http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=2000097&topic=27510404

So CJay is giving all prolific contributors those newfangled 'Premium Accounts' automatically. Is he finally giving the contributors something worthwhile for their efforts, or is this the act of a man desperate to keep the core of the site's content from being torn asunder? If anything, this will inspire countless users to get off their asses and try to get on the list. Of course, that means there's going to be a pretty big rush of crappy 400-word treatises coming soon. Bleh.

Speaking of making the list, I'm 5KB worth of reviews away from going prolific three times over. I was going to celebrate it by flooding the queue with Atari 2600 reviews, thus setting the new record for the most A2600 reviews on the site(Yes, I am that much of a geek). That is, until I found out that Retro's total of 52 reviews isn't the site's record. ASchultz currently holds the record at a whopping 113. I haven't even played many A2600 games, dammit. Oh well, I guess I'll review the MMX series or GTA:VC or something. Bleh.

Does anyone know if you can use multiple coupons for a single purchase at Play-Asia? I'll have racked up ten bucks in coupons when Children of Mana gets here. I also found Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII and From Russia With Love on sale for ten bucks each. Expect reviews of them in the near future.

http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=11&topic=27490548

We are strongly considering starting up a premium "Ad Free GameFAQs" service in the next few months, although probably not until after E3 in May. It'd be cheap, and paid members would get a few extras, probably like their own private board. Like I've said every time it's gotten brought up before, nothing on the site today you can do or see would be put behind a "pay" wall in any way; only new features would be premiums. Unlike all the times I've mentioned it before, this is much more likely to actually happen.

Ahem.

In other news, here are the reviews for the game I was ranting about last time, hot off Señor Bacon's presses:

Bouken-Ou Beet:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/review/R99814.html

Croket! DS: Tenkuu no Yuusha tachi:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/review/R99815.html

Both need a bit of revising. Maybe this weekend...

Okay. In the past week, I've seen three people playing their DS either on the subway or before lecture. They were all playing the same thing: Metroid Prime: Hunters. Now, I'm sure that MP:H is a fine game. But is a watered-down handheld version of Metroid Prime really worth the $34.99 that I'd need to shell out for it? The WiFi multiplayer ought to be decent, assuming that there isn't any lag, frequent disconnections or any of that other stuff that plagues Mario Kart DS. Bleh. I'll wait for it to go down in price before considering it.

In the meantime, I've been on an importing frenzy. There are plenty of quality titles that will always overshadowed by games like MP:H and Tetris DS. Mainly Japanese titles. Luckily, Play-Asia has had some really sweet sales as of late, so I decided to to a little shopping. Here's what I've gotten in the past two weeks:

Bouken-ou Beet: Vandel vs. Buster
Croket! DS: Tenkuu no Yuusha tachi
Seiken Densetsu: Children of Mana

Bouken-ou Beet is an action RPG based on some anime. I have no idea who the characters are or what the plot is. All I know is that the gameplay kicks ass. You go on missions to find certain items, kill certain enemies, etc. You get to recruit party members and build up two teams of five, eventually leveling up, getting better equipment, etc. The combat system is something akin to Tales of Symphonia (or whatever other RPG uses real-time combat). It's pretty awesome seeing five characters going at it all at once, but the slowdown makes things a little iffy. Good stuff overall.

Croket! DS: Tenkuu no Yuusha tachi is a strategy RPG, with a grid-based map akin to FFT, Tactics Ogre, etc. However, the actual combat is a little different. Instead of walking next to an enemy and following up with a simple attack animation, you and the enemy will fight a la River City Ransom style. Definitely something refreshing, even if the dialogue between battles can be a little long-winded.

I'm still waiting on Children of Mana.Hopefully it won't suck as badly as Sword of Mana on the GBA...

Review Progress:

Finished reviewing:

Jump Superstars
Chaos Field
Rumble Roses
Electroplankton
Guilty Gear Isuka
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi

I'm trying to get myself into the mood for reviewing GTA:VC. Doing 1750-word reviews isn't really my thing. ****ing Gamefaqs minimum word count.

Mwahaha! Haha ! Ha!...Yeah, as if anyone cares.

Okay, so my trip to Paris is finally over. Nothing like taking a week off and spending some time in a new place. I thought I'd have tons of free time to read and play a few DS games, but I was running on a pretty tight schedule up until two days ago. For simplicity's sake, here's a breakdown of what I did each day:

Thursday: Left San Franscisco International Airport, had a layover at JFK in New York, then arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

Friday: Spent a few hours lost in Charles de Gaulle Airport because no one could give us understandable directions to the train we needed to take. One of the folks in my group eventually lost his temper, started running up and down the terminals screaming "TRAIN?!" over and over. We eventually got a taxi out to the hotel, which happened to be about 25 minutes out of the city and about a mile away from Disneyworld. At that point, I was too tired to realize the crappiness of the location and collasped on the bed.

