So I'm a Little Obsessed

The 109 items pictured include the NieR remix album and the REVENGEANCE OST so it's not all K-Pop

47 Songs.

I have 47 K-Pop songs.

Am I overreacting to this fact?  Maybe a little.  In truth, it doesn't even really matter, it's just another style of music and we all dig what we dig, and pigeon-holing people for liking a certain style of music is pretty dumb.  On the other hand, I'm not even done collecting the K-Pop songs I want, and truthfully need to purchase at least 21 more, plus iTunes doesn't even have all of the songs that I want that are not included in that count.  Have you ever outwitted iTunes?  It's not as satisfying as you might think.

I spent the entirety of a night going through iTunes and listening to samples of songs to ensure they were the right versions of them (since a lot of Korean groups do Japanese versions of their songs and yes, I know that and yes there was a Japanese version of a song that I didn't want because it was the Japanese version and yes, I knew immediately that it was in Japanese) so that I could purchase them and download them and then upload them to the Amazon Cloud where I could then download them again on my Kindle because all of this makes sense and is in no way overly complicated and dumb.  It was not a night I particularly enjoyed, but it was a necessary one for the music that I will now be able to consume on a regular basis as I go out and about or even just play games and don't want to run an Internet Radio thing because, I mean, I pretty much only use those -for- this anyway.

I suppose this -shouldn't- be a surprise given that I use K-Pop as a sort of bridge whenever I had nights where there just was nothing to talk about but I wanted to give it the old try anyway, and I'm pretty sure I never really re-used a song, while I am also pretty sure I had more than a few of those nights and posts.  And especially given that my catalog of songs that I listened to just kept growing and growing as I kept it up.  It's just really weird to actually put a number to it, especially when you can look at all the other things that run similar.  Like, I have more K-Pop songs than were on the NieR soundtrack, for instance.  With the NieR Remix Album and the REVENGEANCE OST I bought, it only -slightly- outnumbers the K-Pop songs I have bought and will be eclipsed when I finish buying them.

By the way, I keep saying when I finish buying them.  That's because I ran out of money.  I bought a $50 iTunes card going "oh that'll be plenty" and I ran out.  (Well, I can get one or two more songs, but my point stands)  If a lot of the songs weren't $1.29 instead of $0.99 though, for some reason, it would have been less of an issue, but such is life.

Anyway, yes, I spent an entire night doing that, and I just wanted to share that fact with you.  Because I dunno, I just sort of find the situation funny in a sense.  And I like talking about funny things!  They're usually....actually funny, though.  Oh well.

I saved Girls' Generation for last and this proved to be a very big mistake since I want the most songs from them out of anyone, and that in itself is kind of worrying

Finally!

Mojang has finally confirmed the Release Date Month for Minecraft on the Vita, which will be August, the same month that the XBone and PS4 editions will be released on their respective platforms.  It's actually kind of a big deal because of the way that it all works out.  The details of it are as such:

• Minecraft: Playstation 3 + Vita Edition will be available on the PSN in August.
• It will include all the features from the most recent Playstation 3 version, including online play on Vita.
• This means everyone who has bought Minecraft: Playstation 3 Edition from PSN will get it on Vita for free. Those fluent in Sony-speak might refer to the deal as “Cross-buy.”
• We are working closely with Sony Computer Entertainment to look into ways to enable upgrade from the Blu-ray disc version of Minecraft: Playstation 3 Edition to Minecraft: Playstation 3 and Vita. We’ll have more info on this closer to release.
• Minecraft: Playstation 3 + Vita Edition will cost $19.99.
• It doesn’t matter if you buy for PS3 or Vita first, you own the game for both platforms.
• Saves are transferrable between the Playstation 3 and Vita versions of Minecraft. You will be able to craft at home on your Playstation 3, then continue on the bus/toilet with your Playstation Vita.
• All of the DLC you’ve purchased for Minecraft: Playstation 3 Edition will work on Playstation 3 + Vita Edition.

