E3 officially started yesterday with Microsoft's press conference. I only watched half of it since it was at 12:00am (EST) and I had to work at 5am this morning. What I did manage to see - the band that played a Halo song, and a demo of Rock Band - was kind of boring. I was left unimpressed and it seemed to me like all Microsoft did was talk numbers and sales figures. However, I only saw about 30-45 minutes worth of the conference. I have been trying to download it all day but it's been slow. I think I will try again later tonight.

- - - - - - - -

Nintendo's turn came at 12pm (EST). Out of the three, this conference wasn't the best and it wasn't the worst. I would have to say it places second. There were definitely some great announcements. Mario Kart Wii, release dates for Brawl and Galaxy (all coming this year), Phantom Hourglass, and Metroid Prime 3 demos. However, the announcement of WiiFit really proves how Nintendo's audience is broadening. Which is good for them, but not too appealing for me. Where were the 3rd party titles? What is in store for next year? I found the zapper and the wheel to be neat but nothing very extraordinary and a bit gimmicky. I'd like to see the board from Wiifit used for other games too (I instantly thought of games like SSX or perhaps a Tony Hawk game). I was really hoping for more and I feel like Nintendo did not deliver.

- - - - - - - -

Sony's press conference began at about 2:30pm (EST). And I was quite surprised, they left me wanting a PS3. Sony nailed it. Even with the absence of games like Final Fantasy XIII and Last Remnant, I was completely sucked in. And that's because Sony stuck to what we all wanted to hear about - games. Not boring charts, sales figures, youtube videos, or pie charts regarding how many people have logged onto wifi. They were all about the games.

The first thing that caught my attention was the puzzle game Echo Chrome which is going to be available through the PlayStation Network. It is a puzzle game that features M.C. Escher-like environments. In it, the player must turn the screen to connect stairs or walkways that previously weren't connected. Very simplistic in design and form and very unique. The puzzles get harder and harder as you progress throughout the game (I assume, from what they showed) up until you find yourself turning the screen at almost every second.

They talked up HOME a lot during the conference. When Sony first announced HOME a while ago, I didn't take too much interest in it. But now that I've seen how far it's progressed, I've realized that it is quite an amazing feature. HOME is actually one of the reasons I want a PS3. Different gaming lounges, new wide open areas, being able to launch single or multiplayer games within home and access to photos (from cell phone or PSP camera) all sound like a very unique and fun way to interact with the rest of the online community.

Other games that piqued my interest were: Haze, Resident Evil 5, Folklore, Heavenly Sword, Uncharted - Drake's Fortune, Infamous and of course Killzone 2.

Uncharted satisfies that want for next-gen graphics with its incredibly realistic facial expressions and beautiful environments, Folklore looked like a great action-adventure game, RE5 I must have since I am a fan of the series. Heavenly Sword, with its large-scale fights, seems like it will provide a great gaming experience. Infamous sounds like fun, and Killzone 2 actually looks almost as good as the fake trailer Sony showed two years ago.

And then there's Metal Gear Solid 4. Now - let me make it clear - I have tried other Metal Gear titles and I have never been able to get into them because I am terrible at stealth games. Howevever, after seeing this trailer I really want to get into them. That trailer was a masterpiece, and I am not even a fan of the series - I can only imagine how the fans must feel.

Last year Sony left me feeling very disappointed and they had a lot to prove this E3 and they definitely pulled it off. Best of the show!

It's true. I do.

And by help, I mean - I need help with some games! :)

I am trying to buy as many "last-gen" games (ie. GCN, PS2, xbox) now that they are so much cheaper. What do you guys recommend? I am looking mostly for PS2 and xbox games as I have quite a bit of GCN games already (although recommendationsn there wouldn't hurt either :P). Here is a list of all my ps2/xbox games:

PS2
Half-Life
Final Fantasy XII
Katamari Damacy
We Love Katamari
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
Soul Calibur III

(oh, don't recommend Final Fantasy X, because I do not want that game)

xbox
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Deux Ex: Invisible War
Halo 2
Half-Life 2
Morrowind
Fable
GTA: Vice City

Games I plan to buy for either console:
Odin Sphere
Lego Star Wars (both)

Also...my birthday's in about a month and in my family, we always make lists for the stuff we want. And I know I want videogames this year (I haven't gotten a videogame as a gift from my family in like...three years...) so I want a nice big list so they'll have a lot to choose from!:twisted: :P

In other [game related] news -

E3 is upon us! And I feel completely out of the loop. :( As nerdy as this sounds - my friends and I (linkoot98, sweet_ride) are going to watch Nintendo's press conference tomorrow at noon (EST)! I am excited! I've always loved Nintendo's press conferences. :) I wonder what will be in store? I am looking forward to Metroid Prime 3, Mario Galaxy, FF:CC (both Wii and DS), No More Heroes, Brawl, Phantom Hourglass...etc. I might watch Sony's. For some reason, the PS3 is starting to intrigue me...

