Friday, August 4, 2006

Quick Rant, YYH and Dead Rising (shorter than it looks! =D )
*sigh*
Hey everybody. How’s it going?
As for me, I’m in a rather depressed state at the moment.

It’s amazing that within only a few days of me re-establishing access to my online art-community, it’s already starting to go sour.
Don’t get me wrong, people, I love, love, LOVE being here amongst other artists and learning from one another. What I don’t love is the current state of this community. To put it bluntly, the attitude and status of the current community sucks balls. It’s sad when the first thing that happens when you reenter a community is something that reminds you of why you were thinking of leaving voluntarily.
I’m serious, everybody; I’m not completely sure how much longer I can continue to function here under these conditions. It’s gotten to the point where I’m loosing sleep and having fits of nausea when I log on here. I know it sounds fickle when I say that when just the other week I was in terror of losing contact with this community, but I’ve been dealing with that option for a long time now. A long, long time. It may also sound overly dramatic to say that The Otaku is affecting me on such a deep level, but this community is important to me, and it’s started to make me physically ill by seeing it degenerate.
Oh, and speaking of fits of nausea, I’m starting to go into one right now. Lovely.

I’m sure you remember my good friend Josh’s short-lived joining of The Otaku. He joined a little while after I did as “phantomlord882”, but left after not too long for the exact same reasons that are bothering me now (i.e., how fucked up the people here are getting). He finally got fed up with this place and said, “Fuck it. I’m smarter than this. I don’t need these pricks putting me in a foul mood and destroying anime”.
He later gave the community a second chance in June of last year (as “DrunkenMaster”, if you recall), but it was even worse for him that time. Now he’s left The Otaku for good. I hope this community’s proud of itself.
I’ve endured a bit longer than Josh (mainly because I at least thought I was amongst people who were enduring the same thing), but my tolerance is now wearing rather thin. And it’s honestly making me start to think that Josh and I are the only people here who haven’t completely lost our minds.

Let me just put it this way; some things are going to need to be straightened out. Probably not today, but fairly soon. And if they can’t get straightened out…well, then I can’t guarantee that I can remain a functioning member of this community.
The whole situation has me in a pretty depressed state at the moment. I’m tired of being in a constant state of anger and disappointment when I’m on here or deviantART. If that can’t change, then I may just have to do what Josh did. Josh is no longer a part of an online art-community, yet oddly enough he’s a Hell of a lot less depressed than I am. As much as I love (and need) the learning I can get from here, the idea of no longer being a slave to the stress a lot of the people here generate for me is a pretty tempting option. It’d be nice if I could use this community without it being ruined by perverts and idiots, but sadly enough that’s not possible.
So, I’m praying said things can get straightened out, because I really don’t like the other option…

Alright, sorry about that everyone. Just needed to get that off my chest. The bullshit’s been piling up for a while, and being in a highly volatile situation that makes you too scared to move one way or the other certainly doesn’t help.
OK, enough doom & gloom. Onto something more interesting….

I went on a manga-run yesterday (Thursday).
Something interesting happened the last time I went (Monday), but since this is already a long post I’ll save that story for next time.

I’ve recently started back up in reading the Yu Yu Hakusho manga (for what reason I don’t know). I’m currently about half-way through vol. 6, which means I just finished the “Rescue Yukina” story and am now starting the “Dark Tournament” saga. =D This has me excited, because anyone here familiar with Yu Yu Hakusho knows that the Dark Tournament is where my all-time favorite anime character; Juri, shows up in the story. =3 Lord knows I love Juri-chan…. I hope she’s included in the manga version of YYH.

And while on that note, I honestly don’t suggest trying out the Yu Yu Hakusho manga to anyone new to it. The anime is far, FAR better. The manga story moves extremely fast (i.e., too fast) meaning it lacks a lot of detail. The art is also not particularly spectacular. =P His faces often look weird, and he hasn’t quite gotten a handle on how to draw girls.
However, I do highly suggest checking out the anime. I was planning on doing a plug for it, but it made my post too long. So, I’ll save it for next time as well. =3

In other news, Dead Rising will be coming out on the 8th of this month (Tuesday)!
^o^ Woo-hoo! I can’t wait! That game looks like so much fun. Makes me wish I had an Xbox360. ToT

In case you don’t remember, Dead Rising was the new action/arcade-style Zombie game Capcom (the same people who brought us Resident Evil!) is coming out with for the Xbox360.
As you recall, I was talking about it earlier this year. It was expected to come out in late May, but got pushed back till August (I was an angry, angry gamer). But now the wait is over, and Dead Rising will hit the shelves in 4 days! ^o^
I even saw a commercial for it this morning! Has anybody else seen it? Be on the lookout for it next time you’re watching TV!

Dead Rising looks to be an extremely unique experience. One of the numerous factors contributing to that is the fact that Frank West is a photojournalist, meaning that part of his mission in the game is to not only save lives and help people, but also to get the scoop on the whole crisis and the reason behind it. Frank’s at Ground Zero for what could be a pivotal event in history, so he plans to document the whole ordeal and hopefully win a Pulitzer Prize for his story….if he survives.
Being a photojournalist, you can take pictures with Frank’s camera as you play the game. The cooler the photo, the more Experience Points you get. With those experience points, you can upgrade Frank’s health, stamina, attack, speed or any of another of other elements.
The whole photo concept is an awesome idea because it adds a creative aspect to the game, which artists like you and I are sure to enjoy. ;)
Another factor is that the story takes place in a Mall setting. Not only will you have access to tons of stuff that can be used as a weapon, but that also means that Dead Rising will be like a Dawn of the Dead you can play. (Dawn of the Dead also took place in a Shopping Mall.) Naturally, Josh and I are excited. =)

Alright everyone, my internet is really acting up at the moment, so I’m not completely sure if I can effectively get to your sites today. However, I’ll do my best, and will probably be able to comment sometime later tonight.

Rather then an Art-Feature, I’ll instead leave you today with these awesome, impressive screen-shots of the soon to be released Dead Rising. Here are some shots from various parts of the gameplay, of course including some of our Hero Frank West kicking zombie ass. Enjoy. ~_^




I’ll see you all tomorrow! ^o^
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