06/23/2009-

One game, and one game only, dominated ol' Sparky's play time this last week.  Pop it, lock it, and drop it.  It's update time.

• I received a copy of Tiger Woods 10 this weekend as a b-day gift from my numero uno homie, my brother.  I got the 360 version, which was by design so that we could compete against each other (read: so he can kick my ass royally).  It's just as crazy addictive as '09, and the new putting system is an absolutely fantastic change to the game.  This really feels like the most polished version of the game to date.  I'm a bit grumpy with EA for releasing courses so close to the release of the game that obviously could have been included, but there are plenty of great courses included on the disc, so it's a minor grievance.  And now I'm going to be a bit hypocritical, since I'd love to see EA release more DLC in the form of golfers, clothes, and courses.  I just don't want to feel like the stuff should have been included in the disc.
  
• My DS got some love this week, but only in fits.  I've been playing through New Super Mario Bros., which was a riot on its release and holds up extremely well.  I'm really stoked for the Wii version.  If it's a straight port of the DS version, I won't be buying it, but if they include new stages and enough new content to warrant its release, I'll be buying it on day one.

That's it for this week.  Short, I know, but now you have time for more exciting ventures in your life.  What could be more exciting than reading my blogs, you ask?  Well... uhhh, how about repeatedly banging your head against a hot stove or figuring out trigonometry problems while a rabid wolverine chews on your toes?  The world is your oyster!

And even though no one has yet to answer one of these damn things, here's your question of the day.  If you could take two games on vacation with you, what would you pick and why?

06/18/2009-

Welcome, one and all, all and one, to the latest nonsensical update from your favorite sleazebag, Sparky.  Have not been able to do much gaming this past week, but let's jump in, shall we?  We shall.

• Really been concentrating mostly on Forza 2 this week.  I've got almost all the career races finished, and should have those knocked out in the next few days.  I don't know how many damn races I'll have to finish in order to purchase every available car, but that's the next step.  The auction house is still going strong, though I'm seeing a lot of repetition in the car designs and a few old ones that have been passed around since the launch of the game.  I'm sure the looming Forza 3 will cut down on people's car customization work, so now's the time to pick up some cheap cars on the auction house.  Forza 2 had a pretty decent stable of cars, though I'd love to see more muscle and earlier show cars.  I know, 50's Lincolns and Caddies aren't exactly race cars, but I'd still love to see the inclusion of more show cars for custom paint jobs and auction house bidding.  Or a Lead Sled.... mmm.  I enjoy Forza 2 because it allows me a chance to get my hands on some cars without doing any real damage.  In real life, I'm legally blind and can no longer drive, so this is a huge bonus, especially since Forza allows me to hire drivers to do the longer and more complex races.
• Tex Murphy is now on GOG.com.  I've only played one of them briefly, but I'm excited.  Any old adventure game released over there is going to get my hard earned cash, and the Murphy adventures were classics in their day.  They've aged, like most games in the genre, but for a die-hard adventure gamer who grew up on Sierra and LucasArts, these are a real treat.  Check 'em out if you're into retro gaming.
• Debating between purchasing The Sims 3 or Red Alert 3.  I know I want a new PC game.  I'm leaning towards Sims 3, but I have some doubts.  My laptop was a beast two years ago, running games like the Witcher without breaking a sweat.  However, when I installed the Sims 2, it would run incredibly slow when I booted up the game.  The slow speed would only last a few minutes, but the load times on my laptop were freaking ridiculous.  I need to do some research and find out if the Sims 3 will have the same trouble on my laptop, or if anyone is experiencing that same sort of slow boot time.  Anyone out there playing it?  Having any trouble running it?

Well, that's it for now, folks.  Stay tuned.  Next week, I should have Tiger Woods 10 for the 360 in my mitts.  Here's this week's question... what games are you really looking forward to in the next three months?

Howdy little cowpokes!  Grab some chaw, pull up a stool, and park your bottom while Big Daddy Sparky tells you all about his latest gaming exploits and shenanigans.  Not with 100% more bean flavor!  Also, if anyone has any tips on the "Create an Unordered List" button, specifically how and if I can go to the next button without having to tinker with backspace and enter, let me know.  Thanks!

