Well, since I spend too much time in every blog complaining about all my issues, I would like to spend time saying how I really want my life to be RIGHT NOW. When I say RIGHT NOW, I mean at the age of 26 and how things are going for me. This blog will probably be boring to most unfortunately.

Driving a car with a full driver’s license (not a driver’s permit) is extremely important right now. I want a full license so I can drive around the country when I need to and not bum rides off of people. I feel that by having a full license and car, I can catch various deals I sometimes miss, meet up with people more often, and so on. Basically, it’s the biggest gateway to freedom. Getting my license isn't as easy as what some people may think. I basically have a name conflict. Let's same my name was Michael. My birth certificate would say Michael and my social security would say Mike. Previously this was no a problem, but due to many new laws it is (my name is not Michael)....

A while back, I briefly talked about my dating life, or lack thereof, in a post entitled "I identify with Tim Buckley".

As of that writing, I mentioned that I felt some pause when meeting new people, and I was urged by a few of you to open up and let my guard down.

Well,.. I'm glad I didn't, because as quickly as I met that last girl, she's now gone(kinda.. read on). Don't get me wrong,.. this post isn't intended to voice any complaint or to weep about "what could have been".

Quite the contrary.. I thought the manner in which this went down was pretty funny, and sadly the typical way the female mind works. I feel that some of you who fall over women and go out of your way for them could learn a thing or two.

So, in a nutshell,.. things had been going pretty smoothly.. and then one day last week she was clearly uninterested to speak to me on the phone. I asked her what was wrong, figuring she must have had a stressful...

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...pictureid=2363
The following is a question I posed to CheapyD. I figured it might make for some interesting discussion:


Cheapy I come before you as a humble CAG of the last 4 years asking for your help. You see I am about to defect from ebay due to their latest shenanigans of increasing fees, taking away the option of paying by check or money order, and setting a "maximum" allowable rate that one can charge for shipping and handling. See here for the discussion http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...d.php?t=196493

Long story short- I would like to take more of my buying and selling of games away from ebay and more toward Amazon and CAG. I am tired of feeding the hungry ebay monster. The more fees you feed it (and Paypal) the hungrier it gets and the more it takes away from sellers. Ebay is supposed to be a venue- I don't remember any other venues like the swap...

The first pics of the Mad Catz Street Fighter IV sticks have hit, and I don't like what I see. I know it won't bother most people, but I can't get comfortable with the "curved to your hand" Japanese styled buttons, which this one has. I loved the SF Anniversary stick and it's "4 in a row" button layout, it just felt right. I don't think SFIV is worth the $200 it will end up being if this price sticks. $140 for the top-of-the-line stick AND SFIV is another thing. This is my PERSONAL OPINION.



Now that I have gotten that out of my system, everything else about the premium stick seems on the money. It has fantastic interchangeable artwork which looks WAY better than on the Street Fighter Anniversary stick, as well as Start and Select buttons on the back of the unit to avoid hitting them by mistake. I believe it also has arcade quality(Sanwa...

Most of these will inevitably be favorite video game characters of mine as i'm an avid gamer (I mean I did bother to get an account at a website called Cheap Ass Gamer to save money on my games. Something I don't regret doing, as i've saved over $1000 and have only been a member for a little over a year)

These are in no particular order and in fact, most of them rank in about the same level.

1. Batman.



Most of his video games blow as of now, though Arkham Asylum looks like a really awesome game. You just have to hand it to the Batman. He's human yet he kicked Superman's ass, he takes orders from no one, hands everyone their asses, and he's one of the richest men in the world. I consider him a "Superhero" despite being human because of all the things he does to work his way up into that category.

2. Auron - Final Fantasy X

...

Ok, I am not an expert Blogger.

Last night I played NHL 09 more on my PS3 and found out that I can download Jeopardy on the PSN. I am all stoked and downloaded and I arrive at a WTF moment. No voices, multiple choice answers??? The PS2 version of the game was better then this!!! I then downloaded the Pain Amusment park. I have gotta say, after playing that same city over and over, I am pleased. My kids will play the hell out of that level this weekend. Hopefully, I can squeeze a few Madden and NHL games in this weekend.

I have preordered Rock Band 2 on the 360 and Force Unleashed on the PS3. I am very excited about both. Thankfully I should have Rock band at home with me on my day off monday before sinking my teeth into the Force Unleashed on tuesday.

