Work has been keeping me quite busy lately and when I do get home, I just end up crashing in the couch. So, sorry for the lack of updates ;)

Elke is still playing Tales of Legendia, so access to the tv is limited ;) But here’s what I’ve been trying to play etc anyway… in short (no time!):

/played
Okami (ps2)
Beautiful! It’s the Viewtiful Joe engine on acid. The ps2 didn’t really have an adventure game that comes close The Legend of Zelda, but this is it! The Japanese music and graphic styles make it an amazing experience! Dare I say better than Zelda?

Yakuza (ps2)
Japanese neon is cool. Enough said ^^.

Final Fantasy Tactics (gbmicro)
With Final Fantasy XII nearing and the tv being occupied, I thought it might be nice to visit the world of Ivalice in lovely 2D isometric sprite style before drooling over the jaw-dropping 3D version. If I really start digging SRPGs, I might give Disgaea 1/2 a chance.

/listened to
Marylin Manson
Guns n’ Roses
Korn
Limp Bizkit
Sum 41
Blink 182

/seen
The Forgotten
Pretty fun movie… Had to rent an older one because nothing decent is released lately.

As you can see, not that much happened. I’m mentally preparing for the crazy list of games heading our way. With DOAX2, Gears of War, Final Fantasy XII, God Hand, Phoenix Wright 2 (already shipped! Jap version has English FTW!) and much more… it’s going to be a filled end of the year. Not to mention a poor one ;) .. I’m not even talking December (Wii + Zelda.. pre-ordered.. /sigh).

Any financial support (/points at Paypal Donate button) is appreciated ^^

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve updated you all on what I’ve been up to. I presume the previous posts did give you some ideas ;) but to keep this site a bit consistent, it’s time to list it anyway. So, 2 weeks… here we go!

/played
Dead Rising (360)
Although an awesome game, with amazing graphics and my favourite enemies in of time… zombies, I didn’t play that much yet. It’s worth getting a 360 for though. It’s Dawn of the Dead, the videogame. No better way to describe it. You’ve never seen such a realistic shopping mall and such perfect representations of zombies in a game ever!

Phoenix Wright (DS)
I’ve played the hell out of this game. For an adventure/detective/lawyer game, it’s very addictive, not to mention LONG! The 4 first cases take a lot of time and are just ports of the old GBA version, but the last case takes as much time as the entire GBA game together! It’s nice to see how Capcom added the DS specific extras to this case, with 3D animation and dusting for fingerprints, which requires you blowing in the mic and using the stylus. They knew such a long extra case might get the player yawning and with all these additions to the gameplay during this final case, the crazy characters you meet and the twisting and turning of the plot, it keeps you excited until (and after) the credits roll. Probably the best title to date, on the DS. The sequel can’t come too soon.

Xenosaga 1 (ps2)
Getting back into an RPG is hard after not touching it for weeks, but the story pulls you back in quite quickly. Just a pitty I don’t have that much spare time for an 80 hour RPG. Certainly not 80 hours episodes…

Ultimate Ghosts n’ Goblins (psp)
It’s beautiful, but it’s dead hard. It does make you want to throw that PSP out of the window, but instead I just put it aside :P. Maybe some day I’ll try again. Only because it’s soo pretty.

Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel (psp)
I really suck at stealth games. The stories of the MGS series always intrigued me, but I could never get far before getting frustrated. This solves it however, a digital comic explaining me the world of Snake, without the annoying gameplay (this sure won’t make me friends with the MGS hardcore :D)

Lego Star Wars 2 (ps2)
I love the old Star Wars movies and I love Lego. It’s a perfect combination! It’s really funny and even fun to play, but trying to stay awake? Coffee might help. It’s not that interesting, except for the fact you are replaying all the movies in the Lego universe. Although quite entertaining, only advised to the Star Wars hardcore.

Tales of Legendia (ps2)
I’m not technically playing it, but it’s keeping me from playing anything none portable :D I got Elke addicted to the damn game. It has beautiful music though and the cartoon sequences are drawn by people from Ghibli, so you can’t go wrong there. Although I didn’t like the combat system, Elke doesn’t seem to mind. She’s in for about 15 hours now. Dunno how much to go before I get the TV back ;)

/watched
Family Guy
Some random episodes. Still cracks me up.

