Kill the pop-ups! KILL THEM ALL!

I got 238 before they overwhelmed me.

Vice City is pretty nice so far.

I've discovered 3 simple steps to fun:

1. Get on a moped.
2. Putt down the street and get a good bit of speed going.
3. Hop off the moped and let it fly at a crowd of bystanders!

Good times... good times...

Well, I got Vice City today. Yep, a day early.

Only 3 more days till Vice City (well, Tuesday...)

Well, I traded in Wild Arms 3 the other day and got Tony Hawk 4. Then I saw Suikoden 3 and vowed to wait until sometime in the far future to get it as I was going to work through Suikoden 2 first and then play Vice City and all that jazz.

Well, today is obviously the far future. I ended up getting Suikoden 3 in Wal-Mart of all places... stupid impluse buying... well, that and the guy took it out of the case and told me to take it up to the check-out to see how much it would cost... gee... do you think I'll end up buying it then? Sigh.

I am going to see how long I can hold out and leave it in its packaging though. Now I have it, so that's done and I will have the opportunity to play it. However, I do want to finish Suikoden 2 first and so I'm going to leave 3 wrapped in its packaging until I've finished Suikoden 2.

At least, that's what I'm telling myself!

Sigh.

hmm.

I think I'm going to trade in Wild Arms 3.

I was just loving it last night until I got to this puzzle I just couldn't get past. Then I tried it again this morning and the stuff that wasn't doing anything last night started to work. SO... I played for an hour or so, but now I'm just bored of it. That, and I got to ANOTHER puzzle I"m stuck at.

I will probably see if I can find it used at some point in the future when I am jonesing for a console RPG. But I'm just bored of it right now. 12-13 hours of doing the same thing over and over again. And I could use the exchange credit to either pay off Metroid or most of The Two Towers or some other game...

If Counter-Strike players tried to stage an armed revolt, they'd be too busy trying to talk l33t vocally though.
They wouldn't know how to pronounce all the numbers :)

'u g0 0\/3r th3r3'
'\/\/h4t?'

I was trying to sell my program manager on videogames as a tool to help the moronic staff at the other home develop better problem solving skills.
All I do all day when I'm gaming is really just figuring out one problem, being rewarded with a little bit of story or movie or cool battle, and then moving on to the next problem.
Heck, even the battles teach you tactics or item management, etc.

Grr.

I want to find the guy who wrote this and beat him.

Wait a minute... Marc Saltzman... he's a good gamer news guy.. what's he doing writing this tripe!? Grr...

Ok. This guy has some wierd sites. First you have a bunch of viking kittens, then you have a bunch of jazzy chain smoking kittens who really creep me out. There's something definately wrong with the singing cat. It just looks... wrong.

I've been busy with Wild Arms 3 the last couple days. It's getting quite good. Granted, it's probably more for your hard-core, old-school RPG fan more than anything. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it is quite good and has a lot of originality as well as some good features from games such as Skies of Arcadia. I just got a sandship so it's gotten a lot less linear. There are also some REALLY good and brain-scratchingly hard puzzle dungeons to work on if you're bored of smacking demons.

The story's not bad either. It's nothing terribly original, but the mix of Wild West, fantasy (spells and demons) and sci-fi (terraforming and space ships) is pulled off quite well and nothing really sticks out as being too wacky. The graphics are really growing on me too.

Got a horse in Wild Arms 3. Woo! Now I'm a rootin' tootin' cowboy who can lob spells at my freakishly deformed enemies.

The battles on horse are pretty neat. And the game is so far doing a neat job of showing how it's such a bleak and barren world that the characters are living in that good and evil are not clear cut. It's nothing profound, mind you, but it's not like a lot of games where there's you, the good guys, and then everyone else, the bad guys. Heck, I've even had one of the bad guys logically define why, as a result of my character's actions, *I* should be the bad guy.

Not to beat on a dead horse, but MAN, I really want this game.

I finally saw the end of Unforgiven today. One more thing I can tick off my 'To Do Before I Die' list.

