New images have found their way onto the server.


The flash games Turnament and Phabetal have finally received their own pages. Welcome home!

Taskless Sheep is doing alright, not as good as all participants would like it to be, but we're definitely getting somewhere.

I'm a Dragon is on indefinite hold for the moment, or rather it seems to be turning into something else entirely. You'll have to wait and see, as usual.

The new book is coming along nicely. I'm still attending the almost regular writing meetings with my cousin. We've met four times to write, and without her and those meetings I would've probably stopped already. I'm really glad to have this pool of motivation that I can get back to whenever I am in need of it.

Speaking about writing, I'm sure you've heard about the Writer's Guild of America Strike and the shows that are affected (Lost and Heroes, for example).

And last, but not least, I strongly recommend the anime Welcome to the NHK.

I've compiled yet another bunch of Quick Movie Reviews (Part VIII).

I've added a bunch of new images, including the following:


Antaran's Journal can be purchased at cafepress now. I initially wanted to order it in large quantities to reduce the price and then send each book personally, but there would have been twice the amount of shipping costs, so it was kind of redundant to do the extra work. However, if you don't have a credit card you can still send me an email and order a copy of the book. The price for this book will be calculated individually, depending on where you live, naturally.

The price of Antaran's Journal on cafepress is $12.50 (€8,87). I've said in previous news that I won't add anything to the base price because there have been people "accusing" me of trying to make money, but on the other hand I've been told I'd be stupid if I won't try to make money off the things I create. So, as a compromise that will hopefully satisfy both parties and the ones who actually buy the book, I've added $1 to the base price in hope to at least get back half of what I paid for the two books I had to order to test cafepress's book creation functionality. Or you can see it as investment for the new book I'm writing on which will also need a few test orders when it's completed.

Antaran's Journal is ready. I'm going to create a shop as quickly as possible. The final price will be announced when the shop's set up.

I'm currently working on my projects on a week-by-week basis. In case you remember last year, I've tried to work on a different project every day which made me somehow lose my focus after a while. Now when I have one week for one project I'm able to clear my head from everything else and be a lot more productive.

Last week was a writing week and I've tried something new (to me, at least). One of my cousins is a passionate writer as well, and I asked her if she wants to try to sit down together and continue forging our worlds next to each other. So I visited her for three hours and it worked wonderfully. The motivation flow was amazing and we managed to write through most of the time. I would have stayed longer, but I had other urgent things to look after. The following time I've been thinking about what would happen if somebody blew this idea up in a grand scale, make writing events, two hundred people, three days, writing their own stories. Like a LAN-Party, only it would be completely silent, no tournaments, no games, just writing and motivating each other.

Although I've talked to other people who are writing as well, and they told me they needed to be alone for writing. Alone in the dark room, accompanied only by music or silence. So I guess this sort of thing wouldn't be for everybody. In fact, I thought I needed to be alone as well, but it worked, and my cousin and I are going to meet again in two weeks to continue writing.

I keep saying that you can't force yourself to be creative. Following that theory our writer-meeting couldn't have worked out. But I guess it did because my cousin and I already had the general idea of our stories in our heads. So, we simply needed to follow the path and imagine the surroundings on the way, which was just a bit of improvising.

On a completely different note, around me computers and other electronic gadgets keep on dying. Maybe it's my aura, or maybe somebody pressed a button which sends out a signal to all electronic devices to start malfunctioning to get the economy going again. I don't know what it is, but I know for sure the economy is going to be happy with me.

I'm about to update the stuff section a bit, so if you have any fan made images, be sure to send them to me.

Have you ever played Super Metroid? I must admit, I kind of missed all the good games because I've never possessed a NES, nor a Super NES, or SEGA Megadrive, or anything of that era (except the original Gameboy). But certain technology advancements make it possible to relive the past. As I strode through some files on my computer I noticed a certain game that was lying there, catching virtual dust. I've never really played it so I fired it up.

Before I continue, you should know that I'm currently in one of those phases everyone encounters during life. At the moment I have a few phases, one of those is the Metroid-phase. In such a phase you're confronted with various entities about the same topic all at once and you can't help but investigate further.

It all kind of started with me getting a Nintendo DS some time ago and the demo for Metroid Prime. The new stylus-first-person-shooter-control-scheme seemed promising and even though it took some time to get used to, it was getting fun - and then boring again. That was my first Metroid encounter.

Now Metroid Corruption is on the way to be released on the Wii - the final Metroid, as the developer claims. I couldn't say I was interested at all, remembering the thin level of excitement of the DS version. I consumed some screenshots and videos, but they all failed to impress me.

Later I read a Top 10 of 8-bit soundtracks. The NES Metroid was ranked 10th for its highly experimental use of technology and the fact that the music seemed to be part of the world.

Then I stumbled upon an IGN special about The History of Metroid. All that buzz around the Metroid series made me read it, because after playing the DS version I didn't get it why this was such a wanted piece of entertainment. The article about Metroid's history however changed my view. It seemed the DS version wasn't really the true Metroid. Not at all.

Then I've played Super Metroid. I suddenly started to understand. Metroid is actually about atmosphere, combined with platformer and exploration elements. I've been very inspired.

I think there's no way around Metroid Corruption on Wii now.

The next atmosphere-driven game on my list is Bioshock. I really can't wait to get my hands on that one.

Why am I writing all this? Well, let's just say atmosphere plays a main role in a certain game I'm currently working on...

I've received the second draft of Antaran's Journal. There are some minor issues that I want resolved first, but in about two weeks I'm sure I can offer you the option to order. If you want, you can tell me now if you're absolutely sure you're getting one (price will be about $12 including shipping, but I want to calculate it this time depending on wherever the order comes from), so that I can tell how many I'll have to order in advance. Just leave a note or send me an e-mail.