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Monthly Archives: May 2011

First Anniversary Celebration in Maine

Posted by Rob on May 30, 2011 – 2:14 pm

Filed under My Personal Life
Tagged as anniversary, art, beals, big bad bob, bigbadbob, boat, boston, calamari, capt. elis, capt. morgan, clam chowder, clam roll, connecticut, crackers, droid, edamame, fairfield, freeport, fries, gavi, gilberts chowder house, hobo, hobophobia, hotel, humpback, ice cream, jelly beans, jelly belly, jon stewart, kennebunkport, kittery, l.l.bean, lobster, lobster roll, maine, memorial day, minke, miyake, morrisons chowder house, nausea, ocean, old navy, old orchard beach, outlet, portland, portland lobster company, portland museum of art, portland observatory, ritz, roberts maine grill, root beer, scarborough, sea sick, seafood, street and co., sushi, sushi roll, swordfish, telescope, thomas cole, tourists, townhouse, tuna, wedding, whale watching, whales, whoopie pie, whoopie pies, wicked whoopies, wine, yelp

Shell and I just got back from our weekend excursion to Maine. We had wanted to go there before we moved down south, and Memorial Day weekend wasn’t only a four-day weekend, but it also happened to be our anniversary, so it made sense to kill a couple of birds with one stone. Our “Maine” destination was the city of Portland, but also had stops in Freeport, Old Orchard Beach, Kenebunkport, and Kittery. Here’s how things played out, and also some pics to go along with it:

We started out Friday morning bright and early at 8am for the four hour, forty-five minute car ride up to Portland. We decided not to go directly to Portland, and made a stop for lunch and exploring in the town of Freeport. The main attraction at Freeport was a series of outlet stores, the most impressive of which was L.L. Bean’s. They didn’t just have an outlet store…they had like an outlet campus/complex. There must have been at least five separate stores which specialized in different things, such as clothing, biking/sports, hunting & fishing, etc. It was all built on a beautiful grassy area and was very clean and well-kept. The other thing we did in Freeport was eat. Read More »

Spending Memorial Day Weekend in Maine for Our Anniversary

Posted by Rob on May 27, 2011 – 5:13 am

Filed under My Personal Life
Tagged as anniversary, big bad bob, bigbadbob, maine, memorial day, portland, whale watching, whales

Monday will be our first wedding anniversary, and to celebrate we’ll be spending the weekend in Portland, Maine. Neither of us have ever been there before, so we wanted to go once before we make the move down south next month. Yesterday I made reservations at a couple of restaurants and also booked us for a whale watching trip tomorrow morning, which I’m really looking forward to. The weather should be much cooler than here; the weekend in NY should be in the mid 80s with rain, while the weekend in Maine should be in the low 70s with no rain (except for a little today, but I’m not counting that.) You know I’ll be giving a full report of what we saw, where we ate, and all that good stuff upon our return, so if you’re interested in seeing whats going down in Portland town, stay tuned.

What Shell Said: 5/26/11

Posted by Rob on May 26, 2011 – 9:40 pm

Filed under What Shell Said
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, What Shell Said

With me going to work at 4am these days, I go to bed before Shell, which means I don’t get to hear her sleep talk too much. But since I have off tomorrow (we’re headed to Portland, ME) I had the opportunity to wake her up from her nap on the couch, and I got a good ol’ “What Shell Said” out of it.

Just as background info, we have thunderstorm and tornado warnings tonight, so I’m sure that was on her mind.

I was ready for bed and went to get her off the couch and into the bedroom.

“Come on babes, time to get up.”

She opens her eyes, looks at me, and gives me this sad puppy dog look. So I said:

“You look like a sad puppy”

This causes her to make an even sadder, more exaggerated face.

“Come on, let’s go. We have to get up early tomorrow.”

Shell gets up with no problem and then looks outside.

“Oh, it’s raining.”

I look outside to see a rainless night.

“No it’s not.”

“Yeah it is. It’s raining sideways.”

“Huh?”

“You can see it in the street light.”

“Oh yeah.”

And then we went to bed.

I’m Pro-Nedna, Are You?

