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Had a bit of a setback yesterday which cut significantly into my KoF time. We had a pretty big snowfall and when I went out to snow blow (this is my first year with one so I was pretty psyched) I couldnt get the auger to spin. After a few hours of tinkering with my snow blower and finally shovelling snow, I found some time to relax.
Once again I couldnt find any online games so I after finishing arcade mode on Hard again (started with Kyo to get in some more practice with him) I jumped into practice mode. With all 3 of my characters I set out to practice executing moves from the 2P position. Quarter circles and Fireballs were no problem. I could get 10 or more off in a row without mistake. Moves that required a reverse dragon punch motion though gave me a lot more inconsistancies.
I'm also starting to doubt my choice in Kyo. I have definitely spent the least amount of time with him, but I'm kind of leaning towards swapping him out for someone else when XIII launches. I'll surely stick with Joe and Robert, but I may leave Kyo out for someone like Mai or Yuri when the new game arrives. This wont leave me with as much practice time with a new character, but it will allow me to narrow my focus before XIII launches to the 2 guys I'm happy with.
Went ahead with my plans for Kirby and Kickle Cubicle tonight. Choose Kirby first. It was a lot longer than I remembered. I'm pretty sure I've beaten it a long time ago, but not positive since a lot of stuff in the last couple levels seemed very unfamiliar. Kirby has always been a little awkward moving for my taste. Still a solid game though. The second to last boss fight was a lot of fun.
Followed Kirby with some Kickle Cubicle. Neat little puzzlish game. Kind of similar to Adventures of Lolo. Lots of talking food, and apparently the royalty that rules over said food is human. And you play as some kind of snowman with ear muffs. And the evil wizard that takes over the fantasy realm wears an upside down metal bucket on his head. Its has a very unusual setting and characters. The game was fairly easy until the 4th and final stage. It really ramped up the amount of deaths there. After getting the ending I was treated to a "special game" which was more puzzles, but if the first 2 were any indication they were going to be much more difficult.
I probably wont get to recording an audio track this week like I suggested earlier. I'm trying to focus on King of Fighters so I've put that on the back burner until after its done on the 26th.
Beaten Since Oct.8th - 61/100
(click on a title to see the video)
Super Mario Bros
Super Mario Bros 2
Super Mario Bros 3
Mega Man
Mega Man 2
Mega Man 3
Mega Man 4
Mega Man 5
Mega Man 6
Castlevania
Adventures in the Magic Kingdom
Duck Tales
Duck Tales 2
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers 2
Felix the Cat
Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout
Ren and Stimpy Show: Buckaroo$
Double Dragon
Contra
Super C
Contra Force
Power Blade
Power Blade 2
Dynowarz: The Destruction of Spondylus
Metal Storm
Journey to Silius
Air Fortress
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Blaster Master
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turltes 2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3
Legendary Wings
BreakThru
Commando
Guerrilla War
World Games
Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular
Caveman Games
DK Classics
Jaws
Ninja Gaiden
Where's Waldo?
Bonk's Adventure
Panic Restaurant
Bubble Bobble 2
Dr. Mario
Bubble Bobble
MC Kids
Batman
Circus Caper
Roller Games
Widget
Tiny Toon Adventures
Tiny Toon Adventures 2
The Jetsons
The Little Mermaid
Monster in my Pocket
Gremlins 2
Kirby's Adventure
Kickle Cubicle
Future Plans - I've still got 59 days left to finish at least 39 games right now. I've got two more work days in this week so I'll bring something to play for those days, but starting Sunday until next Saturday I'll be bringing my 360 to work to keep blasting away at King of Fighers. So I'll be taking about a week off from this Nintendo Challenge to focus on the upcoming KoF tournament. I'm hoping since I've gotten a little bit ahead of schedule so far that this wont hurt me to bad in the long run.
[img width=700 height=345]http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/8080/10cubes.jpg[/img]
Note: Alright, I have to say something, everyone. I'm sorry that I haven't been able to keep up with the blog for the past several months. I have just started college, so my free time has been scarce. I also didn't bring my Gamecube to college, in the interest of saving space. In retrospect, that was a mistake; I brought my PS3, and haven't touched it once since I got here. So, next semester, I will bring up my Gamecube, and the articles will continue! So, regardless of my busy schedule, this is one event that I wouldn't miss for the world.
