051 - Day 3, 4

I went to Cornwall (city south of Ottawa, on the Ontario-New York border) to make sure a window was installed at my friend's house. Aside from a brief visit to Niagara falls in the early 90s, this is the closest I have ever been to the US. It took about an hour and a half to get there, and all I could think was "in an hour and a half, I could almost get from home to Carleton University, and back by bus and O-Train". Or not, since it was the third day of the strike.

While there, my friend's dad and I begun work on a project that we have. A while back, I may have hinted at something cool I was working on. My friend's dad writes lots of articles about Nepal. What I had done for his birthday was edit and compile a number of them and make them into a book, using Blurb software. The end result was very good. We've decided to use it as a starting point to refine the book and make it sellable. We worked a bit on it, changing a few things here and there. We would have worked more, but the house was cold, so we headed back home. When we got back, I made arrangements to get to work the next day.

The Book

Luckily Prashanta and Prabin agreed to take me to work, though we did arrive a little bit late. The one thing I love about going to work every day is that you get to see the changes that occur. Because I hadn't been there in almost three days, there was a lot to take in: things get moved, things are gone, there are new things, someone changes his or her hair. I don't know what it would be like to be gone for a week. Or more! Someday, I'll have to take a trip somewhere and find out. I left work early just because there wasn't a whole lot to do. It's proving pretty rough being at retail in a prime holiday shopping season when inventory levels are low. It really becomes a box of chocolates when you throw in a transit strike and weather that can change on a dime.

Fortunately, Prashanta was able to pick me up when I was done. I'm kinda looking forward to the time when I actually walk from home to work, or vice versa. I just want to complain about having had to walk all that. Of course, I think I would want to wear a sandwich board telling those who pass me about my wonderful love for the City and the transit union. I also can't wait for the Internet to evolve to the point where sarcasm is clearly shown as it is when spoken.

I did play a bit of Metroid Prime with a 12-year old. I absolutely love that game - up until the last region, Phazon Mines. Tallon, Magmoor, and Phendrana are all spectacular levels with so much to discover. I could play that first half of the game over and over and still enjoy the story, the art style, the enemies and bosses... it's that last part of the game that ruined it for me. Replaying that 6-year old game (!!!!) really stirred my desire to continue playing Metroid Prime 3 for Wii. I'll get to playing games when I have the time.

047 - Wind Gods and Ringtunes

October is here, and my room is freezing cold. I really think I need to reinsulate the window area, and possibly get a new window. My plan is to go, hire the worst guy possible, then complain to Mike Holmes. In response, he'll come here, ask how on earth someone whose job was to insulate a wall and replace a window used 17 junction boxes in the process. After a few words like "unbelievable", he'll fix it for me, add a shiny new seat and electrical surge protector, and proclaim that he "love his job". Simple, no?

In other news, I've dusted off my Wii. It's sad how I've become accustomed to not having the time to play such fandangled devices. In a rare spurt of energy, I went and beat Lostwinds, a WiiWare game that I bought back in May and stoppe dplaying after all of 41 minutes. It is a great little game, one that I'd love to have seen more of (seeing as I beat it after another 3 hours). Hoping to continue the trend of actually playing the games that I've bought, I moved the Wii back to the living room. It gets more light there.

My DS is far from neglected though. After I get to finishing Kirby, I'll get back to The World Ends With You until the new Castlevania arrives. I hope there's a last minute pre-order bonus with it, though.

Which leads me to movies. The last ones I saw were Bee Movie (cute, but not Pixar by a long shot), A Dog's Breakfast (funny, but not as amazing as I was hoping, despite Rachel Luttrell yummy cameo), and National Treasure : Book of Secrets (much better than the first, surprisingly). I'm working on Hello, Dolly. Walter Matthau is about 30 years younger than what I know him as. It's quite something.

Lastly, I have a new ringtune for my phone, in celebration of Halloween. Listen.

043 - Digital Nightmare

Sony lies. "Watch videos on your psp" they say. I'm a fairly tech-oriented person, but I really have no idea how to put movies on the bloody playstation portable. I think you need some sort of Sony diploma to do it. It should be as simple as click-and-drag, but it's not. You have to convert whatever movie file you want to one of the twoish video formats the device can read. And then, if you're lucky, it'll fit on the system. No, Sony, I'm not buying more of your high-priced memory.

