Okay, I know I should be sleeping, but I just wanted to say that if you're into strategy games and a little old school, Disgaea 2 is a good game to get. But it takes leveling up to a whole new dimension. Basically you have to earn your levels up. You just can't go through the story, you have to level up outside of it, or else you won't be able to pass the game. Anyway, Atlus and Nippon Ichi games usually don't go down in price all that much. But then again, there's so many games out that you could miss a few good ones. Anyway, Final Fantasy XII came out in the US today. That will go down in price later on. But if you want the collectors edition and to learn more about the history about Final Fantasy, then check out www.ebgames.com or www.gamespot.com and look for the final fantasy collector's edition.

It's $60 though. Is it worth $60? That depends on you.

Okay, it's late, but I find myself surfing the net. Yay one for coffee!

Anyway, I was reading a former ALTs webpage off of one of my friends links to a whole bunch of webpages. Interesting enough, I find that her experience is way different from mine. She is pretty much an opposite from me. Not in terms of morals or anything important...well I'm assuming she's better at those than me. But what I'm saying is that she is outgoing, friendly, and a really nice person to know. I on the other hand, am shy sometimes, keep to myself, and I don't speak very much. Not a good way to get to know people. But maybe things will change if I put more effort into reaching out. I'm thinking that sleeping would be a good idea right now.

I'm thinking that culture shock is starting to kick in. But thankfully I have God with me. Not that He's not for anybody else, or against anybody else, but that He's there for me and everyone else.

Anyway, with Halloween now here, I'm thinking that it is a good time to remember the things that are needed. I don't want to say what I'm thinking but yeah, rememberance is a good thing. Not always a pleasant thing, but definitely I need to put the past behind me and come to terms with it. I have changes that I need to go through. I have issues that I need to work out. God is with me, but I need to let Him work in me.

Anyway, it's a good reminder of how desparate the need is here. I'm wondering what this means for me. I don't think that I'm supposed to be in full time ministry, but I do see that I need to take God seriously. People here in Japan don't know God. Even though they are good people, they won't know the Creator unless there are people who go and tell them.

It's tough, because I have flaws, and I have barely any relationships with my coworkers. I'm wondering if that is a sign to do something...like maybe talk to them. It's tough...they're always working on something. I guess that's why they get paid. But man, how the heck can I start a conversation with people who are working all the time. I don't know. Maybe I just need to interrupt them and see for myself. heh. Okay, I need to take a step out and look stupid again. Forget my ego and be a gaikokujin or gaijin. Maybe things will improve with my relationships with them. I'm sure it will. They are nice people.

Man, this Kit kat tastes like it has pumpkin in it. And yes, the insides of it are orangish yellow. Thanksgiving came early huh?

Okay, lets see...hopefully I got paid today. I think that I'm going to get paid late. Maybe on the 15th or so. Man, that sucks.

Man, I'm finding that I really don't know what I'm doing here. Adapting to a new culture, teaching kids who barely understand what I'm saying, and then there's the issue of trying to communicate in Japanese when I'm suppposed to use English. I'm finding that I don't know why I'm here or what reason or purpose I have here in Japan.

One friend mentioned to me that I need to pray. Well, he didn't actually say that, but he told me of things to pray for and I'm seeing just how little I have been praying for them. One reason being that I fall asleep when I pray because I'm so tired.

So the answer I guess is to make sure that I go to sleep early enough and wake up early enough so that I'm rested when I pray.

I'm wondering what God has placed me here for. Did God place me here? Or am I supposed to be back where I was before? Anyway, writing won't help. It hasn't for about 3 years now. It's only been a log.

What is it that I should be doing. What is it that God wants me to do? And why am I so reluctant to find out. I've been thinking about this for so long. Maybe it's time to ask the hard questions. What is it that I was created for? I have a feeling that i'll never know.

Well, I looked on the housefullofgames website again and saw that "A Fistful of Cards" was the top seller. When I clicked on the cards, I found that it is out of stock. I'm wondering...who the heck bought up all of these cards. Certainly not people who were reading my blog were they?

Anyway, I personally don't know if a Fistful of cards will go out of print, but by the looks of it, it might stay around for quite a bit longer. Anyway, for $3 to make a more interesting game, you can't go wrong.

