Ok so I am not going to start this post with the usual (as of late) “wow, I haven’t posted in a while” post. Plain and simple, it’s been tough to get a little extra time to post things, and for the most part, there have only been a few things that are really big that I would want to post about. This post is one of those things. A few things to cover here would be the release of a metric crapton of games that I have been waiting for, my impending graduation and of course the annual Thanksgiving trip down to Lee’s place.
Games games games. As anyone who plays the 360 and has a pulse knows, October/November was a HUGE release time. Thankfully I had been saving up and also turned in a bunch of used games, sold some blood, plasma, kidney, had medical experiments performed on me, and spent a few nights in vegas doing things that I still weep in the corner of the shower about to be able to pick them up.
Now we know Halo 3 came out in late September. That was able to hold my attention for a while, we finished it up and had a blast doing so. It’s always nice to find a game that we can get 4 people in to Co-Op on. I love the Halo games but the hype was just a tad much over the game. It’s good, but it’s just Halo 2 with better graphics. I will probably play it off and on over the next few months.
One big Title I was waiting for is the Orange Box. This is Valves little present to me with 5 more presents waiting inside it! It has all three Half Life 2 games (I beat the main, and EP1, will work on EP2 while I sleep because that’s the only time I will have). It also had Team Fortress 2 which is a great Team based FPS which had be flashing back to the good old Tribes days! Lastly it had Portal. Portal will make your head explode with shards of Confetti bursting out while children scream “YAY!!” It’s a puzzle game that bottles your mind and honestly was some of the most fun I have had with a puzzle game. Orange Box is certainly worth the money since its 5 games in one!
One of the many many many things I love about Sarah is that she is a gamer as well. While she tends to lean towards more of the RPG and puzzle type of games I look at more action ones. We have come to enjoy playing some of the games together. The first one we started on was a while back I had picked up a used copy of Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Since we are both Comic nuts we loved playing through it and were bummed out when we finished. Well, the latest Lego Star Wars came out and that is out new game of “Couple Play” choice. We usually wait till Andrew heads to bed and play through a few levels laughing at all of the jokes etc. Along the same lines, over the “Xbox Live is Five” holiday they had on the 360, we picked up Carcassone for free and have been loving that as well.
You have probably seen some of the screen shots I have posted from Guitar Hero III. I loved GHII when it came out so I had to pick up III. I didn’t bother with the bundled wireless controller as we already had two wired. I have to say that, While I like the GH games, this was just more songs that they could have ported to GHII. The online stuff is a nice add on but it seems like this whole game is just that, an add on. It’s more of the same. A lot of the songs are made even more difficult of course which makes it that much harder to try on any higher difficultly.
Next up, Assassin’s Creed. I did not buy this game. Andrew did. He saved up allowance and turned in a bunch of older games for credit so he could buy it and with his well earned booty (huh huh….booty) he played through quite a bit. I tried it out as well and it seems pretty fun. The voice acting for the main character throws it off a bit, and the twist is….well….twisty. The story seems solid from what I can see and it looks like it will be a fun play. The graphics are amazing and the animations stunning.
Two more to go! This one should be quick. Mass Effect! It came out, I have it, I haven’t played it at all yet! Lee and Doc and I all took a pact that while we may have picked it up on release day, we wouldn’t touch it until after thanksgiving since we would be out of town. So….ummm….the videos look great….and the box is nice and shiny…..more on this later.
Saving the best for last, I picked up Rock Band. I love this game. A tad bit of background here, I love drums. I have been playing hand drums like the doumbek for a while now and have always wanted to try and full drum set but lack the room to really make use of it. I also loved the GH games. When I heard that a new game would be coming out that included drumming, I instantly started salivating. This only increased when I learned how they were doing it. You see, with GH you know going in that the controller is nothing like a real guitar. There are buttons instead of strings and playing on it can in no way translate to playing a real guitar. For the record, I actually had Sarah, who plays guitar, try and show me how to play a few chords and discovered that I have stupid fingers (thanks for that phrase Wil). I couldn’t manage to hold down one string without touching another. I may have better luck on a bass guitar we’ll see.
The drum set that it came with is 4 pads, each color marked, and a kick peddle. It works much the same as GH with color bars scrolling down the screen and hitting the right pad at the right time, but it’s the rhythm of the game and the music that everything comes together in a drummers dream. I was marginally interested in learning a full drum kit before, now I am really interested. This was a very nice intro into the full kit realm and I like what I heard/felt/saw/drooled over.
Off the subject of games, that time came again when I make the annual pilgrimage to TN for thanksgiving. We have been doing this every year for the last 5 years. This year was special as not only me and Sarah and Andrew, but Doc and Diz made the trek as well! It was a very full house for the weekend but some of the most fun I had ever had. We got there on Wed. night, just in time for bed, and Doc showed up on Friday afternoon. Over all, the whole weekend was great. We went out to some great Nashville sights (and Franklin) and even Took Sarah by Vanderbilt, where she is looking at a PHD program. I took Rock Band with me and we all got the chance to play. Everyone had a blast and we even learned a new drinking game out of it! Important note, when playing a 5 song set, do NOT unplug the controller! (DOC!!!!) After all the great fun, it was good to come home on Monday and crash out.
Lastly, I am now, officially, a College Graduate! My status has changed on the AIU site, I got my official letter of congratulations, and I should be getting my Diploma shortly. As I posted before, the Ceremony (if you can call it that) will be able to be seen online on the 1st of December (that’s this coming Saturday) Check the post below for the info. Yes Mom, I see it’s on the first and not the second. I am just happy to be done!
Well, that’s enough updates for now, I will try and get better about this through the Holidays.
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