Horus Rising [Abridged] Review

Buy at the Black Library or
Buy the Novel / Anniversary Edition

Description:

It is the 31st millennium. Under the benevolent leadership of the Immortal Emperor, the Imperium of Man hasstretched out across the galaxy. It is a golden age of discovery and conquest. But now, on the eve of victory, the Emperor leaves the front lines, entrusting the great crusade to his favourite son, Horus. Promoted to Warmaster, can the idealistic Horus carry out the Emperor’s grand plan, or will this promotion sow the seeds of heresy amongst his brothers? Horus Rising is the first chapter in the epic tale of the Horus Heresy, a galactic civil war that threatened to bring about the extinction of humanity.

Abridged from the best selling novel by Dan Abnett and read by award winning star of stage and screen Martyn Eliis, Horus Rising comes to life in this almost 6 hour reading.

After years of success in print, the Horus Heresy Series starts off as an abdridged Audiobook series.
The abridged versions of False Gods and Galaxy in Flames will follow in 6-month-gaps, which is quite some time, but there's always the possibility to pick up the printed versions.

Other than A Thousand Sons and Prospero Burns, which fill about 16 hours each, these versions have been shortened to fit onto five audio cds, which is kinda sad, for it cuts their greatness by a significant factor.

The Remembrancers, for example - a plot-driving bunch of characters throughout the opening trilogy - have completely been removed from Horus Rising.
These characters, like Eufrati Keeler and Ignace Karkasy, brought a more human and civil factor to the plot (even though Garviel Loken is quite human for an Astartes already).
Some more comedic scenes involving Loken and Torgaddon have been shortened as well, which I don't like, cause these few scenes brought some balance into the war-ridden galaxy. They made me feel like the Astartes were more than superhuman warriors, but individuals.

Martyn Ellis's reading really grew on me, which is a plus. Unlike a lot of english audiobook readers, Ellis doesn't tire me and makes me feel like the plot really is moving and living instead of just progressing on and on.

Counting this Audio version and the printed book I already owned, the Anniversary Edition coming in April will be the third time I'll gladly pay for this amazing work of fiction.

Ore no Imouto Maker EX Portable

...it really is a pitty.
Day in, day out, special games appear on the internet, and without a doubt, the best PSP games hail from Japan.

The misery I threw myself in when the 6.35 Pro HEN for PSP got released and started with The 3rd Birthday, now continues with Ore no Imouto Maker EX Portable.

The game looks gorgeous, clean and the voiceover makes it appealing without end.
Hearing these characters again makes me smile.

I don't know how often I had to restart my PSP (the hard way: taking off the battery for a second), cause the screenshot plugin froze the system, but hell, at least I got some pretty screens!

I envy everyone who can enjoy and understand the game, I had a hard time going through the options and save menus already.

I pray to heaven, hell and the warp that some dedicated group will pick this game up for translation.
People will thank you for that...



Anyway, here's the ISO or CSO.
Both are running well on 6.35 Pro HEN
(aside from the screenshot of death bug...).
NOTE: This is NOT the full game but the extra disc
'Ore no Imouto Maker EX Portable'

ISO via Uploaded.to
ISO via Megaupload

CSO via Uploaded.to
CSO via Megaupload


EDIT:
Some Ruri-Goodness ♥



(Yes, I'm seriously playing this for the screenshots, even though my PSP freezes after every single screen I take)

Final Fantasy Versus XIII & Type-0 HD Trailer

I told you, I'd post that one as soon as it gets available.
Thanks to dear Alkaid for linking me that stuff while writing about the PSP2/NGP!

Now enjoy your dark fantasy!



PS: I really want that Soundtrack! Do we really need to wait til 2012 (at the earliest) to get that fix of Yoko Shimomura?

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And again, I almost forgot, but Alkaid saved my ass again:
The Agito / Type-0 Trailer is out as well!

Sony's "NGP" aka PSP2 - Breakdown

NGP Picture Gallery

Just when I woke up, dear Alkaid, who surprisingly was still(?) awake, told me about Sony's PSP2 presentation airing as we spoke.
Now the details come in one after another, and I really can't say that it didn't overwhelm me.

Those of you, who thought that Sony would not stand a chance against Nintendo's 3DS, another abomination spawning from their NDS series, will be surprised how rough it is to rival Sony.
Honestly speaking, Sony will wipe their asses off using the 3DS.
It just can't compete.

