Video Game Review: Super Mario Land 3D

Super Mario Land 3D is the best Mario game I've played in years. Everyone knows Mario, so I'm not even gonna bother summarizing the story or anything. Let's start with the graphics. They're good. Very good for a 3DS game. Next subject. Sound/music. It was also very good. With many remixes of familiar songs and a few new memorable themes, you'll be whistling like a whimsical little kid while playing the game, and even sometimes afterwards.

Gameplay. Obviously the most important part. The gameplay was the best in a Mario game since Super Mario Sunshine in my opinion. Sure Galaxy was fun and all, but the gravity puzzles got annoying and it just didn't have the same feel that earlier titles in the series had. SML3D goes back to the more classic gameplay style bringing back the basic run and jump controls from the 2D games into a 3D plain. The 3D effect, while admittedly the best use of the feature to date, still doesn't really add anything special to the game and most gamers will probably choose to play without it for the majortiy of their playthrough.

Replay Value. This is the part that really impressed me. At first I was a little saddened by the seemingly short length of the game. But once you beat the game, you unlock with is essentially Super Mario Land 3D: Master Quest, adding a whole new level of awesome to the game. Most, if not all of the levels are fun to play over again, unlike many of the stages from Mario Galaxy or New Super Mario Bros, and this is only helped by the three hidden golden coins in each level and the option to play as Luigi after your first playthough.

So yeah. Super Mario Land 3D. Great game. A must-have for all 3DS owners. If you have one, go out and get it. If you don't, well then that's too bad. Play a friend's copy some time. If you already have it, then good for you. Super Mario Land 3D gets a 9/10.

30 Day Drawing Challenge: Day 8

Day 8: Favorite Animated Character

Considering a large number of blog posts have been about the games and even the name of my blog, it may not come as a surprise to many of you that my favorite animated character is indeed Sonic the Hedgehog. Does this make me a furry? I'd like to think not...

Belated Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone~! Sorry I'm a little late, been crazy busy the last couple of days. It's always fun celebrating Christmas twice when you have divorced parents, and then a third time over at your girlfriend's house. So yeah, what did everyone get? I got a hand warmer, the 3DS version of Sonic Generations, some clothes, Wii MotionPlus (for use with Skyward Sword which I'll probably do a blog post on in the near future), a Music Bullet, some money, and an RC helicopter. That last one was totally unexpected, but fun nonetheless. It's also equipped with a mini camera and completely awful Engrish instructions. This is a scan directly from the manual...

So yeah. Fun stuff.

30 Day Drawing Challenge: Day 7

Day 7: Favorite Word

Hurray for calligraphy. Yeah, wasn't sure how to do this, so I just wrote down my favorite word all fancy like. And that's it.

Ragnarok Online

This was an awesome game. It may not have had the best graphics in the world, or the best battle system or anything, but the atmosphere was so great. From the pleasant upbeat towns to the darkest, hell-like dungeons and caves, this game had scenery that would just make you say "Wow," each time you find a new map. And the music. The music was amazing. Some of the best background music ever, imo. Just listen to this track.



So peaceful. Anyway, the game's pretty old now, but it still has a pretty decent sized fan base. I decided to try it out again a few days ago, and although there are a few changes here and there, it's still the same old RO I know and love. If you're interested, you can go check it out at http://www.playragnarok.com/. If not, well, then... whatever.

Katawa Shoujo

Four Leaf Studios' Katawa Shoujo finally has a release date of January 4th, 2012. For those of you who haven't heard of the game, it is a project started by a group of users from the /a/ (anime) board on the 4chan website. Here is a description taken directly from their website:

"Katawa Shoujo is a bishoujo-style visual novel set in the fictional Yamaku High School for disabled children, located somewhere in modern Japan. Hisao Nakai, a normal boy living a normal life, has his life turned upside down when a congenital heart defect forces him to move to a new school after a long hospitalization. Despite his difficulties, Hisao is able to find friends—and perhaps love, if he plays his cards right. There are five main paths corresponding to the 5 main female characters, each path following the storyline pertaining to that character."

Although I never got through the Act 1 demo they released over a year ago, I'm excited to see how the full game turns out.

So funny story...

