jk lol

Just bought it this morning. Best thing I've purchased all summer next to my vacation to LA :D

I don't have Xbox Live Gold, so I can't link up with anyone... but if you'd like to send me a friend request for future reference, please do so! My Gamertag is AOK Games.

See you on the battlefield soon... hopefully ^^

Oh, and for somewhat more important matters... I'm working on Gamer Kids 3 or some shit... It's looking okay, I guess. I'll put it up sometime this year.

EDIT 9/20
I'll make the obligatory Metal Gear Collab topic later.

To practice some Flash features as well as show my appreciation for what I can call one of my most anticipated games of the year, I have made this.

Yes, I did try to follow Dan Paladin's art style as well as make it look like a promo... but hey, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Now if I can only put this much effort into my cartoons...

Nothing really front-page worthy here, so... yeah, just an update if you stumble across it.

New banner. Certainly beats the old one that I scrapped together in a few minutes.

Plus, no-show in the Metal Gear Collab... I can only hope that my part made it into the second one. Jeff himself told me that he'd put it in, but there were so many technical difficulties, both on their part and mine, that I hope everything goes well.

Also, just three more weeks until I have August all to myself, and I can finally start on some actual quality animation, unlike the strangled-chibi kind I put out last year. I know, it's pitiful that I need all that time off just to work on cartoons, but that's just how life is around here. Work and college can be a bitch.

Just for a side note, I'm also taking up Actionscripting. It's complicated as hell, so I wouldn't expect any games until a year or so down the line, once everything becomes second nature. However, I understand the concept of the structure, so once I memorize all the terms and whatnot, I'm confident that I'll be able to put out some cool stuff. Here's hoping.

Anyway, yeah... not much else is going on. I just thought I'd dust off my profile.

S'up, y'all. Just another friendly reminder that I'm not dead, but instead am crushed by the sheer audacity that is college. Granted, I'm doing my best to churn out some animations, but the process is incredibly slowed down.

I can, however, promise that I will be a participant for the Metal Gear Collab. All I can say about the animation itself is that the humor will be based directly on actual dialogue or elements in the game (in this case, Metal Gear Solid 3), so if you haven't played the game... well, you probably won't get the humor.

At any rate, let me get to the original point:

Steven Spielberg's BOOM BLOX for the Wii

Seriously... just look at this. Pure awesomeness in a nutshell. What totally sold me on this was the Editor mode (be sure to catch it at 1:10 in the video; the physics in this game is incredible).

Now, in order to combat what I hope isn't the expected 'kiddy' shit responses that we seem to get these days, understand that the art style is a perfect lend for this kind of game; it's all about taking a huge tower of blocks and finding the best way to knock it down, i.e. blowing it up. Before I forget to mention, you can kill critters, too.

And in order to combat the gameplay complaints, AKA 'not a shooter/slasher/etc.' that seems to be the only genres fitting for 'hardcore' games (seriously, it takes every ounce of my strength to use that freakin' word), I should point out that you can find videos of Crysis all over YouTube whereas modders exploit the game engine in order to just create giant towers of barrels and find the most unique ways to knock them down.

In a nutshell: physics are fun. Not the class; but the game engine. The only criticism I can think of thus far for this game is the price tag, as it'll be worth $50 at retail, but I see it as a day one purchase for me because of how long it will last:

-400 levels
-Single player story
-Single player challenge
-Co-op
-Competition
-Editor
-Online sharing

If I had to add anything else... I think Boom Blox can be the Wii's unofficial answer to the PS3's LittleBigPlanet.

*EDIT*

The Creation of Boom Blox

Yes, I'm afraid you've all read the topic right. Aside from Kagome running into a few of her own issues that has ultimately delayed my Gamer Kids submissions that was going to surface this Monday, I've decided that I'll bring the series to a close.

Simply put, although I've really enjoyed animating my feelings on certain games, it's time for me to move on. You see, way back when I decided to do Gamer Kids, I've actually been a hardcore Flash animator. I've worked on my talent to produce some visuals that I'm particularly proud of, but I've never actually completed a project using high-end artwork.

