Tuesday 31 May 2016

DOOM/QUAKE CREATOR CREATES YET ANOTHER AWESOME MAP FOR DOOM!





I know if I've talking about Doom too much but I promise this is the last one. 





If anyone isn't familiar with John Romero. He is the guy that worked for Id Software and created such great classics such as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake. But recently, Romero has just created two new maps to play on Doom. One being E1M8 and the other one being E1M4. Will he create more? Only time will tell.

You will still face the same type of monsters but except the map layout is different. But however. E1M4 has a glitch that can crash and force Chocolate Doom to close down unexpectedly. My recommendation is to use Zandronum or GZdoom so that the game does not crash. 

It's great to see Romero creating Doom maps and I hope he makes more in the future. In the mean time. Here's the download links to his maps if you want to play them.

E1M8B:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2x2ee3r51986dkt/e1m8b.zip?dl=0

E1M4B:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0kw4fqg1tuxpnxx/e1m4b.zip


Sunday 29 May 2016

SOUTH PARK PILOT IN TIGER WOODS 99 (PLAYSTATION)?






So lemme ask you this, why in the heck I'm I talking about a PlayStation sports title that is rated E and 3+ which is called Tiger Woods 99 PGA Tour Golf??



Well if you put the game CD on your PlayStation, it will still work as a normal game. But if you put it into your computer and open the game's files. You will see that there is a video file called ZZDUMMY.DAT that is got nothing to do with the game nor it can be access in the game. This DAT file It is in fact the pilot episode of South Park called The Spirit of Christmas which can be played with a video player (mainly VLC). I'd love to show you the exact episode of the pilot but unfortunately Viacom (who owns Comedy Central) has blocked it on YouTube. I'm afraid you're your own to find it unless you're lucky enough to have spare copy of Tiger Woods 99 which has the ZZDUMMY.DAT file which is of course the South Park pilot. I'm not sure if the PAL versions of the game has the pilot. Censored Gaming has an interesting video covering this:


Because Electronic Arts' employees thought it was really funny and slapped the pilot on the game's disc without Viacom's consent. Electronic Arts fired the employees for putting the South Park video on the game's disc, recalled 100,000 copies of the game off the shelves and apologized everyone in the process. Even a mother's son discovered the pilot episode on the game's disc which his mother complained to Electronic Arts which you can read RetroJunk's article here:
http://www.retrojunk.com/article/show/4508/the-tiger-woods-99-recall

Luckily, Electronic Arts was really aware of this and didn't receive any lawsuits from Comedy Central and it's owner Viacom. Electronic Arts then later re-release the game without the video file. The PC version wasn't effected. I don't know why EA's employee manage to pull this off.  

Monday 23 May 2016

SO YOU THINK CLASSIC DOOM LEVELS ARE THE ONLY EASTER EGGS IN DOOM 2016?





Another blog, another Doom related entry. It seems that Bethesda Softworks and Id Software loves to throw in great easter eggs to pay tribute to the original Doom games, Wolfenstein 3D, Quake and even Commander Keen. We had three hidden secret rooms in RAGE, hidden Wolfenstein 3D levels in Wolfenstein: The New Order and now we have hidden rooms in every level and can be played once you discovered them in each level in the new Doom reboot. In each level, you just simply find a lever and pull it, a sound will play indicating a hidden door has opened near by. But I'm not hear to talk about that. I wanted to share a couple of new easter eggs found in the game.

THE TERMINATOR SALUTE: (May have minor spoilers to film)



If you happen to die somewhere in the lava. Doomguy will melt into the lava obviously, during the death scene, he happens to give out a very familiar gesture. That gesture actually references the farewell from the Terminator in the film Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Quite a homage if you ask me.

COMMANDER KEEN'S HELMET:

















During Chapter 6 just after you hit the checkpoint and collected an Argent Cell. You will see two paths. The one down below leads to a secret area which not only contains the chaingun but also a very familiar football helmet with two Doom logos on it. The helmet is actually referencing a another gaming franchise Id Software used to work on before they made shooters such as Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. It's Commander Keen, a episodic series which consists of 6 games. The Commander Keen easter egg on Doom reboot isn't even Wikipedia so could it be I'm the first one?

