REVIEW: The Witcher 2 Collectors Edition items

Welcome Gamers!

Today i'd like to talk about "Collectors editions". These items are usually a special box set put together for someone looking for more than just the regular game, this little bit extra could be a bonus code for something downloadable in the game, to an art book showing behind the scenes concept work into the games development, or even to an action figure or night vision goggles!

I'm a sucker for concept art, so any collectors edition that comes with an artbook holds a spot in my heart. I love seeing the development process for a game, ranging from early sketches to final designs, what didn't make it past the cutting room floor, and alternate ideas that may be used later on, after all video games usually may take up to 5+ years to complete so theres bound to be some fantastic concepts that deserve to be shown off.

The Review:

I picked up my preorder of the Collectors edition box of The Witcher 2 this week, the clerk behind the counter said it was the only one that came in and he was interested on what was inside, almost as if he was asking me to open it there in the store, I denied this request.

The box itself is a sleek black box with The Witchers Wolf emblem at the edge of the box folding over both sides.

Opening the box, I am greeted by my favorite portion of this set, the Art Book!

And what an Art book it is!, this thing is huge and filled with great artwork, design concepts and the story behind a few of their ideas for environment and the creation process of blending in historical data with their imagination to create a new world, heres a look at a few more pages...

Did i mention this thin was big? 195 pages to be exact!

Included in the box is also a few stickers promoting the game, and a paper craft kit to create! oooh, aaah.

Digging a bit deeper we get a beefy 2 disc DVD for the game installation, a 2 Disc soundtrack and a 96 page manual that reads like a mini adventure book! Very cool!

saucy

Next up, the Main piece. Inside the box (which had some heft to it  by the way) was a mini bust of our main character Geralt of Rivia. This piece is solid, the design is nice, it doesn't feel cheaply made, and is sturdy enough to make for a good bookend, 

this was the view from inside the box, notice the  weight of the statue was too much for the packaging

A few more goodies lie beneath starting with a deck of cards, a bag of die (dice? whatev) the pattern on the bag resembling the Witchers emblem, and an instruction manual on how to play the card game, pretty neat i think that you can play a game from within a video game.

i didnt open the cards yet, i'll update with images

 Last but not least a small gem for immersion a "gold" coin with the kings head on one side and the shield on the back, it wont buy me a coke but it looks cool!

All in all, this set was well put together selection of items for any collector, or big fan of The Witcher series.


-Mikol 

Mike & Mike...and Mike

Birthdays are great, aren't they? You get to celebrate a day with your friends and go out with a free pass. It's like a personal new year for only you; unless you share a birthday with someone you know (....Diana!, But this isn't about me), and most of all gifts!! This gift story is about a good friend of mine named Mike..no, I am not speaking in the third person either. This is another Mike.

Yesterday we celebrated Mike's birthday, and because of this occasion, I decided to create something instead giving a gift card, or buying dinner. I'm not saying that these are bad gifts, they are actually great. I'm also not saying I'm cheap, since
the materials I use to create something are not cheap. I'm just saying it's different... and I hate shopping.

This is Mike:

And this is a picture from a film he made entitled "West Texas Murder", it's also his Facebook profile picture, so BAM! idea!!......createdwhileatwork....

I decided to sketch out something. I'm not an artist, I just like to play one on TV. I also have a horrible memory, so at any given moment you will find me with a pocket full of sticky notes, and words like "milk", "cookies", and "fucking cat litter" written on my hand in sharpee.

The horrible sketch:

The sticky note would have acted as a cheap birthday card attached to the actual item I was going to create, but as with any TV artist, it was in the trash bin as soon as I got home. It had served its purpose of reminding me to make something later.

Now onto the real work... Since the image was taken from a facebook thumbnail image, it was simply too small for my project, so I had to blow it up. This of course caused it to lose quality. I then had to vector the image in photoshop to get the shapes I needed for the next step. (What the hell is Vector Graphics)?

The Vectored Shapes:
Ok, So now that that's done it's time to print. The final image will be placed on a 16"x20" canvas, so to fit this I must print each shape (3 total) to 12 pages total (4 pages each image) This is getting kind of big now.

