Unforeseen Consequences

Hey there. Yes, I know, still no changes to the blog – I’ve been busy. Yes, in fact, I am always busy.

Anyway, I took some time from my oh-so-busy schedule to indulge in a little experiment. Remember Control? For that comic, I had the idea of demonstrating Alyx’s point of view when the G-Man activates her ‘programming’.
Well, today, I was sitting here in my desk, busy as usual, and then I suddenly realized: why not remake Control in audio form?
I happen to have Audacity, a very neat audio editing tool, and GCFScape, a program that allows me to extract files from Source engine games, which is what I use to make skins and stuff like that. And some of those files are the audio files from the games, from voiceovers to sound, so… I had all the right tools.

A couple hours later, I ended up with this .wav file. It’s nothing too fancy, but it was a fun endeavor and, personally, I think it didn’t turn out so bad. So, if you’d like, take a look – or rather a listen – and download the file.

I would get a Space Upgrade for the blog if it wasn’t so expensive.

PoB collaboration over (for now)

Credit: Arctic Avenger (click for bigger version)

Back in late 2007, I joined Phenomena On Break, the group that GrowingDelirium had been thinking of establishing. Ever since, we’ve been close friends and worked on countless ideas and projects, most of which he brought to life in a way only he can pull off.
Today, our official collaboration may be coming to a close.

As Delirium stated, all the previous Squad members – myself included – have lost our title, mostly due to his wish to reorganize PoB from scratch (and partly because I suggested him to). He proposes, however, that previous Squad members candidate to recover their status, justifying why their contribution is worth it.
Me? Well, I think this blog is enough proof that my contribution has no merits. I’ve been promising more content for almost two years, and I have little to show on that, besides my occasional enthusiasm and preview pictures of content that never comes to be. So, my opinion is that my role in PoB is over – let a new generation take over, or the previous go through strict selection to assure a higher degree of activity and quality.

This is, by no means, a proper end. I might still go back to the PoB team, and I will of course remain in the forums, but it just feels to me like this might be – apologies for the dramatism – the end of an era. I’ve shown my support for Phenomena On Break during this last year and half, and I think it’s time, not for me to move on from PoB, but for PoB to move on from me.

ENDGAME, however, will still be a PoB production if released – and yes, similarly to the not-yet-defunct Duke Nukem Forever game, it still somehow has a heartbeat, in spite of being over a year in production. Summer started a week ago for me, and when the urge to produce comics comes (and I feel it’s close), then I’ll try to finally give the McDonald’s/PoB War an end – whether it’s a fitting one, I’ll leave that to readers to decide.

So, what good will actually come from this? Well, for starters, I’m yet again toying with ideas on how to revitalize this blog of mine, and now I can focus my ideas on it instead of giving them over to PoB instead.
Of course, if you’re reading this with actual interest and are not a member of Phenomena On Break’s forums, what are you waiting for? Do join, please! I’d really like to read your posts!

Kojima’s “Next” Teaser Site, and how you’ve got it all wrong

As Michael pointed out in the Phenomena On Break blog, the already infamous “NEXT” teaser site has been updated with a countdown clock, which occasionally displays what appears to be either a “S” or a “5″ every fifteen seconds.
As usual, Mikey quickly bashed it on the most obvious interpretation – “Metal Gear Solid 5” -, saying Kojima will lose his respect if that’s so. Yes, he used a lot of “buts”, but he’s still taking it at face value.

However, as Kotaku mentioned, NeoGAF member Nirolak inspected the source code of the page and found out there are more timers besides this one.
What neither Michael nor Kotaku seemed to understand correctly is that there’re five countdown clocks.

Here’s a theory I’ll gladly put to test: what if the “5″ isn’t for Metal Gear Solid 5, but a countdown for the countdown clocks? This one is the fifth; next Friday, a new countdown starts, but instead of a “5″, there’s a “4″.
What I’m saying is, the five doesn’t necessarily mean it’s MGS5. I’m more inclined to say it’s a big countdown for the eventual announcement at E3, made up of countdown clocks. Lame, yes, but it’s probably true.

Besides, Kotaku already mentioned that one of their readers, Gary, found the following image on the site:

The far left banner is the original “loading” image; the following one is the current “loading” image. This indicates clearly that, as the countdown progresses, the image will change, and so will the Flash, moving from bad weather to a sunny day.
The last one, “!”, is a big hint at a Metal Gear announcement, but the fact that the weather doesn’t stay rainy indicates that it might not be Metal Gear Raiden, after all.

We’ll see as time progresses if I’m right, but I’m willing to bet I am.

EDIT: Guess what? Predictably, I was wrong.

2nd EDIT: Big Boss? Raiden? Now I’m interested. Bring on more Metal Gear!

Destiny calls using a private number

So, Lost’s back. Fucking awesome if you ask me! And apparently, 20 million viewers watched the premiere. Yes, you read that right, twenty million. Gotta love Lost!

What’s also back is the test times – you know, the times where I have tests every . And, unlike a certain someone, my tests are not about movies. Tests in Portugal are evaluation exams, only they’re twice a term  for each class.
Fortunately I’m a good student so I usually get top grades (18 or 19 in 20), but it’s still a pain in the ass to study.

