Monday, June 28, 2004 08:59
.
Xbox connected, Angelic voices
Recently playing:
- Unreal Tournament 2004
(WinPC-us, No more Rocket Arena for me)
- Dead or Alive 3
(Xbox-jp, Kasumi costume 2 is very very sexy)
- Angelic Concert (Xbox-jp,
The voices are the key here)
Connecting the XBox was a snap, but really this thing is too bulky. I
had a hard time getting the games I own for it out. I think I have 5
full Sofmap bags of unplayed or unfinished games. Then I remember that
that is my "stacked collection".
My buddy gave me a couple of other games, such as
Otogi,
Air Force
Delta,
Silent Hill,
but I don't like those games. They are wrapped up
just waiting for me to return them.
I needed to motivate myself to actually start the thing, so I bought a
read-em-up for the XBox called
Angelic
Concert
(
review
in english). Actually it also came
out on the PS2-jp, but I missed it. Well I don't usually like
"medieval"
scenarios. It stars Yui Horie, Yukari Tamura, Miyuki Sawashiro,
which was a big plus. Also I decided to get the omake version because
of the drama CD. Too bad I'm not using the S-Video output, because the
blue on white text kills my eyes. Alsothe male side characters don't
have voices, which actually to me is annoying now. Hm. Character design
is not very moe-moe, so I'm having a hard time accepting it. It's not a
typical gal-get game, but more like a love romance adventure. I'm not
sure yet so give me some time to get it.
Saturday, June 26, 2004 11:22
.
Sniping raptors, a waiting Xbox
Recently playing:
- Unreal Tournament 2004
(WinPC-us, No more Rocket Arena for me)
I just realized that the rocket launcher are very ineffective to the
way I play
UT2004 Onslaught.
I usually take out vehicle and PowerNode
targets from long distances, which means the big three: Shock Rifle,
Sniper Rifle, and Lightning Rifle. I rarely engage in 1 on 1, because
taking over PowerNodes are rarely done by individual players, but by a
group or with vehicles. At the same time, though, I rarely feel there
is a group effort to actual take a PowerNode when I am on offense. When
I want attack something, I go and do it. If there is someone else
there, I join their effort. Usually. Heh.
Ever play ONS-Torlan "Phoenix Paradise" (
thumbs
up review,
thumbs
down review)? I think there are at least 12 Target
Painters weapons on the map. It brings the taste of Excessive Overkill
to Onslaught maniacs. The dominating team can change too quickly. And
you better find your vehicle quickly because you're a sitting duck to
heavy artillery and vehicles. At least
tttokyo server has it.
Well, I got the Xbox with many many games. Borrowing it now. One of the
games is
Pantzer Dragoon Orta,
w00t. But then I went to look for
interesting games in the used section, but there wasn't any really I
wanted to try. Actually right now I'm in a general gaming slump right
now, not feeling very adventurous right now. Okay, I was looking for
Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller and
Murakumo. This is aside from the
games I
already bought beforehand:
DoA 3,
Gun Valkyrie,
Shikigami no Shiro. Now
I told my gaming buddy that I want to try it for 3 weeks, but he was
offering it for 2 months. Whoa. Well it's good thing to have multiple
systems. The Xbox is waiting in the corner of my room.
Thursday, June 24, 2004 09:30
.
No-cd, pancake
Recently playing:
- Unreal Tournament 2004
(WinPC-us, Ridin' the manta, sir!)
- Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
(WinPC-eu, Impressive stunt, can you do it in reverse?)
Since I lent my copy of
POP:Sands of
Time I couldn't play my installed copy. At least not without a
no-cd crack. Now you can argue that I shouldn't be trying to play it.
Yes, gamers are a bunch of impatient, inconsiderate cousumers. But in
any case I found a no-cd crack and I am progressing. Actually, I can't
wait to see the reaction of my lending buddy about the game.
And you can't tear me away from
UT2004.
I play on the "tttokyo" Onslaught server. I think I am getting better
with the Manta, I got my first ''pancake" yesterday.
Oh yeah, I forgot to purchase
Espalugda.
Actually I haven't felt like playing this game, it concentrates on
scoring more than twitch. It doesn't help that I don't like Cave games.
The color of the bullets are an assault on the eyes.
Wednesday, June 23, 2004 09:16
.