Futurama
Same. Funny. One day I’ll get all on DVD. Or Blu-Ray ^^

The Big Lebowski
My kind of movie. Due to being sick last week I could catch up on some dvds lying around here, and although not amazing, still very much worth a watch.

Super Size Me
Watched it a second time, best way to keep yourself away from fast food and anything else that’s bad for your health. Awesome documentary.

House of Flying Daggers
I had this dvd here for way too long. Finally, also due to my sick days off, I found the time to watch it. Although I did prefer Hero, it’s a great movie none the less. The bamboo scene was just “wow” :D

Pirates of the Carribean 2
If you love the first, you’ll love this one. It keeps you on your toes for the 3rd though, but it’s the first time in months I gave money to go to the movies and it was worth it!

/listened to
My Neighbour Totoro OST
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence OST
Various Aerosmith songs
Some Xmas songs (if you know me, you’d say I’m late :P)

That was exhausting… Anyway, I’m back on track with my gaming! The PSP finally has some fun titles again, the DS got recharged a zillion times thanks to Phoenix Wright and both 360 and ps2 have some nice titles waiting for me to finish.

Speaking of consoles, I went ahead and pre-ordered me a Wii. And sure, you’re all invited if you bring your own Wii-mote! ^^ 2 months to go!

/played
Nothing!
As odd as it may sound, I didn’t play anything this week. Not a single console got booted. Except for Xenosaga and some other games of my backlog, there isn’t anything worthy of wasting time on. But that’s soon to change, with a big list of games on my “to buy”-list.

This month alone has already gotten a few nice releases:
Dead Rising (360): The wait hasn’t gotten me more excited but actually more bored of it. I’ll be buying it though and hopefully loving it.
Gitaroo Man Lives (psp): Played the Japanese version, never played the ps2 version. Finally it’s arriving in our silly little country!
Ultimate Ghosts n’ Goblins (psp): Who said the PSP doesn’t have good games. A second one in one month! :D Not sure whether I want to buy it, since it’s supposed to be so hard you’ll throw that PSP right out of the window. 1UP gives it 4, Edge 9. The only two sources I have faith in contradict eachother! Help :D
Contact (ds): Harvest Moon team meets Killer 7 team can only be a win-win situation. Must-have!
Okami (ps2): Finally a Zelda game on the Sony console. I’ve been looking forward to this game for a long time and so has Elke. The Jap-whore I am, I’m sure I’ll love this game.

Crap, quite a list. Luckily I was prepared and didn’t waste my money on crap last month :P

/watched
Lost Season 2 Episode 13 - 21
No Flemish VT4 viewer can spoil it for me anymore. But my Walloon colleagues still can :/ Still 3 episodes to go to catch up to the rest of the world!

/listened to
My Neighbour Totoro OST
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence OST
St. Germain - Various albums

/played
LocoRoco (psp)
Animal Crossing DS (ds)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (ds
New Super Mario Brothers (ds)
Prey Demo (360)
Shadow of the Colossus (ps2)
Ridge Racer 6 (360)

/listened to
Freezepop
…more podcasts

/watched
The Island

/IRL
Inline skating!

Yes more skating! This time, we joined the Rollerparade in Sint-Niklaas for a nice little tour of 20km. Seeing as I can’t brake (I’m getting better though :P) and have only been rollerblading for a few weeks, it was quite an achievement ^^.

And even watched a movie, The Island with Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson. Very nice! Can’t say much about it without spoiling so, just go rent!

An amazing amount of handheld gaming took place though, with Animal Crossing for DS being played till both DS’ batteries died. The online feature got abused, having Wim visit our town and vice versa, importing and exporting fruits. Silly game, but oooh so cute.

LocoRoco still keeps amazing me. Clocking at 6 hours of gameplay already, new enemies and original level design keeps popping up. PSP is back from the dead I say!

I also threw Shadow of the Colossus back in my PS2, starting where I left off months ago, now 7 colossi to go! The Prey demo was quite impressive, single and multiplayer, but it got boring very quickly. We ended up quiting and playing some online Ridge Racer!

