N.U.S. SPECIAL REPORT April 26, 2006

This is a special message about something that is important to me; the Silent Hill movie. All questions will be answered at the bottom of this post.

I'm sure by now nearly everyone has heard or read a bad review for Silent Hill which was based on the Konami game for PS1 Silent Hill which was based on the breakfast cereal Demons From Hell Flakes. I would like to take this moment to say that while Silent Hill isn't the greatest movie ever made, fans of the game owe it to themselves to see it.

I've noticed that most people who 'reviewed' this movie have either never played the game, or if they had, they didn't like it. Well, I'm stepping in here because I LOVE the games, and have a slightly differerent point of view to offer the movie-going public.

Silent Hill isn't so much a movie where we watch the game, or where we watch characters we're supposed to already know going through events similar to those we've already experienced. The movie is more like a trip INTO Silent Hill. The artistry involved is spectacular, especially the scenes where the town transforms into Nightmare Mode.

Fans of the series will also note the almost bizarre mishmash of elements from the first three games. Essentially, the story is from the first game, the monsters are from the second, and the music is from the third. It's fun for anyone who's gone through each game to take note of all the small elements that have been put into this film, which tie it well to the game, but seperate it enough to make it interesting.

I will say this: if you haven't played the games, or have and don't like them this isn't a movie for you. Unless you know someone who HAS and can explain certain elements to you. In this way, yes Silent Hill fails as a movie. Here we have the opposite end of the movie-game spectrum, where a movie is made TOO similar to a game, and then pulled back to try and rope in people unfamiliar with the source material.

So I guess my point is that I, a fan of the games, DID enjoy Silent Hill and while I know it can be hard to resist what certain self-assured 'experts' in such fields may attest, I urge you, SH fans to go see it and make the call for yourself. I would HATE for this to turn into another Resident Evil, especially since we finally are reaching the point where a movie captures most of the same elements from a game.

Oh, and the movie is one of the reasons that there was no comic on Saturday. Unfortunately, it kinda blew my mind and I was in no fit state to make a comic.

Okay, so Q and A time.
Why am I posting this here? Because I have an opinion, and while the manga above might not have anything to do with video games, this is still my forum so I'll use it however I like. Also, as you may have noticed, I am a huge fan of video games and especially Silent Hill.

I feel that the movie got an unfair wrap and am using my space to assert MY opinion.

Also, I love talking about Silent Hill. I love discussing it, explaining it and sharing info, theories etc. Feel free to email me about it.

So I'm done now. Check out my GALLERY for some special Silent Hill art which I am going to finish right now.

"Only the dark one opens and closes the door to Silent Hill..."
-Lovez, Ayame.

N.U.S. April 18, 2006

Greetings fellow Newscast enthusiasts, or I as I like to call you Newscastians (10 points if you got THAT joke). Today's comic represents a major step forward in Newscast (in my opinion) I shaded the whole thing, and found some kicky digital screentones for Photoshop http://psychobob.xepher.net/screentonez/. The combination of the two, as well as the ever increasing complexity of the backgrounds and streamlining of the characters are all coming together to make Newscast something I am a little more proud of, and I hope you will be too.

The pie has only officially been in politics for a matter of minutes and already he's mudslinging. Richard Nixon would be proud. Oh, and because I have a few readers who apparently don't live in the USA, I would like to note that 'Yellow Days' are the days when our....*sigh* current President thinks we should be on guard against Terrorists. Course, every day is a yellow day, so take from that what you will.

IN OTHER NEWS:

I did a little freewriting this weekend, and came out with part 1 of a story I call SHARPENED EDGE. It's a little universal expansion project for the RPG that Tay suggested. As I'm sure certain users of the boardy were hinting at, I don't have great control over the proper placement of semicolons, commas, formatting, etc. However, I think for something I was just playing around with, it turned out to be a good read. It IS a work-in-progress, so more is on the way, if you like it.