Posted by Rob on May 25, 2011 – 11:38 am

Filed under TV Shows
Tagged as bart, big bad bob, bigbadbob, edna krabappel, fox, homer, ned flanders, nedna, season finale, Simpsons, skinner

This past season of The Simpsons has been better than previous years, and Sunday night’s season finale supports this. In the episode, Ned Flanders and Edna Krabappel begin to date after a chance encounter. The two begin to get serious, despite Flanders being against pre-marital sex while, as most Simpson viewers know, Edna tends to get around. The thing is that, as Flanders says in the episode, “we’ve never been formally introduced”, so he does not know about Edna’s chance. Eventually he does find out, and they have an argument, with Flanders saying that he forgives her while she angerly tells him her past is nothing to be ashamed of. The episode ends as Homer and Marge take control and urge viewers to go to the Simpson’s website and vote on whether “Nedna” should remain an item or not. The results on the online voting will be integrated in time for the season premiere this Fall.

So what’s my take on this? I’m all about the Nedna. Flanders has been alone for awhile now, despite his brief encounter with the country/church singer. I think it’s high time he have a woman, especially since he is one of the more central characters (being the Simpsons’ neighborino and all.) And they do say that opposite’s attract, which is exactly why Edna is a good match for him. Yeah, she is “easy” and a number of the male (and apparently a few of the female) citizens of Springfield have spent at least one night with her. Yet if you look at her character, she’s really just a romantic who wants to find Mr. Right. I guess I feel that Ned can indeed trust her, because even though she may put out on the first date, I don’t think she’s one to cheat on her current attachment. After all this time being a desperate single woman (when she wasn’t involved with Skinner) she deserves to finally find a good guy, and I think Ned can be that. Plus it will be hilarious to have two very different people together and living right next door, with Flanders being Homer’s foil while Edna is definitely Bart’s arch nemesis in a way.

So what do you guys think? Do you think Edna and Flanders are a good match not just for each other but for the general show as well? Or would you rather both of them return to their miserable lonely lives? Leave a comment with your thoughts, and be sure to vote and voice your opinion (the link to the site is embedded in the first paragraph.)

Also, if you missed the season finale and want to watch it before you judge for yourself, you can check it out right here on Hulu for free.

First Impressions of TRINITY: Souls of Zill O’ll

Posted by Rob on May 23, 2011 – 6:24 pm

Filed under Video Games
Tagged as action, areus, big bad bob, bigbadbob, combat, dynasty warriors, equipment, final fantasy tactics, hack and slash, koei, PlayStation 3, PS3, RPG, sp, trinity, trinity: souls of zill o'll, xp

I was in the mood for a nice in-depth RPG, and remembered checking out a demo for TRINITY: Souls of Zill O’ll (possibly one of the worst named games on the PS3.) Not only is it a fast-paced action RPG, but it was developed by the fine folks over at KOEI. That being said, the general feel of combat is very reminiscent of Dynasty Warriors. It’s just like playing Dynasty Warriors but with a lot of RPG goodness like magic, goblins, quests, and other features. The game may be a tad obscure, but so far it appears to be a decent RPG.

You start the game playing as Areus, a half-elf who is all about exacting revenge on an evil emperor who killed his father years ago. When the game start Areus is training as a gladiator, but soon sets off on his own to make a name for himself as an adventurer and to gain enough experience (real-world experience in terms of the story, not XP necessarily) so that he is ready to challenge the emperor. As a half-elf, Areus has minor proficiencies in both melee combat (with a sword) and magic, but as you make your way through the campaign you will come across other characters that can be recruited to your party. Some are heavy melee fighters, some are true mages, while others may have a mixture of both just like Areus does. Your party can consist of up to three characters at a time, and they all share XP as it is gained in the game.