In real life, work was a pain, deadlines demanding a lot of our dev team. But… last week of work before we got a week off! And one of these days we’re heading to Sweden to say hello to Donw (good ol’ WoW friend)… aah finally things are looking up! :D Good times! ^^

/played
LocoRoco (PSP)
Animal Crossing DS (DS)
Trauma Center: Under The Knife (DS)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (DS)
New Super Mario Brothers (DS)
Brain Age (DS)

/listened to
Guns n’ Roses
Freezepop
…more podcasts

/IRL
Inline skating!
Golf!

I don’t want to know how much money I spent on games these last two weeks, but I’m all set for the summer! Wednesday I got my hands on Mario, which is just about the best tribute to the old Mario game ever. Sure brings back memories, with the first worlds being sort of a remake of the original Super Mario Bros on the NES.

Yesterday I managed to get the only copy of LocoRoco available in our shopping mall, quite expensive (54 Euro!!) but really worth it. It’s the happiest game ever made! Every few minutes the LocoRoco surprise you with another one of their cute actions making you go “OOOoooooh” all the way ^^.

Trauma Center is damn hard, I’ll really have to fight my way through the next operation. My patient seems to prefer dying over and over again :/ Phoenix Wright however isn’t really hard, but very entertaining. It’s been a while since I took a console with me to bed, but you can’t just quit in the middle of a court session now can you?

And soon you’ll be able to visit me in my own little town, Kyoto, where little suibne is hanging out paying off his mortgage to Tom Nook. Yes, the Gamecube version of Animal Crossing got me hooked a few years ago, now the addiction is all back… in portable format! Ideal for lunch breaks at work :D

And yes, there’s the real life activities, this time… golf! No I didn’t turn into a snob just yet, this was an event with our colleagues, organized by our good friend Denis. I must say, it was pretty good. Driving 140km to go just go play golf might sound crazy, but it was worth it. I forgot how pretty the south of Belgium can be, with its incredible nature showing the most beautiful views. As for the sport itself, I prefer putting as crazy as that may sound ^^. Swinging that club and hitting far wasn’t all that. Although I reached something of a 150m, my ball never went straight, left the training area and ended up near hole 6 all the time. No one got hurt (as far as I know) … :D

Fresh air, hot sun, not so good food, … good times :P Check out the pictures here.

/played
Samba De Amigo (DC)
Brain Age (DS)
Super Smash Brothers Melee (GC)
Exit (PSP)
Gitaroo Man Lives! (PSP)
Streetfighter III (DC)
Half-Life 2: Episode 1 (PC)
Mario Kart DS (DS)
Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GC)
Super Monkey Ball (GC)
Tetris DS (DS)
Capcom Classics Collection Remixed (PSP)

/listened to
Guns n’ Roses
Freezepop
…more podcasts

/watched
Hackers

/IRL
Inline skating!

Omg! Outside activity in the list! Yes we’ve finally found a summer that didn’t get swallowed by an MMORPG (first FFXI, then WoW) so we have time to get out for once! We’ve taken up skating again, bought us some new gear and are now trying to prepare to join that Roller Parade stuff that’s happening all over Belgium.

As for movies, I put in Hackers again. The music and atmosphere never let me down, even though it might not be a great movie. But I love it. So there ;)

Lots of games though! That usually happens when you have these game events ;) My brain age went down to 26, while Elke reached the top score of a brain age of 20 only after 4 days of play. /sigh! The Dreamcast got some lovin’ again, we had the chance to play some PSP games and thanks to Kurt I got to play HL2:Episode 1 (only played for an hour but I’m planning on continueing.. no really!)

Next week you can expect more DS games in this list, because I’ll be replaying them all on my … DS Lite! Yes, only 5 hours to go until I can go pick it up at the store (it’s preordered so no I didn’t take a day off work :P).

Good times! ^^

/played
Halo 2 (360)
Brain Age (DS)

/listened to
Pod… casts…

/watched
Lost Season 2 Episode 4

Started again with the Lost episodes. It’s hard to find the time with this hot weather, sitting in front of the tv feels like such a waste.

And I’m still catching up on some of those so called classics I missed, like Halo 2. I’m sort of stuck since it’s starting to require FPS joystick skill which I lack completely, so I’m hoping to find someone who’ll run through it (and the original Halo) with me in co-op mode ^^. Online is hell, fun but hell. I really miss a mouse and keyboard :/

So, the game I’ve been waiting for all these weeks, finally sits in our DS. Brain Age (or Brain Training) is very addictive. Training your math skills, memory and even writing skills (it has difficulty recognizing my EIGHT!) was never so much fun.

