Just like everyone else around the world I have been playing the crap out of Modern Warfare Zwei. And while it hasn't reached WOW type addiction yet, I am beginning to scare myself. Since coming home from the midnight launch (It was freezing and I had no jacket) and thawing out, I've been at this game. I played the first mission that night, and before I knew it I checked the clock and it was waaaay past bedtime. I'm a slow gamer BTW. I tend to go at my own pace.

The next morning around 9am I jumped online to maybe play the Hoth  snow mission and then grab some coffee and do whatever needs to be done around here. No. What ended up happening was that I got into some multiplayer with JVB, Heroic Superman, Robbie Jo and Scarfinger. It turned into me having my coffee while camping and eventually sneaking sips while running from bullets and firing blindly at shadows. I'm not that great at MP, but I'm learning. It was only my third time playing MP in the MW universe. 

After playing more missions it is sad to report that my apartment is in shambles. Weekdays are usually reserved for cleaning up, doing laundry, writing, or editing my podcast. I've done none of those things since this blasted game has come out. I'll be playing and then I'll notice the time. I've found myself getting ready for work guerilla style, doing ninja rolls over my bench press to grab my keys just in the nick of time. 

Oh, and fellas, if you're looking to shed a few of those unwanted pounds, this is the game for you. Since I've started playing this game I've had no desire to eat...it's like crack! All I want to do is play this game. Food? Lunch? No! I want my MW2!!! I can't tell you the amount of times I've had to eat over the sink quickly so I can get back to the game. And I'm not even talking about a real meal, always something nuked like frozen spicy chickens, fish sticks or hot pockets. Game fuel! Even while I'm at work I'll get antsy and I start thinking up strategy in my head. 

Even now, I close my eyes and all that goes through my head is me aiming down on somebody and pow!

Oh, and here are a few complaints I've heard from some of the neglected MW2 girlfriends.

Through the days of yesteryear there have been many games, arcade and console, that we have all kept imbedded into our memories as an F'ing awesome thrill ride! One of those games for me will always be the original Gauntlet. Crafted and placed into our arcades by the Midway gods, Gauntlet was one of those games that had you hooked right away.

You say the word Gauntlet to me and I immediately flash back to those days at the Silver Wheel Skating Center circa 198-. A group of us would walk into the dark building adorned with flashy lights  and fog machines, while snazzy polaroids of kids rollerskating and having fun hung along the wood paneled walls. I would walk over to where the arcades were, setting my feet on the maroon carpet with space designs on it. The Gauntlet machine and I did a quick stare down, a standoff to see who would blink first. I still remember the joy and mild fright I felt as I popped in my quarter and heard the creepy narrator's voice.It sent a chill up my spine. I'd spend most of the evening destroying the monsters and their caves while Michael Jackson and the Ghostbusters theme respectively played in the background. Then I'd stop playing just long enough to grab a slice of pizza from the snack bar, wolf it down, then go back to playing again. On most of these trips to the Silver Wheel Skating Center I wouldn't even skate. And if I did skate it would only be for a short time because I was anxious to attack that machine again. it tasked me! It tasked me and I shall have it! Aaaah the '80!. As I type this I can just hear Ah-a's "Take on me" playing in the background as the narrator warns me to eat my food, don't shoot it. 

That was then. It is now twenty something years later and Gauntlet still plays a part in my life. Around 2005 I worked at a Radio Shack on the south side of town. I remember I had to take two busses just to get to work. The first bus let me off at Town Center Mall, which, if you know your history well, is where the "Missing Trio" incident took place. Sometimes there was a long layover and I would kill the time by milling around in the arcade. One day I spotted something familiar. "Gauntlet Legends." I played this game back in 1998 when it was on the N64, but I had never seen an arcade version. I started playing it and the memories came flooding back. It played exactly like the old Gauntlet, with demons and monsters running out of dwellings to try to destroy you. It was hack and slash at its finest! And holy crap, I can save my game and my character?! I went back time after time to play Gauntlet Legends until the day came that I no longer worked at that Radio Shack, thus I had no reason that go that route anymore. *Le sigh*

I've thought about buying the console version, but unless I find it at Movie Trading I probably won't bother. I like buying from Amazon and ebay, but sometimes I don't wanna wait! One day I walked into a Gamestop and I saw something made of pure awesome. Gauntlet Dark Legacy.

I was told this was an expansion to Gauntlet Legends. And yes, it is basically Gauntlet Legends, but with a little more "oomph!" As opposed to only one kind of attack, this game allows for slow attacks, quick attacks, short and long. Also the difference in character classes is much more visible in this one. I prefer to use the Sorceress because she's so adept at using potions and magic. And if you know me, then you know I'm all about magic and potions! 

But sometimes I just gotta. Now seems to be one of those times. 

The temporary blog for my website Geeks With Color was just given the first update in a long time. I shall post it here as a one time only thing. Thank you.

http://geekswithcolor.blogspot.com/2009/10/can-it-be-all-so-simple.html

PS: If this is not allowed let me know. Like that song from The Wizard says "I live by the rules." By the way, I love the power glove. It's so bad.

Taking a break from games for a moment I'd like to bring something to people's attention. When the hey, hey did Facebook become myspace? Remember the old days when Facebook was merely a site where you could go reconnect with your old college and high school buddies? There were bells and whistles, just good clean college pages and laugh out loud hilarity. Then the borg came...I mean the general public, and assimilated the site into just another version of myspace. It took me a while to realize this, as I was too busy being consumed with staring at the pages of old school crushes and girlfriends. Thinking to myself, "damn she let herself go!" or even "Wow! She still looks hot!" 

