w00tworld's Anime Of The Year 2005

What. A. Year. Here are the series' that have defined the year as well as what I have judged to be the best anime of 2005.

Bleach
I'm not a big fan but it has to be said. Bleach has been this year's Naruto.

Tsubasa Chronicle
CLAMP's crossover masterpiece blew us all away when it hit in the spring. Over 26 episodes we were gripped by the struggle of Syaoran, Fye and Kurogane to save Princess Sakura. What could've so easily been an easy cash in proved to be a thrilling blend of romance, comedy and sublime action. Even brief appearances by nearly every CLAMP character ever created came to join the party but the ending proved inconclusive. A movie is planned and series 2 starts in April.

Fullmetal Alchemist
The story of Ed and Al has captivated everyone this year and is probably the most successful anime of the year after starting its 52 episode run on Rapture TV.

Elfen Lied
Gruesome. Evil. Superb. Elfen Lied stunned and shocked everyone who saw its fansub release in the sunrise section of the year. Its out on DVD in the UK in February.

Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Masamune Shirow's cyberpunk masterclass finally came to the small screen with this 26 episode series. No expense was spared and as a result Stand Alone Complex easily became the best UK released DVD series of the year even winning a Neo award in the process.

Haibane Renmai
No fancy stuff. No big explosions. No panty shots. Just a beautiful fantasy story of a young haibane (burnt angel) learning the ways of her new environment. Life affirming stuff.

But although these series' are superb it took a hentai game designer to create w00tworld's Best Anime of 2005.

Shuffle
The story of Tsuchimi Rin takes a nasty turn when the rulers of the gods and demons appear and ask him to marry one of their daughters. What could've so easily been a bland, lifeless harem comedy changed gears suddenly at the halfway point to become an incredibly dark drama. After the early comedy episodes we suddenly cared about these characters. We were riveted as Rin's choice of girl could affect the future of the world (but that wasn't empasised much in the series). The only series I can recall to have brought me to tears for 3 episodes in a row Shuffle is an epic defiance of the harem genre and one you should quickly look into if it gets licenced next year.

Shuffle is still ongoing with episode 21 screened in Japan tonight (8th December). The final episode will show on Japan's WOWOW network on Thursday 29th December 2005 at 10pm. Expect it to arrive on bittorrent around Sunday.

Trackmania Sunrise Extreme - What's New?

TMSX is here at last so why should you download the 210mb upgrade?

Game
New Extreme Race mode to show off the new track blocks.
New Stunt mode to just plain show off.
New hyper boost block for all 3 environments.

Island
New airport block set, use planes, runways and hangars.
New vertical corner pieces, literally corner on the walls or provide barriers for those tough jumps.
New rocket piece, make those tough jumps even harder.
New pipe block set, construct F-Zero-esque pipe tracks.

Bay
New suspension bridge blocks.
New port block set, use boats and car parks.

Coast
New loop block.
New cliffside road block set.

Now the bad news, you'll have to update any car models you have to make them compatible with Extreme.

There's also an expansion for the original Trackmania. Named Trackmania Original it upgrades the graphics and blocks to Sunrise standard. Perfect for those who decided to stick with the original.

Both expansions can be found using the 'Upgrade' button on the launch menu of both games.

Another Friendly Notice

Got that pack I mentioned yesterday yet? Good. Here's another one that was released today.

Adventures of Mini Goddess 1
Haibane Renmai 1
Chobits 1
Gungrave 1
Serial Experiments Lain 1
Tenchi Muyo 1
Lunar Legend Tsukihime 1
Paranoia Agent 1
ROD TV 1
Technolyze 1

Another 10 discs. Another 10 great series'. Another 15 hours of anime. Another £15. Buy it immediately.

A Friendly Notice

As an anime fan you have to be wary of bootlegged DVDs but this was pointed out on the Neo forums today. The Works, that discount bookshop that so rarely has anything worth buying is selling a boxset of 10 anime DVDs for £15. The titles are:

Bubblegum Crisis 1
Love Hina 1
Ninja Scroll TV 1
Oh My Goddess! 1
Ranma 1/2 Movie 1
Trigun 1
Vampire Princess Miyu 1
Urusei Yatsura Movie 1
Urusei Yatsura Movie 3
You're Under Arrest Complete OVAs

Now if you do see this boxset in The Works then buy it. The DVDs are real and licenced from MVM so no need to worry about going to hell. Just make sure to leave me 1 OK.

Super Mario Kart Removed

It has fallen! The crown has been passed. The new king of kart racing is Mario Kart DS. Have a look at this.

Super Mario Kart
16 Tracks
8 Characters
4 Battle Courses
4 Player

Mario Kart 64
16 Tracks
8 Characters
4 Battle Courses
4 Player

Mario Kart Double Dash
16 Tracks
16 Characters
4 Battle Courses
16 Player via LAN

Mario Kart DS
32 Tracks
12 Characters
4 Battle Courses
8 Player via Wireless
4 Player via Wi-Fi
80 Training Missions

The training missions are based around classic boss battles from Mario games. The bullies from Mario 64's Lethal Lava Land and the Stone Hands from Shifting Sand Land will help you practice powersliding and weapon accuracy amongst other things. Add to that the fact that battle and VS modes can now be played in single player mode and you have a rediculous amount of value for a £30 game. Among the classic tracks brought over from past Mario Karts are Choco Mountain from MK64 and even Mushroom City from Double Dash gets a look in.

Gamespot gave it 9.2
Enough said. If you haven't got a DS yet then get one as soon as this comes out.

Redesign

First Ctrl+Alt+Del's site changed. A much nicer, slightly darker green to reflect the recent series of comics.

VG Cats changed for halloween. It went through stages.
1 - A chalk outline of the logo
2 - A grave
3 - An animated version showing the logo coming out of its grave
4 - An undead logo, risen from the beyond (or something like that)
Scott's updated the random quotes that appear at the top of the screen too.

Now Penny Arcade has changed to match the design of this year's Child's Play site. Much cleaner now.

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Seems like the chain-smoking, nature loving director has some competition. Hayao Miyazuki isn't happy at the director of Studio Ghibli's next film. Goro Miyazuki. Yes, its his son. Personally I find the fact that there are 2 Miyazuki's scary enough.

The Newtype spinoff that was announced recently has been given a name. NewWords is out on November 25th.

The Neo Awards were handed out last month. Here are the winners.
Anime
Best Movie
Howl's Moving Castle (Optimum/Studio Ghibli)
Miyazuki's last for a few years is one I haven't seen yet. I'm told its superb. I believe that.

Best Character
Vash The Stampede (Trigun - MVM)
I don't get it.

Best Series
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Manga Entertainment/Production I.G.)
Hands up who's surprised. No-one? OK then.

Best Soundtrack
Cowboy Bebop (Yoko Kanno/Victor)
Stand Alone Complex was nominated. The jazz wins out though.

Best Distributor
MVM (Fullmetal Alchemist, Samurai Champloo, Love Hina, Burst Angel)
Absolutely decimates the opposition in my opinion. Half my anime collection is MVM stuff.

Manga
Best Creator
CLAMP
And did anyone doubt this? Chobits, Card Captor Sakura, Wish, Tsubasa, Angelic Layer etc.

Best Character
Chi (Chobits)
And the CLAMP ladies do a double!

Best Series
Fushigi Yugi (Yu Watase/Gollancz)
I haven't read this yet but it beat out Fruits Basket so it should be pretty damn good.

Best Collection/Anthology
Ghost in the Shell: 2nd Edition (Masamune Shirow/Dark Horse)
The reissued version of this all time classic was very much welcome. UK team Sweatdrop Studios came second though with their Sugardrops collection.

Best Publisher
Tokyopop
These guys are incredible. They have almost single-handedly put manga on the high street.

Asian Cinema
Best Theatrical Film
House of Flying Daggers (Zhang Yimou/Pathe)
This is incredible. Go watch it.

Best Actor
Jet Li (Hero)
Enough said.

Best Actress
Ziyi Zhang (House of Flying Daggers)
See above.

Best DVD
Old Boy (Park Chan-wook/Tartan Films)
Dark, disturbing yet so much better than most of Tartan's output.

Best Soundtrack
House of Flying Daggers (Shigeru Umebayashi)
And there's the hat trick.

