Yay, new avatar! I should have gotten a Full Metal Panic one a while ago, I'll admit that some of gamespot's avatars were tempting though, especially the ones of Spore, Hotel Dusk, and Prince of Persia. This eventually won out, though, I love Sousuke's "I know exactly what I'm doing" face, it's my favorite part of the whole show, because it stands out so much in comparison to him having no clue when it comes to normal life.

Anyway, enough about Sousuke, let's go on about things that matter.

I saw Stardust, and it was awesome. It's too bad that it's probably going to utterly fail at the box office. I wanted to go see it because I had read Neil Gaiman's Sandman and thought that he was a genius, and this movie didn't disappoint me at all. The twisted sense of humor was what I wanted to see it for, and there was enough dark humor to satisfy anyone, so I was happy. I also began to read the seventh Harry Potter book...and I realized just how much I don't like Harry Potter when it takes itself seriously. I'm moving sluggishly through this book because...well...I guess I don't really like it. Despite that, though, I still want to see how it ends, so I guess I'll just have to keep reading.

Most recently, I've gone back to playing World of Warcraft, and it's just as fun as it ever was. WoW is a good game, a very good game, and anyone who says otherwise has to be incapable of enjoying mmorpgs. I don't think I'll ever get over just how powerful my mage is in Outland, it's like the game is trying to make up for all those countless times I died as a young mage. (rather painfully I might add) I know, it's common knowledge that mages are terrible at low levels and excellent at high levels, but damn it let me take this personally! I hope I can get up to 70 before the new expansion pack is realeased, yet at the same time I can't wait for the new expansion pack, because my complex mage-build requires several more talent-points to spend. By optimizing on critical hit enhancers in both frost and arcane, I am making a hybrid mage with extremely powerful critical hits. The problem is that I need more than a few more points to make it perfect. Once the new expansion pack comes out, unless they change the talents around to fit my purposes even better, I'm planning on putting several points into ice shards, artic reach, and arcane instability. If I have a lot of money in the future, I may remove the points that I put into arcane meditation, arcane mind, wand specialization, and MAYBE improved blizzard. (I rarely ever use Blizzard, anyway)

For now, though, I can't even play on my mage. I'm in Aggramar, and the server will still be down until 12:00 tonight. That really sucks...just when I got back into playing WoW, oh well. If you're also curious about my character, here is his page in the armory.

Wow...It's sad that Hotel Dusk hasn't gotten that much reception. From what I've played it's truly a great adventure game, and belongs in the library of anyone whose interested in noir-detective stuff. I just finished the first chapter, and so far It's been solidly entertaining, and it's great with its detective-esque features. I love the way that interrogations and conversations in general are done.

Oh, well, maybe I should start from the beginning. My friend and I went to EBgames today because we're bored out of our minds with our current software libraries. After a lot of debate, I decided to get Hotel Dusk, and he got Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance as well as Soul Calibur III. He seems to have really gotten into SCIII at this point, and I don't regret my decision either. Hotel Dusk is an awesome game, one of the few to actually stun me with just how graphically excellent it is. And Kyle Hyde is an awesome character. Few adventure games end up engaging me, no matter how much I want them to, but this is a big exception. Being a DS game, I kept expecting immaturity and a lack of style to come through at certain points, but the game is solid with its atmopshere. This is truly one of the *MUCH* more mature games on a Nintendo system. Of course...the price that comes with is that I doubt kids will get a kick out of it. It's a slow-paced, methodical expierience. And even though it didn't bother me at all, even I noticed how long it was taking to get from point A to point B. I don't know how long the game is, but I hope it lasts me despite just how absorbing it is. Atmospheric, absorbing games like that end up feeling to me like sweet grains of sugar almost instantly slipping between my fingers.

