Thanksgiving Week

My, what a week it's been. Two Thanksgivings, Black Friday, more shopping, movies, etc. It was balls to the wall all week long. I feel like I was in constant 'entertain me' mode. Complaints? None. This is what I did this week, entertainment wise -

Dead Space 2 - This game is already becoming one of my favorites that I've played in the last year. The story isn't very fully fleshed out yet, but the pacing of the game keeps me coming back for more. Dead Space is everything that I've been looking for in a survival horror game. Example - My plasma cutter can cut spikes off the necromorphs, at which point I pick them up with telepathy, launch them at their owner, and pin them to the wall. There aren't very many games that can offer that kind of innovation.

Tower Heist - I went and saw it on Black Friday with my wife and mother. Eddie Murphy was back in classic mode. He was straight out of Beverly Hills Cop, as far as demeanor and fluency goes. The movie was too intense for mom. On separate occasions, I caught her pulling up her collar and hiding behind it. ROFLcopter. Heyo. Overall, the movie surprised me with its cheer and comedic performances.

Black Friday - We didn't get a TV like we did last year. That was about the only difference. Jasmine and I hopped from store to store and picked up some sweet things. Best Buy has music equipment cheaper than internet prices. I have no idea how they do it, but I approve. It was one of the best buys I've had ina while.

Dexter - Season 4 - I haven't started watching it yet. On Friday, I'm clearing my whole schedule, sitting down on my couch, getting some beers, and watching this beast start to finish. I'm more excited for that than anything else this entire week.

Final Fantasy XIII-2

As you all know, FF XIII-2 (FF) comes out in January in America. FF releases are always a big deal for people, and my life is no different. The franchise has been a mainstay in my house since I began gaming at the age of... 4? 5? Who knows? Square Enix releases a new game every 2 years or so, and to my happiness, I have very few complaints about each iteration.

So what's wrong with this next release?

Merchant pre-order bonuses.

Merchants are now paying companies additional money to give them a hand up on other retailers. In the past, publishers would have a blanket bonus for every gamer who bought the title new. That makes sense to me. Rewarding a customer for being an early adopter to your game is a win-win for everyone involved. Publishers get more money for the release and we get a 'trophy' addition to whatever game we chose to buy.

With FF XIII-2, there are 3 seperate pre-order bonuses. Amazon, Gamestop, and Best Buy each have something to offer whoever purchases from their store. Gamestop has an additional costume pack. Best Buy is offering a limited edition art booklet. Amazon will have an additional boss battle against Omega. Unless I buy the game three times, I won't get the whole experience. With a limited budget, this scheme is forcing me to sacrifice one bonus for another.

Well, a costume pack is stupid and the book I might pick up on eBay. I might not though, just in spite. That leaves me with Amazon. A bonus battle sounds perfect to me. There is concern that the battle won't be worth it, but I have to go for it. No one knows if it will pay off until we get there.

I hope this is as drastic as the pre-order bonuses are pushed, but knowing EA, they will do WHATEVER they can to capitalize and change this already frustrating formula into something I hate even more. I guess we'll have to see. So, there's a 2 month wait for FF. I'll be sure to let you know what I think about it when it gets here.

Magic: The Gathering

Last week, I bought a few booster packs of the new expansion, Innistrad. The store I go to sells packs for $3.50, so I buy three. The first packs don't have a lot to offer, but the 3rd pack gives me my first ever mythic rare pull. Stoooookedalicious. Here's the eBay value and layout of the card

What does that mean for me? Time to build a vampire deck. Traditionally, the decks I lean towards are White and incredibly defensive. I've won most of my games with Felidor Soveriegn getting me over 40 life. This will be a whole new direction for me and how I plan my deck.

Jasmine had to go on a shopping trip today. Where did I suggest she go? Target. Why, you ask? Because I can get my cards there as well. Two birds. One stone. Infinite victory. Perusing through the decks, I found what I was looking for. Innistrad has a starter black/red deck, centered around vampires.

