tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67284042231191802082024-03-14T23:51:31.496+12:00Zen And The Art Of ZombiesExploring peace of mind through the undead.Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.comBlogger437125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-61457200631454693472015-08-07T14:01:00.002+12:002015-12-27T09:58:36.964+13:00I fear for the Deadpool movie.<br />
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So this week "Deadpool fans" were treated with the trailer for the upcoming Deadpool movie. While the trailer has gotten a lot of hype, I can't help but see all the hall marks of potential failure.<br />
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It has an R rating so kids can't go watch it, I'm sure Fox should know that what makes the Marvel movies such a success is that EVERYONE can watch em, and I'm sure a massive part of the profits come from kids dragging their family to screenings; and what about the franchise outside the films? If kids aren't watching Deadpool then they aren't buying Deadpool merchandise, which in turn limits the franchise greatly. <br />
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You could argue that films like Mad Max: Fury Road and even Rambo 4 got decent results from it's R ratings, but these weren't superhero / comic book movies. These were established franchises that had a mature following. I think one major thing comic book movies should not over look is that kids still do read comics, regardless of how old comic fans like you and I are.<br />
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Lets not forget what happened with The Punisher films. The first
film had an R rating with generally negative reviews that barely made
it's money back. (Budget of 33 Million earning 54.7 Million at the Box
office)<br />
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Punisher: War Zone upped the antics and embraced the
characters violence (Much like the Deadpool film intends to do) and
though it got slightly better reviews (mixed to negative) it earned 10
million at the Box office on a budget of 35 Million.<br />
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Now lets talk character and plot.<br />
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We know Ryan Reynolds can be funny, but his witty on-liners did nothing to save the Green Lantern film. You can argue that that's because the story for GL was crap, but we haven't seen him do anything in the Deadpool trailer except be Van Wilder in a red suit. There is no hint of a plot and no sign of a character arc to explore. We see him start off as a funny guy dying of something terminal turning into a funny guy fighting "bad" guys.<br />
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Plus Deadpool on his own is meh. In the comics his most memorable moments come from him messing with other established big league heroes, none of whom will be seen this film because it's a Fox movie and not a Marvel film. We saw him take a punch from what looks like Colossus in the trailer, but who cares about Colossus? We might get a surprise and see other Xmen characters in the final film, but I highly doubt that. <br />
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In fact Deadpool went from having several books staring him to just one where his the title character and another where he shares the title with Wolverine. The rest of his appearances have him guest staring in other titles. It will also be interesting to see if the film adds the "forth wall breaking" stuff that Deadpool does a lot of in the comics.<br />
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I predict that the Deadpool film will be a decent flick that will pull favorable reviews but will fail at the box office.<br />
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Having said all of this, there is a part of me that really is hoping that this movie does do well.<br />
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Why? <br />
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Because I want to see a R rated Punisher film that has a decent budget. I want a Terminator movie that doesn't have a fucking PG-13 rating. I want studios to be able to reliably invest more into R rated movies knowing that there is a market for them, instead of watering every action film down to something they can sell to the kids because they think that's the only way that they can make money.<br />
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It is for this sake that I hope that the Deadpool film is much more than just the Merc with a Mouth and actually has some bite to all it's bar, like I said, there was no hint of this in the trailer but maybe the film is hiding it's aces. <br />
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I might go watch it, though I wouldn't break a date for it... what about you?Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-49530187772412390892015-07-05T11:23:00.000+12:002015-07-06T13:42:37.891+12:00Terminator: Genisys - I loved it.When I first heard about Terminator: Genisys (TG) I was both skeptical and excited. Skeptical because I know that Hollywood is going through a phase where they're grabbing at anything that can rake in the cash and any franchise that already has a fan base is big game.<br />
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I was also skeptical because I was afraid it would end up as a "star vehicle" for Arnold Schwarzenegger. The way Terminator 3 was just a machine to boost popularity during his election, I felt that TG might be just something done to get him back into the game. Not that there's too much wrong with the later, he does need to make a come back some how and what better way than to reprise his most iconic role.<br />
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The excitement I felt for the news of TG was from me being such a massive fan boy of the Terminator franchise. T1 and T2 are near perfect movies for me and seeing them as a kid shaped my taste in so many mediums.<br />
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Once I laid my eyes on the early trailers I was very hopeful. The film looked to be at the very least an decent action movie and for all the story and time theory the Terminator films try to cram into themselves, at the heart of it their main attraction for me is the action.<br />
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Sadly though before the film even came out we had the bullshit plot reveal in the trailer. A plot point so essential to the over-all enjoyment of the movie that even the films director <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0851930/">Alan Taylor</a> (Thor the Dark World/ Game of Thrones) couldn't believe got out. So right of the bat there was some serious controversy with the film's story. As a Terminator fan it was a major step away from the films backbone in a sense, but I was still keen.<br />
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Then the early reviews got out and the film was pretty much panned across the board. Bad reviews were coming from "fans of the series" and even a few sites whose words I hold as the bible truth pulled no punches when it came to trashing the film.<br />
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Despite all this I was pretty much set on watching the film for myself. Now this might come as a surprise to some, considering I used to host a film review show, but I'm not a fan of going to the movies. Mostly because I like watching movies that I know and lover over and over again. It takes a very special film to get me out of to the films.<br />
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So last night I went to watch Terminator: Genisys with pretty much no expectations except to re-enforce the negative reviews the film already has.<br />
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And you know what?<br />
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I can't believe the shit reviews. Let me preface what's to come by saying that though there might be things to hate in this film, as a Terminator fan there are a lot of things to love.<br />
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I thought TG was the best film in the franchise since Terminator 2 and that's saying a lot. It may not be the best Terminator movie because that's highly debatable between T1and T2, and it may not be the best sequel because that's definitely T2. But as a Terminator Film, it stands right up there with the first two films and it has become the unofficial Trilogy for me.<br />
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Terminator: Genisys knows it's got big Arnie size boots to fill, and it makes no quarrels with letting us know that it knows the first two films are great because the way the film is made, the first half of it pretty much lives in the original Cameron films shadow.<br />
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Now there's going to be some spoilers here, but nothing as major as what has already been leaked through the trailers.<br />
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Because of the way the film is made and its plot unfolds, to me the first bit of TG plays out like a love letter to Terminator fans.<br />
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The opening scene which features a battle between the human resistance and Skynets hordes of machines is finally getting the visual respect it deserves. Sure the SFX isn't the best, but these days we know CGI when we see it. What turns this around is that we get to see something we've only ever heard whispers of in the previous movies and that's the turning point in the war against the machines.<br />
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In fact we get to see the fall of Skynet as told by Reese in the first film. This is the Resistance victory that promoted Skynet to send a Terminator back in time to kill Sara Corner. We get to see it unfold... with a twist of course.<br />
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What follows this is pretty much Terminator Nostalgia as we see pretty much the opening of Terminator one redone. The fan boy in me jumped like a giddy school girl as I tried to figure out whether the scenes were Arnie's T-800 arriving in the past was redone or simply touched up versions of the original. Either would be awesome.<br />
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Then we have the film's Kyle Reese follow suit, arriving in 1984 and from here any avid fan would know that film makers were going out of their way to put in nods to the orginal series.<br />
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There is a bit where a cop car pulls up to investigate the light show from Reese's appearance and it is spot on a replica shot of the cop car pulling up to investigate the T-1000s appearance in the second film. <br />
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It's also important to note that Terminator 2 also suffered from a trailer reveal of it's plot and if we hadn't seen Robert Patrick's character as the baddy in the T2 trailer it would have been safe to assume he was the good guy and Arnie was the bad Terminator again.<br />
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I got all that from that cop car simply pulling up.<br />
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Then we have the bit in the clothing shop where Kyle is being escorted out by two cops and he gives a confused glance at a silver store mannequin. This same gesture was done by the T-1000 in Terminator 2 for-shadowing it's full silver body appearance to come.<br />
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I honestly could go on with this list of nods but the point is for the Terminator fan in me these were just awesome (The smile gag from T2, the ability to learn after removing the chip), but it doesn't end with all this nostalgia of course because we have a franchise to reboot so half way through the film decides to rear in it's own identity and by now I am so pumped by all the fan service the film has already given me that I am open to where ever the film wants to go. It's almost as though the film makers wanted to prove that they know "Terminator" before they showed us what they had in mind for it's future.<br />
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I also liked the way Arnie was not the aggressive killing machine he was in the first two films and despite his age was forced to be in the third film. Here the film gives us a reason for his aging and slower reflexes and this created a solemn moment for me as a fan of not just Terminator but of the Governator himself, moments that even made me sad at times.<br />
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This coupled with suggest that the T-800 may actually be learning how to feel and take responsibility of who it is protecting at almost an emotional level, sounds like a silly bull shit sci fi moment, but you know what? We're dealing with time traveling robots here, lets not get hung up on robot logic.<br />
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Movie logic wise though the film doesn't suffer. We have characters doing what we'd pretty much expect them to do without looking stupid. By the time we get to the "John Conner Reveal" I can buy it. In fact I'm kind of glad they leaked this in the trailer because it's such a "WTF" moment that instead of brooding over it at the movies, knowing about it before you go in makes it easier to accept.<br />
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"Easier" is used sparingly though because I'm still not a 100% sold on the "John is over of them now" thing because a part of me feels like it robs us of the the films "back bone" and that is that everything we do in these movies is to protect John.<br />
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But then again, to turn that idea on its head. I respect that.<br />
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There isn't much else I can tell you about what I liked with out telling you the about the whole movies, but for me as an action film and a Terminator Sequel/ prequel / reboot, TG really delivered. So for the life of me I do know what critics and film goers were expecting to give the film such harsh reviews.<br />
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But then again Fast 7 got about 81% on Rotten Tomatoes. A movie about cars and action that barely has a 2 min race in the opening and no action till about 35mins into the damn movie. Even then the action is spread so far apart that it tries to up the drama factor even though none of these movies are known for it's stars acting ability.<br />
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Terminator: Genisys on the other hand knows exactly what it is and doesn't let up. It might even be by some standards a by-the-book action flick, but the thing about these "by the book" films is that they come in flavors and this one is Terminator Flavor.<br />
