Sunday, November 20, 2005

The tan is calling me. My stomach is still twisted in a knot - in a good way - about the prospect of moving. I'm hoping to settle a few details this week to put me a little closer. I also remembered that I need to send Mimmi a small sample of sand from an Australian beach...I'm not sure if that would go through customs, but hell, I will try! When it comes to online things, I am now focusing my attention on the CD version of Art of Otaku. I really hope that will turn out well. Considering the relative importance of it, I tend to put a great deal of pressure on myself to turn out something good. I suspect that I will be wanting to perform revisions on the first edition of Art of Otaku before the end of the year, too. I am never satisfied (with my own work, anyway). In addition to that, I have been cooking up something in the background, which is unrelated to theOtaku.com. It's something different to what we have now and I'm hoping that it'll come in really handy. I also had an interesting discussion with Adam about the distant future. Adam was telling me about a site idea that he had, which he seems very passionate about. I have to say, though, it really came out of left field - it has nothing at all to do with entertainment. Still, based on our discussion, it sounds like an interesting and unique challenge. But who knows whether or not we'll get to that stage. It really depends on how well the existing network performs, I suppose. If we can make a success of myOtaku Premium, I think that would open a lot of doors to do other things too. In fact, I'm somewhat surprised at the reception that Art of Otaku has received - the beta was certainly much more successful than I'd thought it would be. I mean, I know that the actual product we have is really cool...but getting your audience to pay for a real product is a whole other question. I think it's very cool that, so far, we are finding that our visitors are prepared to pay for something if they feel that the value is right. No matter what, I think I will continue to play a role here - I'm definitely very excited about the future of this place. And I know that when all is revealed, you will be pleasantly surprised. But at the same time, I do feel that I need to dedicate some time to my own outside online ventures. Even at this late stage, I still don't have a portfolio online. That's largely due to my own indecision, but I find it difficult to spread myself so thin. theOtaku/myOtaku/OB and N-Sider are all pretty significant commitments. So I'm not quite sure how I will re-organize things, but no matter what, I think I have to spend more time pursuing my own individual work. The site I mentioned earlier is part of that to some extent, although Velegant will be supporting it, so it'll have benefits for the network as well. Kei: What I really want to know - especially from another avid Sonic fan such as yourself - do you think Sonic Heroes was better than the Sonic Adventure games? Bearing in mind all the things I disliked about those games (and the things I did actually like), do you think it would be a good purchase? If it were more like the Sonic levels from Sonic Adventure and less like the Rouge stuff...then I'd probably have to buy it. But I'm a bit iffy, because Sonic Team have consistently represented wasted money over recent years. CosmicSailor: Cannons to warn ships? Wow. That sounds interesting - the fog is something I can kind of relate to. I remember one day in Melbourne where the fog was so heavy that I couldn't see even a few inches in front of me. But that's only happened once, thank god. As for AOL, I liked the little joke in Stepford Wives about how the women are "slow" because one of the men behind them worked for AOL. I really wonder how AOL employees felt about that, lol. Tony: Funny thing is, I remember playing the first stage of Sonic Adventure when Dreamcast was new and thinking "Wow, this is very cool!" And yet it didn't take long for me to be utterly disappointed by various other aspects of the game. That first level was a pretty good indicator of how a 3D Sonic game could work all the way through. There are plenty of ways to keep the action varied, too. When I think of a next generation Sonic, I automatically think of a game like Planet Harriers (which unfortunately hasn't come out on a console yet). Planet Harriers has that perspective and lush visual design that kind of reminds me of how Sonic could potentially be, especially with the blistering speed. RaR: Sonic Gems Collection actually includes Sonic CD, which is the single reason why I need to buy it...and soon! Very worth getting, because we may not see that game again for a long time (if ever). SA2 is worth playing, but only for the Sonic and Shadow levels. The rest is, generally, absolute rubbish. SunfallE: I've been playing computers for a long time, although when I was younger I played console games far more often. So I'm really more of a console gamer at heart. Although I must admit, in the last few years I have spent much more time playing PC games than any other type of game. Games like The Sims 2 and Half-Life 2 really blew me away and are still quite impressive. Although I've definitely come across some console games lately that have really excited me - Resident Evil 4 and Metal Gear Solid 3 are probably the most recent examples of that. Amazing games. indifference: I liked Final Fantasy X, but that was primarily for the battle system. I really, really disliked the story and I generally disliked the characters too. The entire thing - despite being colourful and artistic - somehow still felt highly generic. I didn't much like the voice actors, which was probably a significant part of it. I also really disliked those awful sphere puzzles throughout the game...it felt like they were thrown in just because the designers wanted to have puzzles at the last minute. That's why I'm interested in Final Fantasy XII. I haven't read that much about it yet, I'm still pretty much waiting until it comes out to experience it with fresh eyes. But based on what I have read, I'm very pleased that Square-Enix isn't afraid to completely overhaul the series. Annie-kun: Yup, I think I'm Mario's biggest fan. I still find it weird that I have his actual signature on my GameCube! But for someone who grew up with Mario...well, you can imagine that there are few greater moments in life. I'm really looking forward to seeing what Nintendo do with Mario on Revolution. And thank you...I'm glad. I hope that we can talk on AIM sometime soon. ^_^

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