"Imbalance sure hasn't updated his blog in a while. I really loved reading his completely unique views on games that everyone and their mother has played. I wonder what he's up to?" Said nobody, ever.

"Oh well," I say, "at least I have video games. So there's that."

Still, I feel a responsibility. Maybe someone out there is reading my blog, and it's the only thing that can make them feel anything anymore. I doubt it, but hey, can you prove it's not true? So while I instill some false sense of goodness into my heart, I shall type video-game related things into this text box. Because why not?

Batman: Arkham Asylum

I know, so 2009! If you look at my steam stats on my page here on GB, you may notice I beat Arkham Asylum riiiight after I posted my last blog. You may also notice that in that blog I purchased Batman: Arkham City. Make the connection? The week of the summer sale was an interesting beast for me. I had my job, yes, but all that week I was tasked with selling old computers in a rather small town. My hometown, which I normally worked two hours away from. So, in this paradise week, my job consisted of getting paid to sit at a desk from 8 to 5 every day playing video games and watching movies while selling the occasional computer, all while getting to go home to my actual bed and home, normally not a luxury for me in the summer. So I had a lot of free time to kill, and I had a fairly decent laptop, so why not. It's a great game, and I look forward to playing Arkham City.

The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Look who finally beat Skyward Sword! Me! And boy was it worth it. Just when I was getting a little fatigued with playing the Thunder Dragon's boss rush (Seriously: This fucking guy), the game opened up, everything started piecing together beautifully, and I was blown away by the ending. Just like that, though, it was gone. And I wish I had another Zelda game to play right now. The cycle continues, folks, and it stops for no one.

Just Cause 2 - Multiplayer Beta

I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING WHAT IS GOING ON AAAHHHHH

Dishonored

I watched the trailer for Dishonored when it first came out and then promptly forgot about it. So it was a bit of a surprise to me when I happened to check its release date and it was a week away. So, I waited, and got the game as soon as I could. "Yeah, alright. Hey folks, Bioshock came out a while ago, you missed the boat a little. Heh." I chuckled to myself.

And then I played the game.

And wow. It's been a while since a game and just about every part of it drew me in like this. This is approaching Mass Effect levels of engagement, and that game drew me in deep, like it was a sack of bricks tied to my leg in the middle of the ocean. The second you start out, the game gives you a feeling of power. Figure out the controls yet? Good, because you need to slice dudes up. Oh, and shoot them. Oh, and use crossbows and teleport and stop time and possess people and the list goes on. Dishonored makes you feel like you're in control, and for that, it deserves props. Unless you're awful at stealth games, like I am. I end up killing people. A lot of people.

Borderlands 2

Pro: Borderlands 2 is more Borderlands.

Con: Zero's melee animation doesn't change.

Pro: Zero makes a Yu-Gi-Oh reference.

Con: ???

I am extremely glad that Anthony Burch of HAWP (Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin'?) fame wrote/is writing Borderlands 2 stuff. His material is incredible funny, and I urge you to check HAWP out if you haven't. Conclusion: Borderlands 2 is a great game. Get it.

The Walking Dead

Oh... Oh man. Phew. Last night, I finished the first episode of The Walking Dead with my girlfriend. I can't believe Telltale even made this game. I mean, I guess I can, it's just, I associate them with Sam and Max more than anything else. The Walking Dead is such an emotional ride that is SO well done, it'll leave you sad and yet begging for more at the same time. Of course, I can't talk about much more without spoilers, so that's all for now. I'll post my full thoughts when I finish all the episodes.

Other Bits:

My prayers have been answered! An Ace Attorney 5 trailer exists, and here it is: right before your very eyes!

Rejoice! That's all for now. See you next time.

Games Bought:

• From Dust [Already Owned: 360]
• Hitman Collection (Codename 47, Blood Money, 2: Silent Assassin)
• Assassin's Creed Brotherhood [Already Owned: PS3], Assassin's Creed Revelations
• Prince Of Persia
• Cave Story +
• Star Wars: KOTOR
• Fallout: New Vegas [Already Owned: PS3]
• PixelJunk Eden
• Deus Ex: GOTY
• Batman: Arkham City [Already Owned: PC/Weird Third-Party Downloader Edition From Samsung]
• Dear Esther
• Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale
• Sonic Generations
• Thief Collection (Deadly Shadows, Gold, 2)
• L.A. Noire [Already Owned: PS3]
• Torchlight
• The Witcher
• Botanicula
• Quantum Conundrum Season Pass
• The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition

Total Spent: $152.78

# Of Games Bought: 25

Per Game Average: $6.11 (152.78 / 25)

Per Day Average: $15.27 (12th - 22nd, 10 days)

Money Spent On Games I Already Owned Just To Have Them Conveniently On Steam: $49.93

Worth It: Yes

Hnnnnnngh. Still debating on whether or not I should buy The Witcher 2. BOUGHT IT

Oh crap! I almost forgot! E3 happened!

