Through the Fire and Flames

Wow. I never thought this would happen. When I first got Guitar Hero 3 a few months ago, it was beyond my wildest dreams. (Well, maybe not my wildest.) But now it's happened, and I'm still in shock. I beat the hardest song in GH3 on Expert -- Through the Fire and Flames by Dragonforce. w00t!

Don't believe me? Check it out.



So there you go. Final score - 364,792 - 3*

You would not believe how many things went wrong while trying to make that video, though. One time I beat it only to find out my camera had died. Once I was in the middle of the solo and doing really well, and then my little sister started CLIMBING on me. O_o Needless to say, I lost that one. I used about 20 pairs of batteries; luckily most of them were rechargeable.

Once I finally beat it, I still had to edit the video. Obviously, I had some troubles there, too. It took about 14 hours to render the video. I had to render it three times. Unfortuntely, I would have only needed two times, but once the second one was done, (at about 1 AM,) and checked the file and found out that it was saved in the wrong format. >_<

So, I rendered it a third time. I stayed up until 2 AM the next night waiting for it. It FINALLY finished, but (of course) when I tried to upload it to Facebook, I found out the file was over the 300 MB limit. Grrrr.... So, I went to YouTube to upload it. And, according to Murphy's Law, YouTube was under construction, and I couldn't upload. So I ended up staying awake until 2 in the morning for nothing.

But that's not all! I was finally able to upload it this morning, at about 11. It is past midnight right now. It took more than 12 hours for it to upload to YouTube.

I'm done now, though. I hope it was worth it!

NOTE: Sorry that the sound is a bit off at the end. That's because I used two cameras, and I can only use the sound from one. One video is slightly longer than the other one, (probably because the frame rate is a bit higher,) so the sound from one doesn't exactly match the other. Deal with it.

Guitar Hero 3

If you are good at noticing details that nobody else notices, you may have noticed in my last post, a picture of a Guitar Hero 3 case and some instruction on using the guitar. I hadn't posted about it yet, but the picture kinda ruined the surprise, so I'm posting about it now.

Yeah, I got Guitar Hero. If you know me personally, that may come as a bit of a surprise to you, because I don't really like performing in any way, and I'm not that much into music. But after hearing all of my friends talking about it, and after having SO MUCH FUN with Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe 2, I decided to get it.

It is a ton of fun. I've basically been playing it every minute I can ever since I bought it. So, here's my review.

Let's see...

The plot... wait... there's not really much of a plot. Just like most "party" type games, (like Wii Sports, WarioWare, Mario Party, etc.) it's mostly meant as just a fun pick-up-and-play game. There is a bit of story, represented by the occasional 30 second cartoon. All that that really does is explain why you are at the current stage.

You start out by playing songs in someone's backyard, (for some sort of party,) and the more songs you complete, the more places you go. Every 3-5 songs you beat, you can go to the next area. The second area, (I believe it is the "Moose Lounge",) is like a bar or something. After that, there's this guy who offers you a record deal, and then you start becoming famous. You go to a video shoot, a jail, London, Japan, the desert, etc.. Right before the end, you find out that your manager actually put "(I own your soul)" at the bottom of the contract you signed, (LOL) and so the final area is in "Lou's Inferno", (Lou is your manager) which is some sort of underworld type place. Anyway, the "plot" (if you can call it that) is fairly funny. It has basically nothing to do with the game, and I suppose that that's on purpose.

The graphics could be better. The lighting and stuff is pretty good, and the textures are great, but some of the animation is kinda cheesy. For example: the drummer acts (and kinda looks) like a robot. He looks chunky, and he stands almost entirely still unless he is going to hit a drum. It's hard to explain unless you've seen him, though.

Other graphical complaints... The singer's mouth looks like he is a puppet, the audience is basically just 3 people duplicated multiple times, but that's all I can think of. Most of the parts with bad graphics are not the main focus of the game, in fact they are really hard to notice if you are the one playing. So, graphics overall: pretty good but not spectacular. I suppose it's better to have no lag than good graphics, though.

Most of the music is really good, although a few of the songs have "questionable" lyrics, although I expected that; it's rated T.

