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Karuto

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Just your typical ex-modDB Staff member floating about on the wings of v4.

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New Year's Resolution

Karuto Blog 3 comments

I am contemplating whether to get actively involved on modDB again, considering I finally got an internship in the gaming industry, and at least have a little knowledge to spread around considering I have tried many times in the past to get a modding project finished (had one underground for a while that reached alpha, but never surfaced into a final product). I have only seen a few old timers still actively posting on the forum anyway, so maybe it is time to come back. Who knows?

modDB

Karuto Blog 1 comment

Yeah, don't really like visiting this site as much as I used to. I only show up to check my mod watch (which is giving me errors so I can't clear the ones I've already seen), and to check my Anime club, which has 116 members -- making it the fourth-largest group (and currently sitting at the 16th spot for most popular group). The forum is a pile of unmoderated garbage, so I'll stick to what actually makes this site good.

It's Good To Be a PS3 Fan

Karuto Blog

Important Updates:

  • Greatest Hits titles will be available at $29.99 retail later this year. Games include Resistance, Motorstorm, Warhawk, Call of Duty 3, Fight Night and Need for Speed Carbon, Rainbow Six Vegas, Assassins Creed, Oblivion, Ninja Gaiden.
  • Universal access to PSN, via PC later this fall. Access Friends lists and more on your computer, even when you're not on the PS3.
  • Ratchet & Clank Quest For Booty coming to PSN this Summer. A new concept: shorter game at a lower price. A big summer blockbuster film: it's everything you expect from a Ratchet game, and it's a continuation of the franchise. It leaves off where Tools of Destruction leaves off.
  • New PSN games includes Rag Doll Kung Fu sequel.
  • Movie and TV downloads. Major studio supports from Sony, Fox, MGM, Lions Gate, Warner, Disney, Paramount, Turner, Funimation will offer support for PlayStation video. Will offer SD and HD content. TV shows start at $1.99 per episode, movie rentals start at $5.99 per rental. Not only can you play the content on the PS3, you can play it on PSP. It can be placed on multiple devices at the same time.
  • Ratchet & Clank Size Matters Entertainment Pack includes Size Matters, Nation Treasure 2, 1GB Memory Stick, echochrome for $199 later this year.
  • PSP Resistance Retribution announced. Third person action game. The Resistance is now in your hands. Uses over-the-should view. From Sony Bend, developers of the Syphon Filter PSP games.
  • PSP Software highlight reel includes Loco Roco 2, Super Stardust Portable. Valkyria Chronicles on PSP!
  • Life with PlayStation also on display. Will be available at the end of the month.
  • First look at DC Universe Online for PS3. Experience the DC Universe as never before. Fight against or alongside favorite DC heroes and villians, like Batman, Superman, The Joker. Build your legacy against superpowered enemies.
  • 80GB Core Pack at $399.99. Twice the storage capacity at the same price. New SKU, most likely will not feature PS2 backwards compatibility.
  • God of War III coming to PS3! Trailer showcased.
  • inFamous coming Spring 2008.
  • Andy Beaudoin from Zipper's new game. (Zipper worked on SOCOM on PS2.) MAG will support up to 256 players.

Releases for 6/19

Karuto Blog 1 comment

I figured I'd kick off a feature for my blog where I'd run through a couple of the latest video game releases of the week and let you guys know what I think about them. I'm calling it "Karuto's Flavor the Week", although the title is tentative. Who knows? I might throw up some flashy, eye-catching art or something. Let's get started.


Requiem: Bloodymare

Reqiuem: Bloodymare is a brand new PC MMORPG from the creator of the wildly popular Ragnarok Online, Gravity. Now, when you think of Requiem, the first thing that would pop into a lot of hardcore gamer's heads are the Requiem computer games from the 90's, and honestly, the concept of this game isn't far from that. It still mixes homosapians and beasts together in a fantasy world. Likewise, it also takes into consideration the much more mature themes, and it shows in this heavily Western-influenced title. This game is certainly not meant to be played by children, as is evidence with the ability to hack off limbs and decapitate your foes.

