Got the word yesterday that the studio is cutting the amount of work hours by 15%. Why? Because it looks like we're going to lose another project. Publishers aren't paying the studio for the work we're doing. Why aren't they paying? Because they're not getting any money from the distributors for the games they're publishing because of the crap-tastic economy.

Joy...

So yeah, next month my pay will be 15% less then normal. I've already made contacts with people that I know in close by studios. Maybe get a tip on what they're looking for in a folio that will help get me in the door.

Man am I depressed.

Best guess is that the studio will live until February and then it'll be done.

I hope I'm wrong.

I'm currently playing through Mega Man ZX Advent on expert. It's hard. Really hard, bit not impossible. I actually have been through all the Mega Man Zero games on GBA on the hardest settings and loved it. It all boils down to watching the enemy patterns and being in the right spot to avoid taking damage and attacking at the proper times. It's even possible to do boss encounters with out taking a hit (I've done it).

I don't usually do the hard modes of game as I find them cheap rather then hard but I do enjoy the Mega Man difficulties. They seem more planned out rather then just jack up enemy damage.

So what about you? Do you bother with the higher difficulties in games? Do you just play the normal settings and that's it? Or do you jump right in on the hardest setting as soon as you start up the game?

Or are you a wuss that only plays on the easy settings so you can rip though a game and give yourself a false feeling of accomplishment.

That's right, I said it...

So today as I drove out to the WalMart Super Centre I got lost and drove out to the country a bit. It's not a big deal. I actually like to get lost as I never feel that I am actually... lost. Logic will get me back on track. it always does.

Anyway, that's not what this post is about. This post is about getting older and discovering more about yourself. As I drove I looked at the homes out in the country and found my self longing to own one. A nice one with a huge lot that backs up on to a nice piece of wooed area for my kids (and myself) to explore. It would be quiet and peaceful... and wonderful. The last few times I've driven out side of the the city I've actually found myself thinking these thoughts. I even feel a huge urge to stop the van and run out in to one of those fields and explore the small patches of wooded areas or even check out those lone trees you see in farmers fields. I really can't explain it more then that. Strange...

I remember when I was young I loved the city. I never really wanted to live in a house and thought my Dad was crazy for living way out in the middle of ass crack nowhere. Now the older I get the more I want those things (I already have the house part). Will I get it some day? Who knows, but I do think it's interesting that as we get older, tastes start to change and I think we begin to find out who we really are. We might even find that we've been fooling ourselves the whole time.

Yeah... I totally have nothing to post about tonight.

ummm...

yeah...


oh! Look! I have 100 posts left to go to make it to one post a day for a year! We're in the home stretch now I tells ya.

...

good night ^_^

So there is a new Astro Boy trailer out. I've watched it a few times now. Not bad, the touched up look of Astro is okay. I can understand why Imagi Animation Studios didn't make him look exactly as he does in the cartoons. I don't think American audiences would warm up to it as much as this. I'm interested in it for sure. I'd love to see more though as I didn't think the trailer really showcased enough.

What this did remind me of is was when I was little and I would watch AstroBoy on tv. Man, I thought it was awesome. I remember watching that and Battle of the Planets (Gatchaman) and just being completely lost in each episode. I didn't know what made those cartoons so much more special then the others, I just knew they where my favorites. (I still need to watch the 2000 reboot of Gatchaman).

Actually, most of my childhood faves are old anime shows. AstroBoy, Battle of the Planets, Fables of the Green Forrest, The Adventures of the Little Prince. I even watched Belle and Sebastian on the French channel even though I couldn't understand it.

Ah, the memories. Anyone else remember those shows?

I totally called it...

/facepalm

Oh PETA... why do you hate Mama so...?

Some of you might have heard that this Thanksgiving (at least for Americans cuze we Canadians had our turkey day over a month ago) the PETA is getting all kinds of press with their parody flash game Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals. In it you get to pluck a turkey, remove the entrails, cut off the head, make stuffing and cram it in the bird and make gravy. Mmmm... mmmm... tasty. The game is done pretty well in all honesty with unlockables like turkey clips, turkey facts, wallpapers and a secret Veggan recipie if you don't do the first turkey challenges. If you play really well you can get the rank "Meaner then Mama!". It's a lot of bloody fun ^_^

I know this is parody, but what I don't care for is how PETA puts Majesco on some of the things in game. Mejesco isn't killing animals... they make games. I'm sure that the people over at the PETA would argue that Cooking Mama supports and promotes the slughter of animals to kids but come on now... let's be realistic. Majesco even issued a statement about the Mama slaughter game from Mama herself.

