End of 2012

It's been awhile and I practically forgot I still have this running. Just a few thoughts to get off my mind as I may work on this a bit more if I find the time. I completed my Masters in Applied Sciences in the Fall and I am very proud for this accomplishment. The downside is that the job market has been a bit depressing but I will stay hopefully.

I decided to buy a Nexus 7 and it has been beside me sitting on my desk almost as something to push information and send alerts and updates even though I am usually on my computer. It is a great little device that suits my needs and was great having it while I am travelling. It is not a computer replacement but for basic usage, it is a great device. I have had thoughts of buying a Nexus 4 sometime, hopefully that will be my first gift to myself when I land a job. Seems like I tend to buy myself gifts for milestones in my life.

Speaking of random gifts, I decided to buy a pair of Beyerdynamic's Custom One Pro. I now have a fairly good variety of headphones and these headphones are a good compromise since I had wanted a pair of DT770 and these seem like it can have a similar sound signature. Very happy with the purchase even though I should refrain from too much spending.

After all this time, I decided to import Monster Hunter Portable 3rd HD for the PS3 and hopefully it arrives next week. Video games have kept me busy and fairly happy for the most part. I absolutely love the Monster Hunter series and its kind of sad that it took me this long to import it but I will have the game at last.

The main time sink with video games this year has been Diablo III where I have several goals with the game. For as much complaint as there is with the game, I have spent so much time in it and still find the excitement of loot drops. I really did get sucked into Diablo III this year and although I wish I approached it a bit differently, I can't really complain with how things have transpired thus far.

Lastly I just wanted to make a list of projects that I may pursue. I just have a lot of ideas in my head and sadly not everything can come to fruition. Take care and happy holidays!

Biped Humanoid Robot
5DOF Robotic Arm
Bicycle roller trainer
Dyson bladeless fan replica
Gravity powered (generated) battery/light source

Craving some music!

Well I've been starved for some music lately but hopefully I will get my fix soon.  After an absence of Gorillaz since Demon Days comes Plastic Beach in early March.  I've always loved Gorillaz's music and I expect great things from this album.  The single 'Stylo' is available right now and I advise to check it out, the song grew on me although I was indifferent at the time after a void of Gorillaz.

I have also had a void of Daft Punk and will be waiting for the Tron Legacy soundtrack, as well as the movie, to be released end of this year.  I could listen to old Daft Punk albums and usually it is so stimulating (except a few tracks in the older albums that I never seemed to like).  I usually fall behind on album releases as I tend to listen to anything (except Country) and might have to lean on my video game OST's till the next great album drops.

If I end building a good library of great music, I might consider improving my headphone and speakers to really enjoy the magical music.  Currently I have Alessandro MS1's and Denon C700's in terms of headphone / earphones since I do not good dedicated speaker system (due to apartment living).  Audiophile life would lead to an expensive road but I'd like to get some M-Audio reference speakers if I have the budget and room for them.  Otherwise I still love my MS1's and it delivers great music to my ears.

Hopefully these posts come more often than these sudden chunks of random blurbs. 

2010 1st half Nintendo Games

So the Nintendo Media Summit just occurred and some release dates were announced. The bigger names include Super Mario Galaxy 2, Metroid: Other M, Sin and Punishment, and Monster Hunter Tri. In the WiiWare side of things, I'm looking forward to Megaman 10 for March 1st. So lots of good games to look forward to in the upcoming months.

Early first quarter releases for Nintendo was quite weak until No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle and Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Ultimate All Stars came out (two ridiculously long game titles). Both games were played quite consistently till I decided to attack my backlog. NMH2 was an amazing game although I would have enjoyed more mini-games, beam katana upgrades (like in NMH), and minus the huge jump in ranks after some boss battles. I would have preferred 20+ bosses but I'm being greedy. TvC is also a great game where I use my Wii Hori Fighting Stick to play and is probably the best 2D fighter on the Wii. Both games are amazing and everyone should at least try them out!

Since I am an RPG fan (if you haven't caught on yet), hopefully this year I'll get my hands on Arc Rise Fantasia, the Last Story, XenoBlade, and hopefully a localization for Tales of Graces. I still haven't finished the GC Tales of Symphonia (shame on me) and hopefully I will find the time and focus to play through the amazing game.

2010 looks to be a strong year for Wii titles and hopefully it won't disappoint. Fingers crossed for New Zelda for the Holiday season!

Update

Well it's been over half a year and haven't really touched the blog for quite some time. Since last summer, I've been figuring out my life and killing time doing it. I just beat Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers this week and although a Final Fantasy fan, was not very happy when the game ended. At the end I will list my backlog of games that I have in mind but I probably will not have the time to complete those games. Very close to beating Punchout! finally but I'm slowly beating one fighter at a time (defending the belt). Only 2 or 3 more opponents then I'll be happy enough. I may never beat RFF completely to my satisfaction but it's a game that can be played continuous to no end even after all the story.

Here is my stupid list of backlog games which may include some that I've missed I'm sure. Otherwise if there are some other games that I haven't mentioned but should play, leave a comment!

-Rune Factory Frontier
-Tales of Symphonia
-Pikmin 2
-Punchout!
-Little King's Story
-Muramasa
-Phantom Brave Wii
-Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
-House of the Dead: Overkill
-Deadspace Extraction
-Metroid Prime Trilogy ???

Little King's Story First Impressions

Well, got around to trying out Little King's Story for the Nintendo Wii. The game play is Pikmin ish which isn't all too bad. No use of the motion controls or (so far) the IR sensor in game which Pikmin used for the refresh to point to targets on the screen. After about 2 hours of playing, I found that the game showed promise and the diversity of units (your civilians which you can train) seem like a wide enough selection to add variety. Since I only started, I didn't want any of my 'minions' to die and on a boss battle, decided to replay until I beat it without losing a soul. Sadly, after the boss battle, the day is over and extra exploring and collecting is not available for the rest of the day and it forces you to sleep. Minor gripe I suppose but this makes it seem wasteful for a day when someone may try to complete the game in as few days as possible.

Take a look at this game since it seems to be a gem in a rather wide (and somewhat dull in majority) selection of Wii games.

Terminator and Blood

Well watched Terminator Salvation and the live action adaptation of Blood the Last Vampire recently and here are some thoughts.

Terminator was decent overall but some parts felt predictable and the story wasn't very compelling for me. Everything worked out well and no major complaints on the movie. I'd say it's worth the watch if you enjoy robots and explosions.

I didn't even know that there was going to be a live adaptation of Blood but I didn't mind taking a look at it. Although it is a somewhat older anime movie (2000) and provides a decent story to a movie full of monster slaying. Most scenes provided recollections of the original anime movie and in its entirety, seemed to fit well. I can't recall the exact details of the original but the live action movie did not follow the plot to a T which I guess is fine. I also enjoyed watching Blood+ which takes place in an alternate universe. This probably threw me off from some details in the original movie and live action so I could just be confused. I may rewatch the original and see if my memory holds up to compare the two. Just wanted to say that some of the monsters' effects stick out like a sore thumb rather than blend into the picture which I've been accustomed to but may be an eyesore for some. It's a decent movie but I'd recommend watching the original anime movie first to truly capture the essence of the movie.