Saturday, June 29, 2002

Got the house today.

Went out and cleaned it up mostly tonight.

Moving everything tomorrow and getting out of this stupid apartment!

Yay!

Must sleep now.

Oh, got Airblade & Parappa 2 for $50 total. Airblade was only $15 used at EB! Finally a used game price worth spending money for. Airblade is a very sweet looking game and has a pretty nifty Tony Hawk Light feel to it.

But I can't play it much for the next few days as I'll be in transition. Oh well. Wish us luck!

Toodles.

Man, I need to sleep. I'm not making any sense in this post.

Wednesday, June 26, 2002

Oh, I'm glad I didn't get Stuntman the other day. It's gotten middling reviews at best. It looks kind of fun, but not $90 worth of fun. I did see some pretty sweet deals on SNES games (Earthbound for $30! Super Game Boy adapter for the SNES for $20!)... sadly I couldn't bring myself to buy them because I've been denying myself the priviledge of buying anything now until Warcraft 3 (and the move) are over and out... Sigh... I've conditioned myself too well! But it's good. If I did break down and get either of those, I'd have then run upstairs, bought Syberia (which looks amazing) and who knows what else!

Oh well.
Well, I'm now officially off work until July 8th. I move this weekend (yay) and Warcraft 3 is out next week. Sadly, I've seen my collector's edition already... stood within 2 feet of it... but I can't touch it and bring it home because BLIZZARD isn't letting me do that until next week! Grr...

But that's ok. I can get more NWN in between packing sessions! Man, that game is great.

Well, I'm off to play some more NWN before watching Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (sigh, I'm a sucker for bad movies :)
.hack Volume 1 set for October release

Bandai has announced that its PlayStation 2 software, .hack Volume 1, has shipped 120,000 copies in its first four days of release. The first of four chapters was released last week. Each chapter includes the game software and an animated feature on DVD. According to the press release, the company has also announced plans to release .hack Volume 1 for the PlayStation 2 in October in North America. The game was recently shown at E3 in Los Angeles.

By Staff, GameSpot VG [POSTED: 06/26/02]


This is good because I've been watching the anime that is based on the game and it's pretty sweet. Think of a sort of typical Final Fantasy style console RPG but rather than the usual fantasy setting, it takes place inside a fantasy MMORPG that has gone haywire. It's looking pretty sweet.

Monday, June 24, 2002

Stuntman for the PS2 is out. It looks rather interesting, but I might just wait till I see a copy used or wait for my brother to get it. Syberia for the PC is also out (and only $40) so that might be a sooner purchase than Stuntman, which I only have cursory knowledge of.

I was also walking by Microplay today and saw XENOSAGA running on their PS2 demo unit. I almost died. I ran in and was about to plunk down the money for the game but then was informed that it was just a demo DVD of the game. Sigh. It looks amazing though. And since it won't likely be out until March 2003, I can probably beat Xenogears by then.

I am really tempted to just go out and pick up a Gamecube w/ Eternal Darkness and also an Xbox w/ Jet Set Radio Future. Sigh. But not yet. Maybe late in the summer.

I've heard that Eternal Darkness really screws around with your mind. If your sanity meter drops too low, it might even start acting like the controller is broken or put up screens saying "Disc Read Error. Please reset your system now."... but if you do that you just lose all your data... that's evil, if you ask me :)

Anyway, I'm off. Gotta get back to work... donated blood and man, it just wouldn't stop gushing... went through about 3-4 pads of gauze before they finally got the blood to stop. Which is odd. Usually I don't spill a drop after they take the needle out... must have hit a gusher today!
Hmm... This is an interesting tidbit.

According to my local EB manager, Warcraft 3 has a "street date" of July 3. Blizzard is being VERY strict about it and will not allow retailers to sell their copies of Warcraft 3 before that time, even though EB is getting in copies of the Collector's Edition tomorrow! That's a week in advance. This is kind of annoying since most of the time retailers have to wait until after the game was due out to receive their copies of a given game. This time the stores will have them up to a week in advance but can't sell any of them.

The interesting tidbit is that IF a store does jump the gun and start selling their copies early, they can either a) face fines and possibly lose their job or b) cause Blizzard to throw up their hands and scrap the release date and let the stores with copies in now sell now.

