Good afternoon folks, hope we're all keeping well?

I'm in a pretty good mood today for a number of reasons: the weather is nice outside (though very cold), my Martin Fields screen protectors arrived for my iPod, the single for the end theme of Mai-Otome finally came out, and finally, I played a bit more of Soul Calibur 3 last night.

Lately, the sun has been shining here in Aber though as soon as it hits around 4pm, it gets very, very chilly. Also not good when you're sat in the library for most of the afternoon with cold feet... But at least it's not raining like a few weeks ago.

After exchanging my iPod for a replacement model (battery was shagged), it's been without protection for over 2 weeks. I had originally bought a screen protector from the folks at Martin Fields which went on my original 5th gen, but since it had to be returned I ended up having to take it off. And anybody who's installed clear screen protectors knows how caked in dust they become once exposed to air for a few minutes.
Anywho, mobilefun.co.uk finally got stock of them back and I decided to order the 2 pack which worked out as better value for money (and in case I cock up the first install). I've managed to lay it on perfectly with practically no dust trapped, even got the click wheel cover fitted nicely. Anybody who buys a nano or 5th gen, I highly recommend getting one of these unless you decide to leave the protective film it ships with.

Mai-Otome is probably the show I look forward to watching the most this season. Stu's starting to get back into it so our weekly in-depth discussions have been getting, errr... more in-depth.
The single for the end theme finally came out in Japan and the wonderful folks at Nipponsei released it post-haste. Sung by the voice actresses who play Nina and Arika (who also plays Mokona in Tsubasa Chronicles...), it's typical Jpop fluff but it doesn't aim to be anything else. Good stuff indeed and it will rule my playlist for quite a while me thinks.

And finally, played a bit more Soul Calibur 3 last night. Actually, played wouldn't be the right word since I all I did was do a bit of sparring in practice mode with Cassandra. In retrospect, I don't think she's actually lost any moves from Soul Calibur 2, though some moves have been made harder to initiate. More importantly though, she's gained some visually impressive moves which were definitely not present in 2. Cassandra previously had no sweeps (which really crippled her whenever she went down), but now she has two. One is a typical sweep you'd find anywhere. The other is a very swish looking spinning-sliding sweep with a large attack radius. She's also received a number of new uppercuts (one very impressive looking) as well as a number of new attack-defense moves. She was previously already a good all-round fighter, now she's even more versatile.
Graphically, the game has taken two steps forward and one step back. Everything from costumes and arenas looks crisp, bright, and detailed. Sadly, the faces are quite expressionless now compared to Soul Calibur 2. Now I know some Soul Calibur/Blade/Edge purists didn't like the graphical changes in 2 but I personally loved them. Overall, the game looks like a better looking Soul Calibur than a better looking Soul Calibur 2. I still need to play more of the game to explore what else has been added, removed etc.


Take care all.