Why is that such a big deal? 10 years ago I was out at the movies with my future wife and a few friends. They all went to see "Columbus: 1492". I and a friend went to watch Unforgiven instead. I was sitting there, minding my own business and enjoying the movie when I was pulled out by my friends right before the big shoot-out at the end. The movie went on to win all sorts of awards and I had never gotten around to watching the end of it until today. I finally saw the whole stinkin' movie in one sitting. Ending was ok, but not worth a decade of wondering exactly how it ended :P

I was flipping through the channels today at work and twice stopped on the Country Music Television network... and I'm not a country fan. Why? They've found the way to get geeks to listen to country music. Put giant mecha in their music videos. Sigh. I can't stop watching the new Shania Twain video :(

VERY cool video. But who woulda thunk that country and mecha would go together?

This is an interesting and informative preview of the first direct sequel of a Final Fantasy game: Final Fantasy X-2.

Well, I spent a good few hours tonight playing Wild Arms 3. I've finally started getting at the meat of the game system and it's pretty neat. Looks like it'll be a relatively deep RPG with lots of customization and character improvement... and I love the setting. Wild West meets Final Fantasy. The Cel Shading is pretty snazzy too.

Beware the power of Paint Shop Pro and a little robot.

Well, you might have noticed a little Paypal button up top there. I decided that I may as well just see if I can get anyone to donate some money to me to help me save the endangered pixel. Well, actually, to help me just get more money. If anyone DOES donate, hmm... I'll send you a special e-mail thanking you :)

Can't hurt, can it?

Finished Sly Cooper today. It's very short, but man, is it ever good. One of the best games I've played in a long time. And I still have a lot of extra stuff I can go through and do so it's not totally done. Unlike Starfox, which was nice the first time through but I wouldn't bother replaying it.

Wild Arms 3 is next on the docket, ladies & gents.

PS. Anyone want to contribute towards my Steel Battalions fund? I have 4 cents in it so far... only about $600 to go.

I had some nice Maguro sushi for lunch today. Mmm... tuna... stopped in at the Japanese place on the way to my staff meeting.

2 pieces of Maguro sushi: $8.59

Grossing out all of your colleagues by eating raw fish during the staff meeting: Priceless.

Hmm.. The Wild Arms 3 site is pretty neat. It has a little minigame where you can sort of wander around the world and find all sorts of info out about the game. I do really like WA3 from what I've played of it. It's sort of your traditional RPG, but with guns and a very Wild West feel to it. And the cel shading rocks.

And they've finally released details on the North American release of .hack. Woo! This is definately a game I have my eyes on.

Looks like they've finally chosen a title for the Cube version of Zelda. Unfortunately, it's in Japanese and they haven't been able to pin it down to exactly what it is... only that it seems to involve wind.

Ok. Sly Cooper is one of the best games I've played in a LONG time and I'm only 4% finished it. Granted, it's of the sneaker/Thief-ish genre, which automatically bumps it up to the top of my list of games anyway.

Traded in a few games today and got Sly Cooper free and Wild Arms 3 cheap. Not too shabby. Now to lock up any and all means of spending money until Vice City comes out :)

Well, I just beat Starfox Adventures. Only took me about 20 hours, if that (I didn't check the save time before I took it out)... I'm trading it in though. Really cool end boss, esp. if you've played Starfox 64 :)

Only problem with the game is that it was rather easy and straightforward, which was good as far as plowing through it rather quickly went, but there is ZERO replayability unless i kept it for a few years and then played it again. Ah well. I did like it a lot and it really shows what the cube is capable of, visually.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you Canucks out there. Ha! We get turkey earlier than the States :)

Not to be outdone, Nintendo's got a nifty bundle coming out too.

Hmm... With this kind of bundle, and a $299 price tag, I just might end up picking up an Xbox before too long. And hopefully the normal systems sans games will be even cheaper. Then my videogame dominance will be complete (though I'd still need to get Steel Battalions).

Now, while this does affect the GBA, it really highlights a few things that are wrong with having console games that are 'good enough for Windows'.

