Outro

February 25, 2007

Most played : The Resident Evil gamesCurrent mood : Tired but reassured Ah yes, the worst part of a holiday is here, free time comes to a close and commitments make a return. I’m trying not to look at it in a bad way though because I know that I’m going to enjoy the upcoming working year. Before I get to that, I’d better get business over and done with.

The week, 2 weeks ago was a great week for me. It represented the pinnacle holiday experience and that is to disconnect from the rest of the world. I spent most of the week enjoying life at home as I hadn’t really done much(or enough) of a big binge yet.

I had 2 injections that week as well, one was a blood test and another was for hep ummm B I think, just one to fix me up if I ever plan on going overseas, which will probably happen. The results from the blood test were rather positive and meant that I don’t have to go on this diet plan. But I still want to eat more of that sorta stuff.

My weekend was also completely free, I could’ve done something but it wouldn’t really fit into my gaming binge, now would it?

Last week I have spent sometime at the Universities for the Orientation Week. I’ve found out more about my courses and also the excellent social activities that the Universities hold. I still need to register for more clubs to join. I originally wanted to join heaps of clubs but I’ve decided to limit it so that I don’t get too busy. Chris also sees very keen to check out the Uni Bar.

With some of the activities I did during the various days I met a few people and (I know this kinda sounds corny) but I made some more friends. I also saw plenty of other people I know, mainly from school.

Its great going to 2 Universities, I get double the benefits. Its too sweet. It would only be better if my timetable was a bit better, I have a free day, yet 2 days where I only have to go in for an hour or so. Its a bit of a rip off.

On Friday I went a ‘meet and greet’ session for my program. I was the only guy there for the first year group. Everyone else where girls. There was a bit of an intro and then we had lunch for most of the time. I met most of the people that attended(don’t worry, not many people actually do my program), I enjoyed the session much more than I thought I would. Everyone I met where friendly, outgoing folk. I think that I left a positive impression for the most part.

After the info session I met Chris at some shops and we went looking for stuff. I bought one of those totally ace Mario Kart shirts from Jay Jays. Man its too sexy. I also picked up Resident Evil 3 for the PC for $10, w00tage on low res. renders and higher res. character models.

I had work on the weekend, both days. It was pretty relaxed overall. I’ve decided to keeping working at HS, there’s just too may positive incentives. They play my favourite music, I love selling electrical gear, I get on well with th staff, I’m use to how the store works and one of the most annoying staff members has left our department as well as another mildly irritating person. Its just too good a deal to pass up, especially anything else that I do would probably be less interesting.

I also finally found a nice tie at work and at a killer price. Its light blue and has a few diagonal stripes. I figured that I needed a lighter coloured tie for the rack.

Saturday night I went to Woonsy for his birthday, we had a few peple that normally don’t attend which was somewhat refreshing. I wore my new MK shirt. Its a pity that everyone was LANing too much. There’s only so much LANing I can take and I had finished after a few hours.

Chris,myself, John and John’s other mate arrived after work @ 6pm but everyone else had been there since 11am. Mainly playing Warcraft 3, weird I know. Mel was also there which was surprising as I didn’t think that she was invited.

Man I tell ya, we had pizza for tea and I am so pleased that we didn’t have any of that damn Bonazas Pizza stuff. Oh man, had that too many times now. They aren’t really that bad, Cam just ordered anchovies.

Umm..yeah that’s basically it. There’s something else that I wanna bring up, but depending on certain circumstances during the week you’ll find out later. There’s some other stuff that I’ve forgotten that should go here as well.

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Tags: Life, harris scarfe, birthday, lan, mario kart, jay jays
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A Gaming Journal

February 15, 2007

Most listened : X - OST
Most played : RE4
Current mood : Chillin’ live a villain

I hardly ever blog about gaming but considering that I’ve spent the last few days gaming I figure it’d be best talking about that. But before that just a quick talk about other stuff. Next week is my last week of holidays. Which I guess is a bad thing, although it will be great getting some routine back into my life. It won’t be that bad really, I have Thursday off and I only have to go in for an hour on Friday and Thursday. So it will still be fine.I’ve decided that if I continue to get few hours at work then I’ll apply for another place or see about what I can do to get some $ thru the internet. Work isn’t too bad really but I’d still like more.—Now onward to gaming. Since I’m going to 2 Uni’s that means double the possibilities for joining clubs. I’ll probably join the respective anime and video games clubs. There really isn’t much else there to choose from. Altho I should join a chinese club, its a pity that there’s no photography club.

