UnForestero's Blog - 2old2play

Back in the Saddle Again

After having to move over 300 miles, and wait for just the right rental situation; I am now able to use the internetz unfettered by certain relatives who thought I might be using all of the internet up. I won't be satisfied until I can has broadband anywhere I want, but this will have to do.

During my internet hiatus I rediscovered literature and human interaction...no I really didn't. I did haul my 360 to a broadband outlet to download Indigo Prophecy and Fable; because nothing will stop me from giving Microsoft money. I finished Indigo Prophecy, but was derailed in my Fable quest by the release of GTA 4. I ordered it off Gamefly and thought it would be a silly romp with some achievements, but I got hooked.. This quicky post can't contain my GTA4 love, so I'll save that for a future post. I have also been getting alot of mileage out of Doom, Half Life 2, and Dead Rising.

Recently, I rented Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles which is great if you are looking desperately for a new game to play on you Wii that does not involve a balance board. Sadly, I failed to return it on time, involving late fees. Luckily for me Hastings (the rental store in question) sent me a letter promising half off my late fees, AND a free rental. Color me surprised. Sadly, they're game rental selection was scanty, so I left Condemned 2 Bloodshot.

You'd think as a Silent Hill super fan I'd love this game, but so far I find the controls annoying. I have it for four more days and plan on returning it in a prompt manner.

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Retail Therapy

Retail Therapy Report

Dear Customers,
In this stressful holiday time, it's still important to be courteous to those around you. Simply because a person is behind a counter, does not give you right to be rude. The following is a quick list of holiday shopping "don'ts".

Don't spend the entire transaction on your cell phone arguing with your spouse or ordering food. You hold up the line trying to multi-task, and make me feel like I might as well be a goddamn U-Scan machine.

Don't complain to me that you were waving at me from twenty feet away, and I didn't hop over like your obedient lackey. I am not your lackey, nor am I anyone else's.

Don't correct me when say "happy holidays", by saying "merry christmas", Guess what, there are other religions celebrating holidays right now to.

Don't pester me about whether I scanned your giant piles of coupons, you were right there when I did it.

Don't get snippy with me when your young child hands me a copy of Call of Duty 4, and I insist you come into the electronics department to pay for it. Then, get flustered when I point out the M rating. It may be a gift for his older brother, but sure as shit he'll find a way to play it.

Don't stand there dumbly staring at me after I've handed you your receipt and purchase. You've got your stuff, our relationship is now concluded. You may go now. This almost only happens with credit card holders, does the holiday season make credit card users stupid?

Don't argue with me as to why my store doesn't stock the game/movie/CD you desire. I don't have it, it's not here, please stop pestering me about it.

Don't come to my register with 2,000 dollars worth of merchandise and then write a check. Also, don't get snippy when I have to call to verify funds. Why doesn't everyone have a debit card?

Don't argue with me when I say your card/check has been declined. You can tell me over and over how you've just made a large deposit, it isn't going to help. Call your bank and leave me out of it.

Don't ask me if there are any Wiis, just don't.

Do have a happy holiday, whatever heathen gods you worship.

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What do you do?

What do you do if someone you love and respect tells you they are dying? What if they were the very person you would turn to if you were going to lose someone near and dear to to you? There's no words, maybe if I purge myself online I'll let some of my pain and loss go. I don't know what to do.

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Black Friday Booty

I just got back from shopping my store's Black Friday sale, and it took me all of 5 minutes to finish my shopping. Wanna know how I did it? I snagged all the games, movies, and CDs I wanted while I was working, and stashed them under the counter. All I had to do was walk up, and ask for my giant pile. Here's a list of my ill-gotten gain:

Assassin's Creed
Overlord
Dead Rising
Firefly boxed set
Silent Hill movie
LOTR boxed set
"Tenacious D" LE CD "The Pick of Destiny"
Hairspray

I only spent 176.00 bucks after all the discounts were done. I'm sorry I didn't grab those 24 boxed sets, but I might get them when I show up for work this afternoon.

Retail Therapy Report
Behind the counter I noticed a huge pile of the LOZ Phantom Hourglass/ DS bundles (gold w/Triforce emblem), a stack of the 360s bundled with Forza 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and one lone 360 Elite bundled with the aforementioned games. I have been gazing in reverence at this elite bundle resting regally in the stockroom for the last two days, I can't believe it wasn't sold at 5:00 AM. There were no Wiis in sight, but several bundled and unbundled PS3s were languishing in their glass case. I'm starting to feel bad for the poor things.

