I had some free time today and decided to download and play this game. I'll just jump to the point I'm trying to make here; I don't really think the game deserves the amount of praise it has seemed to garnish with people. Don't get me wrong, I really did enjoy the game, but if I had played it in 2010, it wouldn't have been anywhere near my top 10. 

I'll just get the necessary complaint over with first, HOLY SHIT WAS THIS GAME FUCKING REPETITIVE! Okay, there I said it. Maybe it's because I'm a child of 90's  and therefore my appreciation of BBS is non-existent. Though,  I can defiantly see where the nostalgia factor would add to this game and I can always appreciate a game for trying to invoke that in it's players. The game does a wonderful job of creating this atmosphere, maybe it does it a bit to well, but, I'll get to that later.   I will also add, that this game did prompt me to explore some "old skool" computer stuff. I'm  very grateful that we as a society, for the most part, have moved passed dial up! Holy crap that shit seems so pre-historic, especially after playing through this game..   

Overall though, I think the game shoots itself in the foot with it's emulation process. I mean,who the fuck actually thought the whole process of having to dial the calling card, use the c0dez, than dial the actual number of BBS site you were trying to access, was fun? Not me, it was kinda cool for the first three times, but  then the whole process started to drive me insane, not to mention that  half the time the c0dez's didn't even work. Thanks for nothing, RobFugitive. Maybe, if Ms. or Mrs. (  I don't know), had been a little less inclined to directly re-create this universe, she would have realized that leaving out the tedious shit, would have made the game 20x better!    
 
This really has nothing to do with the emulation process, at least, I don't think it does....But, when trying to figure out how to advanced to another part in the story, I often found myself stuck, but not because I didn't know how to solve a puzzle; I thought that most of the puzzles in the game were pretty straight forwards, anyways. Instead, it was because I didn't know what the next puzzle I needed to solve was; if that makes any sense at all. Often, the only way to find out what you were supposed to be doing next,  was literally going through all of you PM'S and BBS's on the various sites, making sure that you hit "Reply" to each one. I guess this might seem like a trivial complaint to some, or an "OMG YOU FAIL", but it was frustrating to say the least and made the game wayyyy longer than it probably should have taken me to complete.
 
The thing that bothered me the most about this game, was the lack of any sense of a real relationship between *Emilia and I.  I mean, I guess I can accept  the whole idea of a love story between a computer and a human, it's 2011, why the hell not? However, I don't even understand why the computer and my "dude" where in love. They shared a total of fifteen short PM's, half of which she talks utter non-sense,  and already they are confessing love for one another!?! I just can't wrap my head around that. I guess my guy was just one smooth ass talker.. I don't think it should have bothered me as much as it did, but it kind of killed any chance of eliciting an emotional response from me, the game was just telling me that we were in "love", without provided any reason why.  Because, I liked her crappy poem? Sorry, that's not enough for me.  
  
I feel bad sitting here ragging on this game so much, because, at the end of the day, it was a good 2-3 hours spent. I loved the puzzles that the game required you to solve, it was nothing too challenging but it did require paying attention to the little details, and in return that had the effect of immersing me in this bizarre world.  I also liked, the little twists in the game; finding out that *Emilia was a computer, well that was a HOLY SHIT moment. I think my favorite moment though, was when *Emilia confessed her "love" for you and then *BOOM* Lake City Local crashes, when all you wanted to do was PM her back :(. It has this strange affect on me, more so than I thought a little game like this could..  
 
The best part about this game was hands down the music. It pretty much made the game for me. If this game didn't have music, I don't think there would have been a chance in hell that I would have finished. Each track, had the ability to capture the mood of the game during all the different scenarios. I especially enjoyed the music that played when ever a site crashed, it almost felt like my computer was laughing at me. Also, notable "Stars Come Out" and the "Disappointed" 
  
I guess the most notable thing about this game though, is the fact that I'm still thinking about it for some reason. Like I said, it wasn't anywhere near my favorite game or anything, yet, here I am wanting to talk about it and share it with people who haven't played it yet. It's a shame that it will slip beneath the general populace, but then again maybe not, because I think it may take a special kind of person to truly appreciate this game, even with all it's silly flaws.