You can compare it with the oldskool arcade high-scores, only this time, it’s more clearly a battle of the mind (even though other games are too). What keeps me going, is to keep my score as close to that of Elke’s as possible, but I’m getting my ass whooped seriously. She solves the 20 math problems under 20 seconds, where I have problems even staying near 30. That stupid 7×8=? always gets me :D. Not to mention the brain age itself, which I got down to 35 in 3 days, not too bad… only 10 years above my real age. Although, compared to Elke, who reached the brain age of 23 in the same amount of time, sort of makes me feel a bit stupid :/

Anyway, if any of you have a DS, I seriously advice it. If you don’t, get one with it. And pass by our place, there’s an option to do math battles, 16 players VS mode :D. That’s one nerd battle :P

/played
Me & My Katamari (psp)
Metal Gear Ac!d 2 (psp)
Lost Planet Demo (360)

/listened to
Lots of podcasts

/watched
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Still sucking at MGA2, but finished Katamari! Which was really worth it, no matter what the reviews say. As an end bonus, you unlock this sidescrolling 8-bit style Katamari game. Very cute!

And finally we’ve got around watching a movie again! Our last Ghibli (that we own, still need a couple) was again very much worth it. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind tells a story about a world that’s been poisoned by the industry, creating a deadly forest with mutated insects threatening the existence of mankind. Although it sounds like your typical sci-fi plot, as with every Ghibli, it is far from your mainstream story. Characters are colourful, lessons are plenty and although it might be more predictable than your typical Ghibli, you won’t be leaving your couch until the credits roll. It’s one of those movies that has you dreaming and thinking on… as with all their animated pieces of art.

And yes, finally, Brain Age is arriving this Friday. Time to smarten up! And the DS Lite is nearly among us. I’ve had the chance to try out Wim’s Lite and was very impressed. It’s even prettier than the pictures :D Preordered?… check!

/played
Second Life (pc/mac)
Me & My Katamari (psp)
Metal Gear Ac!d 2 (psp)
Tetris DS (ds)

/listened to
Again… podcasts…

/watched
Nothing…

Just to be complete, an update of what I’m doing, although it’s not much different from last week. Second Life has me some what in its grip (not too much though, now that the house is decorated I’m taking it slower ^^) and Tetris DS helped me get through another family event :D

If you own a PSP, I really advice Me & My Katamari, since I’m still enjoying it a lot even after so many hours of play. MGA2 requires longer attention spans and although the PSP offers easy immediate standby, breaking a level or cutscene in half just doesn’t feel right.

Next week Brain Age will finally arrive in Europe, so you will be seeing a much smarter me :P …

/played
Tetris DS (ds)
Me & My Katamari (psp)
Lost Planet (360)
Daxter (psp)
Loco Roco Demo (psp)

/listened to
Guns n’ Roses - All albums
Freezepop - All albums
Podcasts…

/watched
Lost - Season 1 Episode 21-25
Lost - Season 2 Episode 1-3

Same music, more Lost. Although I’ve been following game news like crazy, I haven’t really played that much. The Lost Planet demo is amazing though. I don’t think I’ve seen a game that pretty before. Next-gen is today!

Lots of handheld gaming though, since that’s something you can easily do on your lunch or toilet break :D. Tetris DS is still a blast, although it’s better online. And there’s no WiFi at the office here so :/ We also bought Daxter for Elke and she’s loving it, plays it each morning/evening on the train. I tried it myself and was surprised by the quality, compared to most other PSP games. There was no low quality voice recordings like GTA PSP had, the characters are well animated and the game is actually pretty fun.

Last but certainly not least, I received Me & My Katamari from Elke, for our 4 year anniversary ^^. Even though the reviews aren’t all positive, I’m really loving it. It’s a bundle of happiness and joy all put onto one small UMD for you to carry along. Lunch breaks improved by 200%! It’s Katamari and its bright, beautiful world fits like a glove on the sexy PSP screen.

Next up! Brain Age and Metal Gear Ac1d 2. Out this week! :D