The trailer for Spider-Man is out. It's worth watching for the last scene in particular.

My friend Erick, who works with me at TheMan.com, has a new game up at his site Frogsoda. It's a new take on the old favorite, Asteroids. His new version is called Hemorroids, and its played entirely inside someone's sphincter. More groundbreaking territory for games!

The New York Times is running an intriguing article called Game Theory: Gee Whiz. Must I Keep Slaughtering? It talks about a Playstation 2 game called Zone of the Enders that seems to have created a shoot'em up scenario with ambivalence: the protagonist feels remorse for the lives that are lost while completing his mission, the bad guy seems "damaged" rather than evil, and the ending is left somewhat open-ended. Great to see games introducing more emotional complexity along with better graphics.

Back by popular request! I've found a comment system for In Sequence--and it even shows how many comments have been made per post. Hope you enjoy it! A big warm thank you to the nice folks at Reblogger for their generous programming efforts.

I watched Toy Story 2 last night on DVD. I hadn't seen it before, but I agreed with what the critics had said about it--that it was as good as the first one.
I really enjoyed the characterization of the toy collector--played by the always-good-to-see Wayne Knight--as an underground hipster type, such as are frequently found in certain parts of L.A. They had all the accoutrements down: from the classic 1950s car to the retro modern furniture in his home. That was a giggle, particularly since I'll bet it was intended as something of a self-parody on the part of the animators.
I also loved the scene where the toy repairman comes in with all his paraphernalia to clean the cowboy doll. I was fascinated by all the tools and the obsessive detail of it all.
My girlfriend and I were embarrassed to find ourselves tearing up during the Sarah McLachlan song, about the pain experienced by a toy when it is discarded by its owner. I have to give big points to this movie for its effective use of music, since so many movies seem to have songs pinned on to them without regard to how they contribute to story development.
The massive Barbie doll pool party was on screen for only a moment or two but my mind boggled with the many Sapphic possibilities. An idea for a sequel, perhaps?
I also enjoyed the "outtakes" that were included as part of the DVD bonus material. It was a fun goof on the concept of bloopers, which I usually find somewhat boring.