Something Wicked this Way Came


The long wait is over.

After almost four months of tortured waiting, my ordeal of counting the days away have finally ended. This morning a FedEx courier arrived bearing the package I have been waiting for such a long time. Yep, my copy of Virtua Fighter 5 for the PS3 is in The Sanctum, and I couldn't be happier. I simply have not wanted a game this much ever before... or perhaps, it was because I haven't felt this way in such a long time is the reason for my extreme euphoria. In any case, my most-awaited fighting game is here, so now I can throw away my now-useless copy of Dead or Alive 4 (okay, not really).

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to play much since I had to go on off to work. I was able to create a VF5 game file on my PS3 Hard Drive (which took several minutes), create my first custom character save file and try out some of the modes, particularly Arcade and Dojo. What can I say? The game looks absolutely amazing on my TV even though the set resolution right now is just 480p (since my Archos AV700 cannot record video in HD ). I'll be enjoying VF5 in the crispy clarity of HD once I finish recording some videos for posting online.
Anyway, my first attempts to play met with the usual result- while I beat up the first few opponents handily, later stages saw my poor Aoi flat on her back. I'll need to spend some time in the Dojo Training Mode before I start taking names with consistency. But this early, I could sense the increase in speed, the easier manueverability of the characters and the tightness of the controls. For now I'm using the regular Sixaxis controller- once my VF arcade stick arrives (God knows when), this should get even better.

I wasn't able to check out the other modes- VFTV or Customize- as much as I wanted to, so I'll save that for later tonight. Expect a full review as I strap on my fighting gear and get ready for a fabulous VF5 weekend.

It Came from Comicspace

One of the coolest things to happen lately in comics, at least online-wise, is Comicspace. It's like Myspace, but for Comics Creators/Writers and Illustrators. So now, us people with weird pictures and stories running around in our heads now have a place to compare notes, make friends and recently, show off our comics!

I've had My Comicspace Page up for a while, but until recently all it had was a short summary of who I am and a small friends list. With the addition of a Comics Gallery, I have now uploaded a couple of comics- a K.I.A. story and issue one of Kunoichi Boy! Nothing horribly new though- that'll come later. But for now, it's a great start for the webcomic presence I've been planning for a while.

Check out my page here. Be my Comics Friend! Heheh.

Ready to Rumble



Virtua Fighter 5 is OUT! The Asian and Japanese PS3 versions of Sega's latest and greatest started shipping out today from online stores like NCS and Play-Asia today, though lucky bastards in Hong Kong have apparently been playing it since Friday. Of course, this irks me to no end as I've seen one guy post a vid on Youtube of VF5 and he knows NOTHING about it. No meaning to him. Probably just picked it up because the box art is nice. GAH! I SHOULD HAVE THE GAME. I SHOULD HAVE IT NOW.

Well anyway, my copy is, as I write this, on the way. Unless anything horribly goes wrong, I should be playing it tomorrow evening. It's still a bit of a wait (isang tulog na lang) but I guess I'll just have to cope... at least I have it better than gamers in Europe, who have to wait possibly until JUNE before they get their VF5. Ouch! So expect a full review soon once I log in the hours on what is perhaps THE game for me this year.

Avatar: Escape from the Spirit World

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While Avatar fans all over the world wait with eager anticipation of Season 3, the producers of the Nicktoons mystical martial arts adventure have come up with a fun little way of bridging the gap between the disastrous end of Season 2 to the next chapter of Aang's adventures.
Avatar: Escape from the Spirit World is an online animated webcomic which tells the story of what happens to Aang after he gets fried by Princess Azula at the end of Crossroads of Destiny. Apparently, as many fans have feared, Aang's near-death experience (or probably actual death, if not for Katara's intervention) caused his former lives to scatter to the ends of the earth, denying him the use of the Avatar State (his version of the Tactical Nuke) and trapping him in the Spirit World.
In the intro to the comic, Aang is greeted by Princess Yue, the lovely Water Tribe royal from Season 1. She tells him that he must find four of his former lives and speak to them in order to become whole again. But to do so, he will cross paths with the evil Koh, the Face Stealer, an old enemy. Of course, what can the young Avatar do but go and take the challenge head on...

With some neat flash animations and simple games, the webcomic takes viewers into the world of Avatar again in these short but sweet chapters, which reveal more info behind Aang's mysterious past personas. The first chapter focuses of Avatar Roku, the Firebending Avatar who was Aang's last life. The next chapter deals with Avatar Kyoshi, the towering female Earthbender. Nick will release the rest of the chapters in succeeding weekends.

It's pretty cool and any Avatar fan should take a look at the Avatar Escape site. All you need to do is sign up for a Nick 'nickname' and you're off. Still not a substitute for Season 3, but I'll take it. Heh.