Gary's Blog

Just a place to find out what's on my mind, or what's occupying my time whilst I avoid actual "work."

 

VGN for January 27th, 2006

Video Game News:

More Parents hogging the controller.

By MAY WONG, AP Technology Writer Thu Jan 26, 10:49 PM ET

SAN JOSE, Calif. - In a sign that video games are becoming more popular as family entertainment, a national survey released Thursday indicates joysticks aren't just for kids.

Thirty-five percent, or about one in three parents, say they play, too, and 80 percent of that segment play video games with their children, according to the new survey commissioned by the Entertainment Software Association, a video game industry group.

The average "gamer parent" spends 19 hours a month playing video games, and spends roughly half that time playing alongside kids, the survey found.

Two-thirds of the gamer parents said they feel that playing video games has brought their families closer together.

Count among them Andrew Bub. "It makes us all laugh at each other," said the Milwaukee stay-at-home father of two.

As the founder of GamerDad.com, a Web site with game reviews and a discussion forum for parents, Bub has promoted the idea of video games as a family-bonding tool for years.

"Kids are going to play what they want to play, and parents are better off getting involved instead of sitting on the sidelines," he said.

Other survey findings: The typical gamer parent is 37, and almost half the group are women. Twenty-seven percent of gamer parents began playing video games around the same time their children started.

Final Fantasy XI release date.

Posted: 13:15 on 26 Jan 2006
By: Jon Wilcox

Square-Enix has today confirmed that the Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy XI will be released in Europe and Japan simultaneously on April 20th, the same day that the third expansion pack for the PC version of the game, Treasures of Aht Urhgan, is to be released in the territories. Although a price for the game is yet to be confirmed for the two territories the subscriptions costs in North America will be $12.95 (£7.27) a month with an extra dollar for every additional character owned by the player. Square-Enix has confirmed that the first 30 days of access will be free.

The Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy XI will contain the original game plus all three expansion packs (Rise of the Zilart, Chain of Promathia and Treasures of Aht Urhgan), with the community expected to swell from the current figure of 500,000 subscribers.

The new expansion pack will feature further places to explore as they begin to uncover the secrets of the Aht Urhgan empire, together with new jobs (Blue Mage and Corsair) and a host of new enemies to face, not forgetting that the Xbox 360 version will also sport Hi-Def visuals.

New DS design!

January 26, 2006 - After weeks of rumor and speculation, Nintendo today finally revealed its expected redesign of the Nintendo DS handheld system. Called the DS Lite, this new design will be released in Japan on March 2, 2006 and cost 16,800 yen (about 140 bucks US.) The redesign retains all the functionality of the standard DS, but makes things smaller, lighter and brighter.

The modified dual screen handheld has been tweaked into a smaller chassis. The new unit measures up to 133 mm wide by 73.9 mm tall by 21.5 thick. (that's compared to 148.7 x 84.7 x 28.99 mm in the original.) DS Lite weighs 218g, compared to the 275 g of the original.

DS Lite's biggest new technical feature is its updated set of backlit LCD screens. The system is brighter overall, and will give the user the ability to select from four different levels of brightness for viewing and/or battery consumption. A few other cosmetic changes were made to the new DS Lite -- there's a new hinge design, the power light was put on the left side of the hinge and is visible while the clamshell is closed, the mic is moved to top/center while the speakers are more centered, the Select and Start buttons are set on the bottom instead of top, and the power button is no longer on the front, and all of the dark button colors are changed to whites and grays. The cute DS logo is also placed on the front. Basic functionality, otherwise, looks to be identical to the original DS.

Nintendo has not yet revealed any of its US release plans, but expect an announcement in the next few hours from Nintendo of America. We'll keep you posted.

Video Games influence music sales?

 

By LAURENCE FROST, AP Business Writer Thu Jan 26, 12:29 PM ET

CANNES, France - Music scout Tim Riley hopes to discover the next Fat Joe — but has no intention of giving him a record deal.