Best Distributor
Tartan Films
They may go for shock value more than often but their contribution to asian film in this country has been immense.

Other
Best Retailer
Play.com
I can vouch for this. Superb for classic anime too.

Best Book
Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics (Paul Gravett and Lawrence King)
Consider this incredibly big book your gateway into manga. Even if you already are.

Best Videogame
Astro Boy: The Omega Factor (GBA/THQ)
?!

Best J-Music Artist
Puffy AmiYumi
Accesible, fun, cheery, cute.

That's that.

Child's Play Update 1

New hospital.

USA
UNM Children's Hospital, New Mexico

First corporate sponsors have come in. Blizzard, Hard|OCP, RAD Gametools and Cerulean Studios join the platinum club and LM are the first gold sponsors.

Current Total - $65,000

Survival Project Is Back

Last year a webcomic known as Twisted Psyche led me to a glorious online game known as Survival Project. That game has changed a lot while I've been away from it. It has become bigger and much, much better. Here's some of the changes in Survival Project 2.

New Dungeons
Forest and Flame dungeons join the classic cave adventure.

New Monsters
Finally, SP has orcs and dragons.

New Games
Racing, Mole and Assault join the classics of Soccer and Lucky 3.

New Characters
2 new characters join the old 8.

NEW WEBSITE
If you look for the old site, http://english.spgame.com then you won't find a download link. You need the new site.

http://www.survival.com.my

See you in there.

Child's Play

2003 there was 1. 2004 there were 5. 2005 there are 15 hospitals in 3 countries standing to benefit from Penny Arcade's Child's Play appeal.

USA
Seattle Childrens Hospital
Oakland Children's Hospital
San Diego Children's Hospital
Kapi'olani Medical Centre for Women and Children
Texas Children's Hospital
Nebraska Children's Hospital
Midwest Children's Hospital
Vanderbilt Children's Hospital
Shand's Children's Hospital
National Children's Medical Centre
New Jersey Children's Hospital
Montefiore Children's Hospital, New York

Canada
The Toronto Hospital For Sick Children
IWK Children's Health Centre (Nova Scotia)

UK
To Be Announced

To Donate Toys
Go to www.childsplaycharity.org and click the hospital you want to donate to. Select an item from the Amazon wishlist and buy it as normal.

To Donate Money
Use Paypal to send money to childsplaycharity@penny-arcade.com or send money to:

Child's Play
12317 15th Avenue, #108
Seattle, Washington 98125

Please help this superb cause in whatever country you're in.

NaNoWriMo 2005 - GO!!

Read my 2005 novel, Both Sides of the Glass at http://njsykora.deviantart.com

Good luck to everyone taking part this year.

Big Box Sets

There are some very, very big boxsets coming out. So clear your shelves, schedules and wallets for these monsters.

All these details and prices are correct as on October 27th 2005 on www.play.com

First we have Futurama. This Matt Groening creation is funnier and more original than The Simpsons but never achieved the same level of fame. The complete box set contains all 4 seasons spread over a nice 15 discs for £55.

Next is Only Fools and Horses. This complete collection contains all the episodes and specials over a hefty 25 discs for £140

Now for Buffy and Angel. A pair of big boxsets containing 7 seasons of Buffy and 5 seasons of Angel. Buffy weighs in at 39 discs for £130 and Angel comes in with 30 discs for £110.

Finally. Friends. This 10 season monster is the must own boxset this christmas. At a staggering 60 discs for an equally impressive £150 this is sure to test your shelf strength and your bank manager's patience.

Special mention needs to be given to The X Files. I don't have a disc count for this but all 9 seasons for £135 sounds good to me. Essential if you missed it the first time. If you didn't then you already have them all.

In other notable releases. Extremely dull US phenomenon Lost hits DVD, Star Wars Episode 3 excites everyone, Ricky Gervais' painfully average Extras arrives, Ronnie Barker is remembered with several releases including the 12-disc Essential Ronnie Barker boxset and we return to Tall Oaks as Matthew Stifler, Paul Finch and Jim's Dad take center stage in American Pie Presents: Band Camp.

EDIT
Forgot something. Some hilarious extras complete what was one of the stand out comedies of the year easily standing up Jimmy Carr's funny but pointless Friday Night Project. Nathan Barley will cost you a mere 14 of your English pounds. Well worth it.

Something Worth Watching

You know TCM? Turner Classic Movies? That movie channel you never bother watching? Its got something worth watching. Over January they're showing 9 Studio Ghibli movies 7 of which are Miyazuki's.

Thursday, January 5
8:00 PM - Spirited Away
10:15 PM - Princess Mononoke

Thursday, January 12
8:00 PM - Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
10:00 PM - Castle in the Sky

Thursday, January 19
8:00 PM - My Neighbor Totoro
9:30 PM - Porco Rosso
11:15 PM - Whisper of the Heart

Thursday, January 26
8:00 PM - Only Yesterday
10:15 PM - Pom Poko

Though TCM is well known for showing foreign language movies with subtitles only 'Only Yesterday' will be in japanese. However the Ghibli movies usually have pretty good dubs so I wouldn't worry about that. I personally can testify to the quality of the Mononoke dub.

No Brain Required

Test Icicles' debut album, 'For Screening Purposes Only' is now up on the NME.com listening post. Please leave your brain at the door.

In case you missed it the Tsubasa Chronicle series 1 batch torrent is now online. Dattebayo and Live-eviL present this superb 26 episode series. Series 2 starts April 2006.

Also online (surprisingly) is the first series of Yu-Gi Oh by #TV-Nihon. This 6 episode set tells the story of how the millenium items were created and their significance. Those downloading it hoping to see some dualling action will be sorely disappointed because the cards appear a total of twice in this series.

Gamespot have reviewed Soul Calibur 3. Gamecube owners feeling sad at the lack of it on our beloved box need not worry. Only 2 returning characters, an unchanged fighting system and some confusing new modes lead to it getting a worthy but underwhelming 8.2

Cry Me A River

By Justin Timberlake who has the initials JT which is oofff course w00tworld's way of notifying you that...

IT'S THOMPSON TIME!!

Here Jack. This is a paintbrush. I assume you know how to use it judging from that target you've put on your back.

"As these scum wish me their worst, I will continue to try to do my utmost for His highest."
Email sent to Gamespot today. And in the same email he complained about being a moving target. Yeah about that JT...

OK, jackpeace@comcast.net doesn't work. Somehow gamers are (apparantly) getting a hold of Jacky's email though so do a bit of digging, its there somewhere.

Did I mention his little attempt to get the Penny Arcade guys arrested? Well he's tried but.....

"We have recieved no correspondance of that nature from Mr Thompson"
Seattle Police

Yeah.

Keep it here for all the best JT news.

w00tworld - Because Jack Thompson doesn't take the piss out of himself. He just makes it easy for the rest of us.

News Roundup

OK, time for a bit of a roundup.

Jack Thompson news first and he recently offered to donate $10,000 to charity if a developer made his game proposal. Seeing as the headlines over Hot Coffee have dried up this pretty much a way to get himself back into the limelight. Gabe of Penny Arcade decided to tell him about Child's Play and got an angry phone call in response. More info on that over at the PA site.

This is kinda old news but I haven't mentioned it yet. Tokyopop (may they live forever) are distributing the Blu label of manga. The Blu label is basically exclusively shounen-ai and yaoi manga and that fact that there is a company dedicated to it is great news for the rabid yaoi fangirls. Tokyopop itself publishes a fair few boy love manga like Eerie Queerie and Loveless. They're also winding up for the release of Offbeat, another very interesting looking shounen-ai manga series.

The almighty Shonen Jump magazine have announced a video label to go with their manga label. The first release will be Hikaru no Go in japanese and english on December 27th. Then there will be the Cartoon Network version of Naruto in english only in March followed sometime next year with the uncut japanese and english version of Naruto.

Zac Bertschy otherwise known as Answerman over at the superb Anime News Network went slightly overboard today on the subject of fansubs.

"The people you're talking about arguing with are a new breed of "fan" (although I hesitate to call them that) out there right now, created mostly by the proliferation of anime via bittorrent. They make a number of wacky claims, like anime companies are all evil behemoths who exist solely to drain your wallet, that all commercial translations are incorrect, that dubs "butcher" the spirit of the original Japanese version and that anime is created under some bizarre bohemian ideal that it should be totally free and readily available to anyone who wants it. Their general attitude is that anyone trying to make a buck off of anime is an evil capitalist pig-dog who disrespect and mutilate their untouchable sacred artwork."