• Went ahead and finished up the Broken Steel expansion for Fallout 3.  It's far and away the best expansion yet, especially with the added goodies like the increased level cap and the enhanced enemies.  My character was still ridiculously overpowered, so it wasn't too terribly difficult, but I did run into some fun little hard spots in the White House metro.  I'd say it's a must-buy if you own the game and have a few extra bucks.  Bethesda's continued support for Fallout 3 continues to impress and amaze me, and I hope to see the same next year when Fallout Vegas is released.  Right now, that's probably the game I'm most excited for, unless someone decides to announce Suikoden 6 for consoles... please?
• So, after this last month's steady stream of on-the-cheap games, I've decided to hold off for a few weeks on any more purchases and play through some older games.  I'm revisiting Dead or Alive 4 for some of the easier achievements, and have ripped through story mode with about half the characters.  It's as fun as I remember, but for some reason, I remember the character models looking better than this.  Hmm.  Beyond that, I've got Oblivion on tap, and I've been interspersing DOA fights with Forza 2 races.  I'm terrible at Forza, so I stick to hiring drivers on the single player.   All Forza 3 has to do to please me will be to keep the same crazy level of paint customization options, up the number of cars, and up the physical car customization options.  If it does any of those things well, I'll be a happy camper.  My prized cars I've picked up on auctions are an RX-7 modeled after Han's car in Fast & Furious Tokyo Drift and a few movie and video game inspired cars.  I've got one of the Joker holding up a card, which rocks my socks off.
• Boom Blox Crash Party is wayyy harder than I initially thought.  That's a good thing, but holy toledo, I wasn't expecting it.  The paint levels are probably the hardest for me, but I'm getting them done.  It's definitely a game that benefits from more than one person playing.  Outside help has been my saving grace on a few levels.
• I said last week I was going to probably avoid comments on E3 this week, but I just wanted to say that I think each of the big three knocked it out of the park this year.  There's something to look forward to for everybody, it seems, and I think it's an exciting time to be a gamer.  I wish the PC had a stronger showing, but with Blizzard not at the show, it wasn't surprising.  Though it does look like my most hoped-for game, Jagged Alliance 3, is probably on permanent hiatus with yet another no-show.  Sigh.

And that's it for this week.  I think I'm gonna start signing off with a question for you all to answer, if you're up for it.  So this week, let's go with E3 - what were the highlights for you?  It can be anything you like, so have at it!

You're getting the update a day early, since I'm not entirely sure I'll have a connection to the 'net tomorrow.  I'm also withholding any E3 comments until next week (if at all -I've already posted a few thoughts on Giant Bomb's forums specific to the MS and EA conference).  Let's dive in.

• To know inFamous is to know addiction.  If you played Crackdown and, like me, thought it had a lot of untapped potential, try this one.  I'm cranking through the story pretty fast, and I'm already looking forward to my next, much slower playthrough as a baddie.  Not a lot that hasn't been said, but if you enjoy sandbox games, give this one a go.
• I picked up a few cheap games over the weekend.  I had posted about a Gamestop sale, but I had a chance to get out of town (no gaming shops in my little community - or for sixty miles).  Turns out my favored shop, a Play and Trade owned by a friend of the family, was having a Customer Appreciation Day, complete with some good deals on all their used games... and free burgers.  Mmm... burgers.  I picked up Devil May Cry 4 and Dynasty Warriors 5 for the 360.  Shouldn't have spent the ten bucks on Dynasty Warriors, but Devil May Cry was totally worth the seventeen or eighteen bucks.  Dynasty Warriors has way too goddamn many menus for what is essentially a simple action game.  With no manual to help me get into the nigh-impregnable menus, it's going to be relegated to the "shouldn't-have-purchased" line of games on the bottom level of my DVD rack.  Devil May Cry 4, however, is great mindless fun, and the cutscenes are right up my alley.  I don't mind Nero, save for the typical Japanese emo loner hero personality.
• If you own a Wii and have guests over on a regular basis, give Boom Blox Crash Party a go.  It's a hell of a fun game with a surprising amount of replay value.  It's easy to get into, easy on the eyes, and is pretty darned fun.  Sometimes, a game just has to be fun to succeed, and this is one of those games.  My Wii is quickly becoming my console of choice for what I call my "quickie" sessions, when I just need to relax and have fun with a game for half an hour or so.  Between this and Mario Kart, the Wii is getting a hell of a lot of love lately.
• Finding a bit of time still to cram in a few hours of Lord of the Rings Online.  I'm hoping to push past the 19-32 level droll that set in the last time I played through it.  They've decreased the amount of XP needed to level, and it seems like I'm blowing through the early parts of the game with a lot more ease than I used to.  I'm not an equipment whore (at least until Diablo 3 comes out), so I'm basically playing for the atmosphere, story, role-playing, and the great community.  However, I do find myself really looking forward to some of the late content of the game, like legendary weapons.

I'm going to stop posting these on the forums, unless I have an update that really addresses something I think people will want to hear about.  If anybody does read this, comments are appreciated just to let me know it posted or if there are any thoughts.

