So Dramatic!

So this blog has been pretty silent for most of the year. My post a few days ago about GW2 was really something I thought up at the last second to keep from having another month with zero posts. Of course I didn't actually expect comments, so that was a nice surprise.

The reason for the inactivity has been for a couple of reasons. One is passion and the other was time. I had really lost all sorts of motivation months ago and began to question why I bother to even blog. What was the purpose? I don't pretend to be the best writer or the most popular blogger, and I certainly didn't want to start posting some sort of contrived, phony intellectual type article about some topic in the games industry that I could care less. I'm most definitely not popular enough to post one sentence links as a post and hope to receive mass amounts of comments, so that was out of the question as well. I guess I could do hateful and and argumentative posts about certain types of games and declare my opinion is the only valid one to have, but that too belongs to someone else.

I'm not the busiest man in the world; my job only takes about thirty hours of my life during the week so I actually nave quite a lot of free time to do things like blogging or playing games. The thing is reading the blogs on my reader and then trying to post something on a semi-regular basis takes a lot of time. It was just more time than I really wanted to invest for blogging honestly. Writing is probably the most time consuming portion for me, to the point of being agonizingly painful. Hmm, that's kind of like the same thing ain't it? I really like to write, I'm just not that good at it. It would, and still does take me a great deal of time to think about and put into words what it is I want to say.

Honestly I've just lost focus and become quite lazy when it comes to blogging. I'm going to continue to blog I think because I like having an avenue to voice my thoughts, frustrations or what have you about anything, mostly game related. It may not be interesting or even topical - heck, when GW2 comes out and I'm the only one not playing I'm pretty sure I'll have zero traffic.

Hmm, after reading through all this I feel like I've become all emo  and overly dramatic.

Hating on Guild Wars, Again.

I’m not sure what it is, but I have this tendency to dislike things based on them being extremely popular. It’s not always the case, but on occasion it does happen. One of those things I truly dislike is Guild Wars. I guess more specifically Guild Wars 2. See, I played GW back a long time ago, back when MMO actually meant something and not the generic term it is today. I enjoyed GW for about six hours, and then I was over it. I’ve tried a few times to give GW a chance, but I just don’t like the game.

My issue with GW2 has nothing to do with the game itself – I haven’t even seen or played the game. No, my issue comes from the notion that GW2 is the second coming, best thing since sliced bread, the savior of the MMO genre as it were. In all honesty it may very well turn out to be a great game, but I highly doubt it’s going to bring anything new and exciting to the genre.

Hello?

Just kind of wondering! I guess the NBI should suggest to potential new bloggers that it might help to say something of interest, cause clearly I have not. Oh well, here's a few random thoughts I had to help make this post even longer!

DEATH OF AN MMO
Why do people want a game to fail? I have never understood what drives someone to hate a game or company so much that they want a particular game to fail and die. This random thought comes to you courtesy of Syncaine and his post about SWTOR. I'm not surprised because being a long time reader of his blog I know how he feels about theme park MMO's. The death of a MMO regardless of who makes it cannot be a good thing for the industry.

For the record I do enjoy reading Hardcore Casual even if I disagree with most of what is posted because of that very reason. It's nice to have a differing view on things to take me out of my comfort zone on occasion.

MMO'S NEED TO EVOLVE
Every so often I'll see the word 'evolve' with regards to the games industry. It's mostly used when someone is hating on a game either out now or has been announced. All one has to do is look at the myriad of comments about TOR of the response to the new TES MMO that was announced.

What I think is that people are confusing evolution with innovation. I believe that the notion of evolution in the games industry, or for any multimedia industry for that matter is a myth. If you can think it, then probably it has been done in one way or another. The real problem is World of Warcraft - it's arguably one of the best MMO's to date but its popularity has caused there to be a lack of innovation in the MMO genre.

DIABLO III IS AWESOME
Diablo III is indeed awesome!

MAX PAYNE 3 IS A PAIN TO THE MAX
I spent the better part of four hours yesterday trying to get Max Payne 3 to run on my computer to no avail. Leave it to Max Payne to make the launch day issues with Diablo III look like a walk in the park.

Quick Impression of Diablo III.

I don't want to get into too many specifics or into spoiler territory, but I thought I'd post a quick impression about my time with Diablo III. It's good. No, it's damn good. Not only is it damn good, but I've also been playing a crap ton of it! There's my new rating system and unit of time spent playing right there.

The game is beautiful, it runs great, has wonderful voice acting, the story is quite interesting and the ease of dropping into a coop game with friends is awesome. The not so good includes having to log into a server to play, meaning it's almost a single-player game as long as servers are up, and of course the lag.

The game is so good, and I can be playing for hours and enjoying myself, but it's the little lag or high ping or even the random disconnect that seems to stand out more to me. Always online DRM isn't necessarily a bad thing if done right, just ask Ubisoft about the issues they've had to overcome, my concern is that other companies are going to adopt the same sort of DRM that Blizzard has implemented with Diablo III.

But enough of that nonsense. I am almost to the end of Act II and thus far Diablo III is wonderful.

The Error Heard Around The World.

I will admit, on Tuesday I was one of those who grabbed a torch and pitchfork and took to their anonymous voice on twitter to complain about the "launch day" issues with Diablo III. Since when did single-player games have "launch day" issues anyways?

One thing I've learned over the years is that gamers can become a whiny, entitled, arrogant mob when it comes to games. It seems I follow some pretty level headed twitter people cause the outrage was pretty timid, but I can only imagine what the message boards looked like on Tuesday.

Unlike the Mass Effect 3 outrage a few weeks back, Blizzard I believe deserves all the scrutiny and criticisms they are receiving for their handling of Diablo III release. First of all, why do I need to log in to a server to play my single-player game? And second, how can you not be ready for the mass amounts of people who are going to try and play on midnight of release?

I want it to be know that Diablo III is great. No, it's pretty darn awesome actually. Unfortunately this MMO style server garbage has me frustrated with what is a very good game thus far. I tend to ramble a lot on twitter, most of the time it's ignored and for good reason. But one thing I said and I stand by is that in a month I'll probably forget that I couldn't log in to play my single-player game, but right now I am freaking pissed!

The truth is that all these issues will most likely be all but forgotten in a month or two and we will all have moved on to something else that frustrates us one way or another. That truth still doesn't make Blizzard any less responsible for botching the launch of a very anticipated game. It's a good thing Diablo III is amazing.

Nerd Rage.

