DieCast

After going to another EB store on Sunday to see one of my mates there, I ended up going to Robina Shopping Center, thanks to my sister who convinced me it "wasn't that far". Because there is absolutely sod all there, besides the usually stores I decided to try and find one of those new transformers that is modelled from a real world car. I've been after the RX-8 for a while but have never seen it, I've once seen the WRC Subaru STI but with a damaged package, and also seen a few of the WRX, but I didn't really fancy it.

So after that I thought I would check out K-Mart, now I really hate K-Mart for various reason, but it was near by and I thought why not. So as I'm walking along the isle of various cars and toy, I notice sitting on the shelf a 1:24 Die Cast model of the Tureno AE86 from Initial D. To say that I was completely shocked and surprised was an understatement. Though when you think about it, it makes sense. Tokyopop worked with Jada Toys to produce a range of the most popular cars from Initial D.

The AE86 is actually a really well produced model. Very accurate and finished really well, it's only 1:24, but it was only $20 which isn't bad. They also have a few other sizes, 1:64 and 1:18. The 1:64 are matchbox size, and available from another K-Mart. However I'm vet to find another the 1:18 or any other the other cars in the 1:24, which is a shame as I would love to pick up the FDS3 and the FC3S. I'll keep an eye out and see if I can find any of the other models.

Atmosfear

I dropped by EB today, for some reason I wasn't over interested in their sale, but my sister dragged me there first thing in the morning. I think she just wanted to buy something, I didn't really find much of interest, but you get that.

Game wise I've just been playing Doom 3. For some reason the game just freaks the shit out of me, which I guess is a good thing since it just highlights the atmosphere of the game, most of the time I play it with headphones on which makes it even more freaky. I'm enjoying it so far, the cross of classic Doom style gameplay with modern FPS style techniques.

EB Sale

Just a quick update to let you know about the sale at EB starting this weekend. As EB normally do they have a huge sale now and then to clear out a load of stock and thus discount a fair bit of gear from 20-50%. It starts Saturday, so get down to your local store and you might just grab a bargain.

High Speed Downloden

So I finally have my ADSL connected, I am truly in my element now. Damn it's nice to have a decent internet connection at home. I don't know if I mentioned it but I ended up going with TPG, however because of where I live I had limited choice of plans. So I ended up getting the 1.5Mbps with 50Gig's. It's quick and works a treat, so I'm happy.

Since I've also now got a wireless router I can get the updates for PSP games much easier, I just check out Wipeout Pure and Gamma Pack 2 was available, so I grabbed that. It came out a week or so ago, but I didn't hear much about it, probably because it for the Japanese version. Anyway the pack includes: Sebenco Peak, Feisar Skin and Yan Uber Ship. I Feisar Skin is light Blue with yellow highlights, it's not bad looking and a nice chance. The Yan Uber Ship looks very evil, and is quite good, it's main asset being that it has top handling. The new Sabenco Peak track is quite interesting, it's very twisty and has quite a few peaks and dips. Though I only played through it once, so I really need to try it out again. The update overall was just under 5 megs.

Looking on the Japanese Wipeout Pure site, there seems to be updates for the game every month which is quite cool. At least they are supporting the game and putting some effort into it.

Namco X Capcom

I;ve just been thinking about Namco X Capcom, which incidentally has just been released in Japan. What go me thinking about it is apart from it being a game that I am looking forward too, is an article over at Gamespot regarding it. They've posted some impressions which provide some detail about how the games plays and such. It's nice to see that it differs from standard SRPG's in that it adopts a more tradition turn based system.

After getting into SRPG's thanks to Nippon Ichi, I was particularly interested in an offering from the likes of Namco and Capcom. With so many characters at their disposal, how could something like that not be exciting. So after reading the preview from Gamespot I'm a little disappointed to find that, with so much text and voice acting in the game, there may be a slim chance of it coming to the West.

Now I know that's total speculation, but they are a couple of good points. However with the popularity of SRPG's now, Namco (the publisher) would be crazy no to publish it in the West, and hey the took a gamble with Katamari and that sure paid off. However Capcom and Namco are both quite good when it comes to releasing titles in the US, they will localise most things. Though both companies have screwed PAL gamers, so it then begs the question even if Namco X Capcom gets a US release, will it then get a PAL release?

