Friday, November 4, 2005

Celebritarianism

Well, tomorrow I am leaving for my trip to the Gold Coast. I have to admit, in some ways it's a bit stressful, because there is so much to organize. Normally I wouldn't mind so much, but I'm also responsible for my sister (who is joining me), so that adds to it a bit. But it should be fine. I am hoping to be able to access the Internet via Wi-Fi during the trip, so that I can continue to submit work while I'm away. If that goes well, I might update my posts here and show you some photos or something (that is, if the camera will decide to work). Today also brought a nice surprise. I'd been following Mansonusa.com for a while, as more information about Marilyn Manson's new era began to trickle out. Today there's a bigger blow-out about it. For those who are interested in the band, it's a great read. I like the idea that the next album will be quite different (as Mechanical Animals was to Antichrist Superstar). According to Marilyn Manson at least, it'll be quite different to anything he's done before. Good stuff. There are also some photos of the new visual style that will be accompanying this new era. It really doesn't seem massively different so far, as it seems to be almost an evolution of what we saw with Lest We Forget. But still, it will be great to see more imagery and to read more information about his upcoming projects. Other than that, I've been reading some of the previews about Mario Kart DS (including play-tests of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection). So far it seems good. I have to say, the actual offline game is almost more interesting than the Wi-Fi stuff to me at this stage. I say that because Mario Kart DS seems to be changing the formula a bit more than previous games have. Not only are there new items and such, but there's a mission mode (very unexpected) and the mixture of "retro" and new tracks is certainly a good move. The concept of having different karts is also interesting and is at least new in terms of the Mario Kart series. I'm very much looking forward to this game - it may be the first DS game where I really spend a great deal of time playing it. In addition, there has recently been some interesting Revolution news. Apparently you will be able to do "download play" on Revolution (so you only need one copy of a game to play multiplayer - one Revolution would upload the game to other participating systems). I have no idea if that would work over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, because that would presumably be a lot of data to transfer (unless the game were very simple or something). But I can imagine that it would work well in a LAN environment. Nintendo also confirmed that Revolution is expected to launch within a 14 week window globally. I hope that includes Australia. But in general, it's good that console makers are starting to shoot for global or near-global launches - they are starting to actually understand the massive potential of the PAL territories. It's also interesting to note that Jim Merrick (from Nintendo of Europe) suggests that Revolution's graphics will be comparable to other new systems. I do have the feeling that people are over-blowing the idea of minimal specs; I suspect that the differences we'll see will probably be like this generation (ie: the differences between PS2 and Xbox games aren't really all that major, but are noticeable to the really hardcore crowd). In any case, it's probably good news for those who were worried that Revolution would be some kind of glorified GameCube. Although Resident Evil 4 still looks very nice... Before I go, I want to point you to a few threads that are still active. First up, Solo's OtakuBoards: Enter the Net. For those who are a little newer, I would have to say that this has become one of the most famous threads in the site's history. Well-written, perfectly-parodied and flat-out-funny (that all sounded very wrong), it's something you should definitely check out. Apparently Solo is thinking of writing another chapter and he's included another post in there just yesterday. I definitely hope to see the thread continue. And then there's The Reanimatrix. Technically, this thread is still active. It's still accepting submissions. Older members who have contributed there may not wish to include anything else, but newer members who haven't seen it might be interested. I have considered adding some more of my own writings in there, as well as some more "official" writings. But I guess we'll see how it goes. As it stands, I'm quite happy with the depth and breadth of what's on offer there - at the very least, it makes for quite a read, especially if you're a fan of The Matrix. Finally, there's the Kill Adam Underground thread. Participants from this RPG are advised to take a look at my latest post, because I am attempting to get the ball rolling again. I'd like to finish Volume 2 and start thinking about some of my other ideas related to the series. Annie: I'm happy with the response, I'm really glad you liked the changes. ^_^ Sammy: Ahh, AIM. Okay, let me see if I can help you out there. First, go here, to AIM.com. From there you should be able to download the program and register a screen name. Once you've done that it's a simple matter of starting up the program and logging in. Once you've got a screen name, you can send it to people and they can chat to you on there. It may take a bit of getting used to if you've never used an IM program before, but I guarantee that it's worthwhile. ^_^ indifference: I'm glad that you continue to enjoy the services here. It's that enjoyment which really makes me want to continue with what we're doing. I think you will be very pleased with what we have coming. I'm quite happy with the initial reaction to Art of Otaku's beta program, so hopefully the final release will be just as impressive. At the very least, we'll be continually adding things along the way, right up until launch. SunfallE: Yeah, I think that the satisfaction of the members is the most important thing. Like any site, we have our complaints and things we need to fix. But in general, the vast majority of people really enjoy the what we've provided here. So I think it's important to keep improving that. I figure that if we simply strip down the free service further and then say "you need to pay to get what you were already getting for free", that's just a complete slap in the face to everyone. And it's not even particularly logical. So it's really important for us to show that we value our members by offering a better free service as well as a subscription service. At the end of the day I think it comes back to the idea that it's very easy for people to just click away from myOtaku and go anywhere else - we have to work hard for every new member and we have to work extra hard to keep the majority of them for the longterm.

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