Anyway, if you missed the Fistful of cards on housefullofgames, then you could always buy it off of www.amazon.com. They charge more for shipping, but the base price is only 25 cents more. Anyway, housefullof games might have another restocking of a Fistful of Cards given how popular they were.

I kind of did the same thing with a board game of star wars. I found out that they were going to stop making it, so I bought up games when I could for about $30 each. Now it looks like everyone is selling their star wars games and the price is going down. Anyway, if you bought a fistful of cards, then it would make a good gift for someone who likes Bang. High noon, the other expansion for Bang, that is out of print, sells for about maybe 10 dollars on ebay...I'm not totally sure, but the only other kinds that I've seen are in the German language, so I'm not sure exactly if it came out in the US. Anyway, Bang is a good game, but you need to play it with friends. It's tough to play by yourself as with any game except video games. And it will most likely go out of style in about 5 years, but who knows. it might be a classic someday.

Another good game is Settlers. www.housefullofgames has an excellent price on Settlers. It's an up to 4 player game, unless you buy the 5-6 player expansion, but I don't know if you would want to, because it'd take longer. But yeah, that's another good game by the same company who made Bang.

Apparently there is a computer version of Settlers...or so I heard. So you might not need to buy the board game, but I still think board games are more fun because you have something tangible to look at.

Anyway, I bought 4 Fistful of Cards boxes myself for Bang. I always figure that I could give them out as gifts if i find someone who doesn't have the expansion. I don't know if this is going to go out of print, but if people keep on buying it, it may turn into a classic expansion scenario set. Man, I wish I had people to play this game with. Nobody likes the games I like in my family. My family is not a family of nerds like me. And everyone is different from me. But we're pretty much similar to each other. Anyway, I like that house full of games website. They have great prices and fair shipping. I hope that they do well.

Anyway, I'm still wondering if I should buy that world of warcraft boardgame. Apparently it looks like it takes quite awhile to make even one of them given the amount of pieces that you have in the box. Man, if I only had 4 hours to kill with friends. I so want to play World of Warcraft, but I so don't have the resources. Ie time and money. Plus I don't know if I really want to live an alternate life in an online community. One of my friends did that and he didn't do so well in school. That's one danger of online video games. You lose contact with people in the real world and make friends with people who you have no idea who they are. But I would still like to play in that game. However, it'll probably be gone when I do get around to that.

If I am allowed back into the Bible study when I come back, I don't know if I can play these games with the guys, because it looks like there would be quite a few people to play with and everyone wouldn't get a chance to play it. WoWC boardgame is I think only 4 players, but it could be 6, I'm not sure. But man, nobody in the Bible study has 4 hours to waste on a game that leads to nothing but mindless fun! It was usually like 9:30-10 when we did get out on a weeknight. Oh well...maybe I can play myself. Kind of boring to play myself. Nobody to talk to except myself. And I don't talk that much. heh.

Anyway, i've babbled on again and again. Man, I need to get a life and stop blogging so much. heh

It's nice to see that video game companies are starting to take a look at making extras available. Square-Enix is coming out with a collector's edition for FFXII. Granted you can only buy it off of Gamestop and EBgames, found here .
And it's $60

But, it's nice to see that they are sharing more about the game and what they did to make it. It's really a lot of work to make video game. And to make one that's good takes a lot more work and attention to details. The collector's edition will feature the making of Final Fantasy (the history.) What I learned off of a website was that the reason why they call Final Fantasy "Final" is that they pushed the limits of the system that they could at the time with their programming. Finding new ways to push the system without breaking it will happen as you gain more experience and think of new ways to program. it's like speaking a language. you learn how to speak it better as you practice and think of new ways to articulate yourself. But it doesn't happen only with experience, you have to work at it, and the people who make Final Fantasy do some amazing work.

Hmm...FFX-2...heh. one of my friends said this about the game. "Your bests weapon is a DRESS!!!" He didn't have too high marks for the game, I think. But in some other comments online I saw that this guy's girlfriend didn't want to be around him with her niece while he was playing that game because she didn't like how the battles portrayed women. heh. Scantily clothed...ie. Some even called it shady.