Let alone trying to take a movie from a DVD and trying to get that on a psp. That requires more software just to take the movie file(s) on the disk and putting it on the computer. And possible intermediate software to take that and convert it to something the psp converter can understand without freezing your system. And that special edition Juno dvd that comes with a digital copy? Brilliant - unless you have a psp.

No matter what, it'll take longer than the 15 minutes you have before you need to leave.

This is why I want an iPod Touch. I'm sure it's much more friendly, even if files need to be converted. Though I'm sure there's an even easier kitchen sink player out there. Actually, probably not. That's just a dream. And if it were real, it would probably be ugly, and suck battery life like no tomorrow. Kinda like the psp.

Why, if there's a standard dvd format and a standard high def format, can't there be a standard video format? Digital protection (DRM) on files is also a terrible idea that just makes it that much harder to deal with. Especially when there's more than one type of protection. *points finger at Apple, Microsoft* Bad people!

Pictures: Tim Hortons chai tea, Chinatown, hair colouration

036 - It's a faaaaaaake!

Photos: Hannah Montana mannequin, parking lot at night

What a day indeed! In one mail-checking session, I received money from the government, a notice of bankruptcy and a call for objections for the sale of Disney Store by Hoop Retail, and a letter from Japan. The latter has amazingly colourfully cute stationary! It feels as if it's a letter right out of Animal Crossing, sans exotic furniture present. Oh I really want some exotic furniture! I also reinflated my purple yoga ball thinking maybe I can sit on it when I play videogames in my room. I tried it out by playing some Beautiful Katamari. Man, that game is trippy! I don't know how to roll properly, so I don't end up with big Katamari balls, leaving the King of the Cosmos pretty bummed.

My room is also almost 100% tidy! I will take pictures when it's sunny. I'm out of room for DS games and cds. Uhoh!

Deep Space Nine's season six In the Pale Moonlight is probably the greatest hour (well, 44 minutes) of Star Trek. It's captivating storytelling. If anyone decides to ever make, or even pitch a new Trek series in the future, they absolutely have to watch and learn from DS9 because it has it all: drama, sci-fi, homages, relevance, comedy, consequences, villains with depth, multi-faceted main characters that grow, likable and useful satellite characters, romance (well, pretty good romance for sci-fi), even music moments. It's hard to believe that it ended almost ten years ago.

I think I need to get me some tarps, some lights, and an external flash for my camera... I'm starting to feel inspired to try new things with my photography. Also a blow torch and some peanut butter.

030 - Flavours of a Quarter

With Michele at LaserQuest.


Hog's Back on a winter night


Ho Ho Ho, Yo


Chicken Love


Busty


Lights through a glass


Wintery New Year scene


Giant Kaa's hypnosis


Bowling Ball Return


Granny Bowling


Bully and Me


Bully-- Buddy loves his picture taken


Surviving a Sister Attack


Halo Helmet


Master Chief in my Bedroom


I want to ride my icicle


Sidewalk through a snowbank

It's been too long since my last update! So I guess I owe everyone a happy Christmas, New Year, Groundhog Day, Valentine's day, Family Day (where applicable), reading week, and now, March Break. But I beat St Patrick's day... so that'll come in a separate entry.

I've noticed that the number of updates I make is somewhat proportional to how many days I got out with my camera. I haven't taken very many pictures this year so far. No particular reason why... I just haven't done a whole lot worth noting. Other than bowling to benefit children with and at risk of Autism, where I bowled an impressive turkey. It was certainly a highlight - that and the pancakes my cobowlers had afterwards. Haha.

I remembered that I wanted to get my bike tuned up while still taking advantage of my "one year of free tune-ups" that came when I got my bike March 31, 2007. Well, my year is approaching it's end! And if you take a look at the last picture that I posted in this entry, it's pretty clear that winter is still kicking around. I don't know how I'll get to the store just yet.

In other news, I won a Dalmatian canvas print! It's all that hard work that I do. My dvd collection has increased a bit (star trek ds9 seasons 4 and 5, stargate ark of truth, 101 dalmatians, toy story 2, pixar shorts collection, etc.....), as has my game collection. Professor Layton on DS is awesome. Zak and Wiki for Wii is awesome! Smash Bros Brawl's music is certainly the highlight of that whole package, which is saying something because it's a fantastic package to begin with.

