Pages

Friday, October 26, 2012

[Anime] Please, Do Not Tease Me with Such Eye-Candy


Before any of you will start asking where and when did this pop up, I'll tell you early that I was surprised as well when I saw this when I was bored and exploring the depths of Youtube  a few hours ago. 

And yeah, imagine my drop jaw moment when I watched this.

So, is this authentic? It would seem so. But the next question is, is Sunrise/Bandai planning to release a remake the original Macross TV series, complete with smooth CGI and animation? They have to, right? I mean, it IS their 30th anniversary, right?   

Right?

Unfortunately I don't have much information about it. The only two things that I suspect where this video came from is either from the new Macross game for the PS3 along with the remastered Do You Remember Love? or the intro cinematics for Japan's pachinko game of Macross.

But still: Shoji Kawamori, I am begging you, do not tease us fans with such beautiful modernized art of the original Macross series. 

Please. My personal workspace here at home is now slippery with drool.

Note: If the video doesn't load or it's disabled, you can check it out here. Timestamp 2:56 is worth looking at.

Monday, October 15, 2012

[Around the Web] Daredevil Performs Extreme (Near-space) Skydiving to Break Records

"One giant leap for mankind" indeed

If you ever heard (or even remember) the lines of a certain song, it went like this: "I believe I can fly/I believe I could touch the sky..." well, cheesy as it may sound, one man took an extreme dare to prove that man can accomplish anything by risking almost everything.

And that man? Felix Baumgartner, Austrian daredevil skydiver and BASE jumper. Under the Red Bull Stratos project, he jumped from a height of 24.261 miles (39.04488 kilometers) above New Mexico, and almost at the edge of outer space. Equipped with nothing else except for a pressurized suit and cameras to track him from there on, it totally was, a leap of faith. And Altair would've been so proud.

"That's my boy."

Post-landing, Felix was able to break three previously-held records:

  • highest manned balloon flight (at 39.04488 kilometers)
  • first human to break the sound barrier without assistance of a vehicle, and
  • highest skydive
There was supposed to be a fourth (longest free fall), but that record, as it seems, still elusive to capture.


Sources:
Ars Technica
Red Bull Stratos project blog 
Felix Baumgartner Wikipedia entry 

Thursday, September 27, 2012

[Around the Web] Happy 14th, Google!

Yes, how time sure flies. Never realized that today marks the 14th anniversary of Google, which is now the leading search engine among others. I can't enumerate all of the other search engines, so you'll just have to look for them yourself.

So to Google, for becoming the default search engine of the Web, becoming a verb, a boon for most of us (except to those die-hard fans of older search engines), cheers and all that!

Saturday, September 8, 2012

[Live by the Creed] Parkour or Free-running, anyone?

There's been much hype these days on Assassin's Creed, rightfully so as the release of its latest installment, Assassin's Creed III, is about a month away now. And we all know the staples in an AC game: the hidden blade, the protagonist with a (most of the time white) beaked hood, and the awesome acrobatics like we've never seen. Well, not 'never', if you've played Prince of Persia before, but that's another story.

So is this about another AC trailer or something? Well, no. Thanks to the powers of Google, Youtube and Facebook 'liked' pages, I've come across something that fans will like:


Meet Ronnie Shalvis professional free runner, traceur (parkour practioner), acrobat, and stunt man. He's done much of this 'street exhibitions' before, but heck, this Assassin's Creed meets parkour is outrageous. The costume is much inspired from Altair's era, though some of his moves might be called 'too fancy' and such. But hey, I'm sure you all agree of his nimble footwork.

And yeah, as with all Assassins, using the stairs is too mainstream.

Friday, August 10, 2012

[Diablo III] Red alert! SHIELDS UP!!!

"I find your lack of faith.....disturbing."
Heads up Diablo III addicts and farmers players, Blizzard techs and securities has posted that they have noticed that their B.net servers have been accessed by unauthorized and illegal means. So far the extent of damage has not been publicly announced, but it is to be lauded that they admit that hacking has taken place, and countermeasures and additional securities are implemented.

