Ah, Blizzard, Blizzard, Blizzard… I absolutely LOVE Diablo III so far…. when I can actually get to play it. When I’m not playing it because of an error message or other issue that’s not my fault, I have to do something while I’m waiting for things to get back to “normal”. If I don’t have my Vita or DS handy, I’ll draw something instead. The piece on the left is one I did when I got bounced from a solo game due to some connection issues on my end and couldn’t get back in thanks to an error of some sort on the server side. Mad Cow? I’ve Got A Beef? Bum Steer? Whatever – that’s the not so happy side of the game that I and a few other seem most testy about. But it’s tough love, grrr!!!!
Amusingly enough, today I convinced a woman waiting outside a Gamestop for it to open so she could return a sealed copy of the game to keep it. She bought it for her son’s birthday on Saturday (at his request), but someone at her job pointed her to Metacritic’s “user” scores and reviews for the game (a VERY biased and useless barometer, given the way the site has been abused to “bomb” games unfairly as a means of protest by people who haven’t played and don’t intend to play certain high profile games), which in turn, sent her to the shop at the cost of being an hour late for her job. I spent the better part of ten minutes telling her the game’s good points and how despite the stiff requirements about solo play (she didn’t mind at all – she wants her son to stay away from some kids who’ve been harassing him at school) and other problems (which are common to other MMOs), it was an excellent purchase. She left feeling a lot better, so that’s my good deed for the week, game-wise.
The art of the right? I did this during a login error that kept me from getting into my solo game completely even after repeated attempts and rebooting. That’s how I feel about people who can’t enjoy the game as much as they like even though they’ve waited years for it. Sure, Blizzard owes them noting but a game that’s the best it can be, and in fact, when things are running smoothly, it’s exactly that. On the other hand, I feel sorry for those who maybe did the midnight launch/call in sick deal only to end up not doing much playing at all after all that buying and lying. Somewhere, a boss is laughing at you as he docks your pay because you ranted about the game on your Facebook page and he saw it. Oops.
As to what art you’ll see from me about the game itself. Probably not a damn thing, as when I’m in the zone, I’m not stopping to draw at all. It’ll be a little while before I actually post a review, but for what it’s worth (and as noted), I do like what I’m playing quite a bit, nasty and annoying warts and all…
OK, class: Time for some art appreciation (siddown, you in the back – you went to the restroom three articles back!). I saw some cool hybrid sculptures by artist/musician Ken Butler last weekend at Brooklyn’s AIRPLANE gallery and found his work to be pretty incredible overall. Some pics are below, but you should probably check out his site to see more and find more about him and his rather amazing work. I also shot a bit of video of one interactive piece I forgot to write the name down of (oops), so take a look below the jump and let your imagination go wild (or back to normal) as you make up your own story to go with the projected images on the wall. The fun thing about this particular work is it’s all found objects put together and transformed into a multi-purpose art piece (that can probably call down an alien spacecraft if played outdoors, make your cat or dog crazy when they’re chasing lights around the room or perhaps give a burglar a seizure if you play the keyboard fast enough when he’s breaking into your place to steal what he thinks is a time machine)… Continue reading 
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 