Media Manager is free? Or not?

Did anybody else get this email from Playstation Underground? The big banner proclaims that there is now a version of PSP Media Manager that is free to download. But when I click on the link, I get a 404 error. What the hell? It's as though somebody at Sony (or SCEA anyway) suddenly came to their senses and thought, "wait, why are we giving away a product we've been trying to sell for $30 for the last 3 years?"

Indeed, if you search around the Playstation Network site a bit, you'll find a "beta" version of PSPMM that is marked free (but follows the same dead link), and right below you see a "PSPMM Pro" that actually displays the retail cover art for the PSPMM we've all seen but were too smart to pay for anyway. And let's face it... only smart people read my blog, yes?

I've ...*ahem*... previously demo'ed Media Manager. And to be honest, I didn't really like it all that much. It was a little bit too... shall we say... Mac-like. I'm the kind of person who likes to know where his files are physically located. And on top of which, by the time PSPMM came out, I'd already been using a freeware alternative I was very happy with.

Misato Katsuragi by Kotobukiya

Misato Katsuragi was the older woman... You know the one. She was sexy, playful with our angst-ridden teenaged main character, and had her own personal demons. She also reminds me that I never thought back then that some day I'd actually be older than "the older woman." You see, I was there when anime was just slowly becoming popular. I actually collected Neon Genesis Evangelion on VHS when ADV-Films still called themselves A.D.Vision. I'm not sure when new-school became old-school, however. All I know is that 1996 was a long time ago.

Misato is a free-standing 1/6 scale figure. She sports her trademark NERV uniform jacket and her purple mini-dress. Her cross pendant hangs from a small string, which positioned carefully, one can hide the knot holding it in place. Also, the her pistol is a seperate piece one must wedge into place.

Some folks complained that her nose was too pointy but it's all in the angles. I'm very picky with my PVC-renditions of figures because I often have a picture in my mind's eye of how a 2D design should be rendered in 3D and not every anime PVC delivers on that expectation. In fact, the only thing that bothers me about this sculpt is the molding process around her legs.

I own very few figures in a kneeling position. What disappoints me is that if one gets too close, one will notice that her thigh is actually connected to her calf. The sculpt simply did not provide enough sharpness in relief to give the illusion of an actual human leg bent at the knee. Perhaps some shading effects with the paintjob might have helped.

List of crap

Yes, yes, I know, I haven't blogged in a while. Life just full of disappointments. First I abandoned both ebloggy and livejournal because I just couldn't maintain my anonymity much since more and more people around the office have been reading this blog and/or following my Twitter. Secondly, I was getting bored of it anyway - plus I really haven't had much to share since moving into my house.

So here are a list of things I probably should have blogged on this site but haven't.

1) picked up a new PVC figure of Misato Katsuragi a few weeks back. I haven't even taken the time to photograph her, let alone blog her.

2) built the Drop-Pod model I mentioned only 2 posts ago in less than a couple of hours.

3) the Land Raider Terminus Ultra project needs an update: I've started painting it.

4) I never went back to finishing up my Mini-Munny paint project. I'm just lazy that way.

5) the AT-43 company is coming along... badly. I really don't know what I'm doing but I'm starting to be convinced I should just ebay a starter set. At least then I'll know what a game plays like with their introductory scenarios.

6) still watching early episodes of SG-1 and Atlantis. I'm in the 3rd season of SG-1 and just wrapping up Atlantis. Also watching Code Geass fansubs, and Gurren Lagann on DVD.

7) did not have time to watch Incredible Hulk yet but tried out the blu-ray interactive features and all I can say is, this is what I always thought DVD should be. More or this later.

bad timing for a n00b?

I think I picked a very bad time to stumble on AT-43. This is a table-top war-game similar to Warhammer 40'000. But instead of being a fully comprehensive hobby including miniatures-building and collecting, AT-43 is more of a straight-forward customizable skirmish miniature-gaming. How straight-forward? Read an army-book, and together with the freebies from Rackham's own website full of preview materials, you can start building your army. So really, AT-43 has one of the more affordable start-up costs for gaming.

