Hi, yall!

So, this is kinda pointless since by now every single one of you already noticed that I don't quite update this place anymore. Still, I decided to make it official. I don't exactly plan on killing this blog yet, but chances are I won't go back to blogging so soon. There are a couple of reasons to this, like college life which sucks (that is, if you actually study and worry about your grades instead of partying madly every night) and the slow "fading away" (sorry, couldn't come up with a better expression) of our little blogging community. The evil Greek army finally give us our dear gnome back, but Father K's been absent for a long time (don't worry, folks, talked to him recently and he's doing fine), haven't seen funnyman in ages, deitrix still comes by from time to time but has other things to keep him busy, and...you know, it's just not the same anymore. Was fucking great while it lasted, thanks for the good times, guys ;)

Still, the problem ultimately lies with me, and my lack of will to blog. I just don't feel like it anymore, or not for now at least. Who knows, maybe I'll get back to it some time in the future, or maybe I won't, in any case this place won't go away, if for no other reason than for the memories it holds. So, while this is not a definitive goodbuy, at least not for now, it's a good occasion to get sentimental and say that I love you, guys. In a strictly manly, heteroxual kind of way. They call it bromance, or so I hear...

I rock!

What a better way to bring this place back to life than showing off?





That's Mushihimesama Futari for the 360, the first japanese shmup ever to be region free. Of course I had to play it.

Neba's Christmas message

Colin McRae Dirt 2 - gameplay, by me

Come on, be honest, do I play nice or what? :D

Game's over!

Modern Warfare 2 and Kingdom Hearts, that is. The later was a pain to the very end, but I finally put it behind my back. As I said before to my dear friend and KH lover Junlee, I just never got into it. But now I can get it out of my head and put the game to rest peacefully on the shelf. Guess what I started playing next?


Kingdom Hearts~: Chain of Memories! xD Nope, not joking, I'm playing the next games too, hoping that they improved with each new release. And so far this game doesn't look as long as the first one, so maybe it'll be over fast :D Like I said to a friend the other day, casual gamers play what they like, true hardcore gamers play everything, whether they like it or not!

Video Games | Modern Warfare 2 | Flag Runner Multiplayer Gameplay Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

A far more enjoyable experience, and far shorter, was Modern Warfare 2. It gets better as you progress, and for me it only got really interesting by the end of the 2nd act. The 3rd and final act is just awesome from start to finish. Overall though, although it's better than the first, the impact is just not the same after 2 years with the same basic gameplay and graphics engine. It's a pretty good game, but unless you're serious about the online component, at the current price it's just a rip-off.

MW2, W7 and KH

Now that's a cryptic title... But allow me to explain:

MW2 - Modern Warfare 2 - Been playing and so far I've mixed feelings about it. It's still CoD, but after so many games that formula just isn't that impressive or appealing anymore. I'm almost at the end and so far I can count the truly memorable moments on one hand, and there were far more "meh" levels. The graphics engine is still the same, only with a couple of tweaks, and the pc version (the one I'm playing) is a rip-off for a couple of reasons. +10€ than a standard pc game, which makes it as expensive as the console versions, and no dedicated servers. On a fucking pc game!!! The online's ruined...

Still a good game, but don't get taken by the hype, it's not that good. Also, the story, specially the beginning, is even more American propaganda than the first game... Seriously, I could live without knowing that "what happens here matters over there" (great excuse to invade every country in the world) and that "you can't give others freedom but the tools to get it themselves" (because god forbid if we don't all live in a merry democracy). To all my American friends, you know I love ya, but sometimes your country can get on my nerves...

W7 - Windows 7 - Finally installed it, after some months of getting accustomed to vista. Thought the transition would be smoother, since everything's in a different partition (both OS's and my data), but it turned out I had to reinstall every piece of software I had. Also I'm still trying to find out how can I relocate my profile to another partition, but despite all that trouble I'm liking it.

KH - Kingdom Hearts - I'm so close to finally beating it!!! Overall I've spent more than 20 fucking hours with this game and all I want right now is to beat it and forget it, but I'm currently stuck in the many battles against Ansem... -.-'

Left 4 Dead 2 demo is out

Indeed it is. Wanna play it sometime? It's free, so all you need is a decent pc and, of course, an internet connection. Personally I was one of many gamers who felt "betrayed" with the announcement of this game, so early in the lifespan of the first title. It was like the EA approach to games, which I absolutely and utterly despise. Even after playing it I still think this would be well suited for just an expansion pack, not an entirely new game, because it doesn't bring anything entirely new. Just new maps, characters, enemies and weapons. It may sound much, but that's what an expansion pack used to be for, some new stuff but nothing truly extraordinary.