I am a passionate guy. I tend to react and over react at times, I am not one for patience and I can be stubborn as well. So when I saw a link to an article on Kotaku called The Dumbing Down of Diablo III, I just had to read it.

Let me first say that I don't like Kotaku at all. I can't stand the layout of their website and most of the stuff they post is crap. But the title and the subject had me very interested in reading this one.

I read the article and I immediately felt some rage - why was Blizzard taking away customization, DIII will have no replayability, why do developers cater to the casual crowd - these were just a few of the thoughts raging in my mind.

Since the article was updated due to comments made I decided to scroll down and give them a look. The first two comments posted are videos of skill points and attributes in Diablo III. They are freaking amazing!! The reasoning behind the changes make perfect sence once you listen to the explanation of why they were made. Sure, who doesn't want greater control over their character. After giving it some thought however, that was my least favorite part of Diablo 2.

So in a few short minutes I went from homicidal nerd rage to being even more excited for Diablo III with some confidence that the game will be just fine. I wonder if there is a condition called Game Bipolar disorder.

It doesn't seem like all that long ago I told myself that I was going to limit my game purchases to a few of the bigger titles like Diablo III this year so that I can focus on playing the stack of games I have already purchased. Well you know what they say, the best laid schemes of mice and men oft go awry!

The year 2012 started with me excited about just a few games - Mass Effect 3, Diablo III, and...I can't remember what else really. I can't remember when Max Payne 3 finally received a release date, but I am super excited for that game too.

So the plan was to play through some games including Mass Effect 1 & 2 before getting to Mass Effect 3 and play that till Diablo III comes, after that I don't remember really what the plan was going to be. It probably had something to do with not sleeping and taking out the Lord of Destruction multiple times.

Well since the New Year I bought and finished LOTR:War In The North and Saint's Row The Third, bought Kingdom's of Amalur: The Reckoning which I am currently playing, picked up Mass Effect 3 at half-price and a few other games thanks to Amazon's Spring Sale which included Darkness 2 and Serious Sam 3. Oh, and there is TERA too.

It's now May and the Diablo III release date inches ever closer with Max Payne right behind. To top things off I have been playing quite a lot of ME3's multiplayer and decided that sleep was overrated by getting into League of Legends. First world problems are such a pain are they not?

So where I was going with all of this is as of today when this goes up, Alan Wake for the PC is on sale on Steam! I really want to play the game but decided that I would pick it up at a later date maybe on sale. I didn't count on that sale happening now and at half price!! I don't think I can win on this on because I'm sure I'll regret the purchase if I made it and regret not making the purchase if I don't.

Guess I'll just go home tonight and play more ME3 multiplayer and then a round or two of LoL till I'm ready to pass out!

Sleepy...

I should really know better than to make fiscal decisions while in a sleep deprived condition. It was late last night, I hadn't slept well the past few days and I somehow clicked on the purchase button. Instantly I felt the regret. I had been somehow convincing myself to not make the purchase for a few days now knowing I am booked for the month.

Flash forward to today and Tera is now installed and I have spent about an hour playing so far. I knew I would like the combat, it looks pretty and was interesting. But the lack of sleep and the persistence of a few who have been playing finally pushed me into making the plunge.

I still regret the purchase, specially with TOR, Diablo III and Max Payne 3 just to name a few games taking my time this month, but I guess I'll just have to make the time to play. I know, what a problem to have, right?

Random.

Jaye: Heya blog.

Blog: Hey Jaye.

Jaye: So...how are things?

Blog: Good, things are good...

Jaye: Did you see there is some sort of Newbie Blog Initiative thingy taking over the blogs today?

Blog: Well maybe they should have done the 'Get Off Your Lazy Ass Blog Initiative!

Jaye: Geez, what's gotten into you?

Blog: Well you write, then you stop, then you write again and then you stop. Are you going to make up your mind or what!!

Jaye: Wow, I didn't know you cared. I'm sorry.

Blog: I miss you!

Jaye: Hey blog, did you know if you do a search with the term 'funny random pic', you get all sorts of crazy results. This one was one that made me laugh out loud!



Blog: Sigh...

RAGE!

Well I finished RAGE this evening. At some point I might write up something more extensive on the whole experience. However, I will say that the story is not fleshed out which makes the structure of the game feel off and the ending is abrupt and confusing. With that said, the gameplay in RAGE is awesome, one of the best shooters I've played.

Not sure what game will be next on the list, but for now I leave you with a few more screen shots from RAGE while I prepare for more TOR!

A Spoon Full of Cynicism...

So TOR is proving to be much harder to break away from than I thought it would. What that means is I did not install and play the Modern Warfare's like I had wanted. But not is all lost, I did install and play the first mission in Modern Warfare, so that's a start.

Before I get into that I wanted to bring up something that I thought was kind of interesting, at least to me. I have a slight backlog of podcast's that I have been making my way through, and this past week I was listening to the Gameinformer Show. In one episode there was a segment in which the hosts talk about Modern Warfare 3. One host in particular made a comment along the lines of how the Call of Duty franchise in recent years has been getting a bad rap from gamer's.

This statement really struck a cord with me because over the years I have become quite cynical towards the franchise myself. I loved the first MW. I remember being super excited about the game having a modern setting and being blown away after playing the demo. MW2 however rubbed me the wrong way, and not from a gameplay stand point, but because of it's peer-to-peer multiplayer - something I hated with a passion at the time.

I played the heck out of MW2's multiplayer, so there must have been something there that I enjoyed, but until recently I never touched the game's single-player. By the time I decided to play MW2's campaign I had a heap full of cynicism and I know it affected my enjoyment of both MW2 and Black Ops.

There came a point just before the release of MW3 when I questioned why I was so negative towards the CoD franchise, why am I still holding this grudge. So I decided to put all that aside and purchased MW3 - and at least with the multiplayer I have not been disappointed. It's for this reason that I thought I would play through the MW's in succession because maybe I have been missing what seems to be some great games. Well I already know that MW is great cause I've played it, but the next two in the series according to reviewers are just as awesome.

Well enough of this, it's time to smash Republic players in TOR!

A Modern Shooter Time.

A few months ago in a time before TOR, I decided over a four day period to play through the single-player campaign of the shooters that I had on my Steam list. I started with Modern Warfare 2, then Black Ops, Homefront and finished with the new Medal of Honor.

Needless to say it was a long weekend as the only game I truly enjoyed was Medal of Honor. Which honestly was a surprise to me. I was already having fun with the multiplayer as it was giving a taste of what Battlefield 3 might be, but I did not think I would enjoy the story as much as I did.