Anyway, it's not secret that a lot of the programmers out there are guys. And it's also no secret that most of the game players are guys. I can understand why girls don't play video games as much. There's more important things to life than video games. But some girls do play video games, and I'm seeing that there's probably more girls in Japan that play video games or at least I think...not sure. But in Japan, there's way more video games out there that never make it to the outside world. Neon Genesis Evangelion 2, the video game...I've never seen it anywhere in the states, and I bought it here for $20. It's selling on Ebay for about $40.

Man, I've got to stop talking about video games. I need to do something else with my life. But then again, if I like video games so much, then maybe I should learn how to design and program games.

Anyway, I'm just glad that video game companies are seeing that people want to know the histories behind how they made the game and how the company was formed, as it will give other people ideas of how to form their own companies and create their own video games. A lot of the future star programmers and game designers are/were kids who played video games way back when.

Anyway, maybe I have enough creative ideas/geekiness to create a good game.

The kids in Japan..no idea how they get so smart, but a lot of them are. I guess that's true with any kid. They have potential, but they need help in the beginning. A lot of help. If I ever do get married, I hope that either me or my wife will be able to spend constant time with my children. If I become a programmer, that might not be possible. But then again, I might pull a Mozart and party when the kids are sleeping and work during the day. Umm...no...i don't know. I don't want my kids being in Daycare, cause you never know who is there or what they're doing. Anyway, that's just coming from a kid who was raised by his mom who quit her job to raise us kids. She had a good job too. Anyway, I don't know who is the right person for me, but I guess I've got to focus on becoming the right person first. If I'm not the right person, and if I do find the right person, then she'll definitely not want to be with me.

Anyway, got to get going

Got to email my boss. Apparently I've got to deliver something about my lunch to my company. At first I thought that it was another bad review, but then I really don't know what the heck it is. Good or bad, at least my company is more understanding than the schools. But, then again, they still are pretty strict.

Maybe Japan isn't for me.

World of Warcraft...BOARDGAME?!?

Yes, that's right, I saw it while I was shopping online. Apparently it's pretty popular and out of stock. I also saw Warcraft the board game also on their website. Man, they have some great prices. But, you have to pay shipping. They use UPS, so what I learned from my experience with UPS is that they charge a base price for shipping out the initial thing, but that's only because they have insurance on the packages. So, if it gets broken, then you can probably call up the company and ask them to contact UPS. But most likely that won't happen. Anyway, my point is that you pay a base price for the shipping and if you get more, then it costs less to order. Anyway, this online company is in Washington State, so for most of us, that's pretty far, unless you're on the west coast.

Anyway, check out the online store. It is called

www.housefullofgames.com

If you're into Bang, the card game, then they have the expansion set "A Fistful of Cards" for that game also. It's only $3 there. A Fistful of Cards came out in 2005, so I don't know if it will go out of print sooner or later, but Bang has been here for a few years already, so if you haven't played it yet, play it. It's a party game. Anyway, you can find info on it on Wikipedia here.

Anyway, once I get my paycheck, I'm definitely going to sign up for the waiting list for the World of Warcraft Boardgame. That way, I can get into World of Warcraft without having to pay a monthly fee and also play it with 2-6 of my friends. Hmm...too bad I have no friends in Japan. I guess I'll have to wait until I come back home.

My dad thinks that I don't want to come home because he wants to be away from them (the parents.) He thinks that I want to stay in Japan, because I'm independant here. My main reason for staying in Japan is a personal one....*cough* video games *cough*....and is nothing personal against anybody. I do think however, that it's cool to get greeted by the kids everyday with an enthusiastic "Jon Sensei!!!" I just hope that my welcome doesn't wear out. Anyway, I'm wondering why I'm here. Was it a good idea to come to Japan? Should I go home after my contract ends? Will I even be offered an extended period of stay?

Anyway, I'm stoked for the PS3 coming out. It comes out Nov. 11th here in Japan. In the US, it comes out Nov. 17th. In Japan, there is no set price for the 60 gig version of the PS3. They will let retailers decide the price. The 20 gig version is $600 flat.

Heh, I guess I've always loved games. Even when I was a kid, I loved chess. It's just that I could never find anyone to play against. Maybe that's why I play video games so much. I can play by myself. And I think that's why I suck at sports games. Well...maybe i just suck at the strategy of sports. I only know the basics. In football, i don't know anything, except how to catch a football.