The only redeeming factor about this game is the new melee combat feature + the machete = pure win. Seriously, it's so much fun to go around chooping zombies with this thing, it's crazy! I personally like to run towards a single infected who's also running towards me and slice the fucker. The gore also reached new heights. I first noticed it when I sliced an infected's back open, and noticed I could see an actual cut, not just a flat texture, with the bones shining in the sun through the cut meat. Gross.

McRoll

What's that? I laugh, I lose? Challenge...accepted...

Ghetto literature

For such a busy guy, today I actually had some spare time before lunch, so I gladly took the opportunity to go to the nearest mall to eat and relax a little. Next to the MacD (that's what I started calling McDonald's after watching too many Ali G Show's) is a Bertrand store, one of our biggest book sellers, and ever since I started my course on Editorial Studies I kinda got the habit of going there a lot, even if almost never buy a book (we have a very small market, so they're expensive as fuck).

So, anyway, there I was, being tempted by a 20% discount on Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion (that book has been on my list ever since it came out), which would still make it 16€ (fuck, do they think I'm rich or something? I got university fees to pay), few moments away from finding a recent translation of Sun Tzu's The Art of War (which I actually bought, for 6€ it was a steal), and being annoyed to death by 16 year old's yelling and laughing like they were still 10, when I spotted this guy:


Fuck, I didn't see that coming. Not just the guy alone, but the contrast. On one side you have a bunch of school kids, good looking, well dressed, who look like they can afford all the books they want, and still are just there goofing around, I don't have the slightest clue as to why they entered a book store in the first place, since that was obviously not their place. On the other side you have this guy, probably the closest thing to a real gangsta I've ever seen, dressed like he just came straight outta da hood, and yet there he was, calmly sitting down with a book on his hands, completely focused on what he was reading.

Man, that was a real eye-opener. You definitely can't judge a book by its cover, nor a person by its appearance. Peace out, G's!

What's up?

Work. That's what's up. I'm quite literally drowning in papers, and presentations, and written reports, basically all the shit you can imagine, and sometimes just catching up with the stuff we're learning is hard enough. That's university for you.



But before all that started I was having some fun with a certain game. Can you guess it, Junlee? Yup, Kingdom Hearts! :P I'm not shitting you, I actually managed to pick up that hallowed game for the 4th time and this time take it serious (which basically involves lots of patience, walkthroughs and cheat codes). I went all the way to the little mermaid world before putting it on (hopefully) temporary hold.

Other than that I've just been messing around with my recently acquired Nintendo DS, mainly playing this:



An absolute must for every retrogamer worth its salt.

Other than that there's nothing special going on, really, and right now I should be making a draft of my report on a publisher so you'll have to excuse me. Here, have a song to make reading this post worthwhile:

You know you have friends...

...when you get this in the mail! :D What could have been a better post to inject some life into this little, almost dead, place of mediocrity? But as I was saying, yesterday, when I came back from a fucking tiring day at uni, I had a little package waiting for me. What could it be? :D At first I thought it was a couple of books I ordered last week (in case you're curious, it's Blood of Elves, by Andrzej Sapkowski, and The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie - see here), but oh boy, was I in for a surprise! I knew it was something special from the moment I read Nuno "Nebacha" Almeida in the address of the package :D

What it was is another present from our dear Father Krishna. Not only did that hallowed presence of the internest bestow upon me that most unique of games that goes by the name of Seaman, but now he also felt the need to hook me up with the most essential of accessories to play said title: the Dreamcast microphone (and not even a life-threatening heart surgery could prevent him).

Just plug that beauty onto your controller, bring your mouth close and enjoy the sheer pleasure...of looking like a jackass talking to a microphone while being verbally abused by a virtual fish with a man's face. Lol.



But that was not all, for there was also a hand-written card. Really, nice touch! And indeed it made me smile :D

But, really, there were still other things in there, namely the somewhat rare Bleemcast cd for Metal Gear Solid (I thought I'd never have one of those!) and Area 51 for the Saturn! Yeay! :D

So, yeah, by now you have given me more presents than Santa Claus in recent years. Thank you so much, man. I really appreciate it :)

It Took The Night To Believe

Here's something to brighten up your day:



(yeah, just a lame excuse for an update)

Status: Returned

You may recall me talking about a book I wrote. That was hard work, but unfortunately, in the current editorial market, the actual writing is the easy part, for apparently it is much hard to get the fucking thing published, even when it's undeniably better than 90% of the shit we see nowadays at bookstores.

