Portal 2 Tomrrow! (Or When UPS Gets Here...)

Tomorrows the big day. Good thing I checked my preorder with EBgames/Gamestop because it managed to get randomly canceled for no apparent reason. So, I preordered it again and bumped the shipping up from ghetto value to the next best thing so now I should at least get it this week. Would've preferred to buy it on Steam but I wanted the exclusive Gamestop multiplayer skins. It's a Valve game so it will still run from the Steam client anyway, and in fact requires Steam to even play online or update anything.

Kinda glad I won't get it tomorrow since we have to put my mom's dog to sleep after 15 years. So, I need a few days anyhow before trying to play anything.

COMPLETED: LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (3DS)

Game completed in story mode. Most freeplay stuff unlocked. Just have to do the last 3 missions in freeplay to finish unlocking what remains. That's my first 3DS game beaten.

Game was pretty fun. Nothing overwhelmingly challenging. Usual humor that comes with the LEGO style movie & tv show based games. LOTS of unlockable characters. Pretty much every Clone Wars character from the first couple seasons and most of the major classic characters. Has a few that unlock with play coins. Play coins are earned by accumulating steps. For each 100 steps you walk between midnight and midnight (steps don't carry over into the next day) you get 1 coin. It doesn't count right either. It counts maybe 1 step for every 5 or so actual steps. Pretty weird. But with the coins you can unlock Grand Moff Tarkin, Admiral Akbar, Boba Fett, Darth Vader (battle damaged), and a couple others.

Has some fun mini games, vulture shootout, saberball, astromech volleyball, snowball fight. Also has wifi streetpass mode that helps you accumulate play coins by passing other people with this game.

The 3D is amazing, it looks like you have little LEGO people running around inside the screen like you're looking through a window into a small 3D world. There are a few scenes, mostly the things close up to the screen during cutscenes, where it is out of focus and blurry. Replayed them thinking it was my eyes or I was tired but they are in fact out of focus. Not enough to be significant enough to even be annoying but it was just something I noticed.

You can make 2 customizable characters from parts of various characters that you unlock. However, sadly, you can NOT use all the parts from all the characters you unlock nor can you use many of them for the starting base character. Specifically there are no female sith usable in character customization. And there are no bounty hunters with jetpacks that are usable. The big letdowns were not being able to use parts or base style of Asajj Ventress or Cad Bane. Customizable characters serve no real purpose anyway though. My advice would be just select Ventress as your main character cause she seems way overpowered and extremely fast, plus as a sith she can activate any sith or jedi panel.

Unlike previous LEGO Star Wars games all the characters you unlock do not show up in your main hub (what was the cantina in previous versions). It instead picks about 2 to 3 characters per room randomly from all the ones you have unlocked. Loads up new set of characters each time you play or reenter the hub from a mission or mini game. It does choose these characters from both the ones you unlock in the shop and the ones that unlock through beating levels in story mode.

There's 83 characters unlockable at the shop. 112 total playable characters. And 2 slots for customized characters. These characters are divided into various types needed to activate different objects in the game. There is Jedi, Sith, Bounty Hunter, Separatist, Astromech Droid, Light Gunner, Heavy Gunner, and Shorty. Most of the main characters are combinations of at least 2 of these types. For example Yoda is both a Jedi and Shorty. Count Dooku is both a Sith and a Separatist. In order to collect all the mini kits and red bricks in free play mode you will need to have one each of the main types in order to reach various areas. Once you've unlocked at least one Sith and one bounty hunter and one astromech droid, etc. it will automatically make your group have 1 of each type needed regardless of who you pick as your main. Therefore I sugged picking the strongest character you can for you main because when you zone or change acts in a level it will start you off with the main character you choose and often times you'll be under attack at the start. One point to note is that a Sith can open anything a Jedi can but not the other way around. The main classes are used as follows. Jedi can move or affect anything with a green glow. Sith can move or affect anything with a red glow. Both Jedi and Sith can activate the jump panels. Only a separatist can activate the separatist control panel. Likewise only a bounty hunter can activate a bounty hunter terminal and only an astromech droid can activate a droid panel. Bounty hunters are also needed to blow up special areas with thermal detonators that nothing else will damage. Various characters have jet packs. To activate a jet pack though you need to double jump. An astromech is the only one that can hover straight across without changing their z-axis making them capable of getting where others can't. Only a shorty can fit into a small wall doow passage (they look like pet doors). A light gunner is needed to sharp shoot both switches and certain mobs or structure's weaknesses. Light gunners also can swing across areas or pull things with their grapple lines. A heavy gunner is needed to both blow things up and to shoot through anything redish orange and armored.