Saturday: Took the subway out to the Eiffel Tower. Almost got lost in the train system because the signs weren't exactly user-friendly. Waited almost an hour in the freezing cold and rain to reach the top section of the tower. Visited the Hilton, had dinner next door.

Sunday: Visited Versailles, including the Hall of Mirrors, the Hall of Battles, the garden, and a massive McDonalds down the street. I doubt Louis XIV ever dreamed that his house would have a major fast food chain so close to his awesome abode.

Monday: Tried going to the d'Orsay Museum, only to find it was closed. Met up with some cute exchange students and checked out the Arc de Triomphe. Walked all the way down the military museum, then back to the Eiffel Tower.

Tuesday: Visited d'Orsay Museum. Impressionist works and other stuff galore. Sweet talked my way into the Cezanne exhibition gallery even though I didn't have the necessary ticket.

Wednesday: The Louvre. God, that place is ****ing huge. If you want to stop and see everything it has to offer, you'll need more than a day to do it. I managed to see the Mona Lisa, the Vermeer, and tons of other stuff.

Thursday: Slept in on accident. Hung out at the hotel, and played three old arcade games in the game room. I might review them sometime soon.

Friday: Left the hotel at 8 AM Paris time, arrived home at 8 PM San Francisco time. You do the math.

All in all, it was a pretty good vacation. I didn't get to see everything I wanted to. Hell, I've still got 1/3 of the Louvre that I need to see. It took me only a day to figure out the subway system, but it was no worse than what New York has to offer. Unfortunately, some of the other folks I was with aren't exactly the brightest folks around, so they constantly got lost on the trains, got into arguments and misunderstandings with the locals, and came just short of screaming "I'M AN AMERICAN TOURIST ON VACATION LOL". God, that was embarassing. At least I got to meet plenty of interesting people, sample foods from several cultures (the area around Notre Dame is a haven for people looking for damned good European food), and got to visit some of the most famous sites around the world. Can't go wrong with that.

However, I've got to play some catch-up gaming now that I'm back in the States. For some inexplicable reason, my DS charger didn't work with the American-European electrical converter I brought with me, thus depriving me an entire week of handheld goodness. I also have a few PS2 games that I meant to review before leaving, but were left undone by my own laziness. Here are a few games waiting in the wings:

Jump Superstars
Trauma Center
Electroplankton
Chaos Field
Rumble Roses
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Given my horribly abysmal performance in the last round of the KOR tourney, I think I'll skip this one in favor of some much-needed rest. Bleh. I hate jetlag.

So I'm going to Paris, right? Just one problem: I've learned that my vacation coincides directly with my Finals Week at school. While all those poor fools are slaving away with their scantrons and #2 pencils, I'll be chowing down on over-priced European food! Bwahaha...Oh wait. ****.

As tempting as it sounds, I can't skip finals. I've managed to sweet talk my professors into giving me advanced copies of the finals so I can do them a week in advance and submit the exams via email or leaving them at the offices. That means I have about five days to not only review everything from the past month, but everything we're supposed to cover next week as well. Better break out the caffeine...

Speaking of reviewing stuff, here's what I've got lined up for potential stuff:

Electroplankton
Jump Superstars
Rumble Roses
Chaos Field
GTA: Vice City

I also wrote 1800+ word review on RE4 for the GC. I don't mind Gamefaqs'minimum word requirements, but 1750 is pushing it. I'll probably edit out a bunch of stuff later.

Oh, and since Señor Cairo requested it, here's my fever-induced ramble on Killer7:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/gamecube/review/R98035.html

Go easy with the ridicule. >_<;

Dammit. My nose is running a freakin' marathon and I'm staggering around like a Resident Evil reject. It doesn't help that it's raining and the high temperature is around 40 degrees. Bleh. I'm all juiced up with medicine, oranges, and whatever fruit juice I have in the fridge. 100% Vitamin C my ass.

In other news, I'm going to Paris in a few weeks. It's my family's week to use our timeshare, so I'll get to go to Europe for the first time. I'm studying up on my French, so hopefully I won't make too much of an ass of myself when I ask the friendly hotel clerks where I can get computer access. I'm sure I'll get plenty of snide remarks, though.