As far as other companies go (*ahem* SE...), I am hoping I will hear about: Last Remnant, FFXIII/versus, Revenant Wings, FF:CC, Fallout 3, Bioshock, Hellgate: London...

Although I am sure a lot of these won't make an appearance since E3 is so much smaller this year. :(

In general news -

My car might be breaking down? I don't know...it made this crazy sound on my way home from a friend's house last night...but was fine today. Cars are crazy, you know? Such a necessity (around here) but such a nuisance. I just wish I could ride my bike everywhere! So much better for the environment, for myself and it would save me so much money! :P

My 4th of July was fun! I went downtown with two of my closest friends to see the fireworks. It was a lot of fun! The fireworks were great! The "grand finale" was insane! Although I have to admit - it wasn't as good as last year's since there was no ash falling on us this time. :P

(Seriously...we were covered in ashes by the end of the night.)

Work-related -

Well...the new store near me won't open until September now. So I've got two more months to be at the Waterfalls store. I'm fine with that I guess. I really love that store a lot though. However, switching stores will give me a better chance for a promotion... :D

Gamespot related -

I got promoted to Officer status at SEE! :D :D I am so excited! Some great things are to be expected from this union soon...just watch out...heh heh.

Speaking of which, I got an idea for a 4th edition for the SEE Expresso Comic Strip! It's going to be a promo for our crazy and massive Hurt & Heal. I will probably draw it tonight.

OH! SPEAKING OF DRAWING!!! My tablet came in about two weeks ago!! (I forgot to mention anything about that...) It's probably the most amazing thing ever. It's beautiful. It works so well. I wonder - how did I ever settle for a mouse!? :P *EDIT* Someone asked me to post something once I got my tablet. Well, here's a little something.

Well folks, I've babbled on for long enough. If you read this far - thank you! I hope everyone's having a fantastic July!

Well...everyone else is saying it. :P

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D

So who else absolutely loved the new GTA IV trailer?

I just hope this comes out on PC.

*still waiting for tablet...*

...bought. Just now.

A TABLET!

I've been thinking about it for months now...and I finally got one! It's not a wacom, because 1) I am not drawing that often. And 2) Because I don't draw often, I am not going to spend more than $100 on a tablet.

It is of Genius brand and it's a 6x8 for a very decent price - at least half of what a wacom would've cost me. I read all the reviews, compared prices on a few different sites and decided to buy it off of newegg.

I am hoping it gets here this week, but I am figuring on Monday. I can't wait!!

I am so excited! Photoshopping will now be so much easier! It's such a pain to use the mouse...

Here is my newly purchased tablet:

(Awww, it's so cute. :P)

In other purchasing news...yesterday I went to GameStop and bought two last-gen games that I hadn't played yet for $20! Fable and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (both on xbox). I'm pretty excited to play them!

Better put in some extra hours at Starbucks to cover these purchases...hee hee. :P

Hey everybody!

So today was a pretty exciting day. Me and one of good my friends (sweet_ride to be exact) went to this Anime thing called JAFAX. Don't ask me what it stands for, because I don't remember. Now - I'm not one of those people that likes to dress up or anything, we pretty much just like to go to see what new animes are out and to look for some sweet merchandise.

I love FF merchandise, I am such an FF "fangirl" (almost) that I'll pretty much buy anything FF-related. I also love plushies. Well, lo and behold, I got a Chocobo Plushie!! He's soooo cute! He kind of looks like the Chocobos from Chocobo's Dungeon, Chocobo Racing, FF Fables, etc. and he is winking. He is so adorable - I've always wanted a Chocobo plushie, and now I finally have one! I would post a picture of him, but I do not have a digital camera. :( Someday! :P Other plushies I would like to get are a Moogle and Vivi. I also want to start collecting FF action figures. They are just very cool. I almost bought a Balthier one, but it was a bit pricey, so I went for the Chocobo instead. All in all, a good day's work! :)

Another thing that I started thinking about - at JAFAX, a lot of artists were selling their art. So I thought I might sell mine next year. Of course, that will require me to do a lot more drawing than I currently am doing (which is pretty much nothing). :P I wonder if it would actually sell, you know? A lot of stuff at JAFAX was selling, and I think that my art is better than some of the stuff there - so I guess we'll have to see!

