Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Satisfying Elements of My Life
(I put a youtube embed up here, if that doesn't work, http://www.youtube.com/v/KzLq9XoORYc )
Aww, my last entry didn't have time to flourish into a beautiful flower. I keep thinking of my entries as plants that need time to go out and collect comments, so I usually wait some time between blog posts for my plants to flourish and evolve into beautiful flowers with seeds. Alas, my previous plant didn't collect any comments, but I've heard that people have read them so that should be okay.
So let's see... what's new? Last entry, I posted a few paragraphs about Games I wanted and Games that were coming out, and I'm glad to say that I've fulfilled most of my list! Brutal Legend had a massive price drop at EBGames just a few weeks after it came out, so I snatched it at $45. It's either $45 now or $40 (my target price) in 6 months, so I opted to pay the extra $5 and get it now.
Also got Lego Rock Band, and Vinh and I played it for a bit but haven't really touched it more than once so far. As most "Band" games, it's more of a party game so we'll probably touch it again when we have a lot of people over. Also bought Forza, great game. Along with being a fun driving game on various difficulties and having nice graphics and whatever, there's an online auction house where people can buy and sell cars, and people can also buy various designs. I've bought quite a few cool designs but I haven't applied them to any cars yet. But it's really kinda cool and pretty neat. Sure, it's not real money, but it's still cool to be recognized in the gaming world as an artist.
Before I talk about the other videogames on my list, let's switch gears for a few paragraphs.
It's Persimmon season! Well, I'm not a fruit scientist, but I've had more Persimmon over the past 3 weeks than the rest of the year, so I assume this is the time Persimmons are in bloom, or popular, or cheap. I love persimmon, but like many fruits, there are good ones and there are bad ones. The other day I bit into one that was pretty darn dry so it felt like I was eating an onion. But most of the time they are softer and thus tastier.
Speaking of food, Winterlicious is upon us! Well, not yet. Then again, I already sent out an e-mail to everyone involved, except perhaps David, so I guess I'll continue typing this paragraph so we'll have two full paragraphs about food instead of just one. My dad just sent me an e-mail about these Winterlicious Special Events, different from the Prix Fixe event... mostly expensive though, so I doubt we'll do any of them. But we'll do Prix Fixe for sure, and that takes place at the beginning of February, and reservations start middle of January, so we still have some time to plan it out.
Next week (Friday) is the company Christmas party, and similar to last year it'll be at a Banquet Hall. Anyone wanna come? Each of us will bring one guest... hmm...
Anyway, I don't talk too much about Magic on my main blog, but I must say that I've reached a new level of craziness. I've started playing multiplayer Magic games by myself! Bwahahaha *laughs Maniacally* ... I would sit 4 players, or decks, around the pool table, and shuffle each of their decks and give them each 20 life, and I would use the special Planechase cards (which are like, enchantments that affect the whole world... it's a new fan-dangled thing, you old people won't understand)... and I would go around the table and they would take their turns as normal.
And I also keep an excel sheet open and I record each of their moves... it's kinda like I'm recording and blogging about the game at the same time. It might be crazy, but it gives meaning to me. Anyway, recently I played (and recorded) a 15-player game with special rules and it took a long time, so long that I'm giving magic a little break. At least, giving my new Fanaticism a little break. Now, I have more time to...
New Super Mario Bros Wii
Rewind to the Sunday before last. Eric and Ambrose come over, and we're wondering, "what game to play now?" And Eric asks if we have the New Super Mario Bros for the Wii, which is perfect for a 4-player crowd like us. We didn't have it, so we trekked over to Blockbuster to rent it, and they didn't have any copies in stock, so we trekked over to EB Games (now Gamestop) and bought it, walked home, and played it for 6 hours. We beat about half the game, and then last Saturday Eric and Ambrose came over again and we played it for another 5 hours to defeat
*spoilers*
Bowser.
*end spoilers*
So, we've finished the game, except the special stages, which we'll have to beat some other day. MAN, that is a fun game. We played the four player multiplayer mode, or as Penny Arcade would put it, "Divorce Mode". As Penny Arcade says, if you plan to play this mode, make sure it's with people you never plan to see again. But in our case, it's a LOL every few seconds. The game IS hard, in multiplayer, as you can easily mistakenly screw over your teammates at every turn. Sure, you can help them, but you'll probably accidentally kill them just as often.
We each have our favourite LOL moments, but mine would be when Ambrose's Toad had the roflcopter suit, and then he dived down to deny Luigi his rightful place on the flag. 'Twas my favourite LOL moment, and I just talked with Duy (to confirm whether it was Duy or Ambrose) and he liked it too :) What's your favourite LOL moment?