It mostly had to do with a lack of time, commitment, and proper equipment. I was limited to working in my game room because that's where my desktop computer resided. Unfortunately, this did not equate to a really good atmosphere to work in as I'd grow bored with whatever I did and quit the project altogether. That's actually what made me churn out the Gamer Kids series because I told myself that I should just stick with half a minute shorts with simple artwork so that I could focus and actually complete stuff.

Then there's my equipment. I used a computer and Flash program that originated in early 2001. Either way you look at it, it was practically impossible for me to fully animate any high end work because it'd just lag severely on my monitor. There was one project that I actually really felt like I was able to do, but I found myself quitting because, no matter what I did, I could not prevent the frame rate from dipping into inexcusable levels. It was probably fully viewable on other computers, but there was no way I'd know.

However, things are looking better. I got a new Macbook Pro with state of the art specs built in and an Adobe package complete with programs including Flash, Illustrator, Photoshop, SoundBooth, Premiere, and After Effects, courtesy of my college. With my new laptop and bundle, not only can I produce high-end artwork, but I can do it whenever and wherever I want: school, bookstore, living room... car...? (Probably shouldn't)

Either way, I'm in a much better position to make cartoons. I can place myself in atmospheres that'll allow me to stay focused, relaxed, and comfortable whilst unrestrained by my new computer's abilities.

So, what does this mean on your behalf, my viewers? Well, first things first, I'll produce one more Gamer Kids cartoon. I'll consider it my final hurrah, allowing me to bring the whole dealie to a close while getting familiar with my computer's interface.

After that? I'll be bringing you a new series. I'll be doing it not because I want to, but because I feel like I have to.

You see, I'm currently attending college for computer graphics design, which includes storyboarding, marketing, animation, 3D graphics, video game design... you name it. There's really no better way to put it: I'm not going to make a name for myself in the industry by continuously churning out simple cartoons such as Gamer Kids. I need to up my abilities so that I can do anything.

With that said, I've already gone into production for a story-heavy, art-driven series that will not only allow me to show off my current abilities, but allow me to improve. I will use Newgrounds as my catalyst for improvement and criticism and prepare myself for the world ahead of me.

But who knows? Maybe I'll use Gamer Kids as filler if I run into a few of my own time-constraining issues. Either way, be on the lookout for better things to come.

Turned out longer than I thought... To summarize this whole mess, you can find bits about my absence, what I've been up to, a couple game reviews, and when my next submissions may arrive.

...

S'up, everyone. God, how long has it been? I think I disappeared sometime in August. All I know is that college kicked in and despite what time I did have, I just couldn't devote much of my time to animating, no matter how simple my cartoons can get.

But for any of you that were around after my second submission, you probably remember my infamous 'official apology to Newgrounds' blog post. That was pretty much the second factor that made me quit for a tad too long; I think that on the day following my submission, I got number 13 on the Top 50 of all time, and really, that's just wrong. My series is a bunch of shorts that Egoraptor could do after his tea and crumpets. If I were to get those spots, I need to deserve them, and I'm still exploring ways on how to do just that.

I'm still at a bit of a crossroads, but I've already thought of a few ideas that I plan to implement once I get more time for cartooning, such as expanding the cast, improving the art, making the cartoons longer and/or creating a collaboration of shorts so that there's more to look forward to upon each submission. Really, it's a matter of what I can do to improve what I do without jumping the shark; I may even try something different altogether because, the more I look at it, Kagome and I accidentally created a knockoff of VGCats...

But as for a timeframe, don't expect anything until a bit after Christmas; you see, my college has all of these ridiculous student discount dealies that it's not even funny. You know how programs like Flash, Photoshop, Premiere and the like cost about $500-$1000 each? Well, my school and Adobe have a deal going on where I can buy a CS3 Suite containing Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, After Effects, Premiere Pro, Soundbooth, Encore, OnLocation, and Ultra for $309. Yes, three hundred and nine fucking dollars. Screw Newgrounds, I'm taking over Hollywood!

But yeah, I plan on mooching off of my parents for this Suite. As much as I want to buy it myself now, I've been saving up for a few other things... games, consoles, you know, the nerdy stuff. However, I can guarantee that after getting this behemoth of a package, I might be a continuing YouTube contributor as well.