Also I finished Tomb Raider Legend on the 360 and even though I loved the game, I haven't felt so cheated out of an ending since Halo 2. But if Crystal Dynamics and Edios keep the liscence away from CORE, I'll be buying the next one too.

TRUMPY! You can do STUPID things!
-Love Ayame

N.U.S. April 15, 2006

Hello all,

Well, like I said I had a guest comic today, special thanks to Tay from Legend of Link for this one. Also, Lauren posed for a panel....yeah, she wanted to make that known.

I feel much better now that I've had a break and Tuesday's comic should come without any problems.

IN OTHER NEWS:

The largest gathering of NC crew members will be taking place tommorow (today)....Saturday...you know what I mean. Anyway, that'll be happening and who knows what sort of craziness that could mean for upcoming comics and the site and stuff. So watch for new stuff!

Also, I've been playing Tomb Raider Legend on the 360. I bought it on a whim and I really really like it. The graphics are impressive, though I'm seeing things I hoped were behind us with this Next-Gen of gaming, such as flat plants in the environments and disappearing enemies. Perhaps when they start making games that they don't port back to the PS2....Ah well.

Also, Tetris DS has me addicted to the game again. The only problem with that one is the lack of the original Tetris music. You know, the dun dun dun dun do do do do do do dododododo....The music from the Nutcracker....that's what that was supposed to be. But mission mode is fun and it's a great spin on the game.

Great...now Tay and Lauren are making the Tetris music.....kinda.....*sigh* *reaches for a sharp, stabby impliment....*

"I'd like to go to bed, but I have a victim strapped to it right now..."
-Love Ayame

N.U.S. April 11, 2006

New Newscast again. More evil pie. I still love him, however I hate this page. Honestly.

So I made a descision, I won't be updating on Saturday as normal. I'm gonna take a day off, and relax. Thing is, I wrote a bunch of the script, and I like it, but I think the rushing and constant pressure is causing the quality of the comic to suffer. So you'll get a guest comic on Saturday.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Happy Birthday Khepri.

Meet the Hobgoblins: Frankie, Sniffles, BounceBounce and The Claw!
-Loves Ayame.

N.U.S. April 8, 2006

Well, Newscast has updated again, and this time, VERY early. Cool eh? So we finally see the Evil Pie, MWAGUMPH and learn part of his plan. Is his plan truly evil? Can a pie even properly wear a Monocle? Only TIME will tell. For bonus points, guess who this story arc's special guest star is. I'll give you a hint, he's an actor.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Preperations are in the works for E3 this year, and I hope to convince Fighter Chick Cam to step up to the challenge of handing off some of her beautiful and hilarious Guest Comics, however, I'll take submissions from anyone, send in your FanStrips today!

Also, I would like to apologize to BookMaster, because I spelled Heroes wrong in the title for the webcomic The Hero's Handbook. I have fixed the error, and I hope you'll still take some time to give it a read.

And finally, I'd like to congratulate Khepri for making it into the Newscast Interns Club on the NewscastRPG game. She's the first new poster since Lonewolfe joined a little over a year ago.

N.U.S. April 2, 2006

Hey everyone. Just a quick note today, yesterdays' lack of updation was not a poorly-concieved April Fools' Joke. What happened is that, after finishing the comic once, I realized that the last panel wasn't big enough, and the top 5 were too small. So I cut it in half, but I had to redraw the thing. Sorry about that, but it's better this way, trust me.

In the meantime, Tuesday's should be fine because I pretty much know what it is, I just have to draw it again. It's big.

IN OTHER NEWS:

I didn't mention it the other day, but I should have. Another great webcomic with which I am affiliated (Link Exchange) and is also done by a very cool fan of mine...

The Hero's Handbook

So make sure to check that out too. Oh, and tag the thing over there. You know, to the left of this box? Tag it so I know you're out there, but take off your tin-foil hat first, it interferes with the signal.

It's an 88 Magnum. Got it special. It shoots through SCHOOLS!
-Ayame