Going Postal

Ok, so I worked at the Post Office again today. My regular Saturday thing. The difference today was that it's mail count. That means they have to count every piece of mail before they give it to you to case. And they have to time you when you do certain things, like load your truck. To top it off, I couldn't get there as early as I wanted because of this. It was nice to sleep in a little, but still!

I finally got on the street around 2 p.m., which is pretty shitty. There was only one other person behind me. She started at the same time, so it's ok. By way of comparison, my regular carrier usually leaves for the street at 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. Needless to say, I'm slow.

Once you're out on the street, you're at the mercy of the general public. No, it's not as fun as it sounds. My first bit of excitement happened and I almost missed it. I was cruising along making my deliveries, when a guy came walking up to my LLV. He handed me some mail, which I assumed was outgoing. Then he pops off with "I'm going to call your boss and tell him you still don't know how to deliver mail." I responded with, "Thanks. Appreciate it." Then I processed it and realized what the fucker said. Then I was mad.

A little background. This guy has called before when I was there. The thing is, it's my regular that keeps fucking up this guy's mail, not me. I'm there one day a week. But apparently this douche bag thinks I'm the regular, so he smarts off to me. It is true that I gave him mail that wasn't for the 2 names he gave, but still! There's no need to be a dick about it. That's why we all have trashcans, right?

The next fun part was when I had to dismount for a couple boxes because people can't park correctly. I reach for the box and it just falls off the post. So, I drop the mail in it, set it on the ground and walk away. It's really fucking amazing how bad these mailboxes are. There are doors held on with twist ties, no doors, and even a box that is perpetually on the ground. It's awesome!

Finally, I had a couple kids come toward me on their bikes, and after attending the Postal orientation, I know to be scared shitless of them. One wrong move and I got dead kid all over my windshield, and I don't know if the wipers will get that off. Anyway, as they get closer one asks if I have any rubber bands and the other asks if I have any candy. Now, obviously I had rubber bands. They were wrapped around my right hand. But candy?! Why in the fuck would I have candy?! I don't want you idiot kids running at my LLV so I can run you down and get fired. And where are your parents?!

Honestly I'm convinced that Mike Judge was right when he made Idiocracy. Society is getting stupider and stupider.

By the way, I have two tech things that are getting on my nerves, and one that's awesome! First, the awesome. I ordered a HDD enclosure from NewEgg.com the other day and got it on Thursday. I put my 75gb hard drive in it that has all my mp3's. I connected it and imported all my songs into the Zune library. My collection is now complete again! Woot!

Speaking of Zune, the site still won't update with the songs I've played on my Zune. I connect it and nothing! I'm considering calling support and asking what the fuck is up. Maybe tomorrow.

My Dash is also being a bitch lately. It's very strange, too. When I'm at the P.O. or on my route, it decides to randomly lock up on me. I have no idea why. I have to pop out the battery and turn it back on every time. It's really getting old. I think I might call T-Mobile tomorrow and check into my options for a new phone. I really don't want to give up the qwerty keyboard on my Dash, but it's pretty useless when the phone is locking up constantly. I would love to get a Wing, but those are too expensive right now. Maybe a Shadow. Stay tuned!

By the way, I'm too tired to add links. Sorry.

Gears of War 2

The teaser trailer for Gears 2 is out and it's bad ass!

Bands

I've noticed that the DLC for Rock Band has varied between the really bad, to the really good. This is all subjective, of course, since I think the Ramones suck but somebody else may love them. This week has some great 90's stuff coming from Stone Temple Pilots, Weezer, and Garbage. This got me to thinking about other bands that I want to see as DLC. Some are from the 90's, others aren't. All of them RAWK!

1. Pearl Jam
2. Audioslave
3. Blue October
4. Chevelle
5. Alice In Chains
6. Limp Bizkit
7. Interpol
8. Green Day
9. Bloodhound Gang
10. 311

Music. Mayhem. Wolverine!

