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Extravaganza Recap

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Well, as is often the case, even though I had lots of free time, I didn’t get to do everything I had hoped to do during my “free time.” There never seems to be enough hours in the day.

One thing I did accomplish was playing a lot of golf. I got in 45 holes in a 24 hour period. That’s a lot of golf. I golfed some of my best golf, which always makes the rounds that much better. I had two chip-ins for birdies, which for me is a rarity to do it once, so doing it twice in a weekend is close to golf Nirvana.

As far as gaming goes, I got some time online with Halo 2, finally played Brinstar for our STOB match (I won 0-(-1), not very convincingly) and I picked up the New Super Mario Brothers (more on that later). One game that I didn’t play, surprisingly, was EVE-Online. I think it’s time that EVE and I start seeing other people. I may go back to it, but currently there are other games I’d rather play, which means EVE goes into hibernation. I’m not giving up on it, it’s just no longer a priority, and if I don’t plan on paying for something I’m not playing.

So now the family is back in town, bringing this year’s extravaganza to a close.

Back from the dead

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I have returned from my long weekend of family visits and no internet. As I’m sure you’ve heard before, disconnecting for a while feels great. I didn’t completely disconnect, though. I took my Xbox to the in-laws since the brother-in-law loves NCAA Football and his wife loves Burnout 3. He also had never experienced the Halo/Halo 2 experience, so I took that along to show him there is life after football games. I also played a little Splinter Cell Chaos Theory to further my point that there are games that are fun to play that don’t involve Heisman Trophies and Maryland-I formations. He was impressed.

This gave me a chance to go back to games that I had neglected since I started my EVE binge. The long weekend (coupled with losing my partner in EVE-crime) hasn’t lessened my desire to play EVE, it will just be on the back burner for a while. I think I’ll be doing a little AFK mining while I play some of the games on “The Stack.” I think the first order of business will be finishing Splinter Cell. I forgot how enjoyable putting bad guys in the choke hold was.

On the buttonmashing.com side of things, I noticed the site was down today for most of the afternoon. I don’t know what caused the problem, but whatever it was seems to have already been straightened out, so yay for that.

Halo 2, New and Improved

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By now, just about everybody knows that Halo 2 has been updated with new maps, playlists, and cheat fixes. I haven’t tried them out yet (but will after the greatest TV show ever is over). I did talk to a clanmate this afternoon about it and he gave it the thumbs up. But he likes movies starring Kirsten Dunst, so he may not be the best authority. We’ll have to wait and see for ourselves. Update forthcoming.

Update (3 hours later…): The clan had a chance to try out pretty much everything except the new maps (because I haven’t bought them and now I won’t because I don’t want to give my clanmate (you know who you are) the satisfaction of saying “I knew you’d cave in and buy them.”) Highlights included big team battle (CTF) in Containment and a Slayer in Warlock. Containment felt like a smooshed Sidewinder but it was enjoyable. The Slayer match in Warlock was crazy frenetic and I never had a chance to get my bearings. We also ended the night on a Sniper Battle which was enjoyable. Overall, I give the new changes a thumbs up. Or, in keeping with the theme of the blog, a big thumb mashing on a button. Because that’s just what I do.

It could be nice to be aLIVE

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Just a couple thoughts about playing games on Live.

First, there was the recent update/tweak to Halo 2’s gameplay. In a previous life, I was a Halo boxer. It was how I played – I’d rush with the Assault Rifle business end to take down the shields and then I’d use the other business end for a little smackdown action. It was pretty effective and served me well. Halo 2 1.0 nerfed my modus operandi. It took a while to divorce myself from it and I lived without it. Halo 2 1.1 has all changed that. It’s like an old friend has moved back into the neighborhood. I still take a beating going with the shoot-shoot-punch but now it’s much more effective. Instead winning three out of ten times, I’m putting the beatdown on the bad guys eight out of ten times. This simple tweak has increased my enjoyment tenfold. Just last night me and my clanmates went 8-2 in our matches. I am very eagerly anticipating the new playlists and playing on the new maps next week.