Anyway, i've babbled on for quite awhile. Man, I'm so materialistic. I kind of wonder when Jesus comes back, will we still have these childish games? It'd be interesting to see what life is going to be like when He does come back. Right now, I guess I need to develop my relationship with Him and my fellow brothers and sisters. Man, relationships...i've never really been good at those. Games are more my fancy. heh...not literally mind you. i don't play games with people...or I try not to. I have no feedback, so I don't know. heh. Anyway, maybe that's just cruel. And i'm not a cruel person...or at least I don't think I am. Someone help?

hehe...anyway, I'd better get going. I've got to improve my Japanese skillz. Yes, i'm going to read Comics!!! In school, I learned some things about how to speak Japanese, but what I'm finding is that in real conversation, there's so much that I don't know. And some of the basics can be found in kid-teenage literature called manga. Or comics. Anyway, I don't recommend manga for younger kids. Sometimes they have inappropriate stuff in them that can be taken the wrong way. But that's just my opinion. Anyway, that's not all the comics mind you.

Right now, I'm going to read Detective conan and try to finish that before I leave Japan. Yes...Detective Conan. If you want to see the anime in America, it's called Case Closed. But the dubs in English are really, really bad. So it might ruin your experience of this great anime/manga. Anyway, I think that they cut out episodes 10-60, so you miss out on most of the good stuff. But it's more for teenagers than kids, which is what the company was probably thinking. Anyway, if you know how to read Japanese, try reading Detective conan, or try to find the comic online somewhere. It's really good.

Okay, so I overslept again...and missed church. Okay, next week for sure. Anyway, i think that I'm just afraid of how things are going to go over there. But I guess it couldn't hurt to go at least once.

blah blah blah blah...I'd rather not post about today, unless I really feel like it on my other blog. Anyway, I miss home. Hopefully this church I'll go to this Sunday will have some friendly people. Hopefully they won't be a cult.

One song that came to mind is "Faithful Father."

I don't know the exact lyrics, but here's some that I heard from one of the sermon cds that my church sent out to me in Japan.

Father, I can't explain this kind of love this kind of grace
I know, when my life is through my heart will find its home in you

This is my song of praise to you
For who you are and all that you do
From the moment my life began
You have been faithful

I like how even before the songwriter knew God, God is still faithful. To that I say, Amen.

Now, will I be faithful to God? That's the other question.

There are times when I wonder why God created me. I feel like a loser quite often in life. I sometimes feel that I can't get things right.

One thing that one of my trainers told me about lessons was, "Don't expect them all to go well." That's one lesson that I'm learning. Don't expect to be perfect. Don't expect to feel like a winner all the time. Even if it is only a few times.

What brings me down the most is that I don't focus on the good times, I focus on the bad. I focus on my mistakes. I see what I did wrong and dwell on those. That's one of my flaws. I'm a perfectionist.

I try to be perfect and yet I find that more often than nought, I'm not. Why is life like this? Why can't I be the person that I would like to be? I know for a fact that nobody is perfect, except God. It's kind of funny how God would create us to not be perfect. But it gets complicted when you think of the fallen angels and Satan.

Anyway, what I'm always amazed at is how people are dedicated to God. That's a really great thing, because they're living as they should. Loving God and loving people. The two most important things ever. But I know that even they are not perfect. And even they fail. But they get back up and go at it again.

One of the things that i've been told over and over again is that when you're riding a horse, you will get thrown off from time to time. Especially at the beginning. So should you quit? Should you give up and never ride a horse again? If you do that, then you'll never learn to ride. The old saying goes, "When the horse throws you off, what do you do? ...You get back on."

I think that that is one reason why I continue to go through life. Even through all my failures, I've still limped back onto the horse. The horse is a representation of life or something that you are trying to do. If you give up, then you'll never learn how to be successful at it.

There was a time where I gave up. I gave up on life. I gave up on living and thought, "why am I here?" I gave into the desires of life. I didn't do anything bad, but the things that I did do weren't good. But I've learned my lessons from them. If you don't care about anything anymore, then you'll never have a purpose in life. If you give up, then you'll never succeed. Sometimes however, some things we must give up. But the main thing, "life", is something that everyone tries to do well in. It's not easy.

Anyway, I've babbled on for quite a bit. Even though I struggle with why I'm here, I know that I do have a purpose here. I'm just not fulfilling it. Maybe it's rebellion. Maybe it's fear. But I'm not sure why i'm so afraid. What do I have to be afraid of? A lot I guess...but man, so many other people are dealing with much more. Well...enough babbling.

