I'd post the following on epinions, except they don't have this import only Nintendo DS title listed anywhere, and as far as I could tell no timely way of adding it to the list. So, my review of the game goes here. It is likely that later my review of Jump Super Stars will go here as well, as I didn't see that either. But I digress...
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! is like any good Anime in that explaining the basic concept of the game doesn't endear it to anyone, despite the actually quality thereof. I will do so anyway. The basic plot of Ouendan is that you control a trio of male cheerleaders (decked out in black trenchcoats) who, by their cheering and dancing to popular JPop tunes, allow people in need and desperate situations to succeed. Situations such as a high school student trying to do his homework while his uncaring family make a lot of noise and disrupt his studies.
Honestly, were it not for the demo I was able to try out I wouldn't have laid a finger on the game. I'm glad I didn't abstain.
The mechanism for the support you give the needy people relies entirely on the DS's touch screen. No direction pads, no A or B buttons, nothing save the start button for pausing. Everything is done via the stylus. Basically, each level has a Japanese Pop song connected with it. In line with the beat of the song buttons appear on the touch pad screen which you must hit with the correct timing. The buttons are numbered for proper order, and the timing is noted by a circle which slowly shrinks around the button until it matches the button's size (which is the bullseye point to hit the button). The proximity to the bullseye timing will determine whether you score 300, 100, or 50 points for your timing in addition to points for actually hitting the button properly. If you hit it far too soon or late (or not at all) a nice big red X crosses out the button letting you know you failed. The key to hitting these buttons is in the music, as all the button's bullseye timings line up perfectly with the beat of the music.
Getting the timing down on these buttons takes a little work. I experienced early on issues in that the instant anything appeared on screen my instinct was to hit it immediately, resulting in utter failure. After some practice, you begin to get the hang of hitting the buttons, which is extremely important to getting good scores. Because of the number of buttons that eventually pop up in a given level, and given that the more buttons and other functions you get in a row without missing acts as a multiplier for your score, hitting them (and especially dead on) consistantly is critical.
There are two other mechanisms that come up during songs you must deal with. The first is very similar to the buttons. A circular button with a number on it appears, along with the familiar shrinking circle. But this button is connected to a visible path. In addition to hitting the button, you must follow a ball which rolls along the path (which appears and begins to roll once the bullseye point of the button is reached). Sometimes, a marker on the end of the path indicates you will need to follow the ball again, but in the reverse direction. This reversal can happen many times.
The other mechanism is a wheel which takes up the entire screen. It resembles a ying yang, save that it has three parts. You must spin the wheel by tracing a circular motion around the touch pad. As you spin the wheel, volume meters slowly build up on the left and right sides of the screen, which you must maximize before a shrinking circle encloses the center of the wheel. If you manage to spin the wheel more than necessary, you get bonus points.
The game sounds complicated, but there is a very nice tutorial which, though in japanese, explains everything visually very nicely. Thankfully, the tutorial is accessible even after your first play, so any friends who want to try won't require a deep explanation of everything from you.
The music in the game is excellent. This is extrememly important, as you will be hearing a lot of it. The music can't be called background music because of how important it is to succeeding. However, if you happen to have an aversion to JPop, that's a very good reason to stay away from this game. Addicting as the gameplay is, it isn't worth forcing a despised genre of music down your throat. Still, if you are indifferent, or uninformed, the music is varied and somehow fits the situations very well. If you love JPop, these are excellent examples of JPop, though performed by soundalikes.
As mentioned just before, the gameplay is very addicting. There are easy and normal difficulty modes to begin with, as well as an unlockable hard mode. Within a difficulty mode there are a about a dozen levels, which are unlocked in sets of about three. Each set is harder than the last, which provides a nice progression from difficulty to difficulty.
Each level consists of scoring via the three mechanisms detailed earlier. However, there is more to it than that. There is a 'health' meter on the top of the touch screen which is a measure of how well you are doing. As the song progresses, a marker which rests on the right end of the meter slowly moves left. If it reaches the end, you lose the level and must either try again or give up. With each miss, it moves left faster for a time. With each successful hit, spin, or roll you refill the meter. The meter is split into a red left half, and a yellow right half. If you fall into the red, the person you are trying to help (depicted on the top screen) will falter, and fail to achieve goals which will lead them to success. Each level is split into three or four goal sections (achieving something such as the approval from Dad for studying, or the respect of your brother), as well as one final section leading to the end of the song. If you're in the red, you'll fail the goals. This doesn't prevent you from succeeding overall, but does factor into your grade. Your grade is given after completing a level (you don't get one if you fail). Whether you completed goals, how many buttons you missed, and how accurately you hit the buttons factor into your grade (C, B, A or the coveted S. There may be a D grade, but more often than not I just failed outright rather than barely, barely pass).
The gameplay is addicting to say the least. When you first begin a level, you'll struggle at first to even complete the level. Then you'll struggle to complete it with all the objectives successful. Then to complete it without missing a beat. And finally to achieve an S grade.
Overall, the game is extremely good. I find myself liking it very much, even after repeated play. I unfortunately haven't had the chance to try out the multiplayer options, but there is a mode which allows for people without Ouendan carts to play as well, a large bonus for a game not traveling overseas. The hard difficulty is just that, hard (enjoyably so). The anime styled situations are humorous to say the least, and sometimes ridiculous (and hilarious). After the inital homework level, you'll be doing overtime work at the office, cleaning up a ramen shop to drum up business, and even helping a race horse to win a derby and stop a robber on a motorcycle (and that's just the tip of the iceberg). It is extremely difficult, however, to take enjoy watching what the people you're helping are doing while you are playing. Fortunately, you can watch a replay after completing a level, allowing you to focus more on the top screen then what you did on the bottom.
The game only fails in that being so addictive, it can cause severe muscle pain. Because of all the spinning, tapping and rolling you'll have to do, playing this game for hours on end will result in some sore arm muscles. I played the game for five hours straight the day I bought it (my host parents were late coming home and I was worried), and wasn't able to play the game for two days afterwards because of a sore muscle just behind my elbow.
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! was exactly the unique, japanese, zany import game experience I was looking for. I would highly reccomend this game to anyone who asks, or reads this. Most of you will get a shot at it when I come home, so fear not.
Ratings:
Gameplay:8.5
Music:8.5
Sound:10
Story:9
Replayability:9
Overall Rating:9
20050929
20050925
Microsoft's Comment
Three posts today, don't miss the other two after this one.
Anyway, Microsoft's VP of Marketing (Peter Moore) commented on Nintendo's new controller saying, "We applaud Nintendo for their attempt at innovation." The nature of this comment has come under much fire and speculation. The basic consensus is that it is made to vainly attempt to establish that A) Microsoft is innovating, and inspiring Nintendo to do so B) To not look like an idiot if it works and C) Stab at the controller as a mere attempt.
A poster on Slashdot noted the following (A joke): Nintendo returned in kind saying, "We applaud Microsoft for their attempt at a console."
Touche.