Thoughts on the Thor Movie

Posted by Rob on May 23, 2011 – 4:58 pm

Filed under Movies
Tagged as asgard, big bad bob, bigbadbob, bruce banner, captain america, chris hemsworth, comics, frost giant, History, hulk, iron man, Loki, Marvel, mjolnir, movie, mythology, natalie portman, nick fury, norse, odin, oneonta, ragnarok, spider-man, stan lee, the avengers, thor, thor 2, tom hiddleston, tony stark, x-men, x-men: first class

Growing up I was a huge fan of Marvel comics and regularly read Spider-Man and X-Men, with some Fantastic Four, Ghostrider, and a few others thrown in when I had some extra pocket change and the cover looked sweet. That being said, I never got into Thor at all, and have actually never read any comic with him in it. Yet I was still excited for this movie; not because I was a fan of the Thor comics (which I wasn’t), and not because it was simply another Marvel movie (though that did help a little)…the big selling point for me was my interest in Norse mythology. When studying at Oneonta, I took a course on ancient cultures, and the professor I had was quite the nerd who spent a lot of time teaching mythology and religion, mainly focusing on Greek and Norse mythology. This is where I was introduced to not only the gods like Odin, Thor and Loki, but also the Frost Giants, Fenrir, Ragnarok, the Valkyrie, and more. Ragnarok in particular was a really interesting notion to me, which is basically the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny as far as Norse mythology goes.

Oh, and don’t forget that my cats are named Loki and Odin.

Bison: The Other Red Meat

Posted by Rob on May 20, 2011 – 6:45 pm

Filed under Food & Drink
Tagged as beef, big bad bob, bigbadbob, bison, buffalo, chez mike, dinner, grill, meat, ribeye, steak

Shell and I received a $20 coupon from the local culinary restaurant Chez Mike for our anniversary, and we headed there for dinner tonight. I noticed that the menu offered a bison ribeye steak and I was immediately sold. Ribeye is my favorite cut of meat, and the fact that it was a new animal meat to try enticed me even more. I’m quite the carnivore, so whenever there’s a chance for a juicy cut of meat I go for it. Now I’ve had bison in the past, but only ground up for a burger. I was curious to see what the full-on buffalo taste was, and the fact that it was paired with yukon gold mashed potatoes just sealed the deal.

Bison is extremely similar to beef, in my opinion. I was expecting it to be “gamey” (which I don’t mind at all) and it wasn’t at all. Bison is a much leaner meat than beef, so it appeared tough when I cut it, but it was tender when chewed (I always order my steaks medium rare, so I’m sure it would have been much tougher if it had been cooked to well.) If you had blindfolded me and put a beef steak and a bison steak in front of me, it would have been very hard to tell the difference. I’ve had ribeye at a lot of different restaurants, and this one was hands down the best one I ever ate!

I only wish I could afford to buy bison and grill it at home…

Getting Introduced to Turtledove’s “How Few Remain”

Posted by Rob on May 20, 2011 – 6:33 pm

Filed under Books, History
Tagged as alternative history, big bad bob, bigbadbob, book, borders, civil war, confederacy, droid, google, harry turtledove, how few remain, southern victory, worldwar colonization

Last week I was close to finishing up the book I was currently reading, Starman, and I realized that I didn’t have anything lined up yet. So when I was at the mall and meandering around Borders, I came across a bunch of books by Harry Turtledove. I had never heard of the author, but when I Googled him on my Droid I was surprised that I never had before. Turtledove’s “thing” is to write “alternative history”. Basically he takes a key event that happened in history (called the point of divergence) and changes the outcome of that event, which then would have changed the course of history as we know it. For example, one series he wrote focuses on an alien invasion during WWII (“Worldwar Colonization”.) Another book series deals with Atlantis existing in the modern world, and another book series is based on some time traveling Confederate buffs who go back in time to help the South win the American Civil War.

The book series I decided to start with is titled “Southern Victory” and deals with an alternate history where the Confederacy wins the Civil War. I just got the first book in the series in from Amazon today, How Few Remain. I didn’t want to get too fictiony yet, so I wanted to avoid anything with aliens and magic. If I like the book I will definitely check out the rest in the series and see where I go from there. I’m looking forward to trying a new genre of fiction, and I have a feeling that I’ll enjoy this one. I’ll definitely give my impressions of it once I’m finished.

