Journal: E3 Hangover

It’s been awhile since I’ve written a Journal entry and it’s because of E3. The media event completely drained me last week and then I had some payment issues this past weekend so I’m still kind of tired, despite getting a lot of sleep. However, today was alright. I went and bought a pantry for my kitchen. Now we have more space in the Kitchen and our stuff isn’t all crowded in the cupboards. I wrote a Gaming Landscape so check that out and I wrote a preview on the Castle of Illusion remake for Gaming Precision. That’ll go up tomorrow at 9 am PDT so check that out! Besides that, today has been pretty kick back.

I’m listening to an episode of Podtoid and it’s super funny! Max Scoville is talking about how he loves Katy Perry. I think she would be hot if her eyes weren’t so creepy. Which is weird because sometimes they look fine, not creepy at all, but I still remember when they do look creepy. Oh well, that’s tangential. Peace!

My Gaming Landscape [June 17, 2013]

Oh my god! E3 was so crazy! Definitely one of the better E3 of the past several years. All I wanted to do was play games after that so I managed to play quite a few over the past couple of weeks. I didn’t write a Gaming Landscape last week so this will be what I’ve been playing over the past two weeks as oppose to one week.

I gave up on Ni No Kuni. I just couldn’t get into that game. It was too slow paced and I would always start falling asleep when playing it. So I returned that to Gamefly and got Folklore for the PS3. That game is a piece of crap with awful combat and horrible presentation. So I returned THAT and got Lair. The motion controls aren’t as bad as people say but the game is boring. Go over there, shoot this, go over there, shoot that. Rinse, repeat. So I returned that today and we’ll see what I get next. Motorstorm is on the top of my list right now so hopefully that. Oh and I ended up deleting The Swapper, Grid 2 and Strike Suit Zero because I’ve decided to focus less on reviews and actually play all the games I own.

I picked up Super Mario 3D Land again and the extra levels are harder and a bit more fun but I’m still not really loving it. People get excited about being able to play as Luigi but he’s not really different from Mario. If he had different abilities, that would be different, but they haven’t really done that since Super Mario Bros 2. So here, it doesn’t really matter. I’ve also been playing Mario Kart 7 and that’s still fun. I started Fire Emblem: Awakening and I like it. A lot actually but I’m not in love with it. I’ve only done like 2 or 3 chapters so I’ll talk about it more as I go along.

I started playing Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction but then decided to play the games in order and switched over to the first game. I will say that Tools of Destruction is a beautiful game and plays SO much better than the original. I completed the first game but man does that game have problems! Imprecise platforming, a few broken levels, boring presentation, and god, do I miss having the ability to strafe. But it’s still an okay game. I might write a review but we’ll see. Right now, I’m working on Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando and I like it more already.

I played a little bit of Sly 2 but it’s mostly been on hold for the past week. I started playing Infamous though after getting excited for Infamous: Second Son. However, I don’t like it. Cole runs too fast and the cover system doesn’t really work. The world doesn’t have that much to do in terms of side missions and because I’m almost always being shot at by the reapers, I don’t feel like exploring the city. That’s a problem for an open world title. I’m still playing it but I don’t know for how long since I don’t like the game. At least it was free. I got it back when PSN went down after being hacked.

Finally, I got my fighting game on and started playing Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online on my PS3. I’m planning to get all the items for Kazuya Mishima and I’m just been playing Ghost Mode over and over earning gold. I’ve always dug Tekken 5 and it was the first downloadable game I got for my PS3 back in 2006 I think. I also tried Scorpion out in Injustice: Gods Among Us but I think I’ve moved past that game now.

Alright! That’s what I’ve been playing for the past two weeks. What about you?

TesseracT: Altered State review

Recently, I’ve been giving the current state of music on the charts a hard time as I feel that the year in music so far has been not only bad but boring and uninspired. Seriously, if you look at the Billboard Top 40, it clearly doesn’t know what the fuck it wants to do. However, to be clear, that disdain applies to the underground as well. While it may not be for the same reason, the quality of music there has been particularly low as well. So recently I’ve been desperate to hear anything new and interesting to pull me away from the new Justin Timberlake album, which I don’t even consider to be very good but unlike everything else out right now is at least interesting.

