For the 25 days or so that Playstation Network was down, I played a few games. Some on Xbox 360, some on Wii, some on Playstation 3. Online multiplayer isn't really my thing, and therefore the loss of the online service didn't really affect me all that much. However, it's good to have it back and is nice to see my friends list being populated every time I turn my system on. But during that time, here's what I played.
Mass Effect 2, Insanity
I'm not one for difficult games or playing through games on the hardest setting, but Mass Effect 2 compelled me to do so for some reason. I wanted to play through the game with a Female Shepard, and while I didn't play through Mass Effect to get some bonuses, Bioware was nice enough to release the PS3 exclusive comic mere days after completing my run. But alas, it started out extremely hard, but ended quite easily if I do say so myself. I managed to beat it, save everyone, and get my last achievement in the game to finally complete it. It was nice to do, but I don't think I'll do it for Mass Effect 3 unless they dumb it down quite a bit.
Gears of War 3 Beta
I'm not a big multiplayer guy, but I'm surprisingly good at Gears. I managed to get a 1.0 K/D ratio and 1.0 W/L ratio before I felt drained from playing it. I didn't get the Gold Retro Lancer for the retail version, but I got everything else. I could've gotten it, but I just didn't think it was worth my time to do so. Overall, the multiplayer seems very solid, and it makes me excited to play it come September.
Portal 2
I didn't play this quite as heavily as I did everything else, but when PSN finally came back up, I played through the co-op campaign, which was immensely better than the single player one. I also managed to get my 19th Platinum Trophy in the game, which meant a lot considering I haven't gotten one since last August. Portal 2 is a great game, just not as good as Portal. Hopefully the DLC will rekindle my interest in the game.
Red Dead Redemption
This was a new pickup for me, but I'm still playing through it. Right now I'm in Mexico, but the story is really dragging at this point with missions starting on one side of the country and actually taking place at the other side, which really makes it feel unnecessarily padded. Still, I'm enjoying it, but not as much as I was before I hit Mexico. The voice acting and story are similar to GTA4 in the sense that the hero is there for a purpose, but that requires him getting his hands dirty. While the characters fit the times I'm sure, the vast range of characters seems unnecessary. Game of the Year worthy? No, because Mass Effect 2 is better. Plain and simple.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Heart Strings
A man can only take so much before he says enough is enough. I think I have finally reached that point with the Washington Capitals. They were my first sports team. Over the years I've watched them and hoped for a Championship Team, but every year they fail. After the last 2 years you think they would've broken through, but no, it remains no. And for the foreseeable future it seems like it will remain no despite having one of the best players in the league.
I don't know who or what to blame, but I think I may be done. I'm tired of getting my hopes up, and as a life-long fan, that's discouraging. My heart just can't take the disappointment anymore.
I don't know who or what to blame, but I think I may be done. I'm tired of getting my hopes up, and as a life-long fan, that's discouraging. My heart just can't take the disappointment anymore.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Celebrate
Today we celebrate. For the death of a terrorist mastermind? No. We celebrate because some semblance of closure can now be brought to those that were lost over 9 and a half years ago. Most died against their will, while others went out like heroes. Yesterday, the Navy Seals did their job to perfection, with no deaths on their side and no innocent casualties were taken. When it was announced that the President would be speaking in roughly a quarter of an hour last night, no one knew. People speculated that it was about Libya, but then more reports came in about American bases across the globe upping their security. But it was the last rumor that turned out to be true.
Osama Bin Laden...was finally killed.
President Obama gave us closure last night with a speech that just presented the facts, and even though it took him a bit longer to come to the Podium than we thought, it was worth it. We knew he was gone, we knew that we took him out, and we knew that we could ease our minds a bit and remember the ones we lost. Today, we celebrate the lives we lost. We celebrate people. We celebrate freedom.
Osama Bin Laden...was finally killed.
President Obama gave us closure last night with a speech that just presented the facts, and even though it took him a bit longer to come to the Podium than we thought, it was worth it. We knew he was gone, we knew that we took him out, and we knew that we could ease our minds a bit and remember the ones we lost. Today, we celebrate the lives we lost. We celebrate people. We celebrate freedom.