Book Review: Starman:The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin

Posted by Rob on May 20, 2011 – 3:45 pm

Filed under Books, History
Tagged as astronaut, big bad bob, bigbadbob, capitalism, communism, cosmonaut, khruschev, oneonta, research, research paper, Russia, soviet, Soviet Union, space, starman, United States, yuri gagarin

When attending Oneonta for my B.S. in History, I had to write up a research paper during my senior year. It was a relatively independent class, where all the history seniors had to select a topic, do their own research on it, and then present their findings to the class. I’ve always been interested in the history of space exploration, and at the time I was doing a lot of work with the Soviet Union, so I decided to write up my paper on the first man in space: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. The thesis of my work focused on how the success of his flight lit a fire under the United States and actually was one of the contributing factors that allowed the U.S. to beat the Soviet Union to the Moon. Most of my research dealt with the American reaction to Gagarin’s space flight, and I spent little time actually reading up on the history of the man. In Starman, authors Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony present a well-written biography about one of the Soviet Union’s most famous and beloved heroes.

The story of Gagarin’s life is difficult to follow for many biographer attempting to take a stab at it. For starters, Gagarin was one of the first Soviet cosmonauts in the 1950-60s. This being the case, the super-secret, paranoid, and unorganized political system in place made distorting facts and records an everyday thing. It was challenging to unearth official records or anything like prior to the fall of the Soviet Union, especially in regards to one of its symbols of the victory of communism over capitalism (and the Soviets were obsessed with their symbols.) Secondly, first-hand witnesses and people who knew Gagarin were unwilling to talk for various reasons. Not only did they fear for their lives by giving away Soviet secrets or going against “official” Soviet reports, but people also loved Gagarin, and did not want to tarnish his name after his death. These only remained problems prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, as afterwards the authors were able to visit Russia and not only uncover many hidden records, but people were more willing to talk, either because twenty years had passed and they were ready or because they no longer feared persecution. Read More »

The Guilty Pleasure of Mr. Poppers Penguins

Posted by Rob on May 20, 2011 – 6:43 am

Filed under Books, Movies
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, Books, jim carrey, movie, mr. poppers penguins, penguins, trailer

I read a lot growing up. My parent’s didn’t buy us many sweets or toys or other crud, but the one thing they were always willing to buy was books. I had tons of favorites growing up, and one I remember vividly was called “Mr. Popper’s Penguins.” It was a great book, and back then I loved penguins (and as can be seen by my desk, I still do.)

Garage Sale Was a Success

Posted by Rob on May 16, 2011 – 4:47 pm

Filed under My Personal Life
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, chess, dark tower, darth maul, darth vader, DVD, gamecube, garage sale, hulk hogan, lightsaber, lord of the rings, luke skywalker, salvation army, stephen king

With us moving to the Carolinas next month, we wanted to have one last garage sale to get rid of as much crud as possible. I had accumulated a lot of crap over the years and it really had no place in our new home. So I priced everything on the cheap and we headed down to Shell’s dad’s house to hold the garage sale in his neighborhood.

Saturday was a huge success, and we made more money and got rid of more crap than last year. It was cloudy and cold all day, but luckily it did not rain, so we had a steady flow of people coming in to check out our wares. Unfortunately, Sunday did not work out as well, due to the nasty, rainy weather all day. We had planned on having the garage sale from 8-1, but by 11:00 we had only had four people come by, and no one bought anything. We decided to close up shop and spent the rest of the day packing all our unsold goods up for donations to the Salvation Army and other organizations. Read More »

Eleventh Platinum Trophy: WWE All Stars

Posted by Rob on May 16, 2011 – 9:59 am

Filed under Video Games
Tagged as all trophies awarded, big bad bob, bigbadbob, kane, main eventer, online, platinum, PlayStation 3, PS3, trophies, trophy, ultimate warrior, wwe, wwe allstars

I was about eight online matches away from receiving the final two trophies in WWE All Stars (Main Eventer and All Trophies Awarded, which is the Platinum) when disaster struck and the PSN went down. The past twenty-some odd days have been a haze as I struggled to survive playing online offline games, knowing that the Platinum trophy was so close yet so far. So this morning, once I downloaded the new firmware and changed my password, the first thing I did was jump on All Stars and start grinding towards my 50th win.