I know I mentioned finishing Rage, but that hasn't happened because of my renewed interest in TOR. I never hated the game, but I wasn't finding it all that interesting at times. You could say I was a bit bored. Something I have been thinking about doing since Modern Warfare 3 came out was playing through the Modern Warfare's.

I have the next three days off, so this could just be the right time to do just that. Although I always have Wed-Fri off, so really any week I could do this. But as of right now I am only playing TOR since finishing WitN last week so I do have the time to tackle this task.

Honestly I give myself ideas like this because I have a tendency to waste time, and I really hate feeling like I didn't accomplish something during my time off from work. And besides, I have only played MW3's multiplayer, and by all accounts the single-player is decent.

Of course this all depends on if I can pry myself away from TOR's grasp...

A Touch of RAGE!

I picked up RAGE on sale at a local Gamestop back in October, but like many games I didn't get to it right away. At the time I was the Witcher 2 and with Skyrim just a short few weeks away I wasn't sure I would be able to get to it, but I made the purchase anyways.

I'm really glad I did, even though I haven't played much, I really like RAGE. The game is so beautiful, the controls are really tight and the weapons are awesome. Why I waited this long to get back into RAGE is a mystery to me cause according to the timestamp, I haven't played the game since the day Skyrim launched. Big surprise.

So today I thought I would fire it up, get familiar with the controls a bit and take a few screenshots to share just how beautiful RAGE truly is!

 

It Has Many Names...

I'm not one for New Year's resolutions, but I thought this year maybe I'll try to start a new trend. You see, I lack discipline and willpower, and that leads me to buy more games than I can play. What I'm hoping to do is to limit my purchases till I take care of some of the backlog...the pile...the stack. It's known by many names but it's condition is the same.

Beside The Old Republic, I am thinking that I pick one game to play and if possible stick with it till the end. I know what you're thinking, this is how you're suppose to do things. Well not only do I buy too many games, I also have a bad habit of playing those games for say a few minutes before moving on. I guess you could say I am easily distracted by shiny things.

I just finished War in the North so I was thinking of playing Rage next. But there is a good chance I might pick up Saints Row the Third and play that first. Of course I was also thinking of playing through both Mass Effect's before the third comes out. But then there's Space Marine, or even Fallout New Vegas with all of the cool DLC and......OMG TOO MANY GAMES!!!!

War in the MotherF@*$^ng North Yo!

Let me start by saying that this post was originally very different in tone when I first starting writing it about a week ago. But something strange happened - I finished War in the North and found that I wanted to play more. Then I finished the game a second time, and yet I still wanted more. So now with just over forty hours of play time and finishing the game with all three characters I will admit to having a very different attitude about War in the North.

Don't get me wrong, War in the North isn't great thanks to what I think are some not so great design choices and a terrible first impression, but in the end I enjoyed myself and wanted to play more which is all I could ask for in every game I play.

For those who don't know, War in the North is a hack 'n slash RPG from Snowblind Studios who made the popular Champions and Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance games back on the PS2. The story in War in the North coincides with the story of the Fellowship as they make their way to Mount Doom to destroy the Ring. Player's choose to play either a man, an elf and a dwarf. Clearly party composition was inspired from the movies.

The problems I had with WitN early on had to do with the game's brutal difficulty on normal. You start off with no skills, no gear, and to make matters worse the game has a few flaws that compound the issue. Many skills have extremely slow animations, you're given the ability to block but then the game tosses tons of enemies whose attacks you can't block, the ranged fov takes time to get used to and will cause one to pull out their hair, enemy ranged damage is way too high, and the camera's terrible mouse acceleration can make large battles super hard. None of these these issues in and of themselves are not a big deal, but for your first time through the game it can be very off putting.

However, and this is a big however, there is quite a lot to like about WitN. The sound and art design are amazing. The voice acting is some of the best I've heard in a game, the soundtrack is very reminisent of the movie trilogy, the character models look great and the locations you go to are detailed and varied. WitN is no Rage or Crysis, but it does look pretty good. The combat does still suffer a bit from some of the issues I mentioned, but once you unlock skills and upgrade your equipment the combat can be a thing of beauty.

I raged a lot on WitN on twitter a few weeks ago, but I am glad I stuck with it, because it's actually quite a good game.

Ugh Island.

So my last post about Dead Island was kind of positive right? I mentioned a few of the things I enjoyed and some of the things that I didn't enjoy all that much. I believe that when I wrote that I was just getting into Act II which sends you from the resort and into the city.

You can forget all those nice things I had to say about Dead Island because this is one crappy ass game. There's no denying that Dead Island has some charm in the beginning; I would say that Dead Island gives a great first impression, but as you go on the game becomes more annoying, it drags on way too long and the combat gets more and more frustrating.

Thing is, even after beating the game then bitching about it on Twitter, I still fired up Dead Island to try one of the other characters. Again, the beginning of the game at the Resort is quite enjoyable and its open RPG gameplay is what draws me in  just like an Elder Scrolls or Fallout game does. But man does this game have issues.

The story is forgettable and cliche, but honestly if the dev's had built the game around just the resort portion of the game, fleshed it out a bit more making it a bit larger and the game was only say fifteen hours, then I would say this is a great game. But Dead Island just drags on and on and on and on.....

The Island is Dead!

When Dead Island came out about a month ago I didn't think anything of it. Since then I had been hearing some positive buzz about the game from both Twitter and a few of the Podcasts I listen to. But it wasn't until I heard that it's got some RPG type elements withing the game that my interest was peaked.

Even with the good things people have been saying about Dead Island there was just as much said about its many issues at launch on the PC. Amazon had the game on sale for forty bucks, but I was really reluctant to make the purchase for two reasons: the very buggy release and I had a few other games I was in the process trying to get through before the huge November and December releases.

When Dead Island dropped to just over thirty-six bucks on Amazon, I finally caved in a made the purchase. And for that I am quite happy. See, Dead Island is not a great game; it has it's share of issues and annoyances, but it's the perfect game at the perfect time for me.

The gameplay structure reminds me of the more recent Fallout and Elder Scrolls games. Much like those games the player is free to go about and play the game however they want. There is the main story quest, lots of side quests and even repeatable quests that give XP, and one can't forget about the massive amounts of zombies that one will be smashing to bits during all this. There are fifty levels to gain, and each level I believe gives a skill point to invest in one of three skill trees. While you're doing all that you can explore the island and loot the luggage of those less fortunate that you!

