Lulling and the Importance of Sound

Today was not a day for work. It should have been, but it seems that the gods had other plans with me today. Those plans involve playing near on all of Mass Effect - a game that has completely split my opinions in two. On one hand, the graphics and characters models are exquisite - considering this actually runs on my machine, I'm willing to say on an aesthetic level, it is better than Crysis. The game is also full of the nutritious RPG elements that Bioware absolutely love, and a fairly decent story/exploration sub-theme, and this again I enjoyed. However, it would appear Bioware decided to ship this game, completely avoiding QA. Some of the most amazing space-battle sequences are being played out before my eyes, based on decisions I have made, and all I get is silence-accompanied by pretty graphics.

Never before did I realise the sheer importance of sound in games. Sure, everyone jig's along to the Mjolnir theme from Halo 2, but that is taken for granted, especially when you don't play with sound. Now, I don't know if this is just me here (Googling the problem unearths countless stories of woe - so I can assume no) but I have no idea how this game became so popular with this many issues... I was a little excited by Mass Effect 2, but now, it's more Meh Effect 2. lol, see what I did there.

In other news; its April 1st tomorrow. Last year we had the Zelda trailer... Actually looking forward to whatever festive [...] treats are on offer.

JB

ISS is Bigger Than I Thought...

More general ramblings here, this time about a rather cool image, found on Gizmodo:

That's our very own International Space Station going toe-to-toe with the - granted much cooler - Corvette, Constitution and Battlestar-class space vessels from various popular SyFy canon. From a scientific point of view, I find this rather interesting. Article is here, but I assure you this is all to scale and accurate. I 'spose its an hour, isn't it.

JB

[Yes - I did wiki Starship Enterprise to find the designated class of the original Enterprise... Nothing wrong with accuracy].

Firing Bolts of Lightning to 'Imperial March'

So, now the coolest thing I've ever seen is nested neatly below:

Yes, I'm not sure if there is anything more appropriate you can do while listening to this song. Best of all, these guys have plenty more where that came from. My girlfriend does not appreciate this, but all your Nintendo classics are present, including the Doctor Who theme.

JB

Character Bio : J Crowley

So as John mentioned and we said in the dotGif facebook group we were looking to finally name the characters in the comic. The last few comics have revealed the choices we made for better or worse.

To celebrate this here's the first in character biography series, I'll post the next one in a weeks time, and the final one in a fortnight.


J. Crowley

Being a full time student and part time games testers for ER leaves Jay little time to actually play games, which is probably a good thing as he often quickly becomes engrossed in the game to such a degree he has trouble separating them from reality. Though publicly biased towards reality TV Jay has auditioned for Big Brother every year since its inception always being rejected for being too dull, in previous years his audition pieces have included performing Monty Python sketches in Klingon, reciting Pi to 100 places and performing an interpretive dance based on the Half Life saga. Jays greatest achievement depending on who you ask is either his level 70 hunter (almost level 71) in World of Warcraft or somehow loosing the only game of counterstrike he's ever played, against himself.

Interesting Fact: Jay refuses to tell anyone his first name, revealing only that it begins with J, which seems to have stuck, the reason for this remain unclear.

Comics Featuring Jay
Mangbogh!:- Featuring the warriors who for legal reasons do not say Ni.

Living in a Box:- Featuring a cameo by solid snake sorta.

The road to level 80...--is paved with gray critters:- Johns 2 part magnum opus, or a searing indictment of the inbuilt addictiveness of online games, you decide.

Now available in SD
T/K

Noobs at 10:00

Yeah, I hinted at the title of this new comic in my last post. I'm a little crazy like that. Its also early, as we got it written and drawn today - as opposed to doing real-life man-work.

Packing in as many puns as we can physically fit in, it seems. And, the eagle eyed viewer will notice 2 important names pop up half way through. Yes - meet J. Crowley and Will Freeman, the now-fully-named characters of our little webcomic. Only a year late, but better late than never, eh?

JB

News at 18:00.

As Terry so subtly mentioned, we have done 6 comics in the past 7 weeks. Unfortunately, those of you looking for the 7th fix today will be let down. However, the next comic should hit early next week. This is partly due to the end of term here, and the process of up-rooting and moving vast amounts of home content back to hometowns is not something that can really go hand-in-hand with making a comic. But, our new comic should hit next week. Did I say that already? 

We are also currently in talks with an external contractor [Hi Edd, I mentioned you - zomfg etc.] to create a new and exciting place for people to come and enjoy the comics - yeah, overhauling the mess of 'web 1.5' that calls itself dotgif.co.uk. Which will be nice. 

