Tag Archives: guitar-hero

Let Me Try This Again, Part 3.2: Entertainment: Video Games

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A Sidenote

If this post makes it up successfully, I will have made three posts in a 24 hour period. If people can define a recession as an economic downturn for two quarters, I can define the “return” to blogging as more than two posts in a 24 hour period.

Or something like that. And now for something not all too completely different.

World of Warcraft

This game has been a… “game changer” in a couple of instances in my life. It has made me a hermit, lost me the A in a very A-able engineering class, and helped me keep friendships across state lines. Needless to say, the online phenomenon that is WoW has changed my life for the better and for the worse.

I recently picked up the game a couple months back with the intention of enjoying the game’s content from 60 to 70. Which I did. A bit too much. I even started the insanity that is the 25-man raids. (I had run a 40-man before, but it was quite a while ago.)

I had quite the fun. But then at one point, it started to become work. I had to get the items. It started to become that addiction that I had once gotten rid of.

And this WoW business… it’s amazingly addictive. Take away everything… the professions, the pvp, the thinly veiled dress-up game… but keep the social always-on aspect of it, and it’ll still be extremely addictive. This is, of course, assuming you have actually passed the tipping point of knowing other people that are willing to play as much or even more than you.

[And here it comes: the obligatory reference to some web application] It’s like Facebook. But prettier. And instead of profiles or other personal information, you have… the Frozen Shadowweave Set.

And there you go. And so I quit. Maybe I’ll return with the next expansion. I don’t doubt that it is a possibility, but I hope to have something even more exciting to look forward to in the coming months.

And no, not Rock Band. Well… maybe.

Rock Band is delicious. The question is about the Wii version of this game.

Ever since I played Guitar Hero 1 on PS, I’ve loved the series. And it didn’t matter that I didn’t know the song: I liked the one-to-one mapping of notes to some strange finger combination on the fret buttons. I actually found more musicians and bands to listen to through the entire process of playing 1, 2, 80′s, and 3.

Disclaimer: The only song that I cannot beat on expert is Through the Fires and Flames. And I feel like if I really really practiced, I could. It’s just I don’t feel like dumping so much resource into it. Some people would say “lamer”, but I’m okay with myself. Maybe not.

Sidenote: Moving along, the whole point of this series is to get all this personal crap out so you guys can actually get some meaningful content. Let me continue for just a bit longer.

Fast forward to recently when the Wii version of Rock Band was announced, as well as the news about the whole gimpedness of it all. No DLC. At all. But then, a glimmer of hope was found in the form of a song pack disc, Track Pack Vol. 1.

So it seems like I’ll be buying this. Another $170 thrown towards “Entertainment”. (I’ll most likely be renting the song pack from Gamefly, though.) I better start saving now because my budget just doesn’t allow $170 for “Real-Time Interactive Music Simulation”.

What else… What other “games”

Scramble? No. I hate that game.

Other Wii games? Boom Blox will be coming very shortly. Zack & Wiki is amazing. WarioWare, as I said before, was an incredible party game.

Yeap, that pretty much sums up Video Games.

One More Thing

Right. Portal.

That was one of the most disgustingly amazing games ever. I still do not understand to this day the infatuation with the Companion Cube, but it was like eating sticks of butter. Hmm… butter…

And that ends. Video Games.

And that ends, the three part series on the three of most pertinent things of my life: Twitter, Health, and Video Games. It’s kinda sad, really, but at least I got the ball rolling.

I think now that the ball has started to roll, I need to make sure there’s enough ground for it to roll. The blog is in disrepair (category structure is screwed up, commenting is also screwy, older/newer links are not working correctly) and I intend to fix it. Maybe this week.

Closing

I like sidenotes, tangents, and disclaimers. But I’m realizing how much they break up the flow of the posts. I have to figure out how to do prettier footnotes with little superscript numbers. Bah, more work to do on the blog itself, I guess.

Let Me Try This Again, Part 3.1: Entertainment

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This is what I do these days to wind down from a day’s work. And a night’s work. Now that I think about it, I “waste” a lot of time. Hmm.

Music: Electric Guitar

Yes. The fake and the real kind.

Guitars AND Vaccuum.

I am also known to rock the vacuum from time to time. See the TV exploding? It’s because of the vacuum Star Power .

