Lately, I’ve had a lot of home repairs done to my residence, so my main TV has seen some serious downtime. Since not gaming just isn’t an option, I turned to my PSP.

I love my PSP, and think it is definitely the best and most powerful handheld system ever made. Unfortunately, PSP game developers are attempting to drive me insane.

I have always been a platform fan at heart, and loved the platformers for the original Gameboy. I own copies of Ape Escape, Tokobot, and Pac Man World 3 for my PSP. To this date, I have no finished any of them.

Rather than take responsibility for my failures in handheld gaming, I choose to blame others. For some reason, developers seem to think that a title needs to offer 100 hours of gameplay to keep gamers satisfied. I play my PSP in 10-30 minute sittings, and frankly long games are more frustrating than they are satisfying.

Some of the PSP platformers offer only about 10 hours of play, like Ape Escape or Pac Man World 3. In this case, developers were kind enough to include in excess of 4 save points. I’ve been on the final level of Ape Escape for months because even though I have 17 lives, I don’t have the 3 hours necessary to sit through the final level.

On my current Pac Man level, I have a habit of losing to the main boss. No biggie, except you must play through the entire level to get back to him. This seriously takes almost an hour to do. It reminds me of the original Ninja Gaiden on NES. I had sincerely hoped that developers would have learned something in the 15 years since that title frustrated every kid in America, but apparently they haven’t.

Tokobot is a quality game that is just too complicated. I’m not going to declare it difficult, but the number of moves and formations and puzzles just makes it too complicated for me to focus on.

I am a die-hard Sony fan, but the developers could learn something from Mario. I don’t have 40 hours to put into a handheld game, and would like at least a snowball’s chance in hell of completing a platforming title.

I've beaten several action titles, and have gotten some serious enjoyment out of racing games. I often like to switch between multiple games, but the lack of save points makes it so that I lose all progress if I take any platforming UMD out of my PSP. Developers can insist on insanely long games if they want, but how many games am I gonna buy if it takes me 50 hours to complete one?

I’m assuming almost everyone in the world has heard about the Muslim outrage over the Dutch comics depicting the main prophet of Islam. Everything I hear about it comes back to people’s rights. I think it would be in everyone’s best interest to start focusing less on our supposed rights, and more on common sense.

The right to a freedom of speech and a free press is sacred to me. That’s why I live in America. I was fortunate to be born here, but I do not think I would ever allow myself to live in any country where something as simple as expressing my opinion on this website and forums could expose me to prosecution. However, I must respect the fact that not all people feel that way.

America also offers the freedom of religion, which I also hold dear. With this freedom comes an underlying respect for the beliefs of others. There is no reason, even if I am free to do so, for me to offend someone’s core spiritual values for the sake of a joke. I did not support Muslim death threats against author Salman Rushdie for writing The Satanic Verses. That’s because Rushdie was creating a work of art, not going for a cheap laugh.

Muslims are no different that any other group of people. Most are good, hard-working people who are not out to harm anyone. Some are ultraviolent psychotics. We cannot base our opinions of an entire group on a small section of the population. Otherwise, we would have to consider all white people to be members of the Klu Klux Klan, all black people to be militant members of the Black Panthers, and all Buddhists to be bald headed and wearing orange robes. We do however need to be aware of the violent and dangerous factions of any society.

Of course, all this talk of basic human rights seems to completely omit any element of common sense. Let’s say a white male American becomes enamored with his right to free speech. As a result of his new passion, he decides to walk alone into the deepest heat of Compton or Houston’s 5th Ward. When he finds a group of 10 obvious gang members, he decides to tell them how the White races are superior to them in every way. Even if the man uses no hate speech or racial slurs, would any of us be surprised if he were severely beaten or killed? While the man was clearly within his rights, and clearly had his rights violated by the other party, most reasonable people would admit that the man’s poor judgment caused any discomfort he might have received. This doesn’t mean we support gang violence and hate the First Amendment, it just means that we are against stupidity.

We need to focus a little less on right and wrong, and look a little deeper at the way things are. It makes perfect sense not to provoke a violent person. They most likely don’t have the same respect for rights that you do, and they will hurt you. Even if you are 100% right, that doesn’t count for much when you’re dead.

Anyone who has read my recent posts knows that I have a fight coming up in February. The fight is being held at the Stars Center, in Frisco, TX. The building is usually used by one of the Dallas Stars minor league teams.

As a promotional gimmick, several of the fighters made an appearance on center ice while a tape of past fights was played on the Jumbotron. As the announcer called my name, I noticed literally every one of my bosses from work sitting in a rinkside section of the stadium. It was like some nightmare from high school. Apparently, my company had bought tickets to the game for all of my supervisors as a “bonding” exercise. I have a good job with a city in the Dallas area, and all of the city supervisors were there.

