I'm pretty sure there are very few people who haven't heard of the Nyan Cat meme, but here's something new - a Nyan Cat cosplay! These amazing colourful costume and make-up are really hitting the point, if Nyan Cat would've ever made it to manga or anime, i imagine that's pretty much how she would've looked like. The Nyan Cat costume was made by Anshie, photos shot by ChikakoUchiha. Anshie is not only a German cosplayer, but also a fellow gamer and she even works as a video game tester. Be sure to visit Anshie's Facebook page, Anshie's cosplay website or her DeviantArt account - or all of them, because there are lots of other cool cosplay project to check out.

Click the pictures for larger versions.

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Not a gaming post, you see, but i thought it might be useful so i'll just leave it here... You've probably heard of Netflix, right? That fancy video-on-demand streaming service americans are used to hype about, making all of us non-americans super jealous, because presumably you can't use Netflix unless you're in USA. Well, there are a lot of guides on how to bypass that restriction, but most of them talks about methods that aren't cheap and/or aren't easy. Just a few days ago the collective brain of my household was able to figure out how to get our hands on Netflix cheap AND easy at the same time. So i'm writing this general directions in case someone else needs them. Oh, and the best thing - all of this is perfectly legal.

Okay, first of all - why Netflix can't be used outside of USA, technically? First, it checks your IP constantly - not just at registration, mind you - and if it's not american, then bye-bye love! And second, it requires an american address and plastic card for payments, cards issued outside of USA won't work either. So, to get our hands on Netflix movie, we have to beat these two obstacles. Let's begin with IP.

Bypassing the IP blockage

Most guides on how to watch Netflix outside of US are suggesting that we should buy a VPN. It stands for "Virtual Private Network" and is a network technology that creates a secure connection over Internet, so that if you send data from Germany to USA over that secure connection, to the rest of the world the data you sent will appear to be sent from USA. You can imagine it like a tunnel dug under a stone wall, so that data bypasses the wall and goes straight to the other side of the tunnel.

Almost every guide recommends buying a VPN from HideMyAss.com, but it costs $11.50 per month and because all the data is coming and going between you and Netflix not directly, but through HideMyAss servers, it gets laggy and you also have to install and setup their application for VPN to work... Meh! There's a better way, and it's called UnoDNS by Unotelly.

It's much cheaper - from $3.99 per month - and much, much easier. Plus, it's not VPN, but works nonetheless - Unotelly have lots of DNS servers around the world, and all you need to do, is tell your system to connect to those DNS servers. Pretty straightforward tutorials for Mac and PC on that matter, no need to install anything, UnoDNS does all the job by forwarding your requests so that they look like coming from USA.

Getting a virtual debet card

That part is a bit harder. To register in Netflix, you can't use any plastic cards issued out of USA, and PayPal account tied with such a card won't work too. So, unless you're planning to go on a trip to America to open a bank account, or have a plastic card issued in USA by some company (a few freelancing sites do that), you need to setup a virtual plastic card. It's like the real one, just, you know, without the plastic.

Many guides on how to register an account in Netflix from outside of USA recommend using EntroPay for that. It's a service allowing users to buy pre-paid virtual VISA cards - the card is issued with a fixed amount of money and because it's virtual, it has "no strings attached" to any particular country. The downside of this service is that you can't put more money on EntroPay's virtual card via PayPal, so you'll have to issue cards all the time as you go, and if you don't want to use the card anymore and there are still money left... Well, meh!

There's this service - a virtual payment provider called QIWI. Not very well known to Western world probably, but it's a very popular service in Russia, you can't go around any city without bumping in one of their terminals. And recently they partnered with Visa to issue virtual plastic cards! To get a card, you first have to register a virtual wallet, it will be tied to your phone number, and then you can issue any number of virtual VISAs on that wallet. The bright side is that these cards are very, VERY cheap and easy to issue, have separate balances and money can be added to QIWI virtual Visa at any time. They can even be used for one-time purchases.

