Saturday, November 15, 2008

Not Much to Write About

My last Blog post was 16 days ago. Looks like I fell in the "forgets-about-the-Blog-for-awhile", but no. I just don't have anything interesting the say right now. For the sake of keeping this Blog alive, here are some random ramblings...

Some of you, I'm sure, were expecting a Resistance 2 Review or Impression. Truth is, nothing I would've written would've stood out or be any different from the good reviews out. The game is Epic. I'm not using this word as a qualificative word for "awesome". It truly feels big and large. The very first thing you see when you can control Hale you think you see something far in the background. You walk to an open area and *BOOM* that thing you thought was in the background is actually right in front of you. The story is fantastic, the gameplay mechanics are very smooth, and the multiplayer is simply awesome.

I honestly don't understand how some people can critisize the game. All the complaints have seen so far are unfounded, ignorant (wouldn't have worked in the game), or simply ignore the design-direction of the game. There is a reason for the two-weapon system, there's a reason why there's no narrator, there's a reason why there are no vehicles... I guess it's true what they say: "It's easier to hate than to love."

The only little thing that gets me in Resistance 2 is not about the game. It's about me as a gamer. You see, I'm not a big fan of FPS games. Even less on consoles. I hate horror movies, and even more horror games. This game is way outside my comfort zone... but Insomniac Games did such a great job with the gameplay, the atmosphere, and the story that it actually feels good to be outside my comfort zone. I just take my time a lot with the game.

Last winter, I injured my hand. I had to step aside from my dad's worship group (liturgical animation) during the Christmas time, which was one of their last for several months. The group started playing again during the summer and I just recently joined back. It's great to work with motivated and talented young people. It's also great to work in music again. I missed writting and arranging music. I'm hoping to stay in the group a while. They seemed to like the addition of my flute (and maybe soon an Irish Flute too).

And Now for Something Completely Different ((I love Monty Python, hehehe)) I recently continued masteringMaya: The Fundamentals. I didn't have time yet to do much, but I did finish the Constraint lessons. The end exercice was pretty sweet. I exported a Playblast of it, but I need to get a good video editor that's able to do some compositing. I think I found one that's not too expensive, I need to do a little bit of research first. I'll post it once it's available.

On a more personal note, Cancer struck another of my mother's sibbling recently. I feel pretty bad about it because I'm not reacting to it anymore... I'm sad about it, but I think I'm getting a little numb to the reaction of the news. This is the forth uncle or aunt at the rate of almost one-a-year. Cancer is ruthless. No one is safe from it. But news of it just doesn't hit me anymore. I'm asking my readers to have my aunt in your prayers or thoughts (if you don't believe in a "Maker", which is fine) on Monday. She's getting surgery and only has a 50% of coming out of it, and 20% of that 50% of being paralyzed.

Now my coffee is getting cold and I need to leave in an hour. Yes, I'm drinking coffee. As some of you may know, I have an intolerance to a certain (high) concentration of cafeine. It really sucks because I could live on coffee. I love the taste of it, the smell of it, the 'd'exture (Austin Powers in Goldmember reference). My body can't take either a high dose of cafeine (too much of it) or really concentrated doses (dark roasts, pure expresso, etc.). But coffee is too good for me to pass... I just have to drink it with moderation...

I added a Poll for the weekend. I'll let you, my dear readers, decide what I should work on this week. Poll is on the left above my Twitter.

"Secret Project" Hint
The secret 'snowflake' project is now put on hold for several reasons. I still have a hint for you!


I have another 'similar' "Secret Project" in queue for Christmas. I didn't start it yet though. It's much smaller (in terms of time) than the first one.

If you have any ideas on what my Secret Skill is, please post in the comment (Arista, you know it already - don't spoil my fun plz!?!)

Thursday, October 30, 2008

The Final Waiting Stretch of Resistance 2

Resistance 2 is right around the corner... quite litteraly if you think of the weekend as a "corner".

Reviews and videos are pouring in. It's promising to be one of the greatest games of 2008.

I've been playing the Private and Public BETA for a little while. Not as much as I would've liked (damn you real life!) but I have to say that I'm damn impressed. I'm not going to go in the details of the BETA... it's all stuff everyone knows already. What I'll say is that it got me to reserve the Collector's Edition of the game... it's that good.

Reception is good so far. One of my favorite reviews for now is the IGN Review. I am, however, a little shocked at the 1up Review of the game. It's Thierry's opinion and I respect that. But there are a lot of weird border-line ignorant statements, as if Thierry Nguyen played for no more than 5-10 minutes in total (look for what he says about the FarEye) and for that the review unfortunately feels 'rushed out'. But what really throws me off is how can you call it one of the best games on ps3 and give it a B+?
"...it's certainly one of the best PS3 exclusives I've played."
Regardless, it's about Resistance and can still be worth a read (if you don't mind reading that feels rushed). It's Thierry's opinion and I got to respect that.

On a totally different note, here are some awesome videos that Gamersyde uploaded. Be forwarned, these are full of spoilers.

Gamersyde Resistance 2 - The First 10 Minutes (and much more!)
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Kudos to whoever finds out the very obscure Insomniac Games reference in the video right before the first level starts.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Twitting Twitter

As you can see on the right side bar, I succombed and joined Twitter. It's pretty cool. If I know you in real-life, with very few exceptions, just follow me.

Oh, and for that secret 'snowflake project', it's turning out bigger than I expected, so don't expect anything before next week where I'll reveal a first hint for those who haven't guessed what it is yet.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

...SNOW!!!



You're not seeing things, this is snow... in October...

Thursday, October 16, 2008

What's this snowflake pattern for?


Why did I spend two hours designing a pixelated snowflake? Find out this weekend or next week...