As you may or may not know, I've been competing in dvddesign's Achievement contest since January. Last month, he revealed the most brutal challenge yet: buy Grand Theft Auto IV and don't play it for thirty days.
Up top, you'll see my still-sealed copy of GTAIV (as of May 31st), complete with my name and Mr. Destructoid's helmet on Niko.
Truly, last month wasn't that difficult to get through. The first week or so was rough, especially on Fridays, when I would get no less than three invites to a game I couldn't play. But why wasn't it as tough as I originally thought it'd be? It's because I got to go back and finish several games that I had put on the back burner for awhile.
If you've got me on your XBox Live Friend List, then you would have seen for the better part of this past month that I've been playing a lot of skate. I started playing it back in January, but I remember stopping because I had hit a wall and I couldn't do any more of the challenges. I picked it up again, and somehow I was better than when I quit four months ago. After taking a look at the Achievements, I decided that I would be able to get 1000/1000 in it. It would be my third game now (with Halo 3 being the first and Call of Duty 4 being the second).
All in all, it wasn't really that difficult. Aside from spending three hours careening down a hill into oncoming traffic in order to break both of my femurs ten times each, it wasn't even that tedious. About halfway through the month, I unlocked with my last skate. Achievement: the annoying "get twenty people to rate your footage" Achievement. It required playing online and actually talking to a mostly antisocial group; skate. players won't shout obscenities at you like most shooter fans on XBox Live, they just won't say anything to you.
Still, I got that last Achievement, and it inspired me to do more. If you can see up near the top of my game list, I've got The Orange Box, with 97 out of 99 Achievements unlocked. I am pretty confident I can get the 98th one (silvers on all the Portal challenges), but that last one may haunt me, because as I've said before, gold medals on all of the Portal challenges might just be impossible with a dual analog setup.
Of course, my second and third run-throughs of Half-Life 2: Episodes 1 and 2 to pick up all of the remaining Achievements on them were punctuated by the release of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode 1. I downloaded it, played through it once, but missed the Pack Rat (get all of the collectibles), Immortal (finish the game without dying), and Silent but Deadly (kill the final boss without using healing items) Achievements. I originally planned to do three play-throughs, since killing the final boss without using any healing items or dying seemed impossible. Once I tried it out though, I decided I could manage them all in just one play-through. It took me probably ten tries, but I was finally able to get the timing down to counter his attacks.
And it turned out I only missed one thing on my first play through for Pack Rat.
So that's all I accomplished with the free time I've had without Grand Theft Auto IV. I actually was hoping to dig back into Bioshock, because I think I can manage 1100/1100 Gamerscore on it. Who knows, maybe I'll put off on GTAIV for a little while longer to finish off The Orange Box and Bioshock.
But then again, looking at this month's challenges, maybe those will have to wait until July. read more
The above video is, sadly, the only one I got of the night. However, it is hilarious, to me at least, so it's all right. The sucky parts about it were that it was too dark for video, and given the location of the camera, you can hear more of the peanut gallery than the actual performers. But then, the best parts of the video comes up because you can hear the people on the couch talking.
Near the beginning, you can hear Chad totally crap all over the other Destructoid city groups, because Destructoid Los Angeles is the best. But then, he says something else later. Wait for the chorus, when Aerox and I start singing together, arms around one another, me nestled in his bosom, with our faces only inches from each other.
Did Chad Concelmo just call us GAY!? Yes, yes he did. I think the best part about all of this is that I didn't hear it when he actually said it, and now, a week later, I'm finally watching the video and I hear that.
Anyway, you have probably heard plenty about the party either from Stickam, or from Aerox's post, or from teknomcr'sposts, so I will get right into the pictures and commentary. I'm trying to keep these chronological, with the exception of the video, because my camera numbers those separately.
Charlie, Ark, and I were the first to arrive. Actually, Ark got there way ahead of anybody else, but it wasn't until I tried to ring Chad that we realized he was already there and he and Charlie could have gone up any time. CTZ and Aerox came shortly after we got inside.
The host of the evening's festivities: none other than Mr. Chad Concelmo himself.