Getting it all together

Now, let's assume you've got a trial account at UnoDNS, registered yourself a QIWI virtual Visa and had no problems doing all of that because each provider has lots of FAQs and Help files and stuff like that. Now what? Now, you need to go to Netflix website - isn't it nice to be finally hailed as a person who can actually register in the damn service? - and start creating an account. It will ask for your name and plastic card data, enter what you've got.

It will also ask for an US zip code. There are people who simply entered 90210 - the zip code from that famous old tv show about Beverly Hills - and it worked for them. Or you can use Google maps to find an address, that is what other people do. Or, if you have any pals in America, you can ask about their zip code, i'm sure no one would raise a stink over you using their zip code to simply watch online movies.

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First of all, i must say that this cosplay of is Shining Blade from Guild Wars 2 absolutely amazing! The level of details on every part of the costume and its overall design is stunning. And all of this thanks to one person - Enayla, a computer science student from New York, who is into cosplaying in her spare time. Make sure to give a Like to Enayla's Facebook page if you have a Facebook account, because she makes really cool costumes. Part on these photos - the ones agains interior backdrop - were shot by Darkain Multimedia at Fanime 2012, and the other part - the ones in a field - were shot by Shinichi Al Hayashi. Both the photographers are with Cosplay Photographers.

Write rest of post here

 

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Just yesterday i made this post about Alicia 2.0 Frontier test with lots of screenshots and info, and here i am back with more stuff about Alicia 2.0 (앨리샤 2.0). I accidentally stumbled upon a great source of Alicia 2.0 info stashed on a great Korean gaming website GameMeca, and among other things, they wrote a preview for the new version of Alicia Online based on the Frontier test i mention above. The preview has lots of info and screenshots, and i did my best to translate it. It's not a literal word-by-word translation, you see, as i had to use 3 different translation tools to get the best picture of what is it they're writing about, but i'm positively sure i preserved most of the info. My own notes are in [brackets]. So, here it goes.

Alicia 2.0, Out of the Shade of IU

2.0 means the new beginning for "Alicia: The Story of my Horse" (hereafter "Alicia"), with its testing closed at 31st of the last month [October]. Alicia has horse races where players can compete or collaborate, "Sympathy" system (horse exercises or games) and a housing system where a ranch is built and decorated. ["Sympathy" - "교감", according to dictionary, also "act of joining, sharing"].

In last February, popular Korean singer IU was picked as a model to promote the official launch of Alicia, which attracted a lot of attention from public and gamers alike. But such popularity did not last long. While there were "sympathetic" elements in the game [i.e. feeding, grooming, etc.], they were only addition to the racing part - simple running as fast as you can to get to the top ranking is what all racing games are offering. Only a handful of gamers enjoyed "sympathetic" content, and a breeding frenzy to get your own pony didn't last long either.


Apart from "sympathetic" elements, and the core content of the game [racing] there was nothing much else to do. Since the game's official launch, progress of adding new content was quite slow: there were occasional events, but nothing much new. The fans were slowly disappointed and left to play new mainstream games [published after Alicia came out]. In such a situation, Alicia needed a major content overhaul is what the game needed, and here it is - Alicia 2.0, a major leap forward in the direction of new content. Indeed, it took a long time to prepare. Could a racing game re-emerge like phoenix with flapping wings? I tried to play and find out.

The Plaza - new center of the game

In Alicia 2.0, the main content of the game is now gathered at a Plaza - a place where a Riding School is and a variety of quests are, and where players can go out on a shopping-spree. In addition, a variety of activities are provided for gamers to partake in as a community. The old ranch that players owned looks small and outdated compared to this huge place bustling with activity, with gamers and new NPCs alike. The location is designed in warm green colors agains a blue sky backdrop, with tastefully decorated village houses adding a fairy-tale feel to the whole setting. Even those games who already been to Alicia should be impressed with the new look.

