The Blog of CCJAD

Chris Enjoys The Vidya, 3: Tales Of Symphonia

2008-07-14T13:33:00.004+01:00

Hmm... this is gonna be a tricky one, cause despite only being 4 years old, the nostalgia goggles are firmly in place here. I love this game, it's the only RPG that I've went through to complete twice, and done pretty much all of the pointless bonus quests too. The mere hint of a sequel had me excited, and the fact that there is still no European release date distresses me greatly...

Still, I shall attempt to make this a fair review, and point out both good and bad in the game. So, without farther grandstanding, bullet points go!

Battle system, the most important part of an RPG. If it sucks, you're gonna stop playing, no matter how amazing the story is. Books are basically RPGs with crappy battle systems, at the end of the day. The Tales of... series always does well here, but ToS really excels for one reason - CHAIN ATTACKS. Basically, once you level all your specials, you can chain them together to make your opponent cry tears of pain. Plus it makes you look badass.
Story, has it's weak points, but overall flows pretty well, and lacks some of the 'What just happened?' that can curse J-RPGs all too easily. Not gonna ramble here, cause I'd end up spending my life on it.
Items and weaponry, whilst varied, become pointless after a while. You find a weapon you like, and stick with it.
Leveling, not too complex, but engaging enough. Nice balance here.

Okay, that oughta do it for the praise. The battle system is free-flowing and 3D (not turn-based, running about and smacking things), there are no random battles, the story is well-rounded and engaging... all gold stars for this one.

...okay, fine, I'll say some bad things. The main problem I had is that there are too many characters, most of which I used only when necessary. You tend to pick a balanced team and stick with it, till the story decides to steal someone from you. The voice acting can grate at some points, especially after hearing someone announce a special move for the hundredth time ("It's pancake time!"), and you'll occasionally find yourself wanting to get from A to B without crossing fifty miles of nothing in between.

These are all fairly minor complaints in what is otherwise a great RPG, one of the finest I've played. Also, fun fact, this was gonna be on FFVII till I spotted this sitting in my games rack. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna play this and cry over the lack of European sequel...

Guitar Hero On Tour...

2008-06-04T18:44:00.001+01:00

...is gonna suck horribly. Here's why:

Dear god.

Chris Enjoys The Vidya, 2: Eternal Darkness

2008-05-28T17:47:00.002+01:00

I had two games I really wanted to review for this post, but I'm gonna leave the other one (Megaman Battle Network) till a later date, cause I know I'll rant endlessly on it if I do it right now :P So, I'm gonna go with another favorite - Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem.

Loosely based on H. P. Lovecraft's works, Eternal Darkness is a survival horror that follows roughly a dozen character's experiences with the Tome of Eternal Darkness, 'a tome bound with human skin and bone'. There are a lot of little details in the story, but in broad strokes, the main character, Alexandra Roivas, goes to visit her uncle after he's had his head moved several feet from the rest of his body by some unknown force. She spends the night in his giant creepy mansion, and finds a badly hidden room full of strange artifacts - and the Tome, with only the first chapter still in it.

So, like we'd all do when we sense some great evil force in a book of human flesh, she starts reading, and starts re-living the lives of those in contact with the book before. The first character you play as - a Roman from 26BC - inadvertently gains the powers of one of the ancients of your choosing, and turns into Evil Bad Guy Man for the rest of the game. Once this happens, you zoom back to 2000 AD and Alexandra gets to explore the mansion some more. Rinse and repeat for all times in between, and you get an epic horror story. I don't really want to say much about the specifics of each time, partly because each story is well written on it's own, and you need to play it to really enjoy them. Mostly because the game is really long.

The important part of this game is the gameplay itself, which really sets it apart from others in the genre. I'll start with the main thing that was discussed when it was coming out: The Sanity Meter. Health and strength in this is measure in three bars, Health (obvious, something bites you, you get hurt, something big bites you, you die), Magick (magic with a k at the end, I'll go over this more later), and finally Sanity.

