sqlrob

Who do you think you are anyway? Microsoft?

How did an entire subsystem get broken in the next-to-latest security update?

For those of you that installed 2005-007, there's a version 1.1 of that patch out now that fixes the problem.

The Patrician Well done for sitting through the whole test! You scored 80%!

You know a lot about Discworld....but not quite enough to get into the top category. Very well done anyway!

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 49% on pratchett

Link: The New Discworld Test written by Gorefreaky on Ok Cupid

Title: Castlevania: Lament of Innocence
Platform: PS2
Genre: 3D Platformer
Complete: Yes (with cheats)
Price Paid:$14.99 - 10% (used)
Would Pay: $17.99

This is the first of the 3D entries in the Castlevania series. I've only played a little of one of the GBA, so I can't really say if this does the series any justice. My first impression of this game is "Devil May Cry", the main character even looks like Dante.

The second impression is "damn, this is short". The percent complete counter went up awfully quickly. The manual implied that the counter was for each level, but it wasn't, it was for the entire game. The majority of the game was relatively easy, and it was a blast exploring the castle, whipping the shit out of monsters with various combos learned throughout the game.

Easy, until the final boss at least. The last level is the first place that difficulty really started ramping up when it should've started ramping up far earlier. The final bosses however, were beyond what I could do. It took me two tries to get by the "final" boss, I was hurting and out of potions, but I did it. Then I get slammed with a much, much more powerful boss with no chance to save or restock. Sorry, not fun anymore. A little digging for the cheat code for infinite health to toast these suckers and see the closing movies.

This post is a touch late, but I wanted to wait until I had the shipment in my grubby little hands. I am now the proud owner of one GTA: San Andreas, purchased after the re-rating to AO. (Although jenbooks is still trying to get me to purchase the AO version of Leisure Suit Larry, but since the game sucked and the AO version is PC only, it's probably not going to happen.

Boy, did this game take some wrangling to get. The day it was re-rated, I went to the local GameStop to get it. Nope, sorry, we don't sell AO. Doesn't matter that I'm 33 and don't have any children, or that the content didn't magically change when the rating did. Interestingly enough, the "San Andreas: Get it here" display was still up.

So, online to Amazon and add it to my cart, I won't purchase it to the next day because I'd like to to find and support a local place that doesn't pander to the morons. No luck, so "Move to Cart" the next day. Nothing, nada. Doesn't work. The game page is still up, no "add to cart" button any more. But, funnily enough, "Add to Baby Registry" was still there. Time to wander online and look for places that still have it.
EB Games Used last night, just the strategy guide now
GameStop Nothing
Circuit City Nothing
Best Buy Found on the search page, but any links are 404

Some digging around Rockstar's site and F.Y.E. has it. Place the order, and it's here today. $20 rebate, definitely putting it in my price range. I wasn't planning on getting this until the price went down, but Hillary "sexually repressed carpet bagger" Clinton forced it. I'll be damned if she's going to tell me what I can and can't play.

And now you have some idiots "weren't aware of the sexual content". Hmmm, what's in that label on the back of the box
Blood and Gore
Intense Violence
Strong Sexual Content
Use of Drugs

WTF made you think this was suitable for your fourteen year old grandson you stupid bitch? Now you're suing because you don't know how to read?

Title: .hack //Infection - .hack Part I
Genre: RPG
Platform: PS2
Price Paid: $14.99 (Used) - 10%
Would Pay: $29.99
Complete: Yes

This is a single player, offline, massively multi-player online role playing game. Confused yet? Hope not, since this is the part that makes the most sense. It takes place after the events of the anime series .hack Sign, covering events the the MMIORPG "The World", news in the "real world" and e-mail discussions with some of the other players. I waited until I had watched the entire .hack Sign series before playing this. It doesn't help, but there is the bonus of recognizing some of the areas, as well as some of the characters if you watched the bonus disk from the last volume of .hack Sign.

This is basically a hack and slash RPG, which I started after being reminded of the fun of these by Golden Sun:Lost Age on the GBA. There's some strategy added by the various monsters having different elemental resistances and weaknesses, and your weapons and armor have the same issues. The pacing leaves a little to be desired, especially for those that play cautiously. One of the required missions was a level 20 dungeon, and I wanted my character up a few levels first before trying to tackle it. So off to the side dungeons I go, level grinding away. Then I go to the dungeon, only to find it blocked by the administrators, and then lower level story dungeons open up so I can get the items I need to unseal it.

Leveling was different than most other RPGs I've played. It's a constant 1000 experience points between levels. The amount you're granted by killing monsters changes, based on the difference between your level and the monster's level. You can gain levels pretty quickly by going to a dungeon a couple of levels higher than you, provided of course, that you survive.

Although I marked this as completed, I'm still actively playing it. There are still some missions to complete, to get better items and level up. Then on to Part 2!

Title: The Legend of Zelda : The Minish Cap
Platform: GBA
Genre: Action/Adventure
Complete: Yes
Price Paid: $0.00 (Borrowed)
Would Pay: $29.99

Yup, it's a Zelda alright. You can see the influences of Wind Waker in the graphics, although the story line does not seem related to it. It's an overhead view instead of the 3D that Wind Waker is, but despite those differences, the same feel is there as well. Lots of wandering, finding little side quests, and plenty of puzzle solving in the dungeons. For the first time I've seen in Zelda, there's a new ability - jumping. It's not perfect, since you can't jump over little rows of rocks, but you can somersault over enemies, simplifying some of the battles.

So far, I think I've had better luck with value on the GBA games (this, Golden Sun : Lost Age, not yet reviewed) than anything on the full sized consoles. At least here I'm finding things that I feel are worth the prevalent list price of the platform. Still looking on the others.

This and Wind Waker have gotten me psyched up for Twilight Princess on the Game Cube, and I just restarted Ocarina of Time, the prequel to Twilight Princess in order to be ready for it.

There was a flurry of icon posts to discworld and I just had to join the fun.

Made this one with much pain with GIMP. It took me far too long, this should've been a five minute job.

Title: The Legend Of Zelda - The Wind Waker
Platform: GameCube
Genre: Action Adventure
Price Paid:$16.88
Would Pay:$34.99

This game has been labeled a kiddy game, and I know gamers that won't play it, this all because of the graphics. It's cel shaded, and been derisively called "Legend of Celda". Granted, Nintendo did try to get too cute at times and that was annoying, but this game is too good to not play, whatever your opinions of the graphics are.

The game is a blast to play, and at some points I played longer than I meant to, "just one more cavern" became quite a few more. The ultimate and penultimate bosses were out of whack with the rest of the game though, and I had to consult the FAQ on these in order to kill them.

This is certainly a platform defining game, and a must have for any GameCube owner. If you don't have one yet, this and the upcoming Zelda would probably make it worth purchasing.

Microsoft has just kicked off a huge XP ad campaign before Longhorn comes out, estimated costs of over half a BILLION dollars over the next year or so. It just started to try to steal some of Apple's thunder with Tiger coming out soon and Longhorn more than a year away.

The ad was made on a Mac