Posted by Rob on January 31, 2010 – 3:23 pm
Filed under Books, Video Games
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, bioware, book, darkspawn, dragon age, dragon age: origins, fantasy, ferelden, loghain, maric, novel, PlayStation 3, PS3, RPG, the calling, the stolen throne, wiki
I really enjoyed the story and lore that shaped the RPG Dragon Age: Origins. When perusing the Dragon Age Wiki one day, I saw that there were two novels written by the game’s writer. These novels served as prequels to the game, and I was excited to start reading them to partake of more adventures in Ferelden. The first book in the series, The Stolen Throne, proved to be an excellent edition to Dragon Age lore.
The Stolen Throne starts off depicting the adventures of Prince Maric, the heir to the Ferelden throne. Unfortunately, the Orlesian nation has conquered Ferelden, and the royal family has been running a rebellion against the usurper. After his mother (the Queen) is killed, Maric flees, and eventually meets up with Loghain (who is one of the antagonists of the Dragon Age: Origins game.) The book then follows their adventures over the next few years, as they work to get Maric back on the throne.
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Posted by Rob on January 30, 2010 – 12:54 am
I was in the bedroom, reading a book. Shell was on the couch, sleeping. Suddenly I heard her mumbling, so I came out. I thought that maybe Loki was attacking her or something.
“Are you alright? Is Loki being feisty?”
“No…its these weights.”
I look at her, and she has two blankets on. I point to them. “These weights?”
“Yeah…they’re too heavy for me…”
And with that she was back to sleep in no time.
Posted by Rob on January 29, 2010 – 12:36 pm
Filed under Books, Randomness, School
Tagged as amazon, big bad bob, bigbabob, book store, buy back, college, credit, isbn, oneonta, text book, trade-in, video games
Well, I went through Amazon previously to sell some games, and yesterday I noticed that they also buy back text books. I took one look around my room, which is full of old text books, and said “why not?” It was a pretty simple process.
Once you get onto their trade in books page, you enter the ISBN of the book. The book will come up, and if they are currently buying it back, they will display how much its worth. Many of my books were not available to be traded in, but in the end I sold twelve books for $135. Most of the books were the usual couple of bucks you would expect from the college book store, but a few got $20 or so, and some of these were from Oneonta, which was like three-four years ago. And to sweeten the deal, Amazon pays for shipping. All you do is select the books, print out a postage-paid shipping label, and drop it off at your post office. Once they receive and verify the books are what you said they were, they credit your account with Amazon credit.
It was pretty sweet, and now I have $135 to spend on video games!!!
Posted by Rob on January 29, 2010 – 3:25 am
Filed under Video Games
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbabadbob, co-op, co-optimus, competitive, medic, online, PlayStation 3, PS3, PSN, Resistance 2, resistance 3, soldier, spec. op, Uncharted 2
Just finished a four-hour co-op session of Resistance 2 with a few of the folks over at co-optimus. We started at around 10pm, and I was the first to bounce at 2am, but the rest were still going strong. There were five of us total, plus the occasional guest who joined in for a round or two. I got my Solider raised up to level 14, but the Spec Op is still stuck at level 10. Man, I really dont play the Spec Op very well.
I really do enjoy playing Resistance 2 online, for the co-op. Im not as big a fan of the competitive. I hope that Resistance 3 (whenever it comes out) borrows from this, and establishes a good online co-op mode. So I just figured I would write a quick little post up to calm down before hitting bed.
Tonight was a success, and I hope we have more organized game nights in the future. I believe that Tuesday night next week is going to be dedicated to co-op and competitive Uncharted 2, which should be fun since I havent delved too much into it. If you read this and have a PS3, just add me. You know the PSN name: BigBadBob113!!!
Posted by Rob on January 28, 2010 – 10:13 am
I went to Wal-Mart this morning to pick up some packing supplies and other stuff. While shopping I came across an employee who was stocking shelves, and took one of her boxes since it was just the right size to ship the PS1 I am selling on ebay. So when I check out, I put all the stuff into this box (to make it easier to carry). I had purchased a roll of bubble wrap, and had put it right on top of the box. I didnt bother putting it in a bag since it would have been a waste of a bag.