With addition of the Plaza, will the old Ranch be completely abandoned? Not really. The Ranch is the only place where a mating system allowing colts to be bred and born works, and the Ranch can now be decorated, adding a housing element to it and making the whole thing much more attractive.

As mentioned briefly above, the Plaza holds the Riding School and shops. In the Riding School, NPC provides basic riding knowledge for new players, and reward for finishing the first riding quest are items purchased for Carrots [money normally sold for cash] and training cards.

The downside of the game is the quest system that lacks any difficulty. There are barely any other themes besides "go race" or "gather a few items", and not only the content is repeated, there are some parts that are simply boring. There are storyline quests in Alicia 2.0, but in order to play competitively you don't need to do them. In addition, the quests are way too easy, as the game itself.

By default, now you can get on your horse and get off of it, but a variety of other actions are available as well (by pressing F button). By standing next to the horse and using a specific item, for example, it's possible to wash the horse, which not only ensures horse's cleanliness, but also would be affecting its physical conditions. The "Sympathetic" system, as stressed early from the beginning of Alicia 2.0 development, is what adds personality to this game. Ability to get off the horse, added dependance on status of the mini games, and other new things to do at the Plaza are adding as much fun as the racing part of the game.

Now, the preview isn't finished at this point, but it's quite a long haul to translate the way i do it, so there: i prefer to rather divide it in parts and post as i go, rather than wait before i have time to finish the whole text. So Part 1 ends here, there will be Part 2, and when it's online, i'll add a link here. If you happen to know Korean, i would be very glad for a better translation or any other contributions you might have to offer us, Alicia Online fans!

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First of all, these screens belong to lovekimjy1, a Korean fan of Alicia Online, who participated in the "Frontier test" - the first time Alicia 2.0 was ever available to fans in late October. Unfortunately, i missed the whole thing and is forced to watch screenshots and videos made by other people like many of you have to. And Alicia Online's English version is still haven't even been mentioned anywhere, let alone released. We still do not know the release date of Japanese Alicia version, either. But these are sad matters, so let's get back to something fun and take a look at all the new beautiful screenshots from Alicia 2.0 beta test! I tried my best to translate what lovekimjy1 said about each one of them.

Okay, so this is the screen where characters are chosen. Pretty different from what we've had in Alicia 1.0, right? And you can choose a starting outfit!

There are few at this moment, and i don't know if there will be more (hope so!), but some of those few you had to buy in the old Alicia, and here you get them right from the start. I hope that stays too.





Models are actually looking quite good:

This plaza seems to be the first screen now - where player comes after they've created their character. It's still quite pretty, if so.
Click the preview here to see the full picture.

If anyone went into the beta, could you please confirm this and other changes in the comments section?


One of the big changes is that now there is a whole new training system in Alicia 2.0 that lets you to upgrade your horse's stats. And there's this new cute character to go with it as well!

Oh, and my favourite carrot on a stick is still in the business, cool :) Other old mini-games have been reworked also. Now, feeding is part of the training too, it is used to restore a horse's stamina.

There are new mini-games too, like this one - in order to raise strength parameter of a horse it must haul heavy things around, and the character training it should lead the horse around the track. The second screenshot shows success, when a horse's strength parameter rose 2 points!

I gather there could be crits at training sessions, like super-successful training, because the next session's screenshot shows that the strength rose 8 points. And it seems that horses still can be washed and groomed.

Also, controls had changed. To lead the horse around you have to grab its reins by holding down Shift key.

Ranch had been changed too, i get the impression that at the beginning of the game it is much smaller than what we've been used to. Perhaps players have to build it from scratch?

Now, here's a screenshot of male avatar in default clothing. He's cute :)

And here's a default horse and its stat screen. The model looks a little awkward to me, but that's just a personal opinion.

"Game room" (a place where you chose races to take) is changed now, too:

Races now give you bonus cards, i could be wrong, but my best guess is that they could be used for training too.

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