Suff0cat and mid3vol arrive, but my camera is too slow (or Mandi is too quick) to get her in the picture.
Naia, Zero Atma, teknomcr, and Juan have arrived. It's beginning to look like a party now.
Aerox, not as drunk as he looks. I'm pretty sure he's doing a Dale North impersonation.
A wild Polo Guy approaches! This man deserves respect. He's actually the reason the party happened. Also, he is now in the Middle East somewhere, and we wish him the best.
Kyle and Donna showed up, and I am just now noticing the little stain of back sweat on Kyle. Maybe I shouldn't have pointed that out!
Charlie gets a back massage from Britini Martini. It's might be the first time he's felt the gentle touch of a woman. Pure speculation on my part.
At this point, I just kind of went crazy taking pictures of Luna. Seriously though, how can you not? She is the cutest dog ever.
Ark and Naia are playing Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Rings of Fate, and I think the rest are just staring at a blank television.
Okay, now Aerox is as drunk as he looks. Kyle is in the background talking about happy endings from Asian massage therapists.
Suff0cat brought over Target: Terror. It is a hilarious homage to old arcade light gun games like Area 51 or Maximum Force, right down to the live action enemies. It also rewards you for crotch shots.
Short story about The Weakest Link. We get a group of eight together and start to play. Kyle and Donna have to team up, because there are only seven spots. After i sit down, Aerox informs me that he and Chad have formed an alliance, and I can get in it if I would like. After the first round of play, Chad tries to vote Aerox off, and the alliance's votes for Kyle and Donna (sorry!) are now in question. However, the two votes for Kyle and Donna are up against two random votes for Chad. Now, if you've ever watched (or played) The Weakest Link, then you'd know that the person to decide on a tie is the strongest link. Who was it this round? Oh that's right, it was me. Now I don't take the term "alliance" lightly. Even though I originally voted for Kyle and Donna, Chad's treacherous betrayal of the alliance earned him a ticket off the show. He hates being voted off first, but he clearly brings it on himself.
Aerox and I then recruited Zero Atma into the alliance, and we knocked off everybody else, lead by the not-at-all-discreet Aerox. Once it was down to us three, Aerox turns to me and whispers, "You know what to do," to which I responded, "That I do." What he didn't know is that I had been sending Zero some nonverbal signals to vote off Aerox. I wasn't sure if they were being caught, because I was getting no response, but it turns out that Zero definitely caught my drift, but didn't want to risk letting Aerox know what we were up to. With Aerox gone, it was just me and Zero left, and after a stressful showdown, I won my first game of The Weakest Link. I can die a happy man now.
Chad forgot pretty quickly how upset he was over being voted out first. Hopefully this blog brings back all those tortured memories.
What is it with me and taking pictures of people who are taking pictures? I guess it's because I only think to take pictures when other people are.
Just a photo of most of the attendees.
At some point, we started watching the Puppy Bowl. Chad told us how he wants to referee next year's, and that he'd do it for free.
People are starting to get tired, as shown by all the lazing and slouching.
Chad's message to Rio, with better image quality than Stickam
I think these guys are getting ready to leave. It must have been three or so by the time this was taken.
The back of Charlie's head, and Aerox one-eying it. Why do I have so many pictures of Aerox? I swear I'm not gay for Aerox.
Um, so I'm posing with my tongue near CTZ's crotch. But really, I swear I'm not gay.
It's the end of the night, and Luna's all tuckered out.
So is Luna's owner. Chad finds that it's very warm between Aerox's legs.
For the last game of the night, Charlie plays Pokémon Snap for probably forty-five minutes or so. He got pretty into it, even yelling (with an inside voice) at Professor Oak for not knowing anything about photography.
With the party officially wound down, Aerox and CTZ shared a bed, while I slept on the couch and Polo Guy slept on the love seat in the living room. We went to sleep at five in the morning.
BONUS: the Sunday after the party, a few of us got together in Hollywood to see Iron Man at the Arclight Theater. They had the actual suit worn by Robert Downey Jr. in the film set up in their lobby, so I decided to get a photo of it. I didn't take any other pictures in the theater because I was afraid the staff would think I was trying to bootleg the movie.
