Bob's Blog

A Long Overdue Update - Robert's Creative Habit

2015-03-13T20:34:00.001-04:00

I haven't posted on here in so very long. Years in fact. So, I thought that for today I would spend a little time out of my Friday evening to say a few things...

I have a new website! I still seem to get a lot of visitors to this one, so I thought it would be a good idea to keep it up-to-date. My new website is called Robert's Creative Habit. I create and share a piece of artwork every single day. My current goal is to do it for an entire 365 days in a row, and so far it's going.... perfectly.

So, if you're interested in checking it out, please visit http://robert.mittonvillage.com! I've moved forward towards becoming a full-time self sufficient artist. I'll include a sample of some of my favorite work that I've done since August 2014.

Impressions On The FFXIV: A Realm Reborn Beta Test

2013-07-03T13:34:00.000-04:00

16 months is quite a long time to go without writing anything. I needn't go into too much detail in regards to what kept me away for so long. Suffice it to say that I have lacked the motivation to do much of anything of importance when it comes to my writing or drawing.

Not exactly sure what really changed this morning, but I feel some semblance of inspiration to write. It perhaps has something to do with getting up early. I seem to have a little more energy than usual as a direct result. So I guess it's time to focus that morning energy towards my topic for today; Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.

Final Fantasy XIV launched on PC back in late 2010 to unfavorable review scores. Quite frankly, it was a critical failure for the long running Final Fantasy series. Terrible interface, broken economy, and sadly lacking fun things to do. The MMORPG was a complete mess. Square-Enix seemed to understand that this game would be a serious black mark (SE is usually pretty oblivious to this stuff) on an overall fantastic franchise and thus reshuffled the core development team. As a result, several years later, they present to us the relaunch; Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.

With 3 weekends of beta testing under my belt, I feel it's the perfect time to write out my thoughts and impressions on where the game is at, and where it could lead in the future. However, there are a few things that I think are important for me to mention before I get into the details.

1. I've played solely on the Playstation 3 platform so far. No PC play. Though I am currently downloading the PC client to test out this weekend. Though I'm not quite sure how my laptop will compare yet. The official FFXIV: ARR benchmark has assured me that at least I'll be able to play the game, while still retaining a decent amount of graphical fidelity.

2. I'm in no way breaking the current Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) set in place by Square-Enix. Everyone is allowed to talk about the current beta test, and share all forms of screenshots. No audio or video of direct game-play.

3. I didn't actually play FFXIV during it's 1.0 launch days. I followed it for quite some time and stayed pretty up to date with the game. Eventually, the game flopped and I lost interest. It wasn't until earlier this year, when information started to come forth that the Playstation 3 version was almost ready for testing, that I gained a new found interest.

With those points out of the way, it's time for my detailed impressions on pretty much everything that I've seen during the testing. All of which is, of course, subject to change at any time. We are still in testing after all. Not to mention the fact that we're playing a MMORPG which will no doubt change and update it's feature set on an almost monthly basis for years. I suspect this article will become fairly outdated eventually. So let's hurry up and move on!

The first thing I noticed upon loading up the game on my PS3 is the shear number of options for character creation. You can pick from 5 different races. Each with male and female options, unlike in Final Fantasy XI where you had a couple gender specific races. Then you get the surprising option to pick from 2 different race variations. Resulting in subtly different looking characters as well as slight stat alterations. Usually one favoring melee and one favoring the magic arts.

The actual character customization is quite robust when compared to Final Fantasy XI. Which should be expected from a modern Final Fantasy MMO. Hair styles (with highlights), facial features (beautiful eye coloring), height (anywhere from 1-100), and muscle tone are all options here. You get a few relatively surprising additions as well; The Lallafel's have some ear options that can totally change the overall emotional look of your character, and the Miqo'te get some interesting tail length and design options. Lots of fun to be had with the character creation tools and I spent a good hour making my first Eorzean inhabitant.

Once you're in the game world, FFXIV: ARR does a fantastic job guiding you through the game world and keeping you up to date with all the new features as they get unlocked. I still remember my early days in FFXI where you absolutely had to do a Google search for all your information in order to get anywhere or do anything.

Was that a quest I just accepted? Where do I need to go? How do I form a party? Macros? How the heck does this map work?

FFXI was rough around the edges in that regard. Very difficult for new players. Thinking on it now, that is probably my most welcome feature in FFXIV: ARR; the tutorial system. All the information you could ever need is right there and just a couple button presses away. So handy. Though, I should hold my tongue when I say that the tutorial is my favorite feature as there is a lot of great systems at work here.

Speaking of great systems, how about that Armory System? You want to change your job to a Black Mage? Just simply equip a staff and you're a Black Mage. Fancy being a Lancer or Dragoon? You equip a spear, obviously. It's a fantastic system that actually makes a lot of sense. To top it off you don't have to worry about filling up your inventory as, just like in the single player Final Fantasy games, you get your own personal inventory (100 items) as well as a completely mobile armory that keeps all your equipment separate and ready to use.

To start, you get access to just a single class. That class will determine where you start in the game world and what quests you can partake in. However, once you reach level 10 and finish some story quests, you gain the opportunity to join other guilds around the world to unlock whichever classes you want. It's a fantastic system and it's still a great feeling knowing that you only need one character (ala FFXI) as you just switch your class/job whenever you feel the need to do so.

Once you get the basics down and finish a few quests (there are plenty of quests!) to help out the citizens from the city you started in, you'll get to go outside and tangle with some monsters. With FFXI as my MMORPG of choice, it didn't really take me too long to adjust to the FFXIV: ARR battle system as it's similar, but with lots of nice changes and additions. First off; it's super quick! You pull out your weapon to start swinging, and right away you're casting spells or using fancy weapon skills to bash the beasties into the ground. All of the spells and abilities you learn are on a fancy new hot bar that is pretty accessible early on as you only have 1 or 2 skills to use anyways. L2 and R2 access different sections of the hot bar, while the dpad and the face buttons on the PS3 controller use the skills within the 2 sections. Once you play around with it some, it becomes second nature to use your skills. Main point, no more macros! Though I believe I saw an option to create them on the main menu, if anyone is interested.

The last thing I'm going to mention today is a brand new system called the FATE system. Recently I've been hearing that similar systems have been used before in other games, so perhaps this might not be so new to some of you. However, you can't tell me that this system isn't useful.

The way it works, is you go out into the world doing what you would normally be doing, and suddenly a message pops up on your screen telling you that a FATE is nearby. Using your handy mini-map (or the full map by pressing square) you find the FATE and enter it's circle radius indicator. Once inside, you join the FATE, along with everyone else within the area. From here on out you all work together (no party needed!) to complete the goal and gain experience points and gil. The goal changes depending on the FATE (Oh, that means Full Active Time Event) and so far I've seen a few different variations in the early levels of the game. They range from killing a hoard of enemies, protecting an NPC, or defeating a boss monster.

Phase 3 of the Beta has been going on for a few weeks now, and is looking to start again Friday morning (just a couple days!) and so far there is no end date announced for this weekend. So it's looking like we'll get some extra play time in to do some final testing before we get into Phase 4. Phase 4 is what I'm really excited for though, and you should be too! Not only do we get to keep our Phase 4 characters going into the full launch of the game, but it looks as though Phase 4 will be open to anyone who wants to give the game a try. No Beta key required. So go ahead and give it a try on PC or PS3! If you have any comments or questions on FFXIV: ARR, please leave them below as I'll be more than happy to give responses to everyone.

Crazy Going Slowly Am I

2012-02-21T15:58:00.007-05:00

Tried working on my English short-story project. Looking at what I have written so far I just want to scrap it. So rather than do something I may regret a day later, I'll just put it off... again. For the better part of 2 months I've had this terrible sinking feeling that I'll never get this final credit. Finishing this short-story would be a nice accomplishment, even more so if I get a decent mark on it. I'll be spending some time at the school tomorrow and I'll take another look at the story then.

I thought creative writing would be a lot easier than writing an essay on a forced topic I don't really care anything about. Seems the direction that was given for each essay helped push me along. I had a steady topic to focus on. All I had to do was Google a few things and there was everything I needed to write about. I can't just simply Google and get creative writing ideas... can I?

Turns out there are plenty of resources for anyone to get help with their writing. Take this link for example. It's an extremely simple website, but shortly after clicking a few links and reading a few paragraphs, I've discovered that this nifty little site can actually give me some interesting story ideas.

I've spent most of my time, since beginning this project, researching how to become a better creative writer. I've found countless valuable resources for writing using the wonderful tool that is Google. If only I could simply apply all I've learned to the empty pages I have left. I don't think I'm in the proper state of mind to do much creatively today anyways.

It's cold and grey outside, and I'm feeling quite tired. Should of watched an episode of Family Guy with my lunch, rather than an episode of Dexter. Very dark and depressing stuff.

Posted something in the Art Gallery that I painted with Photoshop the other day. I have no idea what it is, but I'll post it here on this page. I like it. I dunno. Lately I've enjoyed designing the more abstract art. Probably because it's not something anyone else could really comprehend. Therefore nobody could properly critique it. That's also likely to be the reason why most of my life I've drawn monsters. There's a proper factual way to draw a bear, but when it comes to drawing something that isn't found residing on our planet, I can design it anyway I choose to. Therefore it's up to me to critique the things I create. No one else.

To write, or not to write: that is the question.

2012-01-17T18:59:00.005-05:00

It honestly feels like it's been a year since I've written any new articles. In actuality it's been just a couple months or so since the last post. I've been so focused on trying to find something profitable to do that doesn't revolve around running a blog, that it feels like so much more time has passed since I've given this site some attention. Might be time to get back to it. At least for one post anyways.

You want to know what keeps me coming back to this blog? The comments. Even after not posting for months, I get comments every single week. It's great to know that people are still reading my articles and everyone has been so positive. Despite a lot of the older articles being... well... not so great.

When I go back through and read my old articles it can be an inspiring experience. I wonder if I'm the only one here, but I tend to forget how far I've come in relation to the quality of my skills as a writer. It's not until I read old work that I see the stunning difference. It's a difference that I'm actually quite proud of. I'm certainly far from where I'd like to be, but if anyone saw the way I used to write many years back and compare it to the present, I'm sure it would garner some slow golf clapping. I'm happy with where I am right now with my writing proficiency.

Read, read, read. That's basically what I did to slowly improve the quality of my writing. Since discovering the joy of owning a laptop early last year I've done almost nothing but read on the thing. Poring over reviews, previews, blogs, and wiki pages. On topics ranging from movies, television, gaming, science, technology, and even on the art of writing itself. I've picked up a whole new roster of article styles: Top 10 lists, bullet lists, and cleverly positioned – timeless – content. You need to write something that's fun to read, a breeze to skim through, and will benefit people for years to come.

