Top Five Games that have Stood the Test of Time.

Ladies and gentlemen, I decided it's high time for another list. This one will be about games that are over 5 years old and I still play. So, since this list seems to require no more explanation than that, I shall commence with the list:

5. Diablo II- Fluid animations, incredibly fun gameplay, and an incredibly fun-to-play-through story make this one of the few games from the early 2000's that stands the test of time. If you haven't played Diablo II yet, it's still available in stores- the Diablo Battle Chest costs $39.99 USD. Get it and give this one a try if you don't already know its glory.

4. Star Wars: Battlefront II- This game was incredibly fun, fast-paced, and balanced. Although it technically came out in early 2005, this game is on the list because it's damn near 5 years old and I STILL play it. For its time, the graphics were slightly dated, but still, the gameplay was what kept me playing for hours on end. The insane challenge of staying alive in this game really kept you on your toes and made it truly challenging. If you've never played an FPS before, I'm not sure this game is for you. But if you're an experienced FPS player looking for polished gameplay and easy-to-pick-up-and-play, hard-to-master fun, this is the one of the best FPS's I ever played in my life.

3. Bejeweled 2 Deluxe- Yes, I still play! When Bejeweled Twist gets boring to me, this is always what I opt for. This game had an incredibly visceral soundtrack that sounded absolutely amazing, and the gameplay mechanics were improved so much from the original Bejeweled that this game is still an obvious choice for me to play. The graphics weren't exactly an eyesore, either. As you select gems, they rotate and show their full beauty as they glimmer with the slight nuances of lighting. So many easter eggs I to this day STILL haven't unlocked means this one's definitely a keeper. Bought this one back in 2004 when it came out, and boy, am I glad I did.

2. Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy- This game was simply incredible. The nuanced world made it a joy to play, and the voice acting was spot-on with what it should've been- and then some. Sony made every moment in this game either fun, challenging, or incredible as it could have been at the time. Even though I've gotten damn close, I'm ashamed to say I still haven't beaten the game. Besides the main story, there are a plethora of quests to participate in optionally, and you choose which ones are optional and which you do. This game never stayed in one place for too long, and it will always be the most welcome addition to my PS2 collection. If you've never played this game before, you're either clueless about platforming games or you don't have a PS2. If this happens to be the case, you need to play not just this, but all the Jak games (something I still haven't done) on PS2.

1. Star Trek: Voyager: Elite Force- Words cannot describe the awesome. That's the first thought that comes to mind when I think of this game. Beautifully rendered (for its time) on the Quake III engine, this is probably the best looking game you'll find from 2001, and it sports an online multiplayer that is still played fairly extensively to this day, as well as an offline holomatch. If you ever get tired of facing real people, Holomatch will bring you back into the fold. The AI in this game is some of the best I've ever seen in an FPS game. On Captain difficulty, the bots can easily kick my ass all over the map. Of course, since I've been playing CS:S I've gotten a smidget better, but these bots can still quite easily match wits with me. The game's single player was fun, but multiplayer is where it really shines. It plays less like an FPS from 2001 and more like a modern arcade game. This one hasn't lost any of its glory with time. Go get it. NOW.

The Five Most Amazing Albums I've Ever Listened To

Okay, I'm going to be truthful (as if I never was before). This is a rather difficult post to write, not because of abundance of material, but because of lack of solid albums that I can listen to in their entirety a thousand times over and not get bored of. Yes, I never thought the day would come when I say this- out of the 1600 or so tracks in my music library, of the approximately 50-75 actual full albums that are by a single band, I have a real lack of albums that stand out from the crowd AND will still be listened to when I've got gray hairs on my head. But I'll try my best in this forray into the wild blue not to list any that I wouldn't be able to listen to at least 10 times in a row. I can think of only three off the top of my head, to be honest, but I'm going to delve deep into my collection to revive those long-forgotten classics, as well.

5. Phobia- Breaking Benjamin
This album comes in last on the list because it's definately the least visceral album on the list when compared to the others. But all the same, this IS one of the few albums I can listen to over and over again without getting sick of it. Why? One reason could possibly be the lyrics, but don't take my word for it, I'm not even a fanboy of BB. Another very possible reason could be that the rhythms and music as a whole carves out impeccable taste (even if in the end the entire album isn't 100% hardcore as it tries to be)

4. All the Right Reasons- Nickelback
This album is awesome. There, I said it. Nickelback was around long before the other bands on this list, and they know how to bring the goods. Canada's most badass band, without a doubt. And this album shows the kind of bliss that a good album should. I could listen to Follow You Home forever, and the rest of the album is equal parts awesome and moving.

3. City of Evil- Avenged Sevenfold
I was going to put Meteora in the number 3 spot, but I just got it, and the true test of an album is the number of plays it gets in preference. This one's gotten quite a few- and nine times out of 10 I listen to the entire thing (or as far as I can get before I'm interrupted by something). Avenged Sevenfold is an incredible band, and this album is probably the single greatest work ever produced in terms of pure solidity. So why does it only get to number three? The main reason is because some of the songs tend to linger a bit, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't listen to the whole thing a few times over.

2. Hybrid Theory- Linkin Park
Without a doubt, their greatest album. If you don't know who Linkin Park is, or have never listened to this album, and are a metal fan, you've been living under a rock your entire metal-listening life. LP brings an incredible amount of energy on this contribution, which is their greatest album, without a doubt. The first and best of its kind, this album will resonate across generations.

1. Believe- Disturbed
I've only had my copy a few months, and it's already risen to the status of being my favorite album. Oddly enough, unlike my previous favorite, Hybrid Theory, I didn't warm up to this one as soon as I listened to it. Maybe it was the mood I was in. This is the only album I've ever caught myself looping through 5 full times (which happened while playing Halo 3, and considering I've even been known to change music in the middle of a match (while getting shot at), that's no small achievement). This album has the badassness of Chuck Norris with none of the compromise. All while having nothing to do with him. This is, without a doubt- gotta say it here- the most amazing album I've ever listened to.

And that's the list. Hope you enjoyed!

The Five Best Bands/ People Leading a Band Ever

Okay, so today's post is heavily music based, and you should be aware that that was (and still would be) a tough list to write. Through my wide tastes, I've discovered a great many good artists, but I can't say as any of them really deserve a spot on the top five compared to another. A top five list may even be a bit of a farce, since numbering them and putting one band over the other really isn't my style, but I think you all deserve to know. I've decided not to number these due to the fact that any one of these bands could easily take the number one slot. So without further ado...

Disturbed- Visceral music is the name of the game here, and Disturbed delivers in spades. The tension in any one of their songs is so thick you could cut it with a knife, and in this case that's a good thing. Throughout any one of their four albums, they may let up ever so slightly, but they NEVER lose sight of the ultimate goal- shock and awe. These guys have the right idea, and so long as they keep their style they're likely to churn out four more excellent albums.

Alter Bridge- This band is incredible. Between the lyrics, the emotion, and the music, there's enough awesomeness to wrap around the Earth twice. So far they only have two albums out, but it still sounds like they have incredible tenure in the music industry (partially due to one of the band members being of former Creed fame). Watch out for them, they'll make a bang (and already have) in the music industry.

Linkin Park- My god, what to say about this excellent band? It's only some of the best music I've ever heard in my life. With every lyric, every song, every album even, Linkin Park continues to churn out incredible music (and I do mean churn) that's rough-and-tumble yet ever so incredibly visceral, and makes it all fit neatly into an amazing piece of art. Hybrid Theory had almost all of its songs turned into hits on the radio.

Pantera- It may be a matter of taste, but Pantera is quite possibly the greatest band of the 90's. They single-handedly revived the metal industry at a time when it was unpopular with Cowboys From Hell in 1991 and Vulgar Display of Power in 1992 (both of which I own; I have their entire discography, which is the only band besides Disturbed and Creed I do of). It's a brand of music all its own, and yet it still sounds incredible and awesome. Props to Dimebag Darrel for making his mark on the music industry, for which the previous three bands wouldn't exist without. Cemetary Gates is most likely one of the most moving songs I've ever heard in my life.

Ozzy Osbourne- Both as the lead singer of Black Sabbath and in his solo endeavor, Ozzy blazed circles around the rest of the competition. Ozzy wasn't the first to be awesome- The Beatles took that award many times over- but he was simply too good to be ignored. Sparking controversy wherever he went, he's most definately one of my favorite artists altogether. Three songs of EXTREMELY good caliber to note are No More Tears, Flying High Again, and Fire in the Sky. Yes, I could've said Crazy Train, but that's lost its touch due to being overused. These three never stop being emotional to me no matter how long I listen to them.

And that's my list of the five best bands/ people leading a band ever. Hope you enjoyed reading it!

Three songs that make me cry. Guaranteed.

So far, I've listened to tens of thousands of songs, and found only three that can actually make me cry. Here they are, along with the why.

Changes by Black Sabbath
This song is so emotionally moving. There really isn't much less than I can say about this song except it sounds incredibly moving.

Janie's Got a Gun by Aerosmith
This song gets me every time. There's not a single time that I've listened to this song and NOT cried, except for maybe when I was extremely young and not able to understand the lyrics.

