Chucks Anime Shrine

Anime Pic of the Day 7/9/09

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:59:31 PDT

Been all over some new blog templates as of late, but don't let that stop the blogging ^^;; Here's a wonderful picture for you to gander at today. This one is obviously done by the great Shunya Yamashita. If I'm not mistaken, this is a variation of his character Roxanner, of whom will have a figure released in the coming months.

TweetBoard

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:28:02 PDT

In case you all haven't noticed, I installed the Tweetboard application to the bulk of the site (seen as a tab on the left side). If, like me, you use twitter alot, this comes in handy and allows for some more real-time convos here on the site which of course is synced into twitter. Big thanks to the developers of TweetBoard. Chances are, I'll be seeing if I'm allowed to modifiy it a bit more to go with my planned upgrades to the blog and site.

How to Spot a Fake Nendoroid

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:22:03 PDT

Ok, a big, big pet peeve of mine as both an anime figure collector and as an anime figure store owner has been the slew of cheap, fake and inferior Good Smile Company Nendoroid figures. As somebody who both collects and sells the real deal, just thought I'd give some examples of what to look out for. I will be using the most commonly bootlegged figure, Miku Hatsune, as my example.

Here, is the real one:

Here's an image I took from my stock of the back of the figure.

Here is a list of ways to almost be certain a figure is a fake.

Very cheap price. Explore the web and places like eBay with caution. If you see a seller claiming to sell a Nendoroid at a Buy-Now price below $25USD, it's most likely a fake since no official seller can sell one below that price without losing money.
Different facial expressions from original. Miku Hatsune's smirk for example is different and less smiley on a fake one than on the real one. Other Nendoroids will be the same.
Cheaper look to the figure. This is a given. Good Smile Company is one of those anime figure companies that usually make sure their final product matches the original image. In this industry, it is tough to do so but if you see a decent difference, you'll know there's something up. Fakes have been known to fall apart easier, also.
Seller is from China or Hong Kong. Please note that anime figures both fake and real are made in China and not all China sellers are selling fakes, but sadly many are.

Buying from a US seller?

Make sure the Good Smile Company figures come from AAAanime.com, Mile-stone.jp or Diamond Comics. These are the official wholesalers of anime figures in the US and where I get mine from as well. For Nendoroids, practically all come from AAAanime.com. Don't see a AAAanime sticker on the back of your Nendoroid box?...it might be a fake.
Ask for a copy of the seller's Certificate of Authority. This is the identification all sellers need to proved they are verified by their state to sell products in a legit business or one that isn't an MLM (they have different forms of identification). I have a copy for my anime store and Swaorvski figures selling. The seller should not show their ID number and other personal info that is on the form but their company name and the state they are locaed in is on the form. With one, I have to report sales tax to my state and my sales figures to both state and federal taxes. Sellers of fakes of course wish to bypass this responsibility and will buy cheap bootlegs from fake factories in China without the need to show any other identification, other than $$.

Hope this bit of info helps in your shopping and I've also provided images of more-than-likely fake I spotted on eBay in the post. Please note, the name of the seller, if on the image, has been blocked out to prevent slandering and to not falsely accuse them since some sellers take images from others and might not be selling fakes but show fakes in their images...of course, the opposite maybe true too.

Saber Lily Nendoroid

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:51:15 PDT

I had a bunch of items not yet listed in my store for pre-order, so I went and got the store up to date. I also got the clearance today to set up pre-orders for the very cute and lovely Saber Lily Nendoroid figure. Saber is the background to my dual PC set-up at home still so I'll probably snag one for myself to add to my collection ^^. With my listings mainly up to date, I'll be sure to post the newest figures first now. Every single day there are new and amazing anime figures that get on the pre-order list and if I'm to be up there with the other anime stores...I gotta keep up ^^;;

Check out some more pics below. I also added these pictures and the pictures for my other recent figures additions to the anime figures part of the anime gallery.

Anime Pic of the Day 6/24/09

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:34:46 PDT

Been one of those busy weeks. So while I get some more posts ready for all of you, here's an anime girl picture that you'd might like. I'm also in the process of setting up a test/beta version of this blog so you can get a glimpse of any upgrades to the blog. Been looking all over for coding that will put up relevant posts as well as automatically thumbnailed posts...but Blogger is not friendly to customizations outside of the .blogspot.com site setup -_-. I'm a programmer, so I'll work my way around their errors somehow.