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Let me end this by saying that Terminator: Genisys may not be the best Terminator film, but it is a better entry in the series compared to what's come after Cameron's T1 and T2. If you are a fan of the series or just in the mood for a good action film, Terminator: Genisys hits the spot. Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-30006729791443383982014-01-12T12:50:00.001+13:002014-01-12T12:59:41.491+13:00My Old Scrap Book<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A very dear friend of mine was nice enough to send me some pics of my
old scrap book that I had given to her before she left Fiji. Looking at
these is a trip because it's like looking at a piece of me from 14 years
ago. You can click the pics to see them bigger.<br />
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<br />Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-31203377670048619562014-01-12T10:30:00.004+13:002015-09-11T17:40:44.547+12:00A brief history of Me: part 1<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2wXCK784gNbg-6d0azdaOfGDBuyVhEltktC-IImXc2XilGdwoe3W_SPYPvD01Y3Y7d7K31TAFS3YkanJkDhNL6zyDdzwZwOfk1ytEHdMGFw20udZvUhb2O2M1euGBvJMImvNRj_CUjdY/s1600/2122_47816114231_8267_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2wXCK784gNbg-6d0azdaOfGDBuyVhEltktC-IImXc2XilGdwoe3W_SPYPvD01Y3Y7d7K31TAFS3YkanJkDhNL6zyDdzwZwOfk1ytEHdMGFw20udZvUhb2O2M1euGBvJMImvNRj_CUjdY/s1600/2122_47816114231_8267_n.jpg" width="292" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Washing dishes with my granddad </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">In honor of me turning 32 today I decided to reminisce a bit. </span></i><br />
<br />
Growing up I was told that I talked too much and that I could never sit still. I'd always be running around outside with my Ninja turtles or Transformers; talking to myself and smashing things. I have a very entertaining story involving a cubby house that I'd love to share over drinks.<br />
<br />
I used to draw a lot too when I was younger. In class 1 I remember being told to draw something by out-lining shapes. I drew Star Scream from Transformers. By the time I was 9 I used to draw my own comic books. They were mostly just me making up my own Batman and Spiderman stories. Although I did have one original character who I named Radioactive man, and this was before a character with the same name appeared in the Simpsons. I still remember my reasoning behind the name. Characters like Spiderman and The Hulk were all made from radiation, why not have a guy who got his powers from being exposed to radiation and just call him Radioactive man.<br />
<br />
<br />
I wasn't into just comic books though; I used read a lot of Enid Blyton. Adventure stories were my favorite. My Aunty Benji used to have a massive collection of Hardy Boys books which were fun to read too. Despite all this reading I couldn't spell to save my life. I couldn't even confidently spell my name till I was in class four.<br />
<br />
Around the age of 10 I really got into some weird occult / supernatural reading. I had a copy of The Mammoth Book of the Supernatural by Collin Wilson that would I read over and over. This is about the time I started keeping a journal. After watching my first episode of X-files around this time too; I wanted to grow up and be a paranormal investigator. <br />
<br />
This was the time "Ghost Writer" would play on TV, so I had formed a group of "investigators" - our password used to be "visum et repertum" which was Latin for "Seen and Discovered"<br />
<br />
By now I used to watch a lot of horror movies too. My granddad and I would watch a horror film almost every night. He would fast-forward all the sex stuff but was totally fine with me watching Jason Voorhees stab people in the face. House, Evil Dead, Friday the 13th, the original Hills have eyes; we watched them all. We had some decent movie shops back in the day that stocked a lot of great movies, but my spots were Preet's movie shop up in Tamavua and A1 video in town. Because of them I watched so many films that are considered horror classics now. <br />
<br />
Horror seeped into my reading too.<br />
<br />
By the time I was 12 I had read all the classic horror novels. Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible man; I had made it a point to research and read everything considered a "horror classic". <br />
<br />
English and literature were the only things I liked in school. In my later primary school years I started to write plays and I remember my Class 8 teacher Master David Doughty telling me to stick with it cause I wrote good stories. He used to read my short stories in class. As an educator he was probably the most positive influence in my life.<br />
<br />
At the end of Class 8 we had a party where we invited parents and friends to come watch us put up items and plays. That's when I wrote a stage adaption of Interview with the Vampire, I have the whole thing on VHS. I need to get that on disk one of these days.<br />
<br />
When I turned 14 an uncle of mine (Well more of a family friend) gave me two CDs. Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's 10. That's when I got into music.<br />
<br />
All through high school I wanted to start a band. I couldn't play an instrument yet so all I did was write lyrics and pass them off as poetry. Drawing and writing was what I did with most of the my time. Many nights were spent with Nirvana playing late into the night while I stayed up drawing. I used to carry around a file with all my art which I would show off at any opportunity I got. At the end of form 6 I started carrying around a guitar.<br />
<br />
It's funny how dreams start small. When I started to play music I thought it would be a big deal if I ever got to play at the Suva Civic center. At the end of form 7 I got to do exactly that thanks to my school hosting a concert night. My buddy Meli and I played a song called "Miss You" which was the first proper song I wrote with music. By this time I was sure that I was going to be a musician. In fact during my external Geography Paper I got inspired and started writing a song. <br />
<br />
I didn't finish the paper. It's not a mystery why I had to repeat form 7.<br />
<br />
I started writing music reviews for the News Papers during my second year in Form 7. Around this time the band I was in started gigging. We played Traps, ROC markets, the boulevard, Dragons, music festivals. The pay was crap but we enjoyed it. <br />
<br />
This is what I did for about a year after form 7, earning about $80 each per show. Eventually I had to get a "Real Job." I started working as a temp Assistant Events and promotion guy at Fiji Broadcasting. This was my first full time job. <br />
<br />
After that for about two months I worked as a debt collector. I didn't like the job but the people I worked with were great. <br />
<br />
Luckily though FBC had decided to relaunch their old 104 station and since the man running it, my good friend Russel Fong, knew that I was really into music he asked if I wanted to be a part of it. So I went in for an audition and on one particularly bad day as a debt collector my buddy Dave Lavaki, who had also auditioned, ran into me in front of my office and told me I had gotten the job.<br />
<br />
Thus began my love affair with FBC, the place that would take all the things that I love doing and let me make a career out of them.<br />
<br />
Getting into Radio came easy as I loved talking any way and I had by
now developed a deep appreciation for music, particularly rock music.<br />
<br />
I spent about a year on Radio, doing the night show on 2Day which i had
the privilege of naming "The system after dark", a name that has stuck
around till today. During this time I did a lot of production for radio;
liners, radio plays and shows.<br />
<br />
I left Radio to start a job as
an editor at Fiji Television, a job i loved very much. It was through
video editing that I was better able to explore an older passion of
mine, which was film.<br />
I left Fiji TV to peruse studies in Animation which is where I made some really good friends who are still around.<br />
<br />
Sadly at the time Animation was not popular enough to snag me a job
right away so i returned to radio as a producer. I made radio adverts
and went back to making radio shows. In 2008 my alternative music show
"Something a little different" won me my first ever award. It was a FAME
award for best locally produced music show.<br />
<br />
I left FBC once and
ended up working for myself. Sadly though th local market for free-lance
editors has very few things to offer if you do not want to be doing
wedding videos. I did however get myself a nice free-lance job with an
Australian kids magazine, for whom I did illustrations.<br />
<br />
By now
my love for movies and film making was strong that I had to do something
with it. So through the encouragement and help of my close friends I
was able to make my first short film. Which also got me my first Short
film award at the Kula Film awards.<br />
<br />
One short film followed
another and before I knew it i was back in FBC but this time working for
Television. The five months leading up to FBC TVs launch had me
animating the graphics for a lot of the local shows you see today, as
well as designing the look and feel of FBC TVs graphics. i did this with
a very talented animator and graphic designer named David Whiteside who
is now the Head of Graphics for FBC TV.<br />
<br />
i on the other hand am
now "Producer Local Programmes" which basically means I'm suppose to
look after the local shows. Work with the producers, discuss issues and
make sure everything checks out.<br />
<br />
As you know, I also managed to squeeze in a few of my hobbies in there as well.<br />
My passion however still lies in Film Making. I have done a few
documentaries for FBC TV, one of which won me a very nice World TV award
back in 2013.<br />
<br />
My next step is a full film which i am working on getting together now. Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-74615670779830591862014-01-01T19:42:00.002+13:002014-01-01T19:43:19.187+13:00Playing it Old SchoolI am an old school gamer. I was reflecting on games, trying to see
what stood out for me last year and it dawned on me that I am an old
school gamer.<br />
<br />
Thinking about it some more I realized all my favorite current gen titles are old school.<br />
<br />
Like
Dead Space, that's pretty much Doom with fancy weapons. The core
gameplay is the same as Doom. You find switches, open doors and kill
everything in the way.Yes you fix things here and there and solve
puzzles but at the heart of it Dead Space is Doom.<br />
<br />
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<br />
Dark Souls has to be the most old school current gen game ever. It's entire principle is based on the old "risk/reward" philosophy which governed
early game design. And in true old school fashion the game trains you
through clever level design and enemy placement then tests to see if you
were paying attention by throwing a boss at you. Dark Souls is the
bastard child of titles like Castlevania and Ghosts n Gouls. It prides itself on being hard and that's what the allure is for a lot of old school games. Beating that challenge. <br />
<br />
Lets do one more.<br />
<br />
Borderlands
one and two. They are Diablo with guns. You kill hordes and hordes of
enemies and then rejoice in that sweet sweet loot.<br />
<br />
Old school.<br />
<br />
Do
you know what these games have in common? They are all fun to play and
they have absolutely fuck all story. Yes Dead Space has an interesting
back story, but in the narrative of the game it takes a back seat to the
shooting and bodily dismemberment.<br />
<br />
But this is ok
because these games aren't about stories. They are about the gameplay. I
love these games because of how they work and play.<br />
<br />
Now
why does this make me old school? Well because in this day and age
these kinds of games are very few. Aside from indie titles the majority
of the gaming scene is dominated by "new school" games.<br />
<br />
The Last if us, Bioshock Infinite. Uncharted, Assassins Creed. Mass Effect<br />
<br />
What do these games have in common? Well most fans will tell you that they have a great story.<br />
<br />
"I love the story!" "I played it for the story!" " o the story!"<br />
<br />
Too bad that these games have the worst fucking game play.<br />
<br />
No...
stop. Really... think about it. What do you do in Uncharted that's so
fucking amazing? Explore? There's barely any exploration as you progress
through a mostly linear path. Platforming? You climb and jump off
highlighted areas.<br />
<br />
What do you do in Assassins Creed?
The combat? I played Black Flag half way killing every guard in sight
because all I had to do was push two buttons. Counter and attack. Is it
the platforming? You hold down one button and move... the rest happens
for you. Mass Effect? Aside from the speech wheel that lets you fuck
everything what is the draw in that gameplay wise? <br />
<br />
What about
Bioshock infinite and The last of us. Hailed as the greatest games of
2013. Hell Last of us has been hailed one of the greatest games of all
time. <br />
<br />
What do you do in them? What is the
innovative gameplay feature in The Last of us? And don't get me started
on the shitty gun play in Bioshock. I think if Bioshock deserves any
award it should be for being the most over rated game of all time. And
I'm not the only one who feels this way. While most gaming sites have
been taking it up the ass for this game there are some game devs that
have <a href="http://www.computerandvideogames.com/400511/blog/bioshock-infinite-is-horrendous-claims-indie-dev-but-why/">come out to say: WTF?</a><br />
<br />
But it's ok... because these games have a great story.<br />
<br />
Since
when is the story the main draw for a video game? Since when does
gameplay and function take a back seat to story telling? You think up
every single game that was popular before and you will find that the
awesome story was usually a bonus. Old school games were built on
gameplay and the story complimented that. Now days it's the other way
around.<br />
<br />
I know that in this day and age the video game
medium has come a long way from what it used to be. It's not just
something that performs and functions for kid, it's a major market that
caterers to all walks of gamers. And that's why I'm an "Old school"
gamer... because I can not for the life of understand the appeal for
these "new school" games.<br />
<br />
It's not all games mind you. <br />
<br />
I'm
very thankful for Indie developers that are making a killing with their
brand of retro "throw back" games. Titles made popular through game
play not just story like Mark of the ninja, Super meatboy and Spelunky
to name a few.<br />
<br />
There are big titles that have not forgotten what it means to be a video
game. Games like Farcry 3, Crysis, Battlefield, Halo (most shooters in fact),
Skyrim, Fallout 3, Splinter Cell conviction, Dishonored, God of War,
Devil may cry, Portal. All of these titles have awesome gameplay
features that are expanded by the story. These games also have "so so"
stories which can be forgiven because of the gaemplay... that's how it <i>should</i> be.<br />
<br />
But
that's how things are these days. "Play it for the story" one of my
buddies will say. I've got one friend who will cheat through through
some games because he hates the gameplay but wants to know the story.
Hell I'm guilty of it to some extent myself with games like Allan Wake.
