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So Nintendo’s next console formerly code-named the Revolution has been given an official name. Wii. Pronounced “we”. Except with i’s. Honestly, I don’t like it. It’s kinda cheesy and subject to much ridicule. “Wanna come and play with my Wii Wii?” It even sounds awkward saying it normally. “Do you have the new Zelda for the Wii?” I really want to know the names they rejected to come to this conclusion. I really wonder if their strategy will work this time around. Not pushing hardware specs much, re-simplifying gameplay, banking on the nostalgia factor with emulated old school games, and now a cutesy name. One thing is for sure, they aren’t going to be a threat to Playstation, I can guarantee that much.

I’m only taking two classes my final quarter: Senior Seminar and Game Development. For the game class I’m in a group of four, and our project is a drum-themed rhythm game similar to games like Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero. For the most part, it’ll be pretty crude since we only have a quarter to finish it. We have the general concept of five keys and hitting them in conjunction with rising marks. The drummer is like the rock band type and will strike his drums accordingly. Also, groupies will join the stage the better you do (the just rewards). I’m working on our pseudo-company logo which will be called Metal Skool. My preliminary work is here. I plan to make it animated.

Not much has happened since my last post. I finished Oblivion’s main story quests and still playing it occassionally. Finally caught up watching Lost. Yesterday I scored a good deal on a 19″ Acer LCD monitor via fatwallet. It was 249.99 with 50 rebate, but I was able to apply a 12% off coupon and stack it with a $20 off coupon. Details within the fatwallet post, but I grabbed the last one my Staples had. After tax and environmental fee, I left paying 223 or so. Hopefully the rebate won’t take long. The monitor isn’t for me, got it for my brother because he was using a 15″ Goldstar monitor from 1995 that was getting very blurry.

My next door neighbor has a very large tree in their front yard. This afternoon it broke at the trunk and collapsed into the street. Fortunately no one was hurt. The top side did land on a car that was driving through, but it didn’t do much damage, everyone inside was okay. It was so odd. There was a loud crash sound and I thought it was another car accident (it happens a lot on my street), but it was a tree. I wonder if the neighbors would be at fault because they didn’t take care of their tree. I’ve never spoken to them before so I won’t really know.

It’s been done before with much effort and modifications, but now it’s possibly officially and with relative ease. That’s right, you can install Windows on Macs now. They just announced their Boot Camp software to allow the possibility to dual boot OSX and Windows on any Mac computer. I think this will increase Apple’s sales tremendously. Even I now am thinking of getting a Mac now.

Ok, so 30 hours later I’m pretty sure I’m addicted to this game. It’s been a long time since a game has engaged me this much. I’m pretty glad I got curious and tried it out. It’s pretty much all I’ve been doing when I’m home. The graphics are amazing though my computer can’t push it all the way. I got it playing at 1024×768 with HDR on. The game is designed very well. Many quests exist that you may do at your choosing. You can finish the game under 20 hours by just doing the main story points or it can go beyond 200 hours doing other side stuff. The way you level up isn’t by how many enemies you defeat like typical role playing games, but rather how you use your main skills. The battle simple is pretty simple but fun. Left click swings your weapon and right click blocks, but the way you control your evasion and blocking makes if feel like you’re in total control of your fight. And the awesome sound effects help too.