Now, a lot of my posts on this blog aren't written in this way, including this one. It's perfectly fine for the way this blog has evolved, but going into the future I need to get used to using these writing styles. However, I'm seriously thinking about dropping this blog stuff altogether. There are plenty of other ways to build some type of financial security online besides blogging. Not to mention the fact that I haven't made a cent with this site as of yet.

Posting ads and throwing around referrals haven't brought anything positive into my life; Just clutter. The actual blogging part of this site, however, has been a tremendously positive learning experience.

I found a site called Helium.com today. I signed up, filled out my bio, and posted a picture. “Learn what you need, share what you know.” is what the site offers. You write some good articles and they give you cash depending on how popular it is. It seems simple enough. Having an article that can rack up some hits doesn't have all that much to do with good writing skills either. Just need to find a popular topic that you know a little about. So there's no pressure to out-write people.

The two questions I have about this Helium site are: Can I produce a decent income with this? And can I produce enough content?

I obviously can't answer that first question yet. But I'm so used to not succeeding at whatever it is I do that I'm already going in doubtful that I'll ever make a buck. I plan to solely focus on the articles I write, and not the money I could make. The last thing I want is for my articles to suffer because I'm too busy worrying that no one will read it.

The second question might be a little easier to answer. I know I can write at least a few articles a week. I've done that before, easy peasy. I just need to figure out if I can write about topics they require of me. Looking at the main page now I see they're looking for articles on...

“Signs that a website may be fake.” and “How to barbecue a squirrel on a spit over a campfire “ I may have my work cut out for me :P

Bottlenecked! / Gaming & Television Chat

2011-08-29T22:39:00.004-04:00

Bottleneck. That's absolutely the perfect way for me to describe what's been going on in my head lately. Both of the shows I've been watching for weeks now have been excellent. Those shows would be True Blood and Breaking Bad, two of my favorites. I have plenty of opinions and topics to talk about either of those shows. But I just can't put the words together.

It's a couple days left until September and there's a boat-load of great gaming goodness coming real soon. NHL12, and the NHL12 demo which I've played extensively already are a couple things I could talk about. Battlefield 3 and Skyrim are a couple more that I could probably go on and on about as well. Yet I don't. There's always so much to talk about that I'm constantly behind! Bottlenecked I tell ya!

I haven't been able to get into the groove of writing for a long while now. Part of it has to do with my website not generating income anymore. It's kinda just taken the wind out of my sails, I guess. It certainly hasn't made it easier.

Hopefully that'll begin to change now that I'm back with AdBrite. I'm not greedy, I just need to make sure I'm satisfying more than just my need to be creative. My goal is still to make a decent living doing "something" online. It's more than a goal though, it's what I feel I need to do. Something I need to figure out on my own. Properly monetizing the time I spend online is added motivation to keep coming back here to write even when I don't always feel like it. I realize now that I'll need to have that to succeed in anything in life. I don't think anyone likes to feel like they're doing something for nothing.

I still get a decent amount of page views each and every day. Mostly visitors viewing my older and more popular content. DC Universe Online, Netflix, and my Supernatural re-watch articles being the most popular right now. All of which I don't really have any passion to write about. So that kinda sucks.

DC Universe Online has turned out to be nothing like I'd imagined it to be. Which should be an entire article right there. Netflix has been pretty great actually. Been paying for it for about 4 months straight now and I always have something to watch.

I haven't done a content update in a very long time, but I will share an awesome link where I get all my up-to-the-minute Netflix Canada content updates. And Supernatural, well... I quit watching when I, once again, got to the Paris Hilton episode in season 5 where I can never seem to muster enough will-power to finish it. I will probably do another Supernatural re-watch in the future, but I feel there are more important shows I should be writing about.

The message I intended to convey with this blog post here, was that I'm trying to initiate some direction for myself, and for this blog. Which actually wouldn't be the first time I've tried to do that. However, this time I plan to keep my goals within reach. They'll be kept simple. I'm going to write a few topics out that I would "like" to write about. Please feel absolutely free to comment as you see fit.

Fallout: New Vegas

Bought it a couple months ago and I have yet to finish it. I'm still planning on getting that platinum someday! Got a few trophies this past weekend as a matter of fact.

Little Big Planet 2

Bought it day 1 back in January, though I've neglected it a bit lately. September marks the release of the Move pack however. Which looks to add a ton of new creative content.

DC Universe Online

As I mentioned above, things have gone downhill quite quickly for DCUO. The only thing keeping me around the game (though not paying for it currently) are the awesome league mates I've acquired through my travels.

Borderlands 2

Gave the first Borderlands as much attention as I would give a Final Fantasy. Almost forgot all about this one. Was announced about a week ago and there have been a few deets revealed about what the game will be like.

Minecraft

Phew, where do I begin? Minecraft is absolutely HUGE right now. Patch 1.8 is right around the corner and I'd really like to delve into this stuff. I'm actually a little fired up, perhaps I'll get to writing about this soon.

Final Fantasy XIV

Plenty of updates since it's failed PC launch, including the new leadership on the FFXIV team. Also, Materia and Chocobos!

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

November will be the end of a lot of gamers social lives, at least until Christmas where you'll be forced to hang out with family. At least until the gift giving is over anyways. Or maybe the Christmas dinner. Either way you'll do whatever you can to get back to your PS3 (or w/e you game on)

Battlefield 3

Played quite a bit of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on PS3 a couple years back so I'm looking forward to this one. Incredibly realistic, very deep multi-player, hopefully a better single player campaign this time around (co-op!)

NHL 12

I've played the hell out of the demo already, and I have some impressions. I'll be picking up NHL 12 in September.

Breaking Bad

This season has had it's moments of awesome. None better than last night's incredible Hank moments. Seriously, he should be running that place! Oh wait, he doesn't even officially work there? Everyone else should be fired, pronto.

True Blood

I've enjoyed the other seasons for the most part, but it's had it's faults. This season however, has knocked it out of the ballpark for me. Less fairy-talk, more vamps killin and sexin it up, Bill as king and calling the shots? Sweet. Did sookie just energy-blast someone so hard his amnesia exploded? Uh... yeah awesome.

Smallville

Phew, now for the big one. Smallville was the first television show I ever got into. Bought the DVD's, got my room-mates and family members addicted. I lived and breathed Smallville for a lot of years. And just a month ago I finished it.

Playstation Home to be Hit With a Makeover

2011-08-23T15:27:00.003-04:00

Just today it was posted on the Official Playstation Blog that Playstation Home will be receiving a significant overhaul. A change that will "connect you with the world of hundreds of games in Home faster and better than ever before." so says Jack Buser, the Director of Playstation Home. What changes does all this include? Read on...

What's this all about?

This Home update will consist of a new "hub and districts" design that will help you find what you're looking for. Whether that's games, quests, community events, user-generated content, shopping, socialization and entertainment options, it seems this update will make it less complicated to get around.

Did he say quests?

That's right. This update seems to turn Home into a game in itself. Finally, something to get excited about in Home. I've always wanted a system like this. It's a great excuse to jump into Home, and perhaps even meet up with complete strangers if it means completing a series of quests. Something called an "Activity Board" will be the basis for this new questing system.

"Powering this Activity Board is a massive new questing system that literally transforms Home itself into a game if you so choose. From frequently updated community activities to huge, branching narrative adventures, this questing system will provide game play options delivered to you in ways never before imagined."

This all sounds well and good, but we'll have to see exactly how it works when it hits. No proper release date was mentioned in the post besides fall 2012 however.

Anything else worth mentioning?

Ah yes, couple more neat details.

"On top of all this great news, I’m excited to announce that we are going to upgrade Home’s core client to provide a streamlined initial user experience, getting you in and playing games faster than ever before."

I'm fairly interested in what this will entail considering Home has already received an update previously to help with the navigation. I don't use Home all that often, but when I do, I have no problem getting to where I need to go fairly quickly and with little effort. So I'm a little interested to see how they can improve the interface further.

Also, in the comments below the original post, Jack Buser responded to a fan question about the in-Home trophy display that was mentioned ...forever ago. Here was his response.

"We hear you, and want to assure you that we are committed to enabling you to display in Home your accomplishments as a gamer. Our vision has evolved to a system that spans across all of Home, and integrates into your every day experience on the PS3.
This began with the wide range of collectable Home items that unlock after in-game objectives are met, both in Home games and in some of the top PS3 and PSN titles, including Red Dead Redemption, Street Fighter IV, and many more…
This strategy has evolved into “Total Game Integration” where your activity in Home can unlock exclusive content in your favorite games, including special weapons, experience points, and much more. Examples include Killzone 3, Dead Island, and more to be announced soon.
Home integration into your favorite games and the ability to display your accomplishments is very much a priority for us, and we are looking to expand the variety of ways this is implemented in the future."

Creativity, Boxes, and Breaking Bad

2011-08-15T15:33:00.004-04:00

When I was around 13 years old I had a short-lived hobby where I created something akin to a scrapbook. I would cut up my old video-game magazines and paste the pictures, advertisements, and my favorite articles together into an un-used writing book that I'd take from my public school classroom. The book would only contain cut-outs from the gaming systems I owned and cared about. Therefore creating what I thought was the perfect version of a video-game magazine.

I haven't thought about this particular memory in quite a long time, but it's reminded me that I've been trying to achieve something in a creative way all my life. Even though cutting out already written articles and advertisements then pasting them onto a blank page isn't the most creative thing to do, in my 13 year old mind I drew those drawings and wrote those articles myself.

I think I still have one of those scrapbooks sitting in a box somewhere. It's most likely torn and creased from all the times I've emptied those boxes looking for one specific thing and then shoved everything back in afterwards. Probably never even finding the thing I was originally looking for.

More Types of Boxes

"Thinking outside the box" is something people like to say when attempting to bring out their creative thoughts. I don't believe there is a box however. This box is actually something most people build for themselves and often without even realizing it. You limit yourself and your thinking to make things simplified so you can better focus on what you're told to do. While that is what's called being "normal", there are times when it's quite fascinating (and potentially productive) to think of everything as subjective.

Sometimes I'll think about how intelligent the human brain truly is. When I go to stand up, how do I know which muscles to move, how do I know there isn't broken glass laying at my feet, how do I even know that stepping in broken glass is a bad thing?

What about watching a television program. Have you ever thought about how complicated things really are? Not only are they speaking a language that your brain has to interpret at lightning fast speeds, but each scene has so much going on at once that our brains just automatically sort out for us. It already knows to focus on the people in the scene, not the random objects, and what they're saying rather than the music.

This is the kind of thinking that can keep someone up at night (and it oftentimes does), however it's also a great brain-motivator when you're trying to force creativity. This could be anything from simple work-related problem solving to trying to figure out how to make enough money to get your kids through school. Rather than "thinking outside the box" I'd rather just say we're being "open minded" here. Makes more sense eh?

