There’s a story of a guy whose friend was playing Bowling of all things on the Wii and the Wiimote flew out of his hand and broke the TV they were playing on. I actually saw the original forum thread, but have long since lost it. Well, not really more lost as didn’t care. I just dismissed it, passing it off as pure stupidity, even if it is true. But, I am glad the Penny Arcade fellows decided to touch on this. Good job guys.
Monthly Archive for November, 2006
I know it’s a couple days late, but I’ve been in Jeff City from Thursday till last night. I didn’t post an update since then because… well, I’ve been busy. Thursday we left Warrensburg after Lexy got off work and headed to Jeff City. We got there a little late, but my parents still had plenty of food left, so we still got to eat. We then went to Adam’s apartment and hung out for a while. I fixed his wireless network, but I don’t like how slow it’s running. The wired inputs of the router are working just fine, but I think his router doesn’t really like WPA-PSK encryption. I may have him just turn off the encryption and have him setup his router to do MAC filtering. That might work out better. Only one way to find out right?
Friday we went to Lexy’s mother’s house for more turkey food. I got to meet Cody’s girlfriend and her sister. I will spare you what I think of them. We stayed there for a while and then went to Mike and Mary’s new house. They got a new Samsung DLP HDTV that really made me jealous. Apparently Kody and Ryan got that same TV. That made me even MORE jealous. Well, we went to Longhorn’s for dinner and I got to listen to how Kody got all this new stuff. Like a Sony HD Harddrive Camcorder. Maybe he wouldn’t like me posting links to things, but it’s what I do. I like people to get an idea of what I’m talking about. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for Kody and the fact that he can afford to buy damn near whatever the hell he wants. It just reminds me how far behind I am everyone else my age. Mike is a UMR graduate and Masters student (you go boy). Everyone else I know has a full time job and can just go out and buy anything their little minds tell them they want. I wouldn’t be so damn jealous about this if I wasn’t a 6 year college student. It just makes me feel unaccomplished. I mean, Kody is already doing things that I am going to school for and he can do it because he has the money to get the equipment and software. So, I guess I can’t really blame him. I would do the same if I could. Oh well. Someday I will have a reasonably decent job and I can buy cool stuff. I will just have to go on being jealous of everyone else.
hence I am updating at this hour of the morning. I am using Lexy’s laptop because I didn’t feel like turning on my computer. I noticed something about this laptop that shouldn’t bother me… but it does. There are palm-wear spots on this laptop. That could only mean that Dawn is using the hell out of this laptop. Considering that we picked this laptop for Lexy specifically and the fact that we gave Dawn Lexy’s old desktop and Dawn has a computer of her own that, according to her, she has the knowledge to fix. I don’t know why this bothers me, but it does. I’m sure it doesn’t really bother Lexy, but I’m kind of eccentric and weird. Maybe it’s because Dawn does the same thing Steve did. Get up, sit on couch, break out laptop. I don’t know why THIS bothers me either. Why am I always bothered by things… that really shouldn’t bother me. Though, it is pretty fun to type on this here laptop. I do want one of my own, but that’s okay, I’ll get one when I get an actual job. Damn jobless. I’m done bitching, back to TV with me.
As many of you may know Lexy and I were trying to get the new Nintendo Wii. Well, she went to Wal-Mart in Warrensburg to try to pick one up because unlike EB or GameStop, you didn’t have to be first in line to be guaranteed one. Wal-Mart handed out tickets to those who showed up to grab a Wii. They would run out of tickets when they ran out of Wiis. Lexy showed up at Wally World and it turns out that a group of about 20 friends had shown up to claim every single Wii ticket Warrensburg Wal-Mart had. Warrensburg’s Wal-Mart only got 20 Wiis by the way. Jeff City got 50-100. In fact, Warrensburg was out of Wiis ten minutes into the release date. Jeff City, apparently, had a couple of Wiis left yesterday. This pisses me off. Yeah, chances are the Jeff City Wal-Mart would sell more Wiis, but guess what, it didn’t. My brain tells me that the rate of sale for JC vs. Warrensburg is less than one or JC sold less in the same amount of time than Warrensburg. Nice Wal-Mart, nice.
