Silverlight Gamercard

I have to admit, this Silverlight gamercard by MyGamercard.net is pretty damn snazzy.

MechWarrior 5

I will buy it. I will play it. I will love it!

Crackdown 2

Crackdown 2 Video Game, E3 09: Debut Trailer | Game Trailers & Videos | GameTrailers.com

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Weekend Good!

Had a really good weekend on Saturday and Sunday. I played a bunch of Gears of War 2 multi on Saturday morning, followed by registering for the baby shower at Kohls. Then we came home and took a nap. All that scanning really wore us out!

When we got up, it was all about the baby's room. We got the bed put together and stuff. It's looking really cute in there. All puppy-themed stuff. Hopefully he likes dogs. Not that he has a choice! We stayed up till like 2:30 in the morning doing stuff. Good times with the wife.

Sunday I went to Alana's house to record and play some games. The show turned out really good. Almost 2 hours! Then we played a little Gears 2 and Left 4 Dead. I think I've turned the corner on L4D, to the point that I wouldn't mind buying it. I still think it's a little light on the features, but the new Survival mode was really fun. Of course, in order for all 3 of us to play together, I have to buy a copy and be online. Still kind of chaps my ass.

I'm in the market for a copy of Wolverine for the Xbox 360. Just waiting to find a sale or used copy. I'm not paying $60. It's against my religion.

Halo Wars Done!

It's going to be a busy week this week. We have to finish packing before we move. Fortunately, I took this week off from Kohl's, so it should be fine. I worked Friday and Saturday night, so no packing got done this weekend. I did accomplish one thing, though...

I finished Halo Wars!

That's right, I finished a game. I didn't think it was possible either. I haven't finished Gears 2 yet, but it had to go on the back burner while I killed some Covenant.

As far as my final opinion goes, I loved the story in Halo Wars and the cutscenes were fucking amazing. Once I finished, I sat and watched just the cutscenes from start to finish and marveled at them. Why can't they just make the Halo movie like this?!

Dead Space

The only big Black Friday deal I partook in this year was at Target. I ran by there and grabbed me a copy of Dead Space for $30. Sweet merciful crap I love a game at half price!

That brings me to my first question. Why the hell aren't all games priced at thirty bucks? Hell, why aren't they just forty bucks?! I would be able to buy so many more titles. I understand the economics, so you don't have to explain that. I just think that if a game came out and was less expensive (but still a good game) then more people would buy it, therefore making just as much money for the company. It's just my wishful thinking, though. It will never happen. Dare to dream, I say. Dare to dream.

By the way, does Big Black Friday sound like it could be a porno? Just wondering...

Anyway, Dead Space is friggin' awesome! I had heard a lot of good things and so far it's lived up to the hype. I did get stuck early on in what can only be described as a *FACEPALM* moment on my part, but otherwise I'm cruising through and loving it.

Streaming Netflix

Damn. Has it really been five days since my last post? I've stared at this screen on more than one occasion in the last five days and just been blank.

Still kinda blank.

I've been watching a bunch of stuff on my 360 via Netflix. I watched Waterworld, Red Dawn, Team America World Police, and some old Voltron episodes.

By the way, how awesome was Voltron?

Avatar Schmavatar

avatar-body
Originally uploaded by Gemini Ace

So I created my NXE avatar. It looked stupid. So I created another one. It was gay. So I made this one.

The avatar creation thing is not very deep. There aren't as many options as you get on the Wii when you create a Mii.

The whole NXE thing is a little underwhelming. It looks good, but I haven't found it to be a quantum leap forward. Of course, I haven't browse the marketplace yet.

The Netflix feature, on the other hand, is amazing. It works incredibly well with nary a hiccup in sight. I worked from home yesterday. While I worked I queued up The Crow City of Angels, Red Dawn, and Superman/Doomsday. I also threw in an episode of Voltron for good measure. Awesome!

Scares And Repairs

It was a busy weekend. As you know, my 360 was in the process of dying. I called Xbox support on Saturday. As I was told by a twitter buddy, once I mentioned the red rings, the replacement process was automatic. Just verify that your power supply has a green light and done. The support guy was awfully chatty with his Canadian accent. Anyway, I will be sending it in this week.

I also dropped my truck off to have it fixed today. Got a nice rental car. Not much else to say about that...

Anyway, I decided that I wanted a scary movie for Halloween. I put The Shining in my Netflix queue and got it on Friday. I should have chosen something a little more recent.

The movie was creepy, but not scary. I understand that back when it came out it was considered the scariest thing ever, but by today's standards it's pretty weak.

Red Ring Of Death

Red ring of death
Originally uploaded by Gemini Ace

I get home yesterday and have the house all to myself, so you know what that means. No, not porn and kleenex. Games!

I borrowed a few games from Alana and figured I would start slogging through them. Plus, I like the juxtaposition of playing a game like Jumper while everyone else is playing Fallout 3 or Fable 2. Gives me a couple of lulz, which is what I generally go for.