Ladies and gentlemen, today is a grand day, indeed. On this day, ten years ago, the Nintendo Gamecube was released in North America, and a legacy was born. So, let's take a look at the console's conception, and follow it through its whole life, starting all the way back in the tumultuous era of 1998, when development started on Nintendo's Project Dolphin, a successor to the Nintendo 64, released two years prior. Nintendo saw that the time had finally passed for physical media in home consoles, seeing the success of the Sony PlayStation (and in Japan, the Sega Saturn), and despite many quality games and the most powerful system on the market at the time, was left in the dust in the console race, having come in second in North America, and dead last in its native country of Japan. Nintendo had lost a lot of big-name developers like Capcom, Namco, Squaresoft, and Enix with the Nintendo 64, all of which showed little to no support for the system, and seeked to win them back in the next generation. In response to the former, and to keep up with Sega's peppy new challenger the Dreamcast and its head start to the market, Nintendo started development on Project Dolphin to alleviate the shortcomings of their current system. Things got even more complicated when the software partnership between Sega and Microsoft broke off, and Microsoft decided to try their hand in the console market with the then-named Direct-X Box, later renamed the Xbox. Then, soon after, Sega was tragically crushed under the weight of the PlayStation 2, and just like that, the console war was back to 3 factions again. In 1999, the Dolphin was revealed to the gaming public, and had many gamers salivating at the sight of the capabilities of Nintendo's new hardware. After some various name changes in development from the initial Dolphin, to the Starcube, it was eventually given its true name, the Gamecube.
Nintendo certainly had their work cut out for them with the Gamecube The PS2 got a huge head start on them by releasing in 2000, but due to hardware and software shortages on Sony's end, Nitnendo was able to maintain a strong foothold during the Christmas season with their N64 with new titles like The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and Banjo-Tooie. However, it was a minor victory, as future Nintendo 64 releases would quickly slow to a trickle in the coming months, to a point where there were no new releases for several months prior to the Gamecube's launch. In contrast, it was nowhere near as bad as the drought of games between the Saturn and Dreamcast, something Nintendo can surely thank their lucky stars for. In a surprise move, in an attempt to grab some of Nintendo's early adopters, Mircosoft launched their Xbox 3 days before the Gamecube, making the 'Cube the last-released 6th-generation game console. The Nintendo Gamecube was finally released on November 18th in North America, preceded by a September 16th Japanese release, ushering in a fresh new start for Nintendo.
Nintendo tried many different hardware concepts in development for Dolphin, even some very forward-thinking ideas like hardware-supported Stereoscopic 3D, which actually made it into the final hardware for the Gamecube, but Nintendo never allowed any game to use it due to the rarity of 3D televisions at the time. (However, it was left in the code for launch title Luigi's Mansion, but was left disabled in the final build of the game.) Speaking of which, the hardware of the Gamecube is actually something quite special; in a technical sense, it was significantly different than the PlayStation 2, which relied on software workarounds to utilize graphical tricks like lighting, graphical filters, or multi-level anti-aliasing, all of which was built into the hardware itself on the Gamecube. This allowed for developers to offload system work that would otherwise have been handled by an already-busy CPU, like in the aforementioned PS2 setup. This made the Gamecube a very easy system to develop for in the eyes of developers. Not to mention already being more powerful than the PlayStation 2 in raw statistics, this allowed the Gamecube to achieve Xbox-level graphical fidelity. Many developers even were so bold as to say that the Gamecube was, in a practical sense, equal to the Xbox due to the Xbox's unoptimized and inefficient methods of processing code. This has sparked no end of debate amongst graphics junkies, and remains a topic of controversy to this day. The only thing about the Gamecube that has been a major hindrance that has kept it from the same games as its contemporaries was its limited storage medium, the mini-DVD.
