The War Continues

So the Apple vs. Microsoft war continues with Microsoft's announcement of the Zune HD. The iPod Touch competitor was announced yesterday with mixed reviews. I was intrigued by the HD attachment on the Zune title. So I decided to take a closer look into. My first thought was an HD screen... nope. Granted you will be able to view HD content from the Zune but only when it is connected to an external HD monitor or television. Hmmm, not too exciting to me since I have Directv with HD and a Blu-Ray player. The screen itself on the player is a mere 480 x 272 resolution OLED display.

So that can't quite possibly be the only reason they added the HD to the name. Apparently it also has a built in FM HD receiver so you can listen to HD radio. Anyone who is techie enough to go out and buy a Zune HD is not going to listen to HD radio on it. Frankly radio is on its way out with its commercial ridden programing especially when there are so many music players out there as well as XM and Sirius satellite radio. Well thats strike two in my book.

Now granted I haven't had the chance to actually play with one yet. So I can't really say whether it will be a good tech toy or not. They have a steep hill to climb to compete with the iPod Touch since Apple has there nice little patent on the touch screen technology. I still have not found any touch screen device and OS that works as smoothly as the iPod Touch and iPhone. So from preliminary research all I can say is that it at least looks sharp.

All in all we will have to wait and see. My money is on Apple continuing its domination. I was told by Jeremy not to blog about this since he didn't want to start a whole Apple vs. Microsoft debate with fans of the site... to bad :)

Episode Four!

Well since it is Monday I have uploaded episode 4! This is a special episode since it tells the history of Action Abe. Hope you enjoy and let us know what you think.

So even though I am a techno geek I still do enjoy the outdoors. I went fishing with my father and brother in law up here in upstate NY. Of course it was the coldest day of the weekend but what can you do. I did happen to catch a nice Pickerel.

But of course the fish won and ended back up in the water. That might have something to do with me being allergic to fish so I can't eat him anyway. I know this is probably a boring post except for those out there who enjoy fishing. I am hoping Jeremy post soon about his weekend movie watching of Night at the Museum II and Terminator Salvation. I will try to find something entertaining to post later on.

Casey

What A Treat... What A Tasty Little Treat

We have a treat for you all. We know that a week in between episodes is very long especially when you are still figuring out the story line. So in order to keep everyone from bringing out the torches and pitch forks we have created Backspace Singularities!

Basically it is a short "funny pages" like comic strip aside from the main volume currently going on. You can find these on the comics page under the Volume One comics. The first singularity is in response to the newly released Punch Out for the Wii. I am sure Jeremy will talk more about this later since he is the NES Punch Out freak.

Speaking of new games based on the classics, I want to mention that the Capcom classic Bionic Commando has been updated and is out in the public. Hopefully one of these days I will be able to check it out and let you know how it is. All this talk about games is getting me pumped up for game night tonight! Will it be NHL '09 tonight? Or maybe Rainbow Six Vegas 2. Maybe even Left 4 Dead. Oh the possibilities!

Casey

More Than Meets The Eye

Well it is destined to happen so why not now. Hi, my name is Casey and I am a transformers fan. When I say fan I mean I own all the original 1980's episodes on DVD, a toy collection of about 70 figures (still growing), and if I had my way about it I would have transformers bed sheets. So you can imagine how excited I was when the first live action movie was released. Now some trans fans will say I am not a fan if I liked the movie. Well they can all go suck an egg cause I loved it. Granted it's no original Generation 1 story or characters but so what. They created a new series like many others have done with cartoon series. I went into the theater expecting nothing and came out very pleased.

The reason why I bring this up is because all the tv spots have been coming out and I have found them online as well and decided to share.

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen "Forms" from Bay Films/Michael Bay Dot Com on Vimeo.

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen "Greatest Enemy" from Bay Films/Michael Bay Dot Com on Vimeo.