I've been somewhat recruited by EB to watch the various stores in the area to see if they'll jump the gun, since they would like to give me (and others) their copies of the Collector's Edition, but they don't want to get spanked and/or fired. Part of me would LOVE to get my hands on Warcraft 3 tomorrow, but I'm also aware of the fact that I'm moving in 4 days and have to pack and also play the snot out of Neverwinter Nights before I pack up my system...

So I don't actually mind waiting until next week.

Ah well.
Yeep! I didn't realize I hadn't updated in a while.

I blame Neverwinter Nights. Man, that game is addictive. Think of Baldur's Gate RPG goodness wrapped up in a very pretty 3D package and then throw in the ability to make your own dungeons/cities/adventures with a relatively simple (though potentially deep and complex) editor... man... good times.

I am loving the singleplayer campaign. I was worried when I saw there were only 4 chapters, but since I've been working on chapter 1 for the last 2-3 days and am only half done it, I guess I can't complain. I've also been working on my own little module and getting more comfortable with the DM client and the Toolset features. It's great!

Well, I'm off to donate blood now. Toodles!

Thursday, June 20, 2002

Kingdom Hearts Movie? - Prophet
Spong.com reports that Disney's Japanese arm has announced that a film based on Kingdom Hearts is in the works. The film will follow the storyline of the Squaresoft game currently under development and will feature all the characters, settings and plot lines featured in the game. In case you didn't know, Kingdom Hearts is an interesting role-playing game being developed by Squaresoft for the PlayStation2 that features a Disney/Square crossover storyline (and interaction between characters from both universes). No word on where this film will be released besides Japan, but it should be complete by next year, according to the report.

I hope they actually do make the film and that it will be available somehow over here.

Wednesday, June 19, 2002

Oh, today I was driving behind a Delorean! Woo! It had a great license plate too.

OUTFTME (out of time for those of you who suck at Bumper Stumpers)
Check out my character in Neverwinter Nights. Good ol' Morgan Flametamer.

Quarter to Three is back! Quarter to Three is back!

One of the best news sites, if only because the guys who run it are so funny and well-written. Check out the new Shoot Club article.

Monday, June 17, 2002

Oh, and Neverwinter Nights is out on Wednesday... I'm starting to feel a cold coming on for Thursday...
Oh, I'm getting The Warcraft 3 Collector's Edition in a few weeks. Woot woot! Should be in right after I get my computer set up in our new house. Less than 2 weeks to moving day! Yeehaw!
So help me if Bell thinks I'm paying for my extra gigs this month. I asked the lady on the tech line no less than 3 times if I had till July 4th before the bitcap came into effect on my line, and she said that was the date it would come into effect.

Part of me hopes that all is well and I just get my normal bill at the end of the month. Part of me almost hopes that they'll charge me for my extra bandwidth this month and then I can go on a rampage, phone-style, with the people in the billing department.

I have no problem sticking to my bitcap limit. In fact, I was planning on being a good boy this month. But if I have a grace period to download unlimited gigs, you'd better believe I'm going to abuse the hell out of it before they slam the lid shut. 5 Gigs my left butt cheek.

I wouldn't be so ticked at them if it were a reasonable amount per gig over 5 Gigs... but $8/gig? You've got to be kidding me! I could handle $2-3, even $4/gig, but $8/gig over 5GB when you're already paying $45/month for the service is sounding a little extreme.

Oh well. Enough of my railing against the system. I'm off to bed.
Had a great day today at work. Spent most of it barbequeing huge slabs of yummy beef at one of the guys' sister's place. Mmm...

Unfortunately, had elated bubble burst somewhat by a) watching the dillweed in the car in front of me run over a cat on the way home and not try to swerve, slow down or otherwise avoid it... b) having to swerve myself to avoid further crushing said cat as it came flying at my car... and c) having to listen to the people on the radio have a phone-in contest, the prize of which was a month's supply of bagels, and the answer to the question being SHAOLIN SOCCER, which I'd finally received on DVD from Hong Kong and had just watched the night before with the guys at work. Sigh... but then I came home and proceeded to download more anime, so it's all good.

Friday, June 14, 2002

This was another pretty funny comic off that D+Pad site. I can relate to these comics WAY too closely even though I have never worked in an EB or game retail store before... granted, I almost LIVE in them, but I haven't actually been paid to be there...

Hee hee... Found a cool new site (well, it's actually been around for a bit) called D+Pad... it's actually run by some EB employees in the Toronto area. It's pretty funny, and sort of has the Penny Arcade feel but from the retail side rather than the gamer side (well, a bit of both actually).

I particularily liked this one.