This obviously gave many people the impression that he was making an attack on fansubbers. While this was denied later by ANN editor Chris Mcdonald phrases like this make me wonder.

"They behave as though the ultimate show of affection and support for someone's art is to steal it, slap your lame fansub group name all over the title sequence (Like #ANIME-SOX PRESENTS CHRONO CRUSADE), use gaudy fonts and half-assed translations to subtitle the show and then give it to as many people as possible for free."

I download fansubs but I also buy DVDs of those series' when they get released. You ask me why I pay money for a series I've seen and have on my hard drive? Well explain all those box sets in your DVD rack. Explain to me why you downloaded and watched Lost through bittorrent, saw it again on Channel 4 and will probably buy the box set when it comes out. I downloaded Stratos4 and Yumeria off KragaMuffin and loved them. I have 2/3 of the Stratos4 DVDs and will buy the Yumeria DVDs now its licenced (I couldn't believe it either). I also know where I can download episodes of Fruits Basket and Full Metal Alchemist but I'm waiting for the DVDs. Why? Because the sofa is far more comfortable that my computer chair.

OK, quick roundup of some Gamespot review scores.
Key - Gameplay/Graphics/Sound/Value/Tilt - Total (NOT AN AVERAGE)
First up a little known game for the PC.
F.E.A.R.
9/9/10/9/9 - 9.1


To say its a good week for the DS is an understatement.
Castlevania - Dawn of Sorrow
8/9/9/8/10 - 8.9

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
8/9/8/8/10 - 8.8

Trauma Centre: Under the Knife
8/8/7/7/8 - 7.8

Trace Memory
7/7/7/6/8 - 7.2

The Gamecube has a moment too.
Pokemon XD - Gale of Darkness
7/7/6/7/7 - 6.9

Reveals

New James Bond revealed. Its Daniel Craig. Gangsta fans will know him from Layer Cake back in 2004 but us gamers will recognize him as lucky bastard Alex West from the first Tomb Raider film (the one who Angelina Jolie's Lara reversed time to save after he got stabbed and crushed). He's the first blonde 007 which should be interesting. The next Bond film which naturally has to somehow beat the (in my opinion) superb Die Another Day is yet to be named as far as my knowledge goes.

In other news the UK version of seminal Australian gameshow Deal or No Deal has had its timeslot set. It will go out, as I said over at Bother's Bar at 5pm on Channel 4 weekdays. In what could only sweeten what was already a good announcement Mr Crickly Bottom himself Noel Edmonds has been confirmed as the host. It'll be great to see him back presenting.

In other news, I got the first Gorillaz album today which is ace as you all know. I also got Phantasy Star Online 3: C.A.R.D. Revolution which dispite all the reviews saying otherwise is also ace offline. As soon as I find a broadband adaptor I'm taking it online.

Other stuff that's ace includes Pokemon Advance Battle. The latest series is now running on Toonami at 5pm. A decent theme tune and vastly improved animation since the last time I saw Pokemon make this one to catch (no pun intended). If you're behind on the story then the 14 episode prequel that was Pokemon Chronicles is now available to buy on DVD. A mere £30 over at Play.com

Playlist - Turning Japanese

Please forgive my complete lack of existance around here but now I'm the only Hereford blogger. Everyone else has moved to join the scum on MSN Spaces. Anyway, here's this month's playlist.

Hayashibara Megumi - Sakura Saku (Love Hina opening theme)
L'arc En Ciel - Blurry Eyes
Yuria - You (Shuffle opening theme)
Unknown - Wake Up Angel (Pita-Ten opening theme)
Be Your Own Pet - Damn Damn Leash
Editors - Bullets
Goldie Lookin Chain - Charm School
Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better
Feeder - Shatter (I want to see Nightwatch)
Foo Fighters - Up In Arms

As I write this the Devils are heading for a 4-2 defeat at the hands of the Flyers. We led 2-0 at the start of the 2nd. Not good but on the upside, the Red Sox aren't going to be defending their MLB title any longer. Also Sidney Crosby, that hotshot rookie playing for Pittsberg in the NHL isn't living up to his reputation. 2 games, 2 losses and no goals for him. I laugh.

Mercury Prize 2005

"You must have made a mistake"

Those were the words uttered by Antony Hegarty as he collected the $36,000 Mercury Music Prize from Jools Holland in London last night. His band, Antony and the Johnsons beat off Coldplay, Bloc Party, Hard-Fi and the Kaiser Chiefs to claim the prestigious award beating odds of 50/1 in the process.

Playlist - I'm A Believer

Trying to keep an upbeat, optimistic tone this month. Not easy.

Bloc Party - Always New Depths
We Are Scientists - Great Escape
British Sea Power - It Ended On An Oily Stage
Bloodhound Gang - Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo
The Coral - Something Inside Me
Nickelback - Photograph
Weezer - Glorious Day
The Coral - Dreaming Of You
Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)
Alkaline Trio - Settle For Satin

About Time

We've all heard about asian gamers dying or being hospitalised after mammoth gaming sessions. Now the Chinese government has imposed a 3 hour session limit on all online games. After this period is up the player must take a 1 hour rest period before they can start playing again. The government is supported in this move by several game developers including Blizzard, makers of World of Warcraft.

DAMN YOU!!

Why must I be handed temptation at every turn?

(from Gamespot)

Manga Entertainment this week added a trio of anime films to the PSP's ever-growing cinematic library. Ghost in the Shell, Blood: The Last Vampire, and Ninja Scroll are now available on the UMD format for $19.99 each.

Damn. The PSP just got so much more essential.

So Is It Worth It?

I mentioned earlier in this crazy week that the DS price was being dropped to celebrate the release of Advance Wars 3 and Nintendogs. So in Gamespot's opinion is it worth getting it for these 2 games?

Nintendogs - 9.1 - Superb
Advance Wars 3 - 9.2 - Superb

Yep I'd say it is.

FIFA Soundtrack....And Its Alright Actually

So that time of year again and EA have released the FIFA 2006 soundtrack listing. The artists that make it up come from all over the world so here's the UK representation.

Bloc Party - Helicopter
Doves - Black and White Town
Dogs - London Bridge
Duels - Potential Futures
Embrace - Ashes
Hard-Fi - Gotta Reason
Jamiroquai - Feels Just Like It Should
LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
Oasis - Lyla
Paul Oakenfold - Beautiful Goal
Nine Black Alps - Cosmopolitan
The Departure - Be My Enemy
The Rakes - Strasbourg

Not bad I reckon.

In other sports game news 2k Games announced the pro players being included in the upcoming World Poker Tour 2k6 game.

Mike Sexton
Vince Van Patten
Erick Lindgren
Evelyn Ng
Michael Mizrachi
Lyle Berman
Antonio Esfandiari
Phil Laak
Mimi Rogers

In addition to that lot WPT host Shauna Hyatt will be taking care of the tutorials and Vince and Mike will provide commentary as usual. Which could make things tricky if they're both sat at the table at the time.

The poker game market is filling up quickly. In addition to WPT 2k6 Activision are preparing World Series Of Poker 2006. The majority of pros that didn't sign up for the WPT game will appear in WSOP 06 including Gus Hansen and Tony G. However, my personal favourite player Daniel Negraneu will be appearing in neither preferring to take centre stage in his own game and neither will Doyle Brunsen who already has his own series of casino games.

Top Ten - Zelda: Ocarina Of Time

Ocarina of Time is 7 years old this year and in all that time has only been challenged once for the title of 'Greatest Game Of All Time'. On release it extracted perfect scores from even the tightest reviewers and since then those perfects remain undiluted. As true now as they ever were. Following it was never going to be easy or even possible but with the latest attempt Twilight Princess delayed for a long time here's some of the best, worst and most memorable Ocarina of Time stuff that you can try while waiting as purely by reading this for this long I know that you own one of the 325,000 gold cartriges of the N64 version and have finished the game 20+ times (or is that just me?)

10 - Hey! Listen!
SHUT UP!! Many a time I have been watching someone play and they have yelled this as Link's fairy 'friend' Navi doles out advice. Some can be ignored, some (like enemy info) is useful but some forced advice is just annoying when playing through for even the 2nd time.