After I print the pages, I see that the flimsy paper will not be good enough for the painting I'll be doing, so I go out and buy some thicker poster board instead. I lay out all the shapes, and commence cutting the negatives out...ugh



After all the shapes are cut is the fun part; painting! At first I failed by using acrylic on the canvas. This bled through the paper because I didn't use a sponge or dry brush to apply it, but then I thought, "what's more fun than acrylic paint? Spray Paint!!" So with my stencils in hand...

After the paintin--...er, Spraying is done, I am left with this:

So, did he like it..?


Well, at first I thought he was sad..

But it turns out he was just putting on a face (ba-dum), He did end up liking it, so in the end it was a success!


-Mikol






Hear no evil, See no evil, Sneeze no evil?

"mini" diet

Man o' man, "diets"!? am i right?

I am on a diet, and boy does it suck! Don't get me wrong, i am "losing" weight, but it is weird to know my body can survive for 3 days eating a can of tuna and an egg. ( by the way that's not the diet)

This diet, like any other promotes portion control and exercise. But the underlying deception of it, is that it assumes you wont exercise (which pretty much sounds right) so it takes away the option for portion control and gives you a list of what you can/cannot eat and how much of it.

I'm pretty good at following directions, so I'm cool with a set list of pre-approved food and schedule to follow, for the most part i don't eat breakfast regularly and lunch is occasional also, so I'm thinking ill be able to fly into dinner under par and come out on top!,...right?

Well, the diet is only 3 days long, because otherwise your throat will collapse, or your ears will fall off or whatever health reason they gave me i cant remember. I don't know the exact food choices off the top of my head, but it starts off a little something like this:

A small breakfast consisting of egg, OR 1 slice of toast and half cup of juice,

A small lunch of either half can of tuna and a slice of bread, OR crackers and a slice of cheese

Ending with a "sensible" dinner which can contain 3.oz of meat and the remainder vegetables.

The Diet gets progressively harder up to the third day where the breakfast item is pretty much what you're having for all three meal times.

The first day

You are feeling good, gonna get back on track and in shape, thinking about all the clothes you will fit into again. The Morning is not so bad, you're probably still full from the beef enchiladas from the night before, So you may skimp on that breakfast, its like saving up credit right?

Lunch comes and goes, you feel weird that the lunch was no double whopper from burger king, but you made it and are feeling like you can do this for like a month straight!

Dinner time is here, Your a bit hungrier than you were earlier today and notice the ratio between green and brown on your plate is 80/20 but you are set in your diet, and can do this, so you scarf it down, and go to bed.

The second day

Your stomach rumblings wake you up, that means its working! right? The egg is welcomed and you are on your way.

Did you eat lunch today....oh right, the tuna,...poo

Dinner finally here, you start to rethink the month long diet strategy and agree that 3 days is enough, and in mid thought find out you've eaten your meal, maybe you didn't get the serving size right, oh well one more day, you can do this!

The third day

You wake up thinking "if I'm losing weight why does my body feel so heavy?" Your mornings before were usually without any meal at all, so why all of a sudden do you have a urge to do cinnamon toast crunch and a Mc griddle sandwich "Zombie style"? You didn't eat a egg Monday, can we cash that in for an extra one today?

You suddenly have case of "unclear throat" syndrome today, as you try to disguise your stomachs audible revolt, "when will lunch get here?", it's only been 2 minutes since you've looked at your watch, and lunch time has already passed, did you eat lunch? it doesn't feel like you've eaten lunch.

At the end of the day, the drive home is the longest drive, and you are aware of everything, in a negative way of course. You notice the people who are eating in their cars, and wonder if those are the good salty McDonald's fries or the crappy soggy ones , you notice the guy behind you who you just know will try to pass you at any moment,...any moment now, you start thinking about if you got any mail today, and that you probably didn't but you will go to check anyway and then you will be pissed because you were right!...about being pissed

Your dinner is the worst ever, the cat bowl has more food than your plate does, and it doesn't look half bad either, neither does your cat at this point. You think to yourself your not gonna make it, your so tired, your so very tired, you go to bed and place two pillows against your ears two block out the grumblings, if you make it to tomorrow you promise yourself a "shit load of crazy bread and a pizza"

Tomorrow

You wake up.....silence

Did my stomach die?

