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Tag Archives: Star Wars

Oh Quick Time Events, How Much Do I Hate Thee

Posted by Rob on October 18, 2011 – 5:53 pm

Filed under Video Games
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, darth vader, force unleashed, God of War, knights contract, marvel ultimate alliance, qte, qte's, quick time events, Star Wars, video games, warriors legends of troy

I don’t know that I’ve ever met a single gamer that actually enjoyed and looked forward to quick time events. What, you don’t know what the heck I’m talking about?! Quick time events (henceforth referred to as QTE’s) are put into games generally to depict an epic battle between the player’s character and an insane boss. How it works is that eventually the gameplay will turn into more of a movie, and you will lose direct control of your character. Then button prompts will quickly appear on the screen and you will have to push the correct button before it goes away. If you push the button too late, or hit the wrong button, all sorts of bad stuff can happen. The lighter penalties include simply having to start the QTE over again, while others are less forgiving and will result in an instant kill.

Moral of the story is that QTE’s take a lot of control away from the gamer, as he/she has to focus solely on what button is going to appear on screen next. Also they are generally very frustrating and really suck the fun out of a great boss battle. I don’t know what game they first started in, but the game I first remember playing that had them was the original God of War on the ol’ PS2. Other games that I recall that included them were Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Knights Contract and most recently, Warriors: Legends of Troy.

Anywho, here’s a detailed list of why I hate them: 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 »

PS3 Review: WWE All Stars

Posted by Rob on April 3, 2011 – 11:05 am

Filed under Video Games
Tagged as 360, acrobat, andre the giant, big bad bob, big man, bigbadbob, brawler, caw, co-op, combo, competitive, fantasy warfare, game review, grappler, hogan, kane, mysterio, online, path of champions, PlayStation 3, PS3, raw, shawn michaels, smackdown, smackdown vs raw, Star Wars, stone cold, svr, tag team, the rock, the simpsons, thq, triple h, trophies, wwe, wwe allstars, xbox

This game is one heck of a slobber knocker as THQ redeems themselves for WWE Legends of WrestleMania with their newest title, WWE All Stars. I have been following this game for quite a few months now, and the end product was as good as I expected. First and foremost, this is NOT a wrestling sim like the Smackdown vs. Raw series. All Stars is a fighting game in every sense of the word, from having insane moves, devastating combos, tons of lockables…and the simple fact that it’s easy to pick up and play but challenging to master. That being said, I did not intend to make this a comparison of All Stars and SvR, but I ended up doing just that. This game is definitely on the radar of any SvR fan, so I think it is inevitable to compare the two at some points as a means of giving examples of what to expect.

The roster of characters is pretty darn expansive for a fighting game. There are thirty wrestlers to initially choose from, with at least thirteen more revealed as future DLC. They are divided by old school legends and today’s current roster, and this really does make it the best roster for a WWE game ever. Tons of old favorites are represented like Stone Cold, Rock, Hogan, Macho Man, Andre, Ultimate Warrior and more, and they even have their classic attires. Then you have some of today’s hottest stars including Undertaker, Triple H, Edge, Kofi Kingston, Rey Mysterio, John Cena, and others as well. Together, it is a very well-rounded cast of wrestlers and is definitely one of the biggest selling points for the game.

But I’ve talked enough about all this basic info over the past three months, so now I’ll go more into what I got out of the actual game. Read More »

Playing Catch Up

Posted by Rob on April 1, 2011 – 7:02 pm

Filed under My Personal Life, TV Shows, Video Games
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, co-op, dead nation, farscape, firefly, force unleashed ii, free realms, gamefly, job, mmo, netflix, north carolina, online, PlayStation 3, PS3, review, RPG, Star Wars, work, wwe allstars

So as you can see, it’s been pretty quiet around here lately. I blame the new job, which has definitely been kicking my butt since I have to get up at 2:45am. I usually don’t get home until after 12, so by that time I’m just so exhausted that I drag myself into the shower and then flop down on the couch. Yet it saddens my heart to see this blog not being updated, so today I started up on a few posts which will be finalized over the coming days.

