Hi! How's everybody doing? Man, for how long it takes me to write a blog, it takes longer for me to think of subjects to write about. Although, there are people who are even worse at this than I am, so I should be grateful.
I'm gonna start enforcing a self-policy where I start taking every first impression I make with a grain of salt. Remember when I was a dick and bashed Home? Well, after making myself look like a tool, I decided to recant and drop the argument, as well as periodically pop back into Home.
Especially when Open Beta launched today. Y'know, I kinda miss the old Central Plaza. Maybe there should've been two separate plazas for players to traverse, each with their own little quirks. Thank goodness I bought some of the Home clothes, furniture and spaces before Open Beta went live, because the prices are a pinch ludicrous. $.49 for the Chuck Taylor-like Hi-tops? $5 for the Summer House? Eh, it's chump change really, and with a lot of PSN items ending in 9, maybe those spare pennies can go towards a Home store item. :P
I got to go see the other spaces, and they're pretty good. Plus it was nice to bump into some GAP members while there (Hi Julia!). Although I do have issues with some of the games, as well as a few things I'd like to suggest to makes things more smoothly. Where the heck do you post that, the Home forums? Because I could probably conjure up a half-decent list of improvements I'd like to suggest.
But yeah, Home may not be the greatest thing out there, but at least it's working and useable. Now the big thing I gotta ask is this: "Will it be a hit with the PS3 owners and third parties?" Time will tell. Let's hope it works, the last thing Sony wants is Home to be on those "Top 100 gaming blunders of all time" lists.
I gotta stop buying games. Well, gotta stop GETTING games, anyway. I gotta finish Stranglehold, I gotta continue Pixeljunk Eden (which is one of the few games where I'm going "Oh damn it! Nononononono NOT THERE! ARGH! Back at the bottom!" while playing.), I gotta play SWAT 4...
And I pick up a free game since a neighbor was selling a PS2: The Thing. It was some 2001-02 video game based on the John Carpenter movie of the same name. I had only heard of it thanks to Noah Antwiler and The Spoony Experiment, where he ripped the game a new one. Check out the review here, it's one of his best. I mean, the review's YAHTZEE-approved, for god's sake!
But anyway. I had got The Thing because I wanted to see if Spoony was right, and it seems almost down to the T. In fact, since I'm a big fan of The Spoony Experiment, lines from his review kept replaying in my head while I was playing it. It's not that unusual, Yahtzee was repeating the Heavenly Sword demo review while I was playing it, so...
But yeah, so far it's just an average shooter/survival horror hybrid. With a wonky save system and no sense of aiming whatsoever.
I'll probably have a review for Left 4 Dead up by Friday or Saturday. Everything's in place. Now to edit the 27 minute rough cut into an acceptable 5-10 minute review with commentary, and we're set.
I am done for now. I'll leave you with this thought in my head for a while:
Is it weird for a guy like me to desire a pair of sheepskin boots? And how come Home doesn't have any?!
Also, GameSpot bonus closing: Best of luck in your future endeavors, Don Francis, Aaron Thomas and Bethany Massamilla. You'll get jobs elsewhere, trust me. Just don't forget about the gamers who loved your work.