And Sarah Slean is tooo awesome. Please listen to her songs: Go Home, So Many Miles, Notes from the Underground. I'm also eagerly awaiting Alanis' Flavors of Entanglement - first new Alanis in about 4 years? Watch the single video here: Underneath Video. That song itself isn't that exciting... but I can't wait for the album!

Oh, and everyone should have a giant Kaa.

I hope everyone is well! Look for more updates soon!

029 - Third Party Promotion: The Final Frontier

As published on N-Philes.com

I hope that in Wii Music (or Wii Orchestra, whatever it’s called), if it is in fact an actual game slated to see the light of day, Nintendo lets me conduct or play music from Super Mario Galaxy. The themes from Good Egg Galaxy, Battlerock Galaxy, and Buoy Base Galaxy are specifically on my wish list. Despite being a more casual experience, gamers will perk up at the thought of interacting with fully orchestrated versions some of Nintendo’s best pieces of music. For the casual crowd, exploring the origins of these songs might be one of the side effects of putting original musical compositions beside Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Fur Elise. Nintendo using one of its games to advertise and leverage its other properties? It’s almost unheard of!

I’m pretending that I haven’t heard of the likes of WarioWare, Smash Bros., and Pikmin.

Actually, Nintendo is very good at telling people about their own games. One particularly brilliant move Nintendo started with its Touch Generations line, and quickly brought it over to all its games, was accompanying the instruction booklet and precautions manual with a leaflet showing off three games that are similar to the one at hand. Between those inserts, various websites, emails, traditional ads, and word-of-mouth, Nintendo the software publisher has multiple channels to tell everyone about anything from Picross to Pokémon.

Despite fixing many of the mistakes universally blamed for the GameCube’s lack of mainstream popularity, there’s still a big one issue Nintendo has yet to resolve with Wii: third party support. Granted, they’ve made strides in opening up and helping third parties with everything from development resources to ironing out game concepts, but they still have some way to go in terms of helping to promote third party efforts (something other companies seem to do well at both causal and core players). Take a look at three of Nintendo’s big websites, Nintendo.com, Wii.com, TouchGenerations.com and count the number of featured third party games. The latter has zero.

With Wii and DS being the runaway successes that they are, it’s more important than ever for Nintendo to tell its consumers about the products available on its systems. Like a gamer to their gaming-deficient cohorts, Nintendo the platform maker should be an ambassador for their systems, showing off all kinds of available games. This goes for both the casual crowd who might not know about Carnival Games and EA Playground, as well as the gamer crowd who might overlook titles like SSX Blur and Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles. Such a simple act on Nintendo’s part could very well affect the sales of a game (Nintendo’s reach might be a bit further than Matt Casamassina’s, unfortunately for Zack and Wiki). I’d go so far to say that Nintendo benefits more in the long term from each third party sale than it does a first party sale.

I’m not trying to say that Nintendo doesn’t advertise third party games. Back in the latter half of the GameCube’s lifespan, the stylish but questionably successful "Who Are You?" campaign eventually lent itself to third party games, though that was more an act of desperation when the number of monthly releases were less than the number of pancakes I can eat in one sitting. On their respective main pages, Wii.com does currently showcase Boogie, and Nintendo.com’s Wii page shows off Guitar Hero III. Curiously, both titles are third party efforts that fit nicely into Nintendo’s post-GCN philosophy of gaming.

Ok, technically two if you count Mario & Sonic

I’m just saying it isn’t enough. Nintendo games might be the ones that spark sales, but it's the third party games that keep interest burning and Wii consumers comfortably warm. Nintendo needs to step up and show that it cares about those that fill the gap that they themselves cannot fill on a monthly, let alone weekly basis.

Curiously enough, the one website that brings first and third party games together under one proverbial roof is GetUpAndPlay.ca, Nintendo of Canada’s e-effort prove to embittered mothers that Wii gaming isn’t mind-rotting evil. Under "Our Products", the site mentions a number of third party games. That number may only be eight, but it does take two hands to count that high. Plus, the site has some fancy badges:

Even after a full year on the market, Nintendo might not have enough Wiis to go around. They’re probably so focused on trying to ship as many units as possible that they don’t always remember that there are 15 million systems out there. There are easily twice as many people enjoying them, 30+ millions that might want to try a new game somewhere between Big Brain Academy and Wii Fit. It might be Trauma Center; it might be DDR. It ultimately is up to Nintendo whether we ever find out.

