Hey All how's it going? I just want to make this really short, but here's my new setup for gaming in my room.

Isn't it beautiful? :D Spec wise it's...

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+ 3.00 GHz

3.5 GBs of RAM

654 GB Memory

Vista Ultimate Operating System

nVida 8500 GT

I love my PC. FYI It was FREE too. :D

How? Well my sister's boss had bought this PC, found it was Vista and she has a Laptop that's XP... so instead of getting a Vista Laptop, she wanted an XP Desktop and gave this computer to my sister whom gave this to me and vioal! Short and simple... Boss gives PC to sis, Sis gives PC to me and Me= :D

Alright, well... I've realized... I'm becoming quite bored with my PS3. :( Sadly, the thing is... I have NO games for it. Sure... I have Motorstorm, but I'm not that big of a racing game person. It's not a bad game, but I just don't feel it's a game I want to spend a majority of my time with when I'm currently sucked into CoD4 (360), Trauma Center: New Blood (Wii), Fire Emblem Path of Radiance (Wii) and Advance Wars Days of Ruin (DS.) Heck, I'll be lucky if I have time to play two of these said games in a day...

So right now, what have I used my PS3 for? Well... there's a demo that's waiting to download (I don't remember the name.) But since PS3 doesn't download games while in stanby mode...yet (360 took an update to have this feature, I'm hoping PS3 will too.) I don't feel like waiting cause it's at 30% and PS3 downloads are quite slow when the file sizes are do darn big. :x

Well I downloaded a few CDs into my system, because quite frankly... the iPod connection system is just too messy. (Also... Why doesn't Motorstorm let you use custom soundtracks? I need it badly!! ) It has to do with the PS3's XMB menus and also the fact that PS3 for some reason gives me wierd file names to my iPod's music. I'm not sure why, but for PS3 it's not even as simple as plugging in and having the system read it. I need to push triangle to bring the menu up and select an option that brings up the iPod's folders for me to select from "Music, Contacts, Calendar, etc.) Now that part isn't the problem, it's when I open the music folder, get 30 sub folders of music and then I choose a folder in there just to be greeted to things like "-xBny1" and other wierd names that are my music files... :| So finding my music is painful as I have to play the track to know what it even is. Whereas on the 360 it recognizes all my music files, all my names directly from my iPod, and there's no hassle. (It's a shame cause the PS3's got some nicer visual players than 360 IMO.)

So now... another thing, I've needed the PS3 memory card adapter for my PS/PS2 memory cards. I'd like to not lose my save file, but since I also have a 80 GB PS3, I've got the limited BC support for PS2. Granted... the games I tried work fine, but I only tried 2 so far. 1 game had problems where it just was MASSIVE slowdowns... It performed at half the FPS I believe. That game is Soul Calibur III. Sure, it's awesome having my PS2 games upscaled in 1080p, finally having Progressive scan on PS2 games makes them look almost like new. I just hope more of my games play smoother at least... or else I maybe should rethink of buying component cables for my PS2...

Well overall, I'm not hating my PS3 or anything. I still think it's a very cool system to have, don't regret one bit of buying it, but... my poor system needs games... and needs them NOW! :(

So... I'm just going to make one last comment to make myself feel better about my PS3. I've recently heard of Nintendo's "Pay to Play" service they are going to be doing on Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Quite frankly.... I'm just at awe and flabbergasted at the same time. Really... the awestruck part isn't for amazement as it's more for "You are charging for play?!"

Now Nintendo said it wouldn't be for all games, and that the original "service" is going to still be there for free. However... I must admit... I'm just not sure what to think of this yet... but I really don't know if I should feel happy or sad. If, and that's a big IF, they do charge... I hope to god they come up with a way of reinventing their service to allow near XBL service... That's meaning a unified service where I have on FC (I'll bear that but I'd like a username please....) ability to send message to my friends during game across platform (wiiconnect24) and voice chat support. Two of the three are big priorities and I'm sure it's obvious which ones...

Frankly... the service Nintendo has is way too similar to the DSes and that's a BAD thing. I honestly don't care about it on the DS, cause frankly... online gaming on handhelds isn't a long lasting appeal for me... Hell... I haven't even played Advance Wars online yet when Call of Duty 4 stares me down and calls my name with it's siren song of explosions, whizzing bullets and pictures of stabbing my foes with a knife.

