Mass Update: What's the Word?
I figured since there’s been quite a bit going on in my life right now and in the recent past, I’d just lump them all together in one update. So, let’s get things going.
Atlanta 09
Chris G.,
Tiffany,
And I –
That’s just a testament to how exciting Dragon Con was this year. Yeah, we had fun, and I think Chris G. enjoyed Dragon Con this year more than I did, but overall I thought it was a let down from last year. Even though Chris G., Marcus, Nikki, and I didn’t get into all the panels we wanted to last year, I still thought it was better overall.
One thing that was actually better this year was the fact that it wasn’t all that crowded at all. Chris G., Tiff, and I weren’t there on Friday, so I can’t speak for how it was then, but on Saturday and Sunday it was pretty nice. Which, I guess means the raised ticket prices worked in getting less people to come this year, because last year was swamped. Shoulder to shoulder in the Hyatt.
We also met up with Nikki, her friend Morgan, and Nikki’s mom there as well, which was cool. I didn’t get any pictures of Morgan, who was dressed up as Rukia from Bleach, which I’m an idiot for, because she pulled off a real good Rukia. Next year, eh?
I didn’t take a whole lot of pictures, but here’s the few that I did take.
On top of that, the three of us also went to the Georgia Aquarium. Not a whole lot to say about it, other than it was pretty rad.
Here’s some pictures.
Marcus and Nikki‘s Birthdays
I’m kicking myself, really. I forgot to record us preparing Marcus’ ‘cake’ for a Cooking Adventure, didn’t even take pictures. Luckily, Tiffany took pictures with Chris’ camera, so you’ll probably get to see those.
We made Marcus a two layer cake made out of meatloaf, used mashed potatoes as the icing, and decorated it with ketchup. It was a pretty big hit, and tasted pretty damn good as well. We’ll be making another, I’m sure, so keep an eye out for it.
Chris’ dad is a total badass and let us have an older grill he wasn’t using. So, we had Nikki and Marcus over for Nikki’s birthday and had ourselves a grill party. It was fun and delicious, and hopefully they enjoyed their selves too.
Happy Birthday, Marcus and Nikki!
WET
Chris G. preordered this for me about a month ago at the GameStop Tiffany works at. While normally I would never EVER buy anything from GameStop, (or EB Games, since they turned traitor), I wanted to help Tiffany out with her reserves, ‘cause I’m a nice guy like that.
Well, I thought the demo was pretty kickin’ rad, so once I sat down and played the full game, I wasn’t disappointed. A lot of sites are giving it average – below average reviews, which I suppose is understandable, but some of the complaints are retarded. ‘Not enough substance, too much style’. Excuse me, what? Are you knocking a game for doing something different from ‘generic shooter A’? It may not be as polished as some of the other shooter games on the market, but I can certainly say that I’m pretty tired of ‘grizzled veteran marine must save the world’. I’m looking at you Halo franchise.
It’s a pretty short game, (I beat it the day after I got it), but it was a very satisfying play through. It wasn’t too long, and it didn’t feel short. Felt about right, to me. I’d gladly play through it again, and I have a handful of challenges left to complete. There are some frustrating parts in it, but not enough to keep me from playing it. I’ll have a full review up for it at some point, I’m sure.
Need for Speed Shift
Recently got this, too. It’s pretty similar to GRID, and I really enjoy playing GRID. But, I’m also a bit saddened by the direction Need for Speed seems to be going. For a while, they were releasing arcade-y racers, they just sucked. The last good one, in my opinion, was Most Wanted. Undercover was garbage, and Shift is a radical new direction.
They dabbled a little bit with professional street racing in ProStreet, but that was a pretty bad example of it, and a Need for Speed game. Shift does things much better, but it brings the game closer to Forza and Gran Turismo. I suck at Gran Turismo and Forza, but thankfully it’s not quite to that extreme yet.
I guess I just sort of miss the over the top, simplified racing that Need for Speed offered. It was action oriented racing without a lot of the technical aspects of actual, professional racing tossed in. Not only that, Shift has no races on city streets, cops, or rivalries. It’s just professional street racing, done pretty well.
It seems to be a trend for racing games/franchises now, and I sort of hope that some companies either return to creating more action oriented racing, or start giving it a shot.
Mohawk
Decided that I wanted to get a mohawk. No real reasoning behind it, just kind of felt like doing it. I’m spontaneous like that.
Wrap Up
That about covers what’s been going on with me lately. I’ve got a handful of things I’m working on for the site, content-wise. I want to refine them a bit better first though, before I unleash them upon the masses. Thanks for being patient with me about updates. D out.
