It's all about the Money... Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb...

That's apparently what's in with the Filipino audience these days as the masa fantasy comedy Enteng Kabisote 3 won Best Picture in this year's Metro Manila Film Festival. Quality isn't so important these days in Filipino films as box office receipts. On a related note, sadly the comic adaptation Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah didn't fare too well, coming in only at 7th place in terms of ticket sales. Director Quark Henares' superhero team flick Super Noypi did better at 5th place.

Yeah, the movie moguls are happy, but this basically sends a message to filmmakers and directors... stick to what sells. What a blow to creativity and innovation.

What can you expect? The masa are the audience for our local film industry. Those expecting or wanting high quality films and movies go for foreign movies or are limited to niche releases like plays or experimental film. Does this mean that anyone wanting to tell stories above the usual sordid dramas, cheap scare tactics or usual tired comedy veins is fighting a futile battle? That there's no room for anything new or different in Juan the Streetwalker's brain? Hopefully not. Perhaps it's just knowing your venue and your market better. Perhaps it's about marketing your stuff better. Or maybe, yeah, the Pinoy just doesn't want anything new or different. He just wants something dumb and easy.

Oh well.

HDTV a.k.a. Hassle and Disappointment TV

As I've probably mentioned before, I'm thinking of getting a big-screen HDTV to go with my upcoming Playstation 3. Well, today I actually got a step closer to my 1080p dream, but then suddenly jumped three steps back. While affordable LCD monitors are available now, I discovered a distressing property of the Samsung Widescreen LCDs I am eyeing for The Sanctum... THEY HAVE NO VIDEO OUT.

This is a pretty big turn-off for me, considering that I love to record video with my lovely Archos AV700. Is there a way at all to capture video on the Samsung sets? Or must I look to other brands? I guess I have to do more research into this before I take the leap into the HDTV pond. For now though, I guess my ol' Sony Wega will stay for a while longer for my viewing pleasures. Oh well.

PS3 Bound

I've more or less committed myself to getting a Playstation 3. I've decided on getting the 20GB version- the 60 GB version is considerably more expensive for simply having 40 more Gigs of HD space, built-in card reader slots, WiFi and a spiffy chrome trim.
I can always upgrade the Hard Drive myself and use a separate USB card reader, plus I don't really need the WiFi. Not having the chrome trim hurts though...

Considering that PS3s go for upwards of 40 to 50K in malls these days, I'm getting my console quite cheaply. At least I maintain my record of keeping console purchases under 30K.
My shiny new console will hopefully arrive just after the New Year's. No hurry in any case, since my main reason for getting a PS3 is still due in February. Still, I can't say I'm not pleased... I already have the spot dusted off and ready for the new console in The Sanctum. Everything comes to him who waits. Even one who hates waiting.

Roll Out!



Here's a good look at Optimus Prime from the upcoming Transformers movie from director Michael Bay, courtesy of Empire Magazine (issue out this January). Looks a lot more complex and spiky than the Optimus we knew in our childhood, but at least the shape of his head is recognizable... and he'll sound right since voice actor Peter Cullen will once again be voicing the Autobot leader.

I've seen the trailer, and it looks more horror movie/ID4-esque alien invasion drama than action-scifi with giant transforming robots. Early impression has me thinking it's going to delve a lot more into the human characters and how they deal with the gigantic metal warriors rather than the way the cartoons presented the Cybertronians. Still, color me curious and intrigued. Of course, since it's from Michael Bay, expect lots of explosions, bad-ass slow motion walks towards the camera and monumental pans of the heroes. Heh.

Transformers, along with a shipload of other cool flicks, will be out in mid-2007.

Playing it Safe

It's about a day after Christmas and already, it looks grim on the nightly news. During dinner we watched TV Patrol report on multiple fires all around the country and several hold-ups in the Metro. It's both saddening and infuriating that quite a few Filipinos will be homeless just after the Holidays, and that there will always be degenerate individuals who are willing to knife you in the ribs just to get themselves money for a frickin' DRINK. BASTARDS. The Vanishing Ray is too good for these turds. A rusty axe would be better. A DULL rusty axe. Feh.

