I finally sorted out a few more things for the TV. I've bought a small aerial for it so it can at least view channels but only BBC's, I don't often watch TV channels so no biggie but it's there for me anyway. What is awesome, however, are HDMI to DVI cables. I got one today, plugged it up to the laptop and HOLY FUCKING SHIT, it is amazing! While the laptop screen is still great, I just love how it handles on the TV. However, the problem now is trying to get the sound to come from the TV and not the laptop. Ah well, it was still great giving it a go and I'll be sure to use it more often.

Here's a picture of my laptop using the TV while watching Linkara's latest review Doom #1.

At long last I finally have a HDTV. I've been thinking of getting one for a long time now so I'll have a good TV to use whenever I get a 360 or a PS3 but it's not until recently when I truly pushed myself to get one. Me and my mum were looking at the shops on Wednesday and saw some good TVs and they said there was going to be a Christmas sale later this week. We went again and although we saw different TVs today, I'm happy with the 23" 1080p HDTV I got.

While I have it set up, the TV still needs to pick up channels. This will be looked into shortly, though. Also, I decided to make an attempt to plug my laptop to the TV but that failed. I found out I need a specific cable to get it to work so I'll be in town tomorrow and find any DVI to HDMI cables. For now, I can only play the consoles I have right now but better than nothing. So that's why the best I can show is the Wii channel.

Still, having this TV means I can get a PS3 or 360 whenever I want but due to that overrated holiday known as Christmas, I'm best waiting until afterwards. Still, can't wait until I can finally get my hands on one of them.

[INDEX PAGE]

Previous rants:

Pokémon (Part 1)
Brutal Legend's publishing issues
Activision/Robert A. Kotick
Guitar Hero/Rock Band (Part 4)
The Sims
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Welcome to the second part of my Pokémon rant which covers the anime show and the card game. If you've yet to read the first part and want to hear my thoughts on Pokémon itself and the video games, I suggest you head over there before reading the second part. Anyway, like I said on the first rant, 12th November 1999 is the day I became a Pokémon fan after watching Here Comes the Squirtle Squad. This episode made Squirtle one of my very first Pokémon favourites as well as the beginning of my Pokémon fandom.

In the anime show, the phrase "Gotta Catch 'em All" certainly doesn't apply to the show and as a matter, maybe it didn't in the first place. Sure, Ash was wanting to catch all 150 Pokémon at the time but this became redundant as soon as he released Butterfree. You're not really becoming a Pokémon master if you start releasing most of your Pokémon. As for becoming the best Pokémon trainer, Ash has won at least one of the Pokémon leagues but still continues this quest after 600 episodes. And we're still following Ash because...? Perhaps there isn't even a reason at all.

The fact that the anime show has over 600 episodes is frightening, most especially when they've followed Ash and Pikachu the whole time as well as Team Rocket causing havoc almost every goddamn episode. Although anime episodes can be released more frequently, it's still quite a shock that Pokémon has more episodes than The Simpsons and they've been running roughly twice as long as Pokémon.

The worst of it is how in almost every episode, you see Team Rocket planning to take the main cast's Pokémon and any others that are involved in the episode, spend half a minute saying their motto speech and always blasting off again at the end as they always say. What makes it even more cringe-worthy is how they disguise themselves most of the time and Ash and his friends ALWAYS fall for it! You could put a moustache over your mouth and you're automatically a completely different person to them. -_-

I don't care if this is just a cartoon, they need to have some psychological sense and make them suspicious of seeing two "strangers" with red and purple hair. That's not all, they keep falling for traps they set up, most especially the one which they suspected of being yet another trap by Team Rocket. Goddamn, they make the citizens of Springfield look like rocket scientists and they've fallen for a wedding for Bart Simpson and Lotta Cooties (I swear, I am not making this up).

Another thing about the anime are the movies. Although I've never watched any of them after the third film (which I couldn't get past 10 minutes as I got bored watching it), anyone can agree that Pokémon has an unhealthy amount of sequels considering they have almost as much sequels as The Land Before Time! Each movie involves the Legendary Pokémon which is how they managed to make so many sequels within 11 years but honestly, most of them would be better off in the anime show rather than having to make full-length movies about them.