Music Mini:
The Cliks – Snakehouse (released April 24, 2007)

An album can be ruined if it’s overproduced, when tracks and rhythms and pitches are so perfect that a sense of sincerity is lost. Snakehouse isn’t like that at all. In a debut that’s one part indie, one part rock, two parts alternative, and a pinch of Justin-Timberlake-but-better, The Cliks bake a sense of band and "music for music" in a world where Big Music overcook their talent (or use lots of seasoning on their untalented lot) for that one big hit and move on. Every nuance throughout the album, commanded by lead singer Lucas Silveira’s strong vocals and under the direction of the band’s heavy electric guitars, leaves the impression that I could probably count the number of takes for each track on one hand. In their case, this is actually a very good thing.

The fresh but familiar sound of the album is perhaps personified in the cover of Cry Me a River. The Click’s take on the modern classic has me heavily favouring their version over JT’s. I don’t think it’s the arrangement so much as the addition of emotion to a song that’s supposed to be about anger, betrayal, revenge, and all those lovely things. Silveira’s ability to sing honesty, in a style comfortably between screaming and keeping the tempo, carries strongly into Complicated, and the single, Oh Yeah. The only thing that could boost an otherwise great album is more in the variety department.

Previous: The Gamer Scale

The views and opinions stated in this blog do not necessarily reflect those shared by N-Philes or its staff.

026 - The Gamer Scale

As posed at N-Philes.com

GoNintendo recently had a series entitled, "Casual vs. Hardcore: Opinions of the Gaming Industry," where a number of players in the industry were asked to comment on whether Nintendo’s influence on the emphasis on the casual gaming market is good for the industry. While it’s certainly a worthwhile feature that explores and exposes what the industry is thinking, it cements this dichotomic vision of gaming. Worse than that, it pits one group against the other, forcing everyone to take sides on the grand gaming battleground. Are you a casual gamer, or are you a hardcore gamer?

Once you answer that question, you quickly discover that the other gamer is a threat. Causal games are taking over; I have less ‘real’ games to play because of cartridge wasters like Nintendogs and Brain Age. Games are so complex and violent when all I want to do is have some quick, clean fun. Casual gamers, hardcore gamers, non-gamers... they’re all terms that have become standard, used by everyone in journalism and in conversation. Once they get used, it’s always one in contrast to another, one versus the other.

Gaming may have its share of battlefields, but there shouldn’t be a war between those who play games. Gamers shouldn’t be treating each other as being superior or inferior, just that they are different from one another. Before the launch of Wii, Iwata urged those seasoned gamers to use the Wii to bridge the gap between them and those who don’t play. It’s been working. Everyday there are new stories on the internet about how Wii and DS have converted people into gamers. But how can us gamers lure our loved ones into our passion, then turn around and complain about how they’re the ones ruining the very thing we love?

I think the problem lies within the narrow parameters in which we define the gamer segments. I’m not really a hardcore gamer, nor am I a casual one. Chances are, neither are you.

After an emo stint trying to find out exactly were I fit, I thought out a gamer scale, a Gamer Number of sorts. This system isn’t meant to make one type of gamer superior or inferior to another; while not perfect, hopefully it helps to better define the kinds of gamers that are out there.

10 – Hardcore Gamer: The hardcore gamer plays anything he or she can get his or her hands on. Owning all the major platforms, he or she is knows the advantages and disadvantages of each one, and doesn’t care. Fancy graphics might widen the eyes, but it’s the game itself that will drop the jaw. Hardcore gamers are in it to play it, and if the game isn’t worth playing, they move on to something that is.

9 – Core Gamer: With a couple of platforms under his or her belt, the core gamer knows what he or she likes. Core gamers have their favourite genres, styles, developers, and even publishers, but won’t be afraid to play something else.

8 – Softcore Gamer: Softcore gamers look out for the games that are of interest to them, and will try to play them regardless of the platform upon which they appear. They stick to their favourite genres, styles, publishers, and developers, but will play games outside their natural scope if pressured by others. A softcore gamer will have any number of platforms, but will prefer one to another.

