SKYRIM Friday - live blogging event

7:01 AM: Good morning everyone - I've been up since about 4 - it's been a rough week - when I woke up - I was up - no hope of getting back to sleep with all the brain worms. Since it has been a rough week - I was really debating if I still wanted to do this entry. Hell, despite being excited for SKYRIM for the past couple months - I debated not even playing the game... (real world drama portion erased)... Well, the package from Amazon is Out for Delivery - I'm thinking of doing some cleaning and maybe seeing if I can get an hour worth of napping done. 7:08 AM

7:09 AM: Oh yeah, just finished watching JEWEL OF THE NILE - what a dumb movie - harmless but dumb 7:10 AM

8:20 AM: The bathroom is clean and stinks of pine - and I'm checking around on Amazon for the first fake "reviews" - I like to poke the trolls when there's obviously a really stupid review such as describing the game as "WoW for xbox" (World of Warcraft)... So, let me play dumb for you and show what my comment read...

Wait? I don't get it... It's Wow for the Xbox - but it's bad? Wow is something that I EXCLAIM when I find something amazing... Like "Wow! These are some good McNuggets!"... So, is this like when bad means good? Like "you are so 'bad' at writing reviews"?

I'm really hoping that it is "Wow for the xbox" like your review suggests - because I want to constantly say "wow" - I might even say "wow" to the UPS person who comes by to drop off the game!

At least tell me that they kept Hogwarts in this game - and the kill streaks... I'm really looking forward to multi-playering up some noobs to play some serious gaming.

Aren't I a stinker? 8:23AM

11:46AM: I'm really tired now - been up since 4 - so it's not really a surprise is it? I keep reminding myself to go back and look at my shipping history on Amazon and see if UPS usually drops off the game at certain times and maybe then if it's far enough away take a quick nap... I watched last night's Conan, and both episodes of Beavis & Butthead off the DVR... Had second breakfast - and thinking about lunch now... I bought a shit load of food last night after work ready to spend the day holed up in my apartment eating and snacking - it was a solid call on my part - but probably should've bought more caffeine - other than coffee... Oh well... 11:49AM

11:57AM - Got it!! Might take a nap before I play it though... 11:57AM

12:05PM - Who am I kidding? After 5 minutes in bed - I can't sleep yet - I'll try food - maybe make more coffee - then game or nap... 12:06PM

1:18PM - The controls are going to take some getting used to - I picked a Dark Elf character called him Etain Mitra (that is two Neil Marshall references) - and have just seemed to finish up the first part... Almost let my Hungry Man dinner/lunch get cold playing through it... Fun stuff - nice visuals! 1:19PM

3:42PM - Been playing pretty much non-stop - fun stuff - leveling up on certain paths with ease - cleared a dungeon already (it was the one in the big half hour preview - it had a few more and a few less surprises than the preview) - completed two "achievements" - killed an elk - the leveling up and skill points save until you remember to check so spent my skill points without guidance from guide book which oddly is shipping out to arrive on Monday - been munching on Chex mix - still tired - still a little taken aback from this week - but this game will help lose myself - I'm putting it down for a little while going to watch a movie or tv or something - I will probably keep this live blogging going this weekend because it's a bit of therapy for me... The item/spells/map menu screen is a bit of a bummer - not caring for it at the moment 3:48PM

Video Game Challenge - Final Weekend

Only 2-days before the “dragon born” sets out on his quest.

This was the last weekend for my video game challenge – and considering I did not play any video games this weekend – my mission will end incomplete.

Let’s recap – I set out to beat Fallout: New Vegas, Crysis 2 and The Saboteur – only 3 games. I beat Fallout: New Vegas (twice with the freeze glitch) – it was easily the longest of the 3 games. The Saboteur was left mostly untouched. I started on Crysis 2 and even at the easiest play settings – I really sucked at it – so I gave it up and replaced it with Batman Arkham Asylum and Mass Effect 2.

I beat Batman Arkham Asylum – which was a lot of fun – a lot of button mashing – but a lot of fun. I looked to dust off my Mass Effect 2 skills – but quickly got bored with the game once more – and didn’t play it again.