Either way, I'll may pick up the Japanese release if a US/PAL version isn't in the works, even though I will understand nothing that's going on. If you haven't done so check out some of the trailers for this game, it does after all look as the kids today would say "teh shiznit".

Kancho

It's kind of strange this time of year, there really isn't a great deal of anything being released. Even looking at the release lists there isn't that much I'm really interested in, mainly just Tekken 5 but that's still a month or two away.

At the moment I'm thinking about checking out some of the PC games I haven't had a chance to experience yet. Things like Doom 3, FarCry and what ever else takes my fancy.

I played a bit of Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 the other night, and while I like the combination of FPS and tactical strategy that it combines, it just annoyed me in too man other areas to really bother with it. The main issue I have with the game is it's while "realistic" aiming model. While I like games to be realistic, I also like them to be playable and fun.

The other thing is that the game play is really repetitive and the environments are pretty much very similar. I know most FPS can be like this, but this game just seems to be, suppress the enemy, flank and kill said enemies. Just not my cup o' tea.

Still waiting for my ADSL to become active, the current status is "Waiting for Telstra to Activate service". I don't have much against Telstra, but you know they aren't the fastest to get things done.

Also I found a great site this week called "I am a Japanese School Teacher". It's about a black guy who moved to Japan and now teaches English in Japanese schools. He writes his experiences up in such a humours and entertaining way that I haven't laughed out loud so much for a long time. If your into it read though the whole lot because I promise you it only get funnier and stranger as it goes.

Anime Get!

Forgot to mention that the latest range of Madman DVD hit today, including my must haves, Initial D Vol 10 and Samurai Champloo Vol 2. There are a ton more, so check out Madmam's site for the low down.

Future Peeking

Sorry to anyone who reads this blog about the recent sporadic posts of late, I've just been really slack with posting. Anyway I should have my new TPG broadband connection set up sometime this week, so I won't have any excuses not to post anything.

I'm sure everyone has been keeping up with all the happening of E3, so I won't really go into any of that because I can't really contribute anything of worth the already plethora of sites overflowing with first hand info from E3.

However I will say that I'm quite intrigued by what has been shown and announced. What with the like of the Xbox 360 coming out so soon is a real treat, it's almost like Next Gen gaming is here now. Like everyone else I'm slightly concerned with Sony's showboating, only because I don't want them to make claims and not be able to produce the goods this time round, ala the whole emotion engine debarkle. I just think it would be embarrassing for Sony, and also lose them quite a bit of respect from many hardcore gamers. Though it's so early in the game for Sony and the PS3, it's very hard to speculate what they will and can produce. Just look at the PSP, that's some crazy shit right there. Then there is Nintendo and the Revolution, Nintendo managed to reveal 10 8th's of fuck all about, which resulted in myself looking interest in there new console. But again like Sony, it's quite a while away yet, I'm totally prepared to wait and see what they will produce.

The sad thing about looking at all the gorgeous HD footage of all the Next Gen titles, is that it makes current games in development look a bit tat. Another thing this year is that much of the attention if on the crop of new consoles and many current gen games, besides fairly big titles seem to have had less coverage. Though it's always good just after E3, when more solid info start to become available.

I'm actually quite interested in what's going to appear in the next year or so for the current generation of consoles, a lot of the time some decent stuff comes out at the end of a consoles life.

Anyway at the end of the day I'm quite relived that there is a gap between the new consoles. I means I can actually afford to pick up each of them without a hassle. Especially the new Xbox360 and a new HD TV that supposed 1080i, although 1080p is around the corner.

The Long Wait Ends

Just another quick update. I finally managed to get Half-Life 2 downloaded and up and running, apart from a small issue with sound that I, and apparently many other people have encountered the game runs great. Running it at 1280x1024 with max details it's rock solid and plays smooth. I won't go on about it because I'm sure by now everyone has played HL2, but I've got to say it's just stunning to look at. Even just the menu screen looks fantastic.

Found out today that my local exchange doesn't support DSLAM, which Broadband 2 requires, it's not like I'm the only person, but no Broadband 2 for me. I'm just going to grab a 1.5Mb 50Gig plan from TPG, should be fast enough.