Okay, so maybe I'm having trouble with how much I'm buying nowadays. I guess I should be saving up for retirement or something like that. Anyway, some of these games are pretty rare in the states and are only $28 here in Japan brand new. Shadow hearts, the first one, is being re-released here.

Anyway, I'm wondering if I should check out Kuroganeya again to see if they sell packing materials. Then I could be like one of the other sellers on Ebay who only buys from Amazon.co.jp and resells them for $20 more. I love Amazon by the way.

Anyway, I have noticed on Ebay that the things that I have are now going down in price. So I missed out on my chance to sell my board games. I sold one for around $70. Man, that was cool. But I bought about 3-4 of them for about $30 each. So I'm in the hole $50. Anyway, maybe I can sell them when Christmas comes along for a better price. I think the Star wars craze is dying out and everyone is selling their board games for low prices now.

Anyway, man, I'm so materialistic.

Okay, about the last post....maybe not all the games they made were good. But yeah, Okami stands out above the rest. oh well...

Anyway, with the PS3 coming out, there should be a lot of games that have been out for awhile that are going down in price. But, not all of them will until much later. For example, games that are just coming out now, will most likely not go down in price for a long time. And because people will be buying the next generation games, these games might be discontinued because they aren't selling. It reminds me of Dragon Warrior 3 and 4. The Super nintendo came out and people were busy playing the new games that they didn't buy 3 or 4, including me.

Anyway, I guess if you don't want to buy the games, you could always wait until the emulators come out for the system, but that probably won't be for awhile. Anyway, I don't recommend emulators unless you actually own the game.

Anyway, it's up to you what you do with your time. I like to invest in the companies that make the good games. Hopefully video games won't be the end of me.

Sad news for gamers...

Clover studios is going to be shut down. The developer who made Okami, Viewtiful Joe, and God Hand will be shut down because of extraordinary losses. You can find the link here.

It is a great loss now in the video gaming world, but Capcom has to make sure that the company stays afloat.

Anyway, they'll be around until March of 2007. Just kind of sucks when you find a great game developer, that when the games don't sell, the talent goes to waste and the games end up being collector items. I'm sure that Okami will be around for awhile, but who knows

Oh well, I kind of think that with maybe so many games coming out that that may cause some of the good ones not to get as much recognition as they should.

Anyway, I feel the loss.

Listening to some Kepano Green CDs that I ordered from CDbaby (an online CD service) I'm reminded that I've been out of the loop when it's comes to God. I think I've been in this rut ever since I started my old job about a year and a half ago. Anyway, the reason being that I don't spend time with God...

One reason why I haven't been doing this as much is that I fall asleep when I pray. I fall asleep and I wake up the next morning tired, because the light was on all night. Sometimes I don't wake up until much later from my sitting position.

And no, I haven't played video games for about a week. I only play on the weekends now, because I don't have time to play on the weekdays.

And yes, even though I've been hoarding video games like a miser hoards money, I don't play most of them. I just buy them, because I figure that I might not get the chance to play them if they stop selling them. I've been buying video games in the states online even though I have no way of playing them. I don't know if I'll ever play any of the games that I have. heh.

Anyway, that could be another reason why I'm not that close to God anymore. I've grown materialistic. I guess ever since I got a job in college, I figured that I could buy whatever I wanted. But it was also a time where I put God second to school, because of pressure from my parents. Something I know wasn't a good thing in my life.

Anyway, I've babbled on for quite awhile.

I know that the only way to get closer to God is to spend time with God and develop a relationship with Him...but I know that that is not the only thing that one must do. I've been doing the other part, but loving God is different. I think that the devil has really made me ineffective. Okay, get my weapons and get back into the game. I've got to arm and shield myself with the Word and prayer.

Man, warfare is unpleasant. It's not a good thing to go to war. But it's something that has existed for God knows how long. Probably ever since God created the devil.

Is the struggle always necessary? Is it always necessary to have things be earned? I guess that's the key word. Earning. Even though we cannot earn eternal life, we can earn things that can help shape us. I'm not talking about material possessions, but what I'm talking about is about the law of the jungle. Dog eat dog.

