Ben's (b)Log

Animal Crossing!

Sat, 17 Dec 2005 17:59:45 GMT

Anyone playing Animal Crossing: Wild World for Nintendo DS should register my friend code and visit my town!

Friend Code: 3608-3805-8070
Name: Ben
Town: N. Kale

If you visit, bring me foreign fruit! I currently grow apples and pears but I want to have some more variety.

Ben out.

A princely post?

Fri, 16 Dec 2005 20:43:10 GMT

Kelly and I have known about the new Boku no Watashi no Katamari Damashii game for PSP which is scheduled to hit stores in Japan next week. We have also known about the marketing campaign and giveaway strategy NAMCO is using to help drive retail sales of the game. Basically, anyone who purchases the game in a retail store (in Japan, of course) will get a PSP carry case (they are it calling a pouch) which is shaped like the head of The Prince, the game’s main character. It follows without question that we had to have one.

To make sure we got one of these super-cool pouches, we recruited the aid of our friend Megumi in Sasebo. Megumi works at Tsutaya which is a chain of retail/rental stores that is best described as Borders meets Blockbuster. She seems confident that she can order one for her store and get it to us with no problems. We figured that waiting for one to show up in a Yahoo! Japan auction might result in paying way too much money, and having to wait for a very long time to get it.

Every morning, I spent about 15 minutes on Yahoo! Japan's auction site. I have a specific search criteria which includes Katamari Damashii, Asian Kung-Fu Generation Posters (I'm still missing one for Sol-Fa, damn it!), as well the recently added Doubustu no Mori (known as Animal Crossing on this side of the planet). To my surprise, this morning there were as many a five Prince-shaped PSP pouches up for auction. Not only are they showing up one week before the release, but they are doing so at relatively fair prices.

So, even though we know one will be coming from Megumi along with the game itself, we decided having two couldn't hurt and purchased one in an auction for 2000 yen (Roughly $17 per today's exchange rate).

We have two Nintendo DS consoles, and three Gameboy Advance SP consoles. I can only assume that we will eventually end up with an additional PSP. At the very least, we'll have an extra Katamari Damashii promotional item to keep safe in The Collection if we decide never to buy another PSP console.

But the fun doesn't end there!

Every Friday I check Minna Daisuki Katamari Damashii on the Web for its weekly update of new wallpapers as well as some other odds and ends that they have there. In addition to having two great new wallpapers available for download, the site also contains some great merchandising news! The kids over at Panic Software (who also design and sell T-Shirts) have released seven officially licensed Katamari Damashii tees for sale in North Amercica, Korea, and Japan. How cool is that? I have to get one... or three!

I also stumbled across an interview with Cabel from Panic in which he discusses the new tees, and gaming tees in general. The interview is courtesy of the kids over at GameSetWatch.

Well, that is just way too much Katamari for one day. If that's even possible...

On a side note, I also snagged a Super Mario Advance 4 (which we all know is really Super Mario Bros. 3 in a smaller box) B2 sized poster in an auction for an easy 300 yen! My collection of Japanese video game marketing materials is rapidly growing! I have really got to get some Japanese B2 poster frames...

Ben out.

Less blonde, less spiky.

Tue, 29 Nov 2005 17:25:18 GMT

I figured my avatar didn't reflect my hair properly anymore. I've been wearing my glasses regularly, too.

So, I made a new one. It also features my second favorite track jacket and my new headphones (which I use in my new NW-HD1)!

I also made a wallpaper from the illustration. Not that anyone wants a cartoon Ben on his or her desktop...

Ben out.

More Prince.

Fri, 26 Aug 2005 19:05:41 GMT

And... No! I don't mean the blouse-wearing baller from Detroit.

It's that time of the week when Minna Daisuki Katamari on the Web gets updated! This week Dr. Katamari offers an apology for the last week's missing update, as well as a promise that the next update (on Sept. 9) will be a big one! Thanks, Dr. Katamari!

The latest update consists of two new wallpapers. Here is a direct link to the presents page.

Ben out.

In the Kingdom of Hell and Penguins...

Wed, 27 Jul 2005 13:42:30 GMT

Makai Kingdom, the domestic version of Phantom Kingdom is out today. I honestly have been ignoring this game because I don’t want to get sucked into another tactics RPG. Disgaea stole weeks and weeks of life away when I picked it up last year. I liked it so much that I snagged copies of Phantom Brave, and the older La Pucelle Tactics. Both of those games are still in my play me pile though, because I know how much time I will end up devoting to them. Having a 3rd tactics RPG in queue might just delay any kind non-gaming activity for the rest of the year.

