zorbs's Blog - 2old2play

Autoshow

I love going to the Autoshow. I end up going 2 or 3 times a year. One of these days I want to go with my buddies down to Detroit for the "real" deal.

Testing out a new lens for the camera at the show this year. You can check out the pictures here. I wasn't using a flash so some of them turned out a little dark. I'll be going again next week with my father in law, it's a tradition we've been doing for a couple of years now.

Short and sweet today.

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Trifecta Complete!

Finished the “next gen” collection on Tuesday when I picked up the wii. I traded in my second 360 and the game store had a wii just sitting there. I thought what the hell, I’ll only pay for the tax. Worse case my wife will take it up to her study to replace the xbox 180 she has.

My initial thoughts on the unit are, meh. I screwed around with wii sports, the only really good “game” is bowling. It seemed more like a tech demo than a fleshed out game. The main console dashboard looked ok, but I wish I could just use the d-pad to navigate. Especially for typing…wow is that ever horrible with the wiimote.

I picked up a couple of games for it too. Metroid Prime 3, Paper Mario, Super Mario Galaxy, Resident Evil 4, Zelda: Twilight Princess. I only got to play Paper Mario last night.

First thoughts are, wow, there is a shit ton of text. If there is a long boring way to say something, you’ll find it in this game. Graphics are last gen, very last gen. The idea is spot on, I really like how you can turn the level into a 3D world. But it looks like N64 shit. Add that to a game that looks like it was designed in flash. And yes, I know that the idea behind paper Mario is that everything is flat, but I still can’t get over the look of this.
I’ll give Metroid a run tonight and see if that’s any better.

I also picked up Devil May Cry 4 on the 360. Got to play it for about 90 minutes. 20 of which seemed to be cutscenes. I really like the final game more than the demo. The controls need a little getting used to at first but you’ll be cutting down baddies in no time. The game looks incredible, everything you see is created with ingame engine. Very good looking game. There seems to be a RPG element to it as well. After every mission you can buy new moves and upgrade current skills. I need to play more to comment further, but so far I am loving it.

On the PS3, I picked up Planet Earth on blu-ray. This is a really cool documentary, if you like nature shows you’ll love this series. The best part about it, is I got to watch it with my dad. He would come over hold the baby for a bit and then ask me if we could watch more of the series. I haven’t watched a movie/tv show with my dad for years, it made me feel like a kid again. We finished the series and he keeps asking me if we have any more. I’ll have to go looking for another series like that.

And to end all this game talk. I’ve got pics of baby Joanne. My wife made all the videos, I think she’s enjoying her year off. Joanne is 7 and a half months old now. Her 2 bottom row teeth have come in, we’re waiting for the top row to drop in any time soon.

Damn, I didn’t think this post would be so long.

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2nd box fading fast

Got on the 360 today and had some trouble connecting to live. it was on and off for about an hour. I was playing puzzle quest so I didn't think much of it. Fast forward a couple hours, I turn on the 360 and throw in PGR4. I load up an arcade race and get to the first turn and it freezes. That's OK, I think it can happen. I turn it off and load it again, same thing happens. Now I'm a little nervous. I keep trying to play PGR4 another 3 times only to have the same thing happen again. No ring of death yet, so I through something else in. Orange box, load up a save more around a little bit and freeze. Well shit, this is my second 360 and it's giving up the ghost aswell. I got this weird feeling the freezing has something to do with the network issues earlier today.

Now I've got to go and buy a new one. I'm thinking about getting the new halo version, I heard it has the new chip set in it. I would play my PS3, but let's face it, there is nothing to play on that. Besides, tomorrow is race night and I want to play more bulldog.

On to better news. Joanne is 3 and half months old now. She has almost doubled her birth weight. She's 24 inches long and she's starting to arc her back to try and flip herself over. It's just so much fun to watch her figure things out. She is also grabbing everything and putting it into her mouth. I get the feeling she is starting to recognize us. When I come home from work and she sees me her eyes seem to light up and she smiles. That just melts my heart. I got a little spare time, so I setup a little site to put up some pics. My wife has family all over the country and my sister lives in Greece. This way they can all watch her grow up.

Click here to check out the pics. The second month has pictures from a party we had for her. That's why there is a bunch of pics with no baby in it

Here's hoping I can either fix my 360 problems or find a halo 3 360.

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Lan-tastic!

Just got back from the lan and I can't wait to go back next year. It was great fun meeting people I've been gaming with over the past year. I also met a couple of new folks. Mutus, Stryker, JRock, As soon as I get the 360 hooked up you guys are getting FRs.

I think the best part about the lan was just hanging out with everyone....and playing A LOT of Forza.
I just want to say thanks to the OMM crew, you all made me feel like part of the gang.

That's it, short and sweet. If you didn't go this year, go next year, you won't regret it!

