Welcome to VGRC!

Welcome to VGRC, The Zangaroa BlogVGRC is the blogging and editorial arm of Zangaroa Enterprises, an octopus of a firm with a wide variety of business ventures. Starting out as a gaming blog and progressing into music, culture jamming, technology and general entertainment, VGRC has been running continuously since July 31, 2003.

For more information about this blog, see our About Us page. To sort through our library of content, some of it dating back for years, sort through our Categories on the menu to the left, or hit up our search box to the right. And of course, spread the word! Follow VGRC and Zangaroa on Facebook and Twitter, and be sure to get your friends to follow us as well. That said, feel free to browse our wealth of editorial psuedo-journalism, and enjoy your stay!

Update: We're Back! For more information, check out the Press Release.

Advertising in Video Games

By Adam Cordovano on February 4, 2010 1:14 AM | Permalink | No Comments

VOTE FOR OBAMA in Burnout

Advertising is something that we are all familiar with. One cannot live in the society we exist in today without being able to recognize the GEICO Gecko's cute Cockney accent or know that the reason Bud Light is superior to other beers is it's "Drinkability." Advertising touches all forms of media from the $3 million dollar commercial slots during the Super Bowl down to the raggedy band stickers stuck to the liquid soap dispensers in public restrooms. It therefore makes sense then that advertising would work it's way into video games in some degree. Since the booming growth of the video game industry in the past decade (especially online gaming) advertising agencies have begun to understand that the digital world is a highly lucrative medium to display the messages that they want gamers to see.

Continue reading Advertising in Video Games.

90's Music Spotlight: "Exile on Coldharbour Lane" by Alabama 3

By Dennis Wyman on January 31, 2010 11:13 PM | Permalink | No Comments

"Exile on Coldharbour Lane" by Alabama 3Every once in awhile, a band shows up that eschews genre lines, playfully slapping dozens of styles together and producing some truly creative music. Alabama 3, who mix blues, gospel and old-school country with acid house

Their debut album, Exile on Coldharbour Lane, was released to very little fanfare in 1997, and even after having (a heavily edited and butchered version of) the track "Woke Up This Morning" featured in the Sopranos, still failed to gain the British house group much attention on American shores. However, those that looked into the band discovered an amazing gem in Exile.

Continue reading 90's Music Spotlight: "Exile on Coldharbour Lane" by Alabama 3.

Forgotten History: The Execution of Eddie Slovik

By Dennis Wyman on January 31, 2010 7:24 PM | Permalink | No Comments

Private Eddie Slovik, executed for desertion.Here's a guy you never hear about in the history books: On this day 65 years ago, Edward Donald Slovik, age 24, was executed by American troops in World War II for the crime of desertion. Slovik, who told his officers he was "too scared" to serve in a rifle division, even offering to serve his country in a rear unit, was repeatedly denied his request to not serve in the front lines. So, he deserted and retreated to safer ground.

Expecting a dishonorable discharge and a jail sentence, followed by a plane ticket back to America to return home to his wife, he turned himself in, which seemed a far safer option than facing the heavy shelling on the front lines. However, military officials, angered by his repeated displays of defiance and looking for an example to make to discourage other potential deserters, had him tried in a military court, where he was convicted of desertion, and sentenced to execution by firing squad. Pleas up the chain of command for clemency were ignored, with even Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower confirming the execution.

Slovik was executed by firing squad on January 31, 1945, and buried in a hidden grave in France marked only by a number. His wife, Antoinette, would spend the rest of her life petitioning the government to have her husband pardoned and his remains returned to the US, until she died in 1979. It wasn't until 1987 when fellow World War II veterans were able to convince Ronald Reagan to have Eddie's remains transferred back to the US and reburied next to his wife, though he was never pardoned for his "crime."

"I was born for dying."

Continue reading Forgotten History: The Execution of Eddie Slovik.

Grudge Match: Sega CD vs PlayStation 3

By Dennis Wyman on January 27, 2010 1:34 AM | Permalink | 8 Comments

Sega CD versus Sony PlayStation 3

The archives of VGRC are vast, filled with articles dating back to 2003. One of the things I've been doing lately is cleaning up old articles and silently adding them back to the site for posterity. However, some of them deserve to be featured on our home page once more. So that aside, for those who missed it the first time around, check out our inaugural "Grudge Match." Sega CD versus PlayStation 3 after the jump.