So I go to walk out, and the greeter sees me coming. She stops me, and then looks at the box filled with my bags and bubble wrap. The greeter (who is an ancient old lady) then says “I just saw a video on this the other day.” Now in my mind, Im thinking that she saw a video on shoplifting, and thinks that I have stolen goods hidden at the bottom of the box. In my mind I groan as I expect to have to take all the bags out of the box so she can see. But thats not whats on her mind.
She proceeds to tell me about a show she watched on the origins of bubble wrap. She actually told me the inventors name (I forgot what name she said), but mentioned how he was flying in a plane and saw clouds, and that gave him the idea for bubble wrap. She then tells me what a great idea it is, and how amazing it was that he could think of that. Then she claimed that he must be a millionaire by now. I let her go on, smiling and nodding, while in my mind Im thinking “what a crazy lady.” In the end I say, “Yeah, it was a really great idea and it changed the world of packing as we know it.” She laughed, and I left.
I love Wal-Mart.
Posted by Rob on January 27, 2010 – 11:33 pm
Shell was sleeping on the couch, and I was sitting in the chair playing games.
“Woh.”
“What? Are you alright?”
“I thought you were right here.”
“No, Im over here on the chair. Is that ok?”
“Yeah…you’re a ghost.”
“You think Im a ghost?”
“Yeah, or something like a ghost. Mmmmmm…” (falls back asleep)
Posted by Rob on January 27, 2010 – 5:56 pm
Filed under Video Games
Tagged as alien, arkham asylum, avp, batman, big bad bob, bigbadbob, bioshock, creature, dead space, demo, gamefly, plasma cutter, PlayStation 3, PS3, ps3 review, ship
I could have sworn I did a review of Dead Space, but I could not find it in my archives. What I do remember about it was that it was horrible. I was not a fan of the slow gameplay or the controls. However, many people online have said how awesome it was, and one friend in particular mentioned that the final game was better than the demo. Now, I needed to have a game in from Gamefly to last me until AVP comes out, and I decided to try Dead Space. So far, I have not been disappointed.
The game is a classic space-survival story. A crew is sent to work some routine maintenance on a large spaceship, and arrive to find that the crew of the ship are missing. It becomes a game of survival as you and your small crew must survive a creature manifestation aboard the large ship.
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Posted by Rob on January 27, 2010 – 4:22 pm
Six years ago today, Shell and I spent a snowy January 27th at Olive Garden and the mall for our first date. We have always celebrated January 27th as our anniversary, and this year will be the last time. Once we are married later this year, our anniversary will then be celebrated in May.
We fell in love very quickly, and are a great match. We have been through it all, including maintaining a relationship while at separate colleges, and have had a blast living together for the past two years. I couldnt ask for anything more in a wife, and I look forward to marrying her.
Happy anniversary babes! I’ll love you forever bever!!!
Posted by Rob on January 27, 2010 – 12:45 pm
So I filled out the final survey I needed to get my third Gamestop giftcard today. I got my last one in November, and now its January. Getting $25 every two months is sweet! I still have the one from then, so I now have $50 stockpiled, which pretty much covers a brand-new game.
Now the question is, what do I buy? When it comes down to it, there are two choices: Dynasty Warriors Strike Force or God of War III. This is gonna take some time to figure out…
Posted by Rob on January 27, 2010 – 1:29 am
Filed under Randomness, Video Games
Tagged as duck tales, dynasty warriors, eat lead, fading screen, health, health bar, health item, heart, icon, legend of zelda, littlebigplanet, pizza, PlayStation 3, PS3, Resistance 2, smackdown vs raw, super mario bros, teenage mutant ninja turtles, the return of matt hazard, tmnt, uncharted
I got to thinking tonight about the progression of a player’s health status in games. Think about it. Back on the NES, many games had a health bar of some sort. Whether it was an actual bar (like in TMNT or Mega Man) or some other series of symbols (a la Duck Tales or Legend of Zelda), there was usually a way of knowing how much additional damage you could take before you lost a life. Granted, some games did not offer a health bar, so it was either a one-hit kill, or your character physically changed as you took damage. For example, in Super Mario Bros you knew if you were small, you would die with one more hit, and in Adventure Island you would always die with one hit (unless riding the skateboard or a dinosaur.) Then there were the games with no health, where in one hit meant you were dead (ex- Bubble Bobble.) So whether there was a health bar or not, you always knew where you stood in regards to survival.
