One of my friends let me borrow their copy of Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations, so I've been playing through it since Monday. The stories are just as compelling in the third iteration of the series, but, honestly, I really hoped for more interactivity like was found in the first game. Digging up clues by using the touch screen was a lot of fun and very challenging.

I still like the game--it's absolutely great. I just feel a little disappointed from the lack of anything really new.:|

This game also seems a little easier than the previous titles. Although I'm currently stuck on a confusing piece of evidence at the moment, ha. But I'm probably halfway through the game (Episode 3) and this is the first time I've really been stuck, so either I'm becoming an ace detective (har har) or this game's a bit on the easy side.

Since I got to play it, I probably won't buy this game unless I see it on the cheap. The first game I don't mind replaying. Maybe it's just nostalgia, but I feel like there's always something new I notice when I replay it. The second and now the third just seem like updates to the original. I'm still holding out for something interesting to happen in Trials and Tribulations. In Justice For All, we were all treated to some backstory between Edgeworth and Wright, so I'm hoping that unraveling the mystery of Godot will prove equally rewarding.

Even with its shortcomings, I still like playing the series, so if there is a new chapter in the saga I will look forward to playing it.

Last night I successfully saved Miniopolis from the evil plans of Daddy Bigbucks!

Of course, I'm talking about The Urbz (DS). I started playing the game again because my gf managed to get past a mission that I was stuck on.....in like 5 seconds.:oops:

I've got a few Rep missions left to complete yet, so those will probably keep me busy for a few more days. While I was looking up something on GameFAQs, I read that one of the Rep missions is impossible to complete because of how the game is programmed. To complete the Artsie's Rep mission, you must recycle 100 piles of trash, but it doesn't start counting your trash to recycle until after you complete the main game. But the trash has been available since the beginning of the game, so everyone's already recycled all of it, and now there is no more trash left to recycle. What crap. :x

In other news, there is no other news. Heehee. :lol:

My official Wii remote jackets came today. I like them! They are very robust and easy to grip. They are also a lot easier to put on than the unofficial jackets by Nyko or Switchback, or whoever made them first. I like that there are openings for all the buttons, including +, -, and home.

I haven't played a game with the jacket on yet, but I'm sure it will be nice. Sometimes my hands start to hurt after playing a lot of Excite Truck or Tony Hawk because of the unfriendly shape of the Wii remote.

Anyway, yay! If you haven't ordered your Wii remote jackets yet, you should! They are very worth it!

:lol:

SSX Blur finally came in the mail yesterday. I only had a brief chance to try it out.

Highlights:

* Controls are a whole lot different on the Wii. Thanks to that, I suck at SSX now. lol

* My hate for JunkieXL continues. The man makes crappy music--why does he get to mix the entire soundtrack? *sob*

* Is it just me or is the framerate in Blur worse than on the Cube? The picture would seizure at least once on every track. I suppose it's because this is a bigger disc so it has a larger read area, as well as the fact that EA makes millions on every SSX game and doesn't care.

Despite that, it looks like it has the potential to be fun. The controls are certainly a challenge though. I will need to devote some time to getting them down.

I don't know how much luck I will have convincing my girlfriend to play this with me. She is a big SSX fan, but she is not into investing large amounts of time into a game to learn controls. I hope she gives it a shot, because I bought this game so that we could have something to play together.

I just rented Super Mario Strikers for the weekend. Wow! It is effing hard! I just got my butt kicked by Hitler I didn't have high hopes for the match when I saw his name, let alone his ranking. :?

I need to read the tutorial, that's for sure. Hitler was pulling moves on me that I didn't even know how to do. That Nazi bastard.

*

I beefed up my soccer skills today and swept the Fire Cup!

I also realized the key to winning is the makeup of your team. It's better to use fast players with average shooting and defensive skills because you can steal the ball more easily. And super moves are pretty useful.

