The eBay fire sale continues, although I’m getting pretty close to having sold every thing that I’m willing to part with at the moment. Today’s auction items include a bunch of PS2 games plus a few items that I have no clue how I ended up in my possession. :p
If I get even more desperate, I may have to start parting ways with my Saturn/DC collection, Turbo Duo, Dracula X, Panzer Dragoon Saga, and the DVDs that I have left that I actually really love. The Hannah Montana box set will never be sold! It will be there long after the blanket that’s supposed to keep me warm on freezing Winter nights on the streets of Boston!
I’m in a rough spot right now so I’ve been forced to start selling off some of my shit I’ve collected over the years, starting off with some of my massive DVD and video games collections. Here are the links to my eBay auctions if you’re interested:
I still haven’t gotten drunk yet in 2009, but that hasn’t stopped me from drinking in moderation. For instance, I’ve been sipping Patrón all day since 11:11AM while doing nothing special. I read a few chapters in a book I’ve been reading, played some Too Human, watched some movies, and pretty much just lounged around the house in my underwear. Yep, I’m living the rockstar life.
I was just about to rant about my big pet peeve regarding really bad movies that are all about gratuitous nudity but the hot main character never shows her tits. Then about halfway through typing it up, the main character Daisy in Poison Ivy 4 finally showed her God-given precious goods. The rant was no longer needed and will have to wait until the next time this travesty happens.
I’d like to take this opporutnity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and hope that everyone is having a joyous holiday. I’m stuck home alone with no gifts to speak of, but things are definitely very merry thanks to my Xbox 360 and lots of free time that will allow me to play some Mercenaries 2, Star Wars The Force Unleashed and Fallout 3. I may even put a little Left For Dead in the box, as well. And as a special gift to all of you, I will be posting a new Babe of the Week at some point before this day is through. Once again, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
My achievement whoring has gotten me to play some pretty awful games, with Lost Via Domus being the latest such title. The only difference between this and something like, let’s say, Meet the Robinsons, is that I had a tad bit of interest in playing Lost because I’m a huge fan of the show. The fandom didn’t do much to make it an enjoyable experience, though. The controls were just too clunky and there just wasn’t that much to the game. I thought some of the characters actually looked quite good, but the gameplay was just lacking. I would say it needed more content, but that wouldn’t have helped because for most of the game I was hoping it would just end. Thankfully it did indeed end and it ended with me getting a full 1000/1000 achievement points. Sadly, I’ll probably never be able to say the same for the three games I’m playing right now for “fun” — Devil May Cry 4, GTA IV and Rainbow Six: Vegas 2.
 I’ve been busy both at work and at home, so the updates have been thin of late. Here’s a quick re-cap of what’s been going on. I’m honestly shocked that Atlanta was able to even up the series at 2-2 with my Boston Celtics. I knew coming in that they had some phenomenal young players, but I figured my boys would be able to turn it on in the playoffs after being in 2nd gear for the past two months and just roll them in four. While I’m still confident we can win this series, it looks like it’ll be a fight to get out of it and a mighty struggle to get out of the supposedly weak East.
 The Philadelphia Flyers have been a welcome surprise, though I don’t want to get too confident because a 2-1 series lead doesn’t mean it’s a lock, particularly after they almost blew the 3-1 lead against the Caps. Still, it’s been awesome cheering them on and I’m hoping they can continue to play great and make it to the Eastern Conference Finals against Malkin, Crosby & the Pens (assuming they continue to dominate their series).
On a more personal note, I’ve been experienced what I’ve self-diagnosed as kidney pains. It might just my back muscles, but the signs and symptoms point more to the kidneys. I have a doctor’s appointment today, so I’ll find out more later this afternoon. Shit hurts, though, and really makes it hard to concentrate.
 Luckily, amid the kidney pains that started Saturday afternoon after downing 12 diet Pepsi’s in 10 minutes and the struggles of the C’s and the stress of watching the Flyers get big leads, blow the leads, then either win or lose at the end, it was really nice to be able to release some stress killing random people in GTA IV. God, I love this game and this series.