Remember, there's only a "box" because enough people believe in it. This oddly reminds me of that one Supernatural episode where the ghost keeps changing because the myth that people believe in keeps changing.

Breaking Bad and the Choices We Make

Breaking Bad (Which was just renewed for a final season) is about chemistry, in more ways than one actually. In the words of Walter White, "chemistry is the study of matter, but I prefer to see it as the study of change". Our lives follow the same basic principle as chemistry. The choices that we make, change the world around us in massive ways.

Walter White one day decides to initiate some changes in his life, and it effects absolutely everyone around him. And it wasn't until the season 3 episode "Fly" (I won't spoil it here) that I began thinking deeply about this. Breaking Bad is about the chemistry of human living. Whether we perceive Walt's choices to be positive or negative, they still cause identically significant waves of change to those around him.

Who knows where characters like Jesse, Chicken-man, and Hank (possibly killed by the Mexican Cartel?) be right now if Walt had decided against making meth. If we forget about human choice for a second, how different would things have been if Walt never had cancer?

Back to the real world now. We've all made choices, big and small. We do it every waking second of every single day. It's easy to go back and watch earlier seasons of a television show to see exactly where our favorite fictional characters started out, and where they've ended up. It's impossible to see our own life paths and figure out exactly how you ended up where you are today in terms of the decisions you've made, as well as those that were made by others that directly effected you.

It's fun to think about though. If I wasn't into that whole scrapbooking thing when I was a kid, would I be doing what I'm doing right now? Which is almost the exact same thing; writing my own articles and drawing my own pictures to put up on a blank digital page.

Photoshop, this time it's Wacom!

2011-07-28T14:37:00.002-04:00

This is my third attempt at writing a new article since my last post in April, which just so happens to be about moving away from Blogspot. I just haven't felt the passion I had last year for this site. My initial idea was to make money on this blog, once I figured out that that idea had little to no chance of coming to fruition, I lost the energy to write meaningless articles. Here I am back however, I seem to still be getting a lot of page views each and every day, so we're giving this another shot. This time with slightly different expectations and motivations.

I'm also rockin a new laptop along with a Wacom tablet. This time however, I'm not planning on writing long articles completely devoted to television and gaming.

Gaming is a funny hobby of mine. There are times when it's just about all I do in my free-time, which I usually have plenty of. Lately however, besides watching Netflix documentaries and the odd movie, my Playstation has hardly been touched. I've even lost touch with a couple close PSN friends that I used to chat with daily. Not to mention my waning DCUO interest.

My PSP has received the least amount of use this year, after finishing the Final Fantasy IV remake I've put it away and as of this moment I honestly couldn't tell you where exactly it is. The new Sony handled, oddly named Vita, has my interest peaked though.

I purchased Fallout: New Vegas a month back and played about 30 hours of it, and in the process nabbed a fair amount of the attainable trophies. However, I say "meh" to New Vegas. I even say "meh" to hardcore gaming at this present time. I'll stick with my late night PSN Magic the Gathering and Puzzle Quest to help me fall asleep when in need. That's about all I've felt like playing lately. Nothing has really excited me about gaming this summer. This fall has a nice lineup of PS3 goodness however, so I should be getting back to it later this year.

So with Wacom tablet in hand, I'll spend 90% of my waking hours in Photoshop CS5 rather than playing the Video Games. At least until The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim launches. I'll probably play that for 30 hours and then get back to business as usual. Same goes for Battlefield3 and NHL12, which also launch this fall.

Alright, enough about what I've been doing! Here's my page on google+ and if you need an invite, just send me a message. I've been posting all my art (there's gotta be a better name for it) on google+ lately and I'll paste em all here as well. Right below this here article actually. I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions about the drawings! Until next time, whenever that'll be, have a good one!

UPDATE: It's just after midnight on 7/29/2011 and I just finished drawing something new using my Wacom tablet and Photoshop. I'm pretty proud of it because I feel it's the best thing I've ever created. What makes it a bit cooler is the fact that I drew the entire thing live on ustream. Thanks to my family for hanging out with me and checking it out! This is Lenny the ant, picture is posted right below.

What I've Been Up To / Productivity

2011-04-17T22:05:00.018-04:00

Hey, long time no see. I've neglected this blog for all too long because I believe it's time to move onto something better. Sure, I'm still nailing an average of 100 visitors a day, but it's just not quite what I wanted to be doing by now. I was hoping to keep growing this site into something significant, but I realize now that it would be impossible to do that using Blogger.

If there are people out there that have frequently visited this blog, thank you so much. If I wasn't getting the traffic that I've been getting (there were a few days in January where I hit about 500-600 visitors per day) I wouldn't have continued down this road with the confidence I have now. Even though I feel that I can do something successful and meaningful with all that I've learned from running this small site, I don't think I can reach the level of quality I want using the tools and web knowledge I currently have. I need to move onto something else in order to pursue my dream of creating a profitable website with effective content.

Since my last post, back before my 30th birthday in March, I've purchased a new computer. A super-spiffy laptop! This was a very important step for me in regards to continuing my e-business learning experience. My previous PC situation was absurdly uncomfortable. The computer was half decent, but had issues, and the monitor absolutely sucked. Always blurry and hard on the eyes. Now I have a rockin' lappy and I can do my work anywhere I please, and I can do it comfortably.

I mentioned that I recently turned 30 last month. I don't feel any different, but I do get a few "old-man" jokes thrown my way from time to time. I don't really feel like it's necessary for me to go into great detail about how I feel at year 30. Everyone will experience it in time, or they've been there already. I will say however, that I don't feel any different. It's just another birthday that's come and gone. Another excuse for people to get together and celebrate something that really has no impact on our lives. An individual's experiences and accomplishments are what we should be celebrating, not a numerical indicator of how long your heart's been beating.

All done with the tangents, time to keep this post on track. The next hit on my list of plans is to build a better website. This time I'm actually going to be doing the building. It may be a long process to get my new site up to the quality I want it to be, but I'm enjoying it so much more when I'm in complete control. I'm just not feeling it with Blogger, I need my own space that I can do whatever I want with. Thankfully I have some positive people around me. My cousin stepped up and offered his assistance. He'll be hosting my new site on his server, and I'll need to learn some website design in the process. We're still in the early stages of building but it's going fairly smoothly so far. It's pretty exciting and really feels like I'm taking the next step. Hopefully it still feels that way when the site design is complete, and I move onto filling it with content.

I'm going to make sure I post at least one more time on Blogger before I move to my new site. No idea when that will actually happen, but as of this moment the site is in it's infancy. I'm working on either finding the perfect theme to use, or learning the craft to build my own from scratch. The latter will probably take awhile, but the site will be exactly what I want if I gather my patience and go through with it.

Most likely I'll pick a theme I like, something that is as close as possible to what I want to build myself, and then work on creating my own theme later. That way I have more time to work and fill it with good content. With this site I was a little more worried about reaching that 100 article plateau, rather than writing the best articles possible. It wasn't exactly "quantity over quality" though, because I did spend hours writing each and every one. I just know that there were plenty of times where I posted something first, and edited it to perfection later. That's definitely not something I want to continue doing as I move into bigger and better things. There's always room for improvement.

Moving forward through 2011 and into the pleasantly warm weather (I write this as it's snowing outside, what happened to April showers?) I'm staying on course to make sure that each and every day I do something productive. Everyday I'm finding positive things to do; like getting exercise, drinking more water (ugh), spending extra time with friends and family, returning phone calls (I'm terrible for not ever doing this) or working on my skills.

I shouldn't have to tell anybody this, but life is so much easier when you're on a steady progressive path to achieve whatever it is you want out of life. When you're stuck doing the same things everyday and not making any progress towards your personal goals, it's easy to get stressed out. Here's a quick list of some of my favorite things to keep in mind to help enhance your personal productivity and feel good about how you spend your limited time:

1. Timing. Set aside a certain amount of time to perform a task. 15 minutes to make a nice dinner for your family, or 45 minutes to work on your website. Whatever the task is, work on it for at least the allotted time you set for it. Mini-victories are important to prove to yourself that you can accomplish something, even if you only have a short amount of free time.

2. Seek and destroy. Figure out what tasks are the most important for you to accomplish right away. Delegate any small tasks to someone else so you can focus on the more urgent matters. Which objectives take priority? Figure it out. Have something unpleasant to do? Get it out of the way first. Feel like you're overwhelmed with responsibilities? Share the responsibility with a friend or family-member.

3. Environment. Ensure that you're working in the best possible location. Working at an office? Keep it tidy and efficient. Working at home? Try your best to avoid distractions and negativity from other people. I find it's extremely difficult to get anything done if you don't surround yourself with like-minded people. Or if you like peace and quiet, go for a walk in the park to clear your head and get mentally focused on whatever you need to accomplish.

4. Tell a friend. Let someone you trust know about your commitments. When you actually open up and get your thoughts out into the world, I find I'm much more likely to actually go through with it and achieve the desired results. Your friends and family can help keep you accountable.

5. Take a break. We all need a break from time to time. As long as you're trying to accomplish a goal, you're already a step ahead of the majority of individuals. Feeling frustrated because you can't achieve the goal as quickly or precisely as you'd like? You deserve a break! Take a breather for all that hard work you've been doing. I find the quality of my work really suffers if I feel like I'm in a hurry, or if I have other things on my mind.

What I've been watching

Smallville

As of this posting I'm onto season 6 of one of my all-time favorite shows. Although I love the addition of Mr. Queen as the Green Arrow, so far this season is mostly meh. Especially after the awesomeness of season 5. So far, season 5 is easily my favorite season of the show. I can't recall a terrible episode at all, though I'm sure there were some, it's just impressive that none stood out to me as a memorably horrible episode. Lana as a vampire? Sure, it was pretty hot for a holiday episode. Lexmas? Loved it. That was the episode Lex Luthor leaped off the diving board and dove into the dark-side end of the pool. Good stuff Smallville. Green Arrow is keeping me watching right now, he's a very interesting character. Sort of an anti-hero type. Which is all the rave these days with shows like Breaking Bad and Dexter.

Prison Break

Last month I was browsing the Canadian Netflix content and saw they had uploaded all 4 seasons of Prison Break. A show I used to be into during it's original airing. I watched up until the second season ended and never did go back to it when the third began. I've heard mixed feelings anyways, so I wasn't too excited to watch it again. I was bored one night though so I decided to start the first season. It was in HD too so that helped. The first season of Prison Break is some of the best television you'll ever see. I'm very confident in saying that. I really enjoyed it. It's too bad the show changed so much as it went on.

