Call me crazy if you'd like, but nowdays, it seems that working in the videogame industry has to be the worst job to have. I mean, I used to think that it's a bunch of dudes (and broads, of course :P) enjoying their dream jobs and doing what they love because they probably grew up like all of us loving videogames, and want to contribute at the most flattering way possible: making your own games.

Well, after years of learning the business side of things, it seems to be worst than construction workers (with the whole "feast or famine" days when s*** happens, and you could be out of a job for months). I mean, being a videogame programmer sounds less like letting your creativity take a hit of meth and go apes*** wild and cram it all on a disc, and more about working your ass off for long hours, crossing your fingers and hoping for the best; because so many things can go wrong, like if the bigwigs in charge decide to dictate what we gamers "want" in our own games and end up cutting out or changing features to "appeal" to our tastes, someone in charge decides to scrap a perfectly good idea for a game simply because it's the Hollywood equivalent to "we want to be like the other popular games with no unique identity," not to mention when sales for said bad idea of a game doesn't meet its insurmountable expectations, the people who were basically forced to create this abomination are the ones who get the boot for their troubles :|.

At this day and age, I really can't point the finger at most studios who disappoint their fanbase with butchered masterpieces knowing that they've got some kind of corporation breathing down their necks. I'm not going to name them all, because just about every single company in charge of our hobby are responsible for this at least once. Point is, with the way simply making a game has so much restrictions and risks towards unemployment, I'm suprised so many people still want to be a programmer.

Okay, so there is a lot of things that can factor into why studios suffer: It's not uncommon for people to just have no interest in a game, no matter how sound it is (I mean, there's people who don't dig the GTA series), piracy, and sometimes you just have to let people go because they're not quite producing the kind of quality anyone would be caught dead publishing (you know, studios that made a name in infamy over very, very atrocious games and never once made a good one?). Hell, I never thought one of my oldest and favorite hobbies would both strive to have the appeal of a summer flick, as well as the kind of brutal iron fist of Hollywood's mentality of restricting creativity to appeal to what I can only describe as "primitive minds" who seeminly want "simple" things on the screen (I kid you not...I've seen prototype scripts of AWESOME ideas for a movie that was scrapped in favor of...something that completely sucked when it released).

I already know that videogames have always been about making money (I mean, let's face it...you don't spend all those years learning programming and animation for charity). Thing is, just like movies, once something utterly awesome blows everyone away, there's a ton of B-movie quality that tries to cash in on the same kind of success. I really never expected gaming to be reduced to this, actually changing games that used to capture our minds with originality and innovation into something that feels like a weak attempt at trying to divert our attention away from a likewise idea already implemented in a dozen other titles. Why? Because the working man is banging his head on his keyboard screaming to the ceiling "WHY?" as he's forced to make something that's not even a good idea to begin with, all while trying to pull a rabbit out his ass to make the thing appeal to the masses, or the boss will fire him :roll:. You'll hear things like "a company abandoned their core fanbase" or "became greedy" among other things...I really don't blame the guys who make this crap, because I'm pretty sure it's always the guy in charge who's basically forcing this on us. Seriously...I used to lay in bed and stare at the ceiling dreaming what it'd be like to make my own games for a living...I mean, I got literally a thousand ideas in my head, all original, and it would make one kick ass game. Then I'd lose that train of thought when I realize I may end up working for the wrong friggin' company, and all those ideas will amount for nothing when I'm essentially being hired to make videogames based on movies. Yep...gaming is awesome when you're a gamer....not so much as the creator.

In other words, L.A. Noire party! :lol: I'm picking the game up tomorrow (kind of bummed I didn't make it on release day) and been pretty much on a roll actually hopping on my PS3 for a change (just picked up Fight Night Champion...AGAIN, on the PS3 this time...been having a blast with Legacy mode) and patiently (i.e., impatiently) waiting for the PSN Store to come back online so I can scope out what I've missed out on (please have Dino Crisis 2 and Parasite Eve 1&2 on the Classics section! :cry:.). Anyway, not having PSN was one hell of an inconvenience...not on Sony's behalf, but because of the games: I couldn't even register Fight Night for online play, because typing in the online pass requires use of the PSN store :| (kind of unbelievable that I'm able to play online, but not with this game...because of that "innovative feature." :|).

