After several false-starts, I finally stood in line long enough to pick up a new iPhone yesterday. Three hours, in fact. On a Sunday morning. When I left I counted over 40 people still waiting - nuts how this still hasn’t calmed down.

The nice Apple store employee seemed a little happy while he was setting me up - “Ah, thank god,” were his exact words while we were transferring my account from an old iPhone to a new one. “Been crazy?” I asked, trying to make small talk while he was tapping away on his handheld computer. “You wouldn’t believe...” he responded, not looking up. All-in-all it took five minutes once I got into the store, he said it could take up to 30 minutes (or more) when setting up a new account. Yikes.

Anyways, the phone is rad. I don’t get 3G at the house (which has always had spotty reception), but since I’m on WiFi there it doesn’t matter. Everywhere else I tested it’s golden. Love the speed, and the GPS is way more accurate than I expected, especially while moving - starting to believe the 2.1 update might really allow for true turn-by-turn.

The all plastic feel is great, and I love the new curved molding - the phone seems a little smaller and lighter because of it. Noticed the decreased battery life already, but I’m planning on picking one of these up, just in case. Overall, very happy - both with the phone itself and the fact I finally got one.

Tags: Apple

Saw The Dark Knight on Sunday, and it’s still in my thoughts.

A lot.

I know it’s easy to hop on the bandwagon and say it’s a great movie, but it really might be one of the better “films” I’ve ever seen. It fucked me up like The Departed did, left me drained in a fulfilled but depressed way. Not just because of Heath Ledger’s incredible take on the Joker, but also because who...or, better yet, “what” won at the end.

This was not a gentle movie in any sense, especially in terms of its brutal performances, many plot twists and overwhelming sound and cinematography - it hit me hard and often. But, in doing so, it moved me.

I really, really wonder how they’re going to follow this up.

Tags: Movies

It’s Sunday and I’m at home, ready for a relaxing day. Well, other than helping a pal move, but I owe him much more than a move can repay, so that’s all moot. Work has been crazy, and we’re just about to make our first submission - the game is looking great, and I think people are going to be very surprised by the type of content it holds. A mini-game collection it’s not.

Recent Things:



Beat MGS4 last weekend. Such a game for the fans, and since I am one, oh my god - wonderful. I haven’t been this thrilled and moved and shocked by a game in many, many years. It was a perfect ending to a powerful series, and it made me a happy person to have followed it since it’s conception.

Also, the bonus disc is great. I haven’t watched the “external” reflection video yet (which I hear is amazing), but the “internal” one made me laugh. It’s great to see a company as talented as Kojima Studios having surprisingly similar “issues” as we’re having now. Ah, game development.



Downloaded the database, which is surprisingly addictive. Only about 40% through, and I’m already appreciating this series even more.

I still haven’t bought a new iPhone, was more excited about the software than the hardware, but that’s about to change. Super love the 2.0 upgrade, and the app store is amazing. But now I need more speed - downloading new RSS feeds through NetNewsWire (the over-the-air syncing is so great - especially how it auto-updates read-status on other devices when you get new feeds) or updating the “push” features in MobileMe is noticeably laggy. Gah.

Tags: Games, Apple

Couldn’t sleep, crunch is heavy on my head, but this already made my day.



Chrono Trigger has a such happy place with me, it was the first import game I ever bought. Scraped and saved for months, and picked it for the Super Famicom the day it came out, for the low, low price of only 130 bucks. Which - funny enough - wasn’t much of a markup over the actual price. People think games are expensive today? Sheesh. Collecting SuperFami games back in the day slaughtered my wallet.

Anyways, SO looking forward to playing it again on the DS. So, so, so much.

Also, this news made me happy. Yakuza 3! Yay!

While I’m looking forward to Kenzan (wonder what they’re going to call it here?) and I love the setting, the original game was shockingly great (and turned out to be one of my all-time favorite RPGs), so I couldn’t be more thrilled to see the series return to its roots and original feel. Only two more months until Yakuza 2, which I’m sure will hold me over in the meantime...



:)

Tags: Games

I don’t see movies much in the theaters these days. In fact, the last one I left the house for was Ratatouille. Fitting, then, that I saw this one today.



Fantastic. And wonderful. All the crunch-related stress that’s been building over the past few weeks just melted away while watching...

Hot damn I love Pixar.

Tags: Movies

Vegas this weekend, on a helicopter over the strip. Rad.

Tags: Stuff

Image from Engadget

New iPhone? Very cool. Can’t believe the price. Very happy with the new features. And the App Store is going to be a nice place, especially for games.



But I’m almost more excited about MobileMe - .Mac has sucked for a while now (or, at the very least, has been very stagnate), and this is the perfect solution. Love the push features, and it finally makes email on the iPhone not completely ass.

July 11th can’t come fast enough...

Tags: Apple

I so can’t wait...

Tags: Games

Wow, this makes me so freaking happy. Edit: Beyond Good and Evil is back!

Tags: Games

OMG! PixelJunk Monsters is a fantastic game with an equally fantastic soundtrack, but last I heard Otograph had no plans on releasing an OST. But it’s out, like...today! For only 3 bucks! Yay!

Tags: Games, Music