Something that has always irritated me about CSS rounded corners is how ugly it looks in Webkit based browsers (Chrome & Safari). I have always wanted to use this effect to enhance the look of a website, but have rarely done so due to this reason.

So, what exactly am I talking about? Lets take a look at an example of the fix in action, and what it looked like before the fix was applied (this image is twice normal size):



As you can see, the colour of the background bleeds outside the radius of the button, with the fix applied this effect is minimized. I still notice a faint 1 pixel bleed; but this doesn’t happen every time, sometimes it depends on the colours that are in use.

But you are probably wondering what the code is to fix this issue. Well, it’s just one simple line of CSS:

-webkit-background-clip: padding-box;

That’s all it takes! If you are wondering about some of the details on how exactly it works, visit here: http://www.css3.info/preview/background-origin-and-background-clip/

I have a lot of love for Dragon Ball (mainly Z), and for a while now there has been a new version of Dragon Ball Z airing in Japan. This version has the majority of the “filler” content removed, and every so often you notice that they redrew/reanimated several (very short) shots. There have been rumors that it will last 100 episodes (which won’t be possible, at the current rate it will have to be more), with the original being 291 episodes thats a lot of removed content!

Now that this version has been dubbed in english, is available on DVD/Blu-ray and airing on NickToons, I thought I would give my opinions on what they did. Some of these opinions will be at decisions made by both Toei and FUNimation, not just one. I have a lot I want to talk about, so I will be splitting this up into multiple parts.

The first thing you notice when watching the show is the opening credits and… wow… it’s amazing. It looks great; high definition with great character designs and animation, there are a few time where it looks a little wonky but who cares? “So, this is how the whole show is going to look, right?” … We’ll get to that later.

The original japanese version of the intro theme song “Dragon Soul” by Takayoshi Tanimoto is really catchy, but the lyrics don’t feel right at times. There are two english versions of the song, one sung by Goku voice actor Sean Schemmel, the other by Vic Mignogna who did the voice of Broly in a few movies, but is most likely known for his voice as Edward Elric in “Fullmetal Alchemist”. Sean’s version is used on the DVD/Blu-ray, and Vic’s version is used on the TV version; both have similar lyrics (only a few differences) but Sean’s is much longer.

The two versions were taken in different directions, Sean’s was meant sound more like the original japanese version while Vic’s was meant to sound more “Americanized”, I guess. Sean’s voice has some auto-tune in it but there are only few times that words that sound bad (like “wind”). Vic’s voice has more of an edgy sound to it and the only part I didn’t like was the “don’t stop, don’t stop”, it just didn’t seem right.

I can’t decide which I like better; both are very different and very good, so, I like both. Also, I like the english lyrics more than the original. Check back for the next post where I get into talking about the actual show!

There was a lot to live up to after last years E3 for Microsoft and Sony (sorry Nintendo, you had a bad show last year). There were a lot of games revealed at last years shows, this year it didn’t seem like there was as many game reveals from Microsoft and Sony. Everything was about Kinect (formerly Project Natal), Playstation Move, or 3D. Other than that, this year seemed to be a lot of “Remember than game we revealed last year? Well, here’s some more info/new trailer!”

Microsoft had by far the worst show this year; where as last year they had the best! Almost all of their conference was about Kinect, until the end where they unveiled the New Xbox 360. That’s all I remember from that conference, Kinect and New Xbox 360.

Nintendo had a very good conference this year, especially when compared to last year’s (vitality sensor, anyone?). Last year I was almost asleep while watching, but this year the conference had my full attention, most of the time. They revealed so many games that I can’t keep track of them all, but a few that stand out are: Donkey Kong, GoldenEye, Zelda, Kirby, and of course the 3Ds. I don’t care all that much about the 3Ds so I’m not going to talk about it. (it’s cool and all, I just don’t care)

Sony won the conference for me (Nintendo was very close but that Zelda demo was a complete failure). They had “Kevin Butler” come out and give a speech, There was an insane MGS: Rising trailer, Gabe Newell talked about Portal 2 and show a trailer, and finally the big reveal of Twisted Metal. Those things are what made Sony win in my opinion… but… that doesn’t mean it was perfect. The conference was plagued with commercials and montages.

There is a lot that I didn’t talk about, mainly because this year seemed to come and pass without too much hype on my end. We have many games to look forward to in 2010/2011, and I personally want these new controllers and 3D gimmicks to fail so that we can go back to playing how we want to. (i.e. not looking like a complete moron)