On comics, I’m thinking at the moment (literally; as I’m writing this I’m getting the idea) of finishing that comic I teased some time ago. I started it just for fun but, as usually happens with my long comics, became an annoying effort to finish.
Still, I won’t give up on it, even if it’s not particularly noteworthy. And I guess I should do it first, before moving on to Endgame.

Which I was posing some days ago.

Also, Tsu went away for the last week but she’s back again. Yay! So now, I have my time filled with studying, my girlfriend… and I guess a little bit for the Internet.
Talk to y’all soon!

Busy busy busy

School’s been up and… well, Tsu’s been here since last week’s Wednesday. That’s all you really need to know to understand why I’ve been absent. I’ve only been on my computer for a bit, so I’ve done litte to nothing on comic terms.

BUT, I’ve been thinking. A lot. Being cheerful and intelectually motivated goes a long way to bring me fantastic ideas. In fact, I’ve had a few on how to “fix” Endgame (the map problems, ya dig?), and if I keep up the motivation I’m feeling right now I’ll restart work on it after I finish the comic I’m – uh, was making before she came here.

Also, it snowed here last Friday. For the first time in twenty-one years. Can you imagine that?

Of course, that also gave me ideas. A splendid one, actually, on the project that will follow Endgame. I’ve had a lot of  ‘em for it these days, and I hope to organize them in order to start work after Endgame.

I’m pretty sure you’ve grown tired of me talking about comics I’m making when I never release them. But I’m like this! Always the optimist. Because when I start a comic, I do want to finish it. I just never get around to doing that.

Anyway, right now, in terms of comic priorities (which are second to all real life priorities, including tying my shoes – hang on a sec… okay), the first thing is finishing the comic I started for fun two weeks ago (yeah, ironic, isn’t it?), then doing Endgame and releasing it, and then starting work on the other project that’ll follow. I also want 2009 to be the year I make the project that I’ve been planning since 2006 – i.e., for three years. That should make a pretty epic thing if it was ever done, but hey, it’s me. When do I ever finish epic stuff?

Anyway, I think I should say just now that my lowest comic priority is in fact Leet 4 Dead. I have some ideas, but nothing that big. And then again, that update should take a while, so meh.

I also just noticed that I use italics a lot. I guess I emphasize my speech a lot.

Oh, by the way, I guess this is a bit late to say, but I think I’m gonna cancel It’s an Odd Job 2. I’ll talk about all the ideas one of these days though, including all the concept artwork I made on Photoshop, which should make a pretty interesting post.

Talk to you later, brethren. Or rather brother. Probably sister.

EDIT: I just reread some pages from Endgame that I made back in September. Honestly? It felt awesome. It has so much promise, even with its flaws. I just wanna do it now.

“It’s… the Borealis!”

I was having some fun exploring the .gcf folders of Half-Life 2 and Episode Two last night, looking for neat Combine propaganda posters, and I ended up finding a lot of cool stuff. I didn’t find all the posters, but I did find all the Resistance graffitis, which is even better.
When I moved onto Episode Two, however, I found better stuff. The DHARMA White Forest logo? Check. The Borealis schematics? Check.
An image I have never seen before of the Borealis? Che- wait, what?

Seriously, this is pure concept art and I’ve never seen it before. It’s pretty similar to the Episode Three ones, but it’s for Episode Two. Here you have it:

Awesome, right? Now I can’t wait for Episode Three news. Again.
Catch ya later!

“It’s been a long time… Snake.”

Sorry for being absent. I’ve been playing Metal Gear Solid 4.
Yeah, I got my PS3 on Friday and played during the next two days, straight all afternoon, and two days ago I finished the game around midnight. And let me tell you, it was awesome.
Honestly, I think this is Kojima’s magnum opus – of course, I’m a fan of the series, so unless you are too, don’t trust my word that much. I can tell you, however, there is no such thing as 90-minutes scenes, unless you don’t count the Act breaks – only the ending and one scene in the end of the third arc were really that long, but trust me, both were simply awesome. Plus I couldn’t be more glad that I didn’t read spoilers, because the story not only made sense of the questions from past games in the series, but it also had some awesome surprises, including the ending.

Overall, I was more than satisfied with it, and obviously I’ll replay the game countless times now. But first, I wanna get Grand Theft Auto IV – I can’t wait for that one either. And I need to set up an online account as well.

Oh, by the way, comic readers – I’m doig a new comic. Two pages done: I just need Erikkiller to give me a map he has and I’m ready to go.

I made a…

Screenshot.
Haha, gotcha.

I usually make a lot of screenshots and never get around to release them, especially when they give me comic ideas. This one, even though it sparks some concepts, doesn’t really bring much to make into a comic, and since in my opinion it looks nice, I’m gonna release it. It’s called “Motherland”.

I hope you like it.

Metal Gear Solid 4 comes out tomorrow…

(Picture by Dirtydiaper… who fondly rubbed it all over my face)

… and I still don’t have a PS3. Hopefully I can get the money today; if not, I’ll have to wait.
In the meantime, DON’T GIVE ME SPOILERS ABOUT THE GAME – PLEASE!

EDIT: Metal Gear Solid – The Unofficial Site V4 should be getting up soon, probably today. Still, watch out for spoilers, guys!

PoB Class of ‘98

Ah, those were the years. Back when we were just three young men trying to party the shit out of life. We used to hang out with that Hayley chick everyday before she traded us off for her new friends and created that Paramore band.

Hehe.