Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Top 5 One Hit Wonders Of 1986


This list was kinda difficult for me. Most of the one hit wonders of 1986 didn't really do much for me. There were some really crappy one hit wonders in 1986. There is one song that I totally can't stand. That song being The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades by Timbuk 3. God I hate that song. I don't know what it is, but my ears practically bleed whenever I hear it. It's just a really bad song, and the vocalist sucks ass as well. I even left off Keep Your Hands To Yourself by The Georgia Satellites most people probably would have added that to this list. Not me! It's just so played out. By the way 1986 also saw Don Johnson hit the top 40 with Heartbeat LOL! I went for a more obscure list this time around. I think the songs I've picked are the best of the bunch for 1986.

1) Baltimora - Tarzan Boy (Catchy, and goofy, but it's a fun song. It always reminds me of that blue mint Listerine commercial from back in the day.)

2) GTR - When The Heart Rules The Mind (Wimpy AOR, but I like it. I'm guilty of liking a lot of AOR songs though.)

3) Double - The Captain Of Her Heart ( Really cool vibe on this one. Slow and easy going. I like the piano in this one.)

4) Blow Monkeys - Digging Your Scene (Not much to say about this song. It wasn't played a lot on the radio in my area, but when I did hear it I dug it.)

5) Boys Don't Cry - I Wanna Be A Cowboy (Man, the 80's were a goofy/silly time. I like songs that aren't serious though. Fun chorus to sing.)

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

How 'Bout Those Stars...Oh And GTA 4


I'm happy to report that the Dallas Stars are now up 3 games to ZERO over the San Jose Sharks!!! The game winner was scored by an unlikely player 4:37 into overtime. That player was the defensive minded defenseman Mattias Norstrom. The Stars can wrap it up tomorrow night in Dallas with a win. I'm getting my broom ready just in case.
Way to go Stars!

I played GTA 4 last night for a few hours. I only played the single player campaign, so I can't comment on the multiplayer. One of my problems with the GTA series is that I geberally get bored with the story or lack of a story. This time around I'm drawn into the story in a major way. The characters are interesting. The story is interesting. I found myself wanting to keep playing. In the other GTA games I found myself wanting to just screw around and not follow the main missions. Now I'm finding that I want to keep going and follow the story just to see what happens next. I really can't comment much more than that because like I said I've only played a few hours. So far I'm impressed though. Rockstar may have finally created a GTA game that will hold my attention. More to come...

Monday, April 28, 2008

No Time For A Real Blog Entry


I got my copy of GTA4 at midnight. I was third in line. I decided to not go to GameStop and wait in a mile long line. Instead I got lucky and scored a copy at Wal-mart. I'll be posting my thoughts probably tomorrow! Time to go wreak havoc in Liberty City!

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Could GTA4 Really Be THE Best Game Ever Created?


Hype can build a game up and make everyone buy it. Can you say Halo 3? At this point I'm 99.9% sure that the hype surrounding GTA4 is not hype at all. I've never seen as many perfect scores for a game before release from game reviewers. When this many people give a game a perfect score I'm inclined to believe that it's not hype, but fact. If you own a 360 or a PS3 you should own this game. Even the scores and reviews that aren't perfect are about as close as you can get to perfect. I read through the entire OXM review. After reading it made me even more geeked for it. It sounds like Rockstar has made a perfect game or as perfect as you can possibly get.

Just look at the review scores so far (by the way I really wish I was in the video game reviewing business so that I could be playing this right now)

IGN = 100

IGN UK = 100

1UP = 100

EuroGamer = 100

GameSpy = 100

Official Xbox Magazine UK = 100

Team Xbox = 100

Game Informer = 100

GameDaily = 100

Xbox World 360 Magazine UK = 98

GameTrailers = 98

Computer and Video Games = 95

That's nine perfect scores, two 98's and a 95!!! Wow, just wow! I have my copy pre-ordered. GameStop is doing a midnight sale on the game. I may just have to go get my copy at midnight like I did with Halo 3.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Top 5 One Hit Wonders Of 1981


Four of the five songs on this Top 5 list I like a lot. The number five song is good, but I don't think it's incredible or anything.

1) Joey Scarbury - Believe It Or Not (It's the theme from The Greatest American Hero. I loved this show, and so did my Mom. We watched it every night it was on. Now I own all of the seasons of this show on dvd. The sad thing is that I've only watched the pilot so far. I have soooo much to watch in my dvd collection. I love this song. It's probably the best tv show theme song ever.)