Namely, that's not good enough for console gamers. Consoles aren't supposed to crash. Especially not after the opening cinematic.

Ok. I may play a lot of games, but I'm not THIS bad.

Well, I finished Kingdom Hearts today. I'm not sure if I got the special extra movie thingy or not when I finished it because I didn't have all of the things supposedly required to get it, but I did see a little thing after the credits that strongly led me to believe a Kingdom Hearts 2 is coming... which is what I've heard as what the featurette is about. Maybe I can find it on the net.

But I don't know... I am kind of miffed, as one of the things I need to get the 'special movie' was supposed to be given to me when I finished a level and I never did get it... sigh.

Great game though... excellent ending too. Squaresoft should give lessons to people on how to end a game properly.

Excellent end boss... only had about 7 different parts/stages/transformations to it as opposed to the usual 13 as required by the Big Book Of Squaresoft End Bosses.

But it was good... not too hard, not too easy, and it took a lot of near deaths before I overcame adversity and prevailed!

Go to the Strong Bad E-mail from this week and download the song...

"The System Is Down... down down down..."

hee hee.

I just got back from seeing The Tuxedo. It was great... there was just me and... me in the theatre. Had the whole place to myself :)

Movie was ok. Not the best Jackie Chan, but not the worst. Can't go wrong for $4.25 esp. when Julie's paying :)

This story about Canadian to American being added to Babelfish is pretty funny.

However, I am really busy working on wrapping up Kingdom Hearts. I probably have a day or two left of it if I can actually just sit down and play it. I'm getting there though.

Very good, no matter what Gabe over at Penny Arcade has to say about it.

No One Lives Forever 2 is great. I'm planning on spending good amount of time in the near future playing it some more. I loved finding the intelligence documents in the Russian base stating that 'there is a 19 cigarrette per day quota. No more no less. If you do not meet the quota, you will be shot. If you exceed the quota, you will be shot.'... there was a similar one about having a 9 cups of coffee/day quota too. All sorts of punishments for diluting the coffee w/ water or pouring it into the nearest plant too :)

Sorry about the lack of updates.

Worked all weekend and then spent the last two days caring for one of the guys at work who had all (yes, ALL) of his teeth taken out and dentures put in. Poor guy.

Picked up No One Lives Forever 2. I only played a wee bit, but man, it's a sweet game. From the reviews I've read, it's at least as good, if not better, than the first NOLF. Which is saying a lot concidering just how drop dead fun the original was. It also seems to have a much stronger stealth element, which can only earn it bonus points in my book since my favourite FPS is Thief, which relied solely on sneaking...

Got a pretty sweet Kingdom Hearts poster today too :)

I found this on www.aspectus.com, who found it on www.inktank.com, who found it on USENET...

-----

A furious light saber duel is under way. DARTH VADER is backing LUKE SKYWALKER toward the end of the gantry. A quick move by Vader, chops off Luke's hand! It goes spinning off into the ventilation shaft. Luke backs away. He looks round, but realizes there's nowhere to go but straight down.

DARTH VADER: "Obi Wan never told you what happened to your father."

LUKE: "He told me enough! He told me you killed him!"

DARTH VADER: "No! I am your father!"

LUKE: "No, it's not true! It's impossible."

DARTH VADER: "Search your feelings; you know it to be true."

LUKE: "NO!"

DARTH VADER: "Yes, it is true and you know what else? You know that brass droid of yours?"

LUKE: "Threepio?"

DARTH VADER: "Yes, Threepio, I built him when I was seven years old."

LUKE: "No."

DARTH VADER: "Seven years old? And what have you done? Look at yourself, no hand, no job, and couldn't even levitate your own ship out of the swamp."

LUKE: "I worked hard on that moisture farm."

DARTH VADER: "What? Hauling buckets? I spent my childhood as a slave then *real* Jedi training, not 'a few days in the swamp with Yoda'."

LUKE: "I destroyed your precious Death Star!"

DARTH VADER: "When you were 20! When I was 10, I single-handedly destroyed a Trade Federation Droid Control ship!"