The rest of the 3DS Ambassador games actually were released on Friday, the day after my previous blog post... Although it's kind of terrible. Now that I can actually play them, I'm not as excited about them as I thought I would be... Funny how that works, eh? The list of new games includes...
- The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
- Wario Land 4
- WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$
- Mario vs. Donkey Kong,
- Mario Kart: Super Circuit
- Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3
- Kirby & The Amazing Mirror
- F-Zero: Maximum Velocity
- Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
- Metroid Fusion

I did forget how much I liked Kirby & the Amazing Mirror though. Probably one of my favorite Kirby games...

Club Nintendo Update

So Club Nintendo updated their rewards a couple days ago. For those of you that don't know, Club Nintendo is Nintendo's fairly recent customer loyalty program. (Ok, as of 2008, so I guess not that recent.) Anyway if you've been collecting coins for a few years like myself, you'll be happy to hear the new rewards. They include...
- Super Mario Kart (Wii VC download)
- 3D Classics: Xevious (3DS VC download)
- A Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary poster set
- Fluidity (Wii)
- Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again (3DS VC download)
- Peach & Mario notebook

Granted I probably won't get any of these. But this does mean that there should be more VC downloads available as rewards in the future, so I am looking forward to that. By the way, hey Nintendo, when do I get the rest of my 3DS Ambassador games???

30 Day Drawing Challenge: Day 6

Day 6: Favorite Book Character (Can't be a Movie)

I've never really liked reading all that much, but when I was a kid I read the first three books of the Artemis Fowl series. Holly Short was my favorite character in the book. So yeah, this is her. I tried to make it look like it was drawn from a high vantage point to make her look short, but perspective drawing is hard...

30 Day Drawing Challenge: Day 5

Day 5: Best Friend

He knows who he is. Although I made him look a lot cooler than he looks in real life. :P

Also, sorry for the lack of updates lately, but as you probably already know, it's finals time for many of us college students, so... yeah...

Movie Review: World's Greatest Dad

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

30 Day Drawing Challenge: Day 4

Day 4: Favorite Place

I have a lot of favorite places, but since I figured a drawing of my room or my girlfriend's bed would be kind of boring, I decided to go with the beach. Specifically Oceanside beach here in sunny Southern California. There's a Ruby's on the end of the pier that has amazing food...

Art Analysts are Stupid

Art analysts have got to be some of the dumbest people on the planet. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all art critics are stupid, many of them are very good at what they do. But I'm not talking about the people who look at a piece of art and think about how much time and effort must have went into making it. I'm talking about the people who think just because a person scribbled a few lines down on a piece of paper and called it art, it's automatically considered a philosophical masterpiece.

Anyway, the reason I'm writing this post is because I'm taking an art class in college this semester, and we had to do art analysis today. I was going along, throwing together the usual BS for an assignment like this, when I see this...

Then I read the summary for it. "Fountain, a work of 1917 shown here in a signed replica of 1964... Fountain was an ordinary porcelain urinal set on its back."

At first I think, ok guy, very clever. You made a urinal and to tell everyone how much work you put into it you're going to call it art. Then I read a little farther... "Marcel Duchamp, whose 'ready-mades' probed the border between art and life in a way that later generations have returned to again and again. A ready-made is a work of art that the artist has not made but designated.

... HE DIDN'T EVEN MAKE THE DAMN THING. This guy took a urinal that someone else made, laid it on it's back, scribbled his signature on it, called it art, and it went down in our history books as a very important piece of art history...

No... just... no.

Bacon

I had a lot of bacon today. And soup. Very salty soup... I'm going to die so young...
Anyway, bacon is very tasty. Did you know this online store ThinkGeek has an entire section dedicated to it? Well, they do. Here it is: http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/bacon/

Yeah... I'll do a more substantial blog post tomorrow. I've been really lazy lately... Also I haven't had access to a scanner so I haven't been able to upload the drawing for Day 4 of the drawing challenge, which should be coming up in the next couple days or so... Anyway, that's all I have to say for now. Laterz.

Movie Review: The Muppets

Taking a break from the 30 Day Drawing Challenge for a movie review...

