I've been playing the new Prince of Persia, and even after a solid few hours, and visits to more than a few 'Fertile Grounds', I can't decide if I love it, or hate it...

Maybe hate is a bit strong, but I can't help but feel belittled by Ubisoft Montreal with how they've Assassins Creed'ed the PoP control scheme and at times I feel like the term 'platforming' isn't actually applicable...And then there are those moments when everything comes together and I look like a fucking genius, and it's beautiful as the Prince pounces from pole-to-wall-to-swing-to-hook...And then there are moments where there are jumps that just go awry and I end up falling until Elikas hand grabs mine and brings me back to ground...The no dying ins't a biggie since it only alleviates a reload screen from popping up...Although if you suck then the hand grab scene may rival the Too Human Valkyrie scene (but not nearly as long).

I'm a big believer in precision platforming, and having to time jumps to the milisecond to get by...And I look forward to dying 1,000 times to get through a section and feel like I was forced to get it right. Is that my masochistic side? Probably...But the fact that there is so much forgivness is a big negative...And then I get sloppy because I feel like the moves that tie together are simple where I don't hit (B) to grab a hook late enough and die...And then I'm pleased...

I love the look of the game. It is beautiful, and the colors scream and pop off the screen...Seeing my colorful (almost gay pride parade colorfull Prince) contrast with the bleak colorless levels is nice, then seeing the world regain its beauty, and having the color saved for Elika and The Prince originally leaked all over the world really makes the simple control worthwhile...But, and there is always a but, the story starts to annoy me just as the simple control set up does...For any real exposition I'm forced to repeatedly hit the LT or LB to talk to her and find out more about the lands I'm saving. It wouldn't be so bad, but I have to hit the button at the minimum 5 times, usually more like 9-10 to get the low down. And the cut-scene this evokes is always from the same 2 angles (having both characters on screen, and swapping The Prince and Elika in the foreground). It would have been nice if they had some cut-scenes that gave me more exposition so I didn't have to stop-hit the button-watch the scene-hit the button-watch another and repeat until I get a corny one-liner that lets me know I have gone as far as I can for the moment. I can't understand the choice to force the player to hit more buttons to get a little hunk of story than the button presses I had to use to get through the area....

Which leads to the combat...Oh the combat...I miss the multi enemy combo-fest (or at least button mash) that was the PoP:SoT...The combat has "combos", but only in the sense that you can hit one button, then another, and another...But as long as you can deflect a strike by the enemy (one at a time) and tell what 'shield' they are using (which cuts down on the notion of a combo by being forced into a opening strike) then combat will cause no issues...The word combo, in gaming terms, implies that timing is an essential element. Timing matters not with the cmbat here...I miss the sweetness of the combo system in Conan...

I get that they want it cinematic, but instead of the combat feeling more focused with solid fights it seems like the combat was an afterthought....a way late afterthought...And I'm upset by that. But OK, playing a PoP game isn't mainly about combat for any fan...It's about the platforming (which has been simplified to almost a fault) but about the puzzles...BUT (again), the puzzles are pretty much MIA. A couple of crank puzzles thus far, which took no time in completing, and unless you have no clue how to approach a puzzle in a videogame shouldn't have much trouble completing quickly, is a travesty. How are puzzles, large and small scale so removed from the series?!? Now to be fair, I've yet to complete the game, but I have visited each area at least once, and completed one of the 4 completely...So I doubt they stuffed a ton of puzzles in the places I have yet to see...

So I'm torn. There is so much promise, and so much that has been underdelivered, and I still can't decide if I reallhy like, or am 'meh' about the game...I can't see how some of the design choices were made. The levels are beautiful, and are well laid out, which is all the more infuriating in one respect because I want to rule over the land....And instead I'm only allowed to be a hall monitor...It just seems unfair....

So I'm sure there have been a ton of blogs posting about their thoughts on the new dashboard update, so now you can have 1,000,001 thoughts...

After a full day to check it out, I have to say I like it, but I also don't like it. I find it far more cumbersome than the old dashboard and I have to go into far too many menus in order to achieve things I could do in 1 or 2...

I gave my avatar guy a beard...It is my odd nod to y0jimb0, and my avatar knows that there can never be a screwup where his beard comes off unintentionally. Even though my avatar has his awesome beard, the pickings for what to put on the virtual man or woman are really limited. I'm not a big dress-up fan, but I was thankful that they had a Timberland-ish boot, as that is my footwear of choice in any season...

Maybe I'm just becoming crotchety and am slowly feeling like change is bad...Unless it's Presidents...