This little green meter measures how well your character's mental strength is holding up, and gets drained every time one of the creeps screams at you, or you get hurt, or some other event causes them to question their reality. What's really interesting is the effect this has on the character. Rather than just causing your health to drain when it's low, or your attacks to weaken, it causes them to literally go insane. They'll start shambling about, eyes darting from corner to corner, jumping at every noise, and then your TV will change channel because you sat on the remote. Except you didn't, and now zombies are eating you and you realise the insanity is affecting you too. The lights in your room start to flash, and the rain pounds against your window like something trying to get into the house... okay, this is a bit far, but the TV channel one really is in the game. Again, don't want to say much on the actual effects, but a couple of examples are needed - and these are far from the most effective ones at spooking the player
One, you walk into a room and the walls start dripping blood. Your character starts cowering in the middle of the room as demons break through and hover ominously towards you as you wrestle with the controller to move them on... and then they vanish, and you wonder what happened.
Two, you enter a room and it's literally FILLED with enemies. There's no space to move at all, and they all leap at once.
Three, you explode. Yes, really. Boom.

As you can hopefully tell, these effects are well thought out, and make up the crux of the games mechanisms. The magick system is also very well though out, with each ancient's allignment having dominance over another, and it all being done through a rune like system to make your spells. Runes for heal, damage, dispel and other effects, as well as target runes such as self, item, and creature all keep things interesting when you're trying to frantically fight off the hordes of enemies, really keeping up the nerve-rattling pacing of the game.

To conclude, this game is designed to thrill. It's dark, disturbing at points, and violent. It's also one of the best Survival Horrors out there, and certainly the best on Gamecube. Track it down, play it, and enjoy.

Exams are over and look, the internet's here with some music!

2008-05-23T23:56:00.011+01:00

Phew, after a few weeks of burning the candle at both ends I am pleased to announce that me fucking exams are finally over, and what bitches they were! And so with the first year of Uni gone I decided now would be a good enough time to post on the blog once again!

Well, as Chris has planned to do, I hope to post on a regular basis starting with a new feature here at Ccjad. Every so often I hope to upload a song at the end of my post that I have been listening to recently or have enjoyed quite a bit and would like to share with all you readers out there. Keep checking back as you may find a song you like or never heard before.

Recently, it's been kinda hectic with not much time to spare between study and work. However whilst browsing my on the interwebs I rediscovered some good video's I think many will appreciate.

First off is the Internet Party

Then there's Internet Party 2: An Intervention for Myspace.

Admittedly both are very well written with the 4chan jokes especially tickling my funny bone. If you liked these videos you can check out some more of the creators stuff : "Those Aren't Muskets" at, funnily enough, www.thosearentmuskets.com.

For the debut week of Calum's songs (we'll make up a name for it later), I selected a song from the album "Music for an Accelerated Culture" by the band Hadouken called "Declaration of war. For some reason or another (awesome band name?), this song has been stuck in my head for the whole week and with the catchy tune going on, I hope it gets stuck in yours too. It's not really our style at Ccjad, but the retro-chique sound caught me by surprise with the synth feel really mixing things all together very well. To check it out, just press the play button at the end of the post and make sure you have the newest version of Flash as it always helps.

Well with Chris' reviews, Ally's quirky updates and my music uploads, hopefully Ccjad will be able to spread it wings a little more and get it's feet off the ground.

Catch y'all later
-Calum.

P.S. If you did like the song guys and dolls, check out their album at a store near you or their Website.

Chris Enjoys The Vidya, 1: Boktai

2008-05-17T00:30:00.007+01:00

So, time to start something. I'm hoping to do this every week for at least a few weeks (note to other ccjad members: prod me to do this). Just gonna pick a random game that stands out as great in my mind and talk about it for a bit. Today's episode: Boktai.

Okay, it's a bit of an obscure start, but hey. This was a fun little game with one hell of a gimmick: it came in an XBOX HUEG cart that stuck out the top (or bottom for SP users) of the GBA, which was where the little black panel that made all the magic happen was. This little panel was a Solar Sensor, and this is where it gets a bit different.

But before I get into the gameplay mechanics, I'll quickly explain the story. You play as Solar Boy Django, a vampire hunter in a world inhabited almost entirely by vampires, and armies of ghouls, bats, golems, and elemental versions of all of these. After your pappy got owned by the big bad vampires, you inherited from him a kickass scarf and the Gun Del Sol, which as the name suggests is powered by the sun. This is where the solar sensor comes in: Whenever the pack comes under sunlight, your sun meter in the game is powered, and if you're outside or under a skylight in game you can charge the Gun Del Sol. When you run out of charge, you can't fight, and have to stealth your way through the levels.