I haven't had too many technical issues - some awful sound crackling from my USB headset, clipping issues with zombies and lots and lots of texture popping which is a bit distracting. I do however have a few annoyances with Dead Island. The first person combat makes it tough to judge the distance from a zombie, something that makes fighting a thug a nuisance. The combat is a lot of fun but it can get repetitive and honestly it downright fails when fighting large groups of zombies, something you don't want to do but does happen on occasion.

I also find the weapon degradation to be annoying, but just slightly. There's no shortage of weapons to be found, and in the beginning you will frequent locations with workbenches to repair weapons quite often. Even still, I find that the weapons degrade just too fast. I've toyed with the idea of using a mod to slow down weapon degradation, but I don't because the fear of having a weapon become useless does add the the overall experience of Dead Island.

When I mentioned Dead Island being the perfect game at the perfect time, it's because after watching some Diablo III gameplay streams I really had a hankering for some action rpg type experience. While Dead Island isn't so much action it does satiate my thirst for some RPG. The Witcher 2 isn't really doing it for me so this will have to do me till Skyrim comes in November!

The Obligatory 'What I've Been Playing' Post

Since I haven't been blogging much one could think that I am either playing way too much to post or not playing anything what so ever. It's definitely no the latter because I had the whole week off from work. So let's hop to it shall we?

 

First up is Deus Ex Human Revolution. Initially I was very worried for this game; a few delays and what seemed to be some not so positive previews kept me from preordering a copy till the very last minute. Thankfully DXHR has turned out to be a pretty darn good game.

I bitched and moaned on twitter the other day about my frustration with the third and forth boss along with the whole last level of the game and how it almost ruined the whole game for me. But the core gameplay, the power of choice and the ending I chose were so great that I decided to immediately playthrough the game a second time.

My first run through I wanted to do the stealthy pacifier type so my weapons of choice were the stun gun, tranq rifle, gas grenades and non-lethal take downs. I don't want to get into this too much, but I was one of those who bought into the notion that a hacking stealther will have difficulty with the boss fights. That's not true, it just requires being prepared and wise investments of your Augs. It would explain why I am having more fun the second time through than I did the first.

I have finished the game once already and I am probably half way done with my second playthrough.

Next up is Warhammer 40k Space Marine. I have only played maybe an hour of this game, but I will go on record as saying Space Marine is F&#*ING AWESOME. The first time I stunned an Orc then impaled their skull with my combat knife I cackled like a school girl. The first time I sliced through a group of Orcs with a chainsword I had an instant boner. Ok so maybe I didn't, but it was freakin' sweet!

I had to put Space Marine on the back burner because I really wanted to finish DXHR first. I have been putting a lot of effert into making sure I start and finishing a new game before moving onto another new game.

There is of course the problem with having enough time, which my next game does not help with.

Yep, I have been playing in the World of Warcraft. I must have gone six months without thinking about let alone playing a MMO. But by June I was getting a hankering for some massively online stuff, so with my free game time due to SOE's downtime I went and subscribed to the Station Access. I paid for one month at thirty dollars and with my free time I don't have to pay again till the end of November, not bad.

Unfortunately a few of my friends were playing WoW and like a good lemming I eventually caved in and resubbed my account. This week I haven't played nearly as much because of DXHR, but WoW does tend to occupy my evenings when my buddies come online. Honestly I don't have much to say about WoW, I have been doing some PvP with the mage and letting my priest gain some rested bonus to make Outlands go by a little quicker.

So there you have it, my primary games of choice this week during my extended time off from work. Next week NHL 12 releases and I have also been thinking about giving Rift another try. Wish there was an Augmentation that gave me more time to play games!

Still Hope For Battlefield 3.

Last night I stumbled upon an article about how Battlefield 3 for the PC will not have an in-game server browser unlike the console versions which will include a server browser. That just seems backwards if you ask me. Instead what the PC version will use is a program called Battlelog through a player's Internet browser.

Today I read an article on PCGamer.com about the new system and still I was scratching my head wondering why such a thing was needed for the PC. After reading the article I thought to myself that I may not be getting BF3 because of this seemingly complicated and unnecessary requirement to play online.

Well then I scrolled down to the comments and I must tell you, I was surprised at what I was reading. You can tell the responses to the article because the comments are in a gray box and they are primarily negative. What was surprising was the amount of replies to those comments that were positive. There were far more comments about how easy the system worked and how much better Battlelog was compared to a server browser. There were people actually positive on something EA is doing, shocker I know.

I firmly believe that the majority of people who hate EA have either forgotten or don't know why they dislike the company. Having no in-game server browser for arguably one the biggest multiplayer games to be released this year is just begging to get even more hate. But apparently Battlelog works, and it worked well for many who commented on the PCGamer article.

This reminds me of the time a few years ago when I spit venom in Activision's way when I learned Modern Warfare 2 was going to use peer-to-peer matchmaking. P2P matchmaking is the bane of any PC game and is almost certain death for its online longevity, unless you're Modern Warfare 2.

I admit, I was going to forget about BF3 all together after reading the article, but reading the many positive comments about how the new Battlelog works and that it worked well has calmed my fears and given me renewed interest in the game.

The Pile of Funk.

I shamelessly borrowed this pic!

A few weeks ago Anjin wrote about the pile. You know, that physical or even virtual stack of games that's been sitting there waiting for you to play. Everyday it calls out to you just begging for you to play and yet you sit there ignoring their cries for attention. Ok, so maybe that second part is just me, but you get the idea.

I too have the pile, but for me it causes what I refer to as the funk. The funk is an overwhelming desire to play every game you own but not being able to come to a decision as to which particular game to play. Symptoms include sitting at your desk and staring off into space, playing multitudes games for 3-5 mins at a time, a general lack of interest in current game because you feel you should be playing that other game and the occasional tv watching.

I do have a touch of the funk right now, but it's not too bad. This time however the cause is twofold: I am still waiting for my replacement video card so I can play games like Witcher 2 and Bulletstorm and I have this overwhelming desire to play one of the many strategy games that I have purchased over the years.

The video card thing isn't such a big deal because I should be getting the replacement soon. The monkey wrench in this touch of funk is the strategy gaming desire that I have. I'm not talking Real Time Strategy like say Company of Heroes, I'm referring to games like Hearts of Iron III or Victoria II, Europa Universalis III or EU:Rome, you know those games that have manuals the size of small novels. I really enjoy those grand strategy type games, but I don't necessarily enjoy the time it takes to learn how to play one.

What it boils down to is that I need to stop buying games on sale and I just need to not be overwhelmed by the need to learn whichever strategy game I want to play and just play it!

