This is my blog; I hope you enjoy it..
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• 18Aug 08

  My first gaming shopping spree!

  If you can even call this a shopping spree that is. Now this is nothing on the level of say Dan (aka nyc05), but hey, it's pretty respectable when you consider I've only been working a minimum wage job for the past 2 summers.

  So, in the past week I've gotten the following:

  PS2:

  • Devil May 5th Anniversary Collection which inlcudes Devil May Cry, Devil May Cry 2, and Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening Special Edition, all for $29.99! I had planned on getting this every since I heard about, and just finally decided to get it at the mall earlier today. I know some may say that I should have just gotten DMC1 and DMC3, but I hate skipping games in a series and would always prefer new rather than used games whenever possible

  PSP:

  • Final Fantasy Tactics: the War of the Lions for $19.99. I got the Daxter pack for the PSP last November, and haven't gotten a single other game for it until now. I have a list of several other games that I want for my PSP, including MGS, Killzone, and GTA, but this is the game I was in the mood for the most. The price drop also influenced my decision.
  • Nyko Charger Grip (external battery) for $29.99. I basically just saw this at Gamespot and thought "why not?" It makes the PSP much more comfortable to play on and essentially doubles the play time for it as well. $30 did seem a bit expensive for me, but it's worth it if it means I'll get more use out of my PSP.

  PS3:

  • Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for $54.99 (new) at Target! If you read my previous blog, you know I won't be playing MGS4 until I have finished MGS3 and have an HDTV to play on. The only reason I bought it now when I don't intend to play it for a while is because Target had it on sale (sorry, but it ended on Saturday). I'm guessing that by the time I'm ready to play MGS4, it will still cost $59.99 for a new copy, so I figured I'd save $5 and just get in now on sale.

  Gamecube:

  *... what!? I didn't know abdel had a Gamecube!?* Well, I do and I don't. I recently traded my PS2 to my cousin for his Gamecube since neither of us actually needed it anymore. I play my PS2 games on my PS3 and he plays his Gamecube games on his Wii, so I thought "why don't we trade" and of course, he agreed. So now I have a Gamecube until he decides he wants to trade back for whatever reason. He also gave me Super Smash Bros Melee, Soul Calibur II, and True Crime: New York City and I let him borrow some of my games as well.

  • Used Gamecube wired controller with extension cord for $16.98. My cousin only gave me one of his three controllers because he still uses two of them for Brawl and other games, so I just got another controller in case I have company, which I actually do. My dad's cousin's family from Egypt has been staying with us for the past few weeks.

  Wii:

  *... what!? I didn't know abdel had a Wii!?* Well, no, I don't ... at least not yet. While I do plan to get one eventually because I have far too many non-gamer friends that I need to entertain, for now I just play with my cousin's Wii. *insert dirty joke here*

  • No More Heroes for $29.99. Since it was my cousin's birthday recently, (and by recently I mean June 24th), and I still hadn't gotten him a present, I decided to surprise him with this game a few days ago. I told him I would get Super Mario Galaxy which he inexplicably still does not own, but I opted for a cheaper game that I knew he still wanted. I also wanted to surprise him and I knew this would be a great game as well.

  That just about wraps up my first ever gaming shopping spree. I bought a total of six games and two accessories for a grand total of $181.93 + tax. Again, it's nothing on the level of some serious spenders like Daniel, for whom this is a normal week of spending, but hey, I've never bought this much stuff in such a short period of time, so I'm calling it a shopping spree damnit! Let me have my moment!

  In other news, I still have not started MGS3 yet. These new purchases will probably prolong me from playing for a little while, although I do plan to finish it before school starts.

  And on that note, **** school!

  That is all.

  - Patrick

  • Posted Aug 18, 2008 4:02 pm PT
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• 9Aug 08

  Whatever happened to the notion of "too much"?

  The whole world seems to have lost sight of this concept. You know how when you've had too many drinks, you throw up because, (even though you're a moron), your body knows that you've had "too much." Yeah, that seems to be nonexistant. Lately, there hasn't been "too much" of anything in my life: video games, TV, stress, school work, college preparations, chaos, responsibility, etc. It's as if the the thought of having "too much" of something has vanished in most aspects of life.

