The Bog Standard Blog

Thursday, July 3, 2008

THE AGE OF VIOLENT MASCOTS: NINJA GAIDEN II - BLOODY AWESOME!

In the gaming world there's always been a constant battle for exclusivity. And in these I-can-only-afford-two-games-a-year, PS3-VS-Xbox 360, next generation gaming times, the competition is fiercer, and more violent, than ever before. In the old days of K-TV Candice Hillebrand and innocence, gaming companies favoured family-orientated mascots to carry their names; Sonic the fuzzy blue Hedgehog (Sega), Mario the whimsical little plumber (Nintendo). But these days, Candice is playing cold-blooded assassin Nina Williams in the upcoming film version of violent arcade fighter Tekken, and video game companies are switching to limb-displacing antiheroes like Ninja Gaiden 2's blood-squirting protagonist, Ryu Hayabusa.

GAMING MASCOTS OF OLD...

MARIO THE PLUMBER

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG
Now, perhaps a climate of the times, exclusively-licensed gaming heroes look a little bit more like this, and cute and fuzzy has been bludgeoned to death by armed-to-the-teeth and dangerous:

XBOX 360: MARCUS FENIX - GEARS OF WAR (2006)

XBOX 360: MASTER CHIEF - HALO 3 (2007)

PS3: METAL GEAR SOLID - GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS (2008)

PS3: SHANE CARPENTER - HAZE (2008)

AND, Xbox 360: RYU HAYABUSA - NINJA GAIDEN 2 (2008)
Getting back to Ninja Gaiden 2, the bloodiest and most violent game I've ever played, Ryu Hayabusa is no stranger to exclusivity. First seen on arcade beat 'em up Ninja Gaiden, in 1988, Ryu has paid his ninja dues - from the arcades, to Nintendo, to Sega, until the Xbox release of Ninja Gaiden in 2004, and his new home with Microsoft.

RYU HAYABUSA CIRCA 1988.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE OFFICIAL NINJA GAIDEN 2 TRAILER

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE GAMEPLAY IN HD
If you watched some of the gameplay demoed above, you'll already know that Ninja Gaiden 2 is brain-hurtingly fast, slick, and gratuitously violent. The speed of Ryu's combat takes some getting used to, but when you've got it down, and your fingers are firing faster than Pete Doherty's synapses, the game dynamics are truly breath-taking to behold. But the best part is, despite all it's high definition glory and three dimensional artistry, at heart, Ninja Gaiden 2 is an old-school, combo-attack, arcade classic - smart thinking by game developers Team Ninja (but how could you screw up a ninja classic with a name like that?)

The story begins in Tokyo, six months after the events of Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword(Nintendo DS). Looking for Ryu, CIA agent "Sonia" is kidnapped by the Black Spider Ninja Clan (classic ninja stuff), and it's up to dragon ninja Ryu to get her back. Just like the violence, Sonia's physique is gratuitously exploited (high heeled boots and hot pants - standard issue CIA stuff).

While Ryu is chasing after Sonia, the Black Spiders attack Hayabusa Village in search of the Demon Statue (you've gotta love the Japanese). Eventually, "Queen of the Greater Fiends and the Ruler of Blood", Elizébet, takes the statue, and Ryu and Sonia must travel the world to get it back. All the while re-painting "just about any dam wall" red.

One of the main elements of gameplay that helps such a fancy next gen platformer retain its simplified arcade ramblings are the classic end of level "boss" fights. And the games full of them - increasingly epic and screen-filling the further you progress.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH RYU FIGHT THE MASSIVE BOSS OF CHAPTER 7
Overall, it looks awesome, the slicing and dicing is fast, to say the least, and the action is two dimensionally arcade, in the best possible way. The story also never loses the plot, and sticks to everything we've come to love about ninjas and their simple quests. And the style is authentically Japanese. A great hack and slash adventure for Xbox 360 owners.

