Graduation day is close. I've long waited for this day much like everyone else of WVSU-IICT Batch 2011. It's parting day for our class as we go out of our academic vault and into the big wild wasteland people call the World. Four more days, and I'll be stepping onto that stage.
Whatever, I'll cut this post short here. I'm about to blog something else but meh, forgot what it is.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Badass Mecha of the Week # 5: Guren Mk-II
I love the first season of Code Geass. Aside from the annoying imbalance Suzaku's Lancelot is causing, the whole show is really awesome for me. It's got more tactics and strategy than standard mech-vs-mech battles, and well, it seems I and many others can relate to the main character Lelouche. This week's BMoW is a knightmare frame hailing from that show, and it is no other than the uber-knightmare Lancelot's bane: Type-02 Guren Mk-II.
Before proceeding, let me give a quick rundown of Code Geass for those unfamiliar with it. I know it's a little too popular that people may have not missed it but there's still the chosen few who haven't been able to watch the show, so let's give 'em some consideration. Okay, here I go: in Code Geass, Japan is conquered by the imperialistic Britannians and is renamed Area-11, whose citizens are now called Elevens, some sort of racial slur at the time. Fast-forward a decade. An anti-Brit high school student named Lelouche Lamperouge received the mysterious Geass, which he use to make people obey unconditionally. So under the guise of the masked terrorist Zero, he organized the Black Knights, a mostly Japanese rebel organization, attempting to topple Brit power with his natural ingenuity and the Geass.
*deep breaaaaaaaaaaaath*
Back to the topic. Guren Mk-II is a prototype Knightmare frame developed for the Kyoto House by the engineer Rakshata Chawla. It is handed over to the Black Knights and is piloted by this hot chick Kallen Kozuki, a half-Britannian half-Japanese ace pilot whose daily life involves school and seditious activities.
The Mk-II has a build typical of agile mechs: wide shoulders, slim torso, narrow waist and slim legs. It is all red, which means it's probably three times faster than the usual knightmare. Its most prominent feature is a shiny silver arm with large claws armed with a powerful microwave radiation emitter at its palm. That palm's the last thing the Guren's thrashed enemies ever see, should they be able to see it coming.
The Guren Mk-II is considered at par with Britannia's seventh generation knightmare frames in development. The Lancelot, Brit's sole 7th-gen knightmare in active duty have so many times fought to a draw with the Mk-II, which I really am happy about since that mech keeps on ruining Lelouche's plans with god-like efficiency until Episode 10. That bastard only managed to defeat Kallen's knightmare in the Battle of Tokyo, having been upgraded with a float system, a flight pack, which makes it superior against ground targets.
So that's it. Guren Mk-II lost its awesome arm in the battle and is replaced by a less-efficient and less aesthetically appealing version, as shown in the first episode of Season 2. It received a flight upgrade and remained in operation until it got thrashed in the battle against the Chinese. The Mk-II was replaced later by the far superior Guren SEITEN.
----
Before proceeding, let me give a quick rundown of Code Geass for those unfamiliar with it. I know it's a little too popular that people may have not missed it but there's still the chosen few who haven't been able to watch the show, so let's give 'em some consideration. Okay, here I go: in Code Geass, Japan is conquered by the imperialistic Britannians and is renamed Area-11, whose citizens are now called Elevens, some sort of racial slur at the time. Fast-forward a decade. An anti-Brit high school student named Lelouche Lamperouge received the mysterious Geass, which he use to make people obey unconditionally. So under the guise of the masked terrorist Zero, he organized the Black Knights, a mostly Japanese rebel organization, attempting to topple Brit power with his natural ingenuity and the Geass.
*deep breaaaaaaaaaaaath*
Back to the topic. Guren Mk-II is a prototype Knightmare frame developed for the Kyoto House by the engineer Rakshata Chawla. It is handed over to the Black Knights and is piloted by this hot chick Kallen Kozuki, a half-Britannian half-Japanese ace pilot whose daily life involves school and seditious activities.
The Mk-II has a build typical of agile mechs: wide shoulders, slim torso, narrow waist and slim legs. It is all red, which means it's probably three times faster than the usual knightmare. Its most prominent feature is a shiny silver arm with large claws armed with a powerful microwave radiation emitter at its palm. That palm's the last thing the Guren's thrashed enemies ever see, should they be able to see it coming.
The Guren Mk-II is considered at par with Britannia's seventh generation knightmare frames in development. The Lancelot, Brit's sole 7th-gen knightmare in active duty have so many times fought to a draw with the Mk-II, which I really am happy about since that mech keeps on ruining Lelouche's plans with god-like efficiency until Episode 10. That bastard only managed to defeat Kallen's knightmare in the Battle of Tokyo, having been upgraded with a float system, a flight pack, which makes it superior against ground targets.