2) Rocky Burnette - Tired Of Toein' The Line (This was another song I had forgotten about untill a few years ago when I saw the video on VH1 Classic. Kinda goofy, but in a good way.)

3) Terri Gibbs - Somebody's Knockin' (This was around the time when country artists were crossing over into pop music. This song walks the line of country and pop, and I like it a lot.)

4) Frankie Smith - Double Dutch Bus (Cool and definitely different song. It always reminds me of roller skating at a place called Roller World where I skated with all of my friends. They would always play this song. Roller World is just one of many places that was a fun place where I hung out that is now gone. Getting older really sucks sometimes. Long live the 80's!)

5) Stanley Clarke & George Duke - Sweet Baby (Good song. NOt great or anything, but I like it alright.)

You can find all of these songs over on youtube, but I'm sure you already knew that. I plan on making a series of one hit wonders cds when I have some spare time.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

I Wasn't Born With Enough Middle Fingers


The blog entry title really has nothing to do with anything I'm going to post tonight. I just like that phrase. I can't take credit for it. It's from the song "Irresponsible Hate Anthem" by Marilyn Manson. It's also my new motto for the month. No real reason for that either. Not everything in life has to make sense, ya know?

My copy of the Official Xbox Magazine showed up in the mail today. On the cover was of course GTA4. There is a huge preview/review inside. They rated it a 9.5! I didn't expect anything less than a 9. I don't expect anything under an 8.5 from anyone who plays this game and reviews it. It sounds like the single player and multiplayer modes are just going to be incredible. We'll see come Tuesday when I pick up my pre-ordered copy for the Xbox 360.

All week I've I've been playing Frontlines Fuel Of War. This is such a fun game. I'm enjoying it way more than Rainbow Six Vegas 2. They got pretty much everything right. Even the multiplayer is great. I'm not finished with the single player campaign yet, but just based on what I've played so far I'd give this a 9. Official Xbox Magazine gave it a 9 as well. I totally agree thus far.

Anybody have XM Satellite Radio? We get it with DIRECTV. I always listen to the 80's channel. Imagine that! Anyway, they play the old Casey Kasim Top 40 shows. They play a show from a year in the 80's from this week that time. Heh, Radioactive by The Firm was just on. You know, the song I put in my top 5 list the other day.

Tonight I plan on finally checking out JUNO. I keep reading all of these great reviews, so I gotta see it. Hopefully it lives up to the hype.

It's on to round two for my Dallas Stars tomorrow night in San Jose. Here's hoping they can do to the sharks what they did to the ducks. GO STARS!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Top 5 One Hit Wonders Of 1980


I skipped the first two years of the 80's, and after seeing this top five you'll probably know why. I do like the songs on this top five though. I have a feeling there's at least one song that you guys won't know. What can I say though...I'm an 80's music dork.

1) Devo - Whip It (I love this song in a major way, and I honestly have since 1980. I can still remember cranking my little RCA one speakered radio/cassette player whenever Whip It came on the radio. Flower pot hats forever! Break yo mama's back!)

2) The Vapors - Turning Japanese (Just a fun song all around. This one is actually about the face one makes during an orgasm.)

3) Benny Mardones - Into The Night (It's a ballad that only this guy named Victim Of Fate could appreciate lyrically. It's about an older guy who basically falls in love with a 16 year old girl. Great song.)

4) Steve Forbert - Romeo's Tune (I had forgotten about this song untill I heard it on XM Radio a while ago. I never knew the name of the song or who sang it. There's really no song like it, and you'll never hear a song like it. It's a damn fine tune.)

5) Sugar Hill Gang - Rapper's Delight (Not bad for early rap. Actually early rap is much better than the crap you hear these days.)

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Top 5 One Hit Wonders Of 1985


1) Paul Hardcastle - Nineteen (Great song. Not really much to it as far as depth musically, but the message was loud and clear. Too many damn kids died over in Vietnam.)

2) Autograph - Turn Up The Radio (This single made me go out and buy "Sign In Please" on cassette. I loved this song back then. Hey, I was only 13 years old. Now I have a burn of "Sign In Please" that I never listen to. I do still turn up the radio when I hear this song on the radio.)

3) Mary Jane Girls - In My House (There's just something awesome about women singing about wanting to have sex. HaHa! It's especially awesome when you're 13 and a virgin like I was in 1985.)

4) The Firm - Radioactive (Not a huge hit or anything, but it did peak at number 28 on Billboard's Top 40. I own the self titled album that this song was released on on vinyl. Not a bad "supergroup", but I expected more. I think most people did.)

