Well i must say it’s been a while. And no, i have no good reason as to why i haven’t bothered to post anything on here. The only excuse i can think of is that it takes time and i like adding silly pictures to the posts to liven things up. But times have changed. Thanks to my newly acquired laptop i can now be one of those laptop guys in Starbucks ala Family Guy.
I joke of course. There’s no Starbucks where i live. But now i have the ability to be on the internet a lot more, and to be honest, i can’t see how i can fit in any more time. I feel i must apologise though to the laptop community. I’ve often held a prejudice against laptops. Reasons stem from the simple “why buy a laptop when a pc is better?” and “you can’t upgrade a laptop like a desktop pc” to the downright stupid “why buy a laptop without a cd drive that is the just bigger than a sheet of A5 paper and costs 2 times more than most other laptops with more power?”. The last one still counts, as i cannot see a single reason as to why anyone would want ‘that’ laptop/netbook/etc other than because of the brand it is. Yes that’s a little arrogant, but if the only thing it can do better than my laptop is be smaller than it then i stand by my view.
(I must interrupt for a second, as i fell i must quickly complain about the amount of 360 adverts I’ve just had to sit through during the advert break in The Simpsons. Would it hurt that much Sony to just for once advertise a few more games or the system? I’m quite fed up with seeing them as they’re always for games that are multiplatform. And the episode of Simpsons is where Homer gets tethered to Bart, is ok but it’s mainly just background tv.)
As i was ranting before, my opinion has changed on the laptop situation. I do have another laptop but it’s about 10 years old and a hand me down from my brother. It barely works, the screen needs to be in the right position, the battery lasts for no more than 4 minutes, and it doesn’t run my DJ software to any usable state. Having the ability to do the same at home while at work or other places is rather useful. The main one i first tried out is a bit of a weird one, but oh is it so good.
Hands up ( and i know i can’t see your hands) who can play Guitar Hero at work? Anyone? Technically ( so i don’t get someone pulling me up on this) it’s not Guitar Hero, it’s Frets on Fire, but it works just as well and now i don’t have to pay for songs on PSN. Imagine you go to the petrol station. You fill up with some fuel but can hear a music coming from the store. And as you walk through the door you see someone jamming ( or rocking, what ever works best for you) to Kansas. Personally, i think it’s genius.
Other than my laptop, i have bought far, far, far too many games. And sweets and crisps. My pointless quest to acquire more trophies on my PS3 has led me to buy a lot of games just to get some more. Having said that, it’s not like the games i have bought are rubbish, but there are a few that have swayed me because of the reward of a few bronzes or silvers. My ‘Quite impressed/didn’t think i would like/prolly wouldn’t buy full price’ game so far this year has been H.A.W.X. It’s awesome, i didn’t want to use that word but i can’t think of another that i can use to describe it. Following the guides for missiles and intercepting doesn’t get boring even if it is easy ( and i assume you can turn it off or it switches off on harder modes, other wise i might complete it faster than i thought). I 100% Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Omega Turbo Super Ultra Collection, which was satisfying. It made start playing Shining Force II all over again, and i thank it very much for that.
And i must mention how i have spent too much money of Bakugan. Sad i know, and i have no comeback or sarcastic remark, but if you’ve tried one they’re pretty fun to watch open and even funner to figure out how to close.
As a close to this first post, i wanted to add a picture, but couldn’t really think of anything to put. Instead i leave you with a picture i made a while ago as well as a youtube video of a 3D omnitrix i made a year ago. A shiny penny to the person who gets all the games and anime people ( and if you can’t see well enough i have a 3072×2304 version). I made the video as i randomly searched for the image i put up to see if it would link to my website, but instead someone had turned the still render into a 30 second video on youtube and some muppet had said that it was his picture ( i corrected him in the comments).
Job done i say.
Filed under: Video games
well after not getting any replies ( and not seeing anyone talk about MGO at all really on here) i decided to do this myself. Of course, i couldn’t think of any name other than something to do with Gurren Lagann, but at leat it better the the 100′s of solid/ocelot/raiden (ok i’m making that one up) clan names or players. Is it that hard to come up with something original that’s not either solid-(insert name here) or big-( same again), i mean come on. I would like to say well done to the person ( and there must be one) who put there name as solid snake before everyone else got the chance to.
