Warren Shea - World of Warren

Archive for December, 2012

Bye bye Nintendo Power :'(

Saturday, December 22nd, 2012 at 5:04 pm

Was pretty sad reading the last Nintendo Power. It lasted 24 years. I was there for 2 years of it, between the 2.5 year and the 4.5 year. 90-92ish. Making me around 8-10.
I still have those magazines, even now (with the exception of one of them which I seem to have lost). And I would occasionally get a Nintendo Power just to read so I have some single issues here and there. It was a great magazine, I feel so sad to see it go.

Just wanted to discuss its top 285 games. I’ve put some categories and notes on stuff I found interesting.

Top 10
10: Resident Evil 4 (GameCube, 2005)
9: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GameCube, 2003)
8: Super Metroid (SNES, 1994)
7: Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES, 1990)
6: Mega Man 2 (NES, 1989)
5: Super Mario World (SNES, 1991)
4: Final Fantasy III (VI) (SNES, 1994)
3: Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, 2007)
2: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES, 1992)
1: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64, 1998)

This is the Zelda Order
194: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS, 2007)
177: The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (GameCube, 2004)
170: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS, 2009)
110: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GameBoy Color, 2001)
109: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GameBoy Color, 2001)
58: Zelda II: The Adventures of Link (NES, 1988)
36: The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA, 2005)
34: The Legend of Zelda: Majoraâ€™s Mask (N64, 2000)
33: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii/GameCube, 2006)
25: The Legend of Zelda: Linkâ€™s Awakening DX (GameBoy Color, 1998)
12: The Legend of Zelda (NES, 1987)
11: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii, 2011)
9: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GameCube, 2003)
2: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES, 1992)
1: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64, 1998)
It pleases me greatly to see Zelda: A Link to the Past as #2. That’s one of my favorite games ever and it’s great to see other people appreciate it too. I wish I could say Ocarina of Time was my fav but I grew up on a Link to the Past, only playing Ocarina of time a few years ago and only beating it two-three times. It makes me want to play Ocarina of Time again though, I think I might do that. Sadly, I’ve forgotten some things already :( It looks like Zelda hit its stride around/after my time. Just missed it.

This is the Mega Man Order
264: Mega Man Zero (GBA, 2002)
234: Mega Man V (NES, 1994)
153: Mega Man Zero 2 (GBA, 2003)
123: Mega Man 9 (WiiWare, 2008)
49: Mega Man (NES, 1987)
47: Mega Man 3 (NES, 1990)
39: Mega Man X (SNES, 1994)
6: Mega Man 2 (NES, 1989)
I think I need to play Mega Man 2 more. To be honest, I never beat it from scratch, I started playing Mega Man at Mega Man 3. But it’s great to see Mega Man X in spot 39 (though I wish it were higher). That’s also one of my favorite games of all time. Again, it looks like it hit its perfection just before my time. Just missed it.

This is the Mario order
267: New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS, 2012)
261: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (GameBoy 1992)
206: New Super Mario Bros. (DS, 2006)
183: Super Paper Mario (Wii, 2007)
182: New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii, 2009)
139: Paper Mario (N64, 2001)
128: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES, 1996)
83: Super Mario Sunshine (GameCube, 2002)
22: Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES, 1988)
20: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GameCube, 2004)
18: Super Mario 3D Land (3DS, 2011)
16: Super Mario Bros. (NES, 1985)
15: Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii, 2010)
14: Super Mario 64 (N64, 1996)
7: Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES, 1990)
5: Super Mario World (SNES, 1991)
3: Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, 2007)
Again, Super Mario World was the game of my generation. It seems I grew up in the #2 generation of games. I have Super Mario Galaxy, I didn’t know it was that highly rated. I think I’m gonna try playing it, and maybe Galaxy 2 as well.

This is the Mario Kart Order
214: Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GameCube, 2003)
193: Mario Kart DS (DS, 2005)
174: Mario Kart Wii (Wii, 2008)
167: Mario Kart 7 (3DS, 2011)
161: Super Mario Kart (SNES, 1992)
32: Mario Kart 64 (N64, 1997)
Again, Super Mario Kart was the game of my generation. I definitely did play Mario Kart 64 during its prime and I can see why it was rated so high. It raised the bar from Super Mario Kart, which was already awesome. But it made 4-player battle mode ridiculously more fun.