Anyway, I threw in Jumper and it froze at the title screen. When I restarted my 360, it gave me the Red Ring of Death. I, of course, said "shit". I tried restarting again and the same thing. So, I popped the disc out and my 360 booted just fine.

So, I decided to try Hellboy. Well, I got past the title screen, but not by much. I didn't get a red ring when I restarted, so I figured I would try a game that I knew worked. I spun up Halo 3 and it worked fine in matchmaking. I was shooting somebody in Cold Storage when it froze on me. Not good.

I guess my only option is to get it to red ring consistently so I can call Xbox support and get it replaced. The three year warranty is almost up, so I'm going to have to get it done quick. Otherwise I may be S.O.L. for a while.

At least I have my beloved PS3. Oh, and my Wii.

Samurai Slowdown

Alright, so now I'm pissed. A quick browsing of Major Nelson's blog post about Samurai Shodown 2 proves that the game was originally listed at 400 fake points, then later upped to 800. That's $10 in real money for a retro title. What the fuck?

I know I've been bitching about the rising prices of arcade titles for a while now, and I'm sure everyone is pretty sick of it. Oh well.

I have really been looking forward to this game since I heard it was in the works. My sister and I used to play the hell out of the Genesis version. Nothing beats playing as Hanzo and doing a bunch of cheap grabs. lol!

Anyway, I've decided that I'm done with the Xbox Live Arcade. I've bought my last title. I'm not shelling out 800 points for a game that should be 400 since Microsoft is trying to push their price increase with the "Summer of Arcade". Fuck that. Any money I spend on downloadable games will be on the PSN.

The sticky-sweet irony of the whole thing is that I'm in the market for a new 360 with the 60Gig HDD. My quasi-launch system's disc drive has been making some very unpleasant noises lately, and even given me disc read errors while playing Rock Band the other night. I'm not sure, but I think that's a sign that I might be screwed.

Of course, buying a new Xbox means moving all my content to a new HDD. I do not look forward to that, especially since I've never migrated my licenses to the replacement system they sent me after my launch console RROD'd. I anticipate it being a pain in the ass.

Anyway, look for my Xbox on eBay! Bidding starts at $149.99!

Grifball FTW!

We played a shit-ton of Grifball last night thanks to the double XP weekend that Bungie put on. The game is a lot of fun and the medals flow like cold beer from the tap. I actually got my first killtacular playing Grifball. I also got an extermination medal, but I can't find that film. I really wish they would add some more information to each saved film. The date and time is fine, but that really tells me nothing when it comes to medals or even number of kills. When you play 50+ games in one sitting, they tend to all look alike in the Theater.

A Question of Community

Today was a pretty interesting day. I had a very good discussion on Twitter about the gaming community. I think it was well received. I try to make good points without sounding like an idiot. Today was one day that I was successful.

The gist is this. DirtyDiva asked the question "Do you feel like you're well represented within large companies' walls?". Personally, I don't think that I am well represented inside Microsoft. I do believe that my habits, usage, and general stats are kept somewhere in a giant database. Is that a proper representation of me? Kinda, but not really.

As I'm sure anyone would attest, I'm a little more complicated than my gamer data would let on. I'm a complex human being with complex thoughts. Well, sometimes my thoughts aren't that complex, but still! :-p

I honestly believe that the community focus Microsoft has is purely for marketing. It's great for everyone that's involved, don't get me wrong. But at the end of the day, people like Major Nelson and Trixie aren't getting a paycheck because Microsoft loves us that much. They get a paycheck because somebody at Microsoft realized the power of word of mouth. They realized that a bunch of guys running a website can be a very valuable tool. And they are.

I'm not pointing fingers at anyone in particular. I'm merely stating that the perks you get as a community leader or MVP aren't simply due to MS loving you and wanting to be your BFF. It's a marketing scheme, pure and simple.

It certainly benefits those of us that are in the community. Who doesn't want free games? And honestly, I have no problem with it. Microsoft should be pouring money and resources into this community because we have a lot of influence on people. It's a good thing.

I just don't want people to be so naive as to think that Microsoft really wants to be your friend. They have another agenda, and that is to come out on top in the console war. If, for one second, you think that the community is any less of a pawn than HD-DVD or Xbox LIVE, then you need to wake up and smell the RROD.

We are just another chess piece to move around the board. How we take advantage of that fact will determine who really comes out on top.

Dick Day Every Day

I've been pretty busy lately, but what's new? There's been a lot of stuff going on, both in my life and in the gaming community.

I've been formulating a blog post about how much I can't stand the 70's music that's in Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Some of it is ok, like The Who, but other stuff like David Bowie and Boston just sucks. I know most people disagree with me, and that's fine.

I really just prefer stuff that came out in the 90's and up. I understand that the music in the 70's paved the way for a lot of what we hear today, but that doesn't mean we have to keep reliving it. Live in the now!

I downloaded the free Heroic Map Pack for Halo 3 last night. The new maps are pretty sweet, but I'm really looking forward to the new "re imagining" of Lockout and Sidewinder. I haven't decided if I'm going to drop 800 points on the pack yet.

