No More Wii...Also, Guitars.

Sold my Wii the other day.

Sorry Nintendo, but your control gimmick isn't enough to make up for the total lack of quality games. Also, get with the times. Gamecube quality graphics just don't cut it anymore.

I seriously hope Nintendo can get their act together for their next system. They are riding off on the whole "casual player" thing. I'm not sure THEY even know who their target demographic is.


In other news, I'm saving up money for a new guitar. I'm also trying to sell some of my old ones. I have too many, and they never get played. Plus I want to replace the cheaper "starter" guitars with high quality ones. I'm saving up for a Parker. Obviously, my ideal guitar would be a Fly Mojo Flame, but since I don't have 3 grand I'll have to go for a NiteFly. I'm thinking about getting a P-44 just to try them out, then saving up for a NiteFly Mojo Flame. However, once I saw the PM-20 in a Quilted Bubinga finish...I was enraptured. It is quite possibly the most beautiful guitar I have ever seen. I REALLY want one, but they don't have a Piezo system, which is one of the main reasons I want a Parker. It would be possible to add a Piezo to it, but I'm not sure how much of a hassle it would be to find a tech to get it installed, and I know for certain I can't do it myself.

Seriously though....tell me this isn't the best looking guitar you have ever seen.



If I save up enough for a NiteFly Mojo, I may as well try to save an additional $300 for the flame finish. I'd go for the Transparent Blue Flame.



It's going to be a really tough choice though. I really, really love the PM-20...but it doesn't have the Piezos. I like the NiteFly Mojo in Transparent Blue, but I'd be breaking the bank if I ever did manage to save up enough. The PM-20 is half the price of the NiteFly Mojo, so I'd have plenty of money to add a piezo...

For a time I was also considering getting a Schecter Stiletto Classic.It has no piezo system, but it has a load of other features and some really nice EMG Pickups in it. It also has neck thru construction. The main thing that puts me off is the Floyd Rose, no Piezo system and price. I really like the finish though.

At one point I was also considering an ESP EC1000. I'd go for the Vintage Black...although the See-Thru Black Cherry is nice too. The main reason I decided not to get this guitar (yet..) is because it is fairly limited in the type of music it's suited for. It would be an absolutely great guitar for Metal and Hard Rock, but that's about it. I will probably get one at some point, just not yet. I already own 1 ESP guitar, and it is one of my favorites so I'm eager to try out another ESP.

Finally, I was also considering getting a MusicMan Axis. (Or Peavey Wolfgang) These are superb guitars...I've played one before, and they are truely underrated. The finishes are beautiful in person and the necks are very smooth. The main thing that put me off on getting one of these was the price, (they are just as much as a Parker NiteFly Mojo) Floyd Rose and Bolt On neck. Still, they are good guitars.


Before I go, I wanted to mention a new project I'm working on. I've decided to give my ESP a custom paint job! I'm going to be painting it ala "Frankenstien." I've got all the materials and I'll be photographing the whole process, from start to finish. I've already got the front of the guitar sanded and I should have the sanding complete tomorrow as well as the first base coat of white. I'll upload some pictures when I'm done!

E3, we hardly knew ye.

So, this year's E3 has come and gone. The coverage has been everywhere, and I'm sure you've read enough already. I won't bore you with a 5 page article about things that you may or may not care about and things you have probably already read about elsewhere. Instead, I'll just list the stuff that stood out to me and the games I'm looking forward to.

First of all, I must tip my hat in Sony and Microsoft's general direction for their great job of integrating E3 into their Live and PSN services. It was great being able to download demos, trailers and more the moment they were announced at E3. Really, a great feature. Shame on Nintendo for not doing this, but they don't really care. Now, on to the games:

Nintendo

Chrono Cross (DS)
de Blob (Wii)
Harvest Moon (DS, Wii)
Tales of Symphonia 2 (Wii)
Monster Lab (DS, Wii)

Microsoft

Fable II
Gears of War 2
Bionic Commando
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
Too Human
Tales of Vesperia
Saint's Row 2
Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

Sony
(PSP)

Patapon 2
Star Ocean: First Departure
Star Ocean: Second Evolution
Valhalla Knights 2

Sony
(PS3)

Bioshock
Baja
Eternal Sonata
Flower
God of War III
Little Big Planet
PixelJunk Eden
Rise of the Argonauts
Resistance 2
Socom: Confrontation
Valkyrie Chronicles
White Knight Story

PC

Spore
Dragon Age
Warhammer Online
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II

Multi-Platform Games

Golden Axe
Prince of Persia
Fallout 3
Final Fantasy XIII
Silent Hill: Homecoming
Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Resident Evil 5
I Am Alive
Mirror's Edge
FaceBreaker
Midnight Club: Los Angeles
Postal 3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
Mortal Kombat Vs DC
Infinite Undiscovery
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Too many games....

