Life of a Gamer Girl

Oh my achy breaky heart

2012-01-30T14:58:00.000-08:00

I've been feeling very unloved lately on Xbox Live. I can't find anyone who wants to play with me. If I jump into a friends room usually within 2 matches suddenly everyone wants to get off line. That happened the other night but before I decided to play something by myself I walked away for awhile. When I came back instead of "going to bed" like everyone said they were, they were playing a private, invite only, match. How subtle is that.

I might not be the best player out there, but I'm fun to be around, mostly anyway, right? I'm competitive but I'm never going to be the best player out there. If I can break even with my kill/death ratio (no matter the game) I consider that a huge success. If you play with me, we might not win but I promise, next to me, I'll make you look good. So why won't anyone play with me?

I know there are friends out there still playing Gears of War 3 but there are also other games out there that I have that I would love to play with people. For starters there's Left for Dead. I haven't played much, if any, of that game but I don't feel confident in my abilities to play by myself. I need help.

And then there's any of the Call of Duty games. While I get bored playing Team Deathmatch over and over again all night long, I love trying out other game types, even if I suck at them. One of the few nights where I actually got to play with other people we played a new game type in Modern Warfare 3 about capturing and holding a flag. I LOVED playing that game type (partly because I had the flag for awhile) but everybody else hated it and wouldn't play it again. Why not spice it up every now and then with different game types or maybe an older version of Call of Duty?

And then there's Halo games. There are game types I had never heard about until I saw someone play them a while ago. Games a lot like soccer or basketball or other weird stuff. I'm up for weird.

I know there's a lot of reasons why it's harder to get online sometimes for a lot of us. I'm not saying we have to spend all out time online playing together. But a night or two a week where old friends can get to together and shoot the breeze while we shoot the enemy would be nice. I'd even go back to old school original Gears of War to play with friends. Hell, if Star Wars Battlefront were still active I'd be there right now.

I know we're all busy but if any body an spare an hour or two to play with me then I won't have to start singing "My Achy Breaky Heart" in voice messages to you all over Xbox Live. You don't want that ear worm taking up residence inside your head now do we?

Gears of War 3 review

2011-12-12T11:22:00.000-08:00

So I've finished the campaign on Gears of War 3 and I wanted to think about my impression of the game before I posted a review. You may agree or disagree with some of what I have to say and that's okay . . . just say what you have to say in the comments section.

1) The boys are back . . . but their neutered
This games was cowritten by Karen Traviss who wrote a bunch of Star Wars books and is writing the Gears books. While I've liked her books there just seems to be something off with the characters in this game. Their banter could be a little annoying sometimes in the earlier game but it's what made those characters stand out and have their own personalities. In this game it feels like everyone is the same. The constant banter between Cole and Baird is gone and everyone walks around like a mute. Part of what made some of the characters hilarious was their interaction with Carmine (and his responses). There was a whole promotional campaign to "save Carmine" or "kill Carmine" a year or so ago but the Carmine brother in this game seems nonexistent. So what was the point of those avatar t-shirts except for making money? There was so much potential for the characters in this game, given the history of the planet, but I feel like they've all been neutered.

2) Hello, not everyone is going to read the books
I've only read the first Gears of War book although I own the next 3 or 4. When the game started I had no clue what was going on in the story or why things were the way they were at that time. What made it worse was there was no backstory in the game. If you wanted to know what was going on you had to read the books. There were some things that made sense because I have read the first book, but other things are still lost on me. Since I've told my friends NOT to spoil the books for me they can't tell me anything. So if you haven't read any of the books you're basically going to be lost for a lot of what is going on and the why behind it all.

3) A major case of deja vu
While playing this game I couldn't help but get the feeling that I was actually playing other games. The doors and wires the squad had to walk through to get from one area to another was like the elevator rides in Mass Effect. It's a way to load the next area without a blank load screen. Towards the end the designed gave up that pretense and had their own elevator rides/load screens. And the "farmers" (I think that's what they're called) that all of a sudden came chasing after you like zombies from Left 3 Dead? Been there. Done that. There was even a scene that felt exactly like one from that game. It involved not disturbing ash people just like you shouldn't disturb cars to set off their alarms in L4D. And then there wasn't much story between action scenes . . . kind of like a Call of Duty game. That wasn't like the first couple of games. Who could ever forget the "slow" moment of Kai's death? Or when Dom finds Maria? Or either Carmine's deaths? Gears wasn't a run-and-gun type game. It had story. It had heart. But not in this one.

4) Foreshadowing should be more than 2 minutes before things happen
When you want to foreshadow something you should really lay hints out long before the event happens. Having Dom give up his dog tags before the "event" happens in the next scene is NOT foreshadowing. It's an "oops we forgot to set this pivotal moment up" decision. When Dom is looking for Maria in the second game you see and hear him talking about that long before he finds her. And when you get to the part of the story where he's looking for her he doesn't find her in the first place he looks. Once you have a big pivotal scene like that you have the after effects. And based on previous games the after effects should have had a longer deeper feeling to it than "oh well, let's move one". Whatever passion for life Marcus had been keeping a tight hold on for years should have at least bubbled to the surface a little bit afterwards. But Marcus was just the same afterwards as he was beforehand. While I liked him in the first two games, I though he came across as a emotionless bastard in this game. When they neutered the characters they stripped all emotion from them as well.

5) combat de-evolved
One area of combat that annoyed the heck out of me was the corpser scene. All the other "boss" battles and such in all the other games was about finding a way to kill all the enemies present. There was no "do this" then "do that" and then "boss dies". Going through the 5 stages with the corpser (and to some extent with the final boss battle) felt like battling a boss in an RPG game that evolves as the battle progresses. The first incarnation is a fire demon (attack with water). The next incarnation is a dark demon (attack with light). The next physical defenses are down (attack with your weapon). It's repetitive and monotonous. And boring. There had to be a better way to make that battle more interesting. There's a ceiling so no Hammer of Dawn. Why not have the guys try to position the corpser under a section of roof and blast a pillar down, hopefully not on their heads? There was potential there but I think it failed miserably in the execution.

6) weapon change outs
I could buy that the saw-off shotgun and retro lancer were older guns that Gears retired and moved to something a little more advanced. But where does the One Shot fit in in all that? And what about the Hammer of Dawn? I can't tell you how many battles I faced where the Lancer (or retro) was all I needed to get through an area. In the other games there were several places that only a certain weapon would see you through to the next area. In this game it didn't really matter what you had equipped. So where's the challenge in that? I want a little challenge to my murderous rampages. Is there a guy on a far tower I need to kill that my guns won't reach? Give me a special gun in order to get him. Unfortunately there were no special guns because there were no guys on far ledges that you couldn't reach. Everything was up close and personal so a Lancer and and shotgun was all you needed.

I'm sure I could tell you more things that bugged me about this game, but I want to hear what you have to say. (Just don't get me started on Marcus's hair.) I'll give my review of the multiplayer portion later. Overall I liked the game. I just wished I knew more about what was going on and that the feel of the previous two games was included in this game. The campaign was short but that's a typically Gears game for you. I didn't find it all that challenging to play but I'm glad I played it. I'm now working on the hardcore and insane play throughs. If you want to join me jump on it.

Overall score (out of 10): 8
Combat: 7
Story: 5
Characters: 7

Poll Results - How do you display your Xbox 360?

2011-12-12T10:47:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry for the delay but sometimes life creeps up on you, grabs you by the scruff of the neck and just won't let go. I'm better now. Thank you! Here's the (belated) results of my last poll:

How do you display your Xbox 360?

Horizontal = 3 votes
Vertical = 0 votes
I don't have an Xbox 360 = 0 votes

I've displayed mine horizontal almost all of the time. There was an experimental period when I tried it vertical but it just didn't feel right. I wonder if Zenra's comment about it being a matter of age might have something to do with it. Or maybe it's all that advertising I see. They always have it vertical. It seems that younger people like it vertical and they're more susceptible to advertising than us jaded old folks.

I did have a sales clerk at Gamestop (a young one) tell me when I was buying a new Xbox 360 a while ago tell me to use it horizontal because standing it up on end was what was causing all the Red Rings of Death. Really? I got the RRoD on my first machine and I never stood it up. I guess that's the intelligence of today's youth for you.

The Wii on the other hand just doesn't look right when used horizontally. I don't know why, it just doesn't seem right that way. The PS2 could be done both ways and you could even swing the logo around on the front to match the way you had it set up. Maybe it's my history with the SNES and PS but I never considered playing the PS@ up on end either. It just never felt right. And there was not RRoD to worry about on that machine.

I guess it doesn't really matter how you display it, but how you play the games for the Xbox 360. As long as it works for you, you can be a backwards-stand-on-it's-end type of gamer . . . just remember to let me win.

New Poll - How do you display your Xbox 360?

2011-10-17T11:42:00.000-07:00

So how do you like it? Horizontal? Vertical?

How do you display your Xbox 360?

Horizontal
Vertical
I don't have an Xbox 360

All right, now get your head out of the gutter and vote in my poll. sheesh.

Roll Results - Has Gears of War 3 been worth the wait?

2011-10-05T15:37:00.000-07:00

So here's the results from my latest poll:

Has Gears of War 3 been worth the wait?

Absolutely YES! = 2 votes
I'm still thinking about it = 2 votes
I'm left disappointed = 0 votes
Hell no! = 2 votes

It actually took me a while to cast my own vote. At the time it came out I had had it with my friends. I couldn't listen to any more whining or bitching. About games or other gamers. I wanted the game but I didn't want to play it with my friends. I would have rather played with no headset and a bunch of strangers. But the call of my friends was too much and for the first week or so of the game's release I played with friends. Only every other night. One night to play. One night to take a break.

When I came to vote in my poll I knew it would be for one of two options, absolutely....or I'm still thinking. When I thought of the online play with friends I started to drift to the other two options. But then I had to stop myself and think. Am I rating playing with my friends or am I rating the game itself?

I voted based on the game itself (minus all the whining friends). And that vote was "Absolutely YES!". Even though I got off to a terrible start playing online that was more to do with getting irritated with players than with the mechanics of the game. If I looked only at the game, I was having fun. I guess that's why playing with strangers and no headset was nice.

I've played more often with my friends and for the most part it's been like how we use to play. Helping each other out. Calling out enemy positions. And working together as a team. That makes me feel so much better. We even worked together over several nights to beat Beast Mode on insane. It took planning and teamwork and we enjoyed every minute of it. (Except for two times when we got to the final round, had one guy left but ran out of time.) I now look forward to more matches with friends in this game.

As to those that voted "Hell no!" I want answers. Tell me why you don't like it.

I already heard from Evil Ric about it and he said it's just more of the same. When I pointed out that Call of Duty games are just more of the same too he said only Gears of War gets his blood pressure up. I actually thinks that's a compliment to the game. You have more invested with Gears so that little things make you angry. With Call of Duty it's ho hum.

No game is going to be perfect or appeal to everyone the same way. But, for me, there is something special about Gears of War. And now if I could just get through the campaign without dying all the time I might like the game even more (if that's possible). Of course I think I bumped up the difficulty thinking I was a Gears veteran so I can handle anything. Although it has been frustrating I'm glad that the third game in the series is still a tough fight and not a cake walk.

New Poll - Has Gears of War 3 been worth the wait?

2011-09-22T10:35:00.000-07:00

I HAVE A NEW POLL!!!!

Has Gears of War 3 been worth the wait?

Absolutely YES!
I'm still thinking about it
I'm left disappointed
Hell no!

You have until October 1st to vote, so please do so!

When gamers get personal

2011-09-07T12:44:00.001-07:00

There's no shortage of trash talking when you're playing a video game online. The gamer doesn't matter. The game doesn't matter. But I have noticed an interesting trend. And it has nothing to do with "yor momma".

I have friends that prefer one game over another. Some like Gears of War, other like Call of Duty. Some like both, but I think everyone has a preference of which one they would rather play. But sometimes you just want to play with friends no matter what game they're playing. So CoD fans will play GoW and vice versa.

Every now and then the trash talking against one game gets out of control. Everybody thinks their favorite game is much better than the other one. Gears has wall bouncers, glitchers, lag and what not. Call of Duty has care package glitches, host quitting, camping, lag and the like. Neither game is perfect but try telling that to my group of friends.

But here's the rub. With Gears the complaining gets personal.

Not with other gamers as much as with Cliff Bleszinski. Who's Cliffy B. you ask? He's the designer of Gears of War. It's his baby and he's not shy about that. If something funky goes wrong in the game my friends will gladly tell you how they feel about Cliffy B. If anything goes wrong it's his faulty . . . personally. If Cliffy B. took any of their comments seriously I don't think he would leave his house for fear of being butt rapped by a group of irate gamers.

But Call of Duty is no different to the whining and bitchfest that online gaming has become. You will still hear complaints from gamers about people camping around corners, lag switching (although in order for this to actually happen it will effect the whole team and not just one person) and spawn killing. But what you don't hear is gamers directing their complaints against one person at the companies who developed the games. Why is that?

Maybe it's because there are two different development houses that do the Call of Duty games. Infinity Ward and Treyarch. Gamers might know those company names and which ones developed which games in the series, but there really isn't anyone one person who stands out as the "face of Infinity Ward" or the "face of Treyarch". They're a no one big faceless company so complaining and bitching is done in the the general sense.

With Gears it's specific and direct. One man made Gears of War his personal vision of how a video game should be. And my friends are taking that literally. He's personally responsible for the games so he personally gets all the complaints directed at him (even if he never hears them).

It seems gamers take their games personally . . . whether they design them or play them.

Poll Resuls - Do you like secret achievements?

2011-08-04T10:07:00.000-07:00

Why don't you come in really close and I'll tell you a secret . . .

BACK OFF YOU'RE TOO CLOSE!!!!!

Okay, so maybe that wasn't a secret. But if you want me to tell you mine, you've got to tell me yours first.

But onto the poll results. Here they are:

Do you like secret achievements in games?

Yes, I love the mystery of 'em = 0 votes
No, I hate not knowing what to play for = 4 votes
You know, I just don't really care = o votes
For me, nothing stays a secret for long = 1 vote

Well, I voted with the majority. I think orphan summed it up nicely in the comments when I released the poll. If you don't want to look that up he basically said that secret achievements for the story are okay. If you play through everything you'll eventually unlocked them and they won't be a secret anymore. I really like this idea.

As a developer wouldn't you want the people who play your games to discover the story as it unfolds as they play it? If you put in an achievement that states something like "sacrifice your dog to save your life" or "you just married your handsome prince" don't you think, that moment in the story would become less emotionally powerful if the gamer had already seen that "spoiler" on their achievement list?

I have friends who look at the list of achievements as soon as they put the game in, even before they've played any of it. They're looking for information to how the story is going to play out. Are most of the achievement towards the beginning? Towards the end? Are they story based or multiplayer based? If they're looking to get all achievements in a game it helps to know how you might want to play it.

One things Xbox Live does right (IMHO) is that if one of your friends have unlocked a secret achievement it will still show up as secret when you try to look at their achievement list. They earned that secret achievement, now it's time for you to earn it so you can know what it is.

But that's where the problem is. Not all developers put in story based secret achievements. They have secret achievements for doing very specific things that might not fall into the "regular" way someone would play the game. There might be a specific task that you need to perform in a specific area that is not related to elements of the story. If you don't know what those things are you're never going to get that achievement . . . unless you look it up and specifically play the game to do those things. While I can't speak for the developers about that, I don't think that's what they had in mind on how they wanted you to play the game.

And what if you wanted to know what those secret achievements were? You can't find out on Xbox Live so you've got to go to a computer and look them up. There are tons of sights that will tell you what all the achievements are and what you need to do to get them. But if you're playing the game and concentrating on doing a specific thing in a specific area are you really paying any attention to what's actually going on in the story? Is that how we should be playing games?

Now, I've played games trying to do specific things. Like finding all the Intel or cog tags or journals or what-nots that developers like to hide in their games. But those achievements aren't usually secret. The developers WANT you to explore their world and find things. By seeing an achievement that says "find all 50 purple bottle caps" then you know to be on the look out for them as you play. And you'll spend time exploring every nook and cranny in an area to make sure you haven't missed one. If the developers made that achievement secret and your character picked up a purple bottle cap in the game would you even know that it meant something? Probably not.

To sum things up, in general, I don't like secret achievements. But if used wisely, and to prevent gamers from finding spoilers in games, I think they can be very beneficial to playing games. I just don't like it when they make them so secret and selective about what you need to do that you spend almost as much time looking them up as you do playing the game. Because once you know you have to "defeat the Gorgon for killing the love of your life" are you really going to want to play the game when you know what happens?

Poll - Do you want to know a secret?

2011-07-25T11:29:00.000-07:00

Psst. Do you want to know a secret? I do. But it's a secret, so I don't know it. Except that I can know it, if I want to take the effort to find out what it is.

Oh, don't look at me like that. I haven't lost my mind. This is my gaming blog so obviously I'm talking about secret achievements. Duh. So here's my latest poll:

Do you like secret achievements in games?

Yes, I love the mystery of 'em
No, I hate not knowing what to play for
You know, I just don't really care
For me, nothing stays a secret for long

Almost there

2011-07-18T09:44:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of June I set myself a little mini goal. I wanted to break the 20,000 gamer score barrier by Labor day. I had just under 2,000 points to go in order to hit that mark. It would be doable but I'd have to put in the effort.

My score currently stand sat 19,902. So close, and yet so far. It helped that I finally picked up some multiplayer achievements in Gears of War. I got points for hosting 50 matches, 100 chainsaw kills, and 100 revives. I also picked up a few achievements in Mass Effect and one for starting Lego Star Wars III and finishing the story in Puzzle Quest 2.

On the other hand I can't seem to get any more achievements in Clash of Heroes. I really loved that game and I worked hard to max out all my allies and specialists and finally got that achievement. But since then I can't seem to progress in the story. I'm on the third character (the ghost which I can't remember her name) and I got up to level 3 but now I can't win a battle. Everybody I run into is at least a level 5 and my troops just don't seem to have the defense to stand up to the enemy's attack. I think I've played that game for over an hour without progressing or winning anything. It's rather frustrating so I've stopped playing. I don't think I'll be getting any more achievements out of that game before Labor Day.

Since I've always had one arcade game that I obsess about I'm trying to find a replacement to fill my time. Everything I've tried to play hasn't interested me. While I know I can pick up some achievements in larger disk games, I like having a smaller arcade game to play when I want something quick and not so intense.

I've been working on my pistol and Boomshot kills in Gears so that might get me some points towards my goal, but I don't think I'll get those achievements before Labor Day. I might get them before Gears of War 3 comes out but that's later on in the month so I have more time.

I should also be able to pick up another achievement or two with Mass Effect. I want to finish that game before Gears 3 comes out because I won't be playing much else when I have that game in my hands. I'm pretty close to the end of the game but I don't know if the achievements I might get will be enough to push me over the 20k mark.

So I have a month and a half to get 98 points to reach my goal. You would think that because that number is only 2 digits it would seem absolutely attainable, but it doesn't. It might only be 2 digits but it feels so far away. But I can't wait to break that 20k barrier. I'm really tired of looking at a number one at the beginning of my gamer score. My gamer score was higher than Genghis's when I started his last tour of duty. Now he's up around 60,000 or so and I haven't even broken 20,000. And I also thought I played more video games than Sneaka but he's past the 20k mark and has been for awhile. And I don't want to think of Banco Billy's 200+k gamer score.

Will there be any hope for me to reach my goal? I hope so. I'm a competitive person so as long as I have friends with a higher score than me I'll keep trying and playing games. Maybe by the time I'm 80 years old I can reach the gamer score Banco Billy has today. Until then I'll just be happy trying to get to past 20,000.

Poll Results: What upcoming game are you most excited about?

2011-07-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

So here's the results from my latest poll:

What upcoming game are you most excited about?

Gears of War 3 = 4 votes
Modern Warfare 3 = 1 vote
Mass Effect 3 = 1 vote
Elder's Scroll: Skyrim = 3 votes
Batman: Arkham City = 1 vote

I'm both surprised and not surprised by the voting. I'm not surprised that Skyrim got a bunch of votes. I am surprised that MW3 and ME3 didn't get more votes. And I'm surprised that GoW3 got as many votes as it did. Why? I'll tell you.

I have friends that live (and die) for Modern Warfare 2. They won't play anything else besides that. I would have thought the new game would have gotten more votes.

I also know how much critics and fans liked the Batman: Arkham Asylum game and that there's great anticipation for the new one. Several of my friends talk about looking forward to that game so why didn't they vote for it?

I guess I could say the same for Mass Effect. I have friends that have played both previous games several times just to see how changing one thing can impact the game. They can't wait to get in and finish the story and see how their character choices pan out after three games.

As for Gears? Well, I love the game and I can't wait to finish the story. I have several friends (usually the Call of Duty lovers) that have said they're not interested in getting the next Gears. I find that hard to believe, especially with how the voting turned out here. Granted, not all my friends are voting in my poll.

I'm excited if they do get Gears and I look forward to playing with them. The first two Gears games are a couple of the few games I've finished the story on. Since I don't finish games often you might guess that I can't wait for the game to come out. So that's why I voted for it. Of course I will be getting all of those games on the list, I'm just looking forward to the new Gears most of all. I think I'm even going to take some time off work just so I can play the story mode during the day so I can play the multiplayer mode at night.

Now, as for the games NOT on the list . . .

Battlefield 3:
I have several friends who have this game but I only know of one that is really looking forward to this game. While I'd like to play it, it doesn't rank that high up on my "looking forward to" list. Since I know it would only get one vote (if Genghis would ever vote in my poll) I didn't include it.

Halo 4:
I'm a sucker for series. I have all the Halo games (except Halo Wars) and I'll probably get this one too even thought I haven't finished the first one. I just don't like the idea of having the story unfinished. As far as looking forward to it . . . not really. Besides it doesn't come out until next year so I've got time to wait.

BioShock: Infinite:
This is a game that I'm REALLY looking forward to, but it doesn't come out until next year so that is why it wasn't on the list. I read online that this game swept four of the most sought after awards at E3 this year. I've been intrigued ever since I saw the first teaser for it. I can't wait to play it. Maybe my next poll "upcoming" poll will have it, but then again you already know how I'd vote.

Saints Row the Third:
I've heard some good things about this game, but since I've never played the first two and I really don't have any interest in this one, it wasn't on my poll. Sorry Zen (I think you were the one who mentioned it).

So now you all know what games I'll be buying this holiday season . . . and which one I'll most likely be playing. What games are on your wish list and ones that you're looking forward to? Which ones will you pre-order vs. just getting whenever? Leave a comment and let me know.

2 down 10 to go

2011-07-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

I finally realized that in my quest to finish 12 games in 12 month that I've actually finished 2 games already.

The first game was Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale. I played it in co-op with Sneaka and Genghis. That was fun. It was nice to have someone else drive and yet still enjoy a hack and slash game. And if you put those two guys together you get one hell of a fun night. They're like peanut butter and jelly, cookies and cream or whipped cream and a hooker. Now, if I can only figure out which one is the whipped cream.

Anyway....

The other game I recently finished is Puzzle Quest 2. FINALLY!!!!!!!! I decided to start that game up when I wasn't really in the mood to play anything at all. I had just walked into a room and there were three battles I had to go through just to get to the door on the other side. Ugh. This is what I hate the most in this game.

When I finally made it through all the battles and stepped into the next room it turns out that it was the final boss. If I had known that I was that close to the end the last time I played it months ago I would have stuck around to finish it.

The final boss was actually two separate battles. The first battle wasn't hard at all. The second battle was a little more difficult but I prevailed (I wish I could say that about the Yeti). Once the battle was over I heard a bleep and an achievement popped up. When I checked it out it was for finishing the game. Kind of anti-climatic since I haven't played for so long I couldn't remember the story at all. At least the game is done and I can cross it off my list, although I still have achievements to get in that game.

Finishing Puzzle Quest 2 was what reminded me that I had previously finished Daggerdale with friends. And that reminded me about my 12 games in 12 months goal. And that reminded me that I was getting close to finishing Mass Effect (I just stole the Normandy if you're familiar with the story). So it's very likely that in a couple of days I can say I've finished 3 games now instead of 2.

Once I finish Mass Effect I'll be looking for another "big" game to play and finish. I'm still undecided at this point because nothing out there is really grabbing my attention. I'm still taking suggestions and I would gladly take any help I can find in games too.

Although I probably won't finish 12 games in 12 months I am working on some games and that should make my friends happy . . . even if those games are older ones. Who knows, maybe I'll take one of these newer games that are coming out this year and sit down and focus on that game. Maybe I could finish it before my friends do. Wishful thinking I know, but I've got 10 more games to plow through so I can dream, can't I?

NEW POLL! What upcoming game are you most excited about?

2011-06-22T11:09:00.000-07:00

I know, it's been a long time, but I've got a new poll up. You have until July 8th to vote so make it count. Here it is:

What upcoming game are you most excited about?

Gears of War 3
Modern Warfare 3
Mass Effect 3
Elder's Scroll: Skyrim
the new Batman game

Happy voting!

Oh, and I added a search box to my blog if you want to try that out. Let me know what you think.

Everybody likes surprises right?

2011-06-22T10:39:00.001-07:00

I got the surprise of my online life last night. Evil Ric jumped online BUT DIDN'T PUT IN CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS. I was so shocked to see that, instead of jumping right into the game all his friends were playing, he put something else in. What game was that, you ask? LA Noir.

Now don't get me wrong. I have nothing against that game. Several of my friends have it and have been playing it. It's a game that's piqued my interest from time to time. It's just that when I think of Evil Ric I think of him playing Black Ops along with Tactical and Sand Dog. The three of those guys are almost synonymous with the game.

But I really shouldn't be too surprised to see Evil playing something else. After all the ribbing I get for not finishing games I, in turn, give some ribbing back to friends that only play one game. Evil's one of them. I've teased him many times that Black Ops is the only game he plays. Yes, he tried to tell me he plays Batman: Arkham Asylum but it doesn't show up on his recent played games so I don't believe him. And believe me, I look.

I guess I should be glad Evil's branching out into new frontiers of gameplay. I really wished he'd play some games I've recommended to him because I think he'll like them. He should trust me that I won't recommend something like Princess Barbie's Shoe Shopping Spectacular. That's one game he might want to play "offline" unless he's man enough to stand the ribbing he'll get from our friends.

While I'm glad Evil jumped in and played with us AND that he's playing new games I just wasn't ready for the surprise of seeing him play something else. After all there are good surprises and bad surprises. "Honey, I'm pregnant" is a good surprise if it comes from your wife (and you two have been having sex) but bad if it comes from your mistress (whether or not you two have been having sex). A good surprise is having your friends play new games. And everybody likes a good surprise now and then, don't they?

Time flies when you're having fun

2011-06-06T08:26:00.000-07:00

I hadn't realized that it's been THAT long since I last posted. Sorry guys. Since you all see me almost every night you know that I've been playing. Here are a couple of items of note since the last post (but not all inclusive....my memory isn't that good).

1) A new friend asked once why my usual group of guys weren't in a clan. We all laughed and a few disparaging comments about clans were said. The truth is, we don't have to change our names or make funny little clan tags to play with each other. I'm not going to pay 800 Microsoft points to change my name to "El Pengwenn" or whatever just so total strangers see I'm friends with a group of people. Our friendship is real and goes beyond names. Besides, if I get pissy and don't want to be friends with some of them anymore does that mean I'll have to change my name back? They could kick me out of the clan but I'd still have my name so what does that mean in the grand scheme of things? Nothing.

2) This same new friend asked if I was excited for Gears of War 3 to come because I can finally play as a girl. Um, if I had to wait to play a game until they came up with a female character there would be a lot of games I wouldn't be playing, but I am. It doesn't really matter to me if the character I'm playing is male or female. I chose a female character in Mass Effect as a little bit of defiance because all the promo for the game has Shepard as a male. I don't mind playing as a male character. I'll play whatever character suits my style of game (or pisses me off the least). And as for Anya. I played with her the required number of times to unlock something but then I switched. I found her grunting, groaning and other vocal outburst annoying. If I were a guy I'd probably feel otherwise. But I think that's what they had in mind when they designed her.

