. For myself, as well as many other gamers, Final Fantasy VII (FF7) was our first immersion into the world of what would end up being the RPGs of the next decade. Some loved it, some hated it. I loved it and hated it.
Over the years, pictures would turn up showing off Final Fantasy games that were finally terminated, such as the 8-bit version of Final Fantasy IV. Aside from a few fluff ports of old titles to new hardware, the series would never really go back to its roots no matter how much anyone wanted it to.
Until now.
A new look for Audacious
14 February 2008 | Ubuntu | No Responses
Happy Valentine’s Day.
This is an Audacious Media Player theme based somewhat on the packed in Ivory theme. It is made to match my D Blues theme for Openbox and QtCurve. Even if you only use my QtCurve theme, it should integrate very well into your desktop.
Due to the special styling used, this theme does not correctly shade. You will get corrupt graphics, same as in Ivory. Since Audacious lacks a way to make themes force shading disabled, I just made all the shade graphic an ugly magic pink. Hopefully it will scare you into unshading.