Anyway, I wrote some stuff, but deleted it as I figured that it would give people the wrong idea without a long, lengthy explanation. And even though I wrote most of it, I found that it's probably not a good idea to put it on the internet.

Anyway, I do believe that you have to earn stuff. Man was made to work. But you need to balance the eating material food with the eating of the spiritual food. Anyway, my thoughts are jumbled...

But man, a man's got to know his limits. I never knew how true that was until I met someone who tried to take advantage of me.

Anyway, this post is really making me moody. I don't know if it's because I'm remembering a lot of bad memories or what, but yeah, this isn't turning out how I wanted it to.

Okay, this is an old post on gamespot, but it has some info about the upcoming FFXIII. Man, I kind of wonder how long I'll be stuck in my room.

Anyway, I kind of wonder if the Nintendo Wii will outclass the PS3 if Square-Enix decides to go with multiple platforms for their series. I'm sure that they'd sell more games if they did though, which will make not only the company happy, but the gamers out there as well.

Anyway, this post came out in may of 2006. You can find it here.

Anyway, probably most of you have read it already. But on the bottom, they have a live blog of the Square-Enix upcoming games for 2007 at an preview event.

I have a feeling that I'm going to fall asleep in my bed with the lights on and in my school (work) clothes.

when I look back at my posts, I think...man, how selfish...I know what I should be doing. And it isn't blogging every little thing.

When I think about how things could be, I think...that's never going to happen. In a perfect world, what would things be like? Then I think about what is perfect? As far I have ever seen, it's only in God. People definitely are not perfect.

Human beings being falliable will fail others and even themselves from time to time. I think about things from time to time. I think why my life is the way it is. I think why was I created this way? Why can't I change?

I know the answers of how to make things better. I know that it will involve choices and those choices will help me to become something I do or don't want to be. An example could be, how do i spend my time? What do I do in my free time? I'm not saying that you have to always be doing something productive, but change comes in times when you are working on things that will shape your personality. That's only one aspect though. Sometimes what you put inside of yourself will also change you. What you listen to, what you read, what you watch. Habits are formed. Thoughts are made. Thoughts are the beginning, but action could take place because of a thought.

Anyway, I keep babbling on and on about the same things. I'm not taking things seriously anymore it seems like. I feel like I'm still at the same place that I was 5 years ago. It's almost 2007. 2002 still sticks in my mind.

Why I think that I grew so much during 1999-2002 was that I spent a lot of time with God and other Christians. But it was also a time where I stepped out of my comfort zone and reached out to people that I didn't know so well. While some friendships faded, some I still have today.

This reminds me of my former roommate who thought, "What is the purpose to life?" He was sad because he thought that no matter what he did, in the end it wouldn't matter. He is an atheist. He wanted to be remembered or to make a difference in someone else's life. He has a good heart, but he does not have any purpose in life. An explanation of why he is an athiest...I'm not sure why. But I know that he's had a harder life than me and things have been pretty tough for him. But still, through it all, he's still stayed a good person.

I think one thing that I regret is that I didn't spend enough time with him. The friendship faded away. I stayed within the Christian bubble too long and I lost one of my best friends. But maybe i'll see him at the ten year reunion.

I think that I'm in the same boat as him. What is my purpose to life? I have none as of right now. Have I been living for God? No. What is living for God? I think what I've learned is that it's about worshipping God. Not only in song, but in your life. Worship is a lifestyle. When you act as a part of the body of Christ, you are acting as a representative of Christ. And it doesn't always mean that people will see you do your good deeds, but it does mean that God sees you.

Anyway, the reason why I think that i haven't been living for God is that I haven't been spending enough time with Him. I mean, doesn't being a Christian mean putting God at the center of your life? I keep on thinking about my life recently. Am I worshipping God daily in my life? Am I giving Him glory, my love, and showing that to other people? No...

it's pretty easy to go through life not doing anything worthwhile.

I kind of wonder, even if I was the person that I would like to be, is that the important thing? What I mean by that is is it the result, or is it the process that's more important? Anyway, this is probably just late night rantings of a sleepy person.

I've always liked to do my thinking at night. During the day, i'd like to play video games. I originally wrote this post as thinking about something completely different than what it came out as. Maybe God wants me to put him first instead of trying to find someone to spend the rest of my life with.

