The Lamer Gamer

Trying to decide if it’s worth picking up StarCraft II if the only PC I have that’s capable of running it is the one on my desk at work.  My work environment is kind of a joke, so it’s unlikely I’d be caught, but still, I like to devote a lot of time to a new purchase and I’m wondering if I could really just close my office door and ignore the world for a few weeks.

Already, I’m just spending my time catching up on music I haven’t listened to in 15 years, but that’s basically accepted practice at any job isn’t it.  Somehow just found out that my phone can receive FM radio, so that’s been awesome, as I never bothered to load music onto it.

Ran 2.5 miles this morning. I wonder if there’s a 5K I can register for any time soon.  Probably.

Actually getting up ass early and running 4 miles helps too.  Not sure how I pulled that off after the night of dodging firework debris and downing High Life and Coors Banquet Beer.  On that note, if you should ever have the opportunity to sit 30 feet away from where a series of firework mortars and such are being set off, it’s a good time.  Have bits of gunpowder smelling wrappers fall on you, some of which still enflamed, is a trip.   Use your best judgement as to whether the persons controlling said display are licensed and skilled enough to have you sitting so close.

Anyway, LHP is okay.  I’m just watching someone else play right now.  I was never really into the books or movies so it’s not as much of a draw for me as Lego Star Wars or Indiana Jones were.  Still, the TT guys came up with some new mechanics like the set of spells your character can use.  Not a vast change from the last few incarnations.  I feel as though it’s just too easy for them to just pump out Lego remakes at this point, and frankly, they don’t feel altogether fresh.  Lego Rock Band in particular.

To recap.  4 miles run, good.  Hangover, bad.  Participatory fireworks, good.  LHP, so-so, so far anyway.

4th of July.  Up way too early on a holiday.  Got in an 8 mile run before 9AM.  That should count double or something.

Considering I haven’t fired up the Xbox in 4-5 days, I’ve banked a good amount of play time.  I think I’ve nearly given up on Alpha Protocol anyway.  It’s really annoying trying to figure out how to get certain outcomes over the course of the game and even with my OCD I find it unlikely that I’ll get 1000/1000 out of this one.

Made a slight mistake in grabbing Alpha Protocol.  It’s not that it sucked bad in general, but it did suck bad at being an RPG.  About the only thing that they get right is the abundant talking.  Other than that, it tries to be a Mass Effect-ish action RPG and it’s just not well executed.  The inventory customization bit fails as the weapons just don’t feel very different when customized and aside from the Endurance/Damage Reduction bonuses on armor, nothing else feels like it has a huge effect (e.g. hacking bonus).

On to another pet peeve I have.  Without reloading saves at critical points 3+ play throughs are necessary to get all of the achievements.  I know I’m just achievement whoring at this point, as enjoyed my one play through but am now fast forwarding through all the dialog and  at the same time trying to pay enough attention to it to sway one NPC or another into doing what I need for the achievement.

On the plus side, since this game isn’t so awesome and I already sent back Red Dead, I’ve been getting a little more exercise.  about 10+ miles this week.  Nothing ridiculous, but still good for me.

Lego Harry Potter on its way.  Gotta get something family friendly once in a while.

Finished up Mirror’s Edge this weekend, which felt rather challenging, though it might be that I suck that bad.  Mostly it was the Speed Runs that got on my nerves.  Very similar in feel to completing the campaigns in AvP on nightmare difficulty, where in either case, one little screw-up has you restarting the level.  I’m really impressed with Mirror’s Edge in a lot of ways, it’s innovative in terms of gameplay and controls + it’s a game that doesn’t center around guns.  Lord knows I’ve got enough FPS style games around.

Inspired by MI, I’ve run around 10 miles in the last week.  No, not really.  I did run 10 or so, but because I’m already registered for races that I’m going to get murdalized in if I don’t train up hard in the next week or so. 

I see that Supreme Commander 2 is out for 360, and while I was so dissapointed with the first one, I’m going to give it another shot.  so MI is heading back and we’re gonna see about renting SC again.  Maybe there’s a patch for the lockups…  Maybe…

In addition to running all over the place in Mirror’s Edge, I’ve managed to strap shoes on my feet and run around in real life too. Not sure how many miles I put on, but my calves hurt pretty bad…

Mirror’s Edge is kicking my ass.  I need some mad practice as the speed runs are kinda tough for me.  Finished Chapter 1 in 6:00.60, OUCH.  I’m sure I could have dicked around a little less and saved that .60 somewhere but whatever.   I’ll get it done.

Other good things this weekend.  Finished Both Halo 3: Annual and ODST: Deja Vu, so Only ODST: Endure left to go for Recon armor.  Also managed to score the free night vision specs from MW2 for the ole avatar. Of course everyone else has them too, but they’re still cool, and way oversized.  Also stole the same guy’s airdrop crate 3 times in the same match last night.  He must have been hating on my pretty bad.

Yeah, so I’m at least moving again. After last summer’s injuries and general winter laziness, I’m back to running. About 2 miles last night. Nothing big. Probably try for more this evening.

On that same note, Mirror’s Edge is very cool. I’m sure it’s a one-and-done for me, but it’s visually fun and it’s like a big puzzle game. Also, not firing a gun is nice once in a while.

Wallpaper from whiterabbittrails

Well, I covered around 5 miles this morning, some of it walking.   Fate has struck me down with injury. Shame, I’ve been doing pretty well with the plan and this is going to keep me from running for a bit.  We’ll see if the doctor can do something about it.

In the mean time, gotta start thinking of other trade off metrics for gaming, like 5 * (number of hours spent in gym).

Taking a trip and trying to keep up with my MPH running/gaming plan.  Did about 4 miles on the Coyote Creek Trail some walking as I’ve been prone to injury lately.  This probably has me falling behind as I played Resistance: Retribution pretty much straight through the 2 flights getting here.

Resistance itself doesn’t really seem all that great on the PSP.  The controls are a little annoying and the lack of 2 analog sticks really makes TPS (and FPS) hard to control.  Story is okay, but the voice acting is laughable.  Too bad, I kinda liked the original on my buddy’s PS3, haven’t had a chance to see Resistance 2 in action yet.

So if I’m running harder, I feel like I should get a bonus since I’m essentially going to run less miles. 4 miles in about 32.5 minutes isn’t a crazy pace, but it’s fast for me. 3 mile race last week, probably about the same pace.

Good enough to get a solid number of hours in playing Dead Space. It’s so sick, I love it. Not only is it nice to look at, but truly creepy. The environment wigs me out.