Yes, thanks to the Uncharted 3 3D event at AMC Tysons Corner 16 (near DC), I was able to get my copy of Uncharted 3 early. Despite never getting a tracking number from SCEA, it arrived,


Got Tales of Xillia and Uncharted 3 last Thursday. So far I'm enjoying Uncharted 3, but I posted the following things about the game in a CAG thread (I'm 7 1/2 hours into the game, 69% complete):

Quote: +Platforming couldn't be better....been really precise. +Combat is greatly improved where you get to do more. +Locations have looked great too. +I feel multi-player was better, but that's only based on Subway (not full game) -Pacing just isn't as good as U1/U2 (until I got to Chapter 13, where that and beyond is beyond awesome). U1/U2, I didn't want to stop playing, where U3 I sort of want to break after a period of time a bit too much. Maybe R3 just did

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All right, some people might have heard about the Uncharted 3 3D event going on from October 18th - 20th at five AMC theaters around the US. Thankfully, I was lucky that one event was taking place near DC, so I was less than an hour away. A bunch of CAG friends and I all got tickets for the Tuesday showing at AMC Tysons Corner 16 in McLean, VA.


I went ahead and already picked up my tickets while I was in Tysons Corner a few weeks before the event (I preordered online). CAG friends of mine (abhinav, jmiller80, GenDV138, nightmare452, indifference, and G-Nitro) were going to get something to eat at 4:30pm before the event, but since I didn't get off work until 3:30pm (and fighting with Capital Beltway traffic on my way there), no way I was going to be able to get there on time to eat with them. I ended up grabbing an Auntie Anne's pretzel just before the event.

So I...

I was going to wait to post this blog, but since I realized it was September 30th (wow the month went so fast), I will post my blog about this topic. Who knows what will all happen after this post because it looks like I'll be going out with a girl this weekend for lunch (unless her plans change). September was definitely a month that got me back into gaming, along with continuing to watch anime and read manga.


NIS America order of Disgaea 4 Premium Edition w/ all figures and soundtrack. I never opened up all my figures though. I did start Disgaea 4. The updated graphics are very nice. Gameplay feels exactly the same as other Disgaea games, but not a bad thing for sure.


Bandai Entertainment had a sale online, so I ended up buying Sword of Stranger, My Hime, My Otome, and Escaflowne...

I know someone posted a similar blog, but then I realized I totally forgot to make mine. Throughout June, July, and August, I bought the fewest games I ever bought in many years. There wasn't all that much I wanted and I just felt like getting rid of tons of games. Now there are tons of game releases I want to get.

Bought:

• Disgaea 4
• God of War Origins
• K-ON! Vol. 3 :blu:
• Resistance 3
• White Knight Chronicles II

September:

• Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland
• Child of Eden
• ICO/Shadow of the Colossus
• Persona 2: Innocent Sin
• Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny /
• Solatorobo: Red the Hunter

October:

• Ace Combat: Assault Horizon /
• Dark Souls /
• Everybody Dance
• Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Impact
• NBA 2k12 (Would buy )
• Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One
• The House of the Dead: OVERKILL - Extended Cut
• The King of Fighters XIII

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Those who have seen my pick-up blog probably notice I buy/receive a ton of posters/artwork at anime conventions. I really dislike having to tape posters on my wall "as is", so I end up framing them. For years I hated framing since most frames were crap and fell apart. G-Nitro introduced me to poster frames that Michael's Crafts sells. Now I'm hooked on them buying them on sale. I picked up a ton recently since they were 40% off + 25% off stackable coupon. These are all the posters/artwork I have framed on my walls:

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The biggest shock to my August was that I only picked up two video games. I picked up fewer games for three reasons: not many game releases, already have a large backlog, and I've been more so in the mood for anime (or manga when I'm sitting around places). I decided it was best to only buy the games I really want, and some I don't want as bad I'll wait on. Anyway, this was the retail game I purchased in August:



No More Heroes Paradise. I was always wanting the game on Wii, but since I heard about the PS3 version (and since I had PS Move), decided I should pick it up. Game is pretty cool so far. Along with that I got Voices of a Distant Star (awesome director) and Code Geass R2 Part 3. I also got a PSN card listed later on which was used to buy Street Fighter 3rd Strike Online. I was already a fan of the game before and the PSN version is awesome. Those who never played before, I kick their butt. Those who are great kick my butt, haha. Here...

