So, yes...I'm one of the guys who praises Steam like it's Jesus in digital form :oops:. And I was also pretty stoked about the Offline Mode, which...well, "technically" makes PC gaming on the go possible. I never knew the fine print until today...basically, I was trying to show some of my co-workers Dead Island, which I had on my laptop, since they were on the fence about picking up the game. Yeah...basically I need to be online to sign off just to play my games without the internet :roll:. Which is fine and all, but I work at a resturant...there's really no need for a Wi-Fi hotspot here :|. Now I know that an incident where there's no possible way to jack into the internet is pretty rare, it's still a pain in the ass. For example, if I were to visit my dad's side of the family in Indiana again, where these people live on farms (you know, places where the biggest avancement in technology is an 80's pickup truck) then I'm pretty much screwed :lol:. I still love Steam, by the way. I just never tried out the Offline Mode until now, and finally saw the tiny, miniscule strings attached to it.

Like Pearl Harbor and Vietnam, this is one of those memories I wish I hadn't been around for, to be quite honest. I was in high school when it happened, and all I remember was a lot of broads crying, the television on CNN talking about the World Trade Center, I must've seen the footage on repeat about 50 times when I was in class. Truly a devastating tragedy. I mean, at the time, there was absolutely no possible way anybody could sugar coat an incident like this, no matter how hard they tried.

Needless to say, it was a shock. I mean, I don't exactly expect to hear about something like this on my way to high school. I remember being uneasy the whole day: a lot of talk about war, to biblical prophecies...and being attacked by a bunch of religious fanatics who are not afraid to die? I know the age old "unable to concentrate on school" is the biggest cliche' but this was not bulls***. I literally had my mind on it the whole day.

Anyway, this goes out to those who've felt likewise, and those who've had friends and family affected by it: there hasn't been a single day my mind didn't wander back to that moment. While I don't know anyone in New York, I know people who do. I'm not going to lie and pretend I feel their losses, so the best I can do is pay my respects.

So, I'm a few hours in, and here's some of my impressions: after playing the game for my first hour, I've came to a conclusion: Dead Island is nothing more than a first-person Dead Rising...in fact, the only huge difference is that you're not going toe-to-toe against thousands of zombies, you can't pick up everything in sight for hilarious zombie deaths (with so many beach balls in the game, kind of depressing all I can do is kick it) and no atrocious save method (at least on the PC, there's no option for a manual save...everything's done automatically :?). Aside from that, everything's in check: a WTF storyline, RPG mechanics, taking quests from some very unstable survivors (without spoiling anything, let's just say these guys are even more zany than Dead Rising's colorful cast) as well as being able to create some pretty unique and devastating weapons....and *groan* weapons also degrade over use :roll:. I know it's for the "tension" and "realism," but it's just annoying :|.

Right now, I'm about level 7, and got to try out making a couple sweet weapons (the pre-order razor bat, and the nail bat). So far, this game needs some serious polish: some environments look like crap (even more noticable when you talk to people), for some reason, pressing Y puts me in debug mode (where you can freely pass through geometry), sprinting, attacking and jumping uses stamina...but oddly enough, the almighty Duke Nukem boot doesn't (sure, the jumping, Chuck Norris kick eats stamina, but not this one...strange)...and of course, I'm waiting for that Arena bonus...which for some very odd reason I have to wait a whole month for :?. Still, I'm having a blast. Let's just say that I won't be the least bit suprised when I see my Steam manager going crazy with the updates for this game (at least, I seriously hope so :|). Still, I've had far worse launch day game-breakers (I'm looking at you, Fallout New Vegas! :evil:.).