Let's Play Some: Everquest 2 Furbottom Edition!

In this inaugural edition of Let's Play Some I thought I would start of with something easy like Everquest 2. I know what you're asking your, 'why is this the Furbottom Edition?'. Well I will get to that here in a second. Because this post may be long with lots of terrible looking screenshots, I have decided to add a jump break to this post. So if you are incredibly interested or bored join me after the break and we will get to the adventure!

Ultramarines.

I have been know to enjoy movies that the mainstream deems stinkers. For example, I love Doom, Silent Hill and Hitman is one of my absolute favorites! I had all but forgotten about the Ultramarines movie, but judging from the trailer it looks to be all kinds of awesome.

Video after the break!

Ho Hum.

Wow, can't believe it's been almost a month since I posted something on the blog. One would think that I have been busy, maybe too busy to spend just a little time to write something, anything. Truth is I've just been lazy. Not only have I not been spending time writing, I have also not been reading my reader feeds of other blogs. Wow, that's not a very good sentence is it!

Soapbox.

I found this to be quite interesing and thought provoking. I will admit to having little knowledge of the California Violent Video Games law and am ashamed of that fact. My poor state, it can be a pretty stupid place to live sometimes.

Video after the break!

It's Bitter Sweet.

I'm sure by now most if not all have heard of the announcement that Star Wars Galaxies will officially be shutting down come December 15th. When I read the announcement this morning before work I was hit with two emotions - sadness and relief. Everyone at some point had to know this day would come see as how a new Star Wars MMO is just around the corner, but it didn't make the announcement any less surprising. At least for myself.

The closure of SWG is bitter sweet for me. On one hand I have wanted the game to fail and go away for a very long time. But on the other I have always had a fondness and love for the game. Even though Dark Age of Camelot was my first MMO, Galaxies was the game that cemented my addiction to the genre.

Galaxies is like that friend or family member that when they were little you loved to spend time with. But as they got older they just became a major screw up, making one bad decision after another. Eventually as they get older they realize that maybe they hadn't made the best decisions in life and try to get their life back on track. Even though they have disappointed you over the years, deep down you still love them and hope the best. That's how I have viewed SWG over the years.

Almost a year ago I wrote up a post about my time with the SWG emulator and how my fond memories of my time in Pre-CU Galaxies were tainted in the color rose. The words I wrote then are still valid today. Even though the realization that SWG was a mess back in the day, nothing will replace the fond memories I have of my time in Galaxies during that period.

Where Oh Where Has My Wallet Gone!

Man I really need to exercise more discipline and discretion with regards to buying games! So in the past thirty days I bought in order: The First Templar, The Witcher 2, LA Noire for the PS3, Red Faction Armageddon, Brink, Bulletstorm on sale for twelve bucks and I picked up My FEAR 3 and Dungeon Siege 3 pre-orders from Gamestop today. That is a lot of gaming.

I have finished LA Noire and Red Faction and was close to completing The First Templar, but I just couldn't take more of that awful game. I do think I am getting better with my game purchase to completion percentage. But, a spending spree like this is what back logs are made of.

The plan is to start with Dungeon Siege 3, then get to FEAR 3 next with a healthy dose of Brink in between. There's also the matter of MMO's - I am getting the itch to play them again. Either way, I've got enough gaming to tide me over till Warhammer 40k Space Marine arrives in late August!

I Don't Get It.

What has happened to the gaming community these days? If it makes a console gamer happy then the PC gamer is complaining. If the PC gamer is happy(which seems like never) then the console gamer is complaining. This game received this score so I think that game deserves that score because I think it's better than this other game. What do you mean I can use a controller for this game? Everyone knows PC gamers only use mouse and keyboard.

This game is so awesome. It looks great, has a better story, and.....wait it's coming to Xbox? Then this game is a dirty console port, can't you tell by the.....

Message boards are full of anger, disappointment, ignorance and just all around vitriol. It's really sad because games are suppose to be fun and relaxing. Instead games have become this thing that people want to latch onto and take up the cause for or against them. There's this fanaticism that seems to drive gamers to lash out whenever someone has a differing view or opinion about a game.

With each new release on the PC there comes the inevitable 'console port' criticism along with the 'you must not be a PC gamer' or 'you have no idea what you're talking about' comments. PC gamers have this idea that their game should have a differing experience because they are playing on the PC. I don't get that. I think that train of thought is born out of some nostalgic idea of what gaming was like at one time.

Gamers have forgotten how to enjoy themselves. Instead they have become angry and bitter and will accept no other opinion than their own. Too bad really.

A Bit of Nothing.

I have just spent the past couple of hours on the web looking up topics such as subjectivity and objectivity, the idea of being entitled to having an opinion and of course reading the Steam message board. I have actually found the time quite enlightening to be honest.

So from that a few thoughts came to mind, mostly game related. What makes a game good or bad? Are game reviews suppose to be objective or subjective? If a game review is the opinion of the author, then why does the author or reviewer suddenly have less credibility because one disagrees with the review? Are we truly entitled to have an opinion and is it to be respected? Why do people become so devoted to a product or company that drives them to close mindedness? Do you think that when Ben Kenobi was talking about the Mos Eisely spaceport, that he was really talking about message boards in general? Why am I still typing this and not playing games? And finally, how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?

I may not know the answer to all of this, but I do know that a few months ago I didn't really care about to know the answers. It wasn't until I jumped on the Steam forums and began to read the most nonsensical, ignorant and elitist statements that made me want to know the answers.

It seems to me that gamers have forgotten how to have fun and not to worry so much about what others think as long as they are enjoying themselves.

EDIT: Here's another question: would a review be better if it stated only the facts and was devoid of any sort of emotional slant? Is that even possible?

More TOR Goodness!

Again, I think I just messed in my pants!

SW:TOR E3 Video!

I think I just messed in my pants! I would be lying if I didn't say that I am quite excited for TOR to be released.

Eureka!

I think I have figured it out. If you're trying to convey an opinion about a game that you believe is getting unjustly criticized then you are whining. If said game is one that has a popular opinion of being bad then you are an idiot with bad taste in games. But, if you are trying to convince someone that game X is better or what game Y was suppose to be, well then you are a fanboi. Also it seems that opinions are not to be respected if they are blatantly wrong, and believing that game Y is not bad means your opinion is wrong.

Getting Past The Funk.

After spending the month of April and the beginning of May playing Dragon Age 2 I wasn't sure what I was going to play next. To be honest there was a time during my third play-through where boredom started to set in. But I was able to push through that and completed the came for a total of eight times. Probably not healthy.