NHL Playoffs

I bleed blue and white, I'm a Toronto Maple Leafs fan. They haven't made the playoffs is something like 7 years though. Even without my team in the playoffs, there's nothing I find more exciting than watching playoff hockey. This year, I'm cheering for the injured Pittsburgh Penguins team in the east, and the President's Trophy winning Vancouver Canucks in the west. Playoff games are on each and every day right now during the quarter finals, sometimes games can start as early as 2:30 in the afternoon, with games finishing off the night at around 1am. I couldn't be happier with so much epic hard-hitting hockey to watch. Maybe next year my Leafs will be able to play a little post-season. Crossing my fingers!

What I've Been Playing

DC Universe Online

I'm still enjoying this PS3 Massive Multiplayer Online game. Though I'm on the fence about whether I'm going to continue paying for it after my subscription is up next month. The league I created is going strong, with plenty of friendly and dedicated players filling out the ranks. I've made quite a few friends because of DCUO, I'm very thankful for that. These are people that I would have never spoken to (that's right, voice chat baby!) if it wasn't for this game. I'm just not sure if it's worth the $15/month I'll need to pay to play it after May 19th.

Patapon 3

Now here's a game with a difficult to define genre. We've got deep RPG elements, rhythm based game-play, unique visuals, and some tunes you'll find yourself suddenly humming from time to time. Chaka Chaka Pata Pon! You start off as an Uberhero, and you get the option to start as one of three job classes. They all have totally unique and sometimes hard to pronounce names for each of the job classes, but basically there's the bow type, spear type, and shielded type to start with. Each of these Patapon types can be grown and evolved into plenty of new job classes.

Once you get your team set, you can jump into some story battles, which is where things get really interesting. Your party moves across the screen on a 2D battlefield. However, they won't do anything without your commands. You use each of the PSP's face-buttons (X, Circle, Triangle, and Square) to play different instruments, making sure to go along with the beat as best you can. Songs can command your units to advance, retreat, attack, and defend. There are plenty of songs to use in different situations.

Overall, it's a pretty awesome game and I find myself staying up way later than I planned to. There's always that new weapon that might drop during the next battle. Or perhaps a new job class will unlock with just one more level up.

In conclusion...

This post has kind of been a mish-mash of topics, and I could have probably separated it into at least a couple different articles. Seeing as this might be one of the last few articles I write on Blogger, I figured I'd just post about all the things I've been thinking about. As soon as my new website is available to be browsed by the web people, I'll post the details on here so people know where to go. I'm not really sure if I'll be sticking to the television/gaming tag though. Who knows, I have several ideas about where I should go next. Maybe I'll write an e-book or something!

Square's Greatest Hits

2011-03-14T17:16:00.001-04:00

According to the Official Playstation Blog, which has just received a complete visual make-over, Parasite Eve will be releasing on PSN this coming Tuesday for $5.99. Which is a nice discount since the PS1 Final Fantasy's from the same generation are listed at $9.99.

There's no doubt they have me sold the moment Parasite Eve is available for download, but with all these classic Square games going up for sale week after week, is this Square's own greatest hits album? Musicians release their greatest hits albums to cash-in on past successes. It's pretty clear that Square is trying to do the exact same thing. Is this the beginning of the end for Square-Enix?

Probably not. However, this clearly hasn't been the best year for Square-Enix. They saw serious drops in sales and earnings through 2010 and I don't see anything on the immediate horizon that will sell as well as FFXIII did in Japan.

All that negativity aside, I'm currently looking forward to The 3rd Birthday, Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy, and Final Fantasy IV: Complete. All three are PSP games and set to release in the next couple months. Will they be big sellers? I don't know. Hopefully it's enough to keep Square-Enix pumping out top quality PSP games. I've been very impressed with everything they've released on PSP and so far and have yet to see anything from Square-Enix on the PS3 worth the full $59.99 price.

MMO FreeRealms Finally Launching For PS3

2011-03-11T15:25:00.003-05:00

March 29th, 10 days after my 30th birthday, is going to be a pretty exciting day for Playstation 3 owners and MMO fans. FreeRealms, which launched on PC a few years back, is set to get it's PS3 debut.

DC Universe Online too expensive for ya? FreeRealms is free to play, but also has a lifetime one-time subscription of $35 if you want to get all the bells and whistles (or you can pay $5 monthly). I played FreeRealms for a few months when it first launched on PC and even though it's geared towards the "family friendly" mentality, it was a blast to play. It was something that both my 10 year old niece and myself could enjoy together.

The Official Playstation Blog broke the news today and also filled us in on some of the details. Some good, some not so much. First the bad news: You can't play with PC players, nor can you use an already purchased lifetime membership towards this new PS3 version. That's it for the bad news, unless you were looking for Move support or PS+ content. Which isn't in there currently according to Stephen Bokkes, the one that revealed this new version of FreeRealms. There is however, plenty of good news: We get full trophy support (46 trophies) all the mini-games that were included in the PC version, all adapted to the dualshock3 controller. So that's cart-racing, tower defense, puzzle games, demolition derby, soccer, and some kind of pirate ship battle, to name a few.

The most addictive part about this MMORPG is leveing up the various job classes (they range from ninja's to mailman, seriously) as well as the in depth collectible card game. So again that's March 29th, 2011. There's no reason not to give FreeRealms a download and see for yourself why FreeRealms broke the 3-million player mark back in 2009.

A Combination of Thoughts and Ideas

2011-02-22T22:13:00.006-05:00

I haven't had as much time to write as I'd like, wait... let me try that again. I haven't felt the overwhelming need to write about my personal thoughts and interests like I did when I started this website. Currently, money is a big motivation for me, and as of right now, I haven't made a cent on this site. That's certainly not to say I haven't gained a tremendous amount of knowledge since I started this back in July. Knowledge that will surely help me with any future-endeavors I decide to explore in the future. But money was a big motivation for me when I had the idea to get on the web and DO something productive, yet fun. I just need to keep working towards understanding this complicated jig-saw puzzle they call website monetization.

It's strange how I actually feel guilty writing about how money was the leading factor when I began this site. Everyone needs a cash flow, though a lot of people want it more than others. I've never been wealthy, and never had more than $700 in my bank account at one time. If you include the few minor debts I have, I've probably always been in the minus column when it comes to cash. I've always just barely got by, which was fine with me. As long as I can buy myself enough food to get through the week, and buy myself a video game a month, I'm just peachy. However, last year I began thinking about my future in ways I haven't previously, like Financially.

As of this moment, I'm not exactly sure what other avenue's I need to take to make money through this particular website. I started it with the hopes that eventually I would have enough high-quality content to bring in enough visitors so ads on my site would make sense. Perhaps the subject matter isn't all that great (despite getting 150-300 visitors a day on average), but it's really what I know best. I've spent a lot of my time playing video games and analyzing television shows. It's what I've always done with my spare time, ever since I was a kid. Figured I should probably try to do something with all this knowledge. Perhaps make a buck or two while doing it. So far though, that hasn't panned out.

I've had plenty of jobs that range from working with my hands in a factory, to dealing with customers in a call center. I've jumped from one job to the next, hardly sticking with the same job for more than a year. Something always comes up to ruin the party, then I always have to make a change. Usually that happens right around the moment I think to myself, (or sometimes say aloud) "Wow, I'm actually pretty happy with where I am in life right now." Then I lose my job, my apartment, my girlfriend, and I go back to school while I look for work. 10 years ago I turned 20, and this same cycle has happened at least 3 times now. I don't want to work at a dead-end job, no matter how many people tell me "It's just what people do." I won't accept it. I need to do something I feel passionate about.

I've always loved to be creative. Not simply enjoying the act of drawing and writing, but actually BEING creative in general. I like to create things. The final product is what's important to me. Make something from nothing. This website wasn't here a year ago, I created it. It's an awe-inspiring feeling when you make something significant like a website with over 100 articles. Creativity is something that drives me. What better way than to create something that everyone on the planet could potentially enjoy? Especially when there's a strong possibility that if I work hard enough at it, I could make enough passive income to get by. Wish I would of started this site years ago, now I feel like I'm playing catch-up to what could of already been.

As of right now, I'm looking at a program called Site Build It!. Pay $30 a month and you get all the resources you need to start your own e-commerce website. It's also a Canada based company, so I don't have to worry too much about whether I'm even able to sign up or not (You know ...because I'm Canadian.) It sounds like a great deal considering all the tools you get to help bring traffic to your site, and turn that into passive income. Problem is, I don't know what type of site I want to make. All I know is I want to do something on my own time that I can be passionate about. I need to find that one topic that I have interest in that is also in high demand, but not a topic that is over-saturated with e-commerce sites already.

I need to find where I fit in this puzzle and figure out if this is even the path I should be taking. I've read plenty of great reviews on SBI!, and I'm constantly being bombarded with proverbial road-signs almost every day. Each one pointing me in the direction of this popular income generating program. As my brother-in-law so simply put it, "What's $30 a month to at least try it?" He's spot on, of course. I'm feeling more and more that this is the piece of the jig-saw puzzle that I was missing. SBI! should give me everything I need to succeed in starting up my own online business, or at least learning a hell of a lot more about how to do it on my own.

Why haven't I done it yet then? There's still something holding me back from diving in. It's like I have this road-block in my head, and I think I might know why it's there. Paying $30 to get started feels like I'm just helping someone else make money. Someone else came up with the idea to offer expansive yet easy-to-use web-building tools that just about anyone can use. On the other hand though, once I start making more than $40 a month with my own SBI!-assisted website then I'll be making profit, and doing something I actually care about. Something I want to spend my time on and continuously grow until it becomes a full fledged online business I can be proud of.

Overall, I'm pretty sure it's worth taking the risk. I've mentioned Site Build It! to a lot of people close to me, and the last thing I want is to fail at this. I truly believe that I have something to offer to the world. And with all the research I've done on SBI!, I'm very confident that through this program I'll be able to use it to my advantage. Perhaps all I need to do is take a leap of faith.

DC Universe Online To Get Insanely Huge Update

2011-02-18T18:59:00.006-05:00

Well, the complainers have complained about the glitches, bugs, and UI missteps since around... oh, day 1-ish. And although I'd rather get a few fixes here and there rather than a huge update more than a month after release, I'll take what I can get (Thanks complainers!). I love DCUO, and I know this is a serious MMO with potential. I'll stick around for awhile yet. Check out the full update notes below, keep in mind, it's a doozy.

The official DCUO announcement forum posted the following patch info, with the actual patch apparently hitting on the 22nd of this month. RadarX, moderator for the forums, also posted this response regarding these updates. Among all the excellent patch notes (which will be posted in full down below my thoughts), a few things stick out for me from my personal DCUO experience. I also gotta thank SOE for all their hard work with this upcoming update.

- Auction House: I've been saving my cash knowing that an auction house was incoming. Can't wait to get a full on economy going. It might take awhile to really get it set, but I want to be a part of that early phase.