Initially I was going to be boosting because two friends who I’ve boosted with previously were online. However, neither one wanted to, so I sucked it up and spent the next two hours getting my wins the old fashioned way…beating the shit out of noobs online. I ended up going for 11-3 today, with three of those wins not registering due to rage quitters. After my 50th online win (I beat the floor with Ultimate Warrior’s ass as Kane) I was pleased to hear the awesome ding of the last two trophies unlocking. I enjoyed playing All Stars online, and I will still be going back on to kick butt. I’ll probably start playing more ranked matches just to get my official stats up.

As for the next Platinum, I have no idea. I don’t have any games currently that seem to be Platniumable, so it will probably be some time before I get another.

Finally, The PSN Has Come Back…Online

Posted by Rob on May 16, 2011 – 6:18 am

Filed under Video Games
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, boosting, co-op, dungeon hunter: alliance, online, platinum, PlayStation 3, PS3, PSN, rock band, rock band 3, Sony, trophies, trophy, wwe allstars

It’s been a tough twenty-three days, but the PSN returned (for the most part) yesterday. The online play, chat, friends list, and trophies are the important features that returned, and the only one missing is the PSN Store, which will hopefully get back into service soon (I just want to sync all my RB songs to RB3.) It’s been a long time coming and I’ve been itching to get online for two main reasons:

To play Dungeon Hunter Alliance online
To Platinum WWE All Stars

I’m currently nine online wins away from getting the Platinum in All Stars, and when I downloaded the new firmware and got the PS3 going again, I had a friend request from a guy who wanted to boost All Stars. Pretty soon this guy and I will be sitting back and basking in the glory of our new Platinum trophy! After I get All Stars out of the way, I’ll probably take a break and get some stuff down around the house, then I’ll see if I can’t get a game of Dungeon Hunter Alliance underway.

I missed being able to play online, and I’m so glad I can now. Welcome back, PSN!

Dungeon Hunter: Alliance Character Build: The Warrior

Posted by Rob on May 11, 2011 – 4:48 pm

Filed under Video Games
Tagged as attribute, big bad bob, bigbadbob, character build, character build guide, co-op, fairy, hardiness, heavy lifter, level, mage, online, PlayStation 3, PS3, PSN, rogue, skills, warrior

I’ve done a few character builds for Sacred 2, and I enjoyed sharing my thoughts on creating a strategic character who was well-built and used all of their skill points to the maximum advantage. While Dungeon Hunter: Alliance is nowhere near as complex as Sacred 2, there are still a lot of skills to choose from for each class. Granted, if you play to max out your character at level 75 you will have most of the skills by default, but this is a guide for someone who does not want to put as much time into their warrior, and won’t play past a single playthrough.

The Basics:

First off, some general info on the warrior. I think the warrior is best suited as a tank. Sure, he has some buff skills, but if you’re playing in co-op, it’s best to save the buffs for the mage, and let the warrior get down and dirty in the front lines. Unfortunately, it takes time for the warrior to become a “tank”, in that he can run to the front lines and hack up enemies while absorbing little damage. It took until about level 25, when I was getting decent armor stats on equipment, had a lot of attribute points in endurance, and had the Hardiness (increases your armor stat) skill maxed out. The good news is that it is ridiculously easy (and affordable) to reset your characters skills and attributes, so doing so every few levels, after some good skills have been unlocked, will be key. Read More »

Happy Mother’s Day to One Heck of a (Nerdy) Mom

Posted by Rob on May 8, 2011 – 6:27 am

Filed under My Personal Life
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, ccg, jack, lord of the rings, mom, mothers day, nerd, PlayStation 3, PS3, Sci-Fi, star trek, Star Wars, the hobbit, the silmarillion

I wasn’t planning on writing this, but as I just finished my previous blog, it made me think more about what my mom’s meant to me over the years. I don’t mean this to be sappy or anything, but I think she deserves a ton of credit not only dealing with me, but for also cultivating the nerd within me. My earliest “nerdy” memory of my mom is her trying to read The Hobbit to me when I was like five years old. I wasn’t into it at that age, but I soon got into Star Wars from watching the family VHS tapes, and I think that’s where my nerd really started. But I didn’t get my full nerd on until my teen years, and when I was ready to embrace it, my mom was ready to help along also.