LUKE: "Well, it's not my fault."

DARTH VADER: "Oh, here we go. 'Poor me, my father never gave me what I wanted for my birthday, boo hoo, my daddy's the Dark Lord of the Sith.. waahhh wahhh!'"

LUKE: "Shut up."

DARTH VADER: "You're a slacker! By the time I was your age, I had exterminated the Jedi knights!"

LUKE: "I used to race my T-16 through Beggar's Canyon!"

DARTH VADER: "Oh, for the love of the Emperor � 10 years old, winner of the Boonta Eve Open. Only human to ever fly a Pod Racer, right here baby!"

Luke looks down the shaft. Takes a step toward it.

DARTH VADER: "I was wrong. You're not my kid. I don't know whose you are, but you sure ain't mine."

Luke takes a step off the platform, hesitates, then plunges down the shaft.

Darth Vader looks after him.

DARTH VADER: "And get a haircut!"

I'm back from my cottage trip.

Go figure though... I was up at the top of this mountain at a lookout and there are just two vehicles in the parking lot, our rental and this guy in a camper truck.

Of all the acreage of parking lot that the guy had to back up in, he had to choose the back end of our rental car as his final destination... sigh.

No biggie (on my end at least) as we had the rental insurance and it was just a broken tail-light and a little dent anyway. But sheesh.

Tomorrow is the first anniversary of our church, Churchill Meadows Christian Church. I get to do the A/V portion of the service. Which is something I do every other week anyway, but it's nice that I was able to do it on this big day :)

Gah. Two days of no plans and time off and what do I do? I play Animal Crossing all day. Which would be fine if I didn't have a bunch of games that actually had a beginning and end to work on. Sigh. But it's just so bloody addictive!

Ah Starfox. Great game. I think this Penny Arcade strip sums it up.

hee hee... I did the "What Dictator Am I?" test and I'm Saddam Hussein. Better watch out.

You managed to piss off western countries by killing innocent people to get you're hands on oil fields that don't belong to you! That's THEIR job, so a task force was sent to kick you up the backside. They succeeded, but you managed to make them look stupid when it was reviled that the American armed forces had somehow shot down four times as many missiles then you actually owned, and the UK was selling you guns and weapon parts while at war to use against them! So "daddy's little boy" is after you now. Considering what happened the last time, I bet you're SO scared! What tin-pot dictator are you? Take the "What Dictator am I?" test at PoisonedMinds.com

Also, on a more sombre note, my little brother Grant, aka Sapper Wager in the Canadian Armed Forces, had a death of one of his fellow Sappers occur this week while on a training mission. You hear about these kinds of things, but this hits close to home. I don't really know what else to say. Just don't forget that the people in the army aren't only in danger when they're on a mission. Kind of makes me glad I've only got to deal with annoyances rather than live ammo and explosives on a daily basis. (virtual = good. real=bad)

I hope my Animal Crossing friends still like me.

I'm back from the cottage. Good times were had by all, although drownings were narrowly avoided by only one.

Got Starfox too. Woo! Now I can't get anything till I've finished it, Mafia and Kingdom Hearts.

Also, if you go to Australia, you can meet the guy who does Mario's voice :)

Blizzard's StarCraft: Ghost Announced
Blizzard announces StarCraft: Ghost for consoles at the Tokyo Game Show.
Thursday September 19, 2002 | hardcore_pawn


StarCraft: Ghost is official
Blizzard has unveiled its new project - StarCraft: Ghost - today at the Tokyo Game Show 2002 which is currently underway at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba, Japan. After much speculation from the gaming community, Blizzard officially answered the question on everyone's minds by issuing this press release which says the game is coming to multiple console platforms in late 2003.


"MAKUHARI, Japan � September 20, 2002 � During a press conference today at the Tokyo Game Show, Blizzard Entertainment�, a studio of the games division of Vivendi Universal Publishing, unveiled StarCraft: Ghost�, a tactical-action console game set in Blizzard�s epic StarCraft� universe. StarCraft: Ghost is currently under development and is scheduled for a worldwide release on multiple console systems. The game will be co-published by Capcom and Blizzard Entertainment in Japan; further announcements regarding platform/country specifics will be announced in the months to come.

