A little thing about the little things in life. - Updated whenever the fuck I feel like it!
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
WTF?
Can anyone explain to me how exactly my Final Fantasy I party manages to be ambushed by a shark - while on their boat? I mean, the bloody fish would have to somehow manage to get out of the water, onto my boat, unnoticed by four so-called "Legendary Heroes", and, as I suspect a shark out of the water to do, splash around for a bit, and manage, somehow, an attack upon my party without one of them noticing.
Okay, just to get it out of the way - I have ordered my Animecon 2006 Ticket. Thus, I am now completely set.
Now, to get to the real story of the day. Two posts in two days may not be something you have seen from me for a while, but I have the time, and I felt like I needed to do this one. For you see, I almost forgot posting here about the only holiday that really matters: Winter-Een-Mas! How could I forget? I should be ashamed of myself...
I would therefor like to use this little bit of personal space to show my appreciation for the people who have made my life so varied and interesting. From the many classics, among which the Super Mario and Zelda games would be the most obvious, to those underrated yet so very fun games, like the N64 game Mischief Makers by Treasure, many a game has had the ability to make me smile - even when I felt blue.
Special thanks go out to the people who have the guts to break the mould and try something different. If it were not for your innovation, this hobby of ours would probably have died a silent death a long time ago. You show games are not just about action and adventure, but can be enjoyed in a more creative, leisurely way too. I'm thinking about gems like Harvest Moon and Chibi Robo here, for example.
The future seems bright too, thanks to Nintendo realizing that innovation is needed once more. The public has shown to want something new, with the NDS outselling the PSP globally, due to it's innovative yet simple features, bringing new and old gamers together in the handheld market. Love it or loathe it, there's no denying that a game like Nintendogs, for example, has a wider appeal than any gamer would have given it credit for beforehand.
And while Sony and Microsoft seem happy to just bring out multimedia-centres capable of churning out a couple more polygons per second, with that extra nice little bit of reflection, Nintendo decided to change the whole face of console gaming again, as they have done twice before already. All the critics about their new controller seem to be the same people to whine about the NDS prior to launch, which shows the lack of vision from a lot of gamers, afraid of innovation. However, in time, they too will come to appreciate the things Revolution will bring. The innovation is needed in order to gather a new crowd. And more people playing games should mean that developers (not counting those money-hungry bastards at EA) will have to improve their delivered product to please as many as possible, in stead of just the hardcore.
This year should be a great time for us, as the last has been due to the handheld innovations previously mentioned. I, for one, can't wait!
What's been going on these past few weeks? First off, let me say that I've been rather busy outside my regular job on the GamesFM front, as there were some problems that needed fixing. Luckily, everything seems to be back where it belongs, and, after a couple of late nights of work, the backlog of work that was amassed is now gone. Yay!
The regular-job-thingy is also getting busy again, as next week is our next fair, to be held in Rotterdam. So we're getting geared up for another week of hard work there, then.
On the plus side, my job does offer the advantage of some pretty cheap book-acquiring. I got the complete Chronicles of Narnia for a mere € 11,19 - a steal, considering its price in regular stores.
I have once more raised my Revo pre-order amount, which should by now almost cover the costs of the imported console.
I bought a Japanese GameCube, which means I can play those imports without the need for a Freeloader. Which is nice.
I have a NES coming, which I hope to case-mod at some undisclosed moment in time. I have an idea that should, if it works out, be rather nice. And if it doesn't work, well...
Found a site that offers complete Anime series for view online, which is nice, as download-programs like BitTorrent seem to somehow mess with this laptop of mine all the time.
However, this seems to be the most newsworthy I can give you about these past two weeks. It was a lot of work, so I seem to be lacking in the rest department again. Which is nice, considering next week. But hey, if you don't do anything, it's just a waste of time as well, right?
So then, considering my time away from here, you may have hoped for a longer post. Sorry I couldn't deliver, but, with a bit of luck, I should be back up more regularly following this fair - as all the other work shouldn't be so much an issue anymore.
It's a busy time, this. Which helps get my mind off my other issues, but my experience tells me that's only a temporary solution to that.
