January 2006 Archives

I thought I would post why I have lacked on posts and working on the site lately. Well my Dell Inspiron 5160 that I purchased in October of 2004 has a power socket issue (it won't power at all). Dell admits it is a common problem, I know this because Fred (as he named himself) from Dell of India said it was known to have problems. My warranty ran out at the end of October in 2005. Even though Dell admits to producing laptops with the problem (Inspiron 5150, 5160, etc.) they will not fix it. I think this is horrible customer service and should realize their engineering mistakes and correct the problem.

I may end up opening the laptop myself and use my Pro soldering skills to see if I can fix it up. Anyways, this link was very helpful in my research of my problem. As well as this link. I will say, Dell will never sell me another laptop. Not after this problem, I don't sink hundreds of dollars into a piece of equipment that lasts a little over a year and then shits on you.

/End of my rant

The comic is up on time for once. I really don't have any other news, other than I'm still looking for a job and that I'm too sleepy to find anything witty or fun to post as a link.

Nintendo has revealed the Nintendo DS Lite.
Quote:

"Nintendo President Satoru Iwata today announced Nintendo DS Lite, a slimmer version of the best-selling Nintendo DS™. Also featuring brighter screens, Nintendo DS Lite will launch in Japan in March. Nintendo DS Lite will be less than two-thirds the size of the original Nintendo DS and more than 20 percent lighter.

Nintendo DS has enjoyed extremely strong sales in Japan and around the world, selling more than 14.4 million units worldwide. The Japanese sell-through of the existing Nintendo DS hardware exceeded 5 million within 13 months, which made Nintendo DS the fastest-selling video game system there.

Nintendo will announce more information about the availability of Nintendo DS Lite in North America and other territories in the future."

More pictures can be found here.

The comic is up. Right now, the comic will be created in a story-arc based form. I know this basically will end almost all of the gaming jokes, but with better art and story-telling, I feel this will be more enjoyable. Plus there are only a few game jokes left that are not being touched on by Penny Arcade and VG Cats. As funny as the Dead Aeris Float, Venom and School Girls, and Robocest seemed to me, I figured it was time to just try creating stories instead of just producing quick three panel jokes.

Edit: Just one further note. I'm pretty sure this is and will continue to be a gaming related site. I still plan on posting game reviews every now and then. The only thing that changed was the comic I draw.

This seems pretty interesting.

Some may have noticed my lack of posts on the site lately. It partially has to do with my DellTop, as I call it. I have an Inspiron 5160 and it's plagued by a broken socket. At first I thought it was the actual cable itself and bought one off EBay, but that didn't solve the issue. After some research I noticed I wasn't the only person affected by this. It seems the socket is soldered onto the motherboard and becomes loose after months of use. Well, luckily I found a number to call and complain to and supposedly they will fix it for free (after warranty). So hopefully I can get that arranged in a few days.

In other news, I still receive emails about the TGZ Wavebird Mod. Some emails are just "Thank You" and "Great Mod," but some people have decent questions. So I am working on an FAQ for the mod. Hopefully that will be done soon, but then again, my laptop isn't being very cooperative.

I also plan on making a Flickr page. It will include random and not so random pictures that I feel like sharing. And maybe, a little peak into the personal life of Ryo.

The comic is up. Panels 2-4 feature the new style I'm going to be using. Since I'm looking for a job, I figured that I should have the comics reflect a little more of my ability than just something I could whip up in a day. Hopefully this doesn't mean I jumped any sharks.

A NEW Harvest Moon is being developed for the Sony PSP. I am not sure what happened to the other Harvest Moon title that we posted a while back. Anyways, this one (complete with screen shots) looks a little different from the previous titles. The game seems have the overhead view and a 3rd person view like in "A Wonderful Life" and older versions of the game. The last few screenshots looks like your character will get a four-wheeler type of ATV, which would be the first vehicle of it's kind in the series. Not much else is known right now. I am hoping for a USA release and will post as more game info is released.

The SSX on Tour review is up. It wasn't the worst game I played in 2005, so EA lucks out there. However, I'm still mad at them for the crap they created with Batman Begins and Marvel Nemesis. So EA, stick with sports. Otherwise, stop trying to create superhero or action games.

As with most sports games there is little to no replay value, few level innovations, and not much in growing game play. SSX On Tour sees no need to change the tradition. While the game is fun and entertaining in the early events, by the time you reach the semi-pro rank the game becomes another episode of “beat the dead horse”.

The controls are pretty straight forward and easy to learn, which makes the learning curve less irritating. However, don’t expect the controls and abilities to grow as the game goes on. But other than the difficulty of trying to start grinding a rail, the controls are pretty solid.

As for the game play, the game still needs work. Despite the varied types of missions, you’ll find yourself playing the same mission on the same stage doing the same thing over and over again. The only difference will be an increase in target parameters or a shorter time. As with most sports games, this is difficult to get around. And because it is a snowboarding game, the player will be constantly going down a snow side mountain that will begin to look alike no matter how many differences in twists and turns are added.

The game’s graphics and sounds are actually well done. Aside from the occasional questionable taste in game music, I have really no complaints about the game. Nothing blew me away either, but nothing looked hideous either.

As for most games go, SSX On Tour is okay. I’d suggest it as a rental only, since the constant repeat of similar missions makes it suffer the famous “beating a dead horse” syndrome that the Tony Hawk games suffer. But otherwise it seems that EA has at least created a game that didn’t make me cringe. Perhaps they just fail at superhero games.

I know I'm 10 days too late for this, but here's the comic anyways. Odds are I'll be changing the style and story for the Game On comics in a week or two, so this may be the last weird game joke I do for a while. Also, I want to apologize for my lack of updates. Between the flu, holiday mess, job hunting, and finally getting to see my girlfriend again, I haven't been able to keep a weekly comic run very well. I'm going to see if I can get the comics back on time again with better quality. I'll post an SSX on Tour review tomorrow.

I'm pretty sick right now, so the New Year's comic won't be up until next week. I'll have a review for SSX on Tour as well. Now I got to go try to get some sore throat medicine. Funny thing is, I seem to get sick like this nearly every time I am going to meet my girlfriend's parents.

So, it turns out that I bought the Xbox 360 late last night. I read a few days ago that Wal-Mart was going to release a lot of 360s on New Year's day at mid-night. I called three local ones in town and they had no idea how many they were getting, but they would sell them at 12:01 am on Jan. 01, 2006.

Well, apparently spending New Year's isn't very fun or romantic (just kidding), so I had to wait until 3:00 am and figured no one would have any by then. At 3 am I called all three local Wal-Marts and all they had left over were the core systems. So I called a store about 35 minutes away and they said they had some. We showed promptly at 3:30 am and snagged one of the last two they had in stock. After browsing the games I selected Project Gotham Racing 3. Words can barely describe how good PGR3 looks, just unbelievable. I haven't had the chance to hook it up to an HDTV, but the next time I visit my parents, you can bet it will be hooked up to the 60" Grand Wega (drool).