The (Near) Future of Gaming

As we come into the 'Ber' months of the year, we're inching closer to the pivotal holiday season. On top of many a gamer's mind is the much-delayed Playstation 3, the Death Star of console gaming platforms. Yes, after all this time expectations have been somewhat lowered- Games won't look as great as the initial CG ads and demos first made them out to be; The next Tekken won't have photorealistic fighters or even anywhere near the graphic quality of the 'sweaty Jin Kazama' vid shown months and months ago. From all indications, PS3 games will at least look as good as Xbox360 games, if not slightly better, depending on the programmers and the individial games themselves.

In terms of fighting games, the PS3 has at least a couple of exclusive titles that beat 'em up fans would give their eye-teeth for. First, of course, is Tekken 6, which will at the very least still retain the cast of pugilists from the last couple of games (Tekken 5 and the Dark Resurrection upgrades). I predict pretty much the same animations but with upgraded graphics and the occasional new attack or move, coupled with hopefully a Character Creation Mode (borrowed from Soul Calibur) instead of the usual Customization options avalable from before. Of course, CG movies aplenty will tell the continuing story of the Iron Fist tournament, though in-game cutscenes will probably look almost as good.
The other big gun in the PS3's fighting library is Virtua Fighter 5. Virtua Fighter is the creme dela creme of fighters, pretty much the pinnacle of technique, timing and expert gameplay. The arcade version is already out in Japan and videos of fights are regularly on display online. The fighting is fluid, fast and awesome to see, with the VF crew looking better than they ever had before. Aside from the ultra-crisp graphics and animation, there are tons of options to customize your characters in terms of items, hair styles and clothes. I have as yet to see a bikini on any of the girls (I can dream, can't I?) but what is so far available is impressive. Hopefully the PS3 version will come with tons more options for customizing... the game is still a ways off, with a TBA 2007 release.

Aside from fighting, other big titles destined for PS3 that are worth salivating for include Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Put in control of a rapidly-aging Solid Snake (or OLD Snake, as he is now called), players must take on the forces of Liquid Ocelot (the former Revolver Ocelot now possessed by the grafted arm of the deceased Liquid Snake), who is attempting a worldwide coup de'tat. On Snake's side are the regular crew of suspects, with new looks and attitudes looks like- a spunkier, more formidable Meryl Silverburgh, an older Colonel Campbell, a more booky Otacon and a more bedraggled Naomi. Even the former girly-boy Raiden is back, now coated with a shiny new cyborg body and MAD killing skillz. Snake will need all the help he can get with armies of elite soldiers and herds of creepy moo-ing Metal Gears being lined up against him. Rumored to be Snake's last adventure, the story of this incredible-looking title is worth the price of admission alone.
Assassin's Creed is another intriguing title for the PS3. Set in what appears to be Crusades-era Jerusalem, players are put in control of Altair, a professional assassin working behind the scenes to influence the events in the carnage-filled time. The game touts groundbreaking A.I. for bystanders and never-before-seen interactivity between the player character and the environment. So missions will have to planned out carefully- from the lighting-fast kill to the prolonged escape from pursuing guards, one wrong move could spell capture and death... or worse. Prince of Persia meets Splinter Cell? Good stuff.

The present platforms also have cool games coming up. The Xbox360 of course has Dead or Alive Xtreme 2, which basically has sexier DOA babes doing even more sexy and cute stuff on an all-new island paradise. Not only volleyball but jetskiing is now on offer, plus a load of minigames, titillating sequences and... tan lines.

The PS2 and Xbox will be receiving perhaps the last great MK before the next generation... Mortal Kombat Armageddon brings together pretty much every fighter who has ever appeared in an MK game, all set for a final showdown that will probably set what the next MK generation will look like. There will be blood- oh yes, there will be blood. Characters will die, but at least players will now be able to Kreate their own Kharacters in what may be the deepest and best Character Creation mode apart from wrestling games. Aside from looks and clothing, you will be able to create your character's move set, fighting style and fatality. Literally millions of possibilities for the ultimate bad-ass will be at your disposal, so this may be a reason to hold onto those PS2s and old Xboxes even when the next gen becomes now-gen.

Darn. Lots of stuff to play with, and so little cash. And time. Gamers however will have a grand time working out how to fit it all in. Heh.

Fantasy Movie



Here's the poster for the upcoming fantasy novel adaptation Eragon, set for theaters in December. Eragon is the first of a trilogy of novels by Christopher Paolini. Originally a self-published venture, the book was eventually picked up by a publisher and rose to the best-seller list. Among the actors cast for the film are Jeremy Irons and John Malkovich.
I haven't read the novels, but I have read about them online after seeing the poster. I remember the bibliophiles in the old gang talking not too fondly about Eragon, and it seems mostly because the novel seems quite derivative of sources like LOTR and Star Wars. In fact, some reviews have openly called it a "Tolkien Wannabee" (Entertainment Weekly apparently named Eragon the Worst Book of 2005). Still, good fantasy films are few and far between, so I'll be checking this out when it comes out later this year.