That's right, Dead Island is right around the corner (and it blows that it releases the day I'm working a 12 hour shift :evil:.) and I'm gladly pre-loading it right now (which is great for me...as soon as I get home, I can just jump right into the game):D. This would've been one of those games I could've waited another week (for the sake of saving money) but the pre-order content was too good to pass up (the razor bat can kiss my ass, but the Arena does sound enticing, if not baffling as to why they'd announce it, but release it a month later :?). That, and I blew another $20 on the newest Age of Conan expansion (this is why I hate MMOs going free to play: everything comes with a price tag...and for loyal paying subscribers like me, my reward is that I save a whopping 10% on marketplace items :roll:.). Of course, this is also me not thinking that far ahead that I also have to attend a fundrasier for a co-worker (which will be at a bar...you know, my home away from home :lol:.) and I already know I'll be downing my usual six pack before calling it a night (which should mean I can stretch my stay for at least three hours). So...after all that is over, I'm planning on not buying anything from then on (which is actually pretty easy...contrary to belief, I can survive two whole weeks without alchohol, and aside from Dead Island, the next game I plan on purchasing is another month away). Aside from that, wait...that's about it. I'll gladly accept my award for Most Pointless and Unecessary Blog now 8).

I've admitted more than once how I'm horrible at RTS games. Still, I started playing Starcraft 2, and for what it's worth (which in my case, is nothing :lol:.) I'm having a blast. It's one of those thinking man kind of games, and I'm slowly building up my shoddy reflexes...while I'm still getting my ass kicked, at least I'm beginning to learn (all I've been doing was branching out small armies and building choke points) but still, this game moves way too fast for me (I'm either running out of resouces at critical moments, or I'm walking my men into death traps) :P. I really have to stop the habbit of bunching everyone up together, then trudging the mob from point A to B when things get frantic. I do like to strategize in games, but like I said, I can't keep up with the pace. So, any pointers on how I can suck less at this game, I'd appreciate a few tips :D.

Well, my PS3 died :(. No YLOD or anything like that, I just flipped the switch, and it never turned on (and yes...I've made sure it was plugged in :lol:.). Granted, I never took the best care of it (a dusty, 4 year old machine that I turned on once in a blue moon) but still...I had Uncharted 3 and Resistance 3 coming around the corner :cry:. Anyway, it'll be a while before I get a new one (money's pretty tight right now) so...well, s*** :(.

For me personally, that title has to go to Just Cause 2. It's just one of those titles that got a complete makeover, and being known as that one game I absolutely hated spawning a sequel I absolutely loved. I mean, not many games give you the keys to the city off the bat: the sheer amount of freedom to literally do anything you want is present the moment you boot up the game. Not only that, but it's a gorgeous game to look at. I won't lie that sometimes the massive scale of the game can be an annoyance: sometimes when I want to do a mission, it's agonizing to realize it's halfway across the island, and can literally take 45 minutes to get there.

Other than that, I've seen my share of epic moments just by being a total dick: popping enemy tires that's chasing you and witness a Hollywood-style crash, tethering cars into lakes, having the poor, lone enemy on a motorcycle chasing you on the side...then colliding head-on with upcoming traffic :lol:. Heck, sometimes the hilarious deaths of enemies wasn't my doing: sometimes I'll be speeding down the freeway, and notice in the distance a motorcycle ghost-riding towards me...and the poor fellow sliding head first towards my bumper a few seconds later. Needless to say, it's easy to forget this game has a goal when you're just having a blast filling up your Wanted meter and experimenting how to completely piss off authority :D. Sometimes I just get amazed purely by the scope of the game...not many games are both massive as a map, as well as in the air. Hell, sometimes I'm in such awe at the attention to detail, I'll be honest and say I've forgotten to open my parachute a few times...or try to dive headfirst into a lake, completely misjudge it, and faceplant right into the ground :lol:.

It's things like these that make the underwhelming gunplay (aside from auto-aim, there's manual aim too, but not as fluid as I'd like...also, I need to collect weapon parts to beef up my weapons...kind of sad that grenades don't actually kill enemies :|) or completely unecessary mechanics to trigger missions (earn enough Chaos points to "unlock" faction and agency missions...really feels like an artificial way to make the game last longer). Sure, there's tons of games out there that have their share of breathtaking moments, but Just Cause 2 is one of those games that come packaged with so much content, it's no exaggeration that your imagination is the limit.

I know I've been absent for a very long time (I do apologize for not upkeeping everyone's blogs :oops:.) but I'm sure most of you are aware as to why. Yes, dame troubles. I guess the bad part of keeping things like this close to the chest is that people start cheering you on for something you already know is dead on arrival (people still are egging me on to get her number and such...man, if they only knew >_>).

