Matt Kish's blog of the unknown

Took a break from blogging

2009-02-24T07:48:00.012-06:00

Although I don't have many viewers, I haven't updated my blog in a long time and I appologize for this. I have been working hard in school as well as playing World of Warcraft on the side (but mostly school). I sold my Wii so I won't be having a review for Mad World, sadly. It was one of the only games I was looking forward to and I had to make a choice. Since I was gone doing a lot of school work I thought I would share a bit of what I have been doing. Below are a few pieces of I have been working on since my last update.

An early textured version of my dwarf

A redux of a previous assignment that uses a night time setting

Here is a room I textured (I did not model it)

Here is a vest I textured (again, I did not model)

A character I textured (did not model)

Here is a head that I textured (not model) by hand with only Photoshop paint

Here is my most recent character model.

You can see the original sketch guides in the model posts.

Nearly finished dwarf model

2008-10-29T23:03:00.005-05:00

Here are a few shots of my nearly completed dwarf model as well as the start of his "level."

More of my model

2008-10-26T05:36:00.003-05:00

Unfortunately I have yet to update the body because I needed to start work on his props which is mostly just his hand axes. Here is the the first one which I could just duplicate for a second but I think I will try to make the second one a bit different. The one above is the top view and and below that is the front bottom view.

More Work on the Character Model

2008-10-23T04:43:00.006-05:00

So this week is the rest of the body for the most part. I have constructed a new, box-modeled mohawk rather than the Hair Modifier because of the rendering time as well as poly count. I have constructed a rough torso as well as hands. The hands might be too high poly for this model but we will see.

This picture shows the new head (I still need to adjust the nose, eyes and mouth as well as add ears)

This one shows the rough torso so far

And finally here are the hands

Back to Work! Updated

2008-10-19T00:24:00.007-05:00

I have been really busy with homework lately and I am finally learning how to model characters. Currently I am trying to create a dwarf character with a mohawk. I will try to update my progress throughout. Below you will find the character sheet of the dwarf as well as the update for this week. This week I am working on the head and hair.

Here is an updated view of it with symmetry enabled on the face to see what it looks like in full.

Another Madworld Updated Trailer

2008-08-20T09:03:00.006-05:00

The Dark Knight and new Mad World Trailer

2008-07-18T03:51:00.012-05:00

Go see the movie as soon as possible. No kidding just do it. I was lucky to get a ticket tonight from a friend who picked one up a couple of weeks ago. It was non-IMAX but I am checking it out in IMAX this Saturday at midnight.

Here is the E3 Mad World Trailer - still looking good and gore-heavy.

The Blue Bomber Returns!

2008-07-11T09:34:00.003-05:00

That is right folks, Mega Man has returned! I don't mean Battle Network or whatever the newest strategy-esque game is called, I mean the true 8-bit original. The game is coming to Wiiware, PSN, and XBLA sometime in the future but the game looks amazing! Below is the amazing first trailer for the game and it is definitely on my must download list along side Castle Crashers and Bionic Commando: Rearmed.

Diablo 3 site up and running - everything to get you hooked!

2008-06-28T06:18:00.003-05:00

Oh my GOD! Just go here now and watch, look, and listen to all of its awesome!
Here are the amazing listed features:

Explore a fully-realized Sanctuary – the living, breathing gothic fantasy world of Diablo III rendered in gorgeous 3D.
Battle the unholy forces of the Burning Hells with all-new character classes like the otherworldly Witch Doctor, or with re-imagined warriors from Diablo’s past: such as the fierce Barbarian.
Rain Hell on your enemies wielding the interactive environment as a weapon: lay cunning traps, turn destructible objects against your foes, and use environmental obstacles to your advantage - all powered by the Havoc physics system.
Experience the intensity of multiplayer Diablo III over an all-new, wickedly-enhanced Battle.net platform with numerous enhancements to make connecting with your friends easier – and cooperative gameplay more fun.

I need to mention to those diehard fans of the series, the game is still in isometric view but it is fully 3D, it just has the locked camera. I think this was the best choice they could have done because 3D games of the same kind (Dungeon Siege, Dungeon Runners) Just didn't get it right because they didn't have it this way, perfect. God this is my most anticipated game now... even over Starcraft 2!

Diablo 3 - First Blurry Screen!

2008-06-28T05:48:00.002-05:00

Well they announced it as stated in my other post. They demoed it at the World Wide Invitational today and below is the first blurry screen of the action. Looks good enough, even though it's blurry, for me.

What's all the Blizzard hubbub - UPDATE DIABLO 3!!!

2008-06-28T05:20:00.005-05:00

As you may know, for the past week Blizzard Entertainment has been teasing its fans with a splash screen on its main sight. The image is overlapping ice crystals that cut across the whole page. Each day it has gradually changed in many ways like adding runes that depict images or relics from all their different games as well as cracking open revealing glowing eyes. Many many people have speculated it could be so many different things from Diablo 3 announcement to release announcements for Wrath of the Lich King and many other things (Lost Vikings, World of Starcraft). I would like to throw out my list of ideas before they announce what it is, just to see if I guessed right.

What I think it might be:

Xel'Naga embedded in the story of Starcraft 2, possibly playable -
The Xels are the people who empowered (some say created) the protoss and the zerg. They are a god-like species with powers of the supernatural and spiritual.
In the novel Shadow of the Xel'Naga, the three main species fight for control of a large Xel'Naga artifact on the planet Bhekar Ro, but accidentally activate it. The artifact releases a creature incubating in the structure, which proceeds to convert the nearby Xel'Naga–empowered Protoss and Zerg forces into energy for nourishment, before disappearing into space. It could be this or possibly the Xel'Naga that are still alive.
Diablo 3 - Although Blizzard North, the creators of the original Diablo games, has mostly disbanded and formed Flagship Studios I believe there is plenty of backing behind this game. One of my friends is a super fan of the series and would probably sell his soul for this game to come true. I would surely sell something for a copy.
A new franchise in the Blizzard family - its been nearly a decade since they have created an original world and story for a game. Don't get me wrong, I love the worlds they have created, but I would love to see what else they have cooking.

