First Snowfall

The first snow of the season, well, of the autumn season at least, as winter technically does not start until December twenty-second of this year when the northern hemisphere reaches maximum tilt away from the Sun at the Winter Solstice. It has been snowing throughout the weekend and flakes are still falling, thickening to about half a foot this morning, more than enough for snowmen (or snowwomen) and snowball fights. This opening snowfall managed to cause a power outage throughout the UBC campus, which means, classes are canceled today. It’s a bummer really, as I very much want to torture my brain and commute through the bitter cold, but instead, I have to sit in the warmth of my room with a hot cup of coffee. What a shame.

Welcome to the NHK! after episode 19

To say Satou is a hikikomori, while true to a deteriorating degree, is only a superficial assessment. So, a question constantly hovers in my mind as I watch NHK: What are Satou’s fundamental traits that may explicate his character? I have gleaned of three. One: Satou is easily impressionable. He is vulnerable to strong opinions. Two: Satou’s emotional state is hypersensitive. When his emotional state is affected, it sways strongly into that emotion. One moment he may be in high euphoria, and the next he crashes down into deep despair. Three: He has an overactive imagination. He thinks of situations and explanations that are exaggerated, and often highly unlikely to be possible. Perhaps this trait of his was amplified by Hitomi and her conspiracy theories. It is these intrinsic attributes of his, of course combined with life happenstances and experiences, that are the root causes of his hikikomori status, and among his other faults. His insecurity, for example, follows from his over-active imagination, where he thinks of overtly negative projections of him from other people, which ruins his confidence.
But Satou is not the only one with problems. Almost everyone in the series is abnormal or troubled in some way. Even Misaki, the supposed savior herself, has hints of hidden difficulties in her character. This is where the worth of the series lie, in the afflicted stories of these suffering individuals, and the rare few may even identify with them. Or, perhaps like me, the curious observation and analysis of these personae themselves is more interesting. Although currently I lack the proper mental tools to dissect these minds, next year I will be taking psychology 300 – Behaviour Disorders as an elective, precisely the psychological domain that NHK deals with. Sometimes I do question the validity of the actions and the personalities in this series, because after all, NHK is an anime (and manga). Nevertheless, these characters and their anecdotes are entertaining in a morbid sort of way regardless if they are true to life or not.

Rozen Maiden Battle Royal – Update: Kanaria Introduced

It’s been a while since my initial post on this game, so some of the information there has become obsolete since the game has been updated. The most notable betterment in the latest version is that Kanaria is now playable, and her stage now available. Also, middle attack has been incorporated, so new templates and moves for everyone. Download the new files and replace in the game folder to “patch” the game. Or to be on the safe side, one can re-download everything and replace every file. As you can see, I have spent some time trying out Kanaria and getting reacquainted with Shinku. And oh, the SW Synth controls the music volume of the game. So you can adjust the SW Synth in the volume control panel to find a balance of music and sound volume to your liking.

Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru after episode 05

Despite his abnormally girlish looks, Mizuho should be a healthy boy. He does notice the opposite sex, however brief his reactions may be, and it appears he can grow a beard. Every biologically healthy male past puberty and before old age has an erection at least some time, usually several times, during sleep, regardless of the presence of stimulation or dreams. It is sort of a maintenance process, to ensure that when there is a need to perform, we boys, will perform. And yet two girls who slept in the same bed as Mizuho, furthermore cuddled right up to him, did not discover any…peculiar hints throughout the night or morning suggesting that he is a boy. Hmm…anyways, let’s leave that subject. The character designs strongly reminded me of Da Capo Second Season’s, the similarity in the facial features and the long anorexic-like limbs, which is no wonder since Feel is the anime production team for both series. This anime is concentrated bishoujo and cuteness. I’m watching it for the trap-factor too, and the anime is a bit of a guilty pleasure, but too much logic is sacrificed for the sake of fluffiness. Still, it is better than the other show containing a trap, Happiness. Jun alone wasn’t enough to salvage that subpar anime.

Because I like to shoot at things and blow stuff up

I have been shooting aliens, Nazis, mutants, malfunctioning robots, or whatever digital baddies that can be killed with indiscretion, ever since I was a wee little boy. One of the very first computer games I played was Wolfenstein 3D (the absolute first computer game I played was an educational Disney game, where I would type a letter of the alphabet and Micky Mouse would find the object beginning with that letter and present it to me), and then there was Doom II. Early influence took its hold and engraved in me a natural affinity for them, strenthening to become my favorite and my forte today. The year is almost over, and my palate awaits hungrily for these prominent computer FPS (first person shooters) of next year:

Bioshock – From Irrational Games, the same people who brought us the cult classics System Shock 1&2. They said that Bioshock will be a sort of a “spiritual successor” to System Shock, so like the System Shock series, Bioshock will be driven largely by its atmosphere. I can hardly wait to immerse myself in that particular underwater world of awry eeriness. Here’s a video demonstration of Bioshock that’s worth a watch to see what the game is like.

Crysis – A game that gained fame from its advanced graphics. There are some people who criticize that Crysis is nothing more than a tech demo. While that statement may be true to some extent, they make it sound like it’s a bad thing. Yes, at the least the game will serve as an indication to other developers or people of what video games are capable of, and what level of immersion they can now offer. But games like Crysis simply is a consequence of technological advancement. If Crytek doesn’t take advantage of progression, then someone else will. And progress is good right? So just let your eyes feast on those gorgeously swaying trees and rippling water.

Half-Life 2: Episode 2 – It’s Half-Life, what more needs to be said? Although I’ve said all I wanted to say here. And it also comes with Team Fortress 2 and the intriguingly cool game element of portals.

Hellgate: London – Imagine Diablo, but set in a post-apocalyptic setting. And instead of playing it from top down, one plays in first person. So it is like an action RPG played in first person. I remember reading a feature on Hellgate: London in PCGamer where the developers emphasized that there will be a lot of loot in the game. It might be interesting to note here that Flagship Studios contains staff that once belonged to Blizzard, who of course, made the addicting clickfest that was the Diablo series.

Unreal Tournament 2007 – I love the Unreal Tournament franchise. I’ve always preferred the more colorful world of Unreal over the grey and dreary Quake. Unreal Tournament 2004 is the staple of our LAN parties. Every single LAN party we had, we played UT2004. This reason alone is more than enough for me to get this game.

Now, I must build myself a new computer…