I’ve only played a couple of hours of the single player (going through some really boring parts) and had a lot of fun playing with other 2K guys online multiplayer, but I can see why it’s gotten all the 10s. There’s just so much good too it. So much that you can forgive all the flaws such as the horrid animations, sloppy camera angles, god-awful AI, fucked up targeting issues, etc, etc. It is easily the most-flawed “best. game. ever” that I’ve yet played. I could probably write an IGN-esque 25,000 word review just bitching about the game. Then again, I could write as many praising the hell out of it. In the end, I’m sure the good will mightily outweigh the bad and I’ll love this as much as the previous games in the series and quite possibly more.
It’s just about 4AM and I just got done with a marathon gaming session with Rainbow Six Vegas 2 that started after work at around 7PM last night. After finishing up the single player story — albeit just on casual so far — I did some terrorist hunt missions before joining up with my boys Abe & Tim to do the shit co-op. I had so much fun, despite the fact that the re-spawn points are laughably atrocious and the cheating AI that often will be able to take several up close shotgun blasts to the head makes you wanna find and castrate the developers. Now, I must get a few hours of sleep in before it’s time to work.
I haven’t even played it online yet, where it’s supposed to be even better, but I’m already kindergarten in love with Rainbow Six Vegas 2. I know I’m a little late since it was in the first RSV, but I can’t get over just how bomb the cover system is in the game. I’m god awful at this point and that’s what has scared me from getting online with it since I’ve been dying a plenty on the casual difficulty level. I’ll eventually get online at some point this week and will undoubtedly take a beating. At least it’ll be fun doing so and I will continue to level up my character in the process. It just sucks that I only could get an hour in before I had to head in to work…maybe I can just do my hour lunch at some so I can try and finish the Nevada Desert level. Anyway, it’s a great game that you all should pick up. And if you already have it, send me friend request on Live and kill me some online (or help me kill some terrorists).
Lost Odyssey’s Treasure Trove achievement will now live in infamy much like Call of Duty 4’s Mile High Club. Even my OCD that’s the root of my achievement whoreness won’t keep me going back to try and find every single treasure in Lost Odyssey, at least for now. I’ve gone through every single nook and cranny in every single town, dungeon and underwater areas twice over the past two days and nothing to show for it. I may try again at some point, just as a might give Mile High Club another shot on CoD4, but for now the discs are going back to GameFly. It’s an awesome game, though.
 If you feel any anger towards me for waiting till the last hour of the week before posting a new Babe of the Week, please direct it towards the Mistwalker crew for making Lost Odyssey for the Xbox 360. It’s been taking up all of my time the past four days and if not for a roommate-forced break so we can watch Enchanted, I wouldn’t have had time to put up Miley Cyrus as this week’s featured hottie.
Take away my college and pro football and my weekends tend to turn into gaming marathons. Not only did I finish getting the 1000/1000 for Mass Effect yesterday, but I also finished off both Clive Barker’s Jericho and Bioshock today. For Bioshock it was only the last three that I wasn’t able to get during my first play through — the weapons, Cohen’s room and all the diaries. I had written about it previously, but I came very close to getting all my first play through without using a guide.
I just missed 1 diary, 1 weapon upgrade and the achievement for getting into Cohen’s room (I killed him too early and the jack ass didn’t have his key on him even though he somehow got into the locked room later….not to mention I had enough weaponry on me to knock down his wooden door) . What sucked was that the diary was in Ryan’s office that I couldn’t go back to and the weapon upgrade was in Cohen’s room, so I pretty much had to play the entire game over again and find every single diary and weapon upgrade for a second time. Pain the the ass, it was, but I finally finished it off. Sorry for the Yoda speak, I’m not sure why I phrased it like that. 