I want to post some thought about the Xbox 360, Playstation 2 and Nintendo Revolution in the next few days. I love this time of year with E3 and all the gaming news that's about, it's even better when 3 brand new consoles are shown. I'm quite interested in how this is all going to go, what with Microsoft release their console so much earlier than Sony and Nintendo. The thing I'm most interest to see however is the price of the consoles, and how they actually play real games, no pre-rendered demos.

One Shot

Just a quick and dirty update from my new PC which I've finally go up and running. Haven't had much of a chance to do much with it yet, but so far it's kicking.

I'm currently downloading Half-Life 2 from Steam, but I don't have ADSL hooked up yet so it's taking some time. So I'm hoping it get done soon, I really want to see how this ATI Express AX700 performs, and at over $300, it really should do.

As promised pics and specs soon, I gotta log off for now.

Goddamn Delays

Sorry to anyone that read this blog on a regular basis for the lack of update recently. I know it’s been over a week since my last post and I feel awful that I haven’t posted anything in such a long time. I don’t really have an excuse, just bad timing on a few things.

Anyway I’m back now, regular updates from now on every 2-3 days.

I was going to point out the Xbox 360 coverage that was on A Current Affair, and meant to do it when I was at work on Friday, just a quick post. But like most of the time I had to do some web stuff for someone and didn’t get around to the post. Not that is really matters, I didn’t get to see it either thanks to the fucking Friday Brisbane traffic. Though I didn’t expect that there was much covered on it that isn’t online, and much like the MTV special, would have to tuned to the pander for the average punter.

My new system is nearly complete, for some reason I’m still waiting for the RAM. I have no idea why, especially since it was ordered on Wednesday, oh and the TFT but that wasn’t ordered until Friday anyway. I’ll post some pictures and specs once it’s done. I forgot to bring home any of those little things you stick to the case and then use with cable ties to tie back cables, so the inside of the case is a little wild at the moment. That will be remedied on Monday, I’m really anal about system cabling. I’d also forgotten how big these Lian-Li V Cool PC-V1000 cases are, it’s a monster.

I’ve also gotten myself a new desk, pick one up from Office Works last weekend, and it was delivered Wednesday. I spend some time this morning putting it together which wasn’t too hard, and it looks the business now. The thing is, you see these things in the store alls built up and think, sure that not that big. But even after measuring everything up, it’s not until it’s the room you realise how big it is. So at the moment, it just reminds me of some monolithic desk, and it’s not even that big.

However, I had to move my TV and a load of gear to get it in the room. So all my lovely cabling is now in a mess, and it’s probably going to stay like that for the mean time, because I’m sure it’s going to get worse. I also had to put my Saturn away, it wasn’t getting used and there isn’t enough room as it is. Also my Dreamcast is now perched on top of the new desk, unfortunately it’s not hooked up, but as it doesn’t get used all the often it’s not a big deal.

One last thing, I decided to finally check out Eternal Darkness on Gamecube which I picked up quite a while ago. I had heard a lost of praise for the game, but also quite a bit of negativity about the over hype about it. So of course I went into it not really knowing what to expect. When I first started playing it I was really getting into it, but as I got to about the Seventh Chapter it just seemed to become repetitive. I love the style of the game, and also the storyline and the eeriness of it. But the combat system just pissed me off at times, it’s just unresponsive, the game relies so much on it, that it just becomes such a hassle. The other thing is the whole magic system. While it’s really interesting, and it’s not even that it’s complicated, it’s just the way it’s implemented as a gameplay element that make it so difficult at times. There were a few other things that annoyed me at times, the whole hallucination this isn’t that interesting, maybe I was just expecting too much. I might play thought some more of it and see how that goes. I’m not sure, just constantly messing around with spells was really annoying.

It's All Coming Together

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, I had some problem with the internet the other day for some reason I couldn’t get access to web pages. I think it was some weirdness with my firewall, but it all seems to be sorted now anyway.