7 – Loyal Gamer: The loyal gamer, sometimes knows as fanboy, has a keen love for gaming. He or she is often dedicated to one platform, on which he or she plays every major release. By ignoring or minimizing the strengths and popular titles of other platforms, the loyal gamer has a robust, but limited scope of gaming as a whole.

6 – Hardcasual Gamer: Often mistaken by the casual types as a hardcore gamer and by the hardcore types as a casual gamer, hardcasual gamers fall in between the two extremes. Hardcasuals seek out popular, thrilling titles that tend to focus on realism and strong visuals. They will buy a well-hyped game, even if it is poorly reviewed. Hardcasual gamers are perhaps the biggest group of gamer, and have become publishers’ focus over recent years.

5 – Vertical Gamer: The vertical gamer doesn’t love gaming so much as the few games he or she plays. They purchase few games a year for their console, but they’re almost always part of the same franchise. A vertical gamer might play other games with other people, but he or she will always curl up and find comfort in his or her game of choice.

4 – Casual Gamer: Casual gamers are vested enough in gaming to have at least one console to call their own, whether because they bought it themselves, or inherited one from someone else. They may not talk about FPSs and RPGs, but they do look around for those one or two titles they invest in each year. They won’t quickly shy away from a challenge, but a game has to feel fun and rewarding to them need to keep their interest.

3 – Light-Causal Gamer: Light-casual gamers may or may not have a gaming system to call their own, but they might surprise you with their own library of games, or at least, their own save files. They enjoy the simpler games that don’t necessarily have specific goals or purposes other than to entertain in short spurts. They’re more likely to play puzzle games over first-person shooters and virtual sims over sim racers.

2 – Induced Gamer: Induced gamers wouldn’t likely play a game on their own, but when they’re with a gamer friend, they will pick up the second controller without hesitation. They know they won’t win, but if they do, it’s a cause to celebrate. They probably play flash games and Solitaire on their computer, but don’t consider it gaming.

1 – Observant Gamer: Observant gamers game vicariously though another gamer, whether a child, roommate, friend, or family member. Their knowledge of games is limited to what they see. They’re likely to decline an offer to play a game; it might take a drink or two to get them to actually try one.

0 – Non-Gamer: Non-gamers has never before played a videogame. They have no inclination to do so because of their preconceived notions of gaming. Whether that it’s too hard, too complex, too violent, too much of a time waster, or something else entirely, they’re convinced that gaming isn’t for them.

Maybe I'll revise this scale over time. It represents only one sphere of a gamer. It doesn't take into consideration whether the gamer prefers home consoles or portable ones, whether they stay up to date on upcoming games, gaming news, or industry events, whether they interact with other gamers through forums, or whether they have a more active role in the industry.

024 - Snow on roads, snow in globes

I'm a year older, according to the tradition of stating one's age based on the whole number of years one has been alive. What happened to being "six and a half!" Somehow, that sounds really odd when you're become a twentysomething. Or does it also sound odd as a teen? "I'm 15 and a half!"... Maybe it works if you're looking for a job, otherwise, it's not as impressive.

I've also had next to no time to do anything! School, work, sleep, with the occasional meal take up the bulk of my time. It recently dawned on me that there's only a week left of school before exams, and two weeks before I'm finished for the term. Scary. This new program that I'm in seems to focus more on assignments and getting things done throughout the week, something that has thrown me off. I'm so used to the bulk of the marks going to midterms, finals, and lab work. Not so this time around. Because of this, I don't know how I'm going to fare when it comes to overall marks. We'll see!

I have so little time that I'm barely 40 stars into Super Mario Galaxy. Galaxy is such a fun game; it's the perfect blend of old nostalgia love and newness. The music is completely awesome. The levels are very interesting - smaller, but the whole game is made up of dozens and dozens of different ones. And Mario skates and axles in a way that's sure to make Elvis Stojko jealous. This game continues to surprise and amaze me.

Winter has arrived early! For the past few years, we've been lucky to get snow by Christmas, however there's already been a few decent snow days so far, and no real sign that it won't stay. Does that mean we're in for a long winter? I just want to make a snowman. Maybe I'll try making a wintery - albino Pikachu.

