It seems like every year that passes Christmas comes faster than ever, seemingly in the blink of an eye. I remember being a kid and thinking about how long the year seemed to drag out waiting in great anticipation for Christmas Eve to come. This is the time Christians all over this world celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we must remember to keep that the focus for the season, not the white-bearded jolly fat guy who has the seemingly flawless ability to land reindeer on millions of rooftops without damaging shingles while at the same time not disturbing the neighborhood dogs.

This time of year conjures memories of my grandparents as well as many other memories of my various family members. I hope that all who read this bloggh have the opportunity to create new memories with the ones they care about.

Over part of these holidays I have the very cool opportunity to head over to California and hit as many of the major theme park attractions as I can with my wife, which is when she’ll get the best chance to laugh at me while I temporarily transform into a 5 year old on these rides….although I think I’ll have to bring the kleenex for “It’s a small world”…that ride gets my wife every time…(not really). It’s going to be very strange going to DisneyLand without Star Tours, but all that means is more time on Indiana Jones and Space Mountain.

Happy Holidays and prayers to your family and friends

Tonight I played MarioKart Wii with a good friend of mine and my wife. We decided to jump onto the MarioKart Wii Wi-Fi network to take on our region of players in the world. I am extremely impressed with how easy the Wii connectivity setup is and the way MarioKart’s multiplayer is set up to where the user really doesn’t experience much of any lag at all. The team-based play all around is addicting. There came a point in tonight’s gaming where a person joined by the name of “asertea.com” and when the match started right off the bat he’s in star mode as well as gigantic mode, along with having an infinite amount of red shells shooting out at all directions at such a rapid speed that all you hear is happy music but all you see are red shells flying all over the place and everybody in the game getting tossed rampantly around the map. One thing I did find hilarious about this was that when I unlocked my Mii to be able to play in the game my Mii sounds like Barney the purple dinosaur with sayings like, “Heeeeyyyy!!” “Wooowwwwweee!” “YAAAYYY!!!” so to hear these three phrases being said rapidly over and over again as my guy is being violently thrown around a retro-SNES race track while this happy music is playing made me laugh to the point of tears.
Something tells me that if this had taken place on my PS3 in a Modern Warfare 2 server, it would not have gone so well for the hacker as the amount of sheer verbal abuse they would endure from the other players would be enough for them to seek psycho-therapy.

E3 looked great, and of the many games that are coming out I’d say I’m looking forward to “The Old Republic” the most, as well as “GoldenEye” which is coming out on the Nintendo Wii. I remember several days where I’d be up all hours of the night playing with a neighbor of mine while growing up. The moment this game gets to pre-order status I’m jumping on it.

My only real complaint about future games is that I think there needs to be a “Left 4 Dead” on the PS3. If you’re looking for a game to freak you out while you play it at night this is it. I had gone over to a friend’s house to play the original Left 4 Dead with him on his XBox 360 and it was unbelievably terrifying as we played it in a pitch-black room with surround sound hooked up in full theater-style. All I will say is I’ve never been terrified like I was in that moment. FEAR 3 is another game that is coming out that will provide some pretty freaky stuff for the player.

The future of gaming is looking very bright in my opinion, and I hope it continues to progress.

I was talking with the tech guy at one of my schools and he brought up how his son’s favorite superhero is Superman, and then we started to chat about the movies that have all come out since the original motion picture. We all know that Superman I and II were epic in their own rights, and we also know that both of those movies have an entirely different feel to them than either Superman III and IV. I recently watched footage of Christopher Reeve on the Johnny Carson show giving an interview just prior to Superman III’s release. What I found funny is that he specifically intimates in later interviews after the movie that he believed Superman was meant to be a high quality and special character, and once the quality of sequels starts to diminish then it’s time to hang up the towel and pursue another path.

Superman III:

The Camel Spider. That is one massive beastly spider. Out of curiosity spurred by Booyor-izzle’s gigantic Gator Gar or whatever that thing is, I took the challenge upon myself to find something that might challenge that Gator Gar for “Things to keep you awake at night” and so here is this thing. These are generally found in the desert, these things also vary in size from very small to ridiculous large. If you are bitten by one of these things, all I can say is get help. Much like scorpions the lethality level of these things is dependent on their size. Here is another form of the camel spider:

I have discovered the surefire method to killing both of these freakish things that not even a can of Ultra-Raid Spray can do. This weapon is so powerful that if you shoot the Gator Gar or this spider, it will send a telepathic message to all of their respective kinds saying, “Step the Eff Off o’ me”.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chuck Norris approve:

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Axel Foley is slated to make a return appearance in “Beverly Hills Cop IV” in 2010, the role being played reprised by Eddie Murphy. In a recent interview with Extra TV, Eddie Murphy expressed doubt in returning as Foley as “the movie wasn’t ready to be done.” In a later interview with MTV, Murphy stated that he would be returning for a fourth installment. One reason he stated was that “the third Beverly Hills Cop was horrible!” and that he “didn’t want to leave it like that”. Michael Brandt and Derek Haas were hired as screenwriters for the film. Director Brett Ratner has been quoted as saying, “It’ll be back but it’ll be a whole new interpretation.” What that means in code is, “We want to make money, and the way to make money is to make it rise to a similar quality as the original.”