Monday, April 25, 2011
General Update #5354
Today's blog post will be one of those all-in-one specials that everyone loves to not read. Topics are coming to me nowadays, but narrowing down my topics and focusing on them is tough, so bare with me just a little while longer.
Stanley Cup Playoffs
The NHL Playoffs are underway, and the first round is almost over with. The Detroit Red Wings, Nashville Predators and my Washington Capitals have already advanced to the Conference Semifinals. So far, there have been a lot of overtime games as well as comebacks that always make things very interesting. Right now, everyone is watching the Vancouver-Chicago series, one that started with Vancouver being up 3-0, but is now headed to a decisive Game 7. If Vancouver loses, it'll be the third consecutive year that the Presidents' Trophy Winner loses in the first round of the playoffs, not to mention the third consecutive year Chicago would eliminate Vancouver from the playoffs.
PSN is down
Playstation Network as most Sony fans call it was compromised by hackers, or so Sony says, and has been down since Thursday. There's no end in sight, and it's really bad for Sony since last week 4 top tier games came out for PS3, including one that was download only. Portal 2, Mortal Kombat, SOCOM 4 and Arcana Hearts 3 were big names, but because of the outage, multiplayer is inaccessible. For me, it means I can't earn money via remote races in Gran Turismo 5 (which has probably cost me roughly 3-5 million dollars so far) and I can't play through co-op in Portal 2, which I hear is excellent. It's a tough break for Sony, but it really shows that hackers, modders, and the like really do hurt regular consumers, even if they don't want to.
Happy Easter
I'd like to finish off this blog post by wishing everyone a belated Happy Easter!
Stanley Cup Playoffs
The NHL Playoffs are underway, and the first round is almost over with. The Detroit Red Wings, Nashville Predators and my Washington Capitals have already advanced to the Conference Semifinals. So far, there have been a lot of overtime games as well as comebacks that always make things very interesting. Right now, everyone is watching the Vancouver-Chicago series, one that started with Vancouver being up 3-0, but is now headed to a decisive Game 7. If Vancouver loses, it'll be the third consecutive year that the Presidents' Trophy Winner loses in the first round of the playoffs, not to mention the third consecutive year Chicago would eliminate Vancouver from the playoffs.
PSN is down
Playstation Network as most Sony fans call it was compromised by hackers, or so Sony says, and has been down since Thursday. There's no end in sight, and it's really bad for Sony since last week 4 top tier games came out for PS3, including one that was download only. Portal 2, Mortal Kombat, SOCOM 4 and Arcana Hearts 3 were big names, but because of the outage, multiplayer is inaccessible. For me, it means I can't earn money via remote races in Gran Turismo 5 (which has probably cost me roughly 3-5 million dollars so far) and I can't play through co-op in Portal 2, which I hear is excellent. It's a tough break for Sony, but it really shows that hackers, modders, and the like really do hurt regular consumers, even if they don't want to.
Happy Easter
I'd like to finish off this blog post by wishing everyone a belated Happy Easter!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Sonic Colors: Dim the Lights
I've heard a lot of praise for Sonic Colors. How it was a return to form, the breaking of the cycle, the pinnacle of 3D Sonic games. While I can say it is the last of those three, I cannot say it holds true for the first two. While Sonic Colors starts off strong, it slowly deludes itself into mediocrity in what is otherwise an already short product.
Sonic Colors is a 2D/3D Platformer on the Wii where you play as Sonic and only Sonic through 45 regular stages and 7 boss fights. The premise is that Dr. Robotnik, or Dr. Eggman for those unaware of the series' history has built an intergalactic amusement park and Sonic must free the aliens that are powering it. While most of the early stages are designed great, around the latter half of the third world is where the game gets a little dicey with its' level design and never really recovers. You can go back and play older levels with newer alien powers you unlock, and given the game only lasts 4-5 hours, you probably will do so for the fear of buyers' remorse potentially setting in.
The graphics and music on Sonic Colors are top notch, and once again challenge Nintendo for what looks really good on the Wii, however Sonic Colors only runs at 30 fps unlike Mario, but considering speed is Sonic's thing it's not that big of a deal. What is a big deal is the controls. Sometimes the game is a little spotty with the controls, and you won't jump properly, nor will you move quite enough forward or back to avoid Sonic from dropping into an endless pit. These are things that have held true to 3D Sonic games ever since Sonic Adventure. Why Sega can't avoid this problem is beyond me, and has plagued the series.
