This means that I missed out on a good number of quality titles from launch until about two years ago.  While I was at Best Buy the other day picking up my 7th copy of Tool's Ænima (which pretty much means that I listen to that CD far too much over the course of any given year), I noticed that they had some new bins up near the registers.  One was marked 15% off, another 20% off, and the third was 30% off...along with a $5.00 movie bin.  Apparently, they realized that Wal-Mart's discounted prices on backstock items is a great way to push product out the door and make some room on your shelves.  lol

The 15% off bin had Warriors Orochi 2, which I'd love to play...but not for 15% from $50.00.  The 20% off bin held Soldier of Fortune Payback...which I don't even think is worth 20% off $4.00, let alone 20% from $40.00.  The third, however, held a winner:  Condemned for 30% off of $19.99.  What a fucking deal.  Sure, I could've gotten cheaper used at Game Crazy, but this was brand spanking new...so I knew it was going to work fine without scratches and all that shit.  Plus, ya know...those Reward Zone points add up after a while.  = D

Therefore, I just recently...as of this week...started my first playthrough of Condemned: Criminal Origins.  While the graphics are considerably outdated by the standards of "next-gen" games nowadays, the atmosphere of the game is absolutely unparalleled!!!  The level of darkness really bugs me...which is exactly what it SHOULD do.  There is a good sense of dread through the whole game so far.  More than anything, though, it's a great change of pace for me.  Between playing Terminator Salvation (which is crap but the 1,000 points keep calling my name), X-Men Origins Wolverine (which ain't great, but the combat is fucking sweet), Bionic Commando (which was awesome from start to finish and I'll pick back up eventually for the rest of the achievement points), Need for Speed Most Wanted (which I'm revisiting so I can remember what a GOOD Need for Speed game is like)...well, it's nice to go through a game at a walking pace without guns most of the time.  The puzzles in the game...you know, the parts where you collect evidence...aren't really that tough, which saddens me a bit, but there is a visceral feeling that gets your heart pumping with that melee combat!!!

I also went out and rented Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena.  Back to that BonusStage.com thing for a minute...

When I was running BonusStage, I had gotten tapped by Disney to write a freelance article for their website movies.com (which I believe is now owned by Fandango).  The article was running the week that Ang Lee's Hulk was released, and they wanted a top 10 list of the best movie-based video games ever, as well as the five worst ones.  Needless to say, I was happy with the list that I gave them...as well as the $200 paycheck they sent me for the article.  My #2 game was LOTR: The Two Towers.  My #1 game was, hands down, Escape From Butcher Bay.  In contrast, my #1 worst game ever was Fight Club...and despite whatever you may say, it's an indisputable fact that Fight Club IS the worst movie-based game ever made.

I told you that story to get to this...

Revisiting Riddick so far has been extremely exciting and frustrating.  I didn't make it too far into the game yet, as I basically got my ass handed to me on Hard difficulty.  I didn't remember the game being that fucking tough, but I'm glad it is.  Unfortunately, you can tell that the graphics are nothing more than retextured Xbox graphics, as there is a TON of wirework coming through the textures and shading, as well as a lot of pop-in...and even a couple of glitches.  I grabbed a guy to snap his neck, and the guy wasn't even in my arms.  He was just standing there still, then fell to the ground.  After he hit the ground, I made the motions of snapping his neck.  Yeah...definitely glitchy.  Nonetheless, it was refreshing as Hell to get back into that world, as I've been a massive Riddick fan since I first saw Pitch Black back in college...err...tech school.  Hopefully, I'll get to sink my teeth into that a bit more sometime this week.

In the meantime, however, both Condemned and Riddick have to wait an extra day.  Tomorrow, I am moving out of my apartment and back in with my parents for a few months.  My mother is going to be having surgery in a couple weeks for her Achille's tendon (just thinking about it makes me remember the scene in Child's Play, and my feet are wretching in "AHHH" right now), and I'll be going on vacation starting June 10th for a week to visit my dad's family for a reunion.  I haven't been to Ohio in about 20 years, so it'll be a much needed break from the Texas heat and the hussle-bussle of the city.  After that, my dad might be getting laid off in July, so there will be much needed stuff to be done around the house while he is job hunting.  Hopefully, though, by mid August, I should be in my own place, and all will be right in the world.  = D

'Til next time, folks...