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< Piro >

"Broken Limbo"

Monday - August 18, 2008

[Piro] - 10:33:57 - [link here]

I need to apologize for the very serious delay of the past week. Most of it stems from a very difficult problem i was having with the new t-shirt printing and production that took almost 4 entire days to resolve... a problem that needed to be fixed and at times i wondered if i was ever going to overcome. It has delayed not only this comic (since i have been spending most of my time on it) but has delayed production and shipment of all the shirts that you folks have ordered from the store. The good news is that last night i was finally able to resolve and fix the issue. Subsequent testing has confirmed that the issue is indeed fixed, and the print quality of the shirts is up to what i (and you) expect them to be.

The limbo i have felt like i have been living in for the past week is now broken.

Of course, the euphoria that came with finally resolving the problem (it had to do with being able to properly print in high speed (bi-directional) mode as opposed to normal speed (unidirectional) which was more than doubling the time it took to print shirts) has now passed and i'm having to face the big catch-up with not only orders but the comic as well.

This comic is actually not too far off from being done, but i still have a few more frames to finish before i can post. On top of this, now that the printer is working properly i have to actually be there to ramp up production so we can fill all the outstanding orders.

So, that said, I would first like to apologize for the delay in shipment of your shirt orders from the Megagear store, and let you know that we are now back online and orders will start being filled and shipped as soon as i can get them printed and out the door. Thank you for your patience. As for the comic, it's coming - and now that i am past this big hurdle with this new production method and i will be switching my priorities back to that thing that i would much rather be doing - drawing comics.

I also owe you folks a rant with more info on what exactly this all is. I'll do that too in the next few days.

Ah, the joy of learning the ins and outs of new production methods, new machines... Sometimes it's learning the technical bits and tricks and ins and outs of machines that always have their own personality and quirks. Sometimes it's a question of learning what voodoo or magical incantations to recite. Sometimes it's finding that hidden little hatch on the back marked with a squiggly looking cephalopod-like creature that pops out and reveals an intake where where you can pour appropriate measures of your own blood. Finally found that hatch last night. Hopefully it will stay satisfied for a while as i try to rebuild my red blood cell count with copious amounts of coffee and wheat thins.

It's a bit of a spoiler, so if you'd rather wait for the finished comic, don't look, but here's a rather nice frame from this upcoming comic. I'll be posting the finished comic as soon as i can finish up the remaining frames later this afternoon. Thank you again for your patience - time to get back to work.

< Dom >

The classic!

"Mobile Resurgence"

Tuesday - October 21, 2008

[Dom] - 19:11:05 - [link here]

As a loyal Warriors season ticket holder who lives on the wrong side of the San Francisco Bay to have a simple commute, I've dusted off my DS and my PSP in preparation for some long hours on the BART system. I haven't really touched either system since coming back from Japan, but since I have so much quality time with the two systems coming up, I've splurged on a small hoard of portable games - mostly Japanese.

Most of these games have little to no chance of being released in English, so I feel like writing about them - who knows, I might even convince a few of you to try these games out!

Macross Ace Frontier
Genre: Combat flight sim
Language Barrier: Minimal (major menus are in English; the mission failure screen says "Disappointed in you")
Chance of English Release: Zero (License issues)

Thanks to the still-strong Robotech fandom in America, this game has received a lot of press among the US game blogs as a nation of overgrown man-children longs to relive one of the great cartoons of the '80s. From a pure fan perspective, MAF succeeds with flying colors, letting you play through all four major Macross chronicles (remember, Macross II never happened) and keeping true to two series trademarks: pop music and fast-paced, missile-heavy Valkyrie/Veritech combat. It's pretty fun to immerse yourself in the Macross world, imagining that you're ace pilot Roy Fokker - or that you're so badass that you have Roy as your wingman.

In the badassery department, the controls are easy to use, using the D-pad to control your fighter and relegating the infamously bad PSP analog knob to shape-changing duties. It's not a perfect setup, but it does the job well, allowing you to switch between Battroid and Valkyrie forms with relative ease while spraying missiles all over the battlefield like a true Macross pilot.

It's fun, but light - after a few hours, the missions start becoming a little repetitive, as you fly in circles shooting missiles and engaging in giant robot fisticuffs. They do their best to spice up the formula, with a good selection of music and a nice variety of vehicles and characters. Wireless multiplayer helps keep the game fresh, but as with all licensed games, you're not going to stick with it very long unless you truly enjoy the Macross franchise.

Final Grade: B- (I'm playing it all the way through anyway)

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