The Mask of Norro

YES YES YES YES YES

YES YES

YES YES... YES YES YES YES YES

This is a glorious night. Oh my goodness YES YES YES

... so Aku no Hana is really strange. Like, uncomfortably strange. I like it. Never has so little happened in a first episode yet still been able to keep me as interested as it did.

We also just started on Hataraku Maou-sama, which is a show about one world's Satan escaping through a portal into our world and being forced to adjust to living here until he can regain his powers and go back. It seems like blends of serious and parody and so far I love it. Probably will lean more into parody down the line, but I like the humor so far.

On top of those there's Karnavel that just started up. Watched the first episode with Lorina today... I like it, it shows a lot of promise. I'm looking forward to Attack on Titan more than anything though myself, it sounds really good.

I paired off Donnel and Lissa as well-- awkward though that started off, it had pretty good progression, actually.

So far the pairs I've done:

Female Player Character & Chrom

Frederick & Sully

Lon'qu & Maribelle

Kellam & Panne

Vaike & Cordelia (Regretted this one... not a good story)

Ricken & Nowi

Miriel & Stahl

I've been level-grinding at Chapter 10 now for about a month... my goal is to level cap everyone in my team, Master Seal them, level cap again and Second Seal them before continuing to the next chapter. Almost done with this too, actually. I... I don't know why I always do this with RPGs on my first playthrough, but I like the grindfest

... I'm freaking out about this. Seriously. If this is a success they might remake the other classic NES game of my childhood: Chip N'Dale's Rescue Rangers.

I AM SO FUCKING HAPPY RIGHT NOW

Guys.

Guys.

Guys.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-02-23/part-of-future-diary-redial-manga-to-be-published-in-march

Mirai Nikki: Redial (which is the story of the 3rd world) is about to get published. If this is preceding a possible sequel then I'm going to flip shit.

Nickelback sucks.

These are statements I can agree with, yes, but it doesn't invalidate Stump's actual point

... except people do, in droves, because whether or not you like FOB they still have a dedicated fanbase that's beyond hyped for them coming back.

You're looking at this from one side of a two-sided coin here LD. He's not talking about people who critique an artist's work for its betterment. I'd wager that in his example, wherein he cites a person yelling at barbecue sauce "Haa! Fuck this thing!", he's not referring to someone objectively explaining their dislike for it and how they feel it could be better/why it doesn't work the way it is for them. He's referring to them disliking it as a whole and ranting on and on about how much they hate it without any objective reasoning for it beyond "It sucks and I hate it".

I get the argument you're trying to make but it feels like you're missing the point and going at this at the wrong angle-- if he were referring to anything other than the blind, seething hate people spew online constantly for the many things they dislike then I'd agree with you, but he's not. He's not talking about critics. He's not talking about fan reaction to songs/bands per se either. He's strictly referring to the common trend nowadays for people to blindly hate something and be very, very loud about it in the process.

Cloudy: Also try looking into Tamako Market (slice of life anime that involves a talking bird who's looking for a princess bride for his prince, and in the process lands in a market community and gets sucked into their life for months while he becomes obese off of their mochi) and Kotoura-san (slice of life anime involving a psychic high schooler and her tortured past, overcoming said past and trying to accept her new life with new friends... I swear, I only call it slice of life because it's been that way since the second episode, because that first episode is the saddest fucking intro to an anime I've seen in ages).

Those are the two Lorina and I are following at the moment, anyway. Kotoura-san's a bit rough style-wise in that the animation quality is awful, but again... the first episode grabs you hard and the rest have been entertaining enough to keep us following it. Tamako Market on the other hand not only has one of the cutest intros I've seen, but the anime follows on that light-hearted nature completely... it's about as friggin' innocent as Ponyo, and that's saying something.

It's okay Srar, you and me can go appreciate real Bond music in the corner while GoGo acts all high and mighty with his stupid Garbage hating lists

I will personally stage a riot with my supporters on GoGo's front lawn and leave nasty voice messages if "The World is Not Enough" gets the shaft here

Hey, I liked Sword Art's characters, pacing and story damn it

I do wish they went further into the story and think it would have been better suited as a medium-to-long-tier anime ala Brotherhood/Soul Eater (of course, one used the extra episodes wisely and the other didn't...) but, you know, a little shorter; however, I still enjoyed it for what it was at least.

Still, all this said, Mirai Nikki is an anime I'd recommend sticking through for. I can see why Sword Art would be harder for some people to get into, much like Gurren Lagann, but... unless you're against violence in your animes, Mirai Nikki is just seven shades of fucked up and I absolutely love it for that.

Onto Norro's current anime exploits...