But... naturally, that doesn't stop me from foolishly spending a bunch of money. Here's my first legally playable company:Like WH40k, AT-43 requires a playable army follow a specific pattern. In gaming terms, it's what makes playing a game balanced. In WH40k you need a powerful unit known as an "HQ" and then a pair of regular units known as "Troops." This is known as the regular "Organization Chart." In AT-43, the same sort of thing is called a "platoon pattern." But this is where things kind of fall apart for me.

Last week being an impatient idiot, I randomly grabbed a "Hero" box from the shelf. Thankfully, after reading the Therians army-book, I found a pattern I can legally follow using her as the priority-slot on the pattern (it's called the Web-Striders faction). But now I've also picked up a unit of Bane Goliaths for her to join (since fielding her alone would be kind of ridiculous).

Now... naturally, you ask, if I say it's cheap to start-up... how much? I'll be bluntly honest.
The Nina-Zero/Babylon-Zero hero box was $45 (I've forgotten to photograph the large Babylon-Zero model). And the Bane Goliath set of 3 was $45. And to at least play the game, I've already purchased the army-book about $18. So even before the rule-book (which I bought even though it's not particularly necessary to get started), I've already spent just over $100.

Now here is where we get to: Just because it's playable, will it be enjoyable. In my experience, the answer will likely be "no." You can only do so much with a single unit. I'm sure I could wreck havoc but how much strategy can be had with a single team of fighters? Not much. Run, shoot, hide, shoot, and then run some more. But I can tell you right off the top where you find savings... It's time. And you won't be investing in tools and paint either.

...now that I'm out of my little high from reading the books for the first time... I should probably start shopping around. But the fact is, I would much rather support my local stores because if not, there's a small chance they'll stop carrying AT-43 now that the news has broken: Fantasy Flight Games will no longer be distributing for Rackham. It's time to rally!!! Show support so that Rackham will find a new distributor or ...something.

Unboxing today

Got another box in the mail today.This came flying in only 4 business days - 5 if you count the long weekend we had in Canada. Frickin' sweet!
Can't wait to get started on this Drop Pod - it's a long-time concept that's never had plastic model until now. But I'll be honest... I just really liked the opening cinematic cut-scene of the original Dawn of War computer game when we saw them raining down on the planet over the horizon and you knew... the Space Marines were about to kick some serious ass.

Land Raider Terminus Project 4

It's been quite some time since my last update. Finally had time to spray a base coat of black, let it dry, then tape off the tracks and spray some red over the it all.
So there's my very lame update for the week. The guns are in place and I did the old switcheroo as planned (check out the Razorback model which is now refitted with the Heavy Bolter turret).

What's left: need to do some touch-ups on the Heavy Bolter turret to get it looking right and matching my completed Razorback paint. And of course, some blue and white (actually Fortress Grey; because I've come to the conclusion that pure white on vehicles looks... a little too clean).

Losers

By way of ArsTechnica.com, here's a news story that caught my eye.

It's one thing to be a scam artist and disappear off-line. But scam-artist who gets caught on camera? And their physical addresses and private contact information posted on a whistle-blowing revenge site? EPIC FAIL!

Land Raider Terminus Project 3

My Land Raider kit arrived early this week and I've spend my time building it... and also assembling the left-over sponsons from the Predator kit I mentioned earlier.

Here is my collection of Space Marines tanks as of right now.
And a closer look at the Land Raider Terminus pattern:The details on top aren't finalized just yet. In fact, it occurred to me last night that I had to "cheat" a little bit. I had to dig back into my older bitz-box to find a non-pintle hatch because, obviously, each tank kit comes with only one of each (with a pintle mount for a weapon and without). But really, just like all the other mixing and matching I've been doing, the math still works. In these photos you will only ever see 4 non-pintle hatches... spread out over 4 tanks of course. This worked out because when I built the spare turret for the Predator, it also had a pintle-mounted bolter. (see previous entry)
At this point, I need to decide what to do about those hatches, any add-ons like smoke-launchers, etc. After that it's onto painting. And I also need to decide what to do with that Rhino which already has its black primer coat. Hmm... I'm not sure if it'll be on the red team as well, of if I should give it to the white team (who are in need of some additional support anyway).