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Journal: Calm Before the Storm

So I had a nice day in today. Played Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destructions, Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, Sly 2: Band of Thieves, I even started playing Fire Emblem: Awakening. In the morning I watched the Three Stooges movie. It was funny, a lot better than I thought it would be! Later in the day, I saw five episodes of Archer with my mother, including some I’ve never seen before. Love that show. Oh yeah and I downloaded Vine on my phone and screwed around with that for a bit but that’s about it. Peace!

Journal: Preparing for E3

Today was a pretty easy day though it felt like I did a lot. I organized the other writers at Gaming Precision for next week, which is the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3. I made sure they knew what was expected of them for the upcoming madness. I also compiled two of the writer’s thoughts, as well as my own, and posted a E3 predictions piece. Then I did some clean up on the site. Spam, old posts, comments. I also edited, posted and share some articles.

After that, I been mostly relaxing. I watched another episode of Game of Thrones. This is the second episode of Season 1 and I actually liked it a lot. The first episode left me kind of un-enthused. However, this one I liked a lot. The direwolves in this episode are bad ass. Peter Dinklage’s character is really starting to come into his own as well. I think I’ll watch another episode tomorrow.

I also saw an episode of Girls. I’m really making that HBO GO account work for me. I don’t really know what to make of it really. I’ve seen two episodes and the pacing, tone and premise all feels weird to me, even though it’s not particularly unique. Weird by the way isn’t the same thing as bad. I think I’ll keep watching it just because it’s only a half an hour and I think something will happen to garner my attention more.

I recorded a new Colorwind Plays video, this time of Thunder Force III. That game kicked my ass. However, I think it’s entertaining hearing me struggle to even complete the first level. I played some Ratchet & Clank Future Tools of Destruction for about an hour and now I’m going to edit a couple of articles that just were finished and then maybe play some more Ratchet or maybe watch something. I’m not sure yet. Maybe start playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution because I read a preview of the upcoming Deus Ex mobile game and that made me want to try it again. PEACE!

Journal: Screw You Cancer

The past couple of days, I’ve been focusing on organizing Gaming Precision. I’ve been making sure all the writers are on the same page and the site layout looks good. I wrote my E3 predictions and I decided to stop focusing on reviews and do more features so I can play the games I’ve bought recently.

Today, my mother Sin had a doctor’s appointment to see if she has cancer. She had a sample of the area surgically removed from her and they’ve been testing it for the past three weeks. We went and found out that all the test came back benign, meaning she’s cancer-free. Other than that, I played Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. That’s about it. Peace!

Journal: Designing the Perfect Gaming Website

Monday for me usually means a lot to do. I woke up insanely early after bumming around yesterday and playing games, two of which to completion. You can ready about that in the Gaming Landscape post I wrote today. I did that at 4 in the morning. After that, I wrote my Dust: An Elysian Tail review, which went up later today.

Most of my day however was devoted to redesigning Gaming Precision. I was finally given the tools to do so today so I took out some extraneous widgets and changed the background. I reorganized some categories and really tried to make the site look as slick as I could get it without changing the main theme at the foundation. It looks better now, I think. Check it out if you get the chance.

I also spent some time clearing out the spam over at Unbound Gamer. I have to say, I hate it. It’s soul crushingly boring. I’m going to have to figure out something for that but I already got my hands full with Gaming Precision so one step at a time.

I started playing The Swapper for review and I’m not really getting into it. I don’t see what the big deal is since we’ve seen abstract looking indie puzzle games like this before. Oh well, I’ll just keep playing and see if it improves. I also watching a bit of Adventure Time on Netflix. I started watching it yesterday and I’m starting to like it now, more than I did at first.

Oh and this morning I listened to the new Depeche Mode album, Delta Machine. It was good but not great. 3.5 out of 5. I actually listened to a lot of music today as I had Pandora playing most of the time I was redesigning the site. Quick side note: I think I’m ready to start doing Colorwind Plays videos again so I’m excited for that. Alright, that was my day! Peace!

