Rumors have been brewing for a while, but Capcom has now confirmed that the beautiful Okami will be coming to the Wii. The news was announced in London with an expected release date of early 2008.

I’m currently playing Okami myself, and it’s one of the more unique titles I’ve played in a long time. While the basic storyline and world design are very Zelda-esque, the Celestial Brush Techniques set Okami apart. By drawing on the screen, you can manipulate the world around you causing trees to bloom, the wind to blow and fire to appear. The graphics are done in an ink-and-wash style, as if the story were told in ancient Japanese scrolls. It’s breathtaking to look at, and a lot of fun to play.

The brush techniques seem a natural match for the Wii’s motion sensitive controller. I’m eager to see it when it is released.

Okami Confirmed for Wii

One of the shortcomings of Outlook 2007 is that it does not allow you to automatically move deleted IMAP items to the Trash folder instead of marking them for deletion. This functionality is available in most other e-mail clients–and it’s even available in Outlook if you use Exchange–but it’s not available in Outlook if you use IMAP.

This limitation really bothers me, so I wrote this VBA macro to work-around the problem.

(more…)

I hear this question all the time: “I heard asm was dead. Do video games still use assembly code?”

The answer? No, but yes. Sometimes. Sorta. It depends.

(more…)

So you’ve created your 3D model… now what? Many 3D design programs have their own renderer built in, but some don’t. You may need an external program to create images. In other cases, the software may include its own renderer, but it may not have all of the features that a stand-alone renderer provides.

If you’ve never tried a stand-alone renderer before and want to try one, here is a list of well-known stand-alone 3D rendering programs that are available from their creators free-of-charge:

(more…)

Can’t convince your significant other you need to be playing more Halo 3? How about a Halo tournament to end breast cancer!

The Cave Girls are hosting their 2nd Annual “Fight Like a Girl” Halo tournament. Proceeds from the tournament benefit the Susan G. Komen For a Cure breast cancer foundation. Tournament founder Kari Toyama explains how it all started in this interview at United for Pink.

They asked me, “Kari, would you like to participate in a bake sale?” I said, “Um, no.” So they asked, “Is there anything you are involved in that could potentially raise money?” I thought, “Hey, I love to play ‘Halo.'”

Get the full tournament details from the Cave Girls. Even if you don’t play, you can still donate!