OtakuSennen

I'm still several levels higher than all of you (except Alex), so stfu. ^_^ Anyway, I'm a level 13 Ranger/Mesmer named Natanya Harbringer (this is what happens when I don't take the time to do a good name). That's my only character, but my brother plays on my account, and he's always trying different classes. I'm willing to help out lower-level guild members level up, even if I don't get anything out of it. Lord knows I did that for about an hour and a half last night. At this point in the game I'm mostly in it for the social aspect.. And getting cool armor. Long live the [url="http://otakusennen.250free.com/GuildWars-KabukiTroupe.jpg"][b]Quantum Kabuki Troupe.[/b][/url]

Obviously, the new consoles will be the biggest thing. But at this point I am uninterested in the Xbox 360, and there's not enough real information about the Playstation 3 (I need a [i]price, [/i]dammit). Things don't seem to be full of the AAA titles that 2005 was rife with, though. Outside of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and a few DS games (Mario & Luigi 2, New Super Mario Bros, Advance Wars DS) there's not a lot of games that have grabbed my interest. The way I see it, last year was this generation's peak, and this year they're bringing in the next-gen stuff, which means that things will settle down a bit before developers get used to things with the new consoles. Then things will get awesome again.

I picked it up today. It's more of the same as far as gameplay goes, but that is by no means a bad thing. I prefer Fire Emblem's individual characters to the endless hordes of faceless infantry in Advance Wars, anyway. I've only played for an hour and a half (Chapter Six), but so far it's okay. The story hasn't seemed to warm up yet, but from what I can tell, I'm not as interested in these characters as I was with FE1's. That still has plenty of time to change though. The Gamecube Fire Emblem is titled "Path of Radiance," but that's all that I know about it. I'll probably just rent it, unless there's some sort of change in gameplay.

From my experience, console-specific game magazines like Nintendo Power and PSM are pretty much propaganda designed to make you want to buy most of the games that come out. I'd suggest a more all-around one, like Game Informer or Electronic Gamer Monthly. I paid for two years of EGM recently, and though it's not the greatest magazine in the history of the universe, I enjoy it. Of course, you could always just go to internet news sites like IGN or Gamespot and get information a month before you see it on the shelves (This past E3 is the perfect example. Most sites provide day-by-day coverage, while you don't see that in magazines until a month or two later). You don't get demos that way, but it's a lot cheaper.

That's why I read fan translations instead. I let my Shonen Jump subscription die because I got tired of it being one big advertisement for their series' anime counterparts. I don't really mind if they switch names around, though. Things like Shintenshin no Jutsu being called "Valentine Technique" or whatever don't bother me much.. I'm not a purist in that sense. As long as they keep characters and story intact (as well as not add in crappy jokes, no matter how funny the editors think they are), I don't mind as much.

One time I was playing Halo 2 on Xbox Live (at a friend's house) and two of her friends started having a conversation. I don't think these two really knew each other well, and this was some sort of ice-breaking conversation, but no matter what the context, it was.. Interesting. To say the least. "Hey, uh.. Have you ever heard of MechAssault?" "Oh yeah! I rented that game once. It was heard." "Yeah." "Yeah.." "..Hey, don't you just hate it when, like, you kill somebody but then they come back and kill you?" "YEAH, I KNOW!!" I also recall a seasoned game veteran who, when watching me play oldschool Mario, profoundly stated, "Mario jumps high." I don't quite know where he was going to go with that one, but that was an odd one. There are many other lies that I've heard from a lot of people (most recently, someone said that their brother worked on Resident Evil 4), but there are too many to remember.