On the production block:

More member blog visibility and functions (don't be afraid to post your own posts there)
beta blog
Post thumbnails
reply to comments
comment rss feed subscription
relevant posts
more embedded video in the blog
a better amv/video section
amazon.com payment integration in the store and blog
improvements to www.anime.fm

yeah...got a bunch to do -_-.

Yoshiyuki Tomino Will Be At NY Anime Fest 2009

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:17:33 PDT

More good news for Gundam fans, it seems that the creator of the Gundam series, Yoshiyuki Tomino will be attending the 2009 New York Anime Fest to further commermorate the 30th anniversary of Gundam. I'll be attending NYAF 2009 as well and it'll be great to meet up with the man responsible for all Gunpla. chances are he'll be showing off video and other tidbits about the 1/1 RX-78 that we all so badly want to see. (Would love for one to be built here in NYC -_-) New York Anime Fest will be September 25-27 in the city (at the Javits center).

(ps: yes, I will eventually sell gunpla in my store...that day will come and I will let you all know)

Thanks to ANN for the info.

Fate/Unlimited Codes: Saber Lily 1/8 Scale Figure

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:47:43 PDT

Alter's new gem of a figure has already become a big hit. I'm a fan of Saber thanks to my fandom of Cloche (Chroche) from Ar Tonelico 2..being that they share the same English voice actress and lets not forget just the sheer cool factor of the Fate series. With requests coming in for this figure the day I got the rights to pre-order her for my store, I just had to reserve some for my fellow Saber fans. The Good Smile company figure as well as this one by Alter are indeed very well made Saber figures. The production figure isn't out to review yet as the release date for them is around the October/November 2009 range, but Alter and GSC will most likely keep the quality the same in their final product as they usually tend to. Check out some of these images I got straight from my supplier. She's up there in price at around $100 for a 1/8th scale figure, but you know you gotta have one. Email me for pre-orders or you can check out her product page and do so there ^_^

Tim Burton's '9' The Movie

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:57:12 PDT

(Update: 6/17/09: Check out the new 9 interactive Lab website.)

Some of you might have heard that Tim Burton and Shane Acker have been working on a special movie project called, 9. Set to release on, you guessed it, 9/9/09, the story of 9 revolves around a post-apocalyptic world where machines have long taken over the world. A scientist then brings to life his creation that resemble the characters from Little Big Planet. I'm a big fan of Tim Burton and I know many of us anime fans are mainly well into the Nightmare Before Christmas (or almost any of Tim Burton's film's) . It has his signature dark, gloomy type of world but looks to have plenty of action in it as well. As I get more info on the story and some other tidbits, I'll either post them here or make a new post for you all to see, so be sure to subscribe to my blog's rss feed for the latest info. Actors like Elijah wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connely and others are bringing their voice talent to the film.

Check the offical site here for the current trailer as well as the 9 Scientist facebook page. Also, the image header for this post is the pre-released poster for the movie so only here and a few selected sites got the rights to show it to you guys ^-^ Gotta love being an anime, otaku blogger.

Anyways, enjoy the trailer and I'll be in the theaters myself to see it; can never miss a Tim Burton movie.

(Update: July 6th 2009)

Check out some pictures of the StitchPunk beings below as well as some more info on the movie.

For 1: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/708773574/2ff4ea3eca72a7c0ef18fa3e6b665d5c
For 2: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/708773784/8e77330cb3ba776a20787fed699cb560
For 3 & 4: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/708773876/3ddd5f18407f12fd0e96e1508af5f4ef
For 5: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/708773948/0f2f5bc4d7664fd6dfb49d749efd637f
For 6: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/708774160/f6986304bda3a161b0acea8dcecde292
For 7: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/708774226/8c328169b7945a5466f6336aeed093e4
For 8: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/708774388/1594b6caab369ae0662b140201376f80
For 9: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/708774462/876b025b5beda4b03f0970b6e83cdab0

Can't get enough of 9?

