Saturday

Oh. My. God.

Bob Costas just mixed Star Wars and Star Trek references.

"And the force is with...Steve Spach(pronounced Spock)."

I thought you were cool Costas. That might have dropped you below The King of All Douchebag Football Commentators. Whoever you're rooting for, I hope they stink it up.

We just recorded the first part of our first podcast.

It's fucking weird to hear my voice. It's going to be a fucking bitch editing this.

Re: Happy New Years

Dude, Peggle is awesome. I don't own a proper version of it though. The original Peggle was an 2007 game, but they released Peggle Nights in 2008. I'm going to get Peggle for the 360 when it's released because it'll have both versions. Plus achievements.

The layout of that games post is totally off. I'm not gonna bother.

We might record more for the podcast. Rock, Jooks, CB, sneaks, Tanner, anyone interested? Need a mic and skype and audacity.

Friday

happy new years!

i've got a double-decker brain laden with diesel-fumey prose prepared (alvin keep making lists -- where's peggle?) but for now peep the scroll on this Fox News youtube clip. *facepalm*


I fucked up the format I know

I just wanted to hear about everyone's New Year's Eve. I went to my fiancee's friend's brothers'house. I broke my White Castle cherry and I had two doublecheese sliders. I really enjoyed them. Lots of onion flavor and gooey cheese. Fries were alright, but in their defense I was eating in someone's back seat and the lady at the window didn't give me ketchup so I had to eat them nude.

It was Guitar Hero party. It was a sight to see. Failing songs, finger pointing, screams from people who felt overwhemned, and two drummers on one kit.I kept getting stuck with Bass and everyone thought I was some God on Bass, but if you compare how namy notres a gutiar makes as apposed to the bass. Guitarist had to deal with similar progressions dyring a shot, but a guitariat will always have more notes than Bass Player. You get breaks when whatever quiet solo comes, it'll be you time have more arrention.

Ed Note: Just thought I'd put it up. I remembered writing this but never saw it on the page.

Thursday

Games of the Year

TOP 10 GAMES

I had two criteria(if criteria is plural, is it criterias? That doesn't sound right. Great, my lack of grammar knowledge really reinforces my credibility/rant) for this list. One, the game was released in 2008. Two, I had finished the game. I did make one exception for that last rule, but I'll explain when I get there.

Honorable Mention: Professor Layon and the Curious Village




Level 5, the developer of this game, is poised for a big year whenever they release the PS3 exclusive White Knight Chronicles, but meanwhile they fucking killed with this puzzle, point and click adventure. The art is wonderful, with drawing obvious references to Miyazaki. I haven't had that much experience with brain teasers so I could really feel the IQ points going into my head after I would successfully solve a puzzle. I can't wait for the sequels.


Honorable Mention: Castle Crashers


We all played those quarter munching beat-em-up's back when we were kids. Final Fight, The Simpsons, TMNT Arcade. This is what Castle Crashers is. Move through levels, punch people in the face, eat food for health, but the game has added RPG elements like leveling up, magic spells, and collecting gear. Very good, very funny, but damn I wish the multiplayer wasn't broken at launch. I would have played it a lot more(They recently fixed multiplayer last week). If you don't enjoy beating numerous enemies senseless...you're wrong.


10: Space Invaders Extreme



What the hell...it's just Space Invaders...with fluorescent colors, multiple enemy types that require strategy to defeat,techno beats that react to your shooting, upgradable weapons, stage bosses, multiplayer(that no one really played), and online leaderboards. It's just Space Invaders...but EXTREME!