There are so many great games I missed out on over the past few years....I'm trying to get caught up this summer; but man....there are only so many hours in a day, and I find when I try to play multiple games at once one of them eventually wins out all of my attention and I never go back to play the others. :/

I was playing the heck out of Persona 3, while playing some Trauma Center 2 as well, but then I started playing Odin Sphere and abandoned the others. I don't see myself finishing Persona 3 any time soon, so it's pretty much shelved. I also don't see myself playing much Trauma Center 2 anymore either.

A few days ago I started playing Jeanne D'Arc again, and haven't played Odin Sphere again. Infuriating! I really love Jeanne D'Arc and Odin Sphere, but so far Jeanne is a total time sink for me. The hours just fly by when I'm playing.

As if this weren't enough, all the news from E3 has me all excited about new games coming out and I find myself wanting to play previous games from the respective series. For example: Star Ocean. I also played the new demo for Tales of Vesperia, which totally got me excited and wanting to play other Tales games. I also fooled around with the Too Human demo, which is in a league of it's own, but reminded me of three other games I have yet to play / finish. First is Mass Effect, which I started playing when it came out but never finished. Second is Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, which looks awesome. Finally, I was reminded of Valkyrie Profile 2, which also looks awesome.

Oh yeah, speaking of Jeanne D' Arc; I was reminded of two other games I have yet to play by the same developer Level 5. (who I love) Rogue Galaxy and Dragon Quest VIII. Jeez! Just look at all these games I need to play! Let's recap:

• Persona 3 (Started playing, didn't finish....probably won't for a while)
• Trauma Center 2 (Almost done....not much desire to finish it right now.....*sigh*)
  
• Odin Sphere (Started playing....hopefully I will finish it at some point...)
• Jeanne D'Arc (Start playing, looks the most likely for me to finish right now.)
• Star Ocean: Till The End of Time (Want to play)
• Tales of.... (So many tales games to play....I loved Tales of Symphonia)
• Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth (Need to play....probably will after Rogue Galaxy)
• Valkyrie Profile 2 (Need to play)
• Rogue Galaxy (Need to play...probably the next game on the list)
• Dragon Quest VIII (Want to play)

Man! Crazy! This list only includes old games that I haven't played, so it isn't including the newer ones. Stuff like Crisis Core, FFT War of the Lions, Eternal Sonata, Ninja Gaiden 2, NiGHTS, and Okami. (Wii) I've updated my Wish List at GameSpot with all the games I continue to update it and my Now Playing list as I finish games / start playing new ones.

Oh yeah, I also bought Resident Evil 4 a while ago and played it a bit. I need to finish it as well...but I have until next March to do that.


I don't really know why I'm even taking the time to type this....I have a ton of games to be playing.

Update this thing already!

Ok.....It has been a while since I last updated this thing....

Whats going on with me? Well, the usual stuff. Just had surgery about 4 weeks ago...still recovering from that....I got some new games, lost some old ones and I upgraded my (over 2 year old) computer. Also got some art supplies...another hobby that I haven't talked much about here.

You want specifics? Sure.

Games obtained:

• Age of Conan (The reason for the computer upgrade)
• Grand Theft Auto IV

I also misplaced my Sims 2 disc....oops.

I had GTA 4 pre-ordered for the PS3 and I went to pick it up on the 29th of April, launch day. I played it feverishly until May 13th, which was my surgery date. I completed it May 12th. It may or may not be a well known fact that it received a 10.0 at Gamespot. While I agree this is by far the best in the series so far, it isn't quite a 10 in my book. I won't go into details here, but I'll probably write a full review elsewhere at some point.

Age of Conan is good so far. It killed my old computer, and forced me to face the fact that my 2 year old machine just wasn't cutting it anymore. I had used that machine longer then any other before upgrading. I used to do full overhauls every 6 months, at least. It was kind of comforting to not have to worry about that sort of thing for a full 2 years. The main reason I didn't want to upgrade for so long, was that I didn't want to make the jump to Vista. I still haven't, actually. I don't really see much point in upgrading to Vista right now. Not a whole lot games require DX10, and even less utilize it. Also, a lot of people see a performance decrease using Vista instead of XP.