All right, I know I've been quite slow to remind people, but voting did start for The Tester Season 3 over a week ago. Oh course, I am in the running to be on season 3. I previously posted a blog about being a part of the casting call, but voting didn't start.

https://casting.thetester.com/ManaKnight

I already got a shout out on the CAGast (thanks a lot CheapyD) about this. I believe I'm the CAG member with the most blogs, and I've been here since 2004. People consider me the BIGGEST PlayStation fan on CAG. Many people wanted to see me on The Tester, and after watching season 2 I felt it was a good fit for me. Those who take a look will notice I have a massive keyblade in my hand. I'll probably change my profile picture in the near future, but if anyone has any ideas, let me know. I'm tempted to upload a SingStar video. If anyone has profile suggestions, let me know. If I'm on the show, I'd definitely try to give CAG some shout outs since we are...

All right, this is a topic I have wanted to blog about for a while, but usually don't have it on my mind. After reading posts in the El Shaddai thread, I felt I decided to discuss the topic. I heard some people say their biggest concern about the game is length, which may determine whether they buy it or not. I heard some say that same thing to me about games via instant messaging. All I gotta say is why????

When it comes to gaming for me, I really don't care about game length at all. I could careless whether a game was 1 hour or 40 hours to complete. Price has NO factor in whether or not I buy a game based on its length. I have played MANY video games throughout the years. Some games I played were very short like fighters, vertical shooters, Zone of the Enders, Vanquish, Bayonetta (if I remember that correctly), Devil May Cry, playing LBP single player mode, etc. Many short games I played were definitely short and sweet, giving me a lot of enjoyment. When I enjoy...

All right, I decided sign up for the casting call to be on PlayStation Network's exclusive programming reality show "The Tester" season 3. Many of my local friends in the DMV area have been pushing for me to be on the show, and I agreed that I'd be a good fit.

Last year I started to follow The Tester closely because my close friend Cheska was on the show (I was a big supporter getting her on). I ended up really enjoying season 2 and felt I'd be perfect to be a cast member. Many of my local and online friends felt the same thing too. So once SCEA announced on the PS Blog about casting call for season 3 now being open, I decided to register.

I went ahead and created my profile. Took some time to upload a video, along with taking extra pics to add to my profile. I sort of wanted to add more pictures that show my personality well (like my picture playing Dance Dance Revolution, my cosplay picture, etc.), but I may swap a picture out to upload them...

I decided to post my Otakon pick-ups last since I purchased a bunch of things. Some may notice some similar stuff icebeast has, I have too. Along with my Otakon pick-ups, I'll post everything I purchased in July.



I got two free nico nico shirts along with lots of posters. Buying frames for most all will be EXPENSIVE.



All the figures and mugs I got. Most mugs/glassware was only $5, except the Madoka one was $20 (It's very special to me). I got another Hope figure since that's what I magically got in the FFXIII box.



All the boxsets and movies I got (blu-ray and DVD).



All the T-shirts I got along with K-ON! guitar pillow and notebook.



Some of my purchased artwork. Would have bought more if I went to the Art Gallery earlier (went later on Sunday with little money and time left).


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I definitely had a busy weekend with Otakon 2011, co-workers wanting me to attend a party on Saturday (I went very late though for a short time), and Distant Worlds concert at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore, MD. It took me a while to decide on going to Distant Worlds because I figured Bandai would have its panel around the same time. Eventually I made up my mind to skip the Bandai and Sunrise panel to go to Distant Worlds. The concert started at 7:30pm, so I left Otakon at 6pm taking MTA Light Rail instead of re-parking my vehicle.


