Archive for the ‘community’ Category
So, you know me.
I try my luck and sometimes I tend to push my luck a little, lol just ask SEGA. But on the rare chance, sometimes it pays off. Like this, for example.
Recently while on the NiD15.com bandwagon drumming up support, I decided on a whim, to try directly contacting a certain Mr Yuji Naka. Yes, I know how unlikely that is, how famous he is and how rarely he gives interviews so I didn't think he'd have the time to reply to me. But I'd heard rumors about his total love for NiGHTS into Dreams, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to take a chance and ask.
Guess what? He replied. Very quickly 
Saying that I was surprised to see the topic "Yuji Naka has sent you a message" waiting in my inbox is an understatement. I had a total surreal moment wash over me. There were language barriers though, with me not being able to write Japanese and him not being able to write much in English. I figured because of that then communication with the man would stop there. Still, I tried my luck further and asked him if I were to get a translator in to help us communicate would he still be down for doing an interview? I had my doubts. Yuji Naka has a lot going on at the minute with PROPE… and here I was asking for an interview about NiGHTS, a game that was released in 1996. I was ready to give up hope when I recieved another message saying that he would indeed love to do an interview on NiGHTS for the fans.
…wait, what? Really? o.O
Yes. Really. Yuji Naka has given NiGHTSintoDreams.com probably one of the best interviews we could have ever hoped to obtain. Aside from our translator, there was no other middle men involved in this interview taking place. It was just me and TRiP asking Naka-san about NiGHTS. You couldn't get any closer to the heart of NiGHTS than this. Direct from the creator to the fans.
True fact, Yuji Naka had sent his reply to our questions on NiGHTS' 14th Birthday but we were not able to have it translated in time. I always say better late than never though and this truly is one of those moments.
If there is one man that NiGHTS fans need to thank then it would be Yuji Naka. I sometimes think that as a fanbase we take for granted the person hugely responsible for us having this cherished game in the first place. True, there were a lot of other people involved in making NiGHTS into Dreams the classic it is today but as far as higher-ups go you couldn't get any higher than Yuji Naka. He envisioned so much and really gave his all to the game. Taking good care of the character while he was still head of Sonic Team. Now, over 14 years on the fans are still here stronger than ever. I'd like to think Yuji Naka succeeded in what he set out to do for us with NiGHTS.
We wanted to ask him questions that general gaming sites and magazines hadn't asked him before. The geeky fan stuff. Less about the technical side of things and more about the heart and purpose of the game. We had 24 hours to think of the things we wanted to know the most. In the end 18 questions were put forward. Things that had been picking our brains for a very long time.
The NiGHTS community is smaller than Sonic's and moments like this come rarely. However, I like to think that makes them all the more sweeter.
I'd like to thank Yuji Naka himself for answering every single one of our questions and I'd also like to thank Kichigai and her mother for translating this interview for us in the first place. Takashi Iizuka and Naofumi Hataya, thank you also for helping out 
Yuji Naka: Thank you very much for loving NiGHTS. Today (5th July 2010) is NiGHTS' 14th birthday. Happy birthday NiGHTS.
—
Nidcom: NiGHTS resembles a jester and the Nightmaren are very darkly circus themed. Is there a reason as to why this specific design idea was chosen?
Yuji Naka: When the idea of the Dream World was imagined, The Jester like character was created rather easily. Their duality (cheerful and happy as well as, dark, evil and mean spirit) fit well to the theme of the Dream World.
Nidcom: Is it true that Cirque Du Soleil played a big part in the inspiration of the game design? Was there a show in particular? A NiGHTS Cirque Du Soleil show would be fantastic!
Yuji Naka: It was Cirque du Soleil that contributed the most inspiration for creating NiGHTS. At that time, Mystère was playing at Las Vegas' Treasure Island. I was so overwhelmed by the imagery of the world of Mystère when I saw it for the first time. Even to this day, that is one of my favorite shows. I hope that a lot of people will go to see that show. Cirque du Soleil is great.
Nidcom: Is it true that the very few character voices in the game were recorded anonymously by team members who were working late at night in the offices? Can you tell us a little about how the random dream language was created? Is it partially Japanese?
Yuji Naka: Yes, it was true. In every character, a few words from our team members’ voice over were used. We were recording at night because our office had no sound proof studio.
The word for NiGHTS, "Adeema", or the words for Reala, "Beadichnoa NiGHTS" were created by Mr. Iizuka after much reflection.
Each word actually has a meaning.
Adeema = abayo (which means good bye in Japanese slang).
Beadichinoa NiGHTS = come on NiGHTS, Etc.
Nidcom: One particular thing NiGHTS into Dreams is always praised for is the music. You captured a lot of genre's of music in one game. Does the music in the game reflect your own personal tastes in music and what are your own preferred types of music?
Yuji Naka: The background music for NiGHTS was a magnificently composed piece. Of all the games I have created, the music of NiGHTS is my favorite. I remember that I had goose bumps when the orchestral recording was played. Personally I like to listen to everything from pop music to movie soundtracks and stage musical scores.
Nidcom: One of the reasons NiGHTS into Dreams is very popular with female gamers is the character of NiGHTS erases gender stereotypes, which is rare in gaming especially today. Was this idea there from the beginning?
Yuji Naka: Men or women, we all have dreams, so I thought that the residents in the dream world shouldn’t have a gender, rather, the form of the characters should be determined by the person who is dreaming.
Nidcom: Do you ever get tired of people asking what gender NiGHTS is? *lol*
Yuji Naka: This setting was unique and never seen in any other game. It is understandable that questions about gender would arise, since European languages have gender specific words.
Nidcom: Is there meaning behind the lower case 'i' in the name NiGHTS? Some fans speculate that it may stand for 'imagination' or 'Id' from Freudian research.
Yuji Naka: The "i" in the logo, was imagined from the gem on NiGHTS' chest. At first, the logo design was created to distinguish the word NiGHTS from Nights. NiGHTS was then used throughout the game.
Nidcom: NiGHTS into Dreams has a lot of symbolism, you and Sonic Team did a lot of research into dream studies and Jung's Dream Archetypes. It is speculated that each character in NiGHTS is influenced by a specific Archetype. What Archetype inspired NiGHTS, if any?
Yuji Naka: NiGHTS, a hero, originated in “Shadow” which means another side of the self as defined by Jung in his dream definitions. Elliot and Claris, who have strayed from the dream world, originated from Jung’s Animus and Anima. Persona items that appear in the Wii version originate from Jung's dream theory, too.
Nidcom: Other than NiGHTS, is there any other character in NiGHTS into Dreams that you really like and why? Jackle seems to have a large following, as does Reala.
