Adventures in Embroidery

If you had come to me a year ago and said, “In one year’s time, you will be an embroiderer,” I probably would’ve replied, “Pssh, naw, not me.” Oh, how minds change! Not only do I cross-stitch, but I embroider now, too! I’ve always been one for cute handmade things, and I’ve been knitting on and off for years, but the recent renewal of embroidery and cross-stitch has made me realize that I, too, can stitch fun and awesome things. And so can you!
There are now countless sites/blogs/books that show how versatile embroidery and cross-stitch can be.
The most famous is probably Sublime Stitching, which has been active since 2001 and has patterns for all sorts of kitschy embroidery such as tattoos, sushi, and… vital organs? You can find Sublime Stitching books and kits in the craft section of most bookstores, too!

A little more on the other side of nerdy things are the Sprite Stitch forums, dedicated to all video-game related stitching. From Pokemon to Zelda, Mario to Okami, you can find all sorts of patterns and projects in the various message boards. Some of my favorites include an Okami bookmark and this awesomely detailed “Home Sweet Home” Mario cross-stitch.

Okami bookmark by awenmir

 When my husband and I were back in Sydney to celebrate Chinese New Year with his family, I finally picked up a copy of this Japanese embroidery book I have been coveting ever since I saw a few scans of it online. Even with the jacked up prices of Sydney’s Kinokuniya, the purchase was totally worth every cent!

That’s right, it’s got 500 patterns!

 I swoon over this book. It has so many adorable patterns, all arranged into sections such as “fruits,” “animals,” and “celebrations.” I’ve been having so much fun looking at it, but difficulty deciding what I can embroider with all of these cute things!

I picked up a couple of tote bags from the local craft store for only $1.50 each the other day, and thought they’d be perfect to practice some of the designs on. Right now I’m working on a fruit and vegetable-themed tote, to be used for groceries, of course!

Beetroot and strawberries!

 I’ve also been dabbling in making my own designs for various projects, as I have all of these ideas for things I’d maybe, possibly, theoretically like to make a little pocket money off of in the future. Maybe an Etsy shop? I think my skills need to improve a little more before I dive into that, though. I did make this business card holder for my husband entirely from scratch, though, except for the cursive “b,” design, which I got from the aforementioned Japanese book.

Unfortunately my poor planning skills mean that this “card holder” is actually too small to hold any normal-sized business cards, so it’s back to the drawing board… He’ll just have to use his imagination and put it to some other use, I guess! Silly me.

Long story short, I’m loving embroidery! Today I head into the city and will definitely be picking up some more colors so I can add some more fruits and veggies to my tote. Expect more pictures soon!

In other news, I’ve changed the layout already! I’m pretty finicky, I guess. Tell me what you think? I’m trying to go for something simple yet eye-catching.

Till next time! 

Preview: Okamiden

Hello, and sorry for the long wait between posts! It’s not that I don’t have any ideas, but more like I have so many different things I could write about that it’s difficult to choose! (that and I’m still getting used to juggling my time so I can fit everything I want to do into a day!)

Today I’m going to talk about Ōkamiden: Chiisaki Taiyou 大神伝〜小さき太陽〜 for the NDS. While not exactly a preview, as I’ve played a substantial amount of the Japanese version which my mom so kindly picked up for me when she was in Japan, since the game won’t be out in English until March 31st in AU (March 15th for US residents), I’ll just stick to some spoiler-free general impressions for now.

European cover from the Okamiden Wiki page
Okamiden is a sequel to the stellar action-adventure PS2 game Okami, which was later ported to the Wii. Okami was hailed by fans and critics for it’s artistic cell-shaded graphics and innovative controls, which had players using the god Amaterasu (in wolf form)’s “celestial brush” to preform actions. The game, however, was a commercial flop worldwide, but maintains a cult status today. 
Having played Okami when it was first released in 2006, I was pleasantly surprised to hear there would be a sequel for the DS coming out towards the end of 2010 in Japan. With the original studio behind the game now gone, however, is it possible for Okamiden to live up to its predecessor? 
Fans of Okami will be more than pleased, I believe, to play Okamiden on the DS, which makes drawing with the celestial brush to execute commands very intuitive. The graphics are in the same style as Okami, and most of the areas are taken almost directly from the old game, with a few simplifications to make them work for the DS. Some might find this tedious, but so far I have enjoyed having a nostalgic romp through the world of Okami once again.
Those new to the series, however, might be alienated from the game. I would be very interested to see how newcomers find it, and whether or not they feel their enjoyment of the game was hindered by their not having played the original (there is a recap sequence at the beginning of the game to get everyone to the same place story-wise).
An in-game screenshot (source)

While Okamiden has everything I loved about Okami, playing it on the small DS screen with limited graphics makes me wish the developers had gone the extra mile to make a luscious HD PS3 version instead. Think of the potential! The rail camera can also very frustrating at times, but I believe it was a necessity due to the game being for the DS.

The one major change for Okamiden has been the addition of a second character, who you control to solve puzzles with Chibiterasu (or mini-Amaterasu, the protagonist of the game). This makes for some different puzzles then the first game, and I was surprised to find that there is more than one character who teams up with Okami during the course of the game, and it is all incorporated into the storyline. I don’t want to give any plot spoilers, but I was surprised and delighted to see how the gameplay changed slightly with the different characters.

