IRC is the mind killer

(tags IRC, blog)

Just now I got stuck reading my own blog. Man, this guy is totally interesting, and I wish he wrote more. ;-) Heh.

Ever since re-joining the IRC life after meeting some IRC friends IRL (ooh scary). I have not been writing many posts. I suppose I must prioritize my limited free time but its just so easy to derive satisfaction from sitting in an IRC channel and bouncing non-sequiturs and off-the-cuff rude remarks. "Yer mom". Then again sometimes I learn about new things like new games and new Internet usage techniques. Communication is important! Says the hermit who refuses to turn on comments on his blog.

Now that I figured out how to log in my IRC client and how to keep a client session up longer (run it on my always on PC, duh), I can still participate, but perhaps I shouldn't pop in every day. Let's give that a try. Greetz and howdy for a new habit.

Nanoha cross-media uppercut

(tags game, movie, なのは)

I thought my Nanoha fandom died out after ignoring the third TV series, but I got swept into this weekend's one two otaku-targeted cross-media punch: Nanoha the theatrical movie and Nanoha the PSP game. Below is the instant when my fandom re-ignited, mostly raw and unedited. I want to expand on certain facets of it in separate posts, but give me a night to polish (and collect pictures eh heh).

Written around 2010-01-22 Friday evening:

Nanoha the Movie 1 starts tomorrow. Wanna watch it. Then again its 1500 yen and no special goodie with ticket because I was too slow to pre-order. The movie is showing at Cine Libre Kobe (シネ・リーブル神戸) which is this artsy almost-independent place that sometimes shows anime. Also starting tomorrow is the Fate/Stay Night movie but I'm not into that. Well, that's two "Fate"s in one day (the other is Fate Tessterosa from Nanoha, ha ha).

Yesterday, there were many limited edition copies of the Nanoha PSP game to be had, but the regular edition was either sold out or just not in yet (or stores are forcing the sale of the expensive version first).

A Xbox 360 Holiday full of deals

(tags game, Xbox 360)

I spent the Xmas and New Years holidays playing the daily deals trickling off Xbox Live. It was called the Xbox Live Holiday Deal. I watched the daily unveiling through the Cheap Ass Gamer post. The Japan region had different deals from the US region, so I watched it through ホリデーカウントダウン.

I picked up all the free stuff. I also picked up Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, Castle Crashers, Battlefield 1943. Only Castle Crashers held my attention longer than a day. Actually the first day I played it, I logged into a game and some high level total strangers helped boost me. I then played the game with some closer aquaintances and got a complete Achievement from it. That was fun.

Acutally the Deal of the Week was Shadow Complex, which I played to completion on Hardcore the first time. That was pretty fun but I don't feel like playing that game a third time through.

Finally I picked up A Kingdom for Keflings, which was the following Deal of the Week. I like this game a lot because of the building and resource collecting. I even purchased one of the DLC packs which is just two extra maps. I'm feeling the tinge of boredom with it now, but the first time I played it was a 5 hour straight session.

Xbox 360 don't fail me now.

My Avatar movie experience

(tags movie)

"Do I really have to do this now?" "Yes while it's still fresh."

Avatar hasn't moved me to write a screed. But it reminds me of earlier last month.

I was digging through my stash when I found this old DVD of Terminator 2, with burned in letterboxing. Unlike other DVDs I owned, I felt the need to watch it right then and there. Two hours flew by, and I had new found (refound) respect for this James Cameron work. Remember when the T-1000 rammed the truck through the bridge barricade? This was the point of the movie for me where I know the bad guy (and the production crew) wasn't just messing around. That was movie magic.

So with that Terminator 2 fresh in my mind, and the buzz and hype from blogs I read (I mean skipped over) and other Internet friends, I decided to watch it on a theatre discount day. The weekend before was also a discount day and I watched the sequel to Tinkerbell there as well, which I hoped was a good as the first but unfortunately was forgettable Disney moralizing and deus ex machina.

I announced my intention to watch the movie to my IRC chat buddies at #insertcredit and most of them recommended the 3d version. I was set on watching the 2d version with subtitles but after some rumination (you can't duplicated the experience at home) and seeing the price difference (only 300 yen more, so it was still a good discount), I decided to give the 3D "IMAX" version a try. BTW, I always thought the "IMAX" thing was the distorted 180 degree bubble screen. I think that was the last time I ever saw anything called IMAX.

I arrived at the theater one hour before, intending to watch the 13:10 but it was sold out. Was this the result of the discount pricing? The second showing was at 20:10 but I didn't hesitate. Coming back again, I decided to get popcorn and drink with this movie, hoping the movie food would suspend my disbelief. Buying overpriced snacks at the theater is a rarity for me. I felt dismayed when the admission lady handed me the required 3d glasses though.

Still I sat throught the whole 2 hours and 40 minutes not wondering when it would end. I also spent the whole period wondering what is CG and was wasn't. Technically speaking, the 3d effect is not very impressive and has turned me off to the 3d display push now happening in the consumer electronics arena. All it does is make the background blurry. Maybe I need to have my eyes checked, but maybe only young people can enjoy this 3d effect. Not me.

