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Breadfan's Bread Basket #2

By breadfan 8 Comments

 

 
 

This week's Bread Basket is being typed on my brand new laptop that I just picked up Saturday for college.  So far I am loving it and everything works pretty well, aside from Firefox freezing up a lot (that may be a Vista thing, I don't know).  Anyway I got the laptop home got it all set up and...it didn't work.  Yup, so I had to drive all the way back up to Best Buy which is a 45 minute drive.  Luckily when I got to the customer service counter there was a very helpful Best Buy employee who switched out the busted laptop for a new one without any problems.   Anyway onto the games!
 

What I've Been Playing


  Now I have never really been a big PC game sorta guy (aside from my love of Diablo II), but now that my laptop is capable of playing somewhat decent games I decided to pick and and try out some PC games.
 
 
A few friends of mine convinced me to get Counter-Strike: Source with my new laptop and I've been playing that for the most part these past few days.  Counter-Strike is a good game and all and fulfills that 'I just wanna shoot fools online' urge, but the community is one of the worst of all time.  I mean sure that is stereotyping a large group of people, but ever server is filled with whiny little 12 year olds trying to talk trash.  Well, it's the internet who could have figured?  I don't wanna spend too much time on Counter-Strike since it's a pretty old game that most people already know about.
 
 
I've had this game for a few year and I played it online with a friend of mine who is way into real time strategy games in general and I decided to bust it out and play some more of it on my new laptop.  If anyone has not played this game I highly recommend it.  It is a great RTS game even if you are not a fan of Lord of the Rings.  Right now I am doing a play through of the good campaign and then I will begin the evil campaign shortly after that.  Being a Lord of the Rings fan this is like the perfect RTS for me, the classic LotR music is in full swing and swells at the right moments as you are conquering an enemy base or when you are being overrun by hordes of enemy units.
 
 
Yes...World of Warcraft, I cannot really believe that I am even playing this game.  I found a two week trial disk in the box of Diablo II and I decided that I might as well give it a go.  So far I am enjoying it, though I have never played any sort of MMO in my life.  At the moment I am only about level six or seven, I haven't played it that much.  I can see why people play it so much, but I really just cannot play the game for more than twenty minutes without getting bored and picking it back up a few hours later.  Who knows maybe I will end up buying the full game, but $15 a month adds up pretty quick for the subscription.
 

On the Bookshelf


 Since I enjoyed Shadow Complex so much I decided to pick up Orson Scott Card's Empire which is set in the same universe as the game.  So far it is alright, I haven't really been sucked into the story yet but I guess I'll find out soon enough.  There are just some things that turn me off about the book, one being obvious undertones of Card's radical real life views.  Personally if a book's story is worth reading I will read it even if I don't agree with the author on their personal views, but this book I am not sure about.  I'll post an update next time about how I feel about it after I read some more.
 

Music to Blog By

 
 I thought I would add segment just for kicks about what I am listening to while writing the Bread Basket 
 
 
 
This week it is the Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid soundtrack written and recorded by Bob Dylan.   
 

Cooking with Breadfan


 
Bacon Cornbread
 
 Ingredients 
 
 1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast or 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 1/4 cups warm water
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour
2 tablespoons wheat germ
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup crumbled cooked bacon
1/3 cup cornmeal
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
 1 tablespoon honey
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons cornmeal 
 
Directions
  1. Dissolve yeast in warm water.
  2. In a bowl, combine flour, wheat germ, salt, bacon bits, cornmeal, oil, honey, and eggs. Stir in the yeast mixture and knead to form a soft dough. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat, cover, and allow to rise until doubled; about 1 1/2 hours.
  3. Punch down; form in a greased loaf pan sprinkled with cornmeal, and allow to rise again; about 1 hour.
  4. Bake at 350*F for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the top is browned.
 
 Until next time, thanks for reading
8 Comments

Breadfan's Bread Basket #1

By breadfan 18 Comments

 

 
 
So in an attempt to keep up with a consistent user blog here on Giant Bomb I decided to come up with a clever little title for my blog posts.
 

What I've Been Playing
 

 
The main game that has been consuming most of my gaming time this past week has been Shadow Complex, the final Xbox Live Arcade game to be released under Microsoft's Summer of Arcade banner for 2009.  I am just loving almost everything about Shadow Complex from the exploration, the gadgets, and the unique perspective of shooting enemies who are on a different plane than you.  So far I have put about eleven hours into the game throughout three different run throughs of the game, the first run taking about six hours and the following two around two and a half hours a piece.  I have yet to complete the Completionist or Minimalist achievements, but I do plan on getting around to this eventually, right now I am just playing to level up so that I can tackle the game on insane.  For anyone still unsure about buying Shadow Complex, definitely give it a go and you will not be disappointed.  I am also planning on writing a review of the game sometime by the end of the week so look for that as well.
 