But for us players, let us do our part as well. Not by complaining and trolling the official Blizzard forums that "ur securitez suxxors" or "lol bnet haxxed by nooblars" and such. Remember, hackers hack indiscriminately, so it could be that rich guy up north, the do-gooder in one place, or maybe that vagrant player just around the corner cafe. Creepy, yes.

So do change passwords, and use passwords that are strong enough to repel 'tard hackers.

Source: [Official Blizzard announcement]

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

[Live by the Creed] Michael Fassbender to take lead role in planned Assassin's Creed movie

Go, Clean Cut!!!!
It would seem that the plans for a movie adaptation of Assassin's Creed is in full gear. Ubisoft Motion Pictures head Jean Juliet Baronnet announces that Michael Fassbender is their actor of choice to wear the beaked hood of the Assassin Order.

Fassbender, much known to some people as the young Magneto in the 2011 hit mutant movie X-Men: First Class, was also one of the Spartans in Frank Miller's 300 movie adaptation (namely, Stelios).

Not much information has been released, as to what era or which Assassin this movie will follow. Hopefully, it lives up to the video game.


sources: [Latest News Explorer]
             [IMDb on Michael Fassbender]
             [Michael Fassbender personal website]

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

[Around the Web] Dead or Alive 5 E3 2012 vignette

Nice tagline.
Fighting games are a bit of a diverse lot: there's the realistic UFC or WWE titles, the fantasy-complicated controls-realistically-looking Tekken, the sports type like Fight Night (everybody wants to be Manny Pacquiao these days), then there's the semi-realistic-looking-martial-arts game, the Dead or Alive series.

Dead or Alive back then marketed on two things: more women in their fighting game titles, hence, bitchfights (no, I don't use the term 'catfights' when two women are slugging at each other), and their ladies are well-endowed up front. So much as the game engine had to be tuned to use "breast physics" for unrealistic jiggle eye-candy. Sometimes it's a good thing, but other times it can be .....let's just say not-safe-for-under-eighteen.

Ah yes. Always the beach.
Now don't get me wrong, I like the Dead or Alive series, and I even own one for the 3DS. And yes, I like the game because of obvious reasons (not to mention Kasumi is such a hot beautiful kunoichi), but I'm more of a Tekken fan then. But then again the King of Iron Fist Tournament is becoming more and more...sophisticated that I don't know the controls of some characters I used before. Either it's been revamped or changed altogether.

And yeah, I have a personal disdain for the XBox 360. Personal, so I won't say it here. As to why the creator wanted his "masterpiece" be Xbox-exclusive, I don't know why. Megalomaniacal pervert.


Ahem.

The 5th installment of DOA is set to be released for both PS3 and 360 platforms. Not to mention a revamp of graphics and yes, they've toned down the boob-bounce and cup size quite a bit.

Left: the previous title (gorgeous up front), right: revamped "realistic" look (still gorgeous).
Characters are slowly being revealed with two special guest fighters from another fighting game (and progenitor title to 3D fighting), Virtua Fighter.


As shown in the E3 2012 vignette, Akira Yuki is the first guest fighter shown for DOA 5. I'll let you guess the other one.

Dead or Alive 5 is slated on September 2012. Gods this year wallets are going to be slaughtered.

[Around the Web] Medal of Honor: Warfighter

Duty, Honor, Country....oh wait, that's the ROTC motto. Who dares, wins?
FPS fans, this one's for you: if you're not much of a fan of the Call of Duty games, Rainbow Six, or even Ghost Recon series, EA is giving us a more "realistic" scenario game. Yep, the rebooted Medal of Honor that was released last 2010 is getting a sequel, and is packing more firepower than ever.

Dubbed Medal of Honor: Warfighter, the campaign follows of the actual footsteps (I guess based from declassified information that can be freely accessed) of Tier 1, US SOCOM's most elite special forces operations group. The missions take place around the globe, and in the trailer below, a particular mission in Basilan, Philippines; supposedly 'hideout' for the Abu Sayyaf extremist group. 