I have kept my fighting pretty quiet because I know MMA has a certain image. The UFC is not necessarily seen as an intellectual sporting event. I have always kept my work and my fighting separate because in my opinion the two have nothing to do with each other. Now, literally everyone will know.

I’m by no means ashamed of what I do, in fact I’m very proud of it. However, I’m terrified of going to work tomorrow. I worry that some of the supervisors will make comments about how my fighting might reflect on the city’s image. A normal company probably wouldn’t care, but city employees always face political skepticism and seem to have an unwritten moral code.

A petition was recently e-mailed to everyone at my work. It asked for all of us to show our support for the ban of the game 25 to Life. It seemed to be getting a lot of support from the people I work with. This wouldn’t surprise or bother me in the least, except that I work in the legal profession.

I can’t see so many of my co-workers, who have taken a sworn oath to uphold the Constitution, could jump on this bandwagon. If the sight had asked us to ban a book and support legal actions and stricter laws for publishers, we would’ve taken to the streets and rioted. So why don’t games get this treatment?

When offensive movies are released, some people boycott them, but most people simply don’t see the film if they don’t think they like it’s message or content (ex. Brokeback Mountain). People support strict laws for the sale and distribution of adult films, but nobody seems to be lobbying for a ban of all XXX films and criminal punishments for companies that produce and distribute them.

Too many people are hiding behind the fact that the games are aimed at children. I don’t recall ever having $50 spare cash lying around until I started working in my late teens. Obviously, the majority of kids can’t afford a new video game without at least some parental involvement. If you don’t like a game your kid wants, don’t buy it. If they manage to buy a copy when it becomes a greatest hit, take it away from them.

The big problem with 25 to Life is the fact that it involves killing law enforcement officers. While killing cops is definitely a bad thing, is it any better to have a game that involves killing any other group of people? If there is an inherent danger involved in graphic depictions of the killing of people in uniform, then why aren’t we pulling every World War II video game and war movie off the shelves? If these images are harmful to anyone, then all of them, animated or otherwise, must be lumped into the same category and treated equally.

It’s now been almost five days since I have played a video game. That’s almost a record for me. I have a PS2 in my living room, a Gamecube in my bedroom (it’s technically my wife’s, but I could play it if I really wanted to), and a PSP anywhere I want it. Unfortunately, my work and my upcoming fight are taking all of my time.

On one hand, I’m very thankful to have my current job. I had to work very hard to get it, but it pays more than anything else I’ve ever done, provides a sense of fulfillment, and commands respect. All of these things are important seeing as how I have a child on the way.

On the other hand, I’m working more hours than I ever thought possible. I’ve had a few 6 day workweeks, and have been pulling a lot of 10 hour days. Mix this with hours fight training and weightlifting and the seemingly endless list of home repairs and improvements I’ve started, and I have next to no time.

Here I am showing my age again. I have been a fan of video games for quite some time. I actually started gaming on an Atari, which means that only people who owned an original “Pong” game have been at it longer than I have. If you have no idea what “Pong” is, then I am now officially too old to relate to you.

Anyway, I am now finding many video games too complicated for me to get into. My first gaming system controller had one button and a control stick. I was blown away when Nintendo released a system whose controller had two buttons and a stick. Now my characters could jump and punch in the same game. Believe it or not, this was a revolution at one time. Then I got a Genesis, which was completely groundbreaking with its unheard of 3 buttons. Now, I play my PS2 religiously, which has 8 buttons, an analog control pad, and two control sticks.

I think I have adjusted well, but I’m started to get a little scared. I haven’t really played a Nintendo system religiously since they introduced anything with a trigger on the controller. I’m now terrified that future generations will use more buttons than I can possibly physically manipulate. The new Revolution system controller looks like it wants me to manipulate multiple buttons while dancing around like an idiot. In 10 years I will probably have to use both hands, my left foot, and a cybernetic hula-hoop just to play a simple platformer.

I am actually starting to be confused by the option and load screens that appear before I even play games. I loved Star Wars Battlefront, and was thrilled when I got Battlefront II for Christmas. When I play Battlefront II, I honestly have no idea what I’m doing. I can handle the action, but between all of the control options, campaign choices, and different types of soldiers to choose from, it’s a minor miracle that I ever make it into the actual gameplay portion. In my opinion Nintendo mastered the option screen when they gave players the choice between 1 or 2 players. All other advancements have been a ploy to slowly edge me out of the gaming market.

During my single days, I was a middle-school teacher and a professional MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter on the side. I have now been married for approximately 1.5 years, have a child on the way, and have switched to a better-paying job that I love. It has been over 2 years since I entered a professional ring. Now, I am again scheduled to fight on Feb. 25 (technically, this one is on a cage, so I won’t be returning to the ring).

I’m more nervous than I used to be before a fight. Some might even say scared. Naturally, when I get scared about something I like to look for someone to blame. In this case, I’m going to go with Capcom.

