Freak 360
I now have employment. I test video games. This is how I deluded my brain by categorizing buying an Xbox 360 as a business expense. It kinda is, but still...it's a stretch.
One of the first things I discovered was the marketing genius that is the Gamertag, especially the Gamerscore and achievements. I have a Nintendo DS, a PS2, and an Xbox besides my 360...and I have trouble touching them anymore. Why, you may ask? Because they do not give me achievements or increase my gamer score. Basically everything you do depending on the game gives you points...maybe for beating bosses, getting to a certain skill level, doing a really hard optional quest, or just stupid stuff, like blowing up X number of things in a certain time limit. You get a little icon for each achievement, plus points that keep adding up, I guess making you look more like a game pimp. God of War II is an awesome game, but now I have trouble turning the PS2 on to play it because I always have one more achievement or other thing I want to do on my 360. You can see my Gamertag info at the bottom of this page if you are looking at this from my site and not through Blogger. Marketing...Genius.
I will however caution you on Armored Core 4. It isn't like AC used to be - I skipped the PS2 games. First issue I had with it (I traded it in yesterday) was that half the time you can't see anything...you start out looking right into the sun where the enemies are coming from, or a desert heat mirage. This means that often you cannot see what you are shooting at or killing. You just have a bright light with a target lock on your HUD that you are shooting at and trusting that you are dealing damage to an enemy. You might see an explosion. I don't know about anyone else, I have some friends who LOVE this game, but I like to see what I am killing. Someone designs these things, and be it mutated monster, zombie, or giant robot, I want to look at it before I eviscerate or blow it up. My second main problem is that I like the tank tread cores, basically your average mech with tank tread instead of legs. Slow, but powerful. AC4 has them, but they seem almost like an afterthought...you really need a fast mech (called cores in the game for those not in the know) to do many of the missions and simulations, meaning legs, maybe wing like apparatus, fast booster engines, etc. Not condusive to my tank legs. Not a bad game, just not my style. Which kinda sucks, because I have many fond memories of the PSOne Armored Core games.
Dead Rising, Crackdown, Gun, Kameo, Lost Planet, and Gears of War are all very fun. I need to beat one of them so I can check out F.E.A.R. Viva Pinata is strangely addicting...sort of like Harvest Moon, Pokemon, and the Sims all rolled into one.
It's good being back home. I'm beginning to feel much more comfortable with my whole life/carreer change as I get used to my new job and being close to my old friends again. The commutes are taking some getting used to, as my current commute is about the same in number of miles as my last one in Baltimore, but it takes twice as long due to traffic. Luckily I found a good carpool to get in on, so that cuts the drive down some because it opens up the world of the carpool lane and I don't have to be the driver every day.
Grindhouse was an AWESOME movie, saw it last weekend. I felt that Death Proof should have been first with Planet Terror following, purely due to pacing issues. Planet Terror is action packed with guns and explosives, while Death Proof - which does have action - is also lots of conversation and dialogue, making it seem 10 times slower than it actually is when it follows the faster paced PT. Both were great, I'm just saying the order was odd. The fake previews were awesome as well. I highly recommend seeing Grindhouse. NOW.
One of the first things I discovered was the marketing genius that is the Gamertag, especially the Gamerscore and achievements. I have a Nintendo DS, a PS2, and an Xbox besides my 360...and I have trouble touching them anymore. Why, you may ask? Because they do not give me achievements or increase my gamer score. Basically everything you do depending on the game gives you points...maybe for beating bosses, getting to a certain skill level, doing a really hard optional quest, or just stupid stuff, like blowing up X number of things in a certain time limit. You get a little icon for each achievement, plus points that keep adding up, I guess making you look more like a game pimp. God of War II is an awesome game, but now I have trouble turning the PS2 on to play it because I always have one more achievement or other thing I want to do on my 360. You can see my Gamertag info at the bottom of this page if you are looking at this from my site and not through Blogger. Marketing...Genius.
I will however caution you on Armored Core 4. It isn't like AC used to be - I skipped the PS2 games. First issue I had with it (I traded it in yesterday) was that half the time you can't see anything...you start out looking right into the sun where the enemies are coming from, or a desert heat mirage. This means that often you cannot see what you are shooting at or killing. You just have a bright light with a target lock on your HUD that you are shooting at and trusting that you are dealing damage to an enemy. You might see an explosion. I don't know about anyone else, I have some friends who LOVE this game, but I like to see what I am killing. Someone designs these things, and be it mutated monster, zombie, or giant robot, I want to look at it before I eviscerate or blow it up. My second main problem is that I like the tank tread cores, basically your average mech with tank tread instead of legs. Slow, but powerful. AC4 has them, but they seem almost like an afterthought...you really need a fast mech (called cores in the game for those not in the know) to do many of the missions and simulations, meaning legs, maybe wing like apparatus, fast booster engines, etc. Not condusive to my tank legs. Not a bad game, just not my style. Which kinda sucks, because I have many fond memories of the PSOne Armored Core games.
Dead Rising, Crackdown, Gun, Kameo, Lost Planet, and Gears of War are all very fun. I need to beat one of them so I can check out F.E.A.R. Viva Pinata is strangely addicting...sort of like Harvest Moon, Pokemon, and the Sims all rolled into one.
It's good being back home. I'm beginning to feel much more comfortable with my whole life/carreer change as I get used to my new job and being close to my old friends again. The commutes are taking some getting used to, as my current commute is about the same in number of miles as my last one in Baltimore, but it takes twice as long due to traffic. Luckily I found a good carpool to get in on, so that cuts the drive down some because it opens up the world of the carpool lane and I don't have to be the driver every day.
Grindhouse was an AWESOME movie, saw it last weekend. I felt that Death Proof should have been first with Planet Terror following, purely due to pacing issues. Planet Terror is action packed with guns and explosives, while Death Proof - which does have action - is also lots of conversation and dialogue, making it seem 10 times slower than it actually is when it follows the faster paced PT. Both were great, I'm just saying the order was odd. The fake previews were awesome as well. I highly recommend seeing Grindhouse. NOW.