Unfortunately, due to getting my ticket late, I could not get a cheap $38 seat. I went with a $58 seat which I paid $61 for after all the fees. I also asked friends if they were going, but some already got a seat or had other plans. I ended up hanging out with my co-worker’s daughter’s friend (quite a network of people, lol). It all...

Yesterday night, GenDV138, The Great BM, Atherius, Indifference, MCalvert1, nightmare452, dwhelan, bigrob029, and I all went to the Play! A Video Game Symphony in Vienna, VA last night.


Basically, one CAG posted in our thread about the event coming to the DC area. Many of us were not familiar with the group, but a bunch of us all decided to go together, giving us another excuse to hang out with as a group. With lawn seats only being $20 (before taxes and fees), we felt it was cheap and we could all sit together.

In case you don't know anything about play, this is what it says on their website:

Quote: From the creative team that brought you the ground breaking Dear Friends-Music from FINAL FANTASY Symphony Tour, comes an entirely new celebration of video game music and images: PLAY! A Video Game Symphony is a Symphony world-tour featuring music from

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All right, this is my June 2011 pick-up blog post. Unfortunately with the maintenance that needed to be done with my car (had to replace my brake pads, control arm due to ball joints cracking, and outer tie rod. All for $1000) really hit me hard in June. So because of that, I bought fewer games and stuff than I normally would. A few sales and stuff changed that though. I also had the chance to play some games/watch anime I'll discuss in this blog. I actually didn't buy many games until the end of the month due to obtaining lots of Amazon giftcards (trading in games I no longer played) and selling my PS3 which broke to GameStop.

There were a few games I wanted, but most I decided to wait on. Shockingly there's no Resident Evil 3DS purchased, but I decided to wait for a price drop even before the Capcom news about the datasave got posted.











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All right, everyone knows I'm a big PlayStation fan. One reason I've been is because my PlayStation platforms have lasted me quite a while. All this time, I never had one die until today.

Lets just say today I was watching Ghost in the Shell: SAC anime on my slim PS3 in my living room. I have two more episodes left, but wanted to watch it while cleaning stuff up in my bedroom. So I decided to finish it up in my bedroom on my 20GB PS3. I turn on my PS3, it works fine. I had to update my PS3 to firmware 3.66. Just as I was about to do it, my PS3 shut off and the red light started blinking. I tried turning the PS3 on, and every time I did, the light turned green, yellow, then turned red and started blinking. Once I saw that yellow light, I know I finally got hit with the yellow light of death.

While some may think I'm sad, I honestly KNEW it was going to happen for the longest time. When I bought my PS3 on 12/29/2006 at Meijer (20GB), I knew for a...

All right, short blog by me about a recent thought on my mind. Despite all the crap that's been going on with me (whether it be job interviews, traveling, car repairs, parties, etc.), I've been looking for an arcade stick. I finally decided it was time to get one after struggling more than ever against friends at fighting games who just got a stick.


Choosing an arcade stick is no easy task. The easiest part is I know I'll need a PS3 stick. The majority of my fighters have been purchased on PS3 (Arc Systems, Namco, Sega, Capcom, etc. fighters), while I only own 3 XBLA fighters, and 1 fighter on Wii (Tatsunoko vs. Capcom). I'd love a wireless stick; however, there really aren't many wireless sticks out there from what I know (wireless is easier on me due to where I sit for gaming). I'd prefer a stick to be modeled after one of my favorite fighters. The perfect stick for me (although it isn't wireless)...

All right, its the month of May and bought many random things due to fewer game releases. Since I accidentally deleted what I previous wrote (distractions), I'm going to keep this short.