Also featured in Warfighter is the multiplayer mode, where you can choose from any special forces group of a country:



Medal of Honor: Warfighter comes out 23 October 2012. And a week later, Assassin's Creed III. Ouch, this is going to hurt wallets.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

[LaLiLuLeLo] Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance trailer


Another game that's been years in the making, now Konami & Kojima Productions has now released a new trailer for the next Metal Gear title on E3 2012. Set years after "Guns of the Patriots", we see the returning protagonist, Raiden, in a different light: from the effeminate look from Sons of Liberty to the Cyborg Ninja of MGS 4 to this: back to the cybernetic body, and back into the battlefield.

And yeah, Roy Campbell over the CODEC. Brings back memories

No news yet on the release date, though I hope it doesn't clash with Assassin's Creed III's release date.

For those who noticed, this Metal Gear title doesn't have the "Solid" to it: my speculation is that because "Solid" denotes Solid Snake, or in the case of Big Boss then, Naked Snake. And since it's set after MGS 4, we can assume that Old Snake has passed away.


Taglines: Lightning Bolt Action and "Make It Right".

[Live by the Creed] Official Assassin's Creed cinematic opening

AC fans, drool in this spectacular teaser cinematic given to us by Ubisoft on E3 2012: another  AC III cinematic! The eagle motif is more prominent now, and we get to see Connor Kenway's prowess in the battlefield as he hunts down Templars.

Ubi did say that AC is going back to its roots, hopefully this means being a solo gameplay altogether. Don't get me wrong; the faction feature and Brotherhood Assist Move was nice during the Italian AC trilogy, but I dig the "no one messes with me" soloing action of Altair on the very first Assassin's Creed.

Two words to describe this trailer: Longbow shot.


Assassin's Creed III comes out this year, October 2012. And for you conspiracy-apocalypse theorists nutjobs out there, that's less than two months before December 21, 2012.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

[Around the Web] Zone of the Enders HD trailer

Tactical Espionage Action, Tactical Espionage Operations, Lightning Bolt Action, and now this. Well played, Kojima.
It seems that Hideo Kojima is teasing us again, Konami fans. This time, on not-so-MGS-related material, but to another hit game, Zone of the Enders. But alas, not a sequel or prequel or interquel or any other -quel you can think of, but a 'remastered' or high-definition remake of the first two ZOE games. Shucks.

But meh, what can we do? Drool on the pre-E3 teaser trailer, that's what.


And don't forget: nothing beats the sound of micro-missiles and lots of lasers blowing up enemies in smithereens.


Thursday, May 31, 2012

[Diablo III] A friendly reminder for D3 players

Not exactly the visual example, but you get what I'm trying to say here.
From problems during launch date to choppy connection and unbearable lag, it would seem Blizzard has its hands full just to fix their Battle.net servers for their newest baby. With numerous sudden maintenance downtime, account theft and hijacking is another problem that's rising.

There have been numerous complaints about their accounts being 'hacked'. One such anecdote was a player joined in a public game, and during their farming operations quests he got suddenly booted out for some reason or another. When the player attempted to log back in, he was told that his B.net credentials and password have been changed or what. Some say because the authentication token during public games were shared, while others blamed hidden keyloggers and malware as culprits.

Like I said, it's an anecdote. I can't even verify it.

But one person had a first-hand experience with his account being hacked. Ars Technica writer Kyle Orland was one of us; a somewhat-normal player: no high-level legendary equipment to boast about and such. But when it comes to hackers and account thieves, there's no discrimination on who they want to target. And bad luck will strike at anyone, and in the internet, no account is truly safe without added security.

Read his first hand account over at the Ars Technica page, as it serves as a cautionary tale for everyone who plays online games. I remember a tip that my computer science friend told me a long time ago: use different passwords for every account you have in the internet, be it Yahoo! messenger, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and such. If you use one password for everything, consider your life totally screwed when your accounts are compromised.

So for Blizzard fans and players, I leave it up to you on what other security measures you do on your game accounts. For further reading, head to their B.net FAQ site.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

[Live by the Creed] Lawsuit against Assassin's Creed voluntarily dropped; science fiction author cites "to focus on other unrelated business matters".


