Busy Week and a horrible scanner.

Busy Week, and A Horrible Scanner
Normally, I'd say these words more carefully, but I had to say this to Binkie today: "If this works, I'll marry you." As all two of my regular readers know, I've been having scanner issues that hinder my art. Quite simply, it scans so brightly that I don't have the texture on the paper I need to work in photoshop. So, while taking her new Schnauzer, Barnaby, out for his walk, we we're talking about it, and she said "If you had a filter or something to put over the picture, so that it isn't bleached..."

It dawned on me. I had tracing paper. We came back in, I hooked up my scanner, scanned the picture with tracing paper over it, and it nearly worked. I have to make the lines a bit darker, but other than that, it worked perfectly. Never has anyone I dated been as smart and inspiring as Binkie, and I can't be happier. Even if our new "game" keeps on getting screwed up by outside forces.

In other news, I've been busy. School is one thing, but I have an offer to consider. The Army Reserves are offering me this: Wright Patt for a year, non-deployable, fix my knee, and tuition reimbursement. I've talked to my parents, Bink, Jim and his girlfriend, Heather, and even Patty, and they all think this is a good deal. Unfortunately, they were supposed to call Wednesday, but they didn't, so I have to call them Monday, as well as cook for Binkie's birthday after school. I've also been working on scripting (and drawing), and reviewing stuff.

Yesterday, though, Bink and I took a break from "work" and finally watched the Director's cut of "Watchmen," which I'll be watching again with the guys this weekend (no, I won't get tired of it. It's that good of a movie). I have one gripe: THE DAMN SEX SCENE IS STILL TOO LONG. Other than that, amazing. The scene with a certain character's death is magnificent (and better than the book's version because he fights back), and it doesn't feel like three hours. To top it off, it came in a Rorschach mask.

Anyway, off to do more stuff. I'll post soon... hopefully.

A first in a mini-series: Guitar Hero: World Tour. Part one: Guitar

I will start off by saying this: Neversoft... play Rock Band for Pete's sake! Let me go off onto a tangent here.

Rock Band did the band mechanic right, but Rock Band 2 perfected it. Before this becomes a fanboy rant, I don't mean that in the way it looks. I mean the game as a package. Instead of pumping out game after game, Harmonix made the second game as an "updated) version of Rock Band, improving the flaws, and even transferring some (most) of the songs. Instead of making sequel after sequel (The Beatles: Rock Band not withstanding), the made DLC, saw what else could be done (the harmony parts, a music creator that allows VOCALS), they announced that they're making patches that will allow this. No need for a new game every year, just keep it updated with new mechanics and songs to keep the game fresh.

That's the problem with Guitar Hero now. Instead of updating the game, Activision and Neversoft make new ones every year (making three at the same time this year!), and the quality of the games are completely lacking. I can tell this in two ways with the guitar in Guitar Hero.

Firstly, the songs that were in Rock Band are tracked exactly the same as they are in Rock Band. I let "Lazy Eye" by the Silversun Pickups slide due to it having rapid notes, but "The Kill" by 30 Seconds to Mars? Now, yes I know that the fingering isn't going to change, but I'm also talking about the slider bar. The songs that are also on Rock Band don't use it, with the excepting of "Lazy Eye," which uses it absolutely wrong. The slider is used for two things: sliding notes and "tap" notes (or "empty strums"), neither of which "Lazy Eye" has! Most of the time, the transparent tap and slider notes are used as substitutes for hammer-ons, or as other instruments (i.e. the organ in "Mr. Crowley"). I'm assuming that's for points, but it seems lazy, which I can relate to, because it's so fun to relate (ten points for anyone who gets that joke).

On top of that, the slider is absolutely useless in the first place. Its a simple mechanic: slide from one note to the next. But, if you're going from Green to Blue, it detects the Red and Yellow, and ruins your streak. And to tap notes, you have to have the notes held down on the fret buttons that you're tapping on the slider. Why? You might as well strum anyway. It seems like a waste of time to even have the slider.

Secondly, the song selection and tracking. The selection is great (mostly), but why are the notes track to the point where someone on a Medium level has a hard time playing a song on the Easy level? I'll let "Hot for Teacher," (the hardest song in the game) slide on this, because that is a pain. But I did better on that than a Bullet for my Valentine song. Why? Because, A) the overuse of hammer-ons and pull offs, B) the slider mechanic is finicky and overused in the later tracks, and C) after Beginner, the notes are laid out on Expert difficulty minus the Blue and Orange frets, depending on what level you're on. So, essentially, you rapid strums while changing notes, constantly on an early level. On a track that should be: Green (beat) Red (beat) Red (beat) Green (beat) yellow (Beat) Blue, its GreenRedRedRedGreenYellowYellowGreenBlue, but twice as fast. Now, try that with CHORDS. How could this have been fixed? By taking time to do it right and re-tracking the songs for each level. Like the first two Guitar Hero games did. Like ROCK BAND does.

