Thursday, 22 December 2016

Steam Now Accepts Indian E-Wallets And Netbanking

This is what I saw as soon as I opened Steam

Just 10 minutes before writing this article, I opened my laptop, opened Steam, and was greeted with the Steam News Window. After skipping the random games that were on hot deals and new releases, I saw this update to the payment methods.

Now you can buy games from the world's largest PC games distributor using our (India's) local payment methods such as netbanking, PayTM, FreeCharge etc. But wait that's not just it, you can also buy games using the Cash On Delivery method! All of theses transactions are going to be handled by Nova Play. Previously, you could only pay using a credit card or from a PayPal account, both of which many Indian consumers did not have.

How does Cash On Delivery work for a digital good?

Well, its not exactly 'On Delivery' because you first have to add an game/DLC to your cart, choose COD as a payment option, give your home address, a person from Nova Play will come to your place to collect the cash. You will then receive the game/DLC in your library within 72 hours and will also be notified by e-mail for the same. Just one small reminder: you can't use old, scrapped notes like the 500 or 1000 to pay for your games.


The new payment options seem to be a test feature and are still under review because I tried to set PayTM as a payment method on my Steam account and this is the message i got:


Wednesday, 12 October 2016

Concept Design Of Walk-In Burrito - Artwork Showcase

 This is a 3D model of a mexican restaurant. The idea of the restaurant, called Walk-In Burrito, was actually for a group project in school. The 3D model was unnecessary and was not used in the presentation, but hey, it looks good so here it is.

 Before painting and adding the floor
 Final model


 Sorry we're closed for the day
(Also kept the settings if anyone wanted those)

Monday, 15 August 2016

Suicide Squad Review

PROCEED WITH CAUTION - POSSIBLE SPOILERS

Let's start with some negativity, the entire movie was just a bad combination of emotions. They should have stuck with comedy/action, but then there was romance (Harley and Joker) and then there were the tragic stories of El Diablo and Deadshot.

I will definitely watch Suicide Squad once more in theaters just for its soundtracks and the songs, especially the ones used to introduce the bad guys. Some of my favorites are Sucker For Pain, Heathens, Without Me and Bohemian Rhapsody (cover). If there's one thing that sets DC live action movies apart its the soundtracks, for example BvS:Dawn Of Justice.

I just feel a little sad for Slipknot, that guy barely had a backstory and was killed much before the action started. Speaking of screen time, how can we forget Mr J! People on the internet were so quick to judge Jared Leto although he was barely on the screen. The trailers portrayed him to have a major role in the movie but what we got was a witch who was trying to take over the world along with her brother. I just hope we get to see more of Jared Leto's Joker in a few more movies like Justice League part 1 and 2, maybe he'd be a part of the Injustice League.

Post Credit Scene:
Yep, I guess this is the first time DC have a post credit scene in their movie. This scene is basically Bruce Wayne trying to get information from Amanda Waller about her Task Force X project and other meta humans. Towards the end of the scene, Waller reveals that she knows Bruce's super hero identity.

Overall Rating:
Good movie but not really a DC movie. I'd rate it a 7 out of 10.

If you have watched the movie I would highly recommend watching Batman: Assault on Arkham, you could consider it as the animated sequel to Suicide Squad. Its got similar characters and much more of Joker.

picture of a possibly better suicide squad

Thursday, 4 August 2016

Ban Rotten Tomatoes?

Rotten Tomatoes gave DC's upcoming movie Suicide Squad a 30% rating. Now this has upset quite a lot of DC fans but one fan, in particular, was so upset by the rating that he decided to start an online petition to shutdown the popular movie reviews website.

Now we all know that the website has given quite a few DC movies a pretty bad rating. Although I personally feel that some of those are not up to the DC standards, the ratings they've received are quite low. Even Batman Vs Superman had got a really bad rating when it had released earlier this year, but it did not anger so many people because the movie had mixed reviews even from fans.



Cut to the present, and you'll see that one person, Abdullah Coldwater, has started an online petition on change.org to ban Rotten Tomatoes. And this has actually been signed by 17,848 people!




Personally I just find the whole idea of people getting angry over movie critics really stupid and I'm not saying this because I critique movies too, but because in this case people haven't really done their research. Rotten Tomatoes is owned by Warner Bros since 2016. If WB wanted they could destroy or stop funding the website, but you can't really blame the website because its users are bad or biased.


