Rising Star Games blog

Rising Star Games, the company responsible for bringing (delayed) Harvest Moon games to Europe has opened a corporate blog. Since in my thesis I also write about the importance of blogs for corporation, I can only salute their decision :) So far it looks more like a news page, but we can contribute with our comments, which is great. I do hope that in future there'll be also stuff like behind the scenes talk, exclusive previews and the likes. I've already asked a question there yesterday (about the release of RF2 and RFF) and am awaiting a reply. And judging by my past correspondance with them, I'll mosT likely get one, as they have a great PR policy. I received quick replies from Richar Barclay, their marketing manager. He was patient enough to anwer all my nagging questions ^^ And once I sent an e-mail during the weekend and I received an automatic reply, that if I needed something urgent, I could contact him via phone. Wow.
Anyway, that's a new RSS feed for my Google Reader. I still have some questions for them, among them is, whether they translate directly from Japanese or from the American translation. But I'+ll wait until the chance to ask this shows up.
Anyway, I hope caring for the blog won't slow their main work down, but it'll motivate them to have faster releases. I mean, it took one year for Rune Factory to come from Japan to North America, and then almost two years to get to Europe. At least Rune Factory 2 made it to NA "only" after 10 month. HM:IoH took a year and a half from Japan to NA, but then just three months to Europe. So things are indeed looking better :)

School rant + No more exams

This is sort of a continuation to this blog entry.

So, I was at school in Ljubljana yesterday (Thursday) for my last exam. But although the exam was scheduled only at 4 o'clock pm, I was there already at 11 o'clock am, because I needed signatures from my teachers in a small student booklet to show that I've passed their exam. The thing is, I have all my grades on-line and that's stronger proof than some writing on some paper. And what's more, the generation after me doesn't even need to get the student booklet filled, the on-line grades are enough!
Before leaving I had to find 7 teacher.
I made an appointment with one of them but she emailed me the day before that she won't be able to make it on Thursday.
One was supposed to be giving a lesson to the 4th years, but at school I found out they have their practical work now, so they are without lessons. And no teacher.
Another one was supposed to be teaching that day, again the 4th's, so he wasn't there for the lecture, but he should've been there for his "meeting hours" (when he's supposed to be at school to meet student - too lazy now to find a better word). Nope, he wasn't there. No notes. Just a locked door.
And the last teacher had a note on her door stating that she won't be able to have "meeting hours" that day.
The only consolation is that I met a teacher I hadn't planned.
At the end of the day I still have to find 6 teachers.

I really didn't mean to be writing all of this at first, so I changed the title of the post a bit, added something :D

Anyway, to the happy part.
Me and a schoolmate had our presentation on the topic "how do Slovenian centres for social work e-communicate". I'm the kind of guy who gets stage fright quite easily, so as the exam hour drew nearer, I was getting worse. I played some Harvest Moon to keep relaxed when there was still a lot of time left, but when my classmate arrived to rehearse one last time I was concentrating on trying to relax. Anyway, in the end it turned out there were just 5 of us doing the exam, which helped a bit, since I wouldn't have a big croud. Plus one of the was also a schoolmate, which also helped as I prefer known faces. Still, my palms were sweaty, even though it wasn't hot and I tried wiping them. Yeah, I know, probably not the right assets for a minister candidate... But I digress. The slides were well made content-wise, I think. And they looked perfect, all thanks to Ana, because she helped with the background. Kristjan, my so-presenter, did a good job with his part, he added nice things in the presentation. I think my part went well as well. I was trying to speak slowly and clearly.
But we got only a 9... :P As I said in an earlier post, I needed at least a 9 and I got it. My overall grade is now 8 and I can get into postgraduation programs... after I graduate. Which, well, is getting closer. But that's a different story. For now I'll enjoy the feeling that there's no more exams (at least in pregraduation). But tomorrow I have to go to Ljubljana again, to find 2 professors.

Wtf?! It's snowing!?

First when I looked through the window I saw some strange "drops" among the rain, like you see strange drops when it's hailing (had quite our share of hare this year). And yes, there were snow flakes mixed in the rain! Which is very strange as in these parts it usually doesn't snow much if at all. And at first it wasn't even sticking, but now he grass, rooftops and the middle of the road are getting white. Where is Al Gore with his global warming now?? I believed him, I truly did. But it seems all his talk was just another politician's promise. *throws a snowball at Al*

Edit: It's just raining now. I guess my rant helped =)

Season's break

Two of the series I watch, Smallville and Supernatural, are now on an almost-2-month break. Which means it's time for a recap (so I'll know where they left off when they start again).

