The Castle Crashers Post

So Castle Crashers is the best Xbox game ever (at the moment) and there is no further purpose to this post that to try and convince you to download it for your 360 (or buy a 360 and download it if you are that far behind). It’s a multiplayer brawler akin to the old Simpson’s / Ninja Turtles arcade cabinets, and I totally love it. Unfortunately I don’t have anyone on my friends list who has the game to hack and slash besides me with. That’s where you come in. Go grab all the stuff you need at a Labor Day sale and meet me online. Oh yeah Happy Labor Day. Now go.

Post-Posting Note: Damn it. these guys should dance. sorry. Now you wont want to buy it at all.

The Simian Filter Post

And now for something completely different. When checking back over my camera I found this little gem that I figured would be worth a random posting. It’s a clip from a recent Xbox Live video chat with Treebeer’d in which the awkward camera filters where applied. Somehow the green effect turns him into an old Asian-sensei looking monkey. Who knew?

The Co-Op Post

As I briefly mentioned before in a previous posting, Xbox Live pal Treebeerd and I are working jointly on an online comic called Co-Op. The comic centers around two friends that don’t know each other in real life, only online and converse via videogames. The characters are loosely based on Treebeerd and myself, and the comic will alternate artists each week with me kicking it off with this first stab at the thing. I’m sure styles will alter, characters will evolve and changes will be made all around, so don’t get too comfortable with the thing just yet. It’s an acquired taste I think, and requires a healthy understanding of online console gaming; so if you don’t know what the Friends of Friends feature is or anything about Bioshock achievements or playing Uno online then it probably won’t be for you. The comic will be online at ComicSpace in the very near future if you like what you see. Everyone else; don’t worry, I’ll keep the gaming-nerdyness and my general blog-nerdyness separate in the future.

Click to read.

The Obey The Clown Post

This week has been a little high on the caloric intake due to the maniacal grip Ronald McDonald has over me. His diabolical Monopoly game has me suffering from a Mac Attack whenever the idea of food comes into my head. Collecting those stupid stickers just clicks with me for some reason and I find myself peeling back the greasy labels before I even take a sip of my Coke. The whole office is hooked too, and we trade duplicate stamps and all play online as well. Its so sad, but at the same time so addictive. If you’ll excuse me I’m going to go order some food I don’t want in order to maximize my sticker-to-purchase ratio. Premium Chicken Sandwich and a large fries? Sounds good to me.

Speaking of evil corporations. I finally got a working 360 today after over a month since they sent me the last broken one (which in turn took a month before that). Freaking idiots in their repair center/ customer care department. Hopefully this one will last forever.

The 360 v2 Post

Today I finally got my 360 back in the mail after waiting for almost a month for it to be repaired. I’m stoked as I can finally sink my teeth into Blue Dragon and Bioshock, both of which I have been after for a good while. Unfortunately my original system was unrepeatable and Microsoft sent me a refurbished system in its place. No new features or anything like that, just one that was previously defective and now functional. Not that I am bothered that I am inheriting someone else’s previously faulty system, but I don’t really like the idea of it no being my 360. Its not the same system I waited in line for in front of Best Buy in the winter cold (twice). I build up an unnecessary attachment to a lot of my possessions and while a faceless piece of machinery is hardly sentimental, it is different. Hopefully this one didn’t die twice already and is in tiptop shape. So far no complaints. Just happy to have it back. I found these shirts to be rather amusing in it's absence.

UPDATE- 9/17/07
The refurbished system they sent lasted a weekend then died. I'm pretty pissed at this point having been without for just shy of a month and getting someone else's defective used system is hardly worth the wait. Expecting a call from them tomorrow to clear all this up. Till then I am pouty. All I want is my bathtub and game system to work. Can I not have both?

The 'Major' Letdown Post

As you may or may not know I entered the Doritos sponsored Unlock Xbox contest, in which gamers submitted Doritos inspired arcade games online. 5 Winners were to be selected and of those five a grand champion who would have his/her game published and available on Xbox Live. One week before the finalists were to be announced a video appeared on the contest website detailing the submission process and the narrowing down to 5 finalists. During the video my image was shown as one of the five that remained (after the screen gradually eliminated submitted images). This got me extremely stoked and feverishly awaiting the final judging. Last week it came to my attention that Major Nelson, the Xbox content manager would be touring the US and surprising the winners by letting them know they won in person. Not only that, he was blogging the whole trip. While he wouldn’t give up any concrete facts as to his location en route, he left little tidbits of clues for hopeful contestants to track. After coming really close (Florida’s Panhandle and Atlanta where two of his stops) I was left empty handed. I was really enthused about tracking the guy, and had my co-workers, family, girlfriend and even girlfriends’ co-workers all feverishly checking for blog updates on the Major’s site. Meh, whatever. Though bitter I am over it. Least I was until today where I got to see the finalists. How they selected some of these I have no earthly idea. I’m sure there is a good reason. But as someone who just lost to Pillbug's Quest For Flavor and Monkey's From Mt. Dorito I am rather bummed.

