Archive for October, 2006
Mindblowing!
28 October 2006One of my best friends got married today.
I realized today that this was the first wedding I had ever been to. Rather odd, since most people I know have been at weddings since they were brought into this world. But I guess I just avoided this aspect of life until today.
What a great time. Had a blast with this weekend with all my friends. And even though it wasn’t a “traditional” bachelor’s party that we had for him, it was a great time and I’ll remember it for the rest of my life. After the whole shebang and then a few hours of just doing random shit with my other friends, I’m feeling kinda bummed, and I don’t know why. Well, maybe because this is the signaling of changes that will be slowly happening to myself and all of my friends. Inevitable, sure. Bad? Nah, not at all. So why the bummed feeling? Well, maybe I’m looking at it too negatively.
I guess it’s just that stage in your life when you realize, oh yeah. I’m not a kid anymore. Since most things are so gradual, sometimes you don’t notice anything at all until a big event happens. So, no. This isn’t bad, it’s just different. And that’s what I’m feeling. I’m sure tomorrow morning I’ll be as chipper as ever though.
Oh yeah, and congrats Mr. and Mrs Julie Smith (Haha, oh, good jokes will never die….)
Oh yeah, and it cost me five bucks. (Not the 360.)
24 October 2006My 360 died.
Well no, that’s not entirely true. See, the 360 has some sort of motion sensor to tell whether it’s set vertically or horizontally in order to properly display the 3/4 red circle of death. That is still functioning.
You know, the fact that my six month old piece of hardware is already dead doesn’t bug me as much as the fact that while it lies there functionally a failure, my Super Famicom picked out of a dirty cardboard box at a flea-market in Japan functions as well as the day it was made. Frankly, I’m not even sure if I want a 360 anymore. I’ve still got some SNES games I haven’t played yet.
Microtransactions, my fair lady.
23 October 2006This weekend I remembered that Lumines Live had hit the good ol’ Xbox Marketplace. Outside of the game’s terrible music, I thoroughly enjoyed the original. So I figured, hell, why not throw more money out and pick up the game so I can compare my scores with other fine folk. (I was ranked 67th in the Base mode last I checked.) I realized that I was not getting the full game, but merely a shell that would let me fill it up with more modes and items by proxy of my giving out more money.
A lot of people are offended by this and I can sympathize. I’m not exactly rolling in dollar bills. But it makes sense. Offer a basic game and later give more modes for additional fees, right? I did this with Blizzard’s games for years so what’s the foul? Hell, I loved doing it with PC games. I got a shit-ton of play out of StarCraft and for $30 more I can get even more shit to do? Marvelous!
But Lumines Live bugs the shit out of me.
Why? Well, first the game comes out and it is already in two pieces. Okay, fine, whatever. I knew this when I purchased it, but it’s still silly to show me game modes that I have to “unlock” via cash. But I can go purchase the rest of the game right now, right? Nope! First, they throw in the puzzle and mission modes, each with five unlocked games. Then they tell me “Hey jackass! Buy the puzzle/mission pack…when we release it.”
Huh? First, you’re filling my game’s menu with modes that I can’t play unless I buy shit, and now you’re filling it with modes I can’t even purchase yet? What is this supposed to do, entice me to continuously check the Marketplace for updates? They certainly hope. But my interest is now gone. I’m nearly offended by the audacity.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes.
23 October 2006Despite my deliciously generic WordPress layout, I’m proudly letting loose a new design - on a new server! I am no longer leeching from poor Dereck. Since most of my complaints about my previous website involved things I needed to make myself, I took the easy way out and installed this nifty software.
Enjoy!