While undecided Publishers like Square Enix already jumped on the 3DS bandwagon, bringing titles like Chocobo Racing, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance and others to Nintendo's device,
the NGP, formerly known as "PSP2" will bring full backwards compatibility to PSP and seemingly even PSOne titles and is planned to serve as a portable PS3(!) device.

The vision regarding PS3 games was and is, that players should be able to continue playing while not being home on their stationary console.
They should be able to save on their PS3s and then load the same game with their savegame onto their NGP and switch back to PS3 once they're back home.
One game that has been announced is Metal Gear Solid 4 - the hardware should be able to run it, which is impressive without end.
Uncharted, Lost Planet, Yakuza and co will join the initial cast of games.
We can also expect another godly God of War title, as we all know it's a franchise owned by Sony.


Now I got you curious, right?
So let me mention the Hardware Specs, taken from the official website:

Next generation portable entertainment system (codename: NGP)

CPU	ARM® Cortex™-A9 core (4 core)
GPU	SGX543MP4+
External Dimensions	Approx. 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm (width x height x depth) (tentative, excludes largest projection)
Rear touch pad	Multi touch pad (capacitive type)
Cameras	Front camera, Rear camera
Sound	Built-in stereo speakers Built-in microphone
Sensors	Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), Three-axis electronic compass
Location	Built-in GPS Wi-Fi location service support
Keys / Switches	PS button Power button Directional buttons (Up/Down/Right/Left) Action buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square) Shoulder buttons (Right/Left) Right stick, Left stick START button, SELECT button Volume buttons (+/-)
Wireless communications	Mobile network connectivity (3G) IEEE 802.11b/g/n (n = 1x1)(Wi-Fi) (Infrastructure mode/Ad-hoc mode) Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR （A2DP/AVRCP/HSP）

Quad Core? Front and Rear Camera? Touch Pad? Built-in Microphone? Six-axis motion sensing system? GPS? Wi-Fi? Twin Sticks? 3G? Bluetooth?
Too good to be true? Not really, if you're talking about Sony.

I hope now you understand how SMALL Nintendo's steps between Hardware releases really are, while Sony brings spectacular Hardware and Software to the audience.

Games will be converted from their UMDs, so they say, though nothing definitive has been announced yet.

New Games will be delivered via Flash Memory Cards like the Memory Stick Pro Duo we're used to already, which will contain game and save content, hell, even DLC will be stored on them!
As you will notice, the switch to flash devices will be without the loud noises like when reading from CD, DVD, BD or UMD. It will be much faster, indeed. No more Data Install needed - the game's already fully on the stick anyway!
The use of flash devices also gives developers the opportunity to bring games in much bigger size to the NGP; while an UMD has about 900 or 1800 (dual layer) MB space, you get flash cards for peanuts which give you 4, 8 or even more than 16GB.

Sony giving up on UMDs is a good thing in points of silence, speed and capacity indeed. The rumored BluRay-UMDs were just that - rumors.

Did you know that game developers and publishers didn't have the power to produce their own UMDs without Sony's help?
They had to produce a sampler with their Sony-given device, which they then sent to Sony for mass reproduction.
Of course, by leaving UMDs, some form of copy protection will be dropped, but it's much less expensive to use sticks, which may also lead to shorter production times.


I can tell you straight, that Sony already sold this product to me, although no release date has been set yet.
They are currently working on the battery performance; playing PS3-like games sure drains a hell lot of energy out of these little power supplies.
It will, however, work out; the initial problems have been solved and now the NGP has reached the last few steps in development.

The future looks bright for Sony


EDIT:
Alkaid told me to post these two pictures as well, showing the back of the NGP and "Uncharted" on the device.

Another Statusupdate

Alright, this weekend was horribly annoying and stressing.
Transporting furniture, especially big couches and tables is a wicked task if you haven't slept the night before.
Well, now it's over, the new, huge couch is awesome,
and Marcus enjoyed playing on my old/his new computer while sitting in the armchair, keyboard on his lap, wrapped in a blanket and mouse on the arm rest.

Dragstyles came over as well, but sadly we couldn't get his new computer to work; seems like the new mainboard is damaged. Shame.