In StarCraft: Ghost, players take the role of Nova, a lethal Ghost operative skillfully trained in the arts of espionage and tactical combat. Twenty years of ruthless physical conditioning and techno-psychological instruction have made Nova a being of terrifying potential. With the help of a determined group of allies, players follow a series of story-driven missions, engaging in a deadly mix of planetary battles and dangerous solo operations. To complete their mission objectives, players must execute intelligent tactical decisions while mastering an advanced arsenal of sophisticated weaponry.

�We�re very excited about returning to the StarCraft series,� stated Mike Morhaime, Blizzard Entertainment president and co-founder. �Our roots are based in console gaming, and we look forward to developing this universe for the next-generation console systems.�

Key features in StarCraft: Ghost include:


Revolutionary new style of gameplay featuring enhanced physical and psionic abilities
Hostile Environment Suit designed to magnify strength, agility, and speed
Over-the-top special effects offer stunning visuals and unparalleled tactical realism
Immersive 3D environments showcase rich textures and highly stylized character models
Unique Calldown abilities allow players to target large-scale attacks from the ground
A deeply evolving storyline set in Blizzard�s gritty sci-fi StarCraft universe

As the story unravels, players find themselves traversing uncharted terrain and battling adversaries never before seen by followers of the series. Bold 3D graphics give players a new, in-depth perspective on familiar planets and former battlefields from the legendary universe. A dynamic 3rd-person camera view displays dramatic lighting, startling detail, and a blend of realistic and fantastical design. Co-developed by Blizzard Entertainment and Nihilistic Software, Inc.�, StarCraft: Ghost is scheduled for release in late 2003.

Since its debut in 1998, the #1-selling StarCraft series* has won industry acclaim and has shattered sales records worldwide with over six million copies shipped. Blizzard continued the series with the critically acclaimed StarCraft: Brood War�, which won multiple Expansion Pack of the Year awards and is still considered by many critics to be one of the best add-on products to date."

Oh no.

24:Season One is out on DVD. Normally I'd be ecstatic, but while I'm very happy it's out, I'm sad because I won't have enough to get it for a few weeks :(

Oh well.

Oh man, Kingdom Hearts is SO good.

I just wish I could get out of work tomorrow to play it and Animal Crossing all day :)

Oh well.

Yay!

Got Kingdom Hearts.

Off to play I go!

Animal Crossing.

Very good game.

But beware the Gangsta-talking chicken.

More later.

"Farscape TV program is cancelled

I'm hoping that the cancellation of the SciFi channel's program, Farscape, is newsworthy enough to get UF behind it. Any day now, the sets are going to be permanently destroyed (if not already... I'm not certain), and no series finale is scheduled. Filming will simply end without a resolution. "

NOOOOO!

(got that from Userfriendly.org)

Kingdom Hearts is out in what, a day, maybe less (the guys at EB said it would definately be in by Thursday, even though it is slated for release tomorrow). Of course, I'm in that kind of limbo where there is a game I really want (KH) out soon, but it's not far enough away for me to justify starting another game up in the meantime. Hmm... I guess Mafia will keep me occupied for the next day or so :)

I picked up an application to work at EB today. I pretty much just would do some part time work during the day before work at the group home, but it's mainly just to get enough to supplement my gaming habit. I mean, I'm at the store more than most of the employees, and I sure know more than they do, so why not get paid for the expertise? :)

That, and just doing the 'Go to the group home, come home, play games, sleep, play more games, go to group home' cycle has begun to just make me crave doing something else, and retail is fun, in a non-brain-injuring sort of way.

I finished Shenmue 2 today. Now I have to wait for the Xbox version to be released, do well and then maybe, JUST MAYBE, Yu Suzuki will decide that he wants to finish the series (I seriously think that it shouldn't go much further than 3 separate games, even though Shenmue 2 was really Shenmue 2-6 or something to that effect all in one package).