So, I beat 2 games – left 3 unbeaten – but was only looking to beat 4 in total. I can’t say that I’m sad though – 2 games is a lot better than I normally do in 2 months – dedicating only a few hours in the weekend mornings to games. In 2011 – I beat LA Noire, Bulletstorm, Fallout: New Vegas, Batman Arkham Asylum – as well as got 100% completion of Lego Star Wars 3 – I did good.

Instead of playing games this weekend I watched movies mostly – and used my Groupon to a local used book store on the out of print Criterion version of The Third Man as well as finally getting a copy of Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary. They also had a video game I would’ve normally purchased – but I put it back – because I know there are only a few days before all games are put aside and SKYRIM is all that’s in my XBOX.

Not enough SKYRIM talk for you? Well, come back on Friday – I’m taking the day off and plan on spending all day on Blogger updating the Friday entry with what I’m doing. I’m hoping it’s not just me sitting around blogging about how I’m waiting on UPS all day – taking a big chance on that. The thought has crossed my mind to run out and buy a copy then return the UPS copy the next day – but that seems extreme.

Video Game Challenge - Progress of weekend Oct 29 & 30

Other than playing a couple hours of Lego Pirates – I didn’t do much gaming this weekend. I have been a little concerned about burning myself out prior to SKYRIM’s release on 11/11/11.

I kind of wish there was more information floating around out there about the game. I’ve been curious as to the different “races” in the game. I will usually play a human character in whatever game I get a “race” choice – but I’m thinking wood elf sounds like the kind of character I want to play in SKYRIM – but I’m not sure – as there doesn’t appear to be THAT much info on the game out there right now.

People talk about Oblivion too much when in regards to SKYRIM – which makes me kick myself for not playing Oblivion first. I think the last sword and sorcery game that I played was Might & Magic: The Clouds of Xeen – I loved that game. You got a group of 5 characters – different classes and races – and you go adventuring. Then Might & Magic turned into a conquest strategy game – and I moved on with my game playing – playing mostly baseball games and Sims games – with casual Mario games mixed in.

That is until I watched my brother play Fallout 3 – then I decided I must own an XBOX 360 – and play THAT GAME!!! That story is amusing to me because when the Wii came out I told my brother I wanted to get an XBOX – and he was so into his Wii that he shot down that idea – brought up all these negative aspects of it (which I agreed with) – and took the wind out of my sails. I went to Australia on business – received a big payday out of all that travel time – and bought a Wii (based on my brother’s glowing reviews and the high fail rate on the XBOX). The Wii was fun – but when I told my brother about my purchase – he told me how much fun he was having with his XBOX – the system he kept convincing me NOT to get.

Well, my thumbs have still been sore due to all my button mashing games – and texting – so I think a weekend of no real gaming was important. Gotta recharge them thumbs. Of course this means in the 11 days that I’ve got left – I will probably fail my challenge – with only 2 games completed out of the 4.

The Saboteur came up a couple random places this weekend while I was goofing off on the intertubes – and my interest was elevated a bit into playing it again – but never got around to it.

Amazon and Target are having buy 2 get one free sales on really good selections of games – but I’ll hold strong in the belief that I will not get to enjoy them once SKYRIM comes out (plus as much as I want to spend it – I ain’t got the scratch). Still the temptation... The trials... 10 days!

Video Game Challenge - Progress of weekend Oct 22 & 23

This weekend I didn’t so very much gaming – I don’t have much progress to report. I spent most of the weekend cleaning my apartment out – so that I could help clean-out my stuff from my parent’s basement.

The worst part of doing that was - as soon as I moved out over a decade ago my folks built a metal shelf in the middle of my closet – and blocked off all access to all my junk – so I’m going through stuff wondering where it all came from. There were plenty of great things in there that I could have passed down to my niece or my best-friend’s kids – that may go to Goodwill or Toys for Tots.

And the thousands of baseball cards... Some of which might actually be worth looking at – but most will probably end up in the recycle bin. I hope comic book shops buy comics in this area. All the adolescent song lyrics – so tragically bad!! My comic book novel I wrote and submitted to a publisher. I also found my anthology of comic strips that I drew – which I’m thinking of scanning – because they were actually quite silly.