9 - Left-C, Top-C, Right-C, Left-C, Top-C, Right-C
The immortal Zelda's Lullaby. The ocarina whether in Fairy or Time flavours is the focal point of the game and if song names like the Minuet of Forest or Prelude of Light don't send shivers up your spine then you haven't played the game enough.

8 - £20 For The Works
So, the great fairies in A Link To The Past were gentle, typical fairies. So it must be here you think as you enter a Great Fairy's Fountain for the first time. AARRGGHH MY EYES!! Scantily clad, giggling manically and quite scary really. Enough to scar a young boy for life. As it did. To me.

7 - The House That Satan Built
Oh yes. Many a man has been broken and many a controller set to fly by the bastion of evil that is the Water Temple. A 3D maze that was anything but clear as water made even more annoying by the fact that its treasure (the Longshot) was an upgrade to an item you already had (the Hookshot) so you could see the way forward but not reach it. And what was the solution to this fiendish test of your intelligence? FIRE DAMMIT!! The key to the Water Temple was the opposite element! Who the hell would work that out? Even having done it as many times as I have it still causes me trouble.

6 - The Wager
Racing for Epona the horse was and still is one of the greatest mini-games in any game ever. 10 rupees to ride, another 50 to race meant that you had 3 attempts before heading off to refill your wallet. And when you won? Well you got the horse! You also got locked in. Resulting in a heroic leap over the fence which looked and felt good.

That's it for now, I'll be back with the last 5 later.

Double Meaning

Yaoi can be cute, disturbing, strangely arousing or even tempting (at times). However when put like this its just plain funny.

"The Things They Ask" by Divine-Star

It Is Done...

...and its absolutely hilarious. I'll post a link later.

BREAKING NEWS!! TWILIGHT PRINCESS DELAYED!!

Yes this is literally in the last hour or so. Nintendo have pushed back the release date of the new Zelda game from Christmas 2005 to April 2006. In a statement Nintendo said that the team working on the game had requested more time to add more levels and quality check the game more thoroughly.

In the same statement Nintendo gave some slightly better news. The Gameboy Micro will be hitting US stores on September 19th but no price was announced. I expect around $80 (around £65). In some concrete price news the DS will be dropping in price from $150 to $130 this Sunday to celebrate the release of Nintendogs. You may scoff at the idea of a dog training sim being good enough to drop the price of a machine but here's some facts about the Nintendogs launch in Japan.

- The game has shifted 700,000 copies since launch
- In the week of the game's launch the DS sold more units than the PS2 and PSP combined and is still outselling the pair of them
- It is only the 5th game to score a perfect 40 from gaming bible Famitsu

For those who still aren't convinced then be aware that the phenomenal Advance Wars returns for its 3rd incarnation on the same day.

And another thing to finish off what was originally a quick post, the slogan for the DS has changed. Believe it or not its actually got worse. The instant classic 'Touch Me' has changed to another instant classic in the making 'Touching Is Good'. Oh dear.

And yet another thing. Another Sonic compilation is coming out. However Sonic Gems is to include Sonic CD and Sonic R. The soundtracks for those 2 games make it worth the $30 (around £25) price point alone.

JT Update

www.stopstopkill.com
They've put the first part of a new series up. Jack Says The Darndest Things. Read it, its funny.

Emailing Jack
I just emailed him about that Bill Gates threat he made a few days ago. It bounced back so at least we're keeping him out of action. Here's the email if you're interested.

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From: njsykora@gmail.com
To: jackpeace@comcast.net
Subject: Bill Gates

I'm sure you've been asked this many times since it emerged but if Bill Gates doesn't stop the release of Bully on Xbox in the 50 days he has left what do you, as a solo lawyer considered by many to be wrong in the head consider to do to the world's richest man?

Also, do you have an opinion on www.stopstopkill.com?
---

I'll try sending this again tomorrow and every day until it gets through. If his email ever recovers.

I Rate - Irate

Different name for the same thing.

I Rate
Alkaline Trio
Crimson is such a good album.

The Magic Numbers
As is this.

Shuffle
Best anime I've seen in some time but the non-fans won't stop taking the piss.

The Chobits manga
Compelling is the only word.

Money
Payday on Friday!

Irate
The Fight
Its The Faders all over again.

Matthew Godsall
Can spot a bluff from a mile away.

Allan Saunders
At least pretend you know how to play.

HKS
Can't you at least rescedule Tsubasa?

Rivers Cuomo
Just because.

Jack Thompson (again)

JT's made the news again today. This email was released by Microsoft. Once I'd finished laughing I decided to post it here.

Dear Mr. Gates:

You have fifty-four (54) days in which to stop the release of Bully on XBox.

Govern yourself accordingly.

Sincerely, Jack Thompson

Seriously, does he think that the world's richest man gives a toss about what a Florida nutjob wants? Also I highly recommend you check out www.stopstopkill.com if you fancy a good laugh at Jacko's expense. I also recommend his Wikipedia entry.

I might email ol' Jacko later. He ignored me last time when I said I was a gamer. I'll fish that email out later. I'm actually just checking to see if his email has recovered.

EDIT
I was just flicking through Stopkill.com (JT's website) and my god. How stupid can you get? Here's a tip for any JT wannabes (god help us all). If you start mouthing off for no reason and get death threats....

DON'T PUT YOUR FUCKING HOME ADDRESS ON THE INTERNET!!

Incidentally....

Call Jack
305-666-4366

Visit/Write to/Set fire to/Bomb/Shoot Jack (do us all a favour)
Jack Thompson
1172 South Dixie Highway
Suite 111
Coral Gables
FL 33146

In the meantime until Rockstar release Bully check out their website which is fully decked out in Bully style. Clearly in true Rockstar style, they don't give a fuck what anyone else thinks. And also, check out this little fact. Before Rockstar gained complete notoriety for the GTA series they created Thrasher: Skate and Destroy, Wild Metal and even after GTA took over they created the sublime Oni.

Recovery?

I reviewed PartyPoker.com Poker Den soon after it started and wasn't too nice. Apparantly Jesse May's commentating now so maybe I might revise my opinion soon.

Take Cover

CMD: Enter_fanboy_mode-megaman

"Capcom states that Battle Network 6 will be the series climax suggesting that in some way this will be the last Battle Network game for the time being." Gamespot

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO *breath*OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Dating Tips - Muffin Style

Most of you know my current one track mind so here's an extract from the dating tips thread on the KragaMuffin Forum.

onheilmagneet
boys will be boys.... always much talkin .. little action...

njsykora
I resent that statement......true though.

onheilmagneet
hahah.. lol....

sorry. no offense
( i like boys... bu still.. )

njsykora
But then there are the jocks. Under E cup need not apply.

onheilmagneet
E is kinda big ... what ever would you do with those things?

Kikomi
I guess, we can all pretty much guess it

njsykora
I can't. I don't quite get what the facination is. (note - this is back in June)

onheilmagneet
me neither...
ok.so them things are kinda soft..which is nice.. but besides that?

At this point this part of the conversation died. Then people started to come out with some real gems.

Hikaru
Stay at home and masturbate.

That's about all you'll be able to accomplish by asking most of the people here
(note - Hikaru lists his location as "A Catgirl's Underwear Drawer")

Just when the thread got back on topic again we got this masterstroke.

Naziar99
Here is a quick dating tip for all you guys out there who need help from the Naziar.

Here is a good way to have a successful date.

First ask the girl her name.

No matter what she says you reply

What a lovely name.
How it rolls off the tongue. Like sweet spring rain. Kissing the plump ripe skin of a nectarine, as it begs to be plucked and devoured.

Once you have made your introduction in this manner you will get sex. No matter how stupid you are the rest of the date that first impretion will assure that you get sex and many other dates if you desire them.

I have tried this several times with success and have yet to not get the sex while implementing this dating tactic.

Long term relationships (over 15 dates) of your normal stupidness will result in a new impression of you not based on your first amazing introduction and you'll prlly get dumped after that.

A way to ruin a first date if you desire to is to say this

Would you like some of my sex with me?

This has always failed to get the sex and second date. Use it to get rid of fat and/or ugly and other undesirable dates.

The moral of this story? Ask people online for dating tips. You'll get years worth of sig material.

Only Without The Outfit

I was bored.


:: how nintendo are you? ::


How evil are you?

