Is that the game that I liked Eric with the board you had in that clear picture-frame kinda thing? If thats the one (or its ASL I can't remember) then yeah, it was a pretty awesome game. Really cool rules and very easy to pick-up. But def lots of strategy and interesting stuff can happen. There might have been some random elements you might not dig Jael but I honestly don't remember. Those kinda games tax the hell outta my mind so its hard for me to fathom playing two games back to back. Only geeky game I can think that I can go for hours on were the RPGS just because we always had friggen awesome silly stuff to say and talk about. Much looser so I don't think I ever minded (or even noticed) games that were 4-6 hours long. That's crazy!

Yeah, so I ended up buying Skate. It's awesome. I think Tony Hawk is done! I just can't imagine going back to button mashing combos ever again. The controls for Skate are SO rad! Almost Wii-like. Triggers are grab, buttons are push (left or right foot) and brake. Then EVERYTHING else is done with the two analog sticks - one controls your body and the other your board/legs (basically.) I thought it would be super hard, but really it's not bad at all. Feels very natural and almost like you're really skate boarding (you know what I mean.. i'm still slumped half-naked in dirty boxers on my chair, eyes glazed over, egg stains on my chin - BUT..) The demo was cool to at least show you the system, but the real game is just incredible. Right out the box you can basically do any trick - its all about your actual skill and not any kind of level or rank or points. And watching what people who get crazy good can do is just insane! I'm stoked. Played that shit all night. And the character creation/custimization with clothes etc (which Tony Hawk games probably did too - haven't played one in years) is really sweet. Yeah, I mighta made my skater a little less sexy than the real me, but I still feel like a little school girl all stoked to dress him up and match my shoes to my deck to my wheels... and theirs band shirts like NWA and Slayer and a ton of ones I've never heard of. This game is tits.

I played demos for a bunch of those arcade games you mentioned Jon - I really got sucked into Puzzle Quest - pretty neat! I'm not gonna buy it though, least not now.

Looks like a great game, had some positive feedbacks from people who played Memoir 44 on BCG... The multiple stack firing and leader bonus sounds neat. Did I ever mention that I had made something similar after Battlecry came out? Unsuccessful of course. Had made the prelimary set, with board and cards but just never refined the gameplay. Should have named it GI Joe the action figure CCG game.. hmmmmmm. I test played it with my wargammin' nazi slaughterin' cousin. The game was supposed to be more complicated in combat and strategy and "turn based" rather than the luck of the draw.

I think my girlfriend and I have officially ended our relationship over the Christmas break. It was kind of wierd, we just never saw each other over the break. Maybe she found someone or maybe she'll start calling again! No idea, but it seems like it was a "we're all kinda busy with our own lives" type breakup. For the better, now i'm swinging again!

Edit: The point to disclosing the insight into my personal life, is to point out the fact i'll have alot of new time on der weekends to dedicate to do what I truly like! Back on the wagon baby...

J.

| Combat Commander Goodness

My love for all things CC is everlasting! Opponents on the other hand, are all but non-existent. Rudy and Ryan still reside in LA, and if you check the logs, they were my only parters for the game. Enron played with me at a con, but that game lasted a bit too long for anyones liking due to Enron's unfamiliarity with the rules, he played a bit gun shy and slowly. This fear has carried over and we have not played since, though we had an opportunity or two.

I have both Europe and Mediterranean as well as the first expansion/scenario pack all sorted and put in my special metal case, ready to go! Vassal Combat Commander, anyone?

It is one of the best games out there for a purely fun and narrative gaming experience and one of my top 5 of all time! I still occasionally play solo, but I usually quit when I forget to play a card that I should have, get discouraged because the solo game is not as 'real' as a face to face game and pack it up.

It was interesting reading some of the old game log, I was concentrating only on two, Jon's games with his co-workers WoW CCG and Erics "love" for Combat commander (which lasted roughly 2 - 3 months).

So did you ever beat onyxia?


J.

gamertag: PoundRock - sent eric and jon invite!

Nice work Jael - 100 bucks ain't bad at all! Man, car problems are the WORST! Hope it runs good for a long time now.

Happy late New Year day to you all too! I got trashed at a party and slept on my friends couch with a married couple on the other end of the couch - i passed out so wasn't weird at all.

Oh man Jon, I think I might actually get it. Cool recommendations! I think the clutch games I wanna get it for are Mass Effect (kinda sorta) but mostly Skate and the new Burnout game coming out next month. I did the Bioshock demo for PC and I dunno, wasn't my cup of tea. And Orange Box I'd go for PC over a console if I decided on it, but my window of excitement for that one kinda passed. People say TF2 is rad and I KNOW Portal is sweet but I dunno I'll grab em off steam down the road. Oh yeah, Rock Band totally too! But the cost means I'd probably wait a month or two before getting it. But yeah, looks friggen awesome.