- "The red balloons in the Vault should now weaponize properly." Maybe I'm missing something, but what exactly does this mean? I don't remember any red balloons in the vault. Especially any that were able to pick up to "weaponize"

- "While in PvP, targeting a Tank with an offensive power while in the Healing role will now properly remove Ice damage absorption and reduce Fire specific healing capabilities." The PvP in this game is actually pretty deep. I just wish it was explained more in the manual and in-game. It plays a lot like rock-paper-scissors.

- Fire Balancing: Over the past few days I've been arguing with a league mate over what we think about the Fire power. He thought it was overpowered, I didn't notice any such thing. He was obviously correct by looking at this list of Fire power changes.

- Rifle Mortar: I've been using rifles with my Ice tank character and have been really enjoying it. It'll be interesting to see how these new mortar changes feel. So excited to see SOE hard at work fixing even the little things.

- Ace Chemicals Chemo will reset properly: YES!

- "Players no longer have to return to the quest giver when completing a side quest, but instead can complete the quest via the Journal." Even though I didn't mind traveling back to the NPC's to finish quests, this definitely helps in keeping the game streamlined.

- Avatar of Sin spawns faster: Should be hearing less shouting about this.

Alright, there are plenty of other interesting things I've noticed that I can't wait to check out, but I'll leave it at this. Check out the full list of upcoming changes yourself. And remember, February 22nd.

New Features:

New Batcave Raid – 8 players will have the opportunity to infiltrate and retake Batman's Inner Sanctum, which has been overrun by OMAC and the Dark Knight's own corrupted technology. Fight along side Batman against Brother Eye!
New Appearance Items – Earn a Harlequin Clown suit or a Cherub disguise through a variety of holiday activities.
Goddess of Love Alert – Join up with three others to decide the epic battle between Devotion and Scorn once and for all.
New Races – Can you catch Catwoman as she leaps across buildings in Gotham City?
New Collections - All new collection sets will allow players to continue finding these hidden items.
New Themed Missions – Enjoy various missions that will challenge the player in combat, jumping, and much more.
A New Bane Duo – Another Duo has been added for your enjoyment! Pair up with another player and take on Bane for a chance at great loot.
New PvP Ring Event – Available on both PvP and PvE servers, Heroes and villains race to either save or steal valuable bags of diamonds from armored vans.
An Auction House - Players may now buy and sell tradeable items on a Broker in The Watchtower and Hall of Doom.
New Armor – Make your way to the Gotham Museum and help Catwoman to receive pieces of brand new Mayan armor!

General:

Improved Server and Client stability.
Added additional support for PC Game Controllers.
An issue where software overclocking would cause gameplay to appear laggy should have been resolved.
Players should no longer be prevented from moving if the Object or NPC they are interacting with despawns during the interaction.
Stealthed characters should no longer become visible if you move far away from them and then move towards them again.
The red balloons in the Vault should now weaponize properly.
Super canceling too early out of longer animating multi-hit weapon combos will now cause you to drop one or more of the attacks hits.

Abilities:

Damage Role buffs now last for a maximum of three minutes.
Channeled abilities will no longer bypass the channeling time when used during another channeled attack.
Harmful Superpowers can no longer cancel into other Superpowers.
While in PvP, targeting a Tank with an offensive power while in the Healing role will now properly remove Ice damage absorption and reduce Fire specific healing capabilities.

Fire:

Absorb Heat’s description now correctly describes that the ability only stuns enemies that have Burning effects.
Absorb Heat – Corrected an issue that could cause Absorb Heat to restore more health than intended.
Consume Objects no longer affects projectiles.
Enflame now grants +100 to Control Resistance when in the Tank Role.
Enflame’s description now indicates that it can ignite enemies on contact.
Eternal Flame’s description now correctly describes the increase to the player’s health that is applied.
Fiery Weapon’s description has been updated to more accurately reflect its effects.
Immolation now grants +100 to Control Resistance when in the Tank Role.
Immolation’s description has been updated to message that it reflects damage from attackers.
Inferno should no longer temporarily break the hit counter.
Reignition’s description now correctly states that it takes 25% supercharge instead of 50%.
Snuff Out’s description no longer implies that it deals damage to multiple targets.
Spontaneous Combustion will no longer hit the same target more often than was intended.
Stoke Flame should no longer temporarily break the hit counter.

Ice:

Bitter Winds now grants +100 to Control Resistance when in the Tank Role.
Bitter Winds’s description now correctly indicates that it can be purchased at level 8 instead of level 12.
Bitter Winds’s description no longer says that it is vulnerable to interrupt as it is not.
Bitter Wind should no longer temporarily break the hit counter.
Cold Snap now grants +100 to Control Resistance when in the Tank Role.
Ice Bash now properly displays the damage it causes when it procs. It was causing the damage but the fly text was not displaying previously.
Resonating Gale now damages enemies even when they are encased.
Winter Ward’s damage reflection effect that is applied to team members now has two charges to bring it in line with the effect applied to the Tank.
Wintry Tempest should no longer temporarily break the hit counter.

Mental:

Cryokinesis should now encase properly even when under Frostnipped.
Mass Levitation now correctly displays the 50% increase in damage in the Current Effects (F3) window.
Psychic Empowerment will now properly give power to group members.
Psychic Resonance will now properly work on encased targets.
Pyrokineses – The secondary damage over time effect should no longer stack with multiple applications.
Reflect Pain has had its damage lowered slightly but has gained some damage prevention during its duration.

Movement:

Dustoff will now prevent damage for either 8 seconds or up to 500 damage.
Inertial Flywheel will now work while having an object weaponized.
Speed Drain should now apply the power restoration of the ability.
Superspeed Dash now has an increased cooldown.
Superspeed Dash can no longer be cancelled early.

Nature:

The description for the Canine Form ability Fling no longer incorrectly states that it requires supercharge.
The description for the Canine Form ability Thrash no longer incorrectly states that it requires supercharge.
Deadly Thorns will not cause damage if canceled early.
Gorilla Form now correctly indicates that it is a supercharge ability and that the effect is temporary.
Gorilla Form’s ranged hold special ability should now function properly. Other Gorilla attacks should have the appropriate vulnerability and counter attacking properties.
Insectoid Form has gained a Pulse Beam style ranged attack combo to provide it with some interesting ranged options.
Metabolism should apply its Pheromone effects to group members now.
Pheromone lasts for a longer duration with a decreased average healing amount.
Primal Wolf Form’s description now correctly indicates that it can only be used in the Damage role.
The Pterosaur Form ability Prehistoric Might now displays a Might icon in the drop down under the heath bar to indicate the Might buff that it grants.
Prehistoric Might should now apply its affect to group members.
Roar’s description now includes the healing effects it provides.
Swarm should no longer temporarily break the hit counter.

Sorcery:

Transmutation no longer affects projectiles.
Final Ruin will not cause damage if canceled early.

Weapons:

Martial Arts ranged attacks now trigger the hit counter.
Explosive Shot should no longer fail when chaining these attacks.
Rain of Arrows should no longer fail when chaining these attacks.
Rifle Mortar now respects line of sight.
Rifle Mortar will now cause damage to objects.
The Two Handed ability Doom Spin no longer continues to do damage once the animation and visual effect have stopped.
The Hand Blaster ability Pulse Beam no longer continues to do damage once the animation and visual effect have stopped.
The Dual Pistol ability Full Auto no longer continues to do damage once the animation and visual effect have stopped.
The Dual Pistol Ability Full Auto’s description has been updated to note it offers a +4 Vitalization bonus.
The Dual Pistol Ability Full Auto will now cause damage to objects
The description for the Two-Handed ability Big Scoop now correctly displays the +15 health that it gives.
Solar Flame now properly displays the visual effect

Alerts, Duos, and Raids:

Ace Chemicals: the Chemo boss fight will now reset correctly when the party dies and all members leave the room.
Area 51: Players will no longer be blocked from speaking with Cadmus Techs who were getting stuck trying to take missiles to the Munitions Teleporters.
Arkham Asylum: In Hard Mode, Poison ivy should now always leave after her initial in-game Cinematic.
Bludhaven: Tthe objective to “Destroy the Dump Truck” will not reappear after it has been destroyed unless all of the Hazmats are knocked out.
Hive Moon Base: the explosives in the second stage should now respawn more frequently.
Ooloong Island: Objectives should now always display in the proper order.
Oolong Island: Players should no longer have trouble progressing if Tornado Tyrant leaves the room.
Oolong Island: Players will no longer get stuck in a loop transforming into Metal Men and back into normal form.
Smallville: Players can no longer exit without receiving the Headline.
Hall of Doom Armory: The Demon Lord’s fire effects should now properly point towards the target of the attack.
Omac Base: Killer Frost and Fire now have in-game cinematic cameras near the beginning of the Duo.
Omac Base: The Incinerator should no longer be able to end up on the wrong side of the door.
Omac Base: The Nanosynths should no longer be able to end up on the wrong side of the door.

Metropolis:

The Metropolis City Hall building should now have proper collision preventing players from getting inside it.
Players should no longer be able to fall through the world near the base of the CAO dam in the Historic District.
Players should no longer be able to fall through the world in several spots along the Metropolis shoreline.
The gorillas in Little Bohemia are now friendly to Villain players.

Gotham City:

Pedestrians should no longer get stuck while wandering in the East End of Gotham.
The balconies near Gotham University should now have proper collision on them.
Players should no longer be able to get inside the root of the East End Lighthouse.

Missions:

Players no longer have to return to the quest giver when completing a side quest, but instead can complete the quest via the Journal.
Testing 1, 2, 3 - Raven can no longer get stuck outside of the flame wall when using her teleport attack.
Trigon’s Blood - The wheelchairs throughout the instance will no longer explode.
Avatar of Sin - The Avatar of Sin should now respawn more frequently.
Shipping and Handling - Huntress should no longer remain attackable after being defeated.
The Awakening - The Brainiac Soldier seen in the first Overseer Cutscene will no longer sometimes get stuck in the door.
The Awakening - The time before the first door opens and the NPCs in the hall spawn has been increased to allow for the comms to finish playing.
Failing STARs - Encounters should no longer spawn inside statues or benches.
Take Heart - Players no longer have to touch the obelisk that converts them into the Embodiment of Greed again before taking the Heart of Avarice.
Take Heart - Players are now provided with a minimap marker to the obelisk that provides them with Greed form.
Supersize Souls - Players no longer have to touch the obelisk that converts them into the Embodiment of Gluttony again before devouring the souls of superheroes.
Conduit of the Soul - Lightkeeper Taleb will no longer shoot effects from his hand when interacted with by the player.
Conduit of the Soul - Players can no longer weaponize Lightkeeper Taleb’s Soul Globe.
Soul Catcher - The Soul Wells are no longer floating above the ground.
Brain Pain - The number of mobs in the final wave of the turret defense room has been reduced. This should make the encounter much more survivable.
Tortured Titans! - After defeating the Titans and releasing Brother Blood from Raven’s magic, the player will now receive a communicator message from Calculator before the comic cutscene plays.
The Last Laugh - Joker Presents should no longer be stuck in the walls.
The Big Payback - Patrolmen will no longer slide along the ground after being knocked out if a Villain fails to strap a bomb on them in time.
One of Us - Hazmat Bogue will no longer float above the ground.
Bane Brought Down - The waypoint arrow for Batman will now be displayed.
Fear Itself - The in-game cinematic for Edward and Eddie will no longer jitter.
Fixed various grammar issues and typos in the quest text descriptions and objectives.
Party Foul - The female officers no longer have male voices.
Queen of Lies - During the Aquaman boss fight, Circe no longer retains her signature cape and sash when transforming into Mera.
Queen of Lies - After leaving the instance, but before speaking with the Atlanteans, the player now shapechanges into Atlantean form when returning to the instance.
Rare Blood - the clerics near the quest giver can no longer be attacked by the opposite faction.