In Reality - deviantART Prints

You go to a website, see all that glamour and flashy designs and clicky buttons trying to persuade you to part with your money. In this new series I'll tell you the reality of the what its like to give them your money for something you want. For the first of these experiments I decided to test out a highly scrutinized service. dA Prints.

The Idea
Artists create mind-blowing pieces of art and sell them through dA for a profit on both sides of the argument. Pictures can also be put onto t-shirts, calendars and mugs to name a few alternative products. Buyers get an easy, secure way to support their favourite artists.

The Process
Simple really placing an order. Find the print you want, click 'add to cart' and choose your size, finish and if available a frame. Prints can also be added to a wishlist so visiting deviants to your page who are feeling generous can buy you stuff. It also reminds you what you want.

Next, set the delivery address and payment method. For this test I decided to use my finally active Paypal account. dA only accepts US dollars even though it displays your own native currency when browsing. Changing currencies in Paypal is easy and can be done in seconds. Paying a different currency with a credit card could be a bit more complex. Minor hassle and I'd changed currencies in Paypal before coming to the shop (£10 = about $17 at the time). Click click, instant transfer of money into dA's account. Transfer charges are included in the delivery charge.

Oh, before paying you have to choose a delivery method. US Airmail will get the order to you in about 5 days and is the cheapest option with either airmail letter (big envelope) or airmail parcel (cardboard tube, looks good in storage). Everyone knows FedEx and they deliver in 1-2 days. Expensive though, same sub-options as US Airmail (you know you want that rippy strip envelope). I opt for the cheapass option and pay for the goods.

The Wait
3 emails come from dA during the wait period. The first is a confirmation email to say that payment has been recieved successfully. The second says that your order is being processed (printed and packed) while the third informs you that your order is on its way. I chose to boast and irritate the hell out of my friends during this period. I suggest you do the same.

The Delivery
So, they're here. First thing seen is the big white envelope. Not even the UK Postal Service could bend this thing. Second thing seen is that dAhQ is located on Beaver Ridge. Once I stopped giggling I set about attacking the envelope.

Big White Envelope

Inside were (obviously) the prints but what else? Well 2 airmail letters with cool mini shots of the prints. Printed on the same paper in the same size.

'Peaceful Evening' Letter

'Innocence' Letter

There's also a big bit of cardboard for some reason. The smaller prints come in a natty little photo envelope.

The Reality
dA has become a money making machine and many of its members disagree with that. However the quality of the prints service is undeniable.

Next On 'In Reality'
Amazon.com's Super Saver Delivery. Spend over £19 and get the lot delivered free. With a few conditions.

New Feature

No feature for July due to technical difficulties. August's feature is up.

Missing The Point

Don't post a piece of news that could be interpreted in more than one way. Or you get something like this.

Taken from the comments box at Bother's Bar. Where pissing off the owner is half the fun.

The Situation
Brig had posted a lovingly crafted article about product placement in American shows. And put a referral plug for Amazon.co.uk at the top. File under 'good idea at the time'.

The Comments
Me
www.sendit.com
www.play.com

Both much better than Amazon because of the free delivery thing.

Play don't accept Solo cards though...
Sendit don't sell books though...

OK so Amazon has its plus points though.

Travis
www.argos.co.uk

At least they have now brought back Superplexus.

Brig
No no no, you've all MISSED THE POINT.

Me
Back on the online shopping issue. I just bought £23 worth of goodness from Amazon. It was only gonna be £12 worth of goodness but I needed another £7 of goodness to get free delivery.

The Moral
Don't try and lead a normal conversation with me around.

The Thursday Chart of Randomness!!

Otherwise known as 'I'm bored, lets find something to do'.

All these charts are correct at the time of writing.

Top 10 Most Played Songs In My Library
1: Yellowcard - Way Away (54)
2: The Offspring - She's Got Issues (47)
3: The Strokes - 12:51 (47)
4: A - Better Off With Him (41)
5: The Strokes - Reptilia (41)
6: Foo Fighters - Walking After You (35)
7: Hard-Fi - Tied Up Too Tight (35)
8: Sum 41 - Pieces (31)
9: The Offspring - Gotta Get Away (30)
10: The Subways - Oh Yeah (29)

Crystal

Finally we find out what happened to the crystals when The Crystal Maze finished. They were given to this guy.

For My Wall

Just bought 2 prints off dA. Much easier than I expected actually. £20 from my next pay is going in there. Then I can buy a print from Niku.

GC3 Result

Another result for you.

After taking Cec (TmK) down 2-0 Oliver (FTMT) decided to repeat his success. At my expence.

Oliver (FTMT) bt njsykora (YTMB)
7-0 7-1

Oliver goes to the top of division 1 and njsykora remains at the bottom after 2 games each.

Into The Chamber [GC]

OK, new review up for The White Chamber.

If you see [GC] at the end of a post title then it means that that post contains an update on the Trackmania Sunrise Giant Cup.

Giant Cup Update
Well I've played a match. I got schooled.

Maoul (FMT) bt njsykora (YTMB)
7-0 7-0

I'm proud to have played the first game of division 1 though.

PvP vs PA [GC3 Update]

Rival webcomics Player vs Player and Penny Arcade are at war. On World of Warcraft. The 2 warring comics are creating 2 massive guilds who will eventually go to war on each other. Currently PvP has about 500 members while PA has had to create a second guild after the first reached its member limit and also crashed the Iron Moon server.

I think PA is gonna win.

[GIANT CUP UPDATE]
I begin my campaign in about 40 minutes against Maoul of the french FMT team. Currently Maoul has 80% of community backing. But I've been practicing like a demon on my chosen track.

Tracks
Maoul - Perfect Round 4 (MrA)
njsykora - Scorpius 29/5 (Scorpius)
Golden Map - Commander Fada

For those that don't know the basic cup rules.

Both players select a map from the list of 15. They then play a rounds game, first to 7 wins. If after both maps have been played the score is tied then the golden map is played. The golden map is a multilap track and is played on a first to 5 basis. 3 points are awarded for a win.

Giant Cup 3 - NJ's Road To Defeat

The 3rd Trackmania Giant Cup is underway. I've been placed in division 1. My first match is against Maoul of the FMT team. I'm not exactly the favourite. I'm playing tomorrow so I'll let you know what happens. I just don't want to finish bottom of the division.

The only real action after day 1 is in Division 7 where The Big Boo took out Yokenu of the TsQ team 2-0. Big Boo has also played Frubius and No1Nose (Team YS) but lost both matches 2-0.

2 Months To Go

There was no 2004-05 NHL season due to a major pay dispute and strike action by the NHLPA. However that is now in the past and the 2005-06 season will start soon with several rule changes. The 3 most important ones are...

1 - The red center line will be removed to allow for longer passes without eliminating the 2 line pass rule.

2 - Goaltender equipment (padding) will be reduced.

3 - Should a game still be tied after the usual period of 4v4 overtime it will go to a shootout.

Anyway, technical stuff over so here's the most important start date.

5th October 2005
New Jersey Devils vs Pittsburgh Penguins

Month In Review - July

Well what's happened this month?

2nd
I start work at McDonalds. World mourns.

5th
My comp refuses to switch on, am without entertainment for 2 weeks. World mourns.

6th
London is awarded the 2012 Olympic Games. World rejoices.

7th
Terrorist blow up 3 tube trains and a London bus. World mourns.

20th
Comp is fixed. World rejoices.

21st
Terrorists attempt but fail to blow up another 3 trains and another bus. World rejoices.

29th
Bombers are caught. World rejoices.

29th
Scott Jarkoff, co-founder of deviantART is fired. Site falls into chaos. World mourns.

So that's the month's news. Now for this month's playlist which doesn't follow a theme. This has been a very complicated month.

Playlist - Changing Moods
Sum 41 - Pieces
Foo Fighters - Walking After You
Weezer - Haunt You Every Day
The Strokes - Reptilia
The Offspring - She's Got Issues
Hard-Fi - Tied Up Too Tight
The Subways - Oh Yeah
The White Stripes - Hotel Yorba
A - Better Off With Him
Yellowcard - Way Away

Video of the Month
Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict a Riot
The redone version of this awesome single shows far more style than the original.

Rediscovery of the Month
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
With my comp down I listened to every CD I had. Such an awesome album.

