Is it Summer yet?

[Hyperguy]

It sure feels like it over here.  I noticed there's been a lack of posting lately too, but an increase in browsing.
I guess it can't be helped though, since there's not much interesting going on at this time of year.

So, how have you been spending your days?

I've mostly been working nonstop and what little free time I do have I spend playing Ragnarok Online at legendro.net(formerly clownphobia.com).

Also, I need to stop buying DS games because I don't really have enough time to play any of 'em.  Phoenix Wright's been on clearance for 18 bucks at Gamestop so I picked it up and am currently addicted to it.  I've still got plenty of characters to unlock on Jump Ultimate Stars too.

[MMX]

How can you play MMOs like Ragnarok Online for more than five minutes?  Don't you get bored out of your skull?

I wish the electronic retail stores within a 10 mile radius of my house actually stocked DS/Wii games... or there was a goddamn Gamestop or EB or whatever the fuck they're called nowadays somewhere locatable without a scrying orb.

What is with black neighborhoods and their Best Buys stocking almost exclusively Xboxes and sports franchise games?  And what's with me living right next to Mount Vernon?  Though I do love that KFC down the street.

Oh yeah and it's been summer for a while here.  In fact today was one of the coolest yet.

[EnsignRyusei]

Yeah, it's ben summer for a while here too.

I mostly spent my recent days with two new animes, Gurren Lagann and Black Lagoon, i,m almost up to my 5th playthrough of SRW W, bought Etrian odyssey for my DS, and finding out that the store i always bought my anime at has stopped selling them. Well, guess i,l either have to go to the Internet from now on, or find a new store

[Hyperguy]

How can you play MMOs like Ragnarok Online for more than five minutes?  Don't you get bored out of your skull?

You'd think I would since a lot of MMOs are grindfests, but at the same time, they're also a lot like glorified chat programs, so I spend just as much time to talking to people on them as I do leveling and gathering items.  RO has millions of stuff to collect though, and lots of character classes I like to play, so that's part of the reason why I'm still playing it.

I wish the electronic retail stores within a 10 mile radius of my house actually stocked DS/Wii games... or there was a goddamn Gamestop or EB or whatever the fuck they're called nowadays somewhere locatable without a scrying orb.

What is with black neighborhoods and their Best Buys stocking almost exclusively Xboxes and sports franchise games?  And what's with me living right next to Mount Vernon?  Though I do love that KFC down the street.

That's hilarious.  Reminds me of when I used to live in Georgia.  In this one town I lived in then there was this trend where nobody, absolutely nobody, played RPGs.  You could go to the local Gamestop or Wal-mart and find RPGs from years ago still sitting on the  shelves and collecting dust.  The Gamestop in particular had pretty much every major PS2 RPG in stock, because nobody ever cared to buy any.

Maybe there's a conspiracy going on in your neighborhood where everyone's buying all of the other games and leaving the X-boxes and sports franchise games on the store shelves...And KFC is their secret meeting place!

Oh yeah and it's been summer for a while here.  In fact today was one of the coolest yet.

Over here in Florida it feels like I'm literally living in a sauna, whether I'm inside or outside.  But then if you walk into any department store, they have the air conditioning full blast, and that's more like walking into a freezer.

Yeah, it's ben summer for a while here too.

I mostly spent my recent days with two new animes, Gurren Lagann and Black Lagoon, i,m almost up to my 5th playthrough of SRW W, bought Etrian odyssey for my DS, and finding out that the store i always bought my anime at has stopped selling them. Well, guess i,l either have to go to the Internet from now on, or find a new store

I saw episode 1 of Gurren Lagann and I love it.  Can't wait to check out the next few episodes.  Have you chatted with Mediocrity yet?  He's also a big SRW fan.

Sucks that your local anime shop stopped carrying it.  At least in this day and age anime's a lot easier to come by, online and off.  Why, back in they day, you had to walk 10 miles in the snow, uphill, just to put a subtitled VHS anime video tape into a VCR!  And you had to fight a demon for the remote control on the way back!  Kids these days don't know how great they've got it now.  Did I mention we're only a few years apart in age?  Just look at how long my beard is!