The game looks great running on max settings with my new machine though. I'm still making a bunch of alts and just trying stuff out at the moment. I hear a lot about how "this and that are way OP" and "so and so is totally weak." I don't pay it much attention though. I just play what I like and think is cool, which right now happens to be the Necromancer. I've always been a fan of Necromancers. (See my EQ2 characters.) I'll say one thing though: There are a lot of whiners in AoC right now. People don't seem to understand that this is a new game, and there are bound to be bugs.

I'm also continuing to play WAR beta. It's really shaping up into a nice game. I'm having a lot of fun with it, and can't wait for launch.



Some people may want to know what my computer upgrade contains. Well, here it is:

Old System

• Intel E6400 Core 2 Duo
  
• eVGA Nvidia 7900GTX
• 2GB Corsair XMS

New System

• Intel Q6600 Quad Core @ 3.0GHz
• MSI Nvidia 8800GTS
• 2GB Corsair XMS

I also had to get a new motherboard and PSU. They are ASUS P5B and Rosewill RX750-D (750 Watt) respectively. Apparently, the 8800GTS is equal to the 9800GTX in speeds and performance, but uses twice the power. (400w) It was half the price of the 9800GTX, so I just decided to get it instead and use the money I saved on the PSU.

I also did some overclocking on this machine, which I haven't done in years. The CPU was running at 17c, so it was asking for it. I easily got it to 3.0GHz and it's running at a stable 20-25c idle. This thing is a monster though....I've never seen it go over 40c on any load amount.


Lets see....what else is going on....I have Beyond Good and Evil rented from Gamefly. I received it a few days before BG&E2 was announced. Coincidence? I think not. I've been wanting to play it for a while, but never got around to it. It's sitting in my PS3 now, waiting to be played.

I also have Okami for the Wii rented. My love for Okami knows no bounds. I played the original PS2 version when it first came out and fell in love with it and everything about it. I own the Okami Artbook, which I got from Amazon Japan (well worth the yen.) as well as the Official Soundtrack, a Piano Arrangement soundtrack (beautifully done.) and a Retro Arrangement soundtrack. The music for Okami is one of it's main assets. I've yet to begin playing through the Wii version, but I will get around to it. I hear the controls are a bit lackluster.

Despite my love for Okami, I've never actually finished it. I started playing it, as I said, when it came out which was a point in my life where things were going a bit crazy. I was near the end of the game when I discovered my cancer had returned and I never had time to finish it. I will some day though! So, even though the game brings up some bad memories of times when things weren't going so well, I still love it. I always look at hardships as oppourtunities to grow and improve oneself. What doesn't kill me, makes me stronger; and I've been through a lot, so I'm pretty damn strong. ;)


What else was I going to say...? Oh yeah, art supplies. I got some stuff. A few sets of Prismacolor markers, colored pencils, various types of papers, some China Markers, a few Sakura Pigma Micron Pens and a few other various things. Those markers have a bit of a learning curve that I'm still getting over....also, they smell. The colored pencils and creamy and gooey and yummy, I like them a lot. I'm also experimenting with different types of paper. I got some Bristol Board (Smooth finish) which is my current favorite; A lighter and larger sketchbook; And some marker paper which kind of sucks. It says it won't bleed, but it does. The paper is thin as parchment paper, I don't see how it wouldn't bleed. Ironically, the colored pencils look really good on this paper though.

I spent over $250 on these things. Wouldn't you know it, but I forgot to get some stuff. I'll order it later.... I also had to due a bit of re-arranging and furniture ordering for my room. I got a new TV stand, which is real nice. (Much nicer then the old worn out desk it was setting on.) I also got the remaining pieces for my desk. It was an "L" shaped desk unit, which I originally only bought the main piece for, but I needed more surface area to work with so I got the other pieces. It's a great desk.


One last thing, as if I haven't wrote enough already. I ordered Yotsuba Vol. 6 over two months ago from Amazon and have yet to receive it. I started doing some investigation, and it turns out the publisher, ADV Manga is notorious for this type of thing. It seems things aren't going so well for their Manga department, so they decided to shift all their focus to the Anime department. Even though Yotsuba is their best seller......It seems that the verdict is that Yotsuba Vol. 6 is on indefinite hold. (however, if you are so inclined a quick search will net you a translated scan of both volumes 6 and 7....It doesn't compare to having the actual book in your hands, but if you're desperate enough....)


Well, you wanted an update, so there it is. I've been meaning to post some pictures of my gaming setup and whatnot. I'll try to get those done at some point.