In the meantime, I'm still reviewing. Trying to, anyway. Ever review a game while you're sick? Dunno about you, but I can't focus nearly as much as usual. I wrote a 1500 word monstrosity on Killer 7 while I was under the influence of a nasty fever and some pretty potent medicine. Needless to say, the results weren't very pretty.

Still working on those Atari reviews, too...

...But I've got time to kill, so what the hell. Yay for being unoriginal!

Reviews of 2005

3D Pinball: Space Cadet
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Animal Crossing: Wild World
Atlantis
Barnstorming
Batman Forever
Beamrider
Bounce
Boxing
Burnout 3: Takedown
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
Chopper Command
Circus Atari
Commando
Cosmic Commuter
Crackpots
Demon Attack
Dodge 'Em
Feel the Magic: XY/XX
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Fishing Derby
Freeway
Frostbite
Gravitar
H.E.R.O.
Home Run
Human Cannonball
Jurassic Park
Kaboom!
Keystone Capers
Kirby Canvas Curse
Laser Blast
LEGO Island
Mario Kart DS
Mario Paint
Madagascar
Mega Man & Bass
Mega Man
Mega Man 2
Mega Man 3
Mega Man 4
Mega Man 5
Mega Man 6
Mega Man X
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Meteos
Metroid Fusion
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Math Gran Prix
Minesweeper
Mister Mosquito
Nanostray
Off the Wall
Oink!
Outlaw
Palm OS Hardware
PictoChat
Pikmin 2
Ping Pals
Plaque Attack
Pokemon Emerald
Rave Master
Robot Tank
SkiFree
Slot Racers
Solitaire
Sonic Championship
Sonic & Knuckles
Sonic 3D Blast
Sonic Spinball
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Soul Calibur III
Spider-Man 2
Stampede
Star Fox 64
Super Breakout
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario World
The Billiards
The Legend of Zelda: The Four Swords Adventures
Tony Hawk's American Sk8land
Ultimate Spider-Man
Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble
Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble
Virtual Kasparov
Warlords
We Love Katamari
Yar's Revenge
Zone of Enders
Zone of Enders: The 2nd Runner

So, I just registered here at the site after hearing about the latest reviewing competition. I didn't know that I could get my own personal blog, but I'm certainly not complaining (Though my Game Collection list hasn't updated after numerous attempts >_>). Anyway, I don't know how often I'll use this blog, but it might serve as yet another home away from home over at Gamefaqs.

So...er, yeah. Trying to think up something entertaining or meaningful, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment. I'm a student over at Cal State East Bay, one of the more popular universities out here in the San Francisco Bay Area. I've always loved English, though I'm not sure if I want to keep that as my permanent major. There's an assumption that all English majors want to become teachers. Bleh. I couldn't teach my way out of a wet paper bag. I'm more interested in mass media and/or journalism. I've always wanted to be a writer, but I think my lack of imagination would hinder me in the long run. Maybe when I retire...

In the meantime, I'm working part-time as a bank teller. It sucks paying for your education out of your pocket, but hey, I'm dealing with it. Though I'm barely in my 20's, I have five years under my belt at the bank, along with the many perks (training new people, a barely noticable raise in pay, getting treated like some old relic, etc.) that come with the job description. I've gotten quite a customer following built up over the years, but that doesn't mean I don't get cursed at, yelled at, etc. At least it's only part time now that I'm in school.

But it's my time at the computer that makes the end of the day a bit more worthwhile. In case you don't know, I'm discoinferno84 over at Gamefaqs. Some folks know me as a board wanderer and lurker, but the bulk of my time spent there revolves around contributing. I've got a few FAQs up over there, along with quite a few codes and over 200 reviews. Seems like a lot, no? After doing this over almost two years, I'm just seeing how a review every week or so can add up to a massive collection.

Also, check out my staff reviews over at: thunderboltgames.com


Current Contribution Progress:

I'm trying to break the record for the most Atari 2600 games reviewed on the site. As far as I know, Retro still holds the record at 52 (Anyone know if someone else has more?). I'm at 38 at the moment, but I'll probably get to the 50 mark by the end of this month.

Other Stuff:
-Wrote review for Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition.
-Reviews for Bust-A-Move DS and Super Mario 64 DS are in the works.
-Adding stuff to my AC:WW Item List
-A much-needed overhaul on my SCIII Secrets FAQ so people can stop sending me hate mail.



Whoa, that's a lot of stuff for my first entry. I'll try to update this when I can. Later folks!

-Disco