I thought I'd post something a bit different today. Today marks 28 years since the disaster at Chernobyl on Thursday 26th of April 1986, in which one of the nuclear reactors malfunctioned, exploded and led to a massive release of radioactive material in the worst nuclear disaster in history. This was slightly before my time indeed (I was born on 17th October 1986), but this event has had such an impact, for me growing up I heard so much about this and the after-effects, and even now, they are working on a new concrete sarcophagus for the reactor as the original one is nearing the end of its lifespan. Even now, we are still feeling the effects of the radiation across Europe. Learning about radiation in school was something that always scared me, but amazed me at the same time, and the events in Chernobyl have contributed to the uncertainty that many have about nuclear power. The power we have discovered is intense and perhaps something of a Pandora's Box.
I have compiled some interesting links which tell different stories about Chernobyl and life in Pripyat and the surrounding area. Terrifying, fascinating and beautiful, it is a place I hope to visit one day.
So this post was very different to what I normally post on the blog, but it is something I am so fascinated in, with my interest in science. It is basically just a tribute and post remembering the hardships and struggles people endured and still do to this day.
Gah, there are so many games that I want to get either at the moment or coming out soon.
I'm making painfully slow progress in the games I'm playing at the moment, so I dont think my quest against Bak'laag is going to be going in the right direction any time soon...
And then there is the monetary aspect. How does one justify spending 10s or hundreds of pounds on games one might not beat or even play for months after initially buying the game in question? Surely my money would be better saved up for when I need it, and perhaps to go towards more immediately important stuff, like uni, food, etc.
To give some kind of scope and context to my point, here are the games I am craving, or desiring rather. (Craving makes me sound rather insane....mwahaha)
Assassin's Creed 2 (x360) [if it turns out a lot better than original]
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (x360) [looks amazing]
Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition (x360)
Dragon Age Origins (x360) [must have...drools]
Mass Effect 2 (x360) [not out yet]
Okami (Wii/PS2~I'm not sure which I would rather have)
Little King's Story (Wii)
Muramasa (Wii) [not out here yet]
Persona (PSP)
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS) [only if it turns out to be good, since i never finished Hourglass]
Pokemon Soul Silver/Heart Gold (DS) [do want]
Final Fantasy IX (PS1)
And a couple more PS2 games, like Mana Khemia...bleh. I am sure there are lots more, but you get the picture.
I can be quite impulsive at times with my purchases, but I am usually quite stingy and frugal as well...how frustrating.
Thought I'd post up some more news..news in the video gaming industry moves fast and I'm not usually up to date or the first to know, but hell...I found this stuff awesome so you might too!
I'll start off with Knights in the Nightmare, the genre-crossing game from Sting and this one is apparantely the 4th title in their Dept. Heaven series, which includes Riviera: The Promised Land and Yggdra Union: We'll never fight alone. The 3rd title in the series isn't out at the moment, and there are few current details on it. This one looks really unique and different from any of the games out there on the DS. Its kind of a mashup of srpg, strategy and shooter from what I can tell, but take that with a pinch of salt. Style-wise it is slightly similar to Riviera and Yggdra Union and this is one game that looks so nice I really want to get the artbook. It might cost me a bit, but I'll probably look into ebay for the package that ships with US preorders.
Some nice art from Gamespot, RPGfan, RPGamer dunno where else...
Some links and details because theres lots of stuff on there I cant really fit on here. Take a look at these for more;
I'm quite interested in this one as I really liked the quirkyness, humour and references in the story of the first game. Its a remake or port of Disgaea 2 from the PS2, with added story and aspects of gameplay from the 3rd game on the PS3 from what I can tell. I've not played the 2nd one before, so I'll be looking to get a hold of this one. UK gamers have got all of the recent Disgaea releases, so hopefully we'll get this one as well. If not, I can always import the US copy.
We'll have to wait for this one a while longer, it'll be out later this year in the US.
Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days
Developer: Nippon Ichi Software
Publisher: NIS America
Release Dates: All we've got is Q4 2009 at the moment.
Us PAL gamers have this now, its released with a pretty cool premium edition with lots of nice stuff: soundtrack, poster and stuff.
I might check this out if I can get it reasonably cheap.
Ar Tonelico 2: Melody Of The Metafalica (PS2)
This is also coming to PAL regions, hopefully there is a better job of it done than the US gamers got. Bugs, bad localisation are not good things, so I'll look at some reviews for this first. Don't know if the insane amount of innuendo and whatnot would be my thing, but still, its cool that PAL gamers get a chance on this one. There is too much going on in this post. I will edit or do another one after this.
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.
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)
My net has been much slower than usual for the past few days, so I havent been able to get on any sites or post here. It was taking ages to load up websites, but the connection was fine, according to the diagnosis I did and the unhelpful(read useless, timewasting) helpline.
It seems its back to normal now, which is good, but strange, as I didnt do anything to it to cause this, or fix it....
Anyway, i finished watching Gundam Wing and the OVA Endless Waltz finally. Seriously awesome stuff.
I've also been inspired by watching the series (and reading Sgt Frog lol) to start collecting gunpla (gundam model kits) and mecha action figures again. Got Revoltech 26: Eva 05 Wings Ver. Which I think is one of the best Revoltech figures if not the best.
Also got a few SD Gundam kits which are really good value for the price (less than £10 each on mech-a.com where I got em)
Work at uni is starting to pile up, I now have my essay for Palaeoclimates and 2 posters for my portfolio as well as the main thing this semester, my lab project. If I can get the minor stuff out the way asap I can concentrate on the lab project...stupid diatoms
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