Alright, so I just got to put down about a good hour and half into Bioshock yesterday, and I'm almost done with Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

I've just obtained a Hyper Grappple in Metroid Prime 3, which is about 2/3 the way through the game if I'm not mistaken. Actually... I think it's more like 4/5, but oh well. All I have to say about Metroid Prime 3 is... Wow. I'm not kidding, this game is certainly better than Prime 2 and Prime 1. The only thing I'd have to say Prime 1 had better, was the different beams you could switch around.

Metroid Prime 3 is a game that just keeps getting better and better as you go along it. I'm not sure how it's possible for a game to do that, but every room you visit, you wanna see what's on the other side. Every world you land on, it just makes that much harder to stop exploring. Retro's team of artists are amazing, the stuff that you see on this game just takes your breath away. The rooms are all filled with such detail, you may just stop every now and then to explore. Also, the particle effects are some of the best I've seen in video games, and even better looking than some 360/PS3 games I've seen. Now I know that sounds rather fanboyish, but hear me out. There's more than just havin snazzy little dust particles or smoke flying around. The way everything moves in this world is just trippy, because even the particles themsevles have a movement that just seems so trippy and yet so cool.

Lastly, the game is overall better than the other Metroid Prime games bar none. The pacing is much faster, but it makes exploration and backtracking easier. Perhaps not the best for some purists, but it's for the good of the game. Backtracking is easier now thanks to many landing points for you ship, which by the way... you kind of create a bond with it, and the worlds are laid out very nicely that it's not hard to get lost either now.

However, if I had to say anything worth nitpicking or being critical on, it would be a few things.

1. I miss the ability to swap beams, instead the game takes a Super Metroid and Metroid style beam stacking system, where you get a new beam with the older beam characteristics.

2. Samus doesn't talk... I think this girl has some things to say, but darnit! Nintendo or Retro, whoever decided this needs a spanking from the bounty hunter herself. She needs to talk! Now'st he time to really let her personality shine!

3. A little like Halo? If anything, the game has a much more cinematic feel, and does feel like a great closing to a final chapter of a triliogy. The only gripe one could muster against this, is the game loses some of the "alone" feeling past Metroid games made you feel. However, with that said... it's actually quite nice. In one area I was at, I was fighting alongside Federation Troopers in a full out scale attack, and it was different, but awesome too. It was a nice change of pace.

Now... for Bioshock... Oh my lord...

...

... One second I had to wipe the drool off my mouth... :P Ok, I'm not very far in the game, but ...Wow.. This game has some really great atmosphere. The graphics are insane too, and this game has the best water effects in any game to date. I love this game for many reasons right now, and one of them is that unlike most console shooters. This one isn't running and gunning from point A to point B. Rapture is a very crazy world to explore, and I can't go on anymore about how awesome this game is.

You owe yourself to play this game. Right now as it stands, I feel Metroid Prime 3 and Bioschok are the two greatest games to come out this generation and this year. I've been pretty disappointed with this gen's offerings. I didn't like Oblivion for some parts, though it was still a good game. I didn't enjoy Gears that much at all, and everything else so far just hasn't been as stunning and jaw dropping as these two games have been. GOTY candidates right here, and maybe even GOTG (Game of the generation.)

Now if you own a Wii or a PC/360 get Metroid Prime 3 and/or Bioshock for your respective system! NOW!

Well.. umm... it was very dark at night were I was at. Haha

I was visiting family in northern california. It was very nice up there. The weather was much cleaner compared to my sweet smog ridden skies over here. :P Coming back to the wonderful view of that thick grey fog blocking the mountains I live by is wonderful.... and sorely missed on my trip...

...

... Ok not really.

It was pretty cool there. I saw lots of wildlife. We went to lake Almanor, and it was pretty big, clean, and very lovely looking. Also the best part, I saw Chuck Norris's House... :o ... Ok I'll be frank it was cool. But I don't get the whole Chuck Norris nonsense that floods the internet... but it was cool.

