Katsurugi

You don't want to get into Megaman ZX yet? All right... your loss. Anyway, I think I'm close to ending it. I finally picked it back up after leaving my DS at home for a week. What a long week that was. I guess I'll be changing my sig after I beat it afterwhich I think a lot of people might be sad. I mean, come on! It's Megaman and he DANCES!!

I would draw to: McVaffe - Cammy's London Drizzle (Super Street Fighter 2) McVaffe - Indian Ragga (Yoshi's Island) TheWingless - Aphrodite Oceanus (Secret of Mana) AmIEvil - River of Time (Zelda: Ocarina of Time) Tepid - A Rose for Zelda (Zelda: Link to the Past) Indian Ragga might have too much of a beat... but I think everything else is pretty good. But I think that DarkeSword's Blue Skies over Guardia would make me feel like I'm on a path of making something great... *shrug*

I agree with Bahamut on this one. You will spend more time with EBA than you will with NSMB. In your first runthrough, you can probably get through NSMB in in a couple of hours and in the end, it won't have too much replayability (much like the first SMB). I feel that it is done well, but you'll come back to it mainly for nostalgia factor if anything. Funny enough, NSMB comes with a bunch of mini-games that could entertain you and some other friends. It's very likely that this is one of those games that is opposite of what you described. Phoenix Wright and Trauma Center are similar in that both have pretty engaging game mechanics and might be, in a word, intense. However, PW isn't too long and I hear that Trauma Center only increases its difficulty in the further levels almost ridiculously. So with those two games, either you'll end relatively quickly or you might stop due to frustration. Go with either Castlevania games or some good old GBA RPGs (FFV or FFVI in Feb.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/25/technology/25game.html I wish I could write for the New York Times... I think they need my expertise... as well as general awesomeness.

Yeah. Phoenix Wright is great. It's been a long while since I've played a game that made me say "I'll play until one more save point. Aww... it's time to go to sleep now." For those of you who have Justice for All, do you suggest it?? It seems as if there are some mixed reviews from several people. In other news, I left my DS at home.. only to pick it up later this week. It feels so long from now...

My friend owns Jump Superstars. I will have to say that it's not really a complete gaming experience. It's just fun to have a giant brawl type game consisting of lots of anime characters. There's even a wiki about it that lists the characters (playable and non-playable). It really is kind of impressive how they could fit all of them into one game. But if you like fighting games, it kind of gets old pretty fast. I don't know about Ultimate though, I would assume that they did make improvements on it. But, I don't know to what degree. If you're choosing between the two games, I would get Ultimate. For the meanwhile, just save your money. Importing games is expensive.

Microsoft isn't evil. But certainly a lot of people seem to think so. Personally, I distrust a lot of first gen. hardware. I read up about the iPod before it was released, however, I knew there were some issues that might arise. Lo and behold, battery life was teh suck. I think that the same goes for the Zune as well. It does have a lot of features such as wireless file sharing that does seem quite cool. This would be a definite plus for musicians at conventions or wherever they may be. I'm just going to wait until a lot of the kinks get worked out before I consider getting one. In general, I think that user software interface is the biggest question though. If you've ever used Sony's software for MD players, you will know that it's absolutely horrible. The hardware was amazing though! But I for something like audio files, which I am more than likely to swap around, delete and add, the interface has to be friendly and simple. Compared to Sony's SoundStage, I think iTunes is a big step up, but I know that a lot of other people (including my sister) find it annoying and even a bit cumbersome. But I'd probably like something where there was no interface at all, and you'd just load up songs as if it were a portable hard drive. This is what older mp3 players actually did, but it's a dying approach due to piracy and all that jazz. As of right now, the Zen Vision M is pretty sweet and it's probably my first choice if I had to pick one now. (Isn't the Nomad made by Creative? Your argument would make more sense if it were made by Microsoft.)

I was about the recommend the same. IBM Thinkpads are great notebooks which perform well and are very reliable/durable. Though the older IBM Thinkpads were a bit unstylish, performance was great. I'm not too sure how Lenovo has evolved the Thnkpad line, but I'd still bet that it's a good product. I have known people who do own Dell notebooks and for the most part, they do work. I haven't heard of anything detrimental or horrifying. But I would trust a Dell notebook to do menial tasks like internet browsing, listening to music and watching movies. Very basic type of stuff and nothing too specific. Personally, I have had a Gateway notebook for about 4 or 5 years now, and it's been great. I have had no complaints with it with the exception that the screen is a bit dim. But that's more or less a technology jump back then when I purchased it. Probably the only main difference betweene Gateway and Dell is the customer service. Any time I've called Gateway, whether in the dead of night or in the afternoon, I've gotten someone who is a native english speaker... I can't say the same for Dell.

Hey, I just bought Trauma Center the other day and it's pretty fun. There's a lot of text that adds to the whole character development which is great since the writing is quality. But you could just as easily skip it all if you wanted to by pressing 'select' and go straight to the operations where most of them talk you through it (in the beginning at least). But I have a little problem, I don't know if other people have trouble with this game or if it's my DS lite. Does anyone have any particular trouble with using the top 0.5 - 1 cm of their touch screen? It makes this one operation almost impossible. Usually, most games don't use the uppermost portion of the touchpad and I'm only now encountering it. =\

I will recommend kLutz's 600 A.D. remix from Chrono Trigger. However, it gets amazingly difficult once he steps it up. But the first 2 pages should be pretty easy to pick up. Plus it sounds pretty.

