Well, I finally managed to get a good look at a DS yesterday. Got to have a bit of a fiddle around with it... They're NICE, people. Can't wait until the 24th of February now, when they're released locally, and I can pick up my pre-order. :)

In fact, given that the Nintendo DS is backwardly compatible with the Gameboy Advance, I've gone and picked up a couple of games for it already. Managed to track down Kingdom Hearts - Chain of Memories (which is almost Kingdom Hearts 1.5, which makes it kinda a bridge between the first and second game on the PS2) and another RPG, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

Now, sure I can't play them 'till the DS comes out in a couple of weeks. But when it does - I'll be ready with all sorts of games to play. I'll stop bouncing around with excitement now, shall I? :P

Now, I'm sure you're all sitting there, breathless in anticipation to find out what's been going on in the Need for Speed - Underground Challenge started between myself and my mate Stan about a week or two back... (What? You haven't? Well, why not? I mean, this is the Clash of the Titans here - we're talking quality entertainment here, people. :P)

To be honest with ya, I haven't really played much Underground in the past week. I think my last Track completed was 92, so I'm about 19 races from the end of the game. I've needed a bit of a break from the car racing type games for a lil' bit - some of the races have been getting quite frustrating, given how much the game cheats. I'm determined to finish it, but I'm not sure when I'll get there now. I'm actually working every day this week from here 'till Saturday, so I'm not gonna have a lot of time here to race. But I'll make an effort. :)

So here's ya chance, Stan! What race you up to, and you been spending ya weekend racing on Undergroud much? I know I prolly won't get much racing done next weekend, so I'll have to make an effort during the week...

Well, it's been the best part of a week since I wrote NEthing here in my Journal, so I figured I should give you an update on what I've been up to since we last chatted. Work (mostly) is the short answer. And I was briefly thinking about leaving it at that and surprising you all...

NAH! It's me we're talking about here? When do I ever write short Journal entries? :P

I hope you're sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin...

Working week for me has been a bit up and down. For example, the week started out with a bit of confusion. I had been asked by one of my boss-type figures to run a CPR course on Tuesday, which was fine with me. I was told the details would be put on my schedule and all that, so I didn't have to worry about it. Fairy Nuff - sounded reasonable. So Monday afternoon, I checked my schedule, to see when and where this course was... It wasn't there. Now, when I called to find out what was going on, no-one in at our State Office could tell me NEthing about it, so I was a bit puzzled, and starting to get a bit worried - was the course in the evening or the morning? I couldn't remember. :(

As it happened, I was helping out at a course at State Office on Monday evening, so I figured I would just check in the store room where all our course packs are kept, and pick up the one I needed. Good plan - except that the pack wasn't there. I was beginning to get a bit worried.

So I had to wake up really early on Tuesday morning, and called Cathy about the course. She informed me the course was in the evening, and discovered that someone had forgotten to put the course on my schedule. As such, since it wasn't listed, no course pack had been put out. The whole situation turned out to be easily remedied, but I still had a few nervous moments until it was.

Now, that put a bit of a dampener on my day, as you could imagine. But the thing is, I got a LOT done during the day while I was waiting for the course. Paperwork I had been sitting on for a while got marked, I tidied up around the house a bit, got all my dishes done, some washing done, and generally felt pretty good about all my achievements. So there's a silver lining to every cloud, isn't there? You just gotta see the positive in every situation. Sure, my day was a lil' shaky to begin with, but once I knew what was going on, it turned out to be a really GOOD day. :)

(Course ran smoothly as well - so it ended well too... :D)

More updates on the intricacies of my life another time...

Erm, I have a question for those of you who participate in the Quote Quiz... What happened to finishing up Part 6 of the Quiz?

I mean, Mr Znuggles managed to guess the Movie correctly - "In the Mouth of Madness" - but no one seems to have gone and filled in who made the quotes there. Does someone wanna give it a go, or do I need to fill in the gaps and call that Quiz closed?