Anyway, Microsoft's VP of Marketing (Peter Moore) commented on Nintendo's new controller saying, "We applaud Nintendo for their attempt at innovation." The nature of this comment has come under much fire and speculation. The basic consensus is that it is made to vainly attempt to establish that A) Microsoft is innovating, and inspiring Nintendo to do so B) To not look like an idiot if it works and C) Stab at the controller as a mere attempt.
A poster on Slashdot noted the following (A joke): Nintendo returned in kind saying, "We applaud Microsoft for their attempt at a console."
Touche.
20050924
Microsoft's Quandry
I can't say I've ever been a fan of Microsoft. Honestly, I was on the bandwagon back in the 90s of pathological Bill Gates haters. I got over that this millenium, but never came to like Microsoft. Show them some respect perhaps, but not actually like.
It occurred to me recently, something that really should have dawned on me months ago when slashdot articles were talking about it, that Microsoft is in a tough spot.
Honestly, Microsoft gets some Kudos because they saw this coming ages ago. Not really ages, but early enough on that they made the Xbox. However, before I really go into detail there I'll explain exactly the jam Microsoft is now in.
Microsoft has, for a long time now, been utterly dominant when it comes to operating systems. Their market share at both home and in the office is probably only comparable to the NES and SNES days of Nintendo. There was always competition, but it never amounted to anything regardless of quality, everyone was already using Microsoft/Nintendo and changing was harder than the benefits it might bring.
Microsoft still is dominant, but it is not the unreachable giant it once was. While mindless hatred of the company has died down, faith in their products hasn't. Windows Vista, code named Longhorn, was originally meant to compete with Mac OS X, though it wasn't meant to come out at the same time. However, we've seen several more cats come out of Apple, and Vista is still in beta, struggling to implement features X had out of the bag. The other geeks I know sometimes call Vista, "XP designed to force people to buy better graphics cards and more RAM."
Now, I have no doubt that Vista will sell. It will sell for the same reason every version of Windows since 3.1 sold, market dominance. When an untalented computer illiterate person invests hours in learning Windows (again, because of market dominance), there is little reason to step out of what little familiarity you have in an industry of techno-babble and wizardry.
However, Microsoft has taken good note that with each new version of Windows released, they lose a little bit of ground. They maintain dominance well, but time is catching up with them and they know it. As Microsoft has grown, it's developement times have as well. Additionally, Microsoft has to deal with continual virus attacks, spyware and adware problems, and much, much more than either OS X or any version of Linux has to deal with. The price of market dominance is a severe handicap in other areas.
Microsoft hasn't given up on pulling through, but Microsoft isn't stupid. Their products may not always be bug free, their organization structure may be shoddy, and recently the pants may have been beaten off them several dozen times by newcomer Google, but they're hardly out of the game. Still, Microsoft can see (and did see some time ago) that the monopoly like dominance they've enjoyed is not permanent, and long before now took steps to prepare for such a time.
Many, many, many times in the long, flammable debates concerning how well any given video game console is doing, it is always brought up that Microsoft and Sony work on a different model than Nintendo. Nintendo is solely and video game company, and if they don't turn a profit they sink. Microsoft and Sony are multifaceted megabusinesses that can draw on resources from one division to make up for loss in another. This is important because it explains how Microsoft can be taking quarterly losses continually from the Xbox and keep on trudging, as well as explain why they continue to push the Xbox and its successor forward despite that many would have stopped throwing good money after bad.
Microsoft may be multifaceted, but it is solely in the respect that Windows and its assorted products are viable in many different kinds of computer markets. Servers, home computers, office computers, PDAs, palm pilots etc. Microsoft has the OS and software for it. The vast majority of all Microsoft divisions deal in software. Possibly the only (at least that I am aware of) division dealing in the creation of unique Microsoft hardware is the division housing the Xbox. Everything else either is Windows, or runs on it.
For a long time, Microsoft could challenge anything and anyone, resting on the fortress of Windows' dominance in the home and business PC markets. Any and all challengers to Microsoft were crushable, simply because those markets provided Microsoft with all the finances they needed to do anything, and then some. Their strategy has been to tie everything neatly to Windows so that its dominance is maintained, and also succeed in moving Windows into another market and increase its profitability.
The Xbox is directly related to that. With foresight Microsoft saw that in the near future, Windows was bound to face stiff competition and barring decisive victories decline from market dominance. The answer? The Xbox. The same youthful computer aces that disliked Microsoft played excessive amounts of video games. Why not try and win their hearts with what they love, and create a back up source of revenue to support Microsoft in what would otherwise be a losing battle to maintain dominance. It goes deeper than that, but the basics of why the Xbox came to be lie in there.
The necessity of this can not be stressed enough. Unless Microsoft can build for themselves a steady source of revenue that does not rely on Windows to function, when Windows falters it too will falter, and defeat its very purpose of supporting Windows when its unsteady. That is why Microsoft is willing to have one profitable quarter out of a nearly twenty and still keep funding the venture. If they don't, they'll regret it. The only alternative is to engage in a battle of pure brute force versus everyone else, and it doesn't take a champion strategist to see the folly there.
If the Xbox 360 doesn't fly, Microsoft may try to build elsewhere, but I can't see where. In all likelyhood they'll keep making generations of Xboxs until Windows can no longer support them, or until they succeed.
It is important to take a look at exactly what Microsoft is doing with the Xbox 360. They are trying to A) make it successful and B) tie it into Windows, but not in such a way as that if Windows is doing poorly, so will the Xbox. They are hoping (whether it is beyond hope or not is debatable) that the Xbox 360 will be successful (either in spite of or because of Windows) and that in being successful it will promote and strengthen Windows. The scary thing is, both Sony and Microsoft want their consoles to be in controll of as much of your entertainment as possible. It's only a step up from that to controlling everything.
It occurred to me recently, something that really should have dawned on me months ago when slashdot articles were talking about it, that Microsoft is in a tough spot.
Honestly, Microsoft gets some Kudos because they saw this coming ages ago. Not really ages, but early enough on that they made the Xbox. However, before I really go into detail there I'll explain exactly the jam Microsoft is now in.
Microsoft has, for a long time now, been utterly dominant when it comes to operating systems. Their market share at both home and in the office is probably only comparable to the NES and SNES days of Nintendo. There was always competition, but it never amounted to anything regardless of quality, everyone was already using Microsoft/Nintendo and changing was harder than the benefits it might bring.
Microsoft still is dominant, but it is not the unreachable giant it once was. While mindless hatred of the company has died down, faith in their products hasn't. Windows Vista, code named Longhorn, was originally meant to compete with Mac OS X, though it wasn't meant to come out at the same time. However, we've seen several more cats come out of Apple, and Vista is still in beta, struggling to implement features X had out of the bag. The other geeks I know sometimes call Vista, "XP designed to force people to buy better graphics cards and more RAM."
Now, I have no doubt that Vista will sell. It will sell for the same reason every version of Windows since 3.1 sold, market dominance. When an untalented computer illiterate person invests hours in learning Windows (again, because of market dominance), there is little reason to step out of what little familiarity you have in an industry of techno-babble and wizardry.
