Penfold

Yeah, CF Football uses kind of a modified Westide Barbell method for their SWODs...judging from the comments on their site from their relatively small community base, I can only imagine the widespread confusion that sort of implementation would create on mainsite. Nice! Man, the Bainbridges are beastly, no doubt you get good training at that box. I think I've only ever done pullups and 135lb clean and thrusters in the "death by ..." format, I should try push press. You said 75lb was scaled - what was RX'd weight?

Very cool! I think strength work followed by metcon is a really good system, something I doubt mainsite will ever move to program (not that they need to, unaffiliated CFers are welcome to add to the programming as they wish). Do you guys post your wods online? Always curious to see what others program. Amazing how quickly the gains come, especially at the beginning of CF but even after a year of two. PRs and new skills abound. Never will forget the feeling of getting that first muscle-up or getting bodyweight overhead, not to mention the satisfaction of becoming mentally tougher and not quitting despite the discomfort. Meteo Xavier: build strength for everyday use? http://www.crossfit.com/

I saw "intensity" in your post, and knew right away - go Crossfit! I think in this sort of medium it's difficult to convey all of the positives and advantages one can see through the program (especially given how daunting/unintelligable/"easy on paper" it seems when someone first looks at the site), but for a person who isn't looking to become a specialist, and especially those who just want to be in better functional condition, CF is the way to go. What are your current numbers? Do you guys do your own programming or do you follow the mainsite? I generally solo WOD, though sometimes with a co-worker, following mainsite primarily but throwing in the strength WODs from CF Football and rarely their DWODs. Some current numbers (5'9", 155-159lb): Fran 3:32, max PUs (butterfly) 50, conventional DL x 3 345lb, Back squat x 5 245lb, Cindy 25 completed rounds, the '08 Games Deadlift Burpee WOD 4:50. I can really geek out when it comes to CF haha.

If it's not a problem to download Xbox Originals from XBLA, I'm not sure how there would be any greater technical limitations to have PS2 games on PSN. There isn't a whole lot of merit to the old "but the files are so big!" argument these days.

Another great mix, halc! The more I hear of your style, the better it gets I think and the more I like it.

So, information on Volume 3 also forthcoming?

Gonna be great, as always. When do you think we can expect the release? I'm assuming you will also have a physical format release at first, like Vol 2?

Trailer on IGN. I'm a big Transformers nut, and I've got to say it looks promising to me so I'm very excited for this!

While I understand that, I would still say WarioWare: Twisted was the best in the series. Anyway, motion controls are better than the 'camera controls' on DSi (at least as implemented in that DSi WarioWare game).

Cool, thanks for the response man. Looking forward to seeing your review of it (still haven't seen any professional reviews up for it, but I guess that's the holiday season for you).

Has anybody downloaded Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth or The Magic Obelisk (the Game Arts Wiiware title) that came out today? Haven't seen any reviews up yet for either, but the both look like they could be fun.

As expected, awesome work by all. Thanks for sharing this!

I think it's definitely closer. My suggestion would be to make those low strings a little punchier. The bass doesn't sound bad, but it does sound a little dead in my opinion. The triangle you bring in at :40 really helps out the drums, prior to that point the drums didn't seem to have that same quality. Keep it up, man.

I agree with you. Zircon, I think what you've got at this point sounds nice, and it sounds like what you're going for is turntablism. In my opnion, the drums sound a little too subdued, and feel like the kick and snare should come in at the same time as the cymbals. The kick and snare pattern sounds greate, but in this case I don't think the rimshot/woodblock/clave (whatever it is). The fill at :46 is also kinda giving me more of an "easy listening" feel, rather than hip-hoppy, and for me there's something about the soundscape after the crash at 1:46 that's just accentuating that feel...I think you may have too much going on in general, and at 1:46 it comes to a head. I also think that harp or whatever isn't fitting in well as it is (sorry, I don't have the vocabulary to better express what I'm trying to get across). The breakdown 1:26 isn't bad. A couple of suggestions... -Thin it a bit, and don't try to force an addition or a transition too quickly - from my perspective, turntablism is generally a medium that has a slow progression from one idea to the next. -Change your fills. -Do something about that harp. I'm also getting the feeling a track like this is meant to be instrumental-only. As it is, I can't see rhyming on top of it. It's a good starting point. Check out some DJ Shadow as well, Nujabes, or DJ Krush - it sounds like that's kind of the style you're leaning towards, and that should help you get some ideas. Hope it helps! BlackPanther - Hi-Tek does production for Talib Kweli right? Obviously, he did it for Black Star, and I think at least he produced the old stuff.