What I want it to be:

World of Starcraft - To be honest I liked Starcraft's world and story a little bit more than Warcraft's. I also believe that the story has much more potential and can expand much more than Warcraft's can, each race having winding stories. I would be great to have 3 unique factions each with their own unit types running around and hunting other players. Since they have an already great MMO platform to build it on, they can easily create the same thing with the Starcraft world.
Diablo 3 - I have to be honest, the second game and its sequel leached quite a lot of time from my life (like World of Warcraft before it was out). It was an easy to pick up game but also had elements that made it appealing for the hardcore players. Farming for gear and in-turn selling it for a profit (better item usually) made you feel like you were really doing business. The game had such tight controls and easy to play style that made it extremely hard to put down.
A new Warcraft (RTS) Game - I know it's a bit early to start talking about another RTS coming from Blizzard seeing as SC2 is not even close to leaving their doors, but a man can dream. I have always loved the different gameplay systems SC and WC have had. They are extremely different games but I really like them both quite a lot. I would like for them to continue the story of the Warcraft Universe outside of the MMO. The MMO story and environment never seem to give you that same connection and it feels quite lackluster.

Can't wait to see what it turns out to be!

UPDATE: It has been confirmed to be Diablo 3!!!

BloodBowl game is looking pretty solid

2008-06-27T01:06:00.002-05:00

Last assignment in my gaming class

2008-06-14T21:54:00.003-05:00

Here is a mock-up box art design more my game I "designed." I spent more time getting the information setup than creating artwork for it but I think it turned out great.

Super long time - No update

2008-06-14T05:51:00.005-05:00

I have been hard at work this session of school with American Literature and Game Design and Game Play. This has easily been the most difficult session yet at the Art Institute and probably the hardest I have worked in school for a long time. I have a feeling it won't get much easier from here but I am not going to lose hope. This update will be short and concise because I am going to hit the hay in 5 minutes. Now for some good news!

Games: I bought a PS3!!!! YAY!!!! I bought it at Walmart during their Blu-ray sale, which consisted of me buying the 40gig PS3 for $399.00 and getting a free $100 gift card. I immediately jumped on this deal and decided I was going to pick up Metal Gear Solid 4. You may ask why I didn't just get the 80gig Bundle with MGS4. The quick and easy answer is that they were sold out of them in a 100 mile radius from my house as well as online. I decided I won't open it until my classes are over which is after 2 more assignments due today.
I have also been playing quite a bit of World of Warcraft in my spare time. This isn't news to most people reading this but I just felt like making this a full update. That is pretty much it for games.

Music: Buy the new Disturbed CD if you like rock at all. There are a few ho-hum songs on the album but that is just like any album (except for "Whose Next"). There are some really killer songs on the CD that you just can't help but connect with like 'Indestructible' and 'Inside the Fire'. I have been listening to some real oldies lately including some "Blizzard of Ozz" and "Nude & Rude - The Best of Iggy Pop." Not much else in the music department.

Movies: Quick movie updates! "Indiana Jones" wasn't really great or good for that matter. "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" was actually surprisingly decent which I didn't really expect. "Iron Man", "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", "Speed Racer", and the new "Incredible Hulk" are all must see movies, seriously go watch them now if they are still in theaters.

Well that is pretty much it for now. I have a month off starting tonight after my final homework assignments are turned in and lasting from June 14 to July 14th.

Madworld Trailer

2008-05-16T14:47:00.001-05:00

Black, White, and BLOOD!

2008-05-15T17:11:00.004-05:00

MadWorld is a new game being developed by ex Clover members for Sega on the Wii. It is third person action game where you are "trying to rack up points for an off-screen audience through over-the-top dismemberment."

While the attention was most certainly focused on the large screen showing the highly-stylized game, I could still make out some of the controls Nishikawa used to move and perform attacks. It looks like, at least for now, the character, Jack, is controlled by the thumbstick, while attacks are started typically by pressing a button. Some of the attacks, like pounding a person's body into a wall of spikes, or ripping out a heart, were performed with Wii remote motions. The heart ripping specifically, was performed by pressing a button and flicking the remote up.

Jack's right hand is a chainsaw, and bodies cut vertically in half fell to either side in a splash of vibrant red blood. When a heart was torn from a ribcage, the bad guy would fall back with Jack still clutching the muscle, before crushing it in his hand. Impaled black and white bodies oozed red in great rivulets of blood.

While the bad guys and background are all drawn in bold black and white imagery, the things you can use to decapitate, pulverize and generally kill your enemy all seemed to be marked with small splashes of blood.

The game also appears to have a number of mini-games; one shown last night was called "Man Darts." Jack pulled a giant lever to activate the game, turning a nearby wall into a giant dartboard. Next Jack pulled out a bat and started smacking hapless enemies onto the board. The blood that splashed to mark their impact helped score points for Jack. All the while a team of in-game, but off-screen commentators kept up a line of jokes that included the enthusiastic use of the phrase "man juice."

Madworld has, so far, many of the elements to make it a great game: Amazing art direction and a distinct look, an over-the-top and risky premise and a fun sense of humor, but what will push this game from cherished, but financially unsuccessful, to blow-out success will be how all of these elements come together.

New Gears 2 Trailer with actual gameplay!

2008-05-10T06:19:00.004-05:00

Animated 3D Room

2008-05-05T22:00:00.001-05:00

Well I finished my room to the fullest extent possible and for this assignment I needed to animate it. I made it so the bottles swirl around a light source to create great colored shadows on the walls. I think it turned out great.

Long time no update (Edited Again)

2008-05-02T04:31:00.006-05:00

So I have been absent from the whole blog scene for nearly 2 weeks now. I have been extremely busy between my two classes and many hours gaming. I have many things to talk about but I will try to keep it short.

First we will start off with movies -
I can recommend 2 movies to anyone who is reading this and a 3rd to those of you with my sense of humor. The first 2 being Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Iron Man; go see them if you have the time and money because they are great films that don't fail to entertain. Sarah Marshall was in my honest opinion one of Judd Apatow's best films and easily is added to my collection as soon as it hits stores. On a side note - it wasn't a guy film for a change and girls will likely enjoy it as much as the guys. Iron Man - great high-budget, action, popcorn film... nuff said. The third is Harold and Kumar 2; same humor as the first one where they get neck deep in shi.... trouble and they need to dig out. It was an entertaining movie but it really isn't such a great film to take a date to or any family members that may be female.