Actually, in the video game industry, it's usually the case where the sequel is better than the original... very unlike the movie industry. Usually, the creators know what works and builds upon that. However, this can work both ways. The creator can also make a sequel that requires some sort of "jump" that the fans may not appreciate. But the "jump" can be good if it weeds out all of the bad from the previous game and makes the sequel even better. Consider Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA), this game was totally unlike the previous game. It was not a bad game, but I believe it to be a bad sequel since it carries the name of Super Mario. I'll throw out... original Street Fighter and Street Fighter II.

I think that the ability to process higher polygon counts is important to a certain degree. It allows for developeres to have more freedom to do what they want with a game and not hinder the gaming experience. It is important that the environment be immersive. But this doesn't always mean better graphics = better game. In order for a game to be breath taking, a number of factors need to be considered such as graphics, sound, story, and gameplay. No single one of these factors decides the immersive quality of a game. It should be noted that as human beings, we tend to be more connect more to the physical, such as the visuals and audio of a game. Therefore, the graphics and sound have a stronger influence. But I guess this is kind of off topic. I guess the question you want to ask is how good is good enough, graphically? It really is a qualitative answer. Some say that simulating real life is the ultimate goal graphically. In this way, the gamer can relate to the game the most and be able to draw out more sensations from it. But this is more of a sense of virtualization. This is the aspect of gaming that is fantasy, being able to do something in a controlled environment rather than in real life which prohibits you to do so. I guess, very loosely, it's hedonistic. Though this simulation of real life is a mode or style a game may take on, it is irrevelant to the definition of a game. A game is really defined some environment which is placed under certain conditions and has some sort of goal in the end. How these get portrayed is totally different from game to game. I personally find pleasure in conquering what these conditions are in order to complete the goal. The line where graphics are good enough might be where our physical hardware, our eyes, can no longer distinguish between some number of polygons and another. This would probably sate the most adamant debater. But as a factor in a game, graphics bring only a visual interface. The philosophy of the game has to be reevaluated to determine its importance.

Darkesword: You smell.... like roses. Please stay around, if not in op/judge form. I can't believe I missed this...should have been keeping track of the forums better.

X-men I think I've blocked a lot of the bad ones from my memory. Then again, my parents weren't really open to giving me video games back then.

Don't worry. It's for the love of the game. Even though it may blind us, or make us act irrationally, know that there was good intentions in his heart despite the fact that he abruptly ended the conversation. Also realize that he will be indebted to you and will most likely regret the fact that he did not have a proper conversation with you, for you are the one who led him to the path of enlightenment.

I also saw him unban someone in #ocremix. So he's definitely alive and well... maybe not well... but definitely alive.

I, Malcos, personally thank each and every one of you who voted for me. Though I am a respected member of the community already, I hope that no one thinks I used "hacks" on this competition as it was done blindly. Huzzah to me!!

1. Change status from lack of friends to a bit more than no friends at all. 2. Continue exercising after verifying that I do not have shin splints. 3. Look for a serious relationship with someone else. 4. Practice some form of music whether it be vocal or instrumental. 5. Write more poems. 6. Help write a mini-script and do more films with friends. 7. Further my research for my Ph.D. Social stuffs are usually the hardest to do (lol).

I have no idea. I guess it's just a hot item because of it's appeal to both adults and kids. The older gamers are probably just getting into it because of all of the brain games. But then again, I only got a DS lite a month or two ago.. but I'm generally slow on the whole gaming thing. Anyway, even at Nintedo World (at the meetup) I remember someone trying to buy a DS lite and they said they were sold out there too. Maybe it's just better to stick with something more established than new for now anyway...

I'm back home. Anyway, here are some pictures. A lot of them are blurry though just because people tend to move around a lot during meet ups (I guess... I don't know, this was my first one). Maybe I should have increased the shutter speed or put it on shutter priority instead of auto...

Sure. Since we're meeting up, I'll try to get there a little earlier. If I have to wait, I can play my DS or listen to music... which I generally do since I don't pull out my DS in areas which are highly populated with people. My cellphone number is 732-397-7464.

I'm going to heading in to the Port Authority. I'm probably going to take the shuttle to Grand Central. I prefer warm to cold any day... even if it's a bit funny smelling... If I catch a bus at 10:30-ish, then get there around 11:30, walking + shuttle = 12:00-ish. I think I have this down. I just hope that there is a bus at 10:30 and not at 11:00... otherwise I'll be late. I'm not planning to be of course.. I usually get somewhat stressed whenever there are deadlines. I might even get there early. About the museum, I think that bustatunez's point was that you can't take luggage in there with you. You have to check them at the door. If the attendents are nice and the museum closes fairly late, then we could essentially have them hold it for us. Hopefully the overnight people are packing light. Should we somehow exchange cell phone numbers and stuff? I wouldn't want anyone to be left behind. That's just a random thought I have. Oh yeah, by the way, my other friend said he wasn't too sure if he was coming either. So... at the very least, I'll show up by myself... yeah...

And somehow I'm left double posting for no reason...

I have a cold too... I think I may have gotten it from Santa as a Christmas gift. (He'll get his next year...) It's only really a stuffy nose, so hopefully liters upon liters of water will help. Toodles~

Anything by e-rotic like Do It All Night, Oh, Nick, Please Not so Quick, or Test My Best from DDR. If not that, then go for that song from Capcom vs. SNK 2 that goes like "This is true love we're makin'... THIS IS TRUE LOVE WE'RE MAKIN'! THIS IS TRUE LOVE WE'RE MAKIN'!" As for the previous topic about the similar thing, I think he was looking for songs that were good for cuddling, not necessarily "love making."