Seems that AC fans have won this fight: American author John Beiswenger voluntarily dropped his charges of "copyright infringement on his work" against Ubisoft and their Assassin's Creed franchise, and instead focuses more on other business matters. Though he still claims that Ubisoft copied his work.


What a wuss.


To qoute Beiswenger's lawyer, Kelly Clements Keller:

“My client’s decision to exercise his right to voluntarily dismiss the action, without prejudice, in no way diminishes his stalwart conviction in the merit of his claims against Ubisoft. He is unwavering in his belief that many key components of the video game franchise infringe on many key components of his novel, Link.”
“We believe Ubisoft has engaged in egregious acts of copyright infringement and, should he choose to seek redress through the courts in the future, we remain confident that a trier of fact would agree.”

source: [Latest News Explorer]

Monday, May 28, 2012

[Diablo III] Meet the Spice Boys

ME BIGGER AXE!
Ahh yes, the Barbarian class. Raw strength, with hit points that could repel a hailstorm of bullets, and not to mention the old-man-macho-look badassery. That's Blizzard's Barbarian all right.

But what, say, you wanted a real challenge when facing foes in Sanctuary? Challenged as in a total disadvantage on your side, yet you go all out and carry on anyway? Sounds like you're going for Viking mode.

And four people just did that.

Meet Robert Pooner, and his three other friends, who called themselves the 'Spice Boys'. The challenge: defeat the Skeleton King with four Barbarians with nothing except their starting equipment. That's right; no weapon upgrades, no putting on of armor, nothing. They can use skills every time they level up, but the initial conditions remain.

And did I mention that it was on Hardcore?

Will they succeed on their quest, or will they go down in history as the four Barbarians who fought the Skeleton King, stark naked?


Four Barbarians, one Skeleton King, no additional equipment, Hardcore mode. Watch the hilarity ensue.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

[Diablo III] All Things D

Mooo.
The above picture is a screenshot of the website Sorry for May 15, a site dedicated for Diablo fans of giving excuses to either their boss or girlfriend, as you all may know that the 15th of May was Diablo III's worldwide release.

It's been more than a week now since its release, yet Blizzard has been plagued by numerous problems relating to the game. Most have been server-side issues like not being able to log in, which I guess from their part a deja vu from their World of Warcraft launch issues as well. For the most part the issue of logging in has been resolved throughout the week, with Blizzard monitoring most of the time.

But this article says otherwise; seems like the Asia server is still having login problems and what, they want a  refund? For goodness' sakes, access to Battle.net is free for both Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3. And besides, serves them right Koreans for finishing the game in under six hours after the launch. Dang them.

Lag in action. Pun intended.
Anyway, let's leave that. On a personal note, I was only able to buy my retail copy of D3 four days after launch, the reason being I was out of town for a conference of sorts. And also there's still a bit of shortage of retail copies for sale in some game stores, so yeah.

Tweet-tweeew.
As before, I created a Demon Hunter character; ranged attack, twin weapon wielder, evasive maneuvers, etc. Not to mention that badass hood.

And yeah, I will warn you that the last 2 pictures I will consider as spoilers. You have been warned.

I swear, his hide's so tough I have to bring out that chainsaw again.

Not really a spoiler, but you get my drift.




Friday, May 25, 2012

[Around the Web] Bogart the Explorer (from Davao City)

Not exploitable. But the food on the left seems yummy....
Travel guides these days are boring. Yes, you can buy a brochure or map of the place that you want to go from a bookstore and such, but pictures are static; they only capture that certain 'moment' that may not be applicable to that particular place anymore. Sure, you can watch Discovery Channel's TLC or National Geographic shows (yes, Don't Tell My Mother is hilarious, but that's another story), but an hour or two could be boring. Not to mention it may not feature things that you like.

Well, thanks to the wonderful world of the internet, especially Youtube, a group of people managed to make a webcast of places and people to see, the Philippines in particular. Yes, I'm talking about Bogart the Explorer from Davao City.

So what, or who, is Bogart? He's a self-made explorer whose Australian accent and get-up wholly reminds me of Steve Irwin, the famous Croc Hunter...., only chubbier. Not to mention how he's able to roam around the streets with just a safari jacket on and no undershirt. His stories are a parody of the denizens and places of the Philippines: he treats them as wildlife (hence, the obvious get up and title).