I played some of Soul Calibur III, and it's an interesting game. You can tell that the developers just threw in whatever they thought would be cool, and didn't give a crap about making it balanced or fair. Many characters are overall better than others. SCII started down this road, and I guess SCIII decided that it should give up the pretense of abandoning it. (though they say they will in the next game.) I'm also bothered by the fact that you have to unlock everything for the character creation process. I'd like to be able to create my dream barbarian NOW please? I understand leaving some things hidden...but making it so that you have to buy every single piece of equipment in the shop is definetely not the way to go here. It makes it feel like there are so many less options than there really are. What I find ironic about Soul Calibur is that it seems to have gone in a somewhat opposite direction of the DOA series. The DOA series, maintaining it's flash, is now reaching out for substance, whereas Soul Calibur has been losing more substance with every installment in its attempt to have a lot of flash. Still an entertaining game, though. And Siegried is now voiced by Crispin Freeman! I knew his voice instantly. I hope he voices him in the action-adventure game for Wii. I'm glad to see a VA with actual talent in a fighting game.

Well...yeah...guess that's all for now. o_0

Uh...bye! *Runs away*

Well, I'm getting it repaired/replaced. They're sending a box and I'm going to overnight it to them, and then they'll overnight it back when they're done. They say that it's gonna take a month at most. I doubt it will take an ENTIRE month...but they actually seemed pretty sure. It's possible that they're pinned down with 360 repairs and it'll take a whole lot longer for that reason.

In other news, My friend and I saw Ghost Stories, and man is it ever hilarious. In Japan, it was a crappy anime about a bunch of elementary school kids who had to put poltergeists to rest or some junk like that...and if you watch the version with subtitles and japanese voices, that's what it is. However, I'm thinking that the dubbers just couldn't get into the stale, cardboard cut-out characters that the original writers came up with. So, they decided to mix it up a little bit.

And voila. Suddenly, when a character is hanging by his fingers over a dark bottomless abbyss he's no longer saying "Satsuki, help me!" Instead, he's saying, "Oh my god, I'm too young to die! I've only slept with my babysitter!" And when a little kid pulls a medal he had one from a race off of his shirt, it's no longer: "I want you to have it, we won this together!" Instead its, "Gaahh! It's pinching my nipple!"

absolute genius.

My Xbox 360...is deceased.

I was not there at the time. My brother brought it over to a friend's house. I imagine their merciless playing of it resulted in its death. What matters though is the games I will now not be able to play:

Mass Effect

Bioshock

Blue Dragon

Lost Oddyssey

Ninja Gaiden 2

The next Splinter Cell game (forgot the damn name!)

Mercenaries 2

Halo 3

Metal Gear Solid 4 (okay, I was hoping for a Xbox 360 port, alright?)

Kameo: Elements of Power (out, but I haven't gotten it yet...I was planning on it...eventually:()

Resident Evil 5

And more.

There is good news: Many people go insane at the loss of their 360, especially those with fragile mental conditions in the first place. (such as mine) However, I am perfectly sane and calm, which I am very much surprised by. My brother called me from his friend's house, and he sounded like he might cry. But I had no emotional response. I guess, in the back of my mind, I was ready for it to happen. I knew it happened to most people, and I wouldn't be shocked, nor would I be distressed if it happened to me. And, in the end, they're just games. But, alas, they're a lot of good games.

And I haven't given up hope yet. I may still have warranty on the darn thing. I just might be able to get me another 360. The exact same thing (or something similar) happened with my Gamecube. You know what Nintendo did when I called them? They let me have a new GC, free of charge...and I didn't even have warranty on it. Of course, I'm keeping in mind that Nintendo's customer service is to a point where it's almost ridiculous, so I might not have the same luck with Microsoft. Oh well. Even if I can't get a new one, I may just get a PS3 instead, it looks like there are a lot of good games coming up for it.

Wait? What did I just write? Wow...I really am going insane.

Long, long ago, there was a man. A great man. A man with a sense of humor, maturity, intelligence, and a geekiness that few could match. This man was very...strange. He went through a stage where he was emo, had a very odd sense of humor, and was kind of an attention whore who never really got any attention. One day, he disappeared without a trace.