I'll start building the deck this week. There isn't a lot of competition for me around here. The higher ups in my life do not approve of Magic, so I have to go outside of my normal circle to find opponents. The shop I go to has Friday Night Magic. Hopefully I can make to a night or two in the next couple weeks.

Magic 2012 on PS3 also had expansion decks come out this week. PSN is down today (of-freaking-course.) Purchasing tomorrow. Owning shortly after. theMAYFLOWA is my PSNid. Add me if you would like to play.

PS3 Trilogies of Doom.

Black Friday is just around the corner. Retailers have already leaked their ads for the viewing pleasure of the internet, and there are some deals to be had. In PS3 land, it's an extremely cheap period to get my hands on the games I've wanted for a while. Industry wise, as a whole, people will not be paying $60 for ANY games this season. (Especially not me.)

Best Buy has Borderlands GOTY edition for $20. Must buy. Gamestop will have Metal Gear Solid 4 for $10. What does that make MGS4? You guessed it, a must buy. Compile that with Dead Space 2 ($25), and we're in for some gaming gold for the next few months. Buying those new, plus DLC prices, it would've cost me $220. No thank you. I would rather spend $55.

Due to my limited amount of time to play, I'll be making a pretty frugal schedule to get through the games I want before Diablo III and Borderlands 2 come out. Here's the order that I plan to play through over the next year.

-Diablo II
-Dead Space 2
-Borderlands GOTY
-Metal Gear Solid 4
-Skyrim
-Final Fantasy VII-X
-Diablo III and Borderlands 2

I'm pretty giddy just looking at that list. I owned MGS4, but got rid of it due to its lack of trophies. That's how bad I was hooked on them. A classic game was completely overlooked due to the non-inclusion of an absolutely unimportant achievement system. There's still time. I shall conquer it.

It's time to read Game Informer and listen to some tunes. I love you all. Talk to you soon.

(I will not be counting my words from here on out. On December 1st, I'll tally them all up. Here's to 10,000. )

A Week In My Life

Finally, I can sit down and relax. This week has had some fun times stacked together. Reeecaaaap!

Monday - Diablo II came in the mail. There are some forces in my life that didn't allow me to play this game when it was released in 2001. You know who you are. Premise of the game? Kill Satan. Sounds pretty anti-Christian to me. The joy I hold in my heart for this game is nearly unrivaled. It has it all. RPG elements. Skill Trees. Funny death graphics. And replayability like a mofo. I've already put about 10 hours into it this week. Diablo II is a game that I will play right up to the release of Diablo III.

Tuesday - Inheritance came out. Inheritance came out. INHERITANCE CAME OUT!! I've waited for this book like nobody's business. Finally, the series ends. Unfortunately, Guy hasn't read the book yet, because he sucks. I'll wait to post my review until he comes out of Gaylandia and gets it finished. Also, my Sabian china arrived on Tuesday. Retail, the cymbal goes for about $230, but I picked up on eBay for $78. That was my steal of the week. Music has been an incredibly efficient stress relief for the past few weeks. Over the past year, I've slowly built my drum set up to a level that I'm really happy with. With a little purchase here and there, it has really turned into my baby.--- Guy, read he book ASAP---

Wednesday - Most of Wednesday was spent catching up on sleep. Jasmine and I went shopping, Diablo was played, then I slept. Not a whole lot going on here. Jasmine and I got our tickets for California for Christmas. Sweet.

Thursday - Thursday was the beginning of a master plan. More will be revealed on Friday's entry. Another package arrived in the mail on Thursday. More drum gear. Ben had a game on Thursday, as well. Even though his team got smoked, he still scored a season high of 8 points. That's huge, considering that his friends are about as tall as me.