It isn't a complete waste, though. Neversoft has done something with it that I like. At times in songs, guitar players will do a slow strum on a chord. They'll strum on the first fret and hammer on a bit later on to the second fret and so forth. It's clever, and sounds natural. It actually amazes me that Harmonix hasn't done this yet (to my knowledge).

This is not to say that the game is horrible, though. Its good, but the overflow of mechanics and the speed the game was put through to be released has started to show. But, the difficulty of some of the songs and where they're placed is bizarre to say the least. On solo mode, the difficulty of the songs vary from instrument to instrument. So, on guitar, a hard guitar song would be later, but if that same song was on vocals and easier, it'd be earlier on vocals. "Hot for Teacher" is in the second to last level. The last songs you play are incredibly easy in comparison. Not only does that not make sense, but its also very badly placed. The credit song ( like "Through The Fire and the Flames" in GHIII) is "Pull Me Under" by Dream Theater. The name of the band set off a red light ("Panic Attack" and "Constant Motion" are pains in RB). I passed with a 98%. I'm not that good at the game (according to Bullet for my Valentine which I got my lowest rating of 84%). It's that easy of a song. It should be in the Middle tiers.

This is only a part of the review, peoples. I have Bass, Drums, Vocals, and over all game to get through. Now, while it looks like I'm bashing the guitar, I can't say much else. Other than the flaws I listed, and the benefit, it plays like Guitar Hero. It just needs tweaked... and tuned.

Me? Draw? No Way! (Read This, Even If You Don't Like Me At All)

First off, for those of you who stumble on this, a little info about me:

Name: Ben Wetzel

Age: 25

Height: 5'7"

Weight: Depends on what planet I'm on.

I'm a graphic design student, artist, gamer, and all around ranter. I'm completely bizarre in the art manner, because I see art where a lot of people wouldn't. I have several side projects, such as Taliesin, Goria, Hex, Shade, and Muzzle. But my main passion is flat out art, especially as of the past few years, pin-ups. This has gotten me into trouble before (you would not believe how many people think I'm sexist because of this), and you can imagine that I get sick of hearing this. Here's the kicker; a lot of my friends are women! Smart women who don't think I'm a pig. Why? Because, there is one simple fact that a lot of people are ignoring. One small, nearly insignificant fact, that's almost not worth mentioning. What is that fact, then? It's simple: They've known me for longer than ten seconds! Yes, imagine that, getting to know me means that you may find that I'm not a pig, but someone who actually sees this as art. Why bring this up? Is it because I'm drawing Pin-ups again? Is it because I'm drawing nudes? Yes, and no. I mean that's part of it.

The bigger part is that apparently, a lot of artists, both professional and amateur, have been getting a lot of crap for drawing nudes. Here's the context people. I'm in school for graphic design, and the first class I had were drawing classes. I had two drawing classes: one was objects, the other was life drawing. Guess what? For life drawing, we had a model come in and pose nude. Oh no! Save the children, a college has nudity! What will we ever do? I'm thinking no one reading this is shocked to hear that art schools have nude models. Good. But here's the kicker: Its not like artists can walk up to a woman and say "You have the most amazing eyes, I must draw them!" and win over someone's heart. This goes for finding nude models. To remedy this, they either go through agencies, or sometimes loved ones (do you know how many artists used their wives or husbands for inspiration?). Barring that, we have stock images, or magazines, some of which people have gotten jobs drawing for when they found out the artists were drawing from them. When these fail, we use out imagination.

Guess what, now? I don't exactly have flocks of women wanting to model for me, clothed or nude, or hell, even covered in a sheet to look like a ghost. So heaven forbid I have to use photos to get a pose right (a reference). That must mean I'm not creative, or that I'm a pervert. No, it means that I use a reference, and that if you think I, or any other artist, is a pervert, you must have your head up your ass. If you think that the nude human form is perverted, or that anyone using it for art is a pervert, the artist isn't the one with the problem; you are.

