The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

So, I just worked 3 extra hours today. I didn’t really want to, and they were kinda sucky hours, because I was lifting dirty boxes for all of them, and then some. During this shift, I got asked to come in tomorrow, my day off, and I said sure. This means I have to work tomorrow night too. I’m excited.

Why did I do this? Well, part of it is just the fact that I have trouble saying no, but the major part of it is purchase guilt. I felt bad for spending so much on a new computer, so I feel like I have to work more, even if that would stress me out, to make up for it.

It’s honestly really stupid.

I mean, first off, I had the money. I had plenty of money to make this purchase. Secondly, I use my computer, what, during 90% of my leisure time? More? And it’s not doing everything I want it to anymore, because I push it so hard to multitask. It’s not stupid for me to invest more money into something I use so much, especially since it’s been like… at least 5 years since I upgraded. Thirdly, I don’t think anyone thinks it’s a stupid idea. Everyone understands. It’s all good.
Still, I feel bad about it. Sort of.
Like so much of my life, I feel like I should be saving money, lots of money, and that big purchases are bad. This doesn’t stop me from making like… 20 little purchases of the same cost amount and feeling fine about it, of course. But I look ahead to after graduation and I know I need to save money, right? I gotta get ready to move on with my life. But it’s stupid to make myself get any more stressed than I already am, you know? I have to survive school before I can move on. No reason to get bent out of shape…

But yeah, I dunno. I very often feel this way about purchases. I feel like, sometimes, I need to hide things from my brother, for instance, so he doesn’t know I bought yet another game. It’s all really stupid. It’s my money. I can do with it what I want.

I should enjoy the things I buy. I mean, that’s why I bought them. And I will enjoy this computer… I just hope to gods it doesn’t give me much trouble in its construction.

So, I watched the last Futurama movie, Into the Wild Green Yonder, and all I can really say is “meh.”

At least it wasn’t as god-awful as Bender’s Game. That had a BRILLIANT premise that they proceeded to shit all over and completely waste. Fantasy Futurama would be great. Bunch of horrible fantasy parodies? Not great.
Still, this one isn’t really all that wonderful. None of the movies are. Bender’s Big Score kind of gets a pass because it’s got so much fan service, and Beast With a Billion Backs has its fans who aren’t me. But man, I mean… I dunno. I’d be very unhappy if I’d, you know, bought the thing with my own money. And I buy really stupid shit all the time and don’t regret it. Too much.

But yeah, I dunno. I’m unsure, I guess, why these “movies” had to try to be all epic. I don’t know why they couldn’t just be funny. I mean, I liked some of the plot stuff, but dammit, it’s about the humor, right? But all of them tried to be fucking wide-reaching. Was that just an effect of having more time? I dunno.

Ugh, I’m just ranting uselessly. The point is, there were very few moments that made me laugh in the movie, and there were moments of it being painful. At least Bender’s Game had the QVC parody that had me laughing. There was nothing really like that here. There was a bunch of painfully horrible puns that were funny the first 10 times and then went on for the entire movie, and there was a Penn and Teller cameo… and… I dunno. I really don’t know.

Basically, you aren’t missing much if you don’t see Into the Wild Green Yonder. At least Essner would be happy there was no musical number in it.

So the other night, as Nich sells me on yet another game and I go to preorder it, which leads to me preordering another game and then putting a third almost on preorder but then on my “don’t buy for birthday” list… it occurs to me how horrible the “burden” of having too much leisure is.

I’ve long decided that I’m a hardcore gamer, not in the “I beat every game on hard 40 times” kind of sense, but just in the “games are what I do and I do nothing for fun other than play games” kind of sense. But dammit, the games industry is now all huge and stuff. Ever since I’ve gotten a paycheck, I’ve kept up with all the new games I wanted, but it’s getting to the point where that is almost a completely ridiculous proposition.

I mean, let’s just look at what games Atlus has coming out that interest me. Between now and the end of April, I would like to give time to The Dark Spire, Steal Princess, Class of Heroes, and Dokapon Journey. Then, in May, comes the wonderfully long-named Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs King Abaddon, and then in June, comes Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor. And they just today announced that, after that, we’ll be getting the PSP Persona remake this year. It’s a good thing Atlus has switched to that new payment system…

I won’t have anywhere near enough time to play all those games as much as I should have, and that’s JUST GAMES FROM ATLUS. There are plenty, plenty more games that need my attention. Hell, I’m having trouble giving both Street Fighter IV and Dragon Quest V the attention they both deserve right now. And I’m constantly distracted by my browser RPGs, too… and getting new games on my iPod…

It’s so lame that I have to schedule my leisure time to play games. I try not to. I should just buy some games and play them, and then buy a new game only when I need a new game. But I want to be a hardcore gamer. I enjoy being one. I want to try everything. I want to play everything. Hell, even with the games I have now, I am wanting to play Dawn of War II so, so badly… the only reason I’m not is because my PC isn’t up to it right now. It’s just all kind of ridiculous.