Anyone following Kotoura-san? That first episode's intro has basically left the entire anime on-edge for me, because every happy-go-lucky episode they give us I feel like at any moment it's going to turn into this dark freaking journey into her past, or everything's just going to go completely wrong. The light-heartedness makes it a nice slice-of-life anime with a twist, but damn it, I feel like it's trying to make me let down my guard.

Speaking of slice-of-life animes, Lorina and I are also watching Tamako Market, which is about a bird that falls into the cutest place to live on earth and tries to find a bride for his prince in this magical town of how-the-hell-are-you-all-so-nice? It's nothing to follow seriously but it's fun and I'll be damned if someone finds a cuter animated intro to anything else

There's also Magi, which... I'm hoping they're going for the Brotherhood long-game anime archetype and not the DBZ/Fairy Tail/Bleach/etc. never-ending archetype. I'm loving it, but it's a story that lends better to ending naturally, rather than dragging on near-infinitely. Sinbad is a beast and I'm interested in where Jafar's character is going. Aladdin's character is great (though the fanservice bit with him loving women's boobs is just... odd), Alibaba is a good main character type and Morgiana is fun to watch in battle. The fights are well animated, characters have my attention (beyond just the couple I mentioned) and the story's enough to keep me coming back, but like I said, I'm hoping it's just a long anime. Too short and it's not enough, but if it drags like Fairy Tail (don't get me wrong, I still enjoy Fairy Tail) I can't see myself keeping up with it.

Was gonna say, I found no issues with it with the streaming site Lorina and I used back when we started the series up (I... think, it was WatchAnimeOn? Not certain). Re-watching it on Hulu, still no issues either.

And yes, Lukie, it gets better.

... someone wasn't happy with the result of the Goku v. Superman DeathBattle

Muramasa Rebirth is coming out for the Vita, which definitely caught my interest. One of the most stylishly beautiful games on the Wii by far, so seeing it on the Vita in new form will be nice.

Assuming it is a new Muramasa, and not just another remake for the Vita to have.

The issues with the Vita really are the price and game library though, yes. Sony can't market it worth a damn to make people feel it's a good value, and the support just isn't there. Nintendo dominates the handheld market-- they pretty much always have-- and Sony's been struggling to truly compete head-to-head with them for some time.

It's just crazy because Sony's always had the superior tech, but that's the power of namebrand and good marketing.

Not wanting to derail this topic too much, but have you played the WiiU? There's a hell of a lot more to it than "the controller has a screen".

Not to mention that the Wii has plenty of fantastic games that barely rely on motion control, or don't rely on it at all; certainly not "forcing" it. I'd argue that "forcing" it would be more true of any of the motion control games that are available for the PS3 or 360; Kinect and PS Move having a far greater percentage of "shovelware" games than the Wii. With PS4 most likely including the "PS Eye" camera for "full body gaming", along with the ugly glowy bit and touch screen on the controller, it sounds like PS4 is going to get a lot more gimmicky than the Wii U.

With the exception of Motion Plus - which, admittedly, I've barely used - I've never bought any "expensive peripherals", and I've owned a Wii for years. The existence of "shovelware" for a console doesn't somehow invalidate the quality games that are readily available.

As much as "hardcore gamers", whatever that means, tend to completely discredit, or else just straight-up ignore the Wii and WiiU in discussions of current and next-gen games consoles, and as much as I've seen people argue that the WiiU having HD graphics is because the Wii "failed", you have to realise that the Wii is the third best-selling home games console of all time, and by far the best-selling of the current "generation". Like it or not, Microsoft and Sony will "take the Nintendo route" to some extent or another - particularly as they both have done already.

At least Nintendo are offering something new, rather than "touchpad, yeah?" and high-end graphics. Because that's the safe option - make the graphics better, and the new edition of Gran Turismo shinier. That'll do. Doesn't matter that you can buy a game for 50p on your phone that's more addictive. The model of "more powerful hardware = better gaming experience" is dead, and PS4 will have to do something new and innovative, rather than coasting on a brand name, to catch my attention. Particularly as it'll almost definitely be prohibitively expensive on release, with limited (if any) true backwards compatibility, and with the likely inclusion of features designed to kill the second-hand games market.

Not true. 360 is gaining on it massively (outsold it 4:1 in the UK in 2012 according to CVG/Chart-Trak, 25 straight months as top selling console in the States), if it hasn't caught it already by now.

