So I got one of these: 
And it's pretty awesome. I'm not much of a tech-freak, but the things you can do with a PlayStation 3 are pretty astounding. Not only is the Cross Media Bar, or XMB, very user friendly, the colors of the background changes by the minute or even second. I started noticing it after a friend of mine said that he had a black background, and the next morning it was all reddish and had a little green in it. So I decided to take look at it for myself, and it turned out to be true. The colors do change dependant on time of day, which is a little nifty feature that the people at Sony thought about.
Using the CDDB the PS3 can give tags to almost all your albums, and it even has the option for you to add an image to it, getting rid of the folder icon. Customization is key, and looking at it this way, the system actually delivers. You can add small 15 second animations to a movie-file, getting rid of the movie file icon, alter your own user icon, instead of using the smiley faces the system initially provides. It's all in the options a system delivers to you, and with that, Sony has brought a force to be reckoned with.
Ofcourse, Microsoft will not be put behind. But only now, with the Spring Update, will they give us some much wanted options seemingly 'borrowed' from the PS3. I'm not going into much details about it, but everytime I put in a PS3 disc into my sleek black dust-magnet, it shows which game is in by changing the background and playing a small clip combined with music. It does that with all PS3 games, and the demo's and the full PSN games. I don't know what it is, but I love simple features like this. Microsoft decided to up the ante, and put in dedicated Game folders on it's Marketplace, which should make a little more bearable to look at. Cool in my book I say.
Also new is the fact that the Open Tray bar, which changes into Play Game whenever you put in an Xbox 360 or Xbox game, will finally show which game you're actually about to start. I, however, dislike the fact that this new update will also incorporate Microsoft's MSN list into my Xbox Live Gamertag system. It's annoying enough to be on MSN at times, but if I can also be bothered by people on MSN while playing on my Xbox 360, I'll just keep my status on Live as offline. The rest of the update I hardly care for, but this feature just screams annoying to me. Might as well have left that out to be honest.
On a different note, I'm finally making a slight start in the gamedesign & development side of my life. I've recently started a project with Panajev and Kiriku, two talented persons who were looking for more meat for their project, and I'm happy to oblige. My role in it is designer/director, the function I am aspiring to, since that is what I can do best. Create stories, complete universes, and tell others how to create them. They would only have to obey my command and I'll live the easy life. Well, not really. Because there is a whole lot of work to be done to be honest. Creating characters, giving them personality's is not that easy. Luckily I'm a pretty skilled writer, even though I do say so myself, so it's not big of a deal.
However, combining that with DGS (which has started to come on strong), and relaying my vision and wishes to my fellow enthusiast developers, is a bit more demanding than I initially thought.
Want to keep your eyes on this project? Go and visit
http://panajev.blogspot.com/ where we will try to keep everyone updated. A friend of mine, who goes on the internet by the name of Dante, is currently working on the music, and we might share a bit of that once we get further in development.
-Vash Out-
I realise that..
If I want to get more people come to my blog, I actually have to have some content on it. If I won't write anything, no one will come and take a look, and laugh about my exploits. It has been a while since my last blog, and I was actually set on keeping it updated, but you know how these things go. Some things happen, you get to put it right, and you forget about all of the smaller stuff you're working on.
But not to worry, I have something to write about right now. First of all, there is the mention that luck and connections are highly important in the industry I would like to see myself in, in the near future. Now luck has always been on my side, seeing I had a lot of chances through my entire life to actually get those connections. But the last few months things actually started to work out for the better, and right now a contact has been made with someone who can spur my enrollment into the games industry.
Not willing to go into details, I can however say that he is able and willing to help me reach my goals. My goals are set high, but I have a firm belief in that I will be able to reach it at some point in my life. When it comes down to it, my goal is to make people happy, sad, angry or even feel depressed when something they see happens. That something is ofcourse in the game they're playing, or in the book they are reading, or in something else. I want people to feel emotionally attached to whatever it is that they are doing. How do I get there? Well, like the person who wants to help me said, "it's all about luck and connections". After that comes the hard work, but if you do what you really want to do, it should be pretty easy.
But, enough of my ramblings, it's time to put more effort into keeping this blog updated. So keep reminding me to do just that.
By the way, you should check out the Post Mortem on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game for Xbox Live Arcade. It's a well written piece by my buddy Nayan, and it's very much worth the read. You can find it at
http://hdrlying.com/.
Out.
What is going on?!
So yeah, after that initial post I really was kind of mentally depleted. But not to worry, I have found renewed vigor to get my creativity out. See, I'm not all about gaming, or anime and manga. No no, I'm actually quite creative, even though I say so myself. I write lyrics, stories, create all sorts of designs (Hah, my drawing skills are atrocious right now) and universes. I actually create very deep and intriguing characters first, and then the world around them. When I've done that, I've set up boundaries and try to think off what the characters can actually do. What makes them strong, what are their skills, their powers.