It's a good thing I've become more of a homebody now... It's far better to stay indoors and to keep your eyes on your home and loved ones, than to go out in crowded malls where predators are likely to be on the lookout for hapless people loaded with Christmas money. Still, I'll try to catch Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah and perhaps Super Noypi before the vacation ends. Let's try to make each hour of our break count for something other than getting back lost sleep.

An Epic Fantasy Adventure in 11 Parts



If you're a regular reader of SRM, you probably know that I absolutely LOVE the RPG series Suikoden from Konami. I love it even more than that OTHER big RPG from Square. Even if the structure will usually be the same (hero must find and bring together the 108 Stars of Destiny to defeat a great evil), the telling of the epic adventures has always been full of great stuff- conspiracies, political maneuverings, personal and large-scale conflicts and lots of great characters. With the exception of Suikoden IV, I've loved pretty much every one of the games, with Suikoden II and V topping my list.
A close third is, interestingly enough, Suikoden III. While I admit I have not finished the game, I really have fond memories of this game thanks to the great characters and the cool story. And so, I committed to collecting the manga that re-tells the story of the RPG. It's been several years but FINALLY, finally, the manga adaptation of Suikoden III is complete.

Manga-ka Aki Shimizu has done an admirable job of translating the complex story of a war between various factions and nations within the embattled Grasslands, a conflict whose viewpoint is seen through not one, not two or even three sides of the story. While the main characters of Hugo, Chris and Geddoe are retained as the leads, you still find yourself caring for their comrades and families, who are themselves given good exposure. In fact, Shimizu tries and pretty much succeeds to give pretty much every 108 Star of Destiny some role in the manga... not an easy feat.
The story is complex but not that hard to follow thanks to extensive notes and recaps in every book. The art as well is quite excellent, capturing for the most part the style of the source material and even expounding on the characters. The action scenes and battles are exceptionally well done as well, with lots of cool magic and clashing weapons making for much drama.

I've not seen any other RPG given such detailed and faithful adaptation as with Suikoden III, perhaps due to the difficulty of adapting the often twisting stories in such games. Shimizu however succeeds in bringing a work that not only captures the plot and feel of the game but stands on it's own as a wonderful fantasy adventure enjoyable not only by fans of the game, but by manga lovers in general looking for great art and story.

Suikoden III manga is an 11-volume series from Tokyo Pop. Look for it at Comic Quest and other good comic book specialty stores or shops.

After reading the manga, I suddenly have the urge to bring out the old PS2 disc and start playing again. Vinay Del Zexay, here I come. Heh.

Merry Christmas to One and All

This year wasn't the best of times. The country has had its share of devastating natural calamities and the continued depradations of corrupt politicians. Somehow though, the Filipino people have to keep the faith, stay the line and keep walking on. Stronger storms and even more corrupt politicians will come, without a doubt, but we'll manage, somehow, with God's help and mercy. The strength of the Pinoy probably is in their resilience to keep finding humor and happiness even in the most dire situations. And in no other time does the Pilipino shine than at Christmas.

Hopefully we all find pause tonight with the people we love and have, for one night, peace and happiness.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

A Howling Good Time

Last night, I got together at Vin's place for the yearly Christmas party with the Quest gang. It was a simple affair with good, solid food (KFC, Christmas Ham and really good Tapa from Andrew's Lola) that was made incredibly entertaining by the company. Dean and Nikki of course had us laughing to tears with their amazing stories about their... interesting relatives. Meanwhile, Jamie and fiancee Iyay made it even after getting lost... on EDSA (That's a neat trick).

After the anecdotes and fables, the group eventually settled on a rip-roaring game of Werewolf; that kind of whodunit-mystery group game that can only be entertaining and fun with the right people- and in this case, it was pretty awesome what with Dino "IT'S DEAN!!!" Yu and Iyay the Hysterical Woman giving voluminous performances in stereo (they were seated on opposite sides of the room). Just good, clean, LOUD fun.

It's that kind of party that you just remember for years to come. Next year again, Quest Gang. Seeya then! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

"Holy 180 Degrees, Batman!"


Akira goes multi-platform in 2007.

As I've previously posted (a lot), my prime reason for wanting a PS3 is the uber-fighting game Virtua Fighter 5, which you can only get on Sony's next-gen black monolith. Well, that was then. This is now. Sega announced yesterday that their flagship fighting game will be coming to the Xbox360 in late Summer 2007.