All in all, it's not a bad game, but it's not something I'm terribly interested in. I won't be buying this one, or renting again, but I will enjoy it while I have it this week.

Does anyone have it and want to swap friend codes to play online?

The problem with Wii's Virtual Console games is the price. Sure, I can see $10 for big cl4ssics like Super Mario 64, but not for less successful titles like the ones in this announcement. The high cost prevents impulse and curiosity buys. I see a lot of games I would like to try, but I'm not willing (or able) to waste $6 or $8 or $10 on a game I don't know if I will like.

I finshed Hotel Dusk: Room 215 today. Great game! I found the story really interesting. I felt like a few of the puzzles were cheap tricks such as...

SPOILER!!!!SPOILER!!!!SPOILER!!!!SPOILER!!!!

• * Using a pencil to rewind the tape instead of a pen...why did Hyde make a big deal out of the pen then? Just to throw me off the trail.
• * The time-limited escape from the basement. It's one of the most complicated puzzles, and then you kill me off and make me start over repeatedly until I can figure it out. Cheap shot.

SPOILER!!!!SPOILER!!!!SPOILER!!!!SPOILER!!!!

...but most of them were fairly intuitive and stumped me on several occasions. I was really surprised by the ending of the story, which is great. I love surprises like that in games. :) The bonus scene after the credits rolled certainly opened the door (har har!) for a sequel, but I imagine that will never come to be. It's such a shame that games like this don't sell well enough to prompt follow-ups.

I hear you can replay it for a few extra scenes or puzzles.... I would like to see them, but I don't know if I am that interested. It was a fairly lengthy game with all the dialogue, so playing back through it might be more of a drag then a pleasantry. I'm sure I would eventually revisit the game someday and be pleasantly surprised to see that I can replay an old game with a freshened storyline; however, I only borrowed the game from my friend to play, so I can't keep it forever. Has anyone else played back through it? Is it worth my time?

After a long break, I've gotten back into Dragon Quest VIII again. So far I've logged around 25 hours into the game and my character is at Level 22. After getting past the first 10 hours, I'd say, the game finally picked up and there's actually a bit of storytelling going on.

During my DQ break, I bought and finished Phoenix Wright: Justice For All , which I enjoyed. I am disappointed Capcom didn't include more detective techniques like those in the fifth case of the first PW. But I thought the sequel did a good job of propelling the story forward, while still making it accessible to those who might not have played the first iteration. The characters also seemed more fleshed out and expressive in Justice For All, which made it a rewarding follow-up. The sequel was certainly good enough to make me hope a third installment will find its way across the pond.

My girlfriend decided to buy a DS for herself a few months ago, so I have really enjoyed playing multiplayer games with her. And it's nice to have my DS back again so that I can play it. :lol:

This is a little bizarre.

[video=dSQzkmT75bkKvjLW]

I just hope he Lysols that guitar before playing co-op with a friend! :lol:

I just installed Ubuntu 6.10 tonight, and am actually posting to my blog from there. Eeep! :o

I'm still getting used to everything. I've used Windows my whole life, 3.1, 95, 98, 98SE, ME, XP. I used a Mac OS for all of 15 minutes one day when I tried to check my email from a school lab a few years ago. So, Linux is...different. I'm actually quite surprised that I've been able to do everything I've wanted to do so far. I always thought everyone stayed away from Linux because it wasn't compatible with so many things. So far for me, at least, I've chatted through GAIM, typed up a letter, browsed Myspace, ripped a CD, burned a CD, installed some Firefox extensions, played BlackJack... :lol: A pretty solid experience thus far.

Now, I'm not a true convert (yet), as I'm dual-booting WinXP, of course. I can't quite cut the cord just yet. I use some applications that are Windows-only, such as Adobe Pagemaker and Microsoft Publisher. I also need to find a compatible newsreader that can handle .nzb files. (Suggestions?)

Overall though, I am really impressed. I can understand why people switch; the default GUI in Ubuntu is so very soothing.