The story so far has been fun, and is filled with old and new characters to keep things interesting. The constant references to Japanese culture in the enemies, gods, and the story itself (which was adapted from the Kojiki) really make the game a unique experience, and should thrill anyone who is interested in Japan. I can’t say anything more about the story right now, but I will give a follow-up with overall impressions when I finish the game!
All in all, I’d say Okamiden is a must for any fans of Okami. It’s probably one of the best-implemented action adventure games for the DS, so even non-fans should check it out (and look into playing Okami, as well!). Unfortunately, just as Okami came out at the end of the PS2’s life and was inevitably overshadowed by PS3 hype, Okamiden’s English release will coincide with the release of the 3DS in March. Here’s hoping it gets the attention it deserves.

4/5 stars (preview rating)

Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing Review

Finally, the review I had planned! Unfortunately this took longer to post than I thought, mostly due to the hectic week we had with the floods. But here you go, better late than never! 

After receiving recommendations to get this game (hereafter referred to as Sonic Racing) for its multiplayer mode, Shaun and I finally got it as a Christmas gift from my grandmother (thanks to Amazon wishlists!). Initially I was pretty psyched about it, I’ve always had tons of fun playing the various incarnations of the Mario Kart series, and was happy that I could finally race head-to-head against my husband on our PS3 (the extent of my competitive nature is up for debate, though). While at first glance Sonic Racing is a colorful kart racer full of extras, after just a cursuory playthrough the game, unfortunately, starts to show where it just can’t compare to games like Mario Kart.

As this is my first “official” review, I’m still trying to get the hang of what kind of format I’ll be using, but for now I’ll stick to highlighting some of the positive and negative impressions I had of the game.

+ 60+ missions to complete in single-player mode are fun challenges to occupy your time with if you tire of the usual grand prix
+ Lots of familiar Sega characters, music, and courses inspired by the games
Playable characters (source)

+ Up to 4 player multiplayer with a variety of modes including regular races, king of the hill, capture the flag, and others

+ Many unlockables (albeit pretty easy to unlock, read on for more information)
+ No matter what mode you play, you always gain Sega miles, which can be used to buy unlockable content, which means you can unlock things even in multiplayer mode

Well, seems good so far, right? Now, on to the negatives…
– No map of the course can be viewed while racing, which means you have no idea what’s coming up ahead. Particularly irking if you’ve never played a course before
– Many characters are duplicates–their stats are exactly the same! (i.e Shadow and Ryo, two characters that use motorcycles)
– Long, frequent loading times
In-game screen shot, map notably absent (source Xbox360 version review)

– Reverse button is same as the drift button, which is used to skid during turns and accumulate boost, an essential tactic to winning races. There is also no brake button, meaning that if you need to reverse (believe me, you will. See next point), you’ll have to stop accelerating and use the drift button, making for very clunky and unintuitive controls

– Last, but not least, Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing is glitchy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game with so many glitches. Getting stuck in a corner for no rational reason, missing jumps repeatedly because you fell off the course and keep getting placed back on the track in a bad place, going through walls… You name it, it’s probably happened to Shaun or I in the game. Some of the tracks have so many turns that I’ve never gotten through a single lap without getting stuck. Even the CPU’s have a hard time! I once saw Shaun get stuck in a corner with literally 3 CPU characters crowding him into a corner, and none of them could get out until the game decided to respawn them like it would if they had fallen off the course (this takes forever, too).
Unfortunately, as much as I want to like Sonic Racing, I just can’t get past how unbelievably glitchy it is. Shaun and I own the PS3 version, but a cursory Google search shows that there are problems on other systems as well (whether or not the extent of the glitches is as bad as the PS3 version I cannot say).  The game also doesn’t take long to finish–after about 8 hours we’d unlocked everything and completed 48% of the trophies without going out of our way to do any particular achievements. Though I wish I could say it compared to the Mario Kart games, Sonic Racing sadly falls short. For my multiplayer racing fix on the PS3, however, I am satisfied to have it as an option. It’s sad to see a potentially great game get bogged down by the lack of seemingly obvious necessities (have a brake button, show maps, beta test for glitches).

Final Verdict:  2.7 stars

Kart racing fun in the spirit of Mario Kart, but could have been a lot more fun without frequent glitches plaguing much of the game. Consider renting or buy only if you are desperate for cute multiplayer racing like I was.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment with your opinions or thoughts on how I can improve my reviews

Hello and Welcome!

You’ve stumbled upon Chic Pixel, a blog for all of my eclectic nerdy interests! Here you will soon find everything from video game reviews to craft ideas and pictures of things I’ve eaten recently (I like to take pictures of my food, what can I say). Over the next week or so I hope to be getting this site more polished so I can begin making some real posts, including a review of Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing I have in the works, so stay tuned!

For now, have a list!

Currently playing: Ookamiden (DS), Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing (PS3), Folklore (PS3)

Currently watching (i.e what I rented from the video store that I need to watch): Terminator 2, V for Vendetta, Sex and the City season 3

Currently reading: 90 Day Geisha by Chelsea Haywood