Relax, desuu... Rozen Maiden "Suiseiseki" figure by Miki Ousaka

(tags figure, Rozen Maiden, kawaii, purchase)

Rozen Maiden is still charming. Here's "Suiseiseki". Oh great, an unplanned purchase but the look on "Suiseiseki"'s face is killer kawaii.

You would never guess that she's the high-tension tsundere. She looks so relaxed.

According to the official page, this PVC full-painted pre-built figure is non-scale. The pics on the Senaka Otaroad blog show how the different scales between figures destroy the sense of balance. Also more pics at Akibablog, Moeyo (1, 2) and the high-quality photo-review from FooBarBaz.

This figure was originally sculpted by Miki Ousaka (チェリーブロッサムの桜坂美紀) who is famous for making bishoujo figure kits to sell at those biannual Wonder Festival figure conventions. She also made a lot of commercial figures for animes such as Nadia and To Heart 2 (according to GA news). I want her Hina-Ichigo figure, so cute! Woops, according to the news page, Ousaka attended the World Hobby Fair in Kobe (my backyard!?!) last Sunday 10/28. Well there is no danger from me buying a kit, since I can't build it, but there goes a picture taking opportunity lost. Too bad. :-(

Anyway, along side this new figure was a Hina-Ichigo figure but it was kinda low-quality around the face area so I let it slide. Besides, other figures in the same series was discounted a while back, so perhaps I can get it cheaper later.

Idolm@ster DLC sale?

(tags game, Xbox 360, cosplay, bishoujo, purchase, Idolm@ster)

Announced in last week's Famitsu in the Idolm@ster "sequel" article was the "Platinum Collection Celebration Part 1" item sale (「アイドルマスター」のプラチナコレクション発売記念第１弾！！). There are 22 items discounted at 33% or more, and the sale lasts for about a month (until 11/26). I wonder if there's going to be another sale, since it says its the first one.

So I collected the pricing info on all of the DownLoadable Content (DLC). I have a whole Google Spreadsheet with all the items, but the long and short of it is, you could be buying a PS3 with the money:

First off, I totalled the Microsoft points. That's the first column. The remaining columns are various ways to get points, such as a credit card, or a prepaid card from a retailer like Sofmap or Sega Direct. The first row is "Purchase all items". It's 43,050 points or a flabergasting 6_4575 yen. Buying points by credit card gives you the least amount of bang for your ... yen, so let's try retailers. I already bought a card from Sofmap, so I had to include them there. If you keep buying from them, then you save 3000 yen. Big woop. The surprise was Sega Direct's pricing, which helps you save up to 6000 yen. Unfortunately Sega Direct is all out of cards.

There might be additional sales later on, so let's just consider the current sale items. That's the last line row there, and the price is 5000 yen, give or take. Terrific. If you truly can't wait for any additional sales, you can get the whole thing for 59100 yen, starting in 2 days.

Are these items unlockable in the game or no? They must be additional items. Probably some of them are rare items. In any case, it is imperative to play the game before reaching for the points.

Too many games, not enough discipline

(tags Xbox 360, purchase)

Okay, so in the last 10 days I bought 6 Xbox 360 games, not to mention the Xbox Live Gold Subscription and a 3500 point card. I'm diggin' the Xbox. I should finish out Crackdown though. I haven't even tried the Agency PeaceKeeper vehicles. Too bad I don't know anybody who wants to do the co-op missions, but I'm too selfish with my time to go online.

I want to start on Idolm@ster, but if you took a look at my Achievements you can see that I tried to get into Gears of War. So far I like it, but this one checkpoint is kicking my ass so I put that disc away. And yesterday night I collected some info about Idolm@ster that I will post soon, heh heh.

Oh and I put in a bid for Dead or Alive 4 for about 1700 yen from an online nobody. Let's see if I win it.

(edit: pay content was PeaceKeeper)

Dead or Alive 4 hunt, Hisashiburi Osaka, Kureha digitized

(tags Osaka, purchase, character goods, telephone card, game, Xbox 360, anime, seiyuu, PlayStation 2, Kasimasi, Ikaruga)

Last post was a real bummer. How to get back to my dreamland? Goods!

On Saturday I headed to Tennouji and Nipponbashi Den Den Town for some Xbox 360 game scoping and telephone card hunting. I haven't been there since middle September because I spent 5_0000+ yen on an Xbox 360 last month, so the change of season makes the area look different. I didn't know how the Osaka tower looked at night, but it was so so. Anyways, the obligatory goods picture:

My goal was to get Dead or Alive 4 for less than 2200 yen, with original cover. The Platinum Collection covers irritate me and the DoA4 Platinum Collection edition comes out on 11/1 so maybe there are old copies lingering somewhere. Unfortunately I only scoped a 2900 yen one at A-Too, that crazy price used game shop that also carries a good selection of foreign console games. I let it pass (I got that telephone card there as a consolation prize). I could have snatched up a foreign edition BioShock with embossed case, but I don't need it yet at 7000 yen. One interesting find at another shop: a Panzer Dragoon (?) Xbox 1 console going for a little less than 3_0000 yen. No box?!? Oh please.