Saturday got late and when Draggie left at about 23:40, I was kinda glad, cause I knew Marcus was about as tired as myself and he's always falling asleep quickly.
We played another match of Company of Heroes and Day of Defeat: Source (which I really enjoy and I feel like getting better and better. I have to say that I have high ambitions regarding that game. The community is small, but I want to be a competitive player who can actually win a round for his team - which I actually do all the time) and then Marcus went to bed, means he slept on the new couch.

I've napped on that couch before, and just lying on it earlier today made me feel comfortable.

Today I almost lost all my recent savegames of Project Diva, Birth by Sleep and co.
I backupped my PSP's memory stick a couple of days ago before trying the HEN, so my retail games are safe anyway,
but in the end, I lost all data of God of War: Ghost of Sparta (which Marcus played this weekend) and The 3rd Birthday.
Birth by Sleep and Project Diva (thankfully) could be restored using some recovery tools.
I'm not going to start T3B again before it's out in the US; there's no point in rushing things while I can play so many other games I actually understand language-wise.

I haven't bothered playing Dissidia 012 Prologus either; the demo got old quickly, and I'll wait for the US version now; considering Prologus was trademarked in the USA and Europe a while ago, it's safe to assume that it will be sold on the PSN over here as well.

The new video card is awesome, I really am glad that I can play all the stuff I want using their maximum graphic settings now.


As you read, I was quite busy and didn't even care much about The Colorless lately.
Even now I'm at the verge of sleep, which is why I'll take a nap rather soon.
Anime had to wait as well, but I need to wait for some episodes anyway.
I'm not dead yet, remember that~

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Teaser HD

Well, it arrived.
As promised, I post the Teaser.
It got dubbed in english as well, so take both versions and be happy about hawt HD Lightning!


Versus XIII's HD trailer will be released on the 27th, so look forward to that one too - I know I do!



English



Japanese




PS:
Is it only me or is this the second "pink" direct sequel to a main Final Fantasy?

Dissidia 012 Prologus Download

Dissidia 012 has been out for two days now, I've played it a bit, you read that already, I know.

I just considered that I might as well share the game with you lot.

There has been a version on Nyaatorrents since release, which works, but is kinda big.
About 525mb for an extended Demo, while you can get full games between 500 and 1500mb?
Well, it wasn't right to me, so I took that release's ISO image and compressed it to CSO (also known as Compressed ISO).

The result runs fine and now is only 270mb in size, which pleases me.

---

!!!
The Game did NOT run using the OpenIdea ISO Loader.
It does, however, work when using Prometheus.

It ran on official firmware 6.20 TN-B HEN as well as by using 6.35 Pro HEN.

You should be familiar with using ISO/CSO images, and if not, the Prometheus-Readme should teach you how, so I'm not going to explain that.

---

!!!
Remember to BUY the Games you like!
By playing The 3rd Birthday for a while, I noticed that it really is a fine game, while I noticed that Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is kinda flawed and I won't need to buy it anytime soon, for example.
Just remember to pay for the things you appreciate!

---

Download:
Torrent
-------
No direct download links anymore, full game is out and US/EU versions should come soon.



Have fun!

Dissidia 012 Duodecim Roundup

SE 1st is over, but some stuff is still coming up.

A buddy, Dragstyles, wrote a summary on Prologus, which you can read over here.
He mentions most of the changes and new stuff, like the new Ex-Revenge, new abilities for old characters and so on.

Next thing:
We now have almost all new Costumes of the characters revealed.
You can find them over here.

Although I kinda hate the massive FFVII-fanservice, I'm infinitely glad, that Tifa got her Cowgirl-Costume.
Yuna in her wedding dress is also a nice sight, and Casual-Laguna looks nice as well.
I'm not sure if I like the changes made to Exdeath's look, but black Garland looks cool.


The new FFV-Character now has officially announced to be indeed Gilgamesh.
His Artwork makes me wish he would have been in Prologus already.
Prishes' announcement still frustrates me; I can't believe there won't be characters for FFVI and IX at all, while they put in such minor characters...

---

That being said, I'm going back to playing The 3rd Birthday.
I really like this game, and even though I don't understand half of the plot, let alone the mission briefs, I somehow am progressing well.
Good game, gonna buy it once it hits Europe.

Edit:
Probably, dear Alkaid. I know the game has a bunch of weak points; in the end it depends on the dub, indeed.

Quick Impressions on Dissidia 012 Prologus

Yep, that's right, it already leaked and can be found on Nyaatorrents.

