ARE YOU DUMBBBB… IT’S DAT TIME YEA?

OK AINT GUNNA LIE I AINT DAT HOT ON THIS STILL BUT IM ALWAYS WILLING…

X-BOX GAMERTAG = Dangerouz Mind

Well, still feeling ill

Sooooo, I resorted to watching the new family guy series

You can see it at http://watchfamilyguyonline.org

This episode is hilarious: http://watchfamilyguyonline.org/movie/130-Family_Guy_801_Road_to_the_Multiverse.html

I would post more, but I’m really really tired and drained

x

P.S

Lockerz invites are still up for grabs! Just fill out this form:

http://www.emailmeform.com/fid.php?formid=444221

Or check out my post from yesterday: http://boredstudent.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/new-post-oh-and-lockerz-invites/

P.P.S

If you have Xbox Live, add me

Gamertag= I Pwn Llamas

For (Cool) Shite on the Tube

You’ve started off on your Xbox 360 not really caring about those useless gamerscore points. After all, they do nothing of any value apart from giving you bragging rights (or, less eloquently, a bigger “electronic penis”).

Then, you unlock 24 out of 25 achievements in a game and think, “well, why not try to finish it?” Two hours later, you’ve grinded away to unlock that last achievement and geek out from a swell of pride that comes from deep within. You find yourself boasting (repeatedly) to your friends that you’ve got the maximum 1000 gamerscore in the game…and log in to your console just to bring up the screen that proves it.

Oddly enough, your friends don’t seem to care.

The next day at work, you spend an hour researching the best ways to kill enemies, gather collectables, or glitch to make it easier to unlock more achievements in your next game. You continue to tell yourself you’re still in control.

Next, you find yourself taking a day off work just to try to boost a game online; after all, you can’t finish it off without those pesky multiplayer achievements!

It’s at this point that you need to own up to your problem – you’re an achievement addict.

However, it’s important to remember that you’re not alone – Xbox 360 players have collectively unlocked over one billion achievements in the lifetime of the console (and that number was reported back in 2008!).

So don’t lose heart – embrace that inner addict! After you’ve reach some sort of acceptance, here’s some tips from self-acknowledged addicts to maintain that Xbox 360/rest of life balance.

First, understand your class

There are MANY types of achievement addicts, but to simplify things, you will eventually identify with one of three main types: gamerscore addicts, completionist addicts, or hybrid addicts.

The gamerscore addict is focused on the (admittedly useless) amount of gamerscore points they have unlocked via their Xbox 360 gamertag. They generally don’t care how many points they get in a single game, but how many points they have overall; getting 1000 out of 1000 possible points isn’t necessary if you can get the same amount of points quicker from several.

The completionist addict is more about finishing off games and getting their game library achievement completion as close to 100% as possible. These players will spend as much time as is necessary on one game to ensure they’ve unlocked every achievement possible, and won’t play a game if they can’t get 100%; after all, it’d wreck their stats!

The hybrid addict is somewhere in the middle – they’ll aim for completion, but won’t be too stressed if they don’t get it…so long as they can unlock most achievements in a relatively quick time. If games require two or three playthroughs to unlock all possible achievements, they’ll go through the game once and set it aside for a second attempt later on (but won’t lose sleep over it).

Gamer Stallion83 knows his class, and rightly so – he holds the distinction of having the highest gamerscore of any other Xbox 360 gamer, currently sitting at 360,645 at the time of writing. Stallion83 says his gamerscore addiction began in January 2006: “I can thank Call of Duty 2 for that,” he muses. “My achievement hunting began the very first day the 360 was released in North America. I reached 100,000 in March 2007, and 333,333 gamerscore in July 2009.”

Stallion83’s current goal, to reach 1,000,000 gamerscore, began last fall (he’s aiming to have it done by December 31, 2014), and his website at www.1milliongamerscore.com chronicles his efforts. He identifies as a Hybrid addict: “I have different cycles that I go into during the course of a year,” he says. “My main cycle is to get the most out of a game and then move on to another game. I usually come back months later and top a lot of those off.”

