There are a few good reasons why I’ve not been posting much, I like to let people know what’s going on so here’s a few reasons why I’ve not been bothered about the blog or forums being inactive. As the title suggests, the upcoming re-design for the website is one of these reasons, so read on to see what you should expect in the shiny new version of Zetzio.

Okay, so for a while now I’ve been writing down any cool ideas I have for the new site design, then I’ve been weeding out the ones that are too gimmicky or might not be used often to ensure I don’t clutter the site with lots of random poop. This list of features was recently complete, and I was going to start working on the new template with my mediocre Photoshop skills, then having Dan code the template to work in WordPress.

But then I looked at my bank account and realized there was some money there, begging to be spent on something random. Then I suddenly thought about the amount of time it would take me to make a decent template, I don’t want to come home from work at night and instead of sitting down to own on Call of Duty, have to start working on my blog’s design each night.

So, short story long, I’ve decided to hire a web design company to make something ten times better than I could probably ever create. I’m piecing together my final ideas and we will begin work on the new design within a week or two, so please feel free to contact me with anything you would like to see in the new version of Zetzio, as I’m sure these guys will be able to make it happen for us.

One of the features I’ve always wanted and you should be seeing in the re-design is improved forum integration with the blog. There will be a single user registration allowing readers to leave a comment on articles and post on the forums with the same account. Ultimately, the goal is to make the blog and forum feel like extensions of each other rather than the current state where the blog and forum feel like separate entities of Zetzio.

Also, the site won’t go online until we’re sure everything is working as intended and there are no bugs or semi-complete features, so if we’re adding something it will either be exactly as described or it won’t be included at all.

Anyway, with the awesome stuff out of the way, let’s move onto some more serious topics. My mum has recently been diagnosed with cancer and things aren’t looking good for the time being. I still get on with life as much as I can because getting depressed over it won’t be helping anyone. So, although downright laziness is a big factor in my inactivity, I’ve also been swamped with running my little company and taking care of my mum as she prepares to start chemotherapy.

I believe many of you already know that a big factor as to why I don’t post regular content is actually because I’ve wanted a re-design for ages. First impressions matter, and I believe I can write original content that can get noticed on sites like Digg. However, before I start focussing on this I want to have a presentable website that is a treat to read and navigate, after this becomes a reality I can focus purely on creating excellent content for Zetzio, so I hope that clears things up for anyone curious about my lack of enthusiasm for the blog, that will definitely change when the re-design goes online and I can begin actively advertising Zetzio to draw in new regulars.

With that being said, don’t expect a new post every day, because I will stop reporting on gaming news and instead produce only original content such as reviews, features and opinion pieces on what’s happening around the internets. I am, however, looking to get some writers onboard who can also produce some original content once every week or two at the very least, so as Zetzio gets more contributors you will begin to see content on a more frequent basis.

If you or somebody you know would be interested to write for Zetzio, just get in touch with me via the blog’s contact form. I will also be accepting guest articles so if you’re not part of the writing team but have a really cool topic you’d like to write about, again just drop me an email via the contact form and we can talk about getting it posted on the blog.

That’s all for today’s update, I’ll keep you guys posted about the new design’s progress via blog posts. I hope you’re all excited about this as much as I am, and once again I encourage everyone to drop me their suggestions on cool things you’d love to see on the site as I’ll definitely look into each suggestion. See you all on Black Ops, I guess!

So I headed to the Eurogamer Expo as soon as I got out of work, managing to get there around 4:30PM I believe. Don’t expect a massive amount of photos as there aren’t any cosplayers there, basically you’re either taking pictures of a booth or of a person related to a game. I’m planning to play everything at the expo as much as I can so I’ll be uploading photos of games I’ve actually played each day with a quick rundown of my experience on them.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds

I don’t know how or why, but unlike past occasions where the winner stays on and the loser fucks off, in this particular case both the winners and losers were getting up after each match. On one hand it allows more people to have a turn but on the other hand nobody had much time to figure anything out, resulting in two guys just mashing random buttons.

Everyone was whoring Ryu, Dante and Deadpool, I don’t blame them as these characters are a treat to watch in fights. The controls felt like a mixture of traditional Street Fighter and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, took me a while to get used to this because I kept subconsciously assuming that the bottom three buttons were for my kicks etc.