5) Harold Faltermeyer - Axl F (Back in the day I thought this was a great instrumental. It beats the Miami Vice instrumental. These days I couldn't care less about Axl F, but 1985 wasn't a very good year for one hit wonders.)

Monday, April 21, 2008

Metal Gear May Be Solid, But Konami Sure As Hell Isn't


First I'll start out with my Konami rant. For some strange reason the idiots over at Konami didn't expect a mass amount of people would want to be playing the MGS4 Beta. I mean I know that the PS3 is way behind the Wii and 360 in total hardware sales, but Sony has sold millions. Obviously I'm being a smart ass with that last comment, but come on Konami! To play the beta you must sign up over at Konami's website. The problem is that there is so much traffic that you can't sign up. The message boards over there are just full of complaints. Did Konami really not think that thousands of people wouldn't be playing this beta? I don't know just how many beta codes are out there, but it's obviously a lot more than Konami could handle. Konami has released the following statement:

"We would like to thank all players for their keen interest in taking part in the beta test," the statement read. "However, we regret to inform you that due to extraordinary levels of traffic from all around the globe, we have been unable to run the service to the level we expected. As a temporary measure, we will be deferring the start of the US public beta test until we are able to stabilize our server."

The latest update on the beta is that it will start this Friday April 25th at midnight. The good news is that the beta is being extended another five days.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Dallas Stars Advance To Second Round! Duck Season Is Over!!!


I gotta say that coming into the third period with the Ducks up 1-0 I was getting worried that I'd be seeing a game seven on Tuesday, but the Stars rallied and scored four goals to end the series! Who they end up playing in the second round is up in the air. We'll know after the Sharks/Flames series ends. If the Sharks win it will be Stars and Sharks in round 2. The Stars haven't won a first round series since 2003. Finally I have some hope and something to cheer about. Now if only someone can knock the Redwings out in round two.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

New Store, New Games, & Hopefully A New Series


I downloaded the latest PS3 update. The new Playstation store is a vast improvement over the crappy web based store that was a total mess to navigate through. Now it's basically like the 360 interface, but way less complicated. Not that I'm saying the 360 interface is complicated because to me it's not, but I have heard that some people have problems finding things on the different blades. The Playstation store is just one page with clickable categories. This is definitely easier to use. The bottom line is that it's now easy to navigate. Even a moron could use it. It's that simple.

Me and my wife went shopping for some games today. She has wanted to play Resident Evil 4 for a while now. I had it on the PS2 a while back, but after I finished it I sold it. She picked it up for the Wii today. I doubt if I'll play it again, but you never know. We also picked up a classic controller because the thought of using the Wii remote for RE4 just sounds kinda difficult. Though all of the reviews I've read have stated that it works great with the Wii remote. We also picked up Karaoke Revolution Presents American Idol Encore for the 360! I'm geeked! The other game I picked up was Front Lines Fuel Of War for the 360. I keep hearing that the online multiplayer is totally fun, so I had to have it. I considered buying a couple PSP games, but passed.

My Dallas Stars lost to the Ducks last night. The Stars are up 3 games to 2 with a chance to close the series Sunday night. Hopefully they can finish off the ducks and move on to round 2. I don't want to see a game 7! GO STARS!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Top 5 One Hit Wonders Of 1984


This is probably my favorite year ever. The crazy thing is that this is the year my Dad passed away, so maybe it shouldn't be my favorite year ever. It's hard to explain why it was my favorite year. I loved the music and the movies from 1984. I did an insane amount of travelling in 1984. I went from Michigan to Dallas and back. Then I went from Michigan to Niagra Falls and back. Then I went to Sandusky Ohio and back. Then I went to Disneyland in California and back. I did this all by car and van. Anyway on to my top 5 list.

1) Musical Youth - Pass The Dutchie (Cheezy as hell, but so catchy. Love it or hate it the chorus will end up stuck in your head for days.)

2) Ollie & Jerry - There's No Stopping Us (For a brief amount of time I liked Break Dancing tunes. I still like some of those old tunes. This one rules. A lot of these songs are about the nostalgia and memories that come back when I hear them.)

3) Nena - 99 Red Balloons (Great pop song. Hairy under arms or not she's hot. The picture above is a recent pic of Nena. She looks hotter now than she did back then.)

4) Laid Back - White Horse (This song rules. My Mom even likes this song. She likes it a lot actually.)

5) Van Stevenson - Modern Day Delilah (I have a feeling that not many people even remember this song. It was one of those songs that I heard on the radio nonstop for about a month. Then the song just dropped off the face of the earth. I like this song a lot.)