As far as video games goes, my drought is finally over. For the past two weeks I’ve had nothing really to play, which was pretty sad. But this week has been nuts, and I’ve had a bunch of games thrown at me: Read More »

The History of Big Bad Bob

Posted by Rob on January 9, 2011 – 4:38 pm

Filed under My Personal Life, Randomness
Tagged as 113, 13, 3B, big bad bob, bigbadbob, bigbadbob113, blog, college, darth_rob, ecw, George Lucas, high school, hockey, internet, pc, soccer, Star Wars, star wars rebellion, swrebellion.com, tae kwon do, web site, wwf

Have you ever wondered why I refer to myself as “BigBadBob”? Let me take you on a stroll down memory lane as I pry open my past for all to see, so that you may learn the origins of my name.

First off, I have always gone by “Rob”, and to this day I still do, aside. The name “Bob” first started out in high school, probably around 9th grade (which would be around ’97.) There was this guy on our bus…a huge biker/head banger who had asperations of becoming a ECW wrestler (he didn’t think WWF was hardcore enough for his tastes.) For whatever reason, he always called me “Bob.” The guy was ridiculous and such a joke, so my best friend Pete and I would always made fun of him (though not to his face, since he was two grade levels above us.) As time went on, Pete began to call me Bob. It started out as his way of making fun of me (which was a pretty light example of our humor, since I used to call him Queter), but over time he stuck with it, and it became what he called me. To this day, he and his family still refer to me as Bob. Read More »

It’s Going to Be a Busy Week

Posted by Rob on October 26, 2010 – 8:28 am

Filed under Video Games
Tagged as 360, amazon, big bad bob, bigbadbob, borderlands, bugs, christmas, credits, dlc, enslaved, fable 3, fallout, Fallout 3, force unleashed 2, gamefly, glitches, goty, mojave desert, new vegas, nhl '11, nhl 08, PlayStation 3, PS3, queue, rock band 3, smackdown vs. raw 2011, Star Wars, svr 2011, wwe, xbox

For many gamers, this is where the gaming season really takes shape, as the months September through December are the prime months for developers to unleash the massively epic games they have been working on. This year is no exception, except for the fact that all the games I have been looking forward to for the year are out as of today, and I will be having most of them in my house by the end of the week. Having all these games at once is going to be torture as I’m torn between what I want to play.

First up is Fallout: New Vegas, which I have rented from Gamefly. Despite the freezing and other bugs/glitches, the game has been a very enjoyable experience. It has the same feel of Fallout 3, but with a new environment, although many of the interior buildings and NPC characters have been recycled from Fallout 3, and are just given new names. As of right now I’m about twenty five hours or so into the game and at level 21, but there is still plenty to do. I have no doubt that, at this rate, I will max out my character at level thirty way before the end of the game. Read More »

Won A Free Copy of Lego Star Wars

Posted by Rob on October 19, 2010 – 2:11 pm

Filed under Video Games
Tagged as 360, achievements, batman, big bad bob, bigbadbob, co-op, co-optimus, contest, gamefly, harry potter, indiana jones, lego, PlayStation 3, PS3, rock band, Star Wars, the complete saga, trophies, xbox

During September, the fine folks over at co-optimus held a month-long Lego video game contest. They basically had some on-site voting to see which of the Lego video games was the best in the eyes of fans. Each week there was a different winner selected, and I won the first week’s prize. The prize was my choice of any Lego video game, aside from Lego Harry Potter since that was week two’s prize (not that I would have chosen it, based on my feelings about the game.) So my choices were Star Wars, Batman, Indiana Jones, or Rock Band. In the end I went with Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga for the 360.

I had rented Lego Batman and both Indiana Jones games through Gamefly, and did not really them. As for Rock Band, I wasn’t all that keen on the set list for the game. As for Star Wars, I had played through the game previously on the PS2 and loved it. I chose the 360 version for the achievements, and because the PS3 version does not support trophies for some odd reason.

So thanks again to the guys over at co-optimus, who are always putting out plenty of contests while also giving up to the minute news on all games co-op!

