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Well, it's been a long time coming since I've posted in this blog.  I have a couple minutes to steal while my sons are both preoccupied in their high chairs eating their breakfast. 

It's been a long time since I've posted.  A lot has happened, and a lot is still the same.  I leveled up my family party from a party of three to a party of four.  We have a Lv. 30 Knight, Lv. 31 White Mage, a Lv. 3 (almost 4) Ninja, and a Lv. 1 (almost 2) Berseker.  Well, maybe not the exact classes, but I think it suits the family well.  My Lv. 3 Ninja is gradually progressing in his own videogame prowess.  So much I'm worried.  Soon the pupil will surpass the master.  In short I suppose, the family is well.  I'm getting old.

Videogame-wise, I've been playing the crap out of my 3DS.  I think it's because I'm mostly at work or on the go, portable gaming is the only thing I can squeeze in on my spare minutes.  Heaven forbid I kick the Wife or boys off the Xbox 360.  So, everywhere I go, I take my 3DS or PSPgo with me.  Of the games I've completed or damn well nearly completed are Kid Icarus Uprising, Super Mario 3D Land, Starfox 64, Mario Tennis Open, and (GBA VC) Fire Emblem.  The ones I'm still playing are Kid Icarus and Mario Tennis.

I've just about owned my 3DS for a year, and I have to admit, I'm more happy with it than I thought I would be.  I love the social aspect of it.  The online play, the streetpass, and more.  I've just hit over 1,000 Mii and Streetpass tags, thanks to E3 and both Streetpass LA and Streetpass OC.  I'm somewhat satisfied with the eShop and it's releases.  The Nintendo Ambassador games are enough to keep me happy too.  I just recently upgraded to a 32 gb memory card too, so when digital releases hit, I can snag a few (I'm looking at you Animal Crossing).  It's funny too, we had a worker cover at our store and he was playing a 3DS.  I went back to my bag and pulled out my 3DS, and to my dismay, no little green light was lit.  So I began to talk to said worker, and he said he doesn't care for the social aspect of the system and just got it because he knew he'd need it eventually.  I was shocked.  That's like getting a combo meal with burgers and fries and just tossing the fries into the trash.  Oh well I guess, to each their own.

As for E3?  It was a little mixed for me.  The Nintendo 3DS was near non-existent.  The Wii U was fun and amazing.  The new Gears of War game has gotten me hyped.  I did a lot of Streetpassing as well.  Note to self, never volunteer yourself to take anyone else's 3DS with you.  I think I spent 80 percent of the show going between two 3DSs and Streetpass.

One thing I did notice at E3, there was beer everywhere.  I think on day 2 I was buzzed by noon.  Also, a lot of free food too.  More than any year I can remember.  Good times.

Also, just last month, one of my favorite video game cover bands, The Megas, released their Mega Man 3 album.  History Repeating is 10 tracks of amazing beats and jams.  It's great to see how far these guys have come along, and personally, each one of them are amazing people in their own right.  I remember hear their song You've Sparked a War back in 2008, it's amazing to see how that song has grown and mature over the years into the end product we have.  Good job guys.  Everyone who loves Mega Man and video game music should give this a listen.  I'll write a full review when I get a chance.

My newfound love for Dragon Quest

This game escaped my childhood, only to re captivate me now. Growing up, I wasn't much a big fan of RPGs until Final Fantasy II (IV) was released on the Super Nintendo in 1991. My NES collection read something like this; Contra, Super Mario, and Mega Man. I remember seeing games like Wizardry, Final Fantasy, and Dragon Warrior back in the day, buy my feeble 8-9 year old mind rather be figuring out which weapon to kill which robot master or how to get to Dracula's Castle.

My first foray into the Dragon Quest world was Dragon Warrior Monsters (yes, I was infected with Pokerus like the rest of the world in the mid to late 90's). The artwork and monster designs were brilliant. What have I gotten myself into.

For years I've had a copy of Dragon Warrior VII sitting on my PlayStation shelf. I've yet to this day played it. Now let's press fast forward to the release of Dragon Quest IX.

Life as I know it will forever be changed. How did I know I'd be hooked as a Sentinel of the Starry Sky? How did I know I would attend every Canvas tagging event in a 50 mile radius of my house? Hell, who would have guessed I'd be a co-founder of a Dragon Quest IX tagging group with more than 100 members in the Los Angeles area? Not I.

I'm a traditionalist at heart. Old school Final Fantasy and other RPGs are some of my favorites. I've an avid Pokefreak, even though I've only managed to catch them all during the Gameboy and Gameboy Color era. So what was it about Dragon Quest IX that hooked me? Hell, I'll go as far to say that this game hit all my sweet spots and brought up fond memories of RPGs from an era past.