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Oh man... it's back, and it's lovely. That said, I haven't finished the single-player campaign, so far it's kinda boring and jumps all over the place and... overall, not a great experience. But Multiplayer is where it's at. First, most of the modes involves a team vs another team, so you're always part of a team and that feels great. But the best thing about Call of Duty that sets it apart from other shooters is the concept of leveling.
In the first CoD:MW, as you complete objectives and kill enemies, you gain experience, and as you gain levels, you unlock different guns and different "perks", which are like bonuses; bonuses that let you run faster, or be able to hide from enemy radar, or whatever. And as you use your new guns, you gain experience on your guns too, to unlock attachments like grenade launchers, or better aiming or zooming capabilities, and as you unlock those things you can experience points too to help you level up.
Now in the second game, there are more ways to gain experience and there are more things to upgrade. First, your perks can get upgraded, or instead of being able to run faster, you can run even faster if you use that perk often enough. And... is anyone actually reading this? If not, I shouldn't spend too much time trying to articulate everything. So um, for my own record... killstreak... deathstreak... get experience after "resting" (not killing anyone)... get experience for killing a flag capturer or a flag defender... umm... a lot of stuff.
Overall, a very addicting and fun experience. Sometimes being part of a team makes you choose between using a good class with all your max levelled weapons, or using a class where you can still learn stuff and gain experience. Oh, the troubles...
Lastly...
DJ Hero
Finally, was able to borrow it from a friend. I messaged him over Xbox Live on Thursday asking him if I could borrow it for a weekend, and he said I can borrow it for a few weeks... so that's cool. I spent a good part of Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday playing it, and I've completed Medium mode so far. I have nine songs with 3 stars, nine songs with 4 stars, and 75 songs with 5 stars. I dabbled a little bit into Hard mode, but Expert mode is a little too hardcore for me. That said, you can't die in the game, but I'll stick to Medium mode to 5-star these songs and then move onto Hard mode.
That said, I'm not loving the game. I like the game, and there are some very memorable tracks, including the one I posted at the beginning of the entry. The track just makes me really happy and fuzzy inside, although that video isn't really representative of DJ Hero as it doesn't contain a lot of scratches.
Anyway, if you think of the game as just a bunch of buttons and instructions you have to follow, then of course the game wouldn't be that great for you. So you have to put yourself in the mood to be a DJ, and then the game can be pretty fun. For example, sometimes, if I have to scratch the green button, instead of just using my index finger on the button, I would put my index finger and my middle finger on it so it feels like I'm actually scratching the disk.
Anyhoo, that brings me to the end of this entry. Go flourish!
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(I put a youtube embed up here, if that doesn't work, http://www.youtube.com/v/KzLq9XoORYc )
Aww, my last entry didn't have time to flourish into a beautiful flower. I keep thinking of my entries as plants that need time to go out and collect comments, so I usually wait some time between blog posts for my plants to flourish and evolve into beautiful flowers with seeds. Alas, my previous plant didn't collect any comments, but I've heard that people have read them so that should be okay.
So let's see... what's new? Last entry, I posted a few paragraphs about Games I wanted and Games that were coming out, and I'm glad to say that I've fulfilled most of my list! Brutal Legend had a massive price drop at EBGames just a few weeks after it came out, so I snatched it at $45. It's either $45 now or $40 (my target price) in 6 months, so I opted to pay the extra $5 and get it now.
Also got Lego Rock Band, and Vinh and I played it for a bit but haven't really touched it more than once so far. As most "Band" games, it's more of a party game so we'll probably touch it again when we have a lot of people over. Also bought Forza, great game. Along with being a fun driving game on various difficulties and having nice graphics and whatever, there's an online auction house where people can buy and sell cars, and people can also buy various designs. I've bought quite a few cool designs but I haven't applied them to any cars yet. But it's really kinda cool and pretty neat. Sure, it's not real money, but it's still cool to be recognized in the gaming world as an artist.
Before I talk about the other videogames on my list, let's switch gears for a few paragraphs.
It's Persimmon season! Well, I'm not a fruit scientist, but I've had more Persimmon over the past 3 weeks than the rest of the year, so I assume this is the time Persimmons are in bloom, or popular, or cheap. I love persimmon, but like many fruits, there are good ones and there are bad ones. The other day I bit into one that was pretty darn dry so it felt like I was eating an onion. But most of the time they are softer and thus tastier.
Speaking of food, Winterlicious is upon us! Well, not yet. Then again, I already sent out an e-mail to everyone involved, except perhaps David, so I guess I'll continue typing this paragraph so we'll have two full paragraphs about food instead of just one. My dad just sent me an e-mail about these Winterlicious Special Events, different from the Prix Fixe event... mostly expensive though, so I doubt we'll do any of them. But we'll do Prix Fixe for sure, and that takes place at the beginning of February, and reservations start middle of January, so we still have some time to plan it out.
Next week (Friday) is the company Christmas party, and similar to last year it'll be at a Banquet Hall. Anyone wanna come? Each of us will bring one guest... hmm...
