GTA4

I've only played it a couple of hours. Multiplayer was sick fun playing with people at work. Game looks fantastic, and I'm enjoying the dialogue so far. Good stuff.

Hi, I'm Daisy!

Listening to a new podcast, Retronauts - really good, geeky gamer podcast that I'm really digging. The podcast describes itself as a podcast for old people, an hour-long weekly journey into gaming's storied past. Sounds about right.

I was just listening to the one about Mario Kart. Ahh, Mario Kart. I didn't play them all, but here are my favorites:

1. Super Mario Kart for Super Nintendo (SNES). I played so much of Super Mario Kart in college with my hallmates that Maryland should've given me a minor in it. Some of my best gaming moments have been playing split screen races and battle mode. This is the one I played the most, the one I love the most.

2. Mario Kart Double Dash for Gamecube. Played this mostly at Anne and Bill's on their gamecube. I also think its the best of all the Mario Kart games, I thought the levels were great and liked the controls. Some of the races against my cousins Nate and Hannah were among the most fraking fun I've ever had. (Adela and Aimee - not so good, hehe)

3. Mario Kart DS. Reminds me a lot of Super Mario Kart for SNES. I played this on and off for a few months after it came out. Not quite as fun playing alone, but the online racing worked really well. Still, not the same without everyone screaming and yelling in the same room.

In short, Mario Kart is best when playing with friends and family in the same room.

Cooool.

No EW this week

I freaked out when I didn't get an Entertainment Weekly today. It's all good. Last week's edition was a double issue. Whew.

Good stuff especially on chicken sandwiches

This weekend!

Most people are excited when the weekend rolls around. Not me. Not this weekend. I have a major milestone at work (that's I'm slogging through at the moment) and then I have a paper to write for my graduate class that I haven't even started that's due Sunday night. Fortunately, Megen has two weddings this weekend so I don't have to feel bad about neglecting her all weekend :)

Chris Cooley is my hero

The super hero movie I'm looking foward to this summer

EA bringing Monopoly to 360, Wii, PS2 - Joystiq

I love Monopoly. This is good news. Waited far too long to play Monopoly on Xbox Live.

EA bringing Monopoly to 360, Wii, PS2 - Joystiq

Great TV

Harry Potter in Tuscany

This weekend, we watched Under the Tuscan Sun - I thought I'd get a girly movie that would remind us of our trip to Italy. Its actually a pretty good movie and we enjoyed recognizing the scenery.

I actually downloaded Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix off Xbox Live last weekend, but didn't get around to watching it until a week later. This is a tough book to turn into a movie. The wizard battle at the end was fun, but the rest of it - meh, it was ok (more Tonks plz). The books are always better, so I go in with low expectations - that's how I can get in the right mindset to enjoy the movies.

Mclovin

Pork ribs from trader joes

Summer Movie Preview

EW's latest issue is the summer movie preview. Lots of movies I'm interested in this year.

Indiana Jones - the cover story. I'm torn because I don't think another Indy movie needed to be made, but I'm happy they did it. I see every Steven Spielberg movie, this is no exception. I'll be there the day it opens.

Iron Man - trailer is pretty slick. More interested in this than the new Incredible Hulk (I liked Ang Lee's version, puts me in the minority).

X Files - about fraking time. I believe they should've ended the TV series after the first movie, and continued the story through movie releases instead. The last couple years of the series were awful.

Hancock - I really want to see this b/c the director is Peter Berg (who directed The Kingdom and Friday Night Lights).

The Dark Knight - Nolan's first Batman movie was an instant classic. Looking forward to this.

Wall E - Pixar does scifi. Cool.

A favorite from trader joes

Edwards on Colbert

Funny stuff.

Ziggy Stardust Plz?

Rock Band is great and while the music releases every week have been terrific, I have been curious when the full albums are coming. Judas Priest is a great one, though I would've preferred The Who that had been hinted at last year.

Really, I miss Bowie's Ziggy Stardust from the first Guitar Hero. Playing that song got me through the Oblivion crunch :)

Judas Priest to lead Rock Band's full album downloads April 22 - Joystiq

Warm weather means GRILLIN time

GTA IV commercial

Tree Man

Sad and creepy.

Tree Man Has Surgery, Wants Love - Living on The Huffington Post

Dogfish Head - IPA 60

I haven't gone to Dogfish Head very often, but I had dinner there last night with family visiting. I had the IPA 60 draft and really enjoyed it. The salmon sandwich was good, too. Was surprised though, by how good the IPA 60 was.

