Thermal paper lasts longer than you think

11.03.2010

I went through cleaning off and rearranging bookshelves last night, deciding it was time to get rid of stuff that's just been sitting around for no reason. Amongst the books were a couple of Trapper Keeper folders with even more stuff I don't need. Protractor? Star Trek Video Club solicitation? Orange paper hex grid?

The thing that caught my eye was a receipt from Dec 12, 1994 from Toys R Us for Donkey Kong (or some flavor of Donkey Kong) for the Super Nintendo. I'm guessing I bought it as a Christmas present for Jerry, as I was but a lowly college student (again) in '94 and $60 wasn't easy to come by. The only people I knew with Super Nintendos were Jerry and Kory, but I'm not sure how much I was hanging out with Kory back then so I'm going to say it was for Jer.

I probably held on to the receipt initially in case the game needed to be returned, but after 16 years it should be safe to get rid of the receipt. After all, I think the return period has expired. Just to be safe, I bet I leave the receipt in the scanner until it's time to scan something else. The way this year has gone that should be at least another 3 or 4 months. So, Jer, double check and make sure that Donkey Kong cartridge is working ok!

I just thought of how much fun it would be to try and take the game (if it's still around) back to the store. I can see the kid behind the register - "I'm sorry sir, but this receipt is older than I am. I'll have to call a manager."

Permalink rambling random

Smelling more of what I'm cookin

11.02.2010

As part of my continuing review of Smackdown vs Raw 2011, I've now had time to enjoy the new WWE Universe mode which replaces the Exhibition mode. Simply put,i likey!

For years I've made up my own story lines in the one-off exhibition matches. Now, random story lines are created in which you gain allies and enemies along the course of a year, with each month culminating in a PPV where titles are defended. You fight your way up the rankings for various titles - I'm not sure how to pick which title to go after outside of picking a show (Raw/Smackdown) and adjusting your overall ability score (~85 will put you in the US/Intercontinental bracket, while a 100 makes you World caliber!). I ran through a year and had to fight for 2 months before I got ranked high enough for a title match. After that I found enemies, allies, and even a couple of disbanded tag teams along the way. Just like actual TV story lines, I found myself defending my title against the same guy for 3 or 4 PPVs in a row. This may seem repetitive and mundane, but it's actually modeling what really happens.

I still haven't gotten the new control scheme figured out - I just need to take some extra time with that. There are more open slots for created wrestlers and tag team combination. I whipped up a quick Road Warriors although I left them with the default moveset.

I think I'm going to have fun with the Universe mode. It may turn out to be 2011's saving grace.

Permalink video games wrestling

Smelling What I'm Cookin

10.28.2010

So, after roughly 14 hours of playing time I've got the hard part of SvR 2011 wrapped up. I grinded through the 5 story modes, each one taking around 2 hours to finish. I'm not sure why, as this year for about $3 you can go on XBox Live and unlock all the characters and arenas. But I always to the story modes, it's a tradition. Next is to see how the whole WWE Universe/Exhibition mode works out.

The first couple of hours of playing were not fun. Once again the control scheme has changed. No longer are there strong grapples and weak grapples, but grapples based solely on your opponent's position. To be honest, I feel like I'm doing the same move over and over. I was really confused at first, as "Pin" went from moving the right stick down to "B". With that in mind, here's my quick list of pros and cons for the new/changed featured for 2011.

Like

• Pay $3 to unlock all the characters and arenas.
• Pinning option on moves instead of pin-only on some moves
• Picking opponents menu system runs faster
• No more character stat building (evidently you just boost yourself to whatever you want)
• Every flying turnbuckle attack doesn't always hit
• I actually enjoyed the Christian story line
• 3 matches into the WWE Universe mode, it seems ok so far.

Dislike

• New control setup, although this one may too grow on me
• Weak/Strong grapples. I feel like I'm missing something
• Where did all my clothesline variations go?
• What happened to turnbuckle taunts?
• Latest character models look like they have a plastic skin - more so than in the last version
• Gone are any ways to tell opponent damage if you haven't bloodied them (no meter, no reddened chest)
  
  Dislikes specific to story mode
  • Running around backstage takes forever
  • Running Around/Cut scene camera angles are horrendous
  • Extra long time after a cut scene/conversation before you can get running to the next point
  • Ladder matches. I hate ladder matches. I've always hated ladder matches. No longer is there a meter to fill up (or down) showing the belt is about to fall, now you just jerk on the damn thing somewhere over 6 times before you fall down with it. In the 5 story modes, there is a 4-man ladder match, 3-man ladder match, Money in the Bank ladder match, and a Tables, Ladders, and Chair match. No other specialty matches of note are forced upon me, but I had to climb ladders to win in 4 damn matches. I probably got pushed off ladders at least 40 times. I hate ladder matches.