Last Friday was a big sale day at work. Being an American company, we celebrate black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. It was busy and packed in the store all day. It was so much fun, in the sense that you get to see all kinds of people taking advantage or slashed prices, but it was so busy that you don't get much time to talk to anyone, let alone sell them Ratatouille banks for only $1.99. In contrast, when I was at work on Tuesday, there weren't many people in the store at all. I had time to test out these cam-mounted RC cars (well, one is actually Cars, one is actually Cinderella's carriage) by driving them outside the store, into the food court. If only I could use time like that to do random assignments.

Pictures: Halloween at the chiropractor, snow, snow and dome, smiling newlywed, giant pooh, Ben and the Giant pooh, Mickey snowglobe.

023 - Philosophy Builds Confidence

Photos: Waiting at a bus stop for a bus that never came, pocket devices, usb, vie morte, renewing health card, downtown Ottawa, philosophy builds confidence.

Where does time go? The year is almost over, the month is almost over, the day is winding down, and I can't say that I've had any time to do that which I need: school assignments, mostly. What I want? I want to watch the Heroes episode that I missed, I want to play DDR and Super Metroid and Metroid Prime 3. Instead, my gaming is relegated to portable bliss in 10-minute intervals. Guess I can't complain because the new Phoenix Wright is... well, like the previous two. And I love it. Zelda Phantom Hourglass was a mixed bag for me. Loved the controls, not so much the lack of game. Maybe it was just too short.

On the plus side, I did work more than was expected over the past few days. It's a fun time to be doing shipment because we are still getting in all the new stuff for the holidays. I must have moved 300 snow globes easy. Why? Come spend $75 at Disney Store and find out... And I love kids. As you can imagine all kinds of kids end up at the Disney Store.

However, the best encounter this past week took place at another store. This little girl was walking all funny in an aisle that I had just entered, and she half walked into me, half pushed me. Her mom told her to watch where she was going and whatnot, when the girl said, "hey you!" I responded with an enthusiastic, "hi!" She began a conversation. So I conversed. We talked about Halloween mostly, and how she's going to be a pumpkin. Cutest kid ever.

Oh, and I spent 10 minutes trying to sing Barenaked Ladies' Another Postcard karaoke-style. It's not easy.

022 - Me, Wii, and Tee Vee

Dance Dance Revolution now for Wii


Night time


Jack Skellington, what a stud.


Jack Sparrow, Mighty Pirate


Slackers with a view (without heads?)


What happens if you ever eat a rotten lemon


What happens if you have your birthday at Lonestar, as my manager did last weekend. That isn't her.


Someone thought the escalator was sick. I hope!


Mario can't come soon enough!


I'm sleeping on the bus. Sleep-photography is a hidden skill of mine.

Television. For the first time in a number of years, I feel like this fall has a number of interesting shows. How ironic that I don't have the time to watch any of them. It's surprising how little the tv landscape has changed, despite all the HD this and widescreen that. Sure, DVD-RW, PVR, and TiVo have just about replaced the "when I was a kid" blank videotapes (or tape over the tab if you're in dire need) - and they've certainly added some functionality - but I just don't understand why everything in 2007 isn't on demand.

However, I heard on the radio this morning that Rogers was just given the ok by the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC for all those acronym peeps) to put television shows on demand with commercials embedded within them. Regular network shows available 24/7. I wouldn't mind a couple of Geico and Zellers spots between Pushing Daisies acts if it means I can watch 'em whenever I want (for less hassle than it is to look for torrents... not taht it matters because it's the American population that affect ratings, not me). Provided it doesn't cost more since I'm already paying for the cable. And watching the ads.

016 - YATAA!

Me, fake sleeping for the world to see.


Nintendo cares a bit about Metroid, as shown with some in-store singage at HMV.


Someone's a little too excited to have a mouthful of orange.


I'm funny, so funny that I cause laughter. HAHAHAHA.


I'm coming after you.


Fire alarm triggers call upon the fire professionals. They were unimpressed with the false alarm, and didn't even stop to pose.


Change that bulb!


Susma is back from Nepal!


GO ahead, ID me.