The other game I’ve given a try on Live is Burnout 3. Burnout 3 is such a great single player game (I unlock unlockables like a machine!) but most multiplayer racing games suck because it has to be split-screen. Well I gave B3 a ride (pun!) on Live and it is a great diversion. I immediately noticed the guys playing were actually cool to play with! No Halo 2 kiddies tell me what he did to my mom (or my dead corpse) and no kids screaming obscenities and farm animal noises. The guys were cool, we chatted about the next-gen Madden game, the next Burnout game, and just chilled. It was relaxing — just like a game should be. That said, I won’t be playing B3 anytime soon – I haven’t unlocked enough of the good cars. I was running around in the “Tuned Compact” when everyone else had the Dominator. I got smoked each and everytime. Once I unlock some of the better cars I’ll be jumping back on Live.

Master Chief <3's Jesus

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So I read about kids testifying of their Lord and Savior during Live Halo 2 games last month over at Popular Culture Gaming but really didn’t pay much attention to it. Until, that is, this evening. I played a head to head with a nice enough guy (a rarity on Live), he beat me 10-6 (woulda been 10-8 if I didn’t toast myself twice). In the exit screen, he asked if he could ask me a couple of questions. Sure, I said. First he asked if I knew where I’d go if I died (“heaven forbid, ” he tells me) tonight. His second question was what I would say to God at the Pearly Gate? I would, of course, ask if He could create a rock so heavy he couldn’t lift it. But that’s beside the point. I told him I feel like I’m living right and everything is cool with me and the Big Man upstairs. He then testified to me and told me to read my Bible. He then signed off and I sat there in a state of disbelief.

Now, I’m a pretty religious guy, but I keep that kind of stuff pretty close to the vest. It’s the last thing I’d talk about at the end of a game of Halo 2. But I’ll give the guy credit. If nothing else, he gave me pause to think. My wife was watching me play but was only picking up half the conversation since voice is piped through the headset. She thought it was pretty funny that I was talking to someone across the country about Jesus. It was pretty out of place and kind of wierd.

But hey, the game is called Halo and it does have religious overtones, so who am I to say it’s out of place?

Statistics, statistics everywhere

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… and not a drop to drink.

I am a confessed stat junkie. I noticed a few weeks ago that bapenguin (an editor at Evil Avatar) was linking to something called a “TPS report”. I followed the link and wanted my own Halo 2 TPS report, immediately. So I downloaded Query Spree, downloaded all my games and created my own TPS report. It’s important to note that Bungie purges their data at a regular pace, so I had to purge the database that Query Spree creates of incomplete games, so I’ve played more games than show up in my TPS Report, but all my recent games are all there. I’m not a spectacular player, but I hold my own.

I also took the liberty of downloading the stats of my clanmates. I also started a simple page for my humble Halo 2 Clan. Enjoy!

Bungie.net : Top Story

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Bungie has dropped their latest update regarding Halo 2 and Xbox Live and it is a doosie. If you haven’t read it already, you can read it here: Bungie.net : Top Story

I’ve got mixed feelings about this “patch” business. Up until now, console games have been “what you see is what you get,” and if some glitch happened to make it through QA then thousands of purchasers were stuck with it. Now, with the Xbox Live connected console, games can be patched to fix, among other things, “weapon balance issues.” To me, the troubling quote is

Grenade attacks will be one of the most significant changes for the 1.1 version of Halo 2. In many ways, the new grenade balance is a reflection of the way we really wanted them to be.

If that’s the way they really wanted them then why aren’t they that way? Even though all the gameplay tweaks ands changes seem like steps in the right direction, I’m still troubled by this trend.

Next generation of consoles will surely all be connected to the net and this trend will continue. The question is whether or not gamers will embrace it or reject. The blurring of the line between PC games and console games continues.

That being said, I’m excited about the changes. The enhanced melee attack and improved grenades are welcome additions to my style of play. And the mid-jump melee attack? That’s my specialty, just ask my clan mate, Ted. I caught him with a mid-air, rocket launcher melee attack and BEAT HIM DOWN. Making this common place is okay with me. It is interesting to see the nerf-bat, normally reserved for MMOGs, has been found in Bungie’s offices. Once people start learning how to exploit this round of changes, Halo 2 ver. 1.2 won’t be far behind. This is what troubles me most about these updates. The vicious circle of “re-balancing”.