No one really cared, or even thought he was that great either, so he was quickly forgotten.

In the time that he was taken away from nerd forums, the man learned to make friends in the REAL world, outside of the internet, and had a great time doing it. Every once in a while, he missed gamespot, but he learned to live without it.

Then, one day, he returned...the man inexplicably named AquaMantor. Who, with his love of anime, webcomics, video games, and fantasy novels, was ready to be a geek once again...and...oh, yeah, maybe he had a scar over his eye or a cybernetic limb or something, and no one asks them how he got them because he's so badass. I should write this down...wait...yeah, yeah I should.

 

Anyway, I'm kind of making a bigger deal out of this than I should. But, yeah, if there's still anyone who cares I'm back, and I'm not (as much of) a loser anymore! YAY!

http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/rpg/batenkaitosii/review.html

Alright, it's no secret that gamespot can be a little...unfair...at times to japanese rpgs. I'm also going to say right now that I bought Baten Kaitos Origins...during the HUGE time lapse where gamespot was completely ignoring it. At this point, it's one of my favorite rpgs of the currently dying console generation. 7.5 is a good score, I guess...
I'm trying to be mature about this, and NOT explode.
See...if 5 was gamespot's average score...(if it was any game reviewer's average score) we wouldn't have a problem here, or, at least, as much of a problem. But, it seems that we do. Because even games that score a 6.9 are occasionally considered to be bad. So, that means that Baten Kaitos Origins is .6 above being a so-so game? Interesting. Very interesting. It's especially interesting when you see Bethany Massimilla, with all due respect, listing some of the things I personally like about the game as negative traits. It's interesting when a game with beautiful music, graphics, and excellent gameplay is given a 7 in all three categories. (once again, from gamespot, that means just-above-average)
It's especially interesting when the one RPG that dares to offer a challenge is criticized for it. It's interesting that the average review score from users is 9.5...which is probably only a little more than what this game deserves.
It continues to be interesting when you actually read the review. It doesn't take long to realize that the very much respected reviewer doesn't exactly like the battle system. Enemies being hard to avoid, and having to backtrack through those enemies that are hard to avoid are things that the reviewer complains about. She soon finds that she hasn't leveled up enough, or her deck isn't strong enough to handle the boss. Boo hoo. She finds that the puzzles are too confusing, when it's obvious that all she really wants to do is run through the dungeon and get past the parts where she'll have to fight. boo hoo. In fact, she probably just wants to get through the dungeon to finish up her review on this game that she, and the rest of the gamespot staff members, assume no one cares about, so she can do something more important. Well, there's nothing wrong with that, you always want to dig through the trash as fast as possible so you can get to something that matters. I have to say, I feel bad for her. She had to play through this insignifigant game that she 'sort of' enjoyed for hours upon hours, with a level of challenge that she wasn't committed enough to deal with. So, from her impressions: yeah, it's good, but you'd be better off with a game that actually matters.
There's a part of me that isn't surprised. I do love the game, after all. And, as long as I love it, how is it supposed to get the respect it deserves?

11: 46 PM: Okay, here's what's going down. It's late, I'm tired, I need to go to bed, tommorrow's an important day. I need to get up at 7:50-8:00. Every human being should have 8 hours of sleep or more. I can't push my sleeping schedule more than one time a week, or I will become overly tired and incompetent. Life requires energy, sleep gives you that energy, and that is why it's important to get as much sleep as you can.

On the other hand, I just started downloading the last two episodes of Ergo Proxy.