3) I have been making a conscious effort to play Mass Effect and finish the game. I've also been working on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. It would be nice to finish some games and to get my friends off my back about it. Also, I won't have to keep yelling at them for giving away spoilers for games I haven't finished yet. Although they think the statute of limitations has run out on these older games. I disagree.

4) Not currently game related, but I got a home theater system for working at my present company for 15 years. I got to pick out a prize and that's what I picked. I think I want to get a new TV before I hook everything up so that might be awhile. But once I do, I can't wait to play Bioshock and Dead Space with surround sound. That's just to creep me out. I love it.

5) I have finished a game recently. Sneaka, Genghis and I played and finished Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale the other day. It's a hack and slash arcade game on Xbox Live. It was a blast. It's also a 4 player co-op game so we're playing it again with MadMax. It's a fun game and that's what friends do.

6) Also not really game related but effecting my game play is that I've had a major rejection episode with my corneal transplant. It was not fun. I'm still dealing with the fall out of that because my vision is not as good as it was before. I guess I need to get back to the eye doctor and update my contact prescriptions. Yeah me. I've been living and dealing with all these issues for 6 years now and I'm tired of it. Pain, discomfort and poor vision just seem to be my existence for these last 6 years. But some good news is my doctor took me off some medication because he said I didn't need it anymore. Yeah! Some of the side effects were that it made my eye red and caused bruising on my eye lids (top and bottom). I always looked like I've been punched in the eye.

7) I've had some professional and personally disappointments recently. Both have effective my gameplay. Some nights I'm just not into it. I'm sure to have more in the future. Please don't take it personal.

8) I've had some good moments personally (professionally is still pending) that have been wonderful. While sometimes those moments make me want to get online and play games with my friends they can also make me want to stay off-line and just soak all the goodness and happiness in. Again, don't take it personal if I don't show up to play. I'm just enjoying life.

9) I've had some major internet issues. I finally had to buy a new modem after about 12-13 years. It was an unexpected expense (I got the best I could afford) so I was mad. But I guess I can't complain with how long my previous one lasted. There's been a few hiccups getting it set up and running properly but I think we've got that all figured out. Thanks dain.

10) Lastly, I had a wonderful, yet horrible, night last night. My sister and one of my nieces were in town this weekend for a softball tournament. I went to my parent's house yesterday for dinner and to visit with them. After a great game of Scum (I was only scum once) I went home about 10pm. When I got home all my lights were off. Turns out the power was out for a lot of the houses on my street. I had to call my parents to see if they could bring a flashlight over because it was so dark I couldn't find mine (I recently moved where I kept it and couldn't remember). The horrible part was that it had been 106 degrees yesterday and now I didn't have any AC. Once my dad left I put my swimming suit on and got in my pool (for the first time this year). It was a little cool but it felt nice. I stayed in there as long as I could and then got out. I piled up a couple of towels on the couch and laid down to go to bed while I was still dripping wet. It was all I could do to stay cool. About 12:30 the power came back on and my swimming suit was mostly dry. I got up, changed, reset my alarm clock and went to bed. About 4am the power went out again. And again at 5:15. Both times I reset my clock and tried to go back to sleep. Needless to say I didn't get much sleep last night. At least everything is on this morning. And at least it wasn't 115 degrees instead. I'm so not ready for the summer heat.

Well, those are the highlights . . . and a couple of lowlights too. I'll try to get back into the flow of regular updates. Feel free to nag me for new posts every now and then. But only if you're interested. And I hope you are. But you should remember that times flies when you're having fun. And I always having fun playing online.

Hook, Line and Sinker

2011-02-21T13:49:00.000-08:00

Once again my Xbox 360 is having problems reading game disks. I have to wonder if it's another "RRoD" faulty construction or too much dog hair getting in the machine. With this last one I've been taking precautions with the dog hair. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be working.

On lunch today I decided I really needed to smash some heads in and tried to get my 360 to play something . . . anything. Unfortunately it didn't matter what disk I put in the drive it wasn't going to play it. I haven't been on my 360 in awhile because of this problem and now when I need it, my system fails me.

I was going to just turn everything off and find something else to do for the few minutes I had left. But I was mad . . . and bound and determined to play on my 360. So I pulled up my Arcade games and started Puzzle Quest 2. (The arcade games now seem to be the only thing I can play on this machine any more.)

I've been getting really pissed off with Puzzle Quest 2 because every room I go into has 2-3 enemies that I've got to face just for me to get to the door on the other side of the room. At which point when I go through the door I'll need to battle 3-4 more enemies to get to yet another door. It's getting tedious and boring whereas I found the first one fun and exciting.

I only had time for a couple of battles (enough to get me into the next room) and then I'd have to go back to work. During the last battle when I was even more tired and grumpy with the game and my system then when I started, a miracle happened.

I got an achievement.

I got the OMGHAX for 20pts for matching 8 gems in a row on any battle mode. I've tried for this achievement several times and had given up with ever getting it legitimately. There are several other achievements that I know I'll have to boost or coerce a friend into helping me out so I'm not really expecting to get them. Besides getting an achievement for completing the game I figured I was maxed out on achievements for that game. Then I heard that magical little bleep and the pop up showed on my screen.

Damn.

Just when I was ready to throw in the towel with Microsoft and Xbox gaming in general I had to go and get an achievement that I've worked hard for but never gotten. Until now. Dangle that carrot in front of my face and there's just enough there that coming back and playing something else now excites me again.

So I did it again. Get so pissed off with Microsoft and their crappy machines and threaten to leave, then get one small reward for "good behavior" and I'm back to wanting to play the games. I fall for this pattern every time. Hook. Line. And Sinker. Will the cycle ever end? Will I find another way to play online with my friends without all the headache and hassle that Microsoft creates? And if not, do I get a new system with Kinect so I'll have something else from Microsoft that will break down?

Poll Results - Are you getting Bulletstorm?

2011-02-16T14:41:00.000-08:00

So here are the latest poll results:

Are you getting Bulletstorm?

Yes, it's going to be a great game = 1 vote
Yes, but only for the Gears 3 beta = 0 votes
Maybe, I'm thinking about it = 0 votes
No way = 4 votes

Okay, I admit I forgot to vote in my own poll. But then again I haven't really made up my mind. Which means I probably would have voted for "maybe". Here's my reasoning for you:

I would get it if I thought it would be a great game. It might be a good game but right now my budget is restricted to great games (and old favorites). I played the demo and I wasn't blown away with it being a 'great' game. For that I'll wait and see after it's come out and people have played it awhile. Maybe it will be a great game. Time will tell.

I did play the demo and while I didn't think it bad I just couldn't get the handle of some of the stuff the game expected me to do. You're expected to kill people with great flourishes and intricate moves. The problem for me is that when I see an enemy I think "shoot first, play with the body later". Bulletstorm seems to be the opposite. They want you to play with the body of your enemy before they actually die. Kick them into a hazard. Throw them up in the air. Stomp on them to stun them. And THEN kill them. I don't want to be creative with my kills. I just want to kill. The problem is you get more points if you do it creatively. The same old boring "aim, fire, kill" won't cut it in this game.

Despite all of that I was/am still thinking about getting the game. Why? Because of the Gears of War 3 beta. Now that is one game that I can't wait for. It should be really interesting how the story ends and whether gamers like the new server based online play instead of hosting. But all that good stuff is also a reason why I don't want to get the game.

I don't want to get the game and play so much of the beta that by the time the whole game comes out I'm partially burned out on the game already. What might be new and exciting for some of my friends might be old hat to me. Now where's the fun in that? It would be like going to the store and picking out your Christmas gifts yourself. They still get wrapped up and placed under the tree but you already know what they are. I would prefer to be surprised and as excited as my friends when Gears 3 comes out.

But on the other hand I really want all the bugs and things fixed so that when I do get online things will play smoothly. So someone has to play the beta and test things out. It will be really interesting to see how the online play changes with servers. Will this make it easier for Weasell to play with the rest of us? I certainly hope so. As much as you hate when the someone on the other team gets host we always enjoyed it when we got it. With a server based game play hopefully that will level the playing field for everyone.

Right now, I'm leaning to NOT get the game. Like I said I've got money set aside for other games that I know I will play. With Bulletstorm it's just a maybe. I'm sure I've got several friends that will get the game for the beta and I hope they test the hell out of it for me. As much as I want the best game possible, I want the best game possible when it was meant to be. And that seems to be this fall. I can't wait to relive unless nights of unless fun with my friends like the old days. If that happens than the wait will be worth it.

12 Games in 12 Months

2011-02-07T13:43:00.000-08:00

So my friends tease me and give me a hard time because I can't seem to finish games that I start . . . at least not in a reasonable time frame. And although I've decided not to set specific New Year Resolutions for myself (they always lead to disappointment) I couldn't get the idea of "12 games in 12 months" out of my head.

What that idea is, is for me to finish the story lines of 12 games within a 12 month period. That doesn't mean I get all the achievements for those games that have them, but that I actually get to the end credits of the story so I can now talk about it with my friends. By saying "12 games in 12 months" I'm also giving myself a whole year to work on all games. I'm not limiting myself to 1 game a month. If the end of February comes along and I'm not close to finishing a game I don't want to get down on myself.

I got this idea when I finally finished the story in Gears of War 2 in December. I was at the start of Chapter 5 when my stuff was stolen so I had to spend some time retracing my steps before I could get to things I hadn't seen yet. The good news was this allowed me to work on several achievements that I hadn't gotten before. The bad news was by the time I finished the game and wanted to talk about it my friends couldn't remember what exactly had happened when in the story any more.

I plan on finishing games over several consoles and hand-helds. I keep throwing around a list every week or so but I'll let fate and my current mood decide which games I'll work on at the moment.

One game that I know I want to finish is Puzzle Quest 2. I think I'm getting very close too. I hope so any way. I love playing this game but I get bored of the battles rather quickly. After I've won my third battle I just want to play something else. It doesn't help that 3 battles might only get me to the other side of the room and not very far in the story. I've played that game so much that I've dreamed of it at night and heard that little beep that indicates your turn everywhere. I can't wait to finish the game.

Some other games I'm considering are:

Eternal Sonata
Final Fantasy Tactics (for PSP)
Ratchet and Clank
Dark Cloud
Lost Odyssey

Obviously I'm going to need more games and those games listed might not even be ones I try to finish either. It's just a list of the games I'm interested in playing right now. I could throw in the story modes for some of those online shooters I'm always playing. I hear those stories are kind of short. I could throw in a long game like Fallout 3, Blue Dragon or Borderlands and work on it over the entire 12 months.

I guess that really is only 11 months now because I got this idea in January and decided to go for it then. Yes, I know I'm a little behind in posting about it. I just hope I'm not behind in finishing games and have 10 or so to finish once December rolls around. If you have any suggestions for those "must play" games that you think I should play, let me know. I make no promises but if I do finish them we'll have one more thing to talk about.

New Poll - Are you getting Bulletstorm?

2011-02-07T10:24:00.000-08:00

Here's my latest poll:

Are you getting Bulletstorm?

Yes, it's going to be a great game
Yes, but only for the Gears of War 3 beta
Maybe, I'm thinking about it
No way!

You have one week to vote (unless I decide to extend the deadline). I'm very interested in how you all vote. And feel free to put more extensive reasonings as to why you voted the way you did the comments. I like comments. No, I really do.

Poll Results - What do you want for Xmas?

2011-02-07T10:07:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know it's now February, but better late than never right?

What do you want most for Christmas?

the latest game = 1 vote
any game = 0 votes
a job = 3 votes
world peace = 0
a date with Pengwenn = 2 votes

(Okay, maybe the "date with Pengwenn" can work in February.)

I didn't vote in this poll. I already have a job (although if I had included an option for a better job I would have voted for that). I already budgeted for all the newest games that I was interested in (although I haven't played many of them because they're sequels). I don't know that collectively as humans we would know what to do with world peace (other than immediately go to war over who brought the world peace or how it should be handled). As for 'a date with Pengwenn' I'm alone with myself all the time and frankly I could use a change.

For those of you who voted for date with me did you think you were going to win the lottery or am I more along the lines of a consolation prize? When I think of which one of you votes for this option I wonder if I'm right. I won't "out" you here, just in case I'm wrong but you can always send me a private message and maybe we can work something out. Heaven knows I should probably get out of the house more often . . . and I don't think hockey games with my brother count.

For those of you looking for work I've got a ton of weeds that need to be pulled, mowed down or just napalmed out of existence. I'd be happy to have you come over and take care of them for me. I probably can't pay you in money, but I can pay you in game time. How about 1 hour pulling weeds = 1 hour of game time with any game I own. I figure if you don't have a job you might not have the money to own or play some of the latest games. And once you're here I'm sure I've got other tasks I might need help with. It think it's a win-win situation. I get some of those hideous tasks completed that I hate to do and you get some play time with some great games. Send me a message if you're interested.

Not again

2011-02-07T09:08:00.000-08:00

So in an effort to recapture some of that excitement of playing video games I decided to dust off my PS2 and play some old school games. I had good intentions, but things didn't turn out so good in the end.

First I had to find all the cords and equipment I would need to play on my PS2. It's amazing how the Dualshock 2 controller feels so foreign in my hands when it use to feel so comfortable. After I got everything hooked up I put in my first disk.

I decided to start with a great game that I spent more than a hundred hours playing and even more watching dain play as well. That was Final Fantasy X. It's one of the few games that I've finished yet I still go back and play it every now and then. I was hoping this would be one of those times. Unfortunately my PS2 said it couldn't read the disk.

After a few failed attempts I tried to put in another game. This time I picked up Dark Cloud. I was so close to the end the last time I had that game that I'm eager to get there again. It's one of the few games that I don't mind replaying all the earlier stuff to get back to where I was. Thankfully that game worked and I spent a couple of hours fighting my way through the dungeon levels and rebuilding Narrune.

Unfortunately I got a little cocky while battling an enemy and I thought I would defeat them before my weapon broke with still plenty of abs left to repair it, but I somehow miscalculated and my weapon broke and is now lost forever. It was a mighty powerful weapon. Let us bow our heads in silence for the lost of my shiny, strong sword.

And we're back.

After awhile I decided that I wanted to play something else. I played a little Final Fantasy IX but thought I should really be working on Final Fantasy VII since that is the game dain and I are suppose to be playing. I put disk one in for Final Fantasy VII but that game wouldn't load either. At this point on Saturday I turned everything off and went to my parent's house of dinner and to watch the hockey game.

On Sunday I wanted to try my PS2 again. Final Fantasy X still wouldn't work. Final Fantasy IX wouldn't work either. And now Dark Cloud wouldn't load up. I finally got a game to work. That was Muppet's Party Cruise but when it started to load the first screen of the game after I logged in it froze. When I tried to reset the PS2 it wouldn't read the disk again.

While on the phone talking to dain I finally found a game my PS2 would play. Balder's Gate Dark Alliance. I played that for awhile and found that I had to backtrack through a lot of areas that I had already been. Why I was back at the Inn I can't remember. At least the game worked.

The game I really wanted to play was Final Fantasy IX. Actually I really just wanted to play Tetra Master the mini game that you can play with villagers. I pulled a disk out of my case and put it in my machine. Much to my surprise the game loaded up. Unfortunately I had put in disk 3 instead of disk 1. After 4 or 5 failed attempts to get my machine to read the first disk it finally did and I spent a couple of hours fighting my way through an open field and an ice cave before I finally got a village. By then I was too tired to keep playing so I turned everything off for the night.

I had to send my Xbox 360 back three times in one year because it started to fail at reading disks. Now I'm having the same problem with my PS2. It's only a year old and hardly been played at all. And it's been stored in a nice dry dust free environment when not in use. Why is this machine having the same problem as my 360? And most importantly WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME AGAIN?

All I want is a nice quiet evening playing a game with a great story, engaging characters and fun game mechanics. I don't need life-like graphics and nonstop action to make me happy. For someone who's use to the level of realism in current generation consoles it was a shock to go back to the spiky hair, Popeye-like biceps of the characters of FFVII and even FFIX. We've come a long way since then in graphics and power and such. Why can't we have also come a long way in making consoles that actually read the disk that they're suppose to?

It wasn't like I was sticking an Xbox game in my PS2. Those games I tried were meant to played on that system. Maybe it's not the console but the disks themselves. It's possible. It they were my original games I know they would work. I take great care with my game disks. They're the closest I'll probably get to having kids so they get all of my love and attention. Unfortunately when I had to replace all of my games I had to take what I could find on some of them. Not everyone loves their games or takes care of them as much as I do. Either way I miss playing MY games on MY machines. I'm getting deja vu all over again and I don't like it. Please no more 'disk read errors'. Not now. Not again.

I am not a coward, but I know who is

2011-01-31T15:10:00.000-08:00

I got into an argument with Pogue the other night about what a coward is. He kept calling the guys on the other team cowards because they hid inside doorways and kept picking him off when he ran through. He got fed up and "pulled a Pogue". Which means me quit the match and expected this team mates to back out and pick him up again.

We've done that several times for various friends but when your team backs out to pick you up again don't sit there and say you need five minutes because you went off and decided to do something else for awhile. I'm not going to sit there and wait for you every again.

Which got me thinking. Who's the real coward here? The guys on the other team didn't run from the fight with their tail between their legs because it wasn't going like they wanted to. If the other team is camping out a room here's a tip: THROW GRENADES IN THERE. Make the team run around trying to stay alive before you run in there and expect to wipe them all out with just your killer smile. Throw gas, smoke, flash or grenades and see if they're still sitting in the same spot when you go it. Or better yet. DON'T KEEP GOING IN THE ROOM!

Yes, I hate campers too, but the only one I saw being a coward was Pogue. He was the one who quit the match. He was the one who ran from the fight. He was the one who couldn't take it like a man. I can. I usually stay around when I'm getting slaughtered. I'm use to it. I guess that makes me more of a man than Pogue.

I will admit to "pulling a Pogue" two or three times over the entire release of Black Ops. Pogue, on the other hand, will do it two or three times a night. When I do it's more what's going on with me personally than with what's going on in the game. I could have had a terrible day, my eyes could be tired and getting killed over and over again it just too much for me to take.

If I get slaughtered I shrug it off as part of the game. We've had good nights where we've creamed the opposing sides in all matches and nights where we can't get anything going. I don't expect to be king of the world every night....or every match either. I take what comes and roll with it. Unfortunately there are some players who have to be the top scorer in a match, get the most kills, have a positive kill/death ratio, or be on the winning team every time or they won't finish the match. Who cares! It's just a game.

I remember when my friends didn't take those statistics seriously. Partly because I think in some games those numbers where known. Now that kill/death ratios, win/loss rations, number of kills and the number of assists are recorded and available for anyone in the match to see they seem to think those numbers are more important than playing a good game with friends and having fun like the old days. I miss those days.

I don't mind backing out of a room when things keep going bad and trying to find a new one. But I don't want to have to do that after every match. And I don't want to have to wait around while cowards in my party decide to go redecorate their living rooms, clean their bathrooms, or just flip over to watch something on TV while they make us wait on them. After all, they were the cowardly ones that left the match in the first place. They should wait to get back in until the rest of us decide we want to back out. If I'm hosting the room they will. Be warned: I am not a coward, but I know who is.

Grinding away

2011-01-24T11:06:00.000-08:00

There is one key to success in RPG type games. I know. I play a lot of them. It's grinding. If you play RPG games you'll agree with me.

Grinding is where you run around in one area just to start battles and gain experience points, items, or leveling up your characters abilities. The stronger the character the easier the battles. At some point in the story you'll sometimes find yourself in an area where the enemies are much stronger than you so grinding becomes required to get through some areas of games.

The experienced RPG player knows this so they start grinding early. There's nothing like battling low level opponents early on in the game to get your character levels higher than where they should be right off the bat. If you go to a new area with level 10 enemies are you've already gotten your characters up to a level 15 it makes things so much easier.

Unfortunately the downside to grinding is that battles can get very tedious and monotonous. It becomes the same things over and over again. And pretty soon those few experience points you get out of every battle aren't going to do much to get your character to the next level.

The RPG that I've been playing recently is Blue Dragon. I love this game . . . or at least as far as I previously got in the game. But I didn't love it at first. I found the battles tough and costly for the first couple of areas. That was because I wasn't grinding. Once I decided to grind away a couple of level increases the battles got much easier and that was when I started to get into the story . . . and when my stuff got robbed.

I've been looking for something to play by myself since a lot of my friends have gone missing on Xbox Live (or at least sporadically missing). I've tried Mass Effect but my system seems to have problems with that game by freezing up and doing weird things. So I pulled out Blue Dragon again (only because of an alphabetical order of my games).

Because I know how the game plays and what I need to do I've been able to level up almost twice as high as where I was at before. I've learned several more Dragon skills than I knew before and the large amount of gold I've collected from those battles has let me equip my characters to the max for what is available this early in the game. I've played for about 5 and 1/2 hours and I bet 2 1/2 to 3 hours of that has been grinding. And it's starting to wear on me.

I love the game but there's just so many times you can battle cute little butterflies and jumping crickets before you say "enough is enough". I want to move on with the story. I want to know what happens next. When grinding gets too tedious and I get bored that seems to be when I put the game aside and play something else. But if I want to progress the story why do I put the game aside?

Because I'm usually grinding in a place that's as far away from where I need to go as I can possible get. In order to progress the story I've got to traverse a lot of ground which means getting into a lot of battles; which means boredom. I got so fed up with trying to get back to the story line in Lost Odyssey that I picked "flee" from the command options every time, even if I knew I could beat the enemy rather easily. It just wasn't worth the effort for me.

You can't grind in shooters, racers or platform games. RPGs seem to have an exclusive market on that particular gaming ritual. RPGs are also my first love of video games (platformers a close second, followed by hack-n-slash type games, but more on that in another post). Because I love RPGs I do send a lot of time grinding. Now Blue Dragon is a 3-disk game so I don't think it will be a game I finish this year (considering my gaming habits), but I hope to get farther a long in the game than where I was before. And for right now that means I still have a ways to go in the game to get there. Maybe things will go easier now that I've been grinding more at the beginning. Or maybe I'll pull out another game and start playing.

Sometimes you grind for fun. Sometimes the grinding grinds you down to nothing. Only time (and more grinding) will tell.

New Poll - What do you want most for Christmas?

2010-12-20T14:01:00.000-08:00

Here's my Holiday poll:

What do you want most for Christmas?

the latest game
any game
a job
world peace
a date with Pengwenn

Vote now. Be honest.

Missed it by that much

2010-12-20T13:25:00.000-08:00

So for the last couple of months I've been working my way through the story of Gears of War 2 on Hardcore . . . and in Co-op. I've had several of my friends help me out with this. It started with Kralon, then Weasell and Evil helped out.

There were a few times when I played the game that none of my friends were available to help. For those times I started my game as "public" and waited until someone joined before I did anything. If that person left I would stop until someone else joined my room. Some nights it was frustrating, especially when the same person jumped in and out of my room multiple times. Because I was being careful I thought I wouldn't have any problems getting credit for those rare public co-op sessions. I was wrong.

Weasell and I finally got to the end of the game and I was richly rewarded for the achievements for casual, normal and hardcore, but I didn't get the achievement for playing the entire game in co-op. After trying to remember which chapters I played on my own, Weasell and I loaded a couple of them up and played through them. After 4 or 5 levels the achievement still didn't pop up.

Now I still have to get the achievement for Insane so Weasell and I talked about playing it through that way and the achievement would eventually pop up. I guess that will work but I thought I had kept track of everything. I guess I was off a little bit.

And that time hasn't been the only time I've been robbed of an achievement by one little mistake. There is an achievement in Fable III for playing the entire game without being knocked out in battle. I was doing really well in the game and then I jumped in with Genghis. We were playing in his game but during a battle I got knocked down. At first I was bummed but then realized it was his game so it shouldn't matter in my game.

A couple of days later I was playing in my game and I wasn't paying too much attention to what was going on. I got trapped in an area and before I could get myself out I was taking a lot of damage. Unfortunately I didn't have any healing potions or food on me. Before I knew it I was knocked out. I realized I messed up and I thought the only way to correct it was to get myself out of there. So I went back to the sanctuary. Unfortunately as soon as I did that I regretted my decision.

When you travel back to the sanctuary the game saves your progress. In my attempt to get out of a sticky situation I only made it worse. I had briefly considered getting out of the game completely by going back to the dashboard but I wasn't sure when the last time my game was saved and I didn't want to loose anything. It wasn't until I hopped into the sanctuary and saw that spinning wheel with the chicken that I knew I was screwed. Now the only way for me to get the achievement for not being knocked out in battle is to start the game all over again.

One brief moment of inattention in two different games and I'm out of a couple of achievements.

I will play Gears again to get that Insane achievement but I wasn't planing on doing that anytime soon. As for Fable III, that's also a game I'll put aside for awhile after I've finished it. I've got a lot of other games that I want to play and friends that want to talk about games without having to put out a spoiler warning first because I'm in the room. If I'm still playing "already finished" games then I won't be making any progress on "as yet to be played" games. At this rate I won't be done playing 2007 games until 2012.

The good news is I FINISHED GEARS OF WAR 2. Now all my friends can talk about everything in the game without me having to turn my mic off. The bad news is not many of my friends are playing, or talking about, Gears of War 2. I might have missed out on a couple of achievements by that much, but I've missed out on talking about a great game with friends by so much more.

Real Gamers Do Cry

2010-12-16T08:35:00.000-08:00

******SPOILER ALERT FOR GEARS OF WAR 2******

I got Evil to play the Gears of War 2 campaign with me last night. I was still replaying the game up to where I'd previously gotten in the story so I knew everything that was going to happen. And I still cried.

Yes, I'm talking about when Dom finds Maria. The first time you see this scene you don't know what to expect. Yeah, he found her! She looks pretty good. Oh wait. Oh no. I feel so sorry for Dom. Dom don't do it. Dom! Noooooooooooo! Okay, now lets go kill some Locust.

It's a sucker punch to the gut when you see what's happening. Dom becomes a real person with real emotions and you feel sorry for him. He's no longer the minority sidekick to Marcus Fenix. You start to see the price COGs have paid in this war. And if you're any kind of gamer you shed a tear or two. Or, if you're with friends you blame that something got in your eye . . . both of them.

The second time playing through the game you know what's coming up. The scene of loss becomes palatable the closer you get to it. As you get closer and closer to that moment you start to feel it weigh heavy on you. At least I did. I knew the spot. I knew what to expect. And I still cried. I probably cried more this time than last time. Last time I was too shocked to cry much. This time the water works started to flow. Last time it was the punch in the gut surprise. This time it was the emotional connection.

Maybe I got more emotional this time because things in my life have changed since the last time. Someone broke in and robbed me and left feelings of being violated. Friends have come and gone to war. I'm watching as my friend's love lives are struggling or crumbling apart and I'm left thinking about my own barren love life. Is there anyone out there that would love me enough to come looking for me? Would he forgo saving the world if it meant he could save me? Would someone think I'm beautiful even when I'm not? And if things were really bad would he save me by killing me? If I was kidnapped by the Locust I think I would live the rest of my life filled with nothing but work, torture and hours trapped standing up in pods. The world will have moved on from Pengwenn and I would not have a knight in shiny armor (or COG armor) to rescue me.

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't sit at home every night and lament about the nonexistent status of my love life. I'm an independent person and I've enjoyed living on my own. And the thought of being a "damsel in distress" bothers me. If need be I'll rescue myself but sometimes I want someone to rescue me. Sometimes I wish I had someone in life to share things with. Someone to save me. When thieves break in. Or when Locust start kidnapping people and sinking cities. It would be nice to know that someone cares enough to look for/after me.