There was a Zelda cartoon back in the 80's.. It was part of the Super Mario Bros. show, I believe. Technically, it wasn't anime (it was an American show), but it's a cartoon, regardless. I downloaded the first episode one time, and it was so corny that I couldn't help but laugh on several occasions. Also, there must have been some sort of Zelda manga along the line, be it doujinshi or official.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I really appreciate it. Baron- I did what I always do: Google image searches. I can't imagine doing this from scratch.. That would be insane. Mimmi- I just used Cutout, Film Grain and Stroke in Photoshop for most of it. The amplifier was done with the Threshold adjustment.. Fun factoid: Originally, the amplifier was pink and blue, but that didn't look right with all of the monochrome. Tony- It looked too simple without the grain.. I didn't like how it looked with it at first, but that quickly changed. James- You just happen to miss the other 80% of the stuff I do, which is utter garbage. :p Shin- Yes, I always thought the guy was just a poser too, from when I first spotted him on Google. I guess I should explain the text, too. I know the real phrase is "video," not "music," but I was going for a kind of retrospective thing.. The advances in technology that made it so that almost anyone could become a pop icon. That's why there's the old-time recording equipment in the background. ..And I have no idea what that has to do with electric vs. acoustic, but for some reason I threw that in there as well.

Hiroaki Yotoriyama (The Soul Calibur III producer) has confirmed that there won't be any guest characters in the game, and that there won't be any online play. I personally find these to be bad moves, and in a sense, hypocritical, when you consider how he's been going on about how he aims to please the fans. I never saw anybody who said that they disliked cameo aspect. In fact, I know several people who bought all three versions of the game simply for the cameos. I don't care about online play so much, but it would still be cool to have. Let's hope that the new features they're putting in the game will make up for what they're lacking.

This is just one of those random graphics that I do when I'm bored. Of course, during time off from school, I get bored even more easily than usual, and this is the result. Actually, this one has been in the making for quite some time. I made the amplifier months ago, and then the guy with the guitar a while after that. Even though I didn't realize it at the time, the two were obviously related to each other, so I finally just said "Why not?" and made this version. Oh, and ignore the slant of the writing. That's just how my hand works. :p

When I first saw screenshots from Digital Devil Saga, and compared them to Nocturne's, I first thought that this game kind of looked generic and nowhere near as cool as Nocturne. I guess this was because it didn't have the dark vibe that Nocturne was oozing with, but after watching the first DDS video on Gametrailers.com, I think I may be even more impressed with it than SMT3. The cutscenes are a welcome addition, and the dub seems solid, from what I've heard.. So I'm having very positive thoughts about this game. If I'm unable to reserve this game, and they are out of copies by the time I can get to Gamestop (and you know how Atlus is with limited printings), I swear I am going to kill myself. Oh, quick question: Is Serph going to have a personality and/or talk, or is he going to be a "blank canvas" like the hero in Nocturne? In Nocturne it made sense for him to have no personality. After all, the game had so many endings. Of course, this leads to another question: Is it going to have the varied paths you can follow? That replayability factor was always very cool.

Zasalamel looks badass (plus his name is fun to say), and Setsuka seems sort of uninspired, but I'm split on Tira. She seems out-of-place in the Soul Calibur universe, when you consider how everybody else is either true-to-history or some sort of monster from under the bed. She's more impish, in an almost disgusting way, if you judge her by the pre-rendered image. She looks a lot better in-game. Still, though, I don't see much of a reason for a Soul Calibur III yet. I'm still in love with the second one, so unless they do something really cool and/or innovative, I'm probably just going to rent this one first. I'm hoping that this PS2-exclusivity is for a limited time only, if only for the sake of console-exclusive characters. Though I never really used Spawn and Heihachi, Link was my cheap last resort, and I shall miss him dearly. But what is up with the new logo? It practically screams "Star Fox."

To be honest, I was pretty skeptical of myOtaku when I first heard about it. I had never even made an attempt at a blog before, and I didn't really know what to do with it at first. If you were to go back and look at my early entries, I basically rambled on incoherently about my sad little social life. I soon realized, however, that it's not very wise to be so open to the anonymous public, so I fixed that soon enough. As time went on, I focused more on humorous rants (like everyone else) and opinions on various video games, movies, anime, etc. Now, I don't know exactly when it happened, but somewhere along the line myOtaku took over my life, and here I am today. More than anything, though, I use myOtaku as an artistic outlet. As those who visit my site frequently know, I change my layout more often than most, thanks to my ongoing love affair with Photoshop. Also, I have a sort of webcomic deal going on.. It's inconsistent as hell, but it's there. I enjoy getting my work out to a wider audience than if I just tried to penetrate the ranks of a site like DeviantArt. And despite all of that, I still haven't uploaded any fanart since July. :p EDIT: Oh, right, the plug. [url="http://www.myotaku.com/otakusennen"][b]I may as well.[/b][/url]