Frankly... I must admit... I haven't really regretted my online pay to XBL too much... I have it but I don't think it's ALL worth it too much. Still.. I pay for it, so I don't mind it too much when there are some solid online games to play. However with Nintendo's selection... it's abysmal in comparison. Frankly... I was thinking (before the whole FC fiasco and knowledge of it's existance" that Nintendo would DOMINATE the online world. I'm not kidding you... Nintendo's games are so focused on the party aspect and they have some of the best multiplayer games of many diverse genres... how could they not? Playing a few games of Mario Tennis, Golf, Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros., and visiting friend's villages in Animal Crossing to trash their flowers.... Nintendo's go so many great games that are so awesome to play with people... if they had a service like XBL and charged... You can GUARANTEE I'd punch in my credit card and sell my soul to them.

Now, I'm NOT a huge online gaming person.... I try to use it sparignly and I assume the Pay to Play service for NWC will remain for something more robust and bigger like MMOs... But Nintendo... really. My hopes were high and thy plummeted face first into the ground ever since I realized how aweful it is in comparison to the other services. With SOOO many great games at your disposal, offering online play in these games with a EASY TO USE system and FRIENDLY USER INTERFACE would just be a godesnd.

I mean, who wouldn't love SSBB with DLC, Mario Kart Wii as well, and the ability to use voice chat in these games or when you visit your friend's in Animal Crossing, are playing Co-Op in Pikmin, or so on. Who wouldn't love to play a Pokemon MMO where you have a friends list that shows you what your friends are doing, let's you pull up a menu to joint hem instantly wherever they are in the world and send messages to them across other games, and being able to add new trainers you meet to a rival list or friend's list and being able to chat it up and even speak.... Nintendo, not EVERYONE who talks online is a pedophile out to harm children... there are GAMERS out there who want to commune and share interests and have discussions....

With that said... I appologize for the long blog... :P Guess that's enough to take away my negative attitude on my PS3 right? :P

Well... hello world! Ummm... people... :P

Today is just another life update blog of sorts... :P Sorry. :D Prepare for the massive wall of text...... NAOW!

So yesterday (sunday) I went to Disneyland again. Yes, the Magic Kingdom, or D-land, or however you call it... So, I'm not sure if any of you have ever had the chance to visit the Magic Kingdom, but for me... I've gone my W-H-O-L-E LIFE.... So to be frank, it gets a bit hard to geet excited about going there, but then again... there's just something about that place that's hard to forget and leaving with a smile on your face, you know?

So, for someone who's been going 20-some odd times (more than my age of 19!! :o ) his life... I've been there to see all the changes, acts of tourisim, and other things. Now, I won't bore you too much about this place, but we went with my family and my little cousin, while my sister brought her boyfriend with us too. Well some highlights of that day were...

1. We went on the Star Wars theme "Star Tours" ride in Tomorrowland. I've been on this ride millions of times already, like every other ride in Disnelyand, but it was still enjoyable. However, my little cousin Alejandro, whom is a Star Wars fanatic (for a 8 year old) was excited to go on, but left with tears... cause he was frightened on the ride. :lol: Oh ... the poor child, but I remember being scared a bit on the ride too... they toned down the movement, but I guess the ride simulator throughs pace and cosmic events (like flying through an asteroid field and battling on a death star :o ) was too much for him... :P later this young padawan (sp?) will enjjoy the ride, he may. :D (Yoda speech...>.> )

2. So, for those who don't know... there's a theory that's gone around that Disneyland HAS TO make your stay there enjoyable... at least within reason. So, now... there are a few things that, should a certain circumstance happen, they must do whatever happens to insure you enjoy your time there. So, instead of listing what they are, I'm going to mention about one thing Disneyland has to do.

If you buy food, and say you do NOT finish that food and are even down to your LAST BITE, and say that food happens to "fall" to the ground in some "accidental" form... Well, you can get that same food item back in full force. :D

So, if you're confused, let me explain... because I tested this theory out finally after four years of speculation from hearing about it and it worked!

