Xbox Live Blacklist.

I've had enough! Enough of these people who quit the game as soon as they're about to lose. It's so goddamned annoying and well... You know how it is. So I've decided to post all the people I come across that play this way, more for myself than anything, since no one reads this blog anyway. I'll update this as I come across these people.

Allright, it's time to break up this party and stop smoking.

So yeah, I've tried before but I really have to stop smoking before it's too late. I've only been smoking for about a year or so, and not in huge quantities either, but it's not good for you any way you cut it. With all that said, today I said to myself that this is it, I have to stop. So now it's been a couple of hours since my last cigarette and so far so good. As I said I've tried to stop smoking before and those times I've lasted about a week or so before I've caved in and started again. Hopefully it'll stick this time and last forever, or at least until I die.

With that out of the way, I can tell you that the hunt for achievements in Batman: Arkham Asylum I was talking about in my last post is going... So-so, I've gotten all the achievements related to the predator modes, but I can't seem to get the hang of this freeflow combo thing. I mean it worked fair enough in the story mode, but when you have to reach a certain score to get a medal, it gets a little harder. I haven't even been able to get a single medal in those modes. Then again, I haven't put that much effort into it either, so I guess I just need a little more practice. Other than that I've gotten various achievements here and there, like catching the batarang and so on.

I'm also trying to get into Guitar Hero 5 and Rock Band 2, but it's just not what it used to be. At least in Guitar Hero 5's case, or maybe it's just me who has grown tired fo rhythm games? Or perhaps the choice of songs in them, I don't know. But I'm having a hard time getting into them as much as I used to. Rock Band 2 is pretty much more of the same, which is a good thing. As I personally think that they tend to have better songs to play. Speaking of which, I've come to the conclusion that the difference between GH and RB is that while both have good songs, GH has a majority of songs that are great to listen to, not necessarilly to play. While Rock Band has more songs that aren't so big or that I've never heard of, but the majority of it's songs are great to play and let's be honest, nice to listen to as well. I think that's why GH falls short when you compare the two, or at least it does for me.

Speaking of guitars, today I've finally been able to properly tune mine, which is great because I haven't touched a guitar for months, due to me moving and having no cables for it mostly. So it's been standing there and looking all sad and lonely, without me being able to do anything about it. But today I got it done so I was able to play again, there was a short but well needed warmup time until I got the feel for it right again. So I played what I used to play and learned som new stuff and then played some more, great fun! I just wish I could get better faster. In case you're wondering, I'm using a Maison LPC-190 with a KORG Toneworks AX1500G and a Fender amp. Nothing but low-end stuff here, but you don't need high-end hardware for my skill level and what I'm playing either. I mean if it does the job, who cares? The one in the picture isn't mine but it's the exact same model and color. I tried taking a picture of mine but my cellphone won't connect with my PC so I gave up on it after trying a few minutes. Oh, and apparantly that model is one of the last hand made models that Maison produced. Which is good to know :).

Anyway, until next time, keep watching the skeeeeeeeeees!

The hunt is on!

The hunt for achievements that is. I've been playing Batman: Arkham Asylum since I got it last sunday and I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised of how good it actually is. It's great from start to finish, great gameplay mechanics, stealth, combat, characters, sound, graphics, art design, presentation, and above all, the setting. Pretty much everything is great about it. Sure it's not perfect, very few games are, but god damn it's good. With all that said, it's obvious to me that this is a game that I'll be getting 1000/1000 from, so since I completed it a few days ago I've been going after the Riddler challenges, all of which are now found. Now it's pretty much only the challenge modes that need to be completed and I still have to find that last Spirit of Arkham Chronicle, but I know where it is, it's just a matter of going there and scanning it. Another achievement I have left in the actual story mode of the game is Party Pooper, which I regret not getting on my first playthrough, because this means that I'll have to replay the entire game to get to that part again. Which is kind of annyoing knowing that I could have gotten it the first time through. But then again, the first time through a game is for enjoyment only, and then you start to worry about achievements. Or at least that's how I see it.

