MGS4 Case-modded PS3 sells for over $17k USD

I saw this the other day... it's a really really amazingly nice looking Metal Gear Solid 4 themed case-mod for a PS3. They even got autographs to put on it!

I don't really care much for MGS games and I don't own a PS3 myself, but this really caught my eye as a work of great craftsmanship.

It was up for sale on ebay, along with a modified third-party controller and with a bunch of rare MGS4 merchandise, and has now sold for $17100 US dollars! (A portion goes to charity too)

Take a look at the auction before the photos disappear:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130263869818





It's nice but no way would I pay anything near that much for it!

TMNT - 2007 video game

TMNT is a lot more fun than I though it would be from the box. I thought it would be (another) endless hordes melee battle game, but it's more of a free-running style 3D platform game (with fight scenes). Normally I hate 3D platform games because I'm terrible at them and can't judge distance or direction when jumping, but I like this game because a lot of the time if you can't make the jump you can just run along the walls instead or something. It gives you a lot of freedom to get from A to B using the skills you know, rather than just playing the game in the rigid fashion the game designer thought you should play it, and I have a lot of respect for that. It's also often spectacular just to watch yourself play, zooming about the place. There's a lot more emphasis on the "Ninja" part of the title in this game than you often see in TMNT games, especially in the way they move around the city - it's quite fun. Raphael (who is mostly an agressive moody loner in this game) also spends a few levels in the guise of a vigilante, calling himself "The Nightwatcher", but in that armour I can only think "he's a sentai character pretending to be a metal hero!". This game is based on a recent (2007) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, and... it's kinda dark-feeling and there is more about the internal feud between the turtles than there is with the storyline against the bad guys - maybe it's more like the old comic books. I kind of like the way they narrate the story all the way through as if reminiscing it to each other "ooh ooh the best bit comes next!", but unfortunately... to me that also works as a barrier that prevents me from feeling really involved or excited about what's happening in the story. Even though there isn't much of one. Still, it's quite fun to just jump around and enjoy the sights of leaping from rooftop to rooftop in the big city, and marvel as they scramble along walls over toxic waste in sewers...

Thoughts on various games

I've been xboxing a lot this weekend. ^__^ I decided to keep away from my family and my boyfriend and do the really terribly unhealthy thing of doing nothing but playing videogames. (No really... it's good for me once in a while... I think... hehe)

Here are some thoughts on games I have played recently:

Surf's Up is a pretty good game, even though it's a game tied in with a kids' film. It's just really short! It's a surfing game, all about scoring points for doing tricks... kind of like.... a skating game on rails? SSX without the downhill sloping terrain? And just a hint of "Nights into Dreams if you could only go forwards"...

Mega Man 9 is awesome in its 8-bit glory. It's as though it's the world's last NES game, with authentic-sounding music (that is deliberately limited in channels so that it cuts out one when sound effects are heard), deliberate little graphical glitches when sprites are just on the edge of the screen or too many on screen or whatever (you can switch the glitch off in the options!), deliberate slowdown in places... it really feels like a game from the 1908s! And it's really difficult! Or at least, it seems that way until you replay it a few times and then you know exactly what to expect and it's not so hard... and you feel proud of yourself as you progress. In a lot of cases when I first started playing it felt like the Jinsei Owata no Daibouken ("Your Life Is End") flash game because when I would finally succeed and get to the next screen I was rewarded with unexpected spikes and death, or unexpected enemy and death, etc. You just progress slowly one screen at a time, die and work your way back to that screen... I've only killed 3 bosses so far! But I still feel enough enjoyment and fighting spirit to go on! :D

Fusion Frenzy 2 is a terrible game, and was a chore to play. I mean, even low budget party games like "Party Girls" for PS2 are way better than this.

Calendar preorder time!

It's the time of year to order next year's calendars! ^__^

I like anime calendars; they work as posters or giant artbooks... (well, artbooks with 6-7 pages...).

If you want to buy anime/manga/tokusatsu/other-Japanese calendars, I recommend buying them from CD Japan! They always deliver, and everything arrives on time in nice green paper. :D

I'm thinking of getting these ones:

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni calendar... except if there are any nasty pictures I'm stuck with them for a month!

All That's Ultraman calendar. :) I've had an Ultraman calendar every year for the past 2 years! They're great! :D

Code Geass - Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 calendar. My brother had one of these calendars last year (for season one) and now he wants the season two calendar!

Kurogane no Line Barrel calendar. Hirashi Hirai's newest character designs feature in this one, and that's a very s.CRY.ed type of pose on the front, IMHO, hehe.

Clannad calendar.

Kuroro Gunso calendar, since my boyfriend seems to be a big fan. I got him a "Yotsuba to" calendar last year! So cute!

Yes! Precure 5 calendar! :D

Chi's Sweet Home - Desktop calendar or Chi's Sweet Home - Wall calendar, I'm not sure which. It's soooooo cute! >^_^<

I NEED MORE WALL SPACE! Hahahaha... XD

Preorder early because everything is in limited supply! Oh and there's a special offer where if you spend over 5000 yen you get a voucher for 500 yen (so I'm splitting up my orders into 500 yen each...)

Awesome Super Mario cake!

Just take a look at this Super Mario themed wedding cake! It's astounding! :D


Sources:
Cakewrecks blog

Flickr album

I'm not even sure how it manages to keep from falling over!

Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2: UK version June next year

Yay! My thumbs can wear out all over again. :P

Preorder page on play.com

"£39.99 Free Delivery
RRP: £49.99 | You save: £10.00 (20%)
Pre-order.  | Due for release on 26/06/2009"

...hmmm, no preorder from me at that price!