"We can't be beholden to the fans" -Capcom

http://www.gamespot.com/news/capcom-resident-evil-cant-please-everyone-6397591

Criminal. Just criminal.

So, after years of support from your loyal audience buying your products, you go and say you can't be beholden to your own audience. The same audience that's been buying your damn work since the first game. I officially hate you, Capcom, for openly turning your back on your own fans. Now you see why people hate you now.

I'm never buying a game from Capcom from this point on, no matter what game it is. It's too bad; some voice actors are involved with Capcom games, but then again they're nothing more than mere doormats to the creators of the games they voice and play. Oh well.

Super Special Blog Post: Blog Hop Interview

Yay, I've been selected to do a special blog hop posting! This posting is unique in that it's a blog hop that requires me to select five writers so they can do a similar blog hop post, too. The post will explore what my work in progress is about, and how it came to be.

Here are the rules for this blog post:


* Answer these ten questions about your current WIP (Work In Progress) on your blog

* Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.

Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing:

* What is the working title of your book?
* Where did the idea come from for the book?
* What genre does your book fall under?
* Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
* What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
* Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
* How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
* What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
* Who or What inspired you to write this book?
* What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

* What is the working title of your book?

The working title of my book is Animator's Dream.

* Where did the idea come from for the book?

A lot of things, mostly consisting of internet hopping and researching voice actors on the web. Also, I got some ideas from real life and pop culture, plus some things that go on in my head. For instance, I made a chapter based on the anime series Code Geass, but I wanted to throw in giant robots from the video game series Armored Core. My imagination just ran wild with the possibilites of the missions my characters could do, and that's just one chapter! In short, I wanted to let my imagination run wild with the ideas contained in me.

* What genre does your book fall under?

Mainstream; it mixes elements of action, adventure, romance, sci-fi, psychological horror, and comedy.

* Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I've actually been wanting to do an audiobook involving veteran voice actors, so if the chance that an anime movie would be made, I'd like these people to reprise their roles. If you're interested in my dream cast and why I chose them, go here:
http://projectrenesis.blogspot.com/2012/06/side-story-progress-and-dream-voice.html

* What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

A young anime fan is sucked into the animated world after winning a supposed magic pencil, and is caught in a mystery that is also a war against an evil organization terrorizing this new world.

* Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Self-Published, since agencies are becoming obsolete and nobody wants to go through such hassles and middlemen loopholes.

* How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I'm still working on it now! I've slowed down progress from time to time in spite of setting a goal of finishing one chapter section per week because of school and a need for entertainment.

* What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I would say Harold and the Magic Crayon, but also the novelization of Tron, too. I also got some elements of Stephen King's works and even inspirations from various comic books and manga.

* Who or What inspired you to write this book?

The whole anime and manga mediums inspired me, but I also wanted to implement real life people into this work. Some of the characters are based on characters from works of fiction and people in real life, notably voice actors in the anime industry.

* What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

There's something for everyone in this book, from getting involved in a centuries-old war to characters of different types, and there's all sorts of references to anime and manga in this book, too.

Five Writers on my tag list:

Lily Silver (http://lilysilver.webs.com/)
June Faver (http://livingwiththemuse.blogspot.com/)
Morgan Mandel (http://candidcanine.blogspot.com/2012/09/welcome-to-morgan-mandel-author-of-new.html)
Joe McCoubrey (http://joemccoubrey.com/a-novel-born-out-of-troubled-times-in-ireland/)
Tom Gillespie (http://pauldbrazill.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/short-sharp-interview-tom-gillespie/)

Credit goes to Maria Hammerblad for getting me involved in this special posting. If you wish to look at her works, then go to these links:
(http://www.facebook.com/maria.sadowski.5)
(http://www.scifiromance.info/)

Side story chapter in progress

Finally nailed Chapter Four, and am now working on a side story focusing on Noel. I will be giving two characters side stories so as to focus on those characters and not just Kirk. They would be Miyu Kusanagi and Noel, since they're important to the plot and back story of the novel. I was originally going to start work on Chapter Five, but I wanted to save that for later since I wanted to focus on Noel in addition to Miyu.

One more thing, I'll be doing weekly sections in my novel since I wanted to challenge myself to get my novel chapters done in a period of time. It's like with how writers of various TV shows had to deal with schedules in writing up the next episode of whatever series is on. That and I wanted to get my novel done and published as soon as I could, since I fear for the voice actors that I wish to work with on my audio book may be soon on their way. Yes, I'll probably need a hefty sum of money to support the project, but hey, the same could be said on getting my novel published.

The Downfall of the Blue Bomber, or, Capcom forgot how to treat their fans

Yes, I'm writing at a late time, but it's important to the point that I simply have to write about it. I'm writing about it because it relates to my story some.

I was browsing the web and did a random Google search for Mega Man, mostly because I watched a video on the garbage Mega Man DOS game that wasn't made by Capcom. I also remembered on GameFAQs that Capcom was going to announce something for Mega Man's 25th Anniversary. What I found was a new game, but it wasn't the game fans like me had in mind. In fact, it wasn't really a game at all.

This new "game", called Mega Man Xover (pronounced cross over) is a "social role-playing game" for the iOS, aka the iPhone and the iPad. On paper, it's not really much, even though it's a crossover featuring every Mega Man franchise in history. The deal breaker, however, is the auto-play feature. This is a franchise known for it's platforming, and there's an auto-play feature. What the hell? What. The. Hell. That destroys the point of Mega Man as a whole.