This past weekend was awesome and for one reason; I got a new Xbox! It was a long time coming, considering my old one died back in August. I can now officially say I have experienced the horror that is the" red ring of death". I'd been saving up for awhile, the funds did cut into my booze money for the month, though. Oh well,  I think I can do with a few less drunken weekends. Wait, I know I can. So I've got this brand spakin' new 360 and I'm ready to dive head first into my backlog of games, that could reach Mt Olympus if stacked vertically. I can officially say that my gaming dry spell is now over and just in time for finals! I'm so excited!

Alright, so I had this whole plan. I was going to start playing more games and then sharing my thoughts about them with the community.  Well, of course this week at work has been absolute hell. I mean I've been working 24/7, seven days a week, I don't have time to do anything because everyone I work with, well, used to work with, has decided it's time to quit. I mean granted it's the end of the summer and people have to go back to school, so it's a little understandable. Actually, fuck being understanding. I mean c'mon people have you never heard of putting in your two weeks? No, I guess not, but it's probably more like they have and they're totally okay with fucking over their more responsible and considerate co-workers.  It just, argghhh, I'll just stop talking about it, let's just say it really grinds my gears.  It just sucks having to work shit jobs every summer in order to make a little spending money for the school year. I'm not really excited to graduate from college and hop into the work force, but hell, I probably won't have to deal with this bullshit, at least I hope not. Enough about work though, I guess I can talk about some of the games I've been playing this week. Wait, what games, it's been all about one game this week, StarCraft II.
 
So I've slowly but surely been working my way through the StarCraft II campaign. I'm actually surprised how much I've been enjoying it, considering I really didn't enjoy playing the first one. This probably has something to do with me being a lot younger and stupider when it was in it's prime. I remember stealing it from my neighbor because It had awesome looking aliens on the CD. I was all excited to play it and then sadly it ended up just being a "meh" experience for me. All my guy friends in high-school would try desperately to get me into it at LAN parties but I always wanted to play CS or TF2 instead. That's why I'm shocked that I bought the damn thing. I'm an avid WoW player so I would always run across information about the game. You know, stuff  that Blizzard had decided to tease it's" fanbois" with that day.. While, the majority of people were freaking out about the latest unit announcement. "OMGZZZZ NO DRAGOONS!!!!", I just blew over that shit. Though, once in awhile I'd click a link that lead to the concept art ; I'm a sucker for Blizzard art. For the most part, I really had no interest in the game, and could give a rat's ass when it came out.  I even had a chance to play the Beta, but passed it off and instead let my friend have it.  It wasn't until the game came out in July that I decided that maybe I'd been overlooking the game too much. I was on vacation at the time with my family and I wasn't playing any games. Instead, it was a lot of listening to podcast and reading. I was camping in the middle of nowhere and yet I couldn't escape this game. It was all anyone was talking about on the podcast's that I listened to. People like Brad, from the Bombcast, of course, are the reason I have StarCraft II. Listening to them, persuaded me to give this game a chance; hell who am I kidding it actually made me crave playing this game. When I returned from vacation I went out and purchased StarCraft II., I have been enjoying it ever since. 
 
Don't get me wrong this game still frustrates the hell out me, I RAGE quit a lot. It's just this time around, I want to get better, I want to learn, and I want to not suck. I feel like this time around StarCraft is much more forgiving. It gives people like me;  nubs, a better opportunity to learn and adapt to the play style that is StarCraft. And, the campaign, is well, amazing. Seriously, I haven't felt this compelled in a story in a game in a long time. I find myself trying to play through the campaign slowly because I want to savior it. I don't want to rush through it, it's weird usually I'm the exact opposite because I don't really have that much time to play games anymore. I'm about half-way through the campaign at this point. I love the way Blizzard has incorporated the features of a point and click adventure between missions. It gives the player time to catch their breath between missions and learn more about the characters whom you fight alongside in the missions. I've really been enjoying the little T.V broadcasts that  are featured between the missions. They are optional, but well worth taking the time to watch. They add a little more character and provide some humor in a pretty bleak storyline. The nod to Warcraft , the dancing night elf at the bar is also an example of some comic relief featured in the game. My favorite part of the campaign has to be the incorporation of RPG elements. I love the fact that you have the ability to customize your game experience with the tech-tree options and the Zerg and Protoss research. It just makes the game that much more unique and has the potential to be a game that I will play through again.  The morale decisions in the game are an interesting incorporation. I would often find myself torn between which character I wanted to side with; the decision usually came down to siding with who was offering the better reward.
 