Nintendo was eager to rush into the 6th hardware generation with optical media in the forefront of their minds. But, in order to attempt to keep the many advantages of cartridges, such as fast loading times, durability, and a proprietary game format, Nintendo opted for another controversial and unorthodox approach. What was born was the Mini-DVD, a semi-proprietary disc format created by Panasonic. It was significantly smaller and had a much lower capacity than a standard DVD, weighing in at 8 cm (~3 in) and 1.4 GB. Although the Gamecube's disc drive was technically capable of reading standard-sized DVDs, due to the laser's metal reading track, it cannot read past the length of a mini-DVD. Because of the medium's small size, the disc drive could spin at a faster rate, and data could be read off the disc faster without fear of damaging the drive with larger discs. This is why loading times are generally very fast on Gamecube games compared to their PS2 ports. This decision was also made to keep in sync with the overall aesthetic of the system, which was intended to be one of a compact design. In the end, this decision probably caused Nintendo more problems that it solved, as the lack of disc space lost Nintendo some very big 3rd-party games like Grand Theft Auto 3. Thus, the storage medium nightmare of the Nintendo 64 began anew. The medium did have some notable advantages, however. The large, open world of games like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker would have never been possible, or at the very least, severely hampered if not for the fast loading speeds granted by the mini-DVD, continuing Nintendo's long-standing design tradition of lightning-fast loading times for first-party games; we all know the amount of care Nintendo puts into their first-party endeavors.
Even though the Gamecube was an amazing little machine in terms of specifications, it is really the software that stands out about the system. I've said this a few times before, but for Nintendo's in-house development, the Gamecube was a very experimental system. They did things that were actually pretty crazy when taken into perspective. A Mario game where the main focus of the game is not on his own jumping abilities? A Metroid First-Person Shooter? A Kirby Racing game? That weird-looking Zelda game? A Donkey Kong platformer that used a rhythm game controller? And weirdest of all, launching the console with a Mario game that doesn't star Mario? Insanity! These are all things Gamecube owners probably said at some point during the time they owned their system. It helped Nintendo try out a lot of concepts that they normally would never have been able to try. This is why the Gamecube is such a fascinating console; it gives the player unique experiences that they wouldn't ever find anywhere else, even on other Nintendo platforms. I'm not going to go into too much detail about the games here (each one really does deserve its own post), but the main point I want to convey is that the Gamecube is different. Who knows; if Nintendo had not gone and taken risks with the 'Cube, they may not have learned enough to make the Wii what it is today. That's not to say the Gamecube doesn't stand on its own merits; it more than does that. But, its influence extends far beyond what many people remember it as.
The Gamecube lasted almost 6 years before being discontinued in favor of the Wii. While it was outlasted by both the Xbox and by a much longer period, the PS2, its name will live on in gaming history. It is a console that deserves a lot more respect than it gets. But, the people who do appreciate it know exactly why it is such a great system. It epitomizes what makes Nintendo who they are. If nothing else, the Gamecube should always be remembered as the console that gave us something new and fresh, from a company that is so often criticized for being stale and predictable. All this is why I feel that the Gamecube represents one of Nintendo's finest hours. So, in closing, I want you to do something today. Something many of you may not have done in a while. I want you to play your Gamecube. Show it some love. What better way to close out an era than to go back to the very beginning, and remember what the Gamecube really is. Fun.
This is Lisalover1, and now you know the rest of the story.
P.S: There was a lot of stuff that I wanted to add to this article, like a top ten GameCube game list, or going into the various accessories for the system, but I just didn't have time. Maybe some other day, but right now, this will have to do.
So I got home and spent some time going through arcade mode with my new team. Getting very used to the characters. Kyo feels like my weakest so I'm going to put more focus on him today. I'm confident I made the right choice with Joe as he seems to be the star of my team.
After getting a bit tired of arcade mode I decided it was time to go online. I signed up for a month of Xbox Live Gold ($9 what a scam), and attempted to venture into the world of multiplayer. I said attempted, because apparently nobody plays KoFXII online anymore. I was hoping that with XIII being so close to release people would be picking this up again in preperation. I was only able to find one online match the entire day. I literally left the game searching for a match while I mprepared and ate some food and it was still searching when I returned.
The game I did manage to find had a decent amount of lag so it wasnt a great test. I did however manage to not lose to embarassingly to someone who had a SSS rank compared to my F rank.
Since I was having so much trouble with the online, I decided to go back to Arcade mode and max out the difficulty. The AI is kind of crappy though and its still fairly easy to win an entire match with 1-2 characters and I dont think I ever needed to dip into my 3rd fighter.
I did notice that I'm not as consistant as I'd like to be with several moves when performing them from the 2P side. Today I'm going to fix that by sitting in practice mode doing reverse dragon punches and the like for hours. Gonna have to iron that out.
Hopefully when XIII launches I'll be able to sink into the online a lot more.