Smallville: Clark lost his powers (again) and the Martian helped him restore them and started working at the Daily Planet. Chloe used her Brainiac powers to save Clark and Kara from the Phantom Zone, later got amnesia, gained back her memories but lost the knowledge about Clark's secret. Clark reinstalled the fortress of solitude, which Brainiac overtook and painted black. Davis fell in love with Chloe, but she married Jimmy. Davis is actually Zod's son, the great destroyer. Lana interrupted an almost kiss between Clark and Lois. She also seems to be a double-agent. Davis transformed, kidnapped Chloe and took her to the black fortress. Someone that's probably Lex was shown from behind with tubes in him watching Chloe's wedding video.

Supernatural: Castiel! He's so ultra cute and cool! Uhm, yeah... Dean got rescued from hell after 4 months (on earth), but it was morel ike 40 years for him. Sam practiced his demon ESP with Ruby, with whom he also had sex. Lilith is trying to break 66 seals so Lucifer can walk free. Seems that Dean is supposed to play an important role, that's why they saved him. Then a girl, Anna, could hear angels talking. After a hypnosis she remembered that she used to be an angel, then she and Dean had sex in his car. Both demons and angels wanted her. She got her powers back and disappeared (for now). Dean finally said that in hell he had been tortured for 30 years until breaking and then he started torturing others.

No luck with Harvest Moon

A few days ago, I think it was on Wednesday, we received Harvest Moon DS Cute. This time we made sure the games was an original one by buying one that had a picture of an authentic cartridge on the auction listing. And it really was authentic! the box art had better printing, the manual contained instructions and the cartridge had two sets of numbers on the back. BUT! The game didn't load. Not in my DS, not in Ana's DS Lite, blowing didn't help... We contacted the seller and explained everything. He said the game worked when he tried it before posting. But he's prepared to exchange cartridges, so we'll do that. I wonder what happened and that the next one will be ok.

Also it's been over three weeks since my HM:FoMT has been shipped from the UK and it still hasn't arrived. But it's not the first time that the Royal Post lost a package. They also lost Pokemon Pearl last summer, which in the end arrived much later (after a complaint was filed) and the package was in a bad shape (the game was ok luckilly). I contacted the seller and she said she'll raise a complaint with the post. I hope they'll find it soon. Maybe it travelled to Slovakia, I don't know.

Oh, by the way. I'll post this here as it's the m,ost appropriate place. I finally got my Visa Electron and the PayPal verification :) No more asking around for help, yay! \(^_^)/

Last exam

Today I mailed (not e-mailed) my research papers which are the main part of my last exam. The other part of the exam is the presentation which will be next week. And after this I only have my graduation left.

But I need to get at least a 9 for this exam (the best grade is 10). Then my overall average grade (from all the years) will be 8, which means I can sign in post-graduate studies. Namely this will be firstly a semester of school to get a university degree (now I'll get a college one). And after that I'll get a psychology major. I don't know yet from which field of psychology, but there's still some time to decide. And I also haven't decided about my doctorate. I just know that at some point I want to be minister for social affairs and since ministers usually have doctorates, I'd better get one myself as well.

But before that future becomes present (and past), I still have to finish my thesis and next week start preparing for the presentation. I really need a 9 at least!

Tired

Uhhh, it's been two weeks since my last post. I can't believe it how time flies. There I am studying about blogs and how a post a week should be a minimum (for professional blogs) and I don't have time/will to blog...

For the past couple of days I've been writing two pages daily for my thesis, reaching 32 pages yesterday of raw data, that means without pictures, indexes and all the editing. I feel that now I've really reached the point when I ran ot of any major ideas what else to write about. All I can think about are minor edits here and there.

I've been at school today to see my thesis mentor. I handed the papers to her and she said she'd read it and that I should phone her next week. I wonder what she'll tell me... In the meantime, I'll keep doing work on my thesis, though today I'm hella tired. It'll have to wait till tomorrow.

Yawn...

The ebay-paypal-credit card saga comes to an end?

