February 2006 Archives

I finally managed to get Kingdom Hearts 2 running on my existing PS2 -- after nearly six hours of failed attempt after failed attempt. But I'll be darned if it wasn't worth the effort.

In fact, I'm actually surprised that I've been able to stop playing for long enough to type this entry. To be fair, I've also got to spend a few minutes clearing out room on one (or both) of my PS2 memory cards for savegames, so I suppose now is as good a time as any to take a break. I've made it to the Land of Dragons (Mulan's world), and this game has been a blast so far! Definitely, absolutely worth the wait (even if I can only understand about 5% of the dialogue; I'm familiar enough with the storyline by now that I've been able to keep up well enough). Only a very select few games have drawn me in this completely: the original Kingdom Hearts; La Pucelle Tactics; and now, Kingdom Hearts 2.

I'm going to see how far I can make it before the US release; I might even try to finish it first before I play the English version, just so the effort to that point won't be wasted (and who knows...there might be something special in one version that isn't present in the other -- remember the differences between the original Japanese and US releases of Kingdom Hearts, and its Japanese re-release in the form of Final Mix?

OK, enough gushing...time to get back to playing. I've got me some Heartless to kill!

My import copy of Kingdom Hearts II arrived whilst I was out to sea, and is now in my hands. The problem is simple: I lack a system capable of playing the game, as my non-imported PS2 (for the moment) lacks this important capability. My choices are simple:

1. Purchase a brand new import PS2 (with shiny satin-silver finish!) for the sole purpose of playing import games; or,
2. Purchase a modchip (or software-based alternative) to enable my current older-generation PS2 to do the same.

The problem with the former is that the import console will only be able to play imported games; the problem with the latter is that there's a chance that I will find a way to render the PS2 inoperable in the process of modding it (not an insignificant chance, either). I never thought that I would ever have to perform a risk assessment just to play a freaking videogame.

In other news...the iTunes Billionth Song Countdown. As of tonight (Wednesday the 22nd), the iTunes Music Store is selling at a rate of about 60 songs per second. That equates to over 200,000 songs per hour; as of this writing (20:15 PST) the counter is at approximately 999,727,000 songs, and if the trend continues (or accelerates, as it inevitably will) the 1 billionth song will be sold in about one and a half hours. I'm lining up an album or two I've been holding off on for a while to try to snag it; a 20" iMac, 10 60GB iPods, and a $10K iTMS card are definitely nothing to sneeze at!

More to come later.