That being said, I'm very particular about the models or images I use for a reference. I'm aware people come in different body shapes, and not the 48ZZZ-22-36 figures you see in comics half of the time. This is another thing that gets me in trouble. I know way too much about how my characters are supposed to look. Take the Goria duo, Sodom and Gomorrah (http://thewindowkeeper.deviantart.com/art/Goria-Sodom-and-Gomorrah-82471763), for example. I know where Gomorrah's tattoos are, I know their hair colors, skin complexions, ages, heights, weights, the basics. I know how they walk, how Gomorrah sounds, and how they'd react in different events. But, I also know some other things about them. First, they happen to be romantically involved with one another. OH NO! A lesbian couple in a comic? I must be perverted. You can say that... but don't lesbian couples exist in the real world? Oh, but that doesn't matter, because I also seem to be the only one who takes my creations to this next measure.

I know both of their body types. I know Sodom's figure is 34B-23-36 and Gomorrah's is 38C-24-34. How many people can say that they created a female character, and memorized how her body looks? Not many. Why, then, do I do it? Does that mean I'm a pervert? NO! If I was a pervert, I'd be memorizing the sizes of my male characters' wangs! Do I? No, because that doesn't affect how they look to everyone witnessing these events. Unless I have a male character running around naked (and I probably never will, because I never have a female character doing that, either), no one would see it outside of privacy. But, women have body shapes that, most of the time, stand out physically, making them all different. This means breasts, hips, and waists. And, while yes, this affects men to an extent, it doesn't affect them to the extent that it affects women.

So, what does all of this mean? That I should only draw women with petite builds, or smaller breasts? No, because, I want to achieve some semblance of realism in my comics. And I need to do that with the characters, not only how they act, but how they look, and what their psychologies are. I'm so invested in making a character, that the only way I know they're worth working with is if I find someone who fits that build, both physically and mentally. Most of the time, I do, granted with out the abilities and genetic defects. Am I going to find a guy who can turn invisible or a deaf/mute woman who can make people suffer any mental defect she wants them to? No, but I can find people who look like them. Does this all make me a pervert? No. What it does is make me passionate about my hobby. The day I stop giving a crap what my characters should look like is the day I should probably stop drawing.

In that turn, I will continue to use reference photos. That is, unless, I start getting volunteers. And even then, in that off chance, I probably won't stop using reference photos. So, live with it, people. I'm not the only one who does.

Now that that's all done, here's what I'm working on now. I started designs for some of the Taliesin characters (one of which will be in the later stories). But I'm also going to do a promo thing. I'll be doing pin-ups and postersof my characters, from all of my "side" projects. Here's the list of one's I'll start first:

Jackie Macrix (Taliesin)

Sodom (Goria)

Gomorrah (Goria)

Sable (Shade)

Goria (Goria)

Elaine Carver (Goria)

Hex (Hex)

I'm also working on promo pieces for Taliesin. I'll post links and photos when they're ready, so keep an eye out.

The Taliesin Story

Taliesin: The Gemini Agenda

"Introduction: 'Screw That Dark and Stormy Night' Bullshit"

11:34 P.M.

The phone rang twenty-two times before Andrew Taliesin decided he was forced to answer it. He wasn't asleep, he was awake watching TV while twirling his cane like a color guard, the way he always spends his Friday nights. He scoffed at the name on the caller ID: "La Fayette Police Department." Hesitant, he answered the phone in his usual manner in handling Captain Gregory Ross: "What the hell do you want?"

"Andrew," Ross shot back, "still as charming as ever."

"I've been known to have my moments. Seriously, what do you want?"

"You have a case. Two--"

"Call Rade," Taliesin snapped. "He's on call tonight."

"He's here, and he said that you were on call."

Taliesin bit his lip at this. "Figures he'd say that. He probably thinks his daddy would bribe me to take his night on call. Then call Blake or Tong. Tong would be there in a heart beat... Blake may have to jump off the guy she's on."

Ross said the one thing Taliesin would regret hearing for the rest of his life. "Your whole team is here, and they're baffled. Rade threw up upon seeing the corpses, Blake and Flora turned pale, and Tong... well, Tong did nothing."

"'Nothing' is bad. It means Tong's puzzled. Why would that be?"

Ross sighed, tried to catch his breath, then sighed again. "Two bodies, one male, one female, on opposite ends of a painting of an angel. The letters "VI" are written over the angel. And the victim's faces were skinned off and switched."

Taliesin limped to the closet to grab is sweater jacket, then noticed the rain and grabbed his black, military dress rain coat. "Flora didn't get anything from it?"

"No... why?"