Seriously though, more easily accessible anime is just what all writers who dealt with anime before the 90's wanted.  If you pick up any book with a primer to anime(they usually almost always mention Ranma 1/2 or Ozamu Tezuka) they'll always comment on how anime's popularity is increasing, and that easier access to anime is a good thing, and that they predict that in the future it'll be even easier to obtain.  It's 2007 now, and now that it's so widespread that you can even pick it up at your local gas station(Depending on where you live, some gas stations actually sell anime along with other DVDs! O_o) I feel that the "OMG, I'm watching something from JAPAN!" factor has almost completely worn off.  Not that that's a bad thing, but it sure beats the hell out of any feelings of elitism I might have had before. D:

For me, finding anime sold anywhere has changed from the usual "Holy shit, this store sells anime!" reaction I had in my younger years to now being as exciting as reading 'Made in Mexico' on products I buy.  It's just so common now! :O

Doesn't effect the quality of it at all, or how much I like it, but anime really is a lot easier to come by now adays.


I don't know what the hell Etrian Odyssy is, so I googled it, and found their officiail site:

http://www.atlus.com/etrian/

And on that official site, I found this comic:



And you know what?  I haven't even seen the game, but just by how cool and funny this comic is I feel like I really wanna pick this game up.  Maybe after I've put Phoenix Wright and Jump Ultimate Stars to rest.

...

:reads:

...

What the hell? This game's been out since May 16th?  Why haven't I seen it for sale anywhere?  Is it just that good, shipped in limited quantities, and now on the rare status before anyone even had a chance to notice it came out?  Geez...

[Mirai Doft]

Most of my time has been dedicated to the making my game, which I'll finish in 2-3 weeks, and then I'll be free to play/watch all those games/animes that I've delayed. I'm happy.

Also, it's winter here, brrr...

[tetsaru arigashi]

Sup guys.  I'm afraid there's not much going on up in my neck of the woods (as usual... -_-; ).  I've mainly just been playing Phantasy Star Universe and Pokemon Diamond all day, since no one in town really seems to be hiring anyone for a summer job, lol...  My college's anime club is supposed to be planning another trip to Memphis soon, but other than that...  ;_;

[EnsignRyusei]

I saw episode 1 of Gurren Lagann and I love it.  Can't wait to check out the next few episodes. 

I'v seen up until Episode 10, and 11 aired last weekend, but let me tell you, Episode 8 will be FUCK-YEAH awesome and can at the same time unleash manly tears.
But once you see Episode 11, the anime the goes into the highest form of bad-assery

[Hyperguy]

Most of my time has been dedicated to the making my game, which I'll finish in 2-3 weeks, and then I'll be free to play/watch all those games/animes that I've delayed. I'm happy.

Also, it's winter here, brrr...

This begs the obvious question...What game are you making?

Also, Cononel Mustard with the candlestick in the ballroom.

What games/animes have you been delaying?

Sup guys.  I'm afraid there's not much going on up in my neck of the woods (as usual... -_-; ).  I've mainly just been playing Phantasy Star Universe and Pokemon Diamond all day, since no one in town really seems to be hiring anyone for a summer job, lol...  My college's anime club is supposed to be planning another trip to Memphis soon, but other than that...  ;_;

SUP GUYS!

'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'

Magic word get!

Anyways, you could always get a job as a pool guy.  Then you can have sex with all of the hot wives you want. :O

What's in Memphis?  I heard from PC gamers that PSU wasn't all that great.  Then again, I heard it from PC gamers.  Naturally they're going to be biased against an MMO that started on a console.

[tetsaru arigashi]

Anyways, you could always get a job as a pool guy.  Then you can have sex with all of the hot wives you want. :O

If by hot you mean fatass redneck, white trash, and grouchy black women, then yeah (not tryin to be racist or stereotypical, but it's the sad truth).  Keep in mind that I live in ARKANSAS, people - all the good-looking women are either extremely rare or imported from other areas.  =P

SUP GUYS!

'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'

Magic word get!

OH BOYEE!!!  (,`A`)ry==o - - - - *\(@_@)/*

What's in Memphis?