The Zune social has been pissing me off lately. It's a crap shoot every time I plug it in and update it as to whether it's going to update my information on the site. I want it to show what I listened to on my Zune, but apparently Microsoft feels differently. It's really irritating considering how instant Last.FM is. Dammit I miss that software.

Speaking of music, I downloaded some new stuff the other day. The new Hurt, Operator, Paramore, and Five Finger Death Punch. I've listened to the Hurt, Operator, and Paramore. All are really good. Thank you, BearShare!

Also, the first picture was released on Marvel.com from the new Wolverine solo movie. May 1st, 2009 I know where I'm gonna be!

It makes an awesome wallpaper, btw.

Comedy Gold!

Ok, so sometimes I come up with stand up comedy-type jokes in my head. And sometimes I tell people. And sometimes they laugh. Sometimes...

Anyway, I saw some stupid commercial where they guy claims he has "steakdar". Like he can cook a steak perfectly. That got me to thinking. When people have a sense about something, they always call it something-dar. Like gaydar or fake tits-dar. (I made that last one up.)

Anyway, the joke goes something like this...

I can always tell when there's a guy named Ray around. It's like a sixth sense, really. Like some people have gaydar, I have radar.

Thanks, I'm here all week!

Indiana Jones

The new Indy movie comes out on my birthday. I need to buy the other 3 and watch them again. It's been a long time.

Three Years of Bliss!

I proposed to my wife 3 years ago today.

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.

Snail Mail

Has it really been six days since my last blog post? Damn. I wanted to post something at least every other day, but I guess that didn't happen. I will try to do better.

I have been really busy with both my jobs this last week or so. Yesterday was probably the worst day at the post office for me so far. Hopefully that will be as bad as it gets. I'm still learning the route and trying to get faster at casing, and I don't think I'm doing bad. Of course, compared to my regular I'm a snail (mail?). I can take some solace in the fact that the other two new hires are having just as much trouble as I am. Silver lining FTW.

I've carved out a little time to play some games this week, fortunately. I got Assassin's Creed in the mail from my Canadian twitter buddy DjDatz. I've only played it for maybe 2 hours, so I'll save my first impressions. I haven't even assassinated anyone yet, if that gives any indication as to my progress.

I did finish the easy guitar tour on Rock Band. They really chose some great songs for the game. I'm loving all the 90's stuff like Black Hole Sun and Creep. I'm not so thrilled about the inclusion of some older stuff like Don't Fear the Reaper and Suffragette City. I know why they put Blue Oyster Cult in there. More cowbell. However I don't know how David Bowie is any good. I've never met anyone who is a fan.

Oh, and how atrocious is that Fall Out Boy song? Could they not have licensed something off of Infinity On High? I mean, where did they find that piece of shit, their demo tape?

Swear Jar

Best Super Bowl commercial that didn't air.
Bud Light Swear Jar

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Wanted Dead or Alive!

I'm a vocalist of the highest order!

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!

The Club

I finally recorded a video for The Club demo that came out. I wasn't able to get it with my European gamertag because it was only for gold members apparently. Anyway, it seems like a decent game, although it's pretty shallow. The guns don't feel very significant when you shoot them, and enemies go down pretty easy. Otherwise it's ok. It's a rental, but that's about it.

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.

New PC!

IMAGE_061
Originally uploaded by Gemini Ace

We got our new pc from Dell today! I'm so excited! I've been messing with Vista and transferring files to it all night.

Vista is pretty cool so far. I guess I'll see how the file system works out. I have a lot of music, most of which I obtained...legally...

What's Going On

Finally I'm in the mood to blog. Not that I needed to be "in the mood", but every time I've thought about posting I just didn't have the words all up in my noggin' trying to get out. I'm sure that makes a lot of sense. Oh well, fuck it.

Anyway, it's been a week since my last post. Basically (really and truly?), I went to the post office all week for orientation and training. Had to be there at effing 7 a.m. each day! (Why the hell do you have to be there so early!?) We learned about not running over kids, not backing over kids, and not fingering our mail. Especially while driving. You should never finger your mail while driving. lol! Try to keep a straight face while they're telling you that over and over.