We are so super close to finally finalising the final names of the characters. You'll all be pleased to know that most of the names currently being chucked around are not the ones you suggested - however, know that we took the names you suggested and followed alternative thought processes in order to come to the new ones. So, no, you didn't name a comic character, but, yes, you helped. Well done you.

Well, that's all I have to say for now. I try not to blog for the sake of blogging, but sometimes the damn itch gets too strong. 

JB

(btw - new comic next week...)

Yay! IE8 is here- Oh... it's been hacked.

Fantastic news! Microsoft have released Internet Explorer 8; their response to the not-so-much Internet Explorer 7. Cool naming, huh?

In other completely unrelated news; Internet Explorer 8 has been cracked and exploited today. On day 1. Nice. Also, by what seems to be a young gentlemen with his cock out. For all you budding 350CT students out there ['...this is Three Dog'] - this is a perfect example of white-hat hacking, a.k.a - Ethical Hacking, a.k.a Whogivesacrap.

And also a cool way of making money it seems.

Well, that was my funny story of the day. I'm going to go back to thinking about playing WoW, and not. [sigh]

JB

This is the new style; Just like the old style.

As I have often done in the past, I have changed the look 'n feel of the comic yet again. From an artistic point of view, this is not necessarily important, and doesn't/shouldn't affect your enjoyment (or mild detest) of the comic. Of course, it is mildly amusing to see the comic in its 'unedited' form. For the past dozen (maybe) comics, I have been using a template (you see it in the videos), and this template is twice the size of the comic - 1000x1400 if your interested - resulting in the 500x700 comics you see on the site.

Now, as I have been a little off-sorts recently with work and pressure, the sudden release of this workload, I think, has sent me a little crazy, as I have redrawn the entire template on a new resolution: 4000x5600. Were talking the High Definition version of High Definition... (they have this by the way - SuperHD).

To give you an example, I have drawn the characters in this new resolution. This first image is the regular size you will see for the comics - 500 width:

This next picture - although looking the same on this blog - well, you click on it and see what happens... Go ahead, I'll wait here while you look:Mmm, that's some high-def goodness right there.

Basically, in a nutshell - to summarise - to conclude this post; it looks better now, and Scarlet has red hair, 'cos dirty blond was boring. She also has an earring, 'cos she has a bit of a wild side (until Terry finalises the character biographies...).

Also, with the added room to play with, I think its time there were some 'character defining' logos on the chests of all 3. And yes, it will probably be an Azeroth Alliance banner for one of them. Deal with it.

JB

Hello dotGif, my old friend

So as some of you may have noticed I've been absent from the blog for almost a month, this has been down to a series of not so lemony but definitely unfortunate events. Soon I shall start blogging again I promise, but perhaps not till midweek as I'm off to Denmark (long story).

Onto happier times, in recent weeks we have broken all sorts of records here at dotGif mainly due to the fact we have put out 6 comics in 6 weeks, yep you heard that right 6. So I encourage you if you haven't already to check em out

Scarred 4 Life introduced our newest and first named character Scarlet.

Its not easy being blue celebrated the release of Watchmen, which if you enjoy either comic book movies or superpowered smurf porn I encourage you to see.

Better Best Forgotten gave us a glimpse perhaps into the future of gaming.

I love Lucy betrayed our secret passion for one particular antipodean actress

The anniversary comic came close to breaking the 4th wall and celebrated/mourned roughly 1 year since I joined the blog.

In the Beginning a simple comic with a Pratchett quote what more could you want.

The next comics a while away but in the meantime expect, hopefully, the return of the dotCommentary's.

And whispered in the sounds of silence
T/K

Scarred 4 Life - Now with Video!

So, we now welcome Scarlet officially, in her first role in the comic; beating the other guys at things:And, as a special treat for you all, I videoed the process of making it. Now, as Terry was quite late in telling me the benefits of Vimeo over Youtube, the video is in 2 parts, as it ran to over 18 minutes - Youtube caps videos at 10.

So, if you have a spare 20 minutes, then check out the arduous process of making a comic. Made all the more harder by snippets of amusing Comic Relief on TV - Mamma Mia by French and Saunders being a highlight, and that-guy-off-Gavin-and-Stacey's rant at the England team...

I digress - here are the videos:







JB

Ess Ess Dee's

So, this video, apart from being a perfect blend of 1990's British youth-TV and bleeding edge 2008-2009 technology, shows off some simply awesome... Stuff:

Okay, in words we can all understand - the roustabout opens FIFTY-THREE applications in 19 seconds. It takes my computer about 15 seconds just to open iTunes.