Yuji Naka: Of course NiGHTS is my favorite, but Reala and Wizeman are two of my favorite characters because they contribute to constructing the outlook of the dream world.
Nidcom: Many years ago I read an interview with Sonic Team where the sources of dream research were discussed. Jung and Freud were mentioned but a third name 'Friedrich Holtz' was said to be central to NiGHTS into Dreams. Can you tell us a bit about this man and how his work influenced the game? We have tried to research Holtz for many years yet we have found little about him.
Yuji Naka: He is one of the psychologists who followed Jung's thoughts. He too defined dream elements as much as Jung, and showed us "another world" which we called the “Dream World.” NiGHTS also reflects the thoughts of scholars who researched these dreams.
Nidcom: It is now well known that there was an idea for a boss called Selph. What became of this boss, why did it not make it in to the final game and what did the boss look like?
Yuji Naka: Selph is one of the original types of Jung's theory. This idea was omitted since the production period was short on time. It was thought that it would be introduced as a concealed boss, as the one defined as "Myself I could never be exceeded". Visualization of this character was made to some degree.
Nidcom: Is it true that in the 1990's a PC version of NiGHTS into Dreams was planned? There was a rumour that it existed at one point and one of the new levels was called 'Sparkle Attic'? Can you tell us more about this, perhaps?
Yuji Naka: I thought production was completed. Wasn't the PC version put on the market? I actually participated in the release of the PC version of NiGHTS in Akihabara. So I thought it was on the market. But this is for sure, there is no new level.
See: http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/20030321/sega.htm
Nidcom: (The above is news to us!) This means that non PS2 code exists to create a port!
Nidcom: Is it true that when developing the control pad to make flying experience as immersive as possible a NiGHTS-shaped controller was designed?
Yuji Naka: Yes, it was true. We developed the control pad with the thought of the game player feeling NiGHTS' flying more realistically. The shape of controller was made the way it was after a lot trial and error. Most importantly the player's grip should be as natural as possible when they play.
Nidcom: NiGHTS is considered to be one the most magical, inspiring and mischievous characters Sonic Team ever created, continuing on through dreams long after the game has been won. Has NiGHTS ever appeared in your own dreams?
Yuji Naka: Of course. NiGHTS came from your dreams too. Being so, NiGHTS will keep living for a long time.
Nidcom: What do you think is the most important part of creating games?
Yuji Naka: Most importantly how much would customers enjoy playing. Especially in NiGHTS, how much fun the feeling would be when they played the game.
Nidcom: NiGHTS really has captured the hearts of many people. It is rare for a game to effect people in the way NiGHTS has been able to. Looking back, you said one thing you hoped NiGHTS would do is help people. Now, 14 years on, do you feel you had achieved that goal?
Yuji Naka: My initial goal has been reached and there may be more wonderful things happening. So many people loved NiGHTS for such a long time. I felt very happy throughout my career as a game creator, that the game influenced and touched the hearts of so many. Thank you so much for loving NiGHTS.
Nidcom: There had been talk of a NiGHTS sequel for many years after the Saturn game. The sequel, Journey of Dreams was made however you were no longer part of Sonic Team by that point. If it were somehow possible would you ever consider making another NiGHTS game, if you were asked to?
Yuji Naka: I have been asked hundreds of times to make the sequel of NiGHTS, but have no desire to create one.
As I feel the same way that my beloved Mr. Steven Spielberg would never make a sequel to ET because it was his first work and such a fantastic film. I feel the same way about NiGHTS.
Oh, the first person to play NiGHTS, other than the SEGA team, was Mr. Spielberg. During the development of the NiGHTS game, he visited SEGA and we asked him to play with an experimental version of the new controller. Since then we called it the Spielberg controller.
Nidcom: We are hoping SEGA will listen to the NiD15.com campaign to have NiGHTS into Dreams ported to this generation of gaming consoles. Would you, the creator of the game, like to see the game ported so that this generation of gamers can experience the game too?
Yuji Naka: Creating an environment to be able to play the game for a long span of time, like a movie, would be very satisfying as a game creator.
Please continue giving your support for PROPE and SEGA.
中 裕司
Yuji Naka
So how's that for a trump card then? ;D NiGHTS fans- stirring the pot since 1996. Come talk about this interview in our [ forums ]
AND DON'T FORGET TO REGISTER YOUR VOTE AT NiD15.COM IF YOU WANT TO PLAY A PORT OF NiGHTS INTO DREAMS. Every vote counts.
It's July the 5th, it can only mean one thing – another year of NiGHTS into Dreams. Another year of hoping your old Saturn doesn't bite the dust, another year of looking back and remembering the fans and people who brought him here today. Time really flies, I can't believe 14 years have passed! I'm still as hyped as I was in 1996 for the game and everything else that goes with it.
It's quite staggering isn't it, the fact that NiGHTS' fanbase has remained strong for so many years and actively stuck around. Every year that goes by just sort of bolsters my love for this community. I always wonder who will turn up in the upcoming year, what new friendships will be forged, what sort of news and general mischief we'll get involved in. Thanks guys, for caring about NiGHTS. There has been points in my life where I've considered passing the torch to someone else and stepping away from the .com, but I never have, especially not when because of this website I found the greatest love of all through my wonderful co-admin DiGi. NiGHTS brought us together and I know that he's done the same for a lot of other people. It always makes me smile. So it's DiGi and I's job to stick up for the purple guy even if it gets us into trouble sometimes
We have a lot of cool secret things coming between today and NiGHTS' next birthday in 2011. None of which I'm going to talk about right now incase I jinx them, but stick around for the regular sort of madness.
One of the big things happening that I -can- talk about and that I'm personaly looking forward to is the OCRemix NiGHTS project- NiGHTS: Lucid Dreaming. Due for release in 2011, today we have something real special for you thanks to the insanely talented Level 99.
A full track from the album which is free to download – Twin Seeds Flyby (Right click and save as).
Level 99:
This is the teaser track for the upcoming NiGHTS: Into Dreams arrangement album called NiGHTS: Lucid Dreaming. This project is brought to you by OverClocked ReMix, in part association with NiGHTSintodreams.com.The project is going to feature the original soundtrack to NiGHTS: Into Dreams ReMixed, by over 20 different musicians. The project will also feature a strong emphasis on art that captures the feeling of the music and the original game.