The anime show really needed all new characters to start off new arcs involving different regions. It seems pointless making a new series of the show when it's just showing Ash, Pikachu, Brock and Team Rocket all the time. Sure, new main characters were introduced in those series but if they dropped the old cast altogether, they would have new characters who'd have a fresh start on their adventure rather than hanging with old-timers who seem to be traveling around the Pokémon world for nothing. Too bad that's not so and continue to repeat the same old shit for over 600 episodes and will continue doing so.

The other major part of Pokémon outside the video games is the card game. Those who were into Pokémon during the height of its peak almost certainly owned a Pokémon card. This was a fun game in the past but these days, I'm completely lost. Maybe it's just I lost interest in the card game when Yu-Gi-Oh came out but when you look at Delta Species and Crystal Pokémon, you just wonder what the card makers were thinking. The only reason why they'd make Charmander and its evolved forms an electric-type (I am dead serious here) is running short on ideas but it's still inexcusable to completely fuck up the elements the Pokémon are well established for. It's like making Ifrit a wind element summon. Its makes no logical sense whatsoever.

Surprisingly enough, the card game is still going strong, even though it's no longer at its peak like the franchise in general. It's not something I'll ever get back to since not only do I wish to stay away from horrible variants of Pokémon as far away as possible but going back now would mean having to catch up on a lot of cards I won't even recognise due to being absent from the game for so long. On top of that, I hear you can't even use the old cards anymore so if you built a deck consisting of cards from the first and second generations, you won't be allowed to compete in tournaments which is a damn shame.

In conclusion, Pokémon isn't entirely bad and it's still enjoyable. Maybe I'm just older now but it's certainly lost its charm when the amount of Pokémon became excessive as well as milking the older Pokémon by giving them evolved forms as well as pointless baby Pokémon. They've come to the point where they've used up all their great ideas but of course, they have intentions to make yet more Pokémon. They really need to give it a rest with these new Pokémon, though.

The phrases "Gotta Catch 'em All" and Pokémon master have lost some meaning when there are far too many different species to collect, most especially when several are only obtainable from Nintendo Events and that only leads to Gameshark or hacking the games to obtain the unobtainable (Someone sent me an egg which contained Arceus). This is something that should be avoided at all costs after the infamous MissingNo. glitch.

The anime show has become stale and repetitive from making Ash the main protagonist and Team Rocket the main bad guys to ruin the day each time for over 600 episodes. It doesn't help when there are far too many movie sequels to go with it as well. The later series could have been much better if all new characters were introduced and left the original characters behind.

The card game isn't in such a great state either when they made horrible variants of Pokémon after running short on ideas for cards, most especially the illogical Delta Species. Anyone trying to get back into the game now would have a really hard time fitting in with all the new stuff they made.

So yeah, a decade later and it all came to this. Now that I've done ranting on Pokémon, I should relax and re-watch the first season of the show for nostalgia sake as well as playing LeafGreen again. Yes, I know that's more recent but it's the closest I'm going to get considering the DS doesn't play GB games. :(

[INDEX PAGE]

Previous rants:

Brutal Legend's publishing issues
Activision/Robert A. Kotick
Guitar Hero/Rock Band (Part 4)
The Sims
EA Sports
--------------------
A decade ago, Pokémon became a huge success outside Japan, even though the franchise was established in 1996 over there. The popularity of Pokémon was crazy at the end of the 1990s where the video games, card game, show and toys were everywhere. Sure, the popularity is no longer as its peak but Pokémon still has a strong fanbase which some find rather surprising. Not as surprising as Digimon still lasting, though but that's another story.

It's been 10 years since I became a fan of Pokémon and I have to admit, I never thought I'd still consider myself as a fan of the franchise for a whole decade as I thought I'd lose interest in Pokémon well before then. I was wrong and the main reason why I still declare myself as a fan is because of the main titles. I'll still want to play these games every now and again. However, when looking at the whole franchise today, it's not as good as it used to be.

First off, there are too many Pokémon. This is one of the most common complaints Pokémon receives and I was actually disagreeing with those thoughts up until Generation IV. The second generation was a nice addition to the series with more great Pokémon to choose from, even though this was when they introduced baby Pokémon. The third generation introduced yet more great Pokémon.