Probably the closest civilized and decently-cool area outside of Arkansas.  The sane, non-hick/redneck people have to migrate out of our desolate homeland to find entertainment, unfortunately.  ;_;  It's also home to Midsouthcon, which we go to every year, and there happen to be several anime, comic-book, and other places we visit there on the way.

I heard from PC gamers that PSU wasn't all that great.  Then again, I heard it from PC gamers.  Naturally they're going to be biased against an MMO that started on a console.

Well, I would say that a lot of them would be right in comparison to other, more popular MMO's such as WoW.  I don't know what Sonic Team was thinking when they didn't put all of the things from offline mode into online mode like they should have, instead of bottle-feeding it to us gradually over the course of several months.  There's also NO exploration and most of the missions are just "kill everything", and that's where the game really suffers.  I guess you just have to be a fan of the series to truly enjoy it.  Also, I heard that the expansion, Age of Illuminus, is supposed to come out around November; hopefully it will rekindle some of the game's value.

[Mirai Doft]

Well, it's like Mega Man, but with Sakura lol...

Here are some screens:

Is it Summer yet?

Ice stage, the one I'm currently working on...

Is it Summer yet?

Water stage boss

. . .

I've prohibited myself from playing any game or watching any anime until I finish my game, or else I would never finish it. There are so many games I want to play, especially some that I played when I still had not learned English, like Final Fantasy VIII. And there are so many good animes coming out that they would keep me busy for months...

[Doctor_Raven]

Odin Sphere and Job Hunts are on my menu this summer =____=

[bfg00]

No it is not technically summer yet as the solstice is on the 21st.  However if feels like summer here in Minneapolis.

I'm just watching anime (Heroic Age, SRW, Nagasarete Airantou, Samurai X (I have not seen the OVAs)), playing D2 and GW and then watching TV (i.e. Law and Order, Stargate, Mythbusters, Deadliest Catch).  Good times all around.

[JG]

It's been a very disappointing summer so far and will only get worse before getting better.

Work is not as fun anymore since my Dad retired on the 30th.  We used to go to lunch together several times a week.
The aforementioned Stargate SG-1 has but two episodes left it its 10 year run. Atlantis isn't as good and the new PKJ is terrible.  And yet, its still 7 months to go before BSG returns.
Nothing on the gaming radar excites me until Halo 3 in the fall.

[Cashino]

I used to live in Southern Missouri...and Summers there sucked. 99% of the days were in the high 70's with humidity sitting around 50-80% or something every day (high temp+high humidity=sucks beyond belief). Now I live more Northwest, and fairly cool year round.

That's hilarious.  Reminds me of when I used to live in Georgia.  In this one town I lived in then there was this trend where nobody, absolutely nobody, played RPGs.  You could go to the local Gamestop or Wal-mart and find RPGs from years ago still sitting on the  shelves and collecting dust.  The Gamestop in particular had pretty much every major PS2 RPG in stock, because nobody ever cared to buy any.

Back where I lived, the "newest" game that place got was already a month old to a better-equipped store, and that place was the main place where I got games from.

Kids these days don't know how great they've got it now.

Holy Jesus this is one hell of an understatement. And it's not just anime, most of them don't know the trials and terrors it took for even games to get this far. Most kids nowadays are stuck on 3-D/photorealistic graphics instead of gameplay. Hell, even kids that were old enough to play some older classics, the games that laid the foundation of nowadays. While I got nothing about the games nowadays, kids nowadays don't appreciate the games that made this future possible.



Well, I'm playing games. I managed to find a series of Japanese PC (doujin) games that has sparked my relapse of shmups addiction. The Touhou danmaku games made by Team Shanghai Alice, which is just a fancy business-like name for Zun, the one guy that makes the games, music+script+gameplay, not too sure about the art, but pretty sure he does that too.

[ROMate]

Summer's on. I'm pulling a part time job, summer classes, and trying to beat a ton of old games that I never got around to beating (most notably Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and Dragon Quest 8). I've also spent an inordinate amount of time in the movie theater. Saturday I'm going to see Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and as soon as we can locate one, my brothers and I are gonna pitch in for a Wii. I'm also thinking of getting a DS now.

[MMX]

Summer for us started sometime back in February.