The track you are listening to is Twin Seeds Flyby by me, Level 99. It is a ReMix of Growing Wings, and you can follow the following link to the project thread to both download the song and stay up-to-date with project progress:
http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread….The project will be released on July 5th, 2011, in honor of the 15th Anniversary of NiGHTS' original game release. This teaser track is being released on NiGHTS' 14th Anniversary, as a birthday present and to show a little bit of what to expect from the project. It is also being released in support of NiD15.com, an online campaign to get Sega to port the original NiGHTS onto current-generation systems so that many more people can have the opportunity to play this fantastic game. Please go to NiD15.com and show your support!
July 5th, 2011. Be ready to fly.
Happy Birthday NiGHTS
NiGHTS into Dreams .Com's first real attempt at getting the original Saturn game ported to Xbox Live and Playstation Network is now underway. Join us in showing your appreciation for the game and doing all you can to spread the word. Japanese gamers were treated to a NiGHTS into Dreams remake on the PS2 a few years back, so it's long overdue that us gamers elsewhere in the world get a chance to relive the nostalgia again whilst the new fans get to see what inspired Journey of Dreams.
Help us show how awesome NiGHTS into Dreams was (and still is!)
It's NiGHTS' 15th anniversary next year on the 5th of July – so add your vote for a fantastic game that deserves to be remembered.
Hi folks, TRiPPY here with a bit of an update on things that have been happening lately. Well first things first I had London MCM Expo to contend with and it went very well. Seeing my art up on a big video screen was epic, as was watching Bentley Jones do a live performance of 'So Much More' from Allstars Racing. Thanks to all the people involved with that and thanks to all the Sonic/SEGA community people I got to hang out with over the weekend. Great times were had.
Sexy times.
Now straight after that I had to unleash my art portfolio www.lynnetriplett.com in the hopes of getting a little bit of local work coming in. But within 24 hours I had a job interview in Sheffield and now I work for SUMO Digital. Yeah… it's not sunk in for me yet either. It's ironic that all this came about because of NiGHTS hahah. Let that be inspiring to you.
SUMO Digital are the wonderful, friendly and talented chaps who brought us Sonic and SEGA Allstars Racing amongst other great titles. The people who pushed to get NiGHTS into ASR for us. Now I work for them as a concept/2d artist. And you can bet your burning merch that I'm going to give them my 100% effort and loyalty since they done so much for our community. I know this might effect my ability to personaly report on any future (i wish) NiGHTS related leak things, but I'll make up for it by giving you guys my best work on-game. I'm not going anywhere from the NiGHTS fandom. If anything this might actually help us, lol.
Job gets!
So what else have I been up to lately? Well DiGi and I are very much on the campaign bandwagon and have a new NiGHTS related website to open next week. But you'll have to wait and see what that's all about.
Speaking of NiGHTS, Sonic Stadium recently interviewed Iizuka-san and someone popped a question about the possibility of new NiGHTS stuff. Go check out the full interview here:
@ Sonic Stadium
Hope you guys enjoyed E3. I think Nintendo's lineup impressed me the most with love being shown to their classic IP's … and yes we all want to play with Microsoft's Kinect. Can't wait to get my hands on a 3DS either!
Later 
Meet location: Anime Detour – Minnesota USA
Date: April 23-25th 2010
NiDcom regulars who attended: Infractus, Zero-Shift, Level 99, Andersam, Sierra
Level 99: Oh, I'll write up my full report over the coming week, but first…
Duh dunnn……..
Duhh dun dun dun dun dun……
REEEEEEEE REEEEEEEE REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Also, I think I win, hands down:
IT'S SO BAD YOU COULD HAVE NEVER IMAGINED IT
-To continue reading click the button-
There are a lot of NiGHTS fans out there- sometimes we're even in the same place at the same time (god forbid). Traveling miles by the mighty power of airplanes, trains, boats and the slightly less exciting foot. This page here is a collection of meetings we've had as a community with photos and goodtimes(TM) attached. If you would like to attend a future meet, keep an eye on our forums for anything happening near to you. If more than 2 of you met up and you have a story to tell or photos to share email me and I'll include it in this archive here
Archived:
- Summer of Sonic 2010 (England – UK) – Details – Discussion
- Anime Detour 2010 (Minnesota – USA) – Details - Discussion
- Summer of Sonic 2009 – Details – Discussion
- Auchinawa 2008
Ok. As of this point, what is about to happen right now will be the LAST and final stretch of the Don't Forget NiGHTS campaign. This moment is potentially crucial and i would appreciate having as much of your attention as i can for this. Forgive the length in which this post may be but try and read all of it.
This campaign has brought us acknowledgement from SEGA/SUMO in the form of NiGHTS becoming a flag-waver in All-Stars Racing. The news was fantastic and it made a lot of fans VERY happy to see this kind of response from the companies involved. However, we do have our goal to get NiGHTS playable via DLC. And this is what the last stretch is based on.
There will be one last wave of emails to show support for NiGHTS Downloadable Content HOWEVER (and it is important you read this part) we will be handling the wave of emails differently this time.
We are very appreciative of NiGHTS becoming a flag-waver and of S0L to come here and give us an exclusive. It proves we have been heard and therefore i don't want this final wave of emails to be a nuisance.
Last time we listed a number of different email addresses and i asked you all to individually email them yourselves. This can become annoying, especially to busy companies like SEGA/SUMO. Having hundreds and thousands of emails come in all over the place again will just cause irritation and that's not what we want. However, we still want to show support for DLC without offending the company so how do we conduct this last wave?
We send one single email containing ALL the emails from you, the supporters.
This is how it will work -
We will ask you to send us your emails in favour of the campaign, we will round them up into one file documenting all the support we can get for NiGHTS DLC and i will personally direct the email to SEGA myself. I will send it through a route to the company in which i believe will get forwarded to those who need to read it most.
The reason for doing this last wave via this method is as i said before, less of an annoyance yet it will still contain the same amount of numbers that SEGA might need to see in order to convince them that NiGHTS is still a worthy investment.
Why are you continuing the campaign even after NiGHTS has appeared as flag-waver? -
The flag-waver is a step in the right direction in the company listening to the outcries of the fans. However, our goal stands on having NiGHTS as a downloadable playable character. And there are reasons for this -
- 1 – DLC does cost money to make. To make NiGHTS dlc SEGA would need to consider it a worthy investment in that it would make a profit. By showing support for NiGHTS dlc it proves to SEGA that NiGHTS is a worthy investment as people would buy the dlc.
- 2 – By showing that NiGHTS is a worthy investment it'll also make it known to them that the character is still a worthy part of their catalogue, therefore these kinds of incidents happening again in the future will be less likely to occur (some people still can't believe NiGHTS is not playable).
