Silly silly purchase today... picked up a preowned PS2, and Final Fantasy XII... I dont really have the money to do that at all... but what the hell, its my Christmas Present to me :P Plus I dont have an XBox for the time being, and cant afford a new one till after Christmas at the earliest ( the last one I had to SELL, just to clear up any confusion).

Dum de dum

Dean

Finished sometime ago, but never blogged. Natalie Portman from Star Wars II Teaser Poster

Dean :)

This is a blog about a game.

A game called Gears of War 2.

Now yesterday was a weird day for me. One, turning up for work 2 hours late, but two, being sent home early( not from being useless, just lack of stuff to do :P ). So I did the rarest of things, and visited a friend, one whom I hadnt seen in a while. One who had recently purchased Gears of War 2.

Now I'm no hype monkey, but I definately cast an approving eye over GOW2 when it was being demoed at all the trade shows. Now from playing it( and reaching Act 5, Chapter 1 no less... before I had to sleep :lol: ) I have two frames of mind.

1. More of the same

Naturally, a game like this is going to have a training mission, for the uninitiated. Fair enough, it took me 5 mins to reacquaint myself with the controls, but before I knew it I was ducking for cover, chainsawing dudes and curb stomping left, right and centre. The gameplay mechanics definately felt smoother and more refined, but only after the sense that the rougher edges where taken off the first incarnation. It felt natural, and good. No complaints.

2. More of alot more

Theres alot of depth in this game. It took me up until getting to, say, Act 4 to realise this, but there is plenty going on here. Some stuff is easy to relate to, other bits left me with some headscratching, but either way I was hooked. The story is, for all intents and purposes, top notch, with many layers left to dig through in the (inevitable) third part. The new guns, the new enemies, the new support characters, nothing seems shoehorned in, all seem to belong in this enthralling universe. Its definately visually comparitive to the original GOW, until you look a little further to the horizon, or a little closer to your surroundings. Everything has been taken up a level, Epic Games have not skimped on giving us a true sequel, instead of going for the cash cow that others unfortunately have done in the past.

The only thing I will say... Gears Veterans, do NOT play this on Normal Difficulty. Go straight for Hardcore. I did find myself thinking " Well, here come another bunch of dudes running straight at me, ready for serving up on a Locust Carvery". A little too easy in places. But I'm sure that'll change in the difficulty settings.

I look forward to the day when I can own this myself :)

Dean :)

Seems I cant get my XBox back yet... seems I am cursed to wait another month. What with Dead Space, Last Remnant and Gears of War 2 coming out... awfully cruel fate to have thrust upon me :(

Oh well, stick with old school resi Evil for now :P

Dean

I literally stopped crying 10 minutes ago.

Now, as a completely heterosexual individual, people find it hard to understand me sometimes. I can see their point of view, honestly. I mean, how many guys do you know who will openly admit to wanting kids, feeling sad when watching films, listen music that reminds them of love... and be called straight? Its a shame that those questions are asked of me, but all I can say is I am in touch with my feelings. I like sports, I like getting dirty, I like a good drink, and definately like appraising the finer sex, my eye being easily pleased and not too fusy ;)

But all I want at the end of the day is love. No holds barred, pure unadulterated love. It is the purest of emotions, and one which I do not allow myself the liberty of feeling very often, as my attempts to harness it have been thwarted by back hands from Cupid on many occasions. But the last girl I loved... oh my god, did I love her. I still do. But its come to an end, as far as seeing her in my life. Finally I've said to myself " Enough". Deleted her texts. Cancelled her number. Off Facebook friends. And its broken my heart.

I had not been so happy to be myself since I was married, there wasnt an effort required to be anything else but myself, its rare that people will see me as more than a friend in my natural state, so for someone to want more from me just being me is a gift indeed. But no more. If I type anymore, that'll be me crying again, so I better hit the sack instead.

Dean

What a pallava :lol:

I was in the middle of watching the F1 race in Singapore yesterday, and desperately holding off going to the toilet until the advert break came on. Finally, the adverts came on, and I ran for it. After washing my hands, I was coming back down the stairs, and heard the adverts finishing, so I ran the last couple of steps to the living room, but as my floor is tiled, and I was wearing socks... I slipped, and my bodies immediate counter balance reaction was to swing out my left leg to stop me crashing into the wall on the right. Unfourtunately, my body didnt take into account the door frame towards which my little toe was hurtling towrds with great velocity :lol:

Now its a funny color, throbs whilst I'm even just sitting down, cant put pressure on it, and theres a big dent where there should be a bone... so I'm off to hospital A.S.A.P. Considering I broke it almost 18 hours ago, I think I've put it off long enough :P

Oh, and finished Resident Evil 2 again. Ya know, for kicks

Dean :)

What am I talking about?

I play squash ( racquetball) with my old man everyweek, and I finally managed to beat him in a game! The funniest thing was, I'd forgotten my trainers, and ended up playing barefoot! Seems to agree with me, but my feet are battered now!

I know, not much of a blog, but that was the best game I'd played in ages!

Dean :P

Man, do I feel old right now.

Now I know I'm still ( realtively) a spring chicken at 28, but something has happened this week to make me feel ancient. One of my sisters ( I have 5) has entered into self inflicted education, the realm of university life. Which means she is 18. And that makes me sad. Its not like my life is flashing before my eyes or anything, but it is so strange to think that this young woman was once the tiny baby I used to feed bottles too and burp, help bathe and change for my mother, make laugh when she was teething badly, tickled till she cried, picked her up when she fell...not alot has changed, I'm still there for her when she needs me, but now she is so grown up. Now I know how my parents felt when I grew up and left. Well, maybe. Maybe they were happy I stopped eating their food :lol:

Proud of you sis :)

Dean

Good evening/ afternoon/ morning all,

So...a new job. Started today, alot of stuff to learn already it seems, but at least I'm getting trained, which is more than I can say for my last job, which was more of a Mickey Mouse Operation, however succesful. But I'm willing to cut my teeth and take all the rewards that come with working hard.

But does a new job mean a new life? A new outlook? Not neccesarily. I'm still looking to go back to Drama soon, once I get some money in the bank and sort out some bills. But then theres a certain woman, who, gosh darn it, I just cant seem to give up on. I should, without a doubt, because most reasonable people would consider my chances with her as a lost cause... but I love her, and true love lasts a life time. She is my sickness, and also my cure.

As far as games go, not had much chance to play them, though I am levelling up characters on FFVII when I have time.

Dean