My buy threshold was 2000 yen for other games. I found Gears of War english-only edition for 1880 yen and Bullet Witch original cover for the same. At the northern Super Potato (?) I could have picked up Trusty Bell and Ridge Racer 6 for about 1900 yen each, but I figured enough was enough. BTW, at the same store, the Dead or Alive 4 arcade stick for the Xbox 360 was selling 12800 yen used! Why? Why!? It reminded me that I don't want to play Ikaruga on the Xbox controller. I'm not so hot on a joystick, though.

A semi-serious goal was to get the various Street Fighter on PS2 re-releases. The highest priority is on the Street Fighter Alpha collection. I had some fun times playing Guy on SF Alpha 1, but he wasn't the same on Alpha 2. Anyways, this game disc never got "Collection"-ed so its still 4500 yen new. Then again why should I bother since I already have the Windows PC port. I notice that there are no used copies of these SF games (!?!), but plenty of SNK fighters to be had.

Explaining the other items: various TCs abound. j1mOne's recommendation of Tiaraway's music made get the Seiyuu Gran-prix TC. I don't know the name of this anime, but a neko-mimi maid, right. The recent anime Kimikiss reminds me of the artwork from that old True Love Story - Summer Days and yet PS2 game, which was great illustrations by itself. Could they be related? Something to research. I wonder if I got that Kasimasi TC already, but it's a scratched reference. Oh yeah, I had fun watching Zettai Shonen (絶対少年) so I couldn't pass up this Quo card.

And still I have Kureha fever so I bought that Shining Wind Fun Disc from Sofmap Saurus Treasure Box. It was a special preorder item, which explains the 1200 yen used price. I bought it for the wallpapers, and I am a bit disappointed that Kureha doesn't smile in any of them. :-/ I found a Kureha telephone card at K-Books where she was smiling... only 8000 yen :-( Still, official artwork on my desktop background rotation, FTW. Pretty much I'm into Shining Wind based on the Tony artwork only. I know nothing about the game.

The cover for the drama CD Vol 1 is nice, rawr. :-) It surprised me that my class A seiyuu Yui Horie (堀江由衣) voices Kureha. The drama CD could be a buy.

On the way home, there was more security guards at the JR Osaka entrances, something like 10 to 15 guys in blue uniforms patrolling. "Osaka Kanjyosen" Halloween Train?

I am definately not going to Nipponbashi next weekend. I decided to get Ace Combat 6, and before that I need to start Idolm@ster. So I'm not going to repeat the Dead or Alive 4 hunt for a couple of weeks. :-)

Real life is calling, wants you to evacuate

(tags emergency, USA)

Normally I don't talk about "real life" in this blog, but this one hit close to home. The Witch Fire in San Diego County made my family evacuate.

Imagine getting a "reverse 911" call at 4 in the morning and having to vacate the area by 6 AM because authorities are closing the major highways. Crazy. The stats on this fire are horrific: 9.2 million USD damage, 1000+ homes destroyed, etc.

Luckily the worst is over for us and the home was left untouched. Another of my friends also had to evacuate as well but they are fine.

I only got word of the fires through Robert Scoble's blog, which led me to a Google map mashup. Then I did a Google search which gave me an unofficial fire reporting blog, California Fire News. This in turn led me to the official goverment sites, InciWeb and CAL FIRE. So far I have seen only one picture of one of the fires itself, and I won't actively look for more.

Tasty tap water: I like it cold

(tags drink, health)

Recently I've become obsessed with drinking more water. During the summer I use to knock back 2 PET bottles of fruit juice and/or sweet drinks, and eat an ice cream everyday at work. Now my pants fit me tighter, oh so unflatteringly. I'm not very strict with myself, but I cranked up the discipline ever so slightly by changing some habits. Reading the recent post from the Positivity Blog entitled "9 Reasons to Drink More Tap Water, and 3 Ways to Do It" only encourages me to continue these new habits.

First off, I no longer carry my regular wallet and coin wallet in my pants pocket everywhere I go. It was surprising to me to find that I didn't need it that often. That means if I want a snack, I have to think about putting money in my pocket, which gives me a chance to say no. I cut back on the ice cream to one time a week, since I eat plenty during lunch. It helps that my favorite flavor is no longer available. I don't count calories, but the cafeteria checkout machine tabulates the yen cost and calories cost automatically via camera. "Oh damn, that was a thousand calories." Also lunch at work is weird because sometimes I get a meat dish with pasta on the side and then grab some rice. My lunch friend says it must be a crazy Kansai thing, because his Kantou upbringing makes him think it's weird, but he's used to doing the same thing now. Instead of an extra rice bowl, I grab some vegetables like slimy okra (ick). And I eat my petite tomatoes and shredded cabbage which I still detest.

