I drew something
April 29th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
Long time since I posted new art. Here’s something I drew for an australian guy I know. Click the image to enlarge.
Archive for April, 2007
New DS game: Izuna
April 24th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
So I got this game this weekend. I was lured by a cute pink-haired ninja. The reviews all said something like “Okay, not great. Hard as hell.” I agree with the first statement. It’s not great, but it’s pretty good. There’s some humor in there. Not Ha-ha funny but it’s cute.
The game does start out really hard. I think I died in the first 15 minutes. But it was hardly impossible. In fact after some minor grinding I was able to stay alive no problem.
Mai head asplode!
April 20th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
I’ve felt really poopy this week. I think I have a case of I-can’t-sleep-because-my-head-is-full-of-programming-junk. I wish I could say it’s because of my extraordinary dedication to Lone Wolf, but the truth is that I’ve started a new hobby project and use my spare time to work on it, often into the wee hours.
I don’t recommend doing any programming right before you’re supposed to go to sleep. It just fucks your brain up and you end up lying in bed having random bursts of thoughts until you pass out out of sheer exhaustion. And then you still have to get up and be productive the next morning.
Bleh.
On a lighter note Team Ksatria has just recieved another addition in the form of a lead animator named Stewart Alves. We’ve been without an animator for months so his arrival wasn’t a day too soon. Another animator is supposed to show in a few weeks.
Tonight we’re all going out for pizza to celebrate our first milestone. Hadn’t had a good pizza in a long time so I’m stoked about that.
Also, happy birthday Cedric who turned 455 years old (no, really) today.
World in conflict
April 12th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
Just thought I should mention that I received a pass to play a closed alpha(!) test of World in Conflict through my subscription of Gamespot. WiC is the upcoming game from Massive Entertainment. I think the legal technicalities behind the alpha signup prohibits me from discussing the game or posting any screenshots, so I won’t.
All I want to say is that the game looks great and I think that Massive might have done it once again. I don’t want to say that they’ve “reinvented” the RTS genre, but it’s by all means something truly original but still in the spirit of Ground Control. Good job Massive!
No, I’m not bitter.
April 12th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
Why would I be? GameAxis wrote a ten page cover story about my game and the company I work for. Sure, there’s no picture of me in the article, nor am I mentioned in any way.. but hey, who’s keeping track?
I don’t know why I made such a big deal of their visit. I was excited over finally getting my mug published in my first ever game magazine cover but at the same time I felt really uncomfortable in front of the camera. Maybe that’s why they didn’t like my picture.. or perhaps it was the gigantic zit the size of Mount Everest (no joke) I was wearing in the smack center of my forehead that morning.
Seriously though, they wrote up a good article. That said, most of the ten pages were mainly padding of concept art and other tidbits we sent them. But they seem genuinely excited over the game, which is a good sign. Especially given what we actually showed them.
Here are a few excerps from the magazine:
If you want the whole thing you should buy the magazine, or poke me.
DJMAX Portable
April 5th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
Mmm.. music and boobies.
I saw some ads for DJMAX Portable 2 so I thought I’d try it.. but since I couldn’t find it I settled for the original. This rhythm game is in a word: unforgiving, but then again most rhythm games are. That’s kind of the whole point with them though. The most fun I’ve had in any rhythm game was probably playing Beatmania with my friend Simon back in the dorm until my brain would fall into a zen-like state and instinctively respond to the rapid rain of dropping beats.
I can’t say I’ve reach that state quite yet though. In fact I haven’t managed to get past the fourth level of the game yet. I manage one through three almost flawlessly but at four the difficulty swiftly bumps up to a level just slightly out of my reach. Need more brain training.
Here’s a video in case you have no idea what I’m talking about.
[Update #1]
Damn this game is addicting. My fingers hurt ._.
Oh and I saw numero 2 in the store today. I might buy it, but I should probably make sure I get good enough first. I’m pwning all the four-button songs now but I’m still having major problems with the six-button songs. Also I need to investigate how to play it on my downgraded PSP.
[Update #2]
I buckled down and eventually my brain was able to cope with the six-button songs, adding a new level of challenge to all the songs I’ve already mastered. I went back to play some good ol’ four-button songs after that and for some reason they had become easier than ever! I felt like I had super powers and hit every note even when my eyes weren’t really keeping up. Damn I love this game.
Game trecking
April 2nd, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
This saturday I went game trecking. I spent roughly four hours going to every single game story I knew about or could find in downtown Singapore. My quest was A) to discover whether or not God of War 2 was truly banned, B) to buy Rogue Galaxy and C) get Disgaea Portable(J) for the PSP (because I’m such a stupid fanboy).
I also browsed for some new anime figures, but for once I didn’t feel the need to get any more. I think I’m done. Maybe if I saw the sequel version of Etna I’d get it.. because clearly, I’m such a stupid fanboy.
I saw no trace of GoW2 what-so-ever nor Disgaea Portable although I didn’t really expect to see any of them. I guess I will have to resort to ordering online. I did however pick up a copy of Rogue Galaxy. Of course it was in the last place I looked. In this case it was in a small no-name game store down in the basement of Simlim. The guy at the counter seemed so happy to finally make a sale.
Speaking of which. It’s official. You heard it here first. Singapore sucks when it comes to video game retail. All the stores have the same games, very few PS2 games but TONS and TONS of GBA games. No one sells any used games and it’s downright impossible to find anything that’s over a year old. Unless of course the game sucks and they never managed to sell off their first batch. Oh and if they happen to have the game you’re looking for, it’s twice the price of a regular game.
Oh, and I finally got the power restored to the ceiling lights in my appartment. Only took about a month and a half. Good job!