That, and I've known this woman for a long time. Hell, I work with her...took me two years and risking friendship to make my move. I mean, we've been pretty close as it is. And you all know me as a "All Or Nothing" kind of guy, so I don't hesitate to take huge risks...well, this one's officially out of my hands. I've tried everything humanly possible to bond with this woman, and failed every time (if you think I was the silent guy at work...this broad suprised even me when she gives me one word answers to me everytime I try and strike up a conversation). I mean, I've been scratching my head ever since that day, wondering exactly what was wrong with me. I mean, I told her before I even got her number (I'm not even going to repeat myself...I must've said this a dozen times already :roll:.) and still went through with it. Hell, it's even funnier that ever since that day, she's been avoiding me. And when I try to book something, always an excuse (seriously...what kind of job demands you work two weeks straight? :|). I mean, I already told her (yet another dozen times) I can take a hint, and I'm not going to cry about it. See, it's not knowing that's driving me nuts, not the rejection.

Anyway, turns out she's been trying her luck with this other guy. Personally, it won't be a huge deal, except the guy she's diggin' is like a bro to me. A fellow co-worker, but we may as well pass for brothers. I mean, one day at work, the guy actually comes up to me and starts talking about her...hardest conversation I ever had to sit through.

Anyway, a couple days ago, I've made up my mind. I've accepted this reality, and began to move on. Of course, I'm pretty bad at poker faces, so I've been bombarded with concerns the whole time...why I'm blowing people off, why I'm not my usual joking mood, why I've only said like three words the whole shift. Hell, even one of my co-workers was sending me PMs on Facebook if I was feeling alright...seriously, this is one of the most gorgeous dames at the resturant (and I was pretty suprised she actually gave a damn! :o). Anyway, like I said, I kept this moment in the dark, so I guess it's both a blessing and a curse. You know what's another funny thing? The guy that sells me pot was concerned about it too :lol:. I mean, I was texting him that I wasn't in a social mood today (I didn't tell him why, but damn...he already knew what it was :?) and then some broad jumped on and wanted to talk to me :?.

Anyway, I'm fine now. Kind of a bummer that I went through all that trouble for nothing, but you know what they say...you work hard for peanuts, but the knowledge is priceless. I just never realized that the people I talk to the least are the ones who knew me more than my closest friends do. So, I'm happy to say that after my two days of silence, I'm back to my old self again. Just to make sure I was completely over it, I forced myself to distance myself away from her. I must've said one word to her the whole time (which was just a simple "hi.") then spend the rest of the day...actually working :shock:. Oh, believe me...I must've had a hundred heart-attacks for each minute I walked past her and avoided eye contact, but it's for the best. By the time I finished my shift, I was at ease with myself. No longer feeling insignificant, powerless over this.

Well, I did it...er, sort of. You know that broad at work I've been digging for a very long time? Anyway, tonight I decide, "what the f***" and when I had the bakery all to myself, decided to write a little note, leave my number on it and give it to her (hey, worked on the last woman I dated :?). How'd it go? I haven't the slightest clue. But I'm already getting the vibe that it's something I shouldn't have done. Seriously, if this love stuff doesn't work out for me, I'm convinced I'm destined to be a Buddhist monk.

Well, if worst comes to worst, at least I can rest assured that I had the balls to do it. That, and I've learned and regret absolutely nothing.

The day I see pawn shops being shut down because they don't actually own the things they sell that others bought from different stores will be the day I keep an open mind about used game sales. Yes, used games aren't that much different than buying that really sick Rolex watch from a pawn shop (hell, pawn shops even sell videogames! $10 for each, no matter how old or recent they are). I'll admit that yes, buying used games means money isn't going to the right places, but to label it as bad as piracy? That's being a little extreme.

I never really got the reason developers got so worked up over it. Hell, the used game sales were booming since the Playstation 2 days, and I never heard anyone complaining about that :|. See, what I don't understand is that...well, say a million people bought the same title used...it's not like they flat-out stole the damn thing because having a million used games means a million people originally bought the game new (and seriously...if you're not satisfied with that, then I don't know what to say). I'm not saying that I support it nor frown on used games, but pirating (something I definately frown upon) implies that you basically snatched the game out of developer's hands...buying it used means the previous owner paid his dues (which means giving the developers their money) and decides to sell it back to get some money for himself. I can see if the guy copied the game and kept a copy for himself while selling another for a profit, but something like that is nigh impossible and not even worth the time and energy to even try.