Lara Croft in my Pants

I finally went and bought a couple of new games for my PSP, so I finally have other things to play aside from Tekken: Dark Resurrection and MP4-encoded videos.
One game is Untold Legends: The Warrior’s Code, which is basically a Diablo-esque dungeon crawler. You choose from one of five playables and go on one monster-killing quest after another in the struggle to (shades of Oblivion) put the rightful heir of the emperor on the throne. The game looks good and the animation and action is solid, plus there’s that addictive factor that games of this type always has- how you just want to keep getting stronger, getting better gear and more powerful attacks. It looks to be a good title to just whittle away at downtime so I got it.

The other game I got is the PSP version of Tomb Raider: Legend, which makes a grand total of FOUR versions I have of the latest Lara Croft adventure (Crystal Dynamics and Eidos should give me a prize). Like all the other versions, Legends for the PSP puts you into the skimpy outfits of Miss Croft as she races across the world battling mercenaries and the odd wild animal to put together the pieces of an ancient relic of power.
Despite being on a portable, the PSP game is pretty much the same game as the other versions, albeit not as gorgeous as, say, the Xbox360 game. However, there are cutbacks- primarily on the controls. Moving Lara around is done primarily on the analog knob of the PSP (a smaller version of the Playstation controller’s analog sticks), and it can get a bit tricky, especially when you need to be VERY precise. Plus, you usually have to move the camera yourself (or constantly press the L trigger to re-center it) to see if you’re lined up correctly for a jump. Even with these minor control issues, the game is quite fun to play and the sounds are all here (though there are some delayed sound effects here and there) from the cool music to the excellent voice acting.

Overall, it’s awesome to have what I consider to be the best Tomb Raider game totally playable and intact on a portable. That, along with Tekken makes for an excellent way to battle boredom anywhere.
Since I have consigned myself to getting only legit games for my PSP (apparently, my PSP cannot be ‘modified’ to use downloaded game ISOs), I’m already thinking of other additions to my library. Maybe Streetfighter Alpha 3 Max or Valkyrie Profile Lenneth may be in order. We’ll see once I get some cash flowing again. If only Streetfighter III: Third Strike and Soul Calibur was coming to PSP. Then again, who knows? Maybe. One can always hope…

Ceasefire

So, after setting comic-lovers' worlds on fire with their Civil War event, Marvel Comics flubs the ball and has delayed the release of part four (and pretty much every other comic tie-in with it) back to November- about a month's delay. The reason, according to Marvel, is the need for more time to keep the integrity and quality of the comics intact. Yeah, someone fucked up bigtime.

Good to hear that even big comic companies and star artists suffer delays as well. Heheh.

Weekend

Ah. I've been waiting for this. A three-day weekend is always a great time. It's been a particularly exhausting week, not just because of the actual loads of work but the pace. My body clock has been odd lately and it seems that I'm lethargic and sleepy ALL the time... which is dangerous for a commuter since I really shouldn't be snoring my head off in a bus or cab.
In any case, I've been making it SOP to kick back on weekends... I don't really go out on Saturdays anymore, using the time instead to just recharge at home, to just watch TV or play games and maybe order out some sumptuous fast food feast. I'll probably go out with a friend tomorrow and shop around Greenhills for something. That's made all the more attractive by the fact that I won't be waking up early Monday for work. Darn, that feels so nice. Heh.

Work continues on Project Kris, which I have been told has had the first several issues distributed. I'm once again deciding on what actual title to work on for the upcoming Komikon this October. Whatever happens, I want to have SOMETHING ready.
On other projects, Project HERO 2 is hustling along, with a script and designs required for submission by next weekend. Aside from that, nothing is as yet on stone.

Which is good in some ways, bad in others. But whatever. I'm just glad for the weekend right now.

Femme Fatales


If looks could kill...

Here's the movie poster for the upcoming DOA: Dead or Alive movie. Aside from this group shot, there are about five individual character posters each centering on one of the five heroines- Christie the Master Thief, Helena the Fighter, Kasumi the Ninja Princess, Tina the Pro-Fighter and Ayane the Assassin. The main poster though obviously gives the role of main heroine to Christie (played by Holly Valance) who was, strangely enough, the most villainous of the DOA girls in the actual game (though she was also arguably the sexiest of the sexy videogame vixens). Anyway, the poster actually looks pretty awesome, to be honest.

Up to now, there seems to be nothing but bad will towards this game-to-movie adaptation, most vocally it seems from fans of the game, who are complaining about everything from the casting to irrational stuff like the movie not staying faithful to the source material.