So that's about all I have. Now that I'm looking back at the pictures, I'm sad I didn't get any of Tristero. That guy is really as slippery and elusive as he seems! I didn't get a picture of him entering because I ran over to give him a hug when he got there, instead of taking a photo. Was he even there, or was he just a figment of my imagination?
Hope you guys like the pictures, despite the poor photography. Destructoid Los Angeles rocks, and I'm looking forward to our next get-together. Ark's place? Mine? Disneyland? Who knows? read more
Hey everybody. I almost forgot that it's ThurDSay. We're rolling around and playing Mario Kart DS. Festivities begin at 7:00PM Pacific, which is in about an hour. Hit up the unofficial Destructoid IRC so we can exchange Friend Codes (!friend codes--) and chat in between races.
To be honest, I don't know if my heart's really in it this week. I've got some other stuff on my mind, I've got tons of other games I'd like to catch up on, I'm currently listening to Jack Thompson on the Podcastle, and I'm hungry, and wah wah wah.
Okay enough of that. Let's just play some Mario Kart. See you on IRC. read more
When this month's musing was announced, I thought to myself, "What games do I play that I'm embarrassed to admit to?" The best example I could come up with is Pokémon, but really, I don't feel guilty at all that I embrace the Diglets and Dodrios of the world. No, there aren't really any games I play that I feel guilty about. So what ever would I write about?
It dawned on me today, that rather than writing about a particular genre or game, I could write about something that spans games, and even genres. And then it hit me. Of course.
I am a shotgun whore.
I'm not really sure when it began, but I feel like it had to have been with Halo on the original XBox. I love shooters, be they first or third person, but I have one small, slight problem.
I'm not very good at aiming.
I mean, I'm probably about average, but if you're average at aiming, then you're getting killed half of the time. However, what I lack in twitch shooting skill, I make up for in spades. How? by outsmarting, outmaneuvering, or guiltily, outwaiting my opponents.
If you haven't yet caught on, that last sentence was my more respectable way of saying that I camp with a shotgun.
But why not!? We are given weapons capable of killing in one shot to the body if close enough, and we are given corners to hide behind, and we are (sometimes) given radar to anticipate an enemies movement. I make the best tactical use of my circumstances, and up the odds in my favor, despite spazzy thumbstick control.
It wasn't until thinking about all of this that I really realized just how video game-y shotguns are. It's as if game developers needed a polar opposite of the sniper rifle (another shooter cliché), something that works wonders at close range, but becomes all but useless at medium range. And then they got the firearms industry to make something that fit their needs.
Now I've never actually fired a shotgun, but I do have some great memories of virtual shotgunning.
Worms: Armageddon had a peculiar shotgun. At first glance it seemed standard; it did more damage and had a larger blast radius than either the handgun or the uzi. But after using it for a while, you realize that it's actually more like a bolt action rifle with explosive rounds. The thing would shoot straight across the entire map, and only when hitting something would the blast radius show up. Despite this decidedly anti-shotgun character, this was easily one of the best weapons in the game, and definitely one of my favorite shotguns ever.
Another game with a particularly memorable shotgun was Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando. The title boasted more weapons than the first in the series, and one of the first new weapons was an absolute blast to use. The Blitz Gun (Insomniac's name for Ratchet's shotgun) had a huge area of effect, and it did some decent damage. However, my favorite aspect of the weapon absolutely has to be the sound it makes. When fired, it emits a quick, loud, extremely satisfying BLAM! Shotguns became a series staple after the second game, but none have been as memorable as the first.
As mentioned above, I am not the most dexterous (irony) when it comes to the dual analog setup, and I'm even worse with a mouse and keyboard. However, the Call of Duty 4 master Ascythopicism keeps me around anyway. Why? Well, probably because I absorb bullets and I'm not a douchebag, but maybe also because I can patiently wait by the bomb site while he is off humiliating the other team. My favorite camping weapon? Er, claymores. But my second favorite? You guessed it, shotguns.
