Get a grip (grapple?): Umihara Kawase

(tags game, Dual Screen, Umihara Kawase, PlayStation Portable)

My right thumb hurts from pressing buttons too hard. It's a death grip on my grapple button, since one miscalculated release will have my avatar plummeting to a watery doom.

Umihara Kawase (海腹川背). I've only recently discovered this old gaming franchise. The demo game station showing the PS1 version at a retro game store captured me for about 20 minutes. I saw the PSP version at my price threshold of 2000 yens and decided to jump in.

UK is a Bionic Commando with no forgiveness. Basically a fantasy platform game, UK asks me to traverse ledges with nothing more than my fine-tuned swinging control. Yes, abilities are not unlocked. It all depends on my skill. The heroine, Umihara Kawase, has this strong yet elastic grappling hook made of red-white twine and fish hook. It is a source of constant frustration and delight. It feels so... analog. It feels like there's a physics engine in there.

The fishing cuisine theme pervades the levels and the enemies. The title of the game is a play on a Japanese cuisine preparatory phrase, "Ocean fish are fatty in stomach while river fish are fatty (tallow) in the back." (海の魚は腹に、川の魚は背に脂がのっている) Or so the manual claims. My well-read Japanese tutor never heard of that phrase though.

Enemies are these strange walking fish. Most of them are one touch, one kill. But the worst ones aren't the ones that kill me right away. They will hit me into an uncontrollable stun for a few seconds. This game plays with my mind. Will I fall off the ledge or not?

But the best enemy is the environment itself. UK doesn't give me any help or hold my hand. There is a technique to swing up to a higher ledge. At first I thought it was impossible. But after dropping the broken PSP version and coming to terms with the game physics on the higher quality DS port, I am executing the technique with a high success rate. When I can hit this technique on the first try, in a fluid motion, I feel like I'm in control. However, when I mistime the release, I have to wait and re-fine-tune my swinging motion to propel me in the right direction.

This reminds me about the difference in forgiveness. I was playing Bionic Commando on my Xbox 360 and one of the regular techniques to propel myself forward is to jump off a platform from behind and grapple. It's a sweet maneuver full of kick-ass, right? BC makes this feel totally safe and dependable. I try this move in UK and I sweat bullets. I never seem to get it to work. Despite the millisecond-timed reflexes this game requires, I feel like it is fair. Well at least the early levels.

Which brings me to my pained thumb. Some of the stunts sequences require me to reenact Tarzan with no safety net. I am deathly afraid of falling, or even more so of repeating the same ground over and over again. I hope my DS can take the strain.

The DS version (海腹川背・旬 セカンドエディション 完全版) was released at the end of last month, which might explain why that game shop was demoing the older versions. Though I picked up the PSP version and tried to deal with the pain, I heard through the Internet that it was a broken port. I wasn't convinced until I played the DS version though. Another reason I picked up the DS version was that it came with a telephone card (at Sofmap Saurus). Silly me. Still this latest release sacrifices none of the difficulty, while at the same time modernizes the rewards with illustration gallery and soundtrack unlocks. The demo recording feature is also intact but not UI enhanced like the PSP version. The game comes with a port of the original Super Famicom version, the PlayStation 1 version, and a new DS path mode based on the PS1 version. The PS1 ports have the 3d like scrolling effects and more environmental art (like giant soy sauce bottles?!), but the SF ports's grappling hook physics feel crispier. Also the PS1 based modes seemed to have all the minor enhancements like practice mode with success/miss counts and continues (!?) while the SF port doesn't even let me assign diagonal grappling to the top buttons. None of the gameplay seems itself seems to be affected or cheapened, but I don't really know since I haven't played the 90s versions.

I really want to keep playing this game despite the difficulty. I do wish though there was more easy levels. The difficulty just ramps up too fast.

Let me put my two cents about the heroine, Umihara Kawase. She appears in gameplay as some school aged girl (because her backpack looks like a randoseru) with no fear of heights (no fall damage). However the insert graphics make her out to be some 20 year old with sex-sells breast size and anime girly eyes. There's basically no story and no dialogue so I don't really understand why she has to become Indiana Jones/Pitfall Harry/The Last Starfighter/Ikaruga. Finally at the game over screen I see her in pajamas watching TV relaxing after a hot shower or something. Well?

Finally, the music is soothing and relaxing. I mistimed my grapple and fell in the water but the music just keeps me calm. It's all my fault.

Games like this remind me that the DS still has credible action games.

More Heart: ToHeart2, and other game pickups

(tags ToHeart, game, PlayStation Portable, Wipeout, Xbox 360, XBLA, Kimi no Yuusha, Dual Screen, PlayStation 3)

Just wanna say that I'm starting ToHeart 2 now, PSP version. I'm kinda annoyed it has the same music (but remixed) from ToHeart 1. 40 minutes.

Also I finished ToHeart 1, completely. Every picture unlocked, music mode, massage mode (Hocchan giving massages! well at least verbally). I think the best part was the unlocking of the shooting game. The last hidden scenario was not very interesting at all. Probably 25 hours.

I picked up Wipeout Pulse (asia version!) at Sofmap Nipponbashi South, after waiting for A-Too to drop the game's price (playing chicken with a shop just doesn't work). I felt like it was impossible for the first level, then I passed it and now I'm just sailing. 2 hours.

I even tried to get into my DS. I still have Kimi no Yuusha stuck in there. The last extra boss is really hard though. I cannot beat him, so I give up. 55+ hours.

I want to start playing Final Fantasy Tactics A for DS that I picked up a couple of weeks back during that Play-Asia and Visa card sale. 0 hours.

Man, this is starting to be a potpourri post.

Yeah, I also got some Xbox games like Ace Combat 6 and Bionic Commando for under 2500 yen, each. Nice (but used). I was playing the latter and I really like it the swing thing. It feels like Crackdown and you know I love games like Crackdown. It's the open environment jump-to-collect-them-all feeling. 7 hours.

Did I mention I picked up my first PS3 game? Motor Storm for like 1000 yen. I also saw the Atelier no Rorona limited edition (with laser etched crystal "objet") dropping in used priced down to 7500 yen, but that's still steep. The well-regarded Demon's Souls (US English edition) almost made it into my virtual shopping cart but well, I don't have a PS3 yet.

Um what else. I am not playing any PC games. Still waiting for StarCraft II to come out then I will make my last ever game PC. Oh I bought a ton of DRM free PC games from GoG's first anniversary sale including Duke Nukem 3d, but get this, I have not downloaded the bulk of them yet. WTF. I am still hoping they pick up Sinistar: Unleashed.

Uh, I am still scoping the Xbox Live Deal of the Week, and I recently bought yet another clear-3-colors game and the Sudoku clone. Hey, only 400 XBL points, each. You say the next deal is a cartoony golf game? 400 points? I'm there dood.

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.

DLC procrastination, averted for Jirachi

(tags Pokemon, DLC, Dual Screen)

Even at 9 PM at night, it was refreshing to sit in the outdoor patio at the local McDonalds. Though outside, I downloaded the free Jirachi Pokemon. (よぞらのジラーチ プレゼント).

The Pokemon Pearl cartridge was my second Pokemon soft. I tried my Pokemon Platinum and failed to download. I did pick up one more Pokemon soft, this time the Pokemon Diamond, but unfortunately there was no save data. So, let's start it up:

"Piyokun da ne?" Yes.

I'm currently try to progress enough to the point where I can download my second Jirachi. Luckily I have two DS consoles so I can move my higher level Pokemon over. But I can't control the high level ones because I have no badges. This is going to be slow.

I was not playing Dragon Quest IX

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

I did a rare thing today and played my DS during my lunch break at work. My immediate boss came up behind me to look at the game. I go "Huh?" because he never checks out my gaming during the other rare times.

Then today I finally catch up on my feeds and see the Dragon Quest IX release fury, including this whimsical tale. Huh, did not know.

Just now I put the two and two together. He probably thinks that I am playing DQ IX. I am going to tell him tomorrow that I ain't that Japanese.

How could I miss a Dragon Quest launch? Easy, I was meeting real gamers traveling thousands of kilometers just to meet me in person (ya right), and (more likely) to enjoy the Kansai area, especially Osaka Nipponbashi Den-Den Town. At least I learned something about PC Engines and the rarity of Bomberman '94. It was fun to share the passion of crusin' the area to track down old games, even stopping into Retro Gaming Revival multiple times. Greetz and howdy, gentlemen, thanks for stopping by.

It's not enough just to be in the right spot: Pokemon DLC Jirachi

(tags food, Pokemon, DLC, Dual Screen, failure)

Actually I'm not playing Pokemon Platinum ever since I got Sudoku DS "The Final Version We Really Mean It This Time by Hudson". But I read at the Pokemon fan blog "ピカのお気楽ポケモン日記" had details on the free DLC available from McDonald's, of all places.

