dead pixel begone... please?

(tags Playstation Portable, hardware, failure)

I didn't buy my pre-ordered copy of Hatsune Miku (初音ミク －Project DIVA－) yet, but to prepare I bought another PSP. So oh yeah welcome to 2008, but unfortunately the PSP-2000 is used and it has a dead or stuck pixel right in the middle of the screen. It's black when the background is cyan, and invisible when it is lavender-purple. Oh no.

My first two PSPs didn't have any dead pixels, so I was expecting perfection.

Obviously the thing to do is to get knowledge and run the pixel exerciser video. It's been running for 10 minutes, but no change. Let's let the video run overnight. I hope I win.

An Ichigo Masimaro Signing Event

(tags Ichigo Masimaro, signature, DVD region 2)

It really was an Otaku Sunday: Dream Party Osaka was on. But I didn't bother going. Instead I attended this:

Yes, Barasui-sensei was in the house. I was able to get a signed (copied) illustration for Ichigo Masimaro (苺ましまろ). As a fanatic for this series, being able to meet Barasui-sensei in the flesh, have something personally signed by him (with my name!), and actually shake his (drawing) hand is really one of the high points in my hobbies.

Basically I won a raffle (like 99 other people in the Osaka area) to attend this signing event after buying his latest tankoban manga volume 6 and the two recent DVD OVAs in the Encore series. As with the previous outing, I had to send the proofs of purchases through the mail and wait for the good news. It came as a small postcard. I saw a Yahoo Auction for this postcard asking for 15_0000 yen, but there were no takers.

I came in later, so I had to wait about 20 minutes, with 30 people in front of me. The stench in the room was typical otaku-funk, yuk. It didn't help that today was a bright, sunny day in the middle of tsuyu (monsoon) season. Perhaps as I get older, I am more sensitive to odor? That runs contrary to my body running down.

The first 50 people were told to sit in comfy rollable chairs, as if Barasui-sensei was holding a class. He was sitting at the signing desk, with a bunch of IM derivate goods (like the DVDs). They had the opening and ending themes playing in the background to get us in the mood. It was pretty spooky. I was able to stare at him while the first 39 people had their turn. Barasui-sensei himself looked pretty slim and healthy. He drew himself in one of those pickup collections (Ichigo Masimaru Yorinuku ?) as a sports or soccer nerd, and he definately looks it. I would have never guessed by appearance alone that this man would like to draw you some elementary school life manga.

Barasui-sensei and his two female handlers paused when before writing my name. Since my name in Japanese is 11 katakana characters, I suppose it was much longer than he expected to write. Huh. So I just requested my last name. Also, perhaps I was the only foreigner able to attend this event. (except I spied the Japanese guy with a foreign sounding first name, oh.) That must be why he asked where I was from. (I do recall that he did signing events in Taiwan, though.) He wasn't talkative and I wasn't talkative so I left with an Arigatou Gozaimasu, a handshake and a bow.

On the way out, one of the lady handlers asked me which character I liked and I said "Miu" because I blanked out. (I should have said Ana.) So I received a candy with a small Miu illustration as well. Finally I received a A3 sized Encore "activity" paper, intended for kids, like one of those McDonalds tray papers.

You know about 98% of the attendies were guys. Well there was a guy in a suit and tie, so he obviously wins the most normal prize. The one girl that was in the group in front of me was spastic and talkative. Not normal. Every other guy was in typical backpack/messenger bag and casual otaku long pants denim.

There are a couple of things I regret. I wish I said more, like "I like your comics", or "I am glad to finally see you", or "I will continue to support you". I suppose I panicked, and instead I have an awkward silence as a memory. Another thing I wish I had done was to prepare some kind of omiyage or gift. I am reminded of that female illustrator Aoi Nishimata and her copious pictures of gifts from fan events. As a guy, Barasui probably doesn't get many gifts. There was one fan in front of me that gave something, but no else seemed to bother. Ungrateful fans, myself included.

So this is it. I don't bother buying the monthly magazine with his manga any more. I just wait for his next collected release. Hopefully more OVAs will come out, but he seems to be skipping monthly issues or just losing initiative or ideas. I don't know what else he's been doing. I don't expect IM to last much longer, to tell you the truth. So to me, this send out was a final delectable bang.

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.

I stopped buying the weekly Famitsu

(tags magazine, Famitsu)

I stopped buying the weekly Famitsu game magazine.

This is my third week going without.

I don't even try to tachiyomi.

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.

Star Trek: Action-packed baton pass

(tags Star Trek, movie)

As a self-professed Star Trek fan, I admit to not watching the later iterations of canon. For example I haven't seen Enterprise the TV series or the last couple of movies with the Next Generation cast. But it's hard to get excited about all the logical inconsistencies. I completely watched Star Trek Voyager on DVD and the ending was the last straw.

So I didn't have much enthusiasm for seeing this latest movie, Star Trek (2009). I mean come on, they did a reboot on TV and it fizzled. I didn't bother watching trailers. I did skip the discussions on Slashdot, just in case. Then the reviews come in. Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes show a better-than-expected favorable reception. It makes headlines pulling in money. Friends and virtual aquaintances that I know who aren't as nerdy as I am about Star Trek give it a thumbs up. Oh, okay let's check this out.

