Etsy Awesomeness

I have been meaning for months to post the awesome work of an Etsy artist and her shop, Jhoeymonster which includes a variety of crafts including tiny, perfect cross stitch pieces featuring some 8-bit stars.

I bought a Tiny Boo Cross Stitch from her this past summer and I have it up on my fridge, but I am planning on putting it along with some patches on the perfect geek bag, once I find such a bag.

So cute!

Recently I also bought and received two pieces from Neisse on Etsy. Each is the anime version of an awesome character, in this case Codex from "The Guild" and Leela from "Futurama". It was hard to part with the Leela, but I gave her to one of my friends who loves Futurama (remember the Bender that I helped build, it was with her!).

Codex and Leela are so adorable as anime characters!

I set up Bender to surprise my friend when she came over.

Here's Leela's new home. Look at all the purple. Perfect!

Ion Total Controller

This is making the rounds over at Destructoid. Mad props to this fellow for looking like...well I don't think I need to say it, but he has a compelling game face and a unique take on how to hold the controller. I'm sure it's for effect, to show us the buttons, but really Ion? You couldn't have had your photographer stand at a different angle or showed this guy playing and then put an inset of the controller embedded in this photo?

If there is one thing many gamers hate, myself included, it is the perception that when you game you look like an ass: jumping up and down, gesturing, and whipping the controller around furiously. The wild antics so popular on TV and in photos for products do not happen. Even when using the wii-mote we don't look crazy! A much more accurate image of a console gamer would be this scene from The Guild season 3 in which Riley challenges Codex to some FPS action.

See, she's just sitting there, albeit aggressively because it's in the storyline, but she looks like she is actually playing Halo or something.

So, the Ion controller. Can you imagine playing a FPS or MMO, as the company suggests with this?

I'm interested in the different approach that they took with replacing the D-pad with a mouse ball, but I'd have to game with it before I could truly judge it. How much could this thing cost? I mean even some of the best controllers I have purchased have ended up malfunctioning at critical times or even just began to glitch randomly. Usually those problems have happened with the D-pad for me. Would the track ball change that or make it even worse?

However, the main problem I have with this is the size and probable weight. I have very small hands. Gamers come in all shapes and sizes and I'm on the hobbit-like end of that scale. Petite, to say the least. Can I picture myself holding this up for hours on end while I play Dragon Age? No.

The Guild Comic Book

Felicia Day's amazing web-series The Guild recently wrapped shooting on it's 4th season and as those of us who are fans await the new adventures of our favorite MMO obsessed bunch we have had the pleasure of reading Felicia's excellent comic book prequel to the events of the show.

The first season of the show was originally written as a pilot for a network pitch, but was rejected as too niche. I'm sure having a female lead who spends all of her time playing video games was just not understood by network types. However, the series did not address how Codex ends up so obsessed with her online gaming. Felicia Day based some of it on her own experiences playing too much WoW and fleshed out a back story for Codex in the 3-part comic.

Well, the comic books did not disappoint. Felicia's writing style translates well to the page. I enjoyed the art and found it to be often crisp and gorgeous. Overall, the comic book storyline was very satisfying.

At the end of the third issue there's a note that has promises to come. It seems that they are trying to figure out a way to continue the comic book part of The Guild. I would love this. Felicia Day's series really fills a big gap in the types of stories about women (and men) that are out there in pop culture.