If you read this site and my blog, you already know everything about the games I'll list off here, so I will save everyone's time by making this short and sweet.

E3 was good this year. To say it was great, well, maybe that's being a little generous. I was underwhelmed, to be honest. I expected so much more from everyone. But! You can't always get what you want. And so, without further ado, here's the games from E3 I thought looked notable.

Shut Up And Take My Money

• Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon - OH YES, MORE LUIGI'S MANSION. Loved the first one, this one should be equally incredible.
• Paper Mario: Sticker Star - A new Luigi's Mansion AND a new Paper Mario? Oh, Nintendo, you shouldn't have!
• Persona 4: The Golden - Do I need to say any more? It's Persona 4. For my Vita, which didn't get enough love this E3.

Give Me More Info

• Watch Dogs - HACK MOAR. I want to be a future dude hacking cellphones and traffic lights, but repetitive gimmicks? No thank you. Show me more.
• The Last Of Us - I'm still confused about what this is, but it looks very interesting. I'm excited.
• Assassin's Creed III: Liberation - I want good Vita games, so thanks for this, but I should probably play 2/Brotherhood/Revelations. More info!
• Beyond: Two Souls - More Quantic Dream? Yes please. Gameplay footage? Also yes please.
• Dust 514 - I want EVE Online, but I want it spoon-fed to me, not dumped on me by a garbage truck.
• PSX ON VITA - This isn't a game, but this is a great concept. Do it, Sony, do it right.

Seriously?

• PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale - I never asked for this. Who did?
• Nintendoland - *sigh*
• ZombiU - *sighhhhhhhh*
• Halo 4 - I just... Why? If this game is good, then good on 343. But I just don't see a world in which someone can get away with naming a product Halo 4.

So there you have it. Oh, the winner? Who won E3? We did. We always win E3. Because we have the power of choice.

Until next time.

OH MY GOD TWO BLOG POSTS IN ONE MONTH

CALL THE BLOGGING POLICE BECAUSE I SHOULDN'T BE BLOGGING THIS MUCH EVER

I feel anxious right now, and I figured writing up a blog might make me feel a bit better. Though I haven't played much since last time, there was one thing I wanted to write about. You probably guessed from the title, it's Diablo 3.

Now, I wasn't really all that into isometric dungeon-crawler games when I was a kid. If you've read my past blog posts, you'd know that I'm more of an adventure game guy at heart. Give me a sequel to Banjo-Tooie to really make my heart sing, but tell me there's a new Diablo, and I go "meh." I don't remember much, but I'm pretty sure I played a bit of Diablo 2. Also, I played Planescape: Torment a few months back. Anyway, I wasn't really all that excited for Diablo 3. That is, until I played it. It was just for a few hours, but I could already feel the strings of addiction that I know so well tugging at me. The eye candy is great to look at, and skill unlocks are the morphine drip that spurs the spirit to go on when the wrist and eyes are not willing. It's a pretty great game.

However, there is one gripe I have with the game, though I haven't completed it yet. The real money auction house seems pointless to me. It must be something about Diablo that I don't understand. Why buy loot if you won't be able to show it to anybody but your friends? Wouldn't an MMO type game benefit more from this than a strictly singleplayer/co-op game? Someplace where you can flaunt your loot in public? Maybe I'm missing the point, and I need to actually play through the game first. Only then will I realize, probably.

So I played the starter edition up to the Skeleton King, but I was still caught on the decision fence by the price tag. I definitely enjoyed it, but I kept trying to justify $60 for this game. And then my friend's brother bought it for me, and I was stunned. As soon as I started to play more, I realized that I probably would have bought it anyway. It's really, really good.

Besides Diablo, I bought the Humble Indie Bundle V. I'm looking forward to shitting myself when I play Amnesia, he lied.

Short one today, folks. I'm tired and I have work tomorrow. There shall be more blogs when there are things to blog about. Until then.

