Sunday, December 22, 2013
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Monday, December 9, 2013
Spec Ops: The Line - A Descent Into Darkness
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| Images of John Konrad appear before Walker several times in his journey |
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Quick & Painless Reviews: Rise Of The Triad (v 1.2.1)
This is pretty much as Q&P as these kinds of reviews get. If you liked Rise of the Triad: Dark War, or just that classic FPS feel in general, you're almost guaranteed to like the reboot. It's just that simple. The only thing that might be stopping you are the reports of poor game performance upon its release. That's fine, it held me back too. Well, as of the end of October, patch 1.2 was released along with the promise of less crashes and better framerates. The community seemed very pleased, so I couldn't hold back any longer. Though there's no question that this game is poorly optimized, the recent patch has made it manageable, and I personally am satisfied. While playing, I took a few screenshots that maybe could convince you further:
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Friday, November 22, 2013
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Monday, October 28, 2013
Monday, October 21, 2013
Rat Wrestling
Yeah, I still have to scan the first comic. Here's something I filmed in the meantime.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Friday, October 11, 2013
Thursday, October 10, 2013
It's Coming
People on DeviantArt have heard me talk about it for years, and I've even mentioned it on here a few times. The elusive Z-Comic series that I've worked on all of these years, but have posted barely any scans of. Well, I feel the time has almost come. Now that I own a scanner that can scan a 15-60 page comic within a reasonable time, I'll be able to show the world what I've been spending all my time drawing and not posting since the age of twelve.
I'm not going to get right on it tonight though. I have some work and such to take care of over the next couple of days, but expect to see the first issue up by about some point next week. In the mean time, a little something to set the bar for what you're basically in for:
I'm not going to get right on it tonight though. I have some work and such to take care of over the next couple of days, but expect to see the first issue up by about some point next week. In the mean time, a little something to set the bar for what you're basically in for:
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Jessicka, The Emotional Individual
I want the tumblr audience.
Just an initial scan before I add some finishing touches and colour. Often times when I scan something, I get a clearer look at details I messed up or forgot.
Just an initial scan before I add some finishing touches and colour. Often times when I scan something, I get a clearer look at details I messed up or forgot.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
A Skeptic's Local Dealings With The Paranormal
In 2010, I wrote a small essay regarding the reemergence of the parapsychology fad within the media, more so focusing on its presence in my own town. It continues to be one of my favourite things that I've ever written, though I've been much too lazy to retype it since. The final edition is long lost, leaving only a print out of one of its previous drafts, so I apologize for the various errors and instances of ugly wordplay.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Greengob Noobfang
I've been meaning to keep this character hidden from Risexual, but
whatever. I didn't colour in any sort of background, because why bother?
I'll update it with one if I think of something that I feel fits.
P.I.T. Fan Art: Mike
So I bought a new scanner, and thus I can start posting new material again. Risexual is always trying to make me do drawings based on his ongoing PIT series, and after two years of requests I finally did something.
Karen's Response To Being Told "I Love You"
Pretty much my Z-Comic series in a nutshell. I'm sorry that I've never really scanned this masterpiece to share with all of you.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Quick & Painless Reviews: 2games1film
Remember when I said I wanted to focus less on reviews and get back to posting more art? LOL, I lied. Not that I haven't been drawing up new material, but back in December I bought a new gaming PC which doesn't have an input for my old ass scanner from 1999.
Remember Me
The year is 2084, and a century later Big Brother is back to claim mankind. He has created an implant called the Sensation Engine (Sensen) that allows for the digitization of memories. This has enabled humans to pick and choose what memories they keep and delete, or perhaps even create a completely fresh identity by downloading new artificial memories. Big Brother, for the most part, has built a monopoly on human thought. The player takes control of Nilin, a powerful, racially ambiguous woman who don't need no man, except for the one named Edge who guides her throughout most of the game.