Hordes of Sony loyalists no doubt went ballistic on the news that another 'exclusive' game has slipped out of the cracks to Microsoft's console.(previous defectors include Assassin's Creed and Grand Theft Auto IV). It was inevitable though- with the PS3 being woefully undersupplied to the populace, any videogame publisher would be out of their minds to ignore the potentially lucrative and large installed base of Xbox360s.

It remains to be seen just how good a port the Xbox360 version of VF5 will be- obviously, it will look great, if not arcade perfect, and it will have all 17 characters, all the moves and the customization options from the arcade version. Some articles have mentioned that the 360 version will be based on an upcoming 'Version C' of VF5 (the PS3 version is based on the current Version B). With the 360 having comparable graphics to the PS3, I have no doubt that the game will look great- I just hope it comes with all the trimmings.

I'll probably STILL get a PS3, since I HATE waiting and at the earliest VF5 360 will arrive in late July or August... the PS3 game arrives February. In any case, I'm happy with this bit of news. More Virtua Fighter makes the world a better place. Heh.

Mines Closed

Yesterday was our last day of work at The Salt Mines for the year.

True to form, we were busy to our eyeballs to the last minute, but the day ended with the crew heading off south to a mates' posh home to celebrate a second phase to our Christmas party. LOTS of good food, drink and good company... and it all ended with me screaming out Bohemian Rhapsody at the every end. What a way to end the year.

Salt production continues in January. For now, it's time to rest, vegetate and enjoy a time of pause. Merry Christmas!

Blood, Bikinis and Babes


Sexy girls in bikinis against the Undead. Best. Idea. Ever.

Even though I just got my brand, spankin' new copy of Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, I'm not playing it. That's cause I got another game soon after that made me forget about the Further Adventures of Big Boss. I mean, how can Naked Snake compare against Half-naked Babes slashing Zombies to smithereens?

Oneechanbara Vortex for the Xbox360 is from the infamous publisher D3 of Japan, a videogame company known for their 'Simple' series of games- fan service-heavy videogame titles that pretty much always star scantily-clad anime girls in various activities (from wrestling to mahjong to water sports). The title is a combination of the words 'Oneechan', which means 'Sister', and 'Chanbara', or 'Swordplay'. So it could conceivably be titled "Sisters with Swords" if ever this title makes it across the pond to the US market.
Oneechanbara Vortex is an epic tale of drama, betrayal, sisterly love and... okay, it's actually all about sexy underaged and under-dressed girls slashing zombies and various evil creatures apart with samurai swords. While it may sound pretty hokey to some (I find it... interesting), the game has been popular enough to see multiple sequels. Vortex is actually the third in the series, and the first on a next-gen console.

As I mentioned before, Oneechanbara stars two super-powered zombie-fighting sisters. Aya is the elder sister whose chosen attire for battling evil undead is a bikini, cowboy hat and feather boa. Saki is a jailbait little urchin who wears the ubiquitous school uniform. Both have their own signature styles; Aya can switch between using one or two swords, while Saki seems to favor a quickdraw-one hit, one kill technique. Early into the adventure when the battle against the zombies gets underway, Saki gets kidnapped by some Agents (like, from The Matrix Agents). She's rescued (or at least, aided in escape) by Anna, a female officer in the Zombie Protection Force (who do NOT protect zombies at all). Anna and Saki soon meet up again with Aya, and all three girls join up to fight the menace behind the zombie plague. Thereafter, Anna becomes a playable character and she's quite cool- instead of swords, she comes with guns and lays waste to her enemies from afar... she can make it literally rain with bullets.

All three girls can lay waste to throngs of zombies with their attacks, causing blood to spray in all direction in ridiculous splashes of red stuff. The blood isn't just for show though- it actually affects gameplay. The more Aya and Saki slash, the more blood gets stuck on their swords. If a meter on the side fills up totally with red, their swords become sticky and will then get stuck into the next zombie or enemy they hit- causing them to be vulnerable to attack as they try to wrench their weapons free. A quick press of a button will shake off the blood, so you have to make sure you keep an eye on it at all times. In Anna's case, she just needs to reload her guns whenever they run dry (she has unlimited ammo).

