An attempt at an apology (and at a game review)

I truly apologize for the lack of updates as of late. Things have been incredibly hectic lately with me trying to find a summer job, and some last-minute college-related craziness. I will try to get on the ball, but suffice it to say that updates will probably be less regular until August, when I will actually be at college.

In the meantime though, allow me to assuage your boredom by discussing something many of us take for granted; Advergames.

You know, games that were created solely for the purpose of selling products. Like Sneak King, Chex Quest, and a whole bevy of horrible, horrible internet flash games.

The flash game I wish to discuss with you today, though, is not one of those. You see, apparently the good folks at Frito-Lay have a much different approach to making advergames than what you'd expect. Rather than creating a game where you play as (for example) a wizard who is searching for the seven golden bags of Fritos, to defeat the evil lord HUNGOR, Frito-Lay instead opted to make what is quite possibly the LAST thing I expected to find in an advergame...

A claustrophobic, psychological horror game that, in addition to having nothing whatsoever to do with Fritos, genuinely creeped me the heck out.

Anyone who has had the "pleasure" of discussing this with me will tell you that the idea of games that can genuinely scare the player is one of the topics I am most interested in (perhaps unhealthily so.) And I have to say, this game succeeded wonderfully at this. It's entirely live-action, utilizing real actors, it is only available to play between the hours of 6 PM and 6 AM, when it is dark, and in addition to that it reccomends that you play it with the lights off. This is not only easy to do, as it is entirely controlled with the mouse, but I HIGHLY reccomend it.

Not only does the game succeed as horror, but also, surprisingly enough, as an advergame. After I finished playing, I truly did want to go out and buy some fritos, if only to support the geniuses who made this game.

A Most Awkward and Unsettling Moment in the Life of Kyle Reese from Terminator

(John Connor and Kyle Reese are in one of the resistance's safehouses, after fighting a group of terminators)

John: Oh my look I have dropped a picture of my mother, how very clumsy of me.

Kyle: This is your mother?

John: Yep. .........She's pretty hot, huh?

Kyle: I... what?

John: I mean, I'm just asking. From an objective viewpoint.

Kyle: Well, I mean I guess so...

John: So if you went back in time and met her before she had me, you'd do her?

Kyle: ...

John: Hypothetically I mean.




(Yeah, I saw Terminator: Salvation)

Aqualepus Gargantua: Bam!

BUH-BAM!!!

Aqualepus Gargantua: It's SO on

Everybody please just work with me, and pretend that's actually what a gun looks like.

Aqualepus Gargantua: It's On

Do apes sweat? I realize now that I do not know.

Aqualepus Gargantua: Crazy!

This one be ink'd! CRAZY!

Aqualepus Gargantua: Hiding

Okay, is it horribly difficult to see my drawings? I'm doing this partially for a school project, so I'm trying to scan them in as fast as I can, but if it's really hard to see I can go back and ink these pages.

Because I care.

Aqualepus Gargantua: Ol' Hookfingers

I'm gonna go back to posting these one page at a time, as blogger is still highly confusticating to me.

Aqualepus Gargantua: Pow, The What?, Hunters

Three pages in one! For three times the fun!

Aqualepus Gargantua: The Rootinest Tootinest

Oh you can not IMAGINE how fun that bigfoot was to draw.

Aqualepus Gargantua: Oh Dear...

Seems I can't draw guns either.

Hurm.

Aqualepus Gargantua: The Smell of Fear

What is the smell of weeping babies?

Aqualepus Gargantua: Only Human

Once upon a time there was a man who couldn't draw cars very well. So, he decided to do a comic, the majority of which involves traveling around in a car.

And the gods did laugh at his foolishness.

Aqualepus Gargantua: The Nature of the Beast

Don't know what the Bunnyman is? No problem! That's what the internet's for! Obscure and probably useless information!

Aqualepus Gargantua: An Overture to Adventure

So begins this strange adventure! The events in the top panel really did happen, by the way. Look it up.

Why mercy me, I do believe this is a blog.

Hello, I'm Ben Evans.

I've been making comics for years now, but for a while few of them have really lasted very long. This blog is my attempt to start making my comicking actually go somewhere. I'll be posting comics, stories, pictures, etc.

Apart from that I really don't know what to say. I'm never quite sure how to start things, be they stories, comics, or, in this case, blogs.

I suppose I could say a few things about myself. As I've said, I've been drawing comics for most of my life. I also enjoy watching crazy old sci-fi and horror movies. Apart from that, a guy once said that I'd make a good detective. I'm not sure why.

-Ben