Dark Souls Announced!

If you know anything about Demon's Souls, you probably already know that Dark Souls is coming. It was announced a few days ago by Namco Bandai and it certainly looks promising. From Software obviously realized it did great with Demon's Souls, and if you're like me- you're dying to see Dark Souls. Be warned however! This will not be Demon's Souls 2, they made it very clear that Dark Souls will be a spiritual successor rather than a sequel. However the visual style, gameplay, and difficulty will certainly be back..... and improved!

Well let's cut to the chase, what exactly is different?

Difficulty:
-The game will be significantly harder than Demon's Souls
-Dying "hundreds, thousands, even millions of times" is an integral part of the game

Content:

-TONS of gear. Some places have it at 200+ weapons alone

-Weapons will be more unique, and each will offer a different playstyle

-More spells, about 2x the amount that was in Demon's Souls

-Many different enemies and locations to experience

Gameplay:

-Seamless world, no Nexus or Archstones to travel between locations, focus on exploration

-Travel anywhere- if you can see it, you can go there

-No classes (not like they mattered much in Demon's Souls anyway)

-Re-visioned multiplayer element, new co-op system
-Black and Blue phantoms make a return
-So do blood stains and messages
-No. World. Tendency.

Misc:

-Multiplatform! Get it on PS3 and Xbox360.

On the whole, Dark Souls looks extremely promising and will probably be a great hit like Demon's Souls was. Personally I'm going to cross my fingers for a collector's edition or at least a pack like the Black Phantom Edition EU got.

If you haven't seen the trailer already.. What are you waiting for!? Here it is:

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NYA!!!

Meow meowmeow, meowmeowmeow? MEOW MEOW! Meeeeeeeeooooooooooow!

http://mangastream.com/read/monster_hunter/10818078/1

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New Videos Soon!

One by Friday night and the next within a week!

I still have a better record than VG Cats!!!

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Armory Expansion Continues, Other News

Well, needless to say I'm pleased with how the Armory is turning out. The newest additions are the "Vicious Element" setups, which utilize Element Attack Up in conjunction with X Element +2 to get the most out of your high element weapons. (Yes. They do stack.)

Personally, I use the Vicious Flex Element setup gemmed with Dragon Attack +2 along with Divine Exodus to solo Akantor. It may not be the fastest, but it's damn fun and gets the job done when I need some parts but don't want to spend excess time on AHP.

In other news, I've been looking around about my Photoshop problems and no help. Probably gonna have to reinstall it. The issue now is finding out where I put all the stuff. Either way. Updated maps should be starting to come by next weekend, as well as a few visual tweaks with the blog itself.

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Site Renovations: New Layout and Pages

As you can probably tell, the site now has another sidebar, as well as the the first stage of White's Armory like I said. So as the place gets more useful content, it will fold nicely into this new format. Some of the original navbar items will be changed or removed completely.

So after the death of my laptop, I come back home to find that my Photoshop has gone mad. Which has setback further work on the maps as well as anything else graphically. I used Pixlr Editor to do some of the sidebar items which is fantastic program that is free to use.

Layout/Map updates to come when Photoshop's up and running again. Armory updates also to come (much sooner).

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Updates. Computer funeral.

Okay. So, lots of nothing happening since my laptop died over the holidays. Now that I can actually do things, I hope to do quite a few things. First-off, another comic of a nonsense occurrence that happened while playing MHP3 on AdHoc Party with my good pal FishTiCuffs.

Armored Battlesquirrel Approves.

Second and more important. I look to expand the MHP3 section of the site with a new "White's Armory" section with the various useful armor combinations I've constructed since hitting HR6. There are a few nice ones, such as my [Evade+2, Marathon Runner, Stamina Regen Up, Focus] set. All in all I hope to put maybe a dozen armor sets on this page for both blade and gun, showing the breakdown of the skill points and socketing.

I just need to scrape together some convenient HTML code to display it all nicely. Look forward to seeing at least a few by the week's end.

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Livestream, Sound, and Event

Finally got the USB sound card I ordered so now I can work around my broken microphone jack and get some sound when we stream MHP3. I worked out some bugs with it and played around with the resolution and bitrate, so now we have decent quality overall. The video itself is a bit fuzzy, but it doesn't lag up as much as it used to - as least thats what I think.

If you go on the Livestream page you can see there's three tests. The first had the original resolution (4:3) and 400kbps with keyframes every 2 seconds. The second has the native PSP resolution and 500kbps with keyframes every 1 second. The last has the same settings as the second, except the resolution was doubled.

If you wanna take a look at the second (the best one in my opinion...) you can follow the link here:

MHP3 Audio Test II - Jinouga

I will be attempting to stream tomorrow [Dec 21st, 2010] around 1PM Eastern time. Hopefully my internet won't crap out and my computer's video card won't crash like it did the last time we tried to stream... We'll be on US AdHoc Party, so feel free to join us if theres room. Upcoming Events has been updated.

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Mmm, Mmm. Them Chaps...

Definitely did NOT have this conversation with Black...

Going to be out for a few days. So heres a comic. Also took like 10 minutes to make. Maps are a little delayed due in part to playing the game on AdHoc Party... but oh well. It seems that there are other sites with maps already, and we have the ones that are up now, so it basically just boils down to aesthetics. Seeing as most people just want functional maps, I think that desire has been fulfilled. But for those that are looking forward to the higher res maps, they will be up.