Daily Missions:

The Captain Cruel encounter will now count towards completion of the mission.
The armored truck robbery will now count towards completion of the mission.
The Ironkurtin encounter will now count towards completion of the mission.

Feats:

All feat descriptions that said ”KO’d” now say “Knocked Out” instead.
“Walked the Beat” should now properly complete for Villains when finishing the last mission.
Changed the descriptions of the PvE Badge Feats to indicate that they can use either Marks of Triumph or Marks of Distinction to complete the feat.
“Amazing Aerialist” for Acrobats will now correctly update when you complete the East End Adept Acrobat Challenge.
“In the Mist” for completing the first Grodd story arc contact missions is now working correctly. Players who have already completed the requirements for this feat should have it update and complete for them automatically.

Items:

Equipping the Sharpened Synthium Katana will now collect the Tech Ninja Sword style.
Consuming a single use item will no longer display that “Player Destroyed Item” in the combat log.
Addressed an issue where tokens dropped for a group would display the purple icon for an item rather than a Token. This caused confusion because there was no item for players to roll on.

PvP:

In Metropolis, Manhunter and Alpha Lantern should no longer get stuck in a state where they will not attack the enemy faction while guarding their vendor.
In Metropolis, the rally locations for the Ring War PvP event should now be at an equal distance from the battle.
It should no longer be possible to dodge roll to avoid the push back attack of the guards at safe houses.
Added particle effects to the diamond heist bags when a faction is close to winning.

Races:

All players in a multiplayer race should now be able to properly activate the first hoop in the race.
Moved the race start node up a bit for the Metropolis Little Bohemia Adept Acrobat Challenge.
The rewards for the intro races in Little Bohemia now have icons.
Added race descriptions for the Expert Flight and Expert Speedster challenges.

UI:

Art for the countdown/up timer around overhead icons has been updated
The character select screen will now show you the number of characters that you currently have out of the maximum number of available slots.
Loot collection notifications will now only be sent for nearby group members.
When playing a Legends match the levels of other players are no longer displayed on the UI.
Corrected the messaging for the On Duty UI when no arenas have become available for a player.
Reward mails should now be resent if the initial attempt fails.
The Group Loot UI should no longer completely abandon all input if it is open when the scorecard appears automatically.
The On Duty UI now sports a new Events category, under which you can find special events or seasonal scenarios.
You are no longer able to "Leave" a PvE type On Duty scenario from the UI (you will need to use one of the exit locations.
You are no longer able to close the Scorecard UI at the end of a PvP type on Duty scenario (you can only leave the map).
The player character paper doll now fades in on the Style and Inventory UI screens.
The "Delete Item" functionality in the Bank UI has been moved to Button 4 on the controller (Triangle on PS3).
The Control Schemes settings should now always from appear on the PC client.
The buff/debuff list will now show the correct source for chains of effects.
Keys held down during the start of the comic cutscenes will no longer be stuck “on” after the cutscene completes.
The combat log text now specifies “Melee Attack” or “Ranged Attack” instead of just displaying “Primary Attack’.
Fixed combo localization issues in the Traits UI.
Fixed combo icon art issues in the Traits UI.
The ‘\’ (back slash)key will now toggle the PDA to the last window or cancel a race challenge. IF you have been using ‘/’ (forward slash) to cancel your races please use ‘\’ instead.
Collector’s Edition items will no longer have square icons but will display the correct circular art when visible on the hotbar.

Social:

Added “Loot” as a new default Chat tab.
Added new configurable chat channels for “Items” and “Cash” which get routed to the “Loot” Chat tab by default.
The League message of the day is now labeled when appearing in the Chat channel.
The PS3 virtual keyboard will no longer automatically pop up in quickchat mode if you have a keyboard connected to the PS3.
Reply to tells should now continue working after opening/closing UIs.
Pressing ‘/’ (forward slash) on the keyboard will now open quick chat mode and automatically add a slash to the text field.
Current chat channel setting should now persist properly after opening/closing UIs.
Removed flashing notifications from the tabs in the Quick Chat UI.
On the Social UI the Selection focus now starts in the Who list.
Removed the flashing tab notifications on the Social UI.
Improved the layout of Voice Chat options on the Social UI.

Visuals:

Sorcery characters should now have a casting animation when using Final Ruin.
Addressed an issue that made it appear as though you are using Block on the client though you are not actually blocking on the server.
The visual effect for the Iconic power Robot Sidekick should now display properly.
The visual effect for the hand Blaster power Solar Flame should now display properly.
Patched a hole in the wall of gifts where players could sometimes become trapped.
The Spite and Smitten Emote animations have now been improved.
The Auto Zoom Camera option now works when in combat.
The camera motion when transitioning into a glide has been improved.
The camera motion when a player lands after a fall has been improved.
The camera should no longer stop following the player when melee attacking in Wolf Form.
The Martian Manhunter’s communications animations have been improved in the Smallville Alert.
Flight characters should orient properly when using ‘jump’ to fly straight up.
The Twisted Harness should now be collectible and visible when worn for female characters.
All items using the Jah Kir appearance will now properly display for male and female characters.
The large female body type should now play the proper animations for the chosen personality type.
The following items should have an improved appearance:
The Shoulders of Azar
The Metalhead Boots
The Battle Harness Shirt
The Power Reinforced Boots
The Heeled Female Boots
The Tall Trim Female Boots
The Shielded Robot Helmet
The Centurion Helmet
The Medieval Shirt
The Striker Trench Coat
The Paramilitary Shirt
The Paramilitary Pants
The Formal Ahirt
The Opera Pants
The Demonic Boots
The Demonic Shirt
The Demonic Helmet
The Steel Raid Shirt
The Angelic Chest
The Welder’s Helmet
The Knight’s Helmet
The Urban Slick Pants

Audio:

Communicator messages should no longer play multiple times when activating new quests.
Staff ranged effects should now play audio.
In the mission Empty Parts, Technician Larz is no longer missing his voiceover when interacting with him.
In “The Joker’s Problem” Joker’s voiceover should now match the text of his communicator message.

DC Universe Online February Content Detailed

2011-02-11T19:15:00.008-05:00

DCUO has been taking up a lot of my time recently and so the game is flowing over into just about everything I do. The posts on this site are no exception. I do have a Smallville article in the works, as well as my complete thoughts I've yet to finish on a show I started watching called Eureka. For now though, let's discuss the upcoming new content for DCUO. There's quite a bit.

According to an IGN DCUO ad banner, this content will see the light of day on February 15th. Here's the full list of all the new stuff you'll soon get to play around with. All of which is found on this IGN article. Or you can just check it out below.

EDIT: Clearly this content didn't release the day after Valentines, according to RadarX, an official mod on the official DCUO forums, this content has been slightly delayed but is in final testing. He presumes it'll be fully launched by the end of the week.

"What's happening in February is more like what's happening going forward -- we're going to just keep growing the thing," said Chris Cao, DCUO game director.

Catwoman

SOE has been hyping a classic character playing a large role in this batch of content, and it turns out it's Catwoman. Selina Kyle is going to factor into a few new parts to DCUO.

Level 30 Catwoman Episode: Here, your character will race to Gotham Museum and find Catwoman robbing the joint. Then, some ancient Egyptian artifacts turn people into lions and tigers that you have to fight. Look for five boss battles in this mission.
Legends PVP: Catwoman will now be playable in "Play as Iconic" PVP.
Multiplayer Race: Chase Catwoman with your friends.
New Loot: You'll now be able to collect the "ancient Mayan Armor" and "Cat Burglar" gear.

Valentine's Day

Believe it or not, February is for lovers -- and now, DCUO is, too. In a rather interesting move, the Goddess of Love is pissed and has put down fountains across Metropolis. Enter one of these, and you'll be transported to a 100-person instance where you'll play as a cherub and battle "to determine the true meaning of love."

Collectable Hearts: Completing races, participating in PVP and other actions will earn you hearts that you can use to purchase chocolates and gifts to give to other players.
PVP Battles: Dunk the other team into the fountain.
Love Alert: This is a four-player boss fight against the Goddess of Love, Devotion and Scorn.
Loot: There's a new harlequin clown suit with hearts and a cherub disguise to earn.
Mock the Boss: When you replay boss fights, you'll be able to give them "be mine" cards for Feat points.

More Cool Stuff

New Duo: A two-player Bane duo will be available for players.
PVP Expansion: There will be a new Gotham PVP zone.
New Tier 2 Raid: There's a new eight-player raid zone for the Batcave. You'll fight alongside Batman against Brainiac and Brother Eye.
Buy and Sell: Auction houses will go live in the Watchtower and the Hall of Doom so that players can swap gear on a massive scale.
Additions: New collections, races and investigations will be added.

Early Adopters For DC Universe Online Get A Discount

2011-02-04T13:37:00.003-05:00

Did you pick up your PS3 DCUO on launch day? Well if you're a die-hard DCUO fan then you'll be pleased to know that pretty soon you'll be able to pay $10/mo (instead of the usual $14.99) indefinitely. That's right, awesome deal right? There's a catch though, you have to purchase the Legendary Plan ($29.99 for 3 months service) from the PSN before either your free 30 days ends, or March 1st. Whichever arrives first. Full details below.

It's been an exciting month for us at DC Universe Online, with so many players creating their legend and trying to become the next ultimate hero or villain. Metropolis may be under siege and Gotham City in peril, but an overwhelming number of you have stepped up in their defense!

In appreciation of you pioneers we are going to be offering the chance to lock in an extraordinary promotional rate of only $29.99 for the 3-month DC Universe Online Legend Plan. That's over 25% OFF the regular 3-month subscription plan price of $41.99! You'll even be able to keep that rate for as long as you are actively subscribed and watch the savings pile up! You really won't want to miss out on this great opportunity! The new rate will be available on February 8th so look out for it!