Still, I suppose being able to recognize that is a benefit, huh? Is it worse to be ridiculous and not know it? Or to know it and not do anything about it?
I have no idea.

So, in a matter of hours, I decided to buy a new computer, and then bought one. Brer helped me pick out the parts (and there better not be any firmware issues this time) and I pulled the trigger.

This was something I was going to do at the end of the semester, to reward myself. I was going to wait and then do a full upgrade, hopefully with Windows 7 around.

Then, my video card started failing.

Within the past two days, it has had “fatal” crashes twice. Once it recovered, and once I had to turn off the machine to get it to work again. I went to dust it out, figuring it was a heat thing, and found my case fairly clean. It has to be dying on me.

So, well… I’m not going without a computer… and if I have to buy a new video card… well… I might as well do it all now, right? Maybe?

So here I am. A new PC is on the way. It came in under budget due to a few plans. I’m still going to wait on a new OS, for instance. Brer has promised me that my current Windows install should work when I plug it all in. It better, or I am going to be a very unhappy camper without a computer for a few days. And if you know me, you know how big a deal THAT is. But yeah, so when Windows 7 comes out, then I’ll just do a completely clean install, and that’ll be that.
I also didn’t get any new Hard Drives. I kinda wanted to. I’d rather not wait until they fail to replace them. But I can buy a new drive when I do the new install of the new OS, huh? Maybe? Yeah.

Anyway, so, uh, wish me luck putting that together next week. I’m sure I’ll be frustrated, but hopefully it won’t be as bad as putting Jonathan’s together, since that had a problem outside of my control.

I guess I should do another backup soon, too. Hm.

So, I basically kind of hate all my classes this semester.

My night class is really awesome, and shall continue to be. One of my classes sucks for a good reason, so I can’t really hate it too much. The other two, though… there’s no real reason for them being as useless as they are. But they’re useless. And the reason is, mostly, my professor, Haskell.

Now, I can’t say that going to class is QUITE as useless as going to a class taught by Dr. Ramblin. He is at least mostly on topic, so that’s something. It’s close to as useless, and the problem is that his topics can normally be explained in one sentence, and yet he keeps going for the majority of the class, and then makes us split into groups to discuss it. It just makes me wonder why the hell I attend day after day. It’s extremely frustrating.

To top it all off, I’m in this Senior-level writing class for writing majors and minors with him, and he treats us like a freshman class so very often. We had a day discussing the difference between how to use a and an. He spends multiple days telling us what a personal essay is. It’s just… especially when he started the class with a “It’s so good to teach people who know about writing and are dedicated about writing!” it’s frustrating as hell. We know this stuff. I took this class to get to be able to understand how to break down someone’s style. We haven’t even talked much about that… it… ugh.

So yeah, that’s some off of my chest. I’m going to keep going, because Essner and his cool film student friends are there? And I’m going to keep going to my class with him in the morning because it’s slightly more focused. But geh, if you hear more about me being completely frustrated with this semester, this kind of stuff is why, okay?

WOAH, my arcade stick came in.

I’d heard about issues with the FightStick right when mine shipped out. People were complaining about all kinds of crazy things, but mostly the stick getting stuck in positions. This was… potentially bad! But luckily, it came in, and there was no such issues.

Man, it’s so cool. The art on it is ass-kickingly awesome, and it feels so heavy and… important. The buttons click easy, the stick moves alright. To me, it’s mind-blowingly awesome. I’ve always kind of wanted an arcade stick, but never really had good reason to buy one. I still didn’t, but I got one anyway, and I’m happy to have it.

