Just as pricey: Idolm@ster SP DLC

(tags game, Idolm@ster, PlayStation Portable, DLC)

One more day until Idolm@ster hits the PSP scene. I'm only excited for the store-based telephone card extras. Yeah, that's crazy.

I did not exclude the possibility of DLC, but to finally see an official page full of "horse armor" was shocking. (Thanks Gaijin Gamers) WTF, I didn't call it "horse armor" when I bought the similar things before. Anyways, 1000 yen for one dress, which is similar to the prices on the Xbox DLC. I haven't accepted the DRM on the PSP, so I doubt that I will use this DLC any time soon.

Will I see PSP toting McDonalds refugees playing Idolm@ster? I doubt it.

I forgot about 2-19: many game pre-orders

(tags game, pre-order, Idolm@ster, Shining Wind, Dodonpachi, Shooting Love, Star Ocean, Halo, Prince of Persia)

I forgot about February 19th, which is a Thursday. I mean, the Thursday when a bunch of swell gaming stuff comes out, stuff I thought was so killer I needed to pre-order it. Um, that's why I forgot that date. So this is what is waiting for me at Sofmap Kobe.

• Idolm@ster for PSP all 3 versions
• Shining Wind Fan Festa PC disc
• DoDonPachi for the Xbox 360
• Shooting Love for the Xbox 360

I am so SOL on the PSP front. Gotta buy me a PSP-2000 somehow, because I still refuse to update my legal firmware PSPs.

I wanted to get Star Ocean 4 for the Xbox 360 (which comes out on the same day as well) for some reason. Perhaps it's because the director said he wanted to make ecchi games (but of course was refused). I downloaded the demo movies so I can be frightened.

Plus I figured that I might wanna get Halo Wars, luckily that will come out only one week after. Gotta pre-order that, in Japanese, huh. And yet I still haven't played the demo. Do it.

Oh yeah, I picked up Prince of Persia today at A-Too Nipponbashi. It was 3500 yen used, and it seems to be the English version even though the region NTSC-JP. Hopefully this will make me feel good about non-difficult gaming. Except I was supposed to start playing this now but I got caught up on bragging on my blog and ripping the CDs I bought today. And tomorrow I'm still going out, since it's another telephone card day at Gamers. Wee.

While I'm on the subject of A-Too... I still check the price of Halo 3. It's slowly dropping, now at 4980 yen. Yes I have the Japanese version. Yes I wanna hear the Chief's clipped dialogue in English. Also I saw the English version of DJ Max Portable, want want (but! have have). Gears of War 2 is still 4000 yen+, not a must buy just yet. Top Spin 3 is also.

Um, I have 65 games for my Xbox 360 (including Arcade ones). I really gotta do something about the unopened ones. (Like Naruto: Rise of a Ninja) Aaarrrrgggh!!!

Idolm@ster SP inbound

(tags game, PlayStation Portable, Idolmaster, pre-order)

It was news to me, but the Sofmap-only special 3 card telephone card set omake for the upcoming Idolm@ster SP for the PSP will come with its own backing picture frame and one more telephone card. (link is one month old)

Excellent. When I saw that my Sofmap Kobe printed out the actual picture, I grabbed the pre-order ticket without any hesitation.

I'm out 1_5000 yen. ;-)

Play this one and no other: Idolmaster Live For You with Miki Hoshii doll

(tags game, Xbox 360, Idolmaster, failure, figure, ToHeart2)

Like Mr. Alvin, I got my Idolm@ster Live For You with the Miki Hoshii figure today. It looks like this:

This package is the tenth part of the "Birthday Goods" series. When I saw the figure's eyes, the green was more emerald than muted black. I was a little disappointed because the combination of green and yellow paint on a real-life figure doesn't look so great, but at least the face is just as attractive as the picture in the original advertisement. There are a lot of hand attachments, too, great.