Anyway the gaming clubs should help me play games more socially, as Chris is always bitching about how I never play games with him. I’m a wee pity particular about multiplayer gaming. I hate playing multiplayer games on the PC. But I’ll play a round of Mario Kart any day.

This week I’ve been majorly whoring out Resident Evil 4. This is odd for me as I never whore out a game, infact I despise it. But RE4 is different, although I’ve been playing it a lot I haven’t been rushing thru it. I’ve just played it a lot. You see I’ve been dying to find out what happens in the end. Now because the only released media of the game is on the first disc, I assumed that the game is shorter than it is. So I get to a point and I’m like, ‘c’mon Dan just to the end of this map and I can find out what happens’. Then once I’ve finished the map I’ll see another one and then think ‘ok, this HAS to be the last one, just keep going’.

I haven’t been playing much of the GBA Castlevania twin pack that I bought last weekend. I just got use to the feel of the game and then played RE4. I’m still a bit stuck with the gameplay, its too hard to figure out when I can just play some RE4.

I’ve decided to invest in the previous Resident Evil games if the chance pops up. Just to experience the story, I’ve read up everything on it @ Wikipedia but I still wanna play thru.
This RE4 love has translated into love for Capcom. Which comes to the next point. Shortly after I figure out my Uni expenses(which won’t be too much) I shall probably buy a PS2 and some games. Its gonna ram up my list of games I gotta finish. But thats fine as I plan on being more particular about my games from now on. I currently have 30 games on my ‘to finish’ list, so another 20 odd PS2 would drown me out for the next 4 years. I’ve managed to clear off about 10 game this holidays, but then I had to buy a Wii and then more games.

I’m really looking forward to Devil May Cry 3 and Onimusha Dawn of Dreams. Both look like great action games. And they are Capcom as well. I’m also looking forward to some more fighting games, mainly Tekken 5 and Guilty Gear X2. Its been too long since I’ve played Tekken 3. OMFG that game rules. There’s much talk about God of War 2 so I may consider that one as well.

I’m also dying to play Sonic the Hedgehog for the Wii’s VC. Man I played it @ a friends place and its so ace. The Wii hasn’t seen much play time this holidays. Its because I need to clear off some older games now, especially the Gamecube games building up. I’ve hardly played Killer 7, Viewtiful Joe 2, Batallion Wars or RE Remake.

That should do me for now. So many games to look forward to. I’ve definitely been trying/going to continue trying to keep playing games more this year. Last year was so awful, hardly got to play any games. So I wanna keep this activity nice and snuggly this year.

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Tags: Video Games, resident evil, playstation 2, killer 7, castlevania, blog
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Fundamental return

February 12, 2007

Most listened : Urban Hymns : The VerveMost played : RE4/Castlevania

Current mood : Very positive

This last week has been a very solid one. Last weekend Chris and I got work hours on both days. It sounds so weak doesn’t it, but its becoming and continually rarer occurrence. It was actually a very good weekend for working. Infact work has been better than ever really. The music playlist is fantastic, they have plenty of U2 and The Verve(2 songs from Urban Hymns and a live recording of Bittersweet Symphony). I’m getting some more respect from one of the managers too. Despite this I’m still getting piddly hours.

I also saw a game for the GBA in EB that I wanted. Its a twin pack of 2 Castlevania titles; Aria of Sorrow and Harmony of Dissonance. I wasn’t sure if I should pick it up or Portriat of Run for the DS, so I thought over it at work and then told Chris to buy it for me. He thought that it was a rip off and didn’t buy it despite the $5 reward. So I picked it up yesterday.

On Monday I went to the 2 Unis to get some stuff sorted out. On Tuesday I went to John’s and we had our normal Chris, Dan, John and Cam games bash. We had a little LAN going as well. That was interesting.

On the Wednesday I had to go back into Uni to lodge some forms and go to an information session. They had all of the campus’ info sessions that day. So people were walking around. They info session was fine, there wasn’t really that much that they sai which I didn’t know. There were about 15 people at the session, about 12/13 girls and 2 guys including me. You see thats the thing with my Uni campus; its flooded with girls. I was talking to a guy at work about it(as he has been there for a year or so) and he rekons that the ration is 8:1. Nice.