GRAPHICS: 85% - In HD you'll be reaching out for a splatter suit.
GAMEPLAY: 85% - Fast, and furious. It's easy to look good. One or two manageable camera control issues though.
STORY: 70% - Never oversteps the mark. Keeps it simple. Keeps it ninja.
LASTABILITY: 80% - Fun and easy to pick up, again and again...
STYLE: 90% - With a design company called Team Ninja, what did you expect?
OVERALL: 82%

Friday, June 20, 2008

EVIL ROCKSTARS: ALKALINE TRIO'S NEW BLOODPACT WITH NIKE

"Distressed materials translate the punk ethos" - Nike (advertising bullshit)

With love from Alkaline Trio...
Hang on a second, that's new. Vampiric pop punk legends Alkaline Trio are about to release their major label debut Agony & Irony. And, as usual with rock bands and a new release, they're on the road, working their way through a tour itinerary as long as my arm. More unusually, and following in the *ahem* footsteps, of fellow mass-marketed horror punks the Misfits, Alkaline Trio kicked off their summer tour by unveiling the new limited edition Nike 6.0, Alkaline Trio, "Heart & Sole", Air Zoom Cush sneakers, as well as an extremely limited run of "messenger bags". Both are being released exclusively on June 27, at Jacks Retail Shop, in Huntington Beach, California. A nationwide launch is planned for July 11.

Predictably, Nike are spouting the usual kind of PR bullshit you'd expect, "the collaboration between Nike 6.0 and Alkaline Trio was a natural fit. Punk rock’s independent spirit is a common thread with action sports, and the band members live the lifestyle we support” - Tim Reede, Nike 6.0 Product Line Manager.

I don't know about you. But it all just seems a little weird to me. Almost overnight, Nike went from a jock-dependent sports shoe, to the coolest thing in street, skate, and "alternative" culture since the invention of concrete. A lesson in marketing if there ever was one. And a sobering example of how easy it is to re-invent peoples' perceptions, if you can afford it. And, by partnering with champions of the underworld, like Alkaline Trio, Nike Inc. get one more notch on their cool-belt. And they know we're suckers. Fuck, if I lived in Huntington Beach, I'd buy a pair.

Here's Matt Skiba's official statement, "We chose red and black as the main colours to reflect our Chicago roots and pay homage to the Bulls. We are huge fans. I’m also into sneakers. So seeing the swoosh and our logo on one product is unbelievable. The shoe looks amazing, and provides some insight into who we are." Can anyone say, cue card?

The limited edition Alkaline Trio "messenger bag"
As far as the "insight into who we are" bit goes, isn't that what the music's for? Apparently, custom design elements include; "reflective details and bike-tread-inspired graphics, correlating to the band’s formative years in Chicago, where the members met while working as bike messengers. Distressed materials translate the punk ethos, and the Alkaline Trio logo is featured on the heel cup. The Heart and Sole Cush is constructed of all synthetics, supporting select band members who are vegetarian."

What a load of bollocks! "Distressed materials translate the punk ethos." What the fuck are they talking about. It's a sneaker. A limited edition fashion accessory, for one of the richest companies in the world. I don't know about you, but I'd rather Nike didn't attempt any translations of the punk ethos. I guess I just understood it already, because it wasn't in a foreign language to begin with, i.e. it needs no translation.

But it's a co-branded world out there. Everyone's looking for a leg, or a foot, up - their own Fig Newton sticker on their windshield. Movie releases come with video games, limited edition sneakers, signature chocolates, clothing, and more...

Check out these Hellboy sneaks by Adidas

And these Hulk Nike Air Force 1s.

I guess it's just a case of getting old, insuring your future, and going from this:

To this:

How about this nifty Alkaline Trio watch

Here's a few other band/sneaker team ups:

Bad Brains and Vans

Millencolin and Vans

Rise Against and Vans

Misfits (Iron Maiden's band merchandising nemesis) and Draven

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

AT THE DRIVE IN: TWO AFROS AND A JIM WARD

“You're a robot. Your'e a sheep. Maa! Maa! Maa!” – Cedric Bixler-Zavala.

Photo by "Roel" - ATDI's last show, at Vera Groningen, Netherlands, 2001.
This morning I stumbled across the fact that At the Drive In's "One Armed Scissor" was the first song announced for Guitar Hero IV (due out in October). Co-incidentally, last night, driving through the city, I heard the band's magnum opus, Relationship of Command again.

What an amazing fucking album! As urgent now as the day it was written. But, apparently, that was all just “kiddy shit,” according to guitarist Omar Rodríguez-Lopez at least - “it's like seeing an old high school picture, where you have a mullet. And you're like, what was I thinking?” They can criticise it all they like. But to me, listening to it again now, Jim Ward's post At the Drive In band Sparta, and Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-Lopez's medicated looney tunes, The Mars Volta, don't even come close. They sound like two incomplete parts of a greater whole, crying out to be re-united. Ward and Cedric's voices were meant for each other - Ward the anchor, Cedric the entertainer, the madman, the raving lunatic.