- Meet the Scientist at Facebook.com/9Scientist

- Explore the Scientist's lab at 9experiment.com

- Watch the trailer at 9TheMovie.com

- Visit on your cell phone at 9.msite.tv

- Sign up for mobile alerts by texting '9" to 4FOCUS (436287)

- Be sure to download the reader by texting 'READER' to 4FOCUS (436287) so you can decipher the secret messages on the street and gain access to exclusive content!

Official 9 Film Synopsis:
A new era in animated storytelling begins on 9.9.09. Visionary filmmakers Tim Burton (The Corpse Bride, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory) and Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, Nightwatch) join forces to produce wunderkind director Shane Acker's distinctively original and
thrilling tale. 9 stars Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Martin Landau, Christopher Plummer and Crispin Glover and features the music of Danny Elfman. When 9 (The Lord of the Ring's Elijah Wood) first comes to life, he finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world. All humans are gone, and it is only by chance that he discovers a small community of others like him
taking refuge from fearsome machines that roam the earth intent on their extinction. Despite being the neophyte of the group, 9 convinces the others that hiding will do them no good. They must take the offensive if they are to survive, and they must discover why the machines want to
destroy them in the first place. As they'll soon come to learn, the very future of civilization may depend on them.

Character Descriptions

1
-Voiced by one of the world's most respected actors, Christopher Plummer, 1 is the Scientist's first creation. As the elder, he is the self-declared leader of the group. He is clever and sly, but also domineering, quick-tempered, and threatened by the new arrival of 9, whose higher intellect leads him to question authority.

2
-Voiced by Academy Award Winner Martin Landau, 2 is a kindly but now frail inventor and explorer who embodies the Scientist's strong creative spirit. An inquisitive personality, 2 is fearless. Director Shane Acker affectionately describes him as a 'salty old dog'.

3/4
-Communicating visually, not verbally, 3 and 4 are the scholarly twins who voraciously catalogue everything they can see and find, recording and building a massive database for the group of the world that surrounds them and the history that led up to their creation.

5
-Voiced by Academy Award nominee John C. Reilly, 5 is a caring, nurturing engineer -- the loyal, big-hearted 'common man' who always tries to play the peacemaker. He is also an apprentice of 2, with whom he shares a special bond.

6
-6, the group's visionary is voiced by Crispin Glover. Although reclusive and eccentric, his bursts of artistic inspiration through drawings made from his pen nib hands may be keys to help his fellow stitchpunk beings navigate their darkest hours.

7
-A brave and self-sufficient warrior, 7, voiced by Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly, is the group's sole female. A fiercely independent adventuress she has been out patrolling the wasteland. To survive, she has adapted, finding the bones of a deceased bird and crafting her signature skull helmet.

8
-Armed with a giant kitchen cleaver and half a scissor blade, the none-too-bright muscle and enforcer of the group, 8, is created to help the others physically survive the dangerous post-apocalyptic world.

9
-To voice the lead role of the newly born -- and aborning hero -- 9, Acker couldn't help but have in mind an actor who was so central to the film set he had worked on years earlier in New Zealand -- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King star Elijah Wood.

Odaiba Gundam In Action

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:36:46 PDT

This thing gets more amazing the more we see it. Out of just sheer excitement, I had to post this bit of info. The 1/1 Scale RX-78 Gundam in Odaiba, Tokyo is all set up with the lights, sounds and movement. This is a site to behold and a proud day to be an anime fan ;_; I love it. Of course, all the photo and news credit goes to Danny Choo and the originators of this news. Over hear in NY, we tend to get things a bit late due to the 13 hour time difference...or just me not being quick enough with the blog posts. Check out the Gundam in action in the video below. The video is now a part of the video section of the site.

Our First Voice Dubbing

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:00:07 PDT

Well, it was bound to happen. We decided to do a little Fan dub sample. This fan dub is actually more like a manga read than a real dub though. The manga my fiancee Danielle chose for us to read is "From Far Away" by Kanata Kara. It's actually a very loved series and a classic but sadly has never had an animated rendition. Maybe that will change down the road, but who knows. I'm not sure my voice fits Izark...for any type of editing I tend to be very hard on myself ^^;; Anyways, you probably find that Danielle is much better at this than I am. (and I'm the one talking more on how I want to voice dub anime ^^;;) Below you'll see our dub and then the one she did on her own. Check out Danielle's Youtube page here. Of course, From Far Away is owned by Kanata Kara as well as any respected licenses.