Killing enemies yields yellow orbs which you collect for points (like a bloody version of Kingdom Hearts) that you can use to upgrade your character's skills. This opens up more attacks and combos which make dispatching the undead a lot easier and flashier. Along the way, you also need to collect items like healing crystals, holy fragments which keep Aya and Saki's dark sides under control, and other helpful knick-knacks.

The game comes with a Story Mode, a Free Play Mode (which lets you play stages of the Story Mode you've already finished again and again), Survival Mode and DressesUp Mode. The last one lets you outfit your character with various pieces of clothing- different hats or hairstyles, tops, bottoms, arm accessories and footwear- that you unlock as you play. Horny players will be glad to know that the girls start off just in their undies from the get-go... so that means you actually have to work to get them dressed. What a concept. Hehe. Of course, you can save your costume configurations (or lack of) to use in the other modes.

Even with all the gratuitous gore and fan service, if Oneechanbara Vortex was a crap game, it wouldn't fly. But interestingly enough, it's quite a playable and enjoyable game- I mean, chopping up crowds of gibbering undead is such great stress relief! The whole thing has this offbeat feel like one of those cool live-action Japanese chick-action flicks ( You know... those with the incestuous innuendo and intense glares), which is quite appealing. The story is told mostly through text-screens, but there are several very nicely-done CG cutscenes which are quite slick and cool to watch. The graphics are hi-res and easy on the eyes, with good animation (but not great though) and no slowdown even in scenes with large numbers of enemies onscreen. The controls are pretty responsive and easy, though the camera can get testy in some closed-off areas... this is the trade-off for having a player-controllable camera for appreciating the game's eye candy.

Even so, while I like the game a lot, I can't really recommend it for everyone. For one thing, it's a Japanese import and thus the english is very limited to the main menus. It's not impenetrable though... most of the kanji is in story text which are pretty much unnecessary to the basic enjoyment of the game... you can pretty much understand what's going on anyway even if a detail or two is missed in the meantime.

There ARE some rumors that Oneechanbara Vortex may make it Stateside eventually... no details yet though. For now, this title is only for the Xbox360 owner who loves fan service a lot and can afford the costly import. In that case, this game is a rare gem. It's no Dead Rising in terms of detail and gameplay depth, but darn... I'd rather stare at someone slashing zombies for hours on end, I'd rather it be a hot, scantily-clad babe than some sweaty, hairy guy. Hoho!

Oneechanbara Vortex is now available for the Xbox 360. Check your local import game shop or online game website if you're interested in this bloody fun slasher.

Snake in my Pocket



No, I'm not talking about anything lewd... I'm talking about the latest PSP blockbuster title, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Finally a true stealth-action strategy title, instead of the card battle-based Metal Gear Acid PSP games in the past, MGS PO is a true sequel to the last MGS adventure, MGS3: Snake Eater for the PS2. It's kind of odd that Konami would put such a high-profile game onto a handheld when it would no doubt have been a more complete game on a home console... but still, MGS PO has it's own flavor and gameplay elements which translate well to the handheld.

Set a couple of years after the events in MGS3, PO sees Naked Snake AKA Big Boss captured by some mysterious new faction looking for something called "The Legacy". Unfortunately, Snake doesn't know what the heck the Legacy is (and if he did, he probably still wouldn't talk anyway), so instead of waiting around for the next torture session, he breaks out of Dodge with the help of a fellow prisoner named Roy Campbell. It is soon revealed through communication with old friend Paramedic that Snake has been taken prisoner by the now-renegade Fox Unit, and is even suspected by the US of treason. Now on his own, our lone wolf decides that going solo isn't going to cut it this time. With Campbell in tow, he sets out to form his own army, prove his innocence, take down the Fox Unit and save the world from Nuclear Holocaust. Again. And you're going to do it on commutes, between meetings and during downtime on your PSP. Impossible? Not so.

What makes things a bit hard though from the get-go is the PSP itself. The limited controls/buttons available on the handheld makes for some changes in the way you control your Naked Snake. Movement is done via the analog nub (the joystick), while the d-pad controls the camera. Every button is used for Snake's arsenal of moves, from sneaking to crouching to hand-to-hand combat to shooting weapons. The learning curve is a bit steep, but a few hours of play should have you moving like a pro. Still, it can get pretty frustrating to walk into an area when it's impossible to see if an enemy is nearby or staring at the door you're coming through. The game gives you a bit of leeway to keep from being too deadly, so hopefully you won't be throwing your PSP into orbit after a few deaths.