Apart from the main classic Doom levels, I think that's pretty much I can find, if you find more, lemme know.

Thursday 19 May 2016

MY HONEST THOUGHTS ON DOOM REBOOT





(This blog contains personal opinions, please respect my opinions/thoughts by not sending me hate comments)

So I managed to find time to play on the new DooM reboot and I have to admit. It looks pretty good for a solid first person shooter. No aiming down sights, no health regen, no reloading, no stupid follow the NPC throughout the level and wasting your time, no penalties, no shitty two weapon limit and no cover system. Just run and kill everything that moves and that's a great thing. But however there is two drawbacks I kinda want to address to Id Software, Doom's Snapmap and the multiplayer.



While it's great for creating Nazi Zombie style survivor modes and deathmatch arenas. It has a few problems, it's completely limited and terrible for mods and here's why:
  • Since the Cyberdemon and Spider-Mastermind and some monsters are boss exclusives in the game. They cannot be selected. But why can we use crap load of Cybies in Doom Builder for Doom I & Doom II?
  • The two-weapon system limit. Please do not tell me Id is following CoD's footsteps with this garbage system in Snapmap mode.
  • You start with a Combat Shotgun which is your starting weapon in Snapmap rather than a pistol. Once both of your weapons runs out of ammo, can't use fists unless you glory kill them when the enemies flash orange, then you're simply stuck with a standard melee stub like any other shooters. No pistol, na da! Doom 3 had fists for crying out loud.
  • Only one environment can only be selected for snapmap which is the UAC base which kinda both bland and lame.
  • If you go overboard one of the limit percentages, you cannot add anymore unless you delete some.
  • There is no mods.
I don't know about you but Brutal Doom's mod creator SgtMarkIV was right about the whole snapmap situation after all. Even though I don't hate snapmap that much, it's still easier to use, just the programming I need to get used to.


 As for the multiplayer, it's good in my opinion but feels a little bland. It just basically plays like any other multiplayer shooters. You can customise your character design and your loadout ''cough'' ''cough'' two weapons at a time, play as a demon when you pick up a rune and even do glory kills on other players. In the original multiplayer of Doom, you start out with a pistol and had to pick weapons to use against your foes, in Doom 2016, you have a loadout system. And as for the announcer, it's terrible. the multiplayer just feels like Destiny all over again but with Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament elements thrown in.

Certain Affinity who assisted Activision and Bungie with the multiplayer content for Call of Duty and Halo also assisted Id Software with the multiplayer aspects for Doom. 
I'm not saying that the multiplayer isn't really bad. It's does has it's good points and it's bad points. I quite enjoyed it. I really hope mods gets added sometime for snapmap in the near future. 

Tuesday 10 May 2016

CRASH BANDICOOT IN UNCHARTED 4?...NO WAY!!





(THIS BLOG ENTRY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS, PLAY THE GAME FIRST IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED)


So when I was browsing on Twitter. I found out that Uncharted 4: A Thief's End contains one of the best Easter eggs in PlayStation history. And no it is not Jak & Daxter. 

It's a scene where Nate uses a PlayStation to play on other than. CRASH BANDICOOT!!! 




Crash Bandicoot was first released on PlayStation 20 years ago when Naughty Dog developed the game for Universal Interactive Studios and Sony Interactive Entertainment to sell as a PlayStation exclusive title to compete against Nintendo and Sega. Naughty Dog felt they wanted to pay a homage tribute to the Bandicoot by including a scene where Nate felt confident to try and beat Elena's high score on some ''TV game thing'', alas being Crash Bandicoot on a original PlayStation and Nate doesn't even know how to play Crash. Despite calling him a fox.

The level in which the mini-game is based off from the level ''Boulder Dash'' where Crash had to run down the course without being crushed by a boulder, collecting wumpa fruit and smashing crates along the way. You can even play this as a mini-game.




In comparison. here's the original gameplay of the same level.



So there you go, A Naughty Dog developed game in an Naughty Dog developed game. Now if only Activision would seriously sell the IP to Sony because we would love to see a new Crash Bandicoot game in the near future. Is PlayStation really teasing us?

