Join sisters NinJaSistah and Pandalicious and the rest of the ESH Crew each day as they discuss video games, tech gadgets, anime, manga... pretty much everything within the geek chic lifestyle.
From Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and PC game reviews, previews, news, and gushings to audience questions and rumor mill seeding galore you'll find it here at ESH!
Oh Sony. It sucks to be you. If you listen to our podcast on a regular basis you know that I've always had my doubt about the PS3 system. I thought that the machine was [1] too pricey for a gaming console [2] too bulky; after having a PSTWO that was soo sleek being forced into a console with a larger form factor than an XB360 kinda el-sucko and [3] had one of the worst PR campaigns I had ever seen for a console. How does one get excited about a PS3 after watching those eerie "Play Beyond" commercials? Seriously, I'd like to know. In any case, it doesn't surprise me that people are now returning PS3 that they slept overnight in sleeping bags in front of Best Buys to the stores because they can't make more than 100 bucks in profit selling the things on eBay. If you can't make twice your initial investment, might as well make your money back and call it a day. The fact that you can walk into a Best Buy, after Christmas and get a PS3 in your hot little hands even with Sony still in a manufacturing hole is not good news for Sony. Nintendo however is farting in their general direction, and in all honesty I couldn't be happier.
Why you ask? Is it because I'm a Nintendo fangirl? No, not in reality. No, the reason I take solace in Nintendo being the projected winner in the holiday gaming battle royal is because we've been proven right. I've been saying since late June that the Wii was going to be the bad mamma jamma this holiday season because it's the casual gamer that console makers need to go after. Those are the "new dollars" when it comes to profit. Hardcore gamers aren't just going to stop gaming, but they are going to tend to stick to a particular franchise or game genre which will not add to your bottom line if you are a console maker. Halo freaks will by everything Halo you can throw out into the world... but how many Halo titles worth $60 can you make a year?
So, this is my note to all the Sony fanboys and girls out there that slammed us for even speculating that the PS3 was going to suck not going to be the automatic slam dunk that Sony VP's and P's would have like us all to believe:
You think your Nintendo Wii looks good on your television because you got the big plasma screen with the surround sound and the entertainment center. Let me tell you something. You have no idea what big is yet.
I got my Nintendo Wii hooked up to my 52” plasma and I’m pretty proud of it. When playing Wii Sports or Zelda, I can see just about every detail of the game without having to strain my eyes. When I walk into a friend’s house and see they’re puny 17” television, a sense of pride comes over me as I smirk.
So I’m browsing You-Tube to find a jewel that I can close out the year 2006 with and I got a little more than I hoped for. I’m just going to call this one Screenis Envy.
The jury is in about half-naked girls. They're good for a lot of things, but are they any good at selling PlayStation 3 consoles on eBay? After a great deal of research, we've got the answer for you.
In a word: No. Half-naked girls suck at selling PS3 consoles. Stories abound on the web about people who had invested a great deal of time and money, shivering in long lines at Best Buy and being trampled in stampedes at Wal-Mart, only to discover that no one was willing to pay $2,000 or more for a $600 gaming system.
Even pimping out their sisters or girlfriends or wives or MILFs didn't help. After all, gaming consoles weren't about Pr0n -- they were about playing video games. So most of those guys who had only dollar signs in their eyes trudged back to the Best Buys where they spent a long, cold, rainy week in mid-November and pleaded for their money back.
Here's a tip for all of you who want to play the Futures market -- do it with gold and corn and pork bellies and oranges, like everyone else in the Financial District of New York. But if you buy a video gaming system, just open the sucker up, pull out all the stuff inside, hook it up to the Magnavox and have fun. Like God and Nolan Bushnell intended.
Last, but certainly not least two of my fav parodies. One is one of my more favorite Final Fantasy: Advent Children parodies. It is a musical number, from one of my more favorite Broadway musicals called "Avenue Q." The other is also a musical, with a number also from "Avenue Q" that features the World of Warcraft characters.
For the first video parody I give you, "If You Were Gay." This song was originally sung by a "Bert & Ernie" type puppet duo. With that image in your mind...
Submitted for your perusal:
I follow this with "The Internet Is For Porn" also from "Avenue Q" featuring the WoW bunch.
I'm a girl. I'm supposed to identify with the princess character in many stories right? So why do I absolutely hate the character of Himeno in Pretear: The New Legend of Snow White?
[Updated to add candy-rating]
Probably because after watching the first four episodes of the series OnDemand I decided this was one princess not worth saving.
Pretear is the story of this girl Himeno who is an outcast among her classmates and new step family. She has no real friends or companions other than her father who is distracted by his new wife... who happens to be loaded. All this changes the day the Leafe Knights enter her life and it turns out she is their Pretear... a princess of the spirit of life that has the abilities to merge with any Leafe Knight and add their power to her own. Evidently there are some monsters out in the world sucking the life out of things and it's up to the knights and Himeno to stop them. As is with many "super girl" series the "heroine" starts out a lame duck and is supposed overcome the obstacles ahead and lead to the happy ending... which I'm sure is how this series plays out... but I just can't stand to sit through the episodes.
Himeno is whiny, indecisive, and just plain boring. Almost all of her problems would be solved by her standing up for herself. Can't get your stepsister to say more than one word to you, assert yourself and speak up. Girls talking about you at school in front of you or behind your back, confront them. Himeno just sulks and retreats inside herself. She doesn't even involve her dad in what is going on in her world. The only time she ever turns to someone other than herself is to get some training from one of the knights named Sasame. Now, Sasame is by far the most sincere of the knights and though he is a handsome devil, he's not the love interest for Himeno. That falls squarely on the shoulders of the asshole Hayate. But I'm getting off track. Back to the lame duck.
Himeno is the kind of lead anime character that I hate. She's just plain lame. Nothing about her is remotely interesting. She has no character traits that make you want to watch her or root for her. Add to her lameness the canned animation that runs when she "preets" or merges with one of the knights looks like something out of a cross between the opening of a waltz and an orgasm, and you've totally turned me off. Why is it so hard to write or craft an anime series with a young female who isn't either super endowed by the titty fairy or jailbait that's missing a few brain cells? I don't think that the audience would mind a series where the lead female had brawn, brains, and beauty. I think many would welcome a series that featured a great story/narrative of a female lead, so where is that title? Where is the story of the girl who gains a tremendous power to do good or evil with and must figure out what side she wants to play for? Then she meets someone that travels with her for a while and exposes her to some ideals that she may not have ever come to know without their meeting that challenges all of the things she's believed up until that point? I think that could be an interesting story, and the "power" she has would be the thing that allowed the series to feature action sequences galore.
C'mon anime creators... get on the ball. I give Pretear a 1 outta 5. Half an aqua-green candy for the attempted kawaii aspect of Himeno's interactions with her dad and Sasame, and half a brown one because, well, I think it shits the bed. Yup.
There's no time like the Holiday season to be talking about dying and death. I carefully selected an anime that reflects such Holiday cheer.
Shinigami no Ballad is a short 6 episode series about a shinigami named Momo. She takes the appearance of a young girl clad in white, with long flowing white hair, red shoes and an ebony scythe. She is accompanied by a black cat with red wings. How could I not be drawn to this anime, the characters are wearing my three favorite colors.
Each of the 6 episodes stands alone as a story, although there are some repeat characters and deals with one case where Momo intervened in the lives and deaths of souls in need. Momo is a crybaby shinigami and she spends her time teaching humans to appreciate their lives, as well as easing the regrets of the dead.
This is a cute series and I wish it were longer with more insight into Momo's character. Each episode is bittersweet, but somehow even when the characters die it seems to come out alright in the end. Overall, Shinigami no Ballad is a bitsized series that's good for a brief moment of emotional involvement.
I give Shinigami no Ballad a 4/5. It's cute and made me cry and laugh, but I wish it were longer and the story evolved more. I'll give the series a red, black, white and pink MM, for each of Momo's colors and becuase it's a cute series.
Once again I have put my ninja skills to use well by search through the internet to find this: a MMO calendar that 100% of the proceeds are donated to charity. And not just any charity, but St. Judes Childrens... if ever there were a reason to buy a video game themed calendar, this would be it.
All the artwork featured in the calendar has been signed by the game developers [cool] and each of the titles listed below has a month dedicated to their specific game. [double cool] And like I said, All of the proceeds go to St. Judes Childrens Research hospital.
The games featured in the calendar are:
Dark Age of Camelot
Dungeons & Dragons Online:Stormreach
Eve Online
EverQuest II
Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising
Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar
Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided
The Chronicles of SpellBorn
Ultima Online
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
World of Warcraft
So click the damn link, by the calendar for yourself and know that you are helping the future gamers of the world.
You’ve heard about. You’ve dreamed about it. Kevin Rose said on the Diggnation podcast a few weeks ago that it wasn’t as far away as you might think. Well it’s finally here! The iPhone is on the market, but it didn’t come from who we thought it would.
Last Monday, December 18, the highly talked about iPhone was released to the world…all seven of them. Surprisingly, it wasn’t Apple that brought it to us. Linksys is responsible for the phone that has been getting thumbs up so far. It toggles between Skype, Yahoo! Messenger (voice), VoIP, and regular landline services all with one button. There’s no sign of the awesome click wheel that we were expecting.
So how is it that Linksys puts out the iPhone and not Apple? Well it’s simple. The iPhone name was registered in 1996 by a company called Infogear. Cisco Systems acquired Inforgear in 2000. They then acquired Linksys, a maker of consumer home networking products in 2003.
It’s a fact that Apple is still hard at work on their own phone, but they will have to call it something else. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter what Steve Jobs and Apple decide to call their phone when it releases. It will still probably be the best cell phone ever made.
Keep checking back here for more information and reviews on the iPhone as it becomes available.
Well, it's get er' schnit day folks, and I'd love to hear what you got in your stockings/under the tree.
As y'all know, I was extremely naughty and got a Wii and PS3 from Santa. I haven't been all that impressed with the PS3 yet, but I have high hopes for the Wii. What was the best thing that you got, or happened to you this Xmas? So far for me, the best thing that happened was that I didn't get socks as a present. Rock. On. Once of the nice surprises was a copy of Trauma Center: Second Opinion on the Wii. I didn't get Project 8, but I do have a birthday coming up.
From all of us here at ESH, I want to extend to all of you wonderful folk reading this post and those that listen to the podcast the warmest of wishes today. May your extra lives be bountiful, and may your AK never run out of ammo!
Ok, I'm going to make this quick because I have to get to bed... you know, Santa won't blow up my spot until I'm "asleep" and all. [I'm really hopin' that mofo will give a sistah what she's so desperately been needin'... a new 5.1 surround sound system from Logitech]
In this episode MagicMysticGrl talks about the importance and relevance of bloodtypes in anime and manga, Pandalicious shares His and Her Circumstances [Kare Kano] and NinJaSistah kicks the hour off with her final thoughts on the PS3. PS3 fanboys that think I'm a XB360 fangirl have your keyboards at the ready. Episode 32: It's In The Blood is my gift to you.
Congrats to our Candy Bitches Mike Costa and Tooky!
Did you get the right gift for the right person? Huh? Huh? Did ya? [I.E. you didn't get me socks mom, did you?]
We are closing in on the final hours til present raving, and I wonder, "Am I going to get all the things that I really want for Xmas?" Nintendo Wii? Check. Playstation 3? Check. Extra pile of money to help in new game procurement? No check. Two out of three ain't bad, right? So how about you? What are you hoping to get from Santa, and what have you gotten so far?
Alright folks, last week didn't work out very well, only Tooky and Amberjack answered my question. So, we're upping the stakes and giving you something special for the holiday. Let's see if we can get you guys excited.
Once again, here are the rules: - Winners will be announced during the podcast, so it will run Friday to Friday - I will put up a post each Friday explaining which manga I will be giving away as well as the rules of the game - The following Friday, right before the podcast I will put up a comment to cap the thread and I will start up a new week's post - Each week I will ask a question and my favorite/the best answer will win - No one can win twice in a row - If there are fewer than 3 eligible responses to the question I will hold off on the Giveaway for another week - ESH members aren't eligible for the Giveaway - Just posting a comment for the Magic Manga Mania Givaway will also qualify you to be a Candy Bitch - I will post my answer to the question at the end of the week, my post will signify the end of the thread and no posts after mine will be eligible to win
The Manga: This week I'm giving away volumes 1-4 of Ken Akamatsu's AI Love You. This series was created before Love Hina and it established Ken as a manga-ka. If you know Ken's work at all you will see many similar characters that were precursors to the characters you know from Love Hina. His style has changed a bit since those days, but it is still great work.
Hitoshi is a bad student, a worse athlete and isn't the most popular of people either. It doesn't help any that his closest friend is an AI program on his computer. Number 30 is Hitoshi's crowning achievement and is the only girl he can talk to. Luckily for him a power surge somehow brings her out of the computer and into his life. Hitoshi has to learn quickly what to do when his girlfriend gets a bug or gets herself hacked, and he needs to figure out how to teach an AI all there is to being a real girl. Add in the devious Hacker Billy G, Program 20 (the overly sexual older sister) and Program 40 (the bipolar younger brother/sister) and Hitoshi's life will never be the same.
This Weeks Question: Out of the podcast episodes we've done [with #32 being released Monday], which is your favorite any why?
Good news for Xbox 360 owners who have had problems with their machines after they fell out of the 90-day warranty: Microsoft has extended the warranty on all Xbox 360 machines to one year.
The new 1,700-plus word warranty does not extend the warranty period for Xbox 360 accessories, however. The warranty period for accessories remains at 90 days.
The warranty provides for phone numbers for Xbox warranty services and the requirement that you must submit a dated bill of sale, receipt or invoice.
Although the terms of the warranty mention nothing about expenses Xbox 360 owners have already incurred to have their machines fixed during the period between the 91st day and the 365th day of ownership before the warranty was extended, the matter is covered in Microsoft's press release: "Customers who have already paid out-of-warranty repair charges within their first year of ownership can expect reimbursement checks for the amount of their console repair in approximately 10 weeks. Reimbursements will be automatically distributed, so customers need not contact Microsoft."