Makai Kingdom is third in the Makai series of tactics RPGs from Nippon Ichi Software. Artist Takehito Harada returns as character designer, so that means another art book is probably on its way, too. It also means The Prinnies are probably going to show up again, and who wouldn’t love zombie penguins with peg legs and bombs, anyway? Perhaps Harada’s trademark character, Plenair, will make a cameo as well.

The summoning system looks like it has been revamped from Phantom Brave, but it looks like overall the battle system stayed pretty much intact. If it’s anything like its predecessors, it will be completely wacky and addictive no matter what they do to it, though.

I’m usually El Cheapo when it comes to buying games. I prefer to wait a few months until I can find a used one for a better price. I guess that will give me an excuse to finish some of those games in the play me pile. ;^)

Ben out.

Roll up another one!

Tue, 26 Jul 2005 11:54:10 GMT

｢みんな大好き塊魂」 (Minna Daisuki Katamari Damashii, or Everyone Loves Katamari Damashii) came out this month! Since we were way too impatient for the October release date scheduled for the domestic version (known simply as We Love Katamari), Kelly (hyanan) put in an order for it along with the soundtrack early last week at Play Asia. Once it arrives, I’ll have to pull the hard drive out of the PS2, put it in my computer, and then dump the game to it, then finally put everything back together before we’ll get to play it. It sounds like a lot of hassle, but that method is better than me frying a PS2 while trying to mod it. Plus, loading games from the hard drive is way faster than loading them from the DVD.

If everything goes right, and the game is truly compatible with HDLoader as many compatibility lists are claiming, then this weekend should be all about rolling up weird Japanese foods, and cats, and people, and cars… and else anything you can imagine into a giant ball and then launching that ball into space.

Why? Well, because while we finished making all the stars in the first game, we still have the finish all the planets in the solar system! The sequel has underwater rolling, snowman making, racing and a ton of other new things that will easily keep this game fresh for a very long time. Although, even without the sequel, Katamari Damashii is still one of the freshest games I’ve played in many years.

That’s why everyone loves it!
Ben out.

So, who booked this show anyway?

Tue, 26 Jul 2005 06:24:12 GMT

An mc chris show is the probably the only place in the world - wherever it may be happening on a given night - that you can hear the phrases "make some noise, motherfuckers!" and "any World of Warcraft players in the house?" in the same context.

The show rocked... in a very strange way.

I have been to almost every kind of show imaginable. From Death Metal to Hip Hop, from raves to deathraves, I've seen pretty much everything live music venues have to offer. Seeing mc chris last Friday at St. Petersburg's State Theater was an altogether new experience, though. In the course of a single evening we were treated to Dutch Rap-rock (it appears no one can remember the name of this band), Pasco County Metal (Silence After Tragedy), and nerdy Alt-rock (SNMNMNM). The last opener, SNMNMNM was pretty cool. They have a kind of TMBG meets Ben Folds sound complete with analog synths, accordions and brass. At one point during their set Seamus, the band's front-man, made this comment: "Just to let you know what kind of show you're at, I saw lighters, cell phones, and a Nintendo DS." People sometimes hold up lighters at shows. At this one, people got a little creative, I guess.

Last up, of course, was mc chris. I guess you can call him Hip Hop. He seems to prefer Crap-hop. Either way, his show was hilarious. My jaw hurt from laughing so much. His formula of equal parts Stand-up comedy and Nerd-rap is everything you'd expect from the former Adult Swim employee. He played a good chunk of his back catalogue (his set was nearly 90 minutes), and accompanied a great deal of these songs with a funny story. Before playing Tractor Beam he talked about why he "became a rapper."

"I was listening to all these rappers talk about how great their lives were, but I grew up on Public Enemy, so I knew that was bullshit. That's when I decided to become a rapper. I became a rapper so that I can say whatever the fuck I want to about myself... even if it isn't true. Like, I have houses on both coasts. I make them transform in Gundams and have them fight in the Grand Canyon."

During the show, mc chris managed to drop names, drug references, and about 20 video game titles into one set. And I lost count of how many times Star Wars was mentioned (or how many T-Shirts is saw it on that night). Through it all, I stayed surprised at how many people actually showed up to this show, and how many people were signing along. I guess it goes to show that The Internet can do wonders for unsigned artists.

I would definitely recommend seeing mc chris if he makes it to your town. Considering how much he's been touring, your chances are pretty good. But I guess that negates his show-closer:

"MCCHRISOWNZ! I wanna go to an mc chris show! But, he doesn't tour. So in the meantime, I'm gonna memorize all o' his rhymes!"

Everybody, sing the hook with me!
Ben Out.

Thu, 21 Apr 2005 05:19:04 GMT

Overslept this morning. Gray weather does that to me every time.