Lemme start off by saying, I didn't really watch the Muppets as a kid. I mean yeah, I knew who they were, but having grown up in the 90's, I didn't really see much of them since they weren't on Nickelodeon or the other major kids television networks. That being said, this movie was fantastic. Just from knowing who the muppets were, and knowing a little background on them gave me a sense of nostalgia when watching the film.

The new Muppets movie is mainly about a new muppet named Walter who is pretty much the Muppet's number 1 fan. After persuading Kermit to get the old gang back together for the start of a new show, there are a number of 4th wall breaking moments, silly jokes and references, and most of the important plot points you'd expect from a movie made in 2011. Also Jack Black. He ends up being a pretty big part of the film. It's pretty funny, really.

Anyway, The Muppets is very heartwarming, and even though it has a lot of silly 4th wall breaking, it really works for a movie like this. An excellent example of what a comedy/musical should be, my only real complaint was that Walter's little act at the end of the movie kind of came out of nowhere. But that's okay, because the rest of the movie was great. I give The Muppets a 9/10.

30 Day Drawing Challenge: Day 3

Day 3: Favorite Food

Me eating a slice of Domino's Pizza. That stuff's amazing. Especially from the Domino's by my dad's house. So much cheese and garlic... Tasty tasty.

30 Day Drawing Challenge: Day 2

Day 2: Favorite Animal

It's, guess what... a hedgehog! Isn't he cute? :3
...Yeah, I got lazy on this one, lol. But regardless, hedgehogs are my favorite animal (in case you couldn't tell), and this is my best attempt at drawing one.

30 Day Drawing Challenge: Day 1

Day 1: Yourself

Not the best drawing of myself, but it gets the job done.

30 Day Drawing Challenge

So I think I'm gonna do this drawing challenge, but instead of doing a new drawing every day, I'm just going to do one for every blog post. So that should be fun. Anyway, get ready for a lazy drawing of myself for tomorrow. Peace out.

Source: http://blog.allisonlehman.com/2011/04/30-day-drawing-challenge/

WHO'S GONNA ROCK THE PLACE (PLACE, PLACE)

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai - First Impressions

You know, I said in my blog description that one of the major focuses of this blog would be anime. So far this hasn't really been the case, mostly because I haven't had much time to watch anime lately. I did, however, watch an episode last night. So I'm gonna write about that.

I picked up this anime because as I was looking through the anime for this season (which is almost last season now...), the picture of it looked like something I would like. Kind of a shallow reason, I know, but nothing else looked that great... anyway upon further inspection, I found out the show was supposed to be a seinen anime, which I'm generally into, so I figured I'd give it a go.

The first episode was... decent. You really can't judge an anime by the first episode, but I figured I'd give my first impressions anyway. Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai or alternatively, "I Don't Have Many Friends," is about this weird girl who forms a weird club with some random guy she just met. A concept no one has ever done before. Ever. Especially not in one of the most famous anime ever starring a girl whose name starts with a Haru and ends with a hi.

So far it just seems like your typical anime about high school club members, and I'm gonna give the first episode a 6/10. The animation is nice, the jokes are sometimes alright, the characters are meh, not very memorable to be honest. But like I said, you can't really judge an anime by its first episode. Anyway, if you're interested, go ahead and check it out: http://myanimelist.net/anime/10719/Boku_wa_Tomodachi_ga_Sukunai

Movie Review: See No Evil, Hear No Evil

The movie See No Evil, Hear No Evil starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor starts out with a very promising premise - Dave (Wilder) is deaf and Wally (Pryor) is blind. After the two of them witness a murder, they form a dynamic duo in attempt to prove themselves innocent. Within the first ten minutes of the film you're shown the actor who played Willy Wonka and a pretty funny black comedian cussing the hell out of each other, one flailing his insults around wildly as he as unable to see who he's talking to, the other unable to hear a word of it.



Unfortunately, the rest of the movie didn't quite live up to this heavy-laughter-inducing introduction. Sure, it was funny to see Pryor stumble around like an idiot and Wilder say "What??" fifty thousand times, but a lot of the jokes were hit and miss. Regardless of this, the movie was still, overall, pretty entertaining. The plot was pretty solid and, if I didn't know any better, I'd think the movie was directed by Alfred Hitchcock or Mel Brooks. (It was directed by Arthur Hiller, fyi) In the end, I give See No Evil, Hear No Evil a 7/10.