Sonic Colors is the best 3D Sonic game to date, but that's not really saying much given the series' past. While it may be a good first step to breaking the dreaded Sonic Cycle, Sonic is still stuck in a continuous loop of mediocrity. Sonic Colors is just a lot less mediocre and approaching the good category.
Sonic Colors is a 2D/3D Platformer on the Wii where you play as Sonic and only Sonic through 45 regular stages and 7 boss fights. The premise is that Dr. Robotnik, or Dr. Eggman for those unaware of the series' history has built an intergalactic amusement park and Sonic must free the aliens that are powering it. While most of the early stages are designed great, around the latter half of the third world is where the game gets a little dicey with its' level design and never really recovers. You can go back and play older levels with newer alien powers you unlock, and given the game only lasts 4-5 hours, you probably will do so for the fear of buyers' remorse potentially setting in.
The graphics and music on Sonic Colors are top notch, and once again challenge Nintendo for what looks really good on the Wii, however Sonic Colors only runs at 30 fps unlike Mario, but considering speed is Sonic's thing it's not that big of a deal. What is a big deal is the controls. Sometimes the game is a little spotty with the controls, and you won't jump properly, nor will you move quite enough forward or back to avoid Sonic from dropping into an endless pit. These are things that have held true to 3D Sonic games ever since Sonic Adventure. Why Sega can't avoid this problem is beyond me, and has plagued the series.
Sonic Colors is the best 3D Sonic game to date, but that's not really saying much given the series' past. While it may be a good first step to breaking the dreaded Sonic Cycle, Sonic is still stuck in a continuous loop of mediocrity. Sonic Colors is just a lot less mediocre and approaching the good category.
Friday, April 8, 2011
No Shutdown
The President got on TV just a few minutes ago to announce that there would be no shutdown of the Federal Government, stating that a compromise had been reached that would cut roughly 39 billion dollars from last year's federal budget. The pending shutdown would've happened because a fully controlled Democratic Congress didn't pass this budget last year. The budget is mainly a stop gap to keep spending up for the next few months. The Republicans are looking to the fall to start debating an entirely new budget where they have more say about what may or may not go into it since it will be their first budget.
While some will say this is good for Republicans as something similar allowed Clinton to get re-election in 1996 I whole-heartedly disagree. Bob Dole lost in 1996 because he was a major player in the Republicans caving when they gained control of Congress in 1994. People who voted Republican in 94 felt betrayed by those they voted for, and in turn either didn't show up at the voting booth on Election Day in 96 or showed up to vote against those that betrayed them. This eventually led to an economic boom in the mid 90's and lasted mostly through the Bush Administration. The difference here is that we're still in major military conflicts overseas, which is hurting our economic status in the world.
Cutting 39 billion dollars from a 3 trillion dollar budget isn't going to solve anything. Cutting 390 billion dollars would help, but it'd still be a drop in the bucket to the amount of money Government is spending on a yearly basis.
While some will say this is good for Republicans as something similar allowed Clinton to get re-election in 1996 I whole-heartedly disagree. Bob Dole lost in 1996 because he was a major player in the Republicans caving when they gained control of Congress in 1994. People who voted Republican in 94 felt betrayed by those they voted for, and in turn either didn't show up at the voting booth on Election Day in 96 or showed up to vote against those that betrayed them. This eventually led to an economic boom in the mid 90's and lasted mostly through the Bush Administration. The difference here is that we're still in major military conflicts overseas, which is hurting our economic status in the world.
Cutting 39 billion dollars from a 3 trillion dollar budget isn't going to solve anything. Cutting 390 billion dollars would help, but it'd still be a drop in the bucket to the amount of money Government is spending on a yearly basis.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
By George it's been a While
I haven't updated my blog in a while, so it's time to get down to some brass tax and discuss a few things.