9: Mirror's Edge



Oh, how I wanted to love you Faith. And I do. Enough to put you in my Top 10. I don't mind the abuse. It's okay. Maybe I just like being frustrated because I died 20 times on the same jump, and then another 30 times during some stupid combat scenario. Man, you...I mean the game is just so beautiful and the world is interesting to look at. DICE did a good job of capturing the feeling of movement, sliding and flying through levels. I just wish you could fucking run away from cops.
8: Super Smash Bros. Brawl


I fucking hate you so much Nintendo. This should have been number one. Really. You had me in the palm of your hand, but you had to fuck up the online play. Here's a tip: People don't want to play two minute matches when looking for random matches. I can't deny that this is a really fun game, but I don't have game friends here. I can only imagine the sick matches we would have everyone still lived near Don's. I can't really say anything else. It's Smash Bros. With new characters and new maps. It's slower, not as frantic as Melee. It's really good, but fuck Nintendo. They don't need more smoke blown up their ass.
7: Audiosurf







YOU DIDN'T BUY THIS WHEN IT WAS TWO BUCKS FOOL. I CAN PLAY TO BARRY MANILOW SON
No, wait I will say that this game is great if you want to interact with your music collection. You can use any song that you have, so the replayability is endless. That is, until you get sick of it, which so far I am not.
6: Mario Kart Wii


I was sort of surprised that I put Mario Kart here. To be honest it's just feels like a mash up of all the Mario Kart games with few additions. I couldn't stop playing it though, and it was a godsend when my 360 broke. This is the only game on Wii that maintains an online community because the online play/matchmaking actually works. I can play a full race with strangers on my Wii. What a crazy thought.
PS - Fuck Nintendo.
5: Gears of War 2


There are so many ridiculous choice lines in this game. "Eat shit and die." "More like ten shitloads." My personal favorite is "THEY'RE SINKING CITIES WITH A GIIIIANT WORM!" They tried to make the story serious, but it was laughable, but I got some entertainment out of how bad it was, so that was good. The most fun you'll have is playing Horde mode though, but everyone knows/says that. Perhaps I should have ranked it lower because the multiplayer sorta broken at the moment, like Smash Bros. The difference is this isn't a Nintendo game, so obviously I love it. I really need to stop Nintendo bashing. Anyway, play this game.


4: Geometry Wars 2

This game fills my need to score big points. Online leaderboards kept me hungry to play. I think that this game caused me to lose the most sleep because it's so easy to just spam the start button every time you die and boom you're back to shooting those fucking Six different ways to play, pretty shiny 80's style vector graphics, it's the best arcade style game right now.

3: Rock Band 2



I can't stop messing with the plastic instruments. It's a serious problem. It's the same game with new songs, but I still close my eyes and lose myself in the moment when I'm banging on the plastic toy drums. It also doesn't help that Harmonix releases new songs every week. My most recent addition to my library has fulfilled my fantasy of being Gwen Stefani. I have a problem.
2: Grand Theft Auto IV

Ooooh man. If there was a hardcore gamer base reading this blog I would get so much shit from them right now. Blah blah blah overrated blah blah blah. I have to put it up here though because I spent the most time this year playing this game. I don't care what people say, but Rockstar fucking killed it. Liberty City hasn't looked this good, and there's so much to do. For the most part the story was an intriguing crime story, but honestly it really fell flat at the end. It just started feeling like every other GTA game, but the first half was awesome. This is the one game that I still have not finished though. I still feel like it's okay to put it on my list because I just need to do the last mission, but I don't think I'll ever do it because I just got too frustrated. I've been around town enough though to say that this game is worthy of Games of the Year lists.

1: Left 4 Dead


I don't feel right having this at the top of my list. I mean it just came out, and I might be blinded by that fact. It's so shiny. I already knew this was going to be my most favorite game this year after I played the demo and I team killed someone, then pretended to help them up like 6 times, and then finally ending their lives with a couple of shotgun rounds to the face. That's what it's about. You share these unique experiences with people that you enjoy playing with, and because of that sole reason I feel that you can't get any better than that. People who don't want to buy it because there isn't enough content, I can understand that. It's hard to really justify 60 bucks for only four maps, but if you're like me and you just make fun with what you got, then you'll think that this is a really good fucking game. This will be like my Team Fortress 2 of 2007, which is to say I'm going to be playing this well into 2009, every weekend, with the same people, until the next big profile game comes out.