The last track from the Bejeweled 2 Soundtrack
Yeah, yeah. Say what you want. But if you've played this game long enough for it to move on to the last track, you'd know just how beautiful it sounds. The entire soundtrack is absolutely stellar, but this song shines above them all.

Skills any person should learn how to do.

Okay, so quite a while back, I can across a list of skills every person should learn to do. Honestly, some of them were quite mundane. So I figured I'd assemble a more practical list. I got up to 14, intending for 25-50, but some of them seemed cliche, so I just decided to delete the post and start over. So, without further ado, I shall begin over and start anew the list that was to be.

1. Learn to adapt yourself without bitching about it.
Why is this first on my list? There is a major reason, and the reason is, this one is quite important. You'd be surprised how many people fail this one on an epic level. Maybe it's just 90% of the people I've met, but I have yet to meet more than a couple people who could gracefully adapt to a given situation without complaining. I am among those who cannot, and I'm still trying to master it. The first, and most difficult part of things, will be to understand that your situation can and will change. In fact, it does so more frequently than you realize, but every once in a while, you actually get into a situation where you have to change in a major way. Not fun, I realize, but to do it gracefully means you've realized that it happens and that griping about it won't change matters. However, also learn your boundaries, and where not to change. Which brings me to define...

2. Learn what is meaningful to you.
Learn what has REAL value to you. Stick to it like glue. Give it the time of day. I could go on and on with facsimiles of roughly the same phrase, but that doesn't change the fact that some things are worth it in life. Learn what they are before they're gone. Which brings me to...

3. Learn that money is merely a means to an end.
Money is not your God. Nor should it be. As the title for this thing goes, it's merely a means to an end, and you should only let it go that far. At the same time...

4. Learn to be frugal with your money.
This is one of my pet peeves. If I have money, I'm very liable to spend it. But I do realize that it's ridiculous to do so. I'm starting to save it (or at least, try to, as is very difficult in my current situation). If you don't a decent proportion of money saved up (based on your situation, of course), things may go horribly awry. Call me a hypocrite, but someone has to say it.

5. Learn to balance family with self.
You're going to need a certain bit of alone time in proportion to family time. I understand that. Just don't let the alone time consume you. I try to spend time with my mother when I have the chance. With her new job, that's ever difficult, so I fully intend to get in any time with her that I can. In fact, we just went camping recently, for the uniformed. A bit of a hard day since she didn't reserve, but overall time spent with her is more than worth it.

6. Make a dream. Stick with it.
You know how we all had dreams as a kid? Mine was to be a pilot. I've sacrificed that for owning a computer business eventually. But have I given up on my dream? No. It's just shifted in perspective. I realized that I probably wouldn't like being a pilot, so I wanted to do something better suited to me. Which brings me to...

7. Learn your limits. Expand them constantly.
If you don't know your limits, you don't know what you can't do yet. And if you don't know what you can't do yet, you don't know how much more you can do. Not only does this one give you a sense of humbleness and respect for yourself, but also, if you're in any sense of the word human, it'll most likely make you want to expand on it and better yourself. And a word of advice: it doesn't matter what your age is. Which brings me to...

8. Learn how to hide your age without beauty products and lies.
I mean this with a sense of duality- both young and old. I'm 21 years old, but I have much more wisdom than quite a few people I've seen, because I listened, believed, and questioned. On the other side of the coin, never grow old mentally. Keep your brain aloft no matter what- it's one of the things that will keep you alive longer, and let you accomplish more in that time.

9. Discover something new every day.
It doesn't matter what it is. So long as it has meaning to you. Let me repeat that: learn something every day that has meaning to you. Only be a master of trivia if it means something to you. Personally, I prefer to learn a large amount on a specific subject rather than 100 facts about 100 different things.

10. Never stop questioning.
It's part of the tool that you use to develop yourself. Never, ever stop questioning. But also...

11. Learn where some things should just be accepted for the sake of time.
You can't learn everything in your lifetime. It's as simple as that. There's just too much to know. Learn what's really important to question and what's not. When dealing with the media, question. When dealing with the computer guy, question. When dealing with something life threatening where questioning could kill you, don't question. This does not include religion.

12. Learn how to keep track of things... in your head.
I have a horrible memory. Some people this comes to naturally, but honestly, there are some things you just have to know. Learn to manage the myriad of life, but don't overdo it, or you might lost track of what's truly important.

13. Learn when to rely on others and when not to.
This is an extremely trial-and-error thing, and there really is no one-size-fits-all definition to it. But that's life.

14. Learn to laugh and smile more often.
You can never do this one enough. If you're a serious person and a realist like myself, you don't get in nearly enough laughs. But it's contagious. Spread it.

15. Learn to eat healthy.
Most Americans don't know what true healthy is. Most Americans couldn't follow true healthy. I don't think anyone truly has this one 100% right.

16. Learn to work well with your niche.
In my now deleted previous draft, this came in the form of "learn to group with a specific niche of people". I then went on to define niche. What I realized is that it was pointless. We all have a specific niche of people we work best with. Get to know the ins and outs of that, because life is too short to try to adapt to everyone.

17. Learn to balance all of these.
Finally, no one part of life is going to present itself perfectly. Learn to do all of these, but learn to run the balancing act of life instead of devoting yourself solely to one or the other. All are important. Some more than others, but still, all of them.

The surprising comparison between the social networking industry and the gaming industry.

While talking to my friend Beau today, I realized an incredible parallel. The rise of the gaming industry and the rise of the social networking industry are practically era-for-era extremely similar. I'm about to walk you through the how's and why's of it.

First off. Be aware that I'm talking about the rise of the first major console from Japan, not the Atari 2600. The reason for this is because while the Atari 2600 was the first true gaming console, there was no competition at the time, at all, for something that didn't double as a computer. Thus, I'm starting with the first console that had competition, the Nintendo Entertainment System, hereby abbreviated NES.

Also, the comparison with the social networking sites' rise is being made to myspace and facebook, for obvious reasons (as will become apparent later). If you think something should be changed or don't agree, I have done fairly extensive research on the topic, and at times used both, so I can vouch for what I'm saying.

Now then. Shall we begin?

1st parallel:
The rise of the NES: 1986 (USA)
Once it got going, it never really stopped. Millions upon millions poured into it to play the awesome games that were on it. There were hits and misses, but for the most part was a solid console.

The parallel with Myspace: 1999 (USA)
It was the first, and at the time the best. Millions upon millions came onto the Myspace scene because at the time, it was new and awesome.

2nd parallel:
The SNES versus Sega Genesis: 1990 (USA)
Albeit, the Genesis was out a year earlier in the USA, It was clear there was competition. Sega and Nintendo was one of the greatest rivalries for all time at this point, and there really was no clear-cut contender for best.

The parallel with Myspace versus Facebook: Early 2000's (Worldwide)
At the time, it was really hard to tell which one was going to win. Both had features very distinct of themselves and it made a clear-cut better impossible to tell for.

3rd parallel:
The N64 versus the Sony Playstation 1996 (USA)
The N64 saw Nintendo losing quite a bit of steam, as Sony emerged on the scene to be the best contender.

The parallel with Myspace versus Facebook: Mid 2000's (Worldwide)
By the mid 2000's, Myspace has lost quite a bit because of Facebook and its ever-expanding arsenal.

4th parallel:
The GameCube versus Sony's Playstation 2 (USA)
By the time the Playstation 2 came out, Nintendo had lost much face in the industry. They were seen as unoriginal, for the most part, and lack of solid titles plagued the console for the first several years. In addition, the Gamecube had the lowest overall fanbase of any console made by Nintendo. Quietly refusing to admit this, they lost face because of it. Playstation 2, on the other hand, may well have been one of the biggest hits in gaming history.

The parallel with Myspace versus Facebook: 2007 (Worldwide)
Frequent usership dropping rapidly, Myspace added many of the features Facebook had from launch. They were not as well-rounded, and so they lost much of their fanbase for trying to be an imitator. Facebook continued to rise in usership due to this. It may well never have a rival in total usership.

5th parallel:
The Wii and Playstation 3 versus the 360 (Current)
Yes, the Wii is a fairly solid console. But let's be honest. How many of the original Nintendo fanbase is left? Not me. There are so few solid games on the Wii it's ridiculous. When compared to the plethora of excellent games on the 360, it makes the Wii look like a flaming piece of crap. Compare feature bases, and there literally is no comparison to the 360. However, at this point, there is no clear way to tell who will win THIS era's console war. Nintendo may just pull out some incredible bag of tricks just yet, Sony may address the numerous issues with not getting good features and mostly not getting good games, as well as the mandatory installs, or Microsoft may remain the clear-cut leader for this era.

Facebook and Myspace versus... TWITTER?
Yes, the more I think about it, the more Twitter may be the clear-cut leader for social networking so far. It has almost a bigger base than Facebook now. And facebook is losing users, as is myspace. However, in this case, I interpret this as more of a trend. On the console side of things, it was more obvious. But here's where the distinctions drop a bit. There are three social networking sites in a battle for supremacy, yes... but the numbers are far more even than the console wars.

