After playing on Xbox LIVE for a while, you tend to realize what a cesspool of ignorance and stupidity it has become. I guess that’s what happens with you empower the ignorant with anonymity and the ability to fight you on some digital battlefield. But basically it all comes down to basically four types of people.
The Self Assigned Leader
This one is more annoying than offensive, but in his annoyance…he will offend you. This is the person is the one who will squawk orders in to his microphone incessantly, completely oblivious to the fact that nobody gives a shit. Failure is not an option for this person, as they will no doubt remind you of this various times throughout the game with the usual dramatic affect. “Come on guys let’s storm the gate! WE CAN’T LOSE!” His desperate pleas for help however go unanswered. Eventually, the self assigned leader will grow quiet, engulfed with shame that he could not gloriously bring his team to victory. The best way to handle this douche bag is to let him be. Much like a California wildfire, you must let him burn himself out.
The Racist
This one is my personal favorite, as he is the most entertaining when pissed off. The Racist, fueled with the power of anonymity, will use Xbox LIVE to broadcast his various grievances with other races. After a while, he will start accusing people of being “Jews” and finds people speaking in a language other than “American” offensive to the point of confrontation. His views on life are generously skewed to the far right, and it may be hard to understand him due to his heavy southern accent. He is a shining example of why the world hates us. The best thing to do if you come across a racist on Xbox Live is to just mute him, so as to keep your ears free of ignorance. But if you felt so inclined, calling him a “dirty racist redneck” usually induces a comically ignorant response.
The Annoying Eight Year Old
This is a child who’s parents really don’t pay to much attention to. A dead give away of this would be the fact that he is eight and playing Gears of War 2, to hell with the rating system right? This kid will usually just do very irritating things over the microphone, such as singing, repeating a phrase over and over again, or singing a phrase over and over again. They are usually more foul mouthedyou would think an 8 year old will be (all the more reason to home school your kids). Sadly there is no perfect tactic to combat the annoying child. If you mute him he will continue to annoy at the end of the game, where you’ll have to mute him again. If you call his mother a skank or insult him in anyway he will only grow more annoying. Basically treat him like a T-Rex from Jurassic Park, just don’t move and don’t look at him and he’ll eventually get bored and move along.
The Pessimist
I saved quite possibly the best for last. The Pessimist is notorious for reminding you that you, and the rest of the team suck. Regardless of the fact that he has two kills and fourteen deaths, he will continue to jabber on about how useless everyone is. He will ask why you all are sniping or why you keep dying. He will curse at you as a part of some strange motivational speech that will end with some sort of racial slur (much like “The Racist”). To best deal with this guy, just insult him to his very core, and then combat his attacks with logic and reason and you should be fine.
Well guys, my posting this week will be limited because I will be too busy fighting the good fight in Gears of War 2. This is probably my most anticipated game this year (aside from GTAIV). I love the gameplay, the visceral, fight for survival type action, and the single player. But this time around, I will most likely be steeped in the multiplayer experience. Two words…Horde Mode.
Horde Mode is basically a five vs. the world survival scenario. Five players basically fight waves of enemy AI, getting gradually harder and harder. Rumor has it, to get to level 50 it will take you 6 hours. The Boys and I plan to put that to the test. Also the story looks great, the multiplayer modes and maps look beautiful. This game promises to be in my Xbox for a long time.
Here is a launch trailer…
Anyway, if you wanna look me up on XBLive this weekend to join up the cause, hit me up on my gamertag, Xjett2k4. Peace Out!
Being and avid casual gamer and a college student, I am usually strapped for cash. So I decided to snatch up some of the games I don’t play, and head down to GameStop to, as I sometimes do during my personal economic hardship, trade in some games to get SOCOM, and reserve Gears of War 2 so I can play with my friends. I walk in with my sizable stack of games, only to discover a new policy change. Apparently in order to trade is some video games you need two forms of identification and a thumbprint.
You know, I have always criticized GameStop for screwing over gamers with drastically underpriced buy backs, and screwing over developers by selling used games at a large profit (without sharing), but I do trade-in when I have to. But friends I ask you, what is this nonsense? Am I trading in a firearm or some jewlery here? Are a couple of Xbox 360 games of such importance that you require personal information, like my address and my damn THUMBPRINT? First of all, I want to communicate how obsurd it is to even request this information for something as insignificant as a videogame. Secondly, I don’t consider a GameStop clerk to be so security minded as to nonchalantly handover my thumb print, personal information, and employer’s name over so that I can get $15 for a mint condition copy of Bioshock.