This Site...

This blog (did you know?) is so addicting. It just has a bunch of random tidbits of knowledge, but they're all interesting and presented in a simple manner that makes you want to keep reading and reading and reading... I spent at least an hour on it today and I'm sure I'll be on it for at least an hour tomorrow. Fun stuff.

http://did-you-kno.tumblr.com/

In other news, I plan on picking up Super Mario 3D Land from Gamestop tomorrow, so expect a review on that within the next couple of weeks. And for one last random closing statement, the Fugitive is a pretty great movie.

Video Game Review: Sonic Generations

I'm going to divide this review into two sections. First off...

BIASED SONIC FANBOY REVIEW:

Sonic Generations is amazing. It takes the the best ideas from 20 years of Sonic and crams them all into one disc with amazing graphics, and the option to play over 100 different Sonic songs in any level in the game. As anyone who has been following this game in any way, shape, or form knows, there are two different types of gameplay in this game. The first is classic Sonic gameplay, almost identical to how you remember it from the old Sega Genesis days. The second is modern Sonic gameplay which is essentially Sonic Unleashed without the Werehog. Not only does this help accommodate the Sonic franchise's very split-up fanbase, but if you are a fan of both styles, the crazy high-speed of modern Sonic gives a nice break from the sometimes stressful but oh-so-satisfying to complete platforming levels of classic Sonic.

The game's story is kinda crappy, but most Sonic fans don't really care about the story any more, right? Unfortunately I am not one of those fans, and I was kinda disappointed with the lack of depth as far as the story goes, but on the bright side, there were some nice easter eggs and references to games from Sonic's past that, in the end, made what little plot there was worth having. As far as the Sonic franchise goes, I give this game a 9/10. Very fun to play with an awesome blast of nostalgia. The only major complaint I have is that the "3D" behind-the-shoulder sections could have been a little more "3D."

ATTEMPT AT AN UNBIASED REVIEW:

The graphics and soundtrack are really this game's strong point. The gameplay, while sometimes fun and exhilaration, is frequently bogged down by slow moving platforming sections, especially in the later stages. As stated in the other version of my review, the story is pretty crappy, but no one really plays these games for the story anyway. From the perspective of your average gamer (i.e., not a hardcore Sonic fan), I can see this game getting a solid 7/10. Entertaining, fun to watch and listen to, but nothing too special.

Mega Myan

So there's this guy, maybe you've heard of him. He's pretty popular online in the gaming community, he goes by Egoraptor. He made a video about Mega Man a couple weeks ago, and it's pretty great. Check it out.



Even if you're not into Mega Man, the guy's pretty funny. So yeah, go nuts.

Silence of the Lambs

First off I'm gonna say, I'm not really into movies like this, so I won't give an honest to goodness review of this movie, but I watched the Silence of the Lambs last night. That movie was Weird with a capital W. I wouldn't really call it a horror movie, but it was definitely a psychological thriller. Perhaps a little more psychological than thrilling.



For those of you that haven't heard of this movie, it's about an FBI agent in training, Clarice Starling, who goes to survey a confined cannibal, Hannibal Lecter, in hopes of getting leads on a ferocious serial killer who skins his victims. A little less exciting than it sounds. After Clarice interviews Mr. Hannibal, there's a lot of talking between miscellaneous characters in the film, then a bit of rising action, then a climax which leads into a brief resolution. Like my vague description? Thanks, so do I. Anyway, if you're into this kinda thing, go ahead and watch it, the movie's gotten terrific reviews. And that's about all I have to say. Ttfn, ta ta for now.

Fall Back

I really like this time of the year. Cooler weather, the holidays, and as for today, the end of daylight savings. We should really get an extra hour added to the day more often. I mean, think about how awesome it would be if everyone got an extra hour of sleep like every week or so. Too bad that would make our time/date system even crazier than it is now...

While I'm on the subject of things that would be awesome, I really wish I could teleport. Usually when I'm asked what super power I want, I say invisibility, or the ability to control time (which is kind of a lame response since it's so godly it hardly even counts as a super power), but I really do think teleporting would be amazing.