From my experiences in the beta, the game does remind me a lot of another popular MMO, Lineage II (at least, as far as the art style and some of the gameplay is concerned), but it does do a lot to set itself apart, such as a "Nightmare" mode (where stronger monsters come out at night), the ability to transform into this bloodthirsty beast, having full control over the evolution of your character, and the absolutely ginormous PVP battles (up to 192 people fighting on a single battlefield) makes this at least a try. Hell I played it for a few days, and I usually give up on online games sooner than that.

Spore Creature Creator

Thanks to a preorder at GameStop, I was able to pick up this exciting little "mini-game" for free. The soon-to-be multi-million dollar franchise Spore has been building a lot of fervor since it was announced back at E3 2005, and now we''re less than 3 months away from the full game's official release (September 5th in Europe, September 7th in North America and elsewhere), but here we have the precursor to the penultimate God simulator, Spore Creature Creator.

The Creature Creator is really the second step you take in the game (the first is the Cell phase, where you'll be running around gobbling up microbes and protein while avoiding predators and other dangers). You basically start off with a spinal cord with the ability to freely morph and stretch like clay into whatever shape you desire which hopefully resembles something close to beast-like (although I'm sure there will be plenty of risque creations as well). Using this utility, it basically allows Maxis to populate the universe of Spore before the game's September release, which I think is a great idea. I can't wait to build my race up to the Space phase and go around blowing up my friends' planets!

This extremely ambitious project will certainly be EA's new cash cow in the future like with The Sims, but let's not talk about that.

Space Invaders Extreme

What's old, fun, and makes you feel like you've just had too many hits of acid at a Rave party? Why, Space Invaders Extreme, of course! This trippy game is evidently an update from the classic arcade game from the late 1970's, released for both the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS. With updated graphics and a techno-filled soundtrack that is synched directly to what's happening on screen, the series has certainly been giving a huge injection of adrenaline with this latest title, breathing new life into an old property. For example, a great first for the series is the ability to dual it out in the new multiplayer mode.

I highly recommend the DS version when it comes to this feature, because not only can you share the game with someone who may not own the title using the system's Download Play function, but you can also go online and upload your score to the Worldwide Rankings board, while also playing against friends and strangers alike.

The best part is that this game was developed by Taito, the original creators of Space Invaders, so there is definitely a healthy amount of authenticity to be had here, and this is by far the company's best effort at modernizing an arcade hallmark.

So, what do you guys think? Good first effort? Let me know what changes or additions you think I should make!

Rating System

Karuto Blog 8 comments

I don't really know how this rating system works. I'm level 10, which makes me barely a member who can vote on MOTY. Yet, here are my contributions:

1) A former staff member with three articles, who participated in a MOTY, and worked as both a Game Auther and Forum Moderator (with three stickied threads).
2) A group in the Top 20 (and was in the Top 6).
3) A tutorial that was at one time the third most viewed tutorial on the site.
4) A member on the site for over 4 years with over 12,000 posts, belonging to 24 groups and having 37 friends and starting (granted, never finishing) several different mods.
5) I have posted 20 different news articles, 8 since v4 came about.
6) Holding userbars as Ex-Staff, Senior Member, and Old Timer, which are labels not chosen by me but by INtense.

So I don't know how things are calculated, but doesn't this amount of activity account for something a little more?

Bluray Release Week

Karuto Blog

You know it's a great week to be a movie afficianado when there's this many BluRay movie releases in a 7-day period. Mind, several of these are re-releases from Paramount after they removed them from the shelves while promoting HD-DVD.

Bluray Release Week

Karuto Blog

You know it's a great week to be a movie afficianado when there's this many BluRay movie releases in a 7-day period. Mind, several of these are re-releases from Paramount after they removed them from the shelves while promoting HD-DVD.