Taliesin rolled his eyes. "Because," he spat, "it's not 'VI.' It's "six." They were married, or living together. And had it not been the fact that you distacted me from a 'Babe's R Topless' commercial before it changed to a psychic hotline commercial, I'd gone to my sister first about the set up."

Ross muttered under his breath, then asked Taliesin, "Andrew, what the fuck is going on?"

Taliesin put on his jacket, and picked the phone up again. "It's a Tarot card, Greg. 'The Lovers.' Give me the address--"

"It's Lou Shmeckie's Bar--"

"I know the place. I'll be there in two minutes." He almost hung up, then said, "more likely after a huge police chase, or a major accident. Expect a shit load of back up."

Taliesin Team Statistics:

Andrew Taliesin

Age: 42

Height: 5'9"

Weight: 138 lbs

Field: Head of ACU Team, Criminal Psychology

DOB: April 18, 1967

- Jumped from foster home to foster home after the recorded death of his parents, where he was abused.

- Spent ten years in the US Army, three years as an MP, seven in the CID. From there, he joined the La Fayette Police Department.

- Shot in the right arm, left leg, and left hip during a murder investigation. To this day, he wasn't fully recovered. He was 37 at the time.

- Possibly due to his past, he is exetremely misanthropic, but hides the fact that he does see a silver lining.

- A year after he was shot, Taliesin joined the FBI as a profiler, and was transfered into the ACU.

Florence "Flora" Wintergreen

Age: 42

Height: 5'4"

Weight: 93 lbs

Field: Criminal Pathology, Empathic

DOB: April 18, 1967

- Andrew Taliesin's twin sister. Was adopted by a family consisting of a "psychic" and a pathologist.

- Can sense the aura of an area, and tell what happened in the past hour.

- Changed her name from "Taliesin" to "Wintergreen," because her last name didn't fit her.

- Found Taliesin during an investigation with the ACU. His boss thought her useful, and hired her for his team.

Karl Lawrence Rade III

Age: 31 (Appearence)

Height: 6'1"

Weight: 200 lbs

Field: Crime Scene Forensics Expert

DOB: April 17

- Son of Taliesin's first ACU boss, and software developer, Karl Rade Jr.

- Cannot stand the sight of blood. Therefore, he works mainly on ballistics and evidence testing.

- Usually the butt of Taliesin's jokes, due to his lineage.

- Shares an animosity with Taliesin and Chevy Blake.

Charmane Tong

Age: 28 (Appearence)

Height: 5'2"

Weight: 90 lbs

Field: Surveillance and Arrests

DOB: April 18

- Ex-Triad Assassin who excelled on escaping from police, until Taliesin found her.

- Killed the man who shot Taliesin, due to what he did for her years before. Also joined the ACU after he requested her assistance due to his injuries.

- Orphaned by a man in a silver mask, taken in by the Triads. After she was sent to America to kill someone, she found out it was a trap to kill her, and was saved by Taliesin.

- Usually silent while working, Charmane usually knows more about what's going on than she lets on.

Chevy Blake

Age: 26 (Appearence)

Height: 5'3"

Weight: 98 lbs

Field: Interrogation and Blood Spatter

DOB: April 17

- Ex-pornstar who quit after she was raped by a co-star. While working, she attended UCLA for Criminal Justice, graduating at the top of her class.

- Taliesin hired her after meeting her at a crime scene. To this day, he doesn't know which award he's more interested in: her Adult Film Award, or her High Honors Graduate from UCLA.

- Carries the smallest gun in Taliesin's unit (aside from Flora, who doesn't carry one).

- Has gotten in trouble for being more interested in video games than a case. Because of this, she is usually used to connect with children, earning her the ironic nick name "Mother-May-I."

Weapon Stats:

Andrew Taliesin:

Beretta M9/Colt 1911

Flora Wintergreen:

None

Karl Rade:

Colt 1911

Charmane Tong:

SPAS-12/Colt Python/Beretta Cheetah

Chevy Blake:

Smith and Wesson .38 special/Beretta Bobcat

I've Got Claws... But I Still Need A Game After Me.

Another game review:

Developer: Raven Interactive

Publisher: Activision

Game: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Let me start off by saying this: Hugh Jackman is not Wolverine. I don't mean that he doesn't play him in the game (he does). I just mean that Wolverine is supposed to be rough and tumble, grizzled, tough, and more likely to fight than use witty retorts. Hugh Jackman would rather you see Wolverine as a performer, trying to be as witty as he can from one battle to the next. And, what hurts the most, is that now, everybody thinks that Wolverine is some sort of "buddy" character (Marvel isn't helping with putting Wolverine in both X-Men and Avengers). He's supposed to be a loner, brutal, and the type you hope you never piss off.