Also at the shop you can unlock such powers ups as fast build, auto collect, funny jump, unlimited missles, vehicle weapon powerup, 2x score, 4x score, 6x score, 8x score, 10x score and those are stackable (you can have them all active at once). Couple others as well.

Controls, like most of the 3DS games from what I can tell, have switched away from using the touch screen so much for main movement and such. Touch screen is almost unused in this game except to cut through doors and objects with your saber. All other controls have moved to the new analog pad and the buttons.

When you finally beat the game the ending credits go on for nearly 20 minutes and include programmers, skywalker sound, lucasfilm ltd., lucasarts, bmi music, and just an unreal amount of other people. Seemingly endless list.

Overall a good game, a tad easy, but both fun and funny. Worth the money. Good eye candy and music. I give it an 8.5 out of 10.

Next up is Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 3D...

Complete list of playable characters and vehicles in LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (3DS)
Obi-Wan Anakin Chancellor Palpatine Hondo Ohnaka Clone Trooper Battle Droid Count Dooku Senate Commando Asajj Ventress Mace Windu LEP Servant Droid Commander Cody Clone Pilot Nute Gunray Ahsoka Super Battle Droid Senate Commando Capt. Captain Rex	General Grievous Jango Fett Senate Guard Poggle The Lesser Battle Droid Pilot Barriss Offee Turk Falso Yoda Padme Cato Parasitti Cham Syndulla Chi Cho Faro Argyus Jaybo Hood Galactic Marine Bossk Mar Tuuk Numa	Chewbacca Aayla Secura C-3PO Riyo Chuchi Wullf Yularen MagnaGuard Genosian Jetpack Droid Onaconda Farr IG-86 Jar Jar Commando Droid Gonk Droid Nahdar Vebb Kit Fisto Clone Trooper (Heavy) R2-D2 TX-20	Lok Durd Dr. Nuvo Vindi Wag Too Bolla Ropal Anakin (Snow) Thi-Sen Peppi Bow Clone Snowtrooper Gregar Typho Shahan Alama Jar Jar (Bombad) A4-D Stealth Trooper Clone Commander (Phase II) Weequay Pirate Senator Organa Genosian Zombie Clone Trooper Boil
Clone Trooper Boil (No Helmet) Clone Trooper Waxer Clone Trooper Waxer (No Helmet) Advanced Recon Force Trooper Clone Gunner Wat Tambor Cad Bane Aurra Sing Obi-Wan (Snow) Plo Koon R3-S6 Clone Grunt Light Robonino Luminara Unduli Senator Philo Kashyyyk Clone Trooper Darth Maul Darth Sidious	Darth Vader Ewok Gha Nachkt Han Solo Jawa Ki-Adi-Mundi King Katuunko Lando Calrissian Princess Leia (Slave) Luke Skywalker Old Ben Kenobi Stormtrooper Tusken Raider TIE Fighter Pilot Clone Trooper Jetpack Tub Grand Moff Tarkin Admiral Ackbar	Boba Fett Vader's Apprentice Darth Vader (Battle Damage) Savage Opress Customizable Character 1 Customizable Character 2	Y-Wing LAAT Ahsoka's Starfighter Anakin's Starfighter Mini Snowspeeder Mini Imperial Shuttle Mini Republic Attack Cruiser Mini ARC-170 Starfighter Mini V-19 Torrent Mini Star Destroyer Mini Sith Infiltrator Mini Anakin's Jedi Starfighter Mini TIE Fighter Mini TIE Interceptor Mini X-Wing Mini Slave 1 Mini Millennium Falcon Darth Vader's TIE Fighter

Status of EverQuest for Me Right Now

This game is really getting on my last nerves again.

I try to not let it bother me. I know it's just a game. And after 11+ years I know it's not worth getting upset over. But, my emotions keep getting the best of me. Have been fighting my own emotions to not just blow up most of the night.

First off, from the SOE side there's this god awful 12th anniversary quest. I need ONE item. Most of the people that aren't done need the same item. It's beyond rare. Instead of making the anniversary a fun and enjoyable thing that we remember for years as a good time, they've made it a horrific nightmare that we will still remember for years to come but for all the wrong reasons.

