Stop Tickling Me!
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When I was a kid my brother and I would tickle our little sister till she just about peed her pants. We never really got her to, but for boys it was a worthy goal. Anyway, my sister would be laughing the whole time while trying to get away. She enjoyed the fun and the attention, but there was a lurking danger that she really would pee if the tickling didn’t stop.
One quick glance of the buzz on gaming sites on the net and you’d think gamers have done just that.
Late summer to early fall is always a good time to be a gamer. There are usually a glut of AAA titles to chose from. It’s been no exception for me this fall, but I’m being a little contrarian from the rest of the herd. I present to you my fall pick of games.
I’ve been meaning to do some writeups on these games for a while, but I’ve been so busy playing every night that even my surfing habits have died down. Hopefuly, I’ll get something up as I finish each one.
In my hands…
I know I’m about 20 hours behind everyone else, but that’s okay. Halo 3 will be going in to the 360 after the wife and I watch “The Biggest Loser”. While we polish of some ice cream.
After reading Tom’s post about the Halo 3 campaign, I am very excited about this. I hope there are some friends to join in on the action once I’m on.
(BTW: Seems like Xbox Live and all its components are getting epically slammed. Everything is running slow. Could it happen any other way?)
More to follow.
More: I played entirely too long and now should be sleeping, but here are a few thoughts:
- The reports of sub-par graphics have been greatly exaggerated. Holy crap this game looks good. I recently switched from component cables to the VGA cable, so I don’t know if that makes a difference or not, but man this game looks good. There were a couple times, one during a cutscene, where things looked absolutely amazing. People say this isn’t on par with Gears of War. I disagree with them. Gears of War used five thousand shades of gray and brown. Halo 3 is vibrant beyond belief.
- I think I’m very close to the end of the second mission. So far, the campaign has been great, but marred by strange checkpoints. Sometimes they’re too close together, other times that are too far apart. There’s no consistency.
- Everything feels alive. Except for the scary eyes, the “extras” seem real and life-like. Creepy at times, funny at others.
- I only played one game of multiplayer, but I can already see this is going to be a blast. I played a little free-for-all slayer (where I came out on top, natch) and really enjoyed it. Can’t wait to get in on some matches with friends.
There’s a lot more that could be said but sleep beckons. If you’ve played, let me know what your impressions are (in the comments or a link to your blog).
I’m a bad blogger
I feel like I’ve neglected my duties as a “video game blogger” by not heading to Best Buy this evening around midnight to pick up my copy of Halo 3. I’m awake, I really should be using this time to smash some alien faces with the butt of my shotgun. But I’m not. After a week of entertaining family, I am drained. When the kids have to be on their best behavior 24-7, it gets tiring. So no Halo 3 tonight. I’ll be turning in for the evening after I hit “Publish”.
I will be picking it up tomorrow, of course. I’ll wait until the kids have been tucked away, the wife engrossed in something else and then I’ll toss it in to the 360 and play until my eyes bleed. Then I’ll jump on Live and play some more. After a week of cuteness, I’m ready for some shooting. I’m ready to save the world (Again. Sheesh, it gets tiring) and then wasting dozens of hours in the rumble pit. Everything else gets put on the back-burner.
Look out for I aint yer Pa! I’ll be in your base, dual wielding plasma pistols.
Because there’s a crapload of deer out there!
Canadian Government to its Citizens: Stop playing video games and go shoot some deer in the face! (H/T With Leather)
I’m not anti-hunting. I love red meat. Venison, even. But this is just lame. Video games and shopping malls didn’t stop people from hunting. It was probably the whole “rubbing deer urine on yourself and sitting in an uncomfortable tree stand for six hours” thing.
Cuteness Overload Week, day #7
A final reminder that gaming can really make us feel like we have super powers.
More Batteries
I’m not trying to turn this into the battery blog, but I’ve been sitting on this post for a while and now the time seemed right. A friend (I believe it was the Bobster) sent me a link to a company selling a very clever idea — USB batteries.
One of the complaints about the previous trick I posted is that even if you can get a bunch of batteries cheaply, rechargeable batteries are better because they produce less waste and are more environmentally friendly. I’ve never bought into the enviro-movement myself, but if a product is good, I’m open to the possibilities. The biggest issue I have with using rechargeables is the fact that I’m too lazy to keep a set in the charger. The fact that I could be charging them in my actual Xbox 360 unit is pretty nice. I think this is the perfect battery setup for a 360. A set in the controller and a set charging. As long as the battery has some kind of circuitry to ensure proper charging, these batteries would definitely do the trick.
