So a few days ago I began looking around for coloring tutorials and found a ton.  I liked one of them very much and decided to test it out. In order to do that I penciled and inked a very detailed piece of concept work. The result of this test can be viewed past the break.

Now, before you go judging this piece know that I’ve already begun to make changes to these characters. Most notably are their proportions, which I will be refining. I’m also going to work on muscle tone and costume design. The goal of all this art work is to polish their design and practice my skills.

On a side note there will be a new data-cast up in a few days.

This other project (tentatively titled Red Journey) is a story driven web comic. For a long time now I’ve been meaning to start one up, but my life has been hectic. Anyhow, I figure there is not time like the present and I need to produce content to keep data-cube alive so here goes nothing.

Past the break I’ve posted a narrated video of me doing some character concept work on Red Journey. Check it out and tell me what you think!

Working on another version of this chracter, took down the color for now. I’ll post V2 in a bit.

The second thing I’m going to be working on is improving the general site design. Things like type facing, features and such. This is an area where I need your feedback. If you have any design recommendations or requests please post a comment below! If you have any problems with the site please say so, I need to know about those kinds of things in order to fix them. I’m always looking to improve the browsing experience of my site and feedback is essential to that process.

Thank you in advance, <3.Lots more after the break guys, check it out!

Just as a brief aside, I’m planning on releasing a Company of Heroes replay pack in a few days. It’s going to be about 5 to 10 games in size and one of them is going to become the next Tips and Tricks. Basically I’ll post the pack and then hold a user vote. Whichever game has the majority of votes will become the next Tips and Tricks. Of course I can’t do it first person play style, it’s a replay after all, but I can document my strategy and tactics. Should be cool, I’ll keep you posted.

One final bit of news, I’m going to be starting a web comic. I’ve tried making them in the past, mostly as art projects, but they’ve never really taken off. This time I think I’ve got a pretty solid idea to work with and the time necessary to produce it. It’s most likely going to be a full page once a week style job. Full color, hand penciled and inked. I’ll post a preview image in the following week.

Also it would be awesome if you could post a review on Itunes for the Data Cast! Would help spreading the word.

I’m sure you know where I’m going which this and that’s straight to HOT gaming deals city! So I’ve spent the last few days scrounging the web and have located some critical hit deals in the forum of flyers!  I’ve put links to all these flyers on below and I’ve also compiled a synopsis of the best deals in each one but I would take a look at the bigger places if I were you. Happy holidays!

Future Shop

1. PS3 160 gig Bundle, includes Infamous, Killzone 2 and Uncharted 1: Drakes Fortune 299.99
2. Xbox 360 Elite Holiday 120 gig bundle, includes Pure and Lego Batman $249.99
3. Fable 2, Gears of War 2, Halo 3 and Street Fighter 4 (PS3 version) and Metal Gear Solid 4 for $19.99
4. Prince of Persia (PS3 version) $14.99

Walmart

1. PS3 120 gig Bundle, includes Infamous and Batman Arkham Asylum 299.99
2. Xbox 360 Elite Holiday 120 gig bundle, includes Pure and Lego Batman $249.99
3. PSP (I think 3000) with UMD of Family Guy Blue Harvest star wars special for 149.99
4. DS Lite $109
5. Fable 2, Gears of War 2, Halo 3 and Halo Wars and Resistance Retribution (PSP) for $19.83
6. Assassin’s Creed 2 (PS3 and 360) for $37.98
7. 25% off all games under 20 dollars.

Zellers

1. Xbox 360 Elite Holiday 120 gig bundle, includes Pure and Lego Batman $249.99
2. 50% off Assassins Creed 2 (PS3 and 360), Avatar and
3. Fable 2, Gears of War 2, Halo 3 and Halo Wars for $19.99
4. 50% off all UbiSoft DS title

Real Canadian Superstore

1. Xbox 360 Elite Holiday 120 gig bundle, includes Pure and Lego Batman $259.99
2. Fable 2, Gears of War 2, Halo 3 and Halo Wars for $19.99
3. Uncharted 2, Little Big Planet( Game of the Year) and Resistance 2 $34.99
4. All ‘Value’ games are 10 dollars, what ever that means, bargain bin perhaps?