White knight (Shirokishi)

Apparently I saw on gamespot that this game called White Knight is coming out for the PS3 by Level 5. You can find their trailer on gamespot. If you want to read the preview then you can find the link here.

I just watched the trailer of the game and it looks a lot like FFXII. The battles looked so cool! Anyway, check out the trailer if you have a chance. I think it uses Windows media player and Internet explorer as I wasn't able to use firefox to open the trailer.

Man, I am so stoked for all these new video games coming out. I can't believe that so many are coming out at once. I had a dream to create programs like this, but never realised that dream. Man, it looks like I'll need to get a lot of programming experience and coursework if I want to be able to make things like this. But I'm guessing that it's too late for me.

Rogue Galaxy update on gamespot

Apparently the delays in Rogue Galaxy coming out in the states are due to the developer (level 5) making changes to the game because of player comments. They are improving the game for the US release and are adding in new stuff. So the game won't come out until January in the states. I guess I won't be buying a Japanese version of Rogue Galaxy until they come out with a director's cut of some sort.

Anyway, if you want to know more details, you can find the link here.

Apparently I'm finding that the meaning of "level 5" in Japan means a really high level. Level four is tough, but level 5 is super tough. I found that out when setting up a dodgeball game. In Japan, they use only one ball at a time, but in America, or at least at my elementary school, we used a whole lot of balls at once. So I told the kids to get 3 volleyballs. Anyway, the kids have something to learn about strategy with this as they just chuck the ball once the get the ball. One kid did have the right idea though. He threw the ball at me when I was in the middle of throwing my ball. Almost hit me. Anyway, the vice principal played one game with us. He almost pegged my face, but luckily I put my hands up in time.

Anyway, video games are my obsession. I can imagine things going grossly wrong because of them.

How the heck can I explain a story in Japanese? Man, I'm thinking that I need to work on my Japanese a lot more.

Anyway, another update on games. I bought Okami, the Japanese version and also Growlanser 5 generations. Growlanser generations (a different version) came out for the PS2 here in the states. Growlanser Generations consists of Growlanser 2 and 3 together in one package! And yes 5 is called generations also. The publisher brought 2 and 3 out together and just called it generations. I bought that before they stopped selling that, because I read on Amazon that it was a good game. Too bad working designs (People who brought Alundra, Lunar, and other rare games to the states) are now out of business. I think that if they had a better advertising system they would have done much better. Also, Growlanser cost $50 to buy at Target or Amazon. I paid the price for it, but you can get it on Ebay for about $30 now. Anyway, you get two full games for $25 each, so I figure that that is worth it, especially since it's a RPG. I personally have not played Growlanser 2 or 3, but I've played 1. Yes I bought growlanser 1, a rare game in the US. It's only on the Japanese psone and never made it to the states. I didn't get very far in it before I left the States, so I can't tell you much about it. But I think that the battle system is similar to Growlanser 2 and 3.

Anyway, Working Designs was a cool company, but man, they must have not had a good business model. I'm kind of wondering if they were gamers like me and probably most of you out there that read this blog. Anyway, one reason why I think that their games didn't do so well was that 1, not enough advertising, 2 the price never went down, 3, they stopped making the games that they spent so much money to bring here (probably because they weren't selling). Anyway, if you bought their games, then you would see the amount of effort that they put into some of the packages. Lunar the silver story (I think working designs brought this to the US) was a package of some sort. Anyway, I bought lunar the silver star story here in Japan for $10. In America on Ebay it's going for about 20-30 dollars right now I think. And from the picture, yes working designs did release Lunar the Silver Star Story here in the states.

Anyway, I'm thinking of buying a Japanese ps2 once I get my first full paycheck. That or I could wait until the PS3 comes out. But man, i don't want to have to wait in a line for it. Especially if it is going to be around my students. I mean, they're good kids, but I kind of wonder what the heck I'm going to talk to them for about 3 hours. Anyway, I think that the 2nd graders that I ate lunch with today were disappointed in my conversation ability in Japanese. I couldn't understand what the heck they were saying. But they're good kids. Man, I wonder if I'll ever learn Japanese.

oh well, if I take time to learn it, then I'll pick it up, especially since I'm here in Japan. We'll see though. I mean, you can't really learn something if you don't try. Since I'm not learning any new vocabulary, i'm going to have to pick that up myself.

Okay, back to work.