FredEffinChopin

Oooh, thanks for suggestions! Yeah, Monster is actually first on my list. I'm pretty intrigued by it, I'm hoping it can live up to the solid reputation it has. Emmm, let's see. Cowboy Bebop ....and that's all I can think of right now....oh wait! Detective Conan! On another note, has anyone seen Tiger & Bunny yet? I've just watched the first episode but it seems to be a winner. I feel a little stupid for not considering Cowboy Bebop. I've actually not seen it, but am familiar enough with it's style to know that it could be what I'm looking for. Detective Conan looks absolutely adorable haha. While it's possible that it may work, it seems least likely in the pool of prospects, so I'll save it for last as far as this AMV goes. If this winds up being a failed venture I think I'll just go ahead and do another AMV that I've been wanting to do, possibly a Gantz one. Worst thing that'll happen is I'll have watched some (for me) new cool series. I win either no matter what here ^^

I know when I played drums when I was younger, I almost never sat and practiced, yet somehow I was playing better as time went on (when I would get together with people at a studio or something). I attribute a lot of this to some kind of mental drumming. I think that's the technical term. Dumb as it sounds, I think it happens because one doesn't stop paying attention to drums in music, which can be a sort of learning tool itself, depending on how much one is paying attention. A lot of what seems like idle tapping on the leg and floor while listening to music on the train can actually translate to a kind of practice. While it doesn't help physical stamina or conditioning directly, it can certainly help with timing and coordination. The bolded section I believe to be true as well, not just for drumming or RB, but with many activities that I hit a wall with in terms of skill growth. A little time off can work wonders. In my experience anyway.

Not sure how fit into the spectrum of anime fans. More than a few of my favorite series and films have been anime, so I can honestly say I'm a big fan, but I don't think I consume it at the rate most anime fans do. The fact that most of my free home time is spent gaming doesn't help either. I have a few series (Lain, and Soul Eater come to mind first) that I've begun and never finished, despite the fact that I was enjoying them a lot. That's a problem for me. I think the last one I sat through straight was Paranoia Agent, which I absolutely loved. A terrible shame that Satoshi Kon passed on so young, a creative mind like that is terribly rare. The only other work of his I'm familiar with is Paprika, which I also enjoyed. I'll be working my way through the rest of his work slowly but surely. Bleach was the only manga/anime I had been keeping up with on a regular basis until early this year when the anime went into a shitty filler arc and the manga went into shitty canon that felt like filler. I caught up on it earlier this week, and it's still a pretty big letdown. It seems like Kubo is trying too hard to make Bleach longer than it needs to be. It's a shame, because the sheer number of characters and personal stories in the Bleach universe ensure that he could keep drawing from that well in a respectable fashion, tying up story lines and creating new ones. Instead it seems like Kubo is intent on heaping new elements onto the existing story line, trying to make this overarching story even more convoluted than it is. Whether it's overambitious or just greedy, I'm getting the feeling that the story is irreversibly tainted for it. I have a little quest I'm on that someone here might be able to help me with. I've made a few AMVs before, and I'm readying myself to brave hair-yanking software frustration once more to make a new one. While I have roughly 4 videos fleshed out in my head that I'd like to make (some of them more of a challenge than I may be ready for from a technical standpoint), the song that got me feeling the itch this time is one that I don't have any actual anime in mind that is appropriate to use for it. It's weird, like this song is just demanding that I put it to video... Anyway, I'm looking for something that has a classic detective or cop & robber feel to it. A little searching found me looking at this list, of which I picked Lupin III (already the first possibility that popped into my head, despite never having watched it) and Monster as possibilities. Can anyone recommend any other anime that might bring that sort of aesthetic to the table? Even if it's a futuristic or fantasy take on it, it could be totally usable. Something like Death Note wouldn't cut it, as L looks as homeless as he looks like a detective... I guess this is a strange request, the more I think about it... Whatever, any advice anyone could offer would be appreciated.