The Clive Barker game was obviously much simpler than both. I was able to get the majority of it in my first play through on the hard difficulty level and then finished off the weapon achievements with the level select. The game itself wasn’t all that bad, either. I thought the story was interesting and I also liked the character & weapon variety. The big problem with it is that it’s just way too linear and over too quickly. It is a PERFECT rental and I enjoyed my two days with it, but if I would’ve forked over full price, I would’ve been sorely disappointed.
It took me 60+ hours, but I’ve FINALLY gotten 1000/1000 Xbox Live achievement points in Mass Effect. I’ve played a ton of stinkers for quick 1000s, but this one was most definitely earned and makes up for many of the easy ones. And while I have many issues with the game, it’s definitely one of my top two or three games on the system. Bioshock and Call of Duty 4 are right up there with it, but the 2nd half of Bioshock was a letdown for me and the fact that I wasn’t able to complete Mile High Club on Veteran in CoD4 really left a bad taste in my mouth. Because of that, Mass Effect might just be my current fave for the system despite the many flaws (weak boss battles, loading……etc.).
I got up at 5AM so I could put in at least seven hours of play time into Mass Effect before the roommies and their kid wake up, but the RRoD fiasco has left me with nothing to do but update “Dear Dave”. I guess it’s a win for you! 
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I gave the infamous “towel trick” a try to see if I could get the 360 to last me the weekend, but it failed miserably. It did technically work, but it only made it a very insignificant three minutes before the Xbox 360 crapped out on me again and gave me the RRoD. I’m trying it one more time, but methinks the system be fucked like a child molester in prison.
I knew it was just a matter of time, but why did it have to happen very early Saturday morning when I was ready to get the final 145 GS from Mass Effect on Xbox 360? What happened, you ask? Well, the dreaded Red Ring of Death. Now I’m facing a full weekend without college football, NFL football and Xbox 360. It appears that my only option is to finish off my bottle of Jameson and maybe play some Wii. Damn you Microsoft!
I’m not even exaggerating one bit, but the feeling of euphoria I felt when I dropped off the Gamefly envelope with X-Men: The Official Game in it was not on the same level as when the Patriots fell to 18-1 but it was damn close. Trying to get the 1000/1000 has been excruciatingly painful and has taken me two months to do despite playing maybe 6-8 actual hours of playing the game. I hate it more than any other game I’ve played in my life and it was awfully difficult to stop myself from ritualistically burning the CD after I finally completed it. If it wasn’t a Gamefly rental and something I actually owned, you’d surely be watching a Youtube video of my lighting that pile on fire. I’m beyond thrilled that I’m finally finished with it!
I, surprisingly, got enough emails to warrant yet another “Dear Dave” update. We’ll see how long this lasts, but if it does, you can expect weekly updates to this section approximately every Thursday.
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I finally bit the bullet and bought myself a new TV stand for the Sony 42″ LCD HDTV this past weekend. The walls suck in my apartment so hanging it has never been an option, so it’s been sitting on my old stand that was built for up to a 27″ TV. I went with the NT-C1140 from Init that supports TV’s up to 50″ and 300 lbs.
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I rented X-Men: The Official Game from Gamefly.com because I’m a complete achievement whore and it was supposed to be an “easy 1000″. The decision to rent and play this game has been one of the biggest fuck ups in my entire life. I’m not even joking. While my life has been paved with mistakes, such as my felony conviction and every time I shove food down my throat like a pig, none have made me regret my actions even half as much as I feel for renting this game.
It’s god awful. A big steaming pile of shit. It’s one of the worst games I’ve played. Ever. And this is coming from someone who reviewed more than 400 games for the PS & PS2 while at IGN.com and has been playing games on pretty much every platform since the Atari 2600. Trying to force my way through this game to get the 1000 achievement points is the most excruciating challenge I’ve yet faced. Taking a hammer to my testicles while someone’s shoving a German pick axe up my ass while my head is submerged in bear feces would be a significantly more enjoyable experience than playing this piece of crap.
I never shared this before, but noticed it in some random folder and thought it’d be cool to post. It’s a screen grab of me from my most recently released title, All Pro Football 2K8 for Xbox 360 & PS3.
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