I work in the exact same way as the designer for one of my favorite series, Devil May Cry, does. So this is a big shoutout to none other than Hideki Kamiya. 'I love your work man! And wherever you, and whatever you do, keep doing the thing you do!'
On a different note, I've finally bought myself an Xbox 360. And I have to say I'm quite pleased with it. Been playing Saint's Row a lot, and had some fun with Kameo. Also tried out Uno, with the Live Vision Cam, and battled demons with a friend in DooM, which is still an awesome thing to do. The chainsaw in that game continues to be very brutal to this day. Speaking of which, I still didn't get my hands on Gears of War, probably one of the reasons I've bought that Microsoft thingy, along with Rainbow Six Vegas and Blue Dragon. And you know what, it sucks to be kind of between jobs, I still have a part-time job at a video-rental story, but I'm going to quit that one too. Oh well, I'll just get it later then.
Here's my gamertag if you want to add me:
There's always something to complain about.
Since this blog's focus lies mainly on gaming and topics surrounding gamedesign and development, I thought I'd start off with some very basic complaints. And yes, I realize I'm one off many who wants to vent his or her's oppinions concerning life, death and everything in between. What makes me so different from the rest? Well, to be honest, not much. So don't expect too much. But, I myself am an aspiring writer/gamedesigner and currently have a lot of projects under way. Personal stuff, all to get myself into that study so many wannabe designers crave to get into.
From what I heard and know, one of the best gamedesign studies in the world, right smack here in Holland. Or, as it is known to many people around the world, The Netherlands. You could say it's somewhere between Germany, the UK and the Netherrealm.
Yes, a horrible joke. :(
Anyway, back to the topic at hand, complaining. Complaining is something every human does every once in a while. So naturally, I have some complaints up my sleeve too. As most people realize, I live in Europe. And to a lot of people, Europe is a part of the 3rd world when it comes to gaming. The amount of times we have gotten the shaft when it comes to gaming has become an astronomically high number, and with recent events it's gotten worse. When I say recent, I mean a few months old. But hey, this is my first post on my blog, so I get to do that.
First of all, the fact that Sony has once again blatantly lied to us, while many of us did saw it coming, concerning the launch of their new PlayStation 3 system. Originally planned for this year, but due to their own atrocious planning set back to probably March 2007. The reason? A blue laser diode which they couldn't get enough of in time. A lot of the insiders knew it, many who visited one of the most hardcore forae saw it happening beforehand. But, even as it happened, it did struck a blow. The PS3 was, quote shockingly(O_o), delayed for Europe.
Add this to the fact that in all the years that I've been gaming many a game didn't even get released or took 10 months after the US release to be finally put onto shelves here, and you probably know why we're no happy campers over here. I mean, we missed out on Xenosaga Episode 1 (we did get Episode 2 with an extra disc containing the cutscenes of the first game), Suikoden III and we might miss out on Front Mission 5, which is, according to a friend of mine, one of the best in the series when it comes to depressing storylines.
To make matters worse, a rambling spokesman, Jamie MacDonald, working for the European chain of SCE Worldwide Studios came up with this amusing anecdote as an answer to the question regarding this debacle, as asked by
GameIndustry and I quote; What would you say to consumers who like Sony and want to buy your products, but perhaps feel that because they're in Europe they're always last in line? Jamie Macdonald: European consumers have shown that historically they don't mind that, because they end up buying as many PlayStations, if not more, than the US and Japan. In Europe, it doesn't seem that the release of our platforms after the US and Japan - in the long run - affects how consumers feel.
Oh yeah, we don't mind, unless you open up your eyes and see the massive amounts of complaints posted on message boards and blogs like these! Nooo sir, there's no one complaining about the big stick up their asses. Don't get me wrong, I think they'll do great, and in the long run it really won't matter. But that's not thanks to the console-manufacturer itself, let alone the PR blunder just shown here. It's because the PS3 gets games like Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy XIII, Motorstorm and my favorite: Virtua Fighter 5. If those games were to shift to the, let's say, Xbox 360, there would be no reason whatsoever to wait till March. Actually, I myself am not waiting till March and will get both X360 and Wii beforehand.
That's it for today though, expect a new complaint soon. I have a feeling something might pop up again soon, it's just bound to happen.
And it's pretty awesome. I'm not much of a tech-freak, but the things you can do with a PlayStation 3 are pretty astounding. Not only is the Cross Media Bar, or XMB, very user friendly, the colors of the background changes by the minute or even second. I started noticing it after a friend of mine said that he had a black background, and the next morning it was all reddish and had a little green in it. So I decided to take look at it for myself, and it turned out to be true. The colors do change dependant on time of day, which is a little nifty feature that the people at Sony thought about.
