So, before I realized, I am already in the year of 2007. Ha? How did it happen? I only had a 10 days break (considering next semester doesn’t start until 16th!), and I was in Chicago. I didn’t do much, really. I was hoping to do some reading done, but of course, I was too busy playing video games, watching tv, and drinking. Andrew and his girlfriend were also in Chicago for new year’s, so we celebrated new year’s eve together at Hopleaf. Hmmmmm, I really like Hopleaf because they have lots of beers. Hmmmmm…

Over the break, I had one very important mission: to acquire Nintendo Wii. Marc bought me Zelda for Wii, but no Wii. So, I was thinking maybe after Christmas, I would be able to find Wii. Well, I was dead wrong! Everywhere I went, no sing of Wii. I even stopped by BestBuy and Target in Wisconsin on the way back to Minneapolis! No Wii. But, I did find Sony Playstation 3. So, I bought PS3 (60GB). I was gonna wait for a while to buy PS3 because there is no single game I want to get it. Buuut, next month, Virtua Fighter 5 will be released, so I just had to get it because VF is one of my favorite games! If I think about it, $640(w/ tax) wasn’t that bad. I spend $500 to buy Sega Saturn when it first came out. And, the game, VF1, was actually $70!! Wow. I don’t remember how I was able to convince my parents to spend that much money. Of course, my first game for Sega Dreamcast was VF3!! Aaah, good old days... I heard Sega will release VF5 on Xbox360 in this summer, and I think that’s sad. Personally, I hate Xbox360! It gets really loud and hot during playing game! Anyway, here are some my thoughts on PS3.

Good:
- you can watch blue-ray stuff
- it has HDMI (1.3)
- backward compatible
- super quiet
- nice shiny body
- touch sensor (power on/off button and disk slot) is so next generation
- SIXAXIS controller is much lighter than dualshock controller for PS2

Bad:
- well, expensive
- heavy, and somewhat big
- cannot use old PS accessories
- gets kinda hot and makes me nervous
- no force-feedback function on SIXAXIS
- no HDMI cable comes with the system
- memory card adaptor sucks as hell
- wireless connection is much slower than wired one
- Image quality gets horrible (well, not so bad) for PS, PS2 games

Well, since I didn't buy any games, these thoughts are about the system itself. One of the main complain is image quality of PS2 games aren’t great at all. PS3 outputs PS2 games with progressive scan, not interlace scan. This is pretty much why PS2 games looks bad on PS3. According to Sony, they are working on this issue, but well, they did have extra time (since they delayed the release of PS3 for almost a year) to work on problems right? I want to use PS3 for playing PS2 games, but I cannot!! It really bugs me a lot! Also, memory card adaptor is just a joke. You can save PS or PS2 game data in HD, but that’s it. You can transfer save data in memory card, but you cannot transfer back save data in PS3 to memory card. This doesn’t so make sense to me. Since I cannot hook up special controller such as dance pad to PS3, I have to use PS2 to play DDR or Beatmania or any games require special controllers! Eh! Why Sony!! Wwwwwwhhhy!! Oh well, overall, I am happy with my PS3 because it’s very shiny and nice! I did downloaded Gran Turismo HD, and it looks pretty sweet. I hope good games come out soon!

I really really think I didn’t totally recover from cold. I was pretty sick after I got back from Chicago. Even though I had PS3, it didn't cheer me up much. Sad. But, I rented Blue-ray movies from netflix, and that did cheer me up. Really cool to watch movie in HD format! Well, actually, I couldn’t really tell the difference between regular DVD and Blue-ray though! I am sure if I watch same movie in two different formats I would be able to tell (maybe) the difference!!

Although I was sick like mug, my journey of finding Wii continued over the weekend. I went to Bestbuy, Toysrus, and Target. But, of course, I couldn’t find Wii. Eh!! But, but, my desire to get Wii got a little bit subsided after playing Wii Sports in the lab today. We got Wii couple weeks ago, and no one hadn’t played until I set it up! Poor unused Wii. Wii was just sitting on the table and waiting for me to open it up. For some reason, there was another game, Trauma Center which is like OPERATION game, so I played it too. Good thing we have lots of extra monitors in the lab! I don't know, but we have so many LCD monitors in the lab. We bought two new PCs and two new iMac, then, we bought two 24 inch LCD monitors for new PC. By the way, PC did come with 17 inch LCD monitors! I am not sure why we had to buy another monitor... Then, we are waiting for the arrival of 50 inch plasma screen TV. And, we are even talking about buying Apple Cinema Display because we are getting two new Mac Pro. Seriously, we are soooo wasting monitors!! There are at least three unused LCD monitors, and I have no idea what to do with them. Eh!