However, Microsoft has taken good note that with each new version of Windows released, they lose a little bit of ground. They maintain dominance well, but time is catching up with them and they know it. As Microsoft has grown, it's developement times have as well. Additionally, Microsoft has to deal with continual virus attacks, spyware and adware problems, and much, much more than either OS X or any version of Linux has to deal with. The price of market dominance is a severe handicap in other areas.
Microsoft hasn't given up on pulling through, but Microsoft isn't stupid. Their products may not always be bug free, their organization structure may be shoddy, and recently the pants may have been beaten off them several dozen times by newcomer Google, but they're hardly out of the game. Still, Microsoft can see (and did see some time ago) that the monopoly like dominance they've enjoyed is not permanent, and long before now took steps to prepare for such a time.
Many, many, many times in the long, flammable debates concerning how well any given video game console is doing, it is always brought up that Microsoft and Sony work on a different model than Nintendo. Nintendo is solely and video game company, and if they don't turn a profit they sink. Microsoft and Sony are multifaceted megabusinesses that can draw on resources from one division to make up for loss in another. This is important because it explains how Microsoft can be taking quarterly losses continually from the Xbox and keep on trudging, as well as explain why they continue to push the Xbox and its successor forward despite that many would have stopped throwing good money after bad.
Microsoft may be multifaceted, but it is solely in the respect that Windows and its assorted products are viable in many different kinds of computer markets. Servers, home computers, office computers, PDAs, palm pilots etc. Microsoft has the OS and software for it. The vast majority of all Microsoft divisions deal in software. Possibly the only (at least that I am aware of) division dealing in the creation of unique Microsoft hardware is the division housing the Xbox. Everything else either is Windows, or runs on it.
For a long time, Microsoft could challenge anything and anyone, resting on the fortress of Windows' dominance in the home and business PC markets. Any and all challengers to Microsoft were crushable, simply because those markets provided Microsoft with all the finances they needed to do anything, and then some. Their strategy has been to tie everything neatly to Windows so that its dominance is maintained, and also succeed in moving Windows into another market and increase its profitability.
The Xbox is directly related to that. With foresight Microsoft saw that in the near future, Windows was bound to face stiff competition and barring decisive victories decline from market dominance. The answer? The Xbox. The same youthful computer aces that disliked Microsoft played excessive amounts of video games. Why not try and win their hearts with what they love, and create a back up source of revenue to support Microsoft in what would otherwise be a losing battle to maintain dominance. It goes deeper than that, but the basics of why the Xbox came to be lie in there.
The necessity of this can not be stressed enough. Unless Microsoft can build for themselves a steady source of revenue that does not rely on Windows to function, when Windows falters it too will falter, and defeat its very purpose of supporting Windows when its unsteady. That is why Microsoft is willing to have one profitable quarter out of a nearly twenty and still keep funding the venture. If they don't, they'll regret it. The only alternative is to engage in a battle of pure brute force versus everyone else, and it doesn't take a champion strategist to see the folly there.
If the Xbox 360 doesn't fly, Microsoft may try to build elsewhere, but I can't see where. In all likelyhood they'll keep making generations of Xboxs until Windows can no longer support them, or until they succeed.
It is important to take a look at exactly what Microsoft is doing with the Xbox 360. They are trying to A) make it successful and B) tie it into Windows, but not in such a way as that if Windows is doing poorly, so will the Xbox. They are hoping (whether it is beyond hope or not is debatable) that the Xbox 360 will be successful (either in spite of or because of Windows) and that in being successful it will promote and strengthen Windows. The scary thing is, both Sony and Microsoft want their consoles to be in controll of as much of your entertainment as possible. It's only a step up from that to controlling everything.
Nuisances
I don't know how many of you have noticed, but some bot or bots unknown keep posting the occaisional comment in my blog trying to get me and anyone looking to buy unnecessary things. It gives me a rather hard dilemma to solve.
Basically, the bots can achieve this because I've enabled anonymous comment posting. So, I could easily solve the problem by disabling said option. However, I have anonymous comment posting enabled for the simple reason that I know two people out of thirty who actually have blogger accounts they can use to post. While disabling anonymous comments would filter out annoying ads (which I continually delete), it would filter out everyone except Jo and one other person.
My current action plan is to leave things as is, and only take dire action if things escalate.
In the meantime, I curse the festering blot on humanity called internet advertising.
Basically, the bots can achieve this because I've enabled anonymous comment posting. So, I could easily solve the problem by disabling said option. However, I have anonymous comment posting enabled for the simple reason that I know two people out of thirty who actually have blogger accounts they can use to post. While disabling anonymous comments would filter out annoying ads (which I continually delete), it would filter out everyone except Jo and one other person.
My current action plan is to leave things as is, and only take dire action if things escalate.
In the meantime, I curse the festering blot on humanity called internet advertising.
20050923
Overdue
I'm long overdue informing the world of people who read my blog (population me) concerning recent events. I've been too busy participating in them to write them down.
Sunday I went with my host family to the ANA Open. There we saw some amazing golfers, joked about what would happen if I tried to golf, and contributed a little money to charity. I also got a hat out of the deal, nifty!
Monday was a holiday, so I didn't have school. Having beat the living daylights out of Jump Superstars for the DS, I moved on to my next crazy japanese only title, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! I spent most of the day playing it, not my original intent. My host parents had gone out in the morning for some golf practice, and claimed they'd be back at 3. They didn't get back until 6, after I had tried to call their cell phones (and heard them ring in the apartment) and watched some news to see if they'd gotten hurt in a car crash or something. I pushed aside my worries with Ouendan, which was a highly addictive game.
Tuesday I didn't play any Ouendan, or most of the rest of the week for that matter. Not because the game is bad, it's incredibly fun, but because my arm wouldn't be able to take it. The act of spinning a point scoring ying yang repeatedly wore out some muscles near my elbow, and I decided it would be good to rest them. So my time was taken up with classes in the morning. In the afternoon I started my job, nothing difficult at all. I help Jason, the BCA director and professor, out with his American culture class. We introduced ourselves, talked about where we were from, and helped students identify the 50 states. It was a blast, and it'll be fun when holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving come. What I'm especially looking forward to is next week, when we explore the unique American delicacy, Peanut Butter and Jelly!
Wednesday was spent on schoolwork and classes, in the morning. However, in the afternoon I went out and bought Monopoly for my host parents. My otousan Hiro had played it in his youth, and my okaasan Yasuko was keenly interested in the game. I won, but Yasuko claims she has a killer strategy she'll beat me with, and Hiro claims he won't drink as much before we play next time (every number he rolled he routinely declared a lucky number).
Thursday was spent in class, and at home. Nothing incredible happened, except discussion of my host family's small vacation they would be going on starting Friday and ending Sunday.