So, basically, the Vita version of Minecraft is the PS3 version, except on the Vita.  I personally think they could have based the game on the PS4 version as, yes, I know it's a very technical game technically, but I don't think it's so much that the Vita could not handle the PS4 version.  However, I suppose the PS3+Vita deal is the sweeter end of it, because of the way the PS4 version is set up.

• Minecraft: Playstation 4 Edition will be released on the PSN in August. It brings significantly bigger worlds and a greater draw distance than Playstation 3 + Vita Edition.
• It will include all the features from the most recent Playstation 3 version.
• Minecraft: Playstation 4 Edition will cost $19.99.
• If you’ve bought Playstation 3 Edition from the Playstation Network you will be able to upgrade for $4.99.
• You will be able to upgrade for a minimum of a year after the release date.
• We are working closely with Sony Computer Entertainment to look into ways to enable upgrade from the Blu-ray disc version of Minecraft: Playstation 3 Edition to Minecraft: Playstation 4 Edition. We’ll have more info on this closer to release.
• Players with Playstation 3 Edition or Playstation 3 + Vita Edition saves will be able to import their worlds to Playstation 4. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to transfer your saves from Playstation 4 to Playstation 3/Vita. There are technical reasons for this; we can make worlds bigger without too much stress, but shrinking them causes all kinds of problems.
• Cross-platform play will not be possible between Playstation 3 + Vita Edition and Playstation 4 Edition.
• Many, but not all, of the DLC skins and texture packs you’ve purchased for Playstation 3 Edition will be available for use in Playstation 4 Edition. We’d like to say all your DLC would transfer but some of the items are trapped in licensing deals that are too boring to get into here. We’ll have more on this soon.

So if you buy the PS4 version as an upgrade, you can pull your files over to it, but then they are locked to your PS4 copy of the game since you can't send them back.  Again, I think the Vita version could have been the PS4 version, but then you miss out on the cross-play/Cross-buy with the millions of people (yeah, millions) who have already bought it on PS3.  I'm personally trying to remember if Minecraft has ever been on sale, because if it has and I didn't buy it because I was waiting for the Vita version, I will be momentarily upset with myself, but then recall that "who the hell thought it would be Cross-Buy" was my thinking, and justifiably so.  It's a pretty great move regardless.

In any case, it's goddamn Minecraft on my Vita.  I have literally been waiting for this for years, and it's finally becoming a reality in a scant few months.  I'll finally be able to build shit whenever I want to and enjoy the Lego Box that is the game, when I have completely and totally lacked the ability to do so until now.

Now, here's just hoping that the PS3 version of the game isn't stuck on, like....the Adventure Update.

good lord, that update was a while ago and there's so much more stuff in it and hnnng this is why I'll never be satisfied

So, Whoops

That I didn't manage to pull myself away from Drakengard 3 last night to post is pretty much a solid indicator of just how happy I am with the game.  That I can barely even do anything -tonight- is just all the more of that, and I think what we should take away from all of this is that when I can finally talk about Drakengard 3, I will be very, very enthusiastic about it.  Until then, you will have to settle with this one quote from me:

It's fucking awesome.

-Me, in Regards to Drakengard 3

Someone can print that.

Anyway, if you'll allow me one more sojourn into the vast pleasures of the game, to fully savor what it has to offer me, I swear to you that I will eventually condense my enjoyment into text on this screen for you to imbibe, that you might live even a little bit vicariously through it.  In the meantime, I will share with you possibly my favorite song from the game thus far, which I have linked above.  It's called "Prevolt/Amaros" just in case the video gets taken down (or rather, -when- it does) so you'll be able to search it for yourself.  It's a really fast-paced, action-oriented song, which is fair because it's a boss theme, and I just really, really love it.  It gets me pumped and not since, well, probably REVENGEANCE's soundtrack has that happened, and NieR's before it.

Now, if you'll excuse me, once more I go into the beyond!

can you tell I'm excited?  Because I am, because the game is just so good you guys

You guys, You guys!

So, this showed up today.  I'll do impressions and such tomorrow night, but tonight has been and will continue to be celebrating the release of Drakengard 3.  I chalk it up to fate and the universe owing me more than a little bit for me receiving my Collector's Edition a day early.