マックでDS Nintendo Zone （ニンテンドーゾーン）で「ジラーチ」を受け取る方法

You can download "Jirachi", which is a rare Pokemon that you can only get through connection to the old Pokemon Advance games.

On my way home from work I gave it a try at two seperate locations. The free pamphlet had the instructions, even explaining how to unlock the "Mystery Gift" menu entry. The first location didn't seem to have its "Nintendo Zone" turned on. The second place was really flaky, dropping my connection at times. Plus, as I figured out from actually reading the fine print, the DLC download requires Japanese versions of the DS software. Looks like I'm going to pick up another Pokemon DS game pretty soon.

At least before 7/17. Heh.

Pokemon: the first 60 hours

(tags Pokemon, Pikachu, Dual Screen)

Well my tryst with Ikaruga ended. Haha.

I got my Pikachu. I named the female Pikachu as Pika, and though she's become my tank and highest level soldier, she's pretty weak at defense. I can't assign most Hidden Moves to her either, which means I have to keep the ugly Bibarel for moving around the map. I do find the Pikachu's warm up before battling to be oh so cute. She waves towards the trainer, too bad she doesn't say "pika".

I also got a male Pichu through Global Trading System (GTS) the wireless world trading forum, making matching pair. At least I can raise and rename the Pichus, Pikachus and Raichus I want.

60 hours (almost). I think I'm almost done with the story.

I'm finding that this RPG is pretty boring at times. It really doesn't matter what Pokemon I raise, just as long as I land a hit that doesn't give the enemy a chance to retaliate. But if I invest time in the wrong Pokemon, I get hit hard at the trainer sessions. I also get frustrated with not having a clue sizing up the boss attacks. Finally the game tosses me a bone and gives me a hint application that tells what kinda attacks give the best counters, but it requires some homework.

I want to catch them all, but I get the feeling that it will take 200 hours to capture all the off-line ones. I do play this during the commute but it just feel like Kawaii Progress Quest infused with slot machines. I hate slot machines and anything that reminds me of money gambling.

Pokemon, it's an RPG that will suck the vitality out of me. So repetitive.

I choose you... Pokemon Platinum

(tags game, Dual Screen, Pokemon, Pikachu)

I finally bought a canonical Pokemon game, Pokemon Platinum. Well actually I had Pokemon Pikachu but I don't want to play black and white games anymore. I bought this version because I believed that this second iteration on the DS would be refined and fixed. Also I opted for the English version because I'm tired of reading katakana.

My first impressions were that this was going to be a grind... and a slow grind because of all the Pokemon creatures I can readily swap out. OMG, this is gamer lock-in, isn't it. Plus it's the kind of menu fighting that I wanted to quit. Finally, there's nothing to test my reflexes in this game. Luckily I'm still playing my Xbox and Rubik's Cube.

My goals are to:

• Get a Pikachu, a Pichu and other cute characters.
• Finish the story mode.
• Fill out my off-line game roster.

I've already spent 10 hours but the slow leveling up and the slow screen animations still irritates me. I am overwhelmed with all the things you can level up. I did take a peek at a GameFAQ but I will stop looking at it until after I finish the story mode. Also the GameSpot Guide was informative and spoiler-free.

I'm impressed with the promise of the online component. I don't know if I'll have anything valuable to trade, though.

The main thing that made me reconsider getting a canonical Pokemon game now was the limited chance to catch Shaymin from a Download Station in retail stores this last Golden Week. Unfortunately, it requires unlocking the "global roster" and probably the Japanese version of this game. Shaymin is one of the cuter characters that had a movie promotion last year, I think. I want one of those, too, but I doubt I can clear all of the required conditions before this promotion is over.

Leveling up while searching for some nostalgia

(tags Chrono Trigger, Dual Screen, NES)

I'm walking around with my DS open. You see I'm leveling up my Chrono Trigger, and it's totally brainless. I've been leveling up eating junk food, playing the Cube, walking up a hill to my house. According to my save points, it has taken me 3 or 4 hours to go up 10 experience levels. I am now within striking distance of "lvl 99".

And today I went to Nipponbashi Osaka Den Den Town. I had in mind to get a copy of the original Famicom release of Megaman 2, if it was findable and cheap. Actually for me, looking for old console games in Nipponbashi feels nostalgic, because I've been going there for more modern games, and also anime and manga stuffs. So today I finally stepped into Retro Game Revival and Super Potato and Big Tiger for 90s and 80s games after a long while. W00t.

As an aside, RGR had a game demo of Warashi's 90's shmup Shienryu, which I think was the PS1 version because it had lots of slowdown. Warashi's back in limelight with the moe-madness that is Trigger Heart Excelica. Anyway, I got to the third stage, just playing on reflex and really slow bullets. It was fun! I gotta dig this game out of my stash, I think I have it for the PS2 (or maybe not).

So yes, I did not see a copy of Megaman 2 anywhere, either for the Famicom or the Playstation 1. I know it's call Rockman (ロックマン) in Japanese, because I was finding copies of MM5 and MM3 going for mid-tier pricing at 1300 yen. I also saw a copy of Megaman 1 for 3500 yen, ohkay. A-Too has some selection, but that's because the prices are higher than even auction rates. 14800 yen for Dancing Sword for the GBA?!

So, to de-motivate myself from paying many monies for an old game, I kept saying to myself, when I get home, I will pull out the emulator and ROM and play it on my PC.

Then again, I bought some more used games, like Izuna (in English for 1980 yen!) and Kirby (needs no translation) for the Dual Screen. So, emulation evil averted! Also I was going to buy Pokemon Platnum, but the only Pocket Monster I want is Pikachu.

Feeling a little JRPG

(tags Chrono Trigger, Dual Screen, Trusty Bell, Xbox 360, RPG)

Acutally I haven't been playing much of Trusty Bell (Eternal Sonata). It's not that it's not fun, only that I rather not sit in front of my computer/Xbox 360 monitors. And, I have been playing some DS, just a little bit. I finally opened Rhythm Tengoku Gold, and it was kinda novel but I only finished the first two sets. I rather press buttons than flick the variable friction screen. Also I tried out Nanostray in English which I bought for 1800 yen a couple of weeks back, and I find it hard to get into. It's as if danmaku never existed.

Speaking of which, Zun's Shanghai Alice "Touhou" CDs are slowly disappearing from the shelves at Tora no Ana. I need to pick some of the soundtrack only releases. Lucky me I have all the games. At Melon Books they bundled the whole stack of Zun audio CDs and games and the total came out to 23500 yen. Nice.

So yes, Chrono Trigger. I decided to FAQ it. Well I did beat the game and got two endings. I was just wondering if I should go do the New Game+ or just continue levelling up? Right now I'm just levelling up doing the cheapest method possible that doesn't take much brain power. It requires the berserker rings, so that the AI takes over.

I read the GameFaqs forum, and there are some pretty hardcore acronyms there: LLG (Low Level Game) In other words, play the game intentionally at a low experience level for extra challenge. Ugh? Naw, I'm just going to have fun my normal way, complete all the items, endings and let the game go.

Actually it's funny, there was an guest essay in Weekly Famitsu this week by some pro-wrestler writing about Chrono Trigger. He didn't say much at all, just that CT was one of his favorites and he played it back in the day and now he's reliving it on the DS, just before jumping into the ring. I wonder why the editors chose to run that essay now, since the game came out four months ago.

Finally, (this is just thoughts scrambled) I did a rare combing through the DS used softs for the Final Fantasy JRPGs. On the DS, I found III and IV. There were no GBA stuffs. Actually I wanna try my hand at Final Fantasy VI (3US) again. That stupid software glitch back in the day killed my save data and my FF fandom. Then again maybe I should just pick up Pokemon Platnum somewhere, since I still haven't experienced it.

I should just get back to Trusty Bell. Really, it's cheaper that way.

I wanna watch Spider-Man 2

(tags game, UMD, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Dual Screen)

Just another random "I got more content" post.

I decided to skip getting Hitsuji-kun nara Kiss shite ageru (羊くんならキスしてあげる) the PC turned PSP game which has an outrageous price of 7000 yen plus. The main draw for me was the illustrator Naoto Tenhiro's work. As always, the drawings are cute and kawaii. I'm hoping to get the telephone cards through the auction.

I went out today to Yodobashi Camera. I was in the mood to get the MadCatz Xbox 360 controller, but of course they don't have it. The alternative was the Hori one, but it only comes in Blue. I decided to get a small portable foldable game controller for the PC called the Buffalo BBT-GC01. I decided on that because I wanted a one-handed PC controller, like for viewing web pages and playing visual novels. Using the freeware JoyToKey for Windows, it should be a snap to remap Space, Enter, Page Up, Page Down, Control, etc. The D-Pad isn't so bad. I gave it a whirl on Parsec47 and it was very fun.