It's pretty ridiculous, if you ask me... the game actually has a pretty run-of-the-mill story... the same tripe that has been used and re-used from Street Fighter to Tekken to Fighting Bujutsu... evil organization holds tournament, attracts fighters of varying backgrounds and fighting styles. Hilarity ensues. Not Oscar material, but in this case, the overabundance of gorgeous babes should make for pleasing spectacles. My only hope is that the fights are well-choreographed, with actual resolutions and victories instead of all build-up for nothing (which happens in a lot of fighting game movies, from the Tekken anime to the Street Fighter live-action film to the Mortal Kombat movies). In any case, the director (Corey Yuen) isn't a newbie to great action and hot babes (he directed So Close) and the girls look dynamite. It's all a matter of them making the best of what really is just a thin plot and lots of excuses for action and fan service.

DOA the Movie starts showing early September. I hope to see this on Bittorrent or on DVD bins by then, since I don't see this coming out in theaters anytime soon. We'll see how this one goes when it finally hits.

Semper Fi

Today I would have wanted nothing more than to just stay at home as the rain drizzled on outside. But go to work I had to, so I trudged out to the MRT to make my 10AM meeting. Unfortunately, as has happened at least once before, the Katipunan MRT branch was closed for some reason, most probably due to the rain. The security guard suggested that I head to the Anonas station, which was operational. This was pretty ridiculous given the thick traffic headed for Cubao, so I decided to just try and get a cab somehow.
It didn't look good- rain reduced my chances of getting a cabbie willing to go all the way to Makati to a very small percentage. Plus, some woman was also hailing cabs in front of me. It didn't look good.

However, things seemed to go my way. The woman eventually went off, giving up on getting a cab in the area (perhaps she also sensed my malevolent glare). Anyway, a few minutes later, a cab approached and seemed to slow before me. A passenger got off, and I asked the driver if he would take me to Makati. The man nodded in affirmative and I was overjoyed. We were off.

As we were headed into C-5 Highway, the cabbie started a conversation, which I was only glad to respond to... anything to keep the guy's mind off traffic and possibly losing interest in the fare. Eventually though, I warmed to the conversation earnestly given the driver's story. It turns out that my cabbie for the day was a MARINE. An honest-to-goodness, straight-and-narrow, death-before-dishonor marine, tested in battle in Mindanao and stationed everywhere from election guard duty in Cotabato, Presidential Security Details and a tour of duty with the UN in the African state of Liberia.

We talked at length about the recent politicizing of the Philippine military, and how the Marines themselves were in a battle to retain their identity and code of honor and principles even as the rest of the Chain of Command seems bought out by dirty politics and bribes. It tore my heart to hear such things, but at the same time I felt pride in knowing that there are a few soldiers... marines, who can't or won't be bought. I only hope that there were more of these upstanding warriors. In any case, the sad part is that the marines are fighting a losing battle, with their officers being systematically removed and the corps in danger of being abolished. We then continued talking about corruption in government, little stories each of us had heard, and about our frustrations and reasons why we, as a people, are both damned or lucky because of our inherent ease to forgive and forget. It would be easy (but definitely bloody) to remove the government by force, if people really wanted it out, but it seems that the Filipinos aren't THAT hungry yet. Who knows? Maybe it's just not the time. Maybe.

I got to Ayala Avenue, it turns out, pretty much on time. And I felt quite good at meeting a modern-day real soldier. I gave the cabbie his fare and a big extra, and I was on my way. Damn, if only there were more men like the Marine Taxi Driver, this country would go places. Literally and figuratively.

Rain, Rain...

It's getting old. Really.

I mean, all this frickin' RAIN that insists on falling early in the morning, drizzling the whole place and making the simple act of getting out of your bed an agonizing chore. The loud pitter-patter, the hypnotic applause of a million million raindrops just screams STAY INDOORS in countless tiny voices.

But when you have to go, you have to go. Even if the darn traffic always seems to multiply by 10 when it rains (as if people, like gremlins, multiplied when soaked), even if the blasted water seeps into your shoes, soddening your feet cold for the whole day.

Rain should only fall in the morning on weekends. When we can afford to stay home and follow it's commands.

There has to be a law. Feh.

Pocket Fighter

I've been playing quite a bit of Tekken: Dark Resurrection on my spiffy new PSP... pretty inevitable since it's as yet my only game on my new toy. Anyway, the beauty of a fighting game is that you they have, basically, some of the best replayability of any game genre. Well, at least the good ones do. There have been crappy fighters that you would hate a minute after playing it the first time, and there have been shallow brawlers that you get tired of in a day or two. Tekken, particularly the latest Tekken (Tekken 5 and PSP's DR included) is thankfully among the best fighters around. The fighting system is rock-solid and challenging, with awesome attacks and fighting styles, a ton of characters to choose from and gobs and gobs of extras.
Tekken: Dark Resurrection is a port of the arcade-only (so far) upgrade to the PS2 Tekken 5; all the available characters from T5 are available off the bat with no unlocking needed. As I've mentioned before, there are two brand new fighters, each of which fits into the general theme of things quite well: mash-friendly dancing lolita Lili and touchy-feely commando Dragunov. Then there's Armor King, who was supposed to be dead but somehow back and piledriving everyone in sight... perhaps that's why this game was given the 'Dark Resurrection' subtitle.