Anyway, I was pretty stoked at work, because while I was on my phone (yes...I've been working hard today :lol:.) and saw another expansion for Fallout New Vegas. I'm willing to assume that the studios listened to fan feedback (because Dead Money blew :|) and Honest Hearts is going to be a "not-Dead-Money" kind of bad experience. That, and it falls into the Burned Man mythology you constantly overhear in the game...and I finally get a chance to see who the hell this guy is! :x I'm hoping it's going to be a blast to play, because this one kind of flew under the radar (I didn't hear a thing about a new chapter coming soon until today :? Heck, I didn't even hear anything about it on this site :?). Other than that, waiting for Infamous 2 to release, another game I pre-ordered :D.

So...for the past couple months, I've been suffering with some really bad disconnects, slow download speeds, and placing my electronics in very akward heights just to go online :(. The thing is, the antenna for my router broke off, and I couldn't find one that works like this one does...everytime I set it up, I'll need to actually move my whole computer into the living room just to go online (the thing coupled as a modem as well, and I need a wireless connection because the DSL wire that plugs into the wall is too far from my room...and just my luck, my room is the ONLY one that doesn't have a phone jack :|). I've been searching high and low for a replacement antenna, but no luck. It's not "that" bad because I still get some next-to-perfect connection on my computer, and every once in a while my download speeds drop in the low 20 kb/s for a couple hours...no, it's when I'm trying to log onto PSN that I'm very unhappy right now...I face great peril with the thing hanging on a shelf over my head while I wait for the update to finish downloading, and I need to find a new place to put my PS3 if I ever hope on getting online frequently. I'm telling you...all this woe over a broken antenna :?. It would help if I remembered where the thing came from, but this was here years before I moved in...even then, it was my mom who set it up (because she used to live here, until she moved back to her other home) and just my luck, not even she remembers where it is :lol:. So...I got my router balancing on a roll of napkins on top of three Kleenex boxes on a couple phone books 8). As utterly lame as it sounds, at least I have a good connection from that :lol:.

Well, I finally got my new keyboard in the mail :D. I'll be honest, and tell you guys that this thing takes a lot of getting used to: the keys are spread apart (as opposed to other keyboards where the keys are closer together), and the hotkeys, while brilliant, took me a lot of trial and error to figure out (I think it's cool that you can turn off the Tron lights, because those things are freaking bright!) and there's actually a way I can turn off my desktop at the press of a button (something I figured out by accident :lol:.). Anyway, took me hours of typos to finally get the hang of this baby. Now, my fingers are (almost) graciously flying across keys and making sense, and gaming is...well, it's a Razer brand. I think they put more effort into gaming performance than personal use :P.

The thing that's akward is the num pad..it's a separate add-on, and as of now, something I can really do without...what can I say, it's bulky, and takes up room on my mouse pad, so it's very uncomfortable to have. Granted, I rarely ever used that thing on my computer anyway (and the only thing I know of that actually makes use of the Number key is DC Universe Online...and that's just for auto-glide :lol:.). All in all, I'd say it's more flash than substance. If you're the type who needs to look at the keys he's typing, then I pity you (think of the letters used in an Alienware...that's what the keys look like :?) but as a Tron fan, it was worth the wait....I can confidently say that I proudly own a keyboard that no one else on this island does (you know, becaus I've yet to see Best Buy offer one for sale...and Best Buy's the only place for your computer parts here) 8). Anyway, I know I promised a picture of my setup, but I'm not quite satisfied with it...you know those spike strips that people put on their motorcycle helmets? Yeah...I figured that'd look pretty killer on my desktop as well, so I'm holding out for that :P. Rest assued, you will all see my dojo in the next week (and how much of a mess my room is :lol:.).