Thus I come to the tap water angle. This isn't a recent habit, but at home I always add 1 part water to any fruit juice drink I pour. And as far as I know I am the only person at work to refill my PET bottle at the cafeteria's cold water tap. Maybe it's embarassing, because there's two hundred pairs of eyes potentially staring at me. Maybe it's unsanitary, pushing my used bottle onto the draw handle. Maybe these Japanese people prefer drinking their hot green tea. Maybe I'm the only one who likes to drink this "industry" water. Whatever, I have been doing it for a couple of months now and it's like second nature. I usually finish that second 500 ml of liquid during the afternoon. It surpresses my craving to snack. Before I stuffed my work desk with snack food, but now even though my hand automatically goes to my snack drawer there's nothing to be found. If the cafeteria is open after 17:00, I usually snack and refill the PET bottle again. At that point I can't finish that water so there's always some left over. Luckily at work there's a fridge, and I've been putting the refilled used bottle in there. When I get back in the morning, I exchange it for the bottle I newly bought. It's not a well-thought out system but I can see openings to improve.

Still with this habit of refilling, since I fear bacterial growth I buy a new bottle every day. I'm still buying the same type of fruit juice drinks but I try to avoid the sodas and even bottled water. And instead of buying them at the local convenience store, I have started buying "in bulk" 3 or 4 PET bottles of drinks at the supermarket. There's a better selection there, and I have experimented with buying the Japanese tea flavors. Still if I see some flavor like Strawberry Milk Ole (less than 1% juice) or something I grab it and quickly suppress the feelings of guilt.

I was bragging to my mom that I could change my habits and she reminded me of making my own drinks at home. What a novel thought! I forgot that more than a few years ago, I bought a pitcher to make my own cold teas. I've stopped that practice for some dumb reason, but now I should pick it up again. Also, though I don't reject the idea of filtering my water, I want to consider it someday. Now, how to decide my PET bottle disposal rotation...

So do I fit my pants again? Well, no not really. :-/ But I have to get up from my desk to piss more often, which makes me take more breaks, which makes me concentrate more. Besides, I need to sun myself more, but that's a topic for another day.

Xbox 360 crazy: 1 year subscription, 3 games

(tags game, Xbox 360, subscription)

If you told me back in August that I would totally get into an Xbox 360, I would have laughed. But today I give you the thumbs up.

First off, 13 months of Xbox Live penciled into my calendar. Sorry to all who have inviting me to throwdown online. My offline gaming habits are hard to break.

All of these games were priced cheaper to move. Dead or Alive Extreme Volleyball 2, Viva Pinata (あつまれ！ピニャータ), Top Spin 2. It's a price cut trickling down probably because of an upcoming re-release. I can't decide whether to get Gears of War in the original packaging or wait for the re-release (廉価版). I'm downloading the Guitar Hero III demo right now. I'm going to replay the Ace Combat 6 demo.

One of my Xbox RL friends says he'll lend me Perfect Dark Zero and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion whenever, well, if he can remember to bring the game discs. I have another friend through the grapevine that says he'll buy an Xbox 360 to play Ace Combat 6 if only he had some more online friends. Gimme yer fricken gamertag when you buy one, okay?

Speaking of my gamertag, I just had to mention that I changed my motto from "doubleplusgood" to "(require 'cl)". I'm nerdy like that.

Wii? PS3? PSP? PC? DS? PS2? No, thanks, I'm having too much fun enjoying this Microsoft product. :-)

Scratched card "collecting": Kureha, Dijiko, Xbox Live

(tags game, purchase, illustrator, Xbox 360, figure, telephone card)

First off, the Sega Direct shipment of the "Kureha" figure and Capcom Classics Collection for PSP came in, but the emphasis is on the card. I always hate it when the card is not securely embedded in its plastic sleeve. It could be possibly be scratched. Ugh.

I went out on Sunday night. My resolve to not get the premium Crackdown map pack was slipping. Besides, I needed to pick up this month's Gamers 30 point-exchange telephone card. Can I complain about the recent Dijiko? Why does she have red eyes now? Before she was totally hawt with green eyes. I remember in a recent Akiba picture, two seperate billboards had green eyes and red eyes. Anyway I fail my Japanese Internet searching skills, so I probably missed the whole discussion.

So I picked up the Xbox Live 3500 Microsoft Point card, which is 4980 yen (priced to move). It came in a "blister packaging", which is that hard to open thing that doesn't seem to catch on in Japan. I made the mistake of scratching off the back with some scissors. No not the cutting edge, but the other side. Still, it deeply scraped off the plastic, and I could not completely read the 25-letter subscription code. Uh, dumbass! Well, there were 5 incomplete letters, and I could see the bottom halves. If I was going to try all of the possible combinations, it would take 384 attempts or something like 5 hours.

So today during work I called up the Microsoft support. The support guy first verified that I was my gamertag, and then asked for some visual proof of the card. After sending an email with support request number and two 2.5 MB digi-cam files, I got a callback where the same support guy read off another 25-letter subscription code. "...taiga no T, suuji no Kyuu, arufabetto no Q, arufabetto no C, bikutori no V..." I verified it now and I am now 3500 points into this Microsoft digital thing.

Now to buy that Crackdown 800 point and finish off the achievements!