But hey, have you gotten the red rings of death yet? Reading up on it, seems only a matter of time before you need to send it in for a new one, and that's even on the new consoles with supposedly better heat sinks or whatever... so that's kinda scary.

Oh the main reason I was thinking the PS3 was the integration it has with the psp. But seeing as my psp is kinda fucked now, not that important anymore. I'll still look into getting it fixed. They added a feature called Remote Play which people say works pretty good - I guess you stick any PS1 game in your PS3 then through wifi sends it to your PSP and you can play it that way. Gimmicky but people seemed stoaked off it.

| TROUBLED CAR GETS NEW LIFE! OWNER ECSTATIC

On car news, it was indeed the radiator that was causing the overheating issue. Previously there must have been some sort of frontal accident which was the reason the radiator was not original, and only had 1 row capacity. I bought a 2 row original today and it works like a babies behind, solid, no indigestion.

it cost me around 100 bucks US, but that's nice. In the states the labor alone would have cost me over $400 minimally.

I"M SOOOOOOOOO RELIEVED!!! The thought of an entire engine overhaul just killed me.

Bumm4r about your PSP Rude. Let me know if you get the 360! I really enjoy mine and play it all the time. Right now there's no reason to own a PS3. My one recommendation is to make sure you buy the one with the hard drive -- don't cheap out and get the Arcade unless you KNOW you can get a cheap hard drive soonish. There's just too much good stuff up for download to dick around with the memory card bullshit.

Games I've really liked:
Bioshock: Good, creepy FPS. Make sure you get the update which gives you the option of turning off the respawning mechanism if you prefer -- makes it more realistic feeling.

Orange Box: You REALLY should play Portal, it's so fun and well made. But it's short so only buy this if you want Half Life 2 + the episodes as well. Otherwise you could just get Portal off Steam for like 20 bags of popcorn (worth it, IMO).

Mass Effect: Fun Bioware space RPG with a Star Trek/'80s sci fi feel to everything. Pretty good plot and writing.

Call of Duty 4: Fun, modern-day, "let's shoot us some ay-rabs and russkies afore they use their nucular devices" kinda military game. Solid plot, tightly scripted levels. Short, so not really worth the two lapdances unless you plan on playing with multiplayer online (which I haven't played, but it's supposed to be spectacular).

Rock Band: This is like the best game ever made!

There are also a lot of good small games you can pick up off Live Arcade for 5-15 bags of popcorn (you don't need a full live subscription to buy stuff, btw). Geometry Wars and Puzzle Quest are my favorites. Also make sure you take advantage of the free theme downloads! What a spectacular content offering! For example, I scored a SWEET Mr. Woodcock theme for ZERO bones!

Anyway, let me know if you get one and get online! My gamer tag is "Dogwilhbees" (it was supposed to be "Dogwithbees," but I made a fucking typo, and it's like 1/3 LD to change it).

Random info Jael, but I guess WoW cost over $200 million (initial development and expansions plus servers/hardware) and made over $500 million in 2007. That's gnarly dude. But that's why it's one of the best games ever I think - they really did their homework and invested well.

So tomorrow I think I'm gonna buy a 360! I dunno, I'm getting all hooked on games again and although I really SHOULD get a ps3, it's just too pricey. Oh and my PSP is pretty much dead. My LCD has freaked out making 1/3 of the screen unviewable, and past warranty so it would cost $90 bucks for Sony to repair. The actual lcd's go for about $50 bucks and I actually popped open the psp and took off then reinstalled the bad lcd (to check if a bad connection) so I know I could replace it. BUT, only thing I'm unsure of is if maybe its the motherboard that has a bad fuse/fuckup and not the lcd. Don't wanna flush the $50 bucks without really knowing.. fuck.

Happy new years' fools! Hope everybody had a good one. We had a good time. Enron, Aimey, and a bunch of other people came over. Aeryk it's too bad you couldn't make it -- we actually had three kids running around so it was a pretty kid-friendly event. Plus, lots of Rock Band! (Much to Enron's chagrin.) Hopefully next year will be even bigger and better!

Rude: the touch screen gets a little getting used to, although the error correction works fairly well to cover for your mistakes. Of course you have freakishly large thumbs, so I could see you having a problem....

Enron, do you know anything about the version of Skype for the iPhone? Or if there are any other decent messaging applications to use with it? By the way, good drink mixing last night.

| What? Didn't ya know...