Least they used me in a video which means they liked the picture enough to spend some time on it. And as depressing as walking away without a plasma TV (one of the many awesome prizes all the finalists get) I did have a lot of fun getting overly stoked over the prospect of Major Nelson ringing the doorbell.

The Red Ring Returns Post

The ‘red-ring-of-death’ is once again plaguing my 360. Meaning that the little guy is going to have to be mailed away for a second round of surgery. As most gamers will probably attest to, this is particularly irritating being that the summer drought on game releases just ended and great titles are hitting the system pretty much every week from here till the holidays. Being that this is the second offense I’m hoping that they will send me a fresh console vs. Trying to patch mine back together again. Mainly because it will probably avoid further issues as mine is a aft-defective launch unit, but also because the newer models run quieter and have HDMI output. Fingers crossed. *end nerd rant*

The Lazy Blog Post

This week I’ve gotten lax about my blogging. Not sure why really. In a nutshell here’s what I missed posts on:

A stolen car was spotted by our UPS guy on Wednesday, underwater in the lake behind our office building. Cops arrived on the scene and sent a subversive robot camera down to ID the tags. It was reported stolen last week and used in a bank robbery. They hoisted the sucker out and expected to find a body inside, sending all onlookers away. Alas nothing quite that cool was inside (actually they found nothing at all). Snapped a few shots.

In other Orlando crime news, Cathleen (the new girl) had her first day at work put on hold as she was down at the police station all day and didn’t make it to the office. She apparently witnessed a vehicular homicide on her way to the office. A dude decided it was a good idea to run his girlfriend over with his car outside her apartment… Seemed like a good idea at the time I suppose.

My 360 made its triumphant return to Chateaux Guy. I’ve got it hooked up and running as before, and besides a few clicks whenever it stops reading a disk that I don’t recall, it’s as good as ever. Old Spice announced their Rewards program on the console that nets you some pretty cool prizes if you raise your gamerscore 1,500pts between now and April 12th. Xbox Live buddy, Treebeerd and I have been attempting t reach that goal already and are getting pretty well into it (I think I’m at 350pts at this point).

In news from up north; Jevan got himself a new step-mom this week when Mr. Pradas proposed on valentine’s day with a Spanish poem to his girlfriend for 5-months. Not to be outdone in family news his cousin also announced her engagement on the same day, as well as coming out of the closet. Sorry George, you’ve been trumped.

Got a letter from Stefan the other day. He’s doing well and is out of the first stage of his training. So no more obstacle courses and gas chambers, which is a good thing. Weapons training is next, which sounds pretty kick ass. He seems quite happy and enjoying the process despite its intensive nature.

The Gaming Graveyard Post

So the 360’s dead. Fine I have made my peace with it, and even though I get the red-ring-of-death whenever I want to play a movie or game I am pleased that it’s not costing me anything to fix. The box arrived today from Microsoft for me to mail it in with, so the ball is in motion on that one. However the gaming gods have taken a shot at the other nut now, and have killed my PS2 for the second time in its lifetime. Uncool. Knowing that it will cost me more to mail and repair it than the system is worth, I headed to Target today and picked up a new PS2, this time getting the sleek, silver, tiny model. It’s way sexier than the giant black and blue behemoth I bought 7 years ago.

The Piñata Post

This past week has been one filled with addictive gaming on behalf of the new 360 game I picked up; Viva Piñata. The game, though overly ‘kiddish in its presentation is a ton of fun, and addictive as all hell. The basic premise is that you tend a garden in real time in an attempt to lure animals into becoming your residents (piñata animals of course) you manage the whole circle of life/food chain thing and breed, raise and sell the animals to coax in different creatures. Dumb? Yeah probably, but oh man… hours go by and I don’t even realize. The game is videogame crack. I’ve never gotten into any of those big online games that people put hours and hours into and never see the light of day once they start playing, but I am starting to see how it’s possible.

Fortunately (or not) for me, the gaming gods stepped in and bricked my 360 last night, so now it doesn’t work. After a lot of very long calls with the service department, Microsoft is going to send for my system and repair it. It’ll be out of my hands for a good two weeks or so, which I’m fine with. Plus they are paying for all repairs because it’s apparently a big issue for many people. Same thing happened to the good old PS2 a few years back, and it cost me 70 bucks plus shipping to fix.