Mashed some monsters tonight. Started the evening with some Monster in my Pocket. Its pretty short and sweet, but its surprisingly fun. All of the boss fights are on the easy side, and there are only a couple spots in the levels that are even remotely challenging. I've always played with Dracula so I decided to switch it up this time and go with Frankenstein. They seem to play identically though so that didnt really matter. If your looking for something mindless with super tight controls, you might want to check it out.
Gremlins 2 was next up to bat. The last couple levels took me about an hour to beat (someone skilled in the game should have them done in 5-10 minutes). They are brutal. Tons of platforming on conveyor belts with pits, fire and enemies all around. Plus there is one enemy that spins around and throws top hats at you, he is a huge pain. I've only ever seen the first Gremlins movie so the cut scenes didnt make any sense to me at all. Apparently telephones can shoot laser beams that melt evil Gremlins.
Was hoping to have some more time to start another game, but since Gremlins took me so long I didnt 
Beaten Since Oct.8th - 59/100
(click on a title to view the video)
Super Mario Bros
Super Mario Bros 2
Super Mario Bros 3
Mega Man
Mega Man 2
Mega Man 3
Mega Man 4
Mega Man 5
Mega Man 6
Castlevania
Adventures in the Magic Kingdom
Duck Tales
Duck Tales 2
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers 2
Felix the Cat
Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout
Ren and Stimpy Show: Buckaroo$
Double Dragon
Contra
Super C
Contra Force
Power Blade
Power Blade 2
Dynowarz: The Destruction of Spondylus
Metal Storm
Journey to Silius
Air Fortress
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Blaster Master
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turltes 2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3
Legendary Wings
BreakThru
Commando
Guerrilla War
World Games
Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular
Caveman Games
DK Classics
Jaws
Ninja Gaiden
Where's Waldo?
Bonk's Adventure
Panic Restaurant
Bubble Bobble 2
Dr. Mario
Bubble Bobble
MC Kids
Batman
Circus Caper
Roller Games
Widget
Tiny Toon Adventures
Tiny Toon Adventures 2
The Jetsons
The Little Mermaid
Monster in my Pocket
Gremlins 2
Future Plans - Thought I'd try to take down Kirby's Adventure and Kickle Cubicle soon.
Hey now, everybody!
Here's a poser for you: what is the significance of today's date?
That's right: Shigeru Miyamoto is celebrating his 59th birthday!
(Well, technically, he celebrated it yesterday. Freakin' International Date Line...)
But even more importantly: one year ago today, I signed on with this motley band of lunatics and hell-raisers that is the RF Generation. Somehow I managed to go a whole year without gettin' the banhammer. Which, considering my past experience with message boards, is no small feat. I guess I just wasn't tryin' hard enough...
Never the less, I think it's only fair for me to acknowledge and give props to the fellow 'Generators who have had the greatest impact on me over the last 365 days:
Although I've conveyed my gratitude to him many times over--and not just because I'm trying to stay on his good side--I gotta give it up yet again for Shadow Kisuragi, who effortlessly fielded my endless stream of questions about submissions and DB rules with a high degree of casual professionalism. But best of all, he introduced me to GameCenter CX. And just when I thought I'd never watch a TV show on a semi-regular basis ever again...
Izret101 and Tynstar were also a big help on several of my submissions, so don't think I forgot about ya's.
Thanks to CrabMaster2000's "Unloved" blogs, SingleBanana's Atari 2600 retro reviews, NoiseRedux's shmup recommendations, and Scarper's Game Boy write-ups, my wish list is perpetually full and my disposable income nonexistent. Now if that isn't what friends are for, then I don't know what is.
Special thanks to James, who struck a much-needed blow to my ignorance by letting me know the volume of a proper pub pint, and setting me straight about the whole zee-zed deal.
HungryMoose's console and cartridge cleaning tips proved quite helpful and effective. Though I must admit I balked at a few of them initially. My apologies for doubting you, good sir.
To Blkblskt and Phoenix1967: OLD-SCHOOL OLD-SCHOOL OLD-SCHOOL OLD-SCHOOL NYAH-NAH-NYAH-NYAH NEENER-NEENER-NEENER! Heh.
Oh, and how could I forget ReddMcKnight, RF Generation's most prominent Power Glove proponent? I couldn't, that's how. Perhaps that highly-maligned peripheral isn't "so bad" after all...
Speaking of which: I applaud The Maligned Leon for finding the courage and conviction to kick his vuvuzela habit. You, sir, are made of far sterner stuff than I could ever hope to be... er, made of. Oh, and I'll try to to be a better drunken fill-in for you the next time you head off to "Canadia" for a spell.