My sister bought a Pinapple slice (for 2.50 btw, it's so nice to know a whole pineapple at the market is the cost for ONE SLICE at the Magic Kingdom) and of course... she was enjoying this morsel treat. Then, my brother whom takes the food away from her while she wasn't looking had taken a bite... only to drop the last bite of pineapple before it could reach his hands. Now... of couse he's disappointed. Well.. lo and behold I exclaimed, "YES!!!" and I grabbed the fruit from the ground, ran over to the fruit stand before my family could finish saying "Chris, DON'T do it!!" I walked to the lady and told her the situation and she gives us a whole NEW slice for FREE! :D With my family in amazement, I come back to them with a grin that's ear to ear and finally, for the first time, have tested the theory to find it actually works! :D Oh yeah. 8)

Now one more highlight of that day, happened at the Indiana Jones ride. One of my favorite rides of the park (next to space mountain) was also... ruined. The anti-climatic events that happened were a odd twist, but then again... the whole ride was still enjoyable a bit despite what happened.

Alright, for those who don't know, Indiana Jones's ride takes you on a Jeep vehicle, that goes through various off roading terrain. What starts as an entry way into a templ, becomes a place filled with Giant Man eating snakes, scarab infested walls, poisonous darts flunged from statues and crossing over a rickety old bridge hanging over a fiery inferno pit. Quite the ride I might add. :D (for someone who's gone on it like... 14 times )

So, what happens? Well.. during this ride, we came to a STOP on the poison dart statues... yeah... it wasn't fun... but luckily they stopped those "darts" from being shot (which is just compressed air shot at you) because it was a bit annoying. Afdter waitingf for maybe... 10 minutes (no, I'm not exaggeratng) we ended got to go on. And of course I got to continue my spanish speaking skills by exlaiming everything we saw, heard, or came across in spanish. :P (I also threw in a little Mariachi scream for good thrills. :D) we unfortunately didn't have enough time till we came to our last stop... It was at the thrill ride's conclusion. The Giant Boulder. :D

What happened was this... we stopped AGAIN! as the boulder had just been used, but... of course our car doesn't move... and well the boulder was coming down at us, but our car wasn't moving. :lol: So while nice and different, it was lame the boulder retreated back again before anything and our good man Jones was just dangling there on his rope without a word... Then the boulder is resetted, our car reverses up a bit, and we stand there AGAIN while Jones is hanging around on his rope not much a talker... :|

So after three minutes, he says his line "Oh no! It's the boulder, GET BACK!" and we were like "Ahhh...." afterwards we finish the ride by diving under the boulder as it rolls over us... :lol:

Well, that was it for my day at Disneyland... I have to say, it was definitely enjoyable. :D

Now a bit of update on my PS3 and life...

1. I rented the Orange Box... Portal is so fun and funny... :P But wow... I got a bit motion sickness after beating the game... :lol:

2. Team Foretress 2 online... I can't say much...because I haven't had much time with it, but PSN online is very... quite... (BTW add me if you haven't already. :D)

3. I've had more time to say there are some likes and dislikes with the system as a whole... and with that, I want to say I'll be doing a comparison blog on all my likes and dislikes for each system I own (THat's all three in case you missed it. :D)

Also, my brother got CoD 4 from his friend for 360... can't wait to try that out. :D

And... that is all for now people. Hope you enjoyed the show! :)

And... right now... I'm waiting for the damn thing to update... :x

Seriously, I just got home and had it started... and this thing has taken about... 20 mins and it's barely at 10% :|

So, I have no PSN ID yet... I need to update my system to even connect, but I shall give you all my info when I'm done with this setup.

By now, you should know that... I'm a HUGE Advance Wars fan. I've loved the series ever since the first game, and Intelligent System's never failed to deliver on the next installments after the first game. (Batallion Wars is a spin-off which I've yet to play, but have heard it's a very good approach tot he 'Wars' series on the consoles... I do want the Wii version as it has MP support which kept me from buying the GC game.)

So, now Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is out for the DS, and of course... your's truly snatched up the copy the instant it became availible at his local Best Buy store. So, you're perhaps curious as to what I would do the instant I bought this game, right? After all, if you haven't heard... this game contains Wi-Fi online support and some great features on it. As of now, I've downloaded a few maps online, though I've yet to complete any of them and rank them. However, your's truly has also made maps with the wonderful map design tool, yet I won't call them real maps because these are "labs" where I build certain situations to try and come up with strategies. Now, I suppose you're questioning yourself "Yoshi, how are you enjoying online battle support? Are you enjoying the ownage of noobs? :D " I have to say...

