Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Yandere Simulator: An Indie Game to Look Out For?

I recently discovered a rather interesting game about a week ago. While still in the very early stages of development, it managed to hold my attention for hours both playing it, and watching my brother react to playing it. That game is called Yandere Simulator.

Yandere simulator is a Hitman-like game where you play an obsessed high school girl whose goal is to stalk her "Senpai" and ensure nobody else is able to get too close to him. By whatever means necessary

In the game you can stab, tranquilize and harass other students you believe may be giving senpai too much attention. Currently, the game is a sort of testing field where the player can experiment with various features of the game with no real objective because it is unbeatable in its current state.

I have observed another blog stating that this game trivializes violence and sexually exploiting young girls and stuff of that nature. I personally love it when a developer is willing to push the boundary of what is acceptable in a game. Yes. Pantyshots are used as currency in the game. And yes you are able to kidnap, murder, and harass people until they commit suicide. Who cares? If it doesn't live up to your moral standards, walk away. I love all of those things but i wouldn't have my grandma play it. Its not for everyone.

With all of the games playing it safe and following a generic story with generic mechanics nowadays, I find myself thinking "Yeah but what is unique about it?". But with Yandere Simulator, i equate it to taking my head out of the murky ocean of monotony and being able to see the horizon of what could be. If a game can make me feel that without even being in a demo stage, It is doing something right.

I really have high hopes for this game and I am voting for this developer all the way. If my article interested you, watch some lets plays. check out Yanderedev's blog. I look forward to your next release!

Dragon Ball Back After 18 Years?

image from AnimeNewsNetwork.com


Not having had any new TV anime in 18 years, most people probably thought Dragon Ball Z was dead. But apparently found all 7 of the dragon balls and decided to wish that the show should come to life!

Starting in July at 9:00 am, a new show by the name of Dragon Ball Super will be added to the lineup of Fuji TV and other channels. The show will take place after the defeat of Majin Buu and said the show may feature "The most powerful villains yet. I for one, am extremely excited.

Dynamic Window Resizing Disabled in the Newest Version of Minecraft.


I have been accused before of being a Microsoft fanboy because i wildly prefer Windows to Mac. That is not true at all. I disagree with ALOT that Microsoft has done in the past. I never bought any of their consoles, i disagree with many of their policies regarding software, and when they bought out mojang, I was skeptical to say the least. I really hope that what i am seeing now is not a reflection of what is to come.

So i was playing minecraft the other day after downloading the newest version and was very displeased to learn that i couldn't have my game take up half of my screen anymore.
The newest version of minecraft has disabled dynamic window resizing and i am actually quite surprised to find out nobody else is talking about this. The fullscreen option is still available by pressing F11 but otherwise, the only option you have now is a really small window if you want to use the latest version. While it may be a minor thing right now, it may perhaps be a precursor of what is to come with minecraft. Messing with something that never needed to be messed with.

I personally may stop playing minecraft as much because of this change. I often like to have minecraft take up one half of the screen and youtube take up the other. and the default size of the window is just too small for a 27' 2560x1440 monitor.

I am watching you Microsoft.

Steam offers a solution for modders to sell mods for a profit . . . and its gone!


Yes just a few days ago, Steam announced that they would be starting to allow modders to make a profit on mods that they put on the steam workshop. It started with Skyrim and was planned to spread to other moddable games as well. Keyword "was".

There were many problems that arose when the feature was added. Firstly, modders would only receive about 25% of the profits from the mods they sold. Another issue was people were uploading mods that they themselves, did not create. Without a large enough staff to look over every single mod that was published, this became a huge problem for valve and they decided to remove the future shortly after it was created.

It is not often that people are seen revolting against the great Lord Gaben but mod users picked up their torches and pitchforks over this matter and understandably so.

One of the main draws to PC gaming is the availability of free mods to improve and change the game and you like. Fan made mods are just not something i think could see being something you ever had to pay for. While many great mods are made by people everyday, the fact of the matter is that mods made by fans can conflict with other mods and/or make the game un-stable with any mod other mod installed. Most modders would never allow themselves to be tied down to 1 single mod. You could play a game for 100 hours and run into a spot where 2 mods conflict and the game crashes. Then you have to make the decision to un-install at least 1 of the mods that you paid for.
That, along with the very small margin the creator would make off of the sale ment to the idea was simply dead on arrival.

I really hope valve never makes good on its statement to revive this feature in the future. I am all for businesses making money but this is just simply not the way to go about it.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Anime Review: Pupa

Pupa is BY NO MEANS perfect. However, i don't believe it deserves the flack it is getting.

I watched this immediately after watching Corpse Party. (I was in the mood for some violence) I am saying this to tell you that when i sat down to watch Pupa i was wanting and expecting violence.

STORY
POSITIVES
I thought it was genuinely sweet how the brother and the sister cared so much for eachother. If you watch the last episode first, it shows this pretty well.
I also think that their relationship with each other was an interesting take on the disease they both had and how they dealt with it.

STORY
NEGATIVES
There were many aspects of the story that were . . . . inconsistent or missing. Firstly, both of them have the disease but only one of them shows the symptom of craving human flesh.
Next, the dog at the very beginning of the show was never explained. The little girl had the disease since birth so what was the relevance of the dog? Why did THAT trigger what it did?
Also, these siblings had been together through thick and thin. They had abusive parents and led a very harsh life. So why is it that neither of them had realised they had regenerative abilities until they were in highschool. Why did neither of them seem to eat people before the start of the show?
Just the fact that everything starts when it does is just convenient to the plot.
Moving away from the siblings, another one of the main plots involving the witch is never followed up on! I genuinely wanted to know where that was going! Maybe to know to witches backstory too! Maybe if the show was 2, 22 minute OVAs and not 12, 2 minute mini-sodes, it would've been better in that aspect.

ART
POSITIVES
Any show that has very little / no censorship gains bonus points with me as well because when i watch a horror, i want to see the blood and gore. Good job Pupa!

ART
NEGATIVES
The art style is pretty un-inspired and alot of looping of animations was used to cut costs.

SOUND
POSITIVES
Nothing special.

SOUND
NEGATIVES
Nothing special.

CHARACTER
POSITIVES
Some people may think that the overly devoted siblings troph are un-inspired and annoying. I think its sweet especially with the last episode.

CHARACTER
NEGATIVES
The characters relationship means very little unless you watch the last episode and even then, it still may not satisfy many viewers.

ENJOYMENT
POSITIVES
I went in wanting violence and really didnt care much about the story.

ENJOYMENT
NEGATIVES
I was still left disappointed at the end. I wish there was more really.

OVERALL
Pupa is something you may watch if you are looking for excessive violence, into cannibalization in your shows, don't care much about story, and/or want a very fast show to watch. I fell under every single on of those categories so i enjoyed it enough. Im glad i watched it but i won't be watching it again. If there was more to it, i would've given it a much higher rating. Too bad they leave you hanging on so much.

If you like this review, check out some of my others! Tell me what you think! ^_^