He continues, “I believe it is much harder to score a huge amount of gamerscore points over a few months than going for a few pesky achievements. It wears your brain out a little bit more. I consider my completion cycle my chill period.”

Use all resources at your disposal

Hands down, there are two amazing websites that achievement addicts should have bookmarked: www.trueachievements.com and www.xbox360achievements.org. Both sites are excellent resources for gamers, and the achievement guides featured on each are unparalleled. TrueAchievements also takes the unique step of allocating each proper achievement a “TrueAchievement” score – which is higher than the proper score allocation and rises or falls depending on how many other gamers have successfully unlocked it.

For example, the difficult “EA Sports Hockey League Legend” in NHL 09 is 100 gamerscore, but has a TrueAchievement score of 526 because a scant 4% of that game’s players have unlocked it. In addition to providing tips to get those hard to unlock achievements and helping you pair up with others who can help you out, you’ll also get a huge ego boost by winning those that others can’t.

Another great service is called Raptr; it will tweet your gaming successes, and at the very least will connect you with other gamers for boosting partners or other game recommendations.

Get some quick, cheap fixes

No matter which addict type you associate with, there are tons of games that can provide instant gratification in the form of easy achievements or easy full completion. Some are good, some bad, and some bad but totally worth playing regardless. This author’s personal suggestions include:

The good: Early 2K sports games NHL 2K6, NBA 2K6, and College Hoops 2K6 can be picked up cheap second-hand and have 5 achievements each which can usually be unlocked in an hour or so each for the full 1000 gamerscore. Another decent game with easy gamerscore from the 360’s launch is Condemned: Criminal Origins, which can get you a full completion on one run through. Doritos: Dash of Destruction is a free Xbox Live Arcade game that’s decent to play and a sure-fire 200/200 gamerscore (Arcade games are limited to that amount).

Bully: Scholarship Edition is a bit painful to play through at times, but should get you a decent score just through playing through the story. For those looking to get some nostalgia, Sega Mega Drive: Ultimate Collection will net you big scores over a variety of classic Sega games. If you’re a trivia buff (or you’re good on Google), Trivial Pursuit and Scene It: Box Office Smash come highly recommended.

More recent games include XMen Origins: Wolverine and Batman: Arkham Asylum, which will give you a lot of gamerscore quite easily, but have some challenges in them that keep you from getting too bored while playing.

The bad: Eragon and Terminator: Salvation are an easy source of gamerscore, but are ridiculously painful to play through. On the flipside, Avatar The Last Airbender: The Burning Earth is such a poorly-designed game that you can get a full 1000 gamerscore in about five minutes, repeatedly mashing the “B” button – it’s totally worth renting at your local video store.

In addition to some of the games listed above, Stallion83 also recommends “Disney and kids games.” He adds, “I think it really depends on how little or how much you enjoy a certain game to determine how hard it may be for you. I think a 6 hour game that I hate is harder than a 10 hour game that I enjoy. For me, not much beats online co-op games.”

There are dozens more games that could be recommended here. Remember to help other addicts out by posting your suggestions in the comments!

Keep it fun!

Above all else, video games are supposed to be FUN! If you find yourself scouring over achievement guides carefully plotting out every virtual move you make – basically treating your gaming experience like a second job — it might be time to take a step back and remember why you started gaming in the first place.

In his long quest to reach 1,000,000 gamerscore, Stallion83 keeps his gaming fun in a variety of different ways. “Gamerscore leagues for the most part have kept me going and have given me some extra motivation over the years. Instead of gamerscore being just for yourself, it becomes this team thing and I become ultra competitive during these leagues.”

“I also like to make up certain goals in my head. Recently, I’ve been trying to unlock at least 1 achievement in every state in the USA,” he continues. “I just try to keep it fresh.”

Holding a high gamerscore can also attract some haters. “I get a lot of hate messages for sure,” says Stallion83. “I got this the other day: ‘You will die alone’. Most people think I am some fat dude, but that is not the case at all. I guess I sort of break the stereotypical mold. People can and will think whatever they want.”

Let the insults roll off your back, and definitely don’t retaliate on over Xbox Live. Getting into a flame war via voice chat or console messaging could lead to a gamertag ban (either permanent or for a week or two) if you violate LIVE terms of service and are reported.  On the flipside, report those gamers that get a bit too personal with you if you are being harassed (but make sure they’ve violated something first!).