Back to Wii, I think Wii Sports is pretty fun game. I wish we had another controller thought. Well, probably we will get it too... I still want to buy Wii, but as a hardcore gamer, I am not sure if I wanna play one-person kinda game such as FPS or RPG on Wii. I don't wanna swing my arm or aim at enemy with wiimote for more than an hour. I am more like laying on the couch, eating chips, drinking soda (or beer), and playing game kinda guy. Also, $39 for Wiimote and $19 for nunchaku controller are super over charged!! They are much cheaper in Japan!! This is same as PS3 games. They are at least $10 cheaper in Japan. Ugh.

I am so hating people call me “dude” or “bro.” Well, I do not mind my friends call me these names, but, not guys I just met. As much as I like Trader Joe’s, I hate Trader Joe’s because I have been called “dude” million times at this store. I was at the store in this evening, and first thing the casher guy said to me was “How are you doing duuuude?” Why? Why did he call me “dude?” I am not dude. I am 30 years old Japanese man, and I do not feel like being called “dude.” I might be wearing Nintendo cap, but it doesn’t mean you can call me “dude.” Eh!!!

Golf is not my game. I never liked golf, even video game format. In this afternoon, Russ, Sebastian, and I were playing golf game on Wii Sports in the lab. I kinda had a good start, but after three holes, I was down two. And, when we finished all 9 holes, I was down six. Of course, I was the last. I do not like being the last. Indeed, I do not like being second. I need to be the first. Therefore, I had a little mental breakdown after playing the game. Lovely.

HDMI cable is really expensive!!

I am so hating people call me “dude” or “bro.” Well, I do not mind my friends call me these names, but, not guys I just met. As much as I like Trader Joe’s, I hate Trader Joe’s because I have been called “dude” million times at this store. I was at the store in this evening, and first thing the casher guy said to me was “How are you doing duuuude?” Why? Why did he call me “dude?” I am not dude. I am 30 years old Japanese man, and I do not feel like being called “dude.” I might be wearing Nintendo cap, but it doesn’t mean you can call me “dude.” Eh!!!

Golf is not my game. I never liked golf, even video game format. In this afternoon, Russ, Sebastian, and I were playing golf game on Wii Sports in the lab. I kinda had a good start, but after three holes, I was down two. And, when we finished all 9 holes, I was down six. Of course, I was the last. I do not like being the last. Indeed, I do not like being second. I need to be the first. Therefore, I had a little mental breakdown after playing the game. Lovely.

HDMI cable is really expensive!!

Ah! February 4th! Colts vs. Bears!! It’s like my dream came true! Colts is the first NFL team I really got to know because I was in Indiana for more than five years. Then, after I moved to Chicago, I was forced to like Bears. Ha! Now, my favorite these two teams will be in the final! How awesome is that! I was pretty surprised to see Bears kicked Saints ass! After watching new year’s eve game, I wouldn’t think Bears would win! Also, as Tom Brady lover, I thought Patriots would win. You know, Colts vs. Patriots… Who would think Colts would beat Patriots!! But, the game was really really awesome! At the end of second quarter, I was sooooo sure Colts would lose, but they did come back!! I love Payton!! He finally proved himself he can win in the big game!!

I think I kinda become anti-social during the weekend. I really do not want to go outside and do not want to see anybody. Well, I do go out and I do see others if I need to, but unless it’s life or death situation, I prefer rather staying my apt and watch movies. I have a feeling this is something to do my workload during the weekdays. I have added more hours for the internship (well, I asked for it), so it’s kinda sucking my socialness out of me!! I guess I am still adjusting my new schedule...

Although I do not like watching movies, I subscribe Netflix and watch movies every weekend. In this weekend, I watched, Brokeback Mountain, Inside Man, and Little Miss Sunshine. Brokeback Mountain was pretty depressing, and I had no idea how depressing this movie would be! I thought this movie was happy gay cowboy movie, and noooooo!! It was my first time watching this movie, and I so hated it. Bottom line is I hate love story. The movie kinda reminded me the Mexican movie (or Argentina) called Burnt Money. Eh. Inside Man was actually better than I thought. I really liked it. I don’t usually like action movie, but the movie was pretty engaging. I wasn’t sure why they were digging the hole, but I realized it was for peeing (pooing too)! Miss Little Sunshine was pretty funny movie. It’s pretty dark, but feel good movie. This is the kinda movie that you wish it would never end. I probably buy the DVD (hopefully available on blue-ray...).

Speaking of gay cowboy, I was browsing Japanese Yahoo site, and I found an exercise machine called “Rodeo Boy.”

HOLY SHIT!! I know we do like weird inventions, but this is just too much! According to Yahoo Japan, currently, this is the most popular exercise machine!! Seriously, if I can lose weight just riding this shit, I wouldn’t have to pay $3000 for my fucking gym membership!! I also found RodeoBoy in action video clip from YouTube.

This is so screwed up!!! What’s going on??? Is this really popular in Japan? Should I call my mom to ask?? After further research, there is another kind of exercise machine called, Joba made by National. Yes, National, Panasonic!!!! Seriously, why Panasonic Japan is making this? And, it cost $1000! High-end model comes with air charger!! Yaay!!