On my lunch break:

I picked up some new (and not-so-new) music today. I went in looking for the Rjd2 release, which was not in stock. However, I grabbed the new Aesop Rock record today. The packaging is awesome, by the way. I'm a designer by trade and a sucker for cover art. Anyway, I was never a big fan of his stuff until his guest spot on the new Prefuse73 really made me take notice of his unique style. I will definitely be going back to the record shop to pick up the Bazooka Tooth LP. There is also an Acapellas and Instrumentals version called (appropriately enough) Build Your Own Bazooka Tooth which will also be on my list of must-grabs.

I also grabbed Prefuse73's first album, Vocal Studies and Uprock Narratives which is unquestionably superb. I got into his stuff when Warp was doing a lot promos for the release of One Word Extinguisher. And, while that record is definitely on my list of Best Records Ever, I never went ventured into his back-catalog to pick up the release prior to it. Not until today, that is...

Speaking of Warp Records, I also picked up Beans Shock City Maverick LP and Now, Soon, Someday EP. I miss Anti-pop Consortium. But, Beans rocks solo.

On my drive home from work:

I manged to T-Bone a Cadillac at 40mph. It was his fault. He got the ticket. His insurance foots the bill for damages. But, my car is near-totaled. I think the possibility of it being categorized as such by the insurance claims person is very high. Ugh... So I have no car at the moment. But, I can listen to a lot great music while I am not driving it...

Ben out.

New Chapter

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 11:54:35 GMT

Shannaro has Naruto Chapter 256 available for your reading pleasure. As always, I grabbed it from ThienZ.

This chapter reveals a ton of good info about events currently unfolding. I won't spoil it for anyone though.

Ben out.

Lonely rolling star...

Fri, 15 Apr 2005 05:19:00 GMT

Play Asia is now taking preorders for みんなだ大好き塊魂 (Katamari Damashii 2)!! They are showing a release date of July 7th of this year. I am totally pumped for this sequel. The first game still gets played around my home almost as frequently as it did when it made its domestic debut. The price looks a lot higher this time around, though. But even without the budget pricing, it's totally worth the money.

Ben out.

Chapter 254

Tue, 05 Apr 2005 22:22:24 GMT

Shannaro has a high-quality version of Naruto Chapter 254, as does Inane. Per my usual modus operandi, I snagged it from ThienZ.

I've already read the low-quality version from Shannaro, but I am so ready to read it again. Those who have read it will understand...

Ben out.

For the impatient...

Sun, 03 Apr 2005 14:11:23 GMT

Shannaro's version of chapter 254 is out. I got it from ThienZ.

Ben Out.

Bleh...

Fri, 01 Apr 2005 05:36:26 GMT

So, I started this whole Live Journal deal, and now I have nothing interesting to post in it. Maybe it's because I know no one is actually reading it. Or, maybe it's because I just haven't done anything exciting for a while.

I am currently taking a break from Gunbound since the game has lagged (Oh, there's a shock!) beyond playability. I have been playing this game a lot lately since I am usually too completely zombified by designing marketing materials for commercial embroidery machines all day to do anything else. That's about the highlight of my day... Seinfeld re-runs and Gunbound.

Naruto didn't air last week, so that means a double episode this week. The Kimimaro/Gaara fight warrants a 1-hour special anyway. I hope they don't do more back-story for Kimimaro. He was much cooler in the manga when we knew little about him. He came from nowhere, kicked ass, and died. It was a refreshing change of pace from the usual villain-appears-and-tells-his-life-story shtick. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind getting the stories for each encountered villain, but sometimes a little mystery adds to their creepiness.

Meh... I'm going to go check to see if the Gunbound lag-fest is over.

Ben out.

ごうかく!

Mon, 28 Mar 2005 18:59:51 GMT

I took the _anbu_ entrance test today and passed with a 95%! One of the reasons I started this journal last week was keeping up with the Naruto manga and to share thoughts with other fans. ミッション成功! (Fans of Gekitou Ninja Taisen 3 will get that reference...)

Speaking of games, has anyone heard a release date for Minna Daisuki Katamari Damashii? The site seems to have had a bit more activity lately. They've been adding new pics, etc. Play-Asia still shows "preorders opening up soon" on its information page for the game.

I guess I'll have to keep waiting for that one...

Ben out.

It's official...

Fri, 25 Mar 2005 06:24:47 GMT

I broke down and got a LiveJournal account of my own. It's all the rage with the kids these days so I thought I'd give it a test run. I'm still sorting out what the heck I want this thing to look like, and who I want to let view it, etc. I'm sure I'll get it all straightened out soon.

I can't believe I'm doing this...

Ben out.

Testing 1-2-1-2

Thu, 24 Mar 2005 20:13:42 GMT

Test post. Just checking this thing out...