I never got a chance to post my finished tat. It's a beaut, and I plan on adding a Rinoa tat to the other leg maybe next year.

So E3 was lame. It seemed the only exciting news was that FFXIII was coming to the 360. The 'scene' is so bored that people are wasting a lot of time whining about it. How could it possibly be bad that the game will be on the 360? I'm glad I have a reason to get rid of my POS PS3, but I'm upset I ever bought it in the first place after this news.

It should be no news flash that Nintendo doesn't care about "core" gamers anymore. Core gamers aren't funding their wallets anymore. Less-than casual gamers are. I still have to wonder why they even bother at E3 when the gamers are the one's with the biggest ear on it!

As for Microsoft, I don't think the new dashboard looks all that bad. In fact, it looks way more functional than the XMB (which makes me throw up in my mouth a little) or Wii Channels. But the avatars are 100% ridiculous. It feels like they are throwing those of us that got them here to the wolves. I really don't care for the Mii's, and it seems like they are trying to assimilate their charm. If they were going to do avatars, they might has well have gone full-blown without the cartoon feel.

Sony wasn't exactly impressing either. I thought they were ready to blow the doors off and show us that they are serious finally. I guess not. Sure, Killzone, Resistance, whatever. They seem impressive, but they really don't stand out all that much. We need more, Sony.

Honestly, this year's E3 is supporting my notion that gaming just isn't exciting right now. The only game I'm really looking forward to anymore is FFXIII, and Squeenix's 360-also announcement made it for me. But that's a ways away, so my gaming gusto will have to stay home sick with the Flu.

Lulu tat update. The artist thinks he can finished it in 3 more hours, but I'm not in a hurry.

A house is a lot of work for one person at times. It probably wouldn't be a big deal if I didn't have the burning desire to fix every little thing I come across. It's interesting how people value different things in a home. Glaringly obvious is the previous owners' ineptitude at DIY'ing.

Example: I found a window that had been patched up with a paper towel and scotch tape. Had they done it properly, it would have been a ten minute fix. Rather, I had to disassemble most of the trim of the window and make my own gasket since they re-installed the original incorrectly, which ruined it. Ridiculous.

Simple example. But still, at the end of the day, I'm still lucky to get a few rounds of Rock Band in. My Halo buddies don't usually hop on until the earliest morning hours, at which time I'm passed out. Honestly, I don't really mind at this point. I think I needed the break.

For now, the accomplishment of moving up a level in my simultaneous singing and guitaring in RB will have to do. LOL

For my game room, I thought it would be appropriate to use Pacman wallpaper. I don't mean the static wall clings, or any cartoon versions of the old dot-muncher. I'm talking the original black and blue maze that continues throughout the entirety of the room.

Alas, I'm not finding much for video game wallpaper. I've found plenty of Mario and Donkey Kong borders, but they are too bright and fuzzy feeling. Black will fit nicely, since there's already an abundance of light from the 3 windows behind my rig. Google searches spiral me in the wrong direction with desktop wallpapers or wacko designer decor.

I'm sure I can locate a place that will let me send in a picture and they'll print it on the wallpaper. The other option would be to use smooth black wallpaper and manually paint the maze. That is a lot of effort, and I'm not sure that I'm up to the task. If the walls are going to get painted, it better be a custom scene from Final Fantasy or Metroid.

Anyway, if anyone has other ideas or websites that can satiate my need, please let me know?

I've lived at my new house for a couple weeks now, but I've been far too occupied with repair and upkeep to finish setting up my rig. The 360 is hooked up, but the rest is just sitting there, begging to be used. The previous owners were kind enough to leave me some speaker mounts and pre-run surround speaker wire, so that saved a bit of frustrating effort.

I played through the first level of Ninja Gaiden II and was quite impressed. Team Ninja certainly didn't noobify it like the developers who worked on Sigma. Violent as ever, yet smooth animation throughout the intense action; that's the way we like it, eh?

