Arrow

I think if I ever decide to mod a Wii, I'd probably just end up buying and modding a second Wii so that I still have the original legit one for Wii Shop purposes.

Finally done. Finished at 99%; can't get the final missile expansion in the Main Sector due to an odd bug I'm experiencing, completely unrelated to the Sector 3 door glitch, where that first large room with a bathroom extension causes my Wii to freeze whenever I enter. (and beating the postgame boss causes you to restart from your ship, meaning there's no other way to get back to the main areas at that point but through that room) Anyways, on the whole, I enjoyed it. It's clearly not the best Metroid game ever (not even close really), and has some pretty annoying problems. The plot was serviceable, but also had some issues. Personally, I was perfectly fine with Samus experiencing PTSD due to her backstory, but I agree with those who say it makes no damn sense for her to experience it on her fifth fight with the guy. Problems aside though, the gameplay was fun the whole way through, which is the most important consideration in my book. That + Manthony Higgs = a relatively enjoyable game that I wouldn't mind playing again sometime in the future.

The video is available at Sega's website for the game: http://phantasystar.sega.jp/psportal/pso2/ I am beyond psyched for this.

This is possibly the best birthday thread ever. There's no way I could wish Katie a happy birthday that would be as awesome as what's already been done.

I'd be up for this actually; it's been years since I went to an orchestra besides Video Games Live.

Seeing as how this is a first-party Nintendo title we're talking about, you'll be waiting a long long time. Hell, Twilight Princess is STILL full price.

This line makes me chuckle since Super Metroid is generally beaten in the same amount of time if you don't rush, and that was $50 when it was released. I'm still making my way through Sector 1, so I'm a long way from beating the game, but my only real complaint to this point is the somewhat bland music. It's fun stuff so far.

I am doing (what little I remember) of the Jimmy T dance in your honor!

making a note here huge success blah blah blah Excellent time all around. We rode three coasters to start with, ate lunch, and then pretty much spent the entire rest of the day in the waterpark. Fun was had, insults were thrown, water was splashed. The only downside was that only one person brought a camera, and we only got a couple of pictures, though at least two of them were photobombs, in the spirit of this community. Well actually, the other downside is that Stevo had to drop at the last moment, but oh well. We're totally doing this again next year. THANKS FOR PLAYING

Yeah, I basically figured only an hour or two (three max) at the water park after lunch so we can hit more of the main park before we go. 10:30 meetup is definitely set; I'll just drop out of whatever breakfast plans you guys have (have to go to work now so I won't be able to stick around for further planning). Editing the first post now.

Reviews from major websites seem to be bouncing between about 6.5 out of 10 and 9 out of 10, so even the reviews that focus on its problems note that it's relatively fun. Interestingly, the 1up.com review had more of an issue with the cutscenes, while the Destructoid review had more of an issue with the controls, so even the "low-scoring" reviewers have differing opinions. That said, I'm a Metroid fanboy, I didn't actually mind the linearity of Fusion (though I prefer the openness of Super far more), and the music for this game is composed by the guy behind Kamen Rider Kabuto's background tracks, so I already knew this was going to be a day one purchase for me.

Got it and Ferret's; thanks. He's correct on this; there's never been any news reports of anyone dying from cramping, and I've been swimming immediately after eating for years and nothing's happened. I'm perfectly fine with hitting the water park after lunch. 10:30am at the park is still looking like the way to go, though we should probably figure out where we're gonna eat breakfast for those of us coming from the south route. As far as timing for lunch and the water park, it's going to be between 90° and 94° or so from noon all the way till 5pm, so no time is really better than another as far as "GET TO THE WATAPAHK". I don't know how bad the lines will be (probably crummy since it's a weekend), but we want enough time to enjoy the coasters before we break off... maybe a 1:00 or 1:30pm lunch and then water park immediately after?

TICKETS BOUGHT. With tax, they come to $26.54 a pop. If any of you want to pay me via Paypal instead of waiting till Sunday to give me money, shoot it to jingajin@gmail.com. For those of you that didn't already get PM's from me here or on IRC, I need to type everybody's RL names onto the tickets before I print them, and a few of you (specifically Moguta and his friend, Ferret, Bahamut's roommate, and Brushfire's imaginary wife) I don't know the actual names of, so I'll need them ASAP. As far as park meetup goes, the parking lot is pretty straightforward, so I suggest when we reach the park, we all meet in front of Guest Services, which is the booth just to the right of the normal ticket booths, and pretty hard to miss. I'll hand the tickets out to everyone there. Is 10:30am (right when the park opens) too early to meet there? What do you all think?

I'll let you all know for sure tomorrow (there's probably tax to calculate), but the tickets under the group discount were only $25.

That's a real shame; sorry man. Maybe next time. (I'm totally making this a yearly thing if I can swing it)

I was gonna wait till tomorrow figure out the specifics of where to meet because I've never been to the place and wanted to take a look around the parking lot to find a good meetup zone. XD So I'll give you all my opinions once I get back with the tickets tomorrow. As far as times, the park opens at 10:30am and closes at 11pm (the water park, WHICH WE ARE GOING TO GO TO CAUSE IT'S 94° THAT DAY SO BRING YOUR SWIM TRUNKS, is open from 11am to 7pm). I'd like to get there as early as possible just to have the full amount of time to enjoy ourselves, but does anyone wanna stop for breakfast beforehand or anything? The closest iHop Google Maps is throwing at me is about 10 minutes from the park. I had the vague idea of doing the water park immediately around whenever we take our lunch. That way, if Andy and Jill can't make it, Amy still might be able to drop in for a few hours to hang out.

Sad to see you go, but a dream job is a dream job. Good luck!

Alright folks, overdrive time. I'm taking the metro out to the park to pick up the tickets on Sunday morning, so you've got roughly 1.5 days to add your name to the "confirmed" list if it's not already there. As it stands now, I'll probably have about 6 extra tickets though based on the number currenty coming, so if anybody realizes they might be able to come after all within the next week, you may still be able to squeeze in.

I believe you're referring to this picture.

Man, good memories of us two and Kulaman just doing Egg On NONSTOP to get OA to super-high tension just so we could actually do damage to that stupid boss on the FIRST map. XD (I still can't beat that guy by myself)

It's officially Sunday the 29th. However, slight change of plans. I was originally gonna purchase the tickets this Friday, but it's gonna have to wait until next Friday instead, due to having to pay an emergency water bill. This won't impact the ticket price for everyone, and if they mail the tickets to me, I should still get them in time (I hope there's an option to just print them out instead). However, that gives all of you an extra week to finalize your plans to make it, so there's a plus.

Chop-Birthday!

Just finished listening to ep 33... and was highly amused by an interview with Sivak of all people. I used to chat with him a lot back on AOL in the late 90's, and he's actually the reason I'm as prolific in the vg MIDI scene as I am. I had made a few random tracks here and there during 96 and 97, but it was in 98 that he convinced me to make midi files of the entire soundtracks of Mega Man X1-3, and provided the WAV files (lol) to work with. Naturally they're pretty shitty considering they're 12 years old now, but still, it was all Sivak's fault.