 In fact, one person has started a petition asking all those 17,000 people to just calm down but unfortunately this petition is being supported by 8 people.



Monday, 27 June 2016

Hoverboard - Artwork Showcase



I was thinking of making this model a vehicle mod for Unturned.

Software used - Blender 2.76

Monday, 13 June 2016

Fifa 17 - Story Mode?

EA Sports announced some new features of FIFA 17  yesterday at E3, and some of them are just mind - blowing.


Story Mode:
Probably the biggest new feature added to the game is story mode. Its considered "the biggest new FIFA mode since Ultimate Team". The story mode is called The Journey and is somewhat a RPG set in the football/FIFA industry. The player takes control of rookie Alex Hunter as he starts his career with a club, that you can choose, alongside his friend/rival Gareth Walker(Does this remind anyone of Ash and Gary from Pokemon?). You can shape Alex's personality - from being an egocentric upstart to a modest team player - and his relations with the manager and teammates.

In addition, the outcome of every match you play can affect the plot. For example, if you get carded, you will have to explain yourself to the manager or if you score the winning goal, you star in a press conference or interview.

I feel that this game mode is the greatly modified version of 'Be a Pro' mode in the older versions of FIFA, where you can create your own character, customise his skills and his physique and choose a club for him.

Frost Bite:
Frostbite is a game engine developed by EA Digital Illusions CE (DICE) which was and is used to make all the Battlefield games in the series. The obvious implications are better animations,graphics and lighting but the most important change is that Frostbite is a generic engine that has been used for first person shooters like Battlefield, third person shooters like Mass Effect and for an action-adventure like Mirror's Edge. This is actually going to be useful for the new story mode the game  is going to have. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI):
You might be wondering that since FIFA 17 is developed on a generic engine like Frostbite, its main focus will shift away from football. Well, actually you are wrong! FIFA 17 is going to come out as a balanced game. The AI for teammates and opponents has been totally revamped. Teammates will now stand in position and run diagonally depending on the angle of the ball.They will be much busier on field - signalling and treading in an and out of the 18 yard box.

There are still other modes EA will reveal in the near future, but what I really want to know is whether this story mode will make FIFA 17 like the  Need For Speed story mode - A DISASTER!!

Saturday, 4 June 2016

The Jokes On You!

A pack of cards has 2 jokers which usually are of no use, but DC has 3 Jokers in the DC Multiverse
who are going to give a big headache to the Dark Knight.

[Spoiler Alert - Justice League #42 and #50]

It all started when Batman sat on the Mobius Chair , a chair which has all the knowledge and anyone who sits on it can be considered god. He first asked the chair the name of the person who killed his parents, as a confirmatory test. Then, he asked what the Joker's real name was.The chair said something but it was kept a secret to the readers until Justice League #50.

In issue #50, Hal Jordan a.k.a Green Lantern asks Batman what Mobius told him. Here,it is finally revealed that there are three Jokers.
Now it is up to the World's Greatest Detective to find out who they are and whether they had been working together all the time.
Batman uses his Batcomputer and identifies stark differences,not just physically but also mental and behavioral,  between the Joker over a long period of time.We know that differences arise when multiple writers try to shape the same character for decades, but it seems like the current writer is using these differences for his own advantage.


Are the 3 Jokers teaming up?
Possibly not. Joker is somewhat like Baron Zemo from the Marvel Universe(comic and not cinematic), a person who will never keep promises and agrees to team up only to later abandon the team for his own gains.We all know Joker and Harley's relationship, he only uses her to trick and trap Batman.He honestly doesn't even care the slightest about her.Now imagine 3 such Jokers trying to team up!

Who could these possibly be?
I am guessing that each one of them would have a different origin story.One might be Red Hood,a small time crook who, while trying to rob a chemical plant fell into a huge tub filled with chemicals that made his skin pale, hair green and brain super sane.This Red Hood then took the identity of Joker.
Another origin story which is actually a fan theory but still makes perfect sense is that old Bruce Wayne had to go/ was sent back in time to train young Bruce Wayne, basically kill his parents and emotionally scar both young Bruce and himself.Young Bruce will become Batman and Old Bruce becomes the Joker. Full theory here  (no,this is not my theory)

Will Batman be able to find evidence of 3 jokers?
Will they be working together?
What are their origin stories?
These are some of the questions in every reader's mind, we will just have to wait to find the answer.