Sleep can wait. It shouldn't wait, by all that is logical, it shouldn't wait, but it WILL wait.
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11: 55 PM: I have just discovered that I am reaching an inner conflict...I am tired. How can I properly enjoy Ergo Proxy, the thinking man's anime, when I am too tired to think? The sheer irony...this is why I should check earlier for new episodes from now on. Then again, if I had checked too early, they might not have come out yet...jeez...
I can't wait until tommorrow, I've already stayed up 30 minutes later than I should have...what's the harm in an hour to an hour and a half more?
...boy, that sure sounds stupid. The problem is that I may be too stupid to understand this show. I can't stand the idea of NOT watching it, but watching it and not understanding it has to be worse, right?
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12:00 PMDownload speeds rapidly increasing and decreasing...if it would just stay at fricken 55 kb/s than I might be able to watch these tonight...maybe not both, but 22, at least...don't do this too me...so cruel...
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12:04 PM: I just realized...I spelled "to" wrong...hehe...jeez...I'm falling apart now. I don't think I can do this...I don't think I can do this...I didn't go to sleep until 1:30 last night...not by my choice, but I just had insomnia, stupid insomnia...
*slaps self* ENDURE IT, MAN! YOU CAN DO IT! YOU CAN DO IT!
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12:05 PM: I can't do it. Good night.

I haven't been on here all that much lately. I've been playing Baten Kaitos Origins (SOOOOO good) but I was in a discussion earlier where Microsoft and Dreamcast came up on completely different occasions that had nothing to do with eachother. Still, it brought this back to my mind. On our good ol' system wars, comparing Xbox 360 to Dreamcast was a popular topic starting about a year ago. Some people, at this point, still don't understand why Xbox 360 is starting to rake in a lot of sales. But there is a BIG difference. In fact, several differences.

1 (probably most importantly): Xbox had a stable fanbase, a group of Halo-lovers who wouldn't go away any time soon. Saying that Saturn had anything of the sort would give it WAY too much credit. In fact, I doubt the average gamer even knows when Saturn was realeased, maybe even what system it was going up against. Sega had an extremely small fanbase going into Dreamcast, they were doomed from the start.

2: There is a very big difference between the release date of Dreamcast and the release date of Xbox 360. You see, Xbox 360 was released in what was the last strong holiday season of each system from the generation we're leaving. A lot of people said, "bah...too early" and it was too early, but only by a little bit. Over the course of the year, Xbox 360 sales have steadily risen. Microsoft really does have the head start they wanted, now, just like Sony had last generation, not like Sega. Sega, instead of releasing a "next gen system early" showed a blatant disregard for going head-to-head with its competitors. Dreamcast was released when the current-gen systems weren't dying, but were instead in their prime. No one was going to jump ship to the next generation at that point.

3. Titles that appeal to the consumer. We're not talking good games, Dreamcast had plenty of those. We're talking games that would appeal to the mainstream. PSO? No. Skies of Arcadia? No. Sonic Adventure? Yes, but not enough. Xbox 360 doesn't have games like that, Xbox 360 has games that appeal to the masses.

So, as you can see, there are big differences between Xbox 360 and Dreamcast. I'd actually compare the release of Xbox 360 more to the release of PS2 than to Dreamcast. Personally, and I'm not a fanboy, I believe that Microsoft will be on top this generation. An Xbox 360 has already become a status symbol, which was what made PS2 so successful in the first place. Still, when it comes to something like the Wii, you never know.

Warning: Aquamantor may sound like a total pansy girly man about this. But, trust me, you WOULD be grossed out if it happened to you.