Next will be the games -
I started playing World of Warcraft again and I transfered a 70 rogue over to the server with all of my friends. I will likely be playing that quite a bit in the coming weeks but not as much as the other game I am playing; Grand Theft Auto IV - if you have either of the systems it is on go out and buy it immediately and I am not friggin' kidding. By far the best in the series so far and one of the best narratives in gaming history. Did I mention the action is over-the-top and amazing! Here are a couple small things that I noticed in the game that set it apart from any other.

I called the police on my cellphone (I literally dialed 911). When they arrived, the officer on the passenger side got out and started searching for a crime in progress. I ran over to the open car door and forced the driving officer out. He proceeded to grab the door handle as I started to drive away. I of course accelerated as fast as I could and started dragging him. Ahead on the other side of the road was a garbage truck. I steered over far enough that the cop was directly in the path of the oncoming truck. He smacked into the front end immediately killing him and giving me a wanted level of 3 stars rather than 1.

I saw a man beating the guts out of another man for hitting him with his car. I called 911 and asked for the cops and then called them again and asked for paramedics. The cops show up and arrest the guy that was attacking the driver. He put up his hands slowly, walked with the cops and was put in the back to be taken away. The man that was lying on the ground was soon resuscitated back to life by the paramedics and walked back to his car and sat in it on the side of the road.

Finally, lets check in with the school work -
I have been extremely busy with school and trying to fit it into my busy life. I am nearing the end of my session (about 1 week left) and things are starting to pick up fast. I am now in the lighting and camera week for my 3D course. I missed an update for textures but this update will include a bit of that. I still need to work out the bed textures which has been the bane of me for the passed 10 days. Now I have even more issues now into the lighting section. I have 3 dead zones that I need to take care of in my room at the moment. 2 are the lamp stems that are not reflecting because they are too close to the base of the omni light I created. The third is the glass vase that is in the corner. It has a solid shadow rather than a transparent one at the moment and I have yet to find a way to change that. I will be adding more vases of different colors after I solve this issue. I think after I texture map the bed and fix the shadow issues this room will look hot.

Update on the room - I got the bottle working so I added a couple green ones. I think it turned out pretty good.

I wanted to include some of my work from my Dynamic Figures class. The piece below is what I drew for the abstract figure section. I drew it using my Wacom tablet and I think it turned out great.

Group Model for my 3D Max Class

2008-04-21T19:05:00.005-05:00

My group chose to create an electric keyboard and I was entrusted to make the keys. Below are pictures of the project.

This picture is of a section of keys that I created for the assignment-

Here is the finished product all put together-

By far the funniest Halo 3 video yet

2008-04-16T03:01:00.004-05:00

My updated room as of last night

2008-04-14T19:22:00.003-05:00

I think it is turning out pretty good.

This is for Eli, I FOUND IT!

2008-04-09T02:35:00.003-05:00

That is all!

Quite funny!

2008-04-06T23:15:00.003-05:00

So in my last post I showed you my rendered room so far. Well after looking at it for so long it reminded me of this and I might make a personal goal to remake this sometime in the future. It's a good song and if you say otherwise I will hunt you!

School, you will be the death of me!

2008-04-06T18:08:00.001-05:00

I started my next session this past Monday and up until yesterday I was doing pretty good. Yesterday I hit a brick wall with my first 3D Studio Max Assignment. I had designed a room and sketched it in Photoshop and now had to make it into primitive shapes within 3DS Max. I didn't complete the whole room but from what I had complete I think I did pretty good,especially since this was my first time ever using 3D Studio (ever). The first picture below is my sketch of the room and the second is my primitive rendering of it so far.

Warhammer: Dawn of War 2 on the lookout!

2008-04-05T00:13:00.004-05:00

The Dawn of War 2 Website is live! There you will find a great teaser to push the game through as well as some nice screen shots to show some in-game action. Embedded below is the teaser:

Age of Conan stress test this Sunday

2008-04-04T16:09:00.004-05:00

Well, I have a feeling this is going to be a long 3 hours on Sunday. I have been invited to do a server rush (stress test) for Age of Conan, the new MMO from Funcom, and hopefully I will get the opportunity to at least make a character and run it around for awhile. This is actually one of my highly anticipated MMOs next to Warhammer Online so it will be nice to at least play it for a bit. The download files, combined, came out to be 13GB and the install took me roughly an hour. I have patched my client to the newest version and am now just waiting for 12 Noon on Sunday.

Update: Just received an email stating that the beta is postponed until Sunday April 13th. They will confirm this date during next week. Damn.

Three very entertaining movies

2008-04-03T14:31:00.004-05:00

The first movie is of the sequal to FEAR, a very good game.
http://kotaku.com/375559/project-origin-is-scary
http://projectorigin.warnerbros.com/origin.html

The second is the newly (very newly - today) launched Players Only web video program. They talk about games and that's pretty much it, but it is very good nonetheless.

And the last one is my new favorite youtube video.

Maxim compares game currency to the US dollar

2008-04-02T20:32:00.003-05:00

This is a very enjoyable article that explains the concept of games currencies and how they compare to the US dollar. The results are very entertaining especially the breakdown of how they gaged the value.
http://www.maxim.com/7VideoGameCurrenciesStrongerThantheUSDollar/articles/22332.aspx

April Fools!

2008-04-01T14:42:00.003-05:00

Ok, before anyone else gets angry that I totally pulled that "I have cancer" bit, I will explain. I don't have cancer, in fact I don't think I even have asthma anymore. It was just a simple joke to get people Rick Rolled. I admit it was kind of tasteless but I found it quite amusing nonetheless and I hope in time that you will. I would like to give a shout out to my friend James Rufer, whose birthday is today (yes, fools day)!