This is the Contra order
263: Super C (NES, 1990)
260: Contra 4 (DS, 2007)
41: Contra III: The Alien Wars (SNES, 1992)
40: Contra (NES, 1988)
…Again, Contra III was the game of my generation. Though I played/was good at Contra, I was exceptionally good at Contra 3. I was able to beat the Japanese Hard Mode (which is harder than hard mode on the English version) without using a continue. I can beat Contra as well…but only using the classic Konomi code (which has always been on my site btw ;) )

Honourable mentions that have significance to me
282: Nintendogs (DS, 2005)
213: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade Game (NES, 1990)
209: Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition (3DS, 2011)
204: Pokemon Red/Blue (GameBoy, 1998)
168: Kirbyâ€™s Return to Dreamland (Wii, 2011)
144: Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (Wii, 2010)
114: Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (SNES, 1994)
111: Super Smash Bros. Brawl ( Wii, 2008)
106: Earthworm Jim (SNES, 1994)
87: Tetris Attack (SNES, 1996)
53: Tetris (GameBoy, 1989)
45: Super Smash Bros. Melee (GameCube, 2001)
43: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (SNES, 1992)
21: Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting (SNES, 1993)
4: Final Fantasy III (VI) (SNES, 1994)
NO KIRBY’S AVALANCHE!? SADFACE. Turtles in Time still holds up well, I think I’m gonna play/beat it this weekend actually. I’ve been meaning to for a week.
I started playing Final Fantasy III but never finished. I think I’m also going to play that…I want to finish it.

So basically, reading the last Nintendo Power made me want to game more.

TO REPLAY GAME LIST:
43: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (SNES, 1992)
41: Contra III: The Alien Wars (SNES, 1992)
1: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64, 1998)

TO PLAY GAME LIST:
34: The Legend of Zelda: Majoraâ€™s Mask (N64, 2000)
33: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii/GameCube, 2006)
6: Mega Man 2 (NES, 1989)
4: Final Fantasy III (VI) (SNES, 1994)
3: Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, 2007)

/will keep you updated on my progress!

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…annnnd my 2TB Seagate External drive is CLICKING

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012 at 1:44 am

…like, a few days after my post that these things suck.

I’m scared it’s going to fail soon….better back that sh!t up.

Maybe it’s just the enclosure, not the drive….though the hard drive clicking seems that it’s a hard drive problem, not an enclosure problem.

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Meth!

Tuesday, December 18th, 2012 at 2:22 am

Oh yeah, the reason I wrote the last post was to discuss my visit to the ENT but it deviated on a huge tangent!

I wanted to write that while visiting the ENT, they tested my hearing.
A person would say some words while I was in a sound-proof box (though I had earphones) and I was supposed to repeat the word.

“Rainbow” she said, and I replied “Rainbow”
“Ice Cream”, “Ice Cream”
“Germs”, “Germs”
“Mess”, “Meth”

As soon as I said it, I realized….she OBVIOUSLY didn’t say Meth…but that’s what I heard. Cuz of Breaking Bad. I repeated the word “Meth” to whatever word she said (I’m assuming Mess).
WHY WOULD I SAY METH. Before Breaking Bad, I NEVER would have said “Meth”.
She was probably listening thinking “WTF METH? THIS GUY IS A DRUGGIE. HE HAS DRUGS ON HIS MIND.”

Anyways, immediately after I said “Meth”, I thought it was really amusing. Stupid Breaking Bad. Subconsciously changing the way I think.

BTW I love that show (Breaking Bad)…though The Walking Dead is nice too :)

/that’s it for today! seriously.

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ENT + Inner Strength

Tuesday, December 18th, 2012 at 2:15 am

Went to see an ENT today. That’s an Ear Nose Throat specialist. Otorhinolaryngology is what they call it. I don’t even know how to pronounce it.

Had an issue with my ear a month ago. The reason I had to go to the ER. On a scale of 1-10, the issue is a 3. Meaning there’s nothing much worth doing. When I went to the ER, it probably escalated to an 8…but those times are rare, most times it’s a 3.

I also wanted to talk to the ENT about my tonsils. He said they’re slightly larger than normal but as they’ve never been infected, there’s not much reason for a Tonsillectomy. I think removing my tonsils may help some breathing issues I occasionally have, as well as help my snoring. On a scale of 1-10, the issue is…a 2. Meaning there’s nothing much worth doing.

