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.