Some cool news and some terrible news

2008-04-01T12:42:00.007-05:00

I will start with the cool stuff. Rock Band supposedly does help you play the real drums!
http://kotaku.com/374231/video-proof-that-rock-band-learns-you-some-drummin

The terrible news is that I went to the doctor this morning and I complained of unbelievable chest and lung issues. Of course I thought it was just another chest cold or something, this time it wasn't. I have a malignant tumor in my right lung that tested positive for stage one lung cancer. We did a few tests to make sure it hadn't metastasized to other areas and it hasn't yet, which is the good news. I will be going into surgery on Thursday to attempt to remove it. below is the link for more information about my specific form of cancer.

http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec05/ch062/ch062d.html

The break is now over, sadly

2008-03-31T02:18:00.003-05:00

As my week long break closes I look back at the great times I had. I watched movies, played video games, read a bit, and even tried to learn a bit more Japanese. I picked up and beat God of War: Chains of Olympus and I finally completed Patapon. I played a lot of Battlefield: Bad Company Beta and it still impresses me. I picked up the second book in the Hellgate London novel series, The Killing Joke (Batman Graphic Novel by Alan Moore), as well as No Country for Old Men (movie). I finished The Killing Joke and reread it a couple times this week, I watched No Country with my family, and I started reading Goetia (second Hellgate book). I watched Lèon aka The Professional again for the 100th time and played a bit of World of Warcraft. I have been using Rosetta Stone to try to learn some Japanese and it has been working pretty well, I believe. Overall I thought it was a pretty productive week and it was a very nice break.

I now start my next session of school will likely teach me more about time management and dedication to my profession. It will be a lot of hard work but it should be great!

Bad Company Beta Second Day Impressions

2008-03-26T18:36:00.002-05:00

I had a lot more time to try out all of the classes and both maps. The maps are multi-tiered in that once the attackers break the first 2 gold crates you move back into another base to defend the next section. This is actually a really great way of doing this game made considering the buildings are usually half destroyed by the time the attackers break through. Also it makes for a 1 time load and quick transitions.

Each class is wildly different especially when it comes to their item load out. I noticed that the item unlocks for each class is much more unique than previous Battlefield games. In the old ones it was like, 'here is a claymore' or 'here is this really cool grenade'. But in Bad Company you get stuff like a GPS unit to call down precise artillery or binocs to scope out an armored target and send a controllable missile down from the sky. As mentioned in the previous impression, the weapons sound and feel really great, like Far Cry great. As far as kits go I gravitate toward the Recon and Support.

For Recon it is all about sniping or taking out stuff from afar. I said previously that the sniper kit was great and now that I have unlocked all the stuff in it, it is even cooler. You get either a silenced long-ranged single shot rifle or a super-deadly, loud as thunder cracks 50 cal. You also get the binoculars I was talking about earlier which can be guided off course slightly to either take out a movie armor or blow up another target nearby. Overall it is a great kit that does what it is supposed to.

The Support kit is just that, the ultimate group supporting kit. You repair vehicles, heal team members and yourself, and you can lay down some covering fire with your LMG. You unlock the artillery barrage mentioned before as well as some really nice LMG's. The kit is very good because you can really turn the tide of battle simply by healing or repairing.

I am having a lot of fun with the beta and I will likely update more within the next month of the beta.

Bad Company Beta First Impressions

2008-03-25T12:51:00.002-05:00

Well the game is too different to say its better or worse than COD4. It definitely is a Battlefield game for sure and that is good. The first thing I noticed is that it auto spots people for you; aka when you see an enemy it sends a signal to your teammates' map. The vehicles already seem to be a bit overpowered even if you are a demo expert. Even though I only played about 3 rounds before the server crashed I would have to say the game is definitely better than the previous Battlefield games just because it seemed to have more action happening every second.

There were no framerate issues I could see which is awesome. Blowing up buildings, although slightly different than I imagined, is very fun. A sniper is hiding behind a wind wall, just shoot a grenade into the wall and hes finished. Not all of the walls fall in the house, there are main support walls that keep it up which seemed like a good idea to keep the balance up. This is one reason why vehicles are slightly overpowered, they can just rail holes in buildings or demolish them if needed.

The new game mode, gold rush, is basically an attack-defend scenario that pits the attackers to destroy gold crates to win while the defenders try to stop them. The maps are broken into sections or bases much like Team Fortress' attack. After you capture both crates in one base you spawn there and the defenders spawn 1 base back. It works really well and makes for great action near those gold crates.

One thing I noticed is that sniping seems fun again, much like BF2. At one point I was with my squad leader on top of a desert dune sniping people running down a larger hill over to the gold building. The guns sound much more powerful and you really get that gun feeling out of them. When I finally started pegging people it felt great especially when I shot their noggins.

I could only get into a non-ranked match so I couldn't check out the unlocks yet but I did see how you obtain experience. Much like COD4 you get it from a points system; but you get extra points for doing harder things, like headshots or through-the-wall kills. My time with the game left me wanting more but unfortunately they seem to be having server issues that are preventing people from joining games. I figured this would happen but at least it wasn't like Halo 3 beta where I didn't even get to play until the day after the beta started.

UPDATE- Battlefield: Bad Company Info and a bit of school news

2008-03-24T00:02:00.006-05:00

Battlefield: Bad Company: Apparently there is no NDA set in place for this beta test. So anyways, I finished downloading it and I went into the options and looked through the unlocks. I found that there are quite a few weapons for each 'kit'. It seems that there are a total of 7 weapons and 1 item for each of the 5 kits (40 weapons/items in all). Some of these weapons say "Buy this weapon on Xbox LIVE Marketplace" or "In Gold Edition or available for purchase on Xbox LIVE Marketplace." I guess this is a good idea but I would rather not have to buy weapons with real money especially if I need them to compete with those who buy them. This accounts for 10 of the weapons, 5 being the gold/buy and the other 5 being only buy. I guess the Gold Edition might be the equivalent of a collectors edition?

This is how the remaining 30 breaks down. 15 Weapons (3 per kit) are unlocked at the get-go. The other 10 weapons are unlocked via online; "Ranking up will earn you unlock credits." The remaining 5 are the 1 item per kit which says the same thing as the above 10 weapons. These items seem really awesome for instance the 'Assault' kit has Life 2 which is basically a personal health pack. The 'Demolition' gets an anti-tank mine. The 'Recon' gets binoculars to send a player guided missile down on enemy armor. The 'Specialist' get DTN4 which is basically C4 packs. And the 'Support' gets a GPS unit for calling down artillery.

