A cold/flu illness has been floating through our office the last few days and apparently it was my turn to be bitten by this nasty bug. I woke up about 2 AM Monday morning to a high fever and a sore throat and since then have spent the majority of the time sleeping and generally feeling like crap. Normally when I'm that sick I give gaming a break. However, last Thursday I received my rental copy of Portal 2 and so I spent what little time I was awake finishing the last 3 chapters of the single player campaign. As to the game itself, while I was a little surprised at how easy Portal 2 was (I never got stuck on puzzles like I did in the first Portal), I really love all the unique ways the game uses the portal /momentum mechanics this time. Factor in the hilarious voice acting by Stephen Merchant and J.K. Simmonds and you have a game that's very easy to recommend. Definitely 5 stars.
Now with Portal 2 finished, it's time to decide what to play next. Right now I'm leaning towards renting either L.A. Noire or Catherine, however a part of me is considering pulling out my copy of Fallout 3 so I can remove it from my pile of shame. Decisions, Decisions...
Well I'm tired and the ibuprofen is starting to wear off so I think a nap is in order.
First, a confession: I have never played Starcraft or Starcraft 2. I am familiar with Starcraft and used to watch my brother play Brood Wars matches online. I loved how the game looked and played, but like all RTS games I just felt too intimidated by the level of unit knowledge and skill required to play the game to try and learn.
Anyway, with that admission made, I can now explain how I discovered Starcraft 2.
About 5 weeks ago, I finally broke down and bought a Roku. Not really sure why it took me so long to purchase one. I cut the cord to Directv just over a year ago and I have no easy way to connect my desktop computer to my HDTV so it would seem like a no brainer to buy a Roku. However, I was happy enough using my PS3 to watch TV/movies via Netflix and Hulu Plus so I just kept putting it off. But I had some extra money lying around so I figured "what the heck" and made an impulse purchase.
As I was learning more about the hidden channels on the Roku (including Whiskey Media's app for paid Giant Bomb subscribers), I added a little channel known as Justin.tv. I had never used Justin.tv before and I overall I was very disappointed by the video/audio quality of the streams. But just before I deleted it from my Roku channel list, I decided to check the Featured page and found a listing for Iccup's Starcraft 2 weekly tournaments. I decided to try it and was surprised to find that not only was it an HD stream but that the matches were genuinely exciting... even if I didn't understand what was going on. I ended up watching the rest of the cast and since then have made it a priority to be home by 5:00 central time Monday and Tuesday nights to watch the weekly tournaments.
But what really cemented my love of Starcraft was Brad's post of the MLG and GSL Starcraft tournaments. I spent all day Saturday watching the MLG tournament and then capped the day with seeing the first game of the GSL finals. The level of play is just incredible. I definitely plan to pay for next month's GSL tournament and can't wait to watch the MLG finals today.
Hmm... all this Starcraft 2 talk almost makes me want to buy a copy.
Finally! After failing that damn solo for months, I finally beat Green Grass and High Tides on expert guitar and completed the Solo Tour this past Monday! To make sure it wasn't a fluke, I beat the song again a couple days later. To be honest, I didn't think I would ever beat this song so I'm pretty happy about it. The only other song in Rock Band I haven't finished yet is Metallica's Ride the Lightining (that solo kicks my ass) so I guess that's what I'll work on next. No progress to report on Raining Blood for GH3.
My brother flew up for a visit last week (hence the late update to the blog) and he brought with him his copy of Boom Blox. While some of the mini-games are really boring (I'm looking at you Monuments), the Jenga and point tower minigames are an absolute blast to play. I'm not sure it's worthy of a purchase - especially if you don't have a bunch of friends to play it with - but it's definitely a solid rental.
I also went ahead and picked up Super Smash Bros Brawl and, for the most part, I really like it. The camera does pull way too far back in the bigger stages and the online doesn't work all that well, but the rest of the game is every bit as good as Melee. I was also very surprised by how much I enjoyed The Subspace Emissary. Mixing side-scrolling stages with the traditional Smash Bros. matches was a smart choice by Hudson and is a major improvement over what was offered in Melee.
Hi! With the kickoff of Giant Bomb underway I decided to go ahead and start a blog. I suppose a little about myself is in order. For starters, my name is Jeremy. I'm 30 years old. I am not and have never been married. I have no children - that is, other than my little dog named Roo (named after a character from my favorite children's book Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne) who does substitute duty until I actually decide to get married and have children. My job consists of me huddled in a cubicle working on whatever new pension plans we receive. When I'm not at work, I can occasionally be spotted at a local state Hockey game. I love going to the movies, but recently have not gone as much as I used too. I also enjoy listening to unabridged books-on-cd during my hour commute to and from work.
As to my interests in videogames, I pretty much like every genre except for sports and sim-style racing games like Forza or Gran Turismo. Having said that, right now my life is pretty much consumed by the plastic instrument addiction that is Guitar Hero and Rock Band. I play the guitar mostly and am slowly nearing completion of expert in both games. Green Grass is the only song I can't beat in Rock Band (damn you final solo!), while Raining Blood, the DWDTG boss battle, and TTFAF are my remaining songs in GH3 (yeah, like I'm ever gonna beat TTFAF). When not flailing on the fake guitar, I do squeeze in some time to play Warcraft III's DOTA online with my brother. I also tend to play downloaded games on the PS3, 360 or Wii when listening to podcasts or - in the case of this site - bombcasts.
Summoner's Tales
The choice of naming my blog was an especially frustrating experience. Sure, I could have just called this blog Jeremy's Inner Meditations or some other equally generic title, but I wanted something unique. Sadly, I am not especially gifted in coming up with imaginative names. In fact, you could say I downright suck in this regard. Nevertheless, I tried to come up with some titles for my blog during both my breaks at work today and the whopping one name I did manage to come up with (Random Thoughts) I found to be as exciting as a trip to DMV. The only other name that came to mind was The Bottom Line, but that is actually an older title I came up with when I was writing movie reveiws when in high school. The title you see here, Summoner's Tales, is a throwback to my days online in FFXI. Anyway, this is the current title for the blog but I may change it if I think of something else.
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