There some video clips that I found hilarious from Bogart: one in particular is when he featured the Philippine Epaloid, aka the notorious photobomber the he says 'ruined his childhood photo memories and the rest of his photographic life', and his quest to rid of it.


Another is when he was discussing the Philippine Iskwater (squatter). This is the only time we hear Bogart speak in his native dialect during a certain confrontation.


But enough of that. If you want to know more of Bogart (or just get some laughs out of the webcast), head to their Youtube channel, or follow them.

Bogart the Explorer from Davao City's Twitter page here, Facebook here, and their Youtube link.

And to finish it off, I'll say Bogart's famous line:

"Amazing! Let's go!"


[Kitchen Alchemy] Graham-Roasted Chicken

Say you're at the grocery store, thinking of what to eat for dinner. Pork? Had that just yesterday. Beef? Nah, you've got that planned for the weekend. Fish? Mmmm, you have to be finicky with the spines and small bones. Lamb? Ooooh, soft and tender, but quite expensive. Vegetables? Guh, probably you've got an upset stomach with the salad dressing gone wrong.

Poultry? Now we're talking. Duck? Quite expensive, and the only recipe you can think of is Peking duck, which is quite meticulous. How about squab or pigeon? Too exotic for your taste. 

Well, that leaves the chicken.

Cock-a-doodle-doo?
So what recipe could we make of this fine bird? Sure, frying the heck out of it is the simplest, but sometimes can be a boring meal. Turning it into a stew can be a pain and you have to watch it. So how about....we roast it?

Told ya it'll be fun. Hit the 'read more' after the break.

Monday, May 21, 2012

[Diablo III] Sanctuary, your hero has returned.

Menacing, no? 
I've been out of town these past few days (work-related, but hey, I did have fun), so I wasn't with those fanatical fools people who pre-ordered the game and such. Not to mention the fiasco of the Battle.net servers crashing due to the high amount of traffic they got (Blizzard never learned, have they? I guess the previous numbers were just the icing on the cake). And yeah, those idiotic Koreans finishing the game in 6 hours. F%^&*(#&*(ng rushers.

But heck, that doesn't dampen my craving for Diablo III. I've waited 12 years for this to come out, and finally know what happened to Sanctuary. 

And my demon hunter awaits.
So around last night I was finally able to load my retail copy into my DVD drive, and let Blizzard's magic happen. The usual activation code, the friendly reminders and such, and after under an hour of waiting....oh yeah, I really dig that guitar piece during the installation process; it was very, very nostalgic, I was finally greeted by this:

Hahahahahahahaha.
I logged in, watched the opening cinematics, and all that stuff I've done during the beta. Good fortune was on my side last night as a high school friend of mine (who's now in Raleigh, North Carolina for his PhD degree) was online, and we played coop. And after two hours or so, my character has reached this status.

Tattered sigils FTW. And yes, dual crossbows = double the badass-ery.
 Good times are back, indeed.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

[Diablo III] The quick and dirty run-down on Diablo III

It's time. And you're still undecided? Do check out this short video by Blizzard.

Hell's minions are waiting. In very, very large numbers.

Monday, May 14, 2012

[Around the Web] Otakultura!

 
Yes, I'm going to admit: I live a double life. Well, in blogging that is.

Sure The Pilgrimage of the AgChemist is my personal blog, and I will continue to post and write here. After all, this IS my internet home, so to speak. Not Facebook. No, that's just like my hub connecting to other people and such.

In any case, I've been writing to a blog named Otakultura!, a site managed by my friends dedicated to everything much around Japanese-related entertainment: be it anime, the live action super sentai groups/tokusatsus and whatnot, JRPGs, cosplays and conventions, and so much more. They also talk about some Western games and topics, but their forte is mostly Japan-related stuff.

So what does that have to do with me? Well, it all started when I did a not-so-much extensive personal insight of Diablo III then. During this time Otk's admin (also a friend of mine) contacted me, because among the circle of friends that we have in common, I was one of the first to get the feel of the game, so to speak. Not to mention give a review about it, and was having fun (despite that the Diablo III beta can be finished in two hours or less).