I will experience the majesty of nature...

And on today's agenda... I'm going camping!

That's right, sportsfans. I'm communing with nature for once. Deal with it. My mother and I are going to go spend some quality time together up at The Dells, at we like to call it. Most South Dakotans know it as the campground not too far down the road from Jesse James Gulch, the place were Jesse James dropped to his very doom (the western legend, mind you, not the bike maker). Despite the ominous presence of that fact, the area is beautiful, and I've been to both the campground and the gulch a good many times.

Sadly, this also means I'll be taking time off from blogging (for the few if no people who read it). Don't expect another blog entry for about two to three days (though it's not likely to be longer than that, as I'll certainly blog about the experience when I get back from this 50 or so mile round venture.

A new feature for every daily blog entry! Daily Stumbles I found interesting:

Snow geese stopover at wildlife refuge en route to wintering grounds -Incredible photography in the spirit of the series "Planet Earth". These photos will literally take your breath away from the sheer scope of it.

Rare tongue-eating parasite found -This left me absolutely speechless. What if something like this exists on land? Better keep your tongue in check- literally!

Obama calls Kanye a jackass -I had to laugh at this little clip.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have roughly an hour to pack. We leave at around 1:30 and I don't intend to be late because I got lazy.

I'm alive... finally!

Today I feel more alive than I've ever felt in the past 21 years of my life. I feel like I could take on the world and then some. It's such a powerful feeling, not feeling worthless anymore after all this time of feeling so empty and like life was pointless. Old songs have new meaning to me; the games I used to play well I play even better. The second I had played Bejeweled Twist for a full hour and was able to give it my full attention the whole time, I knew this was a new chapter in my life. I knew I had the power to change the world once again. No longer am I restricted to sitting in my apartment all day while I drown in self loathing. I actually feel like going outside right now, and were it not for the fact that in about 15 minutes my friend will be coming over to get me and wait for my check to come, I would. Not to mention the fact that it's raining. But I don't feel powerless or helpless or especially anywhere near overwhelmed right now. If I'm overwhelmed by anything, it's extreme happiness for my newfound inner peace.

So what allowed me to become like this? Believe it or not, I found my "miracle med". Turns out I haven't been depressed so much as anxious. So one night my mother decided to give me a Clonazepam and an Efixir, and within about 10 minutes, I actually felt like doing something.

The Top Five Anime Badasses Ever.

Okay, so as much anime as I've been watching lately, it's time I detailed who I think are the most badass anime characters ever. So many to choose from, only 5 make the cut. So without further ado, let's get on with it!

5. Naruto Uzumaki from Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden- Why does this character make the list? For one, he never gives up. For another, he's one of my favorite characters in all of animedom. So why does he only make it #5 on the list? He can be a bit... ditzy at times, but he still deserves the 5th spot because when he goes into fox mode like he did against Sasuke (and later in Shippuuden, Diedara), he truly becomes an unstoppable badass (well, mostly). To add to his badassness, in the first Shippuuden movie, right at the beginning, he dies! Though this is determined as a fallacy later in the movie, all this gives him an irrefutable spot at #5.


4. Kino from Kino's Journey- While being quite possibly the best anime I've ever seen in my life, as well as being deeply philosophical, this anime girl (who you'd never be able to tell was if you watched with the sound off) is my #4 badass because not only does she carry a gun, but as we saw in the last few episodes (and in part throughout most of the series), she's not afraid to use it... at least to the means of self defense. Now tell me a woman that travels pretty much alone (accompanied by only her motorhead Hermes) and is willing to kill if necessary ISN'T a badass.


3. Gaara from Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden- Why do I have TWO "Narutites" in this list? Because while Naruto himself is pretty badass, Gaara takes the cake on the matter. In the original series, he was quite obviously willing to kill anyone or anything that stood in his way. He didn't care about anyone at the time. Then, in Shippuuden, they made him even more of a badass when they had him fighting to the death to save his own village- and even though he lost, he used the last of his strength to move his sand (which he had used to protect the village) out of the village. He went from the will to kill all the way to the will to save, and that makes him a true badass.


2. Gene Starwind from Outlaw Star- 'Now seriously,' you'd think, 'who could possibly be more badass than Gaara?' Well, if it weren't for my next badass, who I had originally planned to put at #1, Gaara would most certainly have the number two postion. Thing is, Gene Starwind is quite possibly one of the most amazing badasses there ever was. Not because he carries a gun. Not because he's an outlaw. Well, sorta because of that. The thing that makes Gene a true badass is the company he keeps, and the ability to live through practically any situation. Now seriously. When your friends are a superstrength metamorph, a cyborg computer that doesn't know her purpose, a little kid who's a literal genius, a woman whose beauty is matched only by her sheer will and ability as well as being extremely deadly, and (though she's dead by the fourth episode) a woman who's outlaw name is known throughout the universe for being such a badass herself, you truly have dunked yourself in the badass tank and woken up a badass in yourself.


1. Vegeta from DragonBall Z- You were expecting Goku? Any true anime fan that's seen DBZ knows why Vegeta is number one. Throughout the 291 original episodes of the series, Vegeta was the only one that pushed himself to the most extreme. Goku trained at 100 x gravity. Vegeta trained at 300. Goku may have surpassed Vegeta in sheer power, but Vegeta beat Goku by light years in sheer determinedness to pass his rival. He gave every ounce of his strength into training up until the seventh season (and then surprisingly, married Bulma, of all people!) He had his pride, and he never once decided to give it away until he settled down (and then became an even stronger badass capable of matching Goku blow for blow in the Majin Buu saga). To this day, one of my favorite parts of any anime is the fight between Majin Vegeta and Goku. DBZ turned out to be the most badass anime ever in its own right, but it just wouldn't have been the same had Vegeta not been in the picture. From the very moment we first saw him in the 11th episode, to the final goodbye (until GT came out) in episode 291, Vegeta (mostly) maintained his state as badass. And that takes class. After all, he IS a Saiyan prince.


Like it or not, that's my take on the five most badass anime characters ever. If you don't like it, grow a pair.

Starting a new FAQ.

I have now begun work on an FAQ for Puzzle Quest: Galactrix. But why, you might ask. Every FAQ for the game that I've ever found (on the frequently used FAQ sites such as NeoSeeker and GameFAQs, at least) does not detail the specifics of the economy and the amount needed to mine each asteroid (which both have set amounts) as well as the recharge/shutdown times of both asteroids and leapgates. I have looked through most of them fairly thoroughly (to my knowledge, there is only one or two of them on all the major sites, and I've looked through IGN's stuff thoroughly as well), and none of them detail any of this data, nor do they detail side quests which net you valuable experience and ships in order to advance the storyline.

This will most certainly be a quite daunting project, and it will take a good long time to do so. I wish it were as easy as asking the programmers themselves, but obviously, D3 publisher and the rest of the people that made the game would rather not release it, for legal and publicity reasons. Thus, gamers like myself are stuck with attempting to figure out it ourselves. Who knows? Maybe I'll get lucky and things will progress faster than I expect them to? I expect the FAQ to take roughly a year to complete, due to the massive size of the game and the time involved with detailing all the info others have not. At least they didn't make it class-based like they did with Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, which would probably take even longer to write an FAQ for if I were to get it. This is a fine game they've made, and I look forward to completing the FAQ in some sort of timely fashion.

So I'll be logging my activities on the FAQ and detailing what each day entailed from now on. If I miss a day, well... I'll just try not to. And obviously, I probably won't be working on it EVERY day. But I want this thing to be absolutely stellar prior to releasing it, so I most likely will release a completed version and call it final, depending on whether I get feedback on it. I plan on logging every last activity in-game, so there's not a chance in hell I'm going to miss much, if anything.

My complete game collection.

This is JUST my computer games, at current. I'll post my PS2, 360, and GC games when I feel like it's worth it. Anyway, here they go, from A to Z.