  As with any rule, it's not the examples that make the rule, but the exceptions. One exception is vacation/relaxation time. Apparently, there is such a thing as "too much" vacation, because all vacations eventually end. And a big chunk of my vacation (most of the first 3 days) was stolen from me by my schoolwork, but at least the book was interesting. It has my recommendation. Anyway, the vacation was a lot of fun - it was awesome to see my cousins again (I only see them like once a year). I went waverunning for my first time, and I got to drive! That was the highlight of the vacation, and other than that, I was just chilling with the family and friends at the pool and the beach. At night we went out to eat and walk around and take in the sights, and we played cards a lot, which happens to be one of my favorite hobbies.

  Now that I'm back, I'm back working at my job at Dunkin' Donuts, and back to the stresses of schoolwork. I have a book to read and an essay to write for AP Psychology due by Friday which I haven't even started yet, (still waiting for the book to get sent to Barnes and Noble). After that, I have: two books and one essay to write for English, 13 chapters to read from the AP Biology textbook and work to do for each one, 2 chapters to read from the AP Psychology book with outlines to make for each one and a bunch of flash cards to make (for vocabulary, concepts, and people), and finally a bunch of **** to do for AP Spanish. However, I'll spare you an explanation of the AP Spanish assignment as I'm considering dropping down from AP to Honors for Spanish, in which case I'll just have to complete a packet of work. All of this is due in the first few days of school which starts on September 4th. Looks like I'll have no life come September ... ... !!! At least this will be my senior year of high school, and everyone knows that the seniors run the school.

  But, enough about school work, (**** school! ), let's get back to entertainment. I'll start off with TV. My favorite show on TV in the action genre is Burn Notice on USA Network. To put it shortly, IT'S THE BEST SHOW ON TV. If that isn't reason enough to believe me, imagine a "realistic" version of MGS with actual covert agents and actual covert ops, and that's Burn Notice! The main character, Michael Westen, is a good would-be real version of Solid Snake to boot. It's on at 10:00 PM ET every Thursday night - then re-aired at 1:00 AM on Fridays. If any of you are like me, and you have trouble keeping up with weekly shows, you can always watch them online at usanetwork.com for FREE after they air. The best part about the show is that nothing that happens seems too far fetch'd - everything is within the realm of reality, and Michael explains whatever happens that you might not understand, but still leaves enough for the audience to have to figure out for themselves. However, since the show is in the middle of Season 2, you'll have to buy the Season 1 DVD to watch the first season. I've seen every episode from Season 1 at least twice, and I'm still going to get the DVD - that's how good the show is. Other than Burn Notice, I've been watching some Scrubs, which is my favorite comedy show,, Monk and Psych, which are two more great shows on USA, and some ESPN and Comedy Central too. As you can probably tell, there's no such thing as too much TV for me.

  Now let's move on to gaming. I just finished MGS2 last night, and it was every bit as awesome and as twisted as I had expected from Kojima. However, I must admit that on a scale of 1 to 10, (1 being the worst, 10 being the best), my understanding of the ending of MGS2 is at -2 right now. But I guess that what sequels are for - I'm hoping that MGS4 clears up all of the confusion I'm having. I haven't yet started MGS3 as I've been replaying Uncharted for the trophies in the past few days as well. So far I have 7 trophies, (4 bronze and 3 silver), and I'm still on level 1. On a side note, regardless of when I finish MGS3, I'm going to wait until we get an HDTV to play MGS4 because I won't settle to disgrace it by playing it standard definition. However, we are getting an HDTV pretty soon, (after we finish the basement which should be done in a week or two), so that shouldn't be a problem anyway. Another side note, I recently added a bunch of you guys on PSN, so just letting you know if you haven't been on in a while. If somehow I forgot anyone, you guys are welcome to leave your PSN ID here, or just send me a friend request and let me know who you are and I'll accept the request, (my PSN ID is "Pat_on_your_back").