I'm currently reorganizing my room, and thinking of getting rid of a couple of things. I'm in dire need of storage-space, so I guess I'll have to get rid of, for example, that ancient PC collecting dust in the corner. Getting rid of that desk, for example, would make for an extra cupboard-space - although, with my bed in the place it is, it might still pose a problem finding one that would actually fit.
Speaking of that bed, I'm thinking of getting rid of that too, and getting one of those Japanese-style futons, which would take considerably less space by day, as I could just fold it up and dump it in a corner. That would create some more space again, and it would allow me for slightly more drastic change. For example, I could then move that desk to where the head-end of my bed now lies, putting it beside my light switch, put my laptop on there (there's a socket there, too), and get a decent sized cupboard in the created space between that spot and my window.
I need a couple of CD and DVD stands as well, as it would greatly clear the planks I badly need for my reading and gaming stuff. And if only my last remaining VHS's could be replaced by DVD's, that alone would create an extra meter or two of space...
Bought myself Chaos Arena last Thursday. It's a great two-player board-game, with a great sense of humour and some very interesting features. Played and beat the hell out of jzz on Friday, but he wasn't paying attention.
Tomorrow is a farewell at work, Wednesday is my father's birthday, and Thursday I'll be passing by the SubCultures store again, and, well, that leaves Friday for the continuation of my reorganization here. And the weekend after that. I'll have to go explore for some cupboards soon, but luckily there's a bunch of Vikings not to far from here.
That's a basic, side-note style update, then. You have the summary of it. I guess that's the best I can provide you with right now.
Weekend. Spent the whole Saturday at the VG-store, untill we went karting in the evening.
Spent my Sunday reading.
On Friday jzz came over, and we spent most of the night playing chess and Ikaruga. Then the cat threw up all over us - I had to take the lumps out of my hair. Yay!
Besides that, well, not much spectacular going on. I'm still working on all that stuff keeping my mind busy, but it's still not going as well as hoped. I'm getting there, though, slowly but surely.
Must tell you to beware. Last night, when looking out the window, I saw this... I can't really explain... It was a bright light...
There was a lot of noise, and, well... Looking out of my window, I remember this blindingly bright-green light flickering all over, and then... Headache... Faint feeling... Mind went blank...
I remember this... small room... bright white lights... short, skinny creatures standing... I tried getting up... but... was tied down... somehow...
Strange, that... I didn't feel any rope... But still... somehow felt... paralysed or something...
I heard a strange voice in my head... Telling me..."calm down"...
Next... A big screen... Or, in retrospect... that's what I think it was...
Thing is - I'm growing tired of having to censor myself - which has been happening a lot lately. Which is why I took a short break, and won't be around regularly for a while, 'till I figure things out. I'm working on it - I've been getting help these past few weeks from a friend (thank whichever Entity for e-mail), so I'm working on it, but still... It's a work in progress.
As for my weekend, I took advantage of my sister's absence to dig into my newly acquired Gems. I spent two hours on Final Fantasy IV Advance and nearly 7 hours on Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean, so I took full advantage of the situation. I had underestimated BK, never really trusting the card-based battle system, but I picked it up second-hand yesterday and gave it the proverbial "shot". Like I said already, 7 hours. I couldn't let it go.
Now I'm hoping that their Skies of Arcadia proves too steep for the guy that pre-ordered it before me. I really want that game as well, and I've been waiting a whole year already on that pre-order list of theirs.
Then again, the other guy, ironically sharing my front name, has been on that list a full year longer than I have.
And my Revolution downpayment is doubled now. It's looking like it'll definitely be a Jap import for starters, with probably a PAL following later on. Now all I need is a release-schedule and price-list, so we (the VG-store folk and I) can discuss the full terms of the deal and I can get my money, and they my stuff, ready in time.
The last week I only worked 4-hour days, which was pretty relaxing. I had trouble resisting temptation to go and hang at my VG-store everyday, but due to fatigue, I spent a lot of that free time in bed anyways. At least when you're half asleep you don't think of going someplace else, right?
Anywayz, tomorrow's back to work again. Ugh. Don't know when I'll be back here, though.