At first I was a bit hesistant; after all, my list of Japanese-entertainment is very limited compared to my friends who are working on Otk-related material. But Otk's admin said he needed my 'expertise' on the field of the Diablo series, and said that any written material that I do for Otakultura! is acknowledged to me.

Intellectual property-wise, seems fair enough.

After accepting the offer, he asked me where my field of action would be. I've decided to narrow it down to just Blizzard-related games, Ubisoft (particularly the Assassin's Creed series) and games on the Nintendo 3DS (I have to check with them if I said about this one). As of now I still consider myself as 'guest writer' for them, until I suppose I get to post a whole lot more to contribute. Currently I have two articles up, both related to Diablo III (see here and here).

So for those who want to know Otakultura, head here to read how the team and site was conceived. They also have a Facebook page, and they can be also found at Twitter.

And yeah, the picture below is their current banner for their FB page. Their mascot (above) is Andoy, probably an inspiration from Andres Bonifacio.   


[Diablo III] Feel the might of Terror once more

Evil in its Prime.
One more day to go, Diablo III fans and players alike! The ides of May are upon us, as the forces of Hell and the might of the High Heavens will come crashing down upon the world of Sanctuary.

We have been given insight, showed us the perils we will face, then gave us the opportunity to fight with friends and allies. I have captured some of these memories for you to see, and how will you prepare for the fight. And know that you are not alone for this fight.

For the business-savvy, you can set up shops too.


The end is nigh; or rather, the battle will just begin once more.

As we wait for the most-anticipated game of 2012 (after all, this was 12 years in the making) to go live, I’m sure some of you have already pre-ordered the game, either digitally or through retail stores, be sure to read Blizzard's Launch Day Preparation Guide to make your installation and gameplay smooth once servers are up.

And would-be fellow Demon Hunters, I hope to see you in Battle.net soon.

To quote the Last Horadrim:

And, at the End of Days, Wisdom shall be lost,
as Justice falls upon the world of men. 
Valor shall turn to Wrath---
and all Hope will be swallowed by Despair.
Death, at last, shall spread its wings over all---
as Fate lies shattered forever. 

Saturday, May 12, 2012

[Diablo III] European and German Diablo III players (those who bought the game digitally), a heads up!

Fellow Diablo III players of Europe and Germany: seems that Blizzard has encountered a bit of a snag for those who purchased the game online, as they've become aware of an issue regarding the digital installation downloader.

So for those who have downloaded and installed the game before Saturday, you can get the additional installers here. Doing so will ensure that you get to be in the game on time on the 15th. And no worries, as the additional installation is only around 65 MB. But for the others who haven't installed it, you'll need to get the new set of installers, and that weighs in at more or less 7 GB. Ouch.

Remind you, this concerns only for the European and German digital downloads. NA and other countries aren't affected by this issue (hopefully).

[All Things 3DS] KH 3D Demo imminent for NA and EU(?) 3DS owners

With the high anticipation of the NA and EU version Kingdom Hearts 3D dropping in this July, series creator Tetsuya Nomura decided to make us fans drool some more. I dunno if I should be thankful or not.

Nomura confirmed that the demo for the US (and UK I suppose), which takes place in Traverse Town and the player controls Sora in this scenario. And that's just about it. No word when the demo will be out yet, but I suppose a regular check on the Nintendo E-shop is a must.

sources: [Square Enix News]
             [Gematsu]

[Around the Web] Dropquest II

And this is how the concept of Dovakihn was born.
Last year, Dropbox, the cloud-storage service, and its team made a contest called Dropquest. It was a scavenger game that made the users (me included) to hunt for clues in their forums and to the far and wide reaches of the internet. The prize? An additional 1 GB of storage, for free. Not to mention some goodies like their t-shirts and all that stuff. Now that contest is back.


To infinity, and....oops, I mean, FOR THE HORDE!! Oh man, still wrong--?
Enter Dropquest II: The Future is Now (somehow that title seems like a pun to an old movie that I can't recall). The mechanics of the scavenge hunt seems to be the same like last year, but this time the stakes are even higher: 100 GB of free storage for the 1st placer. WHOA!