I really didn't imagine that me buying three Harvest Moon games on ebay would span over that many posts. Here's a recap:
Part 1: tried to get a credit card, help from a friend, ordered the games
Part 2: received first two bootlegs, complained
Part 3: the first bootleger is no longer an ebay member
Intermezzo: waiting for one more game, being prepared for a bootleg
Part 4: Finally received the third game. This time a very well made bootleg.
Part 5: The second bootlegger wanted revenge

And now, for the much anticipated Part 6 of the great ebay-paypal-credit card saga, brought to you on blogspot.com, directed by Synth, starring Synth, Ana, two bootleggers and people from paypal and ebay. Only on Synth's corner from 4th November 2008.

Last time I left you with the unpaid item strike the 2nd seller gave me. Of course that didn't last long because he had no grounds to file it. I got an email from ebay telling me they lifted it, but if tehre will be a next time, I should follow the proper procedure for lifting it. I replied to them that I WOULD have followed the procedure, but the seller is an unreasonable one, so I decided to directly appeal.
I also received a reply from PayPal saying that there's nothing they can do. Well, at least I tried. But I also got a good email from PayPal, telling me I won the dispute against the first seller and I got my money back. Unfortunately the money I got back doesn't reduce increase the limit of money I can still send. And that brings me to the next point.
Ana and me found a way for us to use PayPal! One of the banks here offers Visa Electron to students for free. It's not a credit card, but a debit card, but it's supposed to work with PayPal! So far Ana has applied, but I will too soon. Now we are waiting to receive it, should be any day now.
When I checked on ebay yesterday I saw that the second seller changed his username. And when I checked today, he wasn't a member anymore! Yaaaay! Did my email to Nintendo help? Did too many people (that I warned) reported him? I don't know and will probably never find out.
In the end, I know that this is somewhat of a Sisyphean task: even if I push one bootlegger away, they can just sign in using a different account. All I can do is make them waste some money for the refunds.

I wish upon a star

I think that most gamers, in the pursue of that perfect game and gaming experience, find themselves wishing certain games were different, bigger, better. I am no exception. Here's some of my wishes.

Pokemon: I wish for a remake of the 2nd generation for the DS. Not only were those game great and big (16 badges, remember?), but it would also mean that Kanto would be featured in every generation of the games. I would especially like a remake of Crystal, as in my opinion, that's one of the best Pokemon games of all times.
I also wish for a game that would incorporate all 4 worlds of the main series (Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh). The question here is how to make the games challenging and entertaining, as one has quite a high level after finishing one region. There are various solutions to this, but I'll leave it to the developers (if they'll ever pick up this project).

Harvest Moon: I wish that after marriage it would be possible to choose to play as either of the married couple. Tired of your boy charachter? Then work as your wife! I see the problem for marriageable characters who have a jon to do, for example Trent, the only doctor in Mineral Town. For cases like this I suggest having two characters doing the same job (in Trent's case, Dr Hardy?) and after marriage with Trent, Hardy would complain that since Trent quit his job he has much more work to do. Another addition here would be the requirement of having the other one at a high friendship, or else (s)he won't ket the bachelor(ette) quit the job and get married. And one more aspect (this is the last one): when playing as the spouse, you could resume your previous job for an hour, two, three..., lose some stamina and get paid for this. It would be also cool to play as your child (maybe at the teenage stage) and get a girlfriend/boyfriend (rivals' children).

Rune Factory: (I married Melody in my game. She is a sweet girl with a thing for witches. She also wears a pointed hat.) I wish that after marrying Melody it would be possible to give her the "join me" command, the same as with animals. She would then join the player in dungeons and use spells. That would be so cool!


Wishful thinking? Yes, I know. But I'm allowed to dream, aren't I? :)