Keep in mind that I'm the type who usually never buys used games (under the rare circumstance that I stumble on a game that really blows, but it's being sold for dirt cheap and I want to try it out for the sake of morbid curiosity), so it's not like I'm bickering about it for the sake of losing something I do regularly, because I don't. But at the same time, I can't help but notice that a lot of developers find anything and everything to complain about just to ensure every dime goes to them. I know that game development is expensive, and they want to make as much money as possible, but they take measurements for all the wrong reasons. Majority of the games being bought used are the ones that have little to no support once it's on store shelves...I mean, for a bunch of companies who stress about customer loyalty, they do a s***y job in making me want to hold onto their games forever.

You know, it's not that much different than some of the "unions" I've seen around here. They bicker on and on about fair treatment, higher pays, better benefits, and when it's all said and done, I've realized that it's the workers themselves, same people who threaten a strike unless they get said things, never quite improve on their work quality. I'm not saying all unions are like this, but there's quite a lot I've seen that fall into this category. I mean, it's like the time the teachers went on strike here: how ironic, then, that they eventually recieved their demands, but at a cost...the outstanding, more deserving teachers got the same benefits as some of the worst teachers I've had the mispleasure of attending (you know those people you wonder why they went to college to be a high school teacher when they half-ass their assignments, don't give a f***, and you haven't learned a damn thing from that person?). You know what that is? Communism :|.

I must've heard more complaining from developers this gaming generation than all the other generations combined. I'll go as far as to say that developers continue to sink to a new low everytime something doesn't go in their favor. I know it's no easy task to create a game that appeals to the masses, but gaming has long ago left that niche audience in favor of a widespread spotlight. As such, not everyone who wants to be a gamer can afford to be a gamer, so unless developers want to alienate a fraction of their userbase by forcing them to shell out the money they don't have, well...either way, I see them losing money no matter which route they choose.

It all boils down to, "if I buy a game, is it really mine?" With so much red tape on what to do with something you bought with your own money, gaming is adopting unwanted restrictions just to enjoy it. I mean, this day and age where some developers are using creative, rewarding ways to convince people to buy new (like bonus DLC, free upgrades) to flat-out handcuffing you by the balls ($10 to access multiplayer) you're telling me that it's still not enough to please these guys? :| Perhaps, and maybe I'm just going out by a limb here, but if we could actually trust the developers not to screw us, then maybe some of us would be more supportive. I mean, paying $60 for some games just seems like a cruel prank by these guys. Or maybe they know their product is so short-lived in entertainment that they forsee customer reactions, and beat them to the punch.

When it's all said and done, we're giving developers waaaay too much slack. Hell, at times, I'm not sure if it's the customers job in supporting these developers, or if the customers are merely bending to their whims. Sometimes it's like customers are the ones serving the developers. Like I said earlier, if developers truly want people to stick with their games, they should focus less on sequels and me-too titles and more on giving us a reason to to keep looking foward to it. I'm no developer, but I think that expansion packs and add-ons are a lot cheaper and easier to produce and keep an old game feeling alive than it is to sit in the corner and pout because people don't understand the value of their product. Look at it this way: games are coming out way too fast nowdays...not only that but the majority of them are so identical that the average gamer would at times, be hardpressed to see any value in something that's nothing more than a face in the crowd. Or worse, when one's favorite series starts adopting stagnant features to appeal to more people...and honestly, what's the value of a clone?

Am I trying to justify my opinion? No. It's just that, an opinion. Agree or disagree, it's what I'm seeing nowdays in the gaming industry. Developers promise the world with their games, then turn around and change its identity so much that it doesn't even feel like a different game. Then they wonder why people only take the slightest interest in it by buying it at a discount? See, customers always have a voice, no matter who tries to silence it...I mean, if you sell things, then customers are the life and blood of business. I mean, if someone's too willing to part with his game and sell it off, maybe the problem isn't with the gamers after all.