<br />
<br />
As a game maker isn't that kinda shitty? That someone
glances over your gameplay for the story? What the fuck are you making a
video game or a movie? Don't ask <span class="st">Quantic Dream that, their head will explode. <br /><br />But I guess the rebutle here could be that for some people loving the story is a very important part of video games. <br /><br />Remember
how people would justify shitty graphics by complimenting on the solid
gameplay? Now days people push the story to make up for shitty gameplay.<br /><br />And most gamers seem to be ok with this.</span><br />
<br />Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-25303471222318830382013-12-30T15:35:00.002+13:002013-12-30T15:38:02.880+13:00Steam Sale Nightmare.So another year comes to an end and as a gamer this occasion is marked for me by the annual Steam Winter sale.<br />
<br />
I love and hate any Steam sale because it means I'm going to be agonizing over the sheer number of games that I suddenly want in my game library. Even titles I normally wouldn't give a shit about become "must haves" just because they have suddenly become cheaper.<br />
<br />
One thing that sort of throttles my impulsiveness is the fact that I don't own a credit card. So I have to email sales and wanted games to my friends who then buy it for and I either pay them later or more often then not pay them up front.<br />
<br />
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<br />
For the current Steam sale however I managed to put $50 USD into my Steam Wallet so I could buy the games I want without being a pain the ass to my friends. Other wise I'm calling people up early in the morning begging them to buy me something before the timer runs out. Regardless of it being an eight hour timer or twenty four hours, if a game I want goes on sales my fingers burn till I own it. But with the $50 USD limitation I have to be very careful about how I spend my money as my friends had allocated their own credit funds for the games they wanted.<br />
<br />
So I had two rules which governed my buying decisions. <br />
<br />
1. Only buy games that I would actually download and play. Not to buy anything just for "keep sake"<br />
<br />
2. If I had to watch a review to convince myself of a purchase then I was better off not buying it.<br />
<br />
This generally worked alright for me though there is still about five days left on the sale and I have about $16USD left in my wallet. Those five days of sales mean that there are about 45 daily deals, 45 flash sales and 15 community choice sales left. Now some of these will be repeats but still that is a lot of games.<br />
<br />
I have 40 game son my <a href="http://steamcommunity.com/id/omegavondoom/wishlist">wishlist</a>. I use this list to determine if the purchase of a particular game is going to set me back any. For example if if see a game I want; I can ask myself "What would I rather spend on?" Then going through my wishlist I can see what else might be a potential buy worth holding out for. There are some games on the list like Injustice: Gods among us and Batman: Arkham Origins that will not be a reasonable Steam buy. Even at a fair reduction these games will still cost me about $40 to $60 Fijian. This would be sweet if these were the only games I bought but doing so stops me from buy more games at a cheaper price. One might argue that it could be quantity over quality that I'm striving for but a lot of the games that I have bought for less than $5 USD have already given me hours of enjoyment.<br />
<br />
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<br />
The first thing I bought was "Risk of Rain." This was a title that I had wanted for a while but paying full price for it in Fijian dollars just seemed a little bit much for me. I got it for $6.69 USD which was relatively the same price same as paying the normal price in USD ... kinda. Know what I mean?<br />
<br />
The purchases that followed were also mostly indie titles. Super house of Dead Ninjas, Spelunky, La-Mulana. I also upgraded my Farcry 3 to the special edition for extra content whcih seemed reasonable and the only AAA title I bought was Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Ultimate edition. While most of these buys were done because they seemed like good games at a good price, Risk of Rain and Castlevania were two titles that I really REALLY wanted.<br />
<br />
Last night though I did my first impulsive buy. I got the expansion for Titan Quest; a game that I've had in my library for god knows how long without ever playing it. But last night I also started playing Diablo 3 again and I was hungry for a dungeon crawler. Upon research I found that Titan Quest was very highly regarded and I figured if I was going to get into it... I was going to get into all the way. I broke my second rule.<br />
<br />
I'm thankful that I didn't regret my decision but I have to be careful not to do something like that again. I got lucky with Titan Quest, I played it for the first time this morning and what started with just a "quick look" before work ended up with me playing for an hour and being late for work.<br />
<br />
So now I have about $16 left.<br />
<br />
I have no idea what to do with it. Now even the games I really want are being nit-picked on because I don't want to risk spending the money only to have something really awesome pop up on the final few days. But I also risk missing out on a great deal only to have nothing I want later on. Plus there is a cut off point to the minimum money I should hold onto. I'm sure anything less than $10 USD won't be much of a buy now since I've already bought all the good "Cheap" games.<br />
<br />
I'd love to buy things like Hitman Absolution or Dungeons of the Endless. But that would reduce my Steam Wallet to nothing. If anything I tell myself that I'll pick these games up on the last day of the sale as the prices are valid till the 3rd of January.<br />
<br />
But then there's things that I would love to own for the sake of the sale. Like the Bioshock collection or even the Legacy of Kain collection. I would actually download those Legacy of Kain games and play them. There's even Shinobi 3 which is a dollar something but I'm afraid to buy it because it might just put me under a game I wanna buy later. <br />
<br />
Another part of me has sort of decided to just buy a bunch of DLC stuff and a few old titles on the final day if nothing else pops. <br />
<br />
I'm not sure if you can tell from reading this but the Steam sale has been very agonizing for me. While some people wish for world peace and not to be sold as a child solider, I wish I could put in more money into my Steam wallet before the sale ends. <br />
<br />
Am I just a greedy video game pig? I think I might be ...<br />
<br />
But his is the Steam Sale... and this is my nightmare. Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-3468375173675119622013-12-11T16:35:00.001+13:002013-12-30T15:35:56.597+13:00Tiny Barbarian DX - For the Gamer in you"I have zero interest in this game"<br />
<br />
That is what one of friends said when he saw the gameplay videos for Tiny Barbarian DX. Which is totally cool because as a gamer I have come to terms with the idea that not every game is for everybody. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">Some people just don't like awesome things.</span><br />
<br />
So who is Tiny Barbarian DX for?<br />
<br />
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<br />
Let me take you back a bit. Growing up I never played Zelda and I wasn't crazy about Mario. I had "zero interest" in things like Finally Fantasy or Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger and the likes of. I played a shit load of Double Dragon and Castlevania. I had a cousin who owned a Sega and I spent hours at his place playing Splatterhouse. That game was a treat for me and it was even more special because I couldn't play it at home. And I played a lot of Golden Axe and Argus no Senshi (published as Rygar in the west). Now those two games in particular, Tiny Barbarian is for people who loved those two games.<br />
<br />
No complex story, no leveling up, nothing but jump and attack with movement. Just raw gameplay, but it was the gameplay that made them shine. So many hours of "just one more try, damn it just one more" as you slice your blade through skull and guts leaving a bloody trail of destruction on your quest. If Zelda is the Lord of the Rings of Video games then Golden Axe was the Chronicles of Conan. And that is the idea of Tiny Barbarian DX.<br />
<br />
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<br />
In fact before the DX version Tiny Barbarian was a <a href="http://www.starquail.com/TinyBarbarian/TinyB.html">free downloadable game</a> loosely based on Robert Howard's classic Conan story "The Frost Giants Daughter"<br />
<br />
The new game is an even bigger love letter to Conan. Before you even press start you find yourself at the top of what appears to be a massive tower surrounded by dark clouds and fire. Waves of enemies climb the towers steep walls to get their claws on you as you frantically swing your sword to survive. Such imagery is iconic of everyone's favorite Cimmerian.<br />
<br />
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Eventually you are over come... <br />
<br />
Then the "Start" menu fades in. This happens every time you load up the game and every time you last a little bit longer. This is the glimpse of the trial by fire that awaits you through out Tiny Barbarian DX. There is no tutorial, no direction; just instinct.<br />
<br />
You know this game because you have played it before. Back during the dawn of the NES and SEGA systems when game design made you figure things out by playing for yourself.<br />
<br />
This same thought and theory is tested when you fight the games bosses. I read some where once that a true game boss tests you on everything that you have learned up to that point and Tiny Barbarian DX never misses a beat to test whither you've been paying attention or not.<br />
<br />
"Was that move you pulled to avoid that trap a fluke? Well lets see if you can do it again just to make sure"<br />
<br />
As mentioned the game does nothing to hide it's inspiration not just from old school games but from the adventures of Conan as well. The opening scene sees our Tiny hero tied to a massive tree with vultures ready to pick him dry. This of course is a massive homage to one of the most memorable "Conan moments" as seen in the classic tale "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Witch_Shall_be_Born">A which shall be born</a>" in which a beaten Conan is nailed to a tree and left for dead. The whole scene plays out pretty much as it does in the story.<br />
<br />
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<br />
Nods to the character can be found all over the game. And the style of the enemies and locations have a very distinct "pulp fantasy" feel to them. It might all be obvious pixels but the art style made up of these pixels is awesome, but like the games of old they leave enough space for your imagination to bring them to life even more. <br />
<br />
The animations are a treat to watch, with our hero in particular being a charm to play. Every jump and swing feels responsive and tight with death being a result of miss timing and not bad luck. The music is also a treat as your time on screen is scored as a grand adventure tightly packed into 8bit musical glory. You feel like a warrior as you smash your way through the game.<br />
<br />
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<br />
The gameplay itself is a mix of beat em up and platforming with minor environmental puzzles thrown in for good measure and you will find yourself dying a few times before "getting the hang" of a particular enemy pr area.<br />
<br />
<span class="st">Michael Stearns who is the genius behind Tiny Barbarian DX plans to release episodic installments of the game with the first one <a href="http://tinybarbarian.com/">already available</a>. You do not have to pay for each episode though, they will become available upon release if you own the game. </span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">For fans of old school action and platforming (and Conan) Tiny Barbarian DX is a must have treat that will stir so much nostalgia in you that you'll feel like a kid again as you play through it.<br /><br />Here's a video of me fighting the first boss :)</span><br />
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<span class="st"><br /></span>Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-45973205769231370472013-06-17T22:24:00.001+12:002013-06-18T08:53:11.261+12:00Christopher Nolan: Please stop ruining my favourite characters <br />
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<br />
<br />
<span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"type":45}" id="fbPhotoPageCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">Yes
I am a massive comic book fan and more so a huge Superman and Batman
fan. I have read every one of their comics from Issue one till the
issues this month.<br /> <br /> And I hate Christopher Nolan's take on my favourite heroes. <br /> <br /> Nolan's Batman: I don't kill people. <br /><span class="text_exposed_show"> <br /> And yet he blows up anything in his way when his driving from point A to point B.<br /> <br />
When he was asked to kill that one guy at the League of shadows place,
he says no - then blows up the whole damn place killing everyone in it
including the fake Ra's al Ghul... Then he kills Dent in the 2nd film. <br /> <br />
Plus I hate how Nolan wants to make everything "Grounded" ... it's a
Superhero movie. It's meant to have an element of the extraordinary. You
can't look to explain everything and make it plausible. </span></span></span><br />
<span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"type":45}" id="fbPhotoPageCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /> </span></span></span><br />
<span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"type":45}" id="fbPhotoPageCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"><span class="text_exposed_show">Not only did Nolan strip Batman of any of the things that make him a fan favourite; always one step a head, world greatest detective, less brawler more </span></span></span>tactician, master of the shadows...<br /><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"type":45}" id="fbPhotoPageCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br />
Nolan actually took the idea of a man wearing a bat suit and made it mundane. He
sucked the joy out of it and made this "matter of fact" thing, but for
all the "realism" he tries to force into his movies he still expects us
to suspend our disbelief for bull shit things like Batman escaping that
bomb or "Robin" knowing Bruce is Batman because of a stupid look on his
face? and what about that broken back that heals in 3 months or how he
even got back to Gotham from that damn prison in the ground? ...in time
to paint a giant bat symbol that will light up with flames on that
bridge. <br /> <br /> As for that damn voice; just the fact that Nolan heard Bale do that ridiculous voice and didn't try to change it - is fail. <br /><br />Most people don't even like the Nolan Batman films for Batman. They like them because of the villains. With Joker being the most loved. <br /><br />You wanna know why the Joker was so awesome? (Aside from Ledger's phenomenal performance) ... because we don't know anything about him. The mystery to his chaos was the major draw - he was like a force of nature. In comparison to Nolan's neatly laid out Batman he was a breath of fresh air.<br /> <br />Plus the villains are the only ones who actually get any character development in Nolan's films, look at Dent or Ras. At the end of the 3rd film Batman isn't any better at being Batman. In fact in Rises his a freaking joke - especially when he goes up against Bane.<br /><br />
And as for Man of Steel. Nolan completely lost the plot with that one.