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Not So Deep Thoughts & Ramblings


I finally decided to spend the 55 bucks on a Dual Shock 3 for the PS3. The store I went to had the price labeled as $49.99, but it rang up as $55.00. I should have bitched about it, but chose not to. $55.00 is the actual retail price, but stores are required to sell you an item at the price marked on the item. I haven't used it yet. It's charging as I type. It should make my PS3 gaming experience seem normal. Sony should have just released Dual Shock at launch, but of course we all know that Sony is playing catch up at nearly everything for the PS3.

It's taking me forever to finish Rainbow Six Vegas 2. I'm noticing that I have about an hours worth of patience for this game then I have to stop playing. I'm finding that the sequel is more difficult than the first game.

I downloaded No Country For Old Men in HD on Xbox Live the other night. After reading tons of great reviews I just had to see it. I'd say that it borders on great, but it's just not quite great. I did enjoy it though. Without spoiling anything I just have to say that you need to watch this movie just to see the bizarre way that the main villain kills his enemies. I've never seen anything like it. I'd also like to say that I had no problem with the ending like so many people did. I'll just say that people who like happy endings are simple minded dolts.

Irritation of the week goes to the people who once again are having issues with Resident Evil 5. I'm so sick of hearing about how this game is racist because you play a white character shooting African zombies. In Resident Evil 4 you played a white guy shooting spanish zombies. I didn't hear any outcry about racism from the spanish folks. Get over it already all of you African Americans. The game just happens to take place in Africa. OMG the zombies are black! GO FIGURE!

For two weeks I've wanted to take my lazy ass to the store and buy Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore for the 360. This just appeals to me more than Guitar Hero or Rock Band. Since I was a kid I wanted to be a vocalist in a rock band or Metal band. I'm just not coordinated enough to play guitar past medium, and even then I'm not that good. I did play drums for a short time back around 1988, but that was to a few AC/DC songs which were pretty simple. The amount of downloadable songs for KRPAI is just crazy as well. I really need to pick this up. You should all feel sorry for my neighbors when I do get it.

Top 5 One Hit Wonders Of 1983


I thought about making this a top 10 because there were a bunch of really good one hit wonders in 1983, but I decided to stay with the top 5 theme that I started with 1982. Eventually I'll get back to 1980 and 1981.

1) Der Kommissar - After The Fire (Man, I love this song. Falco originally did this, but After The Fire's version just kills it in my opinion.)

2) She Blinded Me With Science - Thomas Dolby (If you've never yelled "SCIENCE" before you didn't grow up in the 80's. I'm pretty sure that at least 98% of the people who hear this song immediately think of the old professor in the video.)

3) In A Big Country - Big Country (When this song first hit the radio I didn't really care for it. It wasn't untill years later that I loved it. Very strange, but that happens to me often. This song reminds me of going to the hospital to see my dad when he was on his death bed because it was on the radio a lot during that time. It's one of many many songs that remind me of that time period.)

4) Major Tom - Peter Schilling (This was Peter's answer to David Bowie's Space Odyssey. I like it way more than Space Odyssey though. It's a great song to sing along to. The chorus is anyway.)

5) Puttin' On The Ritz - Taco (Such an oddball song, but really cool. It's even kinda eerie in a way.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People


Yes, that's right Strong Bad will have his own video game on the Nintendo Wii. I really hope that anyone reading this already knows who Strong Bad is. This is one game that I am totally looking forward to. After listening to a couple of gaming podcasts I'm even more excited to play this. If you have no idea who Strong Bad is you can check him out here.

Strong Bad is a hilarious flash cartoon character. He reads e-mails that are directed to him and is involved in various shenanigans. His video game expected to arrive in June is entitled "Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People". The game is being launched on Wii Ware as an episodic video game. Five episodic games are being released, so look out for that.

Hopefully we'll also be seeing TROOOOGDOOOOOOORRRRR!!!!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Top 5 One Hit Wonders Of 1982


From as far back as I can remember I was into pop music. When the 80's ended that pretty much stopped though. When the 90's came raging in so did terrible pop music minus a song here and there. I've always been a huge fan of one hit wonders. For some reason certain artists and bands just release one great song and you don't hear from them ever again. In most casess you really don't want to hear from them again either. I was planning on starting with 1980, but I like to do things differently, and 1982 was one of my favorite years for pop music.

1) Tainted Love - Soft Cell (This song is just an incredible song. It's one of those tunes that just has a vibe all it's own with no other song sounding like it. It's catchy as hell and even kinda of dark sounding as well. Marilyn Manson even covered it, and in my opinion did one hell of a good job doing so.)

