The new and improved Party Thead

[Zoyd]

Hope everyone is ready for the holidays and having a great Christmas Eve! I know I am. I'm drinking coffee, puttering around on my blog, and doing some reading. Pretty much exactly how I like to spend my holidays. Merry Christmas!

[Atomic#47]

Congrats Halo3 people! Did you end up running thru it twice? Once to finish Legendary, and a second time with the skull on?
Merry Christmas!

[Dark DJ]

Mmmm, there's not much out there better than a good Christmas Eve dinner with the family. And such good food here...I feel like my parents are the only ones that can't cook! Maybe that's why we bring the pies from the nearby bakery every year.

Feels like things are winding down with Jake, our old dog. This is probably his last trip down to Indiana, we think. He's had a couple bad days where he just lays around, but he bounces right back the next day. My dad's getting more and more concerned about him. It'll kill him when we finally have to put him down. But at least we'll still have our little one.

[Zoyd]

Sorry to hear about your dog, DJ. That can be rough. How long have you guys had him?

And yes... Christmas Eve dinners can be great. Looking forward to ours.

[forgetfool]

Yes we finished it off on Legendary and then we went back and pulled out the Annual Achievement after A LOT of trying. With four people in ghosts it just seems that for every attempt at least one person gets held up at an area, flips the ghost, or runs into to something. And when ONE thing messes up you will inevitably have to start over.

But the important thing is we got it. Never has anyone worked so hard for 0 points.

[Nevis]

Merry Christmas to all!!!

Just got home from some last minute shopping (Best Buy) and then grocery shopping for our Christmas dinner (Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, dressing and of course, christmas cookies for dinner). Yum!

JUST finished wrapping the last gift for Van...hopefully he likes the last two gifts...they're "surprises"...so you never know about those....but I'm pretty sure he'll like them.

DJ, I'm sorry to hear about your dog...just enjoy ever encounter, you know? And give him extra treats...they truly make the dogs so happy! And for a healthy treat - give the dog canned pumpkin - its good for them because its got lots of fiber and very few calories but they like it because it tastes good and they like the texture. Also since he's an older dog, fiber and a mushy consistency are good things!

Hey...are we playing any L4D2 tonight or tomorrow night? I know its "Christmas" and all...but I'd still love to get some gaming in with my friends...because you know what they say....."Tis the Season...for killing zombies"....

And Pher = bootay.

[Brillig]

Morning All and Merry Christmas Eve!

I finished up all the wrapping last night while enjoying some Netflix streaming. Anyone ever watch Farscape? I never had but watched the pilot last night. Not too bad. After that, I watched Starship Troopers. Definitely one of my guilty pleasure movies

I'm a big fan of Farscape. I think the pilot episode is pretty decent, especially for a pilot, but the show itself outshines the pilot. It gets very very good. One of my favorite series, actually.

[Deschain]

Morning All and Merry Christmas Eve!

I finished up all the wrapping last night while enjoying some Netflix streaming. Anyone ever watch Farscape? I never had but watched the pilot last night. Not too bad. After that, I watched Starship Troopers. Definitely one of my guilty pleasure movies

I think I'm too late with this, but safe travels Coop and have a great trip! Anyone else traveling for the Holidays? We've got family within 25 minutes either way so it won't be too bad. We're celebrating this afternoon with my family and then tomorrow with Mrs. B's family. Can't wait!!!

However, first I have to get thru 5 hours of work today

Farscape is one if the best series to ever air. As the characters get more defined the show keeps getting better. I have used John Crichton for my avatar pic at times. I'm desperately waiting for the series to come out on Blu-Ray.

Our family dinner is not until Saturday this year. As my nieces and nephews have gotten married it gets hard to schedule a time for us all to get together. All probably will not make it this year but we're also celebrating that it was 50 years ago (Christmas Day) when my parents moved into this house. All to say I'll likely be around tonight and tomorrow for L4D2 or other gaming madness.

Fun times last night on Halo 3. The advantage for an expert run is you can at least pause in the safe room. Fail that run and it just starts right back over in the middle of needing to scoot. Still I'm proud we got it even if it was 0 gamerscore.

DJ, I too pass along my sympathy. Losing animals, particularly ones that have been around many years, is difficult. Hopefully he's still got more time left. A few years ago Betsy, my sisters dog, seemed to be winding down, but has rebounded and has done well for some time.

Merry Christmas to you all.

Edit: PS Atomic Skull if you want to pick that achievement up, I'm willing to do another run if we can get a couple more.

[Atomic#47]

Edit: PS Atomic Skull if you want to pick that achievement up, I'm willing to do another run if we can get a couple more.

I would be interested in that! I should be on quite a bit this next week between Xmas and New Years...
Atomic Skull sounds good...

[Dark DJ]

Merry Christmas, all! Since we're in Indiana right now, we were only able to get 1 present each so far. I chose to grab the gift that felt most like a book, since that's what I'd get the most use out of on the trip home.

As for Jake, thanks for all the sympathies. We've had him for about five years, but he was probably eight when we picked him up from the shelter. Our little one is gonna be devastated when he's gone. He'll have a bad day and she'll just lay down next to him.

He's been nothing but the sweetest dog, though. Never makes any trouble, just follows us around and sits in our laps.

He's got a tumor in his anal gland, so it's not too likely that he'll live much past the three months the vet gave him.

[Hellsing]

Merry Christmas all, snowing here in the mountains and the kids are playing after the wrapping paper storm.

[Deschain]

Merry Christmas. I hope everyone got (gets) good gifts though I suspect a few of us will end up with coal, or at least Pher.