Some more Pokemon for me

Last summer Ana and me bought the new pair of Pokemon games, Diamond and Pearl. My copy arrived as stated, but hers got lost somewhere on the road across the big pond. After some emailing back and forth the shop sent us another copy which arrived in due time. Soon afterwards the first copy aarived too. We sold the extra one and gave the money to the shop.
I played my version, Diamond, for the whole summer, filling my pokedex (at least the "seen" part) to about 3/4. I also did some wifi trading.
Then my wireless router and isp modem decided they don't like each other anymore and the modem refused to give internet to the router (later I found out it was actually the isp's fault). In other words, no more wifi for me. It was also somewhere around that point that I stopped playing Diamond. This was around the end of last year's summer.
A week ago I had a sudden idea. The router and modem still didn't like each other, but both talked to the PC. So I thought that if I would connect the modem to the computer and the computer to the router, I might get the internet connection up to the router. The only problem was that I needed two lan ports in the PC. Luckilly I had a spare lan port PCI card. Turned off the PC, unscrewed it, inserted the PCI card, connected the modem, turned on the PC and... nothing. I tried messing around with the cables and some configurations, but all to no avail. Lastly, I tried the wizard for setting up a home network. I told him that the computer was connecting directly to the internet and other computers would use this one to connect. Abrakadabra, hokus pokus, the wizard did it! I had wifi again!
First I downloaded additional puzzles for Layton. I wanted to try IoH's wifi, but was still in a mine. Then I went to my pokemon forum and saw someone who wanted to make a trade. An Eevee. I checked, had one and told him I'd trade with him.
So, that's what got me into pokemoning again. I checked my pokedex and I have a few more than 100 left for the "seen" part. Something like 180 for the "obtained". I already did some breeding to get 5 more (and an Eevee to trade). I also got one for the "obtained" list from the GTS. After close inspection I miss the most "seen" from the third generation. I guess I'll have to play some Sapphire too and migrate them.
If there's anyone reading this and someone with DPPt who'd like to trade, let me know ;)

Blog is moving

I thought I could use this domain, synth.coolinc.info, without problems for the blog, but as it turns out, the connection wasn't that good all the time. Might be because I'm already hosting another website on the same account and the bandwidth is limited. That's why I decided to move on blogspot's hosting. Additionally I may get more functionality for the blog :)
The blog's new location is now http://synthscorner.blogspot.com/

The bootlegger doesn't rest

The bootlegger from the previous post obviously doesn't think we are done. Here's what happened:
Even before I received the package I got an email from him telling me that the game will arrive and asked me not to open a dispute on paypal.
After I got the game and wrote him that it was a bootleg, he gave me a refund and replied that the game isn't fake, simply "China version". Of course I couldn't keep quiet so I asked him if that meant that China version equals pirate copy. And asked him why then the game and manual aren't in Chinese and why the "instruction" are taken from a review of an other game. So far he hasn't replied.
Later I sent a message to various people who bought from him (so far to ten) and got three replies that they also got bootlegs. I know that one of them got a refund as well but also a request to ship the item back (he never asked me to do that). I told this buyer that if he wants to ship back that he should ask for the shipping fees as it's not his fault for receiving a fake. We'll see how this goes.
And then the seller turned his eyes on me. He filed an ebay complaint that I haven't yet paid for the item. I replied saying that I have paid, received a bootleg and got a refund. Well, he wasn't happy with the answer so decided to escalate the claim in an "unpaid item strike". Of course I appealed to ebay about this and explained the situation again. But if it's war he wants, he'll get it. I sent a detailed email to Nintendo of America's anti-piracy department. And I reported him for selling bootleg games to paypal. Why paypal? Because I got the feeling that he doesn't want things to go to paypal. Hence the email before receing the package and afst refund. If he won't calm down I guess the next step is the police.
I'll keep you posted ;)

A great bootleg

Two days ago we received another bootleg game, Harvest Moon DS Cute. It was bought at the same time as the other two bootleg games so this time we were already expecting it to be a fake, as it came from Hong Kong.
But I have to say that bootleggers have started to put some more effort in their work. This time it wasn't "cartridge only", but everything was included: cartridge, case, manual and even foil. BUT! The foil had no official Nintendo strip. The cover of the box, manual and cartridge label were obviously printed with a normal printer, not some fancy factory printing machine. The "instructions" in the manual were copied from a review found online. And it was a review for the boy version, not the girl one! And it was a negative review! Imagine that the instruction manual tells you that what you bought isn't that great a game! :D Lastly, the cartridge was missing the lot number.
At least the seller gave us a refund quickly. I guess he doesn't won't things to go on paypal. But I reported him to ebay and warned some other buyers.

Shopping day

Today was quite a big shopping day. We did go to two grocery shops, but the main deals, the ones I'm happy about, were made on eBay.

The first victory was for Friends of Mineral Town. I'm buying it from a seller in the UK. The picture was of an original cartridge (at least the label), the game was quite cheap and it's near. There was a bit of a battle and someone even tried to outbid us in the last half minute! But in the end we won :D

The second victory was for More Friends of Mineral Town, bought from a seller from the USA, to whom I pleaded to send to Europe. The battle was quite fierce, but we waited till the end and then attacked and won! Actually Ana placed the winning bin more for fun, just to see if anyone else placed a higher one. Well, they didn't. Losers! XD

And lastly, we had the friend who wants Golden Sun 2 over for a visit. Then I checked just for fun if there were any new offers and we found two (2) good ones: one auction and one "buy it now". Both from the USA, both seemed authentic. So I sent a message to both sellers if they'd ship to Europe. They would and so we bought the "buy it now" copy.

