Random Encounters

Warner Brothers stirring up flames on Bleach

Remember the good old days when giant name studios tend to keep their hands off of our beloved cartoons? Well, more so than ever, those days are quickly turning into a distant memory as the majority of western cartoons have already been adapted into the big screen, many with unfortunate results (The Last Airbender). Well, Japanese Anime has not often had to endure such treatment from Hollywood (at least not yet), while many Japanese anime’s have gone through a transition from 2D to 3D live action films or tv shows with moderate success, very few of those have transitioned into the Western audiences. 

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Pikachu, I choose…oh wth?

By now, if you haven’t heard. A recent iTunes app that looked like the classic Pokemon Yellow came up on iTunes on Feb 17th selling for 99 cents. It quickly shot up to #2 on the app store chart fooling the buyers in thinking it was the real thing when in reality, the game crashed after the loading screen. The app has since been taken down by Apple and it’s creator (Daniel Burford) may soon find itself at the nasty end of some lawsuits for blatant copyright infringement. Mr. Burford is also on the hook for creating similar non working copies of Yu-Gi-Oh and Digimon. 

Aside from Mr. Burford’s woes, one has to wonder how Apple’s intense screening practice for apps could possibly have let this one slip by. While Apple is refunding customers who have been scammed by this app, it does bring into question the confidence level in Apple’s policy to protect consumers and creators alike. This is not the first time that Apple has had questionable plagiarizing content on its app store (Achilles Defense). Can indie app developers truly trust that their work wont be ripped off and sold under a different guise with Apple’s app system in light of this incident in which major publishers products get ripped off without warning? One of the reasons the Pokemon even got caught was the fact that it didnt really work and consumers complained. One can only wonder had a working version been released for 99 cents.

Source: Kotaku, Ironhide Games

Image Credit: Kotaku

Take Earth Back- Mass Effect 3 Trailer

Game trailers have gotten quite the visual stunner these days. The latest Mass Effect 3 Trailer shows off just some of the impressive elements we’ve come to expect from trailers, the visual prowess, the subtle emotional tug, and the epic background music. Its hard not to get excited about the ending of a trilogy that continues to expand upon itself. March 6th cannot arrive soon enough.

Darn, just realize I’ll be out of town for work that week… 

The Random Encounter

Last year I took a trip to Spain over the thanksgiving holidays. This was a trip planned at the last minute in conjunction with a business trip to England the following week. I figured to utilize the company paid for flight to also explore what would be my 4th country in Europe. It was a decision that paid off immensely

During this trip across several cities in Spain (Madrid, Segovia, Toledo, Seville, Granada, Barcelona), I encountered a wide variety of locals as well as quite a few tourists group. I am  a lone eagle in terms of exploration, preferring to find my own ways instead of going with prearranged tourist groups or guides. I will take exception to that as I did once in England in order to maximize time, but that’s a story saved for another time. 

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