Friday I had breakfast with my host parents, and then they left for their trip. Subsequent to that, the only visitors aside from myself I've ever noticed my host parents had came and tried to find out why some strange Gaijin was living where Hiro and Yasuko should be. My limited but rapidly growing vocabulary and grammar did not include how to say, "They're on vacation."
Today, I wrote this.
Now I'm up to date, and so are you.
Sunday I went with my host family to the ANA Open. There we saw some amazing golfers, joked about what would happen if I tried to golf, and contributed a little money to charity. I also got a hat out of the deal, nifty!
Monday was a holiday, so I didn't have school. Having beat the living daylights out of Jump Superstars for the DS, I moved on to my next crazy japanese only title, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! I spent most of the day playing it, not my original intent. My host parents had gone out in the morning for some golf practice, and claimed they'd be back at 3. They didn't get back until 6, after I had tried to call their cell phones (and heard them ring in the apartment) and watched some news to see if they'd gotten hurt in a car crash or something. I pushed aside my worries with Ouendan, which was a highly addictive game.
Tuesday I didn't play any Ouendan, or most of the rest of the week for that matter. Not because the game is bad, it's incredibly fun, but because my arm wouldn't be able to take it. The act of spinning a point scoring ying yang repeatedly wore out some muscles near my elbow, and I decided it would be good to rest them. So my time was taken up with classes in the morning. In the afternoon I started my job, nothing difficult at all. I help Jason, the BCA director and professor, out with his American culture class. We introduced ourselves, talked about where we were from, and helped students identify the 50 states. It was a blast, and it'll be fun when holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving come. What I'm especially looking forward to is next week, when we explore the unique American delicacy, Peanut Butter and Jelly!
Wednesday was spent on schoolwork and classes, in the morning. However, in the afternoon I went out and bought Monopoly for my host parents. My otousan Hiro had played it in his youth, and my okaasan Yasuko was keenly interested in the game. I won, but Yasuko claims she has a killer strategy she'll beat me with, and Hiro claims he won't drink as much before we play next time (every number he rolled he routinely declared a lucky number).
Thursday was spent in class, and at home. Nothing incredible happened, except discussion of my host family's small vacation they would be going on starting Friday and ending Sunday.
Friday I had breakfast with my host parents, and then they left for their trip. Subsequent to that, the only visitors aside from myself I've ever noticed my host parents had came and tried to find out why some strange Gaijin was living where Hiro and Yasuko should be. My limited but rapidly growing vocabulary and grammar did not include how to say, "They're on vacation."
Today, I wrote this.
Now I'm up to date, and so are you.
20050916
Nintendo PWNs the Controller
Forgive the internet speak title, but that is my reaction to this.
Basically, I couldn't have dreamed for better. I tried really hard I did. But this is the most singly awesome and amazing thing Nintendo has done since the Legend of Zelda. I had thought to myself at somepoint, "If Nintendo allowed you to aim lightgun style at the TV, that would rock and help out some of my neat ideas for a FPS". However, I figured that was fanciful dreaming. Incredibly, it was not.
Honestly, my money's on Nintendo, literally. The college here gave me $700 to buy a train pass that would last me the year. However, I live a five minute walk from the college. The BCA director told me flat out I should just pocket the money. I did, but not until after I bought a Nintendo DS (some other students here had them, which tipped the decision), and cheap too. While I've only played one game in depth (Jump Superstars, basically Super Smash Bros. gone Manga), it's one heck of a game. I'm only planning on buying games here that I couldn't get in America, but I may end up buying an entire RPG just so that I have something to force me to practice Japanese at home (Lunar is looking pretty). Other technology I have bought is a temporary cell phone so that my host family and others in Japan can contact me, and an electronic dictionary for translating Japanese (and even Kanji).
Anyway, as I said my money's on Nintendo. The Xbox 360 will be nice, the PS3's sure to do well, but right now Nintendo is golden. Even if other publishers create terribly crappy games which mangle the new control structure, Nintendo is certain to make games so intuitive you'll swear they took apart the human genome to figure out genetic predispositions of control preference. The only possible failure I can see at this point is if Nintendo releases the Revolution to far after its competitors, or if the Revolution is significantly behind graphically. I don't expect the latter, but the former is a small possibility that could be disasterous. While the Revolution is bound to generate interest, at the very least long time gamers might err on the side of familiarity if they have to wait a long time for the Revolution.
In any case, I think it's safe to say at this point that the Xbox 360 will not be able to adaquately mimic this. Any such copycatting would require an expensive addon to an already expensive system. Gamers can be die hard, but there is a point where the infeasibility of things takes over. Sony could pull something together, but unless they delay their launch date, I doubt anything adaquate could be generated in time for the PS3's debut, and the games that have been in developement for both competing consoles will certainly not be able to adaquately incorperate any such addition even were it incredibly well made.
My hands are already itching to get my hands on the new controller.
Lastly, I programmed the Zelda Intro Theme into my temporary cell phone from sheet music.
Rock on.
Basically, I couldn't have dreamed for better. I tried really hard I did. But this is the most singly awesome and amazing thing Nintendo has done since the Legend of Zelda. I had thought to myself at somepoint, "If Nintendo allowed you to aim lightgun style at the TV, that would rock and help out some of my neat ideas for a FPS". However, I figured that was fanciful dreaming. Incredibly, it was not.
Honestly, my money's on Nintendo, literally. The college here gave me $700 to buy a train pass that would last me the year. However, I live a five minute walk from the college. The BCA director told me flat out I should just pocket the money. I did, but not until after I bought a Nintendo DS (some other students here had them, which tipped the decision), and cheap too. While I've only played one game in depth (Jump Superstars, basically Super Smash Bros. gone Manga), it's one heck of a game. I'm only planning on buying games here that I couldn't get in America, but I may end up buying an entire RPG just so that I have something to force me to practice Japanese at home (Lunar is looking pretty). Other technology I have bought is a temporary cell phone so that my host family and others in Japan can contact me, and an electronic dictionary for translating Japanese (and even Kanji).
Anyway, as I said my money's on Nintendo. The Xbox 360 will be nice, the PS3's sure to do well, but right now Nintendo is golden. Even if other publishers create terribly crappy games which mangle the new control structure, Nintendo is certain to make games so intuitive you'll swear they took apart the human genome to figure out genetic predispositions of control preference. The only possible failure I can see at this point is if Nintendo releases the Revolution to far after its competitors, or if the Revolution is significantly behind graphically. I don't expect the latter, but the former is a small possibility that could be disasterous. While the Revolution is bound to generate interest, at the very least long time gamers might err on the side of familiarity if they have to wait a long time for the Revolution.
In any case, I think it's safe to say at this point that the Xbox 360 will not be able to adaquately mimic this. Any such copycatting would require an expensive addon to an already expensive system. Gamers can be die hard, but there is a point where the infeasibility of things takes over. Sony could pull something together, but unless they delay their launch date, I doubt anything adaquate could be generated in time for the PS3's debut, and the games that have been in developement for both competing consoles will certainly not be able to adaquately incorperate any such addition even were it incredibly well made.