 
 The second game that I have been playing lately has been the latest Fallout 3 DLC expansions Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta.  I had played both Operation Anchorage as well as The Pitt and had not played Fallout 3 in some time, but when I had some left over points on my Xbox Live account after purchasing a 4000 MS points and figured that I might as well finish off the Fallout 3 DLC collection.  I did enjoy Mothership Zeta and I had been looking forward to it being released after first hearing about the awesome concept of being abducted by little green men while hanging out in the Capital Wasteland, though I was somewhat disappointed.  The quests were pretty straightforward and there were no real moral choices to be made throughout the entire package.  So once I wrapped up Zeta I hopped on a boat to Point Lookout and experienced the post apocalyptic world from a different perspective.  Point Lookout is by far the best Fallout 3 expansion out of the set and offers the most expansive area as well.
 

In the News
 

 
Sony finally dropped the price of the Playstation 3 and gave it a new look as Sony tends to do after a few years of a console's life.  The $299 price tag is a great price for the console, especially for what you get with it.  I do not own a PS3 mainly because I did not want to drop the money on it because it had been pretty high, but now I am all for getting myself a slim.  After browsing the Xbox Live Dashboard today it seems that Microsoft has also lowered the price of the Xbox 360 Elite to $299 as well.  So I guess the console wars drag on.
 
 
Blizzard has shown off some new footage of their highly anticipated sequel to their classic game Diablo II (one of my personal favorites) as well as the new Monk class.  I did not need any excuse to buy Diablo III since it was announced, but seeing that new footage and hearing the new gameplay features has me totally excited for whenever Blizzard puts it out, knowing it probably wont be out until 2011 most likely with all that Blizzard is currently working on.  I'll just have to wait until then to get my clicking action on.

 
So apparently Batman Arkham Asylum is actually good.  I was expecting it to be a decent superhero game that I would be disappointed by because well comic book based games have a tendency to do that.   I am glad that it wasn't a cheap cash in because the Dark Knight did so well in theaters and I am definitely going to pick this game up soon as almost every game review site has given it high praise.  
 

Baking with Breadfan 
 

  • Amish White Bread
 Ingredients
  • 2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
  • 2/3 cup white sugar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 6 cups bread flour

 Directions
  1. In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.
  2. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
  3. Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
  4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.
 
 
 
Well that's it for this ishdition of the Bread Basket.  If anyone actually reads this I'll try to write one up every week.
 
Thanks for reading
18 Comments

So I got my wisdon teeth out today

By breadfan 66 Comments


Hello Everybody!
Hello Everybody!
Yup I got back a few hours ago from the dentist after having all four of my wisdom teeth yanked out. Luckily I had them taken out before they broke through the gums so I avoided some problems later on if I did not have them taken out.  The procedure was very quick and I don't even remember much really.  I sat down in the chair, they put an IV into into my arm and told me that I would feel a little funny.  Once the medicine kicked in to relax me I felt really calm and the next thing I knew, I was awake.  
 
So far there has been little to no discomfort thanks to a face full of Novocain and I took some proscribed pain killers a few hours ago.  I've been just relaxing with ice on my cheeks since about ten this morning and there is no swelling at all. However it feels like there is a ton of pressure on my gums, but I would prefer that to any real pain.  Later I'm planning on downloading Shadow Complex so I have something to do while I'm stuck sitting around all day.   
 
Thanks for reading, I just hopped on Giant Bomb real quick to check any news updates before I go back to rest
 
66 Comments

Street Fighter, Oh Street Fighter

By breadfan 35 Comments

As the summer draws to an end, along with the lack of any real great summer game titles, I have been looking for games to play.  Every few months I get incredibly bored with my games and I need something new to play.  I haven't purchased a retail game in quite a long time, though this summer's play list has been scattered with new Xbox Live Arcade games such as Battlefield 1943 and Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers.  However when I become bored with my current set of games I usually tend to fall back into Street Fighter.
 
So this week I've been putting some time into Street Fighter 4 as well as Street Fighter 2 HD Remix to get my fighting game fix.  When it comes to Street Fighter 4 though there are some things that just annoy me to some extent.
 

Hosts not starting

 
Start the game already!
Start the game already!
Now I don't know about anyone else, but it seems that every few games I join is hosted by some immature person who wants to piss people off.  I will join a lobby and the game will start, I select my fighter and then...I wait.  The host just lets the timer go down to almost zero and then picks their character and then proceeds to do the same thing with the level.  
 