Live-Action Overload

Karuto Blog

There's so many live-action remakes for anime coming up. Astro Boy, Speed Racer, Gatchaman, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Dragonball Z -- even the recently announced AKIRA live-action film with Leonardo DiCaprio himself set to produce. It seems that ever since Transformers was announced, movie producers have been scrambling to pick up any and all popular licenses in the anime world to give the big-screen treatment. What's next -- a live-action film for Pokemon?

Mod Making

Karuto Blog 2 comments

Been back and forth on whether I want to reignite my old "Project Masamune" mod. I had built this 12-page concept over the last several months, but I'm afraid there's too much story and not enough gameplay, which is usually the case in most of my endeavors. I can never seem to come up with that actual element. I could always consider making a machinima, but that's not really something I ever considered doing, and I don't know if it's something I want to do.

 After failing out of Computer Science my first semester in college, that pretty much demoralized me to the point that I don't even want to think about doing any type of coding. It didn't help that it was the school's first time ever teaching Java -- it clearly showed since the professor had no experience educating his students about it. But I can only blame myself for getting the F.

I don't know if you guys ever got to see my old mod. It's been in the archives for a while, but I'll dig it up just for you guys to take a good look. The summary is gone, but the media isn't. Take a look, tell me what you think, and let me know if you think I should try again: Moddb.com . 76 watchers... look at how many people we disappointed....

I like to say that I'm always busy, but the fact is I always have some free time. Anyone who says they don't either has A) a girlfriend, B) live at their work, or C) are lying bastards who love complaining like me.

 

My Trip to Chicago, Illinois

Karuto Blog 4 comments

So, I finally got to go to Chicago last weekend. It was a great trip!

The reason I went in the first place was actually go to an anime convention, but believe you me, it was just plain terrible. There were no interesting panels to speak of, no guests that I actually wanted to chat with (unless you find the inkist for the Powerpuff Girls comics an exciting person), and even the Rave party that was thrown left a lot to be desired. I basically spent both Friday and Saturday night drinking. The unreal part is that my friend, who drank just as much as I did, almost had alcohol poisoning and I had to jump into the ambulance that was taking him to the hospital, all the while conversing with police officers on his condition and trying to pretend like I wasn't drunk (I'm only 19, and the legal drinking age is 21).

So what we did instead on Saturday afternoon was take a trip to the Mitsuwa Marketplace, this giant grocery store/bookstore/bakery/food court of a building that lies smack dab inside the Japanese district. I had a blast! Inside the bookstore, I found literally this tomeof manga (Japanese comics) that only cost me $7. I also picked up the latest issue of Famitsu, which is the most popular gaming magazine in Japan. I actually felt like both were worth every penny! Afterwards, we went to the bakery, picked up some melon bread, and proceeded to the food court. The best part of a Japanese food court is that you get this seemingly huge amount of food for the same price as a value meal at McDonald's -- this is what they consider to be fast food in the land of the rising sun. I got this platter of rice, teriyaki, and a big fat omelette with decoration of ketchup on top for $4! And right next door, I discovered a place where they mix green tea with dairy (milk, ice cream, yogurt, etc.) to make one big shake. It may not sound that great, but once I tasted it, I felt like I was in heaven! If you ever get the chance to go to Chicago, definitely consider stopping at Mitsuwa Marketplace. I'm pretty sure every person we talked to there knew just enough English, so there's no worry about the language barrier or whatever.

After stopping at Frys (basically a Walmart for geeks) and a Japanese Toy Store, we went back to the hotel where the convention was taking place. As I was walking around the Dealer's Room (a section where a bunch of merchants sell their products), and while I was half-drunk, I noticed a table full of swords, and knew instantly that I had to buy one. It was pretty much the sweetest-looking sword I ever found that I could actually take around my school without getting in trouble (aka can't cut someone's head off). I figured I'd need it in case the zombies started to attack, but what did I know? I was fucking drunk and didn't know where my logic went off to.

Here's a picture of me with the sword:

User Posted Image

So all in all, it was a hell of a lot of fun for my first time going to Chicago. I've honestly never been outside of the midwest here in the United States. Hopefully I'll be able to go overseas this Summer for a Study Abroad trip, but I can't really see that far into the future. :)