Or maybe moving in and getting married.
But I think the Wii, along with Instant Netflix, has kept me out of the mancave and in our living room. I do draw while something (familiar) is on in the background. But it's hard to draw during MarioKart.
It's even harder to draw or write with War For Cybertron hanging out in the living room.
I play nearly every game on "normal" or "easy" settings because, if you didn't know, I'm generally terrible at video games. Seasoned gaming veterans will know from the background music and death sting where I was in the level, "you died ALREADY?" Yeah, it was the start screen, why do you ask? So I cut myself a break with these. I don't have a lot of Wii games, and stick to MarioKart. (It has also taken me a while to get through the Metroid Prime games for Gamecube, which the Wii can play.)
So for xmas this year my true love gave to me a PS3 and it is glorious. BluRay, access to Hulu+, the MLB.tv thing...it's for War For Cybertron, of which I purchased over a year ago even though I didn't have a system because I wanted to play it on my friend's. And did. (And it was awesome.)
Now I have a chance to play it at home and thus more frequently, and thus I do. I'm excited to. I'm a Transformers junkie and I want to play a game all TF fans are still excited about, over a year after its release. (The Wii released "Cybertron Adventures," and after witnessing the trailer I figured I would just wait it out until the PS3 decreased in price and play the real thing.) It's this first person shooter platform hybring. Maybe 3rd person shooter? Don't correct me on this, I don't care. The thing is, I don't really care that much for video games. I DO like playing them, but most games just seem to be an exercise in button mashing, especially in fighting games. I've beaten my opponents in those but I never had ANY idea what I've been doing. I fell in love with MarioKart because it actually seemed like driving.
And, as I said earlier, I'm just no good at them. Hence the "easy" mode. Maybe I'll give the harder modes a shot. But I didn't want to get frustrated as I have with Metroid: Prime at various stages even though it's an awesome (yet headache inducing) game. There are 10 levels, basically split in half for Autobots and Decepticons. Now that I could play at home, I ended up beating the game in about a week.
Maybe it was too easy, or maybe the regular missions were just for show. The real reason as seems to be with most shooter games is to go online and beat the crap out of your friends or strangers (mostly strangers). This has been where I've spent most of my time. I beat the game with ease but in no way have I felt cheated or that did I say "is that IT?"
Most media tie-in games are for crap. They are hastily put together and frequently incomprehensible, or at least they had been (see: Angry Video Game Nerd on youtube, you won't be disappointed). I had the "Transformers" movie tie in for the PS2 and even though it had Transformers, the plot seemed bizarrely generic. Like you were just going from anonymous building to street to highway to race Decepticons to certain areas before stopping and hand to hand fighting. This was repetitive, and I didn't get far because it was also annoying and frustrating (especially when my copy would freeze up the borrowed PS2).
But now movies and cartoons exist to sell the (much more expensive) game. Heck, the music industry seemed to market its acts just to be part of Guitar Hero or similar games! The Ghostbusters game was definitely a love letter from Ray Stantz to the franchise fans. The Lego franchise tie ins are a barrel of fun as well.
I think as a dedicated TF fan, I can forgive the game to having little meat beyond 10 short missions and once I "gain experience" for my characters in the online frays, which last no more than 10 minutes, and will seem pointless once the characters gain all the experience points (level 25 for each of the four classes of robots you choose from). I haven't gotten tired of it yet but I also haven't attained those levels yet. Maybe the game could have organized in such a format; gaining experience in the levels, and powering up as an added bonus and gaining those extra abilities for the rest of the game? Ah, who cares. I don't want to review the plot (does it matter?), the gameplay (not frustrating!), the voice acting (stellar), the graphics (amazing), or anything else like that. I'm just letting you know what's taking up my time and encourage you to waste your time with it as well.
The game has inspired a possible paint or mod job for a TF. Slipstream is an unlockable character after you finish the Decepticon half of the game. I'm amused by the presence of girl robots (not those lifelike sex toy things...isn't anyone afraid of shorting them out and getting electrocuted?) so therefore, even though Season 3 of G1 Transformers was bizarre and kind of crappy, I'm a fan of the Arcee. I've painted a Generations Tracks figure into "Road Rage," which is itself just a name retroactively applied to the G1 Tracks figure that, in Europe, was red instead of blue. So, Slipstream. When you play that character in the online fight games, if she stands still for a moment, HER WINGS FLAP like a butterfly. Hi-larious. And adorable. My wife and I have named her "Hugbot" on the list of robots I made up for the online battles. Take a look at the artist design on that link, that's what I'll be going trying to replicate.
Anyway, a lot of fun. I have a script I'm to finish by New Year's. It's called THE VOICE and I hope to make it awesome but I am unsure of my chances to get it produced after SJ: Monster Hunter. Then some drawing, and some Goons shows.
OH! Hired Goons will be doing a short set for fill-in drummer Poochie's bday bash in Mt. Prospect on January 21st. Details soon.
More stuff later,
-paul
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