As of December 2012, Worldwide Sales of 360 v. Wii were:

Wii - 99.38 million

360 - 75.9 million

It's catching up, yes. That cannot be argued. However, your assertion that the 360 is gaining on it massively and is close to catching up is... well, the numbers aren't there. The Wii is the second best-selling home gaming console of all time-- the first of course being the PlayStation 2-- and there is almost no likelihood that the 360 will catch up or surpass it before Microsoft stops producing them. Hell, Nintendo is still producing new Wii bundles despite the Wii U's launch, and are coming out with cheaper models of the Wii in different regions to continue sales on a product that has massively outdated tech.

It's because it's Nintendo, and they know how to market their product right. Say what you will about the tech behind their products, Nintendo has consistently marketed their product well enough to pull greater demand than their name value alone would. The 3DS is hilariously outmatched by the Vita in terms of raw power, processing and overall capability on-the-go, and yet more people purchase the 3DS and 3DS XL than the Vita. Shit, despite being the most advanced dedicated handheld platform made to date, the Vita has been a commercial flop. Because Sony, much though I adore Kevin Butler, cannot market a damn thing 9 times out of 10.

The Wii U isn't going to do as well as the Wii. It's simply not, because it can't. But what it can do is show its longevity and keep up with what Microsoft and Sony come out with next. They can do that through a lower price-point (which I could almost guarantee will be the case, I doubt the PS4/Durango will tout a $350 max pricetag), better exclusives (I love Sony's exclusives, but they're arguably and near-statistically not as broadly appealing) and tactical marketing.

People keep saying what a flop the Wii U is, but what I have to remind everyone here is that Nintendo took a huge step out on a limb for 3rd parties with this gen. The Wii was criticized for it's poor 3rd party support, and so when they announced the Wii U, Nintendo dominantly marketed it utilizing support from 3rd party companies. It's the first time we've seen them do this in... shit, I don't recall them ever doing it to the extent they did with this system. They wanted to rope in outside developers, they wanted to provide them an open platform to begin new work on. What they got were delays, broken street dates, and rushed multi-plat ports for their system while they themselves held off on the launch window to not dominate the scope. Now, they're finally announcing more first-party games, and I've a feeling we'll see a much more cohesive console war as Microsoft and Sony draw closer to releasing their own next-gen systems.

I'm excited about this new generation. We've got a lot of new names in the market and a lot more possible candidates to jump in. OUYA is the first major home console for Android, Steambox will potentially bridge the gap between home console and PC more than anything before it, Wii U is is touting the first ever major integration of tablet technology to a home console, PS4 introduces sharing and streaming in a way no other console before it has, and we can only speculate as to what Microsoft has in store with Durango.

To me, console wars are more about promoting the industry through higher standards of gaming, and it's why I love them. I don't love the fanboy-ism and the trash-talk (you'll find me going to bat for most consoles if someone rehashes an old argument against them), but it's a given in any "competition". Obviously I have my own nit-picks in the industry (again, Sony, please get it together with marketing already), but ultimately I own basically every major console and enjoy gaming on each of them for different reasons. Oh, and as an aside-- the gimmick of the Wii was primarily exacerbated by no-one outside of Nintendo daring to go beyond the "waggle your controller" formula. It was basically a NES controller with added functionality and a joystick, it could have been used a lot more proficiently in games than what other companies used it for.

tl;dr. consoles are fun, and we've a lot to be excited for in the industry right now, both with existing and upcoming tech. Personal preferences aside, this generation of gaming is some of the best we've ever had.

Going to be getting the last DLC, just a shame it's not going to add anything extra to the ending. Some kind-of teaser for ME4 would have been nice, ala Arrival and all. Granted, Arrival wasn't nearly the best DLC for 2, but still

It's smart. I don't entirely like the direction Sony's going in right now (as I mentioned in my last post), but I'll hand it to them on that: slowly leading customers into going digital is far better than throwing them in or adding one-use download codes for their games. Going an anti-pre-owned route would have killed them pretty much instantly, but the more they offer a digital alternative and give benefits to those who choose it, the more likely it'll be that it catches on.

The social stuff is pretty cool, and the only real innovation that I liked from it. The "Spectator Mode" is genuinely great, though has potential to just dissolve into nothing but awful videos of adolescents swearing over an FPS, so it'll be interesting to see if Sony give any kind of incentive for gamers to provide something of quality.

Nintendo doing social gaming works, because they have a very friendly, hands-on image, whereas Sony are very cold and impersonal, so I can imagine it just being left up to the users to produce whatever they like, whereas I'd prefer the odd contest or suggestions being thrown out there as to what gamers should be sharing, to get the ball rolling, and to move it into a more interesting area.

The idea that load times won't exist just seems unbelievable to me. Will believe it when I see it.

