Thursday, November 29, 2007

101 Friends?!

Ok, so I watched some of the Cowboys/Packers game tonight. There's weird thing number 1. I don't usually watch football, but the hype sucked Rhea and I in, so we watched the first half. Then she fell asleep and I lost interest. :-p

Then I decided I wanted to play some Guitar Hero. I played a few songs, including Monkey Wrench by the Foo Fighters. Then I decided that I wanted to check out Time Shift. I got it in the mail from Gamefly, and it was staring at me like a dog wanting my ham sandwich.

Damn this game is a suckfest so far. The aiming feels weird. I have yet to use any time powers, even though I'm at least 5 minutes into the game.

Honestly, when you know you're game is going to be teh suck, just go ahead and throw in all the good shit into the first 5 minutes. Hook me in so I'll at least want to finish the single player mode. If you can't at least do that, then what's the point?

The other night, I thought I had a dream that I had 101 friends on Xbox Live. Of course, the cap is 100 so I figured it was just a fluke and moved on. Well, when I looked at my friends list tonight, it showed me 1 of 101 friends. WTF?! So, I took a picture of it (which is so easy thanks to my new tv). I wonder if anyone else has experienced this.

101 friends!?

Edit: Cory informed me that "add friend" is counted in your friend list. I guess this isn't news after all. Oh well.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Guitar Hero 2

I currently have enough gaming to last me at least 6 to 8 months. Probably more. I'm not going to buy a new game for quite a while, which should work out well. All of the games coming out for this Christmas should be cheaper by the time I'm in need of something new.

I started an easy career on Guitar Hero 2 last night. I like it a lot. I am really not good, but hopefully I will improve with time. Three buttons is hard, so I can't imagine when they add the 4th and 5th one.

My band name rules. I took a picture of the screen. I think it does it more justice than just me typing it.

gh2

Monday, November 26, 2007

Friends of Friends

Major Nelson revealed one of the new features that will come with the fall dash update next week. It's a pretty underwhelming feature, to be honest. I can see where it would be cool to see who your friends are friends with, and then add anyone that looks cool, but that's about it. And all the most interesting people will probably set it to block this feature, so what's the point?

And what about those of use that are at the 100 friend cap? How does this help us out at all? If there's one feature that's on the top of everyone's list, it's to raise the friend limit. Maybe that will be one of the features that gets revealed before December 4th, but I really doubt it.

This also begs the question, who asked for this feature? Especially when you look at the Xbox Originals being implemented on the same update, it really makes you wonder where the hell these ideas came from. Personally, I'm not going to pay $15 for a game I can get on disc at Gamestop or eBay for under $10. The only game I would even consider is Psychonauts, but when you consider that Microsoft has already come out and said that these games have issues and bugs, it really doesn't give me the confidence to buy.

Of course, this could all be a strategy by Microsoft to get the bad shit out of the way. In a couple days they may roll out clan support or mulitperson chat and we'll forget all about this. Reminds me of what Nintendo did when they announced the name of the Wii. Get the bad news out of the way first.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Saturday, November 24, 2007

New TV!

I call her...Olevia.

tv!

Friday, November 23, 2007

Black Friday

black friday
We were out with the masses this morning for Black Friday. We decided to hit Target around 4 a.m. since they had some pretty good deals. We were 7 or 8 in line, which assured us one of the 37" HDTV's they had on sale for $550. 6 a.m. hit and we had to literally run into the store and grab one. I've never been a part of the actual mad dash that occurs during one of these sales, so I wasn't really expecting it. All the sudden it was just happening and it was pandemonium!

The other things we grabbed were the first 2 seasons of House, Knocked Up, and a few 360 games that were on sale. We also decided to grab a memory foam pillow and digital Christmas ornament just for giggles. We saved a ton of money, which rocks.

Thanksgiving was good. I didn't eat as much as I could have, but that doesn't mean it wasn't delicious. We have a shit load of leftovers in the fridge for the weekend. Good times...good times...

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Zune Social and The Stupidest List Ever

I've been trying to figure out why my Zune card isn't showing all the music I've been listening to on my Zune, and I think I've found the answer.

"Songs will then appear in your recently played list if they meet the following criteria:
  • The song was played on your Zune device or from your collection within the Zune software
  • The song is from an album listed in the All Media Guide (AMG). Visit www.allmusic.com and ensure that the song is listed in AMG.