 So I took a week off from gaming to reinstall Windows and to give myself a breather before I decided what to move on to next. Thing was I had been in a bit of a funk even before finishing DA2 a ninth time. I knew my time was at an end and I was going to be playing something different, but I couldn't figure out what that was going to be.

The funk for me is this overwhelming feeling I get when I look at the number of games I own both digitally and physically and realize that I haven't played them yet. I have plenty of time to play games that's not the problem, having too many games is the problem. So I get this desire to play these various games but not deciding which one to start with so the end result is me sitting at my desk staring at my monitor. It's quite frustrating really.

So I decided to reinstall Windows and clean up the machine a bit, and that seemed to help a lot. After some tweaking and reinstalling I decided what I was going to play. Two weeks ago I started with Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops, Homefront, Singularity which was on sale finally, The Force Unleashed on the PS3, the new Medal of Honor, and finally Rainbow Six Vegas 2.

To be clear I played from start to finish each and everyone of those games, a feat that I am quite proud of really. In between all that there was the occasional NHL 11 because of the playoffs and a pinch of MMO's that are either f2p or just have free time available. None of the games I listed are all that lengthy which is why I chose them, but the feeling of accomplishment is nice.

Of the military shooters that I played, Medal of Honor was my favorite. The story is not overbearing, the gameplay is solid and I have always enjoyed the multiplayer. I was honestly surprised at how good I thought it was. Singularity if probably the best of the bunch, but it really fails to take advantage of the time manipulation aspect of the game. I don't consider Rainbow Six a military shooter, but that's just me. As for Force Unleashed, as soon as I finished that pile I traded the game away to Gamestop to hopefully rot away on the shelf. Man that game sucks.

As for what's on the plate next, that would be a bit of R6V2, The First Templar and most likely a whole lot of NHL 11!

DLC BAD!

DLC is here to stay it seems, why do people still cling to this feeling of entitlement and believe that they deserve additional content for free?

Lately I have been participating in a so called conversation on the Steam forums about the new DLC for Dawn of War II: Retribution. DoWII has a online coop mode called Last Stand which puts three players in an arena where they must fight off up to twenty waves of enemies. Players can choose one of six different hero units that represent each of the factions in the game. It's almost like an action-rpg really since you are controlling a single hero unit. Heroes gain XP up to level twenty and will unlock new wargear and abilities on the way.

Relic just released six new items of DLC with two pieces of wargear for all six factions at a $2.99 price tag for each. Initially I thought you had to purchase each one separately which would come to around $18 bucks! There is however a complete wargear pack that is available which includes all six DLC for only $10 bucks, much more satisfactory in my mind.

I can understand all the angst against DLC, I had a huge problem with the thought of paying for content piecemeal when it was just starting out. My main argument was that I would end up paying more for these small pieces of content than I did for the full game itself. I now support the idea of DLC, I just don't always support the price.

What I can't understand is the thought process of someone who is going to jump on a message board and start complaining about pricing or company greed or how they want free content. I really think it's a case of the haves vs the have-nots. If you don't like the DLC then don't buy it, no one is forcing you to. But because someone else is willing to pay for it then it's suddenly not fair and the DLC should have been part of a free update of what have you.

Message boards are really a wretched hive of scum and villainy!

Welcome To The Master Race!

Wanna know what makes me rage? PC gaming elitists! They've been around for quite some time and anyone who's been a PC gamer has probably even been guilty of being one at some point. Let me give an example: a few years ago there was this small game called Modern Warfare 2 that was about to be released, and I complained and complained about how I felt the game was a dirty console port because of its new peer-to-peer matchmaking for multiplayer. So yes, even I have exhibited some elitism in the past.

I listen to a few gaming podcasts, and there have been more than a few hosts that have levied a derogatory comment towards the PC gaming crowd on occasion. I tend to ignore statements like this and chalk it up to just plain ignorance by a console gamer. But it seems this year those elitist accusations have been more than confirmed by none other than idiotic PC gamers!

What makes a PC gamer an elitist? Well it seems the requirements to become an elitist are to complain that a PC game is a console port with the expectation that a game for the PC is suppose to have certain options and give the PC gamer a completely different experience gameplay wise on the PC.

Dragon Age 2 was apparently changed to accommodate the console gaming kids who like easy games. Crisis 2 with its check point saves, lack of graphic options and not being in DX11 obviously means that it was ported over from the Xbox. Even Portal 2 had someone claim console port because of some text that appeared on screen when saving the game or something. Even the current darling of the PC, the Witcher 2, has had the console port tag put on because the game supports a controller, so it's obvious the game was ported to the PC.

I know I named just a few games, but the outcry of consolization on the PC has grown to almost epic proportions. Frankly I am just sick and tired of PC gamers bemoaning the fact that such and such game is a console port for this or that reason. Problem is, it's not going to end anytime soon.

Expectations.

Those who have read this blog lately know that I love Dragon Age 2. I think the game is great but in no way is it perfect. I like the changes to the combat, the updated graphics, the new party members, the streamlined crafting, and a fully voiced hero just to name a few things that I believe makes for a better experience than in Origins.

So what's wrong with DA2? Well actually quite a few things. Regardless of the development time or the technical issues that hampered the game at launch, the biggest problem DA2 has is expectations. Say what you will about the game being a cash grab or that it's too easy or whatever, it seems that those most outraged are those who were expecting Origins 2. The issues facing DA2 are not all that serious that they can't be overlooked.

Which leads me to the Witcher 2. I have yet to play the game so I am not going to pass judgement on it, but to me the best thing to happen to Witcher 2 was for those who had rather high expectations for DA2 all but crucify the game and Bioware too. After browsing the message boards a bit it's plainly obvious that Witcher 2 is everything Dragon Age 2 was suppose to be and if you believe differently than you are (insert random word meant to be an insult here).

I have read a few reviews for Witcher 2 and it does seem to be quite good and I am looking forward to buying and playing the game at some point, but the game is not without its faults as well. I am not going to compare faults between the two games nor do I believe the faults of one game are worse than the other. But, I do believe those pushing the gospel of Witcher 2 on the message boards are more than willing to overlook the game's issues.

So what does that have to do with anything? I have a problem with people crying out vehemently against a game, it's developer and those who enjoyed said game but are willing to forgive another game that has issues all its own just because the first game did not give them the experience they were expecting to have. Basically I am saying that I believe people are building Witcher 2 to be better than what it really is because it gives them that taste of expectation that was suppose to be in Dragon Age 2.