2) I Know What Boys Like - The Waitresses (Patty Donahue didn't have the greatest voice in the world, but for this song her vocals totally work. From the moment I heard this song on the movie The Last American Virgin I loved it. The greatest moment of the song is when Patty says "HaHa Sucker". Just a classic.

3) I Know There's Something Going On - Frida (Again there is just no other song that has the vibe of this song. The pounding drum line that kicks the song off is just awesome. Frida sounds nothing like she did when she was in Abba. You'd never know it was her if someone didn't tell you so.)

4) Mexican Radio - Wall Of Voodoo (I first saw the video for Mexican Radio on HBO's VIDEO JUKEBOX. I just found the song and video so bizarre. Keep in mind that I was only 10 years old in 1982 and videos were a fairly new medium for music. Celtic Frost covered Mexican Radio, and did a fine job with it.)

5) Pac-Man Fever - Buckner & Garcia (A great, but cheezy song. Cheeze was ok and even welcomed in the 80's though. Pac-Man was just huge in the 80's. You couldn't escape Pac-Man fever. It was all around you in the 80's. Pac-Man was stamped on everything from cereal to lunch boxes and there was even a Pac-Man cartoon. Pac-Man was the first truly giant video game franchise. Buckner & Garcia had an album's worth of songs about video games, but none of those songs could touch the greatness that was Pac-Man fever.)

Super Mario Galaxy & Dallas Stars Hockey


So far I gotta say that Super Mario Galaxy is a really fun experience on the Wii. Nintendo hit a homerun with this game. The Wii remote works flawlessly with SMG. I'm finding that it's a nice break from first person shooters. This is a must buy for any Wii owner. I have the feeling that anybody who owns a Wii already owns SMG though. Super Mario 3 is my favorite Mario game for sure, but so far galaxy comes really close to the greatness that is Super Mario 3.

Tonight the Dallas Stars once again owned the Ducks. The final score was 5-2! The Stars have now outscored the Ducks 9-2 over two games. The Stars have more than impressed me so far. It looks like my Stars are for real. Game 3 is Tuesday in Big D.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Like It Or Not Sony Is Making Strides


It took Sony long enough, but I think they are FINALLY starting to catch up. There are so many things that Sony did wrong when they released the PS3. I think they are slowly, but surely starting to catch up with Microsoft. They are making a step in the right direction with the Playstation Store. Finally Sony has gotten off of their ass and are making the Playstation Store part of the PS3 interface instead of having an unorganized web based mess of a store. It's basically like the 360 dashboard without all of the blades.

Sony also dropped the ball right out of the gate by not having the rumble feature included in the six axis controllers. They were even stupid enough to claim that next gen games didn't need rumble and that it really wasn't an important feature. They learned quickly that it was indeed important to gamers. Now you can go out and buy the Dual Shock 3 controller.

I don't think it will be long before Sony realizes that online chat needs to be integrated into the PS3 as well for every game released on the PS3. At the very least Sony should have bundled a USB headset in with every console for the games that you can use voice chat in.

Sony has definitely made some mistakes along the way. What console maker hasn't? The first Xbox 360 fanboy that says Microsoft hasn't will get a Red Ring Of Death declaration or a crappy Xbox Live performance dig from me. The same goes for you Wii fanboys...wait do Wii fanboys really exist? Yes, of course they do, believe it or not. Can you say NO VOICE CHAT at all, Nintendo?

At any rate Sony is making small strides in the console battle. This will probably end up being the year that the PS3 finally outsells the 360. Metal Gear Solid 4 will help that cause. I expect the MGS4 bundle to help PS3 sales in a big way. Speaking of MGS4, I'll be enjoying that beta because I have a beta key. WOOT!

Note: I still love the Xbox 360, but I want to see the PS3 do well. Remember competition is a good thing not a bad thing.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

This, That, The Other, & Happy Birthday!


Just got done watching the Stars OWN the Ducks 4-0. Great start for the Stars, but it's a long series. Here's hoping they can keep playing the way they did tonight. It's going to be hard for me to not talk hockey on my blog, so just bare with me. I'll try not to go overboard with it.

No brainer of the night was Montreal beating Boston. Montreal owns the Bruins like Detroit owns Dallas.