Continue reading Grudge Match: Sega CD vs PlayStation 3.

The Tumbleweed Tiny House

By Dennis Wyman on January 23, 2010 11:23 AM | Permalink | 1 Comment

The Tumbleweed "Fencl" Tiny HouseAwhile back, we reported on the Bicycle Camper. Well, going back to the department of inventive homes, a business called Tumbleweed Tiny House Company has been making quite a stir cranking out 70-120 square foot homes within the confines of simple trailer frames.

These aren't simple trailer campers, mind you. These are painstakingly-built houses that you can just so happen to tow with a pickup truck. And they sell them completely built and ready-to-go, or you can order plans from their website.

Hit the jump for a video of them building the "Fencl" model.

Continue reading The Tumbleweed Tiny House.

It's Martin Luther King Day, Charlie Brown!

By Dennis Wyman on January 18, 2010 10:46 AM | Permalink | No Comments

It's Martin Luther King Day Charlie Brown!While for many people, today is just another day, for a good portion of you, today is a day off from work or school in remembrance of Martin Luther King Jr.

So before you head off, spend 10 minutes with the Peanuts gang in "It's Martin Luther King Day, Charlie Brown!" by Most Offensive Video. Somewhere in this film is a moral, I swear.

(Embedded video after the jump)

Continue reading It's Martin Luther King Day, Charlie Brown!.

Book Review: "Steal This Computer Book 4.0" by Wallace Wang

By Dennis Wyman on January 15, 2010 4:26 AM | Permalink | 2 Comments

Steal This Computer Book 4.0 by Wallace WangWhenever there is a trend, there will always be somebody to spoof it. Such has been one of the mantras of culture jamming: Use parody as a form of critique. Abbie Hoffman went to his trial dressed up in judicial robes to poke fun at the judge. Sub Pop sales rep Megan Jasper once fed eager reporters from the New York Times the scoop on "Grunge Speak," that was only revealed as hoax after the newspaper printed an entire column on the topic. Or Trent Reznor's Strobe Light, a not-so-subtle critical take on Chris Cornell's latest solo album disaster with Timbaland. Well, Steal This Computer Book is kinda like that.

Quietly slipped into the section at your bookstore where they place all the "For Dummies" computer manuals and security books, Steal This Computer Book is, on the surface, a parody of the internet security frenzy, which, if you catch the hype-driven stories of "rogue computer hackers and e-terrorism" on the mainstream news media, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Steal This Computer Book delves not only into real-world security issues, but into the hacker mentality in general. Presented in the form of a technical manual, the book is divided into chapters, each discussing a specific topic, ranging from viruses and malware to filesharing to identity theft to con artists and much more. However, rather than approach these topics with a particular point of view, Wang describes them objectively in plain english so even some of the most novice users can get an idea of how things work. For example, when talking about trojan horses, Wang explains the basics of how they operate and how they get into your system, followed up with how they are created.

Continue reading Book Review: "Steal This Computer Book 4.0" by Wallace Wang.

Postmortem: "Watershed" by Opeth

By tomcat ha on January 11, 2010 8:19 PM | Permalink | No Comments

Watershed, the new album by OpethOpeth is one of the most famous metal bands of the current generation. As common with popular metal bands this band gets over praised frequently. Personally I used to be a huge fan but over the years my excitement has waned. Opeth is a band that is heavily praised by people often not really into metal, which means that some features of Opeth get singled out for being really innovative while they usually have been used before. Oh and then you have the hipsters who call this band the greatest in death metal history, who are the same people who love other not so special bands to bits for no clear reason.

Of course these are all things that say little about the actual music. Watershed is the 9th album by Opeth, it follows the at times brilliant yet often lacking Ghost Reveries. Ghost Reveries had another big problem, over production. Most of the metal fans kind of lost interest in Opeth if they already were fans because of this and the gradual reduction in overall album quality. In general their most praised period is that of their first 5 albums, and I think that is with good reason. Opeth more recently has become rather stale with less songs that just spring out and make me go, "This is great." There certainly have been improvements; Mikael Åkerfeldt's voice has improved in both grunt-wise and clean-vocal-wise. While all in all this means that Watershed is a important album, will they be able to produce a album that features more good songs instead of interesting ideas? Will they try something new other than their standard fare of intersecting death metal parts with clean parts of progressive rock and various other genres? Will they go follow the Bolt Thrower/Running Wild route and just follow on the same path but improving upon it, or will they deteriorate further?

