It’s getting close to domain renewal time, and I’ll probably renew it just because I feel like I should. I really don’t have the time or motivation to keep this place running, though. Between college applications, senior year, and trying to find time to do something I actually enjoy (psh, yeah right), there’s very little time left for this site.

Having said that, I might start posting more regularly at some point… or maybe I’ll convert this to a Tumblr blog just because those feel like less work. WHO KNOWS.

I know I promised a video slideshow, but that probably won’t happen. Between my inability to figure out a way to make it work the way I wanted with my limited resources and (now that I’ve started school again) my lack of time, the chances of my being able to finish the video slideshow are slim to none. Sorry.

As for the lack of updates on the site, that’s just a result of my laziness and lack of inspiration at the moment. This post is more of an “I’m not dead” post than anything else.

So… yeah. Hopefully I’ll get back into the swing of things at some point in the future.

Also, I know I promised blog posts about my trip, and I know they’re not here yet. Allow me to explain.

My original plan was to make a video slideshow with my own narration and upload it to YouTube. One of the things I wanted to do most was put the recording of our concert in the background of the video. I was supposed to have the CD by the time I got back from Europe, but it hasn’t arrived yet. In fact, nobody from the trip has gotten a CD yet, and nobody really knows when we’re supposed to get them.

I don’t want to make you guys wait any longer, so I’m hoping to write up a blog post soon with some information about the trip. If in the future I do get the CD and you guys still want me to make the video slideshow, I may still make it.

UPDATE: I’ve heard that some people from the trip have started receiving their CDs in the mail. I haven’t gotten mine yet, but that’s still a good sign.

I shot this video from the peak of a mountain in Westendorf, Austria. The video itself isn’t too exciting, but it was a view I’ll never forget. This was by far one of the most beautiful things I have seen in my entire life. The peak was 1886 meters (about 6188 feet) above ground.

Still, I’d just like to say that this is an extremely important day for me, as it marks the third year anniversary of my meeting Roland, who has been my best friend for the last three years. We owe our friendship to Nintendo-Play, a Nintendo community, which is, unfortunately, no longer online. Nevertheless, our friendship has lasted until now, and that’s what’s important.

Unfortunately, I’m not home right now to celebrate HUGRDICK Day with Roland. I’m not even on the right continent. I’m in Europe right now (probably in Brugge) without Internet. I wrote this post on June 28th, and set it so that it would publish today (July 5, 2011)… so hopefully it worked. It’d be a shame if this didn’t post properly.

So anyway, that’s about all I have to say. Sorry I couldn’t be here for our big day, and thank you for being my best friend for the past three years. Here’s to being best friends for the rest of our lives.

Also, happy early birthday. Sorry for missing that too.

Life has been more than chaotic lately, and to be honest, it’s been pretty terrible too. School is a fairly large reason for that (among other things that are beyond my control). Fortunately, my school year wraps up on June 16th – this Thursday. That means I only have four days left. THANK GOD.

I can’t make any promises, but I’m going to try to post more often over the summer. I apologize for the lack of updates over the last few months, but I just haven’t had time to write about anything. In fact, I shouldn’t even be writing this post right now… I have four finals to study for.

BACK TO STUDYING.

At long last, I have my hands on a 3DS. Allow me to do a quick run-down of my thoughts so far.

Hit the jump to see the rest of this post (it’s very long)!

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First Impression: HAX

When I got home from GameStop, the first thing I did was (carefully) tear off the tape holding the top down on the box. I’m always extremely anal about taking off that tape because I don’t want it to take off any of the box with it. Luckily, it came off extremely easily. THEN I OPENED THE BOX and was greeted by a hefty stack of manuals – seriously, there has to be over half an inch of manuals/pamphlets (although only one third of that is in English; the rest is in Spanish/French). I opened up the bag they were in to take out the AR cards and the PIN number for Club Nintendo, and then I threw the rest onto my bed and lifted the cardboard divider to reveal the next layer.

And there it was. My 3DS. <3

Wanting to save the best for last, I took the charging cradle and AC adapter out of the box and set them aside. Finally, I carefully extracted my 3DS from its cozy bed. Fap.

When I first pre-ordered my 3DS, I was a bit worried about whether Cosmo Black was a good choice. I was positive that it would covered in unsightly fingerprints almost immediately. Luckily I was wrong. Yes, you can see some fingerprints on it, but they’re not very noticeable, and they’re easily wiped off. CRISIS AVERTED.

Having never upgraded from my original DS to a DS Lite/DSi, I got used to playing on a brick. For those of you who upgraded, you won’t really find anything too spectacular about the size of the 3DS – it’s essentially the same size as the DS Lite/DSi. But for me, it was a huge improvement, and I love the size of the 3DS. It’s a thousand times better than my DS. Not only that, but the 3DS is just so shiny (again, nothing new if you purchased a DS Lite), and I love the shininess. It makes me feel fuzzy inside.

I started to explore the sides of the 3DS to see where everything went. The position of the EXTENDABLE stylus moved to the other side on the back, which threw me for a loop (not that it’s a bad thing). The volume moved from the bottom to the left side (please excuse me if this happened on the DS Lite/DSi), and… what’s this? An SD card slot? Given the fact that I was obsessed with this thing before it came out and knew almost everything there was to know about it (including the SD card slot), I still found it exciting to actually see the SD card slot staring at me. And, in a classy move by Nintendo, the SD card is already sitting inside of the 3DS, waiting to be filled. GOOD JOB.

