Archive for September, 2012
No Football. Why? No Remote!!!
Posted in Blog, Yankees with tags Football on September 23, 2012 by slateman
As my Yankees are not looking good today and as my kids are driving me to utter madness, I would love to enjoy my Sunday the way it was meant to be enjoyed. With football.
Alas! it is not to be! My remote control has been missing for about three days and with a parental lock, I’m stuck! Unless I want to watch the Disney Channel (I do not), I’m screwed. Think you could help? Here’s a pic of my remote. Just send me one. Thanks! xoxo
What I Love About Baseball / What I Hate About Baseball
Posted in Blog, Yankees on September 23, 2012 by slateman
(Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
Jeter leaves the bases loaded in the 12th (or whatever) inning.
The A’s score FOUR in the 13th. Efffff.
The Yanks score FOUR in the bottom of the 13th. WTF?!
If the Yankees didn’t win, I would have hated baseball. They didn’t. I love baseball.
It’s unfair, most certainly. I was yelling at this new Melky as he missed the bag @ 3rd!?!? I’ll give Arod credit, that should’ve won the game.
Nuñez would’ve stranded the bases loaded too if not for that E3. Man…I hate baseball sometimes. I loathe extra innings. However, as the O’s won, we needed a win, and right now, I love baseball.
Resident Evil 6: Demo Impressions
Posted in Games, Resident Evil with tags Resident Evil 6 on September 21, 2012 by slateman
I’m psyched about RE6. OK, there, I admitted the obvious. Now, the other day I talked about its expectations and what it needed to do to beat RE5. After a day with the demo, I fear it will not accomplish that.
As for what’s done right…the game looks friggin’ beautiful. Visually, it’s right where it needs to be, with great textures, plenty of detail in the background and huge scope. The new menu system is great, as it keeps you in the game while you manage inventory or options. The game keeps the power of punches and headshots and will not falter on those accounts.
However, having gone through all three demo campaigns, I felt worried. The Leon scenario was classic, with spooky hallways and zombies hidden throughout. Now, we’ve lost that really scary feeling as with a partner, you can’t retain that truly classic intensity while having a friend with you. However, I liked running through the shadowed hallways and positioning headshots on slow-moving zombies. So satisfying.
The newcomer’s scenario was just OK. I got lost a few times and, without any background, didn’t know why I should care. I’ll hold out on making any observations on this one just yet.
Finally was Chris’ campaign and I don’t know what to say. By leaving survival horror, you have to pursue that path with excellence lest you feel like a copycat…but I did not feel thrilled with much about this (Well, the boss was pretty friggin’ cool!) I am not officially nervous about this scenario. Finishing it did not leave me with the desire to play it again….precisely what you need for this to be a success IMO.
BUT, I shouldn’t be hasty. October 2nd is just around the corner. This won’t disappoint…right?
Dayan Zhanchi Lubricated = MONSTER
Posted in Blog, Cubing, Cubing Records on September 21, 2012 by slateman
I tensioned my Zhanchi and it broke in rather quickly but it never felt as good as I had hoped. I’d seen reviews of this beast of a cube with outrageous corner cutting and sexy smooth turning. Mine was never quite as awesome as what I’d seen…and expected. Today, I grabbed some CRC silicon lubricant and took the thing apart.
What’s left behind is only the beastliest cube I’ve ever laid hands on. I tensioned it, as it needed some love there…but now it is a corner-cutting, slippery-smooth, soon-to-be record-breaking machine. And if that’s not enough hyphens for you, then know this…my record will be broken. Luck is partly involved…but a good run and my awesome Zhanchi together will make it happen. Just you wait!!!
The Hobbit: Trailer #2 – Getting Psyched!
Posted in Blog, Books, Movies, Tolkien, Video with tags The Hobbit on September 21, 2012 by slateman
This has been a pretty good week. The Yankees are playing last-place teams, which gives the sense of great success. I’m currently joy puking my face off. The Resident Evil 6 demo hit (thoughts soon) and a new trailer for The Hobbit has surfaced. I’m rather thrilled about all of these things but of course, I’m exceedingly excited to see what Peter Jackson has done with my beloved J.R.R. Tolkien novel.
I picked up Lord Of The Rings in the late 90s after a lifetime of desiring to read it. Considering my collection is massive (I should take a pic), it’s safe to say I love his stuff. I love the LotR film trilogy. Obviously I’m looking forward to The Hobbit.
The new trailer is exciting and gives a real glimpse of the light-hearted nature of the book. I’m curious to see Radagast, though through all my readings, I know (and care) rather little. The only real downside is knowing there are two other films, so Smaug and the massive Battle Of Five Armies aren’t shown. However, it also means that those two things should be given proper attention and not glossed over at all. Man…I’m even more psyched now that I got thinking about it! Definitely re-reading this soon, or, in the very least, listening to the audio book on the way to work. Less than three months!!!