Microsoft did a couple things this week. One good and one bad. First, they set all the gamerscore cheaters back to zero. I think this is fair. If you cheat, you should be punished. I pay $50 a year in order to use a system with a high degree of integrity. The only thing that concerns me is why they let some gamers amass over 200,000 points before they dropped the hammer.

Second, they are forcing a gamer who was in Trixie's spotlight to change his gamertag. I feel bad for Cow Moolester. If it were me, I would definitely fight Microsoft on this one. Not that he'll win, but you gotta put up a fight. Otherwise they'll think it's ok to do it to anyone.

I understand that it's their system, but if it wasn't caught on the initial signup, then I think Moolester gets a pass. He made it passed the man! You can't let someone walk around with his dick hanging out for a couple years, then one day decide he can't do it anymore. You gotta say something immediately, or he's home free and it's dick day every day.

Games For Sale

I have a few games I want to sell, and instead of going to Gamestop and getting pennies on the dollar or Ebay where I will have to wait a week, I thought I might just post them here and see what happens. Send me an e-mail or leave a comment if you're interested in any of these 360 games.

NHL 2K6 - $8.00
Major League Baseball 2K6 - $10.00
Ridge Racer 6 - $10.00
PGR3 - $15.00
Splinter Cell Double Agent - $20.00

I also have Madden '06, but my sister is borrowing it to boost her gamerscore. ;-)

Sexy Man Pants!

I finally got my HD-DVD player tonight from Best Buy. For $50, how can you go wrong? Even though they won't be making HD-DVD movies after May, that still doesn't mean the existing movies won't look awesome!

It came with King Kong, but that movie sucks. No amount of hi-def will fix a shitty plot and craptastic action. Hehe.

I'm sure you're wondering about the title of this post. Well, here goes!

We went to Kohl's this weekend and did some shopping. I ended up with some nice new work shirts and a pair of Xbox 360 shorts. They are pajama's, but not as long as pants. Rhea calls them capri pants for boys. I call them Sexy Man Pants.

I did not let Rhea's teasing bring me down. I am committed to the Sexy Man Pants. In fact, I've decided that every man worth his testosterone should have a pair. And I have the marketing plan to do it!

Picture the commercial opens with a guy sitting in front of the tv. He's watching sports or possibly playing Madden. Pan down and you see his pants. They're short, but not too short. Pan back up to his face, where you see a huge smile. He's happy. Very happy. Queue the music...

Sexy Man Pants
Not too long
Not too short

Sexy Man Pants
Wear them to bed
Wear them to court

Sexy Man Pants
Show off your shoes
Feel the cool breeze

Sexy Man Pants
Have a big cock
Eat some more cheese

As you can see, this is targeted to the 18-35 demographic.

Assassin's Creed

For a game that's called Assassin's Creed, it sure takes a while before you get to the assassinatin'.

I've put in a few hours, and so far I'm not hating the game. I'm intrigued by the story, even with the future stuff thrown in. Scaling the walls feels like Crackdown to me, which is not a bad thing at all, and the leap of faith is fun. I like that I have my little hidden blade, but I can also whip out a sword and do some real fighting, too.

I will have to wait until I do a couple stealth kills before I have a verdict on this one. Right now I feel like it's a gorgeous game with an interesting idea. We'll see how they did on the execution.

Rock Band

OMG, Rock Band is teh awesome! I sang the hell out of some songs tonight. Especially when I unlocked Epic by Faith No More. Dude, that's a great song! I'm so glad Harmonix put it in the game.

Honestly, there are a ton of great songs in the game. I even enjoyed singing Dani California and Paranoid.

Anyway, I officially start at my post office on Tuesday, so you know why I'm not blogging or twittering this week. Fortunately, my route has a vehicle, so I don't have to find a right hand driver. I really got lucky on that one.

It's really time for bed right now. I don't want to go to sleep yet. Stupid work.

Oh, and Mario Galaxy is awesome!

Recovery

This is my first official blog post from the new PC. It's so freakin' cool. I've been slowly getting stuff loaded onto it, like Skype and the Zune software.

I'm also slowly recovering from this damn upper respiratory infection. This shit came on with a vengeance. I'm still coughing and wheezing, but I feel a lot better than I did on Saturday and Sunday.

I played Undertow tonight. It was free from the XBLA starting today. It's not as bad as I remember it when I played back at the GSB event.

Anyway, I'm tired. Going to bed.

Pylon

I finally got my gamertag recovered yesterday. Then I put together my new Pylon Gaming Station (pictured above). It's pretty cool. It hold all my games, my Xbox, and my controller. Flippin' sweet!

I go for my first day of orientation at the post office tomorrow. I'm excited and nervous. Should be a breeze. I'm still looking for a right hand drive vehicle to buy. Craigslist was a bust. I'm going to keep looking.

Anyway, I have more to say, but I've been sick this weekend. More to come.