On another note, finally picked up Mortal Kombat for the PS3...and boy is that whole "PSN down" thing killing me right now. I got a pretty cool pre-order bonus which is all but useless to me at the moment :|. Other than that, the game is just as brutal (if not more) as every other MK in the series. I'm a little disappointed in the roster (seriously...no Frost? :|) but other than that, I need some time alone in this game anyway...been a while since I popped in a fighting game, and you know you're on your computer too much when you pop in a PS3 game, hop on the keyboard, and wonder why there's no response :lol:. Also doesn't help I have it hooked up to my monitor as well :P (well...mostly because my monitor has a better resolution than my old TV). Anyway, great game...might be even better once I pick a character I'm good at and can really kick ass in the game :P.

Seriously, that's the only thing I can say right now...I mean, :shock:. I never, NEVER thought in a million years (yes...I am immortal 8)) I'd ever see a Microsoft game being sold on Steam :shock:. I checked the coming soon games, and my eyes literally popped out of my head and tap-danced for a full 10 seconds when I saw Fable 3. I mean, let's face it: the ONLY reason I even have GFWL in the first place was because of those games that actually require you to have a Live account to play the game (you know, like Bulletstorm...that I bought off Steam? :?) and for that one game that can only be acquired from the Marketplace, Gears of War.

So...does this mean Gears 3 will be available on PC as well? *crosses fingers, crosses legs, crosses eyes* :D. And now for the depressing part: it's pretty obvious that no one cares about GFWL if this happens :|. I mean, the top purchase, even to this day, is an expansion for Bioshock 2 (even then, I'm positive that it's the ONLY way to get the DLC anyway, so hardcore Bioshock fans really have no choice) :lol:. Has Microsoft admitted defeat in the PC world, or are they just being really, really nice to Valve? I mean, I was down to *gulp* actually go through the headache to purchase those ridiculous Microsoft Points and buy something off their download manager, but screw that! At least now I can just simply buy the game, download it, and wait for that unecessary crap (you know...ALWAYS having to install Direct X, Microsoft Redistributable, and a couple other things that put me to sleep by the time the game finally fills my monitor).

And going off topic here, I'll share with you guys the funniest story at work today: Long friggin' day today...I didn't get home until 1 a.m. spending about 12 hours making pies and making the dough...I tell this really gorgeous hostess to give us some water so we don't all shrivel up...this really obese broad comes in and halfheartedly tosses the cups of water on the table...when she leaves and closes the door, I yell "Thanks, Fatso!" which had everyone balling...the manager walks in and starts to ask everyone what I just said (you know, because all the mischief that happens is 90% my fault :oops:.), and at that same moment...the fat woman walks in with more water, places it on the table, and one of the guys yells "Thanks, Fatso!" :lol:. Hell, I was laughing for half an hour straight...I mean, it was perfect timing! :lol: I kept giggling so much everyone in the front thought I was stoned :lol:. Not to mention, it made one hell of a hectic day...well, cheerful. I'm just in awe that this actually happened without it being my fault this time :lol:. (and this is coming from someone who was trying to fix something with electric tape, getting pissed, and yelling "F*** you, you little black bastard!" with the door opened...and you guessed. A black guy paying for his meal at the cashier :|). Anyway, hilarious moment in my life...something I must share with the guys at the bar :lol:.