A huge burden has been lifted for me. My computer is finally running normally again! At least, it's not bogged down to the point that I want to throw it across the room: applications seem to open quickly and run smoothly, I don't have to close everything running in the background to check my email, and msn doesn't freeze whenever i click on a new window! I haven't tested out some web-related issues I've had for months now (that not even Firefox could fix for me), but I'll get to that soon. This is a good thing, simply because I don't want to get bogged down by annoying computer issues as the school year is starting up. It doesn't hurt either that I want to get the occasional Maple Story game in here and there.

And N-Philes! I haven't been able to get in around there in so long, thanks to my web issues. As a result, I've been nearly completely out of the gaming loop for an unusually long amount of time.

How exactly did I finally manage this feat? I uninstalled Norton Antivirus! The program would start out pretty average, but within a short amount of time, it would eat up my memory like a monkey would a bunch of bananas! So the best way to deal with it was to remove it entirely. That may not have fixed the computer - it may end up being just a temporary fix. At some point, I will reformat my hard drive and reinstall Windows and all of it's components. Or, I'll get a new laptop. But that option is a costly one and I'd like to avoid it, as much as I would love a brand new gadget.

The important thing is that maybe now, I'll be avoiding online (this blog, for example) less. Even though before I don't really know what I did. Haha.

My next post will have pictures from a concert I went to last wee. Dan and I went and checked out K-Os. The opening acts were really interesting. More on that next time!

012 - Three Point Two

I haven't blogged in some time, but I have a really good reason: Maple Story. A friend of mine suggested I check it out. Not having much else to do, I did. Maple story is what the enthusiast would call an MMORPG, an adventure game where people from all over play together online. The charming thing about it is that it's bright and colourful, and in 2D. It's simple but deep... and that's what caught me about it.

Here I am, taking on a King Slime all by myself.

And that's also what has push me back into reality. Loneliness. The odd here is that I typically don't enjoy playing adventure games with other people, but with Maple Story comes a strange but strong sense of community play. Aside from the rare event when I'd be partied up with someone, I was never really part of anything. Yeah I got into guilds early on, but I was never a high enough level for that to mean much. So instead of futilely leveling to no end (or trying to recruit friends to play), it's probably best for me to just walk away. Not that I'm one to ever do what's best...

Plus the game itself doesn't do a great job at explaining itself to new players. I just get lost easily.

On the flip side, I finally got that new cell phone! I figured that the Sony Ericsson K790 is sexier and has a form more suited to my taste than the other one. Style is expensive! But ultimately I hope it'll pay off. I just have to deal with putting in nice ring tunes and maybe some nice background or something. Of course the standout feature is the 3.2MP camera on the back. So I went ahead and tried it out!

Photos: Me freshly clean and dressed, my cousin that I took to the game store so he can buy Madden 08 (I got Brain Age 2 for my mom and me), my mom and I posing for the picture that shows up when "home" calls, my cousins and their cat getting in on the 3.2MPness.

011 - Twilit Gamer: Bengharon

A lot of people think of me as a gamer. I have game systems and a fairly robust library of software. I know where the warp pipes are in Super Mario Bros., I know how to get not-guilty verdicts in Phoenix Wright, and I can make it to level 20 (well, once) in Tetris DS. But for a gamer, I don't play too many games. Or rather, I don't play very often. Usually, I'm more into the industry itself, who's working on what, when things are coming out, industry events, that kinda thing.

Who doesn't love a hero in green?

My Wii, which I got on launch day, hasn't been getting a steady workout at all. Only recently have I been playing the one meaty game that I own: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Sure, I played it a lot when I got it, but as time went on, Link saw less and less of Hyrule. Only lately have I been getting back into the adventure, partly because of a certain someone wanting to watch me play. But all this Zeldaness culminated into two or three days of heavy play. That's all I've been doing. And it's been lovely.

I've seen wonderfully designed dungeons, awesomely fun bosses, great art direction, and a classic story that started out so small and snowballed to an epic scale. And I'm still not done! Sure, I can carry tons of bombs and a hundred arrows, I've caught a couple dozen bugs and have found many, many heart pieces, but there's still more. Not too much more I think, given the tone and description of what's going on... but enough to occupy me until the next grandiose adventure I plan to embark.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

008 - Lunch and a Lake

Previously on Ben's Blog: Ben was stuck in Toronto, so he did his best to have fun, including a slumber party at Janet's. Janet lives high up. People look smaller than ants from that high.

