Xbox E3 2017 Briefing: Not-so-live Impressions

Yep, back to doing Microsoft's E3 show again this year and really, how could I not as now the proud owner of an Xbox One myself. Got a pretty good deal on a used, OG Xbox One around Christmas, thinking that I'd probably need something I could play Mass Effect: Andromeda on. Turns out that no, I was good. :D Still, I've finally been able to play a bunch of Rare Replay, which is awesome, and I've got the Killer Instinct Definitive Edition, and Shadow of Mordor waiting in the wings, so I'm not doing too badly. The huge updates have proven to be a bit of a problem with my slow-ass broadband though, and speaking of slow: boy, that Xbox One UI. That's not even getting into the performance gulf in third party games compared to the PS4 or Microsoft's so-so first party output of late.

But never fear; Scorpio is here! Will Microsoft's grand refresh finally do away with the problems of the Xbox One? Will they finally announce some new IPs that anyone cares about? Will Cuphead ever get released?

Only one way to find out:

Looks like it's time to play some good old-fashioned Microsoft E3 conference bingo.



Once again, drinking is optional, but given the apparent longer running time this year, it might be worth looking into. :D

• 0:00:00 - Oof! An hour and forty three minutes? They really weren't kidding about the longer runtime, huh? :D

  

• 0:00:13 - Okay, looks like we're starting off with a Kinect poncho reveal-esque "fuck all the Xbox stuff before now; it was all just building up to motion cont... uh, I mean 4K"

  

• 0:00:18 - 720p? Lame!
• 0:00:28 - 1080p? Pathetic!

  

• 0:00:36 - 4K Ultra HD?!! OH FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuu

  

• 0:01:17 - Wow, such high-density pixels (or whatever nonsense they were claiming last year :D).

  

• 0:01:22 - No, it's a CG-rendered processor. Looks like were about to get a logo and a name here. (Come on, Xbox 420!)

  

• 0:01:58 - Ooh, looks like some Mordor: Shadow of War coming up. And more Gears. Eww!

  

• 0:02:06 - And Halo, and Forza. Microsoft just tearing up all the rules this year.

  

• 0:02:40 - That looks like Crackdown though. Finally!!

  

• 0:02:59 - There's the Scorpio. Looks a bit like the S, given a slight Mass Effect makeover. Not bad.

  

• 0:03:18 - It's Phil. Not digging the the T-shirt. Player (1)? Huh?
• 0:03:23 - Oh no. Do they have Xbox fans hooting and hollering at this this year? Eww!!
• 0:04:03 - Oh, talking about the original Xbox. Drink!

  

• 0:04:35 - Xbox One X. That's a lot of Xs in there. And it'll still be saddled with all the Xbox One's baggage. Got to say: kind of terrible name. Drink!
• 0:04:54 - November 7th. Do we get a price here though, I wonder?
• 0:05:57 - Woo woo! 6 teraflops. Drink!
• 0:06:10 - Yeah! I love memory bandwidth!
• 0:07:04 - No way. They're not going to announce OG Xbox compatibility here, are they?
• 0:07:14 - A console with "Xbox One" in the name supports all Xbox One games and accessories? Madness!
• 0:07:33 - Okay, improved visuals and load times on Xbox One games. Good stuff.

  

• 0:08:52 - "Yeah, woo! I lope vape!"
• 0:09:39 - The smallest Xbox ever. That, my friend, is a low bar. :D
• 0:10:04 - A Windows 10 mention. I thought they might be dialing that back this year with the One X, but I guess they're still trying to push that Windows 10 store.

  

• 0:10:14 - First game. Assassin's Creed maybe?
• 0:10:25 - Those were camels, and this looks very Sahara-like...

  

• 0:10:35 - Nope, it's Forza. Boo! :D

  

• 0:10:50 - This does look pretty great, but it's literally impossible for me to care about these games. Need for Speed: Payback though looked pretty dope yesterday.
• 0:11:58 - I smell a car about to come on stage...