I cannot wait to start playing come Tuesday and I will update this page as soon as I get plenty of hands on time with it. I am also trying to figure a way to capture in-game video at the moment. So far it hasn't worked well at all but I will continue to try so I can upload some decent videos for your viewing entertainment.

Update: EA has announced some info about the weapons that you need to buy. Check out this Kotaku link for more info but it is pretty much exactly what I said with an exception. The 5 weapons not in the Gold Edition are going to be made available through promotional programs. "EA will again make these weapons available to players free of charge after launch, in case anyone missed the pre-launch promotions."

On a school note: I finished my 2D Animation and Digital Storytelling courses Saturday and I received A's in both. I have this week off and then I start Computer 3D Modeling and Animation and Dynamic Figure Drawing. I really hope these don't take nearly as much time as these past two because I plan on getting a job soon.

Another Chuck Palahniuk Book is becoming a movie

2008-03-20T23:36:00.005-05:00

Choke, one of my favorite Chuck Palahniuk books, is being made into a full motion picture. You might not know who Palahniuk is and what else he has written; he wrote Fight Club. All of his books have the same satirical nuances throughout that poke fun at the issues people face by blowing them way out of proportion. This movie hopefully shouldn't be an exception. Here is an excerpt from IGN's page for the movie.

Actor-turned-director Clark Gregg shows he is as adept behind the camera as he is in front of it with CHOKE, a wickedly colorful dark comedy about mothers and sons, sexual compulsion, and the sordid underbelly of Colonial theme parks. Victor Mancini (Rockwell), a sex-addicted med-school dropout, who keeps his increasingly deranged mother, Ida (Huston), in an expensive private medical hospital by working days as a historical reenactor at a Colonial Williamsburg theme park. At night Victor runs a scam by deliberately choking in upscale restaurants to form parasitic relationships with the wealthy patrons who “save” him. When, in a rare lucid movement, Ida reveals that she has withheld the shocking truth of his father’s identity, Victor enlists the aid of his best friend, Denny (Henke) and his mother’s beautiful attending physician, Dr. Paige Marshall (Macdonald), to solve the mystery before the truth of his possibly divine parentage is lost forever.

I think the movie sounds spot on with the book and might hold up just like Fight Club did.

Battlefield: Bad Company Beta Event - Update

2008-03-20T13:56:00.006-05:00

I received an email today telling me that if I met the requirements below I would get into the Bad Company Beta.
• Multiplayer beta is ONLY on Xbox 360 (having a 360)
• Xbox LIVE Gold Account REQUIRED (well duh)
• Keys reserved for IGN Insider/Founders' Club Members (hey that's me!)
• Experience with Battlefield, FPS games, and past beta tests required (over 100 betas under my belt many of them fps games, I own all the pc battlefield games; I would say I qualify)

So this morning I got into the beta and now I am downloading it. The gameplay doesn't start until next Tuesday, the 25th of March, but that is still cool. I have been looking at this game for a long time in that you can do a lot more things in it than your average shooter. Of course you can shoot through walls but now you can blow them down just like Red Faction! The game looks really solid and I can't wait to get into it.

Here is the website(North America only I suppose for that page) for those who might meet the requirements also.

Update: I finished downloading it but since I signed a non-disclosure agreement of sorts I am not allowed to go into detail on anything. I cannot play the game yet but I can view a short movie and look through the game menus at the moment. The interface looks really solid so far and I am pretty excited about the different weapons and items.

Guitar Hero: On Tour - DS Title

2008-03-19T23:07:00.004-05:00

I think it looks pretty damn exciting and hopefully that periph won't get in the way of the fun.

Two little updates from our friends at Kotaku

2008-03-18T06:45:00.003-05:00

Kotaku updates daily with some awesome stuff but I really only like to post the things that I find interesting here. The first thing being even more info about that great Metal Gear PS3 Bundle I talked about in previous posts. Below is a scan of the latest Famitsu with a picture of the special edition PS3. The color of it is labeled as 'Steel' and I really like it a lot.

The second piece is some tracks that are being added today for Rock Band. Finally a pack has come along since the Metallica pack that makes me want to buy it. It features "Blinded By Fear" by At the Gates, "Thrasher" by Evile, and "D.O.A." by The Haunted (you can click them to hear them at Youtube). If I had some MS points left I would have likely picked them up but for now I will wait.

The Pursuit

2008-03-17T20:33:00.002-05:00

Below is my Digital Storytelling assignment available on Youtube. To be honest, I am not all that happy with it but I am finished and that's all that matters to me.

Doomsday

2008-03-15T16:45:00.004-05:00

I definitely did not like this movie. The premise behind it would be good for a comic or something but it sure sucked as a movie. The premise is that a virus named "Reaper" invades the northern UK population and they must lock it down. It becomes contained for 30 years until it somehow gets over the wall. At relatively the same time they find out there are people still alive on the other side of the wall who may be immune. Now a rogue chick that has a robotic eye must take a group of scientists and soldiers over across the wall to nab the possible cure. The rest of the movie makes you think they spliced frames from Road Warrior and The Lord of the Rings into the movie by mistake.

I am not going to say much about the rest of the movie because frankly I probably shouldn't have seen it and I wouldn't want to accidentally encourage someone else to. The movie was boring, it wasn't original in a sense, and I had never felt that urge before to want to walk out of the movie. One good thing about the whole movie was that there were pretty good death scenes. Hopefully the crew behind them will be working on other (read better) movies int he future.

Bioshock 2 incoming!

2008-03-11T20:59:00.001-05:00

Take-Two Interactive announced today that BioShock 2 was officially in the works, under the development wing of the recently formed 2K Marin studio. The sequel—rumored to actually be a prequel—to the Xbox 360 and PC shooter is planned for a fourth-quarter fiscal 2009 release date. Take-Two's fiscal year ends October 31, so expect it to hit unspecified platforms (read: Xbox 360) before the '09 holidays.

Take-Two also noted that the original BioShock has 2 million unit sales under its belt since its August '07 release. No pressure, 2K Marin! No pressure at all.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6187564.html?action=convert&om_clk=latestnews&tag=latestnews;title;0
http://kotaku.com/366601/bioshock-2-is-very-official-dated-for-q4-2009

Wooo! Alright Donny!