So that's it. Guren Mk-II lost its awesome arm in the battle and is replaced by a less-efficient and less aesthetically appealing version, as shown in the first episode of Season 2. It received a flight upgrade and remained in operation until it got thrashed in the battle against the Chinese. The Mk-II was replaced later by the far superior Guren SEITEN.
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Monday, March 14, 2011
Heartbreak for the Rising Sun
Catastrophic natural disaster is never new. I for one, have seen plenty of typhoons yearly here in my fatherland. They destroy, they kill. Frank, the strongest that hit my province Iloilo killed tens, and the aftermath is just woeful. But then, it isn't as shattering as what happened recently off the Philippine coast. It isn't as grim and heartbreaking as the massive earthquake and tsunamis that hit Japan.
Truth be told, I didn't give a damn when the situation first came up at the news. There's bloodshed in Libya, places in Africa and elsewhere so what's so special about it? is the initial thought. I didn't care as long as I'm in a virtual adventure in a fictional post-apocalyptic Mojave. And so one night, everyone's watching the news and this computer set's right next to the television. I turned, and saw a chilling scene: an aerial footage showing murky, heavily littered seawater engulfing a town and surrounding farmlands in Japan.
I can't recall where it is. The scene is simply staggering and you'll be asking yourself a few questions. What if there's a family trapped in that house, or inside that car on the washed out road? What if someone's standing on that plowed field that day for some reason? What if I was there, with that dark wave coming right at me? Why does this have to happen? Et cetera.
Recent estimates of those killed by the tsunami in Japan is 10,000 in Miyagi prefecture alone and authorities say Japan's lucky with that number, given that Indonesia in 2004 took the toll of about 230,000. The world is sure effed up.
Tonight, I've decided to check on my mail. I've been using Yahoo!'s e-mail service so first thing I saw after the What's New tab has loaded is a news article that reported about a thousand bodies washed up on Japanese shores. Grim. Staggering. I just can't imagine that happening flipside. Sure Frank killed more than a hundred, Typhoon Ondoy up north murdered hundreds more; but a thousand is just a lot, and that's just like a tenth of all the dead.
Then there's the issue of a nuke reactor that blew up in Fukushima. The world is safe from it for now, but it has the potential. It can dangerously up the rads of the residents in its 12 km radius or spread radioactive clouds like Chernobyl once did which is quite unlikely. At this point though, anything can happen.
Anyway, if you're reading this blog, please do pray for Japan. Pray that the Japanese recover. At least that's what gaijin who aren't able to give concrete help like me can do. Pray for yourselves too, and for the world. God listens.
These times sure are uncertain.
----
Truth be told, I didn't give a damn when the situation first came up at the news. There's bloodshed in Libya, places in Africa and elsewhere so what's so special about it? is the initial thought. I didn't care as long as I'm in a virtual adventure in a fictional post-apocalyptic Mojave. And so one night, everyone's watching the news and this computer set's right next to the television. I turned, and saw a chilling scene: an aerial footage showing murky, heavily littered seawater engulfing a town and surrounding farmlands in Japan.
I can't recall where it is. The scene is simply staggering and you'll be asking yourself a few questions. What if there's a family trapped in that house, or inside that car on the washed out road? What if someone's standing on that plowed field that day for some reason? What if I was there, with that dark wave coming right at me? Why does this have to happen? Et cetera.
Recent estimates of those killed by the tsunami in Japan is 10,000 in Miyagi prefecture alone and authorities say Japan's lucky with that number, given that Indonesia in 2004 took the toll of about 230,000. The world is sure effed up.
Tonight, I've decided to check on my mail. I've been using Yahoo!'s e-mail service so first thing I saw after the What's New tab has loaded is a news article that reported about a thousand bodies washed up on Japanese shores. Grim. Staggering. I just can't imagine that happening flipside. Sure Frank killed more than a hundred, Typhoon Ondoy up north murdered hundreds more; but a thousand is just a lot, and that's just like a tenth of all the dead.
Then there's the issue of a nuke reactor that blew up in Fukushima. The world is safe from it for now, but it has the potential. It can dangerously up the rads of the residents in its 12 km radius or spread radioactive clouds like Chernobyl once did which is quite unlikely. At this point though, anything can happen.
Anyway, if you're reading this blog, please do pray for Japan. Pray that the Japanese recover. At least that's what gaijin who aren't able to give concrete help like me can do. Pray for yourselves too, and for the world. God listens.