Then the co-workers came and I no longer was able to complain about the job. It got so bad that facebook once suggested that I add my boss's boss. NO thank you. It just got worse from there. We started seeing company created pages, and ads, ads, ads all over the place. Even Jack Box has a facebook page! And now it's simply dwindled into a bunch of random people that I've met over the years either at a party, or through other friends. Some of these people utterly annoy the crap out of me. I've recently considered either page deletion or getting rid of the people who get on my nerves.

Another thing that bugs me is that damn Who..I mean Farmville. It along with Mafia Wars, Sorority Life, and vampire crap have their little "play me now" signs pasted all over Facebook. And if that isn't enough, everyone who plays these games on my friends page has their crap bombarded all over my home page. I simply do not care if you found a lost cow or made it to the sorority house, or even became F'in Don Corneleon in mafia wars. There has to be a way to turn this off. If not, then pfffffft, bye bye. 

Please tell me I am not the only one who feels this way.

I am notorious for buying games and then being too lazy (or busy) to play them. I bought Call of Duty 4 upon a friend's recommendation, since he knew I love shooters. I had just made the leap into the next generation around that time and I needed something to play. So I bought it, took it home and forgot about it. Nearly a year went by before I finally got it cracking. 

Things like this have made me the butt of many jokes. While at Best Buy not too long ago I was there to pick up something, and while at the register with my friend, another friend called on my buddy's cell.

"Where are you guys?"

"At Best Buy."

"Is he buying another game that he's not gonna play? Bwah ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Believe it or not I've gotten better at this. It only took me one week to start playing Madden 10, and even less time for me to tear into Mass Effect. Now word yet on when I'll finish that game, though. 

It's football time once again. In America NFL action signals the end of Summer, and the beginning of my favorite season: Fall. Why is it my favorite season? Simply put, I enjoy it. The crispiness in the air, the scattered leaves on the ground, and the anticipation of a damn good football game on Sunday. 

 Yes Fall. When Halloween and Thanksgiving are just around the corner. When staying in to play Madden is the new hotness over going out in that weather. When slipping on a sweater or a windbreaker to go outside and toss the pigskin around is cause for a celebration. When you're outside raking up the leaves and catching a quick conversation with the neighbors on how well your team is going to fare this season. 

The Fall season also reminds me of those good times I had during high school. Because of an existing medical condition I was not allowed to play football in high school. (yet I could play baseball)  But my love for the game made me want to be around it in some form or another. I became the team's video guy after the previous video guy bowed out for personal reasons. I traveled with the team, huddling by myself with a jacket on standing on top of the roof of many a press box as we rolled through small town after small town. I lugged around equipment, set up in whatever rat hole stadium to get the job done. However I did get to ride on the team bus, hang out in the field house, participate in team dinners, and I even had access to the cheerleaders. (more on that later) It was well worth it.

NFL on tv was and is my favorite thing to watch. Football brings us hunter-gatherers together as we all share a common bond that is our favorite team. "What's the score?" the pizza delivery guy asks as he hands me my game fuel. "Who just scored?" another guy might ask inside the convenience store he ran to for either a beer run or because his wife needed something. Huddled masses keep their eyes on tv screens inside the Jiffy Lube. The neighborhood bar might erupt with glee because of a game changing turnover within the final two minutes.

You pump your fist into the cold air and dance a jig over the brown grass. You eat some pumpkin pie served to you in the middle of a McDonald's Game Break on Fox. The heater will kick on just as Jim Brown finishes his pre-game analysis. Chris Berman and Mike Dikta make their picks as one of your friends comes inside from the cold, takes off his coat and finds solace inside the confines of your living room. Hot wings anyone?

The NFL is here again. Let us all rejoice. 

Late last night I was perusing my iTunes, trying to prune my music down. I have a lot of music...too much, and my iPod isn't even full yet. So I started going through my library, trying to delete whatever I didn't listen to anymore, and I noticed that a lot of those old tunes were the background music for classic gaming moments of mine. What fun times were had while listening to The Offspring and Sunny Day Real Estate. And I'll never forget all the times I was in the arcade and "Smooth Criminal" would pop up while trying to navigate through Gauntlet, and trying my damnest to not get shot down in Rampage while Nu Shooz serenaded me with "I Can't Wait."

 The first time I realized that music was an essential part of gaming was on my tenth birthday. My parents rented me Battletoads, and my friends came over and we all cracked up whenever we hit the pause button to listen to that absurb 8-bit pause music, and my friend Luis would do this weird funky dance, sort of an early version of the "Bank-head bounce," except he kept his arms up. We could not stop laughing. That was it. That was the moment I knew that music and games went together like peanut butter and tortillas.  Okay, bad example, but you get the picture.

 This became a recurring theme.

NBA Jam was played to the tune of Snoop Doggy Dogg's "Doggystyle," while games like Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat frustrated the holy hell out of us as the Warren G album played gleefully in the background. I can still remember trying to pull off a fatality with that damn near impossible 3 button layout that Genesis had, while being taunted by "This D.J."

"And I tell the homies 'aight then'..."

 The more games we played the stranger the music got. Who ever heard of mixing Street Fighter Alpha 2 with "Killing me softly" by The Fugees? Or for that matter Resident Evil 1 and Ronnie Laws?