I'm really happy right now :D

Over three years ago, I stumbled upon a website that had music from a great DS rhythm game; Daigasso! Band Brothers / Jam with the Band. The music was great; it was the original Japanese songs from the covers in the game! I loved them. But that dreadful day when my computer died, I lost them :(

I had forgotten something, though; I had burned some of the songs to a CD for a small gift to a friend. Well, today he put the CD while we were driving, and I couldn't believe it; finally, those songs, again in my possession! Sweet!

It's funny how a gift of mine sort of became a gift from my friend to me :) Even though I only got about half of the songs from the game, it's still awesome, since I had given up all hope on getting them again.

If any fellow Daigasso! fan is interested in getting these songs, or if you have the rest of them, feel free to PM me for more info.

Oh no; why did I wait so long to do this again? Now I have to type a whole bunch of new games...

As I've said before, I like to keep a current record of my DS collection. It's been about 10 months; now I've got 133 DS games:

1-Super Mario 64 DS
2-WarioWare Touched!
3-Yoshi Touch & Go
4-Polarium
5-Zoo Keeper
6-Meteos
7-Nintendogs; Dachsund and friends
8-Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan
9-Trauma Center; Under the Knife
10-Pac-Pix
11-Feel the Magic XY/XX
12-Trace Memory
13-Pac-n-Roll
14-Phoenix Wright; Ace Attorney
15-Mario Kart DS
16-Animal Crossing, Wild World
17-Tony Hawk's American Sk8land
18-Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
19-Metroid Prime Pinball
20-Daigasso Band Brothers
21-Sprung
22-Kirby Canvas Curse
23-Ultimate Spider Man
24-Advance Wars: Dual Strike
25-Castlevania; Dawn of Sorrow
26-True Swing Golf
27-Electroplankton
28-Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll
29-Frogger Helmet Chaos
30-Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits
31-Viewtiful Joe DS
32-Super Princess Peach
33-Sonic Rush
34-Tetris DS
35-Metroid Prime Hunters
36-Rayman DS
37-Brain Age
38-Dig Dug: Digging Strike
39-Monopoly/Boggle/Yahtzee/Battleship
40-Bust-a-Move DS
41-Pokemon Trozei
42-New Super Mario Bros.
43-MegaMan Battle Network 5 DS
44-The Rub Rabbits!
45-Age of Empires: Age of Kings
46-Big Brain Academy
47-Magnetica
48-Break Em All
49-Lost Magic
50-GoldenEye: Rogue Agent
51-Spiderman 2
52-Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
53-Star Fox Command
54-Point Blank DS
55-Mario Hoops 3-on-3
56-Sudoku Gridmaster
57-Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime
58-Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team
59-Mario VS DK 2: March of the Minis
60-Cooking Mama
61-Clubhouse Games
62-Yu-Gi-Oh!: Nightmare Trobadour
63-Resident Evil: Deadly Silence
64-Tao's Adventures: Curse of the Demon Seal
65-Magical Starsign
66-Contact
67-Children of Mana
68-MegaMan ZX
69-Pokemon Ranger
70-Elite Beat Agents
71-Puyo Pop Fever
72-Bomberman DS
73-Scurge: Hive
74-Yoshi's Island DS
75-Final Fantasy III
76-Lost in Blue
77-Bomberman Land Touch!
78-Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
79-Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning
80-Nanostray
81-Deep Labyrinth
82-Over the Hedge
83-Spiderman: Battle for New York
84-Gunpey DS
85-Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All
86-Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam
87-Hotel Dusk: Room 215
88-Uno / Skip-Bo / Uno Freefall
89-Touch Detective
90-Konductra
91-QuickSpot
92-FIFA 06
93-My Frogger Toy Trials
94-Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
95-Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales
96-Purr Pals
97-Pokemon Pearl
98-Elf Bowling I & II
99-Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Tamashii: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2
100-Danny Phantom: Urban Jungle
101-MechAssault: Phantom War
102-Nacho Libre
103-Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
104-Alex Rider: Stormbreaker
105-Picross DS
106-Brain Age 2
107-Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
108-Phoenix WrightAce Attorney: Trials and Tribulations
109-Wario: Master of Disguise
110-Drawn to Life
111-Professor Layton & The Curious Village
112-Touch Detective 2 1/2
113-Apollo Justice
114-Custom Robo Arena
115-Jam Sessions
116-Hamsterz Life
117-Tiger Woods PGA Tour
118-Flash Focus
119-Devilish: Ball Bouncer
120-Meteos: Disney Magic
121-Dementium: The Ward
122-Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol
123-Brain Buster Puzzle Pack
124-Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games
125-Nervous Brickdown
126-Crosswords DS
127-Major League Baseball 2K7
128-Ping Pals
129-PKMN Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness
130-Guitar Hero: On Tour
131-Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
132-Arkanoid DS
133-Space Invaders Extreme