More information on support for the Xbox 360 can be found by clicking here.
Recently I got my hands on a new Palm Treo smartphone case from OtterBox and I have to say, after some testing I'm pretty surprised.
From the first glance at the case, it's obvious that this ain't no simple sleeve... the Treo 1920 case is ideal for use in outdoorsy settings. The case itself is a
Polycarbonate/ABS shell with Rubber over-molding for grip and drop protection
and while I'm not exactly sure I know what that means, I can tell you that in this case I can comfortably drop my Treo 650 and not immediately panic. Coming from me, that's huge. They way I care for my tech gadgets drive anal-retentive people up the wall. It's sad really. Moving on.
The case shell comes in two pieces... the front which has all of the keys [which line up perfectly with those on the front of my device] and screen protector while the back piece has the latch you use to hold the two pieces tight together in effect creating a Treo cocoon of safety. It works well. The latch is quite heavy duty and in all my test "oops I dropped my Treo" tries it never un-latched itself. Double cool. The case has a see-through hold in the spot where the camera is, a vent over the speaker location, and an opening at the bottom to allow me to charge or sync the device while it's in it's protective encasing. So no functionality is lost at all. It even has a "grip" on the side to put my stylus in so I don't have to take my Treo out of the cocoon in order to use all of it's functionality. Triple cool.
One thing about this case that I cannot stress enough is that the case itself is water resistant and not water-proof. This should be evident by the fact that you don't make an airtight seal when enclosing your device inside the two pieces of the OtterBox case. You can see easily that the speaker vent as well as the receiver vent are, well, vents... as in open spaces where air and liquid can get in. I guess after releasing the product, a few of the rugged outdoorsy types didn't realize this, and waterlogged their [previously useful and functional] smartphones.
As far as the water-resistant part, the case delivers. I took it out on one of the more rainy/miserable days that we've had recently in VA and [thought my head told me not to do it] I whipped my protected Treo out in the middle of a downpour to find it very well protected. With no umbrella to my name I proceeded to flip open the outer screen protector to use the stylus to access email, make a phone call and add an event to my calendar. Fearful that at any moment my Treo would be turned into a paperweight, I finished my list of tasks and quickly found cover in order to rip the case off my phone and check it's status. It was dry to the bone. TA-DA! I returned to my apartment feeling very satisfied. Yes, this case was going to get an exceptionally high rating from me. I say was as after my return to the joint, I found the only kink in the cases armor.
When I made my first calls with the device in the case I had been using my BT headset. You know, the little hands free things you stick in your ear to talk on your cellphone that make you look like "Uhura" from the "Star Trek" TV show. I had to answer a call while the headset was charging and found that the audio quality was rather poor. It was nearly impossible for the person on the other end of the line to make out what it was that I was trying to say to him. I knew it was going to be a big problem when I heard myself say, "...just call me on the land line." I HATE using my damn land line. After getting the details from my friend I took a better look at the case and found my problem. Because the case is so think [it add quite the bit of bulk to your Treo] it basically put too much space between your mouth/ear and the actual receiver/speaker... which adds to the already poor audio quality of sound the Treo has, which is a shame.
In reality, this case is not intended for me. It's clear that this case is designed for people working outdoors, on constructions sites, camping, hell, anywhere that mother nature might try to put the pimp slap on your smartphone. And while I'm mostly an urban ninja myself, I find myself using this case more and more... as long as my BT headset is charged. In honesty, it has replaced another Treo case in my "nearly everyday usage" category.
I'm going to give this case a 4/5 because it does every single thing that it says it does which is very rare in products these days, and it's just well made. Anything that makes me so comfortable flinging my smartphone around like it cost 5 bucks [and not $400] is a damned fine product. I'm cutting it short of 5/5 for being a tad pricey [coming it at $129.95] and for lowering the existing poor in-call audio quality of the Treo 650. Two blue candies for being something that the boys [or tomboy's in all of us] want and would enjoy, one purple for being so solid, and one green one for being no-so cheap.
If you are in need of some quality water-resistant solutions for your portable devices, I recommend that you pop by the OtterBox website... I will be from now on.
Ok, I try to stay up on the funny viral videos that appear from time to time on ye olde interweb... but this Phoenix Wrong almost got past me. Almost I say.
I was only able to find a few Phoenix Wrong flashies on the web, but if you want to see the best ones, then head over to Newgrounds and peep the original flashies that started it all. Asford... you is da BOMB! You have brought laughter to me at a point in the day where I was exhausted and devoid of suitable entertainment. I recommend that you watch all of Ashfords vids, then do some searching on the new Phoenix Wrong website
Until you do that, I submit these for your viewing pleasure.
I have ascended into leading a guild, with no idea how to run one.
HELP!
As many of you know, I am an avid World of Warcraft junkie. I would sell my momma for just one... well you get the idea.
Until recently, I was co-leader of a guild called Reprieve. [It's located on Thrall]. Anyway, as is with most other things in life, drama ensues, and the orginal leader left us to join another guild... leaving us in a bit of a pickle. I took the leadership role knowing what it was that I wanted to achieve, but then I realized that I don't know what else a leader needs to have in order to run a successful guild.
Fellow WoW players, one of brethren calls to you for aid. Assist and be praised!
Not too long ago, the Playstation 3 hit the shelves and homes of many around the world. Not long after, they were on Ebay selling for thousands of dollars. A little over a month later, are people still itching to “Pay Beyond”?
It seems that people are actually dumping the PS3 on Ebay just to get rid of them. Some of the sellers are actually losing money on them. Call me crazy, but when a newly launched system is being dumped at a loss of profit, shouldn’t that be a cause for worry? It’s almost Christmas so you’d think the bidding wars for these systems would be vicious right about now. Could it be that people are realizing that the system is something they could do without, at least until there’s a bit more to do with and on it?
I’m not hatin’ on those who were able to make a pretty penny off the system’s initial launch hype. More power to you! I’m just glad that people are starting to wise up and let Sony know that if you’re going to sell a system for that much money then you had BETTER come with something stronger than games I can play on a cheaper system, a wireless controller, and creepy commercials telling me to "Play Beyond". Come on Sony. Make me want to go in a store and buy your system, because at this rate, I’ll be able to get a cheaper one on Ebay with some included accessories and games.
Hello Everyone, I have returned from the bottomless pit called finals. Back and ready to bring to you the hotness we all know as... ME! I'm just fooling. Here I come with another Quick Question...
For all you Gamers out there the question is: CounterStrike or Unreal Tournament?
I only ask this because of the simple fact that I have played both, and did equally well in them once the bodies began to pile up. So I wanted to hear from all the FPS [First Person Shooters] out there. So... DON'T BE A PUNK ASS BITCH, and hit a sista up!
I love Spike, you know, "The Network For Men." The safe haven from Oprah and feeling your feelings on cable TV. Often I've thought to myself, "self, there is waaaay too much programming in prime time directed totally and women on TV! If only there was a network devoted to showing things blowing up, boobs bouncing, and cars. If only." This thought usually resulted in a sigh, but now there is Spike... and I feel fulfilled!
Even more so now that I know that Afro Samurai is going to start airing on the network January 4th.
If you don't know about Afro Samurai you betta ask somebody, bitch! Afro has had a hard life... bearing witness to yo pappy's decapitation ain't no trip to Disney Land that's for sure, but Afro walks the path of revenge. And any muthafooka that gets in his way will pay with their life... period.
Afro Samurai features the voice talents of Samuel "The MuthaFuckin Man" L. Jackson as both the main character Afro, as well as Afro's right hand man Ninja Ninja. Afro's goal as the number 2 badass in the world of fighting is to find and destroy the number 1 badass who goes by the name Justice, because he's the bitch that killed his daddy. Justice is voiced by Ron Perlman who many of you would recognize as Hellboy in the movie Hellboy. Ron makes an excellent villain, so I'm glad to see, er, hear him take this role. Oh yeah, some chick named Kelly Hu is going to provide the voice for the character of Okiku. If you from some Bob forsaken reason don't recognize her name then think Lady Deathstrike from X-Men 2 [you know, the chick Wolverine killed] or the sorceress [and love interest] for The Rock in the Scorpion King flick. Yeah, Kelly is hot.
Personally, I'm going to steal a line from Pandalicious and tell you, "DON'T BE A PUNK ASS BITCH!" Catch Afro Samurai on Spike January 4th, it's going to be the shit... it's got SAM JACKSON!!!!
Honestly, I'm not exactly sure about what we exactly discussed during the taping of this episode, but I do know that Pandalicious was fascinated by a new anime series she caught a glimpse of called Kanon and MagicMysticGrl had some beef with the feature length [or not near enough length] film Eragon.
Me? I just had a bit of "c'mon back to reality with the rest of us" Sony news, and wanted to ask the gals about some growing trends I'm noticing in anime more and more these days. Oh yeah, I talk a bit about UFO: Ultramaiden Valkyrie and let the other two try and do the closing business. It's a fun episode, enjoy.
In order to help you guys out, we have updated our gift guide once again in hopes of helping you give those you love the bestest, most awesomest gifts on the planet this gifting season!
So, if you don't want to be accused of being the WORST gift giver in the history of human kind, use our gift buying guide to help you determine what products to look at, or the ones to stay far, far away from.
Are you a couch speed freak? I am, so getting a copy of Bandai Namco's Ridge Racer 7 [I'm still not used to that "Bandai-Namco stuff] gave me the giggles. I've been looking forward to RR7 since RR6. RR7 is yet another in the long line of RR titles. If you are hoping for some great leap forward in racing game dynamics, this isn't the game for you you. But if you desire a racing game that's easy to jump into and plain ol' fun, RR7 just might be what the doctor ordered.
RR7 certainly ignores the real-world physics that other racing games have implemented of late. [i.e. Project Gotham Racing 3] RR7 puts the focus on fast-paced trick driving rather than "bash em up" destructive driving like that in the Burnout games. There are no explosions, no "ejection" of drivers through the windshield, just tricking out your vehicle in order to speed around courses in said tricked out vehicle.
In this game, you spend your time perfecting the art of drifting. [That's the gliding around corners thing made mainstream by that dumb Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift movie] To pull off a drift is easy: release the gas and steer in the direction of the turn you are entering. No big whopp right? Well, thing is as you get further into the game you'll need to be a master of the drift because that's what you'll be doing most of the track if you want to place in the top of the pack. Yes, you will need to drift through series after series of sharp turns pushing your speed past 200 mph with the rest of the pack of cars sailing by you. Waving at you rather mockingly. Ok, the waving part is in my head... but you get the idea: Either learn to drift, or lose.
Even with that heathen pack of drivers on the track with you, in RR7 you are mostly in a battle with the clock and the course ahead of you. Smacking into other cars affects your speed, or fucks up your drift. Slamming into walls signals your doom... actually it means you would be better off to restart the race because there ain't no way in hell you will place on the leader board.
Don't let me forget the NOS. NOS [nitrous oxide] makes up half of the RR7 winning cocktail mix. NOS + Successful driving = You are the winnah! NOS works the same way it did in RR6 on the XB360. You get three NOS tanks, each of which fills up while drifting. You can trigger each gauge manually, so there's no hitting it and empting all of it at once. The better you drift, the faster your NOS gauges will fill up. The longer/better the drift the more NOS you gain. NOS: It helps you smoke the other kids... in the good way.
As far as what different modes of play the game has, RR7 has a few. There is an arcade mode which lets you get in a car, get on a track, and commense to going fast in either single play or multi-play action. Multi-play lets two players compete via verticle split screen. Then there is the "Ridge State Grand Prix" mode. It's the main piece of the game and where you'll spend most of your time trying to become the new king of the track. Before you can get started in this mode though, you need to create a relationship with a manufacture by competing in a manufacturer's trial in order to get a manufacturer to 'sponsor' you and let you drive their cars. You earn money and fame points by competing in [and winning] various single events and grand prix races. You can also get tight with certain manufacturers and suppliers by using their parts in races for which you will earn manufacturer points. This helps you get better equipment for your ride. RR7 also has UFRA single events. These provide specific challenges, such as time trials or races with specific conditions for winning, and provide drivers with credits to buy parts.
One thing that is new to RR7 is a car customization thing you can get into. It's called the machine connector, and you can purchase or modify vehicles through it. The game offers up a bunch of options, [most of which I have no idea what they really do for the performance of the vehicle] but you can do engine tune-ups [which I know is a good thing for your car], NOS upgrades and plug-in units. You can also tweak how hot your vehicle looks from the outside as well via new spoilers, wheels, decals and paint options. Each category has enough crap to keep you busy for a long, long, long, long time.
I haven't played with the online part yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I hear there is a co-op mode available, that i'd like to try.
All in all, I'm going to have to give RR7 a 3 out of 5. It's solid, it's fun, and it's fast. It's not ultra realistic, but that's why I like it.
Holla at a NinJa on PS3: my UID is NinJaSistah. Surprise, Surprise!
As promised, I present to you the Magic Manga Mania givaway.
So, here's the deal.
- Winners will be announced during the podcast, so it will run Friday to Friday - I will put up a post each Friday explaining which manga I will be giving away as well as the rules of the game - The following Friday, right before the podcast I will put up a comment to cap the thread and I will start up a new week's post - Each week I will ask a question and my favorite/the best answer will win - No one can win twice in a row - If there are fewer than 3 responses to the question I will hold off on the Giveaway for another week - ESH members aren't eligible for the Giveaway - Just posting a comment for the Magic Manga Mania Givaway will also qualify you to be a Candy Bitch - I will post my answer to the question at the end of the week, my post will signify the end of the thread and no posts after mine will be eligible to win
This Weeks Manga:
Peach Girl (Vol. 1) by Miwa Ueda Momo is a typical teenage girl, except for her looks. Momo tans easily and her hair is bleached out, so anyone who sees her assumes that she is a beach bunny and a slut. Old men hit on her when she walks down the street, and no one takes her seriously. He one true friend Sae, is a little backstabbing bitch behind the scenes and is responsible for many of the nastier roumors circulating the school. Momo has a crush on a boy named Toji, but Sae also likes him, leading to an all out war. Add in the wise-cracking Kiley who likes Momo and you have a genuine love quadrangle.