The many videos available online don't really do the game justice in terms of eye candy. Tekken DR looks positively smashing on the PSP screen. The crisp, detailed character models emulate their arcade and PS2 counterparts almost exactly, save for slight simplifications. Overall, the detail can't be faulted- hands have individual fingers and up close, faces are perfectly rendered. Animation-wise, the fighting action moves at a perfect 60 frames per second- translation, smooth as silk fighting that's as fast as lightning.

More eye candy is to be had with a brand new intro CG movie and tons more cinematics to unlock and enjoy (though you've probably seen most of them if you've played the PS2 game to death), and there are tons of modes to play with. As with the PS2 and arcade games, you can purchase items and colors to modify and customize your characters' looks using money earned by playing the game. It's no Character Creation Mode, but it'll do for now (at least until Tekken 6 or Soul Calibur III gets ported to the PSP...).
Aside from the obvious, I've noticed the occasional new animation and little tweaks that are pretty cool. Thankfully, the end boss Jinpachi has been toned down, so now he's not as cheap as before (playing this at Hard difficulty)... which is probably to keep casual gamers from throwing their PSPs into orbit. Noticing these little details every now and then just makes this title all the sweeter.

As a fighting game, Tekken DR ranks right up there among the best of the best in the genre, which makes it's portability even more awesome. Now you can actually have streetfights ON THE STREET (well, make sure you're in a nice neighborhood first) or on the beach or on the road. The challenging gameplay, tons of characters to learn and master ensure that I'll be playing this for a long time to come. This is a MUST-HAVE title for any PSP owner and fighting game fan... get it while it's HOT.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work unlocking that nurse outfit for Nina...

Black Beauty



Yesterday night, I finally went and got myself a Sony Playstation Portable, or PSP. I've been resisting getting one for months and months, but when a game on this fledgeling platform finally appeared that I really wanted, I guess the decision was made. Once I got the money for the new toy, it was just a matter of deciding where to get it and what version. It's a bit tricky for the PSP since there's a bit of a choice- do I get one with the earlier, infamous 1.5 firmware/OS, which allows for users to use downloaded game ISOs or do I just get one of the normal updated versions for use with normal UMD games.

In the end, I got a regular PSP- I wouldn't be buying games left and right, but I would be choosing the titles I actually get. Of course, I got with my new console the title that finally sold the deal- Tekken: Dark Resurrection, a port of the arcade update to the brilliant PS2 fighter.
Well, what can I say? I got the usual black PSP (instead of the rarer white version prevalent in Japan) which is thankfully free of any dead pixels. The first accessories I got with it were a screen protector (it's not a touch screen but still easily scratchable hence the need for protection), a nice container pouch plus headphones/remote. The device looks DAMN sexy and lovely, I have to admit. It's one gadget which really makes you feel good about buying one, thanks to the nice, quality feel of the thing. It's not a brick, but is of substantial weight... I won't want to be having this on my waist all the time, but it shouldn't be a problem bringing along in any case.
Aside from being a gaming console, the PSP also serves well as a video and music player. Getting videos onto the inserted Memory Stick is pretty easy, and the big PSP screen makes for lovely viewing. So now, I have another portable video player aside from my XDAIIi. Heh.

Last night I was playing Tekken DR again and again. The graphics are lovely... pretty incredible the first time you see it, and still incredible several hours in. It's amazing how Namco was able to squeeze in this game into the PSP. Of course, TDR includes the whole King of Iron Fist Tournament's gang, plus three newcomers- Lili is the deadly dancing daughter of a tycoon fighting to 'free' her father's company from the Mishima Zaibatsu; Dragunov is a creepy undead soldier who uses even scarier Commando Sambo; and finally the returning Armor King is the long-lost master of evil wrestling.
The game is pretty brilliant, and the gameplay is appropriately and perfectly Tekken and the extras are abundant. Finally a true fighting game on the go! Best of all, this should last me for a while... at least, until I get a couple more titles. Fun stuff!

Conjugal Birthday

Today, my parents turn one year older each. It never ceases to amaze me that both my Mom and Dad were born on the same day. Anyway, I took half the day off to spend lunch with them and my sister and her husband. We had steak and spaghetti and paell and had a blast hearing my Mom talk about her days as a nurse while she worked under Dad (who was a doctor then) before they even got married. It was weird hearing that at that time, my Dad had other girlfriends and my Mom never even thought she could ever get hitched with him since the conservative hospital management forbade relationships between nurses and doctors. Well, obviously that didn't stick since I'm here. Hehe.
Anyway, instead of buying them the usual gifts I just gave in to my Mom's suggestion and gave them cash instead. After all these years, it's me who's giving back to my two most important people in the world. Hopefully, I'll have many, many more years to keep on giving to them. Happy birthday, Parents!

