Man. I thought this weekend would be awesome, but someone punked me. I decided to go to Kulture Klash this weekend which is from 8pm to 2am. I left at 10:30pm. That's right. You normally do not have parties like this in Charleston, and it was the biggest event so far of the year. But I was at the mercy of two others(man, I should of drove there myself). They wanted to go to Folly Beach to hang out at some bar. SOME &^&^% BAR! Some how Folly Beach triumphs tons of people, bands playing outside, and hip-hop music with a dance floor inside. Plus they had tons of paintings, a mini-golf course, and "beer"(since they wanted to drink at a bar so bad). Not to mention the party didn't even start(it's 10:30)!

So I said, we better have fun at Folly Beach. But I forgot. I never have fun hanging out with these people. If you can't have open discussions with your friends about anything, the question is how close are you? That's one of the reason why I feel like I don't fit in. And for some reason I never can get past the conversation about what I do for a living? How many times do I have to tell someone I'm a technical illustrator working for so-and-so? I always have to present my resume before I engage with these people. Anyway, on our way there "they" decided to just go home.

Sunday isn't too bad since there's two hockey games I can watch. On Monday I start my second job. Fun!

Ok. So on the 20th of next week I will have Advent Children Complete with the Final Fantasy XIII demo. That's the estimated time. Also! I had a friend in the area who pre-order it from Play-Asia as well on the 7th of April and his Fedex tracking number has the same ETA. More importantly he is getting it. What I mean by that is the ACC release with the FFXIII demois limited. Alot of people like myself placed their pre-order in the beginning of the year, yet he's still getting a copy at the last minute. So if you're absolutely desperate to play a demo of FFXIII(which is region free as oppose to Advent Children), you might be in luck. Plus the Japanese version does have English voiceovers for Advent Children so you won't be missing out on anything accept if you like subtitles.

So I got my hands on a Fat Princess beta key and I downloaded last night after watching hockey. I wasn't able to jump into the online play, but I played some single-player. The simplicity of the game is awesome, but it's really competitive. If you don't know what Fat Princess is by now, it's a PSN game which allows up to 32 players. You have several different jobs like a mage, healer, warrior, worker, etc. Each job has a purposethat works on the battlefield. And it all goes towards trying to capture your enemy's princess. What's funny is that you can feed the princess to make her bigger,and it makes it harder for the other team to carry her.

Anyway, a big art event is coming up in Charleston, SC call Kulture Klash 4 this Saturday! It's been getting a large amount of attention on the East Coast and the future of this event is bright!This is my type of atmosphere. Hip-hop and indie rock, electronica, hot chicks and geeks, beer, Mellow Mushroom pizza, performance art, bboys, and contemporay art. It's from 8pm to 2am. This year they're expecting 3,000 to 5,000 people in North Charleston. This is the one event I will not miss.

This is my second blog for the day, but I just have to say that Gamespot was giving away beta keys for Fat Princess! And today I just got an email for it today! The beta will be available for a few weeks with chances to test on Tuesdays and Thursday in the evening. Also, Metal Gear Solid 4 right now is one of the best games I've played in a long time. I just past the part where Raiden appears beating up a bunch of Metal Gears. Plus I importedAdvent Children Complete! It still hasn't shipped out, and I'm still waiting. I'm a big Final Fantasy VII fan, and it's cool to watch this movie in HD finally. Plus I get to watch the Case of Denzel and play the Final Fantasy XIII demo. If you want to see the two new trailers for Agito and Versus head over to the Final Fantasy Experience Union!

The NHL Playoffs have started and the Carolina Hurricanes lost the first game in their series 4-1. I'm watching(right now)the Columbia Blue Jackets and Detriot Red Wings play; there's a lot of energy between these two teams. But right now the Red Wings are in the lead 3-1. Well, the Canucks are going against the St. Louis Blues. Even though I might get the evil eye from two GS users...I want St. Louis to head to the next round. Still the Canucks won their first playoff game against the Blues and they do have the upper hand so...

I am thinking about going into the US Airforce or the Navy. It's been on my mind for the past year, and I never really went through with it. There's a military officer that oversees the contract I work on, and he has been suggesting it ever since he became my boss. But most recently he has brought the subject up more then once simply because I just picked up a second job at a place I use to work at as a teenager.

The reason why I picked up a second job was for security, not to mention I've been looking at new living quarters. Plus being a gamer is a very expensive hobby. It's commission sales(plus hourly) in an electronic department, and I'm hoping to bring in at least another $500 to stock in my savings bi-weekly part-time.

The good thing is that Charleston, SC isn't that expensive to live in unless you're downtown or in Mt. Pleasant. I live in Summerville which is a growing suburb outside Charleston. It's really your typical blue collar town in America which is exploding. But all my friends live on the other side of Charleston in Mt. Pleasant or West Ashley. Those are the two towns connecting to the city.

I found this really nice 1 bed room apartment in a gated-community for an affordable price. Plus there's a pool, grills, and a gym in the complex. But I'm also looking at places in West Ashley. Mt. Pleasant is out of the question. Even though it'll boost your social status a little bit, the cost of living there is expensive. My grandmother lives in "Pleasantville", and when I was a child it was less expensive. But it just grew, and traffic is absolutely crazy!