  And I'd just like to comment a little more on MGS2 - particularly the plot and the game's ending. Kojima clearly has no notion of "too much" when it comes to story elements, plot twists, and character depth. There have been at least 20 characters from the first two games alone, and absolutely none of the characters are one-dimensional. Now, unless you take the story one step at a time, and digest all the information you get as you go, there's no doubt that you'll track of something or someone and will be confused at some point later in the story. I mean you know you've gon too far when after every cutscene of any significance, you have to stop and think before you move on. In my opinion, that's just far too many characters, and too many backgrounds and motives to remember.

  Moreover, the actual plotline is just as convoluted and complex as the characters. Again, you know you've gone too far when there is one cover-up story to cover up a second cover-up story to cover up a third cover-up story to cover up the real story. ***WARNING*** MAJOR MGS2 SPOILERS AHEAD*** It goes like this: The Big Shell offshore clean-up facility story (1st cover-up) was used to cover up the production of Arsenal Gear (2nd cover-up), which was used to cover up Ocelot's version of S3 - the Solid Snake Simulation (3rd cover-up), which was used to cover up the real S3 - Selection for Societal Sanity (actual story). ***END SPOILERS***

  Once again, you know things have gone too far when several (about 5) major plot twists are revealed within a few minutes of each other at the very end of the game. Every single major "enemy" (or boss if you will) reveals their actual backstory and motives in about the last half hour of the game. Each time you learn something new, you expect it to be the whole truth, but no, a few minutes later you learn that the character you just learned about is nothing but a pawn in the plan of another character. This goes on several times, as if you're climbing a ladder of character importance and each rung is yet another plot twist. ***WARNING*** MAJOR MGS2 SPOILER AHEAD*** Finally, you find the Patriots to be at the top rung of the ladder ... but wait (until the credits finish rolling of course) ... you find out that the Patriots died 100 years ago ... OMGWTFBBQ!!!111 (and of course, that's the end of the game) ***END SPOILERS***

  So yeah, Kojima has no sense of "too much" when it comes to complex stories with convoluted characters and confusing plot twists. It's like the 3 Cs of Hideo Kojima story developing.

  Anyway, after reading all of this, (which you better have! - J/K ), you're probably thinking that I myself have lost the notion of too much blog, but just be glad that I'm ending it here.

  - Patrick

  • Posted Aug 9, 2008 9:38 pm PT
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• 26Jul 08

  It's time for me to say goodbye... EDIT

  I've got to pack my bags because we're leaving for the airport in about eight hours.

  ...

  What

  ...

  Don't look at me like that - you guys didn't think I was going to leave Gamespot forever (again ) did you?

  ...

  Well, back to vacation stuff. We're going to Aruba for the second time - it's a beautiful Dutch island off the coast of ... ah hell, who am I kidding - I don't know where the hell it is. By "we" I mean my family along with my cousins from my mom's side of the family. The last time we went to Aruba was awesome, and hopefully this trip will be as well. The only negative about this trip is that I'm going to have to finish a lot of the first part of my AP Biology summer assignment. I have to read Genome by Matt Ridley and answer some questions about it. It's due Friday, but I'm going to be on vacation, so I have to e-mail it back to my brother and he has to hand it in. Damn school!

  Vyse, beware of the following spoiler:

  
  ***SPOILER***

  MATH MATH MATH MATH, MATH MATH MATH MATH, MATH, MATH, MATH!!!

  
  

  Don't say I didn't warn you!

  On a side note, in MGS2, I'm currently stuck at the part where I have to freeze all of the bombs. I've done all of them expect for the one in Strut A. The thing that really has me pissed off is that I know where it is - I can even see it - but I can't get to it with the coolant spray! It's boxed in by a bunch of pipes and I've tried getting to it from every side and nothing has worked so far. Why can't Raiden just jump over the damn pipes! - So yeah, any help with that would be awesome.

  So, hijack away guys (and Vyse ).

  - Patrick

  ***EDIT***

  Somehow I forgot to mention this when I initially wrote the blog, but the vacation is only for one week so I should be back next Sunday. Although I might check in during the vacation when I go to e-mail my assignment back home for my brother to hand in.

  • Posted Jul 26, 2008 9:27 pm PT
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