Below are a list of things I would like to thank my mom for on this Mother’s Day:

Going with me to see all three Lord of the Rings movies, as well as the Star Wars movies (both the prequels and the “special edition” theater release of the original trilogy
Playing the Star Wars, Middle-Earth, and X-Files CCG with me, despite the fact that I cheated and blew up her planet with the Death Star when it actually should have failed (though she wouldn’t play for awhile since she was mad after she caught me cheating)
Introducing me to the works of Tolkien by lending me her copies of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion
Watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. I never got fully into it, but by sitting down and watching it whenever she was, I learned that maybe “Trekkies” weren’t so bad after all, and had an idea of what good sci-fi was
Buying me a PS3 game each year for Christmas even though she wasn’t supposed to know I went out and spent my money on it (cause she would say that paying off your student loan is more important than a PS3)
Not killing me when coming home drunk that one time and puked in the driveway and in my car
For just always being there to support me, whether it was on the best day of my life or I was doing some of the stupidest things I’ve ever done

Thanks mom, and Happy Mother’s Day! Read More »

Preparing for the Garage Sale

Posted by Rob on May 8, 2011 – 6:03 am

Filed under My Personal Life
Tagged as 7th seas, alf, big bad bob, bigbadbob, board game, carolinas, ccg, collectibles, crosby, customizable card game, garage sale, hat, hockey, knife, lightsaber, lord of the rings, lundqvist, mask, micro machines, middle-earth, moving, north carolina, posters, robert jordan, Simpsons, south carolina, Star Wars, stephen king, swords, toys, video games, weapons, x-files

With only a few weeks left living in New York before we move down to the Carolinas (we will be staying with Shell’s mom in South Carolina until we can line up a place of our own in North Carolina) we have been preparing for another garage sale at Shell’s dad’s house. We had a garage sale last summer, but it was more of a way for us to make some extra cash and get rid of stuff. Since it wasn’t as big a deal, I didn’t really put out too much of my “nerdy” stuff that’s been holed up in my old bedroom at my parent’s house. This time around, since we’re actually moving, I had more of a need to get rid of this stuff. It was a very hard thing to do, and for a brief moment I knew what those people on those “hoarder” shows were feeling.

The main problem was that I worked a lot as a kid,and had decent paying jobs as a kid. With all that extra cash, instead of saving it (which I really, REALLY wish I had) I spent it on all sorts of random crap that I didn’t need. My closet was full of clothes I bought and never wore…some of the shirts and jeans still had tags on them from the 90′s! But at least clothing was practical in some sense…the other stuff in the “closet of doom” was just ridiculous. I had a ton of nerdy board games, whether it was Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Simpsons, or warfare-related. They were games that I only played like once with friends or my mother (yup, she is quite the nerd and while I couldn’t get her to play video games, she was always willing for a game of Star Wars CCG or the Lord of the Rings boardgame) and were just sitting in that closet collecting dust. I had three plastic lightsabers with the light and sound, and while the Darth Maul one sounded like the lightsaber crystal was drained, the other two worked perfectly well. I also had some random hats, helmets, and masks in there, and as I’m sure will be much to Steve’s dismay, I am getting rid of the infamous “ALF” mask. I also threw in some old VHS tapes and books (mostly Stephen King and Robert Jordan) to get sold off. Read More »

Getting Rewarded for Participating in PlayStation Rewards Beta

Posted by Rob on May 6, 2011 – 2:18 pm

Filed under Video Games
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, joystiq, Playstation, PlayStation 3, playstation rewards, ps rewards, PS3, PSN, shirt, Sony

Several months ago, PlayStation sent out some random invites to users to participate in the beta for a program they were trying out called “PlayStation Rewards.” Basically the program would track a user’s forum and blog use, as well as their activity in PlayStation Home, and reward them points for each participating. There were several tiers you could get into, and they netted you unique avatars and the chance to enter into special contests.