And did I mention that it's free, FOR LIFE?

Imagine the stuff you can store in 100 GB....

In any case, the quest starts at 1700 GMT on the 12th of May. In my time zone that's around 1 AM of May 13.

Happy questing? Or, eat my dust?

[Around the Web] Robot Unicorn Attack gets an (somewhat)evolution, so to speak

Acid overload commence.
Sometimes the simplest games can be the most addicting. Be it Plants versus Zombies, Angry Birds, Words with Friends, Draw Something, or Bejeweled. But this game, I suppose, tops it off in the addiction meter.

Robot Unicorn Attack is a simple browser game developed by Adult Swim (which I don't know for sure if they are related to the Adult Swim of Cartoon Network then), which follows a side-scrolling platform game genre. The object of the game is to reach the end of the stage in one piece, which means jumping over obstacles or dashing and destroying through them. And did I mention cliffs? Yeah, that too.
Rainbow Brite and her steed got an argument, so he went solo.
 Basically, that's the whole story of Robot Unicorn. But what makes it into a catchy game? Well, getting high scores, the thrill of the leftmost edge chasing after you, and the background music. Yep, the song 'Always', which topped the charts for gods-know-how-many-weeks in the radio during the late 90s (not to mention it had remixes too), and the wtf-music video of it.

So what's left to make this game better? Well, they did release two more versions of it, and a sequel that makes it more....appealing. Yeah, I've played this game too. Not-too-long ago I almost wasted half a weekend's day just playing this.

I'm thinking of either a super sentai's robot team ready to merge, or Beast Wars.
Enter the Dragon Robot Unicorn Attack Evolution (gee, what a catchy theme for an obvious name). The game mechanics are still the same, but this time, the unicorn changes into another animal form when destroying 4 crystal stars. From unicorn to panda, to wolf, to gorilla, tiger, and finally with a commanding shout of FUS RO DAAAAAAAH!!!! into a dragon. The only catch is you have to keep destroying crystal stars; miss too many stars and you'll revert back to the unicorn form.

Po of Kung Fu Panda and Nyan-cat's illegitimate child. Or what.

Well, I leave it up to you whether this tickles your funny bone, or you're already diving into this game. Robot Unicorn Attack Evolution is available in Adult Swim's website, as a Facebook app, and Android devices. iOS devices will have to wait for now. 

As for me, the only robot unicorn that I be dreaming from now on is this:

F**k you I'm THE Unicorn.

[Around the Web] theagchemist has been quoted! Wheee~

Thanks for the heads-up to my brother, @darth_pol for this.
Well, there you have it, readers. Seems like The Pilgrimage of the Agchemist has made good progress for awhile. As long as I update this like, at least every day?

In any case, thanks to my brother for this, and thank you readers and search crawlers alike!

For the article, head to [Skyrim Insider]

Friday, May 11, 2012

[All Things 3DS] 3DS Aqua Blue to be phased out

Well, there goes the Triforce of Nintendo.
3DS owners, especially the ones who have the aqua blue handheld: seems that you're holding on a piece of history, a collector's item, or something else. It would seem that the higher-ups in Nintendo decided to discontinue the Aqua Blue. Sad, really. But I guess there's a reason behind it.

On a personal note, I never really liked the Aqua blue color. For me it was either Fiery Red or Cosmo Black. First choice was the Fiery Red, but when all of the shops that I've canvassed doesn't have that color, I opted for the Cosmo Black. And never regretted it.

Going back, I could speculate that the slow demise of the Aqua Blue is because of its meaner, manlier kin: The Cobalt Blue 3DS.
I still dig the Midnight Purple, but this rocks too just the same.

source: [Kotaku]

[All Things 3DS] TV/Monitor-out accessory for the 3DS

3DS owners: You feel that the small screen is getting a bit cramped on your eyes? Apparently, there seems to be a third-party accessory that lets you hook up your handheld console to either a monitor or television. See that chunk of a cradle in the picture above? Supposedly that's the accessory.