OK, this is really starting to stress me out now...

As some of you know (and maybe have even played), there's an interesting, quirky lil' Japanese game called Katamari Damacy out there at the moment. It's a game where you play the Prince of All Cosmos, who is trying to put the stars back into the sky once your father has lost them, or something similar. The way you do this? By rolling up everything you can into a big ball of stuff. Sounds weird, right?

Well, the thing is, I like that kind of game. Quirky lil' games, which are kinda different and have some unique features. This is why I like Gitaroo Man, or the Fatal Frame games, or Siren and games like that - where there is some unique feature, some style of gameplay that is a lot different from the average game.

So can you imagine my frustration when I discover that nowhere I've checked in Australia has even heard of this game? So how am I supposed to get a working copy on my PAL PS2 now? And to hear that they're releasing a second game in that series even before I've played the first? Not good.

Does NEone out there in Gamespot Land know if Katamari Damacy is being released in Australia in the foreseeable future? Help me out here, people. I'm going nuts! :(

One thing I've noticed about my gaming collecting is that so many of the games I've gotten in recent times have been ones that I have pre-ordered, and paid for well before I actually managed to get my grubby lil' fingers on the actually physical game itself.

I must admit I quite like the idea of being able to say "I want one of those, and you WILL hold a copy for me at your store. Here, have some money now to spend on whatcha like and make sure the game comes in on time, willya?" Now sure, I'm handing over my hard earned cash prior to being able to enjoy the game, and it's not like (with most games NEhow) that they'll sell out of the thing before I manage to get in there and pick up a copy. It's just easier I guess to put down some money every week and slowly pay off a game that's due in a couple of months. Doesn't feel as much like you're outlaying huge amounts of money when you do it that way.

The only annoying thing about that is when the game's release date is pushed back. For example, I've had The Bard's Tale (X-Box) and Playboy - The Mansion (PC) pre-ordered and paid off now for a good couple of months. Why? 'Coz Bard's Tale was due out last November, and Playboy at the beginning of this month. However, in both cases the release date has been pushed back, and I think they're now being released late February and early March respectively. Bit frustrating, really... :(

In fact, I think I keep my local Electronics Boutique store running almost single-handedly sometimes, with all the games I either buy there or pre-order. Right now, I have the following games and consoles I'm waiting on:

The Bard's Tale (X-Box)

Playboy - The Mansion (PC)

Midnight Club 3 - DUB Edition (X-Box)

Devil May Cry 3 - Dante's Awakening (PS2)

Nintendo DS Console

Super Mario 64 (DS)

Warioware Touched! (DS)

And I'm looking to put Jade Empire (X-Box) down on pre-order as well in the next couple of weeks, as that is looking pretty kewl too. In fact, there's a whole bunch of games on my Wish List which I am either trying to track down (if they're older games), or looking to pre-order if they're not out yet. Ah, the joys of the Gaming lifestyle.

More another time, people - have a great day!

Rather than counting up when I report in on my progress in Need for Speed - Underground, I shall now be counting down. :D

As of last night, I managed to race my way through the 84th track of the game. Actually, it was kinda a repeat of an earlier track, just with smarter racers and less laps to achieve. The need to not hit the walls or other cars is becoming even more important at this later stage of the game, as such an impact can knock somewhere up to 40kms/hr off your speed, which means that those evil races behind you make up half a second or more on you.

Now I know that doesn't sound like much, but when you have 2 seconds between first and last place in a given race, it's important to maintain your lead for as long as possible. Actually, there are times when this can be a bit frustrating. For example - you're racing away, weaving in and out of traffic, gunning the accelerator and using some nitrous to try and further your lead in a straight bit. Now, as you race your way uphill, you crest a rising part of the road to find... a TRUCK, right in front of you with no chance to swerve! *crashing sounds and muttered curses* Next thing you know, you're spinning out, tumbling and bouncing, for a good few seconds before you come to a rest and can resume the race. Meanwhile, you're now six seconds off the lead, with no real chance (unless the other racers crash) of regaining first spot before the race is over... :(

Now has NEone else noticed that in this game when you crash, you're in strife for a good few seconds, but when one of the opposition crashes, they're back up and racing again in a much shorter period of time? Even if you manage to take one out by slamming them into something, they don't seem to bounce and cartwheel the same way your car always does - what's the deal there?

