Finally got around to new gifs for my sig to replace my longstanding dancing hamsters

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Latest Blog: On a Lighter Note My Reviews Mario vs DK 2[3.23] | Pokémon Pearl[5.95] | Custom Robo Arena[8.01] | S. Princess Peach[6.75] | more

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The dancing continues :)

By request of being shallower, here's a news article for you! Seattle can now Ride the SLUT Catchy :)

I just finished reading an excellent blog post that started a related thought that I have had before, but cannot resolve. That issue is age-appropriate content. Perhaps I am a minority, but I can remember being a significantly younger age quite well (including specific instances and thoughts during those instances). An in that, I do know that children in one way or another, have reasons for doing things that are never: 1) I saw someone else do this and it looked fun and 2) I know this is wrong but I'll do it anyway Not that there's always good logic, but it's always more than that. So my issue is this: I cannot logically discern what is appropriate for what ages and why, outside of what society insists, which is a terrible bar. I mean, in every sociological sense, no one in their right mind would consider Grand Theft Auto III appropriate for a 7 year old, but can you explain why aside from just describing GTA? Is it the swearing? Because as far as I can tell, adults seem perfectly fine with doing so themselves. The violence? What is that going to do to them more than it does you or I? Children are given pets, which die. I can't imagine that same child being scarred or warped more by a violent game than the death of that animal. Is there a difference? Is it the blood? What child hasn't skinned his knee? Perhaps even moreso, this applies to nudity. Every person can see himself without clothes, but it's immoral to see another? I must be missing something. I really have nowhere to go with this other than state my question one last time: How do you define the appropriateness of content to another person? I know I can't.

So another game has been reviewed on my ongoing prediction's list and as everyone knew leading up, Halo 3 would get 9.5. My 9 month old prediction of 9.3 rounds out accurately, as did my previous MP3 prediction. But there are some other things that relate Halo 3 and Metroid Prime 3 that isn't the first-person perspective or power suit. It's the ironic phrasing that justifies one game as AAA and condemns the other to AA. Halo 3: "the gameplay doesn't stray too far from Halo 2, which, in turn, didn't exactly reinvent the original Halo. Don't take that as a negative, because it means that Halo 3 plays extremely well." Metroid Prime 3: "The Bad: Doesn't do much different than the previous two Metroid Prime games." Of course, Metroid Prime couldn't have been a series as good as Halo... What will be interesting are the Wii reviews for its big titles come fall. In general critical acclaim, I think it's a given that Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl will do excellently, and Battalion Wars also with potential, although will not have the name to push reviewers to feel it acceptable to score AAA. GameSpot having been seemingly notoriously harsh Wii scorers (whether you agree or not is irrelevant, I am merely stating what I think is general opinion) it would seem unlikely that no Wii titles this fall will reach the 9.0 mark (and I mean, 9.0 not any higher). The question is whether it will be a big title (such as Galaxy) or whatever GameSpot pulls out of its pile of unreviewed games (see: WarioWare). Of course, if you live in happy land where none of these factors of wanting to appear a certain way exist, then I could just be crazy. Keep in mind that I was just right again ;)