Oh, and speaking of stealth, did I mention this is designed and made by Hideo Kojima of Metal Gear Solid fame? It shows. The stealth, while basic, is fun. You knock on walls, the ghouls get little exclamation marks above their heads, you run away while they wander round to see what's going on. In theory, you can go through the dungeons up to actually fighting the Vampires this way, although towards the end of the game it becomes pretty unfeasible unless you're a stealth game god. All the Vamps need killed with ye olde Gun Del Laserbeams, which throws them in a coffin, and you into the final stage of the levels...

Now comes the hard part. You have to drag that little coffin alllllll the way back through the dungeon, and then smack it with a giant laser - and the giant laser NEEDS sunlight. At all times. So if you get to this part at night, you're screwed. This was the main flaw in the game: while the sunlight was a fun gimmick, an element you can't control (the weather) affecting the outcome of a game is not fun when it doesn't go with you, and living in Scotland, I basically had to play through all this in a day.

But hey, it's fun, the story is good, and the gameplay is entertaining and original. Think Castlevania meets Metal Gear, is the short version. Wow, this is actually a pretty long post. That's it for this week then, more obscure games you've never played next week!

OBJECTION!

2008-04-20T19:05:00.003+01:00

Behold, the miracle of my art.

But wait, it gets better.

Some kind dear actually coloured it for me! Thank you!

First impressions are the most important

2008-03-04T18:10:00.006Z

Well, finally got back round to posting something, so I guess I better make it half decent. Since I seem to be just playing/reading/listening to short bursts of things recently, I'm gonna give some of them mini-reviews based on my first impressions (hence the title, cause i r smrt) on them! Fun for all :P

Advance Wars: Days Of Ruin on Nintendo DS

Played a whole... ten minutes of this round at Calum's a few days ago, and instantly realised I need to get it. I liked the old AW games, despite never having managed to actually complete one (always get stuck at sky battles, just can't do them for some reason), but this one is fantastic looking just for the update in graphical style. If you don't already know, the basic premise is the world has been hit by some kind of disaster, meteors or some such thing - I'm guessing it'll turn out to have been a SUPER SECRET PLOT of some kind - and the bad guys are all having a massive looting murder party. The game opens with your character, a recruit with a name I can't remember, crawling out of some wreckage and getting saved from said bad guys by The Good Guys. The first thing that hit me was how realistic things were looking now, with them ditching orange jumpsuits for army fatigues suitably covered in apocalypse dust. The battle system seems more in depth too, and all reviews have been positive. So, all in all, instantly hooked on this one. Thumbs up get!

Lost Odyssey on XBox 360

Well, I'm about an hour into this one, and so far all I can say is 'What the hell?'. Here's some MSN quotes I've came out with whilst playing:

(19:28) [ShadowDragon/Ch: Ohh yeah, I rock. Died in the tutorial battle.
(19:30) Jingleboy: In Bleach?
(19:30) [ShadowDragon/Ch: Nah, Lost Odyssey

(19:42) [ShadowDragon/Ch: Lost Odyssey has save points
(19:42) [ShadowDragon/Ch: Why do people still make games with save points
(19:43) [ShadowDragon/Ch: Just let us use the menu, damnit

(21:49) [ShadowDragon/Ch: I have no idea what I'm meant to be doing in lost odyssey... already
(21:50) Jingleboy: :P
(21:51) [ShadowDragon/Ch: Oh! I was meant to sleep at the inn
(21:51) [ShadowDragon/Ch: That makes sense I guess
(22:09) [ShadowDragon/Ch: So... I've slept at the inn. Now what the hell am I meant to do? And yes, the inn cutscene really was that long.

(22:53) [ShadowDragon/Ch: Alright, taking a break from Lost Odyssey because the first boss completely destroyed me in two turns

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. I think I need to restart and play whilst paying attention rather than just running through it though. Despite these complaints, the storyline so far is really good, and has made me want to keep playing it, especially the 'recovering lost memories' aspect of it because they are genuinely interesting. Jury is still out on this one.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure in Manga

Well, this first impression is of the first volume of the manga, which is good for it. Had I been reading it online, I would've stopped after the first couple of chapters. It suffers from trying to give us a lot of the japan-only backstory in a short amount of time, and dumping us into a slow-moving intro right after that. I was bored, and only reading on because I'd paid for it and I'll be damned if I wasn't finishing it no matter how bored I was. After the start, I was glad I did. Things heat up very quickly, and the fights are intelligent enough to keep you looking closely rather than skipping through to the next story part. The story follows Jotaro Kujo, the third or fourth JoJo in the proper story as he believes he is being haunted by a demon. He soon finds out that it is actually a mysterious psychic being called a Stand, which has appeared because of his will to fight after the families age old enemy Dio is brought back to the world. Soon, more Stands appear - both good and evil, and those in between - and the race is on to destroy Dio before he becomes too powerful. I've yet to buy more of this, but it'll certainly keep me interested if it keeps up the pace it sets towards the end of the first volume. Another thumbs up for this one!