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Posted by Rob on January 26, 2010 – 6:06 pm
Filed under Video Games
Tagged as alistar, archdemon, avp, big bad bob, bigbadbob, bioshock 2, dragon age: origins, level, loghain, mage, morrigan, perfectionist, platinum, PlayStation 3, PS3, rogue, silver, the ultimate reward, trophy, warrior
Today I snagged my fourth Platinum trophy, from Dragon Age: Origins. It definitely takes some time, and requires three playthroughs. You get a silver trophy for getting each character class (warrior, mage, and rogue) to level 20. My first playthrough was with the warrior, and at the end of the game I was level 20. My mage ended at level 21, and my rogue ended up at level 22. So you basically have to finish the game with each character to get each of those trophies.
Secondly, one of the trickier trophies to get is the Perfectionist trophy, which you receive for unlocking all the endings in the game. From reading online, Ive heard people say there are two, three, and four endings. I got the trophy for three different endings. Heres what I did:
- Recruit Loghain, perform the dark ritual with Morrigan and main character
- Kill Loghain, have Alistar sacrifice himself to kill the Archdemon
- Kill Loghain, sacrifice self to kill the Archdemon
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Posted by Rob on January 26, 2010 – 12:51 am
Filed under Video Games
Tagged as aliens, aliens vs predator, amazon, atari, avp, bioshock 2, co-op, dead space, dynasty warriors, gamefly, jaguar, marines, online, PlayStation 3, predator, PS3, strike force
February is fast approaching, and with it comes about a bajillion (ok, maybe four-five) games that I really want to play. BioShock 2 is already out of that equation, since I pre-ordered it from Amazon for some sweet deals. I paid $52 for it, plus get $10 off a future purchase. That came out to be cheaper than if I had kept it from Gamefly.
So the question is, which of the remaining February releases will I hold out for on Gamefly? I narrowed it down to two choices: Aliens Vs Predator and Dynasty Warriors: Strike Force. I will be getting Dead Space in in a few days, and that will tide me over until February 16, when both AVP and Dynasty Warriors releases. Of course they both had to have the same release week, right? So it comes down to which one I should snag.
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Posted by Rob on January 24, 2010 – 1:07 am
Filed under Video Games
Tagged as aliens, big bad bob, bigbadbob, capcom, dark void, demo, jet pack, PlayStation 3, PS3, ps3 review, review, third person shooter
On paper, the premise behind Dark Void sounds awesome. The game features the player donning a rocket pack and guns to defend Earth, and is advertised as being able to fight “anywhere”, from the ground to the air. However, the demo for the game did not do it justice, and I am in no rush to try out the completed version.
The game begins with your character hanging out outside. As he works on a vehicle he chucks his wrench behind him, which hits a jet pack that happens to be just hanging on a nearby wall. Then his friend enters, and this guy looks like the Iron Shiek, being topless and dancing around with a turban and whatnot. Neither character knows what the jet pack is, yet the player’s character pops it on. At the next scene, he has a gun in hand and is ready to fight some bad guys. Oh yeah, and all of a sudden the Iron Shiek is an expert on the jet pack and teaches you how to fly over the radio. And that is how you are introduced to the story behind Dark Void, or the lack of a story, as it seems.
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Posted by Rob on January 23, 2010 – 9:02 pm
Filed under My Personal Life, Video Games
Tagged as aladdin, atari, caw, christmas, dr. mario, dynasty warriors, ebay, final fantasy vii, funcoland, game boy, genesis, goldeneye, jaguar, lion king, n64, nes, Nintendo, Playstation, ps1, PS2, PS3, santa, sega, shining force, smackdown vs raw 2010, video games, war zone, Wii, wwe, wwf
Im not saying that what follows are the 10 best games ever made, or my top 10 favorite games. Instead, I starting thinking back through my life about some fond memories I have of playing video games, from growing up to nowadays. IÂ brainstormed a bit about these memories and to see what would to mind, and then I organized them chronologically and as you see below. Enjoy taking this trip down memory lane with me.