I then went down to A-Too Nipponbashi. No Xbox Mad Catz Street Fighter IV controller pads, not even the PS3 ones. So I looked around in the bins for things cheep and picked up Too Human and Alone in the Dark for the Xbox 360, each for about 1500 yen. I wanna play Too Human because I liked the demo, but balked at the price. Alone in the Dark was just a whim, I'm actually scared to play it. (Wussy!) I also picked up the PSP-UMD versions of Spider-Man 2 and 3 and Pirates of the Carribean (2003). There's no PSP firmware restriction on the movies, which is nice. I haven't watched these movies yet, but they were more desirable than the Aliens vs Predator laying alongside.

Last thing I want to mention is that I went to Sofmap Zaurus and the Treasure Box floor is a shadow of its former self. Still there was this one box where I picked up other PSP-UMD movie Hitch, Crazy Taxi for the PSP, Blue Dragon for the Xbox 360, and NanoStray for the DS. The prices were below my cutoff for purchasing, so...

I forgot to mention that I purchased a lot of telephone cards, but no pictures so it didn't happen.

Too much stuff to do.

It's not Final Fight, and it's not deep: Tokyo Beat Down

(tags game, Dual Screen, side scroll, beat-em-up)

Just because there was some coverage about the localization for Tokyo Beat Down (originally 野獣刑事) for the DS (and plus I was in the mood for fighting because of Final Fight One and Double Dragon Advance), I purchased the game and gave it a whirl. This was about two weeks ago.

Its a "my first" Final Fight. I am disappointed.

The first 30 minutes did not draw me in, since the fighting combos are so weak. There is a promise of longer combos if you progress in the game. The best thing is hitting the X button (punch) for 8 times, and you can interrupt that with the Y button (kick) and vice versa. There are three characters, but it's hard to discern the difference between them, when talking about combos.

The whole atmosphere is juvenile. The story is not compelling and the actual action is just not fun. I'm on the second day now, and it has taken me 1.5 hours of interrupted playing just to get there. Today is probably the last time I'll play it. Hopefully I'll get a power up to extend my combo and finally get something that feels new.

Kumatan drama with complete sentences

(tags game, Dual Screen, Kumatanchi, Comic Market 75)

One of the first auctions I won this year was for the Kumatanchi (くまたんち) goods set sold at Comic Market 75.

The drama CD has a new story called "Kumatan no Sagashimono" (くまたんの探し物). It's cliched and a little dirty (will the monkey's panty fetish ever end?) but I like the voices all the same. Ryoki Ryuou (留桜良姫) voices the cute Kumatan, the lively Neko-kun, and the Kansai-accent Tora no Oneesan, all at the same time. They all sound different, which is good. The DS game doesn't have any voiced dialogue other than simple words, so I was surprised at hearing full sentences. Of course, if it was just "kuma, kuma, kuma" for dialogue I would be pissed. (However it worked for Yumeria.)

Also the CD comes with the exclusive drama I missed from the CM74 goods set. I had the pleasure of hearing more dialogue from the zoo shop idoru, Sumomo. Except again the story was totally forgetable. Except that zookeeper's laugh. Haha ha.

Finally, the CD had a data track which included all the wallpapers that were exclusively timed downloads. I missed most of these wallpapers and I was kicking myself for that. Finally I got them in my hot little wallpaper rotation. As an aside, I was not able to read the data track on my computer which had some DVD ripping software like DVD43. On another pristine Windows computer, I had no trouble.

As for the book, it is a revision of the book that was originally released with the game. It has some nice glossy illustrations of concept art and some tips on how to reveal all the events. Having not read the original version (to keep from spoiling the game), I can't say if its improved, but I like the quality of the paper and the colorful layout. It's a keeper.

Punch this: Side scrolling fighting games

(tags game, Dual Screen, PlayStation Portable, side scroll, fighting, Final Fight, Double Dragon, The Warriors)

I found my purple GBA Micro under a mound of dust. Along side it was Final Fight One and Double Dragon, so I took both for a spin again, but this time, on my DS.

Final Fight One is pretty good. I practiced the "3 punch, rest, 3 punch, rest" move with Guy. Turbo attack is fun. I beat the game on Super Hard with minimal effort. 

I turned my attention to Double Dragon. That was pretty hard, until I remembered how to stick and move. Oh, and kicking enemies into the water or spikes is just refreshing. I can't do survival mode though. It takes all my effort to get to 18.

I then remembered I had The Warriors on the PSP so I took that out. Hm, I find it hard to stay interested in this one. It's dark, visibly and morally. I mean I gotta mug NPCs for money so I buy spray to tag up the walls.

Kicking virtual 3D people while they're down is so abhorrent, but I can't stop doing it! If it's 2D, I don't have any qualms. Is there some kind of uncanny valley for fighting?

I don't grok Mario Kart

(tags game, Mario Kart, Dual Screen, Gameboy Advance)

I finally finished the Cups in Mario Kart DS. On the last track my first power up was a Mushroom Boost, and after clearing the first shortcut it was an eeriely uneventful hair-raising ride. Not even a blue turtle shell broke my concentration. The fear of one, well that's the story.

Kart fever struck. I then dug out my old copy of Mario Kart Advance, because hey that has even more maps. I was not impressed. The 2d is so flat, so hard to see. Drifting seems to be blind, requiring rote memorization. I can't believe I played this game and like it. And of course, it's too difficult. I have not yet unlocked the 100cc Retro tracks. Give me Mario Kart DS any day, I need my 3D.

And on a slighty off-topic but still relating to Mario Kart, Steve Yegge on my blogroll wrote about dealing with programming unknowns, and he used Mario Kart as an analogy for a system. I still don't understand the "One-Way Wall". Perhaps I was totally stuck thinking about how to drift through the next turn. But I understood it when he mentioned meta-programming and reflection.

I want to fold spindle mutilate Mario Kart

(tags game, Dual Screen, Mario Kart)

I made some progress. I completed the 150cc class after some midnight game binging. I thought I was done, but no. Mirror mode. Well that's all fine and good but the last bunch of retro tracks are proving to be a horrendous loss of time. Stupid AI, rubberband position, and the slap in the face dumb weapons. I think I retried a cup 10 times.

One last class and I'm done, I hope.

What do I do with my DS now?!?

(tags game, Dual Screen, Chrono Trigger, Kumatanchi, Mario Kart)

It's old news to me, so this will sound like a diary entry.

I finished Chrono Trigger's DS extras about a week ago. Now I need to tackle the different endings and the crazy extra boss for the full unlock. It feels like work though, so I'm not actively playing this. I keep wondering why I felt this game was so good. After playing it for 40 hours, I am convinced that its lack of difficulty is what keeps this game ranked so high. I do like the music though.

Kumatanchi is almost totally complete. I unlocked and collected everything. Time travelling felt kinda sad though. Now there is just one more drama bit to be unlocked and I am totally finished. Then we can pull the battery out of this Tamagocchi forever. 2008-12-23 08:00. Never forget this date because I need to set my DS to this in order to keep Kumatan alive.

So I'm playing Mario Kart on my DS now. Copyright 2005, but I am still trying to unlock stuff because I rarely put any time into this game. 150cc is pretty hard for me, though. I never did clear 150cc on the SNES or GBA versions. On the DS version though, 150cc isn't too much of a death march. I hate how unfair the game is. Oh and I still don't understand how to power-slide. Right. Oh I totally forgot about the missions. Stuff to do.

All this racing is making me think about my PSP again, and how I wanted to get Wipeout Pulse and a new PSP-2000 series hardware. Hm, maybe over break I'll think about it.

I got Guitar Hero DS for cheep because the store is getting rid of non-DSi softs. Music games. Which reminds me of the Rhythm Tengoku Gold I haven't started yet. The original soundtrack for this game and the GBA version comes in one package but is about 5000 yen. Gotta play the game before buying the CD, right?

Can't figure what to do in Chrono Trigger

(tags game, Dual Screen, Chrono Trigger)

One last post that is text only to push down the picture-laden ones. :-]

I beat Chrono Trigger and I got two endings out of lots. Now do I start the New Game+ mode or do I keep on poking around? I'm at a standstill with the latter. I figure out the two dungeons are totally unrelated to the main game, so it's like two seperate worlds in one cart. Just being aware of that is jarring. *shrug* What else can you do, man. Don't mess with genius working code.

And yes it still feels like work. 40 hours of work. I hate menus. I hate scrolling. There has got to be a menu for experts. This UI sucks. :-/

Chrono Trigger satisfying plateau?

(tags game, Dual Screen, Chrono Trigger)

Uh oh, I don't remember the magic of Chrono Trigger. :-( wut?

I think I'm at the end of the game now, just before I beat the story boss. But other than that, if I go anywhere else on the map, I encounter really hard monsters that kill me 1000 HP in one shot. Trouble is that I don't know if this is the added content or the regular content but meant for after completing the story mode. Thus I get wacked for strolling into a seemingly benign cave.

Menu grind woes. Actually the game isn't that repetative as far as the menu fighting is concerned. I have the menu speed set to one faster than normal, but I bet I'm going to set it to slowest on those killer "new game+" content.