So the next time you step into a room, only to be blasted by a shotgun, torn asunder without any chance of defending yourself, you can curse the name of the camper who did it to you all you want. If it happens to be me on the other end of the barrel, I will feel a little bad for using such a cheap tactic.
But then, not too bad, because you've got a huge bloody hole in your torso, and I don't. read more
Hey DS enthusiasts! You might have noticed that there was no ThurDSay last week. I had some real-life obligations, and nobody could step up to take my place as Nintendo Wi-Fi extraordinaire.
So anyway, I just picked upMario Kart Wii, but I haven't yet played it. What better way to prepare than to get some Mario Kart DS on? I could only think of one way (hint: it involves actually playing Mario Kart Wii).
If you've been following ThurDSay since its induction, you'll realize that this is the first repeat we've had. But you may also remember that I promised to up my library after I get paid next, which happens to be this ThurDSay! So please, let me know what games you'd like to play online with other Dtoiders, and I will try to pick them up to be ready for next time. Here's the list so far:
Bomberman Land Touch (though probably not as good as Bomberman Live)
Jump Ultimate Stars (Styos won't shut up about it)
Planet Puzzle League (I love Puzzle League, but I'm iffy about the touch controls)
Worms: Open Warfare 2 (if it's as good as Worms: Armageddon, then I'm in)
So let me know what else I'm missing, and as usual meet up at 7PM Pacific this ThurDSay in the unofficial Destructoid IRC channel. Hope to see you there. read more
That's right, I'm going to try to do it. As per the challenge, I will just leave my copy of GTAIV unopened, for a full thirty days. Yeah you guys are having fun with it. But I'm going to get 100 points! POINTS! Here's how I feel about this month's challenge.
Yes, that's ink all over the cellophane. I hate the stupid stickers that GameStop puts on cases, so I certainly wouldn't write straight on my game case. If all goes according to plan, that writing will still be on the cellophane, which will still be on the game case in thirty days, and I'll have photographic evidence. Oh by the way, here's the receipt to prove I bought it.
So what will I be doing to ease the pain of not playing what some are calling the best game ever made? Well, if you look at that receipt, you'll see that I made a few other purchases today.
So don't worry about me, I'll be able to maintain my sanity. And I will see you online for some Cops 'n' Crooks, come May 29th... read more
I apparently just can't seem to get enough of you people. Just last Saturday I threw a party and invited you guys, and here I am doing it again. Only this time, it's not going to be a party party, just a get-together-and-play-board-games party.
I imagine it to be a much quieter time, but certainly just as competitive (if not more) than playing the Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures with three other (malicious) people.
Why am I doing this? Well, for one, the board games were sadly neglected at last week's party, and for two, I just bought two new games and I'm itching to try them out, and for three, none of the people here at my school would be willing to come play with me. And for four, they're all a bunch of jerks. Actually, I guess that goes with number three.
So if you make it to only one Destructoid Los Angeles hangout this season, well then by all means wait another week and come party with CTZ. But if you can make it to two, then I'd love to have you over to play some board games. My collection is shown above, and you can read more about the games through the links below, if you'd like.
So if you've been paying attention to either this blog or DtoidLosAngeles, then you'd know that I held a bit of a party here this past weekend. What you may not know is that before the party, I was freaking out a bit. See, between Destructoid and real life people, I was expecting anywhere from fifteen to twenty-five people to show up, which is probably too many for my apartment to handle.
Luckily (but unfortunately at the same time), several Destructoid people had to cancel on me, and all but one of my Caltech friends either a.) don't actually like me or b.) are afraid of Internet people. So in the end, the party was populated enough to have a good time but not so much that it was cramped. In attendance (in order of appearance) were: the always helpful and gracious Aerox, my fellow Caltech chemistry grad student Long, pizza and beer toting bleep, the young but extremely talented Kapkomi and his brother, party saviors naia-the-gamer and her fiancé Zero Atma, the famous CBlog recapper Ark, some random girl, and my good friend for almost twenty years now Josh.