If Riley finds the right Latino hip-hop sound — something close to the platinum-selling rap star himself — he'll sign the act straight away, for the third video game in the hit "True Crime" series.

"If everything lines up it's an amazing opportunity for an artist," he said. Riley has already helped launch several new groups in his job as worldwide music executive for U.S.-based game maker Activision Inc.

As consoles become ever more sophisticated, game budgets swell and record companies cut back their artist and repertoire departments, video gaming increasingly offers big breaks for musicians and, potentially, new revenue for labels.

Chicago band Fall Out Boy sold 70,000 copies of their new album in one week after the music was featured on "Tony Hawk's American Wasteland," a skateboarding game, Riley said.

 

Need to find an XBOX 360?

This program is a sort of data miner for store's inventory and updated receiving shipment logs of XBOX 360s in your area.  Check it out.

 

What I've been Playing:

Half Life 2!

Warriors

Pirates of the Caribbean--NDS

 

Anime news:

For Throttle...

http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=WEA041402

BONUS ANIME EXPLOSION: Full Metal Alchemist (movie)
Join us for a special bonus showing of anime on the big screen!

When: Midnight, Saturday, January 28th

Where: Lowes Cineplex at Universal Studios Orlando

We will begin wristbanding at 10:30 pm at the table just inside the lobby.

Be sure to come on out to Universal and watch FMA with us.
Come out early and catch the FX Show Costume Contest at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Full Metal Alchemist (movie)
 Munich, Germany, 1923. Two years have passed since Edward Elric was dragged from his own world to ours, leaving behind his country, his friends and his younger brother, Alphonse. Stripped of his alchemical powers, he has been spending all this time researching rocketry together with Alphonse Heiderich, a young man who resembles his own brother, hoping to one day find a way back home. His efforts so far had proven fruitless, but after lending a hand to a troubled gypsy girl, Edward is thrown into a series of events that could wreak havoc in both worlds. Meanwhile on his own world, Alphonse Elric ventures deeper into the mysteries of alchemy, searching for a way to reunite with his older brother.

Running Time: 105 minutes

Con Corner:

Otronicon!!

FX Show!!

Hit me up on AIM:  VGNOROCK

 

E-mail me gary@orock1059.com

posted by: Gary1059 at 08:21 | link | comments |

VGN for Friday, January 20th, 2006

Video Game News:


Top 5 reasons Gamers are better than Sports Dorks.

A sports Dork isn't just your casual sports watcher who catches the
weekend game.  He's the guy who knows everything about everything in
his
chosen sport or sports or at least thinks so.  He watches or listens to
sports programming outside of the actual game for hours every day,
accomplishing nothing.  He's way too obsessed with the accomplishments
of
people he'll most likely never meet and has a hard time making an
honest
connection to anyone who doesn't share his disease.  He's the guy who
makes every conversation into a free flowing trivia contest about stuff
you never needed or wanted to know about, all you wanted was last
night's score.  He thinks Jim Rome is actually God.  He's not your
average
sports watcher, he's a Sports Dork.



5.  Our hereos are actually heroes, and ones we can control the actions
of.  Yours are self-centered anabolically bloated tick sack egotists
who make way more money than they're worth from running forward and
falling down with some
other guy on top of them breathing heavy, or being able to run in a
straight line and catch balls or doing a bunch of drugs and date raping
girls.

4.  We actively participate in our hobby.  Sports dorks yell at the TV
screen for participation, usually thinking they know way better what to
do than the athlete he's yelling at.  He's a passive watcher of sports
who thinks it's more important than anyone else does.  We actually
control things and do stuff, then we go live life outside of that.

3.  If a hot chick (or guy for the chicks) asks a gamer to put down the
controller and have sex, they'll pause the game and go have sex. 
Freaky sex.  Anime sex.  A Sports Dork will angrily offer that the
person
wait until after the game, by which time he's too drunk and swollen
from
all that beer, chips and dip to maintain an erection.  Go ahead, ask a
Sports Dork to pause their game, see what happens.