Time Travelling Kumatanchi

(tags game, Dual Screen, Kumatanchi, Animal Crossing)

In Animal Crossing, I can Time Travel for fun and profit, like skipping forward to a certain event, and then letting real time catch up. Time Travel is just resetting the DS's real-time clock to a desired time before starting a game. It resembles a hurry up and wait cycle.

I just realized I can do the same thing in Kumatanchi. In the early part of the game, I would be missing a lot, but now that almost all the stuff is unlocked, Time Travel lets me play this game in batch without having to play it real-time like a Tamaggochi. Now I keep track of my next batch gaming using a calendar and email reminders. Sorry Kumatan, but there are other games I should be concentrating on (Chrono Trigger never ends...)

More work than fun: Chrono Trigger DS

(tags game, Dual Screen, Chrono Trigger)

Chrono Trigger DS is my daily affair.

However, I don't like how small the text is in CT, or how the visual interface when applying items like potions sucks (characters are lined up vertically, but you have to press left or right to select them), or how the two screens are really detrimental in the DS mode because enemy positions and enemy names don't match. I don't use the touch pen for anything, and the classic mode text is tiny (crispy, but tiny). I dunno how they can improve the touch-pen positioning interface, but I have a lot to say on using the D-pad and buttons.

I'm not sure if I'm having fun yet. I played the game to its conclusion back in the day, so it's not exacly spanking brand new to me. My guys are leveling up but I feel like I'm in the old FF-style menu grind. I'm glad I forgot the tiny plot twists though, my forgetfulness makes it feel new again. 

Don't get me wrong, there are some parts that I enjoy. I especially like Marle's winning pose (jump for joy).

Perhaps when the story is over, I can embark on collecting all the endings and the new dungeons.

Re-exploring the DS: Nintendo first party titles

(tags game, Dual Screen, Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, Super Mario)

So I bought Chrono Trigger recently and I've only been through a couple of time slips.

This DS gaming has gotten me interested in the other software I have so I pulled out Super Mario 64 DS, a week or two ago. I keep thinking about making a seperate blog post titled "Crackdown before Super Mario 64", but then again, I've already played Super Mario Sunshine (still not cleared though), and I suppose that's similar. I can't believe how basic it feels. I rather be playing Spyro from the PlayStation 1.

And then, the whole advertisement wave going on with the Wii version of Animal Crossing (どうぶつの森) made me pull out my old copy of Animal Crossing: Wild World DS. I thought there would be the granddaddy of weeds, but I just have lots of the easy weeds. Anyway I spent some time cleaning up the place, picking fruit and generally checking out the game again. It crashed on me twice while I was trying to get online (I was hoping Nintendo would send me some status messages or something). All in all it's just as fun as I remembered it. Well, fun as making up some boring tasks like "pick all the fruit" and doing them. I checked out the Wii version's and it seems as if you can import your DS stuff into your Wii. It's only one way, though, and it's really limited. You gain your name, face, and catalog, but that's it. Of course you don't lose anything on your DS though. Also, you can't push anything from your Wii to your DS. 

Finally, I started unlocking Mario Kart DS courses. I've had this game for ages but I still haven't unlocked them, even the easiest 50cc ones. I hate Mario Kart's game system, though. Get ahead too much, feel the power of the blue Koopa shell, over and over again. Ugh. Sometimes I just look at overhead map instead of the pursuit view because its easier to see.

Anyways, I'll keep these games along side my daily dose of Kumatanchi (yes I'm still caring and feeding this littl' Tamagochi twice a day) and Chrono Trigger.

Cute cheap figures: Doki Majo 2 Maho, Kimorebi Sakura

(tags game, figure, Doki-Majo, gal game, figure, PlayStation 2, Dual Screen)

Recently Sofmap dumped a full truckload of Doki Doki Majo Shinpan 2 (どきどき魔女神判2) at a price of 2980 yen instead of 9980 yen. The only thing I wanted was the included "Maho" figure, so:

Actually, I got mine at 2480 yen in Sofmap Kobe, woot. I've been looking to picking up this figure ever since Gamers Nipponbashi was selling it for 3980 yen, which was still too steep. I don't intend on playing the game though.

On the left is "Sakura" from the gal-game turned PlayStation 2 Kimorebi no Namiki-michi: Utsuri kawaru kisetu no naka de (木漏れ日の並木道～移り変わる季節の中で～). I haven't played it yet. "Sakura" is the main character's daughter. Also the main character is a widower, which makes the scenario seem quite sad.

Chrono Trigger in English

(tags RPG, Chrono Trigger, Dual Screen, English, Japanese)

I was totally surprised that Chrono Trigger for the DS is also in English as well as Japanese. W00t!

Fun gaming (or maybe not)

(tags game, Unreal Tournament, Ketsui, Kumatan, Xbox 360, Dual Screen)

I am just having a blast playing the Unreal Tournament 3 on the Xbox 360. Sure I miss the keyboard and mouse controls, but the analog joystick controller is way fun all the same. I'm still an offline gamer playing bots in Team Deathmatch. I discovered the Kill Slow Time mutator, which slows time down Matrix style after you get a kill. I am surprised how fun it makes the game.

And I'm still playing Ketsui. Even on the bus, but I get mad at the bus driver for actually moving the bus while I'm trying to squeeze through a danmaku gap. The game says 7 hours in, and I've uncovered probably a little more than 70 panels out of 110. I still die readily on the Very Hard difficulty, but I suprise myself sometimes by going through a boss battle or two without a scratch. I guess I'm figuring out the boss patterns subliminally.

One guy at the new forum I'm frequenting, Gaijin Gamers, told me that Breakdown had the first person gimmick down way before Mirror's Edge, so I nabbed a copy of this Xbox 1 game. After half an hour I didn't feel much of pull towards this game. The environment feels so static and the gameplay feels a little too formulaic. Not very fun.

Kumatan still makes me smile. But I noticed I need to at least play this game two times a day to maintain my "totemo suki" love level.

Welcome to before Mirror's Edge

(tags game, Kumatanchi, Ketsui, Unreal Tournament, Tiger Woods, golf, Mirror's Edge, Dual Screen, Xbox 360)

Portable gaming and Xbox gaming, and even PC gaming. Can he stop?!?

Ketsui DS rewarded me for playing 5 recorded hours. All of the videos for the "Welcome to Special Round" second loop clear for the second ship have been uncovered, but I have at least 40 panels out of 110 to uncover. This game is winding down for me, but I still love the feel of trying to avoid all the bullets. It's just impossible for me.

I'm still playing Kumatanchi. About a week ago I thought I was done, but there was one more furniture set revealed called "Future" (未来). And the prices were from the future, fully inflated. :-/ This game is getting long in the tooth, but I love how Kumatan smiles. Plus I don't think I uncovered all of the drama bits. One good thing is that Sumomo is now inviting me to her place, ha ha. Words only.

Xbox 360 is getting some love. According to my records, I've picked up at least 5 games for it in the last month! The latest conquest is Unreal Tournament 3 for cheep. It was fun to play it on the controller actually at a Sofmap demo unit. Of course, I was only playing Team DM with Experienced bots in Deck 16. Sweet Deck 16.

And my trend to getting the Tiger Woods continues. I got the 2006 version, thinking I was done, but then the game I was playing was the 2009 version. I found the 2008 version and I bought that one cheep as well. 2008 is graphically improved, but it's so hard to improve my career stats. Argh!

And yes I did try the Mirror's Edge demo game. I want more! But, I was let down. You know that first part where you jump off the billboard onto the crane in demo movie mode? That was my first let down. Tell me that you have to actually do in game some time, instead of watching her do it automatically. That would be pretty wicked sick.

Ketsui makes me wish for the arcade version

(tags game, Dual Screen, shmup, Ketsui)

Hey so I bought Ketsui for the DS. Ketsui, official name Ketsui Death Label (ケツイ　デスレーベル, NTR-YKDJ-JPN) is a port of the arcade vertical scrolling shoot-em-up (shmup) of the same name from 2002. I think Arika is the publisher. I believe this is the first home port of the game, while it is rumored to get a Xbox 360 version pretty soon.

Usually shmup ports are pretty much the Arcade mode plus a remix and a high score table. This DS port is something different though, because it's not a complete port of the Arcade mode. Rather, the main gameplay is the boss fights only. Now my judgment is clouded because I'm thrilled for a Cave property on a DS, but this is plenty fine. There are enough bullets and boss patterns to memorize to get you going. The gameplay pace really captures the speed and terror of swarming bullets. Also the game has a bunch of extras that add some value.

The graphics are fricken noisy, no joke. The DS never chokes. Well I haven't seen the whole screen completely covered in bullets, but see there's this game mechanic where you collect Chips that fall from fallen enemies. These Chips are thankfully of muted color but there are too many. Plus they come right in front of your ship. As a Cave game, the bullet colors are the classic light blue, pink-red and violet (and green), so it really should be no problem once you get used to the screen. Actually you can adjust how long the Chip is visible, from Always to 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32 frames. I set it to 4 and they are barely visible.

