The Nintendo Virtual Boy

I just watched the Angry Video Game Nerds review of the Nintendo Virtual Boy and the games for it. And he actually brought up an interesting point: 95% of the games for the Virtual Boy does not make use of any Virtual Reality! (The two exceptions I can remember are Teleroboxer and Red Alarm.) Most of the games make use of depth and perspective, but are still side-scrolling or otherwise 2D-based gameplay that moves between foreground and background.

Nintendo 3DS

This got me thinking about Nintendo’s latest portable console (and yes, Nintendo classified the Virtual Boy as portable!), the Nintendo 3DS. The thing about this new console is that the games are in “true 3D”, and you don’t need any glasses or extra peripherals. Judging from the reviews I’ve read from Tokyo Game Show, where the journalists where able to try them out for themselves, Nintendo seems to have succeeded.

Hopefully Nintendo have learnt from their mistakes from the Virtual Boy, and will make the 3DS as awesome as it sounds on paper. I guess that only time will tell whether or not the 3DS will be the Virtual Boy of the 21st century.

/pH

I’m neither living in Ireland anymore, nor am I working there. I’m now back in Sweden, and have been since August. My current occupation is job hunting, and so far the results have been poor.

But, I’m not here to complain over the twists and turns of fate. I more or less just wanted you guys who actually read this blog to know that I’m alive and well. And I do have some interesting projects in mind, that I hope that I will be able to realise in the near future.

Live long and prosper!

/pH

Not many pics taken, but at elast here is someting, enjoy!

So what’s up in the game of life you ask? Not much new under the sun. Job goes on, the weather changes like crazy, and I keep practising Japanese when I’m not to tired (or lazy!).

The most exciting happening right now in my life is my decision to start watch good films I’ve always wanted to watch, but never had the chance to before. Well, that’s not entirely true, as some old and good classics have and will make their way in there, as you’ve already seen with my post about Starship Troopers. I had already seen the first one, but when you are about to see number 2 and 3, you want to refresh your memory. ^_^

I went through another trilogy after the Starship Troopers one, namely Rush Hour! ^_^ (my god! what kind of taste in films do you have?) I know, I know! Look, I like films, I like watching them. Not saying that the Rush Hour trilogy is the best films ever made in cinematic history, but they are still good fun to watch, especially together with a friend or two, and with your critical sense on. (plus I might have a crush on Jackie Chan, ’cause I love his movies, no matter how crappy the premise or story might be! ^_^)

I have a bunch of films waiting to be viewed: the Alien quadrology, Outland with Sean Connery, Tron (the one from the 80′s), and a few Japanese samurai-films and Akira Kurosawa films (both unwatched ones, and a few worth watching again!). And then my house mates have a few (understatement of the still very young century!) films that I can borrow and watch. ^_^

I’ll also see if I can start writing a bit about interesting stuff here in Dublin. For example, me and my buddies are going to the Guinness Warehouse this weekend, so there might be something to read about after that.

Enough ranting for today! Stay awesome! ^_^

You might be realising that it’s not the world’s best film we are talking about. “But what film are you talking about” I hear you ask! ^_^ Brace yourselves, ladies, gentlemen, dogs, cats, and whatever you are…. The Starship Troopers Trilogy!

Yesterday my friend and I sat down and watched Starship Troopers, the film that started it all. We were prepared for a very bad experience, and were ready to criticise cheesy dialogues, physics that defy every law discovered since the dawn of time, and the bad sci-fi design of the mid-90′s. We were surprised.

Sure, the film does not measure up to really good films as The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Braveheart, etc… (all in my own opinion) But it wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. We had both seen the film many times before, when we were younger. And maybe we regressed a bit when we watched it. We started to realise that the design of the ships and technology in Starship Troopers reminded us of a lot of other sci.fi films and games. We saw similarities with Alien, Aliens, StarCraft, etc. And I don’t mean in the most obvious aspect: the Bugs similarities with the Aliens or Zergs, but in subtle stuff in the background, and in parts of the story.

I don’t intend to write a full review of the film here, just to show that it wasn’t as bad as we first thought. But tonight it is time for number two in the trilogy, and once again we’re preparing mentally for the bad quality we are going to subject our senses to. But who knows…. we might be surprised….

"What?!? The movie didn't suck? What is this crazyness?"

One problem though: it makes it harder to sit inside and play all the good games that has been released during the last months. Last Thursday I bought two new games for my PS3: Yakuza 3, and Way of the Warrior 3. (You can see the Japan styled theme, eh? ^_^ ) I can only state that even though it is really fun to run around playing a samurai, running around playing an ex-yakuza is more fun! Mostly because Yakuza 3 has a more quality feel to it.

I mentioned before that I had some thoughts and ideas for work, and didn’t tell you so much more. Well, my plan has sort of realized. I had this idea for an Information Co-ordinator that I and another guy had seen would be a good thing to have at work. Most of the ideas regarding this has now been realized, in me being appointed Contents Manager for the database system we use at work! ^_^ I get to work with the control and presentation of information, and I’m happy! ^_^

I think that would be all for this time! ^_^ I could go on about me wanting to go to Japan, but you wouldn’t want to read that anyway! I’m keeping my Japanese skill up by studying and watching Japanese media, and playing Japanese games. That’s all I’ll say about it this time!

Have a good one! And remember: you should learn something new every day! So what have you learned today?^_^

I’ve been thinking about an idea I had for work. I felt that there was something missing, and started to think about how that space could be filled, if there actually was a space. I mean, I might just have imagined it.