2.  We don't naively think we're cooler than we actually are.  Sure,
statistically we're smarter than your average sports dork, but we
aren't
fooling ourselves into thinking the public sees us as something we're
not.  Sports Dorks think they're cooler than everyone by virtue of
their
extensive knowledge concerning shoe sizes of every pro baller since the
50s.  No, not really cool at all.

1.  Unlike you, one game won't kill us.  Sure that guy in South Korea
died after 50 hours of continuous gaming, but that spanned many games. 
Just recently one guy almost died over one game that beared no
consequence to his well being in any way except in his Sport Dork
brain.  Of
course, being a typical Sport Dork, the walk to the fridge may have
killed him too.





600,000 XBOX 360s sold...but not to me.

Fri Jan 13, 8:31 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) has sold
600,000 of its new
Xbox 360 video game consoles in the United States since its November
launch, an analyst for market researcher NPD Group said on Friday.


The Xbox 360 debuted to much fanfare on November 22 in North America.
Since then it has been in short supply. Analysts, video game publishers
and retailers have said shipments during the key holiday season fell
short of expectations.

Microsoft said in a statement that its challenge has been to meet
consumer demand for the Xbox 360. The company, which did not comment on the
NPD numbers, said its manufacturing facilities are running at full
capacity and that a third manufacturer will come online next month.

Microsoft last week confirmed its target of selling between 4.5 million
and 5.5 million Xbox 360 consoles during the current business year,
which ends June 30, 2006. It said in its statement on Friday that it will
provide information on its Xbox 360 business during its quarterly
financial report later this month.



Sony Reveals PS3 Titles

Some we know, some of which we don't; but please don't expect too
much...
Posted: 19:09 on 18 Jan 2006
By: Chris Leyton

In an attempt to fill the void encircling the Playstation3 since its
no-show at CES'06 Sony has today updated the Japanese Playstation website
with listings for the first six titles in development on the next-gen
format.

Although the likes of Gran Turismo Series and Genji 2 are hardly likely
to surprise, certain other titles are a little more mysterious but
ultimately likely doomed never to move outside of Japan.

The full list includes:


    * Eye of Judgement
    * Genji 2
    * Angel Rings
    * Monster Carnival
    * Gran Turismo Series
    * Everybody's Golf 5



Naturally anything even bordering specific has been kept well away with
even the tantalising suggestion of a release date marked as
unannounced. Still with only 17 weeks to go, we should hopefully have something a
little more concrete to go on.

Games sell well?  Really?



Walaika K. Haskins, newsfactor.com Tue Jan 17, 4:17 PM ET

Retail sales of video-game consoles, software, and accessories climbed
to a record $10.5 billion in 2005, an increase of 6 percent over the
$9.9 billion sold in 2004.


The record-setting year exceeded the previous record set in 2002 of
$10.3 billion, according to a recently released report from the NPD Group
that compiled the data from sales at some two-thirds of U.S. stores.

Portable-gaming devices such as the Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation
Portable (PSP) drove sales, accounting for some $1.4 billion in software
buys.


What I've been Playing:

Half Life 2--XBOX

Burnout Revenge in glorious HDTV



Anime News:

Join us for our free, monthly showing of anime on the big screen!

When: Midnight, Friday, January 20th

Where: Lowes Cineplex at Universal Studios Orlando

We will begin wristbanding at 10:30 pm at the table just inside the
lobby.
Zeta Gundam: A New Translation

87 years have passed since the day when mankind first emmigrated to the
space colonies along the orbit of Earth. Militarism has worked into the
corrupted Federal government, victorious in the One-year War, 7 years
ago. In response to this situation, an initially anti-earth coalition,
A.E.U.G., makes its move. Chaos could spread again, and disturb the
pseudo-peace of populated solar system, destroy youths and their romance.
Heroes and the wise who experienced the One-year War might survive and
fight with, or against each other's might, once again. A retelling of
the groundbreaking "Zeta Gundam" series, this new trilogy features
adjustments to character designs and up-to-date new scenes.