Borderlands 2: Joy Puking My Face Off
Posted in Borderlands, Games with tags Resident Evil 6 on September 20, 2012 by slateman
I got the damn game the day it came out but waited an entire day to play the thing. Today…I played. And I liked.
It rocks. It’s everything I wanted it to be…namely, MORE BORDERLANDS. Last night, I ended up skipping over this much-anticipated title AND the Resident Evil 6 demo to play Zuma Revenge with my wife. It was fun. But it wasn’t Borderlands. While I read previews and reviews here and there, I never can really get a feel until I play the thing. I am a very visual learner. So, getting my hands deep on in that shit means I got to level up a bit, start spreading the points, badass tokens, sold weapons, etc. It felt so familiar just better, slicker, newer. I didn’t get a long session this evening, I was so tired (2am Zuma does that to you!) but I endeavor to do so soon. This game is great, and I’m not going to divulge why. It is b/c it’s Borderlands. So damn good! Joy Puking My Face Off!
Resident Evil 6 Expectations: How To Surpass RE5
Posted in Blog, Games, Resident Evil with tags Resident Evil 6 on September 19, 2012 by slateman
The Resident Evil 6 demo is live and I’m crazy psyched to give it a full run. My buddy and I tinkered with it for 5 minutes but wanted to save the whole thing for when we had a little free time. As the game is coming out in just a few weeks, I thought I’d talk about how this game will compare to Resident Evil 5.
Now, I’ve professed my love for RE5 before. The game, released in March three years ago, has really set the standard for action games and the layout for them. Now, I won’t even give forum to anyone complaining about survival horror. This is an action game and I would have it no other way. I love Resident Evil and sincerely hope RE6 can live up to the excellence of the last installment.
So, what does RE6 need to do to match/trump its predecessor. Here is my opinion.
Layout
First off, it needs to match the fifth game in its spectacular layout. By this, I mean the save-game system must remain as it did. Though I had to cancel my GameFly subscription, I have played a lot of games over the past few years and I haven’t found one with such an impeccable layout. Your save game keeps track of each level on each difficulty, time, collectibles and itinerary. This makes it easy to jump into and out of, and I never lost data because my game wasn’t saved properly. I love it and this must return.
Scope
Having played RE5 so many times, I kind of forgot how massive it was. From the humble city-streets beginning to the grandiose finale, Chris and Sheva went through a huge world of diverse excitement. While I know RE6 will have three story arcs taking place in different places (though crossing), I hope it keeps that feel of an enormous journey rather than a jumpy collection of short stories.
Replay Value
To say this again…I beat part 5 on the PS3, then went back and did it on Veteran mode. I played through it on the easy setting and got the infinite rocket launcher. Later, I played the game with a friend on Professional…which was brutal. In order to get the platinum trophy, I went through everything again.
A different friend never played it, so we trudged through the game on the Xbox360. I couldn’t help myself, so I beat it on Veteran myself and did most of it all again just to collect stuff.
I lost my save game on the PS3, then went through AGAIN…to say I loved this game would be an understatement and I desire to have that feeling again. I loved redoing it all to get the treasures, to save up for the guns, to power them up. Very few games really give me such a rewarding feeling and I certainly hope we have plenty of unlockables (infinite rocket launchers were awesome!) as well as great Mercenaries/Versus modes again.
Power
Being surrounded by enemies in the first jungle area was an overwhelming feeling. Those giants would wreck me and all those smaller guys around me were killing me. I grabbed that magnum and, in the midst of the madness, shot a round at a masked foe. It felt HUGE. The guns really felt like they scaled as the game progressed. Handguns were OK but shotguns were brutal! So, when I unlocked the infinite rocket launcher, I was in heaven. This was just a progression from Resident Evil 4, so I expect this to return in full force. Having played the demo, head shots are just as rewarding as they ever were. So good!
Thrills
To reiterate, RE is no longer about crawling through hallways with a horrible, yet intense control scheme. It’s a Hollywood movie with all the excitement and thrills of any summer blockbuster. Nothing displays this more potently than Uncharted 2. It was so outrageous and I ate up every minute of it. What will RE6 be all about? I can’t say I care. I want it to be a huge production, with twists, good voice acting, enormous explosions and much, much more.
Honestly, if the gameplay can improve on RE5’s and make it look super slick, I’ll be sold. That may sound like I’m selling it all short, but I guess that’s a testament to how much I love the series. This game should be intense, huge in scope, powerful and thrilling with a great layout and tons of replay value. I am so psyched for it to come out. Tonight…to put down Borderlands 2 for a little bit and play the demo. Rock and roll!!!
Borderlands 2: TODAY! Waiting…
Posted in Blog, Borderlands, Games on September 18, 2012 by slateman
It’s out. It’s on its way. I friggin’ loved Borderlands and I’m outrageously psyched about part 2. The game should arrive today, though my wife has off and I may not get any time to play it. Definitely going to play as the commando, definitely going solo for a while and cannot envision me disliking this game at all. So psyched! OK…more waiting. Bah!!!