This Weeks Question:
Kids in high school love labeling each other and dividing themselves into groups. Everyone is a member of at least one exclusive group that looks down on the others. Even if a kid is in the "Outsiders", the "I'm-not-in-a-clique" clique, they take pride in that fact and look down upon those who conform. When you were in high school, what group of people did you hang out with? Which clique were you a part of?
Well, you could do what this guy did and replace your strap with some handcuffs. It's definitely one way to wii-strain your controller from flying off into your TV. [Sorry about the pun... I had to do it, for legal reasons. No foolin.]
Yea, I was boppin' around ye olde interweb this morning when I noticed that one of the FrESH folks had Hit Us Up and tipped us to this image on a forum. Thanks for the tip ALH.
Now, I fancy myself a hardcore-type gamer. By most standards I'm not, but I like to think that I am. I can not, however, imagine handcuffing myself to a controller. When I do, I get an image of some kinky, flashy, S&M thingies going on which is totally the subject for a different post. I do have to say that I admire this guys tenacity though. It takes some outside the box thinking to come up with this solution.
All ESH fans know by now that at least once a week, I’ll post a video or picture that I’ve found circulating around the net and stamp it as one of my “jewels”. Well I’ve got a jewel that’s just WAY too big for me to keep “tucked” away.
Every diehard World of Warcrafter knows that the much-anticipated expansion, Burning Crusade, is being released on January 16, 2007. Oh! You didn’t know? WELL YOU BETTA CALL SOMEBODYYYY! (Sorry about that. I couldn’t resist inserting an old wrestling warcry.) That’s right. You get two new races and more quests and instances, which bring more phat loot.
I’m going to keep this short, because there’s really no need to write anymore. Ladies and gentlemen, noobs and elite, this is for you. The Douce brings you the official Blizzard World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade cinematic trailer (Wow! That’s a mouthful). I’m simply calling this one Drool Biotch.
Please hold your applause until the end of the video. Thank you.
USA Today says that this weekend is going to be the last weekend that you might have a shot at getting your mitts on a PS3 or Wii... so get your camping gear out now people.
Basically the low down is that it is suspected that December 17th will be the last Wii/PS3 shipments that retailers will receive before Christmas. So if you don't get your console by this weekend, you are most likely getting a gift card for EB Games instead for Christmas from Mom & Dad.
I say, get you a thermos full of Blue Goose, [that's hpnotiq, grey goose, and pineapple juice... if you are 21 yrs old or better of course]whew! a tent, and some chinese delivery and stake out your local Circuit City or Target this weekend. You're kids will love you more if you do. And you know that you want your kid to not only love you, but think you are cool.
Have you ever wondered what goes on behind that curtain in the operating room? How would you react with a patient’s life in your hands? Trauma Center: Second Opinions for the Nintendo Wii puts a patient on the table and a scalpel in your hand.
I was curious about this title when it came out for the Nintendo DS, but I didn’t play it because I have yet to pick up the system and the game didn’t seem like a system-seller to me. I’m not ashamed to admit it. I was wrong. It’s a remake of the DS version but the Wii-mote draws you into the game as opposed to the stylus. I’ve been on it for the past week because it’s addictive and I just can’t get enough of playing doctor.
You’re given a patient with some sort of ailment ranging from throat infections to broken bones. During the course of an operation the Wii-mote acts as your instruments such as a scalpel, a drainage hose, sutures, a precision laser, an ultrasound machine, forceps, and more. Precise incisions, fluid suction, and bandaging determine whether you lose the patient or not. If any of you old-schoolers remember a board game called Operation, this is a more intense version of it. If you react too slow or too sloppy, you risk losing the patient and the operation is terminated.
The game’s use of the Wii-mote is brilliant. The nunchaku is used to navigate and select your instruments, which you’ll utilize via the Wii-mote in different ways. Before the operation, you’re given objectives that you need to complete for a successful surgery. A nurse is provided to guide you through the first few surgeries but after that it’s a memory game. There’s a series of steps that you must perform in a certain order during the operation. Remembering those steps can be complicating and frustrating at times, but to see a healthy patient in recovery makes it worth the hard work. You receive a ranking based on how accurate the operation goes and the amount of time taken to complete it. I’ve found it hard to get anything over C ranking but you’re given the option to replay any scenario for a chance at a higher rank.
Trauma Center: Second Opinion throws in some new and redesigned features. For example, if a patient’s heart rate drops, then you have to break out the defibrillator. To simulate pushing down on the patient’s chest you’ll move your arm towards the screen. Now that’s what I call interaction.
The game boasts a storyline told in traditional Atlus style using images and text dialog. You’re Dr. Derek Stiles a surgeon who finds out he has the Healing Touch inherited through the ancient Greeks. It’s a bit “out there”, but if that’s not enough for you, then let’s add a world-threatening epidemic that’s believed to be the work of bioterrorists. Tell me that doesn’t peak your interest.
I’m giving Trauma Center: Second Opinion a 3 and a half out of 5. It’s loads of fun when you just feel like playing something unconventional and the game provides good exercise for the brain. To release this game as a Nintendo Wii launch title was a brilliant idea. If you find yourself stuck on a particular operation and the nurse is just hassling you, look her square in the eyes and scream, “Dammit! I’m a doctor, not a miracle-worker!”
Day one with the brand spankin' new PS3 is about done and I have a few things that warrant mentioning.
Frustrated doesn't even begin to cover the first 40 minutes that I spent with my new PS3. First I couldn't get the machine to connect to the internet. It was only getting a partial internet connection and allowing the system update to run that I was able to get on the internet... well I was able to get to the screen where I setup my UID for the Playstation Store. While [for the most part] I think the implementation of the XMB [Xross Media Bar, great name Sony] I find that using the PSP multitap text input buttons from the PSP XMB is a huge mistake. It takes forever to get your text in using this method. I understand why you would want to use the multitap for the PSP as you have limited screen space on that device, but the PS3 is going to be hooked up to a TV screen most of it's life... using an on screen keyboard wouldn't have killed them. It can't be hard to do, Microsoft did it.
But, I did finally get my account setup [NinJaSistah is a PITA to enter as a UID on multitap btw] so it was game time right? Not exactly. I still had to do some tweaking to the system before it was ready for prime time, but I have to say I wasn't impressed. The avatars are kinda pathetic looking eventhough they are from existing games. [Much like those in XBLive] and even on my beautiful 42 inch TV, what I was looking at wasn't all that impressive. This open box experience didn't offer me anything I hadn't seen before. The only thing at this point that I found interesting was that the user guide has a section devoted to explaining how to install a new hard drive. So bigger, badder 2.5inch SATA drive we come. I'm thinking 250GB oughtta do it.
After that uplifting moment, I settled in to getting my game on. I grab Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom because it's a hack n' slash and I need some button mashing fun. The game is boring for the most part [in the beginning] but it's easy to use and grows on ya. I'm now comboing my way to game euphoria and I feel much better... except something keeps nagging at me. It takes me a while to put my finger on it, but I finally figure it out, it's the new controller. Without the rumble stuff and cable, the thing is so light it's as if there's no there there. It takes some getting used to, but I do like it. I feel better about possibly flinging this thing around as it could hardly do any damage unlike some of those deadly flying Wiimotes. Having the L2 and R2 buttons dangle off the bottom makes me a little leary of using them for fear of breaking them, but I got over it. I have to say that I prefer this controller to the previous batwing style. There is already so much to get used to with the new setup that a new controller probably would have been too much.
I'm going to hold off final judgement on the system until next week because I'm picking up HDMI cables this weekend and it would only be fair to complete the review with this pupple hooked up using the "ultimate" cable connection. But if I had to rate the thing now, it would be about a 3 out of 5.
Be on the look out for my piece next week when I hook up the HDMI and commense to BlueRay watchin.
I'm writing this post knowing full well that the UPS dude is going to be Santa today by delivering to me a brand spankin' new PS3, so I should be terribly excited. When my Wii was on it's way to me I could hardly contain myself. [Just ask any of the 3 billion people I gave the countdown to Wii-livery on a daily basis.] But I don't have that same enthusiasm with my pending PS3 ownership, and I'm baffled by that.
I should be running up and down the street telling everyone and anyone who will listen that this supposed beast of a machine is going to be in my hands. I am going to be one of the chosen few with a PS3 and games in my grubby lil paws before Christmas... SIXAXIS is mine! And yet, here I am, just kinda ho hum about the whole thing. I think it's because there isn't anything available on the PS3 [aside from Resistance: Fall of Man that I can't play on any other system including the PS2. For me, there is no killer app on the PS3. All of the games that I am excited about seeing/playing/trying aren't available for the system yet, and now some of those are going to be available on the XB360 as well, so again no "draw" for me as a gamer to be all psyched about this new console. Even the motion sensor thing isn't much of a draw at this point because I've had that type of experience already on the Wii and I love it. So if I [an admitted former Sony fangirl] isn't tripping over myself to be meet the UPS man at the door, who is?
Just a question I've been bouncing around my head all morning before I head out for the movie theater. I'll catch y'all later after I actually get my system and see if I have a better answer for my own question. If you have any thoughts, share em, I'm curious about what you guys are thinking on the subject.
What do you get when you cross hardcore Star Wars fans with a camera and some special effects? If you think you know the answer or have no idea whatsoever, then brace yourself. This is one of Douce’s Jewels that will make your jaw drop wide open.
If there’s one thing the internet has not been lacking in the past year or so, it’s Star Wars parody videos. They’ve ranged from kids pretending to be Jedi Knights while playing with sticks to parents dressing their asthmatic kids up in Darth Vadar costumes. We’ve laughed, cringed, and maybe even cried at some of the vids floating around but you ain’t seen nothing yet.
I’m pretty sure that ESH has some Star Wars fans even though the recent trilogies did leave something to be desired. The storyline may not have been what we were expecting but you have to admit that the special effects were top notch. Some of us couldn’t wait for it to end and some of us screamed for more. After watching this video, I immediately dusted off the old light saber, threw on the Jedi robes, and continued my fight against the dark side.
I’m calling this jewel Star Wars: A New Generation Born.
I just put up the new podcast episode and realized that I probably edited out the singing of the Pokemon milkshakes parody. Naughty me.
To make up for my most inexcusable error, I'm going to post the lyrics to the parody right now. Who knows, maybe somebody out there will make a music video to go along with these lyrics and send it to us along with their name, and t-shirt size.
chorus My Pokemon bring all The nerds to the yard And they're like You wanna trade cards? Darn right! I wanna trade Cards,I'll trade this But not my Charazard!
verse I know you want it It's li-mi-ted ed-i-tion Looks good in your col-ec-tion I know i'm right Just by the look in your eyes Too bad it's mine!
We sorta, kinda, well, "deviate" a bit from the planned topic slightly more than usual in this episode of the podcast... and while I can't remember everything we talk about in the episode as I write this [though I've listened to the episode a few time now] I can tell you that I remember talking about The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, La Corda d'Oro and Nintendo's Wiimote. At some point we also talk about Chris Farley, Oreos and reverse Oreos, Pandalicious' nuts being better than yours, and the Pokemon milkshake parody.
Oh yeah, can't forget the new "Magic Manga Mania" giveaway and to congratulate out new Candy Bitch: Andrew! Listen up people, it's getting crazy fun up in here!
Do I even need to say anything more? Ok wise guy, if you need more convincing the first OVA DVD is out now and if you need visual confirmation that this new interpretation of Hellsing is more like the manga hit the jump and watch the trailer.
I could put a couple of paragraphs of text here to make this page look nicer but you just need to watch the damn video. Hellsing is violent people, so make sure to not watch this thing with little ones or squemish folk around.
I just watched Gungrave for the first time. Previously I'd seen the first 5 or so episodes, but I finally got around to watching all 26 episodes. This anime is incredible and it is now officially my favorite of all times. I hate declaring favorites, but I can say that Gungrave is my favorite without hesitation.
The story is beautiful and timeless, two old men meet in a bar, surrounded by the ghosts of their past. They were once friends and once enemies, but now they are tired. They sit and talk about all the regrets and memories they share, and wonder where they went wrong and how things could have been different. These two men who were once so close, reveal the secrets they kept from one another and from themselves. It is said that there are three stages to womanhood; the maiden, the mother and the crone, I believe that there are similar stages of life for men.
When I started watching Gungrave, this deep and emotionally intense storyline wasn't what I was expecting. I was waiting for the usual fluffy action anime with minimal substance. Sure, there are "Orcmen", mobsters, complicated mafia politics and a drug that can raise the dead. There is visually stunning art, amazingly choreographed fights and cool weapons, but that's not what Gungrave is about. Ultimately, if condensed down into one sentiment, Gungrave is about loosing things, especially the loss of innocence.
About half of Gungrave takes place in one long extended-flashback where you see the history between Brandon and Harry. The other half is the culmination of 20+ years of history and the destination a lifetimes worth of decisions ultimately creates. If I had to describe it... Imagine two trains, both loaded with people you love, headed for a collision, but travelling in slow motion. You can see what's coming, but there doesn't seem to be anything that can stop it. Even looking back over the facts after the wreck it is unclear what event or series of events directly caused it. That is what Gungrave is about, a heavy sense of inevitability.
You only see about the first half of the first episode before the 13 episode flashback starts, but it is enough to know that Brandon was killed, but was revived and is now enemies with Harry. The story then jumps back to a time when they were best friends. From episode 1 you know that things are going to fall apart, but even watching carefully I couldn't figure out why. Where did Harry or Brandon have a chance to change the future? What could they possibly have done differently? It has been a very long time since I was so entranced and drawn into an anime. I loved the characters and I sincerely felt their pain when bad things happened to them. For many of the last episodes I was incredibly choked up and teary-eyed.
Episode 26 was amazing, when they both realized that death was close and they went back to Jolice's bar and remembered who they were and where they had come from. They were just two old men, once friends, once enemies, sitting in a bar remembering the past, surrounded by their ghosts. Even as they speak you can see them changing from one aspect of themselves to another.