Ok. Take a look at the Map picture below. See those little blacked-in spots? That's what I've explored in Morrowind so far. THAT'S IT! Yeesh. This game is just huge.

Scary thing is that it's really only one island of one province of the entire continent that the gameworld entails... the previous 2 Elder Scrolls games let you wander around the huge continent, but the scale was a little different too... If they gave me the whole continent to explore, I'd never do anything but wander around Tamriel...

Stay away from the game The Watchmaker. I was hoping it would be a nice Gabriel Knight-esque Adventure game for my PC, but noooo... well, maybe, but since the graphics look like something out of the Wolfenstein 3D era and saying that the voiceacting is bad is being kind... *shudder*...

I have been jonesing for an adventure so badly that I am almost tempted to keep this thing on my hard-drive and see if it improves, but I doubt it. I think I'll just take it in and get the money towards, oh, WARCRAFT 3!!

Can't Sleep... Advance Wars....

Wednesday, June 12, 2002

Tekki, or Steel Battalions over here in North America, will probably be the game that will get me to buy an Xbox. Well, if I do that, then I also will be able to get Jet Set Radio Future.

Tuesday, June 11, 2002

Man... Morrowind just sucks out your soul. Between that and an excellent anime called Noir (about a couple of assassins who are embroiled in something even they don't know about) I was able to enjoy me weekend of sickness. I just sat in front of the computer and drooled and occasionally clicked things... good fun :)


I picked up a nice shiny new Gameboy Advance Platinum Edition today. It's so shiny. They also weren't kidding when they said it had a dark screen though... yeesh! I also got Golden Sun and Castlevania: Circle Of The Moon which is a pretty nice set to start out with.


I'm trying to find a copy of Tactics Ogre for the GBA, but everywhere in Brampton seems to be sold out... sigh.

Monday, June 10, 2002

This is an excellent article comparing the music industry to the book industry back in it's heyday and how they're being supplanted by new media. Pretty neat stuff.

Saturday, June 08, 2002

This is cool. There's actually a gene called Sonic Hedgehog and it's resposible for accellerated hair growth and even cancer...

It's game related... gotta love that.

Friday, June 07, 2002

From Gamespot:

Square reveals its upcoming titles

Square plans to release games on the PC, PlayStation 2, and Game Boy Advance this fiscal year in Japan.

In its annual earnings report, Square has revealed its upcoming Japanese titles for the 2003 fiscal year. According to the report, the company plans to release two role-playing games and an action game for the PlayStation 2 and two Game Boy Advance titles, including the handheld version of Final Fantasy Tactics.
Final Fantasy XI for the PlayStation 2, which was released May 16 in Japan, currently has more than 50,000 subscribers. Profit loss from the server troubles around the week of launch are estimated at 80 to 100 million yen ($600,000 to $800,000), though the company said the losses will not have an effect on next term's earnings. The development of the PC version is currently under way and is scheduled for release before the end of the fiscal year in Japan. The release of Final Fantasy XI in North America is currently planned for 2003.

Square expects to ship 3.6 million copies of its upcoming software this fiscal year. The company plans to ship 750,000 copies in the first half of the fiscal year with the releases of the PlayStation 2 titles Nichibeikan Pro Baseball, Final Fantasy XI, and World Fantasista and the WonderSwan version of Front Mission.

Thursday, June 06, 2002

Final Fantasy Adventure Bible - Musashi
Square is apparently releasing a 3-disc DVD set that chronicles the entire Final Fantasy saga from the beginning.

The Final Fantasy Adventure Bible will cover all the installments up to and including Final Fantasy XI and will retail for 13,000 yen ($104 USD). Disc one of the set will cover Final Fantasy I, II, II, and XI (not sure why Final Fantasy XI is covered out of order), Disc two tackles Final Fantasy IV, V, and VI and Disc three will cover Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX, and X.

The Final Fantasy Bible will be published by Enterbrain on July 25th in Japan.


Me wantee...
Ok. Here are a couple screenshots from Morrowind.


Here is the council chamber for the Great House Telvanni, of which I am a member.


This is a shot of the inn (it's an INN!!) in that same city of the Telvanni. Very unique architecture there.


Wednesday, June 05, 2002

Well, I worked all weekend and Monday. Had today off and spend it playing MORROWIND (duh)...

Sadly, I also had to pack up my DVD's and games today. I've kept out a couple for the next few weeks, but it's a reality that moving day is close when I have to see all my games put in a box and sealed up.