I immeadiately asked her why she needed this information, she stated that “She couldn’t say.” This is ludicrous, and frankly a vast violation of personal privacy. I urge those who read this to not do business with GameStop. This company is not a great one. It constantly undercuts hardworking gamers and developers, and now has taken this stupidity to the next level. Peace Out.
So, Soulja…I hope you don’t mind if I call you Soulja. I noticed you have taken time from making ringtones music to challenge all Xbox Live gamers? You’re the best? Highly doubt that. Normally I try not to reply to trash talk on my blog, but for you, I have made an exception. My gamer tag is Xjett2k4. Let me know when you want to “give me my ass kicking”.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was one of the more hyped up games to come out (similar to Assassin’s Creed). Did it deserve the 7.3 rating IGN gave it, or the 7.0 rating Gamespot gave it? In my opinion, no. Force Unleashed, does have issues with gameplay, but those issues are issues that have plaugued the genre of the game itself. Action, “hack and slash” games are more or less like this. Combo hits and little boss battle ending mini games. I didn’t expect the next Jedi Academy here or anything like that, and if you did, sucks for you. Another complaint was that the Euphoria engine, that allows you to manipulate the environment with Force powers, didn’t let you manipulate EVERYTHING. Well what do you want? It’s new technology, I didn’t think you can manipulate everything with it. I am sure the Euphoria engine will evolve, and it no doubt will get better and better. But despite that you still can manipulate a good amount of stuff. But by far, the best aspect of this game was the story.
I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but I will say that making this game Star Wars Canon was a great choice. It pieces the prequels and the original three together very well. Definitely worth a couple of plays before you trade it in. Force Unleashed however, points out the various flaws the prequels had, primarily Episode III. Episode III was by far my favorite of the prequels. But what it could have been was so much more. Episode III is the rise of Darth Vader, and the fall of Anakin Skywalker. Originally it was intended to be way darker, and more dark side focused. The execution of “Order 66″ in the movie was dumb. Originally, we all know Anakin was supposed to hunt down the council one by one in a sort of vengeful, angry tirade. But I am sure that ended up getting tossed for time in favor of some random storm troopers gunning down the most experienced of Jedi. I won’t go in to it further, you all know why you didn’t like the prequels, it’s been covered many times. The Force Unleashed is that raw, vengeful, episode of the series that I think would have been great in Episode III. Vader’s secret apprentice, Starkiller, is such a great character, who serves Vader blindly, and most importantly, knows it. It is Starkiller who Vader uses to hunt the various Jedi who survived the Great Purge, all the while preparing him to destroy the emperor. At the same time, Vader knows how powerful he is, so he keeps him a arms length as well. It really is an interesting story line. Long story short, ignore the reviewers and enjoy the Star Wars goodness. Peace Out!
No I am not a drunk. Believe it or not, I was once one of the 12,000,000+ people who played Word of Warcraft. I rarely admit to this, as it does hinder my chances with women among other social interactions, but sometimes one must reflect on their past in order to understand their future. Honestly, people who laugh at people who play this don’t really understand what this game demands from you. My friends and I all played together, fought in the most glorious of battles, fended off the horde more times that we can count. We’ve amassed piles of Murlocheads, have slain many an instance boss, and have lost many rolls for purple items dropped by common creatures. But as those who have played know…this game does a bit more than just entertain you. It has the ability to become you’re free time. When you get home, you want to play. When you wake up, you want to play. The difference between us and others is that we realized just before it was too late. We have lives. Things we need to do, things we need to accomplish. WoW, as awesome as I am willing to admit that it is, is just a distraction. So if you are like my friends and I, recovering from quite possibly one of the most profound gaming experiences of the digital age, I am happy for you. And if you are still walking the kingdom of Azeroth, well I am jealous of the amount of free time you have.
As Tropical Storm Fay inches ever so closer to the US mainland, I am slowly losing my mind. The conditions outside are pretty nasty and are only getting worse. It was raining pretty hard this morning so I had to skip my morning activities. So far today, I have alternated playing Call of Duty 4 and GTAIV, I have watched CNN, and I just realized that I missed The Steve Wilkos Show at 1 pm (darn…). All of that with the occasionally ”blog sweep” where I check all the blogs I like for new posts. Anyway, I am fighting the urge to take a boredom nap, and right now I have not even seen what light looks like as my room is dark. It’s only going to get worse…as it hits tomorrow. This is the best way to spend my last week before school starts.
It was a bright, Tuesday morning the day I got paid. I was over hours that pay period, so my checking account was pretty hefty. I quickly woke up that morning and logged on to Bank of America (yep even before I checked my Facebook). So I awe at the unusually high amount and make a few calculations in my head…
“Ok, I told mom I’d pay the DirecTV and the AT&T bill.”
“Ahh man, I gotta set some cash aside to get my mom a birthday present.”