As mentioned earlier, MGS PO requires you to recruit your own army, which basically entails that you sneak up to individual soldiers, knock them unconscious and drag them to your truck for... convincing. These new recruits can be tech specialists, spies, operatives or grunts, and you can send them off to do missions. Instead of the linear storyline of previous MGS games, PO is mission-based, with key elements of the plot appearing as you do certain missions. These jobs are often short bursts of action, which are perfect for short play sessions on the PSP. There are online multiplayer options and modes where you can pit your soldiers against those of other PSP owners, putting at stake your hard-won recruits should you lose.

Despite the control issues, MGS PO is a must-play for fans of this iconic videogame series. The production qualities are high, though the cinematics are done this time mostly with animated comic book panels, instead of the full-on cinematics from the console games. The story, of course, is complex but gripping, and will easily keep you playing to the bitter, bloody end. At the very least, this should tide us all over till the next REAL MGS game- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots- finally comes out of hiding on the PS3.

Out of the Box

Today I made a big step and gave away a part of The Sanctum. Specifically, my Xbox and a whole bunch of games. The original Microsoft black box had become redundant- I was no longer playing any of its games, and the two games that were indispensable to me on it- namely Dead or Alive 3 and Dead or Alive Ultimate- are now playable on my new Xbox360 (thanks to an update for backwards compatibility). So it was with mixed feelings that I gave away the big ol' black box as a Christmas present to my nephews. On the bright side, they'll probably bring it to Canada when they leave next year, so at least part of The Sanctum will be going places.

I'll miss Ninja Gaiden (though I can get a new version on the PS3), Halo 1 and 2, Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire... I never knew you, but I'll miss the possibility of playing you. Kakuto Chojin, Tao Feng and Stake... I won't miss you too much.

The original Xbox was a cool console. It was big and bulky and heavy, but I liked it. There were a lot of great games, but was just eclipsed into the background by it's younger brother. Still, there are tons of titles out there now available for it, so it's not like I gave my nephews a dead console (the Dreamcast is still in my cabinets, in storage). I hope they enjoy it for a long time to come.

Okay. I'm ready for my PS3 now. Heh.

Old War Stories


Friendship, betrayal, love, war... in the palm of your hand.

Back in the days of the original Playstation, several games held players' attentions like no other. One such classic title was Final Fantasy Tactics. A spin-off strategy title from the best-selling RPG line from Squaresoft, FFT is still revered today as one of the very best turn-based strategy war games ever released on the Playstation.
I originally got into it simply because I had just come off Final Fantasy VII, and learned that FFVII heroes Cloud and Aerith would be appearing in the game. But while I came for the cameos, I stayed for the war. Set in Ivalice (yes, the same place where the current FFXII is set), FFT chronicles a complex tale of royal ascension, demonic invasion, high-level conspiracy and a long friendship betrayed by ambition, FFT drove players to keep fighting seemingly hopeless battles in order to see how this epic tale ended. Granted, the storytelling was a bit too complex often, but it didn't matter. I played this one hours and hours on end, trying to make my small army into the deadliest collection of killers in Ivalice. It was bliss, to say the least.

A sequel came a few years ago on the Gameboy Advance, but I didn't get into the somewhat more kiddy title. I've been waiting for the next bit of news for quite a while.



Squaresoft has announced the release of Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lions War on the Playstation Portable. This is basically a port of the original PS1 Tactics, now spiced up with slick, cel-shaded cut scenes showing the story unfold. Additionally, new job classes will make their debut, including the oddly-named Onion Knight. So... do they make the enemy cry or something? We'll just have to wait to find out.

The PSP Tactics will be coming to Japan sometime in 2007. No news yet on a US release, but seeing as how this is one of the hotter FF titles, such a thing would be inevitable. At least, I hope it is. It'll be good to go to the REAL Ivalice once more. Mmm. Final Fantasy Tactics. Good times.

Fatal Fantasy

I'm sorry. I tried. I really did. But I just couldn't do it. I have to quit.

It's over for me.

