July '09.1

Video Games Live was an intense experience, proving that video games are not only entertainment, but an art and a part of our culture that should be recognized and respected. If you get the chance to go, I highly recommend it. Not only will you get to see game footage from several popular titles, but you'll hear live orchestral music and choirs. And maybe you'll get to see Tommy Tallarico head bang to One Winged Angel. ^_^

Well, school is back in session, and I'm already excited about upcoming assignments in my Digital Image Manipulation course. I'm sure I'll have plenty of new additions to my Deviant Art site, and perhaps a few of those will end up on Artician. I did finish colouring my Togruta picture over my break, and am fairly happy with the outcome. I also compiled a few pictures of a monkey I sewed together a while back and submitted them. I'm still working on cleaning up a sketch of a humanoid version of Phinny, my stuffed cat/sidekick. I'll probably be scanning that soon and colouring it...my goal is to add it to my portfolio, but I'm waiting to see how it turns out, first. If all goes well, I'll be drawing a similar version of my alter-ego Rin, and perhaps collage the two together.

I beat Mass Effect on my break, and am even more excited about the sequel that's going to be released the beginning of next year. It's amazing that the characters will be the same from the first game (I killed off Ashley, so she won't be in my crew), so I'm hoping that my Commander Shepard and Kaiden will still have their relationship.

Bioshock 2 got pushed back, which I'm fine with. I'd rather wait and have the game be that much better, rather than buying a piece of rushed crap. Assassin's Creed 2 is still looking good. Still excited about Muramasa and FFXIV.

BlazBlue is a lot of fun. I think I enjoyed it more than Battle Fantasia, but that may be because 2d graphics have a special place in my heart. Both are rather hard, though, and require some time to learn the moves, but I enjoy that about fighting games. I'll have to see if the new King of Fighters stands up to them, too.

I've been playing the crap out of Gears of War 2 with Ian lately. We beat the game on Insane the other night, and prior to that, we'd been milking the mulitplayer maps for all they were worth. We still need online and public achievements, but neither of us are much for playing public matches. We'll see how that goes. The new All Fronts download will be available by the end of the month, and I'm really looking forward to that, as well. More maps, extra campaign level, and new achievements makes me a happy girl.