There's holdovers from previous versions that I really like. You can still have 3 alternate attires, and it looks like a mask doesn't have to be tied to all attires if you wear one. You can still form teams, have allies and rivals (or let the WWE Universe mode take care of it, I think). There's plenty of titles to go after and defend, although the tag titles are listed as Raw, Smackdown, and Unified. Not sure if having both Raw and Smackdown tag titles automatically switch to the unified titles or not.

Still gone are the create-a-belt mode and any tracking of your win/loss record or title history. Those are small, picky things to miss, but I wonder why some things go missing instead of just becoming optional.

I'll probably take a little break from playing for a day or two. For me, I've shoved a lot of video game playing into the past 2 days.

Permalink video games wrestling

SvR 2011 - just 2 more days

10.24.2010

For a good 3 months I've been waiting for this week. Tuesday marks the 12th release in the Smackdown video game series, Smackdown Vs Raw 2011. There are some features in this one that I'm really looking forward to, mainly the exhibition mode sounds like it may be a loose career mode in which rivalries, titles, and character interactions are maintained. I hope so. I'll find out Tuesday.

The last SvR game really gave me my moneys worth. For $60 I actually played it off and on for a year. Matt and I would play for a little while most Mondays nights before watching a Tivo-delayed Raw. I played through all the story modes, exhibition modes, just damn near everything in the game except running through all the moves in the practice arena. For the past couple of months I've been having fun with the create-a-wrestler mode, at first making some of the old guys like Bret & Owen Hart, Sting, Road Warriors, and a handful of others that I could track down the stats for online. Then I just started messing around with the settings making completely new guys that I ended up enjoying (although one guy was oddly close to the Masked Superstar).

I'm really hoping to get the same amount of fun out of this next game. More actually, but I'll settle for enjoying as much as the last.

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As of 6:40 PM Monday night, Amazon tracking has not shown my anticipated game as being shipped, although they do show that it should be arriving on 10/26. If there is not a parcel on my stoop when I arrive home from work in less than 24 hours, (1) Amazon's going to get an earful of all-caps email from me, and (2) the video game store in Athens will find themselves selling me a copy of SvR2011.

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Got home from watching Raw with Matt and checked the tracking. Ok, left Louisville tonight - that means it should reach Decatur in the wee hours of 3:00AM or so, then get on the delivery truck at 6:00AM. UPS guy usually makes it to my house around 3:30 or so. Looks like everything is going according to the original plan. I like the original plan.

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When I got home today there was a small package from Amazon containing my much awaited on game. All is good :)

Permalink video games wrestling

I have a gaming closet.

10.17.2010

I enjoy getting things organized. I do. Not just for the sake of doing it - I tend to try to organize things in a useful way, or I at least like to believe it's useful. That's what led me to my latest organizational task. I've got lots of gaming crap stuff. Lots. I like collecting games, mainly because I like reading rules and seeing how somebody can make up a world (or city, or battle) with rules that both make sense and are hopefully balanced. Over the past few years I've started getting into miniatures-based games, and with those types of games come lots of little components to keep track of. I've stored various parts of all the games here and there throughout the house, but it was getting hard to find something once I started looking for it. Enter my mad organizational skillz.

Now in my closet I have roughly 35 shoebox sized nicely labeled containers of playing pieces for:

• Heroscape
• Axis & Allies Miniatures (stored by faction)
• Axis & Allies War at Sea
• Star Wars Miniatures (stored by faction)
• Star Wars Starship Battles (stored by faction)
• ActionClix - Halo
• HeroClix
• Battletech/MechClix
• Battlefield Evolution (I think I was the only person that ever heard of this one)

Yes, that's a lot of crap stuff. I didn't even know I had ¼ of it. Now that it's divvied up I not only know I have it, but it's easier and faster to get to a specific piece for playing. Theoretically.

I still need to work on making sure I have all the rulesets - Wizards didn't renew their Star Wars License this year, so they're no longer hosting a copy of the rules on their website. I didn't see a copy of the War at Sea rules, so I'll have to make sure to download a copy (I'm pretty sure that should be up on the Wizards site).

Permalink boardgames renovation/remodelling