I missed you too.

Hello and Welcome.

Well you know I have been working on the site, yeah but what ELSE have I been doing?

I played a few games, and my thoughts on those:

Dead Space:
Really loved this game.  Great setting.  It really kept the mood throughout the game.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed:
I actually liked the Force Unleashed.  I hear some people saying they had a lot of trouble with the Star Destroyer pull, but I finished it in about 5 minutes, AND I didn't fight any of the Tie Fighters.

Prince Of Persia:
Basically a glorified cutscene.  I got through most of the game just by tapping the A button.  I did like the narrative, and how they told the story (through little conversations between the Prince and Elika).  But it was basically like watching a movie.  And I had to stop playing it because I got to a game breaking bug that would not let me proceed.
 
Mirror's Edge:
Oh god, I still don't know how I feel about this one.  The Mirror opposite of Prince of Persia (Get it, mirror, ha ha).  This game kicked my butt.  When I was moving, and jumping and climbing, it was one of the best experiences In games I have had in a long time.  When I stopped, well, lets just say all the happy feelings stopped too.
 
Chrono Trigger:
One of my Favorite RPGS EVER.  I will write more about this later.
 
Phantasy Star Universe:
The Spiritual followup to Phantasy Star Online.  There are a lot of things I like about this game over PSO.  But there seem to be a lot more things that are frustrating about it.  I think most of that comes from the Single player mode.  More on this later.
 
Phantasy Star Portable Demo:
This demo gets a special mention, because I spent a large number of hours playing it.  Same premise as PSU (Same engine as well) but on the PSP.  Its actually a sequel to PSU, but you get to make your own character.  You play through the very first part of the single player story, and can play "Multiplayer" (by yourself, like I did.) up to level 20.  The nice thing about this demo: any progress you make transfers into the retail product when it is released next month.  More demo's should do this.
 
Gears of War 2:
As of yet I have only played the multiplayer options, but I am really liking it so far.
 
Call of Duty World at War:
Meh, I prefer COD4
Rockband 2:
More of the same, but that isn't a bad thing.
 
Monster Hunter Portable 2:
At first I didn't really like this game, but I am really getting into it now that I am making my own armor and weapons.
 
Burnout Revenge:
A Bit of Classic style burnout as well.
 
Civilization Revolutions:
A WAY dumbed down version of CIV, but still really fun.

Read Some Books:
Making Sense of Japanese:
This is a must read for anyone studying Japanese grammar.  This book is brilliant, and funny.
 
Fables:
Still Enjoying this series.  I now know who the Adversary is!

Watchmen:
Love it.

Watching some shows:
Dr. Who:
This show is AWESOME.  I highly recommend it, if you have netflix, the first 3 seasons are on instant watch.
 
Lost:
Still haven't watched any of the current season, but I am caught up till there.
 
BattleStar Galactica:
Again, not the current season (4.5).  I still love this show.

And one sad thing:  I lost my DS. :(





So, let me apologize, I know that wasn't the most intriguing thing to read.  Word Vomit rarely is.  I just needed to get it off my chest, OK?  Now I can actually write about some good stuff!

~K

New Release Tuesday - RockBand 2

Hello and Welcome.

Wow, its hard to believe that less than a year ago, I was hauling all the Rock Band instruments out of the box, and trying to get my family to play it with me. And now, RockBand 2 has arrived.

Unfortunately for me, I broke my Drum Pedal about a week ago, during an intense online session with Nate and Dan.

The remenants of my Pedal

Thanks to a little ingenuity from Dan, I purchased some hardware to create my own Cyborg pedal.

Then New, Reinforced Pedal

It seems to hold up pretty well, so here's hoping I won't be paying $15 or more for a new one!

[EDIT] Some people wanted to know how I did this. See below:
Required Parts:

• a small piece of metal with screw holes (I found this at Home Depot, but they have similar things at Walmart)
• small screws (about 6) that will fit flush with the piece of metal. Try to get the shortest length that will fit with your metal sheet.
• Broken Pedal
• Super Glue (optional, but helps)
  

Steps:

1. Do your best to fit the Broken Pedal back together (hopefully it is only in two pieces)
2. [optional]Once the pieces are flush librerally apply super glue to the crack. (careful not to get any on the hinge!)
3. [optional] Let the glue dry before moving on.
4. depending on where your fissure is, align the metal piece so that you are able to fit at least 2 screw wholes over the hinge piece. The more screws on this side the better. make sure all screws are placed at least 1/4" away from the crack line ( to prevent further cracking.)
5. once you have determined where your piece will lay, use something to secure the metal piece. (rubberband, tape, anything to hold it in place.)
6. Use something to mark the holes you want to use. Whiteout works really well. Otherwise you will have to drill the holes with the piece on, which can be a pain.
7. Remove the metal piece.
8. Drill the holes. Make sure you use the appropriate drill bit for your size screw!
9. Fit the metal piece back in place and put your screws in.
   

Viola! you know have your own Franken-Pedal. If you have any questions, post a comment!
[/EDIT]

One of the features that I feel really makes RB2 shine (I am looking at you Guitar Hero) Is the ability to import all the songs from the original (minus 1 or 2). Sure, you have to pay $5 to do it, but if you loved the songs from RB1 and want to play them with a shiny new veneer, well now you can.

The basic set list has 75 songs (plus 9 bonus songs). Add to that 247 songs available for download as of today, 55 of the original 58 RB1 songs ("Enter Sandman" by Metallica, "Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden, and "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath are not available, thanks Guitar Hero...) for a total of 389, the set list is shaping up to be pretty awesome. I won't list them all here but it isn't hard to find the list.

For the truly hardcore, Harmonix has created a premium package that includes this . This Drum set was created by the Ion drum Company, and is also a fully functioning electronic drum kit. Or you can settle for the MadCatz Cymbal add-ons to make your drumming slightly more authentic.

ION Drum Kit

My favorite instrument is still the drums, but I seriously doubt I will fork over the money to get this drum set... Maybe the cymbals.

All of this makes me feel sorry for Konami. Konami actually started this franchise, but never brought it to the states. They had 3 different games, Beatmania ( a dj simulation game) Guitar freaks and Drum Mania . They are trying to get into the American market with their game Rock revolution, but unless you just have money to burn, not many people will be able to afford ANOTHER Band music game.

I don't really have much else to say about Rockband. You either get it (and love it) or you don't.

~k