Anyways, the clan is born, and will hopefully increase. All are welcome to join, and a mic would be a good thing to have as i can’t be bothered to sit near my ps3 with a keyboard to type out things. It’s not because i’m lazy, more like i play on a HD projector which is at about 76″ across the room and the usb lead isn’t long enough to reach where i sit. And talking is just faster. I’d like to think we can get a good group going and play well as a tram, just as long as no one ( and i know it’s just happens sometimes) is stupid enough to walk infront of teammates while shooting. I can’t stand that as it usually ends up in me and the person infront dying from me not shooting them and them getting killed infront before i can get a bullet out.
If you wanna join look up DAI GURREN BRIGADE in the clan search option or look for my MGO player name ryoma45. I’m in the uk but i play late into the morning and play each day.
Filed under: Video games | Tags: darkstalkers, guiness world records gamers edition, street fight, Video games
After not posting anything for a while ( nothing exciting to post really, i have news but i can’t say it yet for reasons i can’t specify) i’ve been spending my time doing what i do usually. Nothing. I bought the Guinness World Book of Records Gamers Edition ,which i would like to add i have found to not be the ‘gamers bible’ as it states on the back of the book. Considering the book doesn’t hold that many ‘real’ records as it essentially a book about the best games in each genre and facts about them ( and facts aren’t records are they, they’re facts, hence the use of the word ‘facts’), i was slightly dissapointed with it. And i can’t get in touch with the editor any other way then by writing a letter and posting it to the guy about why the mistakes in his book can’t make it a ‘bible’ of any sort ( most valuable rpg game panzer dragoon? i think you mean panzer dragoon SAGA, along with getting the sodding picture right). As the Guinness World Records are usually known to be of a high standard when it comes to information, i find wierd that there would be mistakes when the information about all the games can be found on the internet, so whoever did the final checking needs to be fired for next years book and i need to be employed, as i want to see a book of ACTUAL records and not crap like ‘First game to be based on a movie…that was based on a game’ or ‘First game to feature a gravity gun’. There are 12 ( that’s right, 12 pages out of 256) pages that actually contain records, with the rest filled with crap like i have shown. Anyways if someone from that book even does read this get in touch, as you need to refund my time, patience, excitement and money for the months i have been waiting for this book to come out.
Anyways, back onto the original subject. After reading through the ‘filled with lies and rubbish’ gamers edition of the world records, i happend to stumble upon a picture of Guile from Street Fighter.Nothing new and what a suprise to find a picture of him in the series he is from. However, i later thought more about the picture, and why i don’t know what it is from. After a little bit of research ( or youtube really), i managed to find what it was from. Now i like to think of myself as quite a hardcore gamer (minus i don’t pay to play online or play any game online with headsets so i can scream utter nonsense if i kill people) as i own pretty much every console, spend 80% of my earnings of games and other game related stuff, pretty much only talk about games, and have done all of this since i was born ( i’m 22 and started on a specturm zx. Jetpack ftw!). I also like to think of myself as being quite knowledgeable about spin-offs for games, like books, cartoons, movies, etc. So how the hell did a Street Fighter AND Darkstalkers cartoon slip past me for the last 10 or so years. I’m not talking about the good anime ones ( Street Fighter movies and the V series, along with the Night Warriors anime), but some US made piles of you-know-what. Seriously, it must be that they are both so bad that i haven’t ever heard them spoken or written about before. Here are some loverly samples of the work for you.
What are they? I’d like an answer and an answer soon. And i thought watching the Double Dragon and Mortal Kombat cartoons during my youth might of been some of the worst shows i had ever seen. If only i could find full episodes, i would waste my bandwidth to get them, only to delete them later so i was doing the right thing.
Filed under: Anime | Tags: gurren figure, gurren lagann tcg, kamina figure, lagann figure, tengen toppa gurren lagann
After waiting for seemed like years ( although it was only about 11 days or so) my new box of Gurren Lagann figures came in the post. After getting 1 of each of the figures in the last box, i was hoping my luck would continue on with these 2 boxes. All i can say is i either have awesome luck ( thanks to my shirt and shorts combo which adds +14 to my luck stat) or that each box contains 1 of each figure and an extra one. As much as i like to think it is the first one, it’s prolly the latter. Here are the shots of my newly displayed figures.