Yes, I know Gears is just a game. But it's a game with real life emotional context. And when gamers experience that they might get a little teary eyed. Now, if you'll excuse me, my eyes are getting a little misty just writing about this. But if anyone here at work comes by in the next little while I'll just tell them it's allergies, or I got something in my eye . . . both of them.

Bah Humbug to the Christmas Spirit!

2010-12-14T13:47:00.000-08:00

I spent over 10 and 1/2 hours trapped in the the back seat of a pickup truck, feeling sick and listening to nothing but Christmas music on our drive home after Thanksgiving. Needless to say I was done with Christmas long before I finished digesting Thanksgiving dinner. Well, almost. I was a little sick.

Sense then I've tried to get into the Christmas spirit but a single note of a holiday jingle gives me the heaves. People laughing and joyous while I'm struggling to find a parking spot even remotely close to the store I want to go to makes me want to buy a baseball bat and take some practice swings out in the parking lot. I'm already tired of trying to find a specific gift for someone and having to go to six different stores looking for it. Six months ago I could have found that gift anywhere. And don't get me started on wrapping presents. I hate it. I spent a night doing nothing but that and by the end I wanted to step outside my front door and toss those gifts in the general direction of their intended recipients. If they don't make it all the way there? So what. Broken? Who cares. I'm done.

I'm trying hard not to let that Bah Humbug attitude get in the way of anything else, but it's hard. I'm irritable and crabby by the time I come home and no, it's not because it's that time of the month. When I sit down to play video games I don't have the energy or concentration to do anything. If the slightest error/cheap kill/problem comes up I'm out of there. I even pulled a "Pogue" the other night . . . and I was hosting the party. Sorry. I've tried playing several games. Gears 2, Mass Effect, Puzzle Quest 2, Harm's Way, Fable III, the new Doritos game, you name it, I've tried it. I just can't seem to get invested in anything.

It doesn't help my frustration when all I want to do is kill people online and none of my friends are playing. I've tried playing along but it's just not the same . . . and definitely not for someone who's already pissed off. There are too many pricks online who don't care about helping you out or playing like a team. They're only in it for themselves. At least when my friends play that way we all know about it and can compensate as a team for their Rambo style of play. Besides, I miss my friends.

I know it's the holiday seasons and I'm sure there are Christmas parties, family parties and other general meet-and-greets that might be going on that they are participating in. But that doesn't mean I still can't miss them. I also miss my friends who don't have the same games as I do (or vice versa). Some try a game out and don't like, others don't even try. It's hard when the usual group of friends played every night together are now slightly going their own separate ways because of changing tastes in their gaming habits. At least when Star Wars Battlefront was still around we could always go back to a classic. I miss that game.

So I guess if you play with me for the next couple of weeks and I seems a little more pissy than usual, it's just me in the holiday spirit. Don't let that stop you from playing with me (and I'll try not letting that stop me from playing with you). Maybe if some friends played a couple of games with me along with some of our highly entertaining bantar it just might be what I need to get out of my funk and back into the holiday spirit. Or at least a gaming spirit.

For the Love of the Game(r)

2010-12-06T08:10:00.000-08:00

I took a trip to see my sister's for Thanksgiving. For five days I was off line in my gaming and I realized something. It wasn't the games I missed, but the gamers.

That might have been because I took my DSLite and PSP with me. Whenever the itch to play something came on me I pulled one of those out. I played for a little bit but eventually put the system up and turned to something else. It was nice to play games that I hadn't played in a really long time. Unfortunately they didn't hold my interest for very long. I felt like they were missing something.

I realized what they were missing early on in my vacation: my friends. I missed playing with people. I missed the camaraderie, support and direction in the game itself, but also the friendship and bizarre conversations my friends and I usually have. I miss finding out how their days were going and what plans they have for the weekend. And with the holiday weekend there were more friends available online than usual. And I missed out on most of it.

Now this is not to say that I sat around with a bunch of strangers and didn't talk to anyone. I was with family and had some good times. But I could have done without the 10 1/2 hours straight of nothing but Christmas music on the ride home. There is just so many time a person can hear "Do you hear what I hear?" without turning into a slobbing, axe-wielding psychopath. I think I was 10 minutes away from that transformation.

I did borrow dain's laptop to jump online and check out what my friends were playing, but that made me miss them even more. To have a group of friends in your life almost every night then to suddenly be without them for 5 whole days is very shocking to the system. Yes, I know, I should probably get out more often. But I like my life and see no real reason to change it (with a few exceptions). Even playing with Pogue and his lag and echo is more appealing than playing alone. Of course, after an hour or two with that whining and echoing buzzing in my ear playing alone sounds pretty good.

I remember when it was all about the game for me. I wanted to own every system so I could get whatever games I wanted and wouldn't worry about where to play them. But lately I've felt less and less like buying a PS3 and taping into that game market. Why? Because I wouldn't want to miss out on a night playing with my friends.

I tried to explain this concept to my mother a while ago. She seems to think that you can't really be friends with someone you haven't met. I totally disagree. I've spent more time with my "online" friends than I ever would if we had met in real life. And I spend more time with them than my mother spends with her friends. Plus I KNOW things about them that I'm sure my mother would never find out similar things about her friends.

Maybe it's a generational thing. Maybe it's a gamer thing. It doesn't matter to me because I've come to realize I play for the love of my gamer friends no matter the game or the system.

A lament for a missing gamer

2010-11-15T14:58:00.000-08:00

(Sung to the tune of "Oh Where, Oh Where has my little dog gone")

Oh where, oh where has our Genghis Khan gone
Oh where, oh where can he be?
With his 360 dead and his Gears game broke
Oh where, oh where can he be?

You've all been wondering. Now we know, a little bit anyway. Genghis is still alive . . . but his Xbox 360 is not. Nor is his Gears of War 2 game disk. He popped on to someone's computer last night and sent me a quick message to say he was still alive but that his 360 crashed and ate up his Gears 2 disk in the process. (And I thought the stuffed suits at Microsoft were the only hungry bastards in the company.) I don't know any more than that, so don't ask.

Once he can find a lending/buying solution to his Xbox 360 woes he'll be back. Don't know when. Don't know with what games (if any) either. If there ever was a time to pass around a collection plate, now would be the time. I'm thinking about it, but I'll let you know.

So, let us all bow our heads at the passing of yet another Xbox 360. I don't know how much the rights are to the song, but I think Microsoft needs to hire Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" song as their anthem. I think these parts are particularly poignant:

There are plenty of ways you can hurt a man
And bring him to the ground
You can beat him
You can cheat him
You can treat him bad and leave him
When he's down

and

Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I'm gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust

Investing in the life span of Fruit Flies

2010-11-04T13:49:00.000-07:00

So, let me sum up my gaming experience for the past 12 months:

a) got all my game stuff stolen (Nov)
b) replaced my 360 with an elite (Nov)
c) sent my elite back for repairs for not reading disks (Feb)
d) received a brand new replacement elite (March)
e) sent new replacement in for repairs for not reading disks (June)
f) bought a new backup Arcade while waiting for my replacement (June)
g) received a new replacement elite straight from the manufacturing plant (June)
h) gave my backup Arcade to dain so he could play (June)
i) sent my new new replacement elite in for repairs for not reading disks (Oct)
j) borrowed back my new Arcade from dain (Oct/Nov)
k) while waiting for my new, new, new replacement console to be shipped back started having problems with my Arcade not reading disks (Nov)
l) will make arrangements to send my new backup Arcade in for repairs once my new, new, new elite replacement arrives (Nov)

Notice a pattern?

Since when does Xbox 360s have a 3-4 month life span? I think this is just ridiculous. If the place I worked had such a low standard for the products we put out we would be out of business within a year. Microsoft, on the other hand, seems to be above all that. "If you want to play our games you'll just buy another system" seems to be their company motto. Over the course of my Xbox 360 playing days I've purchased 4 separate 360s (including replacing what got stolen). In that same amount of time and longer I've used the same refurbished original Xbox, GameCube and Super Nintendo. I did have to replace my fat PS2 with a slim PS2 after the break in. My Super Nintendo is still going strong today. Why can't Microsoft make a product that last half as long as that?

When I bought the backup Arcade console this past summer I swore that that would be the last time I bought a system in this generation. That was before the new "slim" versions came out and I was tempted. But I figured Microsoft has received enough of my money for the last 5-6 years that I wouldn't be feeding the hog anymore. Unfortunately I'm tempted again to look into getting a "slim". If it was a guarantee that I wouldn't have any of the problems I've been having I would do it in a heart beat, but it's Microsoft and the only guarantee from them is that they think their customers are suckers.

I use to think that it was great that certain games were exclusive to one system or another. I had all the systems so it didn't matter to me. Besides, it was nice rubbing it into the faces of my friends that I owned a game that they didn't just because they didn't have the system for it. When Final Fantasy XIII was first announced it was only going to be for the PS3. Dain and I both said we wouldn't get a PS3 until then. When the announcement was made that Final Fantasy XIII was going to be released on the 360 at the same time (instead of months or years later) I had no real reason to go out and get the system (other than the fact that I just wanted it).

Microsoft seems to think that gamers are so hooked into playing the games that they can only get on their system that if those systems fail those gamers will not wait for repairs and go out and buy another one. Red Ring of Death? Buy a replacement. E4 error? Replacement. Failure to read disks? Replacement. You want to play games like Halo, Fable and Gears right? Well there's only one console to play those on and if it breaks, oh well. Buy another one.

I remember when the RRoD was in full swing. A couple of kids from Texas started a class action suit against Microsoft because of the problem. I don't think the lawsuit is over yet but if/when it is it won't mean much to everybody. So Microsoft gets fined? So what? They've got money coming out of their asses. I was angry then because a couple of punk kids could have really messed things up for the rest of us (and I don't like someone else telling me how to feel about something). If that all happened now with the way that I feel I would say "burn them all to the ground". I'm tired of being used, mistreated and cheated. This debacle of a manufacturing and quality assurance system has got to change. If it doesn't then I might have to.

And I don't want to.

Xbox Live did one thing right. It helped me meet some great friends. If I walked away from my 360 and said "never again" I would be walking away from people I've come to know and love (or at least pleasantly tolerate). Maybe some of my friendships would still survive if one or both of us give up the 360 habit and turned to other forms or entertainment. I suspect most of them wouldn't. And that makes me sad. As great as those friendships are they might not last as long as the life span my 360 seem to have lately. But then again, it might get to the point were fruit flies live longer than 360 consoles. I just hope I'm not still buying them then.

Wham Bam! Thank you ma'am

2010-11-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I got this message on Xbox Live:

"Do you want to get married in Fable III and have a kid?"

With a romantic proposition like that how could a girl refuse? If it would have come from a stranger I would have deleted it right away. But it came from a friend. They also mentioned that 2 achievements were involved just in case I didn't know.

Even before Fable III came out, as soon as I learned that you could marry/have sex/have a child with your friends (and I guess total strangers) on Xbox Live I wondered when someone would ask me. And I also wondered how you started that conversation. I also wondered who the first person would be to proposition me.

The first person to mention anything was Pogue who promptly put a question up on Facebook about what the first person gets for sleeping with me. I didn't want to encourage him (give Pogue and inch and he will go a mile) so I let his comment slide.

I thought for sure that some of my friends would try to marry others and leave me out of it, but apparently there are no gay marriages in the land of Albion. So I wasn't surprised at who sent the message (I'll call him ALPHA to protect his [somewhat] innocence). And I wasn't surprised at someone else who wanted to "marry" me first (I'll call him BRAVO).

When I turned on my 360 last night it was, once again, having problems reading disks. This would be the fourth machine (3 elites, 1 arcade) that is having the same problem ALL WITHIN A YEAR. (I'll say more on that in a later post.) I called dain over to see if we can figure out why all my systems are failing with the same problem. This led to a lot of log in/log out moments for me. BRAVO sent me a message asking if I wanted to play Fable III. No proposal. No proposition. Just a simple message for a game invite. I explained to him that I was having problems and that I'd let him know when I was able to play.

About 45 minutes later I finally was able to get online and play. I jumped in a party with ALPHA and gave him a hard time about his message. What? No wining or dining? At least he could play a song on the Lute for me first. The funny part was Evil jumped into our party in the middle of our conversation and heard ALPHA say "we'll have sex and have a child, what do you say to that?" Evil's response was a befuddled "um, okay there". I left ALPHA to explain to him what was going on and I jumped into a party with BRAVO to tell him I was ready to play. A little while later ALPHA jumped in with us and all hell broke loss.

ALPHA thought he was going to wed and bed me first, but I had promised BRAVO over an hour ago that I'd play with him (although no mention of marriage was involved). ALPHA made a comment about "sloppy seconds" that almost jeopardized his chance of getting lucky at all that night. (Who you calling sloppy?) But in the end we worked it out. I invited BRAVO in, we got married, had sex, and had a child. Then he stepped out of my game and I invited ALPHA in. That's when the groping began.

Yes, Fable has expressions where you can hug, kiss and dance with someone, among other things. I guess it was ALPHA's form of foreplay, and sometimes "thanks" afterwards. But come on. A girl's got a game to play. ALPHA and I eventually got married, had sex, had a child, then some more groping before I finally took him around the town so he could buy legendary weapons from my game. We joined in a partnership and he bought a few property then finally left my game (after another round of horizontal hokey-pokey).

BRAVO came back into my game and we spent the rest of the night playing some side missions, shopping for property/weapons and shooting gnomes. The villager that I created online finally showed up in the game so I introduced the two. We rolled around in the sack a couple more times before we finally went to bed . . . in the real world.

As an added treat for both guys before each wedding I went back to my sanctuary and took off all my clothes . . . at least the ones the game lets me. I think they really enjoyed that (BRAVO had seen me 'naked' before). I guess I'll have to do the same thing for any other friend that wants to marry me and have a kid in the game for a couple of achievements. It would have been funny if gay marriage was allowed. Then ALPHA and BRAVO would have invited me to their wedding as a guest and not a participant. Which would have been interesting if you could get an orgy going with your friends. (I don't think my friends would let me play anything else if that was the case.)

After a stressful, frustrating beginning to the night trying to get my 360 working properly it was a great relief and one hell of a good time to play with, marry, have sex with, have a child with a couple of friends in Fable III. I needed that, in more ways than one. I just hope I don't become a two-bit floozy with them thinking they can meet me any time for a booty call in the game. I'll be happy to oblige, but I don't want to be yelled at for not finishing another game because my friends won't let me out of the bedroom.

Poll Results - Tell me what to play

2010-10-29T14:40:00.000-07:00

When I did my blog post for this poll I said if I don't get more than 6 votes I had the right to throw the results out the window and do my own thing . . . unfortunately for me I voted at the last minute and that put the total to 7 votes. So, yes master, I will get to playing the winner, master. Don't beat me master.

And the winner is.....

Which game should I play so I can play the sequel?

Assassin's Creed = 1 vote
Dead Space = 1 vote
Fallout 3 = 1 vote
Mass Effect = 3 votes
Force Unleashed = 1 vote
Marvel Ultimate Alliance = 0 votes
Dragon Age: Origins = 0 votes

Okay, my vote was for Dead Space. That is a sleeper hit that I don't think gets enough attention. When I was checking the poll and found no one voted for it I was sad, so I voted for it. And that is why I have to do your bidding for awhile. What I've played of this game I really like. It scares the hell out of me, but that's a good thing. I can't tell you how many times I've come across a dead body on the floor and spent some time pummeling it into mince meat even long after there was any possibility of the corpse rising up and attacking me. Better to be safe than sorry in that game.

I'm not surprised Marvel and Dragon Age didn't get any votes based on the competition. I'm a little surprised that some of you didn't consider Marvel. I don't know much but I think the story in the second one is a continuation of the first. So if you haven't played the first you won't really understand what's going on in the second. All the more reason to play the first one if you ask me. But I understand the popularity of the other games and I know my friends are tired of not talking about them in front of me.

I do know about the story in Force Unleashed and that it's best to play the first one before playing the sequel. But I guess that game didn't get more votes because the sequel wasn't out until recently so no one knew if it was worth playing. Of course that didn't stop me from buying the sequel. I'll just have to wait to play it until I've played the first one.

I also thought Assassin's Creed would get more votes partly because everyone says the second one is better than the first one. But on the other hand, as far as I know, you don't really need to play through the first one to fully understand what is going on in the second one. Sure, it might help, but it's not necessary.

I expected it to be a dead heat between Fallout 3 and Mass Effect. I know how much time my friends invested in those games so I know they really liked them. I also know that those two games are the ones that they're dying to talk about but I won't let them. I don't mind hearing little things like "you'll have to go to this place and do that" type of stuff. What I don't like is someone blurting out that "your dog dies" in Fable 2. That's a major spoiler to the story. And a central point in your progression of your character. Don't give that information away to someone who hasn't played the game.

There's been too many times when I've been asked to turn down my headset or unplug my mic so my friends can talk about a game. Just last night, while in a room with some friends all playing Fable 3, one of them said I could be in the room if I wanted to but I would probably hear things I wouldn't want to because they were not going to be quiet about it. I stayed and whenever things started to go in the direction of what might be spoilers I just tuned them out and concentrated more on my game than to what they were saying. I was surprised at how well that turned out. I heard some things but since I was concentrating on my game at the moment what they said didn't really sink in. I'm sure when I get to those points in the story things might come back to me but until then I'm safe.

I'm really not surprised Mass Effect got most of the votes. Since you can import your character from the first game into the second one it makes sense that the first one should be played, well, first. You don't have to do that. I know some people, that once they finished the first game they deleted their game save to make room for other games. I also know people that went back and played the first game (for the fourth or fifth time) just so they could have a game save to carry over to the sequel. And the same thing will apply when Mass Effect 3 comes out.

So, since the majority voted for Mass Effect that will be the game that I'll be playing when I'm not getting some multiplayer action with my friends. I have to say I'm not sorry it's that game even though I am daunted by the scope of the game. I know how long it took some of them to play it. And I'll want to play it good. Then I'll want to play it bad. Then I'll want to play it to save this person. Then that person. Make out with this person. Then that person. You get the idea. Now you know why some people have played it multiple times. And that's not counting any difficulty changes.

Now that you've told me what to play, I'm wondering when I get to tell YOU what to play. I've got a new whip that I can't wait to start cracking. Any volunteers?

Rock on! I'm starting a band.

2010-10-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder that there is only 4 days left to vote in my latest poll so you can tell me what to play. And remember if I don't get 6 votes or more then I'm throwing the whole thing out the window and I won't listen to what you have to say. We're getting close (5 votes last time I checked) so tell your friends or vote from multiple computers. This is your time to boss me around and I know some of you have been waiting for this day for a long time. Here ends the public service announcement.

Flick your lighter on, make devil horns with your fingers and raise your hands in the air and rock on dudes! No, I haven't raided anyone's weed stash. I've just been feeling very rock and roll lately.

Last week was a very hard week at work. I was fed up dealing with morons, idiots, incompetents and lazy-ass folk at the office. On my way home I stopped off at GameStop to put a pre-order on Call of Duty: Black Ops and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. I also picked up Warriors of Rock bundle.

I checked the price online prior to leaving the office and found it was in my budget for the month but when I got to the store the price was different. The price online was for just a guitar bundle. The box I picked up was for the whole band bundle. I asked if the equipment was compatible with the Rock Band 2 stuff (which I already had) and they said yes, but they weren't very confident or convincing about it. I could have switched to the guitar bundle but I previously purchased a game that "would be compatible" with RB2 stuff, but wasn't. I wasn't going to go through all that again so I got the whole thing.

Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to play that game yet. I've been battling a stuffy head with some aching and coughing for the last couple of days and I didn't feel up to playing guitar, drums or singing. By Sunday night I was feeling a little bit better, but instead of getting everything out of the box and wasting time to set it all up I decided to pull out RB2 and play around on that game first.

It took a while before my fingers didn't hurt while playing. It's been a very long time since I played that game. I played a few tour dates, played and unlocked a lot of challenges and had a great time. Unfortunately I still can't figure out why some of the songs that I downloaded from the marketplace are not appearing on my song list. Someday I will look into that.

One of my friends offered to play some sets with me that night but I was still just trying to limber up my fingers (I'm still only playing on the easy level). I would love to play in a full band with friends online. As long as there wasn't any lag issues that would be total awesome. I would also like to get the drums out of the box and give those a try someday too.

Maybe it's just the young teenager inside of me who always associates rock and roll with rebellion and "fighting back against the man" whomever that might be. But letting off some steam through rock and roll on RB2 was very therapeutic. I just wish I had had the stamina to do it sooner so I could have enjoyed the rest of the weekend playing something else.

By the end of last night's performance I had changed my character to a more rocked out, hard playing, guitar grinding, rock goddess. She frightens me. Where once my character was what I would want to look like if I was rocking in a band, now she's a rocker chick that you could find playing for Franz Ferdinand, No Doubt or some other band. She doesn't look like me. She doesn't act like me. She isn't really me. But man, what I wouldn't do to really be her for one night on stage. Maybe I'll post an advertisement for band members in my bio on Xbox Live. Anyone interested?

New Poll - Tell me what to play

2010-10-20T12:33:00.000-07:00

Normally I don't like it when someone tells me what to do. When that happens I usually do the opposite or nothing at all. You're not the boss of me, okay! Well, now I am making you the boss and I WANT you to tell me what to do. (Or course if I don't get more than 6 total votes then I reserve the right to do whatever I want anyway so tell your friends to vote.)

So tell me which game I should be playing so that I can play the sequel. The added benefit of playing whichever game is chosen means you can actually talk about the game in front of me and I won't yell at your for spoiling things for me.

Which game should I play so I can play the sequel?

Assassin's Creed
Dead Space
Fallout 3
Mass Effect
Star Wars The Force Unleashed
Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Dragon Age: Origins

Don't punish me, I didn't do it!

2010-10-14T09:32:00.001-07:00

You know, I'm bound to do dumb, wrong or stupid things in my life. And when I do, I take ownership of those dumb, wrong or stupid things. After all, those dumb, wrong or stupid things might be the only things I do right. But it doesn't matter whether I do dumb, wrong or stupid things, just don't blame me or punish me for something someone else did that was dumb, wrong or stupid.

I've experienced something like that recently with someone on my friends list on Xbox Live (and Facebook). At least he was on my friends list until recently. Now he's not and I'm being punished for something I didn't do.

The short version is his wife's jealous and doesn't want her husband to have any contact with single females on Xbox Live or Facebook. The long version is one of his female friends said some things to him that his wife found out about and now he's banned from single members of the fairer sex.

Do I think that's fair? No. Do I think he did anything to encourage or warrant this behavior from the harlot in question? No. He's a good guy and I would never think he'd do or encourage anything like that. But his wife does. So when I pulled up my friends list and found this guy wasn't there I thought I might have done something to piss him off. When I went to Facebook to ask how I could make amends, he wasn't on that list either. I eventually got to play with him through a mutual friend and we talked and I found out why he had to drop me.

So even though this guy is a great guy and I have no interest in him whatsoever, other than to play games with a great guy who doesn't go all ape-shit on me because I'm a girl playing video games, I'm now banned from playing with him because of what some strumpet said to him. And yes, I know who that was. And yes, I told him I have no interest in him except as noted above.

I know we have stereotypes of guys who play video games. They're loners who still live in their parents basements and haven't ever touched a girl let alone gone out with one. And probably haven't graduated high school (or if in college they never attend classes). But I guess there's stereotypes for those females gamers out there. We're all harlots, whore and strumpets. Apparently we're all out to steal women's husbands who play video games.

Yes, there are douche bags and losers out there. And harlots and whores. But we're not all like that. I've had some pretty bad relationships with men in the past and I was beginning to think that all men were scumbags. But after meeting the guys on my friends list (and weeding out the bad ones) I started to have faith in the male species again. Does that mean I want to ravage their bodies and do things to them that would make the devil blush? No (with a few possible exceptions [wink wink]). And it doesn't mean I'll get all crazy psycho on them either . . . unless they want that.

But that's the thing. I have different boundaries with different guys. Some I know I can tease and flirt with and know nothing will ever happen. While with others I keep our friendship more along the lines of a fellow gamer, platonic type of relationship. I might have crossed the line a couple of times in something I've said, but I always count on my guy friends to say "whoa there Pengwenn" and put me in my place. And I don't mind it if they do. Once that line is drawn in the sand, I won't cross it. Just let me know where it is and I'm happy to dance around naked from the other side. [Just kidding.]

We're all adults here (at least on my friends list) so I don't think this would be a problem. If you don't want me to get all freaky on ya, then tell me. If you do . . . I'm sure we can work something out. [wink wink] But please, don't punish me for something I didn't do. And wives, if you can't trust your husband, trust me. Punish me for the things that I actually do. And if the punishment is losing the chance to play with a good friend I'll make sure you never have to punish me at all. That's my line in the sand. Trust me.

I'm sooooo old

2010-10-07T15:59:00.000-07:00

I was reading on wired.com's gaming blog that the Super Mario Bros. games is 25 years old. Huh? How did that happen?

That's a whole generation of college graduates that have never lived in a world without Mario, Bowser or Princess Peach. I remember playing that game when it came out. I loved that game. That game, plus Tetris on the Nintendo Entertainment system that my brother-in-law had, was my first real induction into at home gaming. My world has never been the same since.

I asked for a NES for Christmas one year and I had to say I cried when I opened my present. I didn't get it and what I got wasn't what I wanted. Instead I got a Super Nintendo System. I was upset. I thought I would never get to play Super Mario Bros., or Tetris again. I guess I was wrong.

As much fun as it was to think back to my memories of playing that game when it came out it sure did make me feel old. I feel like I should be shaking my cane at some young hooligans. Or maybe I should just yell at them. How old were you when Super Mario Bros. came out? Or what is your first gaming memory? And if you can't remember anything prior to the PS2 or GameCube than "GET OFF MY LAWN YOU YOUNG WHIPPERSNAPPERS."

Killing time

2010-10-07T15:26:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I'm just killing time on my Xbox 360. No, that's not a new game that I've got. But wouldn't it be funny if it was. I can just picture little clock characters running around the screen screaming as I blow them up with my shotgun. There would be some of those old fashion pocket watches, wrist watches and mantle clocks. Boss battles would consist of a hard fought battle with a Grandfather clock. And when you get to the end of the game and beat the last clock it resets time and your back at the beginning again. Wouldn't that be great? But I digress.

When I say I'm killing time on my Xbox 360 it usually means I'm playing an Arcade game. I play them when I know my friends are about to get online and I don't want to get too involved in a big game like Mass Effect or Fallout 3. I want something simple and easy that I can jump out of in the middle of a game and not feel bad about finishing it. Quick little Arcade games are perfect for that. And chopping wood or forging swords in Fable II is just the same as an Arcade game.

I also kill time and use Arcade games to wind down after some intense online multiplayer action. Whether we end up having a great night or a terrible one, some times I'm too pumped up to quietly lay down and go to sleep right away. A couple games of Hardwood Hearts lowers my blood pressure and ten to fifteen minutes later I can now start getting ready for bed.

Sometimes when I'm killing time with Arcade games is because I don't have the brain power or attention span to focus on anything for more than a few minutes at a time. When you play an online multiplayer shooter in that frame of mind you're going to get killed . . . a lot. Sometimes these "brain farts" last awhile and sometimes only a few minutes. Either way, I prefer to play one of the Fable Pub games or Gin Rummy, or Backgammon instead of having my head blown off every few seconds. Maybe that's just me.

So if you ever see me online and I'm playing an Arcade game I'm usually just waiting for friends to come online, winding down after an intense gaming session or I just don't have the brain power to play anything too intense. Just because I'm playing one of those games doesn't mean I wouldn't be happy to accept a game invite from a friend to play something else (even an Arcade game). On the rare occasion when an Arcade game catches my fancy and I want to play it as much as I want to play a disk game, I'll let you know. Maybe I'll change my status to "Busy" or I'll go into hiding.