We know his looked at Superman comics... but has he actually sat down to
read one? For all the reason Man of Steel fails as a Superman movie
there's one that sticks out like a sore thumb. <br /> <br /> Superman doesn't kill people - no matter what the reason. <br /> <br /> For everything that has a capacity to do good, it has an equal capacity to do evil. <br /> <br />
Superman, through his strengths and attributes has a great capacity for
for good... what keeps him from going evil? His morals. We can't just
have him killing people, no matter how it's justified. You and I can't
kill people, because no matter the reason it's still wrong and we have
to answer to it.<br /> <br /> Who does Superman answer to if he kills
someone? To have him carry out an act like that totally destroys the
foundations of his character, because it's a total abuse of his power.
And that alone is proof that Nolan and the Man of Steel crew understand
nothing about Superman. <br /> <br /> And did he have to kill Zod? It's not
like Nolan's Superman did anything to show that he cared about the
people around him. He trashed half the city and never took the fight
anywhere else... like he would have done in the comics. <br /> <br /> Why
couldn't he just grab Zod and fly away? Why couldn't he just stand in
front of the heat rays? Why couldn't he just cover Zods eyes with his
hands? Yes he would have gotten hurt - but if he cared so much wouldn't
it have been worth the pain? With all his powers and all his "love for
humanity" the first thing that came to mind was to snap a living things
neck?<br /> <br /> Bull shit... complete and utter bull shit. <br /> <br /> Yet people eat Nolan's crap up. <br /> <br />
And Superman doesn't have to be a "bad ass" - his not edgy or hardcore.
There are hundreds of inter-changeable comic characters to fill that
niche. Superman IS the boy scout, he IS the naive farm boy with the
weight of the world on his shoulders. <br /> <br /> And his not just an alien from another planet. He was born and raised an earth kid, a simple farm boy. <br /> <br />
The Batman persona is the real Bruce Wayne and the playboy billionaire
is the façade. But for Superman - it's the other way around. The godly
spaceman is the outer shell, inside Clark Kent - born and raised - is
the real person. <br /> <br /> This was totally lost with the dull, emo portrayal of Superman in Man of Steel.<br /> <br /> Up yours Christopher Nolan - if you don't like making Superhero movies, then stop getting involved with them.<br /> <br />
And yes my hate is directed to Nolan because he and David Goyer wrote
the script. Zack Snyder should go back to directing music videos. His
ruined Watchman - the only comic book to receive a Hugo award and now
he helped ruin Superman.</span></span></span>Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-53059780998622327572013-06-12T11:17:00.003+12:002013-06-12T11:17:54.882+12:00And then?And then I went to Indonesia to collect my World TV award for the Doco/ drama I made for FBC TV called<a href="http://www.zombiesinzen.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-day-at-beach-wins-world-tv-award.html"> A Day At the Beach</a> and to attend the Asia Media Summit.<br />
<br />
What an awesome experience. You know I've always wanted to travel and more so I've always wanted to travel to Asia. Earlier this year I was fortunate enough to take part in a <a href="http://www.zombiesinzen.blogspot.com/2013/03/and-then.html">work shop in Malaysia</a> which was a country I've been longing to visit. <br />
<br />
I flew into Indonesia through Sydney and then through Singapore which was awesome because I've always wanted to visit Singapore as well. I got spend twelve hours there and though it late when I got with me being very tiered (it was a total of 11 hours flying and 4 hours waiting at Sydney Airport before I got there) I was eager to explore.<br />
<br />
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<br />
The city was amazing - the first thing that struck me was how clean and fresh everything looked. Even for a city that was towering and bright there was a certain air of "zen" about the whole thing. And I use the word zen not because of some hipster connotation to it - but because it just had a great sense of balance to it.<br />
<br />
I didn't do much shopping in Singapore though because I was saving my money for my final destination. I did however buy some very awesome Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figures that I have come to love dearly.<br />
<br />
When I got into Manado, Indonesia I thought I knew what to expect. I had saw some pictures of it online and was looking forward to a up and coming tourist town, instead I arrived in a place that was in very early stages of development. In fact despite the tall buildings and enormous number of fast food joints - my home city Suva here in Fiji was actually more modern that it.<br />
<br />
On my first night I met up with my CEO who was also there for the Asia Media summit and the two us decided to hit the town. We walked around for about three hours before we decided to just have dinner and head back to our hotels.<br />
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<br />
<br />
I stayed at the Swiss Bell Hotel which was about 2km away from anything interesting in Mando, it had very friendly staff and the place looked great. The food was pretty awesome as well - though a little on the expensive side for our Fijian dollars. Though the Indonesian dollar is a little on the low side of the exchange rate, they make up for it by making most things very expensive.<br />
<br />
The next day I attended a work shop on "The Medias role during a pandemic" which was very interesting. I was very grateful that I had played the Android game <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.miniclip.plagueinc">Plague Inc</a> because a lot of what I had learned from it actually came in handy. In fact I even suggested that the participants at the work shop check it out.<br />
<br />
The work shop was a relief for me because I was suppose to do a talk as well on "How media can help raise awareness on sustainable development" - so I saw the 30 or so people in this work shop and though - I can do this.<br />
<br />
The next day I found out that I was actually speaking in the "main convention room" to a Broadcasting crowd of about 300 to 350 people >_<<br />
<br />
O boy...<br />
<br />
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<br />
The next day was the big award day - I was asked to sit somewhere in the front so that it would be easier for me to go up to collect the award. The days events started about 9:30am and the awards were at 12:30pm.<br />
<br />
I don't know why but I was very nervous even though I already knew that I had won.<br />
<br />
Before they called me up they had all the judges come up and talk about what thy liked or what they saw in "A day at the Beach" and to hear all their thoughts was a surreal feeling for me. I've often talked about all the little themes and messages I've found in movies and to have people dissect something I wrote and planned was interesting. I was pleased that a few of the nods I had put in hadn't gone unnoticed. One judge had picked up on my T.S Elliot reference and a few others saw drew some really deep ideas from it.<br />
<br />
As I collected the award I was so damn excited that I stood there speechless, though I had prepared a speech I didn't get to read it because of some kind of error on the organizers part. But they apologized after but I didn't mind. <br />
<br />
Later that afternoon I met with my fellow panelists to discuss our talk/ presentation.<br />
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<br />
When it was time to be up on stage I soon became quit comfortable about it. As I heard the panelists talk i knew I had prepared something interesting enough. My contribution to it was more from a production standpoint. How to make programs on any kind of awareness more engaging for the viewer. Coming up with concepts, looking at budgets, considering the mulch-platofroms of new media to get the info out.<br />
<br />
A consultant for UNEP and a man who has become a good friend of mine did a nice little blog post about my talk which you can <a href="http://nalakagunawardene.com/2013/05/29/clarence-dass-wins-world-tv-award-and-his-audience-at-asia-media-summit-2013/">read here</a>. I was pleased that a lot of people enjoyed my talk saying that it was very "practical and real". Which is all I ever wanted it to be.<br />
<br />
That night I did an interview on Radio 24 which is a Malaysian station. I talked about my award and what it was like starting off as a radio host before moving in to TV and film production. Later I got a call from a friend I mad on my trip named Chandra, who
was from India. He and another cool guy i met named Adam were keen on
hitting the night life a bit. So I though "what the heck"<br />
<br />
<br />
We ended up going to a karaoke bar which was on the basement
level of the hotel I was staying at. i walked into the place with a live
band screaming out Nirvana's Smells like teen spirit. I was loving the
place already. I had a few drinks and stayed for a little over an hour
before I decided I'd better get some sleep. 2am in Manado was 6am Fijian
for me - and I hadn't totally adjusted to the time difference. <br />
<br />
Thursday was the last day of the summit which was wrapped up pretty early so I spent the day with the new friends I had made and just pretty much saying good byes. Bye to Adam and Debasmita, two very awesome people I have to keep in touch with.<br />
<br />That night Chandra and I chit chatted over whiskey and snacks he had brought from India before I head off to bed.<br />
<br />
I left Manado at about 1 in the afternoon and took the same route back home through Singapore and Sydney. The flight out of Manado was made interesting cause I got sit next to a very nice young lady from Capetown. Conversations always make the journey better. I hadn't bought anything else on the trip so I picked up some books in Singapore.<br />
<br />
I was so pleased to be home after the crazy long flight. Nothing beats Fiji man...<br />
<br />
<br />Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-70501178501005640722013-05-15T16:53:00.002+12:002013-05-15T16:55:10.055+12:00Dark Souls Fun: Artorias vs ManusThe best thing about games on PC are the mods and when a game has a big enough fan base you get all kinds of crazy stuff.<br />
<br />
Now the video below might not be of a "mod" but it is a cool example of what you can do with games on PC. Some how this guy got Manus, who is the last boss in the Dark Souls DLC (and arguably the hardest fight in the game) to battle it out with Knight Artorias.<br />
<br />
The arena you see is where you clash swords with Artorias; how he got Manus there is beyond me*. But the epicness of this battle is ... Epic.<br />
<br />
<i>*Apparently there is a "cheat engine" that lets you spawn NPCs and such. The owner of the video spawned Manus in the arena and then made him hostile to NPCs. </i><br />
<br />
In Dark Souls Lore Artoias does indeed battle it out with Manus - but we never get to see it.<br />
<br />
Well now we can<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XetG0cLrJpQ" width="560"></iframe>Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-87702938130410496712013-05-14T14:59:00.001+12:002013-05-14T15:16:49.056+12:00Loads of fun with Loadout<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
I am a very competitive person. <br />
<br />
Some might say that's a bad thing and that I should relax but I enjoy it. It makes games fun for me.<br />
<br />
In fact most of the games I'm really into have some sort of competitive component. Dark Souls and World of Warcraft would have to be two games that have totally consumed me.<br />
<br />
I PVPed like mad in WoW - in fact my first toon is ranked champion while my last toon, a warlock, spent most of his time poping heads in Athari Basin.And in Dark Souls I love invading peeps and claiming souls. There's something about gearing up and going out of your way to collect stuff which you then use to wreck other players. Now I'm not saying that I'm hot shit at it, in fact I've learned to channel my competitiveness a little, but I do really enjoy playing against other players.<br />
<br />
I've never been one for online shooters though until I wrapped my virtual trigger finger around Team Fortress 2. Then I started playing that for hours upon hours. I even got into collecting those damn hats >_<<br />
<br />
Well recently I started mucking around on the beta servers for an up coming third person shooter called <a href="http://www.loadout.com/">Loadout</a>, and this thing really has me hooked.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/542960309813986820/401213EB46C7D8CA35B3FB8A626032E788C2BAB7/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/542960309813986820/401213EB46C7D8CA35B3FB8A626032E788C2BAB7/" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Loadout home screen</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I actually can't remember how I came across this game but I do remember going nuts trying to get my hands on a beta key. It didn't take too long as a simple Facebook message to the games page returned a link to a key for me to grab.<br />
<br />
Since then I've been having a blast with Loadout. The best way to describe is that it's like Team Fortress meets Unreal; in that it's very cartoony looking with the action being arcady.<br />
<br />
I know these days we judge our online shooters with such games as Call of Duty or Halo, but Loadout is more about casual fun, at least to me.<br />
<br />
Rather than trying to be "real and authentic" with its gameplay, Loadout is over the top and frantic.<br />
<br />
A typical Loadout match gets very hectic. You might have the occasional sniper with a 10 kill streak but he probably died like 20 times himself. As soon as the countdown timer ends, the screen is splashed with blood and body parts. The death animations are actually a lot of fun to watch and you can't get head shot without letting out a "o shit hahahaha" when it happens.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/542960309813967983/938F678D4F368B1BDDCAB10ACB138A86015D8F6A/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/542960309813967983/938F678D4F368B1BDDCAB10ACB138A86015D8F6A/" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is my baby</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The biggest pull though is the games loadout system itself. You don't just pick two guns and an item, instead you actually get to craft your choice of weapon right down to what kind of trigger it has to fire. The closest I've come to this would have to be the Free to play shooter Black Light, which has tones of weapon customizing, but Loadout takes that concept and pumps it full of crack - because the results are just insane.<br />
<br />
The cool thing is that even though you have people running around with lightening chain guns and 6 barrel rocket launchers that fire like anime mechs, everything is so well balanced. When crafting an item everything has it's pros and cons - so you don't make something that is the best "killer" but rather something that best suits your play style. <br />
<br />
Aside from the awesome weapon building you also get to create your toon. Currently the game has two hero characters that you can customize, one of them looks a lot like Rambo and the other Mr T, and the devs have said they'll be releasing a female character as well sometime soon.<br />
<br />
The main theme of the game seems to draw very heavily from the action movie culture of the 70s and 80s. Think Terminator, Commando, Cobra or anything else staring the cast of the Expandable and you'll find some reference to it in Loadout. One of the cosmetic options is even the jacket that Arnie takes from the punk in Terminator 1. In fact it's called "stolen punk jacket"<br />