- 3 – This will further push things like porting the NiGHTS remake to XboxLiVE/PSN in our favour (but we'll get on to that kinda campaign later after this out the way ;P)
Why are you taking our emails? Why can't we email SEGA ourselves? -
As i've previously stated, we are thankful for the flag-waver making an appearance and do not want to offend the company by sending loads of emails in their direction. It's messy and it's annoying. We don't want to disrespect them however we still want to show support, so gathering everybodies support in to one single email means we're still showing numbers but in a more tidy manner.
It's just a racing game. All this fuss over NiGHTS in a racing game? -
As i briefly mentioned before, this will stem further than ASR. For now, ASR is where it has started as NiGHTS was rudely misplaced. By showing support for NiGHTS (and further more actually buying DLC of him) we are giving SEGA an understanding of how much we support the character. This can strengthen future petitions like ..
Why make fuss over ASR? We should have just asked for NiGHTS into Dreams ported to XboxLiVE/PSN -
..like this, for example. People couldn't understand why we were not petitioning for this instead and the reason for this is because there had never been a reason to worry about NiGHTS' status until this incident happened with ASR. If we know where NiGHTS is and the company understand how we feel about the character, if sometime down the line we ask nicely for NiD to be ported then we'll most likely be heard out, rather than if we just started asking out of the blue. As i said before, this situation had me worried and so i acted to try and fix it. From this point onwards things have at least the possibility to move forward in regards to other things involving NiGHTS.
Still, it's just a racing game -
But it's a very FUN racing game and i have a feeling it will sell quite nicely. It would be a shame for NiGHTS not to be part of the selectable roster in something like this.
What if DLC is already planned, won't we just be bothering SEGA? -
On the contrary. This is another reason why i want to send everything in one email. If NiGHTS dlc is happening then we're doing nothing but further showing support for the cause and reassuring SEGA they're making the right move. If NiGHTS dlc is not currently being planned then we're giving SEGA some more numbers to check on in hopes of convincing them to make it happen.
No harm is being done with this last wave.
Why are you only campaigning for NiGHTS? What about Ristar/Vectorman/ToeJam&Earl/TheOriginalOutrunFlagman/MARIO? -
…dunno if you noticed but we're a NiGHTS community? 
In all seriousness though, for the character that we are fans of of course we are going to campaign for that character. However, there's nothing stopping anybody else out there asking for other characters via DLC. If it's any character that members of this forum are also fans of i'd encourage them to join those campaigns too. At the end of the day i'm a fan of SEGA but this is the community and the fans i work for and i'm campaigning for that character.
NiGHTS dlc NEEDS a show of numbers for support of it. This last wave can really make all the difference. If you have emailed before we strongly encourage you to email for this last wave too.
DLC costs money, we need to show SEGA that money on NiGHTS can be well spent. This community would not survive on it's own if NiGHTS really wasn't as good a character as we know he is. The NiGHTS property just needs to be handled with a little more care, that's all 
SO …how do you show support via email? Well, here's what we need you to do -
Similar form as before, copy and paste this into an email -
Dear SEGAI am writing this message to show my support for NiGHTS in hopes that you can make him become a playable character for Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing via Downloadable Content. I will support NiGHTS dlc by purchasing it should you make it.
Please let NiGHTS race in All-Stars Racingyours sincerely
-
(your name)
This is the base form of the email. You can add upon this message should you wish to have more to say in your own words but this is what you need to be telling SEGA. A copy-paste is an easy option but it might be worth more should you build upon it a little. Either way is good though.
Send your email to our address here -
nidsubz@googlemail.com
We will include your email address in the email we send to SEGA along with your message. After that we will no longer keep hold of your email address, we just want to get these number counts to SEGA so they can see the support. We will not forward your email to any other company other than SEGA themselves. It is purely for the sake of this campaign and showing support.
There is a deadline for these emails to reach us.
The deadline is the 25th February. Right in the middle between the USA release and the UK one.
In closing, i have one last thing to say in regards to this last wave. If you ever cared about NiGHTS' past and/or future, if the character has ever meant anything to you at one point in time, push aside all the things that went wrong and just notice the character for what it means and/or meant to you.
Support now to have NiGHTS get his DLC and support now to get us ready for the future.
It doesn't take 5 minutes to copy, paste and send us an email. And every single email will make a difference, believe me.
Let's try and make this happen. We are so close to reaching our goal.
SEGA have invited DiGi and I to a two day mystery trip to Alton Towers next month. To say we're excited is an understatement. More details as we get them!
Read more in our forums [ HERE ]
(This is vaguely reminding me of Charlie and the Chocolate factory lol)
March the 18th 2008- DiGi and i were invited by SEGA to come down to London and represent them in a large Guinness World Record attempt. The record chosen to set for future cosplayers was 'The most Games characters gathered in one place'. An easy record to beat since no such record previously existed! Hah!
What unfolded in those 24 hours was perhaps the most fun I've ever had on 48 hours insomnia. Besides… what kind of SEGA fanboy would you be if you could soundly sleep in SEGA HQ? I kept having to pinch myself and check DiGi wasn't just a hallucination brought on by the inflight meal.
From finding out Sonic hides Scottish heritage to being gatecrashed by Richard Jacques. Singing Sonic R songs badly late at night, being on TV and DiGi getting nekkid under a bridge… it was the stuff of DREAMS.
So here is the essential NiD.Com Guinness Report! Enjoy.
Forged documents. Check.
So Sunday night we were phoned by ArchangelUK making last minute checks with us about our flights, what we'd be doing etc etc. It was at that point we were informed that BBC 1's children's Newsround was also going to be in the media crowd attending. This of course made us laugh our faces off because DiGi had just had to study the show for his college course and my brother thinks Lizo is THE MAN. (Newsround is pure 90's British nostalgia). Suddenly the rumor that the famed Paul O'Grady show was going to be there seemed small in comparison to the MIGHT of NEWSROUND. C'mon! So with this in mind we continued packing our suitcases and skipped dinner entirely. Probably not the best of ideas.
That night I'd gone to bed super early… like some kid at christmas willing time to go faster. DiGi however had just signed up for a subscription on Phantasy Star Universe (AotI) and sat up to 3am hitting ugly things with sticks for money. He then came back to bed at said time to tell me i had an email. I get a lot of emails. This one however was from my pal Jess so i sat up in a drunken haze to read the thing. I returned to bed to find i couldn't get to sleep again. So for the remaining hours spent in bed i stared at the ceiling trying to think of a million witty things to say to reporters who might ask about my costume or NiGHTS. I swear i had a ton of them. Like how to promote NiGHTS in under 10 seconds using flowery words like 'unique' and 'masterpiece'. Needless to say i forgot all of them by the time 9am came around.
Up and at 'em DiGi dear!