You know what I have? I bunch of minor issues where nothing is worth doing anything. I live my life in mild discomfort for various reasons. But…realistically, if that’s the worst it gets in my life, I’ll consider myself pretty lucky.

Almost everyone in my life that I can think of has had surgery, or some cancer, or been in a bad car accident, or had something wrong with them that they were in the hospital for week+.
I’ve never had any of that stuff…I get sick a lot recently (cold/flu), had pneumonia…went to the ER for 2 hours…nothing ever really bad, like the above. I wonder if that’s luck…or if life’s got a wazoo of a challenge for me in my later years. I fear the day something really bad happens. I figure you can only go through so many bad things in your life…statistically. And I think I’m about due. That scares me.

What does the future hold for one who is no longer young and healthy? I’m not ready to leave the world of the young and healthy. I’m mentally far too young – I still think I’m basically invincible – a mentality that is for a younger me.

You know what I realized? When you’re younger, you think you’re invincible. You drive fast, you take risks….because you know that if you die, while others are sad, your life is basically just you. You’re not tied to anything. If I were to have gotten in a life-threatening situation, I might be inclined to give up, given how dire the situation were (I’m fairly weak willed in survival mentality, you can tell). But when you’re older…and you’ve gotten more ties – your girlfriend/wife or boyfriend/husband, you need to stay alive…for them. And that gives you a much higher will to survive. And if you have kids, you have even more reason – and will/fight – to live.

I was just thinking about how “I didn’t really care if I died” (don’t misconstrue this as a desire for suicide) when I was younger. But I’m not like that anymore – I follow the rules a lot better. I love to drive fast but I know it’s not safe (well, I always knew it wasn’t safe) but I didn’t have much to lose before. But it’s not like that anymore. It’s not about how much I have to lose if I die. It’s how much my significant other and/or future kids lose if I die. And that gives me a whole new reason to live.

Where does inner strength come from? I don’t believe it comes from within. Ironically, I believe inner strength comes from without.

/too much philosophy and introspection

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Damn you Seagate and your external hard drives!

Tuesday, December 18th, 2012 at 1:44 am

These external Seagate drives suck!

They’ve like, all failed. I still have a 2TB Seagate External but my 250 GB Seagate external and TWO of my 750 GB Seagate externals died.
HOW COME MY WESTERN DIGITALS ARE ALL OKAY?!

To be fair, for the recent 750GB Seagate external drive, I determined that it wasn’t the hard drive failing, but the…um, circuits and stuff that connect to the drive. The enclosure.
1 screwdriver to pry the external drive open, 2 oven mitts to grasp the plastics and a FEAT OF STRENGTH later, and I ripped the enclosure apart revealing a hard drive.

Hard drive seems fine alone. Planted it into a PC and it doesn’t have the “Cannot find this file on disk” or hard drive shutting on and off symptoms as before. I’ve diagnostically determined…that it was the enclosure! (I’m watching a lot of House lately, if you couldn’t tell).

You know what I was thinking about? House is a diagnostician. He basically determines/diagnoses the problem to stuff.
You know what they call that in programmer terms? A debugger. Identifies and fixes bugs.

I think one of my greatest strengths is a debugger – I fix things. Often after breaking them first (curiosity and all that…and the challenge of putting something back together).
Makes me wonder if I could do House’s job. Though given the previous statement would mean a lot of people would end up dying for me to get better. That’s probably…not what I’d consider a “successful” profession or skill.

Seriously, I’ve been watching a LOT of House lately. I think I started a couple weeks ago, I’m already midway in Season 5. I was on the street today, looking at strangers. Which hands they used to drink their coffee. What they’re wearing, how they walk. I was trying to be all House-like. Determine things on the basis of small observations. I love that he can do that – and I would love to make that “power” mine.

I just know that his arrogance and being a jerk is going to rub off on my work persona. I’m like a sponge – I just absorb and reiterate things I watch on TV. Need good role models…not House.

Totally thinking though – the writers of House are so cool and smart. I think it must be incredibly difficult to write someone smarter than yourself. Because again, you don’t know what you don’t know. So how can you think like a genius when…well, you can’t think like a genius? I guess it takes time and creativity – think of something for days/weeks, but it all plays out in mere minutes in House.

.
.
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I just wanted to write about my external hard drive experiences in this post…but it somehow became about House.

/off to watch more House

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