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Posted by Rob on January 23, 2010 – 7:28 pm
So i picked up the first volume of Rosetta Stone so that Shell and I can learn to speak Italian. From what I heard, its the best way to learn a new language aside from going to the country and living amongst the people (thats how Bart Simpson learned French.) Ive only installed it, and have not checked it out. I will write up on how I feel about the program after we have gone through a few lessons.
Posted by Rob on January 22, 2010 – 6:21 pm
Filed under Video Games
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, brutal legend, eddie riggs, heavy metal, jack black, metal, metallica, motorhead, online, open-ended, ozzy osbourne, PlayStation 3, PS3, ps3 review, pvp, rock, sandbox
I finally got around to renting Brutal Legend from Gamefly. Its been on my queue since launch, but I kept moving it around to get through the new release madness at the end of last year. It was a decent game, and I could see a lot of people enjoying it, but some of the more in-depth game mechanics turned me off.
So as I mentioned in my review of the demo, Jack Black gives voice to Eddie Riggs, a metal-loving roadie who dies, and is then sucked into a fantasy heavy metal land torn apart by war and demons. The story is pretty solid and funny, and there are a variety of characters based on real metal performers (such as Ozzy and the guy from Motorhead.) You run (or drive) about this fantasy world which is actually an open-area sandbox, with plenty of areas to explore.
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Posted by Rob on January 22, 2010 – 4:10 pm
So I just put a bunch of junk on ebay today (including my dog-eaten GBA, Shell’s old PS1, and some other random stuff) and I was looking over my feedback. I only have like 90something stars, and Ive done at least two hundred transactions in my time.
I looked, and I sold a bunch of stuff two weeks ago to three different people, and one one person left me feedback (four different times, since they won four of my auctions.) The other two people never left me anything, despite the fact that I am a courteous ebayer who ships stuff the very next day after I receive payment. I am also very thorough in my communications, sending an invoice once the auction is over, thanking them receipt of payment, and notifying when their item is shipped. I mean, come on, it takes two seconds to click somewhere and say “hey a pleasure doing business with you.”
Needless to say, those two people got a little “reminder” from me today…
Posted by Rob on January 22, 2010 – 1:12 am
So as Ive been complaining about the past couple of months, I could not get my PS3 Portable ID to update with my actual trophy count, meaning I couldnt show off my mad skills on websites. Tonight I figured out how to fix it. The problem was that, on the official PS3 site, I had a bookmark that went right to “My Profile.” This is where the problem was. If you are having trouble, this is what you have to do:
- Go to the home page of the PS3 site
- Check the upper right corner. If you are logged in, select to log out
- From the upper right corner, log in
- Select “My Profile” (it will be in the same spot you just logged in from when the page refreshes)
- Select “Portable ID”
- Click the button
And just like that, you will have a nice updated Portable ID, which can be placed on your website or your sig in a forum so you can show off your stuff.
Hope this helped!
Posted by Rob on January 20, 2010 – 5:26 pm
Filed under Video Games
Tagged as dragon age: origins, level, mage, perfectionist, platinum, rogue, shadow, traveler, trophy, ultimate reward, warrior
I just finished up my second playthrough of Dragon Age: Origins with my mage. My first playthrough was with a warrior. I have 93% of the trophies for the game. The only ones I am missing (which will be snagged on my third playthrough with a rogue) are:
- Perfectionist- There are three endings…one where you sacrifice yourself, one where a friend sacrifices himself, and a third where you perform a ritual to avoid sacrificing
- Sacrilegious- Have to side with a cult in one of the main missions
- Traveler- Go to every location in the game. Apparently I keep missing someplace since I havent gotten this trophy yet, so I will be using an online guide during my next playthrough to ensure I get it
- Shadow- I have to get my rogue character to level 20
- Ultimate Reward- The Platinum Trophy
I enjoyed playing as the mage a lot more than the warrior. In my first two playthroughs I played a “nice guy”, as I was trying to get relationships with the characters for the trophies. This next playthrough, Im gonna play as a badass rogue who is gonna kill first and ask questions later, which will piss off my party but be fun.