The one thing I wasn’t expecting, though, was the learning curve. I don’t know why I wasn’t. It’s been literally years since I touched an arcade cabinet of any kind. But everyone was talking about how the standard 360 controller was so horrible, and though I was getting good with it, it was pretty horrible. So I assumed when I got the stick, my game would instantly improve, at least input-wise (I’d probably still suck strategically). When it got in my paws, though, I was back to square one. It was like I didn’t know how to do Hadoukens anymore. A bit training fixed that, mostly, but I still can’t pull off, say, Sakura’s Ultra Combo with ease, and that’s unfortunate. I hear that my problems come from the fact that this stick uses a “square gate.” Apparently octagonal gates are better? I would probably agree on principal, but there’s nothing wrong with this. It’ll just take some getting used to. And I know I’ll work on it hard tomorrow.

I also got a FightPad, but I haven’t had a chance to give that a solid test. So I’ll talk about that some other time, I’m sure. Until then, well, here’s a guide on how to play Ken online.

So here’s another work story for you.

I was finish up work on Friday morning. Everything was going great! We were actually getting out on time for once! Things were looking up. Everyone walks out, and all that’s left is me. I walk up to the alarm panel, getting ready to set it.

It’s then I notice that the broken door is inched open.

Let me explain: One of the doors to the store is currently broken. It will lock, but if you don’t close it just right, it will pop open just enough to set off the alarm, but not enough to actually open. It’s awesome. We’ve been avoiding using that door as much as possible.

I’m not sure if one of the managers forgot to set the door up for me before they left, or if one of my team accidentally went out the door, but it’s a real problem. A check of the alarm panel said that, yes, it’s open, and has to be closed for me to set the alarm.
I go and try to close the door. I pull it closed as hard as I can. I’ve never fought the door before, so when it clicks in place, I figure I must have it. It stays there for awhile.
I go back to the alarm panel, and it lets me set up the alarms. Great! I walk out the door, avoiding the broken door, of course.

Halfway into the parking lot, the door pops open, and the alarm goes off.
This alarm is loud. It was painful out in the middle of the parking lot.

Now, I have all the alarm codes, but I don’t actually have keys. I can’t go back in to turn off the alarm. So I call the alarm company on my cell, tell them it isn’t a problem, and say I don’t need anyone to come to the scene, and could they turn off the alarm? No, they say, you have to actually be inside to do that. So I need to wake up someone with a key. One of the managers gave me their phone number, so…

Well, shit, I hadn’t put their number in my phone.

So now I’m calling my parents, waking them up early in the morning to look up this phone number without trying to panic them. It’s not really all that great, and then I finally get the number to wake up the manager so she can come and turn off the alarm.
After this, cops come by. Everyone can hear this damn alarm, and they’re seeing what’s up. I explain the situation and apologize. They go “No worries, that’s what we’re here for” and drive off.

So I stand out in the cold a little while longer, the manager finally shows up, and we turn off the alarm. It’s been a little less than an hour at that point since I walked out of the store and the alarm went off. At least I got paid for that time, I suppose.

Moral of the Story: If you get a door fixed, but it turns out it still isn’t fixed? Get someone to fix it again instead of just working around it for weeks! Maybe.
I don’t know. I knew it was only a matter of time there was some problem with the alarm and I had to deal with all that kind of thing. I’m just kind of glad it wasn’t actually my fault, I suppose. Heh.

So, Fighting in the Street for the Fourth Time is here! Street Fighter IV! I’ve been waiting for this for quite some time. There was some worries about the online play not being good, and there are still some future worries about the arcade stick I got not being up to snuff, but overall, this has been what I’ve been waiting for!

Early impressions are COMPLETELY AWESOME. I mean, sure, Seth is a fucking cheating whore, and I shouldn’t have to unlock all these fighters, but the actual gameplay does pretty well exactly what was being reported: bring in the simple, great Street Fighter II experience you know, and then add in some of the more technical stuff from later Street Fighters. The EX moves and the Focus attacks? Well, I have no idea what to do with those yet. They seem cool, though, and the technical people will probably love them. The actual just base fighting, though, is excellent. I was also very, very pleased to see that my Balrog skills carried over quite well from SFIITHDR, and are even better actually, now that there’s a 3 punch and 3 kick button, so I can actually use his Turn Punch. I’ve also been thrilled to discover that my Sakura skills from so, so long ago on Alpha 2 on the PS1 have carried over, and I’m pretty solid with her, too. Those two are probably going to be my mains, as I continue to discover how to make them play better, while already being at a decent skill level with them.

Anyway, we’ll see how things go as I keep playing, especially when my controllers come in later in the week. These are first impressions, don’t cha know?

So, Retro Game Challenge! The game that Parish and all of Talking Time is all crazy over! Guess what? There’s damn good reason.