Crackdown till it hurts, completed and achievement unlocking

(tags game, Xbox 360, FPS)

I was going to title this "Crackdown bubble cracked", but I'm still playing it. Tuesday was Crackdown till 3, Wednesday was Crackdown till 3 part 2, Thursday and Friday was I'm so tired but I'm still playing till midnight. I'm busy protecting Pacific City, in that anime style where a character is standing on a high pole:

I finally completed the campaign mode on Saturday. On Thursday, though, I really did feel like the enthusiasm sapped, because I realized the fun would soon be over. The end only makes me want a sequel to Crackdown, but not because of the story.

I just gotta say I like the announcer's voice. "Skills for kills, Agent. Skills. For. Kills." I feared that the announcer would be forcibly Japanified on the Riot Act domestic release, but fortunately for me, everything is English, as if they gave up on the localization. (But reading the manual confirms the localizers had a Japanese voice cast.) I like how the innocents curse, especially the woman's voices: "This is fucked up!" Indeed.

So the rest of my Saturday gaming was maximizing my achievement point potential. My stats are heading to the max. I'm killing with "Global Impact" (an achievement that would have you kill 15 enemies with a big brass globe). My driving stat is lagging, but I found a combination of using the Agency SUV (with turbo boost!) and running over stopped gang cars, waiting for the dumb AI to get send the gang members out of the car, and backing up is a sure way of upping the stat. Just a few more hours (or is this too slow?) and I'll be maxed and then I will persue the racing. Perhaps I should just try racing itself, that should give me points. I made the mistake of restarting the campaign though, which may interfere with it.

Also I checked on Wikipedia, and the updates it mentioned were present in my game. I didn't even know it was different from the original release. I did knowingly download the extra freebees, but it was so seamlessly integrated into the game. The annoying part is the premium content, because I didn't buy the 800 XBpoint for it, but the game shows it on the maps anyway. I will buy it some time, when I've given up on it.

Crackdown till 3

(tags game, Xbox 360, FPS)

I played Crackdown till 3. I'm already 1/3 of the way finished in the campaign mode. Sweet. Except I'm late for work now, oops.

Weak-willed: Crackdown in the house

(tags Xbox 360, game, FPS)

I have no will power. I have bought a used copy of Riot Act (Crackdown) and I am going to play it right now. Right now! So much for clearing Halo 3 again on Campaign meta-game.

lune lune lune la la lune lune lune is sweet: Rubik's Cube measured times

(tags anime, season 2007/04, Rubik's Cube, times)

Yesterday while trying to get the perfect screenshot in Halo 3 I was listening to the new ending song of Hayate no Gotoku. The song is called "Chasse" and it's sung by Kaori Utatsuki (詩月カオリ) and it's totally lovely. "lune lune lune la la lune lune lune", so nice. Too bad it won't be released until 11/26. KOTOKO's single which the corresponding opening song was out today but I didn't want to get it yet, hoping that the former was already out.

Anyway, I felt like today was a good day for recording my times. My hands feel up to speed, etc. I still haven't remembered the mirror for one of the basic moves but it's not too hard to do it when thinking. Acutally I discarded one of the times that was like 3 minutes because I misremembered one move. Duh.

----- JNetCube Best Average for Tue Oct 16 21:17:38 GMT+09:00 2007 -----

Average: 1:26.63 (2:11.50 -44.87 last month)

Fastest Time: 1:04.98 (1:29.59 -24.61 last month)
Slowest Time: 1:43.53 (3:44.43)
Standard Deviation: 09.05 (11.78)

Individual Times:
1:25.22 B' R' D2 L' B2 F2 D2 F2 B' D2 U2 R2 F R D' L2 B U L2 F R U F D B2
1:27.03 U' B2 U F L' R B' U L2 B' F R' B R2 L' B R2 L' B' D' F B2 R U B2
1:17.09 U' D B2 L2 F U L2 D' F' R' L' D2 B' R2 U2 F' L2 F U' F U' D R2 U2 L
1:30.29 B L R D2 L R' U F2 B' R2 F U L F U D2 F2 R' D2 F D2 B D R' D2
1:43.53 U2 B2 F2 R' L' F L D' B' U' B D' U2 L' D R' F' L2 D2 F U2 D2 B' U' L
1:04.98 L2 F B' D2 U' R2 F' B2 R B L B' U2 D2 L B' L' R2 U' F2 B U L' F R'
1:30.73 R' F' U' L' B' R B' R2 U' R' F2 B D' U F' U' B U' F R2 F2 L R D R2
1:40.40 F U2 R' F' L B' U F' D L' F U D2 B2 U' B' L2 R F' L U' R2 F2 R2 B'
1:35.48 R2 L' D L2 D' B2 L B R' B U' B2 D' R U' F2 R' F' B D2 U' B' L' F2 U'
1:19.39 B' D2 B' U' R' D L2 B' U B F2 U' D2 F' U2 D L2 R' U B' F2 R L' B2 U
1:09.98 F L' B' F' L' D' L U' F' L2 U L' R B U2 D R B2 D' B U2 L B' L2 R
1:30.73 F2 U2 D2 F' L2 B R B2 U2 B L' U F' D B U B L R' D L2 U' B2 R2 F2

86 second average. This totally beats my (unmentioned) original goal of 120 seconds to solve. Time to make 60 seconds my goal. This might take a while. :-)

I know that times aren't everything. I need to concentrate on making fewer moves and making my fingers turn the cube better. I think though the first area I need to improve is definately the opening cross. How do I make a blue cross in the fewest moves? I play it out in my mind. Also I hold the cube in this stage with the blue face on L. I'm not sure yet if its better to put it on the bottom. I'll hold off on trying to change the orientation for now.