I finally got to use a Homebrew Enabler and it's running on Official Firmware 6.20 with 6.20 TN-B (HEN) and Prometheus ISO Loader for 6.20 TN-A HEN.
It did NOT run on OpenIdea's ISO loader for me.

The opening sequence of the story is nice, we get to see Lightning, Jekkt, Kain and the Warrior of Light. Sadly, I don't understand anything, so I'll have a hard time getting into the fight, regardless of my Dissidia experience.

First Battle:
Lightning vs Garland
Stage: Old Chaos Shrine (normal)


Okay, we all know Garland, but Lightning is entirely new.

- All her HP attacks are presented by her using the Odin blades.
- By pressing [L]+[R], she changes through seemingly 3 Modes (Attacker, Blaster & Healer), while every single one of them has unique abilities and attacks.
Raising your bravery as Healer and attack using long-rage spells as Blaster but switch to Attacker once the enemy is in range.
It was quite exciting to have a character like that after all these old characters.

- Lightning's Exburst wasn't hard to master, but sadly I haven't used her long enough in Exmode yet (I took my chance to kill Garland instead).

- I could decide what the Warrior of Light-Assist should do, either attack Bravery or HP, though I didn't see him hit - I'll try again, don't worry.


New Stage!
Kefka seems stronger now, but I didn't notice the benefit from staying in Exmode yet. Well, it was only the second fight!

The HP-display got changed.
Instead of Current/Max we now see ONLY the current HP.

Now back to playing, I'll post this right now and update it later (and after dinner..)

Square Enix 1st Production Department Premier

UPDATE:
Trailer zu Duodecim and Agito/Type-0 are up!

Okay, this is the first Final Fantasy-related post in a while.

The SE 1st is over, and we got some recorded (low quality) trailers and information about Final Fantasy XIII-2, Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Type-0, formerly known as Agito, as well as Dissidia Duodecim.

Let's start with the latter.




Duodecim revealed some new characters, but let's hope these are not all there will be!
We already knew about Tifa, Kain, Laguna and Vaan.
Now we get some new shot of Yuna and some FFXI (online) character, named Prishe.
We have seen Yuna ingame already, but Prishe was CG-only in the trailer.
The most appreciated new Character is without a doubt Gilgamesh, though.
People report he has been sighted, but I don't have a good shot at hand right now.

---

Dissidia will also get a paid demo (300yen via PSN), which is basically a story segment, fittingly called "Prologus".
The story told won't be in the final release, and it's questionable if it will ever reach western shores.
I, tbh, wouldn't be surprised if SE would release a Final Tuning version in Japan just including this episode.

Those who buy and play Prologus will also be able to unlock another Assist in the full 012 game - Aerith Gainsborough. Great, isn't it? Another FFVII-fanservice, as if we didn't have enough already.

UPDATE: TRAILER!

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Next on the list is Final Fantasy XIII Agito, which now is just "Final Fantasy Type-0".
Seemingly, it will still be part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis.

I haven't really cared about this PSP game, but hearing that this will be the first game to ever run on two UMDs, I'm kinda interested.
After being screwed by Square Enix telling us that "Dissidia barely fits onto an UMD", just like Crisis Core before, but then coming up with Dissidia 012, featuring all content from the first game plus a hell lot more, this seems like a dangerous news, though.

The game itself is oblivious to me, so take these screens and get to the next game.

---

This one, though following the harshly criticised Final Fantasy XIII, looks kinda interesting, even if it's just for Lightning being ridiculously hot in the trailer.

The game is scheduled for a 2011 release, and we'll seemingly see it next Winter in the US and EU.



A HD version of the trailer will be out on the 20th, and I'll replace this 360p version once I can get my eyes on the new version.
For now, enjoy Lightning in LQ

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Last (yes, I won't talk about filthy 3DS games) is Final Fantasy Versus XIII, the one Square Enix game that makes me hold on to my hopes that they'll give us a really good game.

Watching the trailer, it feels like a real action game, using the experience of the Kingdom Hearts team.
The battles look interesting and might be enough to gather fans of God of War and Dante's Inferno (to name just two games) and make them play Versus XIII.

The atmosphere looks great, the darkness is not gone, which is appreciated and necessary.
This looks indeed like a 'Fantasy based on Reality' to me.

Noctis voice actor wasn't named yet, but it looks extremely familiar - wanna guess? =p
Stella and Noct's father didn't get voices yet, and also the already known talking-scene between Stella and Noctis wasn't recorded yet. Shame.

