It is definitely infuriating and inexcusible to notice my domain name expired once again. Apparently, it is the price I have to pay for not checking my email over the weekend… I call it BS, as the plug was pulled only one day after the initial bill was sent to me from my webhosting company, ByetHost.
If you faintly (or vividly) feels familiarity in this event, then let me confirm the deja vu to be justified. As a mean to stop this “annual facepalm event” to incur more humility, I have made some arrangement.
It is called automatic domain name renewal. I hope it will do the trick.
I was wondering whether I came out of closet–of being a fanboy of ArenaNet. Looking back to my last Guild Wars post, the answer is yes. Oh and, in case you wonder, this post is about Guild Wars 2 release date! (True Story!)
We recently finished our first closed beta test, and we’re now ready to hold progressively larger events. In February we’ll invite select press to participate in beta testing, and in March and April we’ll aggressively ramp up the size of our beta test events so that many of you will have a chance to participate. And of course, this all leads to the release of Guild Wars 2 later this year.
Anyway, I’m pretty sure I won’t be part of the “select press” (read: various MMO news/review sites), so I’ll bet my luck on March and April of 2012… to say “bet my luck” is accurate since this is not an announcement of an open beta. It is cleared up in this thread on GW2 Guru forum by the developer guy who wrote the post: the term “open beta” is purposely avoid as currently ArenaNet are not arranging a play session open for “anybody on the interwebs”. The speculation seems to be that there will be preview weekends where the game opens up a selected area for a greater audience to participate.
This of course does not mean there will be no open beta (in its contemporary meaning) for GW2. It is possible the OB will come shortly before the game releases.
Not going into the details which I’m sure you’d heard about it more or less. I’m here only to say: Thank you, wikipedia, for risking your reputation to stand up against the Evil that is breeding in the US Congress before it becomes too late. You are not only fighting for your own survival, but much of the whole Internet.
Hopefully by now everybody knows the name of Urobuchi Gen. His gain of fame after a certain plot twist in a certain magical girl anime is almost legendary, and then his popularity reached a new high for his other work, Fate/Zero became animated. As a fan of both anime and Saya no Uta, Kikokugai became a must-play for me. Yet due to I’m not good at handling old games, the thought of reading the visual novel made in 2003 always made me hesitate… Luckily, the Kikokugai received a remake in 2011 in wake Urobuchi’s (and Nitro+‘s) popularity.
Even though the remake is no longer R-18, this classic still retains the darkened attractiveness of a hard-boiled cyberpunk dystopian tale of revenge.
I successfully regurgitated my old appetite of visual novels for the latter half of my winter break. Larger chunks of free time => less interruption between start and finish of a VN => good. Last year has been a procrastinating one for me, luckily only 4 or 5 titles released in 2011 that remotely interesting. I probably should work on reducing my backlog instead of getting new games and potentially enlarge the said backlog, but oh well, it’s the new year and I need some treat :p
Aiyoku no Eustia (穢翼のユースティア) has been one of the most anticipated visual novels of 2011. Given its popularity and praise on ErogeScape after its release, it is also one of the best of 2011. After beating the main arc and two side routes, I can certainly see the reason behind its high scores and favorable reviews. Aiyoku is like a Hollywood movie: high production value with a tried-and-proven plot. Though the game’s “Sword & Love” fantasy story isn’t exactly my favorite setting, but there are enough climaxes and twists in the story that kept me reading 3 AM in the morning.
Before I dive into HORRIBLE (HORRIBLE!) SPOILERS about the game’s ending and all, I’d like to recommend it to the genre, especially those that are new to visual novels.
My last full-sized review was written in October, 2009. Looking back to it now, I realized how incredible it was to me to write a giant of wall of text for an eroge that I disliked (the 65/100 score is evident). Since then my later posts usually skip the introduction and cut direct into opinion and conclusion, which unfortunately, did not qualify being called “reviews”.
My interest in Carnival dates back to the time I found its (2nd) Opening on Stage 6. For a long time I thought the animation is a fan-made MAD until I found the avi file on the installation CD. For a game released in 2005, the opening animation’s style is well ahead of its time. This game is rather well-received for its 80/100 score on ErogeScape, yet apparently, not many information is available in the English speaking eroge circle.
One contributing factor may be S.M.L, the company that made Carnival, is no longer in existence. Also the game itself is rather old and can only be purchased as a digital download. Another possible reason being the scenario is surprisingly “dark”, and can be offensive–not obvious from the game’s Opening animation, featured below.
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