<br />
I've got two skins I role with, one being sort of a post apocalyptic theme and the other a rip off of Rick from Splatter House.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE4g1MKvuWx9SB5HEgmMj4rblV5bDkFdcR7Fv0MCiqPhkKGb557nPmxDYysngVh0qPmnVmv3rD677lo5CFCiNK2IKgYAKul5A630_argB4ZMtteKkST9vBn5Mo1sRV8PuG33k_4Cloi3Q/s1600/Omega.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE4g1MKvuWx9SB5HEgmMj4rblV5bDkFdcR7Fv0MCiqPhkKGb557nPmxDYysngVh0qPmnVmv3rD677lo5CFCiNK2IKgYAKul5A630_argB4ZMtteKkST9vBn5Mo1sRV8PuG33k_4Cloi3Q/s400/Omega.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I actually cost me game money to take that shirt off.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Both have the same weapon set up - but I have some other muck around builds as well.<br />
<br />
I actually just keep things pretty simple. Yes the weapons with the light shows are fun but nothing beats a slug to the face. But this could change as every time I see someone using an interesting looking weapon I have to try and build it for myself. There's actually an area where you can try out all the guns you've made, but what I would love is a way to share and view other peoples schematics.<br />
<br />
There are a few draw backs though as the game currently has a limited number of maps, and in game currency to buy weapon parts and cosmetics are hard to come by. Plus even though there are a huge possible combination of weapons - everyone just uses rockets. Including me :P<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/542960309813979199/F1BA7D4BBE6BD16265D95C3E165AC6D376CAE295/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/542960309813979199/F1BA7D4BBE6BD16265D95C3E165AC6D376CAE295/" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
At the end of each match you get a wheel to spin, which in turn rewards you with various prizes like weapon parts and "space bucks". So far I've been getting a lot of XP and very little cash. So I went and bought a starter pack.<br />
<br />
You're weapons level up as you spend rank points to open up different tiers in the weapons components. The most I've invested in is the Harbinger you can see in the pic up top.<br />
<br />
Loadout should be out of closed beta soon and when it hits Steam you should definitely check it out if you're a fan of online play. The community are a pretty cool bunch, but all online groups have the occasional ass, but so far I haven't run into one. The Devs are petty cool to and you can tell they really love what they have and are constantly keeping touch with the fans for ideas and suggestions. You can also catch some live streaming of their games every now and then too.<br />
<br />
Now watch this awesome trailer:<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oxrpeDB1krA" width="560"></iframe>Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-47025337578985835032013-05-09T11:06:00.001+12:002013-05-09T11:06:26.716+12:00A Day At the Beach wins a World TV Award.And then I won a World TV award.<br />
<br />
A short film I did with my FBC TV crew called "A Day At the Beach" won the <a href="http://www.aibd.org.my/node/3618">World Television Awards</a> 2013 Science/environment category for the Best TV Programme on “Creating Ozone Safe Generations".<br />
<br />
Now I get to present the Film at the Asia Media Summit, which is a global gathering of broadcasters from around the world, scheduled for the the 29 May in Manado, Indonesia. That's where I get presented with my award too :)<br />
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According to the website there's going to be 500 representatives from various broadcasters at the summit so it should be very interesting. <br />
<br />
I was so damn excited when I heard that I had won. It was 1am on a Saturday Morning and I had just finished a few hours of playing <a href="http://www.loadout.com/">Loadout</a> when I got the call from my Boss who had gotten an email telling him I had won. I actually just sat there kinda like "o really... awesome"<br />
<br />
Inside though I was kinda in shock because this was my first international award, and a World TV award at that - which is pretty huge.<br />
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The film was a made as part of the <a href="http://www.zombiesinzen.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/and-then.html">workshop I had attended in Malaysia</a>.<br />
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As far as films go I never make anything I wouldn't watch. So when I set out to make something on Ozone Depletion one idea just jumped into my head.<br />
<br />
After hearing all this talk about stop ozone depleting substances by the year 2050 I started thinking about what kind of effect that would have on us here in Fiji. Can Fiji or the whole Pacific wait that long? What will happen before then? or after that?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Check out the "Boom Mic"</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So what came out in scripting was a ravaged Fiji in the year 2063 and the rest just fell into place.<br />
<br />
Drawing from such things as Cormac McCarthy's The Road and even a bit of Jack Vance's Dying Earth stories soon the script was locked into place. <br />
<br />
I had a great crew working with me too so after about a week of planning and a day of shooting we knew we had something awesome going. I'm lucky to always have a crew that sort of trusts me with concept and planing and especially direction.<br />
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I wanted to make the short informative, while still being accessible, so I had written a father and daughter reflecting on all the things that happened to Fiji for it to be the dry, barren place it was in the script. <br />
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We shot the project down at the Sigatoka sand dunes which gave us the perfect back drop for our story. <br />
<br />
Before the actual day of the shoot my buddy Samu Soqoyawa and I went up to the dunes to check out the location. I shot a small video of the location on my handycam just to get a feel for the place. I then cut this into a little "mood video" that I showed the crew to give them a sense of what I was trying to capture. I also used this is a site reference when scripting.<br />
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The Day of the actual was shoot was a lot harder as the area gets a lot of rain. So it meant packing equipment up now and then, sometimes in the middle of takes, so we didn't get it wet.<br />
<br />
What was also interesting is that I had planned to have a CGI character in the story as well. A computer that talks to the father and daughter, explaining things about the Ozone and the effects of the depletion.<br />
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<br />
The design for this A.I was pretty simple but looked great - and I owe a lot of thanks to our graphics guy and my friend David Whiteside for his designs. I'm lucky that he is a huge video game buff like me so he had a lot to draw from. In fact he designed all the graphics I animated based on a few crude sketches I had given him. though our render resources and such was pretty scarce - I thought the end product with the AI turned out great. <br />
<br />
Lending her voice to the AI, that we named Jacki-0, was the lovely Jacqueline Speight from our very own FBC TV news desk.<br />
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The score for the short was done by our very awesome sound guy Jone Nakasamai, who actually composed the main theme a day before we submitted the film for the award.<br />
<br />
Our two leads Peceli Rokotuivuna and Ny Vann were great sports. As we had one camera it meant we had to do a lot of multiple takes to get the different angles. Even Seremaia bui Cabecabe who was our drive for the day helped with carrying equipment up and down those mad high sand dunes.<br />
<br />
In the end we had something we were all very proud of and to have something that is essentially a work of passion recognized with an award like this is truly amazing. <br />
<br />
Here's the trailer for the short - which plays on FBC TV on the 15th of May at 6:30pm. I'll have a copy online soon after I get back from Indonesia.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HXXI646Tamg" width="560"></iframe>Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-71146834899077099902013-04-11T12:16:00.001+12:002013-04-11T16:34:42.181+12:00Dark Souls 2: Gameplay Reveal Dark Souls. Nothing else comes close.<br />
<br />
Well there's Demon souls ... but Dark Souls is hands down my ultimate gaming experience. I came across a comment somewhere that read:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
"I haven't finished Dark Souls ... stuck in the tomb of giants"</div>
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This was then followed by a reply that said:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
"Don't blame you... that game is hard"</div>
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To which I thought "Fuck that"<br />
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I finished Dark Souls 5 times. 4 times on one character which stayed at level 125 while the world got harder around him. Saying that Dark Souls is Hard is a serious under statement. But the game doesn't punish you for mistakes, it punishes you for not learning from them.<br />
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Now I don't need to go into any more depth about how much of a hard-on i have for Dark Souls, you can actually just read about it your self on my <a href="http://www.zombiesinzen.blogspot.com/search/label/dark%20souls">past blog up dates about it</a>.<br />
<br />
Well now after Dark Souls there's only one other game that I'm truly anticipating, more than anything else. In fact it's greatness actually makes everything else pale in comparison. That Game is Dark Souls 2.<br />
<br />
From the day I saw the announcement trailer I've been burning (for lack of a better word) to play this game. It's not just the difficulty - in fact that's not my biggest pull - it's the world that you live in when you play Dark Souls, that's what I'm looking forward to revisiting.<br />
<br />
The lore, the characters - nothing beats Dark Souls.<br />
<br />
Today the dark gods were kind enough to grace us finally with a Dark Souls 2 Gameplay video. I wish I had recorded my reaction to it because I'm sure my Jaw was dropped throughout the whole thing. <br />
<br />
Check it out.<br />
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<iframe src="http://widgets.ign.com/video/embed/content.html?url=http://www.ign.com/videos/2013/04/10/dark-souls-2-gameplay-reveal-12-minute-demo" width="468" height="263" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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<br />
Now if there was one thing that bugged me about the gameplay it was that the player seemed to take a lot of hits. Some of those early bits in the video against those undead soldiers were a bit disappointing because if you take hits like that in Dark Souls you'll be seeing a reload screen shortly after. Plus he seemed to move a little too fast in that amour - something I'm not used to seeing in Dark Souls.<br />
<br />
But I loved the atmosphere and the environment throughout the video. It reminded me more of Demon's Souls over Dark Souls because it seemed to have more of a horror aspect to it. And that boss in the carriage - looked freaking awesome. And that bridge with the dragons... fucking hell. And that bit with the monster crashing through the wall... o my god. <br />
<br />
I can not wait to see more of it. Dark Souls 2 seems to be shaping up very nicely... Praise the Sun!<br />
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<br />Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-74687503079873278212013-03-28T12:51:00.000+12:002013-03-28T12:51:33.221+12:00Go Goa Gone: Bollywood finally gets bittenAs a kid I watched a lot of Bollywood films, mostly a lot of movies staring <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amitabh_Bachchan">Amitabh Bachchan</a>.<br />
<br />
Till this day he is one of my favorite actors, and not just out of Bollywood. His film Toofan was something I watched over and over again as a kid because it was the closet thing I could get in terms of a "superhero" movie which was in my mother tongue.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://static.ibnlive.in.com/pix/slideshow/06-2011/the-worst-of/11-worst-of-amitabh-bachchan-280611.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://static.ibnlive.in.com/pix/slideshow/06-2011/the-worst-of/11-worst-of-amitabh-bachchan-280611.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amitabh Bachchan as Toofan (Hurricane)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As I grew older and got into movies, mostly horror movies, I started drifting away from Bollywood a bit. Through my folks I would still catch a few of the classic films, but mostly I grew up on 80s horror out of the states. <br />
<br />
I don't think I've ever been excited about a Bollywood film since my Amitabh Bachchan days, but this week I came to know about one film from the mother land that has me pretty pumped.<br />
<br />
Go Goa Gone is an up coming Zombie Comedy from Bollywood. Not only are these guys finally putting out a Zombie movie... but they've decided to make it funny. Which is cool because even the supposed "serious" Bolly Horror movies like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purana_Mandir">Purana Mandir</a> (Another favorite) have elements of comedy and the usual sing and dance, which detracts a lot from the tone of the horror.<br />
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The film is being directed by the duo of <b>Raj Nidimoru</b> and <b>Krishna D.K </b>who are US based film makers originally from India. And looking at the trailer for their film Go Goa Gone you can tell that these guys love zombie movies.<br />
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I see hints of Shawn of the Dead in there, as well as sharp nods to most zombie movie cliches. My particular favorite is the "Bad Ass" character in the film as played by Saif Ali Khan. His a Desi boy parading as a Russian lol.<br />
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The film has already gotten some major hype online and was even trending the other day on Twitter. With zombies being everywhere these days, just the novelty of a Bollywood made zombie movie brings a bit of freshness to the genre.<br />
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The premise is pretty straight forward, but provides the rigth set up:<br />
<br />
<i>When three friends head to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goa" title="Goa">Goa</a>
to get their minds off all their stress, they realize that their visit
has been rearranged by zombies. Seeking the help of an Indo-Russian
zombie slayer named Boris (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saif_Ali_Khan" title="Saif Ali Khan">Saif Ali Khan</a>), they must fight together to defeat these intruders! </i><br />
<br />
Check out the trailer and tell me that it doesn't look like fun.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4V5zGNVRmaE" width="560"></iframe>Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-16567573970205208502013-03-13T22:32:00.002+12:002013-03-14T08:08:11.339+12:00Spec Ops: The Line. This is my dream, this is my nightmareSo yesterday I finished Spec Ops: The Line<br />
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O my god.<br />
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<br />
I've always felt that video games have potential to be the current form of narrative. Like books, video, TV, or what have you... Video Games are the new form of story telling. They aren't something to simple be played any more. The problem with this is that most games bank on hooks and game mechanics which provide replay value. In this day in age when the gaming market is so competitive you need to give the player something that's worth investing their time and money in.<br />