I do have a couple of other mini-reviews to make, but this post is getting rather long so I'll keep them for another time. In the meantime, I'm going back to being excited about Auchinawa and working on my games programming.

Bai for now,
Chris

Remodification and tweaks - Updatin'!

2008-03-03T12:51:00.007Z

This week at CCJAD some of the members decided it would be a good idea to finally move onwards to a new skin, a new look for the blog. If any of this sounds vaguely familiar to something you've heard before then, well, yeah you would be right to think that. It's been said.

Although in the past there have been posts claiming to update the layout and whatnot, our claims have never really made it to prime time...well it's mostly been me creating empty promises if not anything else. But this time we're Serious. As recently posted we are hoping to get a few more posts up here and there, maybe a few reviews (got a cracking one for 'Bleach: Shattered Blade' for the Wii coming up if we ever get the time to do it), more videos obviously (my forte) and of course other little tid-bits we get up to individually and collectively.

For now though I'll leave you and perhaps throughout the following week you'll see a difference in the page.

Ciao for now.

-Calum

Ps. Here's a little pic that had CCA laughing for quite a bit. Not at the picture, but the sheer brilliance that this kid must exuberate at all times. My power is maximum too by the way.

I cannot be arse

2008-02-28T18:11:00.007Z

Hello my dear blog readers! How goes life? Haven't heard from me for a while, but not to say you've haven't heard me for the longest time. *Looks at other blog users, more so CJD*

This blog is now called CA until another person posts. :P

What have I been up to the past few months? Well, in all honesty, not much. I can list a few things, such as Halo 3, College, eating and sleeping, but nothing fantastically amazing. Life just goes on, yet each day I feel like I am waiting for something. Waiting for what? I dunno. I just get the feeling.

Currently at my college, me and 3 other dudes are making a Team Project game. (Our Group is called L.A.T Graffix, guess who suggested that one. ;) ) We are making good progress on said game which will be the FIGHTAN-type, and we aren't even supposed to work on it yet. We are basically doing the whole thing backwards. Program first, then paperwork. For more info on our game named "Sprite Fight", check out the game's dev blog here.

Recently I have also been reworking on my Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon script. Don't know what that is? Basically, it is a code which allows you to use Nintendo Wii controls for my Favorite N64 game. What you need to run it is:

*Wiimote (Nunchuk is optional or Classic controller)
*A PC with Bluetooth. (I used a USB dongle)
*Project 64 with Mystical Ninja Starring: Goemon ROM
*GlovePIE 0.29 (I'll provide link here.)
*And of course, the script I made here. (ZOMG RAR FILES!11)

Read the text file included, and that's that. It works really well with all modes, and it also contains a Wii Boxing-type mode called "Impact Mode" which can be used in-game to enhance certain boss fights.

Too lazy to try? Here is a vidya:

With that, I leave to do something else. Probably just sit around on msn, being lonely. :P

See ya around peeps,

~Ally.

P.S CCJAD plus extra C are going to Auchinawa this year. We will post more details when it comes closer to the time. If you are going though, feel free to leave us a comment! (And a wave)

Computer Music - The unconvensional way to jam

2008-02-22T05:16:00.008Z

Indeed, today I came across some odd tunes leading one onto the next making small songs out of the unexpected.
After being woke up at a ridiculous hour by the wind whizzing by outside my window here at Stirling Uni (good old Scottish weather), I decided I wasn't going to get any sleep any time soon. And as I didn't want to wake anyone up at this hour for any favours, so I did the next best thing; Stumbled!

Yes, fuelling the insomnia at the source I decided to truck onto the internet to see what bizarre things I could uncover next and although by far not the most bedazzling thing yet found, I did discover some rather odd yet enjoyable videos by people creating music out of Windows' sounds from Windows 98 through to vista.

Oddly enough in my opinion, each song was rather good and each became more catchy than the last but I'll let you decide which is your favourite in this unorthodox post.