I've mentioned it before, but the whole point of this party was to celebrate my imaginary roommate moving out. He was not a fan of video games, and he would complain about the noise, so my entire setup was in my bedroom before this past weekend. Aerox, being the awesome person that he is, offered to show up early to help set up the apartment for the expected deluge of people. After moving all of my stuff to the living room and setting up my last gen systems in my bedroom (which went sadly untouched throughout the night), there was still a fair amount of time before people were to show up. So Aerox played some Ikaruga while I baked brownies and squeezed some lemons for lemonade.
Long showed up promptly at seven, and proceeded to give excuses as to why he still hasn't finished playing through the Half-Life 2 episodes with my copy of the Orange Box. He would later leave to get his laptop, and sit around the party playing World of Warcraft. Still, I appreciate that he made it out when all of my other Caltech friends didn't show up at all.
While baking, I heard a knock on the door, opened it to find a very tall man carrying a very large pizza box. "I didn't order pizza," I thought to myself, but before I could say anything, he said "You must be Dexter! I'm Travis/bleep. I brought pizza." "And Dos Equis!" I noted. The pizza was a great addition, and despite being gigantic, we were able to finish it over the course of the night. Bleep also brought over the almost comically mediocre Wii game Fishing Master. I didn't personally play it, but I can say from watching it that I might have been better off.
By this point we had started up Rock Band, witnessed Long's awful singing (I'm pretty sure he failed "Say it Ain't So" on Easy), and I was busy on drums, so Aerox answered the door when Kapkomi and his brother showed up. Later, Kapkomi would invite me to play Contra 4 co-op with him on Hard. It's an invite I can't refuse, and while I can usually get to level five when I play solo, I don't think I made it past level two on this occasion, meanwhile Kapkomi went on to beat the entire game on Hard. Seriously, his skills were pretty godlike.
But wait, why was I doing so poorly at Contra 4? Well, the video below might explain it.
In case you can't tell, a combobreaker is three shots of something, and then a fourth shot of something else. In my infinite wisdom, I decided to take it up a notch by doing three shots of Jose Cuervo, followed by an Irish car bomb. I regret nothing.
In the background of that video, you'll notice some three player Rock Band going on, and it would have been for the rest of the night had it not been for naia and Zero. In addition to just being awesome people to begin with, they also brought over more booze (because that's exactly what we needed), and a wireless 360 guitar controller. With the fourth instrument, we could finally get a full band going.
Ark showed up almost by surprise (were it not for a phone call fifteen or so minutes before), because I had originally not expected him to be there. He also brought over a guitar controller, but when I asked him to I had apparently overlooked the fact that he's got the PS3 version of Rock Band, and so the guitar was worthless at la casa de Dexter. Ark spent most of the time at the party playing The World Ends With You and complaining about how much he hates it, and then suggesting that we play Settlers of Catan. We never got around to it.
Lastly, my friend Josh showed up. He happened to be up in Los Angeles from San Diego this past weekend, so it worked out that he'd be able to come hang out at my place. Since he was the last to show, he felt that he started late, and would have to drink double to catch up. He was eventually the first to pass out, somewhere around three in the morning, on my roommate's old bed.
Some things I learned from the party:
1. It is apparently reprehensible to own a copy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl and not have all of the characters unlocked. Sorry guys, I've been too busy for Subspace Emissary.
2. Though it was originally purchased for the taquitos, the cheese dip went great on La Gigante, the pizza that bleep brought.
3. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures is actually a really great party game, if you have all of the hardware to play it. I have played it before, but back then it was a much more calm, cooperative experience. If you try it with a few rowdy Destructoid people, the outcome is a much more cutthroat, hostile, and overall entertaining experience.
4. Aerox and I make an excellent Rock Band singing duet. The game was telling us we were doing badly, but we never failed, and we found out later that we had accidentally chosen the Hard difficulty.