Take care of yourselves and goodnight!

okay seriously?  Zero's VA is so good

Back Home

We all have those games that we just find ourselves coming back to one way or another, whether it be playing it long after you're -done- with it, or whether you just find yourself mentally comparing it to other games when you start playing it, or however it's done.  For Chance, it's Dragon's Crown.  For plenty of others out there, I'm sure it's Persona 4: The Golden.  Or perhaps it's Sorcery Saga: The Curse of the Great Curry God, Ys: Memories of Celceta, Ragnarok Odyssey (perhaps the Ace version), Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention, Conception 2: Children of the Seven Stars, Demon Gaze, Atelier Meruru or Totori Plus, Toukiden: The Age of Demons or any other number of games that offer long, engrossing experiences on the Vita.

For me, it's always been Soul Sacrifice.

With the introduction of Soul Sacrifice Delta to the Playstation Store (it's digital-only, it seems) and the stars aligning to deliver unto me my 64 gig memory card for my Vita far before the May 30th - June 20th window I was offered (likely because who knows with Customs), it was time.  Time to go back to the game I've said a hundred times that I'd rather be playing, or that I just -want- to be playing it.  So as I've been filling up my 64 Gig stick with games, I've turned to it and have been playing it again.

I'm not sure just what it is about the game that I love, but I'm inexorably drawn to it.  I want to conquer all that it has to offer (except the Forgotten Pacts, fuuuuuck thaaaaaaat) and then do it all over again in Delta, which, from what I've heard, greatly expands the universe and the setting of the game, which is exactly what I wanted.  It's not quite a world I can explore just yet, but it's bigger thematically and that counts for something.  I'm not going to know just by how much until I start it, and I've still got a grip of content to wrangle with on the vanilla game, but it's definitely something to look forward to.

In all honesty, though, I wish I could have people enjoy the game as I do.  I wish I could quantify just what about it makes me grin, what gets me pumped up and excited, what makes me feel like I'm bending the game over my knee without cheesing or breaking it.  I say it's dodge-rolling out of the way of a charge attack, turning around and unloading three volleys of arrows into my foe before he gets up.  I say it's sitting back and launching an egg bomb right in the cursed part of an archfiend and breaking it to expose it to some massive damage for the next five or so seconds.  I say it's throwing on armor and not even getting hit while I mercilessly slaughter a tier of monster that, at one point, was nigh-impossible for me to kill.  I say all of these things and I just get blank stares or "Well, it's good that you liked it" or something of that sort.

I wish everyone else played the same game that I did, I guess, because the lack of love for the series really, really bums me out.  Not that it's reviled, but rather that I think it's -big-, that it's a big deal game, a fantastic experience and it's something that I would suggest to anyone with a Vita.  This is not universally agreed upon like Gravity Rush or Uncharted: Golden Abyss (for the most part) or Persona 4 Golden are.  To me, it should be, because I've gotten so much fun out of this goddamn game, it's incredible.

But, well, that's just how it goes, I suppose.

also bastardizing Metal Gear Solid "You live on....THROUGH THIS ARM!" makes me giggle and okay, I'm sorry

Sharing is Caring - inFamous: Second Son

Clicky for Full Size

One of the core tenants of the PS4 when it was shown off in-depth was the Share button, to be utilized by we the players to, well, share screenshots and videos from our game playing.  Not only was this a godsend to people like me who -want- to use our own screenshots for things like a blog or what have you (at least in theory), but it's just plain -cool- for the opportunities that it opens up.  I can't tell you how many times I've been playing a PS3 game and went "Goddamnit, I wish I could screenshot that" because there's just so much cool shit that happens to everyone while they play a game, and it's usually only when you're playing with buddies present that you can point and go "Holy shit, look at that" when something awesome is happening.  Now, with the Share button, you're closer to being able to replicate that to your friends who might not actually be sitting right there on your couch or whatever with you.

inFamous: Second Son takes this a step further, in that they added a Photo Mode to the game in the latest patch that released sometime last month.  This allows you to pause the game, adjust the screen for your perfect screenshot by controlling the camera (to a degree), adding color filters and adjusting the focus of it before hitting that Share button to actually do the deed.