After listening to the Three Red Lights podcast on IGN I am soooo geeked about Grand Theft Auto 4! Holy shit does this game sound awesome. I was thinking the multiplayer would just be a tacked on extra, but after listening to the guys on TRL talk about it I simply can't wait to play the multiplayer modes. If you are at all interested in the new GTA game give TRL a listen. Three Red Lights

After playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl I must say that it is the most overrated game of the year. This game is getting 9.5's! It so does NOT deserve a 9.5. I'd say it barely deserves a 7.5. If not for all of the Nintendo characters it would never get that high of a score. It's just not that good of a game. I haven't spent a ton of time with it, but I've spent enough time to know that it's overrated.

Retarded video game name of the year may go to the new Tom Clansey game entitled HAWX. It stands for High Altitude Warfare with an X thrown on at the end. I guess the thought is that if they throw an X on at the end it will sell a million more copies because we all know that X stands for X-TREME!!!!! HaHa Give me a break.

The Playstation store is getting a much needed facelift. The Playstation Store will NO LONGER BE WEB BASED. PS3 owners will be getting a new firmware update very soon. With this update comes DTS-HD Master Audio output support for Blu-ray as well as DTS-HD High Resolution Audio. To see a video walkthrough for the new Playstation store click the link. Playstation Store

The weekend is upon us! Tomorrow is my wife's birthday. Happy Birthday to her!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Go Stars!


No real blog entry tonight. The Stars start their playoff run tomorrow in Anaheim. As much as I love the Stars I gotta give the edge to the Ducks. Hopefully the Stars prove me wrong and win this series!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

I'm Anti I'm Anti-Social


After ranting about all of the jerks and idiots on Xbox Live I've come to a conclusion. I think I generally see people as being highly annoying or just kinda there. By nature I'm an anti-social bastard whose glass is always half empty. I'm that guy who immediately sees the bad in everyone before I can see the good. Most times I can never see the good. It's just who I am. I think I go into multiplayer games just expecting to deal with assholes. I never find myself going into a game expecting to have a good experience with all of the other people playing. After last night I shall forever go into games looking to find the people who are not assholes, idiots, and jerks. Last night I ended up playing Team Fortress 2 for over four hours with this guy who was totally juvenile, but funny as hell. We totally hit it off. After about an hour of playing he sent me a friend request. I of course accepted. I now have faith that there are people out there who aren't jerks and are a total blast to play with. There may not be many, but they do exist.

My question to anyone reading is have you ever come across totally cool people on Xbox Live that ended up on your friends list? This isn't the first time this has happened. It happened a few months back with a couple guys on Burnout Paradise. The more cool people on my friends list the better.

By the way I hope anyone reading wasn't expecting a blog entry about Anthrax.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Finally A Great Multiplayer Experience On Xbox Live


I've played quite a few multiplayer games on Xbox Live with tons of people I don't know. Millions of people have. This is nothing new. I've had an Xbox 360 for over a year now, and my online experiences haven't been the greatest. I always seem to run into complete jerks no matter what game I play with a group of total strangers. Not all of my experiences have been bad ones. I've just had enough bad experiences that I usually just leave my headset off. You can still hear voices come through your tv, but you can't really make out what people are saying, and that's usually fine with me. Jerks on Xbox Live is what turned me off from playing Halo 3. I can honestly say that in my experience the majority of idiots just love Halo 3 as far as multiplayer games go. Idiots are everywhere, but they seem to be the worst on Halo 3.

I think I have finally found a game where I fit in, and I'm actually decent at. That game is Team Fortress 2 on The Orange Box. Everyone on your team basically just goes about their business and does their job. It's easily the best game I've ever played where you work as a team to get the task done. The main reason why this game works so well is because everyone has a different class. You pick a character that suits the way you play the game. You find a class you're good at and you work together as a team to beat the other team. There really aren't tons of people playing this game either. That may be another reason why people aren't jerks. I think players actually want other players to continue playing because it's not a huge community of people like Halo 3 or Call Of Duty 4.

I encourage anyone with a 360 or even a PS3 to pick up The Orange Box not just for Team Fortress 2, but also for the Half Life games and Portal. I'm just geeked that I finally found a multiplayer game that I enjoy playing with complete strangers.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Top 10 Billy Idol Songs


Does this blog entry seem kinda random? I know I mostly talk about video games, but music is a much bigger part of my life or at least it has been for most of my life. Somewhere around 1983 I became a Billy Idol fan. I've seen him live only once, but it was awesome. Faith No More opened up for Billy Idol back in late 1990. Faith No More was awesome as well. The first Billy Idol album I ever owned was the self titled Billy Idol on cassette. I actually ripped off one of those music clubs when I was 11 years old. I sent them a penny. They sent me a bunch of tapes. One of those tapes was that Billy Idol tape. To this day I can still listen to Billy Idol songs and totally enjoy them. Rebel Yell is easily my favorite Billy Idol album. Whenever I listen to it it brings back a huge flood of memories.