I spent Thursday and Friday at home. I managed to get unstuck outta Resident Evil 4. I’m absolutely in love with the game it is so awesome. I’ve had this big love for Capcom recently and I really wanna buy heaps more of their games because they are:

cool, stylish and modern
always of good quality
very difficult

Then last weekend I worked both days as I took someones shift. It was another great weekend for work. I feel more laid back with customers, altho laid back and informative. Saturday night we had a LAN. It was pretty good altho I don’t really enjoy LANs. I dunno just something about them really bugs me. In any case everyone seemed to have really enjoyed themselves as usual. I felt a bit ill as I had plenty of pizza for tea and I’m on this diet where pizza is a no no.

Thats the other thing that happened his week. I’m on this diet where I gotta eat more nuts and seeds and stuff like that. Mum and I saw a natrapath(?) and they suggested this diet thing. I’m getting a blood test this week to make sure that I don’t have a bug an therefore ensure that this diet is now officially happening. Its all because I’m constantly feeling tired. Since I’ve started thing I’ve been feeling much better already. Hurray!

I dunno what I’m gonna do this week, I have 2 needles and work. I think Woonsy wanted to do this retro games night thing as he supposively was pretty keen to have another get together. And I’m free all weekend. Plus there’s plenty of top notch games there for me to stick my teeth into. I also found out this week that I have no books to buy for my main Uni! I may have to buy whats called ‘readers’ though ad maybe some books for the other Uni. But I get the impression that readers won’t cost too much. Which means more money for a car/PS2. Yay! Life is very cooshy ATM.

Thats it from me. Be sure to read my article on the PSP and listen to more Space Rock.

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Tags: Life, urban hymns, the verve, resident evil 4, castlevania, gameboy advance, lan
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Giving back some credit : PSP sales

February 9, 2007

With the recent global success of the Nintendo DS, there has been a very positive outlook put on the console from video game websites and community forums. Too many times will you read of the complete sales insanity in Japan or the non stop sell outs accross the globe. But with all of this going on, little light has been shon on the consoles competitor; the Sony Playstation Portable. It too deserves some credit for its success in the market place and hence this article shall highlight its success.

The facts

*NB: I have taken my sales data from Wikipedia

Theres no doubt about it the DS is taking the world by storm both in the hardware and software areas. Sales data from Wikipedia states that the Nintendo DS has sold 35.61 million as of December 31, 2006 and Sony have shipped 22.94 million units as of September 30, 2006. The 2 consoles have been the only real players in the handheld gaming market for the last 2/3 years.

You gotta say it the PSP is quite hawt baby

Now lets assume that over the Christmas break Sony sold the PSP that have been shipped and a few more in the past month or so and the same said for the DS in the past 2 months. So lets estimate the numbers at the current time to be something like DS : 36 million and the PSP : 24 million. Now this actually works out nicely for my market share estimate which I shall get to later.

We also need to take into account the release dates of the 2 consoles. Since there is at least a year difference in region releases for each console, I’ve roughly worked out average release dates for each console.

And to round off my collection of data I’ll throw in the best selling game for each console.

Console : Market Share : Average release date

DS : 60% Feburary 2005
PSP : 40% May 2005

Behind the facts

Now with the facts listed, lets take a closer look. The first obvious point is that the DS was released several months before the PSP therefore the DS got a little bit of a head start. Also when you look at the release dates the DS was released at more important times for the consumer, being just before Christmas in some countries. We all know that a good launch is important to get the ball rolling.

One of the biggest hurdles that the PSP has had to overcome is that before its released the general public perception of handheld videogames is that they are made for young children and teenagers. Now the Playstation audience is somewhere in the 18-30 year old market. Therefore when Sony release a portable console its inevitabal. They have two choices, fight public perception or change the perception. So there’s was no easy option for them.

Its been quality software like MGS PO selling PSPs and not the GPS or goggles

In addition to the stereotypes of portable consoles, Sony also have had to face a similar hurdle. Being that the the public relate handheld gaming to the Gameboy. This is because the Gameboy has never had any real competitors until now. Fortunately with the DS taking the Gameboy’s limelight this hasn’t been too bad.

Now despite these hurdles in which Sony has had to over come they have still managed to take 40% of the market share from Nintendo. This is what too many people seem to overlook. People tend to think that the PSP is failing because it isn’t level with the DS in sales. But this is not the case. 40% of the market for a new competitor is fantastic. This 40% market share certainly is a slap in the face for Nintendo and their whole “invading the market” stratergy. As Sony have come in and invaded some of their own market.

Well thats my spill on the whole situation. I hope that this restores some faith back into the PSP fans out there.