"I would never put rat in my Ratatouille," said a feisty Mama while beating some eggs. "Like any accomplished cook, I create my recipes to appeal to a broad range of tastes and preferences. My only goal is to ensure you leave the table well fed."

But I'm sure the PETA won't be happy unless Majesco releases Cooking Mama: Veggan Delights. I know I get my meat from free run, organic farms when I can.

Sigh...

Once long ago I reviewed a MAME game. Not just any MAME game though... a saucy adult one called Sexy Reaction Pachinko. I said I was going to do more reviews of sexy MAME games but never did... until now.

This one is for a game called Dancing Eyes. Released in 1996 by Namco, it's a game that's sort of like Qix if I had to make a comparison. You control a little monkey character and you run him around a grid layout cutting out block pieces until the whole grid is clear. What's so naughty about this? The grid is overlayed on the clothes of an anime girl (most times) and as you clear out sections the clothes fall off her until she's left with nothing but her undies.

So this game is a bit old so the girls are pretty low poly, but they still look pretty good I think. Not super hot, but good. After you beat each level you're treated to a little in game dance n' prance show of the girl in question. Sometimes though it's not a girl... but I'll leave that as a surprise. ^_^

The game gets hectic pretty quick and then after a while just down right cheap. You'll find yourself wanting to yell at all the enemies running around the grid trying to stop your peep show. But maybe thats because I kept trying to cut HUGE sections out of the clothing rather then playing it safe with just smaller parts. The controls are okay, nothing jumped out as trouble some as I played.

Oh, and there are power ups (and downs) too if you cut out the flashing sections of clothes. Speed up, time extend and such but the best/worst is the one the reverses what you've done already. So if you're almost done the one grid and you get this power down, be prepared to play the grid again because as it will fill in all the empty cells you have. Grrrr!!!

I can't possibly see anyone shelling out the quarters to see the end in the arcade as you'd be broke in no time. Not only that but you'd totally feel ripped of if you get one of the non sexy characters too. But spending nothing but time on a quirky strip arcade game? Yeah, I'll do that ^_^

Pics of the game can be found on my site.

Don't worry, not me... but 1/3 of my studio currently is.

Suck...

It's really scary when this come down. I've been in a studio when the announcement is made that they have no more money and that everyone should go home. Yeah, that was a bad day. Is was pretty close but not quite. The studio is hoping and pushing to have everyone back in January, but if I've learned anything from my time working is that you can never put your faith 100% in you employer. If you do... well, lets just say that you shouldn't. So today, after the meeting this morning I started to hit up my friends and contacts in the industry and see how things are everywhere else and if anyone is, or will be, hiring. I do know some people that have told me that I'll have a job in their studio if I want one, so that's good to hear.

The other huge problem is having to move to another city. When you're a single person, picking up an moving sucks but it's easier to do. But when you're a family of 4 and a dog... you really have to sit and make hard decisions as to what's going to happen next.

The whole thing sucks.

Stupid crappy economy...

Feeling better today. Thanks to everyone that sent well wishes ^_^

So today for lunch I made some of my famous (in my house) orange pancakes. They're soooo good. Wife and kids love them. It made me think of all the other things that I make well. I make the best damn sandwiches out there and I also make damn good raisin, cinnamon bread and orange, craisin bread. At Christmas time I make orange and chocolate cookies too. Yes... I do love working with oranges.

I don't cook much but sometimes I wonder if I could have gone culinary school. Not that I really know anything about cooking but sometimes it's nice to think about you life in a different direction. Maybe in a another life time...

Do you have any culinary treats that you and only you make/cook?

It was bound to happen... now I'm sick. I'm getting hot and cold from one moment to the next and generally just feel like a turd sandwich. No puke though, just feeling run down. Which is crazy because I've been home with the sick kid for one day... my wife has been home with her all week and is doing fine.

Suck...