Always remember: they’re just games. Stallion83 puts it in perspective with his closing comment: “People of Xbox Live, don’t go overboard with the avatar clothing purchases! We can’t have our virtual selves looking better than some people that roam this earth. Get something nice for a child in need!”

No other addict could have said it better.

This is a custom Gamercard that I created using GIMP 2.6.  It has all the information that a normal Gamercard has, but it’s sweet looking   Clearly I had too much free time today.

“Let Me In, Let Me In” was salvaged from the opening sequence of Ragazze Finali, originally intended as the second story of the ‘Final Girls’ series. It started strongly enough, but ended up being such a direct pastiche of gialli that the fun rather fell out of it. Regardless, I was fond enough of the opening (the original version of which can be found a few posts down) to re-work it today in to a standalone short story, which can be found here.

On the giallo front, I’m going to a showing of Dario Argento’s ‘Giallo’ next week. Not sure how low to set my expectations for this, as he’s not made a great film since Opera, or a halfway decent one since Trauma, (Mother of Tears was jolly enough, but when placed against Suspiria and Inferno, it looks pedestrian and adolescent), so it could go either way. Shall report back after the showing.

In terms of reading/viewing over the last few weeks, I’ve been fairly busy. Read Ramsey Campbell’s Midnight Sun – one of the few of his mid-period works that I’d never gotten around to. Alas, it was another disappointment, which I’m not going to go on about at length as I’ve already given some of his later work a bit of a kicking elsewhere on this blog and I don’t want to make a habit out of it. I’m hoping that Needing Ghosts, which is on the reading pile, will give me the dose of vintage Campbell I really need.

On a related note, Paranormal Magazine are giving away free DVDs with their latest edition, one of which is The Nameless, the acclaimed adaptation of Campbell’s novel. I haven’t watched it yet, but I’m looking forward to it greatly. It’s currently sitting in the DVD pile along with In The Loop (which I saw at the cinema and loved – funniest thing I’ve seen in years), the box-set of the short-lived series The Lost Room, and various other odds and sods.

Last night  a bunch of us watched The Sentinel – Michael Winner’s 1976 attempt to cash-in on The Exorcist and The Omen – which was far better than it had any right to be and contained some  genuinely disturbing images, though it took a while to get going. We also watched The Exorcist III, which is a long-term favourite of mine. Not only is it superior to the original, it’s also one of the most unsettling and peculiar horror movies of the last 25 years. I can only hope that one day William Peter Blatty will find the missing footage and get a chance to release his original cut without the tacked on exorcism forced on him by the studio (who, having forced the ‘exorcist’ name on Blatty – he’d wanted to keep the novel’s title, Legion – realised that there was no exorcism in the movie and forced re-shoots. Ridiculous).

For a laugh, we also watched Mega-Shark vs Giant Octopus. There were no laughs.

Back with the reading, I finished the first collection of Arthur Machen’s stories – which included The Great God Pan and The Three Impostors, which was wonderful. I’m very much looking forward to starting on the second volume, which includes The White People of which I hear great things, but it’ll have to wait. Back to Ray Bradbury’s short stories now, and I’ve also started Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, though I’m not far enough into to form any thoughts on yet.

Today, though, is lazy Sunday and will likely consist of a little writing, a bit of Angel season 3 (we finished Buffy Season Six last night – jesus, what a miserable series that was. It ended on a high, though), and maybe some gaming. I’m back in to my Halo again. Anyone fancy a deathmatch, the gamertag is ‘Auld Scratch’.

And so on.