I also mustn't leave out ixtaileddemonfox, the first fellow 'Generator I traded with. I'm sending a little something your way in the next couple weeks, so be on the lookout. Consider it an early Christmas present...
And last but hardly least: a toast to Bickman2k, the first RF Generation denizen to invite me to be added to his Yahoo and MSN IM lists. I'm not exactly sure why you'd wanna converse with me outside the confines of RF Generation, but I'm grateful none the less.
Here's to the next 365 366 days. Which, with a little luck, will be eventful in all the right ways...
'Late
Since my efforts to capture more NES games failed tonight, I found myself with lots of time on my hands and no games to play. I used that time to do some more KoF research and I've come up with a team that I'm happy with and even the order in which I'll be using them for most match ups.
My first fighter will generally be Joe. His fireball is fantastic for me to keep people at bay (it hits low AND mid areas as opposed to just one of them), and I am competent enough to use him without his desperation attacks. I'll be using him to keep enemies at a distance and at the same time build my special attack meters in case I need to fall back onto my other teammates. He also has pretty decent speed and anti-air attacks should they be able to dodge my fireballs. It'll probably come of as a little cheap, but I'm out to win so I'll fight dirty if need be.
Next up will be Robert. Like Joe I find him to be fairly strong even without his desperation attacks, so if the first round doesnt go my way he is still a solid fighter. I'm not very knowledgable regarding bad matchups yet, but so far it seems like he is a good match against most, so having him in the second spot should mean he is more likely to fight 2 opponents while 3rd spot would likely fight 1 in most cases.
The tail of my team is going to be Kyo. He is similar to Robert for me, but I rely a bit more on his desperations. Having him in the 3rd spot should ensure that I've always got a couple ready to dish out.
I cut Goro since I felt like I needed a strong starter and Joe seemed much more capable.
Now I'm off to practice hopping and combos.
Tonight I took on The Little Mermaid. It was my first time playing it and it was obviously made for a very young crowd. The levels are painfully short and the bosses are ridiculously easy. My video from start to finish is about 15 minutes long. Lots of the games based on similar properties at the time are fairly decent games, but this one is just sad.
I thought I had figured out a work around for my sprite issues, but unfortunately I have not. I found a couple programs that will read my capture hardware and show the sprites that are abscent from my current software, but the game lags severely on each one making it impossible to progress. Grrrrr. I really dont want to have to resort to my VCR since all the VHS tapes I have left seem to be in pretty poor shape. But I may have to. I might have to splurge and see if I cant find some brand new VHS tapes for order online.
Games Beaten Since Oct.8 - 57/100
Super Mario Bros
Super Mario Bros 2
Super Mario Bros 3
Mega Man
Mega Man 2
Mega Man 3
Mega Man 4
Mega Man 5
Mega Man 6
Castlevania
Adventures in the Magic Kingdom
Duck Tales
Duck Tales 2
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers 2
Felix the Cat
Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout
Ren and Stimpy Show: Buckaroo$
Double Dragon
Contra
Super C
Contra Force
Power Blade
Power Blade 2
Dynowarz: The Destruction of Spondylus
Metal Storm
Journey to Silius
Air Fortress
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Blaster Master
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turltes 2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3
Legendary Wings
BreakThru
Commando
Guerrilla War
World Games
Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular
Caveman Games
DK Classics
Jaws
Ninja Gaiden
Where's Waldo?
Bonk's Adventure
Panic Restaurant
Bubble Bobble 2
Dr. Mario
Bubble Bobble
MC Kids
Batman
Circus Caper
Roller Games
Widget
Tiny Toon Adventures
Tiny Toon Adventures 2
The Jetsons
The Little Mermaid
Future Plans - Coming up to the 26th my NES progress is going to slow significantly while I use most of my gaming time to prep for a King of Fighters tournament. I may try and sneak in a quick game now and then, but wont promise anything.
You've heard me go on about them before. Well, now it's time for another episode of "Critic Bashing 101".
Critics...people who take opinions and make them into fact. Real jerks. If they said Ocarina of Time sucked, people would listen to them and it wouldn't be a million seller title. Anyway, this time it involves video game movies.