It’s hard to say much else about this game when I’ve only played three matches on it and nobody knew how to switch characters or whether or not that was even possible. When people are mashing away however, fights get hectic and somewhat hard to follow, still convinced that the Marvel vs. Capcom series just isn’t my cup of tea.

MotorStorm: Apocalypse

You can tell I’ve not been keeping up with games lately because it took me one full race to figure out why my car kept blowing up in this game. Maybe it’s just the game type they set up, but if you accelerate for too long your car burns out or something. I’ve never actually played a racing game that forces you to do this so it was actually quite interesting, but not as interesting as the 3D visuals.

I wear glasses so most 3D related crap is either uncomfortable or just plain doesn’t work for me. As you can no doubt tell from the above photo, every screen had a pair of Sony’s 3D glasses to use as you play MotorStorm. These were fuckin’ awesome, seriously awesome. I kept doing that thing where you take the glasses off and then put them back on to compare the difference between the two pictures. As you race through a city that’s crumbling before your eyes, and as bits of rubble fly past your windshield, these glasses really make it feel like the aforementioned rubble is about to hit you right in the face.

I’ve seen Avatar in 3D and I think it sucked because I didn’t or couldn’t see much of the effects during the film. with MotorStorm however, I seemed to have no issues and the effects were constant. There is so much going on in the background as you race, and this all comes to life with the glasses on but if you remove them, it just feels like any other apocalyptic backdrop. I guess this is the first time I’ve properly experienced 3D, looking forward to getting my hands on a Killzone 3 booth using 3D some day in the near future.

Vanquish

I remember this game being announced shortly before I stopped keeping up to date with gaming news due to real life work getting in the way. It’s always a strange feeling when I hear about a game announcement but know nothing else aside from its genre, then get to play it with no knowledge of what makes it so different.

I’m probably not the first or last guy to make this comparison, but the game does feel like playing a Japanese version of Gears of War. One thing that was a blast to mess around with is Vanquish’s version of sprinting. Pressing L1 allows you to activate some kinda boosters on your back and start gliding across the floor on your knees. This beats the shit out of sprinting because it’s actually damn fast and a great way to dodge enemy projectiles or just move from cover to cover.

Speaking of, the cover system will be very familiar to Gears of War, boss encounters weren’t that impressive and the enemy A.I. didn’t look like anything to write home about. I love the visual style of the game though, the main character’s combat suit looks great, especially because it sorta morphs in small places as you’re playing – it’s a nice little effect. I can’t see this game getting out of Gears of War’s shadow to be honest. I think PlayStation 3 owners will enjoy it as this is an alternative to a game that’s exclusive to Microsoft, but for Xbox 360 owners it will be seen as nothing more than a clone.

Fable III

I would love to tell you about Fable III but damn thing kept freezing up on me. I did squeeze some play time in though, and I’m liking what I’ve seen so far. Combat seems a lot more fluid, reminds me a little of combat in Devil May Cry games for some reason. Cutting someone down with your sword, then instantly shooting the enemy behind you with your pistol before casting an area of effect spell to eradicate the rest not only looks bad-ass, but it’s very simple to execute and give combat a much faster pace compared to Fable II.

The opening cinematic intro was amusing, I hope that sense of humour remains throughout the game. Unfortunately combat and the introduction is all I was able to witness before my screen froze. I had other shit to play so I decided to move on, I’ll probably give Fable III another spin today but even with my brief session it’s looking good already. There was one thing that annoyed me in-game, the first thing I had to do was play a mini-game of sorts where you use a canon to take down groups of undead warriors, this got old very fast and made me want to stop playing before I had even seen anything else. I soldiered on though, and it was worth it, but not the best part of your game to showcase at an expo Mr. Molyneux.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Plays just like Assassin’s Creed II, except there seems to be a big focus on multiplayer which will be the main selling point of this game. We played a multiplayer versus game type where each player was assigned a target to kill, said target being another player. The goal is pretty simple yet entertaining – you have to assassinate your target whilst evading the player who has been tasked with killing you.

Once you get near enough to an enemy player, you need to start being discreet as any obvious movement gives them a warning signal as to how far you are and in which direction, making them flee the opposite way. You can use items like smoke bombs to help avoid your stalkers and concealed guns to kill your own targets from a distance. I was getting owned on this as it took me a while to re-familiarise myself with the controls but it was good fun.

