Juggernauts and Verbal Diarrhea

Never Blow One's Own Trumpet.

Ok ok I know I should never have announced it, guess the podcast and joint post were really doomed as soon as I mentioned them. Yeah Major Sheppard and I were kind of busy during Christmas, no really we were, we spent most of our time trying to get all the stars in Modern Warfare 2's cooperative mode. Pitifully we only managed to get 3, brought me to tears at least. Can someone give me an actual scientific basis for how a Juggernaut can survive 5 mines? Seriously, its like facing Arnold Schwarzenegger on crack or something. That said the juggernaut has defiantly moved up my list of "people who you do not want to piss off". I think its the music when they appear that does it.

I'm Sorry, say what?

So not a lot has been happening here and to be frank I want to move away from talking about my life. Though before I do that I've just got to link you to my latest favorite song. That sentence doesn't do any justice to the amount of shame I'm feeling about it though. More interesting however is the little bit of anime news about a new season of Code Geass, especially considering the ending of the second which rapped up the story to a closed ending. It leaves many to speculate on whether an alternative storyline is in the works or an expansion of the main storyline as a continuation. Either way fans may expect to find out more as early as this year. On the same note, I think many of us are looking forward to the next few months, well at least those who have money, for the explosion of the most anticipated games. Personally I have high hopes for Heavy Rain and with its success I hope we find many more games putting empathises on story driven gaming.

Video Killed the Video Game

Though it has to be said that there certainly has to be a balance between the actual game play and cinematography, glares at Final Fantasy XIII. Seems like another game that has fallen into the fiery pits with a bad case of verbal diarrhea, now glares at Metal Gear Solid 4. Is it just me or is there a pattern forming here? Now don't get me wrong, I don't want to start a war, I am all up for the integration of movie scenes and scripts into gaming. Far gone are the days when the stereotypical programming did everything in the gaming production, thank god. We all know this, however gone too are the days when the video game creators or story writers direct the script. I think its now important to start hiring the pros and experts from the film industry to direct those complex scenes. This is defiantly where the Japanese Gaming Industry is failing, in the western world at least. But that said I still believe it was Metal Gear Solid 2 that revolutionized this movement with its balance of game play and movie-like-scenes. Never the less, do Square Enix really need to consider producing the Final Fantasy series abroad? Maybe I'm a hypocrite but surely they realize that Final Fantasy is as quintessentially Japanese as Cherry Blossoms (ok, I seriously couldn't think of anything else, it 5 in the morning, its the best I can do!).

Crap from the Internet.

Anyway I shall hopefully be posting again soon, but until then I leave you with the crap from the internet section. Oh, just in case the petrol I lay down eariler didn't catch fire maybe this will help; I saw Avatar and I loved it, so much so I saw it for a second time. See ya!

To commemorate Major Sheppard's and I's completion of RE5 after 1 year of playing (I asuure you people were not bad gamers).

When Country's Don't have British Health and Safety.

The One That is not the Special Post.

Time Flys By.
Well its been about a month or so since my last post, I thought it be good to show at the least that I'm alive and well. While nothing in particular has been going on here, I've noticed that time is certainly passing too quickly and in turn I've been kinda sentimental. Just to think that it will be a year in March since this blog first started, almost several months since I finished school, exactly seven since my surgery and only four since moving to University. While looking back I've played some old songs on my iTunes some of which I cant believed I even listened too! More importantly I cant believe how one of my Japanese lectures looks like Mami Kawada, laughed at that one for a while. (All I need to do now is buy her a fan to get the wind effect and we're all set... ah sorry). Anyway, but seriously, as sad as it sounds, I don't think my tastes have changed at all since 2007 (please don't judge me). Furthermore, having done a review of my bookmarks, I've stumbled upon some good old laughs, like my random favorite flash. And again I cant say my humor has changed much either. I'm still watching Naruto for since two year (oh good god it cant be that long!), meanwhile moving from Innocent Venus to Gundam00 and Code Geass. Having played Metal Gear Solid Online since I got my PS3... hmm...

More of me: Oh what Joy.
Yes... Lets swiftly move on before I bore you all with boredom (God I hate irony sometimes). To much amazement I've been studying Japanese for sometime now and I'm getting the hang of it, still loads more to learn of course, but that goes without saying. However I do have a point (believe it or not) as I'm considering writing a few things every now and then in Japanese. Obscure indeed considering that few people to none read this blog in English! But it all helps... I guess? So yeah.