Doing all this, I've sort of ruined my sleeping pattern, since I've been staying up until 6-8 AM playing the game, trying to get all Riddler challenges. It's not too bad of a problem but you know, yadda yadda yadda and I'm really tired today. And it's been like that for the past couple of days, which has put a stop to my plans to go to the unemployment center. Which I really don't mind, because they don't really help you in any significant way, but I still have to go there sometime soon.

Something I neglected to mention in my last entry was that I'm going with my girlfriend to see Depeche Mode in Malmö in january next year. That will be my second time seeing them, but I absolutely don't mind seeing them again, they were great when I saw them in Copenhagen this summer. And the show in 2010 is part of the same tour, so I expect it to be as great as that was. Speaking of musical events, last monday the tickets for Rammstein were released, so I got up bright and early to get a hold of two tickets for me and my girlfriend. Which I did, eventually, but the site was so full that I didn't get any tickets until 15 minutes after release, and I sat there a good while before the release, so it wouldn't surprise me if it's sould out by now. In either case, that show will also be in Malmö 2010, but in february, but it's going to be awesome! at least I'm fairly certain of it, I mean it's Rammstein, damnit! Not a single live performance I've seen with them (on dvd or whatever) has led me to believe otherwise.

Also, fall is upon us. The leaves are turning a nice yellow / orange color and are starting to fall off their trees. It's getting pretty windy too, so you can feel that crisp winter air that's coming soon. I don't really mind either fall nor winter, I just wish we'd get more snow during the winter, but what can you do?

So... It's been a while.

As the title states, it has been a while, more than a year even. Another year gone by and lots of new things happening. Allright, maybe not a whole lot of new things, but there are some improvements I think.

So I just got home from staying at my grilfriend's place for almost two months now, and while it feels good to be home, I already miss her. That, and I'm bored. See, the plan was for my dad to pick me up at the station after my 4,5 hour long train ride from Stockholm to Malmö, which he did. It also included me picking up three games I had ordered, so I got home, got the order from home and off we went to pick up my stuff. I walked in feeling good about myself, thinking "finally, finally I can play some games". But as I approached the counter with the order in my hand, they guy working there abruptly said "Postal services are closed for the day". Great! Foofin' great! After that, my dad had to do some grocery shopping, so I went with him since I had pretty much no food at all at home, seeing as I've been away for almost two months, so that worked out great. Without my new games, though, I really have nothing to do now except sitting at my PC writing this blog, which is about time anyway, so I guess it kind of worked out allright anyway, huh? In any case, I'll go get em tomorrow instead.

The games I have waiting for me are Batman: Arkham Asylum, Guitar Hero 5 and a long overdue Rock Band 2. These are just a few of the titles this Fall / Holliday season I consider must haves. I'll be so damned broke when christmas comes around, but then again it's the same deal pretty much every year. You have the spring hit, the summer hit and then the 20 hits of the last three months of the year. And this year is no different from any other year in recent memory, even if a lot of the games I had interest in have moved on to an early 2010 release. I still look forward to Brütal Legend, Borderlands, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Dragon Age: Origins, Assassin's Creed II and to some extent DJ Hero. If you put that on top of the big games of early 2010 like Bioshock 2, Mass Effect 2 and Bayonetta... We'll you'll have about half a year of having awesome games but no money. It doesn't even end there, though, the second quarter of 2010 has some big games as well, such as Final Fantasy XIII for example. I personally won't be getting all of these games, mainly because many of them are games I'm not sure about, so thank god for demos! Right? And with limited money you have to prioritize.

WOW! Yeah you read it, World of Warcraft... I'm back in that godforsaken place of magic and wonder. But I do enjoy it, so what's the harm, eh? I got back in while I was at my gf, lack of games I wanted to play combined with a slow PC that couldn't run much at all made me do it. So I payed for 2 months of WoW and I've played on and off there, so now I'm almost at level 79, yay! For those of you that didn't know (which I'll assume is everyone since I'm the only one who reads this blog) I quit WoW shortly after Wrath of the Lich King was released. So it's kind of nice to get back and enjoy the game now that I'm not insanely tired of it. I'm actually having fun with it! I plan to get back in to raiding, although in a more casual manner than before. I'm trying to find a place where I can raid with good, dedicated people while at the same time have a life outside of the game, which can be pretty hard to do.