I have no desire to watch the movie (because of what I said above, and what they did to Deadpool), but I did play the game. I guess you could say its the best of both worlds... but that'd be lying. The story explains the origin of Wolverine, from ruthless killing machine to ruthless killing machine with metal coated skeleton that wants to kill his brother. The game ends when he finds his old commander, and fights a mutant that steals other mutants powers, and looks like Ryan Reynolds with no mouth or hair (I refuse to believe its Deadpool). Every step you take to finding the villains, soldiers, or giant "realistic" depictions of supersoldiers that look like moldy mashed potatoes try to stop you. So, the story doesn't win any awards.

But, the kicker is this... the game is actually fun. Slashing through soldiers and cutting limbs off works well, but using Wolverine's abilities to climb and solve puzzles as well is actually well done. The fighting is fluid, but the special powers are limited. You get four, a claw drill, which is useless, a claw spin, which is useful for every boss in the game; an angled claw spin, which is horrible; and berserker, which makes you more powerful and faster. You only need two powers... why did they give you four? Was it to fill the D-Pad? On top of the powers, you'll find "mutagens" that, when applied, give you enhanced abilities, like more life.

Most of Wolverine's "noncontrolable" powers are there, too. "Instincts" help you find invisible enemies. But the most prevalent is healing. You have two health bars, outside and internal. When you take damage, it drains your "outside" health until it's zero, then you'll start to lose your "internal" health. You'll also see Wolverine's body fall apart down to the skeleton, and heal in real time. This is a cool effect, especially in certain fights that will leave you as a skeleton by the time its over.

Where the fighting does lack is the boss battles. Only one had any real strategy, but the rest are "beat them senseless until you get a context sensitive kill section." And they feel thrown in, too. Why am I fighting Gambit? Why's he suddenly part of Weapon X? And why does he have four armed ninjas doing his bidding? And the final battle feel more like a miniboss than an actual struggle, too.

The graphics are well done, including the cut scenes. I could do without a lot of the newer designs, though. Seriously, in the past five years, Sabretooth has like 20 different variations. And Deadpool looks nothing like Deadpool, either (I blame the movie).

Pardon the short review, but I said everything that needs said about this game. It is fun, but it's also cheesy. Need a hero fix? Wait for Arkham Asylum.

Overall: C

+ Good Graphics

+ Good Healing Mechanism

+ Good fighting system...

- ... for a while.

- Poor execution as a whole.

- We want Wade Wilson, not a pretty boy afraid to ruin his image.

Returning To An Origin

I mentioned to a friend awhile ago that I want to start writing a graphic adventure game. What some of you may not know is that I was writing one shortly after I got out of the Army, but I lost the text file when my Toshiba was hacked. I was pissed off, and decided to take a break from it. After about two years, I think its about time to start on it again. That's right, Andrew Taliesin may be returning.

For those of you not in the know, Andrew Taliesin, the main character of Taliesin: The Gemini Agenda, is an agent of the "Abominable Crimes Unit" of the FBI who leads a team of agents that solve the most horrific homicides and rapes in America. He prefers to work on these cases (as opposed to robberies and minor assaults) because of a burning desire to study the insane criminal mind, not as a puzzle, but to understand why evil exists. He's bitter, sardonic, and suffers permanent injuries from a shooting five years ago, but shows kindness and has a gentle heart (when he shows it, which is rarely).  His team consists of his sister and "flowerchild empath," Flora Wintergreen; the spoiled rich computer software forensic tech, Karl Rade; ex-Triad assassin Charmane Tong; and ex-pornstar turned detective, Chevy Blake. And the team gets their biggest case yet, when they aren't expecting it.

In La Fayette, New York, a couple is found murdered in an alley, bodies arranged to represent the Tarot card, "The Lovers." When questioning the witnesses, Taliesin finds that the only one who saw the potential killer was a prostitute who described he killer as a "tall man dressed in black, with a silver mask." The killings progress, getting progressively morbid by the murder, and leaving clues that may lead the team to a shocking discovery, a conspiracy that extends past anything any government or religious group could ever imagine, and a group that intends to create a god.

Taliesin is not a game for the squeemish, obviously. But, the interesting thing I'm planning on is the art style. Each chapter will have traditional artwork for its intro screen, and any loading screens will be traditional artwork based on the characters or situation. I'm working on the character designs, as well as backgrounds, locations, and even puzzle designs. I'll post more on it (and some sample stuff) when it happens. For now, keep an eye out.