My Gaming Landscape [June 3, 2013]

The beginning of the week was all about reviewing games. I’ve been spending time with Ni No Kuni and while it’s getting better, I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that in my opinion this isn’t that very good of a game. It’s got some really good ideas and I love the Pokemon influence in the combat but the pacing of the story and the game in general just sucks. It really does. A lot of this has to do with the constant reading you need to do. Most of the game isn’t voice acted and it’s a problem. I’ve only logged in about 10 to 12 hours or something like that so I’m going to continue on but this is turning into a slog.

I also played Dust: An Elysian Tail for review. I completed it and I loved this game. I’m writing the review for it later today and it should be up soon if not today as well. I’ll save most of my thoughts in the review but I’ll say that I loved this game. I tried the demo for XBLA when it came out last year but never bought it. I’m glad that I waited for the PC version though because it looks gorgeous, better than on the 360.

That’s all I played during the week. The weekend, however, I downloaded Grid 2, The Swapper and Strike Suit Zero. Haven’t tried Strike Suit Zero yet but Grid 2 seems okay the hour or so I’ve played it and I think I’m going to review The Swapper next since I’ve heard so much about it. I’ve spent like 15 minutes with it so far but I’m not seeing what the big deal is yet.

Over the weekend, I played and finished Super Mario 3D Land. Well, I rescued Princess Peach anyways. Apparently, I need to save Luigi too. I’m not going to. Screw Luigi. Not because I don’t like him. Mostly because I don’t want to play that game anymore. I pretty much was playing that game on muscle memory because I was so bored. The level design isn’t that inspired and I only started dying at the last world. I am so tired of Mario games now. It’s not really doing it for me anymore. Super Mario Galaxy was the last good Mario game I played and that was 2007. It’s been six years damn it! Get your crap together, Nintendo!

I finished Sly Cooper and the Thievious Raccoonus and I’m sort of glad I’m done with it. The first game doesn’t really hold up anymore. It’s not a bad game but it’s so antiquated compared to the rest of the series. I got all the vaults opened but I need two time trials to finish. However, I already got all the Trophies, including my first Platinum so I don’t know if I’ll do it. I’m focusing on Sly 2 now that the first game is done.

That’s all I’ve been playing. What have you been playing this past week?

Journal: Bumming It

I spent the last two days doing nothing but playing games and sleeping. I finished Dust: An Elysian Tail and I really dig it. I liked the story and ending a lot. I’m going to write a review for it so I’ll elaborate on the game then. I also played a lot of Super Mario 3D Land on my 3DS XL. I’m not really liking it. Even though it’s completely playable and competent, it is boring as hell. There really hasn’t been a good Mario game since Super Mario Galaxy 2. That was three years ago and while that’s not that long ago, four more Mario games have been released. I’m probably going to write about this for Gaming Precision. I also started thinking about a solution to used games after listening to an old episode of Podtoid. I’ll probably write this up too.

I started watching the new episodes of Arrested Development and so far, they’re alright. I liked the first and third episode. The second was kind of meh. I’ve only watched three episodes so that’s as far as I’ve gotten. I’ve also been sleeping a lot because I haven’t been sleeping well recently. I think it’s because there’s something with my bed that’s uncomfortable. I’m going to see if I can change that. Now I’m just watching Adventure Time on Netflix and later I might clean my room. Like deep clean it. Windex, dusting, furniture polish, the works. Peace!

Journal: Administrated!

Today was a day of filling in the blanks. I decided to separate my normal Google stuff and my Colorwind Plays stuff into two different accounts so I got a new gmail account and set up that as well as the Google+ page. The YouTube page is next though I don’t know when I’ll be doing that.

I also checked out the other site I’m managing, Unbound Gamer and did a little bit of cleaning but I didn’t get far. I emailed the guy in charge of the site but he didn’t get back to me. I did go through Gaming Precision and found a bunch of cool things the site can do and I’m hoping to implement some of the stuff I found. I also cleaned up some errors in past posts.