At the moment I’m in the middle of a sort of refurbish of my current computer trends. Since I only own a laptop at the moment, it’s become a bit of a hassle so I’ve decided to build a new PC and hopefully get hooked up with a Broadband2 connection. I’m planning to pick up a new desk tomorrow, and then I should be able to get the parts and build the PC in a week or two. It’s a fairly high spec Intel P4 3GHz running on the new LGA775 platform, I didn’t skimp on any of the components they are all decent spec, and because I can buy all the gear though the company I work for it won’t cost too much. I’ll post some system specs and all the gubbins later on.

Apart from spending the last few days putting all that together, I found out some great news about Forza. Apart from this new Xbox racer getting rave reviews all over the place, it’s the only game to have the Mazda 3 2.3ltr Hatch model in it!!! That begin the car I own, I’m well chuffed. I defiantly have to pick the game up now, so I might do that some time soon.

I’ve never posted a pic of my car before, so here are a couple that I took when it was nice an clean, unlike at the moment thanks to all the rain.

Initial Drift

Absolutely insane are the words that come to mind when trying to describe the intense gameplay that is held within Initial D: Special Stage. This is the best arcade racer that I’ve ever played, and might just be one of the best racing games that I’ve ever sampled.

With Initial D being such a popular anime most notably in Japan but also now in the West, I still find it strange that SEGA have never released this game outside of Asia. It’s one of SEGA’s best current generation games, and it’s also a hugely popular license, so I still can’t understand why this hasn’t been released in the West, especially with all the other rubbish that SEGA persist on releasing time after time these days.

Anyway onto the game. Being an arcade port, this game has the usual modes, being Arcade Mode and Time Trial, but it also includes a very well done Story/Manga Mode. Arcade mode is I assume pretty similar to the original Arcade version, which involves you taking on various opponents and the various different courses from the anime earning points and then upgrading your car, pretty simple. The races in arcade mode become very challenging until you’re familiar with the courses, so it takes some practice.

However if your after a challenge, Story Mode will really stick it to you. Story Mode has you reenacting all the races from the anime, in similar condition as well. Starting with you driving with a cup of water trying not to spill any and you race uphill, all the way to taking on Bunta, this mode will do it’s best to own you. Story mode is by far the most interesting mode, featuring the same voice acting found in the anime, as well as small pieces of storyline and simple animation to explain each battle. The difficulty on this mode is obviously designed to make you work at becoming a better driver, and work you it does. With most of the battles being fairly straight forward, some of them are a real challenge almost requiring you to perform a perfect race. The battles that I seem to have the most difficulty with are the uphill battles, the main reason being any loss of momentum from say hitting a wall will ultimately cause you to slow so much that your rival will catch you, this being worse due to the speed penalty imposed from hitting a wall too hard.

Everything else about Initial D Special Stage is just pure Initial D, from the Super Eurobeat music that plays as you drive, to the awesomely accurate course design and overall graphical look of this game there is very little I would want to change. I could go on for ever about how solid this game feels as you play it, and the outstanding car and drift control but it’s best if you just try and play it. Either hunt it out at a local arcade, import a PS2 or even mod your current one, either way this game is a must play.

Selecta!

Well after being on backorder for a little while, my JVC component switcher finally turned up at work yesterday. Also know as the JX-66 AV Selector, it’s quite a nice looking unit that can be positioned horizontally or vertically thanks to the included base. Also because it’s a passive switcher this little baby will also do HD signals up to 1080i, which I don’t need right know but it’s useful later on.

It’s a nice solid unit, with 3 component inputs and 1 output, all gold plated, so non of that silver shite. It has 3 nice solid switches on the front to select the input, and works a treat. I currently have my DVD player and Gamecube running though it, great quality with no signal loss at all, you would hope so as well because this thing runs about $130, and it’s just a basic switcher.

Top picture is the selector sitting atop my JPN PS2, so you can sort of get and idea of it's size.

This is the selector in all it's retail packing glory, ohh shiny.



And this is how I currently have mine set up, it just saves a bit of room and is eaiser is to place somewhere.

Long Weekend x 2

Another long weekend is upon us, that is if you happen to work in Queensland anyway. It’s great having an extra day, just to savor those games you really want to spend some quality time with, and what better games than Initial D: Special Stage and Beatmania IIDX9. I really have to say that Play-Asia fucking rock when it comes to delivering the goods, I only ordered those two games last Thursday and they arrived midday yesterday. They really are the guys for any import needs, and the shipping is cheap as well. I was only $6 to get those two games shipped in a small cardboard box with the games also wrapped in bubble wrap.

