Ok I don't have much time to write today, but an article I recently read has made me realize that the Wii really is getting better and better. Not only does Tomb Raider look awesome, as does Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl (that's not including awesome games already released), but with the recent announcement of Okami coming to Wii could it get any better?

Well I read an article saying that a new Wii Channel will allow you to send others VC games as gifts. That is WONDERFUL, but isn't what I was getting at. The OTHER article I read was....SPORE COMING TO WII!!!! You know, no matter how many good games the Wii has that makes proper use of the wiimote, people still try hating on the system, but people like Will Wright will just be a harsh slap in the face to these haters. Will Wright even said that the Wii is the only real next-gen system out there, which I have thought since launch of the Wii/PS3. I own practically all of the major consoles/portables, only lacking PS3 atm and I will still say that Wii is the most next-gen. I have immense respect for Will Wright for voicing his opinion, while lots of developers are afraid of taking sides, and I am immensely happy that Spore is coming to Wii, since that is definately my most anticipated game of next year. I will likely still only get it on PC, but the bigger the community the better. Now all we need to know is whether the planet sharing will be allowed between the versions...

Alright well I finally beat the campaign after two sleepless nights and I was very happy about it actually. I still would have loved to see at least a hint of the other Spartans, but overall it was a worthy ending. Now I am spending all my gaming time with multiplayer. Once I get sick of that I will finish Half-Life and Golden Sun, then move on to Opposing Force and The Lost Age. Lots of games happening at once right now but by the end of the month I will be calmed down to an acceptable state again.

On a side note, I realize PC version of Gears of War is coming out soon, and it comes with FIVE extra chapters. WOW. that is pretty much like a sequel or full-fledged expansion. I think that is cool, and I am loads happy it is coming on PC for more people to enjoy (I would get it, but my PC can run anything newer than Quake 4 on max settings, and after playing 360 I couldn't play Gears of War on anything but max), I just hope that Epic doesn't neglect its original fanbase. I personally hope that they release Download content with the new PC stuff, even if it is for a price, so that we don't miss out on the continuation of story (and a BRUMAK BATTLE!!!). Epic delivers to the fans though, so I am confident that it will happen eventually.

Well I've been locked up in the house for the last few days due to ridiculous nearby fires. The ash bothers my eyes to no end and the smoke is very unhealthy. The fire is pretty far away, but because it is in the mountains and we are at ground level and we have severe winds right now, all the smoke and ash is still affecting us down here. I'm not feeling too good as a result and I wish that school would be closed for a short while so I could recover (along with work :-\). It probably won't happen since we aren't directly threatened by the fire itself. I'll do my best to stay alive I guess.

EDIT: I just wanted to add in that I just read about Okami coming to the Wii, and that is absolutely WONDERFUL news. I hope others share my joy at this. Looks like I'm gonna have two copies of the game now :-\.

Finishing the fight.

My 360 came yesterday, so me and my friend spent about 5 hours playing multiplayer Halo 3 together. I haven't touched the campaign. I'm currently playing Halo 2's campaign and reading Ghosts of Onyx. I will play Halo 3 after that. Not much else to say, time is limited and I wanna beat Halo 2 today preferably. More news about more interesting stuff next time. KBYE!

I received the Legendary Edition FINALLY. It isn't as high as it should be (I should have been 1000 or under, but I'm 41000-ish)...or do I mean low? anyway, that angers me but at least I have it. I had a joy staring at it for 30 minutes. The helmet is actually really cool, though I wish it had a metal plating on the outside to make it seem more realistic, because the plastic makes it look a little cheaper than it should. It is also a bit underdetailed, but overall it is a magnificent work, and I don't regret paying 129.99 for the whole package at all (assuming the game is as good as I hear it is, meaning I really paid 70 for the extras).

Now all I need to do is wait for my 360, which should be here within 1.5 weeks, otherwise it is late and I will be even more angry. Well at least my friend gave me back my RE4:WE so I can enjoy continuing that in the mean time. Work tomorrow, so that's it for now. Bye.