Then there's my guild. These are the slowest gd people I have ever seen on the face of the planet. Nothing, ever, from school to work to clubs to family and friends, nothing I've ever been a part of, no other guild, and nothing I've ever seen is as slow as these people. I understand there's stuff that needs to be done but this is beyond ridiculous. They add an on time bonus and it didn't help. All it did was allow for people like me that show up on time to be paid for waiting hours for everyone else. It's just unreal. By the time we finally start to fight my buffs have already faded and been redone, my patience is gone, and I'm lucky if I'm still awake at all.

And the loot. /sigh I've always said, loot is pointless, it comes and it goes. Everything we get now will be replaced eventually at some point no matter how great it seems when we get it. It's not worth worrying about. BUT, there's a limit. This is messed up. 6.5 months I've been with the guild and I have not won a single thing I've gone in on. Have not won anything at all. SIX AND A HALF MONTHS! Most sane people would've left a guild with a loot policy like this after 3 months or less. I refuse to leave at this point because of my friends in guild. And I've tried to make it better. Or at least I thought I was trying to make it better. Month or so back I posted in our guild's forum rant section my feelings. Damn near started WWIII up in there. Ended up having to bail from my own post. A good 85% of the people didn't even comprehend the points I was making. And those that did have no say or pull in anything so they're just as screwed as the rest of us. Just so unfair in so many ways. They do it by total current dkp only apparently despite the things I've been told by officers. They have said that last loot is taken into consideration at some point. BULLSHIT. Have been told a few things that are untrue like that. Fact is, it's a typical rich get richer while the poor get not a god damn thing ever. I've seen a few people get multiple loots at minimal upgrades over and over while others get nothing ever. For example, someone may get 13 loots in the time I've been in guild, 11 of which I went in on. Some of those were 500+ mana hp upgrades for me and 10 mana hp upgrades for these people and they've won stuff like every week and yet they win over people that show up all the time, do everything they can, etc. and who need the upgrades more and have never won anything like me. It's not an "I didn't win" thing. It's a "several people are just flat out getting screwed 100% of the time" kinda thing. I looked today at the dkp site for those that have 0 dkp spent (like me who has never gotten anything). Sorting those I noticed the top 3 people that got nothing after many, many months and discovered 2 of them left the guild in the last couple days. The third is me... I mean what gives? Is it that those that make the rules are the ones winning the stuff or is it that the ones who make and support these rules are blind to what's goin on or is it that they just don't care since they're getting what they want. I don't know but it sucks for the little people which is what I've become. Not feeling very much wanted at this point. Can't help but wonder if they'd even notice or care if I didn't show up. Issue is me, I'm stubborn, too much so. Enough that I'll stay and be miserable in hopes of a change that will never come versus what I should've done 4 months ago and left to somewhere that gives a damn.

Then there's Underfoot. I've hated this expansion since day one. Was sick and in hospital when it came out so missed the initial flagging. Was still raiding one or two expansions back when I returned after a couple months. By then no one was doing flagging. Had been led to believe that group progression was not needed for raids as long as I had the raid progression stuff done by looting raid flag items and so forth. Since then I've discovered at least 2 missions that this is not true for. One I had to only do one easy mission for a keystone, no biggie. The other one I can banner into but not actually zone into normally. To do so I'd need like 20 something missions that no one in their right mind is doing now. And I can only foresee more problems when we get to the last couple raids. And there's not shit I can or am willing to do about it at this point. So this just nags at me when we raid. Just never sure what's going to happen as far as if I'll be able to even get into the next raid we do. And I still hate this expansion anyhow.

Finally, as if soe and guild issues weren't enough, my game is crashing like insanely. Most of which is c++ errors due to memory leaks and then the game freezes. This is entirely soe's fault and not a whole hell of a lot I can do from my end. And now tonight I have yet another issue. Not sure why but got booted 3x due to no internet connection. Modem showed connected to internet and pc and working properly. But pc suddenly said no internet access and EQ, Xfire, and Raptr all got cut off. Had to reboot modem and pc each time. No clue why this is happening or what started it.

Not sure how much more of all this I can take. Pisses me off after 11+ years this is my main thing I do in my life. Can't work since 2001 from being disabled. Have like 4 friends these days so not a whole lot else to do. This is the one thing I have that's a scheduled, responsibility. The one thing that still causes me to have at least some sort of weekly schedule. So what the heck am I supposed to do? Can't leave, can't quit, that's not even an option. But have lost all patience with everything in this game right now.