MGS4 is a slight (and I mean VERY slight) curiosity. The claim is that it's the first real PS3 game, which is probably the only reason I care. The 10-year cut-scenes was initially a turn off, but then I realized that I sat through hours of the Xenosaga trilogy scenes and loved it. Maybe I can turn off the part of my brain that runs as far away from "cheese" and allow myself to enjoy it. I just hope there's no crawling through the bushes stabbing alligators.

Hopefully, I get some "catch-up" time over the next month when things settle into place. There is a small fear that my gaming budget will dwindle to a minute percentage of what it used to be. I was thinking that I'd have all the time in the world; underestimation at it's finest.

Life is soon to be in order. I finally get to move into my new house on Monday, assuming all is well. The papers are all signed, the previous owners are out. And my gaming rig is begging to be hooked up and used.

However, the last couple of months have been somewhat of a downer for me. The news had been over-run with GTA4 news, and I couldn't stand it. To the point where I didn't even care to waste time on the daily pile of RSS feeds. Thankfully, that has subsided, but I have a feeling it is about to happen again.

Metal Gear Solid 4 is likely to flood the gaming news world. Especially if Famitsu is rating it a perfect 10. It will likely be the first game to utilize the PS3's abilities as well. I can't imagine that it won't be the "talk of the town".

Like GTA4, I've not been a fan of the series. Sure, I played quite a bit of Metal Gear and Snakes Revenge, but it stopped there for me. My drummer has MGS in his top 5 games he enjoys way too much. I've tried, even with the Gamecube, and I just couldn't get into it. Splinter Cell seemed to appease my "stealth action" interests better, although I was a late-comer to that party. Jumping away from that seriousness is going to be tough sell.

I'm planning on trying once again to have the "MGS" experience, but the comic-book style humor and action left much to be desired for me in the past. Since Resident Evil 4 was finally able to get me interested, I figure maybe this fourth MGS iteration could do the trick. I just wish it was on the 360 though, it just seems to be a hassle to use the old overweight black burrito.

The holiday season is usually the best time for games, but this year it will be there to save my gaming-interest from the onslaught of over-focused news.

A friend of mine passed away last year. She was important enough to me that I decided to dedicate my first tattoo to her. Since she resembled Lulu from FFX, the choice was easy.



The original fan art was done by Jason Chan. My friend's wife enlisted a cartoonist friend for help and we swapped the original Pupu doll out with a Rinoa doll.

The drive to get into any games seriously still escapes me for the time being. Other than Halo 3 a couple nights a week, I've been playing Rock Band and Wii Sports with the family. I do squeeze in Crisis Core if I can't sleep, but that's not very often.

I kind of feel as though I'm missing out. Then again, Summer is around the corner. You know, the time when new releases are spread thin? Many complain about this, but I think we should take the break. It's too easy with work and home responsibilities to miss several great titles. For those who are hardcore more times than not, Summer can be used to catch up.

Back to what I do get to play; I'm really surprised. My mother prefers Rock Band to Wii Sports (we played both for Mother's Day activities). She's not daring enough to advance from Bass on easy though. However, aside from Wii Sports, I've been unsuccessful in getting her to play anything since Pacman on the C64. My Dad? Never have been able to get him to play anything until these games as well. I'm left really appreciating that these games are able to please the non-gamer and gamer crowds.

Dad dropped out early tonight, so I decided to give playing Fisher Price guitar and singing simultaneously a try. My first attempt a few months ago was a massive failure because I wasn't familiar with the lyrics and I was still trying to play guitar on Expert. So I bumped it down to hard, donned the wireless headset and went for it. Tambourine parts were out of the question for sure, although I definitely tried.

Since I've been practicing singing daily for the last couple of months, I made it through my familiar songs with 90's on both instruments. Don't let that fool you; doing both is extremely difficult unless you know the vocals or melody by heart. I give huge props to anyone who can do this, because it's much harder than singing and playing a real guitar.

If I can learn more of the song list, I'm going to try to do a Band Tour by myself with Guitar/Bass and vocals and see if I can get any achievements as a one-man band.

I've still got about a month before I can move into the house I just bought. Once I have my gaming rig set up again, and I can just plop down after work without competing with family I'll be able to finish the game stack I've accrued. I can't wait!