Good Smile Company ActSta Figures

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:49:24 PDT

Hijacked this great bit of figure news from Danny Choo's post as well as the Mikatan Blog yesterday. Big news if you are into articulated figures or, like me, love the detail and effort in Good Smile company anime figures. The upcoming actsSta line, actSta being short for "action, actor, active statue" is in a sense, larger Figma figures. These figures will be at around 1/8th scale and fully articulated and as you see from the photos, in par with the quality you'd expect from GSC. These will most likely be a part of my store and my personal collection as well.

Not sure yet of the release date for these but the latest figures on the production line (as of this post) don't come out till late November 09, so most likely a December/January 2009/2010 release in Japan..which means late Feb or March in the US -_- Don't hold me to that, but with my 3 years experience as a anime figure dealer...it's probably in that ballpark.

Odaiba Gundam Complete

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 08:02:57 PDT

For some of you that have been tracking the progress of the 1:1 scale Gundam being made, well....its basically complete! Big thanks to Danny Choo for keeping us in tabs with the progress of it and for punynari for the great photos and news of its completion.

In case you didn't know, this is a full scale replica of the RX78 Gundam from the original Moblie Suit Gundam series. It obviously won't be a fully functional machine but an amazing monument with lights and sounds. If I'm not mistaken, it's decoration for a potentioal future olympics as well. Once I do make my trip to Japan, this will be one of the sites I'll stop at.

...and I of course wouldn't pass up the opportunity to pilot a Gundam...those days are not yet here but with the Obaiba Gundam...we can still dream.

Be sure to check out more pictures at the Danny Choo blog post and on punynari's blog.

Cosplay House

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:08:00 PDT

My fiancee, Danielle brought this site to my attention. If you are a cosplayer, you'll probably love this site, www.cosplayhouse.com. Just a quick browse of their store shows some amazing detail in their costumes. The selection is really good and there's even costumes for characters that only wore them in only say one or two episodes 0_O They are located in California so its a great source for us US anime fans who still tend to get the short end of the stick. The LeLouche Emperor costume shown below is definitely on my wish list.

Kingdom Hearts Cell Phone Charms

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 09:48:43 PDT

Just posted up in the store the upcoming Kingdom Hearts Cell Phone Charms. They don't arrive to the US till around late October 2009 but you can pre-order them if you'd like or ask to be on a waiting list. They are about $10 and look pretty cool. Chances are I'll be keeping a Cloud one for my fiancee and me (if I can get it on my iPhone ^^;;)

Here's the the list of each type:

Cloud
Kairi
Riku
Roxas
Sora

Anime3000 Podcast, Part 2, Future of Gaming

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:51:04 PDT

Here's part 2 of the Podcast from anime3000.com that I got a chance to star in. As I post, E3 is going on and many new things have been announced and shown off. Here's a list of some items from the current E3:

Project Natal by Microsoft which is the X-Box's answer to the Wii's motion sensor
PSP GO, the hacked down PSP in which we all spoke about in the podcast, a few days before it was officially released
The PS3 Motion sensor
FFXIII demoed on the Xbox 360, with a spring 2010 expect release date
Wii Fit Plus
New Mario games

...and much more, with more to come. Check out the work being done at E3 by Engadget

The subject of our little rant here is the future of video games. So, where do you all think it's going? Is there new stuff in E3 that you dread or love?

As per the last podcast post, here's who's staring in the post:

Sean Russell: Anime3000.com (Host)
Patz (@patzprime): thegamingdungeon.com
Evan Minto (@VamptVo): Anigamers.com
Joshua Valencia
and me (@princetrunks), Chuck Gaffney

You hear some of me but good God I need to stop mumbling. I think I was waiting for everyone to jump in mid comment ^^;; Trust me, I don't normally mumble like that.

Check out the podcast here.