I may have to try them out.
(I love the product photo they use. Could they seriously not find a working 360 unit? Doesn’t the four read rings mean the video cable is disconnected?)
Cuteness Overload Week, day #6
You never know who’s on the other side of the head-set on Live. Keep that in mind before you let something slip you wouldn’t say in front of your grandma.
Cuteness Overload Week, day #5
Sure it’s late, but it’s never too late to remember your roots:
Cuteness Overload Week, day #4
Like I keep saying — this is what video games are all about. Forget sticking your buddy with a plasma grenade. A quick game of Mario Kart DS is just what the Doctor of Cuteness ordered.
Batteries on the cheap
If you’re like me, you’ve never done the right thing and purcashed the Xbox 360 Play & Charge Kit.
Now, no more. Thanks to this video from Lifehacker, I feel less dumb:
How to get 32 AA batteries from a single 6 Volt Battery:
6 Volt Battery Hack! You’ll Be Amazed! - video powered by Metacafe
Cuteness Overload Week, day #3
Cuteness inventory:
Familiar, cute video game mascot? Check!
Familiar, cute medium? Check!
Fact that this was made for someone’s 30th, not 13th birthday? Check!
Cuteness factor: stratospherically cute.
Cuteness Overload Week continues, reminding us that there is more to gaming than splattering someone all over the bumper of your Warthog.
Cuteness Overload Week, day #2
Q: What’s cuter than a couple kids playing Wii?
A: Nothing.
Day #2 of Cuteness Overload Week, just to remind us there is more to gaming than dual wielding SMGs.
Cuteness Overload Week, day #1
Try to withstand the cuteness:
This is an oldie-but-goodie. My little girl (in the pink) playing some Mario Party with her cousins. She’s more of a Playhouse Disney girl now, but back then she loved mashing buttons!
Blogging update
Behold, the Gaming Glut of 2007, she is upon us. We here at Buttonmashing.com are well aware and are ready to go with the blogging you crave.
I haven’t been able to blog lately as we have family visiting from out of town. I was busy last weekend and I’ll be busy this week entertaining them (which thankfully includes lots of 360-time in the form of NCAA 08, Forza, and Burnout, so it’s not a total loss) but I don’t have as much time to blog as I’d like. Heck, I don’t have as much time to game as I’d like. I still haven’t finished Bioshock, which I must do before Tuesday. I hope to get to that soon.
We still have some good stuff on tap. Nat has told me he’s working on some Metroid Prime 3 posts and he just picked up some PSP games, so we’ll be hearing about those as well. He’s really enjoying MP3 and I am jealous. I need me a Wii!
Dark Reyule has been busy on the 360 front and he’s mentioned he’s got some reviews in the works, possibly one for Two Worlds. I know he’ll be busy with Halo 3 once it drops. We’ll be giving it the co-op business together.
I’ve also been asked by video game blogger extraordinaire Kyle Orland to guest-blog at his review site, Games for Lunch. The premise of the site is to take a game you’ve never played before, play it for an hour straight and then write up your impressions based on your first hour. I’m thinking of doing a Pixar game on the Xbox 360, something along the lines of Cars or Ratatouille (which I saw with the daughter and absolutely loved). I’ll probably play the game with the kiddos watching so I can get their impressions along with mine. Should be interesting. Of course, I’m always open for suggestions. Let me know of any 360 game that may have flown under my radar.
Finally, since we are almost seven days away from Halo 3, I’m declaring it Cuteness Overload Week here at buttonmashing.com. Since I won’t have a lot of time to dedicate to blogging, I’ll be going the easy route with a heaping helping of cuteness so cute you won’t be able to stand it. It’s just to remind everyone it’s not all about blasting aliens and pwning noobs on Live. There’s more to gaming than that. Sometimes we just need to be reminded.
It’s a great time to be a gamer.
(As an aside, tonight was the Prison Break premiere! What did you PB fans think?)
Comic Watch - Basic Instructions
Not all comic watch posts will be snarky. There are times when a cartoonist “gets” gaming. And I’m not talking about the Penny Arcade guys or Scott Kurtz. Basic Instructions isn’t a web-comic about video games. It’s a comic about being awesome (among other things). I highlight these two particular strips because they are good (you can see bigger versions here) and show that poking fun at gamers can be very funny.
If you read Scott Adams‘ (The Dilbert Guy) blog, than you already know about Basic Instructions. If you don’t, give the comic a chance. It’s usually pretty hilarious. These two comics ring true to so many gamers. Whether you’re married or have a girlfriend, they are right on the money.
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