The Blog of CCJAD

Hello. My name is Alistair. I am the "A" in "CCJAD". I started this blog with 5 friends in Oct 2006. Here is 2009, and this poor blog is neglected and dying. Who's fault is it? To be honest, it's no-ones. The mentality of "If he doesn't update, why should I?" got the better of some of us, it seems. The rest don't know how to even extract .rar files so that's fair enough.

So yeah, instead of giving my usual bi-annual update of "Nothing is new", I'm actually going to discuss things. Make sure your seat is comfy, kids. Oh and by the we way, since my internet connect fails so hard, I can't actually upload files/pictures that are larger that 15KB to show you, so you are gonna have to make do.

Let's go back to August, 2008. Here, I started my "future career" by leaving College and attending University. In University, I'm taking Computer Games Design. Sounds like a piece of piss, right? Ah hah haha. No. If you want to design and make games, you better be damn ready for it. My class is made up for around 99% people who have the mentality of "I LIKE VIDYA GAMES, SO IF I LIKE DA VIDYA, I CAN MAKE THE GAMES". This results in people coming in once a semester, skipping classes to buy the newest releases, going home, finishing them and then totally disregarding any course work what so ever. This is a no-no.

In my first semester, I had to make a board game. Now, to be honest, I thought this was a pretty smart move. Think about it, your average Halo-tard isn't going to jizz his pants at the prospect of making a BOARD GAME.

"HOW DO I SHOT MAH GUN" "IT'S A BOARD GAME YOU BUM-PILOT" "WHAT? I CAN'T FIND THE CONTROLLER"

Okay so the convo above never actually happened, but I digress - a board game. Not just a board game, but a board game suitable for a German family. Through the use of personae, "research" and me raging and smacking my group around for the whole semester, we managed to make our board game "Hunters and Wolves".

I can't be arsed to go into massive detail on the game play, but basically the game is for 3-5 players. 1 of these players will be the Wolf, the rest will be a Hunter. The main objective of the game is the collect the most "meat" overall. However, the sub objective is for the Wolf to escape, and the Hunters to prevent this. It's a pretty fun prospect cause eventually the Hunters give up working in a team and begin screwing each other over. I basically made all the imagery in the board game. These delightful works of art can be seen here.



This is the box top. It was bloody difficult to actually glue this onto the box. (We basically bought a copy of Cludeo, and harvested elements such as the dice, board, box, etc)


This is the box bottom. You can't see it in these bad resolution pictures, but at the bottom it actually says "(c) 2008 To LAT Graffix. This is small print to make the board game appear authentic and actually adds no value what so ever." Who says you need to be serious all the time at Uni? Also, that weird square thing on the right is actually the game board. Delightful fun fun.

So yeah, that was pretty much semester 1. Learning that everyone in my course is a pretty much a PC gamer and a 4channer. I detest it when people are like "LULZ I GO ON 4CHAN THAT MAKES ME INSTANTLY AWESOME FEAR MY INTERNET WANG SIZE". Congrats, you like a site. I quite like Google you know? But I don't fucking go on and on about it.

Semester 2 was more of less the same shit, but we had to take our game from its Board game roots and make it into a PC application version, and all I can say is that it sucked HARD. I basically gave up because my team were bickering kids who wanted to do it in PowerPoint. YOU CAN'T PROGRAM A BOARD GAME IN POWERPOINT GOD DAMMIT. I basically had to do the whole project in GameMaker, but I probably killed off my inner child in the processes. I mean, I'm doing Computer Games Design, no Computer Games Programming. My course is fail at times.

At least in semester 2 I got to do some 3D modelling. That was probably the highlight. After using XSI in College, I grew to hate it. Using it at Uni, I grew to love it. I don't know how or why, but I did. My task for 3D modelling was to make a scene with a table, vase, PC monitor and chess board. We were allowed to add our own objects for extra marks, so I really took the piss with this one. I added wires to EVERYTHING and made an N64, tissue box, hell, I'll just show you the pictures.


This is the scene! Looks lovely, huh? Notice the VGcats drawing of CCJA in the frame? Yeah, I'm that awesome.


