#went xmas shopping. bought myself more earrings

[confetti-critter]

I LOVE EARRING RGHHHHHHHHRFGH

[multiplayingorg]

Professor Booty

| Repost: Originally posted by Steve "Slurms" Lichtsinn on December 28, 2009

It’s still hard to type with all these bandaged paper cuts on my fingers from opening toy after toy after toy that my kids received over the last four days. If they were awake this weekend, they were asking me to unbox or play with one of their new additions to the house that has no room for such things. That’s not to say we’re pack rats, I get rid of more stuff than the wife would like, we just have very generous families that love our children more than we do with all their hearts. As I type though, my lady is off shopping to buy some shelves to organize all the goodies.

I can’t complain though, I made out like a bandit. I got a few non gaming toys such as a car cleaning kit from Griot’s, a Nerf Vulcan machine gun, some Blu Ray movies, stuff for my camera, a new coat, and much more. But this is a gaming site, so what did I get that you care about?

½ Assed reviews will be coming for each of these as I get more time with them

Borderlands (PC) – So far I’m really at a toss up if I like or love this game. It bleeds style out of every edge and I love the character advancement and the Diablo-esque loot drops. But while I find it oddly addictive, I also find myself getting bored with it after playing through three or four missions (quests). The boss fights are great and challenging, but everything in-between is pretty meh so far.

Sennheiser wireless headset – My house is not large, it is adequate for two adults, two kids, and a couple small pets. No complaints from me, if it was bigger, that would just be more places where things could be bought and stored and more things to clean. One problem with my size of a home is that my normal speaking voice can be heard easily from wherever. So naturally, a television blasting the sounds of any video game or movie at a volume which I find acceptable is too loud for when the kids are asleep. That’s where these babies come in.

M-Audio AV 40 Studiophile speakers – Studio grade PC speakers. It was a toss up a few months ago if I was going to get these or my Sennheiser PC-350’s. I went with the headset because I really needed a better mic. I’ve not been disappointed in the least, but there are those times when the kids are away that I would love to crank some music, or not be required to cut off all outside noise. I have not got the chance to really test these babies out, but playing a few tracks once I got them hooked up made my ears very happy. There is no sub with them, but only after I get some free time with them this weekend will I be able to tell if it’s even needed.

Logitech G13 Gameboard – It’s from the future! Well, at least that’s what I was told by Jason when I showed him what I went to buy. This thing is slick as hell, and I got it on sale for fitty bones at Best Buy. I’ve been jealous ever since ShadowWar got his n52, but I’m a Logitech man. So with Xmas money in hand (well, wallet, hands can’t be trusted) I ventured off to the big yellow tag to get one. Weird getting used to so far, more on this later once I get more hours on it.

New Super Mario Brothers Wii – While at Best Buy yesterday to pick up my G13, my four (in a month) year old daughter wanted to play some games. After finishing off a couple plays of Madden where she got schooled something fierce (very embarrassing for her in front of all those people), we jammed on Rock Band, and then noticed New Super…Mar….NSMBW. She didn’t want daddy’s help, and actually did quite well given that she’s used to playing various flash based PC games. I thought this was a grand opportunity to introduce her to basic console controls (and I really wanted it to), so I spent the rest of my gifted cash on a copy.

DJ Hero (PS3) – I won’t speak much of this one so far, because it will be the first review I do. I’ll just say opening this on Xmas morning made me want to jump my wife’s bones. But “nooo, think of the children” she always says. We have a play room for a reason I say. Guess it goes back to being able to hear everything in the house.

This is the first time in a long time that I truly enjoyed the holiday, and it wasn’t just because of the great gifts I received; it was mostly because my kids had a blast. It was worth the paper cuts.

So did you get anything that made your day? Bring on the loot in the comments!!

[omgpengwens]

I’ve been saying I’ll do it for a while, but at last I managed to do a Hyper Japan for the whole weekend! (well, a whole weekend with a break on Saturday evening for Band Maid because, y’know, everyone co-ordinated so well with their organisation. See the post about the Band Maid gig here). If you don’t know what Hyper Japan is, see my previous posts on it here, here and here. I’ve decided to split this down by the days this time, so one post for each day. I guess you’ll just have to skip the bits that don’t interest you? So without further a-waffle, lets kick this off with Day 1!

This was the Friday session, starting at 12 midday. I must say the organisation this time was kind of confusing initially and a bit odd. So on arrival, we were in a kind of giant shelter away from the venue where the tickets were checked and wristbands given. It took me a while to even find where I was going because of the poor directions I was given by the staff. In the end, I checked the website again to find out where I was supposed to be. Once priority entre had gone, we were then herded into the next queuing bit where we were checked for wristbands/offered wristbands(?!) So what was the point of the first bit?!

After the faff-fest that was the entry into the venue, we were searched and sniffed by the passive search dog. I thought this was a good thing. Its unfortunate that its needed but its good that they’ve thought of this to keep people safe. One thing I noticed when I got in to the venue was that it was smaller than summer (in the summer we queued in this room!) and it was hard to tell because the venue was different but also I think smaller than the last Christmas event. This time it was entirely on one floor as well, the balcony wasn’t in use. I was quite surprised by the layout and the fact that the live stage wasn’t in its own room as it generally is. The zones were set out relatively logically and I liked how they were named this time (such as the gaming/anime zone being Akihabara and the kawaii zone being Harajuku).