My hands are already itching to get my hands on the new controller.
Lastly, I programmed the Zelda Intro Theme into my temporary cell phone from sheet music.
Rock on.
20050915
PBJless
Here in Japan, the classic Kevin staple of PBJs for lunch every day is simply too much work to accomplish. It's not that I can't get them, it's just that going to all the work of finding the necessary ingredients in a place where peanut butter is rarely used, jelly sparingly, and bread very little at all, is a little too much for my lazy butt. That and I don't know how to say, "I'm a lazy foreigner, can you tell me where X is?" yet.
However, I believe I've found viable substitutes to replace the PBJs and heaping bowls of Macaroni and Cheese I'm missing out on. Instead of PBJs, a nice plate of Curry Rice has been hitting the spot. In place of Macaroni, Ramen has been excellent. This isn't the pansy Ramen that my sister lived on through college. This is a huge heaping bowl of delicious broth, filled with noodles, veggies, meats and seasonings. It looks like a work of art, and tastes like one too.
My host mother (okaasan) is an excellent cook. My breakfasts and dinners are incredible meals. I eat everything I can, it's all so delicious. I need to start asking for names so that when I return to the states I can identify these dishes at exotic asian restaurants.
A brief list of foods I would never have touched before but now eat readily. Eggplant, peaches, pears, prunes, tomatoes (as a tomatoe, not a sauce), cabbage, and all sorts of japanese vegetables, miso soup, and more. I really need to start identifying these things I'm eating.
I hope your meals are as delicious as mine!
However, I believe I've found viable substitutes to replace the PBJs and heaping bowls of Macaroni and Cheese I'm missing out on. Instead of PBJs, a nice plate of Curry Rice has been hitting the spot. In place of Macaroni, Ramen has been excellent. This isn't the pansy Ramen that my sister lived on through college. This is a huge heaping bowl of delicious broth, filled with noodles, veggies, meats and seasonings. It looks like a work of art, and tastes like one too.
My host mother (okaasan) is an excellent cook. My breakfasts and dinners are incredible meals. I eat everything I can, it's all so delicious. I need to start asking for names so that when I return to the states I can identify these dishes at exotic asian restaurants.
A brief list of foods I would never have touched before but now eat readily. Eggplant, peaches, pears, prunes, tomatoes (as a tomatoe, not a sauce), cabbage, and all sorts of japanese vegetables, miso soup, and more. I really need to start identifying these things I'm eating.
I hope your meals are as delicious as mine!
20050907
Conspiracy
I continue to deny any part in the recent typhoons in Japan. I had nothing to do with the one that hit Nagoya just as I flew out of the airport there for Sapporo, zero influence on the one that hit the Fuji region that prevented my climbing that great mountain, and certainly not any affect on the one that smashed through the Hiroshima region just after I left there and subsequently followed me up to Hokkaido.
It's all lies I say! Lies!
In other news, a short psuedo haiku.
Deep puddle.
Did not see. Wet foot.
Sadness.
It's all lies I say! Lies!
In other news, a short psuedo haiku.
Deep puddle.
Did not see. Wet foot.
Sadness.
20050903
Definately Still in Japan
For those of you who were wondering, I was not in anyway responsible for either of the typhoons that have visited Japan since my arrival. Don't believe what the news says.
In other news, some people can get so embedded in their own arguments, shouting the phrase, "Dear Lord! Help me my pants are on fire!" very sincerely won't phase them from continuing to bonk heads over whether a laquered box counts as art when defining art itself has been the migrane of philosophers since the dawn of time, or at least the afterbreakfast of time.
In any case, I'm having fun here. And you're not. HAH!
More when I have more consistant internet access.
In other news, some people can get so embedded in their own arguments, shouting the phrase, "Dear Lord! Help me my pants are on fire!" very sincerely won't phase them from continuing to bonk heads over whether a laquered box counts as art when defining art itself has been the migrane of philosophers since the dawn of time, or at least the afterbreakfast of time.
In any case, I'm having fun here. And you're not. HAH!
More when I have more consistant internet access.
20050827
Still in Japan
I'll be leaving on my tour of Japan tomorrow. I'll be visiting Hiroshima, climbing Fuji, chilling in Tokyo and more. I also won't be posting here, given that the likelihood of having a computer with internet access is zero.
When I get back, classes ensue (twelve hours of Japanese a week! Not including homework) and hopefully I will be able to join the Kendo club!
Cya in two weeks!
When I get back, classes ensue (twelve hours of Japanese a week! Not including homework) and hopefully I will be able to join the Kendo club!
Cya in two weeks!
20050825
Ohayou gozaimasu!
I'm in Japan!
I don't have much time to spare on this post, but I thought that I would let you all know that I didn't die in a ball of fire and death.
In any case, I hope I'll get the opportunity to post pictures. My camera finger is twitching like crazy to get shutterbugging.
I look forwards to talking to as many of you as I can!
I don't have much time to spare on this post, but I thought that I would let you all know that I didn't die in a ball of fire and death.
In any case, I hope I'll get the opportunity to post pictures. My camera finger is twitching like crazy to get shutterbugging.
I look forwards to talking to as many of you as I can!
20050823
Nani?
Jet lag ho!
I'm off to Japan tomorrow. I'll be leaving the house around 6AM, flying to Detroit around 8:30, arriving around Noon, and then leaving for Japan around 4, and then arriving in Japan around 9pm....the next day. I'm not even sure what all the time zones are for that, so don't ask me.
In any case, I'll probably be out of touch with you all for at least the first two weeks, during which I'll be flittering about Japan on tour. After which I'll actually start classes at the university. Then I'm pretty sure there'll be at least one computer somewhere that I can use for e-mail and other forms of communication with the important people back home.
A lot of people have asked me to do various things for them while I'm there. While I hope to do some of them, I have no idea what it'll be like there and can guarantee very little. I'm afraid I have to give priority to those who have provided the brunt of the financial backing of this trip, nameless they shall remain (though you can probably guess who).
I won't say sayonara, because that's a very final farewell in japanese. Sort of like saying the kind of goodbye where you'll never see someone again.
Cya around!
I'm off to Japan tomorrow. I'll be leaving the house around 6AM, flying to Detroit around 8:30, arriving around Noon, and then leaving for Japan around 4, and then arriving in Japan around 9pm....the next day. I'm not even sure what all the time zones are for that, so don't ask me.
In any case, I'll probably be out of touch with you all for at least the first two weeks, during which I'll be flittering about Japan on tour. After which I'll actually start classes at the university. Then I'm pretty sure there'll be at least one computer somewhere that I can use for e-mail and other forms of communication with the important people back home.
A lot of people have asked me to do various things for them while I'm there. While I hope to do some of them, I have no idea what it'll be like there and can guarantee very little. I'm afraid I have to give priority to those who have provided the brunt of the financial backing of this trip, nameless they shall remain (though you can probably guess who).
I won't say sayonara, because that's a very final farewell in japanese. Sort of like saying the kind of goodbye where you'll never see someone again.