Geocache Adventure #9: The Search Through the Cemetery

Posted by Rob on September 9, 2010 – 12:34 pm

Filed under Geocaching
Tagged as bathroom, big bad bob, bigbadbob, bowser, cache, cemetery, decoy, east greenbush, geocache, Geocaching, gps, gravestone, happy meal, hiking, hobo, hobophobia, log, mario kart, mausoleum, meatloaf, park, pax, spanish-american war, Star Wars, trail

I woke up this morning knowing it would be the perfect day for a geocache. It was a crisp mid-60s and still relatively early in the morning, so I knew there wouldn’t be as many bug attacks. I decided to hit up two different areas of East Greenbush to snag some geocaches…an old railroad line and the local cemetery. I think I found two out of the three caches I was looking for, but I’ll get to that in a bit. Let’s start from the beginning, when I left my house at around 7:15ish and headed to the old railroad path for my first cache of the day.

The path I was to follow was directly off a side road, so I pulled my car over onto the grass, got out, and headed down the trail. What I quickly realized was that this is the same trail that runs right adjacent to our apartment complex, so I could have technically just followed that all the way down, though it would have been one heck of a walk! Eventually my GPS told me to head off the path and into the woods, where the cache would be. After some brief searching through the bramble and brush, I eyed my prize, which wasn’t too well hidden (so long as you happened to be walking in the woods, off the path.)

PS3 Review: Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4

Posted by Rob on July 31, 2010 – 3:30 pm

Filed under Video Games
Tagged as batman, big bad bob, bigbadbob, Books, casual, challenge, curse, game review, gamefly, harry potter, indiana jones, lego, magic, Movies, PlayStation 3, PS3, Star Wars, trophies, years 1-4

The first Lego video game I played was Star Wars, and I loved it. The ability of the Lego games to take a well-known franchise and tweak it into a cute, simple, and most importantly, FUN game is what makes them so good. I played quite a few of the Star Wars ones across various consoles, and enjoyed them all. However, when Indiana Jones and Batman came out, I could not get into them. I don’t know what the problem was, but I didn’t find them as enjoyable. It was with this notion that I approached Harry Potter with caution, but the fact that I love the books and movies made me have to do it. I’m happy to say that I do not regret my decision to rent it from Gamefly, and I thoroughly enjoyed playing through it.

As the name implies, the game roughly follows the storyline of the first four Harry Potter movies. I say “roughly” because, as Lego does, they add in humorous little things here and there to change it up. Also, to ensure that there can be two people playing together anytime, there are always at least two characters on screen (which makes some of the levels where it should be just Harry weird, like the Basilisk from Chamber of Secrets and all the tournaments from Goblet of Fire.) Still, a lot of it is done very well, and the game maintains that level of “magical wonder” that the books and movies had.

Recent Gaming

Posted by Rob on July 21, 2010 – 10:15 pm

Filed under Video Games
Tagged as batman, big bad bob, bigbadbob, deathspank, dungeon crawler, hack and slash, harry potter, indiana jones, lego, oblivion, PlayStation 3, PS3, PSN, RPG, Star Wars, trine

Well I don’t want to make a bunch of little posts about stuff I want to say about what I’m currently playing, so I figured I would pop it all together.

First and foremost, I have beaten Oblivion! It was extremely challenging in the end, especially when I had to go into a zombie-infested dungeon. However, I luckily had an invisibility spell so the remainder of the game was spent sneaking around from point to point. In the end there was only one boss, who wasn’t much of a challenge, so I was able to survive and complete the game. That being said, I already started a new thief/assassin character who is just starting out.

I have Lego Harry Potter in from Gamefly, and so far I am really enjoying it. I loved the Lego Star Wars games, but I wasn’t a fan of Batman or either Indiana Jones game. However, I find Harry Potter a lot more enjoyable. On the plus side, I played with Shell a little bit, and she enjoyed it. The beauty of the Lego games is that they take some great source material, and throw in some ridiculous humor along with a lot of fun environmental interactions and a really easy game difficulty, making the games accessible to anyone. I will definitely be holding on to it until I beat the game, and then I’ll probably go through on free mode to unlock other stuff. Read More »

Wii Review: Wii Sports Resort

Posted by Rob on June 14, 2010 – 11:22 pm

Filed under Video Games
Tagged as archery, casual, frisbee, game review, kinect, legend of zelda, lightsaber, microsoft, move, Nintendo, Playstation, Sony, Star Wars, swordplay, Wii, wii motion plus, wii sports, wii sports resort

While on my honeymoon, I stumbled across a $50 Best Buy gift card in my wallet, and was itching to head to the mall and buy something neat. In the end, I decided to finally pick up the Wii Motion Plus, which came packaged with Wii Sports Resort. I enjoyed the casual games of Wii Sports, so I figured I would equally enjoy Wii Sports Resort.