 Overall, I am extremely happy with this game. If your on the edge with this game, deciding whether or not you want to get it or not. I would just say make the plunge, at least for the campaign, it is well worth the $60 in my opinion. This is a statement coming from a broke college student.  

 
 Well I just spent the latter half of an evening writing up a warning to potential readers. That all went CAPOOT when my fucking internet crashed.  I guess that's what happens when you actually try  to offer your readers a well written, well thought out post. I guess the internet god's would just prefer to have anyone who happens to stumble across this blog realize that I'm horrible, scratch that, GOD AWFUL, at grammar. I don't really feel like making excuses for it; so there I said it. Take it or leave it. This is  your fucking        *WARNING* DO NOT ENTER GRAMMAR NAZI"S!!!!!!!!!!! 
  
So I've been a lurker on Giant Bomb for about a month or two now, a listener of the podcast for much longer. I finally decided  to sign up for the site TODAY!!!! I must say I am throughly impressed with the site. It's beautiful the whole user interface makes me want to cream my pants. I don't know what to make of the "Quest" system. It 's not that I don't like it or anything but it just seems like another thing to get half-heartedly get addicted to. I say half-heartedly because that's the way I am with pretty much 95% percent of everything on the internet.  It's more of an issue than you think and it's plagued me ever since the start of college.  

 You see before I embarked on this journey to the higher education world; I was very passionate about gaming, the internet, and anything nerdy in general. Now, I'm in this phase were the internet and video games are just sort of something I do when I'm bored and not really for fun. In fact, video games for me have become a bit of a bore.. I don't know what it is? I really hope this is just a phase for me; and it better be short! Maybe this is something that happens to every gamer at a certain time in his or her life? Is this just my mid-gamer life crises?!?  But I'm only 19!!!!!!!!! The thing is the geeky culture is still something I enjoy. In the time I have spent not playing video games I've become a more avid comic and graphic novel fan. My friend introduced me to the local comic shop on campus last semester; let's just say I've spent a pretty penny in there! I've also become more of an avid reader; I finally got around to reading the Lord of The Rings Series; something I have been wanting to do since I saw the movies. I guess the whole hiatus from gaming isn't all bad but I'm really hoping it isn't permanent.  

 Gaming, has been apart of my life since I was about 5-6, I know that's considered late to some of you. I started out on the PC, playing education games that my parents would get for me. I remember spending hours playing games like Freddie Fish and The Magic School Bus games. I have games like Where in the World is Carmen San Diego , to thank for my geographical knowledge. A lot, I mean, a lot of kids in my generation lack a basic understanding of where they are in context of a map. They didn't really spend much time on geography in school; it got axed to make room for science and math. I'm thankful for my parent's desire to have me become comfortable with the PC at such a young age. I kind of outgrew the educational games once I mastered basic mathematical concepts and could spell six letter words.; hah not really :P. I graduated to games like the Sims and Roller- coaster Tycoon; actually I'm pretty sure I played all of the *INSERT RANDOM ASS CONCEPT* Tycoon games. I was exposed to my first real console gaming at my friend Stephens house. Stephen had a SEGA genesis and I would watch him play for hours; he never let me play though. I didn't really know what to make of it but I knew I wanted one! But I would have to wait another few years before I got my hands on my first console.... 
 
