Grow some boobs for God's sake!

MCV has found that women, although being a minority in the industry, get paid better than men.

So one solution. Don't spend too much money on WoW and save it for hormones, take some early, and someday you'll turn into some beautiful muse:





She's called Harisu if you wonder. Of course they'll never tell you how much it cost "her" to get that fake female body.

On a sidenote, YouTube is well known for being the must-go-to place if you're looking for absolute bigotry when it comes to comments. Still, toki doki you may find some stuff that sticks out:


Don't ask, I think this one nearly bested ALIENS' exchange between Vasquez and Hudson.

YouShutup

Well, there have been busy times... many imperatives not allowing me to post the couple of articles I have in stock... still, today is a good day, for we welcome another proverbial smackdown, straight from They Who Make Shitloads of Money.

Well, maybe it was yesterday, I didn't check for sure. Or maybe it happened a while ago, but I doubt that. There's a clip I've watched a few days ago which got totally silenced.
The band in question is, without a doubt, extremely successful. They're global, they tour a lot, they're well known, etc.

If you didn't guess it, the news is that YouTube is muting copyrighted content, which as far as I observed, is all about the music video clips of artists and other bands.

Let's notice, however, that what they used to do before that was completely remove said clip. Which was probably even fairer and simpler in a way, because it makes a very bad publicity for artists to indulge with such behaviours. I don't know about you, but instead of being teased and convinced that I should go buy the whole damn thing just to try it, I'm merely pissed off and slap a "fucking cash fiends" etiquette on said band and move on.

YouTube has been repeatedly targeted by critics of its system and its illegal practices, allowing copyrighted material to spread without any retribution, and certainly no or very little financial compensation.

So we'll see, with time passing, if YouTube applies this measure to all clips, or if it happens to be the choice of some majors only.

If it's the later, you'll probably learn a lot about the artist(s) then. I for one can't help think that someone who really wants a group's music will either download it or buy it, eventually go watch them as they tour, but likely not settle on the low quality of such YouTube clips, which aren't even that easy to carry around and cram on your MP3 player you know.
If anything, YouTube remains a good way for spreading the music, and someone really has to tell me how YouTube hurts in any way the content, reputation or even sales of an artist's or band's production.

So be it. I've always enjoyed being able to listen to music to know if it was worth buying it. I'd spend hours in music shops and listen to complete CDs, and discovered so many groups this way (along many other ways which were all legal) that I find it a pity that art is returning to the few.

At least, there are the AltTubes.

EDIT: If you're looking for a definition of "success", look around for the four magic letters, F R E E. Trent Reznor's (Nine Inch Nails) album Ghosts I-IV has been Amazon.com's 2008 highest online sale.

Metal Gear Solist

We recently learned that the reason why the famous main theme of the MGS series, officially composed by Tappi Iwase, was left out of the fourth instalment because of musical plagiarism, notably similarities with Russian composer Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov’s Pushkin’s Garland, part of his Snowstorm soundtrack wrote in the 70s.

If you want to understand what the controversy is about, listen to the following sections.
Note: Just listen to the 5~6 seconds from the moment you click on the play button.

My advice: click on the links (the titles), you’ll be directed to a player that automatically cuts the sections, which makes it easier to listen to what’s relevant.

First, compare this section of the MGS theme to Sviridov’s creation:

Metal Gear Solid 2 - MGS2 Theme



Sviridov - The Snowstorm - Troika

Pretty close, eh?

And now this:

Metal Gear Solid 2 - MGS2 Theme



Sviridov - The Snowstorm - Winter Road

It sounds like in some cases, the MGS theme is Pushkin’s Garland, with a few notes left out. Other times, it’s just the same. Besides, the way the main sections of both tunes sound so similar, and even more, the way they are positioned, really explains why Konami didn’t insist.

Apparently, in this version of the game, the Soviet guy wins, don't you think? :)

This, of course, changes nothing to the quality of the series.

Hugo Awards clickable

I missed that news. The Hugo Awards (SF literature) have their own website, apparently since August. Good thing.

Day of Lolz

• We once again get a nice look at the nurtured corporate mentality that permeates through the layers of a giant labour lobster like Ubisoft (assuming it's true, I wouldn't be surprised much and I doubt miss Tremblay would have the company take such risks if she didn't have some kind of backup in a way or another).
  
  
• We have EA, on the same topic, claiming that such methods are not part of their "core values" (understand: their new shiny rules, because don't even pretend that this idea never crossed their mind even once).
  
  
• Reggie boy laments that third party devs are just too thick to understand the Wii and its deeper philosophical meaning (it's not just about shaking a plastic wang in front of the telly apparently).
  
  
• And finally, Eric Lindstrom tells us that what kept Lara Croft afloat for years was not her inflated rack, a massive marketing campaign and the fact that she's a ripoff of Indiana Jones with guns, but instead such mysterious things as "strength of character, fearlessness, and an independent spirit." What's that? I didn't notice any of this in the ads.

Have a nice day. ;)

• PS: I'll add a picture on top of this post some time later. Just to know...
  
  
• PS2: If we follow what Gamasutra is saying, it's rather curious how Eidos and Tremblay somehow confirmed that the letter was written as per the lady's own initiative (in private in other words), prior to the establishment of Eidos's studio in Montréal, yet the subject of the mail was "Eidos Montréal", and she introduced herself as being Eidos Montréal's human resources director, and was sent on Tuesday, the 26th of June, 2007. Maybe, but the Montréal subsidiary was announced the 15th of February of the same year. Wether or not the studio was already there, it was crystal clear and official that Eidos would also drop a business anchor in Montréal before F. Tremblay sent her mail.
  Tremblay was dismissed several months following the email, of course. Something tells me she didn't struggle to find another job.
  
  
• PS3: (to PSone) I finally got that image thing done. Nothing too fancy, just a smiley, still plain enough for what it's supposed to do (bring colours to the world!!!).
  
  
• PS4: This PS list is a tad too long methinks...

Tron's second life in video games

Now I think it's pretty much a futility in secrecy to pretend there's no sequel to Tron coming your way. I posted a video of the trailer there, along several remarks.

Now is just a good opportunity to link to this nice "sum up" article from Gameroom magazine, titled TRON: Coin-op Classic ... Box-office Bomb!

A small extract:

[Many] people are not aware that this colorful film was mostly shot in black & white. The 53 minutes of effects footage was filmed with a rarely used high-quality 65mm black & white film format. Each frame was then enlarged and printed on 16" x 20" Kodaliths. To understand the enormity and scope of this, each of these 76,320 frames had to then be re-photographed under a traditional back-lit animation process. This technique required each Kodalith to be lit from behind and photographed with colored lenses/filters, producing the spectacular 'glowing' effect. Most frames passed in front of the camera 12-15 times, with complicated shots 40-50 times! The estimated $4-5 million production figure was quickly bumped up to $10-12 million by Disney execs, finally costing the studio $20 million to produce.

[...]

TRON fell face first at the box office bringing in around $30 million by summer's end. In retrospect, the hype may have actually worked against the movie, for how often can a film live up to such unrealistic expectations? Some filmgoers (mostly kids) found it eternally magical, while others utterly forgettable. What remains irrefutable is the fact that TRON was indeed a visual masterpiece, forever changing the face of the film industry with its groundbreaking use of computer generated imagery.

Regardless of the film's performance, TRON was a success in the arcades.

Go read the rest at the other end of the link, User.