Work load, visualized?

(tags game)

What if I list all the games I own? And then schedule them out as if it was work?

Will that stop me from buying more games?

Ugh, sounds like work.

Dream C Club sold out in the Osaka and Kobe

(tags game, gal-ge, sexy, Xbox 360, Dream C Club, ECsite)

By Sunday afternoon, all the stores I visited in the Osaka and Kobe areas (7) were sold out of Dream C Club (ドリームクラブ). Either the shipment was small, or there was a real demand for this gal-ge cabaret sim. The Famitsu 4 reviewer rating wasn't so high though, at 24 out of 40.

No I don't want to buy it, yet.

Update: Senaka Otaroad blog confirms it in ドリームクラブ完売店が続出 「思った以上に売れまくった」.

Leveling up in Project Euler: Cube

(tags programming, Ruby, Clojure, Project Euler)

I leveled up in Project Euler! Woot! I'm now a Level 2 "(Regular) Cube".

I solved 59 out of 252, and 45 more than last time. BTW, when I solved the 25th problem, I awarded the "Regular Tetrahedron". These awards are part of the five Platonic Solids. Cool.

I'm still using Ruby, basically Ruby 1.9.1 on Windows via the yet-to-hit-1.0-status RubyInstaller. It's much faster and smaller than the One-Click Ruby Installer, which is now officially dead.

I also re-solved some of the initial problems with Clojure. It's hard to wrap my head around it, though.

Now back to playing some games!

PS3 Slim reasons

(tags PlayStation 3, hardware)

Yeah well the PS3 Slim was officially announced. I briefly considered it as my first PS3, but have decided not to get it yet. Pros and Cons for me:

Pros:

• 250W consumption instead of 280W or even 380W.
• Smaller
  
• Blu-ray
• Used as a Blu-Ray reference hardware
  
• Interesting exclusive games like Flowery and Uncharted and ... (what? I can't remember)
• Free wireless
• Free multiplayer
  
• User upgradable data storage (takes HDDs and SSDs)
• Interesting integration with my PSPs?
  

Cons:

• Still kinda big. I wished that PS3 Slim meant PS2 Slim size. In yer dreams buddy.
  
• Backward compatibility with PS2. This is not very important but I must list it.
• No more Linux install. This is not very important but I must list it.
• "only" two USB ports. Though I suppose PS3 must support USB hubs.
  

There's a Gundam game + PS3 Slim bundle for the Japan region. I don't know Gundam games but this combo will certainly sell like hotcakes. Also, according to this blog post entitled "10 Reasons Why the PS3 Slim Will Save Sony", in the US, the PS3 needs to sell lots of hardware (at least 9 million more) just to keep up with the Xbox 360 infiltration. It sure doesn't help that the Xbox seems hip to video rental, since Microsoft scored exclusive use of the up and coming mail-order rental service NetFlix.

I feel like this PS3 Slim could finally restart the console wars. And Sony still has Gran Turismo and Final Fantasy series in their pocket. But what do I know, I only own a Xbox 360 so that must make me a poor console fanboi/snob.

Remote control and evaluating used PSPs

(tags Playstation Portable, hardware)

I got one official remote control for the PSP-2000, called the PSP-S140. I was surprised that this hardware is not compatible across the whole line of PSPs, so I was extra careful perusing the used accessory bins.

Also the remote's buttons are full of fail. The volume controls and the rewind/fast-forward buttons are not discernible by touch. I clipped it to my shirt and mistakenly put my bag strap on top of it, causing the volume to rise. Ripping off headphones, now that's something that never gets old.

And I was foolish enough to try to buy another PSP-2000. You see, my current PSP-2000 is perfect in every way, except for one glaring black dot or dead pixel right in the middle of the screen. Now it doesn't really matter to the game play, but I see it every time the load screen comes on, and it makes me sad. Really sad. It's still a reminder for me how foolish I am to trust Sofmap's description of used hardware. I don't want to keep noticing it, reminding myself to try before buying, and forcing myself to ignore it. Argh, it never ends.

Anyways, the sales associates do not put any effort into showing how imperfect a used PSP is. Obviously its in Sofmap's best interest if I don't notice. But they do allow me to check the condition of the display while it is on. Every time though, I can't believe how inept these sales associates are. They try to show me the item without going to the staging area, instead balancing case keys, batteries, and the PSP in their hands. They blow and/or wipe on the screen with their own hand. They don't seem to know that the sell-back area has cleaning tools. They should know. The last time I asked if I can wipe the display with my own cleaning cloth. They gave me permission, and I was surprised.