Enron sits at home all day and reads encyclepedia BROWN books and solves cases for a quarter, no less!

No but thanks for the advice on the car. That agrees with the sequence I had planned to check, the only problem is the crude antiquated methods these mechanics use here without electronical equipment, equivalent to kicking the engine to see if it's running. Pas' me em there screwdriver hoss, no i meant' ther sheep right ther!

Iphones looks cool and it would definitely be on the top of the list on phones to get. I don'tk now how rugged it would be in this kind of humid and abrasive weather out here, but the good thing is you don't have to carry both a phone and a music player...

I downloaded The Blood Crusade last night and after downloading several games last few weeks, (Amazing how fast 800 megabytes downloads these days) Fuck I still remember the 2400 baud modems... I cant even fathom how that would download. I guess that's why whenever I hear 1 gig downloads I get a little nervous, but with broadbands, Man, it's like pure sex, and not with japanese hookers, u know the japanese pitchers. As I was saying, TBC is still WoW, but I have to say it's the best game (paid or unpaid) out in the market. I have nothing against the free games, but the daunting task to create a huge gameworld in bytes along with creating a viable easy to use interface, ie game mechanics, would cost way too much. I think Wow itself was 8 million dollars or so, i heard. I'm on the 10 days free trial, I'm not sure if i'll continue the subscription...

Now you're officially a 100% San Francisco faggot. Nice work Jon. My friend has one of those, seem pretty neat. Sturdier than I imagined from the commercials. Trying to type with that booty touch-screen must take getting used to, because I couldn't write shit with it. I think there's some verizon knock-off that's part touch screen and then flips open with a little keyboard. But yeah, I'd get a iphone over that too.

thanks guys! (well,actually thanks to enron - and NOBODY else) I ended up getting the iphone and so far it is the bee's knees!

jesus enron! not only do you dispense gnarly cell phone knowledge, then you bust out the mechanic's hat! what DON'T you know!? (besides BASIC social skills you big nerd! hahaha, jk...)

| iPhone

I really like my iPhone. The WiFi is nice at home, there is no need to carry a shuffle or Nano, and the voicemail is very slick. I still am learning to make the most of it but I have no regrets. That being said, there are a few deficiencies that must likely will be addressed in the future in either software and hardware updates.

For some reason Apple is staunchly against 3rd party development and seems to be very concerned with clamping down on exploits of holes in the iPhone's software. Perhaps they are afraid of DRM circumvention or more likely they have an agreement with AT&T. Let's also not forget that the iPhone plan with AT&T is a bit pricey by comparison to a traditional telephone; however, this is typical with most smart phones using unlimited data plans. There are also rumors that Apple may be developing in house software so that they can sell it via iTunes. More gravy for Apple I guess.

The major downside to the iPhone that could easily be patched is the lack of Multimedia messages. This is a mystery to me as to why they have not implemented it. I'm sorry but I don't want to go to a website to view a multimedia message when almost all current generation cell phones have this capability.

Those downsides that would require new hardware include a move to 3G (more bandwidth but less latency as compared to Edge) communication instead of Edge. Edge is just too slow. AT&T may still release Edge2, but again this would still likely require a hardware revision. The other downside that would require a hardware refresh is the battery life. When not using the web and moderate phone usage, I can get three days or so out of a charge. However, with heavy non-WiFi cell based internet browsing, the battery life dwindles to one day or so. I have not really tested the battery life when music is used as I have been very limited in my music listening of late.

If I had a functional phone, I would wait until the next hardware refresh. If my phone crappy and I couldn't or didn't want to string it along any further, I would get an iPhone. Who knows when Apple will release the next revision. As usual they are very tight lipped about such things. Most people in the industry seem to agree with your opinion on the next release date. Apple seems to follow a fairly regular annual hardware refresh schedule in its product lines. Late 08 seems to fit this well.

Your other option is to buy a non-iPhone AT&T phone/contract now and upgrade to the iPhone later when v2 arrives. AT&T does not check if you are eligible for an upgrade as a current AT&T customer when you upgrade to the iPhone. The plan is more lucrative and the hardware is not subsidized AND you are signing a two year contract. Thus, no extra cost and no penalties for early termination. At least that is how it worked when I spoke with the AT&T during the purchase of mine.

jA-El: If the radiator that is in your car is in descent shape, it is more likely not the radiator itself but that either the pump is bad and/or the thermostat is not working properly and causing the fluid to get too hot. Check there first I would say. This is assuming that the oil system is working fine and the engine is not damaged (cracked block or bent rods).

D>M>