The fact that they did a "reveal" press conference without even showing us the console rings alarm bells. I don't really know how to feel about that, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth if nothing else. The fact that there's no release date or price given is disappointing too, though I expect that's more a case of playing their cards close to their chest so they can undermine any announcements Microsoft might make, and that makes sense. But from a consumer perspective, and from a "major announcement press conference" perspective, it absolutely sucks.

Lack of backwards compatibility is awful, particularly if PS4 continues to use Blu-Ray. Hopefully they come up with some form of "registration" system, where you can register your PS3 games to get a free - or at the very least, discounted - download of them to play on the "Cloud". I fully expect that won't be the case, though.

Even the game reveals were nothing too special. A lot of "oooh, pretty" footage of games we already knew existed, or else were dead certs to be coming to PS4 anyway. And all very Playstation. The only surprise was Diablo 3, a game that was released last year and was largely underwhelming. Yes, it's nice that they're bringing it to a console, but it's not a game changer. There was a complete lack of innovation, or really anything more than a glorified tech demo.

Like I said earlier, HD graphics and existing franchises just are not enough to sell a new console any more. Sorry to keep banging on about the WiiU, but it's my frame of reference, and the only available "next-gen" comparison I can draw; if you look at the trailers for WiiU games, the reveal of the console, the launch titles, and pretty much everything around it, every little thing was about how the games used the hardware, what the hardware was capable of, and what you could potentially do with this hardware.

In comparison, the PS4 "reveal" was little more than shaking a shiny ball in front of you. Only they didn't even do that, they just described the shiny ball.

Nintendo did this with the Wii U in E3 2011 and no one batted an eyelid. Microsoft did this with their Xbox 2000 reveal as well. They are saving the big guns for this years E3.

Yeah, you're right, they did do it at E3 2011... and the system then came out in Winter 2012.

Sony is marketing the PS4 launch for Holiday 2013. They have announced a new console due for release by the end of this year and we don't even know what the thing looks like. I'm sorry, but it's not a smart marketing move at all when it's this close to the planned launch.

I love Sony to death but I've got to echo Skummy here. The conference was largely underwhelming, promised only a small number of innovations that caught my interest and, overall, left me concerned about Sony's viability in the market any longer. They need the PS4 to be a success-- the Vita isn't doing anything for them and they're still climbing out of a deep financial hole they've drilled themselves into right now, and if the PS4 repeats the same patterns as the PS3 then I'm worried we'll see Sony go third party within the next couple of years.

I've just been getting them in the order they're listed myself, mainly because I'm hitting everything I can along the way so I've actually got a large number of merit cards cashed in thusfar. If I weren't doing that I'd probably just aim for what I want, pick & choose and all that.

That said, my favorite is the jump ability. It's nearly useless except for when you're in battle and your familiar is too short to reach the golden orb when it appears, but it's like its description says... it's really fun. I don't know why but I am addicted to mashing O while running.

Worst part is Gearbox's name gets dragged through the mud with it. It really is Duke Nukem all over again for them, and they didn't even do much of the single player.

... no idea why they promoted single player when they only worked on multi though. Really strange. I mean granted it's up in the air as to how much they did work on it apparently but still, the only good part is multi and I can't convince myself that the guys behind Borderlands would suddenly, collectively, suck this horrifically.

ZJ: Yours sucked in second stage? Mine rapes and pillages everything in its path. Seriously, I've scarcely used my others for fear of angering him. My poor lemur's practically useless at the moment in comparison, but I like him so I'm keeping him for now.

My Mite on the other hand is kitted out with awesome equipment, and to prove his beastliness recently his shield auto-blocked an attack during a side-quest mini-boss battle, and afterwards he proceeded to make that creature regret everything it had ever done. Seriously, got a "Nice!" on his first retaliatory shot and pretty much ripped the thing to shreds before his stamina ran out.

So proud of the little guy.

They should have called it Wii Earth U, blah. Wii Street U implies you can take it farther than 20 feet from the console

Still. Downloaded.

I'll likely keep English because I generally prefer English in Miyazaki films, and thusfar the game hasn't disappointed. It's just... Ollie, please, please stop talking like that.

This game has been an absolute blast so far. Seriously, I just made it to Castaway Cove and I've been hooked for ages. So much to like about the game-- I love Drippy's accent and mannerisms, it's like has been said, he grows on you. My Mite is my favorite familiar and is a proper bad-ass in his second form right now, but I also love the others I've picked up along the way. Story has been fine for me too, and as a Miyazaki fan I can't say I mind the cut-scenes because of how much I adore the style.

If I had to give a detractor I'd say it's Oliver actually. I love his character and I love the touches they add to show what a little gentleman he is, but if I have to keep hearing him say things like "Jeepers", "Golly" or "Oh gosh" I may have to switch to Japanese, because it is driving me stark-raving mad