Well it seems the 3DS just beat the Vita in the next handheld war even before the Vita was released. In the last week two new Monster Hunter games have been announced for the 3DS. These two games alone guarantee mega sales in Japan, and a boatload of very excited fans in the rest of the world.
Here’s the trailer for Monster Hunter Tri-G
And here’s the ‘concept trailer’ for the next numbered entry in the series, Monster Hunter 4
Both are loading very slow right now. I recommend reducing the quality to 240 if they stagger.
MH Tri-G is released in Japan this year! No news yet on (what I consider) an inevitable US released.
Here’s a shot of how the game looks running on 3DS:
Diehards like myself will undoubtedly get excited by such trivialities as the persistent map on the lower screen 🙂
A couple of months ago Dad went on a length trip to his homeland of Germany. After he returned I asked for some photos to put on this blog. He sent them, but sadly the post was delayed due to recent events.
That delay is now over! I present to you:
Aloysius in Bergische Land
This (and the next three) are where my dad was born and grew up. It’s almost alarmingly beautiful and pastoral. I wonder how much, if at all, it has changed since dad was born there last century.
That’s dad next to a statue of a man that used to mint coins in Wipperfuerth (Dad’s home town). Even in this shot, the background looks very ‘German’ to me!
Dad and three of his brothers playing cards. Did the eldest win I wonder?
That’s Sonia, who I believe is a cousin of mine. The strangely small horses are hers as well, and apparently pull wagons for a living!
A German breakfast as served by my aunt Brigitte.
An early example of my or my brothers artistic skills. This is a home made Christmas decoration sent from the Australians to the Germans. I’m intrigued by what we’re playing with in the photograph. I wonder if my brother remembers.
Dad’s comment to this one was:
A beautiful foal of a Clydesdale mother
And there we have it! Notable in their absence are photos of beer, sauerkraut or sausage. I see no shots of lederhosen, accordians or culturally embarrassing yet technically beautiful Nazi architecture. No shots of lindwurms, trolls or Elwetritsch. And – despite him claiming he visited Switzerland during his odyssey – not even a single glimpse of edelweiss.
It’s been a busy few weeks! But let me rewind a bit, to before school and before Irene, and remind you all I spent a week in San Diego. The next few blog entries will describe that week, and I’m going to start with San Diego Zoo!
I don’t know what the above animal is called, so I will refer to is as a ‘Long Necked Galoot’. It was one of many weird and wonderful animals I beheld on my trip to what is probably the best zoo I have ever visited.
Since I arrived early, I was able to see the usual sedentary beasts, such as Koala’s and Wombat’s, actually being active! These enclosures were not far from the entrance, and were the first start of a nagging theory that formed in my mind…
Not too far down the road I came upon this exhibit, and immediately thought of my mum:
She love’s meerkats, and she would love this enclosure with the massive lookout tower for the watchman to sit atop:
He was a lazy sod to be true, watching in name only. He gave no regard to the crowds observing from only a few feet away, and his fellows happily dug close enough to be to be almost grabbed.
Dung beetles and a massive hairy spider! These were in a walkway that led under the enormous elephant enclosure, which looked like this:
The elephants themselves were split by gender, and I had fun watching them waiting for one of them to emerge from her bedroom into the enclosure. Believe me when I say she was in no hurry!
The zoo is massive and built on natural slopes, so it’s quite a strenuous place to walk around for many hours (as I did). Cleverly, they have (free) bus tours that go all around the zoo and give a good view of most animals. I hopped onto these once or twice during my visit.
And here is a gallery of bears!
It’s probably obvious from the shots, but the enclosures are wonderful, and very rarely is the visitor separated from an animal by bars or any other obstruction aside from moats or glass. Here’s one rare example:
When I was standing there the male put his head back and lazily roared. It was frightening and very, very loud. Lots of kids had a real scream and giggle afterwards 🙂
One of the absolute highlights of the trip was the tiger feeding. Mum and her two babies were being tossed full steaks (probably sliced galoot, to be true) and enjoying it mightily. They put on a good show for the massive crowd:
I managed to get some decent video, which you can see here:
Another highlight was the human-feeding. I got a good shot of that as well:
Capybara madness!
People keep these guys as pets you know? 🙂
By the time I rode the ‘skyfari’ I was pretty sure something fishy was going on. San Diego zoo was very reminiscent of Taronga, in many ways. On my second skyfari ride I rode with an employee, and she told me the zoo has a close relationship with Taronga, which I think explains why.
These photos on scrape the surface of what is a massive zoo with a vast variety of animals to see and truly beautiful landscaping. If you’re ever in the city, consider this #1 on your places to visit!