For whatever reason, Sony decided that through the beta, PlayStation Rewards was not ready for the general public yet. The beta was canceled and they sent me an e-mail thanking me for participating. Then about a month ago I received an e-mail from Sony saying that to thank me for participating in the Rewards beta I would be receiving a t-shirt in the mail soon. Read More »

PSN Review: Dungeon Hunter: Alliance

Posted by Rob on May 3, 2011 – 4:05 pm

Filed under Video Games
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, champions of norrath, co-op, co-optimus, dungeon crawler, dungeon hunter: alliance, game review, hack and slash, lag, local, mage, online, PlayStation 3, ps+, PS3, PSN, rogue, RPG, Sacred 2, skills, spells, voice chat, warrior

Anyone who truly knows that my favorite genre of game is not FPS or wrestling or even RPGs…it’s the good ol’ genre of hack-and-slash dungeon crawlers! Nothing is better than sitting down, choosing a class, and then spending fifty or more hours grinding that character by killing endless streams of monsters over and over again while searching for more xp and loot. The PS2 had quite a few excellent games in this genre, but the PS3 has been relatively lacking…the best being Sacred 2. Then along came Dungeon Hunter: Alliance; a PSN-exclusive that really scratched my itch for a genre that has been severely under-represented in this generation of home consoles.

There is a basic story in the game. You play as a dead king who is resurrected by a fairy, who needs your help to stop your wife (the queen) from resurrecting a dark fairy who will destroy the world. There are three classes to choose from; warrior, rogue, and mage. As with most dungeon crawlers, each class depends on different stats (ex- warrior uses strength, rogue uses dexterity) and combat skills to take on the forces of evil. There are twelve acts, each one made up of a couple of different dungeons/maps that offer their own enemy type. While the lack of class choice is a tad disappointing (I compare most hack-and-slash dungeon crawlers to Champions of Norrath: Return to Arms), it works just fine for a $9 PSN title (the PS+ price, of course.)

Heading to Portland, ME

Posted by Rob on May 2, 2011 – 1:13 pm

Filed under My Personal Life
Tagged as anniversary, big bad bob, bigbadbob, carolina, maine, portland, restaurant, travel, wedding

Believe it or not, my first anniversary is coming up. It feels like only yesterday I was hung over and praying that I would feel better so that I could coherently say my vows at the alter…

But with our first anniversary coming up, Shell and I did want to go somewhere to celebrate. With us leaving for the Carolinas next month, we wanted to make sure we saw everything we wanted to see up here. We both realized that we had never been to Maine, so that’s where we’re headed. After scoping out a little and seeing what would be convenient for us, we saw that Portland was a bigger city with plenty to do that was also a closer drive for us than other major cities there.

So if anyone’s ever been to Portland and has some advice of things to check out or awesome restaurants, leave me a comment.

PS3 Review: Mortal Kombat

Posted by Rob on May 2, 2011 – 9:40 am

Filed under Video Games
Tagged as 360, animality, babality, big bad bob, bigbadbob, blood, co-op, fatality, friendship, game review, gore, kratos, marvel vs. capcom, mk, mk vs. dc, mortal kombat, mortal kombat 2011, mortal kombat 9, mortal kombat vs. dc, mvc, online, PlayStation 3, PS3, story, sub zero, tag team, test your luck, test your might, test your sight, test your strike, violence, x ray, xbox

My first impression of the new Mortal Kombat game was a pretty positive one. What was a stale franchise literally took a step back by changing from a 3D arena back to a 2D arena and also removed more “modern” features of the series. However, the changes resulting from going back to the basics, as well as some new innovations, have re-vitalized the franchise, and I think Mortal Kombat can arguably be one of the best fighting games on the market today.

As can be seen by the name of the game itself (going by simply “Mortal Kombat” rather than “Mortal Kombat IX, which it technically is), Mortal Kombat is a throwback to the founding games in the franchise. The roster encompasses most of the fighters from Mortal Kombat I-III, as well as a few other characters from later games, as well as the PS3-exclusive Kratos (twenty-seven fighters on 360, twenty-eight on PS3.) Also making a return are the stages themselves, as most of the stages are a re-imagining of previous ones, such as Goro’s Lair and The Pit. The return to a side-scrolling 2D fighter is a good change, and playing the game feels as if you’re on your Genesis in the 90s, only with incredible graphics and a lot more blood and gore. Each character can perform two finishers as well as stage finishers (see knocking opponents into The Pit) and babalities. Sadly the friendships and animalities did not make a return, but what does make a comeback is pure win.

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