Running Time: 90 minutes


Convention Corner:

Otronicon 

January 20th-29th, Orlando Science Center.

FX Show 

January 27th-29th, Central Florida Fairgrounds.

posted by: Gary1059 at 19:36 | link | comments |

VGN for January 13th, 2006

Video Game News:



Link between video games and violence.



Elizabeth Millard, newsfactor.com Tue Jan 10, 8:20 PM ET

A new study has claimed that there might be a link between violence depicted in video games and increased aggressive real-life behavior in gamers.

In recent findings published on the New Scientist Web site, researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia noted that study subjects who played violent video games showed diminished brain responses to images of real-life violence.

The reduction in response correlates to aggressive behavior, according to the study's authors.

Testing, Testing

For the study, the university recruited 39 experienced gamers. They then were shown images of both nonviolent and violent scenes, while their brain waves were recorded.

Subjects with the most experience in playing violent games displayed lower response rates to the violent images. These players also were discovered to be more enthusiastic about "punishing" an opponent in subsequent gameplay.

Although there has been much discussion regarding violence in games, the new study actually is one of the few academic undertakings on the subject.

A study done by the University of Illinois last year claimed that there is no evidence of a strong link between video-game violence and real-life aggression in players.

Here Again

The connection between game violence and real-life violence has been debated for years, and likely will continue to be the focus of attention, said Jason Della Rocca, program director for the International Game Developers Association.

Those in the game industry have heard such arguments before, particularly after a tragedy like the school shootings in Columbine, which some attributed partly to the killers' affection for violent gameplay.

Della Rocca believes that, as violence continues to be prevalent in society, and games get even more popular, games will continue to be a source of blame.

"It's easy for people to point to games and say that they brainwash people or make them act in certain ways," he said. "But in reality, there are social pressures and family issues, and a huge range of factors that go into how people behave. Games are just an easy scapegoat."



Speaking of Tools who won't go away...

Thompson The Untouchable
Jack Thompson keeps the dream alive in an online interview where he describes games as 'masturbatory'...
Posted: 17:45 on 12 Jan 2006
By: Jon Wilcox

Always one to ensure that his psychotic drivel is never far from the pages of gaming journals, US lawyer Jack Thompson has once again surfaced like a whale catching its breath. In an article with NetJak, the infamous lawyer has likened himself to 1930s Al Capone catcher Eliot Ness commenting, "Eliot Ness didn't go after the small-time criminals. Eliot Ness went after Al Capone. Actually, I must offer my apologies to Al Capone. He only targeted adults, corrupt adults with his crimes. Capone never went after minors."

Since most of his problems with the videogames industry lay with Take-Two Interactive, it's a fair assumption to make that in his eyes at least, T2 is ol'Scarface himself. Repeating a move that he made against Time Warner back in the 1990s, Thomspon has recently become a shareholder of Take-Two Interactive, where he hopes to raise his various issues with the upper echelons of management to the other shareholders.

Later in the interview, Thompson is asked whether he would refrain from taking action against T2 if they told retailers not to sell to minors. Stating that he would drop legal action if the company stopped marketing mature games to children, Thompson did comment that he would still have an issue with mature games on moral ground (which is anybody's prerogative - I don't like BigMacs, but I wouldn't stop kids from going to McDonalds.)

What Mr Thompson fails to see is that the issue doesn't lie with game developers or publishers - instead US law should be such that minors are refrained from buying mature titles in the first place.




