What I’ve been playing

Since my last post I’ve played kind of a lot of stuff.  I finished Resistance 2, got a whole bunch of trophies, and had a lot of fun with it.  I tried going back and playing it on hard, but started getting frustrated when I couldn’t beat the huge spinner boss, so I don’t think I’m going to commit to it, just like what happened with BioShock.  I don’t know how the hell I managed to get up the motivation and drive to beat Uncharted on the hardest difficulty setting.  Maybe I was just excited that it was the 2nd game I played for trophies.  Anyway, I started playing online, but didn’t really get into it like I thought I would.  Granted, all I’ve played so far is competitive multiplayer so I haven’t even tried co-op yet.  I may really enjoy co-op, so we’ll see.  So far its just confirmed that I’m really not very good at multiplayer deathmatch type of gameplay.  I still really enjoy playing Call of Duty 4 multiplayer, but I don’t think I would have as much fun with R2, which disappoints me a bit.  I guess I’ll find out for sure once I get around to playing co-op.

Also, I’ve been playing a lot of PSN games.  The most significant of which is Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix.  It looks amazing and plays nice, but like R2 its only cemented the fact that I’m really not very good at fighting games anymore.  This saddens me too, because I really really want to play and be good at fighting games and online shooters.  I loved playing Street Fighter 2 Turbo back in the day and was disappointed to find out that I had serious trouble doing well when playing the computer AI on medium difficulty.  Even after I switched to easy, I was still using up continues on almost every character I fought.  If I can’t even beat the computer, I won’t be able to even phase a live opponent.  Its to the point where I don’t even known if I should play Street Fighter IV because I won’t be able to do it.  I’ll spend more time with HD Remix but I fear I will never be very good at it.

The rest of the stuff I’m playing can be listed quickly:

Super Stardust Portable – This turned out better than I thought it would!  The lack of another analog stick forced the developers to use the four face buttons in a pretty creative way.  You can basically move your finger over the buttons like it was a joystick and the game can interpret the movements into a relatively decent facsimile of the smooth aiming movement.  And if you tap the buttons quickly in a specific direction, it automatically sprays your shots.  Its still no match for an actual analog stick, but it works better than I thought it would.  Also, the PSP could not handle showing the full 3D world, so they flattened out the playfield somewhat and made it loop around on itself so you still get the freedom of movement and layout of a 3D globe to fly around.  Its nice that they took the time to think about and address some of the limitations of the system, and it seems like their effort has paid off.

Age of Booty – Downloaded this when it came out but haven’t started it yet.  Want to though.  It sounds fun.

Blast Factor – I was enticed to try the demo once I found out it had been patched for trophies.  Its really awesome!  Its wierd playing a dual joystick shooter in a confined space after playing so much Super Stardust, but I really like the variety of the enemies and the presentation.  It gets really hard though.  Although, any dual stick shooter worth their salt gets insane after a while, so I guess its ok.

Soldner-X – This is a pretty cool side scrooling shooter.  Way hard, but cool music and cool weapons.  It reminds me a lot of Einhander, which is not a bad thing at all.  Einhander was awesome.

Prince of Persia Classic – I like this game but its way harder than I expected.  Probably won’t play it too often, but its fun for when I feel like playing that kind of game.

I also downloaded The Last Guy and Commando 3, because of Sony’s $5 sale.  Cool games, but not a lot of substance to either one.  $5 is just the right price for them.

Oh, and I checked out the latest issue of Qore due to it being free, and I gotta say I’m not that impressed.  I’ve been wanting to check it out but have not been willing to pay for it.  Its ok, but there’s nothing in an issue of Qore that can’t be gotten for free online.  I’m not willing to pay for it just for slightly different interviews and a few free demos and themes.

So far the only new retail games (this holiday season mind you) I have but haven’t gotten to yet are LittleBigPlanet, Dead Space, and Valkyria Chronicles, so I’m pretty proud of myself.  Next up is Age of Booty and Dead Space.  Plus I figure I’ll try R2 co-op.  I have to give it a chance.  Maybe it’ll blow me away?

Back to the old stomping grounds

The economy and the pay cuts I’ve taken in 2008 have finally forced me to do something that I was hoping to not have to do.  In order to make up some of the salary I’ve lost and to try and pay down some of our bills, I went and put in an application today for the Mayfield location of the company that sadly, still remains my longest single employer.  That’s right, Denny’s.

I have stayed in contact with the GM there because my old store in North Olmstead trained him and one of his other managers for their positions.  Every time I would go into the restaurant and see him, he would offer me a part time job.  I was always careful to never turn him down outright, saying that if the need ever arose for a 2nd job, I would let him know.  Well, I finally took him up on his offer and put in an application with him.  He called me back the same day and scheduled an orientation for the following night.  I figure once we are moved back to the east side it will be convenient that our home, Progressive, and Denny’s will all be within a few blocks.  Also, I am still able to every job in the place except cooking, which I am more than willing to learn if he wants to teach me.  Basically, I’m going to tell him that he can train me in several different job codes and use me where he needs me week by week or day by day.  He is familiar with my work ethic and that I was able to fill several roles at my old store so I don’t see him having any problem with it.  As lame as it will be to serve again, it has always come easy to me, I’m good at it, and its not a skill that ever leaves you.  Besides, I can honestly say that the most fun jobs I have ever had were serving jobs.

With this, hopefully we can start 09 on better footing and keep stable for a while, something that hasn’t really happened in a couple years for us.  2008 effectively kicked our asses, with setbacks coming pretty regularly throughout the year running the gamut from job losses and unexpected bills to failed housing arrangements and even the passing of close friend.  Part of our situation is undeniably our own fault, and I’m perfectly willing to acknowledge that, but much of it is simply due to bad luck and the economy.

That being said though, we are not the only ones going through hard times so we are far from being as bad off as some other people in the country.  Indeed, there were some really good things that happened this year.  A lot of which has to do with the great people in my life, friends and family alike.  Devon’s parents have been extremely understanding and helpful throughout the year with things like helping us with groceries and such.  I’m not sure how they feel about having to help their married daughter and 28-year old son-in-law, but they deserve a lot of credit for helping us out.  They have been able to weather the economic storm way better than us and I am very grateful for them and all of the other friends and family in our lives for their support, be it emotional or physical.

Also, I was able to help plan my high school reunion and reconnect with some people that I hadn’t talked to in years.  Devon and I had a really good first year of marriage and I was able to have a LOT of fun on my first motorcycle.  And I am thankful that while I don’t talk to them near as much as I used to, I am still able to keep in touch with all of my Chase homies from time to time.  And to top it off, we had a great election and I got a job at a great company that has some real long term potential.  Now we just need to get Devon a job and things will be back on the road to cool beans!