Windows 98

Windows 98 and XP

Windows XP and Vista

My favourite one was probably the XP and Vista one.

Peace out for now folks.
-Calum.

P.S. Rather random find here but god damn, those tunes can be catchy. =P
P.P.S. Also noticed the video's are getting slightly cut off so hopefully one of us will sort that problem out in the near future. Right now, I'm too tired.

The coolest stunt in a long time....5 minutes to be exact.

2008-02-03T00:22:00.004Z

This has to be one of the coolest and best choreographed video I've seen in a long time. Can you imagine 200 people freezing on the spot for 5 minutes as if time had frozen?

After seeing that, I bet you want to go out and do it for yourself. I know I did. =P

Peace! Calum.

Ps. Whilst watching this video I couldn't help but be reminded of a previous prank pulled in Japan where 100 people ambush 1 other person. The last scene is genius.

A new year is dawning...where'd January go?

2008-01-28T00:02:00.001Z

Ah how times flies when you have nowhere to be and nothing to do...or can't be bothered doing anything. It seems in the first month of 2008, we at CCJAD have neglected our duties to post any form of content on the blog, some admittedly, more than others and as a result, missed the first month of the year! Yay!...some of us missing the last month of last year as well. ^_^'

With almost everyone returning back to Uni/college this month as well as work dominating much free time we all have just taken those moments off we've had to sit back and do mostly nothing which remotely feels or replicates the aesthetic values of 'work'. As a result the blog was left empty...but not anymore!

Anyways, I would say I'd make posting more a new years resolution but I decided to stay away from any resolutions this year basically so I couldn't falter myself later when I inevitably broke them. So at the moment not much to report at the moment but I hope to get some pictures, videos or comics up at some point in the near future. For the moment however this should make do. If you've not used Babelfish before I'd advise looking it up before checking this video. Props towards Ally recieve for the first place find anyway. =P

-Calum

P.s. Random picture for late post win!

CYBERMANDA!

2007-12-13T20:33:00.002Z

Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat. Please put a penny in the old man's hat.

12 days. Hope you've got yer presents ready kiddies!

~Ally.

P.s Just as planned.

CAPS LOCK TITLES CONTINUE!

2007-11-25T21:54:00.001Z

Yeah, as the other guys have pointed out the Blog hasn't just been inactive but broken as well. And although I've know about the skin problem for quite a while, I've not done anything about it, sorry guys. With Uni work and exams always around the corner it's just been repeated nights up cramming and frantically typing. Not saying that's a viable excuse but it sure as hell's a good one. =P

Thanks to Chris for sorting this make shift skin, I know how annoying it can be. Shame all our non-working do-dads and whats-its aren't still up. Was quite happy just to say they were there...even if they didn't all work simultaneously.

Apart from that Ally made a valuable point being maybe we should just focus on keeping posts coming rather than widgets and stuff for the mo', so maybe we should just stick with the simplistic skin at the mo'. It's easy to use, practical and not too bad on the eyes.

Anyways, I'm not dead yet!..but I could say otherwise for the internet connection around here.

-Calum

....and I hope to post a bit more, especially during the holidays. =P

WHY I LOVE ROBOT

2007-11-21T21:24:00.001Z

Bwahahahaaa! Skins! They're fun! If you're into that kinda thing, I guess. I'm gonna get all this fixed and working again. Tonight, hopefully. We'll lose some of the fun stuff, but most of it didn't work anyway. I'll try and make it so the site doesn't load slower than a 90-year old woman driver too! So all should be well. Once I do all that, I'll even make a proper news post! Magic.

Temporary skin for now though, while I hax0r t3h c0d3z.

EDIT: Well, for now I'm gonna leave it as this. At least that's what I'm saying now, whether it stays as that I have no idea. Spoken to Ally, and we both agree it would be nice to make it a bit lighter, and edit it a little, but the simplicity of the layout is pretty nice. Anyway, I'm about to sit a mock programming exam, so I must go!

Chris

BWAHAHAHA!

2007-10-16T19:30:00.000+01:00

"I HAVE BREAKED MY SKIN DEADLY!!1" ~ Ccjad Blog

Ally here, just to stop by and announce that Ccjad is pretty dead. No updates since August, skin buggered up, etc. I feel guilty that it go so under maintained.

Since there is no IT man at Ccjad, I will try to take the role at the minute to fix the skin. Fun stuff. (Hope it's a piece of cake)

Ccjad seems to be broken up at the min, each either being at Uni, college, work or being a lazy bum. (Like me this week) Wouldn't hurt to just post yer status though. =P

Hope to fix soon,

~ Ally.