You'd think I would since a lot of MMOs are grindfests, but at the same time, they're also a lot like glorified chat programs, so I spend just as much time to talking to people on them as I do leveling and gathering items.  RO has millions of stuff to collect though, and lots of character classes I like to play, so that's part of the reason why I'm still playing it.

Hmm, taht could be the reason then.  Misanthropes don't like chatting to people, after all.

That's hilarious.  Reminds me of when I used to live in Georgia.  In this one town I lived in then there was this trend where nobody, absolutely nobody, played RPGs.  You could go to the local Gamestop or Wal-mart and find RPGs from years ago still sitting on the  shelves and collecting dust.  The Gamestop in particular had pretty much every major PS2 RPG in stock, because nobody ever cared to buy any.

How is that anywhere near the same? When I was younger I would have KILLED for that.  I'd buy everything on the goddamn shelves, flesh out my RPG collection.  Deamn.

Sucks that your local anime shop stopped carrying it.  At least in this day and age anime's a lot easier to come by, online and off.  Why, back in they day, you had to walk 10 miles in the snow, uphill, just to put a subtitled VHS anime video tape into a VCR!  And you had to fight a demon for the remote control on the way back!  Kids these days don't know how great they've got it now.  Did I mention we're only a few years apart in age?  Just look at how long my beard is!

Seriously though, more easily accessible anime is just what all writers who dealt with anime before the 90's wanted.  If you pick up any book with a primer to anime(they usually almost always mention Ranma 1/2 or Ozamu Tezuka) they'll always comment on how anime's popularity is increasing, and that easier access to anime is a good thing, and that they predict that in the future it'll be even easier to obtain.  It's 2007 now, and now that it's so widespread that you can even pick it up at your local gas station(Depending on where you live, some gas stations actually sell anime along with other DVDs! O_o) I feel that the "OMG, I'm watching something from JAPAN!" factor has almost completely worn off.  Not that that's a bad thing, but it sure beats the hell out of any feelings of elitism I might have had before. D:

For me, finding anime sold anywhere has changed from the usual "Holy shit, this store sells anime!" reaction I had in my younger years to now being as exciting as reading 'Made in Mexico' on products I buy.  It's just so common now! :O

Too bad subbed and therefore anime with audio tracks that do not make my ears bleed, are still just as rare as they used to be.  Or at least around here.  Every video store around here carries only the dubbed versions.  Even for the porno.  That's just fucking wrong.

[tetsaru arigashi]

Every video store around here carries only the dubbed versions.  Even for the porno.  That's just fucking wrong.

YUS.  English-dubbed hentai always PHAILZ.  You can't fap while listening to that stuff!  Of course, if you're like me, you tend to watch hentai SUBBED in English with the speakers turned down so no one hears the "lovemaking" noises... :3

I'll probably end up going back to my college next summer, mainly to see all my old friends from the Anime Club again, and to work on my Graphic Design degree, which I have no idea what I'll use for, lol.  I'll have to go back into marching band season, which is always a sucky transition when you're in 100-degree weather running around in the bright, blazing sun carrying a huge bass drum around and trying to remember the music you were given 3 days to memorize, lol...  but I think I'm gonna need it.  A word of advice from Tetsaru: if you end up having to take medication for depression, be careful if you get Lexapro - my appetite dramatically increased while I was on it and I ended up gaining 20 pounds.... \(`A`;)/

[MMX]

I was in my college's anime club for like a month, but those people actually scared me.

ME.  That takes a lot of fucked up craziness, mind you.  After a while I realized the only reason I still showed up was to get in on the pre-meeting Soul Calibur II matches.

My Lexapro makes me fall asleep the second I even so much as look at alcohol.  It also makes me tired all the freaking time, too.

[Cashino]

I was in my college's anime club for like a month, but those people actually scared me.

ME.  That takes a lot of fucked up craziness, mind you.  After a while I realized the only reason I still showed up was to get in on the pre-meeting Soul Calibur II matches.

Like a crazy bunch of people with wildly different personalities, all of which border suicidal fucked up craziness? or the worshipping of shrines, supreme obsession otaku-dom craziness?

[MMX]

I think it was the kid who showed up at each meeting cosplaying a different character and who nobody quite knew who he was because he never even signed up to the guild registry.

he'd just... show up.

And a bit of the former too.