Throughout Remember Me, you explore the futuristic city of Neo-Paris via automatic platforming where you are lead by the nose with a small orange arrow. Every ten jumps or so, you run into some retards, robots, or government baddies who want to kick your ass. Combat in this game is basically like that of Arkham Asylum... if it was dropped on its head. How enemies approach and attack is heavily RNG-based, so if the game rolled a 1 for you, you basically have already lost the fight unless you feel like evading attacks until the AI decides to chill out for three seconds. When you do find some time to fight back, you'll just be mashing the same few combos ad nauseum. You can input new moves into these combos, but they'll always be the same patterns of Squares and Triangles.
You'll be given the ability to "remix" the memories of other characters, something that was advertised quite heavily in previews leading up to the game's release, but this actually only happens a handful of times throughout the game and is a trial-and-error time filler at best.
Remember Me is a textbook example of a 5/10 game that barely scrapes together enough graphics, audio, story, and gameplay to call itself a game.
The Last Of Us
So this game has received 10/10 reviews from just about every website and blog worth mentioning. Even fucking Eurogamer gave it a 10/10! If you're still unconvinced on whether you should go buy this game now, I'm not going to give you the satisfaction of another lengthy review to try and tempt you further. Instead I'm going to rant about the haters for a little bit.
Can you believe there are people who hate this game? They seem to think that the "cinematic experience" is the cancer that's killing gaming. I'd like to know why they think it's suddenly The Last Of Us that's killing in industry, and not Half-Life 2, The Walking Dead, The Witcher 2, Alice: Madness Returns, or the thousand weeabo JRPG's they love that favour story over gameplay. Don't get me wrong, gameplay is very important (and is constantly present in The Last of Us), but a well told story will see just about any game pass the test of time after its graphics have become dated and its gameplay has been copied a hundred more times.
World War Z
After a huge debacle of shame, and like two years of delays, the so-called film adaptation of Max Brooks' novel of the same name has finally come out. If you already know about the book, there are two reasons to go out to theatres and see this film. Either,
1. You want to pay to see how bad this movie can be, or
2. If you're like me, you can justify paying $7.99 as long as you are able to push the fact that this was once based on a book completely out of your mind for almost two hours.
If you can manage the latter, and pretend it's just "another fun zombie movie" like the rest of the general public thought, you'll at least be able to resist any urges to walk out before it's over. WWZ contains zombies that not only run, but also leap head-first at their victims, and can also scale two hundred foot walls in minutes. If that doesn't have you shaking your head, there is some seriously cringe-worthy dialogue and character logic sprinkled throughout the duration at the film that is almost physically painful (I WANT MY BLANKET!).
Everything was given a hardy amount of Disney Treatment, so in case you weren't able to find a babysitter for the night, you probably won't feel too bad bringing children as young as ten along with you. Despite being a film where zombies and survivors alike are constantly being mutated, the headshots and cannibalism are assumed, and little gore is present.
WWZ, however, does do a good job to occasionally remind you that this story is actually about a global war between the living and the undead. There are a few sets that genuinely look like they were taken out of Saving Private Ryan, or Black Hawk Down that inspire at least a slight amount of awe at the scale of destruction the zombie virus has brought upon modern civilization. I'd dare say it does this better than almost any other post-apocalyptic zombies movie, but it certainly doesn't redeem everything else that was done wrong.
I'd say after watching this motion picture, I wanted 4 blankets out of 10.
Remember Me
The year is 2084, and a century later Big Brother is back to claim mankind. He has created an implant called the Sensation Engine (Sensen) that allows for the digitization of memories. This has enabled humans to pick and choose what memories they keep and delete, or perhaps even create a completely fresh identity by downloading new artificial memories. Big Brother, for the most part, has built a monopoly on human thought. The player takes control of Nilin, a powerful, racially ambiguous woman who don't need no man, except for the one named Edge who guides her throughout most of the game.