I'm going to finish watching Survivor and then go to bed...

Being sick sucks.

My daughter is sick. A bit of a stomach bug and a fever too. Poor kid. She's been throwing up a number of times during the day since Wednesday. Although, I have to say... she's a puker. Any little cold or slight fever she gets, she guaranteed to throw up at least once. She's been like this way since she was really little. My son on the other hand isn't like this at all for some reason. I hope it's something she grows out of as she gets older. That would be a suck thing to bring with you as you grow up. Also when ever she gets a fever, it usually a high grade fever. It's not uncommon for her to be 104/105 F. It used to be scary but now we know it's normal for her, although we still have to watch and be careful it doesn't get too high.

It got me thinking about how often I get sick. Well, I do get sick now more then I ever did thanks to my kids. But I used to hardly ever get sick. Maybe once a year.... maybe. I think it's been about ten years since I've even thrown up. Seriously.

I actually knew a guy that had a phobia of throwing up. Now that's something I've never heard of before. I also knew someone that used to be given medicine in a drop of caramel as a kid. Now he can't have caramel with out the urge to toss his cookies.

How about you? Are you prone to getting sick often? Are you a puker?

Recently scientists in Japan have successfully cloned a mouse from a lab mouse carcass that was frozen in permafrost (-40 C) for 16 years. The new technique was demonstrated to show that cloning is now possible on severely damaged cells due to deep freezes from dead animal specimens. Several mice where cloned in this fashion and they even mated and had healthy babies.

So what animal is at the top of the list for scientists to clone using this new method? Yup, the great dead woolly mammoth. Woolly mammoths have already been found in well preserved in the ice and experts believe that there are as many as 10,000 more trapped in the frozen wastes. Why, there is even plans to make a “Pleistocene Park” in northern Siberia. It would be twice the size of Japan and be the new home of woolly mammoths, woolly rhinos, Siberian tigers, steppe lions, giant deer, ancient foxes, and ancestors of the Siberian horse.

Crazy eh?

So what's your take on all this? We have the opportunity to bring back long lost animals and really see and study what they where like. To be able to touch a real woolly mammoth would be awesome. But is it something we should be fooling with? Is it our place to do such a thing? I'm not sure where I stand. On one side I think it's amazing and on the other I think it's down right scary. I don't think it's right but I'd love to see a real woolly mammoth... I just don't know...

Discuss!

I received a note asking for some advice in working in the games industry. I though about it and wrote down all I could think of that I've discovered in my career. I liked it so much that I though I would share it with the rest of the world... ^_^

I'll tell you this about the game industry, it can be a tough job so make sure that you want to do it, and be prepared to work on games that you might not want to be a part of, it's all a part of the industry. You have to cut your teeth on the crappy stuff before you can be a part of the larger projects. Be patient and don't let issues with your current project eat at you. Talk to your producer, talk to your studio director about what's on your mind. That's what they are there for. Push forward. Never settle for being a grunt worker. Learn all you can with in your studio and listen to what people say and keep that info in the back of your head, it will come in handy later. Ask questions, ask all the questions you can. If something doesn't make sense, bring it up to your producer or at a meeting and then try to be proactive in solving it. Have fun... your making games. Play games, good ones and bad ones. Especially bad ones. You'll learn so much from others mistakes. Be your biggest critic but never trash your work. Always know you can do better and then push to be better. Don't be afraid to walk away from your current studio to go to a better one. Being too dedicated to your studio can kill you and your career. Learn 3D. Being 2D we have an advantage to learn 3D and then play for both teams because not all dedicated 3D people can draw. Study design and layout, not only in games but in photography. It will help you balance out your interface design. Be comfortable with interface design. Don't be afraid to start over if it isn't working. Learn to paint. Learn good colour theory. Learn how light and colour effects moods and direction. Push your ideas/animations/designs further then you normally would because you can always bring your ideas back if they go too far, but you'll never know far they can go if you don't take them there. Finally, a good resume should only have 10 pieces of art. 5 pages or good life drawing, 3 design or work related pieces and 2 pieces of your fun work. No anthro or goth/skull pieces should be in your portfolio.

I think that's about it. If any one has any other questions feel free to ask.