Have you ever heard of a movie called Postal? It's based on the Video Game of the same name. It was directed by Uwe Boll, and because of that fact alone, people hated it. This is crap. People shouldn't hate a movie just because a certain person directed it. The movie is definitely not realistic by any means, but Uwe Boll did not do a bad job in directing it. It's funny, and I was really entertained by it. It's probably just me, but I cannot understand why people hate that man and his movies. House of the Dead was good too. Yeah. I went there.
As for Video Games...I don't complain about bad graphics or praise games with good graphics, because I don't really care about graphics. I play games for the Story and Gameplay. This brings me to my point...Who the hell is Gamespot to say that Saint's Row The Third is "Visually Unimpressive"? That is just stupid! Why are you gonna complain about graphics when you have a fun game in front of you?!
Anyway, I think I've made my point. Agree with me or Disagree with me, I don't care. However, if you Disagree with me, at least keep your counter-argument civil and calm. Thank you, and good night. 
Some of you may have seen my post a while back asking for assistance with a King of Fighters XIII Tournament that is coming up locally. Well my copy of KoF XII finally arrived yesterday. I was hoping it would have been here a week earlier, but Canadapost took its sweet ass time. Luckily (as far as my KoF training goes) my wife and son took off for the next 3 days to visit some family. That means I can eat and sleep KoF until they return!
I've only got until the 26th or November to get myself whipped into shape for this thing. The two biggest hurtles are going to be 1)getting familiar with competitive fighting games again, and 2)learning how to use the standard 360 pad for this kind of game.
To get used to KoF I'm going to be spending a butt-load of time playing it (obviously), but I'll also be digging through fighting forums for tips and advice, both for playing the game and for how to approach tournament style play. Because of my locaction and that its not really being advertised well, I'm not expecting to many strong challengers. But being as rusty as I am at versus fighting I'm not going to slack off. I have a lot of room to improve right now.
So right now I've got KoF XII on the 360. I'm going to play it a lot until XIII comes out on the 22nd (which I've pre-ordered now), when I'll swap over to the actual game that is going to be played at the tournament. When I pick up XIII I will literally be spending every second of free time I've got over the days up to the 26th learning the game as much as I possibly can in that time.
I'm also going to break down and purchase a month of Xbox Live so I can get used to fighting strangers, skilled players, and different characters.
This morning I spent some hours in practice mode getting a feel for each and every character. I also took into account which characters are generally known as higher-tier picks for fans of the series. I was able to widdle my possible team down to 4 characters, so I still need to cut one out. I came up with: Kyo, Robert, Joe, Goro.
I'm really leaning towards Kyo and Robert so the big decision is wether to cut Joe or Goro from the roster.
Luckily KoF only uses a 4 button combat system. This makes the 360 pad much more bearable than it would have been for any game using the triggers. The D-pad will now be my biggest learning curve. I love D-pads, but the 360 has one of the worst I've ever used .
The X-box brand turns 10 today! Hard to believe that it was 10 years ago that Microsoft made the plunge into the video game console market (competing with the Playstation 2 and the Dreamcast at the time). Thank you Microsoft for 10 great years of the X-box - here's to 10 more!
This game is pretty cool from what I can tell from the box I will never open. As you all know my brother and I collect Collector's Editions, Special Editions, Limited Editions whichever. Otomedius is a game that is inspired by another Konami series Gradius. This special edition comes with a 2 Sided Pillowcase, 68 Page Artbook and the official soundtrack. I think one of the cool aspects of the game is the 3-Player simultaneous play. Here are the covers for the game. Anymore information would be grateful for those interested in this game. First Konami Special Edition in a long time.
Picture 1: Front
[img width=700 height=526]http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab172/niceguy1283/OtomediusExcellentSpecialEditionFront.jpg[/img]
Picture 2: Back
[img width=700 height=526]http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab172/niceguy1283/OtomediusExcellentSpecialEdition-Back.jpg[/img]
Hey everyone. Halo Redux is finally here!!! After watching footage of this video on the IGN a while back I figured I needed to have this game, although I have the original game on Xbox. But I have always wanted them to do a redux of the game and glad they did for it's 10 year anniversary, maybe in three years will see Halo 2!! It could happen. I bought the game today and I really like it way better than the original. The updated graphics are superb, the terminals are a great addition to the game along with the skulls (I have found the first two terminals and skulls). The updated graphics and sound add a lot to the game as one can imagine. Halo is one of the best first person shooters of all time and it set the precedent for the modern day first person shooter. But we all know Wolfenstein 3D set the overall motion of first person shooters. The game comes in a really nice slip sleep sleeve case on top of the basic Xbox case. It comes with two downloadable content cards: The first one is a free skull called Grunt Funeral which is pretty cool and also with that same card it comes with the Master Chief Uniform Avatar Download. The second card is 6 multiplayer maps for Halo: Reach. The cool thing about this Halo is that you can play Mulitplayer off Halo: Reach its on the menuu screen! How cool is that!?! Also you can enter Halo: Waypoint. The strategy guide is pretty cool it has all the mulitplayer maps, the campaign of course, and where to locate the terminals and skulls, and the achievements list another great feature added to Halo! Hope you all enjoy and there will be pictures on this one.