PS. Yes, the blog speaks now.

The Bidoof Rustler!

2007-08-06T17:05:00.001+01:00

The other day I saw David practicing his most shameful past time. None of us have know where he has been or what he has been doing, pondering why he had been totally inactive online with a distinct lack of posts on the blog. We had theorized that perhaps he had been 'Terry Tated' a while back, but I managed to catch him committing the dark arts on camera.

Giant bidoof rustling whilst eating Pizza and wearing Akatsuki clothes!!!

No wonder he wasn't answering his phone. Seems we've lost him to the dark side lads.

Calum

Something amazing.

2007-07-28T14:36:00.001+01:00

Hey all, Ally here. I made a little something, and thought I'd share. :D

Here is the before image:

And here is the after image:

Meet Pimpguin!

Part from that, nothing else interestingly fun to tell. I'm just watching old episodes of South Park, but that's all.

See you guys around.

Re-inventing and re-design.

2007-07-14T09:33:00.001+01:00

Hey y'all, has been a while since I last posted. I write this because in the future people will want to know how this Blog came to be and how inactive it was when it was in it's earlier stages. =P

So yeah, been a while and what's the first thing I notice? The Bloody music player isn't working. What do we get instead? A massive 'FILE NOT FOUND!!!1!!' message. Hmm, sorry guys, maintenance has never been my strong point. I'm also considering a new layout seeing as the current one seems to be insanely temperamental, editing itself so it can display it's contents in the most awkward fashion fathomable with varying effects from computer to computer. And of course to top it all off, I once again have a computer testing my patience, freezing at irregular intervals with incredibly slow opening speeds.

Yep, when 'bad' rears its ugly face, it always seems to come in concentrated shit tides.

Anyways, excuses asides time to look to the future and what it beholds, like what sort of things you can see me posting in the future. Well really the same as now, but hopefully more frequent. I plan on focusing on videos and perhaps articles pictures or general news I find interesting mixed with a narrative response to the links. I.e. a bunch of funny stuff. =P

This post however I'll be looking at once of the trump cards Nintendo unveiled this week at 'E3' which in all honesty, with their Wii having a more physical approach to gaming, was a stroke of genius.

Indeed Nintendo are always striving to provide the alternative form of play instead of the conventional controller, and with Wii Fit they may just have tipped the bar. Quite similar to the ps2 snowboard hardware Wii fit uses a board with two panels on top of which the player must stand. In doing so the console can calibrate balance and register weight of players and display the players BMI on screen. Really this is an excise game but then Nintendo are always aiming to please more than the core audience of the gaming industry.

After watching the video you can see that improving balance, posture and stamina are all part of the experience within the game which in turn is always good. But after analyzing the board itself, we can conclude that it can take us to new heights in gaming, think of the possibilities. Finally a 'new' Tony Hawks game or a more submersible 1080. Sounds good to me! Count me in. Perhaps even 'Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games' (sigh) will be able to use the Wii fit board.

Surprisingly on this note, nobody has posted the biggest letdown in cross-over history. Yes, if you're anything like us here a Ccjad no doubt you would have heard of the utter failure in innovation of 'Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games'. Being one of the biggest Sonic fanboys ever and being a Mario fan alike, this was possibly the least epic thing Sega and Nintendo could have done.

No this is NOT a hoax, it is the single most gutting thing to happen to the pair of them, although apparently it's supposed to be good. ¬_¬

In all fairness I will be giving it a try and most likely buying it for either one of the two platforms it's coming out for (Ds and Wii). But seriously, guys, a Sports game? With that title? It sounds like a fucking children's book not to mention that most sport games appear on shelves begging to be bought regardless of their soulless content. How can you even have a sports game with such uneven teams?

No point in gearing up team Mario, you ain't gonna win against Sonic. Seriously, he's like supposed to travel at the speed of sound, I doubt you'll be able to keep up.

I don't care if he's jumpman there's still no chance in hell he would ever win a contest of speed and agility. This is about the only event his team will win, and even so, it's Bowser the 'Bad guy' who will win!

Hmm, there wasn't supposed to be a rant include this time but ah well. Anyways, Various other titles were show cased at E3 this week such as Killzone 2 for the Ps3 or Halo 3 for the 360, both looking as slick as oil but really there was only one new title that stuck out for me, or at least, one which had not yet been shown anywhere else. And that was Mario Kart wii!