Charleston is growing and it's one of those southern cities that have attracted the attention of people from northern states in the US on the east coast. I was standing in line downtown for a hotdog. The guy selling them was from California, and his first customer was also from there as well. Then another person said they were from New York, another from Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Then this older gentleman was like, is anyone from Charleston? Out of 7 people in line, my friend Ashley was the only one raising her hand which was quite funny. Oh yeah. I was born upstate in New Hampshire but I'm a military brat as well. Yet, my family and our history is located in this city.

Metal Gear Solid's storyline is quite remarkable which is set in a relative but fictional world. It does have some influence from American action and spy films. At the same time it draws from Japaneseentertainment as well.

I bring this up simply because I'm about the venture into the 4th installment of Metal Gear Solid, andI am excited.Most recently I've been able to go back and not only play Metal Gear Solid; but also Sons of Liberty, Snake Eater, and Portable Ops which is on the PSP.

If you want to talk about an adventure that's deep, the MGS franchise provides that. As a RPG fan I can definitely appreciate it. Playing the second game, Sons of Liberty, was a bit more ridiculous considering how it ended. It also incorporated so many new elements to the story; but at the same time it was also hard to follow. Metal Gear Solid 3 which is a prequel pretty much cleans up after Sons of Liberty. Then Portable Ops adds more story onto Snake Eater, bringing it back around a full circle to the original Metal Gear games.

It creates this layer of history for Metal Gear Solid 4. What sets the Metal Gear series apart from others out of Japan is definitely the blend of historical fact and fiction. And the fiction established in the series is well placed in the game's world. Not to mention it's displayed brilliantly. From what I experienced so far, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater really delivers an excellent storyline without getting too contrived. Plus it uses historical information to its advantage creating a believable atmosphere.

But it's the characters in MGS3 that are just wonderful! You get to see the different sides of reoccurring characters, and it introduces some new ones. One of the most outstanding characters in Metal Gear Solid 3 is The Boss. Let me leave you with this; The Boss is the best female character in any videogame that I've played. She is remarkable.

I'm almost done with Metal Gear Solid 3 I think. Right now I just saw Naked Snake take the beating of his life! Geez,I mean..there's two entire cutscenes that just show him getting his butt kicked by this character named Volgin. The whole time I'm just thinking, somebody stop him or play dead Snake. And then Volgin beats him while he's tied up! I just cringed the whole time. But it's worth it because MGS3 is the real deal when it comes to Metal Gear storytelling. I can't really say that about Sons of Liberity. I have Metal Gear Solid 4 sitting on my dresser, and it's still in the plastic.

By the way! I think everyone needs to drop by michelle_morae's profile and say hi! She has wrote her first blog since she entered the US Navy! If you roamed in the realms of the Experienceaffiliates regarding Square Enix games, and the SE Reunionthen you might remember her. She's definitely a big RPG fan!

Edit: Here's the scenes of Snake getting his butt wooping.

Snake get's caught!

Another MGS torture scene...but this time it looks like it hurts.

Here is some good news to start off this blog. Sega is publishing Tri-Ace's next RPG called End of Eternity. At least the name isn't nonsense like Infinite Undiscovery. The art style has a Final Fantasy VII vibe to it with dark colors, and crude metallic structures. Little is know about it, but it will be a multiplatform RPG!

Tales of Vesperia is going multiplatform as well, and will be heading to the PS3. I almost picked this up for the Xbox 360; it's a good thing I was able to catch this information before doing so. Using the Blu-Ray disc, more audio for voice overs will be added to the Playstation 3 version including new content. That's pretty awesome isn't it!

I've been playing Killzone 2 lately after putting Metal Gear Solid 3 down for awhile. This game is gorgeous, and also intense. But the dialogue is just too melodramatic, and there's the unnecessary cursing. At the same time, it's funny. Once I beat it, I'll get back to MGS3. And speaking of Snake I went out and purchased Metal Gear Solid 4. How come it's $49.99 everywhere? I don't know but $10 off isn't bad.

The new Puzzle Quest came out this week, and it's in space on Xbox Live! But the game has you thinking in more dimensions then the previous one. Gems can now fall or rise in any direction(depending on which way you pull a gem to line up colors) so it has you thinking harder. Not to mention there are so many different types of combinations you can pull off. Along with the puzzle elements it still incorporates the RPG elements and combat which makes this puzzle franchise unique. Another puzzler I want to get is the new Lumines on the PSN which I often dance while playing it in my kitchen.

I was going to talk about Breath of Fire III but I'll reserve that for later. Also, I took a long hard look at the Fat Princess and I can not wait for it to release on the Playstation Network this summer! It is 32 players fighting over a princess who likes eating cake. You have several job classes you can be to fight other players or to fortify your team. The more you feed the princess the fatter(and heavier) she gets. AWESOME! Your team not only has to fight off 16 other players, but they also have to carry the fat princess to their lair. So throughout the skirmish both teams are trying to steal the princess for each other and hold her in a dungeon. What an interesting game, eh?