It all started in El Paso, Texas, in 1993, with teenagers Jim Ward and Cedric Bixler-Zavala (then both members of punk band El Paso Pussycats). At the Drive In played their first show on October 15, 1994. Guitarist Omar Rodríguez-Lopez joined in 1996, and in 1997, the band settled on the core lineup of Omar (guitar), Cedric (vocals), Jim Ward (vocals, keyboard and guitar), Paul Hinojos (bass), and Tony Hajjar (drums). And, on the back of a reputation for mad, intense, and aggressively-energetic live shows, hard work, and a rabid-tooth for touring, they soon built up a loyal following of supporters. The band's first nationally-televised performance was minor radio hit, "One Armed Scissor", on the short-lived American music show FarmClub, in 2000.

Click here to watch the montage music video for "One Armed Scissor"

And here to watch ATDI's first nationally-televised performance - "One Armed Scissor", on FarmClub, in 2000.
But already, an in-group out-group dynamic was developing within the band. At the Drive In were becoming well-known as the band with the crazy afros. But Jim Ward didn't have an afro. He wasn't involved in the early incarnation of The Mars Volta, Cedric and Omar's experimental dub/reggae project De Facto with Jim's cousin Jeremy (who would later play a major role in The Mars Volta, with both his music and his fatal overdose). It almost seems like Ward, and At the Drive In, just weren't "weird" enough for the drug-taking, increasingly-eccentric pair of afros.

Click here to watch a funny home video featuring Omar and Cedric
In January 2001, At the Drive In traveled to Australia, to play the Big Day Out festival. 15 minutes into their Sydney show, Cedric started asking the crowd to calm down and observe the safety rules, "I think it's a very, very sad day when the only way you can express yourself is through slam dancing". The crowd refused. "You learnt that from your TV. You didn't learn that from your best friend. You're a robot. You're a sheep. Maa! Maa! Maa! I have a microphone and you don't. You watch TV way too much," shouted Cedric, and the band walked off stage. Later that day, 16-year old Jessica Michalik was taken to hospital, after she was crushed during Limp Bizkit's set (she died five days later).

Click here to watch Cedric's full sheep rant
Soon afterwards, after completing a successful world tour, and at the height of At the Drive In's fame and popularity, the band broke up. They played their last show at Vera, in Groningen, Netherlands. The split was initially called an "indefinite hiatus." But Cedric soon went public, taking the blame for the breakup, and explaining that he felt At the Drive In was holding him back, that the post hardcore, hardcore, and punk labels thrown at the band were restricting his creativity and limiting the music. He wanted to make more experimental, more against the grain, more progressive music. Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez said, in interviews, that they wanted their next album to sound more like Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

Click here to watch an interview with Cedric about selling out, radio, and "letting your freak flag fly".
Jim Ward has stated in interviews that he was happy with the breakup. That he started the band when he was 17, and, in ATDI, always felt 17. Back in 1994, Ward used the money from his college savings to fund Western Breed Records, just to release At the Drive In's Hell Paso EP.

After the breakup, At the Drive In drummer Tony Hajjar and bassist Paul Hinojos formed the band Sparta. Hinojos got in contact with ex-ATDI bandmate Ward, and convinced him to become the band's frontman. In 2005, Ward walked out on the band mid tour, stating, "I needed to get away from everything and everyone. I wasn't enjoying myself at all, and I didn't feel my life or the band was where I wanted it to be... I needed to step back and reassess everything." During the hiatus Hinojos switched sides, and joined The Mars Volta. In 2006, Sparta reformed, and released the album Threes. Ward has also released several solo albums, most recently, 2007's Quiet EP. He also has a new album out called West Texas, with his new project, Sleepercar.

Click here to watch the amazing music video for At the Drive In's "Invalid Letter Dept."
I'll never understand it. Maybe we're just not supposed to. But just watch the video above. It's amazing. Breathtaking. One of those great songs to be remembered forever. With no evidence of the "limitations" that drove the band apart. The Mars Volta's De-loused in the Comatorium (2003) is a great album. Parts of it almost sound like the natural progression of Relationship of Command. But (because I've heard Relationship of Command) I just can't shake the feeling that without Omar and Cedric, Jim Ward's just too dry and sane. And without Ward, Omar and Cedric are just plain nuts.