Welcome to my home, NDS

So after years of debate and hours of last minute decisions, I finally went and bought myself a Nintendo DS! It really was a late decision too, they just announced the 3DS which is supposed to replace the DS line sometime next year! I considered waiting it out and getting the 3DS instead, but I figured I could sell my DS when the time comes.

I've always been a Sony guy, quite honestly, but I couldn't help but notice all the great games I wanted to play on the DS. The current DS emulation is pretty shaky, and takes away from the hands-on experience of the touch screen. Some great games of interest include The World Ends With You, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, and countless others. I'm waiting on the package now (its a used, polar white DS Lite), along with the Acekard 2 flash cart and a microSD card.

I considered the DSi as well, but I just want a pure gaming handheld and don't need any of the new features, all of which my PSP does infinitely better. I mean, a 0.3 megapixel camera? My phone has a better camera than that, and my phone is shit. And the DSiWare downloadable content is crap from what I can see. So all in all, I tried to spend as little money as I could, considering I'm waiting to buy a PS3 Slim is a couple of weeks. I'm packing up on gaming for my looong college summer.

Gundams of the Gundam 00 Movie

The designs of the new Gundams from the upcoming Gundam 00 movie, A Wakening of the Trailblazer, have been out for awhile and talk has been going on all over the Gundam blogging community. I've been meaning to comment on them as well, cause I'm also not too happy about them. First of all...

These are earlier designs of the four new Gundams. Small scale high grades are being produced by Bandai at the moment, so I'll talk about each one individually. Each one seems to have a design flaw that has plagued many models in the past, but they are all right there in your face. I don't know what they were thinking...

Here's Setsuna's new Gundam, the 00 Qan [T]. It looks like a subtle mix of the Exia and 00, with its main point being that massive shield on its shoulder. This one is, in my opinion, the best looking of the four. The thing is, you may see a potential problem with the gunpla. Depending on how sturdy the joints are, that shield is going to make its left arm sag, and possibly cause an imbalance (It'll TIP OVER). We'll see...

Next is Allelujah's new Gundam, the Harute. It's...okay. It's an improvement over the plain Arios, but it seems a bit overkill for an aerial type mobile suit. I mean, look at the size of those things on its back. It looks so tacked on (though its not as bad as the 00 Raiser). That's the main problem with the gunpla too; those things will give it the classic gunpla disease of BACK-HEAVY. Those skinny little legs won't be able to support the weight of its back-pack, though I'm thinking those massive guns will act as a counter-balance of some sort. I don't doubt Bandai's design, but it's just a bit weird...

Here's Lockon's new Gundam, the Zabanya. Again, it looks like an interesting mix of the Cherubim and the Dynames, but it still has that ugly boxy design of the Cherubim. Though, the first thing you'll notice are those massive...Bit things. The whole things just two big squares, looking really tacked on onto its back. These have the potential to give nightmarish frustration on the gunpla too; you see those puny little pegs that hold those blankets on its back? Yeah...those will probably fall off often and not hold them up properly. I don't even want to bother explaining, look at it and figure it out.

And finally...fuck me. Look at those skinny legs, and look at that MASSIVE mutha' fucking weight on its shoulders. How is that NOT going to cause problems? It would only be able to stand up straight and make sure it doesn't budge one decimeter, cause any kind of pose will not hold up for long. I don't really like the design anyway, but I've never liked any of Tiera's Gundams anyway. Oh, and btw, this is Tiera's new Raphael Gundam.

So as you can tell, I don't really like most of these designs and they are riddled with stupid design flaws when considering its model counterparts. Really though, I haven't liked any of the designs after the first season Gundams. But anyway, these new gunpla will lack some serious poseability because of all the awkward weight distrubition. I don't want to give up hope just yet, so let's just hope Bandai comes through in the end.

Street Fighter: Legacy

Yeah, I haven't updated in awhile have I. I'm having a bit of writer's block, and I found a job recently so I'll probably have less and less time to make original posts. Meanwhile...

Check out this amazing fan made Street Fighter film. It's been the talk of the gaming community recently, mostly because it's so much better than all the crap Hollywood has shat out. Featuring talented martial artists and some decent special effects, this thing shouts Street Fighter more than anything with Kristen Kreuk in it.

Mushi-shi

I definitely haven't watching as much anime as I used to; the only thing I've been catching up with is FMA: Brotherhood, which is still excellent by the way. I decided to check up on what was popular in the last few years, and I came across something called Mushi-shi. I've watched roughly half of the episodes so far, and I must say, it is one of the best anime's I've seen in a long time.

Each episode has a different tale, with the only reoccurring character being the main character, Ginko, and the reoccurring theme being about the Mushi. The Mushi are described as being lifeforms that are pure and closer to nature than any other lifeform. They are ethereal, and display an endless variety of otherworldly powers. Because of their form, very few people are able to see and interact with the Mushi. Ginko himself is a Mushi-shi, or Mushi master. He travels Japan in search of new Mushi to add to his research and helps cure people who are ill from exposure to Mushi. 

The quality of this anime is extraordinary. This is really the first time in a long time that I actually paid attention throughout every single episode of an anime. Each episode focuses on a different Mushi, and the people it has affected. The creativity behind the stories is just amazing, it really is quality at its best. Stories range from a Mushi that makes one's eyes burn in the light, to one of a Mushi that brings great harvests in exchange for a person's life. The show is very emotional, and makes you connect to the people that are affected by the Mushi. By the end of each episode, your heart strings will have been pulled quite a lot; the beautiful and somewhat sad soundtrack adds to this effect.

The art style is also very good, adding to its effect and creativity. It really adds the emotional and surreal feel to the Mushi and the environment. I particularly like Ginko's design; he is very simple and relaxed but everything about that seems to make him an enigma. All in all, I highly recommend that you watch this anime right now; its definitely better than all that shounen crap that's still popular.