Sony PSP GO

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Sun, 31 May 2009 04:25:01 PDT

This was something that me and the other panelists talked about in the second part of the recent anime3000.com podcast (that podcast still pending release) and undoubtedly is all over the internet. E3 2009 is upon us and leaked out before the event is the new Sony PSP Go. I'll admit..I prefer my current old PSP over this but it might be worthy for someone who has yet to buy one. No UMD drive and no dual analog controls sadly. What do you all think of it?

Anime Tattoos

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Sat, 30 May 2009 12:16:01 PDT

Been wondering for a long while what tattoo(s) I'd finally get for myself. I'm the oldest of 8 kids and everyone but the 3 youngest and me don't have a tattoo. My father is loaded with tattoos including a large Bald eagle that covers his entire chest. At first glance at my father and you'd not think he's covered with tats.

Anyways, I've always thought of Kanji writing as my younger brother has on the back of his neck but I've also of course thought of full anime tattoos. With the blessing of my fiancee, I'd most likely get a moe version of FFVII's Tifa Lockhart and even K-On!'s Mio wouldn't be bad if the tat is done right.

As I continue to ponder what to add, here's some interesting tattoos I found in a quick browse on the internets. Oh, and the title picture above is from yesterday's Anime Pic of the Day, can't get enough of that work by Muuten.

Japanese Idol: Kuroki Nanami

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:00:04 PDT

Been some time since the last idol post and I've been getting some requests, so here's the idol, Kuroki Nanami. As of this post there's actullay no Wikipedia info on her ^^;; So I'm not too sure about who she is but rumor has it she's one of those idols who is married and is basically at the end of her photo shoots, but that's rumors don't take that to heart.

I made sure to add her images to the idol gallery and again, I don't put up any really riske photos as I'm basically just showing you who she is and to show the beauty in the modeling. (I'm technically a model myself...well only one photo shoot...more on that maybe down the road... and I repect other models ..also, Danielle if you are reading this, don't be mad about another idol post ^^;;)

New Member Section/Blog

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:25:17 PDT

Great news. As of today I've basically completed a part of the blog that I think you all will like. I have created a member driven portion of the blog. In other words, if you get approved, you can create blog posts here on my blog! It's basically a utilization of Blogger's author sign-up function but it should work pretty well.

I actually made it a brand new blog but embedded it here in the site. If you got the email with "Member Rules"..sorry that was an accident; was suppose to go to the member blog ^^;; Still working out the kinks.

So if any one want to help add more anime posts, it can be done ^_^ Check out the rules and how to get involved below. Please note that once I hit about 100 authors, I'll reach my limit. I'm doubtful the site is THAT popular but..always good to warn evryone.

In related news. Due to the very buggy and easily hacked coding of phpBB, the anime forum will have to be taken away Y_Y Nothing but spam went there and now its somehow broken. Forums are very Web 1.0 anyways and unless its a place like gaiaonline...a forum is not so useful in today's online world anymore. So this member's blog will basically be a replacement. The member blog will be shown here on this blog better...just need to fix some design aspects. Anyways...on to the rules and other info:

What's in it for you?

Drive some traffic to your anime/otaku blog: Chuck's Anime Shrine is continuing to gain more and more traffic over time. As of this post, my alexa traffic rank is around 170,000 with 3000+ visitors to the whole site daily and around 1000 unique visitors daily to the blog alone. I'm at work to continue to increase the traffic to the site by adding more features and making this a site worthy of visits from my fellow anime fans.
Chances to participate in future contests: For some time now I've not done contests but when I do I'll be sure to give away anime products from my anime store. Being a part of the member's blog will be another way for you to be noticed and hopefully get you some cool stuff and further promote your own sites ^_^

Rules:

Absolutely no hentai, loli, porn, offensive, extremely religious, or racist material.
Absolutely no links to any sites with the items in rule #1
Anime figures and manga mentions can be posted but no hentai or loli. Cast off figures must be shown in full clothed form and must not be too revealing
Material in the blog posts must be related to: anime, manga, Japan, video games or anything that anime fans would deem interesting.
No spamming. Google and blogger automatically create links on your user name when you post that should bring people to your site the natural way. You can link to your blog if you have more material to show in a related blog post, but NO topics with the blatant crazy advertising of your blog or a non-related blog i.e ("Click here for money tips.", etc). Other members won't care to click and it's distasteful -_-
If possible, try to have one related picture per post that acts as a header to your blog post and reflects the topic shown (kind of how this post is done). This makes the post look nice and will create even more traffic to your post.
Try to keep post titles small and to the point. Smaller titles yield better search results and make your posts look better.
Don't overload a post with pictures. Use services like Flickr, photobucket or your own related blog to host the images...and again no images that have items that are in rule #1...I can't stress that enough -_-
Posts can be short or large but please no posts that are too large.
Any violations will mark an instant removal from the blog and from the Google Friend Connect member list of this site.
We at Chuck's Anime Shrine have the right at any time to remove a blog post and member, so please follow the rules...a link to report a post will also be up on the blog for extra safety.

