Oh My Pokémon,

Exciting time to be a pokéfan I tell ya. Pokémon how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

1. Pokémon Black & White release is just on the corner. Gen V is almost here with version specific cities, new pokémon, redesigned city layouts and interactivity! Less than 2 weeks man, less than 2 weeks.

2. Pokémon events! the shiny legendary dog trio event just ended but many more are on the horizon! from now to the 8th of march (I believe) you can download Celebi from any gamestop location as well as Victini (a Gen V legendary) will be available starting march 6th, and the Zoroark event can be triggered by trading one of the shiny legendary dogs to your B&W game.

3. Starting soon players will be able to play an online version of the Pokémon TCG. There will be several starter decks to choose from at release with more available in subsequent updates. it's stated the decks will be customizable but to what extent isn't yet known.

4. Did I mention new pokémon?? Ha!

So yeah, it's a good time. Not a fan? well nows not a bad time to start either :p

Remember, Remember, the 14th of September!

As most of you probably know I picked up the Limited Edition version of Halo: Reach yesterday night. Of course after the initial batch of pictures I took my friends and I jumped into online multiplayer for a couple hours before it was time for bed. I didn't really have any time to really look over the main component of the limited edition: Halsey's journal.

After getting a chance to look at it I can honestly say the extra 20 bucks was well spent. The effort and design put into the journal is nothing short of astounding. Bungie has really outdone themselves this time and I think it's safe to say those who purchased the limited or legendary editions will be extremely pleased.

The journal itself is more like a small book written by Dr. Halsey: a very very important, yet frequently unexpanded, character in the Halo universe. Anyone who has read "The Fall of Reach" will understand what I mean when I say this journal contains some very awesome totally canon information that until now was never truly expanded upon.

Aside from the journal pages themselves, the journal also contains alot of extra printed material from the Halo universe. News clippings, photographs, dossiers, personal letters, and even information on the Spartan Master Chief John-117 and his Mjolinr mk.IV armor.

Oh and there's an iron-on patch, whooo!

So aside from the game being totally awesome (so far) I highly recomend the limited or legendary editions for any person who is hungry for more insight into the Halo storyline!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

C is for 100! C is for Corsair!

Well, this is my 100th post! Yay!

My Corsair is 80! Yay

My old friends are returning to FFXI! Yay!

They're updating XI soon and getting rid of that awful +5 min and persistant buff on COR rolls! Yay!

Seriously I don't know what they were thinking when they did that, it's like they've never even played the job. But enough about them... let's talk more about meeeee!

As I mentioned before I finally hit level 80 last weekend just a few days after my wife did. Abyssea of course. The place is literally like dying and going to EXP heaven. When I finally did ding of course I figured it was time for 3 things.

First is new gun. In the works are the Trial of Magians gun which gives STR and ranged attack, perfect for my COR and my (so far) 6/8 merits in marksmanship.

Second is new armor. Now I'm not all that interested in that new stuff... you know... it's pink... so I'm going to finish my add-ons finally for some great COR tailored gear.

Third is, as unlikely as it sounds, I'm making an iPhone theme based on FFXI. I found this website that does the coding for you as long as you create your own images. So I spent the better part of yesterday in fireworks making some icons. I'll post a link here when I finish it but as of right now I'm not entirely satisfied with it.

Tonight is another Abyssea party in which I hope to get another 10 merits and hopefully some headway on 81 when the cap raises again after the update! Feel sorry for mobs that'll be taking my barrages tonight!

The Prodigal Corsair Returns!

well I know it's been awhile and whatnot but I've been on the computer less and less

mostly since it sucks.

but I thought it would be appropriate to mention I'm again playing the game that spawned the idea for this blog. that's right, the crazy corsair of carbuncle is back!

of course in the year sabatical I've taken no one remembers who I am anymore.

don't worry it happened to Joaquin Phoenix too (who? oh, that's right...)

so in the time since my return I know there's been alot of changes.

I know they raised the level cap which is cool I guess but now every damn Mage in the game subs RDM for convert.

there are tons of far less obvious changes that have taken place over the last year. like abassea... no it's not a life threatening health condition, it's some new fangled area you can access after buying a $10 episode.

apparently the leveling there is insane, something akin to 25k exp an hour once you get rolling in a decent party.

that's insane, I mean I don't mean to sound like a geezer or anything but I remember when getting 10k an hour in dunes meant you were the most badass 6 players in the game. that's right, I mentioned the dunes. people used to level there ya know.

now someone get me my oxygen tank, I think I'm getting cranky.

another thing is the economy seemed to calm down. it was the third happiest day of my life to learn that bullets are now alot cheaper than they used to be. most items in fact have gone down greatly in price. things you used to have to sacrifice small animals for well within arms reach, due in part to the level cap increase I'm sure. and on that note the new level 80 equip is mostly rediculously cheap. most of it costs as much as armor at level 30 and it's damn good stuff to boot. what's the catch? it makes you look like a second hand store fasionista as it's all just re-colored level 30 armor models... explains the price...

and of course what return to form would my personal "welcome home to vanad'iel be without death in massive quantities.

ever since I heard they removed the level caps on CoP mission areas I've been eager to finish a few quests and missions I simply didn't have the help for before. one was a quest to pose mannequins. of which I own 8.... what don't hate me because I'm rich. let me tell you, just cause they removed the level cap in the aquaducts doesn't mean that they made the mannequin NM any easier.

pwn'd

by that I meant I was :(

so in my first week back to the game I officially lost a total of 4k experience, hurray, now I really feel like I'm home!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

iPeen

Well its finally mine. My awesome wife, brother and friend victor all teamed up to get me my dream phone, the iPhone. Yes, it is awesome. Yes it does everything. It can order food for me, do my homework, it can even walk my dog... ok it can't do that.