Monday 9 May 2016

HOW MANTU NEARLY GOT A NEW STORY





In case you didn't noticed. Mantu almost had a another story but I decided to scrap it because I never had the time to finish it and was just too busy with other projects and back then, I only had very strict break times. And that story is called Girl Trouble


I know the title seems generic but I can think of a better story name than that though. Basically the plot goes like this. This story would introduce a new ''female'' villain in Mantu's universe called Cherry Fairy. Now Smith you're saying why a fairy for a villain. Well then my friend in case you didn't notice. Fairies can be evil. Even though sometimes they are good. 

Anyhow, the story. Cherry Fairy's evil scheme isn't actually destroying Mantu. Her evil plan was to take over Mantu's home island by firing a love arrow on the ground which attracts many young girls to fall in love with the island's living beings, brainwashing them in the process by kissing them with cooties and then, steal the energy jewels which powers the island inside and use it to take over the world.

While that would seem to be an interest plot. If did make an episode on that. I don't think TV networks would air it at all. Also, here's the whole comic itself, since the pages are double sided. Scanning them one at a time would take up too much space and time.

    

I would really love to finish this story off but it's just I never find time to finish it. That's daily life for you. I play games, go to college, pretty much everything in the real world.

Friday 6 May 2016

REMEMBERING MY BEST EARLY CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER






© Cartoon Network/Tom Warburton

I know this is old news from my other site but it's worth mentioning on here but is anyone familiar with Codename: Kids Next Door when it first aired on Cartoon Network back in the early 00's? Does anyone remember the great Tom Warburton who worked closely with Curious Pictures by directing Sheep on the City and created Codename: Kids Next Door for Cartoon Network? Even though most famous cartoonists can have a really busy life. Mr. Warburton in my opinion is such an amazing guy and even has a great heart and love his fans so much that he did sketches for them with their orders for a limited time, had a Q&A session on YouTube and even encourages his fans to draw more G:KND art. Here are my examples:



So why did he do international shippings for a limited time? Because he really loves his fans so much across Earth, not just America. I happened to order something from his Printlabs store when he was doing international orders for a week. Mine was the ''Stay Young'' image that was used in the ending credits from the show's finale. It was so memorable, so tear dropping that it's a great way to bid farewell to the show by ending it with a bang with Mr. Warburton's awesome drawing of Sector V looking into the sunset. After that, Mr. Warburton moved on to work on a children's book called 1000 Times No.

When my order came on boxing day, I was so hyped and honoured seeing my name written by Mr. Warburton, but's that's just the start. Here's what I got inside:


image

Not only if I just got the print. I even got a set of KND playing cards that were made by Wizards of the Coast for Cartoon Network/Warner Bros. to sell back in the early 00's. Since Mr. Warburton was so awesome, he even does sketch requests by drawing KND characters on sketchcards that are requested by his fans. I would ask him to draw Supersmith but he only does official characters he worked on such as Kids Next Door and other projects. I'm surprised no one asked for Kenny and the Chimp as sketchcard form. For me, I picked Numbuh 3 on both. One for Stay Young and one for the sketchcard because she is my favourite character from the show and dang, she even called my name. Was super cool having his autograph signed three times though. Also, he's a close up in better quality.




And that's all I got to share and I'm very sure Mr. Warburton will do international orders again sometime later this year. And to Tom Warburton, keep up the great work, support and have a great future. Thank you.

DRAWING MY CUTIES NEVER GETS OLD

I happen to do more sketches recently and I have to admit, they looks really cute especially Mantu. I did happen to bring back Hyper Girl because of her beautiness and wears light colors such as light pink and blue. Also, one of the photos features Numbuh 3 from Kids Next Door. Like I was saying, I'm trying to take break from drawing any KND art and focus on my characters more. Here's my work that I just done










I have to admit, I did improve a lot with my sketching skills. I know I haven't Chapter 1 of Kids Squad yet but it will happen. I will let you know when there is a release date.

