Incoherent ramblings and never fulfilled promises of clarity

Pictured: Complex inner workings of the human mind

As no doubt most of you have realized by now, there's only two or three marbles rolling around in my brain case. However, every now and then they'll clack together and spark what I like to call a "thought" – whether or not it makes any sense is left to chance of course, but, being a gamer, I like to play the odds. That said here are some odds and ends, in no particular order, from the last couple of weeks:

Deus Ex: Human Revolution : Oh yeah, that just happened. I wrote out the title of an FPS.

In the future, dramatic removal of sunglasses will be automated.

Obviously, there isn't too much that can be said about this game, at least from my own standing. I will say this though : I am intrigued. (This also may be a sign of the Apocalypse) I say this because its predecessor, specifically the first game, was one of the few FPS' where the story managed to hook me in, then combined with it's RPG elements carried it through for me. All the conspiracies you can think of, wrapped up into an exceptionally written plot. It had its issues, a lot I think were pushing the last legs of the aging Unreal engine, but I had little trouble overlooking a lot of its shortcomings thanks to the story and the fun little upgrades available to J.C. Denton. The second game didn't do it for me – plus at the time I believe my attentions were devoted elsewhere, if not university coursework, then certainly to the consumption of what had to have been illegal amounts of alcohol in most countries. In any case, the recent trailer has done its job and gotten my attention.

God of War III: in mah pants/killin' kilt.

One of these is not like the others.

Kratos is by far one of the most awesome gaming characters in recent history, if not all time. As far as I'm concerned anyway…. He's the perfect tragic anti-hero, fueled by rage and vengeance which just brings a twisted smile to my face. I have always been drawn to games that don't make me play the goody-two-shoes, always do the right thing, scout of undeterred honor at all times type of character. They're so vanilla, it's boring. That's not to say that I want the good guy who's sole characteristic is being an moody emo bi*** either. I'm looking at you at least one character in every jRPG ever. Kratos is all badittude and blood and he's got his reasons, right or wrong be damned – and I for one friggin' love it, and I can't wait to see the conclusion. I'll be grabbing this game up as soon as I wrap up my replays of the first two.

On a side note, I think one of my favorites, aside from Kratos, is probably Kain from the Legacy of Kain series. He was a spoiled nobleman turned vampire that decided it was more fun to go just lord it over everyone rather than being someone else's puppet, and eventually developed himself into a pretty crafty string puller over the course of his history.

What do you mean I'm not a playable character anymore!?

Mass Effect 2: A little less sex scene, a lot less drive around on a blank planet.

All ur base r belong to us! lolz! ahahaha... no seriously - you're #%&@ed.

Typically, I want to complete games to 100%. That is, I want to see everything a game has to offer. The last decade of gaming has made this sort of desire alarmingly futile. Which really, isn't so bad – in terms of replay you could always go back and find something new, and I guess that's the point. I never completed Mass Effect, and it was partly because I became so intensely annoyed at the optional side quests in my foolish attempt to 100% the game. I really need to learn to try for that extra crap on a second play through, but man, old habits die hard. However, I'm feeling partly motivated, since I know that my Commander Shepard will carry forward into the next game. This sort of element thrills me just as it did back in my Quest for Glory days.

Xbox Live Gamer tag: Ashes to ashes and…something something about dust.

I feel this image speaks for itself.

I have not turned on my Xbox in months, closer to a year, which is long enough to declare it legally dead. My gold membership expired, and the PS3 has garnered my favors since I bought it. I think I have resolved to abandon my current gamer tag, I don't know what is going on in any of my game saves, and frankly, I don't really care. Whatever attachments I had have long since disappeared, and god knows I hate my achievement score which in no way represents my true gaming habits. Now that I know what to do and not do when putting a game into one of these systems, especially crappy ones that just make me wince when I see them listed under my name... like 'Iron Man – 10%' - *shudder* I can manage things a little better this time around. So, my plan is to start anew. Hopefully you guys will add me back under whatever my new tag will be when I get around to rejoining the world of online gaming.

Spring Cleaning: Sometimes you just gotta throw some **** away.

Maid to please! See? It's a PUN!

It turns out I have a lot of crap that has been accumulated over the last decade or so that I neither want, nor even like. Over the last several weeks, I have been going on a rampage through my condo. When you're going through all your stuff, it can be hard to make a decision about keeping something or getting rid of it – I don't like a lot of clutter personally, less and less really as time goes on – but when I do find myself facing this, my general rule of thumb is : if I have no sentimental attachment to it, i.e. my grandfathers old paints, or something else with some actual value to it – then the next question is, have I even THOUGHT about this thing in the last year? If not, trash. That method easily rids me of 95% of the various odds and ends. On the larger side of things, so far I have given away a bed, two nightstands, an armoire, a desk, 2 SDTVs, a stereo, 3 bookcases, a breakfast table and it's 4 chairs, a microwave and I'm still not done unloading furniture, the living room will be last, but probably the most important. Most of this has gone or will to charity, but I've given some to a friend who just got a new apartment and I've left my entire DVD collection with family members as I have made a permanent and snobby switch to blu-ray. As all these various things have been cleared out of my home, I am going back through with a vengeance, scrubbing every nook and cranny. I bought a pressure steamer… gun… thing… which I am using to sterilize pretty much the entirety of the place along with a ton of other cleaning supplies. Once I am done I plan on getting fresh paint throughout, and there are a couple of small renovations I want done, but probably not viable until next year… in the meantime maybe some updated light fixtures and replacing the carpet in the rooms I didn't already change to hardwood. After that, I'll slowly start refurnishing, likely turning my guest room into more of an office with a sleeper sofa instead of a bed, and generally just buying newer, nicer stuff to replace this junk I've been carting around with me since I moved out of my parents house a decade ago when I was 18, and this stuff was dated then, so – yeah… it's time.

To be fair, I started out with some planks of wood on cinderblocks and green and blue blow up furniture in an efficiency apartment with one small window nailed shut that faced a wall, so comparatively, it's not THAT bad. Incidentally, one of those cinderblocks was still in the storage closet under the stairs. I did not bother donating that particular item.

un-pwnt.