The Final 4
The National Semi-Finals were great, which produced two great games with Butler and UConn advancing to the Championship. Kentucky could've won in the final seconds but a poor shot led to a Connecticut win. Virginia Commonwealth fought hard against Butler, but the Bulldogs were too much. My guess experienced paid off there. However, the Championship game was one of the worst, if not the worst College Basketball game I have ever seen in my life. Butler couldn't shoot the ball at all and the game went for minutes on end without the score even changing. I know the NCAA is proud of their parody but have the refs call a few fouls to get some free throws so some mild interest can be maintained throughout. I was watching baseball with 15 minutes to go in the game because of it.
NHL
The Washington Capitals are once against Southeast Division champs, and may be on their way to a second first place rank in the Eastern Conference. They will most likely face the Rangers or the Sabres given the current schedule outlook, but they could face the Canadians or Hurricanes as well. Vancouver, who wrapped up the President's Trophy a couple of weeks ago lost back to back games handily to Edmonton so it appears they might be limping into the playoffs, like the Flyers are. Who, incidentally might lose the Atlantic Division to Pittsburgh if they aren't careful. The Playoffs will surely be exciting but one thing's for certain, my team will never win.
Video Games
I've mainly been simulating B-spec in Gran Turismo 5 lately. I'll most likely stop when I get to level 35 so I can get the best car in the game. After that, it's anyone's guess. I also purchased the Borderlands Game of the Year Edition and playing through the DLC packs. They're fun, but fast travel was definitely needed. Either that or the elimination of travel padding. I beat Playthrough 2 so now all enemies are now equal to my level, which is just great since it'll mean much more experience from here on out.
The Final 4
The National Semi-Finals were great, which produced two great games with Butler and UConn advancing to the Championship. Kentucky could've won in the final seconds but a poor shot led to a Connecticut win. Virginia Commonwealth fought hard against Butler, but the Bulldogs were too much. My guess experienced paid off there. However, the Championship game was one of the worst, if not the worst College Basketball game I have ever seen in my life. Butler couldn't shoot the ball at all and the game went for minutes on end without the score even changing. I know the NCAA is proud of their parody but have the refs call a few fouls to get some free throws so some mild interest can be maintained throughout. I was watching baseball with 15 minutes to go in the game because of it.
NHL
The Washington Capitals are once against Southeast Division champs, and may be on their way to a second first place rank in the Eastern Conference. They will most likely face the Rangers or the Sabres given the current schedule outlook, but they could face the Canadians or Hurricanes as well. Vancouver, who wrapped up the President's Trophy a couple of weeks ago lost back to back games handily to Edmonton so it appears they might be limping into the playoffs, like the Flyers are. Who, incidentally might lose the Atlantic Division to Pittsburgh if they aren't careful. The Playoffs will surely be exciting but one thing's for certain, my team will never win.
Video Games
I've mainly been simulating B-spec in Gran Turismo 5 lately. I'll most likely stop when I get to level 35 so I can get the best car in the game. After that, it's anyone's guess. I also purchased the Borderlands Game of the Year Edition and playing through the DLC packs. They're fun, but fast travel was definitely needed. Either that or the elimination of travel padding. I beat Playthrough 2 so now all enemies are now equal to my level, which is just great since it'll mean much more experience from here on out.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
The Madness is almost over
After three weeks of single elimination basketball, we're closing in on the weekend that counts: The Final Four. Today, Butler and Connecticut both punched their tickets to the final weekend of the College Basketball season. While we won't know the other two teams for a few more hours, it's safe to say that everyone will be on pins and needles waiting for the result, whether it be for pride or pleasure.
Butler going back to the Final Four after last year's near Championship run is a testament to how well that program is run and how good that coach is. If the Coach there bolts for a bigger name after this season it won't come as a surprise to anyone, because he's really earned it. Even if he doesn't go now, he'll go later. Personally, I think he'll end up the next coach at Duke. His style is similar to Duke's, so it'd be like Coach K never left if he came in.
Connecticut winning isn't a big surprise because they're from the Big East. But the fact that they're the only team remaining from the Big East is the surprise. Considering they played 5 games in 5 days to win the Conference Tournament, if they won it all, I don't think anyone would be shocked.
But the question is, who would we be shocked at winning this whole thing? Virginia Commonwealth obviously, but they face Kansas tomorrow. North Carolina and Kentucky look like really good picks right now, but we'll have to wait and see what the refs and players decide is best for us in just 7 days time.