Due to my sudden console excess and thusly a giant backlog of games to seek out, I've been to electronics stores across the city and have had some mixed reactions. Firstly, Toys R Us rebounds from what was a terrible feat of misinformation way back at the Wii launch with its recent good pricing of the relatively obscure Worms: Open Warfare 2 for the DS. Additionally, I was able to trade in my duplicate copy of Super Smash Bros. Melee for a store credit. And lastly, I haven't seen the manager or employee who carried out the Wii launch fraud in months :). And a thumbs down to Electronics Boutique who has managed to make their game gutting policy look downright, for a lack of a better word and no offence to the disabled, retarded. I was unable to buy the copy of Street Fighter Anniversary Collection from their store because the clerk could not find the disc. Perhaps you'd be able to find if it were in the case. I gave them another chance a couple days later because they were the only store who had a copy of Guilty Gear XX Accent Core, which was my next choice to the otherwise impossible to find Street Fighter Collection. However, I myself refused to buy the only copy they had, for it was a "new" gutted copy. As if I were going to support that garbage policy after what had happened days earlier. If it weren't for their near monopoly on used and obscure titles, they'd be pushing towards dead-to-me territory. What's most astonishing is that this is not the first time I have been unable to buy something from a store that couldn't find its own mechandise. One of the aforementioned dead-to-me stores couldn't find its shipment of Nintendo DS' on LAUNCH DAY. I waited an hour before they brought out crystal Xboxs. I waited another hour before they sent me home and said they'd call me when they found them. I bought one at Wal-Mart. They held one for me and there wasn't even a line when I got there. Guilty Gear XX Accent Core I'll get online. I'm also looking into doing the same for Phantom Hourglass as to avoid paying--at least in principle--the higher Canadian prices. I need to look into border tarriffs, though. Any Canadians reading this order a game from an American store? It didn't come up when I imported the Ouendan games because strangely enough, yesasia.com has a Mississauga branch. EDIT: Researching further, there is Duty if the product is not made in the United States (I assume this includes at least most videogames. Not sure where the discs are manufactured, though. It's about 6% as best I can tell). Conversion costs about 2.5%. The biggest issue, though, are "brokerage fees" which are hidden and in some cases very excessive. UPS and FedEx apparently have ridiculous fees, around 50% of the product's value, whereas USPS is a flat $5 fee plus tax. EMS seems fine, also, but I'm not sure on the policies. As best I can tell, Amazon.com uses or has the option to use USPS. I am currently estimating the final cost after everything of Guilty Gear + Phantom Hourglass to come to ~$87. If bought from Amazon.ca, it would come to ~$97. At the least, I have wiggle room in case of charges I've misunderstood or were hidden. Now being very aware of the price gap between the US and Canada, I'm going to be as much as a stickler as possible to not buy those products at Canadian prices :P

1.00 CDN = 1.00 USD Update: Oh teh snapz

It must be asked when as I woefully play through praised games scoring 8s and 9s as they're broken mechanics crush my soul. So what's the latest thing to cause me pain as I masochistically follow my review principle to finish the game? Why it's none other than Forza Motorsport for Xbox. As I write this, I am actually having the game play itself so that I have to play it less in order to finish it. Thank you Drivatar, if only you didn't take 70% of the experience and cash. Anyway, does anyone like filler? Because that is the perogative of Forza. Take 10-15 courses, 200 cars, make you race those 10-15 courses 50 times to unlock those 200 cars. Problems: -The brakes barely do anything and will fail randomly -If you get behind and do not IMMEDIATELY regain first, you lose. It doesn't matter if you have the better car, the AI is gone -If you don't have the best or equal to best car, you lose -If you go fully off the road, you spin out and lose -The races take 10 minutes -Later races take 40 MINUTES -There's little skill: repeat careful turns ad nauseum -Racing a different car every race means no attachment for customization -AI will go kamekaze -Steering affected by damage is neat at first, annoying later -Slowing down at turns and buying car upgrades != Simulation -Some cars just handle horribly. Try a maxed-out Porche 911--impossible to drive -The same class car doesn't mean they can compete, which means you may waste a lot of "credits" upgrading a car that never had a chance to win anyway Why does the crap have to take 40 hours? This is getting depressing. At least I liked Custom Robo. Save me, Battalion Wars. Forza Killer:

When you see these mysterious words appearing on your computer, you may wonder, where do those words come from? Is someone on a computer writing those words? In fact there is and there are things you probably didn't need to know that you will anyway! Age: 20 Height: 6'2" Weight: 150lbs / 68kg Eyes: Brown (glasses) Hair: Dark Brown (short) Complexion: Caucasian Nationality: Canadian Favourite Game: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES) Most Hated Game: Kablooey Favourite Genre: 2D Platformer Most Hated Genre: MMO Most Played Game: Clubhouse Games / All-Star Baseball 2000 (Estimated 500-600 hours) Systems Currently Owned: NES, SNES, N64, Wii, Game Boy, GBA, GBA: SP, DS Lite, PS2, Xbox Favourite System:SNES Least Favourite System: GBA Most Games on a System: GameCube (55) Most Beaten Game: Super Mario Bros. (hundreds) 10/10 Scores: Super Mario RPG (SNES), Perfect Dark (N64), Meteos (DS) Random Gaming Fact: I have a 147 row Excel spreadsheet of my game ratings and a spreadsheet comparing my scores for Mario games versus Zelda games (Mario is honestly leading by a average score of 8.950 to 8.945). Favourite Novel: Lord of the Rings Favourite Movie: Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Most Hated Movie: What Lies Beneath Random Movie/Book Fact: I've gone through multiple favourite movies: Top Gun->The Fugitive->The Shawshank Redemption->Lord of the Rings Favourite Food: Cheesecake Most Hated Food: Big Turk candy bar Favourite Cereal: Waffle Crisp Favourite Soda: Cherry-Vanilla Coke Random Food Fact: I am vegetarian and don't drink Favourite Music Genre: JPop Favourite Band/Artist: Hitomi Yaida / Younha Favourite Song: Jim Brickman - Angel Eyes Favourite Music Video: Kaela Kimura - happiness!!! Random Music Fact: I've created several MIDI compositions despite being a lousy musician (example) Sports Played: Baseball (10 years), 5-Pin Bowling (5 years) Random Sports Fact: Once played an entire baseball year having only struck out a single time Educational Level: College College Program: Computer Science Highest Grade: 100% (Grade 11 Computer Programming) Lowest Grade: 58-62% (Grade 8 "Music") High School Average: 83% Favourite Subject: N/A Awards: All honours, Grade 8 English, Grade 12 Computer Science Currently Enrolled in: Computer Programming (College) Random School Fact: Once got a teacher to say, quote, "Get a life" (I suggest you read Yarcofin's book to find a pretty amazing collection of random crap such as that XD) Random Assortment: -Have spun a pencil around my thumb without dropping it 570 consecutive times -Boycotted the second-half semester of "Business Statistics" last college year. Got an A. -I have memorized over 40 digits of Pi - 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993. -I had a small review published in issue 153 of Nintendo Power on Golden Sun. Never review a game without completing the entire game. Main Character Traits: -I consider everything logically -I am steadfast in my principles -I will argue anything I believe in -I am incredibly grammar conscious, despite several errors I am sure exist in this post -I enjoy all varieties of videogames :)

The addition of the PS2 and Xbox to my collection means an expansion of games in which I hold relatively significant interest. That means a massive new list to include them all--or at least, the ones I could remember. Games in blocks between { } brackets means I want just one of those in that block, not neccessarily all or several. I've also italicized the highest priority games (relative to its own section). Games List Wii Battalion Wars 2 Elebits Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Super Mario Galaxy Super Paper Mario Super Smash Bros. Brawl Trauma Center: New Blood Nintendo DS Chessmaster DS Contact Contra IV Etrian Odyssey Konami Clasics Collection (dependent on Contra IV bonus rumour of Contra and Super C being included) Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword Planet Puzzle League Tetris DS Worms: Open Warfare 2 Playstation 2 Bully { Devil May Cry Devil May Cry 2 Devil May Cry 3 } Disgaea: Hour of Darkness Final Fantasy X Final Fantasy X-2 Final Fantasy XII God of War { Guilty Gear X Guilty Gear X2 Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Marvel vs. Capcom 2 Street Fighter Anniversary Collection Street Fighter Alpha Collection } Ico Jak & Daxter { Metal Gear Solid 2 Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater } Odin Sphere Okami Ratchet & Clank Shadow of the Colossus { Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 } Soul Calibur III Star Ocean: Till the End of Time { Suikoden III Suikoden IV Suikoden V } Tales of Legendia Tales of the Abyss { Wild Arms 3 Wild Arms 4 Wild Arms 5 } Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht Xbox Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Fable Grand Theft Auto III Mercenaries Ninja Gaiden Panzer Dragoon Orta Psychonauts Rocky Legends Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Poor Xbox :( I didn't even bother listing Halo 2 yet because I'd never pay for Xbox Live and I don't really care for what I've played of Halo PC single player. I also figure I've missed about 10 DS games that I've ignored because the list of games I've not gotten to for the past year anyway. This is getting out of hand...I'm going to need another DVD rack >_> Another chance to bring up your favourites on PS2 and Xbox! :)

For those who don't know, Zehrs is a grocery store owned by the Canadian company Loblaws. While it has a massive building with more food than you'd think a city of 70,000 could sustain and random appliances mixed within, it also has a small separated electonics store within that same building, filled with sudden amazing deals. I have just gotten -Sniper Elite (PC) for $1.00 -Ball Breakers + Memory Card pack (PS1) for $2.00 (bought it for the memory card) -God of War (PS2) for $9.44 Unfortunately no deal for PS2 memory card ($28.86) :( The mainstay of the deals is the bargain bin, now exclusively containing games for $9.44. Other such games I've gotten from it are Super Princess Peach and Yoshi's Island. There's an alternative to department stores and game specialty stores: Grocery Stores!