Just wanted to spread the word about Capcom's new RE5 website. It's a viral marketing scheme so it's going to take a load of people to unlock all of the tidbids they've got there. The web site is here -http://www.residentevil.com/5/kijuju/?fbid=RO0iDoo_Lsi#. Go there, find and click the 1 and you get to watch the first of apparently 5 videos relating to the new game. As more people view, more content will be unlocked on the site.

This is very exciting for me since I haven't been this interested in an RE game since Code Veronica back on Dreamcast. Please help me get my RE fix. X3

I finally got around to taking pictures of my entertainment center. It's not terribly impressive, but it works for the time being.The only system I own that's not there is the Sega Genesis/32X which is still at home under shared custody of myself and my brother.

For those wondering, the system atop the Xbox is the Magnavox Odyssey² which was my parents. It's complete with The Voice add-on. The keyboard is a bit broken from years of having junk piled on top of it, so it's impossible to access some of the game variants on the cartridges and to create your own levels. Hopefully I can find a way to fix the keyboard and bring it up to full working order again.

I've spent some more time with Home and it is pretty nice though it's lacking a lot since it's only the beta. I rearranged my apartment with a space for a TV whenever those are offered. I'll probably change the wallpaper when more become available. Bowling is actually pretty fun. It's a bit like elf bowling for anyone who remembers that fun flash game. XP They will need some more for the full version though or else it will be a headache to even get to play. I did manage to meet some nice people who I gladly added to my friend list, even though there are a lot of creepy folks online who are hard to avoid in a social environment like Home. The more I "play" the more I can't wait for the full version so I can get on and hang out with all my friends.

I've also been playing Alone in the Dark: Inferno. Love it, like I knew I would. I've got about 1.5 episodes left to finish. It got a bit harder now that aid sprays have become scarce, but I'll survive. I'd like to order the Collectors Edition for the PC for all the nifty stuff it comes with but I'm unsure of what European websites would be safe to order from. If anyone has suggestions, please let me know. Is GAME.co.uk a trustworthy site? Also, since I've never actually ordered something imported other than from ebay, I don't know how the currency exchange works. Do they simply take the equivalent of USD from my account or do I need foreign currency for it? If anyone knows, I'd greatly appreciate the info.

So, I got my invite to the Home Beta the other night. Spent a good 2 hours making avatars, one female and one male (who accidentally ended up looking like Dante). Decent customization options for a beta, though it could use more clothing/color and hair options. I checked out the theatre, mall and bowling alley. Nothing in the mall shops yet, but there were a lot of people hanging out there. A Socom video is currently playing in the theatre. It took a long time to download on my connection, but it didn't have to buffer at all once it loaded. It reminded me very much of Gaia Online's cinema and one of the auditoriums at Penn State University. XD The bowling alley seemed nifty, though I didn't try anything out. There were quite a few people bowling and some playing the arcade machines. And of course, like every online game my female avi got hit on by mobs of guys. **sigh** I can only imagine what it's going to be like when there are more people online. I'll make sure to use "Dante" when I want to avoid that unnecessary attention. Home isn't nearly as big as I'd imagined it was going to be, so I don't know how it's going to handle everyone once it goes live to the public. I guess we shall see. I definitely look forward to seeing more of it as it develops further.

 Edit: Haha. Gamespot won't let me set Home to now playing since it's "not released yet." It really isn't a game to start with anyway. XD 

DAZ finally released their newest male base model yesterday, Michael 4. He's a freebie for now at least so I've downloaded him to my runtime. He's a bit worthless to me at the moment since I have to purchase morphs in order to edit his appearance, but I'll mess around with him later and see what I can do. At least now Anton will be able to release his updated Apollo '08/'09.

Been so busy with work it's ridiculous. Got work tomorrow morning so I'll be keeping this short. XD

PSU beat Mighigan today! w00t! I hope they can go all the way this year. JoePa deserves a national title.

I'm still playing Perfect World, level 20 on my Blademaster currently. Need to do FB19 soon. I'm tempted to pick up D&D online and EQ2 since their prices dropped. Anyone tryed D&D online?

I just started playing Folklore. I'm enjoying it right now, but it might get a bit annoying doing every chapter twice (once as each Character). It still reminds me of Lost Kingdoms which I also loved. The gameplay is fun, but revisting the same areas multiple times gets boring because the re-spawns are always the same. I am glad I picked it up when I had the chance as it's gotten pretty rare, around here at least. I do wish there were more titles like this and Lair that take advantage of the sixaxis controller.