I usually prefer to take a bath over a shower. With most people, I know it's the other way around, but I'm just weird. I recently started using conditioner because I've had a hard time combing my hair. (no, I'm not gay and this isn't a story about a bad hair day, keep reading) When I use conditioner, I need to go to completely rinse it out. So, I pour a cup of water over my head. Tonight, I found out a magical piece of information.
The one thing I can be thankful for is that I didn't actually put the conditioner in my hair, then I would have had to put my head under the sink to get it out. When I was in the tub, I glanced over and saw that the ol' rinsing cup was already full of cold water. I grabbed it, looked inside, and saw a humongous wad of gum. I mean HUGE. I've always been grossed out by gum, but I just couldn't take this. A little bit of the water, which must have been filled with...my stomach is turning writing this...gum contamination, had spilled on me. I almost threw up. I spilled the water purposely outside the tub, which was a bad idea, because then the HORRIBLE gum smell filled the room. Again, I almost threw up. I got my clothes on as fast as I could and ran out.
It turned out my brother had put the gum in the cup last night. What a freak. When I asked him why, he said:
"I usually do it because it makes the gum really soft when I take it out, and I like it when it's soft"
Now, not only is that a disgusting and weird habit. But it points out that he had done it before. The only difference now was that he had forgotten to take it out. The realization struck: I had been rinsing my hair out with a cup that had had gum in it only a few hours before, and I hadn't even known it. My hair might still have tiny gum particles inside of it. The thought of it makes me WANT to throw up, just to get it out of my system.
I all but screamed at my brother not to, but I have no doubt that he'll do it again. He's just enough of a jerk. No matter, though, I'm never going to touch that cup again anyway.

Once upon a time, in a wooden cottage in the forest, there lived a lonely puppet maker named Gepetto. One day, Gepetto decided to build a wooden puppet boy to keep him company. So, he built, he built all day long and all night long. Finally, one day, Gepetto managed to build this puppet boy, and named him Pinocchio.

            …it was the worst mistake he would ever make.

            Somehow, inexplicably, Pinocchio learned how to talk. All day long, all night long, all he ever said was: “I wanna be a real boy, daddy!” He said it constantly, at least once every two seconds. Gepetto tried to tell the infernal toy that that was impossible, but to no avail. It continued. Day in, day out, Gepetto couldn’t build anything because his artificial ‘son’ wouldn’t shut his pie hole.

            One day, Gepetto decided to tell Pinocchio a story, hopefully to shut him up. It didn’t work. Of course, that didn’t stop him from trying.

            “Pinocchio, sit down, I want to tell you a story,” Gepetto said.

            “I wanna be a real boy, daddy!” Pinocchio said in response.

            “Yes…I know…you say that roughly two thousand nine hundred and thirty six times a day…I count,” Gepetto said with a melancholy tone to his voice.

            Pinocchio said, “Tell me the story, daddy!”

            So, Gepetto began: “Once upon a time, a long long time ago, not so long ago, there was an evil lair where two evil geniuses were planning something evil. These geniuses were named Doctor Zippafly and Eyebracelaser.”

            “What kinda names are those, daddy? They sound like freaks!”

            Gepetto scratched his head, “Well…you see, son, they kind of…were.”

           

            “Doctor Eyebracelaser, welcome back!” the evil doctor Zippafly greeted evilly as the evil doctor Eyebracelaser entered their evil lair of evil.

            “Doctor Zippafly, I am glad to see you again,” said the evil doctor Eyebracelaser, “What is it that you have to show me?”

            Doctor Zippafly did something horribly evil as he stepped back to an evil curtain that he was about to open using his pure evil, “Behold!” he said evilly, “The most evil invention ever created by anyone, for any purpose, EVAR! This invention will be so evil, that someone will see us carrying it down the street, and they’ll walk up to us, and they’ll be like: ‘dude…that’s, like…really evil.’ And we’ll be like, ‘yeah, we know, we totally built it.’ It will be so evil, that the world may randomly be destroyed upon its exposure! So evil that it will make every baby in the UNIVERSE cry! So evil that…oh…evil…” Doctor Zippafly started twitched as he murmured the word “evil.”

            Doctor Eyebracelaser watched him for a second, then asked, “Okay, man, as a friend, I just want to know: do you…uh…still have a problem with…y’know…evil?”

            Doctor Zippafly’s eyes went wide, “What?! What are you talking about?” his nervous laugh of evil echoed through the lair, “I mean…why would I...noooo….hehe….noooooo…don’t…don’t get crazy ideas like that in your head!”

"I'm just saying, man. You know, rehab is only a call away, they can help you." The evil Doctor Eyebracelaser suggested.

