Fat Nerd’s Creed
Permalink | June 14, 2008 by John in Entertainment, Humor, Video Games
If you haven’t played or at least seen Assassin’s Creed, you probably won’t find this the least bit entertaining, but I was friggin rolling…
Breaking the Addiction
Permalink | May 29, 2008 by John in Video Games
I finally took the Assassin’s Creed disc out of my Xbox360. I completed all of the modules (memory blocks), completing all the investigations, saving all the citizens, assassinating all the major targets and of course, defeating the final enemy. I found all of the flags (several hundred) and killed all 60 templars, due in large part to this site. This is one of my all time favorite games, more than Halo, more than Gears of War and more than Call of Duty 4. Those are all great games, but Assassin’s Creed is still a notch above. I love the look of it, the design, the combat system and I love the tie-in to real history (although not completely factual, of course). My only niggling complaint is not being able to skip cutscenes, especially after completing the game the first time. There are several “achievements” I probably won’t bother with (I don’t feel the need to pickpocket 200 throwing knives). I’ve really got to move on with my life. This game has been all-consuming.
Update: Turns out I only have three achievements left, and two of them can’t be done without replaying the entire game from the beginning. That will wait until next Fall or Winter. The third I can get. It’s called “Eagle’s Dive” and requires that you kill 50 guards with combo attacks. I should be pretty close to that one.
Update Update: I couldn’t stay away. I had to get two of the three remaining achievements. The only remaining one will have to wait until I play the game again from scratch.
Still Worth It
Permalink | April 7, 2008 by John in Entertainment, Video Games
So after seeing this post, notes on “netflix analyzed”, I had to run the numbers for myself.
- I’ve been a Netflix subscriber since August ‘03.
- I’ve paid $1,119.04 in dues. I’ve changed plans a few times but according to Netflix this is the exact amount I’ve paid in that time. I’m currently at 2-discs-at-a-time but I’ve been up to 4.
- I’ve rented 249 discs from them, including all TV series discs and discs I’ve returned without watching (6 of the latter). Some TV shows have 3 discs per season, some 6 or 7. I’m just counting each disc, regardless.
The verdict? I’ve spent $4.49 per rental. This doesn’t take into account the gas I would’ve spent driving to the video store for rentals and returns. This also doesn’t take into account the added-value of the Netflix online application, which is constantly evolving and improving. Their online application is just stellar.
Gamefly, the video game equivalent of Netflix, is not going to fare as well because I tend to keep video games much longer than movies. But renting video games costs much more than movies and it’s still better than buying each game. I’ll probably calculate the value of that subscription more on a months-kept-per-disc. If I can keep that below 2 months-per-disc it’s worth it.
Litmus Test
Permalink | March 28, 2008 by John in Video Games
I’ve always thought there was a litmus test for everything. Take ethnic restaurants for example. When I go to a Chinese restaurant for the first time I usually try the cashew chicken. When I go to a Mexican restaurant, the chimichanga is the indicator of quality.
So I’m just about done with Assassin’s Creed on the Xbox. It is an outstanding game, but just how great is it?
I have dreams about it.
There have only been a few games that have made me obsess so much that they invade my dreams since the early 90s: The Doom series (mostly 1 & 3), the Halo series and now Assassin’s Creed. Other games, such as Gears of War and Call of Duty 4, while very good, didn’t invade my slumber. Of course this is entirely subjective and perhaps only subconscious. I’ve had countless dreams that were similar to video games, but they don’t resemble any specific game, and there was some other issue involved.
I’m a god-Damned Precog Sometimes
Permalink | February 25, 2008 by John in Consumer, Uncategorized, Video Games
A couple weeks ago over on BonnevilleAmerica.com, in a thread about Blu-ray vs. HD DVD (hey, it’s winter - we have to have something to talk about), I was saying the Xbox360 HD DVD add-on drive might be worth it if it dropped below $50. At the time it had been lowered from $179 to $129 in the wake of several companies announcing they would discontinue carrying HD DVD discs (Netflix, BestBuy, et al). WELL… (emphasis mine):
Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) — Microsoft Corp. plans to stop making HD DVD players and cut the price of existing supplies by more than half after the leading promoter of the high-definition video format conceded defeat to Sony Corp.’s Blu-ray last week.
“From tomorrow, we will cut the price to $49,” said Grace Chou, a Taipei-based spokeswoman for the Redmond, Washington- based company. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game console includes a standard DVD player, and customers can buy an HD DVD machine to use with the console at $119.99 through retailers such as Amazon.com.