Hell yeah! My laptop is working again!

My laptop randomly stopped picking up my wireless network a few weeks ago and now I turned it back on after a while of using the other computer and now it works again somehow! Miraculous!

Much more convenient for me, so I can use the net anywhere in the house again, and I have all my favourites and bookmarks back! yay :D

Also, I finished getting all the necessary forms ready to post off to the Uni of Edinburgh. I already applied to them online, but their system is new and kinda unpredictable. It sent me emails back saying that they couldnt read most of the supporting documentation that I had to upload. So I've printed them off and just need to send em out the good foolproof old fashioned way-post! I just hope they dont get lost in the post, knowing me that could well happen....

UFO footage

Daylight footage: UFOs over Europe

Quite intriguing videos from ITN, http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-GB&vid=6f9fab46-ffbd-4177-aeb5-11cf1b0f8780&from=today&ocid=today

Muramasa: The Demon Blade

Another game I've had my eye on recently is this forthcoming Wii RPG~Muramasa: The Demon Blade. Its from Atlus and some of the people at Vanillaware, the developer that brought us Odin Sphere, which I started the other night. I love 2D games, especially rpgs such as the castlevania games and other games like the Metal Slug games. These kind of games just show that simple graphics with detailed, lush backgrounds are still viable today. It doesnt have a release date yet, but hopefully it comes out in the USA and in PAL regions



http://www.rpgamer.com/event/tgs2008/impressions/oboroimp.html





More screeens courtesy of RPGamer.com

http://www.rpgamer.com/games/other/wii/oboro/oboross.html

Pokemon Diamond

So I have been mostly busy with postgraduate applications at the moment. Apart from that I've been practicing for a wifi tournament on Pokemon Diamond/Pearl that I signed up for. lol, I had to, I had an urge to go back and play some pokemon. I was kinda rusty having been away from the game for a few months, but I'm starting to remember things after 4 battles now. So far I've got 2 losses(my first 2 games) and 2 wins. I've been using this team which I initially submitted to the person in charge of the tournament on the Anime League forums.



Garchomp @ Focus Sash, Hasty, 252 atk/252 speed/6 HP (I think)

Dragon Claw
Earthquake
Fire Blast
Swords Dance

[Turns out these Garchomp guys are banned on the Serebii forums, so I put in my elemence instead of him. I didnt know this until now-they werent banned back when I played...]


Starmie @ Leftovers, Timid, 252 Sp.Atk/252 speed/6 HP

Surf
Ice Beam
Thunderbolt
Recover



Milotic @ Leftovers, Bold

Surf
Ice Beam
Rest
Sleep Talk



Heracross @ Choice Scarf, Jolly, 252 Atk/252 Speed/6 HP

Megahorn
Brick Break
Rock Slide
Earthquake

[This guy is weak and could use some upgrading to D/P I know, but he has come in useful so far. I was thinking close combat/focus punch>bb and stone edge>rock slide as well as adamant>jolly.]



Tyranitar @ Leftovers, Adamant

Stone Edge
Earthquake
Focus Punch
Crunch

[When he gets a chance he can destroy. <3]



Blissey @ Leftovers, Bold

Seismic Toss
Ice Beam
Aromatherapy
Softboiled

------------------

Reserves

I have an Elemence, Physical Mence, old Skarmory with roar, spikes, rest, steel wing, sleeptalking, boltbeaming regice, another TTar moveset and a special lucario to choose from in my other pokemon. Just need to figure out the best team with what I've got. I would want some stuff like a stealth rock swampert, skarmory or something else but not sure if I've got time before the tourney starts.

Amazing pictures from Hubble

These are some awesome pics taken by the Hubble Telescope. I always found this kind of thing interesting. I dont know a lot about Astronomy/Astrology though.

http://news.uk.msn.com/in-pictures/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=9773060

Update

I've not posted in a while, so here's a few things I've been doing, playing and laughing at...

Probably one of the best images ever. XD

I completed the main quest in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS) so I just need to beat Harmony of Dissonance before I get the newest one-Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. Portrait of Ruin is for the most part quite easy and very short( I beat it with around 900% in less than 10 hrs I think.)

Its easy apart from the last 2 bosses(one of which is optional-I gave up on that one-Richter) which made me grind out a few more levels. Overall I liked the game except I didnt really like the system where you equip the souls of enemies and the mastery thing ( I grinded for ages and still couldnt master the ones I wanted to) I preferred some of the other Castlevania systems, like Dawn of Souls for example. Also the fact that they reused quite a lot of enemies from previous games..that seems to be a recurring flaw of Castlevania games. I'm looking forward to playing Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance and Order of Ecclesia. I might review some of the games I've beaten at some point.