Once I got home, I had the pleasure of also doing work for my current employer. I'm going to keep both jobs for as long as I can just in case the post office doesn't make with the hours immediately. You gotta stay prepared, ya know.

On the gaming side of things, I've been making slow progress in Mario Galaxy. Not that it's hard, but I just haven't spent a ton of time on it. What I have played has been excellent.

I also got the chance to play Scene It: LCA. Alana brought it over and we played a bunch of games. The achievements just drip from this game, which is awesome. I kicked their asses every time, too. Makes me feel like a man!

And finally, here's a sweet video of a game that mixes Mario with Halo. Pretty freakin' amazing if you ask me.



By the way, I'm trying to get the demo of The Club downloaded by using my European gamertag. So far it's just been available to gold members. But once that baby hits silver, I'll be taking some video and posting it. Good times...good times...

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.

Try Again Later

Try again later
Originally uploaded by Gemini Ace

I can't recover my gamertag! This is getting ridiculous!

I was all set to blog about Super Mario Galaxy, but I'm too pissed about not being able to recover my gamertag.

I'm on the phone right now with 1-800-4-MYXBOX.

I chose account recovery and "Max" is trying to help me recover my account to an original Xbox. Big help even though I said "Xbox 360".

And now I'm on hold listening to Halo music, Geetar!

Holding...

Drinking my rum and Pepsi...

Holding...

Pause in the music. Thought I might get help...

Holding...

Strange drum music...

Holding...

I need a refill...

Holding...

Someone answered!

He asked me what it said when I ran the test connection. I say, "I haven't run the test connection. I'm connected. I can't recover my gamertag."

He's looking at something...

Holding....

Ok. First he told me my e-mail address is wrong. I have 2 gamertags. One is linked to my gmail accound and one is linked to my hotmail account. I tried changing to my gmail account, but that's the wrong one. So, we're back to hotmail.

I tried to download my profile. Got the same error again. Xbox Live signup is currently unavailable.

Now I'm trying to recover my gamertag. I'm typing it in as case sensitive. Gemini Ace. I was typing gemini ace. I didn't think it mattered. Let's see.

That didn't work...

I told him that I washed my memory card and it had my account info on it. Then I told him I just wanted to recover my account to my HDD.

Now he's saying that the recovery piece is down. Telling me to keep trying every hour. I asked for an ETA. He doesn't have one. He's processing something so he can give me an SR number. Apparently his manager didn't tell him the recovery part was down. Nice!

Man, I gotta take a leak...

I have my SR number. He's telling me to call back with this number and tell them I'm frustrated. I think I can do that!

Hung up. Taking a leak...ahhhh!

The worst part is I can't even log in locally to my Xbox 360. I can't play games and earn achievements under my gamertag at all. I'm totally locked out.

Talk about frustrating.

Happy New Year

Well, it's officially the new year. It's been busy around here, but I'll try to bring everyone up to speed.

Alana's birthday was Dec 27th. We went to Winstar on Sunday to celebrate. At first we hit the nickel and penny slots. Then I finally found the high stakes slots. And by high stakes I mean $1 to $25 slots.

At first I won $30. That brought me up to $50. Then I played some more and lost the $30. Then I lost the rest of it! Sucks to be me. But, fortunately my Dad was playing a Hotter N' Hell slot game and won $1000!

Anyway, we recorded episode 50 of ACFriends the other day. It's pretty hilarious. It's kinda crazy how we've made it to 50 shows. It's been 2 years since we started the show and I still get e-mails from new people who have just found it.

Xbox Live hasn't been working for the last 2 weeks. It wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't washed the memory card that had my profile on it! I came home yesterday from Alana's and forgot to take my card out of my pocket. I tossed them in the wash. I realized it a few minutes later, but it was too late. I'm hoping it will dry and work again, but I don't want to try it until I know it's dry. Until then I've been trying to recover my gamertag from XBL. Of course, that's one of the things that isn't working right now. Fucking fabulous. It's not helping my gamerscore challenge, that's for sure!