Great game though.

Grand Theft Sunshine. You know you want it.

Man, Mafia is SUCH a good game. I have been totally sucked into it. It's not as brain-liquifyingly hard as some reviews might make it out to be, and I actually enjoy the driving parts as they help to further immerse you into the game world since you don't just miraculously appear wherever the mission is.

It's like Grand Theft Auto 3 but with a VERY strong storyline (it keeps getting better and better) and AMAZING missions. For example. I just did a mission where I first had to go to this hotel/brothel and a) kill the manager (which isn't simple given the fact he's sitting in a restaurant surrounded by goons) then b) kill a prostitute who'd been squealing to the cops about my operation and then c) steal some documents and blow up the office of the manager (whom I'd just killed in the hotel restaurant moments earlier)...

And that's just the first part of the mission. I then had to flee across the rooftops from the cops and then finally wrap everything up in a huge shootout in a church in the midst of a funeral (for a guy I'd killed in an earlier mission, at that!)

That's just ONE mission... there are about 20 of them I've heard, along with the freeride and freeride extreme where you just drive around and goof off in the city.

I spent the weekend w/ James(Taka) putting my DVD player through its paces. Nicest thing about a 5-disc DVD player is that you can watch movies all day and not have to get up once you get them all loaded into the machine :)

Let's see... we watched Blade 2, Reservoir Dogs, The Legend of Zhu, The Five Deadly Venoms, Ninja Resurrection, Tampopo and Who Am I? . I think that's it. My brain hurts now.

Well, it looks like it's official. Microsoft has bought out Rare. Sigh. Granted, this may mean there will be more than 4 worthwhile titles on the Xbox, but it is still kind of sad to see a company like Rare abandon Nintendo.

Mafia is a good game. Have I mentioned that yet?

Well, I just finished Onimusha 2. Pretty nice game. Same great samurai sword-swingin' action as the first one, but this time it was much longer (12 hours rather than the measly 4-5 hours the first one took to complete) and I found the multiple settings a welcome change to the lone castle of the first one.

Now Capcom just needs to hurry up and finish Onimusha 3! (Yes, there is a third one. The trailer is unlocked when you finish this one).

Check out that screenshot. It's from this new Mafia game... man, it's gorgeous.

That's ingame by the way.

Beware of dentists.

I went into the dentist today to get a filling checked out. The next thing I know, I'm walking out of there having just experienced the wonder and joy that is a ROOT CANAL.

Sigh.

I should have just done it myself... or at least had this list to help me pass the time.

At least I get the next two days off to recouperate. I did have to go interview people right after the procedure, which was a barrel of fun, I tell you. Ah well. My DVD player arrives tomorrow. Woo!

This is an interesting interview with Dr. Henry Jenkins, the professor of comparative media at MIT. He is effectively a video game prof. Man, I'm jealous.

Congrats to Darren & Lisa Chevalier (man, that looks odd)... About time you two finally tied the knot!

PlayStation 3 not a console?

While Sony basks in the success of its PlayStation 2, expectations are rising that its successor will be out by 2005, in an entirely different form.

Sony remains tight-lipped about the timing of its next-generation product's debut, but it is dropping some hints about the PlayStation 3's likely shape--or more accurately, lack of shape.
"We're not thinking about hardware," said Kenichi Fukunaga, spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment. "The ideal solution would be having an operating system installed in various home appliances that could run game programs."

Fueling expectations of a 2005 target date is a chip project between Sony, IBM, and Toshiba, Japan's largest chipmaker and coproducer of the PS2's complex microprocessor. The four-year project, code-named Cell and set for completion in spring 2005, aims to create a powerful processor for home electronics with ultrafast Internet connections that could, for example, transmit high-resolution moving pictures.

"It's possible PlayStation 3 would come out in 2005, since that's when Sony's Cell project will yield something," said Kazuharu Miura, an analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research. He added that, by 2005, Japan's broadband infrastructure for high-speed Internet service will be largely complete, and Sony will likely have a clearer idea of what kind of online games people want to play.

