OH NO YOU SQUID-IDN'T!
So...Zack and I were gonna wait until AFTER A-kon to get Splatoon, but we went to Target to get Jigglypuff (I'M SO HAPPY THEY HAD ENOUGH FOR US ;A;) and they had them in, AND if you bought one you got a free Splatoon squirt gun....so that happened. XD Not pictured: later that same day, we managed to get a Pac-Man Amiibo from Walmart! I was surprised they had any left over, to be honest.)
Splatoon is super fun. I didn't think I would like it because I generally do not like shooters, let alone ONLINE shooters. But this game is much, much different. While it technically IS a shooter, the object of the game is not to shoot other people, but to shoot colored ink all over each of the game's stage--and whichever team covers the most area in ink wins. Your avatars are "inklings", aka Squid Kids, and everything in the game is sea/squid themed, which is super cute. The emphasis is on teamwork, painting, and having fun. While you CAN shoot other characters, you don't get points for doing so and it's not the objective. The best part? There's no in-game chat. A lot of people had a hissy-fit over that, but I for one think it's a great idea. No listening to jerks gleefully laughing over their "pwning" of "n00bs", no having to worry about sexist name-calling or vulgar language, just you and your teammates having fun in what's basically an adorable virtual paintball game.
You can also deck out your avatar in cool clothes and accessories, which add to your stats and your painting "weapons" special abilities. The atmosphere of the game is super cool, too, with heavy Tokyo/Shibuya vibes and aesthetics: the main "lobby" of the game takes place in front of a shopping center (to buy your avatar's clothes and weapons, obviously), a dead-ringer for Tokyo Tower, a dojo, and some buildings you can only look into, like a cafe and a radio show studio where you can see the 2 mascots for the game--the "Squid Sisters", who are singing idols, but also pop in periodically to give you news updates on things happening in the game. (Their names are Callie and Marie...as in calamari, lol. Get it? XD)
Speaking of them:
I drew a little doodle of Callie for my Miiverse post in the game, and I was shocked to see it got over 100 likes in the community! :O I don't think any art I've ever posted anywhere has gotten that many, so I was kind of blown away, to be honest. XD;; It made me really happy, though!
In other non-video game news...I won another online giveaway!! Wild, huh? I won the first volume of the new "Emma" manga omnibus from Yen Press. I was really excited because I hadn't gotten a chance to read it before the old version had gone out of print. I'd heard it was good, so I was glad to hear it got picked up again. I read the first half already (since it's a 2-in-1 omnibus, that's basically vol 1), and I'm liking it so far! The artwork is lovely, and the story's a nice change of pace from the stuff I've read in the last year or so...it reads a lot like a BBC romantic comedy or something. I'm looking forward to reading the rest.
A-kon is next weekend, but Zack and I will be leaving on Wednesday since we're on volunteer staff and we have to check in on Thursday. I always get a bit anxious about traveling, even when it's only a couple of hours away. But since that's "normal" for me, I'm almost used to it. ;p But I am still excited, as usual. I get to see friends I only see once a year, which is always the best part for me....and then of course the digging around for deals in the dealer's room, lol. There's also a couple of guests I'm really looking forward to, hopefully I'll be able to see most of em with my schedual. x__X
Anyway, I hope you're all having a nice weekend! All the damn rain Texas has been getting has finally stopped, for now. Thankfully we were never in any of the flood zones, but it was getting pretty annoying, so it's nice to have a a break from all that.