55,000 Games- A compilation disc of many, many games that I bought at Wal-Mart for #10.
Microsoft Age of Empires: Complete- Not so complete now because of 3. Contains AOE Gold and II and the expansion for II.
Alpha Blast- Little known game I bought for $3.
Atari Arcade Hits 2- A collection of six classic Atari arcade games, now obselete with my...
Atari: The 80 Classic Games- Epic collection of some classic Atari arcade games.
Bejeweled 2 Deluxe- The original, but in 3D and with a few new modes.
Bejeweled Twist- One of the few puzzle games I still play a lot.
Black and White Deluxe- Part of my World of EA Games collection.
Black and White 2 + Expansion- Part of my EA Strategy Collection.
Bookworm Deluxe- Word game by PopCap.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare- You already know what this is about if you're into FPS games.
Civilization III Complete- Sid Meier is just plain awesome. Nuff said.
Civilization IV Gold- Includes classic plus the first expansion, Warlords.
Civilization IV Beyond the Sword- the second expansion to this awesome game.
Command and Conquer: The First Decade- No, seriously. 10 games for $30? I was all over it. Came with a bonus DVD
Diablo- Part of the Diablo Battle Chest
Diablo II + Expansion- one of the most addictive RPG's I've ever played.
Diner Dash- Very addictive management game, if you haven't played it or 2, it's worth a try!
Diner Dash 2: Restaurant Rescue- Not as good as the original, IMO. Gameplay is a bit slower.
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind + expansions- Okay, if you've never played any of the Elder Scrolls games, you don't know what a good RPG is.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: GOTY- Wow. What more can I say than this game is epic?
Fate: Undiscovered Realms (and original)- I LOVE this game! Diablo II clone with some awesome modifications.
Freedom Fighters- Also part of my World of EA Games collection. Really a good FPS, overall.
Guild Wars- I stopped playing in the first week. This is one MMO I want to forget about.
Half Life 2- High metascore. If the PC version is anything like the 360 version, then I'm not ever playing it. Epic fail of a game that only got high scores because of the gravity gun (albeit you don't get it until you've practically given up on the game)
Hot Rod: Garage to Glory- Hot Rod racing sim. This isn't really that fun, but I play it for kicks occasionally.
Insaniquarium- Haven't played this one enough to give it a decent shakedown.
Jewel Quest- Very addictive puzzle game.
LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring- Not nearly as good as the other two.
LOTR: The Return of the King- Was epic back when it was released. Now... not so much. Part of my World of EA games collection.
LOTR: The Battle for Middle Earth- Probably one of the most epic strategy games I've ever played in my life. Who wouldn't want to play as Borimir or (even better) Aragorn? Part of my EA Strategy Collection.
Left 4 Dead- Hands down the first person shooter in my collection with the most play time. 100 hours or so and I'm still addicted.
Mass Effect- While Left 4 Dead may have the most play time, Mass Effect is hands down the BEST FPS game I've ever played.
Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX- I bought this second hand along with THPS and Skate Park Tycoon. Okay at best.
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault- It's often better known as MOHAA. Probably the best WWII FPS game I've ever played to this date.
The Microsoft Pinball Arcade- Gotleibb-based pinball machines only. Really nothing special, but it was something to do when I bought it back in 2003.
More Brain Games- Don't ask about the More part. I don't have the original. Fun little games you can play to train your brain to work faster/more efficiently.
Need for Speed II SE- Still holds up well, actually, but not graphically. The music in this game is pretty epic for its day. Part of my EA Need for Speed Collection.
Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit- Still one of my fave NFS games because it was the first involving cops. Part of the EA NFS Collection.
Need for Speed: High Stakes- Pretty good, but not as good as III. Part of the EA NFS Collection.
Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed- Amazing selection of Porsche-based cars, and still the biggest car lineup of any NFS game. Part of the EA NFS Collection.
Feed for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2- Less epic than its console counterparts, by a long shot. At least has the full soundtrack. Part of the EA NFS Collection, but I bought it again for $10 because the version in it didn't have a key to it for some reason.
Need for Speed: Underground- Epic still. One of my first games on the PC.
Need for Speed: Underground 2- OMG YES! Still one of my favorite NFS games, and the first to incorporate open world design that didn't have you running around a track.
Need for Speed: Most Wanted- Probably the most epic NFS game to date. The cops make a comeback, and it's more intense than ever!
Need for Speed: Carbon: Collector's Edition- Awesomeness that was in the making. However, not as good as Most Wanted even though they amped up the stakes a bit, It just wasn't as in your face.
Need for Speed: ProStreet- I'm one of the few people who actually kinda liked this game. It had the clutch option, which just made it feel more realistic.
Need for Speed: Undercover- The biggest open world yet. And the cops are back.
Portal- Ah, yes. FPS/puzzle hybrid that blew me away. Goddamn, I loved that game.
Prey: Limited Collector's Edition- The best $19.00 I ever spent. It's a VERY epic game that really shows that gameplay can be linear and yet extremely engaging.
Prison Tycoon- Can't get a feel for the GUI yet, so not much to say on it.
Roller Coaster Tycoon: Deluxe- Oh, hell yes. This game I wasted most of my childhood away on. Fond memories abound.
Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 Deluxe- Hmm... haven't played as much as the original. But there's more content, overall.
Sega Smash Pack 2- Another time waster as a child.
Sim City 2000- Bought secondhand and never really played much.
Sim City 3000- Epicness. Nuff said.
Sim City 4- Just didn't feel as good as the first three.
The Sims: The Complete Collection- Not a fan of the Sims much to begin with.
Skate Park Tycoon- Okay game, really. Was kinda fun, but not as good as RCT.
Sonic CD- The Most Epic Sonic game ever.
Sonic & Knuckles Collection- It's Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles and both.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell- if I could get it to unprotect its own folder, I might be able to play it without fullscreen.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow- Another good game, but I haven't played it much.
Star Trek: Armada- the installer is EPIC. EPIC, I tell you! The game is even more so.
Star Trek: Armada II- God, I loved this game. I'd say there was well over 100 hours of play time in it.
Star Trek: Voyager: Elite Force + Expansion- Probably my favorite FPS game ever. EVER. Holomatch is epic.
Star Wars: Battlefront- The awesomeness that started a whole slew of jedi killing fun.
Star Wars: Battlefront II- Okay, I'm officially torn between this and ST:V:EF as my fave game ever. This epicness could only be contained on five discs. The most epic 3 or so gigabytes of data ever to grace my hard drive.
Star Wars: Empire at War- And no, I don't have the expansion. Very cool RTS game.
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds Saga- Probably one of my fave RTS games overall, because it was so much content.
Star Wars: Galaxies- The biggest mistake I ever bought, since it's now outdated and cost $15 a month to play to begin with.
Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy- All in all, this game was pretty good.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005- Yeah. I know. But what's a guy to do? It's still a pretty good game.
Warcraft III + Expansion- OMG! Yes. I love this game.
X-Plane 9- Awesomely realistic flight simulator.
Zuma Deluxe- Extremely addictive and fast-paced puzzle game.

And that's it. If you were brave enough to read the whole thing, you truly are a study in epicness.

How to Master any Guitar Hero Song, revisited

I just started playing Guitar Hero III again on my PS2, and I realized that perhaps my previous entry was a bit long and... unfocused. I focused more on giving tips for people who hadn't played before, where as the audience that aims to master Guitar Hero III would be more hardcore gamers that want a real challenge. And oh, what a challenge it is. Songs like Number of the Beast from Guitar Hero III, or Eye of the Tiger from GH World Tour, may SEEM simple to do at first, but you learn very quickly that they're a lot more difficult than you anticipated. So without further ado, I give you my revised version of How to Master any Guitar Hero Song... on Expert level. Please, I ask you to read the whole thing. I don't care if text is a turn-off for you, if you don't read the whole article, you won't be able to do it right.

Okay, first off. Most of you have been playing Guitar Hero for some time now. I doubt I need to tell you this, but for those of you who need it, DON'T GO DOWN A LEVEL IF YOU'RE HAVING DIFFICULTY WITH A SONG. If you go down from expert to hard, the song will have a completely different feel in most cases, and it will actually make you play WORSE, unless you have a lot of experience playing at the difficulty level.

What I'm about to tell you is important to follow to the letter, as there really can be no better way to learn any song, and if you don't believe me, try the technique for yourself and see how well it works. I've had improvements of over 10% notes hit at times, JUST FROM USING THE TECHNIQUE I'M GOING TO DESCRIBE TO YOU THROUGH ONE CYCLE OF THE STEPS. It works. If it isn't working for you, then Guitar Hero really isn't your game, and you should go find something else to play.

But if you're willing to brave a sea of hard work to 100% a song, this is the technique you should use. It may seem obvious when you think about it at first, but seriously, I've seen all too often that thinking of the obvious hardly ever happens for some.

Okay, first off. A few important tips. I'm going to limit the technique tips this time around, since that was the bulk of the unrevised version, and I'll now bullet them for convenience:

1. Righty or lefty, it doesn't matter. You can be good with either. But if you're playing the 360 version, I DARE YOU TO GET THE ACHIEVENT FOR PLAYING IT ON BOTH RIGHTY AND LEFTY. No, seriously. It will make you a WAY better player. And I mean WAAAAAY better.

2. Don't quit if your hands start aching. This is your body telling you you're not that good yet and it's still getting used to the level of stamina required to play Guitar Hero on expert. If you quit THAT easily, you shouldn't be playing this game in the first place, it's not your cup of tea.

3. By and large, DO NOT play in Career/Quick Play mode if you're not good at a song yet. It'll majorly lower your self esteem every time you get booed off stage. Play ONLY in practice mode until you've nearly mastered a song or feel you could play most all of it in your sleep. It took me three months of playing before I was comfortable with even playing Miss Murder by AFI on expert in Quick Play mode, and then my scores still weren't higher than they were in practice.

4. For the most part, Guitar Hero III is your best option for a selection of very challenging songs. II is acceptable, but to be honest, there's neither as much content nor as many difficult songs. Besides that, the features you'll be using by taking up this method don't exist in II anyway. They only exist thus far in the III, Aerosmith, World Tour, Metallica, and Greatest Hits. But your best bet is still III, since it has the widest selection of heavy rock songs that tend to be more challenging with timing on both strumming and keys.