Best And Worst of 2007

I've been formulating this post in my brain for a while now and I think I'm ready to put it out there. Basically, everyone has been choosing their Game of the Year. Personally, I don't think I want to choose just one game. There are a bunch of games that came out this year that I played, but there are also a bunch I didn't. In order to name a GOTY, it seems to me you have to have played them all. Well, I haven't played them all. Not even close.

Anyway, these are my favorite games of 2007. I'm also going to list a few that I really hated. Enjoy!

Best

1. Crackdown - This is the best superhero game ever released. The sad part is, there are no superheroes in it. Crackdown is my favorite game of the year and so far my favorite game on the console.
   
2. Halo 3 - The beta, plus the final game, made this some of the most fun ever. New equipment, armor, vehicles, etc. I'm not a fan of the meta game, but I love the Forge. And being able to take videos and screenshots makes up for any shortcomings.
3. Portal - I just finished Portal last night and I loved every minute of it. It may be short, but it's incredible. And the song at the end is just amazing. I can't get enough!
4. Shadowrun - Despite all the criticism heaped on this game, I think it deserves to be listed among the best of 2007. It's supremely balanced. While there are only a limited number of maps, each feels different depending on the magic and weapons you choose. It's a shame we won't see any new content come out for it.
5. Call of Duty 4 - I haven't finished the single player campaign yet, nor have I even started on the multiplayer. That being said, I can still say that this is the one game that can dethrone Halo 3 as the multiplayer game to beat on XBL. I played the beta and it was extremely addicting. My only worry is that when I do start leveling up in MP, I won't be able to stop.
6. Stranglehold - I loved the demo. It made me buy the game. I loved the game. The only problem is that I don't think anybody else bought the game. And if they did, they sure aren't going online in the multiplayer. So sad.
   

Worst

1. Bioshock - I really don't get all the hype and praise given to Bioshock. The demo was unimpressive. The game was just plain boring. The story (what I played of it) just doesn't make sense. I don't know why you would shove a needle in your arm 5 minutes after you survive a plane crash. I don't know why you have to hack things, only to make them cheaper. I don't know why you never have enough ammo or Eve. I don't know why there are Vita Chambers. I just don't get it.
2. Space Giraffe - Is this really a game or a bad acid trip? I've played better screensavers.
3. Fusion Frenzy 2 - Can you not record any extra dialog for the host? He's the only one talking. Book an extra day or two and bang out some extra phrases. Painful.
4. Puzzle Quest - It's just fucking Bejeweled!!!
5. The Darkness - What a joke. Biggest disappointment of the year. The cut scenes were atrocious, the story was filled with a bunch of mob stereotypes, and the Darkness powers were beyond lame.
   

Portal

I beat Portal last night. Awesome game. Just brilliant. And the song at the end is one of the best things ever!

Christmas:The Aftermath

Yesterday was Christmas, obviously. We got some really good shit! My dad got me a bad ass Spiderman bust. I've always wanted something like that and this one rocks! He also got my sister one of the Dark Phoenix. Truly awesome!

I also got the Die Hard and Predator trilogy sets. I can't wait to watch them all! I also got a bunch of shirts and boxers. Alana got me a chatpad as well as The Orange Box.

I also got a Pylon 1 Gaming Station for my Xbox 360. It's a stand that holds my 360, controllers, and a bunch of games. Gonna be cool when I set it up.

There's a bunch more stuff that I don't want to list. It was a great day. Time to go play some Portal!

Christmas Eve

It's Christmas eve. We went to look at Christmas lights. We took the girls. They had fun...or at least I think they did. It's hard to tell with dogs.

Anyway, I guess the best way to say Merry Christmas is through the majesty of song! Video time!

Comedy Gold

I downloaded Mike Birbiglia's album, My Secret Public Journal Live, the other day. I was crying when I listened to it! This guy is hilarious. And surprisingly, he's pretty clean. Especially considering what I normally listen to.



Also, the king of twitter, DaKing240, posted this video. It's one of the best videos ever!