Here are my top 10 favorite Billy Idol songs in no particular order.

1) To Be A Lover (Totally underrated, and not his song. It's a cover.)

2) Eyes Without A Face

3) Rebel Yell

4) Blue Highway

5) Flesh For Fantasy

6) Sweet Sixteen

7) Dancing With Myself

8) White Wedding

9) Hot In The City

10) Catch My Fall

Honorable Mention = L.A. Woman (The Doors cover)

His worst hit was easily Cradle Of Love, and even Billy agrees.

Great Weekend For Gaming


Picked up some stuff at my local GameStop today for the Wii, and bought some Virtual Console games as well. I grabbed WarioWare: Smooth Moves, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. My daughter played WarioWare for a bit. I didn't. Super Smash Bros. was fun. I'll spend some more time with that later on. On Virtual Console I bought Super Mario World, Super Mario 3, and Bonk's Revenge.

The cool gadget that I bought today was the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector. This is a device that looks like a USB thumb drive that you plug into your PC, so that you can connect to the internet with your Wii or DS if you don't have a wi-fi connection. It was easy to install and works like a charm. It was just over 30 bucks.

A few games that I plan on buying next are Frontlines: Fuel Of War (X360), Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore (X360), Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds (PS3), and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (WII)

I finally played Team Fortress 2 on The Orange Box on the 360 last night. I hadn't tried playing because I had heard it was just brutal as far as lag goes, but it worked just fine. I downloaded the latest patch and started playing. It was a lot of fun. I plan on playing again tonight. If you own a 360 and don't have The Orange Box you should check it out.

A word from the wise when it comes to playing Wii sports with your family: Stay far away from them when you play tennis. My daughter hit me a good one in the arm with the remote trying to hit the ball.

Today when my EGM magazine arrived in the mail I realized that I have more magazine subscriptions than ever. I have the Official Xbox Magazine, The Official Playstation Magazine, Game Informer, and EGM. I'll probably subscribe to Nintendo Power as well. It's only 20 bucks for 12 issues.

Time for me to stop blogging now and get back to gaming. It's been a great weekend so far!

Saturday, April 5, 2008

First Wii Impressions


Getting off the couch and actually having to move to play a video game is kinda strange. The whole concept of the Wii is actually nothing new. Motion controls have been in arcades for years. Nintendo just took coin-op games out of the arcade and into your home at an affordable price. After playing Wii Sports tonight I can see why casual gamers are eating this console up. Face it there are more casual gamers out there than hardcore gamers. This console was made for casual gamers who just want to have fun with their friends and family.

My first impression of Wii Sports is that it was fun to play and interact with. I played alone for a while tonight. I asked my 13 year old daughter if she wanted to play, but she was on the computer and couldn't be bothered. The controls were quite responsive 98% of the time. I actually felt like I got a little exercise while playing boxing. Playing baseball was fun too. If I swung hard the bat on the screen swung hard. It was definitely more responsive than I thought it would be. With all of this being said I think this could all get old really fast. I can definitely see it being fun with family and friends though.

Wii Play also came bundled with my console. I played a few games, but was really unimpressed with it. It got low reviews scores as well. It came with an extra Wii remote and nunchuck, so that was a plus.

Super Mario Galaxy is kinda like I expected it to be, but better than I expected it to be. It's got some of the old elments of past Mario games, but a whole lot of new elements too. So far I'd have to say it deserves the high review scores it's received.

I still plan on picking up Super Smash Bros. Brawl, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and possibly Resident Evil 4. RE4 is one of my all time favorite games. I finished it on the PS2 a while back, but it's so good I'd like to revisit it on the Wii.

Another reason I wanted the Wii besides being able to play some games with my family is the virtual console. There are some old Nintendo games as well as TurboGrafx games that I'd like to play again.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Addressing My Last Blog Entry & More Random Thoughts


It seems that I opened up a can of worms with my last blog entry for one of my blog readers. A reader that I respect in a major way. I'll just start out by giving some opinions on some of the things he had to say.

1) My downloadable porn idea wasn't all that serious of an idea. I did say it would never happen, and for good reason. It would be way to easy for children to d/l adult movies. Not to mention Xbox already gets enough heat over mature games. On the plus side it would make a ton of money for Microsoft. The adult movie industry is a billion dollar industry. Microsoft would make a bundle of cash just off of guys in college with 360's.