After quite a while, I figured I should do some writing about video games. This IS a blog about video games, right? On a site about video games?

SSX [Time Played: ??? Hrs (A lot)] Finished: No

My first memory of SSX was SSX Tricky back on the GameCube. I remember loving the music the most, and thank goodness that's back in this reboot. I'm not much for sports games, but when they play like an arcade game, then you can count me in. The gameplay is super fun, and although the lack of global leaderboards is a bit disappointing, if you have one or two friends who love to play SSX as well, then you are guaranteed to have a good time. I pop this game in at least once a week just to get some scores and then play something else. The visuals look great, and when you manage to get into Super Tricky mode, A DUBSTEP REMIX OF THE ORIGINAL SONG PLAYS. I mean, I don't even... it blew my mind. It's really, really good, actually. When you pull off a huge combo and land it just right, you get that awesome rush of excitement, and I think that's what SSX is all about.

Asura's Wrath [Time Played: ??? Hrs (A ton)] Finished: Yes

I first played the demo for Asura's Wrath on a cold winter evening. It had me and my friend jumping out of our seats and screaming at the top of our lungs. Asura's Wrath isn't so much a game as it is an experience. Much like Gurren Lagann, it is the embodiment of all that is "Fuck Yeah" and "OH SHIT DID YOU SEE THAT." If you don't know what Asura's Wrath is, let's just say the developers of Ultimate Ninja Storm, CyberConnect2, decided to do their take on God of War, taking bits from Gurren Lagann along the way. The game is mostly cutscenes, with you interacting through movement of the sticks and button presses. It may sound boring, but trust me, it's not. You play as Asura, a father who is angry because his daughter is stolen away by multiple entities throughout the game. What's a guy to do but beat the shit out of everything in his way? The game has an excellent sense of scale and especially self-awareness, which turns out to be FANTASTIC. For example, Asura is standing opposite this divine god who is generally annoying and makes people want to punch him in the face just by speaking. So, while he's ranting, a tiny button prompt appears on screen with the circle button and the text "Shut Wyzen up". So, naturally, you press it. And you punch him in the face, and the fight ensues.

Asura's Wrath is a game that will remain one of my favorites forever. It's a game where you can say, "Hey, it would be awesome/funny if they did X here." And then, 5 seconds later, they do it. And by the time you finish the game, you are so blown away that the only thing you can do is sit there. And then go to bed.

Fez [Time Played: 15 Hrs] Finished:No

Oh, Fez. I hate you so much, but I love you at the same time. Everything about this game screams "masterpiece." From the fake crash and BIOS screen at the beginning to the incredible music to the cryptography and the countless videogame throwbacks, it all makes me so happy that Fez exists. Just because I haven't fully completed it, doesn't mean I don't love it. I could leave it on the start screen for hours, days, weeks, just listening to that music, and I would still love it.

So why haven't I finished it? Well, my 360 red-ringed. So it looks like I'll either have to wait until I get to college, which will be in August, or until it comes out on PC, which I hope will be sooner. Maybe a long blog post about it when I finish? We'll see.

Terraria [Time Played: 18 Hrs] Finished: No

Oh God. Last summer, all of my co-workers were playing this. I think "Wow, that looks stupid. It's just a Minecraft ripoff. See you fuckers later, I have 3D graphics!" Terraria is so much more than 2D Minecraft. RPG elements, bosses, loot and dungeons make this game awesome and even more awesome with friends. I got a deal on a $9/mo server and we've been playing ever since last week. What I can say about Terraria has already been said, so I'll just say that it's awesome.

I bought a PlayStation Vita. Please send help.

20 seconds after making the purchase and walking out of my car, I called my friend. "I have made a terrible mistake. Please help me," I said, panicking. He texted me back, trying to justify it. You'll get Wake Up Club, he said, and Persona 4 The Golden. Okay, yeah, that last one is pretty true, but WAKE UP CLUB ISN'T AVAILABLE IN THE USA. I sat in my car for 5 minutes, staring at the box. My mind pieced together what I would do with it. After all, I had just spent ~$335 on a portable game console and paid the $60 for the 16GB memory card. A PlayStation Vita, at that. I tried to justify my purchase by downloading the demo for Lumines, then Wipeout, then Uncharted. I bought P3P. A few weeks later, today, I downloaded the Gravity Rush demo. And it hit me. There are people making good games for this thing. As soon as I realized that the sequel to 999 would be on Vita, I felt pretty okay about myself. And when I saw the opening to P4G, I knew everything would be alright.