If you grew up playing console games, there is no way this game will not put a smile on your face. The presentation starts off silly, and most of it is kind of silly. But it’s so true to how it was back then. They nail so many things. Having someone sitting there, watching you play on the bottom screen just… feels so right. The magazines and manuals are so spot on, and they just make me grin as I’m reading the horrible reader mail section and everything… this game attempts to be living through that era of video games in a sort of compressed, mini form, and damn, if it doesn’t nail it.

All that wouldn’t matter if the games suck, but they don’t. Much like the presentation, you’ve got a very compressed version of genres and games, and dammit, they all play so well. The trick is that they look retro, they feel retro, but there is obviously modern influence on them. You won’t notice at first that, say, the weapon system in Guadia Quest is way too advanced for RPGs of the time period. It’s not intrusive into the gameplay, but it makes a much, much better play experience than if it would have actually been modeled on RPGs from that era. The same goes for all the action games. The little tweaks, like having the ninja stars in Haggleman to the changing ship forms in Star Prince, don’t feel out of place, but when you really think about them, they wouldn’t have been included in a game from that era. Still, they make the games that much better to play.

To top it all off, the game flows extremely well. All the challenges Game Master Arino gives you aren’t very difficult. They’re basically a tutorial on how to play each game well. They have you learn the game, and then you can decide yourself if you want to keep playing at it. The best part is, they don’t take long. I’m never going to put a lot of time into Rally King, like most Talking Timers, but the game is well-made, and I finished the challenges long before I got bored with it, even though I don’t really like those kinds of racers. The only exception to this, I suppose, is if you don’t like RPGs. The last challenge in Guadia Quest does take a little, but if you’ve enjoyed any jRPG in the past, it will fly by, I assure you.

If you do get stuck, though, one final, perfect tweak makes this game hit it out of the park: the cheat codes. You can use these codes to beat challenges, and there are a lot of them, from making yourself invincible to just being able to continue in games without a save function. It’s basically a difficulty selector. Use all the codes if you really hate Rally King and just want to be done with it, or use none of them if you’re really digging it and want to challenge yourself. The fact that you have to look them up in the in-game magazines also helps to get away from the whole “oh, it’s there so I have to use it” kind of easy mode in these games. People complain, for instance, about being able to give yourself infinite lives in arcade games, because they say they always have to do it. Looking up these cheat codes takes time, and they take effort to input. It’s not just an option you toggle. As such, I found myself only using them when I was actually frustrated. The fact that they’re annoying to put in actually works in their favor, I think, to make it easy to challenge yourself exactly where you want the challenge to be without being tempted to make it all super-easy. On top of it all, entering such codes are extremely nostalgic, of course.

This game is seriously a must buy if you, in any way, enjoy retro gaming. I’ve had a lot of fun. I’m going to try to finish up the final challenges (Which is simply beating every game, unlocked after you complete each challenge on all the games) this week before Dragon Quest V and Street Fighter IV come in. I might not: Guadia Quest is actually decently sized. But I’m certainly going to have a whole lot of fun at it, either way.

So, back when I got Amazon Prime, I got it because… well, I already talked about that awhile back, I guess. But I was planning on getting all my games through Amazon now.
It’s quickly started to become apparent that the potential for this annoying me is inherent in this plan.

There are people who are already playing Street Fighter IV, and it’s just shipped for me yesterday. I should, today, get my copy of Dragon Quest V, but again, people have already been playing that. I could have a FightPad right now. I’ve seen them in stores. But it isn’t going to get here from Amazon before next Wednesday.

I’m a hardcore gamer. Not having these games day 1 is part of the reason why I was so slow to adopt this sort of thing. I thought the 2-day shipping would make it bareable, but it’s not especially? The wait is still very annoying.
However, I’m not having much of a problem with it overall, I guess, because I’m so fucking busy. I barely have any time to play games at all, it feels like. Getting a game a few days late doesn’t actually impact the time I have to play it too much, most of the time. Hell, I probably have something else I’m playing instead in the meanwhile that I haven’t beaten.

Being busy fucking sucks, though. I feel like I’ve taken on too much, but I’ve only taken on exactly what is expected of me. This is what I should be doing. Hell, I should be doing more. I should be getting myself published, I should be getting resumes out there even though it’ll be months before I should get hired. But dammit, it’s too much. I’m already so burnt out and the semester is barely getting going. Ugh.

Well, I’ll just have to solider on anyway, huh?