Well guys as promised here is my Friend Codes, I’m only gonna give the important ones. The Conduit and my Wii System Code. Well the Wii system number because a lot of games are beginning to import friends from that so, do the maths

The Conduit:
4640-7151-9156

Wii System Friend Code:
4829-0097-1716-9760

As another note I may as well add my GamerTag while were all here, it’s not hard to guess, WeemanCom.  That’s it, WeemanCom, I’m very original aren’t I

If you add me, well make sure to leave your respective info in the comments section below, I wonder if I will get any bites here…

I like video games.  That’s not really the most unbelievable statement in the world, but it is a true statement none the less.  From the simple tasks of  jumping a cute hedgehog named Sonic around at age 8 to the more advanced skills of killing hordes of blood thirsty zombies in the latest Left for Dead game, video games have been an excellent way to pass the time when there is not much to do.  With benefits such as X-box live, I have also been able to maintain good relationships with friends across the country through online gaming.

With all of these perks, it is simple to see why it is easy to fall in love with the social elements of gaming.  However, how you compete and present yourself while gaming says a lot about a person’s values and core beliefs.  Here are a few things that really piss me off about people who play video games.

FACT No. 1- Remember, it is only a game!!  I don’t care what you think is winning or losing that last match meant in the grand scheme of life, the fact of the matter is it realistically meant nothing.  There is no reason to be screaming and cursing at a random teammate who lacked gaming skill.  Maybe that “sucky” person had a child in the room who swallowed a marble.  Now, what do you think is honestly more important? Helping you win a match of Halo or saving this kid’s life?  Note: This fact does not take merit in actual tournament play where 500,000 dollars is at stake over a game.  In that case, please, do whatever you want to the person not carrying his or her own weight.

FACT No. 2- With the last statement in mind, I can’t stand people who quit prematurely.  Obviously, it is just a game and things do take priority, but individuals who frequently quit because they are either losing or just aren’t having everything go perfectly for them make me sick!!  I mean that.  I H-A-T-E people who quit solely because they are getting beat.  Quitting shows a lot about a person’s integrity, attitude and dignity amongst many other social values.  I’ll put it frankly for you, as a football coach, I would not want a person who is a repetitive quitter at ANYTHING playing on my team.  What is that athlete going to do when things aren’t going their way in the real game?  Quit and start a new game?  I’m sorry buddy.  The real world does not work like that.  So here is my advice to the world of gamers.  Do not start a game unless you intend to finish it.  If you are getting smoked in the game, see it out to the end.  Nothing says more about a person than being willing to do their best even when little chance of a victory exists.

FACT No. 3- Have a little pride.  Listen, I don’t care if Florida is ranked number one in NCAA 2009.  This doesn’t mean that you have to play as them. I mean, if you have to play as the team with the bests stats in every category just to compete against everyone else, you probably need some improvement.  What’s the point of winning if you are using a team that is 16 times better than the one I am using?  Now, if Florida is your alma mater and you truly bleed for the team, then I understand and accept that.  But for the majority of you, play as your team.  I have played as the University of Oregon, and no other team, for over 5 years of college football games.  I have played as them when they are not ranked.  I have played with them when the AI team was so bad that I could barely run a play.  Now, Oregon is ranked number twelve and is actually pretty good.  I have waited a long long time for this, and I’m living it to the fullest.  This goes the same for all you people who can’t pick a logo or gamer profile picture.  Stop jumping back and forth from look to look.  Find something that describes you and stick with it.

FACT No. 4- Your gamertag must be creative.  Look at this gamertag:  XXxxXSnipersXxxXX.  What is that? Do you know how many people have the word “Snipers” in their name?  And what’s with all the “X’s”?  Are you seriously so uncreative that you can’t think of something other than the word “sniper”?  And if you are going to use this to describe yourself, you better damn well be a sniper in every shooter game!  I mean, what are you doing running around with a heavy machine gun on the front line with a name like XXxxXSnipersXxxXX?  You are stupid.  Anyone who needs to put the letter “X” in their gamertag should be shot for increativity.  Yes, it is so bad that I had to make up a new word.  On the same line of no creativity, please do not make a name like MasterChief7865.  Yes, we realize you are playing Halo and the star character is Master Chief, but I highly doubt that you are actually as cool or badass as the true Master Chief.  Also, you are Master Chief number 7865.  How many Master Chiefs are needed?  Same goes for football fans that make gamertags like XxGatorplayerXx.  So you are a Gator fan.  Who cares!? It says nothing about your ability to play video games or real football for that matter.  You are not an athlete just because your gamertag is showing you like a football, basketball, hockey or whatever sports team.  My Gamertag is Yankee Mongoose.  My brother is Delta Chipmunk.  My cousin is Recon Penguin1, and a good friend in Alpha Meerkat.  Now, these names are unique, creative and, most importantly, funny.  When you are playing a group of four, and you see these names together on the list, tell me you would not say to yourself, “God, these guys are idiots.” Exactly!!!  We are already in your heads before we even start the game!