I didn’t get to play a great deal of each game last night as I spent a fair bit of time fiddling with the goddamn PS2 just to get it to read the Initial D disc. But once it did I finally got to experience the goodness that is Initial D Special Stage. Since I’ve never played the arcade version it’s all new to me, but I instantly fell in love with the game. I can really see why people are always on about it, it’s just feels so solid. The only thing that pissed me off was that there is no optical out put for the game, it’s been disabled. I read that it was to stop people from ripping the soundtrack, but you can just rip the goddamn CD’s so it makes no sense. So apart from not having surround sound for this game everything else is great. I’ll write some further impressions later.

Also with Beatmania, it’s been so long since I’ve played the series that I’m really out of practice. Plus I’m starting to think that you really need the IIDX controller to play this game, because at the moment with 7 keys it’s really difficult with the standard dualshock 2 controller. I’ll give it a few more goes, and see if I get any better. Using the controller with 5 keys used to be easy, but with 7 it just get confusing as hell.

Completion

Thanks to the long weekend I managed to get some decent game time in and finish a couple of games. I finally got to the end of Metal Gear Solid 3, and ended it with a Shark ranking. I don’t know how the hell you can have a negative experience with the game, it’s not overly long, it’s not insanely hard, it’s just a great action game. It has some awesome cut scenes in it, and the story isn’t as bazaar as some other games. I can’t recommend enough, even if you disliked MGS2, this one really takes it back to that original MGS feeling on the PSX.

Apart from the odd bit of Katamari Damacy, the other game that I got around to finishing was Disgaea. I’d put over 45 hours into the game but just never completed the final chapter, I decided on the weekend that I might as well spend the little time needed to complete it. It took longer than I thought, because it was like 2 chapters in one, making something like 10 battles, and a shit load of cut-scenes. It ended up being a bit of a slog, and at the end I was kind of glad I’d finished it. When I fisted started playing Disgaea I really loved it, now for some reason now I’ve just had enough. God knows if I’ll ever get around to finishing Phantom Brave or La Pucelle Tactics, maybe once I’m back in the mood. Though for some reason I’m still interested in Namco X Capcom, maybe because it’s different and a change from Nippon Ichi’s SRPG’s.

La Same

After playing though Katamari Damacy and finishing it, then playing it again some more, I decided to check out La Pucelle Tactics today. It’s been sitting on my shelf for a while now, so I thought it was about time I actually played it.

As with most of Nippon Ichi’s SRPG’s it takes some time to get used to the new game system and it’s pretty much the same with La Pucelle Tactics. The battle system is pretty much the same as Disgaea, where you dispatch you characters to defeat the enemy. Also similar to Disgaea’s geo system is that La Pucelle has a dark energy system which can be altered, and then destroyed to produce powerful combos, and while it’s not overly complicated it does take some time to get used to.

Where as Disgaea and Phantom Brave allowed you to create characters, it seems La Pucelle required you to “Purify” monsters who once defeated will join you team and battle for you. With these monsters you can then train them and build their stats to create powerful aids in battle, none of which I have gotten into yet.

One thing that is quite good is that like Disgaea you can use characters close together produce combination attacks on an enemy. Also the counter attack system is quite good and allows for some decent extra damaged to be dealt even when it’s not your turn. Though one thing that I’m still undecided about is how the battles are played out. Instead of you character just attacking on the battlefield, the game fades to a separate close up of the action and it plays out from there. It’s all well and good, and looks nice, but takes so goddamn long to go from Battlefield to Fight Sequence and then back to the Battlefield, especially when it happens several times.

So far of what I’ve played the game seems very similar in style and gameplay to Disgaea and isn’t anywhere as hard as either Disgaea or Phantom Brave. Maybe it’s just me, but La Pucelle Tactics just seems to be more of the same, which is great if you’re a fan, but I think I’m just loosing interest. Especially as the cut scenes seem to take forever and are very slow. I might play further into it and see if it grabs me, but I really don’t know, maybe some other time.