We waited for what seemed like an eternity at Edinburgh Airport for our mysterious BA flight to appear, only to realise we were so early the self service machines wouldn't let us check in and then proceeded to malfunction. Cue some sleeping and sitting around for over an hour. There was an incident at an 'EAT' cafe where DiGi tried to explain his real name to a woman bringing us a cheese sandwhich… who i think just chickened out and saved her grace by waving instead of shouting. Pity really, the pair of us get cruel lollage from having crazy surnames to torment people with.
One bottle of caffeine later we were on our merry way! On takeoff we were treated to the most amazing view of the River Forth as the sun cast big shadows of the bridges across the water. It's an odd thing sitting on an airplane munching on a sandwich above the clouds at sunset realising that SEGA are paying for you to be a few thousand feet in the air (It's at that point you get worried lol). That sort of set the mood for the rest of the trip really, SURREAL.
Like i said. Surreal.
After much running down subway tunnels and a crazy amount of trains… no REALLY we found a train in a WALL at the airport!, we arrived at SEGA HQ. Immediately it became obvious that compared to other offices I've seen- this is a place where WORK gets done. I could tell that by the mini golf setup on the floor. Arcane scribblings on the walls, sacred Virtua Fighter plushies… A COPY OF THE HURRICANES ON THE MEGADRIVE. These folks mean business! Joking aside i was very impressed. The urge to go all-out ninja and dig for an beta of NiGHTS 8 the second Kevin turned his back was very tempting, but we were distracted by the decapitated head of Sonic on one of the desks. I then proceeded to steal Sonic's shoes for a bit… which actually didn't look too weird on me (should i be worried?).
Much talking and laughing was done, then we ended up creating something of a veritable monster of a podcast show for you folks. LIVE TO AN AUDIENCE OF ONE! Poor Echohawk… XD Anyhoo, the podcast is now available for download down at the media section on this page. It involves hilarious singing and harassing various members of the Sonic community to ask us questions via MSN. I don't think an anonymous 'WHERE IS JACKLE DAMMIT?!' to Iizuka would have went down so well a second time. So that didn't happen, but it's fun all the same.
After all that talking we were pretty parched so took a magical trip to the SEGA kitchen. Yes a kitchen… but not just ANY kitchen… this kitchen has GEORGE FOREMAN GRILLS. TWO OF THEM. DiGi instantly flew into a fit of jealousy as see, his life ambition is to own such a wonderful piece of kitchen godmodery. Also, SEGA seems big on recycling, in every room, kuedos SEGA, save those trees!
Anyway, just before DiGi and i tried to catch 40winks i had a highly amusing run in with one of the latenight cleaners in the mens bathroom (who i felt obliged to say HELLO to since i was probably the only woman in the entire building, with red hair, in a trenchcoat, lol). As i skuttled to my chair for the night i suddenly became paranoid that the office was haunted since A- it was so cold and B- The radio in the main office had turned itself on for no reason. But spooky thoughts were quickly replaced in my brain by the LARGE LOOMING MEDIA EVENT that was taking place in under 6 hours.
I started getting dressed at about 4:30am just to be on the safe side as knowing my luck my costume would explode/burst into flames/stop fitting me after 24 hours. Unfortunately i was ready about 3 hours too soon so we sat watching the World Ping Pong Championship on the big plasma TV at the end of the room. SEGA have a thing for pingpong i swear. It was in these bizarre early hours of the morning while half asleep i decided one day I'd work here come hell or high water as it was such a nice place. With a George Foreman Grill. I could totally man the kitchen.
I could also totally clear them out of cool shoes and merch.
I had only just started to nod off when the first manager type person walked in the door. The sight of the three of us drooling in our sleep, a decapitated Sonic, suitcases all over the floor and NiGHTS with what looked like a hangover probably woke him up pretty fast. He was a nice guy, pleased to see we were helping out and quick to tell us the big boss was due in in the afternoon. Needless to say getting to say hello to Mike Hayes whilst dressed as NiGHTS, representing you guys, would have made me look like a fruitcake with a slice of lemon on the side, so luckily we left the office a little bit earlier than we should haha. It was really funny walking down SEGA's corridor to the lift dressed as NiGHTS, i got some priceless looks. But everyone seemed really laid back and nice. Sort of what i imagined the offices at STC Fleetway to be like when i was 12 and didn't realise what offices were actually like. Pfft.
A lot of subliminal marketing to the confused general public of London, walking and trying to keep my balance later, we found a Taxi and were whisked off into a chilly Tuesday morning.
Our enthusiasm knew no bounds. We got there over an hour early! Sonic (bagged and tagged) took up all of the room in the taxi so i was happy to get out and walk again. Even if it WAS freezing and windy and right beside the River Thames. I'll be honest, standing outside of the Tate Modern gallery it looked bleak… we were the only ones there. The situation was becoming funnier as tourists walked past waiting to get into the art gallery behind us. I'm walking art baby! But i figured the more confused people got the more they'd remember NiGHTS, so it was all good. At one point it became so windy we used Sonic's bodybag as a windbreaker, it didn't do much, so i gave up and put my hat on. Rendering myself deaf but toasty.
And then LO! From out of nowhere a nice young chap sat beside us and started to get changed into a costume. SCORE 1 FOR TRiPPY. I'd been trying to advertise this event in any way i knew how… so this guy was like finding the golden fleece. We all turned our attention to the Millennium bridge, keeping an eye out for anyone in large dayglow costumes. Often mistaking members of the public for cosplayers who were just wearing mad coats. One by one our little group got bigger (and more hyperactive). We were then bestowed with the presence of Mr Gordon Freeman complete with crowbar in a bag. Then it all sort of got VERY busy in the space of 15 minutes with cosplayers turning up left right and center! It's amazing how friendly cosplayers are, nobody seemed to feel left out or awkward, everyone was just having so much fun!
At around 11am Guinness turned up along with various members of the press. But… the Sun bus was nowhere to be seen. DiGi started to look positively mortified. There was no way he could get changed into the Sonic costume inside the Tate Modern… so we had to be RESOURCEFUL. I think the resourceful came from Arch' as it involved DiGi getting his kit off a few feet away under the Millennium Bridge XD; Sonic really IS the fastest thing alive when its a breezy day in London and he's wearing boxers. Fastest costume change EVER. As soon as we walked back to the cosplayer crowd he was instantly mobbed by fans wanting photos.
The next few hours were a colorful blur of posing for photos, being interviewed by magazines and nearly having my chest gemstone snatched by overcurious Final Fantasy cosplayers. Shiny is hypnotic.