Person of the Month
JamesP
Faithful/brave/stupid moderator of the Challenge forums. Now leaving Challenge to work at Bravo. Good luck to him.

Album of the Month
The Offspring - Greatest Hits

Quote of the Month
"4 of the doubliest doubles you can manage"
McDonalds employee Kris shows his gay side.

Picture of the Month

NJ and Naomi by ZephX

I think that's everything. I'll be back later.

Chaos

deviantART has been thrown into chaos this week by the dismissal yesterday of Community Relations Officer, beloved administrator and site co-founder Scott Jarkoff aka jark or Yellow Alien. In response to the announcement Scott was quick to confirm that he had not stepped down but had been forced out. This prompted an angry outcry from nearly every active member on the site. Scott had constantly been proved to be the most popular of all 3 founders and as Matt Stephens aka matteo has resigned since the announcement it seems that the person responsible is Angelo Sotira aka Spyed or Black Ninja and CEO of deviantART Inc. It is thought by the vast majority of deviants (including me) that Angelo has always wanted to claim the site as his own. The question now is what does this mean for the future? There is no neutrality in this situation. If you're a deviant then you will eventually have to choose. Are you a yellow alien or a black ninja? I highly expect Scott and Matt to start their own dA together. Should that happen will you move? Or will you remain part of a community ruled over by someone who is willing to do anything to get his way?

http://www.t52.org/
Read Matt's thoughts on Angelo.

FACT
Angelo was not a deviantART founder.

A Tough Decision

It is a decision that most of will have to make at some point. A decision that can change our entire future or in my case cause me to write stupid, over-exaggerating blog posts like this one. I have made the decision to get a PSP. 2 reasons for me making this decision.

a) Lumines
b) Live-evilL's PSP Fansubs

Sorry but now it can surf the net (yet still not offer online play) the concept of downloading and watching new Tsubasa episodes on the bus is too tempting. I will say this though. There shall be no PSP without the DS. Did you seriously think I'd pass on the chance of playing Metroid Prime: Hunters online?

Oh, new playlist later. I know its a bit early but I always get itchy about the playlist around this time.

The Hot Coffee Saga - Part 5

If an American christian was asked about the Hot Coffee issue.

Ticket to Hell

1 Down, 3 To Go

Yasin Hassan Omar who was caught on CCTV before boarding the underground at Warren Street Station and suspected of planning on setting off a suicide bomb on that train was caught this morning in a Birmingham flat. Police now have 48 hours to interrogate him before they must charge him. It is expected that should Omar talk the UK Al-Qaida network will be hunted down with great speed.

Ctrl+Alt+Del - The Zeke Saga - The Story So Far

Right, if you've recently started reading CAD (within the last few weeks) then you might want to know what's going on. Its a long storyline this one and Tim says that when its over CAD will be changed forever so here's what's happened so far.

Everything started with a perfectly innocent comic. Ethan lugging the air conditioner to its spot by the window. It slipped and fell out the window. Lucas and Ethan found themselves unable to insult each other and so Ethan thought up the idea of a water fight to cool down. Unfortunately the first shot missed its intended target (Ethan's girlfriend Lilah) and instead hit his walking, talking Xbox named Zeke. We all know water and Xboxes don't mix. At this point we found out that Lilah didn't know about Zeke, which was a shame as he promptly exploded. This caused Lilah to go off on one as Ethan mourned Zeke. Eventually he gave up and left Zeke to rust on the workbench.

Which was what he thought. As Zeke's head dropped it hit a spare battery causing a return to life but clearly, the old Zeke's green eyes compared to his now red eyes showed something was wrong. Meanwhile Lilah tried to comfort Ethan and went into the kitchen to make some tea, where she found Zeke. As Ethan embraced his revived friend he found that this was not the old Zeke. Getting smashed through the wall was a big clue. As Zeke marched through the flat looking for more stuff to destroy Ethan and Lilah hid. Anti-Microsoft (i.e. my kinda guy) Scott was now brought into the fight by Zeke destroying his door as he walked past. Meanwhile Ethan was trying to get close enough to Zeke to turn him off, without much success as he, Lilah, Scott and Lucas found themselves barricading themselves in while trying to think of a plan. Lucas' baseball bat plan didn't work and Scott ended up dragging him and his broken leg to a hospital while Zeke determined that Ethan's Gamecube was a "useless object" (ha. ha.) and threw it into the big TV which we now saw for the first time. The bigger the TV, the bigger the explosion when it gets smashed by a Gamecube. This was a big fuck-off explosion. We know that Scott and Lucas made it out in time but did Ethan and Lilah make it out?

EDIT
Well we pick up the story with Ethan and Lilah alive but very shaken. They make a move to leave but Zeke won't be beaten that easily. We wait for Friday's episode with Lilah in Zeke's clutches. Ethan now has to choose between the 2 (Tim hasn't said that but you know its true).

Cartoonist Choice Awards

Of the 3 w00tworld supported comics (Ctrl+Alt+Del, Penny Arcade and VG Cats) only 1 could nail an award. And that one was VG Cats. Scott's brilliantly funny comic nailed not only the award for Best Use of Colour but also beat off PvP, PA and CAD to take the Best Gaming Comic award. Nice one Scott.

By the way, Scott's looking at the Hot Coffee saga in this week's comic.

Best line - "Now lets not let the facts get in the way of bolstering my career" - Jack Thompson

The Hot Coffee Saga - Part 4

Yes its still going on and now its become very serious.

The US House of Representatives last night voted 255-21 in favour of a federal trade inquiry into whether Take Two and Rockstar decieved the ESRB when presenting the game for rating. If this is found to be true (and it is true) Rockstar could be in more than just commercial trouble.

Who Am I?

Quick challenge. Anyone gets it I'll be very impressed.

Who links these 3 gameshows?

Gladiators
You Bet
Finders Keepers

Answer tomorrow.

EDIT
Damn, Ali nailed it.

Diane Youdale was the legendary Jet in Gladiators. She co-presented Finders Keepers with Neil Buchanan and also co-presented You Bet in 1996 alongside Darren Day.

Who's House Is It?

OUR HOUSE!!

Its a strong report. Finders Keepers (run around trashing house gameshow) is coming back to CITV. Seems like the awesome Splash Camp reminded ITV of the need for a good quality childrens gameshow. Question is who's gonna present? Neil Buchanan is a possibility and by far and away the best but as always there's the danger of Michael Underwood. His experience presenting Eliminator and Jungle Run may make him the favourite of the decision makers.

The Hot Coffee Saga - Part 3

The San Andreas 'Hot Coffee' mod story does not stop for a second. Here's what happened yesterday.

- Gamespot reported that removing the game from their shelves is not expected to hit US game retailers as much as was expected. The majority of damage is expected to be dealt to Take Two.

- Online retailer Gamefly has recalled all rental copies and cancelled any orders for the game.

- Take Two have suspended production of all versions of the game.

As with all situations like this we can always expect some light relief in the form of anti-gaming activist and lawyer Jack Thompson. Yesterday he said that nude content in The Sims 2 showed EA were targeting pedophiles and that the game should be banned. The fact that there is no nude content in The Sims 2 meant we all got to laugh at Thompson. Again.

Moe

This is a post taken from Ken Akamatsu's blog translated by Matthew of the awesome 'Summer of Sakura' blog. Its a bit lengthy but read it all, its worth it.

Public opinion seems to be searching for a definite definition of the word 萌え "moe", which has already come into use among the public, and when I searched, net experts and glossary sites had various definitions.

The state of having a deep feeling towards a certain person or thing
An extremely primitive sensation that happens even faster than one can judge with feeling, much like a spinal cord reflex, which happens when one sees generally bishoujo or little girls, or other pretty or innocent things. It is being fascinated then deeply moved.
"Moe" is word which indicates a budding feeling of love, as well as a fetishistic taste, generally towards fictional characters from anime, manga, and games, especially an attachment or obsession with those who have certain special characteristics (nekomimi, tsundere attitude [a character type in which the character, generally female, is alternatingly tsun-tsun, "pointed; mean", and dere-dere, "lovey dovey", hence tsundere. See Sara from Futakoi]); originally used as slang among otaku.
Indicates an "admiration" of a cute girl's human emotions from afar.
However, we still don't know the reason why people feel "moe".

Accordingly, I would like to present the following hypotheses of my own.

