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  1. Panel 1:
    text:
    Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from everyone here at MegaTokyo!
    Seraphim:
    You do realize that this is not in my job description. Nevermind the metaphysical implications.
    Piro:
    I'm sorry, it's only for a few more days.
    Boo:
    Squeek.
    Largo:
    Where we gonna hang the batwing dude?
    Piro:
    Down low in the back.
    Asmodeus:
    Hey!!

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< Piro >

a stand-in card in case you ordered the book as a gift for christmas... print and give!

"little good things"

Tuesday - December 24, 2002

[Piro] - 09:30:02 - [link here]

Boy what a fuggled up couple of days it's been :)

Things actually started to crumble last Thursday and earlier, when I had to face the fact that the Megatokyo graphic novel was going to be late. The printer had busted their asses to try to make the print window but we were unable to make it. The binder was overbooked, so there really was no way around it. Still, it's like someone pointed out to me - often books are delayed by months, not just a few weeks.

I did get a copy the latest Vampire Princess Miyu book by IC Entertainment called 'Encounters', which was printed and bound by the same printer and binders... damn, it looks good. The MT books will look really good when they come out. I put together a card you can print out and give for Christmas if you had planned this as a Christmas gift - Of course, here it is Christmas Eve and most people are only just now finding the site again after the outage...

Yeah, the outage. I wont go into details, but it was serious enough to take out the main router in our network. Because of the holidays, with people traveling, not available, and everything else, it was a nightmare getting things strung back together again. We all owe Ukyo, Cortana and Kelly a great big 'thank you' for all the hard work and lack of sleep. Oh, and of course, we owe a big thank you to Makoto-chan herself, our lovely server, who has been kindly answering questions regarding the outage in the forums. She's a good girl, she is.

Oh, and how aptly named Makoto is...

For me, the outage was pure stress. I tell you, when what has become your livelihood goes crashing and burning and disappearing off the net, its amazing how upsetting that can be. In reality, a few days down, right around Christmas, is no big deal. But combined with the holiday stress, it was just over the top this year. But you gotta suck it up, do the best you can, and get thru it.

I spent yesterday doing all of my Christmas shopping. I always wait till the 24th to shop, but this year I managed to get out and do it all on the 23rd. Seraphim and I do so much together that its a pain to shop for each other, and its such a tight Christmas this year that i've had to be really careful (no worries - all the support and purchases and whatnot that all of you have made in the past month will really benefit me in the up coming months - just not right this moment :P)

Speaking of support, that's one of the other things. Even though the auction for the broken miho drawing ended at $1,200, doesn't really mean much when the high bidder doesn't respond ^^;; It's been seven days, so i guess its time to email the next bidder and see if they are interested. This is why I don't like auctions. Oh well, no big deal, really. Worst case, i'll find someone willing to spend a few bucks to get it, or just keep it with my piles of other drawings. :) It's pretty moot at this point.

So, that's my depressing christmas rant. ^^;; Actually, its not so bad - the holidays are all about a lot of little things that just sort of happen and you deal with, combined with what is in the end, a lot of good things. Little good things, really. And there's nothing wrong with that.

I have trouble with christmas and other holiday special comics because i always end up dragged around so much around the holidays, and this year is no exception. I've finally got a decent toehold on the christmas special comic, and you can expect that today before the end of the day. Normal comic schedule starts back up on Friday.

From everyone here at Megatokyo and Fredart Studios (dang, that makes it sound like bunches of people!) I want to wish everyone a happy holidays. Be safe, and I'll see everyone later :)

< Dom >

Too bad they don't have any info up on that site...

"Be Just or Be Dead"

Sunday - December 22, 2002

[Dom] - 21:00:00 - [link here]

First: Yes, we were down. No, we didn't like it either. And yes, we should be back to normal shortly. Here endeth my tale.

On to Guilty Gear XX (X2, Igzex, whatever). I first played this sucker at this year's Anime Expo, where I pissed people off with May and my endless Guile-like cries of "summahsal!". I loved Guilty Gear X, so the opportunity to get the second round of an established Guilty Gear player-Mikey, the Korean master of GGX and XX, is also known as Crackpr0n... love him or hate him, he's gooood-was too tempting to pass up. Free play at an arcade? Sign me up!

I can't say much positive about the game's balance, but damn, I still love it. The character designs and the animation are both damn beautiful (notable exception, the drawing of I-no on the Japanese box art is butt ugly), and Faust is my favorite character in a fighting game, like, ever. Just based on style. And the fact that I want Mikey to cosplay as my Faustino so I can throw him out of a paper bag.

The gameplay is just under the radar for me; it's simple enough that I can just pick up a random character, learn one or two of their moves, and do pretty well. It's also got complexities that people keep explaining to me but I know I won't be able to do without sticking $20 worth of quarters in there. Knowing when to Roman Cancel or Yellow Burst instead of waiting to blow off that super at the end of a future combo? False Roman Cancel? Impossible Dust? I can't do that crap. I just wanna hit punch and watch the whale come out (Rock on, May!).

I realized something else when I was playing PS2 GGXX, though. Had nothing to do with the game itself, and had everything to me. I can't play fighting games without a good arcade stick anymore. I can't even imagine Soul Calibur 2 on the PS2 controller, because I will always hate the standard PlayStation D-Pad, while the analog stick just doesn't cut it. I used to be satisfied with the old Japanese Saturn controller for fighting games, and the Fighting Pad for the Dreamcast worked on those same principles.

But after playing Capcom vs SNK 2 on Xbox Live, I started realizing that I hate controllers for fighting games. It wasn't just the Xbox controller, either. It was just frustrating using a d-pad just so I could talk. I wanted to pull out the X-Arcade or anything that would offer a better experience than the D-Pad... but alas, it was not to be, I stuck with the headset and got my ass handed to me by someone whose moves I could read a mile away... the dragon punch motion was denied to me by a d-pad, and when I play wakeup games with Joe, I like those few frames of invincibility.

But yes. The next gaming purchase I'm going to make is going to be a decent arcade stick, followed by GGXX or Soul Calibur 2 (whichever comes first).

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