So if you see me online and I'm playing Hearts or Spades or whatnot hit me up with a game invite if you want me to join. Who knows, maybe someday we can kill time together. Watch out for those "3 o'clock" monsters though. They're down right mean.

My friends are a good influence on me

2010-09-22T11:11:00.000-07:00

With all the holiday games coming out this season I don't think I know of any friends that can afford them all. And nobody likes buying a game because of the hype only to find it's a dud once they start playing it. That's why some of my friends have been talking about one of them buying a game, playing it, and then letting everyone else know 1) whether it's worth the full price as new, 2) wait until it's cheaper, 3) rent it, or 4) stay as far away from it as you can get. This process only works as long as you trust your friends and have the same taste in game. Or, if not, know what your tastes are and how those differ from your friends. And that got me thinking about the games I've picked up from the influence of my friends.

There are a lot of games that I picked up because of my brother dain bramage. But those games, and the "why"'s of how I got them I'll save for a later post. This will be about my friends online so all of these games will be "newer" compared to what dain influenced me with.

The first game my friends influenced me to get was Gears of War. I can't tell you how many times I was playing Star Wars Battlefront on my original Xbox when Cleelost and eventually El Sand Dog would send me invites to play that game. It was one I considered getting but it would require me to buy an Xbox 360 and I wanted to wait as long as I could before I did that. I eventually caved and bought the game and system and the rest, they say, is history.

I watched dain play Chromehounds many times with CyberWrat and Zenra Nukenin and while I enjoyed watching I never thought I would play it because it was so far out of my comfort zone. One day, for some reason, dain had me sit in for him while he did something else. I didn't know what I was doing but Cyber, Zenra and everyone else in the squad didn't mind. They were nice, courteous, and very understanding of a noobie that not only didn't know how to play the game but wasn't all that interested in playing it either. That soon changed.

I found a cheap copy of the game and joined the squad myself. I had a steep learning curve but they never minded when I couldn't help or contribute to the team. They constantly offered advice and parts and helped me build a hound that would fit my style of game play. Because of that I learned to like the game (I wouldn't go so far as to say I love it) and I made some great friends and strengthened the bonds with existing ones.

When it comes to racing games I prefer cart racing to realistic racing. If I want to see/do that I could just go out on the freeway. Cyber recommended Burnout Revenge as a realistic type game with some cart racing type elements to it. I saw him play the game many times and when I found a cheap copy I bought it. Instead of just trying to race, the game offers the chance and reward of hitting people or doing spectacular jumps and crashes. Not very realistic, but also not very cart racing style either. I liked the game and I still enjoy playing it today. Unfortunately I lost all my saves and rankings when my stuff got stolen so now I'm starting from scratch again.

I can't tell you how many days I saw Quality JimBeam and Genghis Khan and c5ride playing Fallout 3. I heard about the game but since I haven't done well in open world games in the past I wasn't itching to play this game. After countless hours of listening to them harp about the game's virtues I decided to get it myself. While I didn't get far in the game outside the vault (another stolen casualty) I really did like the time I spent playing it so much so that I pre-ordered Fallout: New Vegas. It takes a lot of me to play a game very little but like it enough to pre-order the sequel. I'm looking forward to F:NV now if I could just find the time to finish the first one.

I also remember when Marvel Ultimate Alliance came out. All my friends were excited about getting to play their favorite comic book heroes. I have comic books, but they're all Star Wars ones. I've never been into the other comic book heroes. Although I do remember watching a cartoon on TV with the Wonder Kids ("wonder twin powers activate") but I don't remember what show that was. I had several friends get that game and play it a lot. I wasn't really going to get it but Hell Weasell and G Sneaka wouldn't take no for an answer. They kept telling me about the game, comparing it to other games I might have played, and I think they might even have guaranteed I would like it. So I bought it.

By the time I got around to buying it most of my friends have moved on from that game. But Weasell and Sneaka have played with me while I work my way through the game. And they were right. I do like the game.

One game I knew nothing about before it came out, and very little about once it did, was Sacred 2: Fallen Angel. I saw Genghis play this for hours on end. He said he's probably played it for 100 hours yet still hasn't advanced the main story line. He was doing nothing but side quests. When I asked him about it he said it's like an open world Balder's Gate style game. Different, but close enough for my understanding. He said you'd put in hours and hours in the game and it would well worth the price. And I'm for getting my money worth on a game. He also warned me that I would need to spend large chunks of time playing it instead of short 10-15 sessions I usually get in games.

This was one of the hardest games for me to find, but when I did, it was a reasonable price so I got it. It took some times getting familiar with the menu system and map settings but I was just starting to like the game when it was stolen. One day I'm going to make sure I don't have anything to do and I'm just going to sit down and play this game. I'm sure I won't get far in the story with all those side quest, but I know I'll love every minute of it.

The hardest game for me to find, once I decided to get it, was also the game that took the most convincing and the longest time before I got it. That was Civilization Revolution.

I remember playing the demo when the game first came out but I just couldn't get a handle on the game. I deleted the demo and never thought about the game again. That was until QJB started playing it constantly not too long ago. When I asked him about the game what he told me about it didn't match up with the demo I had played many months (or years?) earlier so I didn't put the two ideas together. Based on his comments I decided to download the demo and found out I had already done so, but still didn't connect the dots. Once the game started however, I realized this was the one that I felt was trying to show me the game in gibberish. My first playthrough of my second download of this demo didn't go so well. I talked to QJB about it and he gave me pointers and tips about the game. I tried the demo again and things started to make sense. I think I played through the demo several times each time wanting to play a little bit more than what the demo offered because I was getting interested in the game. So I decided to buy it.

Unfortunately this was the hardest game to find. I did find it once but when I opened the case there was no booklet inside. I've implemented a policy that I won't buy a used game unless the booklet is included. I just like having a layout of the button/controls just in case I forget. I know I can find that information in the game but it's easier to read sometimes from the booklet. I think it took me two months to find a copy of this game (booklet included) after going into every GameStop between work and home several times a week (there are 6 stores nearby my house or on the way home from work).

Even after I got the game and started to play the full version I realized there was still a lot of stuff I didn't understand about the game. Thankfully QJB provided great "after purchase customer service" and walked me through a lot of the game. This turned out to be a game that sucked several hours out of my game time without me even noticing. I was warned about that, but I didn't believe it. Now I know better.

In addition to disk games there have been a few Arcade games that I've picked up from the recommendations of friends.

Death Spank is one of them. Sneaka said the humor in it was twisted and wrong . . . and that I would love it. How could you pass up something like that. Although I've had some problems in the game, he was right about the humor. And all my other friends who played it said it matches Sneaka's sense of humor . . . and they were right too.

I also picked up Monday Night Combat because of Sneaka. I'm not very good at it and I only know how to play the assault character type but it's the camaraderie of playing with friends that I like the most of that game. And the times when I get sneaky and kill someone. I am getting better at that.

I picked up Battlefield 1943 based on a suggestion from Evil Ric. I had been getting burned out on Call of Duty games but he said this game was different. It was and it wasn't. I never played it as much as my other friends so now I've left alone to get that "play 100 games" achievements which is actually harder now because the game has gotten so laggy.

I picked up Gin Rummy to play with Zenra and because I'm a huge gin rummy fan. It's nice to sit and play a game and have a civil and polite conversation with someone. I wished more of my friends had a copy of that game so we could all play it like we all played Uno back in the day.

I also picked up SpyGlass Board Games based on some conversations with Kralon. I like playing chess, checkers and othello (reversi in that game) but I wasn't sure if the price was worth it. It has been, except for the fact that I can't seem to beat the AI in checkers so I can get that last achievement.

I might not like my friends talking about games I have and spoiling the plot for me but I do listen to them when they talk about the games I don't have. Sometimes I pick them up and sometimes I don't. I think Red Dead Redemption is a game I never will get because of what my friends said about it and the fact my friends now know what types of games I like and don't like. They said I wouldn't like the open world aspect of it.

I consider all of this advise and influence good on me and my gaming. I've picked up games I probably wouldn't have paid attention to otherwise. Unfortunately my friend's advice is a bad influence on my bank account. Maybe I should start sending them the bill when I pick up a game they recommend. I wonder if they would stop recommending games if I did that. I wonder what hidden gems I would miss out because of that.

I accomplished a lot this weekend

2010-09-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

With having a full time job during the week sometimes big tasks get pushed to the weekend when I can spend more time on them. You know, like pulling weeds, chopping grass, beating a boss to get the tuna inside him, driving a vehicle up a snow covered mountain to Peak 15. You know, the usual.

This weekend I accomplished a lot. No, I didn't pull weeds or chop grass, but I did get that pesky tuna and made it to the top of Peak 15. Better still was that by finally being able to do those two things I got myself unstuck in a couple of games.

My tuna problem was in Death Spank. It's a new arcade game that several of my friends recommended and I'm glad they did. One of the missions is for a lazy fisherman who wants you to beat a mini-boss and cut the tuna out of his stomach. I couldn't ever seem to beat the boss. If I took a lot of damage and had to run away to heal when I would get back the boss would be back to full strength. That's when I went online and figured out what to do.

Apparently there are turnips of something that the boss will eat to restore his health if he's left alone for too long. Destroy the turnips . . . destroy the boss. I made one attempt many weeks ago to do just that but failed. I tired to destroy the turnips too close to the boss and we engaged in combat before I could finish. He beat me. I died. Game over. Moving on. This time I made sure to only go after the turnips while the boss was somewhere else. It worked and in no time at all I beat him, had the tuna in my inventory and was heading back to the lazy fisherman. My reward? He instantly healed me. Unfortunately I had used up some items to heal myself before I got back there. All for nothing. Except that now I'm no longer stuck in that game.

The other game I got unstuck in this weekend (I have many more I need to work on) was Mass Effect. I've seen a couple of my friends playing the first and second one and I thought I'd give it another try. I was at the point in the story when you first get a chance to drive a vehicle. You have to make it up to the top of Peak 15 to find out what's going on and to look for someone. No matter how many times I tried I kept dying at the first tunnel. That's when I put the game away and got some advice from friends.

One person advised to stay in the car the whole time. Another advised to get out and fight when I saw people. He figured a three member party would have better control and firepower to go after individual attackers instead of using just the vehicle. On my first play through yesterday I stayed in the car . . . and discovered I could repair some of the damage the car took. Yeah! On that attempt I made it through the tunnel but then promptly died on the other side.

On my next attempt I drove up to the people, got out of the car and tried to attach, using the car as coverage. Unfortunately the enemy kept shooting at the car, so even though I wasn't in it, it was still taking damage. After clearing out all the enemies in the front of the tunnel I drove in. I died before I could make it to the other end.

The next time I left the vehicle around a corner and walked up to the enemy. I cleared out the whole tunnel and then hoofed it back to the car. There were only a few shields I had to take out to get through the tunnel but it was so much easier. Once I got to the end of the tunnel I got out and repeated the process. After a couple more times there were only turrets to deal with and those I could take out with the rockets (which I had just learned I had). After I got all the way up to the top I couldn't believe how easy it was to do so. It made me wonder why I hadn't thought about that tactic. I guess that's why I'll never make a good general.

Now, some would say that my weekend wasn't very productive at all. Especially my mother. I still have weeds and grass in my backyard that need to be taken care of. But for me I think it was a very productive weekend after all. Because I'm unstuck in Mass Effect I can now play through to the end, start the sequel AND talk to my friends about the game without avoiding spoilers. With Death Spank I can now go back to enjoying a game that was driving me nuts. I loved the humor but when you can't get past what seems a simple task even that humor turns sour in your ears.

Maybe I should spend every weekend working on the games that I'm stuck in. I have enough that I could probably go a whole year without duplication. And if the weeds and grass get high enough I can always call a landscaper. That way the yard looks nice and I don't have to miss any game time. Sounds like a plan to me. Does anyone know a cheap, but good, landscaper?

Poll Results - Are you getting Halo: Reach

2010-09-15T11:45:00.000-07:00

Halo: Reach is the big game to get right now. I also think it's the harbinger of the holiday season of new game releases. I know, I've already got several games on pre-order. But Halo: Reach is out now and I wanted to know if you were going to get it. At least for the three people who voted in this poll besides me.

Are you getting Halo: Reach?

Yes, on release date = 1 votes
Yes, eventually = 2 votes
Maybe, if all my friends get it first = 0 votes
NO! = 1 vote

Okay, lets get into the voting. And I promise no "Reach around" jokes. I already used up my allotment of one.

I voted "Yes, eventually". Because I put three games on pre-order a while ago that will be released in October I thought I'd wait to get this game for several reasons. 1) I haven't even finished the first Halo game, 2) outside of a few die hard fanboys I don't have too many people on my friends list that would like to play this game 3) I haven't even put in my pre-orders on the games that come out in November or December yet and I'm not made of money.

I will get this game eventually because I have all the other Halo games (with the exception of Halo Wars). If I didn't get this game it would be like buying a chess set one piece at a time but then not buying the pawns. Sure, you might throw them away willy-nilly in a chess game thinking they're worthless, but you're not going to win without them. If Halo: Reach helps to tell the full story of that game world I'm all for it. But until I play (or finish) more of those other Halo games the game is pretty much worthless to me. I think I'll wait until either 1) the price comes down, 2) there are no other games out there I want to have more, or 3) I win the lottery and have oodles of money to spend on things that don't really matter in the grand scheme of life. Like Halo games.

I don't have a problem with the gameplay, environments, or story in a Halo game. It's when I go online and play with teabagging idiots that annoys me. For some of my friends it's the "Halo jump" that annoys them. Either way, the game is great....the people you play it with not necessarily so.

So what games do I have on pre-order that are pushing Halo: Reach to the back of my budget? Dance Dance Revolution, Fallout New Vegas, and Fable III. Games that are further out that I want to pick up are: Call of Duty: Black Ops, Gears of War 3, Dead Space 2, The Force Unleashed 2 and a whole lot more. I might be treating myself a lot this Christmas season so any gifts I give might be a little skimpy. But I'm not complaining. :) What games are on your radar this holiday season?

The Decline of RPGs

2010-09-08T14:35:00.000-07:00

The first video games I played were Tetris and Mario Bros. A puzzle and platform game respectively. But my love of video games in general came with RPGs. Those Role Playing Games that allow you to customize your character's strengths and weaknesses and battle enemy foes using physical attacks and magic. There was strategy involved but you were not scripted to playing the game a set way.

If any series cemented what RPGs were all about it was Final Fantasy. Although there were RPGs before the first Final Fantasy game was released no other series has done it better than developer's Square's (whether they were Square Soft, Square Enix or just Square) long loved series. But I'm beginning to wonder about the health of RPGs in today's gaming environment and whether or not Square has given into the pressure of making the games more action oriented and faster paced.

In order to see the decline of the RPGs, let's start at the beginning. Most of the very first RPGs had a similar system of battle. You had three or four characters standing in a line facing any number of foes (also standing in a line) and you each took turns in the battle. A menu would pop up of available moves and the player entered whatever commands they wanted to see their characters preform. Playable characters also had designated jobs or job skills and no matter how much you wanted that magic user to use a sword they were never going to be very good at it. Your warrior would always be your muscle man. Your healer would always be a girl. Your black mage would always be the shy dorky one.

One problem with early RPGs was that you wouldn't always know when your characters would take their turn. There was nothing more frustrating than having a character with low hit points get killed off before one of your other characters could heal them and all because of their turn order. That curative spell now gets redirected to a character that doesn't really need it and it's a waste of magic points.

Then along came "attack gauges" or "turn order line ups". These allowed you to see when in the order of battle which characters would act first. If you notice that all the enemy are going to strike before you even get a turn then there's no point in trying to save a teammate if they're going to get struck down before you get a chance to heal them. You turn(s) would be better served striking at the enemy with the characters you do have or shoring them up for the next turn. It was a balancing act of attack and defend. There was strategy involved and the player had to think ahead in order to survive some tough boss battles.

So now players had "turn order" displays to better help them battle enemies, but characters where still standing in a straight line at the start of battle. In the 'guise of making RPGs better, developers now instituted what I call a "roaming" nature to the battle. Instead of drawing a line in the sand of where each team would stand and fight from,characters now roamed about the battle field. But enemies roamed around as well. At the start of a battle a character might be in front of the enemy but later on they could isolated and surrounded by the enemy. While this did make the battle systems more "active" and faster paced because you not only had to keep track of commands issued and the order they would be performed you had to keep an eye out for enemy movement so no one character gets in trouble. The problem with all this movement was that a lot of information was being displayed on the screen and a battle could get very distracting to a player if they paid attention to every blip and dot that showed on the TV.

Some time after "roaming" was introduced to RPGs developers decided that it was just too much for games to handle so they started to create games where the computer controlled the movements and commands of some of your party members. No longer would players have to concentrate on keeping three or four characters alive and active on the field. Now they only had to concentrate on one. Those characters that were previously designated as "healers" "warriors" or "magi" were now locked into those roles and that was the only thing they could do. The gamer had one character they could customize and grow however they wanted to. Everyone else's destiny was written in the programming code.

You would think that RPGs could go no further in eliminating the human player from the game, but they have. Final Fantasy XIII is a perfect example of that. When a battle starts there is an "auto battle" option available. What this command option does, is have the computer pick the best attack options and programs them in for you. One click of a button and your character will execute three preprogrammed commands. And your other characters are left to whatever commands the games programmed them for. But there's a twist. If you team is in need of healing, you either have to use potions yourself or you have to switch your whole team to a different "paradigm" in order for one of the AI controlled characters to heal you.

What a "paradigm shift" is, is a pre-programmed set of class skills for your party. Unfortunately, you might be in a position to want to throw a lot more fire power at an enemy at the same time you might need someone to heal the group. Having a paradigm shift that gives you both is impossible. Instead of three strong attackers you now might have one attacker, one support person and one healer.

For me, all of these changes have created a disconnect with RPGs and the characters that inhabit them. I don't care as much about Lightning or Hope as I did about Cloud or Vivi. Vanille is more annoying than Rikku ever was. And I don't care if Snow gets to save Sara as much as I cared if Tidus got to save Yuna. The games are still RPGs. You can still customize your characters (albeit down a very limited, straight forward path).

RPGs were like Chess games for gamers. There was thought and planning involved. They took hours to play and had a story line that merited the time invested in the game. Now a days is seems it's all about throwing the player right in and GIVE THEM ACTION ACTION ACTION!!!!

Maybe you don't think RPGs have changed. Maybe you're right. Maybe it's me that has changed. I'm older. I've got more things and responsibilities going on in my life so my expectations for RPGs might naturally have changed. But there's one problem with that. I've finished Final Fantasy X but I still love to go back and play it. It stills brings the same emotions and excitement out in me as when I played it the first time. Now some scenes in the beginning are more poignant than they were the first time around because I know what's going to happen. With newer RPGs I'm just not feeling that. It's like developers are saying "we've got to hook 'em first with action and make the game easier to play to they'll stick with it". To be honest that's not usually why gamers get involved with RPGs.

I will probably always love RPGs. They haven't messed them up enough where I'm turned off the genre as a whole. I have learned to be more cautious with my expectations and purchases for games in that genre. That didn't use to be the case. I would buy any and every RPG I could find. The first game I finished to the end credits was Legend of Dragoon. That is an RPG worthy of (and set up for) a sequel. I have since gone back and restarted that game as well because I miss it.

There is a saying that "if it's not broke, don't fix it". I wish developers would have listened to that as they have evolved the RPG style of game. While, attack gauges and turn orders are nice they still keep the integrity of the RPG experience intact. When the game starts to control more characters than the human playing it, I think they've gone to far. Hopefully this is only a trend and this "decline of RPGs" is only a pothole on the road to some great RPG games to come out in the future. Long live Vivi!

New Poll: Are you getting Halo: Reach?

2010-09-08T14:27:00.000-07:00

There's a little game coming out next week that you might not have heard about. It's called Halo: Reach. What? You have heard about it? Well then, vote in this poll. Please!

Are you getting Halo: Reach?

Yes, I'm getting it at release
Yes, eventually
Maybe, if all my friends get it first
No!

Old....but still true

2010-09-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

I've just been flipping back through older enteries seeing if my style has changed and if I'm actually getting better as a writer when I came across this one:

How hard is it to finish a game?

I was sitting around with nothing better to do (obviously I was at work) when I had an epiphany. I own a lot of video games, but I haven't finished very many of them. Okay, I had only finished 3 (Legend of Dragoon, Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance). And I wondered why I hadn't finished more. I sat and stared out into space, pondering this dilemma when I had another epiphany. I'm a video game addict.

I play video games a lot. And I own a lot of video games. But there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to play them all . . . especially when new ones keep being released. I'd buy a game, play it for several hours, then have to put it aside so I could play the next great game I just bought. When I finally make it back to that first game I'm so lost I don't have a clue what to do next so I just start the game over. I've probably played the first 5-10 hours of ALL my games at least twice. And some of them more than halfway through.

It's great to have a lot of games. I enjoy them all. But I want to enjoy the fact that I've finished them. Not finishing some games meant I couldn't talk to some of my friends because THEY'VE finished the game and they don't want to spoil anything for me. It's annoying when you're not in on the secrets. So I devised a plan:

Pick one game for each console and don't play anything else until you've finished those games.

Since I own several systems (SNES, N64, GameCube, PS, PS2, Xbox, GBA SP, PSP and a PC of course) I figured I could pick several different types of games to play to suit my every changing mood (I am a girl after all). But how was I to "stay on target"? I could enlist my gaming brother. After all, he's the "dealer" that got me hooked on video games.

When I told him of my plan, he liked it, since he's having the same problem as me (with a lot more games to agonize over). He wanted in. We put our heads together and made a list of games that we both own (for the same console). We'd be each other's support system and help network when we got stuck in a game and can't find that damn hidden treasure. ARGH! Since it was my idea, I let him pick the games. He picked: Final Fantasy VII (PS), Summoner (PS2), Star Wars: Jedi Knight II Jedi Outcast (Xbox) and Super Mario Sunshine (GameCube).

I had dabbled in all of them (had 10+ hours in FF7) but I was ready to start over and play them to the end. We started out with a bang, all gung-ho and everything, but that didn't last long for either of us. I found out I have another video game addiction. Xbox Live. There's something about beating another player and knowing their human and not AI (though for some it's hard to tell the difference). I laugh gleefully (some call it a cackle) but I enjoy myself. Especially when they find out they've been beaten by a girl. Then my gaming brother opened the flood gates and got me hooked on something else. Xbox 360.

We both exercise a lot of restraint not buying new console when they first come out. Let other players work out all the bugs and kinks in the new systems, we'll wait for a later release. But my brother couldn't wait anymore. He bought a 360 before Christmas. We met up each week and I had to sit there and drool while he played Gears of War and played around on the dashboard. I couldn't take it anymore. I caved. I bought a 360 in an after Christmas sale. And now I'm hooked. Achievements? I'm all for them. Gamerscore? I'll show you mine if you show me yours. Now it's not just another new game that I want to play, but a whole new system.

It's been 6 months since we started our little pact. Neither one of us have finished a game he picked out. We're getting closer, but at this rate it'll take us 3 years to finish them all. And think of all the games we're NOT playing (or trying not to play) during that time. On second thought, I don't think I want to.

I laughed at out loud at the last paragraph. It's been more than three years since then and I don't think neither dain or I are any closer to finishing those games than we were back in March of 2007 when I posted this. I have an excuse . . . my game saves were robbed. I don't know what dain's excuse is other than the fact that there are so many more games out there that he owns but hasn't played. Oh wait, that's my excuse too.

Poll Results - How badly did I mess up?

2010-09-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

I was so anxious to get this poll over with I actually shortened it one day just so we could all more on. Besides, nobody was voting any way. I'll have to come up with something good for the next poll. Anyway, here are the results:

In my "Done with Online Gaming" post did I...?

kick an ant hill = 1 vote
whacked a hornet's nest = 0 votes
stuck my foot in my mouth = 0 votes
stepped in shit = 0 votes
all of the above = 2 votes

I don't think it's any surprise that I voted for "all of the above" (I just hope I stuck my foot in my mouth BEFORE I stepped in shit). And while I've already explained to some friends my thoughts behind that post in question I think I should it explain it to everyone so we're all on the same page.

When some people get frustrated they vent right away. There's nothing wrong with that. For me I blow off a little steam but then keep most of it inside and try to analyze it and process it until it finally comes out in a blog post here. Sometimes I just don't care and that frustration melts away. Other times I've already got so much frustrations from work that playing games online only makes things so much worse. That's when I say I've had enough. And that's where I was mentally when I wrote that piece.

There was so much more in that post that I took out because I realized that I was whining about whiners and I thought that made me feel foolish and made things a bit ironic.

One of the examples I left out was when I was playing on my own (without my friends) and we were playing Security. I was in the front and ran to the frag grenades and picked them up. I guess my teammate behind me wanted the frags themselves so he spent that whole run firing at me and trying to push me aside to pick them up himself. He didn't get them. He then spent the rest of that round following me around and shooting at me. When I got in a battle with someone on the other team he just stood there and didn't help out even when I moved the enemy around so he could shoot him in the back. He waited until after I was dead before he engaged.

The next time frags came up I went there again. The same thing happened. This time the enemy came right over and downed me right away while I still had the grenades in my hand. I had tossed one grenade that killed the enemy but he had downed me before he died. My team mate stood and watched, never bothering to help me up. When I died he grabbed my grenades and ran off . . . only to be immediately killed by someone else.

Then there was a match on Ruins (once again I was by myself) where my own team mate pushed me out of the way when I was going for the frags under the bridge. He immediately ran to our torque corner and pushed two other players out of the way to grab torque. He then stepped in front of our cubby and had his head blown off. So he grabbed both power weapons, but didn't get a chance to use them. Guess what he did next? He quit. Unfortunately he was host and we were all booted from the game.

I give my friends a hard time sometimes when I tease them that nobody gets a chance to get the power weapons except them. But sometimes I struggle with that. I WANT a chance to use the weapons and get good with them, but I also WANT our team to win. If having the power weapons in an experienced player's hands vs. a complete and utter bumbling noob I would rather have the pro use it than me. Maybe if our team was slaughtering the enemy I might ask to use a power weapon on a round or two. If we are getting slaughtered I still think we can have a chance to win even down 4 to nothing.

I want to use the power weapons because I don't want my experience in Gears to be what it was like in Star Wars Battlefront. When I first started playing I could never get into a vehicle because everybody else would take them. It took years before I could get my hands on a land based transport (tank, speeder, etc) and then I couldn't do very much with it before I was killed. I just didn't have the practice with those options to be effective. And don't get me started on flying vehicles. I still can't use them.

I don't want to finish my game play in Gears and say I never really learned how to use the torque bow or sniper rifle. It's a part of the game and I would really like to have a go at it. Besides, I think it will help my kill/death ratio.

I don't really care so much about my kill/death ratio. I care more about getting a win . . . or a loss. But I've noticed a trend in Gears. Those that use the long distance power weapons (sniper and torque) have a higher kill/death ratio than those that don't. It's hard for me sometimes to listen to my friends and teammates berate the opposing team for having a low kill/death ratio. It's common to hear "you have a .5 kill/death ratio dude, you suck". Dude, that's what I have. I must suck.

It's not like I don't try. Some might even say I try too much ("Pengwenn what were you thinking?"). It's just that in order for me to get a kill without a power weapon I need to get closer to the enemy. Unfortunately that means I'll probably die more often than I kill them. It would be nice sometime to sit back in friendly territory and yet still have the firepower to knock out the enemy one by one. But when I do get the opportunity to use the power weapons I'm more likely to shoot myself in the foot due to my inexperience.

I wish I could tell you all the frustrations that lead up to why I wrote that post. But if I did you would complain that I'm being a whiner too. And I've probably bored you enough already. I just really want to enjoy playing games with my friends. I love winning. Hate losing. Everything else is whipped cream to me. And if I get a chance to use a power weapon and it helps my team that would be the cherry on the top. Let's just hope the host doesn't quit before the match is over.

