I still haven't heard if I passed, but my instructor says that he would have heard if there was anything bad. I've heard graduation is in May, which is when I'll actually get my belt. Then after 6 months they stitch your name onto the belt.

I recently acquired Rayman 2 and Resident Evil for Dreamcast. Oh my word are these games tasty! I played the original Resident Evil on PSX, but never played parts 2 & 3. I was surprised, then, to discover the gameplay and controls to be almost exactly the same as what I remember. I do have a couple minor gripes, but for the most part the game is sweet. The 3D model of Claire in particular is so realistic. As for Rayman, I just got into it last night, but it seems awesome.

I received my scores from my black belt test and am happy to report I passed! Plus, I don't have to re-test on anything. My scores were actually lower than I thought they'd be. The judge assigned to me was watching everything. Graduation is on May 20th which is when I'll actually get the belt. Then I have to wait until next January until they stitch my name into it.

I went to Lake Tahoe this past weekend where me, my fiancee, and another couple spent much of Saturday playing Sega Swirl. It's remarkably fun in 4-player mode. We even decided against going skiing since we were having so much fun. I can't wait for more 4-player games like that on Dreamcast.

It's been a while, but I don't really have much to report. I'm still on the first disc of Resident Evil and haven't touched Rayman to a large degree yet. Come to think of it I haven't even played a PC game in weeks. Guess I'm more of a console man. Kinda sad since I used to spend all my free time on the computer during college. Or maybe that's the sad part :)

If you happened to come by recently you may have hit the site while it was down. I recently switched web hosting providers and there was a little snag in the transfer. Everything seems to be working now, though (except for some of the counters).

I'll be heading to E3 next week. The company's paying for it this time which is good, but that also means I'll have to man the booth. Ah well, I'm not complaining. As long as I get some time off to look around I'll be happy.

How can a game with such trivial puzzles and one-dimensional gameplay be so darn fun? I mean come on. You go from room to room shooting the monster-du-jour. You find an lever? Pull it. You find an object? Take it. The use of most objects is blindingly obvious. The only thing that caught me so far was having to "Check" everything. Stupid dragonfly key.

But the game is soooo fun and soooo engrossing! The cinemas and atmosphere suck you in. Way to go Capcom!

I'll be gone to E3 this week so will likely update again sometime next week.

I totally forgot to mention two majorly cool events at E3. Both Nick Ferguson and George Bain stopped by the VM Labs booth to say hi. I knew Nick was going to be at E3, but George was a total surprise. It's nice to put faces to names of people I feel like I've known for ages.

E3 was very cool despite my having to man the booth all three days. I actually enjoyed talking with everyone that stopped by about NUON. Most everyone was very receptive and excited about what we are doing. There were only two people I spoke to that just didn't "get it". I admit it took me a while to come to terms about what NUON is trying to do so I can cut them some slack. I don't want to turn this into a company pitch though so I'll cut myself off here :)

We had several celebrities in our VIP suite which was separate from our main booth. They signed their DVDs for people and a couple even came out to the main booth to sign. I had the pleasure of eating lunch with George Kennedy on Saturday which was my personal highlight of the show. Mr. Kennedy has been in some older films such as Cool Hand Luke and The Eiger Sanction, but you probably know him from the Naked Gun movies. He was extremely nice to everyone. It was fun listening to his stories from his career.

I finished Resident Evil yesterday. I only got a "D" score, but I don't think I'll replay the game for a while. I need to focus on Rayman 2 now. E3 just reminded me how many must-have games are coming out in the next few months.

I finally sank my teeth into Rayman 2 this weekend. What a beautiful game! The sights and more importantly sounds in the game are just fantastic. I've always been a big fan of great musical scores and Rayman has that covered nicely. I'm not sure how long the game is, but I wouldn't be disappointed if it was on the short side. This summer looks to be a great one for Dreamcast owners and I'll need all the time I can get to play the games coming out.

It didn't take much time - I finished Rayman 2 without much trouble. It wasn't very difficult, but the atristry in the game is just so rich that I didn't mind. I only got 88% of the lums though so I'll have to go back and get the rest at some point.

I'm a bit under the weather at the moment so forgive me if I'm brief.

These next few months are going to race by due to the amount of stuff I'll be doing. My fiancee and I are going to Europe for two weeks this month. Then July is full of wedding preparations (including the requisite parties). We're also going to Vegas with some friends over 4th of July. Finally, we're getting married in August and taking a few days off for the honeymoon. Should be fun!

I pre-ordered Space Channel 5 recently (with accompanying soundtrack). I'm sooo looking forward to that since I'm such a big fan of music games.

Europe was a blast. It was also very exhausting so it's nice to be back. We drove from Paris to Fussen (in Germany) to Venice and finally to Rome. All told it was nearly 24 hours of driving - not all at once of course. The Germans drive very well; I love the autobahns. The Italians on the other hand...

My Space Channel 5 order arrived shortly before I left. Unfortunately the package was ripped and the game was missing. I guess someone at UPS saw the Sega name on the package and wanted it for themself. I should have a replacement in a week or so.

I'm gearing up to start work on a game soon. I just need to find time to do it. I don't really know what kind of game it will be. I do have a plan for the game engine which I think will be ultra cool if I can pull it off. I just need to come up with a game that uses the engine. Once I start working on the engine and have something to show for it I'll relate more information.