While you may find the title of this blog entry to be a little weird, I assure you that it does relate to gaming. I was incredibly disappointed when Sony announced that the new PS3 will cost more than one of the cars I drove in high school (I’m not even 30 yet, so its not like new cars cost $1500 when I was a senior).

I am getting very tired of watching smiling executives try to appear hip as they rant about how happy I should be to shell out an asinine amount of money for their product. All the time they are raving about how great their product is, they are telling consumers about all the added features that their console offers.

I drive a Ford F-150 pickup truck with very few features that I paid about $12,000 for. The dealer was happy to sell it to me, and the fact that they had numerous models to choose from with the features I wanted means that there are a lot of other people who don’t need every accessory that can be put on a vehicle. I could’ve spent $40,000 for the same truck with all the bells and whistles if I really wanted to, but the dealer gave me a choice.

What Sony and Microsoft are doing is basically the same as Ford releasing two models of the F-150. One model would be loaded with features and sell for $50,000. The other model would have about half of those features and sell for $40,000. How long do you think Ford would stay in business if they tried this business plan?

At least with vehicles, the dealers offer features that one would expect to find in a car. Sony and Microsoft are adding features that have noting to do with video games and have never been included in a game system before. It’s to the point now where they aren’t even trying to relate these features to gaming.

I have a regular TV and drive my truck on regular roads. Therefore I do not feel a need to pay an extra $200 over what a console should cost me just so that I could theoretically use it on a TV I don’t own. I would not pay Ford an extra $10,000 for a road package specially designed for unpaved mountain terrain, and Ford was kind enough not to just go ahead and add deluxe off road capabilities to all vehicles based on the fact that .08% of all drivers need this feature.

I also consider many of the extra multimedia features to be useless. I already own all the stereos, CD players, cameras, and computers I need, and quite frankly none of these items have anything to do with gaming. Toasters and blenders have nothing to do with driving a vehicle. That’s why Ford doesn’t automatically include a full kitchen appliance set with every vehicle and charge $5000 extra for it.

I have no problem with added features, and like the fact that you can upgrade computers and some other items. However, I would much rather buy a basic PS3 with a hard drive minus all of the features that I don’t need for $300. If you need HD, internet, and multimedia I have no problem with Sony offering them in a $600 package. I just think people who need extra features should be the ones paying for them, not the rest of us.

My paternity leave is over and I will return to work tomorrow. My leave went by fast, but I’m kind of ready to get back to my job. I know my wife is a little scared about it, but I’m sure she’ll get through it fine.

I thought I’d have more time for GS while I was on leave, but that wasn’t the case. Everyone says that new parents get no sleep. This is completely untrue. You get lots of sleep, but you have to take sleep breaks at the same time your child does. A newborns schedule involves about 2-2.5 hours of sleep, followed by about 1 hour of activity. Therefore, my wife and I got only slightly less sleep than normal, it’s just that you don’t feel nearly as refreshed after 3 2 hour naps as you would after 6 solid hours of sleep.

The only thing that really keeps you awake is the constant phone calls from realities. Each one of your relatives thinks that if they only call once or twice a day, then they won’t be bothering you. They are wrong. You wind up getting 20-30 phone calls a day that serve to wake both you and the baby.

You can try turning off your phone to get away from your family, but then they’ll stop by. Everyone is really nice, and constantly ask if you need them to bring you anything. If any of you have friends or family who are expecting kids, remember two things. One is that you can’t deliver sleep, which is the only thing new parents need. Number two is that new parents are more likely to be asleep at 3 pm than they are at 3 am. Please remember this when timing phone calls.

All the offers to bring you things will really blow your mind when you have a child. It’s like people assume that you’ve been caught off guard by the birth and need all sorts of last minute items. Personally, my wife and I had 9 months to prepare for this and had pretty much everything we needed. Although, it’s really fun to tell the more obscure relatives that you don’t see that much that you really need a crib and blankets because you forgot to pick up any during the pregnancy.

My son was just born on April 24, 2006. As any of you with children know, this involves a hospital stay.  I happen to like video games, so I brought my Sony PSP with me. For some reason when I tell people this, I gat a lot of looks like I am the most uncaring SOB on the planet.

I actually posted a question on the forum asking what game I should bring with my. The first response, which came from another gamer, was that I should be taking care of my wife and child and leaving the PSP at home. Even this person, who is familiar with modern gaming, assumed no one could possibly possess a gaming system without neglecting all other things around them.

I want to stress that I didn’t play my PSP during any of the labor or delivery of my son, and was basically at my lovely wife’s disposal for all of the three-day-long stay. The only times I played were when my son was out of the room and my wife was asleep, or everyone but myself was asleep. I never neglected any of my wife or sons needs, or played the system while any visitors or guests were in the room. Therefore, I’m wondering why I’m instantly classified as a horrible person by 90% of the people who hear that I brought my PSP to the hospital with me.

I noticed while I was in the hospital that every single room had a television set with cable TV and a DVD player. I also observed many people watching these televisions and DVD players. What I didn’t see was people criticizing them for being cold and callous because they were not diverting their entire attention to the people around them.

I checked the waiting areas and noticed that countless magazines and newspapers were provided for friends and family. Again, I didn’t notice anyone being berated for having the gall to read at a time like this.

Only video games seem to get this kind of flack from the general public. I seems that people assume a person cannot have a portable video game in their possession and not be playing it all the time. It really appeared that many people who heard I was bringing my PSP thought I would be playing constantly and might consider pausing for the actual birth of my first child. Nobody would’ve assumed this if I’d brought a book.

I’m not trying to convince the general public that video games are a completely mature and always appropriate form of entertainment. However, I refuse to believe that they offer any less benefit than watching any of the hundreds of reality television shows currently on the air. It blows my mind that I seem less intelligent to many people while quietly playing a video game than I would watching a special on former child stars on E.

My son Griffin was born at 6:24 PM on April 26, 2006. He weighed in at 6 lbs 15 oz, and had a length of 19.75 inches. It would’ve been a lot easier to remember if they had just declared him to be 7 lbs and 20 inches long, but doctors seem to get hung up on accuracy.

With everything going on in my life I haven’t been around very much the past few days. The doctors are inducing my wife tomorrow at 7:30 am, so I have less than 24 hours before I become a father. Naturally, I’ll be out of pocket for a few days after the birth.

I’m a little worried about how everything will go when the baby comes. I’m not that much of a homebody, and I usually spend a good portion of each day away from the house. I’m taking at least 2 weeks off work, and worry that I’ll go nuts spending so much time at home.

Everyone tells me I’ll be too tired to really notice how fast the time goes by. They are probably right, but 2 weeks at home just isn’t my normal style. Hopefully, my new son will keep me occupied and I won’t do anything to damage him.

Today I went to Toys’R’Us with the best of intentions. My wife has been put on bedrest for the next few days (and possibly for the last 2-3 weeks of the pregnancy). I took a few days of family sick leave from work to stay home and take care of her. She was bored and asked me to pick up some board games to play with her.

As I was looking through the toy store, I checked out numerous toys and wondered what my son will be interested in. I quickly started to feel cheated because Star Wars and super hero action figures are 100 times cooler now than they were when I was a kid. Star Wars figures all looked like mannequins and you could choose from about 10 comic book heroes who’s arms didn’t bend when I was growing up. Now kids (or most likely adult collectors) have super detailed Star Wars toys and can pick from any number of obscure B-list hero action figures as well as thousands of different Batman, Superman, and X-

Men figures. I consoled myself with a trip to the R Zone.

Low and behold, there were tons of buy-one-get-one-free deals, as well as a handful of $10 games. I wound up picking up Ultimate Spider Man, Fantastic Four, Transformers, and Project Snowblind for the PS2 for under $50 total. This reaffirmed my opinion that I am powerless against cheap games.

I think this is the number one sign of addiction. It’s sad that I go out to do a good thing for my family, and can’t stop myself from this type of indulgence. I might as well be hooked on crack (at least games aren’t illegal and won’t get me fired from work). If any of you learn of a support group or 12-step program for people like me, feel free to send a PM.

I am eagerly awaiting the day that video games can be seen as sentimental items. It sounds cheesy, but I associate a lot of growing up with video games. They bring back lots of memories of old friends and how my life used to be. Unfortunately, too many people see them as just “toys” or lump them in with other electronics and think they should be disposed of when they get old.

This didn’t used to concern me much, but now I am married. From what I can tell, the average American gets roughly 3% of the useable space in the house to store personal possessions. Wives can keep as many knick-knacks as they deem necessary, and are never expected to get rid of things even when space becomes limited. Women seem to be able to magically classify random items as “sentimental” and thus render them impervious to replacement or relocation.

When a husband runs out of his 3% of the home, it is time to throw some things away. When a wife runs out of room in the home, its time to buy a bigger home. Somehow this seems more than a little unfair.