I give Gungrave a 5/5. I can't imagine how this series could have been better. I kept the colors subdued because of the serious feeling of the anime. Black and red for violence and death and blue for the emotional tragedy I felt watching it.
I was minding my own business watching SNL when I got a new piece of mail in my inbox that grabbed my attention. Looks like our friends over at DecalGirl have some new stuffs fer sale and I wanted to share my favs right now with you.
Yeah, you see em! Skins for your new Nintendo Wii. I personally want to get my hands on the skin that makes the Wii look like a NES system, but grabbing a skin is a good idea any way you slice it. It never hurts having a little extra protection on your game box. I'll be skinning my PS3 when it arrives as well. I'll even add them to the DecalGirl gallery so you can marvel at my purchasing power!
If you haven't finished your holiday shopping, or need a stocking stuffer for that gamer near and dear to you, head on over to DecalGirl and grab you something cool looking.
Ok, maybe "madness" is a tad bit strong for what's really going down in Japan right now, but the MS Game Studios title Blue Dragon has sure gotten some serious attention out of our friends in the East.
In all honesty, I hadn't heard much about the game [I've never been big on imports] nor do I tend to like RPG's... so Blue Dragon flew in under my radar. I'm just glad I caught wind of it when I did. Normally, I can't stand turn-based RPG games as the "turn-based" part tends to slow down the gameplay and bores me, but Blue Dragon doesn't look like a typical RPG game.
Blue Dragon is the first MS project out of Mistwalker [a development studio founded by Square-Enix's Hironobu Sakaguchi.] If the character design looks familiar it may be because you've seen the work before. Akira Toriyama actually handled design duty on this game. Some of Toriyama-san's work includes an anime series called Dragon Ball... you might have heard about it. I've no idea if this game is going to be coming to the US, but it would be a shame if it didn't.
We’ve all heard about it. Some of us may have actually done it. Today I’m talking about MMORPG cheating and hacking and the steps being taken to prevent it. If you’ve put in some long hours and hard work on your online toon and are prone to practice a little TOS violation (Terms of Service) every now and them, you really want to pay close attention to this.
Purchasing MMORPG accounts, currency, and items is nothing new to gamers. It’s been going on for years and has only increased despite developers’ and owners’ threats and warnings. You see this awesome level 58 two-handed sword in the Auction house selling for 500 gold and you only have 150 gold which took you five months to get. What do you do? Do you go out into the beast-inhabited forest and kill for hours and hours and sell the loot for a total of 10 gold or do you take the easy route and jump on the fastest gold selling website and purchase you a little cabbage to obtain that kick-arse sword in a matter or minutes? It seems like a no-brainer, doesn’t it?
For a while now, a popular and very successful U.S. guild named Overrated in World of Warcraft has been clearing instances with ease and getting phat loot that would make almost any gamer bow down before their greatness. They are the only guild to have cleared Blizzard’s most recent dungeon, Naxxramas. One of the instances the guild successfull cleared was AQ40 (40 individuals in Ahn'Qiraj) and they were always walking out (or hearthing, if you will) with some great loot dropped by the final boss. The majority of their members were geared with some of the best items from the instance and fellow players sang songs of their exploits, yada yada yada.
Well it’s been all over the Internet that the guild Overrated has been, well, overrated. They have been exposed as using a hack that makes some of the walls in Ahn’Qiraj disappear allowing them to easily travel to the final boss without wasting time on the trash mobs and bosses in between. What was their punishment? Blizzard permabanned (permanently banned) the guild and it’s members. If this doesn’t seem like a big deal, then take it from someone who’s been playing the game for years. It takes A LOT of time and preparation to get into those instances and even more to successfully clear them including taking down the final boss. All of their efforts have been snatched up by Blizzard and put into permanent limbo.
On the official WoW forums, former Overrated member, Pantaloons offer this explanation:
It's true. A few minutes ago we went from having a near-raid online to having seven. I didn't clearly, but only because my raid attendance has been remiss lately. Let me explain.
We are the only US Horde guild that clears Naxx, been like that for a few weeks. People found that the pre-C'thun trash was so painful, that they decided to install some stupid thing that deletes walls or something, and you can just run there after Skeram.
I know, we had it coming, blah blah whatever, we know we deserve it. I actually think it's hilarious because I was calling them all idiots for doing it. I'm sure they'll try and get it rescinded because it's kind of a steep punishment with no recourse or whatever.
Ok I just got banned too. Whatever seeya!
With a little digging, I was able to find a post that was made by the guild leader saying basically the same thing but he added that they only began using the hack AFTER they had already cleared the instance numerous times. They did so because the instance became tedious and many of their members already had the loot that made the dungeon worth tackling and all they received from the place was a high repair bill. He went on to say that the hack made it possible to skip all of the boring parts and go straight to the boss, which dropped items they still wanted.
Although this is definitely understandable, it’s by no means acceptable according to the Blizzard’s TOS. The guild and it’s members’ accounts have been banned and they must now repurchase the game and start from scratch. That’s right. It’s back to level 1 for all of them. What makes the permabanning suck even more is that the highly anticipated Burning Crusade expansion comes out in about a month. They can’t enjoy the new additions to game at lower levels. My advice to all of the members is to watch the South Park WoW episode and copy Cartman’s idea. If you start now, then you only have 68,745,239 boars left to kill before reaching level 60 before the expansion release. “Mom! Bathroom! Mom?!”
By now, you know that there is a live action movie based on the 80's cartoon "Transformers" but did you know that there is also a "Voltron" flick in the works as well? Yeah, I'm not too happy about the idea myself as I'm sure it's going to suck... but it begs the question, "Where the hell is the Thundercats movie?"
Yeah, you heard me, I said Thundercats movie. How can you make the other two and not this one? Not that I'm really championing this movie being made [because I'm sure it would be done all wrong and suck out loud] but I'm kinda suprised that Thundercats hasn't been added in the lineup of possible live action flicks to be optioned once Transformers got the green light. I mean even at it's core it has the makings of a great action flick... last vestiges of a species from a dying planet take to outter space in hopes of finding a new home. [Superman, but with more people!] Once they land on the new planet, they are saddened to learn that the elder of the group/tribe has not survived the journey. The elder however is available to them in spirit form when needed, [like Obi Wan Kanobi in Star Wars V] to give guidance to the younger members. Throw in the Adam and Eve thing since there is only one female to build up sexual tension and a new mortal enemy on the new home planet, and you have the beginnings of a good screenplay.
It just didn't make sense to me, so I started looking around ye olde interweb [which, as you know, is a series of tubes] to see if a Thundercats movie has ever been in the works and I have to say that I was surprised at what I found. Someone put in a bunch of effort to create a movie poster for a Thundercats movie that featured Mathew McConnaughey as Liono, Ed Harris as Mumm-Ra, Tea Leoni as Cheetara, Wesley Snipes as Panthro, and David Carradine as Tygra. "WOW!" says I, just wow. It's obviously bunk, but impressive bunk in any case... except with the casting of Tea Leoni as Cheetara. Cheetara is a character with gravitas in both her mannerisms and voice... gravitas that Ms. Leoni just doesn't have. Even after looking at the impossible lineup I might have been able to be convinced that this was a plausible flick, but the press release gives away the joke. The fact that the movie was slated for 98' but was held up because they were trying to fight an "NC-17" rating made me spit my soda out of my mouth for all the laughter that was welling up inside.
It did get me thinking though, if I did get my secret wish and a Thundercats live action movie was to be made, who would I cast in the kitty roles? Right off the bat I'd cast Michael Clark Duncan as Panthro. He's used to live action [remember that Daredevil movie?] and has the right build and voice for the character. Then there is Tygra. Tygra is kinda hot, but also quite brilliant... like rocket scientist brilliant. Whoever gets this role has to be able to pull this off, so I'd pick Hugo Weaving. [agent Smith from the "Matrix" movie.] For Cheetara I find myself going back and forth on this one. My gut tells me that Angela Basset is the right choice for the job [you know, the gravitas thing] but a small piece of me would like to see singer Ciara try it out. That girl is FLEXIBLE! As the twins I would cast Haley Joel Osment and Hayden Panettiere. [That's "Sixth Sense" boy and "Heroes" cheerleader girl] Snarf would be CGI with mocap by Andy Serkis. Jaga, the elder would have to be Christopher Lee, which leaves me with Liono. And this was tough. Very, very tough. I first started leaning towards that good lookin kid from the "O.C." the blond one [because Liono is really a kid in a mans body having to grow up] but decided on Marton Csokas because he has the chops and the body build to do it.
Tenchi is a great title for anyone who likes roommate drama, space stories or harem anime, but where should you start. In case you don’t have the time or money to watch all of the Tenchi series, or maybe you just want an intro to the series, I suggest you check out the Tenchi movies. All the same drama and excitement in 3 compact cheap little single DVD packages.
Tenchi Muyo! In Love 2: Tenchi Forever (Technically ‘Tenchi the Movie 3’)(1998)
When the movie starts Ayeka and Ryoko are arguing as always. They put Tenchi on the spot, saying that he has to choose between them once and for all, but he runs away. While he is wandering around deep in the mountains (avoiding the girls) he comes upon a Camellia tree. A beautiful woman appears from the tree and whisks him off. He is gone for more than six months. Everyone is searching for him, Ryoko and Ayeka even call a truce to join forced and search together. They have set themselves up in a city, working as waitresses while they search for Tenchi.
Meanwhile Tenchi is living as an art student with a woman named Haruna. He’s a bit older, a bit more mature and has even grown his hair long. Because of his separation from all the spotlight hogging girls you can see his character better than ever before. As they work and live in the city Ayeka and Ryoko keep seeing glimpses of Tenchi but whenever they try to catch up to him he disappears. Haruna has dragged Tenchi into an alternate world and he neither remembers the girls nor wants to be rescued by them.
This is not a kid’s movie, it has a much more serious tone than the series ever did and there are a few sex scenes, tasteful, but with some nudity. I love it because of that (the serious tone, not the sex,) it shows a depth to the characters that you never see in the series. The thing I find really interesting is that this is the first Tenchi story that really leans one way or the other on the whole Ryoko/Ayeka issue. Although the second movie has more footage of Ryoko, there is no indication of whether Tenchi likes her or Ayeka better. If you pay close enough attention, you can see that Ayeka is made out as a bit of a bumbling airhead, while Ryoko is much more sensitive and sympathetic. Although nothing definitive (like a kiss) happens, Tenchi is much more into Ryoko. Even with his memory erased he draws pictures of a faceless woman with blue spiked hair and whenever he has a flash of memory it is of Ryoko. For me that’s another selling point, I’ve always rooted for Ryoko to be the one who wins Tenchi’s heart. The music is on par with the story. It is much more romantic and instrumental than in the series and it helps tell the story. It’s actually a soundtrack I would like to get my hands on.
I give Tenchi Forever a 4/5 because it is my favorite Tenchi story, and I think it stands out above the rest. I’ll give it a Red MM for romance and Camellia flowers, a Dark Blue MM for deep space and aliens, a Shiny Silver MM for alternate dimensions and scientific gadgets, and a Light Blue MM for Ryoko’s hair.
Cooking Mama is a cooking sim that teaches you Japanese cooking techniques and recipes. You are given real recipes and they can actually be made after you are done playing the game. I recommend this game for everyone that wants to improve their cooking skills. It is not just a game for little girls. A cook or gamer at any level can enjoy this charming game.
You play as a chef's apprentice. You need to learn the skill sets for preparation. Then you are able to test those skills and make the dish. The game not only teaches you valuable kitchen skills but it is fun, thoroughly addictive and tasty!
The learning process begins with mini-games. You learn how to chop onions neatly and quickly. You get a lesson on how to remove the shells from shrimp, and you are taught how to fold dumplings. You are given an allotment of time to complete the tasks and you are scored on speed and skill.
The mini-games are cleverly designed. You are given challenges for doing things such as mixing. Believe it or not there are plenty of people that don't know how to do that. However in this game you are shown "how to" in surprising ways. The game takes you through each step chopping, then adding ingredients, shaping and combing the food, and then frying and serving.
There are three modes to play: "Let's Cook" is where you are graded. "Let's Combine" is an area where you can make up recipes. Then the "Use Skill" is a practice mode. You begin with a few recipes then the more you cook the more you get.
You do the cooking on the touch screen. To chop you tap the "knife". To grab ground ingredients you circle the stylus around. The controls are easy to do. You get gratification from the ratings. The bronze medal is given for a score of 60-79 points. The silver medal is given for score between 80-99. For getting the gold you need to get a perfect score of 100 points which isn't hard to do.
Graphics aren't anything fantastic. But they are very well done. The game has plenty of color. It is playful while being educational and the graphics of food is accurate without being yucky looking.
This game is lots of fun. It has appeal as re-playability. It is addictive, but it makes you hungry. If you don't have a clue what to make for dinner this will help. I learned a faster, safer and more efficient way to chop onions that I have been using ever since. It doesn't matter if you think you are an Iron Chef (like I think I am) or if you are a beginner, you can find something to love about this adorable little game.
This is very obviously a game that was designed for little girls. It is a fine 'marketing to women' accomplishment, with no trace of sexism.. It is something that both girls and ladies will enjoy. There is no avatar so there is no character to select. It is for women, while being inclusive enough to be fun for everyone. Cooking has become ultra popular with people of all ages and genders. Asian cooking is fantastic and healthy. People from all walks of life can enjoy the cuisine. There are a few American recipes too. I can see just about anyone playing this game and having fun. College kids that are going away from home for the first time could use this game to learn the basic skills.
If you are a regular to this website or to the podcast you have heard me talk about the game Eternal Darkness. Eternal Darkness was created by developer Silicon Knights and according to an entry on their IGN blog, a sequel to the game is a must.
While the idea of an Eternal Darkness sequel is enough to make me giddy and jump up off my couch, no one should be banging the "oh hell yeah" gong just yet... we won't be seeing that sequel any time too soon. Silicon Knights first has to get through their Too Human trilogy first before they can focus on the new Eternal Darkness game.