Wii Sports Resort is kind of a mixed bag, with some great games, as well as some lame ones. There are twelve total, though two (golf and bowling) are basically clones from Wii Sports, but with the Motion Plus controls. Before I get into the game, let me talk about Wii Motion Plus. It’s a small device that attaches to the bottom of the Wii Remote, but the problem is that the Motion Plus is encased in a silicon sleeve, so you have to go through some effort to attach it each time. The Nunchuck then connects to the bottom of the Motion Plus. This makes the controller bulky…what was initially a nice light controller in your hand is now getting weighed down with the Motion Plus and the casing. However, it’s only a minor annoyance, and if anything I hate it more for the effort to hook it up than the weight it adds (which is actually minor, but I just want to complain about it.)

My Top Three Non-Epic Saga Movies

Posted by Rob on April 5, 2010 – 10:42 pm

Filed under Movies
Tagged as ben affleck, big bad bob, bigbadbob, clerks, dogma, empire strikes back, film, indiana jones, jack black, jay and silent bob strike back, jersey girl, kevin smith, lord of the rings, Movies, napoleon dynamite, orange county, Star Wars

Being the nerd that I am, it is a given that I am a huge Star Wars and Lord of the Rings fan, and definitely count them among my favorite movies of all time (well, as far as Star Wars goes, that refers to Episodes IV-VI, of course). However, despite how much I enjoy the Star Wars and Indiana Jones universes, I still do enjoy other films. Today I was thinking about what my top three were (aside from the crazy popular epic movies), and I think I widdled down the top three, which I will share in no particular order.

Clerks

This movie made me a fan of Kevin Smith years ago, before the days of Dogma and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back. It’s definitely my favorite movie by him, and really does a great job showcasing what he does best: dialogue. Most of his really great movies don’t necessarily have a lot of action going on, but the conversations between characters really tell you all you need about them and who they are. He has a gift for this, and I wish I had the talent he does to have such great speech flow from the mouths of his characters. Clerks, with it’s simple filming and snappy, witty dialogue, really shows that you don’t need a huge amount of money and an all-star cast to make one of the greatest films of all time. Oh, and as a side note, I’m such a huge fan of Kevin Smith that I am not ashamed to say that I loved Jersey Girl!!! That movie got sooo underrated, and I hate Ben Affleck!

My Sword and Knife Collection

Posted by Rob on January 11, 2010 – 12:09 pm

Filed under My Personal Life
Tagged as albany, blade, christmas, collection, franklin mint, frodo, gandalf, highlander, knife, lightsaber, lord of the rings, MacCloud, nazgul, shuriken, spider-man, Star Wars, swiss army, sword, tae kwon do, weapon

On Saturday, the women (Shell, Cara, and my mom) went out shopping in the afternoon. While I was home at my parents house, I decided to go up to my room and look over my weapons collection. Ive been collecting bladed weapons for many years, and have an extensive collection of all kinds of swords, knives, axes, and other weapons. I dont remember how I first got interested in it, but Im sure my Tae Kwon Do training had a big impact on it. As I was looking through them, I thought it would be interesting to show off some of my personal favorites in a post. Mind you, what you are seeing here is only a sampling of what I own. I just picked some of my favorites and the things that looked coolest. I also own other weapons that I didnt put on here because they arent that special or because I probably shouldnt share them publicly…

This is the weapons cabinet in my room. As you can see, it is filled with weapons and boxes containing more weapons…mostly swords and knives. I also have a stash of my larger weapons in my closet.