The 26000 yen set came a scratch off card (pictured middle) so that you can download the first DLC song for free. Also I picked up my pre-ordered Idolm@ster branded Xbox 360 Live Point cards. This is card type B (pictured right). I picked up card type A yesterday. Lastly, (pictured left) Geemaga Magazine issue 2008/04 had a bunch of special Idolm@ster goods bundled in, a DVD introducing the radio show featuring Chiaki Takahashi (たかはし智秋 voicing Azusa) and Asami Imai (今井麻美 voicing Chihaya) and a pencil card:

ゲーマガ 4月号 発売日：2008/02/29　価格：980円(税込)
内容省略
アイドルマスターL4U! [全力応援号!] 特製下敷き＆激レア映像収録DVDつき！
【注目作】アイドルマスター　ライブフォーユー！
【ふろく】☆「アイドルマスター ライブフォーユー！」特製下敷き
【DVD収録タイトルリスト】
■ゲーマガ・オリジナル映像アイマスレイディオ出張版

So I was in Nipponbashi early this evening, trying to avoid the otaku purchase crowds. Today was the release of ToHeart2 Another Days PC ecchi game. Some stores were open till 21:00 instead of 20:00 because of this and other major product releases. Man there were some long lines (thanks foo bar baz). I was riding up an Sofmap elevator and the otaku-like guy in front of me had 8 or 10 copies of the game. He pressed the button for the buy-back floor (買取の階). Hm, how did this guy get 10 copies of a 10000 yen game and why would he sell them back?

I didn't get a copy of the game myself, but it reminded me that I need to play the PS2 version I bought off a friend. Uh.

I did double check the games I wanted (BioShock in English for 3500 yen used, Burnout Paradise in English used for 6000 yen, Contra 4 DS in English used for 3500 yen, Halo 3 NTSC-JP version in English (!) for 8000 yen used), but I will (must) play Im@s L4U first. My bleeding wallet demands it. That means no new XBLA games, either. Sorry N+ and Trigger Heart Exelica. Sure, good luck with the abstinence.

You lose, part 2: Idolm@ster Live For You themed Xbox 360 Point Card

(tags game, Idolmaster, collectable, failure, Trigger Heart Exelica)

Let's try this again.

Today was the release of Idolm@ster Live For You. I could have got it today if I stayed at home for the delivery.

Let's open it to redeem some point in order to play the Xbox Live Arcade Trigger Heart Exelica.

What!?! orz orz orz roz roz zro zor rozzoroz :-/ Xbox live is "down" for redeeming. Okay now I'm mad. >:-[

I was going to post more pictures of me opening the card case. The packaging is sturdy, but its hard to open. It's the perfect collectable. The card itself is the same stock as the regular XBLP cards, though. The character design itself is from the it-didn't-happen anime, ie, it sucks.

Blah blah blah, I'm going to sleep, but before that I'm going to level up my persons in FFTA.

Idolm@ster DLC sale part 4

(tags game, Xbox 360, cosplay, bishoujo, purchase, Idolmaster, shmup, Trigger Heart Exelica)

Another month, another Idolm@ster sale. Is this the last one? This time the goodies are mainly audio, although there is a slight price cut on the school swimsuit. This is the first month where there are no additions.

I'm a little late with this kind of post. Only 3 more days.

See my posts on the previous sales, part 1 and part 2 and part 3.

I have a slight dilemma this time. I have 2000 XBLA points right now, and this sale requires 3100 points. I am going to buy the two Idolm@ster Live For You XBLA cards, but those 7000 points won't be in my account in time for the sale.

Huh? Where's the dilemma? Get the 1400 point card. Done.

Going that route, I'll have to wait a little while to get next week's XBLA shmup game, Trigger Heart Exelica (トリガーハートエグゼリカ). I did bothered to get it on the Dreamcast almost one year ago, meh. I am one of the do-not-open Dreamcast game (shmup) fools. The review by racketboy makes me want to play it though.