These times sure are uncertain.
----
"BBC FLASHNEWS: Japan govt confirms radiation leak" Text Message is a Hoax!
Today around 10:AM GMT+8, I began receiving a circulated message with the following content:
So I Googled a little in the hopes that the whole thing is just a hoax some anti-nuke activist or introverted paranoid crackpot with a cellphone cooked up. I used the first sentence in the SMS message as keywords and I ended up with this article. If you're too lazy to click, here's an excerpt:
Bingo! NOT TRUE as the article boldly proclaims and I'm pretty glad it isn't. Like everyone else, I ain't that ready for a few rads and cancer cells. Now concerning that fraudulent text message, I'll rephrase that blogger's statements: neither believe nor forward it as it will just cause some panic and confusion.
Well, some folks got bored.
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BBC FLASHNEWS: Japan govt confirms radiation leak at fukushima nuclear plants. Asian countries should take necessary precautions. Remain indoors first 24hr at starting 4pm 2day.If you're a Filipino living here in the Philippines, you probably got this too. You've also sent this to all your contacts perhaps. Who else won't be concerned with this? It quite disturbed me really, but I got my doubts. I don't think I should believe it just because it has BBC stamped at the first line. But then it could probably happen.
So I Googled a little in the hopes that the whole thing is just a hoax some anti-nuke activist or introverted paranoid crackpot with a cellphone cooked up. I used the first sentence in the SMS message as keywords and I ended up with this article. If you're too lazy to click, here's an excerpt:
From www.bloggedphilippines.com
- Although there has been two explosions in the Fukushima nuclear plant and a possible meltdown might occur, there has been no radiation leak yet that can reach other countries. In fact, only those inside the 12 mile radius from the plant are susceptible to current partial radiation leakage.
See also the report from BBC:
Experts say a disaster on the scale of Chernobyl in the 1980s is highly unlikely because the reactors are built to a much higher standard and have much more rigorous safety measures.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12729138
- The Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) issued a statement saying that radiation levels in the Philippine environment are all normal.
Here's the actual copy of their statement:
The DOST-PNRI routinely undertakes daily radioactivity monitoring in the environment. Based on DOST-PNRI monitoring, there has been no increase in the levels of radioactivity since the time of the Fukushima event.
A plume trajectory study from the Fukushima site by the World Meteorological Organization based in Melbourne, Australia showed that the plume from the site of the incident will not pass the Philippine territory as of March 14, 2011.
Source: http://www.pnri.dost.gov.ph/index.php
DOST advised the public not to believe this hoax.
Bingo! NOT TRUE as the article boldly proclaims and I'm pretty glad it isn't. Like everyone else, I ain't that ready for a few rads and cancer cells. Now concerning that fraudulent text message, I'll rephrase that blogger's statements: neither believe nor forward it as it will just cause some panic and confusion.
Well, some folks got bored.
----
Monday, March 7, 2011
Badass Mecha of the Week # 4: Gelgoog
If you've ever seen the first Mobile Suit Gundam series — the almighty father of all Gundam, the founder of the real robot genre and the starter of various mecha anime cliches like the masked villain, angsty teen pilots, giant space lasers, and Newtypes (modern versions include Innovators, Coordinators, Whispereds, etc.) — you've probably noticed that new cannon fodder in the Battle of A Baoa Qu. That, my friends, is the MS-14 Gelgoog.
It's fat I know. If I were to be asked, the design's simply off my taste. I don't think I'll be picking a model kit of one unless I plan to make an A Baoa Qu diorama. That there at the left is 0083's Gelgoog Marine variant, a remake of the original which is a little worse.
Not to mention a funny name. Gelgoog? Quite goofy to pronounce really. Zaku, Dom and Gouf (no pun intended) are a lot more badass-sounding names than this. Just my opinion though. But really, I like this mobile suit for a few reasons: I have a hunch that it served as Okawara's basis for an old SEED favorite, the GINN. That and it has a badass finned head, quite a redeeming feature indeed.
Buuuuuuut, don't you ever let the looks deceive you! This here is a really agile mobile suit, what with all those thrusters under its skirt, shoulders and legs. Plus, it's the first Zeon mobile suit with a full complement of beam weapons, twin beam swords and a beam rifle. It is said that given a capable pilot, it can outmatch the Federation's White Devil, the RX-78-2 Gundam.
