Trying Something New

After many years of renting a ton of games and buying equally as many (and disliking the lot), I've finally decided it was time to try a new approach. I was tired of the lack of selection and I was especially tired of having to pay an arm and a leg to rent.

So yesterday I signed up with GameFly.

I must say that I am rather impressed at the selection that they've got. I mean they've got titles for all the present game console generation and also that of the previous (PS2, GameCube, Xbox) as well as handheld games too. But seeing as how I signed up on Saturday, I won't be getting any games until sometime next week. Still, paying $22 to rent out 2 games at a time is a entirely cheaper then paying $8 a pop at Blockbuster.

The crazy part was trying to get together a list of games that I'd like to rent from them. Splinter Cell: Conviction? Katamari Forever? ModNation Racers? Super Street Fighter IV? 3D Dot Game Heroes? Just Cause 2? Little King's Story? Alpha Protocol? I felt like I was in a gamer's heaven! I mean where to do I start? How could I possibly even begin?! I hope that I will be able to get some of those new release games when they are released, which would make this service all that much more better then any local rental shop.

I am hoping this pans out, as I have wanted to find an alternative to having to deal with rude jerks and having to go into stores where all the good games are rented out for weeks at a time. And if this works out, you can rest assured that there will be a lot more games appearing in my humble blog very, very soon.

Take that, rude rental store clerks! Ha!

Red Dead

I've been playing Red Dead Redemption and you know what? I think it is a safe statement to say that I am loving it much more then I did any Grand Theft Auto game I ever played. With the music subtly playing in the background, it certainly sets an appropriate mood as if you are watching one of those old Western movies.

The gun combat is done well enough and the Dead Eye ability makes potential gunfights a breeze. That isn't to say that it makes everything easy, I mean I haven't been able to save everyone and I have died a time or two as it was. Dead Eye or no, it still couldn't save me from being shot off my horse when I happened to ride right into a stagecoach being held up by multiple gunmen.

Speaking of that damn horse, the controls for that aspect of the game is an absolute nightmare (or it was for me). To make things even more frustrating, there was nothing I despised more then having to go through one of the first missions (a horse race no less) many a times over. I'd turn wrong and my horse would end up on the top of a dirt hill and it would not go down or it would turn all over the place. I am glad that there was an option included that allows you to control the horse more in tuned with the camera controls. That does make life a little easier in the wild West.

Story wise, meh... it is a little jumpy at the get go and details behind the man called John Marston are few. Still it is somehow engaging and I am ready to get back into it, even at 4 AM.

Oh and I came across a game of horseshoes. I'll just say the closest I got my shoe to the stake in the ground was on the outer box. Can I use the Dead Eye ability on this one?

Finally!

After months of being subjected to trash talking from an announcer, FINALLY Bryan Danielson (a.k.a. Daniel Bryan in WWE) fired back at that worm Michael Cole! I think the promo above does prove that this guy isn't just some guy that rolled in off of the indy wrestling scene. I think what this, at the very least, begins to prove that Bryan Danielson is the real deal and I hope this guy makes it in the WWE. Bryan vs CM Punk?

Yes please!

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

I have been reading about this movie and I have seen the trailers and I have to say that I wasn't all that interested in whatever this was about. I suppose you could say that I am not a very huge fan of the Prince of Persia series. But as I watched the trailers over and over again (seeing as it has been popping up all over the place), I guess it doesn't look all that bad. Who knows? Maybe this will be the movie where a video game adaption is finally done right (or at least a lot better then a lot of the crap that has been released over the years).

And damn it all, the movie comes out this month! We just gone through seeing Iron Man 2 and I think we both want to watch the new Robin Hood movie. And then this?! Back in the day, this sort of marathon of movies wouldn't have been an issue for us, but these days that has changed so much. I mean who wants to pay near $6 for goddamn soda? And another $6-7 on popcorn? Hell, just getting into the place costs a person about $9 just to get in the door!

I'm afraid our age is showing through nowadays, but I suppose that does give me an understanding about what older folks mean when they talk about their pasts.

But anyway, yes... I think we will make it a point to go and check this movie out. Looks like a fun movie and isn't that what it should be all about anyway?

Its Alive!

After letting the sucker sit around for a few days, I was finally able to reformat my computer today. The trouble I've been having had to do with the fact that it kept rebooting itself over and over again. So loading up the System Restore function was next to impossible, up until this morning anyway. I thought it could have been a great deal of things wrong with it (virus, hardware failure, aliens), but in the end I opted to try and hold out for a reformat in hopes that it would be the answer to my troubles.

Thankfully, it was.

While I am glad to have it in working order again, it also means that I have to reload both Zune and iTunes now. And with me being such a picky son of a bitch, everything has to be in its place... EVERYTHING has to be in order. I cannot help myself! It drives me absolutely crazy to leave things a mess! And the thought of this means that the process will take a long, LONG time to recover.