I'm talking about my PC setup here :D. The only thing I'm waiting on is my new keyboard to come in the mail (Razer Tron edition keyboard...which pretty much killed my bank account. Can you say shelling out an extra $30 for shipping and taxes? :|). And when I figure it out, I'll post a pic here. Anyway, my desk looks more like a dojo than a gaming center :lol:. My case has so many stickers on it, you'd think I was advertising a dozen different companies. I got a small katana displayed right underneath my monitor, a few bottles of liquor proudly standing next to the mouse pad, and one helluva ashtray stand underneath (you know, for easy access :P). And of course, let's not forget about my plaque I've earned from work (a "reward" for toughing it out for five years) that I have next to the speakers. And as cluttered as my desk is, would you believe that it's still the cleanest part of my room? :lol:. Anyway, the wait is killing me. I paid it off on April 3rd, and still no word on it (and since I used USPS as shipping, the e-mail from Razer states, "If you used USPS as shipping, you cannot track your order" you know, because I didn't quite pay enough for a more prestigious luxury, right? :roll:.). Anyway, I'm guessing by next month I'll have it...last time I checked my e-mail about the order, it was in California on the 7th, and seriously...Cali isn't that far away from Hawaii :?. Well, at least not as far away like the other places I've ordered things from (like a CD that was only sold in Germany...I'm telling you, it was almost a freaking year until I finally got it at my house :lol:.).

It's been a while since I actually wrote a blog about videogames. Anyway, I beat Bulletstorm a while back which was a blast to play (it's nice to actually play a FPS that doesn't fall in the vein of "modern combat" or "enemy communist at war with Americans" that are all but cliche' nowdays). I actually rejoiced when the main melee button is the Spartan Kick instead of a knife stab :lol:. And as idiotic as the script is, I had quite a lot of laughs from the dialogue alone. Not very often I say it, but the game's immaturity left me with some very fond memories of collossal battles (don't want to spoil anything, but if you've played it...well, think Godzilla...then think homoerotic one-liners in an elevator :lol:.). Yes...playing Bulletstorm is one hell of a breath of fresh air :D.

Now, it comes down to crap: I played Shadow Harvest: Phantom Ops, and I hate it :|. I mean, there's nothing I do like from this game...it leaves a bad impression the moment I booted up the game. Let me tell you, I'm not one to judge things like bad acting or a terrible script because my B-Movie tastes leave me pretty tolerant to these things. But man...listening to the main character talk is so boring! I mean, I can literally imagine the voice actor rolling his eyes as he soulessly reads the script. As for controls...ok, in a game where you're in Somalia fighting one of the most brutal militias, why...WHY is there no sprint button here? :evil: Better yet, this is the WORST kind of game to not have a regenerating health...I mean, in this day and age, I was shocked that I dropped dead on the spot...because I didn't quite expect to have to actually use med packs (which are a pretty rare find in this game as it is...not to mention with the controls and the utterly horrible way of using cover that's actually worse than Kane and Lynch...). So, let's talk about the other, more insignificant ways this game tries its hardest to piss off any unlucky buyer. For some reason, the soldier character has some strange power that slows down time. Why is this in there? Hell if I know. I tried using it, maybe it'd lessen the burden of...looting med packs...but no. There's actually a limit that doesn't replenish on its own (and I've yet to figure out how to do so) and nothing really explains the purpose of...well, how to do anything.

You also have a useless night vision mode. Night vision? Useless? :o Yes :|. You see, it's not actually NVG...it's a green light that paints dark walls green, so it's still pretty damn hard to see where the hell you are (seriously...I would've settled for a flashlight...which this thing basically is, just a lot more painful to use than it should be). And there are encounters that completely catch you with your pants down. I mean, as linear as the game is, I still found it hard to find out exactly where I'm supposed to go (in one moment, I'm supposed to protect some rebels from a tank that's going to fire a shell at the building in 30 seconds. I'm expected to find an RPG...somewhere in the building to take it out. I failed the mission three times because: it was dark, and found out the hard way that I'm supposed to go up some indistinguishable stairs around the corner :lol:.).

