I don’t know what it is, but I’ve been super tired of the internet recently. Not exactly the internet itself, but more the people that populate it. Even while visiting Giant Bomb as of late I’ve found myself reading specific forum posts and then thinking to myself, “Wow. Shut up. *sigh*” Something along those lines anyway. Not that that’s never happened before, but it just seems like I can’t even spend five minutes browsing the forums anymore before it inevitably happens. And before I’d usually just move on to another thread, but recently I’ve felt the need to close the browser after reading such posts. It’s not all bad since it’s given me more time to actually play video games or do other things. I think it’s just internet fatigue of some sort. It’ll probably pass at some point. I’d be interested in hearing if other people have ever felt the same way.

Anyway with all that extra time, you’d think I’d get around to playing all of those games that I may have said I’d play on last week’s blog. Well, things never go according to plan. Instead of playing anything new and interesting, I played none other than NBA 2K11. Yep, all week long. I can at least claim that the time spent went towards something semi-meaningful though. I’ve been working on an S-rank. We all love S-ranks here, so my motivations should be clear. I think the last time I S-ranked a basketball game may have been like four or five years ago. I always get right up to the last few achievements and then quit when I’d only have to win a handful of ranked matches in a row, or start an online crew and win a game there. It’s achievements like those that usually hold me down. This time though, I brought some determination to the table. Instead of laying down and accepting that I’d never S-rank this game, I headed over to xbox360achievements.org and got my guide on.

I found some boosting partners for one particular achievement that requires assembling a rag-tag crew of a basketball team and taking them online to nab a win. What a horrible achievement this is. Seriously, there are so many levels of awful; it’s almost unbelievable. In order to complete this achievement, you’re forced to get together with at least one other person and form a crew. This isn’t that big of an issue, but a pain for me none-the-less due to me having to jump onto some message boards just to find a teammate. I found one and we hooked up the following day. At that point this other guy had already grabbed a couple more people to form their own crew so that we could play against them. This just makes for easy boosting since the two teams can let each other win. Well, it would be easy if it was fucking possible to ever find your boosting partners! We tried all of the tricks: changing the clocks time zone, changing location, and of course searching at exactly the same time. How do two teams in the London timezone not find each other under these circumstances? Considering it was like 3AM in London at the time, I say it’s bullshit. We searched forever to no avail. But it’s not over. Finally me and another guy decide to just play whoever we can find and try to win. Well, we play a team and win! Fuck yes! But wait, the achievement didn’t unlock? Crap! OK, damn, lets just try again. The internet says the achievement’s a bit buggy. After waiting forever to be connected yet again with anyone we can find, we totally won again! But what will happen? That’s right, the bitch nugget of an achievement still refuses to pop. God dammit 2K. At this point we combine forces of the two crews in order to form a four man team and try to find another random crew. We got that all set up, find some other crew, and when the game was said and done, we came out on the losing end. Oh this is the best part though: The two previous wins didn’t count on the leaderboard (therefore no achievement), but upon entering the lobby after the loss, it did register the god-damned loss. *SIGH* At that point we called it quits for the night. 

I’ll just cut to the chase and say that we got back together a couple of nights after and finally got the achievement. We were forced to beat another random crew to get it since we again tried and failed to find each other, but dammit we finally got it. I was so incredibly happy when that achievement popped. It was like I was stranded on a desert island for a week with very little water, and all of a sudden a coconut full of magical delicious coconut milk cracked open over me and poured out for me to gulp down. It was exactly like that. I took a moment to enjoy the achievement, but then it was back to work. I’m currently still making progress on the last two achievements in the game. The S-rank is close. I can almost taste it. All I have left to do is get my “My Player” mode character into the All-Star game. That requires lots of playtime and I’m not gonna lie, it’s feeling a bit tedious. I must persevere! Oh and if you’re wondering, the final achievement is one that unlocks after you unlock all of the other ones. So really, I just have the one to go. How many people would I punch in the face if that final achievement glitches out on me and there’s no way to try unlocking it again? Let’s just not think that way, shall we? (A lot. The answer is a lot of people. Right in the face.)

Since I really don't have any other video game-related ventures to speak of this week, I'll just move on to news.

Best headline ever? Why thank you. I came up with it myself. Anyway, I'd never heard about this, but apparently some dude grave-robbed a kid and stole his Gameboy and games. What the hell?! Why would he do that?! That was back in December, but he got off with probation for it. Now he's getting what he's due and going to jail after driving drunk. What a moron.

Of course this whole situation begs the question: Why exactly did the kid have a Gameboy and games inside his casket? I'm not trying to talk bad about the dead, but that seems at least a bit odd to me. I guess having it is not as odd as stealing it from the casket though. Just another exhibit to display when proving that humanity is doomed.

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect of this story when first stumbling upon it. Turns out that some truly amazing things are recorded and put on YouTube. Who knew?

  There's a free MP3 download in the description of the YouTube video if you should need a Gameboy music fix on the go.

Whaaat? The Commodore 64 is being revived? Apparently so. As someone that was born too late to experience the Commodore in all of it's glory, this is actually pretty awesome. If you want to check out all of this thing's modern additions, check this official page out. This thing is retro meets modern, and seems absolutely brilliant. I'd love to get my hands on one of these, but sadly, if you want the ultimate version that comes with a 1 TB HDD, Blu-Ray drive, etc. it'll cost a heaping $900 USD. That's a bit much if you ask me. Even the absolute barebones version is a heafty heafty heafty $250. I'm looking for a price that's a bit more wimpy. I love the sheer fact that this exists though.

I feel like getting rid of the silver bars on the sides would be a good thing to do to change up the banners. It would be a nice start anyway. Just a random thought.

Second random thought: I got a wedding invitation from my friend today. I've known him since the fifth grade, but we don't keep in touch nearly as much anymore despite him still living close by. So that was surprising. I feel so incredibly old now that my friends are getting married. Man, that's sooo weird to think about. I'm not even 21 quite yet. I'm kind of excited to go to the wedding though. Should be fun.

Sorry I didn't have more games to write about, but the fact that I played one game all week shows a lot of dedication. I'm so dedicated. Dedication emanates from me as clearly as body odor emanates from Shaq after a game. But enough of the disgusting figurative language. Some day I may get around to playing the rest of the third episode of the Back To The Future game. That'll be fun! Jade Empire awaits, as does Brutal Legend. Not to mention the Undead Nightmare pack that I only played about an hour of. Oh and crap, I still meant to play some more NFS Hot Pursuit. Of course the never-ending (in the best possible way) Dragon Age Origins is still waiting for me as well. Jeez, I'd better get outta here and go play something for christ's sake!

But before I go, I want to reiterate what was already stated in a blog I posted yeaterday. The Blazers beat the Lakers! I'm sure most people know, but the Lakers are the defending champs and that was a pretty huge game to get considering the fighting for playoff seeding that's going on. Go Blazers? Rip City? Boom Shakalacka? All of those things. Each and every one of them.

Love from Rip City,

--JJWeatherman