How to get involved:

Join the growing list of members of Chuck's Anime Shrine by clicking the "join this site" button in the Google Friend Connect part of this page.
Email me asking to be an author for Chuck's Anime Shrine...only after step one is done. I need to make sure you are a legit member.
Be sure to tell me your member name in the Google Friend Connect system and your email must match the given user's email. Again, for the safety of other members and to weed out spammers.
If approved, I will invite you to be an author on the site.
Accept the invitation
From your account on blogger.com, you can now begin posting.

Questions, Concerns:

Email me for any questions about the rules or how to get involved. As the site's popularity continues to grow...some emails might go through the cracks but I'll work as best I can to answer any questions. I set times that I go through my massive inbox of emails and I'm only human so immediate answers might not happen always.

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel: Review

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Thu, 28 May 2009 12:54:08 PDT

Been playing lots of Sacred 2 during the past week/week and a half. My first impressions before playing was a bit iffy. I'll admit, I'm not a D&D, WoW, PC-style fantasy game fan. First thought was "seems like a college-level video game project that looks all too much like the Sims, mixed in with medieval themes." I was dead wrong though. Sacred 2 is more like a Grand Thief Auto set in a fantasy world with a Diablo 2 feel as well.

The game is very open-ended. From the start of which ever character or path you choose, the exploring and fighting starts and thrust me....there is a lot to explore. The world of Sacred 2 is very massive and loaded with side quests. The use of mounts (horses, and other mobile creatures you can buy), obelisks and warps can make your journey much less time consuming. I chose to be a High Elf in the light campaign and the instant I opened up the gates of the town I began in...I was ambushed by enemies...almost to the point of death right there. The controls might take a bit to get used to but the action scheme is very customizable and with a decent amount of empty slots to add either magic, weapons and shields collected in the game.

Speaking of the game's items, it doesn't take too long to completely fill up all your inventory from the loot dropped by the vast array of enemies that litter the landscape or the random barrels and chests in caves and in random households (ah the old, break in to a random villager's house and steal their loot deal that you find in say..Legend of Zelda and others). Thankfully you can rid yourself of the extra inventory by saving it in a Hero's Chest for later use, selling it, or , of you are stuck in the wilderness, simply scrapping old, worthless items for stronger loot you find.

As you battle your magic/skills and you level up. The quickest way to level up though is to complete a large amount of side missions. Actually much of your time in the game will be completing side missions as there are over 600 of them! You can of course skip them and go to the story's main tasks, marked on the map in a gold circle..but expect enemies to be much more fierce. Some side quests are a bit dull, I'll admit but some are pretty fun with awesome boss battles at the end of them, so they are worth it. Having people play with you online in this is a great bonus and like MMORPGs, can lead to quicker execution of tasks.

There are some quirks about Sacred 2 though. The inventory system can get rather cumbersome and its rather tough to see which weapons are the best to use. Also, the game's frame rate will slow when thee is lots of enemies and magic being throw around. I have the Xbox 360 version but I hear the same happens on the PS3. Similarly, the game will have odd loading slowdowns in the towns...something I'll admit I'm shocked to see on an Xbox 360.

Despite some flaws, I still give the game a 8 out of 10. It has the pick up and play feel of older games, the open ended play like GTA and makes me now think about picking up similar games that I've for so long avoided like WoW, Diablo, and Everquest.

Check me out on Xbox Live to see my progress in this game and others.

My gamer tag is chuckgaff415.