FRIDAY!!! - So. There was a concert in Canada that I had given up hope on. BUT. Our tickets to California cost less than we thought they would. So, Joshua Benjamin Kaplan and I loaded up and drove to Calgary. Snowstorms. Flipped over cars. Desolate landscape. Canada sucks. then we made it to the show. SO. MUCH. METAL. I know I've I've used a lot of capitals. Excitement of this level can't be hidden though. Just go YouTube one video of the Devil Wears Prada. I had 70 minutes of that to sit/stand/throat chop/karate kick/hair pull/give knees-to-the-face to.

On a side note - We drove up for a band called Enter Shikari, as well. Unfortunately, we arrived as the were pulling their gear off of the stage. My heart was shattered. The band after them wasn't really my jam, so I stood in the back. Luck was upon me in Canada. Chris and Rob, the drummer and bass player from Enter Shikari, were walking around, and they talked to us. Coolest British dudes I've ever met. After hearing our story of our drive and missing them play, they hugged us and told us to keep our chins up. They'll be back in April, and they're now my best friends.

Ten hours in a car with Josh Kaplan + concert = One of the best days I've had this year.

Saturday - All R and R. I slept a lot today. Then we did some shopping. Jasmine needed yarn. I needed Magic cards. Mythic rares. Heyo. That leads up to me sitting at my house with my wife, getting ready for bed, as I have to be up at 5 am. So. Signing off for today. You all rule.

Uhhh.. What do I write about now?

Well. My Xbox is gone. It has been 2 weeks since I popped an achievement. That may not seem like a long time. Well, considering that I was averaging 3 a day (3 a DAY!!!) it's taking some getting used to.

What do I do now to fill my time? Seriously. After spending a whole year, 40 plus hours a week, day in and day out, I didn't know what to do. Well - Here are my new found hobbies -

A) Uhhhh... talking to people. Arguably, 80% of my communication was coming from headsets or texting. Is that ok? Really? C'mon America, that isn't ok. My participation in conversations with living, breathing humans had hit an all time low. Nowadays, I can at least say that I'm working on it. Gamers naturally are socially awkward. We all hate stereotypes, but it's freaking true. SO. I'm relearning how to talk to adults-that-actually-talk-to-people.

B) Wife time. Now that I'm not holed up in the spare room for 4 hours a day, I see my wife more. Does that mean I suck? No. Does that mean I sucked pretty hard in the past year? You bet your ass it does. Technology (in any form) is not more important than my wife. The amount of Xbox that I was playing clouded that, though. Not ok. Not ok at all. Just so we have this clear, technology < wife.

C) Gym membership / eating healthier. During Xbox, these were non- existent. Since purchasing an xbox, my weight has increased by 15 pounds. Once again, not ok. That's 52,000 calories that my body has to burn now. Fifty. Two. Thousand. Average male bodies burn 130 calories per mile. 52,000 / 130 = 400 miles. 1 year of Xbox added up to 400 miles (roughly) that I have to make up now. Here we go.

D) Survival. This past week, the Northeast got hit pretty hard with a storm. The storm still has power out for some people. That's a whole week without heat/running water/showers/hot meals, etc. Sucky. Are you ready if an emergency happens? I'm not talking the end of the world here, but I live in Montana. Realistically, we can get hit with a similar storm that shuts the city off for a few days. So, I'm getting a minor survival setup at my house going. It's a fun hobby. I want to be prepared.

E) And I still play video games. PS3. Not a lot. Not even a little. Less than an hour a day. I have to limit myself. It's too easy for me to get sucked in to big days of gaming. I put a halt to it. I've cut from 40 hours a week to about 4-5 hours. I can deal with that.

Now that I'm being more active and participating in society, I'm hoping to have a better, more fulfilling 2012. The path I was on was pretty sketchy, and I'm glad to be rid of it. So. Cheers.