Oh remember I said I was going to discuss the way I hold the cube in the "Minh Thai" beginner method? I won't write it up because I'm slow at it.

Lost Planet: The cold suppresses me

(tags game, Xbox 360, FPS)

One of the five games that made me buy a Xbox 360 was Lost Planet. After the high point of finishing Legendary Halo 3, I started this game. Though I played the demo again and again at the game shop kiosks, it feels like its starting to lose the novelty. Its Halo 3 and Crackdown's fault. Lost Planet feels so slow. Walking is slow. Melee is slow (but probably unnecessary). I have passed only 3 levels but its dragging. But it feels epic.

One thing that is new to me that is different from previous consoles is that the achievements keep me going. I "need" more gamer point cred. I don't know whether to praise MSFT for making me get more out of the game, or to lambast them for making me waste my time. I know I am ridiculous because I am the one making me do things. Choice is good. Making a bad choice is bad. :-/

SystemRescueCD got my back, Unreal Tournament 3 runs but...

(tags game, Windows, Linux, Unreal Tournament)

I had to download Unreal Tournament 3 twice, and then re-verify it with a torrent before the installer ran. Huh. Then the installer said I didn't have enough space to install. Well I knew that going in so that was my fault.

My back was to the wall so I transferred the contents my boot drive from the ol' original 120 GiB (from 2004) to a newer 300 GiB (2007) hard drive. I have a really dumb partition scheme. It is 1 GB for an empty C:, 20 GB for D: (boot), and 90 GB for the program install partition F:. I want to get rid off F:. I used SystemRescueCD 0.4, which is really useful. The copy command was dd with options "if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sde conv=noerror,sync". I did the partition resizing with GParted, which was to extend the extended partition containing D: and F:, move the F: to the right, and expand the D: partition fully.

I can't believe I haven't yet re-installed Windows XP, even after 3 years of use. Well maybe I'm used to the sluggishness? The Program Files is really crufty. :)

So after 3 hours of dd and 6 hours of gparted and 30 minutes of Windows XP at-boot chkdsk, I finally was able to install UT3. It runs. :) It looks terrible and stutters. :( My rig barely meets minimum requirements. The menu screen seemed to be false colored! Imagine VGA resolution, with 50% effective size (320 by 240 effective rendering?!?) and texture detail 1 and world detail 1. Its torture. Anyway, it feels like 20 fps or 30 fps at spurts but looks so so pixelated and murky. Due to the visual and input stuttering, advanced shock rifling is out of the question. In fact, I haven't even played one complete Deathmatch game. I'm still tweaking, believing that its not finding my hardware acceleration card. I suppose I'm in denial. The game crashes and the ATi software says it had to reset the graphics card so I suppose it is using it. :-(

Well I am disappointed, but I'm not going to fix the problem. I'm so satisfied with FPS/TPS gaming on my Xbox 360 that I don't think I'll upgrade my PC this year. Heck I have at least 3 games I want to finish on the Xbox and countless more on the PS2, et al. And the PC version of UT3 I will buy but install it for the OGG music. Music is kewl.

Xbox 360s highs and lows: videos, demos, backward compatibility, borrowing games

(tags game, Xbox 360)

I really love the possibilities of the Xbox 360. Or maybe this is the first time I've had a console that was more than just put in a game and press the power button. (I'm discounting the Xbox 1 because I never used the CD player or Xbox Live). I've spent a fair amount of time exploring the free demos and videos.

I download the free trailers to action and FPS games. The one I like the best is second trailer for Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation. I liked it so much I downloaded it in 720p after watching it in 480p a couple of times. Maybe I'm just a sucker for corny dialog. "It may be dangerous, but it's my time to dance with the angels!" :-/ Other videos I just meh and delete. Ninja Gaiden II, Shin Sangoku Musou 5, Devil May Cry 4, etc. I want to see gameplay, not CG masturbation thats not in game. I've also been downloading Halo 3 trailers. I really like the one where Master Chief says "Not yet." I don't understand why he starts off with a pistol while bubble shielding and then switches to the assault rifle while running, then attempts to take tens of grunts with nothing more than a boot kick? You couldn't do that even in Normal difficulty.

Then I've been spending sometime eliminating demos and stuff from my console. Meh delete Meh delete Meh delete, oh this demo is a keeper, meh delete, ... So far I want to buy Prince of Persia Classic, Crackdown (Riot Act) and Stranglehold. Crackdown's demo is the one of the few I've played over and over and over. I kept on fighting the urge to run out to the store and buy it. Prince of Persia Classic is just nostalgia factor. I don't want to play the SNES version over again. And Stranglehold is fricken kewl like that. Its an guy Chow Yun Fat as the lead bad-ass. I still have yet to play it on Hard-Boiled mode though, that would be duck and cover galore. Oh, I've never played Max Payne so I'm a slo-mo virgin. It concerns me that the retail game is less than 10 hours long, though.