  

• 0:12:58 - Yes!! Man, so stupid. I love it!
• 0:13:42 - The digital and the real world are merging?! Oh god nooooooo!!

Nintendo Direct 12/04/2017: Extremley Not-so-live Impressions

Damn it, Nintendo! You always release these at the worst possible times! :D I don't think I've ever been in the middle of a busier time when one of these dropped, so much so that I was planning to give this one a miss, given it's apparently heavy Arms and Splatoon 2 focus. After catching wind that there might be some amiibo announcements on offer though, of course I immediately changed my tune (because having every available surface covered in the things apparently isn't enough), finally finding the time to sit down and take a look at it the following weekend.

Finding the energy to get this post together though, and not just collapsing into my arm chair to play some BoTW, proved to be a little more difficult. :D

 

• 00:00 - Wait, PEGI 18? Well it's certainly not for Arms or Splatoon. Devil's Third 2, you guys! It's happening!

  

• 00:16 - Koizumi! I guess he's going to be the Japanese face of these from here on out now.
• 00:29 - Yes, Koizumi, please be my guide.
• 00:45 - Yikes. This snapping fingers to "switch" thing isn't stopping any time soon, is it?

  

• 00:48 - Oh, come on! What the hell's this!? :D Way to strip away any surprise from these things, Nintendo. And boy, is that a bunch of stuff I don't care about. :D

  

• 01:03 - Well, I guess I am a little interested this Pikmin game at least. I do wish they were doing a Switch version as well though. Man, this looks rough.

  

• 01:29 - Yeah, can't say I'll be picking this up, at least not at full price. (I already have a towering pile of DS and 3Ds games to ignore.) That amiibo though? Oh, baby!

  

• 01:47 - Ever Oasis. Ohh! This was announced back at E3. (Well, just barely.) Man, I forgot this game even existed.

  

• 02:18 - ...huh. What? Oh, sure. Kindness. Yep, sounds great. How many 3DS games are there left to go through here again? :D

  

• 02:59 - Monster Hunter Stories, which seems like, sort of, Pokémon set in the Monster Hunter universe. (So probably something I'll never touch then. :D).

  

• 03:37 - Some Yo-Kai watch now. Again, no interest here, even if Fleshy Souls might well be the best subtitle for a video game ever.

  

• 05:04 - Man, RPG Maker. I remember downloading a PC version of that, or something very similar, like, 15 years ago with grand plans to make a game. I made a few minor alterations to some stock town that came with it and then promptly forgot all about it.
• 05:20 - I guess this is kind of cool though, even if I'm firmly not in the audience for it.

  

• 05:34 - Miitopia. I've seen it pop up in forum topic title, but i have no idea what this even is.
• 05:55 - Arrrrgh! Miis singing is somehow even worse than them chirping in the Wii U's Mii Plaza, which for some reason, I just can. not. stand. If I could disable that screen permanently I would, or, like, send in riot police with tear gas or something. Damn it!! Just make them stop!!

  

• 06:13 - So it's an RPG then, that you can import Tomadochi Life characters into?

  

• 06:43 - Still not any clearer on it after that really, but anyway, Fire Emblem. I think this is a remake of one of the older, pre-GBA ones.

  

• 06:46 - A modern enhancement, you say? Oh. It's DLC. :D

  

• 07:11 - Nintendo: very into their season passes at the moment. Still haven't put down the cash for the Breath of the Wild one. I kind of don't want to encourage them by paying for a season pass that you can't buy piecemeal; that's still pretty far out; and, that's offering a bunch of stuff they still haven't really detailed in any way. A "new map feature". Like, what!? That's no to say I won't buy it. I absolutely will, but not until the first pack drops at least. That'll show them!

  

• 07:20 - Good grief, is it really five years since the last Kirby Anniversary?. I've barely even touched that Wii anniversary compilation.