Yeah, by now you can tell I'm pissed. Guess why? I just got my first reply from a publisher:

"Fuck you, take your shit elsewhere, we don't want it"

It was something along those lines, only in a more articulate speech, but that was essentially the message. Shit...

Gotta try again, have another publisher in mind, the guys behind other authors more in the style of my book (unlike the previous publisher which is really into standard, run-of-the-mill, epic fucking boring fantasy). I don't know, maybe they'll be more receptive to the unique flavour of my story.

If that don't work, hell, maybe I'll sell my soul, cut out all the good and unique things about it, the swearing, the sex, the crude violence, the ambiguous morality, turn it into yet another Tolkien rip-off and maybe then I'll fucking get published!

Xbox me

Woke up at 4:30 am (after going to bed at sometime around 2 am, which gave me some good 2 hours of sleep) with my dog barking furiously at the woodpile. Turns out there was a fucking snake hidden in there, which I found out after going in armed with a flashlight, only to be greeted by a warming hiiiiissssss. Ripped the fucker's head out. Literally. It was fucking big, by the way, the biggest snake I've killed so far. Check it out -> pretty picture

But that's not why I'm writing. I've said this before on the Saturn Junkyard, but in case you don't follow that most esteemed of blogs, I got myself a new rig. A pc, that is. so, with the harddrive of my old one laying there, unused, I decided to give it another fate. Something I've been dying to try out for a while. Ever since I bought and modded my Xbox, actually.

Replacing the hard disc drive.


Nowadays changing a console's harddrive is easy. With the 360 it's basically idiot-proof, and the PS3 is just a little bit trickier. But this? This, my friends, is a man's job. What Microsoft did with the original Xbox to prevent access to the disc was a lock system, whereby the disc only gets accessible when the system's on. That way you can't just take it apart, connect it to the pc and do whatever you want with it (if you recall, that's why I had to connect the xbox to my pc to mod it. While they both were running. And then switch a cable on the fly. Living dangerously, baby!).

But for every door there's a key, and the key to this door just became available the moment I modded the system. It's the eeprom, a digital key unique to each console, that let's you lock and unlock the disc as you wish, and that's the only thing that's absolutely essential when building a new Xbox compatible HDD. You also need C and E partitions, which you can either download from the web with stock values or just backup your own, with softmod already included.


And there I had a problem, which I only found out when everything was already done (which threw me back to the very beginning). You see, the softmod that I use cleverly only lets you access a "virtual" C partition, not the real thing, just in case you fuck it all up. Unfortunately this time I really needed access to the real shit, so I had to download a little extra software for my softmod (had to download through xbins, which in itself is a rather hardcore process, you have to mirc to ftp), go nuts while figuring out exactly what the fuck did I have to do to have access to the c drive and finally ftp it to my pc.

Once that was done the fun part was about to begin. Gather all that shit, build a boot disc, burn it and get ready to actually mod the disc. Connected to my old pc (you shouldn't have any more drives connected when doing this, and I didn't feel like messing with my new pc, something I did enough already installing two dvd drives), I formatted the bitch, rebuilt it, copied all the contents from my old one from the dvd and finally locked it with my eeprom. In the end, there it was, a fully functional 80gb hdd ready to go to my Xbox. Taking it apart was a breeze and actually replacing the discs was easy. Now, after all that shit, I can say I'm a proud owner of an Xbox 1, with approximately 70gb free, ready to be filled to the brim with games, emulators and movies. Yeay! :D

Are you alive???

Optimus Alive! 09, FUCK YEAH!!!

For those of you completely oblivious to what the fuck I'm talking about, I went to the fucking best festival of the year and for the first time in my life I saw Mastodon, Machine Head, Slipknot and Metallica live! And it was fucking awesome!!! Oh my fucking god, I can't believe it, it was fucking incredible!


The Mastodon concert was awesome, although really short. They only played for 40 minutes or so, and since most songs from the new album are pretty big they took a lot of stage time from the older themes. Still, they played Blood and Thunder, which was fucking awesome!




Next came Machine Head. Ok, actually it was Lamb of God, but I didn't see it, it was 8 pm already and I was hungry, so I chose to eat something instead. But, anyway, Machine Head, once again a pretty short concert. I missed Now I Lay Thee Down and some other favourites of mine, but, whatever, it was great. Way better than I expected, actually. They have such a stage presence that, even though I didn't know most of the songs, I was headganging the whole show!