Yoko Shimomura, though, gave the trailer an amazing soundtrack, and I CAN'T wait for the OST to be released!

In the end, I'll leave you with the trailer - HD version coming around the 27th!
It's seven minutes long, so enjoy!

PS:

Level E: First Impressions

I'm writing this after merely two episodes, although I wanted to watch the first three episodes of the shows I'm posting on.

But it is not necessary to wait another week for Level E.
This show is already amazing as hell, and threw me totally off balance.

To be honest, I was expecting some mature SciFi-Anime, maybe because the guy on the MyAnimeList-Cover reminded me of Project 2501 from Ghost in the Shell.

In the end, I got a show which, at this early point of the year, will give 2011's comedy anime a REALLY hard time.
The comedy is terrific, the characters are in perfect harmony and the sudden twists make you long for more.

Level E almost killed me a couple of times during these two episodes already - I really don't recommend eating ANYTHING while watching it, be it Lunch, Dinner or just some saltsticks.
We all know how dangerous it is to start laughing while trying to swallow something, right?


The Art seems fitting, somehow abstract yet realistic and gives the Anime the right atmosphere.
A show like this really relies on facial expressions and emotions, fast scenes and absurdity.
During these 50 minutes, I really could let myself go and dive into these hilarious moments with ease.
As opposed to the Moe-Art we see all over the current season, Level E has a more mature tone after all, and I really love that.

The opening is a great piece of art, even on its own, but you can see that farther below.


The sound was flowing well with the plot, the scenes and reminds one that this is a mystery / scifi show.
Once again, the Opening scores.

The voice acting is atmospheric and fits the characters and their actions.
We get the guy voicing Italy in Hetalia (oh how I hate that show...), the voice of Yasuri Shichika from Katanagatari (although less relaxed) and, to let a girl join the main trio, Akesaka Satomi, who voiced Matsuri Hiiragi for Lucky Star a couple of years ago.
Of course, there are much more, but these are the central voices you'll get to hear.

The plot starts with great pacing; they knew when to take some time and when to rapidly throw jokes and gags at their audience.
Even during the first episode we experience foreshadowing and plot devices are being introduced, while the second (and, judging from the preview even the third) episode picks them up and uses them in unpredictable ways.
I am curious how they'll follow the major plotline, but overall this show does seem like it will be well structured.
I like that.


I'd even risk to predict this show to become the BEST Anime of the season, and it will rival most coming shows in greatness.
Personally this show is my first candidate of 'Best Anime 2011'.


I hope I left this post spoiler-free, so you can enjoy the show like I did, without being prepared for what's to come.
Go and watch this show, but remember to breathe!

I'm leaving you for today with this Opening video (mirrored, which is sad, but it won't take the greatness away):

DoW2: Retribution BETA

Community invited to help balance multiplayer modes prior to launch...
THQ today announced that a multiplayer beta for its upcoming real time strategy game, Warhammer® 40,000®: Dawn of War® II - Retribution™, is scheduled to launch in late January.

Featuring all six multiplayer races including the new Imperial Guard faction, this beta is expected to run from the end of January through to the end of February to test the new Steamworks networking and matchmaking features and to help balance the multiplayer mode. All new units for each race will be available in the beta along with the new multiplayer maps which ship with Retribution.

The beta is scheduled to go live on Monday 31 January when global press and key Dawn of War® community members will be given access. It will then broaden to include everyone who has pre-ordered Dawn of War® II – Retribution™ on STEAM to date on 1 February. Finally, anyone who has bought a Dawn of War game through STEAM or has registered a Dawn of War II product on their STEAM account will automatically receive an invite on 8 February. There will be no open registration phase to this beta.

The Dawn of War II - Retribution multiplayer beta is currently planned to run until midnight on 24 February, at which point the developers will take all feedback into account to create a day-zero balancing patch.

To stay up to date with the latest on everything Dawn of War II, make sure you join the Official Community Site.

You know what this means:
Either preorder Retribution or buy one of the old DoW2 Games to participate in the BETA phase!

I haven't yet preordered it; stupid Amazon closing preorders of the collector's edition one day after it's been up.
I definitely won't preorder via Steam, though, because I seriously WANT this retail box which comes at the same price.