Cold reminder, Idolmaster point cards

(tags character goods, Idolmaster, game, PlayStation 2, Street Fighter, Xbox 360, Yuiko Tokumi)

I did another out and about session in Nipponbashi Den Den Town this weekend. I hate it when I am reminded that I spend too much money on character goods. Too much money. TOO MUCH MONEY. (echo echo echo...) Uh oh this is starting to sound like a whiny post. :-/

I am now considering not going to Den Den Town for the month of February. I would save on travel money that way. But sometimes Den Den Town has the cheap stuff. Also the shop prices adjust my expectations when doing online auctions. Ugh online auctions.

(picture thanks Inside Games JP)

Let's see, the only entertainment thing I planned to buy in February was Idolm@ster Live For You but that's coming in the mail. Today I saw the pre-order for the two Idolm@ster branded Xbox Live Point cards, shown above. I've never seen any XBL Point cards with a design before. You know I'm a card collector, e.g. a telephone card collector. I'm used to 1000 yen prices. But 5000 yen retail is steep. Then there's the question of whether to use the code on the card or not. My feeling says yes, idiot, use the stuff you buy. I'll see if they have a pre-order at my local shop.

Actually today I wanted so much to pick up Burnout: Paradise at Den Den Town but my go-to store doesn't have it yet. I could have instead bought the new Wipeout PSP or the new Contra DS or Bioshock or whatever games not yet in my region... Then I reminded myself, I have Jak Combat Racing for the PS2-US. Break that out now.

Okay today was somewhat thrifty, I think. I got Street Fighter III Third Strike for the PS2 for 1580 yen and Project Sylpheed for the Xbox 360 for 1480 yen. Original covers on both of those too, great. Unfortunately they are dented (ケースイタミ) but even though I don't see where. And I got (another) Yuiko Tokumi illustration 2008 calendar. (I haven't posted about my Yuiko Tokumi purchasing, have I?)

Finally I bought (not pictured) Yuu Kobayashi's new music single (based on j1m0ne's recommendation) and Miyuki Hashimoto's single for a 2008-01 season anime. Ouch 1200 yen for singles. The disconnect on my purchasing is pretty stupid, huh.

Okay now to enjoy space.

Hello Xbox 360, jealous of my Game Boy Micro?

(tags Idolmaster, purchase, Xbox 360, demo, Burnout, racing, RPG, Final Fantasy)

Well I have to turn on my Xbox 360 today, because I have to buy this month's sale DLC in Idolm@ster. Bye bye 2800 points. Yeah, "Japan Downloads Idolm@ster Content Big Time" (thanks Kotaku). It doesn't seem like there's any announcement for the next catalog or sale. It's time to concentrate on Live 4 U.

Yesterday, I finally checked out the Burnout Paradise demo. I want this game. It looks pretty cool and I can really dig into the stunts. With a city this big and seamless, it would be a shame to not have any taxi mini game. But no Burnout to date has any images of people, so it doesn't make sense. Some parts of it remind me of driving around Los Angeles, like the big white Paradise sign and the beach area. Oh yeah, the announcer is in Japanese, except for the part where he says "right here, on Crash FM". It sounds okay, but wierd. Japanese radio announcers are so cool, they speak perfect intonation (American) English while shredding it up in Japanese. I wanna be like that.

I bet you Xbox 360 owners have downloaded your Undertow for free right? It's an apology gift. (Game Watch: マイクロソフト、Xbox LIVE アーケードで「Undertow」を期間限定で無償提供 )

And I am still playing Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. It's not hard, it's just a easy treadmill of leveling up and acquiring spells/skills through combat points (AP?). 43 hours, probably most of it in bed before I go to sleep.

Idolm@ster DLC sale part 3

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

Another month, another Idolm@ster sale. Let's just get this over with:

See my posts on the previous sales, part 1 and part 2. This time, the 19 sale items includes the Neneko accessory set, rawr. I snapped a picture of a Yumeria Neneko clock a long time ago.

Oh and this month brings the 12th new DLC set, which is a hakama graduation dress with matching "taisho era" ribbon. 1000 XBLP for it. I'll be waiting forever for these 1000 XBLP DLCs to drop in price, me thinks.