It's really fun to play, and I'm slightly surprised how fast I became skilled at it. I've had the game for about 2 or 3 weeks, and I'm now halfway done with Expert mode. And it's not that it's easy, either, it's really hard, it's just easy to learn.

The main thing about it: it takes a lot of practice. Just like real guitar. I've had to play some songs 20+ times in order to beat them.

Overall, it's really fun, glad I bought it, etc. Not sure if it worth the extra $40, (I'm assuming it's for the guitar,) but if I could have found it for $70, it was definitely worth it.

Custom Wii Stand

I originally had this stand for my Wii, but after using it for a few months, the fan started dying. My dad was going to throw it away, but my brother was like "Wait! Why don't we mod it?" So we decided to do a bit of modifications. Nothing serious, just a bit of painting...

Here it is before any changes...



I stated out by taking it apart. There weren't any visible screws, though, I found them underneath the pads on the bottom of the stand...



Here's the inside...



I painted the inside silver, like the original Wii stand...



I wanted to get rid of that ugly GameStop Logo, so I painted over it with silver...



I printed out a Wii logo, turned it into a stencil, and taped it onto the side...



I used a plastic ruler to scrape off some of the blur around the logos...

Before


After


I decided to put a Wii logo on front too, so I expanded the silver box and made a smaller stencil...



And finally, I used some paint thinner to get rid of some of the leftover unwanted paint. Here are some of the final pictures...













I think it turned out pretty well, especially considering that I don't do stuff like this often.

The Chintendo Vii?

Oh gosh. This is really stupid. Wow.



LOL
Hopefully no one would be stupid enough to buy this.

My Excuse

Okay, you were wondering what I meant by "I have an explanation, though, which I plan to explain in another post." in my last post. Here's the explanation.

Almost 2 weeks ago, my Wii died. :( Man, that stinks. It just stopped reading disks. Luckily, I registered it on Nintendo.com and got a 90-day warranty extension, so it was covered. I called customer support and did all the stuff they tell you to do, (which I had already tried from doing the internet troubleshooting,) but nothing helped. So the guy told me to send it in. The bad news: I was using a stand my parents had bought from GameStop, (I glows blue, and it's got a fan,) but since it's not an "official Nintendo product", if the technicians find out that it was the stands fault, it's gonna cost $75 to fix it. O_O Ouch. I don't see how it could be the stand though; I doubt that providing extra cooling to the unit would cause the disk reader to stop working...

So yeah...

"How is that your excuse?" Well, normally, every Monday I check the Wii Shop, to see what new games I can download. I think that normally reminds me to do the Video of the Week, so without the Wii, I forgot.

Man... I had no idea how much fun the Wii really is... my life is twice as boring now that it's gone.
:(

Oh yeah, the other bad news, they said it would be around 4 weeks to have it fixed. If it takes exactly 4 weeks, I should get it like the Wednesday before Brawl comes out, I think. If it takes any longer... *gulp* That would be like the worst thing that could ever happen. I could not bare to not have Smash Bros as soon as it comes out. It's going to be the best game EVER created, and I might have to watch videos on the internet of people playing it while I can't. *shudder* I don't even want to think about it any more.

Too Much to Fit in One Title

I bet you're wondering what the title means. Basically, that is the result of me not being creative enough. ^_^

I was going to name it something like "Random Christmas and New Year's Stuff and Some Product Reviews", but that sounds lame and it's really long.

Anyway...

Here's some of the stuff I got for Christmas:

Pirates of the Carribean Trilogy
It came with extra bonus features, because I got all 3.

Pirates (1) Soundtrack
I know it's a little late, but I never "officially" asked for it until now.

2GB Flash Drive
It's really nice; it comes built-in with some software that slightly resembles PortableApps, but with fewer programs. So I got PortableApps in addition to that other software.

MySims (Wii)
This was technically given to my brother, but we both play it. Scroll down for review.

Star Trek: Conquest (Wii)
This was definitely unexpected, considering that I'm not really a Star Trek fan... (It came from my aunt and uncle, who I haven't seen/talked to for like 4 years.) I have yet to play it. From the look of it, it is a turn-based strategy game. As I said, I have yet to play it, so the review should come once I get a chance to do so.

Mario Party 8 (Wii)
Scroll down for review.

Kirby: Squeak Squad (DS)
The only DS game I got this year. Scroll down for review.