  

• 07:50 - First up in the anniversary celebrations: Team Kirby Clash Deluxe - a free to play, handheld, co-op, battle game. It's like they made it exclusively with me in mind. :D

  

• 08:06 - Kirby's Blowout Blast looks kind of fun though. Of course it's on the 3DS only. Boo!

  

• 08:26 - And finally; oh the joy; yet another multiplayer 3DS game, but starring Kirby.
• 08:35 - You could say that 2017 is Kirby's big year; it just wouldn't be true.

  

• 08:44 - "Remember this?" Nope. :D

  

• 08:50 - Oh, it's that last Brain Training game. Yeah I put all of five minutes into the first one. Maybe.
• 08:58 - Noo! Come back Shibata. This guy voicing the trailers in this Direct is literally the worst.

  

• 09:23 - Yes! Finally something I can get excited about. :D Had this spoiled beforehand, but I am definitely down for Cloud and Bayonetta here.

  

• 09:31 - Oh! Two versions of each. Might have to go for both versions of Bayonetta. Advent Children/Kingdom Hearts Cloud though? Yeah, not so much.

  

• 09:38 - Whoa! More Zelda amiibos too? Just more Links though, I guess. And... wait, hold on. Why is Twilight Princess Link holding his sword upside down? Why does Skyward Sword Link look all buff and angry. Yeah, I think I'm passing on those two; maybe not Majora's Mask Link though. Kind of bummed that they're doing another TP-era Link (after that Smash Bros. one with the pee colum), and again, it's pretty goofy-looking. After a quick Google image search, I can see that it is actually based, pretty closely, on a piece of TP promotional art, where he does indeed hold his sword like this, but, you know what: it looked weird then too. :D Plus, his tunic isn't even the right shade of green! ( And still no Tetra. :( )
• 09:47 - Our long, national 3DS nightmare is over. Arms!

  

• 10:02 - Is that a fist on his head? Boy, I think Nintendo have just opened up a whole new world of Arms fan art possibilities.

  

• 11:04 - Yikes. There's really no better way to loose my interest immediately that to start drilling down into detailed game mechanics. Well, unless that game is also a free to play co-op 3DS game. :D This does look pretty neat though. Not quite neat enough to get me to splash out on a Switch before Mario, but still.

  

• 11:26 - Looks like there'll be mini games here that you can earn currency with, which you can gamble to unlock items, Smash Bros. style. This breaking targets one looks kind of fun. Hopefully there'll be a good variety of games on offer.

  

• 12:04 - So you can mix and match different arms. That should, hopefully, keep the fights interesting; allow for a lot of different strategies. Well, at least until someone comes up with the one combo that'll break everything.
• 13:51 - There really seems to be a lot more depth to the fighting here than I would have expected back when this was unveiled. Have to say that I'm not super into the character design though. It's a bit on the generic side for a Nintendo game. They're certainly no inklings.

  

• 14:45 - The graphics do look quite good though. The specifics of the this fight on the other hand, I couldn't tell you the slightest thing about; my brain switched off like a minute ago. :D
• 16:12 - Oh boy, if there's something I find even more boring than people detailing game mechanics, it's watching other people play multiplayer games. (Oooooooo! In your face, eSports.)

DeviantArt Catch-up 15/03/17

Burning

by JiliK - Sep 15, 2016

Shapey Guy

by JiliK - Mar 15, 2017

Strange Terrain

by JiliK - Mar 15, 2017

Art Things: An Actual Four-Leaf Clover!

I think I mentioned before that I'm the sort of the (poor man's) Mr. Wolf of the family. So when one of my uncles passed a few years ago, I was called in to give his old place a bit of a tidy up. During the course of that, I happened on an old romance novel - sadly one that didn't have Fabio on the cover - and inside that, I found this:

A four-leaf clover, from goodness-knows-when, that someone must have been using the book to dry out and preserve. Despite living in Ireland, this was the first time I had ever even seen a four-leaf clover. Supposedly a good luck charm, this was a pretty awesome find that, obviously, someone long before me was also also quite excited to have uncovered.This was something that I needed to keep, and I decided the best thing to do with it would be to put it into a nice wooden frame, with maybe some cream-coloured backing paper.