Cya around!
20050821
All good things...
...taste like chicken?
It's been a while since I've updated, in fact this has been a recent trend. I have several reasons for this, all of which I deem very much worthwhile.
The first reason has been the recent visit of my dear sister and brother-in-law. We've had a blast of a time, camping, playing games, hiking mountains, and fiddling around with my nifty new digital camera which I got for...
The second reason, my upcoming trip to Japan. I have had a lot of preparation to do for it, and there will be much, much more to do in the coming days. It's very lucky that my World of WarCraft subscription runs out today, because...
The third reason is World of WarCraft. I've been playing that in my spare time, and it's made me forgetful when it comes to this blog.
In any case, I've got all of the necessary materials for my trip. A digital camera (thoroughly tested), free time (as vacated by World of WarCraft) and determination. I suppose tickets, a visa, an international student ID card, money and such are all important as well.
Speaking of tickets, Northwest Airlines was supposedly going to have a strike this weekend. This puts my trip in some jeopardy, but not much. The strike should end by Monday, leaving my Wednesday flight safe and sound. I'll be getting a phonecall tomorrow in regards to that.
In closing I will be updating this blog while I'm in Japan. How often I don't know, but it'll certainly be far more often than my friend does his. Anyone who ever looks at the Rightward bound link should know that AJ updates his blog about as often as I decry video games as a bane to humanity.
It's been a while since I've updated, in fact this has been a recent trend. I have several reasons for this, all of which I deem very much worthwhile.
The first reason has been the recent visit of my dear sister and brother-in-law. We've had a blast of a time, camping, playing games, hiking mountains, and fiddling around with my nifty new digital camera which I got for...
The second reason, my upcoming trip to Japan. I have had a lot of preparation to do for it, and there will be much, much more to do in the coming days. It's very lucky that my World of WarCraft subscription runs out today, because...
The third reason is World of WarCraft. I've been playing that in my spare time, and it's made me forgetful when it comes to this blog.
In any case, I've got all of the necessary materials for my trip. A digital camera (thoroughly tested), free time (as vacated by World of WarCraft) and determination. I suppose tickets, a visa, an international student ID card, money and such are all important as well.
Speaking of tickets, Northwest Airlines was supposedly going to have a strike this weekend. This puts my trip in some jeopardy, but not much. The strike should end by Monday, leaving my Wednesday flight safe and sound. I'll be getting a phonecall tomorrow in regards to that.
In closing I will be updating this blog while I'm in Japan. How often I don't know, but it'll certainly be far more often than my friend does his. Anyone who ever looks at the Rightward bound link should know that AJ updates his blog about as often as I decry video games as a bane to humanity.
20050811
Bonk
That's what happened to my internet starting friday, the day I was going to talk about the success of my eBay auctions. I only recently got internet back, but I've been busy as well. Thus, I've been somewhat delayed in my posting here.
In any case, the auctions were successful, netting me around $200. I actually shipped the items just now, and only barely. I had exactly enough cash on me to ship everything, and it took me an hour and fifteen minutes at the post office to get everything ready to be shipped. I'm a real newbie methinks.
In any case (again), I still haven't had any problems with my computer, happy day!
Lastly, tomorrow I'll be picking up my Visa for going to Japan. I still need to plan out how I'm going to parcel out my spending money while I'm there, but one thing at a time.
Hope everything is going well with you!
In any case, the auctions were successful, netting me around $200. I actually shipped the items just now, and only barely. I had exactly enough cash on me to ship everything, and it took me an hour and fifteen minutes at the post office to get everything ready to be shipped. I'm a real newbie methinks.
In any case (again), I still haven't had any problems with my computer, happy day!
Lastly, tomorrow I'll be picking up my Visa for going to Japan. I still need to plan out how I'm going to parcel out my spending money while I'm there, but one thing at a time.
Hope everything is going well with you!
20050729
Shameless Plug!
Bwahahahaha!
I don't know why, but for some reason that seemed appropriate.
Anyway...
I think I'll keep spacing out this post in this unique, per sentence fashion.
As it is, the reason for this particular entry into my journal of me is the listing of three wonderful items for sale on eBay!
That's right, YOU could be the proud owner of something I've already graced with my merest touch.
I'm auctioning off three anime DVD sets that I didn't really care for, and didn't relate to well.
Two are of the same series, and are probably as child friendly as they come.
The other is most definately adult.
In any case, all the formatting I had to do to make my auctions pretty made me sick of paragraphs and html for a while.
Hence the weirdness.
In conclusion, any interested parties should follow the below links (which upon conclusion will be print screened and hosted somewhere so that in years hence there aren't a plethora of dead ebay related links lying around here).
Heaven forbid slashdot go under, my blog linkage would be ruined!
Magic Knight Rayearth Season 1
Magic Knight Rayearth Season 2
Neon Genesis Evangelion
I realize some of you may be disappointed to see I did not include Trigun or Cowboy Bebop amoung the auctions.
My only response is, why would I want to sell anything so wildly awesome as Trigun or Cowboy Bebop?
Have fun!
I don't know why, but for some reason that seemed appropriate.
Anyway...
I think I'll keep spacing out this post in this unique, per sentence fashion.
As it is, the reason for this particular entry into my journal of me is the listing of three wonderful items for sale on eBay!
That's right, YOU could be the proud owner of something I've already graced with my merest touch.
I'm auctioning off three anime DVD sets that I didn't really care for, and didn't relate to well.
Two are of the same series, and are probably as child friendly as they come.
The other is most definately adult.
In any case, all the formatting I had to do to make my auctions pretty made me sick of paragraphs and html for a while.
Hence the weirdness.
In conclusion, any interested parties should follow the below links (which upon conclusion will be print screened and hosted somewhere so that in years hence there aren't a plethora of dead ebay related links lying around here).
Heaven forbid slashdot go under, my blog linkage would be ruined!
Magic Knight Rayearth Season 1
Magic Knight Rayearth Season 2
Neon Genesis Evangelion
I realize some of you may be disappointed to see I did not include Trigun or Cowboy Bebop amoung the auctions.
My only response is, why would I want to sell anything so wildly awesome as Trigun or Cowboy Bebop?
Have fun!
20050727
Waiting
Exactly why I have patience, I'm not sure. This isn't a why in the sense of patience shouldn't be had, by a why in the sense of why have I been blessed with a sizable sum of that particular attribute. Even that isn't entirely fair, because my patience can be selective, and is shorter in some areas than others.
In any case, to some degree I suspect my patience comes from my longstanding relationship with Blizzard, the makers of WarCraft, StarCraft and Diablo. Anyone who has ever waiting for an upcoming Blizzard game can not but know that being a fan of Blizzard requires being a fan of waiting.
Example 1: StarCraft. The Mac version was released well after the PC version, causing me to have to wait an addition six months before I could get the game.
Example 2: Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. A particular feature, Rune Words, was only partially implemented at launch, and it took years before it was finally finished fully.
Example 3: WarCraft III. This game was delayed by about a year or more (such that the Blizzard website claimed they were aiming for X release date, a month after it had passed).