So I've evaluated 3 used PSPs already, rejecting them all, I have come to the conclusion that anything below 16800 yen is imperfect, despite the (intentional?) spotless defect reports. I think I will give up.

Those models are all just the "Blume series: Rose Pink" color cases. I have some hope for the next iteration of the PSP (not the PSPgo), since one color coming in autumn is pinkish. I should get a PSP-3000 anyway for comparison.

All thumbs

(tags game, Playstation Portable, Hatsune Miku)

I am still plugging away at Hatsune Miku Project Diva (初音ミク プロジェクトディーヴァ), unlocking costumes. I finally finished the swimsuit costume unlock for Ruka Megurine (巡音ルカ), which requires beating all 32 songs at Normal difficulty/Great rating, or higher, using the regular Ruka costume. There is also another costume unlock which requires the same at Hard/Great. I tried to kill two birds with one stone, by attempting all 32 at Hard difficulty and getting Great ratings, but two songs are infuriatingly out of my grasp at the moment. I also jumped around the song order, so I was somewhat when the game didn't award me the unlock costume. After I re-did a song at Normal/Great, it unlocked. Yeah.

To unlock the other swimsuit costumes for the other four characters, I have to do the same 32 song thing using their regular costumes, respectively. Ah ha ha. I must not do them in Normal difficulty because that only exercises two buttons. Thumb, don't fail me now.

Hatsune Miku Project Diva: miku miku miku miku

(tags game, PlayStation Portable, music, Hatsune Miku)

Oh jeez, I wrote this two weeks back:

I've been playing Hatsune Miku Project Diva (初音ミク プロジェクトディーヴァ) for the PSP on and off, mostly on the bus and train. It's a great little music game with an easy/casual difficulty, reminding me of Pop-N-Tunes/DDR/DJ Max Portable rhythm games but only for my right thumb. I sure wish they used the D-pad too, because the rest of my fingers feel underutilized.

Basically you bask in the glory of Hatsune Miku doujin scene with pre-contributed graphics and music. Sega added a 3d model with some motion-captured dancing and PV frolicking. Very moé-kawaii. There's a lot to unlock, such as costumes (named Modules), and room items, which is for the dollhouse-like mode called Miku's Room. The background loading pictures unlock with time, also the songs need to be unlocked but seem to be a combination of time and level clears. The game gives you hints on how to unlock items, also these hints are unlocked with time, probably.

There are two songs in the middle I have not yet unlocked though. I am wondering what I need to do.

The actual gameplay is pretty rewarding, with simplistic rhythm patterns that match with Miku's voice. The game only asks you to press one button at a time, but the detection is pretty strict. Most music has easy to understand rhythm so even neophytes like me can get high combos, OMG 220+ achieved. The unlockables are easy to uncover, like clear a level 5 times and get a Great score. The placement of the buttons on the screen lead your eyes around, so it's not static like a DDR falling note/rising arrow display. However on Hard difficulty, where they ask you to use all four face buttons (circle, x, square, triangle), sometimes its hard to anticipate which button to press. Only then does the game ask you to start memorizing. One can probably get through Normal difficulty with a couple of plays on reflex alone.

As this is my first time to listen to some Miku music outside of accidental Youtube wandering, I am surprised at the quality of the arrangements. They are so Jpop catchy. I already bought the OST for this game, and I'm now interested in getting other official CDs.

I do have some gripes. Sometimes the screen is so active that there is framerate slowdown. The timing doesn't seem to be affected but its annoying to jump from 30? FPS down to 18? (I don't know the actual numbers). I also mentioned that this seems to be a right thumb only game. My thumb gets tired. I use my cellphone with my left thumb, so give me a break. It would be nice if they could use the D-pad. Perhaps it's a licensing issue. When you press a button during gameplay, the sound is a generic tambourine that is mapped to all keys. Each key should be a different sound like snare drum, etc.

(Back to the present)

I've made much more progress and I'm on the last legs of unlocking the costumes. Unforunately I needed a clue on how to unlock items with "yarikomi?" (「やりこみ？」) written on it. More on that later. One of the good sites for info is the 初音ミク -Project DIVA- まとめwiki. There was a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, called the 初音ミクProject-DIVA-チェックシート.xls for checking off progress. I'm currently using that, but imported into Google Docs. Thanks!

