Cahoots [s]

Bobby called to chat me up and managed to suggest moving the tv to the east wall to better accommodate passengers of the media room thrillride. Coincidentally - or not - when I returned from work I found the room arranged as such. Oh well, in the words of Franco, 'give the people what they want.'

The couch is now elevated in a mock up of what could become stadium seating (with a real couch). Wires are all over the place since I finished splicing audio to coax way past my bed time. It's all for the surround though, most lines are now going through the crawlspace. They pop out a little under the tv, but will soon be obscured with a duct or behind tiles. The various electronics are now in the recess under the stairs, next up is arranging them elegantly.

And soon I'll be grabbing a few boxes of these, painting them matte grey or black, and darkening/deafening the walls.



I'm interested to hear SFS's second opinion on the bathroom door. Most people go to another person for a second opinion. I've found I can get a different viewpoint from him by asking the same question a second time. His first response invariably describes his own style/renovation.

CR: What do you think of skylights versus solar tubes?
SFS: Big glowing wall! 3form4lyf.
CR: Does that really say 'oceanside mountain home' to you?
SFS: No, but that's what I'm getting, it's kewwwwl.

CR: Should I get a grey slate or a green slate for the shower?
SFS: River rocks in a concrete matrix!
CR: Huh? I'm not sure that really goes with my...
SFS: True. Grey slate. I decided on the floor for my bathroom, river rocks in a concrete matrix.
CR: I wouldn't have guessed.

So I'm interested in what he'd think of a single slider as it carries the benefit of a pocket door without the feeling of being in some sort of mass transportation vessel. It's also good to know he doesn't lock the door when he's laying cable.

That said, I was at SFS House this weekend and it is the illest.

Brawl [r]

Smash Brothers Brawl is pretty good. At first the game appears to be little different from the previous installment. The controls and mechanics are the same, in fact you can play with a GameCube controller. The canon of characters, moves, and levels has been preserved but with quite a few additions.



I imagine the first thing people look for is motion control, as it is synonymous with the Wii. There is none. And that is as much a relief as it is a disappointment. I dreaded the possibility of a difficult control scheme (and I don't doubt the developers experimented with more than a few) simply to exploit the Wii's trademark feature. I expected something simplistic like shaking the controller to perform an attack, as in Mario Universe. But the controls are 100% old school and that adds some approachability to the game.

Brawl highlights one major drawback to the nunchuk controller scheme; it's difficult to be consistent with the analog stick. The game requires momentary up/up-left/up-right/... thrusts but this is hard to do reliably since the nunchuk is detached. In contrast, the Cube controller is held and steadied with two hands so 'up' is always the same direction. A great many unnecessary falls can be attributed to this, but (for me) not enough to warrant using wired controllers.



The most important gameplay change is that they restored some of the flow that was lost between the original and the sequel. The original Smash Brothers featured slow, fluidic motion. In Melee the character movements became very jerky, perhaps because opponents' movement was very easy to anticipate in the previous game. But this diminished controllability - even a seasoned veteran could accidentally double tap the stick and run off a cliff. Brawl is somewhere between the two, less frustrating than the Cube version, less predictable than the N64 game.



True to the series, most of the game content is unlockable. I was gratified to find that characters, levels, soundtracks, and such could be opened just by playing multiplayer skirmishes. The new unlockable characters include Ike (Fire Emblem), Pit (Kid Icarus), Snake (Metal Gear Solid), and Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog). It's a refreshing contrast to the traditional cast of goofy Nintendo creations. If Smash Brothers were a five on the nostalgia-mometer and Melee were a seven, Brawl would be sending glass shards and mercury all over the place. Everything from the characters, items, and levels to soundtrack revivals and remixes is an acid trip to the past. Good memories (except for anything involving Luigi).

Game modes...

• Versus: The fighting game staple. Humans or AIs, online or offline.
• Classic: Haven't played it yet, I'm guessing this is either tournament style or a remake of Melee's platforming segment.
• Subspace Emmissary: An entertaining solo or co-op platformer. Offers some brief and amusing cinemas, varied levels, and a Metroid-style world to explore.
  
• Events: Lots of brief scenarios for one or two players. Some original content here, not just instances of normal gameplay.
  
• Level Builder: Haven't tried it yet, but eager.
  

The visuals are a definite step up from the last game. Sure I'll always wish for the Wii to have hd and better hardware, but it'd be a crime to say the game looks anything short of first rate. The levels are colorful, active, and not nearly as treacherous as in Melee. There seems to be an enormous wealth of detail to every frame.