And while I don't know enough about Too Human to need a towel or anything like that, the idea of a new Eternal Darkness game coming at me within the next couple of years with a motion sensor controller kinda gets me hot.
All of you old school G4 TechTv fans may remember the days when that channel was actually worth watching because you’d learn something new on a daily basis. There were shows that taught you about technology and informed you of new and upcoming games hosted by people WHO ACTUALLY PLAYED THE GAMES and were at least FAMILIAR with what they were reading on the teleprompter. What does this little trip down memory lane mean for you? You guessed it. It's time for another one of Douce's Jewels.
Among the many knowledgeable hosts was one of my favorites, Laura Foy, who co-hosted a show call G4tv.com. They talked about games and technology and gave their input on what was worth your time and what wasn’t. The show was cancelled last year and Laura disappeared from the station. Since then, she has gone on to do other things like hosting an internet radio show and, well, music. You won’t find her being exploited on MTV. I’ve saved that pleasure for this very moment.
With all of the hype over the Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii launch, many have forgotten about the initial next-gen console, Xbox 360. Laura Foy has taken it upon herself to remind gamers of which system is the best buy as of right now and what better way is there to draw people together and get a powerful message out to the masses than with the power of song?
I bring to you the latest installment to my internet jewel collection which I’m calling Hey DJ, Bring That Back.
If there’s anything that I’ve learned from being a gamer, it’s that the games you enjoy playing say a lot about you. Here at ESH, we focus a lot of our attention on gaming and anime. Every once in a while we dip our toes into other pools like music and technology. Hey, what’s a true geek without a love for gadgets? Well what about television programs?
When my thumbs are sore from button-mashing on a console video game or I’m just too exhausted to pwn-all on World of Warcraft, I like to unwind with a good snack and a great show. Depending on what day it is, I’m enjoying anything in the realm of action, comedy, and romance. That’s right. I said romance. Even the Douce gets a little sentimental at times. I’d like to take this opportunity to get to know all of you a little better. No, I don’t want you social security number or blood type, but I’ll settle for what television programs you just absolutely can’t wait to watch every week and would kick someone out of your home to tune in for.
To get the ball rolling, I’ll list my favorites and the days I watch them. You’ll probably going to laugh at some of them but don’t worry because I’m sure I’ll do the same to yours. Ok here they are:
Sunday: Robot Chicken, Venture Brothers Monday: Prison Break, Heroes, What About Brian, The Closer Tuesday: Nip Tuck, Boston Legal Wednesday: Bones Thursday: Smallville, Supernatural, The O.C., Grey’s Anatomy Friday: Vanished, Las Vegas, Battlestar Galactica Saturday: Adult Swim (all of it)
There are some shows that I watch that air every day such as Attack of the Show, X-play, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. AoTS and X-play are not absolutes because sometimes they aren’t reviewing anything I’m interested in or just being too stupid to hold my attention.
Who’s next to step up and list their favorites and must-sees’. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I got The O.C. on my list. How much worse can yours be?
Animal Crossing : Wild World for Nintendo DS by Geek Woman
Animal Crossing for the Nintendo DS is like a tiny milling MMO of ity bity people. There is a large "E" friendly community surrounding it. In addition to being able to connect and play with other DS owners while in the same physical location, the easy to use wifi capability can connect you with other players world wide.
It is an ingenious game in several aspects. The security for keeping identities secret seems to work and it is fairly easy to screen and block out unwanted parties. The exchange of a Friend Code has to be given someplace out side of the DS. It has to be someone that you physically know or meet through numerous Friend Code listing message boards. Once there though how would someone know if they were communicating with a an adult or a kid? They do require a verifiable email address to register at most forums. But that isn't much protection, so wifi chat should be supervised. Also many McDonald's restaurants and other hotspots permit people to play together wirelessly on the DS.
The game has an understandably "E" rating. However it should be specified someplace that a person does need to be able to read fairly well in order to be able to play the game. Maybe at some point in the future suggestions about the age a kid who would enjoy a game could be made on the packaging. Like "for children 5 and up".
Game-play You would think that game that consists of farming a fruit orchard, fishing and collecting fossils would be relaxing. Not for me. I became obsessed with paying the huge, escalating and continuous morgage(s). Oh no! This is like a nightmare. I suppose it is to teach kids responsibilities but it made me frantic. I picked oranges and gathered shells. I learned how to perfect my fishing skills pretty quickly. In the first day I got it paid off. I thought I would be relieved then. But it was not to be. Tom Nook the owner of the only store in town, extorted me for another mortgage to build me a bigger house, even after I told him I didn't want it. This reminds me of an episode of the Xfiles... At least I could pick a lilac roof. Now I have an even more huge debt! If you do chores for townspeople, dig up some treasure, and discover some of the other secrets hidden in the game you earn lots of gold. There are many little side ‘missions’ in AC:WW.
I consoled myself with fishing. I caught several kinds. Notably I got a Koi and an Octopus. When I returned to the store the next morning they were closed. I am worried that my fish might spoil. I read online that I can time travel and set the time back on the clock to sell the fish. Then I have to reset the clock back to the correct present time so that I don't screw up the game. Heaven forbid that if after you turn the DS on - that you change your mind. A creature pops up and bitches you out with over 30 screens of a harangue about how important it is to save the game before you shut it off. Typing in "Shut up" or other epithets don't help any. I would love to know how to get that dubious feature to quit.
I was penalized for my trips back to the past by loosing trees. Several of my flower plants also looked as if they had been plant - napped by a neighbor and put in her garden. When I switched my clock to February 14th there was snow on the ground and my plants in that time weren't too happy about this.
Fishing is a tricky but fun pass time. The ocean wave sound effect is almost convincing with ear buds. This is a typical RPG. You build stuff, customize things, plant gardens and weed around the town. But the map is tiny. It suffers for only having one little town area to be in - unless you visit other peoples towns to trade items online. Compared to Pokémon which has many of these tiny towns all on one GBA cartridge this game has only one small one. The moon phases and weather are correct for my area. But this game goes in too many directions and is lacking fundamental basics. If space mattered then some of the odd customization features could have been skipped. Making constellations, or designing umbrellas could have been done without for example - to make the individual single person game experience larger.
Customization gives you the option to decide what you want the interior of your house to look like, along with your clothes, hairstyle, outdoors, museum, constellations, and music playing in your house. Compared to the GameCube version of AC, there are more items and more to do in the new DS version. Online, you can buy items from people. That makes it easier to complete sets you’ve been trying to collect.
To make me even more paranoid the game is still playing even though I am not. For example, if you don’t play the game for a month, your town will have weeds throughout. The weird townspeople will forget who you are, and sometimes move out. There isn’t a big reason beyond obsession to continue playing the game after a few days or so. You would have to pick all the weeds, and talk to everyone in your town again which isn't very interesting. I got crestfallen seeing that my trees and plants died. You can only plant one tree per day so many of my fruit trees died. I am glad I don't have as bad luck with gardening in real life. That would be sad. There’s not much motivating you to play this game in the first place, and the punishing mortgages aren't enough incentive to make you continue playing it. There is a thin line between realistic and engaging and reality check and stressing. AA : WW is more like a sim than a game.
Sound and Music The background music changes every hour all of the tunes sound boopey and empty. The animals don't talk, they make odd little noises which you can thankfully shut off. It has a rudimentary sound program in it so you can make your own Town song and online you can use that to play songs that people have worked out and posted the tablature for. Also in the coffee shop in the Museum you can watch a coffee bar act and listen to several unlockable songs there if you are into music on the Nintendo there is plenty of it to be found in this game.
Multiplayer When it comes to networking and people skills the DS is way ahead of the Sony PSP on this so far. Though Microsoft also intends to push Nintendo's hardware out of people's hands, they will be hard pressed to compete with the feel good, goody - good Nintendo. Again another one, a community that springs up like magical mushroom fairy rings around games like this one. There is something about Nintendo characters that make people rabid, and this is one of them.
The game is addictive without being entirely fun. It is an amusing way to kill time. And it will kill lots of time on you in between battery charges. Collecting items can make you crazy. There are several aspects of this game that are vast and endless. Though somehow filling all that empty space sometimes feels daunting rather than exciting. It is all about the grind without really getting anyplace. Skills like fishing have an endcap on them. There is a finite number of kinds of fish that you can catch.
Conclusion
It is a step forward in technology and it plays very stable. It is a solid game and from what I understand kids really like it. There are a number of women playing it. It could be considered a chick game because of the heavy elements of clothing and interior design and the lack of violence. The characters are those cute little badly rendered icons that seem to charm people so much. Not much to complain about here I give it a 4 out of 5
Soul Calibur 3 is a fighting game that is an exclusive on the PS2. That was a big disappointment for many people. On the whole it is a truly great fighter. There are some problems with it, as there are with any game. It is a quality offering considering that we are in the twilight days of the reign of the PS2.
Games that are vast and that have achieved a level of praise from gamers on previous installments, have a rough time of it when something like a third sequel is finally rolled out. That can go several ways. The game could just be terrible for many reasons. Sometimes a sequel isn't finished, and it doesn't have the depth that early versions of game had when the developers were trying to curry favor. This is not the case with SC3. It is almost too vast this time. It falls into that trap of trying to be the "everything for everybody" game. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, because it means they are trying to give you more stuff for your money. The good intentions don't always translate well. The addition of a real time strategy (RTS) game into the mix largely failed.
Not all game play modes are available from the start of the game. Many of the characters move lists have been changed which apparently has p'oed the hardcore fans to no end. Why would the developers of a much loved franchise do something like switch up the moves? It would seem that since the game is exclusively for PS2, that it was directed mainly at an existing fan base. Why mess with them?
OK counter to most reviews that you read which tell you the good stuff first, we've gotten the only two bad points about this game out of the way. First of all there is tons of content. Some of it is lousy granted, but still you won't run out of things to do. There are several new characters. Three of them are introduced right off. Access to the other new characters is gradual. There is new game-play, and the new modes too. If you have played Soul Calibur before you won't really be disappointed. If you haven't played any Soul Calibur games yet, get it or rent it.
Soul Calibur 3 has some of the most fun and interesting female characters in gaming today. Each one has a complete move-list. They have a selection of weapons that upgrade. You can buy more weapons, and armor. There are several costumes for each avatar.
Best of all is the character creation feature. You can design an avatar that suits you perfectly. There are endless combinations of clothing, armor and accessories. You chose a profession, appearance and even the voice of your character. That seems to be the most fair way to settle the issue with nudity in avatars. If you want to wear "barbarian underwear" to fight in - you can. If you want to cover up - you can. There are hoods and headscarves, your character could be clothed from head to toe and layers of armor can be piled on. The character creation capability gives a range of options that not only enhance the looks of your character, but it adds a new component to the game. You get to create your own ultimate fighter.
Game-play There are about 18 different modes in the game. If you want to be hardcore and get all the unlockables, you would have to beat all of the modes to get absolutely everything. There are many surprising features in this game. Bottom line is it is the best 2 person fighting game out there. Still in all, you can win with button mashing. It's a fighter plain and simple, in spite of all the fancy window dressing. The AI is pretty predictable which can be good or bad depending on how you like to play. They seem to try to push your character into a wall or a corner. If you like a big challenge it is there. If you like to take it easy and see the whole game, you can do that too. Like many games, I can analyze what the game "punishes" you for. If you don't get the opening move right, it is likely that you will loose. If you turn your back to your enemy, or if your attacks fall short you loose. The timid are not rewarded in gaming.
There are around 30 characters to play with in the game as well as a strange random character generator which is fun. Two of the new characters are female. Tira, is a girl fighter who uses a razor sharp hoola hoop as a weapon. Setsuka is a Japanese geisha with a parasol and a sword. Someone must be hearing us. The fighting engine was revamped and improved. The weird Chronicles of the Sword mode enables you to take your new custom players onto a map, where you need to occupy enemy forts by beating them in battles. That was done better in SC2. The Arcade mode is called "Quick Play". The Tournament mode puts you in fictional competition. What is that about? There is no online play for this game which is a terrible shame. I have to say that SC3 beat the pants of Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks - which I was looking forward to more, but MK Deception has online mulitiplayer.
Graphics The environments in this game are stunning. There are gorgeous landscapes. Marvelous temples, over flowing water falls and Ivy's over decorated mansion. The camera pans quickly over pink hued clouds in the background, water effects shimmer with some of best eye candy you can see. For a fighting game SC3 has the best looks going. And I am including DOA when I say it is the best looking fighter out there. There is no lack of colors. It is bright, bold and conspicuous.
Sound The sound is a disappointment. There could have been better music for this game. I would have saved the space on the disk that was wasted on the RTS mode for better music. The voice acting is still very poor, and amusing because of it. The voices and the sound effects have not changed or been upgraded. While other games are integrating song lists and even iPod interfaces into games, SC3's lack there of is a letdown. I guess the developers missed the bit that Morgan Webb did on Xplay where they dubbed the weird grunts and groans from SC2 into suggestive parody skits.
Despite the superfluous extra features the game still is the top of the line fighter for PS2 beating out Tekken 4 with style. Soul Calibur 3 has a lot to offer girl games that like to kick butt. They built this one for us. (Yeah, I know they built it for guys that like to play with sexy female avatars.) I give Soul Calibur 3 a 4.5
In case you haven't heard, December 5th marks the "Day of the Ninja" celebratory, um, celebration. It is a day on which all non-jas may do their absolute best to act as shinobi... and be identified by all as worthy shinobi.
Being a ninja of an honorable gaming ninja clan that I can not now name without killing each and every one of you reading this article, I would dishonor my entire clan if I did not alert all of you of the pending "Day of the Ninja" day.
While many of you are not ninja, you can organize some ninja-like events, create costumes, or just generally act like shinobi while on the "day-job" tomorrow. Start by visiting the official site for some instruction on how to look like a ninja, or create quasi-harmless paper shurikens that you can use on your selected targets at work tomorrow. Please make sure you are using paper shurikens as you are only playing at being ninja and should not actually aim to inflict actual damage or death upon people. You may find that lacking the stealth escape abilities of actual ninja may land you in jail were you to use real shurikens or attempt actual assassinations.