Yeah, I rented from Gamefly though. I considered paying $10 to play the first one and get caught up, but I got into this one so quickly that I guess it's not that important any more. I decided I'll finally read Alice In Wonderland, as it is a classic, and maybe watch a play-through of the McGee game when I'm done with this. I really feel ridiculous discovering the world of Alice at the tender age of 30 >.> Yeah, there's no way I can finish that song without no fail. The 'operation' part is much easier but the first section is insane. Their drummer is truly a madman. But they are my favourite band. Really wish RB would get more of their tracks. Even if it's just the one from GH:WoR The man definitely has energy. Watching that makes me want to play tonight... Hmm. On a side note, is that some kind of special mode in WoR that's making the notes multi-colored, or is there some additional feature to WoR drumming that I didn't know about? The few times I've tried playing on a GH kit I found the extra note to make things more confusing, and when everything goes grey (I think maybe to pick up OD energy?) I realized how helpful the colors are, as I was losing my place easily, though unfamiliarity of the kit likely contributed to that significantly. I don't know how well I'd cope if the color coordination went out the door completely.

I have something I've been writing without having any idea who I was writing it for. It's not exactly about games, but about the attention and support that the recent months of hacktivist showboating have yielded. If it sounds like the kind of thing that you'd be willing to review to potentially host on the site, I'd be more than happy to shoot a copy over when it's complete.

Thanks for the review, well done. I'm even more certain that I'm in this one on the first day now. It's a small desert, I'm sure I'll bump into some of you in my travels =)

The scouts certainly do become forces to be reckoned with after a certain point. Was any real explanation given as to why the sequels came out on PSP instead of PS3? I was beyond dismayed with those announcements, but took comfort in the fact that it would probably eventually work its way back to my big screen... I'm still waiting on that. But yeah, any time I hear about a new PS3 owner looking for games, this is always among the first I recommend. It gets so much right. Next to Metal Gear Solid 2 and (possibly) MLB the Show 09, this is probably the demo I wasted more time on than any other before I finally got myself a copy. And in the case of MLB, that was during a period of a few months where my PS3 wasn't reading discs and I was restricted to content on the HDD.

*left-clicks repeatedly* Why can I only vote a post up once?

Wow, that looks seriously tiring. The crossing-over can be a hassle too, but my kit configuration allows for relatively painless accessibility of the right side w/ the left hand over the right. I wouldn't even attempt that on a stock kit. I wish I could say it stinks so I don't ever have to worry about conquering it, but it wasn't bad. I think I'll put that right next to Guns of Summer in the short list of songs I'll probably wind up having to buy one day for the sport... but that I also slightly fear hehe. I just earned my Fly Like an Eagle gold stars last night though, so I'm feeling kinda strong... Who knows, maybe this is the week.

Bayonetta. Some of the best head-bashing of my video game career, I must say. Despite all the weirdness about the presentation of the story, I actually really enjoyed that aspect of it also, right down to the credits... except for ***SPOILER the dance that she does after everything is done.... I've never felt so uncomfortable in my own skin before SPOILER*** *edit* That wasn't really a spoiler, was it... >.>

How's that coming along? That was one that I almost wound up ignoring due to review scores (I know, shame on me), but wound up getting after reading a lot of positive things from gamers. Very glad I gave it a shot, I wound up enjoying it a lot. As for me, just started playing Alice: The Madness Returns. Maybe this is more for the "shameless gaming month" thread.... Oh well. I'm actually having a really good time so far. The gameplay is very simple, especially coming off of Bayonetta, but I'm enjoying the artwork, characters, story, and voice acting. Maybe I needed something a little simpler to cool me down. Whatever the reason, I dig this a lot. It sucks that I'm not familiar with neither the first game or the original Alice in Wonderland story (double shame on me!), but I'll just have to catch up after I'm done with this. For tonight though, it's Rock Band 3, and I bring it up for one reason. If anyone in here kills on any instrument but drums, feel free to send me a PSN invite. I don't play that often lately, maybe once a week, but I like having some strong players in my friend list to team up with on occasion. Here are my stats, for a point of comparison. If there are kids in the room, cover their eyes, as my gold star count is obscene. Consider yourselves warned.