Oh, there’s also a wireless switch on the right side. As long as I’m playing 3DS in my house, I don’t think I’ll ever be turning it off. I can only see turning off the wireless in order to save battery while on a road trip or somewhere you know you won’t be getting a consistent connection.

I’d like you to note that despite all of this fapping, I still hadn’t even turned it on yet. That part is coming up next.

Feeling as though I had explored the device’s physique enough, I decided to turn it on (finally). As you would probably expect, it takes you to a setup screen, which isn’t too exciting. But then it proceeds to tell you that (SPOILER) the top screen is capable of showing things in 3D… WITHOUT GLASSES. Then it made some text sink into the screen to show off the 3D effect, and let’s just say I was very pleased. It’s beautiful.

After going through the setup process, I decided I should be productive, and I proceeded to work on my physics take-home test. After working on that for a little while, I picked up my 3DS for the second time…

Second Impression: STILL HAX

It was time to test out some of the preloaded software on the device and Super Street Fighter IV 3D.

First I opened up the Mii creator and decided to let it try to make a Mii based on a picture of me. It was hilariously bad, and I wish I had taken a picture of it. Although completely inaccurate, it was worth a laugh, and for that I am thankful. I actually ended up making it look decent, but that was boring and I ended up recreating my favorite Mii from my Wii.

Next up were the AR games. They’re a lot of fun, although it’s pretty hard to keep the 3D effect on when you’re playing them due to the fact that you have to move around while playing them, which makes it hard to stay within the viewing window. Anyway, there are a few games to choose from: Archery, AR Shot (a sort of mini-golf/billiards hybrid), and Fishing. There’s also Graffiti, but I don’t really classify that as a game. Oh, and you can have various Nintendo characters or your Mii show up on your desk using the other AR cards. Fun stuff. You can unlock a shop to buy expansions to these games using coins you earn by walking with your 3DS in sleep mode (100 steps = 1 coin; maximum of 10 coins per day).

Face Raiders. Is. Amazing. It’s so hilariously stupid that it’s extremely fun. It’s just a bunch of flying heads in your room (or wherever you’re playing) that you have to shoot in order to gain points. You move the 3DS around in order to change where you’re looking and aim at the flying heads. There are two ways to play Face Raiders: you can either be boring and not get into it, or you can be like me and make it a lot more intense than it really is by exaggerating all of your movements and making yourself look stupid (trust me, it’s a lot more fun that way).

The camera is pretty cool, and it’s neat to see your surroundings in the form of a 3D image. The picture quality is meh, but I didn’t exactly buy the 3DS to take pictures. It’s a gaming console, and it should be treated as such (so don’t listen to the people who complain about the picture quality in a review of the device).

What’s next… the sound editor? I didn’t do much with this, so I don’t have much to say. I imagine it’s fun to toy around with for a little while, though.

I can’t say anything about the Street Pass games since I haven’t encountered anyone with a 3DS yet (and I’m not really expecting to). They look fun, though.

Time for the main attraction (in terms of games): Super Street Fighter IV 3D. Before I even got a chance to do training or anything, my friend TalesOfFan asked if I wanted to try out an online match. SO OF COURSE I SAID YES. We both sucked (sorry Tales, but it’s true), although he manged to beat me three out of four matches. I still suck at this game, but I can see myself enjoying it a lot (I already am even though I’m dreadful). It’s gonna take a lot of practice for me to get used to the combos and such, but that’s a good thing – it’ll encourage me to keep playing!

Current Impression: STILL HAX (AGAIN)

I love the Nintendo 3DS, and I can’t wait for more features to be added in future updates (Virtual Console, Internet browser, friend messaging, and more). Everything about this thing is an improvement. The way WiFi is set up now is so much better (one friend code and a friend list that can be seen at ANY TIME), and it shows that Nintendo is finally starting to understand what online play is supposed to be like. The physical design is awesome, the 3D is awesome… everything about it is awesome. I am more than satisfied.

For anyone interested, my friend code is: 1676-3679-0530. Feel free to add me!

I feel as though I forgot some important aspects of the 3DS, so feel free to ask me questions in the comments below.

Today is a very important day. Today… is Pi Day. It is one of the more sacred holidays that we celebrate, so I thought I should mention it here.

Also, the new HUGRcast episode can be found here. Enjoy!

Happy Forever Alone Day.

Also, should I renew the domain? The payment is due in a week.

To anyone who is reading this before 2011, YOU CAN SUCK IT wait a few hours.

I really don’t have much to say. I guess the new year is a big deal. Perhaps I would care more if I actually did something tonight… OH WELL. In an effort to make this post useful (I feel as though I say that a lot these days), I’m going to post some resolutions.

1. Meet Roland
2. Be more optimistic
3. Be more outgoing
4. Work out more (psh, yeah right)
5. Practice my violin more
6. Buy a capture card and make a let’s play
7. Make some violin/piano videos for YouTube

That’s all I can make up off the top of my head. I might add some more later and use this post as a reference for the rest of the year. Then I can laugh at how miserably I failed when 2011 is over.