[b]1. Have you ever attended an Anime related Convention?[/b] I have attended Anime Expo for the past two years. In 2003 I only visited for one day (and even then I only prowled through the dealers room), and 2004 for two days. [b]1. a) If so, what makes you want to attend an Anime Convention?[/b] They are the Japanese pop culture dogma on this side of the Pacific. Simple as that. Of course, for me, it's also evolved into a sort of social event. Last year, I met up with a few people from OtakuBoards, and if all goes as planned, even more will be showing up this year. [b]2. Have you ever attended any conventions that were /not/ Anime related?[/b] I got dragged to a car show one time, which I did not enjoy in the least. But let's not get into that. [b]3. Assuming you would go to an Anime related convention, how much would you be willing to pay for a weekend pass for a reasonably large convention?[/b] If it's a big one, I suppose $50 is my limit. When you think about it, though, it can pay for itself. As long as you watch enough in the film rooms, pick up enough free stuff and attend other normally pricey events (concerts, workshops, etc), everything easily adds up to $50. [b]4. Assuming you would go to ANY type of convention, how much would you be willing to spend on commercial products?[/b] That all depends on how much cash I have on me at the time. Spending over $75 on random stuff sounds a little outrageous to me, though, unless they're things that I'm crazy for. [b]4. a) On average, how much have you spent in the past?[/b] About ten dollars, sadly. It seems I'm always broke around July. It's frustrating to see all the great stuff knowing that you're incapable of buying it. [b]4. b) What's the most you've spent?[/b] Twenty dollars. I bought a stack of manga paper and a little Gundam model last year. They kept me occupied in the hotel room. [b]5. Assuming you would go to ANY type of convention, how much would you be willing to spend on NON-commercial products (fanart, doujin, "artists' alley," etc.)[/b] That depends on the art. If it's a high-quality print or a personal sketch from a webcomic artist I admire, I'd say about $20. Otherwise I really don't care for fan work. [b]5. a) On average, how much have you spent in the past?[/b] None. I've never seen anything that really caught my eye before. [b]5. b) What's the most you've spent?[/b] I may as well not answer this part, but for some reason I still am. How odd. On a side note, I really don't see much of a reason to actually take a long-distance trip to go to a convention. Maybe it's just because I'm so conveniently close to AX, but I'm not [i]that [/i]hardcore.

Dark Pryo could also be referring to Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus, which appears to be an action-shooter revolving around Vincent Valentine. Unlike Advent Children it's an actual game (and there's a thread on it [url="http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=42730&"]here[/url]). If that's the case, I wouldn't be worried about there being a lack of information on the game in upcoming months. E3's around the corner, and I'm sure Square Enix will be hyping this one.

[quote name='Semjaza Azazel']I don't know why you'd think Sky Captain done right... Sin City is so unrelated to the film that I don't even know how to compare them, other than the fact that both are obviously stylized. I don't get this lol. I loved Sky Captain because of its old serial feel, which the story pretty much stayed true to.[/quote]That's just it. Style is what catches my eye when I see trailers. I saw Sky Captain because of it, and I would like to see Sin City because of it. Sky Captain, though it was definitely true to golden age era cinema, felt very cliched to me (I know it was supposed to, but that's barely an excuse to me). Besides, what I was really aiming for with that comment was how so much of Sin City was apparently filmed on a green screen, just like Sky Captain. I'm also interested in Spielberg's "Memoirs of a Geisha." I really don't know that much about it, though. Perhaps The Last Samurai left a pleasant aftertaste in my mouth and left me wanting more olde-time Japanese goodness.