Pardon me, I have to go assassinate some Templars, or maybe rule the world, or save a bunch of people in a zombie infested mall. Decisions, decisions.

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So I'm at work the other day and...

...this guy in a John Deere hat and acid wash jeans come and asks for the "EA NASCAR 08 game that you can play on you TV." I asked him whether he wanted the XBOX 360 version or the PS3 version. He looked confused, and I had to be one to break it to him that it would cost him at least 350.00 to play the game on his TV. He left looking disappointed. I could have been a real smarmy jerk, but I wasn't.

Another day, a middle aged woman asked me for the "Y" game". I knew from prior experience that she wanted to buy a Wii. I only corrected her on her pronunciation so when she unveiled it to her grandkids on X-Mass morning, she wouldn't sound uncool.

Another lady bounced in to buy Wii Play; bubbling on about how she got a really good deal on a Wii at Walmart. "They are normally 399.99, but I got mine for 249.99!" I was about to correct her, but she seemed so happy I just couldn't burst her bubble. This incident makes me wonder what the hell is going on at Walmart.

Numerous folks have come in to ask if we have "the Wii game". I point to the display, only to discover they mean the console.

See, I know I say stupid things all the time, and when someone nicely corrects me, I don't feel bad. I just can't stand people rubbing my nose in my own mistake like a puppy with a bladder control problem. So I try to extend that courtesy to my fellow human beings. (unless they are stupid AND mean, in which case they can go fuck themselves)

Retail Therapy Report
Parents are terrified there might be a Wii shortage, so they are snapping them up as fast as Nintendo ships them to us. This is the principle of supply and demand in action. We got the 360 Arcade bundle in, and we still have one Halo 3 edition 360 left over like ghost of the Halo Hysteria . We can't keep the pro bundle in stock. (the one with a 20 gig 360 and Forza 2 and Marvel Alliance) Oh, and I sold a PS3 last week.

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Look what I got from work

i r kool

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Virtual Reality to Control Pain

Cognitive psychologist Hunter Hoffman is being honored by the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum for his work on "SnowWorld", a virtual reality game that helps to distract burn victims from their pain while they undergo painful wound cleansing procedures. The patients fly through an arctic paradise, flinging snow balls at targets. Virtual reality games even beat out video games for distracting the patient. Hoffman's designs has also been used to combat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and even spider phobia.

seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2003995566_hunter06.html

www.hitl.washington.edu/projects/vrpain/

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So I'm at work the other day and...

... this little kid comes up and puts a copy of GTA Vice City on the counter and gives me this sweet look with his big brown eyes. There's a lady right behind him who looks like she could be his mother, so I start ringing it up. I look over at her, and tell her the total, and she looks at me confused.

"You're not with him?" I say pointing to the wee tot. She shakes her head. I cancel the sale, and tell the boy he needs to bring his mom or dad over before I'll sell him the game. He wonders off; looking disappointed but not surprised. I sell M rated games to kids all the time, but only if they have they have a parent or guardian present

The woman in line commends me for what I did, and then launches into a tirade about how "they" have proved that video games cause ADD. "It's the flashing lights" She concludes. This isn't the time to play dueling studies and debate the validity of electronic media. I notice she is buying a kid's cartoon, but decide it would be imprudent to point out television's effect on children's attention spans, or the fact that there are members of my family with ADD diagnosis that have never played a video game in their life. That's called being polite and professional. It's also called, not getting into a heated argument with a customer with my manager standing four feet away.

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Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition

I wasn't going to bother buying it, until I noticed that it was only 30 bucks. (employee discount doesn't hurt either). Aiming the reticle with wiimote is fun, but I do miss the laser sight. I'm still trying to get used to the Wii controls, but I'm hoping that a purchase of the new "Zapper" will help-- because I enjoy shooting things on my tv. RE4Wii has the Gamecube graphics people love, and the extra content from the PS2 version; although I would have appreciated a little extra content for this new version. It's at least a great rental for those who don't want to buy another version of the game.

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PAX 07

I just got my pass for this year's PAX (8/24-8/26), it will be my first convention. I hope to some meet cool folks, try out some new games, listen to some nerdcore, and get invited to some killer parties. What will happen is a mystery- hope I can stay awake and not miss out on the fun. I got the three day pass, so I can be flexible with my plans. Today is the last day to save $5.00 on pre-registered online passes.

See you in Seattle!

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So many games, so little time.