So we'll see. I hope to finally beat Persona 3 on this thing.

Other Bits:

• Dishonored looks awesome. StarForge looks even MORE awesome.
• My iPad 3 is now jailbroken.
• Still waiting for a trailer on that 5th Ace Attorney game, Capcom. And while you're at it, sub the AA movie.
• I suppose while I'm wishing for Ace Attorney announcements, I can wish for another Battle Network game.

See you next time!

You, dear reader, are entitled to an exclusive look inside my mind. NO, I DON'T CARE IF YOU DON'T WANT IT. GET IN HERE.

Good. It's been a while since my last blog post. Like, a few months. If my posts were nourishment and you needed them to live, you'd probably be dead. Sorry about that.

So, video games. Maybe it isn't such a surprise that I've been gone ever since November, because Skyrim came out. Yeah, I've been playing it. It's incredible. But I can't say anything that hasn't been said anywhere else, since it would just be redundant. One point that I did want to bring up, though, which Patrick brought up on last week's Bombcast, is that I wish the people of Skyrim would react to me becoming the master of everything. It feels so game-breaking when I, the fucking Arch-Mage at the Mage's College in Winterhold, go back to the person that I considered to be my mentor to buy some spell books - HEY IF YOU HAVE THE APTITUDE YOU SHOULD JOIN THE MAGE'S COLLEGE IN WINTERHOLD

Man. Dude. Look. Right here. Level with me. Fucking look at my robes. WHERE DID I GET THEM?

Sigh. Some things.

Skyward Sword

So I played some Skyward Sword. It's pretty good. It's a Zelda game, what else is there to say? Instead, a few gripes:

1. The default setting for the controls display is taking up a surprisingly large portion of the screen with an overlay of the controller you are holding in your hand.

Why? Is it because nobody can play games without hand-holding anymore? Yeah, I know it's normal for the Zelda games to have their controls displayed on screen, but look at this picture. Seriously? Do we need all of this? Thank goodness you can turn it off. The option to turn it off is something along the lines of "hardcore" or "expert" or something, though. When did that become a requirement for playing games?

2. After being shown that you can jump off a ledge in the sky world to get your bird and fly around, if you do it anywhere but the designated "jump-off" points, you won't be able to call your bird, and you'll get picked up by the bird police or something.

Again, why? Is my bird lazy? There's absolutely no reason for this. Zelda games should feel intuitive, and this part just isn't.

All that aside, though, it's great fun. The 1:1 motion tracking makes it super unique, and the controls have no flaws there. I even showed it to some people who weren't into video games, and they were impressed.

Fallout: New Vegas

Yeah, I know. Don't tell me. I was sick two weeks ago, and I had never touched the thing, so I said, why not? I tried to go the gunslinger route, using only one-handed pistols, but after getting raped by armies of Deathclaws, something told me that was a bad idea. So now I'm trying to use explosives, too. I forgot how fun Bethesda games are when you ignore their bugs and really start to dig deep. They allow you to play how you want, to a certain extent, and I'm glad for that freedom. Having my speech maxed is also a fun way to play that game.

Saints Row: The Third

When you play the second mission for SR: The Third, it will blow your mind. Seriously, if you haven't seen it, go watch it, right now. I'll wait.

Right? RIGHT? And that was the SECOND MISSION. I mean, damn. More on this game later.

Bastion

This is the last game I'll take a section to talk about. Because it deserves it's own section. Because WOW. I played Bastion last December, I think, and I know I'm late to the party on this one, but hey. Bastion is great. It was the first game I played after a hiatus from Skyrim, when I was kind of down and depressed about some things. Let me tell you, playing Bastion picked me right up. So much so that I played it in one sitting. It gave me hope for the future of video games. After I was done, I just set my controller down and stared. I was blown away. The art was incredible. The gameplay was so enjoyable. It was everything I love about video games wrapped into a little package, which I got as a Christmas gift on Steam from one of my co-workers. If you haven't played Bastion, well, don't use excuses. I did, and look how I feel now. Go play it.

Other Games

• Q.U.B.E - Wish there was more of a story. Gameplay's fun though.
• Uncharted 3 - Maybe more on this later? It's super fun.
• Double Fine Happy Action Theater - Bought it so I could show the girlfriend, more later.
• Bulletstorm - I CAN'T SWEAR ENOUGH RRRGH
• Alan Wake DLC - I want more Alan Wake. That is all.