FIRE HAZARD EGADS MAN


Hell, we had to make a chess board, why not make chess pieces too?


N64 with my most favourite game evarrr in it.

So yeah, that was fun considering I went slightly Over the top with it.

Lets see now...

Way back in November 2008, CCJAC (Last C being Chan, cause David has screwed us over) went to the 2nd Anime convention in Scotland, Auchinawa. After the enjoyment of Auchinawa 2006, we looked forward to this one cause we were actually going to be staying for more than 1 day. 3 days at the con, with our own hotel rooms, that was probably the highlight. Compared to 06, I felt it was rather rushed, not much to do, unorganized as all hell and just as generally not as enjoyable. The venue was smaller too, and the games room really lacked compared to the previous. Masquerade was a joke. It in general was just not as good.

Here is the only group photo I managed to get, and I'm not even in it.


Us doing the "Imran". By us, I mean CCJC, I was the camera man.


Here is me putting my rape face on, to an unexpecting James' fortune.

So yeah, Auchi 08 didn't feel as great as 06.

Back in March, I had quite a surprise. What was that surprise? Well, let's recap a bit. Back in 2003, my family was blessed with a kitten. We called this kitten "Felix" (Original, huh?) and he was the best pet ever. As he grew, he started slaughtering every little animal that crossed his path, and also chewed the hands off anyone trying the pet him. One fateful day in October 2007, he went missing without a trace. We were quite gutted when he never re-appeared. Obviously, we sent out "Lost cat" posters and told the neighbours. For a week or so, there was no news. While people had assumed he had been ran over or whatever, I didn't actually feel like he was dead. Of course, I didn't have any idea on his true fate, but the idea of him being dead didn't fit.

So, around November 2007 we finally got a tip about a black cat that had been found wandering around, eating at some person's garage. We had our hopes high, but it turned out this homeless cat was not ours. However, we decided to adopt her until her rightful owners came forward. This cat was called "Meg". Actually, she still is called Meg, cause her owners never claimed her. She lives with us happily, leaving hairs everywhere and purring at the sight of you. She is a nice kitty cat, probably around 9 years old now.

Anyway, in March 2009, around 2 years after Felix vanished, we got a phone call about 9/10am in the morning. Not expecting anything important, my parents answered. The phone call was from a Vet in Perth (About 40 miles north), and some family had brought in a cat. This cat had a microchip, which gave the vet the contact details for us. While slightly confused, it turned out that Felix was still alive. He had been living in Perth for a few months now. I can't tell you how much of a random surprise this was. It was totally out of the blue.

So yeah, we went to Perth, thanked the family and brought him home. Felix - who had been going under the name Wilson for several months - was finally returned, and was about twice the size of when he left. Big fat blob. Below is a picture comparing the cats. Meg is the top cat, Felix is the blob on the bottom.


Meg refuses to look at the camera, Felix has fallen and can't get up.

Felix had only been living with the Perth family for a few months, so that means before-hand he was freelance, so who knows how many people he met and how many names he had? One thing for certain is that he learned the value of food and how to eat his fill when given the opportunity. Sadly, him and Meg don't get on. When they first met, it was hissy-meow fits. Now it's just evil stares, wishing for the other cat to die.

I had so much more to talk about, but I've been writing this post for about 2 hours now, and I've got other stuff to do. So, in a nutshell:

-Buy Punch-out Wii
-I'm replaying Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. Fantastic game.
-I became a staff member of Goemon International
-My last.fm account is here if you are interested

That's all I can write for now. I leave you with this smexy image of me Hotel Duskified:



Catch you!

P.S - There are probably typos, but this post is too long to check XD.

So, I'm pretty bored, and want to write a blog post. But would you believe it, I've got nothing to write on! So I thought I'd try an experiment. We all love experiments, don't we? At least as long as they blow up at the end, which could well happen! Now, fellow readers, let's take a trip into the verbose caverns of my subconscious mind and see what leaps out.