If they can’t bring back Pinchot, they could certainly bring in Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs to fill in for him, I’m sure he would be more than happy to do it considering his team won’t be getting very far in the post-season anytime in the near future.

Check out the similarity:

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Ghostbusters III is another 80′s franchise that has been talked about for some time, only as a fanboy’s dream and fantasy, that is up until now. In a telephone interview, Comingsoon.net talked to writer/director Harold Ramis (Year One, Analyze This, Groundhog Day) and received some details about the upcoming Ghostbusters III project. Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd wrote the scripts for the first two movies and both starred with Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, and Sigourney Weaver. Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, who are regular writers for “The Office”, are developing a first draft of the script and Ramis says that he’s confident that the new movie will feature most if not all of it’s original cast:

“I wrote the story for the new movie with Eisenberg and Stupnitsky, and Dan Aykroyd and I’ve been consulting. We’re just waiting to see a first draft and where we are … Everyone says they’ll do it; they’ve all said they’ll do it. No one has signed anything yet–we haven’t signed anything either–but there’s the spirit of willingness in the air.”

Ramis also touched on whether or not the original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman will take control of the new movie:

“I don’t think he wants to; I’m not sure I want to. It’s just a lot of open questions. Until we see a script, I don’t think anyone really knows how they feel about it. Everyone’s open to doing it, that’s the main thing, that’s what got it moving forward.”

Ramis says there will be a much younger team of Ghostbusters for this adventure, with the original characters taking on more of mentorship roles(Bill Murray a mentor?).

With all of that said, “Ghostbusters III” is currently slated for a release sometime in 2012, if that actually comes to fruition or not we will find out.

My only request is that if you are going to bring back installments of these great franchises, please put forth a product that is going to be worthy of the names. If you don’t believe you can produce a great product, don’t do it…otherwise you’ll end up with George Clooney and Val Kilmer trying to be Batman-like results..the same thing that teachers tell us from a very early age about anti-drugs applies directly to this concept, “just say no”.

The day has come, I have finally achieved unlimited rocket launcher ammunition as well as unlimited ammunition on any gun known to man in Resident Evil 5. If any gamers read this article and are wondering about how to go about doing these, be careful who you listen to…but here are the ways to do it:

1.) There’s an actual option you have to unlock called “unlimited ammo” in the game, but the only way to unlock it is to beat the game from beginning to end. Once you’ve beaten the game go into chapter select and switch on the mode “unlimited ammo” to yes.

2.) Even though you have turned on unlimited ammo you need to fully upgrade each gun you wish to have as being infinite. Once you have fully upgraded the weapon of your choice, you must go into the main menu and select “Bonus Features”, and under that there will be an option to exchange points to unlock the specific gun’s unlimited option.

3.) To unlock unlimited rocket launcher ammo you have to beat the entire game in under 5 hours. The RE5 guys make this a bit easier because you can go into individual chapter-select mode and beat one chapter at a time until you get the time of completion down to your desire. The moment that you beat the game in under 5 hours a happy message will bleep up on screen that says “unlimited rocket launcher”, and after that happens you’ll get a cold sense rush through your body and you will hear a faint “oh noooeesss” come from the zombies….not really.

The game was pretty tough, and even frustrating at times, but upon completion and once you’ve taken the liberty to unlock all the unlimited options for weapons you want it becomes even more fun than before. You can tell that the developers knew how much the player would desperately want more ammo, because throughout most of the game unless you headshot every zombie you ever come across, even bosses, you still won’t have enough ammo to make it…so now with unlimited ammo, all I can say is the 4 horsemen of the apocalpyse come in the form of the:

AK-74 ,
Lightning Hawk Magnum ,
RIF Sniper Rifle ,
and the Rocket Launcher .

I think I even heard one zombie whimper out a “please don’t hurt m-” at which point at point blank range he got blasted in the face.

^-The face of the first zombie to witness the apocalypse.