...There was something else I was going to say was awesome, but after the teleporation rant I can't remember what it was... Oh well. Later days.

YEAH, YOU KNOW WHAT'S EXTREME?!

This video.



And in case you haven't seen his amazing unboxing video of Sonic Colors, click here.

Boo

Man, sorry for the lack of updates recently, been really busy. I threw a Halloween party the Saturday before Halloween. That was fun. We watched the Room.



Also we played the new Kirby game. It's pretty great. Sunday night I went to a Haunted House. It was scary. On Halloween I gave out candy with my girlfriend. Then that night we went to the midnight release of Sonic Generations at Gamestop~!!~!!~!~... so expect a review on that within the next week or so. Anyway, that's all I have to report for now. Laterz.

Totes Inappropes

Thanks for all the positive comments on the new header guys - I'm glad everyone likes it. So some friends and I went to a concert down in San Diego tonight. It was for Anamanaguchi and some other band I had never heard of called Starscream. I had originally found out about Anamanaguchi from the Scott Pilgrim video game, which they did the music for, and upon listening to some more of their music on Youtube I found out they had some pretty good stuff.



I still thought their best music was in the Scott Pilgrim game though, which unfortunately, they did not play any tracks from. Starscream wasn't very good, mostly dull and low-tempo music. Also the music was SO FREAKING LOUD. I mean, don't get me wrong, I've been to a couple concerts before, and I know the music is supposed to be loud, but this was in a tiny VIP-style room where the acoustics were ridiculous. Way too loud. The rest of the concert was alright though. Here's one of the songs they played: "Blackout City"

New Header

Hey peeps, made a new header for the blog. Kinda simple, yes. Kinda black and white, I know. But I think it looks alright for now...? Comments on the new header? Leave 'em here.

Let's Watch DisneyNature Oceans: Part 1

Sorry I haven't updated in a few days, been pretty busy. Anyway, I was with my girlfriend yesterday, and we were looking through Netflix, and we saw this movie on there. It needed commentary. Now it has some. Enjoy.

Sonic Generations Demo

The full demo for Sonic Generations is now out on Xbox Live everywhere and on PSN in Europe only. Needless to say, I created a European account on my US PS3 and downloaded it. Now I know I'm a little biased when it comes to Sonic games since I practically jizz myself every time word of a new one gets out, but just bear with me here. This demo is amazing. Take the day levels from Sonic Unleashed, replace the real life based levels with fantasy based ones, and take out the long side-step sections and annoying drift sections. That is this demo. So great... Here's a video of the demo in action.

Anime Review: Nichijou

I've seen a lot of silly anime in my days, but Nichijou really takes the cakey. With a premise similar to hit early 2000's anime Azumanga Daioh, Nichijou is mostly about cute girls doing cute things in humorous ways. However in contrast to Azumanga Daioh, Nichijou also involves Principals pile-driving deer, moe robots with keys on their backs that cause an enormous explosion when they trip, and the complex and near-impossible to master sport of Go-soccer.

As you can probably tell from my brief summary, the anime is episodic, so there isn't really any plot to speak of. However, the characters are all very likable and some of them even have a fair amount of depth, particularly the robot girl, Nano, whom I mentioned earlier. Anyway, although the show relies on mostly slap-stick comedy and ridiculously over-dramatic responses, most of the jokes are actually pretty funny. I generally laughed pretty hard at least once or twice per episode. Even if you're not into this type of anime, I guarantee there will be at least one scene here and there that will hit your funny bone. I highly recommend this anime, and although I don't do this very often, I have to give Nichijou a perfect score of 10/10.

Animal Crossing 3DS

So the new Animal Crossing for the 3DS doesn't look too bad. Apparently you're the mayor in this one. And there are bushes and lamp posts and stuff... And you can swim~!... So that should be interesting. Not really sure what the benefit to being able to swim is though... Here's a little chart of some of the cool(?) new features this one has to offer over previous entries in the franchise.

Rolltop

So this thing looks pretty sick. It's a laptop that rolls up. I wonder how much it'll cost when/if it hits the market...