Anyhow, me and another guy at work started talking about it, and both started to be more and more certain that something had to be done. And today I finally talked to the manager, and she thought it was a splendid idea! ^_^

I’m happy that I’ve got a positive response on my idea, but there is still a long way to go, and a lot of practical issues to deal with before anything’s final! But when the plan goes through, or fails, I will let you all know! ^_^

That’s all for this Friday!

Until next time!

It’s the evening of Saint Patrick’s Day, and I’m sitting here, in front of my computer, blogging. ^_^ “What the hell? Why are you not downtown, getting wasted with the rest of the world?” Well, to my defence I say this to you: It’s been a day of work, and after this work I was so tired that I fell asleep at the kitchen table right after dinner, and I really wasn’t in shape to party all night long. Plus, it is work again tomorrow. It will be interesting to se how many are hung over at work tomorrow! ^_^ And I guess I’m starting to get old?? ^_^

On a completely different topic:
Lately I’ve been hanging on YouTube quite a lot. Here are some links to people I’m subscribing to, and want to share with the rest of you!

www.youtube.com/user/raywilliamjohnson
A guy living and studying in New York. Reviews viral videos from YouTube and make jokes. A good looking guy with a good sense of humour. (At least according to me! ^_^)

www.youtube.com/user/mysteryguitarman
A guy from Brazil, who lives in California. He makes videos with music, which he plays on everything from root beer bottles, to telephone books! ^_^ And he does some crazy editing with his videos. Hard to explain, go check him out! ^_^

www.youtube.com/user/tokyocooney
An American guy living and working in Tokyo. He video-logs about living in Japan, and Tokyo, and he is really interesting to listen to. He works with stand-up comedy, and hosting tv-shows.

www.youtube.com/user/VeryTasteful
This guy makes some crazily good music! Check out his channel. He also does a lot of collaborations with other people on YouTube.

This is a small look at what influence me as a person, and what I’m interested in. As I said: a small look. Keep reading my blog and you will get a better picture of who I am! ^_^

Until next time! ^_^

A part of me is feeling a bit bad for spending a lot of money on a game console. That’s probably the same part of me that got me through 6 years of studies on government loans without bankrupting myself. The part of me that echoes in my head that I should save the money for something else, for the future. And I do agree to all the “voices in my head”. (That sounded creepy!)

But the thing is, that I had a PS3 before. In fact I had a PS3 before I got a 360, and I don’t know, but I guess I always felt a bit more at home on the PS3. I kinda got the 360 to play those games that does not come on the PS3.

When the time came to move to Ireland, I told myself that I could only bring one console with me, and at the time the 360 was the obvious choice, or so I thought. After arriving jn Ireland and playing some of the games for the 360, I started to miss my old friend. Don’t get me wrong, there are some really good games for the 360, and the online multiplayer functions and such is far better than on the PlayStation. But I’m not much of a multiplayer gamer, and I felt it wasn’t really me.

So why did I go ahead and buy a new PlayStation? Here are some of my top reasons for a PS3:

The exclusives.
The PS3-exclusive games are mostly real gems, at leas in my opinion. LittleBigPlanet, Killzone, the Uncharted series, etc.

Blue-Ray & DVDs:
The Blue-ray and DVD player in the PS3 is far better than the DVD player in the 360. I’m mainly talking about the software and the choices of information shown on the screen etc.

The Future:
This is a tricky one, I know, but the future looks a bit more exciting for the PS3. The PlayStation Motion Controllers that are coming this fall Appeals me way more than what Microsoft’s Project Natal does. I’m kind of hoping that Sony will do with waggling controllers, what Nintendon’t! ^_^

Region free:
The PS3 is region free, but some of the games are region coded, but that’s like 20% of the games, and the rest, the bigger part of the market, is free to play on any console. That means that I can more easily import games from Japan and play, and practise my Japanese. The 360 is also region free, as far as I know, but the import market is not at a as big. (Again, this is all after what I know and have heard.)

So today, after almost 2 hours of Final Fantasy XIII, I feel at home again. The controller rests perfectly in my hand as the 1080p HD-picture washes over my retinas with beautiful images. And all of my old stuff, all downloaded materials and games, were simple to download again, without extra fees! And my trophy list was back, and all my friends in the friend list was also still there. The only thing missing is all the games and save datas that I sold and lost when I sold my old PlayStation. But only time will tell what will happen. I might just sit here again in 6 months, complaining over my choice. It’s always easy to be wise afterwards. ^_^

Enough ranting about consoles. What’s done is done, and what would life be without some indulgence every now and then. But now I will have to start saving really good, so that I have money when Malin comes to visit. ^_^

Have a good night, and a good weekend if I don’t talk to you again before Monday!

Peace out!

The plan is to keep these updates a bit more…. up to date? ^_^ But so far that’s not working out so great. ^_^

In lack of something really exciting happening in my life right now, this update will be a little glance into a normal night in my life right now. So… What is in front of me right now, and what am I doing when I don’t work or neglect the blog? Here’s some pics ^_^

Now, this is just one night…. I don’t do this all the nights. ^_^ What kind of a nut job do you take me for? Sometimes I play the 360, sometimes I play something on my computer (yes it has games, though it is a Mac! ^_^), and sometimes I hang with the other guys in the house, playing something together, watching a movie, etc..

I hope this is somewhat interesting, and if not: too bad, ’cause this is what you get! ^_^

Peace out!