Sony said it had not decided how to integrate the Cell processor into its next game console, but the general idea is to use the chip in Internet servers and home electronics to divide computing tasks among networked machines.

This would give the devices as much processing power as a supercomputer, such as IBM's Deep Blue machine that defeated Gary Kasparov at chess, and enable them to handle everything from games to video recording to downloading data from the Internet.

"We've started with boxes--making boxes to do specific things. But if you have a chip this powerful, you can add functions to any box. It's reverse thinking," Fukunaga said.

Got the Before and After shots of our garden!

Front Yard: Before (top) and After (bottom)

Back Yard: Before (top) and After (bottom)

This is, like, interesting. A, like, etymology of the word, "like", as it is, like, used in modern English.

I'll have some pictures of our house up shortly. Got some nice before and after shots of the back garden.

While my wife thinks this is a great idea, the new law in Greece that outright bans ANY videogame or electronic game (this means Solitaire in Windows or whatever happens to be on your mobile phone) has got to be one of the stupidest laws ever.

I mean, sure, if they want to ban M-Rated games, that's fine. But to do a complete crackdown is just stupid.

People will actually have to talk, read and go outside... that's just NOT RIGHT!

Well, yesterday I made my first (and hopefully only) purchase from The Home Shopping Channel.

Got an LG (Zenith) 5-Disc DVD/CD/MP3 player for only $195 Canadian! Woo!

The scariest part was that Julie (my wife for those who don't know) actually went along with it, almost to the point of encouraging me. Something just isn't right about that.

The Animatrix

Nuff said.

My car can hold 20 bags of manure and 7 bags of Triple-mix before the undercarriage starts to scrape on the ground. Found that out today.

Finally finished watching Noir today. Amazing anime. Especially the music. Best. Music. Ever.

On the game front, Mario is absolutely amazing. I was kind of indifferent when I first started playing, but 2 days later I found myself turning on the Cube to just 'get one Shine before work."

Sigh. I'm hooked.

Onimusha 2 is also really good, but completely different from Mario :)

Got Mario Sunshine and Onimusha 2 today... woo! And the free Mario super soaker and a Sega Sports T-Shirt (which I got mainly because I whined about not getting anything free with Onimusha 2 so they gave me the shirt to shut me up :)

Now I don't know which to play first! AH!

Also picked up the Monsternomicon for the Iron Kingdoms setting (mmm... steampunk and gothic monster designs...mmm...) and a nice big Terry Pratchett Discworld art book of sorts... "The Last Hero" to be exact.

Good day for games AND books (and free swag) if I do say so myself...

Was at my bro-in-law's wedding this past weekend, hence the lack of updates... the lack of sleep continued straight through pretty much to Saturday, and then I was sick as a dog Sunday/Monday and a bit today, but I was at least able to get to work and NOT GET A SPEEDING TICKET (unlike on Sunday, when I went in for a couple hours then was driving home, half-coherent, and then pulled over... at least the cop saw I was in rough shape and only gave me a minor ticket rather than the nasty one I could have received).

I also picked up Sega Soccer Slam while in Kitchener at the wedding and a nice little Spice controller for the Cube while I was at it. SSS is a very fun and crazy soccer game that was obviously thought up by crazy crack smoking Japanese programmers when they ran out of ideas for games that didn't involve placing monkeys in plastic balls.

For all of you who want to see what my brother Dave (aka Jugi Monkeyhair) looks like, here he is on a good day...

Ok. I really need to go to bed. I only had 3-4 hours of sleep last night, and tonight is my brother-in-law's bacherlor party, so I'd best be getting some shut-eye.

If you're here and looking for something to do now that you've read about my game stuff for the last few days, go watch all the Ninjai episodes.

Gooooo Hyperlinks

I also picked up Red Faction for the PC. I really enjoyed it on the PS2, but traded my copy in way back when and finally found it used for the PC. I love getting used games... nothing like 4 games for just over $100 :)

I'm also really looking forward to the game adaptation of The Thing. But I think I'll wait till I've at least played Mario Sunshine and Onimusha 2 a bit before I pick it up!