3DS Cons (Cause That's What People Most Care About)

So, it's been over a week, almost 2 weeks I think that I've had my 3DS. I've written a few blog posts about first impressions, good and bad and so forth. This time I thought I'd just list all the cons to the 3DS. I may do a pros list later, but most of that stuff is either covered in other posts or can be found easy enough on the 3DS website in features. Few little things not mentioned are not that important really either. The cons however is what most people would likely be curious about. What parts about it suck after having used it for awhile. Not that anyone actually reads this blog but me lmao. I'm pretty sure I'm writing this like the rest of my posts for no reason at all. But none the less, here it is...

3DS THE CONS
Not in any order, just as they pop into my head.

The new placement of the onboard stylus is crappy. Yes, I can see why they did this but I don't like it. The stylus now stores from the top next to the game cart. If you're left handed this is probably a welcome change. If you're me (right handed) then this is annoying. I mean granted, you can still get it in and out fairly easy. But compared to the DS Lite which was stored on the right, directly below where you hand already was from holding it, this new position sucks. The old way you could grab it much faster if a game suddenly called for you to have one and you weren't expecting it or something.

There's no microphone jack. Not a lot I can do to elaborate on this one. It's not there. I believe the 3DS has the capability to have wireless devices maybe accessories added via it's wifi or other means (I hear it has infrared receiver and maybe an rf receiver but that might be forum rumors). Currently there is no way to attach an external microphone. Which means you're stuck with the built in one.

The battery dies FAST. From a full charge, with brightness at 4 out of 5, sound at max but with a 3DS game so not as loud as an old DS game, wireless link enabled, playing LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars 3D the battery went to critical level in 3 hours. THREE HOURS! By comparison my DS Lite has been known to go 10 to 14 hours on one charge. This is a HUGE difference. And seeing as how there are no USB chargers available for it yet and the car chargers never arrived in the U.S. due to the disasters in Japan, this is an issue. And even if I had more chargers this is still an issue. Not one that I can do anything about though. I have hopes that like the DS and Gameboy systems of the past, some third party Japanese companies will make some add on more power battery packs that you can click onto the back or replace default with or something, anything. Maybe a solar panel? Seriously, with a battery this week they should've made the entire back part of the top panel, around the 3D cameras, a solar panel to charge itself... Why don't they ever hire people like me... /sigh

The cameras, both the 2 outside 3D cameras and the 1 inside 2D camera SUCK. Ok, before I go any further, lemme say it's still cool to see pics of your family or pets in 3D. BUT, it's like 0.3 megapixels. It reminds me of watching TV as a child in the 70's. With the giant outdoor antenna that one person would turn while the other was inside shouting better or worse lol. You have the dots. Big pixels from low resolution. In English that means you can see the dots. With all this technology it has why in the world does it not have at least a 10 megapixel lens? At least on the 2D camera. You can use up to 32gig memory cards so what would be the problem with having a camera that doesn't suck? I don't get why this is so 15 years ago in resolution. And the screens are both so high res and clear, completely confuses me.

No hole for a lanyard. Why have all electronics stopped adding the little lanyard hole? Did the pinpoint size hole really take up that much space or something? I liked having a lanyard for decoration and to help prevent accidentally dropping it.

Charing cradle is retarded. It serves no purpose whatsoever. All it does is go between the a/c adapter and the 3DS. You can plug the same cord directly into the 3DS. I don't get the point of this thing at all. I guess this is less of a con and more of a wtf.

Oh, this is a big one, but one what will be fixed soon. Most of the software that is or was supposed to be built in is not there yet. All of this is supposed to be added with the update at the end of May via wifi. But, in the meantime it doesn't even have a web browser yet. And the entire old wifi channel site is gone so I'm not sure what they're planning here. The 3DS online store is also not up yet. Have a crapload of points or coins or whatever they're called in my club nintendo account from registering all my old nintendo systems and handhelds and games. Just waiting to spend them to download old gameboy games. I hope when they say that they mean the original ones too and not the GBA ones. Not that I wouldn't like those too. But, I would love to play Super Mario Land 3 and stuff. I never got to play the 3rd one lol.

No rumble pak. Again, like the microphone, one "could" probably be added via wireless somehow and then clipped on or some such thing. But currently there is no support for rumble pak options in any games that actually had it which wasn't a whole lot but yes I did have one lol.

The new built in gyro and motions sensors are NOT compatible with old DS games that used the motion pak inserted into the slot 2 GBA slot that also no longer exists (but was removed last version with the DSi not with the 3DS).

It's wifi seems to have a very limited range. Not sure what else to add there.

You can't customize the menu other than to change it from one line to two lines. Can't rearrange icons or change colors or fonts or add wallpapers or anything you would expect to be able to do. This I am pretty sure will be changed in the future. I have not read anything verifying that it will be but it seems highly likely that they will add basic wallpaper and color customization like everything else from pc's to phones to individual programs.