Xtreme


The next big thing in fighting games: Butt Boxing.

Right now, my Xbox360 is all about The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Yeah, it's just total bliss to create your own bad-ass and build him or her up to the deadliest S.O.B. in all of Cyrodiil, explore every corner of the huge continent and strip fallen enemies down to their undies. But even so, I have no doubt in my mind that come late 2006/early 2007, when Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 comes onto the Xbox360, I'll be taking a bit of time off from Tamriel for some fun in the digital sun.

Team Ninja's bouncy sequel to their 'vacation' game is set to be bigger than the first one. DOAX2 this time around will feature not only improved beach volleyball as the main game, but also jet-skiing. The minigames will include a Photography Mode, Waterslides, the returning Pool Hopping game (this time now with two girls in a race), a Race-for-the-Flag beach race, Water Tug-of-War and, get this- Butt Boxing. Butt-boxing or 'The Flotation Device Game' has two DOA girls standing back-to-back on a floating platform, each trying their darndest to bump the other off using well-timed bumps with their behinds. The game will, according to Tomonobu Itagaki, use a similar system to the Rock-Paper-Scissors system used in the actual DOA fighting game, and so will be the closest to a 'fighting minigame' in DOAX2 (cheater...).

Aside from the main games, minigames and the casino activities, DOAX2 will also be featuring the return of the Gravure scenes- the non-interactive cinematics showing the girls in various poses and titillating vignettes. This time around, Team Ninja has invested a LOT of time into these cut scenes, with about 15 unique to each girl and totaling about 170 scenes. The girls however will be able to 'imitate' the scenes of other girls, so if you want to see nice girl Kasumi doing some of Christie's risque poses, you can. There will also be 'Pair Gravure' scenes, which will require you to build up the relationship of the two girls to compose the scene. Also available will be 'RARE' Gravure scenes... whatever that means. Mmmm.

Well anyway, the first DOAX game was solid fun, so having the bikini-clad DOA girls in next-gen splendour sounds pretty swell. Team Ninja hopes to have this game out by the end of 2006... let's see it. There's nothing quite like bikinis on Christmas. Heh.

Dark Knight

The sequel to last year's Batman Begins will be entitled Dark Knight, which is probably a nod to the now-classic Frank Miller graphic novel. Christian Bale will return as Bruce Wayne AKA Batman. This time around, the caped crusader will take on his comics nemesis, The Joker, who will be played by none other than Heath Ledger (A Knight's Tale, Brothers Grimm). Now, the choice for the pivotal villain role may have some people scratching their heads, but he has already proven to be a bit of a chameleon when taking on roles, so who knows, he might just be an excellent Clown Prince of Crime. Look for Dark Night in theaters next year.

Avatar Update

The next chapter in Avatar: The Last Airbender will be another one-hour (2-episode arc) 'movie', entitled The Secret of the Fire Nation". While it's still a ways off, early previews were shown at the recent San Diego Comic Con. One was a 30-second trailer which showed the Aang Gang heading off to the Great City of Ba-Sing-Se, to try and find the missing Appa and tell the Earth Kingdom of their discovery made during the previous Avatar movie, The Fury of Aang. Along the way, the kids seem to have picked up several other refugees, taking them under their wing and protecting them as they make their way to civilization. It is confirmed here in the trailer that Sokka's girlfriend Suki from Kyoshi Island will be apppearing, and perhaps even more familiar faces will return.

The second preview, shown live before an audience, lasts for about 2 minutes and starts with returning character Jet and Uncle Iroh (still voiced by the late, great Mako) at a campfire, talking about their mutual destination in Ba Sing Se. Apparently Jet has decided to atone for his darker ways from before, and seems intent fully on starting anew. Iroh supports hiim, saying that he believes in second chances- perhaps alluding to his and Zuko's own tragic pasts.
The preview then cuts to Aang and his party as they come to a what appears to be a large lake or river leading other refugees to Ba Sing Se. Katara tells the group to walk single file and then PARTS THE WATER (elicitng tremendous applause from the enthusiastic Avatar fans). As the water gets deeper, the party must 'cocoon' themselves in an air pocket as they walk under the sea. After some comedic antics from Momo, the troop is attacked by some beast which tries to break into the cocoon. The gang is saved by Toph, who earthbends the entire kit and caboodle on a small island above the water (another explosion of applause). The attacking creature is then revealed to be a gigantic sea serpent, which menacingly rears above the heroes...

