Indecision

With the PSP2 and 3D DS announced, I can't help but feel like I am unable to keep up with the prolific gaming industry. Just as there is a peak performance age for athletes, is there a peak age for gamers to keep up with new games? Gone are the days I chewed up video games are insanely fast rates and now I am struggling to pick up new games, especially when they are offered across different consoles. Here's the list:

Nintendo DS:
FFVI
FFV
FFIV
FFIII
FF Tactics Advanced
FF Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift

PSP
FF Tactics: The War of the Lions
FFI
FFII
FFXIII Type-0

PS3
FFXIII (still have to do all the hunts)
FFXIII-2
FFXIII Versus

So is it worth buying a PSP for just three games? Perhaps now, but I really want to play FF Tactics before I attempt any of its sequels. Looking at the list of games now for the DS, I think the DS really was an excellent investment considering that it cost much less than a PSP.
And I have just been reminded that I am missing out on Metal Gear Solid 1 - 4....  this could be a life long adventure.

Aside from video games, cooking has been looking down. I am all for trying new things, but I am still too lazy to get new ingredients. Is there just a set of recipes I that share the same ingredients? Too lazy to compile it huh...?

Nerdy Thoughts, Start of School

Some disappointing ways to start the semester. Actually, just one thing, I forgot to bring my external hard drive's power source so I am stuck with watching videos off of youtube. Oh, the joys of video hunting, how I miss thee. The experience is making me inclined towards getting a portable hard drive without a power source. But... i feel like I would lose considerable quality in hard drive-ness if I did. I guess I should stick to the more permanent kind, plus it makes me feel cooler to use.

Classes have started, and I am doing the readings! My public health econ classes seems... well I don't have impression of it because the professor wasn't there. He was traveling back from Europe, hopefully he will have delightful stories about public health in Europe. Amsterdam, anyone? History of Battle was alright, but the class was completely full. Talk about learning phalanx formation...

I also have the PS2 here and definitely started to think a bit about the quality of Japanese video games, specifically RPGs. With FFXIII and the rise of western RPGs such as Mass Effect, I could definitely tell there has been a decline in the quality of Japanese RPGs relative to Western RPGs. Why is that? During the better times of Japanese RPGs, there were scarcely any equal-leveled competition from Western RPGs. I don't even remember hearing of Western RPGs when I was in middle school and high school. This made Japanese RPGs the only game in town: whether they were actually good is a different question and difficult to answer because there were not many comparable games at the time. Western RPGs were lagging behind.

But that all changed as Western RPGs saw what Japanese RPGs were doing and made their own games better. Nowadays, you'll be hard-pressed to find an RPG that lacks some sort of encyclopedia, character classes, and more side quests than you can shake your Ultima Weapon at. With the advent of quality Western RPGs, Japanese RPGs finally had some competition. But does this mean that Japanese RPGs will get better in response, or will they maintain their status quo of quality?

To be honest, I only play Square-Enix games, so my view is slightly (largely?) skewed. So of course I am going to talk about (surprise surprise) FFXIII. Which I thought was a good game, don't get me wrong. But it does not compare to its earlier predecessors such as FFVI - which I just started playing. Also compared against FFVII - FFIX, FFXIII illustrates a growing trend for Square: sacrificing the plot line for graphics. Sure the characters look great as my desktop wallpaper, but do I really feel for them? Not really. In some cases, I am more frustrated than awed by their decisions (Hope, anyone?). Square needs to step up its game - but can it? The likes of Mass Effect 2 and other great (yes, they are good) Western RPGs make it difficult for Square to stand out.

School Soon

Going back to Ithaca in six days. It's going to be a fun time, I hope. I'm really looking forward to my History of Battle class and Econ of Health Policy classes. I'm taking econometrics too, but since it's just the theoretical aspect of what I already know and I've had more than enough of my fair share of proofs from analysis. I'm definitely excited to finish my thesis too! I also happen to be presenting it at the National Conferences of Undergraduate Research in late March to early April. While exciting, this also means that I have to have something presentable by late March!

I also started replaying xenosaga, to be continued during the semester. It was so easy to remember that xenosaga is more like a movie than a video game - all the frustration for the story to progress so that I could get to a save point. I can also spot the horrible lip-syncing job they did with the first one too. Hopefully that has changed with the later games...