Idolm@ster step 3: Play one round, "Haruka"

(tags Idolmaster, game, Xbox 360, games-of-chance)

Okay so I "finished" one scenario with the good (normal?) ending. Haruka is happy. I, on the other hand, had to replay and restart from save points to avoid bad results, which makes me frustrated.

The last part of the game is essentially roulette. Infuriatingly difficult roulette. Luckily I was able to push this last production to a "Success", but just barely.

So I scored a B- for the whole thing. B-! Grumble grumble. I thought I was doing pretty good. But I didn't get my idol to A rank. Maybe I'm not taking enough risks? Or since this is the first time through, everything is hard?

Well this time, since my Producer rank went from 1 to 2 I can now produce two idols at the same time. I couldn't pick that from the start. I bet you if I go through the game again I can pick three! Bet you can't buy that for a million dollars.

I can't believe I've been playing for a month and this is all the progress I have. "52 weeks" doesn't seem like a lot of time when I was mainly putting my idol through Auditions. When could she train? When could I get some heartful communication with her? As it is, it seems pretty impossible to excel in all these areas. In fact, there just wasn't enough time for interaction to get to know about "Haruka". It was just "Ohayo gozaimasu" "Audition, hai!" "Audition WIN!" "What's my idol rank now?". :-(

The last song I used for my Auditions was the signature "Go My Way", which is still pretty fun to listen to. In fact I can see the dance in my head pretty much, given that I've done this for Audition/TV about 9 times.

I can only get the special audition types if I go online. Some auditions are one winner only so if somebody else shows up, it's guaranteed I'll lose. There are not many newbies playing this game now.

Yes, one of the auditions is called "Make Dog". Haha. This is a easy free win for those who have a win rate of 20% or lower, but you don't want to be in that place, right?

So there it is. I think I spent about 13 hours on this game, but a month realtime, and it doesn't feel like I've many much progress. In fact, I haven't gotten any Achievement Points out the whole thing! Well I still have 9 other idols, pairs and triples to master and other stuff. Maybe if my producer rank goes up it will become easier?

Right now I dread playing these roulette games and timing games that don't give me a chance to practice. And truth be told, buying the DLC doesn't seem very useful at all, especially since I may want to turn off the "TV sessions" to speed this game up. And DLC stuff is only visible during TV sessions. :-(

I've already started my second season, but I'll save that for Step 4.

Wonder Momo dress DLC

(tags Idolmaster, cosplay, video, seiyuu, game)

I was discussing Idolm@ster DLC prices on #insertcredit and "Cortana" mentioned the "Wonder Momo" costume was worth my while. Intrigued because this person bought the Ace Combat 6 DLC Idolm@ster "Miki" plane, I looked it up. It's in the fourth catalog as the third "Extend" costume, for 1000 points.

I had no idea why this was included, but then a video url showed up. Halko Momoi (桃井はるこ) does a rendition of "Wonder Momo-i".

I couldn't stomach the audio in this video, but it was interesting and cute nontheless.

Still I was clueless, but as always the Wikipedia (en, ja) was useful in telling me that Namco released an arcade game (1987) and the corresponding PC-Engine port (1989) called Wonder Momo. Hm, a beat-em-up where she kicks high and she has to watch out for fan-service camera kozou (カメラ小僧). And your boss in Idolm@ster claims to have managed Wonder Momo in a previous life. It's a tenuous connection strictly for the old-school Namco fans, but at least they aren't forgetting their heritage.

Idolm@ster DLC sale part 2

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

Idolm@ster has a second DLC item sale, "Platinum Collection Celebration Part 2" (「アイドルマスター」のプラチナコレクション発売記念第２弾！！), starting from 11-28 to 12-24. See part 1. This time, 17 items are discounted. It's Mr. Driller cosplay time! Of course, we must tabulate the "savings".

As you can see, you save 2650 Xbox Live Points if you buy all of the discounted items next month. Or, rather, coming from my perspective, the sale items will cost 2450 XBLP.

