Halloween Disney cartoons!

So it used to be that Disney had a ton of VHS collections with all kinds of themes. They had a couple that either directly dealt with Halloween, or were just a bit on the scary side. So this year I thought it'd be cool to grab one of those collections and watch some of these great cartoons, and wouldn't you know it, they don't make a Halloween DVD collection! What a waste! So I instead went on Youtube and made my own little collection and thought it would be fun to share it. Halloween's almost here, let's celebrate it with some Disney cartoons!

The Haunted House (1929)

I remember watching this one over and over as a kid. I loved it then, and it's still great today!

Trick or Treat (1954)

The Mad Doctor (1933)

Another great oldie. The Mad Doctor is going to be making a return next year in the new game Epic Mickey.

Lonesome Ghosts (1937)

Goofy has a very familiar sounding catchphrase here. "I aint scared of no ghosts"? Hmmm.

Donald Duck and the Gorilla (1944)

Runaway Brain (1995)

In 1995 a new Disney short was pretty rare, but they show they've still got it (or did at the time) by making an all-new fast paced and fun short film.

It's Time for Halloween!!

Man I get so excited every year for Halloween! By this time I'd planned on having played at least a few scary games to get me in the mood, but darn Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days had to come out on DS recently and get me hooked! I haven't been able to stop playing it, and as such my scary games have so far gone unplayed. The small, mission-based format of the game makes it easy to just jump in and start playing, and then I'll just keep on playing because of the story. But if I CAN break away soon to play something else, I've got a small line-up all ready to ring in the spookiest time of the year, including Fatal Frame II, Silent Hill, a few Castlevanias, and Evil Dead: Regeneration. Maybe I can even go back and finish Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, as I kind of burned out on it before I could complete it.

So hopefully the Halloween celebrations will begin soon! But if not, blame Roxas and Co.

A couple sketches

So I've been trying to be a little more constructive lately, and challenged myself to do one drawing a day, Monday through Friday of this past week. Thursday was the only day I missed, but I still consider it a success, as I continued on Friday and still, just getting in the habit of putting an hour or so aside in my day to draw has felt pretty good. Most of this ended up in various unfinished states, but I'm planning on using time during the weekend to continue working on them, particularly the Deku Link and Bubble Bobble ones.

Monday - Zero Suit Samus

Day one started off a bit rough, as instead of choosing an in-game image or finding sources on the web, I decided to use a figure of Samus I have. The figure is small, and my lighting was poor, making for a very difficult subject. Also, I started this one way too late at night.

Tuesday - Knockman and Pororon

Two little figures sitting on my desk, kind of wind-up musical toy guys. Knockman taps his head and Pororon strums his strings. They are both quite awesome.

Wednesday - Deku Scrub Link

In Majora's Mask, Deku Scrub Link can't hold a sword and shield, but I think he looks pretty cool with them here.

Friday - Bubble Bobble

And here we have Bub (or Bob?) scared out of his wits as that whale skeleton thing looms in on him. I liked the way this one turned out, and want to go back and ink and color it. I've put this one up on my DeviantArt page already.

So there we have it! Five days, four drawings and two not-terrible ones!

My E3 Top 5

The big show video game show that is the Electronics Entertainment Expo is almost upon us, so I thought I'd throw out some of the things I'd like to see at this year's show. This is pretty much simply wishful thinking, as I'm going to throw speculation and educated guesses and whatnot right out the window. This is simply a list of what I think would make for an awesome E3 show.

5. Kingdom Hearts 3

I realize that an announcement like Kingdom Hearts 3 is much more likely at Tokyo Game Show than at E3, but like I said, this is all just wishful thinking anyway. A console platform, a thirty second teaser, even just a confirmation that it's coming, something! But I guess that's what Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep are for, to hold us over during the long wait for the next numbered sequel.

4. New 2D Metroid

On DSi Ware, WiiWare, something! I loved the Metroid Prime trilogy, but I think a return to the classic Metroid formula is long overdue. I'll play your weird game of New Play Control re-releases for now, Nintendo, and enjoy retreading the latest Metroid games all over again, but I expect a throwback to the good old days of Metroid very soon.

3. Virtual Console on DSi

I think everyone who is into DSi is a little surprised at the lack of them even suggesting Virtual Console on DSi. I'm holding out hope that they've just been so quiet about it because they want to use it as a surprise announcement at their presentation at E3, much like they did with the SD card update and Virtual Arcade announcement a short while back.

2. Yakuza 3 to North America

I loved loved loved Yakuza on the PS2. I'm not done Yakuza 2 yet, but what I've played I've enjoyed just as much. Seeing the beauty of Tokyo rendered in loving detail in Yakuza 3 for PS3 and knowing I can't play it is driving me crazy! It's been one of the best selling games on the PS3 in Japan, I can't imagine that it wouldn't be noticed at least half as well here. The PS3 could use a few more stand out exclusives right now after all, and Sega's fantastic action game would do nicely.

1. Half-Life 2 Episode 3

Episode 2 was released in 2007 with some juicy hints at what to expect in the next and final episode, as well as a pretty surprising ending. I really hope Valve gives us something to whet our appetites while we wait and wonder at what awaits Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance.

So there you go, my total wish fulfillment expectations of E3 2009. Now nothing left to do but sit back and wait for the disappointment.

Too Many Games!

Last Sunday L and I went to a classic video games convention called Too Many Games, being held kind of in the middle of nowhere. It was actually smack dab in the middle of a farmer's market, and I think while wandering around the tables of random crap being sold for a dollar, we were starting to doubt if we were in the right place. Low and behold, right in the middle of it all was a building with a Too Many Games sign on it. Considering their choice of venue, I really didn't know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised by the sheer volume of stuff packed inside the small hall. There was not an inch of space in there that wasn't filled by a vendor of retro/import games, or games set to free play for passers by. 

We took several trips around the hall to size up what was there, and unfortunately the more time that went on and the more people that kept coming in the room started really warming up. While there was a great selection of retro titles, one game I had my eye out for seemed to be absent from every booth, and that was The Lost Vikings for Super Nintendo. I should never have sold that one to Funcoland! But that aside, there was a ton of great stuff to check out. Also James, the Angry Video Game Nerd, stopped by for a signing, but we were already on our way out when he got there, so I didn't even get a picture. And now, on to the haul!

For Super Nintendo I picked up "Battletoads Double Dragon" and "Zombies Ate My Neighbors". for the NES, "Darkwing Duck" and "Tiny Toon Adventures". Then I got a few import games, thanks fo the always awesome folks at Mad-Gear, "Densha de Go" for the PSP which is a commuter train simulator, "Legend of Starfy 2" for the GBA, a Kirby-like platformer, and Namco's "Star Wars" for the Famicom, a game in which I'm pretty sure no one that worked on the game actually saw the whole movie.

And L's sole purchase of the convention, Persona 2 Innocent Sin for the PS1. Perrsona 2 was actually two games, although, the US only got the second one, Eternal Punishment.

All in all a fun weekend and definitely worth the trip. Looks like Too Many Games will be in Philly this summer, so I'm looking forward to that more game buying in the near future! L took a few more pictures at the convention, you can check out her Flickr page here.