Nothin' else is really new. I had the strangest urge to play FF8 the other day, which is weird because I don't even like that game too much. Although the beginning is good, I really start disliking it towards the end of the second disc. I also have a weird urge to play a SNES RPG. Maybe Chrono Trigger? I haven't started it yet because I really need to finish Final Fantasy XII!!!!! I dunno why I haven't yet...

Alright, that is all for today. I hope everyone's day is going great! :D

...Don't you think? :P

How is everybody doing? What is everybody up to?

I have been keeping busy...working and such. Although I am not up to 40 hours at Starbucks, I get weird enough shifts to keep me busy during the days. Today I had to go to a 3.5-hour training session at another store. It was a sort of new employee training and we got to taste a lot of different coffees and learn about the company. It was kind of boring, but at least we got free samples and got to taste about 4 or 5 different coffees! Not too bad...and of course, I got paid for it - even better! ;) I am planning on picking up more hours for either people from my store, or other stores. I left my number at some different places and hopefully I'll get a call. If not - I'll just bug people at my home store. :P

Speaking of my home store, I might transfer to a store that's closer to my house. I am not sure if I will though because I really like the store I'm in now and although it's further from my house, it's closer to school. So I am still thinking it over...not sure what I'm going to do just yet...

I haven't been able to go to the beach yet this summer. :( I had tried to make a goal of it - to become a beach bum even - but no such luck yet. Although...my friends and I might hit the beach this Thursday - longest day of the year/first official day of Summer! And it's my day off too! :D What luck!;)

Not too much gaming for me lately...I am not on my PC often because it heats up my room way too much. We live on the third floor of our apartment building, and it is already hot up here as it is, and I only have one window in my room too, so I usually don't use the computer too much during the summer days. I miss my Oblivion. :( But I have been playing a bit of FFVI advance, I'm in the floating continent just trying to get everyone to learn all the magic so far. What I should be doing is working on FFXII...

I kinda wanna get Odin Sphere.

I have also been doing quite a bit of guitar playing... I learned how to play The Beatles' Blackbird in the matter of a day - it's so much fun! That's definitely one of my favourite Beatles songs, it's so beautiful. I plan on tackling Dear Prudence, Hey Bulldog, and Lady Madonna next. The last two on piano, of course. ;)

I kind of want to start up drawing again, but I have no inspiration and can't think of anything to draw. Suggestions anyone? Preferably FF-related. :P

I think that's about all that's been going on. I hope everyone's been doing great!

*edit*

Shocking!

Hello everybody!

So I'm kind of bored and decided to update the good ol' blog. :)

Nothin' much is new. I've been working quite a bit lately but I have the day off today! It's such a nice feeling! I'm still deciding on what I should do today. I really feel like just staying inside (there's some nasty weather outside) and playing Oblivion. :D But I think I told my sister I'd go to her house today, so no Oblivion for me. :(

Speaking of Oblivion, that game is awesome! I had stopped playing it for a while but now I am back into it. I had killed a random person, got caught for it, resisted arrest, killed the guard, got caught again and then went to jail. Then I joined the Dark Brotherhood. I felt really bad so I went back to a save file right before I killed this random person and avoided the whole Brotherhood thing. Another really cool thing I just did in Oblivion (and I hope this isn't spoiling anything for anyone, I would do the little SPOILER thing but I don't know how!), I did this quest where I had to enter someone's dream and go through these four or five tests (can't remember if it's four or five). Anyway, it was really cool, but not very rewarding. :( Oh well!

The other day we had a really bad storm. It was about 4pm and it was so dark out, I had to turn the lights on in the house in order to see anything. It was freaky!

Tomorrow the new Paul McCartney CD drops and I will be able to get it with my Starbucks discount (he is the first artist to sign onto the Starbucks label). I am really excited! I listened to some of it already and it sounds good. A bit Sgt. Pepper's-ish mixed with some Flaming Pie.

Tomorrow I also have Jury Duty! :( Not cool, but I think I get paid for it. And I don't have to go to work! :D So another day off for me!

Alright, I am sorry for the boring blog, but I felt like updating! Have a great week everybody!

queen_valentine is...

- listening to: Final Fantasy XII OST
- watching: Hmm...nothing in particular
- playing: Oblivion, Final Fantay VI advance, and Final Fantasy XII (sort of)

Let's play a game - ask me a question! 

Hi Everybody! :D

Wow! It was great to hear about everyone's tastes in music!! That was awesome! Thanks a lot guys! I was going to respond as a comment but I felt that it would take too much space. So I am dedicating an entire blog to write back to each and every one of you:

Ipod: I will check out the suggested bands. What kind of music are they?