2) I still say an internet browser would be nice. I haven't heard of or read online about a single PS3 getting any type of virus. I've even read about people delibertely
trying to hack into a PS3 with no success.

3) I think paying 400 bucks or more for an Xbox 360 should entitle a 360 owner to be able to have free service. Again, I've never belly ached about having to pay because I make a good living. I'm thinking about the kids and college guys and girls who don't exactly have the money to spare. Not all kids are little jerks. I actually think that grown adults can be way worse than those young kids. More people being able to play on Xbox Live could potentially equal more games being bought to play on Xbox Live.

4) I do have call you out on the Wii being a "Fisher Price console". Not that I'm coming to the defense of the Wii or anything because you know my stance on console fanboys. If ever there was a Fisher Price console it would be the undependable red ringing Xbox 360. Toys break. Good consoles do not. As far as dependability goes we all know that the Wii and the PS3 are head and shoulders above the Xbox 360. While the Wii is definitely NOT for hardcore gamers it is a fun console for a family or party situation. No matter how you look at it Nintendo obviously knows what they are doing because they destroy Microsoft and Sony every month in sales. Not bad for a "Fisher Price Console". I'm just happy to have the best of all three worlds.

5) I'm glad you at least agreed with a couple of things I had to say. Nothing, but total respect for you, Wingman! :)

Now on to random thoughts....

After playing Rainbow Six Vegas 2 since it's release I must say that I enjoyed RSV more than this sequel so far. This game has some minor problems. I'm noticing some frame rate issues for one. The game has been a bit frustrating during certain levels. I like a challenge of course, but a few levels have been a bit irritating. One minor complaint of mine is for the points you get for different kills. Why on earth they only give you a +1 for a headshot is beyond me. Overall it's a fun game, but I think I prefer the first Vegas game. With all of that being said I still haven't played online.

MLB 08 The Show is probably the best baseball video game I've ever played. I'm getting better at the hitting part of the game, but I seem to want to swing at every pitch thrown at me. I'm still in spring training, so I'm working on my game.

Super Mario Galaxy has been a fun experience so far. It's that go to game for when I need to relax after blowing the crap out of everyone in a game like RSV2. It's just good platforming fun.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Top 5 Things I Would Add To Make The Xbox 360 Better


1) Downloadable Porn. (It will never happen, but I really think Microsoft would make a ton of cash on downloadable adult movies in hd. Let's put the X in Xbox!)

2) Internet Browser (It would come in handy at times.)

3) The ability to use an external hard drive (You can do this with the Wii and the PS3. Microsoft makes you shell out 180 bucks for a 120 gig hard drive, which I did.)

4) Built in wi-fi without having to buy the wi-fi adaptor for 100 bucks. That's just ridiculous.

5) Make Xbox Live Free (I've heard all of the arguments for and against this. Sony and Nintendo have free online service. I know that Xbox Live is superior to both Sony and Microsoft in the online department, but it wouldn't break Microsoft to make Xbox Live free. I'm not a cheap bastard by any means either. I spend thousands on consoles, games, and downloads.)

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Wii 4 Mii


That quite possibly could have been the easiest blog title entry yet. I know it's April fools day, but I assure you that this is not an April fools day joke. I was at Wal-mart today picking up various items for home and for my lunch for work when I heard an announcement that went something like this "DEAR WAL-MART SHOPPERS WE NOW HAVE NINTENDO WII'S AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE. I REPEAT WE HAVE NINTENDO WII'S FOR PURCHASE". I then thought to myself for about a second "would you like to buy a Wii"?
My answer to myself was "Yes, I certainly do because I'm a gadget whore"!

I ended up buying the bundle that came with Wii Sports as well as Wii Play and an extra controller. I also picked up Mario Galaxy. I like the Mario franchise, and always have. It was basically a system seller for me. I was just waiting for a day like today when I could actually find one. This is the perfect console for me to play games with my family. I'm itching to get back to the store to buy Zelda and Super Smash Brothers.

I now have the best of all of the current gaming worlds. I have two Xbox 360's, one PS3, one Nintendo Wii, one PSP, and my daughter has a Nintendo DS. We won't even get into all the old consoles I own. Damn, I love gaming!
Games I'm Playing:

Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360)







About Me

My photo
Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States
I'm 38. I'm addicted to Xbox 360 gaming and Dallas Stars hockey. I make a decent living at a boring job where I run two autoclaves and do various other tasks. My escape from this boring as hell life is video games, hockey, and music. I generally listen to Metal music, but I also love 80's tunes as well as 70's tunes. I have an unusual love for the band Overkill. They do it for me for some reason. Blitz is GOD!

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