Yikes!

It's been over 20 days since my last post. Crazy.

I had my second 360 die this past week. That's nothing compared to some other people I know. Eight times? I'm not sure if I'd be that patient.

Having that die, I realized I should probably evenly distribute the games between PS3 and 360. But...but those achievements! Seriously, Microsoft totally knew what they were doing when implementing that simple idea.

In other worlds, my wife and I are about to take part in Buckhead Church's version of Greek week. Since we are married, we'll be going to this event on Friday night to mingle with other married couples and find a "group" for a weekly or biweekly Bible study.

I'm not sold on this event. Seems a little too hectic and stressful. When you hear stories of past events with people trying to have a conversation and one person's eyes are darting around the room searching for someone else to talk to, that seems disheartening.

Should I go in wearing a shirt with my likes on the front and dislikes on the back?

Likes: Games, Movies, Trivia nights with friends, Racquetball
Dislikes: Babies, Hippies, Global Warming lie

Would that work? Now that I read over what I wrote, I may just do that.

2009. Yay.

It was a pretty relaxing holiday at the end of '08 and beginning '09. Lazy is another good word for use here...

Met some new people via old friends for New Years. All were surprisingly cool since I was feeling a little antisocial before the night began. Does anyone else feel like you're proving you're not a weirdo when meeting new people? That was the first night the thought ran through my mind when driving two of them to dinner. I had to try extra hard since the car smells like sulfur, almost running over a pedestrian and driving on a one way street all in that one trip to the restaurant.

Meh.

In 2009, I've set a goal for myself. It's a fairly high goal, and I'm currently 70% or less sure on how to achieve it. Win the state championship for racquetball. Like I said, it's a high goal, but I feel like I have enough talent to compete.

L.A. Fitness has a small tournament coming up next week that I'll be entering. Should be a good indication on how much improvement I'll need.





- Games I'm playing now: PS3 - LittleBigPlanet and Crash Commando / 360 - GH World Tour and World at War

- Movie recommendation: In Brugues

Getting the girl into gaming.

Does the following ring true for you? (If you're a dude.)

Dude is gaming. Girlfriend / wife enters room, flustered. Dude's tongue is hanging out 'cause he's focused and obviously havin' fun.

Girl: Can you focus on me and not the games?

Dude: Sure. Lemme just get to the next save point. (Does not show any indication of quitting.)


Twenty minutes later.


Girl: Ummm. Stop playing, please.

Dude: Almost there.

Girl: Okay.


Girl gets up, walks over to the console nonchalantly and hits power.

Dude thinks to himself, "Whore."


Okay, maybe not quite as bad, but maybe your girl isn't into gaming, which leads to less game time for you. First of all, is it really that important? For me, it's relaxing. In the past, I'd watch movies rather than game. That became too time consuming after graduating college, so I slowly went back to gaming.

Now I prefer gaming to movies. Luckily, I introduced my wife to gaming in a good way.

First, it was the DS. For her graduation, I bought the DS with Clubhouse Games and Elite Beat Agents. Two games that are fun and cooperative.

Then she noticed UNO on the 360. Not only are most girls familiar with playing UNO a lot when they were younger, but it requires no clean up and you can play together or by yourself along with others through Live.

Another thing happened as she played on my profile for the first time. It was a sound we all know and love for 360 owners.

The achievement blip.

"What was that?" she asked. I told her she accomplished a challenge in the game. Achievements sucked her in. Now she plays Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Halo, Madden and most recently Left 4 Dead.

Yeah. Left 4 Dead. She hates horror films, but loves LOVES shooting zombies cooperatively. She even had a blast playing multiplayer as well.

Mostly, make it a rewarding experience for her. Don't just hand her a controller, and definitely don't shut her out entirely either. She may just enjoy it, which will also guarantee more game time for you too.

If you own a PS3, LittleBigPlanet is a huge draw for her as well. I believe we have our most fun gaming with moments like swinging from one ledge to the next as she is clinging to my character for dear life.

Wowzers! Halo 3 will be back in the game tray soon.

You may not have seen this yet. And if you have seen it around, you may have glanced over it since it's just an acceptance speech for their recent award for innovation.

Or, is it?

If you watch the video, you'll notice something odd. It shows all the characters from the game will be available in the new editor. What does this mean? Will we be able to play as these characters too?

Most likely, we won't be playing as them, but we could be making some incredibly detailed and dynamic multiplayer maps. With bots perhaps? Maybe we'll have the ability to make new single player/cooperative maps. Who knows? We could possibly be making the maps and have the ability to play as these characters too.

The other interesting thing was quickly shown at the end. You'll see the MC standing in a tron like area. That's huge! We'll be able to make these maps completely from scratch!

Bungie definitely knows how to handle DLC. Can't wait.