I've yet to play online against other people... :|

I don't know, I do want to, and I said after I beat Campaign I would... So, I've had the game beaten about a week already, but then I began playing other games and also labbing other strategies... So why is it that I'm still not out there playing against the people online? ... That's a very good question. I was going to on Sunday, after the Super Bowl game, but my cousin spent the night and we played some games like Halo and Assassin's Creed for a while. I would have earlier today, if there wasn't a huge mess to clean up for after the party, and then... I became a bit bushed and couldn't do it.

So, I say... this is THE WEEK! Yes, the week where I shall definitely be playing online on Days of Ruin and make a name for myself! So, with that said, I noticed because I have so many S ranks on the campaign mode, my "rank" is actually higher or something than normal. Intersting... and I haven't even started a single match online... :lol:

Well, wish me luck soldiers! I shall be heading out to the battlefield this week (possibly tonight) with Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, and after some online time... be sure to look forward to my review of the game very soon. :)

P.S. I may possibly get a PS3 tonight. Let us hope all plans follow through.

Well, I thought I'd try to make a weekly blog (not sure what to name it.) where I just occasionally update about stuff that goes on. Since it's Sunday, maybe it's a perfect day to cap off my last weeks interest and future interests for the coming weeks or days.

Ok, to start off. On Friday, I went and watched Cloverfield. Now, maybe you were like me, and saw the trailer at Transformers, then you were left so clueless you just began to follow this movie every chance you could to get something out of that trailer, only to find out that you HAD to watch the movie.

Well, I won't spoil it for anyone here, but if you saw it, how did you like it? I heard many sides of love and hate, but I personally found it very enjoyable. I was always left in tension, I couldn't calm my nerves because I felt something would happen soon, and at the same time I began finding myself to care for the characters too. I felt the pacing was nice, even if the movie was very short by normal standards and for CA it's not cheap for a ticket either. ($10.50)

Next, I'd like to say this week is the release of one of the best turn-based-strategy games ever released. :D Ok, well it's not out yet, so I can't make that comment (until I buy on tuesday, when it's at stores.) However, as you may know, or not know, the title I'm talking about is Advance Wars: Days of Ruin for the DS.

For those of you who can't tell already (what with Nell being my avatar on this place like 2 months after I joined this community.) Advance Wars is one of my favorite games of all time, well the series itself is. I love the series very much, and am a huge fan. i consider myself to be quite good as well (thus I'll accept all challenges to anyone who buys this game. 8) ) So you can see, this is one of my most anticipated games of the year, and it's just a handheld game at that. :o

So in two days from this writing, I should have a copy of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin in my hands, and I only hope that the game is just as great as the others (which I think so, cause I'm totally digging the new look and style) and I hope online games are challenging and fun at that. :D So, I must ask, is anyone planning to buy this game? :oops:

Lastly, I have to say so far life is going well. I need to call my doctor tomorrow, and set up an appointment for my shots I need for my mission, and also check up to see if they ever got a reply from my insurance company. Game side of life, I'm thoroughly enjoying Fire Emblem Radian Dawn for Wii. Does anyone have that game? I know it got a 6.0 here at GS, but I have to strongly disagree with that. I felt it's a great sequel to Path of Radiance on the Gamecube (which I recommend all to play. :P ) and will surely be writing a review for it soon. (After I beat it, and also finish up my SMG review. Which hopefully can be in this week, if Advance Wars hasn't taken my life away.) But yes, I must say Fire Emblem for Wii is a great game with another great and well told storyline that the series is known for. The gameplay and strategy is just as tight as the past games and challenging enough (though not overly difficult so far like the review complains about, and FYI I'm on Part III of the game Prolouge out of a four part sequence)

Well, that is about all, so I just want to say Happy Gaming all, and what is up with your lives?

Well, so far, the one game I can say I've completed 100% with everything unlocked and found... is... Super Mario Galaxy. Having gather 121 stars for both Mario and Luigi, it's time to put this game to rest and start up/finish up other games.

