Things That Make Q Rage #3

CHRISTMAS MUSIC

Now, don't get me too wrong - I'm not a total grinch. I just loathe X-mas music (and no, I don't care whether you say "Christmas" or "X-mas"). I dread it every year -  you know, when Thanksgiving is around the corner and all the stores start playing that terrible, intolerable crap for music. It's the same songs every year done over and over again, just by different artists who want to make their own X-mas album. NO, I don't want to hear Jingle Bells by 4 different artists! And it's even worse by the fact that no matter where you go, there it is... it's played in every store, every radio station - you name it, it's probably there... It's probably even in prisons and the worst slums of the world, too. I don't care that it's "tradition" to sing or play the same damn songs over and over - that doesn't excuse the fact that they're annoying as hell and repeated by every country artist on the face of the earth.  I know that they'll never go away, so I have to tolerate it. This is why I might be slightly irritable if you see me in public with no escape from that damned music.

Things That Make Q Rage #1 & 2

This one's a 2-fer:

1) Driving up to Ohio (or anywhere, really) - there's a 3 lane highway. All 3 lanes are taken up by semi-trucks, all travelling the same speed. A wall of impassible slow-moving objects has occurred and I can't do a damned thing about it.

2) Having my GPS and Craig's Zune & coat stolen from the car, in practically the buckle of the bible-belt, Springfield, MO.  Gee, I can see that "thou shalt not steal" isn't really of any moral importance or value to such a community. Maybe I was being punished for being an atheist and attending an atheist/skeptics convention that weekend...

I'm gonna start posting things like these more often, just to let some steam out. Because the worst kind of society is that which keeps all its rage bottled up.

Kinect is Watching Me

Kinect

Like most people who play the 360, I would probably be labeled as a "core" gamer. There's not a lot of "casual" games that typically appeal to me, and I usually stick to playing either EA Skate, various RPGs or 3rd person shooters for the most part... but despite all that, I was actually excited for the Kinect. It's certainly an interesting piece of tech and it will most definitely get utilized over time by various developers, whether 3rd party or Indie (because M$ has spent so much money on this, it won't let the Kinect fail). All that said... I'm very glad I bought it. I've had so much fun (more than I thought I would have) just doing the simplest things. Even some of the "proof of concept" games like Adventures were fun. I spent from 10:30am when I picked the Kinect up from my local Gamestop until around 9pm at night playing. Damn, it was a workout, too. I haven't been that sore from head-to-toe since I swam across the Atlantic ocean in the middle of winter to save a baby from the evil den of fire-breathing dragons. I have the feeling I'm gonna lose some weight with the Kinect. I only own Adventures and Sports, with the latter being the better of the two games and definitely loads of fun, but there's no way for me to predict how games that come out in the next 6-12 months will turn out. I'm looking forward to it though, especially Child of Eden. If you're skeptical about the Kinect, at least give it a shot before shit-talking on it. Just make sure you have the space allocated to actually play it.


In Other News...
Fallout: New Vegas is buggy but still just as fun, if not more fun than Fallout 3. It's still worth your time if you like that sort of game, and it's certainly immersive. The environment is different, the "local" culture is different, and there just feels like there's more to do. I'm enjoying it thoroughly, but there's not much I can say more than "if you liked 3, you'll like Vegas". If you're an achievement-whore like me, you'll need to play through it more than once if you want to nab all the achievo's. I'm not even done with my first playthrough of it because I find myself wandering off to new locations like "OOH What's that over there?!"

Oh Tabitha... calm down

Fable 3 is also kind of buggy. It's nothing game-breaking though, so if you liked Fable or Fable 2, definitely give this a try. No more menus give the game a cleaner, more flowing feel, and the magic system got a considerable overhaul. You'll still get a kick out of wasting your time with random villagers, whether you're farting in their faces, dancing with them, having sex with them, or killing them to lower your morality. The story is something new because instead of "saving the world" from some grand evil, you're the driving power behind a revolution. Plenty of quests to keep you involved... though I keep going back to Bowerstone to fart on that one villager guy that I hate. The achievements are fairly straightforward except for the ridiculous one to collect 50 legendary weapons that you have to trade people online for. There are also more than my liking of collectible achievements, but I'll deal. Like New Vegas, I haven't actually finished the game yet, but I'm glad I bought it. I haven't really been disappointed by a Fable game before.

Your weapons level up to gain new abilities or upgrades

/* Q can somehow never make a character that looks like him in a game */