Starting out with the songs that I know all too well from Guitar Hero 3 (such as “When You Were Young” by The Killers, “Reptilia” by The Strokes, and “My Name Is Jonas” by Weezer), I’ve begun to play around with the tabs. It’s good fun.

  • Money invested
    • Real Guitar: $99 for amp. ~$40 for cable, picks, strings, and tuner.
    • Fake Guitar: $90 for guitar and game (the other set was a present for Derek, but I get to keep it around until he gets a Wii)

I’m thankful that Derek had a electric guitar that he wasn’t using. Or I might have invested a bit more.

Art: Wacom Bamboo Tablet

Wacom Bamboo Tablet

I love user interface devices. One of the many reasons why I got the Wii was to get that delicious Wiimote.

With this tablet, I’m going to start maybe possibly drawing a few things. It’s going to be deathly useful for drawing diagrams on the computer, as well as just using it as an alternative mouse input. I might finally start up that web comic I’ve been wanting to do for so long. I make no promises.

Ink.app isn’t that great, however. I’d recommend against using this for handwriting recognition.

  • Money invested
    • $67.62: Money going to good use. For the blog and elsewhere.

Actual “Waste” of Time: Video Games

As a child, I was always told that video games were a waste of time. I don’t think I’ll ever fully be able to shake this stigma. However, I’m slowly but surely realizing that I will probably be gaming until the day I die.

Like reading a good book (I haven’t done that in a while), listening to a great song (what are these “CD”s or physical media you speak of?), or watching a great movie (I still haven’t seen Iron Man, and no, I don’t know why), certain games will enter into the general populace. In my opinion, this hasn’t happened yet, and so I’m okay with having this slightly wrong view on video games. When the “public” thinks that games are a great way to enhance hand-to-eye coordination, increase motor skills, enjoy people’s company through online play without any concern to geography, strengthen real relationships, supplement actual workout routines, improve creativity, bring about relaxation, diminish tension…

Moving along. Hope to finish this two part of the third part of the series tomorrow. With a commentary on the conundrum I’m having with Rock Band and the Wii.

Start of A New Week

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Now that I’ve caught up with my daily postings… here comes the list of things to come.

Dean Knox: He will be leaving for Chicago tomorrow. I’m going to miss him… for about a week. I’m sure we’ll see each other more often… actually, I lied. He’s most likely go into a hole larger than last year, with his 18 hour course-load, as well as his job. Need to make sure to pray for him while he’s away in Boston, talking to all those Harvard peoples.

Dan Sun: Got back tonight to Champaign. He’ll be working at Moto like he did last semester for this week and for the semester to come. He’ll become my new WIMPE partner. I finally get to do some cardio… whew… And I Dan’s going to be a replacement chef for Dean, also. I’m sure Dan’s got lots of things to teach me in the art of cooking.

Grace Sue: Randomly running into her today definitely made me smile. We haven’t kept in touch for… like… two years. The one time I remember seeing her was running into her at 12:30 service 2nd semester, senior year. Hopefully, I’ll be meeting up with her before the small group schedules start up again.

Derek Remund: I will hang out with him, either on Monday or Tuesday, depending on what’s better for him. Dean occupied the last few days, but I need to have some nice times with my good ol’ freshman year roommate. I’m sure there will be much Guitar Hero-ing, as well as some “The Office” episodes… Yum.

John Kim: If this kid ever comes to town… then we’ll hang out. But other than that, I can’t promise anything.

ex-Atrium 103: My last year roommates. We’ll have dinner maybe on Thursday.

Basically, the rest of the week is the same old. I’ll work in the mornings… hopefully I’ll be able to procure a parking spot before the semester starts… The three jobs I have, plus the blog… as well as reading the Bible and other random things, as well as restarting with Japanese and Hanja. Freaking Ruby… is still on the list…

Absolutely nothing has changed… I don’t like how I can’t cross things off the list so fast anymore. It seems like most of my things to do are… going to take some time. I guess I’m realizing more and more how impatient I am in a lot of ways.

So, alas, here’s to another week. Waking up at 7 AM. I love routines… when then work out…

Maybe I should start aiming for 6, to get myself to MP… I’m going to give this a more serious thought if I do get a parking pass on campus.