Mods are natural...Mods are good...not everybody does it, but everybody should

I was disappointed to hear comments from Microsoft against mods. I do agree that security is a definite concern, but I suspect Microsoft is more worried about piracy and than user experience. Most people who are into hacking and modding consoles - well, I bet they just hack their kits, don't care about voiding their warranty, and exist in their own console world, separate from the rest of us who have no clue how any of that stuff works. Never mind that I have a computer that is already hooked up to the Internet and gets assailed every day by hackers of the far worse variety, a computer running Windows with a security model that -- well, I could go there but that would be too easy.

I love modders. I love the things that modders have done with Morrowind and Oblivion. Other games have terrific mods - Half Life, Portal, Starcraft, Neverwinter Nights, Unreal Tournament, etc... the list goes on and on. The easiest way to make games is to make mods. Companies like Valve hire modders all the time.

In short, I leave you with the words of the great George Michael...

There's things that you guess
And things that you know
There's boys that you can trust
And girls that you don't
There's little things you hide
And little things that you show
Sometimes you think you're gonna get it
But you don't and that's just the way it goes

I swear I won't tease you
Won't tell you no lies
I don't need no bible
Just look in my eyes
I've waited so long baby
Now that we're friends
Every man's got his patience
And here's where my ends

I want your mod
I want you
I want your.....mod

It's playing on my mind
It's dancing on my soul
It's taken so much time
So why don't you just let me go
I'd really like to try
Oh, I'd really love to know
When you tell me you're gonna regret it
Then I tell you that I love you but you still say NO!

I swear I won't tease you
Won't tell you no lies
I don't need no bible
Just look in my eyes
I've waited so long baby
Out in the cold
I can't take much more girl
I'm losing control

I want your mod
I want your love
I want your.....mod

It's natural
It's chemical (let's do it)
It's logical
Habitual (can we do it?)
It's sensual
But most of all.....
Moding is something that we should do
Modding is something for me and you

Mods are natural - Modding is good
Not everybody does it
But everybody should
Mods are natural - Modding is fun
Mods are best when it's....one on one
one on one

If a tree falls in the forest...

Playstation Network: PS Store Down All Day Tomorrow

zing!

Cool Wii Tricks

Saw this on Joystiq.

It's all happening...Saturday night, baby

Megen has an event tonight at work so it's just me and the two fur balls tonight. For once, I'm actually getting to my weekly class assignment before the day its due (Sunday).

My pai- I mean, class for this semester is on IT Infrastructure, lots and lots of stuff on hardware. It can get pretty stale, especially when we get exercises where we have to add binary numbers by hand, or do hexadecimal conversions, again, by hand. Blah. I'm getting a headache just typing about it. Makes me wonder why I'm putting myself (and paying) to put me through this torture. Do I really want a Masters degree that badly? hehe.

I also have a paper due at the end of the month, need to get working at that. In college, I used to crank out papers the night before on a regular basis - granted, those were all nighter's. I think I'm getting too old for that.

I'll take a break for the summer semester since I've got two big milestones coming with work and the wedding. Though there is a price to be paid for that - I'll have to take 2 classes in the fall. Actually, I worked out my classes until I finish my degree and I will need to average 2-3 classes a semester to finish in 5 years (though taking a class over the summer helps). I have 7 years to earn it before I have to start retaking classes, so I'm shooting for 5 years. It seems like a long time, doesn't it? It's not though. My projects at work usually average 4 years in development and man, that time goes flying by.

OK. I'm done procrastinating.

Fallout 3 discussion in latest 1UP Yours podcast

I like the 1UP Yours podcast, and was surprised to hear them talking about Fallout 3 in the latest. They have Geoff Keighly (from the awesome Gametrailers TV) and N'Gai Croal from Newsweek as guests. It sounds like they all got to see Pete during the press tour - good stuff. Great podcast, highly recommended.

Fallout 3 preorder from EB

Saw this banner from some EB Games spam. The preorder page is pretty cool. I think the extra cost is totally worth it just for the limited edition Vault Boy bobble head.

Public Service Announcement from the Cheerleader

Waiting for IV

Since I'm not a fan of Gamestop/EB, I pre-ordered GTA IV from Best Buy last night on my way home. I got the Xbox 360 version for many reasons.