Rubik's Twist
Formerly known as Rubik's Snake, it pretty fun to play with.

Rubik's Cube
Yeah, I didn't have a Rubik's Cube before that. After I mixed it up, I tried as hard as I could to fix it, but I eventually resorted to the solution booklet that was included. After that, I memorized how to do it, so now I can solve a Rubik's Cube by myself! I've been timing myself, too. I believe that my best time was 2:33. I know, no where near as good as the world record of (something like) 11 seconds, but whatever.

Nintendo Shirt
You may have seen it; it's the one that says:
Nintendo Rehabilitation Clinic
The first step is admitting you have a problem

There were a few other minor things, (like candy, a headlamp, etc.) but nothing really amazing.

Okay, now the reviews:
Super Mario Galaxy (I didn't get this for Christmas, but I forgot to review it.)
It's really awesome. Many people have said that it is the first worthy successor of Super Mario 64, and in some ways they are right. The plot doesn't make sense until about 1/3 of the way through the game, but then you're like "Oh! Duh!". The music is orchestrated, (and it sounds GREAT,) and the graphics are really nice (the lighting deserves extra recognition). The gameplay is very similar to SM64, except for the gravity changes and stuff. It's really fun though, if you've got a Wii, you won't regret buying it.

MySims
Although it at first resembles a kiddyish/anime-ish version of The Sims, it's actually pretty fun. If you've ever played Animal Crossing, it's a lot like that. It's similar to The Sims, except you don't need to worry about money or needs. I bet right now you're thinking "No money or needs? What is the point?". The answer: You come to your town when it is very small and run down, (only like 4 people live there,) and your job is to make it grow. You build furniture and/or houses for people, and by doing this you can get blueprints to build furniture for yourself or to give as a gift. Your goal is to get your town to become a 5-star town, but there's a bunch of other stuff you can do too. You can go fishing, prospecting, (metal detecting), or explore (the more your town grows, the more areas you can access to find new stuff, etc.). The main cool thing is the furniture building, though, because you don't have to follow the blueprint exactly. For example, to build a couch, you could follow the blueprint, you could just put 4 legs and a plank on top, or you could build something amazingly complex and crazy, as long as your Sims have somewhere to sit. The main downside is that it gets somewhat repetitive, and it has a few lag issues. Overall though, its pretty fun.

Mario Party 8
Yeah. They're up to 8 now. It's basically the same as the other games, except the minigames use the Wii remote. The graphics are not amazing (but it does look nice). It is surprisingly lacking in minigames, but the games they do have are better quality than some of the old ones. I expected them to have more, considering that they now had the motion sensitivity to work with, but they are more fun now, so it's partially worth it. One thing that is both good and bad is some of the new board concepts, they only have one or two boards that do the traditional game (be the first to get to the star and buy it for 20 coins. The most stars at the end wins). The rest of the boards have some sort of twist. In one board you must be the first to make it to the end of a path, and have 50 coins to pay for the star. If you don't have enough, you get sent back to the beginning. In another level, you must you items to steal stars from other people. You start out with a set number, and to win you must take all of the stars from one person to eliminate them. When everybody else is eliminated, you win. One of the two really fun stages is Boo's Mansion, you must go through King Boo's Mansion, finding the stars. It is a lot like the traditional boards, except every time you play, the board is different. If you choose a path for the first time, you don't know where it will lead, whether to a trap or a prize. After you or an opponent has been in a room, you can view it on the map. The other fun board is like a city; you have to invest coins in hotels, and if you have the most coins invested in a hotel, you own it and get its star. If the total number of coins invested in a hotel is 20 or more, the hotel becomes a 2-star hotel, and if the total number is 50 or more, it becomes a 3-star. Obviously, if a hotel is a 3-star, you get more stars from it if you are the owner. This map is incredibly fun and strategic, so I'm glad that they added it in. Now where was I before I started talking about the boards... hmm... I forgot. Oh well. Overall, it's pretty fun, (much better in a group than by yourself,) but it's not much better than some of the old ones.

