Author: S.A.Perkins
Abort, Retry, Fail? 1-3: Blackmail
| July 4, 2012 | Posted by S.A.Perkins under ARF? |
Fran makes a reappearance here, but I am aware two members of the cast still have been omitted since the start of the story. I shall rectify that soon. Apologies for the small text, but it was the only way to fit all of it in! I’m going to have to find a new way of doing these comics. Bigger panels, maybe, stretched into rows rather than the three-by-two grid I have here. more
I Am Error: Altoholism – the silent killer
| June 27, 2012 | Posted by S.A.Perkins under I Am Error |
Hi there. My name is Simon Perkins, and I’m… an altoholic. No, don’t laugh. Seriously. Stop it! Yes, altoholism is a disease, but it can be cured. What is altoholism, I hear you ask? Well, alts are simply alternative characters that you create in addition to your protagonist – or, in my case, all of my characters. An altoholic is someone who cannot physically stay with one character long enough to finish a game or advance far into a world, because they want to start again, make a new character and make sure that this time around they’ll spend that extra point in archery, because that will make all the difference. I can’t count the number of times I’ve wanted to start… more
Abort, Retry, Fail? 1-2: You saw nothing
| June 27, 2012 | Posted by S.A.Perkins under ARF? |
I apologise to my friend Sam, who had to take the hit and be the guest character in this comic. I hope I did him well enough not to get joked at, but something tells me that’s going to happen anyway. Aside from which, the promise to do consistent comics has held true, and the story continues! I’m not sure if power of deniability is actually a legal term, but I wish it was. more
I Am Error: Dragon’s Dogma
| June 20, 2012 | Posted by S.A.Perkins under I Am Error |
Dragon’s Dogma is an open world RPG from Capcom, who also developed Monster Hunter and the Resident Evil series – two of my favourite game series ever. Dragon’s Dogma consists of your standard open world affair and your mostly generic RPG plot, but it has a few mechanics and components that make it stand out from the crowd, despite a few kinks that need to be worked out. In classic game-critic fashion, I’m going highlight all of those flaws and laugh mercilessly as Capcom try to hide their shame. If you haven’t guessed, I have ideas far, far above my station. Dragon’s Dogma starts as you would expect; you begin in the shoes of a peasant villager who lives a… more
Abort, Retry, Fail? 1-1: Freedom
| June 20, 2012 | Posted by S.A.Perkins under ARF? |
This comic is actually true: I did have exams, hence I missed a fair few slots. Not that anyone’s bothered – except maybe the editors, but who counts them? – but I do have a legitimate reason. I’m going to try my best to fit to a regular schedule now, touch wood, seeing as I’m staying at home over the summer with no job or university to keep me busy. We’ll see if I actually bother to live up to that promise. Also, remember to check out my I Am Error article this week on Dragon’s Dogma. I would have drawn a comic about it, but after failing to draw a dragon for the dozenth time I just gave up. more
I Am Error: Open world or linear?
| May 9, 2012 | Posted by S.A.Perkins under I Am Error |
I’m sure the wider world has by now experienced Skyrim, which means most people should be familiar with the term “open world games.” True, there were other open world games before Skyrim, for example Red Dead Redemption, which is very, very good, and Grand Theft Auto, which is very, very bad (strange how Rockstar manages to occupy both ends of the spectrum), but Skyrim really brought home the open world style, and of course – the most important thing – they did it well. But which are better: open world or linear games? There is one major problem with open world games, in that, if you take examples like Skyrim and Red Dead, there’s just so damn much to experience that you… more
I Am Error: Pick your ending?
| May 2, 2012 | Posted by S.A.Perkins under I Am Error |
With the whole Mass Effect 3 ending debacle getting on my nerves recently, I thought I’d address the issue of the impending summer DLC and give a few thoughts on what it means for games – that is, if the industry doesn’t listen to the various trolls (not the “playing jokes on the internet” kind, but the “hideous, deformed and often smelly creatures who live in dank, dark places” kind) that can be found around the internet. If they had charged for the ending – and this is EA, so believe me, I was fully expecting an £8 price tag – then I would be joining the assembled ranks of the geek army to fully voice my displeasure (we are… more
Abort, Retry, Fail? Reboot
| April 4, 2012 | Posted by S.A.Perkins under ARF? |
Yes, I’m rebooting ARF? - I couldn’t come up with jokey strips every week. I’m still going to make it funny (obviously this one is just introducing everything so it won’t be hilarious yet) but I’m going to make it a bit more plot-orientated. When I can I will add in one-shot comics, but don’t expect them so often. Hopefully everyone featured here likes their portrayal. If not, they’ll just have to deal with it; I won’t be changing it for a while. This one took far too long to draw, so I won’t be doing a 12-panel comic ever again. I only did it to make up for my long absence. It had better be appreciated! more
Mass Effect 3
| March 21, 2012 | Posted by S.A.Perkins under reviews, technology |
So, after playing it for more than a week, I’ve decided to at last review Mass Effect 3, something which my editor has been harassing me to do for a while. Now, I appreciate that I did tell him if anyone else were to do this review I would actually tear someone’s face off, but come on, did he really expect me to stop playing long enough to review it? However, I’ve managed to tear myself away – mostly because I realised I do also have coursework I sort of need to do – and so here it goes: my very, very long-winded way of saying “It’s amazing.” Gameplay-wise, things have only got better. The cover system has been tweaked… more
I Am Error: Real-money gaming marketplaces
| February 23, 2012 | Posted by S.A.Perkins under I Am Error |
So, I’m going to assume some of the readership knows about Diablo III and the choice Blizzard have made to have its auction house / marketplace run on actual cash. If not, research the topic. But I thought I may as well discuss the the subject before turning the possibility of a real-cash marketplace on other games, and talk about how people might make a living from games that use it. As a student, I am of course desperate for cash (seriously, I’m willing to whore myself out at this point; I charge cheap rates, if anyone’s interested), so the prospect of making my living from games is very enticing – but I don’t really like the idea implemented in Diablo… more