You walk slowly onto the cold bathroom floor, predicting that all your sacrifice was for not, and promising to swear off this as another failed diet unless you lost 50 pounds. You step onto the scale, both eyes closed, then one eye closed, then both eyes open, then with a sigh you say "8 pounds, ...huh, not bad!" Your pants don't feel as tight as before do they?, does this coat look bigger to you? Now that you can deviate from the menu for the next 4 days, what will you eat?

....."I'm not really that hungry"

Now While most of the above is true i want to put into perspective something, Some people say "how hard can it be, how small are these portions really?". Well for my first night i did have this nice juicy delicious piece of meat, along with some green beans and carrots!

Looks great doesn't it, well it was actually, and i split it with my Grandmother who made this wonderful bird and my wife, so where is the deception you ask? look forth!

And no, i am not a giant!

-Mikol

Munny-Munny-Munny-Munny.....MUNNAY!!

When creating some "art project" i normally don't document it, as in a series of photographs from start to finish. Most of the times, its a good thing, but on some rare occasions i step pack from a painting or digital art piece and say..."well shit that would have been nice."

I purchased a "Munny" for my wife a few weeks back, but haven't gotten myself to paint it, until this weekend.

Nice clean Munny to start off with!

I started sketching out some simple ideas on a template.

When satisfied there i sketched on the Munny itself.

Since my idea involved a few items i couldn't draw on to the Munny, i got the necessary tools from my garage.

A few holes later....

....tada!

Now here is where, and probably why i don't do "tutorials" or "step-by-steps" I get caught up in my project to the point if forget I'm supposed to be documenting it as well, i guess next time I'll set up a video camera and set it to record instead.

Here she is, painted, drilled, buffed, outlined, and glossed....I promise i'll take those pictures next time, enjoy!

quikie

I'm not much of a painter, as to say I dont really practice the medium much, but last night i had an idea, plus i had the paints, so...i painted.

Now bear with me, as i explain the process, or lack there of.

I created two paintings, i failed to take a picture of first one of,t ...sort of..read on.

Here is the final (second) painting

(keep in mind i was going for speed, and not the "finished" product here to see if my image worked out)

wow! a dragon, big woop...i agree, but then...

The first painting is what i painted over, not very impressive, especially since i didnt prep the canvas so the colors wouldnt bleed, or blend colors that well in each scene, but at least my test went through!!

All in all i think the test was a success to a degree, i can recreate two diffrent images, use diffrent shapes and surprise myself with the details!

Polar Equals

For a long time, I've known a young man by the name of Drew, or maybe Jude, I can't remember. Either way he is my best friend from Oklahoma (which sucks by the way, not Drewella but Oklahoma). What Jared and I had in common was our sense of humor and common hatred for our job at the time. From this came many moments of laughter, a few man tears, an occasion where I could have lost an eye due to extreme pointing, and a mind- link in the game of charades that could be said to border both magic and insanity in some fantasy realm where those two paths are very close to each other and easily crossable. Since that time I have moved back to my home state of Texas to start my new life, leaving Frank to fend for himself.

Recently, there was a wedding in which I was the groom. Among grooms there are men; among these men there is but one "best" man. This man is there to take control in case the groom gets shot or something; I have no clue. When I was thinking of my best man, I was not only thinking of who I would like beside me to use as a human shield in said shooting scenario, but I did not have access to a general worksheet that describes how to choose a best man. I suppose a test of who can hold the ring "the best" would suffice, but I never looked for a rule book on how to judge the grasp pressure or holding etiquette of selected men, nor would I feel comfortable asking my groomsmen to show me their "grip strength and handling techniques".

So I thought to myself, "what will I need in case I get nervous, or "the jitters"", and I said to myself "wait, when have I ever gotten THAT nervous?" and although this statment was bold, it seems further thinking to myself led into a montage of memories (you still with me?)