You can only view pictures on the 3DS that are taken with the 3DS. You can not copy pics from your pc or elsewhere and view them on the 3DS system. Nor does it seem possible to copy the pics you have on your 3DS to anywhere else. This is just stupid. Why, why the heck would they not add this? It plays music you add to your SDHC card, why not view pictures and texts for that matter?

No organizer, calendar, text program, address book, nothing you'd expect to have with a handheld device. AGAIN! This annoyed me 3 versions ago with the DS Lite and they still don't have it?!? Are they hoping companies will make game paks to do this? Cause I'm not going to carry around a game pak just for that. Or maybe it will be downloadable software? Or maybe, just maybe, though I'm doubting it, but maybe it will be in this big May update I keep reading about that no one really knows what will be happening.

The Select, Start, and Home buttons are VERY hard to press correctly. They are flat and smooth and you have to press them in a very small section of the button to work and no tactile guide like a bump or raised key to guide you to the right spot to press. The old systems keys buttons for these were far superior. And as a side note, they moved the power button from the outside to the inside of the DS exactly where the Star and Select keys use to be. So if you had an old DS for a long time, like me, then expect to be accidentally shutting your system down and losing your game data when you are actually trying to pause or in fact save your game data, kinda ironic.

With the top and bottom screens being different sizes I noticed something. When you close your DS if there's any dirt or oil from your hands on the touch screen, specifically the left and right raised edges of the touch screen, then it will leave a line on the top screen after you close the 3DS. Since the left and right edges of the bottom screen are closer together than that of the top screen they now touch the viewable area of the top screen when the 3DS is shut and hence leave a mark. Of course with screen protectors and a cleaning cloth this is not the end of the world, but you will have two lines to clean from time to time.

The built in pedometer does not count steps right no matter if you carry it on your back in a bag, in a shirt pocket, pants pocket, wouldn't matter if you stuck it in your shoe. I walk 100 steps it says I walked 10. I walk 40 it says I walked 6. There's no rhyme or reason to what it's counting.

The D-pad is hard to use now. I love the analog pad, and use it for mostly everything. However, in some older DS games you either move too fast through a menu or can't change direction fast enough using the analog compared to the D-pad. In these cases, you use the D-pad obviously. Problem is, that it's lower, quite a bit so. When you hold the 3DS the placement of the new D-pad is so far down and not lined up with the buttons on the right anymore making it hard to actually use it and hold the 3DS right. Keep finding myself tilting the whole thing right about 15 degrees and then tilting my head to compensate lol. Also, it seems either smaller or flatter. It just feels much harder to press and use than my old DS lite.

The high gloss shiny design while being very pretty gets fingerprinted up super easily. Find myself cleaning it with the cloth several times a day.

Last thing I can think of is the fact that you have to hold it a certain way to see the 3D effect properly. Granted, the way you hold it normally is pretty much the right way. Just need to keep it a certain distance and such. When done correctly the effect is very, very clear and truly, truly amazing, truly, truly, truly amazing.

That's all I can think of at this time. If I think of something else later I may stick it in this post but doubt it. Like I said before, not as if anyone but me reads this shit so basically I'm talking to myself like the crazy person that I am.

I would like to add as one last note, that despite there being this many cons, there's at least 3 to 4 times as many pros. Overall this is the best handheld gaming system ever and a great device with amazing features.

The History of Mario Mario and Friends...

So, I decided to take a break from the 3DS topic and from the EverQuest Anniversary and from playing LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars 3DS so that I could reflect on my telling of how the Mario history goes. Yeah, it was pretty much a random thought out of nowhere.

Our story begins in a magical land and distant time long ago known as "The 80's"! And it begins not with the Mario family of plumbers but with an escaped monkey. Yes, Donkey Kong.

Story goes something like this...

Donkey Kong escapes from somewhere or otherwise shows up outside of DK Country presumably in a city, likely New York. He kidnaps a young Italian woman from Jersey named Daisy. Mario Mario (yes his first and last name are the same) decides for whatever reason to go save Daisy from Donkey Kong. Why he thinks he can do this, being a fat plumber with zero combat skills, still remains unknown. After hurdling some barrels and avoiding a few fires he makes his way to the top of a construction site where Donkey Kong has Daisy imprisoned and miraculously manages to somehow save her from a giant ape that could crush his head with one hand...