Recently started playing Dissidia: Final Fantasy on PSP (sadly in japanese), and it is a magnificent fangame. Except it's actually an official fighting game, with combat bearing a striking resemblance to the Kingdom Hearts 2 style of gameplay (read: it's fast paced, simple, and fun). Everything looks fantastic, other than some slight roboticisms with the characters during cutscenes, and the soundtrack is nigh-on heavenly, with some of the finest remixes of classic FF tunes ever created.
Of course, the main problem with the game is it's REALLY BLOODY HARD. Seriously, it's insanity, the computer opponents gladly kick your pathetic meaty arse to hell and out the other side. It could just be that my understanding of moonspeak isn't sufficient to get the intricacies of the levelling and item systems, but seriously, it's really, really hard. What.

Animal Crossing: City Folk came out on Wii a couple of weeks back. I refuse to be dragged back into my addiction, and really wasn't interested till I was shown a shot of the Majora's Mask item proudly displayed in someone's room. Of course, my internal raging fanboy went nuts, since Majora's Mask is clearly one of the finest games ever to be created - a rant for a later post, perhaps - and now I'm severely tempted.
I need help.

Right, getting slightly long here, but I think we've got time for one last rant! Seems I need to practice keeping things short, don't I? Well, might as well end on a different note. For once, it's not a game! Yes, I do have other hobbies too, shocking as that may sound. I even have a social life every few weeks, you heard it here first, folks. No, this time, I'm going to briefly mention my favourite band on the planet ever.
And that band is Coheed & Cambria.
...you know what, let's leave that rant for later. It'll be rather long.

Say, that's TWO rants to look forward to! Lucky you. But for now, it's time to bring this experiment to a fairly unimpressive end. A bit like when the fuse fizzled out on the dynamite in old western films. Catch y'all soon,
Chris.

So, like, it's like Zelda. No, not the 3D ones, like Link's awakening and that. Yeah, puzzles and shit. Except, right, it's also kinda like Final Fantasy. You can change your weapons and level up and stuff. You use magic too, it's totally kickass.



RIGHT SO. In case you hadn't guessed, this game is one of those action-RPG things, albeit slightly heavier on the RPG side than others. It's part of the Soul Blazer series, made up of Soul Blazer (SNES), Illusion of Gaia (SNES), Terranigma (SNES) and The Granstream Saga (Playstation 1), all loosely connected through various plot elements, but since I've not actually played any of the others, I can't really say much on that! Yay for shoddy journalism.

The basic premise of the game is, you play as Ark, a young boy who inadvertently breaks the entire planet by opening Pandora's Box at the start of the game. Smooth move lad, but at least it gives him something to do - opening the box leaves him unaffected by the rampant magical typhoon that crystallises his village. So, off you go, wandering the underworld and resurrecting the surface world. Which I should probably explain.

So, the world that Ark, and Yomi (who is released from Pandora's Box when it's opened, and accompanies you through the game) are from is actually the inner face of an earth-esque planet that's shaped as a hollow sphere. Whilst Pandora's magic messes things up severely in the underworld, it completely ramshacks the surface world. Hence, the first half of the game is to sort this out. Of course, the fact that this is only the first half should give you an idea that the story has it's fair share of plot twists. Not going in to much depth, since hopefully you'll go and play it yerself if you've not already, but Ark ends up getting stabbed in the back more times than an over-used voodoo doll, and it's all very exciting and stuff!

Of course, no matter how fantasmagorical the story is, it's all for naught if the gameplay sucks. Luckily, this isn't the case! Ark's main weapon is a vast array of different spears, and he has a fairly diverse set of attacks for these sort of games. From jumping and stabbing enemies from above, to spinning your spear in a deadly whirlwind, to just plain slapping them in the face with the pointy end, it's great to keeps things interesting, even if a lot of the time you'll find yourself just using the running stab for the speed of it.

On the other hand, the magic system on the game is rather... well, it's a bit naff really. All your variety of spells come from Spell Rings, that crumble after a single use back into their component parts - Magirocks. Then, you go to a store and re-combine them to use them again. Pointless much, and it just results in the spells being a rarely used device, since just prodding things full o' holes is much easier, and much more satisfying really.

Well, this is beginning to roll on a bit (again), so I'll wrap it up soon. As a final note, both the level designs and the bosses in this game are brilliantly realised, so crawling through the dungeons never seems to become tedious or repetitive, as there's always something new to see or do. Good show, Enix. Yeah, Enix. The reason this game seems so... hushed up, is because it never got a release in the U S of A, as the Enix branch there up and died before hand. Pity that.