Now we're still waiting for a copy of HM DS Cute that we ordered at the same time as both GBA games. But we are expecting another bootleg, because back then we didn't yet know how this cruel world of bootleg games goes. Oh well, more disputes ahead of us. In the mean time I'll probably still roam around eBay looking for fakes from time to time and report them. Won't change the world, but feels something like the fun of scamming email scammers.

Not everything is dark :)

If one were to judge by my previous posts, one would think things are pretty low. But worry now!, as there have been also many nice things :)

For starters, last week I got a new dancepad and turned on Stepmania after a long break. My old dancepad is actually still functional, but it's a PSX one. At first I had an adapter that worked well for the serial port, but after changing computers I didn't have a serial port anymore. I bought a psx-usb adapter, but it wasn't compatible with dancepads. The new dancepad connects directly to usb, so no problems there :) Plus it's a really great one ^_^

Then I downloaded Ultrastar, a PC clone of Singstar, and a bunch of songs. Singing is fun :D Imagine a game, where you would have to dance (ddr) plus sing (singstar). And for the hands maybe Guitar Hero XD

I also did school stuff :D I finished writing my report about the use of web in social work centres in Slovenia. Well, I'll still write some more and edit it so it'll look very fancy, but it's done. Now I'm working on my thesis again.

In HM:IoH I finally managed to get three wonderfuls and equipped them to my hoe. Now I can make trips to the bottom of the mine with no stamina consumption (except for what I spend hammering). And with two oranges and a green on my hammer I'm looking into lots of money XD

I tried HM: Shining Sun and Friends (a rom, not the proper game). Because I don't know Japanese all I did was try the gameplay and see the graphics. I must say that I love how they made it possible to move with the directional pad and kept the same tools usage system. I also like the new shiiping bin, where you tap on the bin and a new screen shows where you drag stuff in the bin. Very time saving. Later I also read that getting wonderfuls and determinating the colour is much more complicated.

I found an ebay seller who sells what seem authentic HM for gba copies, both versions! At first she wouldn't ship to Europe, but after my big plea she decided to do so. I'm really so glad about that :)

And today a professor emailed me back and said she would be my thesis mentor. I'll go see her on Tuesday so we can start the serious work.

A small victory

The guy who sold us the bootleg copies is no longer a member of ebay. Now, I don't know if my actions contributed to this, but I sure am happy to see that something happened.
I also started reporting suspicious auctions to ebay and asking those who don't put a picture of the cartridge up, to show it. So far they seem quite reluctant to do so :D One even sent me a link to their non-ebay shop. There they sell Pokemon Blue Sea and Pokemon Dark Cry. Reported to NOA.
That bootlegger chose the wrong guy to sell his wares to. They will all feel my wrath now XD

eBay fraud

Two days ago we finally received both GBA Harvest Moon games. Oh were we happy :)
But then things atrted to go wrong. At first my game (FoMT) got its save file deleted when I played it in my DS (normal one). Ana's game (MFoMT) worked fine and both games worked fine in her DS Lite. The next thing Ana noticed is that the sticker was different from other games, too shiny and the seal of quali tywas hardly readable. We visited a friend yesterday and did some more comparing with original games. We noticed that original games have a code above the connectors, while our HM games do not. And this morning I did some research and saw on the web that the real difference is inside. So I unscrewed both games and saw it! The battery that distinguishes a bootleg from a proper copy!
After that I filed complaints to ebay and paypal. And also sent emails to users who baught from the same guy.
This all means we need to get our money back and find new deals. And right before a week of vacation when we could've played to our hearts' desire. The good thing is that we now know to be more careful...

Some ebay rant

My buying Harvest Moon games on ebay went smoothly. Found a seller, won the bid, paid, now the game is on its way (hopefully).
But it doesn't always go so smoothly. A friend is looking for a great game, Golden Sun - The lost age. I played both games from the series and I remember they are really great FRPs. Btw, I really hope for a new title in the series ^_^ Anyway, this game is for the GBA, so it's getting rare nowadays. That's why I suggested this friend to look on ebay. We did find some, but only a few were good finds. Why? Because most of the deals offer only the cartridge and just a few have also the map, instruction manual and box. And even those who have it all in good condition, ship only to the USA (and canada sometimes). I really see no reason why can't they ship overseas too, since they already go to the post to send the game anyway. I'm also sending messages to the sellers if they can ship here, but I don't get any answers...
We'll keep trying...