New Poll: Tell me how I did

2010-08-25T15:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, a post to express my frustration on what seems to be the norm in online gaming (glitchers, cheaters, quitters and whiners, oh my!) I seem to have ruffled some feathers of friends. It wasn't my intention. I was just venting. It's the only way I know how. My big "you" paragraph was meant as the general population "you" instead of the specific friend "you" that it might have come across as. So now I have a new poll. Here it is.

In my "Done with Online Gaming" post I....?

kicked an ant hill
whacked a hornet's nest
stuck my foot in my mouth
stepped in shit
all of the above

"Remember, this is for posterity so be honest." -Prince Bride

Done with online gaming

2010-08-23T14:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, I think I'm done with online gaming. Yep, you read that right. I'm done with all the host quiting because they're going to lose. I'm done with teammates, and opposing teams, whining about who got host. I'm done with glitches and cheaters as well. Do you want to know what put me over the edge?

Yahtzee.

Yep, that favorite game that requires you to roll 5 dice and try to make sets or runs depending on what you need on your score card. I'm sure you've all played it in real life at some point. Now it's one of the games you can play in Family Game Night.

I was eating dinner last night and wanted to play something mindless and easy while I got my daily nutritional intact out of the way. What a better time than to play a game of Yahtzee. Now normally I would play single player by myself, but I was feeling adventurous and jumped into an online game. We had three players and the game sets up the turn orders randomly at the start of the game. Our lovely host was player number one. I was player number three.

For most of the game the host was leading the scoring. A couple rounds towards the end I was able to eek a little ahead of the host in overall scoring. On the last roll of the dice the host only had the Yahtzee score blank, but failed to get one so they had to take a zero. As the scores stood then (even without me having my final turn) I won the match. While the second player was taking their turn I got the "host left the match" message and I was back to my lobby. Come on. Really?

You're going to quit a game of Yahtzee because you didn't win? Is winning that important to you that you can't play fair if you don't win? I was fuming by the time I put in my Gears of War 2 disk to play with friends. I asked if we could do an "open mic night" so I could vent my frustrations out on the other team (instead of my teammates). Unfortunately they weren't in the mood until one team decided to be dicks about the last kill. We opened up the mics then but after the match was over we went back into a party.

But even though killing the enemies in Gears helped my mood, listening to teammates whine about the game didn't. I'm tired of hearing about someone's connection being host. At one point someone on my team started to bitch about someone on the other team being host and getting the advantage. I had to tell them I was host, but that didn't seem to matter. The response I got was "then he must be in your f*cking living room". Come on. Really?

Just because everything doesn't go your way in a match doesn't mean it's because someone else on the other team has a host advantage over you. Some times there are people just better than you. Or maybe more focused on the game they you were at that time. Or maybe they have a better game plan with their whole team. Whenever we start to go our own way we lose more rounds than we win. You should know that. And you should also know that the whole team isn't there to support just you. Other people can pick up the grenades. Other people can get the power weapon. And just because they do doesn't mean they're going to cost us the game because they did. I'm tired of all the whining.

I'm tired of all the glitching and cheating too. I've played some matches recently where the other team found a way to hide inside a wall so we couldn't see them but they could see us and shoot us while still being protected themselves. I've also played matches where there was some definite lag switching going on. One moment my gun is using bullets and I'm shooting someone, the next minute they are behind me and my gun isn't using any ammo. Come on. Really? Is that the only way you know how to win?

I'm just tired of it all. There's no fun and joy playing with whiners, glitches, cheaters and quitters. A loss is just a loss. It's a game. Getting one more loss isn't going to prevent you from getting a loan on a new car. Or getting that big promotion you want. A win, also, isn't going to get you money to buy groceries. It isn't going to pay your mortgage or buy you clothes for the new school year. It's just a number. Winning and losing.

The point of playing games is to have fun. Enjoy the story. Marvel at the realistic graphics if you like. But don't be a dick about an obsessive need to win all the time. If there were more games that got people to play together off of a server instead of a host console I'd be more inclined to play those. Or if there has to be a host console could they at least design a host migration tool into the game so if the host does leave the match can go on. Granted that might mean the next host has a lousy connection for everyone else but at least the match still goes on.

Will I play games online tonight? I don't know. Right not; not likely. That's not going to stop some of my friends from begging, pleading and bargaining with me to join them I'm sure. Will I give in to their demands? I hope not. A night or two of single player gaming might be just what I need to make me want to come back and play games online. Otherwise, I just might be done with online gaming for good.

Poll Results - What's more embarrassing?

2010-08-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

So here are the poll results. Only two people voted, besides me. How embarrassing is that?

What's more embarrassing?

getting out of a public swimming pool without your swimsuit on = 1 vote
or
getting beat by a full team of bots in Gears of War = 2 votes

I voted for the pool. Come on people. There's nothing more embarrassing or humiliating than putting your goods on display, unknowingly, for everyone to see. I guess you guys think you're hot stuff and aren't afraid to show the world the way God made you. If that's the case then I would like some visual proof of your confident manliness. Just tell me who voted and I'll send you my email address.

Getting beaten by bots is not embarrassing. They've got the advantage in more ways than one. They don't have to deal with lag issues. They automatically know where you are without having to looking for you. And their aiming has pin-point accuracy even while running and firing blind. If you can beat a bot that's something to celebrate. But getting beat by them isn't something to be ashamed about.

What made it hard, the night in question, was that we had already beaten a team of bots on a different map. For some reason when we played that night we could never seem to get a full team of players on the other side. Sometimes when they were short handed they would stick around. Other times (twice to be exact) the whole team would drop out before the match started.

The first time we beat them easily. The second time we were playing on War Machine. It's a map we haven't played in a very long time. Besides the sniper rifle we couldn't remember what weapons spanned where or when during the match. Instead of working as a well oiled machine we were all over the place. We had no direction and we definitely didn't stick together. It didn't help when the bots started picking us off one by one that all we could do was laugh. If we had put our whole effort into the match (and knew where to go for the good weapons) I'm sure we could have won against them for a second time.

When it was all over two comments were made. 1) "lets never talk about this night again" and 2) "who's going to blog about it first". I guess I win. Although I'm sure there might be some counterpoints raised by my fellow bloggers that were playing that night.

So losing to bots in Gears of War 2 is like losing at the poker table when the cards are stacked against you. The game is stacked against you. It's cheating. And nothing to be ashamed, embarrassed or humiliated about. You try. You get killed. That's life. Now, walking around like a nudist at a public swimming pool without intending to IS something to be embarrassed about . . . unless your body is "cheating" too. And then I'll have to launch and investigation. Prepare to be thoroughly examined.

Rock music isn't for everyone

2010-08-20T15:24:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it feels like a game is out to get you. Like playing through the Dark Carnival campaign in Left 4 Dead 2 four times before I finally got the achievement after the rock concert. Or Genghis's multiple attempts to fire up a clown only to have the clown be the one to run through the flames and not burn. These moments make you want to put down a game and never play it again.

Then there are other moments, like last night, that make all the frustration worth it. Moments like Sneaka's obsessive cuddling of Gnome Chompski. I think he would have thrown his own children under the bus if it would have saved Gnome. And don't get me started on the bad 'gnome' puns he started to come up with.

But there was one moment that trumped everything else. A moment that left me laughing for a good 10 minutes after the game. So much so that I had to leave my mic on mute and I was afraid I would never breathe again. What happened, you ask? Well, I'll tell ya.

We were on our second or third time through on the rock concert chapter of Dark Carnival. Sneaka was bonding with his gnome and the rest of us were just trying to get out of there alive.

Apparently we weren't the only ones.

When the helicopter finally came down to the bleachers guess who was the first person on board? Not Rochelle. Not Coach. Not Ellis. And definitely not Nick. We all gave ourselves a shot of adrenaline and made a beeline for the safety of the helicopter's skids when as soon as we get there a Tank jumps up into the stands . . . AND JUMPS UP ON THE HELICOPTER SKIDS! Our mode of escape is now blocked by the very worse possible zombie you could find.

While this image was funny in and of itself there were three other things that started my giggle fit. One was the that I was first to the copter and I got to watch the copter tilt and sway as the Tank tried to climb in. For some reason the Tank tried to climb in twice. Each time the copter dipped and swayed with the weight of the Tank. All I could think of was "I'm not getting on that thing" and not because of the Tank would have pummeled me to bits before the copter got out of there. But because I wasn't sure what the weight limit would be on that thing. If you're escaping a horde of zombies the last thing you want to do is get on a copter that may not make it off the ground.

The other thing that made me giggle like a school girl who just got all the Jonas Brothers to autograph her TrapperKeeper was the squeals of disbelief from my friends when they saw their exit blocked by the Tank. The first moment of their "oh sh#t what do we do now" screams were priceless. The next few moments of game play consisted of us running around trying to lure the Tank away from the helicopter without having the enormous horde of the undead overwhelm us mere feet from our rescue.

The last thing that happened that put the whole incident over the edge for me was when Sneaka took his beloved Gnome, still cradled lovingly in his arms, and tried to jump into the helicopter. Apparently the Tank wanted the helicopter all to himself . . . or maybe just Sneaka . . . because he knocked the gnome out of Sneaka's hands and finally the Tank got out of the helicopter. Because of the hordes of zombies now all around us nobody could find where good old Chompski went. I finally found him at the base of the stands and had to fight my way to save him. Sneaka's wails of separation from his beloved were filled with untold anguish and pain. And the whole time I was laughing my ass off.

We eventually all got on the helicopter, including Gnome Chompski, and made it out of there alive. For almost the whole credit roll and for several minutes afterwards in the lobby all I could do was sit there and laugh. It was the funniest moment of my gaming life. I wish there had been some kind of way to record it and save it for posterity. It would have been a hit on YouTube.

After I stopped laughing I took a second look at the upcoming Zombie Armageddon. If you're not infected and can't get out of there alive, but the zombies want to escape, let them have the damn helicopter. They can fly off to whatever human free zone they call paradise and be undead happily ever after. No more car alarms to rile them up anymore. Maybe then us humans can enjoy a full rock concert in peace. Minus the Spitters, Smokers, Jockeys and Tanks.

The gratitude of friendship

2010-08-18T10:51:00.000-07:00

While life might not always be Fillet Mignon and bon-bons, sometimes it shows you who your true friends are. I experienced that last week.

To my friend who called . . . repeatedly . . . to check on me when I didn't show up online: You are kind. While it really is okay to take a day off from gaming now and then it's nice to know that I am missed when I am away. I hope what triggered my absence never happens again, but if it does I will warn you next time so you don't worry.

To my friends who jumped into my game uninvited, when I did come back online: Thank you. A simple act of kindness that said "I want to play with you" made a big difference between current feelings of frustration and despair and a new found sense of peace and contentment. It was nice to feel wanted and uplifting to know there will always be people there for me. Even if just online.

To my friend who led an incompetent noob through a rough patch in a game while they received little to no reward for doing all the work: You have my undying gratitude and unwavering friendship. I play games until I get stuck or frustrated. Sometimes that does not take much in a game. And sometimes that means I don't get very far. I've lamented the fact that everyone else seems to finish those games whereas I languish in troublesome areas. You were my knight in shining armor even though I hate to be the weak damsel in distress. Your selfless sacrifice was duly noted and I hope to return the favor sometime.

New Poll - What's more embarassing?

2010-08-11T11:29:00.001-07:00

So my new poll is simple, really. And here it is. You have one week to vote. Tell your friends to vote too. Thanks.

What's more embarassing?

getting out of a public swimming pool without your swimsuit on
or
getting beat by a full team of bots in Gears of War

The poll is now open.

Survival Guide for Zombie Armageddon

2010-08-09T15:58:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking and I know how humanity is going to end. Zombies. Something will infect the population and most of us are going to turn into flesh eating, feral, undead creatures. Kind of like what some of you already are before your morning coffee. But this time the ugliness would be permanent. The Zombie Armageddon is coming, are you ready? If not, I've compiled some helpful hints to help you make it through the hordes of the undead as they come to devour your brains. (For some of you that would only be a light snack.)

Tip #1:
YOU DO NOT NEED TO KNOW HOW TO FIRE A GUN. Once the apocalypse is here you'll be an excellent marksman even if you've never picked up a gun before. And if you don't want to use a gun that chainsaw your neighbor has been hiding for years (even though he doesn't have any trees) is the preferred method of fighting zombies. If your neighbor is still alive now might be the time to make friends. If he's a zombie use his own tool to kill him.

Tip #2:
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SURVIVE ON YOUR OWN! Nothing ever good can come out of fighting off zombies all by your self. The preferred method of survival actually consists of a team of four people. Preferably not family. Sorry. If you want to survive with your family they you can only do so with two others. Preferably one you really like and one you can live without because one of them isn't going to make it. Let's up it's the one you can live without.

If you want to ensure your greatest chance of survival then your party of four must consist of the following types of people:

a) The Authority Figure. This could be an ex-soldier, a football coach or maybe a seasoned teacher. They are responsible for keeping the group organized and their preferred method of communication is the pep talk. They also must have a nick-name, like 'Sarge', 'Coach', or 'Teach'. If a suitable nick-name can not be agreed upon then they should be addressed with respect like 'Mr. Smith', etc.

b) The Narcissistic A-hole. While you might very well like to avoid this character at all costs he's vital to the survival of the group. While he will bitch and complain the whole time about the waves of zombie attackers you'll have to fight through to make your escape, he'll fight right along beside you. And while most of his suggestions will be pointless and waste time during those rare planning moments he will make one suggestion that will save your life. Of course that one suggestion will be so far fetched that it couldn't possibly work, but it will save your ass at a critical point. Be on the look out for that suggestion. It always comes right when the guy starts to get tolerable and he realizes he CAN live without hair gel and designer suits if he makes it out of [insert city name] alive. Of course now that his suggestion actually worked to save everyone he's going to be more intolerable than before.

c) The Young Punk. This is the young kid who shows no interest in the world around even if that world starts throwing undead killers at him. He'll be closed off and probably carry around a hand-held gaming system for those "down times". He'll have the quickest reflexes, greatest accuracy and you'll thank your lucky stars the kid learned it all from video games. He'll also be a virgin, but if your team survives intact the next person can take care of that.

d) The Hot Chick. This is the girl that wouldn't mop the floor because she'd probably break a nail but suddenly she's tough as nails and not afraid to get dirty. She's also got to be able to handle three guys all at once. That's not easy if they think she's the last female on the planet. Mr. Narcissistic Man will flirt with her unceasingly to the point of nausea. The Young Punk will have a secret crush on her. And the Authority Figure will look at her like he's own daughter. In the darkest hour when all hope is lost she might grant one "death wish" from the Young Punk and de-virginize him, but if she ever sleeps with the self-obsessed pretty boy it will be the biggest mistake of her life.

Tip #3:
GUN SHOPS WILL ALWAYS BE FULLY STOCKED when you're on the move. It doesn't matter where you go there will be a gun shop and it will be the one place that hasn't been looted yet. Why? Maybe because everybody around has been turned into zombies. If that's the case grab everything you can carry and run like hell to get out of there. That will be the one place the zombies will be waiting for you.

Tip #4:
TAKE DOWN THE BIGGER ZOMBIES FIRST. Don't be fooled by those scrawny ones that run up to you really fast and barely have the strength to attack you. You can survive those guys for a minute or two while you concentrate your fire on those hugely deformed ones that lumber at you slowly. You'll know they're around because you can feel the ground shake or there will be a strange music/squeal like sound just before they make their appearance. Those guys can do damage so take them out as quickly as possible.

Tip #5:
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A SAFE HOUSE! It doesn't matter how far you run from a populated city or if you eliminated all opposition in a building. If you close that door and stay there to rest, they will find you. But that doesn't mean you have to constantly move all the time. You're only human (so far anyway) so you'll need to get some sleep and heal yourself. Do it in teams. Two people heal and rest while the other two stand guard. When you get to the next 'safe house' let the other pair rest while you stand guard. It's not a glamorous job but somebody's got to do it if you want to get out of there alive.

Tip #6:
THE GOVERNEMENT IS YOUR ONLY CHOICE FOR SURVIVAL. If you do manage to get out of there alive it will, no doubt, mean you're left to live on a government controlled plot of land somewhere. Government rules. Government food. And government healthcare. Yes, life sucks . . . but at least you're alive.

Tip #7:
GET YOURSELF A GUN. If you are unable to abide by these tips then the best thing to do once the zombies start taking over is to put a gun to your head and blow your brains out. You do not want to be one of the walking dead. It wrecks havoc on your complexion.

There you have it. You have now all been warned about the end of days and instructed on how to survive the zombie apocalypse that is surely coming. I've been practicing for it now on my Xbox 360 to keep my skills honed just nicely enough to survive. Does anyone want to be in my group of four? If, in the event that you become a zombie I'll do a later post about tips for you. But seriously, do you think zombies are on the internet?

Poll Results - Play as a female character?

2010-08-09T09:42:00.000-07:00

So, I was playing online when one of my friends got a little riled up when he didn't get to play as the female character and that got me thinking. Which created this poll. Which created these scientifically sound polling numbers.

Do you play as a female character?

Yes, I am a girl in real life = 1 vote
Yes, I love the eye candy = 2 votes
No, girls are sissies = 0 votes
No, I need to show how manly I am = 3 votes

For starters let me say that I am incredibly relieved to see that no one voted for the "sissy" option. You can all remain on my friend's list.

I guess it's pretty obvious which option I picked. I am a girl in real life after all. But I don't go out of my way to pick a girl to play just because I am one. If I can only choose once (meaning the sex of your character has no bearing on the game play) than I pick whichever character is prettier. Yes, I know, how shallow of me. But if I'm going to be looking at that character for 20-50 hours of gameplay (or more) I want something aesthetically pleasuring to my sense of style and taste. Sometimes that would be a cute little female character in Fable II or sometimes it might be a male soldier in Borderlands. But then again if the characters have specific attributes (and I'm not talking about those that made Laura Croft famous) that are more suited to my gameplay, than I would pick that character.

So Borderlands is a combination of a nice, strong looking gentleman with the strengths and characteristics of how I like to play a game (at least the first time through). It also didn't hurt that his name was Roland which is the name of my favorite character from The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. But that's besides the point. Once/If I ever finish Borderlands with my soldier Roland I'll go back and play it through with a different class. Maybe that time I'll pick Lilith.

But what started all of this was a night playing Zombie Apocalypse and Beamer wanted to play as the chick. I'm pretty sure I picked the chick, but I'm use to that in multiplayer games. Whenever dain and I would play together (Balder's Gate, Champions of Norrath to name a couple) he would always pick a male character and I would always pick a female character so we could tell the difference. I think that's mostly because we almost always picked the same class of character. When we played Hunter: The Reckoning I would pick the girl because after he picked his character the girl was the best choice of who was left.

Now, if it didn't matter whether you picked a male or female character and the game was in a first person point of view so you couldn't see your character on the scene, would those that voted for the eye candy still do so? Are they trying to let their inner divas out? And what if the story/achievements were different depending on the sex of your character? Would you play as male first then female second, or vice versa? And if you're so happy to play as a female character why aren't you happy to have a female avatar? Come on, I dare ya to do it.

And for those that need to show how manly they are, there is an easier way to prove that. Just send me a picture to . . . um . . . prove your manliness and I will happy to vouch for you. I'll be thorough and critical, but I'm sure you'll all . . . measure up just nicely. ;-)

New Poll - Do you play as a female character?

2010-07-28T11:20:00.001-07:00

So I'm curious as to how female COGS are going to play out in the next Gears game and that led me to my next poll.

Do you play as a female character in a game?

Yes, I am a girl in real life
Yes, I love the eye candy
No, girls are sissies
No, I need to show how manly I am

Cast your vote. You have one week.

Poll Results - What are you looking forward to?

2010-07-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

This holiday season (and the first quarter of next year) are looking to be a gold mine for great games coming out. I'll probably get all the big games but I got to wondering which one you guys were most looking forward to. Hence my latest poll. Here are the results.

What upcoming game are you most looking forward to?

Halo: Reach = 1 vote
Fable III = 1 vote
Dead Space 2 = 0 votes
Call of Duty: Black Ops = 1 vote
Gears of War 3 = 1 vote

So let's look at each game individually. Why? Because it's my blog and I said so. Anyway.

Halo: Reach
I'm not like a lot of other gamers out there in that I don't have anything against the Halo games. They're great games, filled with action and excitement. What I do have a problem with is all the shitty players that play the game. I'm not certain but I'm sure "tea-bagging" didn't exist until online Halo games. If you can get into a good room it's not bad. Unfortunately I think stupidity and bathroom humor are staples to playing Halo online these days.

Will I get this game at release? Probably not. But I'll probably wait until it drops in price because there are other games I want more.

Fable III
I loved the first Fable game although I've never gotten far in the game. I loved stealing from people's homes (I most always select a thief-type character when playing RPGs) and I loved the side quest missions. Unfortunately I had other games to play so I've never finished the first one.

I love the second Fable game even more. I think I've actually progressed even less in the main story than the first one because of all the side quests, blacksmithing and wood chopping I could do. Not to mention the pub games. In my first game my save got glitched. It happened just after I bought the Snowglobe DLC. My character wouldn't move properly and when I finally got them to Bowerstone they wouldn't move at all. I tried deleting the DLC but then my game wouldn't load because it had been a part of the last save. I finally gave up and restarted the game. And then I got robbed. So what's a girl to do? Restart the game (again) of course. Some times I get so tired about restarting games that I'm less motivated to even play them. That's were I'm at now.

Will I get this game at release? Yes. I might even put in a pre-order for it. I'm a RPG fan at heart so I love these types of games. I hope this time no one spoils the story for me by saying my dog dies again.

Dead Space 2
This is a game that I'm late to the bandwagon for. I haven't played much because every time I do my blood pressure rises because it creeps me out so much. Every time I see a body on the ground I have to beat that thing into an unrecognizable pulp before moving on. I've seen what those "dead" bodies can do and it scares the crap out of me.

My problem with the first Dead Space is that I play it in short bursts that I have a hard time remember where I need to go or what I need to do. Then I get to a puzzle, a door that needs to be propped open so I can go through it, etc., and I can't remember how to do what I need to do. So I save the game and go play something else. Eventually I'd like to play this game for an extended period of time, preferably with all the lights out, the volume turned up and a raging windstorm outside. At least until the game scares to death anyway.

Will I buy this game at release? Maybe. I might wait until I've played more of the first one and to hear from my friends who picked it up what it's like. I heard they are changing things to make it more accessible to more gamers and that's not always a good thing.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
While I like playing the Call of Duty games I'm really indifferent to the gameplay. I play them because my friends like them and I like my friends and want to play them. I'm not saying they're bad games or there's nothing to like about them. I really enjoy playing Vacant with a shotgun. And the co-op missions in MW2 are fun to play with Evil and/or kai. I'm sure once I get a better TV I might like those games more. There have been times when I've watched the kill cam and there was no way I would have been able to see my character, let alone kill them. I'm sure that person is playing on an HDTV so their picture is much clearer. If that's something that could help me out in the game I'll go for it.

My biggest problem is that you have to be slow and careful when playing the game. My first experience with shooter games was Star Wars Battlefront. The whole point of that game was to run out there and kill the enemy. There were hardly any corners to hide behind. No boxes/crates to provide cover. You were exposed all the time so your only true defense was to keep moving. With these more realistic games there's any number of places for enemies to hide, corners to shoot around and balconies/rooftops to snipe from. You have to be careful if you want to do well. For me that's taking a lot of adjustment.

Will I buy this game at release? Depends. I'm sure all my friends will buy the game and if I want to play with them I'll have to buy it too. I might try to hold out for awhile but I don't see that lasting long.

Gears of War 3
The first Gears game is one of the few games I've actually played through to the end credits. And I enjoyed every painful minute of it. I can still picture Evil and I battling RAM on the train at the end. Or Zenra and I trying to get through a particularly hard room with a Locust on a troika firing at us. Those were good times.

I was making good progress in Gears 2 on my own when I was robbed. I was in the first area of chapter 5. The place where you have to ride those flying creatures out of the lair and shot anyone that follows. So close to the end and yet so far. Now I've had to start the game all over again (I really hate doing that). I bumped up the difficulty and I've run into problems doing it all on my own. I've even been desperate enough to set up an open Xbox Live room so total strangers can jump in and help me out. They don't usually stay long.

I love the story of the game and the gameplay itself. I just wish I could use the sniper rifle and torque bow as well in multiplayer matches as I seem to do in the single player game. I'm not to the end (but I will get there someday) so I don't know how much the story will make me want the next game, but I'll get it any way.

I know I have some friends that are not really liking the online play lately in Gears 2 but I don't care. I'll get it. I'll play it. And I'm sure there will be things I don't like about it. No game is perfect. I just want games that are fun.

Will I get this game at release? Yes. I might not pre-order it but this is one game I'll want to have in my library whether any of my friends get it or not.

So now that I've covered all of the games you probably want to know which one I voted for. Well, I didn't. Evey time I went to vote I couldn't decide. It was always a toss up between Dead Space 2, Fable III and Gears of War 3. I eventually eliminated Dead Space because I haven't played enough of the first game to be as "excited-as-a-kid-on-Christmas-Eve" about. And honestly I couldn't pick between Fable and Gears. It would be like picking your favorite child. You love them all but one might please you in one way, the other in a different way. By then the poll had close and I couldn't cast my vote.

I know there's more good games coming out like Fallout: New Vegas and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and many more. Right now I'm just trying to save up enough money to get everything I want when it does come out. It's either that or I go back to eating Top Ramen while I feed my gaming habit.

What's in a name v.2

2010-07-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

So what do you do if you don't like a gamer tag? If it's yours, it's easy. You change it. What if it's someone else's? If it's a random person you meet while playing and their name is offensive you can always report them. But what if it's a friend's name? And it's not offensive?

I have a friend who has changed their name a couple of times. Currently he's Quality Jim Beam. While I have nothing against the name itself I just don't know what to call him. Just like MasvHeadWndHarry his name is too long to say in the heat of a firefight. If I try to warn either one of them they would be dead before I can even finish saying their name completely. For MHWH is was easy. I just call him Massive. For QJB I didn't know what to do. Even just calling him Quality can be too long in a fire fight. I tried calling him just "Q" but I always think of Q from Star Trek: The Next Generation. And those two are nothing alike.

I also tried calling him by either of his two previous names. But the time it takes me to identify that he's about to get killed and convert the name I see on the screen into the name I want to call him might be just long enough for him to get killed without me saying anything at all. The problem is I get so wrapped up in the game that any little second to figure out what to call someone can be deadly. With Masv it's easy to see and recognize his name and call it out. For QJB I needed options. And that's when Hell Weasell stepped in.

We were playing Zombie Apocalypse when Weasell called QJB "beamer". I liked that. It's short, quick and goes with his name so I wouldn't be losing any precious mili-seconds trying to figure out what to call him. I'm sure it will take some getting use to especially since it's the last part of his name and not the first like Masv's. But I call Hell Weasell, just Weasell so I think I can adjust.

Now I hope Beamer isn't mad or insulted because I'm having problems with his name. I like him and I like the name, I just don't want to see him get killed because of my mental fumbling. And I certainly hope he doesn't feel he needs to change it on my account. Although if a lot of my friends keep changing their names I won't know who's who anymore.

If they want to spice things up then go ahead. But be warned, I just might start calling you "garlic", "paprika" or maybe even "cinnamon". Any takers?

I'm with stupid

2010-07-12T15:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, back to a more (or less) regular blog posting schedule. This time with a twist.

I usually change my avatar and then post a poll relating to what I'm wearing. This time I think my avatar says it all. If I could go to the marketplace and buy a t-shirt that said "I'm with stupid" I would. And I'll tell you why.

