Hey, it’s Thunderpudd’s kid. I might be posting here every now and then, but I’ve got my own gaming blog. Anyway, I made this song after I heard about Portal 2 being delayed until 2011. It’ s a parody of Still Alive by Jonathan Coulton.

This wasn’t a triumph.
I’m making a note here, no success.
It’s hard to understate my disappointment.

Valve Incorporated- we delay what we must, because, we can.
For the good of none of us,
except the ones who get paid.
So there’s no since crying over the release date
Portal 2 is still coming, it will just be late.
And when the game is done,
we are sure it will be fun,
for the gamers who are still alive.

I’m not even angry.
I’m being so loyal right now.
Even though you broke my heart, and left me.
And left me to waiting.
Waiting for a whole year, at the most.
As I waited it hurt because, I was still happy for you!

Portal 2 will be a full game with a lot of gameplay.
Looking at the new features makes me jump and say “Yay!”
So I hope that I can wait,
it looks like more than I can take,
for the gamers who are still alive.

Go ahead and forget me…
I think I’d prefer to play the Wii.
Maybe you’ll find someone else to help you.
Maybe Nintendo.
That was a joke, HA-HA, fat chance.
Anyway Portal 1 is great,
and it’s already released.

Look at me still talking when there’s things to be done.
I can’t just sit here until twenty-one-one.
I’ve got a lot of games to run,
and I’m sure they will be fun,
for the gamers who are still alive.
And believe me I am still alive.
I’m disappointed but I’m still alive.
When Portal 2 is out I’ll be still alive.
And when I beat it I’ll be still alive.
And when it’s old I’ll be still alive.

Still alive…
still alive.

If not your likely either too young or not “hardcore” enough. You see back in the day (the early 90′s days) when gaming was still living high off the successful rebirth for the industry thanks to Nintendo, other companies wanted to get a piece of that pie here in the good ol’ US of A. So along comes the Genesis which was doing what Nintendon’t as well as a much smaller player in the form of the TurboGrafx 16. What made this competition awful and great all at the same time was the shear number of games that these companies were releasing to fight for our consumer dollars. Given that US development was much smaller then than now many companies simply published Japanese developed games.

Now if like me you were a young gamer who didn’t know any better you simply accepted whatever was brought over to you regardless of the horrible translations, “engrish” grammar and cultural jokes that you were never meant to get. That is until a shining star bathed us in his light in the form of Working Designs (insert Angelic choir singing here). Vic had a dream to bring over great Japanese games and there stories without butchering their intended meanings. He assembled a team to not just translate the words verbatim (which sacrifices context) but to make sure the proper intent of the content was being relayed. Then on top of that he would work with US voice actors to complete the package with a high quality delivery the likes of which had never been seen before. I remember the first time I played Cosmic Fantasy 2 for the TG16 CD and thinking how the voice work was better than most of the anime I had seen at the time. Then with Lunar SS for the Sega CD I’m pretty sure I was so move by parts of it I got teary eyed.

A quick look on the Working Designs wiki will tell you all about their demise due to struggles with companies as 3D was becoming a hot ticket and their high cost of production versus their little capital, but let’s not dwell on that. Instead focus on Vic’s recent ventures with his current studio Gaijinworks and more importantly his partnership with the recently revived Sunsoft. It seems Sunsoft has acquired the rights to a whole host of classic Japanese games from Telenet Japan Co which not only includes a great selection of titles ripe for a good translation and possible update but also some of the games Mr. Ireland has already published in the US.

This is definitely good news for gaming in general. With the popularity and ease of distribution for services like Wii VC, XBLA, PSN and the recent digital stores for DSi and PSP and the high production values Victor and his team have always brought just the back library alone will be enough for a few years worth of game updates or just classic re-releases. For all you fans of 80′s & 90′s retro Japanese gaming be sure to check out Sunsoft’s forums to let them know what your looking forward to, I know I’ll be there asking about the status of my favorites.

It’s no secret that I do not like mandatory installs for my game systems. I don’t mean to focus on the PS3, but it’s currently the only game console that does this so, here we go again…

Let’s forget the fact that installs suck for people with smaller hard drives. And let’s forget the fact that requiring said installs completely negates the benefit of having the massive storage capacity of Blu-Ray disc (if I have to install a third of the game anyway what does it matter if it’s off of one third of the br-disc, or one out of 2 dvds?). And let’s forget the fact that most of these games do not require installs on “other” game consoles for some mysteriously magical reason. The biggest thing I personally hate about mandatory installs is the feeling I get when I can’t actually get instant entertainment from my game disc.

Whether it’s 5, 10 or 30 minutes to install it drives me bonkers that I can’t begin my adventure from the moment I hit start. Some game makers have tried to put distractions in, but watching an old dude smoke for twenty minutes or some anemic slide show for DMC4 is hardly entertaining.

But Tecmo’s Team Ninja has upped the ante and decided those who held out for the PS3 version deserve some love too. Not only did they give us more gameplay, but in exchange for seven minutes of install their treating us to a digital version of a Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma comic book, complete with sound effects that acts as a prequel to the game. Well hell, if all mandatory installs game with real entertainment as a trade off I could probably be swayed to stop bitching about them so much… Nah, prolly not.

Honestly, if the makers of Rock Band and Guitar Hero didn’t see this coming they should have their market research teams go back to school. With the glut of “Band” and “Hero” spin offs, expansions and sequels, combined with all the knock off wannabe rhythm games being passed on to less savvy consumers it was simply inevitable.

Now while I may be content to keep strumming away with my Rock Band 2 disc and all the myriad of songs I’ve spent Micro$oft monies on, these publishers are still insisting that I should spend more of my real world monies on their next sets of plastics and song packs.

Personally I find the lack of cross compatibility of Rock Band’s Beatles edition to be complete and utter bullshit, and I’m of a strong notion that 5 is too many numbers for the Guitar Hero franchise for what little improvements they’ve made. Don’t get me wrong, I have no doubt that they will be quality products for new entrants or Beatles loyalist, but for me the continued support with new song releases is where they’ll keep getting my money.

But take heart faux rockers of the digital world as our horizons are about to be opened up theoretically to infinity and beyond with the new Rock Band Network community site. This new upload system will allow bands both big and small to create and sell playable game content from their recordings using the tools allegedly used by Harmonix themselves. Initially this will be available for Xbox 360 users, with the hopes that it could expand to PS3 and Wii as well. As Apple and Microsoft have shown, user generated game content can work in today’s world outside of the PC arena. Let’s just hope they have a better system for ratings and quality assurance save us from an onslaught of crap to sift through.

p.s. Caramel Pollock!

-Update-
This wonderful set of awesome can be yours for the low, low price of $149.99 according to IW’s tweet