Another Possible Wedding Cake Topper

Posted by Rob on September 13, 2009 – 5:02 pm

Filed under My Wedding
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, cake, han, leia, Star Wars, topper, wedding

I dont think Shell will go for it, but you never know…

Movie Review- Transformers: Revenge of the Falle

Posted by Rob on July 12, 2009 – 8:45 pm

Filed under Movies
Tagged as Autobot, bigbadbob113, Decepticon, Megan Fox, movie, Phantom Menace, racist, Revenge of the Fallen, Star Wars, the Fallen, transformers

We went to see Transformers 2 last night. It was somewhat decent, but it was also very annoying. I think this sums it up:the movie was an visually appealing action-packed film, but was ruined by a horrible story filled with pointless dialogue, confusing sequences, and plot holes.

The movie picks up where the last one left off, with Megatron dumped and broken in the middle of the ocean. The Autobots have joined forces with the U.S. military to track down and destroy the remaining Deceptacons. The movie soon gets out of control when it is revealed that Transformers have been living on Earth for milennia, and that The Fallen was soon to be ressurected and threaten the world. As is to be expected, Megatron is reactivated, and the Autobots and humans join forces to stop him and the Fallen. Like I said, it looks great.

Movie Review- Fanboys

Posted by Rob on June 4, 2009 – 11:28 pm

Filed under Movies
Tagged as DVD, Fanboys, George Lucas, Movies, Prequels, Sci-Fi, Star Wars, Trilogy

Ive been wanting to see Fanboys since I first heard about it sometime last year, when it was in production. I had been waiting for it, but never saw it reach the theaters. Then last week, I saw it in Best Buys ad for its DVD release, and that movie jumped to the top of my Netflix queue. I got it in yesterday, and Shell and I watched it tonight.

The movie is set in 1998, six months before the theatrical release of Star Wars Episode I- The Phantom Menace. Basically, a bunch of Star Wars “fanboys” are eagerly awaiting the release, but then one of them becomes terminally ill, and will not be alive for the release. Thus, the friends decide to go on a cross-country road trip in which they plan to break into George Lucas’ house (Skywalker Ranch) and steal the rough copy of the movie, so their friend can see it before he dies. An insane amount of Star Wars humor and other wacky circumstances follow.

So since the movie is about Star Wars fanboys, there is obviously a crud load of Star Wars references, all of which are awesome. One of the greatest parts of the movie is that, since its set in 1998, there is no prequel jargon tainting the Star Wars universe, so all references are based around the original trilogy, which is very awesome. The friends have debates over whether Luke and Leia were incestuous, how cool Boba Fett is, and that Vader is a bad ass even though he has asthma. Also, the movie has the characters show an extreme hatred towards “Trekkies”, whos paths they cross at several points, always leading to hilarious results.

The movie is also full of great cameos. William Shattner plays himself, Billy Dee Williams and Carrie Fisher are on hand, Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes are ridiculously awesome for their 30 seconds, but the best is Seth Rogan. Rogan plays three separate roles, and at one point two of these roles collide; one being the leader of the Trekkies, and the other being a die-hard Star Wars fan. One of the best parts of the movie is when Star Wars Rogan pulls his shirt off, revealing a tattoo of Jar-Jar Binks on his back, after which he says “Jar-Jar is going to be the shit.”

But the movie is funny even to the non-Star Wars initiate. Shell enjoyed the movie a lot, and Im sure she did not catch the inside Star Wars jokes and whatnot. Its hilarious whether you’re a sci-fi nerd or not. Just watching the antics of the five friends as they head cross country is genuinely awesome. While being funny, the movie also has a heart-warming touch at the end, in which we see the genorousity of Lucas (though Lucas himself makes no cameo).

So all in all, Fanboys was an awesome movie. Its a must-see for any Star Wars fan, sci-fi fan, and just for anyone who enjoys pointless, funny movies. Like I said, its a real trip seeing the friends relate to a Star Wars universe that had not yet been tainted by the prequels. I think the final scene of the movie says a lot too: the friends are at the theater for the theatrical release, and one of them turns to his friends and says, “But what if it sucks?”…after which the credits roll. Purely awesome. Definitely check it out.

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