And that's it! We'll all have to wait another month and a half for the full show. Still, this was pretty awesome and I just can't wait to get my Avatar fix again this September. To see the Avatar: Secret of the Fire Nation promos, just go to Youtube and search for "Secret of the Fire Nation".

MAKO



Mako Iwamatsu, or just Mako for short, passed away last Friday at the age of 72 from esophageal cancer. He's been around ever since I could remember, appearing in many films... though mostly I will probably remember him as Akiro the Wizard from Arnold Schwarzenegger's Conan movies. Mako will be also be remembered mostly for his gravelly voice, heard a lot in animation series like Dexter's Laboratory (Narrator), Samurai Jack (where he played the villain Aku) and more recently, Avatar: The Last Airbender (as the wise Uncle Iroh). Mako's been around forever, so it really is a shame that his voice is now gone. But thankfully, his voice will be heard yet in the remaining 2nd Season episodes of Avatar and in next year's new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie (where he plays the role of Splinter).

Most assuredly, such a distinct voice can be imitated or emulated, but just knowing the man behind the character is gone leaves a mark on you. Rest in peace, Mako-san.

Living in Oblivion



It's been a while since my last post, since I was away on a trip. A trip to a far-away land called Cyrodiil. It's a beautiful place with lush forests, rolling hills, wonderful meadows, cloud-cloaked mountains and flowing rivers. It's paradise... well, that is, until you get waylaid by some half-lion/half-humanoid highwayman or get attacked by a pack of starving wolves. It's in these cases that martial arts training, swordplay, spellcasting and good ol' sneaking skillz come in handy. Oh, and there's the disturbing amount of fire-wreathed GATES TO HELL starting to pop up all over the place, spewing murderous demons. Aside from those little nitpicks though... paradise.

Don't worry, I've not lost touch with reality yet. And no, I haven't gotten roped into playing RagnaCrack Online. The schtick I'm into right now is the MMORPG (Massive, Magnificent Offline Role-playing Game) Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on the Xbox360, and I couldn't be happier with some of the best action/RPG gaming I've had in YEARS.

Bethesda Software's sequel to their previous hit Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (available on PC and the original Xbox) improves pretty much everything, from the combat to the graphics to the depth and richness of the story and world. In a nutshell, Oblivion is an open-ended single player RPG... a virtual fantasy realm sandbox where you are the center of the universe, where everything hinges on your actions and you create your own epic.

Everyone Has A Story
Of course, there is a main plot to all of the precedings. The title 'Oblivion' refers to Cyrodiil's version of Hell- a burning dimension filled with creatures that wouln't look out of place in Doom. Well, Oblivion has so far been kept at bay from the normal world by magical barriers- barriers held by the blood of Cyrodiil's Imperial family. But now, something is working to take out that obstacle, and as a result bad things are starting to happen. Your hero/heroine is cast as a hapless prisoner in the Imperial Prison who just happens to be sitting in the cell where a secret escape passage is located. One night, the Emperor himself, accompanied by his loyal bodyguards, The Blades, come through to escape some mysterious threat. You follow, of course. Soon the Emperor (voiced by Patrick Stewart) is no more, but he leaves behind for you a quest to save the realms and 'seal shut the doors of Oblivion'. And so, like the hero of destiny that you are, you readily take up the mantle of saviour of the realms.

Or not. Since the 'Main Quest' of saving Cyrodiil is really just a small part of the game. Apparently, according to the developers, the Oblivion storyline and all it's quests- which supposedly contain up to 60 hours of gameplay- comprises just TEN PERCENT of the overall game. WHOA! So if you just spend the whole time just flying through the main quest, you'll be missing most of the fun the game has to offer.

Aside from saving the world, there are tons of things to do. On your own as a masterless adventurer you could choose to explore the vast world, encountering whatever dangers cross your path, finding hidden dungeons, ruins, caves, mines and other dark places full of loot, enemies and magic. Or, you could join one or more of the several factions in the game. Become a sword for justice in the Fighters Guild. Engage in mystical intrigue in the Mage Guild. Ransack the riches of the land as part of the Thieves Guild. Walk the disturbingly dark and murderous path of the Dark Brotherhood. Engage in mortal combat for the cheers of the audience in the Imperial Arena. You can rise from a lowly apprentice to the highest levels of power in each of these many factions, through epic quests that are as rich and rewarding as the main storyline itself. And even then, at the top, you can go on and continue for other goals. That's a lot of stuff to do.