So remember the DS has a 256 x 192 pixel display. An old school Cave game like Dodonpachi is 240x320, so we're only missing a few (tens of) pixels. Okay, so were missing a lot of pixels. You will need all of that space to get through the curtain fire (danmaku). Thankfully your hitbox is just one pixel. I have trouble remember which pixel on my ship is the right one so... :-/

The bullet patterns are classic. Actually I've played some of the famous Kenta Cho (aba games) freeware shmups that copy the bullet patterns so I feel right at home. The gaps are crisp and you will be travelling all over the screen.

Though Ketsui is supposed to be a skills game, there are a lot of beginner oriented boss mixes and gameplay settings. I would estimate Novice, Normal, Hard Mode 1, 2, 3 to be equivalent to a Normal difficulty up to level 3 of a 5 level shmup. Auto-bomb (get hit once and it bombs for you) is on by default, and after every cleared boss you get 3 bombs.

There is a Very Hard mode, an even more difficult mode I have not yet unlocked, and probably the hardest mode of all called Doom Mode.

Plus there is coffee-break, enriched drama mode called Oshiete IKD-san!! (おしえて! IKDさん!!) which is a dialogue between illustrated characters and IKD, real-life suit dude-sensei. Just imagine a contented straight-laced 30-something Japanese dude who doesn't act like he should in a suit, telling you non-obvious techniques for massive damage and BURNING PASSION. I like it.

What I like even more is that there is video and godlike replays in this mode as well. It's not limited to the DS but there are some videos of the Arcade version as well. Cave is beckoning to come join them in the game center for a round of arcade shmup. It's grand.

The gallery mode, called EVAC report, has pseudo-Achievements/Trophies with really easy ones such as "Auto-bomb activated 100 times" and "changed key config" :-/ There are 113 in total and assemble 9 or 16 of them for a complete picture of a CG rendered boss. Sexy.

You can save three of your replays (!) and send them to friends via Wifi (!). I don't think it's Internet. Also there is a Kizuna mode and other Wifi modes that let your tag-team on bosses and/or score battle.

Rounding it out, the game saves a lot of statistics like average bomb rate and pickup multiplier, etc. Key config is 1 key to a function setting, so multiple keys can be set to a function.

Finally there's a pack in DVD so you can see Ketsui the arcade version in all its glory. It doesn't fit in a regular DS case, rather it's a special, non-standard box.

The game is 5000 yen, a high price for even a DS game. If you eat up shmups then you will be elated, amused, and sated by this DS port. It's very competent for what it has (WTF no zako sections as PROMISED in teaser trailers), but I wish Cave/Arika put this on a more visually endowed portable like the PSP.

bye bye DS Lite accessories

(tags game, hardware, Dual Screen)

My reaction: I don't want the Nintendo DSi, yet. Wake me up when there's a Pokemon version.

So when this thing comes out in a little less than a month from now (in the Japan region), probably all the DS Lite accessories will be gone. It's like trying to find a USB-based power charging cable for the GBA Micro. Impossible. I had to use Yahoo Auctions JP for that.

I am going to hoard the screen protectors and faceplates and cases (edit: and connector cap replacements).

Banner it up! Kumatanchi

(tags game, Dual Screen, Kumatanchi)

  

  

Kawaii overload... Banner it up!

Dual Wield Dual Screen Duel: Pokemon Pikachu DS and games

(tags hardware, game, Dual Screen, Pikachu, Princess Maker, Ketsui, Chrono Trigger, telephone card, television)

The other reason I was in shop today was to pick a screen protector film for my Pokemon Pikachu DS. Yes I haven't opened it until now and I've really been meaning to do it. The film made by Suncrest and called "magic film", claims to "self-heal any scratches". Sure. I only tried it out because it's about the same price as the other films. Anyway, slap that puppy on. I'm pretty happy with how I positioned the film. Usually I'm pretty sloppy. Unfortunately air bubbles and dust never seem to leave me alone.

So I recommissioned the DS (lite) I have been using, my pink Love and Berry DS, as my permanent One-Seg TV in my rack. I can't keep it on twenty-four seven: there seems to be a hot-spot that whitens the center of the screen after a day or two. Don't worry, it seems to disappear after I power off for a couple of hours.

Anyways, in a couple of days, I will have two DS games in the "training" catagory. (How else do you translate "育成"?). One is Princess Maker 4, of course I cannot pass up the ero-kawaii Naoto Tenhiro telephone cards. The other is the Kumatan-chi (くまたんち). I only liked it for the 2D static graphics, then I saw a gameplay/official trailer video and I was completely (re-) sold. The animation is so fluid and so cute. Plus the telephone cards FTW.

And Japanese shopkeepers never remind you to preorder. That's just too pushy. Instead, they have a wall where you can anonymously gawk and slack. I took a ganderand there was Ketsui DS coming around on 2008-10-23. Shmup action on the DS, bring it! Also Chrono Trigger DS as dated as 2008-11-27. I am not missing this one either, in both senses of the word. (Still need to dig out Chrono Cross, ugh) Neither of them have telephone card type omake, but they come with soundtrack CDs, I think. Perhaps Ketsui has a "superplay" video disc?

Surely now I can restart my Mysterious Dungeon: Shiren The Wanderer stuff again?

Is that DS ejecting a cart in your pocket? Shiren

(tags game, RPG, Dual Screen, Shiren)

To tell you the truth, I haven't been playing Shiren since last Friday. On that day, I decided to chance an epic adventure through many floors I haven't seen. Unknown floors, unknown danger! And I got past them with luck and skill on my side, even while escorting a NPC. I think it was floor 16 or something, where I got to the third town. I felt really satisfied with Shiren, despite the constant fear of losing my progress while on my concentration-breaking commute.

Anyways, I had to put away the DS for a moment, so I closed the cover while the power was on and stuffed it in my bag. The next time I checked up on it, though, the cart was sticking out. Oh no! Yes, I lost my progress, because "this save game is corrupt so resetting your save to level 1". Argh! I don't carry epic swords any more, but to think that all that time levelling up gone made me... not turn on the DS for a week. Haahhaha. :-/

It's a Monster House!

(tags game, RPG, Dual Screen, Shiren)

In Mysterious Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer, I recently playing through the same floor 8 over and over again. I found that the usual room corridor room layout was replaced with one huge room filled with baddies. This configuration is called a "Monster House" in game. I got away from one Monster House through luck, and the second time around, though I was totally surrounded by Spike Bombs, I got through one using some skill. Yay me. Then again it's only floor 8.

I am getting impatient because I don't know if I have enough progress (XP and/or items) to handle the next unknown floor. And the next unknown floor will definately kill me, since I play like I'm in Zelda and not a Rogue-alike. Pretty much when I die, I suspend exploration to re-level up my character, which is pretty much lost time.

I am reminded of the Slashdot thread "Have Modern Gamers Lost the Patience For Puzzles?" Perhaps my Final Fantasy gaming has caused me to first consider overpowering any game tactic with brute force. Then again I still like Sudoku (even though I am never going to play it again) and Rubik's Cube.

Unfortunately I keep on bouncing between floors 1 through 10. I only get the rank of "Baby Adventurer" so I must be missing out on a lot of the game. I need more gold to build better weapons, or I need more weapons so I can get rid of or get pass enemies, but this game doesn't drop enough stuff.

I am not looking at a Gamefaq, though. No matter how many times that thought comes to mind I am not going to give in. I will either quit the game or keep trying.

Three in a day: fight, shmup, tile rpg

(tags game, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Dual Screen, Soul Calibur, Geometry Wars, Shiren)

I started off the day realizing that I can't be moving forward in Mysterious Dungeon: Shiren The Wanderer without scraping the earlier levels for experience. Or at least that's the rationalization after losing my +8 sword of brilliance from a merely innocuous foray into the next area. To think that I hate games that lose more than 15 minutes of my progress, and here I am trying to play this game more. The DS needed battery charging so I let it sit out a day.

Geometry Wars 2 on the brain. Pacifism mode is the total bomb, worth the 800 XBLP alone. I have stick control, if only before my hand tremors set in. Yesterday, I scored my personal best, 140+ million. I really love "sticking a fork in it", which I describe the technique of "popping the dumbbell" when embedded in the blue diamond blob. This is totally risky play, of course. Geoms are the "crack" I can't stop picking up, and slipping through the gaps of incoming blue blobs is pure delight. The other modes are shoot shoot shoot which is nice, but my dissatisfaction with the tighter spray in comparison to GW1 irritates me. Then again in GW1, I always liked the tighter mode instead of the spray because the former was faster. Today, I have trouble breaking 70+ million so I let it slide after probably an hour of effort. Erratic performance.