But at least I don't have to type on a laptop anymore...

World of Hurt

I've been in a world of hurt lately, both physically and financially, and it is absolutely terrible. I hope whenever I can get out of this hole, that I never have to be in this kind of position again. It is just no fun having to be broke and living literally paycheck by paycheck.

The rough part of this has been getting back to actually working more again. I honestly was not expecting to remain at my present job and, had everything panned out the way I had planned, I am supposed to be long gone by now.

If only life always went according to whatever we planned...

As I said, it has been rough getting back into working more at a place I thought I wouldn't be at by now. And maybe it is my slowly increasing age, but man... my body is hurting! Some say age ain't nothing but a number, but I beg to differ. That number plays as a factor, but it is all about a person's frame of mind. If you think yourself old and you limit yourself based on that, then your body will react in kind.

How else can you explain those guys who are in their 80's and are still lifting weights? These folks run and have the times of their lives!

I hope I can be that way if/when I get to that age... I think I would consider skydiving at that age. The good thing about doing something like that at such a late age is I'd have one major worry I won't have to think about. What do I mean? I wouldn't have to worry about soiling myself. Why? Because I'd already be rocking them Depends!

I feel sorry for my future kids... I'm going to make their lives hell, from the start and up until my end! Ha!

Iron Man 2

I wanted to write a much more compelling post for Iron Man 2, but right now I am still recovering from having my PC crashing out on me. Now I am confined to a slow, slow laptop and it is pissing me the hell off! How does a computer lag while typing out text? Gahh!

Anyway, Iron Man 2: Awesome movie.

Surely it wasn't like the first movie and rightfully so... how could anyone expect it to be exactly like the original? Like a lot of these trilogy movies, the first movie sets up and introduces the audience to the world and the characters in it. Now the second movie is where it all starts to move forward and that is what I thought Iron Man 2 did. It moved everything forward; Tony Stark had to deal with his personal issues, mounting pressure from the government and still manage to protect the world and convince everyone that he is, in fact, a good guy.

Another thing you can (and should) expect from Iron Man 2 is much more gadgets and flashy fights between high tech armored people. Iron Man himself makes use of a few new toys himself and the addition of the War Machine suit throws in a one man armory. Whiplash, who does not do all that much fighting, does have two pretty interesting battles against Stark.

Then of course there is the Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson. So what if she was a point of interest? I'm a dude! And I must admit that I never seen very many of her movies. I can't even recall the movies I may or may not have seen that she has appeared in. But seriously, I gotta say she seems pretty natural in her role in this movie. She never was a damsel in distress and the few scenes she did appear in, she totally kicked a lot of peoples' asses.

My personal favorite geek moment happened when Whiplash attacks Tony Stark and Stark fights back using a portable Iron Man suit (that is carried around in the form of a suitcase). Just freaking awesome! I watched the trailer for the movie a number of times just to see that particular scene. I couldn't help myself!

Overall, it was a good movie to me and I thought it did well enough to move the overall story forward. It portrayed much more of what makes Tony Stark tick as a person, rather then just playing up the rich playboy bit. What is interesting to me is the wonder how the events in this movie will affect the inevitable third movie? I mean there is a number of things happening and... and I can't say more without spoiling. Gah!

And if you head out to see the movie, a word of advice! Sit and stay to the end of the credits! Let me just go and say that the building of the Avengers is continuing and another piece is added onto the overall puzzle. I can't wait for it all to be put together!

Side note: Captain America's shield (or an incomplete prototype of it) appears in the movie too. Damn where and when are all of these movies coming out?!

If I can remember that long from now, I think I may try to write a proper writing about this movie later. Later as in if/when I can get a new computer. Which may happen anywhere between now, and up until 2056. Or so...

I hate this.

Distant Worlds II: More Music From Final Fantasy

After being blown away by the first CD, I was more then eagerly anticipating the release of a second CD. Embarrassingly enough, I forgot that the CD was going to be digitally released on May 1st and today my brain just clicked. Hey! New CD! Where?!

And that has lead me back to the Distant Worlds site, which to my surprise has links to full tracks off of the CD. As if I needed to preview this to know how awesome it was, I still went ahead and listened in. Verdict? AWESOMENESS. Is that even a word?

But really, what else can I say about this music? I thought the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra did an awesome job the first time around and this second time through is absolutely no exception. I love the choice of music too, as a number of favorites made it here (Zanarkand, Ronfaure, Suteki da ne,The Man with the Machine Gun, A Place to Call Home - Melodies of Life)
and they really made the music all that much more memorable.

Above I've placed the player to one of these tracks, as also mentioned as one of my favorites, Zanarkand from Final Fantasy X. Check it out!