~ Anyway – if you tuned in for the video game talk – here it is ~

Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: Is fun yet frustrating – as most of the Lego games are. There are 6 characters – 5 of which are NPC (non-player characters) – and they are all trying to jump and land on a small platform at the same time – which knocks the player character off - which means you have to start from the previous platform – which means all the NPC characters jump back to the previous platform and knock the player character off... Or the NPC character will try to climb up the wrong side of a ladder – get stuck – and you have to restart the level because there’s no character reset feature – or you can’t get far enough away for the character to reset itself.

I didn’t play anything else – so I won’t talk anything else.

Video Game Challenge - Progress of weekend Oct 15 & 16

Despite yet another roller coaster weekend – I made a lot of progress toward my goal of completing video games prior to the release of SKYRIM – 11/11/11.

I’ll start off by saying – it’s really quite nice to have some sort of goal to reach toward in my recreational life. Having a movie watching goal isn’t as exciting as it’s more of a passive experience – so playing video games – though popularly called a “slacker activity” – makes me feel like I’m accomplishing something.

Batman Arkham Asylum: The game has been defeated! Hooray! The boss battles were a disappointment – but the gameplay was fun throughout. I followed along with an online guide – and times they were saying I was walking into a really tough part – I found those parts not so tough (easy setting might have had something to do with that). It was fun – worth the time invested.

With the sequel to this game coming out TODAY – I really really want to run out and buy it (for those interested there are many incentives to do so – Wal-Mart is giving away a copy of the first game with the purchase of the second – Kmart is giving out a $30 game credit if you sign up for their free reward program).

I know if I do purchase the sequel now – I won’t beat it and by the time SKYRIM comes out I will forget it. So, it will wait. It will wait until it drops down in price.

Mass Effect 2: Now, I remember the other reason why I did not complete this game. Once I was done playing Red Dead Redemption – I came back to ME2 looking to reconnect with the controls – unfortunately I was at a point where all the missions were completed.

So, I went from system to system looking for mini-missions – and couldn’t find any – and essentially became “space mining” the game - so I got bored and played something else. Same story on Sunday – I was starting to fall asleep playing the game. So, I really have no choice but to start the “suicide mission” and die a few times trying to get the hang of all the special powers and guns and such.

The Saboteur: Still sitting at 47% completion – ME2 should only take a short play session to beat (unless I can’t master the controls) – and I’ll get back to beating the snot out of Nazi’s again.
- - -
At this very moment – I am HALF done with my “challenge” with about 25 days left until SKYRIM – I’m betting this gets done easily. UNLESS, I somehow purchase another game... Like Lego Pirates of the Caribbean if it should happen to be $15 on Gamefly (used) this past weekend.

This was my compromise with myself – I kept obsessively thinking about getting the new Batman game and I saw this sale on Gamefly – and jumped (first time I’ve seen it for less than $20) – and now I keep telling myself I spent my video game money for the month (so I can’t buy Batman). It depends on when I get the game – whether I add it to the challenge – but this could be my no-brainer game that I resort to when I’m neck deep in SKYRIM.

Poison Ivy

I always felt that if it was appropriate that Batman wear his underwear on the outside of this costume - the same should be done with a villain... Or villainess to be exact... (this game is fun - I'm actually heavily considering getting the sequel on Tuesday - even if I'm behind in game playing)

Video Game Challenge - Progress of weekend Oct 8 & 9

In the immortal words of recently un-cancelled Gob Bluth “I’ve made a huge mistake”

I don’t want to say that I’ve failed my video game challenge – maybe I just over estimated my skills as a gamer. Not to say I was thinking I was anything better than a novice but it turns out that Crysis 2 is beyond my skill level even at its lowest difficulty.

When I think about getting a first person shooter – I will look at gameplay videos before I take a dive into one. I find those really popular war games to be too detailed – meaning I can barely tell the difference between the enemy and the background – so I spend my time shooting at falling leaves while these crack shots are pounding me repeatedly. The first level – which is basically a tutorial – I died 10 times or something insane – against the easiest of foes.

So, unless I find an invincibility cheat – I won’t be able to beat this game by November 11th.

I’m going to have to adjust my challenge.