There is an utter fuckload of potential though, unfortunately there is more potential for MS to micro-fuck users with the transactions that seem like they are becoming far more included than the 'free' DLC of old. If they honestly charge for avatar clothes, ones that didn't have a 'brand' name because wearing avatar-virtual-Gucci-shades is teh aw3s0m3z, it will be all downhill from there...And if you pay for the avatar clothing, you're a sucker.

The Netflix thing...meh...I stream videos from my PC, and I don't have to do anything but have them on my hdd, so that really wasn't a novel thing for me. I thought the party idea for the movies was a decent approach to putting the Live spin on it, but it didn't make the cut...Soon they say.

The one thing I've been looking forward to with this update was also not included in it on the 19th...I'll have to wait for spring...The gameshows that you can play...Since they released the 360, I always thought that gameshows over the arcade were a natural fit. Unfortunately the only gameshows they released have been "Wits &Wagers" (board game) and "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" (also known as Redneck Jeopardy). The thought of playing 1 vs 100, with an actual 100 would be awesome...Even if the 100 weren't live, but randomly selected answers that owners of the game could give in order to deepen the experience. (Although 101 and players would surely be sweet), along with some staples of course like Jeopardy, WoF, Jokers Wild anyone? Card Sharks FTW? I mean, there are some seriously awesome game shows that could be put into this, and the 'real world prizes' thing is just an added bonus.

I can't say I've noticed much of a difference for installing games. I installed fallout 3 and GTA 4, 2 nicely long load timers....I can say that the opening sequence before your Niko loads up is quicker, but the saving and loading seem to take the same amount of time....With Fallout I notice it more when it pulls up my game saves....It used to take some time to get through the list of saves to get to the botoom to clean out 20 or so...Now it is quick, and I can appreciate it. I tried it on Fable 2, and oddly enough, it seemed like the between 'areas' loading took longer...So I don't get that.

I'm sure we will see a nicely streamlined dashboard experience by March....But overall I haven't really had any issues with the rollout, which was really shocking. OK, I'm off to be Dead in Space.

I haven't made a blog about Heroes, and its shark-jump watch in a few weeks...And it will be a couple more days after I watch Mondays episode. Between living, playing Pallout 3, GoW2, Returning to Liberty City to finsh up loose ends, Saints Row 2, and catching up on a few other things it wil take a while.

Aside from that, I've found a new show (new this season, but even newer to me) called FRINGE. It's on Fox on Tuesdays...And it seems pretty fucking sweet thus far. I only saw the first 2 episodes (I have the other 5 on my PC begging to be viewed). Anytime a show kicks off with flesh melting, and someones jaw falling off their face, I'll admit, I'm hooked until it proves it sucks. Give it a look, because I don't want to see this fucker end after 1 year.

Dexter is still the man, even though they want to bring people in to ride with him and his dark passenger...An odd attempt but thus far seems to work...Hopefully something wicked will happen in a few episodes and make some of the mush I've endured worth it.

I beat up Fable 2, and I don't know if I want to return to Albion...I know I don't want to play through it again for a few achievements, but I don't want to get rid of it just yet...Even though now is the time while I can get the most money for it...Very wonderful game though...Compelling, and the dog made me melt...Maybe because I named him after my dog (who died a few years ago) so I had a different idea of who he was...I never once punished him through the course of the 35 hours I spent playing my character...Suffice to say, I miss him.

I'll be back on Friday, hopefully after the Jets shit on the Patsies tomorrow. And have a little run down of shit that I spoke about above. BTW, even though I voted for him, and am so glad Obama is going to be the President come Jan 20th, I still can't get over that we will have a black man as President. I swear I never thought I'd see the day...It goes to show us how big a gap we've crossed, not only socially, but generationally. I have no doubt had this man run in the late 80s or 90s he (or Hillary) would never have got near the end of the Dem Primaries, let alone carried the nomination. And it is really a beautifull thing that we as a country are past that at this point...So no matter how you voted, be proud of our country. It's one of the few bright spots we have had over the last few years...

I'll see you on Friday.

Tomorrow is November 4th. So I ask that every Democrat, Republican, and Independant to go out there, and get it done. Tomorrow we could be very well at the point in America, that we can finally see something historic. Me personally...I'd say for McCain to keep fighting, and have hope....To Obama I'd say, make sure you get down, vote, and both candidates supporters to do the same.

Do this with respect, and love towards those you share the booth lines. We are all there to get to the same goal....and that goal is to put Real Democrasy into action.

Good luck ladies and gents...And I look forward to getting ripped out of Albion for a day to see who the next President will be!

