Today I showed to my public just how dorky I am.

I went to our local Toys 'R' Us (over in Silverdale, WA) and got me a Manaphy.

I was joined at this Pokemon event by a large line of children (some of which my boyfriend knew from the elementary school he volunteered at) and a handful of adults (one of which looked just a few years older than me, and had his parents in tow).

I sure did feel like one creepy adult.

Funnily (is that a word?) enough, we were able to just download our Manaphy while we were waiting in line (this is due to the fact that we had already enabled our mystery gift thing), so we decided to depart for the rest of our shopping duties at the mall instead of imposing our creepiness on the children for even longer. The only thing we would have received for waiting longer was a $5 coupon that expired the next day, so we didn't miss much.

And now you know.

A little box told me to write a blog. So here we go.

So anyways, last November my DS along with a ton of games got stolen by the assistant manager of my apartment. YAY! ALMOST $500 WORTH OF STUFF GONE! WHEE!

I contacted the police and got pretty much no help. So I've been re-collecting the stolen items on my own.

LISTWANG:
---------
Nintendo DS Lite (Pink) - $129.99 [RE-PURCHASED]
Meteos - $19.66 [RE-PURCHASED]
Tetris DS - $34.99
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow - $29.95 [RE-PURCHASED]
Wario Ware: Touched - $70
Trauma Center: Under the Knife - $29.99
Sonic Rush - $19.99
Animal Crossing: Wild World - $34.99 [RE-PURCHASED]
Cooking Mama - $19.99
Pokémon Leaf Green - $19.99 [RE-PURCHASED]
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - $19.99
Nintendo DS carrying case - $4.99 [RE-PURCHASED]



So anyways. Yesterday I went out and bought a used copy of Meteos, because that is the only form I can find it in (other than fucking Disney Meteos, which can go die).

And there you have it. A blog.

There was an old command that you could enter in the original Half Life that would make the announcer say "Gordon Freeman is an asshole." Does anyone remember what it was? I tried to Google it and checked on GameFAQs, but have found nothing. Maybe this wasn't so common a thing to know as I thought it was... *sheds a tear*

I submit this as truth.

[post spawned from discussion with my boyfriend Nick and some with Neonie and things I hear all too often in other people's discussions]

Nintendo exemplifies industrial passion for games. Hell, they SAVED the industry from absolute destruction when Atari couldn't hack it any longer. Sure, they are a manufacturer and want to make as much money as possible. That is normal and acceptable, as long as they don't line their wallets at the expense of quality.

Which they don't, obviously, since Nintendo's conservative approach to graphic horsepower (the main culprit in console most defects) is as well-known as their flagship IPs. Anyone who faults Nintendo for not running the cutting edge of graphics is a tool who hasn't the first idea what it means to be a real gamer. Power's effect on gameplay (ie: loading times) is the only thing anyone should be seriously concerned about and, why look! Nintendo is the king of agile transitions. HD is just icing; personally, if I had to choose, I would rather munch the fluffy, delicious innards of the cake than the sickly-sweet frosting. Sure its nice to have both, but if you have to choose... Gameplay over graphics, kiddos. This is basic stuff.

Anyways, if Nintendo was in it ALL for the yen as some say because of their desire to tap the casual market, then they would more than likely be charging more than $250 fucking dollars for their new system. Sure, the core of the system isn't that expensive to create, but if you're a greedy bitch you could easily churn those babies out for $300 or $350 if you wanted. Hell, some people buy them for a couple thousand :p And if they're just selling stuff cheap to increase sales, what of it? It makes the consumer happy. The range of money people are willing to throw at a new console was found long before the Wii came out. They decided not only that they wouldn't run it up where the 360 set this gen's price bar, but that they wouldn't even run it at the ACCEPTED STANDARD. No, they went lower. And even if thats just to turn a profit on increased volume, as stated before, at least it isn't at the consumer's expense. Nintendo doesn't roll that way.