Now, I can't promise much, but even though I haven't been doing any Flash, I've still been doing some voice work as of late. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just have to lay low on the details and talk about them once the project is completed and submitted. I have to say, though, from what I was allowed to see, it looks fantastic, although I'm really iffy about my choice of voice. To put it bluntly, I'm pretty sure that the most common criticism about it will be that it's too annoying, but I guess I'll just have to wait and find out, though I'm not holding my breath.

But what else is there to cover... ah yes, games. You didn't see that coming, did ya?

Anyway, let's talk about a game I already made fun of... Call of Duty 4. I am proud to say that my cartoon was nothing but a satirical parody; if you own a 360, PS3, or gaming PC, you need to buy this game. NOW. Seriously, screw Halo, screw Killzone, screw whatever games that devs hype up themselves and pick up the game that actually left me cursing myself to sleep once I beat it.

Honestly, this game is a true masterpiece from the fictional story to the balls-tighteningly fantastic action that will keep you running and gunning from beginning to end. Have you ever played a shooter where the devs just seemed like they have no military experience whatsoever and the closest thing that they came to that loftly resembled a war was Full Metal Jacket? Call of Duty 4 is nothing like that. This game kicks your ass until you wear your buttocks like a hat, quoting Yahtzee, the charismatic stallion that he is (see end of blog).

Aside from shooting, Call of Duty 4 has some awesome levels that break up the action to make each experience a bit different from the rest. You have aerial missions, sneaking missions (in ghillie suits, which kick ass, by the way) and sniping missions outside of the loud and fast-paced action that made the Call of Duty franchise awesome.

I got a chance to play the online multiplayer, too. There seemed to be a small lag between my actions and the end result on my enemies, but I really can't determine if it was my connection or the server, which suffered a huge crash the next night (those that got the game know what I'm talking about, and it happened on the PlayStation Network and Live). However, when it did work, it was fun as hell. To break apart just gunning each other down, killing sprees offer you power ups from UAV maps to airstrikes to helicopters that really shape up battles. Even though the graphics were toned down for the multiplayer, it still beat the hell out of just about every other shooter to date.

In short, if you love awesome campaign modes, get Call of Duty 4. If you're a multiplayer junkie, get Call of Duty 4. In all honesty, buy the damn game. I will honestly hunt you down and kill you if you don't.

For closing thoughts, the downside to the game is the difficulty; even on the normal mode, the game can be downright murderous. Moving up to Hardened will make you die every second on the second, and I didn't even want to bother with Veteran. It might not be that much of a problem for 360 owners as the game doesn't offer individual achievements for beating levels on different difficulties, but the achievements you can get are very interesting and fun to work for.

I've also played the DS version of this game. Obviously, the presentation isn't as great. Comparing this to its normal mapped bigger brother just isn't fair. It does fair, however, well as a DS game with solid controls and good graphics that the tiny little mobile tank can dish out. There are some control issues, mostly in the iron bar aiming (which requires a double tap on the screen that sometimes doesn't register and is oftentimes hard to control when it does) and occasionally wonky AI, but it serves well enough to get an 8/10 ranking from me. Sadly, there's no online, which would've benefited the game greatly. If you have a store that allows you to rent DS games, I'd give this one a go. It's not bad, but I can't fully recommend it either.

Also, Super Mario Galaxy. I got this, I love it. Really, I can't put it down. This is one of those few titles that actually make me sit down and play for long periods of time. It's that fun. There's so much variety in level design and gameplay mechanics that, if you play the game right, you'll experience something new around every corner. The only time the game would get repetitive is if you play in the same world two or three times in a row, and there are a LOT of worlds in this game. Really, I'm trying to remember off of the top of my head now... there's about six worlds per galaxy, somewhere between six and eight galaxies with certain unlockable worlds... bah, somewhere around forty different levels or more. I'd be happy if someone can correct me on this, but this game is HUGE. It probably took me about fifteen hours to beat, and I haven't even gotten all 120 stars yet.

Really, Mario is as solid as the day he appeared on the NES. Couple some new characters, costumes, enemies, world designs, and graphics that would make a 360 fanboy clutch his console in the corner shivering, and you've got one great game. Definitely GotY material. Next to Call of Duty 4, of course.

