Maxwell Einstein and Pencil Shavings present..

eX-Box Xyanide & Freaky Flyers; Castlevania Collections; Contra; Civilization 360

2008-07-23T19:51:00.001-04:00

Picked up some really cheap XBox games today, for around $9 total! Xyanide ($4.99), a good-ol' shmup, and Freaky Flyers($3.99), a Diddy Kong Racing clone. I'll have to get home and try these two games out and post some impressions & possibly a review or two. We'll have to send them through the Pencil Filter and post some videos of the stuff! That is, if Einstein ever gets back from vacation!

I'm also searching for Judge Dredd: Dredd vs Death, a FPVS (first person vampire slayer) game, that is definitly good for a few-
if not several- laughs.

Speaking of Vampire games, Max has gotten his hands on some Castlevania titles: Circle of the Moon, Aria of Sorrow, and Harmony of Dissonance for the GBA, and has re-acquired Castlevania Bloodlines (Sega Genesis) and Super Castlevania IV (SNES), as well as Castlevania: Dracula X (SNES). Bloodlines still ranks as one of our favorites, gameplay and style-wise, while Super Castlevania IV has some of the best music short of Symphony of the Night.

Also, Contra Hard Corp, Contra Force, and Contra III: The Alien Wars are lurking in the shadows, but aren't generating as much excitement at Beacon High Command and Fortress Knarf as the Castlevania titles and the new XBox purchases are. Plus we're gonna have to get Knarf & Einstein plugging away at Golf: Tee It Up! and Civilization for the XBox 360.

We'll be posting some more shit soon to check out!

XBox Live Arcade: E3 Rumors > E3 News

2008-07-17T15:09:00.003-04:00

XBox Live Arcade!! !! !!
..
July 16th Release: The Troika of Teh Suck?

Coffeetime Crosswords
- It's a crossword puzzle game. No shit. With 2-player local co-op.

Draft Tracker
(again from Fanboy): The Tracker acts as the middle man between EA's online fantasy leagues. Using the tracker commissioners who host league drafts offline and in-person can import your fantasy league settings. Once settings are established, players can select their picks with the tool and then upload completed drafts to their online accounts on EA's Fantasy Sports website. The tracker is priced at 400MS points.

Double D Dodgeball
-Featuring up to 4 players locally or 8 players online, D-triple is described as a retro-style dodgeball game. The tiny 17MB download is also priced at 800MS points.

Sometimes I do forget how insane NFL Fantasy Draft stuff is, I should reserve judgment, but I won't. No thanks. Guess I'll be checking out Double D Dodgeball, see if there are any boobs in it to justify the title. That is, if there was anything to download on the page to begin with.. Oooops, now there is no entry whatsoever for Dodgeball.Oh look, Dodgeball is back up... and boy, does it SUCK! $10 for this shit? Give me Blasto! for $39.99 on the PSX!

Here's a crushed screen of some upcoming titles on XBLA:
1942: Joint Strike, Braid, Fable II Parlor Games, Galaga Legions, Castle Crashers, Uno Rush, Geometry Wars 2.

The apparent UNO Rush integration of the Xii's is disturbing, but I hope to make a Goliath for my Davey Xii.

Galaga Legions looks pretty sweet and crazy, (lightning in a bottle)^2 for Namco/Bandai?

...

holy shit, July 16th, Double D Dodgeball... man it fekkin SUCKS! It goes beyond being 'teh suck'... it SUCKS SHIT.

You may have asked...

2008-07-13T14:45:00.003-04:00

Hey, what gives? You sunzah bitches haven't blogged in over a month! How do you expect us to care about following Einstein & Pencil Shavings if you don't say anything?

Well, just sit back and check this shit out..

Einstein and Pencil Shavings have various conduits for dispersal of our nonsense.
First, we have XBox Live. There are 3 GamerTags out there, T3 Einstein, MaxShrek, and Pncl Shvngs..

Second, we use the MySpace thing:

The Fragged, Pencil Shavings proper, and Einstein's Page.

We also post some nonsensical fun on YouTube! YouTube is fun to jackass around with, we really enjoy it! Here are some examples:

Einstein went On The Road, and will have some stuff to post soon (as of July 14th 2008), and is going to get some editing done to get this shit out.