Lifestyle in little towns are sooo different compared to the big cities and towns over here, but it was nice to see life in a different way for a week. I have to admit though, I love my city life here. I can't see myself trading it right now. It's just something I'm too accustomed to I guess. :)

Unfortunately one of my biggest wishes was to go to a haunted area called Keddie Resort. It was a murder scene that went unsovled, but the rumors of it being haunted and bone chilling stories that followed it had me eager to visit it. Sadly I couldn't get the chance during my week there, because it was just not able to fit in our schedules. It would have been awesome to see though, i'm one who's open to many things, and I would have loved to experience some form or paranormal activity. The best time to would be at night obviously, and it was like 30 mins away from where I was staying at, but no one else wanted to go it seemed... so I was disappointed a bit.

Well, that's ok.. I can go next time. :twisted:

So my trip was nice, I've not been up to much lately. I got back and haven't slept at all still to the writing of this message. I didn't sleep at all last night, riding on the bus and trains to get back home. My brother got Bioshock which I'm eager to play, and we have a new 65" HDTV to play it on, so I can't wait... however I'll have to. Because my brother loaned the 360 to his friend... :evil: To think... such a beautiful game will have to wait.

Now I'm eager to buy a PS3 though, because I want a Blu-Ray player for movies, and not to mention that it upscales PS3 games to 1080p... and for me that sound sweet enough to play Shadow of the Colossus on. :D Oh man! Can you imagine playing that game on a beauty such as mine? Well you haven't seen it yet, but I'll post pics of the new setup when the 360 returns and Bioshcok in hand. :D

Well that's all... I should head out and rest or something...

Well, I just got back from my trip, and it was really cool. Enjoyed it very much, and the people there were fun. So now, what happened there? Well take a look here! (pics!)

We drove 6 PAINFUL hours to and fro. We had to endure blistering pains, sore bottoms, and... well boredom.

See for yourself!

Yep, Jazzy had the right idea... sleep! Oh and A-Lo. He was mostly asleep during the whole ride, so this rare shot of him woken up is a sight to behold! :o

Alright, well it wasn't that boring... we saw some interesting things like....

dirt devils? Well... to be frank, this exactly wasn't a dirt devil... I believe. The way it moved and flowed compared to others was much different. Pictures won't show you though, but if you saw it, you'd be like us, lost and confused.

It wasn't long till we arraived at our hotel....

The Double Tree. A Hilton hotel resort, that was very nice actually... here's how my room looked like.

Oh and there's a bathroom and shower too, I just took two pics of the lovely sink... why? Not sure, but also I wanted to mention two of the BEST things at this room.

1. I actually had the WHOLE room to myself! Isn't that sweet?!

2. Best. Remote. Ever!!

Yes, that's right. It's a Gamecube controller! It actually wasn't really used for channel surfing. To my knowledge at least. You could use it to manipulate the menu systems on the t.v. and stuff like that though. That's because this room offered Gamecube games to play at anytime. Now the service charged about $7 for every hour... or $6.95 to be exact. However, the game library offered wasn't bad at all. They had lots of great Nintendo games like Zelda Twlighlight Princess, OoT Master Quest, Wind Waker, Chibi Robo, Mario Parties 5-7, Rouge Squardron, Metroid Prime 1 and 2, and many more. I just don't remeber them all, but they weren't all bad games actually. Too bad I just didn't feel like spending money on the service, cause I'd pass the hour mark too fast... :P

Now at the conference, we had some fun. It was a very "professional" conference in some aspects, but... well I'm kidding. It was very different than anything you'd expect from a "professional" business honestly....

Why look at all these happy faces...

And the handsome devils themselves...

Oh yeah, it was fun... :P In case you're wondering, that's me on the right side. Most Hnadsome of the group, amirite? :)

Now, after all was said and done. We had a dance after the conference. We had some fun there, then we went to the rooms together and hung out. I didn't stay too long actually, because these people take fun in a different manner than I do. Haha, let's just say I'm no drinker and don't smoke the "magic medicine."