The following actions will not result in a song play being uploaded to your recently played list:

  • The song was streamed directly from the Zune Marketplace without first being downloaded to your collection
  • The song was a clip played either from the Zune Marketplace or Zune.net
  • The song is from an album that is not listed in the All Media Guide

Playing most songs within your collection will result in a play being uploaded to your recently played list, but there will be some songs that do not. We have worked hard to extend coverage beyond what is currently available in the Zune Marketplace and are committed to expanding the coverage further in the future."

Apparently, it won't appear on your list unless the meta data matches an entry in the All Media Guide. I really have to question the wisdom in this decision. Last.fm doesn't have any kind of restriction like this, and it works great. I was really hoping for more from the Social.

Also, this means that the podcasts you listen to don't show up at all. Wouldn't you want the shows you listen to on your card so that others can subscribe? Makes sense to me, but then again my name isn't J Allard.

Speaking of Microsoft, they posted a list of the 406 reasons to love the Xbox 360. At first glance, you'll notice it's filled with games. Upon closer inspection, you'll see it has multiple entries, pointless tech specs, and omissions galore.

Granted, there are several community sites listed, including 360style.net (thanks to those of you who pointed that out), but sites like Podtacular and XBL Radio are conspicuously absent. Meanwhile, the list is filled with launch titles and Tom Clancy games.

Honestly, some of the items on the list make sense. They are legitimate reasons to love the console. But, since when is Sonic The Hedgehog a reason to love the 360? Or Fusion Frenzy 2? And is anybody really giving thanks for Cars here at the 2 year anniversary?

I don't know who came up with this list, but it's really obvious that they put absolutely zero effort into it. Also, putting it in alphabetical order is just lazy. Put it in order of importance and then we'll talk. At least that will show somebody other than an intern looked at it before it was posted.

By the way, the Burnout Paradise boxart was released today and it's gorgeous!
burnout paradise boxart

Monday, November 19, 2007

Halo 3 Is Hard!

KBB7769 and I played some team doubles again tonight and had our asses handed to us in each match we played. Granted, we should probably choose social games if we just want to have fun, but still.

When we get matched up with a team with matching symbols, we know we're going to get owned. And it's not like we don't have good teamwork. It's just they seem to be able to kill us with so much more efficiency.

And then the trashtalk afterward is always just the most vile thing you can think to say to another human being. It's always about their mother or their asshole or something violating their mother's asshole. And that's just what I say!

Bungie did announce that there will be 3 new maps available in December for the price of 800 Microsoft points. Now considering I paid 800 points for the Gears of War maps and only played them once, I'm probably going to buy these. That being said, it seems like their pulling an EA here. The maps weren't ready for the launch? Even if they were going to be a little late, why are we being charged? And where are the remakes of the classics?

I'm just not a fan of paying for stuff that should have been on the disc. But, I am guilty of paying for said items in the past, so am I not part of the problem?

Sunday, November 18, 2007

GeminiAce.com!

Tonight I finally pulled the trigger on getting my own domain name. I've been thinking about it forever, but never got around to it. I love google and their $10 domain name service! Now if I just knew how to make graphics and stuff, I would really be cooking. I hate using the blogger template.

I'm currently playing Viva Pinata Party Animals. Got it from Gamefly and it's pretty fun. The achievements fall from the sky like candy in this game. The music is annoying as hell, but once you plug in your Zune and turn on some Sick Puppies, it's all good.

Speaking of my Zune, I really don't know what's going on with the Zune cards. I've listened to a shit load of music on my Zune, but when I plug it in and sync, it doesn't show on my card. I even played some Blue October through the Zune player on my (temporary) desktop and it didn't even show up. But, the Incubus I listened to on the first say is still on my card. WTF?! I guess I'm just spoiled by XBox Live and the instant-ness of it all (except in Halo 3 with the screenshots).

By the way, if anybody wants to help me change the look of my blog and make it more personalized, I would really appreciate it.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Carcass Own!

I downloaded Carcassonne for free the other day. I played the bejesus out of it last night. I think I have it all figured out. It's really good and I'm honestly shocked. The music is really bad, tho.

After that, me and KBB7769 played some team doubles last night. We did some major pwning. Noice!