And thus ends my latest blog post. Oh, one more thing before I go: Ace Attorney 5 is FINALLY a thing. YES. FINALLY. Capcom, if you don't localize it, I... well, I don't know. But it won't be pretty.

See you all next time.

So Skyrim came out. Kind of a big deal. Of course, I was too busy to notice, since I was on a plane. Going to Seattle. After I reached said town and pressed my tired body into the extremely comfortable bed at a hotel so fancy I have no idea how we got into, I woke up and realized what I had missed. I had to get it. A digital copy of the game would not suffice. Now that I was in a full fledged city, as opposed to my quaint little fishing town that I called home, there was no reason to get a copy from Steam. I must find it.

My people need me.

My droopy eyes grew wide. As soon as I could, I made my way to Bellevue Square Mall. This was no easy task - the traffic was gridlocked for at least a half a mile around the establishment. The fancy mall map that I stumbled upon had a touch screen that happened to be calibrated for a cross-eyed midget, seeing as how every time I pressed on it, it registered a good two to three inches to the left. I coerced the stupid machine to spit out the information I wanted: the mall did indeed have a GameStop inside. On the second floor. Near the GAP. Oh God. I trudged through the hundreds of people in the mall, wondering why all these people were here on such a random day. Why did it have to be today? Skyrim came out yesterday and none of these people are anywhere near a game store. Instead, they're shopping for clothes. Christmas is next month, people.

I approached the GameStop, and it was only moderately full of people - Good, I thought to myself, A sanctuary. Pushing my way inside, I looked to the left and discovered that the store was not as bare as I had thought it was. There were at least ten people in each line - that's right, each. It was the first GameStop I had seen where there were multiple checkers at the counter. It was also the biggest GameStop I had ever seen. There were two counters, one near the front, and one in the back. To my right, I saw it. A statue, not unlike the one the GiantBomb staff unboxed from Bethesda was standing there, calling me. I walked up to it. No copies of Skyrim. I walked around the entire store. No copies. (Keep in mind I'm looking for the PC version.) I never pegged GameStop for carrying PC games, as they usually had a very small rack dedicated to them. So I walked up to the counter, waited in line, and finally got the chance to ask the worker "Do you have any copies of Skyrim for PC?" He looked up from his terminal at me. He turned around, and reached into a very empty looking box on the counter behind him. I eyeballed the gigantic collectors editions sitting behind the counter, carrying dragon statues and other crazy items. They were at least the size of my car's tires. I glanced over at the worker. I hadn't felt so nervous since I was a little kid, asking if there were any copies of Mega Man Battle Network 3 left in stock, only to turn up empty-handed.

My efforts were not in vain. He pulled out a copy - YES! I gladly handed over my debit card, and he swiped it, and I had never felt so happy to spend sixty dollars. This was it. Skyrim was in my possession. I overheard a tip from the other worker, who seemed much more keen on engaging in conversation with his customers. "Don't kill the chicken outside the first village," he said, "the villagers will go crazy on you and make it difficult to complete the first quest." Even though he wasn't talking to me, I nodded. Duly noted, I thought to myself, and I proudly walked out of the store, feeling like I had won the lottery. My girlfriend (who I forgot to mention was with me) looked at me and noticed that I was smiling like a madman, and it made her smile, too, even though she's not really into video games. The shopping, the pungent stench of nail polish, the crowded, sweaty halls of the mall that I had to endure before and after going to grab Skyrim had all been worth it.

I wouldn't be writing this if I didn't think Skyrim was amazing. Because it is. Everything that made Oblivion feel strange and disconnected is gone here. The music - enthralling. The characters - incredible. The sweeping landscapes and attention to detail - flawless. The lore and immersion - perfect. The combat - awesome.

The dragons. The fucking dragons. You'll just be walking. At random. And them boom. Dragon. Fight it.

I can't say enough good things about Skyrim. I won't say much, though - Brad did a great job on his review.

There's just this feeling that you get when you're walking through the forest, the sun starts to rise, and you realize: I'm the Dovahkiin. Dragonborn. I want to save this world. And I can.

It doesn't matter who you are.

-------------

Phew, that was a long post. Besides Skyrim, I played some Nitronic Rush. That game is also great. The high-speed tracks and tricks were refreshing and make me want to play more video games. It's strange how indie games can do that to you.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have homework I should be doing. Next blog post: Skyward Sword.