Taking it home, I put it into a paper CD sleeve, put it away for safe keeping and set about tracking down the right frame and the right kind paper for the project. I don't really know much about that kind of thing, but acid-free seemed like it'd be the way to go. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find exactly what I was looking for in either department just then, so I ended up putting the whole thing aside for a few months. And then... I lost the freaking clover. :D I was sure I'd tucked the CD sleeve in between some DVD cases, but looking through them, I couldn't find it anywhere. That was that then, I guess.

Two years later, randomly taking out a DVD from my shelf, there it was again. I'm temped to say "Oh man, this thing obviously wanted to be found! Faaaaate!", but no, my lazy ass obviously just didn't search hard enough for it. :D And with that, the framing was back on. This time I quickly managed to find a nice frame and some good, high quality, acid free card in just about the right shade of off-white that I was looking for.

As I waited for my materials to arrive though, I started to wonder if the finished project wouldn't look a bit boring with a sea of empty space all around the clover. I started thinking about what I could do to fill in that space a little. That's when I remembered something else that I'd hung onto from my uncle's place:



This - the back page from some kind of financial diary that somebody had doodled a little house on. It seemed fitting to incorporate this into what was becoming a proper project now, and not just a simple framing, but how to do it was the question.

After some thought, I came up with the idea of placing the house above a meadow of clover that I'd draw myself, positioning the real clover at the bottom so it'd look it was sticking out of the field in the foreground - the one dried up old clover in the meadow from 20+ years ago, I guess, but whatever. :D



So, how to pull it off? Well, first I got out a sketchpad and started working on the clover-filled meadow. The house was drawn with a blue pen, so it seemed to make sense to use one for this too. I traced the basic outline of the house and the river in front of it (Well, I assumed it was a river. It does seem to be flowing out of the door of the house, which doesn't maker too much sense though.), putting it pretty high up to leave plenty room for the real clover. Around that outline I got to work filling in a mat of clover, flowers, grass and thistles, sticking to a fairly simple style that I hoped would line up well with the old drawing.

After finishing my first pass at the meadow and holding it up to the light with the old doodle, things were starting to take shape. I thought the house still stuck out from the new drawing a little too much though, so I tried to blend the old and new a bit more by filling in more flora closer to the bottom of the river, and by filling in the space above the river and around the house with some more meadow. After that, I was pretty happy with how things were looking. It was time to move on to the next stage: scanning in both of the drawings, and combining them into a single image.



The new drawing was pretty clean, of course, apart from some pencil marks that needed to gotten rid of. The doodle of the house though needed a fair bit of clone brush kung fu to wipe out the math all around it, but I think it turned out pretty well.



Not to get too far ahead, but the final, combined image I was going to be printing out onto the card, so I wanted a nice, clean line art image to work with, so the next stage was converting both images to line art...

... which made combining them together a simple matter of two layers and a bit of eraser brush work. It's at this stage that I drew in the tops of the chimneys, which weren't in the original drawing,..

I might have got a bit carried away "designing" the smoke.

..and, thinking that the sky above the house looked a bit empty, added in a couple of puffs of smoke to one of them - again, scanning them in after drawing them with a pen first.

And there it is: the final composite image. Not a bad attempt, though I wish I'd used a slightly thicker pen for everything I drew in. They still don't quite mesh with the house here, I think. Plus, I wish I'd filled a little more of that gap on the bottom right side of the river. Too late now though. :D So my image was ready to print onto that card. Black would have been a bit of a harsh colour for what I was aiming for though. No, I needed to Irish it up a bit: