Yup. I haven't been achievement [word that sounds like a mash up of horse and boring] for a long time, choosing instead to give a shot at playing video games for the simple love of playing them, something that has taken me nearly a year to rekindle.

Achievements became my primary goal. My 'next to get' game was no longer the best game out there, but rather the game with the easiest achievements, as rated by my peers on achieve360points.com. After a year or two of this, and tens of thousands of gamerscore, I realized that I actually did not enjoy playing video games any more. And this was in the height of last year's awesomeness, including Mass Effect, Gears 2, and Fallout 3. I would go through the motions with them, but not really enjoy my time playing. My biggest realization that I had a problem was when I went to PAX 08, and got little excitement from the expo hall, or from much of any of the show. '08 was the weakest year for me, because it was the year that I wasn't really into gaming, anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I still go out of my way to get additional achievements in a game, I don't think anyone with an over 50,000 gamerscore could say otherwise; but achievements aren't my main goal, anymore. After realizing my problem, and deciding that I wanted my gaming passion back, again, my first course of change was my Gamefly queue. Your 'Q' on Gamefly says a lot about your gaming style, and mine was absolutely LOADED with games (many from 2006, when achievements were generally easier to come by) with an achievement difficulty rating of 1. So many horrible sports games :( I HATE VIDEO GAME BASKETBALL, IT HASN'T BEEN GOOD SINCE THE DREAMCAST!!!

Now, I've been on the road to recovery for about 9-10 months, and feeling much better. I just finished up Godfather 2 in 3 days. It felt great working to take over neighborhoods, and overcoming the challenges presented within. I never would have put down 17 hours in 3 days during my [that mashup word, again] days. I'm also playing Shadow Complex, which is incredible! If you ever wanna bring back your classic love of games (not just your love of classic games!), play Shadow Complex (Xbox 360 XBLA). It's so amazing, I just want to play it constantly, and it only has 200 gamerscore potential!

So, I'm back, deal with it. (feels really good to be back)

Ok, haven't posted much lately, and missed a few 1,000 gamerscore updates, but this is big: The 6th annual Penny Arcade Expo is this Friday, and I'll be working it as an Enforcer. If you're attending, please stop by the Main Theater and say hi!

So, the video explains it pretty well, but this is the Roadie2 double bass coupler for rock band. If you have it (it lets you use 2 kick pedals, and is just about the only one out there that works properly), then you've probably noticed how fast it goes through 9-volt batteries, and there is no plug in for external power.

This video shows a very simple way to wire in an external power supply. I did it a week ago, have been playing it for about 25 hours since, it it works AMAZINGLY! Seriously, so good, I don't even have to turn it off now! No heat issues or burning or anything. If you have this thing, do yourself a favor and do this mod!

(since GS blog editor won't let me post the video in here, the link for the GS hosted and youtube hosted ones are below: (both are the same video, but the youtube one is higher resolution))

Gamespot hosted

Youtube hosted

Check this out

Those who read Penny Arcade will recognize the above panel, which came out yesterday. If Gabe and Tycho are making a comic about it, then it must be at least somewhat legit.

I want this thing to work, I REALLY do, but I just don't believe in it. I've never had a gaming quality computer (hell, I use a mac!), but I've always wanted to play quality games on there. I think onLive might work for me, but not you. That is, I believe onLive can work well with slower games, such as RPG's, puzzle games, and tactics games, which are my kind. However, the typical gamer these days prefers the shooters, fighters, and racing games, which simply require much less latency than onLive can possibly deliver.

It's really not a matter of opinion, it's simple physics. Unless these guys can open a worm hole between their server locations and your home, as well as slow time everywhere outside their server location, the delay would simply be too great between your button press and the stream of the video coming back to you from their computing location. This being said, I'm sure I'll get one, and I'll probably enjoy it. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to use it at school, as we have an awful 1/2 Mbps cap on our internet (and onLive recommends at least 1.5 Mbps). Luckily, I rock around 20 Mbps at home, so that's where it will stay.

Btw, if you want to determine if your internet is fast enough, 1.5 Mbps = 187.5 MBps, which will get you low definition through onLive, and 5 Mbps = 625 MBps will get you high definition through the system.

Please tell me this is just an early April Fools joke! There's no way that thing can possibly work.

Basically, it's saying you have a controller and a screen, but all the computing is done at their central location, then the video is streamed back to your tv. Come on, I don't even like using a wireless controller because of the latency, and that's only 10-20 feet, this is talking about hundreds of miles there and back! With the distance to travel, data relays, dropped packets, the time for their computer to process, render, and return video, then for the stream to get all the way back to your tv, that would be a catastrophe for action packed games.

So, come on, this is a joke, right?

While IGN now offers free game guides to all, Gamespot now requires a paid membership for download of their guides. Congratulations, Gamespot, you've taken yet another step into hell (which hopefully leads to bankruptcy).

Ok, if you read my last blog, you'd know that I'm a Rock Band nut. Also check out pics of my Rock Band setup on my Flickr page.