"Alright, this conversation ends NOW!" Doctor Zippafly said as he opened the curtain, "BEHOLD! The invention of great delicious, satisfying, comforting, highly addictive EVIL!"

The invention behind the curtain was a boy made of wood.

"It's...a puppet..." Doctor Eyebracelaser said, "It's a stupid puppet..."

Doctor Zippafly shook his head, "NO! It is NOT a puppet! It is a talking, breathing, living puppet! It is also a mentally disabled puppet who is a compulsive liar and is obsessed with becoming a real boy! We will give this to some poor soul, and he will be tormented for all of eternity!"

 

"So, you see, Pinocchio." Gepetto said, "You were that puppet boy. And these evil geniuses eventually grew so tormented by you that they left you at my doorstep."

"But Daddy, I AM a real boy!" Pinocchio pointlessly lied.

"No, you aren't, and I hope you cry about it." Said Gepetto.

"Wow, Daddy," Said Pinocchio, "It sounds like you want me to be sad!"

"Yes, I do, and that's because when you're sad, it makes me very happy."

"Why's that, Daddy?"

Gepetto looked very sad, "Because I HATE you, Pinocchio, I hate you with all of my heart."

Pinocchio grinned ear to ear, "I love you too, daddy!"

Gepetto sighed.

That night, Pinocchio stayed awake trying to think of his real father, but his horribly broken brain had a lot of trouble, so he gave up. Suddenly, in the corner of the room, he saw a glowing blue light appear. He looked up and smiled stupidly as he saw the Blue Fairy standing there!

"Blue Fairy!" Pinocchio yelled annoyingly loudly, "Have you come to turn me into a real boy!?"

The Blue Fairy stood up and groaned, her creepy perpetual smile pointed in pinocchio's direction. Her blue dress stretched around her extremely fake body, which had had over five hundred individual cosmetic surgical operations (and counting).

Her obviously sixty-plus voice broke the illusion, cigarette smoke filled the room as she spoke, "Hey, kid, ya got a cig on ya?"

Pinocchio frowned, "The scary boy down the street has tried to offer me some. My Daddy enocouraged it, then the scary boy realized that I was made out of wood and that I would probably burn up. After he heard that, my daddy REALLY wanted me to buy some...but I didn't have the money. Daddy was really sad that entire day..."

"Yeah, yeah, no need for a biography...god...I need a smoke...Anyway, I'm here to grant you some kind of wishy...thingy...or...something...JEEZ! I need to have fricken nicotine in my mouth! I'm not even coughing right now! Kid, can you do me a favor, go find a cigarette for me."

Pinocchio's lip quivered, "Well...uh...this story takes place before cigarettes were actually invented..."

The tooth fairy tried to frown, but failed, "So, your story about trying to buy a cig from the creepy kid down the street was a lie."

"Yes...it was..."

"Well then, it looks like I'll have to curse you for lying to the blue fairy." She sat down next to where he was lying on his bed and started picking her ridiculously perfect nose, "Let's see...how about I make it so that every time you lie...your nose grows. Piss...I'm just the most creative thing you've ever seen, aren't I? Don't answer that question or I'll make it worse. Anyway, you also have to go find me some cigs. If you do, there's a small chance that I'll remove the curse."

Pinocchio smiled, "And you'll also make me a real boy?"

The blue fairy pulled a huge greenish yellow...thing...out of her nose and devoured it, "Probably not," she said with her mouth full, "But if it'll make you get the ol' puffin sticks faster, then yeah, sure, I'm willing to lie to you: I will."

Pinocchio was out the door before she finished the sentence, running far and fast on his impossible quest.

 

The next morning, Gepetto awoke. It was oddly quiet...oddly...happy...

Before the end of the day, the old man was happy for the first time in years. He got married to a hot woman and they had three sons. But that is another story, and will be told another time...which, in honesty, it actually won't, since no one cares and this is a horrible, completely unfunny conclusion.

(Will probably be continued if I ever have time)