Last Sunday True Blood began it's run on HBO. I didn't know exactly what to expect and i was very happy with what I got. The show was funny, has a strong plot thus far, and has me waiting for next Sunday for the next episode. The main characters are Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton.

Bill Compton is a vampire. To be more specific Bill Compton is a uber sexy vampire.
The actor who plays Bill the vampire is alright looking but when he plays a vampire he becomes sexy. This got me thinking. I really like the vampire guys, but why? I always liked Spike from Angel. As handsome as Angel was Spike just did it for me. Spike was cranky, dangerous, and mean. This is not what I like in real life, thats exactly the opposite of what I am attracted to.
I am not going to leave the boys out. My...

Well, I'm getting there. I couldn't resist placing the screen behind the front panel and putting the volume knob in place for a quick picture. This gives you a really good idea of what I am striving for.

Last night I removed quite a bit of material from the back of the front panel. This was done so the monitor will be able to sit almost flush with the Plexiglas. I say almost because of the 1/8" space needed for the "Transducer Wedge" on the front of the monitor.

This process was really no different than what I have been doing to remove the material behind the Plexiglas. I measured the distance from the edge of the monitor picture to the edge of the glass on all 4 sides (with the monitor on, of course). Then I laid out the lines, set up my router and a straight edge and cut out the rectangle so the glass would sit in the routed area.

Check it out - I am getting tired of photographing this thing!

...

While surfing the wonderful internet, I found this on the gizmodo blog
http://gizmodo.com/5048554/280951-po...my-of-slinkies

At first, the video isn't really exciting, but after 30 secs, it should "wow" you (I hope). I thought it was pretty bad ass to do something like this. I might one day make a slinky out of sticky notes, but I have not the time or the will to do it as of right now. Anyway, I hope you guys and gals enjoyed this.

source: http://gizmodo.com

GeoWars 2, man I can't get enough of this game. Every time I turn on my 360 I have to immediately check the leaderboards if I see that I don't have the top spot amongst my friends I have to play until I do.

So I must thank karatechop16 and xx otama xx for keeping me away all other games I should be playing such as Madden, NCAA, and my pile of "picked it up on the cheap and I want to try it," which right now is Conan.

Back to GeoWars2, it's crazy how much better you get at the game each time you play it. I'm getting scores that a month ago I would have never thought possible. It's the type of game when you finally get that high score you feel like nobody will touch that for a while, then BANG one of your buds kills it. I'm hooked, but Rock Band 2 is on the horizon...

As I mentioned previously I moved from Boston to Orlando. I'm a pretty big Red Sox fan so I...

By now we probably all have dabbled at least a little bit in some version of Puzzle Quest. Having played countless hours of the game across the DS, PSP, and XBLA versions, I've enjoyed this blissful union of puzzler and RPG many times over. I'm happy to say that the mobile version keeps the workings intact, but at a significantly scaled back scope.

So let's go ahead and just get the things that aren't present in this version of the game out of the way early. Take a deep breath... there's no changing or upgrading of weapons or armor, no sieging of cities, no mounts, no party members, no capturing of enemies, no multi-player, and, maybe worst of all, no "You are Victorious!" voice over when you are, in fact, victorious. And while that is quite a bit of content that is missing, there's still plenty of game here to ensure this is "Puzzle Quest" and not just "Puzzle". Actually, there are a good number of changes that'll help make this version of Puzzle Quest seem fresh for...

NOTE: Anyone notice the new bar at the top for all your CAG needs? Pretty good so far.



This is going to be a short post as it's late, I'm groggy, and I've been up all night playing(and beating) Naruto: Rise of a Ninja on the 360(I might do a review tomorrow on it, but nonetheless, it's pretty damn good for only $20). If you have a Zune then this news will make you happy.



The Zune's 3.0 update, which is friendly to first gen 30 gig Zune owners, hits next week(16th). Some of the things you can expect from the update are free copies of the Zune versions of Hexic and Texas Hold 'Em Poker, the first official Zune games, as well as the much requested clock. For a 6 page rundown of what to expect, check this link out.



Also, for a video preview of some of the new features check out this post on Gizmodo.

- Swim

Had a blast chatting with my fellow CAGs in the live show. Cheapy and Wombat were funny as usual. There were some dicks who called in about the piracy controversy and they were extremely rude to our beloved hosts. WTH douches? Frankly, I think Wombat was being too nice to them. Anyways, it was a lot of fun and I'm glad I joined in. I met a few new CAGs who were way cool and were doing some funny shit with their webcams.

