ZeroAnd09

I loved Halloween.  It was always my favorite holiday.  For as long as I can remember, I've always looked forward to all things ghoulish.  Dressing up and trick or treating in the dark of night, decorating the house, the general feeling of excitement in the air.  I loved every single minute of it.  From October 1st to the 31st, it was a non-stop celebration.  I don't feel that way any longer.  It's not because I don't want to.  Something changed. Last year, I found out I was going to be a father.  It wasn't planned, but when I received the call confirming it...I was overjoyed.  I never would have imagined that I could be so happy.  Later that month, we went to the hospital and got the first ultrasound.  I also heard my child's heartbeat.  Over a year later, I can still clearly hear it.  Long had I been looking for a legacy, a purpose.  This tiny being was it. Then in October I received a call.  My child was dead.  In that instant, my entire world shattered.

Get More:  GameTrailers.com ,  World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria - BlizzCon 11: Announcement Trailer HD ,  PC Games ,  PlayStation 3 ,  Xbox 360 I stopped playing WoW a little earlier this year.  It was a financial decision, I won't lie.  I wasn't playing enough to justify it.  I enjoyed the Cataclysm expansion, but I'm a casual player.  I was making my best effort to become a raider, but I couldn't get behind it. Now some time after I've stopped playing, I'm hit with news of the new expansion, Mists of Pandaria.  MoP brings plenty to the game: Level cap raised to 90 Pokemon style battles with vanity pets New race: Pandaren New class: Monk New Continent: Pandaria Challenge Mode: Dungeons PvE Scenarios New Talent System This is the point of no return for me.  Blizzard has added Kung Fu Panda to WoW (note: I know Pandarens were around Warcraft 3, before Kung Fu Panda).  There's a limit to how much silly fantasy content I want added to my

Get More: GameTrailers.com , Soul Calibur V - Exclusive Character Reveal Trailer HD , PC Games , PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360

Vanquish is an odd game.  Not Suda 51 odd.  More, the story makes no sense and it's a very different type of game odd.  It's a third person shooter that has you spending more time on your knees than a Thai hooker.  Only half way through, there's a twist that makes no sense and at the end the entire experience has left you very confused. The story starts off with a Russian force using a giant microwave on San Francisco.  America gets pissed and soon the Russians are in space attacking an American space station.  The president enlists the help of an elite force of generic Marines and one guy named Sam in a power suit that looks like a grasshopper.  The goal is to rescue a scientist for reasons I never fully grasped.  Along the way, it turns out the president was in bed with the Russians and had her top Marine slaughtering his own men and trying to sabotage the hero.  Later, the traitor decides what he was doing is wrong and sacrifices himself so that our hero can continu

October 04: Dark Souls (360, PS3) NBA 2K12 (360, PS3, PC) Spider-Man: Edge of Time (Wii, DS, PS3, 360) Dungeons and Dragons: Neverwinter  (PC) Rage  (PS3, PC, 360) Crysis (360) October 05: Orcs Must Die (360, PC) October 11: Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (360, PS3) Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure  (360, PC, PS3, Wii, 3DS) Forza 4  (360) Just Dance 3  (Wii, 360, PS3) Dead Rising 2: Off the Record (360, PC, PS3) Seasame Street: Once Upon a Monster (360) Go Vacation  (Wii) Hulk Hogan's Main Event  (360) Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny  (Wii) Combat Wings: The Great Battles of WWII (PS3, 360) Sideway: New York  (PS3) Monster High: Ghoul Spirit  (DS, Wii) Dance Dance Revolution II  (Wii) Aliens Infestation  (DS) Kinectimals Now with Bears!  (360) October 13: Might and Magic Heroes VI  (PC) October 14: Renegade Ops  (PC) October 18: Tropico 4 (360) BEN 10 Galactic Racing  (PS3, DS, Wii, 360) Jimmie Johnson's Anything with an Engine  (360, Wii, PS3)

Finally, the Gears of War saga is brought to a close.  With the third entry, we see Marcus and crew battle a new foe, settle the score with an old foe, and wonder what the future will hold. Gears 3 picks up a year and a half after the sinking of Jacinto, the last human bastion.  Marcus Fenix and friends live aboard a large ship on the open water as the lands have become flooded with the Lambent infection.  The Lambent are life forms infected by Imulsion, the fuel source of the planet Sera.  Shortly after reuniting with Marcus, Dom, and a geared up Anya, the leader of the ragtag army arrives and tells Marcus that his father is alive.  So sets the stage for Marcus seeking out his father and the miracle that will save this broken world. The story itself is always moving with seldom a dull moment in between all the cover based shooting.  The story is told through traditional means.  You'll fight through increasingly difficult forces and then be greeted by a cut scene that advanc