So I saw Resident Evil: Extinction today. It was decent at best, but the first two movies were definately much better. This movie's actions scenes weren't as good and the story is just starting to get ridiculous. They should have just made it a trilogy and left it there. It was acceptable at least though I guess.

As for Spartans, well Gamestop.com screwed up my order, even though I had the game reserved since November 11th last year. So now not only is my 360 MIA for now, but I don't even have my Halo 3 to gawk at to pass the time. I want to cancel my order with Gamestop.com and just buy the game in the store, but I don't know if I will be able to get it in stores due to availability. Whatever, you can imagine I am not in a very good mood. Over and out.

Well, let me begin with the first topic...Spartans. An unfortunate incident occurred with my Xbox 360 a few days ago. Yep, you guessed it...the red lights of death. Considering I had never had a single problem with my 360 since I bought it in January 2006, this was a huge and sudden bummer for me. Now the good news is that Microsoft is of course paying in full for shipping and repairs, the bad news is that since they are paying, they are of course going to take their own sweet time with it. What does that matter as long as I get it right? Well first of all I was in the middle of Bioshock, meaning I can't play it for nearly a month now. The other thing is that I just finished the third Halo book. Actually that was an extremely good book regarding the Halo story as far as I'm concerned, and I am liking Eric Nylund more and more. How is that a bad thing related to my 360? Well I am trying to get through the WHOLE series before Halo 3, considering I can't play Halo 2 now until I get back my 360, which also means I can't start Ghosts of Onyx yet, means that I likely won't be able to play my copy of Halo 3 (which I reserved last November, so I'll have it the day it comes out) until at least a month after release. Now THAT is what angers me most. There is also the possibility of losing all of my DLC, including my games and map downloads, and considering the vast amounts of money I paid for all that stuff, I had BETTER not lose it otherwise I will NOT leave Microsoft breathing until they solve the issue. On one last good note regarding 360, I picked up my Limited Edition Covenant Wireless Controller (which I can't use due to a lack of 360) and it looks absolutely AWESOME.

With that out of the way, moving on to mages. Well, as I said I started up FFXI again as a Black Mage, since I want to level up faster than I did when I was a Red Mage a while back. So far it is a blast like always and I really did miss this game. But that isn't the main point I wanted to make about mages. I am currently trying to get through Dragon's Den in FFVI but evne though my guys are at level 60. I think it is because of my horrid equipment, because my stats and spells are wonderful. That still isn't getting to the point though. The point of all this is really FFI Anniversary Edition. You know, FFI is one of my favorite RPGs merely because of how defining and simply fun it is. Admittedly this game captures that all over again, but really it feels like the EXACT same game, with a flash-game like graphics. Granted it is nice, but it is not worth the full price. Still, I am enjoying it, and I wish the music was remixed as well as Capcom did with Mega Man Maverick Hunter X. Still, if you haven't played this game before, the PSP version isn't too bad a place to start, though the GBA version is more worth the money. Otherwise, wait for my full review when I beat it, which should hopefully not be in too long.

Lastly, is school. One class I am taking in particular stands out, and that is my Astronomy class. I have always enjoyed the subject but have never had the chance to study the subject formally. Well now I finally am, and I tell you the class is the most fun I have had in a class since my first quarter of Japanese. This is a class that I genuinely hope doesn't end, and am dissapointed when it is over. It is just so amazing, the professor is great, humerous and interesting and the subject is just so....awesome.

Well that's about it for now. I'm gonna get back to playing FFXI, gonna try and finish re-exploring Windurst before I get my BLM up to level 5 at least. Meanwhile, I am beginning the book Myst: The Book of Ti'ana to help pass time until I can play Halo 2 and read Ghosts of Onyx. Good day/evening to you all and all that fun stuff :P.

Two things to mention in this blog for now.

First of all, as the topic says, I have finally jumped back into FFXI, and I'm ready to enjoy myself fully this time around. i'll give more information about my character and what World I'm in later on.