Alana and I will probably be recording episode 49 of ACFriends today. I would really like to make a best of episode for episode 50, but that's a whole lot of work. Oh well.

12085775-Full

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Zune Card

The new Zune software released yesterday. I downloaded it and updated my firmware. I like the new Zune cards. I think this will replace last.fm for me. Unless they create a plug in so I can do both.

http://social.zune.net/member/Gemini+Ace

I'm still waiting to see if a mygamercard.net-type service is launched so I can put my Zune card anywhere. As it stands right now, I don't see a way to embed it anywhere. Hopefully soon.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

MGC.net

I noticed today that MyGamerCard.net has added some new themes. I like new themes for my gamercard!







Friday, November 09, 2007

Skate Tricks Into a Car

DiRT

I got DiRT from Gamefly this week. This game is awesome! I think this is going to be my racing fix for a while. Especially considering I went ahead and bought it from GF for $25. I wasn't too thrilled with the direction the Need for Speed franchise is going anyway.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Bioshock, Halo 3, and skate.

I got a couple achievements in Bioshock tonight. I restarted the game at the medium difficulty level. I made some progress, although I didn't have much more fun doing it. The game really feels like a chore to play. I'm not sure I will continue on much farther, especially considering I am trying to play skate.

I actually did harvest a couple of little sisters tonight and kill a big daddy. The first one was pretty creepy. They say you get more adam by harvesting, but I didn't notice anything. I want eve, not adam. I notice more and more things about the game that just don't make sense to me. It better not get Game of the Year.

What sucks is that my gamerscore is 12999. Couldn't quite get over that 13k hump, now could I? This is all Luxor's fault!

Speaking of skate, I really like it so far. It's such a refreshing change from the Tony Hawk games. I really feel like my skill (or lack thereof) is what is driving the game forward. The challenges are hard, but not too hard. I really feel a sense of accomplishment when I finally complete a challenge.

Anyway, I played some Halo 3 tonight. It's been like 2 weeks since I last played. I noticed that a bunch of my screenshots finally showed up on my service record. Not all of them, but some of them. Hopefully Bungie is listening to the problems people are having.

10826615-Full

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Blue October FTW!

The Blue October concert last night was awesome! Unfortunately, the other bands in the line up were not equally as awesome and I will tell you why.

First, I'm pissed because The Edge came in and messed up what was supposed to be a Blue October show and turned it into the "Hulabaloo". When we bought our tickets, the only bands on the bill were Shiny Toy Guns, Yellowcard, and Blue October. Well, in the Edge's great wisdom, they decided that there needed to be 3 more bands on the bill and that the whole thing needed to start at 5 o'clock. Who can get there at 5 on a Friday?!

Granted, the bands they added weren't all bad. I like the Sick Puppies and Evans Blue. I haven't heard of Love Drug and I'm guessing there's a reason for that. Anyway, we got there as soon as we could, but still didn't get to see the Sick Puppies. Thanks, KDGE! Way to put a band on at fucking 6:45!

The first band we did get to see was Evans Blue. Now, I like their first CD a lot, but I haven't been able to listen to the new one much. Having said that, their set sucked. Either the sound was messed up or something, but it just didn't sound good at all.

Then Yellowcard came on. The whole time I'm thinking "when did turning up the volume for the sake of volume equal rocking?" I felt kinda old during their set because I stayed seated while a bunch of the people around us stood up. Anyway, if you've ever heard Yellowcard on the radio, you know they're not a metal band, but they tried to play like they were. Even the guy with the violin was running around like he was playing speed metal. Kids these days!

Then, out came Blue October. I'm guessing all the equipment was mainly set up for their stuff, because they sounded amazing. We screamed along to each song and loved every minute of it. And, they played Somebody, which is my favorite Blue October song and one of my favorite songs EVAR. Fucking rocked my face off!

Friday, November 02, 2007

Time

I'm at the end of my 53 hour work week. This doesn't mean that I will not be working this weekend, but it just means I have been working my arse off this week.

We are going to see Blue October tonight at Nokia. It's going to be pretty awesome. Sick Puppies and Evan's Blue should also be good.

I heard a really awesome song on the latest Gamers With Jobs conference call. It's called Re: Your Brains. I bought it from the site. Best dollar I ever spent!