I’ve got Initial D and Beatmania IIDX9 arriving next week so I’ll post up some info on those. Can’t wait to get into Beatmania again, it’s been quite a while.

Simplicity

From the strange and surreal Japanese opening to the fee flowing game play, Katamari Demacy takes gaming back to its very simple roots. It’s so simplistic in it’s approach that it has become revolutionary in a sea of gaming boasting a larger more complex experience.

Katamari might not have the greatest looking graphics, or the latest 5.1 audio integration. However what it does posses is an element missing from so many games these days. It’s not that games these days aren’t great, it’s just Katamari contains such colourful, refreshing and enjoyable gameplay it’s hard not to be capture by its charm. Everything in this game simply adds to the enjoyment factor of it, most notably the simply rendered yet brightly coloured items that give the game it’s classically enchanting style. Even each of the little sound effects from each item that you acquire into your ever amassing ball is always amusing.

Every time I boot this game up, the intro and the music always bring a smile to a face, it’s just pure fun, it’s what gaming is all about. It’s funny how the most basic games are always the ones you enjoy the most.

I’m still a little dark with Namco and their decision not release Katamari in any of the PAL territories, it really is a game that so many people can enjoy, it just has such ridiculous potential. Though it hard to stay mad at Namco, they release far too many quality titles. However they have said that they are going to release the sequel to Katamari in PAL territories which is great news for everyone who hasn’t experienced the game yet.

Pure Content

So because I have a Japanese copy of Wipeout Pure, I managed to grab the new downloadable content everyone is going on about. But it wasn’t without the usual saga. Because I don’t have wireless here, I sometimes let’s say “acquire’ it form a neighbor who runs an unencrypted connection. Now I know it’s wrong, but it’s just there, my laptop loves it and I use it just to surf, no crazy torrent business.

So anyway the connection is usually pretty weak from it, and the PSP doesn’t like weak connections at all, it won’t load the pages or just stops responding. So after fiddling around, I decide to wander outside to try and receive a better signal. Sure enough the PSP loads the pages, and lets me start to download the content. No I didn’t realize that this Gamma Pack 1 was 3.7 megs, so I end up sitting on the drive, in the dark watching as the progress bar fill for this download. It’s quite strange sitting outside on a quiet clear night, as the wireless light on the PSP flashes away as it receives the data, and also the blinking of the orange memory stick light as stores the data from the wireless.

So after about 10 minutes I have the download. I get back inside and check out what it’s added and I’m pleasantly surprised. Gamma Pack 1 adds a few new things. First of all a new Skin called Piranha, which is a red background colour with yellow highlights, and looks the business. Next is the new team Tigron, a fairly chunky looking ship but with some decent specs and goes quite well. Finally the new Class named Gamma and the new track Staten, this is now my favorite track as it so fast and smooth and has many nice sweeping corners.

La Pucelle Tactics also arrived today but I’ve not had time to check it out yet, I will do in the next few days and write up some impressions.

Quite Fast

Usually with a game you expect it to have a fairly decent learning curve and most do. Wipeout Pure does poses this, but then proceeds to kick you square in the balls with it’s god all mighty setting, and I’m only walking about the third unlocked class. Once you unlock this class of supposed “real racing” you know just where you stand. Flash class is where Wipeout really becomes a Wipeout title. Suddenly every corner is coming at you before you know it and the AI craft just want to annihilate you. What’s really scary is that there is another class to unlock after this; I have no idea how insane the speed would be. Though as with these types of games, it’s all about practice. Once you know the track is just getting used to the rapid speed increase lavished on you by each class upgrade.

A friend of mine came round yesterday, and because he’s soon to sell his Xbox he gave me his copy of Gunvalkyrie. Everything I ever read about this game is that the controls are bad, that’s it, every comment. No one ever seems to point out just how rubbish the game itself is. I can handle the controls, there not that bad, mealy awkward. What I didn’t like in time I spend with it is just how awful everything seems to feel. I read once that this game was actually designed for the Dreamcast and to be used with the light gun, but because of the DC’s demise the ported it to the Xbox and gave is some piss poor controls. I’m a huge Sega fan, but this game is just a uninspired level crawl.