Two clear: Gears of War 2, ToHeart 2 and 1 Hoshina scenario

(tags game, Xbox 360, Gears of War, ToHeart, PlayStation Portable, gal-ge)

Woops I wrote this about two weeks ago:

I finally saw the localized version of Gears of War 2 for the Xbox 360 on the store shelves recently. Before that, I picked up the Chinese/English version of GoW2 for a nice used price of 2000 yen (yes A-Too rocks). I plodded through Normal difficultly with probably less than 30 continues. Yeh, 30 continues. Still, I couldn't believe how fast the single player went by. Then again I played it for one day straight plus this is a sequel. I like how there is now a partial indicator for Achievements. The "Seriously 2.0" Achievement requires killing 100,000 enemies. Going through the normal campaign was about 1000 enemies, and I completed it in a day, so it will take about 100 or more days. Without that partial indicator I would not even consider it. Of course, I rejected it.

And I picked up ToHeart 2 for the PlayStation Portable. I didn't pre-order, so I missed the special first edition. I got the regular edition after bugging the store clerk and holding up the purchase line. It includes ToHeart 1 (finally ported to the PSP) because it was the "W pack". Only after realizing the difference between the SKUs, I came to accept that I didn't need 2 small figurines and a bigger box. Well they weren't cute enough. I was satisfied with getting at least the Gamers tokuten: telephone card, paper fan, and PSP sticker set.

Yes! ToHeart 1! I put that in my PSP and smoked it. I put the ToHeart2 away. I cleared the iincho or 保科智子 Tomoko Hoshina scenario immediately because she's one of my favorite tsundere characters. And Aya Hisakawa is always alright with me. Even though this is the PSP version, it's full voice. Visuals are switchable from original 4:3 ratio and PSP 16:9 pan-and-scan mode. Both look passable. Unfortunately I was feeling nostalgia remorse for some reason. I didn't remember this scenario being so short, just 5 hours from the start. Plus I forgot that the scenario climaxed in bed, literally. (No sex scene of course CERO C but first kiss?!?). I was expecting a less vigorous ending, lol. It's that feeling of reading one's favorite book again and feeling the diminishing returns.

There is no force skip for unread sections, but thankfully I found the fast skip. Also Multi's seiyuu Yui Horie is as recognizable as ever. If I get back to this game, I will probably want to finish the other scenarios in this order: Multi, Remi, Kotone, Shiho, Akari, Kurusugawa-senpai, etc. Running this visual novel game on the PSP-2000 was pretty fast.

Now that I think about it, this is my fourth copy of the game. PS1, PS2, Windows (all ages), and now PSP. Geez.

I put Hatsune Miku Project Diva back in the PSP though because I want to finish that.

Ride the Habatan train to Sayo-Nanko Sunflower festival (佐用町南光ひまわり祭り)

(tags はばタン, train, picture, nature, Hyogo)

My local train fanatic suggested killing two birds with one stone: visit the Sayo-Nanko Sunflower Festival (佐用町南光ひまわり祭り) by riding the Habatan wrapping train. I don't have the camera skills to shoot a picture like this, but it's only a day trip away so let's go!

Here's the Habatan-themed wrapping train. Habatan (はばタン) is now Hyogo Prefecture's mascot, but it was originally from the remembrance (2004) of the Great Hanshin earthquake. I remember it gaining attention from the Nojigiku National Sports Festival in Hyogo 2006. This train itself has been in service on and off since 2006, and has been covered photographically in detail. Rail.ac and Kobe Travel Wallpaper Collection (神戸観光壁紙写真集) both have better pictures.

The train travels from Japan Rail Himeji (姫路) to Sayo (佐用) stations. It's a rural route and sometimes there's only one railway line between stations. We were waiting for the approaching train to pass, but the falling rain was slowing its progress. I snapped this zoomed picture from inside. I'm not the girl snapping a picture under an umbrella.

After a 30 minute delay, we finally arrived at Harima-Tokusa station (播磨徳久). This was actually my first chance to take pictures of the right side of the train. Unfortunately I was dumb by forcing the train conductor to change my 1000 yen bill, thus delaying my snapping opportunities.

Take off!