Borrowing a XBox
A friend said he was bored
with the games he was playing. He off-handedly remarked that he wasn't
using his XBox and that he was somewhat in a bored stupor as of late.
And I candidly asked if I could borrow it. Score!
And then I finally found my
Prince
of Persia: Sands of Time game for WinPC. Wow wow wow! After
turning up the resolution to XGA the game mezmorized me with its
brilliant visuals. Save points are few but the "visions" and the
''Done" are killer cool. Everything about the first hour ot this game
is brilliant. Actually I had a problem with installing the game, but
other that that and not needing to install a patch "it comes perfect
out of the box", we got ourselves a winner here. So what do I decide to
do? I will lend the same stupor friend this game for the XBox. Because
this is a diamond in the rough and may reinvigorate my friend's gaming
obsession.
Tuesday, June 22, 2004 09:21
.
The secret to my onslaught.
Recently playing:
- Unreal Tournament 2004
(WinPC-us, Sniping like there's no tomorrow.)
UT2004 just is so much fun. I
probably get most of my kicks from using the shock rifle to take out
cannon fodder. the sniper rifle and the lighting gun are also my
favorite close combat weapons, despite their long-range uses. Ahahaha,
there goes another 3 hours.
I completed all the new content in
D.C.
P.S. so I'm calling it quits. This after slogging through the
Nemu scenario and being fed up with the Sakura scenario. The final gal
was Kasumi, with a forgetable story. Now time to watch the anime
version. I got all the DVDs. You know I've thinking that I should break
out another read-em-up like
Air.
Maybe if I can find it.
I've been reading more game review sites, like some site called
Metacritics or something.
Mario
& Donkey Kong is a competent puzzler.
Metroid: Zero is a renewal of old
love. Reading these meta-sites feels just like using RSS feeds. I can
sample many different sources quickly and contrast styles. I am
suspicious of those 100 point perfect reviews. Give me reviews in the
lower end of the curve. Plus it helps remind me that some games are
really just time-wasters.
Oh yeah I forgot that I have
Prince
of Persia: Sands of Time. This one get tens of reviews with
"perfect" scores. Guess I gotta find it in my stack.
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 23:15
.
Reading
Recently playing:
- D.C. P.S. (PS2-jp, Nii-san mania)
- Unreal Tournament 2004
(WinPC-us, I've got the healing feeling)
Lately I've been in the mood to read rather than react, so not much
real gaming going on here.
I am still working on the
D.C. P.S. game,
now on the Nemu scenario. Who comes up with these names anyway? Nemu
doesn't sound like a normal Japanese girls name, and the kanji is
pretty funky. In any case this will be my third time to read through
this scenario, because I played the WinPC version and also read the
novel. So what is the scenario about? It's about your adopted sister
falling for you. This sets up a rivalry between her and your cousin,
who also has a thing for you, onii-chan. Haha, yet another
unrealistic scenario.
I recently cut my left thumb pretty deep. In frustration I threw the
culprit, that infernal trash umbrella, away. Ha that shows 'em! So I
haven't been playing any console games with a joy pad. I have been
playing some
UT2004 though.
Gotta heal my thumb.
I still visit those
doujin soft
shops. Still have to sort through the smut as usual. There hasn't been
much shmup action recently. I guess you have to see online news (like
see Insert Credit's page for details.) You probably heard the next
Comic Market is August 13-15, right in the middle short Obon vacation.
There will probably be the shmup events then, but all I can think about
is attending Ishida Yoko's concert while in Tokyo.
More gaming news? Me, I'm still playing around with my iPod. No
portable games for me.
Monday, June 07, 2004 22:57
.
Round two: Ikaruga Double Play
I'm going to do something different here. I'm going to provide a link
or two!
I've been recently playing around with my iPod, but this post is not
about the iPod, it's about the little hard drive and how I fill it with
Ikaruga replays. Like the
ones from
Vapor Trail
Facilities. This wonderful person makes
Ikaruga demos with both of his
hands, literally. Check out the Chapter 5 Normal "Doubleplay" with the
cam-on-hand insets. Hard core. Truly. Grab them while he is still
serving them because I think he doesn't serve them forever.