Btw, HotShotX's GF is a real hottie. Lucky guy. Peace!

I have a problem that I assume most CAGs have.

My current backlog:
Eternal Sonata:Currently lost the will to complete the final few floors of the secret dungeon
Dead Rising:tired of grinding levels
Super Mario Galaxy: In the final galaxy, i just got bored, too linear for my tastes.
Zack & Wiki: too hard for my petit brain, too stuborn to look at an FAQ
Castlevania: SOTN: probably going to do this one first
Space Giraffe: i dont get the hate, if you enjoy non sober life, you enjoy this game.
Okami:no reason for my break, AAA game
No More Heroes: repetative, but fun
Fatal Frame 2: stuck
PGR3: just never got into it, 100% on PGR2 though...no idea why i dont like this one
Max Payne 2: ive had enough bullettime for a while
Panzer Dragoon Orta: gotten to the final boss many many times but never finished
Phantom Dust: im lazy, this game rocks face though
Baten Kaitos: card battles...

At Goodwill I picked up

I finally get to own a copy of Punch Out. I remember Shipwreck talking about Track & Field on his podcast a while ago and hopefully it works with my Power Pad.


not a fan of the game but for this price

I thought it was a good pickup.

and something non gaming

The Fleetwood Mac Albums are mint, and look new. As for Debbie Gibson it reminds me of elementary school dances where everyone stood around and just listened to music.

UPDATE:

Fantastic news! My dog was returned to me last night!!! Daisy is now safe at home with her momma, me.

Here's the story:

So my cousin/best friend came over after he got out of school at 10pm. We did another search around the block and I called out her name. No luck so we returned to my house and just talked in his car for like an hour. The neighbor came out and probably heard us talking about Daisy.

Once he left I edited the flyer and started looking at pictures on the Humane Society website. Once I finished I decided to shut my lamp and laptop and lay down in bed in the dark. It was around midnight at the time.

About a 1/2 hour later I heard a car door slam and voices. My bedroom window faces the parking area of our complex so I can see the backyard door/where we park outside my window. Since it's hot and our AC is broken I always have my window partially open.

Well a little while later...

First Nike SB Dunks that I have ever bought. I got lucky and found a site that had them at size 13. I might buy the gibsons but like mentioned before I cant find them in 13. I want to sell my hyperdunks now and pick up another pair maybe. Also, I got a B on my zoology test which is awesome.

You can see my Wii in the back, its been there for 2 months, why do people talk and email me about it, then flake at the end. Damn Craigslist people.

Well, not slothman, more ocelot...elf thing. Screw it, he's Daxter, and I have to change him back from small mammal to large mammal, because he fell in a pit of dark eco. The plot for this game is incredible in how it can mix such an epic world with such believable characters while maintaining a silly and ridiculous cover story...at least until the world domination/destruction plot flawlessly unfolds.

I decided to start the indefinite marathon of PS2 gaming on an upbeat note, and the first game I'm playing is Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy.

In between bouts of struggling with my physics textbook tonight, I picked up the Sixaxis and ran through the colorful world of light and dark eco, picking up some egg shaped orbs to trade to the locals and perpetually tripping into random voids as I failed to complete a double jump despite the fact I have beaten...

I live by the code!

oh well... I live by a lot of codes actually... so it's not like THE code, altho it might be if you're thinking of a particular one that I live by... really I don't kno...

but when I live by the code I dont mean it like I physically live within geographical distance of a code or something... umm... I don't kno what I'm talking about anymore...

btw I'm not talking about Konami Code... altho that's a good one too!!! Like if I had 30 lives... and I mean 30 REAL lives...

...

daaaaamn...

BUT ANYWAY!!

I like this picture!!



It's inspired me to live by sum new codes!

STAY HUNGRY!

STAY CHAMPION!

it's actually not new codes tho... I'm always hungry and champion style! it's the motivation for SKILLZ!

just...

Well Brother Cavil hasn't declared me frakked for eternity and boxed my line so I'm free to report on Three Games I want from LucasArts:



Come on LucasArts, contract out a Grim Fandango game to Tim Schafer and crew over at Double Fine and make this happen. Remember Sam and Max? Huh, look how nice that's doing on Gametap. You know, you could do something similar and bring some true episodic love to the consoles. And along the way resuscitate a dead franchise that has found a certain afterlife online. There is always more stories to tell of Crime and Corruption in the Land of the Dead.



Mind the blender. Tomb Raider is Indiana Jones with hot pants and double dragons. Uncharted is Tomb...