After the movie ended, I had to walk home uphill 30 minutes during a winter midnight. At least the weather wasn't too bad. My brain was stuck on processing the movie, but nothing of eloquence or insight came out. It was just as if I've seen Terminator 2 full of awesome visuals, but with none of the satisfaction of thinly-veiled moralizing. The story played with my emotions bouncing them in obvious ways. Too much happy end and deus ex machina. Because of that, I unfortunately don't think this one will stick in my brain. It will be a year or 10 before I feel the urge to watch it again.

I'm not saying that this movie is bland, but perhaps that watching all this anime, reading science fiction and playing fantastic backdrop games, etc etc, its standard fare for my imagination.

Okay now onto the web to read all the other reviews I skipped.

Happy New Year 2010

(tags greetz)

Greetz and Howdy for the 2010 year.

With that out of the way maybe I can write some random blatherings.

Kansai themed Melon-chan (Melonbooks key-holder)

(tags Melonbooks, collectable, goods, kawaii, Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto)

Last month I went to Kyoto to see the Autumn Leaves in fancy Japanese temples and shrines. Big woop but my camera failed to capture the leaf beauty.

While I was in the area I picked up the Melonbooks key-holder goods (メロンブックスオリジナルの特製グッズ交換 「ご当地めろんキーホルダー」). Basically, each Melonbooks store has their own themed key-chain goods, based on their lead moe-ish character "Melon-chan".

It was no sweat to pick up the Kobe's Sailor Melon (神戸／水兵メロン). Kyoto's Maiko Melon is the classic (twin-tail) beauty (京都／舞妓めろん). And Osaka's Takoyaki Melon makes me laugh nandeyanen?! (大阪／たこ焼きめろん).

Artist Shun Kazakami (風上旬) is responsible for this killer design. I totally forgot about it, but this artist was featured every month in the now defunct moe-friendly Majikyu magazine (マジキュー連載「５階美少女家電売り場でございます」). I have all 40 issues, heh heh.

There are 20 themes in all, and all of them are pretty kawaii. Gotta catch 'em all, except I hate travelling. I've been trying to do the Auctions but not all of them are up. I did collect some already but at this rate I think I'll be done in 2011.

Oh, and the official web banner. Hawt. I forgot how much 300 Melonbooks points is in yen, but it's not that expensive. I have like 4000 Melonbook points. Now all I need is a bicycle to ride around.

Cannot squeeze one game in

(tags Xbox 360, Street Fighter)

Too much stuff to do before I go to sleep... I have the Street Fighter IV disc waiting to be started up but it's gonna need to wait. That one as well as the Tales of Vesperia.

Uh oh, a Kudo-tan encountered (PlayStation 2)

(tags Little Busters, PlayStation 2, Kudo-tan)

Uh oh, a Kudo-tan encountered:

Finding a common game:

Batted a single:

See you next time, on the PlayStation 2:

Hm, I also need to learn using my own vocabulary notes.

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.

Mermaids

(tags Disney, art, Pop)

Ariel sitting on the rock coming out of the sea did me in. Brushing her hair and winking at her prince. Disney's The Little Mermaid. I still don't have the DVD though. Perhaps I'm waiting for the Blu-ray?

From the blog of The Art (and random adventures) of Eric Tan, comes this stunning poster art. It was commissioned for the recent hardcover book The Art of the Disney Princess. (ISBN-13: 9781423123712)

This release reminds me of Pop-sensei picture book take on the original story, Pop Wonderland Ningyo Hime Little Mermaid (POP WONDERLAND にんぎょひめ, ISBN-13 978-4-591-10603-7) from last year. Unfortunately the retold story follows the original too closely and is depressing.

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.

Not really my hardware: Xbox 360 Update locks out non-licensed memory devices

(tags hardware, Xbox 360, DRM)

Software lockouts seem to be a theme lately. There's the Apple and the Palm Pre synchronization battle, the Apple Store (also Zune, Android) approval nightmares. The latest one hits home: the November 2008 Xbox 360 Update will render my Datel Max Memory expansion cards useless, according to the official insider blog, Major Nelson. (Thanks Kotaku, Joystiq)

I used the first card of 8GB for all the DLC I bought including XBLA games and expansions. I used the second card of 8GB for Xbox official videos that are no longer available like the Prince of Persia (2008) video where the rock beast enemy thumps the wall in time with music beat change. I think it was an E3 exclusive release, but revised afterward.

I was mad at first, but I'm not really that angry anymore. So what if my game saves disappear? I let go of my saves from my Apple IIgs games, Mac games, and I sure don't have my Doom, PS1, PS2 saves backed up anyway. I haven't really accomplished anything worthwhile, except maybe my high scores. No 1cc replay data anywhere. Perhaps this is the feeling of not being able to take it with me. I bet the only things that will be saved in the next 10 years will be my YouTube videos about Bangai-O Spirits and this blog. Oh wait, I haven't backed this blog up recently. Uh oh.