[Footnote:

Is tapping the casual market actually a bad thing? WTF are these idiots saying? Isn't it... uh... -good- that your girlfriend can get into playing videogames with you? That your elders not only stop looking down on gamers as lazy good-for-nothings, but join them in the fun? And what is with brainless fucktards shunning Nintendo for being too kiddie? What kind of person denies themself something insanely fun because its too cute? Shallow, immature, or retarded. Take your pick.]


The XBox is essentially a PC that just runs games. They didn't even create themselves a gaming system from the ground up like people who give a shit about quality would have. Everyone ought to know that Microsoft is all about forming monopolies (they got called out on it and would have had to split the company up, but then the case suddenly dropped. Hmmm, how inconspicuous.) The 360 continues along these lines.

While this iteration of XBox -was- created from the ground up, it has many of the same issues. Some background: Last generation, the PS2 rocked the industry with the -weakest- console. Why? GOOD FUCKING GAMES. Indisputable. Microsoft, however, somehow took the PS2's headstart on the competition to be the deciding factor, and chose to push the 360 out WAY too early to sell more units. The result? A console fraught with innumerable glitches (deny that the 360 is one of the glitchiest systems ever and you invalidate your entire argument, kthxbai).

To sum it up, Microsoft chose immediate financial gratification over producing a quality product. Money > consumer. Big surprise from the company who churns out the shittiest OS without any solid improvements for years and years, charging exorbitant prices and laughing all the way to the bank because they strike unholy back-room deals with PC and software companies to artificially boost sales and eliminate all competition.

As for the XBox exclusive library, what is the big deal? Halo < Halflife, Dead or Alive < Smash Bros/Guilty Gear, Fable < everything, and Bioshock on 360 < Bioshock on PC/Mac. Mistwalker's work isn't anything to get excited about either, apparently. If I missed something, tell me and I'll squash it. The only thing I see that the 360 has over other avenues of play is Live, because its an architecture with which you can connect all of your gaming experiences to the online world. Achievement points are novel, and sorta cool, but in no way relevant to... anything. The problem with Live, however, is that you can do anything it can do on a computer with a couple downloads. Oh, and Live costs money on top of the internet connection AND the game purchase. WoW is bad enough that way, but at least it provides an experience like nothing else. Fuck that shit.

So Neonie kept showing me stuff from here, and being the loudmouth weirdo I am, I just had to join my ass so I could bitch and moan at you people.

Anyways. Let me tell you about myself.

HELLO CHILDREN, MY NAME IS KAREN. I AM A YOUNG LASS OF 19 YEARS THAT LIVES IN WASHINGTON STATE STATE WITH HER BOYFRIEND WHO IS USUALLY COVERED IN POISONOUS TREE FROGS.

Yes. Hm. Well. Games. Yes.

In my lifetime I've owned a grand total of 13 gaming systems (NES, SNES, Genesis, Game Gear, Game Boys of three varieties, N64, Game Cube, PlayStation, PS2, DS, and PC if you choose to count that). I began playing video games at the age of 3 or 4. I blame my older brother. He got a NES and we sat around playing Duck Hunt, Mario and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles together. However, my brother was very protective of his systems, so I seemed to be watching him play more than I played myself. Even today I still enjoy watching people play games almost as much as playing them. Fabulous life, yes. Over the years we collected a number of systems, more games than I can count, and the addiction got stronger as I got older.

My favorite game is probably Wario's Woods. Call it a guilty pleasure. It's pathetic, really.

I hate the Xbox and Microsoft in general. It pains me to use Windows as my OS, but I am too poor for a Mac (I wonder how many people just screeched with rage...).'

If I'm not playing games or farting around on the computer, I'm either at work or drawing. I've been arting about as long as I've been gaming. I blame my artistic side on my mom (none of my hobbies are my fault, I promise). My art is not fantastic, but at least it doesn't suck.

So uhh. Yeah. That's all I have to say. Will have more thought-out things later.