5. My last bit of advice is probably the most important. In order to master a song from Guitar Hero on Expert (especially concerning III), you must persevere. You can't give up because you feel it's too difficult. Also, play on a daily basis, and until you've mastered one of the harder songs, play for half and hour to two hours at a time. If you don't have that kind of time on your hands, or your schedule is very demanding or unpredictable, then you definitely shouldn't be aiming for mastery. Unless you've got literally the stamina of a world-class track athlete when playing a GH game, you'll find that your limit will be anywhere from a half an hour (newer players, especially) to two hours, which is what I can generally play without my scores dropping substantially.

6. For beginners only: You should at least complete Guitar Hero III on easy before trying this. Medium not necessarily needed, since I went straight to expert off of easy because easy felt too... well, easy, and medium wasn't much better.

7. Your ultimate goal is to be able to play ANY guitar hero song. Don't start off with TTFAF. Start with something easier, but not too easy, such as Miss Murder by AFI (if you haven't played it on expert, you'll quickly see it's FAR more difficult than you would've though on your first playthrough), or something that you purchased early on from the songs section of the in-game store. If you're playing the 360/PS3 version, don't go with any DLC, I've heard they tend to err more on the difficult side.

Now on to the actual steps you should take:

1. Play the song you want to master on expert 4-5 times to get a feel for it. Doing this will allow you to get better acquainted with the song before you do step 2, so you can see where your major areas for improvement are. If it starts feeling truly hopeless and you can't hit any of the notes whatsoever, it's time for step 2.

2. This time, drop down to the slowest speed. Remember, you're supposed to be doing this is PRACTICE mode, not quickplay or career.

3. Start over from step 1, but only do 2 full speeds to one slowest. You be the judge on what you need to do after this, but continue the steps until you're able to practically 100% the song (i.e., 93-96% would be adequate.) when you feel you could play the song in your sleep...

4. Play it in quick play mode. This is where you'll really get knocked down on your ass and see that you don't know the song nearly as well as you thought you did. Don't go back to practice after your first try. You shouldn't be getting booed off stage at this point unless you're not very solid in a specific portion of a song (such as Number of the Beast's main riff section about halfway through). You'll also notice that your scores often won't be as high as you thought they would, simply because you're now also dealing with star power and you're actually being rated for how many consecutive notes you miss.

5. With the new information you found in quickplay, use it to improve on the areas where you were lacking (ESPECIALLY the portions where star power were concerned) in practice mode. This time around, target the specific areas you had problems with and play only those portions. If you've been paying attention at all to the names that pop up when you're playing in practice mode, you should know what each section is called by now, so it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out what area takes up what part of the song.

6. Repeat from step 4. This time, however do roughly 2-3 quickplays to one practice. You'll find yourself far more easily adjusting to the star power portions than it was to adjust to the timing, notes, and strumming.

7. When you're able to 100% a song a couple times in a row, you've (for the most part) mastered it. Here's the tough part: if you don't come back to it every once in a while, you'll have lost that ability. Which means you can really only master a set number of songs, but that depends on how good a mind you have on you. Keep playing the ones you like a lot, and be selective. Since you're likely not going to be able to master EVERY song that's currently on the main content of the 8 Guitar Hero games there currently are (and the new one coming out soon), you need to be very choosy about what you decide to master. But start with just III or World Tour, or if you're into the specific band, one of the offshoots (i.e. Aerosmith or Metallica or Rocks the 80's).

And that's the method to the madness! Remember that if you feel slowest getting too easy, you need to move up a speed. You may even come to a point where you won't even need to switch speeds, but that will only be on the extremely hard songs, such as TTFAF or anything on the final tour in III.

Now you have the tools necessary to do what you're reading this article for refer back to it frequently if you forget anything, and most of all, have fun! Isn't that why we play in the first place?

My laptop is working!

Wow. Roughly a year ago, I bought a brand new ASUS laptop. After about 8 months, it began to wear out and I thought it would never work again. But today, ladies and gentlemen, a revelation. The revelation is that after all this time of thinking that it didn't work, it does. For whatever reason, my laptop decided to start working again. Originally, I'd thought it was a power issue. But perhaps it just needed some time off. So right now, I am posting this- on my beloved, thought-to-be-dead laptop. It's amazing. A whole year of updates and this thing will be like new. Naturally, the first thing I updated was firefox- from 3.0.5 to 3.5.1. I was also pleased to find that my open beta of BumpTop was expiring soon. Why would I be EXCITED about that? Because in its place, it would no longer be in beta testing- there will be a free version and a paid version. I am very happy that the person who envisioned all this was able to make his idea an excellent product. Only time will tell what becomes of it. It was a wonderful idea; even in the beta stages, it was shaping up to be something amazing. But right now, I have to go, since I have things to do today. Farewell, fellow blogoverse.

Computer's down, part 1(?)

Okay. Those of you who know me already know this, but there is a nasty little problem with my computer as of late. You see, it all started with a virus known as a trojan backdoor, supposedly. This virus caused me to use Gateway's proprietary software to reset the computer to like it was when it came out of the factory. I know not all of you speak geek, so I'll try to put what happened next in as simple terms as what came before it. I went through the two hour process of the factory reset, only to get as far as the log in after. I then got a black screen (and honestly, if they don't want you to shut the computer down at that point, they should say so). After 20 minutes of waiting, I finally decided to try to hard reboot (simply meaning I pushed the power button until it shut off, and then pressed it again), only to find that it would go as far as the orb screen, then would restart itself! You can imagine my frustration, and so I took it into Geek Squad. And there it sits, until the issue is solved. Not to mention that I'll have to install a ton of software on it before it'll be back to its former glory.

My top 10 game openings of ALL time.

I've seen a few. I certainly don't agree with any of them. So here's MY take on it.

10. Gran Turismo 4.
Seriously, it's not every day a racing game has this good an intro. In fact, it's never happened before. None of the Need For Speed games even come close. I have to watch this sucker every time I put in the disc and play, mainly to remember how incredible it was that the graphics on a PS2 game could match anywhere near that of the opening trailer.

9. Jak and Daxter: The precursor Legacy.
While scenes of cars going fast gets my motor going, on occasion, you want something purely driven by story. And whenever I start up a new game on Jak and Daxter (as does sometimes happen), I can't help but watch the intro yet again. It's just so freakin' awesome. And it's probably the best storytelling you'll see on the light side of a platformer (Jak 2 & 3 are decidedly VERY dark in nature).

8. Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Epic. Epic. Epic. Yes, I know they've been epic since the first one. But I'm only including the games I've actually played. But honestly, not only was the game so epic it could barely be contained; the trailer at the beginning was as well.

7. Final Fantasy VIII.
Okay, let's face it. That opening scene is EPIC. Seipher and Squall facing off together at what seems to be a fight to the death? Epic. Come on, seriously, if you've never seen the opening scene of this game, you owe it to yourself to either get a full copy or watch it on YouTube.

6. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.
Okay, the whole game is just as good as the trailer, but seriously, the art direction-oriented start of GH III certainly deserves at least a 9 on the epicness scale. On occasion, I still watch it.

5. Kingdom Hearts 2.
Wondering why this bit of epicness only got to number 5? The main reason is that the intro to the main portion of the game is just way too long. Mind you I'm referring to the one that has Sanctuary as its song. But seriously. This game's intro is just a bit too long to make it past number 5.

4. God of War II.
Why did II come before the original? Do you really need to ask? While the game itself was just as badass as the original, the trailer was less so. But still enough to make it to my number 4. Yeah, yeah. Say what you want.

3. God of War.
As aforementioned, the original's opening sequence (IMHO) is head to feet above the competition. It's one of the VERY few game openings that made me driven to find out what happens to the very end of the game, and not quit a second earlier. Since they show you only part of the ending, it makes you quite anxious to find out what happens, but all that dissapears when you discover the epic gameplay system.

2. Diablo II.
This one kind of leaves you scratching your head if you haven't played the original. But still, it's so epic as to make it on my number two. Main reason? This is honestly one of the best intros to a game that I've ever seen. Even though it came out in 2000, the video's graphical quality is absolutely gorgeus. No detail is left unturned. And every time you watch it, you notice something more as Clerice (or however it's spelt) tells his tale.

1. Prey.
Okay, you probably NEVER saw this coming. I know the last two on my list both have PC versions (of which I have both the PC version of), and it would at first seem hard to justify this very interactive game by its trailer. But I'm not talking a trailer here. The trailer is dipkis until you play the game. I'm talking about the first level of the game, all the way up to the end. It's simply amazing the level of interactiveness you get right at the beginning of the game. You have a jukebox with 12 or so songs in it, even an arcade with playable game. The characters interact with you in the most natural manner possible. The TV in the background looks as real as the game's human models. Lip movement looks natural and not at all forced. For a game that came out in 2006, this game is a crowning achievement. And yes, I know that the original concept has been in development since 1995, but still. It's downright amazing to behold.

PS2 box data can be VERY misleading.