Here’s what they look like at the moment, but i’ll probably redo how they are set out and such. And here are the new figures.
Well now with these done, i’m thinking of buying a box of the second part of the second chapter of figures ( contains Yoko 2, Gurren Lagann with spikes, etc) but i don’t raelly want many of the figures out of it ( it has Kittan’s sisters as the rest which i’m not to bothered about). In the mean time i’m looking for model kits, i’ve found some but funds are low at the moment so we’ll see after i get paid tonight and what i have left after the weekend. I also have now a spare Kittan, Leeron and Kamina with sword figure. If my girlfriend doesn’t want them, they might be open for trade, but i’ll see. Leave me any comments on these figures and where i got them ( and if you want more pictures, i’m scanning all the cards in as well but there’s quite a lot of them) if you want to know.
Filed under: Anime | Tags: air gear, Anime, beck, bleach, card captor sakura, naruto, one piece
If there is one thing that’ll keep me watching an anime, it’ll be the intro. While it may only last just over a minute in most cases, first impressions count, and many a time have i read a review of an anime, only to watch the intro and first 5 minutes and gone ‘done’ and walked off. This is usually a rarity among subbed anime, but with dubbed anime, the intros can be better than the whole dub because of the ridiculous songs they seem to use instead of the originals ( whether it is because of the rights to the songs or not i guess). Here i present, in my opinion, the very best and worst intros to animes i’ve watched.
Firstly, i liked to start with a good intro, just so we know what we’re looking for.
The Air Gear intro is a good place to start. The song is good ( as is the rest of the Air Gear soundtrack if you can get it) and you get a feel of what the anime is about roughly. Even though the anime has ended ( hopefully a second season will appear but i hear the ratings in Japan were not that great) then manga continues, and is well worth the reading after you’ve finished watching all the episodes. A good solid opening.
Now let me show you the opposite end of the scale.
I wouldn’t consider this to be the worst, but it could easily take 2nd place without a second thought. It’s a shame as the series never really did that well stateside or over here. Like most people, i can’t help but laugh when i hear the song actually start. At what point did the creative team decide this would be the best option for an intro to one of the longest running anime series ever. Clever, clever people.
Here is what i think is the best intro i’ve seen to an anime.
Now i could have easily of put the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann intro in there as it qualifies for the same reasons this intro belongs at number 1. But for a series i still need to finish ( i’ve started watching it about 6 or 7 times and get about 3/4 the way through) this always makes me want to watch it. An intro i do not mind watching over and over again is a good intro. If you start get annoyed of tired of i, it’s not that it’s bad, but some i just want to get past it and get straight on to the action. This doesn’t happen with Beck.
So with the best there must be a worst.
You just gotta be s*****g me. Really? I mean really? No i’m not just picking on a bad anime ( sorry but i can’t do the whole magical school girl thing, actually the whole Clamp thing, apart form Tsubasa Chronicles and Code Geass for some reason) but c’mon. Really? It’s wrong i tell you. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
Other anime intros to look for that are actually worth watching ( although in my opinion the rest of the anime after the intro isn’t but that’s another story that i may continue with later) include the 1st and 2nd intros for Bleach, Naruto’s 2nd, 5th and at a push Shippuudens 1st, Tengen Toppa Gurren Laganns intros ( doesn’t matter which one), the 1st Initial D intro, and some others that if you really wanna know then leave a comment and i’ll elaborate further.
Filed under: Video games | Tags: games, Ghost Squad, nintendo, sega, Video games, wii
Having been paid yesterday and being quite good in not buying any games recently ( although all that money has gone into Gurren Lagann figures) i decided to possibly buy a new game. I had been eyeing up Ghost Squad and Nights for the Wii since i first heard of their previews. After looking online for prices and such, i found that Gamestation had an offer to get a free Wii gun shell ( the Big Bang! Wii Blaster) for £30. Other sites had the game for £5 cheaper, but seeing as i own 4 wiimotes and intend to get at least 2 Nyko Perfect Shots ( as they seem to be the best and I already own a zapper, which i find to be great) i thought i would go with that offer. Not wanting to waste my petrol i phoned up first to make sure the deal was on in the store, and the guy who seemed to be in a rush said yes. So with that i drove to town, in which when i went to buy the game, the cashier decided not to include my free £13 gun shell ( who would buy it for £13? I mean the zapper comes with Zelda, and it’s only £20). After asking about the free shell, i was told the offer wasn’t on anymore. Then i said i had phoned up earlier and was told that it was, to which neither of the cashiers admitted to saying it was them ( one was a girl and I spoke to a dude on the phone, so that narrows it down a little). In the end they gave me the gun, blaming it on another member of staff who i couldn’t see who had put out the offer posters. With that set i bought some beer and drove back home.