I'm still playing through the game (its very long, another benifit) so any new tidbits I can add to the review, I'll let you all know ;-)

Check out the trailer here:

Haruhi Suzumiya, Season 2

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:00:02 PDT

Unless you have been away for the past couple of weeks, you'd probably know by now that the second season of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya has gotten underway in Japan. Of course, Kyoto Animation is once again behind the scenes so thankfully don't expect a Tenchi Muyo or Full Metal Alchemist scenario where the artwork is changed from the first season or rendition. If I'm not mistaken, it's also a continuation of the first season which is great for all us Haruhi fans. From the looks of it, it's a bit more moe than the first season but that isn't bad, right?

Check out the ending below:

Anime3000 Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:55:04 PDT

I finally got something to add to the podcast section of this site. As of a few days ago, I was asked to be part of a podcast with anime3000.com. Big thanks to Sean Russell for asking me to drop by. This is actually part of two podcasts, both pertaining to the history of video games and where we feel its heading to. The first pod cast shown here is a look back at the different generations of game consoles and of course we talked about what the game companies did well...and not so well. The rest of our recording, to be up some time soon, is essentially the second half of our 2 hour cast and is mainly us ranting on what is to come with gaming and more ranting as well. So now you all can hear what I sound like...which is either good or bad ^^;;

On the panel was:

Sean Russell: Anime3000.com (Host)
Patz (@patzprime): thegamingdungeon.com
Evan Minto (@VamptVo): Anigamers.com
and me (@princetrunks), Chuck Gaffney

Check out the main podcast page on anime3000 for info and links to related video game commercials and goodies.

You can download the podcast to your iTunes or listen HERE

Munto AMVs

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:00:04 PDT

Well, it's been some time since my last AMV. Apparently I've been known as one of the pioneers in AMVs and I've even made it to the top of Helium.com's tutorial on AMV creation..but sadly, its been about 4+ years since my last one (I will make one eventually ^^;;). That hasn't stopped my fiancee Danielle. She has been on a roll with AMVs. Her Final Fantasy Crisis Core AMV was unfortunately removed due to the music artist's neglect for the free advertising and the fact that it got insanely popular.

As of late we have been watching an anime that you might or might not know called Munto. The AMVs below by Danielle and Sapphire Star showcase a bit of this rather short anime. Munto seems to put you in that dream world like anime in the past has many times. It's that same feeling you get when you wake up from a dream that you were very attached to, like another you in another universe. This feeling comes to mind when I watch Munto and did the same for Princess Mononoke and basically all of Miyasaky's work. Munto was animated by Kyoto animation, the studio known for animating Haruhi, K-ON! and Lucky Star. At times the animation looks simple and then it looks complex. If you can still find it left in the stores or on ebay..or just watch it online. It's a great anime and deserves a bit more attention than what it's gotten so far.

Without further delay, I present Danielle's latest AMV ^_^:

Here's the AMV that got me into wanting to view this anime and inspired Danielle. the AMV is by Sapphire Star:

I will note again, AMVs are free advertisement for both the music artists and the anime. The anime, Munto is owned by Kyoto animation, the original creator and all respected licences. The song "That's the Way It Is" is owned by Celine Dion; "Stand in the Rain" is owned by Superchick and all repected music labels. Please use iTunes, Amazon MP3 or anywhere that sells their music. Please purchase Munto where ever anime is sold as well...if it isn't here in my store.

TFS: Dragon Ball Z Abridged Episode 10 Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:41:02 PDT

Looks like the talented fan dubbers at Team Four Star brought out the long awaited episode 10 two part finale to their first season. For a while fans of this parody have been waiting but today marks the first year since their first episode. If you are a DBZ fan and particularly if you enjoyed the Vegeta saga..you gotta check it out. This is a wonderful Memorial Day present. Big props to TFS ^_^

Anime Pic Of the Day: 5/25/09

noreply@blogger.com (princetrunks) — Mon, 25 May 2009 15:00:06 PDT

This by far has to be the most amazing anime drawing I have ever seen and to my biggest surprise...it's not a picture of a cute anime girl! Done by the artist, Muuten, this image depicts a tattooed samurai with the image of a mech behind him. Simply stunning, a true work of art that should be in museums and yet another reason why I'm glad to be an anime fan. I just hope to have half of the artistic talent that is needed to make this image.