• After a week and a half without my Xbox 360, it arrived via UPS yesterday.  Microsoft must have replaced the entire console, as there were a couple of minor dings and scratches now missing.  That's actually kind of cool.  Their support was fast, pleasant, and other than some English issues with the outsourced employees, I think it went just fine.  Although the fan problem was regrettable, at least MS did their best to replace the system quickly and with ease.
• I've been playing a ton of Lord of the Rings Online this week.  I've been a player off and on for a little over a year.  I'm surprised I'm not thoroughly addicted to it, as it's the sort of game I could easily sink hundreds of hours into without coming up for air.  I enjoy it more than my brief venture with World of Warcraft simply because the text and general interface is easier to see.  I'm legally blind with a small amount of color blindness, so having a pleasing, easy interface is a must in any game.  Plus, I love Tolkien and the lore, and the developers obviously do too.  Now if only I can get a Tad Williams or Robert Jordan MMORPG, I'd really be set!
• I just got a copy of inFamoous in the mail, so I'm looking forward to playing that tonight or over the weekend.  Not much else to say, really.  I enjoy open-world games, and Crackdown was a riot, so here's hoping I enjoy this one.
• Out of shame for the direction the Leisure Suit Larry games have taken, I've changed my avatar from Larry Laffer to Roger Wilco.  I'm always going to enjoy the LSL up to Love for Sail, but damn it, I just can't support the two recent abortions.  Folks like Al Lowe, Ken and Roberta Williams, and the Two Guys from Andromeda were sort of geeky childhood heroes, and it's a shame to see Lowe's baby be treated like shit.

Sometimes there's just not enough manpower to cover some of the niche games I'm interested in. 

Short list this week, as I'm still waiting on the 360 to get back and haven't been gaming all that much since the weather finally turned decent.  Let's get this done with so you can go make a sandwich, wax the car, take a nap, do a drive-by... the usual.

• Still playing a ton of Mario Kart.  I'm mostly using Luigi and Waluigi for solo, and mixing it up online.  Haven't unlocked everything, but I'm working on it slowly.  I'm not all that great at the game, so I'm not too worried about it.
  
• On the PC, I've purchased Gothic 2 Gold via GOG.com, and have knocked out a good chunk of it.  I'll admit to using the "cheat god" code initially until I got used to the combat system.  After a few dead bandits, I've gotten it down and haven't used it since.  It's one hell of a game with an amazing amount of stuff to do and see.  If you enjoy the Elder Scrolls games, give this one a go.  It's much more difficult, but it's a blast.

• And finally, I have reluctantly given up on becoming a mega-star in MLB: The Show '07.  I have terrible vision, and it makes batting almost impossible for me.  Outfielding is just fine.  It's a great game, but like Killzone 2 before it, it's just not a game I can play with my legal blindness.  I think I might spend the weekend getting back to Resistance 2, as I loved its campaign and multiplayer.  Here's hoping I'm not too rusty.

I'm stealing the format and style of this blog blatantly from Brandy, who writes one hell of a good read if you ever feel like browsing.  This will hopefully be a semi-regular update on games I'm playing and quick thoughts, as well as provide you with random information relating to Giant Bomb and games.

I turned on my Xbox 360 the other night, hoping to download the new Fallout 3 DLC.  Instead, I was greeted with a grinding sound as everything came up.  I don't entirely know what the problem is, as there's no flashing lights or any real indication of what it is exactly that's grinding inside the 360.  It almost sounds like a loose or broken fan, but that's judging from my old PC repair experience (and that's rusty, to say the least).  I'll be calling Microsoft over the weekend to see if my 360 is still under its warranty.  Hopefully, it should be, but I've got this sinking feeling my warranty ran out last year.  That means I'll have to replace it soon, which is a bummer.  It's been a solid console for me, as have the PS3 and Wii.

So, for those of you with more expertise in the area than myself, what model would you recommend?  I'm sure my old hard drive is fine on the current 360, but I might be game for upgrading to a new hard drive if I can keep my old gamertag and upload all my saved data and downloaded content (can't imagine dropping that kind of cash on DLC again, except for Forza and Fallout 3).  Is that even a possibility with a new hard drive, or would I have to replace those?  State your opinions on which model to get below.  Price will be a minor factor, but if it's gotta be done, I'd rather go with a great model and pay a little extra.

I'll also be buying a new PS2 sometime soon, which kind of makes the inner nerd in me very happy.  Finally, I'll be able to get to games like Kingdom Hearts, God of War, and a few others I'd like to revisit.  I'm thinking about a good, long run on Rogue Galaxy, a game I never had the pleasure of finishing and would like to play again.

...are my picks.  Of all of them, I've really got to say Full Throttle.  No game before or after has really nailed the great writing and humor quite like it.