2008-03-10T04:36:00.008-05:00

If you have a Wii, go pick up Smash Bros Brawl right now (yes at 4:37 am). I am not going to get into major detail but lets just say it's worth the money even if you aren't a fighting game fan.

I am in desperate need of sleep! I have been working on my school project for the past week and its about 50% done. Alongside that I am trying to have some gaming, reading, and friend time (and other things I like to do in my leisure). I still haven't finished Patapon, I want to get into playing Brawl, but I still need to complete my school work. For some reason I have gotten back into Call of Duty 4 heavily which doesn't help the situation. All of this is why sleep is on the back burner.

On an amazing note: Starcraft 2's Zerg info has been announced!!!!!
Below is the trailer and here is a link to the fact sheet at Kotaku.

Random thoughts of weirdness

2008-03-08T15:22:00.003-06:00

So today I had a weird thought about a world where everything could be bought in bulk. Things would be cheaper the more you bought at one time. The thing I thought of first was hotel rooms. If you bought 20 hotel rooms now, each room is cheaper (like reserving for a formal event). But in this new world you could rent out a hotel room for 365 days out of the year and get a daily price of $75 a night ($27,375 for the whole year). This would be cheaper than renting an apartment but would limit your freedoms. I found out that this world is real!!!!!! You can totally rent out a hotel room for a year at a discounted price, no joke. You can buy cars in bulk and get a discount up to 10%. I don't know why but I thought it was hilarious that you could do these things.

Gaming Note: I have yet to finish Patapon because of my recent homework and me wanting to play Call of Duty 4. I am also picking up Super Smash Bros. Brawl tonight at midnight, as mentioned previously.

So much school!

2008-03-04T11:19:00.001-06:00

Yesterday marked a record. I worked on schoolwork for nearly 8 hours yesterday. My computer issues forced me to do all of the work yesterday and it wasn't very fun at all. Luckily today I only have a bit of schoolwork then I am going to take a break. I need to get started on my Digital Storytelling final project which consists of me using drawn pictures to show the action. I have 25 sections I need to draw some of which need to be quick animated. So I will likely start that tomorrow and Thursday and hopefully get most of it done before the weekend so I can play some Super Smash Bros. Brawl and possibly finish Patapon.

This morning sucked

2008-03-02T16:31:00.005-06:00

So this morning I woke up and I immediately wanted to play some Call of Duty 4. Of course my internet wouldn't have that and it remained to be down for quite awhile. I then looked around for my psp and found it near my bed and then I remembered I fell asleep with it on my bed still on. So I was screwed because I had to either play tethered to a wall or wait for it to charge; I chose to charge it. I then watched Die Hard 2 in HD, it was great =D. Soon after eating lunch I reset my modem and router, still no internet.
Went through my games and thought I would play some Rock Band. I was playing some quickplay drums and soon felt the pedal loosening and flexing a little more than normal. I quickly stopped and looked at it and it is on the brink of cracking. The whitish plastic wear line that has been there for awhile was going away which I thought was good. Now it's as flexible in that area as ever. I am thinking about buying one of those metal plates to put over it to prevent it from cracking (pictured below). Hopefully it won't break before I actually get around to buying one.

Obviously my internet is working now so I need to get my schoolwork done asap before it goes down again. I will be on COD4 tonight sometime if people are up for some action. My gamertag is on the right (under my info) for those who don't already have it.

PS3's Home might not suck afterall

2008-02-27T21:14:00.003-06:00

The 3 games that have been updated at the Kotaku are Resistance: Fall of Man, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and Warhawk. Each of these games has some pretty badass features for Home.

Resistance - Home users will access a room and inside they can visit unseen areas of the game and tap into bonus content in the form of "intercepted" radio communications between European and U.S. forces. These hidden transmissions will help to flesh out the Resistance story, giving players a better understanding of the game's conflict.

Uncharted - Home users can enter a room and use their avatars to explore the game's levels without the threat of being shot at, a nice feature. Also it is armed with a side-scrolling 2D arcade game, described to Kotaku as reminiscent of both Contra and Out Of This World. Sounds kind of like Capcom's 2D remake of Bionic Commando in its execution, full of enemies and exploding barrels to shoot.

Warhawk - The Home lobby for the Incognito dogfighter will serve as a "war room" where up to eight players can meet to discuss their strategy for an upcoming match. Using a three-dimensional "sand table" replication of the level, Warhawk players are said to be able to lay out their strategies in a properly scaled space. They'll even be able to place little army men avatars around the map to envision their formations, something we hope they can also do with teeny tiny Warhawk planes, tanks and Jeeps. The Warhawk war room is said to also serve as a launchpad for games, thankfully, so jumping into a match shouldn't require leaving the Home interface.

Sounds even more promising for Home and PS3. I now am officially excited about a PS3 and I am seriously considering that Metal Gear Bundle. I must be effin' crazy.

Patapon - Copy in hands

2008-02-27T16:00:00.003-06:00

So I picked up the game today and had only enough time to play a mission and then post this before I need to get some things done. Sadly things haven't gone to plan lately but I hope to have a review by the end of this coming weekend.

On a side note: The spear of protection from the demo is very useful because I have an orange yaripon (special that cannot wear a helmet but have overall more stats) and it works great with it. The spear adds a bunch of all stats especially in the defense against attacks. I have the saved game for it still so if anyone wants the exclusive item they have to post in comment and I will find a way to host it.

More - the Metal Gear Bundle

2008-02-27T11:26:00.003-06:00

Big news to me, the system bundle is officially 'partially' backwards compatible like the MotoStorm bundle. It has the capabilities on the hardware and software front to play most games. There are in fact some issues with games but it is better than no backwards at all. This was a major selling point for me considering I have many PS2 games that I would like to remain playable without having to keep it plugged in. Below is the official bundle box.

Import me not!

2008-02-26T16:45:00.002-06:00

The second piece of big game news today news may not seem that exciting to 95% of the US population. Bangai-O, one of developer Treasure's most defining hits, is getting a true sequel on the DS and it is confirmed for US! This info was found from Kotaku also (I really love their site). Here is some info from the article

The DS version features local wireless co-op gameplay for 1-4 players, a powerful level editor, and probably the neatest feature of all - level transfer using sound. The level editor saves files as sound, which can then be transmitted to other DS systems via the built-in microphone, or save them on a PC for upload and sharing via the internet.