Unfortunately, that's all I've played. I'm going to try and get a PS3 sometime soon, since I've learned that Gamestop stores can sell used/refurbished 60GB version only for about $429, which is a hell of a lot better than the 40GB version that just came out (seriously, why tote backwards compatibility if you're just going to drop it?). Anyway, I've heard some good things about Drake's Fortune, so I'll try that once I get it.

Now, with the game reviews out of the way, my history explained, my future plans revealed... I'm just about done wasting your time. I'm thinking about including a small extra with... whatever it is I plan to submit in the upcoming months. That extra will turn out to be a bit something like this.

Let's just say that I have a bone to pick with a certain game. Maybe you can guess what it is in the meantime.

Laters.

I'm pretty sure that you all know about how I said that I would make my future submissions either longer or better looking in an attempt to push my artistic skills.

Due to a recent problem I've uncovered, it looks like making my cartoons longer is out of the question.

You see, I discovered that if I make my cartoons too long, the visuals begin to lag behind the audio, and then after so long, nothing matches up anymore. So far, I haven't figured out what causes this.

It barely showed in my NSFW episode, but it's definitely there, especially around the end; the logo bouncing to the beat should've been perfectly aligned, but it doesn't show in the exported video. If you compare it to my Modern War video, you'll notice a huge difference.

This same problem has happened in earlier projects as well, and went on unsolved.

So, in a nutshell, until I figure out what's causing this problem, I will have to keep my cartoons short and concise.

I do have a few ideas as to what's causing this, but I'm not holding my breath. If anybody knows exactly what's going on, I'd be happy to hear your solutions (no guesses, please!).

I have seen four movies this summer: At World's End, The Order of the Phoenix, The Simpsons Movie, and Transformers. My gut is telling me that this is all I'm going to see... and that it's time for lunch.

Anyway, they were all good, definitely worth seeing. After seeing The Simpsons Movie a couple days back, I feel that it's time I score and rank 'em (everything will be spoiler-free, of course).

--Coming in at # 4 ... The Order of the Phoenix!

Summary: Join Harry as he goes to Hogwarts... again... but begins to feel the sense of isolation as nobody will believe that he saw Voldemort (yeah, I said it).

The good: Lots of cool effects and several awesome battle scenes.
The bad: The plotline isn't as complex as previous movies. Before, the ending would make you go back and realize things that you'd never expect. The Order of the Phoenix was pretty straightforward. There were also some parts that just felt tacked on and hardly led to anything.

Note: I've never read the books, so this is just coming from a movie watcher. Opinions may differ.

-- # 3... At World's End!

Summary: Thought the wait was bad enough for Jack in Dead Man's Chest when Will Turner would not stop talking? Well, it's worse! Hilarity will ensue halfway through the movie when Jack finally appears to bring the trilogy to a dynamic ending.

The good: Funny as always, even without Jack, cool fighting and effects, and plenty of detail in the numerous amount of characters that appear.
The bad: Where numerous plots can develop, instead plotholes are created. There are lots where you would wish they'd go in depth, but don't. Jack is also kind of a sub-character in this movie... it's hard to explain: he barely gets any wording in, is more out of it than usual, apparently hallucinates, and again, doesn't appear until halfway through the movie.

-- # 2... The Simpsons Movie!

Summary: The most abstract of events lead to the most unexpected plot in this first-time-ever theater iteration of the popular TV show that had been running for twenty years.

The good: I had gotten bored of the Simpons on TV for quite some time, as their humor had slowly become trite and somewhat ordinary. I am shameless to admit that I found myself laughing out loud several times throughout the movie.
The visuals were also spectacular: cel-shading, smooth animation, shadowing...
The bad: An hour and a half long. You'll be surprised at how quickly the movie wraps up. Also, there was this one guy in the theater about two rows ahead of me, who quoted every joke out loud... every, single, time. But that's just my problem.

-- # 1... TRANSFORMERS!

Summary: Giant robots. Beating the crap out of each other. Humans get to blow some up, as well. What else should I say? Oh yeah, probably the best movie of all summer, if not all year.