VOTE...IT IS YOUR RIGHT, YOUR OBLIGATION TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOUR COUNTRYMEN.

After I vote, I will give my Heroes update, it will have been now 4 episodes, so many things to get to. Good luck getting to the polls, butjust make sure your'e gonna go. November 4th will be here very soon. Good Luck America...I hope her people are wise, and she will have a great, profound leader for the next 4-8 years.

Good Luck to every ready, willing, and able bodies voters.

Republicans vote next Tuesday...;-) LOL.

Seriously, EVERYBODY NEEDS TO VOTE.

****Disclaimer : I just took my ambien...so good night.

I finally got around to watching the newest episode of Heroes, and I have to say I was more interested in it than I have been in a while, but it still a lot of convoluted back and forth. No straight path to the narrative. And I don't know why that continues to be the path that they travel more often than not.

I understand the TV season is long, and there are many weeks that the gap between where we are, and how we got there needs lots of filling, but I can't think of a show that consistantly provides this many more questions than answers, and how the plot gets continually twisted to the point of it turning blue in the face.

If you haven't watched the episode, don't keep reading.

With so many leaps in logic, and so many of the characters gettins pushed, pulled and prodded to the point of dissolving what we once thought them to be is becoming womewhat unbearable. Sylar goes from being the bogeyman, to being a happy dad who for some odd reason is showering praise on Mr Muggles...HUH?

Peter is the new Sylar, and Claire killed "future Peter", even though Peter has the same 'not gonna die' powers as Claire. He proved his ability after he saved Claire in season 1, and has since healed himself just like her after that. So how did he get a huge scar across his future face? Especially when you consider that heals JUST LIKE FUCKING CLAIRE.

Why is the future always the main cog? For all intents and purposes, if they could continue to change the future, and travel back and forth, then saving the world would always happen, as well as at some point, ending the world. There would always be 5 Peters (not in the porn way) flipping around time...So wouldn't that be the retarded result of the convoluted 'future self' leading the way for 'present self' so that 'past self' doesn't lose its way? If that didn't make sense, good. You now get the show...Much of it makes no sense.

Even though Claire can't die, she got back with Peter awfully fast, and had him tied down, inflicting pain on him right after Sylar exploded...So where is Sylar. He can't die either...AND Daphne 'wasn't fast enough'....That seemed like an overly created dramatic moment that was out of place. Parkman seems to be the most useless "Heroe" of them all at this point. Now he is in Africa, and he will follow his 'totem', a fuckin turtle, to lead him. Very fitting. He really has no reason to be in the show.

If there was an underground war between the 'born' and the 'made', wouldn't Parkman be the most likely candidate to be one of the early victims to almost any other of the heroes?

Then we have Mohinder, and the super English speaking Mia...Amazing how quickly she lost that accent of hers...And future Mohinder crawls fast? At least they didn't make him look like Brundel-Fly all the way...So I guess that's a bonus. No? And if Peter is the time traveller super man, why wouldn't Mohinder just have told him that he injected himself with a broken formula, and where/when he did that injecting? Wouldn't that have at least helped to save Mohinder from his all together creepy future self?

And now we know that Heroes is racist...It HAD to be a black guy killing a little white kid...;)

I'm not a big comic guy, and only know this because after I saw Iron Man I was checking out stuff on the Avengers and Marvel heroes in general. But it seems more and more that the Heroes, and the underground war is being ripped from the war between the super heroes who fought for and against the powers registration act...No? It doesn't seem to be ver original, aside from the all powerful formula that somehow became available en masse, and has stock brokers flying like the last son of Krypton.

Seriously though, with all the nonsense, and all the retardedness, and insanity I am still driven to watch. I think I'm watching for the wrong reasons though...Just like "The Two Coreys" this is turning into a trainwreck, and hey, who doesn't love to see a trainwreck? At least this trainwreck is amusing though, even if it creates more stupid questions and asshole "future versions" of characters...I can't see them being able to carry on like this though for a lot longer. At some point exposition will need to give way to explanation, and the quandry these 'new' characters find themselves in will be forced to give us an answer.

Even if that answer isn't the one we want, or that solves the mystery. It's funny, but the Mohinder quote in his journal entry seems to wrap up what this season of Heroes has been, and is leading to..."The formula is transforming me, and I fear, I fear what I'm becoming".

Just a heads up to those who care, Dexters back for season 3! Yes, everyones favorite serial killer is back to giving us a demented, bloody view of moral fortitude. Epsiode 2 just aired yesterday.



I swear I'm not just spamming the cblogs...But I will be back tomorrow for an update of Heroes and the possible shark jumping...