Arckham and Xylith are 23-year-old geeks who write. We love music, online games and are internet dependents. We have been grown on Philippine soil and are still here.
The hype and tension has started building as March 23, 2012 draws closer which marks the premiere of The Hunger Games Movie. Guess what I found:
I have an Identification Pass from TheCapitol.pn. As much as I want to be from another district, this is what I was given. You can also get one using either your Facebook account or Twitter. After being assigned to a District you will be directed to an Facebook community page where you can find other fellow district citizens.
Despite being assigned to District 1, I have to admit the site as well as the ID is pretty awesome. Don't forget to try it out and tell us which district you're from in the comments section.
Anyway, here's how long we still have to wait for the movie:
So guys, it looks like Sunrise decided to upload Mobile Suit Gundam AGE to YouTube. Six episodes so far have been uploaded to Gundam.info's YouTube Channel. Enjoy!
Over the long weekend, Arckham and I decided to try out Dragon Nest aka DN. It's an MMORPG game, developed by EYEDENTITY and published by Shanda Games. We are both officially hooked and we wanted to give you guys a preview of our DN experience so far.
Arckham having more time to play is already level 22 and I happy to announce that I've reached level 15 as of this weekend [Yes, work and everything else in between.] I think we're still pretty much on a pretty fast pace seeing that this game's current level cap is only at 32. We currently are on one of the Southeast Asia Servers, namely Springwood. The three others are: Westwood, Holywood, and Greenwood .
Xylith's Character
This games gives you four classes: Warrior, Cleric, Archer and Sorceress. Each class has two paths or job changes which you achieve once you complete the job quest at Level 15. Something we like is once you've chosen you next job you're given a chance to try out the different skills to kind of have a feel of how you'll build up your character. Then you are given a ticket to reset your Skill Points and finalize you skill tree. One thing I wasn't too happy about was that the classes are gender locked. What that means is that all Warriors and Clerics are male while all Archers and Sorceresses are female. Since I am are used to playing my own gender as my main character, I feel a bit boxed in.
Xylith Showing Off Some Moves
The Skill Points are earned as you move up. What we like about the DN skill tree is that if you right click the particular skill, a tiny window pops out and runs a short clip on what the skill would look like which helps with the decision making process. Stat Growth is not character specific like in Ragnarok. Character Stat Growth is directly proportional to your level, you can only augment you stats with in game gear and the titles or achievements you get to complete.
The controls is something that I needed to get used to since it heavily relies on WASD for movement and the mouse for direction. What I appreciate about this game is that the interface is not hard to understand, you have everything you need to see on screen and at the same time there's not a lot of clicking since everything is keyboard dependent. Despite it being a keyboard dependent game, it's actually very keyboard friendly. For example, if you need to run around for a long time you don't have to constantly hit W, you can hit E and it's on auto run. Another is that if you need to go to a particular place on the map, all you have to do is to pull the map up and right click where you want to go and the character makes its way there similar to Pet Forest. Since, I play on my laptop these functions help prevent me from wearing down my keyboard.
Arckham's Character
Gameplay is dungeon based and very similar to Grand Chase. The story line is intricate and you really learn a lot about Lagendia's (the fictional world of this game) history. I appreciate the dungeon based game play since it helps lessen the lag for the different players which has always been a given in MMORPGs. It also caters to those that want to play solo and those that constantly want to party.
Arckham Showing Off Some Moves
Graphics is something I am very picky about but I am glad to say that DN does deliver. It may not be the best out there in terms of graphics but it isn't a sore eye either. The skill sprites are smooth and the movement runs smoothly as well. The character designs despite being Chibi don't give you the feel of controlling a child on screen. They were able to put in a bit of maturity into the characters that would also not alienate children.
What we like about this game is that it seemed to learn and take the best functions from all the other MMOPRGs out there and blended in to a nice smooth system. Whether you're a casual gamer or a hard core one, this game caters to both with the different dungeon difficulties and in game achievements. Safe to say that we both are enjoying this game very much and we hope to see you guys around Lagendia.
A recent post in Sankaku Complex(NSFW warning) tallied user votes on the top twenty-five anime series of good ol' 1990's. Not surprisingly, NGE topped it. Here's the rest of the list.
Level Up! Live is a yearly event hosted by Level Up!, a company that sponsors and manages a lot of MMORPGs here in the Philippines among them Ragnarok, RF Online and Grand Chase (All three of which, Arckham and I played). This event hosts the different Championships of the different games among them NEST for RF Online and Digmaan for Grand Chase. This is the ultimate battle ground to meet and greet the best of the best. If that's not your thing, there are booths by different guilds from the various gaming communities. Moreover, there are freebies as well as cosplays and everything you would need in a con. Geeks will abound.