Sonic Generations Looks *Amazing*

This is probably the most extensive gameplay preview I have seen of the game thus far. Aaron Webber, major spokesperson for the Sonic franchise as of late, has even confirmed that the Modern Sonic Stages will be primary from the behind-the-shoulder camera angle. This will be a very nice breather after all the sloppy side-scroller platforming in Sonic Colors. I am so ridiculously psyched.

Let's Play Cap'n Crunch's Crunchling Adventure

Yeah... this game was weird.

Bring the new FMA movie to your city! (or mine if you're feeling generous...)

The new Fullmetal Alchemist movie is apparently being played in 100+ locations around the US. I already put up one vote for the San Diego Metro area, and it looks like we're #17 on the list at the moment, so that's cool. Anyway, here's the link, give 'em a click!... Please?

View all San Diego events on Eventful

Cats. They Don't Dance.

Anyone remember this movie? It's so great. Probably one of my favorite animated movies of all time. And this arrival song was amazing. You go, Pudge.

Halloween Music

Seeing as though it's October now, I decided to through together a CD for my car of nothing but Halloween music. Here's a list of Youtube links to all the tracks I decided to include. Enjoy.

This is Halloween
Catherine OST Track 08
Hedwig's Theme
Catherine OST Track 13
Double Trouble
Catherine OST track 14
Ghostbusters Theme
What's This?
Philosopher's Stone
Oogie Boogie's Song
T.B.C.
Spooks of Halloween Town
A Ghost's Pumpkin Soup
Monster Mash
There's a Zombie on Your Lawn
Re: Your Brains
Thriller
Translyvanian Lullaby
Psycho
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Death Note Theme
Naraku no Hana
Entr'acte
Dark Chao Garden
Super Buu's Theme
Catherine OST Track 19

Video Game Review: Catherine

At first glance, Catherine is just another silly anime-themed puzzle game. However, this game does have a few neat features that give it the competitive "edge." Dohoho. People who have played the game will get that joke... Anyway, like many puzzle games, Catherine becomes addicting as hell after the first couple of rounds. Unlike most puzzle games, it has a story that is presented with beautiful visuals in both 3D modeled and 2D anime-style cutscenes. It's also ridiculous.

You play as a psychologically disturbed man named Vincent who is cheating on his fiance, Katherine, with a crazy psycho-bitch also named Catherine (that's Catherine with a "C"). Coming from the makers of Persona, Catherine also has you living a relatively normal life during the day, but at night is when things get crazy. Vincent's nightmares are all about climbing blocks. Also sheep. But mostly blocks. There are about 2-4 block towers to climb per night, with a boss chasing you up the tower during the last puzzle for the night. That sh*t gets insane. Anyway, there's a demo out for the game on both Xbox live and PSN, so go log in and try it. I give Catherine a 9/10. And one more thing... that butt...

Portal 2 DLC out tomorrow

As the title says, Valve is releasing some free Portal 2 downloadable content tomorrow for all three versions of the game. The pack includes additional co-op levels, a "challenge" mode for both the singler-player and multi-player games, as well as the addition of online leaderboards, which in my opinion are basically useless since a few thousand metagamers obsess over the game and make it impossible for anyone else to even dream of getting to the top. Anyway, I'm still looking forward to the extra levels and can't wait to play them with a couple friends.

P.S. Still planning on doing a review or something on Catherine and From Dust this week, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

This fanfic...

Anyone who is a fan of the game series "Animal Crossing" should read this take on the story of a game with no story. It's so crazy, and in my honest opinion, the best piece of fan fiction ever. It's about... well, you really have to read it for yourself. There are also plenty of pictures for those of you with short attention spans (such as myself). Here's the link: http://lparchive.org/Animal-Crossing/

Nothing for today, folks.

This semi-daily posting stuff is kinda challenging. Let's see, what to talk about... Yeah, I've got nothing. But expect some blog posts in the near future on Catherine and From Dust as I purchased them both recently...

YEAH I'M A NARWHAL

This video... I don't even know what to say... A friend of mine put it nicely.



Also, one of the cats is voiced by the same guy who does Tino Tonitini, Max Goof, and Chester from the Fairly Odd Parents... So that's cool...