Alright, I was going to go onto a long spiel about how the little colored boxes with words in them on the lower part of the PS2 game boxes could get very confusing, as they rarely tell you the whole truth. I even had a good portion of it typed. But it was getting WAY too long, so I decided to erase my blathering and opt for a short version.

First off. PS2 game makers, this is addressed specifically to you. I realize that the industry has made 4:3 screen format games a novelty in all but the older games on said console, but we still need to know when a game is 4:3 (fullscreen) and when it's 16:9 (widescreen). Take a cue from the DVD industry, people. While most movies released these days are widescreen anyway, they at least have the decency to tell us when it's not. Remember that when the PS2 first came out, Widescreen was itself a novelty. I have an original model PS2 from the good 'ole days. Still runs Gran Turismo 4 at full 1080P. Did I know that GT4 could do 1080P when I bought it? Of course not. Because they didn't put it on the box. Those little pieces of text on the box, they told me nothing of this. It would've been VERY nice to know, too. Because there's basically no other game on the PS2 that does anything past 480P, and because you probably would've sold more copies if you'd have said it, because that bit of text would've appealed to those who wouldn't have otherwise even thought of a racing game on the PS2. Point made here: You need to tell us more than you do. 16:9 or 4:3? Progressive Scan? Most boxes these don't even list that the support it, but they do. None of the Guitar Hero games even mention that they support widescreen AND progressive scan (except everything past World Tour, as far as I know, which still supports progressive scan). At least Sony had the sense to mention it on the first God of War game (but not the second). All these things should be mentioned, because whether or not it sells more copies or less, the people need to know.

So I contend that if the PS2 has about 2-3 more years of life in it like Sony says it does, why shouldn't the makers of the games we play on it give us accurate information? If you want proof that they aren't telling us what we need to know to make the right purchase, I will soon be uploading a file containing the details (some unmentioned on the box) of my personal PS2 game collection (of the 60 or so I have) and I will post the link in a postscript. Until then, I'll be hard at work on it! Oh, and I WILL actually play all of them to the extent of checking what settings they support and such. So no one can say I've never played ALL of my games.

The Stuff Issue in our Lives.

Michael Jackson is dead. Oh, come on, you thought I was going to talk about THAT? How convoluted. EVERYONE'S covering that. Every station, every second. They'll probably be covering his autopsy at this rate. No, I'm here to talk about something far more important than the death of a pop icon. And honestly, I want to get this out of the way now: I don't care how he really died. There are far more important things in life. There is a part of me that wonders what was true and what wasn't concerning him, but seriously, I could give a flying crap. He's dead, and he was probably very miserable those last few years of his life.

But guess what? It happened. So yeah. Thought I'd address that in the first paragraph, since I'm not living under a rock.

But as foreshadowed by the first paragraph, I'm not here to talk about celebrities. I'm here to talk about something far more important. And that something is the massive American addiction to stuff.

About now, I'm listening to Rockstar by Nickelback. It's a powerful reminder of just how stuff dependant we are these days. I'll admit, it's not wrong one bit to want stuff. What wrong is when we want too much. Come on. Why would ANYONE need 15 cars for a single person on the income?

Okay, maybe I should make a more realistic example. A $3000 computer that isn't any better than my FX6800 performance wise. A $50,000 Cadilac, because you just HAD to have something that costs $500 just to replace a cup holder. A $1900 television that has a picture that looks like crap compared to my $799 smaller version (same brand). That last one addressed to my friend Russ, though he will never read this article.

Do you see a correlation to our horrid obssession and the thing it requires- money? It's no wonder we spend ourselves out of existence. I see it all around me in my daily life. If money were truly no object, there would be no need to worry about the accumulation of stuff. We could get whatever we wanted, provided we had something somebody else wanted.

Am I saying that having money is a bad thing? That depends on your disposition towards it. Money is not an object to me. I need it to survive, yes. But am I always wanting more? Not necessarily, unless it's something that I view as a way to keep me sane. The point is, I try where at all possible to not go over my means. And when someone else is paying the bill, I certainly don't try to jip them out the most I can. When I saw an ad for Alienware back in 2006, I was immediately tempted to get the maximum possible product out of a laptop there- a total value of $3600 when all was said and done. But honestly, reality kicked in as soon as I realized it was beyond my means. So instead, I had my friend buy my a $1600 laptop that was on display at the local Best Buy- much more within them. It wasn't the best machine, but I got by with it.

On the other hand, earlier I mentioned a certain $1900 television that my friend Russ bought. Thinking it would be a quality item, he quickly snatched it up, and we found that right out of the box, the picture was crap. He still thinks it's better than my $799 television, and insists that he's fine with the laggy and VERY lumpy/pixelated picture.

On the other side of the story, that same year, he also bought a $150 desk. When we tried moving it the other day, I was very surprised about two things. 1) It was made of plywood, and he insisted it was made of Oak the whole time. 2) The desk, sufficent to say, had fallen apart the moment we tried to move it. What a waste of $150! He did have need of a desk, most certainly; he used it on a daily basis. But he was so worried with how it looked that by the time he made the purchase he had not the slightest idea what quality it was. There's a line between buying stuff because you need it and being obssessive about having a product, or even between the person who buys the product that's expensive regardless of quality of said product and the person who checks everything for quality. Said line is very far apart, but people need to realize that one is right and the other is very, very wrong.

If you haven't seen the point I'm trying to make yet, you're either not really paying attention or you just missed the entire point to begin with. Money and stuff- and the two most certainly go hand in hand- are possibly (for a good portion of us, anyhow) the two worst influences that drive Americans today. No other country in the world does this quite as bad as us. And it needs to change.

It's time we started using a little common sense. The only solution is to stop spending for the sake of spending. Everyone from Joe Blow down the street to our own government is doing it. And that's just stupid. It's time we rocked America's spending habits like a hurricane.

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Now playing: Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
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Now playing: Nickelback - Rockstar
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Now playing: Pantera - Cemetery Gates
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Now playing: Alice in Chains - Them Bones
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Now playing: Scorpions - Animal Magnetism
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Now playing: Scorpions - Send Me an Angel
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Now playing: Scorpions - Rock You Like a Hurricane [Live]

Information provided by FoxyTunes.

PS: Unlike some people, I do not use the excuse of "it keeps me sane" just to buy stuff. I only buy something if I've heard really good things about it or have played it before somewhere and REALLY like it in the case of a game, or if I saw it in the theater or have seen it before and liked it or heard really good things about it, or even just having interest in the subject matter in the case of a video. Truthfully, I have bought crap before, but that's the chance you take.

Obsessed with my new DSi.

Alright. I'm going to be honest. I was seriously considering holding out on the new DSi. But once my DS Lite started to flap when I opened it, I really had nowhere to go but up (as in if I used it for another weak with even the steadiest of hands, it was without a doubt going to break).

The thing that sold me was really the fact that the DSi was, by design anyway, more durable. Plus, I just couldn't live without my self-improvement "game" Brain Challenge for a single day. And I wasn't going to risk having to pay another $125 in 11 months- the time it took for my lone DS Lite to get to its current state. Also another big thing, the fact that half my cartridges took serveral re-inserts to load (and let's be honest, the only place I should have to do that is my Super Nintendo, which is, of course, still ticking), certainly didn't help matters.

I was getting quite flustered with the DS Lite and it's low survivability to my daily grind, and was REALLY hoping that the DSi would be my Godsend.

And I found SO much more. With the lack of a GBA cartridge slot meaning I would *gasp* have to carry my old GBA once again, I was most certainly thinking that there had better be something to justify it! And guess what? All the GOOD rumors about the DSi were true (well, most of them)!

The GBA cartridge slot, in all reality, has a replacement: the SD slot on the right side of the unit is the driving force from which to (FINALLY!) put outside media to use in your DS. Sure, it can't play video like the PSP, and it uses a slightly obscure format (M4A, and it sounds more like a gun than a media format), you can finally put music onto a SD card, and then play it directly on your DSi!

But that's not all. Not by a long shot. Ironically, they took it a step further, by allowing you to edit the music in real time (but sadly, not save the result). How? Well, the DSi has rudimentary editing software built right in. You can speed up, slow down, or even change the pitch of a particular audio track stored on the SD card and it will change to said settings on a whim. And the cool thing is, despite the rather slow processor of the DSi, it will all happen within a split second of your whim. Quite honestly, I dare you to mess with a Van Halen song like Eruption or You Really Got Me with it. The results are just plain amazing, funny, or laughable. In a good way, mind you. I'm sure playing Dragonforce would sound just as amazing in SLOOOOOOOOOW-MOOOOOOO, but I haven't tried it yet. The DSi also allows you to record 16 10-second audio files in internal memory, so you can easily remember where you parked at the local Super Wal-Mart. Yes, that's certain to come in handy for those bastions of forgetfulness like myself that just can't remember what they were doing five minutes (or seconds, for that matter) ago.

