My “Bucket List” updates & my “04 – 09 Art Journal” – part 1 -

Looks like my little idea caught my friend’s fancy and she also made one of her own: IceGlade's 2010 Checklist

Well as for my very own list, I’ll be updating it abit, and make it like a gamertag/PSN ID. That way I got me a pimped out achievements list of what I accomplished in life. Since they say that life is really just one huge videogame, so why not add achievements system as well like on consoles? XD I’m definitely gonna improve this idea further down the road. With this, I think I’ll just rename this as my “My Life Goals” or something. So here’s how it goes, if its green it means its accomplished, if its a red icon, it means its still not accomplished yet. Anyway here’s my list so far:

To have my own laptop.

(Achievement unlocked: April 14, 2009) I finally own one, its an ASUS 1000H netbook. It’s quite nice really and does the work I wanted it to do.

Screenprotector for my laptop.

I’ll be scouting for one soon. I’d hate to see my laptop’s LCD screen suddenly scratched.

Custom laptop skin.

Customize it’s look by buying a laptop skin. I think I’ll ask my friends to make me a custom decal for my lappie.

Giving my laptop a name.

(Achievement unlocked: January 13, 2010) I finally have a name for my laptop; I’ll just name it under my penname “DioBrando”. I think I’ll consider adding that to my laptop’s skin.

Have my own home

This may take awhile, but atleast I’m on my way to getting there, since now I have a regular job. I just need the money to pay off for it.

Get married with the girl that I love.

This may also take awhile, considering I want to get my own home first before even thinking about marriage.

Make atleast 5 games.

Of course I don’t just want 1 game under my name, but several. But I’ll definitely be creative in designing all of them.

Make my first Facebook game.

You gotta start with one. It doesn’t matter what kind game, as long as it’s on facebook.

Make a fighting game.

I have this concept for a fighting game that I’ve always wanted to do for the longest time. If given a chance, I’d love to develop it for a home console.

Make a RPG game.

I also plan on making an RPG game. I guess I’ll start off with just baby steps, until I get the concept for an RPG I’ve wanted on a decent 3D engine. Also, like my fighting game concept, I’d love to develop it for a home console.

Make a comicbook for Komikon.

I wanted to make a full pledged comicbook to be launched on Komikon.

Create 5 comicbooks/graphic novels.

And I just don’t want to make 1, but atleast 5 comicbooks/graphic novels.

See my works turned into a movie.

Of course, I would also want my works to be successful enough to be adapted into a movie. Being a movie buff that I am, I dream of seeing this one day.

Get myself that heat-transfer printer.

I wanted to also make my own t-shirt designs. Having shirts that have my own custom designs!! Coolness!!

Get a Wacom Tablet.

Inline with my goal in making comics/graphic novels, I need a Wacom tablet to help me in my work. I plan to get one this year.

Get an HDTV.

I wanted to own one because of the crisp clear pictures that will definitely be on this TV if I play games on it.

Get a PS3.

Ofcourse, I’d love to have a PS3 as well, but I definitely think I’ll own one this year. I think I’m almost close to owning one.

Get a desktop PC.

This would also be helpful in my work in making my graphic novel/comicbook.

Learn Spanish.

I want to be able to be fluent in different languages and one of them would be to be fluent in Spanish. Spanish is alot closer to my native tongue so I believe I’d have an easier time to learn this one than other languages.

Learn French.

I want to learn french is because I want to become like Col. SS. Landa (from the movie “Inglorious Basterds”) Besides french as they say is the language of love.

Learn Japanese.

I love anime, and I would love to watch anime in their native tongue, without reading subtitles. Nuff said.

To do bungee jumping.

Hey, I’m a thrill seeking, andrenalin-junkie. So I’d definitely want to do this atleast once in my lifetime…

Get a Transformer toy.

(Achievement unlocked: December 25, 2009) I finally own 2 transfomer toys; Bruticus (Decepticons) & Superion (Autobots). Superion was a gift to me by my GF last christmas, while I bought Bruticus using my money, since it was cheap (I got him for only P800).

Get a Voltron toy.

My ultimate dream ever since I was a kid. Growing up, I’ve always wanted to own a Voltron toy. I used to own one (the Jollibee kids meal version) but one of my nephews kid smashed it to bits when I wasn’t home one day. Lesson learned, get myself a safe cabinet to store and display my collection.

Get a digital camera.