Healthy time. (2,224 words for November. I'll be stoked if I hit 10,000)

Today, I sold my Xbox 360

Today I sold my Xbox 360. I NEVER. NEVER. EVER. Evereverever. Eeeeever. Thought that would happen. How did we get to this point, you ask? Read on.

-I paid $300 dollars for my console. That's standard these days. With the current generation, consumers are getting what they pay for as far as a console goes. I have very few gripes with the console itself. I knew what I was buying. It delivered.

-Xbox Live runs a few different ways. Some people choose $8 charged monthly. I, on the other hand, paid $50 up front. It pretty much cut the price in half for Live. As far as features go, Xbox Live rarely let me down. Netflix, updates, party chat, and Last.fm were regularly used at my house. My Internet always kept me connected, which is another plus. Having router/modem/speed issues would be the death of entertainment in my house. Gripes - ESPN was not included on my Xbox due to my region of the U.S. How gay is that? Super ultra gay. People who play video games in Montana still enjoy sports. Seriously.

The console and Live were about half of my total investment. I can deal with those parts of the Microsoft plan. Now, we have games/publishers/developers. Let me tell you what I think about those D-bags.

- Games. Ef. Where do I start? Games. I'll start with a list: Winners and losers. Then I'll tell you why they win/lose.

Winners. Or money that I felt was well spent.

1. Final Fantasy XIII - Why this game won - Square Enix delivered, plain and simple. Have you played it? You should. This game had a clear direction (Focus, eh??) that kept me hooked and wanting more. Plus, cut scenes in FFXIII were out of this world. Square Enix filled this beast full of cinematic beauty, a story that actually made sense (which is hard for Final Fantasy games to achieve all over the board,) and a gripping story. I hope that this game gets back in my PS3, which I'll talk about later.

2. Borderlands. - Why this game won - Borderlands. Border. Freakin. Ass. Lands. Magnificence. In every sense of the word. Borderlands is a hack and slash, but with guns/levels/skill trees. I will forever and ever sing the praises of this game. I've played through your wondrous land of Pandora, and will gladly jump back in when you release your sequel in the fiscal year of 2013. Borderlands, I love you. With DLC included, this game cost $100 if you bought everything as it was released. I had no problem that. The content that I received was immense and always felt worth it. General Knoxx will always be a legendary gaming chapter in my life.

3. Magic: The Gathering on XBLA - Why this game won - First off, I really enjoy card games. Growing up, Star Wars CCG was a mainstay in my household. The cards are still in my room, ready to duel again at a moment's notice. Magic is my current love, as far as cards go. Collecting cards is a killer hobby. Wizards of the Coast blew me away with their ability to translate the game over to consoles. I purchased this on both PS3 and 360, because I loved it that much.

4. HD rereleases - Why this wins - Through the wonders of the internet, we can now get improved versions of games from the past with decent price tags. Resident Evil, Crysis, Metal Gear Solid and Halo: Anniversary are/have all been rereleased to mostly positive praise. For some, the mechanics didn't translate well into the current gaming styles. I haven't had any problems yet. I'll gladly step into Resident Evil 4 day in and day out and never complain. Since the games are mostly just a graphics overhaul, there are very few issues reported with the gameplay itself. That's a concept I can stand by.


Sadly, I'm going to enter the section of games that lost. Games that failed. And concepts that suck serious, serious D. Once again, sadly, this is why my console had to go. I will include my qualms with developers at the end.

1.Dead Island - Why this game lost - Dead Island had a ton of unique features going for it. The developers took great parts out of stellar games to make an amalgam of awesome. Or so I thought. From launch, this game was very near to unplayable. There was no save feature. The game relied on an extremely unreliable auto-save system that often made gamers repeat chapters of the game that were extremely difficult. There were freezing issues, as well. Enter a certain door. Freeze. Jump to the wrong place. Freeze. Try to pick up two items at once. Freeze. Still, we saw past that. Through means I don't understand, I made it to the end of the game. And how was I rewarded? SAVE DATA CORRUPTED. UNABLE TO LOAD GAME. That is all. I sold it immediately after.