(best footage I could find...)

Next came Slipknot, and it was amazing as usual. They played most of their stuff, what they usually play live, and did it well. The crowd reaction was way better than I expected, because this band is kind of the scapegoat for "true metalheads", who consider them as being posers and a parody of what "real metal" should be. But fuck that shit! Everyone was singing along, and jumping, and screaming, and they were totally into it. Oh, and then there was the Zero Bullshit...


(watch 5-5:30m)

Finally it was Metallica time. A lot of people there went just to see them, and you could feel the excitement in the air. It was fantastic! They played a lot of songs from the newest album, which was good for me because those are some of the songs I know best, and overall it was just an amazing concert. The interaction with the fans was awesome, the pyrotechnics rocked (there were fucking fireworks! And the fire was so hot I could feel the flames on my face!) and...well, what more can I say? Really, I'm running out of adjectives here...






Finally it ended, at 1 am, but the adventure was only starting. I wandered through the precinct, had a beer with a friend and finally left at 2 am because I still had to get back to the Oriente train station to catch a train back to Aveiro. The problem was, there was supposed to be a fucking bus to take us directly to the station, but that didn't happen. So, after god knows how much time of being completely lost, I finally caught a bus to Cais do Sodré, and from there another to the station. When I finally arrived it was already 5 am and I a still had a couple of hours to spend before my train arrived at 7:30.

Waiting for the train...

Sunrise in Lisbon

Then followed a 2:30 hour trip back to Aveiro, only to be left at the station without a ride, so I had to catch another train to my little village of Oliveira do Bairro, and walk home. My feet were hurting so bad... But it was fucking awesome!!! :D

Home, finally!!! *happy face*

Da Weasel in the house

Tomorrow's my first end of semester exam, am I'm going crazy studying all day long. I really needed to chill out, and what better way to do that than going to a Da Weasel concert? That's right, after interrupting my ritual of going to one of their shows at least once a year for the first time in 2008, I started doing it again. It was my 4th show, the 2nd with songs from the last album (which I absolutely despise), and honestly it was better than I thought it would be.

Maybe they realized that, once the dust settles and the novelty effect wears off, their true fans are the older ones, those who followed their career, not these kids that only listen to them because "it's cool", and the old guys like me like the old songs better. So, they cut a bit on the crap from the last cd, returned with a few old favourites, and overall just gave a good show. Like two years ago they had a big-ass screen on the background (3 screens, actually, a main one in the middle and two smaller parallel screens), unlike in previous years when there was just a painted wall, and this time they made better use of it, with some really cool effects that really added to the music.


(video by me, which explains the quality)

The public, on the other hand, was a bit off. There wasn't a lot of people and most were just standing still, like fucking statues or something. Only the front rows were really into it, jumping, and waving hands, and screaming, and shit, and since the place wasn't that crowded I managed to sneak in until I was just 5 meters or so away from the stage. In fact I was so close I almost caught a water bottle thrown by Jay! But, of course, the fucking prick right in front of me had to catch it... Still, it was the closest I ever was to the band, so it was cool. Also, in the end there was the inevitable mosh pit when they played "Tás na boa", which was fucking great to relieve the stress.

(end of the show, again photo taken with my cellphone)

Overall, a great show. And it only cost me one euro! The booth lady was so nice that, instead of charging me and my two friends three euros each (the ticket price), she charged only three euros for the three of us! Fucking win! :D

PS3's rocking again

As many of you probably know, I bought a PS3 on impulse last summer just to play Metal Gear Solid 4. The good thing is, it was the first thing I did on impulse that I didn't regret later. Heck, it was one of the best summers of my life! I'm not a beach lover and the sun burns my skin, so there's nothing better than spending a whole month shut inside, in a cold living room, playing one of the best games of all time.


The bad thing is, the bloody thing was so fucking expensive it left my wallet with a hole so big it took me this whole time to repair, so in the meantime I sure as hell couldn't afford any more games. For a long time I wanted to pick up some cheap early games, like Motorstorm or Lair (I know, I know, but I'm a big dragon fan). The only problem was, I couldn't find them cheap. Then I really wanted to experience that amazing piece of software named Valkyria Chronicles. Except that, at the time, I was piss poor (for a change...). Then it was Killzone 2, but once again my wallet was against me.


All this changed yesterday, in a fortuitous visit to the nearest GAME store. I usually go there just for a kick, to kill some time looking at games, and always leave empty-handed. Not this time, mate! For they had this wonderful title, in used but excellent condition, for the mere price of 15€


It's Uncharted, dawg!!!