Star Trek opened the last week of May in Japan, after being out 3 weeks in most English speaking countries. I watched it today, on the 3rd day, to an early morning half-filled theatre. The couples around me were elderly, with one of the doods smelling of urine while the others smelled of fresh smokes. At least in Japanese theatres people don't heckle, but I really hate those old people who have breathing problems.

Then the movie began. I was surprised. I didn't expect [spoiler] to be there. I was floored. I laughed at the in-jokes. I was totally elated. Tears in my eyes (but usually I get emotional with any movie, bah). I wanted to see this movie a second time in the theatre. This was the Trek movie that I wanted to see.

At least on the surface.

I cannot and do not want to remove the years of watching The Original Series, Next Generation, Deep Space 9, Voyager. I've been to Trek conventions, bought some goods, even own complete DVD series sets (oh no Blu-Ray is out). I am a fan, I want to believe in its universe. But this is not the old, familiar Trek. This is a new Trek. I remember the baton passing from Captain to Captain in the Star Trek Generations movie. All I felt was "yeah, enough of Kirk".

The new trajectory doesn't have anything to do with science fiction or philisophical grunting ("There are four lights!"). It's pure action. Don't get me wrong, I love action. Well, it's like going to Chuck E Cheeze's expecting pizzas and arcade games, but getting hamburgers and bumper carts. Well if this is the new Trek, I like it. But I do I miss the old taste.

My post-movie review started with vague reflection, followed by stale Slashdot-hosted discussions. There they opened all the plot holes and other dissatisfying things that had been gnawing at my skeptical brain. I considered giving ST a break, that because this is a new Trek, some of those nitpicks about 24th century technology usage should be jettisoned. Or that this is a character development and motivation movie, not a "human condition" movie. In the end though, ST is the new city built on the ruins of the old one. We must raize it to save it. You can see that people lived here before, but they have nothing to do with the way we live now.

Oh well, at least the computer graphics were stellar. Let me loose inside that eye candy store. And the next movie is already in development. I'd like to see that one in the theatre, too. But I rather put the money that was on a copy for home into some SF magazines and novels. I wouldn't go so far as to say ST killed movie SF, but I won't label this new Trek as my kind of SF.

What. Oh, yeah go see it, it's a summer blockbuster movie.

I think I can I think I can... Ikaruga

(tags game, Xbox 360, Ikaruga, shmup)

I'm just playing Ikaruga just to see if I still have patience. Any patience whatsoever. Or stick control. I can pass Stage 1 most of the time. It's those times where I try to be Chain Acolyte that kill me.

So I was surprised I was able to beat Stage 2, finally, on one credit, normal settings. Well after 5 hours of Ikaruga on Xbox. Half the time I was just trying to make sure I didn't die. Chains? Forget it, at least in the later half. Also I got the A rank at the same time, w00t. Epic scrub w00t.

On the Gamecube, I think I was able to beat Stage 3. But that was years ago. This time I'm just trying to go analog controller and of course no continuing and no practice rounds.

Kinda happy, right now. Well, kinda sad actually. But let's think positive. Positivity Ikaruga Blog!

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.

This is supposed to be a game diary blog

(tags game)

This is supposed to be a game diary blog... I've been playing games but not reporting it.

Let's start with Izuna: The Unemployed Ninja for the Nintendo DS. I found this game for cheep and in English. This is an easy Rogue-like that shackled me for a week or two. Rogue-like games generally penalize you hard if you die, but I really like the fact that I keep my experience points in this game. I often lost my phat lootz but I did not get mad because I felt that it was my greed taking me down. I beat all but the last dungeon, which is really hard because it's long. Also, experience points in this last dungeon start from scratch and it is not retained when I die. I got to floor 20-ish before my greed killed me, yet again. I think I know what to do but it's too much work and not enough fun to play this last part.

I personally like the cute girl ninja (kunoichi?) and the anime flavor, but the story is lackluster and unrewarding. The translation into English doesn't seem too bad, though it is helpful to know the Japanese. Some of it is left without translation, such as sticking a talisman onto your weapon/armor, it is shown as kanji with no contextual help in English after you have decided.

I am down for the sequel though.

I got Death Smiles, the regular version for Xbox 360. I'm just playing Arrange mode, rank 1, but the difficulty on the last stage is making me gasp in anger. I still don't understand the game system.

Also, for some reason I wanted to play Ikaruga, so I did some of that recently. Got an A rank on stage 1, which unlocked an Achievement. I hate the D-pad on this controller. Also I watched the replay data from fellow Xbox members, and the replay data from the top 2 player normal version is amazing. I'm pretty sure that it is not a doubleplay (one person, two controllers), but a real-deal 2 person play.

Oh yeah, I was playing Killzone 2 at the shop, which put me into a FPS mode. Consequently, I am picking up where I left off on Half-Life 2: Episode 1. Now I'm onto Episode 2, but it's barely keeping my attention.

I still not have finished with Chrono Trigger or Trusty Bell. I need to play those again arrgh.

The Matrix has me

(tags movie, DVD region 2)

I just watched The Matrix again on DVD. I still like it. Maybe I'm a kid that needs to watch the same DVD over and over again, every day. Okay, no.