That's what took me so long. I think I'm finally ready, let's give this a shot. In no particular order, and with apologies to the games I wanted to include but couldn't: Dragon Warrior My first ever RPG. What a monster this game created. I remember starting the game over from scratch when I was done, and deciding to try to obtain some piece of Erdrick's gear (maybe his sword?) as one of my first goals of the game. It took hours of failed attempts, running away from every random encounter (as a single connected shot from an enemy in that area at that level guaranteed death) as I made my way through some dungeon, but I finally did get it, and commenced my next playthrough with one of the most powerful items in the game from (nearly) the start. What a sick little boy that was Final Fantasy II (US) I would never forget the name Final Fantasy after this. I hadn't played too many RPGs at this point, but enough to know I was a fan. This game took it to another level in terms of storytelling, plot/character development, world design, and combat mechanics and balance. I still remember how caught off guard I was when my character became a Paladin... Or when the world ended, who saw that coming? I can't say I like this better or worse than (US)VI, but this one came first, and really sealed my identity as a fan of RPGs. Back then anyway. Double Dragon (arcade/NES) Contra and River City Ransom were close runners up for this spot. I'm pretty sure the arcade Double Dragon preceded both of those though. Either way, I have very fond memories of myself as a child hanging out at some bodega and getting in on some of the first and best co-op action of my youth. Whether my partner and I were teaming up to tackle yet another Abobo (or whatever the hell that guy was called), or accidentally grabbing each other by the hair and kneeing each other in the face, I couldn't get enough Double Dragon. I even enjoyed the sequel. Street Fighter 2 Street Fighter 2 was more than a game, it was a fucking event. It took over grocery stores all over NY, and remained in control for years. Even people who weren't gamers (or what qualified for one at that time) caught the SF2 bug, and when school was over we all knew it was so on. I would itch to play SF2 when I couldn't, and thank god it came out on SNES eventually, because I was ready to plan a heist if not. Metal Gear Solid 2 While the first MGS had already laid out most of the unique gameplay and presentational elements that its successors would build on one day, I give the spot in this list to MGS2 anyway. I thought the first MGS was really cool, and unlike anything else I had played, but it didn't bring me back the way MGS2 did. Even after I collected every single dogtag in the game, I still threw it in for a good week afterward just to tool around. Hell, I'm pretty sure I played the demo for it more than I played Zone of that Enders, which it came bundled with, and I loved Zone of the Enders. Katamari Damacy Ah, Katamari. In some ways this is my favorite entry in this list. The day I went to my friends' house and they showed me this was magical. From the second I heard the theme song being hummed at the start screen I was intrigued. As soon as the game began I was hopelessly hooked. The story, characters, gameplay, music (the music!), it was all there, totally unique, and hotter than hell. It was like some huge and loud mushroom-induced love fest, complete with the subtlety of a lounge singer crooning about how he lovingly wanted to roll the world up into a star, as spiky-haired kids and fat guys labeled "American Guy" screamed in horror while I rolled them up like so much ramen and manga. In terms of accessibility, this is what people are talking about when they say "easy to play, difficult to master". I could play this with first-timer friends, then when they left I could get set on some goal or other that required precision, timing, and patience. What else can we say? We were deeply moved. Heavy Rain I'll admit it, I've cried at a few games. While I don't think Heavy Rain was one of them, the emotional rollercoaster that this game put me in was second to none. Games have been tackling some heavy themes for some time now, but none of them put me so squarely in the shoes of the characters the way this one did, where I found myself seriously questioning not only which decisions to make, but why I was making them. The beauty of it is that you usually didn't have much time to ponder on it, as the situation was already in motion, and it was time to act. Like in life, hindsight usually would tell you what you could've done differently, but it's too late, you had to act and you did. ***SPOILER When that one trial had Ethan go to the drug dealer's house to kill him, I was ready to do what needed to be done. After a scuffle the moment arrives where Ethan in his the dealer's daughter's room with a gun aimed at him, and the man is begging for his life and pointing at the photograph of his daughter.... and I don't know what to do. I'm well aware even at the time that it's just a game and doesn't really matter, but still, the pressure is almost physically present. Can I do that to this little girl as I try to rescue my own son? I decided to pull the trigger, and Ethan says "I'm a father too" before putting a bullet into the pleading man's head, and then proceeds to fall to the floor and vomit, in keeping with the discomfort that I felt as a player for having done that. I wanted to throw roses at the screen. SPOILER*** The contextual controls were brilliant too, making me contort my hands when the character I controlled was contorting his body, shoving the controller forward to kick doors open, and softly rotate the analog while cleaning a wound. While I hoped that Heavy Rain might be as immersive of a game as it wound up being, I didn't expect the controls to play as large of a role as it did in that immersion. I feel like Quantic accomplished something huge with that game, that in a way shouldn't even have worked, but somehow did, beautifully. Final Fantasy XI With the exception of some BBS games as a kid and a clueless couple of weeks on Everquest, this was my first online gaming endeavor. There were some gaps in my FFXI career, but I can safely say I played it regularly for a few years, which I can't really say about any other game. I loved party combat, especially when attacking the unknown and having to figure out weaknesses and how to exploit them. I loved the huge gorgeous world and the beautiful music. I loved the feeling of accomplishment for every huge task that finally got completed. I LOVED the fact that it had an auto-translate system that let me communicate with anyone in the world, regardless of their spoken language. There was nothing like getting into those late-night Japanese parties and experiencing the subtle differences in the way they operate... Also wondering why they were so willing to spend money on and use expensive food items even in low-lvl partying. I even had a Japanese beastmaster that I would duo with on a regular basis for a few months. Once one becomes familiar enough with the auto-translate system, it was even possible to carry on little conversations of sorts. Without being able to type unique sentences to each other, that player and I had possibly the best chemistry of any duo I had played in before or after then. I miss this experience, sometimes I feel like I might go back into it for a bit. Maybe one day, if they never wind up getting FFXIV up to par. Skate (series) I feel guilty for not putting a Tony Hawk game in here. Not only did they provide me with countless hours of enjoyment, but I feel that they played a significant role in the increased adoption of skateboarding as a passtime for American youth, which I strongly approve of. The series will always have a place in my heart. Skate though... Skate feels like skateboarding. The timing is unforgiving, the tricks require precision (and they FEEL like the tricks you're performing, as much as controller moves possibly can), and the name of the game (if it's your style of play) is using the world around you to try to pull of badass moves. Exploration is fun, as is just skating around aimlessly in an online room with others or take turns grinding a rail. The ability to record and edit (with considerable flexibility) clips of yourself and share them online makes it all that much more worthwhile. Skate 2 was probably the most re-playable for me, as I was still playing it online once or twice a week when Skate 3 came out, and I had earned the platinum very early on. They kind of ruined the online structure of Skate 3 though, making it harder to find a game, and less sensible to stay within one group. Still though, Skate is Skate, and I love all three of them. Ah, that felt good.

Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom. Good game. Nothing spectacular, just good. Pretty easy platinum, for anyone who is into collecting them. I will say, they could've given the Majin, I don't know, maybe 5x as many spoken lines per situation as they did? Hearing him repeat the same exact phrases in the same dopey voice the whole game started to drive me nuts. It was endearing at first, but after I while I was wishing I had a mute button shaped like a shotgun.

Bayonetta This game is "even for Japan" weird. I get it most of the time, but other times I feel like certain elements of its presentation are lost on me. While the ever-present Fly Me to The Moon soundtrack and pole-dance-style battle cutscenes filmed from a vulva-cam are confusing (and delighting) me on some level, I have to say, I'm giving a shit about the story and characters more than I do in most games lately. I don't understand how or why, but this game is doing something correctly as far as I'm concerned. Also this combat is delicious. Sharp man, finely tuned to perfection. The only concern I have is the A/B dual weapon layout. With my type of personality I fear I might be spending more time than I should dicking around with my loadout to try to figure out which weapons make sense where. Also, shit is expensive. I'm sure currency will start coming in at a quicker rate eventually though. Yeah, this game is great so far.

I don't know why it took me so long to post it, but Outland has been history for a couple of weeks. What a welcome breath of fresh air that game was, I loved every minute of it. The strange thing though, was that once I beat the last boss, I had a hard time going back within the same savegame to mop up the trophies. I don't know, it seemed like once the last boss was done in there was zero point in doing anything in that world. I did try for a bit, but I think the problem is that while I enjoy exploration or areas for the marks of the gods and upgrade points, the map as a whole takes for too long to move across, and there it no version of the map in-game that shows you the connections within each area and where they lead. Once there is no direct goal for you to be chasing, exploration of the map starts to feel like a real chore. On a side note, it did give me cause to fire up Out of This World on the old emulator for a good half an hour. It was nice re-visiting, and made me realize that I must dip into Flashback at some point soon and see if it aged as well as my memory expects it to have aged.

