| Gizmo Ca-Ca

Looks like that Gizmodod staffer got himself a lifetime ban from the CES. Ooops. Perhaps f'ing with the press release presentations was a little bit too ballsy. Funny thing is, this is exactly the thing I would expect out of my brother... Especially since I gave him one of those evil keychain TV devices last Xmas. Teehehe...

Ahhh... Soul Caliber. That franchise seems a bit tired... Perhaps jump the shark.

In other news, if my saga with SprintNextel several months ago was not enough to convince you of their ineptitude, let me reiterate. FUCKIN' TARDS! This afternoon I received 12 new replacement phones that needed to be activated. Should have been a quick 5 minute task. Instead it turned into a two hour big black mighty bishop mo-throbber holy cluster fuck. I was inches from flying off the handle again. Towards the end of the conversation, I literally was begging the final help desk assistant I spoke with. I asked for her opinion on what I should do, what she suggested as a resolution. Only Nextel knows how to rob me of my cool demeanor, which normally tends to be nearly unlimited. At first, the final person was chastising me on not following their procedures. At this point I was working up to the boiling point to the evil spewing of bitter vitriol about where she could stick the procedures, which by the way. I followed to the letter, when she said, "Oh my, what the hell was the last technician thinking? I see the problem." Where the hell do they find their staff? "The 99 Cent Asshat Staffing Store" maybe? Ugggg...

On a slightly odd note, unfortunately my Grandmother recently discovered email chain-mail/forwards. most of which is the usual cute blurbs, sad stories, or god loving type of nonsense; however, yesterday she sent me a fairly irksome note. The gist of it can be summed up in the following kernels of nastiness:

Subject: Fwd: FW: Barack Hussein Obama!!!!

Okay this starts of bad; But, I am a glutton for punishment so I'll look a little further in.

Barac k Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a black MUSLIM from Nyangoma-Kogel, Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white ATHIEST from Wichita, Kansas.

Okay all possibly true, but I can see where this is going.

The Muslims have said they are plan on destroying the US from the inside out, what better way to start than at the highest level - through the President of the United States, one of their own!!!!

OH COME ON! WTF? I mean I actually do not particularly like Obama's policy or style, but jee-zuz F'n cristobal. This is total twisting of context and fear mongering BS.

The rest of the "article", and I hold this term loosely, puts every reference to Radical (uttered three times) and Muslim/Islam (uttered ten times and not always used in the appropriate form) in caps for effect. If this had come from anyone I knew, other than my grandmother, I would have been very pointed in my response, but alas she is my grandmother. I would just be an ass tearing this to shreds and calling her the equivalent of a blind fucktard. But I got to thinking... My Grandmother is not a very political person and is pretty smart and decently educated for female from her era. Although she has tremendous faith in God she is not necessarily one to blindly eat up any tripe that is pushed in front of her. This just bothers me on so many levels. She truly is a great example of a huge swath of Americans that just eat up any fear-mongering drilled into their heads. It is just depressing. Now I see how the Nazi's pulled the wool over German eyes. Most were too caught up in all the fear mongering to realize they were being manipulated through these fears... Until it was way too late. I would be bummed if that happens to the US. What a sad failure that would be. But I think, as stupid as Americans can be, this will not happen. America tends to fix itself, it just seems to sit to far to the right for my liking and takes too long in righting itself methinks.

EDIT: I am an arsehole and I could not stop myself from responding back to the email. Why couldn't I let this one die? I blame SprintNextel.

D>M>

That was funny. Kinda cruel! But I'm not shedding tears. Hahaha

I'm too poor to get mass effect now so instead I got Jade Empire for regular Xbox. Never played it but heard pretty good stuff about it. So far, pretty cool! 8 bucks used and it still looks pretty good to me and seems to be running fine on the 360. So here's my question: What are some other awesome games for the xbox I could get and run on my 360 for awesomeness? Too bad the ps2 games dont run on my 360 haha cuz there's a bunch of those titles I'd love to play (shadow of colossus, god of war, etc) but I'm sure there were rad games for the o.g. xbox as well.

Also got Viva Pinata. The demo was fun and it's only 20 bucks new, so gaying out on that one too.

Gizmodo pulled a really childish, funny prank at CES.

Hahaaha, that is the stupidest shit ever! I wish I hadn't read the text first actually.

That's, like, the opposite of a cool surprise.

They should just go ahead and add Napoleon Dynamite and, like, the full cast of South Park and Family Guy at this point. They've already taken a big shit on their own franchise, so why not?

| NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

This is all the nerd joy/rage today:
Soul Caliber 4 Trailer

Watch it till the end. Gonna be rad.

I complained about the rat infestation to my cleaner today and so she had some help move the kitchen cabinets, sink and refrigerator. What we saw and smelled was unfathomable. There was a wretched plume of rancid, foul, rotten carcass odor and the floor covered with a thick black ooze of rat hair, dust and blackness....ugh. Needless to say, I couldn't stay in the room while they cleaned it up. I have never smelled anything like it before, except at the zoo and at SC Village manure paintball. But even manure was fresh in pale comparison to this.

I also got into my first fender bender on my way to the supermarket this afternoon. It wasn't my fault though because the other car was trying to overtake several cars when she suddenly swerved sharply back into my lane. My guess was she panicked at seeing the oncoming car, but really she should not have panicked, or waited at a more opportune moment to overtake.

Owell, young drivers. Small dent anyway, too bad, semi-cute girl.

J.

Check out one of my first skate videos.
Yipee!
(I don't know if you can watch it off the bat or you gotta join stupid EA's site - if thats the case don't worry, I'll throw it on goonskate later on.)
Edit: Same thing on goonskate

But goshdarn, this shit has me hooked like that first week of WoW. At least I know it won't wreck me as gnarly as WoW did, but still... look at the friggen time! I only stopped cuz I'm afraid my 360 will melt.

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).