Pixeljunk Shooter

I don’t play my PlayStation 3 much for some reason, and the Pixeljunk games have always looked so intriguing to me. Some guy just handed me the controller and I thought why the hell not. It was pretty basic for a shooter, seemed to be more about solving a puzzle if the one stage I played is anything to go by. That’s not a bad thing at all though, I enjoyed the game and it just makes me want to check out all those Pixeljunk titles even more, but I spent more time shooting rocks to solve puzzles than destroying enemies.

I had so much fun at the London Anime Convention that I ended up not taking many photos during the day. I did have a friend who borrowed my camera for a while to take some for me but pretty much 90% of those were too blurry to bother uploading. Here’s what’s left after scanning through the folder for post-worthy shots—not much to choose from I’m afraid.

The LAC was a blast and it was a lot of fun talking to fellow otaku and playing the various fighting games set up in the gaming room. I came fourth in the Super Street Fighter IV tournament, which I’m going to blame on luck plus the fact I was so bad that my opponents had trouble predicting what shit I was going to mash out during the matches we played. I had a chance to play some of the more obscure fighting games like Melty Blood, which actually looked really awesome and I’m looking to import that for my PS2 in the coming weeks.

Though I spent most of my time in the gaming room to take advantage of the fact I could play with fellow fighting game enthusiasts lag-free for a change, I did do a few other things at the con. We took part in the cosplay auction, where we get to bid on cosplayers who become our ‘slaves’ for the day, or something like that. We won the bid on Scorpion (Mortal Kombat) and Rude (Final Fantasy VII) cosplayers, who later ditched us to go have fun.

My diet that day was amusingly unhealthy. I had a slice of cheesecake and two cups of ice latte for breakfast. When we got there, I had four bottles of beer on that semi-empty stomach. We did go to McDonald’s, but after buying two burgers I realised I had no appetite at the time so literally took a bite and left it at that.

I was also surprised at just how many people I recognised from previous expos and online forums there, it was great catching up with people and talking about the stuff I have a big interest in—mostly video games of course. There were quite a few drawing classes and even a competition for artists, which my friend came second in because she’s godly with a pencil, this unfortunately clashed with my Super Street Fighter IV tournament so we couldn’t cheer for each other during these competitions but we both came close to winning!

All in all, I had a great time with very few issues throughout the day. The worst part was basically standing in line on Holloway Road with the fucking sun hitting us in the dick for thirty minutes. I couldn’t complain though, I felt bad for the people in cosplay that were probably twice as sweaty as me at the time. Shortly after the event, Anime League confirmed that the next London Anime Convention will take place in early 2011 and I’m definitely planning on attending once again. Maybe I’ll see you guys there next time, who knows?

I’m ridiculously late for work right now so I had to rush through this post quickly. As you can no doubt see, I’ve uploaded this year’s expo photos online (finally). DiabloCableGuy was also there with me and was kind enough to transfer his photos over to my netbook before we parted ways, so the gallery below contains photos from both of us. Anyway, check out the gallery below, I’ll edit this post properly when I’m not in a massive rush!

I admit, it’s kind of stupid that I’ve only just uploaded last year’s London Expo photos on the same day I’m leaving for this year’s one. Still, for the sake of keeping a record of my convention escapades, I say it’s better (super) late than never, right? I snapped about 500 photos, but I just picked out 70 of them to crop and upload because I’m far too lazy to crop that many images. You’ll see this year’s expo photos on the blog much, much sooner – promise. Anyway, get to da choppa after the jump for the gallery.

With my real life work (mostly) under control and the London MCM Expo being today, I think now is a good time to start blogging again. My updates will gradually become more frequent since right now I’m focusing my time on a new blog template which will be a lot less fail than the current one. Once that’s online, I can dedicate my time to writing ‘original’ content and not worry about how crap my blog looks to me. That’s a lie of course, because I still have to work the day job and write for DamnLag.com, but long story short you’ll be seeing more and more updates from now on… yay?

I’ve been poking around the forums to see if anyone would be interested in a Ventrilo server for Zetzio and the response has been quite positive. So as promised on the forum, I looked into purchasing a server for us as soon as I got back from the London MCM Expo. In case some people aren’t familiar with Ventrilo, it’s a VoIP program which lets you voice chat in a group, a little like party chat on Xbox Live. You can use it to communicate with your team on a PC game or just drop in for a friendly chat with other members of the community. Information on joining our server can be found after the jump.