Something has been driving me crazy as of late.  I've been noticing a large number of clocks with Roman numerals that use IIII as four instead of IV.  I had always been brought up to believe that IV was the only way to write four was IV.  I had a rant planned citing the fall of civilization and the general stupidity of mankind.   Turns out there's a reason I've been seeing it another way. Wikipedia says: " Clock faces  that are labeled using Roman numerals conventionally show  IIII  for four o'clock and  IX  for nine o'clock, using the subtractive principle in one case and not the other. There are many suggested explanations for this: Issac Asimov  theorized that, during the early history of Rome, it was common to use  IIII  to represent  four , because  IV  represented the  Roman god   Jupiter , whose Latin name, IVPPITER, begins with  IV .  [ 19 ] Louis XIV , king of France, who preferred  IIII  over  IV , ordered his clockmakers to produce clocks with 

I think it's understood by now that 99% of my art is character concepts.  Whatever, I enjoy it.  

Another piece from high school.  Another character concept.

I'm not even sure how he's holding onto that scythe.

A concept for a Mandalorian costume I plan on building shortly.

This was another concept for a Sonic Blaster in City of Heroes.

Another piece from high school.  Holy hell did I love character concept art.

A quick sketch from college.

This was one of my first experiments with color back in high school.

The Star Wars craze hit hard back in the day.

This was a concept I had for an Archery Blaster in City of Heroes once the new power set had been announced.  Sadly, it didn't pan out.

Another college piece.

An older piece done for my better half.  You can check out her site here .  

Some of the only work from high school to have survived.

Some of my early college work.

These were a concept I had years ago.  The idea was that the unholy could not even gaze on the holy.  That seeing them would obliterate the eyes from their head.

A bard designed for my friend as his D&D avatar.

These were the first and only set in a series of concept art for a game that never panned out.

Place: Pine Street Cafe Location: Burlington, WI Burger: Pine Street Burger Ingredients: Bacon, grilled onions, cheddar cheese, barbecue sauce The golden rule when eating at a new restaurant is: Eat the burger.  If they screw up the burger, the rest of the menu isn't worth trying.  The follow up to that rule is: If they've named a burger after the restaurant, eat that.  Pine Street is the latest addition to the town of Burlington.  It follows suit that they be rated on their burger. I was disappointed that the burger came with the basic and blandest of chips.  A general rule with burgers is that they're served with a hot side.  Fries or onion rings fit the bill well.  I was also shocked that the server called it the "barbecue burger" instead of the restaurant's namesake.  I guess some people just don't appreciate the value of a burger. The burger itself was quite tasty.  There was no grease to be had, the burger didn't fall apart, and there

I was never a fan of westerns.  I never cared for the movies, novels, comics, or games.  For all I knew, it was just a bunch of guys with horses shooting other guys or getting into wacky bar brawls.  John Wayne, Clint Eastwood...what's the difference?  In addition, I was never a fan of Rockstar Games.  Sure, I would play the occasional Grand Theft Auto.  However, they had never release a game that I considered "Must have".  Throw those two things together and you have a sure fire winner for something I would never spend time with. Fast forward to Red Dead sitting in my Xbox tray.  The opening scenes played out and I took interest.  Two hours later after Kim had "accidentally" killed her fourth prostitute, I was secretly plotting how I would play the game in secret.  Secretly.  What can I say?  If a game make sweet sweet visual love to my eyes, I want to play it.  Even if it ends up ruining nearly every sweet memory I have of a series.  I'm looking at yo

The first Gears of War 3 DLC drops November 1, 2011.  It will include three new maps, three new characters , two new weapons skins, Horde mode upgrades, and 250 acheivements.  The cost of admission is 800 Microsoft Points ($10) or free to those that have purchased the season pass. Maps: Blood Drive, Rustlung, Azura Characters: Bernie, Onyx Guard, Big Rig Dizzy Weapon Skins: Team Plasma, Jungle Camo Horde Upgrades: Command Center - A brand new type of fortification that allows you to call in fire support from sniper teams, mortar strikes and even multiple Hammers of Dawn. Decoy Upgrade - A new fortification level that turns your decoy into an Onyx Guard bot that will fight in your defense. Sentry Upgrade - This upgrade adds a fire bolt sentry that deals much more damage and is very effective against Berserkers. Silverback Upgrade - This advancement allows you to upgrade your Silverback exo-suit with devastating rockets and extra levels of repair cost reduction. This is

For those stuck in the Windows Phone update Hell like I was, here is your salvation. http://www.wpcentral.com/force-mango-update-early-through-zune-software Essentially, you're tricking Zune into getting the updates.  I started out with version 7008 and within 40 minutes I had Mango installed and running.  Enjoy.