Analysts, developers: PS3 to cost $399-$699

Informal CNN/Money poll finds many industry insiders think Sony's next-gen console will be mighty pricey.
Ever since the PlayStation 3 was announced, industry watchers have been prognosticating its price point. Just over a month after E3 2005, Merrill Lynch predicted the game would sell for $399, even though it would cost an estimated $494 to make--before labor.
However, when Microsoft announced the Xbox 360, which uses current-generation DVDs, would sell for $399, many thought the PS3's internal next-generation Blu-ray disc drive would push its cost higher. That assumption was reinforced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week, when the first stand-alone Blu-ray disc player was unveiled--with a $1,800 price tag. (The Xbox 360 uses conventional DVDs, but will get an external drive which supports Blu-ray's rival format, HD-DVD).

In the wake of CES, CNN/Money correspondent Chris Morris decided to poll a nonscientific sampling of game analysts and developers to see how much they thought the PS3 will cost. "Several developers I spoke with (under the condition of anonymity) said their studios were expecting the system to launch at $499," wrote Morris, who included quotes from analysts who concurred with the assessment.
However, Morris said that not all insiders' estimates were the same. Some pegged the console as matching the 360's $399 price point--which, according to last year's Merrill Lynch report, means Sony could lose more than $1 billion during the console's first year on the market. Several developers also lowballed the console at $450, while others said it could cost as much as $699. However, as Sony is staying resolutely mum on the PS3--until GDC 2006, anyway--no price is yet official.




MS to deliver HD-DVD or Blu-Ray drive for XBOX 360.



Martyn Williams, IDG News Service Thu Jan 5, 6:00 PM ET

LAS VEGAS-- Microsoft said at CES that it plans to offer an add-on drive for its Xbox 360 gaming console that employs the HD-DVD optical drive format.
ADVERTISEMENT

The drive, expected later this year, will allow
Xbox 360 owners to watch high-definition movies on HDTVs by playing them through the console, said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division. No price or launch date was given for the product.

The Xbox 360, which Microsoft launched in late 2005, supports high-definition gaming. Later this year Sony is expected to launch its own high-definition gaming console, the PlayStation 3. The Sony console will be based around Blu-ray optical drive technology, which is a competitor to HD-DVD in the race to become the de facto replacement for high-definition DVD content.



Nintendo DS redesign?

Online retailer reports that Nintendo are set to announce a redesign of the Nintendo DS...
Posted: 16:38 on 12 Jan 2006
By: Jon Wilcox

Reports on Lik-Sang.com have today suggested that Nintendo may be just days away from unveiling a redesigned Nintendo DS, reinforcing similar rumours in Japanese publication Famitsu. According to the article, the announcement will be made on Monday 16th January though this is yet to be confirmed by Nintendo themselves.

What I've been playing:

Half Life 2

Finished Indigo Prophecy!!

Ninja Gaiden in HD.

Anime news:



 FX BEST OF SHOW WILL WIN $1000 IN PRIZES
Written by WasabiGuy  
Thursday, 12 January 2006


Wasabi Anime is producing a massive science fiction, fantasy, and anime costume contest to be hosted at FX: The Coolest Show On Earth and Hard Rock Live.  The contest is part of the FX toy show and convention taking place January 27th-29th at the Central Florida Fairgrounds.  Over $1000 in cash and prizes will be given away to winners with donations from JACON, Critical Mass Toys, Notable and Notorious, & Teddy Scares.  Preliminary judging takes place from 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM at the Fairgrounds on Saturday, January 28th.  The final judging (with celebrity judges) and award ceremony will take place that evening at 9:00 PM at Hard Rock Live in Universal Orlando’s CityWalk.

Following the event at Hard Rock Live, Anime Gaijin America will be hosting a FREE midnight anime showing at the Lowe’s Cineplex at Universal Orlando’s CityWalk.

BEST OF SHOW WILL WIN $500 IN CASH IN $500 IN "FX BUCKS" TO SPEND AT THE CONVENTION.  THE WINNER WILL BE PRESENTED ON STAGE AT HARD ROCK LIVE IN ORLANDO, FLORIDA.

Con Corner:


FXShow!!