Of course, all the depth, richness of setting and epic storylines don't mean shit if the gameplay isn't up to par (take the previous Elder Scrolls game). Thankfully, Oblivion's combat (which you will inevitably do a lot of) is fun and challenging. Instead of the dull slap matches from Morrowind, characters now lung, parry and attack with more animations as well as both visible and spoken reactions to attacks. Heavy hits will stagger opponents, enemies will taunt and berate you as they score hits. You can fight back with a variety of melee weapons or attack spells, and seeing enemies slump down lifeless thanks to the new rag-doll physics engine makes every kill satisfying. There's nothing more viscerally stress-relieving than taking out an evil enemy, stripping their corpses of all their valuables (and clothing) and then depositing their remains into a nearby ditch. Heheh...
Controlling your character is easy and intuitive, though the Xbox360 controller does present some kinks- it's hard to use the 'Hotkey' function fully thanks to the imprecision of the right joystick, and it's all too easy to put your character into 'sneak' mode (which is done by pressing down on the left joystick) during heated combat, which makes you slower and less maneuverable. Also, battles with multiple characters, including allies and good NPCs, becomes chaotic since it's very difficult for you tell if you're going to hit an enemy or a friend. Of course, it's more realistic to have combat where you can run and maneuver instead of just statically standing around hitting each other in turn... it just takes quite a bit of practice to master the timing of blocks with strikes, but you do get the hang of it. Once you do though, combat is fun and you'll be looking for foes to take on soon enough.

As for magic, there are many schools of magic spells you can master, with an arsenal of magic to throw at foes. You can even create your own spells with the right skills and equipment. Alchemy lets you create your own potions from a sundry of ingredients and reagents you can find all over the land, while Enchanting lets you make the magical weapon of your dreams (and enemies' nightmares).
Stealth is also handled quite excellently- almost Metal Gear-like excellence, and it makes stealth-based characters like thieves and assassins quite fun to use. It's great to take out enemies with single, precised hits (though often it's hard to kill enemies in just one blow) after you've snuck up behind them. Solid Snake would be proud.

Creating and customizing is a large part of Oblivion. As you begin a new game, you create your own hero/heroine by selecting race (from stock humans to several different nations of elves to orcs and reptilian Argonians), gender and sign (which governs what special powers you can get). You can customize your character's mug from hair color to face shape to eye color and nose bridge-width... it's neat, though you have to take care to keep your character from looking ugly. As for character classes, it's all customizable too. While a dullard can go with straight-on Fighters or Mages, you can choose pre-set template occupations like Nightblades and Battlemages, or Agents and Witchhunters. Or you can create your own class, selecting skills, specializations and naming the job as you please. Yes, now you can have your magic-using, sword-swinging fast-talking Orcish Headhunter of your dreams.

So far, my first character, a female Dark Elf Soul Walker (a stealthy mage-warrior) has gone on a couple of cool little quests, exterminated a couple of bandit gangs, found and joined the legendary Thieves Guild, become an associate of the Mage Guild and loves travelling on foot across the country and taking long swims in lakes (Hehe). She's got her eyes set on becoming the Mage Guild Archmage and is contemplating how to become a member of the mysterious Dark Brotherhood. She's a good girl with a naughty streak, ready to keep one foot in the light while another in the shadow. My kind of girl.

She probably won't be my last... Oblivion just screams replay value, so you can try any other race or class, try the many quests with different approaches or just to try and do things that you didn't before. Darn, you could probably play this game for months and months and still not fully uncover everything.

So I'm hooked. And totally loving every moment of it. See you all in Cyrodiil!

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is now available on Xbox360 and PC.

Change

Last night, an epiphany hit me as I sat down in The Sanctum and glanced at the corner of the room where I had my piles of anime VCDs.

It's been ages... perhaps even months... since I have just sat down and watched anime on the TV. My pace of living has changed so much that I don't seem to have the time, or even just the patience to just sit down and watch. These days, I just get my anime or even movies digitally from online, encode them in DIVX or XVID and load them into my mobile phone for viewing when the bug hits me. Seriously.

And so, I got up and started grabbing my VCDs, taking them out of their cases (which I can now reuse or sell at my leisure) and putting the lot into plastic bags for storing or disposing. It's kind of a waste, probably- I easily have dozens an dozens of VCDs (irritatingly enough, I have multiple copies of several titles)- but I guess it's good as well that from now on, I won't be buying anime from local dealers (who basically get them from online as well anyway). It's an end of an era, but something I am glad to be free of. No more dealing with irritating, anime-incompetent counter monkeys, and unresponsive geeky or smarmy anime shop owners. No more trudging all the way to an anime shop just to be told the title you're looking for is OUT OF STOCK.

Thanks be to Bittorrent, I can now get my anime and movies directly to my PC, and I couldn't be any happier.

In any case, I'll still retain my DVD collection and probably will buy the odd DVD, mainly for the rest of the household's viewing. I also will probably buy the occasional DVD from a dealer that sells anime in large quantities as DIVX files (which saves me on download times).

It's a weird feeling. Maybe I felt it before, when I got rid of the trusty Betamax and finally embraced VHS years and years ago. Gosh, who knows where technology will bring our entertainment in another decade or so. Direct-to-brain transfers? Wild, man. Simply Wild.