[QUOTE=Sea Of Chaos666]There may be a chance that Naruto will air on Anime Network. Naruto is a pretty violent show. There's some swearing and a fair amount of blood. Anime network keeps some violent shows on there itself, like... 1. Sayuki 2. SamuraiX 3.Get backers What I'm saying is that most violent shows air on Anime network. Adult Swim does however contan some violent shows like Inyasha But, Naruto is pack with a mass amout of blood. Well, at least the comic does I'v only seen three episodes of the anime. The most likely place for Naruto to show up would be the Anime Network.[/QUOTE] Remember, it's a Viz (plus Shopro..?) production, and the last time I checked they weren't participating in the Anime Network. As for the companies dubbing Naruto, I'm rather indifferent. Shopro's history of licenses isn't a very good omen: Hamtaro, Megaman NT Warrior, and so on (Though Inuyasha had a couple redeeming qualities).. But that doesn't prove much. Inuyasha, while its voices are obscenely whiny, remained pretty faithful to the Japanese cut. Azure mentioned how I'm a "refugee" from Viz's manga adaptation, which is true. I really had no problem with the "new" technique names at first, and the only time I realized how lame the titles were was when I found the original names through online manga translations. So many of the Viz ones are half-assed and completely off the mark, but I have this much to say: Get over it. The only reason I'll be disappointed to the point of anger with this is if they make it nice and happy for the young'ns. I'm praying that they'll keep the music intact. That didn't seem to be much of a problem with Inuyasha. If Viz and Shopro have an ounce of intelligence in their collective bodies, they'll realize why Inuyasha became such a powerhouse and do that with Naruto, while they improve on what made it so unpleasant.

Damn, it figures the minute I think of a film to bring up in this thread, someone else beats me to it. :P I didn't really pay too much attention to [url="http://www.sincitythemovie.com/"][b]Sin City[/b][/url] until I read Entertainment Weekly's recent article on it, which hailed it as "the next Pulp Fiction" and so on. It seems like one of those coveted comic-to-film adaptations where the director is actually a fan of the series, and has the intention of making the movie as faithful as it can be to the original story. Frank Miller, the comic's creator, is actually playing a major role in the production.. That could make it quite promising. I've never read the graphic novels, but if I can get my innocent under-18 hands on them I'd be more than happy to read them. As always, I'm a sucker for the visual style. When I watch the trailer, I can't help but think "Sky Captain done right." Now, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow was a visually stunning movie, but its plot bored the hell out of me. The darker, film-noir stories that make up the world of Sin City should fix that right up for me. I suppose Ring 2 is right up there, as well. If I hadn't known the entire movie's plot intricacies before I saw it (I saw The Ring first), Ringu would probably be one of my favorite horror films. Nakata's involvement makes it even more tantalizing. The thought of the middle-ground between the two films' dynamics is enough to get me ranting.

[QUOTE=AzureWolf][font=book antiqua][size=2][color=blue] Oh, something interesting happened early on in the game for me. You know when that really big dude [SPOILER]chokes you after you go to that really nice-looking house[/SPOILER]? Well, I was showing my sister the interior, and when I went back to the one room, a cut scene occurred. I think it was optional, heh.[/color][/size][/font][/QUOTE] Well, you may as well explain what happens in it. You of all people should know to explain things, Azure. :P It occured to me today that I have discovered, purchased, played and beaten this game without every posting in this thread. I may as well now. This game was one of those "AAA" titles released in the past few months, but for me it wouldn't be a drastic leap to say that it was my favorite. The controls took me a little while to get used to (though by the time I bought the game, I had played the demo enough to do well enough in the full version), but the game sort of forces you to fix that issue early on. I finally adjusted to focusing on the laser sight by the time I had my first enounter with [spoiler]Mr. Chainsaw Man.[/spoiler] The story was decent. Dialogue was, at times, hilariously atrocious (i.e. Leon saying "Hasta luego"), and subtitles had absolutely no regard for punctuation, but that's really a moot point. The cutscenes were great, and the fact that you could actually interact with them to some degree made them that much better. [spoiler]The first knife fight with that American military guy (Who cares about names?) was one of my favorite parts in the game.[/spoiler] Unfortunately, everything seemed to come to a screeching halt near the end. The village was cool, and the castle was even better, but the island was, for the most part, miserably unentertaining by comparison. At times, I felt that parts of it were out of place in this game (Medieval Europe-styled areas > Metal Gearish island).. Sort of like it was trying to be too cover too many action cliches at one time. And the final encounter was far too simple. [spoiler]By the end of the game, the shock value of bloody-looking mutants had worn off. It was even to be expected. I must admit that I didn't see the Ada-betrayal thing coming. Perhaps if I had played Resident Evil 2..?[/spoiler] Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved this game. I just always focus on the negative side. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to play Mercenaries mode.

[quote]I thought Fable was a lot better than I thought it would be. I had never heard of it until it came out, and all I heard then was that it was overhyped and short. It is not short! I have 10 hours and Im like halfway through![/quote] I'm thirty-five hours into Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne and I'm assuming I'm a little over halfway. Fable may not be short by action game standards, and though it's real-time it's still an RPG, and these games tend to be a lot longer. Casual gamers talk about sports games a lot. Too much, as far as I'm concerned. Never has a football game, a soccer game, or any other sports title (spare that recent Tiger Woods one, for whatever reason) caught my interest, and with a new one coming out every year, I'm not surprised. Maybe it's just personal preference making me biased, but when you have a new version of what is basically the same game ever year (this isn't really limited to sports games, either), things get tired. Quickly.

I think it was extremely disappointing. All of the characters felt like cheap rehashes of Family Guy ones, the jokes were limited, and it all felt like "Political Commentary for Dummies." In its defense, it had its classic MacFarlane moments (Such as Ikea furnishing all of Iraq), but they were few and far between. I'm literally praying that Fox will can this one soon so Seth can devote all of his creative energy to the new Family Guy episodes. To be fair, though, I don't remember liking Family Guy's pilot much either. It could pick up in time.

As great as Conan is, Johnny Carson will always be the king of late night. I'm not saying this "in honor" of him because he recently died, but because he essentially defined the genre. As for the actual question, Letterman bores me to death and Leno is barely tolerable. I, too, am a Conanite. So many of his segments are so intentionally half-assed and lowbrow that I sometimes laugh hysterically for ten minutes. Last night, for example, he talked about how he got a duffel bag from the people who make Chocolate Lucky Charms plus a sample box in hopes that he would promote it on the air. Instead, he talks about how god-awful the cereal tastes, along with how it gets him high. He gave the bag to somebody in the audience and offered every guest on the show that night some of the cereal. Admittedly, I'm tired of the fake interviews with Michael Jackson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Martha Stewart, and whoever else is constantly beaten with the sticks of pop culture satire. Those are very, very tired.

I'm probably going to get chewed out for this by a few people, but I've always felt that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was [i]way[/i] overhyped compared to Majora's Mask. It is, of course, an amazing game, but the atmosphere and tension in MM always made me think of it in a more positive light than OoT. Collecting all the masks was more fun than any other side-quest in any Zelda game I've played. I dislike the Halo franchise, not because it's a horrible game, but because of how many people think it is the greatest thing ever created. The campaign modes in both Halo 1 and 2 made me want to fall asleep. The multiplayer saves it, though I still would never buy it. Thanks to the hype it received from Microsoft it's the only first person shooter a lot of people play, and so few people know about Half-Life or play The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. (Wow, I put down Ocarina of Time and Halo in the same sentence. There's probably a horde of angry fans with torches on their way to my house already.)

Well, here I am, making a brief resurfacing from obscurity to show off a new graphic I made recently. My art teacher has been trying to get me to do more surreal art recently. I realized a while back that a lot of my ideas would be better off as real images, not as my lame doodles, and this is my first attempt at that. I have absolutely no idea what it's supposed to be about. The idea came to me as I was absentmindedly drawing random things, so don't ask me what it means. There's two versions: My rough draft was the almost banner-sized one, though I borrowed a couple elements and redid it as an 8.5 by 11" because it would look better on paper that way. I've attached both of them. You know what to do.

[quote name='Siren']But what we get is something that only feeds us more computerized read-outs, with no real dependency on the player to figure out what's going to work best?[/quote] [color=navy]You could always just ignore the number, Alex. Lord knows I did.[/color]