You’ll need two important things to get you on Ventrilo, the client program which can be found on the Ventrilo website. The next is important but still somewhat optional, and that is of course a headset. Although there is a text chat room on the Ventrilo server, the main idea is to chat with your headset, thus bringing the Xbox Live shenanigans we have onto the PC. Once you’ve got the client program and a headset, you’ll need the following details to log into our server.

Server Hostname: ventrilo.pulsegaming.com
Port Number: 3859

There’s no password for now so anyone is welcome, but the server can only house 10 users at once which should be adequate for the time being.

I’m a little late with this explanation but better late than never I guess. Early in August my company went to court with another party over a dispute which has escalated and is still ongoing. Obviously, legal action is ‘srs bsns’ and I’ve had to take a break from the blog to focus on this case. Making matters worse is my computer dying on me roughly a month ago, my attempts at fixing it haven’t done much yet. I could have written some articles in my spare time but that isn’t going to happen until I can find a Phoenix Down for the PC, but for now all I can do is apologise and post an image of a cute puppy.

Neon Genesis Evangelion was the first series to truly push me into anime, and so it’s probably no surprise that Rei Ayanami is among my favourite characters in the medium. I bumped into this statue during the London MCM Expo in May this year, and it didn’t take much for me to make the impulse purchase. This 1/12 scale statue is based on a 2003 resin kit which was sculpted by Tsukuru Shirahige and manufactured by Kotobukiya. As Rei is on a BMX, the height comes in at 15cm and the whole statue is pre-painted PVC.

WIN

• Rei’s BMX steals the spotlight from the young Evangelion pilot thanks to the excellent detail from the frame to the wheels. It’s not just the detail on the bike, but the fact that Rei’s pulling off a trick with it which really makes this statue stand out from anything else I currently own.
• Every statue should come with a good display base, not just some plain black/white/transparent thing that looks like it was slapped on as an afterthought. Rei’s rocking out on tile pavement to give you the impression she’s somewhere outdoors, people don’t do tricks like that in their living rooms after all.
• So why am I impressed with the BMX and base details? It’s not as if this is the only detailed statue of Rei Ayanami available. It’s the price tag of course, I picked this up for £20.00 and for that price the attention to detail is quite satisfactory. Not incredible by any means, but it’s ‘bang for your buck’ as an American may have put it.

FAIL

• Easily my biggest gripe with this statue is the seam going right across the top of Rei’s head. This doesn’t seem to exist in the original resin kit that spurred the PVC statue. If there was one thing that made me think twice about the purchase, it was this issue but the good outweighs the bad in this case so I went for it regardless. Some may not be as forgiving however, so check the gallery to see how bad you think it looks.
• I look up the skirts of my statues, and I’m sure every other male otaku out there has done it at least once. I was a bit surprised to find a bit of thin plastic underneath Rei’s skirt that seemed to be attached to it pretty firmly. I have no idea why it’s there but I could not pull it out. I’ve decided to just leave it alone as it’s not noticeable unless you blatantly turn the statue upside down and stare right at her panties, which isn’t something my guests will try doing when complimenting me on my figures. At least I hope not, anyway.

Most of the time when I see a cool statue that’s actually interesting enough to warrant a purchase, it’s a pretty pricey one which is actually the main reason I’ve only recently started taking a real interest in collecting such things. As I mentioned, Rei stands out because of the statue’s unique pose, not to mention an orange BMX is quite hard to miss. Aside from the seam on Rei’s head, I really think this statue is a bargain for any Evangelion fan looking to pick up a good quality statue without spending too much. Even if you’re not familiar with the series, the statue looks good enough on its own merits.

Rei Ayanami BMX Trick Version is produced by Tsukuru Shirahige and manufactured by Kotobukiya. It was first released in June 2007 and is unfortunately sold out on most online retailers at the time. I was able to pick it up in May during the London MCM Expo ’09. Though this is my first Evangelion statue, I have a growing collection of videogame and anime figurines.

I’m really enjoying these Dead Fantasy videos from Monty Oum, but he may be going a little off track with the latest video. I’m interested in cool fight scenes with video game characters that are quite experienced in the art of ass-whooping, not scenes of Tifa being emotional and trying to unsuccessfully pull on my heart strings or something. Still, Monty slightly makes up for this with the fight scene in the garage which reminded me a little of Jackie Chan. How are you guys finding the Dead Fantast videos so far?