Butler going back to the Final Four after last year's near Championship run is a testament to how well that program is run and how good that coach is. If the Coach there bolts for a bigger name after this season it won't come as a surprise to anyone, because he's really earned it. Even if he doesn't go now, he'll go later. Personally, I think he'll end up the next coach at Duke. His style is similar to Duke's, so it'd be like Coach K never left if he came in.
Connecticut winning isn't a big surprise because they're from the Big East. But the fact that they're the only team remaining from the Big East is the surprise. Considering they played 5 games in 5 days to win the Conference Tournament, if they won it all, I don't think anyone would be shocked.
But the question is, who would we be shocked at winning this whole thing? Virginia Commonwealth obviously, but they face Kansas tomorrow. North Carolina and Kentucky look like really good picks right now, but we'll have to wait and see what the refs and players decide is best for us in just 7 days time.
Friday, March 25, 2011
A Blurb about Pokemon
So while I was down in Tampa I bought both versions of the newest Pokemon game (Don't worry, they had a sale). Over the past 3 weeks I've been playing the White version of the game on my DSi XL, and while I haven't beaten the game yet I thought I should talk about it a bit.
First things first, I've seen 86 Pokemon, played 16 hours and have 6 badges. So far I can say that it is definitely a very good Pokemon game. The features it adds are really cool and necessary for the series to grow. While the Pokemon Global Link, which provides for online stats is not active yet, I can say that when it is released, will probably add a new life for the game. The ability to only capture new Pokemon for the main quest seems like a good decision since it forces older players to rely on new strategies than 'get my favorites and dominate.' It adds a lot of strategy to the game, and makes the game quite a bit tougher as well.
The story mode is your basic 'become League Champion and defeat the evil team' quest, but this one seems a bit more involved while still staying very basic. Overall, it keeps me going outside of capturing and raising Pokemon while facing trainers. While this isn't a full review yet, pretty much everything I've seen I've liked with the exception of the C-Gear interface.
C-Gear is basically your multiplayer menu and is with you at all times on the touch screen. It allows you to converse with wi-fi, local and infrared multiplayer at any point. The interface, while simple seems really confusing to me. You can move the buttons around, but there's no real point unless I've missed some unlockable features somewhere. It doesn't detract from the game though, but I just don't mess with it. I recommend this game if you're looking to get back into Pokemon, or are looking for a solid, old school JRPG to help you pass the time.
For me though, if Nintendo releases a Pokemon Gray next year, I'm going to have to pass. I'm really burnt out on Pokemon at the moment given that we've seen a new game released every year for almost the past decade with remakes, 3rd versions of games, etc. Pokemon is a great series, but I think it needs time to breathe a bit.
First things first, I've seen 86 Pokemon, played 16 hours and have 6 badges. So far I can say that it is definitely a very good Pokemon game. The features it adds are really cool and necessary for the series to grow. While the Pokemon Global Link, which provides for online stats is not active yet, I can say that when it is released, will probably add a new life for the game. The ability to only capture new Pokemon for the main quest seems like a good decision since it forces older players to rely on new strategies than 'get my favorites and dominate.' It adds a lot of strategy to the game, and makes the game quite a bit tougher as well.
The story mode is your basic 'become League Champion and defeat the evil team' quest, but this one seems a bit more involved while still staying very basic. Overall, it keeps me going outside of capturing and raising Pokemon while facing trainers. While this isn't a full review yet, pretty much everything I've seen I've liked with the exception of the C-Gear interface.
C-Gear is basically your multiplayer menu and is with you at all times on the touch screen. It allows you to converse with wi-fi, local and infrared multiplayer at any point. The interface, while simple seems really confusing to me. You can move the buttons around, but there's no real point unless I've missed some unlockable features somewhere. It doesn't detract from the game though, but I just don't mess with it. I recommend this game if you're looking to get back into Pokemon, or are looking for a solid, old school JRPG to help you pass the time.