Anyway, I don't talk too much about Magic on my main blog, but I must say that I've reached a new level of craziness. I've started playing multiplayer Magic games by myself! Bwahahaha *laughs Maniacally* ... I would sit 4 players, or decks, around the pool table, and shuffle each of their decks and give them each 20 life, and I would use the special Planechase cards (which are like, enchantments that affect the whole world... it's a new fan-dangled thing, you old people won't understand)... and I would go around the table and they would take their turns as normal.
And I also keep an excel sheet open and I record each of their moves... it's kinda like I'm recording and blogging about the game at the same time. It might be crazy, but it gives meaning to me. Anyway, recently I played (and recorded) a 15-player game with special rules and it took a long time, so long that I'm giving magic a little break. At least, giving my new Fanaticism a little break. Now, I have more time to...
New Super Mario Bros Wii
Rewind to the Sunday before last. Eric and Ambrose come over, and we're wondering, "what game to play now?" And Eric asks if we have the New Super Mario Bros for the Wii, which is perfect for a 4-player crowd like us. We didn't have it, so we trekked over to Blockbuster to rent it, and they didn't have any copies in stock, so we trekked over to EB Games (now Gamestop) and bought it, walked home, and played it for 6 hours. We beat about half the game, and then last Saturday Eric and Ambrose came over again and we played it for another 5 hours to defeat
*spoilers*
Bowser.
*end spoilers*
So, we've finished the game, except the special stages, which we'll have to beat some other day. MAN, that is a fun game. We played the four player multiplayer mode, or as Penny Arcade would put it, "Divorce Mode". As Penny Arcade says, if you plan to play this mode, make sure it's with people you never plan to see again. But in our case, it's a LOL every few seconds. The game IS hard, in multiplayer, as you can easily mistakenly screw over your teammates at every turn. Sure, you can help them, but you'll probably accidentally kill them just as often.
We each have our favourite LOL moments, but mine would be when Ambrose's Toad had the roflcopter suit, and then he dived down to deny Luigi his rightful place on the flag. 'Twas my favourite LOL moment, and I just talked with Duy (to confirm whether it was Duy or Ambrose) and he liked it too :) What's your favourite LOL moment?
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Oh man... it's back, and it's lovely. That said, I haven't finished the single-player campaign, so far it's kinda boring and jumps all over the place and... overall, not a great experience. But Multiplayer is where it's at. First, most of the modes involves a team vs another team, so you're always part of a team and that feels great. But the best thing about Call of Duty that sets it apart from other shooters is the concept of leveling.
In the first CoD:MW, as you complete objectives and kill enemies, you gain experience, and as you gain levels, you unlock different guns and different "perks", which are like bonuses; bonuses that let you run faster, or be able to hide from enemy radar, or whatever. And as you use your new guns, you gain experience on your guns too, to unlock attachments like grenade launchers, or better aiming or zooming capabilities, and as you unlock those things you can experience points too to help you level up.
Now in the second game, there are more ways to gain experience and there are more things to upgrade. First, your perks can get upgraded, or instead of being able to run faster, you can run even faster if you use that perk often enough. And... is anyone actually reading this? If not, I shouldn't spend too much time trying to articulate everything. So um, for my own record... killstreak... deathstreak... get experience after "resting" (not killing anyone)... get experience for killing a flag capturer or a flag defender... umm... a lot of stuff.
Overall, a very addicting and fun experience. Sometimes being part of a team makes you choose between using a good class with all your max levelled weapons, or using a class where you can still learn stuff and gain experience. Oh, the troubles...
Lastly...
DJ Hero
Finally, was able to borrow it from a friend. I messaged him over Xbox Live on Thursday asking him if I could borrow it for a weekend, and he said I can borrow it for a few weeks... so that's cool. I spent a good part of Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday playing it, and I've completed Medium mode so far. I have nine songs with 3 stars, nine songs with 4 stars, and 75 songs with 5 stars. I dabbled a little bit into Hard mode, but Expert mode is a little too hardcore for me. That said, you can't die in the game, but I'll stick to Medium mode to 5-star these songs and then move onto Hard mode.
That said, I'm not loving the game. I like the game, and there are some very memorable tracks, including the one I posted at the beginning of the entry. The track just makes me really happy and fuzzy inside, although that video isn't really representative of DJ Hero as it doesn't contain a lot of scratches.
Anyway, if you think of the game as just a bunch of buttons and instructions you have to follow, then of course the game wouldn't be that great for you. So you have to put yourself in the mood to be a DJ, and then the game can be pretty fun. For example, sometimes, if I have to scratch the green button, instead of just using my index finger on the button, I would put my index finger and my middle finger on it so it feels like I'm actually scratching the disk.
Anyhoo, that brings me to the end of this entry. Go flourish!