Burnout Paradise Demo

I downloaded the new Burnout Paradise demo this evening and took some gameplay videos. I like it, but I'm a little concerned. The open world design is nice and all, but I really miss the menus from Revenge. I haven't looked to see if I can just jump to the events through the map, kind of like the Need For Speed series, so it might be a moot point. Anyway, watch my vids!

OXM!

My sister, Phoenix8424, is featured in the LiveSpace section of OXM this month! And, she mentions me, which means I'm in OXM, too!!


Also, Yahtzee reviewed Guitar Hero 3 and hilarity ensued! See for yourself.

Busy

We've been so busy it's not even funny. Between work, the girls, Christmas, and everything else there's just been no time for any blogging.

I'm trying to compete in the Old Spice Experience Challenge on 360voice.com. DaKing240 created a challenge and I'm in it to win it! I've put all the 2k6 games in my Gamefly queue. I'm not sure how that strategy is going to work since they're sending me Stuntman Ignition. We did get to rent the new Avatar TBA: TBE game and get the easy 1000 points out of it. Then I bought the new Asteroids game and Galaga from the XBLA. I got 25 points from Galaga.

We got Mrs. Claus outfits for the girls on Monday so they can be festive and have their pictures taken. We got Christmas cards made. They're so adorable!


The Christmas tree is put up, as well as the stockings. Now we just need to finish buying a few presents and we're done. I can't believe it's only 2 weeks away.

Ethan Rane

ethan rane
Originally uploaded by Gemini Ace

Today was the two year anniversary of Ethan passing away. We took the day off from work and went to the cemetery. We love you Ethan and we miss you.

Saturday

It's Saturday. I'm spending my time cleaning up the apartment. Since we are getting rid of our old entertainment center, we have a ton of pictures frames and misc other stuff that needs a home now. The new tv stand just doesn't have the room, plus I don't want to clutter it up too much.

I'm almost done with the easy tour on Guitar Hero 2. The Anthrax song Madhouse is the only song that's giving me trouble. And by trouble I mean fits of rage and screaming. And lots of "motherfucker!"

The big story in the gaming community is that a guy got fired from Gamespot.com for giving a game a bad review. Or giving it in a bad tone. Either way, he's gone and they are denying everything. I really like the destructoid.com review of Kane & Lynch, tho.

Then I noticed people canceling their Gamespot memberships and stuff. Calling for people to return or trade in the game. Personally, I'm all for sticking it to the man, and I don't think that this guy should have been fired for giving a game a bad review, but lets get to the real question. Why are you paying for a membership at Gamespot.com in the first place? Are there not enough free sites giving out reviews, videos, previews, and forums? I have memberships on more sites than I can count on both hands, all of which are free. And the great majority of these sites offer some type of reviews, forums, and any number of other services. Why are we, as gamers, paying a corporate entity for anything like this?

I also know that most of these community sites are run by individuals that pay for hosting and other services out of their own pocket. How about donate to them to help pay for all the free stuff we enjoy. Why give it to a big corporation? I say redirect that cash flow into PayPal donations. Help out your favorite community site or blog. Hint hint.

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.



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

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.

Regular Everyday Normal Guy

Thanks, Dave!

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.

The Setup

New TV!

I call her...Olevia.

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...

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!

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?

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.

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.

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.

MGC.net

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

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.

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.

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!

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!

NFS ProStreet Video

As promised, I played the ProStreet demo and recorded it. I'm not too impressed by this NFS entry. I'll rent it before I drop the cash on it.

Super Mega Blog Post Go!

Tuesday we took the girls to PetSmart to get their pictures taken for Halloween...or should I say Howl-o-ween. They were good and posed like little ladies are supposed to.



I haven't had time to post much lately because of work. Hell, I haven't had time to do much anything except work. They've given us a blank check on overtime, so I'm doing 50+ hours a week to try to keep up with the workload. It's pretty ridiculous, but if they would rather throw all this money at me instead of hire someone to help, more power to them.

Ethan's birthday was Monday as you can see from my previous post. He would be 2 years old. It's amazing and depressing to think that it has already been 2 years. The time really flies by and I miss him so much.