For the day's event, they anticipated a crowd by adding one more car to the service. But unfortunately the rain forcast probably discouraged some people, because the train was half empty. There was a free shuttle bus to go to the festival grounds. I was surprised but then again, rural roads don't have much space for pedestrians, as I learned from walking back to the station.

Ah, nothing says official like a banner. After entering the gate and paying 100 yen, we were treated to dancing sunflowers. One field was dedicated to sunflowers from around the world with all sorts of colors from blue to orange. According to the web page, there was total of 1.5 million sunflowers at 7 sites covering a total of 30 hectares. I only visited one site since the other site's have their flower mature at differing times. Sunflowers only bloom for 3 days so this was my lucky day.

The rest of the fields at this site could accommodate hundreds of people but the rain forecast and muddy grounds kept the people from frolicking. They even had a special field dedicated for the Sunflower Maze. Crazy. If I had boots I would have love to get lost. Anyways, out of all my pictures, this is the only one that is 100 percent nature.

The fields are separated by half-meter tall walkways. I stepped into the sludge to get up-close and personal. The spiral design is governed by the Fibonacci numbers and golden angle, which supposedly maximizes the packing of seeds in a given area. Oh yeah, I just like them spirals.

After trying out the free samples of somen, eating sunflower seed ice cream and buying sunflower seed salad dressing, I attempted to walk back to the station.

The train only arrives every hour, so we had to wait. The Harima-Tokusa station has a nice rustic waiting room with a bunch of nature advertisements. But my aim was to take pictures of Habatan. Ahhh.

The ride back to Himeji was of course in the Habatan train but I was too tired so my pictures didn't come out. Next time, I'm gonna take some sun lotion because my face was baked and peeling for a couple of days. Heh.

Kimi no Yuusha: polished 90s-like JRPG

(tags Dual Screen, Kimi no Yuusha, RPG, game)

I finally finished the story mode of Kimi no Yuusha (キミの勇者, lit. "your hero") after about 50 hours of play. This 2008 single-player CERO A-rated game was train ride entertainment, 30 minutes at a time JRPG. The main reasons I stuck through it were the forgiving, casual difficulty, the easy controls, and the moé-like character graphics (by the same artist as Doki-Majo).

As a JRPG, my basic comparisons always start with my Final Fantasy experiences. Immediately, KnY can be compared to early FF 1-6 with the battle field showing enemies on the left and my 4 characters on the right. KnY does follow the pattern of young blood up and coming, but the story is much more immediate and slice of life. The main story is epic, but only because there only seems to be one hero party doing great things for the world. That's just fine for me. The side quests remind me of after-school cartoon episodes with bite sized moral lessons, with a bit of otaku-ism added.

Ryunette reserves 6 book copies for 2 people, the typical otaku argument, while Tio looks on. From side quest 39.

I really like how easy it is to get into the game. Starting the cart up is a breeze with no company logos in the way. The familiar DS feature of closing the lid works well and saving works at the over world map and before major points. The chapters are organized in 30 minute anime-like segments. Dialogue can be forcefully skipped with the B button. Chapter summaries can be reviewed in the Diary mode complete with unlocked graphics.

There are up to 10 controllable characters, but I only bothered with the female avatars. Ha. Actually the ratio is 4 guys and 6 girls. My party consisted of the hot-headed blonde hair "Magic Driver" magic user named Tio, the male hero named "Wanda" that carries an oversized key as a sword weapon (no I have not played Kingdom Hearts), a sexy onee-chan cat girl named Aroma, and a battle tough sexy mermaid named Silk. Sexy yeah because that's the way they are drawn. CERO A, though. I was hoping Tio and Wanda would get it on, but they don't even ... oh spoilers, sorry. Time to write a fan-fic.

Wanda. Hahah. Why is this male lead lacking so much masculinity? Tights, a one-piece cloth which is more dress than smock, and wears a cap with cat-like ears. I guess you could input your own personality into him? Tio is cute but too hot-headed for her own good. Still she smiles a lot and doesn't stop trying. Aroma is accompanied by her sarcastic younger sister, Sera (girl #7), who speaks through her acid-tougue puppet, Tom. Tom and Tio get into verbal sparring while other characters question Tio's sanity. Silk is supposed to be a princess of the merfolk but she just like to battle like girls do. But this girl speaks in old-man Japanese, moé me up.