I have only scratched the surface to gaming etiquette.  Maybe another time, I will add some more things, but for now, this is just fine.  Stick to these rules and you will get along with, not only myself, but the majority of gamers everywhere.  Happy playing.

Aly, this post is just for you.

So, I just purchased a PS3.

Newest member of the family. Welcome home baby.

It was a long time in the making, but I finally decided to take the plunge. With Tekken 6, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, and a few other titles coming out in the next few months, I figured I might as well get the PS3 up and running. That being said, I’ll obviously be playing online under an alias. I’m still figuring out how the network on Playstation works. It seems a little more open ended than the Xbox SO FAR. I’ll post my findings at another time.  Let’s get to it.

For anyone wondering, this post will educate you as to how the gamertag “Steve Yet Again” came to be. Upon hearing that my Playstation tag was going to be Sienkai, Aly, my friend, and fellow gamer, commented that “The legend of “Steve Yet Again” is reserved just for Xbox”. Ah, but this is not true. The “legend” is as follows:

My gamertag was originally sienkai. This is the way it was written, until I joined an internship in New York for 3 months. During this time, I had no access to Xbox Live as the internet connection didn’t carry enough bandwidth to hop on live. I suspended my account during that time, as I wanted to maximize the months on my subscription. Upon returning to civilization (meaning a house with a router), Xbox customer service informed me that they were  unable to reactivate the “sienkai” tag.

Fair enough, I’ll make a new one. At the time, Xbox Live essentially had nothing to offer under its service, outside the ability to play a few games online. They only thing I’d lose was my friends list, which wasn’t very large at the time. I had nothing else associated with the tag, except my top 10 position on the Ninja Gaiden Black leaderboards (9th person in the world [according to XBL leaderboards] to finish it on Master Ninja). Ah, but there was still Halo 2. Since it was also the only game that had real XBL support, I figured the tag Steve again was fitting. Why, you ask?

1. my friends will recognize me when I send them a new request (it’s Steve again)
2. I just so happened to be a GOD at Halo 2. Many a 50-12 match were held by yours truly.

See point #2? Well, here’s what happened. Fall semester rolls around, and I return to school. We held a CTF lan party in the dorms. Between sniping, splattering in ghosts, plasma grenade sticks and every other form of death you can deal out in Halo, I racked up 127 kills, and about 18 deaths. Laughing half to death at the carnage, and demoralization the other players must have felt being killed repeatedly, I realized it would be fantastic to personalize my warpath during the game. You see, every time you kill someone in the game, the following message pops up in the corner

“You’ve been [insert form of death here] by [insert gamertag here].”

Steve again was born. The next day, as I hopped online, each kill was more satisfying, simply because I knew my victims would see the following on their screen over and over…

“You’ve been killed by Steve again.”
“You’ve been sniped by Steve again.”
“You’ve been splattered by Steve again.”
“You’ve been beat down by Steve again.”
“You’ve been stuck by Steve again.”

Ah the joy. Fast forward several years, my Xbox dies. New gamertag is now necessary with the purchase of a shiny white Xbox 360. “Steve Yet Again” makes his appearance.

End.
*Editors note – I suck ass at Halo now. And I am very aware that the name mechanic works both ways.

Since Sunday, I been caked don’t ask me how,  most people are nasty and inconsiderate everywhere I go, so no doubt someone at work or where I go felt like this not long ago.

Either way I been in and surfing the web as usual occasionally being distracted by call of  duty:wow PS3!! (its double points at the moment! ID – unkle_01) anyway I came across this, this morning!! my boy is back with a mixtape featuring Dj Drama and Vado one of his new artists, I think this will get me through the day. ENJOY!!

Click the pic for the links and tracklist

Source: Nah Right