While Tyrogue and Togepi were reasonable baby Pokémon, I have wondered why they had to make baby forms of Clefairy, Jigglypuff and Pikachu, even if he's the most well known Pokémon. Were they to have a 'cuter' form of Pokémon that already had a cute appearance? o_O Infact, most of the baby Pokémon were made to have a cuter appearance and to be honest, they're rather pointless considering the original forms were already designed to look cute. The strongest exceptions are Togepi and Riolu who weren't baby versions of Pokémon from previous generations.

The second generation was also when they started to make evolved forms of Pokémon from previous generations and these were reasonable additions, most especially Scizor and Steelix. Amazingly, the third generation didn't have any of these kind of Pokémon and were mostly original. However, the fourth generation was when they took the piss. TWENTY-ONE Pokémon were based on older ones and they were really lazy with designing Pokémon. Some of them I did use for the heck of it in Pearl but when you think about it, it's like Game Freak felt Rhydon and Electabuzz weren't powerful enough and an additional form was necessary. Only a few offered different elements from the other Pokémon in the Evolution chain.

The main reason they were made was to have higher base stats for more powerful Pokémon but if they had to make strong Pokémon, they should have focused more on making brand new Pokémon and not basing most on older Pokémon. It only made me think they were starting to run out of ideas, especially when they went and made the 'god' Pokémon. It's reasons like this why with the exception of 7 more Pokémon to make it 500, there should never be a fifth generation. They seem to have covered most ideas already and anymore will be overdoing it but of course, it's going to happen sometime.

The games themselves are really enjoyable. Of course, they use the same formula but I love them nonetheless, although D/P/Pt are the weakest out of the lot. I actually like R/B/Y, G/S/C and R/S/E equally. The first games for nostalgia sake, the second for how much fun you can have with both Johto and Kanto regions and the third games were yet more fun, even though they didn't have two regions to explore like G/S/C did. However, HeartGold/SoulSilver are most likely the last Pokémon games I'll care about as none of the spin-offs interest me and the fifth generation thoughts as stated already. The only exception would be a huge 3D RPG which is what they need to make eventually.

What has really annoyed me the most about these games are Event Pokémon. The ones where you have to attend a Nintendo event in order to obtain the item that allows you to encounter the Pokémon or even get it right away. They've always had Pokémon that you could only obtain via Nintendo events, even though it was later found out that Mew was actually obtainable via glitch. Can't say the same thing for other Event Pokémon, though.

Event-exclusive Pokémon is a horrible idea. Sure, it's a nice bonus for those who are able to attend the events but what about those who aren't able to go to them at all? I mean, the main target audience is kids and it's not easy for a 10 year old to reach their nearest event, especially when their parents might not go all the way to one just so they can have another Pokémon added to their game cartridge. It's even worse when the closest event could be MILES away and if you live in my area, you'll know how tough it is to get to the nearest Nintendo Event.

This only encouraged Gameshark and that's the last thing Game Freak should be doing, especially after all the bad stories on save corruptions and MissingNo. Otherwise, what's the point of the "Gotta Catch 'em All" phrase? One of the two main aspects of Pokémon is to collect all different species and battle to become "the best" but the former has lost so much meaning from all these Event Pokémon as well as how many you need in order to complete your National Dex.

That's all for Pokémon itself and the video games. There's still two more sections to tackle which I shall go over on the next part. Yes, these are the anime show and the card game. Be here on Thursday which is the actual day that marks 10 years of myself being a Pokémon fan.

It's the 5th November which means Bonfire Night for the UK and for the first time in a few years, there was actually a bonfire. Most local places stopped having bonfires because of idiots messing around too much but one pub me and my parents went to were actually able to hold a bonfire and there was no trouble there. Good to see the term bonfire isn't completely redundant these days.

Previous news post is redundant as I've been sober for long enough now. So yes, the mighty sword is mine. Best icon on the site.

S E XY DR A FA GH O NS

No, I didn't lose the job or anything but when I attended the induction on Monday, I overlooked one thing about them. I actually haven't started yet. When I went to the training place on Tuesday, they were asking me why I was there and I assumed I was meant to be there again. Unfortunately, I misunderstood one thing and I don't actually start anything until when they find me a placement ELSEWHERE. I just assumed we still had more to do at the training place itself but that's not so.