Now for the fun stuff. Should you find yourself worthy of participating in ninja activities tomorrow, send us pictures of you participating in said honorable activities. Which ever ninja out there participates in an activity that catches my eye may find themselves the recipient of some ESH candy and FRESHware T-Shirt.
Let's keep it light and fun people, ok? Let your inner ninja shine tomorrow.
The basic plot of Ouran High School Host Club is that Haruhi a studious girl from a middle class family has received a scholarship to Ouran Academy, a high school playground for the rich and bored. One day she wanders into the 3rd music room looking for a quiet place to study, accidentally breaks an expensive vase and becomes a member of the Ouran Host Club by way of indentured servitude. That's not what I want to talk about. Host Club is a harem anime and the gaggle of men make my heart go Doki-Doki.(Japanese sound effect for heartbeats) This post is all about them!
The Host Club consists of disgustingly rich and influential rich-boys with too much time on their hands. Meet the Boys:
Tamaki Suou: The President of the Host Club, he drives all of the ideas to try commoner's food, commoner's games and commoner's lifestyle. He is an airheaded drama queen who overreacts to everything and is completely gullible, falling for any sob story he hears. Tamaki is one of the last remaining true romantics, he possesses an unnatural ability to always remain positive and upbeat, even if it means disregarding reality. He does however have a bit of a bipolar disorder that throws him deep into a depression if he is emotionally hurt, fortunately he always bounces back quickly.
I am a calm, collected pacifist and Tamaki fills me with the intense and totally irrational desire to kill a puppy. I HATE people like this, I just want them to curl up and die. I am the type of person who doesn't like dealing with morons and the overly emotional. I have no problem consoling a friend, acquaintance or random person off the street, so long as they have a good reason to be bawling their eyes out or for looking like someone shot their best friend. If I can't understand why they're sad I get all freaked out and I don't know what to do. If I ever met someone who had Tamaki's personality to the same extreme degree I would probably transform into the worlds biggest bitch and beat the crap out of them verbally and maybe even physically. The only time I have ever been violent with anyone was because a girl just like Tamaki decided she was my best friend and she started following me around EVERYWHERE. Everyone has at least one thing they cannot under any circumstances deal with, well this one's mine.
Mitsukuni "Hunny" Haninozuka: Honey is the loli-shota character. He is short, cute, addicted to sweets and carries around his stuffed bunny, Bun-Bun. He talks in a high pitched voice and acts like a child, despite the fact that he is the oldest one in the club. Takashi is a permanent fixture at Hunny's side and Hunny can always be found climbing on Takashi as if he were a personal jungle-gym, hugging Takashi or riding on Takashi's shoulders.
Hunny has almost the same effect on me that Tamaki does. When I see cute, childish little Hunny, I revert to "preschool bully" Magic and I want so badly to torture him and make him cry. I want to pinch him, I want to steal his sweets, I want to hide Bun-Bun... Writing this I feel like a very evil person, but luckily I put these in order from the characters I hate most to the characters I like most, so I'm less evil as I go on.
Kyouya Ohtori: Now that the loudest and most obnoxious characters are out of the way you'll please notice the guy lurking in the background, scribbling in his notebook. Kyouya is the shadow king of the host club, he manipulates the airheaded Tamaki into decisions, and turns a profit on the club by selling pictures and merchandise of the hosts. Nothing happens without Kyouya knowing and he never does anything that doesn't benefit him in at least some small way. Kyouya is the one who threatened Haruhi into staying with the club to pay her debt. Although his skill at masking his true personality is top notch, he is occasionally revealed as the machinating, slimy and emotionless bastard he is. If you look carefully there are occasional hints in the anime that there is another layer under "Scum-bag" Kyouya that reveals that he is actually a fairly nice guy, but you have to dig really really hard to find it.
Even just thinking about him to write this, I can feel my hair becoming limp and oily, my skin crawls and itches and I'm shifting uncomfortably in my chair. I wish I could peel my skin off and husk into a new body. I really really wouldn't like Kyouya if I met him. He scares me, creeps me out and pisses me off all at the same time, I think if I ever met him I would mostly feel the intense need to be elsewhere. All the guys have impressive connections but Kyouya is the only one who threatens to use his. He mentions a private army at one point and he is somehow able to keep up to date and extensive bios on everyone, complete to the last detail. No secret is safe with this guy, and he won't hesitate to use your secrets against you. I don't care how nice he is underneath, you can't wear a mask of pure evil all day without it seeping into your true personality.
Hikaru/Kaoru Hitachiin: The twins are the tricksters of the host club. They are never serious about anything and they view anyone they encounter as their toy. Watching them with Haruhi is like watching two cats with a mouse. Before the host club they had no friends but each other and they tend to define the world as "Us" and "Those who are not us." Under the trickery and fun they feel some measure of disdain for "Those who are not us" and thus they play the Which one is Hikaru? game where they ask people to distinguish between them. The twins feel that as a unit they are better than anyone else and they ridicule those who cannot guess correctly, but they desperately want someone to come along and see them as individuals.
If they were together, these two would make me cry. I have a scathing sarcastic wit that I picked up from my friends and I can take it as much as I can dish it out, but these two take it to extremes. Having them ganging up together against me would be awfully intimidating, and that's the way they like it. Being outside that frigid, icy wall wouldn't be any fun, but if they let me in and let me get to know them individually it would be a different story. Hikaru is a bit meaner, and much more childish but in his good moment's he can be caring and warm. Kaoru is infinitely more sensitive than his brother and he resorts to childish behaviours only when teamed up with Hikaru against someone. I could easily see myself falling for Kaoru if Hikaru wasn't around.
Takashi "Mori" Morinozuka: The most taciturn and stoic member of the Host Club. Watching the series, I sometimes wondered what Mori was thinking, standing there in the background watching over the antics of the club. I've got myself convinced it was some Freudian analysis of the rampaging personalities of the club members. Mori is the tallest and strongest of the Hosts, and his age is only exceeded by Hunny (They're both seniors.) Mori always acts on his instincts, coming to the rescue of his friends, specifically Hunny. For generations Mori's family has acted as bodyguards for Hunny's family, and despite the tradition being defunct, Mori still looks out for Hunny with great dedication.
Out of all the hosts, I love Mori the most. I really don't know how the animators managed it, but even with his monosyllabic conversations I can see that he is a deeply sentimental and emotional person. Who doesn't dream of a big strong man sweeping them off their feet. By big I mean 6'4", other than Kyouya and Tamaki he is the only club member taller than me, the twins are my height and Hunny is only 4'10". I couldn't tell you what about Mori draws me, I've always said that I like guys who can keep up with me in a conversation, but whenever I watch the anime and he shows up I get a huge smile plastered on my face and I ::SIGH:: lovingly. Eh, who said love was rational.
So, it seems no matter who I choose I have an obstacle in my way (Hikaru/Hunny.) I would love to hear what other people think of the guys even if they like TA-MA-KI ::Said through gritted teeth:: or Kyouya ::ICK::
If you haven't seen it I give Ouran High School Host Club a 5/5. Normally I dislike harem anime, but this series is funny and touching and all around Fab-Tab-ulous. Within the series there is a theme of roses and each character has their own color, so I'll use those colors for the MMs. Dark Blue for Mori, Light Blue for Kaoru, Orange for Hikaru, Purple for Kyouya, Pink for Hunny and White for Tamaki. Because the twins like being a single unit they each get half an MM. If you're wondering why no one gets the red MM/rose it's because Haruhi gets it, being the main character and all. The pictures in this post are all the characters with their rose colors, except for Tamaki. Let me explain: Tamaki is always manhandling Haruhi, whose rose color is red, so it's appropriate that Tamaki is also always manhandling the roses that symbolize Haruhi.
This episode teaches us many things, one of which is the following equation:
Caffeine+NinJaSistah=Bad Idea
But we also learn that the Motorola Razr is a bomb phone saddled with pitiful and schizophrenic ringtones that suck, Pandalicious gives us the low down on the anime series "Death Note" while MagicMysticGrl explores all things "Fate/Stay Night"... including making the suggestion that the series' opening and closing songs by Sachi Tainaka are required listening. [Those songs are: "Disillusion" "Kirameku Namida Wo Hoshi ni" and "Kimi to no Asu"] And not to be out done, NinJaSistah brings it home as usual with her review of "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess" for the Nintendo Wii.
This episode is full of so many tangents, double and even triple entendres that we can't keep track of them all for this synopsis. You'll just have to listen to the episode and catch em' all!
If you are looking for some shopping advice on game hardware for the female, or male, gamer on your list then hopefully this article will help you understand it all. The location that is preferred for a game environment is an important choice to be aware of if you are shopping for games and accessories for your gamer. Games come in three basic types which are the PC, Console or Handheld. I'm going to try and give you the keys to the kingdom of the consoles.
First of all "What is a game console?" These are a box like machine that you attach to a TV set. Games are played with a controller that is held in the hands and effects the action on the screen. These have indeed been around since Pong and Pac Man, and if that is where you left the game trail, then you might be glad to know that those old school or retro games are still offered, in game packs and collections. Sometimes they have been updated and upgraded. If you want to pick up something like that for a gift you need to know the brand name and the model of the console or game device that your gamer has. Write it down and take it with you when you go shopping.
Some people opt for playing games on their PC rather than on the television. It seems that older people and women are the dominant demographic that enjoy using the PC for gaming. PC game - play are very popular for playing the massively multiplayer online games or MMOG's. Games such as World of Warcraft or Guild Wars are played on a PC with a keyboard and mouse. These games enable the player to interact with thousands of other players. Some of them also include the ability to talk to the other people while you are playing with them. Thought those features have been developing more slowly on PC. If your friend is playing an MMO there aren't many additional accessories for those. If they are a Guild Wars Player they may not have the new chapter called Nightfall which is a great game to add to the original Guild Wars or to buy it as a stand alone game. There are the Limited Edition Keyboards that are available for the MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing) games that are good looking and work well which are sold by a company called Zboard. Zboards
Perhaps the best way to determine what console to buy is to go by the age of the person who will be playing it. Right now there are three "next gen" consoles. Last year in November Microsoft upgraded their hardware and it is called the Xbox 360. It has mid - range graphics. There are over 100 games available for it at this time. The games are mainly of the first person shooter type or FPS and sports games. If you have heard of Halo 2 and Gears of War, or Oblivion those are titles for the Xbox 360. These games are for a mature crowd. The action is fast paced and bloody. Often the most popular games for the "360" carry a "T" for Teen or an "M" for Mature rating. Those ESRB ratings mean that Teens of 17 and 18 years old and above are the recommended age limit. These ratings can mean that there could be language or behaviors that some people would consider too crude for younger kids. It is no joke either. If you have a mix of older and younger kids in the house, the choice of games is crucial and requires your attention as much as monitoring what movies on DVD or cable that your younger kids could get into.
With Xbox the online aspect is called Xbox Live. A paid subscription is required for this additional service. With the online feature more games and demos are available to download directly into the console. The console can be bought with one of a few choices of hard drive size for saving downloadable games and other functions. Xbox Live gives players access to playing with many other players at the same time. It isn't 'massively' multiplayer as it is with with PC. Although large groups of strangers can interact with each other in an open ended party - line conversation. There are over 4 million users on Xbox Live. Xbox Live has something of a reputation for "Trash -Talking" which in short, means that a player that is wearing the headphones is opening themselves up to the possibility of hearing unkind and curse word laced tirades about the flaws in their game from other players. There is no one monitoring these conversations and there is no one censoring what the others could be saying. Because of this tendency, I would not recommend the Xbox 360 for little girls or young women under 18.
Costs for the annual subscription is approximately $50 US, its called Xbox Live Gold which includes voice chat, and Xbox Marketplace for gamers to buy and sell content. Sometimes original games, and old school arcade titles are downloadable. Xbox 360 works on HD TVs. They claim to have 250 old Xbox or "original Xbox" games that will play on the new console. Be careful to look up a list online for games that are called "backwards compatible" prior to inserting an old Xbox game into the Xbox 360. The digital media that it plays are DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, WMA CD, MP3 CD, JPEG Photo CD.
Microsoft has two variations of Xbox 360 available for sale. One has the Xbox 360 faceplate, and a Silver Xbox Live package, $300 known as a core package, that comes with one wired controller, standard A/V cable, and the console. The Gold package is required to actually play online games. There is a $400 system with a 20 GB hard drive, Xbox 360 Remote Controller, High Definition TV component cables, Xbox 360 headset and a wireless controller.
Next the Playstation 3 was released last week the manufacturer's suggested retail price is between $600 and $700 dollars US. It has been in the news and has gotten some bad press. Most of the incidents involved mismanagement of the long lines of people who were camping out to be able to get the very low quantity of these premium machines that were produced. One Massachusetts man was shot in a hold up of a line of customers waiting outside a store in Putnam Connecticut. The gunmen were attempting a hold up when this man refused to pay them. Because Sony was not able to make enough of these complicated advanced machines to fulfill the demands for them, it created chaos in several ways.
In the past Playstation 2 has been the most popular gaming console in the US with the most millions sold. Perhaps Sony should have waited to launch the sale until they had more of them ready. The PS3 Platform plays a few more accessories peripherals than the 360. It also boasts to be the most graphically advanced system. The new Blu-Ray Disc™ is a type of High Definition disk for playing movies that is supposed to be the future of disk published media. The way that DVD's replaced VHS a few years ago. The PS3 has what is called a SIXAXIS™ wireless controller that interacts with the screen in a close to 3D experience. You can use your Playstation 3 with High-Definition displays as well as conventional or standard TVs. It comes with either a 20GB or 60GB removable hard disk drive (HDD). The thousands of PS One® and PS2 PlayStation®2 games as well as CDs and DVDs are useable on the PLAYSTATION®3. The thing supposedly plays just about everything including some digital photo cards.
The PS3 has online capabilities including multiplayer gaming, text and video messaging, voice chat, downloading content and browsing the web. Even though the PS3 has impressive technical specifications, you may not be able to get one for the December holidays. It could be a moot point until sometime next Spring. There are over inflated PS3 prices on ebay, and buying those is not only exorbitantly expensive, but could be risky as well.