For me though, if Nintendo releases a Pokemon Gray next year, I'm going to have to pass. I'm really burnt out on Pokemon at the moment given that we've seen a new game released every year for almost the past decade with remakes, 3rd versions of games, etc. Pokemon is a great series, but I think it needs time to breathe a bit.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Spring Training '11 Update 4
This is my final update for MLB Spring Training '11 in Tampa, FL. This one is going to be a bit different as I will rank all the Stadiums in a few categories to show you my favorite overall experience of the entire trip. I won't be including St. Pete Times Forum because it's not a Baseball Stadium and outside the realm of this post. But for now, here's the Stadiums I went to in order:
- New York Yankees (Tampa Bay)
- Philadelphia Phillies (Clearwater)
- Baltimore Orioles (Sarasota)
- Atlanta Braves (Orlando)
- Houston Astros (Osceola)
- Toronto Blue Jays (Dunedin)
- Detroit Tigers (Lakeland)
- Pittsburgh Pirates (Bradenton)
- Boston Red Sox (Ft. Myers)
Stadium Experience (Seats, Field)
#1 - Clearwater
#2 - Tampa Bay
#3 - Sarasota
#4 - Lakeland
#5 - Ft. Myers
#6 - Orlando
#7 - Osceola
#8 - Dunedin
#9 - Bradenton
Stadium Food
#1 - Clearwater
#2 - Sarasota
#3 - Tampa Bay
#4 - Osceola
#5 - Ft. Myers
#6 - Orlando
#7 - Bradenton
#8 - Dunedin (Best Nachos)
#9 - Lakeland
Parking (Getting in, out)
#1 - Ft. Myers
#2 - Orlando
#3 - Osceola
#4 - Tampa Bay
#5 - Bradenton
#6 - Dunedin
#7 - Sarasota
#8 - Lakeland
#9 - Clearwater
Overall Experience
#1 - Tampa Bay
#2 - Sarasota
#3 - Clearwater
#4 - Ft. Myers
#5 - Orlando
#6 - Osceola
#7 - Lakeland
#8 - Bradenton
#9 - Dunedin
Best Teams
#1 - New York Yankees
#2 - Philadelphia Phillies
#3 - Baltimore Orioles
#4 - Boston Red Sox
#5 - Detroit Tigers
#6 - Toronto Blue Jays
#7 - Pittsburgh Pirates
#8 - Tampa Bay Rays
#9 - Houston Astros
#10 - Washington Nationals
#11 - Atlanta Braves
#12 - St. Louis Cardinals
- New York Yankees (Tampa Bay)
- Philadelphia Phillies (Clearwater)
- Baltimore Orioles (Sarasota)
- Atlanta Braves (Orlando)
- Houston Astros (Osceola)
- Toronto Blue Jays (Dunedin)
- Detroit Tigers (Lakeland)
- Pittsburgh Pirates (Bradenton)
- Boston Red Sox (Ft. Myers)
Stadium Experience (Seats, Field)
#1 - Clearwater
#2 - Tampa Bay
#3 - Sarasota
#4 - Lakeland
#5 - Ft. Myers
#6 - Orlando
#7 - Osceola
#8 - Dunedin
#9 - Bradenton
Stadium Food
#1 - Clearwater
#2 - Sarasota
#3 - Tampa Bay
#4 - Osceola
#5 - Ft. Myers
#6 - Orlando
#7 - Bradenton
#8 - Dunedin (Best Nachos)
#9 - Lakeland
Parking (Getting in, out)
#1 - Ft. Myers
#2 - Orlando
#3 - Osceola
#4 - Tampa Bay
#5 - Bradenton
#6 - Dunedin
#7 - Sarasota
#8 - Lakeland
#9 - Clearwater
Overall Experience
#1 - Tampa Bay
#2 - Sarasota
#3 - Clearwater
#4 - Ft. Myers
#5 - Orlando
#6 - Osceola
#7 - Lakeland
#8 - Bradenton
#9 - Dunedin
Best Teams
#1 - New York Yankees
#2 - Philadelphia Phillies
#3 - Baltimore Orioles
#4 - Boston Red Sox
#5 - Detroit Tigers
#6 - Toronto Blue Jays
#7 - Pittsburgh Pirates
#8 - Tampa Bay Rays
#9 - Houston Astros
#10 - Washington Nationals
#11 - Atlanta Braves
#12 - St. Louis Cardinals
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