And Soul Calibur 4. An online friend got all of the Achievement Points before me, which makes me irritated. Online is something I give up, but I can't figure out how he got through the Survival mode (I can only get to 5) and Mission mode (I can only get to 20). Or how he got all the goods. There must be some gold laundering scheme in the online, that's got to be it. In any case, I am continuing to unlock the swords and costumes in single player. At the same time I'm trying to set the Style level for each character to max. This is work, not fun. And I do it for the Achievement Points.

Nothing special: Mysterious Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer

(tags game, Dual Screen, Shiren)

Another import game from the recent shipment was the Mysterious Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer for the Dual Screen. On my blogroll, Insert Credit IRC fellow and I POST ALL CAPS blog titles "Sub" posted a pwnage review of this game recently, and I decided to get the game in English. Just 45 minutes and I've already been killed 3 times, got 80% of my gold stolen, reset hard and fast. But this is intriguing. I'm not yet frustrated! I'm still one of those coddle gamers, though. Losing special items kinda hurts, but I let it go, because they are not special, right?

I am reminded of the recent in store display of Shiren across various consoles at a used game store. The Dreamcast version of Shiren was going for a pricey 6800 yens, while other versions were at a pretty low price, relatively. Plus, I learned just recently that the Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon games were also made by Chun Soft. I wonder if these are relatively easy Rogue-alikes?

Before I sleep, I'm going to try to make it to the next village. Again.

A million dollars? Two games at the same time

(tags game, Xbox 360, Dual Screen, Soul Calibur, Rhythm Tengoku)

I finally have the desire to buy new games. Is this progress or a setback? :-]

Today I'm going to pickup Rhythm Tengoku Gold for the DS and Soul Calibur 4 for the Xbox 360. Actually I'm still waffling over SC4, since over the last couple of days I have newly played Beautiful Katamari and Geometry Wars 1 and 2 (demos only). There goes my nights and the weekend.

Just a reminder to blog about gaming: Space Invaders Extreme, etc

(tags failure, game, Xbox 360, Dual Screen, Wii)

Just a reminder to myself:

Write about finding a pink paddle controller for playing Space Invaders Extreme, and explain how SIE rocks as soon as I get used to the paddle.

Write about Happy Dance Collection for the Wii and how I finally have a reason to buy it. Oh wait, I collected my third Wii game, Elebits, for el cheapo yesterday.

Write about my giving up on Monster Hunter 2nd when I couldn't complete a training mission.

Write about my Shin Sangoku Musou level up-ing with just the female character and giving that up when it doesn't unlock the other hidden female characters.

All about control: Princess Maker 4 DS

(tags game, Princess Maker, Naoto Tenhiro, Dual Screen)

Princess Maker 4 is being ported to the Nintendo DS after two years of inactivity. The original game was on the PS2 in 2005. I only went through it one time. Then it came out for the PSP and the Windows PC in 2006, and of course I picked up those as well. The DS version will be in my hot little hands 2008-09-11, at which time I will promptly shelve it, because the main reason is to collect the omake telephone cards, ha ha.

According to the official web site, some more content will be added. However, voices for the characters other than the "daughter" will be left out. Nana Mizuki, the main voice actress, was interviewed for this port. She supplied more dialogue for the DS's new feature, which is touch screen "Touch Communication". You can touch your daughter's body (cheeks or shoulders, please) or something and get some dialogue. Hm, what game mechanic is this? However, Mizuki pleads, "please don't touch strange places". LOL. I suspect it won't have the "physics engine" of the Doki Doki Majo Shinpan series.

BTW, Princess Maker 5 was released last year for the PC and later for the PS2. I saw that the main series character designer, Takami Akai, returned. He's had a hand throughout the whole series (which starts from 1991!?). Unfortunately his character design just doesn't do it for me. Illustrator Naoto Tenhiro FTW.

Thanks to Famitsu (I almost didn't see little 1/4 page article), DS Fanboy, and Game Watch Impress.

Beyond excited: Chrono Trigger DS

(tags game, Dual Screen, RPG)

Chrono Trigger. I would probably claim that this was the best (J)RPG for me up until Final Fantasy XII. I, along with many people, have been waiting for a remake on a recent console. Now its coming to the Nintendo DS. Yes! YES! (thanks DS Fanboy, DS Fanboy)

Um, I could have always played the PlayStation version, which seems to reward you for replaying the game.

Waiting for my wheel to come... around... again

(tags game, Dual Screen, music)

I just wanna say that I bought Space Invaders Extreme for the DS last week, but I won't open it until I find the paddle controller. Of course, both were available before, and I let them slip out of my grasp then.

Shiren Adventuring and other fantasies

(tags game, Dual Screen, PlayStation Portable, Shiren)
(originally written: 2008-06-24 22:24)

I commented on Sub's Shiren's Mysterious Dungeon win. SMD is an Rogue-alike that puts forces you to consider gambling, as in gambling your life. Anyways his post made me want to get the English version of this DS game. Okay, the Japanese version is 2500 yen now bargain binned, but I rather play these inventory-heavy games in English. Play Asia sells the one I want for 3500 yen. Hm, no buy. I checked A-Too in Nipponbashi, and there was nothing. They are surprisingly strong with import console games, but not portable games. So anyways, I got the PC Japanese "Internet-enabled" version from 2003, just to get a feel. It was only 500 yen unopened. But I don't really like gaming on my PC anymore. Watch me track down the DS english version again.

Which reminds me, on Saturday I picked up Monster Hunter 2nd and Jeanne D'Arc for 880 yen and 1280 yen respectively. I gave the first MH a shot months ago but the first hour didn't hook me. The recent news about MH2G uplifting PSP hardware sales made me give the series a second chance. So I started evaluating MH2 but it feels so slow. "Now Loading". Everything is slow in this game. I'm sure PSP Lite won't fix all the loading screens. I feel my concentration ebbing, my brain becoming lethargic.

My Rubik's Cube hobby has poisoned my expectations by giving me feeling of completion, every minute.

Some gaming: Burnout Paradise and DJ Max Portable 2

(tags game, Xbox 360, Burnout, Playstation Portable, music, Dual Screen)

This is a summary of the last week or two of my gaming hobbies.

I felt like I finished up with Stranglehold, since I mopped up most of the easy and intermediate difficulty Xbox Achievement Points. "Hard" and "Hard-boiled" difficulty remain untouchable, as well as the 50 point killing spree Achievement. So I will toss the game back on the rack for now. Still I wish that other FPS games had the cover and time-slow system that Stranglehold uses.

I went back to Burnout Paradise. I finally completed all the events yesterday, earning my "Elite License". Of course I only seem to be in it now for the easy Achievement points. Now I all I have to do is get 100% completion, which means setting record scores on all the roads in both Showtime and Time Trial modes. Showtime was fun but now its just tedious work. I surpassed 10 million (dollars worth of damage) on one run, just to see how far I could go. Usually you need about 700,000. I wish though I finished Showtime first. And I wished that I drove around the city in Time Trial mode instead of plain mode. That would have made my clear faster ... maybe.

Today I went to the grand re-opening of the Gamers Nanba, now called Ani-Bro Gamers. It was only recent news to me that Animate (or the parent company of Animate) and Broccoli (owner of Gamers) became the same company. I will write more about today, later, if ever. Anyway, my bud asked me if there were any interesting PSP games recently and I named Echochrome. I also dug through my stash and DJ Max Portable 2 came up. I intend to lend it to him if he's interested, but I played it for a day waiting for the opening of Ani-Bro Gamers. I got a max combo (no miss) on my favorite stage Seoleim again. That felt good. Then I remembered that I am playing it on 4p ("easy mode" four buttons) with easy difficulty. Increasing the buttons is just insane, so I tried normal difficulty. I get cut off with "You need more practice!" a heck of a lot more. Stop interrupting the song I am attempting!!?!? How am I supposed to practice! Normal has some interesting new songs (to me). I wish the developers of this game made a casual mode for the music neophyte.

Finally, since I was in Nipponbashi, I checked out some stuff. On the gaming front, I was going to buy the PlayStation Simple 2000 Series The Taxi 2 since it was only 840 yen used, but I thought about Vice City and how I need to Taxi that one. Also I was going to get some DS games, like Super Mario 64 DS, since the price dropped at one store to 2480 yen and I figure I like easy collection-ing type games. However, thoughts of the imminent completion of Burnout Paradise and the Bioshock I haven't opened, stopped me again.

You'd think my willpower is strengthening, but I bought Valve's The Orange Box for Xbox 360 (Asia version) at A-Too. It was only 2480 yen. I suppose I was seeing easy Achievement points again. Portal! I do have Half-Life 2 on my PC (link to me playing with the physics engine back in 2005), but I got it free with my video card, so no problems there. Plus this soft has HL2: Episode 1 and 2, which I doubt my Project Sugar PC can handle. Well it couldn't handle HL2 or Portal deftly, either. I really like how my Xbox 360 is making me ignore PC games and the PC gaming upgrade treadmill. Thank you Xbox.

wii and ds time? Ninja Gaiden DS, Karous

(tags game, Wii, Dual Screen, joystick)

I did some in-store browsing yesterday. Monster Hunter G 2nd was finally back in stock after stratospheric two week sales, not that I'm going to get it. I saw that Ninja Gaiden DS was price discounted to about 3000 yen (from 4200 yen). It was right along side Contra DS, which had a similar price drop. :-( My Mr. Driller DS is currently keeping me satisfied.