My current situation is almost all due to Capcom developing the Street Fighter series. I was in elementary school when the original Street Fighter came out. I played it all the time at the arcade, but could never get past Birdie (that’s kind of beside the point). For some reason that game made me daydream about some sort of fighting tournament without rules.

Then I saw Jean Claude Van Damme’s Bloodsport, and I was hooked on the idea. By the time I was on the high school wrestling team, Street Fighter II was becoming all the rage at the local arcades. I can’t really blame Van Damme for my current situation, because these days it’s much cooler to blame video games for childhood development issues.

Truthfully, I think I’m just preoccupied with growing old and missing out on things. Some people think I play video games to prolong my childhood. I don’t agree at all. I play video games because I find them much more entertaining than other mediums.

I think I do things like enter pro fights to prolong my youth. I have always had a fear of growing too old to do something that I have always dreamed of. I’m worried if I give up fighting now, then I will look back when I’m 50 and regret it. I’m scared of getting hurt, but I’m terrified of wasting my life.

Part of me thinks that I need to focus more on being a husband and father than I do on being a father. The other part of me is very proud that I made it to the pro ranks, and I want my child to see that if you work hard at something you can succeed. Part of me just thinks it sounds cool to say I’m a pro fighter, even though I’m getting to that age where I don’t really give a damn about impressing others. Hopefully, it will all work out for the best.

Instead of driving to multiple locations throughout the Dallas Metroplex, I decided to buy some of the Toys’R’Us $10 clearance games from amazon.com. This made sense after I went to the TRU nearest my home and was immediately swarmed by preteens rushing to spend their Christmas money on countless items in the games dept. While I should have expected this on the day after Christmas, so should the store, which conveniently only had one person working the register. I wound up with only a copy of Killzone for PS2 and a headache.

So, later on Dec. 26th I went online and ordered Metal Gear Solid 3, King of Fighters: Maximum Impact, Cold Fear, and Freedom Fighters. My total paid was $47, and all four games arrived within three days. Because of the great price and apparent convenience of buying from TRU online, I kept checking the website.

On Dec. 31, the site added even more $10 games, so I promptly ordered Tekken 5, Silent Hill 4, Haunting Ground, and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Naturally, I expected all of the titles to arrive shortly thereafter.

Here it is Jan 15th, and the games are nowhere to be found. The website said that my games will be delivered on March 2nd and Arrive about March 4th. WTF is that about.

While I now have a lot of games I haven’t played, and probably wouldn’t have gotten to any of them except Tekken 5 until March, the principle of this late delivery really bothers me.

There really is no point to this entry, other than just to vent. It doesn’t accomplish much, but it lets me complain to someone other than wife, who thinks I have too many games anyway. Thanks for reading it, if you actually took the time to do so. I will try to make future posts much more informative or at least entertaining.

I was very lucky in that various family members bought me numerous PS2 games for Christmas. I was playing RE4, which is one of the best games ever, just before I got the new games.

I love the Ratchet series, so I had to stop playing RE4 to try Deadlocked when I got it. Since then, I can't play any other game for more than an hour before I'm popping Ratchet back into the disc tray.

It doesn't seem right that I now have about 10 games that I want to finish, and I'm on my fourth playthrough of Deadlocked. This is the most addictive game I've played since Up Your Arsenal. I wasn't able to stop playing that one until I unlcovked and discovered every item.

Hopefully, I will achieve some sort of completeness in Deadlocked, and be able to move on. Until then, a lot of quality titles will remain unplayed.

I recently read a forum post where someone mentioned the PS2 game Van Helsing. It reminded me how much I enjoyed that game. While it wound up being somewhat forgettable in the long run, the Devil May Cry style gameplay and weapons encouraged me to play through it several times.

I am currently playing through Star Wars Episode III. While there are some control issues, I am enjoying the game for the most part, and am interested enough in the films to continue playing through.

I now realize that I may be the only fan of games based on movies.  I liked the first Evil Dead game and will probably buy the second within the next few months. I started paying a lot more attention to the movie game reviews, and think a lot of reviewers are being a little harsh.

While I don’t like all movie games (I think I gave Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon the lowest score I have ever assigned to a game), I like the ones that feature fun gameplay. The one thing I see that they are all slammed for is a lack of originality. Am I the only one who sees a problem with this?

When developers convert a movie into a game, they are forced to design a game around characters they didn’t create who play through a story that has been determined by others. This leaves little room for creativity, and frankly I don’t think it’s necessary. If a game is fun, where’s the harm in using tried and true gameplay mechanics that have pleased players in multiple titles?

I’m not claiming that I only like games completely void of creativity (I own copies of both Beyond Good and Evil and Shadow of the Colossus). However, I really enjoy playing through a title featuring characters I am familiar with from other areas. This holds true for all mediums. I have thoroughly enjoyed titles based on comics (X-Men Legends and Incredible Hulk series), TV shows (Simpsons Hit and Run), and animes that I didn’t know existed until I played the games (the Gungrave series).