<br />
This leads to shit like multiplayer games, death matches and what not. Simple game hooks that are easy to pick up and carry on so as not to loose the gamers attention.<br />
<br />
It's with these things in mind that I wonder how the heck did Spec Ops: The liner ever get made, and I know that there are other critics that share my sentiments. <br />
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"The Line's" hook isn't so much in the gameplay, although I really enjoyed it, instead The Line brings you in with story. And yes there are heaps of games with great stories but the Line does an incredible job of slowly soaking you into itself.<br />
<br />
<i>Spec Ops: The Line tells the story of a small squad of Delta
Force operatives sent to the shattered city of Dubai after a massive
sandstorm has rendered the city uninhabitable. You play as Walker, the
leader of the Delta squad. Your mission: locate the survivors of the
33rd Brigade led by the mysterious Colonel Konrad. </i><br />
<br />
It starts off pretty average, you shoot at people and yell out orders.<br />
<br />
But then something happens. Your character starts to question what's going on. Why are we shooting these people... do we need to kill so many to move. It's this semi breaking of the 4th wall to make you question your actions that starts Spec Op: The Line's descent into darkness.<br />
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The thing is, it's not that The Line doesn't make you do things you don't already do in other shooters, in stead it's innovation lies in the fact that it makes you feel like shit for doing it.<br />
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Anyone who has read Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" or seen Apocalypse Now will be familiar with the story. "The Line" is the gaming link to Conrad's Novel the way Apocalypse Now was the film link. <br />
<br />
There are heaps of articles and such all over the net now about how awesome this game is, and so many articles discussing the ideas and theme the game puts across. There's even a really cool <a href="http://direcritic.com/2012/12/02/context-sensitive-spec-ops/">write up which has a real Marine commenting on the game</a> and giving his 2cents on all the cool stuff the game accomplishes. And this one in particular called "<a href="http://www.polygon.com/2012/11/14/3590430/dont-be-a-hero-the-full-story-behind-spec-ops-the-line">Don't be a Hero</a>" is a great read as it has a lot of insight shared by the Devs in the making of the game. There even an article that tries to <a href="http://www.dpaddbags.com/blog/do-you-feel-like-a-hero-yet-psychology-takes-on-spec-ops-the-line/">break the game down psychologically</a>. <br />
<br />
Earlier I was talking about how a game like this would be such a hard pitch to sell to a publisher. Because the beauty of The Line is in exploring the narrative and like all good narratives, it's the ending that nails it. The narrative being so focused does aim the whole thing towards a more leaner style and one might think that this takes away from such things as "re-playability" but I found myself immediately starting the game again on a higer difficulty.<br />
<br />
And like all good narratives... I didn't mind "reading" through it again. The ending totally floored me, and though I could see hints of it coming it didn't diminish the impact in any way. As if the ending wasn't enough of greatness... the game throws in a killer epilogue as well.<br />
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Choice and consequence is what resembles a "hook" in The Line. And though a lot of decisions seemed forced on to... it feels legit because you feel these same limited choices can forced on to real people out the fighting wars. Its so easy to sit back and criticise those involved in conflict, accusing them all of all sorts of things while not really know what it's like to be in their war torn shoes.<br />
<br />
I'm not saying that The Line is an exact replica of what these people go through... but it's clear that the devs wanted to hammer some of that feeling home. Watching the characters decay and break as you lead them from one circle of hell to another is intense and engaging. <br />
<br />
Also... to some extent. Spec Ops the line feels like a horror game. Not in 100% of the term, but in the way it messes with your head, making you question everything around you... and the way there's something horrifying waiting to be seen around the corner. <br />
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<br />
I've played a lot of games... and loved them for all kinds of
reasons. But I can't remember the last time I played a shooter and
thought to myself: "damn what have I done?"<br />
<br />
There's a
quote in the game which really struck me when I heard it, and of all the
4th wall breaking stuff... this one really naild it:<br />
<br />
<i>"The truth, Walker (player), is that you're here because you wanted to feel like something you're not: A hero"</i><br />
<br />
Play
any game... what are you if not the hero?<br />
<br />
Not here... not in The Line. A
hero doesn't do what I did to get to the end. A hero doesn't stand for
any of this. Spec Ops: The Line takes situations and scenarios that
would otherwise be considered "Bad Ass" in other shooters and makes you
feel like a psycho for doing it.<br />
<br />
There's
nothing glorious in killing... no matter what it's in name of, and The Line will cut and bleed this idea into your head... before it makes you shoot it off.<br />
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Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-72660395795788372072013-03-11T12:55:00.002+12:002013-03-13T14:14:19.927+12:00And then?And then my Girlfriend and I broke up.<br />
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For the better part of almost 5 years she was the most wonderful part of my life, and through an act of carelessness on my part it ended. I miss her dearly and right now I wonder if I'll ever meet anyone who can be as good a friend and partner in crime as she was for me. She supported me through everything I took on, she was my best friend and I never dreamed of being without her. But as Mr Harrison had said; All things must pass. :( <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">... M</span>ov<span style="font-size: small;">ing on.</span></span><br />
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I also got to check out Malaysia! which was pretty farking awesome. I've never been that far away from Fiji before and Malaysia was a country I've always wanted to visit. <br />
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It was such a great experience, particularity the size of Kuala Lumpur. Just this massive city with so much to do. Of course I hit all the malls looking for video game shops and books. I found a massive book shop at the KLCC towers and spent hours and hours there just going through the many books. At the end I only bought like three books. My boss is going over there soon (To Malaysia) and I've asked him to pick up some the books I'd left behind.<br />
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I also bought Dead Space 3 and I'll be doing a separate update on that later.<br />
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What I miss most about Malaysia though is the food. I would spend hours every night hitting the food stalls on the street sometimes eating 2 or 3 meals a night. The food was so awesome and freaking cheap as and it breaks my heart to know I won't be tasting those delicious flavors anytime soon... not authentically anyway. <br />
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I have however picked up a Malay cook book... so lets see what that brings.<br />
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Funny thing is I felt KL was a lot like Fiji but with bigger buildings. The people there were nice and the street culture was very similar to the way things happen here in Suva.<br />
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Visiting the China market was a trip as well and so was the Indian market. Again the items there were pretty cool... but I spent so much on the fruits there. Just so many stalls with fresh fruit ready top be consumed. <br />
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So yeah it was a great trip. And I never knew I would get into food so much. But I think it's because I farking love a good curry and all the chow there were curry based. They did have like BBQs and such ... but mostly I had the spicy stuff.<br />
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And I did a lot of mucking around. To the point where I was coming back to the hotel room at like 3 in the morning. <br />
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Though the food and such was pretty cheap, I found booze a little expensive, esp coming out of Fiji and the clothing stuff was a little on the other side of the budget. Mostly because a lot of the malls only had designer wear. I was itching for a thrift shop somewhere to see what I could find. <br />
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In case you're interested I was in Malaysia for a workshop on Ozone Depletion and it's relation to climate change / Global warming. The next part of my involvement with the project is to create an awareness on the subject. So that's what is taking up most of my time right now... that and Dead Space 3.<br />
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What else...<br />
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I have been going out a lot recently which hasn't been nice to the wallet. Most of these night outs have ended with me stumbling home at like 4am and then hitting the office at 8am. But I think this is all part of the grieving process... and I will phase this out. Eventually.<br />
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I will however be giving up on beer before anymore of this beer belly takes effect. I'm thinking strictly vodka, tequila and rum for the night outs. Plus since I just got out of a long relationship, a lot of these night outs are kinda slow until I get at least a little bit tipsy.<br />
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And how come all the interesting ladies already have dates? What's up with that? <br />
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So yeah... that's kinda what I've been up to recently. Well that's the kinda the high lights at least. With the first 1/4 of the year almost done, it's been a pretty "hit and miss" start... but I'm sure things can only get better from here.<br />
<br />Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-88127671894556241792013-01-15T15:48:00.000+13:002013-01-15T15:50:07.050+13:00Routine Q&A<a href="http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=92985806">Routine</a> is the up coming exploration/ horror game from indie English developers Lunar Software. Routine is a Steam "Green Lit" game and is frankly one of the better looking game that's part of the line up. With a strong sense of exploration and discovery over straight Horror, the game brings a fresh new take on the genre I think.<br />
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Recently the Dev crew requested some questions for a Q&A video they were going to put together and I was lucky enough to have some of my questions addressed in the video.<br />
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Check it out - my Questions are at about the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPeDMfau2Bc&feature=player_detailpage#t=221s">3:44</a> mark<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GPeDMfau2Bc" width="560"></iframe>
I'm really looking forward to this game as I am a sucker for exploration and sci-fi horror. Lunar Software is looking for an April release for Routine - I can't wait to get my hands on it. Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-79820666938149416262012-11-27T12:24:00.002+13:002012-11-27T12:24:23.225+13:00And then?And then I had a great day off yesterday. Chowed all over town, did a bit of working out, caught up on my reading.<br />
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All in all it was a very productive day, though it did get a little depressing when my PS3 died. After corrupting my 250 hour Dark Souls save last weekend, the Piece of Shit 3 finally decided to give me the finger and call it quits. Luckily one of the retail outlets here has a reasonable price on PS3s and give them out on hire-purchase, so I'm hoping to pick up a new one next week. I need to get one because if I don't play <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_of_Us">the Last of Us</a> I'll die. (That's right Kayla - I will)<br />
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But thanks to the awesome Steam sale that's been happening since last week, my gaming fix won't be lacking any time soon.<br />
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Since Sunday I've been mucking around with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadlight">Deadlight</a> which has to be one of the better takes on the zombie apocalypse for video games. The only travesty with Deadligth is me taking so long to buy it, but thanks to the wait and the sale I managed to get it at a great price. I was actually hard out for this game for some time, ever since<a href="http://www.zombiesinzen.blogspot.com/2012/07/deadlight-please-come-to-me.html"> I saw it release for Xbox Arcade back in July</a>. As far as story and atmosphere goes, Deadlight is a trip to play, and the ending actually left me sad and moved. <br />
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The game itself plays like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbo_%28video_game%29">Limbo</a> with zombies, with puzzles and platform elements pasted against a 2D design. If I had to complain about anything it would be that the jump button sometimes lags a bit, but aside from that the game is a downloadable masterpiece. Plus the Steam edition comes with a host of extras including all the promotional materiel for the game along with developer diary videos and concept art to unlock.<br />
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It took me about 4 hours to finish the game, and this was with me taking my time to find as many secrets and such as I could. The supposed game time was one of the factors that put me off buying the game right away because in terms of Fijian Dollars, a short game for $30 can be a little disheartening. But for the sale price of $15 bucks I felt the game was a great deal. But then again $15 was intended international market price. Though the story is short, to pay through it is quite a feeling. A lot of the games themes and atmosphere reminded me of Cormac McCarthy's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road">The Road</a>. Plus I'm a sucker for survival games and even now I'm debating if I should pick up <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Alive">I'm Alive</a> as well.<br />
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I think it's safe to say that Deadlight is one of the best zombie games I've played, and for a budget downloadable title it does a lot to elevate the genre over some of its AAA contemporaries.<br />
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Tonight I'll be doing some creative writing as Alan Wake since I picked that up on Steam as well this morning. This is another game that I was interested in when it first came out but for some reason or other just never got around to playing. I'm actually sort of in the mood for the whole Twin Peaks thing that the game seems to have going on.<br />