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen "It's On.." from Bay Films/Michael Bay Dot Com on Vimeo.

These are the three most recent TV spots. I hope you enjoy, I know I did. Transform and roll out!

On a side note we are interested to know what you think about the site so far. Send us an email through the contact page and let us know what you like about Backspace. As mentioned by Jeremy before, we are planning a contest with a fun prize so keep checking back. We will make an announcement when the contest begins.

Casey

Episode Three!

Just wanted to let everyone know that Episode Three is online! It has been made final that the new comic will be released every Monday. What a better way to start off your week.

Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons because, to them, you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

Casey

Apple Vs. The World?

Well here is something interesting, Jen (wifey) was looking on yahoo this morning and stumbled on this video. Apparently the rumor mills are buzzing about the new iPhones coming later this year being big competitors in the handheld gaming market, this being backed up by a google news report about a code name "Charlie" iPhone project.

We already know about game developers such as EA have given support to apple by making games compatible for bot PC and Apple but now the video above suggests that there might be a possible purchase of EA by Apple and even more so a possible gaming console by apple. Does this surprise me? NOPE! Apple has already taken over the smart phone market, trying to break into home entertainment with the Apple TV, so why not the gaming industry. I am not saying that I am backing the idea of an Apple console.

it all depends on the game library. Hence the reason why I am not running out to buy a PS3, just not enough games I would want to play on such an expensive console with a weak online gaming community.

Just thought this would be an interesting post for those in the gaming community. It's the first I have heard the console rumor and in fact that is all it could be... a rumor. But who knows, Apple is always full of surprises. If anyone else has heard any rumors about Apple taking on the gaming industry let me know.

Casey

No Spoilers

Well I just got back from Albany where the wifey and I went to the IMAX theater to see the new Star Trek Movie. First of all I want to say that I am fan but I wouldn't go as far as saying I am a Treker. For any of you who are Trekers you have to at least give me credit for calling you by the proper name. I am been reprimanded in the past for calling die hard fans Trekies where in fact I was told the proper term is Treker. Over all I am a casual fan, nothing like my infatuation for Transformers but a fan none the less. We will talk Transformers another time.

The wifey gave it two thumbs up. She has seen a few of the older movies in the past but really has no knowledge of the story. So they made the movie so anyone can enjoy it. Not only that but they made it very acceptable for those who do know the story. Don't worry I am not going to give anything away. I really just want to say that I went into the movie and witnessed a story line not expected at all that made the film great! You will be surprised... good surprised. Not to mention that the casting couldn't have been better.I could watch another 5 movies with this cast. Plus the special effects were phenomenal!

Speaking of special effects a movie like this needs to be seen in IMAX. I haven't seen a movie in IMAX since Matrix Reloaded and there has been some vast improvements. Put it this way, digital picture and sound on a screen that has more square footage then my house and thats a fact. If you have one near you should really go. There is a price mark up but it was well worth it.

After the movie we went and visited the apple store. You will soon learn that I am a big Apple fanatic. in fact I am waiting for my current contract to end so I can get an iPhone unless rumors are true and the iPhone is coming to Verizon. Back to the apple store, I went around to every computer and iPhone and put Backspace up for people to view. I know shameless marketing but we need to get the word out. Here is a cell pic from an iphone with episode 2 on it.

Well thats all for now, gotta go crash for the evening but before I go I just wanted to say that the t-shirt that my character wears (which you will see in episode 7) is in the store now. By the way the link that says "MERCH" stands for merchandise. Go check it out.

"Captain, I'm giving you all she's got!"

Ha! I bet you thought I was going to say live long and prosper. Well technically I just did but you know what I mean.

Casey

Episode Two!

Since it is the first week and we want to grab everyones attention we have decided to post episode two! It is up on the "comics" page. I hope you enjoy the special guest appearance in this one especially since Star Trek is out in theaters. Speaking of which I am going out to see that in IMAX on Saturday. Jeremy has already seen it so he should comment about it soon. I will let you know what I think after I see it but for now enjoy episode two!