Oh also, I can't say anything on the music, cause I played it all whilst listening to Hoobastank. TTLY ORSUM.

Woah, it's been a while. I come back and the blog is GREEN.

Not really a big post, just stopping by to say hello and to post this video.

I've seriously not laughed so much in ages. Kudos, N64 - bringing entertainment even after your time.

Update on my life: Uni sucks.

See you guys whenever I can be bothered to be forced to login!

~ Ally.

PS. Lost the game.

PSS. I have no idea why the blogspot is green. Anyone care to explain?

PSSS. Lawl, the video breaks the horizontal scroll.

Whoops, seems I forgot to update again. Since I’m sitting in the computing labs at uni with absolutely nothing to do, guess I should think of something to rant about, and since it’s only been announced today, it’s gonna be the DSi! We’re well cutting edge here at CCJAD, we are.

I’m sure you’re all familiar with the DS Lite, if not with the original DS. It’s Nintendo’s latest wonder machine, drawing in users by the millions, and filling swimming pools full of cash for the big boys at N to swim in and laugh like maniacs. They’re japanese, what do you expect? But now, despite the first re-design, they’ve decided the money isn’t flowing in fast enough, and have announced another version: The DSi. Not the iDS. DSi. Totally not apple inspired in any way at allllllllllll. As if the accusations of copying the sudden outburst of iPod styled designs being mandatory for everything ever when they made the DS Lite weren’t bad enough.

Okay, I’ll try and stop with the heavy sarcasm here, don’t wanna drown you before I get to the exciting part: tech specs. Why bother re-designing it for a second time if you’re not actually gonna DO anything to it?
At first glance, the DSi looks like an identical clone of the Lite, lacking only the GBA port from the older iterations. This seems to be the only complaint levelled against the new design so far, but speaking from personal experience, I never use the port anyway. If I wanna play a GBA game, I’m gonna be using my GBA SP. Yes, not everyone has them, but with the difficulty of actually buying GBA games now, it’s not really a major fault.
Next up, the physics of the console itself. It’s been thinned out once again, apparently making it more comfortable to use. The main difference in this aspect is that both screens have been slightly increased in size (3.25 inches instead of the old 3 inches), and once again made slightly sharper. Good job, ninty.
So, they stole the GBA slot, and sliiiightly increased the screen size. What’ve they done with the rest of the space, I probably don’t hear you cry? They’ve put cameras on it, of course! Sounds a bit bizarre at first, and was oddly skirted over during the press conference. With a 3mp camera built into the outer case, and a 0.3 interior camera to boot, I’d hope Nintendo have some plans for these, like exclusive games. Which brings us nicely onto...
...the DSi shop! Basically an online store specifically for DSi games and apps, using the same points as the Wii Shop Channel. Personally, I love this idea. They’ve added an unconfirmed abount of flash memory to the handheld to support these downloads, as well as an SD card slot for any extra space you may need. Will we be able to transfer between the Wii Shop Channel and the DSi channel? Again, unconfirmed, but it seems a fairly obvious step for them to take.

So, to round up:

• No GBA slot


• Slimmer build


• Increased screen size


• 3mp exterior camera


• 0.3mp interior camera


• Online games and app shop


• Internal flash memory


• SD card slot for memory expansion


• Built in opera web browser

Sounds good so far. Oh, one last detail I forgot to mention. Apparently this isn’t a replacement for the DS Lite, but rather a sort of companion handheld for it. Whether the general public sees it that way or not, who knows?

P.S. Feel free to send me my advertising check whenever, Ninty. You’ve got enough cash to afford it.

...and why you should never, ever get one.

Out of the (in theory) five of us that write this blog, three of us have worked or are currently working at everyone's favourite UK video games store, the inspirationally named GAME.



Now, I dunno about Calum and Ally's experience, but for anyone with a keen interest in games, this could well be one of the circles of hell. Let me tell you why...