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Aside from the vidya games my girlfriend and I have been brushing up on our 80s horror movies. Since Halloween we've been digging up all sorts of 80s B movie goodness. Mostly we've been after movies that are considered "under rated" gems. Though a lot of what we found should have been left 'unseen' - a lot of it was very entertaining. I've actually got a couple of new faves now as well. One of them being the Jeffery Combs flick <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_Beyond_%28film%29">From Beyond</a>.<br />
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To be fair though this film is already considered a cult classic, so falling for it is not too obscure, plus Jeffery Combs is like one of my favorite horror movie actors.<br />
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Another movie I had to watch was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alligator_%28film%29">Alligator</a>, because as a kid I had this one VHS rip of the animated feature <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_and_Ice_%281983_film%29">Fire and Ice</a> and the trailer for Alligator was at the beginning of the tape and I'd watch it over and over because I thought it looked like an awesome creature feature. I was glad to find out that the film was not a let down and was in fact very well put together. It reminded me a lot of Jaws, and it was very well acted with some great one liners. It's also one of the better "it came from below" horror movies I've seen - right up there with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.H.U.D.">C.H.U.D.</a> (or down there?)<br />
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Another thing my girl friend and I have been spending a lot of money on recently is eating out. We've been visiting a lot of restaurants and dinners that we normally pass by, just to see what kind of specialties they might have.<br />
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Last night was funny though because I've been trying to watch what I eat, especially for dinner. So I had this great Thai Chicken salad and was all like - ok I'm set. But then like two hours later I was so damn hungry I could eat a baby. Lucky there was some left over Chili- chicken in the fridge. So I guess I gotta polish my dinner options a bit.<br />
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I'm looking forward to chilling this weekend, as i had spent the last weekend at the office working on a documentary for FBC TV.<br />
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And I can't believe where are days away from kicking of December, man this year went by so fast, and I know we say that about every year, but 2012 really did just fly by. I'm hoping to use my Hibiscus trips either in late December or maybe early next month.<br />
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What have you got planned for the rest of the year?<br />
<br />Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-81305212438506556102012-11-09T07:42:00.000+13:002012-11-09T07:44:35.674+13:00Dead Space 3 Preview (Inside Gaming Extended) A closer look at co-op and weapon building, as well as something even more interesting. How two players co-oping together actually see the story differently because of the "Dementia" mechanic.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZaVsmcHurG4" width="560"></iframe>Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-5567450477208312892012-10-30T12:52:00.002+13:002012-10-30T12:52:16.460+13:00Dark Souls: Back to basicsSo last night I was playing through the new Dark Souls DLC with my meat headed Strength based character. This was the guy I made for my first play through. I knew nothing about miracles or pyromancy or sorcery and invading level caps and other things that i know now about Dark Sopuls - I just built him according to regular RPG rules for a warrior.<br />
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High on Vitality to take the hits, higher on Strength to dish out the damage and some Dex for speed.<br />
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Last night I came across a simple truth; Faith builds and magic spells are awesome, but noting feels as satisfying as smashing a giant axe into an enemies face.
Playing through the DLC with my Faith/ Dex toon was tricky. Lots of dodging and rolling around, and forget about standing in the way of a fire breathing dragon. But playing as my first toon, aptly named "Clarence" was just pure bad ass.<br />
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Stone Giant trying to smash me? He can't even get through my <a href="http://darksouls.wikidot.com/greatshield-of-artorias">Great Shield of Artorias</a>. Is that shadow magic? Lucky my <a href="http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com/Black+Iron+Set">Black Iron set</a> is built to resist and with the Great Shield Absorbing 100% of everything - good luck trying to build damage . As for the horrible new monstrosities out to get me - meet my <a href="http://darksouls.wikidot.com/black-knight-greataxe">Black Knight Great axe</a>!<br />
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And man - don't get me started on the PVP!<br />
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At soul level 135 I had constant invasions as soon as I entered the Royal woods. But I was surprised at how well my toon held up. In fact he didn't get a single defeat the whole night, and I did some invasions too and was only killed when I came across a co-op team just in front of Artorias arena. My Faith/ Dex guy is pretty kick ass in PVP as well - he should be since I built him specifically for invading, but Clarence is just a beast. <br />
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There really is no point to this post other than to brag about how awesome my first Dark Souls toon is. The only conflict I have is wither to level him up any further because right now I'm nervous as heck walking around with 200k souls.<br />
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I leave you with this awesome art piece of Yurt from Demons Souls fighting Lautrec from Dark Souls. Sadly I couldn't track down the artist who did it -but i like the way he thinks.<br />
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<br />Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-37297616717549874692012-10-29T14:50:00.001+13:002012-10-29T14:50:32.040+13:00Shaun of the Dead star loves Dark SoulsComedian and Shaun of the Dead star Peter Serafinowicz talks, and talks,
and talks about his favourite videogame of all-time, Dark Souls.<br />
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Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-87797448571595389342012-10-29T12:42:00.000+13:002012-10-29T12:48:22.070+13:00Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss (DLC)Dark Souls hit consoles in September 2011 but I didn't get my hands on it till Jan 2012 ...just in time for my Birthday.<br />
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Dark Souls is hands down the greatest thing I've ever played. Yes there are tones of great games, yes I am dying to get my hands on Dead Space 3, but playing through the rich dark world of Dark Souls and "beating" it gives a sense of accomplishment that few games can offer.<br />
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Well after being <a href="http://www.zombiesinzen.blogspot.com/search/label/dark%20souls">totally consumed</a> by it once already, nothing was more welcomed than playing through the game with something new to take on.<br />
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Last week saw the release of " Artorias of the Abyss" - an expansion DLC for the console versions of Dark Souls. The extra content was first released as part of the PC port of the game which came out the month before, and it was very tempting for me to pick it up on Steam to avoid the wait, but man was the wait ever worth it.<br />
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As far as "the best DLCs" go, Artorias of the Abyss doesn't share the ranks with the stuff that Gear Box puts out for its Borderlands games. As a gamer paying for something in terms of "content" they would be disappointed because the DLC took me about a day to get through. Plus any one who has played through Dark Souls won't find the new content all that challenging either as it sits just before the intended "end Game" content of the original release. <br />
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As a fan of Dark Souls though - this DLC is hands down freaking golden.<br />
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The major thing about Dark Souls is that it doesn't hold your hand with anything, not with game play, not with progress and not with story. As a player when you enter the land of Lordran it truly feels like the place was alive long before you and will live on long after you have ventured through it. So to get the full extent of what has happened in the land or what will happen it is up to you as an adventurer to talk to NPCs, read item description and book texts to get the lore of the land. This adds a sense of mystic and adventure that makes everything you discover special. The<a href="http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com/Lore"> lore of the different lands</a> is in particular something I try to find out more about.<br />
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So when the Expansion was announced and it was said that it's plot took you back in time to the days before the fall of Lordran's great cities and her fabled knights - it just meant that there's gonna be so much more story and lore for you to discover. That's what drives me in the game, aside from the gameplay challenge of Dark Souls, it's sense of discovery and adventure is truly unmatched.<br />
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I ventured into the new content with a toon that was appropriate for the level, though I have several NG+ toons, my fresh level 91 was actually at the point where you venture into the new area. <br />
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Stepping into the "new" area was awesome because it truly gave me a sense of dread. I won't lie, I still haven't seen all of the first area; the Royal woods, because it's choked full of hard hitting Stone Guardians who give my squishy Dexterity/ Faith toon a run for his life. I'm sure my tankish Strength guy, who I intend to play through with tonight, will be better adapt for it.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Epic</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
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The expansion adds four new bosses and some open world mini bosses, plus some kick ass new armor sets and weapons that would suit most popular builds. It also comes with some nerfs here and there, none of which hurt me more than the nerf to the <a href="http://darksouls.wikidot.com/dark-wood-grain-ring">Dark Wood grain ring</a>.<br />
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In terms of difficulty as I had mentioned that since this area is before end game, it will be pretty manageable for most Dark Soul players. I played through two boss fights co-op but it was the last boss of the DLC who was the one that I really needed help with; <a href="http://darksouls.wikidot.com/manus-father-of-the-abyss">Manus the Father of the Abyss</a>. <br />
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After him was a very threatening Dragon who was more of a side boss, but his breath turned out to be worse than his bite. Though the last boss was a hard fight and the boss himself was one of the most menacing things in the game, the fight with <a href="http://darksouls.wikidot.com/black-dragon-kalameet">Kalameet the Black dragon</a> felt the most epic.<br />
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Both the two last bosses had awesome intros but the events leading up to the dragon fight was pretty tense. The fight with Artorias, the legendary knight who was once the hero of the land before he gets corrupted, was also a tough battle, but it comes so early into the DLC that it's over shadowed by the later boss fights. It was still pretty epic and almost sad when you have to put the great hero down.<br />
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Coming out of the DLC content and going back into the original game left me a little sad because all of it was so good that it leaves you wanting more, but all in all the DLC added very nicely to what was already an incredible journey. <br />
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Plus your actions in the "past" also seem to play into the game when you return, as NPCs and even bosses react differently to you after wards. For a game that adds so many ways to create a unique experience for all who dare to adventure through it, Artorias of the Abyss brings nothing but greatness. I really hope the Devs put out more of this kinda stuff because the open ended world of Dark Souls lends it's self very nicely to more content, maybe something that explores the other knights stories.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7s8To6EpBx2Fo3Xf-dgmLg9qnBaW4K_RT4JezbxjAOb2Ijrf9WgydtYd2eOac4KFLYDyu4KkHpks4mKA-FdTRbcV5xA-t_8EPlzG5V65H2aA2gx3BjzN8F5dlSioksl3ffHS_1GAHqDg/s1600/dark_souls_knights_by_giovannimicarelli-d4ya6wt.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7s8To6EpBx2Fo3Xf-dgmLg9qnBaW4K_RT4JezbxjAOb2Ijrf9WgydtYd2eOac4KFLYDyu4KkHpks4mKA-FdTRbcV5xA-t_8EPlzG5V65H2aA2gx3BjzN8F5dlSioksl3ffHS_1GAHqDg/s400/dark_souls_knights_by_giovannimicarelli-d4ya6wt.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Heroes of Dark Souls</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-45162870976890555762012-10-18T17:51:00.000+12:002012-10-18T17:51:06.361+12:00Mark of the Ninja: First ImpressionsAfter playing Marking of the Ninja, I've come to realize that there haven't really been to many stealth games. There have been lots of games with a stealth element to it and some may even claim to build their game around this one mechanic, but in Mark of the Ninja - Stealth truly is the main focus with everything else being the icing on the cake.<br />
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The closest thing I can think of to Mark of the Ninja would be games like the Batman Arkham series and maybe Splinter Cell. But the thing that faults Batman is that whenever you F up a stealth section of the game, you either take a massive pounding from baddies or you totally loose the given level. Plus overall you feel like a dick head for making a silly mistake. <br />
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Ninja's don't make mistakes and if they do, they know how to recover from it - and keep looking bad ass.<br />
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Mark of the Ninja puts you behind the hidden blade of an unnamed hero who is charged with avenging his clan. To aid in his quest he is inscribed with tattoos penned with ink made from a scared flower, which gives the wearer of the Tattoos almost Supernatural like reflexes. This comes with a price however as who ever wears the ink is cursed to go insane, so at the end of the given task the wearer must end his life, less he becomes a threat to the clan.<br />
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Some folks say the story for Mark of the Ninja isn't very deep, but for me that set up is pretty damn awesome. By now I know that the crew over at Klei Entertainment grew up watching the same stuff I did as a kid, as evident from the influences on their awesome Shank games, and here Mark of the Ninja reminds me of the awesome Ninja flicks I watched growing up (Except The American Ninja - I wanna forget about those films)<br />
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So you embark on your mission. Your sword and kunai ready for the kill, but as a Ninja... your best weapon is the darkness.<br />