I'm always excited when a friend of mine picks up a game I really like. Finally someone to talk to about going "all in", stealing castles, or defending crystals from ever increasing waves of tougher enemies. When I saw Quality Jim Beam playing Crystal Defenders I was thrilled.

I had been working on that game for months trying to beat a map and bask in that glow of victory. I couldn't wait to give advice to QJB and to commiserate when things didn't go as planned. What I got instead was someone who was able to get farther than me in their very first play time with that game.

Instead of me giving advice, I was the one asking for advice. For months I toiled away and barely made it past level 19 on the first map when QJB was lamenting about getting stuck at wave 25 his first time. What was I missing that seemed so obvious to him? And why doesn't the advice he gave me make any sense and translate to surviving higher waves?

I don't think QJB even played that game for a month before he had it all beaten (yet he's still a "Crystal D" addict where we might have to stage an intervention). Me? I've been playing the game off and on for 6 months or more and still couldn't accomplish anything. I eventually had to find a walk-through that stated exactly what you're suppose to do each level . . . and provided a map of where to place my characters. Than, and only then (after 2 play throughs) could I beat the game for that first map. QJB did it in about a week. And don't get started on eating tacos, who finished a map on the first play through.

So where is my "I'm with stupid" t-shirt?

With shooter games that rely on your sight and reflexes I'm never going to be as good as some of my other friends. My eyes just don't work that well. If it takes me longer to see something, then it'll will take me longer to react to it. Which is why I die . . . a lot. But games like Crystal Defenders which is not based on sight and reflexes I should be able to do better at, right?

If one game play fails, I should be able to analyze what went wrong and improve on that the next time. And I thought I was. Unfortunately after hearing about QJB and taco's earlier success and reading some walk-throughs online I realized I just don't get the game at all.

It's kind of like Chess for me. I love playing Chess. I love the challenge. The strategy. The planning. Unfortunately I'm not very good about planning too far in advance with my own moves, let alone have to plan in advance for my enemies moves. I know this, but I still love the challenge of the game. Crystal Defends is like that. I love the challenge of the game but when someone can come in and just blow through the game with ease while I struggle with it makes me feel stupid.

Eventually I'll finish all the maps and finish the achievements in the game (even through I feel dirty for getting step by step instructions to "win" 2 achievements). I'm just stubborn that way. But I want to know why games like this and Civilization Revolution are so easy for other players to learn and master and so difficult for me to do so?

I'm really an RPG gal at heart, but even that style of gaming is changing too much for me (but more on that in another blog post). But RPGs are not the only type of game I like to play. But with my eyes and stupidity that might be the only type of game I have any success with. So if anyone sees a "I'm with stupid" t-shirt available on the avatar marketplace, let me know. Just make sure the arrow puts up.

Poll results - Do you like to host games?

2010-07-06T16:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, I was reminded last night I haven't posted in a month which means I MISSED ALL OF JUNE! Oh no. So here's something to tide you over until I actually have the brain power to create something new. Hopefully it won't take another month to do that.

Here's the results from the last poll:

Do you like to host games?

I host so I can play what I want to play = 0 votes
I host because everybody else is too lazy = 1 vote
My connection is too shoddy to host = 2 votes
I would host but nobody wants to play with me = 3 votes
I need that "host advantage" = 1 vote
I would but someone always beats me to it = 0 votes

I'm a little surprised the first choice didn't get at least one vote. I thought for sure that Evil would vote for that one. And what does he like to play? Why, Team Deathmatch of course. And nothing but Team Deathmatch will do. At least it seems that way.

As for being lazy. Well . . . it has been a month since I last posted. Unfortunately I don't host because everybody else is too lazy. Heck, I'm too lazy to host. I do think Mad Max did a lot of our hosting during Gears matches because everyone else was too lazy to host. Personally, I keep forgetting to check to see if I'm host before matches start in Gears. I guess I really don't host that much.

I do have a couple of friends who's connection is so hit or miss that I wouldn't want to be in a match with them as host. I'm not going to name names *cough* Weasell *cough*, *cough* G Sneaka *cough* but you know who you are. It's not that they're bad people it's just that for one reason or another their connection doesn't preform at optimal output (which says nothing about how they preform as individuals *wink wink*). For some it might be location. For others it just might be the shitty Internet provider that they're stuck with. Unfortunately those individuals usually have problems connecting to everyone else, no matter who is hosting.

As for "nobody wants to play with me"? That's not true. I'll play with anyone on my friends list at any time. If I've got the game and I haven't committed to playing with someone else (I'm on a first-come-first-serve basis) then I'm up for it. Even if it's something that doesn't interest me. Like Team Deathmatch. Every night. Over and over again. And again. (Subtle, don't you think?) I play for the friendships and camaraderie that I have with people online. I also play games to win, have fun and explore new worlds. I like playing with people. And I like playing with people I like. And I like playing with people I like who like me in return. Okay, my head is spinning now. If I've got the game and you want to play with me send me an invite. And that includes Arcade games too.

Well, the "host advantage" is what I voted for. For some games it's more prominent than others. I don't care. I want it. I'm not the best player out there. I would consider myself just below mediocre. My kill/death ratio in Modern Warfare 2 is 0.65 and in Gears it's 0.5 or 0.6. Not much of a help to the team, am I? If there is a way that I could get a little edge in a match I would take it. Unfortunately I don't like the responsibility of being host. If I don't catch if I'm host in Gears my teammates tell me I'm fired. And as for Team Deathmatch games? I don't want to select them at all, but I have some friends that won't play anything but that. If I want to play with them I HAVE to play Team Deathmatch. I just bite the bullet (in more ways than one) and play. I guess that's an argument for the "I host to play want I want" option. But I rarely host so it's not a problem for me.

I'm also really surprised no one voted for the last option. I know I have a couple of friends out there who would love to host to get that "host advantage" and to make the connection smoother for them. Evil hates the slight lag he gets when c5 hosts. c5 loathes the lag he gets when Evil hosts. And I'm not a good middle man between those two because of my proximity to Evil (just ask him and he'll tell you). Personally I liked it when Mad Max hosted every night. 1) nobody had lag issues because someone else was hosting (at least none that I heard), 2) I don't have the responsibility of being in charge and 3) I could always count on him to freshen things up and the game play was getting stale, and one more thing: 4) most of my friends seems to be in the same state as Mad Max so their connections seemed to get along better with each other. I could say the same thing about Sand Dog hosting but he hasn't been online in weeks. Man, I miss that Dog.

So that's it. I don't host (or would rather not) because I don't want the responsibility of trying to run things and make everyone happy. And if you want to play anything and I've got the game I'm in. Don't hesitate to ask. If I'm busy with someone else I'll let you know and we'll set up a designated time to play what you want. Then I'll be all yours baby, to do as you please . . . and hopefully it will please me too. Just don't insist on me being host.

Oh the dilemma

2010-05-30T16:39:00.000-07:00

I have a dilemma this weekend. There's double experience points in Modern Warfare 2 but triple experience points in Gears of War 2. MW2 has brought out all the campers, snipers and glitchers. GoW2 we're just rusty on. What should we ever do?

New Poll - Do you like to host games?

2010-05-26T09:08:00.001-07:00

Okay here's my new poll. It refers to games and parties (for those games that allow it).

Do you like to host games?

I host so I can play what I want to play
I host because everybody else is too lazy
My connection is too shoddy to host
I would host but nobody wants to play with me
I need that "host advantage"
I would but someone always beats me to it

How about a (couple of) quickie(s)

2010-05-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

So here's some quickies for you for your "afternoon delight".

1) Yes, I do know the difference between laying prone on the ground and bleeding out while playing Call of Duty: World at War. Sometimes when you go down a friend will get you up right away and with hell hounds charging at you you just might flinch and push the prone button before you even notice anything. Can you blame a girl for being a little skittish around the dogs?

2) My super powers have been discovered and labeled. Now I've just got to design a super power cape to wear when I activate my powers. What would those powers be? Have you ever heard me say "just one more map"? Well, it actually works. It takes superhuman strength to resist my dulcet tones when I ask someone to stick around for another map. You don't believe me? Well, we'll just have to play something tonight then won't we.

3) DAIN IS BACK! Yes, my long-lost-World-of-Warcraft brother has returned to the Xbox Live fold. How? Well, I bought another 360 when I had to send my elite back for repairs. Once my elite came back I gave him my spare 360 to borrow and play on. Now both of my brothers have one of my spare 360 consoles. Hopefully I'll never have to buy another console again. (Yeah right, like that's going to happen.)

4) I'm finally getting my games organized again. It's nice when you can find the game you want to play without too much trouble. And even nicer when you actually own that game again too. I haven't replaced all of my games but I'm slowly getting there.

5) Genghis Khan hasn't dropped off the face of the planet. That's always nice to hear.

6) Zenra hasn't dropped off the face of the planet. That's also always nice to hear too.

7) There is no number seven. Move along.

8) There are new maps coming for Modern Warfare 2. YEAH! Although I still think we can freshen things up by playing other game modes instead of Deathmatch all the time, but then again I rarely host.

Those are some quickies for you. Enjoy your day.

A nicer limerick

2010-05-16T10:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a nicer limerick for Weasell. Enjoy!

There once was a Weasell from Hell
Who had a Canadian accent as well
If you asked him, he'd say eh?
In that Candian way
but we all liked him just as well

(Robert Frost eat your heart out)

Poll Results - Organizing my games

2010-05-03T10:03:00.000-07:00

Here's the poll results for organizing my games:

How should I organize my games?

alphabetical (regardless of system) = 1 vote
alphabetical (by system) = 5 votes
52-card pickup = 0 votes
alphabetical (by genre) = 0 votes

The way I had things organized before I got robbed was alphabetical regardless of system. This had some ups and downs. When looking for a particular game I got easily distracted by other games. If I wanted to play a PS game I might find myself pulling out a PS2 game instead. And there was the whole alphabetical problem. How do you file all those Star Wars games. Since "Star Wars" is usually first they would all go together. But I don't think of Bounty Hunter as "Star Wars Bounty Hunter". Those games were all filed by the game title; I left the Star Wars out of it. And that was the same for the Lord of the Rings games.

Some sequels had alphabetical problems as well. Chrono Cross is a sequel (of sorts) to Chrono Trigger, but alphabetically Chrono Cross would get files first. Of those games that had the sequels close in name to the original (Abe's Exodus vs. Abe's Oddysee another example) I filed those chronologically instead of alphabetically. But that created a problem with Final Fantasy Tactics. It's not a sequel to any Final Fantasy game, and is, in fact, a different type of game entirely. where does that one go? I could have put it after Final Fantasy XII (the last one in number order that I owned) but that didn't seem right to have an original PS game after the newest PS2 games. I could have figured out when that game came out in the series and put it there but I didn't want to bother. So Final Fantasy Tactics was filed first. Of course I do have a couple of games that when I think of the title I think of it differently. Like "The Legend of Alan D'ar" I only think of as "Alan D'ar". Makes it hard to find sometimes.

What I liked about filing alphabetical regardless of system was that all games of the same story could be filed together no matter what console you played them one. That way Serious Sam I and II for the original Xbox could be filed with Serious Sam: The Next Encounter for the PS2. The two Hunter: The Reckoning games for Xbox could be filed with the abysmal one for the PS2. If I was in the mood for a particular game world I could flip to those pages (I keep all my games in a disk binder) and then decide which version I wanted to play.

This time however I'm filing them alphabetical by system. Hopefully this might encourage me to play some of my older games for the Playstation since those games are filed first. Unfortunately I'm still replacing games so my filing system isn't accurate. I leave spaces for some games but forget to for others. I guess I'll wait until I've gotten everything back before I put things in their proper place. But then I have to decide what to do with the duplicates. when I started rebuying games I didn't have a good enough system to keep track of ebay auctions bidding/won/paid for so I ended up with several duplicate games. I'll probably sell them back to Gamestop for credit to buy more but I'm really not going to get much for them. One of them will go to kai to try out (Rainbow Six: Vegas 2) and maybe we can get a match together sometime along with anyone else who wants to play.

I have picked up some new games that I didn't have before but I'll wait to list those once I'm done shopping. And I've started the process of redownloading all my Arcade games to my new hard drive. Unfortunately I've got DRM issues with some of them so I have to change the rights to my new machine. But if there's anything you guys want to play with me just send me a note or an invite. If I've got, I'm game.

Poll Results - Favorite avatar outfit

2010-05-03T09:53:00.000-07:00

Here's the poll results for your favorite avatar outfit of mine.

Which avatar outfit of mine was your favorite?

current one - 1 vote
school girl = 0 votes
rocker chick = 1 vote
winter warm & fuzzy = 0 votes
sports jersey = 0 votes
tavern wench = 2 votes

Yes, I know I should have figured out how to include pictures. I guess everyone can't have a picture perfect memory. Of those choices I voted for the rocker chick. Why? It's an outfit I would probably wear in real life. It was a toss up between that one and the sports jersey. I like the oversized jersey look but I think I would wear that more around the house than out and about. What inspired this poll was that Kralon gave me the code for the female outfit from Final Fantasy XIII. Can't complain about that. That was the "current one" I was wearing at the time the poll was open. I got another clothing code from That Sam Guy that I'll have to show off sometime. I wouldn't mind if other free avatar codes came my way too. There's nothing wrong with free and a girl likes to get gifts every now and then.

The Xbox Live Experience (in poetic form)

2010-04-19T09:14:00.000-07:00

To prove that I don't call myself Pengwenn for nothing, here's a very rough poem for your enjoyment. And no, I don't think I'll get the Noble Prize for Literature based on this.

The Xbox Live Experience

A disembodied voice in my head
Pompously said he’ll see me dead
But I was there to have some fun
So I took out my sniper gun

I picked a spot and waited there
Safely hidden, without a care
But an enemy came running fast
Before I knew it I was stabbed in the back

I hit the button to respawn in the game
My weapon choice remained the same
But before I could sight and make a kill
I got shot from the sniper hill

One more time, I’ll try again
Although this life might be in vain
And like before I was dead
This time by a shot to the head

But never fear, I don’t give up
I’m not some poor noobie schlup
I’ll change my gun and jump back in
This time I will play to win

With my SCAR I ran around
Shooting everything I found
It happened once I found some one
I shot them dead, now that was fun

But I didn’t see the guy behind
With a flash grenade I was blind
And once again I was dead
(Is it time to go to bed?)

Now I’ll run and I would knife
Surely I’ll have a longer life
And so I ran around really fast
I didn’t want my score to be last

I used my knife, I got some kills
I rediscovered those gaming thrills
Of having fun and doing well
Where teamwork starts to really gel

We made a push to come from behind
Our winning fate was intertwined
With other’s skills, but not my own
Because I was always getting “pwned”

The game was over, our scores revealed
Our stats recorded, our numbers sealed
My kill death ratio (a sadly state)
My number was below point eight

I got some deaths, I got some kills
But most other players had better skills
And in the end I DID have fun
But there's nothing to fear from this girl with a gun

Little Bunny Snipers

2010-04-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting time the other day playing Special Ops with Evil Ric in Modern Warfare 2. We were playing the sniper mission where you have to cross a lot of grass land. The best way I can sum up the experience is in a song. Sung to the tune of Little Bunny Foo-Foo (if you have kids you should know it).

"Little bunny Evil Ric
hopping through the grassland
sighting out the snipers
and shooting 'em in the head"

And that's exactly what happened.

Sleeping with the fishes

2010-04-16T11:20:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I thought I'd pull out the old Xbox (original version) and play some games the way they were meant to be played. Unfortunately things didn't turn out that way.

It started with the fact that I couldn't connect to Xbox Live at all from my original Xbox. I knew they were stopping games on the 15th but I thought there were still games out there you could play online. Maybe the servers were full. I tested my connection and it failed at the Xbox Live stage so my system was okay (although a little dusty).

So I couldn't play online but I could still play games right? First I had to disconnect the Ethernet cords so I wouldn't get the online error message every time I changed games. And I changed them a lot.

I've been replacing all my games since the break in but I've been testing the original Xbox games out on my 360. Most of them can play on the newer system. Some of them can't. So I started to test those games. Unfortunately some of them were getting disk read errors. Yeah me. I'd put a disk in and it wouldn't load at all. Or I would get through the title screen only to start the actual gameplay and find the game freeze up before getting a disk error.

I put all those disks aside with the note to find their case and maybe try to replace them . . . again. What I found interesting was that some games that played on my 360 were having problems on my Xbox. And sometimes it would have problems the first time but the second time I put it in it would work fine. There were even some that had issued on the 360 that played just fine on the Xbox. I think I'll have to do more testing before I start replacing games a second time.

I ended up with six possible replacements. And four duplicates.

Yes, when replacing games I actually replaced some of them more than once. I didn't really have a good system to keep track of items I was bidding on in ebay vs. items I had won, paid for and received. Throw in the fact that I had to bid on 7 or 8 different auctions in order to win some games and you can see why I might have been confused.

Some of those duplicate games I already have. Others I'm waiting to receive in the mail. I figure I might just sell them to GameStop and use the store credit to pick up some of the last games on my list or maybe some new ones (I've picked up a couple new games in the process, but more on that later).

There is a duplicate game that I might give to a friend if he ever comes back online. It's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. I've been dying to play that game (and the original one) but all of my friends have sold their copies back a long time ago. I'd give it to any one of them if they would play with me but one of them might need the help financially more than the others.

I know I won't get much store credit for old Xbox games but I just don't understand why people would sell back good games (besides the duplicate issue I'm having). If you really don't need the money for something why not keep it and enjoy it for years to come?

Don't get me wrong, I do know what it's like to need money. I had a job a long time ago that was really hard to even live pay check to pay check. I've pawned items to make it to pay day (and then got those items back). One month it would be the Tv, the next month the stereo, etc. I lived off of Ramen noodles and sometimes hot dogs (sans bun because I couldn't afford 'em) or potatoes. Maybe that experience has taught me to cherish and keep the things that make me happy and entertain me instead of toss them to the wind as my fancy strikes me. But now the original Xbox is dead.

So after three hours of testing games and trying to get online on my original Xbox I went to bed wondering if the Xbox has gone the way of the Dodo bird. Is it extinct? Will you ever be able to connect to Xbox Live on your original system again? Is there any games left that you can play online? I don't know. It was late. I was tired. I went to bed. While my sleep was refreshing for me I couldn't help but think the original Xbox experience is now "sleeping with the fishes". May it rest in peace.

One last time

2010-04-09T15:09:00.000-07:00

Okay folks, we've got one last weekend with some of our old favorites. I plan on spending a lot of time online this weekend in Star Wars Battlefront 1 and 2, Counter Strike and Halo 2. Yes, I included Halo 2. Care to join me?

New Poll - Your favorite avatar outfit of mine

2010-04-08T10:18:00.000-07:00

Here's my latest poll.

Which of my avatar outfits have been your favorite?

my current one
the school girl look
the rocker chick
the winter warm and toastie look
the sports jersey (and little else)
the tavern wench

Vote for your favorite and you just might see a reappearance when the poll closes.

Poll Results - Spilling spoilers

2010-04-05T15:42:00.000-07:00

It should come as no surprise to my friends as to what I voted for but here are the results anyway.

When can you give away spoilers in a new game?

2 weeks = 1 vote
1 month = 3 votes
2 months = 1 vote
6 months = 1 vote
1 year = 0 votes
You should never give away spoilers = 1 vote

I'd love to be able to play a game for hours on end when it first comes out. Unfortunately I have a job, a house, and yard with an endless supply of weeds to tend to. And that's not counting all the invites I get from friends to play games with them. They're just so needy that I feel bad for them so I can't help but accept. But I'm not complaining.

What I will complain about is when friends blurt out (although innocently enough) a major spoiler to a part of a game that I haven't gotten to yet. Like "I was really sad when my dog died in Fable II" from JimBeam. What? The dog dies? Don't say another word, I don't want to know. It made it hard for me to bound with my dog (who I just acquired) because I didn't want to get too attached to the little critter. Once I got over that, I decided to make his time a joyous one. Every chance I got I played with him. I played fetch. I told him he was a good boy (it helped me pick up the ladies). And I never scolded him. Unfortunately I wasn't advancing the plot very much in my effects to give my dog a memorable life.

Since then my friends have been very good about trying (desperately) to not talk about games I'm playing (or trying to) without giving away too much information. I guess the riot act I gave them after "the dog incident" had an effect. But there have been some times I've had to unplug my headset so they could talk freely about a game and I wouldn't have a stray bit of information ruin it for me. Unfortunately there's no way for me to know when they are done talking AND no way for me to communicate with my teammates during the match.

I am a little surprised by the "2 week" vote. Seriously? I know games are getting shorter these days but who can finish a game in two weeks . . . if they also have a life? I've taken a couple of days off to play a new game but even then I haven't been able to finish a game in two weeks. Maybe that's just me.

I guess two months is a more reasonable time frame with the exception being the last part of the year. There are so many games that come out between October and December that there's no way someone could play them all. Those games will need extra time to play just because there usually is so many of them to get through.

I've know a thing or two about spoilers for a long time. Dain and I use to meet up at my parents house to do laundry and we'd bring our systems and play games. And for single player RPGs one of use would play and the other one would watch. There have been many games where I watched dain play through an area long before I got there in my own game. While it gave me pointers on how to handle certain key boss battles, it did ruin key moments in games (like the ending to Final Fantasy X). In hindsight I wished I hadn't watched him play games, but I really did enjoy those times together.

If you do need/want to talk about spoilers in a game I would suggest you make a "SPOILER ALERT" warning to all your friends. Then they can decide if they want to listen in and have moments of the game be ruined or tune your out and preserve the magic of the moment. If they tuned you out you might want to reel 'em back it when you're done discussing the game. Or not. Depending on if you prefer their silence to their usual banter.

And while spoilers are terrible things to let loose in the world without providing your friends with the necessary precautions, I do like hearing people talk about the games they are playing. I've picked up a few games based on those recommendations (and avoided a few more) and I hope to continue to do so. Just be kind and give me a heads up if you're going to blab the ending to a game. If it so pleases you.

My kind of a gamer.....

2010-04-01T12:56:00.001-07:00

I'll post the poll results soon, but first a comic about my kind of a gamer.

Pears Before Swine.

Good Old Days . . . revisted

2010-03-29T21:48:00.000-07:00

Last weekend it was all about the Good Old Days. We played older games. We caught up with old friends. And I think we all had a good time. I know I did. It started with Star Wars Battlefront . . . or maybe it was Gears of War 2. I can't remember which came first because I was having so much fun I lost all track of time.

Now that a death sentence has been placed on Star Wars Battlefront we've been trying to get a night together where all the old regulars (and some new friends we dragged along) met up for some friendly and high spirited fun in a Galaxy Far, Far Away. It was a blast to play again with Cleelost, DEWbird and others. Some of which I haven't played with since the original Xbox days. Some of which use their Xbox 360 as a DVD player more than a game console. It was easy to slip into old habits and familiar strategies while at the same time discovering new moves and friends along the way. In my opinion a good game should never have an expiration date put on it. There will always be people willing to play.

After (or maybe that was before) Battlefront there was Gears of War 2. With really not that much arm twisting we were able to convince Evil Ric to repurchase the game and get back into the multiplayer. It was a little rough trying to remember which button would reload your weapon, or how to run, after a couple of Call of Duty games, but we eventually got the swing of things and started to get our grove back. The second night of Gears was even better than the first. There were still those frustrating moments but I think there were more good memories than bad for most of us.

It was really nice to play again with G Sneaka. Our paths have crossed occasionally but I still long for those old Battlefront days and hours upon hours of nightly play with the same group of great guys. And that got me thinking.

When Star Wars Battlefront came out I think we played that game for 5-6 hours a night . . . every night. We never got tired of it. We never wanted to play anything else. Once the Xbox 360 came out we did start losing a few of the regulars as they spent time on their new system. But they always came back to Battlefront. And then Gears of War came along. We spent 4-5 hours a night, (we all started to feel our age and realized we needed to get some sleep at night) every night, playing that game. Then Gears of War 2 came out and the process repeated itself. These games kept us together and were played relentlessly. And since then it hasn't been the same.

All the people on my friend's list have fractured out into other games. Nothing was coming out that held everyone's attention for very long. Even games like Modern Warfare 2, a great game, but after 4 and a half months we all decided we would rather play Battlefront or Gears than another night of that game. I started to wonder if there would ever be another game that would galvanize the old gang back into playing 3-4 hours a night (still getting older) every night, every day of the year. . . FOR YEARS! Battlefront and Gears (both versions) had that impact but there doesn't seem to be anything out there now (or coming soon) that appears to promise that.

So until that game comes (probably Star Wars Battlefront 3) I guess I'll have to face the fact that sometimes the only time I'll play with old friends is when we become nostalgic and put in those old games. While we've only got a couple of weeks left for Battlefront lets hope that both Gears games have a longer life span . . . or another really good game comes out that will unite old friends with new memories. A Gamer Girl can dream, can't she?

New Poll - Spoiler Alert!

2010-03-17T12:20:00.001-07:00

Here's the newest poll:

How soon can you give away spoilers in a game after it's come out?

2 weeks
1 month
2 months
6 months
1 year
You should never give away spoilers

Now go vote.

Poll Results - One week to live/gaming story

2010-03-17T11:28:00.000-07:00

Busy, busy, busy. Here's are the poll results:

If you have one week to live what game would you play for the story?

Modern Warfare 2 = 1 vote
Borderlands = 0 votes
Gears of War 2 = 1 vote
BioShock 2 = 2 votes
Batman Arkham Asylum = 2 votes
Mass Effect = 1 vote

I don't think I've ever seen the poll have such a wide spread before. Some of the results are surprising to me. Let's take it game by game.

Modern Warfare 2
I love playing the multiplayer stuff (although all my group will play is Team Deathmatch, can't we try something else every now and then?) and I haven't gotten very far in the story (hiding out on a snowy mountain tarmac). But usually these types of games are made for the online multiplayer content than a story line. The story line in almost any shooter game is just to give the player an objective when they start shooting. "Kill this guy". "Survive and make it to the rendezvous spot". That kind of stuff. I don't really pay too much attention to those "stories" which might be why I'm having a hard time making it across the snowy mountain without being seen.

Borderlands
With how much my friends have played this game and how excited they get when new content comes out I'm very surprised that didn't get any votes at all. I thought for sure it would get several. I think this is also a game that friends who don't care about gamerscore and achievements are playing this game and working really hard to actually get all the achievements in the game. The first couple of missions I accepted I really didn't read the description. You want me to do a job for ya? Okay, where do I need to go and what do I need to do? I really wasn't in it for the "why" of what I was doing. Is there an overall story to Borderlands? I don't know. Eventually I'll find out . . . I hope.

Gears of War 2
The story in the first Gears was great. Maybe not Pulitzer prize winning but I was engaged and wanted to know what was happening. I always felt the firefights in Gears were part of the story and not THE story, if you know what I mean. So I voted for Gears 2. If I only had a week to live I would want to know what happens next in that world. I want to know more about Marcus's father. How Dom reacts to losing Maria. And whether or not there are more Carmine siblings to join the war. I'm intrigued and I don't think I'd want to die without knowing.

BioShock 2
If I didn't vote for Gears I might have voted for BioShock 2. I say might because I loved the first game and was happy how it ended. On the other hand I love the world of Rapture and would love to have one more chance to explore it again. My only concern would be that some Big Daddy or Big Momma would jump out at me and then my week would be cut short.

Batman: Arkham Asylum
I mentioned I was very surprised that Borderlands didn't get any votes, but I'm even more surprised that Batman got 2 votes. Why? A lot of people said this was a good game but it's more about the game play than the story. They say there's not much story there to begin with. So why two votes people? I don't know what it is about this game but there are so many moves and commands that I can't keep them all straight. I'm doing the same button combinations in combat and I have to pull up the help menu to figure out how to grapple to things. I had to search for awhile before I could find a strategy guide for this game (since I'm late to the party) and this is the first game in a long time where I felt I HAD to have the guide while I played. I'm not so sure that's a good thing for this game based on how I'm playing.