You might have seen my pictures of the first 100; I'll take more when I reach 150, probably early next year :)

Hi everyone, I'm kinda back :)

Today was Sandwich Day # 3. In Sandwhich Days, May 4 of each year, my best friend Danny and I exchange gifts that we collect through an entire year. Since I don't celebrate holidays or even my birthday, we do this on May 4 (the Sandwiching of both our B-days, April 4 and June 4) and we get a ton of presents :)

WHAT I GAVE:
- 2 Nintendo water toys from Japan
- A Goomba plushie for the car
- A Luigi springy thingy toy
- A Wii remote and a PSP phone strap / whistle
- A Wii / Wii Sports keychain
- A Tom Nook phone strap
- A Mario jigsaw puzzle, in the shape of a CD
- A 3-game mini DS case branded with New Super Mario Bros.
- A mini Wii remote full of candy
- A custom game music CD with awesome custom boxart
- QuickSpot for the DS
- Puzzle Quest for the DS

WHAT I GOT:
- Wii Points Card (2000)
- Wii shirt
- Two Zelda Phantom Hourglass styli from Japan
- A mini Buneary Pokemon toy
- Wii remote phone strap
- Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Special Edition DVD
- 20-inch Zelda Phantom Hourglass Young Link plush
- Okami for Wii!

Okami; YAY! I wanted that game so badly! I can't wait to play it, but I want to get some games out of the way first so I can actually play through it without delays. Thank you, Danny, for such awesome gifts!

I'll just say it now; I'm not really looking forward to WiiWare. There are only two or so titles for it that interest me, and what's more, this service has taken games that could've been great DS titles (Toki Tori, Shantae for instance). However, I have noted a few points that make WiiWare a worthy 'platform' to develop games for:

1: Freedom - What I mean by this is that many developers can work on WiiWare and not just big-name companies. The small guys have an equal share of good ideas, and the system is perfect for them.
2 - Cost-effective - No packaging, shipping, publishing or anything of the matter. Although I'm sure Nintendo gets a share of the profits, it probably doesn't compare to the cost of buying game boxes, printing manuals, and shipping titles.
3 - Piracy - Ah, game piracy, my sworn enemy. WiiWare titles won't be pirated anytime soon, if at all. This is my favorite aspect of the service, seeing how DS / GBA piracy has expanded greatly over the last few years.

There you have it. I hope more WiiWare titles are announced soon; I'm bound to like some of them!

It's finally happened; I've got a PSP!

'What!? The self-proclaimed No. 1 DS Fan / DS King got a PSP!? This is madness!'

Perhaps, but my love for the DS has grown into love for handheld gaming, and the next obvious step after DS / GBA is the PSP. I got a Piano Black Slim unit and a copy of the rhythm-like game Patapon. Unfortunately, I can't save anything yet, but I have a ton of stuff ordered online and on its way; 2GB memory stick, composite cables, system case, strap, screen protector, USB cable / charger, and some games; Crisis Core FFVII, Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles, and Kingdom of Paradise. Woo!

I love the thing, although it's taking me a while to learn how to push its buttons...and where they are :) It feels so...fragile, so delicate, but I'm sure Crisis Core will show me the unit's power. I can't wait for the memory stick to get here; perhaps Saturday, if not Monday for sure.

And no, I won't collect PSP games; that's for DS games (123 now). I'm still the biggestest DS fan you'll ever meet :P

Oh yes, and I got my purple GameCube with the mail today. The unit is actually much better than anticipated; very clean, hardly any smudges or scratches, and works perfectly.

Oh boy :(

So last week I finally decided to buy a copy of Pokemon Emerald for the Game Boy Advance. In order to keep my collection in mint shape, I always look for new games or used ones that are complete, with box and manual. I was having a hard time finding Emerald in these conditions for cheap...until a certain website offered a new copy for $19.99 + $5 shipping. $25, brand new? What a deal!