While I'm on the subject of
Ikaruga
take a look at
Ikaruga.co.uk, which I found while trying to find more doubleplay action. I
don't know how long this has been open but it seems like a really fine place
to talk about
Ikaruga. "
Is Ikaruga Art?" You're damn right
it is. They also have many replay videos, arcade, prototype, and
dot-eater. Even a "change polarity" on the upper right hand corner. Mighty fine.
Monday, June 07, 2004 09:49
.
Squeezing fun out of a shrink-wrapped mothball.
Recently playing:
- D.C. P.S. (PS2-jp, Miko miko miko miko.)
- Unreal Tournament 2004
(WinPC-us, CBP2 and what is a Target Practice Mutator?)
- Unreal II (WinPC-us,
Skaarj can read my mind.)
- Serious Sam Second Encounter
(WinPC-us, Such a satisfying sniper rifle.)
Yes I am late for work. I type these little logs on my palm/clie on the
ride into work to clear my mind. Thanks.
I finished the Tamaki scenario and am probably 70% done with the Alice
scenario in D.C. P.S. Interesting and yet somewhat unsatisfying.
Miko miko miko miko miko. Okay I
just had to say it. Did you think I was going to say Nurse as well?
I am still not understanding the subtleties of
UT2004 Onslaught. I guess you
can't strategize and expect to win just by yourself. You have to have
good team players who know when to attack and when to defend. I often
am caught up in the wrong area of activity, defending an uninteresting
powernode. I guess if you wanna play medic all you want, you can in
Onslaught.
I installed
Serious Sam Second
Encounter for a bit over the weekend. It is annoyingly not fun.
Yes I must have had a
Doom II
streak before but now I can't dodge or double jump, it just feels slow
and overwhelming at the same time. Just as fast as I installed it, I
uninstalled it. Perhaps I can go sell it or something.
Right next to the
Serious Sam Second
Encounter box was the
Unreal
II box I haven't yet opened. So I
installed it and proceeded to be bored by the cinematics. Then I
finally get to the action part and I am yet again underwhelmed with the
gratuitous slowness. No dodge, no double jump. And if I see another
mutilated human body, I am going to scream "crates!". I am keeping this
on my hard drive just because I am a
Unreal
engine fan. That must be the only saving grace for this game.
Still the trip to Europe, nothing to stop that. I am still prepping.
Tuesday, June 01, 2004 00:32
.
Secrets and clay pigeons
Recently playing:
- D.C. P.S. (PS2-jp, Use
saves to backtrack to different scenario branches.)
- Unreal Tournament 2004
(WinPC-us, CBP2 and what is a Target Practice Mutator?)
An interesting story for D.C. I was able to finish the Kotori scenario
and go back to the save game targetting Kudo. Kudo scenario is heart
warmingly strange at this point. The main character has troubles
dealing with his feelings for someone he assumes is a guy. This
part isn't really a game. I'm reading a scenario. So no, I'm not wanted
this main character to be
acchi-kei.
In any case, this is another love story about ignoring what other
people are saying.
I downloaded the
Community
Bonus Pack 2 for
Unreal
Tournament 2004, this time the UMOD because I am one of those
infernal Windows users. So what is this Target Practice mutator for? It
doesn't update the stats it's supposed to be tracking. Maybe I'm
supposed to be yelling "pull"? Now that I am not staring at the UT
screen I think I understand. I just didn't play with clay pigeons when
I was a kid, okay?
I finished the Kudo scenario which was also pretty good but as far as
the Da Capo plot twist is concerned, it was a little thought-provoking.
Would you be able to keep your relationship with a classmate a secret
from everybody? I would probably go crazy. Could you let go of somebody
because being close to them may risk driving them away? Okay. I think I
need to read some English before I compose any more sentences about
this.
I actually
looked
up the name of the voice actress for Kudou Kanae and I think I got it right this
time. It's Miyuki Sawashiro ((݂䂫)), the same person who was Iina in
Kokoro Toshokan and Mint in
Galaxy Angel. I never noticed! Well
you know how anime voice actresses play young boys? And it's not like I
was watching anime for the guys. Ha ha ha. Har.
I am readying my laptops (with games) for my trip. And I got my iPod, a
40GB one and I spruced it up with all the extras like a skin, voice
recorder unit, and cables for home, work and travel. And I have some
thin Japanese books to keep me company. And I call this light
entertainment just in case. Heh.