First of all, "moe" must meet the following conditions:

It does NOT include sexual action: "Moe" is being calmed/soothed by watching from afar. It is not an object of sexual action. There are other classifications such as "2D-con" for those who include sexual conduct. Looking at a bishoujo and thinking "I want to do her" is a normal sexual desire for a man; looking at a biyoujo [美幼女, a girl younger than a bishoujo, synonymous with "loli". Maachi in Gokujou Seitokai, or Miku in Zettai Shounen, for example] and thinking "I want to be calmed/soothed" is "moe".
The person feeling it must be stronger: The object of "moe" is weak and dependant (like a child) on the person, or is in a situation where she cannot oppose (like a maid). Also, the person is raising her (like a pet). Accordingly, being fond of the girl as if loving a pet cat, the person is willing to put themselves in harm's way if danger approaches. (*Tsundere only: There will be times where the stronger and weaker role is reversed)
Affirms the present situation: Moe is the action of enjoying "the present situation" and does not wish for changes afterward; one wishes to enjoy it forever.
In the above-mentioned (1), I think you realize that, rather than a male's emotions, it is a feeling similar to that of a mother looking at her daughter, or of other females looking at someone else's child and feeling soothed/calmed, or of looking at a pet and feeling affection for it.

In the above-mentioned (2), at first glance, there is a feeling of otaku-like convenience, but, in fact, you can catch a glimpse of the positive affection of "I want to love" more than "I want to be loved" in it, and the strength of not being weary of spending both time and money for that purpose is the foundation of it. To compare it, it resembles a parent's strength.

On the feeling of the moratorium of (3): if you take it negatively it gives the impression of a "hikikomori" [one who withdraws from society], but, in fact, it is not the denial of the process of "The object of moe growing, loving, and moving on from the present condition", it is similar to a positive sense of denial, such as "I don't want my daughter to get married."

...Well, you've probably realized I've used the word "parent (mother)" many times over.

I would submit the following hypothesis:

"Moe" is a "maternal affection" which a part of males have been left with that has undergone a change and shown itself and, originally, is an irregular feeling a male should not have, however, it is a pure love which does not include any sexual action and is an exceedingly peaceful desire.

If we suppose that "moe" occurs from a maternal affection that should be lost, could we then assert that moe otaku are basically peaceful, and do not wish for physical conflict? (They do have verbal fights, though)
If we think of "Love towards a pet" as an compensatory action for "Love towards a child", then it is, after all, a variation of motherly love. In other words, could the "moe" of putting nekomimi on (it's a syllogism, but...) be motherly love?
Is the brisk economic activity of the "moe" industry very close to that of stupid parents pouring money into child-rearing (education) expenses?
I think that the "moe" that has recently been occurring among females is an imitation of male "moe", and is false. Or, rather, should we call it the true thing since they of all people possess the original maternal love?

...What do you think?

The aggressive males who go so far as to rape to satisfy their sexual desires have been reported on, but on the other hand, there are a large number of males who possess this peaceful essence. Moe~.

I think it is not a cultural phenomenon that has surfaced recently, but most likely something which has existed from the beginning of time.

By the way, from tomorrow you can check out my own anime blog at http://njanime.blogspot.com

Moe (double posted)

How did I double post something this big?

Going For The Title

I have 9 days to get to grips with Trackmania Sunrise before this Summer's 1v1 Cup. I'm the first person to register so it should be interesting seeing how I perform in my first official Trackmania tournament.

By the way, all those who have switched to MSN Spaces can go to hell. Blogger's best.

Get Out Of This One 2

GTA: San Andreas has become the second major embarrasment for Rockstar following the Manhunt incident. Following the discovery of the 'Hot Coffee' content in the PS2 retail version the game has been re-rated Adults Only in the US and has been taken off shelves in all Gamestop stores following a crash in the company's share price. Gamestop's share price dropped $25 to just under $36 and publisher Take Two Interactive also felt the impact falling over 5%.

In a Gamespot poll over 30% of visitors believe that Rockstar was asking for it.

Get Out Of This One

The now infamous 'Hot Coffee' mod for GTA: San Andreas which added sex minigames and has previously been blamed on hackers has been found in a retail copy for PS2. For screwing over the American game rating system Rockstar could now face prosecution from the US Supreme Court and be fined millions of dollars.

OWNED!!

Updated For The New Millennium

AZ:UK has FINALLY been updated to look a bit better and to get rid of the dead sections. Go check it out, the new layout is so much easier to use.

Good Times We Can't Repeat

I'm baaack!!

The End Is Near

How depressed am I?

Now Playing
Backstreet Boys - Incomplete

Oh shit.

Oh, by the way. The Amazing Race 7 kicks off on LivingTV2 tomorrow at 9pm. I've mentioned it a few times before.

Playlist - Lost Cause

Playlist time again and a tricky theme this month.

Lost Cause
The Hives - Hate To Say I Told You So
Linkin Park - Breaking The Habit
Good Charlotte - The Young And The Hopeless
Weezer - Say It Ain't So
Green Day - Letterbomb
Bloc Party - She's Hearing Voices
The Killers - All These Things That I've Done
The Magic Numbers - Forever Lost
Hot Hot Heat - Touch You Touch You
Foo Fighters - Breakout

Also Playing...
Kings of Leon - The Bucket
Faithless - Weapons of Mass Destruction
Slipknot - Before I Forget
System of a Down - RadioVideo
The Offspring - Why Don't You Get A Job?

Album of the Month
The Offspring - Greatest Hits

FYI
The Playlist is a monthly post showing 10 songs that have dominated my listening over the past month. In the past they've just been my 10 favourite songs but from this month I will aim to pick 10 songs which reflect my general mood over the month gone.

Half Time Entertainment - The Answers

Well we've passed the half way point in the year so here are the answers to the Half Time Entertainment Googlequiz.

Round 1 - Anime
1) Karin, Mikaze, Shizuka, Sayaka
2) Rei Ayanami
3) Kinya Kotani
Bonus - Maaya Sakamoto

Round 2 - Games
4) Samantha
5) Jayne Wilde
6) Dwarf
Bonus - Dirk

Round 3 - Music
7) Adema
8) A bullet-proof vest
9) 3
Bonus - We As Americans, Love You More, Ricky Ticky Tock

Round 4 - Websites
10) 13 months
11) The site was being redesigned
12) August 2000
Bonus - August 7th 2000

Round 5 - Comics
13) Cecania
14) Hector
15) Zeke
Bonus - Xbox

There you go. Mark your own answers.

Still Alive

Music - Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (on an iPod)

I'm not in Hereford right now. For my own protection I've had to be escorted to a secret location. With beer. And the already mentioned iPod. And pork pies.

Did I mention the iPod?

Yes before you ask I am considering doing the ad thing.

I got a bank account at long last and I'm keeping the £10 in there until Monday so I can get Offspring's greatest hits.

As its the turn of the month I'll be putting up this month's playlist later.

Half Time Entertainment

Well as we near the half time break for this year I have a special Googlequiz for you. 5 categories, 3 questions in each. Using Google and Wikipedia to find out answers is actively encouraged.

Round 1 - Anime
1) Name the 4 female lead characters in series one of Stratos4.
2) In Neon Genesis Evangelion who is the first child?
3) Who sings the opening theme to Tsubasa Chronicle? Bonus point for saying who sings the closing theme.

Round 2 - Games
4) What is the name of the female racer in Need For Speed Underground?
5) John Vattic is the main psychic character in Second Sight. Who is the other?
6) In Tales of Symphonia what type of creature is Lloyd Irvine's father? Bonus point for giving his name.

Round 3 - Music
7) What was Adema's first album called?
8) In the video to Funeral for a Friend's Streetcar, what does the girl take out of her locker?
9) How many hidden songs are there on Eminem's Encore album? For a bonus point name them.

Round 4 - Websites
10) How long has Bother's Bar been online?
11) Why did DDR:UK go offline earlier this year?
12) When was deviantART founded? Bonus point for an exact date.

Round 5 - Comics
13) In Sore Thumbs, which main character was arrested on terrorism charges?
14) In Penny Arcade, what is the name of Gabe's golfing slave?
15) In Ctrl+Alt+Del, what is the name of Ethan's walking console? Bonus point for saying what console it is.

Email your answers to me at njsykora@gmail.com and good luck.

Phil Is A Choo-Choo Charlie...

...apparantly. That's according to Meredith and Maria in the 6th race. Make up your own mind about Phil Keoghan when The Amazing Race 2 starts a daily run on LivingTV2. Monday at 9pm. The reminder is already set on my Sky box.

We Lost

Supreme Court Rules Against File Swapping

Taken from ZDNet UK

America's top judges have found against Grokster and StreamCast, ruling that peer-to-peer services can be held responsible for copyright infringements committed by their users.

In a unanimous decision, the justices ruled companies that build businesses with the active intent of encouraging copyright infringement should be held liable for their customers' illegal actions.

It won't immediately shut down access to the trading networks, however. The court's ruling will send the case back to the lower courts, which will review the evidence against Grokster and co-defendant StreamCast in the light of Monday's decision.

"The most important message from today's historic decision is that progress and innovation do not have to come at the expense of recording artists, songwriters and the people who make their living in the entertainment industry," Warner Music Group chief executive Edgar Bronfman said in a statement. "This important decision will allow artists and the creative community to prosper side by side with the technology industry."

The peer-to-peer companies involved warned that the court had opened the floodgates to litigation against a wide variety of technology companies, but said they would continue to distribute their software, and expected to be cleared of any wrongdoing.

"We are confident that it will be proven that Morpheus does not promote or encourage copyright infringement," said StreamCast Chief Executive Officer Michael Weiss. "We're staying in this for the fight. We're going to continue to innovate and come out with new products."

Four generations of file swapping have laid the groundwork for the Supreme Court decision. Technology companies have feared that a new copyright-focused standard aimed at controlling peer-to-peer networks might result in a rise in lawsuits aimed at blocking new products. The Betamax ruling had protected generations of products, ranging from CD burners to Apple's iPod to personal computers.

Some in the technology world said the result could lead to more litigation against young companies with new technologies.

"This is a very dangerous decision for technology and innovation," said Ed Black, chief executive officer of the Computer and Communications Industry Association. "If you think of the Sony decision as a shield or an umbrella, we're afraid some holes have been punctured in that umbrella."

Michael Petricone, vice president of technology policy for the Consumer Electronics Association, added that "it is a real concern for entire industry. We are faced with competitors in China and India who do not face the same litigation burden that companies will with this decision."

We lost but the fight goes on. Time for p2p and BitTorrent to come together.

A Great Loss

It is with immense regret and sorrow that I inform you that Richard Whiteley, presenter of Countdown for 23 years has died this evening aged 61. It is a great loss to the gameshow community and our most sincere condolences go out to all his friends and family.

Now On

Those of you looking for some good old fashioned blasting should check out my review of Zombies over on w00tworld Reviews.

Tsubasa Chronicle 12 is also on bittorrent if you fancy it.

Overclocked Overlooked

So you probably all know about Overclocked Remix. One of the biggest sites on the net owned by a contender for biggest ego on the net (he's allowed). Spawning spin-offs like Ormgas and pisstakes like Overlooked Remix (www.olremix.org) its hard to remember where it started.

www.overclocked.org

The original Overclocked webcomic. All 145 episodes remain on that small, badly designed site. It looks quite different to the modern OCR doesn't it? In my opinion OCR lost its charm when the shabby blue design went. Anyway, check out Overclocked if you've ever dabbled in emulation. Its hilarious.

Oh, and if you've read it before bear in mind that some episodes have been brought up to date such as Episode 9 - Doubts. Pretty accurate I reckon.

Guilty Pleasures

We all have them. Stuff we really shouldn't like, stuff we don't want to like but we like it anyway. Case in point for me? A band with a ridiculous symbol, stupid name and a frontman who looks suspiciously like Bam Margera.

HIM.

My sister likes them and that's where the problems started. Initially I hated them and communicated that face nice and clearly but they've grown on me and I'm starting to like them. For me, that's a problem.

Oh Bother

Thanks to Brig Bother and his highly un-licenced bar I can reveal a few things (i.e. I'm pinching news off him).

Celebrity Wrestling
Those phone box ads look so wrong now don't they. I stopped following it in the 4th week but here are the winners.

Teams
Warriors - 29-18
Men
Iwan Thomas
Women
Annabel Croft

Celebrity Love Island
No I didn't watch any of it. Jayne Middlemiss won apparantly (which is good). A second series has not been ruled out by ITV executives (which is bad, very very bad).

The Apprentice
Episode 1 of this 2nd US series saw the 18 candidates chucked in at the deep end. Designing a toy for Mattel. The girls team of Apex won and got dinner with Mr and Mrs Trump in their apartment for their trouble. The boys team of Mosaic lost and team member Bob was fired for his trouble.

Other
The last episode of Going Live! appeared on surviving tracker UKNova this week. Which Big Brother 6 contestant asked a question at the final press conference? Find out tomorrow.

Watching series 1 of Casino Casino I'm trying to work out who chopped the balls off the series 2 players. Series 1 players were making bets of 6000 on the first hand of blackjack and putting 500 bets on single numbers at the roulette table. They were also risking the lot in the manager's office bets. Not just if they had a paltry 4000 left but even with a massive stack of 88000. Series 2 and players stuck to the minimum of 1000 on blackjack and barely went above 20000 in the manager's office. no guts no glory guys.

My PokerRoom.com balance is looking up. Around $2,200 going into today's session and I left with $2,800.

As My Old Dad Used To Say....

Official teamer JamesP over at the Challenge forums has broken rank to hint at Takeshi's Castle merchandise being released. He's asking us to come up with our favourite phrases to go on t-shirts. Me and Dan are both in our element trying to out-do each other. Currently it stands like this.

Me - 6
Dan - 7

Get over there and back me up.

Eroding My Soul

As a fan (still) of it I feel I must tear out my soul for laughing at this.



I insult my own loves. Thanks to HKaiser of MuffinForums for the pic.

EDIT
Forgive a bit of babbling.
tsubasa11.....tsubasa11.....tsubasa11.....tsubasa11.....tsubasa11.....
Been looking forward to it all week. Should be a good one this but its gotta beat off episode 1 of Stratos4 for the title of *drumroll* EPISODE OF THE WEEEEEEK!!

Why does everyone extend double E's?

Fall From Grace

11th (4) - Fantasy/Reality - 27 Points

Bugger. I scored 4 measly points this week dammit.

New Review And Other Stuff

The flame retardent are advised to avoid my review of PartyPoker.com's Poker Den. Now available on w00tworld Reviews.

Rockstar have confirmed GTA XXX in a Gamespot interview. Why oh why am I not surprised?

Sam was evicted from Big Brother. See above.

Anime fans following the brilliant Stratos4 (like me) are stunned to see Static-Subs release episode 1 of the rumoured second series Stratos4 Advance. Hopes are high (with me anyway) for a second series of Yumeria.

Currently I've watched 75 minutes of the original Cardcaptor Sakura and can't believe how much was cut and edited in the metamorphasis from CCS to Cardcaptors. Both arrive at the same location but take completely different paths to get there.

Recently Played...

Its midway through the month (and I'm bored) so here are the last 10 songs iTunes belted out.

Linkin Park - Somewhere I Belong
Good Charlotte - The Young And The Hopeless
Green Day - Warning
System of a Down - Sad Statue
Linkin Park - In The End
Funeral for a Friend - Streetcar
Foo Fighters - Monkey Wrench
The Arcade Fire - Power Out
Alkaline Trio - Time to Waste
System of a Down - Chop Suey

EARTH SHATTERING TELLYBOX ANNOUNCEMENT!!

THE AMAZING RACE 2
STARTS 4TH JULY
ONLY ON LIVINGTV2

IF YOU DON'T WATCH I SHALL HUNT YOU DOWN AND NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR MY ACTIONS.

MY CAPS LOCK IS BROKEN.

Hate It Or Love It

Hate It
Egos
Fun to have if its a big one but not good when 2 big ones collide.

Brian Bell
Too easy.

Michael Eavis
Speaking of egos...

Live8
Speaking of egos...

PartyPoker.com
Speaking of collective egos...

Love It
Rivers Cuomo
So many puns, so little time...

Second Sight
Psychic powers rule all. Fucking hard though.

Cardcaptor Sakura
If you're gonna rediscover something do it properly.

Air
Rollercoaster or anime. Both awesome.

Oblivion
So proud....