^_^

Little Big Planet seems to be a hot thing right now. Honestly, if I had a PS3 I'd go buy it. A new take on a old school platforming sounds so sweet, but in all honesty this is more of a packaged level editor then game. Now I haven't played it. I've only seen clips and such online, but it's so refreshing to such see a product come out. Why? Because it's literally a game teaching tool. Media Molecule is helping the game industry build more game designers with this release. Players get to build levels and share them with everyone. They'll make first crap levels and then learn though mistakes and trial and error what makes good game design. Challenge and reward, choke points, difficulty curves, they'll learn it all. All just for the price of a game and a little of their time.

It's games like this that make me proud to be in this industry. It's games like this that help promote, thinking, planning and creativity in it's players. Now I just need to get involved in such a project.

I love wikipedia. I usually get so lost clicking around from one entry to the next... best productivity killer ever!

Here's list of my wikipedia travels over the past week.

Pushing Daisies -> Severus of Napless

Silent Hill (video game) -> Slient Hill 2 -> Pyramid Head -> Flauros

Milk (film) -> Harvey Milk -> Hollow Point Bullets

Alien Ant Farm

Spacetime -> Fourth Dimension -> Fifth Dimension

PhotoShop CS4

Tiffany (singer)

Usagi Yojimbo -> Kitsune

Mega Man Zero (series) -> Inti Creates -> Fantastic Children

Communism -> Marxism -> Egalitarianism

Qur'an -> Muhammad -> Kaaba

Little Big Planet

Barack Obama

Nintendo DSi

Cam Woolly

Kimbo Slice

Tucker Bounds

Rosie the Riveter

(29075) 1950 AD

B53 Nuclear Bomb -> B41 Nuclear Bomb

Cobalt Bomb

Tsar Bomba -> Father of all bombs

Chicxulub Crater

So this weekend I finally make it to an x-ray place. At this point my toe isn't really sore anymore unless I'm on it all day or I put excessive pressure on it so I'm wondering if it's all really worth it. It's not like they can do anything for it and it's not on any crazy angle or anything and the bruising has gone down to the point where it's almost gone.

When I get there I actually bring up these questions to the nurses at the clinic. Now they can't tell me my toe will be okay and I should just go home. You know... liabilities and all. But they do tell me that if the radiologist does find anything he really can't do anything anyway other then tell me to splint it to it neighbour toe. Which is just what everyone else has beeing telling me to do. So I say thank you very much and decided not to waste their time with my "busted" toe.

Next stop, Wal-Mart. I bought some gauze tape and now have two toes bound together. What a strange feeling this is and it's actually making the toe sore a bit. Not because it's being splinted but I think I have the tape to tight. Going to have to experiment to see what works the best.

So that's it really. Sorry I don't have a cool x-ray of my foot to share (that would have been awesome) but I really didn't see it being necessary. That's me, saving the medical industry money one non busted toe at a time.

Out of all the games you own(ed), which one hoe you put the most time in to? I know the last time I played Final Fantasy III on the SNES it was at 88 hours, but I know I played the crazy hell out of Mario Kart DS as well. I'm not sure which one wins out but those are the ones that have gotten most of my time.

With some Crazy Taxi bringing up the rear.

^_^

The power cord to my laptop snapped. Suck. I knew it was going to happen. It was flipping to battery mode more and more frequently for no reason. Today when I plugged it in... I got nothing but battery juice. Now I have to pony up $60 bucks for a new one. I looked at BestBuy and FutureShop for a power adapter and they do have universal ones... for $150 bucks! HOLY CRAP! Thanks but I think I'll spend the money and wait buy my mail box for one thanks.

Actaully, I did a hack job on the cord when I got home. I cut off the plastic cover, twisted the broken wires together and little electrical tape later and BANG-O! A nice temp cord if I ever saw one. I figured... what do I have to lose... it's broken already.

Feels good when you can fix something rather then buy a new one (although I know this is only temp). You ever fix something you thought you would have to buy a replacement for?

ARRGGG!!!!!


So I've changed the theme on my blog/site. I like it much better then the old one, feels cozy ^_^

But I'd like to take it a bit farther. You know, add some plug ins and personalize it a bit for me and for people that visit. Sounds fun and easy right? Wrong, wrong, wrong, WRONG!!!!