After moving my Wii downstairs to a bigger tv, I noticed that yet again Gamestation had sold me an opened copy. Now the disc isn’t scratched or anything, but i don’t see why they feel the need to open the damn game and take out the manual and dis. Considering most stores have all the games sealed in draws behind the counter, and the ones on shelf are just phony boxes, why go to all the trouble. I like opening the wrapper as i know no-one has f****d with my game that i’m paying for. But as it works i can’t be bothered about that no more. the game itself is just as good as I remember in the arcade. Once the wiimote is calibrated, and the reticule is turned off ( for more points as well), the game turned out to be awesome. Yes, it only takes around 20 minutes to complete, but to unlock everything ( and that should be the goal in this type of game) will serioulsy take some time and patience. Graphics? Meh, I don’t care, as graphics mean nothing to me. Games are about gameplay first, then graphics, and as this has 2 player co-op and 4 player party games, i can’t wait to get 2 more gun shells for the other wiimotes. The only thing i would say that is bad about the game is the training mode. Out of the 3 choices, the first just makes you shot 10 bullets into a target as fast as you can, that’s it. The second makes you shoot targets of different colours and sizes, and sometimes they move ( oooohhh). The third however has 16 levels, which are basically mini levels on different difficulties. Not exactly a major time waster overall, but then again, why bother with training as it doesn’t get you any exp to get new guns and costumes, or party games. I tried Ninja mode, but i found the shurikens to be annoying to shoot with, so i haven’t got the other mode yet. But i’ll basically do that once i finish this post.
For £30 (with a gun shell or £24.99 from play.com), I think it’s a good purchase. I bought my Wii to play games with people. I take it everytime I go to a friends house. Games like this are what makes having the console great, as this will be played just as much as Wii Sports, Mario & Sonic, Excite Truck and a load of the other games I have for party/friend times. 
I wish that was a real mission. I really, really do.
With the final bits underway to finishing my Kamina glasses, that being that i found an old pair of glasses that i can use to attach them onto my nose, i’m still waiting for the arrival of my TCG figures to come in the post ( maybe tomorrow, maybe Friday, hopefully this week). While watching some more Gurren Lagann and tidying my room ( sort of), i came upon a excellent idea. I have a set of mini LED spot lights that switch on and off by pressing the middle in. With them being round, and the circuit board being small, i’ve come to the conclusion i can make a pair of Simon’s goggles/glasses with them. Unlike the Kamina glasses I made which was simply just a sheet of plastic cut to shape, these will be more of a challenge. With any luck i’ll be able to use the spot light just the same as before, but it’ll be embedded into the goggles/glasses. But with nothing else to do all day, i figure it’s a good way to keep myself busy. Hopefully by tomorrow i’ll have all the bits I need, minus the red fabric I think i’m gonna line it all with. Rest assured pictures will be taken once i’m done.
Filed under: Video games | Tags: brawl, Hajime no ippo, No More Heroes, Smash Bros Brawl, Star Trek, tengen toppa gurren lagann, UFC
Not since i was a child have i found waiting for a game to come out nearly painful. I know that’s quite a statement, but when i know there is already all of Japan playing Smash Bros. Brawl, and those pesky people who have an import Wii ( or a modified one, you cheeky owners you) and then knowing that there is still no set date for the game in Europe, i need something else to take my mind away from thinking about the game. Here are 5 things that’ll hopefully pass the days quicker.