1. I like the Xbox 360 controller better than the Sixaxis.

2. Exclusive DLC on Xbox Live. I want as much GTA goodness as I can get.

3. Achievements. I'm not a big achievement whore, but if I had to choose and all things being equal, I'd go 360 just to get the achievement points.

4. I don't have a PS3. And if I did, I'd only use it to watch Blu Ray movies...and to play LittleBigPlanet. Maybe some FLOW. Oh, and Metal Gear.

Fallout previews galore

I love this screenshot.

Lots of new Fallout 3 previews hitting the intrawebs. There's a great list of them at bethblog. I would say my favorite ones are the 1UP preview with Jeff Green and Shawn Elliot - very entertaining read - and the Kotaku preview is pretty good too.


Some quotes I liked from Kotaku:
From a training system tied to a child's development to the fifties-meets-Steampunk look of weapons, Fallout 3 may not have a solid date yet, but after seeing this build, I can honestly say I am well and truly smitten.

Everything I saw about this game was impressive, but what really got my attention was its overall art style. The optimistic fifties design juxtaposed against the destroyed landscape is a great choice and is seen everywhere from the HUD to the atomic design of Vault 101. Seeing it sprinkled around the world gave me the same feeling I got the first time I saw the art-deco wonders of BioShock. It's nostalgic yet at the same time seems so fresh and new because we rarely see that style of design in modern games, especially FPSs. It also gave the design team a chance to inject the game with a subtle humor that is evident throughout, even seeping its way into the dialog choices and sound.

Crawling out of vaginas FTW

Greatest title for forum thread: 1UP: Fallout 3 Preview - Crawling out of vaginas FTW - NeoGAF

Love it.

Fallout 3 over GTA IV? Nice.

Preview, next Battlestar Galactica

Funny

Our first present w00t

Broccoli and chicken casserole

Yum

When you LOVE Portal...

I am Legend - renter

Watched I Am Legend - thought it felt like a mix of 28 Days Later and Children of Men - but nowhere near as good as those movies. I'm glad I rented it. Definite renter.

Dirty rice

Mix we picked up in New Orleans - Wal Mart, of course. Cheap!

Thief 4?

I'm a big Thief fan. Hope this rumor is true. Somebody needs to make another Thief and if it can't be me...

Rumor: Eidos Montr�al Working On Thief 4

April 29th - Waiting for IV

Me: I just can't wait for Grand Theft Auto IV at the end of the month. I should take the rest of the week off after it comes out to play it.

Megen: If you take off a week to play Grand Theft Auto but you can't take the week off before our wedding, you can forget about the wedding.

Call of Duty 4 Map pack

I experienced this -- Xbox Live Outage a bit last night downloading the new map pack. The new maps are fantastic. Love the Chinatown map and the TV station. The wilderness creek map is great change of pace. Plus this weekend is double XP!

It's Friday Night... or it was...

We went out to dinner last night, this Indian-Chinese place by her work. I forget the name. It was ok. I had this Shrimp curry dish that was too sweet for my taste. As always, Megen's dish was better. Headed home to watch Battlestar Galactica. Well, I watched it while Megen worked on planning our wedding on the laptop.

We had lunch together today at Potbelly's - which was a better meal than dinner, hehe -- today before heading off to work - she has a wedding at her hotel this evening, I'm spending the day praying to gods of stability. Tomorrow afternoon, we're going shopping for our wedding bands. We'll probably get hers from an actual jeweler since it needs to fit with her engagement ring. For me, once I find a style and ring size I like, I'll just hit up the Internets for one.

We're close to picking a DJ and music for the ceremony. I was originally thinking of brass quartet, but after listening to lots of samples, we're leaning more towards a guitarist.

Oh, and Megen ordered the bridesmaid dresses. They'll be here in 4-6 weeks, so she can make sure the colors all match up. Then we'll ship 'em out to the bridesmaids - Erin in New Orleans and Sonia in Raleigh. We're going to hold onto Ellen, her sister's dress, since she is in Beirut. I think its Beirut?

Dinner

Salmon, fried rice and broccoli.

Still Alive for Rock Band - Free!

According to Major Nelson, Still Alive, theme song from Portal (What? Haven't played Portal? You sir, are an idiot) - is up on Xbox Live for Rock Band and it's free.

Update: I downloaded and played it this morning before work. It is pretty freakin' fun.