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baby pics

It's been awhile. Here's the update on baby Joanne. The doctor says every this is just great. She's now well over her birth weight. Her facial features are starting to grow out too. We still haven't found a proper routine with her, but I'm told that will come soon. Last night she only woke up 2 times! She's never done that before, I haven't had that much sleep in over a month.

Yesterday, I had some time to put together a little gallery. If you like looking at other peoples babies go here.

Now as far as gaming goes. Just finished the darkness and I really loved it. I enjoyed the story, characters and setting. They did a bang up job with this game. By the end of it you feel as if you can take on anything, and you can. The only real negatives were the bounce when you walked and the blur effect they added when you turn. The bounce was a real pain but the blur didn't bother me after awhile. I'd say that the multiplayer is a dissapointment but I wouldn't know. I bought this game to play the story and that's it. I'll be trading this in on monday for possibly dirt or overlord, not sure which one just yet.

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she pooped!

I never thought feeding a baby would be so hard. After bringing the baby home we noticed that baby Joanne wasn't pooing and only had 1 or 2 pees. According to the books and handouts this is really bad. It really was a strain on Mrs. Zorbs. She was trying so hard to breastfeed the little one but it didn't seem to work. She was so concerned with her that she stayed awake watching her so that nothing would happen to her.

At ths point I had enough of this breastfeeding business. I was ready to go out and buy some fomula and a bottle. But it was important to get the breastfeeding to work, especially for my wife. We went to a breastfeeding clinic first thing in the morning. They were great! The nurse stayed with my wife for an hour practicing with the baby. In the end, they came to the conclusion that a milk pump would be very useful. The nurse showed me how to feed little Joanne with a tube taped to my finger. Finally we could see what she was eaitng and that she was actually eating. It was a huge relief.

We were pumping milk and feeding Joanne with my finger for the rest of the day. That night she had a poo. It's funny, but I was totally pumped. My wife showed me the diaper and I inspected it. "Yup, that's poo. Awesome!" I'm sure I looked like I'd just won the lottery.

We went back to the clinic today. Joanne has gained 3oz, which is really great. She seems to have more energy, she's more alert and overall she's happier. And to top it all off she's latching on and breastfeeding like a champ now. All this drama and she's only 5 days old. This stuff gets eaiser right?

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She's here!

We brought home our baby girl today! I haven't slept in 4 days and I couldn't be happier! Joanne Elise Poursanidis, born June 22nd weighing in at 7lbs 5oz. She's just so beautiful.

I have to admit though that first night in the hospital alone with a crying baby was the scariest thing I've ever gone through. Thank God for loving family members how are totally willing to help out. I'm not sure we could do it alone. Learning all the ropes is tiring, I do know when baby is sleeping, you should be sleeping. At least for the first little while.
When I get some time I'll post up some pics. Everyone loves baby pics right? Now I only have to find some time to play a bit more forza. Needless to say I may miss the next couple of Monday night race nights.

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Times almost up

19 days left. That's when baby is supposed to arrive. I'm totally freaked and pumped at the same time. I'm really not sure what to expect besides lack of sleep and lack of games. I've been spending a lot of time getting the room ready, building stuff for the little one and fixing things around the house. If you can't tell this will be our first baby. Is it really as bad as everyone makes it out to be?

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Most wonderful time of the year!

Its E3 time. I love this time. Im always checking the news sites for updates. ;; Reading the forums to find out what everyone thinks. It just gets me so geeked for all the new stuff thats coming out. I know that most of the stuff will be mediocre or delayed into the next year, etc. Still, this is a kickass time to be into games. How about some thoughts on the big 3 confernces.

here is the quick version.

Sony sucked big dried up donkey cock. Totally not impressed. Especially after last year, where all the press was all over Sonys schlong. I knew I wasnt going to buy one but now I really know Im never getting it.

Nintendo...meh. I was never big on the wii. It just seems too gimmicky. I love playing games and when I play, I play for a long time. I dont see myself swinging my arms around like a tool for 3 or 4 hours. It might be fun for 20 minutes, but not the long hull. All this and the games dont even look good, they dont seem to control all that well either. It boils down to the whole gimmick thing. I might change my mind on this, if I ever get a chance to try a wii out. For now, I dont think so.

Microsoft was good. Nothing we didnt expect, even the halo 3 trailler. They seemed to have a good crop of games coming out. I just wish more of it was in game footage and not pre rendered videos. We all know what happened to Sony last year.

Anyways Im totally pumped to see more in depth coverage from all the consoles. Ill have another round up after the show too.

On a side note, I love the downloadable demos on live. Finished playing lost planet and I loved it! I wasnt even looking forward to this game. It felt like a real next gen game. Great stuff. Downloaded the COD2 maps and hopefully motogp 06 will be coming out tomorrow. MS has done a real bang up job with all the videos and demos.

Back to the games.

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This post is gonna suck

This is my first post, as you can see I dont have much to say. Just checking out how this whole thing works. I like what I see so far.

Alright off to play some hockey almost got the cup!

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