I was looking at the reviews for this game, and I'm having a hard time gauging it. Is it pretty worth it? Also, this question might sound silly, but is there an end to the game (ex. "Congratuations", then roll credits)?

I agree, I wouldn't even want to play a game like this over the internet, let alone with random people I don't know. But then again, that goes for Smash for me as well, so I might be in the minority. It'll be fun to have some friends over to play this!

The WarioWare (DSiWare) game isn't very good anyway, btw. Mario vs. Donkey Kong has really been the only worthwhile DSiWare game so far IMO, which is unfortunate that the system isn't being using to its best advantages (my reason for buying it)...and still no virtual console for DSi, which makes no sense, haha. Anyway, the DSi's screens are definitely improved over DS/DS Lite and having that soft reset to the DSi menu is nice, but still I could give no definitive reason to recommend that someone switch to one from a DS Lite.

LostWinds 2 came out on WiiWare yesterday, for those who enjoyed the original. I played about an hour of it yesterday, and I've gotta say I'm enjoying it even more than the first. It's gotta be the prettiest WiiWare game out yet, the music is really fitting to the mood, and there seems to be a more fleshed out story this time around. The gameplay feels enhanced in this sequel as well, adding some new tricks while only removing one from what I can tell. So far, it feels like a larger world (perhaps due to not getting lost so much, thanks to the added map) and a grander adventure seemingly with more to do, though from what I hear in the reviews it's still around the same play time as the original (4 hours). I'd say if you hated the first one, there probably won't be anything here that'll change your mind; but if you enjoyed the first, you'll probably find more to like in the sequel.

Got a chance to beat NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits this weekend. Play time was about 4 hours, similar to LostWinds, as well as the same price of 1000 Wii Points/$10. The play style was also somewhat remiscient of LostWinds (you can directly control the character to walk, run, jump, 'fly,' and glide but are reliant on the cursor to interact with the world and defeat enemies). While that game's focus is on exploration, however, this one's is platforming, and is thus broken up into distinctive levels. The visual presentation isn't bad (some bland textures, and in a few spots it's hard to distinguish the foreground from background), and while the music adds to the atmosphere it's also very repetitive (which seems to be a fairly common problem with WiiWare titles). Anyway, all in all, a pretty enjoyable game for those who enjoyed the gameplay elements of LostWinds. One thing though... The ending was pretty anti-climactic...no big boss fight, just shooting fireballs before they hit you.

As well as Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Dark Lord. Geez, that's a lot of games. Edit: And Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (movie) and Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions...I think I got the names right.

Awesome stuff - thanks for sharing it!

Just curious if anybody bought a PSPgo? My two main concerns (aside from it being more expensive a regular PSP) are how some online reviews complained about the size in respect to cramping hands during play, and also that I'm not sure if all the games I'd want to get (specifically MGS Portable Ops, Mega Man Maverick Hunter X, etc) are necessarily available in download format. I know they scrapped the plan of giving people who own the UMD a downloadable version of the respective game, but I don't know what this means for which games are avaiable on PSN. Anyway, if anybody has one, I'd be curious to hear your impressions of it. Also, I had read something about the PSP-3000 having some problem with interlacing, and messes up the visuals at points in some games. Has anyone experienced that, and if so is it bad enough that I'd just be better off with an older PSP model? Thanks in advance!

Wearing Vibram FiveFingers makes me think of MGS4... Lazy, quiet summer days makes me think of Ocarina of Time... Nostalgic feelings assocaited with my first year of college make me think of Chrono Trigger...

Cool, thanks man! To me personally, that sounds like a pretty ideal game length (I started getting bored with FFIV despite any interesting story developments after about 20 hours, but generally feel obligated to finish the games I start haha).

I'm guessing he didn't constitute what "too short" meant, huh? chaos_deception or anybody else who beat this - what was your playtime? I'm guessing we have different concepts of what a good playtime might be (I'm in what I think is the final dungeon for FFIV after 34-ish hours, and I think the game is too long), but just curious. I haven't played any of the other Mario and Luigi games, but this one is sounding really awesome...deciding between this and Kingdom Hearts DS, and so far I'm leaning more towards Bowser's Inside Story.