With this week's special guest host: Ben Judd!
So July is a HAWT HAWT month over here at the FSA Headquarters Japan Branch! We've got some major events coming up in the near future with E3 and Comicon right around the corner. So many in fact that Gearoid and I are going to have to split and conquer!
That's right everyone's favorite, favorite Irishman will be leavin’ on a jet plane to the good ol' US of A for E3 (<-- Damn, that's a lot of letters) and you know what that means... "we got some new stuff to show you".
But enough about him. Let's talk about me! I will be going to one of my favorite cities in the US... San Diego. Even as a kid who was making the transition from comic books to video games, I always felt that Spencer was a hero that really fit comic books as well. It's one of the reasons I pushed to get some major talent for the serial comic book (and wait until you hear who is doing the cover!) and we will be making a huge splash at Comicon. Although Saturday has been sold out for a while, we actually have secured the largest presentation hall in Comicon for a special 1 hour Bionic Commando presentation from 5PM to 6PM. The show is going to packed with some pretty cool guests, some "RAD" merchandise, and rumor has it we will be holding a BCR multiplayer tournament to see who is the king of the swingers!
But wait! That's not all! (Thanks for the "upsell tips" SchwannyT)
Word on the street is that Ben Judd will also be participating in a special panel about how to "break into the industry". To be honest, I'm old and can't even remember how I broke into the industry... well, I'm sure it involved a lot of brown-nosing! So gimme me some hints! If I get a good one, I promise to list that as one of the ways to break into the industry during the presentation. Let's try not to go too overboard... we don't want to get Ben Judd thrown into jail right!
We'll have more detailed info on Comicon over the next few days so keep checking back in! And the image above might just be a clue…
Competition Answers
The
competition to win retro Rearmed t-shirts is now closed and we are
counting up the first 10 winning entries right now. In the meantime,
we’d like to put you out of your misery by showing the correct answers.
So many entries came within one question of success! And don’t worry,
we were not counting the “Bonus Question” in #5 for the entries.
1. In what year was the original Bionic Commando game released in the arcades in the US?
A: 1987
2. What is the full name of the hero of the next-gen Bionic Commando and Bionic Commando Rearmed?
A. Nathan “RAD” Spencer (we'll accept just “Nathan Spencer")
3. What is the title of the song that plays on Area 12 in Bionic Commando Rearmed?
A. “Rise of the Albatross”
4. What computerized warning is issued to you by the Area 05 boss in the NES version of Bionic Commando, and then again by the D-1 Beetle in Bionic Commando Rearmed?
A. “Pi pi pi”
5. Who gives you the bazooka in the original Bionic Commando? Bonus points if you know this character’s updated name in Bionic Commando Rearmed.
A. Hal. The character is named Haley in Rearmed.
6. What does Spencer’s nickname, “RAD”, stand for?
A. Research and Development
7. What does FSA stand for in the new Bionic Commando games?
A. Federal States of America
8. What is the name given to the executive order that outlawed development and possession of bionics, which ultimately created a bionic terrorist movement?
A. The Bionic Purge
9. What is Super Joe’s last name?
A. Gibson
10. What are the codenames of the two prototype bionics that Spencer is ordered to assassinate following the events of the NES game/Bionic Commando Rearmed?
A. Forge and Shrike
11. Who composed the music for the Commodore C64 and Amiga conversion of the Bionic Commando arcade game?
A. Tim Follin
12. How many times do you fight the Bio-soldier (AKA Groeder) in the original Bionic Commando game for the NES?
A. 3 times
13. The Gamma communicator is used in which areas of the original Bionic Commando game for the NES?
A. 7, 8 and 9
14. What is the name of the evil mastermind seeking to put Project Albatross into action?
A. Generalissimo Killt
15. In the Japanese version of Bionic Commando for the NES, what is the name of the character who gives you Super Joe’s machine gun?
A. Schwarzenegger (no, seriously)
16. How long do you have to escape the last area before the base “explods?”
A. 60 seconds
17. What is the name of the special ammunition round that Spencer uses in “Chain of Command”?
A. SCRAM
18. What year is Joe’s memoir dated in Bionic Commando for the NES?
A. 2010
19. Which Bionic Commando game features online multiplayer?
A. Bionic Commando (NOT Bionic Commando Rearmed)
20. Who is the Director of Bionic Commando Rearmed?
A. Simon Viklund
That’s it for this week folks. Congratulations if you read all the way down here!
Comments
There are 22 comments on this post. Post a Comment
Breaking into the industry
Hey Ben!I noticed you were gathering tips on how to break into the industry (read about how you did it, and boy, it sounds like a crazy transition) and I thought I'd pitch in with my two cents:
This is from personal experience: no matter where you are, the chances of there being an outsource company nearby are fairly high. In countries like India and China, these are in abundance, and I'd expect the same goes for Europe.
Applying as an intern or an artist (if that's your line of work) to an outsource company usually gives you a chance to build up your resumé, as you get to create a fairly wide range of art for numerous different clients.
In the event that you get hired into some sort of management position, you'll likely build up a fair number of connections within the industry (Especially if you get taken on as a Producer, which is what happened in my case).
I should be releasing some Very Cool™ BC-related desktops and icons for both Windows and Mac soon, so keep your eyes peeled...