More details and the full Press Release can be found here (source): http://kotaku.com/360780/bangai+o-spirits-coming-stateside

Just a heads up - tomorrow I will be picking up my copy of Patapon and I will post my initial impressions that night after a good amount of playtime.

Metal Gear Solid 4 and Online News

2008-02-26T12:03:00.009-06:00

My most anticipated PS3 game, Metal Gear Solid 4, has been given an "official" release date. Supposedly the game is releasing on Thursday, June 12, 2008. I picked up the info from Kotaku's page earlier today (link below) and it sounds really promising. The most curious thing about it is that it may ship alongside an 80gig PS3 with a Dual Shock 3 packed in with it. I do not have a PS3 yet so that deal sounds very very appealing to me. I would consider buying it fully bundled as long as it doesn't cost more than its separate components because of some special MGS stuff thrown in. With it coming early in the summer I wouldn't doubt that the price of this mystery bundle might actually be lowered into the acceptable range ($459.99 with system, game, and dual shock 3). I really need to get a job by the end of March that will help me pay for all of this stuff.

source: http://kotaku.com/360906/metal-gear-solid-4-finally-has-a-release-date

UPDATE: The Bundle was officially announced and will hit store shelves the same day as MGS4 for $499. I guess they didn't have what it takes to show they mean business. It is confirmed to have the 80gig, Dual Shock 3, and the game.

Side Note: Taken from Kotaku -

In addition to announcing a ship date and hardware bundle for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, SCEA today revealed that a beta for the game's online component will happen before the June release. Metal Gear Online, as you may be aware, will be a separate release from the single player experience, but Metal Gear Solid 4 will come with a "starter pack" that will give gamers a taste of what to expect from the full version.

The multiplayer beta test for Metal Gear Online will kick off in April for those who pre-order the game. Run, do not walk, to your local retailer and bring a fiver with you.

source: http://kotaku.com/360997/playstation-3-gets-metal-gear-online-beta-in-april

The Oscars

2008-02-24T22:53:00.006-06:00

No Country For Old Men, my personal movie of the year, came out on top with a total of 4 Oscars; Best Supporting Actor - Javier Bardem, Adapted Screenplay, Directing, and Best Film.

Juno pulled one out with Best Original Screenplay

Daniel Day Louis got Best Actor

And finally, Bourne Ultimatum came out with 3, 2 in sound and 1 in editing.

Overall I am extremely pleased with the outcome of this year's Oscars. You can find the full list of winners at the following link.
http://oscar.com/oscarnight/winners/

Be Kind Rewind - Update

2008-02-22T07:12:00.007-06:00

Tonight I am thinking about seeing Mos Def and Jack Black in their new movie, Be Kind Rewind. It is written and directed by Michel Gondry of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep fame. It will likely be the later show 7 and 12 (CST) because a few of my friends work a bit later. I think this comedy is going to be quite entertaining and I will post a review either after the movie or tomorrow.

Update: Went to the 11:55 show and I really enjoyed it. It was actually quite different than what I expected from the trailers. There is actually a multi-tiered story here; the store needing to be knocked down/ condemned, getting money to save it, having the tapes erased, and the side element of a jazz player's past. All these elements add to a pretty good story. In some situations I would have like a bit closer of a cut for editing where it was solid, chronologically speaking. Gondry's normal artistic visions are still here but in a very different form including over the top black and white motion captures, stop-motion magnet to metal movement, and the actual remade scenes of the movies. As predicted, Jack and Mos really pulled this one off well. Jack Black's performance in this movie is actually a very good contender for his top of all time. Some of the minor characters on the other hand seemed to have been novices of the film industry but in most scenes this worked because they were acting for a movie (in the movie).

Overall I would have to rate this movie an A- for the amazing creativeness and great acting. It's a boat of laughs and is a great movie for anyone, although I don't think children would pick up on everything and possibly get lost.

Updated Impressions on XNA Games

2008-02-21T10:56:00.008-06:00

Culture: It's sort of 3 games in 1 in that it has a puzzle mode ( Bloom), a paint by numbers (Paint with Flowers), and a garden sim not unlike Harvest Moon. Bloom pits you against weeds by having to plant your flowers around them to sort of choke them. Paint with Flowers is a basic paint by numbers/light bright style game but with colored flowers. Finally, Flower Garden allows you to plant the flowers you have collected in your own virtual garden. Overall Culture is a fun little game but for me the parts don't add up to a great game, but a decent game nonetheless.

Jellycar: It is a twist of a physics-based, side-scrolling, puzzle game with a car made of jello. The point is to get to the finish line by any means possible. Right trigger accelerates, left decel and reverses, left joystick lets you steer the car up and and down, and 'A' lets you grow or shrink your car for a limited amount of time. The shrinking affects not only size but also inertia and mass. The game has a few bugs that deal with collisions and physical properties but otherwise it is well made and very enjoyable.

Little Gamers: It's a class cartoon side-scroller, beat 'em up that reminds me of the Madness flash series. You are a kid that goes around killing other kids, zombies, agents, robots, and even ninjas! The weapons you use range through stabbing, slashing, and shooting. each have their range and speed qualities much like the Castlevania games. I found the default controls to be a bit annoying in that the movement and aim were both on the same stick (left) and you could hold the left trigger to stand in place and aim. So I went into the menu and chose the B setup which is the standard left stick move - right stick aim. The game is pretty great while it lasts and I think the demo was well designed and makes you want more.

UPDATE:
Proximity HD: From what I could tell it is basically a port of the good-old Proximity flash game found here. It's a pretty good port of the game in that it has multi-player support now and it's HD, which really doesn't seem to be a huge thing. Overall its a great game and would recommend it to any puzzle game player out there.

Rocket Ball: Basically its a dodgeball game that isn't that great. The movement in the game didn't really feel cohesive, almost like your person moves around with a jagged motion. The catching and deflecting works pretty well and so does the throwing so I guess it's okay in that sense. There is a mini-game that pops up on screen when you have been hit too many times sort of like a God of War button press thing but it doesn't require timing. There are power-ups that give you more points per tag and make your throws faster. I didn't really see an affect on the points when I had these power-ups, oh well. It's by no means a bad game but it's just very simple and probably one of the weakest of the bunch.

