Just random thoughts and maybe a quick game review.

• 7Nov 09

  Wal-Mart and MS have a winner.

  As you may not have noticed, Wal-Mart is having a one day sale thats being unadvertise. You can find details only on their site. I believe IGN did a feature on it because they are selling a Xbox 360 Arcade at the normal price but with a $100 gift card. There seemed to be confusion with the gift card because the site says its only valid online but I have first hand knowledge that the card can be used in the stores also. So, pretty much you get a Arcade for $100. The sale started at 8am and at 8:30 they sold out while I was waiting in line to buy mine. I got the 2nd to last. I've heard from a friend in another city that has been to two with no luck and said there was even a fight for the last Arcade at one of the stores. So, on to more stores he goes. I'm waiting to hear back from another friend if a small town's store has any left.

  True, we all three have a Xbox 360 already so why are we geting another one, it's quite simply, the deal is amazing and something that would normally only happen on a Black Friday sale. Shoot, I'd even buy a Wii/PS3 if they had a deal like this going. For me now, I have three 360s. Two I bought and one I got in a trade. Sure, I don't feel as giddy with this purchase as I did when I got my first one but I still enjoyed taking it out of the box and setting it up. All in all, I'm very happy with the purchase and I'll be playing Xbox 360 games for quite awhile. This will surely boost the numbers for MS for the month.

  Moving on to games. I've played a ton of Borderlands and still very much enjoy it and recommend. We all know they have some DLC coming out but we still don't know what the release date is. The lastest news is that there will be new info about it next week so I'm hoping that includes a release date. I must say I'm happy/impressed that I saw tv ads for it just a few days ago during the Ultimate Fighter and World Series. Thats three weeks after release and you just don't see that. I mean shoot, all the ads for Uncharted 2 have stopped so again, good for Borderlands. I'm hoping for a top 5 placement in the Oct NPD data.

  Last thing I want to talk about is Halo. If you have played any Halo games, you need to download the free Halo Waypoint. It's like a Halo hub for news and achievements. The really cool this is that it gives away free avatar clothing based on your achievements you have earned in Halo games. I was awarded a ODST combat suit and matching helmet plus a toy or whatever they call it. A flying eye thingie, I don't recall the name but you can see it in my gamertag picture. Anyway, it's a nice reward system and yet another thing the PS3 can't match.

  • Posted Nov 7, 2009 9:19 am PT
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• 29Oct 09

  Bored at work #18.

  Going thru my old blog posts, I'd like to talk about some old subjects.

  The first one is the laptop. If you recall back in April or May, I said I was going to get a desktop replacement during the summer. Well, that got pushed back because of the move to a rental house. I still very much plan on doing the whole replacement. At this time, I don't see myself getting a laptop for at least six months. The cost isn't the only negative factor. Games are still a big factor and as it was a year ago or even two years ago, there just isn't any that makes buying a $1200 laptop a good idea. Not even Diablo III could. I got high hopes that Star Trek Online will be good but who knows when that'll come out. And for multi-platform games, would I rather play split screen Borderlands on a 17" laptop screen or a big HDtv with the Xbox 360? Plus all the other games that the PC can't do or requires a 2nd copy and PC.

  On a side note about PC's, I'm planning on getting Windows 7 this weekend. I'll be installing it on a 2nd hard drive just in case something goes bad or such and I want to remain with my XP. If I like it and run into no issues then I'll do the whole format of my main.

  The next subject is used games. As you may have noticed, I'm a big Borderlands fan. So when I tell people about it, I tell them to buy it new so that the dev and pub get paided. Buying it used does nothing for them. Even waiting till a new copy is $20 is better then buying used because at least some of that goes back to the people who made the game possible. So, before you get on your soap box about how piracy is killing the industry, ask yourself and your friends how many used games have you bought this year?

  Moving on to something new, I got a buddy down in FL buying the Super Elite MW2 next month and I must say I'm jealous. While I think the RE5 red Xbox 360 looks better, it's still nice to have some art on your machine. The larger hard drive would be nice, but not a must have with a 120g drive already. So, another friend joins the ranks and it'll be nice having another player for Borderlands and Forza 3.

  Anyone else find it funny that all of a sudden Sony is advertising the PS3? Like before the slim came out, they didn't bother. If you watched the Ultimate Figher last night, you would think that this was a brand new system coming out. Just commerical after commercial. Thou, I have this feeling that since all the commerical are for Uncharted 2, the commercials will go away soon and won't be back until God of War 3 is out. I do get a chuckle how they are advertising it as a do everything machine which is true. Thou, I think they might want to remind people it can do games to help make some software sales. I'm looking forward to the NPD data to see if the game does any better then Killzone 2 or Infamous did this year. Not that it's a high bar but ya know, its the PS3 so software sales are always low. But, I think the slim might help push a few more units. God speed little solider!

  Anyway, I look forward to when it's $200.

  • Posted Oct 29, 2009 8:07 am PT
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• 23Oct 09

  Bored at work #17.

  This series is finally back from vacation so lets get to it. Going to be a long one as I got the time this morning.

  Borderlands has met every expectation I had and then blew me away with stuff they didn't show before. I can't recall the last game that I did every single side mission and Borderlands has a ton, over 130! The game never dragged and I kept wanting to play each day. I finished the game in 20hrs and not since Fable II and Gears of War 2 have I've been sad when a game ended. But, like Fable II, this game keeps on going after the credits so time for the 2nd playthru! I'm still in the first area on my 2nd playthru but I can already tell it will be much tougher as the enemies are stronger, more of them, and they got new names. I've done coop a few times and it is so much fun. I can't wait for tonight when we'll be doing a long 4p session. Last time we played, the hours just melted away so I sure hope I look up from time to time or I might realize its 3am!

  Simply put, not one game so far this year can match the features and the replay value of Borderlands. It really disgusts me that some reviewers QQ about the tiny things but don't ding other games for it. For example, they say the ending is a huge let down but yet they still give Batman a higher score even thou it's ending is just a repeat of previous boss fights. That was a horrible ending. And WTF is up with Gamespot saying that the solo game is lonely? Wouldn't that make every game's solo lonely? It's a hella lot more fun then Batman's constant running and button mashing.

  After seeing all the little QQing going on with Borderlands and how stupid some people are, it's no wonder that we rarely get new IPs these days. It's sad that some people can't grasp the concept of a fast action FPS with the skills of a RPG. If it isn't a basic shooter or a crutch like Fallout 3's system to do all the shooting for you, people seem to think a game is too hard. Just disgusts me.

  Anyway, I know the NPD data is out so I could do another quarterly report but honestly, why bother? The Xbox 360 is winning in both hardware and software by a huge amount. I believe the 360's has double the amount of top 20 titles so there is simply no way for the PS3 to catch up. And while it was expected to win the hardware sales for the month, it still has to prove that it can win month after month like the 360 has done for the last 12 months. And while some would think I'm a hopeless fan boy, please note that I talk in facts and not BS I just make up to make myself feel better. As I've said before, I would gladly buy a PS3 once they are$200 or cheaper new. I simply don't think they have enough exclusives that I, repeat I, like. If multi-platform games were actually better on the PS3 then that would help but they simply aren't or even worse.

  With the new job, I'm unable to go to the NFL game in Nashville which makes me sad. I'll have to wait till turkey to see my brother. Speaking of football, I've not bothered with FF at all so far. The league I'm in is about as active as a dead lady bug. No talking and most people rarely ever make changes so it's just not fun or exciting. My friend finally realized that he did needed to make changes but now its too late. So, we'll put this year down for rebuilding. Haha.

  • Posted Oct 23, 2009 7:04 am PT
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