My wife considers old furniture passed down from her parents to have sentimental value, and will not allow me to get rid of a single piece. I could understand if they were handcrafted antiques that the family brought over from Europe when they emigrated to this country. However, this is generic factory produced items ordered from Sears in the 1970’s. My wife and I have bought some furniture from Pier 1, and some from Target and Wal-Mart. I pray that my children will never feel a need to preserve these items simply because I used to keep them in my house. Particle Board should never become sacred.

Growing up, I can remember swapping games with people who I haven’t seen in 20 years. I can remember things that were going on in my life and in the world at the time I was playing certain systems. Many of these people and events only cross my mind when I think of video games. This should hold some value, but only gamers seem to respect my opinion.

I am expecting a son in 1 month and 3 days. I look forward to his arrival, but know that it will further restrict the amount of space I have available for my things. I accept this and wouldn’t have it any other way. However, I have come up with a plan to keep my games.

Until a few days ago I had the “Top 100 Reviewers” badge, and it brought me great joy. I have seen that some of my friends on this site have the “Top 500 Reviewers” badge, so I felt that I was in good company. Now, I have no badge and am very sad.

I don’t know where in the top 100 I was. I could’ve been number 2, or number 99 for all I know. Still, the loss of my badge, and the fact that it was not replaced by a "top 500 Reviewers" badge, means that I have just been defeated by no less than 401 people. That’s very hard to take. I assume that getting your butt kicked by that many people at once is supposed to come as a surprise.

It appears that in my gaming, much like in the rest of my life, I need to simplify. My collection is ever growing due to incredible sale prices on PS2 games recently (MGS3, LOTR:ROTK, and Dead to Rights II for $9.99, and Rise of the Kasai for $4.99) my collection is ever expanding. However, the number of games I am finishing is ever shrinking.

I think I’m simply playing too many games at once. I lose the focus needed to actually complete any of them. I will try to limit myself to two PS2 games and three PSP games at one time. The only reason I’m keeping three PSP games is because sometimes I just need my Street Fighter Alpha Max fix. This will actually be hard to do.

Hopefully, I will develop a little bit of discipline in my gaming. I seem to reach a difficult or slow part of one game, and instantly throw in Battlefront II for some quick action. Daxter on the PSP has me hooked right now, but I have trouble fighting the urge to put GTA:LCS back into the system.

Just because a game goes off my now playing list today does not mean that I have no intention of returning to it and eventually completing it. The move just means that I needed to devote more focus to another title. If it all works out, the only time I will remove a game from the now playing list in the future will be when it is either finished, or ruled a horrible gaming experience that needed to end permanently.

I just got back from my neck “surgery.” Normally, I wouldn’t put the word in quotes, but I really don’t see how this was a surgical procedure. Basically, they put me to sleep so that they could give me a shot in my neck. That’s it.

I’m supposed to be undergoing physical therapy, but I’m issuing a challenge to my doctor tomorrow. My doctor recommended some physical therapists in his office complex. I met with them once, and felt like I had just met the Special Olympics Weightlifting Team. I’m telling my doctor tomorrow that I am only going back if I see at least one of the staff members do 10 pushups, and I’ll settle for 3 pull-ups. It’s safe to say I won’t be going back.

Throughout high school I was on the football and wrestling teams. The entire time I was lifting weights and running. In college I was still a part of the school’s wrestling club, and played about 10 intramural sports. After college, I began an extensive kickboxing and jiu-jitsu program, that led to my pro fighting career. Altogether, I have been working out for 14 years.

I am not a ripped individual, but I have a lot of muscle tissue. I can run several miles at a time when necessary, and even injured can still do pushups and pull-ups when necessary. Therefore, when a supposed “physical therapist” whose body looks like 250 lbs of chewed bubble gum stacked on a 5’8” frame tells me about muscular fitness and recovery, I am a little skeptical. I wouldn’t go to an illiterate reading teacher, so why would I take advice on muscles from someone who apparently has none?

As you can tell, I’m bitter about the whole process. The PT taught me no new muscular exercises that will help my recovery, and honest to God seems like a scam to get more money out of the Workers’ Compensation program. They recommended I have my job buy me an electronic muscle stimulator, which they conveniently sell. I almost literally had to throw it at one of them to keep them from making me leave with it. They seemed unable to comprehend that the product would not benefit me due to the fact that my condition was caused by a neurological problem and not a muscular one, and therefore I didn’t want it. All they kept saying was “It doesn’t cost you a thing, insurance will pay for it.”

I’m just worried because I want to comply with doctor’s orders so that my workers comp insurance will continue to pay for the treatment I need. However, I know in the very pit of my soul that these people are just milking the system.

These people are useless and are a drain on society. I don’t want to offend any of you who are physical therapists, if you are in shape. If not, find another field.