I apologise for building up hope here but shit happens, I guess. I should have waited beforehand but I was just too happy. I know I did wait before announcing that I had a girlfriend (well, that didn't go well in the end but you know what I mean) but that I wanted to make sure of. For the job, I thought I was secure after being considered a successful applicant at the place.

Oh well, I'm a few squares back now but I'm still waiting for this training place to tell me that I've got a job interview for a work placement. When, though? Could be anytime but really, the sooner the better. Since I'm back to where I was, I might as well enjoy the free time I still have so that's doing whatever I want such as finishing off Oblivion (it's a lot better than Morrowind) and writing more rants.

As for anything else coming up, just the same old Halloween, Bonfire Night and Christmas, even though I'm still doubtful about the latter. However, what makes the last quarter of this year different is my new cousin who is due to be born anytime soon. So of course, this is something to look forward to except for whatever name they give him/her as I've heard horrible ideas from my aunt so far.

One last thing, no rant tomorrow as I really need to take a break after tackling Activision. Not sure if I'll get one up the week after either since writer's block is hitting me. So maybe the next rant will be up on 9th November as I have a special one due for then. The other rants I'm wanting to write up, I just can't get myself into writing them up for the time being. Oh well, I'll get through them eventually.

(Latest gaming rant is still here for those who have yet to read it)

It finally happened. Almost two years after leaving college in 2007, I finally got myself into employment! So I went to the place today not expecting too much just yet, even though I had a good feeling about them. The interview went well and right at the end, the interviewer asked me "When can you start?" and my response was today. So today is the day I finally got myself into employment.

Of course, you'll be wondering what the job is. It's an apprenticeship for Business Admin which is what I've been trying to get for a while now. Not an actual job, even though I'll still have actual work in the programme but this is still something. It's actually the kind of job I've been looking for ages now so I'm pleased I finally got something, especially when between leaving college and now, I've mostly done nothing.

Sure, I've had some work placements which have helped me a lot but on the other hand, three crappy training courses which were of no use to me and a lot of staying home because I had nothing better to do. I needed to get something sooner than later. Ah well, the free time was good while it lasted.

Of course, less free time means less time to play PC games, write up rants and working on Flash (even though I haven't really done anything in a year now...) but it's for my future and at least I still have some time for myself so it's better than nothing. Infact, that free time may have been abolished right now if a few things worked out for me.

It may come to a surprise to you all that I almost had a girlfriend back in Summer. It probably sounds strange but the reason why I said almost is because while we declared our love to each other, we wanted to know each other a lot more before we officially declared ourselves as a couple. That's why I never even said a word about it here with one exception until now. I wanted to make sure since I didn't want to say it right away and end up disappointing everyone quite shortly after. It was just a few weeks ago when she said she wasn't too sure about our relationship for the time being. I was disappointed to hear it but I'm well aware these sort of things do happen in relationships. Whatever happens in the future, I'll just have to wait and see.

So yeah, that's how my life has been recently, most especially today when I truly started the next part of my life. Don't worry, I'll still be here on a regular basis. I just won't have as much spare time now.

[INDEX PAGE]

Previous rants:

Activision/Robert A. Kotick
Guitar Hero/Rock Band (Part 4)
The Sims
EA Sports
Electronic Arts
--------------------
You've heard most about Activision and Robert Kotick and how much of a disgrace to the gaming industry they are. Now...You're going to hear yet more about them as the one action they made towards one game I found to be so despicable, horrible, disgusting, disgraceful, and so sickening that it got a rant separate to the previous one.

Brutal Legend is an action-adventure game based on heavy metal music directed by Tim Schafer. I'm anticipating for this game as much as SSBB and MGS4 for those very reasons. Also, heavy metal and video games are two of my favourite things and not only that, this is a game directed by Tim Schafer. This guy has made/worked with several big titles such as The Secret of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango and Psychonauts, despite some of them suffering in poor sales.

