Mass Effect 2 is, without question, my most anticipated title of 2010 (or 2009 for that matter).  I don’t think I can adequately describe just how much I want to play this game and I’m very happy to have it featured as the 2010 season kick-off comic. I don’t have anything earth-shattering to share about ME2 other than I’m completely torn on which class to play.  My ME1 character was a take-no-prisoners soldier who specialized in the assault and sniper rifles but this time I’m thinking of switching it up a little. Vanguard maybe? We’ll see.

Bioware has very rarely faltered in my eyes and I need to take a moment and say that if you’re interested in Mass Effect 2 then you should really check out another game they released a few months back called “Dragon Age”. It is one of the best RPGs I’ve every played and I really do believe it’s a better story experience than the original Mass Effect (which is one of my top five favourite games of all time).  Sure, the dialogue system is archaic and the game is butt-ugly… but it’s still a great RPG that only a company as amazing as Bioware could pull off.  PLAY IT.

As an aside, episode 56 is the first comic rendered with my new Wacom Cintiq 12WX. Can you see the difference?  I certainly can.  I’m thinking of putting together an actual review of this thing… it’s just amazing.  Compared to what I was using before the Cintiq is literally a dream come true.  The speed at which I can render and the precision that I can execute with has made a very positive impact in my work flow.  I’m especially looking forward to is when it’s time to start working on the X10 print. That’s going to rock.

We’re going to be giving away a copy of Shadow Complex and ‘Splosion Man (two of the best games released last year on Xbox Live Arcade) on January 15th. Entering the draw is pretty easy, just become a fan of ours on Facebook! We’ll do a randrom draw from all our fans and then the winner will be notified by Facebook private message.

If everything goes according to plan, and let’s face it… it often doesn’t around here, then Season 4 of 360Prophecy will be kicking off with the launch of Mass Effect 2 later this month.  There are a few small roadblocks in the way of that happening, but I’m hoping to get those cleared up in the next few weeks.  “What kind of roadblocks?”, you ask. Well, for one I’m no longer in possession of any type of hardware to make comics.  Before we get into that, however, I’d like to take a moment to thank Microsoft for awarding me my third consecutive MVP award.  It’s been a wonderful journey over the years supplying Canada with comics and I’m very much looking forward to continuing for a little while yet.  Very excited, in fact, as I’ve got a lot of great ideas I’d like to implement.

With that said, I need to get something off my chest. I’ve been trying to write this post for two months now and I’ve never quite figured out how to word it.  You see, my personal life has been quite traumatic as of late. There’s no easy way to say this so here we go: I was laid off at the beginning of November.

I was informed by my employer that they were shutting down my office and that as of December 31st my services would no longer be required. Another victim of a ruined economy. Yay!  As many of my readers can imagine, this upset my happy little life quite a bit. I was quite fond of my job and had worked there for over seven years.  The range of emotions that I went through was vast and scary but I won’t trouble you with all the wonderful details of the sleepless nights thinking about my children and how I was going to get dinner on the table in two months time. No, the pertinent problem for YOU was that 360Prophecy was created using hardware on loan from my ex-employer. No hardware, no comic.

This also explains my absence from pretty much every social network that I visit.  As much as I tried to keep a smile on my face, inside I felt destroyed and embarrassed. How would I ever face the world? Well, I couldn’t.  So I’ve only tweeted around five times in the last two months and my inbox has been completely neglected.  If you’ve sent me a message over the last eight weeks, I’m sorry.  I couldn’t focus on you, I needed to focus on my family. I needed to get a job.

I’m happy to report that I’ve managed to do just that. I’ve jumped industries (the old one was a little chaotic), and landed in a position with a lot of exciting opportunities and a boss who has been treating me great for the last two weeks. He’s mentioned that he’s a big Halo 3 fan, so I’ve got a feeling we’re going to get a long just fine.  I’m writing this post on my new company laptop and will have already started my first day by the time you read this.  Even better, a portion of my severance pay is going towards purchasing a Wacom Cintiq 12WX.  In my opinion, this is the second best tablet in the world and it’s a big step up from the Intuos 2 I was using before.

I think I’ve spilt my heart out enough for one day, don”t you think?  Let’s just wrap this up.  Thanks to all the fans for supporting 360P, we’ve got some wonderful things planned for you this year.  The start is going to be a little slow, but we’ll be rocking out soon enough.  Happy New Year!

~ Jeff