Anyway, MaxShrek is also going to be slamming the Midway Arcade leaderboards

A funny thing happened..

2008-05-27T15:10:00.000-04:00

I actually found somebody to play online Robotron:2084 on XBox Live. Go figure! Even got an achievement out of it for 10 points. Not bad, now to find somebody to play the OTHER 50 or so games nobody plays online anymore!

In the Hopper: videos & ideas

2008-05-17T17:06:00.003-04:00

Team Pencil has convened Four Tokens Films again, for May-June 2008. Currently our projects include Pencil Travelogue: Redux 2008, from the incomplete Pencil Takes a Break series. It was incomplete due to circumstances beyond our control and irreconcilable personal and creative differences that reared within Team Pencil, but has since been rectified with removal of certain negative influences.

Also the American Nightmare video clip set to Grand Theft Auto game videos and/or photos (haven't decided just yet on whether it will be a still-photo montage or a video, but leaning towards video) is in the pre-production stages! The Spongebob Review didn't work too well, so we are most likely going to jettison it or re-shoot it.

Anyway just to keep our 5 readers glued to the conglomerate that is:
The Gravediggers Reconnaissance Unit, Team Pencil, and Four Tokens Films !!

Pencil Swag sways!

2008-05-15T04:53:00.003-04:00

New updates to the Pencil Shavings Ring of Swag!

Gears of War GoW Fuck Yourself t-shirts!/>

Run for Cover Guy hats!

Four Tokens Films cameraman t-shirts!

Fragville Junction Alumni shirt!

The Vexilum Captus sweatshirt!

Don't forget to watch for updates at MaxPencil on YouTube, and the new(!) updates to Pencil Shavings (.net) & Four Tokens Films!

We're also trying to figure out a way for Einstein to get some sort of webcast to play some classic songs for the kidz!

Stay tuned, the oftne promised updates ARE COMING! Please be patient!

74 degrees & sunny.. time to be inside

2008-05-06T12:42:00.003-04:00

Grand Theft Auto IV(IntraVenous), the latest game to pump more life into the parasite that is gaming, has taken sales figures, politicos, angry parents, shut-ins, gaming nerds, and agoraphobes and thrown them to the wind. Right into a woodchipper. Yes, this game is all you thought it would be: violent, vile, crazy, bloody, graphic, sexual, adult, creative, expansive, gigantic, amazing. Multiplayer co-op and versus. Offline and online connected via your character's (Niko's) in-game cellular phone.

I've only played through a couple of missions, because I have been concentrating on the online multiplayer aspect of the game. 16 player deathmatch, all for one, multiple teams. Ah, the blood flows like grass through a goose. Pass me a sponge? The only hang-ups I've seen so far, are the lag issues which lead to invincible enemies, and players who have already memorized and learned the game quicker and faster and more intensely and more accurately than they had studied for high school finals, pregnancy tests, and the occasional piss-cup test.

It is also fun to vicariously drive through a deformed New York City Metro area: Pulaski Skyway; the chemical plants and refineries in Jersey; Times Square; Liberty Island; LaGuardia; Coney Island; drive across the Brooklyn Bridge..... and Rykers Island, among others..

I don't write reviews of games, I write opinions. My opinion, you will like this game, for either platform (360, PS3).. Listen up for the XM Virues "AFRO Connection" on the radio: Ron Bennington, Fez Whatley, Anthony Cumia, "Little" Jimmy Norton, Patrice Oneal, Opie Hughes.

The XBLA List so far

2008-05-03T22:17:00.002-04:00

XBox Live Arcade titles as of April 23rd, 2008:

The complete compilation can be found at Gamers With Jobs, with comments, opinions, semi-reviews, impressions, begging for Ikaruga, etc... etc.. While your there, why not sign up at GWJ and become a member?