I have yet to get through enough Idolm@ster to figure out if I need the first sale's items, and time is running out. Is it going to be a Idolm@ster weekend? haha.

At the same time, the eleventh catalog is maid dress (meido). But the stockings are FAIL. They should be plain white. Yet again Dengeki Online with the best pictures:

(photo from 「「アイマスカタログ」第11号のEXTENDはカラフルなメイド服！」2007-11-22)

I just noticed this pose is the same as the 8th catalog "China Dress" goods. Miki again is very kawaii.

Finally joining the Portal hype

(tags game, Windows, FPS, Xbox 360, Idolmaster)

I started off this weekend in the Idolm@ster mood but a couple of hours with the Xbox 360 game leave me cold. Seriously. :-( "Haruka" is a winner but I can't tell if I'm winning or losing. Yes, I don't even feel like I'm making progress. Perhaps I've become more and more impatient.

So I'm buying Portal over Steam, right now. Single player FPS is what I've had the most fun over the last couple of months, and I love puzzle games. I guess I can't stand Mr. Alvin telling me about how much fun it is and me missing it.

Old man habits win the war: Idolm@ster Birthday Goods "Miki" Figure Pre-Order Battle

(tags ECsite, figure, game, Idolmaster)

Got up this lazy Saturday morning at around 0800. I quickly tested the buy link, and it was golden so I got my pre-order through. The end of February will be posing madness! :^)

The 2ch thread (permanent copy) showed that the service started working again at around 0400. Good I didn't try to stay up that long. One puzzling thing is that they mentioned a pre-order count. I don't see a number anywhere. The last person's comment is especially appropriate: 「昨日仕事休んで挑む必要なかったwwww」 but I wanted to take a day off anyway.

Idolm@ster Birthday Goods "Miki" Figure Pre-Order Battle: YOU FAIL IT

(tags ECsite, figure, game, Idolmaster, failure)

Don't bother reading the whole thing... I lost the battle. :-(

----boring details----

1755: I prep my browsers for the online purchasing. Turn off the proxies. Turn off the bittorentting.

1758 and 40 seconds: I start a Rubik's Cube session.

1759 and 52 seconds: I almost finished my Rubik's Cube solve, but last minute panic makes me lose my concentration. Just one more move, but my hand starts moving toward the mouse.

1800 and 1 second: My browser was sitting on the pre-order link, so I click it.

oh it's in my cart! ...waiting...

1815: Um, is this thing on? I try resetting my browser's proxy setting, sending a ping to the host, etc. No go.

1823: http://www.happinetonline.com/ is not responding. It's the proverbial "slashdotting". shop.765.jp/idolmaster which is the referring link is also down. :-(

1827: I start blogging this post to past the time in between pressing F5.

1833: let's see if 2ch have any other people complaining. I never use 2ch so I just do a search. Yup. Only one person gloating about it.

1845: Oh, i was able to get it into my cart and start putting in my billing info. But now it's not responding again. :-(

1904: Still not responding. From 2ch: 「無駄な一時間だった」 Yer. I'm wondering if I'm going to spend another hour on this. Heck, why not.

1914: I've already started a JNetCube session and finished two solves. Still no response from the browser windows. Some people are already "giving up", but that's not going to deter me.

1923: Response, billing info input, submit...! no still not responding.

2014: Response... no its down again.

2045: Billing requires you to put in the equivalent of a ZIP code but when it goes out to that server the session times out... Still pressing. Maybe I should have registered as a Happinet luser?

2110: getting tired of typing the same thing over and over. I tried to register, but it dies in the same way. Grr.

2122: It's teasing me now, because the cart display is fast, but the billing page is timing out

2132: Now it's totally dead again. Hm. I need to eat something. I've bookedmarked the "add to cart" and "become a member" in both browsers' link bar.

2136: 「ただ今、ハピネット･オンラインは大変混み合っています。」 An actual replacement message for the whole store is now up. Naw that's just the message for saying the servers are slagged and they've taken the whole store offline, muhhahah. Uhh. Now I can get something to eat.