1. I can't stand that 40% of news still revolves around GTAIV. I didn't like it when it was Halo, either. Is every bottom feeding trying-to-meet-numbers blogger ravaging GTAIV news? It's to the point that we should just take a vacation from the media for a couple months so they can get over it. I've lost some interest in gaming for now because GTAIV just saturates my RSS feeds.

2. After my latest disappointment with a Sony PS3, Sony 1080p 46" LCD, Sony Surround, and Blu-ray copy of AVP-R, I'm just done. Blu-ray isn't that great, unless you sit like a zombified child 5 feet from the television. Even then, the minor extra detail just feels like fluff. 10 to 15 feet is much more realistic, but upscaled DVD starts looking the same the further away you inch. I really hope the blu-ray 360 is a sham as always. The Xbox 360 doesn't need Blu. Those who want it should just buy a PS3.


3. Okay, this article was funny: How my wife ruined GTA

4. I gave in. I pre-ordered Wii Fit at Walmart . Will I get anything out of it? I have no clue. But I've not touched my Wii in a few months now. I'm still waiting for my Perfect Shot before I play Resident Evil. Sheesh...I haven't even played Metroid Prime 3 for more than half an hour yet. I highly doubt Wii Fit will supplement my current workouts, but it's worth a shot.

5. Is the Wii's motion control really worthy of being called "revolutionary"? I think Wii Sports is to blame still. While gamers think Zelda, Metroid, Brawl, and Galaxy, it's doubtful that those who mobbed up on Wii Sports care about those classic series. Wii Fit will probably be the next big one for the general populous of Wii'ers.

6. Where the hell is AVP3. I promise I'll never play Halo again if it comes out. LOL Deal's off, but I will settle for Colonial Marines.

A reason to actually dig out my PS3 showed up today: Aliens vs Predator: Requiem. So after digging through my packed up stuff, I found the PS3. Finding the controller took a little longer.

For some reason, the PS3 won't play the movie. It says I must update, so I'm trying that.

And I'm quickly reminded as to why I hate this thing. The updates are ridiculous and take way too long. I've watched a good 20 minutes of this cable movie and it's still not done. Slow connection? Nope. I was playing Halo 3 flawlessly earlier.

If there's two things I've used the PS3 for since I bought it a year ago, it's Blu-ray movies and System Update. And I only own 4 Blu-ray movies. Sure, Resistance was okay, and Ninja Gaiden Sigma was worth a go, but I've not done much else with it.

I think I'll try Lair if they've removed the reliance on motion controls as news has suggested.

Lately, I don't find my hiatus very affecting. Everyone is hoo-hawing about Grand Theft Auto IV, and I must be in the minority, but I couldn't care less. I've played GTA, and I never understood the allure. Run around aimlessly, cause random havoc, maybe try a mission, rinse and repeat. Not my thing.

So what else is on the PS3? If it's already on the 360, I'm not going to bother. The pre-installs are annoying, and their touted "1080p True HD" sure doesn't get used very often. Final Fantasy someday, but what else? Killzone might be okay if they don't make it repetitive like the first game.

*download done finally, starts update*

Even though I shouldn't have, I purchased a few more games the other days. I finally saw Dirge of Cerberus for under $20 so I decided to pick it up, along with Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, and Lost Odyssey.

I played through the first level of Dirge, and was disappointed. Not because the game was junk per se, but it just wasn't up to par with today's action game standards. The game is a bit more action-oriented than it's PSP cousin Crisis Core, but you'll wonder why Vincent isn't pulling Ryu Hayabusa wall-runs and Dante aerial combos. It would have made the game immensely more interesting. However, the FMV cutscenes are worth seeing, especially since they are of Advent Children quality.

Thinking back to Crisis Core, I'm beginning to wonder why the chose the PSP for it. It really wasn't necessary, and I know I'd rather experience it on the PS2. Maybe the weak gameplay mechanics were better suited to a portable, but looking at the small PSP screen gets tiring. The TV hookup helps, but being tethered to the TV isn't exactly an awesome experience.