But how the heck does it work? Beats me, that's what I can tell you. Sure there's an audio out on the 3DS (that's why we can use our earphones and such), but a video-out port? The other port that I see is the charging port. If it's a USB-compliant interface, then maybe that's how they did it.

Of course this wasn't the first time that the 3DS can be hooked up to an external monitor; when Kid Icarus: Uprising and Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir were released, there were booths set up with the handheld connected to an external display.

Intriguing. Hopefully it doesn't cost as much.

source: [3DS Tagbus] --site's in Chinese. So use Google translate if you're using Chrome.

[Live by the Creed] Assassin's Creed III Worldwide Gameplay preview

AC fans, our efforts have paid off. Ubisoft finally got their 1.7+ million likes/shares/tweets (yes, that's a rough estimate), and they've released the gameplay premiere for the upcoming Assassin's Creed III.

Thoughts? Well, finally the ability to climb natural structures (trees, mountain cliffsides), and hopefully they add a random hazard (sudden bear attack, etc). But personally, I hope the game goes back to being the solo-person doing the job (and doing it efficiently) that it once was.

And yeah: Free-running in-and-out-of-buildings. And longbows.

Assassin's Creed III is slated for release this October 2012.


Wednesday, May 9, 2012

[All Things 3DS] Transformers: Prime for Nintendo consoles


Back then, it was more than meets the eye. Then, it lit our darkest hour and was reborn. Skip several decades later,  a movie trilogy featuring some whiny kid  and shots of ass (seriously; watch them again), directed by a guy who just loves destroying key American cities. But let's not go there. And I don't need to talk about the other series released.

Then in 2010 they gave us the game we fans have waited for so long. And then this year, its sequel. Drooling, are we now? Well, since the release is about 3 months away, Hasbro entices us with another game trailer:


Yes, Transformers Prime: The Game. Based on the latest iteration of the Transformers genre, it's slated to be released for the Nintendo platform, specifically the Wii, DI and 3DS.

Looks interesting.

[All Things 3DS] Browser-based gaming on the 3DS? Why not, chocnut?


Ever since the emergence and importance of the internet from the late 90s, most of us are now connected to the world one way or another. In my case, I have a desktop at home, a netbook for field excursions, an Android phone, and my trusty Nintendo 3DS as handheld console. At work, I have an HP workstation.

And with the internet, there are a lot of forms of entertainment to keep the user logged in and not get bored. There are forum sites to wage war against trolls and flamebaiting newbies to to talk to other users from different places/cultures, Youtube and other video-upload-and-share sites to watch, webcomics, blogs (mine included) and news sites to read, research, or laugh about (I don't know how to categorize 9gag), or play games.

Yes. Games that you can play in your browser.

It's not uncommon these days that casual people play games over the internet with their favorite browsers. (here's one classic example of them). But I suppose Facebook can take the blame for the rise of browser games, with all that Zynga-affliated addiction that is the -vile -ville games. From farm to city to I dunno what-else-did-they-attach-it-to-a-word (heck, maybe they did Spaceville already, I dunno), it's rampant. But I'm not here to demonize browser gaming.

When it comes to games on the browser, the norm is that you use the standard technologies of the internet in order to play web-based games. Like Flash, HTML, PHP, Java and such. In the case of the 3DS, where it lacks both Flash and Java technology, it's a real challenge to make a browser based game for Nintendo's current handheld console. But someone did. And he's got balls.

Code-named Project Triniate, the aim is to make a 3DS-browser-based MMORPG. Wow. They're taking it to RPG level at once. The project aim is a simple proof-of-concept, the leader said; that a web-based game on the 3DS is possible. It was also mentioned that it may not really see the light of day (ie, be released to the public), but yeah, it's a why-did-you-climb-Mount Everest-moment.


As seen on this kinda-fuzzy-screenshot, it's still in its somewhat-primitive stage. But hey, it all looks good.

And if 1 browser game for the 3DS ain't enough for ya, there's another game coming up as well; a platformer one this time. Now that's taking it to the edge.

Hopefully it comes out. I like the idea.




source(s): [Joystiq]
               [Nintendo 3DS Blog]