The game included the basic RPG formula that you can't go wrong with. Solid story, great music. Tons of quest to complete. I doubt I'll ever truly complete them. For a DS title, the graphics were awesome too. But there's two more things that got me hooked. Multiplayer and customization. Unless you wanted all the same Armor and hair styles, every Quester in the world of DQIX had their own distinct look. And this may sound funny, the last time I had multiplayer in a traditional RPG was Final Fantasy III on the SNES, and the only thing the second player could do was select attack commands during battles. This game lets another play enter your world to help you along with your quest, or get to the second to last floor in the Mayasuki dungeon. This game has win all over it, but every other Dragon Quest/Warrior game to be released failed to sell outside of Japan. How is this different?

Well, the marketing muscle of Nintendo was flexed in favor of this game. From TV spots and movie theater ads to a full fledged mall tour, this game was going to succeed.

But enough about IX, we all know how great the game is. Now I'm on a quest to complete every Dragon Quest/Warrior main game. Currently I own Dragon Warrior, Dragon Warrior VII, Dragon Quest IV and Dragon Quest IX. I've recently obtained Dragon Warrior III, Dragon Quest V, and Dragon Quest VI. I've located two copies of Dragon Warrior I & II and Dragon Warrior III for GBC at the local swap meet. Might take my SP with me to check if they work still before I buy. I've beaten only Dragon Quest IX and IV. I'm about to finish DQV hopefully this week, and erase my save from DQVI (I made the mistake and told Amos the truth, Momma didn't raise a liar).

So with my latest addiction to Dragon Quest/Warrior I've been reading up on every game, I even started a Caravan Heart game on the side. Too bad I missed out on the Retronauts Podcast. I still got some Dragon Quest questions I want to ask. Maybe Parish will answer them via Twitter.

It's Tatsu BAYBEE!

Well, we're a few short weeks removed from the release of Marvel Vs. Capcom 3. And a few things have happened since then. Let's start off by saying I have a whole new appreciation for Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars.

I've been playing it a little here and there, enough times to unlock Zero and Frank West. I'm still working on unlocking the Tatsunoko characters.. This game if fun. And I feel like it has a lot more balance. Now I wish I would have been all hyped for this game like my friend(?) John aka Cactus Boy. The controls are slick, three attack buttons and universal air dash for all. The only downfall for this game were the "Giant" characters. The multiplayer is pretty ambitious for a Wii title. And the whole friend code thing is a pain in the ass. I do like the ability to register people for rivals. Even thought most of the people I register is because we had some good games with little to no lag.

Now why would I bring up this past fighter? Well, after doing on research I've been watching the Wii/GameCube emulator Dolphin. This emulator makes Wii and GameCube games running at 720p BEAUTIFUL. So, I YouTube'd some TvC running on said emulator at 720p. Hot diggity. It looks marvelous. Now I see potential in this having some success has a PSN/XBLA title. Sell it for fifteen bones, and I bet it'll create a larger revenue than it's Wii counterpart. Especially with all the 2-D and Capcom fighting game hype taking place right now. Capcom, make it happen. Or at least port all of the Capcom cast from TvC to MvC3. Hell, throw in the Tatusnoko heads too (j/k).

In other news, I held my first cash prize tournament for Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 at my buddy's store called @Tronix. It was a 16-man double elimination tournament with a ten dollar buy in. The first prize winner took home one hundred bucks. The tournament was fun, and the top three players were all amazing. It was anyone's ball game in the final three matches. Some kid named Keanu had an amazing Phoenix, and Josh had a great Taskmaster/Wolverine/Sentinel team, but it was Brandon who took home the 1st place title and one hundred bucks with a Wesker, Dormammu, and Sentinel team (sorry if I said them in the wrong order). I'm hosting another MvC3 tournament again on March 26th, but also adding a Super Street Fighter IV bracket. Let's see how well this does.

In my general gaming news, I've beaten Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen for the Nintendo DS. Twenty two long hours, and Psaro the Manslayer is no more. Now all I have left to do is the Psaro bonus quest and finish Hoffman's Pioneer town, which I let him name "St. Ralphsburg." Just in time for some Pokemon Black and White. I am tempted to hunt down, play, and complete Dragon Quest V. So far that's two Dragon Quest titles I've beaten this year (IX and IV).

Oh man, I almost forgot my OverClocked Remix of the day. This song is brought to you by one jdproject. It's called "The Ken Song." Enjoy.