Anyway, I had a really good Valentine's weekend. Went with my girlfriend to the theatre to see Blood Brothers-the first musical I've seen in the theatre and I thought it was really good actually-I wasnt sure it would be my thing but I liked it-the acting and singing was very good and the whole thing was well written. Then we went to Starbucks for some coffee before going for dinner at Tang's Gohan-a japanese restaurant in Edinburgh that we have been to before and really liked so went back. I forgot my phone and since I never really wear a watch keeping track of time was slightly hard. Couldnt tell when we had to leave for the restaurant since for some reason they didnt have any clocks in Starbucks....wierd.

So now that I've beaten Castlevania, my attention turns to the other games I am playing at the moment- Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP), Final Fantasy VII (PS1) and Lost Odyssey (X360). I am pretty far through Disgaea-around 60 hrs in and on Episode 11...but I'm gonna need to grind before I can continue with the storyline... and in Lost Odyssey I am on Disc 4 searching for sidequests and grinding.

As for anime and TV, I am watching Moon Phase and kinda want to start reading Chibi Vampire at some point, after seeing the anime Karin at our anime group's last screening (which was awesome because of the vampire theme)

Awesome & Win

I love bad movies lol-shit like this is hilarious XD!

Final Fantasy XIII

Source: http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q1-2009/012809a.html

Square Enix have uploaded a video of Final Fantasy XIII on their EU, US and Japanese sites today, it looks so amazing graphically, I cant wait for this heheh.

The release date is likely to be some time in 2010 for USA and EU gamers. 

Final Fantasy XIII site; http://www.finalfantasy13game.com/

Arc Rise Fantasia (Wii)

I've been looking up some information on this game which will apparantely come out in Japan and the US in 2009 (Quarter 3 for the USA). There is no release date yet for the UK yet, hopefully it gets released here as it looks rather nice. The Wii doesnt have nearly enough rpgs and I hope this one doesnt dissapoint. Its developed by Image Epoch( the developers that brought us Luminous Arc ) and has an impressive development team as mentioned on Rpgamer.com;

http://www.rpgamer.com/games/other/wii/arcrisefan/arcrisefan.html

Some videos of rpgs that could be good.

Valkyrie Profile DS ~ Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume

Release Date: 03.17.2009 for US

Chrono Trigger DS

Release Date: Out now in US, Sometime in Feb I think for EU

Phantasy Star O

Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride

Release Date: 02.17.2009 for US

Dragon Quest IX: Defender of the Stars

I love the look of this-it will have 4 player co op via Wi-Fi apparantely, and the character customisation and equipment looks so cool. Hell, I've not even started DQIV yet...They've also got VI planned for a DS remake too.

This is quite cool...it makes me think.

I copied this from youtube here; I didnt make this vid-I know basically nothing about planets and that kinda stuff apart from what I studied in like first yr at uni.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=I34FNr_peUk&feature=related

Earth
Moon
Mercury
Mars
Venus
Uranus
Neptun
Saturn
Jupiter
Sun/Sol
Sirius
Pollux
Arcturus
Rigel
Aldebaran
Eta Carinae Nebula
Betelgeuze (yes like that undead)
Antares
V382 Carinae
V838 Monoceretis
V509 Cassiopeiae
Mu Cephei
KY Cygni
V354 Cephei
Binary Star VV Cephei
VY Canis Majoris - largest known star

That makes me wanna study astronomy lol...It just really makes me think.

Tales of Vesperia EU release date.

I'm not too sure how long this news has been around, but I had to do a bit of searching for it, and I'm still not convinced if its true or not...

http://www.play.com/Games/Xbox360/4-/6080057/Tales-Of-Vesperia/Product.html

If a big site like play.com (UK) are taking preorders, I would be inclined to believe them. 

I found a few sites with similar info, backing this up.

http://www.videogamer.com/news/10-06-2008-8502.html

Heres the english opening vid

Gamespot dont really say anything about it coming out in EU for some reason...I hope it does come to the UK...it looks so nice! US gamers have had it for ages now... ><

http://uk.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/talesofvesperia/index.html

Any news is good news I guess.

Tales of Vesperia - 26/06/09?

Odin Sphere art

I love the look of this game, I'm gonna play it once I complete a few of the games I am working on at the moment. Such nice artwork, heres some of it;