The next thing we know, after having saved Daisy, Mario somehow imprisoned Donkey Kong in a cage. Unknown to him at that time, Donkey Kong had a son. Showing up just in time to save his dad from that dastardly plumber, enter Donkey Kong Jr. a.k.a. Diddy Kong. So, another idiotic battle ensues, this time it's the monkey's son that's the hero saving his dad from the evil Mario!

At this point all seems well. Donkey Kong has apparently returned home to Donkey Kong Country with his son Diddy Kong after making a brief stop in Mario's greenhouse for god knows what reason. At which time Mario chased him away with nothing more than bug spray as far as we know. Daisy was free. And so Mario Mario went back to work as a plumber with his brother Luigi Mario.

But!!! Our story does not end there! Oh no, for no sooner does he go back to work on the pipes when all sorts of otherworldly creatures starting emerging from them! What's this? Turtles and ice creatures coming from the pipes? Oh noes! Not thinking that this could be a bad idea, Mario and his brother Luigi take a closer look and upon entering the pipes find themselves transported to another world known as the Mushroom Kingdom. Soon after their arrival they somehow discover that the princess of this kingdom, Princess Peach Toadstool, has been taken captive by Bowser, the king of the Koopa. I guess he must have figured what the heck, he saved Daisy from a giant ape how hard can this be? Little did he know...

To make this next part short, let's just say that time and time again Mario thwarted Bowser's plans, defeated his minions and lackeys and "thought" he saved the princess. But alas, our princess is in another castle... Those few times he actually did save her she only ended up getting caught again and then the entire madness started anew. Heck at one point it got so bad that Mario had this awful dream where he found himself together with Luigi, Peach, and Toad lost in yet another world with even stranger things than the Mushroom Kingdom! As for Peach, what can you say? Maybe she was just asking for it, like she wanted the attention. Maybe she just has really, really bad luck. Or it could be that her guards are little mushroom people...

For decades the story goes on pretty much unchanged. Peach gets caught, Mario saves her with help from Luigi, Yoshi, Toad and others who don't seem to ever really get anything out of the deal. Several others have joined the fight on both sides. For the baddies there have been such head cases as Wario and Waluigi amongst others.

At some point we start to find out a bit more though. We discover that Bowser may have known that Mario and Luigi would become a thorn in his side and that he's even tried to stop them in the past. As babies they were kidnapped by agents of Bowser that were capable of time travel! But, apparently Yoshis live a long time. Because it was Yoshi that saved baby Mario and Luigi. Well, was actually several Yoshis. There would appear to be an entire race of various colored Yoshis actually. With the Yoshi known as... Yoshi... being the green one. Oh come on... seriously? It's not bad enough that Mario's last name is Mario you're gonna tell me that Yoshi is a Yoshi?!? Makes me just want to smash my head into a brick! *bleep bleep bleep bleep sound* *mushroom rises from brick*

On the plus side, while Mario was off doing other stuff... Olympics with Sonic, Mario Parties, various other games he was playing and just blowing off the whole hero thing all together so he could play tennis and race karts; Princess Peach Toadstool FINALLY got sick of being the victim! And she ended up being the hero for once on her own mission of, well, mission of craziness really. I mean she had a talking umbrella that helped her fly and when she had mood swings... well look out cause they were not pretty!

At this point in time Mario has saved the princess several dozen times and been caught himself a few times. He's been saved by Yoshi, saved Luigi, saved by Peach, saved Peach. And somehow still found time to have parties, play just about every sport known to man, best a few crazed apes, and yes, maybe even fix someone's plumbing along the way.

What's next? Who knows. But it will likely be in 3D! And this time it will be real 3D! Not that hey this is 3D but it's actually 2D kinda 3D that we got with Mario 64 on the N64 when they said, hey, it's 3D. But, no, not really 3D, it's 2D that's 3D... But, we all still loved it when we heard, "eeeeets meeeeeee ... Maaaaaarioo!"

3DS Thoughts After Week One

I love it.

Now, some more specifics. Tried to find and connect to a free public wifi hotspot at several locations and failed at all of them. Managed to get wifi hooked up at home though and it works great. The first update though only fixes wifi connectivity (which may be why I was having problems). The web browser, 3ds store, and entire nintendo wifi channel / club nintendo site and everything else related to the 3ds internet functions are still a no go. The big patch as they're calling it is due at the end of May. Scary part is I read some forums that say that patch will brick anyone's 3DS that's tried to use any form of flashcart... I tried, but it didn't work so I hope this doesn't apply to me. And I don't really believe the hype anyhow. I doubt they'd brick the 3DS's of their best customers knowing full well the amount of crap they'd have to contend with afterwards. I do expect that they will continue to make patches on a regular basis that will disable flashcarts and prevent them from being used on your 3DS. Which I then fully expect the flash cart companies to come up with a workaround lol. Hence, I'm putting off buyting that DSTWO card until later this summer. I want to see how this all plays out first. I know it works now, but... May need to wait for a future 3DS version that's designed to bypass all the stuff that will be added via wifi until then.