So either way, I'll need to wait for the 8th of February to get into the new multiplayer - which will probably be infinitely better than the previous one; GfWL really screwed things up.


On a sidenote:
Retribution comes with Noise Marines!

Greed Corp

Turn-based strategy at its finest

Greed Corp is an award winning, innovative turn-based strategy game, situated in a rich, fictional world inspired by the industrial revolutions and their destructive effects on the environment. Find the delicate balance between harvesting the land for resources and preserving it to stay alive. Will you defend your territory or sacrifice it to keep it out of enemy hands? Manage the finite available resources to build your army and use the collapsing terrain to your advantage.

Destroy your enemies, or destroy the very land they stand on, before they do it to you.

Key Features:

• Innovative land collapsing mechanic, creating intense strategic battles


• Earn Achievements and titles, playing as one of four factions in bite-sized matches of around 20 minutes


• 10+ hours single player campaign consisting of a tutorial and 24 unique maps


• Friendly and ranked 2, 3, and 4-player battles spread across 36 unlockable maps


• Further customize matches with any combination of local, online, and computer players (three difficulty levels)

Greed Corp on Steam

This summarizes Greed Corp kinda well.
It's a turn-based Strategy game, where you need to find the balance between harvesting your land for ressources and leaving it to survive.
The game is pretty great, a hell lot of fun, multiplayer and all that, so definitely worth a look.

The Tile-board really reminds you of some type of board game, and yes, it could easily be.
The rules/mechanics are fairly simple, so you'll get into the game with little effort.
It's 9.99€ / $9.99 on Steam, though you could try and look for a retail version of the game.

The game's been 75% off during christmas, shortly after it's initial release, but after playing it, I wouldn't mind the 10 bucks at all.
It's a good game and well worth it's price.

I'm two hours in, completed the tutorial and just now I lost in the end-stage of the first campaign's last mission.

I wouldn't mind the game being more complex, like quicker walkers or some that can attack out of home-territory without standing on it's borders for a turn...

The Singleplayer is fun already, I'll see how the multiplayer turns out - probably even more awesome =D


If you want a nice, relaxing but entertaining single- or multiplayer game without the need to hurry over your decisions, a turn based system and/or a certain boardgame-flair, this game is a really good choice.

PS: The Music is awesome as well~

Thought of You - by Ryan Woodward

The birth of “Thought of You” came from my desire to unite several of my passions into one art piece. Figurative works, 2d animation, EFX animation, and contemporary dance. Put all three of these forms together to support a theme centered around the complexities of intimate relationships…and whalaa, “Thought of You” is born!

Rather than creating a narrative animated piece that communicates a well defined story, this piece allows for each individual who views it to to experience something unique and personal that touches their own sensibilities.

“World Spins Madly On”, performed by “The Weepies”, courtesy of Nettwerk Music Group. The animated short, “Thought of You“, by Ryan Woodward.

More information

This video is amazing.
Honestly, it made me smile, but also cry.
It holds so many different meanings, depending on the one watching it, and that alone makes it a great piece of art.
The fluid animation, the illusion of real movement in two-dimensional figures, just lovely.

This post is dedicated to Ryan and his amazing work of art.

Notes on DC's chosen Winter Anime

Alright, before I start with some first impression posts, I thought I should note what shows I chose to pick up this season.

This is just a short list, expect the individual posts later on.


-Beelzebub
(Episode 01 was weird enough to hook me for some following episodes)

-Cardfight!! Vanguard
(Horrible look, need to force myself through the first episode without quitting)

-Dragon Crisis!
(If they manage to maintain the foreshadowed plot instead of focussing on cliche-like 'mysterious girl', it can end up being great)

-Fractale
(Best yet, amazing artstyle, feeling of nostalgia, relaxing yet interesting and funny, promising, great atmosphere)

-Freezing
(Not finished yet, airing in 4:3 with 16:9 opening which made me turn it off after 5 minutes)

-Gosick
(First episode was a nice introduction, but somehow I missed some excitement, some danger for the characters. Not thrilling enough, but will probably get better)

-Haiyoru! Nyaru-ani: Remember my Love(craft-sensei)
(Bullcrap, not worth the references to HP Lovecraft or any of his creations. 4 minute flash videos with 2 min ending + preview (live action) - not funny, no plot)

-Kore wa Zombie Desu ka
(not yet watched)

-Level E
(not yet watched but have high hopes)

-Rio: Rainbow Gate
(Shallow entertainment with Vegas-like atmosphere which kinda justifies the ecchi-elements; freaking gambling manipulation scenes. Alright)

-Wolverine
(not yet watched, too scared)

-Yumekui Merry
(Looks great, new voice actress in main role (Merry), interesting atmosphere and set up some things I liked during the first episode)



Haven't watched Kimi ni Todoke yet, but I'm already gathering the second season's episodes.