I finally broke down and decided to try out game rentals again. After some quick research, I ended up going with Gamefly, but only because Gamelender didn't offer Wii games. However, GameLender does have over 7,000 games, but a lot of them are Nintendo legacy games. Blockbuster has the advantage when you want a game RIGHT NOW, but I'm limited to whatever is on the shelf at my local store, when I happen to wander in.   Waiting for a game to come in the mail is an exercise in sweet anticipation, unless you were really hoping for your first choice. I'm still waiting to receive a copy of Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, sadly it has yet to arrive . Instead I got my second and third choices.

Pirates of The Caribbean: At Worlds End (Wii) This is light fun, and the voice acting is surprisingly on the money (at least in regards to Jack), but there's something to slick about this game. Maybe I'm just all pirated out right now, but I ran out of steam for this title quickly.   I will probably try it again on another console at some point.

Primal (PS2) Ever watch a movie that a much younger you thought was great, only to discover that it wasn't nearly the masterpiece you thought? OK, it wasn't that bad. Primal has amazing art direction, cut scenes, music, and voice acting. Also, in the movie browser section, you can replay from any point you already played.   For it's time Primal is really quite stunning. Sadly, the combat controls are like having to fight with your hands tied together; which is sad since the point of the game is to use primal energies in combat and puzzle solving. Still, Primal will always have a soft spot in my heart. Now, I should go rent "The Last Star Fighter", and see if it stood the test of time.

Or maybe I'll just live with my rosy memories instead.

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Should I sell my Wii?

I've grown tired of my Wii, and I'm seriously considering selling it on ebay. I've got lots of bills to pay, and I want a new tv, a 360, and a new computer. Not that a Wii and some games are going to pay for that whole list, but it's a start. I'm sick of working so much, and still being broke. I just found out that I can get disposable contact lenses for the first time ever, so I won't have to spend so much money, that's some good news at least. I have always hated spending 178.00 for one lens, when others can buy a year's worth of pairs for 30.00.

Still, I'm curious to know what it would be like to play Pirates of the Caribbean At World's End on the Wii. I bought Red Steel with the idea of sword fighting, but sadly, most of the game is a FPS. (not to mention it sucks) But some early reviews of POTC AWE are intriguing. Of course I can get the game on any platform, but playing it on the wii would be awesome. And of course I'd like to play Resident Evil 4 on the Wii, having the reticule separate from the analog stick would make things a lot more interesting. I'm less than excited about the Umbrella Chronicles, which looks like a shooting gallery. Jeez, maybe I should just break down and rent games.

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gaming diary

I picked up a copy of Kingdom Hearts 2 out of the bargain bin because I had heard that Auron of FFX fame made a cameo. It was also great to hear James Wood's voice again as the magnificent bastard, Hades. I've actually played a lot of the game, and it's quite addictive-- because it soooo easy. I keep wanting to quit because my thumb is sore from hitting X so much. (and occasionally triangle and circle) This is one of the first E rated games I've ever owned. (yeah, I know, women are suposed to only play e rated games like Tetris and The Sims-- right?) So far I am enjoying picking out whether the voice talent is original or not. (also the guy who does Cap. Jack Sparrow is doing a horribly misplaced Liverpool accent. I'm sorry, when was Jack in the Beatles?) But all the technicolor yawning of Disney was a nice break from ....

Silent Hill 2
I'm a Silent Hill Booster, so I am totally biased-- but this game is so much fun. I randomly rented it years ago, and burned my way through it. I then bought 3, 4, and belatedly 1. I finally picked a used copy of 2 to complete my collection. It's still the best of the series, although I can't vouch for SH Origins since I don't own a PSP. But since it's billed as a prequel, I'm required by Silent Hill municipal laws to find a way to play it. So sayeth the Red and Yellow Gods.

I also recently picked up a copy of "God Hand" because it's from Clover studios. (makers of Okami) This game would be fun if it weren't for the fact that walls dissapear when you stand next to them. That is very distracting. I do enjoy the humor and the Sergio Leone-esque style, but the plot seems unclear at first. My objective appears to be mash buttons and kick ugly bastards a lot.

Moving on to present and future, I'm looking forward to both "Lair" and "Assassin's Creed", the former reminds me of a souped up version of "Draken: The Ancient's Gates" (yeah, I know, you've never heard of it, no one but me played it) and the latter brings back memories of playing "Thief" without all that damn sneakin' around business. Aww Ubisoft, you had me a "Templar". Now, if someone could make a sequel to "Azreal's Tear" I'd be a happy woman. (yeah, I know, you've never heard of THAT one either, sigh) Great, so now I will have to buy a PS3. Maybe I could sell a kidney. .

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