Majesco, the publisher for Psychonauts had financial troubles from the poor sales for that game so when it came to Brutal Legend, they had to seek for another publisher and the first one that took them on was Activision who were interested at the time. It all seemed quite good since Tim Schafer had several games which didn't receive enough praise they deserved and a company like Activision would have given them better exposure.

Unfortunately, it all went on a bumpy ride once Activision lost interest in publishing Brutal Legend. EA then picked them up and while they're a bad company most of the time, they at least deserve some respect for willing to publish original titles. However, a few months after , Activision claimed they were still in negotiations with Double Fine over this game and THREATENED A LAWSUIT! BULLSHIT! They left the game behind due to lack of "exploitations" and didn't even care about it. They just wanted it back because they saw its increase in popularity and regretted dropping the title. You were too late to take it back Activision. That was your mistake and you should have lived with it. Too bad they didn't stop there.

The worst of this happened right after E3 2009 press conferences. Following Activision's threat to sue Double Fine for bullshit reasons, after acknowledging even more popularity for Brutal Legend and seeing a huge ass poster advertising the game, they became really jealous and decided to sue Double Fine for yet more bullshit reasons and even going as far as preventing the game from being released!!

You dirty, stuck-up, sadistic, SHIT-EATING COCKSUCKING BUTTFUCKING...If you've ever seen Nostalgia Critic's AVGN Wizard rant, you'll know the rest of the line. I don't mean to take an insult from someone else like that but there is nothing more fitting to describe them for this horrible action than that. This is the very reason why I detest Activision and Robert Kuntick and why whenever I look at EA or even 99.9% of the world population, I see halos on their heads.

It was obvious why Activision wanted Brutal Legend back. However, trying to prevent the game from ever being published? That is very VERY low! What pisses me off the most is that this game is likely to sell fairly well, unlike most of Tim Schafer's previous titles and it's a damn shame. The last thing Schafer needs is yet another big issue with his releases. The likely success of Brutal Legend will do good for Tim Schafer and NO-ONE should ever take that away just for childish excuses.

Activision were crying about how Brutal Legend needed so much money to develop and supposedly failed to meet one deadline. Well excuse Tim Schafer for actually putting heart into these video games rather than rushing to make a yearly game you fucktards. It was your fault in the first place for not even caring about the game afterwards. Also, the comment on failing to meet one deadline is laughable. Why can't these greedy fucks at least be grateful that they were never going to publish Duke Nukem Forever? Now a lawsuit for the problems with 3DRealms going out of business makes some sense but to take a game back they lost interest in only to want it back after acknowledging its hype? No words can describe how pathetic Activision and Robert Kuntick truly are.

What really pissed me off the most is that if Activision actually succeeded and Brutal Legend would never see the day of release as a result, that would have been it for Tim Schafer's games or at least not until ages like the time gap between Grim Fandango and Psychonauts. We would have had to thank these motherfucking cocksucking scumbags for losing a potentially great title as well as destroying any light there would have been for Psychonauts 2.

Fortunately, Tim Schafer and Double Fine weren't going to back down from this. They fought their way to defend their title from Activision and made sure the public would still get their game which they desire to play and for this, they are very respectful in my books, unlike that menacing Kotick.

As you can see, this is why I truly detest Activision and Robert Kotick to oblivion! This is why they don't deserve any respect from me, the fans of Tim Schafer, anyone who acknowledges the heart of gaming...As a matter of fact, WHO THE HELL would even give them any respect after this? The only reasons would be for Guitar Hero and Call of Duty but besides that, there's nothing for them to make them respectful.

As for Tim Schafer and everyone at Double Fine, best of luck for the release of Brutal Legend which is to come out sometime this week. Whatever praise you get for this game, you rightfully earned it for the heart and soul you have clearly shown you put into making this game. Sadly, I don't own an Xbox 360 or PS3 right now but as soon as I get a HDTV and either console, I'll be sure to get it right away. Of course, whatever future projects you have in mind, I'll be willing to hear out for them, even though I would like the next project to be the sequel to Psychonauts considering the ending that game had.

To Activision and Robert Kotick, FUCK YOU! You may have failed to take Brutal Legend back but this is a huge scar on your company's reputation and many gamers such as myself are not likely to forgive you. We'll put every effort into making sure our money doesn't fall into your hands.

Whew, I'm glad that's over with.