I'm not playing Final Fantasy XII anymore.

No matter that some say that it's the next step in the series. No matter that quite a few gaming sites are calling it the coolest thing since sliced bread. This offline MMO-wannabee just doesn't grab me. The characters and the Episode One-ish story about their warring countries are uninteresting and boring and the game system just stymies me with how it throws nigh-invincible enemies at you along with regular monster encounters. The huge but often empty arenas of play are tiresome to explore, and the music just has no soul.

Call me a FFVII Loyalist, an Anime-RPG fanatic or just plain old-fashioned. But I feel that even with all the ruffles, wild hair, anime cliches and archetypes of FF's past, at least the previous games made me care. FFXII just leaves me... dry.

Moving on...

Oscar Night



Here's The Salt Mines Crew at our spiffiest during our very early office Christmas Party last week (the only one missing is our Head Honcho-ness, who's taking the picture).

There was quite a few things to be thankful for this year- we've filled up our formerly bare lobby area display with award statuettes and won a couple of hard-fought pitches. It's pretty cool I think to realize how far we've come after several years, from being a very low-profile ad agency to a company that's getting noticed quite a bit in the industry. We're lean and mean, and we can only get better. I'm glad to have these guys and gals to work with day to day.

A MADman couldn't ask for a crazier bunch to keep one's insanity intact. Here's to another year of producing salt!

WiiTF?!

On other console news, seems that the current rage among gamers who got the Nintendo Wii these days is getting people hurt. Apparently, quite a few 'energetic' gamers are gratuitously over-exerting themselves and expending far too much energy into some swings with the console's movement-sensitive controller. While waving the remote like a tennis racket or golf club, some gamers have apparently thrown the controller at their TVs, at pets or even family members. There have been quite a few bruises and broken TV screens as a result.

No matter that the remote comes with a wrist strap or that you really don't need to swing it that hard... some pretty hardheaded and homicidally clumsy individuals with a bit too much energy still manage to wreck stuff or do harm.

I think it's pretty fricking' ridiculous- no, IDIOTIC- to swing a teeny controller with enough force to crack a skull. Like, come on now. How stupid can you get? Seriously.

My First PS3 Game



The image above is the box art for the Japanese version of Virtua Fighter 5. Reported to be a pretty much perfect port of the arcade game that's been out in Japan since July 2006, the latest installment of Sega's flagship fighting game is due to impress at home on the PS3.

Aside from the usual stuff- like next-gen character models, blazing fast 60 FPS animation, character customization features, more martial arts styles and moves than a Bloodsport tournament and 17 unique fighters- VF5 for the PS3 will feature no doubt home-only features such as VS and Training Modes (as seen in the screenshot below) and supposedly, a playable End Boss.

Sega has already announced a firm release date of February 8, 2007 for the Japanese version. The game will be a bit pricier than the usual Playstation game, but will come with a nice little extra- a copy of Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary Edition- which basically is the old-style Virtua Fighter (with 90s style blocky polygon graphics... talk about retro) but updated with VF4 moves and characters. But let's face it... I probably won't play this at all once I get VF5.



With my reason for getting a PS3 arriving in February, I guess I can consider myself lucky I'm single. Heh.

To Be Continued

A little introspection break in between the random posts about videogames, Avatar and gutter-dreaming.

Looking back on this year, I have to say that 2006 was a year of transition. It was a year of change and leaving behind things. There were things I thought would last for a while but ended up abruptly fading into little more than fond memory.

One casualty of the year was my drive for comics. A lot of what kept me going was having people around whom you could draw strength from and inspiration... and unfortunately, that drifted away like cigarette smoke in a strong wind some time ago. Once that was gone, so was the drive to tell stories and create dreams about flying superheroes and magical worlds. Simply put, it all went away. For the past few months I haven't touched a single page, haven't put a pen to paper or even thought of any story to commit to bringing to life. Who cares? Perhaps one of the, oh, dozen faithful readers might, but I really didn't know any of them. And so, I just kept living life day to day, immersing myself in work, keeping busy with the bothers at The Salt Mines and generally just being a very comfy homebody (which was easy given The Sanctum's DSL connection- easily the best thing I got this year). After a few months, I got used to staying in on Saturdays, seldom bothering to go to the crowded malls in the weekend unless my college bud Pot comes a-calling.