Haven't officially picked up Onii-chan no Koto nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!!, the art looks horrible, the incest is lame and it seems like a jump on the Ore no Imouto-train.


That should be everything for now, and I'm preparing to write some impressions on Fractale, Yumekui Merry and Gosick once I've seen the first three episodes of these shows.

What shows did you pick and liked or disliked?

I ran out of cake.

Aside from that sad, sad news, I'm powerreading The First Heretic. Plan is to finish the novel til sunday.
On another note, I'm still struggling through the new Anime season, once I'm done with gathering thoughts I'll post something on them.

Oh I'm so buying cake tomorrow..

Poll: Your Most Important PC Component

While collecting components for DragStyles' PC upgrade, I was thinking about what different people might think is the most important part of their PCs.

Some people are pure gamers, and thus will probably answer 'Video Card' or 'CPU', while others need to handle a bunch of CDs or DVDs all the time, thus would say 'DVD-Drive'.
Then again, others might need their specific Keyboard and/or Mouse to feel comfortable.

I, for one, need Harddrive space. I kinda eat every Gigabyte in mere moments.
Right now, I'm at about 3.5 TB, but I'd easily fill it with games and 1080p Anime.
Thus, the first thing I'd upgrade would be the HDD capacity.

But what is your most important part?
Vote on here, share your thoughts in the comment box

Your Most important PC component
	CPU
	Mainboard
	RAM
	Video Card
	Harddrive
	Other (Please Comment!)

Behold the Eyebrows of Might! - Mighty Mugi!

If you didn't think highly of Tsumugi already, this might get you to respect her skills.

I can only say WOW! to comment this amazing PVC!
Detailed food, great pose and it somehow delivers the great charm of the girl with the big eyebrows.

It amazes me that Mugi can carry all that food without dropping something. I can say for sure that Yui wouldn't have managed that...

Mugi, the girl who will never stop enjoying cooking for you, serving tea for you and your friends and will be happy if you give her the small things in life to enjoy.

Sadly, the price is a bit too high for myself (70€ aren't peanuts), so I'd be jealous of every single person who buys her D:

Now I'm hungry (how couldn't I be after seeing these dishes?!), so I'm leaving you with a link to the otacute store:
Click for more Mugi!

Dawn of War 2: Retribution up for Preorder!

Finally Retribution opened up for preorders on Steam and THQ.
29,99€ for a standalone expansion is quite good, especially when considering that its running completely on its own without need of the original DoW2 or Chaos Rising.

The 6th race is the Imperial Guard with focus on the Inquisition, Witch Hunters.

Preorders come with one of 6 sets of Wargear - choose the race who suits you best and get special items and equipment for the singleplayer campaign.

For those who don't want to decide which single race to support, the retail Collector's Edition comes with all 6 sets and looks quite awesome.


Can't speak for you, but I am looking forward to my preorder of the Collector's Edition.
In the meantime I'm looking into picking up some 2nd hand Retail copy of Chaos Rising, for I only got the digital version.
You don't need the disc or manual or anything else aside of the cd key to activate the game on Steam, but hell, my collection isn't complete without it, right?



Sources:
THQ
Kotaku
Steam

Anime Library Icons v2

It's been a while since the v1 of my Anime Library Icon Package, and it has grown a hell lot.

This v2 features more than 160 icons already, including Winter shows such as Dragon Crisis, Fractale, Gosick or Yumekui Merry.
More to follow during Winter season and especially shortly before Spring;
if you need something not included, comment on here and I shall look into and add it.

The Icons include the sizes:
64x64 - 96x96 - 128x128 - 192x192 - 256x256 - 512x512 and the original size of the Picture (about 225x350, iirc).
The Pictures were taken from MyAnimeList.net's anime entries.

(note: I'm using Windows 7 and the Icons look best with big symbol view)


Grab the set on here:
Uploaded.to
Rapidshare.com
Megaupload.com


PS:
More or less frequent posting planned to continue early next week.