During my abscence from this blog, I've also gotten myself a PSP 3000. What a great piece of machinery that is, great for listening to mp3s on a long ass train ride for example. I bought it fairly recently, so I've only had it for about two months, around the same time I got to my girlfriend. Actually exactly at the same time, as I ordered it to arrive where she lives and not where I live. I got three games with it, Final Fantasy, God of War and Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters. After that I managed to get myself 4 more games while in Stockholm so I now have a total of seven games for it already. I'm not going to go into details because basically I don't feel like it. But man... Mercury Meltdown is friggin hard! I can't even get passed the fourth or fifth level, I forget which, but it's really early in the game. Luckilly it was only 99:- so it wasn't too bad of a deal.

So yeah, that's a short summary of what I've been up to since the last time, although it mostly covers more recent events, but then again who cares? No one, that's who!

All quiet on the southern front.

So.. It's been a while since I wrote anything here. I don't really know why, but I guess it's because I haven't really had anything I feel the need to share with anyone, which in itself is a moot point since no one reads this blog except for myself. In either case, I feel like writing something today. Not that I have something particular on my mind, but still.

So what have I been up to since last time? Well, a whole lot has changed in my life, at least on a personal side. I still don't have a job, I'm still too pathetic to do something about it, and I still don't have a drivers license. What I do have now is a ladyfriend, a girlfriend, a better half. Call it what you will, but I have one, and it feels great I tell you, great!

What complicates thing about our relationship is that we live about 700 kilometers away from eachother, which sucks donkeyballs, it really does. And to get to eachother isn't really cheap either, I guess the only positive side of it is that it really isn't too bad getting there. We do that by train and it's only about a 4 hour journey, so it isn't too bad. Unless you get the nighttrains, then it's closer to 8-9 hours and that ain't much fun. Regardless, it's totally worth paying and taking that ride.

I guess me being at her place for about a month is part of why I haven't written anything here too. I mean, don't get me wrong, she has an internet connection like everybody else, but there wasn't really a time where I felt comfortable with sitting down and just write my mind. Not that there's anything wrong with her or her place, I just never got in that mood I guess.

Enough about that... What's new in the wonderful world of video games? Well, the fall season is upon us and we all know what that means. All the big'uns start coming out, yay! For me there are and have been plenty of game releases to get excited about, a lot of interesting stuff, but not too much that's a crystal clear purchase.

We've already had Star Wars : The Force Unleashed, Spore, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning to name a few. And still to come this year is stuff like Gears of War 2, Fable 2, Mirror's Edge, Resistance 2, WoW - Wrath of the Lich King, Little Big Planet, Dead Space, Guitar Hero: World Tour and for the people not living in the US (which apparently has no worth to publishers) there's Rock Band 2. Of course that isn't everything, but what I'm trying to say that 2008 looks like it could be another year of great games, just like 1998 and 2007 was. Well, I hope at least.

For me, the crystal clear purchases so far are Gears of War 2 and Fable 2. That's not to say that I'm not interested in a bunch of the other stuff, like Dead Space for example, I'm very excited to see how that turns out. I'm also not sure if I will be getting Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero: World Tour, but if they will make them both work together, I'll probably get both. One thing I'm sure of is that I'm am not getting another set of instruments. Partly because I didn't enjoy the drums as much as everyone else seems to do and partly because I still live at home and there's simply no space for it. Oh and.. You know, money problems.

Out of the games I've mentioned there's only one that I've bought and am currently enjoying, and that game is Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. I'm chose to once again heed the call of the dark gods and play as a Chaos Magus. I used to play the tabletop game way back when and I used a Chaos army. Still fascinated by Chaos in that universe, there really wasn't a doubt in my mind about which race to play as. I guess I chose a Magus because I like being ranged but wanted to try the opposite end of things (I am/was a druid healer in WoW). And I have to say I like it so far, I'm only currrently level 16 but the game has a good feel to it. I mean sure there are bugs and odd stuff happening, but the game has been out for a week so it's only natural to see stuff like that early on. I also have to say that they seem to have managed to get the feel of constant war going on everywhere around you, which is great because that's what Warhammer is really all about. With that said, it's obvious that there's a big focus on PvP or RvR as it is in this game. It's basically just PvP but with people from different realms (servers).