Now, why would a single group of people be buying all the Wiis? To play them, yes. But I can almost guarantee you that many of those Wiis were sold on eBay. This pisses me off. I will never buy a game console from someone on eBay. I will only purchase something that expensive from an actual store such as Wal-Mart or EB/GameStop. Sony really exacerbated this situation by releasing a mere 150,000 - 200,000 PS3s for the entire US. So, if you are one of those who bought a console just to sell it on eBay… FUCK YOU! Anyone who does that shit is one hell of a son of a bitch and should be shot. Buy a console to play the console, not to make money… that’s Nintendo, Microsoft, or Sony’s job. If you sell your console for more than a used price, you are cheating whoever buys it from you. The idea of selling a console is you either can’t afford to keep it or you are bored with it, not so you can cheat other people. Now, granted those people who pay MORE than the retail price for a technically used console… they need to be shot alongside the person who sold it to them. You’re not going to go to the store and haggle the price for the console higher than retail. If you are in a situation to pay more than retail… WAIT!!! Just do without until you can get one from the store… you’ll end up with more money in your pocket.
To wrap things up, don’t sell your console until you are actually unhappy with it. If you don’t think you will be happy with it… don’t get one. If you are about to pay more than retail for a console… don’t get one. Just do without… you sicken me.
So, Lexy and Dawn wanted to go see Happy Feet last night, but I realized that Casino Royale was playing at around the same time. Dave was hanging out so I figured, the girls can see their movie and the guys can go see some Bond. Daniel Craig does the role of 007 some very good justice. The movie itself was actually a fairly good movie. For a two and a half hour action movie the story actually kept me interested for the whole time. There was only a couple of times I looked at my watch wondering how far into the movie we were.
As everyone knows, Casino Royale is based off the book by Ian Flemming. This movie is actually the second Casino Royale made, the first one in 1967. The 2006 release is a kind of modern remake of the original story. It’s kind of a post Cold War version of the same book. So, it looks like they are going to redo the Bond story with a modern twinge. If you actually watched the movie and didn’t stay for the credits, you will have missed the fact that James Bond will return. There wasn’t an extra at the end, just a line at the end of the credits that said “James Bond Will Return.” If the successive movies are anything along the quality of this one, I will be very happy with the 007 franchise. So, even if you don’t like James Bond, check out this movie, it is actually fairly good for an action flick.
Oh, and something else, check out brand new episodes of Survivorman in February 2007.
When someone else comments on a post after you do, do you get an email saying someone has posted on the same post? Does that make sense? Pretty much what I’m asking is do you guys get emails saying someone has responded to the same post you commented on? I want to make sure a WP plugin is working.
I was on my way home from class today and some frat dude possibly a ROTC guy asked me if I was from Germany. I said no and he said “Well, that’s Germany’s camo pattern.” I politely said that I knew that, but still… what the fuck? I think I got the clue I was wearing Germany’s camo pattern when I noticed the little German flag on either shoulder when I bought the jacket. Or did I think that was just some kind of US Special Forces? NO!! Of course I knew it was German. Fuckface.
If you see someone walking around in a US camo jacket, do you assume they are either in the Vietnam or Iraq vet? Not generally. Only if they are in full camo BDUs do you say to yourself, “That guy must be in the military.” If someone is just walking around with a camo jacket, you usually dismiss it. So, do me a favor. Every time you see someone in a camo jacket, ask him if he is in the Army. Then when he says no, tell him he is wearing the Army’s camo pattern. Then smile to yourself when he/she gives you a weird look. I do the same thing with people wearing UMR stuff. So far, not a single person I have asked has actually attended UMR. It was usually their brother or something. I find it funny.
Check out the new Spiderman 3 trailer. It looks really good and to be honest, before watching this trailer I had doubts of Tophur Grace (Eric, That ’70s Show) as Brock (aka Venom). However after catching some glimpses of him in the trailer, I’m not so doubtful anymore. I’m sure when he is Venom, he will totally be replaced by a CGI character much like Sandman will be, but as Brock he looks good. My biggest question is where the hell does the symbiote come from? We see in the trailer how he gets rid of it, but not how he gets it. Well, we see when he gets it, but not how. Either way, should be a fantastic movie.