I'm not a Fanboy, I'm not a Fanboy

Regardless of my interest in video games and other media forms (Harry Potter and some animes, anyone?) I do not consider myself a fanboy by any means. I can control my passionate interests around other people, and if asked to write an essay on it, I can keep it concise and excitement at a minimum for a typical audience.

First.... omg assassin's creed brotherhood looks amazing. I am slightly disappointed I won't be able to play it until next semester when I bring my PS3 to cornell. The combat system shift towards the offensive along strings of assassination kills, managing your brotherhood of assassins, using them in gameplay, and so much more that hasn't even been revealed yet. I desperately want it.

I've also been trying to find a coop video game to play with my girlfriend - so she isn't bored out of her mind when I am playing - and am rediscovering PS3 splitscreen shooters. I am deciding between CoD: WaW and Resistance 1.

Anyway, I am writing my grad essay for stanford and I am trying to hard not to sound like a fanboy when I am writing about Caroline Hoxby. But she is freaking amazing. She's advised disserations for Kirabo Jackson, Sandra Black, Bridget Long, and Leah Boustan who are awesome in their own right. I would probably give a toe just to work under her... but it's hard trying not to sound like a fanboy in my essay

Zero-Sum Game

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood: $59.99
Killzone 3: $59.96
Final Fantasy III: $18.15
Final Fantasy IV: $21.67

Average Grad Application Fee (With GRE Score included): $80

A weekend like never again...

So I didn't do anything this weekend. Why? Here are my moderately legitimate excuses:
Didn't learn enough in real analysis to do the next problem set,
Already did the industrial organization problem set,
Reading for radicals reactionaries is delayed because our last class was canceled Rosh Hashanah, and
Economic analysis of the university reading is... has always been optional.

And my thesis? Still waiting for approval... other people already heard back last Thursday, so what's taking mine so long? I didn't expect so many thesis proposals to be submitted. Maybe the academic standards committee had a very controversial thesis proposal - not mine, right? - that took a lot of discussion time. The "black box" is impermeable.

The idle weekend so far has made me reconsidering bringing my ps3 or ps2 to campus. I am waiting for the work to pile up... please dissuade me from video games!

The Scheming and Screaming...

Well, tomorrow is the day of reckoning. I've done really well on the practice tests. As an offside, it is amazing how ETS offers two free GRE practice tests as well as practice problems. I heard it is one of the most accurate predictors of your actual GRE score.

And then I'm moving onto campus on Saturday! Summer will officially be over tomorrow on Thursday after the GRE though. I haven't started packing yet so that will be done on Friday.

The video game playing has also died out because I've gotten to those really hard missions. So the marginal cost of accomplishing each mission just shot up... but I will do Mission 55 before I leave! I must.

A Real Goal

My Graduate School Project:
Play Final Fantasy I - IX.
Play Metal Gear Solid 1 - 4.
I might do some studying too.

Okay Maybe It's Not a Wall

I forgot about how the computer-adaptive part of the GRE works. So the problem is not that bad because questions will get gradually harder as you approach the 800 score. Why did it take until I took a practice computer-adaptive test to figure this out?

Lately I got Armored Core: For Answer and I get to spend (literally) hours customizing my mech before I do a five to ten-minute long mission. The amount of customization is insane and it makes all the difference in performance. This makes me wonder whether there is a perfect combination of parts, or what a mech with every possible attribute maximized would perform like. Otherwise, there is simple a trade off between attributes across different parts.

The Summer So Far... So Far.

It's probably the most common potential blog post, "Sorry I haven't been putting anything new here...," so most people probably don't write it at all and just... leave their blogs to die. This is probably a product of paying next to nothing (except for an impulsive, short-term desire to have a blog and write that first post) to maintain a blog.

Anyway, I am in Week Three (or Four?) of summer. So far, I have made some headway on GREs. It has made me realize how inept I am at test-taking. I know the answer, but I cannot think of it fast enough before my desire to do every question on time kicks in. I can't delay when the latter kicks in, so I have to consider all possibilities and double-check my assumptions earlier. My main concern is the quantitative section for grad school. As long as my verbal and writing scores aren't horrendous (when my command of the English language is seriously questions), I should be okay. Hopefully. The quantitative section is 28 questions in 45 minutes, and the nature of the computerized exam means getting the first questions are most important. I cannot afford to make one of my frequent careless mistakes on the GRE. Minimizing my careless mistakes means I have to change my attitude about the test and become completely focused for those 45 minutes.