The good: Great plot, spectacular visuals (the robot models have over 10,000 moving parts!), booming sound effects... You WILL be blown away. Just be sure to catch this in the theater for the best experience. Did I mention that Optimus Prime has his original voice actor? WIN!

The bad: A couple Decepticons are the only Transformers throughout the beginning of the movie, and they're not exactly taking up a majority of the picture time. It's not until about halfway when the Autobots and the rest of the Decepticons reveal themselves, meaning that a lot of the development is focused on the humans. This is somewhat bad, but then again, it leads to great storyline/character development, and makes the Autobots' appearance all the more kickass. Really, it's best described that the movie caters to those that are unfamiliar with Transformers.

Notes:
-Be sure to see this movie in the theater: the big screen, surround sound, and bass boosters will leave you trembling. Unless you have a home theater system, you won't get this feeling on DVD.
-Another positive note is that the movie strongly hints at a sequel.

---

Well, that's it for the summer movie wrap up. If anything, see Transformers; definitely worth it, especially on the big screen. I saw it twice already.

First off, did this look like a rush job? If you think so, you're right. I made this in about three days... total time took about eight hours.

It took about the same amount of time for Modern War, but the cartoon was half as long, so that point is moot.

You see, I'm going on vacation really soon, and decided that Saturday would be my deadline.

Now with that out of the way, let's move onto the cartoon!

Man, first it was the necks, and now it's the pronunciation! I can't excuse 'content,' because I almost never say this out loud; I only type it, especially when talking about 'PS2 Resi Evil 4 content.'

I completely forgot about the pronunciation difference between 'conTENT,' such as being happy, and 'CONtent,' which refers to items and features, but now it's clear and obvious to me.

But I do have an excuse for 'reticule!' You see, I use Microsoft Word to type up my scripts before doing each episode, and whenever I typed the word 'reticle,' it got marked for a misspelling and said that the correct spelling was 'reticule,' and it was pronounced exactly the way it's spelled, with a long 'u.' This is certainly the last time I trust a computer program for logic (I'm not a very smart person to begin with).

Anyway, yeah, after hearing about the supposed 'Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition,' I had a similar reaction to Kandi's: fist in the face.

I told myself that I would not buy it unless it had a good enough reason to, as well as a budget price tag since it was a three year old game.

After learning that it would retail for $30, come with Gamecube's graphics and PS2 CON-tent, as well as a control setup that kept getting positive previews, I got the game upon launch without a second guess. It's definitely worth it.

Now, there had better be more Resident Evil 4-esque games for the Wii... Honestly, Capcom just proved that the Wii can be for hardcore gamers as much as it can be for casuals; it's all up to creativity.

Not only that, but this game expands on the past versions; I have a friend who said that he loved the title itself, even though he had trouble playing it. He would average about a 40% hit rate on the Gamecube version, but after playing the Wii version, he rounded off at 80%, and says the setup is much better.

I even brought RE4: Wii to my friend's house, who just bought a Wii, and picked up on the game for the first time very well. He says that he'll definitely buy it in the future.

It disappoints me that Umbrella Chronicles will not be a Resident Evil 4-esque title, but hey, hopefully Capcom will squeeze something out of the on-rails setup. It looks pretty good so far, and I may definitely pick it up.

IGN just came out with a new video for Call of Duty DS, the handheld iteration of Infinity Ward's upcoming Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for the PS3, 360, and PC.

Check it out here:

Call of Duty DS

Man, this looks so freaking good... whoever it was that said the DS wasn't a first person shooter handheld deserves to be shot.

Sure, the DS may only deliver N64-esque graphics, but this looks so much better than most of what's out already: the environments are huge, nice texturing, animation is smooth, and the frame rate is locked.

Controls look especially tight, too. Whoever was playing just alligned the reticule with the enemy no problem whatsoever. I also like how other controls are implemented judging by the preview: sprinting is done by double-tapping and holding forward, whereas crouching is double-tapping back. I guess the DS is for the casual as well as the hardcore.

All this game needs is a solid online/multi-card multiplayer and this is a definite win.

Speaking of Call of Duty 4, the update I made to my Modern War cartoon eliminated the replay button's functionality, so I'll address that as soon as possible. I'll also try to get my next Gamer Kids episode out before the end of the week!