Backward compatibility is a pain though. My 7000 yen purchase of the Capcom Classics Collection Volume 2 for the Xbox 1 goes down the drain, because MSFT doesn't let it run in this region. I only tried two games right now, but this doesn't bode well for my other imported games.

And yes I asked a friend to lend me Perfect Dark Zero. Well its been two weeks since and I only find out that he lent me the game case and manual, but no game disc. It's egg on face for both of us. :-(

Work-like: Halo 3 Legendary

(tags game, FPS, Halo 3)

I prolonged the Legendary Halo 3 fight for a week. The monotony of dying and restarting was playing over and over in my mind. I was dreading it. But I stopped procrastinating on Saturday, and I finished it. It's over. Done with.

125 gamer points to me. The only thing I wished for was remembering to take a picture of Achievement dialog, the one that flashes for 10 seconds.

Gamers who have the patience to outwit the AI and the skill to pick off each enemy one by one can easily clear Legendary. I didn't need godlike aim skills, or refined strategy because it was basically the same dumb AI with tougher armor and quicker weapons. I can recall only two times I out ran the enemies, though, so pretty much it was mowing down everybody, one timid shot at a time. I must have devoted at least 15 hours to all of it.

Now all that's left is to play the game for points in the campaign meta-game and play lots of ranked online. I should play online now while the Xbox Live is filled with n00bs, or has that already passed?

Let's get los, Let's get los: Unreal Tournament 3 Demo

(tags game, Unreal Tournament, FPS)

OMG the Unreal Tournament 3 demo came out!!!!

I am downloading this 750+ MB file as we speak!

But its taking an hour to download so let's watch Angry German Kid to get me in the mood.

A little too eager, part 2: Shining Wind's Kureha (figure)

(tags figure, telephone card, character goods, mail order)

I thought the "Kureha" figure was gone or sold out. I visited Sofmap one last time and I also searched Yahoo Auctions for the words (「クレハ シャイニング」). But it turns out that it will be sold on the 18th, according to the online store Sega Direct. Since they have a telephone card present (pictured left) and its still available for only (!? this extreme retail, yo) 8000 yen altogether, I'm going to mail order it from them instead of brick-and-mortar buying.

They have some other nice (hawt) Shining Wind Kureha goods. There's a sports towel (pictured right) and bath towel, and the PS2 game with Stick Poster Binder set (pictured middle) which also has a telephone card (meh design) and a fan disc with CG illustrations, all for a low price of 1_0000, rawr.

D00d could I be going lustful on the Kureha? Um um. (Deep breath) Y.. Yes but no. No! No more. Ok. This month is just this figure, okay?

Oh I found it funny that Sega Direct still carries the telephone card set for Gungrave, a PS2 game released back in 2002. 5 years ago! And don't miss the telephone card set for Karas, the Dreamcast shmup. Yea right.

A little too eager: Shining Wind's Kureha (figure)

(tags figure, game, PlayStation 2, sexy, illustrator)

Remember the "Kureha" figure I mentioned in May? Well, Moeyo reminded me that its coming out this week so I've been making quick stops to the Sofmap.

Um. Guess I didn't read too closely, because it says it will come out on Friday, not today. Duh.

World Rubik's Cube Championship 2007

(tags Rubik's Cube)

On the Japanese Rubiks Cubists blog I'm tracking (1, 2, 3, 4), there is some national pride and back-slapping regarding the results from the annual world competition held in Hungary. There are many types of competitions, but the one that most casual observers are interested in is the 3x3x3 two hand event (to differentiate from the one handed, blind folded, feet, etc events). A Japanese teen took first place with an average of 12 seconds.

12 seconds! 12 seconds is about the length of time it takes to ride an escalator. For me, I can solve a Rubiks Cube one time between two train stations which is around two minutes.

There are more results, videos, and linkage at the official results page and also this link crazy blog.

Oh the reason I haven't measured my times recently isn't because I've given up. On the contrary I still turn the Cube on my commute. I need to learn the mirror of one of the basic Fridich moves (3-cycle corner swap, orientation preserving), then its on to improve my opening game. Once I'm at my measuring place, I turn on the Halo 3, so blame that.

He's just discovered picture viewing and background saving

(tags media, Xbox 360, customize)

So long Master Chief, hello Sugar!

Xbox 360 media viewing with items from your computer is automatic and painless. Plus you can make a global background, just like on the PSP. Nice but not too nice.

Master of red: Noboru Kannatsuki CD-ROMs

(tags illustrator, sexy, anime, telephone card, CG)

I remember looking for goodies from the Comic Market 72 (2007/08) fallout at K-Books. I saw that the sexy bishoujo illustrator Noboru Kannatsuki (神奈月昇, Light of Night) had some CG CD-ROMs. I know him from the Polyphonica illustrations for the PC/PS2 visual novels and light novels (神曲奏界ポリフォニカ). Unfortunately the used price was unbelievable, 30000 yen! Just for one. And there were 3! Lucky for me and my wallet that he decided to re-release the CDs to doujin shops such as Tora no Ana.