January 27th-29th, Central Florida Fairgrounds.

posted by: Gary1059 at 21:50 | link | comments |

VGN for January 6th, 2005

Video Game News:

Portable gaming plus driving equals GameBoy

Tom Krazit, IDG News Service
Thu Jan 5, 2:00 PM ET
 

LAS VEGAS-- Nintendo has licensed its Game Boy Advance technology to automotive electronics supplier Visteon to use as part of a new portable gaming system for bored passengers, the companies announced Thursday at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show here.

 
Dubbed the "ultimate backseat babysitter" by Visteon's Greg Gyllstrom, vice president and general manager for the company's North American aftermarket business, the Dockable Family Entertainment System will now play game cartridges for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance as well as DVDs, executives said at a press conference.

The system resembles a small laptop computer or portable DVD player, with a 10.2-inch screen. It can sit on the lap or dock into a port on the inside roof of a car. The system hangs upside-down when docked, with the screen folding down as with other portable automotive DVD players.

A wireless controller and wireless headset come standard with the system, Gyllstrom says. Users can play any of their Game Boy Advance titles on the system, or plug in another Game Boy to allow two players to compete against each other for bragging rights or the honor of choosing the restaurant at the next rest area on their journey.

 

MS to ship a lot of 360s, by June?

Wed Jan 4, 11:37 PM ET
 
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. expects to ship as many as 5.5 million units of its Xbox 360 video game console worldwide by the end of June 2006, Chairman and co-founder Bill Gates said on Wednesday.

 
In a speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Gates said the company expects between 4.5 million and 5.5 million units of the game console to ship, according to a company statement.

More than 50 Xbox 360 games geared for high-definition TV will be available by the end of June, Gates said.

Gary's Take:  Yee-Haw.  This should have happened in November.

More on LIVE, get a demo.
Important part...

Xbox boss Peter Moore also announced that a demo of the forthcoming EA Sports title Fight Night Round 3 is now available to download via Xbox Live Marketplace

Link to Revolution?

Reports on the web suggest that the delayed Twilight Princess will utilise Revolutionary controller - sounds familiar...
Posted: 12:48 on 04 Jan 2006
By: Jon Wilcox

TVG has today stumbled across reports that the delayed Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess will utilise the revolutionary paddle controller when the game is loaded on Nintendo's next-gen console. Although not confirmed it seems to suggest that the long awaited title (joint top in the TVG Nation's most anticipated list) will take advantage of the Revolution's features despite it being released on GameCube...

Although not confirmed by Nintendo the reports that Twilight Princess may utilise Revolution's features seem a little...old...check out TVG's report from November 2005.

XBOX Live leads to molestation charge!  No extra fee...

Santa Rosa man arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a 14-year-old he met through Microsoft's online service.
In the Northern California community of Santa Rosa, police have arrested Ronnie Brendan Watts, 26, on suspicion of "performing a lewd act on a child and sending harmful matter to seduce a minor," reports the online branch of Santa Rosa's The Press Democrat newspaper.

Last fall, the two met through Xbox Live, an online gaming service which lets players play games together while talking to each other in real time, using headsets. Watts and the unnamed boy eventually swapped e-mail information, and moved on to communicating through instant messaging and video conferencing. The two allegedly exchanged explicit videos of each other before they agreed to meet in person at a local park, where the lewd act may have taken place, says The Press Democrat.

Sexual predation is nothing new to the online community. According to a poll conducted by the Polly Klaas Foundation, an organization with the goal to prevent child abduction, approximately 25 percent of 8- to 18-year-olds surveyed have talked about sex with a stranger online.

Watts is currently out on bail pending further investigation.

What I've been playing:

Indigo Prophecy

My new Samsung HDTV!

Anime news:

Miyazaki film fest!