Or so I thought. I just received a shipping confirmation e-mail, with a tracking number that ends in 'HK'. As soon as I saw that, I knew what was going on. A quick search in Google confirmed my fears; buyportablegames.com sells illegal, pirated copies of games. So, a 'new' and fake Pokemon Emerald is on its way to me, and will erase itself every 15 hours of playtime or so. Why even bother.

According to other people's misfortunes, Paypal (the payment method I used) doesn't offer refunds for illegal software, since, according to them, it's my duty to make sure these items are official. As much as it angers me they're right; I should've done the research BEFORE buying the game.

So I wasted $25. I want to get the game though; I'll just buy a new one at WalMart to keep it safe. And, now I have to think of how to get rid of the fake game; I don't want it to roam the streets and fall on the hands of a little Pokefan, happy to get the game, only to be dissapointed when his or her file is erased; ugh.

In closing, beware of buyportablegames.com and many, MANY Amazon / Ebay sellers that pirate GBA titles. As you may recall, I hardly ever hate anything, but piracy I do hate, with a passion; imagine how angry it makes me to be the victim of this thoughtless crime that I hate. Let me tell you; it feels horrible. But, one thing's for sure; I've learned from this experience, and I hope this helps any of you if you ever face a similar problem. Beware....beware! :) DOWN WITH PIRACY!

UPDATE - Woohoo! Circuit City had a new copy for sale online; $23.63 shipped. Now THAT'S a good deal on an authentic, brand new game!

I just bought an indigo GameCube like the one above. Why, you might ask? I already have one, AND I have a Wii! Well, I'm not very fond of playing GameCube games on the Wii. I guess I would if I could just use the GameCube controller to get it started instead of the Wiimote, but it's not just that, it's a bunch of small little things that make me want to keep my GameCube plugged in, like the Game Boy Player.

So, since I already have a black GameCube, why did I get a purple one? Because ever since I sold my original purple Cube I have wanted to get another purple one. I guess my foolish self wants to think that my purple GameCube is back. Nothing against my black Cube, it works great, but I've always seen purple as the standard color for the GameCube, and my sister will surely give the black one a good run. Meanwhile, I'll keep the new purple Cubey and play it. I actually do; I recently got the Mario sports titles for the system, and a great addiction of mine, FIFA 06. The Wii can keep that copy of Brawl for months to come with no competition, except some sporadic Zack & Wiki here and there :P

Next old-school system on the list; a silver DS Phat, simply for nostalgia purposes for yours truly, a crazy DS collector.

[video=cXQ3wmOr5bwFsj_a]

There it is; my final project for my After Effects course last quarter. It's a compilation of 'super powers' that people would have. I could've gone with the traditional Flame, Invisibility, Flying sort of powers, but I decided to make things more random and weird, therefore funny. By the way, the frame rate here is quite bad; it's much better on the original version. Here are the actors in order:

1 - My mom
2 - My sister
3 - A brother from church
4 - A cousin
5 - Yours truly :)

Overall, I'll say it took me about 20 hours to complete this project, but it could've been less if I had done most of it on this PC and not my slow laptop. So, feel free to comment on it :P

1 - I made up my mind and bought Zack & Wiki for the Wii; enjoying it a lot so far.

Then I came home from GameCrazy to find two crazy pieces of mail:

2 - A check from my school, with loan leftovers, for $1334!
3 - A lottery ticket that has three cherries; I won at least $20; perhaps a $500 camera, $100 Starbucks gift card (yum!), or $7,500 cash. I'm still skeptical, but I'm going to pick up my 'prize' this weekend.

Crazy day, all in less than an hour! Now, should I buy that PSP I've wanted...?

It's finally here; break time, two weeks of no school! Mind you, I love college, but having some time to play games for a change feels great :) I'll be doing lots of Brawlin' and I want to play a bunch of DS titles as well, such as Touch Detective 2 1/2 and Custom Robo. I also might get a PSP; it all depends on some finances I have to manage :P

Speaking of Brawl, here's my Friend Code, again; if anyone posts theirs, I'll add it to my roster on the spot. See you online!

1805-1869-1187
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sergioalb64