After waking up, the lot of us eventually made it down to a restaurant for lunch. Along the way, there was this mascot-girl advertising soup or something tasty, so we sampled.

The place we ended up is called Soban, it's in Koreatown (supposedly). The place was very clean and simple, very Asian. Every table is equipped with a doorbell-like ringer that you use when you're ready to order, of if you need the waiters. I thought that was pretty cool.

While deciding what to order, Janet started taking pictures with my camera. Then Prashanta pressed the doorbell-like button and the waitress came, so we hurried up and ordered.

Shortly after we ordered, the waitress brought us appetizers. Free appetizers. It was a nice collection of potatoes, cabbage, noodley things, and tofu. I didn't eat the tofu.

I ordered a barbecue chicken dish. It came surprisingly quickly! Alex thought it was his, and I got his, but I didn't order beef. We switched. The food was really good. And it was better with chopsticks. When I use chopsticks, I find that I get lazy with them over time. So towards the end, I had to concentrate more!

After lunch, Prashanta and I left Janet and Alex. We headed back to Union Station so that we could go back to Brampton and rest. I was disappointed that the station didn't look all international-style... at least not what I saw. I just had to take a picture of the TD building because it's so cool.

Then we went home. The End. Until Tomorrow.

Tomorrow came. We decided to go into Mississauga to see lake Ontario and the Square One mall. It's one of the largest malls in Canada.

We went to a place called Port Credit, an area either within Mississauga that borders lake Ontario. Since I don't live near a major body of water, it's always interesting to see nothing but water and sky. There is a gazebo from which people can look out.

There's a marina just to the right. It was packed with boats. In fact the horizon was littered with white sailboats doing their thing. Prashanta was tempted to go and find out if he can rent a boat, but we figured that it would be too expensive. Maybe he should ask the cell phone guy??

We walked along these huge rocks that made up the pretty shoreline. Parts of them were covered in some slimey aquarian plant life. It was kinda of fun stuff, but I wouldn't touch it at all.

From where we started, we could see a man further down the shore by some trees. We walked and eventually got to where he was. Prashanta, being the talkative monkey that he is, struck up a conversation with him that included Afghanistan (where the man is from), languages, heart surgery, and the weather. He was drinking a tall beer, taking in the breeze. Sounds like a Sunday afternoon to me! Prashanta and I got him to take our picture. I should have taken his.

After that, we made it to the Square One mall in Mississauga (on one transfer might I add). The mall felt like four Bayshore Shopping Centres (a fair-sized mall near where I live) squished together. It was large, but not very impressive. We spent too much time in this game store that sold boardgames and fun things like that and in a bookstore (looking at Harry Potter and a huge photobook of Toronto).

Before leaving, we went to the bathroom and whatnot. Prashanta tool longer, so I waited outside and started fooling around with this curved mirror. I love curved mirrors. This little girl, walking out of the bathroom with her mother (I imagine), she stopped, tilted her head, and curved her body, "what's he doing?" she asked curiously. He mom told her to keep going, and I think the little girl might have said to her mom that I was the strangest person.

That brings us to the last leg of our outing - and the second-last attraction I'll see before leaving: Playdium. Playdium is one of the largest, if not the largest arcade in Canada, and this location is the only one left. How could I say 'no' to an arcade??

Inside was like a paradise. Except for four things: there's no Mario Kart GP, no F-Zero AX, no Taiko Drum Master, and no classic gaming area. I would totally play the original Pac-Man or Donkey Kong or Space Invaders... the early arcade stuff. Kids these days need to appreciate what came before House of the Dead and Time Crisis. A large portion of the games involved shooting and racing, not even fantasy, unrealistic racing which was sad. But they did have really awesome mushroom-like lights.

While I had a good go at the arcades (and realised just how much I suck at Dance Dance Revolution) Prashanta leaned toward the carnival section, where you could get tickets and redeem them for prizes. But our tastes in Playdium met at the air hockey tables. I'm really not too good at that game, but it's fun!

Once all was said and done, it was time to head home. Well, to Brampton. It was a long day, but really fun! And the next day (Monday.. I'm slightly behind in this blogging business), it's time to head back to Ottawa...