Well, I've finished Silent Hill: Origins for the PSP.  I did enjoy it, despite its various glaring flaws, and planned immediately to restart the game and start working on some of the unlockables.  It hit me about five minutes after I started.  What hit me, you ask?

The Post-Game Blues (PGB).

PGB.  This is the name I give that very special form of almost-depression that strikes me after I finish a game that I really enjoyed.  It doesn't happen much these days (which speaks either on my gaming habits, my taste in games, or the quality games today), but when it hits, PGB is quite a bit more intense than when I was  younger.  When deep in the effects of PGB I can be expected to loaf around, going about my daily  activities normally, but basically in a state of confusion as far as gaming is concerned.  I want to play something, but I am unable to focus enough to actually play something.

In the past I beat this by organization as well as getting help from my computer.  I own a copy of Game Collector (basically a database for your game collection), and when I used to get PGB, I would boot it up  and select "Random Game".  This solved my problem instantly.  Now...  things are different.  I'm a parent of two children under 5 and a full time student.  What time I get is usually on my PSP, or on my junky laptop.  I do have CFW installed, so my choices are not as limited as they could be, though. 

Is this a common thing among us gamers?  Maybe older gamers, or is it just me?

There seems to be a whole lotta love around for Steak-ums , the sandwich-making  meat-treat.  I just don't get it.  Steak-ums, while a valid alternative to bacon, stand a solid third as far as hot meat-based sandwiches go.  Plus, they come in frozen red strips almost like flattened, red toilet paper.  Not appetizing at all.  Second place is occupied by the tasty, yet hard to keep together Beef Sizzler , a wonderful addition to any Italian-style hot sandwich.  But even the great Beef Sizzler pales in comparison to the mightiest of the mighty, the Steak-eze Sirloin Beef Steak .   

These frozen blocks of love have won a place in my heart, as well as a place in my digestive tract.  Around these parts (that is, Southeast Michigan), you can only get them at Sam's Club locations.  I'm not sure about Costco, but since there appears to be Sam's Club locations pretty much in every state you too can experience the heaven that rests inside these beef steak treats.  Unless of course that there are regional, and thus only available in the Midwest and Rust Belt. 

 

As you can see, they are frozen blocks that resemble slices of meatloaf, but after you pop them in a hot pan, they begin to fall apart and reveal that they are in fact, shredded steak, a magic trick that once seen, you will begin to expect from all your future meals.

Turn and poke, turn and poke; it’s porn for a newer, more calorie and saturated fat-based generation.   You can bet they weren’t serving up shit like this back in the seventies, oh no.   People were too busy listening to records backwards and smoking banana peels (or weak pot).   A little garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and seasoning salt round out the flavor.   Some Cholula will add a bit of love if you aren’t a total pussy (Tabasco isn’t the same, and keep your goddamn Sriracha to yourself), so add a bit and mix it around.

 
 
A few minutes of cooking reveals that the frozen block  is actually composed of shredded beef compacted together, slowly opening up like a beautiful, greasy flower.  Magnifique.

 
 
 
 
Now is the time for a decision.   There are two basic directions you can go from here, one is the way of the Philly Cheese Steak, the other will lead you to a more tangy, sub shop direction.   Choose your poison.   The latter choice (if done the right way), will have two pieces of provolone and a generous squirt of a Greek dressing from any local Coney Island (I prefer Leo’s Coney Island, Mr. Mike's Grill Coney Island, or Plato's Coney Island).   If you are one of those poor bastards that live outside of the Detroit Metro area and don’t know what I’m talking about, just forget about it.  And please don’t buy that shit from the grocery store, it’s not the same.  An okay alternative is Tubby dressing, but if you don't live near a Coney Island, you don't live near a Tubby either.

Locate a can of cheese.   I prefer the mild cheddar from GFS, but you can always pick up something from Sam’s Club or Costco.   In a pinch you can use a can of Frito Lay's Mild Cheddar, but you'll need to do something to it.  That cheese is either too processed or not processed enough, I've never been able to tell.  You can adjust the flavor by changing from mild cheddar to jalapeno, but I prefer to let the meat do the talking.   Since all I have is Lay's Mild Cheddar, I'll be adding some secret spices to make it palatable.  Warm up the cheese, either by stove or microwave, then get ready.