Picture 1: Halo Front
[img width=700 height=526]http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab172/niceguy1283/Halo1AnniversaryEditionGuideFront.jpg[/img]
Picture 2: Halo Back
[img width=700 height=526]http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab172/niceguy1283/Halo1AnniversaryEditionGuide-Back.jpg[/img]
Picture 3: Halo Guide Front
[img width=700 height=526]http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab172/niceguy1283/Halo1AnniversaryEditionFront.jpg[/img]
Picture 4: Halo Guide-Back
[img width=700 height=526]http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab172/niceguy1283/Halo1AnniversaryEdition-Back.jpg[/img]
There are so many actions done on a daily basis which, I believe, are designed to teach humility.
Took off the upstairs toilet a while back, opened up the bathtub drain, snaked and cleaned a few drain lines, got rather filthy, and otherwise occupied my time in ways that made me seriously disappointed I didn't catch whatever small kids toy was likely swallowed up in a whirlwind of flushed water. As far as I know, there is no such thing as action-figure proof commodes, and were I a different, more industrious type, I'm sure I could utilize the market potential there.
I'm not opposed to having to get dirty or do disgusting things. I got my hands gory as an EMT in the back of an ambulance, I've worked with (cleaned up) MR adults at group homes for a living, and would come home with new and interesting substances clinging to my skin after my industrial instrumentation college training. For crying out loud, if nothing else, having three kids under five means getting mucky is in the job description.
This puts me at odds with my nature; I'm no grease monkey. I don't like oily things touching my skin. If the sun were in the process of going supernova, I would still prefer igniting spontaneously to the use of sunscreen. But one has to do what one has to do when one has to do it, and loosing the use of one bathroom in my household means Jes the Slackur has to take care of 'business.'
The purpose of this lovely introduction is partially an explanation as to what has preoccupied my time lately (house projects), as well as segue into some random thoughts about how much, er, crap we gamers put up with in order to simply enjoy our gaming experiences.
I love Battlefield 3. Love it. Now I'm a Halo guy insomuch as I like the feel of said series, the gameplay's speed and rhythm seem closest to matching my personal flow, although I haven't escaped the middle of endgame rankings since the original. The Call of Duty series are, to me, above average and well produced, but even though I understand many of the reasons COD MP is the hottest thing right now, it is not at all my personal preference. (My K/D is rarely in the positive, although I'm very much a fan of BLOPS Zombies.)
But back to Battlefield 3. Here's a game that doesn't strictly punish me for not mastering the head shot with three different guns. It understands that sometimes I just want to chase a tank around with a blowtorch for half an hour. And the game rewards me for it! The constant addictive progression of steady unlocks and tweaking customization that is the modern gaming de rigueur is at its best here. This is largely because the game is designed to parse out what you are trying to accomplish and then scan a huge digital scroll, Santa-style, until it determines how many points you get for firing every bullet in a SCAR at the general vicinity of the enemy. (I will now be officially disappointed at every FPS that does not employ a suppression mechanic.)
There is but a single albatross around the neck of this experience for me thus far, and it has nothing to do with bugs, exploits, server issues, weapon nerfing, or ejecting from a jet moments before impact in order to sail across the map. No, it comes down to a personal preference, but a big one: language.
?Que? Well, even before I traded off my gaming time for toddlers, I wasn't a fan of coarse words. I've have the same constant exposure to it as any modern American, and while I've enjoyed Kevin Smith movies and the occasional South Park episode, it doesn't negate my personal preference to not hear constant swearing if given the choice. And although I don't intend on placing v-chip headphones on my little tykes' ears, I do try to monitor their exposure to things I don't want in my own home as reasonably as I feel appropriate.