Level Up! Live 2010 will be at the World Trade Center and will run from November 6-7, 2010. We will be at the S.O.U.L. Guild Booth (Our RF Guild from Cora Nexus).
See you there.
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Looking Back:
So we've been there and looked around and here's what we can say about it: Meh!
So I was there for basically just the first day [I had work the next day]. Something that bothered me is that as opposed to the other years, people have lost their creativity. Majority of the booths were selling custom shirts. One of the few notable merchandise was that headband with RO emoticons that was just too cute.
Though there was free Slurpee, [my brother had a lot of this] there weren't enough games booth. I was looking forward to doing some game themed RL games as silly as that sounds. I think the event needed more side activities.
Program was meh, but it's always been meh [so-so] so I don't focus on it as much. Though Arckham did mention the rather brash decision making on the second day regarding the raffle which suddenly turned give away. Tsk tsk.
Though will all things considered, it was a good enough event. Allods introduction was good enough which Arckham is currently trying out. We both think the cosplayers had kicked it up a notch and that was a good thing.
Btw, Arckham just poked me as I've been typing and told me to relay a message: "ENLIST WITH THE LEAGUE" [Arckham: in all caps]
The Verdict: It was good if you went, if not, you didn't miss a lot.
Questionable Content or "QC" as it's fondly dubbed is a nice mesh of music geekery, coffee drinking, sarcasm, wit, tiny robots, a confused male and co and strong female personalities. Moreover, it deals with the ups and downs of life. The first comic was given life to on August 1, 2003 and is still up and running 'til today. It updates from Monday to Friday.
PLOT and SETTING
Xy: I can't give you a full comment on the plot since it's on going and definitely still improving and developing. As for the setting, it's set in a university town with a lot of students hence, the coffee drinkers. I like it since the setting is down to earth and can be easily related to.
Arck: I wish not to spoil.
CHARACTERS:
Xy: One of the biggest things about this webcomic is its awesome characters. Their personalities are very well shaped and I love the fact that each character contributes to the over all impact of the story. My favorite would be Hanners. [at the moment that is.]
Arck: I'll go with Marigold since she reminds me so much of myself from 4 years ago.
ART:
Xy: I'm one person that is very picky with Art when I read comic books, webcomics or manga. Hence, I am proud of Mr. Jacques for improving his art dramatically. I do appreciate the gradual improvement over the past years which makes me enjoy reading QC more.
Arck: Improved significantly from 2005.
Moreover, Questionable Content is actually Quotable. We absolutely love the wit and word play in this one. This webcomic is definitely for those who enjoy thinking jokes and great punchlines.
Xylith on QC: It's the AnthroPCs, I tell you! I thank the internet for propagating this masterpiece. It is a must read when you're all bummed out at work or school or life in general.
Arckham on QC: QC feeds my need for sarcasm and geek talk. It's got humor, wit, nonesense and awesome all rolled into a single webcomic. Jeph's art improved as well.
I blog a lot and I follow a lot of blogs too. I remember this meme that spread several months ago. The usual titles for it were: "Google Me" or "What google says about me". Anyone remember this? Anyway, if there is a need, Google will fill it. The multimillion dollar online empire came up with Googlism. It gives you a list of what google thinks about you from the good, the bad and the ugly.
I personally think this is a rather great idea not just to give people that do the meme an easier time but for thesis topic researchers. [Yeap, I linked some of the undergrads I know and they think it's a good tool.] The phrases they generate give you a thought on the topic and the fact that a phrase is generated means there is some information on the topic.
Since it's the new year and all, here's some listed for 2010:
2010 is good
2010 is tomorrow
2010 is in progress
2010 is funded
2010 is the result of years of work by more than 300 people from both the public and private sectors
2010 is a part of a public health campaign called healthy people 2010
2010 is better
2010 is not 'just another initiative' More...
So anyway, joining the New Year's traditions, Arckham and I give you our New Year's Resolutions:
Arck:
Lose weight
Minimize drinking
Get at least 8 hours of sleep a day.
Xy:
Get a job and start a career
Move back to NCR [preferably Pasig, QC or Ortigas]
Get my own DSLR [Preferably a D90 with 18-200mm lens VR of course.]
Anyway, we hope all of you had a happy new year and may 2010 treat you better than 2009.
DeviantArt is going to celebrate the submission of its 100 millionth deviation and they're gonna give a LIFETIME premium subscription to whoever submits it! That's no ads and custom layouts for as long as you can draw, shoot pictures, and make stuff that look cool! They set up a counter that counts down to the deviation in question in real time so we'd know how many there are already. So what are you waiting for? Submit your best deviations now and submit them often. Pave the way for the 100 millionth and it just might be you!
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