Moving on, I just realized how expensive it will be to apply to grad school. I want to apply to twenty schools (complete list pending, but I am looking at the top 20 schools) and each application is $120 - $160. That's... a hefty amount of money. Just when I thought I was being smart by saving most of my summer income, I will feel pretty poor just sending out my applications. What a way to start the path to grad school, huh?

Onto slightly happier things, I've been playing FFXIII way too much. A lot of people criticize FFXIII is overly linear and this restricts the gameplay. Personally, I enjoy when FFXIII differentiates between linear and non-linear parts. While playing other FF games, I was always worried about missing out on side quests so I was always online reading walkthroughs to make sure I wasn't missing anything. FFXIII is different: it tells me "Here is where you should just focus on the story," and "Here is where you should tap into your inner explorer!" It keeps things simple so I know when I can have fun pursuing the side quests or the story. Before the age of the online video game guide - I would never pay money for a guide - this would have never been a problem. Maybe information asymmetry can be a good thing? Or like they say, ignorance is bliss?

My excessive FFXIII time also means there is less time for Assassin's Creed II. I bought the downloadable content when I got home too. But I am bringing the PS3 to campus next semester, so I will have time to play then. And watch my gpa drop.

Who cares about their gpa during the summer though? On that note, I am going to phili this weekend and I am seeing the World Cup there too. Bring on the good times.

Let the Good Times Roll

1.   Cornell (12) beat Wisconsin (4) and Temple (5) to make it to the Sweet Sixteen where it will meet Kentucky (1). Shooting 61.1 percent of the game against Wisconsin, the Ivy League hasn't done this well since 1979. However, this only pales in comparison to other major upsets: KU (1) losing to ... heck anyone, Villanova (2) to St. Mary's (10), Vanderbilt (4) to Oakland (14), Georgetown (3) to Ohio (14). Knock yourself (and your bracket) out for more by looking at the actual bracket.

2.   I have actually been doing homework over break, studying for linear algebra. This event was aided by the fact I have an exam next week - April 1st of all days - so I am expecting a tough exam.

3.   Assassin's Creed II is ridiculously addicting.

4.   Healthcare Reform bill has passed the House. "This is what change looks like." - Obama. So hello to a few more years of health coverage for me.

5.   Fall 2010 Course Roster is up today! And as a rising senior, I get to select first. Three years of oppression is finally reversed!

6. Have not made any headway on Harmless Econometrics. I think reading books for leisure is something best left to the big vacations...

Pi Day Celebration!

First, I have a gripe about today. It is March 14, 3/14, Pi Day: where we celebrate the wonders from this great number. It is also Daylights Savings Time, when we "spring forward" one hour. Why this specific number? Because of... Pi? Yes, without Pi we would have Daylights Savings Time, but an inaccurate one at that. We would spend years of trial and error trying to calibrate our time systems without our dear Pi. The gripe? I demand an extra hour today so I can study for my exam (midterm, prelim, whatever) tomorrow.

Next, there have been an increasing number of student deaths at Cornell via the bridges. It is difficult to properly address the irrational activity of such students but... no, I can't talk about this. It just doesn't jive well for me.

Anyway, my spring break (unofficially starts) this Thursday! I am going to be taking the bus back early Friday morning to get home in the late morning. I did the same thing last summer and I remember not being able to sleep on the bus as I originally planned. Maybe I should buy some sleeping pills? Or I might just sneak some liquor on board and pass out after the bus drives by Binghamton. I will probably do neither and just force myself to sleep by eating a lot of food. That's a pretty safe way to go about doing it.

Here are my spring break goals!

• Play Assassin's Creed 2: I did not buy FFXIII. While I could finish it in the one week of time I have, I would also neglect other freedoms on my spring break - such as eating and sleeping - so I am going to wait until the summer to sign away my life on it. AC2 is a substitute, and I won't miss it as much when I come back to campus.
• Visit RU: This is pretty self-explanatory. The only problem is how to get there. The RUPD is pretty stringent about parking so I will have to bum a ride from someone. I think I will spend two days and a night there, I am not completely sure yet. There are a lot of people I want to see and party with, so it will be fun!
• Read Harmless Econometrics: I borrowed it, need to finish it.
• Try not to think about my research project: I have been thinking about instead of daydreaming, and I used to daydream a lot. Even though I am doing it for my personal gratification, it feels more and more like work than play.