When my fellow cosplayer Orihime turned up dressed in her infamously cute Amy costume i skipped over to say hi… completely OBLIVIOUS to the fact I'd left mute DiGi standing with Mr musical manlegend Richard Jacques. Well it's not every day Richard Jacques teleports out of nowhere to say hello. I recognised him instantly but because i was so tired i think my brain was telling me he was something of an illusion along with the 80something game characters jumping about.
LEGEND
Eventually it turned out the Sun's bus was actually THERE… just parked very far away from the Tate Modern. So after being subjected to a media PIT while being squashed on the millennium bridge i had to guide DiGi through some backstreets to the big red bus. Our costumes meant we couldn't actually FIT on the bus, so we got to stand at the front, which worked out better in the end. Although the very cute (and scary) Mario Army decided to ask Sonic some very personal questions while we were supposed to be posing for the press. One kid even tried to start a fight with him, ahaha.
That's a look of FEAR.
Tails however fared a little better. I swear down, Vger was the best Tails EVER. EPIC TAILS. He was completely crazy (all cosplayers should be like him!) From bizarre dance routines to accidentally forgetting to take his Hawaiian shirt off, he was gold. When i look through these photos i still can't stop laughing.
As things wound down after lunchtime people started to head home while we hung around for a little bit longer to get DiGi out of the costume. As soon as the giant head was off he finally got the chance to say hello to Richard and shake his hand. Smiles all around and the promise of breakfast DiGi, Arch, Sonic and I fell into the nearest taxi and returned to SEGA HQ. After packing all our luggage back up we were introduced to the best sandwich shop ever with a mighty selection of cakes. We said our sad goodbyes to Arch' and set off in an ever so emotastic way to catch our plane.
Our journey back to Edinburgh involved missing an airport train to gatwick and getting lost in the underground, so it was all a bit hectic. But seriously, one of the best days of my life. Being able to represent NiGHTS and SEGA to the media and public was fantastic and I'd do it all again at the drop of a hat… most probably not my own hat though as it got a little bit squashed in my suitcase thanks to the BA luggage people. Which i suppose is an excuse to start working on a Journey of Dreams cosplay at some point… hmmm…
24 HOURS OF AWESOME
Video and Press links
Photographs taken on the day (50 total)
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Thanks to: MCM Expo forums, Amecon forums, Sonic Stadium, Cosplay.Com, SEGA and everyone who turned up on Tuesday!
Back in January 2008 we had the incredibly surreal experience of not only NiGHTS 2 finally becoming a reality after 12 years but SEGA bringing it to our -house- to demonstrate it for us before release. Needless to say it sounds like the sort of caffeine driven lie any fan could spout but – no – really. SEGA came to our house.
How many gaming companies do that for their fans? It's little things like this that remind me why i still love SEGA so much, they still listen.
It's probably a good idea to start here with this forum topic since we'd been joking about SEGA bringing NiGHTS to us, then it actually happening haha:
http://www.nightsintodreams.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=1384
Gaze upon the slightly worrying yet sexy Dev Wii in my bedroom.
It was a day of cheesecake, sparkly reunited joy and adult chickenpox. But all around amazing. Back in January I'd been so hyped to finally play Journey of Dreams that i never actually got around to writing up what went on. I think i muttered something to the fans about 'give me a few weeks I've been wanting to play this game for 12 years', then toddled off for a lot longer than that to play the thing to death. We have some video of the day but rather than upload a massive 3 gig video of us sitting yelling at the TV set – I'll break it down into screencaps. For a detailed report of what Arch' from SEGA thought you can read the blogs here:
http://blogs.sega.com/europe/category/nights/
(or just keep reading below since i copypasta'd them for nostalgia's sake)
1. If it looks too good to be true it usually is. Mr Dev Wii eats retail code discs for breakfast. Poor Arch had been given the wrong Wii to bring all the way to Scotland to demo NiGHTS on.
Cue our horror.
2. Any longtime hardcore NiGHTS fan will know… you remember those nightmares you'd wake up from back in 1999 or 2001 where SEGA come to visit your house with a copy of NiGHTS 2 and then it doesn't work. We got to live it. FOR REAL!
Cue the tears of a broken man.
3. Our forum moderator Jof was overcome with grief (as the photos obviously show). But something SEGA probably doesn't understand is how much patience waiting 12 years non stop for a sequel gives you. This to a NiGHTS fan was just a small technical hitch. We famously carry some kind of fandom curse so this was normal. This called for practical thinking! Problem solving! The sort of DEEP THINKING that only true NiGHTS fans could co-
Oh yeah! We had our own Wii. Duh.
SO BEHOLD!
*RAPTURE!*
NiGHTS 2 on my TV, not just some horrible delusion.
Girly screams all around.
And what is the first thing you WANT to know, VITAL to gameplay enjoyment for the next 12 years?
CAN WILL BE THROWN OFF THE EDGE OF DREAMGATE?
Unfortunately no, but we'll forgive them…. somehow.
Ok forgiven. NiGHTS isn't all flowers and rainbows. This pleases us greatly.
As does verbal smackdown… and the fact they left THAT line in. You know the one
NiGHTS can HEAL THE SICK with his tight spandexy powers, see how much life is brought back to this poorly man plagued by the deadly adult chicken pox. He can walk again! Especially now that he owns more NiGHTS merchandise than SEGA itself.
SEGA gives DiGi +9999999 revive.
All is good in the world. Game enjoyment was had, bags were screamed over, copious copies of JoD were handed out and laughter ensued. Today was a great day.
But it wasn't over yet! It's a mandatory requirement that any SEGA representative stepping into our household MUST answer to the fans and be thoroughly interrogated via our Dreamcast show. Which went swimmingly well.
Afterwards we set him free but SEGA now knows the NiGHTS fanbase is SERIOUS BUSiNESS. After the mind control wore off AAUK returned to England and wrote up the following SEGA journals:
ArchangelUK & The Dreamers of EDiNBURGH:
Pt 1 – Up, Up and AwayWhat do ArchangelUK, £900 bottles of cognac and the Paralympics team of Gibraltar have in common? As it happens we were all at Gatwick airport last Thursday, though whilst the cognac was gathering dust and the Gibraltans were off to some sort of training camp I myself as the Online Community Team’s resident representative for all things Nightopian was off to Edinburgh to the very heart of the NiGHTS fan base.
The reason for this was very simple – it was a lot cheaper to send me to them then get them down to us.
So, armed with a bag full of NiGHTS merchandise a suitcase containing a Wii (and looking at the weather a sense of foreboding) I marched off to do battle with the airport check-in system… at 3:45am.