Fallout: New Vegas: Still beaten – but it is funny how there was a Bethesda sale over the weekend and I could have picked up two of the expansions for the price of one. I passed though.

Crysis 2: You win. I lose.

The Saboteur: Still sitting at 47% complete – I will get to you later.

Batman Arkham Asylum: I loaded up Batman again this weekend and saw that I was 19% of the way through – and said “bullshit” – started looking up info on the interweb – and I was 12 chapters into the 16 chapter game as one gamer put it. I guess the game is counting all the Riddler challenges and secret-secrets that I either couldn’t get to or didn’t go for.

After a few thumb injuring sessions this weekend – I’m hunting down the Poison Ivy with the antidote for the crazy juice the Joker gave her. Then from my understanding it’s on to beat up on the Joker.

Mass Effect 2: If it wasn’t for Red Dead Redemption – I would have beaten ME2 a while ago because I was almost done with it by the time RDR took over my XBOX. I have my crew’s loyalty – I’ve got my ship upgraded – the portal thingy is ready to go – and all I needed to do was to make the jump through the portal and I was on the very last level.

So, I’m adding 2 games to replace Crysis 2 – so the challenge has been upgraded to beating 4 games before SKYRIM comes out on November 11th (one month from this post). I’m fairly certain I will get 3 out of 4 of them done – and if I don’t get one done it will probably be The Saboteur.

As a side note – I played some Lego Star Wars III – and got that up to 100% completion – which I won’t count towards my challenge – but it is pretty neat.

Video Game Challenge - Progress of weekend Oct 1 & Oct 2

Despite other things – this weekend I finally defeated Fallout: New Vegas – it wasn’t as much of a thrill as I had hoped – but I’m now a third of the way through my pre-SKYRIM video game challenge.

Fallout: New Vegas: I took no sides apparently – I was hoping that I was lining myself up for the side of the “good guys” – but I must have overstepped one quest or the game’s glitches closed a door for me – I cannot honestly say.

I had been following along with my strategy guide – reading up on what requirements I needed for each outcome – and at no point did I read – if you do THIS you will never get to THAT on the path I took. Oh well.

The glitches were pretty funny though – as I only played the game for maybe a half-hour to wrap it up – BUT with it freezing twice – it turned out I had to restart several areas and that made me play it for about an hour instead. I mean right as the narrator was about to tell me how my actions affected the Mojave – the game froze – and with no auto-save chronicling my fight with The Beast from the East – I had to face off with him twice to officially beat the game.

The Saboteur: I loaded up the game to see how far along I was officially – and I’m 47% of the way through the game. I’ve got many Nazi’s still walking around and guard towers and such to annihilate – so this could take a while.

Crysis 2: I finally unwrapped the game and flipped through the instructions – I wonder how long it will take me to beat that one.

Video Game Challenge - Progress of weekend Sept 24 & 25

As I predicted – LuLu politely listened then called me a nerd – and Toad is unresponsive (probably rolling his eyes) – so since it’s of interest to me I’ll blog about it.

My video game challenge is going like this after this past weekend.

Fallout: New Vegas: Apparently, I’m at the point of no return. If I go and talk to one character – the entire region erupts in war – and once I complete the war – the game is over. Not in a Fallout 3 – download the expansion and you get to keep playing after the credits roll sense of over – it’s over over. Even if I want to play Old World Blues or Dead Money expansions – I will have to start from an old save file.

This gives me pause.

Do I complete the game? Or do I continue to fuck around?

For example - I cleared the way to recruit all the possible followers (achievement points – yay!) – but declined each opportunity when originally presented and decided to keep Veronica because she was able to use this really great weapon I found (which she went and fucking lost between saves – stupid fucking glitches!). So, do I go with the points – and possible extra side quests? Or just wrap this fucker up? Which is the whole point of my challenge!

Argh...

Speaking of fucking around in this game - I do really want to walk into the Ultra Luxe casino and shoot the place up with a mini-gun - it's not a side quest or anything - it's just something that needs to be done (even if I don't save it)

The Saboteur: Still not sure how far I am – I could check that little percentage thingy in the game – but I was wrapping shit up in New Vegas. I checked fairly early on and it said 15% - and that was after not doing much – so I’m betting I’m around 40% or so by now.