Well after we woke up the next day (they took more longer to wake, darn hippies. Haha... ) We went back on the road to home... meaning lots of this...

Yes, it was a very eventful trip... and well it was just like any road trip should be. It was fun, we had the music blairing, the beats thumping, the... ehh.. well you know. Things going, and so.. yes. It was cool. BTW I have a very nice video to upload here as well. Something that is gonna make me famous on Youtube I hope. 8) ... ok not really. I'll get it uploaded here soon though, or Youtube it. (when I can get my new password... )

Well on Monday this week, I have a big conference for work up in Northern California. It sounds pretty cool, and I've never been on a business trip before. We're going to be carpooling up there with other people from work, and it's a good thing that I get along with them too. They are all pretty cool people, and the girls there are cute too. :P But also many will leave for school this year after the conference.. :(

Oh wells, so it's gonna be interesting. I'm going up there for a day, then we spend the night at some fancy hotel, then come back tuesday. Not too shabby, I'm also gonna see my very good friend who lives up there. So it won't be a total waste there.

Other than that... I also beat FF XII today! FiNALLY! I mean I had this since it was released, but I never actually got around to completing it. I still have one more hunt, one more esper and Omega Mark XII to finish off, but I will do that later.

The ending was pretty cool, I really wanna play FF Revanent Wings now for the DS when it gets released later this year. It was a great game. Now I can go buy Shadow of the Colossus or finish up Beyond Good & Evil too... or wait for Metroid Prime 3 as well.. oh my... decisions, decisions... plus there's Bioshock.. and so many past games I've yet to get like GoW II, Hotel Dusk, and a few more.. >.>

So it's my birthday today!

Yeah, now I'm finally 19, which perhaps is nothing considering I'm still a teenager, have no rights to drink (though I do't anyways) and umm... yep.

Well whatever, it' myday anyways. So, I'll just treat it like one. :P

Plans

• Doing nothing till parents come home
• Going out to eat for dinner
• Gonna play some games
• Going to open presents
• Yeah, I just did this for nothing

Wants

• Money! $$$
• Clothes
• Shoes (need new shoes badly...)
• No clue what games to ask for, behind on my own

So far my day has been pretty good. I've done perhaps very little, but it wasn't bad. It's a Monday, and usually there's little to do, but who knows if anything else may come up. All I know is that my favorite dish ever is coming tonight. :D That's all I need to make my day PERFECT!

[video=cHAyxTH_5b8NsjDf]

This is a video that was sent to me by e-mail. I thought it was quite cute, and funny too. So hear ya go.

Well, recently I purchased a renewal to my XBL subcsription. I just got the 3 months, because I won't need the full year, and because it's the only one availible. Really though, the value of it is a bit wonky to me. For $30 more you get a year subscription, however a month costs $7.99. For the only six months I'll need it, I'll have spent $40 and by then $10 more would have gotten a year, when I still don't need that year.

Oh well, that's fine I guess... it won't matter to me much. So far I've been enjoying the XBL experience. I must admit though, I'm not too enthralled with XBL's biggest game it seems... Gears. Yeah, I think it's probably something else, but from what I have it still is it seems. I've got quite a few games, but most of them are really just shooters.... so I'm not too much enjoying it like I would cause of that. I don't buy most of my 360 games, they are bought by my brother, and shooters are fun, but I'm perhaps not the best FPS player out there. As good as I am in them, I admit that for me the thing I don't love too much about FPS games with dual analog control... is well.. the controls. I never feel like it's precise enough for me, and not fast enough either. Sure you can turn the spped, but then ti doesn't feel right on the analog. Keep in mind, I haven't played any FPS shooter on anything else, just Counter-Strike on PC. I'm not good at that at all (mainly cause my PC CHUGS on that game, but the mouse no doubt feels better.)

So what have I been playing...? I've been playing the only great game online IMO right now that I own. DOA4. I kid you not, I'm just loving it here. However, it's not perfect either. First of all, when I started, I admit one thing. I'm a 2D fighter, and 3D fighting games are not my cup of tea. However, I've tried to practice and learn the ways of DOA and I must admit, after practice, it's quite good and even fun.