Boy, I haven't posted anything in a while. Do I say that every time I write one of these?

Nothing too life-changing has happened since August. Video games? I hardly have time for those. I do play them every so often, though. So hey, why not write about them?

Portal 2 Peer Review DLC PORTAL 2

Yeah! Portal 2 had- WAIT. I'VE NEVER WRITTEN ABOUT PORTAL 2. HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN. Maybe because everything I've ever thought about Portal 2 has been said by everyone else in the world already. I'm too late to the party. Still. Damn. Portal 2 is a fantastic game. Even though I've realized that watching other people play Portal 2 makes me want to gouge my eyes out and beat them with a stick. GO THERE NO WHAT ARE YOU DOING ARE YOU STUPID And yes, I did play the DLC. I loved GLaDOS' comments about how her chambers were "art."

L.A. Noire

Also, L.A. Noire. I beat the Homicide desk. I also wrote a review for it! You can find that here, if you'd like to read it. I won't be posting it on GiantBomb because it's meant for a less videogame-savvy audience, as I wrote it for my college class.

Team Fortress 2

For reasons unknown, I got back on a TF2 kick. That game is still extremely fun. Always.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Now, I haven't played much of Deus Ex. What I have played, though, is incredibly fun. ESPECIALLY the takedowns. That having been said, I am absolutely terrible at any kind of stealth game that has ever existed. I look upon them from the outside, wishing I could appreciate them for the fine works of art they are. Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell are prime examples. I wish so badly to experience them for myself. Anyway! Deus Ex is good. I mean, come on. When you fall off a ledge, you don't hit the pavement and go splat. Ohh no. Your super jet-rocket things built into your body deploy themselves, emitting a great yellow light that engulfs everything around you as you gently float to the ground, ready to engage your next target. Me gusta.

Air Band

So, as my bad decision for the week month, I decided to indulge myself in the strange little world that Microsoft has created with their Kinect games. If I had only realized that I had made a terrible mistake beforehand, I would have stopped immediately and threw my Kinect out the nearest window. In "Air Band," you can select a genre of music to play. Then, you hold up your hands in such a way that looks like you are playing an instrument. Of course, that instrument had better be a guitar, keyboard, or drum set, because if you wanted any more bang for your $2.99, you're not getting it. So it's a looping elevator music generator that will overlay a fancy instrument on a live feed of you standing awkwardly in your living room, looking like a total idiot. This is the future, people. Get used to it.

Fruit Ninja Kinect

As a present for my girlfriend, I managed to snag a code for a free copy of Fruit Ninja Kinect from Kotaku's twitter feed. I have earned the title of "Fastest F5-Pusher," and I am damn proud. I used a code from my copy of Dance Central (Yeah, I own Dance Central) for 240 Microsoft Points, and bought some DLC. Simply put, Fruit Ninja Kinect is just fun. It's strange for me to say something like that, but it's a great party game, and tons of fun with two people. Protip: Waving your arms like a malfunctioning windmill will get you a shiny achievement.

Dance Central

I honestly could not tell you why I bought Dance Central. It is a game where you dance. You move your body parts in tandem with the stereotyped actor on stage, and you get points. Lady Gaga.

And finally... Battlefield 3

I honestly cannot believe that I am playing Battlefield 3. Back when I was in middle school, my weekends consisted of going over to my friend's house to play Battlefield 2 and all of its glorious expansion packs. He also had a zBoard. If you don't know what a zBoard is, imagine a keyboard that would let you remove the keys. Then replace them with a different keyset, made for a specific game. That's a zBoard. I thought it was a pretty cool concept at the time. Heck, it's still kinda neat. Here's the one he had. Anyway, BF3 is finally out, as of a few days ago. I've only so far played the single player, which is okay, but I'm really looking forward to the multiplayer. The campaign has its moments, though. A few hours ago, I got to shoot missiles from a fighter jet! It's awesome. My only gripe, though (and it's a big one) is that I have to launch the game from my web browser. ._. WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA EVER IN THE WORLD. Chrome eats my CPU like a motherfucker, and I don't want it running in the background, especially not when I'm playing Battlefield 3! Oh well. Nothing I can do, I suppose. I'm not gonna let it ruin my game experience.