Kirby: Squeak Squad
You probably want me to stop talking by now, right? Yeah, this is a pretty long post... sorry about that. Anyway... it's pretty cool. It's similar to other Kirby games, but you can do some cool stuff with the powers. Contrary to popular belief, you cannot combine all the different powers to create new ones; you can only combine Wheel, Sword, or Bomb with Fire, Ice, or Spark, and that's only once you've reached a certain point in the game. That was somewhat of a disappointment. The graphics are the same as they have been, except with a few new sprites. The coolest thing is that you can collect things. For example, whenevr you find a chest, if you keep it until the end of the level, you can open it. You can get things like spray paint (to change Kirby's color,) music, (like a sound test,) scrolls, (to make your abilities more powerful,) etc. It's a pretty good game, but it's really short. I'm already 100% done with it. It's good for a kirby game, but if you're not a Kirby fan, it's not the best.

Man. I wish I didn't write such long posts.

Oh yeah, I forget to write what we did for the rest of the year. On the 26th, we went to see National Treasure: Book of Secrets, which was pretty good, but a lot of the same stuff from the first one. It is about the same as the first one overall.

Umm... we went to a New Year's eve party at an old friend's house, and I pwned at Super Smash Bros (unless everybody ganged up on me). We also played Apples to Apples, which was hilarious with so many people. I only got one green card though... the card was "Manly" and I played "Rosie O' Donnell"... rofl.

And today, (the 1st,) we went bowling. Apparently, Wii Sports Bowling does not help imporve your real score. My scores were 106 and 89, with bumpers. Don't laugh, I haven't been bowling in like 3 years.

Okay, NOW I'm done.

Smash Bros. is WiFi!

If you've been keeping up with the Smash Bros. Dojo, (which has been posting daily updates about the upcoming game, Super Smash Bros. Brawl,) you may have been excited by today's update:

Brawl officially has WiFi!!!

I figured that it would be, but there were some who doubted. If they didn't put in WiFi, then after you unlocked everything and got tired of battling computers, you'd stop playing. The addition of WiFi will be incentive for people to play for years. Seriously, they will.

Metroid Prime 3

I haven't posted in a little while, so let me now talk about the amazing game, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. It is absolutely AMAZING. Let me elaborate:

The graphics are incredible. Thanks to a bunch of really cool lighting effects and textures, it looks really cool.

The gameplay is great; the controls are so perfect, I'll never want to play a FPS on another system.
The battles are all exciting, but they aren't just mindless button mashing, they each usually have some sort of strategic element to them. The boss battles are great, they require both strategy and skill, (unlike the bosses in Twilight Princess, which were WAY too easy; they only required strategy.)

The plot is okay; it works well by itself and in combination with the other two games in the trilogy. Unfortunately, the main thing that you must do is collect items so you can make your way into new areas, but the plot still does have other things that you must do, also.

I personally thought that it was a little short, (I beat it in 15 hours,) but it really didn't have to be any longer, that might have just been overkill.

The other thing that I think most people are disappointed about is the lack of multiplayer, but it's still a great game without it.

Overall, it is an absolutely incredible game; it's the best Wii game so far, (yes, better than TP,) as well as the best Metroid so far, so if you own a Wii, BUY THIS GAME! And if you're a Metroid fan, but don't have a Wii, BUY A WII AND GET THIS GAME! It's worth it!

Tennis

Some of you may have noticed my reply to Matt's comment, in which I said:
"Right now, I'm working on improving my tennis skill level...

Just wait till you see how high I've gotten it..."

Well, now I get to show you. Take a look at this:







You read that right... 2200
My skill level is SO high, it's literally off the charts!

I thought that was pretty funny. Once you hit 1800, you go into the gray area, and after 2000, you completely come off the chart! lol

Unfortunately, I now only get around 10 points for a single game, and my opponents are level 2000 and 1900 (that's as high as they get). Oh well. It's worth it.

I'm going to get it up a little higher and then send the pics to Nintendo. :)

Bowling

I played Wii Sports the other day, and I decided that I should try to perfect my bowling. So, after a LOT of practice, I got to the point where most of the time I can get a strike. So I played with this for a while, but then, an amazing thing happened. By some stroke of luck, I was able to bowl a 257. I got 7 strikes in a row at the beginning, and another on the 9th frame. Here's a picture:



Needless to say, I was stunned, and I think that definitely, with a little more practice, I could get a perfect game.