 
 

The Ken

'I'm gonna hit him with fire!'
'I'm gonna hit him with fire!'
Now I have nothing against people who use Ken he is a very accessible character for new players, but sometimes it can get annoying.  I am not talking about people using Ken (even though there seems to be thousands of them) I am talking about the dude who thinks he is being sly.  You know waiting for you to pick your character like he is hatching some diabolical scheme and then picking Ken, and usually sucks with him.
 
 
 
 
 

Cannot Connect to Host

Now the previously mentioned gripes pertain to a small amount of people in the Street Fighter community, but this is my biggest annoyance when it comes to Street Fighter 4.  Ok so you turn on your Xbox and you just wanna join a game to get fighting right...well sorta.  You select quick match and are given three dudes who are looking for a fight also.  So you pick the first guy, cannot connect.  Alright I'll just pick this guy, cannot connect.  And it seems to go on forever!  

 

I just wanna fight dude!
I just wanna fight dude!

However once you eventually find a game there is little if no lag at all, which is one thing that Streety Fighter 4's online play does very well
35 Comments

Looking Back

By breadfan 15 Comments

Earlier today I downloaded the trial version of the remake of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, which was one of my favorite games when I was a kid.  So that got me thinking about the other games that I loved growing up.
 
 

 WinBack
 

 
 

 Win Back is one of those games that I remember sitting on the couch with a group of friends playing for hours.  Looking back I remember this game being amazing since it was the first game of it's kind that I played.  Just the fact that I could take cover and shoot fools around corners blew my mind as a kid, let alone the ending which seemed like the biggest surprise ever, though now it seems pretty lame.
 
 

 Pokemon Blue/Red
 


No Caption Provided

Any kid growing up when Pokemon first became popular would probably say that Pokemon was one of their favorite games growing up.  I remember the first time I played Pokemon Blue for the first time and thinking that it was the greatest game I had ever played.  It was one of the first games that I sunk a huge amount of time into just collecting Pokemon and trading them with friends then all sharing our stories about what we did in the game the next day at school.
 
 
 
 
 

 GoldenEye

 

 
 

A classic game that was my first exposure to the first person shooter genre.  The game offered a great campaign and some pretty awesome split-screen action.  This was one of the most popular games to play among my friends and I while growing up.  Just the amount of playable characters seemed endless with playable characters such as Bond, Odd Job, Jaws, and even an array of random scientists from the game's single player.


 

Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey

 
 

Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey became one of my favorite sports games growing up.  My cousin, brother, and I would always play this game and try to get the players to get into a fist fight to see who won.  The game was great in almost every way that an arcade sports game could be, it had some over the top moments like shooting the puck so hard that the goalie went flying or the goalie turning into a brick wall to block a shot.
 
 

Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA
 

 
 

Rush 2 was a great racing game that was one of my favorite Nintendo 64 games.  The racing was fast, the cars were awesome, and the tracks seemed extremely detailed.  The stunt level was great for screwing around and the free roaming mode led to a cops and robbers game that my friends and I used to play.

 
 
 
 
 

 These are just a few of the games that I enjoyed growing up.  Feel free to post your favorite games from when you were a kid.


15 Comments

A Pleasent Surprise Thanks To Xbox Live

By breadfan 14 Comments

Since I bought the Fallout 3 DLC, Broken Steel a few weeks ago I have had 800 Microsoft points burning a hole in my virtual pocket.  I browsed the marketplace looking for a new game add on or a new Xbox Live Arcade game and found nothing good, until the other day.  So I log onto Xbox Live and I see an ad for a new arcade game, Magic The Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers.  Now when I saw this I had a quick flashback to my childhood.  Ten years ago I was way into Magic The Gathering, like I had hundreds of cards and played all the time with my brother and cousin.  It had been a long long time though since I had played any sort of Magic related games.  Until now.

I downloaded the trial version and immediatly picked up the game right back up and began playing the latest Magic The Gathering game.  I was pleasently surprised that this game was actually good.  I mean over the years there have been some pretty bad games that bear the Magic name.  So I ended up spening my remaining 800 Microsoft points and I don't regret it one bit.  The game's campaign consists of about sixteen duels, which unlock new decks and cards to be added to decks you already have available for use.  There is not that much customization involved in the game, but the game doesn't suffer that much as a result.

Quite simply I am hooked on Magic again, as lame as that sounds.  I've been playing to unlock more cards and playing online, which also works well.  I had never even heard of the game until it popped up on the Xbox Live Arcade.  Anyway I haven't blogged in a while and I figured I'd make a quick post on the game.  Check it out!
14 Comments

So the Westoboro Church is coming to protest my school

By breadfan 99 Comments

For those of you who do not know of the Westboro Baptist Church, they are the group behind the website God Hates Fags.  They have been known to protest high schools such as my own, as well as the funerals of fallen US soldiers.  The WBC travels around the country protesting such things and uses methods such as chanting songs with the lyrics changed to hateful slurs and offensive sayings and even tieing US flags to their feet to disrespect the people around them.

