Monthly Archive for June, 2007

The sound of summer

Published on June 21, 2007 in Dreamcast, GBA, PC, School, Summer and games. 1 Comment

Summer school started this week and after some schedule mix-up it seems I’ll only have to be there for half the day. Which means I leave at 11:00AM, which is pretty much the same time I would get up if I didn’t have school. Last week though I went out and did something bold, and borderline stupid. I couldn’t resist…

One of these days I plan to purchase a Midi keyboard and a mixer/amp so it’s not a complete waste. Funny thing is I was on the last level of Jet Grind radio before I installed this and the sound only in Chankast wasn’t working after I installed this. I just HAD to have the music working and it’s at least 40% of this game. So after a few hours I got it working by accident, I thought: “screw it I’ll just play the soundtrack in Winamp and run the game” and then I heard the dreamcast start-up sounds. Silly Dreamcast emulator, turns out playing any music in Winamp while the emulator starts up will enable sound. Yea I know, I don’t understand it either -but it works and Chankast hasn’t had another release since 2005, so I don’t care.

Been playing two games so far this week. I finally got back into Yggdra Union for my GBA and I think I also might be done with it -but who knows. the story has me on the edge and even after I complete the stage I’m at right now, the story could totally take a twist in a different direction. I was thinking about the story yesterday and then I blurted out how cool it would be to be part of a barely-surviving Monarchy which fights back against imperialists with a small and badass army. Consider the movie “300″ the closets thing story-wise. I think… I have yet to see it myself, but it sounds similar.

Anyways, I just got a three day trial for Counter-strike source from one of my friends and I’m going to establish some impressions of it finally. Despite how good or bad(..or old) it is I’m totally anticipating and waiting for the “Orange box”. This way I’ll be able to buy it alongside a few other games and Half-life2 which I’ve always wanted to play…

(Picture of me in observation mode looking at my leftover paint, note: I only spray paint when I’m kicking ass;) )

One year of blogging

Published on June 9, 2007 in Arcade, Neo-Geo, PC and School. 1 Comment

I didn’t even notice it, but last month was the one year mark of blogging for me. Not here of course, but at where I started blogging, at 1UP. Have I been posting that infrequently? ;)

Last week(exactly one week as of today) I finished up my JR. year of High school. It almost came down to the wire, but luckily I pulled it off and so I only have one subject for summer school this year. Though I still have two classes… at least it’s all the same subject. In fact it may end up being the exact same class twice. I’ll make sure to fire up the photocopier if that happens.

This short break before summer school so far has felt like two weeks, almost like a mini-summer in itself. Everyday now I’ve been doing something: practice driving, going someplace with friends, ect. I’ve been to my local Arcade twice which resides in a place called “Sunsplash”. In case you couldn’t tell from the name it’s main attraction is the water park, but it also has a decent arcade. Decent that is – all of the machines are slowly falling apart. If you’re a die-hard fan of the NeoGeo MVS for example you may not want to look at the sad sight of their 4 MVS machines. Original Happ buttons broken, joysticks with faulty springs, some don’t even turn on anymore. RIP MVS’s.
Besides that you’ll love the place if you like light-gun games, this place is silly with them. Though the sight that angers most gamers(and me) is the giant horse racing simulation bullshit they replaced with half the floor space… no one even plays it.
Arcades are sad these days, but if a businessman with some common sense came along I think they could easily bring them back to former glory.

Besides the arcades I’ve been playing a lot of Bleach DS 2 and Jet Grind Radio. Jet Grind emulates surprisingly well and I finished it yesterday -great game. Bleach is good too and I’m going to be finishing up a review for Zero’s upcoming animethoughts.com website. After this I plan to review more crappier hand-held anime games, those are easier. :)