EB Games/GameStop (In French, possibly Quebec only)

1. Xbox 360 Elite Holiday 120 gig bundle, includes Pure and Lego Batman $269.99
2. Afro Samurai (Xbox 360) $9.99
3. Prince of Persia (PS3) $9,99
4. Fable 2, Gears of War 2, Halo 3 and Halo Wars for $19.99
5. Dissidia Final Fantasy $19.99
6. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite $29.99
7. World of Warcraft battle chest $29.99
8. PSP 3000 $149.99

Block Buster Video

1. Xbox 360 Elite Holiday 120 gig bundle, includes Pure and Lego Batman $269.99
2. A bunch of their used games are 9.99 ‘and up’ might be worth checking out.

Rogers Video

1. Halo ODST and Gears of War 2 USED for $40.00
2. Bunch of random USED games for 15 and 30 dollars.
3. Assassin’s Creed 2 and Modern Warfare 2 USED For $60

BestBuy

1. Assassins Creed, Left for Dead 2 (Xbox), Dragon Age(Both), Batman: Arkham Asylum, UFC (Both), Need for Speed SHIFT(Both) and Brutal Legend $39.99
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1(Both), Call of Duty: World at War(Both) and Resident Evil 5 $29.99
3. Fable 2, Gears of War 2, Halo 3, Tom Clancy’s Hawx,(Both) Grand Theft Auto 4(Both) and Spore for $19.99
4. Afro Samurai(Both), Brothers in Arms and Madworld $15.99

HMV (30 bucks for Modern Warfare 2 on December 26 ONLY!)

1. Like the title said, Modern Warfare 2 for $29.99
2. Fable 2, Gears of War 2 and Halo 3 for $19.99
3. Brutal Legend, Dragon Age and Need For Speed Shift for $39.99

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In Dragon Age: Origins you can give gifts to your party members which in turn improve their feelings toward you. At particular favour ‘mile stones’ they will begin to open up and tell you a little more about themselves. They also gain stat bonuses at certain mile stones which, I think, are permanent.  Some gifts are ‘plot’ ones and will reward you with a quest or an interesting bit of information if given. Lastly if a character has really taken a shine to you they can teach the rest of the party their class speciality, such as Alistair’s Templar sub class.

However keep in mind that not all gifts are equal and each one is intended for a particular party member. Logically they all have their own tastes and so giving someone a gift intended for them has a far greater benefit then giving it to another character. It’s also important to note there is a benefit to giving a gift to anyone but it’s just a fraction of what it could have been if it had been given to the right character. If you want to ‘game’ the system and gain maximum favour with all your party members you’re going to need to do two things. First of all, you’re going to have find and or purchase all the gifts located on this list and secondly you are going to have to give them to the right characters. You’ll also have to sweet talk them in their dialogue trees to boost it the rest of the way up there.

But before I get ahead of myself I just want to make sure you know how to give a party member a gift. First, go to the inventory and select the character you want to give the gift to. Second, right click on the gift you want to give. Finally, select the ‘give gift’ ability and bam your done. If you find a gift intended for a member who isn’t in your party go to your camp and give it to them there. Also, I don’t know how gift giving works on the console version of the game but I suppose it’s an icon on the radial menu. Either way it’s a lot like using a health recovery item. Once the gift is given you’ll lose it, immediately see the positive result and get a ‘thank you’ from the recipient.

Alright we are almost done here, but this next bit is very important read it!

The characters and their locations on this list are sorted by their order of appearance in the game. I did that because I don’t want to spoil anything. However I’ve also greyed out their names, and the names of some of the items, with spoiler tags to protect the casual reader. To reveal them left click and drag over the text to high light it, easy as that.

If you reveal an unwanted spoiler it’s because it’s your own fault, not mine, you have been warned!