Speaking of which, they're both out on the same day next week. Joy!

And Kingdom Hearts will be out on September 17th! WOOOOOT!

I got a Virtual Boy for $3 yesterday... woo! Now I can have eye-splitting headaches in the comfort of my own home, and have them be of the self-inflicted kind!

I picked up Mark of Kri for the PS2 yesterday. Excellent game. It's definately going to be one of my favourite sleeper hits of the year. I can say it ranks up there with Rez and Ico in the sheer artistic beauty category. And the stealth... oh man! I was kind of leery, since most of the reviews painted the stealth in a negative light, but I absolutely love it. Nothing beats sneaking up on a guy, yanking him around the corner and smashing his head into a wall repeatedly...

Hmm... And I'm in social work...

Get Moonbase Commander!

Woot!

Finished Xenogears just now. Took approximately 64 hours to finish... but concidering I was 65 hours into it the first time I played it (and then had the memory card erased) that means it took me a whopping 129 hours to beat the game from the first time I started it to now. And it also took me, hmm... about 3 1/2 years too :P

It's very satisfying to have that game done and over with. It was one of the few games in my collection that I hadn't finished that I really wanted to, and now I have!

Grr... just got a spam that had my e-mail address as the from addy. That means that I can't stick them on the blocked sender list as I'm just blocking myself :P

STILL working on Xenogears. I was hoping to have it finished this past week, but circumstances *cough* AC2 Beta *cough* prevented me. But NOW I WILL FINISH IT!

Sigh.

Ok. There is a conspiracy. Every time I buy a video card, within 6 months the company that makes it must go out of business. I bought a 3DFX Voodoo 5 a few years ago, bam! It's out of business 6 months later.

I just got the news today that Visiontek, the company that made my Geforce 4, has gone bankrupt too. Sigh. At least it's not as bad as with the Voodoo 5. Nvidia, the company that makes the actual graphics chip, is still in business... it's just annoying at this moment. Hopefully this won't be a death-knell for Nvidia and they'll be able to get another of the card makers to step in and fill the void.

It is sad though... I picked Visiontek specifically because I wanted to avoid what happened w/ the Voodoo 5... Visiontek is (was?) the number 1 manufacturer of the Geforce series... sigh...

Oh well. NEXT TIME I will pick a company nobody heard of and a vid card that is not compatible with anything... that'll learn 'em!

Ah! Strong Bad has gone on vacation! At least he'll be sending postcards for at least the next week :)

Speaking of vacations, it was raining today on my drive home and I think I must have killed about 80 toads and frogs that picked that fateful time to hop across the road as I was driving along. Hop Hop Squish... Hop Hop Squish...

This site is just messed up. It's more messed up because it's true, and also because the health care system in the States has led to something like this. And people up here want a true two-tier health care system...

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. I finished Eternal Darkness on Sunday night, then started working steadily on Xenogears... until today, when I was actually able to get in and play the absolutely amazing Asheron's Call 2 beta. And I can't say any more about AC2 since I agreed to a Non-Disclosure Agreement to get into the beta...

But man, when it comes out, I'm not buying or playing any other game for a month!

I've been really busy playing Eternal Darkness on the Gamecube. Excellent game. Very Lovecraftian and I've only been stuck once or twice (and kicked myself afterwards).

Only 2 more weeks or so till Mario Sunshine! Woo!

i beat the internet
the end guy is hard

Check out this guy's Mechwarrior Treehouse.

That's dedication... or maybe he should just be committed.

I love Eternal Darkness and Super Smash Bros.:Melee. Both excellent excellent games that I played WAY to much of this weekend, even after all the visiting was done.

And the Wavebird (the Gamecube wireless controller) is unbelievable. It uses some kind of radio frequency, so I can go outside and it still works :)

Got me a Gamecube, 7 games (well, Mario Sunshine will be out end of August, but it's paid for) and 1 angry wife.

Good times.... good times...