These extra games have really upped my appreciation for the FF7 universe. I still enjoy FF8 and FFX more because they focus on the characters' humanity. It made it easier to connect with the characters. FF7 has great characters but the story focus seems lead away from humanity aspects and more toward the fictional environment. I'm sure Aerith's death would bring many to disagree though.

Other than that, I'm waiting for the Chinese version of the PerfectShot for RE:UC. That PerfectShot is difficult to find, and I was tired of looking. If it's a decent peripheral, than I will post a mini-review on it.

I'm trying to remember what I was doing in Lost Odyssey before I had to stop playing it a couple months ago. One thing I think should be noted by RPG developers, was Xenosaga's II story summaries. They helped remind players of the situation if coming back from a forced hiatus.

Trying to find the right house is quite time consuming and frustrating. The last one I looked at is great on the inside, but the outside is rather scary. There was a rotted piece of wood on the edge of the roof...and I watched two birds burst out of a hole in it. No wonder it was a foreclosure.

I'm slowly working through Crisis Core. As boring as the gameplay is, the story telling is good enough to forgive it. It's Final Fantasy in all rights. I find it odd that a game so tedious can still be amusing because of the story and story-telling aspects. Kind of like Bullet Witch...boring gameplay, but the premise behind the game is interesting when you get insight to the protagonist.

I dragged the 360 over to a friend's house on Saturday night, and we played Gears and Halo 3. It seemed a little unfair since I've had plenty of experience with both of those and he's still trying to move to this generation. We stuck with campaign, and it was good to revisit those games.

At home, Rock Band seems to be the only game I get to play. My sister has a new-found love for the game and demands she plays it whenever she comes over. For years, I've been trying to get my mother to play something else but Pacman. Well, she enjoys the "easy" bass. Even Dad is in on it. They've all but forgotten about the Wii now that Rock Band (360) is around, and there is some songs they know on there.

Lately, I've had a giant urge to finish Lost Odyssey. However, I don't own the game. I did get to the last disc, but at that point I had caught up with the owner of the game so I had to wait until he was done. Since then, I've moved out and been disappointed that I didn't get to fill out the story I've experienced thus far.

Compared to a couple years ago, I feel out of the loop. I was on top of all the releases and played several times a week. Even the S.O. at the time was in on it. I had plenty of time for blogging, and Halo was still fun to play. Now, I'm lucky to get any of that done in a week. I'm glad the family is requesting to play though, so I'm still in the loop, even if it is by a mere two fingers.

Ever tried sitting a foot away from your computer monitor? It doesn't work out too well, but this old fashioned desk doesn't have a good mounting point for my PC monitors. Right now, my 26" Westinghouse is my PC monitor and 360 TV. Although my mouse and keyboard are wireless, the range is horrid, so I'm stuck point blank for the time being.

Maybe my retinas will spontaneously combust?



I'm holed up at my parent's house for now. My belongings are scattered about haphazardly; it gets really difficult to find things. The idea is that I keep mostly packed still, since I'm currently in the market for a house. On Monday I'll be meandering about a city close to my employer's residence in attempt to secure a new pad.

Honestly, I'm going a little nuts. I can't find anything. It took me 20 minutes to find my copy of Halo 2 to play with a friend last night. Digging through boxes and plastic totes isn't exactly my idea of efficient. Although my prior living situation was poor at best, at least I knew where all my gadgets were, and my gaming rig was up and going.

Even for blogging, the lack of multiple monitors actually has me staring into the wall with intent of obliterating my own head. Spoiled? I must be, although most of my PC hardware is throw-away parts or on-the-spot deals from ebay and friends. I wish I could burn money on top of the line product all the time!

The router here isn't functioning right either. The jack that normally goes to my room is dead. So I keep having to switch with someone else which causes a problem when they want a turn. There are two switches that could hook up to the router, but both of them have bad fans in them. And the wireless is spotty at best. The internets definitely hate me around these part. LOL

Other than an annoying cold, I think I'm faring quite well. I hope I can find a house soon and get it set up the way I want. You never realize how intricate your organization layout is until you don't have it. When the dust settles, I hope I can finally get to finishing Lost Odyssey, playing Burnout Paradise, getting into Call of Duty 4, and the handful of others that beg for my attention.