 
 
Slide the meat over and slap the bun down in the pan, open faced down.   Let the bun soak up some grease and brown a bit, then remove it and place on a blue plate.   
 
 
 
 
 

In one deft motion, plop the meat onto the bun, drizzling the remaining grease on the meat.   Now spoon or pour the cheese on top of the meat and stand back to take pride in your work.   While you stare, the cheese is melting around the meat and mixing with the grease, only slightly dissolving the bun.   If you want to add a little Chi-town love, slide a pickle quarter in there, making sure you don’t push any meat out.   Remember not to push it on top, slide it in, emulating the Super Dawg that makes the trip to Chi-town that much better.   Pushing it down on top is something a fucking geek would do.   Don’t be one of those guys.

 
Now you can eat.

 
If you’ve done it right the plate should look like this.   If not, you better grab another beef steak and try again, and keep going until you get it right.  Take heart, though this is a lesson, it is a lesson that can only lead to the type of satisfaction that would send a more religious (and Catholic) man to Confession.  Just remember to stay away from those friggin' Steakums.

Of course when I make plans to do something (play games while I fix computers) something happens to foil them.  This time: removing a nasty little key-logger that took something like two hours to flush out.  I also removed nice little exploit that I' ve been seeing a lot: a circumvent that will shut down MacAfee completely and fool Windows into thinking that it is still running.  Then, it forces MacAfee to open a window claiming that your subscription has run out, and that you have to pay to get it turned back on.  Nice little thing, and it the client had already paid the exploiters to have it "turned back on".  The virus seems to infect computers that frequent Facebook, and may come from clicking on a icon, a link, or a picture.  Not sure.

On the plus side (outside of getting paid, that is), I did get to play a great deal of Star Ocean for the PSP.  Great game, was totally worth the $10 I payed about 9 months ago.

So, just a little tip:  if you are rocking MacAfee and like Facebook, you may be infected!  Mwa ha ha!

Hope everyone's having a great new year.  The year is 2010 and wow, I still don't have a frickin' flying car.  That's alright though, I have a great family and a blog, so...

Like many with a newborn baby, I'm celebrating tonight with a nighttime feeding sometime around 4am, then I'll fish around for at least two burps that don't end with me getting baby vomit on my shirt.  But it is now 1am, and that means I have three whole hours to kill. 

Despite the title of my post, I may actually play Far Cry 2 (which I picked up at the library yesterday) tonight.  First I have to tend to my business, and that means rooting around in other peoples computers for viruses and spyware.  I actually have two new clients, so I am very excited (I need the freakin' money!).  The wonderful thing about doing this sort of thing is that there is often (not always, though) a large amount of time to do other things while anti-spyware/virus programs sniff around, and that other thing is often games.  That means the sooner I finish writing this, the sooner I can start goofing off.

When I picked up Far Cry 2, I think I did it for a very specific reason:  because other people are slagging on it for very basic sounding reasons, mainly the characters ability to contract malaria (!) and the fact that guns jam often.  Now I am not a person who uses opinion based game reviews as an aid for purchasing (or renting, borrowing, whatever), but more as a visual aid.  I watch videos and read previews.  Now previews I find are often more of a help than reviews, as they tend to have more facts about the game without the personality of the reviewer getting in the way.  Nothing against reviewers, but more often than not their work is only a benefit to those who are wholly familiar with the find of games they like.  Some random dude typing in "Oblivion, review" and turning up a negative review by Shane Bettenhausen might decide to write it off as a bad game, instead of realizing that the reviewer gives two-shits about Western RPGs.  Yes, I know Bettenhausen didn't review Oblivion, but I needed an easy example that wouldn't take up too much time.

Dammit, this has gone on way too long.  The point is that I picked up the game fully knowing that parts of it urked reviews, much like other games that I fully enjoyed such as the Mercenaries series.

Anyway, Happy New Year, everyone.  Hope your wishes aren't like fishes.