Why don't we use the animals 100% in Harvest Moon?

At least in the games I've played so far. Sure there are chicken, cows and sheep, but we can only take the eggs, milk the cows or sheer the sheep. Dear Marvelous Entertainment, it's also possible to milk the sheep and have sheep cheese! And why do we have to be vegetarians in the game? Ok, we do eat fish, but may people think also vegetarians do anyway. By the way, I'm sort of a vegetarian myself. Back to the point. Imagine taking care of your cow for so long, and then you can go to her with your axe and have a steak for lunch. Or go to your sheep. Or have a chicken soup that would cure colds. Horses are also edible, but there should be a way to get a new one then. And in the Chinese version you should be able to eat the dog too.
Or maybe instead of just going with the axe to the animal, on the DS we could use the touch glove and we'd have to follow a line, something like during sheering, to get the best meat of the animal.

Somehow I feel we won't see any of this in a game, hehe :)

Harvest Moon, Credit card, Paypal and ebay

I think it should be obvious by now that I became addicted to Harvest Moon games. And my girlfriends loves them too! And because one can marry the doctor in HMDS Cute only with a gba game inserted, I started looking for MFoMT for Ana, my girlfriend, at various places, but it's rare to find any gba games in stores, even e-stores. Luckilly we have ebay! Yes, but no credit card...

So first I checked my bank's webspace to see what are the requirements to get a Mastercard (the only one they offer). The only requirement is having had received "three monthly incomes (salary or pension)". I have neither, but I do have (actually had, it just stopped) a scholarship and I once already successfully argued that it counts as monthly income. Well, I went there to inquire in person and the bank clerk (who is always very helpful, btw) said that my scholarship probably wouldn't count, but that she'd make some phone calls to be sure and call me later.
After about two hours she phoned me and said that the comitee for credit cards probably wouldn't give it to me. Then she asked me why I needed it in case there was some other way around. But because I need it for e-shopping, it's the only solution. She told me to fill the form anyway and we'll try applying. In a moment she called back and asked me if I needed to make payments overseas. Of course I do! Well, their credit cards don't pay out of the country. Yet.

Then I was looking at paypal and various discussions if there's a way to deposit money on paypal without a credit card. Sorry, none. After chatting with a friend he said that his brother uses paypal and that he could ask him to help me. To cut this story short, I asked him to pay me some money on my paypal account and I'll pay him on his bank account. So finally I got the money, yay!

After bidding, winning and paying we are now waiting for the games to make it over here. Aparently it should take at least 2 weeks... Can't wait!

Mistake in Island of Hapiness

There was I in the beginning of my first winter, having more than enough money for buying Chen's wonderfuls from my first trip to the bottom of the mine. And then I was thinking "it can't hurt to buy the 10.000g ticket from Chen and ship it back. So I can get closer to his house upgrade plus I get one more item in the shipping list." Sounds good, right? Wrong. As it turns out, one doesn't get paid for shipping the money tickets and they can be only used in Chen's shop. And that's how I lost 260.000g for nothing. Arrrrrgh!

At least all the money from the mine didn't go to waste. I managed to buy the last bridge and upgrade all the roads, build the maker shed and one maker. But now I don't have money for buying the wonderfuls and there's still almost a whole month in front of me. So that's why I'm back in the mine, falling through the pitfalls, one or two levels at a time or too much stamina is wasted. The first time was already quite boring, so I really didn't look forward to this. I'll try to make it at least to the pink diamonds' level, then I'll see if I have enough recovery items to make it to the bottom for more ores and a recipe.

It's a long way...

The new DSi

These days the news about the new DS instalment, DSi, are all the rage around the internet. Bigger screens, thinner, but no GBA slot. Pity about that actually. No Pokemon and Harvest Moon gba-ds connectivity (though in Europe we didn't have the latter anyway) and no Guitar hero. The DSi will feature two cameras, one internal and one external. Some sources say both will be VGA quality, some say the external will have 3MP. And last but not least, the DSi will be able to connect to DSware (like Wiiware on Wii) for download of games in exchange for Nintendo points, saving them on the internal memory and an SD memory card.