Casey

How it all started

It started with two guys watching bad sci-fi movies till 3am, flipping channels between Spike TV and the History Channel and conversations about what medieval spaceships would look like……and you have Backspace. And I never thought that the random, goofy ideas put together by Jeremy, Casey and myself would drawn out in a weekly web comic. After a lot of technical problems (one including voiceovers that sounded like they were recorded in a men’s room) we faced on the Backspace flash animation project, I thought this would be an idea that would be left for dead. Until Jeremy proposed that we just make it into a comic strip, and I said, “Yeah, we can do that.” So I started on character designs, (which weren’t that difficult seeing that they were just exaggerated versions of ourselves) and Jeremy revised the scripts into a comic strip friendly format. Within a matter of weeks we had our characters drawn and colored thanks to Casey’s quick coloring skills, and then it seemed like within another week we had our first “strip” done.

For the last month I have had the pleasure of drawing Abe Lincoln kicking the crap out of ninjas, and I’ve enjoyed the reaction I get from people who pass by me on the MAX (Portland’s light rail train system, for those who don’t know what it is) and say, “is that Abe Lincoln with a shotgun?” Yes it is, and the best is yet to come. This ship has set sail, sink or swim, and we thank all our friends and future readers for checking out our site and giving us your support!

Currently I’m drawing out a wallpaper and a new t-shirt (be sure to take a peek at the Action Abe shirts!) and every now and then I’ll be drawing out what Jeremy and I will refer to as “Backspace Shorts,” which will be ideas we really couldn’t place in a script and were funny by themselves. Or they will be one of my random drawings that I find funny in my warped, disturbed mind.

I’ll end this blog with a shout out to Nate Piekos at Blambot.com, who at which has helped us out with our comic fonts. So thank you Nate, thank very much! You can check out Nate’s site (as well as his wonderful comic strip call “Atland.”) by going to our “Friends of Backspace” section.

-Kyle

Has it been that long?

So I have found a good example of why we are so excited that we have finally launched Backspace. I was looking through picture files on my computer for something unrelated and I stumbled across a random image. When I say random I mean Star Wars Trivial Pursuit what was the name of the actor who played the storm trooper standing next to the third Ewok from the left random question random. The picture is of the original character designs for Jeremy Kyle and I. I looked at the date in question of when this image was created and it is dated 4/30/07 which means we have been working on this for over two years that we have a record of. The process actually started long before then but so far this is the only documentation. So here is a glimpse of what the original characters looked like.

As you can see there has been some modifications to the characters. I got fatter, Kyle got glasses and darker hair, and Jeremy no longer has a porcupine head. Overall I think there were some good improvements. Got to say great work by Kyle with the illustrations of the characters. Well I will shove off for now, is everyone in suspense for the next comic episode due next Tuesday? I hope so! Leave us some comments either on here or by contacting us via the contact page. We also have a Facebook page that you can see here.

Casey

Quick RSS Update

Hi folks, thanks for being patient with the few glitches we may have with the site. I have updated the RSS feed so if you have the old feed you will need to delete it and use the new one. If you haven't gotten the RSS feed yet then... DO IT before a pack of samurai pigs attack you in your sleep. Just kidding... or am I?

Casey

Updates!

Not even 24 hours in and I have put up some updates including an RSS feed that can be found here. Also we have a shirt design based on Action Abe from the comic in our store which you can find here. So I will just leave you with one final thing for the first day of Backspace... cantaloupe. Thats right, cantaloupe.

Casey

Development

So here I am in the development of the Backspace website. Jeremy and Kyle will shortly follow with their posts after the site has launched which we hope is this week. I just have a couple more items to iron out on the site. Truly I am only writing this post to test the blog page and make sure my iframe tags are working properly. So until the funny guys get posting I will sign off.

-Casey