Watershed has been out for close to 2 years, which means I can look at it from a rather post-hype perspective, while giving it enough time to sink in and thus get a better judgment. This is important with any metal album as they do take longer to digest than say a pop album, unless if its St. Anger of course.

Watershed from the first moment its already clear that they fixed one of the main issues of Ghost Reveries, this is not a overproduced album. Yes its still very clean sounding, but without the complete sterility of Ghost Reveries. Every instrument sounds full and powerful. The mixing also is also well done. The bass could use a slight boost, but as it is it works nice. The keyboards are more in the background compared to Ghost Reveries. This is a good thing. Yet this album still sounds somewhat tiring to listen to.

Continue reading Postmortem: "Watershed" by Opeth.

What Is 2010? Furthermore, What Is A Year?

By Dennis Wyman on January 3, 2010 8:51 AM | Permalink | No Comments

FUCK YOUR "NEW YEAR"Lately for me, the concept of "New Years" has begun to mean less and less to me. Now, I'm not speaking from a practical point-of-view such as "Well, it's just another year who cares," (which is another view I subscribe to, but that isn't the point of this argument) but rather from a technical point-of-view. From this perspective, I see that society's general perception of a "year" is closely tied to an arbitrary set of rules known as the calendar year, a man-made system of measurement and organization that tries to mirror the movements of celestial bodies. This is in contrast to an astronomical year, which is (very loose definition) the time that elapses while the Earth completes one revolution of orbit around the Sun.

Of the two "years" mentioned above, only one of those is scientifically real: While the definition of a calendar year only exists in our minds or on paper, the definition of an astronomical year is backed by the physically occurring event of the Earth revolving around the Sun. This is analagous to my views on how the "law" and how physics view speeding in an automobile. The law, a physically intangible idea, says not to speed or you are breaking the law. Physics, however, says not to speed or you have a greater chance of losing control of your vehicle, potentially resulting in causing the death of yourself or others.

While putting together evidence to refute the "New Year" traditionally beginning on January 1st, I composed my argument that there is physical "starting line" for where a year begins, since the only evidence for our currently accepted transition point of January 1st is, well, it's January 1st. If the year is only the duration of an orbit, then the "start" and "end" of the year is only the furthermost points of the duration. With this logic, two conclusions can be reached:

  • As a measure of revolutions around the sun, a year can start or end anywhere, so long as the endpoints do not exceed or cut short the duration of the orbit.
  • As a measure of time, a year can (and does) begin or end at any given moment.

However, looking to better understand the astronomical year was a complicated affair, leading me through various articles of celestial activity and human systems of measurement. Join me as I attempt to weed the physical from the non-physical!

Continue reading What Is 2010? Furthermore, What Is A Year?.

90's Music Spotlight: Deconstruction

By Dennis Wyman on December 8, 2009 4:28 PM | Permalink | No Comments

Album art for "Deconstruction" by 90's rock band DeconstructionRecently, I was lucky enough to stumble upon the first, last and only album released by L.A. outfit, Deconstruction. Formed from the ashes of the Jane's Addiction breakup, Deconstruction was the result of a one-off collaboration by guitarist Dave Navarro and bassist Eric Avery, after lead singer Perry Farrell and drummer Stephen Perkins went on to form Porno For Pyros. Out of print for over a decade and having achieved nothing more than cult popularity in underground music circles, you'd think that the Avery-Navarro side project would have been more than a footnote in 90's music history.

Deconstruction stands in stark contrast to the efforts put out by the efforts put out by their former Jane's bandmates in Porno For Pyros, starting with the intentions behind the two groups: Porno was Farrell's new career vehicle, while Deconstruction was an intentional one-off outing.

Musically, the two halves of Jane's couldn't be farther apart either. Whereas Porno was a more relaxed affair fueled by an almost sexual energy, Deconstruction was raw and schizophrenic. Powered by the soaring guitar work of Navarro and Avery's mastery of the bass spectrum, Deconstruction threw conventional song structures out the window and took the listener on a breakneck tour of L.A., barely stopping for breath until the end of the 71 minute album.

Continue reading 90's Music Spotlight: Deconstruction.

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