The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai: Is by far the best of all the release XNA's and if you have XBL then you NEED to download it. Beware though that it is heavy on the blood and gore and should probably not be played by the youngens. The game is an artistically drawn story of a lonely dishwasher who gets his heart ripped out and he seeks vengeance. It's a 2D side-scrolling, action beat 'em up with great comic book-like story sequences to push the plot ahead not unlike Max Payne. You chop your way with your cleavers using awesome combos and cool finishers. The great thing is there is a currency system that allows you to buy things including upgrades for weapons. And did I mention the weapons! The sword you receive in the story mode allows you to teleport short distances so you can set up some sweet combos. The arcade a mash of mini-games where you need to slaughter stuff with some strategy involved. I will definitely buy, if needed, when it becomes available. Below is the trailer from last November but I had to link it because it looks so damn amazing.

Trilinea: Is a puzzle game sort of like a mix of dominoes and Doctor Mario. It also has cool feature where you can assign spells to the face button that help your fight, much like Puzzle Quest. It's a solid game but I would really only recommend it to people who enjoy puzzle games because I would much rather play Puzzle Quest or Poker Smash than this. It's a decent puzzle game, so don't get me wrong there but it just has come when there are just better puzzle games out there. Hopefully the game will officially come out when there is a drought for puzzlers.

Listening to some tunes and playing user created content

2008-02-21T10:21:00.006-06:00

Games:With the GDC (Game Developers Conference) this week, Microsoft finally announced and opened the XNA download center. If you don't know what this is, basically it's games created using Microsoft's technology to allow users/ small companies to create games with this small license. These games used to have to go through rigorous Microsoft(M$ from here on) background checks before they were able to be sold on XBL Marketplace. Since most people just wanted to make their games free, M$ decided to make a "youtube style" download service called XNA Club. I have yet to really play any but I have downloaded all that are available on XBL at the moment.

To get them yourself you need to download the "XNA Creators Club Game Launcher" which puts the menu of XNA games under your Games Library. Then when thats available go into my games and move your tab over to "XNA Creators Club" and press 'Y' to 'Download Games." This should bring up the list of games to download. Jeff Gerstmann recommends The Dishwasher but that is pretty much the only one he was able to get his hands on by the time of posting.

I will update with my impressions on those, game to game, in a bit.

Music: I picked up 2 very different CD's recently and am very happy with them both. The first being The Horrorpops' most recent album Kiss Kiss Kill Kill. The Horrorpops are pure psychobilly with a bad-ass chick singer. I would like to mention here that this is one of the only modern bands that I truly enjoy a woman singer over a male. This album has a great biting edge to it with many of the songs being extremely catchy like those of early Tiger Army. The best song on the CD is by far the Live version of Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell." She growls the vocals better than Billy himself and the controlled rhythm of the band is really amazing. The rest of the album is really solid and a definite recommendation to any psychobilly or even punk fan.

The second CD I picked up was The Aggrolites' self titled album. To sum the band up in a few words would probably sound like "old 60's reggae pop sound." I really like this album because it is a great mellowing out CD. I have been listening to it doing most of my schoolwork and more recently typing this blog up. The one funny thing is, these guys are white but they sound really great. Think Sublime but with much more influence from reggae.

Two amazing sequels announced for this year

2008-02-20T15:53:00.003-06:00

I'm just going to spit it out, Gears of War 2 and Ninja Gaiden 2! Both are now officially on my must buy list. NG2 is set to release June 3rd which is awesome for the early summer push. GOW2 on the other hand is heading out the holiday season in November. I will be keeping a close eye on both until they are released. Below you will find the teaser trailer for GOW2 and a pic of the ultra-violent NG2 respectively.

N+ impressions

2008-02-20T08:52:00.006-06:00

I just wanted to throw something out there before I head to the dentist. I downloaded and played through the tutorial and the first 9 episodes of N+ early this morning. The single player plays really close to the freeware counterpart with some nicely updated graphics and some decent music. I will update later with my impressions on the mapmaker and some multi-player, that is if I actually get around to it.

Starting the week with games

2008-02-19T10:57:00.008-06:00

This past week was my gaming invitational with quite a few of my online connections. From late Friday night all the way through last night was all games. During that time I played a lot of Team Fortress 2 on Steam to lay into the new Badlands, which is awesome by the way. I also played quite a bit of 360 which included a crate-load of Call of Duty 4, a bit of Alien Hominid, and Guitar Hero 3. I planned on playing some Halo 3 but never really got into the mood of it. I guess COD4 just ruined it for me because it is such a better online environment.

On another note, I have been playing the crap out of the US Patapon Demo. I am on my 5th playthrough of this demo and it is the first time since the Burnout 3 demo on XBOX that I have loved the demo and played it more than some games. The game is hitting stores next Tuesday and I fully plan on grabbing it even in my financial state. PSP has always been one of my favorite systems for the sheer fact that it is a media player as well as a game play; AND NOW A PHONE!
God of War: Chains of Olympus is the other PSP
game that I have gotten my hands on. This preview build I have been playing is actually the most surprising thing I have seen within the last few months. First off the lack of controls, less buttons on the PSP than the PS2 controller, actually makes the game so much better. This may sound ass-backwards but some of the controls are sort of shifted and combined with other buttons. This allows you to easily pull of some quick motions as well as some combos. I can't wait to get my hands on the final game March 4th. I very well think that this could be the best game in the series, if it isn't too short.

I am anticipating spending $10 tomorrow on a game that I have played for free. That's right, I am going to pay for a free game! N+, is a complete rehash of N, the freeware game from Metanet Software, is releasing tomorrow on XBL Marketplace. It has a lot more stuff added and I was addicted to this game before so I have to check it out. You can find more information here including the free download.

So it begins

2008-02-19T10:13:00.003-06:00

I have now started this blog up because I am starting to get sick of screaming my opinions to deaf ears. I hope that many people will come to enjoy my blog for what it is, a piece of entertainment. Within the next few days I will be setting this page up and testing the waters a bit. I hope whomever reads this will leave a comment about anything. You can even suggest a matter that I may have an opinion over. Thanks for looking!