Here's something funny. This first patch, it said it is just to fix wifi connectivity AND to give us a free video. So now I have this free 3D video of a fairly crappy song with a bunch of dogs doing tricks and stuff to the music... in 3D. And here's the kicker, at the end of the video it says, "This video will be deleted with the next update" lmao. So wow, gee thanks for the free pointless thing you're gonna take right back...

One concern I had was the fact that the top screen is quite a bit larger and now in widescreen. Several of the old DS games had images lined up from the bottom screen to the top that required them to be that way for game play. For example, club games whatever that thing is called required you to slide or "toss" darts from the bottom screen to the dartboard on the top screen. Super Princess Peach also had some things like that if I recall, or was that Yoshi's Island DS... Anyway, I was glad to discover that it takes old DS games and makes the image the same size as the bottom screen so that it retains it's original layout even on the larger screen.

There's no rumble pak. I've mentioned that before but it's still a bit of a letdown since it has everything else imaginable.

The camera's megapixels are ass. It's like .32 megapixel. yes POINT. As in less than 1! Which would matter more if you could actually copy the pics in 2D at least to anywhere other than the DS but the DS can only display pics taken with it's own cameras and can't export it's pics to anywhere. So, that's kinda bogus for the camera function. However, it is still cool to have 3D pics and to put pics of people into games and such. Just keep your regular picture taking for normal purposes on your cel or digital camera.

Spotpass / Streetpass. I have yet to figure out what the difference is. One gives me a green light one a blue light when you receive things depending on which it is. Since I've still as of yet received NOTHING via either of these methods I wouldn't know. This is just a matter of not enough people having a 3DS or DSi and me not being in the right places to pick up other people. At some point I hope I pass at least one person for this to work at some point in my life.

The speakers are LOUD for old DS games yet not loud enough on my one 3DS game. Not sure if all 3DS games are gonna be like that or what the deal is with that. As for the old games, just have to turn the volume to half for any of them or else it's so loud it's distorted, not a big deal to turn down the volume, just an observation.

There's nowhere to attach a lanyard. I had a nice Nintendo logo lanyard made by Nintendo that was a limited edition thing and it was great on my DSlite but there's nowhere to put it on my 3DS. Had this same issue with my new cel. Why are all the electronics companies removing the lanyard hole? I like to have that so I don't drop it when my hand twitches from arthritis. And seriously, like why remove it? It's not like that little hole took up so much space. I can see plenty of spots they could've added one.

With all the graphics, increased volume surround sound, 3D, wifi, etc. it drains the battery pretty quick. And the car chargers have yet to make it to the U.S. Apparently there's been some issue with them getting out of Japan due to the disasters. I'm reading now though that the DSi and DSiXL adapters are in fact compatible with the 3DS. So, I may look into that.

The charging cradle is retarded and 100% unnecessary. Just thought I'd reiterate that.

The analog control is way, way nicer than the old d-pad, direction pad thing. Only thing is that the direction pad you can change from left to right or forward to backward faster by hitting the opposite side of the plus controller than you can by sliding the analog to the other side. But it rules for driving and moving in a 3D environment. Even though with old games it doesn't do full analog it just does the 4 main axis and the 4 diagonal ones, it is still far superior for controlling steering in games such as Mario Kart. Shame I have already beat all the levels and everything years ago and there's not enough people online globally anymore to get a race going. Going to be awesome when the new 3DS version of Mario Kart comes out.

And that brings me to the last point. 3DS rules, BUT, there's a LONG way to go. Most of it's internal software won't be added till the end of May via wifi and all the big titles people most want like Mario Kart 3D, Kid Icarus Uprising, Zelda Ocarina of Time in 3D and of course the Metal Gear, Metroid, Mega Man, Castlevania and other classic titles that will all be getting the 3D makeover at some point this year. Plus when they add the Netflix ability to steam and download movies to your 3DS in 2D and then start selling the actual 3D movies that will be a huge plus. Right now it's like the system has great potential, just lacking in "stuff".