The PLAYSTATION®3 is available in two configurations with either the 20GB hard disk drive or the 60GB HDD. Some PlayStation 2 or PlayStation format software titles may perform differently on the system than they do on the native systems for example the PS3 doesn't support a vibration controller.
Then last Sunday the offering of the first Nintendo Wii consoles' launch was a 1960's "Love In" where the people in lines waiting were exchanging free hugs, ordering lunch for each other and playing games together. Something can be said about the two different types of people that were attending these launch parties. For the most part the Nintendo Wii draws a younger crowd and is most popular with younger kids and people that enjoy Nintendo's cute and quirky games.
There are approximately 50 games for the Wii, and we are told that there will be enough of the consoles to go around. Nintendo and developers seem to be in a rush to create new games for this innovative new product. Nintendo wanted to bring gaming to everyone, and has many titles that are rated for all ages and for kids. They went one more step and made a controller that is supposed to be easier to pick up and play since it is designed to resemble a television remote controller. You play with two hands and the actions resemble the actual movements of slashing a sword or driving. The remote is used as a handheld pointing device and can detect motion and rotation in three dimensions . The controller set called the "nun-chucks and wii-mote" interact with a sensor strip that you placer near your TV for a realistic complete 3D experience. A one-handed controller that uses a combination of accelerometers and infrared detection in conjunction with the sensor bar to sense its position in 3D space. Some people have found the workout to be a bit strenuous
The Nintendo Wii is not all things to all people the way that the other two consoles are attempting to be an all around media hub that takes the place of all the other components in your home entertainment center. What the Wii does do is add another level of fun and mirthfulness back into games. The unique controller has been a big hit so far and has gotten high marks from every reviewer. It is rare for something so gimmicky and unusual to get such a unanimous welcome from the jaded and snarky gaming community. People that have the 360 are getting the Wii too because it is like the apples and oranges in the PC world yet again.
The Wii is an ideal choice for a household with older and younger kids, seniors, and for the homes that do not have a High Definition TV set. Those aren't interested in the more mature titles, and those chat capabilities that are for adults or older kids can have a fairly safe online experience with the privacy and Friend policies from Nintendo. The console also features its own online service WiiConnect24 , which enables it to receive messages and updates over the Internet. The Wii console won the Game Critics Awards for Best of Show and Best Hardware. The console has a few kid safety features such as parental controls to prohibit younger kids from playing the wrong games. It reads the content rating and won't play games that are not set to the right age level.
The number of Wii consoles that will be available in the Americas during the launch rollout are expected to meet demand and sales of 4 million consoles worldwide by the end of 2006 are anticipated. The company affirmed that they "are working to ensure a plentiful supply and a consistent flow."
The launch Wii package includes the console, a stand to allow the console to be placed vertically, a circular clear stabilizer for the main stand, one Wii Remote, one Nunchuk attachment, one Sensor Bar, a removable stand for the sensor bar, one external main power adapter, AV cables (component video and other type of cables will be available separately), and a copy of Wii Sports in the US and Canada. The Wii console is the smallest home console unit of the three contenders and the least expensive at $250. US. The front of the console features a slot-loading media drive lit up by a by distinct blue light and it accepts both Wii software and discs from Nintendo's prior console, the Game-Cube. They are telling us that it is fully backwards compatible with all the Previous Game Cube games.
Additionally the interface for the console is designed around the concept of television channels, with a Wii Menu. Nintendo will not charge fees for playing games from the service. Channels are graphically displayed, and are navigated using the point of the Wii Remote. They are the Disc Channel, Mii Channel, News Channel, Forecast Channel, Photo Channel, Wii Shop Channel, Internet Channel. The Virtual Console Channel is basically an “online service, similar to Xbox Live Arcade. The Nintendo DS will be able to play game demos downloaded from the Wii console which gamers would receive from Nintendo, similar to a DS Download Station. Gamers can download retro games not only for the NES, Super NES, and Nintendo 64, but also Sega’s Genesis, NEC’s TurboGrafx-16 and others. The Wii has average graphics and only a 512 MB built-in flash memory, expansion is available via SD card memory, up to 2 GB max. It will take Game-Cube Memory Cards for saving GCN games only.
In addition to the larger game consoles or PC games that you find at home, mobile games have become very popular. The Nintendo DS is a hand held, rechargeable dual screen portable game system. It comes in a variety of colors and it is pocket sized. It is the most popular handheld game console, which easily buried the competition, which were the Sony PSP and the N-Gage. it has continued to hold the record for the most units sold just as the Game Boy has for years. It comes in two sizes. The original unit that made its debut last year, is referred to as the 'NDS' and it can play both the library of Game Boy Advance games as well as games for the DS. The DS Lite is a smaller sleeker version of the same DS machine, but it smaller and does not have the additional slot for the GBA games. You can find several reviews and editorials about the DS right on this website. Nintendo DS and the Wii are expected to have a type of connectivity to use functions like the Nintendo DS's microphone and touch-screen as inputs for Wii games like Pokémon Battle Revolution. It is expected that all of Nintendo's huge repertoire of well known game franchises, such as Zelda, Metroid, Mario, Animal Crossing, and Pokémon will come to the Wii in some form.
For very tiny kids and toddlers Leapster has the education interactive toys for under $100 Leapster
For an easy comparison chart you can check out Gamefly. They have a chart showing the three consoles. The Nintendo Wii, the Xbox 360, and the Playstation 3. Renting games or giving a Gamefly subscription is a good gift idea.
We finally got some cash together and figured we ought to hit a big convention/tradeshow and CES was the obvious choice. CES is the Consumer Electronic Showcase, basically anything and everything electronic that companies could possibly want to sell to you [the consumer] make their debut here. CES has been going strong and growing strong since 1967, so to say that we are excited to become part of this rich tech history would be a slight understatement.
Now you might be saying to yourself, "Why is the ESH crew going to CES? Isn't it just a bunch of TV's on display?" It's a valid question to ask, but it ain't accurate. CES is actually the show that COMDEX and even the former incarnation of E3 were modeled after, and while there will be a lot of new TV technologies introduced at the show there will also be lots of home theater setups, sounds systems and components, wireless technologies, and even video game related items that will surface from the show. I think as gamers sometimes we forget that getting our hands on the latest and greatest game stuff isn't limited to just a console, or piece of software.
No matter who you are you have a gaming rig that you use, be it just a 23" TV or an elaborate setup containing a 7.1 surround sound system, 42" flat screen LCD TV, a chain of UPS', several gaming consoles, a harmony remote, and a theater style seating arrangement. [Huge sigh] With that said, one of the things that you will start seeing around ESH will be our takes on different components that you may or may not want to add to your rig, so it only makes sense to us that we start by going to CES. We are going to be looking at different audio setups, home theater systems, peripherals for both computer based and console based gaming, LCD TV's [this will come in handy for those of you wanting to upgrade that tiny little 25" TV to something a little sexier] mobile gaming, and gaming in general. And we can't forget portable media stuff, mostly because they won't let us. We'll be on the look out for the hottest new gadgets at the show that will help you get the most out of your iPod, portable video player... hell we'll even take a look at stuff for the Zune while we're at it. We are committed to covering your electronic needs, but only in the good way.
While CES is not E3, Microsoft and Sony are going to be there, and there is going to be a separate "video gaming" section on the tradeshow floor, so we aren't going to be forgetting our roots any time too soon. It just seems to us like it's time to take that next step forward in covering the whole spectrum of gaming life, that I think sometimes gets overlooked. You can't use a game console without having a TV to hook it up to. You can't hear the games without some kind of sound system hooked up to [or built into] that TV your connected to, and you have to have some place to park your ass in order to play and enjoy those games you are playing... and in January, NinJaSistah and Evermore are going to bring you some first hand accounts of the new toys you'll want to add to your rig from CES.
This will be one time that what happens in Vegas, doesn't stay there!
El fiesta en su pantalones! Holy Bob is my spanish bad, good thing for you this game is not... I'm talking about Viva Piñata from Rare [Microsoft Studios] of course. I've been able to sit down with the game for a few weeks now, and I'm ready to share my thoughts on it with you... because you are my friend, you are special to me.
I'll start by saying that if you don't enjoy games like The Sims or Animal Crossing, this is not the game for you. If you are above the age of 7 and don't relish in the thoughts of how you are going to micro-manage your beings on any given day, you are going to HATE this game. Personally, I LOVE those types of games so Viva Piñata should have been right up my alley... and it is.
In Viva Piñata, you play the guiding hand in growing a piñata plantation. [It's more like neighborhood building, but I like the way plantation sounds better.] You start out with a crummy shovel and a small plot of land that you have to work into something piñatas in the wild will want to give up their roaming ways for. Sounds easy, and in the beginning it is, but as you progress on in the game gaining new plantation residents you'll start finding out that keeping your new little eco-system in tact will be difficult. For instance, in order to get some piñatas to become residents on your plantation you have to let them eat some of your existing residents. Before you start with the, "hey this is supposed to be a kid friendly game, not violent at all..." crap remember that I said they are piñatas. They get broken open [being paper mache] and their carcass floats off into a bright light towards the sky leaving behind candy which is eaten by the conquering piñata. It's so cute you barely recognize that your plantation residents are happy canabals. ☺
As I said, Viva Piñata is very much like a Sims game... you have to do a job [tend to your garden planting flowers, trees, grass, digging ponds, etc.,] and meet criteria in order to get wild piñatas to want to visit your garden. Once they have visited you now have to find out what they need to have happen in order to get down to business. Yeah, you heard me correctly. Once you get a couple of the same species of piñata in your garden/plantation you have to figure out how to get them to reproduce. This usually entails having a house for their species built on the plantation and feeding them one of whatever thing it is that they like to eat. The first piñata that you will get to be resident and reproduce will be the "worm" piñata which are called whirlms. The first time you get your piñata to "romance" [that's what it's called in the game] you will have to guide a piñata through a mini game to the other piñata in order to get them to do the mating dance and make a baby! And when it is the first time that you have gotten a species to "romance" you actually get to watch them do it. The mating dance you perv, not "it" it. Every species has a different dance. Once the dance is completed the piñata leave the house and wait for Storkos to bring their baby egg. It is at this point that the game is nearly too adorable for words. I'm not kidding. It is the most cute thing I've played I think ever. This game is MORE adorable than Animal Crossing... and that's a HUGE statement coming from me. I used to play that game for 8 or more hours a day man! Moving on.
Viva Piñata is actually a challenging game. As night falls you have to defend your plantation resident from wild poacher piñatas by whacking the invaders with a shovel or sprinkling them with water. You also have to break up fights between your residents from time to time, else they may get injured and require you to spend money on having a doctor come and make them better. I'm not kidding. There is a little dude that wears a monkey mask that drives out in a shrinermobile to the aid of your nearly dead piñata. How do you make money to pay for these doctor visits? You can sell the fruit from plants you grow, seeds, flowers, pick up coins during the "romancing" mini-games, or just sell your piñatas that are residents. I recommend breeding the hell out of your "bee" piñata as you get over a grand per bee you sell, and the only things they need in order to get busy are a bee house and any piece of fruit. This is why I refer to the garden as a plantation, because you spend most of your time breeding and selling piñata in order to be able to attract other piñata to your land in hopes of ensaring, I mean, encouraging them to live on your land.
This game is damned addictive. I can't stop playing it. The textures are gorgeous. When piñata come into view and move around their paper hair moves [i.e. rises and falls] in a way that seems natural, but it looks sooo good. I love that all the helper characters that speak in the game have an English accent. It makes it seem like it really is a "goodnight" story that someone is reading to your kid... even if that kid happens to be 27 yr old me. But what I like most about Viva Piñata is that it's a game that parents can actually enjoy playing with their kid or at very least enjoy watching their young kid play. It's light hearted, it teaches your kids how to manage money, and take care of things. All this, and it looks good too!
All things considered I'm going to give Viva Piñata a 4 out of 5. I'm giving it two aqua-green candies because it's definitely a kawaii overdose waiting to happen. One green candy for helping to educate our young kids on the importance of having money and spending it wisely. [No money = no house. No house = no nooky. No nooky = unhappy piñatas.] And one orange one for just being some adorable, yet odd fun. If you have young kids, or are a young kid at heart with an XB360 system you really ought to pick this title up.
Do you cry every time you hear or see the story of Romeo and Juliet? Do you rewind certain sexual scenes of Ninja Scroll and drool over them? Well the Douce has got the anime for you. If you want war-torn lovers mixed with ninja that can’t pass up well-endowed females, then look no further.
Basilisk ~Koga Ninpo Cho~ is the story of two clans that have been at war for centuries. An uneasy truce was formed in hopes of uniting the clans. The series starts with that truce being shattered. What makes the situation worse is the leaders of the clans are in love and had plans to be married. Now ten of the best ninja are chosen from each clan to fight with the remaining clan being pronounced dominant.
As the battle of ninja arts commence, the leaders must try to hold on to their love for each other and be loyal to their respective clans. The action and ninja abilities are on par with Ninja Scroll and the there’s the occasional fan-service for all of those that just can’t get enough of it. The series is made up of 24 episodes and is a must-see for those who love a combination of action and romance rolled into one.
I'm giving Basilisk 3 out of 5 M&Ms. It gets a dark blue M&M because seeing lovers get torn apart by war always tugs at my heart. A red one is also in order due to the amount of violence, blood, and gore that takes place. I’m definitely giving this one a teal M&M because it has some of the sexiest women I’ve seen in an anime and the “predicaments” that they find themselves in will have you blowing the dust off (and probably passing a wet-nap over) your copy of Ninja Scroll.
God of War 3 is a possibility people. I don't want to say "DUH!" but, unless GOW2 relegates the main character Kratos [who gets my vote as baddest bad ass ever, btw] to leader of a knitting circle, the game will do very well. And David Jaffe has said in an interview done by GameTrailers that he's working on ideas for a GOW3 title.