Secondly, I saw Shoot 'Em Up on launch day and wow that movie was great. It was exactly my type of action movie and I enjoyed it thoroughly, even with it's over-the-top shooting. I can't wait to buy it on DVD hahaha. Be warned it is very violent and it is a very guy-ish movie. So if you are not into the sort of thing, then don't bother watching it.

Anyway, that is it for now. I have school tomorrow so time to head to bed.

Now THAT is a long title, which roughly translates to: Burn! Hot Rythm Soul! Go! Fight! Cheer Squad! 2. That's a mouthful indeed. Anyway time to get straight to the point.

Today I acquired Tomb Raider (the original game for the PC) for 4.99 and 2.99 shipping, Comic Party DVD 1 for $0.49 no shipping and the 5th Morning Musume album for 20 bucks total I believe. So you can imagine, couple that with the immense joy I am having with Bioshock, Rayman Raving Rabbids and Ouendan 2...well you can imagine how happy I am. Speaking of RRR...

So my friend was over and we were playing Gears of War co-op, and he was talking about how he wanted a Wii. Well when I go system shopping, I find what I am looking for...but he didn't know that. He was just casually saying he wanted a Wii and didn't expect to actually get one for a while. Well I told him that we should go hunting for a Wii for a short while just for fun. The first Gamestop I went to had 1 Wii left, which he was obliged to buy. At first he was in complete shock of spending 300 bucks (he got Zelda with it), then he was in complete shock of actually getting a Wii (he hasn't owned his own console since the launch of the N64). Well to make him better, I bought RRR and decided to go to his house to help him set up his Wii so that him, me and another friend could enjoy RRR. Well we had a helluva time, I didn't even get home until 3am...never knew the time until I actually laid down in bed. When I laid down I realized I didn't want to sleep so I just played some Bioshock for a little. I still wasn't sleepy so I figured a few matches of Uno would make me sleepy, which didn't. So I decided trying to get that last achievement in Marble Blast Ultra might work (2000 points in multiplayer)...of course it didn't. I had one last hope...level grinding in FFVI to get ready for the Dragon's Den. After finishing raising 5 out of 13 characters to the levels I wanted them to be at with the spells I needed, I finally started feeling sleepy and actually went ot sleep at 7am. Sun was already out...and I woke up 30 minutes later to get ready for work...here I am at midnight today still with only 30 minutes of sleep and going strong. I am having too much fun and I guarantee you that when Monday night roles along, since I have Tuesday off...I am going to pass out and hibernate ALL DAY LONG. Just watch.

Well that's all I wanted to say so have fun y'all and I'll be back here with a fun work story that I was too lazy to put in this time. It has to do with rats, my boss, and girls (ok well there are actually three seperate stories...but it sounds more interesting this way).

So during my break at work today, I stopped by Gamestop and picked up my copy of the Limited Edition version of Bioshock for the 360. I was going to get the PC version, but considering the 360 version doesn't require tweaking and will already run at max settings (my PC is good, but won't run a brand-new game like Bioshock at max settings), I decided to go for that instead. I haven't opened it, and have been checking my e-mail and stuff all this time. That being said, don't be surprised if I am unnaturally quiet on here for a a few weeks. With Halo PC, Halo 2, FFVI (I beat it but I have Dragon's Den and Soul shrine to do still), Ouendan 2, Orcs & Elves, Metroid Prime 2, Metroid Prime 3 (coming up), Super Metroid, LocoRoco and Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition all occupying my time, it shouldn't come as a surprise.

As a final note, after finally getting through FFVI, I can say that I was absolutely amazed. The game blew me away in every way imaginable and I couldn't have asked for more from the game. It was brilliantly executed, extremely fun and had wonderful characters. I may go as far as saying it is my favorite game of all time, though it definately is my favorite FF now (previously FFX and FFI were tied). Sephiroth fans, I am sorry, but he's got NOTHING on Kefka. I am now a believer.

That's all for now, I want to go and open Bioshock now :-D.