Let me tell you strange things happen at 3:45am, for a start paying £20 for the slim chance of winning a Ferrari they’ve somehow got into the departures lounge sounds like “a good idea” – you imagine yourself with “Magical Sound Shower” blaring from the speakers as you zip along the straights of Malibu. Feeling rather worried by this and keeping the £20 firmly in my pocket I instead headed straight for the arcade and blasted off a quick few laps on OutRun2.
Speaking of arcades is it me or is the entirety of the Arcade system now solely resting on machines produced by SEGA and Namco? I swear there are more SEGA machines around than any other publisher – and the rest seem to be Time Crisis.
The plane boarded on time and we were soon in the air, the pilot finishing his welcome by inviting us to “enjoy all the marvellous facilities we have on this aircraft… Not.” So as we sailed into the sky with the strains of Dreams Dreams 2008 in my ears I was really looking forward to the trip, I was even looking forward to the surprisingly tasty looking in-flight breakfast which was served pretty much immediately.
Yup, everything was going smoothly… and then I made the mistake of opening my tub of orange juice.
Like some sort of cosmic switch the plane all of a sudden lurched sideways as we hit a terrible bout of turbulence which did its best to cover me in the orange liquid. I clamped my palm over the top of my cup in desperation to try and prevent further spillage but still I fear looked rather like the recipient of shrapnel wounds from a Tango grenade when all was said and done.
We landed on time (and for a while on one wheel) at Edinburgh airport which seemed surprisingly small and as I set foot for the first time on Scottish soil I was pleased to see that absolutely no stereotypes about Scotland were to be seen. Yup it was windy, rainy, cold, bagpipe music was playing as I entered the arrivals area and the first man I saw was in a kilt trying to sell me shortbread. Absolutely no stereotypes at all.
After a brief scare when I almost left my case at the airport I exited to find freezing sheet rain and dragging my belongings onto the shuttle bus rode off to my hotel room and my first meeting with TRiPPY and DiGi…
Posted by ArchangelUK in NiGHTS on 4:24:11PM Jan 23, 2008
ArchangelUK & The Dreamers of EDiNBURGH:
Pt 2 – Play The GameFor those who used to get Sonic the Comic back in the day you may well recall that there was an artist who kept getting her work featured – Lynne Triplett. It might surprise you to know that Lynne and TRiPPY are one and the same, and with bright red hair you’re not likely to miss her. As one half of the “First Couple of Nightopia” (TM AAUK, 2007) and with partner in crime DiGi Valentine (himself resplendent with a signature tuft of bright green hair) aiding and abetting, she has lead the NiGHTS fan base for more years than it’s polite to say.
Having got the word that the guys had arrived I zipped down to the lobby to find them there along with NiGHTS forum mod Jof and TRiPPY’s brother Derek. So you have ArchangelUK, TRiPPY, DiGi, Jof and Derek – it seems someone was letting us down on the wacky names front.
Later it was revealed he was a DeZ. Oh well.
We went to catch a bus back to the Triplett household and talked Journey of Dreams, Reala, original NiGHTS, SST, SEGA, Sonic Wrecks and many other things. I was pleased to see DiGi who had literally dragged himself off his sick bed of the last week, having spent all that time suffering from a rather nasty case of adult chicken pox as he was devastated at the thought of missing out on my visit.
Awww.
However as he waivered somewhat standing up I did fear a stiff breeze might blow the poor guy away, so feeling a bit guilty I reached into my AAUK branded bag o’ tricks and produced, with no fanfare, a copy of Journey of Dreams which I thrust beneath his astounded eyes. DiGi held it like he might accidentally break it for a few moments before issuing an excited squeak – but in a manly way, right DiGi? TRiPPY and DiGi examined the game which they had been waiting 11 years for – and wouldn’t be out to the general UK populous until tomorrow – and began chattering earnestly, a bit more life back in DiGi which I for one was very pleased to see.
A short adventure with some excitable dogs later, one of whom called Smudge didn’t want to let me off at our stop – an agent of Wizeman perhaps – we arrived at their flat and I stepped through TRiPPY’s bedroom door into… the largest amount of purple I’d ever seen in my entire life.
The room was completely done up in NiGHTS’ colour scheme – there were statuettes and plushies, posters and artwork everywhere. In the corner stood on a mannequin TRiPPY’s NiGHTS costume which apparently takes about 6 hours to put on, I assumed DiGi was joking about that but TRiPPY’s nervous laughter suggested otherwise. I was also pleased to see a large variety of Sonic merchandise as well as pretty much every SEGA console known to man.
Here’s a photo of TRiPPY in said regalia:
“Du-al-ize!”Yes, both terrifying and alluring at the same time. I think…
Everywhere I looked, everywhere, was just a mass of NiGHTS… I didn’t even know there was half as much NiGHTS paraphernalia in existence as I saw in there.
Anyway to business! I began setting up the Wii I’d dragged with me from SOE HQ all the way to the south of England and then all the way up to Edinburgh. Oh dear. The green frontage of that Wii was not a good sign…
I popped the game in and my fears were realised, I’d been given a Dev Wii and it wouldn’t play the retail code – NOOOOOOOOO! Luckily TRiPPY had a Wii, but it did mean that they would not be able to see any of the more advanced levels and see the unlocked items to begin with. So after I got the Tutorial out of the way for them I let them loose on Journey of Dreams, while I muttered some rather choice language as I packed the console back up again.
Soon the room went very quiet as people concentrated, trying to get the highest number of links possible and while the boss levels proved deceptively tricky at first – Jof being our savior and getting us past them – there was nothing but grins around the room. Even from Derek and he’s not a NiGHTS fan at all!
Time was marching on but I’d been very open in my desire to be used as much as possible by the guys, so it was time to start thinking about the dreaded Dream Cast podcast.
Posted by ArchangelUK in NiGHTS on 5:08:54PM Jan 25, 2008
ArchangelUK & The Dreamers of EDiNBURGH:
Pt 3 – Of Merchandise and CheesecakeWith sinister clowns, magicians and giant fish vanquished it was time to try out the multiplayer. TRiPPY was keen to take people on and as the former World Record holder for defeating Wizeman had every right to be confident. Unfortunately Jof beat her, then DiGi beat her, then her brother beat her… then I beat her.
Whoops.
However she’s been practicing like crazy and no doubt will be up for a challenge should you ask her at any time.
After that we recorded the podcast where I answered a load of questions from NiGHTS fans to the best of my ability. Having already helped provide them with various answers with the interview with Iizuka-san, fan base questions instead were in the “who the heck are you” and “why are you here” bracket as opposed to the “what are the fundamental changes in control methodology” bracket. Though when you bare in mind my answer to “What is your role at SEGA?” was “ham and cheese” you can guess how things went.