It works.  It works pretty nicely.  Being that I didn't really have a lot to talk about today, I figured I could show off some of the screenshots I took of the game.  Of course, then I realized that I hadn't taken too many because I'm just not used to it yet, so then I went and -made- some, and I gotta say, I think they turned out well.

Full Size

Full Size

Full Size

Full Size

Full Size

Full Size

Full Size

Full Size

Full Size

It's not perfect - I would prefer a Flickr app like what's on Vita, even over USB transfer (because I can't find my goddamn flash drive and I spent about an hour looking for the damn thing) but you take what you can get, I suppose.  For now, it's plenty serviceable and the pictures still look damn nice even though the quality isn't -exactly- on par with how they are on the PS4 itself.

It's still much, -much- better than not having the option at all.

Evil Delsin just seems so much more photogenic than Good Delsin, because the red is much more striking, also red is awesome

Two Days in a Row!

Were the picture better, you could see that this actually houses my old 16 gig stick.  You have served me well, friend.

So, yesterday Drakengard 3 CE ships.  Today, I receive my 64 GB Vita Memory Stick.  I am convinced that tomorrow will bring something equally amazing, or I will have something absolutely terrible befall me, because this shit just isn't average.  Good fortune avoids me like the plague, so two days of it in a row is especially suspicious and makes me worry about just what the universe has in store for me.

But for now, I'll suspend my concerns because I have a fucking lot of space to work with.

I have noticed that, despite the constant concerns I've had with my old 16 gig stick and the space therein, on upgrading I discover that I don't have a veritable bevy of goodies with which to fill my new expanse.  This is likely due to my insistence on buying physical and having space to work with is -always- a good thing, but it's sort of made me want to just buy up a bunch of stuff -just- to fill it out, which is admittedly kind of a bad idea.  But my list of things to add to my Vita looks something like this so far:

• Soul Sacrifice (Free Digital version)
• Soul Sacrifice Delta
• Velocity Ultra
• PixelJunk Monsters Ultimate HD (I might not even bother)
• Stealth Inc. A Clone in the Dark
• Atelier Meruru Plus: The Apprentice of Arland
• Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
• Vagrant Story
• Unit 13
• Lone Survivor: The Director's Cut
• Street Fighter X Tekken (Might not bother)
• Modnation Racers: Road Trip (Won't bother)
• Smart As... (Don't know about this one)
• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
• Limbo
• Urban Trial Freestyle (Probably won't)
• Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (Had it once, probably won't get it back)
• Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD
• Sine Mora (Might Not)
• Gods Eater Burst
• BlazBlue Continuum Shift EXTEND
• Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention (Deleted it for space a while ago)
• Wipeout 2048
• New Little King's Story (Deleted for space)
• Atelier Totori Plus: The Adventurer of Arland
• Mortal Kombat
• Corpse Party
• Corpse Party: Book of Shadows
• A few more PSP games including the earlier Personas
• Final Fantasies VII-IX and X-2

....okay, so it looks like a lot and actually if I try to fit all of that on my stick, it probably won't fit. Aaaaand I skimmed over a few things like all of the Atlus RPGs I've bought on sale.

But if you compare that to the list of physical games I have (which I won't bore you with), then it -really- doesn't compare.  And those are the games I kind of want to have digital versions of now...just to have them.  Persona 4 Golden, for example or Dynasty Warriors 8 Complete, just so I can play them whenever.  It's....a slippery slope now, because yes, I already have these games and I already own them, but owning a digital version -too- would be nice.  I feel like I finally understand why Chance buys up multiple versions of games he likes, because that compulsion is welling up inside of me now.  I must resist.

I'm going to be a little more expectant of Playstation Plus, however, as I'll actually be able to download the games I get like...right away.  I won't know what to do with myself!  Aside from have games.

Like, fucking all of them.

but the Vita has no games, right