Throughout Remember Me, you explore the futuristic city of Neo-Paris via automatic platforming where you are lead by the nose with a small orange arrow. Every ten jumps or so, you run into some retards, robots, or government baddies who want to kick your ass. Combat in this game is basically like that of Arkham Asylum... if it was dropped on its head. How enemies approach and attack is heavily RNG-based, so if the game rolled a 1 for you, you basically have already lost the fight unless you feel like evading attacks until the AI decides to chill out for three seconds. When you do find some time to fight back, you'll just be mashing the same few combos ad nauseum. You can input new moves into these combos, but they'll always be the same patterns of Squares and Triangles.
You'll be given the ability to "remix" the memories of other characters, something that was advertised quite heavily in previews leading up to the game's release, but this actually only happens a handful of times throughout the game and is a trial-and-error time filler at best.
Remember Me is a textbook example of a 5/10 game that barely scrapes together enough graphics, audio, story, and gameplay to call itself a game.
The Last Of Us
So this game has received 10/10 reviews from just about every website and blog worth mentioning. Even fucking Eurogamer gave it a 10/10! If you're still unconvinced on whether you should go buy this game now, I'm not going to give you the satisfaction of another lengthy review to try and tempt you further. Instead I'm going to rant about the haters for a little bit.
Can you believe there are people who hate this game? They seem to think that the "cinematic experience" is the cancer that's killing gaming. I'd like to know why they think it's suddenly The Last Of Us that's killing in industry, and not Half-Life 2, The Walking Dead, The Witcher 2, Alice: Madness Returns, or the thousand weeabo JRPG's they love that favour story over gameplay. Don't get me wrong, gameplay is very important (and is constantly present in The Last of Us), but a well told story will see just about any game pass the test of time after its graphics have become dated and its gameplay has been copied a hundred more times.
World War Z
After a huge debacle of shame, and like two years of delays, the so-called film adaptation of Max Brooks' novel of the same name has finally come out. If you already know about the book, there are two reasons to go out to theatres and see this film. Either,
1. You want to pay to see how bad this movie can be, or
2. If you're like me, you can justify paying $7.99 as long as you are able to push the fact that this was once based on a book completely out of your mind for almost two hours.
If you can manage the latter, and pretend it's just "another fun zombie movie" like the rest of the general public thought, you'll at least be able to resist any urges to walk out before it's over. WWZ contains zombies that not only run, but also leap head-first at their victims, and can also scale two hundred foot walls in minutes. If that doesn't have you shaking your head, there is some seriously cringe-worthy dialogue and character logic sprinkled throughout the duration at the film that is almost physically painful (I WANT MY BLANKET!).
Everything was given a hardy amount of Disney Treatment, so in case you weren't able to find a babysitter for the night, you probably won't feel too bad bringing children as young as ten along with you. Despite being a film where zombies and survivors alike are constantly being mutated, the headshots and cannibalism are assumed, and little gore is present.
WWZ, however, does do a good job to occasionally remind you that this story is actually about a global war between the living and the undead. There are a few sets that genuinely look like they were taken out of Saving Private Ryan, or Black Hawk Down that inspire at least a slight amount of awe at the scale of destruction the zombie virus has brought upon modern civilization. I'd dare say it does this better than almost any other post-apocalyptic zombies movie, but it certainly doesn't redeem everything else that was done wrong.
I'd say after watching this motion picture, I wanted 4 blankets out of 10.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Friday, March 1, 2013
Quick & Painless Reviews: Dear Esther
2deep4me
I've heard mixed opinions about this game: That it's a deep and touching experience at best, and an arduous fifty minute walking simulator at worst. This game was on sale yesterday for $2.46, so I figured I didn't have much to lose if I at least took this game for face value and just appreciated seeing some pretty scenery here and there.
So it is true that this game is basically a walking simulator, but it is also true that it is very pretty at times. The landscape and soundtrack make for a very soothing experience, though not always so. If you're inquisitive enough, you'll be drawn into the odd abandoned house or small cave, which can be rather unsettling, especially when coming upon bloody surgical tools, and indiscernible markings on the walls. Some have gone so far as to label Dear Esther as a horror game, but that's a very big stretch-- these creepy settings make up maybe four minutes of this game's lifespan.