So, there you have it, the first game I bought for my PS3. Too bad I still have 2 exams to go before ending the semester, so I can't play it for now. Only played a little bit yesterday to be sure it worked, and OMG, it's all in Portuguese! Voice work and all!!! Sony, you fucking rule!!! :D

Alive and kicking!

Ok, it's about time I bring this god-forsaken place back to life! Gather around, my dear friends, for I'm about to do what I do best: review stuff and tell you about stuff you never thought existed! This time I bring you the tale of an Xbox game. An original Xbox game, not 360. Now, now, what could come out of that little, somewhat ill-fated, predictable little box? We all know the first Xbox was only good for sports games and shooters (HALO!!!111oneoneone). Well, allow me to prove you wrong. You see, although the console performed terribly in Japan, it did manage to have its share of exclusives we, westerners, never saw. Incredible, I know, but it's true! One of such games goes by the name of Metal Wolf Chaos.


Now, pay attention, as what I'm about to write may very well be too much for you to absorb all at once. In this game you take control of the president of the United States of America. Now, go back and read that sentence again. You don't work for him, you don't have to protect him, he's not just a shadowy figure you never see or a just a poser for the cut-scenes. You, the player, take direct control over the most powerful man on earth! (or so they say) (and no, it's not Obama, soz... *sad face*). But wait, there's more! Obviously you're not on foot, otherwise it'd be boring. Oh no, the president obviously deserves a more fitting ride, so you're riding a big-ass power armor, aka=mech, name Metal Wolf!!! Holy fucking Jesus!


But wait, it gets better. Unlike most mechs, the weapons are not directly and permanently attached to its arms, instead it has them stored in those huge containers over the shoulders so you can pick them up as you please. Oh, and yes, they're fucking gigantic versions of real-life weapons.

WIN!!!




Gameplay-wise, the game can seem a bit complicated at first, specially since the default controls have inverted aim (you point the analog stick down and the camera goes up) and a lot of the menus are in Japanese. Still, after some experimentation I managed to configure the controls to my liking, and once you get the hang of it, the game actually plays quite well. The main objectives of each mission usually involve destroying key targets, most of the time enemy towers, with the ocasional boss fight against a huge (HUGE!) mechanized enemy. The levels, usually with a urban setting, give you some liberty as to which way to go and wich targets to get first, which is always nice, and along the way you'll encounter a lot of enemy soldiers or tanks that you can either take out of ignore.

Taking them out is usually the best option, unless time is a priority, since it gives you points that you can use to unlock new weapons. Speaking about weapons, they come in every shape and size (well, not size, since they're all huge), from handguns (can you picture that, a robot shooting a handgun?) to machineguns, rocket-launchers or some exotic pieces, like rifles that shoot lighting. Overall the gameplay is fast and fun, although it takes sometime to get used to the weird weapon-changing system (you can carry up to 8 weapons at a time, 4 for each hand, although the bigger weapons need both hands), and this is in part due to the awesome graphics.

The key word is destruction. Almost everything, beside key structural elements like buildings that are part of the level, can be destroyed. Somethings, like trees, containers or cars explode just by ranning it over, and the rest can easily be dispatched with a couple of well-placed rockets. This goes for enemy towers and other buildings, huge neon signs, building facades, etc, etc... and, you know, the bigger they are, the more impressive the resulting explosion is!

Overall this was a good surprise. At first I tried it just out of curiosity, thinking that there was nothing more than an ingenious gimmick and a ridiculous plot, but actually there was. The gameplay is solid and fun, the graphics are amazing, even the soung is good, and I'm talking about the soundtrack, not the cheesy dialogues (although, if you're into that, they're also great...I guess... "I got to do it, Kate!", "But why, Mr. President?" "Why? Because I'm the president...of the United States...of America!!!"). Too bad it's somewhat rare import, and probably fucking expensive nowadays too, so you're better off getting it through...*coughcough*...other means...

Bye, y'all!

2 more weeks...

Just two more fucking weeks till the end of the semester... Hopefully I'll be back to blogging by then, since, well, this place's fucking dead... I'm just so tired...

Been listening to Eminem's new album, Relapse, convinced by both Junlee's and Father K's rather positive opinions, and I got to admit, so far none of the songs really got to me. Which is rather strange, since for the most part the album is pretty dark and somber in tone, and those kind of themes are my favorite from Eminem. Meh, go figure...

So far my favourite is probably Insane, check it out before youtube takes it down:

LOL

In case you didn't get it, watch this:



And then this: