Wednesday - November 13, 2002
[Piro] - 11:30:00 - [link here]
I'm kinda swamped today, so this will be a very short rant today. The main reason for it, actually, is to link up to the other two color works that I posted today over at Fredart. The first one is a quickly colored version of the 'Warmth' dead piro day I did sometime last year (there is a link to the comic in the comments under the image at fredart. AmeriManga needed a stand-in color cover for promotional purposes, so I spent four hours and got this hammered out. The actual cover will be far better than this, but really, it didn't come out all that bad, given the time frame. I like Saeko and Tom and the other characters in warmth - they are unique characters in and of themselves, and the thoughts of them interacting with any of the MT characters makes me think of how the end of the world might look... yeah, i wonder about my brain sometimes.
The other art piece for today i actually did several months ago as a design for the Megatokyo blanket that ThinkGeek wanted to produce. Not only did the artwork itself come out very interesting in a bold, graphic kind of way:
But it has the full approval of all my cats, especially hime, who we can see here curled up literally in Kimiko's lap. If you are interested, the blankets should be available for purchase in the ThinkGeek/Megatokyo store sometime in the next few weeks.
Oh, and about today being a Dead Piro Day rather than a comic... some have accused me of breaking my promise to not interrupt the comics from here on out. I'm not, actually. It was either skip a comic this week, or cause a week delay in the release of the book, which has serious consequences for my poor publisher. :) Just because I am doing MT full time now doesnt mean I am superman. I'm in a major crunch to finish additional material for the book, and I made a decision that it was my responsibility to take the time yesterday You have to do that sometimes.
Ah, and some would call that last paragraph pretty typical Piro-whining. And so it probably is. Like I said before, this isn't fsking Penny Arcade - i can be a whiney bitch and skip comics if i want to. :P
Heheh. Sorry, i just couldn't resist.
Sunday - November 17, 2002
[Dom] - 23:00:00 - [link here]
Soul Calibur 2 Regionals came and went, and I was an awed spectator for the entire thing. It's sad, really, I've always wanted to be tournament-quality in a video game, but I just don't have the time, money, and patience to master a fighting game. So I always end up being a student instead of a player; that guy who can talk the talk, but sits squarely in the middle skill level; able to beat scrubs and the casual player, but unable/unwilling to play against the top players and learn from the severe beatings provided by said top players.
This is really apparent in my Soul Calibur 2 experience. I play Xianghua, widely called the easiest character to master and one of the best. I have since the first Soul Calibur, so as long as I can make people think they're stupid after a "Nanchatte!"/"Just kidding!", I feel good. But I just don't have the time to head to my local arcade (where Srayer plays... I am in awe of his Nightmare but don't have the guts to challenge him) and work on fake-out tactics or learn enough Soul Calibur goodness to do what I want to, and be able to play Charade with consistency.
I honestly don't know if this is good or not; on the one hand, I enjoy learning about these fighting games and talking about strategy with people. Most of the tournament players I know are friendly and full of shit, just like me. But I don't like not being able to play with them on even terms. It gets stuck in my craw whenever someone gives me seconds, for example.
Man, it sucks to be afraid to lose. I'll get rid of that, some day, but until then, I'll always choose the Random or Charade-type options and continue having loads of fun hanging out in the arcade with friends.
I love Soul Calibur 2, by the way-it's a great update of Soul Calibur 1. It's not a coincidence that I love SC2 and hate the Tekken series with a passion, though. Tekken is a little too much about the juggles for me to like it. "Oh, look, I've knocked you down, time for me to take off half your life bar before you hit the ground". That kind of crap pisses me off, which is also why I dislike MvC2. But while you could argue that against certain characters-Xianghua and Nightmare come to mind-you make one mistake and another big chunk of your life bar comes off, I don't see it that way. There's much more in the way of "Oh my God, I saw that coming 20 frames ago and just didn't react in time" instead of certain quick, disgustingly strong moves in Tekken that I've seen. There's also the beautiful thing known as Air Control-you can keep yourself from getting juggled by making sure you're not in range of the next juggle hit, unlike Tekken, where you bob helplessly above the ground.
I also like how it's easier to dodge in this game. Eight way running has been improved, evasion is better in general, and damn, is it satisfying to watch Ivy's new Criminal Symphony go off.
And yes, I like the costumes, too. Look for some elements of SC2 costuming to make it into MegaWinter nights, though it won't be nearly as shirtless as certain SC2 costumes... stupid Shirtlessfried.
And for my next trick, I need to learn how to beat Nightmare's 66B without having to go back to square one and going into the guard impact/re-parry mind game. Later!
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