I still haven't had much reason to get a Wii but I keep my eyes open. Mario Kart Wii, huh, I punted this series when it came out on the N64. Anyways, the Wii has those Hori joysticks, and yesterday I noticed it also had the Neo Geo-style joystick. Also this week was the release of Milestone Shooting Collection Karous Wii which includes Karous, Rajirugi (unlockable), and Chaos Field (unlockable), all from the Dreamcast/Gamecube era, for only 4300 yen. That lock aspect is good idea for shmups because it really makes you play the game longer instead of credit-feeding. I believe the fun of shmups is the feeling of learning by yourself.

Detest digging: Mr. Driller Drill Spirits

(tags game, Dual Screen, Mr. Driller)

Yes I spent some time Drilling with Mr. Driller Drill Spirits, adding a little more mileage and progress to my long forgotten save. OMG, 300 Meter level unlocked. :-p

I really hate how it's not very forgiving. Then again, this reflex game should not be played just before going to bed. It reminds me that I have to figure out my reflex "biorhythm". At what time during the day can I kick maximum reflex? Because at my age, I really can't get it done at any time.

Dig my own treasure: Mr. Driller

(tags game, Xbox 360, Dual Screen, Mr. Driller)

According to them mainstream video game blogs, Mr. Driller will be out for the Xbox 360 Live Arcade this week.. In celebration I'm going to give my DS version a run, and hope that the gaming feeling will come to an end.

What use is DLC if you can't MIC

(tags Bangai-o, Dual Screen, game)

I am glad that more bloggers and posters are picking up on Bangai-o. However I can't join them, because I really don't know how to fix my stage/play downloading problem. Perhaps my room really is noisy and I've become too accustomed to it. I'm about ready to buy another pair of headphones just to give the DLC stuff one more go.

My progress in the game is "almost done". There are only two levels where I can't get a stage clear, and they require a really good joystick (d-pad) hand. Argh. So I have been redoing the other levels. It's funny how I best my previous time by minutes, because I know the trick. Sadly the trick is always the same, keep the bullets blasting. In that way I feel that Bangai-o feels over for me.

Last stage != whole game: Bangai-O Spirits

(tags game, Dual Screen, Bangai-o)

Last time I said I was on stage 131, but I finished trying all of the stages today. So, let's say that this game gives about 8 hours of play.

I did beat the last stage, and it was horrendously frustrating. But now I know the trick and I play it again for fun. But there was no fanfare or congratulations screen. Now I have to go back and do the stages I skipped. Unlock unlock unlock something, come on. This is the era of Achievements and Bonus stuff.

This is rather bare-bones, huh?

Calmin' Napalmin': Bangai-o Spirits (video)

(tags video, game, Dual Screen, Bangai-O, replay-data, failure)

I didn't want to go out with a "Game Over", so here I am clearing the same stage with two 100 x 4 Reflect Missile bonuses: "Calmin' Napalmin'"

This time I used EX Weapon Bounce + Napalm. Dumb rockets get the job done. winner. :-p

I also wanted to share not the just the video, but the replay data for "Homing don't play that" and "Calmin' Napalmin'". Bangai-O DS's unique feature for sharing Edit Stage data and Replay Data is a great concept. However the execution is poor. Out of probably over a hundred tries, I was only able to reload my replay data ONCE. And that was when it was RAW. I am not yet able to load stuff when I convert it to MP3. The official page has a couple of new stages recorded in MP3, so it should work, right? I tried both my "phat" DS and "slim" DS. I also tried getting away from my noisy computer, but with no success. FAIL.

Homing don't play that: Bangai-o Spirits (video)

(tags video, game, Dual Screen, Bangai-o)

This is my video of Bangai-o Spirits. I call it: "Homing don't play that"

Sweet sweet slowdown. I love the big numbers.

This is game standard stage 95 called "フレ！フレ！フレ！" (lit. Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!), you know like cheerleader pom-poms. The EX weapon is Mix Homing + Bounce. I am trying to get a really high Reflect Missile score. The missile size (also the multiplier) depends on how dense and deep you are in the missile spray.

Do not try to pass this level with the homing weapon. :-p

One interesting bug shown in this video is that enemy missiles sometimes are blocked. Don't worry, though, it does not affect the regular game. :-p

Keep the walls close: Bangai-o Spirits

(tags game, Dual Screen, Bangai-o)

At first I was disappointed with Bangai-o Spirits (バンガイオー魂). The tutorial pounded me down until I got a feel for the weapons. After the tutorial ended, the credits rolled. That was unexpected. Obviously the game was just starting but perhaps the finale is a long way off? After I finished some stages the levels felt more like the same thing over and over again. I suppose it's like playing Lode Runner. I was expecting blow-my-mind puzzle action, but the difficulty is all over the map.

That was Wednesday. Today I spent probably five hours playing it, so I must not be that bored with it. It's pretty fun with the bouncing homing bullets, but they only home once they bounce off a wall. And that 100 missile actually feels a little underpowered. In other words, unleash it deftly.

I mainly skip the levels that have the timed falling blocks, though. And yes, this game has a rendition of Sokoban, ha haha. Now I'm on stage 131. I am not going fast forward the stage select to see how many there are.

Looking at the official site, there's already stuff to download. I'll give it a try. I need to get a mic or a sound cable to upload my excellent (yer right) play.

Beating it weakly: Contra DS

(tags game, Dual Screen, Contra)

Before I move on to Bangai-O Spirits, which I already bought and played for about 30 minutes, I just wanna say I beat the Contra DS on Normal. I said, to myself, beat Contra today then you can go out to buy Bangai-O tomorrow. Unfortunately it was after a couple of continues. Never leave home without Homing. And my alternate gun was Homing, of course. I think the best score I ever got was 260_000 which was on the last stage. If I 1CC'd the game obviously it would be more.

And to tell you the truth, I beat the game on Easy a couple of days ago, which unlocked the Challenge Mode. The latter is 40 stages of incremental pain and punishment. Currently I can only unlock 23 of them. I think I spent about 30 minutes on the last couple, o_O. If I could get them all I bet Hard difficulty would be a piece of cake. Every 4 stages completed gives me a bonus. The last one I got was one of the women characters, big woop. :-/ There's no gameplay difference in control though, except that her busom is animated. Wut. Are we 99 years old now?

Contra DS was fun. Maybe I'll try Hard now, right after Bangai-O. Ha.

Bile is rising: Contra Dual Spirits

(tags game, Dual Screen, Contra)

Whoa, I made it to level 9 on one credit. Always remember to bring yer Homing. Unfortunately I don't know this latest level so I died at the part where the bile was rising. Um. I sunk about four hours on it today, so that's enough.

There was a funny part where I was being chased by all sorts of Alien-like creatures and I just kept on running. Usually my gaming is poke and prod, instead of gungho. Aiiieeee! I escaped the one-hit death by jumping to the flesh vine.

And still those slimy fish are ugly and stupid and I fart in their general direction. >:-[

Acutally I forgot to mention that the game froze on me when I was in the ocean level. It's the part where the boat comes around and the rocketmen taunt you with their missiles. I jumped from my ski and pressed the grappling hook button, which did the animation, but after that, I couldn't proceed. I waited five minutes but nothing happened. I then exited the game through the menu. I was able to resume the level but my high score stopped there. But that's alright because my high score now is a multiple of that. :-)

I keep checking the bonus content menu for something new but nothing's unlocked. Argh.

More TV watching: DS TV One-Seg

(tags television, Dual Screen)

I watch more TV now. I'm more interested in news. I see I can talk about more stuff in normal conversation, instead of d00d overclockin' and Idolm@ster!?!?. I watch fun and emotional programs.

I was random channel surfing and I saw that Honey and Clover received the mainstream live-action TV series treatment. Great, except the real people differ even more from the anime and manga in looks, of course.

I was complaining to a friend that a recent interview for a shogi player concentrated on what paper fans (扇子, sensu) he carried. But I didn't understand that paper fans carry some sort of dignity for an activity, like shogi or sado. What does that make me carrying my Di Gi Charat fan?

Right now Sunday afternoons show bouts of rugby. I don't understand rugby. I rather be watching soccer. Isn't rugby the sport where the referree in a white coat does the pimp pointing when someone kicks through the posts? I'm just waiting for that.