#, A, B, C

3D Minigolf
Aegis Wing
Alien Hominid
Arkadian Warriors
Assault Heroes (soon: Assault Heroes 2)
Asteroids / Asteroids Deluxe
Astropop
Band of Bugs
Bankshot Billiards 2
Battlestar Galactica
Bejeweled 2
Black
Bliss Island
Bomberman Live
Boogie Bunnies
Boom Boom Rocket
Brain Challenge
Bugs of War
Burnout 3
Carcassonne
Castlevania- Symphony of the Night
Catan
Chessmaster
Cloning Clyde
Commanders: Attack of the Genos
Contra, Super Contra
Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex
Crimson Skies
Cyberball
Crystal Quest

D, E, F

Defender
Dig Dug
DOOM
Double Dragon
Dreamfall: Longest Journey
Eets: Chowdown
Every Extra Extend Extreme
Exit
Fable 2
Fatal Fury Special
Feeding Frenzy
Frogger
Fuzion Frenzy

G,H,I,J

Galaga
Gauntlet
Geometry Wars
Golden Axe
Gripshift
Gyruss
Halo
Hardwood Backgammon
Hardwood Hearts
Hardwood Spades
Heavy Weapon
Hexic HD
Hexic 2
Ikaruga
Indigo Prophecy
Jewel Quest
Jetpac
Joust

L, M, N, O

Lost Cities
Lumines Live!
Luxor 2
Mad Tracks
Marathon: Durandal
Marble Blast Ultra
Metal Slug 3
Metal Arms
Millipede & Centipede
Missile Command
Mr Driller Online Offline
Mutant Storm Reloaded
Mutant Storm Empire
New Rally X
Ninja Gaiden Black
Novadrome
Omega Five
Outpost Kaloki X

P, R, S

Pac-Man, Pac-Man Championship Edition, Ms Pac Man
Paperboy
Pinball FX
Poker Smash
Prince of Persia
Psychonauts
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
Rez HD
RoboBlitz -- if they released free multiplayer, would anybody remember this title?
Robotron: 2084
** Rocketman: Axis of Evil
Root Beer Tapper
Rush'n Attack
Scramble
Screwjumper
Sensible World of Soccer
Shrek n Roll
Sid Myer's Pirates
Small Arms
Smash TV
Soltrio Solitaire
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic 2
Space Giraffe
Speedball
SpongeBob SquarePants Underpants Slam
Spyglass
Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting
Street Trace NYC
Super Puzzle Fighter II HD Remix
Switchball

T, U, W

Tapper
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Tempest
Tetris Splash
Texas Hold 'Em
Time Pilot
TiQal
TotemBall
Track and Field
Triggerheart Exelica
Tron / Discs of Tron
Undertow
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
UNO
Wik: Fable of Souls
Wing Commander Arena
Word Puzzle
Worms

X, Y, Z

XBox 360 Arcade Controller
Xevious
Yaris
Zuma

WWJP? What would Jesus play?

2008-04-27T22:57:00.001-04:00

I wonder what games Jesus would play..

Would he play flash-based games on the Wii?
Would he swap friend codes with me?
Does he play Halo and pwn teh n00bz?
Or play Dead or Alive just for the boobs?

I doubt he would play The Suffering, or Dead to Rights, or Fugitive Hunter..
He may play on the PC and install some kind of punter..
He could play Warhawk or Ace Combat, but he can already fly,
He's omnipotent, he doesn't even need to try.

He could play some RPG and resurrect from the dead,
It's been done before, at least it's been said.
Playing 25 to Life would be way too beneath him,
But there's a chance he would like some kind of Sim..

I don't know, but he's a powerful figure and all,
I'm quite positive, however, he still plays pinball.
No tilting or pushing, he's a magnetic type,
The ball he controls, he confided on skype!

The consoles are nice, but I think he would say,
"LOL teh n00bz play these games too much, I would pwn all rofl."
... nah, I'm just kidding.

Rough Image, sans color

2008-04-26T22:32:00.002-04:00

Now all that is left to do, is to straighten out the seams and add some color to the thing!

2008-04-26T20:17:00.002-04:00

The Pencil Bunch

2008-04-26T18:25:00.002-04:00

Red Ring of Death, Part 2

2008-04-26T18:22:00.001-04:00

Shmup me a Shmup: The XBLA Shoot'emups!