1. Managers who don't have a clue - for the love of God, learn something about the product you're paid to sell. Also, show your face on the shop floor every now and again. It doesn't take five hours to draw up an 8-man rota a week in advance, you're not fooling anyone.

2. Customers who, also, don't have a clue - Example: 'I'm looking for a game for my son, but I don't know what it's called.' 'Okay, what system is it for?' 'System? I don't know anything about these things!' '...buy a gift card.' Yes, this sounds petty, parent's can't be expected to keep up with all the constantly changing technology, but if you're coming in for a specific game, please check what it is.

3. Head Office - Here's a short list of things that regularly go wrong in stores because of head office: Tills crash when swiping a gift card. Not enough posters to be put on display. Display prices sent in Euros rather than Pounds. Not enough pre-order games sent in. Games sent in which we are no longer allowed to sell. This is all from the people that are meant to make our jobs easier?

4. Self-entitled customers - We're a corporate store, no, I cannot lower the price on that Wii for you. I really don't care if you have a better deal somewhere else, just go buy it there. Please, don't look offended when you're not getting £30 back Halo 1. It's far from ridiculous, the game kinda sucks.

5. The general rudeness of the public - Most likely just a side-effect of our town, but till I started working in this store, I had never before realised just how rude the average population member is. Part of my laughable job description is to greet customers when they enter the store, and 9 times out of 10, you're completely ignored. I understand that people don't want games shoved down their throat as soon as they get in, but pretending you didn't hear a polite greeting is just plain rude. I'd go on about customers deciding that I know less than most mothballs, and that being a 'shop boy' means it's okay to belittle your intellect and just generally be rude as you damn well please, but I think you get the idea.

Now, I'll be honest here, despite all these complaints, there are times when the job is genuinely enjoyable - you get customers that know their stuff, and you can chat to them and have a bit of a laugh. All the sales assistant level employees in my store are a good laugh, and you tend to be able to relax a bit when the managers are taking days off whenever they feel like. However, between the relentless barrage of targets you're expected to meet, and the sheer audacity of some customers, it really can suck the life out of you.

Oh, and one more thing. WE DO NOT HAVE WII FIT. That is all.

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...

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


Dear god.

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.

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!

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:

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

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)

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 >_>.

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.

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.

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

Omfg! (Pronounced Om-fff-ig)








This is fake, april fool's joke by the way. :P It was posted in some magazine somewhere. Still, I think it's a nice concept/mockup.

~ Ally.

Admittedly, not all the games I'd like to have there are within this video but it is still fairly accurate. Seems like 2007's going be a big year and I'm gonna have to get myself an Xbox 360.

So what do you all think out there? Any other suggestions for what should be playing amoungst the big guns? Post your views and thoughts as to what you think should have been included in the top ten. Personally, I would have liked to have seen perhaps a Final Fantasy game and perhaps Spawn but whatever.

Laters, Calum

Yeah, with the holidays ending today and the exams coming closer, it's getting harder to relax - which sucks. When everyone was just getting used to being free, the two weeks go by - BOOM - and then slap-bang, you are going back to school. Right now teachers will only bother about NABs and Prelims. So roll on the 12th!

In other news, the pope died. So, another one 'poped' up.

Seriously, I have nothing important to type, and I have nothing much to talk about.

However, recently I've taken accustom to just sitting on my arse all day playin' some good ol' N64 which celebrates its 10th year being hooked up (Unlike its brother 'Cube, who sleeps under the bed after 4 years) with an Expantion Pak and a copy of Perfect Dark. I Must say, great game. Hell of a lot like good ol' GoldenEye with mainly improvements, though I do miss the whole James Bond theme. I completed the game in about 7 hours, which is a shame, as that means it's done and dusted already. Yet, I go back just to shoot bows and launch knifes into the two poor firearm helpers. Great fun. There are those other difficultly settings, but I can't be bothered with them at the minute.



My poor Wii is getting some neglect, as I have nothing to play on it really. I mean, I have some Virtual Console titles, but I want some proper 3D action. Or in general, new fun. Ah well.

Before I go, I'll leave you all with this random image, enjoy.

See you whenever.