In summary, this video shows you a) how cool SSD's are/will be, b) how important the von Neumann bottleneck is and c) how absolutely zany us Brits are.

Now, to gather together 24 SSD's. That's just shy of £13,000.

JB
Oh, listen to the song being sung throughout - Yes, its a ska-ish song concerning hard disk drives... Brilliant.

Its Not Just Bears Outside.

I am probably expected by some of my friends to write some sort of mind-blowing review of Watchmen, but, as I was a lucky little boy and saw it on the opening night (and the fact that other people I know are seeing it tonight/soon) I will hold off my personal thoughts on the film until a later date. That, and the fact I received an alarming Facebook status update from Terry as the film began:

Terry Richards has been mugged AND has a broken laptop, again. Today was not a good day to be me.

So, as this is pretty much all I/we know, as well as that his phone has been stolen. Therefore any lack of communication from Terry for the time being, is affected by this news. If you don't care about Terry at all [you heartless bastards], we are stocked up on comics for the time-being, so the next one is due when its made.

Also, its my Mum's birthday today, so I don't have time for reviewing. Happy Birthday Mum! Your on the Internets now!

JB

Watchmen Special - It's not Easy Being Blue

So, to mark a record month, here is our 4th comic since February 6th. Go us!
And, from what I've seen so far, we are punching with the big boys, as Tim Buckley yet again fails to impress me in the slightest with his Watchmen themed comic; I mean, what am I seeing here? Just 2 guys talking and going to see a film... Stony faces all-around. I only read CAD now 'cos I think I remember laughing at it once... Then the whole 'real-life' saga began, which probably is what is spurring me on to make comics. So we don't have CAD as an example to all. Anyway, enough bitching about someone I don't actually know.

I now cautiously glance across my desk where x4 tickets are secured in place. These tickets are for the Watchmen tonight. 8:30. Yes, I can finally say that [ahem]:

I WILL WATCH THE WATCHMEN.

Damn, that felt good.

JB

Roll Call

Now that we have 3 characters, they should probably be all placed together in an image without faces and stuff:For those of you who haven't caught on after that - I drew Scarlet. This now means that she is ready to be used in a comic, which is in the early stages of writing. She appears to be mad at that fact, so maybe we should let her cool off for a bit before using her.

We still have not figured out the names for the guys yet. Helpful suggestions abound on the Facebook group - I really don't see one of them being called 'Mr. The Lich King'... We will keep you informed on the selection process - either by letting you guys know the short-list or by just saying it.

JB

A Word From the Heroes (Guitar,)

After a unhealthy run on Guitar Hero World Tour, I and my full-time band mate (and full-time house mate), Chris, have set - what we think to be our magum opus - in terms of high score on Everlong by the Foo Fighters on Hard mode. This is mine and Chris' results page after the event (Chris is guitar (top) I am bass (bottom)):

545,483 points - Yes Mum, that's good. No Mum, I'm not spending all my time dicking around at University...
Streak = notes hit in a row

I felt it went well. Any self respecting (...) person who has played Everlong on the bass will know that there is a tricky open-strum-note-open-strum-note combo at the very beginning, which has proven a real bastard to deal with as the evening went on (and it did...). However, as the song went on, and my hand slowly numbed to a worrying level, it seemed that I was taken over by a strange aura. Time slowed. I saw a light, and I went towards it - and there I met all the people I had ever met, and they were cheering for me. I courteously dipped my brow towards them, and returned to the mortal plane, knowing that I had the support of everyone I ever knew, and continued playing. Chris insists this didn't happen, and had to bring me to with a mug of cold water.

Immediately after this, I 'dropped' (GH slang for fucked up) a note and executed an unrehearsed display of profanity and glaring at the TV, which, in fairness, wasn't really to blame.

Chris' recollection follows:

"There comes a time in ones life where you feel compelled to ask yourself, why? I believe today, this standard, albeit sun-filled day early in March I have stumbled across the answer worthy of a million starfish, a high five from Ghandi himself or sharing a classic 80's air punch with, that guy from The Breakfast Club, you know, the cool one that you could imagine doing an 80's punch with. Anyway... So why? Well I have discovered the bane of many e-band members lives... probably. Getting through 90% of Everlong on HARD and then dropping a note; I couldn't imagine anything worse, except maybe giving yourself a hernia and repetitive strain injury in both hands... John, I need you to drive me to the hospital."