S_Jake: I'll agree, mainstream is definitely  no good. I am not into metal but a lot of my friends are huge fans. They like Slayer too! Although I can't say much about the other bands. :(

Warfust: I love internet radio! I tend to frequent digitally imported (di.fm) quite often. They have a good variety of electronica there, I really like their vocal trance section. The bands you noted - are they all metal or techno or a mix of both? I would love to check out the techno, so if you could let me know...

Odin: I am a big big fan of Coldplay!! I am not sure if I mentioned them in my past blog (after reading people's comments, I realized how many bands I left out). They are great! I like some of Angels & Airwaves' stuff, I didn't know that one of the Blink guys formed that group until after a few months I had listened to them.

da_monsta: That's funny that you mention that everyone in your school likes 'skater music'. When I was in high school, everyone there listened to rap and I was one of the obscure people who listened to alt. rock and electronica. :P Then again, I knew about 2 people who listened to electronica! And as far as rap goes, I definitely like the older stuff much better than what's being played now. Although there's a few 50 Cent song I don't mind... :P

lancelot: Hahahaha, you remind me of my friends, they are all metal heads! I've tried to get into their music but I just can't! I guess it's just not for me. :)

fingertrap: What other rock bands do you like besides Linkin Park?

superfighter: Wow, we have a lot of music tastes in common! I absolutely love The Cure, Depeche Mode, U2, Tears for Fears, The Killers, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, Editors, and Stellastarr*!!! That's awesome! I am going to check out the other bands you mentioned. One of my friends from work saw The Killers in concert last week, I was jealous! :P I missed seeing Franz twice :( They need to come out with a new album so they can tour again!

yoshi: I really like the Chili Peppers too (I left out a lot of bands in my list now that I look back at it). Enya's pretty good too but I definitely have to be in the right mood to listen to her. And speaking of mood, I know exactly what you mean when you say you have to pick the right music to fit your mood!

Khenshu: I'll agree with you, I don't like country either! We have a lot of bands in common - Gorillaz, Jimi Hendrix, The Strokes (I saw them live last year), The Beatles, The Who, and The Killers. You mentioned The Beatles...I am a huge huge fan of theirs, how about you? I love talking to people about The Beatles. I got two of my friends into them and we always talk about it now, hahahaha.

langrisser: The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Queen, Chili Peppers, Hendrix, Jet (I saw them live too), Franz, Kelly Clarkson, The Strokes, Killers, Gwen, Stefani are all great! I am glad you like Uetmasu & Kondo, they are fantastic!

To Strokes fans: Have you guys seen the new video for You Only Live Once? It's a different one from the first one they made (I like this one a lot better). Check it out here. The intro is great, Ize of the World is one of their greatest songs, I think. :)

Alright everyone, well I don't think it's necessary for me to say but this past blog was a success! It's great to know what you guys are into. :) I hope everyone has a good week!

Hello everybody!

Well, as most of you probably already know, I am a huge music junkie. Lately though, I've been listening to a lot of game soundtracks - mostly FF related since I am such a big fan of the series. 

I listen to a lot of different types of music, but mostly alt. rock, electronica, classic rock, j-rock, piano music (that would be classical I guess?), jazz, hip-hop, some pop, soundtracks...you name it.

Favourite artists of mine, include: 4 Strings, Andy Hunter, Armin Van Buuren, Barenaked Ladies, Bloc Party, Cake, Charmparticles, Daft Punk, Da Rude, Franz Ferdinand, Gorillaz, Gwen Stefani, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Imogen Heap, Jet, Jimi Hendrix, John Williams, K.T. Tunstall, Keane, Koji Kondo, La Ley, Lasgo, Madonna, Moby, Mute Math, Nobuo Uematsu, Paul Oakenfold, Oasis, Paul McCartney, Paul VanDyk, The Prodigy, Ronan Hardiman, Scooter, Stellastarr*, The Beatles (die hard fan here), The Fray, The Killers, The Kooks, The Pillows, The Shins, The Stills, The Strokes, U2, We Are Scientists, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Yoko Kanno to name a few. (Phew, sorry for the long list there).

So anyways, the point here is what kind of music do you guys like? What do you listen to? What moves you? Be specific! I wanna get to know my Gamespot friends here! :P Don't be afraid to leave massive comments!

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

In other news, I am working on a banner for my profile page. I was looking at it the other day and decided it looked too bland. So I am going to spruce it up! :) It's probably going to be FF-related and drawn by yours truly...:D

And speaking of drawing, I finished the SEE comic strip I was working on. If you'd like to see it, head on over to the SEE forums, or you can just view it here (Page 1, Page 2). I gotta say, it didn't turn out too bad. ;)

See ya around everybody!