2. Battlefield 3 - Why this game lost - Battlefield 3 will still be fun. Millions and millions and millions (Happy, EA?) will enjoy this for years to come. Why couldn't I? Seriously. What the hell's wrong with me? I was so excited to play it. You remember that. I told you 10,000 times how excited I was. DICE is amazing. EA is huge. Between them, they wouldn't let me down. That's what my naive, young, innocent brain thought last week. Then once again, launch day came. Ef you, launch day. You suck ass. DICE didn't anticipate server use, which caused the servers to crash, resulting in NO multiplayer. How could they not anticipate server use? Come on, guys. You full well knew you had 3+ million preorders, which resulted in you earning 180 million on launch day. And you still couldn't build servers. I never played a single match of multiplayer. 1 year of anticipation down the toilet. Thanks, bros.

3. Online passes - Why this concept loses - Developers are now complaining at how much money they don't receive from games being sold second hand. Look at how much EA made on launch day, posted above, and ask yourself, 'Is that enough money for 1 day?' Obviously, it isn't. Mortal Kombat, Gears of War, The Sims 3, and Battlefield 3 are among games that now charge players additional fees to play if the game isn't purchased new. Supposedly, this is supposed to be used to keep servers up and running. Well, in Battlefield's case, the servers never worked in the first place, so why would I pay more to get what a game should do at launch? I won't do it. I say no. You can keep your broken games. I'll keep my money.

4. Post release patches - Now, this doesn't lose entirely. Many times, patches/updates can be used to re-balance a game, add weapons, raise a level cap, etc. There are a large amount of companies who use these for the greater good. They use patches to update their dedicated clientele, many times free of charge. Other companies, though, rush to get a buggy game released, knowing that they can put a patch out (hopefully) right after release to get a game going. Well, it doesn't always work out. Fallout: New Vegas, Dead Island, and Battlefield all had HUGE problems at launch that were not fixed immediately upon the game being released. I would love if Microsoft put a rule out to govern post release patches. Think about it, if a company was blocked from releasing an update for 3 months from release date, companies would make sure that they had a final finished product before they could sell a game to a customer.

5. The ever increasing price/frequency of DLC - Why this loses - Paying $60 is a lot of money up front for games. A movie is $10 dollars. An album is about the same. I can't always say that I would $30 for most games that are released. In my world, it does actually make sense to buy into a game for $30 and pay ~$10 for each additional DLC that is released. i'm not saying that the micro transaction revenue stream should be cut and copied from Facebook. We aren't all millionaires. Look at the all line up this year. There are 10+ games that will leave a large footprint on the gaming industry. If games stay at the price tag they're at, you can easily pay $800+ if you plan on playing each of those games start to finish. Incredibly, there are people who will do that. Good for them. If I could, I'd be in the same boat with you, but it's an impossibility. The season passes aren't making this any easier, even if you do save a few bucks in the end. Purchasing the passes for Forza and Gears, after buying the games, would put me at $180 for two games. Plus, we just got news today that the first Gears DLC is delayed...



Summary - I am not allowing myself to buy a $60 game that does not function as it's supposed to. I will no longer dump money into Microsoft only to recieve garbage. I do not care about release dates anymore. I will gladly take a delay than play a broken game. Publishers do not understand this, and will do anything to get a game out for financial gain, without regards to the quality of their product.

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Because of that, I no longer support Microsoft. They can continue to play catch up with every game released. Think about owning a pre-Internet console. They had to have games perfect by launch. You bought a whole game in a box. There were no redos. If you made a game that didn't work, your company shut down. Period.

For the foreseeable future, I will be playing PS3. By no means is it a perfect console, as there are none, but it keeps my frustration at a lower level, allowing me to enjoy what I'm playing. So, for now -

Microsoft, go ef yourself.