No video blog today folks.  I spent all of last night at the clinic waiting to get checked out by a doctor.  My ear infection had returned with a vengeance in the past couple of days, with the added bonus of my left ear suffering the same fate.  So with both ears bothering me to the point of losing my concentration at work, I headed home around 2 PM and made my way to the clinic shortly afterward.

Because of our glorious and free health care system, I waited 5 and a half hours in a waiting room filled with little kids, coughing people and annoying dickheads who can't shut the fuck up for 2 minutes.  If I were the government, I'd impose a $5 clinic fee for each visit.  That would make the waiting time drop considerably, since all of the people on welfare and the old timers who only go there to chit-chat with the doctors would think twice before they made the actual sick people wait.  Nonetheless, the doctor told me that I have an external infection in both ears and that I needed to put some drops in my ears twice a day for 7 days.  The drops are actually helping a whole lot, since the pain is almost gone.

On the lighter side of things, I've been watching a Saints Row 2 marathon for the better part of the afternoon, thanks to my buddy SkoneLL.  It is rather obvious that the guy playing it got the game illegally, but I'll still link you to it.  If it gets me into trouble, well so be it.  I'm not sure if it'll still be up when you click on the link, but it's worth a shot.  Of course, the guy is playing the game and there will be some spoilers from the story, so be forewarned. 

Now, I was hyped for this game when it was first announced, since I really enjoyed the first one.  Now, after watching 2 hours of the marathon, I am completely stoked.  Brandon (SkoneLL) and I were discussing about how much Saints Row 2 resembled Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, in that the game actually looks like it will be fun to play,  compared to the much-too-realistic GTA IV.  Don't get me wrong, it was an awesome game, but the fun element  from GTA SA was absent from this overly realistic iteration.  Although the guys at Volition Inc have said that Saints Row 2 will be a more serious game than the first one, but none of this was apparent from what I've seen so far. 

Most of the same Activities return from the first game, which is fine by me, since they were all pretty fun to complete.  Add to that base-jumping and boxing, for instance, and you have a good thing going.  I know a lot of people aren't too keen on Saints Row, but believe me, I think you'll get a good romp from Saints Row 2.  If the online is as solid as the first game's was, minus the horrible lag, and that the added Activities and gameplay blend well with the old stuff, I'm sure it'll be worth a purchase.  The game looks more streamlined, has a much better soundtrack than GTA IV, and the developers seem to have ironed out most of the annoying bugs from the first game, although some do remain, such as bad clipping issues.

I voted for the original Saints Row as my Game of the Year in 2006, and this game looks to better the original.  I'm anticipating this one a whole lot more after watching the marathon for a while and cannot wait for October 14th to arrive.

Yesterday, the fine people at EA and Harmonix released "Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers as DLC for Rock Band 2.  Without a shadow of a doubt, this is my favorite RHCP album of all time and I was very happy to see it come to one of the best games of 2008 (so far).

I didn't get the entire album, settling for 6 songs:
- Blood, Sugar Sex, Magik
- Under the Bridge
- Suck My Kiss
- Breaking The Girl
- Sir Psycho Sexy
- We're Red Hot

Along with Give It Away, that's 7 songs off of this wonderful album.  I've been a big fan of the Chilis for a while now and I can safely say that this made my week.  I didn't care much for the other album releases that came beforehand, but this was quite a pleasant surprise.

Breaking The Girl is my absolute favorite song from the album.  Here it is in video form.

Second part of the fabulous Q&A session.  Sit back, enjoy, and leave comments on the horrible sound and my eating habits.

Product Features

• - Includes headphones, transmitter, Xbox Live talkback cable, 6' splitter cable, suction cup, two AAA batteries, DC power adapter and user's guide
• - Lightweight design adds comfort during long playing sessions
• - Separate controls for game and chat volumes let you adjust loudness as you like
• - Mic monitor mixes a portion of the microphone signal into the headphone signal so you can hear your own voice
• - Dynamic talkback level control automatically increases and decreases chat volume in proportion to the volume levels of the game, so you don't have to scream to be heard
• - Stereo expander spreads the stereo signal for rich, full sound without affecting the positional characteristics of directional game sounds, such as flying bullets
• - Bass boost enhances deep-bass sound effects for dynamic in-game audio
• - IR transmissions offer low sensitivity to interference from microwave ovens, cell phones, wireless networks and wireless phones

Hello everyone.  I hope your weekend went well.  Here is the first part of the Q&A video blog I promised you.  The entire thing was over 30 minutes long, so I decided to cut it into two halves.  Part 2 will be put up on Tuesday.

I want to apologize in advance for the poor sound this week.  I realized this when the video was done and couldn't go back to fix it.

As always, the video might still be processing, so be patient.

Yeah, it's a Beastie Boys song and yeah, it's in Rock Band 2 and yeah, I gold starred that bitch on Expert, but that's not the basis of this blog.

This weekend's D-Boy's Den is dedicated to you... yeah you right there, reading this.  For the first time in a long time, and taking a cue from my good buddy and band mate Player1, I'll be answering your questions.  So, feel free to ask me anything you want, about games, myself, anything.  But please, keep it civil and of good taste.  We don't want to cause an uproar now, do we?

So, ask away!  I leave you with my favorite song from Rock Band 2, which coincidentally is also on NHL 09's soundtrack: Panic! At The Disco's Nine In The Afternoon.  I love singing this song!

I think I've said this a million times already, but I'll say it again: NHL 09 is a fantastic game.  I'm nearing the end of my first season with the Hamilton Bulldogs / Montreal Canadiens in the fantastic Be A Pro mode and enjoying every puck slapping, cross-checking, goal scoring minute of it.

I've found myself fiddling around with the many new features in the Be A Pro mode,especially with one that allows you to capture highlights from a game from the instant replay option and upload them to a website called EA Sports World.  From there, you get to share your exploits with the community and even embed your highlights so they can be shared on other websites... such as this one.

So, without further adieu, here are two snippets from my incredible journey with the Montreal Canadiens of the NHL.

In this first video, I score a dandy goal on a wrist shot against Telqvist of the Toronto Maple Leafs.  It always feels so good scoring against that team.  The rivalry between Toronto and Montreal is legendary, making it even more delectable scoring against the horrible Leafs.

  

EA SPORTS World: Goal vs Toronto

  

EA SPORTS World: Goal vs Brodeur

I rarely apologize to a video game.  I do so in the video blog below.

Note: Video might not be processed yet.  Keep checking.

Another edition of the video blog is here.  In this one, I give my impressions on The Force Unleashed and Rock Band 2.

Watch, enjoy and comment, as usual.

Note: The video might still be processing.. Veoh takes a while.