This week, in my most ambitious article to date, we’ll be exploring the rather hectic and rebellious worlds of the Punks. Not just any run of the mill punks, but those punks which are directly related to science fiction: Cyberpunk, Biopunk, and Steampunk. While my focus tends to be literary, today I’ll be spicing it up with movie references as well, as sometimes the visual can make a bigger impression than reading the definition. My goal here is to define what each of these subgenres is, what their principle topics and issues are, and let you know where you can find not only more information, but also which books are in these subgenres. Also it will be interesting to note how these subgenres of science fiction actually have left the literary arena and have become not just subgenres, but subcultures. Let’s begin.
Capcom has announced that their new pirate game, amusingly titled Age of Booty, will be showing up on the XBox Live Arcade on October 15 and on the Playstation Network on October 16. You’ll be able to grab some of the swashbuckling action for $10 or 800 MS Points, depending on your choice of console religion. Downloadable versions of the game will be coming to the PC shortly thereafter.
The game looks to be an action / strategy game that has players competing in single player challenges as well as multiplayer levels while they upgrade their ships, seize towns, and do battle on the high seas. You can find all the details on the official website.
This week’s new downloadable content for Rock Band is the full album Blood Sugar Sex Magik by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. One song from the album, “Give It Away”, was included on the Rock Band 2 disc, so it’s not included in this song pack. The rest of the album is available today on the XBox 360 for 1600 MS Points and will be available Thursday on the Playstation 3 for $20. You can download each song individually for 160 MS Points ($2). Here’s a look at the track list that’s available:
This week’s Frugal Fan takes a look at how book fans can save some money, space, and trees by going digital.
I’m an avid reader, and I’ve amassed a huge collection of books of all types. The shelves of books turned into stacks, which turned into piles and eventually boxes and then boxes with piles next to them. It finally reached critical mass when I moved into my new house last February, and I knew something had to be done to cut down on my clutter. Little did I know that the solution would also be a money saver in the form of the Amazon Kindle.
One of the major detractors to the Wii version of Rock Band has been that it lacked one of the most essential features for the game: downloadable songs. PS3 and 360 owners have been able to get a weekly dose of new music by dropping a few bucks each Tuesday or Thursday, while Wii owners had to rely on disc-based expansions. No longer, says USA Today (and confirmed by Harmonix via Joystiq)! Rock Band 2 will allow Wii owners to add songs to their repertoire via downloads in the online music store, similar to the way it works on the other systems.
This begs the question, though, of how long it will take before Wii players fill up their 2GB SD card slot, as the Wii lacks a hard drive of any sort.
Frank Miller’s upcoming film adaptation of The Spirit is a strange beast for me. Whenever I see more of it, I want to like it more, but I end up liking it less. Whether it’s the lack of genuine Will Eisner / Darwyn Cooke Spirit-ness or whether it’s the general cheesetasticness of the movie or whether it’s the “Let’s do Sin City again, this time with a red tie”-ness, I can’t say. But one thing’s for certain… The Spirit sure is shaping up to be a movie. Here’s the latest trailer:
We’re giving away another copy of the Eureka Soundtrack CD this week, with music by Bear McCreary. Entering couldn’t be simpler. You can send listener mail to the podcast at podcast@fandomania.com, or you can leave a comment on any post on the blog. The e-mails and comments need to be worthwhile and not just contest spam, so give it some thought. Every post you comment on this week will give you an additional entry into the contest. We’ll count all the entries through midnight Eastern time on Sunday night (October 5 / 6), and we’ll do a random drawing to find the winner.
If you’re jaded by all the campaigning and haven’t yet chosen your candidate for the presidential election, might we suggest a third party ticket?
Among the tough issues tackled on the official campaign website:
“The opposition has jumped at the opportunity to portray Colonel Tigh as elitist as he stumbled in a recent interview to answer the question on how many homes does he own. The question came out of nowhere, specifically since no one actually owns a home in the Fleet and most people sleep crammed in ship hangers or multiple people to a room.”
