Penfold

Tomorrow, I hear.

(double post) The trailer makes it look decent so far (though I can't comment on the audio, given that I'm at work so I watched it without sound).

I'm very happy, they're making a sequel to Trauma Center: Second Opinion! Apparently they've made some good improvements, though even if it were more of the same I'd be happy.

http://www.nintendo.com.au/nintendo/service/index.php Look towards the bottom, for "Nintendo Customer Service." There's a number listed there you can for help.

I am, but I'm pretty much expecting it'll be shit. I want it to be good, I really do, but the odds of it being so are low. I'm all for a good action movie, but I'm already assuming this is going to be another Michael Bay shakey-cam fest so that kinda takes that fun out of that. The film is sure to have good visuals and whatnot, and that's all well and good but it's going to have to give me more than just good CG to satisfy me (especially considering all the fight scenes are probably going to be full of shakey-cam, so it reduces them down to brightly-colored blurs and not much else). I'll see it next weekend most likely, and then I'll pass judgement on it; who knows, I might be pleasantly suprised.

I think that's simply because it is a mirror image, and not neccesarily representative of what we'll be seeing in-game. It would have looked weirder if it wasn't a "reflection" like that on the boxart IMO.

Huh, weird. All I know is my friends and co-workers of similar age at least know about the DS, if not own one. Even my mom heard of the DS separate from me, since she heard about Brain Age and wanted it for that (she bought it, then my grandparents tried it out and bought one too).

I totally agree. I played FF1&2 for the GBA, and FF1 was very easy. FF2 was significantly harder - unlike the first, FF2 didn't restrict where you could go as much so you were able to face enemies that were too strong if you wandered. It took me a long time to get very far without dying, simply because I tend to explore and wasn't at a level where that was smart .

Yeah, seriously. Ridley is a pretty difficult boss, especially compared to the Metroid Prime itself (such a pushover). Man, I'll be needing to play through that game again before Prime 3 comes out.

Especially considering it won't be published at all (for consoles) if it were to stay with the AO rating. If Nintendo says no AO games, that's that. But yeah, I think it'll probably sell pretty well if it loses the AO rating one way or another...I never heard of the original Manhunt, but now the sequel has been publicized to any who keep up with video game news at all.

Really good advice: don't let your spending get ahead of you! For the debit card thing, depending on your bank your transfer can either be rejected or you can overdraft if there are insufficient funds available. I honestly don't know enough about how it works, though I would assume it negatively reflects on your credit score when an overdraft occurs. Another way to increase your credit score, which is something most are unaware of, is simply paying your monthly utility bills (assuming you are on-time with the payments, and they're in your name). Also, if you purchase anything (computer, car, etc) via a payment system and you always pay on-time and all that, it'll increase your credit score too. Are you looking to up your credit rating for any particular purpose at this point, or just in case for the future? If you're looking to get a homeloan at some point, I can give you some pointers at how to begin increasing what you qualify for (at 20, you probably aren't ready for that yet...though at 23, I'm currently in the process of approval for one). If it's for, say, a car loan I wouldn't really be able to help you there since I don't have any experience with that personally.

I read the gameplay is really great too, despite most people's initial reaction to the stylus control and whatnot. Personally, after playing some Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales, all-stylus control has really grown on me.

I'll be very interested to hear what comes from this project. Really great idea, Darkesword; short and sweet track list. Best of luck to all with this project!

Damn, every week I check the site, I get more excited for this game. I'm loving the music, and the looks of the game thus far. I think it's pretty cool how they change the look of the barrels and crates depending on the stage. Samus' character model turned out really well, and I'm digging the Fox redesign (never played Starfox Command though).

So it's looking like I'll get getting my 360 either late July or early August. Quick question about ow XBLA transactions are set up; I assume it's somewhat similar to the Wii's shop channel, where each game costs X number of point, which translated into Y dollar. Is that right or is it simply by dollar amount? Also, is there standardized pricing, or does it vary game to game?