2008-04-26T17:12:00.005-04:00

Taking a look at XBLA, there are a fair amount of shmups in the classic sense and in a related sense. Breaking it down on what's currently on the MaxShrek console:

Aegis Wing - Free download created by interns. Decent game, a little sparse in relation to the weapons and enemies. Graphics are decent, music is a bit ostentatious(a big word!).

Assault Heroes - not a shmup in the classic sense, this one plays like Ikari Warriors or Commando, but it the scrolling can stop if your player stops on the screen. Most shmups will keep it scrolling, aka Lifeforce, Gradius/Salamandar. A fun game, obviously one of those games made more for an HD set-up, but it is still very playable in SDTV.

Galaga - the Stationary Shmup.. Plays like Space Invaders, but ads dropping attack enemies, a more colorful palette, and the olde-tymee game noises consisting of bips, boops, and bleeps.. peppered with explosions. Your ship can upgrade to get your ships linked together, allowing you to fire multiple shots at the enemies, and losing your turn after 2 hits instead of 1. Definitely a classic!

Gyruss - or Galaga Tubes. Similar enemies attack you in waves as you circle the radius of the screen with your ship. You get 1 gun upgrade in the game, from 1 shot to 2, just like Galaga. The music is hauntingly cool for a videogame, J.S. Bach's "Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor". Play the demo, stay for the game!

Ikaruga - difficulty epitomized. Awesome game! Traditional scrolling shmup, your ship can change polarity (at your call) to absorb shots from defeated enemies and matching-polarity firing enemies. I haven't seen beyond level 3's mid-section, but this one is a must, DRM problems be damned! Nice variety of enemies adds to the insanity of it all. The big downer for many gamers will be the difficulty level. Adjustable, but adjusting settings will not save your high scores. Scores. Yep. The goal is high scores!

Omega Five - flying people shmup? I haven't unlocked any other characters other than the defaults, but this game looks absolutely awesome for an XBLA title. The characters are a bit too big, but you get over it after awhile (see: get used to it, bitches!) The music is awesome, the graphics are aces, the gameplay is tight. The game is, a little short. Give me more. Omega Six, anyone?

Scramble - the Godfather? This along with Super Cobra gave way to Gradius/Salamandar, bringing in what we know are shumps (classic). This one has a steady speed to your ship, flowing through 5 stages of mostly missiles fired vertically and flying horizontal enemies. Pretty dull, but challenging at the same time. You have standard gunfire for downing airborne enemies and some ground-based enemies, and bombs, for getting rid of ground based enemies. The bombs also are needed to bomb fuel towers to refuel your ship (if you blow up the fuel, how does it get in your tank?) Great classic, for the hard-core and collectors only, though, I'm afraid.

Triggerheart Exelica - what? The name brings panic. What does it mean? Decent shmup, with the ability to snag enemies and fling them around as a mace-like weapon. The story is goofy, the characters are anime-attractive (the type that anime geeks could be caught draw naked), the sounds are ok. The gameplay is really fun, which is what trumps anything else..

For now, that's what it is. Sometime I'll dig into the MAME shmups (my God.. it's full of shmups.) Now it's time for something completely different.

Halo 3: Return of Sidewinder

2008-04-21T16:12:00.004-04:00

Halo: Combat Evolved on the eXBox was a great game, the only drawback was split-screen multiplayer. The best map of the multiplayer offerings was definitely Sidewinder- it was huge, lots of snipe spots and hiding spots, caves, etc.. Now Halo 3 goes one better- Avalanche. This map is based on Sidewinder, adds an awesome new look, wide open spaces, flying vehicles, new transport devices, huge bases, and a giant cliff. The cliff is awesome when somebody tries to jack your ride, and you feel like taking them out with you. Drive right over the cliff!

Just a small peak at Avalanche before Pencil and Einstein head to the blue wall of mirth to have some fun with Halo 3.. (above)

Pop Art

2008-04-14T23:25:00.003-04:00

What's New: Ikaruga, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Pencil as Pop-Art

2008-04-14T22:44:00.002-04:00

Ikaruga made it's triumphant shmup presence on the XBLA last week, and aside from being incredibly difficult, it certainly is challenging. And fekkin' difficult. At 800 MSpoints, it comes highly recommended!