Perhaps the worst offender is the way the guy holds a gun. It looks normal when you equip a two-handed rifle, but I :lol: when he's holding a pistol. You see, nothing wrong with holding a pistol with two hands, but when it looks like the guy's eating an invisible footlong sub sandwich...well, it's pretty lame. It's saving grace is when you play the stealth missions as some really teched-out broad. The optic camo is pretty cool (if completely useless, since you pretty much have set moments where you use it...most of the time, that thing's depleted until you find some batteries...which only last you as long as you're required to ninja through an environment). But that excitement wears thin when you see the weapon selection you have: a crossbow with different kinds of arrows, and the ability to sneak up behind people and melee kill them (oh...and don't get me started on the horrible, HORRIBLE introduction when you first play as her...there's a guy just...standing there, and the game tells you to move from cover to cover, because "you can't kill the guy because no one's sure if he's the opposing force, or the ally":roll:. So, you kill the guy, the mission fails. Anyway, took me a while to realize that it's "okay" if I get spotted for three seconds, because there's an indicator on how long you can be stared at out in the open before you hide and the guy shrugs it off :lol:. That's right...everyone in this game is completely wasted, and they need a good five seconds to figure out if this dame sneaking around is actually a super spy, or just a figment of their imagination. Oh, and by the time you get spotted about four times trying to move from cover to cover, you finally get the OK to wast the guy :|).

That's right...forget a silenced 9mm, or something equally useful. Let's stick to a one-shot crossbow, and hope the next guy doesn't turn around soon, so I can sneak up behind and stick a...Preadator claw....into his neck (you know, because for realism sake...no one's going to be caught dead carrying a bunch of primitive arrows on them, right? Naturally, running out of ammunition for said crossbow is pretty often...and the game loves to give you the middle finger when you do trigger an alarm, considering the woman refuses to pick up the AK 47 by her feet...nope, it's the ninja code of honor to die by the blade...or crossbow...or steel claw). Oh, and the one cool feature that's pretty much an excuse for why the programmers didn't feel like giving you the ability to hide dead bodies: you have these...nano...something that creates optical camouflage and makes dead bodies invisible for a time (no, I'm not making this up, sadly :lol:.). Which doesn't matter anyway. I've yet to experience AI that actually wonders what happened to the other 15 soldiers that oddly went AWOL a few seconds ago.

And, I must say...this game loves to show you cutscenes. I mean, in case I've got ADD and tend to forget what happened a minute ago, when you see the female ninja for the first time, I kid you not...I must've watched her repel down a chopper about 4 times :|. I mean, twice while playing as the male soldier, and when it snaps back to the ninja broad, I've watched it another two times. You know, just in case I'm wondering how it all happened again. Like I said, playing the stealth missions were a lot better than the all out wars, but not by much. It's like when your dog poops on the floor: cleaning up solid poop is a lot better than cleaning up diarrhea, but you're still playing with crap.

So, I come home from the bar, right? If any of you already don't know, I've got a personal vendetta against my neighbors as it is, so the last thing I want to see is their trash littering the front of my house :|. Yep...sure enough, my "happy drunk" leads to one hell of a raging alchoholic when I start chucking their crap onto their property...tough guy walks out and starts yelling something at me...hell if I know what the guy's saying because I'm concentrating on trying to stand on my feet :lol:. Of course by the time I look up I see a wooden plank come flying over the fence...guy walks right up to my face with another 2X4 threatening to beat my brains out...I'm sorry, but I'm already wasted. I'm busy laughing my ass off and taunting the guy to give me ANOTHER reason to call the police :lol:.

Let me tell you, it was not fun...the cops are already trying to figure out what the hell it is I'm saying as it is, and there's also the pissed off neighbor talking to the other cop, god knows what the hell he's telling them...man, it was a mess. By the time I got the cop to understand what exactly what the problem was (he kept assuming that I was planting trash in front of the guy's house :?) I finally got him to understand that I simply got fed up with cleaning the front of the house with crap that doesn't even belong to me. I admitted that it was wrong of me to go chucking things at their cars, and since we're already on bad terms as it is, I guess in a way he understood why I was so reluctant to confront them on their problem (kind of hard to talk sense into someone who wants to shoot me :roll:.).