I'd just like to say that this is the 25th Anniversary of their iconic franchise, and this is how they treat Mega Man fans? Not that any of their other franchises are faring better, what with their disc-locked content.

Capcom better buckle up, because they won't last long with abandoning their mascot and forcing people to buy content already on their disc

Books for potential manga/anime artists

Have you ever wanted to draw in a style similar to your favorite anime or manga works? Do you want to create a show or manga series of your own? Perhaps these books would help on your path to success.

Manga for Dummies:

http://www.amazon.com/Manga-For-Dummies-Kensuke-Okabayashi/dp/0470080256/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344714824&sr=8-1&keywords=manga+for+dummies

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Drawing Manga Illustrated, 2nd Edition:

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Idiots-Drawing-Illustrated-Edition/dp/1592578233/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1344714824&sr=8-3&keywords=manga+for+dummies

Manga for the Beginner Shoujo:

http://www.amazon.com/Manga-Beginner-Shoujo-Everything-Japanese/dp/0823033295/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344715047&sr=1-1&keywords=manga+for+the+beginner+shoujo

While these are three common books, they're done by expert artists who know their topics well. Highly recommend these books if you can find them in stores, on Amazon.com or eBay, or even your local library. I'm using these books as a resource to learn how to create my characters for my novel, so people will have an idea of what the characters will look like. Oh, and sorry if I haven't done anything in a while.

Thoughts on sequels

While my novel is still in development (in fact the manuscript alone isn't even finished!), I have some plans made for the two sequels to Animator's Dream. They will be different from the first novel in more ways than one, with the third having the most radical differences.

Animator's Reality (Animator's Dream Episode Two)
-Western cartoons and comics theme
-Somewhat darker feel in spite of featuring lighthearted cartoons
-Different protagonist, named Lancer
-A pen is the artistic utensil of choice here
-Sidekick having more mature look and feel, while still being a female, and having a more tragic back story creation reason than Tigercat. She is also based on Mary Elizabeth McGlynn's western animation/games characters, and would be designed like that of Marvel Comic's Black Cat
-Four animated world sidekick characters based on Tara Strong, Lara Jill Miller, Steve Blum and Erin Fitzgerald.
-Industrial music a part of the soundtrack, similar to that of Frank Klepacki's work for the Command & Conquer games and Johan Skugge & Jukka Rintamaki's work for Battlefield 3.
-Introduces the western side of the Diablo's Darkness, led by Devil's Minister, based on Daran Norris and Timmy Turner's dad in Nickelodeon's Fairly Oddparents. They are not as evil as the Japanese side, but they are still dangerous nonetheless
-Also would introduce the western equivalent of the Angels of Light: the Demons of the Dark, to add a 'dark is not evil' motif to the fight against the Diablo's Darkness. They also follow a mythical god naming convention
-Keeping the grouping convention of poster boy hero and sidekick, genius strongman, sexy gal pal, and unique with a past-type character
-Characters pilot fictionalizations of real world tanks and aircraft as opposed to Japanese mechs and scrolling shooter space fighters, and the tanks and fighters evolve based on historical chronology
-Aircraft and tanks go in this order: two American, one British, one Japanese, one German, and one Russian


Animator's Requiem
-Kirk and Lancer's teams come together in the final novel of the Animator's Dream trilogy
-Sides representing Japanese anime and manga and western animation and comics are at war with each other
-Focuses on Kirk's and Lancer's missions as they fight ranked soldiers and special units
-A secret war is being conducted by two commanders on the Japanese and western armies, secretly in disguise as Devil's Mistress and Devil's Minister respectively
-Devil's Mistress and Devil's Minister represent the real life marriage of Mary Elizabeth McGlynn and Daran Norris
-Diablo's Darkness behind the war between the Japanese and western factions, but the Angels of Light and Demons of the Dark intervene to prevent further fighting
-Diablo's Darkness planned to weaken the two forces to conquer the animated world and the physical world, and eventually reality itself
-Zenaiva to join Kirk and friends after breaking mind control
-Noel will give birth to a new species of life
-Final battle between the animators Kirk and Lancer and the Diablo's Darkness
-Some Diablo's Darkness members revealed to be captured and mind controlled Angels of Light/Demons of the Dark members, but will be rescued
-Some characters seen in the previous two novels may be killed, but they will not be any of Kirk or Lancer's friends


Those are my ideas in a nutshell. Here's hoping that I can generate worldwide recognition for my work so as to make these sequels possible.

Obscure Video Games - Starblade: Operation Blue Planet

New to this blog is Obscure Video Games, a series that I personally created to show off games that are either rare or never even saw the light of day. Because a lot of influences in my novel include video games from Japan, this would be a fitting addition to my blog. For my very first episode, I would share Starblade: Operation Blue Planet, the sequel to Namco's Starblade. This is unique in that it would have been used in their cancelled O.R.B.S. (Over Reality Booster System) arcade cabinet, which would have immersed players inside the machine and give a spherical view. A shame it got cancelled, looked like fun. I just wished that Namco would broaden their development horizons and make more unique games like these. Angry Joe was right: better games have been canned and never released.
Oh, if you want to learn about O.R.B.S., go here: NAMCO MEDIUM SIZED ATTRACTIONS HARDWARE - O.R.B.S.