Thursday 5 May 2016

FUN WITH MANTU AND A SPECIAL GUEST


You know back in the early 00's I used to like The Powerpuff Girls, you know three these pint-size super-heroines who kick butt before bedtime? I liked them because of their cuteness especially. But with thanks to the trashy reboot. I kinda lost interest. When I dug my archives of Bubbles and Mantu done by an old friend of mine. I found some cute pictures of Mantu at the beach. And yes, he does look very cute!


Then why did I give him toes? In my own world. My own species known as balls always have five toes and four fingers. Compared that to five fingers and four toes used in the Kids Next Door pilot P in the OOL. At first, Mantu's hands and toes were going to be white. But I decided to change it to back since it suits him. Anyhow here's more done by my old friend.


































And as a bonus. I even added Mantu playing on a game and Smithy being hugged Hyper Girl and Tina.






















I have to admit, they are really cute and I really miss him. But oh well. I do happen to have my own Tina Newbie sketches and also a comic laying. If I find more. I will upload them here. So stay tooned!!

THE ORIGINS OF ZONK THE MARTIAN







11 Years Ago, one of the support staff at school created an awesome martian like creature for me. He was going to be the villain by destroying major cities and taking over the world. But however with thanks to my inspirations. I decided to change him to be the good guy and fight against intergalactic baddies. He wields a space blaster and even has a detachable eye. What's his name?


The main logo says it all!!

I did happen to do some sketches here and then:



I know there's isn't much but I do have more here: http://www.deviantart.com/browse/all/?section=&global=1&q=zonk+the+martian

I also happen to write a major backstory about him so here we go:

When Zonk was going to be a villain, he became the super galactic hero, but how come did he become one of them? Well many decades ago, Zonk originally lived on Mars with his inhabitants called Martians. Zonk thoroughly enjoyed his daily routines and has been pitching plans to visit Earth and conquer the planet. When until all of a sudden, an evil spaceship swoops down on Mars and attacks their inhabitants. The Martians ran away for cover as a vile and evil mercenary space lizard named Decko manages to capture on Martian for Professor Evil Brain's test subject to transform a living martian into a robotic space suit for the evil space queen to wear in order to become immortal and conquer the universe. Enough power for her and the suit to destroy any living star, any living planet and any living Galaxy!!

That evil space queen is called Queen Dimer XV and she ordered Prof. Evil and Decko to capture the martian and use their body as a fashion trend for her supersuit to wear. When Zonk got captured and was brought into Professor Evil's laboratory, Zonk is defenseless and helpless. Once the project begins to kick off, Evil cuts out Zonk's eye and his assistants began taking his organs out and replaced them with mechanical robot parts so that the suit is more comfortable for the queen to wear when controlling Zonk's body.

Hours later, Zonk's only remaining living organs and is his eye, his small brain and a tail. His living eye found out that he is woking up inside a jar labelled ''Eye'' on a shelf. Zonk peers down and found out his motionless body on the experiment table. He pushed and rammed the jar so hard that it fell off the shelf and shattered on the floor.

Once Zonk broke free out of the jar, Prof. Evil heard a glass shatter and quickly ran into the room. Zonk manages to jump back into his body just in time before Evil came in and saw what happened. Prof. Evil tries to power down his body only to be hit by a heavy object that Zonk threw. Zonk then founds himself that he had two things in his robotized body. A pocket space bike which can fly in deep space and on land, and a plasma blaster for combat which would of been used against heroes who try to fight Dimer. Zonk looks at his blaster and he accidently fires it, seeing the plasma projectile bouncing around the lab, it zapped down Prof. Evil for the count and Zonk was impressed with his accidental shot. He twirls his blaster before putting it in his pocket and manages to escape with his spacebike before Evil wakes up. 

During Zonk's return to Mars. He heard a faint cry from someone, someone that he thinks it could be a damsel in distress being held by Queen Dimer. Zonk decides to scout the planets to find the princess, but she is nowhere to be seen. The problem is, he doesn't know which planet she is held. Meanwhile. Decko has been told by Evil that Zonk has gotten away from the experiment and orders him to destroy Zonk so that he can deliver his body to the queen asap. Decko accepts the deal and then sets off, waiting for the time to ambush him. And this is where Zonk's quest begins.

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And dang that was a long backstory. Also I'm not done with today just yet. Watch out for more blog entries.