Getting 1-4 questions wrong is soul-crushing
"So many entries came within one question of success!"To quote Darth Vader, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Area 14 is where you get the Gamma communicator not where you need it, WHY WWWHHHYYYY!!!! I think I got other questions wrong too, I should have saved my anwsers now I will be left wondering for all eternity :(
Still congrads to the winners ;)
Ya stupid communicators
I missed the communicators one too. That was a tricky question. I almost forgot that you fight Groder 3 times but the "How long do you have to escape" reminded me of the 3rd fight.(Hey Ben thanks for the nod. Mention me in the podcast and my life will be complete!)
Lucky I don´t have a bionic arm..
..because i would get crazy and crush some faces like that picture; I ANSWERED ALL RIGHT BUT ONE¡¡¡ That "motherfurker" question 15¡¡ I mean, how the "fiddlesticks" hell would i know the name of ANYONE in the japanese version¡¡ ..ups i sprayed all the monitor..@Rodraven
Top Secret: The Bionic Commando Podcast is your friend...Sorry but we wanted to make the contest as hard at the real game will be!
Ben
Procreation, or as they say, the act of playing together.
That communicator was never in my kitchen.
I feel like Cliff Clavin in that episode of cheers where he goes on Jeopardy and completely destroys the other contestants. He's so good, and then he gets to final Jeopardy, and totally blows it since he risked everything while being so far ahead of the other contestants, and loses. I think it's on Youtube somewhere.Really looking forward to the Steve Blum podcast. I think he'll really make Super Joe into a great character in the 3D game.
whups...hey, I did a captinsquash.
Sorry about that first post. I was just gonna press back and then I hit enter...I hate it when that happends...Anyway the online for BC looks sweet. Now, I'm not much of a guy that likes to compete with strangers over the internet. I blame WoW for turning me off that competetive side of playing. Whether it was getting ganked by a higher level, better equipped character, or being beaten by a lower level char by the element of surprise (alternitevly me just plain sucking). It left me scarred. Being the non-confrontational type of person that I am, I stopped attacking other players and went for the hills at the first sign of trouble.
Seeing the multiplayer in BC though made me want to try it so much. It brought back memories of a time before WoW. Where I played some online shooters and I remember I even played some Tekken online on the PS3.
I've decided to get my act together, stop being such a wuss over bad experiences and get back into online gaming If for no other reason that Bionic Commando's multiplayer looks crazy awesome. (but for now I'll start with some smash bros. yeah!)
I see...
HA HA HA, Good one ben¡¡ (I really hope it is that hard)Does anyone know...
...what type of multiplayer modes there will be? Deathmatch looks pretty obvious, but if there are CTF, or zombie modes that would be pretty cool to know ahead of time. I guess its needless to say, but "I wanna play!!!"so, uh, if you are planning on releasing a demo via xbox live, do it soon!
How I became a producer
Well I realize not ever-one gets their big break.. but this is how I got mine.I just kept telling myself:
"Confusion is necessary for intrigue"
Then once I was done stuffing my amputated legs into garbage bags I quickly proceeded to do a naked somersault off my Segway. After about 200 feet of barrel rolling, I quickly and precisely shot out the battery of the dangerously fast, and out of control segway.
Battery acid leaked all over the ground, doing little to no damage to anyone. Unhappy with the anti-climatic ending I was forced to activate the C4 plastic explosive in the side crates, the blast killed many people and left many more injured.
After about 9 months in the hospital and the grueling rehabilitation to re-learn the use of my legs I was finally going to become a producer.
THE END
How to Brown Nose your way in...
Well, I'm not part of Capcom just yet, but there's just not one way to kiss some butt. Ultimately though, all my opportunities have come from one place; the Capcom Community. It's the perfect chance to meet guys like you, Ben. A bit more light-hearted answer is as I stated in the Pod-Cast, be a "Post Whore." =D--
Shawn
Wow check out this audio surf
I personally have never played audio surf, and I have no idea how it works but here's a Bionic Commando level:http://youtube.com/watch?v=o7jektJyXuY
In other new I gotta tell you snow.infernus@gmail.com I think that if you just tried my way the results would leave you crippled for life, but maybe a producer? I dunno
and is the pic above wat happens to people who lose the BCR tournament? (thats how you motivate)
I should have done it
I think I would have fared fairly well in the competition, but alas--My internet connection is spotty at best. Amazingly enough, if anyone had google video'd "let's play bionic Commando" by...I know I'll mess this up.. Kafka Floyd, all of the answers were there. The communicators, the names, everything. Granted I wasn't hoofing for a shirt but it would have been pretty cool (or very un-cool) that I know this much about the game. Rock on my BC brothers!!BCR multiplayer tournament!!!!!!
Damn! I soooo wish I could go to Comicon to play against some of you guys! That's gonna be a great time. Cant wait to hear more news about BC.To Ben Judd
by the way everyone needs an attention grabbing beginning to the speech and even though I wrote that when I was drunk (Because of the 4th). I'm giving you permission to plagerize it, I know I'm too kind... Yup just view it as thanks for reviving one of my favorite childhood gamesHey Typhon, that's me!
I'm kefkafloyd. And I still botched a question due to my own hubris ("I don't need to look up the communicators," I said, "I've played that game a bajillion times, OF COURSE I KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER").I did that LP two years ago right when video LPs started taking off at the Somethingawful forums. The quality is really bad. I should really re-do it. One of the videos is terribly out of sync.
Good to know.
Wow, I must seem like a real dumbass. Yeah, the audio wasn't THX quality or anything, but I've watched those a few times to get my fix on the old game. Anyway, you'll have to make the Gradius LP on rearmed when it hits. Thanks man.