What Jefferey and i had when it came down to nerves was this; we didnt get nervous, or rather we didn't LET each other get nervous. If we were excited about something we had to make it said, to let it out if you will, for example:

in a serious situation I would say:

"Hey man I think I'm gonna get fired"

Nancy would say

"That sucks, want I should take a shit on the boss's car window?"

In no way did we really proceed with committing these profane acts 2/3rds of the time, but adding a bit of humour to a serious situation lightened it for one another. This could be misdirection, the "lighter side" of a bad situation, or just goofy behavior in the most serious of moments.

I the end i knew this would be a great asset to have, plus Donald is a nice guy too!

Enter day of the wedding. After playing video games until 5 am that morning, we woke up with a few errands to knock out. While runnig these errands, Tim could see I was getting a bit nervous counting down the minutes to go time. Not nervous about if this was the right decision, but anxious if I'd be able to shine as bright as i wanted to for the beautiful girl I was going to unite with that night....and stuff.

He tried to distract me and tell me anecdotes of his son, and talk to me about the "good ol days", but it just wasnt kicking in; That is until walmart happened. Keep in mind we are still running errands when Peter opted for a photo. Not a photo one would think to commemorate his trip down to Texas for his buddy's wedding, but one to let me know everything would be all right. Looking down this Wal Mart isle with my iphone i snapped an image, we picked up the rest of our items and went off to meet my blushing bride.

Minutes before I started my last walk as a single man, I took a deep breath, saw this picture of my good friend, texted "i love you" to my sweetheart in the room behind me, and proceeded to make a great memory.

There are times when something so off beat can throw a person or situation back into their own rhythm, The wedding day has come and gone, and a new adventure has started with me and

mine. My friend Drake went back to the land of the lost, but fear not, I have a remedy for you. If ever you're feeling down, lost, lonely or don't have your ground as sturdy as you'd like it, just take a look, and get back on course.

PLANTAINS!!!

I've been holding onto this for a while but i need to let it out, i need to let it out like theres no tomorrow.
I produce to you exhibit A.

A Banana, no big deal right, possibly a little bit larger than most, seeing as how i can hold this with two hands with room a bit of room to spare.

OK here the background, Every Monday our company brings in a basket of fruit for the whole floor (150+ peeps) strawberries, grapes, pears, apples, and other treats for us to eat. All of them are pretty average hand fruits, but then come in the bananas, i think these are grown on a land of giants, where they would consider this average with their massive hands. Whatever magical fertilizer used for these deductibles were not made by man, but stolen from the gods own gardens. The first few weeks here i enjoyed my free fruit with no further thought on these abnormally sized healthy snacks, That is until one Monday..

There i was, as any other Monday would go, half tired, half asleep all bored out of my mind, waiting for a break to interrupt the monotony of servitude, when said break time finally arrives and i wander into the appropriate said room, at first glance i thought surely this item before me was the colorful handle to the basket the rest of the fruit was in, upon further inspection it was actually part of the fruit itself! I could not believe it, this Banana was hybrid with walking cane, baseball bat, with a bit of crowbar and big bird in between, I had no idea what to do with this thing, surely not eat it, right?! holding it in my hands alone made me feel perverted in a way...right?!
Exhibit B:

I sat amazed at my desk next to this thing, amazed, confused, and for some reason inadequate. I compared it to my headset, my monitor, even laying it across my keyboard, almost all being dwarfed by its sheer size, This single fruit could feed an entire school with the addition of some nilla wafers, i could use the peel as a parka afterwards.
I could not bring myself to peel this entire product of nature without thinking of obscenities, so i ate it in pieces, sections if you will, as if rationing for many,carefully making sure no one was looking at me as if playing a trick or video taping me. Eating it took me the whole day, and not one part of it was bruised or mushy, it was tasty, an Adonis of bananas.
I lay awake at night sometimes, questioning my own physical being, sexuality, our political views on the world, if monkeys had it right all along, if all good things do in fact come to an end, and if there will ever be another...Adonis Banana