Mass Effect
I am also a little surprised that this game didn't get more votes. I'm surprised that you didn't consider how many times you could play this story (I haven't finished, I'm trying to drive up a mountain in a vehicle, peak 15 I think) or have sex. Yes, there is sex in this game. And the sequel (which wasn't a poll option because I haven't finished the first one yet). And with the amount of time my friends have talked about how to have sex, who to have sex with, and the actual act of having sex you would think they've never had sex before (despite having children of their own). I've always heard great things about the story for this game. Was the reason that some of you didn't vote for it was because the game came out so long ago that you can't remember? I know some of you went back and replayed it prior to the sequel coming out. Are you going to do the same thing when the third one comes out?

So you might be wondering why I asked this poll. Well, it's all a mute point now but I started this poll a week before Final Fantasy XIII came out. I figured that once I have that game I wouldn't want to play anything else. If you check my games played history you'll see that I haven't actually play FF13 yet. Why? I got so caught up in the excitement that I didn't want to put the game in and be disappointed. I wanted to let some time pass, cool down, and then play the game (also because I keep playing MW2 with my friends online). So that "week to live" has actually turned turned into a couple more. Eventually I want to start it, but I have so many other games (all of those listed and many more) that I'm in the middle of (and hoping to finish) that I wonder if starting a new game a wise thing to do?

I either need to spend more time playing video games and less time working, eating, sleep, etc. or I need to spend less time playing with my friends and more time by myself. And I don't see either one of those things happening any time soon.

New Poll - One week to live...what story do you play?

2010-03-03T09:47:00.000-08:00

Here's my new poll.

You have 1 week to live. What game do you play for the story?

Modern Warfare 2
Borderlands
Gears of War 2
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Bioshock 2
Mass Effect

Okay, the doc tells you that you have less than one week to live. You only have time to play one video game before "game over" becomes permanent. Of those choices listed what game do you play FOR THE STORY! Yes, I know you like the multiplayer options on a couple of those games, but do you really want to spend the last week of your life listening to those idiots on Xbox Live? And what's the point of ranking up or moving up the leaderboards if someone is going to replace you once you kick the bucket? And yes, there's a reason why Mass Effect 2 isn't listed (as well as Assassin's Creed 1 or 2) but I'll get into that when the poll results are posted.

Poll Results - What is my theme song?

2010-02-26T14:13:00.000-08:00

This has probably been my most disappointing poll. I thought it would get some laughs (and it has added a whole "American Idol audition" element to gameplay) but what do I know. Here are the results:

What should be my theme song?

People are People (depeche mode) = 0 votes
Jessie's Girl (Rick Springfield) = 1 vote
Closer (Nine Inch Nails) = 1 vote
Sunglasses at Night (Corey Hart) = 0 votes
Numb (Linkin Park) = 0 votes
Machine Head (Bush) = 0 votes
Smooth Criminal (Alien Ant Farm) = 0 votes
Bleed it Out (Linkin Park) = 0 votes
One Night in Bangkok (Murray Head) = 1 votes
Headstrong (Trapt) = 0 votes

If you listen to some of the lyrics you might know why I picked some of them.

People are People
I think we should all start singing this whenever jerks online start the "nigga", "your mamma" or "fag" routine. I'm sorry those monologues are just getting old. The song fits anyway.

Jessie's Girl
No I don't have a boyfriend named Jessie. I don't have a boyfriend at all. :( But I love Rick Springfield and this is probably the only song people know of his. Besides it would be nice if someone wanted "Jessie's" girl . . . even if there isn't a Jessie.

Closer
Um . . . listen to the lyrics and then you'll know. Doin' it doggie style.

Sunglasses at Night
My eyes hurt so bad right now that I wish I was waring sunglasses at night. Actually I wish I could pop my eyeballs right out of my head, ship them off to someone to be repaired, then pop them back in when they come back. But only if the warranty hasn't expired. Besides the line "don't be afraid of the guy in shades, oh no" sums up the fear the opposing team should have of me.

Numb
There's been so much sh*t going on in my life that I have become a little bit numb about things. That might be why my flirting has been way off lately. I just can't seem to be bothered. But maybe you haven't noticed.

Machine Head
Okay the title doesn't give any clues as to why I picked this song. But I love the lyrics "Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out, breathe in". A little reminder just to breathe (after a bad day at work, or glitchers in a match) is always a good idea.

Smooth Criminal
I said when I opened this poll that I liked Alien Ant Farm's version better. I liked the Michael Jackson version but I always felt it missed the mark of being a great song. AAF got it right and hit a bull's eye. And maybe I'd like to think of myself as a "smooth criminal".

Bleed it Out
I'm a huge Linkin Park fan. Oh wait, that should be HUGE fan. I feel a little naughty that their teenage/college angst music has struck a chord with me. I guess that just means I'm young at heart (or I need to grow up). And "bleed it out" is a perfect slogan for a game winning kill. The more I think about it though, it probably relates more to me always dying in a match. "I bleed it out, digging deeper just to throw it away".

One Night in Bangkok
For MadMax maybe I should have put "One Night in bang cock". He runs around with his double cocks out and "enjoys" himself way to much playing that way. When I think about it, a year or so ago MadMax wouldn't have been willing to say "cock" around me. He wouldn't have wanted to offend my feminine ears. He was such the gentleman. But now he runs around with some double cocks . . . and sound effects. I always get a kick out of it. Partly because I know my guy friends have finally let down their macho walls and have accepted me into the fold. And partly because it's just hilarious to listen to. And Hell Weasell gets 1,000,000 kudos points from me for knowing about this song. If I ever sang on Broadway I would want to star in the musical Chess. I wouldn't get to sing this song, but I'll still have MadMad and his double cocks to picture in my head.

Headstrong
When I got an iTunes gift card from my manager for Christmas this was the first song I bought. If I could put a custom ringtone on my cell phone it would be the chorus for this song

"Back off, I'll take you on
Headstrong to take on anyone
I know that you are wrong
Headstrong, we're headstrong"

Those words just fit me. I'm stubborn and headstrong and I like myself like that (even though it's gotten me in trouble at times).

I didn't vote in this poll because I like all of these songs. I didn't want to choose. That was your job. Unfortunately this poll was so bad you didn't want to do your job. I guess that's for the good. Now you won't have to listen to any of us sing a song badly when I get the match winning kill. That that that happens much anyway. Maybe the next poll will be better. Any suggestions of what you want to find out from people?

New Poll - What is my theme song?

2010-02-17T09:09:00.000-08:00

Okay time for a new poll!

What should be my theme song?

People are People (depeche mode)
Jessie's Girl (Rick Springfield)
Closer (Nine Inch Nails)
Sunglasses at Night (Corey Hart)
Numb (Linkin Park)
Machine Head (Bush)
Smooth Criminal (Alien Ant Farm-I like it better than Jackson's version)
Bleed it Out (Linkin Park)
One Night in Bangkok (Murray Head)
Headstrong (Trapt)

For those of you who don't know any of those song you can listen to samples on Amazon or iTunes.

Everybody deserves a theme song right? John Williams was a genius when it comes to this and characters in a movie. You might not know a piece of music as "Leia's theme" but if I played it for you you would instantly think of a Princess in a Galaxy Far, Far Away. So why can't I have a theme song in life? Or at least in gaming?

This is what I propose: We all pick a theme song and when one of us gets the game ending winning kill in Modern Warfare 2 we sing that person's song as the camera rolls showing the final blow, just to mess with the other team. I might even be persuaded to sing snatches of all the voting choices during matches until the poll closes. The voting public needs to be informed.

Some of the choices might seem obvious, others not so much. Vote in the poll and tell me what you think. If you have a better suggestion then one listed, put it in the comments. And if you have a suggestion for your own theme song share that too. Otherwise I might have to come up with one of my own for you. I hope you like Air Supply songs.

Poll Results - Rock Band or Guitar Hero?

2010-02-17T07:39:00.000-08:00

Here are the poll results:

What musical game should I get?

Rock Band = 3 votes
Guitar Hero = 3 votes

Okay, I kind of cheated here. I don't really have a preference, hence the poll, so I waited until the very end and voted for Rock Band just to tie it up. Maybe I'll get both games. Here's the pros and cons for both games, as I see it.

Let's start with Guitar Hero. Every time I think about this game or look at the song selections I see heavy metal. Metalica and the likes. I've never really been a heavy metal fan. Occasionally I'll like the cross-over hit but that's about it. There are A LOT of songs for this game that I haven't even heard of. And if that's the chase how am I'm going to "play" them?

On the pro side there are A LOT of songs to choose from. And I believe Linkin Park has some songs for the offering. And I LOVE Linkin Park. I don't think I could play every song I was familiar with (or have the Microsoft Points to buy them all). This franchise will be around for a long time so there could be many years of entertainment if I decided to go with Guitar Hero.

Now let's look at Rock Band. I love the fact that there are multiple instruments to play with. If I got bored of the guitar I could play the bass . . . or the drums . . . or sing. That really appeals to me especially when I get frustrated with something it would be nice to have something else to play for awhile (like playing a couple of rounds of Headquarters instead of Team Deathmatch all the time *hint hint*). I have/had the game Lips so I've already got a singing game but I like the song selections better for Rock Band, vocally, than what's available for Lips.

The downside is the song catalogue is not as vast as Guitar Hero and I don't think they have any Linkin Park songs. Bummer. I'm sure that song list will grow but whereas Guitar Hero seems more "metal" in it's choices Rock Band seems more "happening" (meaning songs popular right now) and I don't listen to the radio too much. And when I do it's usually talk radio on my way home from work. Yeah, I know I'm getting old.

If either one of these games made a Styx, Genesis, Rick Springfield, Howard Jones, or Monkees stand alone game (like they did for Aerosmith and The Beatles) I think that just might seal the deal which one I go for. Having said that, I guess I just revealed where my musical tastes are . . . back in the 80's. You got a problem with that buster?

New Poll - Rock Band or Guitar Hero?

2010-02-09T14:01:00.000-08:00

So I've been thinking about taking the plunge into the musical genre of gameplay, but I can't decide which game to get. So I'm letting you decide . . . or at least vote.

Which musical game should I get?

Rock Band
Guitar Hero

Vote now or forever hold your peace. Or something like it.

Poll Results - What game are you most excited for?

2010-02-07T11:41:00.000-08:00

So here are the belated poll results:

What game are you most excited for?

Mass Effect 2 = 4 votes
BioShock 2 = 3 votes

With the exception of Final Fantasy XIII these two games are probably the most anticipated sequels to come to an Xbox console this year. Unless, of course, Star Wars Battlefront 3 miraculously shows up this year. But since Final Fantasy has a more limited appeal to people I kept the choices to two out of the three "biggies".

My vote this time was easy. I voted for BioShock. Why? Because I've finished that game. I hadn't gotten very far in Mass Effect before it was stolen so I wasn't in it enough to get all gaga over the game. Dain's letting me borrow his disk so that I can get caught up so I can eventually play the sequel. So far I like what I see but I haven't finished it yet.

BioShock on the other hand is one game I have played to completion and loved every minute of it. I remember the first time I played it with a torrential rainstorm happening outside and all the lights off inside. It scared the bejeezies out of me. I played for maybe an hour before I had to play something happy and bright so I don't keep jumping out of my skin. That was also at the time when I had a really loud neighbor in my apartment complex. Sometimes their noise would get so loud I couldn't hear my own TV. I invested in a pair of stereo earmuff type of headset. It was wonderful because it almost completely drowned out all the neighborly noise and the sound from the game came in in stereo. That meant I'd hear a Big Daddy coming from the right and when I'd turn my character around that way sure enough he would be there. Of course a bunch of times I would actually turn my own head and not my character. I think that was the best way to play BioShock.

I still haven't unpacked that headset yet but I'm hoping to find them before I play the sequel. I don't need them to block out noise but it made playing the game so much easier, enjoyable and scarier than hell. But I wouldn't change a thing.

I'm sure I'll enjoy finishing Mass Effect, and playing the sequel, but for me I'm more excited to see if the developer of BioShock can carry over that same scary, but wonderful, feeling that players had playing the first game. And the multiplayer option should be interesting to see how that plays out. Let's just hope they haven't screwed up the game just to get a "multiplayer experience" that some people thought the first one was lacking. Personally, I thought the first one was great just the way it was. Either way, I know what game my friends have been playing for the last couple of weeks . . . and I know the next game they'll be playing the next couple of weeks. I think if people could have voted more than once this poll would have been tied. And as a gamer, I'm not complaining.

Thank you Weasel

2010-01-27T15:58:00.000-08:00

Sometimes a girl can get a little gloomy. It just happens. But I'm glad I have Hell Weasel to cheer me up. The picture you sent was wonderful. And now I have incriminating evidence for blackmail . . . I mean fond memories to last a lifetime. Yeah, that's it. Thank you.

The key to any great relationship is . . .

2010-01-26T08:27:00.000-08:00

The key to any great relationship is . . . communication. Or so I'm told. And finally last night I saw some communication while playing video games.

We had a full team of 6 players for Team Deathmatch in Modern Warfare 2 when a couple more friends jumped online. Normally there are several people who would rather stick needles in their eyes than play a Domination match but last night they bit the bullet, stayed in the group and we got a full team of 9 players for Ground War. That's when the fun began.

I don't have any problem playing Domination. I like having an objective and a purpose to all that running around and killing (or in my case, dying). It gives me an area to concentrate on. A place to defend and wait for the enemy to show up in. It gives me determination to take a particularly difficult flag from the enemy. I'm kind of stubborn like that. Tell me it can't be done and I'll show you how to do it. But not all my friends feel that way.

There were a lot of moaning and groaning when the first Domination match started. And we feel behind rather quickly. But we persevered and eventually won the match . . . once we all started talking to each other. And I don't mean the "soap on a rope" talk that usually prevails with my friends (not that I'm complaining). We finally started to communicate enemy positions, our strategies and team goals. Once we got to the point where we knew where everyone (enemy and friendly) were going we had a handle on the situation and we never lost a Domination match that whole night. Team Deathmatch matches were another story.

When the map options showed Team Deathmatch we reverted back to our individual play styles and the communication dropped off. People were off on their own looking for the enemy wherever they wanted to go with no regards for what the rest of the team was doing. If we had a bit more of a game plan for those Deathmatch games we might have won a few more of them. And we also wonder and complain when the other teams travels in packs or small groups where we kill the first guy we see only to be gunned down by his buddy. Jeez.

I think we all realized our communication style was changing when we started to point out the things we use to say. Like "you bastard" (when spoken towards the enemy) which meant the enemy was coming at us from behind. Or "they're over here" which meant we didn't have a clue where the enemy was. Especially when the person who just died couldn't define where "here" actually was. And "they're coming across" means they were doing a center, direct line assault on our position. Or "I can't find anyone" meant we were being flanked. It all seemed so funny when we realized we were talking to our teammates, but we weren't really saying anything to them. Kind of like an old married couple, I guess.

Maybe this one night of insights into how we communicate will change things going forward. Maybe we won't be a rag tag bunch of "lone wolf" types who do their own things but a more cohesive group of killing machines. We worked together when we played Gears of War so there's hope for us working together now. Or maybe we'll just start some marriage counseling. So tell me . . . how does that make you feel? I'm listening.

New Poll - What game are you most excited for?

2010-01-22T12:16:00.000-08:00

Okay, so most of you didn't vote in the last poll so I'm going to make this one easier. I hope.

What game are you most excited for?

Mas Effect 2
BioShock 2

They both come out relatively soon so I know you've got one (or maybe both of them) on your radar. If you could pick only one which would it be?

Poll Results - Best game of 2009

2010-01-22T11:51:00.000-08:00

Okay, either my polls suck or you guys have gotten bored reading my blog. Either way I lose. Here are the (pathetic) results from the last poll:

What was the best game of 2009?

Assassin's Creed 2 = 2 votes
Halo 3:ODST = 0 votes
Modern Warfare 2 = 1 vote
Left 4 Dead 2 = 0 votes
Dragon Age Origin = 0 votes
Borderlands = 0 votes
New Super Mario Bros. Wii = 0 votes
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 = 0 votes

Maybe the reason why some of you didn't vote was because of the economy and you couldn't afford to get some of the latest games. Maybe you just don't care anymore about what the latest/greatest game is. Or, like I said, maybe I'm getting boring in my old age.

I was just getting into Dragon Age when I was robbed so I don't know if the rest of the game is just as exciting as the first part. And while I owned (past tense, another victim of the robbery) Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 I hadn't played it yet (because I hadn't finished the first game). I played the demo for Left 4 Dead 2 and realized that it would be nearly impossible to play single player. That's a game best played with friends. Borderlands is a cool game but I haven't come across anything in the game that says "Whoa! this is unlike anything I've seen before". Maybe that's just me. I'd love to play Halo 3:ODST but I didn't have the money to buy it when it came out AND I wouldn't play it until I had played the earlier games AND those earlier games got stolen so I just don't see the point of buying it now to see what it's like. And seriously Nintendo? How many times are you going to "port" your original Mario Bros. game and call it "super" or "new" or both? As for Modern Warfare 2 it's got some problems.

I hate the fact that you can't jump into your friends party lobby. No can do. You've got to wait for an invite if you want to play with friends. And if your friend is already in the middle of a match you've got to send him a message saying you want in. If he stops to read it he might get killed. And do you want that on your conscience? And what happens if your party jumps out of a pre-game lobby to pick up a friend only to find out they want to play something else? Do you know how many "easy" rooms we've left only to find ourselves in those rooms where nothing goes right and everybody on the other team is glitching?

So that leaves Assassin's Creed 2. And that's the one I voted for. Even though I haven't played it (haven't finished the first game - another robbery victim). So how can I know it's the best game of 2009 if I haven't played it? I've read a lot about this game. And I've listened to what my friends have been saying. It's the game that the first one promised to be. It's the game that changes how you move and play through a game. It's also the game that opens up the game industry to approach their games differently than a standard hack-n-slash or FPS. Much like what BioShock did when it came out. And since I love BioShock why wouldn't I love Assassin's Creed 2 even if I haven't played it?

American Idol duets?

2010-01-19T13:19:00.000-08:00

American Idol is back on the TV again. When it first started I watched the show. And just like everyone else I found the terrible auditions too grossly fascinating to turn away from. Even Simon Cowell's retorts were entertaining. But that gets old rather fast. There just so much of a train wreck you can watch before it doesn't effect you any more. And besides, they make everyone sing as a solo artist.

What about those people that are already in a band but want to try out? Ditch the band. They don't want them. Why not an American Idol duets show? There have been lots of musical duos and trios through out history. Simon and Garfunkel, Hall & Oats, Captain and Tennille, Sony and Cher and don't forget c5ride and El Sand Dog. What you haven't heard of them?

As far as I know they've only had one very limited performance and I was lucky enough to be in attendance. Allow me to set the scene.

We were infiltrating (or was that defending?) the Sub Base in Modern Warfare 2. c5ride took exception to some of the opposing teams performances and proceeded to voice his frustrations so loudly that I think Russia put their finger to the button until they figured out what was going on. Once all negative emotions were purged from his system c5ride got really quiet. That usually means he's going to jump out as soon as the game is over, whether the rest of the party does or not. In the silence that followed Sand Dog yelled for one of us on the team to turn around. That's not unusual, but what followed was.

Very softly, in a quiet but controlled voice, with just the right amount of emotional angst, we heard someone sing "every now and then I get a little bit lonely and you're never coming around". Someone picked up on the line and said "Turn around" again. At which point we heard "Every now and then I get a little bit terrified but then I see the look in your eyes". By then Sand Dog picked up on it and kept repeating "turn around" to which the rest of the time we would hear another verse.

It took me a while before I realized that it was c5ride singing the verses to Total Eclipse of the Heart. It just seemed so unlike him. But his quiet voice with Sand Dog's deep part made a perfect performance in my ears. Of course I laughed so hard that I died three times in a row, which didn't help our cause (a losing one, by the way) at all. After c5ride's eruption something like this was so far from what I expected. I mean, who knew he had it in him? I laughed so hard I thought I was going to hyperventilate. If it's possible to have an enjoyable loss this would be a perfect example.

It's also one of those memories that has been cemented in my brain and will stay there until the day I die. I might even be on my death bed and a grieving family member might innocently tell me to "turn around" from the light. The smile that will grace my lips won't be because of the peace and love that white light might bring, but this single memory of c5ride and Sand Dog's one night only performance. And if that's the case, than my last memory would be a very happy one.

So if American Idol ever does decide to have a duets competition I'd willing to contribute funds or services to get c5ride and Sand Dog back together for an audition. I know they'd do well. And I'm sure their performance wouldn't be the train wrecks we've all come to enjoy. But then again, maybe their sound is an acquired taste. Either way I'd buy one of their albums. I wonder what song they'll sing tonight. And do they take requests? I can't wait to find out.

Gamer's alter egos and hidden identities

2010-01-11T14:39:00.000-08:00

Super heroes have alter egos and hidden identities. So why can't gamers? Superman hides behind glasses and the name of Clark Kent. Spiderman is know by Peter Parker. Even Dr. Jekyll had a Mr. Hyde. Okay, not quite the same but you get the idea. If you spend any time playing online games with an open microphone you know that sometimes gamers have alter egos and hidden identities too. And we're not just talking about descriptive gamertags.

There are mild mannered, polite husbands and fathers who turn into raving mad men when something sets them off. It could be snipers and knifers and glitchers oh, my! It could be friends jumping out of a game just before the last kill because they don't want to take a particularly bad loss. At those times that sweet, polite, considerate, jolly good, well mannered individual becomes a raving, slobbering, ranting, poo-flinging lunatic. And that might be a mild case.

And what do I do when grown men de-evolve to poo-flinging monkeys?

I laugh.

I'm sorry, I can't help it. Every time I experience the transformation to Mr. Hyde from someone's previous Dr. Jekyll I'm reminded of the song "One Week" by Bare Naked Ladies. The line in particular is "I can't help it if I think you're funny when you're mad". That just sums it up right there. They rant and snarl and nash teeth. I laugh like a hyena. Hopefully with my mic muted.

I'm not an angry person. And I'm about as patient a person as you can find (sometimes I think that's a fault and not a virtue). But yes, sometimes I get pissed off while playing video games. I express my displeasure with a carefully chosen word or two and then the moment has passed and I've put it all behind me. Listening to my friends erupt in a fiery bit of verbal diarrhea strikes me as totally hilarious when it comes from those mild mannered friends. And from those that constantly spew their eternal dislike and hatred towards a game or player don't stay on my friends list for long.

I've had players direct some of their venom towards me. Friends and strangers alike. Strangers do it because they're ignorant assholes. My friends have done it out of frustration. Do I hate them for it. No. It just makes me uncomfortable and self-conscious, but I know it's based on something I should have done, or something I shouldn't have done. I usually deserve it. But all eruptions directed towards me are mild little bubbles compared to other Mr. Hyde appearances.

Do I wish we could all just along? Sure. But then where would I get my nightly entertainment when Mount Saint MadMax erupts? I know my friends are not Mr. Hydes in real life. And as long as they continue to be Dr. Jekyll they'll stay on my friends list. Remember, "I can't help it if I think you're funny when you're mad". Just don't be offended (and start yelling at me) if I start laughing when you start slinging poo around. And maybe one day you'll see what form my alter ego/hidden identity takes on. I just might surprise you.

New Poll - Best game of 2009 was . . .

2010-01-08T14:30:00.001-08:00

Here's a new poll for you. I've limited the choices to those games that are playable on systems I owned . . . or use to own. That leaves any PS3 and Nintendo DS games out.

Best game of 2009 was . . .

Assassin's Creed II
Halo 3: ODST
Call of Duty: Modern Warefare 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Dragon Age: Origin
Borderlands
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

Vote for your favorite and feel free to tell me what you think in the comments section. Especially if your favorite isn't on my list.

New Year - New Gaming Goals?

2010-01-06T09:33:00.000-08:00

I'm not specifically setting "New Years Resolutions" as I've mentioned before but this time of year has made me look at what some of my Gaming Goals are . . . I mean were. Since the burglary 5 out of my 10 Gaming Goals are now unobtainable. Isn't that nice.

Those goals were 1) finish Final Fantasy VII, 2) All achievements in both Lego Star Wars games, 3) Finish Lost Odyssey, 4) Finish Insane mode with Evil Ric on Gears of War (he sold his game back - how rude) and 5) play Final Fantasy X-2 along with metallicorphan (is he even playing it?). I can't do anything about working on those goals because I don't have the games or systems to play them on. And who knows when that problem will be fixed.

One of those goals on my list was achieved and replaced by a similar goal. I achieved a gamer score of 11,111 and replaced that goal with a new goal to achieve a gamer score of 12,345. Unfortunately I got to a point where I needed an achievement ending in either a 3 or an 8 to get my number just right. The only achievement I had available to me to do that was the "Dupliclone Dash" in Cloning Clyde. It is worth 18 points. The achievement is to finish levels 1-24 and 10 challenge levels under the goal time. Yeah right.

While I think that game is hilarious and fun to play there is no way I was going to be able to get that achievement without going over the goal of 12,345 while playing other games. I have problems with sheep. They're not meant to be ridden. And you're not meant to turn into one. Maybe, eventually, I'll figure out how to play those levels but I realized, with 48 more points to go, that getting my gamer score to exactly 12,345 wasn't going to happen. I put that in my rear view mirror and played on. You live and learn.

There was one goal on my list that I achieved thanks to Kralon. It was to get one of your bankrolls up to $100,000 in Texas Hold 'em. I was almost there a long time ago before they reset the leaderboards and thus your multiplayer bankrolls. I think I was somewhere around $80-90,000. So close and yet so far. When I got that goal I totally forgot it was on my list so I never got around to crossing it off and replacing it was something else.

Some goals are still currently obtainable. And those that are currently on "hiatus" I'm going to have to think long and hard about putting them back on the list when I get my insurance claim straightened out. Games like the two Lego Star Wars. In order for me to get all the achievements I'm going to have to go back and replay all story levels, free play levels, and most of the challenge levels (I was up to RotJ ewok level minus all flight levels). In addition to unlocking all characters, ships, extras and hints. And then I could finish the challenge levels I hadn't done the first time and those special extra levels for each movie and the Lego City and battle arenas. I was so close to finishing the game that I'm not sure I want to put all that time and effort into it again just to get to where I was before I lost my game save.

And then there was Lost Odyssey. If you ever hear me talking about "the one that got away" it will be this game. I've lamented in the past about how many times I've restarted games even when I didn't have to. Lost Odyssey would have been the first game (of any genre) that I started AND finished all in one play through. No restarting for this one. Until the burglary. I was on disk 4 when I lost the game. All areas were open to me and I think I only had one more door/magic seal for Tolten to touch to restore his royal heritage or whatever. After making it through the temple (with your party split in two) I was spending my time going back through older areas to finish side quests and find missing dreams. I had just over 100 hours in that game. Now it is all gone. Do I really want to play those 100 hours all over again just to get to where I left off? Is it worth it when there are so many other new games out there that I would love to try out? I just don't know any more.

I will keep my Gaming Goal to finish Final Fantasy VII. I kind of have to even though I don't have the game anymore. I have a pact with dain about that one (not that I think he's working on his game at the moment). But Evil no longer owns Gears of War and we were half way through the game on insane, do we really want to replay all those earlier levels just to get back to where we left off (even if he is willing to rent it one weekend to play with me)? And I haven't checked in with mettalicorphan on his progress in FF X-2. I just don't see the point any more.

And that's what I hate most about the burglary.

It's not the smashed door. That was fixed. Or the lost items. Those will be replaced . . . eventually. It's all those game saves I lost. All that time and effort for nothing. It wasn't wasted at the time, but now it seems like it was. I have glorious memories of finally beating a tough boss in a fight after trying 6 or 7 times. Or a touching moment in a game when something critical was reveal and a piece of the puzzle fell into place. Game save gone. Memory useless.