And yeah, the yen is strengthening, people are killing each other, and look a movie with cute dogs. People throwing zabutons at sumo matches, or people saying nandeyane over and over again. The studio audience consists of old people. The camera is always on the hot actresses in variety talk shows. And there's a special on sportsmen's wifes. Increase the MILF (WILF?) factor.

I'm glad I got this One-Seg for DS instead of PSP though. The DS is much more convenient, even though the screen size is smaller. And I still haven't decided if I want to record anything.

Slimy fish: Contra Dual Spirits

(tags game, Dual Screen, Contra)

Continuing on with my Contra Dual Spirits progress, it seems that Normal really is a normal difficulty. I am able to get to level 7 now on a credit. Hm. Except that I hate that "mode-7 graphics" part and the slimy fish. Stupid unpredictable slimy alien fish.

I better keep working on this. Echochrome will be out this Friday. Euhyah!

Choose your weapon: Contra Dual Spirits

(tags game, Dual Screen, Contra)

:) No I haven't beaten Contra Dual Spirits, but it feels pretty good to get to level 4 on one credit. Then I get owned by "mode-7 graphics". Ha haha.

I'm not a Contra follower, so I probably missed whatever innovative graphics and gameplay was stuffed into the series in the 1990s and 2000s. This DS version feels like a SNES era game. At least there's no dumb 3 bullets per screen limitation. I am though playing with the creeping scrolling edge of death, hitting enemies just barely off the screen. That's a nostalgic gimmick.

I am approaching this game as a shmup, but my "ship" just doesn't move the way I like. Crouching is too slow. Jumping is nerve-wracking, uncontrollable. But hit the dirt, I've got Homing. :-]

Okay, back to the level memorization.

Gritty portable action: Contra DS

(tags Dual Screen, Contra, action, game)

I can't recall what blog I read that makes Contra Dual Spirits (魂斗羅 Dual Spirits) Easy mode out to be the approachable difficulty level for normal DS gamers. Maybe it was DS Fanboy. Paraphrasing: "Passing the first stage on Easy is something to boast about."

Well I passed it on Normal, where is my fricken' "Godlike"? :-)

Seriously though this game is pretty hard, but I'm not yet frustrated with it. I was surprised that I could level up the weapons. The controls require more dexterity than my current squeeze, the menu-fighter. Alas, if I want to get the hidden characters its not going to be a cakewalk, huh.

I used my old DS because it's too heavy to use as a DS TV One-Seg. It feels "phat". The Select and Start buttons are in the "wrong" places, sheesh! And I warmed up with Mario Kart DS. I haven't even unlocked all of the courses on it. I haven't done the same with the GC version, either. I feel guilty.

This makes me feel good about DS gaming again, so I think this month's Bangai-O Spirits is a GO.

MOAR WANTZ: hardware version

(tags game, hardware, GameCube, Xbox 360, Dual Screen, television, science fiction, Contra)

Sorry for the title, but I just gotta get rid of my continuing irrational consumerist bent. At least for tonight.

I am searching for that GameBoy Player for the GC, but for the GC and DVD-playing combo unit Panasonic Q. I could level up my FFTA on the GameCube! But I keep losing the bidding on the auctions. I suppose I won't win unless I bid 1_0500 yen or more. Grr.

And yes, those Xbox 360 arcade sticks by Hori are still untouchable. The domestic Dead or Alive 4 or Virtua Fighter-themed Hori Fighting Stick EX2s seem to averaging 1_3000 yen at the bidding close. One recent auction was for the US version of the stick, and gone with the quickness for 1_0500 yen, whoa. The picture on the auction showed a Play Asia shipping box. Hm, duh, check there. I see it for a no-hassle 8250 yen, with free shipping to (within?) Japan. :-/ But no DoA polygon chick to soothe my fancy, har har.

I was contemplating getting one or two more Nintendo DS TV One-Seg adapters directly. I am using it at my rack daily, not even turning it off. I wonder if the screen will burn in? Since I have a couple of DS and DS Lites laying around, I should emulate the losers in the Max Headroom TV series. Whoa, nostalgia.

Episode 1 "Blipverts": Investigative TV news reporter Edison Carter uncovers the disturbing secret of a new TV technology called "Blipverts,” high-intensity commercials with the ability to overload people's neural network causing them to explode.

Imagine Japanese Blipverts. >:-]

Damn I wanna watch this series again. Reading the Predictions sections on the Wikipedia page makes me think it parallels the author Jules Verne's often accurate technological predictions.

I can't think of any other (specific) hardware that I want, save for the Asus EeePC, so this blog post is finished. Time to get whipped by Contra Dual Spirits (魂斗羅 Dual Spirits). I guess I'm looking forward to the hidden characters, fap fap.

Pikachu reuse

(tags kawaii, character goods, Dual Screen, hardware, Pikachu)

I stopped by the Pokemon Center on a quiet Friday. There seemed to be a lot more Pikachu goods for some reason. Maybe hard times are hitting the Pokemon brand?

Aww, the plastic case illustration is just so perfect. :-)

It's not like I'm going to use yet another Pikachu skin and case and stylus. But I will use the hand towel for bathing. Okay, no jokes about electricity and the bath, please.

Sweet chocolate, Sweet TV: DS One-Seg TV tuner adapter

(tags Dual Screen, television, hardware)

So I got the 1400 XBLA point card for this month's Idolm@ster DLC sale. My habit of scoping the Sofmap shop sometimes (always?) makes me regret. It led me to a used Nintendo DS One-Seg TV tuner adapter (ワンセグ受信アダプタ DSテレビ).

It retails for 6800 yen and is only available directly from Nintendo's online store. I heard it was hard to obtain back in November 2007, but since I bought this one used, it must be in supply now.

I completely forgot that I wanted it. Well, I don't really want to watch TV, but I need to learn Japanese. Real Japanese, not anime Japanese. (Yeah right). I will learn CM (commercial) Japanese. It will be epic zany. (Maximum risky?!?) "FRISK! FRESHENS YOU UP!" :-)

It's pretty large, isn't it. It always surprises me about the quality of the used goods from Sofmap. They're sparkling clean and if there's a scratch or something missing, the handy red seal has the description. It seemed to me that this particular unit was unused (opened). In comparison, Book Off is pretty scary because the goods are really in crappy condition. I never go there for anything, even manga.

I haven't used my DS in a long while, and I though I'd be using my Pikachu DS Lite by now. Darn Rubik's Cube hobby. So I'm still slinging the Love and Berry DS Lite with Pikachu skin. The clear plastic tabs here seem to fit snugly even though there's a yellow skin in the way.

I need to use the antennas, even though I'm only about a meter away from the outside. It's really big, huh.

Here's one of the intended uses, watching a Japanese drama/mystery with subtitles. Vertical mode works just as well as horizontal mode. Obviously the TV display is smaller, but the subtitles are crisp and clear (thereis normal size and big size). Not all programs have subtitles, though.

I'm learning through osmosis, really. The program shown above is 「佐々木夫妻の仁義なき戦い」. I though the lead female character here was famous actress Kyoka Suzuki (鈴木京香, picture) who I think is super-fine. At least, she was super-fine in the 1990s. But it was that Last Samurai hotness with the one word name, Koyuki (小雪, picture). Meh. The picture shows someone else, though. It's ... it's someone I don't know but she looks familiar.

Horizontal mode with the dialog log feature. I am amazed that there is a log feature at all (instant win) and that it takes pictures automatically as well. Very nice.

Mmmpht, Johnny Depp. He's dreamy. Well I mean he's a great actor. He's like a leading actor of our time, IMHO. I would watch his movies because he's in it, just like I would for Denzel Washington. But I don't actively watch movies. :-/ Anyways, this movie is supposed to be "bilingual" but even though I set it to alternate audio channel, it's still in Japanese.

I just figured out that I can magnetically attach my DS TV to my rack. I think I need to buy the licensed accessory though, because this 100 yen magnet seems a bit flimsy. Now I want a remote control for this thing, hehe. Touching the screen with my finger makes me feel like I'm Star Trek or Knight Rider. Sweet.

Ouch, the battery is already dying. I started watching at 21:45, and now it's about 24:12. Two hours and counting. (It finally conked out at 24:21, so about 2.5 hours).

There are some deficiencies with this DS TV. The screen is small (compared to the PSP One-Seg TV, but I don't have that yet). The on-screen buttons are quick but not quick enough for my lighting reflexes. The shoulder and XYBA buttons don't seem to do anything, which is a shame. They should be remappable to functions like Show Log, Toggle Subtitles, Change Channel. That would be cool. I was expecting an on-screen program display for all the channels, but perhaps that's too much. Oh, okay, Yahoo TV has me covered. And of course, no recording. I need a PSP for that.

There is a port to add your own antenna. I need lay an antenna wire (unused from my PC's One-Seg adapter) and a charging wire on my rack. I won't move this DS any more, heh.

This is sweet. In fact, maybe I should buy another one. Damn, get me an IV and change my seat to a toilet. I'm never leaving my computer desk/rack now. :-)