Idolm@ster step 2: Strip the plastic and put it in

(tags Idolm@ster, game, Xbox 360)
(originally written 2007-11-07)

Listening to lovely Chiaki Takahashi's Asuza drama CD pushed me over the edge to open the game. I am going past the title screen! "Go my way" indeed. I have already completed the training week.

Though the game looks like text and stat adventure, it's really stressful on my reflexes and my Japanese reading ability. The first prompt was to read 3 different subtitles within 5 seconds. I must admit my Japanese reading skills are better than my speaking or listening, due to my manga and gal-ge. But, I must be pretty slow compared to a native speaker/reader, because I can barely get the "right" answer. Still I got a Perfect Communication one time (get all the subtitle selections right). The reflex games use the Xbox controller's colored buttons, which I haven't yet memorized. This reminds me of Jak and the mini-games that use Square, Triangle, Cross and Circle, or even Angelic Concert. This will take some practice.

But OMG the characters are moe kawaii!!! I know that I would be clearing this game multiple times, so instead of picking characters that I know about like "Asuza" (seiyuu Chiaki Takahashi) or "Iori" (seiyuu Rie Kugimiya), I picked the first girl, "Haruka" (seiyuu Eriko Nakamura, 中村繪里子). She's optimistic and energetic. I dressed her up in a "cute & girl" yellow strapless knee-high skirt with matching sunflower hair pin and angel wing boots. Though in the audition time she was wearing her regular training clothes, she wore the fancy getup on a TV video segment. Most of the photo-snaps I took during her video really look good, but she kept on tripping for no apparent reason. WTF. Later I recieved "angel wings" so I changed to a white dress with the wings attached. Wow, my idol angel.

You can only "save" 5 pictures. WTF. :-( I'm going to have to get a video capture card like Mr. Alvin says I would.

I checked the "worldwide" records, and there are some crazy dedicated people out there, as always. I now know that there are 1000 Achievement Points in this game.

The first time I did an "Audition", I myself got nervous, which was a weird feeling. It was only my "third day" and my idol was already going to audition for something? What did she practice and when? Also, Audition seems to be the online component, where you battle your reflex skills in a convoluted game of Vocal, Visual, Dance stat grab. I made this part of the game offline only for now. I don't fully understand it yet but I suspect I'm going to be spending a lot of time Auditioning.

Yes the game is cute and all but the interactive gaming part is not very addictive or fun because I don't understand the nuances of the Audition. I bet you this is what I feared, which could be the reason I didn't want to try it out sooner. This is going to be a work-like game for me.

edit 11-11: I seem to like blogging about Idolm@ster and other topics more than playing the actual game! :-/ Tonight I'm going to start playing some, but still I gotta blog about...

Idolm@ster step 1.9: "Azusa Miura" is Chiaki Takahashi is Tomoko Ishibashi

(tags idolm@ster, seiyuu, voice actor, game, CD)
(originally written 2007-10-07)

I don't boast my voice actress recognition skills because I don't have any. I can't pick out the difference between seiyuu A and seiyuu B if I don't have at least their names. It doesn't help when seiyuu change their name.

Take for instance, Tomoko Ishibashi (石橋朋子). I loved to hear her voice Mizuki from Kimi ga Nozomu Eien. I looked her up in the Japanese Wikipedia and her career seemed to be stalled in 2005. But an #insertcredit regular, kyouji, pointed out that the English Wikipedia version of the page linked Tomoko Ishibashi to Chiaki Takashashi (たかはし智秋). Foreign Wikipedia editors FTW. So that woman that I considered the strange finger-point dancing sidekick in Aice5 is one of my class A favorite seiyuu. Huh.