I might end up buying one though, but it depends on the following things:

• moneywise (still paying for the new car and buying a Wii has the priority)
• wi-fi (if the DSi will have better wifi connection that my DS, with which I can't connect anywhere)
• DSware (if there will be any cool titles to download)
• games (any cool games that will use the camera)

The new handheld arrives in Japan next month, while the rest of the world will have to wait till next year. We'll at least have some time to see how it goes in Japan and what will Nintendo offer for it in the beginning. I expect at least a new WarioWare game that will make use of the camera.

Byousoku 5 Centimeter (5 centimeters per second)

Warning, contains spoilers!

This is an anime movie by Shinkai Makoto, the director oh Hoshi no koe. The movie is made of three parts, all parts tell the story of two childhood friends, Tohno Takaki and Shinohara Akari, who fell in love but then had to live far apart and slowly lost contact. As usual for him, the anime is full of marvellous graphics and the first part also reminds of Hoshi no koe with Akari's letters telling the story.

All in all, I found the movie quite boring. I think one should be in a depressed emo mood to enjoy this anime more.

Harvest Moon rant

No, this is not a new title in the series, just me blowing off some steam in regards to this otherwise great game series.

My girlfriend and I are both Harvest Moon fans. She also has a soft spot for doctors and hence wants to marry one in the games, but so far no luck. In HMDS Cute she couldn't because neither of us owns a GBA game to trigger the Mineral Town visitors (among which is Trent, a doctor). But even if so, we heard that the GBA-DS connection doesn't work in all games. Because we'll have a Wii in a few months we started looking at HM games for it. ToT doesn't have a doctor in it, but Magical Melody does. BUT! While porting it on the Wii they "forgot" to add the female main character!!! And there's no PAL version of this game!

The next thing: In IoH I was happy that the eggplants ripened and picked them up for the crop contest the following day. They also were rank A, so I was looking forward for my next wodnerful. BUT! They lost a rank over the night so I can't win now!!! If only I had left them in the field for one more day...

And the bugs in HMDS.. Locking on the first entered dish at the contest, losing the marriage to a Mineral town girl, being unable to marry the Harvest Goddess or the Witch Princess. And in HMDS Cute they took out the possibility of having a lesbian marriage.

But still after all the frustration I keep liking the game and being an addict...

Harvest Moon and me

I first heard of Harvest moon several years ago, in the era of GBA and GC. A friend from Sweden, SkuttyWan, mentioned the game to me. A game about farming? No thanks, sounds boring.
Then many years have passed and this summer my girlfriend was going through some DS games and said she'd want to try Harvest Moon DS Cute. She started playing it, liked it and soon after I started playing HM DS (not the cute one). I must say that I was very wrong years ago, as farming has never been so fun! Sure some things are very frustrating, like levelling up animals, but overall the game is very enjoyable. At least it was for the first two years or so. At that point I had already married Celia and life was getting ot repetitive. Get up, water the plants in the basememnt, water in the fields, pick up any ripe crops, pet the animals, collect the eggs, ship stuff... What put me off is also the fact that I played a glitchy game (I heard that later they started selling debugged games).
After HMDS I started playing Rune Factory: A fantasy Harvest Moon. This game has a story through the game: you come to a village and have amnesia. A girl offers you an abandoned farm where you start working and going to caves/dungeons to fight monsters, farm and unravel the misteries. I liked this games also because it makes use of a speciall skill system, where the better you skill in a specific are (forging, pharmacy...) the better stuff you can make. I hated the obvious time sink in the game. After some caves you have to wait till winter to enter the next, which meant two full seasons for me. I spent most of that time killing monsters for loot and levelling myself up in the process. The result: I swooped through the next dungeons :D I got married to Melody there and finished playing after the main storyline was over.
I'm currently playing Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness. Farming became more difficult here, as it's not enough to water the crops every day, but they need a certain amount of sun and water if they are to grow. And there are no better tools as such in the game, but certain wonderful stones that boost the tools. And these wonderfuls are somewhat hard to come along in the first three seasons. The most money I made so far came from getting to the bottom of the mine, but that took me a lot of real life time. Still I have enough money to upgrade all the roads and some of my buildings. All in all, I feel this game is much harder than HMDS and it'll take me much longer to feel I completed my goals :)

I'm also looking forward to Rune Factory 2 and when we have a Wii, Tree of Tranquility and Rune Factory Frontier.

Smallville's 8th season

Warning: contains spoilers!!

