Tuesday, February 28, 2012

New Blog Formatting, Character Art

Wait ... a new blog post already? And it's only been two days!? Hell must be really cold right now.

All joking aside, how about this new blog format, guys? I've been working with the site a bit, visiting other more popular blogs to see what I've been doing wrong (I'm still learning the tricks of the trade, so please bear with me), and this new format is what I have to show for it. I think it makes for easier reading, and not so much clutter. Plus I've added pictures and banners for two websites, blasternation.com and mangagamer.com, which you all should totally check out. Also, I've made the ads fit into the site so they are not so intrusive. Please let me know if this works better for you guys or not in the comment section below, which you can now do on all my pages (I finally figured out how to make that work, too. I'm proud of myself for that.).

Speaking of things I'm proud of myself for, check out the Xenosaga Return page for the new character art I've posted of the Main Character. The first one is not so good, but the second one is awesome. You can also check my new Deviant Art account at http://ravenholtex.deviantart.com/ for a more detailed look.

I've gotta crash now, as I've got class in the morning, but I should see you all again real soon!

RavenholtEX

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Have I really not updated this blog since July?

Long time, no see, huh? I'm so sorry, I can't believe it's been so long since I last updated. Almost every page is horribly behind my actual progress, but I hope to remedy that in the coming days. At the very least, I have completed and posted my preliminary review of Wanko to Kurasou, so there's that, at least.

Let's see, what has happened since I last posted? I think on the world scale, a few countries had some uprisings, a few celebrities died (who cares?), we pulled out of Iraq, aaaaaaand oh yeah, we killed Bin Laden! How about that? For me personally, not much has changed. Still living at home, commuting to college, same old job, gas price suck (ironic, since I work in a gas station).

Oh, there is a con happening near where I live, CyPhaCon in Lake Charles, and myself and a few people I know are already planning to attend, so I will be there (Now to raise funds so I can go).

I have also started reading this awesome book by Chris Hardwick (the host of Web Soup on G4, if you've ever heard of it: I don't get G4 on my cable plan, myself) called "The Nerdist Way: How to Reach the Next Level (In Real Life)." He has a couple of websites where you can learn more: Nerdist.com, Nerdistway.com, and a Twitter at twitter.com/nerdist, if you do the Twitter thing (I don't; is it better than Facebook? I hate Facebook. I just hate it when people forget my birthday more.). As you might be able to tell from the title, it's like a self-help, self-improvement book, a reach-your-goals kind of book. It's a really enjoyable read; very funny, but at the same time very helpful and sensible. It's part of the reason I'm back here trying to get my blog back on track.

I am also trying to get my own personal project started. As you may not know, as I have not had a chance to gush on the subject, is that I am a huge, HUGE fan of the Xenosaga trilogy, for the PlayStation 2. I have all three games (Currently at the end of Xenosaga II, I haven't started Xenosaga III yet, but I've done enough research to know everything that happens. I kinda don't want to finish it, as I know I will have that after-game sadness that comes with the end of a trilogy like that. I don't want it to end.), I have the complete anime on DVD (The first DVD of the first release by ADV Films, and the complete set from the re-release by Funimation), I have 11 different KOS-MOS figures, figmas, and PVC statues (and 1 T-elos figure, to complete the set), I have Xenosaga--A Missing Year and more pictures related to Xenosaga on my computer than you can shake a stick at. I also have the Nintendo DS game Super Robot Taisen OG Saga Endless Frontier, in which KOS-MOS is a guest character (why won't they bring the sequel over?), and I also have Soul Calibur III, in which you can use parts to make KOS-MOS a playable character.

So yeah, I'm a huge fan. That said, Monolith Soft, the studio that made the Xenosaga trilogy, is now majority-owned by Nintendo, so it doesn't look like we will ever get a continuation from them anytime soon. There is Xenoblade Chronicles, coming soon for Wii, which I will be getting to show my support, but it is just not the same. I've thought for a while now that perhaps it is time for the fans to take control and do something, and that is what I intend to do.

As well as using this blog to talk about video games and such, I will be posting my work on a continuation to Xenosaga, currently named Xenosaga Return. I have a premise and several character bios written, which I shall post on another page here on the blog. Coming soon will be part of the screenplay for it, as well as my sketches of what characters I can manage to draw. Please read what I have written, and let me know what you think. If any artists are paying attention, I could use your help, as I am not a terribly great artist.

Thanks for reading,

RavenholtEX