I'll pick up Bioshock either monday night or tuesday and I have AitD5, Prince of Persia and RE5 on reserve. I also have Eye of Judgement and Heavenly Sword coming from Sony by mail. Eye of Judgement should arrive soon, but it'll be a couple weeks for HS. Don't know when I'll find time to play everything, but at least I won't have to hunt them all down later. I'm also getting the PoP standee whenever it comes off marketing so the Prince can gaurd my apt when I'm at work all day. XD

I've been spending most of my free time recently playing Perfect World International. It's very similar to most free asian MMOs, with only a handful of race/class combinations and quests that are handed to you w/o any effort (instead of hailing random NPCs in the hopes that they'll talk to you and having to produce the correct keywords to get the quests, quest NPCs have flags or shields above their heads denoting their status). However the character model editor is better than those I've seen in most RPGs and pay to play MMOs. I spent several hours just tweaking my character's appearance and playing around with the editor again and again.

The dials allow you change the spacing/size/shape/alignment/etc. of all of the facial features. There's about 3-10 different textures for things like eyes, eyebrows and facial hair. Hair choices are pretty awesome with 62 different options for the human male alone. You're free to color your character's eyes, skin, hair, etc however you like. The only aspect there should have been more freedom in is overall body scaling. It allows for muscle scale adjustment, but not height or weight. Character creation has always been my favorite part of these games so this editor is quite a blessing to me, I only get more options from a 3D program.

I won't talk much about gameplay as it's pretty standard, wasd w/ mouse controls, hotbuttons, mining or farming of tradeskill materials, etc. I do adore the handling of jumping though. Characters jump like they've come out of a kung-fu movie... all over everything (especially roofs). There are even quests that involve jumping. I also like that melee cIasses aren't completely limited to melee attack skills, as I was disappointed initially that I couldn't have a paladin. All characters have some access to magic and so even my blademaster can throw some spells at monsters and help (slightly) to buff a party.

I'm definitely enjoying myself with it, probably because I can actually solo alright right now. I'm surprised I actually reached level 15, which is farther than I've gotten with any other freebie MMO. Just the flavor of the week maybe, or maybe not. Could switch to the Multilanguage Service down the road, but I guess I'll see how long I stick to this one first. And now a couple screenshots because they amuse me.

My favorite monster so far? The Dumb Kuhu.

Sarovanya's new armor amused me to no end, reminding me of a comment on the women in the gaming industry article from PAX and my complaint that the armor on women in fantasy is mostly useless. So here's my male in his partially useless armor. Go equality of the sexes! XP

Yeah, so I just started playing EQOA again after, what, 5-6 years? Wow. I forgot how addicting that game was. I spent most of my day off playing. it's so simplified compared to the original EQ, but I feel a bit more involved in combat than I ever have in the original. I'm enjoying the humor a lot more now than I did those years ago when I played. Started my own collection of snake booties already. I just wish there were more people still playing. I saw a few others during the time I played, but not many. Of course I'm still wishing on a star that SOE will develop an EQ for PS3, hopefully a PS3/PC cross-plat game like they're doing with DC Universe. I'll keep my fingers crossed on that. At least for the next month, I'll continue playing EQOA on my PS3. Maybe longer if I don't get tired of grinding by myself. XD

Go, go, smart-ass elven paladins!

Just a quick update for art. I'll try to add more later, probably after I finish moving to my new apartment.

Despite popular opinion, I'm enjoying Alone in the Dark 5 very much. It's definitely exploring a new route for the survival horror genre, a route I like a lot more than the trail blazed by RE4. It's hard to really pin it to any genre as it borrows from several. It contains a lot of action/adventure elements that make it similar to the Tomb Raider and Prince of Persia series. It's got car chases and the typical survival horror puzzles, and of course monsters. Its closest relative in the horror genre seems to be Obscure. The ability to combine items in your inventory is missing from the PS2 version, but fire is as important to this as the new-gen version. Fire is the best weapon against enemies and often the answer to "where do I go from here?" The fire isn't as impressive in the PS2 version as its counterpart, but it still spreads to consume the rooms, and often the ones you're standing in.

The environments are quite nice, especially when viewed in first person mode, though the character models are certainly not the best I've seen on PS2. You can play in both first and third person. Most of the time you have free control over the camera in third person view, though some parts of the game force a certain perspective on you for good reasons (IE falling debris). I personally found first person to be the better perspective choice for the majority of the game. Even though I normally dislike playing first person, I enjoyed it in AitD5. The driving segments can be a bit annoying as one mess-up might kill you or cost you enough time for your pursuer to catch up and take you out themselves, if that happens you must start the chase over from the beginning. You also get the choice of first or third person for the driving segments. In combat fire or some sort of explosive are your best choices, but you can also shoot enemies or melee attack them with objects you can pick up. The story in the PS2 version is lacking a bit due to elements cut out, but is interesting enough on its own.

My one true complaint about the game is that it ends a bit too quickly. A few more hours of play would have been nice since I enjoyed playing it so much. And with that, I will pick up the PS3 version of the game when it is released in the fall. Until then I'll have to be satisfied by replaying it or finding something else that interests me.

And because these are my current obsessions, here's a DAZ Studio render I did based on the artist's rendition of Carnby from the cover art. Some postwork in Photoshop. Scar painted in Photoshop. Comments welcome. :)