July 6, 2008 -
Well, its been awhile since I have posted a blog. So figured I would just title it "Blah Blah Blog" and run with it. And we are already off to a big bang because I have already said "tit" in "title". So there. Not even three sentences in and I have a cuss word in this blog. Nice Justin. Very typical.
Anyway, had a great weekend out at the Shroeder family lake house in East Texas on a private lake south of Interstate 20. Passed through a few small towns like Canton, Ben Wheeler, and arrived on a pretty good sized man made private lake. Was forced to drink beer after beer of Sam Adams and Shiner. Way to go Justin. Enjoy the 4th the way most E. Texas people do and just get drunk on the back porch (in this case it was a dock) and throw up into a canoe (or styrofoam cooler if that is all you have).
Actually, I didn't throw up at all, I just think most people that are celebrating in THAT way would throw up off the back end of their truck and then drive fast to get it to sling off the tailgate. But I digress, beer was consumed, fireworks were lit, and everybody had a great time. But mostly the moment I want to touch on was out on the pontoon boat while the surrounding lakes were shooting off massive arrays of mortars.
I brought a 6 pack of Paulaner Hefeweizen (third best beer on the face of the planet behind Schneider Weisse German Hefeweizen "The Original", Paulaner Ocktoberfest (for Adam), and then the Paulaner Hefeweizen. But I had 2 of those before getting on the boat to go out and enjoy the show, as well as had two more in the wing for during the explosions. We got on the boat (about 6 of us) and started out to the middle of the lake. We started out going past a few houses that had some really nice roman candles and bottle rockets, then as we sat in the middle of the lake we looked around as everyone started to shoot off their fireworks. But after the north side of the lake got a taste of what the south side had to offer it was on like Donkey Kong. I felt like I was in The Wonder Years there for a second looking at the fireworks with Penny. And that Joe Cocker song "What would you do......if I sang you a song? What would you do if I sang outta tune?" kept reverberating in my brain. That and the beginning to the movie Zodiac, or the part in the Sandlot comes to mind too. Just those kids dropping what they were doing to watch the fireworks in their one and only "night game".
I sat there on the boat just zoned out looking around the edge of the lake at the artillery shells going off over the water. Blues, reds, greens and white explosions cascaded over the surface of the water and disintegrated. That was probably the highlight of my weekend.
Oh, and going into another thing. Being the gamer that I am I was able to show their family the ins and outs of the Wii. Apparently they have a Wii out at the lake house and are only able to use it while they are there on the weekends. They have a copy of Mario Kart Wii but didn't know or understand how to get things to work and be smooth. I showed them a race of the controls and what each things do (the ? boxes, brake boosts, etc.). 1 race and I handed it off to the other 8 or 9 guests and they were off like a bandit. They luckily had 2 controllers so it was a cool little battle between family members. We ended up not turning the Wii off and played Mario Kart for over 7 hours straight! Not one person but it was during the 99+ degree part of the day so it was best for us to stay inside and hang out. We did trade turns playing and seeing who was the best and what carts/bikes we each liked as our favorite.
One thing that bugs me about Mario Kart Wii is the ability for people behind you (way behind you) to take you out before you cross the finish line and make you drop 4 or 5 spots. I swear there was one race where I led the entire race and made sure to get the good power-ups to use. I would immediately drop the bananas and the green shells for the better red shells or the mushroom combos. I always got Mario so I had a good assortment of power ups unlike Donkey Kong who mostly gets those lame bananas. But I had gotten ahead of the pack around the last turn and saw the finish line in my sights. I was literally 2 feet (in virtual world space) and someone blew me up with a black spikey turtle shell with wings (specifically designed to take out the leader). I ended up shooting up into the air about 30 feet and coming down to see that I had slipped into 5th place. Are you fucking kidding me? I couldn't believe it! This type of programming should be banned!
And another thing on the new title I just picked up. I saw a few previews for this new game called "Alone In The Dark". It intrigued me and when I saw and heard about the new graphics/lighting engine that they were using and saw a few test demos, I got really excited about it. The environments are completely adaptive to the lighting. You can shoot off florescent lights off of the walls or ceiling (the cords actually) and then stand in the sewer and shine it around. It looks very lifelike and creepy like what a real sewer would look like and the outreach of that type of bulb. Its not like as soon as you pick this light up you can see like you are on the surface of the sun. Things are black if they need to be black, and things are halfway lit, and do cast shadows where they are needed. This gets me excited for Star Wars: Force Unleashed. I probably won't be buying anymore games for awhile unless something hits me in the face (well, besides the 20 dollar Rock Band Track Pack Vol. 1).
By that last statement I did pick up Rock Band for the Wii. I have unlocked all 63 songs included in the game and I'm desperately wanting more. It's all good though. The track list for Rock Band: Wii is a little bit different than the 360 version. I already have Don't Look Back In Anger by Oasis (which is DLC on the 360). Other than that its pretty cool, they have things set up in "Acts" similar to Guitar Hero instead of the World Tour type setup for the 360 or PS3.
Other games on my wish list I suppose:
August 26, 2008 Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30
- I always love a good World War II: Brothers In Arms video game (although the Call of Duty franchise will have a special place in my heart after Call of Duty 3: Wii Edition came out).
September 1, 2008 NHL 2K9
- Wii+motion controls+NHL+1st Hockey game for the Wii = total and utter fucking greatness. Should be great!
September 9, 2008 Price Is Right (2008), The
- Sorry, I am a huge fan of the show so this is probably just for those people that hold Bob B. and that show as cult status. Sorry Drew Carey, should have let the show die with the leaving of Bob. I seriously think that the company for Price is Right could make tons more money after the fact without a crappy show on tv to remind people and potentially steer them away.
September 16, 2008 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
- Great game engine and what looked like decent graphics for the Wii. From what I hear they are going to push the Wii to the limits of what it can do and the fact that I will be able to use the wii-mote and nun-chuck as a fucking light saber put this game into the stratosphere. Definite BUY!
October 2008 Bratz: Girlz Really Rock!
- Okay, I just threw this one in there to see if you were still paying attention.
October 2008 Ghostbusters: The Video Game
- With the original guys all coming back to do voice over work and the huge 400 page script for this game it is sure to be awesome! I'm sure it will be a new story line but you will be able to go back and experience some classic scenes from the movie. DON'T CROSS THE STREAMS!!!!!
October 2008 Guitar Hero World Tour
- This is still on my list, even though I probably won't be buying GH: Aerosmith. I probably don't need 2 sets of drums from Rock Band and GH: World Tour, so this probably will be put on the wayside (even though it will have two extra buttons for cymbals, etc.).
November 2008 Call of Duty 5: World at War
- Like I said before, greatest and bestest WWII franchise in history (as far as I know). And this should be right up on par with all of the others that came before. Me likey.
November 2008 Star Wars: The Clone Wars -- Light saber Duels
- Not necessarily my speed seeing as it will probably be cartoon based like the prequel series on DVD. But this should be a pretty good game and it looks to be like a straight out light saber battle with an array of different characters. We shall see.
To Be Announced In 2008:
TBA 2008 Boogerman: A Pick & Flick Adventure [Virtual Console]
- WOW! Lot's of good memories from Boogerman. I can remember my brother Sean going apeshit when we got this game for Sega Genesis back in the day. He jumped up and down (similar to the N64 kid) and his little jammies flapped up and down because they were too big in the crotch. Awesome and what better game for a 7 year old than an overweight superhero that belches and farts to defeat the enemies! WOOHOO!