I'm one of those weirdos that leave the gore on but enable the language filter on the Gears of War games, a wonderful feature that has played its own small part of keeping the series heavy on my rotation.
Battlefield 3, in an attempt to capture that all important 'realism immersion' element, lets the f-bomb and other choice grandma-wincing words fly as common comm chatter. These canned phrases are wrapped around maintaining field and objective awareness, such as position and objective changes, so they can be somewhat important to hear, especially in a game where mics are as rare as people who care about foul language.
There's no filter options for it in the audio, (and yes, I know it takes a bit of extra effort to include such a feature for so few who use it. Yer telling Mr. Southpaw this?) and no way to volume adjust the voice-overs, just global levels. And so, as I enjoy playing on our 360 LAN and this multiplies the frequency of hearing said audio, BF3 gaming became nights of intense fun punctuated by extreme annoyance.
I get it. I know this is how people, especially in extreme situations, and doubly so in the military, speak. I know some people are drawn into the game's amazing audio even more because it comes across as a more realistic representation of the virtual scenario. But that doesn't mean I have to like it, or 'get over' it. I play games for fun; if, during the game, something happens that bothers me, and it persists on bothering me as long as I play, I'm naturally going to lose interest at some point. I have to subject myself to all manner of 'crap' (see intro) during the course of any given day, and the last thing I want during my downtime is to be expected to put up with something I don't like just to enjoy an entertainment product.
Mind you, this is coming from a guy who loves playing Super Meat Boy, Demon/Dark Souls, and Trials HD. Its not that I'm easily annoyed so much as I have a few things I don't desire to lower my personal standards on, and while I have no ability or intention to force those expectations on others, when it comes to personal time I feel I'm entitled to be picky about what I put up with to enjoy something. As much fun as I was having with it, BF3 was coming close to crossing that line.
Then I discovered it had a Spanish setting.
Now, instead of being yelled at to "Get to the F-ing Line!!" I hear something I equate to gargling followed by "Rapido! Rapido! Rapido!"
My high school year's worth of Spanish I took a decade and a half ago has yet to completely kick in, but I'm getting the gist of what's going on. And re-learning another language! Had I realized watching old episodes of Red Vs Blue could have used a roundabout way to give me a solution, I would have done that long ago.
Oh, but watch out. That series is classic, but it cusses quite a bit. 
Spent some time exploring The Jetsons game for the first time tonight. The controls took a long time to get used to. If you tap the opposite direction that your facing quickly you wont actually turn around, which means if your not fully turned your jumping ability is greatly diminished. It was really annoying in several different areas. After getting the hang of a few basics I started making decent progress, however there were 2 parts in the middle of the game that took, much longer than they should have. Eventually I was able to make my way to the end. The game should be about 30 mintues to complete, but since it was my first playthrough it took me just over 2 hours. Nothing to really write home about. If your looking for a new platformer you can do better for cheaper.
Had a little time and was going to start Snow Brothers, but I was having missing sprite issues right off the bat and had a couple other things to take care of, so I only had time to cross 1 game off my list tonight. My in-laws are leaving tomorrow morning so things will get back to normal very soon.
Beaten Since Oct.8 - 56/100
Super Mario Bros
Super Mario Bros 2
Super Mario Bros 3
Mega Man
Mega Man 2
Mega Man 3
Mega Man 4
Mega Man 5
Mega Man 6
Castlevania
Adventures in the Magic Kingdom
Duck Tales
Duck Tales 2
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers 2
Felix the Cat
Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout
Ren and Stimpy Show: Buckaroo$
Double Dragon
Contra
Super C
Contra Force
Power Blade
Power Blade 2
Dynowarz: The Destruction of Spondylus
Metal Storm
Journey to Silius
Air Fortress
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Blaster Master
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turltes 2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3
Legendary Wings
BreakThru
Commando
Guerrilla War
World Games
Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular
Caveman Games
DK Classics
Jaws
Ninja Gaiden
Where's Waldo?
Bonk's Adventure
Panic Restaurant
Bubble Bobble 2
Dr. Mario
Bubble Bobble
MC Kids
Batman
Circus Caper
Roller Games
Widget
Tiny Toon Adventures
Tiny Toon Adventures 2
The Jetsons
Future Plans - I'll be at home for the next couple days so I'll be catching up some some uploading. Also going to look into a few programs and see If I cant get an audio recording done next week, some new capture software and catch up on my screen shots.
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