Yep, you bet it sort of did once. Yeah, sort of. Well there was this little skirmish in and outside the abandoned Texas colony during the One Year War. The Principality's ace Char Aznable in a red prototype Gelgoog rushed in the aid of Lady Kycillia's subordinate M'Quve who's piloting a Gyan. He got the Gundam pinned by his melee attacks, until M'Quve ordered his retreat.
That's it. The rest of the Gundam vs. Gelgoog battles can be described as the usual uber-mech vs. cannonfodder scene. Boring. Not if you patch together many of these scenes in a large battle. This owes much to the Gelgoogs piloted by student pilots who haven't even graduated from Zeon boot camps. You may also call them novices, or better yet, noobs. Meh, they can't even stand against the humbler GMs.
Point is, the Gelgoog is one badass mobile suit because it is equal to, if not more powerful than, the legendary Gundam itself, given pilots of equal skill in both mobile suits. The fact that it was deployed too late in the war when Zeon's skilled MS veterans have dwindled in number contributed to the mobile suit's failure. Interestingly, I've browsed it's MAHQ profile and it's said there that had the Gelgoog been deployed two months before A Baoa Qu, it could have significantly influenced the course of the war in favor of the Principality of Zeon. Shame, Gihren.
----
Not to mention a funny name. Gelgoog? Quite goofy to pronounce really. Zaku, Dom and Gouf (no pun intended) are a lot more badass-sounding names than this. Just my opinion though. But really, I like this mobile suit for a few reasons: I have a hunch that it served as Okawara's basis for an old SEED favorite, the GINN. That and it has a badass finned head, quite a redeeming feature indeed.
Buuuuuuut, don't you ever let the looks deceive you! This here is a really agile mobile suit, what with all those thrusters under its skirt, shoulders and legs. Plus, it's the first Zeon mobile suit with a full complement of beam weapons, twin beam swords and a beam rifle. It is said that given a capable pilot, it can outmatch the Federation's White Devil, the RX-78-2 Gundam.
Yep, you bet it sort of did once. Yeah, sort of. Well there was this little skirmish in and outside the abandoned Texas colony during the One Year War. The Principality's ace Char Aznable in a red prototype Gelgoog rushed in the aid of Lady Kycillia's subordinate M'Quve who's piloting a Gyan. He got the Gundam pinned by his melee attacks, until M'Quve ordered his retreat.
That's it. The rest of the Gundam vs. Gelgoog battles can be described as the usual uber-mech vs. cannonfodder scene. Boring. Not if you patch together many of these scenes in a large battle. This owes much to the Gelgoogs piloted by student pilots who haven't even graduated from Zeon boot camps. You may also call them novices, or better yet, noobs. Meh, they can't even stand against the humbler GMs.
Point is, the Gelgoog is one badass mobile suit because it is equal to, if not more powerful than, the legendary Gundam itself, given pilots of equal skill in both mobile suits. The fact that it was deployed too late in the war when Zeon's skilled MS veterans have dwindled in number contributed to the mobile suit's failure. Interestingly, I've browsed it's MAHQ profile and it's said there that had the Gelgoog been deployed two months before A Baoa Qu, it could have significantly influenced the course of the war in favor of the Principality of Zeon. Shame, Gihren.
----
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Slug Alert: A Flash Minigame
This blog ain't dead! I haven't been posting anything for a while for, well, academic reasons. For instance, I and three of my classmates have spent these past two days doing a Flash game for our Game Programming class. It's a simple three level evading game, with each level lasting for a mere 20 seconds. My friends did all the programming and I'm in charge of the graphics. We're done with it and, having gotten the permission, I'll be posting it here in my blog.
You can read the rules in-game but I guess I'll just have to write it here for the sake of simplicity. You can only move left and right. For that, Player 1 uses keys A and D for the left and right movement respectively. It's Player 2 counterpart would be the left and right arrow keys. To play, you'll just have to collect those green food thigies for points while avoiding all the free-falling objects which deduct points. Careful though, because due to some unidentified errors, they can reduce your score greatly, which accidentally adds some thrill to the game ;P.
PS: I guess I have to point out that the first commenter below and her group helped with critiques and shared ActionScript codes just to name a few.
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You can read the rules in-game but I guess I'll just have to write it here for the sake of simplicity. You can only move left and right. For that, Player 1 uses keys A and D for the left and right movement respectively. It's Player 2 counterpart would be the left and right arrow keys. To play, you'll just have to collect those green food thigies for points while avoiding all the free-falling objects which deduct points. Careful though, because due to some unidentified errors, they can reduce your score greatly, which accidentally adds some thrill to the game ;P.
PS: I guess I have to point out that the first commenter below and her group helped with critiques and shared ActionScript codes just to name a few.
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