I gave my Polaroid Digital cam to my youngest sister on her birthday, since she needs it more than I do, so I’m gonna buy a new one for myself.

Get a digital camcorder/videocam.

I want to be an amateur film director and atleast try to direct/make short films as a hobby and that’s why I want to invest on a modest videocam that will do just that.

Lose weight and gain some muscle.

I want to be in shape to be able to cosplay atleast, and fit in nicely with new clothes I buy. I’d love to look good for my GF.

Learn boxing/self-defense skills

If there’s anything I learned after being almost killed by a holdaper on my way home, is to atleast learn how to defend yourself when the situation calls for it. Thus I want to be able to learn atleast 1 self-defense skill.

 A bank account with atleast Php50K.

This is for me to be able to have a sort of trust fund or safety fund that I can depend on when there’s things that suddenly didn’t go as planned.

Get a credit card.

This is for me to be able to start up in building a decent credit record, as well as for me to be able to get more things I want to buy easier.

Get a car.

For me to be able to go places. I don’t mind what kind of a car I get, as long as it’s working, durable and reliable when I’m on the road.

Meet Satoru Iwata of Nintendo.

I’d love to sit down and chat with this guy. I want to atleast get to know in person the man behind the success story of Nintendo.

Meet Koji Igarashi of Konami.

Since I’m a Castlevania fan, it’s my dream to talk to this guy and atleast know what he’s upto. I would also share my thoughts on Castlevania and other stuff that I think he missed out on when he was still the director of the series.

Meet Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo.

All who aspire to be videogame designers are in the industry because of this guy. He’s the main reason why the videogame industry is big as it is today, because of his game; Super Mario Bros.

Meet Hideo Kojima of Konami.

As the creator of the Metal Gear series, I would love to sit down and chat with the man. And to atleast tell him how much I appreciate his work and how it affected me as well as a game designer.

Meet Manny Pacquiao.

I have very high regards with this man, and his passion for boxing, as well as his humbleness in admitting that without God, he won’t be where he is today.

Meet Berlin Manalaysay.

One of the reasons why I was inspired to make comics. I’m one of his avid fans back in the day when he was still releasing Combatron back in Funny Komiks. I grew up reading his work, and I would love to have the opportunity to thank him for giving me a hero to look up to when I was younger.

GameHopper’s exclusive Arcade Stick sneak-peek part 1

GameHopper has been around in the Metro for quite awhile, letting players rent games for consoles, being a sort of local-version of US’ own GameFly.  Now GameHopper sets to redefine themselves again by releasing their own line of console accessories for gamers.

I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek of what they’ve been cookin behind the scenes; an exclusive Arcade Stick that’s custom-tailored for hardcore fighting game players out there. The unit I got to try out was a prototype for the PS3, but I’m extremely impressed nonetheless.

Here are some shots of the arcade stick itself.

The arcade stick upclose. Very nice touch really.

And here it is in action, sitting on my friend’s lap.

And here’s a size comparison of the arcade stick with a 360 gamedisc box.

GameHopper’s exclusive Arcade Stick sneak-peek. part 2

The arcade stick itself was designed by a Street-Fighter enthusiast, who wants to get the same feel and response as that of the arcades. In his quest of finding the perfect arcade stick for his console, and after buying and trying literally everything there is in the market, he simply got fed up, and decided to make his OWN arcade stick.

According to the GameHopper rep I talked to, the creator of the arcade stick was such an enthusiast, that he researched the best possible button layouts, parts, plus adding his own tweaks to the design. And just like in the arcade, he wanted his arcade stick to be able to withstand great amounts of abuse from playing.

On my playtest, the GameHopper rep actually ENCOURAGED me to bang the product as bad as I can. He was that confident it wouldn’t tear off or break that easily. After almost 30-40 rounds of playing my impression of the arcade stick was nothing short but phenomenal. The arcade stick literally FEELS just as responsive and just as great as in the arcades itself. It’s that good!

The select, PS button, Start buttons are within reach and quite accessible, however the GameHopper rep told me that the designer plans to modify the button placement of those 3 and assign them to the side to avoid them being accidentally pressed during heated matches (which ironically happened on my playtest)

The face buttons are evenly placed, and is VERY RESPONSIVE. You won’t be having problems with these babies when the going gets tough.

Here’s a size comparison to a five peso coin.

And here’s the Mode & Turbo buttons on the top side of the box. Not too obtrusive, and can be accessed easily.