So, all in all, a very worrying level of OCD shown, in not only playing the song easily 20 times, but also writing such an in-depth review after the act.

JB

Chris has been the lead guitarist of 'Shotgun Not' since they formed a few weeks ago. Chris' blog, 'The Entity of Me', has more incessant ramblings from the 360,000 point-scoring lead guitarist himself.

Meet 'Scarlet' and...

So, as promised (about an hour ago), we have some big news for the comic. That big news comes in the shape of 'Scarlet':


She is a 'female' - which, according to Wikipedia, is 'the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces mobile ova (egg cells).' Or as we tend to refer to them: 'a Girl'.

Her name, which annoyingly came to us very quickly, is still in concept, but I think it will stick. This fact, however, leads me to our next issue - the names of the 2 main characters.

Having never disclosed them to you, our rabid readership, we now feel we must give these two shady characters their own back story, and most pressingly; names. In case your wondering, up until this point, they have been known between us as: 'Hatty & Hairy', 'Dreads & Hat', 'Glasses & Hat... Guy', and less imaginatively, just '1 & 2'. So, we open the panel to naming suggestions. We want to keep the names 'normal', e.g. 'John', and not 'Irudiggear'. So far, we have come up with a shortlist (in no particular order, and not necessarily relating to either character):

• Luke
• Will
• Chris
• Jay
• Eric (thanks, Rachel)

We need some more however, and also need some opinions... If you care, then please feel free to suggest a name (maybe not your own...) and we can mull over it and finally announce them in a grandiose celebration of life, love and dotGif - hopefully followed by a brief and witty back story, written by my pet scribe, Mr. Richards.

JB

What didn't Apple release today?!

Apple released the Core i7 refresh of their desktop lines today. The Mac Pro and iMac see Intel i7 chips nestled in their buxom shells, and the little Mini gets some tasty new nVidia chipset chow. Not only that, they introduced a stupid keyboard! It has an Apple logo though; so BUY IT NOW. A better entire computer keyboard that has impressed me recently, would be the Eee Keyboard. You could say, the Eeeboard ...yeah.

With past experience with the Mini, I found it to be a fairly decent machine, and does everything you expect from a Mac: Web/email, Photos, Porn & Music. Do I want the new one - hell yes! But, like most Apple products, I will join the slavering hordes, staining the polished windows of the retail stores, not a penny to my name, quietly being shooed away by the impatient staff (you know, the greeters/bouncers by the door...)

In other news; we have some comic related announcements coming up, that you, the devoted readee, can take part in and maybe even influence the bright, gleaming future of the webcomic. Look out for the blog post/Facebook group post/'tweet' coming soon.

JB
Well, in answer to the title - their notebook range. So, now I've said it so you don't have to.

Obey Your Overlords and...

...This will happen:

&&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">lt</span>;span class="<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">blsp</span>-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">lt</span></span>&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">lt</span>;/span>;a &<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">lt</span>;span class="<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">blsp</span>-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">href</span></span>&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">lt</span>;/span>="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-GB&&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">lt</span>;span class="<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">blsp</span>-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">playlist</span></span>&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">lt</span>;/span>=&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">lt</span>;span class="<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">blsp</span>-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">videoByUuids</span></span>&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">lt</span>;/span>:&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">lt</span>;span class="<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">blsp</span>-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">uuids</span></span>&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">lt</span>;/span>:a517b260-&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">lt</span>;span class="<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">blsp</span>-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">bb</span></span>&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">lt</span>;/span>6b-48b9-87ac-8e2743a28&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">lt</span>;span class="<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">blsp</span>-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">ec</span></span>&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">lt</span>;/span>5&&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">lt</span>;span class="<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">blsp</span>-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">showPlaylist</span></span>&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">lt</span>;/span>=true&from=shared" target="_new" title="Future Vision Montage">Video: Future Vision Montage&&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">lt</span>;span class="<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">blsp</span>-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">lt</span></span>&<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">lt</span>;/span>;/a>

A delightful little bit of propaganda from the mighty Fort Redmond (i stab at thee...)

If the price of this rather interesting future is not '£My Soul' then this will be a interesting ten years until 2019. This probably means that this video will come up a fair bit as we attempt to benchmark ourselves against the lofty hopes of the Micro$oft Corporation. Couldn't resist.

The video is from this site, which hosts both the video above (which fits in my tiny blog) and the original video - which, at 1:30 shows possibly the most amazing office ever.

2019... That will mean I will be 31 years old.

I am sad now.

JB
31 on the outside - g4m3r 4 L1f3! etc!