So the other day I finally found Hatsune Miku: Project Diva for a decent price. I got standard shipping, because it wasn't that important to need it right away. So I order it one night, and the next day it was at my house. I'll repeat that. I got a package from Tokyo to my house in Ohio, in under 30 hours with standard shipping. Japanese mail service is f*cking amazing!! I seriously couldn't believe it was there so fast. So I had to sit around and wait for the 7 hour PSP charge time for the battery, and had to enjoy every minute of the half hour life span of the battery while I played the game for the first time. lol. Seriously, I exagerate the PSP having a bad battery, but they could have done way better.
Anyway, this is my first non-Touhou imported game that I ever bought, so it took me a minute to figure things out. The buttons are backwards, so I kept canceling everything when I tried to select stuff for like the first 10 minutes I played, and now whe nI play anything else, I do the oposite with my localized games. The game also almost requires a firmware update to the 5.00(?) firmware. I already have 5.01(?) so it was kind of pointless since I was past what it needs. The game works without the update, but you need it for a few of the side features in Miku's room, and you might need it to put new songs in the game or to transfer songs from and to friends that you can make in the game.
The nice thing is that it has it's own basic Miku Miku Dance program in it, but it's very limited compared to what the actual program allows with imported characters and such. And there's a ton of unlockables. There's like 53 costumes, almost 40 songs playable in the main game (and extras that only play in Miku's room unfortunately), and every Vocaloid since version 1 is around in the game, including the two fan made Vocaloids Neru and Haku. Miku can even get game systems for her room if you unlock them. Since the game is made by Sega I expected the systems to be Sega stuff like a Dreamcast or Saturn, but no, she gets a White Game Gear, a master System, and a Mega Drive. lol. Personally, when I was a kid, I had a black Game Gear (and still have it), and so did all my friends that had one, so I'm not sure if the white one was Japan only, or if I just never saw it for sale. lol.
The game is really awesome though, and doesn't require any ready skill at all, thankfully, so if you are thinking of importing it, it's completely English friendly. The menus are all in Japanese, and the songs, costumes and so on are all in Japanese except for the song titles that have English names in them like Far Away. Also, on the subject of Far Away, I was really excited about that song being in the game, becuase I had no idea at the time that there were two different Miku songs called Far Away. lol. This is the one I was thinking it would be, but the one in the game is like some completely other song. lol. Thinking the other one was in the game made me hopefully that FL-chan would be in the game as a cameo unlockable or something, but only Neru (the blonde in that video) and Haku made it as far as unofficial and non-Vocaloid characters go. Also, Miku gets a outfit that makes her dress up like Alicia from Valkyria Chronicles, and I hate that game so much. That's probly gonna be one of the last things I ever try to unlock.
The only things I don't like about the game are that even when you unlock a new Vocaloid to play as, the voice stays as Miku. It was probly due to space limits and the fact that the others are just there for the cameo and fan service value, but it would have been nice to have them in the editor mode at least. The good thing is the game is compatible with the actual Vocaloid programs, so you can make songs with their voices (or use existing ones), import them, and then make a stage for the song. So far I only unlocked Luka which is the only other official Vocaloid I like, but I'm very dissapoited that there is no Octo-Luka in the game. lol. I mean sure, there's absolutely no reason to put it in there, but that doesn't mean you shoudln't put it in there. lol. It would have been fun for the fan service value. They have nenroid figures of a few Vocaloids for Miku's room, so why no an Octo-Luka doll or something?
Anyway, they finally released an English patch for Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, and I found out my computer refuses to let me change the Locale for anything ever. So, long story short, a friend form the Gensokyo forums sent me a rar of their game with the update patches I needed for the game, and the English Patch already installed. We ended up talkin on an instant messenger for a bit, and this guy is amazing at drawing on computers. Like I can't even explain the quality of this stuff. He sent me a quick sketch he did of Mima, and it was just the basic sketch lines and there wasn't much detailed other than the hands, dress, and face, but it was just such amazing quality for just that far into the drawing. He does really great details with everything in finished pictures. I told him how great ot looks, but he just thinks it's really bad. He asked me to give him a character to draw, so I told him Rin since my cat was climbing over me to get to the food I was eating at the time, and she's a black cat like Rin. So he's working on a picture of Rin and Chen (they are both cat characters in the series), and when he gets done, I'm gonna post it in a blog just so everyone can see how good he is. Like I would just post a pic he sent, but I don't wanna do it without asking him about it first. He's one of the best ameteure computer drawing artists (not sure how to term that kind of thing) I've ever seen. I just wish he'd believe me about how amazing his drawings are so he'd be more confident about them.
On the subject of Vocaloids and drawings, I saw this picture the other day, and it has inspired me to keep working at using Vocaloid till i can make something good like this, and not just Miku sounding like a dying moose mixed with a garbage disposal. lol.