Hawt. No, hawt would be Corti (the red-head bombshell) in her onee-san guise.

Only 1000 yen each. I only opened the third disc, Polyphony. Thankfully there's no nudity on that one (which is surprising). Now I gotta hook this up to my wallpaper changer, which at the moment is John's Background Switcher. I wholeheartedly recommend this freeware for Windows users who like Flickr or have multi-monitor setups.

The tosho card plus daishi on the top left was an Animate purchase. The illustration was originally an Animate exclusive cover for book 5 in the Polyphonica light novel "Crimson" series.

Stealing kills for skills: Halo 3 Online retake

(tags game, Xbox 360, Halo 3, FPS)

My intent last weekend was to finish the Halo 3 Campaign on Legendary. I did get through most of the stages through a combination of run and gun, praying for the words "Checkpoint... saved". In fact I only have two more stages to go. But I had an online date with some IRC channel #insertcredit regulars and that got my online mania started.

Halo 3 online matchmaking is a cesspit of vulgarity and cursing, at least the voice chat part is. In about 150 social matches, I've only remembered one time when the voice chat was useful for identifying rallying points. The other time were just silence or even worse, distracting IRC-like talk which had nothing to do with the game. The pre-game trash talk is random and sub-witty, mostly consisting of "woo woos", "your mama", racial stomping, etc. Its my take though, when I am severely out ranked (lieutenants, captains, etc) that the trash-talking outranker wants to see some challenge from you. In the social matches I decided to detach my mic/headset because it was useless. And I know how to use the mute feature but I tire of using it every match. Maybe I should be pulling up my end of the game by voicing but I need to memorize the names areas of the map. "2 camping the sword spawn" "laser snipe on the center hill" etc. There is so much meaning in those simple phrases.

Still, despite the lag and random chance of punching success, it is more fun than I gave it the first time. In fact, the combination of playing against and with other people and being able to replay my moves and other's moves in the Theater mode has improved my FPS thinking, such as which enemy to prioritize, how to cover my teammate, how to understand the rhythm of my regenrating shields, how to use elevation to my advantage, (how to steal kills, heheh) etc. Definately I can see some room for improvement when watching my own killing sprees and cannon fodder runs in Theatre mode, but it has taken a game like Halo 3 to make the deficiencies visible. I saved some clips where I think I play good but they are probably embarassingly mediocre. In the voice of that Crackdown demo announcer, "Remember! [Stealing] kills for skills." Hahah.

I can see that for the Halo games, you need to keep one eye on the radar at all times. Its really training wheels, a crutch that is no substitute for being one with a map and the enemy. Its only a two dimensional display though, so you can play some mind games. Unfortunately, this feature can be exploited in sparingly few locations, but there is at least one point on each map.

Its frustrating to see Halo 3 so restrictive in some things such as maps and open-ended in others. There are so few maps. One of the things that attracts me to DM/Slayer in FPS is epiphany from learning a new map. I can see that the PC will still be my preferred FPS platform. My UT99 mods and user maps folder is almost a huge 5 GB, in an era where maps were about 1 to 5 MBs. But the Theatre mode is really good. I met a 3-star Major in a social match, and I was able to watch his file share stuff and learn. I suppose because Halo 3 is a mainstream game, you need to dumb down the knobs and controls. You really don't need more maps, you need to play this map better.

Now that I'm a "Gunnery Sergeant Grade 2" with about 65 Rating Points (RP) and the game says I need 85 more RP to get one more rank up when it previously said only 10 RP more for the next level, I think the game is telling me to get out of the Social lobby and into the Ranked lobby, which means become an "Officer" instead of staying "Enlisted". This page by Gruntsrus is really useful. Unfortunately, the period of easy kills is pretty much over. Anybody staying in this game for longer than two weeks is probably skilling up as well.

Am I going to play more? I'd like to. But it can wait for Legendary.

My other ride is a full Prowler

(tags game, Xbox 360, FPS, Halo 3)

This is how we ride on Halo 3 Legendary:

Fire it up!

I was able to stack my Prowler with a Rocket Launcher guy and Fuel Rod Launcher guy. It made things a heck of a lot easier. Unfortunately I lost the movie for this part, so I can't get an in-game screenshot. Well, it wasn't too hard to load the Prowler so maybe I can do it again.

Prices going up: Japan Post Bank and Telephone Cards

(tags telephone card, purchase)

Telephone cards are on the way out. Tosho (図書) cards will eventually replace them because they are redeemable in many places and the cellphone supplants the line pay phone. Still as a collectable many places make them, such as magazine art offers or Comic Market goodies.

When the Japan postal system privatized on the first of October this year, many services became inconvenient or more expensive. For example, some rural offices will close. The Japan Post was not just in the business of material delivery but it also was a bank.

