Bored at work: let's talk about some video games

Man, this holiday season's going to be crazy.

I bought NBA 2k9 a week ago. been playing the season mode like I usually do. I don't play online at all, mainly because my experience is most online players tend to randomly run around trying to steal the ball, or block every shot, instead of running real plays on defense. On offense, it's almost the same, as there is no play calling, just giving their team's best player the ball, and trying to go for a dunk every possession. Maybe its just the people I've ran into. I also don't really care for online leagues either, I prefer playing against what I hope is some great AI.

NBA 2K9 has that, as teams run through their offense and defensive plays like they should. One thing that bugs is that sometimes a random player, like Scola of Houston, will just make every shot, scoring like 30 points, while Yao and McGrady won't do shit for most of the game. And its not for lack of trying as I even tried double teaming him, to no avail. It doesn't happen too much, but it does happen. It usually happens at Pro difficulty, as I noticed star players not acting like themselves. I was playing against Denver once, and Iverson and Carmelo were unusually quiet, so I switched to All-star, and both finally woke up. Iverson taking Fisher (I play as the Lakers) off the dribble and Melo, shooting from all spots on the court. Not sure why I started on Pro, it's way too easy. All-star, with some tweaks to the game sliders, is more manageable for me. Thank God for downloadable sliders too, it's an awesome feature, that saves me time from tweaking every little nuance, and getting it from players much more hardcore than I am.

I rented Fable 2 this week. I knew I most likely wouldn't finish this game, as rpgs like this I get bored of halfway through, so buying it wasn't an option.

So far though, I really like it. Well, it's the dog I really like. He, or she, makes the game worth playing for me. He will follow you where ever you go, running ahead of you as your character traverse the land, alerting you of buried treasure or a missed treasure box with a few insistent barks. When he's bored, he'll chase his own tail, or lie down on his back hoping for a belly rub. The only time you can actually pet him is when he's scared, giving him a reassuring scratch on his neck.

Graphics wise, me not a fan of the art direction, is OK. It's a bit too...Euro... for me I guess. The characters are too round, with big hands and feet. The animations can get choppy as well, accentuating everbody's ugliness. There is quite some slow down, especially when running through the towns.

The main storyline seems a bit boring already, having something to do with finding the four Heroes, you being the Fifth. Or is it finding the three others, you being the Fourth? Whatever, you are a Hero, because your destiny commands it, and you gotta kill the bastard who killed your sis, or bro, depending if your Hero is a dude or a chick. It's all really corny actually. The real fun is doing whatever you please, flirting with the the girls, and acting like fool.

A main point of the game is either getting people to hate or like you, which is supposed to determine how people react to you in the future. Man, are these NPC's really wishy washy. I was once flirting with a married lady, who couldn't get enough of me, with her husband standing right behind me too. He was cursing me over my shoulder, hate points going up. So I decided to do a little dance, and all was well. Just like that, in a span of like 3 minutes. She had a nice little heart icon over her head, and as long as I kept dancing for her husband, I could probably marry her.

I am only about 5 hours into it, so no doubt I'll get bored by the time I have to return it. I feel like rushing toward the end just to finish the game, but exploring off the beaten path is fun.

There a ton of games coming out, but the only one I'll buy will be Gears of War 2.

testing

Testing out this blogger email thing

How many Japanese police officers does it take to apprehend a naked white guy ?

Quite a few apparently, as you can see from these videos. Except most of them were running away from him, as he threw rocks and chased them away with his blindingly white skin. Reports from Japan Probe says that either he was a British man that was part of a tour group who lost a bag in the moat of the Imperial Palace, or a British man from Spain that was part of a Spanish tour group whose friend lost a bag in the moat.





Either way, why would he strip completely naked and jump into the moat in the first place? It looked like some wacky monster movie about a slow-moving, rock-throwing, naked giant terrorizing the innocent citizens of Tokyo as the authorities are helpless to retaliate.



Too funny.