I've changed cars a few times in the last few races. My Nissan Skyline GTR is good for Sprint tracks and Drag races. I prefer to use a Mazda MX-5 when I do Drift races, and depending on the layout of the track also for Circuit races and the evil Lap Knockout (I hate those things...) races. It's a matter of speed versus stability. When you're taking a corner at 200km/hr or more, you need to make sure you don't slam into the wall and lose speed. Tricky with some of the cars and some of the courses. *shrug*

NEhow, I'll have another look at it today and see if I can crack a few more races. I'm ranked at least 5th in all the main Rankings boards in the game, and fourth in a couple. Here's to being TOP Underground racer in the next week or so. :D

Well, I went back to University over the weekend just gone. No, not to study - but to run a First Aid course for the staff and students there. :)

The idea was good - I was told I would be in the Alan Mitchell building, and that I would be upstairs on the mezzanine level. I was also told there would be a class downstairs, but that they would try and not be TOO noisy, and so hopefully that wouldn't disturb us. No real problem so far - how loud could a class of University students be, I figured?

You see, those kind of assumptions just get you into trouble. 'Coz when you don't have all the facts, you get yourself into some trouble. It seems the Alan Mitchell building is a Gymnasium, and the mezzanine level (which is upstairs), has a balcony type part that is open to the main part of the Gym, and so noise carries quite well. It also appears that apart from just a "class" downstairs (which turned out to be a fitness class, with loud music and all), the Gym was open to the students and public. So we also had a couple of basketball groups practising, a Kickboxing class going on, and all sorts of other things. Oh, plus the airconditioning - while being very good - was quite strong, and a couple of my participants kinda got a bit chilly...

So for the first four hours of the day on Saturday, I had to raise my voice a lot so that my class could hear me. Now, those of you who know me know my voice is quite loud enough to drown out most other noises when I need it to be, but to keep that up for four hours was a bit of an ask. I managed, but my participants were a bit upset at the need for it.

We survived the course, Sunday was much better as there were only some workmen assembling tables downstairs for some upcoming supplementary exams. Everyone quite enjoyed themselves, and we even managed to get out of there a few minutes early, so what started out as a nightmare course actually finished not too badly.

Just a story from the Life of Matt. Now you can go back to your Gaming worlds...

Well, in keeping with my tradition of about two weeks turnaround for a level advance, I've managed to do it again! I am now to be referred as...

Quad Damage

(Which I must admit, isn't quite as impressive sounding as Blaster Master, but what can you do? If I was in a game of Quake, you'd better all just WATCH OUT! *grin*)

Here's to another advance sometime near the middle of February, if not sooner. :D

In recent times, I have been made aware of something that I did not know about here at Gamespot. (In fact, there is still so MUCH I don't know about on this mammoth site... *shrug*). It appears that there is a listing of all of the User Journals - something I probably should have been able to figure out with a bit of effort, but had somehow escaped my notice.

The reason I bring this up is that Znuggles recently alerted me to the fact that my Journal has somehow made it up through the ranks on this Journal list, and now sits firmly entrenched on the first page of said list. (Assuming you list 50 items to a page, of course... :P) In fact, I've made it to number 46. It appears I have a way to go before I reach the top position - which in all likelihood I will never achieve. But at least now I have an idea that what I do in here is actually noticeable, for those who look.

Just an observation on one of the MANY and varied aspects of the Gamespot experience. Back to our regularly sceduled programming...