[Biohazard92]

Merry Christmas to all! I received a bonus gift this morning: a three day pass to PAX East so I will be sure to get together with fellow TAGgers!

[Vitale1145]

Sorry to hear about your dog DJ.

Skull if you need help with that Cheevo let me know I'm not great at it but I think I figured it out near the end. I'll be on playing Dragon Age lots but will still be wanting to play Left 4 Dead 2 and Halo if your interested.

Congrats on the trip to PAX east Bio thats great. I wish I could go but the car needed new tires so maybe next year.

[Dark DJ]

Well, no big surprises this year. Got AC II and Dragon Age, along with a nice electric razor, some books, and a 16 GB flash drive. Still a great Christmas, nonetheless.

But yeah, I'll be on playing those the next couple of days, though I'm totally up for some L4D2 or Halo 3 or whatever people want to do.

[Nevis]

I got Van Dragon Age and The Sabatoeur (games), Watchmen & Star Trek (movies), Quicken (computer program), some clothes and a scarf.

Van got me some clothing gift certificates, a garlic press that I wanted, an immersion blender (if anyone knows what that is) and a few peices of fiestaware (really famous collectable kitchenware) that I'd been wanting. Very cool! I also got a GF to Amazon from my mom...I'll probally buy a salt cellar and some more Harry Dresden books with it.

[Deschain]

See I knew most of you wouldn't just get coal.

I'd still like to try for The Real Deal on Dead Center soon before we lose our feel for the map. I'm also up for some other expert runs or other L4D2 hijinx. Atomic, sounds like we could easily get four for the Halo run so let us know what works for you. I'm off until the 4th so I'll have more time than usual.

Bio, congrats on getting to go to PAX Boston. Like Vitale (though not tires related) I probably will not make it this year.

[Vitale1145]

Deschain lets do that Real Deal run. I'm working all week but I should have a night to do this. Set a date and we'll do it.

I am addicted to Dragon Age I started it and the next thing I knew it was 5 hours later.

[Deschain]

Pretty much any day this week works for me. Let's start by throwing out tomorrow (Sunday) at 9:00EST. Forgetfool and DJ are you in?

[Dark DJ]

Sure, I'd be good for it. Just shoot me an invite, and I'll tear myself away from Assassin's Creed.

Speaking of, that game's just as incredible as everyone said. I enjoyed the first one, but this one's just so much better in every way. If you cared for the first one at all, go get the sequel.

I haven't even touched Dragon Age yet because I've gotten so wrapped up in AC...good times.

And in all that, I still took advantage of Steam's ridiculous sales. Bought Deus Ex: Invisible War, Audiosurf, Trine, and the Telltale Everything Pack, mostly for Sam and Max and Monkey Island.

[forgetfool]

I'm going to have to be a maybe. I'm not sure what we are planning to do around that time. Will update after I talk to my wife tomorrow morning.

[Vitale1145]

I'm available shoot me an invite and I'll stop playing Dragon Age. Hopefully we will have a 4th.

[forgetfool]

Ok after clearing it with the wife I am a go for zombie-killing action tonight.

[Mongo]

Morning folks,

I thought I'd check in before heading out to work. So what's the big new years plans? Anyone planing to do anything "crazy" for new years?

[Atomic#47]

L4Ders- Well? How did the Real Deal attempt go?

Nev- What do you do with collectable kitchenware? Can you use it or is it for decoration only?

It was a good gaming Xmas in our house.
I got a pair of gaming headphones which worked really well with my first foray into music games- Rockband 2.
That game is a lot of fun! It actually got my wife playing a game on the 360!
So far the guitar is easier than I thought and the drums are harder than I expected. And of course everything is still being done on Easy.

Good morning Mongo! No crazy plans here. I might even stay up past midnight. I actually have New Year's Day off this year.

[Vitale1145]

The first 2 levels went well but that third level and the clock killed us. We made it through the crescendo several times only have the Tank show up right by the safe room. I had to We are going to quit so I could get up for work today. We are going to get this on Saturday. We were so close sorry guys.

No crazy plans for New Years we may rent Beatles Rock Band and play with that. but I don't think thats crazy.

The Borderlands DLC comes out on Tuesday, is anyone buying this?

[Zoyd]

Hey, everyone, hope you've all had a great holiday season so far. I have.

I finally rented Dragon Age. I've played it pretty steadily for the last two day but... that's mostly because it's the holidays and I can afford to do that. I don't think I'm going to buy it. I don't know... it's just not working for me. I really wasn't expecting the whole silent protagonist bit, especially after Mass Effect. I was expecting characterization. And while I sort of like that the game is definitely on the "mature" end of things, I think Bioware was just being... childish about it. Just because you are willing to kill off a whole bunch of people, or cover everyone in blood, or make not-so-subtle references to rape and torture doesn't make your game mature. Ah well...

In other news I really like Brutal Legend, so maybe I'm not qualified to comment on what I do or do not think is a good game.

[forgetfool]

I dunno if we can say we were really close last night...I mean we tried that third level for a LONG time. The sad part is we got so close twice, once with three people and once with all four people. But I mean we could have been at that for a couple more hours and not gotten any farther.

But it will be done, sooner or later.

One thing I noticed while playing on Realism is that I had A LOT more friendly-fire incidents. I guess having those outlines is the only thing stopping me from shooting you.

[Atomic#47]

I guess having those outlines is the only thing stopping me from shooting you.

Careful, that statement could be taken out of context. Oh, wait, I just did...

[Dark DJ]

I'm not gonna be able to make it on Saturday, guys. I'm headed down to Ohio on Saturday morning and staying down there for a week, so best of luck to you guys when you do run it.