Perfect Killing Machine



I've decided that the next comic I'll be producing in the very near future will be another K.I.A. issue. Yeah, I know I said that The Last Angel Ace Story would be it, but I am not going to rush that one. I intend to have something ready for this year's KOMIKON, and realistically Angel Ace won't make it, given the time that remains.
In line with how the first K.I.A. book had a bit of a concept (anthology type with various creators/writers/artists), this one will have one as well. I'll be pitching the idea soon to the local comics gang and we'll see where this one goes.

On other things, I look to be quite busy in comics for the next few weeks. Project Kris is half done for me, so I'll hopefully be reaping rewards from that. Project HERO 2 is almost at hand, and this early I've already worked out the general storyline for my piece, which is another Samurai Sis story. The trick will be doing the art for another story that will be written by another creator.
Another comics project, where I will collaborate with Vin Simbulan, looks to start soon as well. The deadline's tight but I'm quite interested in the subject and title, so I'll probably jump into that.

Considering that I haven't really done any comics work for several months, this is probably pretty adventurous of me, but what the heck- in comics, I seem to work best under pressure so why not? Time to get back into the gutter again. Heh.

Return to Midgar


Happy Valentine's Day.

If you're a fan of the Final Fantasy VII game, you'll surely have watched FFVII Advent Children by now (if now, what are you waiting for? The english flub, er dub? It's OUT, by the way). Well, the other titles in the 'Compilation of FFVII' series that Advent Children is a part of are starting to come out. Dirge of Cerberus is the second title (the last one is Before Crisis) and, on a wild, out-of-left field direction, isn't an RPG but a SHOOTER. Well, a shooter with RPG elements, and a whole lot of CG cinematics. In fact, the game (which has been out in Japan for quite a while) has received quite a bit of flack from reviews. The gameplay, it seems, isn't up to par... really, the most this game has to offer are the lavish CG FMV's that Square of Japan has come to be known for. Still, if you're an FFVII fan, you'll probably want to check out the game simply for the story and the cinematics, simply because DOC gives fans once again a look into the lives of their beloved characters in the fantasy world of Midgar.

Dirge of Cerberus takes place a year after the events in FFVII Advent Children (which in turn happens about two years after the end of the FFVII game story). The main focus of the tale this time isn't emo-boy Cloud Strife, but UBER-emo boy Vincent Valentine- former Turk (Shinra special agent) and current shapechanging supermutant. All seems well in the world as the WRO or World Restoration Organization is working to bring the planet back to track without the use of destructive Mako energy that Shinra used in the past. One day though, the peace is broken when a new, mysterious enemy attacks the town of Kalm. These invaders are the Deep Ground Soldiers, a special corps of enhanced warriors created by Shinra during the war but buried underground when the Meteor came to the planet. Now released into a world unprepared for their attack, the DGS seek to reawaken powerful forces in their bid for conquest. And their key to their victory is one Vincent Valentine. Now our red-cloaked hero must take up his trusty three-barrelled pistol and take on the enemy, lay to rest ghosts from his past and save the world from destruction once again.

While Vincent is the main and apparently only playable character, ninja cutie Yuffie Kisaragi plays a vital role in the story, often helping out Vincent and appearing in the many cinematics. Also playing a big role is Reeve/Cait Sith, in one scene apparently being gunned down by enemy soldiers. Ouch! Anyway, all of the FFVII heroes (save perhaps Aerith) eventually show up as the big throwdown for Midgar gets underway towards the game's climax. Thanks the Square's CG mastery, the pre-rendered cinematics are pretty much the same quality as in Advent Children, with the same character models being used. This makes DOC pretty much a sequel to Advent Children and well worth seeing for fans of the world and it's characters. I've seen the cinemas and some of the big battle scenes bring to mind the large-scale battles from the Star Wars Clone Wars movies... that's a good thing, actually.

As for the gameplay... well, awkward gameplay concerns just melt in the face of Yuffie Kisaragi's CG cuteness. Yes. Hehe.

The english version of Dirge of Cerberus is slated for an August 2006 release on the PS2. FFVII fans wanting one more adventure with their beloved FFVII heroes should keep their eyes peeled for this one.

Memory

My sister and her family came to visit over the weekend, and her husband brought along his new phone, my old XDA II Mini. I couldn't resist looking at it again... and found myself amazed at how small it felt in my hand, which was by now used to hefting the larger XDA IIi. I was enamoured in the colors of the screen, which was smaller but a more colorful than larger Pocket PCs. I tested it a few times and smiled at the snappiness of the response.

Darn, I miss it. I turned it over and noted with a wince several new scratches on the silver casing. I owned it for a year and never put a scratch on it. Sigh.

I put it back and said goodbye once more. There will be other mobiles, smaller or bigger, in the years to come. But I'll always remember that one.