When I figured that out a couple of weeks back, I first thought, ugh, I'm going to have to buy the Aice5 music, ha ha. But no, the Idolm@ster works have plenty of Chiaki Takahashi. She is one of the regular hosts of the Idolm@ster Radio (アイマスレディオ):

(Pictures swiped from Geemaga blog: 「ゲーマガblog: アイマスレイディオ・舞台裏中継」)
(10/7, 10/14, 10/21, 10/28, 11/4)

I don't make time to listen to web radio so I bought her character CD instead:

She sounds just like the Tomoko Ishibashi I want to hear. WIN! I like most of the songs on this CD except that her singing seems a little coarse at the high end. For example, she did a cover of the PS2 game Final Fantasy XII song "Kiss me Good Bye". While her start sounds excellent, in the end I prefer Angela Aki's original version. She is killer great in dialogue, and the CD's drama parts had me melting. It also helps that my favorite tsundere voice Rie Kugimiya (釘宮理恵) guest stars on this CD.

And this also puts to rest who C.T. Veronica was in the duo Exige. I bought the Exige single because of Minami Kuribayashi (栗林みな実), but C.T. (Chiaki Takahashi) Veronica sang so good I wondered who this "gaijin" was. Hehe.

Still, learning that my "hero" has resurrected from a 2005 "death" is great. Now to find more of her work, on the cheep. More fun links: "elder sister Chiaki Takahashi info site" 「elder sister たかはし智秋さん情報サイト」.

Idolm@ster "Birthday Goods" series

(tags game, Idolm@ster, figure, ECsite)

The last time I bought the Idolm@ster limited edition game, I missed out on the concert (raffle) and the good looking Miki Xbox 360 faceplate. This time I'm determined to be up to date on these goods.

That means keeping a eye on the Official Goods Shop. While researching the last post about the upcoming L4U game, I stumbled across the latest of the "Birthday" series (「バースデー記念企画グッズ」シリーズ), which is this fabulous "HappyBirthday! Miki! 11.23" promotion (星井美希リミテッドドール)

Excellent! This "Miki Hoshii" posable figure has a really cute face. Idolm@ster is really about playing with figures, polygon or otherwise, isn't it? I don't like the hinges on my figures, though. I can't seem to mentally block that out.

This is a online shop promotion for the limited edition game bundled with the figure, which makes it 2_6040 yen. Thus, the figure itself is around 1_6000 yen plus. The company who makes the figure is none other than Mega Hobby, who makes the "Action Figure Collection" posable doll series. I did get the Tsukuyomi "Hazuki" AFC posable doll (AFC 「月詠-MOON PHASE-　葉月」) for about 1_5000 yen retail about a year back, so that makes the price... understandable?

Talk about overpriced useless crap. (/me orders two)

Actually, only 3000 of these sets will be available. Since Idolm@ster fans have money, lots of money, and this figure is more decent than the Azusa Miura figure, I expect that the pre-order system which starts 11/16 next friday 18:00 will crash and I will be robbed, again. Maybe I should take next Friday off, because a salaryman shouldn't be hitting refresh 16 times a second from the company network.

Idolm@ster time limit: 2008-02-28 "Live For You!"

(tags game, Idolm@ster, Xbox 360)

I better get started with Idolm@ster now. The next game Idolm@ster Live For You! (L4U, アイドルマスター ライブフォーユー！) is coming out 2008-02-28. That's like 111 days from now. At least the limited edition thing is not going to be a big box this time.

This time around it seems you get a 84 page pamphlet, anime DVD, and a sparkling sleeve with the case. Also as a shop incentive, you get a "new song download card" which allows you to buy the "first set of new music data!" for free, huh (「L4U!新曲第1弾配信データ」).

Thanks Senaka Otaroad blog.

Idolm@ster step 1.5: Remind myself to open the case

(tags Idolmaster, game)

See that Idolm@ster book there in the last post? Yes I'm making more progress. I'm dog tired though, so I'm not going further than that today.

I put the plastic case right next to my monitor so I can look at it every now and then. Oh, hey, I never realized this is a CERO C (ages 15 and up) game. Ehehehe.