It's now January. For most of the world, the long awaited period known as Christmas has come and gone....a little too fast for me though. Did December actually happen? I can't remember.@_@

Anyways, I hope everybody out there had a good 'winter vacation'. Not much has happened within the Ccjad group. With exams looming and School just around the corner again....let's just say I'm starting to feel the pressure. :P

As Chris, David and James surprisingly haven't mentioned,they finally started their own web comic. Whoopee! It's been a while in debating but Chris finally took the first decisive step and started the three on their own grand adventure. I won't say much on it, I'll let one of those three describe their intentions and what direction they're going to pursue. But I guess I'll post the link;


Remember y'all it is in it's early stages so be nice. :P

Anyway, that aside I thought I'd give a random review!! This wee....post since three fifths of the group now have Wii's, with one awaiting the next shipment to come through, I thought I'd do a review on 'Power Stone Collection' for the PSP.
Having had the first one for the Dreamcast and always having my eye on the second instalment, I took the plunge and decided to buy the Hand-held remake.
On first playing the game you can select three different modes. Simply put, these are Power Stone, Power Stone 2 and a gallery collection. The gallery is really where mini-games and the end cut scenes are available to view and play, but anyway on with the review.



Power Stone

Unlike most beat-em-ups, Power Stone does not conform to the linear fighting games we are unaccustomed to see. Instead, we are submerged into a 3D environment, in which the player can run circles round their opponent if they wanted too. Extremely similar to the battle system in the Namco 'Tales' series genre for the PS2.
One of the unlockable features which makes this game unique in itself is the Rear mode, where the camera shifts to a Resi evil position behind the character which in turn is a nice feature but very hard to control.

The main theme of the game are the Power stones them self. Both Power Stone and Power Stone 2 revolve around them. In Power Stone, it's 1 on 1. Duke it out, with one main character in your focus. You have five health bars, but they go down fast, and if the opponent attacks you whilst having three power stones, there's not much point in having them in the first place. You can throw tables, chairs, pictures, even pots and light posts, and much more! You can pull anything out of the background and use it on your opponent. There are unlockable weapons in this game that are from the second game which for me is a plus. Laser beams and Kantana swords can never go wrong (*cough* Multi-player Red Steel *cough*).


But really the only items worth getting are the power stone. Collecting three of them will turn your character into an unstoppable, god-like divinity that could turn the tables on the opposition. You have two different normal attacks that drain you "super-bar" by little, and then you have two super attacks that drain all of your bar which is saying so is worth it. Although these massive attacks may use all your gauge up, they absolutely maul your opponent to death, and they're not exactly easy to dodge.

Power Stone 2

This is more of a party game in which saying, it's better played with friends.All the characters from the first game are all here, plus more, giving the game a standard total of 12 to mess around with. There are extra characters, but I'd rather not ruin your game.


You can try the 1 on 1 mode, but the 3 on 1 mode and the adventure mode are much better. You also collect money in adventure mode, which will be very valuable to you when you hit the Item shop.

The item shop is your haven from the fights in the game. you can spend hours here for one reason and one reason only. and that's the mixing system. Once you get all the items that you can from adventure mode the first time 'round, come here and mix them, you never quite know what you'll get at the end. You can also buy items, sell items, and even give the shopkeeper an item or two. I'm guessing at the moment it allows you to unlock even more stuff but I'm not entirely sure.

The best part about this game is that there are over 130 toys for you to play around with in this game, each (most rather) with its own unique abilities. From umbrellas to toy hammers, rabbit tails to crowns (which you wear), you can use them all. It's always nice to dress your character up like a total ass and then kick the shit out of someone.

Overall, the idea of having this game on the go really enticed me into buying it. The only problem I can see in the game is, as usual for the Psp, the loading times. You want to be able to pick up a handheld game and play it straight away, not wait a few minutes as a stagnant picture of a plane floats by your screen. Other than that it's a great time waster and I really like it so I'm-a gonna give it 8/10.

So that asides, let's move onto Zelda : It's Good, it does not need a review. Get it. Get it NOW!



Anyway, have a happy new year everybody and let's hope January's not too bad on us and I'll leave you all with this delightful picture. Hope it didn't happen to you on Christmas day. :P



Later y'all, Calum

Watch Bleach!