Well we just got a new digital camera so i thought i'd celebrate by putting up a couple of pics.

First of all my playing space - aka my bedroom.

Yeah, the TV is a bit small, but we are moving house in less than a month, and the 42" HD TV is definitely going to have some stuff hooked up to it post-move. It currently only has my Wii plugged in, but I haven't taken a photo of that yet. I'm sure you've all seen nice LCD tvs before anyways.

For the second picture, my favourite game series.

It will soon be completed with FFIII DS, the final piece of the puzzle.

Feel free to leave a comment...or not, whatever floats your boat.

Well the other day a good friend of mine informed me of a Guitar Hero 2 competition being held at one of the local game/DVD/CD stores. Being the guitar hero fan that i am...as well as being poor i decided to enter, quite confident in my abilities to do well.

The competition was run in a way where each entrant was allowed to choose any two songs on any difficulty (except Free Bird because nobody wanted to be there all day) and the highest total score was declared the winner. A good way to run the comp because people playing on Expert would need to keep those combos going to beat the score of another player who perfected a song on Medium difficulty.

Playing on a different TV and using a guitar that was well worn (probably by 10 year olds mashing the buttons while playing it in the store) made things very interesting, and i definitely didn't keep my combos going as long as i would have liked. But my confidence was well based as i took out the competition by over 200,000 points, playing Beast and the Harlot and Killing in the Name both on Expert.

Since it was only a smallish competition the prizes weren't too extravagant, but i came away with 3 great games - Final Fantasy XII, Okami and Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition. Better than paying for them right??

Feel free to post some scores here and i'll respond with mine for the same song/difficulty for comparison.

Until Next time...

For those who are unaware, I live in Melbourne, Australia.

I'm a big fan of almost all sport, and being the sports fan that I am, i tuned into Superbowl XLI.

I have to say that the best thing about the whole game was the spectacular half-time show, Prince was magnificent.

The game was so-so, too many turnovers. The game may have been played in the rain, but that is no excuse for players who are on million dollar contracts to make simple errors in basic skills like snapping the ball.

Best play of the game was the kick-off return for a TD, too bad Chicago couldn't take that lead on for a victory, but the Colts definitely deserved it in the end.

Oh, one more thing, i have a real problem with the big sporting leagues in the US, be it NFL, MLB or NBA, claiming their winning team the 'World Champion'. Regardless of the fact that particularly in the NFL it is most likely true since not many other countries participate in the sport. Until they win a global competition like the UEFA Champions League in true football (soccer) 'National Champions' is all they should be.

Update: I'm also tired of sporting stars thanking god for giving them the ability, or allowing them to win. Do they really think that some cosmic magician had something to do with it? What about the losing team? Did this supreme being want them to lose?

I better stop before i start a massive rant...might get onto that another time.

Until next time...

Having 5 starred all the songs on expert in both Guitar Hero games except for only a handful (Jordan, Cowboys From Hell and a couple of others) and still wanting to play some good rhythm games without using too much energy (DDR is good exercise ) i was left with a few choices - Space Channel 5 is much too easy and Gitaroo-man is either too easy in normal mode, or too difficult in Master mode, so i decided to whip out Amplitude.

While in the past I had been unable to get too far even in Brutal mode (equivalent of Hard in Guitar Hero) i found it relatively easy to finish all songs including the bonus tracks this time around. Though Insane (Expert) mode was still a bit of a handful, i was definitely able to get further than before.

I guess i'll give Gitaroo-Man's Master mode another try to see if my rhythm skills have increased across the board.

However after that i come across a small problem: what should i play to bide the time until Final Fantasy XII and Okami FINALLY get released in Australia?

I've come up with a short list of games i own which i haven't played yet, please give some insight onto what i should fire up next...(when i'm not playing WarioWare Smooth Moves of course):

• Ratchet and Clank 3
• Xenosaga Ep.2
• Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits
• Phantom Brave

Of course i could go back to get some more completion in something like Gran Turismo 4 or Burnout Revenge...feel free to check out my collection and nominate another title hehehe...

Until next time

Greetings once again loyal readers (and Malekists)...

Though its likely I may get flamed in some form for this: I have a question about the 'hit' show '24'...

Have the camerapeople always been 12 year olds with muscular dystrophy???

I watched a couple of episodes of the first series back when it first hit Australia, and it didn't make me want to watch more. It took until today for me to catch another episode, and I had to turn it off after about 30 seconds. I'm a big fan of camera work that makes you feel like you are part of the action, however the scene that happened to be on when i had the misfortune to flick over was in the Headquarters (or whatever it is) and I first thought there was some kind of earthquake or other natural disaster...yes it was that bad.

Now for people who watch the show this may seem normal, but i ask the question because i may simply have been unlucky enough to catch a badly filmed scene.

Still, even if that is how the camerawork is normally done, i'd prefer to watch every season of '24' Clockwork Orange style then be forced to watch a minute of the tripe known as Desperate Housewives...don't even get me started on that...

Until next time...

It seems that a lot of people are eagerly awaiting the release of Wii Play in the USA.

All i can say to those who are in this seemingly large group is - Beware! While Wii Play is a fun little diversion from Wii Sports and Zelda, if you already own 2 controllers (or 4 if you are a big multiplayer fan) its not worth the purchase (unless you want another controller of course), if this game was being sold without a Wii-mote then $10 would probably be the correct price.

If you are in the position where you still only own a single Wii-mote then you probably don't play much multiplayer, and again this game probably isn't for you (unless you want to get into the joy of multiplayer).

However, this is the perfect game to get a girlfriend, or other non-gamer, to have a play with your Wii (sorry had to throw one in somewhere). That being said, most people I have invited for a game much prefer the selection in Wii Sports.

If you are a big fan of mini-games i definitely recommend WarioWare over Wii Play.

In short, if you are in need of a 2nd (or 3rd or 4th) controller, this is definitely the time to get Wii play, otherwise there are better options game-wise...don't forget about the slew of great Wii titles around the corner - Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3 and Super Smash Bros. Brawl just to name a few

Until next time...