Other Stuff

Wow, that was a pretty long post. Video games aside, everything else is going pretty okay. I'm trying to sell my old computer on craigslist, which isn't going so great. Everyone wants to buy it for a lower price. Once I get that sold, though, I'm gonna get this! ISN'T IT AMAZING. CORE i3 AND A MOBILE NVIDIA GPU ALL IN A BOX THE SIZE OF MY ROUTER. When I saw this, my jaw literally dropped. Ordering ASAP.

Also, I have one of these. It's very nice for casual surfing, news-reading, whatnot. Also great when paired with a DualShock so I can play SNES games!

Other things... Oh yeah! My iPhone 4 now has iOS5 and a semi-tethered jailbreak, so that's cool. I <3 notification center.

That's everything I can think of that's remotely video game related! If I think of anything else in the next few days, I'll edit this post! See you next time!

It's been a while since I last wrote one of these. My new job has taken away weekday time and stripped me of my energy, as jobs tend to do. Honestly, blogging was the last thing I thought about doing tonight, but I do find it enjoyable, and some things video-game related have happened since my last one.

My summer job this year is computer-related. I work for the school district up here in Alaska, replacing older computers with newer models, and selling the really old ones. It pays well, and it's my first full-time job.

The absolute, hands-down, best thing about this job is that every single person on the crew loves video games. So, as you can guess, when we stayed in a school away from home, 5 PM to 12 midnight every night - solid video games. The one game we played a ton of was Brawl. Gotta love it. Also, Team Fortress 2. There's one guy on the crew who's logged over four hundred hours in that game! I barely have 40-some! Other games include the first half of Paper Mario, and Chrono Trigger. Yeah, one of my co-workers got me started on it. It's great! I'm really enjoying it so far.

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That's it for work-related stuff. Other games? Shadows of the Damned. I love Suda 51 to death, let me tell you, but the number of dick jokes in that game is uncomfortably high. Still, it's great. I think the gameplay feels solid, and I like the sidekick banter thing Garcia and his floating skull buddy (Johnson, I think it is? Jesus, even more euphemisms) have going. The whole (erm, what was his girlfriend's name again?) lost girlfriend, getting tricked by the devil, seeing things, mirages, etc. is a teensy bit overdone, though. When I see her drowning in the same damn lake for the 15th time, it loses its edge a little bit.

I also bought From Dust on XBLA. Haven't played it yet, but I love me some Black and White, so we'll see.

That's it. Tried to make it short and sweet.

Until next time.

I start work tomorrow. 
 
For my job, I have to travel to a town that's a good distance away, stay there for the entire week, then drive back on Friday. Rinse, repeat for the next week. I'm not too thrilled, since it doesn't leave me much time to see my friends and family. The job pays well, though, so that's a plus. Anyway, for my last vacation hurrah, I decided to do something stupid. GB user and friend TotallyGeeky moved back to my hometown after living elsewhere for a while, and we decided to make at least one bad video game related-decision before Memorial Day weekend was over. 
 
Let me preface by going back to two nights earlier. Friday night, I was watching the Quick Look of L.A. Noire, and mentioned to my friend how it looked interesting. When Brad said it was Phoenix Wright-esque, however, the penny dropped. My interest grew and grew until I decided that I had to play the game, and next week was not going to cut it. However, I saw no way to, really. At least, I didn't until later. 
 
So, Sunday, my friend comes over, we have a good old-fashioned video game fest, with some DJ Hero 2, BlazBlue and Halo, but then I stopped. I thought. I asked him, 
 
"Want to do something really stupid?" 
 
"What?," he asks. 
 
"We should drive to Soldotna" (I live in the small town of Seward, Alaska, Soldotna is a good 2 hours or so away) "and get L.A. Noire." 
 
This really may not seem like a big deal to most of you. It isn't, I don't think. It was for us, though. Keep in mind that I am 17, and I have never driven prolonged distances before.  
 
So we agreed. And we did. We left at 1 PM and got back at 6 PM. Driving is haaaarrrdd. 
 
I bought L.A. Noire and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. He bought Bioshock 2 and Dead Rising 2. Just to add to the awesome, we bought donuts. Cops eat donuts, right? We figured it would be appropriate. 
 
L.A. Noire is amazing. The cases are involved, intricate stories that spin your head in circles, thinking of all the possible outcomes. The game's depiction of LA is extremely detailed, and every little touch adds to the atmosphere that much more. I think it was worth the toil. Brotherhood's multiplayer is similarly incredible, no surprise there. I do not regret buying these two games whatsoever. 
 
Maybe it wasn't such a bad decision after all.