Idolm@ster step 1: Open the box

(tags game, Xbox 360, Idolm@ster)

I don't understand why I haven't played Idolm@ster within the month I got my Xbox 360. I mean, look at all the stuff I blog about. I should be all over this moe cosplay kawaii loli teen idoru anime-like (date-sim?) music dance manager-simulation game. I thought this weekend would be the weekend to start. The truth of the matter is I've got other hobbies (yer rite) and I rather "shoot things" than "train idols" right now. I dread watching uncanny valley polygons creepily rock back and forth to look life-like, and the stat-up treadmill of a sim.

But! I am slowly but surely moving forward. I explored the downloadable contents (DLC). I bought an Idolm@ster related CD (definately going to blog about this). I am scoping the Yahoo Auctions for anything I want and boy there are some.

I suppose I need to continue these small steps. Today I am taking the game case out of the box. (picture above) Tomorrow I might continue by unwrapping it from the plastic.

Idolm@ster DLC sale?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tales from a Xbox 360 owner

(tags Xbox 360, game, hardware, Idolmaster)

I actively pursued some personal hands-on Xbox 360 knowledge by asking a co-worker about his setup. He's an FPS-on-PC and action/adventure game guy, and not at all a typical Japanese gamer. So here are my questions in italic, and his answers:

• Is 20GB enough? Sure, I delete demos quickly and Japan doesn't have a video service like in the U.S. so its enough.
• Are game saves big? No, just a couple hundred KB per game.
• How about downloading items? Yeah, I bought some map packs, in the tens of megabyte range. The Idolm@ster stuff is which is "8 catalogs" is a total of about 2GB (see wikipedia).

(photo from 「ビビッドなチャイナ服が登場！ 「アイマスカタログ」第8号配信」 2007-08-29)

• Can I use a VGA LCD monitor? Sure, you can use the VGA cable, no fuss. But why do 4:3 when 16:9 is so much better?
• Will it output "1080p" onto a widescreen LCD monitor? No games support it so why would you need that? Make sure to get a 20 inch or bigger display if you wanna go widescreen.
• Is it good to have HDMI on a monitor? Yeah if you want to use the DVD upscaling function. PS3 has the same requirement, no DVD upscaling on non-HDMI connections.
• Wireless (controller)? Batteries go pretty fast so buy rechargables like "enerloop" or you can try out the "Charge and Play Kit". I've lost power to my controller a number of times.
• Did you service your Xbox and if so how many times? I sent it in just one time a couple of months ago. (I think he has an early Xbox 360.)
• 65 nm process Xbox? I haven't heard any confirmation about this yet, and though the heat sink configuration might have changed in new Xboxes doesn't mean its a 65 nm.

Then he recommended some games. He imports foreign games so he's just like me, but only when he confirms (through official announcment) that they work on the console (ie region-free). For example he bought BioShock the U.S. version and complains that the English subtitles don't follow the dialogue exactly. He plays it in English, and but he doesn't talk to me in English, huh. He gives a thumbs down on Lost Planet. "Play it at your own risk." Huh, but that's not stopping me. "Avoid Trusty Bell, it has a bad (weak) story." Gears of War is good. "Did you know if you change your language they speak English?" Ooh thanks for that info. What about Project Sylpheed? "Um, well its okay :-/" Viva Pinata? "Not bad." "I don't completely finish games, I just keep on moving on to the next ones. :-)"

Upcoming games? Ace Combat 6 (ACE COMBAT 6 解放への戦火), his thumb's up. Beautiful Katamari (ビューティフル塊魂). I asked why?!? Because "its fun and I played it on the PS2". Halo 3? No, I'm not getting that (?!?! why not!). Lost Oddessy? "Hm, maybe." Assassin's Creed (アサシン クリード) Yes. How about those newly announced Xbox Live Arcade games (shmups)? "Hm, well." I think he was feigning interest there just to humor me.

Now I have about two weeks before the Xbox 360 comes to my home. OMG it seems like I can't wait. I need to check if my Xbox 1 games are compatible. I need to make sure I can secure a Halo-edition Xbox at my local store. I need to really make sure I don't want the Elite edition. Will I buy a JP Halo 3 or wait till more info about English-capable version? Aaah!