The other characters are supposed to be charming, right? There's this tough guy that doesn't say a thing but he doesn't look tough. He's a rotund cat that always thumbs up with a smile. He's accompanied by his dainty wife (girl #8) who communicates for him. Huh. Then there's this elven archer type that is the closest to the recent fan-homage stereotype, the shut-in otaku. How about the wind magic user that just happens to be a petite girl even though she says "boku" ("I" but usually reserved for males and tomboys) all the time?

Though this is a casual game, there was an attempt to complicate the game system. For example, there's an additional menu-based (not reaction based) combo system that one can uncover, which gives bonus attack damage. This advanced level game play is not necessary and merely serves as another checklist to uncover.

I can't believe I played another menu fighter, but at least there was an auto battle mode. Just press Select and they always "Fight". Sometimes my 4-person party will tag-team, and the baddies go flying across the screen. Perhaps there's a tag-team attack bonus but it was hard to discern and I can't control when they tag-team. The previously mentioned menu-based combo system was hard to uncover and also required me to dig through and equip spell books. The pay off is something like 5 to 10% attack damage, which probably adds up but unfortunately it depends on the tag-team system, which isn't dependable. So why bother.

At least I didn't have to grind for levels so much. I was just doing side quests all the time. I think I was over-leveled for the last boss.

The music is totally forgettable, owing to the limitations of DS presentation but also because there's no comparison between listening to music on my iPod or listening to these bleeps and bloops. The same battle music hits me over and over again. The per-town music always cuts off because the store music cuts in. And there are voice samples but only for attacks and battle wrap up and they become pretty repetitive.

Unfortunately, I don't feel motivated to go through it again even though there is stuff I haven't yet unlocked. There's no "New Game+" and it is necessary to restart from the beginning with no carryover. Infuriating. It's not going to take another 50 hours but I will probably have to gamefaq it to keep myself from doing things over again. The premiere gamefaq for this game is the unofficial Kimi no Yuusha kouyraku wiki (キミの勇者　攻略wiki).

There is one after-story dungeon. Although the final boss was somewhat nerve-wracking perhaps this will make me notch my game up.

Well this wasn't a totally unique gaming experience, but for 2200 yen at used it was a pretty fun ride.

New Xbox Firmware update means smaller HDD installs

(tags Xbox 360, game)

I'm still living the Xbox 360 life with the old 20GB HDD, so I always feel the HDD install game pinch. The recent Xbox 360 Dashboard update promises slimmer HDD install game sizes. I have yet to find any listing on the new sizes, so I decided to try my own stuff. Let's see:

Death Smiles: 2.0 GB

Shikigami no Shiro 3: 1.4 GB

Otomedius G: 3.3 GB

Raiden IV: 0.377 GB

Dodonpachi Daijouou Black Label Extra: 2.3 GB

Unreal Tournament 3: 5.6GB (according to the quick check, not actual install size)

as reported by the Memory menu.

Too bad I can't copy these game images to my Datel MAX memory Adaptor. Sad.

Datel MAX Memory Adaptor for Xbox 360: Finally I can backup

(tags Xbox 360, hardware)

For some reason, my backwater Sofmap (Kobe) had copies of the Datel's Xbox 360 MAX Memory Adaptor (Xbox360用 MAXメモリ アダプタ). This device allows me to use MicroSD cards (the smallest Secure Digital variation) instead of pricy Xbox 360 memory for backup, and also backup that memory card to my PC! I love things that enable capabilities like backup. But then again let's calculate this:

Xbox 360 Hard Disk 120 GB: 15750 yen (130 yen per GB, MSRP (==定価))

MicroSD card 8GB: 1980 yen (240 yen per GB, discount price)

Wow, the Xbox 360 official hard disk is the cheaper option! Unbelievable! Still I'm not going to stop buying MicroSD cards. I can use them in other ways as well.

I just installed the new Xbox 360 system update (2009-08) with the reduced HDD install size feature, but of course, Microsoft doesn't allow "Installed Xbox 360 Game" items to be moved or copied, especially to memory adaptors like these. It's not a size assumption. It seems to be policy.

I bought this memory adaptor just because it was novel and new. Unfortunately it's like 4750 yen, so this is really not cost effective. Still, I cannot over look the backup capability. My Sofmap no longer has any more stock of this adaptor, so it must be selling like hotcakes. Finally, I saw that the US version of this adaptor includes some internal memory like 2 GB or 4 GB and a PC USB adaptor. Huh. Ripped off! :-(