As you progress, a narrator laments over the history of the island you're on, its previous inhabitants, kidney stones, and the death of his wife. There's some 2deep4u metagaming stuff, like how the narrator, though voiced by the same person, represents the voice of several characters; what the markings in the sand and walls mean; and there are also tales of a dozen or so ghost sighting to those with a keen enough eye. I'm not going to pad this blog with all of that stuff, mostly because I don't care, but also because I don't want to spoil that aspect of the experience for you.
My only major gripe about this game are the cheap 2D sprites used on some of the plant textures. A lot of games use them, but when your game is all about the immersion, it's kind of distracting when it is obvious the plants are always "facing" me, especially so when I'm walking through waist-high long grass and weeds. Even the mushrooms in the caves are 2D sprites, which I felt was exceptionally lazy.
Anyway, for your enjoyment, I took several screenshots on my journey across the island. Something worth noting about the screenshots is that the image files are labelled with different names, which I suppose lends to the theory that the narrator is the voice of different characters. Alas, if you choose to play this game, here are some of the neat things you'll get to see:
I've heard mixed opinions about this game: That it's a deep and touching experience at best, and an arduous fifty minute walking simulator at worst. This game was on sale yesterday for $2.46, so I figured I didn't have much to lose if I at least took this game for face value and just appreciated seeing some pretty scenery here and there.
So it is true that this game is basically a walking simulator, but it is also true that it is very pretty at times. The landscape and soundtrack make for a very soothing experience, though not always so. If you're inquisitive enough, you'll be drawn into the odd abandoned house or small cave, which can be rather unsettling, especially when coming upon bloody surgical tools, and indiscernible markings on the walls. Some have gone so far as to label Dear Esther as a horror game, but that's a very big stretch-- these creepy settings make up maybe four minutes of this game's lifespan.
As you progress, a narrator laments over the history of the island you're on, its previous inhabitants, kidney stones, and the death of his wife. There's some 2deep4u metagaming stuff, like how the narrator, though voiced by the same person, represents the voice of several characters; what the markings in the sand and walls mean; and there are also tales of a dozen or so ghost sighting to those with a keen enough eye. I'm not going to pad this blog with all of that stuff, mostly because I don't care, but also because I don't want to spoil that aspect of the experience for you.
My only major gripe about this game are the cheap 2D sprites used on some of the plant textures. A lot of games use them, but when your game is all about the immersion, it's kind of distracting when it is obvious the plants are always "facing" me, especially so when I'm walking through waist-high long grass and weeds. Even the mushrooms in the caves are 2D sprites, which I felt was exceptionally lazy.
Anyway, for your enjoyment, I took several screenshots on my journey across the island. Something worth noting about the screenshots is that the image files are labelled with different names, which I suppose lends to the theory that the narrator is the voice of different characters. Alas, if you choose to play this game, here are some of the neat things you'll get to see:
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
PSN Hate Mail Round-Up
 | |
| You can't even kick players from a public lobby. |
 | |
| Anyway, the reason I "ran" was because he was the only player left in the pre-game lobby after everyone else ragequit. |
 |
| French people are so rude. Also fuck this guy thinking he can look down at campers. Literally every single kill this player got on me in the two matches I played with him were with RPG's and newb tubes. |
 |
| Obligatory "calling someone a faggot" message. |
 |
| Okay, so this guy sent me this while playing on the map "Grid". I single-handedly destroyed his team so badly that everyone quit except him and one other player. With only a handful of players in the game, I stayed inside the South building since I could tell this guy had it out for me and I wanted him to know where he could find me. I more-or-less answered his question for him as he was sending this message, because when I received it, I was in the process of running outside and fragging him. |
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Deformed.
I don't quite know which way to take it. It bothers me that there is so space to be filled. If this was 10 years, this page would have been filled already!
Monday, February 11, 2013
Quick & Painless Reviews: Dead Space 3
I was worried about the universal ammo, but it turned out to be a non-issue.
I was worried about fighting human enemies, but that turned out to be a non-issue.