That's about all I have to say. Aerox didn't get many pictures, but they are all in the gallery below. You might want to keep an eye on bleep's or naia's blogs, as I know they got some pictures and possibly some more video. Lastly, if you've managed to read this far, I'm planning a mini-NARP for this Saturday, with a focus on board gaming. It is likely to be much lower key than this party was; I mostly just want to get some people together to play some board games, and I know no better company for that kind of thing than my fellow L.A. Destructoid people. Let me know if you'd like to come. read more
So we've almost exhausted all of the games that I own for the DS with online play. I was about to say we start the repeats of the more popular ones (Mario Kart DS and Tetris DS), but then I remembered: we still haven't played Advance Wars together yet!
At first, I was thinking we should do a pre-deployed map since standard maps take way too long, but I got to thinking, what the hell else do I have to do? That's not to mention that the turn-based gameplay allows us to do other stuff while playing, like listen to podcasts or play some other games. So if we can get at least four of us together, we can get a standard match going.
Maybe I'll cap it at fifty rounds or something, so it doesn't end up going for six hours or however long a full match would take, but if we're going to do Advance Wars, I want to do it right, and that includes building units.
So fire up your DS, and around 7:00 PM Pacific (that's an hour from now), meet us in the unofficial Destructoid IRC channel or the unofficial Destructoid Ventrilo server, and we can get our tank-beats-anti-air-beats-copter-beats-tank gameplay on. read more
Okay, first off, yes that's an MS Painting up there. 1. Give me a break. 2. Shut up.
That out of the way, this is just a reminder that my roommate is moving out this week (hooray!), and to celebrate, I'm throwing a gaming party this Saturday. All Destructoid people are invited (no jerks allowed).
With my roommate gone, I'm thinking of annexing his bedroom, putting the dining table in there, and making that the tabletop gaming room. We'll have Settlers of Catan, Cities and Knights of Catan, Carcassonne, Puerto Rico, Pink Godzilla Dev Kit, and hopefully Ticket to Ride and Shadows Over Camelot (they still haven't come in the mail).
If tabletop isn't your thing, we'll have the full Rock Band setup and Super Smash Bros. Brawl in the living room (along with any other now-gen games we have on hand), and all of my last-gen systems (Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Guitar Hero, or Halo are some examples of things set up in there). And of course, bring your DS and/or PSP for some wireless multiplayer.
I'm not sure what I'll do for food, so if there are any requests, let me know. As far as drinks, I will have a few on hand (enough for combobreakers and possibly car bombs), but if there's something in particular that you'd like to imbibe, feel free to bring it. If you're leaning toward the non-alcoholic beverages, I'll squeeze some lemonade.
This is also going to be an interesting party as there might be some non-Destructoiders here, so I have to warn you that you might hear people call me by my Earth name, but keep in mind that I have to give a similar warning to them: "Hey so uh, a lot of the people at this party are going to call me 'Dexter.' Don't worry about it."
So if you're coming, and you haven't already, let me know by sending an email with lots of bold text to Dexter345 (at) gmail (dot) com so I can give you my address and phone number so you can actually get here on the night of the party. read more
I'm a graduate student in Chemistry at Caltech. I've been reading Destructoid since June of 2006. I'm a huge Nintendo fanboy. I've got far too many posts on the forum.
I play all types of games except realistic sports games and real-time strategy games. The former because I think they're boring and the latter because I utterly suck at them.
Games I'm currently working on:
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (DS)
Grand Theft Auto IV (360)
NEVES (DS)
Rock Band (360)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
Games that are on the back burner:
BioShock (360, need to go back and get the Achievements I missed)
Culdcept SAGA (360, the battles just take way too long)
Gears of War (360, still have to beat it on Insane)
Ikaruga (XBLA, SO. HARD.)
The Orange Box (360, need to go back for a few more Achievements)
Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, need to complete with Luigi)
Games I haven't even touched yet:
Eye of Judgment (PS3)
God of War (PS2)
Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
No More Heroes (Wii)
Okami (PS2)
Persona 3: FES (PS2)
Games I have finished 100% during this console generation:
Aegis Wing (XBLA)
Bomberman Live (XBLA)
Call of Duty 4 (360)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (XBLA)
Halo 3 (360)
Omega Five (XBLA)
Pac-Man C.E. (XBLA)
Professor Layton & the Curious Village (DS)
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (PS3)
skate. (360)
Uno (XBLA)