There lies my irritation. One of the bank services was the Small Fixed-Rate Money Order (定額小為替), which in 400, 500, and 1000 denominations, was the de facto standard for magazine goodies. Previously the cost for a money order slip was 10 yen, but now its 100 yen. So my usual monthly order of telephone cards consisting of Megami Magazine (メガミマガジン), Animedia (アニメディア), Animage (アニマージェ), etc increases by about the cost of another telephone card. Buying those money orders used to be as easy as breathing, but now it makes me think twice. Moving money around shouldn't be so expensive, but I suppose moving money around safely isn't easy.

Viewing (and hearing) Unreal Tournament 3

(tags game, Unreal Tournament, FPS, Windows)

Gaming right now consists of Halo 3 on Legendary and Rubik's Cube "speedcubing" (pretender status, though). But on the blog front its all Unreal Tournament 3 anticipation. The next front is figuring out the specs. GameLife seems to have some info, but "citation, please?"!

I barely meet the minimum requirements. I need to free some HDD space, ha.

What is a ATI Radeon 9600+ video card? DXDIAG.EXE on Project Sugar shows my old dependable ATI Radeon 9600 Series AGP video card (whoa this card's tech is almost 4 years old!). Does this mean I can "enter" the Tournament? It probably means I am all ready for the slide show. Heh.

No specs confirmation at the official site, but they had some great mixes of the UT franchise music. "Mech B Mix", "Go Down Mix" are my favorites, but there is representative Onslaught music from UT2004 as well. Frankly it just sounds like they added more instruments and put more percussion, but I put away my critical ear and just bob my head all the same. I hope these tunes are a format that I can put in my music player, and past trends show Epic not locking down on that (UT99 == .MOD, UT2k3,4 == OGG).

D.C. II is seriously deja vu

(tags anime, season 2007/10, galge)

I'm not impressed with D.C. II (a season 2007/10 anime). I expected something different, but a lot of things seem to be reused: names, character traits, magic. I thought this is supposed to be 50 years in the future? But this time maybe just maybe the story this time will be less oniichan-imouto love, and that gives me hope.

Acutally what surprises me more is my reaction. Ugh, another sister-love harem angle, oh noes veterans Yui Horie (堀江由衣) and Yukari Tamura (田村ゆかり), I'm tired of them. Usually I'm all for this stuff. Have I gone mad? :-/

My ride is a full Warthog

(tags game, Xbox 360, FPS)

Before I attempt to try Legendary difficulty on Halo 3 Campaign, I want to show that I have at least some fun with the single player.

Light it up.

I now have all the skulls, yea.

Complex resolved! Lovely Complex

(tags anime, season 2007/04, Lovely Complex)

Lovely Complex ends with 24 episodes. What a grand adventure. 5 stars!

These two look like they can't go through one more episode, though. Go All-Hanshin Combi!

I doubt I can play Unreal Tournament 3 but money can be parted

(tags game, Unreal Tournament, Windows)

Nothing has been announced about the specs, but I salivate for the Collector's Edition of Unreal Tournament III in a tin case with extra DVD and artbook (as reported by GameSpot UK). And the Tokyo Game Show report of the demo play on the PS3 sounds enticing. 2007/11/19.

I tried looking at my go-to importer GDEX but they don't mention any limited edition I am ordering right now! :-)

I remember buying Unreal Tournament 2004 from them and I got a free strategy guide, not that I needed it but still.

:-(

I just remembered I won't be able to run this game. My video card is too old.

Component to VGA upcan converter: Made for PSP lite?

(tags PlayStation Portable, hardware, video)

PSP Gadgetz pointed out the "PSP-2000 VGA BOX 2198P", which is a Component to VGA video converter. The output is 1600 by 1200 (SXGA) D-Sub connector and the input is Component. Sounds great, since I'm still in the "analog" video world (VGA connector, 4:3 based monitors).

Almost 4 years in the making: Kimi ga nozumu eien OVA !

(tags anime, season 2007/12, DVD region 2)

Remember Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien (君が望む永遠) ? I can't believe its been more than 4 years since I've watched the anime (2004) or played the (PS2, 2003) game. So it was a surprise to hear that a OVA will be released. I learned this through Senakablog who got it from a Sofmap display, which makes me kind of sad on how out of the loop I am.

(photo credit Senakablog)

Most of the original seiyuu that are important to me are back, except for Mizuki. Originally voiced by Tomoko Ishibashi (石橋朋子) in the games and anime, Mizuki will be voiced by Chiaki Takahashi (たかはし智秋) in the OVA. I really liked Ishibashi's voice in this work, and especially the Blue Tears single CD (a Comic Market exclusive). She was pretty good in Imouto de Ikou! (妹でいこう！), a 2002 0verflow adult PC game (the company that gave you the original material for "nice boat").

Chiaki Takahashi was the tsundere princess in Otome Wa Boku Ni Koishiteru (「乙女(おとめ)はお姉さま(僕)に恋してる」 and also an Idolm@ster, but I don't know which one. She's also that one girl in seiyuu music group Aice5 that points a lot when she dances, well at least in that video I saw.

This time around they will give us the Haruka end. Personally I prefer the anime's Mizuki end. 7140 yen for 28 minutes is a bit steep for OVA, and its says disc 1, so am I in it for possibly 15000 yen or even 22000 yen? Oh yeah. :-)