The first thing I often do is have a cursory wander around just to see what is where. As it was lunchtime and the food smelled soooooo good, I decided to get myself something to eat. There weren’t many food stalls this time around and I thought that it was kind of cheeky having the venue’s cafes open. Surely that defeated the object? I decided to indulge in a bubble waffle. It was tasty and super messy to eat, but oh so worth it. I think I’m in love.

After greeting my friend and getting her fed, we re-visited the stalls and did a spot of shopping. See my day 1 haul photos in the paragraph below!

I was pleased to see some new exhibitors as well as some of the classics. I saw that Maz’s Boutique was there which was awesome. Some of you may recall I first encountered Maz’s Boutique at Em-Con earlier this year. The bows I bought then are still regularly worn as part of my outfit as I often refer to as “toddler chic”. I invested in some more bows and a choker this time. I also bought some chokers from another stall, Jane Nevermore. Not only are these chokers awesome, but as I tried one and it was a bit on the small side, she put me in some extra links right then and there! I bought 2 to go with my 2 purple cyberlox sets. And what trip to Hyper Japan would be complete without a visit to he Fuzzballs stall?! I invested in some stationary (that I probably didn’t need) and a tote bag (which I needed by the end to put my shopping in….)

One of the main reasons I go to Hyper Japan is to watch the musical acts. Not only do I get to see bands I already know about and enjoy, I also get to discover new bands that I like. Some acts I go to see just out of curiosity because hey sound like they’d be interesting. I also like to watch some of the other performances. The set out of the Hyper Live stage area was just plain weird this time. There were several rows of chairs approximately halfway back which just appeared to be in a random place. There are some acts you see that you just don’t sit down to watch. It would be just plain silly, but if you stand you want to be at the front, but if you do that you’re in the way of the people sitting down, although they can watch the screens. This dilemma first became apparent when I (out of morbid curiosity) went to see Banzai Japan. This is an all-girl idol group. I know what you’re thinking, not at all my style, and you’d be right, but I’m nothing if not adventurous. So we entered the audience area and were handed folding fans that were part red, part white (in line with the girls’ outfits). As we approached the front of the standing crowd and looked around, I suppose we shouldn’t have been suppose that we were surrounded on all sides by middle aged men. Yep, that’s right. Middle. Aged. Men. I had a similar experience watching Band Maid last year. Fair enough if they are into that music but you would generally expect this portion of the audience to be teenage or pre-teen girls. Well, that’s my expectation anyway (like when I was younger). I’m not one to judge and I know that you get the same effect but the opposite way round at visual kei gigs.. Although the music can be heavy, and you may expect some males, its predominantly females watching the show. What was entertaining was the crazy fanboying that was screamed loudly in our ears, presumably from the die-hard fans or from their hyper team or whatever. I found this hilariously funny and was reminded of Gintama (if anyone has seen that anime). I can’t even describe why, but it really did tickle me. They were certainly a fun performance with a lot of energy. Describing them as having “spirit” was pretty accurate I must say. They tirelessly performed a number of songs with well-choreographed dance routines. I was exhausted just watching them.

An interesting performance in the form of DJ Takaki and Hibiki Ichikawa (a shamisen player) was the next one I watched. A combination you wouldn’t expect to work so well, but I could listen to this for days. Both incredibly skilled performers in their own right, but when you put them together, something just clicked. It was Gestalt. The sum of the pats became greater than the whole. Its these types of performance that are just one reason this festival is awesome. You just don’t see it everyday.

  Next I saw Xmas Eileen. They were described as a “Mysterious J-Rock band”. Again, they weren’t technically wrong. Initially it said on the schedule that only 4 members would be present but it seemed all of them made it over. I don’t even know the best way to describe these guys….I’d say maybe a mix between Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit and some hint of Slipknot with the masks, the visual performance and the fact I’m not sure what half the members really do (and I say that as a long-time Slipknot fan). There’s definitely some fun and silliness and the fact that no-one in the band has a name and they have one guy referred to as “the performer” who literally just dances and hypes the audience. I don’t even….For this, we were all stood up, I ended up right at the front, which is an intense place to be when you don’t know what’s expected of you. Thankfully I appeared to be next to a super fan who showed me what to do. I haven’t laughed this much in a while, it was a really fun performance (laughing mainly at my own ineptness at dancing and following directions). The band also like being close to the front of the stage, which always makes me a bit “wha!” out of discomfort. That’s the best way to describe the emotion it makes me feel…The band are relatively newly formed but they didn’t seem to let that impact their performance. Their MC was a mix of English and Japanese, but they were merciful and kept the Japanese relatively simple. I decided to save my meet and greet with these guys until Sunday as I wanted to see Mutant Monster (with missing them the Saturday for Band Maid). So I remained at the front and centre.

I saw Mutant Monster at last year’s Christmas Hyper Japan. A 3 piece female punk band, inspired by old school British punk. These awesome ladies have so much stage presence and personality on stage that its hard to not get swept away by their utterly infectious brand of music. Each donning a Mutant Monster shirt dress and paid of well-worn classic Doc Martens, they truly showed everyone exactly how its done. Their set list was a mix of older songs plus a taste of their new album Nekokaburi. After their performance, the meet and greet queue filled up insanely quickly and fans had to be turned away (many of whom argued the decision with the queue controller). I just managed to get in to get my CD signed but the queue for photos was crazy long so we decided against it. And that concluded my day! My feet were tired and worn out already!

A full weekend of Hype! Part 1 I've been saying I'll do it for a while, but at last I managed to do a Hyper Japan for the whole weekend!