Some games I STILL need to finish (perhaps not 100% wise)

1. Final Fantasy VI Advance
2. Shadow of the Colossus
3. Beyond Good and Evil
4. Final Fantasy Tactics

and I think that's all...boy that's quite a lot and there could be a few more

I'm currently playing Mass Effect too, and have gotten my feet wet with it. Nothing much I suppose, I'm still very early in the game, just given the chance to explore the galaxy.

I don't think I can recall ever beating a game COMPLETELY in a while. FF XII I perhaps got 96% of everything. Only thing that remains are some Rare enemies, a few rare weapons I think, and one esper along with one painful and tough secret boss in the Crystal. Oh and Yiazmat.... nothing big I suppose, but... sheesh. Then again, I did focus so much time onto those sidequests I ended up leveling up so much that the final boss was just SUUUUUUUUPPPPPEEEERRRR EAAAAASSSSSYYYYY..... Like... 5 hits and he died per round easy, no kidding. :|

Well, chalk SMG up for one of my many games I've completed... 100%. That is, I used to be an avid completionist, but now with so many games and so little time, I'm lucky if I can just even FINISH a game.

Anyone have this problem?

Well, instead of just replying to my last blog a few days ago, I thought it'd be better to just blog a short update on some things I said before. So.... deal with it. :P

Well firstly, my health. You may have remembered I was a bit under the weather, well I'm still sick a bit, but I'm curing up a bit. It's not the flu thankfully, just a little cold. My throat hardly hurts, but I still can't speak well or clear enough. Perhaps it was due to my interest in playing the singer for Rock Band last night.... and well let's say... my performance wasn't a spectacle to behold for anyone... >.> Still, a ridiculously fun party game and I had a blast by the way, so I recommend it if you have any parties or friends over periodically. :P Anyways, Umm... my voice is losing itself a bit, but nothing big. I also found out I had some sinuses going on and got treatment for that from my doctor, and then she found out I had an ear infection in my left ear that was forming. Nothing big, but I have medication to take for it that will stop it from becoming worse. (It's strange I neveer did have any pain or anything wrong with my hearing I felt.... )

Lastly, for those of you who don't know or do know. I'll be leaving away on a mission, however I was hoping to leave around Feb/March, but a minor setback has come to and now I'm not sure when I'll leave. My doctor had kept my form I had given her back in December (first week) and just now she sent it in. I had to tell her how important it needed to be sent in, but she kept it because I need a Hepititus A shot (for traveling) as stated on the form. So, seeing that we don't need it right now and the form can be sent in to be processed while I work on that immunization, my doctor sent in the form now and in about two months I may finally get my letter in the mail. :) (So, one good things is now I can play SSBB before I leave :) )

If you are clueless as to what a Mission is, I'll explain in greater detail a little later down the road, but basically it has to do with my church. I'm a Latter Day Saint, so when we become the age of 19 we have the choice to leave on a mission, which is basically a "trip" for 1&1/2-2 years and we teach people of our religion basically to see if they are interested in joining. That's kind of it in a nutshell.

So now I shall be off to catch some Zs and take some rest for my health. :) Hope you guys are feeling good.

a flu.... :x Well, I've returned home from my long two week vacation at Texas. It was quite enjoyable I might say so, and really cold out there compared to California. However it didn't bother me much.

Now I'm just battling this flu I have gotten for myself. Well... I don't know if it's really a flu, could be a cold. I'm going to find out tomorrow when I go to the doctors, but I'm just not feeling well at all. Sore throat, coughs, my body is sore, and the worst thing of all is I've had instances of a bloody nose for no reason. x_x

So, hopefully it's nothing too bad.... we'll see tomorrow. However, HAPPY NEW YEARS! :) How was everyone's holidays? Any resolutions? Mine is to beat the games I have from last year before my newest game is bought for this year. (SSBB seems to be my next purchase...) also, it seems my plans to leave on a mission trip have hit a little snag. :x That's something I NEED to work on, hopefully I can still leave around March. I don't want to wait any longer.

Tomorrow I leave to a trip to Texas and I won't be here for maybe two weeks. So, if you wonder where I've gone, there's your answer. :P I don't know if I can still try to weasel out, but... I don't think I can. I'll be taking my DS and PSP (mainly for web browsing and checking e-mail at hot spots, laptop isn't in good condition for travel. :( )

So see you guys/gals when I return. :D