The last season's finale left us (again) with great changes and a big cliffhanger. Lionel died, Lana left Clark, Chloe got arrested, Kara was sent to the phantom zone, Lex and Clark were in a collapsing fortress. The new season actually brought a change for a change (pun intended)! Lex, Lana, Kara and Lionel are still absent, in the show and in the opening credits. I did read on Wikipedia that Lana will return for 5 more episodes and Lex is "open to appearing as an occasional guest", but nothing on Kara and Lionel. I guess Lionel could actually be really dead, but what about Kara? Hope she makes it out, I liked her.
There are however three new entries in the opening sequence. Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow (yay ^^ if only I were gay... XD), Tess Mercer and Davis Bloome. We already know Oliver, but who are the other two? Tess is the new CEO of LuthorCorp, so I guess she'll take Lex's role, while Davis is a paramedic with some secret.
As for this season't main plot, in episode 2 seems like Tess is organizing some kind of "anti justice league" and pyrowoman will be a part of it. And I hope this means also more screentime for the justice league, maybe new recruits too ^__^
In the end, I wonder what Lex's and Lana's leaving the show will do to the series in general. I hear Lex is/was quite popular, so he might take a share of viewers with him. And we all know that a big loss of viewers can in the end mean ending the show (another intended pun). I hope they'll at least try to refresh the show with some new ideas.

House MD - Beginning of the 5th season

Warning: contains spoilers!!

So here we are with a new season of House. The previous season ended tragically with Amber's death, so we continue from there. We don't find Wilson blaming House for Amber's death, but he blames himself for allowing House's behaviour. Wilson leaves the hospital and House, stating they never were friends. This makes House's tries to get Wilson back to the hospital the main plot line for the new season. Judging by the previous seasons, I think this should be resolved in a few episodes, maybe around 8, then we're back at just case solving and houseisms.
Remember: in season one the main plot line was Vogler, in the second it was Stacy, then it was Tritter and in the fourth getting a new team.
So in the next two months or so we'll probably watch House trying to get Wilson back. I must say I liked the PI introduced in the second episode. I hope that the end of the episode meant that he's going to be a recurring character.

Introduction

Hi and welcome to my blog :)
I already had a blog, but it was in Slovene and it's also been a while since I've posted anything in it.
Firstly: my name is Rok, I live with my girlfriend in Solkan, a small Slovenian town, I'm 25 and a student.
To start off this blog I decided to write a bit of about my interest, so you can see what I'll may be writing about.

School
I'm a social work undergraduate with a few months to go till my graduation. I'm planning on graduating in January. I'm currently writing my thesis and a research paper. Both are dealing with social work and web applications, specifically how can social workers use them in their work. This field isn't covered much in my language, so I'm quite excited about writing about this. That's what also got me into blog researching.

Video games
I like to play video games ^^ From September 07 to spring 08 I mostly played Guild Wars, maximizing some titles. I maxed 13 and had a few more in the work, but then I got frustrated over something and stopped playing altogether. Now I slowly started again a bit, finishing a HM mission.
After having stopped playing GW I started playing my DS. At first it was Digimon, then Mario Kart, Professor Layton... Now I'm juggling with three great games: The World Ends With You, Final Fantasy IV and Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness. I've actually already finished TWEWY, now I'm just mastering my pins and doing the after story. FFIV and HM:IoH are both at the beginning, but halve both already captivated me.
Other stuff I like to play: Pokemon (I also run a website in Slovene), Super Smash Bros., different RPG/FRP, building games.

Series
I like to watch (american) tv series, but because I live where I live, we either get them later than in the USA (usually a year later) or not at all. That's why I download them, to keep myself up to date. But not all. Some series I watch when they air over here.
Things I watch downloaded: Heroes, House MD, Supernatural, Smallville, Lost. They are all great, except for Smallville, which I keep watching because.... not really sure, actually...
Things I watch when it airs: Desperte Housewives, Ugly Betty, all CSI, Cold Case, Without a Trace.

Anime
Me and my girlfriend love anime! Or at least we used to. There was a time when we downloaded more than we could watch. Then for about a year we completely stooped. And now we started again. First we looked at AniDB to see what new stuff is cool and from there we got to AnimeReactor and started to watch the awarded anime of 2007. So far we watched Death Note, Seirei no moribito and Kanon. Kanon is from the same people as Air and one can really tell almost immediately, as the graphics and music are very alike. But, unlike Air, Kanon has a good story!

That's it from me for now, see ya ;-)