Finally a decent racing game for the Wii apart from Excite Truck! And what's this? It comes with a free Steering wheel addon for the wiimote?! Oh joy!

Here's Reggie kicking ass and taking names whilst show casing the Wheel at E3 whilst showing some footage of Mariokart in the Background.

The Graphics are looking as gruber as ever for Mario in his supah-kart.

Looking good for Wario too as he blitzes along the track

Looking over some of the other things it would be good for all of you out the to google...conduct a google search for Geometry wars, phantom hourglass and Metriod prime 3 for some more Wii goodness. Also for you Smash fans out there, you can keep an eye on the up coming masterpiece that is Smash bros Brawl by clicking the picture below to be directed to the

.
To round things off, hopefully I'll be able to get a new layout up and running soon whilst clearing it with the rest of Ccjad...or Ally as he posts. ^_^'

Anyways, enjoy your holidays ladies and gents.

Ciao for now, Calum.

P.s. Another random video for you as I round off....and Raiden from Metal Gear Solid is alright, it's Rose that ruins it >_>.

5 in a row!

2007-06-19T15:51:00.000+01:00

Indeed, I now make a record with 5 blog posts in a row. How delightful.

Exams are all wrapped now anyway. The last 3 weeks have been well earned/wanted rest time. Mainly composed of sleeping, playing vidya games and surfing the net. I've decided to try and finish all my out standing games, though taking a break from RPGs as I've played enough for the time being. =P Still no posts from the other 4 of Ccjad either... ah well. Maybe one day.

I haven't really got much else to say really, we've got an end of Highschool prom on Thursday but that's about it.

See you guys around!

~Ally.

Ps. Word just in, Manhunt 2 has been banned everywhere in the UK. Oh noes.

Funny how I was thinking about this the other day.

That's life.

2007-05-29T00:18:00.000+01:00

I discovered this picture and found it rather touching. I felt the need to share it.

Credits go to Adonis Werther; for this beautiful piece.

In other news, last exam tomorrow! ...Er today even. =P I best be getting some sleep, though it's chemistry and I'll most likely fail it anyway.

Sorry for the lack of updates aswell to any readers of our blog, if you exist. When the exams are over, hopefully more things will be put up by the other 4 memebers.

Also looks like it's time to cut down on RPGs, and I currently have Skies of Arcadia, Baten Kaitos: Origins, Magical Starsign, Pokémon Pearl (hopefully) and Dragon Quest 8 to finish. As well as normal games like Eledees, DKR:DS etc.

I plan to watch a lot more anime in the holidays as well, main problem is locating them. I also wanna meet up and do loads of weird and wonderful things with the rest of the Ccjad crew. (Other than Ragnarok. =P)

Ah well, hope you see you guys around. I really need to leave now.

~ Ally.

Ps. Flumpmart.

By the way...

2007-04-20T00:30:00.001+01:00

NEVER EVER under ANY circumstance let Cass fly Thunderbird 2, because he sucks at it. I have proof:

Fortunally we both lived, however Cass lost a lot of his hair as a result of this, and I lost a toenail.

Yeah.

~ Ally.

The dragonthorns are defeated.

2007-04-11T22:12:00.000+01:00

You know you've been playing too many RPGs when you fear you'll get into a random battle when scrolling down webpages.

True story.

~Ally

Tony vs Paul

2007-03-29T22:49:00.001+01:00

Whilst stumbling today I came across a video I hadn't really seen online in a while and admittedly I just had to post it.

Indeed this must be one of the best uses of stop frame animation I've ever seen and I never tire of watching it. Hope y'all enjoy it.

Calum.

Want to know what Stumbling means? Go to http://www.stumbleupon.com/ Works best with firefox.

*Edit*
P.S For all you Kingdom Hearts fans out there you wanna know what I relised today? 'Xemnas' is an anagram for 'Man Sex'...kinda takes the wind out of his sails don't it.

The life of Mii.

2007-03-25T20:27:00.002+01:00

With the exams fast approaching and holiday's not far away it's safe to say that sanity is not well kept around here unless induced by the simple musings induced by surfing on the web.

In otherwords, me think im getting dumber...er.

But here's a little video for the time being whilst I regain .

Ignore the wifey at the start, god only knows what she's blabbering about.

Calum.

P.S. Watch Bleach!....then Death note!