Anyway, story at hand, just yesterday, I crossed the 400 songs threshold in what I have available for play in Rock Band 2. In the game, I can now choose from 55 original Rock Band songs, 84 Rock Band 2 songs, and a whopping 275 downloaded songs. This is, of course, not to mention the dozens of songs I've downloaded for Guitar Hero World Tour, but who really cares about that game, anyway?

In other Rock Band news, I think Alex Navarro is working for Harmonix now. That seems like a good place for him, considering how much he loved playing Rock Band. I think it may be him because I had a Rock Band issue, emailed Harmonix, and the response was from Alex Navarro.Kinda weird, maybe not him, but maybe it is.

I think I may have a problem. The problem is that I live in a dorm where everyone loves playing Rock Band, myself included, and I have spent over $1,000 on Rock Band related expenses! My latest is the Ion Rocker kit, which I've been wanting for a long time. It was $300, and I just got it yesterday, but it is completely worth it. Here's a picture of my latest setup below:

My setup includes the greatest drum kit I've ever seen that's made for Rock Band, a 65" 1080p tv, a bass heavy surround sound system, over 250 downloaded songs, dual bass pedals, drum throne, Vic Firth sticks, and dual Guitar Hero guitars.

This is actually my fourth drum kit I've bought. I bought 2 of the originals, because I broke my first one playing too hard. I then bought my RB2 kit shown in the picture, and bought the cymbals for it. Then, I finally gave in and bought the Ion Rocker kit.

How do I overcome my obsession?! (btw, new RB drums video coming soon, and a better one than the one I have uploaded now, I promise!).

Last night, I flew from Seattle to New York via Alaska Airlines. While on board, the drink cart came by, and I asked for a Coke. While I'm watching a movie on my computer, she pours the drink, then hands it to me and asks me neighbor what they want. I took one sip of this drink, and it was clearly not Coke.

I kindly asked the flight attendant to take the drink back and give me a Coke, to which she responded, "That is Coke." I assured her that she was mistaken, as I always get a Coca-Cola on flights to ease my stomach. After this offering, she looks me straight in the eyes and says, "Trust me, that's Coke!"

Heh, heh. Knowing how full of **** she was, I made her produce a Coke can for review, and she pulled out not a Coke can, but a Jones Soda 'Cola' drink. Apparently, Alaska Airlines has gone all f'ing hippy on me and stopped carrying the American traditional cola, Coke, but instead only carries Jones 'Cola.' I taught that **** the error of her ways and made her pour me a ginger ale. It's not that I don't like Jones Soda, I actually think it's pretty good; but when I ask for a Coke, and you, an agent of the company I paid $450 to for cross-country travel, assure me that the beverage filling the cup in my hands is Coke, there had better DAMN well be ******* Coke in that cup!!!

Oh, btw, Merry Christmas, yo.

Well, finals week is upon me, and it's a heavy one, at that. Lots of pressure here, as this is my first finals week in a real university (I previously attended community college). I'm currently #1 in my accounting class by 3%, #1 in my calculus class by 15% (wow, I know, right?), and #2 in my business law class, trailing by 3%. My current GPA is 4.2, which is incredible, considering I transferred in with a 2.07! I guess all that B.S. I wrote in my admissions application letter wasn't B.S., after all!

Anyhoo, even with finals week approaching, I still managed to scored another G on the gamerscore sheet. A couple new games populate this thousand, as well as a few contributions from old favorites. So, here's the rundown:

Days since 42,000: 23 days

Silent Hill: Homecoming (10 points) - I think I may be outgrowing Silent Hill games. I was crazy about the first couple, but now the controls just feel broken and the frights are mostly predictable and ineffective. I think I'm gonna send this one back to Gamefly soon.

GRAW 2 (35 points) - GRAW 1 was the first Ghost Recon I ever got into, and I really enjoyed it, but GRAW 2 just can't satisfy me after tasting the likes of Rainbow Six Vegas and Gears of War. After those, GRAW just feels kiinda cheap.

Fallout 3 (400 new points(1000 total)) - Finished off the 1000, and finished off 3 play throughs. There is less to play in Fallout 3 than in Oblivion and Morrowind, but at least Fallout 3 looks prettier and controls better.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (290 points) - In 2007, EA started putting level up experience systems into their sports games, and that's when I started taking an interest. in Tiger Woods 07, you can create your character, play challenges, and make your golfer all around more capable. I played pretty thoroughly through the game, enough to get my golfer maxed out and play about half the tournaments, but after your skills are maxed, motivation to keep playing quickly dwindles. The gamerscore is fairly time consuming to come by, as well. Still, a fun game, and I'm sure I'll pick up some of the later editions soon.

Rock Band 2 (25 new points(430 total)) - That's right, kiddies, new RB2 points! The addition of the AN-I-MAL!!! achievement is the one that put me over 43,000. I still continue to play the drums about 3-5 days a week, and continue to piss off the neighbors. Some of the new 20 free songs actually turned out to be decent, fairly fun to play.

And one more thing to mention: As I have noted here before, I happen to own a 65" tv at home, and great news: I'm going to be bringing it here, to my dorm, after winter break! That thing will be such an awesome party tool!

Current gamerscore stands at: 43,012
Current world gamerscore rank: 17,823