What I've Been playing:
Being a parent is time consuming. At some time in the future I'll probably say something about how gaming and parenting affect each other, or about how they're similar, or something, but that's not this post. I bring up parenting because I've been doing a lot of that. A lot of parenting and not a lot of gaming.My son is 17 months old, so he doesn't play games with rules yet. He plays a lot, and I love playing with him, but it's so freeform that I'd hesitate to call any of it a "game". Also, since he's so young I can't play any violent video games while he's around. In general I don't like to play video games around him too much because I think it's important that I get down on the floor and play with him.
When I wasn't crawling around mountains of Duplo blocks with my son, I managed to beat Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines for the PSP. I got all of the accomplishments except for the three pertaining to getting combo-kills. I never really figured out how to do combo-kills, and I don't care quite enough about getting those last three acomplishments to go back through a significant portion of the game.
Kevin bought a Koei game called Warriors: Legends of Troy. Man, was that game ever frustrating! I was expecting essentially a Dynasty Warriors game that was set during the Trojan War. To pe perfectly fair, that is what I got. I won't say that there weren't some good parts to it, but the game angered me so much that I put it down and didn't look back. If I were serious about trying to write reviews for games, I'd switch it over to easy mode and slug my way through it, but there are plenty of venues out there for people to get well-informed reviews.
Kevin also bought Deus Ex: Human Revolution. He finished that game and has now loaned it to me. Now I'm not good at shooters. I'm zen with this truth. So, I don't get into competitive shooters very much, but I do enjoy a good RPG/Shooter hybrid. I liked the first Deus Ex even though I never finished it. I'm really enjoying Human Revolution. It feels really good, and I don't mind too much that I get shot in the head a lot. One thing that bothers me, though, is that I can't use my sniper scope from cover. I have yet to find a situation where I can be hidden and shoot someone, rather than just have them looking the other way.
What I Have Planned:
Unfortunately there were problems with the Pathfinder game, so that's not happening anymore. On the plus side, we met a couple that's running a Rifts game from Palladium. Maria and I are really excited about that, and hopefully we'll be able to join in soon.Also, we're getting together with some of our old gaming group that has moved out of town and we're planning an online Savage Worlds game from Pinnacle Entertainment. We'll be playing in a savage setting called Necessary Evil where everyone will be playing a supervillian. It'll probably be a lot of fun. We're going to be getting everone together online over a product called Epic Table that I picked up at Gen Con. Expect more information on that in the future. It's still in beta, but I'm looking forward to giving it a shot.
As far as the blog goes, I'm trying to get a video card that I can take some screenshots of my console games with. I have some plans for a couple of things I want to do with the blog, but they're on hold until I can get this.
What I'm Looking Forward To:
I already preordered Star Wars: The Old Republic. I've been looking forward to that one for a while and now I finally know that it's coming in December.Diablo III recently got puched back to 2012, but long-time Blizzard fans have gotten used to the company's "It get's released when it's finished and not a moment sooner" attitude. I'll admit that I'm a touch worried that it will be a monotonous click-fest, but only time will tell.
There was a rumor that the PlayStation Vita will be coming out at the end of February. I'm excited for the system, but part of me is glad I won't have to fit it in with my other holiday season purchases. Also, the closer it gets to the end of my current cell phone contract, the better. If everything goes according to plan, I'll be able to use the PS Vita for all of the functions I have my smartphone for, allowing me to drop to a regular "dumb" cell phone to make way for the Vita data plan.
I'm still upset that Sony decided to make AT&T the exclusive carrier for the Vita data plan, but I'm sure there were plenty of financial reasons for making the commitment. Also, it looks like I can add a wireless hotspot to my cell phone plan for probably the same price as the Vita data plan. Plus I can use it if I get a tablet.
So, that's what I've been up to, what I've got planned, and what I'm looking forward to. If anyone is actually reading this blog, please leave me a comment. So far I'm not really sure there's anybody out there, and it would be pretty cool if I found out somebody actually read this.
Good Gaming!