I want to make it clear that I haven't played Witcher 2, so it very well could be as great as it's being made out to be, but I get the feeling that somewhere in the middle is the truth.

Not The Indie Type.

I like games. In fact, i like lots of games. But the type of games I don't care much for are indie games. I'm not saying that I hate indie developers or their games and I'm not opposed to buying indie games either.

I just don't care much for anything indie, be it movies, music or games. Indie supporters kind of remind me of Apple supporters(disciples), they feel they are better than everyone because they are not supporting something mainstream.

With all that said, it does seem that the the only original IP's releasing these days are coming from indie developers. So I guess indie games are not all that bad.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Pre-Order This!

I decided to browse the Steam forums to see what trouble I can cause before bed when I stumbled upon a thread where someone was wondering if there was going to be a pre-order bonus for the new Red Faction Armageddon game. It would seem that this fella would like get something extra for his pre-order because the PS3 and Xbox both will and he would much rather play the game on the PC.

Is this were gaming has gone now, to a place where people can't be bothered to pre-order a game unless they get something extra in return? How about you get a fancy new game to play, how's that! Sure, pre-order bonus' are nice, I have received a few in my time but it doesn't drive me to pre-purchase a game.

You know what drives me to pre-order a game? Something like this:

Oh yeah!



Dragon Age 2: The Common Complaints Edition

It should be no secret that I enjoy Dragon Age 2. I have enjoyed it enough to spend 300+ hours playing through the game seven times. I do want to make it known that all seven times were on Casual difficulty. I did start a game on Hard because I really wanted to take advantage of the tactics system, but after spending almost an hour getting wiped on the first real boss which is only about fifteen minutes into the game, I decided to give up. At some point I will revisit Hard mode, but not right now.

So what is the Common Complaints Edition then? Well I figured I would list the most common complaints that one will read if they are to browse any sort of message boards or comments about anything Dragon Age 2.

• Feels rushed, obvious cash-in
• Combat is too fast
• Combat is not tactical like Origins
• Combat is too easy
• No epic storyline
• A collection of side quests rather than a cohesive story
• Kirkwall
• Lack of variety in locations
• Interface is streamlined
• Whole game is streamlined
• The game fails
• It's a console port

I am sure there are more complaints than this, but these were the ones I could remember off the top of my head. Now I am not blind, I know that Dragon Age 2 is not perfect, it has its share of issues and some of the complaints are valid. But I grow tired of reading the same ignorant rants from people over and over again about how poorly made Dragon Age 2 is and that Bioware won't stay afloat if they don't get their act together. It's amazing just how many armchair developers there are out there that seem to know what it takes to make a good game. You would think they would be doing something more constructive instead of filling my eye sockets with their useless words.

I think everyone can agree that game reviews are subjective, they are the opinion of the person writing the review. Weather a game is good or bad can also be subjective as well. I believe Dragon Age 2 to be a great game, yet there are plenty of others who would disagree with me because they believe the game to be bad.

With all of Dragon Age 2's real issues aside, I believe its two biggest problems are first - the number 2 after its name, and second - the PC gamers who believe their experience needs to be different from that on the console, hence the console port argument. But these are topics for another post.

I, Myself.

To all those very few who have my dinky blog on their RSS, I want to apologize for my lack of posts. One might have noticed that I have been neglecting my blog for the past several months, and they would be right!

Two things: writing is a painful process for me at times. I love to right, I enjoy putting words together and making somewhat intelligent sentences, but at times it can take just to darn long from start to finish. I have also had a real lack of focus with what I want the blog to be and where it might lead to.

So to summarize - I have been lazy, I am over thinking things, and my addiction to Dragon Age 2 has consumed any and all free time I may have had over the past couple of months. Oh, and there is of course the Stanley Cup playoffs that I have to watch.

So again, sorry everyone for wasting space on your reader.

There's No Place Like Home.

Thank you everyone who read and posted comments on my slow-to-be-updated blog. Unfortunately I was unable to comment myself on my iPhone. As for the trip it was fun, warm and just the right length, by Saturday I was ready to come home.

Blogging from Texas on the iPhone

So blogging about my time so far in Texas on the iPhone is a success. Except I haven't figured out how to make a comment.

I'm hoping to visit the Ft. Hood museum today and the Alamo tomorrow. If it works out and I'm able to take pictures then I'll just post some of those when I get back home.

Maybe this will be the catalyst that gets me to post on a more regular basis. Well this and taking a break from playing Dragon Age 2!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Texas Day 1

Well my first day in Texas is coming to an end soon. The weather leaving San Jose was cold, wet and cloudy. The weather in Austin was hot, dry and cloudy, nothing like the Bay Area.

For anyone wondering why I would fly to this odd country it's because I am here to visit my brother who is in the Army. Since he is deploying to the Middle East in a couple months, I figured I would Come and visit for a bit.

There are two things I have learned since being here; Texas is hot and humid at night and I suck at Rock Band.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Why So Serious?!?!

I really should know better than to get upset at stuff I read on the interwebs. 'Why take it so personal' I wonder to myself sometimes, but I can't help it when I am reading what I believe to be obvious lunacy. What pray tell am I referring to? Well I'm glad you asked. What has got the ire of Jayedub this time is the commotion cause by the reviews that Dragon Age 2 has caused and the resulting backlash from those who seem to think that no one is suppose to like this game and their ignorant rants.

I won't lie, I love Dragon Age 2. I love the combat, the companions, the improved visuals, the voice acting, all of these things I find to be much better than Dragon Age Origins. The story doesn't have as epic of a feel this time around, but I happen to think the quests are much more memorable this time around as well. I enjoy this game so much I decided to upgrade my video card in order to play the game in DX11. Let me put it this way: I am about to finish Dragon Age 2 for a fifth time and I have just over 200+ hours invested into this game. I like this game.

So it annoys me to no end when I read comments about how Dragon Age 2 fails, it's a cash grab, it's a console port, the combat is too easy, blah blah blah. Granted the game is not without its fault both technically and in design, but the game is freaking great. Once I was able to get past the fact that Dragon Age 2 differs from Origins, I found myself enjoying the game.

Auction Time.

For those who don't know I work in the self-storage industry and today we held our auction. It's been awhile since the last auction we held, and the first since the new show Storage Wars began airing TV. The auction was pretty small unit wise and I wasn't sure what affect the show would have for us before we began today.

Well, the show had a massive impact for us. In the six years I've been at this facility I have never seen so many auction buyers at one of our auctions, and I have never seen so many outrageously high bids for such small units! The show had bred a new type of auction buyer, for better or worse it remains to be seen.

