• 25Jun 09

  Binging the Fight!

  Here I am for the mere second time, wondering how I managed to go so long after my very first entry.

  Well, it's been quite a hailstorm. Right after posting my first, I made a nice roadtrip to a friend's in southern Pennsylvania. The two of us hung out and partied it up for game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, in which our very own Pittsburgh Penguins brought Lord Stanley back where he belongs. And for the record, Alex Ovechkin taking the Hart and Lester B. Pearson this year? Garbage. Evgeni Malkin was far and away the single greatest player in the league this year. But I guess since Crosby and Malkin won the prize of all prizes, NHL staffers had to spread some love to their golden boy to keep their salaries.

  But enough ranting. Promptly after returning home, I finally had my wisdom teeth pulled, a procedure that was well over a year late. Now that I have an excess of empty space in my mouth (insert lewd joke here) and am doped up on oxycodone, what have I been up to?

  Halo. Yeah, I know, I'm one of those guys you could say. Upon the game's launch I was swept up into Halomania just like everyone else. I didn't wait in line for a midnight launch or blow $150+ on a Master Chief helmet, but I did cherish my pre-ordered copy the day of release.

  After beating the Legendary campaign more times than I care to count, I bode my time to try out the heralded multiplayer. You see, as much as I love my Pittsburgh university, I (and I'm not alone) loath the internet there, what with its two (yes, two) open ports, pathetic bandwidth, and restrictions to virtually anything that isn't plain text.

  But once summer came, it was on. The binging began. Every night I'd come home, crank up the AC, play Lone Wolves and SWAT from midnight to 8 am. Go to bed, wake up in the afternoon to get ready for work, and do it all over again.

  Unfortunately, the love of Halo multiplayer seemed to fade fast. Once I returned to school for the next semester, the small LAN games didn't do it for me anymore. Sure, I pwned my roommates and anyone else on the floor at will, but the game simply didn't hold my attention the way it had not even months prior.

  So how did I end up here? That's a good question. Maybe it's all thanks to the aforementioned Penguins fan friend of mine, whom I met at school. He was the first of our "breed" to get his own place off campus, complete with unblocked interwebz. From there, we were all itching to get our game on, but our choices were highly limited. We all loved NHL 09 (and I'm currently counting down the days to 10), but we unanimously agreed that the online modes were a complete waste of time. To this day I stick with Be a Pro.

  Gears of War 2 was fun...for a while. I was the world's biggest GOW fan during the reign of the original, but GOW2 more than killed the novelty for me. I'll spare you the rage, as that topic merits another entry on its own.

  So, that was it. Halo was the only game we had where four of us could sign on one screen (HD projectors do come in handy) and still have some fun. In the process, something awakened within me (again, possible lewd joke here.) That feeling I had the past summer for the gaming world's most popular multiplayer was returning. All I wanted to do was crash at his place, perform various unspeakable college kid antics, and play Halo. My 38 in Lone Wolves was glaring at me, just daring me to pick it back up and reach 50, thus securing my Generality.

  Now that I once again have mass time to kill, Halo is back as my main obsession. I'm taking it to the pro level - HD monitor with minimal refresh time (don't even have a tube TV anymore), wired controller, and my new Sennheiser HD-555 headphones. Which, by the way, I wholeheartedly recommend. Headphones rarely seem associated with competitive console gaming, but their impact on gameplay is even more substantial than that of PC FPS.

  Maybe it's a complete waste of my time. Maybe it's something I'll enjoy but never make anything out of. Or maybe I'll be back here laughing at you all when me and my Halo team start earning $$$ on the MLG circuit. Whichever way my Halo life goes, for the time being I'll never be satisfied with my BR skills, and the progress is already showing (now I'm a 40 in Lone Wolves!)

  Oh yeah, anyone want to start a Halo team? I'll need one to start pwning my way to the $$$. Feel free to message me here or on Xbox Live. Just let me know you're from GS if you go with the latter.

  And as a last note, me and the friend mentioned here now have a Halo blog going. It's in the earliest of stages, but any and all contributions fellow Halo fans want to make will be highly appreciated. We have big plans for this one. Bungie.net better watch the **** out.

  http://haloepic.blogspot.com/

  • Posted Jun 25, 2009 3:25 am GMT
  • Category: Games
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• 10Jun 09

  Intro

  Why hello, I didn't hear you come in.

  I've been a member of this site for quite some time now, but aside from the occasional odd comment, I hadn't really taken advantage of the resources offered here. Well, the time for redemption is at hand. I've been a gamer since I was old enough to comprehend the images on-screen, and these years of experience have, for me, taken gaming beyond a mere hobby or time-killer to a real interest, possibly career. Needless to say, I have much I could potentially write about here.

  As it stands now, I'm not really a platform specific guy. The only current-gen system I don't own is a Wii, which I have no interest in. But I'm always keeping an eye out for the next big title or advancement for the PC, 360 and PS3. My genres of choice are FPS, RTS, and RPG, but I've played a little bit of everything at some point, and likely even enjoyed it. If you have any interest in what I'm into, I recently updated my games list as of this morning, and I'll be plowing my way through the whole thing rating every game, probably with many reviews in the process.

  There's certainly no point in me rambling now, so I'll save it for later blogs. But with any luck, entries here and game reviews will become a regular thing for me. Check back if you have any interest in what I have to say, but if not, I don't blame you. I tend to be very wordy when I convey my thoughts in text, so let me know if I'm scaring anyone.

  Until next time...stay tuned for some earth-shatteringly profound gaming thoughts. Some of them may even be mine. Next break I take from my gaming binges, I'll be back here to vent whatever hits me to you fine readers.

  • Posted Jun 10, 2009 11:13 pm GMT
  • Category: General
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