Nintendo DSi's most important feature is the ability to download from an online store. You're given 1000 Nintendo Points to spend on what you please in the store. That may not sound like much, considering Microsoft's system, HOWEVER. You should be aware that there is currently Free, 200, 500, and 800+ point categories, and this is the way you will shop in the store- by price. There's no setting to show everything at once, and a little more customizability would have been nice, but let's be honest, not everything can be what we hoped for when it's in its fledgeling stages, can it? Personally, I had bought 3 things which left me with 100 points: Dr. Mario (which is probably THE most immaculate version of Dr. Mario since the original) for 500 points, and two games originated from one of the GBA Warioware games for 200 each.

In all honesty, none of these really stand out from the crowd, but if you're a puzzle lover like myself, then honestly, Dr. Mario for 500 points is a MUST. With the promise of a more compact version of Brain Age and many other unknown titles in the works, we have yet to see an influx of DS ports anywhere. In short, where's my Pokemon ruby/sapphire/emerald? Sadly, not there. Or maybe some third party programs to the marketplace? I doubt it, but at this point, the future of the DSi Ware (which requires an update to use in the first place) is really up in the air. So you never know.

The DSi also boasts two cameras that will increase functionality of the DSi, and allow you to take pictures. Honestly, I love it. The photo section of the DSi actually has most of the options of a full-fledged digital camera would, and a few you wouldn't expect, like a distortion mode that has you touching the screen wherever to distort the picture. However you look at it, it makes full use of the unit's touch screen capabilities. And that's something it has over the PSP. It may even replace your normal camera, if you're using it for everyday pictures: the resolution is obviously much lower than a real digital camera, but perfect for posting pictures to the photosharing site of your choice.

Another feature the DSi has going for it: It boasts the capability the DS and DS Lite lacked (prior to the now rare-seen cartridge), and that is the ability to hop on the web. All you have to do is make a mad dash to the DSi Ware store and download the app from it, and the best part is, it comes at no additional charge. Sadly, it's Opera-based browser design. Expect VERY slow browsing speeds, and to run out of memory quickly on data-intensive websites (which takes on a new definition when browsing). I tried loading Yahoo! Tv, my favorite source for television listings without having to switch to that horrible TV-guide channel and waiting for the desired channel to show up on screen. It took about 10 seconds for anything to show up onscreen, and then, while it was loading the data, it easily ran out of memory. But if you need a Wiki article in a pinch, this is the way to do it. In all seriousness, though, not a viable everyday web-browser, and won't be until they change the platform to Firefox (Firefox nerd crossing: BEWARE!). However, the touch screen was fairly responsive when detecting a "click" on a text box or a link, and in the case of a text box, would display the appropriate dialog, much like the 360 version. If you've got no other method of accessing the net, and you need to look something up in a fairly orderly fashion, then in all truthfulness, this is a very viable solution to using your older cell phone, but probably wouldn't compare to a 3G IPhone in speed (not to mention the abhorred lack of flash, as in the cartridge version). It's pretty bad for everyday use, though. I want to make that abundantly clear. You better have a lot of time on your hands while you wait for each page to load, and although there is a favorites and search functionality, it really doesn't go as far as it could.

That said, the DSi is a well-rounded piece of hardware over all, but if you're looking to still play your GBA games, wait for this one to simmer and buy its predacessor when the old bag of a machine breaks on you (like mine did).

My Pick Me Up.

No, I'm not referring to the episode in the first season of Scrubs. I'm referring to a J-pop song. Yes, a J-pop song is my pick me up. Anytime I think this life isn't worth living anymore, I just listen to the first Naruto Shippuuden opening. For those of you not familiar with anime, it originates from Japan, and it's probably one of the deepest things you could ever watch on a telivision set at times. That having been made a point of, said theme songs to said anime shows are usually quite deep as well. But this song is probably the most inspirational (once translated for all it's worth) anime theme song that I've ever heard in my life. Which is exactly why it's my new pick-me-up. Just look at the lyrics. Here's the link: http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/shippuuden/heroscomeback.htm

And then, listen to the actual song and try to match up said lyrics with the music to get the best comprehension. Yet another link for that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_i_xsjsN8E

It takes a while, but you start to realize just how powerful these lyrics really are once translated into English properly, indeed, the most powerful song I've ever heard in my life (when taken in consideration of the quite shallow lyrics American songwriters seem to prefer, mostly talking about nothing but women and sexual exploits). The entire message of the song, not just a single part, is what moves me so. As you'll see if you did what I told you to earlier, in times of crisis, this can be a powerful ally of a song to have, since we all know that only a true hero can save us from crisis. But who's to say YOU can't be said hero? That is exactly what makes the English-translated lyrics so powerful. And on top of all that, it's pretty easy listening if you're used to the genre. If not, it still has quite a bit of sticking power, so either way, once you know what it all means, you get the feeling that the Japanese were trying to tell us something. As if they were trying to rally us all to a cause. Maybe I'm reading too far into this. Or maybe the lyrics to Hero's Comeback really are as deep as I'm making them out to be. Until I find a disproval of it, I'd rather believe the latter. Comparatively, most J-pop is centered around positive emotion, while most Western music is centered around anger. And while I can stand by a little of both, the J-pop/J-rock template is certainly something I can stand by in general.

I've finally found what I stand for.

Make no mistake. I now KNOW what I stand for. And what everyone around me should stand for. The truth. And not opinionated truth. The facts. 1 + 1 = 2. This is an unimpregnable example of a fact in its context. Sure, 1 + 1 does not always equal 2 elsewhere, but in the context it is used in here, it is absolutely, and without a doubt, fact. Opinion is when two people cannot agree on what is inevitable to be called right or wrong. For example, the phrase, I am fat. The answer to this question will differ from one person to another, therefore it is not fact. The answer to, I am overweight for my body size, is a fact. I am fat, is an opinion. I will now pursue the truth, to my bitter end (that will not be bitter at all for me, I will die knowing that my life was based upon fact and nothing else past this point). If anyone disagrees with me, they are in the wrong, because there is nothing more that we have to go on except for fact; opinion is fabricated by the human mind's emotions, and is therefore not a reliable state of mind. Pure logic can only exist in oneself if that person realizes what is fact and what is opinion. This is the only true way to analyze any situation, anywhere, at any time. If mankind were to put its differences aside and see this, there would be nothing but pure fact left so long as everyone were to pursue the truth. The second everyone stops pursuing truth, the entire idea of the pursuit of truth will fail. It is a team effort, in that not a single one of us can do this alone. We must all work together on this issue. And once we drive ourself to pursue the truth, we will see only truth as a result. This is logic at its core.

I encourage everyone who comes across this article to treat it as an extension of your being, in such that it is what we MUST do. The truth is unignorable, and ignorance of the truth will only damage ourselves. These are all irreprehensible truths from which me must, in the end, evolve towards or die. If every ounce of your being tells you all of this information is fact, then by all means, pursue it with whatever due vigilance necessary. For those of you who can't fathom what is right, my emotional side weeps for your soul.

That side is a side that is not yet lost in my being. Matter of factly, I just spent an indeterminate amount of time of which I cannot remember the length, weeping for the souls of those who do not pursue the truth. If you do not believe a single word of this, then take a look deep inside your character and see how truly opinion-based your life is. The fact remains: facts are impregnable once they are known. Opinions have a reputation for hurt, and are simply not entirely fact. If we do not base our life on logic, all evidence shows that opinion will kill us. This makes it a fact until we as the human race find out different.

Giving up on WoW. And much more.

For all those who have read my previous post, I have additional advice and strategy to offer about other games as well. While I have not given up on MMO's entirely, I have decided to quit World of Warcraft, thanks to the disparate number of idiots that occupy their time with it and can't think for themselves or learn how to play their own class without asking a million questions to me or someone else who knows how. It's been real, fellow WoW patrons. I'm sorry I must leave you like this, but I have... bigger fish to fry.

That bigger fish just happens to be an MMO I'm going to make myself (not without enlisting help, naturally). I know not where I'll find the information, people, and resources. But I assure you I will attempt to find them. Call me mad, call me what you want, I'm sick of Cliche questing-based games like WoW. The result will most certainly be likely to be unlike anything you've ever played before.

This is a call to arms, friends of the MMO! It's time is at hand! We must show Blizz what we're made of!

I have many general ideas planned, and what I have is ambitious. For example, a system that allows you to manipulate most ANY object near you so long as you meet certain requirements. No class, like runescape, you develop your "class" as you go. And a good-evil alignment system to show which side your on. And it will affect how your character looks and which side you play on. Since there are no set classes, you can try anything at anytime so long as you can meet the requirements to try it. These are a HANDFULL of the ideas I have in the bag. I just wanted to list a few of the major ones.

Sound lucrative and impossible at the same time? It probably will be damn near that. But I'm willing to take my shot at it. Don't expect it to come out any time soon. I haven't even gathered a development staff to my cause yet. But if you are interested, I would like seasoned programmers and artists to help me make this game. More in the next post.

How to Master ANY Song in Guitar Hero.