A word of advice for those who use storage for sentimental items - don't! A storage facility is not the place you want to keep your pictures or anything of sentimental value, make room at your home because you never know what can happen to them. It always breaks my heart when an auction buyer brings me a box or container filled with pictures of someones kid.

I've never seen the show Storage Wars, but I can guarantee you they are only showing the good stuff for the viewing audience. But I'm sure it makes for great TV!

Dawn of War II Voice Actors

I happen to be on the Dawn of War 2 site today when I noticed they have a video posted introducing the voice actors from the games. The video isn't very long but it's really neat to get just a small glimpse of the behind the scenes work that is involved in making the game.

Life is Fragile.

I'm not the kind of person who keeps up with current events. I dislike watching the news on television because it's filled with death and despair and makes me wonder often times why people are allowed to exist anymore.

On Thursday night my wife and I turned on the 11pm new and were greeted with something that amazed, shocked and saddened us at the same time. When I hear or read about tragic events, for me there is a certain disconnect because it has already happened, and it didn't happen to me. But hearing about the massive earthquake and then watching the tsunami that resulted from the quake rip through Japan on t.v. in real time was almost too much to bear.

I found it very hard to fall asleep on Thursday night. As I lay in my nice comfy, warm bed, all I could think about was that I was about to go to sleep and there are thousands of people who have been displaced by this tragic disaster. Or even worse, have lost loved ones or even their own lives from the tsunami. Watching the devastation happen on t.v. brought back memories of 9/11 and the overwhelming feelings of helplessness and sadness I had while watching the events unfold.

It's events like these that remind me that life is short and fragile, and I need to live my life to the fullest and not take things for granted.

Some Hockey Thoughts.

I don't write enough about hockey on the blog, but know that I LOVE the greatest sport on earth! That's hockey for those who don't get it. This year more than any other in recent memory has been marred with controversy with player concussions, blows to the head and injuries.

I love the physicality of hockey; the checking, the hitting and the fighting. I also love the speed and skill that gets displayed on the ice every night. What I don't love is dirty players, injury's and those who detest the violence in hockey.

On March 8th there was an unfortunate hit on a player that resulted in a serious injury. The two players involved are not dirty, the hit wasn't dirty, but the location of the hit along the boards turned a routine interference and check into a very real and scary situation.

The result of the play is very unfortunate, no one wants to see someone injured and I do hope that Pacioretty is able to make a speedy recovery and return to the ice next year. The fallout from this hit is amazing. You have those who believe Chara should be suspended and those who don't. The Montreal police are now involved and a sponsor is trying to flex some muscle by threatening to pull out of the NHL.

Regardless of how one feels about the play and the injury, this was not an intentional blow to the head which has been the hot button in the NHL this year. Let me give you an example of what is an intentional blow to the head. Warning: video is not of good quality.

This my friends is a blatant hit to the head. The Hawks-Lightening game was on VS. across the US, and no penalty was called and no one seems to be talking about the play at all. The Chara hit and injury was unfortunate, but it's hits like the one Bolland took last night that need to be addressed. I truly hope that the NHL spends some time this off season to address this issue, but please don't take out the physicality from my favorite sport.

UPDATE: I just read that Pavel Kubina was suspended for three games for his hit to the head of Dave Bolland. I am glad that justice has been served but I do believe it's not long enough. His hit was intentional to the head, three games is not enough to send a message to the NHL players.

I Can See Clearly Now The Rain is Gone.

I was able to finish off Heavy Rain this morning before work. The game is brilliant for a few reasons; the story was intriguing, I became connected to the main characters and no other game has touched me on an emotional level like Heavy Rain did.

Sure the game has issues like a crappy control system, audio glitches and undeveloped character back stories. But it succeeds in drawing you into the story and delivering some pretty intense moments.

I highly recommend that everyone try Heavy Rain, if for nothing else then to see something different.

It's Heavy, Like the Rain.

Heavy Rain has been a game that I've been wanting to play since it's release. It seems like a polarizing game, you either love it or hate it, and if neither then you probably haven't played it long enough.

For me I am really enjoying the game, much more than I thought I would. I rarely purchase new console games based on a silly principle I have (they are too expensive), so I picked it up used for less than twenty-five bucks. Now that's a deal.

For those who may not know, the story is based around a person called the Origami Killer who kidnaps and kills children, specifically boys. As someone with a three year old son I was a bit worried that the premise of the story would be too much to handle, and so far it has not. But with that in mind I do think that has helped me to identify with one of the main characters in the game because of the love I have for my son.

So far the story is pretty good. The game has this interesting mix of having some of the best visuals in a PS3 game with some of the best visuals in a PS2 game, meaning there is some great looking stuffed mixed in with a lot of crap. The acting is hit or miss, but it's bearable. The controls however are a mess. I think the main issue is using the R2 button to walk around, that was an absolutely terrible idea, but it hasn't been enough to take away my enjoyment of the game.

I do recommend that everyone who owns a PS3 give Heavy Rain a try, if for nothing else to see a game that is trying something different.

Dead Space 2 Review

I guess I haven't totally given up writing because I decided to write up a review for Dead Space 2. The fine folks at Gamesquad.com were nice enough to post it here. I welcome any constructive feedback.

A small update.

Well I made it through the month of February without a post, yay me! It's not for lack of thoughts really, there's quite a lot percolating up in my cranial crock pot. It's more because I am lazy, and I wasn't even sure I even wanted to blog anymore.

The updates to the blog are pretty small; I removed the Xbox Gamercard because my Xbox fried last year and I have no plans on purchasing a new one, and I added a list of my most interested and might purchase games for 2011 called Dub's Game List for 2011. It's just a list of the upcoming games for the year that interest me. Some are a day one must buy, some are games that I will buy eventually and the rest are games I might possibly purchase.

Dragon Age 2 is a game that I will eventually buy, but the sixty dollar price tag and day one release with DLC have turned a must buy into an eventual buy. Sixty bucks for PC games, really!?! Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is a must buy for me. Yes I own it on the PS3, but I have played the game for all of thirty minutes. Had I known it was going to have a PC release I would not have bought the PS3 version. Besides it will look better on my PC. Homefront is a good example of a game that I might possible buy depending on how it reviews. I hear good things about it, but not enough to make me all that excited to buy it.

So that's about it for now. I'm still here, still playing games so maybe I'll get off my keister and write about them every so often. I want to leave everyone with something that may or may not be funny, a video from a show that someone on Twitter linked to. I find it funny, hopefully you do to.