As for the reason to why they are protesting my high school the drama group is putting on a play about a gay college student who was kidnapped, tied to a post, and beaten to death for his lifestyle.  The play itself is not biased in any way, it shows the effects of this murder on the local community and shows how hate can ruin lives.  The WBC seems to think that this play should not be performed and claims that it supports the homosexual lifestlye.

Being a senior I have never been to a drama performance, but instead of planning a counter-protest the whole school plans to sell out the show every night in order to shove it in the faces of the Westboro Baptist followers.  It is just sad to see that hate such as this still goes on today and especially at a place such as a high school.  Their protests are supposed to take place later this week, so I am interested to see how things play out.

99 Comments

Dumpsters Here!

By breadfan 10 Comments

Just a quick update of my recent gaming habits:


Street Fighter IV


No Caption Provided
So some great new games came out this week.  Street Fighter 4 and the new Grand Theft Auto expansion, the Lost & Damned.  I picked up Street Fighter 4 earlier and I played around on that for about an hour and got my ass kicked many times, but I still found the game to be a whole lot of fun. The Gamestop in my area was actually sold out and I had to go to Target to find a copy of it.  I just have to get some practice time in and build up my fighting chops.  If anyone reading this is also about average in Street Fighter and wants to play just message me and we can get some matches in.



Left 4 Dead


No Caption Provided
Aside from SF4 I have been playing a whole lot of Left 4 Dead again, I just can't stop loving that game.  My friends and I have a new tradition of just dropping dumpsters down the sewers ladder in No Mercy so that the survivors cannot climb up and them we drop it and kill them all when they are close by.  I know that is a really cheap but we just can't help it.  I still have to wrap up Dead Air, Death Toll, and Blood Harvest on expert before I have completed the game on expert but I will get to that soon enough.  I am glad to see that the new content will be free, anything new will keep me playing this game even longer.

Far Cry 2 and others


I traded in Lord of the Rings Conquest for $22 at Gamestop and bought Rainbow Six Vegas 2 with the credit and I no longer feel the shame of having that game on my shelf.  I was actually surprised that I would get that much money for Conquest considering it is pretty bad and I have gotten less from trading in actually good games in the past. 

I had been thinking about trading in Far Cry 2 since I have had it since Christmas and I never really got into it, but I am glad I did not.  I actually began playing it and getting into the main game and I am loving it.  The open world makes exploration and planning assaults on enemy camps a lot of fun.  The online isn't too bad, but that is not really the game's strongest asset. 

__________________________________________________________________



 Well that is about it for this blog.  For anyone who listens the new episode of the Button Mashers podcast will be recorded tomorrow and up on iTunes by Monday at some point.  However I do not think I will be able to make it because Monday is my birthday and I have a family thing happening tomorrow night. 

Thanks for reading and remember if anyone wants to put in some matches in Street Fighter just send me a message.
10 Comments

So Much For That

By breadfan 15 Comments

Recently I have not been playing any new games, well except for one bad exception.  About two weeks ago my friend and I both bought Lord of the Rings Conquest and boy are we regretting that purchase after about an hour.  First of all, both of us are pretty big Lord of the Rings fans and we thought that we would love this game.  I mean Star Wars Battlefront + Lord of the Rings, what could go wrong?  Well a lot actually.

His face says wonders for this game
His face says wonders for this game
For one the game's two campaigns only last about an hour a piece and they do not offer much individually.  The evil campaign is mostly the same levels and concepts as the good campaign with different outcomes and missions to kill the heroes of the books and films.  So after about two hours of playing through the campaigns on co-op we jumped into the online.  That lasted about five minutes.

I could rant on about Conquest for pages, but I will end it there.  I will mention quickly that I only bought the game to play with my friend and his 360 decided to red ring the day after we played, so now I have no use for the game.

Damn You!
Damn You!
As for good games, I have been playing some more Left 4 Dead which I still find amazing.  I have not played it in a month or so and I played some of Death Toll on expert which did not end in our favor.  That new content that is coming soon will definitely be a welcomed addition to the game that will keep me playing even more.  After all zombies will always need to be killed in many ways.

My zombie kills stack up to about 13,500 so the Zombie Genocidest achievement is pretty far off

 
15 Comments

Video Fun

By breadfan 4 Comments

Me and My friend were playing some Grand Theft Auto 4 the other day and he recorded it.  He put together this quick video of some highlights.  When we tried to play some more GTA earlier today his 360 froze up about four times and resulted in another red ring of death.  Here's to you Gomes.

 
4 Comments