My Gamebridge is working like a dream. I can't believe it's so easy to use. I posted some new videos on my YouTube channel tonight. I want to download the new Need For Speed ProStreet demo and take some video of that. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, enjoy the Rocket Beats Sword video posted below.

Happy Birthday, Ethan

Today is Ethan's 2nd birthday. We put balloons out and bought him a Spider-Man Mr. Potato head.

Punched!

Andy Samberg is the man!

Saved Films

I bought an Adaptec Gamebridge off of eBay the other day and got it in the mail today. I tried it out and it's pretty awesome. I uploaded several of my saved films to my youtube account. Below is my favorite.

Achievement Boosting

I got into a Lone Wolves game tonight. Before the match, we all decided to meet in the middle of Snowbound to get the overkill achievement. Well, me being the smart guy that I am, I grabbed the spartan laser and brought it to the party. So, we all ended up getting the Overkill, Triple Kill, Two for One and Maybe Next Time Buddy achievements!

The screenshot I took of the Two for one is below. I really like it, even though it's the product of boosting. Like I would ever get that achievement any other way. Friggin' stupid.

Project Gemini

I've been kicking around the idea of starting up my own solo podcast lately. I'm not sure I have the time or motivation to start a weekly show. Gaming is my hobby and that's how I would like to keep it. Of course, I will continue to do ACFriends, so that should scratch my itch.

Anyway, I'm not sure what else is going on. Just playin' teh haloz.

My Elite

I am a bad ass!

Halo 3

We just finished the campaign on legendary today and...well...I'm not sure what to think. I enjoyed the campaign, although there are sections that I really have no desire to play through again, even though there are achievements associated with doing so.

In a lot of ways it felt like playing through the original Halo C.E., except not as original or fresh. I understand making references to the previous games in the dialog, but the missions were just like the first game. Get in and grab something. Oh shit, the place is gonna blow! Get in, turn that off. Oh shit, run like hell! Get in and kill so and so. Oh shit, the flood is on our asses! Get out! Oh, and these guys are on our side now. No wait, no they're not! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!

And is there any other way to blow something up than to make a ship reactor explode? Anybody ever hear of a bomb with a remote detonator?

I don't mean to hate on the game. It's a great game. I put it up as the second best in the series, with Halo 2 being on the bottom. I guess I have a more critical eye on it since it's THE game for the Xbox 360.

I'm also not a big fan of the interface. It's not very intuitive at all. Finding a certain menu item is like looking for Waldo half the time. I'm still not sure if you can play 4-player local co-op. The game says you can, but when we tried it it didn't let us.

The saved film feature is cool, until you realize that you can't take screenshots or videos while in game. You have to finish what you're doing, go into the theater, then watch your film. And if the really cool thing you did is at the end of an hour of footage, you are stuck "fast forwarding" to it. And it's not that fast. How about a feature that at least lets you put a marker where the cool shit is that you just did. I threw an awesome grenade into one of those floating sniper tower things, but I'll never be able to find it. I think I'll utilize the screenshot function more than the movie making.

I do love the way you can customize your character. And the achievements look pretty easy. Of course, we'll have to do another play through to find all the skulls and then again to play the meta game.

Meh.

Vacation: Day One

I'm on vacation this week. I'm sure you can guess why. Halo 3 is coming out tomorrow. I'll be waiting till Wednesday to get my copy in the mail. Liongames.com is sending it out today, so I should have it by then. Once I have it in hand, Alana and I will be tackling the campaign in co-op mode. It's gonna be teh awesome!

As for today, I had to do some work (yes, work) since they asked me to do 2 hours a day even on my vacation. I'll have to remember to thank them for that gift whenever I quit. After that I played a bunch of the Fantastic Four game, Rise of the Silver Surfer. It's just a smidgen above suck, which would probably equate to about a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10.

I really should start my own grading scale. Suck would be 5 and anything above or below that would be above or below suck. I think I may be on to something here.

