Pretty In ‘Lace

The most recent update for KeenLace 2002 features some familiar faces. Check it out to witness many KeenSpace artists’ characters standing about in their skivvies, or other states of random undress. Just so you know, KeenLace is not guaranteed to remain PG-13. I have also added my submission to my own brand new gallery, whose entire contents is linked to in this one post.

This weekend I learned the unnerving fact that my family actually reads this strip. While this revelation put an end to the Naked Wood Nymph Dance Line I was considering adding to the strip, it also proved that I retain power over the impressionable young minds of my cousins. I present as proof this piece here. Though I do this in an attempt to embarrass one Matthew Severson, I forsee this simply encouraging him to bug me about posting more stuff here. His offering is amusing if only because it features a flaming rubber duck with a human head.

The rest of this post contains only my pointless rambling on the topic of video games. I hear it’s the kind of thing webcomic artists are supposed to talk about in their rants.

It has been the case for the last five years or more, but I still refuse to accept that every computer and video game out there has to be 3D. I finally picked up Batman: Vengeance for the GameCube and, while it is perfectly playable, I can’t help but wonder if it wouldn’t be more fun if that third dimension wasn’t always lurking there, just waiting for you to, for instance, walk though a door so you can be instantly shot at repeatedly from an unseen location. I think we need a new rating system for video games. One that would warn of things like “Uncooperative Camera” and “Indistinguishable Grainy Textures”. I know I would save money if I saw “WARNING: Contains unnecessary 3D platforming obstacles” on more games.

The 3D infection is finally spreading into more of my favorite game series, including the upcoming WarCraft 3 and Command & Conquer: Generals. I’m not too worried about those, as strategy games usually suffer less from 3D than action/adventure ones. Like many people, I’ve had my reservations about a FPS Metroid game, but I put a little more faith in Nintendo (and associated companies) than the rest of the world (Zelda: Ocarina of Time managed to be perfectly playable, primarily by tying the third dimension up in a tight little bundle and hiding it in the closet most of the time). And I’m sorry, but Dungeon Siege was a great idea, destroyed by an incomplete conceptual design and the third dimension. It just didn’t impress me.