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The first thing that struck me as I started up the game was the beautiful cut scenes. This could be a show on TV - it's that good. Next I stared in aw at the amazing world that was stretched out before me. Mark of the Ninja has to be one of the best looking games out there. Forget 2D games - just across the board this game is gorgeous. To look at a screen shot does it no justice, to watch the world live and breath is a thing of beauty.<br />
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Second thing that struck me about Mark of the Ninja is the tight controls. You move exactly how you want to move through the environment, with every step and every grapple precisely executed whenever you want it. There is very little room to fault buttons and such for the errors you make. There is however one issue I had and it's best we get it out of the way now because the rest of this article will be me praising the shit out this game. <br />
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There is a context sensitive button, that lets you pick up bodies or hide behind things. If you drop a guy near a pot plant, chances are you'll hide when you wanna pick him up or pick him up if you wanna hide. This has gotten me killed a few times, but that was when I was but a fledgling Ninja - such bull shit no longer hinders my game.<br />
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Aside from the tight controls there is the addition of these sound pulses that emit from noise sources. When you run, they circle out from your feet, letting you know how far the sound will reach. When you line up a Kunai with a light, it will show who will hear the sound of it breaking. This makes you want to be very very quiet, calculating every move you make, so as not to be seen but also not heard.<br />
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There's this really cool feature where you "Focus" and time slows down, allowing you to mark and execute things like smoke bombs, multiple kunai hits and a whole host of other cool moves. Needless to say it really ups the "bad ass" factor every time you pull this move off. <br />
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With all these things in play, you'll find yourself looking out for short cuts, enemy patterns, and that right moment to move on unseen or make that mad ass kill.<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span>Playing through the game really reminded me a lot of Metal Gear solid
and even a little bit of Super meat boy because of levels involving
lasers. <span style="font-size: x-small;">Strangely though it never reminded me of Tenchu, which is what i thought it would throw back to.</span><br />
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As with most things in 2D, the platform elements play a huge part in this game, and this game means business when it comes to precession timing and jumps. But that's not to say you have too play the game a certain way. The biggest flaw with most stealth games is that you need to consciously play them a certain way to get the most out of them.<br />
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In Mark of the Ninja you are a Ninja. No
two ways about it. You are made to strike hard from the shadows, and fade
away ... with out a trace. And though the game emphasizes this by
awarding points every time you move by a guard unseen, it does also
congratulate you for your straight out kills, provided they are stylish and classy -
like a Ninja should be killing. <span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />
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As I mentioned earlier, unlike most 'stealth' games where you feel like a
klutz when you get caught, Mark of the Ninja allows you to recover from
your mistakes with class. Smoke bombs, kunais to lights, near by vents, if you see it you can use it as a means to infiltrate or escape. It is one of the few games that truly allows you to do things your way. I think the biggest factor in this is Klei's approach to the game. Stripping away all the non essential bull shit that clutter most other games (I'm looking at you Dishonored) Mark of the Ninja aims to give you one thing only - a ninja sim. So it encompasses all the things that makes Ninjas so damn cool, and provides you with an environment that lets you go nuts.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">There is some serious gaming to be had here and I think Klei have really out done the stealth genre, taking in to account every innovation in the genre that has come before </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> and </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">building on it greatly with</span> <span style="font-size: small;">Mark of the Ninja. After all this the true fun of the games comes from the narrow escapes and sudden reactions of "run" or "kill" that keep you at the edge of your seat through out. Bascially using all the mechanics to play the game, while still making your own personal story.</span></span><br />
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I really can't think of anything else to say except that Mark of the Ninja is freaking awesome and if you enjoy great gaming experiences, you owe it to yourself to check it out. <br />
<br />Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-90266132848623640662012-10-14T20:30:00.000+12:002012-10-18T19:46:25.804+12:00Dishonored: Fist ImpresssionsDishonoured adverts tell you that you can play the game "guns blazing" as a crazed assassin mad for revenge, or you can play it cool and calculated, striking from the shadows like a dark spirit of vengeance. <br />
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These adverts fail to tell you that playing Dishonoured as a straight out first person action game is super freaking dull. Combat though flashy can get very boring very fast. In fact as I first started playing the game and went about slicing and shooting people in the face I was like: meh<br />
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If you want to get the most out of Dishonoured you need to play it taking advantage of it's stealth elements, but that's not to say that the stealth in the game is awesome, far from it. In fact for a stealth game the mechanics in Dishonoured are pretty bland. It's not gonna do anything to take fame away from such titles as Splinter Cell conviction or even the Batman Arkham games.<br />
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Stealth in Dishonoured means crouching. But even then depending on how the game feels, you might hid in a corner and have a guard walk right by you, or you might reload a save and the damn guard will spot you in the same exact spot he missed you in a while ago. And you'll find that a lot of the game is broken this way. It helps though that none of the NPCs in Dishonoured have peripheral vision, so you can just walk up to a baddie and stab him in the neck as long as you walk to em in a straight line from behind or from the side.<br />
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Another thing about Dishonoured is that the NPCs don't really care about each other. If there are three people in a room and you kill one of them, the other two will keep talking without a worry. They won't even notice that their friend is missing. I mean come on! for all the bullshit realism the adverts for Dishonoured boasts with its "fully realised world" - you'd think they would pay attention to something like that. If they were lazy to do anything they could have just added some bull shit dialogue.<br />
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"Hey where did Ben go?"<br />
"His probubly gone for a piss again"<br />
"That Ben sure does have a weak bladder"<br />
"yeah ... I won't be the least bit worried if he never came back"<br />
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Also there was all this hype about the "PC" edition of the gaming having special attention given to controls. Is that why by default your left hand is mapped to the right mouse button and your right hand is on the left button? The amount of people I shot in the head instead of quietly stabbing... <br />
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So basically the "one on one" components of Dishonoured aren't the sharpest, but I had fun trying to stealth my way through it. So much so that I kept loading saves when ever I got caught. I actually haven't killed too many people either because it takes longer to make em pass out without getting caught - and I like that added challenge. Plus the less people you kill, the less guards there are in later levels etc.<br />
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Speaking of challenge, the first chapter of the game is probably the most demanding, at least it was for me (I'm currently on the 4th chapter)<br />
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When stealth kills are just you and the dark, it gets very intense. But then the game has all these fancy gear and supernatural powers that it gives you. I remember seeing early trailers for the game, show casing these special moves, thinking that they looked way over powered. Playing through the game with them - they are almost like "God mode."<br />
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There are tone of things you can pick, but all you really need to totally pwn everything is Blink and this ability that allows you to see NPCs through walls, including field of vision. Once you pick these up you're pretty much boss.Blink lets you instantly teleport to any spot you can see.<br />
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You also have traps and stuff, but there really is no point to these except to kill boredom.<br />
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Why set up a spring trap when you can so easily just blink behind a baddie, slice him and blink out? I only used my traps once so far - just to check em out.<br />
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Visually the game looks pretty good in a Bioshock: infinite sorta way. The art and design for the game is what I love the most and is the only thing I think it does really well. The Gothic / "Alice in wonderland" nightmarish world you get to explore is very awesome to look at. The people look good, but move like claymation, so the animation isn't
the sharpest. And though the self contained levels are big, the missions
them selves are pretty leaner.<br />
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As is the trend with most of the games that Bethesda publishes, the fun parts of Dishonoured are when you make the most of its given mechanics to forge your own adventure. There is a story in here some where, but I stopped listening when our hero is accused of a murder he didn't comminet, and instead of saying "hey I just got here" - he goes all Gordon Freeman on us and allows him self to get fudged.<br />
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You may not believe me, but I do like playing Dishonoured, but it's
not as awesome as the critics make it out to be. I don't know what side
of the bed these people woke up on when they played Dishonoured because I
can see this game very easily bombing into 'midcore' territory depending on the reviewers mood.<br />
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If you're hard out for an action game, this wont do. If you're up for a poor man's "Thief" then Dishonoured might do it for you. But be warned - it requires a great deal of patience to get the most out of it. It will basically serve well those folks who claim they want a challenge but still haven't played Dark Souls because it's too hard.<br />
<br />Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728404223119180208.post-33434130095545621202012-10-03T13:53:00.002+12:002012-10-03T13:55:50.525+12:00Torchlight 2: First Impressions Sometimes I forget that I bought Diablo 3, but then the bitter memory of it seeps back in and I my heart sinks to despair. <br />
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When I played Torchlight 1 a few years back, I was hooked. The formula of loot collecting, exploring and fun combat stole hours upon hours of my life. Just like Diablo 1 and 2 did years before. I keep telling myself that I'm not a RPG fan, and I guess to some extent games like Torchlight and Diablo aren't traditional RPGs. Dungeon crawlers, hack n slash or whatever you want to call them, I love em to bits.<br />
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After Torchlight 1 came and went, I thought to myself: boy I can't wait for Diablo 3.<br />
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Without getting into the shit flinging too much, let me just say Diablo 3 started out great but ultimately fell due to its own reputation. It just didn't deliver on what I wanted and what it did serve up wasn't enough.<br />
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I was very hesitant to pick up Torchlight 2, even though I loved the first one, after the events of D3 I thought that maybe I'm just not into this genre of gaming at the moment. I should just stick to Borderlands 2 which has been nothing but the Bees Knees.<br />
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But thanks to a friend I was able to get myself a Steam copy of Torchlight 2 and I'm so damn glad that I did.<br />
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Torchlight 2 is a gem.<br />
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It's a special game. It has charm, and character and it thrusts you into a world that strives to kill you but never seizes to amaze you.<br />
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Just going through its list of 4 classes had me sitting there clicking forever because I couldn't decided which one was the coolest one to play. Eventually I settled on an Engineer named Issac and his pet ferret Ishi. <br />
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As the game begins you find that the biggest let down in Torchlight 2 is the story, or lack there of. There is a narrative in there somewhere, but even the game knows that it's not important. What matters is that you have a reason to step into your characters shoes and cause havoc.<br />
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Visually the game looks amazing, I freaking love the art style. It's unique art make it as though you were playing through a Disney Cartoon. It sort of looks like a higher rendered version of what you see in world of Warcraft, and given that the Dev crew were ex Blizz members, you can see how Torchlight 2 borrows heavily from such titles as Diablo and WoW. But what it borrows it polishes and gives back in a big way. Even the Music is done by the same guy that worked on Diablo 1 and 2 - so the atmosphere and environments are a joy to go through. In fact the music and environments to explore are a major draw for me. <br />
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Soon you don't care who you're collecting quests from, or where you have to go. You just grab quests, look at the reward and then kill shit as you make your way towards a star marking some location on a map. And this to me is the game so far. But please don't take that as a negative, because this simple mechanic of killing, looting, moving on is some how made so damn addictive by the good people over at Runic Games. If it wasn't for Borderlands 2 I would have been sitting there for hours just exploring and finding new things to kill and strip off loot. But I really want to finish my first play through of Borderlands 2 before I get into anything else. <br />
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But let me just say, that my first few hours of Torchlight 2 were insanely more satisfying than my time spent finishing Diablo 3. If D3 has left a bad taste - Torchlight 2 is here to bring the sugar.<br />
<br />Clarence Dasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236678012061388501noreply@blogger.com2