So as you can see, I'm way beyond redemption here. I'm pretty sure the cops got a kick out of taking reports from a drunk guy (hey..at least I got my address and social spot on :D), and well...I'm always cool with local law enforcement. Well, at least when I proved to the guy that I wasn't crazy :lol:.

I just found it freaking hilarious how I was basically chuckling everytime that guy was yelling threats at me :lol:. I mean, come on...when you're playing the tough guy, you have to admit you shrivel up inside when the guy you're trying to scare cant' exactly feel pain at the moment, and is too busy laughing at his ugly mug than actually listening to him :lol:. And for f***'s sake, I'm the relaxed, laid back guy...no way in hell do I start wars with people. Anyway, this is one hell of a story to tell the guys when I go to the bar the next time. I just can't stop thinking about that one moment where that ass actually held back on swinging that board at me :lol:. Not to mention I kept taunting him, "wanna throw more s*** at me?" Aw...what a freaking night...

What can I say, I've spent the past few weeks splicing together what would make a good night time drink. So far, I've come up with Crown Royal and grape juice (think of it as wine that burns your throat :P), Jim Beam and Root Beer (don't try this one :|), Crown Royal and Sobe Green Tea (which I actually kind of like :D), and of course...Jamba Juice smoothies with tequila...but nothing quite beats Crown Royal and strawberry soda...think of it as a man's wine cooler 8).

Anyway, I do apologize for not keeping up with everyone's blogs. If it's not obvious right now, I'm having some pretty rough times righ now. Nothing overly dramatic, but enough to warrant me a few drinks at night :lol: (and yes...if it also wasn't obvious, I was also drunk while making these concoctions). Say what you want about my drinking, all I can say is that it could be a whole lot worse (at least I'm not doing crystal meth :D). Still, you gotta trust me...I'm no raging alchoholic (contrary, I'm angrier sober, and more mellowed out when I'm under the influence :P), and I'm responsible (no driving, and I'm usually in my room getting ready for bed by the time I crack open a cold one...although I usually don't sleep until 4 a.m. regardless :?). But, I do have to say that I probably won't be active on GS as I used to be :(. Unless you really, REALLY want to read a bunch of jumbled words hastily typed together when my drunken depression hits (oh, about 2 in the morning...and that's when I get really emotional) I think it's better off I decide to hold off on it. Anyway, hope everyone's doing good, and I'll try my best to keep up with all your updates :D.

Okay...so, 3D is like radiation: the more you expose yourself to it, the more tolerant you'll become towards it (don't take my word on this one :lol:.). Anyway, I tried out the 3D on it, and I'm pretty impressed by it (as opposed to the other day where I was feeling nauseated). The standard view isn't that impressive, but when I tried out the over the shoulder perspective, I was blown away :shock:. The best I can come up with is like looking through a window and watching two people duke it out (since Street Fighter is the only game I own so far :P). Pretty cool stuff. What I wouldn't mind right now is a shooter or adventure game to come out so I can try the joystick on it (couldn't get the hang of playing SF with the stick...the d pad gave me more control...then again, I played the game using the gamepad on my PS3 as well, so maybe I'm not one of those joystick fighters :P).

Aside from that, the 3DS is pretty bare bones so far...features like the internet browser and Virtual Console are absent (with a nice message that states "features available during next firmware update. Seriously, the DSi had all of this. On launch day :|) and God knows when that's going to happen :roll:. Other than that, there's a Mii creator and a few scant things you can actually do with it, and a game where you take pictures of...things and play a really creepy game where faces pop out the screen and you shoot it (I was playing in front of my monitor, and having these things synthesize out of the screen gave me some serious Ring moments :lol:.). Now I know launch day for any new console blows, but come on...when you tell your fans that your hot new toy will do things like play 3D movies, have some classic Nintendo titles available, don't keep us waiting :cry:.