I was a little worried about the recharging stasis, but it turned out to be a non-issue.
The one thing I thought wouldn't be a problem was the cash shop. It hasn't hurt my ability to play any other console game normally, so I didn't think it'd be a problem. Whoops. The default weapons take forever to fully craft and upgrade, and until they are, they're weak as shit. You now take on tons of enemies (so many that the corpses disappear before I can get items from them) in cramped environments, and on top of that, they're all faster than the advanced nercomorphs from the previous two games. This coupled with the bad level design usually results in "find the nearest corner and fire aimlessly into the dog pile of monsters raping my face until the dramatic music stops." The surgical gunplay from before has had to make way for generic corridor shootan that's even too fast and broken for KB/M.
If the game just slowed the fuck down a bit it could have been as good as the other two; it could have even kept all the enemies and it would have been fine, but it's easily the worst Dead Space by a long shot. I'm hoping the experience will feel more balanced with co-op on my second playthrough, and yes, it hurts that I have to say that about a Dead Space game.
UPDATE: Patch 1.2 seemed to change around weapon damage and/or enemy health. I don't know this for a fact, but I felt a distinct difference in gameplay after that patch was released. Fighting necromorphs feels more balanced now making the game more tolerable. I'd still say this is the weakest of all the Dead Space titles so far, but at least it's now fun.
I was worried about fighting human enemies, but that turned out to be a non-issue.
I was a little worried about the recharging stasis, but it turned out to be a non-issue.
The one thing I thought wouldn't be a problem was the cash shop. It hasn't hurt my ability to play any other console game normally, so I didn't think it'd be a problem. Whoops. The default weapons take forever to fully craft and upgrade, and until they are, they're weak as shit. You now take on tons of enemies (so many that the corpses disappear before I can get items from them) in cramped environments, and on top of that, they're all faster than the advanced nercomorphs from the previous two games. This coupled with the bad level design usually results in "find the nearest corner and fire aimlessly into the dog pile of monsters raping my face until the dramatic music stops." The surgical gunplay from before has had to make way for generic corridor shootan that's even too fast and broken for KB/M.
If the game just slowed the fuck down a bit it could have been as good as the other two; it could have even kept all the enemies and it would have been fine, but it's easily the worst Dead Space by a long shot. I'm hoping the experience will feel more balanced with co-op on my second playthrough, and yes, it hurts that I have to say that about a Dead Space game.
UPDATE: Patch 1.2 seemed to change around weapon damage and/or enemy health. I don't know this for a fact, but I felt a distinct difference in gameplay after that patch was released. Fighting necromorphs feels more balanced now making the game more tolerable. I'd still say this is the weakest of all the Dead Space titles so far, but at least it's now fun.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Sticking It To Your Mother
Pictured is Yours Truly enjoying a bottle of MADD non-alcoholic Chardonnay. But it isn't just any non-alcoholic wine! In fact, it isn't non-alcoholic at all! Inside this waste of ten dollars, I also mixed in sambuca.
Seriously, who drinks this stuff by itself? I'm dying to know, and so are the people at the grocery store I found it in. Apparently I'm the only one who's bought it in my town, because when the girl at the check-in saw it, first she thought it was a bottle of olive oil, then she thought it was real wine, then she stopped to carefully read the label, then I had to spin a story of what I intended to do with the non-alcoholic wine before she laughed me out of the building.
I don't have a vendetta against MADD, though I have written several essays against them in high school. I wouldn't go so far as to say they're bad, but they're certainly unnecessary. The people who are into MADD's plight are people who wouldn't tolerate drinking and/or driving in the first place, and the people who aren't are well... they aren't going to listen to reason, they're drunk! MADD's basically nothing more than a pretentious circlejerk that has ultimately accomplished nothing, and therefore has become a shameless cash-grab for its benefactors. Kind of like PETA, except they never killed anyone(?). Therefore: Cheers, and fuck you, MADD.
(Yes, wine mixed with Sambuca tastes like shit.)
EDIT: No, I didn't drive after.
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