Now, because I couldn't type it nearly as eloquently as Mr. Jaffe put it, I'm just going to post up the video of his interview. Incase you are out in public, or have lil kids around, this video is NSFW. I mean, most of the objectionable stuff is bleeped out... but it's David Jaffe, you know what he's sayin!
So here's the interview:
And Mr. Jaffe, I bleepin' love Kratos! I bleepin' love God of War! And I will keep bleepin' buying your bleepin' games until you bleepin' stop makin' em!
It was bound to happen. It had to happen. And I personally can't wait for it to actually happen.
I have been an SSX game groupie since the first title. I found the courses, characters, boards, and music in SSX, SSX Tricky, and SSX 3 to be some of the most enjoyable I had come across in a racing games in years. Then SSX: On Tour happened, and that all changed... dramatically.
Tour was the worst SSX title I had ever played. The career mode just flat out sucked. They were bland, dark, and generally not fun to race down. They pulled what was the most fun bit [at least for me] that existed in the SSX franchise since Tricky which was the voice work for the individual characters. I loved it in Tricky when I shoved someone or got hit by another character that my character [I am always Zoe, so having Bif Naked be the voice of my player avatar = amesomeness on a high level] would talk smack back to them. It what I would do if I was actually in the game, so I thought it was just a great added touch to the game. Yeah, they ripped that out in Tour which is why it is the only SSX title that I do not own. I refuse to buy it. So needless to say, when I saw the video below for a new SSX title [SSX: Blur] for the Wii, my heart began to flutter as if Prince was standing before me, had looked me deep in the eyes, and started singing his "Call My Name" song to me. Yeah, I have a thing for Prince, get over it.
Now, I grabbed this trailer from GameTrailers site and I have to say, watching it gives me the warm fuzzies.
Why? Because it gives me hope. I was really afraid that Tour was going to be the last SSXperience that I was going to have, which is not how EA wants me or the rest of the fanbase to remember the franchise I'm sure. And while details about the game are scarce [GameTrailers doesn't have an expected ship date, and the title doesn't even show up on a search of GameFly] I did find a site that, once translated into English, seems to suggest that the game will be released 29 MAR 07.
As I find out more about Blur I'll be sure to let you know. Until then, give Tricky or SSX 3: Out of Bounds a try. It's a racing game, but it's hella fun at the same time.
If you listen to our podcast on a regular basis you know that I've always had my doubt about the PS3 system. I thought that the machine was [1] too pricey for a gaming console [2] too bulky; after having a PSTWO that was soo sleek being forced into a console with a larger form factor than an XB360 kinda el-sucko and [3] had one of the worst PR campaigns I had ever seen for a console. How does one get excited about a PS3 after watching those eerie "Play Beyond" commercials? Seriously, I'd like to know. In any case, it doesn't surprise me that people are now returning PS3 that they slept overnight in sleeping bags in front of Best Buys to the stores because they can't make more than 100 bucks in profit selling the things on eBay. If you can't make twice your initial investment, might as well make your money back and call it a day. The fact that you can walk into a Best Buy, after Christmas and get a PS3 in your hot little hands even with Sony still in a manufacturing hole is not good news for Sony. Nintendo however is farting in their general direction, and in all honesty I couldn't be happier.
I'm a girl. I'm supposed to identify with the princess character in many stories right? So why do I absolutely hate the character of Himeno in Pretear: The New Legend of Snow White?
There's no time like the Holiday season to be talking about dying and death. I carefully selected an anime that reflects such Holiday cheer. 
Well, it's get er' schnit day folks, and I'd love to hear what you got in your stockings/under the tree.
Good news for Xbox 360 owners who have had problems with their machines after they fell out of the 90-day warranty: Microsoft has extended the warranty on all Xbox 360 machines to one year.![](/images/blog/otter_treo_sm.jpg" "OtterBox")
The case shell comes in two pieces... the front which has all of the keys [which line up perfectly with those on the front of my device] and screen protector while the back piece has the latch you use to hold the two pieces tight together in effect creating a Treo cocoon of safety. It works well. The latch is quite heavy duty and in all my test "oops I dropped my Treo" tries it never un-latched itself. Double cool. The case has a see-through hold in the spot where the camera is, a vent over the speaker location, and an opening at the bottom to allow me to charge or sync the device while it's in it's protective encasing. So no functionality is lost at all. It even has a "grip" on the side to put my stylus in so I don't have to take my Treo out of the cocoon in order to use all of it's functionality. Triple cool.
Afro Samurai features the voice talents of Samuel "The MuthaFuckin Man" L. Jackson as both the main character Afro, as well as Afro's right hand man Ninja Ninja. Afro's goal as the number 2 badass in the world of fighting is to find and destroy the number 1 badass who goes by the name Justice, because he's the bitch that killed his daddy. Justice is voiced by Ron Perlman who many of you would recognize as Hellboy in the movie Hellboy. Ron makes an excellent villain, so I'm glad to see, er, hear him take this role. Oh yeah, some chick named Kelly Hu is going to provide the voice for the character of Okiku. If you from some Bob forsaken reason don't recognize her name then think Lady Deathstrike from X-Men 2 [you know, the chick Wolverine killed] or the sorceress [and love interest] for The Rock in the Scorpion King flick. Yeah, Kelly is hot.
Personally, I'm going to steal a line from Pandalicious and tell you, "DON'T BE A PUNK ASS BITCH!" Catch Afro Samurai on Spike January 4th, it's going to be the shit... it's got SAM JACKSON!!!!
In order to help you guys out, we have updated our gift guide once again in hopes of helping you give those you love the bestest, most awesomest gifts on the planet this gifting season!
Are you a couch speed freak? I am, so getting a copy of Bandai Namco's Ridge Racer 7 [I'm still not used to that "Bandai-Namco stuff] gave me the giggles. I've been looking forward to RR7 since RR6. RR7 is yet another in the long line of RR titles. If you are hoping for some great leap forward in racing game dynamics, this isn't the game for you you. But if you desire a racing game that's easy to jump into and plain ol' fun, RR7 just might be what the doctor ordered.
Nintendo has said it's going to 
Have you ever wondered what goes on behind that curtain in the operating room? How would you react with a patient’s life in your hands? Trauma Center: Second Opinions for the Nintendo Wii puts a patient on the table and a scalpel in your hand.
Day one with the brand spankin' new PS3 is about done and I have a few things that warrant mentioning.
About half of Gungrave takes place in one long extended-flashback where you see the history between Brandon and Harry. The other half is the culmination of 20+ years of history and the destination a lifetimes worth of decisions ultimately creates. If I had to describe it... Imagine two trains, both loaded with people you love, headed for a collision, but travelling in slow motion. You can see what's coming, but there doesn't seem to be anything that can stop it. Even looking back over the facts after the wreck it is unclear what event or series of events directly caused it. That is what Gungrave is about, a heavy sense of inevitability.
You only see about the first half of the first episode before the 13 episode flashback starts, but it is enough to know that Brandon was killed, but was revived and is now enemies with Harry. The story then jumps back to a time when they were best friends. From episode 1 you know that things are going to fall apart, but even watching carefully I couldn't figure out why. Where did Harry or Brandon have a chance to change the future? What could they possibly have done differently? It has been a very long time since I was so entranced and drawn into an anime. I loved the characters and I sincerely felt their pain when bad things happened to them. For many of the last episodes I was incredibly choked up and teary-eyed.
Ok, maybe "madness" is a tad bit strong for what's really going down in Japan right now, but the MS Game Studios title Blue Dragon has sure gotten some serious attention out of our friends in the East.
By now, you know that there is a live action movie based on the 80's cartoon 
Meanwhile Tenchi is living as an art student with a woman named Haruna. He’s a bit older, a bit more mature and has even grown his hair long. Because of his separation from all the spotlight hogging girls you can see his character better than ever before. As they work and live in the city Ayeka and Ryoko keep seeing glimpses of Tenchi but whenever they try to catch up to him he disappears. Haruna has dragged Tenchi into an alternate world and he neither remembers the girls nor wants to be rescued by them. 
This is not a kid’s movie, it has a much more serious tone than the series ever did and there are a few sex scenes, tasteful, but with some nudity. I love it because of that (the serious tone, not the sex,) it shows a depth to the characters that you never see in the series. The thing I find really interesting is that this is the first Tenchi story that really leans one way or the other on the whole Ryoko/Ayeka issue. Although the second movie has more footage of Ryoko, there is no indication of whether Tenchi likes her or Ayeka better. If you pay close enough attention, you can see that Ayeka is made out as a bit of a bumbling airhead, while Ryoko is much more sensitive and sympathetic. Although nothing definitive (like a kiss) happens, Tenchi is much more into Ryoko. Even with his memory erased he draws pictures of a faceless woman with blue spiked hair and whenever he has a flash of memory it is of Ryoko. For me that’s another selling point, I’ve always rooted for Ryoko to be the one who wins Tenchi’s heart. The music is on par with the story. It is much more romantic and instrumental than in the series and it helps tell the story. It’s actually a soundtrack I would like to get my hands on. 
In case you haven't heard, December 5th marks the "Day of the Ninja" celebratory, um, celebration. It is a day on which all non-jas may do their absolute best to act as shinobi... and be identified by all as worthy shinobi.
The basic plot of Ouran High School Host Club is that Haruhi a studious girl from a middle class family has received a scholarship to Ouran Academy, a high school playground for the rich and bored. One day she wanders into the 3rd music room looking for a quiet place to study, accidentally breaks an expensive vase and becomes a member of the Ouran Host Club by way of indentured servitude. That's not what I want to talk about. Host Club is a harem anime and the gaggle of men make my heart go Doki-Doki.(Japanese sound effect for heartbeats) This post is all about them!
I am a calm, collected pacifist and Tamaki fills me with the intense and totally irrational desire to kill a puppy. I HATE people like this, I just want them to curl up and die. I am the type of person who doesn't like dealing with morons and the overly emotional. I have no problem consoling a friend, acquaintance or random person off the street, so long as they have a good reason to be bawling their eyes out or for looking like someone shot their best friend. If I can't understand why they're sad I get all freaked out and I don't know what to do. If I ever met someone who had Tamaki's personality to the same extreme degree I would probably transform into the worlds biggest bitch and beat the crap out of them verbally and maybe even physically. The only time I have ever been violent with anyone was because a girl just like Tamaki decided she was my best friend and she started following me around EVERYWHERE. Everyone has at least one thing they cannot under any circumstances deal with, well this one's mine.
El fiesta en su pantalones! Holy Bob is my spanish bad, good thing for you this game is not... I'm talking about Viva Piñata from Rare [Microsoft Studios] of course. I've been able to sit down with the game for a few weeks now, and I'm ready to share my thoughts on it with you... because you are my friend, you are special to me.
In Viva Piñata, you play the guiding hand in growing a piñata plantation. [It's more like neighborhood building, but I like the way plantation sounds better.] You start out with a crummy shovel and a small plot of land that you have to work into something piñatas in the wild will want to give up their roaming ways for. Sounds easy, and in the beginning it is, but as you progress on in the game gaining new plantation residents you'll start finding out that keeping your new little eco-system in tact will be difficult. For instance, in order to get some piñatas to become residents on your plantation you have to let them eat some of your existing residents. Before you start with the, "hey this is supposed to be a kid friendly game, not violent at all..." crap remember that I said they are piñatas. They get broken open [being paper mache] and their carcass floats off into a bright light towards the sky leaving behind candy which is eaten by the conquering piñata. It's so cute you barely recognize that your plantation residents are happy canabals. ☺
As I said, Viva Piñata is very much like a Sims game... you have to do a job [tend to your garden planting flowers, trees, grass, digging ponds, etc.,] and meet criteria in order to get wild piñatas to want to visit your garden. Once they have visited you now have to find out what they need to have happen in order to get down to business. Yeah, you heard me correctly. Once you get a couple of the same species of piñata in your garden/plantation you have to figure out how to get them to reproduce. This usually entails having a house for their species built on the plantation and feeding them one of whatever thing it is that they like to eat. The first piñata that you will get to be resident and reproduce will be the "worm" piñata which are called whirlms. The first time you get your piñata to "romance" [that's what it's called in the game] you will have to guide a piñata through a mini game to the other piñata in order to get them to do the mating dance and make a baby! And when it is the first time that you have gotten a species to "romance" you actually get to watch them do it. The mating dance you perv, not "it" it. Every species has a different dance. Once the dance is completed the piñata leave the house and wait for Storkos to bring their baby egg. It is at this point that the game is nearly too adorable for words. I'm not kidding. It is the most cute thing I've played I think ever. This game is MORE adorable than Animal Crossing... and that's a HUGE statement coming from me. I used to play that game for 8 or more hours a day man! Moving on.
There is a little dude that wears a monkey mask that drives out in a shrinermobile to the aid of your nearly dead piñata. How do you make money to pay for these doctor visits? You can sell the fruit from plants you grow, seeds, flowers, pick up coins during the "romancing" mini-games, or just sell your piñatas that are residents. I recommend breeding the hell out of your "bee" piñata as you get over a grand per bee you sell, and the only things they need in order to get busy are a bee house and any piece of fruit. This is why I refer to the garden as a plantation, because you spend most of your time breeding and selling piñata in order to be able to attract other piñata to your land in hopes of ensaring, I mean, encouraging them to live on your land.
This game is damned addictive. I can't stop playing it. The textures are gorgeous. When piñata come into view and move around their paper hair moves [i.e. rises and falls] in a way that seems natural, but it looks sooo good. I love that all the helper characters that speak in the game have an English accent. It makes it seem like it really is a "goodnight" story that someone is reading to your kid... even if that kid happens to be 27 yr old me. But what I like most about Viva Piñata is that it's a game that parents can actually enjoy playing with their kid or at very least enjoy watching their young kid play. It's light hearted, it teaches your kids how to manage money, and take care of things. All this, and it looks good too!
As the battle of ninja arts commence, the leaders must try to hold on to their love for each other and be loyal to their respective clans. The action and ninja abilities are on par with Ninja Scroll and the there’s the occasional fan-service for all of those that just can’t get enough of it. The series is made up of 24 episodes and is a must-see for those who love a combination of action and romance rolled into one.