First, buy Guitar Hero III, if you don’t already have it, and make absolutely sure you buy the guitar controller and game set. There may be some badass songs on I and II, but III is the only one I have that allows you to practice in slower-than-normal speed, which is essential in the learning process. You’ll see my reasoning later, just be patient. I would say get World Tour as well, but they changed a lot of game features in that one from what I hear, and I’ve been told it has 6 buttons instead of 5 (although I’ve looked at a box of the World Tour controller, and can’t find a single picture of there being 6). This may sound like an advantage, but I would say it’s best to practice on the 5-button I, II, and III controller first, just to get the basic techniques down.

Where do we go from here? If you already have Guitar Hero III like I did, then you’ll know what comes next. PRACTICE. And lots of it. However, this practice will be unlike anything you’ve probably thought of doing. I’m going to be making what will seem like some unusual requests later down the line.

First of all, most people would start at the tutorials, and those people that do are absolutely right. Even if you’ve played I or II before (or if you really blew the ticket and bought World Tour first), the dynamics of the game have changed from those you’ve come to expect from playing the previous games before it or even the latest Guitar Hero version.

So do those tutorials, even though they may seem easy! This will be your refresher on how the rhythm, rhyme, and harmony works throughout the game. (Though if you listen carefully enough while you’re strumming, you’ll find little tidbits of off rhythm. Hey, the people playing it are only human, and Harmonix, Red Octane and Activision have compensated for most of these quite well where they could, so that it’s barely noticeable at full speed. No one’s got all the answers, and that’s exactly why I’m writing this guide.)

First, work your way through the career mode on Easy. If you’re already a Guitar Hero master from the previous 2 or World Tour, you’ll still need to do this, as it’ll unlock the main songs for you (which are mostly the best ones in the game, but that’s just my opinion) as well as getting you a bit of money to unlock songs and other things from the store. When you’re done, spend your hard earned cash on the songs first! Finishes and other goodies come second to your mastery of the Guitar Hero Force, young proverbial padawan (or knight, depending on your skill, but you are NOT a master yet if you can’t 100% a single song on expert), so those are you primary concern at this point. It doesn’t matter which songs you unlock from the bonus as long as you understood the basic skills necessary to complete Career mode on the Easy setting.

Next, we shall have the true tour de force in learning to master ANY Guitar Hero song, on 5 buttons or 6. Though I haven’t tried it out on World Tour yet (since I don’t have it) the principles are the same, just two transfers of the fingers across notes from the bottom to the top (or vice versa) instead of one. This will work, if you’re doing it right. Just have faith in yourself and believe you can be a Guitar Hero Rock God!

Now this is where my requests may seem to get a bit unusual. And also, be aware that you’ll need to use your own preference on how long to do what I say to do, and according to how well you are progressing.

It’s time for Expert setting! You heard me right! Now that you’ve unlocked all the main songs in the game and bought some of the bonus songs, the REAL fun begins. You’re going to laugh, cry, and sometimes fall flat on your face in surprise at what will happen when you follow my directions, and maybe even discover a little about yourself in the process. First of all, the reason I'm starting you at expert after just completing easy is simple- It's the least boring of four difficulties, and you'll thank me for it later because you can't go ANY higher than it; it will feel much more rewarding to you than having you finish career mode on medium or hard now, which will likely, to you, feel like the same old song and dance. You see, after career mode is finished on easy, the game will feel way too easy to you and you'll need a challenge worthy of a rock god.

This will indeed give it to you, but beware! This journey into nearly entirely uncharted territory is not for the faint of heart. It will take much practice (and patience, by the way) to be able to rock out on some of Guitar Hero III's hardest songs on expert. You will spend many, many hours on this endeavor, and rightfully so. Unless you are one of the few who can fly through any song with relative ease, perhaps even 100% it with out trying, then you've already become a Guitar Hero rock god, and there is (very likely) nothing left for you to do of interest in the rhythm genre. This is supposed to be difficult and challenging, that's where the fun lies.

So now that I've explained the why, it's time to get down to the stage and rock out. But hold your horses! You don't seriously expect to walk onto the stage and not get booed off your first time, do you? This is where the similarity between playing the real guitar and the guitar hero guitar comes in- practice! Real guitar heroes spend hours upon hours pouring over lyrics and endevouring into scripts full of notes. Fortunately, everything you'll need is included with the full game, so you won't have to worry about anything but playing the notes that pop up onscreen.

And play you will! But only in practice mode. Like was said earlier, you've been through career mode already, and all that has probably left you wanting more. There is only one REAL option for you now- mastery!

Before we go into the basics of how you'll progress, I would like to offer some advice for those who had to follow my previous instructions- which should've been everyone.

1. You will get bored, and you WILL have to take breaks. When you take these breaks, don't think about Guitar Hero the whole time. It'll make it easier to play as you'll come back to the game with a fresh mind towards it, which will make you a more effective player.

2. If you notice any twitches in your fingers after playing a while, this is a sign to stop at the first opportunity. You will feel pain in your fingers, however, while you play on expert, and this is not a sign to stop AT ALL. Play through it- this is your body adapting to the speed necessary, and if you stop playing at that time, you'll never be able to finish so much as one song on expert (or at least, it'll take quite a bit more time).

3. Keep an open and critical mind while playing (I cannot stress this part enough, failure leads to frustration, but it WILL be a part of your routine, so make sure to think, "what did I do wrong, and what can I do to improve it?". Also, learn the proper stance to play in as indicated in the manual- fully upright and on your feet- since this will ensure maximum results. If you have to sit down to play, then you need to build up your stamina until you can actually play standing up. Make sure you have the guitar controller's strap hooked firmly onto the knobs at the right and middle sides (when the guitar controller is facing away from you) so that you don't have to sit down.

4. If you encounter any sudden siezures, that's your sign you shouldn't be playing the game at all.

5. If you can't keep up with the notes, don't fret! Remain calm as you can while playing for maximum results and try to hit the notes you can.

6. Once you get better, you'll find yourself hitting more notes; this is a clear sign that you can handle a harder song than you're playing. Don't play the same song a million times over, but at the same time, don't stop practicing the song you're currently playing until you have at least some major confidence you've improved on it considerably.

One last word of advice.

7. DO NOT PLAY THROUGH THE FIRE AND FLAMES UNTIL YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY READY TO. This will lead to hopeless failure and you won't get any level of satisfaction out of it.

Now that you're ready with my invaluable advice on how to play the game, you're probably wondering, "what's the plan?!" And have one I most certainly do. It's so simple you're going to want to shoot yourself for not thinking of it. PLEASE don't! Sometimes the errors of the few lead to revolutions seldom thought of otherwise. If you did think of this already, then you're going to shoot yourself if you were playing all day, since the above advice mentioned not to.

The simplest way to put it is this (that I can think of, anyway)- Stop your current method first.

Then start playing at normal speed on any of the songs (EXCEPT the aforementioned Through the Fire and Flames). Personally, I chose The Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden in the 7th tour to impove my mastery of chords, (a very necessary thing to play many of the songs in ANY guitar hero game) to master first (still working on it too, I just had to get the method of my madness out before I forgot the method to it!)

Ultimately, it'll be your choice which song you decide to master first. If you're feeling bold, go with my suggestion. If you're not feeling that daring for your first time on expert, then you'll probably want to go with a slower song like Sunshine of Your Love by Cream in the 2nd tour or Slow Ride by Foghat in the 1st tour. Both have fairly slow rhythm speeds but maintain a certain difficulty for expert that will make for a more challenging mastery time than you would expect. If you're feeling somewhere in the middle, I would suggest a mediocre difficulty song like A.F.I.'s Miss Murder to start on. Ultimately, that's where I began my trail to mastery, I just never tried my method on that song (but now I will!).

Once you've been able to get a slight bit of the song (it's important not to do this too early, but I'll let you be the judge of when), switch down to the slowest speed setting in practivce mode so that you can nail all the notes and learn the rhythms and notes properly. The reason I had you do the normal speed first is so that you get the gist of what the song is like and what to expect once you're back at that point- which will be a few plays through yet.

Play it again at slowest speed a couple times until you get the hang of a good portion of the notes (or until you can hit at least 50% of them; if you can already do that, aim for something more in the 60 to 70 percentile). Now, go back to normal speed. You'll either note a considerable difference or be playing worse than you were. Don't worry! This is your brain adapting between speeds.

Repeat playing at normal speed for several more times or until you can't seem to play as well as you were the previous time that you played on normal speed.

Repeat the process of teeter-totter between the slowest and normal speeds until you can get almost all the notes on the slowest speed.

Now it's time to move slowest to slow. Continue the back-and-forth between slow and normal and notice how you probably are hitting less notes on slow than you were on slowest. Once you can hit almost all the notes on slow, advance the lower end to medium. Repeat this until the point where you can 100% the song with relative ease on Normal speed.

If you can do this, it's time for Quick Play mode! This will allow you to play any of the songs you have unlocked on expert without having to play the career mode at that level. You'll have all the features that run the course of the normal career mode gameplay you experienced (what will now seem to be) a great deal of time ago, so make sure to nail the all-important star power segments so you can maximize that score!

And when you finally get that song 100%, try another with the same process. Remember that you can always go back to playing in Practice Mode if your playing needs work.

And that's how you do it! I hope this helps, and answers any questions you may have had!