Anime News:
Some news now, Naruto related of course. I'm sure some of us viewers are now aware that despite the end of dattebayo's subbing, HorribleSubs are now supplying us, well to the extent of ripping from Crunchyroll, or so I heard. I do wounder how long that will last though? So with that jinx, I think thats all for now. I will be back very soon with the last and third of the special posts, I promise, I was lazy once but I'm a changed man now. By the way, MajorSheppard isn't dead either, just has a lot of "work" apparently.

Part One: God and Revolution

Home: Its here.
Today I received an unexpected call that was beyond having a call from god himself. While I wont praise Major Shepard who called me today by implying that he is better than the all mighty himself, I will say that the news he brought of Home Open Beta Release for tomorrow was, in a few words, a godsend. Yes people, amongst the many delays that seemed to push the release date of Home until the next Ice Age, December 11th will forever be remembered as the date that Home Open Beta was released around the world. OK, so maybe I'm slightly over exaggerating, though for many PS3 fan boys out there, this has been a key date they've been waiting for. I can say in all fairness, similar to how India was once the gem in the crown of the British Empire, Home is that of the PS3's, which in it's towering glory can claim to have over any other next-gen console. (I thank you all for letting me blind you with the brightness of my holy praise of Home's coming.) Full Article Here.

Gackt, Maybe He's God?
Though bringing myself to reality, a lot has happened since the trip to Manchester in September (was it that long ago!?). From breaking my wife (i.e. Ipod, what else did you think I was implying?), moving to uni, getting a HD TV, the end of Code Geass's Second Season to finally watching Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle (I know, do not even start). But why would I bore you all with that when I know what we are all waiting to know about is what I've listened to! I can proudly say though, maybe what I've been listening to lately is not so, how should I put it, "interesting". Actually on reviewing that I'm not going to hold any promisises. So, after listening to 4 albums by Gackt I can finally say that he is truly talented (Lust for Blood ¦ Vanillia ). Ok, aside from the initial response of "Oh my god, he looks like a woman" part, this guy (let me emphasise this) is one of the few talented singers out there. Unlike most artists these days, his singing voice is all real, while his lyrics are written by himself. Its actually amazing some of the stuff he sings. I mean who would of thought that this, great translation by !SuperCat, is what Gackt was singing in that "interesting" music video for Vanilla (I certainly didnt when I posted it on Facebook, honest).

The Special Part: The Future of Anime and Fansubs.
So after my last annoucement about Dattebayo to soon finish subbing Naruto, with Crunchyroll to be a replacement for the latest Naruto to be found, I thought It would be a good idea to take my magnifying glass, smoking pipe and rename myself Sherlock Holmes and discover what this place was about. I did. And. It was the best thing I had done since deleting my Facebook account after posting those lyrics (joke, but I did delete my account). In short, Crunchyroll is another website that has sprung up in YouTube's fame, though unlike other such sites, Cruchyroll is a preview of a changing anime industry after the Anime Revolution. During the early 90's, before the time of broadband Internet, fans of anime looking for subbing had to receive the such in VHS format. Though fans were limited to a small selection of anime that made it through translation, not to mention depleting the little remains of their disposable income from their expense. While this situation has picked up with better variety, I assure you all the price has not. It is no wounder that fans turn to fansub groups for their supply of anime. While fansubs originally emerged from the days before broadband, it wasn't until the Internet really picked up that fansub groups revolutionized the anime world. Now many of us are use to having subs of our favorite anime a day or less after their air on TV for free. Yet the anime industry was missing out. I'm sure many of us have either read in an article or by word the problem of the TV as a declining format for watching video. But it has only been since YouTube and the progress of the Internet that a solution has arisen for companies. Instead of fighting the change ahead, many have now chosen to go along with the flow with their own view services on the internet. It is therefore no exaggeration to say that Cruchyroll or other of the like will be the main means where broadcasting and licensed publishers will present their shows or movies. By doing so the corporations eliminate the expense of distributing DVDs, allowing for faster and wider distribution of their productions and importantly putting them in direct competition with fansub groups. In other words, the corporations have setup shop next door on the high street, offering all the same services as the fansub groups, but only better in quality of subs and video. But, there is one huge difference and this is why, while fansub groups will now begin to decline, they will never die. And again the issue is the price. While technically illegal, fansubs will always offer free subs of anime, while the corporations will ask for a price. This is a pivtial difference. Though maybe its only a mater of time that this fee will be removed, where the revenue will instead be gained from advertisement. At the moment Cruchyroll offers the best of both worlds. But not only that, it combines features from those famous social sites making Crunchyroll in my eyes, probably better than Youtube. I highly recomend it to anyone to find out new anime as I have so done: Kuroshitsuji and Time of Eve.

But thats all for me until the second part of the special post.