Character: Alistair

Location: Ostagar

Character: Morrigan

Location: The wilds

Character: Dog

Location: Quest in Ostagar from Ash warrior dog trainer

Character: Leliana

Location: Lothering Inside the inn

Character: Sten

Location: Lothering locked in a cage

Character: Oghren

Location: Orzamar

Character: Wyrnne

Location: Circle Tower

Character: Zevran

Location: Random mandatory encounter

This last chracter is not shale and is a MAJOR spoiler, do not read if you do not have all the above characters. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Character: Loghain

Location: Not sure, never got him.

]]> http://data-cube.org/index.php/dragon-age-origins-party-member-gift-guide/feed/ 12 http://data-cube.org/index.php/data-cube-status/ http://data-cube.org/index.php/data-cube-status/#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:45:58 +0000 Karl http://data-cube.org/?p=242 So, last week was busy as I launched two videos. The first was Trips and tricks 6. I think it was pretty slick even if I had some major issues with it in the cutting room. I got those problems sorted out thanks to Mark Hawk. The other video I launched was the endurance run, which I’ve decided not to continue. The love just wasn’t there form my fans.

See I had a blast playing the game and want to play it more. Thing is, I don’t want to have to futz around with recording equipment to play it. Also, it’s balls hot in Vancouver right now and I don’t have the will to continuing some thing that may or may not pan out.

I’m currently in the planning states of an animation to celebrate getting 100 youtube subscribers. Again, not sure if that’s going to pan out either. It’s all a test of the software that I have at my disposal. If it does I think it will be a nice treat, if it doesn’t then shit.

Also, I just want to give a shout out to another Mark the owner of a nice down town video game store Cheeky Money. I kicked down there while I was searching for Grandia last week and we had a good conversation, he a pretty cool guy. I suggest you check his store out if you live in Vancouver. I think supporting independent places is important, if we don’t all were ever going to see is game stops.

-Karl

On a brighter note, Tips and Tricks 6 is finished and I am currently converting it to flash. It should be live on Data Cube by this afternoon. I think I did a good job on this one and am very excited to hear what you guys think. It will be a few more days until I can get it up on youtube but if you are reading this you can just watch it here.

Lastly, my plans to start an Endurance Run are one step closer to fruition. I have acquired a copy of Grandia 3, my primary candidate. I popped it in yesterday to try it out and played about 40 minutes of it. Most of that time was spent watching cut scenes but that isn’t so surprising as it is a JRPG. What was surprising was how much fun I had. Perhaps it’s just nostalgia talking but I loved Grandia 2 and I think I’m going to enjoy Garndia 3 as well. I’ll have a pilot episode of the Endurance Run up soon. I think I’ll record today and get it up by Friday. Or even sooner, who knows no promises.

Have a good one.

-Karl

Here is a quick guide how to set custom resolutions and Fields of View for Star Wars: Republic commando.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In game graphical settings, such as anti-aliasing, must be set before you customize your resolution! If you try to change them after you have set it, it will default back to 640 by 480!

1# Go to the Republic commando folder, it should be in the directory : C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\star wars republic commando

2# Now open the folder, Gamedata/System

3# Find the file called ‘System.InI’, right click it and select ‘open with’, then choose Note/Word Pad

3# Note pad will open, and you will see the guts of the System.ini file. Press Control + F to activate the search function and type in “[WinDrv.WindowsClient]“. Capitals do not matter, as long as you enter WinDrv.Windows it should find the section we are looking for. But not the droids.

4# Scroll down until you see the following lines.

WindowedViewportX=1680

WindowedViewportY=1050

FullscreenViewportX=1680

FullscreenViewportY=1050

Change these to what ever resolution you are currently running.

5# Okay, next hit control + F again and type in “FOV”, this will bring you to a line that looks like this.

FovAngleDegrees=90.000000 Change the 90 to any number between 100 to 120. This will widen your field of vision and make the game look better.

6# Alright now save the system.ini, but don’t go just yet, we are not yet done.

7# Open the folder Gamedata/Save, and locate the file System.ini. Looks familiar? It should, its the same file as the first System.ini in the system folder. Proceed mirror the change you made to the first file, steps 3 though 6, and then save.

Remember there are TWO system.ini files that need to be edited in two separate directories. If they are not both identical this wont work.

There you are done, boot up Republic Commando and enjoy!

-Karl