I know what I want so I go though the endless list of plug ins over at wordpress and gather up things like...

Commenter Avatar plugin
Random Image widget for my sidebar
Reply to comments plug in

and so forth...

Do you think I can get any of them working? No. Not even close. I feel so frustrated. I go and activate the plug in and I ether get nothing or they break the site. Or I'm fooled by "Easy Installation" only to find that I have to go and hack the crap out of the php files. And the directions they give to do that are horrible too. It's all written up like you know exactly what you're doing. These people forget that not everyone knows what they're doing in these files and would LOVE some hand holding, but instead I'm told to just go in and write or copy a bunch of code... and they don't even say where! Just "place it where you want it to go" tells me nothing.

So I go to these plug in sites trying to get help and I usually end up with "sorry, you must be doing something wrong because it works for me" sort of reply if I get a reply at all. It doesn't help that I'll usually see a bunch of comments about how much the plugin rocks and such by other people that it works fine for.

sigh~

Oh well... I'll keep trying to add things from time to time. At least I have sexy art for people to look at to keep them from noticing the lack of bells a whistles on my site.

It took 3 days for someone to turn the DSi pervy.

Three days...

is... is that a record?

I tip my perv hat to who ever made this clip.

So it looks like Obama has won for the next president of the United States. It's was pretty much a no brainer that that was going to be the outcome. So here's to you America and here's hoping that the next four years bring about good things for you.

As I sit and watched with the rest of the world your election seems to gather much more speed and ends up more like a sporting event then anything else. All kinds of shows cover every angels, free give aways for voting, it's really too bad that other elections aren't cover this way. Canadian elections came and go very quickly so that build up can never happen. It's really too bad because I bet more people could get interested or even learn more about the process with better, more entertaining coverage.

Ah well... so did you get out and rock the vote?

So yesterday we saw that censorship in Japan sucks (which makes me wonder how some of the uncensored art actually gets out) but one thing that does rock about Japan is that they understand fan service and aren't shy about it.

Take this for example.

It's an official licensed hot and sexy art book featuring Mai from KoF. Yup, that's right... fully licensed. That means at some point, at SNK tower, someone suggested a hot and sexy art book featuring some of their female IP should be made for the masses, and everyone agreed. The book was drawn by artist Mahiru Izumi. Oh... and this isn't the first book like this ether. Iroha from Samurai Showdown has her own book too.

How awesome is that? Official sexiness right from the source.

Actually, it's my understanding that just about anyone can produce a naughty book/CD featuring popular characters and no body gets yelled at in Japan. Where here in North America, if someone from the legal dept of studio X saw my Chipettes pictures... I'm sure I'd get dragged around the mud or at least have a "take this down right now" letter come though my in box.

Let's home that doesn't happen. ^_^

So it would seem that an Eroge game in Japan was released recently and... oops, someone forgot to censor some of the images. The game is called Volume 7 was released on the 24th of October and actually had to be recalled because someone fell asleep at the wheel.

It gets you thinking about the censor ship that Japan has on it's adult material. It must be the most annoying thing in the world to have your government decided that genitalia (male and female) should not be viewed buy it's citizens. Especially when you consider the amount (and variety) of porn that Japan produces. I mean, I love Japan and all but I don't think anyone could take my uncensored porn away from me. >_<

Anyway, if anything, this screw up lets us see what is actually behind the mosaic and some times it's naughty bits that are only half done. Which makes sense, why put full effort in to something that's only going to get blurred anyway. That would totally suck.

So yeah... Yay for us and for being able to look at wangs and clefts. Yes... yay for wangs and clefts. ^_^

If your interested you can download the CG pack here on Hong Fire

I'm crazy tired today because my little guy didn't sleep at all last night. He's all stuffed up and when ever he drifted off he would toss and turn and wake back up again. So yeah... got only a few hours of sleep last night.

zzzzzz....

So lets have some sleep questions today.

Do you sleep with the blankets right up to your head or are you a "blankets are evil" person? Do you like to have light sheets or do you enjoy the weight of lots of cozy blankets?

Me? I generally pull them right up to or over my head and I love to have the weight lots and lots of blankets. Mmmm.... sleep..

gonna go he me some...