3DS - Day 1 Hands-On First Impression

So, I finally managed to get my 3DS today. Seems like I've been waiting forever even though it wasn't really that long of a wait. Decided since it's the same price everywhere to just go to the closest store, which was one of the last remaining Toys "R" Us anywhere near me. After waiting in line for nearly 15 minutes behind one person I finally managed to get to the counter. After some conversation with the salesman I discovered I was purchasing the last 3DS Cosmo Black though there were still plenty of the Aqua Blue ones left. He said they got 100 of each in on the 27th and that's all that was left. Car chargers sold out on the first day and they had only 2 or 3 games left and minimal accessories. I was actually surprised. I didn't expect something that expensive to sell out that fast. And this particular store rarely has any cars in the parking lot so I was even more surprised they sold that many.

Anyhow, getting past that I ended up with the 3DS Cosmo Black and LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars in 3D.

Opening the box you first discover a massive amount of paperwork and an instruction manual that makes most novels look like a free pamphlet. Below that is the A/C power cord, charging cradle, and the 3DS unit itself.

As for the charging cradle, what is the point of this thing? You plug the A/C adapter in the wall then in the cradle then sit the 3DS in the cradle. Why? You can just plug the A/C adapter straight into the 3DS without this thing. I don't see what purpose this serves at all.

Powering it up you get a nice intro and it talks you through setting up language, time, region, name, connection, colors, layout, etc. It then makes a whole huge production out of holding it just right and getting ready for the 3D to turn on, big count down and all that, I was like geez get to it already. But, I have to say, when it first comes on you're just like whoa, holy crap. I was really not ready for it to look THAT cool. Granted, you have to hold it a certain way or else you lose the 3D effect or it looks like it shifts, but, held correctly, the effect is AMAZING.

After I got over the initial holy crap that's cool part I started going through the tabs. It's set up much more like a windows or smartphone than any previous DS's. Has several built in things including, of course, the really cool 3D camera that was also surprisingly cool. Several games built in and so forth. However, a LOT of the software is initially unavailable. Several things say they will be available at a later date through a wifi update. I went to several locations trying to get connected to a wifi network and after a couple hours of driving around finally gave up. All the ones that were listed on the nintendo site near me were non-existent and the ones I do know exist I couldn't seem to connect to. I'm planning to get a wifi router next month if not sooner anyhow to resolve this situation, they're cheap. In the meantime I will try to update it on Sunday at my dad's house since he has WinXP still I can use my old Nintendo WFC USB connector according to everything I've read in my settings.

Moving along, the features are numerous, far too many to get into. Highlights would include the streetpass, camera, music player, etc. All of which can be learned about elsewhere.

Few things I discovered worth mentioning are first there's no rumble pak. And since the last 3 DS versions have removed the GBA slot there is no way of adding one at this time. There is the capability in the future to add things that connect either with infrared or wifi so they may make an accessory at some point. Second thing of note is that old DS games that used motion paks for controls or game features can NOT use the built in 3DS gyro sensors in place of that, yet. This also may be patched via wifi at some point, will have to see. But games like Tony Hawk's Motion won't even start up.

Another thing worth mentioning is that like it was expected and talked about in forums, flashcarts like SuperCard DSone and others do not work. It just says error and makes you turn the 3DS off. So, currently there is no way to play downloaded or hacked versions of games. Again, I expect that to change.

Physical aspects, it's nearly the exact same size as the DS Lite. In fact you can't even see a difference in size when compared to each other. However, there are slight shape changes and of course everything has been moved around, all buttons and sliders and mic and headphone jack. The game carts have a small little protrusion near the top to prevent them from being placed into a previous DS version, however old DS games of course fit in the 3DS. This of course means that the 3DS games will not fit in any of my really cool cases. My small travel case has a rubber interior which I already checked out I can mod that myself to hold 3DS games pretty easily. The other cases however are a no go. Also, the size of the plug for the A/C adapter is compatible with the DSi or DSiXL but NOT the DSlite so I have to find a new car charger somewhere. Furthermore, the headphone / mic jack setup is not compatible with the DSlite in anyway. There is in fact NO mic jack input. The headphone jack is simply a standard 3.5mm jack like mostly everything, but the mic is internal with no way to connect an external mic or headset, making my earphones and stereo headset also not compatible.

Overall it will take me probably the rest of this year to be able to find and acquire decent accessories to be as hooked up with the 3DS as I was or rather am with my old DSlite.

Not much else I can say, there's no way to demonstrate the awesomeness of the 3D effect here. Go out and see one for yourself it's damn impressive!