The podcast is up on NiGHTSIntoDreams.Com now if you’re interested (parental advisory – explicit DiGi in places).
Speaking of cheese, TRiPPY had a hankering for some cheesecake but first I had a little matter of giving out some rather splendid gifts courtesy of SEGA. From my magic bag I pulled seemingly endless goodies including Sonic t-shirts, NiGHTS posters, a Sonic 06 mug, glow in the dark NiGHTS stickers, soundtrack samplers, the Japanese NiGHTS pre-order toy, Ghost Squad, Golden Compass, Sonic Rush Adventure and Sonic Rivals 2.
Poor DiGi was half-buried under a mountain of merchandise by the time I finished, unable to move.
That would have been all, but for the bag within the bag. Ah yes, in a major merchandising coup I pulled out a Japanese NiGHTS bag, the same bag that had been given out in ridiculously limited quantities at the Tokyo Game Show.
The reaction was PRICELESS, a sort of strangulated yell followed by diving and grasping and clutching with great excitement and lots of thank yous.
I dunno about you guys, but rather think they liked it…
It was at this point that TRiPPY REALLY needed some cheesecake, so as we were now all rather on the hungry side ourselves it seemed only right that we go out for some food. Catching a bus which took a small eternity to arrive but thankfully had no excitable pets on board we made our way back to Edinburgh city centre. All of this of course was great for me because it allowed me to return to my hotel room and dump the accurs’d Wii back there with a shake of my fist skywards… or at least southwards.
So where to? Well, a restaurant presumably so having tidied myself up a bit I raced back downstairs to rescue Team NiGHTS – or more specifically the reception staff from this odd collection of youths sitting in the lobby of their swanky hotel.
Having found a bar called the Filling Station, which was filled with various examples of motoring Americana, we sat down and ordered drinks. Not really being in the mood for anything too strong I ordered an Appletizer which was roughly about the same time I found out about the Heathrow crash.
Yes, trust me guys there’s nothing that makes your day than to find out there’s been a mysterious airplane crash on the airline your flying back on the very next day. So while I was sipping my drink thinking as soon as I left tomorrow the wings would fall off or I’d find out that the pilot had mysteriously been replaced by a hippo, the guys placed their orders and talked about the game some more.
Oddly enough the topic at hand was Owl and what a great character he was. This was odd as I was sure Owl would annoy the hell out of everyone (Visitor. Visitor. Hoot. Visitor. Yes. Ho ho. Visitor.) Including myself but that was until people saw NiGHTS’ reactions to Owl.
You see if you are a Visitor who gets a little tired of Owl keep an eye on NiGHTS in the cut scenes. Ignoring the one prior to the water ball level in which Owl nearly drowns… to howls of laughter from Helen and NiGHTS. NiGHTS is often rolling his eyes and looking incredibly bored at the old bird’s hooting and generally not giving a, well, hoot.
TRiPPY made a very good point too about NiGHTS being somewhat snappy in places, i.e. “Dual-ize” in that NiGHTS is as you may recall still a Nightmaren despite also being a “carefree rascal”.
The food arrived shortly afterwards, I forget what mine was called but it was essentially an inverse pizza apparently full of ALL THE CHEESE IN THE WORLD. As such I completed about half of it, which I suppose gives me a D rank.
Other topics flowed through the meal including NiGHTS’ voice artist (and the voices in general), speaking with Iizuka-san, creating NiGHTS artwork, how DiGi was NOT going to use the stickers I’d given him for an urban advertising campaign as I didn’t want to end up with some street fine thank you very much and how amazing, apparently, NiGHTS’ ass had been rendered on the signature artwork.
Yesssss……
TRiPPY demolished her slice of cheesecake in near record time all the while making lots of ‘mmmm’ noises which considering the rest of us had no desert didn’t go down too well. The meal was paid for and we left, but where to now?
We decided to march up to Edinburgh Castle – as you do – and risk the wrath of the ghosts and ghouls…
Posted by ArchangelUK in NiGHTS on 12:45:34PM Jan 31, 2008
ArchangelUK & The Dreamers of EDiNBURGH:
Pt 4 – Journey’s EndYou’d thought I’d forgotten about this hadn’t you? Well we’d left my story, which was a while ago now, as we had just finished the podcast and a slice of cheesecake had been sacrificed to the great TRiPPY beast.
Now apparently, as it was really cold and damp it was a very good idea to go up to Edinburgh Castle – this was especially neccessary so we could yell “Yay castle!” at the ancient edifice. You may have guessed I was beginning to wonder what was in the cheesecake following this statement – but I wanted to go and see it regardless so up we went.
The castle was of course closed and the Queen wasn’t in – which was very rude of her, I’m from frickin’ SEGA! But the views from atop the very, very steep hill across Edinburgh were truly fantastic. A twinkling cacophany of white and yellow lights and the sound of the wind… and somebody taking out their frustrations on a pay-and-display machine.
Having discovered it was even colder where we were, we turned tail and walked back chatting about this and that. I was told of how the current streets of Edinburgh are built over the streets of old which was done so to trap the plague victims and wipe the slate clean – judging by the large steps on either side of the road this had been happening a lot. Edinburgh also has so I’m told one of the most haunted graveyards in the country, the ghosts and ghouls within being none too pleasant. Tourists coming out with mysterious injuries inflicted up them, cuts and bruises – TRiPPY recalled she came out of one of the trips with a massive bruise on her thigh. That the ghosts were angry and vengeful.
“I’m not surprised if you lot keep paving over people.” Was my reply.
Seeing Jof off at the train station we went back to the hotel where I wished everyone goodnight where I went off to a very comfy bed and a slice of banoffi pie and a coke from room service (I paid before you lot say anything). The next day myself, DiGi and TRiPPY met up to kill time before I had to go off to the airport again.
I was rather desolate to find that Gamestation had recieved a delivery of Wiis in that very morning – if only I didn’t have the accurs’d Dev Wii I could have bought one and taken it home with me! NOOOOOOO!!! We moped around and had breakfast before I had to get my bus to the airport, the highlight being a tramp outside the job centre who started yelling at me that I was a bum for no reason whatsoever.
The time came for goodbyes and I departed for pastures more Southern, but even then there was a twist in the tail. Only a few days later (as some of you know) TRiPPY and DiGi through a series of unfortunate events were forced out on the streets and ended up having to rough it. Several of you have asked me how they are and the good news is that they are indeed safe and well in a new abode.
In fact Miss T and Mr D were helping me with something else a bit closer to home yesterday – keep an eye out for details on that!
Posted by ArchangelUK in NiGHTS on 11:52:39AM Mar 19, 2008