Creative Zen Mozaic
Friday, January 30, 2009Throughout my entire life I’ve lived without an MP3 player so I think it’s about time I get myself one instead of listening to music that I load through Youtube (it gets tiresome after awhile, searching and clicking on songs and waiting for them to load. Yes, I know I’m silly.). I don’t want anything too fancy so I’ve narrowed down my choices to this MP3 player by Creative Zen:
The Creative Zen Mozaic comes in three colors: black, grey, and pink. When I first saw it online last year I thought it looked odd at first but then the design grew on me and I now officially find it “cute”.
It’s quite small in size (the screen is 1.8″) but I wouldn’t use it for watching movies anyway so that’s not really a big deal for me. You can choose from 2GB, 4GB or 8GB memory capacity and it also has a built-in speaker (major plus for me!), FM radio, picture viewer, voice recorder, etc. It’s quite affordable too. According to CNET Asia, it’s only US$113.10 (that’s more or less P5,000) for the 8GB one.
More info on the Mozaic could be found here.
Socialite
Thursday, January 29, 2009It’s been a long while since I posted some art so here’s something to tide you over. The title is pretty boring because I hate making titles. It may look a bit rougher than my usual work but that’s intentional.
It was all made in Photoshop.
This will be for sale over at MyPSPTubes.
Recollections of the Komiksman
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Funny man (and fellow coworker at IAS Manila Studio) Jerald Dorado recently put up a blog in i.ph. Recollections of the Komiksman is all about komiks, art, and the artists behind them.
I know that there are alot of people out there who want to know more about pinoy artists and their creations *cough*Nightdreamer*cough* and this blog is an excellent source for that kind of info. Jerald is currently running a special on The Top 4 Most Successful Komiks of this Generation complete with extensive commentary and pretty pictures (because we all love pictures).
"9" by Tim Burton, Timur Bejmambetov & Shane Acker
Saturday, January 3, 2009Produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov (director of Nightwatch and Wanted) and directed by Shane Acker, this post-apocalyptic film about rag dolls fighting against machines for survival is set to be released on 09/09/09. The trailer is very intriguing and I sure as hell can’t wait to see it. It is actually based on an Oscar nominated short film (also created by director Shane Acker) of the same title.
Mirror’s Edge First Impressions
Friday, December 19, 2008There was a substantial amount of hype when Mirror’s Edge was being developed. I, too, was taken in by the beautiful trailer when it first came out and was pretty psyched to get my hands on the game.
So the game came out and reviews were written. Surprisingly, they weren’t as high as I had hoped, but it didn’t stop me from wanting to play it.
Fast forward to the present, Marv gave me Mirror’s Edge as an early Christmas present and I couldn’t wait to try it out! Here’s my first impression of it after playing it for 4 hours so far (no, I haven’t ended it yet).
I won’t elaborate much of the story for now, I just want to focus on the gameplay and don’t want to make this a very long post.
Mirror’s Edge is, at its core, a platforming game. You play a runner called Faith who gets around the city via parkour. You run, leap and vault across buildings, scaffolding, pipes, etc. What makes it significantly different from platforming games of old is that it’s played in First Person view with beautifully detailed graphics in full 3D. And I tell you, the environment is GAW-JUSS!
Getting right down to it, the game is fun. Not only is it fun, it’s damn addictive. I played it until my thumb felt like it was starting to blister. I didn’t care that I had to do things over and over again until I got it right. I didn’t find the combat system that awkward, nor did I find disarming the cops of their weapons tough. Are reviewers becoming sissies or something?
Also, the game is about running. Expecting it to perform like an FPS is completely missing the point. This is not Counter Strike or Call of Duty, people. If it performed as such, it would become an entirely different game.
Granted, there are points in the game where you have to confront cops and can’t run from them lest you find yourself riddled with bullets, but you just have to stop and press the right button in time to disarm them one by one. Have patience, and it will reward you.
Jumping around the city is not only fun, it’s really quite an experience. Once you get to the point where she’s running at full speed and you’re stringing moves one after another; leaping, climbing and bouncing off walls; it just feels so…perfect. It’s like a well-choreographed dance, alebit way more dizzying (in a good way). From time to time you may find yourself stuck but that’s where the challenge lies. Once you overcome a roadblock, it feels so rewarding.
The only thing that I have a gripe about are the 2D cutscenes. I know that it’s stylized and all that but I’ve seen cartoons look better, and I expected it to actually look like the in-game graphics. But that’s just my personal taste. Oh, and what’s up with always depicting asian chicks with bob cuts? Look at Gi from Captain Planet or Grace Nakamura from the Gabriel Knight series. Either way, Faith’s character design is still awesome:
I suppose it all just boils down to taste. It just saddens me that people see the review score then decide to not pick up the game at all. In fact, sales of Mirror’s Edge aren’t that high.
There is no other game out there like this and it’s a shame that so many people are missing out on it.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll get back to playing the game.