Example 4: StarCraft: Ghost. This particular example will better reveal to you how the process actually works. A lot of the details for the previous examples were really foggy for me, but the waiting was very similar to the following details. StarCraft: Ghost was announced through waiting. Literally, the entrance to Blizzard's website, for twenty four hours, was this image that slowly grew more clear as time went on, along with a countdown to midnight PST. At that point, the release date was slated to be the Christmas of my Freshman year of college. Come November, that date was pushed back to February. Come February it was pushed back to April. That March, I preordered the game (and still have the preorder). However, come April the game was again delayed, this time until June. Come May, the game was delayed until November. As the summer ended, Blizzard's partner in the game left, and the game was delayed indefinately. Now, it will be while I am in Japan (fat lot of good that preorder will do me now) this Fall that the game will finally be released, a full three years after the initial projected date.
Understand that the examples prior to 4 worked in very similar ways. This is how Blizzard is training a generation of gamers to be patient.
In any case, yesterday I learned that every Tuesday there is maintainance on the servers for World of WarCraft. I also learned that, much like release dates, the time when the maintainance will be finished is usually much later than projected. In a similar way to the waits for the Mac versions of their software (that ended after Blizzard released WarCraft III as a Mac/PC hybrid CD) all of the servers I play on had special, extended maintainance.
So, I had to wait, a lot.
The good thing is, my past experience with Blizzard trained me to do something constructive in the meantime. I wasn't a part of the millions of frothing gamers refreshmonkeying Blizzard's website showing the current status of the servers. Out of curiousity, I tried to connect to the site a few times, but it might as well have been a denial of service attack, there were so many people holding their breaths (and occaisionally lapsing into unconciousness for holding too long).
It really isn't surprising then that as of this very sentence being typed, my servers are still down.
So, I must continue to be patient. And so I leave you with this brief quip (added to my random quotes).
Me: I need to exercise patience.
Friend: Indeed.
Me: Darn you patience! You need to lose wait.
In any case, to some degree I suspect my patience comes from my longstanding relationship with Blizzard, the makers of WarCraft, StarCraft and Diablo. Anyone who has ever waiting for an upcoming Blizzard game can not but know that being a fan of Blizzard requires being a fan of waiting.
Example 1: StarCraft. The Mac version was released well after the PC version, causing me to have to wait an addition six months before I could get the game.
Example 2: Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. A particular feature, Rune Words, was only partially implemented at launch, and it took years before it was finally finished fully.
Example 3: WarCraft III. This game was delayed by about a year or more (such that the Blizzard website claimed they were aiming for X release date, a month after it had passed).
Example 4: StarCraft: Ghost. This particular example will better reveal to you how the process actually works. A lot of the details for the previous examples were really foggy for me, but the waiting was very similar to the following details. StarCraft: Ghost was announced through waiting. Literally, the entrance to Blizzard's website, for twenty four hours, was this image that slowly grew more clear as time went on, along with a countdown to midnight PST. At that point, the release date was slated to be the Christmas of my Freshman year of college. Come November, that date was pushed back to February. Come February it was pushed back to April. That March, I preordered the game (and still have the preorder). However, come April the game was again delayed, this time until June. Come May, the game was delayed until November. As the summer ended, Blizzard's partner in the game left, and the game was delayed indefinately. Now, it will be while I am in Japan (fat lot of good that preorder will do me now) this Fall that the game will finally be released, a full three years after the initial projected date.
Understand that the examples prior to 4 worked in very similar ways. This is how Blizzard is training a generation of gamers to be patient.
In any case, yesterday I learned that every Tuesday there is maintainance on the servers for World of WarCraft. I also learned that, much like release dates, the time when the maintainance will be finished is usually much later than projected. In a similar way to the waits for the Mac versions of their software (that ended after Blizzard released WarCraft III as a Mac/PC hybrid CD) all of the servers I play on had special, extended maintainance.
So, I had to wait, a lot.
The good thing is, my past experience with Blizzard trained me to do something constructive in the meantime. I wasn't a part of the millions of frothing gamers refreshmonkeying Blizzard's website showing the current status of the servers. Out of curiousity, I tried to connect to the site a few times, but it might as well have been a denial of service attack, there were so many people holding their breaths (and occaisionally lapsing into unconciousness for holding too long).
It really isn't surprising then that as of this very sentence being typed, my servers are still down.
So, I must continue to be patient. And so I leave you with this brief quip (added to my random quotes).
Me: I need to exercise patience.
Friend: Indeed.
Me: Darn you patience! You need to lose wait.
20050725
Ill Omens
The Good News: There probably isn't anything wrong with my windows installation, probably.
The Bad News: There probably is a lot wrong with my RAID array, probably.
Basically, these blue screens of death I've been getting appear everytime one of my hard drives vanishes. When I saw vanishes, I mean it can no longer be detected by my motherboard. I do not know why this is yet, but I do know that it is A) a pain and B) a very, very big problem. Until I can crash my system enough to understand what hard drives are being problematic and which aren't, or even if it is a matter of any particular hard drive at all, I'm not going to bother reinstalling World of WarCraft (whose blue screen of death tendency may really be because the greatest amount of running time on Raijin is spent on it), or installing developement tools.
In any case, I've got an hour now to wait for my RAID array to be rebuilt, again. I have several suspicions as to why this is happening.
1) I'm not clearing out the drives that are being problematic when I rebuild, resulting in conflicting data and thus crashes.
2) One or two of my hard drives are on the fritz, and will require replacement.
3) Things have just been generally screwed up with my installation of, everything, and will need to be redone from scratch, at which point I might as well retry things with that RAID card that screwed everything up in the first place.
Obviously, these are listed in order from what I hope is the case, to what I fear is the case.
Get well soon, Raijin. :(
The Bad News: There probably is a lot wrong with my RAID array, probably.
Basically, these blue screens of death I've been getting appear everytime one of my hard drives vanishes. When I saw vanishes, I mean it can no longer be detected by my motherboard. I do not know why this is yet, but I do know that it is A) a pain and B) a very, very big problem. Until I can crash my system enough to understand what hard drives are being problematic and which aren't, or even if it is a matter of any particular hard drive at all, I'm not going to bother reinstalling World of WarCraft (whose blue screen of death tendency may really be because the greatest amount of running time on Raijin is spent on it), or installing developement tools.
In any case, I've got an hour now to wait for my RAID array to be rebuilt, again. I have several suspicions as to why this is happening.
1) I'm not clearing out the drives that are being problematic when I rebuild, resulting in conflicting data and thus crashes.
2) One or two of my hard drives are on the fritz, and will require replacement.
3) Things have just been generally screwed up with my installation of, everything, and will need to be redone from scratch, at which point I might as well retry things with that RAID card that screwed everything up in the first place.
Obviously, these are listed in order from what I hope is the case, to what I fear is the case.
Get well soon, Raijin. :(
20050724
r313371ng
Forgiving the title, here's an update.