There has been a drought of quality in games over the past several years where a great game can easily be lost in the midst of sub-par products. The near future has great potential to provide gamers with some of the best games to come out in a very long time. The following are titles that I am looking forward to the most to come out:

1.) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

2.) Diablo III

3.) Star Wars: The Old Republic

4.) StarCraft II

5.) The Conduit*

The reason I placed an asterisk by the title is because about 10 years ago an independent group of developers coming from out of nowhere named “Dynamix” showed the entire gaming world what a real team-based FPS game is supposed to be all about, so here’s to hoping that these guys put out a great product. The jury is still out with this game. The Conduit guy has gone from looking like a geeky kid showing up to a nerd convention to looking like a futuristic Johnny Cage from Mortal Kombat.

All of the games that I listed above each have their own potential to be incredible games that will suck the lives away from millions of normal average citizens and transform them into cave-dwelling hermits whose skin burns at the slightest contact with sunlight –

Who knows when StarCraft II or Diablo III will come out, Blizzard seems to be taking their sweet time with both titles and fans world wide have clung to rumors only to end in disappointment. Another RPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic has promise because the vehicle behind it is BioWare, and they have yet to let me down…just hoping this will not be another Star Wars: Galaxies.

In my opinion Modern Warfare 2 will be the redefinition of shooter games by ushering in a new style of teamplay action. This game is the one I am most excited for, and since Infinity Ward is behind it I have full faith that they will spend a considerable amount of time making an incredible game.

Today after I got home from playing for Easter services at my brother’s church, I fell asleep as I had gotten up before any rooster knew what was coming. I was awoken by a loud man’s voice saying, “BILLY MAYS HERE!!!” that sent me in a state of temporary shock trying to figure out if there was an emergency situation around me, all to realize that it was just Billy Mays shouting his message to the rooftops about how much mini-portable lights will keep me from falling down the stairs or over the dog during the night time.

Later on I was watching TV and I came across a guy I’ve never seen before, and I hope to never see again. The product he was pushing was the “Sham-Wow” but he has an interesting approach at trying to get you to buy his stuff. He uses sarcasm and insults the viewer enough to where either the viewer walks away feeling dejected or wants to buy the product just to shut him up.

So I ask, which one is more annoying?

Billy Mays:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SabRvYb0eE

Vince:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwRISkyV_B8

Holy crap. How much can elementary kids come up with when this day comes up? All I heard were jokes and lies about people either dying, riding unicorns, or even one 2nd grader comes up to me and says, “Guess who I saw today?” and my response was initially a thought to myself “if I ignore him and keep walking, maybe he will go away.” That did not happen how I wanted it to. Infact the kid runs up in front of me tugging on my pants and screams this time “GUESS WHO I SAW TODAY?!?!?” with eyes bulging out of his face, and I respond with, “Barack Obama”, and the boy says, “I SAW DARTH VADER and YOU LOOK LIKE HIM!!” and I responded with silence….puzzled and wondering what I need to do to get away from this psycho as fast as possible, and then the boy yells loud enough for the entire neighborhoodz0r to hear, “APRIL FOOLS”. I looked at him and I said, “haha…guess what….you almost had it right, I’m Darth Sidious..” he looks at me jaw dropped and says “are you really him?” which I followed up with..”No.” and walked away.

This was my face at the end of the day:

It’s all good, but I definitely thought of the high school students that I’ve regularly had the pleasure of working with and it nearly brought tears to my eyes to think, “Just a few weeks ago I was helping students learn about the inner chord structures and progressions found within the piece “Witch and the Saint” and now fast forward and what am I doing? ‘Old McDonald had a Farm”, which if I had it my way would be entitled “Old McDonald had enough of hearing kids sound like fart playing his song so he left the friggin’ barn”

No matter what happens to me during the day good or bad, seeing this picture will always bring out a laugh:

Darth Maul

vs.

Lobo

Superman

vs.

Perfect Cell from Dragon Ball Z

Lindsay Lohan

vs.

Mama from Mama’s Family

Who wins each match?