I played some more of Ni No Kuni and Dust: An Elysian Tail. Both games are kind of similar in that they are more pretty than they are fun. They’re not bad but they don’t seem to hold up to what they promise. Tomorrow is going to be an easy day, as my Fridays often. Another week down! Peace!

Journal: Meeting

I trained my other new writer for Gaming Precision today. It took a bit longer than I expected but it went well. I had a meeting about my duties for our sister site, Unbound Gamer. This means more responsibility. Bring it!

I played more of Ni No Kuni and Dust: An Elysian Tail but I also tried out that workout series by Diamond Dallas Page, the wrestler. I just did the tutorial of the different moves and I’m already a bit sore. It’s intense for Yoga. Now, I’m just watching TV and resting because I’m going to have a busy day tomorrow. Peace!

Journal: Tentacle Porn

I had a pretty good weekend. Friday, I hung out with my friend David and his girlfriend Evelyn as well as his friends Roxanne and Maria, along with her boyfriend. We went to Oggi’s, which if you’ve never been, go immediately because while their pizza isn’t great, the wings are good and the Chicken Parmesan is awesome!

Saturday and Sunday, I bummed around playing video games and watching movies and TV shows. I saw Iron Man 1 in preparation for seeing Iron Man 3 (Iron Man 2 is next) and I have seen it before but just as a reminder, I saw it again. It’s a good movie. Not great, IMO, but good. I don’t need to see it again really.

I also saw Girls, that show on HBO. I don’t really know what to make of it. I was watching the first episode and I won’t give anything away but I don’t think I’ve ever watched a sex scene with a puzzled look on my face before. But there you go. I also saw the first episode of Game of Thrones and I think it was…okay. I think it looks amazing, it’s shot beautifully and the acting is good but so far, the story has got no hooks in me whatsoever. I’ll check out a couple more episodes but I’m not super excited about it.

Yesterday, my mother came over and we barbecued hamburgers, hot dogs and carne asada. It was okay but I can’t really ‘hang out’ with my mother. We have nothing to talk about and my other mother Cynthia starts talking a lot. Maybe she’s trying to break tension but she just winds up being annoying. Oh and a couple of my friends were supposed to come over but THEY DIDN’T! Douches. I’m just kidding. Maybe.

Finally, today I had a busy day. I wrote some emails, got a site-wide feature started, and trained a new writer. I’m actually supposed to train another writer but he hasn’t gotten to me yet. I also played Dust: An Elysian Tail and Ni No Kuni for review. Ni No Kuni is starting to get better now that I have another party member with me and I can evolve my familiars. This game is just straight up a 3D action RPG Pokemon game now and that’s a good thing.

Oh and me and Cynthia went to Red Robin for National Burger Day. Also because we wanted to. If you check my twitter, I took a picture of the burger I got. A Monster Burger (it’s a double) with ketchup and both American and Swiss cheese melted and the hamburger patties well done. So juicy and tasty. The combinations of the fluffy sesame seed bun, the tangy ketchup, the gooey cheese and the charbroiled meat is delicious. I was beyond stuffed afterward but, as always, worth it.

A final note: I was looking at Facebook and my buddy EJ posted a video from Tesseract - a band I’ve heard of but never actually listened to - and he described the video as essentially Tentacle Porn. Now, to be clear, I am not into that kind of thing. Many of the fetish stuff, I’m not a fan of. That being said, I clicked on that video expecting to see some chick get reamed by a squid or something. So I start watching the video. It’s a girl sitting on a bed, talking on the phone. I’m like, ‘okay’. Then she stands up and takes off her coat and she’s wearing only lingerie and thigh high stockings or whatever they’re called and I’m like, ‘alright, here we go.’ I’m expecting tentacles to bust through the walls or something. But instead she sinks into her bed after teasing the idea of touching herself for some unknown reason and then we get the implied situation of tentacles rubbing her. Probably was only some heavy petting. Then at the end, she rubs her stomach like she’s pregnant or whatever. Bottom line: it was a let down. You don’t promise tentacle porn and give me a tentacle playing grab ass with a Victoria Secret model. The only reason it wasn’t a fail was because the song kicks ass.

Alright! That was more attention than that video needed. Let me know in the comments how was your day was.