So the SEGA Genesis was my first taste of a gaming console and while it made an impression it was nothing like what the N64 did to me. I'll never forget those rainy days where you could play N-64 all day at your friends house. It was awesome because you didn't have to worry about making excuses about reasons why you weren't outside. Instead, it was a day filled with video game gluttony. To this day, I still love rainy days, it gives you the perfect excuse to be inside glued to your Plasma TV trying to get that latest achievement or even curled up in bed reading a graphic novel you just picked up.  But back to the N64, the thing was a freakin' gold mine for a 8 year old, i think that's how old I was.. As much as I loved it and no matter how hard I convinced my parents to get me one for my birthday or Christmas, I never got one. Instead I spent the early years of my console gaming history living it vicariously through my friends; random people I barely knew could often be considered "friends" if they had an N64 and a copy of Golden Eye. I remember my dentist, yes, my dentist, used to have this Super bowl party at his house every year. I looked forward to this damn party all year because the dentist's son had a N64 with Golden Eye hooked up in the basement. I didn't start actually watching the Super-Bowl until I was 12; every year prior to that was spent playing Golden Eye in the my dentist's basement.  The wait was coming to an end though, the glory day's gaming were about to begin for me and who would have thought that I would have the fucking NHL to thank for it. 
 
My dad is a really big hockey fan. He was born in raised in Detroit so it goes without saying he's Red Wing's fan. What's this have to do with gaming? Well it's the reason that my dad finally decided to succumb  to my constant pleading  for a console system.  When I was a kid our family would always make the trip up to Michigan to spend time with my dad's parent's for the Christmas. A lot of this time my parent's would also spend catching up with friends that still lived in the area. This one night I went with my dad to visit one of his high school buddies. We watched a Wing's game and that's where I saw it it, it was love at first site. Out of the corner of my eye I saw this grey colored box with a funky looking controller was laying on top of the VCR. I was extremely intrigued when I saw it and I think my dad's friend noticed my curiosity towards the object. After, the hockey game finished he asked if I wanted to try what he called a "PlayStation" I immediately accepted his offer. The guy only had NHL whatever the year was, it didn't even matter though. I was fucking blown away. I wanted one. I needed one! My dad who up until this point had no idea what a gaming console was looked at the thing like it was solid fucking gold. The very next day, my dad and I went to Target and bought a PlayStation. I remember my dad said I could pick out one game and I picked out fucking Croc. I mean I liked that game and all but of all the games.... Anyways, I know it's kind of pathetic but I think when I'm on my death bed trying to make a list of the top ten moments of my life; buying a PlayStation will be on it. I loved my PlayStation, I didn't really have that many games for it, I was young and broke. I love how when your young getting a new game is like wining the fucking lottery. It was something special and you always played the shit out of the games you had because they had to last you a while. It didn't even matter if the game sucked you still loved it. I sometimes wish gaming was like that for me now, I mean it's way easier to get games now and I like having money.  It's just that getting a new game never feels extremely special because it's just so obtainable, all I have to do is log on Steam or run up to GameStop.  
 
The rest of my gaming history is pretty bland and cookie-cutter. When the PS2, came out I made sure to get that puppy on the Christmas list; it was two years latter than I excepted but I was still ecstatic as hell when I got it. I played a lot of really great games on the PS2. The PS2 was the console that allowed me to explore multiple genres of games. My collection of game's from the PS2 era is a lot more diverse than my collection from the PSOne. The PS2 is also where my love affair with the Kingdom Hearts series began. I remember I borrowed it from a kid from school, I played this game non-stop the first few weeks I had it.  I think I even faked being sick so I could just stay home and play it. Eventually, I had to give the game back to the kid; saddest day ever! I'm not really saying that kind of obsession is healthy or anything but it sure as hell beats this fucking apathetic attitude I have towards all the games I've been playing lately. 
 
 Don't get me wrong, there are a shit ton of awesome games out there right now, and I WANT to play them. It's just the passion that I used to have towards this part of my life seems missing lately. It's time to take action and rid this anti-gaming demon from my body! Hence my gaming exorcism begins! I've decided that maybe by writing about some of the games that I've been playing lately, it will inspire me to continue to want to play them. I know, I know, It's kind of a weak plan; at the moment though, it;s all I really have time for. School starts back up for me in a few weeks and I'm going to have to focus on on that. There is defiantly room for this little side project though. I don't really expect anyone to read this; it's something that I think I need to do for myself. If there are any reader's out there, give me some feed back. I'll defiantly take into consideration games that you want me to play and write about. Maybe there is someone out there who went or is going through something like this? Let me know, please! I need all the help I can get. I plan to start my fist gaming post on within the next few day's on either Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect Two, or StarCraft II.   
 
That's all for now,  
 
Kerry aka "zepp"