Anyway, the Halo 3 frenzy is being whipped into a...well...frenzy. The big party is going on in Seattle. Some of my friends (and an enemy) are attending. It's all getting to be a bit much. I'm as excited about the game as anyone, but I don't know how many podcasts and websites can say the same thing. It's an incredible game. Duh!

I actually turned to the Sony Defense Force site just for a change of pace. Whoever runs that site is an absolute genius. If it's real it's fascinating, and if it's fake it's brilliant.

I've also been entering every day to try to win The Ultimate Halo 3 Setup from X3F. I'm sure I won't win, but dammit I'm trying. It would be nice to win something bad ass like that. And shoving it in the losers faces would be even better! lol!

The King of Kong

Friend, listener, and all around great guy Africansk8er has written a review for the documentary The King of Kong. It's a great write up. I really want to see this flick.

Reality TV For The...Win?

I'm running the risk of outing myself as a fag, but I don't care!

The wife and I started watching Beauty and the Geek last night and the new season of America's Next Top Model starts tonight and I'm so watching them this season.

Good Times With Stranglehold

I finished the single player story in Stranglehold last night. I played through on normal. The story is great! It felt like I was playing through a movie. The action is really freaking cool and everything is destructible. It's also extremely satisfying to use Precision Aim to hit a bad guy in the crotch, just like Penny Arcade said.

FASA No More

Yesterday we found out that FASA Interactive has closed its doors. The developer behind such games as Crimson Skies and Shadowrun has ceased to exist. No big fanfare or hoopla. Just a post on their community forums. Seems a little sad and a little strange. I'm sure this happens more often then we know in the industry, but it almost feels the same as when a radio station goes off the air. There's little to no warnings (although the rumors were there), and then it's just gone. All the sudden your station is playing ranchero music and called The Sombrero.

This, of course, puts one more nail in the coffin of Shadowrun. I was holding out hope for some new maps or gametypes that would appear as DLC, but that won't happen now.

Tomb Raider

Funny thing is, I still want to play it.

ZunePhone

Zero Punctuation

The guys at the Gamer Andy forums have been posting these videos by Yahtzee. This guy is a fucking genius. The Escapist is posting the videos now, but he has a few still on YouTube.



Zero Punctuation on The Escapist

The Darkness

I was really excited to dig into The Darkness this weekend. Little did I realize that lurking on that game disc was not a game, but an exercise in frustration.

I really don't think that this game was play tested at all during development. I think the designers put it together and knew exactly where to go and what to do, therefore they did not need anyone on the outside to test it for playability. That's the only way I can figure a game this flawed got out into stores.

Each level I went through was worse than the one before it. I wandered aimlessly through one area for no less than a half hour before I backtracked through a tunnel (and a loading screen) and found where I was really supposed to be. There are areas like that one that have no reason to even exist other than to frustrate and annoy.

Then there's the multiplayer, which isn't as bad as some of the reviews have let on. Being able to shapeshift is fun. Of course, if any of the weapons besides the dual pistols were at all usefull, the multiplayer would be even better. As it stands, you run around, pick up a weapon and it auto switches to that weapon, so you switch it back to the pistols. Rinse, repeat. Great design, Starbreeze!

A yin to the Darkness' yang, I really expected War Tech Senko Ronde to be really bad, but after playing it a while, I realized it is bad...so bad it's good!

When you start up this game, it tells you a story about a little girl that was never stopped crying. She cried 24/7 and eventually caused all sorts of bad stuff to happen to the world like famine and pissed off Japanese people with guns.

So, I guess they get tired of all her crying and decide (here comes the comedy) to shoot her into space. I'm not sure if this was decided by a committee or what, but that seems a little extreme. How about just give her a zoloft or something?

After that, you're thrust into one-on-one mech battles. The dialog between these people swings from making no sense to being absolutely hilarious! Honestly, you never get tired of hearing "Mew mew mew". I don't know what it means, but I like it!

The actual gameplay is fun once you get into it. You can change into huge things like swords and staplers. The funny thing is, you never find out what happened to the little girl. She's just out there in space crying her eyes out. Way to go, Japan!