Life has been insane for the last week. I am a graphic designer at a large organization. In the year-and-a-half I've worked here, my boss has been trying to get permission to redo the website. My background is in graphic design, primarily print, but I know Dreamweaver and am pretty good with tech stuff so I was ready and interested in the project. We finally got permission in July but the site had to be launched by September 15. It took a few weeks to finalize structure, navigation and the technology behind the scenes. The site is about 550 pages and most of the content was ready between Sept. 8 and 10 so last week was non-stop web page building and testing. Luckily, I was able to get the site put together and working in most operating systems and browsers in time for the launch. IE6 doesn't render the navigation in the proper spot but it was close enough for me since the site works in IE7+, Google CHrome, Opera, Safari and Firefox. MS needs to make IE more compliant. As a result of this intense project, I didn't spend much time on the internets last week. For the first time in my life, I didn't run for the computer the minute I got home; instead, I played more games than I have in a long time.

My wife and I finished Pixel Junk Monsters, which is a brilliant multiplayer game but a sub-standard single player experience.



I got NeoDS working on my new CycloDS, which allows me to play King of Fighters on the go, which is amazing. I also put in lots of time with Capcom vs SNK 2 on PS2. I'm really loving the HRAP3 Arcade Stick. In preparation for SFII HD and SFIV, I've been forcing myself to play as characters other than those I've perfected over the years. Mastering Joe Higashi, Sagat and Rock Howard has been pretty fun and challenging. Since I've put in lots of time with both KoF games and CvS2, I am now noticing how much difference 2 buttons make. I've often loved the simplicity of the KoF 4 button scheme and generally switched to that style of play even for the SF and Darkstalkers games. Shoulder buttons are too awkward for me in fighters. Now that I'm actively using both schemes, it's shocking how much more complex and flexible a game can be by adding 2 buttons.

Speaking of SFIV, I'm dying to play as C. Viper. She looks like she should be a KoF character and seems to play similarly, so I'm curious to see how well she fits in with the rest of the cast of SFIV.

Other stuff
I picked up Dragon Quest IV today at lunch and will return to the shop tomorrow for Armored Core For Answer. Anyone up for some PS3 AC4A online?

My roto sculpted Ryu and Sagat arrived yesterday. Pictures are coming soon. The figures are numbered limited editions. That makes opening them even sweeter.