I hate you Playstation Home! Well, at least when it comes to their new secret which is Xi. It's pretty much a mystery in Home, and you have to go on a Scooby Doo mission. I only completed the first two parts with Gamer4life, but it was a pain in the ass simply because Home wasn't working properly for me.

We spent over an hour trying to get my &^%* to work. Gamer4life was giving me these steps to get a pass code(which is the same for everyone). For some reason Home wasn't aware that I completed the first part of the mission and it was just giving me hell to complete the second part. I tried leaving the Hub and re-entering but that didn't work so I just unregistered my progress.

By the time I was able to complete the second step we just left it alone and I turned on George Lopez. By the way; all this week is a marathon of the George Lopez Show on Nick at Night. Besides watching my favorite Latino comedian, I've been searching for the original soundtrack to Breath of Fire III. I already have the original one that released back in the day, but it didn't have the entire soundtrack.

Supposedly Capcom released it again a few years ago in a complete set. Breath of Fire III is one of my personal favorite RPGs. The soundtrack draws a lot of its influences from jazz. That's one of the reasons why the music attracts me. There are two overworld themes in the game. The first one plays during Ryu's childhood. In the second part of the game, Ryu is an adult, and that's when the overworld changes. The original OST released doesn't have the Overworld #2 which is my favorite song on the entire soundtrack. Imagine being 13 years old, getting the OST, and then being crushed that your favorite theme isn't on it!

That was about 11 years ago, and I sometimes I find myself humming to it. So I just decided, what the hell! I found the theme on Youtube as you can see. I downloaded it, and converted the video into a MP3. Then I increased the volume, and added a jazz equalizer to the song which makes it sound at its best. So right now, I'm kind of happy.

Even bigger knews the Carolina Hurricanes beat the NY Islanders 9-0 with their 9th consecutive win in a row. Plus if you want some awesome news about Final Fantasy XIII, go check out the Final Fantasy Experience Union!

Talking about pushing the limits on videogames. What is Six Days in Fallujah? It's a survival-horror military shooter. It's going to be published by Konami and it's being developed by Atomic Games. I said that right, but it's not what you think it is. The Battle of Fallujah is noted in the Iraq War as one of the most gruesome urban warfare operations. Not to mention it only happened a few years ago and is still fresh in people's minds today.

The survival-horror aspect of the game doesn't come from zombies, and aliens. But the idea is more psychological; it's horrific when a irrestiable force fights against an immovable object. Or when that combat high disappears and you realize that your enemy has no intentions of surviving the battle. The game is aiming for "realism" that far surpasses Call of Duty, and perhaps going back to 1998 with the original suspense Rainbow Six created(or maybe even deeper then that).

The game will deploy insurgent tactics against gamers that had US soldiers terrified plus 100% destructible environments using a new 3D engine. It sounds like it'll be a fresh idea amongst todays FPS market, and a game with a story. But this isn't a movie, TV show, or a book we're talking about. This is a videogame meaning there will be a few people who disagree with this project. I want to play it, and hopefully there is some co-op.

Ok. I have some hockey talk first! Carolina Hurricane's goalie, Cam Ward, is goaltender of the month. Awesome! Plus tonight we won our 7th game in a row against the New York Rangers. But there is one thing I want to talk about; young athletes. For some reason in all sports there are these young men and women just running thru the more experienced players. From the amateur scene in skateboarding, Lebron James in the NBA, and even the Chicago Blackhawks.

In the Nation Hockey League that's more apparent today. Literally, they look like little boys compared to everyone else(in the face).You see young team captains, boys hitting men, 18 year olds playing defense, and some crazy shooters. Even though there have been young stars in the past, you haven't seen them in numbers like this. The young center on the St. Louis Blues, TJ Oshie had the highlightof the week against the Vancouver Canucks! I haven't seen a move like this in a long time. TJ Oshie dodges a hit from a Canucks player and the dude crashes into the boards. Then he carries it "in front" of the defense witha fake, drawing Luongo out of the crease for a easy goal. What a ^%# move! And we can't forget about TJ Oshie owning all-star Rick Nash with two shattering hits in back to back games; and one hit TJ had the puck!

I have some new pictures in my images from Sunday's Stingrays game with my sister. We won 3-1, and the South Carolina Stingrays are going to the playoffs for the Kelly Cup. So Carolina hockey looks good for both pro and semi-pro teams. As I type this up right now I'm watching the Williams sisters play tennis tonight. They haven't gone against each other in 10 years!My goodness,they are fine as hell!

Guess what?! A remake of Silent Hill is coming to the &&%$ Wii, and that's ^%^ awesome! This time around weapons aren't going to be useful. In fact they'll only delay you're coming death. Instead it's all about escaping; and that's the suspense I think survival horror fans are going to be looking forward to. Not to mention the game is looking pretty. I can't wait! This is like..another gift for me, and hopefully it'll come out later this year. With that said, will Alan Wake on the Xbox 360 really have a date this Fall. I'm sick of waiting! Please, don't turn into Duke Nukem' Forever.

Update: I found the video of TJ Oshie doing the same move in college.