Resistance: Fall of Man had an epic single player storyline that was far greater and beyond the standard, “I’m in Mars and all I know is I’ve got a gun and I’m killing demons, no-one knows why, but I’m killing demons…*oops* I just farted.” Doom/Quake soldier storyline which has it’s place if you’ve just gotten out of traffic on the 101 freeway in the valley of the sun and you’re looking for a “civilized” way to take out your aggression. The major aspect that drew fans from around the world was the phenomenal “Co-Op Campaign mode” where you got to play the same storyline as two soldiers in split-screen team based style. That still is one of the most fun times I’ve ever had playing a game, because I wasn’t alone in a freakin’ room, and I could actually look at and converse with the person I was playing with in the same room *GASP*

Killzone 2 had been promised to have a patch added on post-launch to incorporate a 4-player campaign co-op. What happens? The game makers a month later come out and say, “It would just be too difficult to add in a co-op, and we don’t see a market for it.” The funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time was the 10 pages that immediately followed of fans ultimately PO’d at the sudden change. Here is the message that I’m getting from game makers nowadays, “We’re going to create multiplayer that will suit the average gamer because we assume they have no friends, play online with people who’s faces they’ve never seen before, have no siblings/cousins to play with, so we’ll screw over the rest of the gaming world that DOES have at least friends or siblings in a real life interraction setting.”

Here’s a message to them:

Any great Final Fantasy game has taken the company SquareSoft(now Square-Enix) at least 2-3 years to create, and any great Metal Gear Solid game has taken the same amount of time roughly. What’s the one thing these two franchises have in common? They’re legacies built on the basis of high quality product and competent game developers because they wanted to do the job right the first time.

I find the excuse, “It’s too difficult to do” a cop-out because some of the greatest games to ever come out were on the original Nintendo and guess what, they were co-op. Graphics have changed, technology has changed, but the one thing that should not change is the will and desire to give the consumer the best product possible. Believe me, you will make your money if you create a game that not only has a great single player storyline, but a great multi player experience as well with the added option of a co-op. Certain games just absolutely call for co-op, like Call of Duty, Battlefront, Resistance, Halo…you get the point.

If the console game makers are really wanting to know the secret to finally defeating the PC in the gaming war here is a hint, you can start by creating a solid and exceptional split-screen co-op option.

Online deathmatch or teamplay has it’s place, believe me I love it just as much as the next person, but it would also be cool to have the added option to be able to play with other people in a real-life setting as well.

Console game makers will never progress in the multiplayer arena if this is who they gear everything towards:

/>Betrayal.

The Sith have corrupted an old friend, persuading him with promises of fulfillment through passion, strength through aggression, unlimited power through fear and intimidation, and chants of “Yes we can”. Rage and hate consume him now, and forever he is lost, gone now is the old jedi friend to the dark battle station known as Idaho, taking the chiss “Zenon” with him. A wookie jedi is now less of a wookie having to use a replacement leg straight up out of Darth Vader’s linen closet. Weirdness is all over the place.

In the immortal words of Yoda, “there is another.”

For those of you who know me personally, you know that this year has been an interesting one full of transitions. The last dagger that I was hit with was that my normal hair cut place is now charging 40 bucks for a guy’s hair cut, and unless that’s going to be a life-changing hair cut experience with a shampoo hair massage by a super model, it’s not worth the 40 bucks.

Today was the start of my journey to find a comparable place that wasn’t expensive, and I took someone’s advice and headed over to the Arrowhead mall salon in JC Penny’s. I was surprised that I could get in without waiting for an appointment, but then I realized why when I was greeted by this:

This woman, to me, looked like what would be produced if my grandma’s old chain smoking decrepit neighbor and Emperor Palpatine had a love match. I was gauged about 3 different times around the neck and ear, and the conversation went about like this: Haircutter- “Come with me.” Slade- “Ok.” and dead silence from then on until she pulled out a hair gel bottle called, and I kid you not, “Short Fit Sexy Hair…guaranteed for Hard up hair” and right after I got past the initial w…t…h.. reaction I said, “Don’t ever use anything with the word ‘Sexy’ in it on me.”

I ended up walking out and my hair looked like this:

All I’ve got to say about that experience is

Finally, it’s a reality…Guitar Hero: Metallica brings the music of one of my favorite rock bands of all time to the gaming systems. Ever since the original Guitar Hero came out I always thought that the franchise isn’t really complete until they pick up some of the greatest and most challenging hits from Metallica. There’s nothing like ripping through songs like “Enter Sandman” and “Master of Puppets”.
The only thing I really hope they include is some sort of bonus tracks for the Symphonic-enhanced versions of their songs. Next up…Guitar Hero: Genesis! (Not likely but I’d be one of the first to pick that up)

*Nathan Hale’s face as he yells, “I’M NOT A FRIGGIN’ ONE MAN ARMY OVER HERE”

Resistance 2 is on the way with a release date of November 4th. I can’t wait for this game to come out, and I can’t believe it’s finally here. With Square-Enix having betrayed their fanbase and crossed the lines by having Final Fantasy on both XBox 360 and PS3, this game is the only thing that PS3 owners can hold over the XBox owners’ heads.