Thursday, Jan. 5
8 p.m. Spirited Away (2002 – English-language version) – This wondrous fantasy tells the story of Chihiro, a lonely young girl trapped in a strange world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious and frightening transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free herself and return her family to the outside world. Voices for the English-language track, directed by John Lasseter, include Daveigh Chase, Jason Marsden, Suzanne Pleshette, Michael Chiklis, Lauren Holly and John Ratzenberger.
10:15 p.m. Princess Mononoke (1997 – English-language version) – Inflicted with a deadly curse, a young warrior named Ashitaka sets out to the westward forests in search of a cure that will save his life. Once there, he becomes inextricably entangled in a bitter battle that matches a proud clan of industrious humans against the forest’s animal gods, led by the brave Princess Mononoke. At the time of its release, this stirring adventure earned more money at the Japanese box office than any other movie in history. The English-language track features the voices of Gillian Anderson, Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Minnie Driver, Jada Pinkett Smith and Billy Bob Thornton.
1 a.m. Spirited Away (2002 – Japanese-language version)
3:15 a.m. Princess Mononoke (1997 – Japanese-language version)

Thursday, Jan. 12
8 p.m. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984 – English-language version) – A thousand years after a global war, a seaside kingdom remains one of the few areas still populated. But the people are engaged in a constant struggle with powerful insects who guard a poisonous jungle that is rapidly spreading across the earth.
10 p.m. Castle in the Sky (1986 – English-language version) – This high-flying journey begins when a young mining apprentice finds a girl wearing a glowing pendant. Together they discover they are both searching for the legendary floating castle Laputa. Standing in their way, however, are air pirates and secret agents.
12:15 a.m. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984 – Japanese-language version)
2:15 a.m. Castle in the Sky (1986 – Japanese-language version)

Thursday, Jan. 19
8 p.m. My Neighbor Totoro (1988 – English-language version) – Two young girls living in rural Japan find befriend Totoro, a giant furry forest spirit, in this gentle and infectious adventure. This was the first Miyazaki film to receive a wide release in the United States.
9:30 p.m. Porco Rosso (1992 – English-language version) – Porco Rossa is a valiant World War I flying ace whose face has been transformed into that of a pig by a mysterious spell. After he infiltrates a band of sky pirates with his aerial heroics, the pirates hire a rival pilot to get rid of him, who also just happens to be Porco’s rival for the affections of the beautiful Gina.
11:15 p.m. Whisper of the Heart (1995 – English-language version) – Miyazaki-san wrote this tale of a young girl who finds that every book she checks out from the library has also been checked out by a mysterious boy. Whisper of the Heart was directed by Yoshifumo Kondo, who served as animator on Princess Mononoke.
1:15 a.m. My Neighbor Totoro (1988 – Japanese-language version)
2:45 a.m. Porco Rosso (1992 – Japanese-language version)
4:30 a.m. Whisper of the Heart (1995 – Japanese-language version)

Thursday, Jan. 26
8 p.m. Only Yesterday* (1991 – Japanese-language version only) – Isao Takahata directed and Miyazaki-san executive-produced this tale of a woman who travels the Japanese countryside reminiscing about her childhood.
10:15 p.m. Pom Poko (1994 – English-language version) – This tale from director Isao Takahta and executive-produced by Miyazaki-san tells the story of a colony of raccoons who are being forced from their homes by local development. As it becomes harder to find food and shelter, they decide to band together and fight back. They practice and perfect the ancient art of transformation until they are able to appear human.
12:30 a.m. Only Yesterday* (1991 – Japanese-language version)
2:45 a.m. Pom Poko (1994 – Japanese-language version)

Turner Classic Movies, currently seen in more than 70 million homes, is a 24-hour cable network from Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company. Since its launch in 1994, TCM has presented the greatest motion pictures of all time from the largest film library in the world, the combined Time Warner and Turner film libraries, from the ‘20s through the ‘80s, commercial-free and without interruption. More information is available at the TCM website at www.turnerclassicmovies.com.

Con Corner:

FX!

January 27: 6pm-10pm
January 28: 10am-6pm
January 29: 10am-4pm
Central Florida Fairgrounds!

New AIM SN:  VGNOROCK

posted by: Gary1059 at 07:01 | link | comments |