How about Paper Mario? They've stated that will be coming out for VC. Also, first Chocobo's Dungeon vid for the Wii. It's looking pretty awesome to me, especially since it reminds me a lot of Final Fantasy Fables Chocobo Tales.

lol, nice. Ah, Zelda, you cross-dresser. Aaaaaanyway...I'm doing the whole check once a week thing for smashbros.com, and it's honestly more fun to check the updates that way. The more screenshots they release, the more it dawns on me just how pretty this game is going to be. I'm pretty excited for the Isle Delfino level, it looks great! I'm also glad they're handling the final smash the way they are, instead of having a meter. Cracker launcher looks like a decent addition to the arsenal (har-har) and it'll be...different to be able to move while using a shooting item. Increasingly more excited for this game.

I was actually going to argue that, but you beat me to it, so... Yeah, and this was going to be my next question. How do you really "define" pop music? I'd like to say it is a different means of classifying music since it doesn't seem to be constrained by genre, in my mind at least. So, then, is pop just whatever is perceived to be more popular to the general public/whatever is making the most money at the time? That's a good point as well, and to an extent highlights a problem I've been having at the local level. I know Seattle has some great music from different genres to offer, but it's hard to sort the shit from decent from the great. Unlike many internet music sites, I don't know of any way to find ratings on local music, and if my time weren't so valuable as it is now I guess I wouldn't mind risking going to more shitty shows for the hope of finding some good ones. The best local band (and easily among my top 10 ever) I've heard was Maktub (very genre-mixing, though generally classified as somewhere between rock and r&, and the only reason I heard of them was because they played at the UW on my first or second day of school here (the UW likes to have several festivities going on the first week of Autumn quarter every year, I guess to welcome in-coming students). Anyway, I guess for local music, it's just best to ask friends/coworkers from the area what they recommend, though I haven't gotten around to doing that either . [/rant]

While I understand what you're arguing, I haven't seen it work like that in practice. Any computer I've made (and I've made 10-15 computers for various people over the years) has been cheaper than a pre-made computer of comparable specs. Anyway, if you go down to the average retail outlet and purchase your comp parts there, you're paying a much higher markup than you would at other places. Until about 4 years ago, there was a local computer store with 2 branches that had the most amazing prices I had seen at the time (even compared to online stores) and until they closed down I'd always buy parts there. Now, I tend to go to newegg or wait for deals at places like Fry's (since their specials can be really great, even though they're everyday prices are nothing special), depending on what the future owner of the computer wants. Probably the best advice someone can give you about building your own computer for the first time is this: you get what you pay for when purchasing bargain brand parts. My experience has taught me it's better to buy Asus instead of Abit, etc. Do a bit of research, and if you're a detail-oriented person you'll price together a computer for the first time pretty fast.

(From an article on IGN) New Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles trailer!! I'm pretty impressed, it has definitely undergone a great change since the Gamecube game and shows an upgrade in the single player experience. I'm still really hoping it'll have similar multiplayer to the Gamecube game, since that was the reason I really liked the original.

He's actually 1st party, just to clarify for you .

So it's that time of year again...SIFF officially opens today. Unless you're a total film festival nerd or from the area, I doubt that you'd plan to go (or really care about it). Last year was the first time I had gone, which was a requirement for a class I was taking (had to critique like 20 films) and I dunno if I would have gotten around to it if it weren't for that push. I really enjoyed the experience last year, and I got exposed to many films which I may not have otherwise (it also got me going back to Scarecrow pretty frequently). Anyway, for those who are interested in it, it runs from today (the 24th) till June 17th, and movies are shown at 16 different venues around the city (including the one in Bellevue). There's a wide variety of genres represented, and from a lot of countries (though film from the US takes up about half of the festival). For more info, here is the SIFF website; I'd recommend anyone else in the area to check it out. I'm personally going to see my first couple movies on Monday (Paprika and A Battle of Wits, back to back at the Neptune), though I won't be seeing any other movies till I'm done with the quarter. If anyone else plans to go to SIFF, what are you gonna see?

Voted. Pretty awesome stuff. Best of luck!

Cool. I'm enjoying this daily update thing, even when they are pretty small updates. So after playing many an hour of Punch-Out!!, I decided I'd really like to at least see a cameo of Little Mac in Brawl (in the background of a stage would even be cool).

Yeah, that'd be pretty cool, though the past 2 Metroid Primes were pretty enough for me . Anyway, I'm actually pretty happy about the August release date...I hope to have my new tv and receiver by then (the one I'm looking at automatically upconverts analog signals to 720p, so I'll be curious to see how that'll affect the picture quality of regular dvds and Wii games).