On an unrelated note, I think I will add “Tony Hawk’s Project 8″ to my Christmas List. I’ve heard that it’s either good or great. My most trusted source for video game reviews, GameSpot, says it was good, around 7.9/10. That’s good enough for me considering it’s supposed to have revived the skating game genre. If I get it for Christmas, we’ll see.
That is all.
So, Dawn brought a friend back from wherever the hell she was. A guy named Bob. I’d met Bob before, but through Lexy’s family, and Bob’s a pretty cool guy. Anyway, he brought a new game with him, “Gears of War.” I watched him play a little bit and he handed the controller over to me. So, I played a bit by myself, not really used to the new game as I am usually pretty bad at third person shooters. So, I stop playing long enough to get a coop game running with Bob and I playing. Then eventually, John and I took over. John and I then proceeded to beat the game over the next four or five hours. Or maybe it was seven. I don’t really remember. All I do know is when we were done, it was around 8:30am.
So, about the actual game? Ok. Though… most of you who read this were actually here. Anyway. The game, like I said, is a third-person shooter. So, it’s like a first-person shooter except rather than have the camera in the character you play’s head, the camera is slightly above and behind the character. The actual feel and play of games like this can be very different, and for a guy like me who is used to FPSs, it can make me freak out when I am controlling a guy in a third person view. “Gears of War,” however, as a very fluid motion system coupled with a very fantastic use of cover system. The game has a very good implementation of this. You can get behind cover on a lot of stuff and the game is really good about giving you cover opportunities if you know how to look for them. You can then lean out from cover to fire on enemies or move from cover to cover very easily. If there is another piece of cover close to your’s, then the game will actually allow you to make your guy move to that next piece of cover. It can be very convenient if you are shooting from a doorway and need to switch sides to get a shot on someone.
Other than the cover system, the game LOOKS and SOUNDS really good. I’m sure it also has something to do with the $800 HDTV and Dolby DTS sound system we have too. ;) The graphics and graphic violence in the game are not really for the faint of heart, so pretty much everyone I know would love it. I did, John did, and Bob does. The environment in the game is very reactive, a HUGE plus from me. When I can blow the hell out of a chair a baddy is using as cover to expose him, I’m happy. The game’s weapon selection is a bit stymied, but there is enough to keep a guy like me happy. It took some doing to get John around to the game because he doesn’t like to use automatic weapons, so he was using the various pistols (in reality he stuck with one pistol), sniper rifle, and kept a third weapon for backup that he rarely used. The game allows you to carry four weapons. Two of which are main, gun-gun weapons that you would use in most situations. You also have a pistol in case you are really fucked for ammo, and frag grenades. The grenades are a little over the top, being spiked clubs on the end of a chain (no, you can’t bash baddies with them) that you swing like a flail and throw. The gun that I used for most of the game is called the Lancer. It’s a full automatic assault rifle with a chainsaw bayonet. If you want the game’s full display gorey awesomeness, just chainsaw someone. Though to use the chainsaw effectively, you have to be a very careful individual. It can be very frustrating to use, but when you do, boy is it satisfying. The sniper rifle is another source of some pretty good gore if you headshot someone. The game has a pretty decent array of weapons, but not nearly enough ammo to use them effectively. Weapons such as the Torque Bow are only useful in very particular situations and pretty difficult to use in actual cover-to-cover combat. The Torque Bow is pretty cool as it is like a bow and arrow with explosive arrows. If you hold the bow back long enough, it will penetrate the enemy’s armour and blow the hell out of him.
So, if you want a good action shooter game check out “Gears of War.” I would like it for Christmas as well as “Call of Duty 3″. If any of you have played “Call of Duty 3″ (I guess this is really focused towards Adam and Steve, though they never visit my sites.) don’t tell me about the game at all. I want to play it with no preconceived notions other than it’s a “Call of Duty” game, which to me, is bad enough, though not as bad as a “Medal of Honor” game.
Those of you who voted earlier for that poll, I have changed some of the options because I realized that the PC was not included on that list and really, it should be. So, I cleared the votes thinking that some people may want to change their vote.