1. No More Heroes
Great. Awesome. Radical. I’ll stop there before i use all of Michelangelo’s vocabulary. After hearing/seeing this previewed yonks ago, i was set for some beam sword swinging action that has been missing on Wii since launch. I have no doubt that this game will easily keep me entertained for many nights/weeks/months, as well as my friends when they see it. But the only problem i have is not having any blood in it. I’m not saying i love gore in games, i think it’s best suited when the game calls for it ( Gears of War, Unreal Tournament III, Bioshock), but here is a game that doesn’t look real enough to warrent having the blood taken out and swapped for black ash. Watch videos of the US version and the Japanese version and tell me that the un-censored version doesn’t look better. I’m sick and tired of being an adult but not being able to play a game 100% the way it was made because some idiots believe the someone, somewhere will do something sily. Start taking gorey movies like Saw or Hostel off the screens or swap the blood for black ash in them instead, ‘cuz they are by far worse than many games are. How often do you see a trailer for a gorey game compared to seeing a trailer for a gorey film. Oh and Manhunt 2, if you feel like getting released in the UK sometime, don’t bother unless i can have the version Rockstar wanted us all to have ( i don’t even want the game really, the first bored me, but i’ll be damned before someone tells me that i can’t play a game for being ‘too violent’). Only problem is another 2 weeks for this one to come out, but what a surprise.
2. Victorious Boxers Revolution
When i first bought my PS2 all those years ago, i bought a game in a 2 for £30 deal, one being Victorious Boxers ( the other being something else i completely can’t remember). when i first had it i found the game hard and deadly. The computer would knock me to the floor before i even landed a punch, and even if it let me hit it a couple of times, it would just be mocking me. I left the game for years, until i figured out why the characters looked familiar, that being it was the localization of Hajime No Ippo, a boxing anime. With this new interest in the game, i bough the second off ebay for a mere £7, and haven’t regretted it since. At university, this was a game that my flatmates and friends enjoyed playing, as no one was ever better than anyone else. And with some specials like slowing down time, the fun of watching you counter punch your friends head off never got old. Now with the soon release of the Wii version, my arms are going get a serious work out. Again, this has been out for ages everywhere else, but at least it is coming out (albeit in a month, but hey at least there’s a date for it).
3. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Well i guess no surprises here. I’ve been on a non stop ride with this since i began watching it. Having started watching it again ( for the [insert number here] time), my booster boxes of TCG figures coming this week, making glasses, and playing the DS game, i’m sure that this alone will be the number one thing keeping me occupied til Brawl comes out. Read my previous post here, here and here as too why i’m gar for Lagann.
4. Star Trek
See what i did there. I only used to watch Star Trek when it i was having dinner and it was on after The Simpsons on BBC 2 years ago, and even then only because i was a slow eater ( am still am). Years later, and i found myself bored outta my mind at uni needed something to fill the hole that was the rubbish i call Lost ( i have a love hate relationship with the series, mainly hate these days). I decided in my drunken state to start watching the original series, and since then i haven’t not enjoyed watching it. I think it’s because of Shatner, he is a legend what ever you may think. Each night while i’m trying to sleep i put on a couple of episodes, sleeping in and out of the problems that the crew get into. One of the best series i’ve watched in years, even if it was the only decision i’ve ever made drunk that hasn’t turned out to end at the hospital of me losing money ( ebay and poker are cruel devils).
5. UFC
Again nice touch may i add. With Lesner losing on the weekend, my lust for more UFC continues. Hearing that the next Ultimate Fighter will have Rampage Jackson in it with Forrest Griffin as coaches ( i think that’s right, correct me if i’m wrong but i was drinking while watching), we’ll finally be on route to see Rampage actually do something since winning the belt. How long has it been, as i simply do not know ( or can be bothered looking across the internet to find the answer). I’ve seen him at nearly every UFC ppv since he won, and that seems to be all he does, so hurray for him actually getting to fight soon. With a ppv every few weeks or so, and other mma shows airing on other channels while i wait, at least i can get my fix of violence and blood that i’m missing form No More Heroes. Now if only tickets weren’t so expensive in the UK for events.
There are many other things that will keep me busy while i wait for Brawl, some other DS games, some PSP games, Unreal Tournament III, completing Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles, but hopefully there is enough til whenever Nintendo decide to announce they gonna release it. Much like Rampage choosing to defend his title.