My new computer, Raijin, is getting better. That's not to say I've been without problems, but I'm slowly killing them. There have been a couple RAID rebuilds (resultant of some random instances of hard drives being undetected, and a random split of the array), and some blue screens of death (my Dad tells me there are no blue screens of death in XP, I have tangible evidence to the contrary). In any case, the coming days will entail the following.
-An evaluation of whether I should reinstall XP (doesn't seem likely, but maybe)
-Reinstalling World of WarCraft (current chief blue screener)
-Installing Dev C++ (for programming purposes)
-Not reinstalling that demonic RAID card that screwed everything up
-Finding a different way to install a CD-ROM
However, at the moment I'm pretty content with how things are. Everything that is left is pretty inconsequential. So unless I continue to get odd stuff happening with my RAID array (the random array split, and missing hard incident post-rebuild have me worried) everything should be fine.
In other news, wish my Dad a happy birthday!
My new computer, Raijin, is getting better. That's not to say I've been without problems, but I'm slowly killing them. There have been a couple RAID rebuilds (resultant of some random instances of hard drives being undetected, and a random split of the array), and some blue screens of death (my Dad tells me there are no blue screens of death in XP, I have tangible evidence to the contrary). In any case, the coming days will entail the following.
-An evaluation of whether I should reinstall XP (doesn't seem likely, but maybe)
-Reinstalling World of WarCraft (current chief blue screener)
-Installing Dev C++ (for programming purposes)
-Not reinstalling that demonic RAID card that screwed everything up
-Finding a different way to install a CD-ROM
However, at the moment I'm pretty content with how things are. Everything that is left is pretty inconsequential. So unless I continue to get odd stuff happening with my RAID array (the random array split, and missing hard incident post-rebuild have me worried) everything should be fine.
In other news, wish my Dad a happy birthday!
20050720
Anger Management
Right now, I am a coiled ball of malice and hatred ready to explode into an infinite dimension of pain and suffering for whoever created the expansion card I plugged into my 1337 computer at approximately three PM today. Here's why.
My 1337 computer, in all its glory, had its beautiful RAID array utterly dismantled by the evil bastard of a piece of eletronics. Upon plugging the little devil of a PATA slot giving card into my PCI slot, it proceeded to attempt to supercede my motherboard by claiming to be the PATA slots the motherboard itself had.
This resulted in incredible confusion, during which my motherboard completely disassembled my RAID array and became generally screwed up. Actually, screwed up is barely an adaquate description of what happened, later...
In any case, I quickly found that by unplugging the malevolent card, my computer could once again boot properly. Seeing this, I tried to install drivers for my last and surely not least (in terms of pure suffering it has laid upon me) component. Upon doing so and hooking up the beast again, the problem only got worse.
I unplugged the beast again, only to find that instead of one healthy RAID array, my hard disks were now split into two RAID 0+1 arrays. Aside from the obvious (to geeks anyway) fact that it is impossible to have a 0+1 RAID array with only two hard drives, there was an immediate "What the...?" followed by a rather large increase in stress as well as the desire to do to my destroyer what the guys from Office Space did to that printer.
After two hours of toil, I was finally able to piece my RAID array back together, and boot up properly. However, just now as my RAID array was rebuilding, I tried to run an application, and the whole computer crashed hard. Now, upon booting, the BIOS sits around forever trying to detect the RAID array (and never stops). Hell, what does it matter anymore seeing as how the registry entries for every program on my computer were screwed up by this as it was.
In any case, Me is not a happy Me at the moment.
On a happier note, because you've had to deal with my current fury, God bless you.
My 1337 computer, in all its glory, had its beautiful RAID array utterly dismantled by the evil bastard of a piece of eletronics. Upon plugging the little devil of a PATA slot giving card into my PCI slot, it proceeded to attempt to supercede my motherboard by claiming to be the PATA slots the motherboard itself had.
This resulted in incredible confusion, during which my motherboard completely disassembled my RAID array and became generally screwed up. Actually, screwed up is barely an adaquate description of what happened, later...
In any case, I quickly found that by unplugging the malevolent card, my computer could once again boot properly. Seeing this, I tried to install drivers for my last and surely not least (in terms of pure suffering it has laid upon me) component. Upon doing so and hooking up the beast again, the problem only got worse.
I unplugged the beast again, only to find that instead of one healthy RAID array, my hard disks were now split into two RAID 0+1 arrays. Aside from the obvious (to geeks anyway) fact that it is impossible to have a 0+1 RAID array with only two hard drives, there was an immediate "What the...?" followed by a rather large increase in stress as well as the desire to do to my destroyer what the guys from Office Space did to that printer.
After two hours of toil, I was finally able to piece my RAID array back together, and boot up properly. However, just now as my RAID array was rebuilding, I tried to run an application, and the whole computer crashed hard. Now, upon booting, the BIOS sits around forever trying to detect the RAID array (and never stops). Hell, what does it matter anymore seeing as how the registry entries for every program on my computer were screwed up by this as it was.
In any case, Me is not a happy Me at the moment.
On a happier note, because you've had to deal with my current fury, God bless you.
20050718
1337 5k33lz
Booyaka.
Right now I'm writing this using my 1337 new computer, Raijin (God of Lighting). It is truly 1337, and I can not stress how awesome it truly is. Hopefully some of you will get a firsthand look in the coming month before I go to Japan.
In any case, the only missing link is the expansion card that will allow me to install my CD/DVD-ROM drive, thus giving me access to my vast collection of Blizzard games and other ones as well. Until it arrives (either this afternoon or tomorrow) I'll have to content myself with Counter Strike.
I toiled long and hard on this, and I came out with something awesome. A lot of kudos go to God, for keeping me from destroying my computer parts accidentally, and granting me keen insight into the incredible lack of information in the manual for my motherboard, and the complete lack of a manual for the computer case. Surely it was he that allowed me to so easily find that forum that explained away my confusion concerning setting up RAID with my motherboard.
My Dad now claims he and everyone else will now come to me with any hardware related computer trouble. I don't know if that's wise...
Anyway, time to save some hostages.
Right now I'm writing this using my 1337 new computer, Raijin (God of Lighting). It is truly 1337, and I can not stress how awesome it truly is. Hopefully some of you will get a firsthand look in the coming month before I go to Japan.
In any case, the only missing link is the expansion card that will allow me to install my CD/DVD-ROM drive, thus giving me access to my vast collection of Blizzard games and other ones as well. Until it arrives (either this afternoon or tomorrow) I'll have to content myself with Counter Strike.
I toiled long and hard on this, and I came out with something awesome. A lot of kudos go to God, for keeping me from destroying my computer parts accidentally, and granting me keen insight into the incredible lack of information in the manual for my motherboard, and the complete lack of a manual for the computer case. Surely it was he that allowed me to so easily find that forum that explained away my confusion concerning setting up RAID with my motherboard.
My Dad now claims he and everyone else will now come to me with any hardware related computer trouble. I don't know if that's wise...
Anyway, time to save some hostages.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