I'm not usually that much in to PvP in online games, but somehow it does excite me in this game, I don't know if it's because it's fairly balanced or because of the great RvR scenarios or the open world RvR areas with their own missions in them. But it sure is fun to kill another player in this world.


So I guess that's me for the time being, in love, unemployed, wating for games to come out and enjoying those that already have. Well, the one's I've bought anyway.

War. It never ends.

And good lord how I wish it did. In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm referring to the fact that Call of Duty 5 is now officially going back to the dark ages known as World War 2. Here's a short excerpt from the Gamespot article:

"Confirming rumors, the game formerly known as Call of Duty 5 will indeed return to World War II, setting of all pre-Call of Duty 4 games. Developed by Treyarch--not series creator Infinity Ward--the game will portray US Marines fighting the Imperial Japanese in the Pacific. There will also be a "major chapter" in the game focusing on the invasion of Germany by the Soviet Union's Red Army.".

Now, why on earth would you do this? I mean, we've seen enough of world war 2 inspired games for the last... 3-4 years, at least. And just when you think that, finally, at long last, no more ww2 games! Treyarch comes along and does something like this. Insanity! I say let the creators of the series, Infinity Ward, continue the path they chose with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Or at least come up with something new. World war 2 games are seriously outdated and done with, just drop it allready!

Short post, but meh. I'll leave you with this video, which has no connection what so ever with Nintendo:

A month of inactiviteee.

As the title for this post suggest, it's been inactive for quite some time. Somewhere around a month or so. The main reasons for this is that I've basically felt no need to update it, there isn't too much going on that I feel is worth writing about in the world of games and game related stuff. Also I kind of forgot that I even had the blog for a while, so thanks to one of my friends for reminding me. In either case, I feel I should write something, what that is I don't quite know yet.

Not a whole lot has happened in my life or my surroundings since last time I wrote, but why bother when summer is here, barbecues are going off everywhere and everything just feels damned good. I've even gotten a sunburn, so I'm willingly spending time outside, which is unusual for me.

Truth is, I wouldn't even be outside if I hadn't gotten myself one of these babies. The Asus EEE PC 701, which was released in Sweden just this Monday, June 2nd. I've had my eyes on it since I first saw it on display at some expo in Taiwan last winter. It's like a dream come true for me, since it's what I've always wanted from a laptop. It's really truly portable, cheap and it's got all the features I'd want, and more, in a portable PC. Your standard laptop is at least $100 more expensive than this and if you get one of those it's got a bigass 15" screen, which is NOT portable. It feels more liek carrying around a bag of bricks. Whereas the EEE PC takes up little more space than a DVD case. Suffice to say, I'm extremely satisfied with my purchase. About the only thing I can complain about is that it's got no support for using your webcam through msn, only with Skype. It also has no bluetooth support, which I can live without, but it would have been so sweet. But it's so damned cute that all you need to do is look at it and all is forgiven.

I'm actually using it to write this very post in my backyard, which is... Great, in lack of a better word. Enjoying the sunny weather with a few ice cold beers while streaming music from your main PC and browsing the web and having conversations with friends over msn, IRC, whatever. All completely wireless, and pure awesome.

What else is new? Oh yes, Rock Band is just around the corner for us Europeans, whom no one cares about when it comes to games. I mean come on! It was releases over 6 months ago in the states! On top of that, it's going to be a whole lot more expensive over here than what it is in the states. Something I think is highly unfair, therefore I've signed this petition, and I urge every european to do the same. It's an unacceptable pricetag.

With all of that in mind, Guitar Hero 4: World Tour is due out this fall. So that begs the question; Buy Rock Band at an insane price or wait for Guitar Hero 4 to come out? They will offer the same things to users, and GH4 will offer more than Rock Band. Probably at a better price too, since it's and easy win for them if Rock Band refuses to lower theirs.

In either case, I'm split in the question. If EA/Harmonix lowers the price of Rock Band, I'll probably buy both, if they don't I might just wait for Guitar Hero 4. Then again, knowing myself, I might buy them both anyway, since there's really no other games out soon that are of interest to me.

Hmm, this blog turned out to be longer that what I expected it to be, but that's the way things go I guess, Peace out.