Animation Uprising!

With gaming taking a backseat lately, I have been troubled in finding other means of entertainment. I can't exactly sit in front of a TV, since I don't have cable. I do still have Netflix, but I think I've watched myself out of that little phase for the moment (Need more Mythbusters! UGH!). This all changed one day, as I scoured the endless fields of videos on YouTube. It was thanks to that site that an Anime I had forgotten about, was ultimately remembered.

Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari

The title of this Anime is Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari, which is a spin-off of sorts of the Tenchi Muyo! series. And me being a long time fan of the series, I knew I absolutely had to find a way to watch this series one day. Of course that was some time ago and when I came back across this recently, I came to find out that the series was released and actually finished. Hell it took me so long to rediscover the existance of this title, that the entire series was put out on the internet and subbed with English subtitles.

Gotta love that part.

Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari follows the adventure of Kenshi, Tenchi's half brother, as he was sent to the world of Geminar to ultimately save the world. And, probably obviously, he has kind of the same luck with women as his brother did and this continues to be a harem-style series, with a touch of mecha robots for good measure. You can't go wrong with that combination can you?

Beyond that though, I actually came to love this series as it did what I thought was impossible: Recapture the charm that the original Tenchi series had (OVAs 1 & 2). What is also surprising how much more mature the series is now, with much clearer depictions of sex and violence. I suppose though, with how much things have changed since the release of the original series, change had to be expected.

Another upside is I've gotten around to finally re-watching the Tenchi Universe series, which I actually only saw through once (the OVAs and Tokyo series I've watched too many times over). It is different then I can recall, which does make it seem like I am watching each episode for the first time.

Now the only thing left that I haven't really seen is the GXP series...

 

The Winds of Change

It truly is amazing how quickly everything a person knows, can be flipped upside down in a matter of seconds. My boss, who has been so for the past 4 years, is being moved back to his original store and we are going to be getting a new boss. Hell, there is a lot of changes happening at my workplace right now and things are uncertain to say the least.

We don't know why the changes are happening and we don't even know who is going where right now. Am I a little worried? Sure I am! My mind has been playing through various situations, ranging from logical to the worse case scenarios. Maybe the situation has gotten that bad and they are preparing to shut my workplace down? Or maybe things are bad at the main store and they are just shuffling people around to make things better there? I honestly can't say, but what else can I do? All I know is to just keep moving forward and doing the best I can with what is present.

Still, it doesn't quite take the edge off of the present situation and the guys I work with are certainly abuzz with this latest happening. Personally, I don't really know what to think about all of these changes just yet. Maybe it hasn't settled in? Or maybe I am looking forward to these new challenges as I think it has been too long since things were really shaken up and maybe this is what the doctor ordered.

Or maybe I am just screwed.

More on this in the very near future...

Yeah, Right

Nice seeing news about a Dragon Age II demo being released near the ending of February (the 22th as I've seen it), which should answer a lot of my wonders about the new changes that have been made to the game. It appears as though the game has gotten a bit more action oriented, which might not actually be a bad thing. I am a little sadden that the other races won't be up for selection in this one, as I wanted to bring about my murderous Elf back into the world.

Maybe Dragon Age III...

But all of this stuff isn't actually the purpose that I am writing about Dragon Age II tonight. What compelled me to write about this game is the fact that GameStop employees are getting first crack at the demo to help educate them on what the game is all about.

I laughed.

Then I cried a little.

I then wiped the tears, then kept on laughing.

Seriously, who these days actually goes into a game store or any store really, without actually knowing something about what you are pre-ordering or buying? In this age of technology and information, is there really any excuse left in not knowing? I mean isn't knowing half the battle?

And truth be told, the GameStop employees that my girlfriend had asked questions to, were absolutely NO HELP AT ALL. They didn't really know all that much, outside of maybe what's written on the back of the game box.

But it is a new year and maybe I should give the world the benefit of the doubt. Maybe this is the way that will help educate these folks about the products they are trying to sell. Maybe this will help them grasp a better understanding which will lead to them gaining more sales and thus, giving better customer service...

I'll just go hold my breath while I wait for that one...

Interest Fading

After all of these years, I think it has finally become safe to say that I have hit the proverbial wall. Upon looking at the future landscape of gaming, what is there left to accomplish? What is there left to prove? Video games, for me, have lost their charm and I feel like I am reverting back to my PS2 days, when everything felt empty and dead and I just didn't give a shit to pick up and play anything.

But you know what else is starting to change my mind? The pricing of games and the equipment required to use them. Obviously the prices of these can only go one way really and that is all uphill from here. I mean even Nintendo with their 3DS is going to be $250, with their games going about $40-$50 as I've read it. What is sad to me is their biggest games that I've seen hyped are all old games! Are they going to follow the path of the PSP? I surely hope not. And on the subject of Sony's handheld, what about the NGP? What is that going to cost this time? An arm and a leg? Maybe you have to take a mortgage out for it?

It is pure insanity.

Even my list of games that I am looking forward to this year is dropping down in size and variety. As it goes, I am looking towards LittleBigPlanet 2, Gears of War 3, Mass Effect 3, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Dragon Age II and Hyperdimension Neptunia.

To be honest, I only just begun to read and look into (mere minutes ago really) Hyperdimension Neptunia and I am intrigued that it is an RPG. Maybe that is because I haven't really played an RPG in a while (Persona 3 kind of disappeared around my house. Maybe a ghost?) and I am looking for something, hell ANYTHING that might actually be fun in that genre. But it does at least look promising and it It certainly looks and sounds interesting to me. But I can't help but wonder just how good this game actually is?

Another one of interest is Deus Ex Human Revolution, which I see is dubbed a first-person RPG. Again, from the videos that I've seen and the little I've read about this game, it sounds promising and maybe this will be a good one. I still have some hope in Square-Enix, so maybe this will be the start of redemption for FFXIII...

Oh and a small mention about DC Universe Online: My interest in the game kind of fell off pretty quickly after the first week. I played less and less and I believe my villain is still around level 10. There just doesn't seem to be enough engaging quests or fights to do. I suppose I could have found a group and done a couple of alerts, but meh...