Drums. Self-taught, and it shows in ways. I no longer own a kit, sold it a few years ago when I felt that I was neglecting it, and was pretty much done playing with (shitty) bands. I only starting playing again last summer when, pretty much simultaneously, I began to play Rock Band at home (I sincerely hope that's the geekiest confession you'll hear today), and a friend of mine was looking for a drummer for some casual jamming. I've been playing here and there with two different groups since then. It's good to be back.

Someone on N4G wrote about this gem, I figured it was my duty to share it here: http://kotaku.com/5817529/the-daily-show-attacks-video-games-in-light-of-supreme-court-decision The dangers of a profession that permits one to work in one's underwear.

That whole speak up thing seemed like one of the cheapest devices they were beginning to employ over there while I was on my way out. I'd estimate I've seen about 10 of those topics at the time of this post, and maybe two of those were based on comments that seemed anywhere near worthy of an entire discussion devoted to them. Sometimes they were even beaten-to-death topics, and try as I might I couldn't figure out why they were picked out of the bunch. The conclusion I came to was that they were just looking for a way to make the community feel more involved, and a part of the site, after having effectively told so many of their long time readers to go suck it. That, and/or it's another excuse to give out more stars, as they didn't seem to be able to do that fast enough when the mass exodus from Kotaku began. I could be totally off, but the only other explanation is that someone over at Kotaku actually thinks these are fascinating, intelligent, and insightful comments that warrant a community discussion. If that's the case then I absolutely need some of what they're smoking over there.

Of course they make a joke about it. God forbid they write something in acknowledgement, then they'd have to address the fact that some near-unanimously hated changes were accompanied with a hearty "fuck you if you don't like it" to the long-time readers & commenters. I scrolled through the comments a bit, mostly kotaku ass-kissing, mingled with some minor acknowledgement of the site's trolling, sensationalism, and horrible downgrade in design. I didn't have the heart to view any earlier discussions. I'd like to lose some weight, but inducing vomit isn't the way to go.

Woah, had to look that one up... Here I thought Real Genius was his first major role. Interesting. I have to make a point of trying to watch that next week.

Haha funny you mention that, I almost prefaced that with a warning that I couldn't possibly live up to my avatar. Then again, who can? I think that's my favorite role I've seen him play. He was a fantastic Morrisson too though...

I feel a bit strange doing this since I don't have enough correspondence with anyone on here for somebody to give a damn what I look like haha. I don't normally spend much time on Facebook at all, but a friend of mine passed away on Tuesday, and I was torturing myself looking at photos of he and I last night. I figured since I was digging around anyway, this is an opportunity to contribute to this thread. Here I am looking like I'm trying to scam someone out of their money with the enticement of drum lessons that I'll never show up for once I receive payment. Here I am in my first acting endeavor... That one never made it to completion. Here I am playing at the greatest Halloween party ever, where people dress up as bands and play a few songs each as the bands. We were Weezer that night, and sadly better than Weezer have been in years. I'm gonna try to talk them into being the Beastie Boys this year. Here I am doing my best Jersey guido impression. Here I am with my buddy, looking like two sex offenders. And here and here I am with my dearly missed friend Patrick, a man who left an impression on everyone he ever met, even if the encounter was only for the briefest of moments. I can't express what a loss this is to so many people... If I tried I'd sound full of shit, but it's totally true. He is one of the greatest people I've ever known, and the world is a little colder now for having lost him. I'm sorry for being a downer. I'll probably edit this in a week or so to take his pictures off, but I'd like to at least share his image for now, for anyone who didn't have the pleasure of having their life graced by one of the most loving and inspirational friends a person could have. Now that I've contributed, I must make a point of really getting into this thread to see what the rest of you deviants look like =)

Deathspank Not bad at all, I think I may as well snag the second one while I have my month of PS+ active. *edit Oh, and it was a pleasant surprise to learn that it's one of the few titles that take advantage of in-game music from the XMB. The music in tha game is actually pretty good, but nothing is better than my music, not even yours ^^