Rocky and Bullwinkle also made their presence known with the Rocky and Bullwinkle Pinball FX table. At 200 MSpoints (or is it 250 points?), and for hardcore pinballers, this is a good download. Not a must, but it's as close to new pinball as you're going to get for awhile. Unless you pick up the awesome Pinball Hall of Fame: William's Collection, with the following tables on the PlayStation 2:

Pinbot (win!)
Whirlwind (win!)
Black Knight (double win!)
Funhouse (triple win!)
Space Shuttle
Gorgar
Taxi (no Marilyn? so-so)
Firepower

.... for $14.99? $15 for these emulated tables, not on PinMAME but on old reliable PS2? May be time to dive back into the PS2 playfield. However, seeing as how they are emulated, dare I say they would make their way to the beloved XBLA?

We also sent Pencil Shavings through some sort of weird trippy stuff to play with the photo programs the Four Tokens Films guys work with, and will be posting some stuff shortly (definitly shortly..)

Back to the games!

XBox 360 Red Ring of Death, Part 2

2008-04-10T13:53:00.004-04:00

What the hell caused this awful scene!!

Spring Updates

2008-04-01T22:27:00.003-04:00

After taking most of February March of for offline pursuits and business ventures, time has come to get this ball rolling... for real! First is to get Microsoft Office on Max's PC so he can start editing the official Pencil Shavings website. Juggling stuff is definitly difficult, but reality always trumps online stuff.

Pencil Shavings and Halo 3 Mountain Dew: Eww?

2008-03-04T12:58:00.002-05:00

Having re-worked Pencil, we now present the first post-op photo officially made available to the Internet Press Agency, or IPA..

Busy in the Non-Virtual World

2008-02-28T04:09:00.003-05:00

The sparseness of updates is quite simple: Max has been at work getting ready for operational review (after two days, passed! there was a chance we would not).. Einstein was taking some time off to take care of some stuff, and that's all patched up.. So....

Triggerheart Exelica just launched on XBox Live Arcade.. never heard of it, but it plays sweet!

Bioshock landed at Beacon High Command, and it rocks the fat ass!

Mass Effect has been dormant, but that is because Max can't figure out how to assign powers and skills yet.. his team gets wiped out at Fist, so he's gotta get that one down!

Sony sent Team Pencil a bunch of swag, so Pencil and Einstein will be modelling the stuff and the photos will be posted soon (one of our favorite words: SOON!) When stuff settles, everything will start flowing much better! Four Tokens Films looks sweet these days, even brought in some inspirational help on this one:

Pencil-Shavings.net soon to be revamped!

2008-02-25T20:59:00.002-05:00

Sparse lately...

2008-02-15T20:27:00.003-05:00

Seems school and work are disrupting Team Pencil recently. That and Poker Smash for the XBLA and Knarf's re-introduction to the Final Fantasy XI crowd as T3 Einstein and Burnout Paradise have kept us busy and messing around.

Did I mention Valentine's Day just happened? Max and Maxine spent the night at their favorite Indian restaurant in Fishkill, NY, and Einstein spent it with Mrs Einstein. A week before was Max's birthday, so he was off line for the weekend. Team Pencil are scheduling a new get together at Four Tokens Films studio in Fragville Junction West, while Max has been goofing around with the Windows Movie Maker bundled on his Vista Pewter (and plotting to get his RAM expanded to run Halo 2- Halo 2 with a mouse... schweeeeeeet!)

Check out some simple editing and goofing off at youtube.com/MaxPencil..

This is Pencil Shavings signing out for now!

DJ Frank T

2008-02-05T17:51:00.000-05:00

.........behind the mic with Maxwell Einstein.!

Some Burnout Revenge and Paradise, mixed with some Static X:

DJ Knarf?

2008-02-02T21:53:00.000-05:00

Einstein's handler, Knarf, is going to be doing some Internet DJ work on OCCC Colt Rock Radio, playing the classics and doing some other stuff!

Maybe we can get some Type O played (as long as it's a cover of a classic!)