It doesn't help that it's so fricking EASY to just lay down and sleep. It's so fricking easy to just be mundane and watch others do stuff while you just mutter "I can do that too... If I wanted to." It's so easy to just say I earn well, I have good stuff. I don't need anything else.

Thankfully, the past Komikon re-ignited the spark of the Comicka in me. Seeing young artists with bright new stories, newbies with their xerox-copied first issues and the huge community of indie artists and writers made me realize how I love doing this stuff. I wasn't doing this just as a way to make or keep friends... I was writing and drawing and creating because I CAN. And I frickin' love doing it. And that's why, despite seemingly laying down to die these past few months, I have made it my goal to keep on drawing panels and comics. I want to see another Angel Ace story. I want to continue seeing Agent K kick butt. I want to see what happens next to Kunoichi Boy. I want to see what else is lurking in the mind of one Stark Raving MADman.

For this year, it's over. Chalked up to experience. I don't think this year was wasted, nor do I regret going through it. Change happens, as I've written before. I'll consider it a vacation at best, withdrawal period at worst. It's going back to basics and learning to do comics for the love of comics and nothing more, nothing less. I'll enjoy the Christmas season as much as I can and dream of getting new toys for the New Year to blog and rave about and complain about and keep myself occupied in the down time.

Next year is going to be hard. Next year, my family splits up as my sister takes her brood to Canada. Next year though is also the year I get a PS3 and enter the wonderful world of High Definition Gaming. Next year I have put on to somehow continue telling stories and making indie comics despite having steadily-growing costs of living and having to keep on working doubly hard in the fickle world of Advertising. Next year, our government will surely be even more crooked than this year... or it will be gone, God Willing.

Can I do it? Maybe. Maybe not. But at least there's one thing I can keep doing.

Stark Raving MAD goes on. Where will it go? Well, you'll all just have to keep on tuning in to find out.

And now, back to our regular scheduled remorseless mad blogging.

The Next Generation of Beating People Up

The Playstation 3 may not have had a Launch to End All Launches, nor is the initial software lineup anything to scream about (at least, not in a good way), but I'm still pretty much locked into getting myself one. It's inevitable, simply because for the near future, the best fighting games of the next generation are headed for Sony's black monolith.


Delicate but deadly, Aiki-jutsu expert Aoi Umenokouji is but one of the fighters in the PS3's first big fighting game.

The first and obvious title of course is Virtua Fighter 5. The latest installment of Sega's flagship fighting game has been out for almost a year in Japan, while the rest of the world can only drool at the literally hundreds of hi-res videos uploaded on the internet by VF5 players (the Japanese arcade units allow recording of matches- awesome). Suffice to say, even after watching several hundred match videos, I'm still pumped.
This game has more martial arts moves than an entire video shop's worth of martial arts movies, oodles of gameplay depth that other fighters can only dream of attaining and graphical goodness that makes for the most detailed and gorgeous character models yet. The characters in motion are pretty amazing, with the VF fighters designed to look more realistic than, say, in rival games like Dead or Alive. The animation is unreal, and so far all I've seen are videos- I can only imagine at how this game actually looks and moves running on a on a PS3 with a really nice TV. With 17 unique characters to master and kick butt with, I'll probably be playing this game even when the PS4 comes out. Unbeatable.


Tekken 5's Asuka Kazama and Lili have gotten wider since the last time... about 1080p wider.

The second game fighting game fans will be checking out on PS3 is the next-gen version of Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection. This is basically the same game as the original arcade upgrade to Tekken 5, albeit now in High Definition. There looks to be some new aspects to arenas (the stage above was formerly only seen burning and at night) and a playable Boss character. Instead of releasing this rehash as an actual disc, Sony and Namco are apparently putting it out as a download on the PS Online Network. No word yet if us players outside of Japan or the US can get this though. In any case, I already have this game on PSP, so no big loss if I can't. Still, seeing Asuka and Nina in HD sounds cool, so I'll get this if I can.

2007 should be a great year for fighting gamers, whose genre has suffered a bit of decline in recent times. But with VF5 and Tekken 5 DR coming soon and the inevitable Tekken 6 and DOA5 on the horizon, the future looks bright for beat 'em ups.