Now, one thing... the reason I like it a lot, is because the game sort of feels similar to old arcade days, when you're online. The people there are nicer, they talk (sometimes they don't) and next thing you know you're just having a nice conversation with some people while you wait for your turn to come up. Of course it's not really all the same, you get a few lame heads who just use the N word or other vulgarities, but it's MUCH, MUCH less than Gears in my experience. Or other online games I've played.

The other thing is, the game isn't too bad and it feels good beating other people, and I've noticed my skills improving over time. I'm still not too great at it though. I'm fluctiating always between a C+ and B- grade. However, I also must admit that I think I should practice with a few more characters, and really get the game's fighting system down better.

Overall though, it's quite a pleasant experience playing DOA online. Just playing Online in general is pretty relaxing, however it does take away time from my other games I need to complete, and because of that I've been a bit lacking on the other games I should really play, or want to play. However, an Xbox without Live now feels pretty much... naked... :| So I have to play online now almost, whenever I play my Xbox...

Well that's all. I must admit though, I'm not too competitive sometimes, mainly because I don't think it's THAT important to me. I like to win, but if I lose, I lose. That's all there is too it. Unless it's being very cheap in the game and glitching or that kind of thing, then by all means, why even play the game?

Is suprisignly good. As a matter of fact, it's not bad at all, but there's some things that happened that PISSED me off. (To all the English people, I'm not drunk. :P I mean angry)

Firstly,it's fine, nothing terribly wrong. However, when I got it back the gas was practically empty. I had to drive it near home with the needle under the symbol practically, cause there were no gas stations around the place.

Next, those bastards mess with my preset channels! :evil: ok, nothing too bad, I fixed it in five seconds, but damn, bastards have terrible choice in music.

Another thing, stupid jerks broke the "key" they used to start my car, some molding that fitted into the hole or something, and basically, my car can run without a key. ... ... :| Yes, I'm not lieing. Also the freakn' AC was on full blast, found some pliers in my car, damn jerks had to use them to turn it on (because I broke the knob :oops: )

Ok, so minor gripes now, the real thing is... I have to say, the people who took my car were retards! Yes, I mean it.

First off, they ripped my seat open in the back, like a bunch of god damn apes. Why couldn't you just pop open the truck, is BEYOND me! :|

Second, the damn ignition problem they did with my car, seriously! Who goes and does that? I have no clue how to get it out....

Ok, so what did they take? Well I laugh at them, cause I'd love to see the look of their faces for all the stuff they wasted rummaging through. They stole at iPod FM Transmitter that I used to listen to the iPod in my car ($20) and my emergency kit (Have 10 of them at home, no biggie.) Though, there's nothing in my car, so all that was thrown out in my car were a few reciepts at the gas station, andsome Religion stuff. A box of cassettes given to my from my bishop with the Book of Mormon on it, and and a few other things that I just threw in my car. A drawing, and some stuff from school/institute.

Ok, well that's that I guess. My car's home. They said they put a kill-switch in my car now, so it can be turned off if this happens again.

Now my car feels tainted though... :| But it's home. If you can't tell, I'm pretty mad about this. If I ever meet the person who did this, you can bet I'll kick their asses for sure.

Woot! I just got a call from the polic this morning that my car has been found. It's in a city called Pamona, which is... well not too far from here. I can't get it till tomorrow my dad said, so that sucks. :( I wonder how she's doing... >.> What did they do to my poor baby. They'll pay! :evil:

This absolutely freak'n sucks!

Last night, there were some robberies in the vicinity and about 3-4 cars were stolen I believe. The person who stole my car unfortunately had already stolen another car, and when he stole my car, he left the stolen car he was already in, across the street of my house.

Seriously, this is stupid.... there was nothing of value in my car, and it's an old car, but damn it! ... ... Why did I put gas in that car that day too? Seriously, if I hadn't of done so, they couldn't have taken it... it wouldn't have any gas.