Honestly though I love this thing. If you're looking for a phone and you have the means I highly suggest you look into one. Signal is great, apps are great (of course), the camera (although 2 megapixel) is suprisingly awesome, and it can even do wi-fi hotspots.

Now of course my iPhone is probably a bit cooler than most, it has a few apps on it that make it stand out, if you know what I mean.

If you don't, well then frankly I'm not going to tell you haha.

But I will say this, the add ons I have fix most of the things people complain about iPhones. Everything except the battery life, which is pretty bad. Thankfully that can be helped with external battery cases and charge cases.

Best of all, it keeps track of my decks, tokens and life totals in Magic:tG, and frankly that is the most WIN of all time!

The Price of Fandom

So I was doing a search for Kingdom Hearts pictures yes? You know how I just got that pretty new iPhone? well I was thinking of giving the theme editing a shot so I could make a cool Kingdom Hearts theme since none of the ones I find seem to satisfy my need for one, and in said search I some how came across this.

I know, its pretty much one of the coolest DSi related KH merch to date. (not that there was much to begin with really)

Since I actually have 358/2 days and I think its a pretty cool game I thought to my self: "Self, wouldnt it be cool to have that?"

So I went where any self-respecting buyer of imported merchandise goes... eBay.

And what do I find there but the very item I was looking for at the buy it now price of... $99.00

wtf!

No seriously, wtf?

This thing, no matter how cool could never be sold for more than 20 dollars. I mean if this thing was forged in the fires of Mount Doom I wouldnt pay more than 25 bucks.

But it's not, it's made out of plastic (earth plastic before you ask) and doesn't really afford the DSi more than a 1 maybe 2 foot drop's worth or protection. I know, I already have something like this with Megaman on it.

And while I recognize the fact its out of print I cant understand why in the hell something like this would be worth half as much as the thing its protecting. Hell, with a good deal you can get a DSi for the same damn price as this thing!

Now I consider myself a collector, and I consider myself a fan of Kingdom Hearts as well, but no matter how much of either of those I am I'm simply not paying this much for something cost literally all of 10 cents to make. C'mon people. Plastic is cheap. Hell, so is cotton and ink, so wouldnt it make sense to value them both about the same?

Say it with Zombies...

I downloaded "The Passing" DLC for Left 4 Dead 2 this past saturday and honestly I'm pretty glad I did. This is the first DLC released for L4D2 and in fact I'm surprised it took so long for one to come out.

Timing aside I have to say this is my favorite Left 4 Dead DLC so far. It adds a new 3-act level, a new heavy weapon (the M60), and a new melee weapon (golf club!). I like it because it's quick, easy for when you dont want to play a prolonged campaign or versus match, but it's longer than Crash Course so it feels like its got more substance to it. The enviroments are diverse enough through the levels that it feels longer than its 3 acts while only taking 30-45 minutes to complete. And the climax of the campaign is a very aweseome scavenge run with the survivors from Left 4 Dead helping you!

Also added in the DLC is a new special infected type, the Fallen Survivor. Imagine a survivor who thought he was immune and was sadly mistaken. Apparently people like that become special infected. They have no unique attacks but take more damage to kill than a regular infected and can also retreat before being killed, usually running you to another special infected or zombie horde. Thankfully when you kills these annoying kiters they drop things you might normally find on a survivor like health packs, pills, adrenaline, explosives, or the occasional melee weapon.

Another change to the game the DLC makes are the caches. They're exactly what they sound like, a large case filled with an unlimited supply of things like pistols, pills, molotovs, pipe bombs, or adrenaline shots.Camping by these things can be very advantagous if you need to stop anyways or in case of horde.

And of course if that wasn't enough The Passing adds a new Midnight Riders song!

What you're not sold?

Fine, The Passing DLC also adds a new mode called Mutation. What that is exactly is a constatnly changing special game type. The way it works is every thursday a new blog post will be availible detailing the Mutation that will be availible friday. As an example the Mutation until this friday is Realism Versus, So whenever you click on the Mutation gametype, you'll automatically be taken to a versus match with realism mode enabled. It won't stop there either, the rules can be changed as much or as little as valve decides so I'm curious to see what kind of zany antics they come up with.

All in all The Passing is definatly worth your 7 bucks and adds a total of 250 gamerscore points in case you were interested.

I give The Passing DLC for L4D2 a solid BRAAAIIINNNNSSSS/10