If I replay those battles or moments in the story it just won't be the same. I want to pick up where I left off not have to drudge through battles and cut scenes I've already seen or played. And I had so many games that I was in the middle of playing that there was never going to be enough time to play what I already had, let alone work on the games I owned that I hadn't yet played. Especially with great new games coming out.

Maybe when/if I ever get things settled with the insurance company I'll take a week off of work and do nothing but play video games. Will I be caught up then? Not a chance. And that's no even addressing the decision of which game do I start playing first. Right now I want to play them all. At the same time. I miss my games.

Until I know what is happening with my claim I don't think I'll be making any more new Gaming Goals, even to replace the ones I've already finished. But there is one I can keep working on no matter how many (or how few) systems and games I actually own and/or play. That is to post a new blog entry three times a week. I'll really work on that one going forward. Even if I don't have any games to talk about. After all it is "Life of a Gamer Girl" and there's more to life than video games.

Ha Ha!

Yeah, I didn't think so either.

Poll Results - 2 for the price of 1

2010-01-05T14:34:00.000-08:00

Okay, here are the poll results:

If all of your gaming equipment was stolen what would you do with your new free time?

Buy all new equipment/games immediately and keep playing = 4 votes
Curl up in the fetal position and cry like a baby = 1 vote
Knit all my friends beanie hats = 0 votes
Learn to read a book again = 0 votes
Reintroduce myself to my family = 2 votes
Investigate this thing they call sunshine = 0 votes

What is the best multiplayer game(s) ever?
Halo = 1 vote
Star Wars Battlefront = 4 votes
Call of Duty series = 1 vote
Gears of War series = 0 votes
Counter Strike = 0 votes

And the winner is . . .

Actually I don't think there's any clear cut winner. For either question. But let's start with the first one, shall we?

Some @#$% idiots broke into my house and stold all my gaming equipment I had out. System's gone. Games gone. Controllers gone. Memory cards gone. As much as I wanted to immediately go out and rebuy everything I'm not made of money and it doesn't grow on trees. I would need to wait until the insurance company comes through. And unfortunately I'm still waiting. If anyone wants to be my Sugar Daddy to help with this I'd make it very worth it to you. *wink wink* Needless to say I didn't vote for the spending spree.

I didn't vote for knitting, reading, family or sunshine either. I don't know how to knit, but I do know how to crochet. I already know how to read (although I haven't been doing much of that in the last two years). I use to read 24-36 books a year. Now I'm lucky if I read 10. I already spend a lot of time with family. Sometimes it feels like too much. They just wear me out. Kids'll do it. And sunshine? Where I live there's sunshine 330+ days a year. I could do with a few clouds and doom and gloom every now and then.

I did vote for curling up in the fetal position and crying like a baby. Did I actually do that? No. I've only cried twice over this whole fiasco. Once when I first got home (after having thrown up at the grocery store on the way home from work) and I was on the phone with my dad. I think 5 or 6 tears fell. I cried again later that night (much later) while the glass guy was repairing the door. I was tired. I was sick. And all I wanted to do when I got home was take a nap on the couch for a couple of hours. Instead I had to go through all that mess. I hadn't eaten anything all day. I was exhausted. And people were parading through my house like it was a circus. Some invited. Others not. I laid on the couch and used my remaining strength not to break down into hysterical sobbing. Every now and then a tear slipped through. Another 5 or 6 perhaps. Once the glass guy and my dad left at 11:30pm I finally had some peace and quiet . . . and a dog who was wound up from all the excitement and unhappy that she had been locked away in a room while everyone came and went.

Now for the second poll.

I didn't vote in this one.

Oops.

My first instinct was to vote for Battlefront. I'm a huge Star Wars fan and Battlefront is also the first online game I played. Much like Zak and Halo. But I didn't want my unbridled passion for anything Star Wars to influence my decision so I wanted to think on the matter a couple of days before voting. And then time ran out.

I looked at the influence Halo has had over online gaming. Good and bad. I looked at the staying power of the Call of Duty series and the fact that 2 separate developers are keeping that series alive and kicking . . . or sometimes a more rambling, lurching walk of the dead. But if any game or series would make he question Battlefront for content it would be Gears of War. That game is second only to Battlefront in how many hours/days/months/years of sleepless nights I put in playing it. While some will quibble over some of the technical aspects of the game I still like it. Always have. Always will. End of discussion. But I couldn't forget the splash Counter Strike and the various clones of the game and the effect that had on multiplayer mash-ups. So many good choices . . . no more time to vote.

If I had it open for one more day to vote I would have picked Battlefront. Even though the sequel wasn't as fun as the first one I can't think of an older game that has carried on in the multiplayer online gaming world as Star Wars Battlefront has. And I think it might have the most anticipated sequel known to man . . . Battlefront 3 if/when it ever gets made. One can dream, right?

A very special thanks goes out to . . .

2009-12-17T12:29:00.001-08:00

I knew I shouldn't have done a "thank you" post. Someone in particular has been down right whiny about being left off. But I'm not going to name names (just check out the last person listed). Like I said in that post, I didn't want to list everybody but I'll include a few more here (some that I forgot initially and someone because they deserve it, good or bad.

Thanks to:
MadMax for being the first person I befriended when I got my Xbox 360; introducing me to another girl gamer (his wife) and for immediately chatting me up to see how I was doing after the break in. It's nice to know someone you've never met does care. But harder to flirt with when you're friends with his wife.

Thanks to:
CyberWrat for always willing to help and give pointers to someone who picks up a game completely out of their comfort zone and skill set. And who still plays like a noobie. And for asking me about "Dark Matter". You're my mech-knight-in-shining-armor. (Those treads look good on you, by the way.)

Thanks to:
Snakes Venom for wanting to know where we first met (typical guy). And making me relive those happy memories at a time when there wasn't much happiness to go around.

Thanks to:
Double Blind for making a girl feel sexy even bundled up in heavy winter clothes. Tonight I might be able to fulfill that holiday wish you asked for. You know where to find me.

AND A VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Pogue Moran for reminding me that this world is filled with idiots, jerks, jackasses and pussies (his word, not mine). For taking the heat and then turning the temperature up. For being caustic, annoying, grating but still lovable and funny at the same time (mostly). For pimping his site Xbox 360 Gaming World until I finally joined. And for all the friends I've made from there. I thank him for sticking up for me when strangers attack my gameplay. I thank him for his one liner come backs and that he knows so many gamer's mothers. I thank him for being single and being able to flirt with him shamelessly without guilt. Maybe someday his wildest fantasies (and my worst nightmares) might come true and we'll meet. I'm thankful he lets me rib him (and no, I didn't say rub him) constantly and doesn't take it personally. While it might be somewhat embarrassing to admit this in public, but Pogue Moran is a good guy. AND IT'S HIS BIRTHDAY TODAY!!!!!! Happy Birthday! Merry Christmas! And thank you!

There, are you happy now?

New Poll - Spare time and Best Multi-player

2009-12-16T09:32:00.000-08:00

TWO POLLS! Two for the price of one. Because I'm lazy and generous all at the same time.

Poll #1

If all your gaming equipment was stolen what would you do with all your new free time?

Immediately buy new systems/games and keep playing
Curl up in the fetal position and cry like a baby
Knit all my friends beanie hats for Christmas
Learn how to read a book again
Introduce myself to my family again
Investigate this thing they call sunshine

Poll #2

What is the best multi-player game(s) ever?

Halo series
Star Wars Battlefront series
Call of Duty series
Gears of War series
Counter Strike

You have until just after Christmas to vote in both polls.

Am I girly enough?

2009-12-03T11:35:00.000-08:00

Am I girly enough to ask for the metallic pink DS Lite for xmas? I like the color but it just looks like I should be 8 years old with curls or pigtails in my hair and an old Barbie in my pocket when I look at it.

On the other hand am I "mature" enough for the more adult looking metallic blue/onyx color? I also like that one. But I don't want to settle.

Not that I'll get either of them, but what do you think?

Spouses as wildlife?

2009-12-02T07:12:00.000-08:00

I'm not married so I couldn't relate personally to this, but I still thought the latest Pearls Before Swine blog entry was funny. For some reason it made me think of MadMax and Hell Weasell. I wonder why that is.

What I am thankful for . . .

2009-11-25T11:23:00.000-08:00

There doesn't seem like much to be thankful for, game related, this year. Having someone break into my house and steal all my video games and systems just sucks. But I've been thinking, and there are some things I'm thankful for. Like:

1) killafoola
He's the first person that let me follow him around in Star Wars Battlefront and really learn how to play the game when I was a noobie. I sucked, but he didn't mind. I learned a lot from him. Tactics I still use today.

2) Evil Ric
He's the first person to ever talk to me during a video game that wasn't related to me. I think he's also the first person to send me a friend request instead of me sending one to them. And believe it or not we're still friends and we talk almost every night. I guess if he can stand me after 5+ years maybe there's something lovable about me after all. (Of course he might tend to disagree with that.)

3) MasvHdWndHarry
During a rather troublesome Gears of War public match (on Escalation) some of the other members of our team (not friends of either of us) started barking at me and what a horrible player I was. Masv stood up to them and let them have it. I've always remember that and I can't tell you how much his chivalry has meant to me. Then and now.

4) El Sand Dog
When I play with him I always feel good about how I play . . . even if I suck. He just has a way to make even your most embarrassing, or game losing mishaps, nonstressful and totally hilarious. He's the only one I played Wingman with that asked my opinion about what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go. He never strayed far from me either. We were a team. And I got an achievement for that. Besides, all he has to say to me is "How you doing?" and I get all tingling inside.

5) Hell Weasell
I love his sense of humor. He disarms you with his quiet, calm nature, but man he lets off some zingers. He's cracked me up on more than one occasions and sometimes during a bad night of gaming his comebacks might be the only reason why I stick around. And even though I'm a girl and I'm not suppose to be reading his "Bro Code" entries on his profile, I just have to say I love them. I hope he's saved them.

And my list could go on and on, but there's one more I'm thankful for that might seem a little strange.

6) c5ride
c5 gets a little excited and intense when he plays games. And when I do something stupid, which is not hard to do for me, it's not uncommon to hear "Pengwenn, what were you thinking?" or "Pengwenn, where were you?" or even "Pengwenn, for the love of all that's holy why didn't you kill that guy?". You would think I wouldn't be thankful for getting yelled out, but I am in a way. Thankful that he hasn't removed me from his friend's list because of my stupid game play. There might come a time in the future when he does, but for right now I take that fact that I'm still on his friends list to mean that I'm not a complete ass when I play.

It's not much to be thankful for when it comes to playing video games, but when all your stuff gets stolen you take what you can get. And for those of you not specifically mentioned I'm thankful for you too. If I listed everyone on my friends list and what they mean to me I might overload blogspot's servers and crash the site. I am thankful for you all. And I mean that. "Truly. Madly. Deeply." And if you can guess what movie that last part is from I'll be even more grateful to you. And I mean that too.

So what are you thankful for?

No more snip, snip?

2009-11-24T14:36:00.000-08:00

If you haven't figured it out yet I'm a huge fan of the comic strip Pearls Before Swine. The cartoonist also has a blog and I thought today's entry was hilarious. And after the day I had today I needed something to laugh at. (And I don't mean my co-workers.)

Your comic for the day

2009-11-19T09:46:00.000-08:00

Based on some recent conversations with friends, I thought today's strip from Pearls Before Swine was hilarious. But then again, maybe it's just me. See for yourself.

If you got my message...

2009-11-09T15:25:00.000-08:00

If you got my message respond here.

Poll Results - Befriending based on gamer pic/avatar

2009-11-03T15:14:00.000-08:00

Better late than never, right? Here's the latest poll results and (what you've all been waiting for) my opinion.

Have you ever befriended someone based on their gamer picture or avatar?

Yes, their gamer picture was hot = 0 votes
Yes, their avatar was hot = 0 votes
Yes, their gamer picture AND avatar were hot = 0 votes
No, I don't like making friends = 8 votes

With my system crapping out around the time of this poll I can't remember if I voted or not. If I did I would have/did vote for "No, I don't like making friends". And based on how everyone else voted it's kind of amazing that any of us have people on our friends list.

Here's how the poll started.

I was messing around with my avatar trying to find something I liked. I went into the game based extras that you can get to trick out your avatar. Nothing really excited me (except for the lightsaber, but I'm too cheap). I had a small odd amount of points to use so I bought a corset from Fable II. Then I started building an outfit and an avatar around that. I wasn't happy with the results but I left things alone for a couple of days to think about it.

In those couple of days you wouldn't believe the number of friends request I got from total strangers. It seemed that every match I played (no matter what game) someone would send me a message about my avatar or send a friend request. Some I deleted right out. Some I gave a chance too. And some have since been deleted. But it got me thinking.

I remember when our friends list was limited to, I think, 99 people. I had a friend who I have played with since the old Star Wars Battlefront days that didn't have room on his list to add me once I got my 360. He had to delete someone to make room. In the original Xbox, and prior to Party chat on the Xbox 360, you would be stuck in a room listening to everyone who was playing on your team. Sometimes that was good. Some times that was down right horrible. But despite that, I picked up a few friends along the way.

Not having the ability to restrict who I talked to like we can in a Party Chat I got to know MadMax, c5ride, Fbody, cyberWRAT, and a number of other people who are now on my friends list. Since we started to have the ability to use Party Chat I haven't been able to listen, talk to, or get to know anyone I'm playing with outside of my chat circle. Since then my friends list has remained pretty much static. Until I changed my avatar.

Thus the idea for my poll was born.

If we're not talking and getting to know someone via their game play, how else are we making friends? Maybe it's their gamertag (see the "hot chick" posts I did awhile ago). Maybe it's their gamer picture. Maybe it's their avatar. Apparently, based on this poll, nobody likes to make friends.

It's not that I'm not happy with the friends I've already got. You all keep me very entertained on a nightly basis. But sometimes a girl would like a friend who will finish an old game (like Gears of War) on insane mode because she can't do it alone. But, NOOOOOO, that friend is going to trade that game in to get Modern Warfare 2. Come on! My friendship can't be traded in for the latest game out there.

Or maybe a girl just wants a friend to kick back with and play a little arcade game every now and then. Gauntlet is sooooo much better when played with friends. And there's so many arcade games to choose from. I'm just saying.

But if any of you are wondering if your avatar is hot enough to get someone's attention, my dog, Zoe, really likes to jump up to the screen and stare at cyberWRAT, Genghis Khan, MasvHdWndHarry, and Zenra Nukenin's avatars. She hasn't seen Zenra's Halloween wolf yet so maybe she'd change her vote if she did.

Day 3 and beyond of Xbox 360 Purgatory

2009-10-28T15:36:00.000-07:00

So, my first couple of days didn't go so well back on the PS2. It's certainly not the consoles fault. I'm just a little rusty with the system. Everything will go much better now. Right?

Not exactly. I gave up on Half-Life. I just wasn't in the mood to replay the opening part again for at least the 4th time. Time for a new game. So I put in SSX Tricky. If there's any game that could get me out of this funk that would be the game to do it.

Except I couldn't get my controller to activate. No matter what buttons I pushed or how many times I plugged the controller in and out it just wouldn't do anything in the game. So I took the game out and put in another one. After all the controller worked during Half-Life so that couldn't be the problem. Right?

I put in TimeSplitters. If SSX Tricky couldn't do anything for me TimeSplitters should be able to pick up the slack. When the game booted up my controller wouldn't work in that game either.

Maybe there's nothing wrong with the game, but something is wrong with my controller.

So I now I had to figure out where my extra Playstation controllers were kept. I still have boxes I haven't unpacked, could they be in one of them? Or maybe there in a box or plastic crate that I have opened up, but just haven't done anything with. And then it hit me. I unpacked a bag of extra controllers for all my systems, along with extra cords of all kinds, and placed it behind the TV. After pulling out the bag and rummaging around for a Playstation controller I finally found one and plugged it in. I was ready to play. And it worked.

I played through the first mission in the story mode of TimeSplitters before I got bored (it's just not the same playing by yourself) and then went back to SSX Tricky. I picked the character Zoe (because of my dog) and headed down the first mountain as a refresher course. I was starting to hang of it so I started the second race. That was when the real Zoe decided the only place she wanted to be right then was sitting on my lap. And the only thing she wanted to be doing was licking my hands. I couldn't get her to stop. And I couldn't play while she did it. So I turned the system off, turned the TV on, and let my dog get comfortable in my lap. Twenty minutes later she was off to play with her Wubbie, but I was too tired of hassling with things just to play a video game that I didn't bother turning the system back on.

The next day, after work when I had a chance to play again, I decided I was going to play an RPG. And old RPG. The kind of game that got me hooked as a gamer in the first place. So I took some time and flipped through my book of games trying to decide which game to play.

I wanted a game to get lost in the story. If it was something I had already started I didn't want to be too far along in the game because I either wouldn't know what was going on or I would have to restart it and play through parts I had already done. That left a lot of the Final Fantasy games.

I also didn't want to play a game that was on 4 disks. I wanted something quick and not something that would take months to play through. That left out .dot Hack, the Final Fantasy games (again), Xenosaga (even through their multiple "games" it's still one story line to me) and number of other games as well. I also eliminated the Grandia series even though their not 4 disks in length. If I played the first one I might very well want to move on to the later ones as well and then when would I play my 360 when I get it back?

After a couple of other elimination rounds I had it narrowed down to my two Arc the Lad games or Chrono Trigger (and then Chrono Cross if my system was out that long). On the one had I had played through Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits and I think I got to the end but I couldn't beat the final boss. I didn't have the right armor or weapons and I was caught in an area that wouldn't let me leave to go find them. So I had restarted the game (see, I'm always restarting games) making sure I keep the required weapons/armor for that final boss. And then stopped about a quarter of the way through the game. I didn't want to start from scratch again, but since I've already played the game it didn't have that much appeal for me this time.

On the other hand I really wanted to play Chrono Cross, but that's a game I've started at least 3 times that I can remember. I love that game. But I have a problem with that game. I'm a completionist at heart so I want to collect every single playable character there is in the game. But once I have them in my party I have a hard time managing all their skills and growth. I get overwhelmed. Find out I missed picking up another characters. So I restart the game with a specific game play in place for when I pick up new characters. I love working with the battle system and field effects. But I have a hard time picking the right characters for the right battles. If I played this game I know I'd want to start all over again, but the first 2-3 hours of that game are boring because I've played them so many times.

So after looking at all the pros and cons I decided on playing Chrono Trigger. It's a game I don't think I've played (although the first 10 minutes looked a little familiar, but maybe I just watched dain play the game) and I didn't have a saved game file for. I could start fresh. Yeah!

I put the disk in, played for 41 minutes (according to the save file) before I got to a good stopping point before going to bed. But before I went to bed I remembered I had the strategy guide for this book and I should probably get it out to have handy just in case I get stuck. Once I got it out I started flipping through it and found out that I had missed exploring half of the opening area, missed out on half of the mini-games at the fair, and didn't do one of the things I would need to do later on in the game. Great. Re-start anyone?

I went to bed debating whether I should re-start the game (great, another re-start) or just make do with what I've done so far. One of the things I failed to do (win a clone of yourself) I could do later on in the game but would be harder to get. Plus I had spent all my meager gil on items that I didn't have enough to fully equip myself when I set out. If I had explored the other areas mentioned in the book I would have had the money to get everything I wanted and I would be better prepared for battles to come. What to do?

After a long day at work I decided I would re-start the game, explore all the areas available to me, have a hand at all the mini-games in the fair and win myself a clone. Like I said I'm a completionist at heart. When I got to the same point where I had saved before it had only added 20+ minutes to my game, but it was well worth it. I had enough gil to buy anything and everything I wanted and I had mastered two Techs, whereas the book recommended one. And every since then that is all I have been playing. When I get further into it I might post a review.

I should have my 360 back by this weekend, if not sooner. Until then I'll keep playing Chrono Trigger and maybe I can finish it. And maybe I'll just keep my PS2 out so I can play other games. Every now and then.

Days 1 and 2 of Xbox 360 Purgatory

2009-10-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

So my Xbox 360 died and I had to send it back. This leaves me in some kind of purgatory. Do I wait until my console comes back? Do I buy (another) back up because it's going to be awhile? You knows.

What I do know is that the first time I had to send my original console in for repair all my friends who had done them same said it took them 1-3 months before they got their system back. I couldn't wait that long. So I bought a back up. Who knew that I would get my original system back a week and half from the date I dropped it off at the UPS store?

It worked out to kaiakapero's advantage when I let him borrow my original, while I played on my backup. Then within in the last couple of months kai's died (again) and I had to make arrangements to send that back. That time also only took a week and half to two weeks for the total turn around time (even though he was out of a system much longer because I didn't send it in right away).

So how much time will it take this time?

Who knows.

This time it's a different error. The dreaded "E 74" error. And probably related to the graphic chip set. This isn't going to be an easy fix. Will they repair my console, which could take awhile, and then ship it back? Or once they receive my console, ship back a different one that they have already repaired? I hope not. In the mean time I'm left to wonder how long it will take before I have an Xbox 360 back to play on.

In the meantime I've decided to pull out my PS2 and catch up on some old games. It hasn't gone well so far.

Day 1:
After watching TV and eating a relaxing dinner I pulled out my PS2 and dusted it off. Then I had to hook it up. Apparently that wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. The TV cable wasn't connected in the back and I didn't feel like moving everything around to get back there to connect it. The multi-cable system I had in the front didn't seem to want to connect all the way in. I couldn't figure out which TV a/v input channel to put the TV on. I had a hard time finding a controller. But finally I got to turn it on and start the gaming. At least that's what I thought.

I realized that I needed a game disk in order to play something on the PS2. I know that sounds funny, but with all the Arcade games I own on the 360 there's tons of games I can start playing immediately without having to bother with a disk. And don't get me started on carrying around a CORDED controller again.

I pulled out my binder with all my PS and PS2 (and original Xbox) games and had to dust that off as well. Then I started flipping through all those pages of games. So many choices . . . so little time. I finally decided on Bust-A-Move '99. Why? because it was towards the front (alphabetically) and it would be a quick, easy transition into the Dual Shock controller. Except that it wasn't quick.

The load times were terrible. I think I sat and waiting for screens to load longer than I actually played the game. If this was what the system was like for a simple bubble popping game what would an RPG or FPS be like? I couldn't remember.

After my frustrated warm up I decided to put in a game that would give me a greater sense of achievement (unfortunately without the beep and a little pop up box). I pulled out Final Fantasy Tactics. I loved that game and I've played it recently on my PSP so the game mechanics were familiar to me even if I hadn't played it on the PS since 2007 (according to the save game file). Even though I didn't spend a whole lot of time getting familiar with my current cast of characters I picked some out and jumped into my first battle. Big mistake!

On the map there was a high wall that separated my team from the enemy. Unfortunately I didn't have anyone with a high enough jump skill to get on top of that wall or anyone with a range to cast a spell past that wall (or more than a couple of squares away). Within three rounds my whole team was dead except for one and he wasn't going to last until his next turn. I killed the power, called it night and went to bed.

Length of gaming session? 30 minutes (at most)

Day 2:
This day I was going to be prepared. I thought long and hard about what I was going to do and I had a plan. I was going to play Half-Life. I've started it several times (like so many of my older games) but hadn't gotten very far. If I just focused on that game and played it every night for a week and a half (based on past experiences) I could be well into the game to continue once my system was back . . . or will have finished the game by then. And if I finished? I could play Half-Life 2 on my Xbox 360. Win-win situation right? Not so fast.

After putting the disk in I got a message that it couldn't read the disk. Oh great. Is my PS2 going to die too? Or maybe there's just too much dust collected inside for it to work properly. I took the disk out, made sure there wasn't anything on it and blow into the disk tray. I put the disk back in and after a very long time for the system to be "reading the disk" it finally loaded up. Yeah!

Then I was left with a decision. I had a saved game file but I didn't know where I was in the story (and I couldn't remember the controlls or story line). Do I start over? Or pick up where I left off? I decided to start over.

I rode the tram through the facility and listed to the announcements and sat through annoyingly frequent load screens. I finally got to a put where I could move around and I started off on my merry way. Got my hazard suit on. Headed down the hall. Tried to access a terminal. And got stuck. Literally.

Apparently I tried to access a terminal at the same time a NPC walked up and stood right in front of it. When I tried to walk away my character couldn't move. When I tired hitting the access button all it would do was talk to the NPC. So I decided to wait until he moved off. Surely I could move then. Unfortunately he couldn't walk away because I was stuck right behind him. Great. I can't move until he moves. But he can't move until I move. I'm having so much fun.

NOT!

I decided to load the save file and see where that put me. Apparently I didn't make it through the training the last time I played.

Power off.

And goodnight to ya all.

Length of gaming session? 30 minutes (at most)

I think this is going to be a long week and a half. And for my own sanity I hope it doesn't take longer than that before I get my Xbox 360 back. If any of you have any suggestions of other, more productive, things to do with my time let me know. Or if you have older games you'd like me to play and review/chronicle my woes in drop a line in the comments. Who knows what I'll play tonight. If I get to play anything at all.

Zombies!? Are you kididng me?

2009-10-21T16:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, I promised you a post about zombies . . . and it's going to be a whopper. But first I think you need some back ground info.

On a writing forum I'm a member of we've been having a discussion about the appeal of vampires (and how they've changed through history) as they're portrayed in the media (books, movies, etc.) these days. The more we talked about it the more I realized that from a geek/nerd perspective, it's not vampires, but zombies. We love our undead. Just look at all the zombie killing games that are out there. Hunter the Reckoning, Resident Evil, Left for Dead, Zombie Apocalypse, Dead Space and even Call of Duty: World at War. Just to name a few.

But unlike vampires, the undead have remained creepy. There's no love story between a lonely female human and the undead, but handsome, creature she stumbles across. If one of the undead (handsome or not . . . and usually not) stumbled across a human (male or female) the only thing going through whatever passes for their brains would be "Mmmmm, warm flesh, me hungry". And that doesn't bode well for the human.

With that said, that very same night I had that brilliant epiphany (I thought it was brilliant) I got an email from Borders Books with the subject line "Star Wars and Zombies". Eh? At first glance I thought they were trying to put those two ideas together, but then I figured it was poor editing/proofreading on someone's part and what they were trying to say was "we have new Star Wars books and new Zombie books". It is, after all, the Halloween season. And there's no shortage of suckers for anything Star Wars. As a geek AND a nerd (and a sucker) when it comes to Star Wars I opened up the email and found this book:

My first thought was "Oh, it looks creepy". Then I read the plot details.

Apparently the subject line of the email was not an error, but in fact there are now zombies inhabiting the Star Wars universe. Zombies? In Star Wars? Are you kidding me?

The story is about some virus that spreads rapidly through a prison transport space barge and turns troopers/prisoners into zombies. Seriously? We've seen that before. Hunter the Reckoning happens with inmates in a prison. Dead Space has zombies in space. Now you mix those two together, throw them into the Star Wars Universe and WRITE A BOOK ABOUT IT? Are you kidding me?

Have the geeks and nerds of this world become so infatuated with zombies (like teen girls and the Twilight novels/movies) that we have to tarnish the most Holy of all geek/nerd-doms with zombies? Is that what is going to keep the Star Wars universe relevant to today's kids? Or is Lucas Arts that hard pressed for fresh original ideas that they decided one day "let's add zombies to Star Wars and see what the fans think"?

Well, this fan (and one who buys everything/anything Star Wars related) was revolted. I wanted to throw up. I felt like my innocent childhood of big dreams and epic space operas had been violated . . . by a lurching mass of the undead. Yes, I will most likely read this book. After all I am a Star Wars geek/nerd to the tenth power. Do I think this book will be an entertaining read? Possibly. Will it be great literature? I doubt it. But then again someone did put zombies in Pride and Prejudice. I guess they had to do something to get kids these days to read.