And after all of that I noticed I still had some left over. So I put on my jeans, I jump in the car and head to Best Buy. I am going to buy…something. I don’t know what, but I am at Best Buy. If I don’t leave with something, I have wasted my time. So I stroll in, take a deep breath and appreciate the view. I walk in to the cell phone section…nope sorry already got one. From there I walk straight ahead to the DVD section…nothing here that catches my eye (Iron Man comes out on Blu Ray next month). So I drift over to the video game section and see whats going on.
“Hmmm Soul Caliber IV” I say quietly to myself. “Arena style fighting, weapons, whoa and Yoda from Star Wars is an unlockable character!” It looked promising…but nah.
I look to the distance and I see the glow of the digital camera department in the distance. So I stroll over there and I realize, that I don’t own a digital camera. So I am browsing around and I settle on a nice looking camera that wasn’t too expensive (Nikon S210 for those who are curious). The shockingly attractive best buy camera specialist told me that she only had the pink camera in stock and that I would have to order the black one. So long story short I order my camera and drive back home to wait on my camera. So I get home and I take care of some stuff, go for a jog, come back and decide “Hey let me check up on the reviews of my camera. CNET.com says it looks nice but that’s about it.
Drag man.
But whatever, I am not an avid photographer…I just need something to document my adventures. I will play with it when it gets here, and I’ll be the judge of it. Other websites say it’s good so we’ll see.
Moral of the story: When you are in the impulse buying mood…stay away from Best Buy.
I have always known Xbox was a hot bed for the ignorant. Give a moron the power of anonymity and get ready…cause here it comes. But lately, I have noticed that there are some really nasty little kids on XBL. I can’t really explain it with out getting in to too much detail…which I’d rather not do, but wow. First of all, whoever buys their 10 year old Grand Theft Auto or something is a bit on the irresponsible side. It’s unsettling hearing a high pitched, child like voice screaming the vilest of obscenities at you. And sadly…it’s a little bit funny. Probably cause it’s not my kid…but then again I don’t think my kid would ever get to that point. Peace out!
I’ve had a suprisingly busy schedule lately. Getting my life together requires more time than I had originally thought. As of late I have not had as much time as I want to for Xbox 360. When I did have a little bit of time, it was for GTA4. Thats because it was in the machine at the time. So I would play that for like 20-30 minutes before I went to sleep. The other day I went to play Call of Duty 4. I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I was…well pretty good. Sadly, this no longer is the case. I am awful. I can’t for the life of me seem to hit anything anymore, where normally my accuracy was dead on. Maybe this is for the better? Who knows, an Xbox Live server without Xjett2k4 is a more peacful place.
I think the title explains it all. First of all, it is more or less a glorified bathroom scale…that laughs at you. My small mother likes to play Wii Fit and when she climbs on, it welcomes her. “Ready to go!”. Mind you, my mother is rather small and really doesn’t weigh that much. Me? I am a rather big guy, so when I climb on the Wii fit is like “Ahhh!”. What is that?! Every time I climb on in yelps in pain! I am surprised it’s not like “Hey fat man…try not to break me.” or the classic “one player at a time please”. Piece of arrogant plastic circuitry. Oh and then it does a body test…a joyful 5 minutes.
“Measuring…Measuring…Measuring…OVERWEIGHT!!”
Awesome. But no, the Wii Fit likes to rub salt in your wounds as it asks you for a reason why you have not met your weight loss goals for the week. Then it lists stuff like “I’m lazy”, “I eat too much.”, “I eat at night.” and so on. Click I’m lazy, I dare you. And prepare for the half hour lecture that will ensue. Whatever. I am going to keep doing it though, just to spite that little plastic bathroom scale.
Yep, after a stern recommendation from my fitness minded and Wii fanatic friend CiCi I decided to get a Wii Fit. I went to Best Buy today to stimulate the economy a bit. It was the obvious choice. So far I have only scratched the Wii Fit surface, but this thing is NOT in anyway what you think it is. Wii Fit isn’t just Wii Sports on steroids, but this is an actual tool you can use to well…get fit. So far I have only tried the unspeakable horror that is Yoga. However, there are also games to help your balance, strength training and aerobics simulators as well. You even have your own personal trainer. So, I am not going to announce any goals or anything, but I will probably post my progress here once a month. The Wii Fit is in danger of not being taken seriously, I however will, and we’ll see how it works.
Welcome to The Jorge Zone! This is my blog, my mental exhaust pipe, slowly filling the atmosphere with my opinions, favorite links, news and the like. This blog is all about the political and social issues we face today. Current events, political & economical happenings, religion & faith, global warming, stuff like ... Continue reading »