The unit itself is quite sturdy, and won’t move or budge when you set it down on a table and bang on it. Thus removes the need for suction cups or adhesives to ensure that the stick won’t move when you play.

The GameHopper rep told me that they will be redesigning the pad and give it a more sleeker faceplace and make the button labels easily readable, as well as other enhancements to make it even more better.

Overall, I must say I’m pretty impressed with GameHopper’s offering and I simply can’t wait to get my hands on the final design before it launches next year.

Polaroid A544 Review

You wanna own a digital camera, but you’re tight on budget? You want something that’s relatively inexpensive, but isn’t one of those cheapo brands that will breakdown easily? Well look no further, as I present to you, the Polaroid A544 Digital Camera:

For only Php 2,995 pesos you can get a 5MP (Megapixel) digicam that’s fairly capable in taking those everyday shots, and feels very well built for everyday use. I found these on sale as I was shopping at SM Sucat. I saw this on Picture City.

 

Well since this is my first review, I decided to review this little snazzy digicam for 2 reasons:

1. I still can’t find any reviews for this particular Polaroid digicam model.
2. And this is my first digicam that I personally bought for myself. (Not that I haven’t used other digicams in the past)

First off, I’m sure that some of you may recognize the brand Polaroid, but for those who don’t here’s a quick intro about the brand: Polaroid is known as the pioneer of the “instant photo” cameras where pictures are immediately printed from the camera itself right after being taken. It was wildly popular back in the day, and there are still some avid fans of the brand until now.

So anyway let’s move on with the review. Here’s my unboxing of the said unit:

The box definitely shows the key features of the product up front. Simple & clean.

 

As soon as you open the box, the camera sits right in the middle ready for you to use.

And here we have the contents of the package; the Polaroid A544 camera, a 2GB SD card, USB cable, User-manual with Warranty card (upto 1 year service warranty), Drivers CD with additional photo editing software & 2x AAA batteries (its already inside my camera)

Here’s the camera upfront. Not bad considering the price range. The build feels good & sturdy, while the overall weight of the camera is very light (with batteries included).

Here’s the camera’s back. It hosts a modest 2.5” LCD screen, and easy to use menu buttons. Fairly easy to use really.

The camera’s side. Hosts the USB slot, as well as lens focus.

The top part of the camera. Hosts the power button on the left, and the shutter button on the right.

And on the bottom part of the camera, it features the battery compartment door on the left, SD card slot in the middle, and a tripod slot on the right.

Here’s some quick specs of the said unit:

• 5.0 MP (megapixel) resolution
• 2.4” bright LCD display
• 8X digital zoom
• 32MB internal memory
• SD card slot
• USB slot (plug-and-play)
• Uses 2x AAA batteries

And here are some of the features:

• Captures 5MP still-pictures (saves them in JPEG format)
• Takes video clips in AVI (upto a max of 1 hour running per clip)
• SD/SDHC compatible (upto 16GB SDHC expandable memory)
• Auto white balance settings
• Electronic self-timer (perfect if you want to include yourself in a photo shoot)
• Red-eye reduction & Auto fill flash
• PictBridge compatible
• PC & Mac compatible (plug-and-play)

It may not have the bells & whistles of other well-known digicams, but definitely not bad for the price. Now as for camera itself, its designed with simplicity in mind. This in turn may turn-off photography junkies out there, but for the average dude who’s on a budget; this is a definite winner. Here are some sample pics taken from my unit:

Crisp and clear, not bad if you ask me.

Now as for battery life, well it may get easily worn out within a day. Since it does use 2x AAA batteries, unlike those other rechargeable models out there, that can be a big drawback for some. I would highly suggest that you get rechargeable batteries as soon as you can for this as it does eat batteries easily.

Another problem I would have about the camera is that sometimes, pictures do come blurry. I dunno if that’s because I’m a lousy photographer, but still its not as “point and shoot” as I expect it to be.

LOVE

• The price. You got so much for such an amazingly low-price.
• Easy to use controls. Its one of the easiest to use digicams I’ve tried.
• Light, yet decently sturdy build.
• Plug & play connectivity. For both PC & Mac.

HATE

• Easily drains up 2x AAA batteries. Rechargeable batteries is highly recommended.
• Pictures can sometimes be blurry, specially if you don’t focus well. Not exactly as “point and shoot” as I expected.

BOTTOM LINE

If you’re a newbie to digital photography and you simply want a decent digicam camera to get your hands on that wouldn’t hurt your budget, you can’t go wrong with the Polaroid A544.