My PS Rewards beta shirt. I got Portal 2 for $35 on Amazon, still trying to get use to it, but only played twice. K-On! I got from Play-Asia for PSP, but absolutely love it with the awesome music and high difficulty.



I heard bad things about the Eureka Seven movie, but I'm too big of a fanboy to pass it up. MotorStorm Apocalypse is really awesome, with its great graphics, awesome destruction, and fun gameplay. Online is great although there aren't many playing. However, the difficulty ramps up really fast where I've sworn at my TV too many times.



Got an AE shirt for $10. Re-bought PS2 RPGs I regret selling/trading-in due to a local GameStop getting in lots of mint PS2 RPGs someone traded in....

If there's one thing I dislike about video games, it has to do with deciding what game to play. I cannot tell you how many times throughout the years I'll spend a lot of time starring at my video game collection, then can't decide what to play. When I had very few video games, I didn't feel like playing any video game I had. When I had a bigger collection, I could not decide what to play. Right now I just cannot decide what to play. As for my next game to play, I'm going to continue concentrating on my PS3. I've given up on my PS2 backlog. My PSP backlog is the biggest, but I play the games a ton when I travel. My 3DS backlog is only 4 games right now. My DS backlog is a good size, but I'll eventually chip it down a little. My Wii game backlog is large too, but won't start really working on it until I start wanting to play my Wii more (I like the Wii, but takes a backseat to HD consoles). My 360 backlog isn't too big, but I only own a few 360 games I didn't beat yet. With my...

There is no denying I've been EXTREMELY happy to see the Chicago Bulls in first place in the NBA, along with advancing to the 2nd round of the playoffs so far. I've been a massive Bulls fan since 1992, whether they were winning championships or at the bottom of the league. I had a chance to watch them play once this season (against the Washington Wizards). Since I'm further away from Chicago, I don't get to see really any Bulls stuff in-store (like in NW Indiana). So I ordered two Bulls shirts online for the playoffs.



The shirts above, one is the playoff "See Red" shirt the fans wear in Chicago, while the other celebrates their 20th Anniversary of their 20th championship.



The other shirt, I purchased at Modell's sports (it has the front and back). Being a Derrick Rose fan, I just had to buy it.

On top of all the Bulls stuff are my standard pick-ups for the month.

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First off, I will say that I own all current platforms. Every single platform available has games I like. I tend to weigh consoles/handhelds by exclusive games. When I go that route, Xbox 360 is very weak IMO, especially when it comes to retail disc exclusives. For those who buy every multi-platform game on 360 (or those who only own a 360), I could see a good reason to have plenty of games to enjoy on the platform. However, if you are like me where PS3 is the primary platform for multi-platform games, the Xbox 360 continues to become less and less appealing. For sure, I could say I bought way less exclusive games in 2010 than 2008 as an example.

When I look at the exclusives released this year, I do not see anything worthwhile on Xbox 360. What come to my mind first are a few Kinect games such as a Kinect version of Carnival Games. Since I don’t own a Kinect more after selling mine, I just haven’t had a single game to buy for my 360 this year. When looking at...

I’ve been meaning to start this blog for quite a long time. I will start off by saying that I have played a ton of JRPGs throughout my lifetime, along with playing some WRPGs. Throughout the years and now, I’ve come to the conclusion that one type of RPG is much better than the ever, and despite what people say now, I still don’t see it as being true.

When it comes to storylines, I feel JRPGs are superior to WRPGs. Western RPGs tend to have a decent backstory, but that’s it. Not much interesting story keeping me interested throughout the game. Many of them tend to be where you just create a character, fight enemies, taking on quests, etc. JRPGs tend to have the most emotional storylines I’ve ever heard in video games, with spoilers finding out relations between characters, deep character interaction, bad guys with great personalities, emotional love scenes, and so many other things that make JRPGs interesting. JRPGs tend to tell a sci-fi, medieval, school student,...