Lock in your savings as soon as you can once its available! Here's why….

You'll need lock in this rate prior to the end of the 30-day subscription included with your software purchase, or by March 1, 2011 (when the promotion ends), whichever comes first. Why? – because if your current subscription plan kicks in before you choose the Legend Plan, the $29.99 rate wont apply until after your currently selected plan ends.

Related Posts:

- DC Universe Online Voice Chat Issues Are Finally Addressed
- DC Universe Online Growing Pains
- More Tips And Tricks For DC Universe Online
- Beginners Guide To The World Of DC Universe Online

New Epic DC Universe Online Video

2011-02-03T21:17:00.003-05:00

I've been looking for a game like DCUO for a lot of years. Awesome action-oriented gameplay, huge online community, a massive open-world, interesting comic-book story, and a firm guarantee that you'll always have something to do. But let's focus on the second last point, the story. The opening movie for DCUO is just plain awesome, hands down some of the best CG work I've ever seen. And now we have another video of similar quality, found on IGN. Check it out below along with my impressions.

I wonder when we'll have this video implemented into DCUO, and how it'll be done. Perhaps after a later mission where future-Batman shows up to explain how Lex has been deceiving everyone, that is if future-Batman survived the Brainac attack. Although, he did survive once already. How sweet is it that Batman, a non-super-powered hero seems to be the only survivor of the Justice League?

Playstation Meeting 2011 Part 3

2011-01-29T22:33:00.003-05:00

This is the Playstation Meeting 2011 Part 3, if you're looking for part 1, find it here. Continue reading for the last chunk of videos.

Playstation Meeting 2011 Part 2

2011-01-29T22:30:00.003-05:00

This is part 2 of the Playstation Meeting 2011 video. If you're looking for part 1, find it right here. Otherwise, continue on!

Playstation Meeting 2011 Part 1

2011-01-29T22:26:00.007-05:00

Straight from Joystiq, here is the full unveiling of the new Playstation Portable, the NGP. Check it out below! You can find part two and three from these links. Keep in mind this is mostly in Japanese. There are English on-screen indicators though explaining what's what.

Lid Officially Lifted on the PSP2, Codenamed: NGP

2011-01-27T12:36:00.006-05:00

Today in Tokyo, Sony announced a brand new handheld device. Seemingly the PSP2, but currently named the NGP (Next Generation Portable), and it looks sweet. Dual analog sticks? Yes please. Check out all the details below. Well, all the details besides a price. Which I believe it'll be well over $300, just look at these specs.

Key NGP features:

Multi-touch 5-inch organic light emitting display (OLED) as the front display
Multi-touch pad on the rear of the device
Dual analog sticks
Two cameras (front and rear)
Software titles on small, dedicated flash memory-based cards
Three motion sensors, gyroscope, accelerometer and electronic compass
Wi-Fi and 3G network connectivity
PlayStation Network access, including ““LiveArea™”, “Near” and “Activity” log features Trophy Support
NGP will be able to play PSP titles, minis, PS one classics, video and comics from the PlayStation Store.

Now, the technical specs:

CPU	ARM® Cortex™-A9 core (4 core)
GPU	SGX543MP4+
External Dimensions	Approx. 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm (width x height x depth) (tentative, excludes largest projection)
Screen (Touch screen)	5 inches (16:9), 960 x 544, Approx. 16 million colors, OLED Multi touch screen (capacitive type)
Rear touch pad	Multi touch pad (capacitive type)
Cameras	Front camera, Rear camera
Sound	Built-in stereo speakers Built-in microphone
Sensors	Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), Three-axis electronic compass
Location	Built-in GPS Wi-Fi location service support
Keys / Switches	PS button Power button Directional buttons (Up/Down/Right/Left) Action buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square) Shoulder buttons (Right/Left) Right stick, Left stick START button, SELECT button Volume buttons (+/-)
Wireless communications	Mobile network connectivity (3G) IEEE 802.11b/g/n (n = 1×1) (Wi-Fi) (Infrastructure mode/Ad-hoc mode) Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR （A2DP/AVRCP/HSP）

Software Franchises shown or talked about at PlayStation Meeting 2011 (titles are not final)

Killzone
Uncharted
WipEout
LittleBigPlanet
Call of Duty
Resistance
Little Deviants
Hot Shots Golf
Reality Fighters
Gravity Daze
Smart As
Broken
Hustle Kings

Well, what do you think? Pretty impressive right? I honestly can't wait to get my hands on one of these. However, I cringe at the thought of how expensive it will be. I'm not looking forward to reading all those "Didn't Sony learn with the PS3?" articles. Who knows though, I think $299 is the sweet spot.

Playstation Store Weekly Update for 01/25/11

2011-01-26T00:22:00.004-05:00

I've been playing too much DC Universe Online to even remember that the Playstation Store updated today. After looking at the list of new content though, there really isn't anything all that special. Although, if you haven't already picked up the games listed on this weeks big sale, then you're in for a treat. Check it out.

11 for 2011 PS3 Game Sale (offers good thru Mon., 1/31/11)

Comet Crash – Sale (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Costume Quest – Sale (PS3)(now $7.49, original price $14.99)
Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue – Sale (PS3) (now $7.49, original price $14.99)
Hoard – Sale (PS3) (now $7.49, original price $14.99)
Motorstorm 3D Rfit – Sale (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Peggle – Sale (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Shatter – Sale (PS3) (now $3.99, original price $7.99)
Soldner-X-2: The Final Prototype – Sale (PS3) (now $6.49, original price $12.99)
Space Invaders Infinity Gene – Sale (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Swords and Soldiers – Sale (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Tumble – Sale (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)

Updates

Super Street Fighter IV: Super Complete Alternate Costume Pack – Sale (PS3) (now $9.99, original price $17.99)
Top Gun – Permanent Price Drop (PS3) (now $9.99, original price $14.99)

Downloadable Games

Dead Space Extraction ($14.99)
Fight your way through an epic battle for survival in the prequel to 2008’s critically acclaimed Dead Space.
Dead Space Extraction places you dead in the middle of the initial Necromorph invasion that threatens humanity. Find out how the terror began in this action horror experience in full HD exclusively on the PlayStation 3 system.
ESRB Rated M
File size: 3.46 GB

Game Demos (free)

Bulletstorm Demo
Play through the incredible ‘Collapsed Building’ level in Bulletstorms high scoring ‘Echoes ‘ mode. Arm yourself with the PMC, Flail gun and Screamer pistol and unleash Bulletstorms unique combat mechanics to annihilate your foes and, more importantly, top the leaderboards!
ESRB Rated M
File size: 1.16 GB
Dead Space Extraction Demo
Fight your way through an epic battle for survival in the prequel to 2008’s critically acclaimed Dead Space.
Dead Space Extraction places you dead in the middle of the initial Necromorph invasion that threatens humanity. Find out how the terror began in this action horror experience in full HD exclusively on the PlayStation 3 system.
ESRB Rated M
File size: 3.46 GB

Add-on Game Content

Eye Pet – Emergency Pack ($2.99)
Ever dream of becoming a fire fighter or a police officer? Now you and your EyePet can come to the rescue with the Emergency Pack! Download the new pack today!
File size: 100 KB
ModNation Racers – Party Hardy Mod ($0.99)
Quite a party, wasn’t it? Remember that Mod with the thing who did that stuff? Yeah, that one – This is him. Still in a constant state of party, Party Hardy is ready to show the Nation how it’s done.
Mod Includes:

Lamp Shade Hat
Messy Shirt (Necktie not included)
Noisemaker (Does not make noise)

Download Party Hardy today!
File size: 100 KB
Super Street Fighter IV Ultra Classic Pack ($3.99)
Download the seventh ultra-powered pack of alternate costumes for Super Street Fighter IV! New costumes for Guile, Blanka, Dhalsim, Gen and Fei Long are included. Show everyone that legends never die, and never go out of fashion! This downloadable content is only compatible with Super Street Fighter IV.
File size: 44 MB
Dead Space 2: Hazard Pack ($4.99)
A collection of powerful new suits and weapons built for the most demanding jobs on the Sprawl.
File size: 100 KB
Dead Space 2: Martial Law Pack ($4.99)
Stack the odds in your favor with this collection of battle-hardened weapons and tools.
File size: 100 KB
Dead Space 2: Supernova Pack ($4.99)
Gain the upper hand with this collection of stress-tested tools and suits approved by the CEC for deep space operations.
File size: 100 KB
Rock Band 3
Build your Rock Band library by purchasing these song game tracks. For song credits, visit www.RockBand.com.

“Blue Jean” – David Bowie ($1.99)
“Fame” – David Bowie ($1.99)
“Modern Love” – David Bowie ($1.99)
“Young Americans” – David Bowie ($1.99)
“Ziggy Stardust” – David Bowie ($1.99)
David Bowie Pack 02 ($8.49) – Build your Rock Band library by purchasing this song game album: David Bowie Pack 02. This pack includes “Blue Jean”, “Fame”, “Modern Love”, “Young Americans”, and “Ziggy Stardust” by David Bowie.

Rock Band Network

“Berzerker” – After the Burial ($1.99)
“Dark Horse” – Converge ($1.99)
“For We Are Many” – All That Remains ($1.99)
“I’m Amazed” – My Morning Jacket ($1.99)
“Phantom Limb” – The Shins ($1.99)

File size: 18 – 39 MB (singles), 137 MB (track pack)

Avatars

Tron Evolution Avatars (x5) ($0.49)
File size: 100 KB
Hoard Avatars (x5) ($0.49)
File size: 100 KB
Hoard Avatar Bundle ($1.49)
File size: 500 KB
Grand Theft Auto IV Avatars (x10) ($0.49)
File size: 100 KB
Red Dead Redemption Avatars (x10) ($0.49)
File size: 100 – 115 KB
Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood Avatars (x10) ($0.49)
File size: 100 – 128 KB

Game Videos (free)

Pulse 1/25 Edition
File size: 215 MB (HD), 349 MB (1080)
Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam Launch Trailer
File size: 45 MB (HD)
Crysis 2 – Be The Weapon Trailer
File size: 97 MB (HD)
Dead Space 2 – Launch Trailer
File size: 54 MB (HD)
Back to the Future – Behind the Scenes Part 2
File size: 93 MB (1080)
MotorStorm Apocalypse World’s End Trailer
File size: 79 MB (HD), 132 MB (1080), 172 MB (3D)

PS3 Themes

Snowy Mountain Theme ($1.49)
File size: 3.93 MB
Mini Winterland ($1.49)
File size: 4.29 MB
Toy Tokyo Electric Town ($1.49)
File size: 3.3 MB

PlayStation Store for PSP

Downloadable Games (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Lord of Arcana ($39.99)
At the edge of a village surrounded by a huge forest lies the powerful stone Arcana. What power does it hold within? And to what destiny is one with Arcana bound? Create your own Slayer and battle together with up to three of your friends to slay mythical beasts designed by renowned illustrators from all over the world. Do you have what it takes to conquer the challenges of this beautiful and dark fantasy universe to become LORD OF ARCANA?
ESRB Rated M
File size: 656 MB

Game Videos (free)

Pulse 1/25 Edition
File size: 34 MB
Valkyria Chronicles 2 – PDLC Trailer
File size: 10 MB

PSP Themes (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Snowy Mountain PSP Theme ($1.49)
File size: 643 KB
Mini Winterland PSP Theme ($1.49)
File size: 594 KB
Toy Tokyo Electric Town PSP Theme ($1.49)
File size: 643 KB

PSP Wallpapers (free)

Legends Of War: Patton’s Campaign Wallpaper 4
File size: 200 KB

DC Universe Online Voice Chat Issues Are Finally Addressed

2011-01-25T20:45:00.012-05:00

If you've been following the official PS3 forums, then you'll probably know that SOE hasn't really communicated to the fans that there was even an issue with their voice chat services. Though every DCUO player will tell you that when the player volume exceeds low capacity on the servers, voice chat hardly (if ever) works. We've finally got some confirmation that a fix is coming.