Additionally Black promised the first game review soon. So I'm going to mention that to put some pressure on him  : D

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First Final-Version Map Posted in the Map Section, Livestream Reminder

Its about 48 minutes later than promised (from my timezone at least), but progress is progress either way. I like the way the new version of the maps came along. Much cleaner, smoother, and easier to read.

The next few maps should be up over the next week or so. Once they're all done, they'll probably go onto GameFAQs unless they have some policy over there that would ban us or something for posting it. I'm going to read up a bit on that since 'them mod ain't none bit too friendly'.

Also a reminder to all you folk who would like to watch MHP3 streaming on Livestream / would like to play with us on AdHoc Party... We'll be streaming/on AHP around 1pm Eastern time tomorrow [Dec 12, 2010] for like, 9 or 10 hours. Cause we feel like it. The event is still on the side of the page in the Upcoming Events Section. So unless you've never noticed it or forgot it was there, take a look now (and also see any other interesting upcoming events)

In conclusion: watch HawkBlog Livestream, check out new MHP3 resource maps. Oh. Also give us your thoughts concerning the new maps in the poll on the sidebar if you haven't already. Feedback helps, and according to what the polls say at this moment, we're doing something right.

So thank you for supporting us and thank you for using HawkBlog.

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Monster Hunter Livestream Updates and Map Preview

Theres a few news announcements, for Livestream primarily. Tomorrow [December 7th, 2010] we will be hosting an event while we hunt Giant Jho. So for those of you who don't have MH Tri, or just want to watch us get nommed by a huge dinosaur. Come watch at HawkBlog Livestream at the noted time.

Also this Sunday [December 12th, 2010], we will also be hosting a (mostly) all-day MHP3 streaming session. Whether or not will be on Ad-Hoc Party is to be decided, but an update will notify if we will, so if you want to join us, you can. We can play with US and EU.

See the Upcoming Events Section for full details.

NOTE: All times (unless for some reason Google calendar converts them to your timezone) are EST TIMEZONE.

Finally, as I said earlier, we have a new layout for the resource maps. Its much cleaner and much nicer to look at than the grainy old ones that we screencapped from the game. It will also be available in resolutions near 1024x1024. So its a huge improvement in terms of detail and clarity. Heres a preview:

Click Image for an Enlarged View

As you can tell, its been stylized to look like an actual map. I worked to try to preserve the map's geometry so its comparable to the in-game map. Also note that the water is colored for easy looking (and point finding). These should start going up over the next few days, and finally end up on GameFAQs.

Please take a second to answer the poll to the right to let us know what you think about the map!

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New Map Layout Has Been Finalized, and Announcements

As the title suggests, we have picked a new layout and overall design of the maps, for increased legibility and clarity. Expect much higher resolution images with easily discernible icons for quick and easy use.

It takes about an hour or so to convert each map to the new layout, and a half hour or so to transcribe the gather locations, so it will take some time. Also there will be another run or two for each map as a quality check, so I put the ETA at sometime this coming Saturday, Dec 11th.

Also the next MHP3 livestream event may also be this weekend. I will need to check with Black on it, but if all is well, we'll be duo-ing some guild missions while still doing the same monster/weapon request format (or at least I probably will). Either way, I did my Jinouga urgent earlier and now have access to more monsters. So that will also be a viable plan in case Black cannot join for guild quest fun.

Additionally a new reviews section may be going up sometime soon. As soon as I scrape up some new HTML to supplement what we have right now that supports drop down menus for the nav bar. We'll see.

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What to Do Next...?

So the first scheduled stream was a great success. A good many people showed up and our jolly crew discovered and saw many-a-thing in MHP3. But the question remains: what to do now?

I was thinking maybe doing something with Red Dead. Either just doing some good 'ol zombies or maybe doing a short video about shoving hookers  into table/innocent bystanders into oncoming wagons/inventors who construct gliders near dangerous cliffs... oh the possibilities! I did rent Epic Mickey, but have yet to try it. I've heard mixed reviews, but we'll see. Mayhap I'll do a review of it.

Either way, Black should be coming up with something soon. At least thats what I think he said. I'll have to ask him. Once finals are over, I will be able to add a large amount of content, so that will be good. Until then, check back every so often to see if theres anything new!

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MH Portable 3rd upcoming Livestream Event! [Finished]

Monster Hunter Portable 3rd is here... and working! Green light for this game so expect coverage soon. I'll probably do a little beforehand as to skip the boring tutorials and get myself back into the swing of things.

Either way, definitely going to go hammer as always, dabbling in duals since I really liked them in the demo.

You know what, I decided right now I'm Livestreaming it this Saturday [Dec 12/4/2010] probably around 6PM Eastern time. Details are in the Upcoming Events section. Come check it out!

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Monstuh Huntuh Portuhbul 3....... :3

Less than a week. Expect extensive coverage on livestream.

Until then. Let puppy entertain you!

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Eye of the Storm

Been in New Paltz since midday Friday. Birthdays and such. Been partying for about two days now. Now is the calm before we hit the hurricanes body again. Expect fun pictures once I steal them from Facebook.

Faces will be censored for protection. Not theres. We just don't want you poking you eyes out for looking at the fugly bastards.

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And Live!

Finished first successful livestream as well. Though recording fucked up, its ok since I got at least 5 minutes worth.

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And so it begins....

From this moment forth, HawkBlog goes *almost* live.

Started messing around with LiveStream. Looking into a capture card for PS3/Wii goodness. Figured out that I can't really get it until the end of the month at least. But oh well. HB isn't public yet so nobody loses.

THEY CANNOT! :O

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