Crysis 2: Still in the cellophane – but I think it shifted around in the drawer when I opened it – so it has at least moved since last update.


I’ve got 46 days until Skyrim is released – and my challenge should be completed! I may have to play a bit more than just weekend mornings - and with my lack of interest in any TV shows that aren't BREAKING BAD and COMMUNITY - I may take up doing some night-gaming...

Video Game Update - The challenge begins

I bought an XBOX 360 a couple years ago to play FALLOUT 3 – a game in which I refuse to play all the way to the conclusion of the game. I’ve been having too much fun playing the game for the open world environments – plus the main story kind of bores me. I’m still on the same character – hundreds of hours into the game – but I haven’t played it in months.

I have been playing FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS though – and despite how glitchy it is – I find it fun. The main story is kind of disjointed – but I decided recently that I will be playing that through to the conclusion soon – because I have pre-ordered SKYRIM.

I have not played an ELDER SCROLLS game but decided that with how intriguing the previews are for SKYRIM - I decided this will be the one I will start with. Looks epic and fun – the fact that it’s developed by the same team that did FALLOUT 3 – has me sold it will be solid.

The problem is now I have been also playing THE SABOTEUR and ordered CRYSIS 2 (when it was a PENNY when Amazon had a *glitch* sale) – and I feel the need to complete all three of these games prior to the release of SKYRIM on 11/11/11 – and who knows maybe I should plug in FALLOUT 3 and complete that one too. (This is not counting a few other games started but not completed in my game drawer – ARKAM ASYLUM – looking at you bud)

I am NOT a gamer – and I could imagine others thinking this is NOT challenge – but to me this will be epic. I typically only play a couple hours while drinking coffee in my underwear on weekend mornings - but I did beat BULLETSTORM, LA NOIRE and a couple of LEGO STAR WARS games during that time this year – which is odd enough – but also means I’ve got a bit of momentum on my side in beating video games.

I will try and give updates on how I’m doing on my blog because I want to talk about it and LuLu will only humor me and Toad (my little brother) will probably roll his eyes at me (as he is a big gamer).

FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS – have all the allegiances – just need to declare which side I’m going to play for.

THE SABOTEUR – I have a hard time understanding how far along I am in this game – but I’ve cleared out a lot of areas of Nazi’s.

CRYSIS 2 – still in the cellophane.

Honestly, as this is scheduled to post - I will be sitting on my couch - drinking some coffee and playing my XBOX

A thought on video game movies

This weekend - I completed a video game for the first time in a LONG time - Bioshock. After seeing the complete story unfold - and seeing how interesting the world of the underwater city of Rapture is - and seeing its inhabitants (pictured above the Frankenstein like - Big Daddy & a Little Sister) and how and why they've come to be - I think I would be interested in seeing what a movie on Bioshock might look like.

The game revolves around your character trapped in Rapture after your plane crashes in the middle of the ocean. A man you know only over a radio begs you to help him rescue his family from the mad creator of the city - who's God complex has turn Rapture's residents crazy and very very violent.

I agree in part with Roger Ebert who's recently said that video games will never be translated to movies successfully - because the moral choices that the gameplayer has cannot be quantified into a film.

Where beg to differ is - just as not all books translate well to film - it takes an adept hand who knows how to boil down the story to its base elements - and stick to that story. Which means concentrating on the film story - even if you anger gamers by not referencing their favorite subplot. Video games should be looked at like books - they are what they are - and "the original may always be better" - so make an intelligent movie to be proud of using the pieces you are given - but don't color too far outside the lines.

Also, if you consider the games that have been translated - such as House of the Dead, Mortal Kombat, Alien vs. Predator, Street Fighter, Doom, Super Mario Brothers & Tomb Raider - simply don't have the advantage of being made in an age where story really plays into the video game experience to the affect that it does these days. (Not to mention, studio's hoped the name would sell these films - so talent behind the camera was optional)

I'm sure that I wouldn't have to wait long - as it seems like if you sneeze - there's someone out there adapting it as Hollywood seems out of ideas - but a movie based on a video game doesn't have to be dumb. I'm just saying...