And guess what? It's coming tomorrow morning according to this announcement. Both the EU and US servers will go down for maintenance very early tomorrow morning while they upgrade their hardware. This must be a pretty serious undertaking for SOE considering they need to fix the hardware side of things, as opposed to just a software fix. I was just beginning to get frustrated with the voice chat issues while a lot of the fanbase were already pretty upset. If you read my brief week-2 thoughts on DCUO then you'll know that the voice chat issues were my biggest issue with the game.

RadarX, a moderator for the official DCUO PS3 forums posted the following:

Voice Chat services will be unavailable at 4AM PT (13:00 CET) for a hardware upgrade to improve performance. Downtime is anticipated to be approximately one hour. For the US servers this will coinceded with hotfix maintenance and should have marginal impact.

EDIT: Now the only thing left for them to get fixed is the freezing issues. I always seem to go a few days freeze free and then there's just one day where I freeze like 5 times in a few hours. Tonight I've frozen twice and they were both at the worst possible moments. Once at the end of a 5vs5 PvP match, and then at the very end of a hard fought duo with a friend. It's very rare that this happens, but when it does it can be extremely frustrating. Wish there was an easy fix for issues like these.

EDIT 2: We got another update which will make some gameplay changes. Official post is below.

The US servers will be coming down at 4AM PT for a brief hotfix to address a few outstanding issues. Downtime is anticipated to be approximately less than 90 minutes. Players may notice the following changes:

Abilities: Psychic Empowerment now properly restores power.
Abilities: Performing a dodge roll will no longer dodge healing abilities.
Challenges: Power Girl now drops loot in the level 30 Challenge Mode for Storming the Ivory Tower.
Faction Rewards: Villain faction rewards now only require Marks of Allegiance and no longer require an unavailable badge type.
Feats: Any feat that requires a specific number of PvP wins should now be granted properly after the correct number of wins.
Trait Resets: If you reset traits while in a different shape change form you will no longer remain stuck in that form.
Trait Resets: All buffs cast by the player character from abilities granted by traits will now be removed when resetting traits.
Trait Resets: Resetting traits with a weapon type equipped that was earned by a trait (i.e. not the weapon type chosen at character create) will no longer continue to give the stats of the equipped weapon with no basic abilities.

o Now all stats will be removed from equipped weapons for which you do not have the required trait.

o In this situation, you should have the same basic punching abilities that you get if you unequip your weapon.

o Purchasing the trait to grant access to that weapon type again will now restore those stats.

DC Universe Online Recieves EU Server Side Fixes, US Coming Soon?

2011-01-21T17:43:00.004-05:00

The EU servers were brought down today in order to throw a few glitches out the window, some of which are pretty significant. Now, I don't usually post about EU news but there are a few things listed that caught my eye. I'd be expecting the US servers to get these fixes sooner than later.

Click below to view the detailed information on what was changed with this downtime. Things just keep getting better for DCUO!

EDIT: US servers will be going down tonight and will receive the same updates.

The EU servers will be locked at 12:30 CET and brought offline at 01:00 CET for server maintenance. Downtime is anticipated to be one hour and the servers should be available at 02:00 CET.

General: Addressed an issue that caused some PS3 players to hang or disconnect in the tutorial.
General: Improved Client performance and stability.
General: Addressed an issue when using software overclocking where other characters would appear to warp onscreen.
General: The time it takes to get to character selection on launch has been reduced.
Audio: Audio should no longer drop after cutscenes if you have your Music volume set to 0.
Chat: The player’s voice chat channel should now be selected according to the following priority, from highest to lowest: Alert->Group->Custom->League.
Player Appearance: Equipping a new weapon should no longer cause your weapon appearance to disappear.
Player Appearance: Swapping weapons with your weapon style locked should no longer cause the weapon appearance to change.
Movement: Player character animations should no longer have the chance of getting stuck when weaponizing objects.
Quests: Adjusted difficulty of content in the Venom Lab to level 7 to better match the surrounding content.
Quests: No Joke quest is now available at level 18 instead of 19.
Quests: A Crook’s Best Friend quest is now available at level 18 instead of 19.
Quests: Something’s Fishy… quest is now available at level 22 instead of 23.
Quests: Road to Hell quest is now available at level 22 instead of 23.
Quests: Fateful Omen quest is now available at level 26 instead of 27.
Quests: Hardcorps quest is now available at level 26 instead of 27.
UI: Pressing the "Accept" button on the Server Selection screen multiple times should no longer result in odd issues with Character Creation movies and UI.

Little Big Planet 2 Thoughts / Collectors Edition Unboxing!

2011-01-21T17:16:00.018-05:00

It has finally arrived! The long awaited sequel to Little Big Planet. Bringing with it a crazy amount of new content to experience. Along for the ride is every single level that was previously published by fan creators from the original game. So now there's, what? over 3 million levels to play? Yeah. I'm down.

My thoughts on the game so far are posted below, as well as a super-sweet video from a friend of mine: A complete guide to everything you get if you purchase the collectors edition of Little Big Planet 2.

First up, let's get this LBP2 CE unboxing video up. My buddy Sancho (PSN: Sancho45, here's his LBP.me page, check it out, like right now!) sent this in for me to toss up on the site. I really should be doing more of these videos. They help spruce the place up!

With the awesomeness that is PS3 we're able to record video, edit, and then upload it to Youtube right from the PS3's menu system, the XMB. Anyways, enjoy the video! Thanks again, Sancho.

Now, let's talk about the game. To be absolutely blunt, LBP2 is not a perfect game. So let's get the bad stuff initially out of the way. It is, in fact, leaps and bounds better than the first one. But there are some online technical issues that are holding the game back for me, just enough for it to be a bit disappointing. The Little Big Planet series has always been about the online community. You can throw your blu-ray in and proceed to build, share, and play levels with other players. In LBP2 I'm having a hell of a time playing anything online with anyone else. This "Infinite Loading Screen" has been mentioned on plenty of other sites since launch, and it's seriously swaying my opinion on the game. I really need to say though, when (not IF, Media Molecule knows what they're doing over there) that gets fixed, LBP2 is a huge leap closer to a perfect PS3 game that absolutely everyone of all ages should easily enjoy.

Online issues aside, playing the story mode by yourself is an absolute blast, and nobody should have been doubting that it'd be anything but. If you have a spare controller and some friends to play with, times "absolute blast" by about 10. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard playing a game this console generation. There's just something about LBP2 that makes me giggle like a child. Seriously now. Picking up some of the new power-ups and then turning them on your unsuspecting friends, freakin' hilarious.

Upon viewing every single interactive tutorial in the game, it really made my head spin. I thought I was pretty good at the original game, I created my fair share of decent levels. But this... this changes everything. They've tweaked and even removed some of the old features, and introduced new and improved ways of doing, well ....just about everything. This should make for some seriously intricate levels down the road, just give it a few months. The controlinator alone will change everything we've come to know from the first game. This new feature allows you to fully use the dual shock controller any way you please. Let's say you create a vehicle. You then allow the player's sack-character to hop in, accelerate with the X button, break with circle. Perhaps shoot missiles with R1. This is only the most basic example and you'd have to watch some of the videos I've previously posted to truly grasp what this means for the game.

While you wait to see what crazyness the community comes up with, you can play all the original fan-created LBP levels. All of mine are still there and seem to be working just fine with the new game. Pretty sweet I'd say. I really missed my Beta level called Massive Rover. It's so nice to be able to go back and play those without having the original LBP (traded mine in once I knew LBP2 was getting close to launch, my PS3 has died since so I lost all my save info, now I need the original game again to get all the costumes back!)

If you're playing with friends locally on your couch, or even just playing by yourself, this game is easily a 10/10 for me. Where the original Little Big Planet set the bar for fan creation freedom, Little Big Planet 2 shatters it and enables players to make their own full games, not just platformers. I would of never thought this was even possible for a video game back when I was playing my SNES as a teenager. Still blows my mind how far (and fast) we've come from simple sprites and simple controllers.

Speaking of controls, Move support is on it's way for LBP2. According to a Eurogamer interview with co-founder and technical director of Media Molecule, David Smith:

"There's no limits to potentially what we could add. Currently we're very much focused on adding in really powerful Move controller support. And that is a combination of functionality and levels and assets and things. But that is still early, so it's not something we can talk too much about."

So, to sum it all up, LBP2 is a a top notch family oriented experience. Anyone can play it and have a tremendous amount of fun! I'll now risk making any readers angry by saying the following: If you don't find yourself smiling and/or laughing during your playthrough of LBP2, there is something wrong with your brain. Seriously. Get that checked out. This game is cutesy but a ton of fun, and nobody should argue with that. I admit, the online stuff can get a little frustrating if you're trying to play with online friends, but with everything that this game is trying to do (and generally doing all of it top notch awesome) cut them some slack, it'll all get fixed before we know it.

EDIT: Been reading online about the problems we've been having with the online. Apparently there is a work around where you just turn off your dual shock when you're stuck at a loading screen, and apparently it throws you back into the game just fine. Of course, turn your controller on right after that so you can continue playing. It's just a quick fix for now, Media Molecule should be working on a patch.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Announced, Plus Teaser Trailer

2011-01-20T12:20:00.002-05:00

Please, just gimme my Versus XIII. I was a fan of Final Fantasy XIII, but not THIS much. I actually think the majority of fans liked it significantly less than I did!

Well, either way I look at it, FFXIII-2 is coming. Square-Enix tells us that it'll be available winter this year, whether that means in Japan or NA, it's anyone's guess. I've included the spectacular teaser trailer below, it gave me goosebumps, so perhaps this could turn out okay.