Launchpad: Sidekick of the year, all years

So Launchpad McQuack won Gamespot's all time greatest video game sidekick contest. That's so great. You go Launchpad. Only you are cool enough to have been in two of the coolest cartoons from the late 80's/early 90's. Well, you and GyzmoDuck I suppose.

Naked Pilgrim

This movie was silly. Don't watch it.

GameMarket

So I found out about this service tonight run by GameSpot called GameMarket. Basically what this is is Gamestop, but online, and with better values. Not only are the games cheaper to buy, but you get more money for trade-ins. I'm pretty excited myself, and am planning on ordering Catherine within the next couple of days, as well as sending in some old games I'm tired of. So anyway, go check it out.

http://www.gamespot.com/gamemarket/

Neku in Kingdom Hearts 3DS

I am seriously looking forward to this game. This should be a major pick-me-up after the huge disappointment that was KH Re:Coded.

And Neku is in it! For those of you that don't know, Neku is the main character from Square Enix's The World Ends With You. TWEWY was an action RPG for the Nintendo DS in which players directed Neku and his friends around the streets of Shibuya, Japan, battling members of a secret organization who call themselves Reapers. It was an excellent game if you're into that sort of thing, and in my opinion, one of the best DS games of all time. Anyway, getting back to KH3DS, here's a trailer. Is that some Quasimoto I see...?

So long Charlie Harper

So to those of you that saw it, what did you think of the season premiere of Two and a Half Men? I thought the writing was good as always, and I'm seriously glad the show is back on, but I'm really gonna miss Charlie Sheen... Also I really like the look Jon Cryer gives to Ashton when he appears in this video.

Trippin' Balls

Sup Peeps? All I have to share with y'all today is a trippy dream sequence from 1945 movie Spellbound. Fun stuff.
http://fan.tcm.com/_Spellbound-1945-dream-sequence-/VIDEO/962244/66470.html

Let's Play Alien Syndrome: Part 2

So I finally got around to uploading part 2 of Let's Play Alien Syndrome today, after ninth months since finishing part 1... yeah... Enjoy.



And in case you never saw it (which most of you probably haven't), here's part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afjWRUWTVPE&feature=related

Anime-based Video Games

I'm here today to talk to you all about a fantastic game. It may not have the best graphics, or even perfect gameplay, but it is a very solid fighter that a lot of time and effort went into. The game I am talking about is Dragon Ball Z Budokai.

Originally released on the Playstation 2, then later released on the Nintendo Gamecube, Dragon Ball Z Budokai is a perfect example of what should be done with a video game based off an anime. The cutscenes and music in this game are fantastic. They get right to the point and the sweet guitar riffs just intensify the action.



There hasn't been a single DBZ game since this one to get the cutscenes right. Some of them were close, like Burst Limit for example.



But these games just didn't quite have the spark that Budokai had. Mostly from lack of animation. I swear, they stand in the same place doing the same gestures for like 5 minutes at a time. The battles in Budokai are pretty fun too. Simple, lacking all of the complicated button combos of more recent titles, the battles are still fast-paced and action packed. Clean.

Another example of an anime-based video game well done is one I mentioned in the earlier days of my blog, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 for the Xbox 360 and PS3. Now I know what you're thinking. "Narutoooo? But that 's that silly kids show about angsty teenagers beating each other up with magical ninja attacks." Well, even if you're not a huge fan of the show, this game is fantastic. The cutscenes are incredibly detailed, the animation fully fluid in HD 1080p graphics, and the battles are also really fun. A must-buy for any Naruto fan, and even a pretty potential buy for those who don't even like the series.



Wouldn't it be awesome if they could do this sort of thing with other anime? I know one series I would love to see a properly made game after.

Now if only these other companies could afford those production values...

Power Outage

So the power is out in virtually all of San Diego County today, as well as many other areas in South Cali and Mexico. Fun stuff. It may be out for another day or two. But what is there to do when there is no power? Well, my cell phone battery has lasted long enough for me to put up this blog post, which is nice, and many other portable electrics will last for a few hours. But as for when they die out... I could... go for a swim. Practice piano or the guitar... draw.... read... Anyway, what do you do during a power outage? Please leave your responses in the comments section!