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Fenyx Rising: ReduxGAME OVER
April 22 What happened?Wow, it's been a while huh? I can't blame anyone for never coming around here anymore. The truth is, I wouldn't be surprised if no one ends up reading this. It's been about a year and a half since I've updated and a lot has happened in that time. I've moved, and then moved again. I got engaged, I've changed jobs, it's been a crazy ride. Anyway, in the process I ended up not having any systems to play. It was a long drought. Luckily in the past couple of weeks I've snagged not only an XBox 360 Elite, but also the ever so elusive Nintendo Wii. I've been playing catch up. Lego Star Wars, Assassin's Creed, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and a couple other games have been on my playlist. Of course that got me thinking about my long forgotten Gaming Blog: Fenyx Rising Redux. Maybe this would be a good time for it to once again rise from its ashes. So, I'm back lurking around, visiting my old friends. Well the ones that haven't "un-friended" me and the ones that I still remember. To my surprise a lot of them aren't around anymore. Some haven't updating their blogs at all this year. I took it as a sign. Maybe my MSN spacing days are over. MySpace and Facebook seem to have taken over the world. It sucks, but whatta ya gonna do? If you want to keep in touch with people these days, you better have one or the other, or both. I don't know, it's kind of sad, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. I'm all over the place anyway. To those of you that might come across this, I'm not hard to find, hit me up at MySpace, Facebook, or on my Livejournal. In theory I still have my own website going as well. If you're still plugging away on your MSN space/gaming blog, keep on keepin' on! I'll probably pop in from time to time, but good luck with everything you do in the future. Game on! -Gil November 08 Do you want the good news or the bad news?First of all, I noticed Angel was having trouble with her MSN space. What a surprise. These things drag sometimes. Anyway most of you (and by all of you I mean all three people that read this thing) probably heard the bad news. My 360 died. It stopped spining the discs, demos, arcade games, that all worked fine. I just couldn't get it to read any discs. Unfortunately I had to work so I couldn't do much about it, fortunately my brother was off. I sent him to Best Buy along with my E.S.P. (extended service plan) and after some choice words, we got a new 360. Just in time for Gears of War.
Meanwhile on the other side of town, I was casually strolling to my friendly neighborhood Game Crazy to pick up my pre-order, supposedly reserved copy of Gears of War. I was greeted by a sign that said "Gears of War will be in at 5 or 7". WTF? I wasn't too surprised but some other fanboys weren't taking the news too well. Blood was to be spilled this night. Well, not really.
Fast forward a few hours, GC gets in NINE copies. That's right, 9. Luckily I race down the street and get my grubby little hands on one of those copies. Minutes later I'm Marcus Fenix (gotta love that name) and I'm breaking out of prison. After everything was said and done, this game was definitely worth the wait.
Okay, first impression. Color me impressed. The POV is very immersive, in that it feels like you're right there. Shaky camera angles, fluid, quick movement. I especially like the way it looks when you're running. The cool ways of taking cover, the controls, even the tutorial is impressive. It has a nice feature with the Y button that helps you get oriented and on point, because believe me, at times there's so much going on you have no idea which way to go. I'm enjoying the story so far and co-op is surprisingly fun. Multiplayer online was a bit of a hassle, but no more than Halo or Ghost Recon. It just takes some time to find a decent match. I honestly didn't get to play much online but I look forward to it tonight.
The surround sound, voice talents, and a lot of the little things were done right and it makes for a great gaming experience. I don't want to give anything away or come off as a total fanboy so I'll stop raving for now. But I will say this, all of the high marks, early praise, and rave reviews for this game are well-deserved. Hope to catch you guys online soon.
~Fenix..err..Fenyx November 06 I jinxed it...Unf'ing believable. My Xbox died today. I just got through saying how it's been fine since launch, unreal. I keep getting the "unplayable disc" message. Arcade and demos work fine but its making a noise when trying to get the disc to spin. Just my luck. Seriously, I haven't played in ages, I never have time and finally when an awesome game's going to come out and I have time...this happens. I'm jinxed I tell ya... Show Me the Money!What's up everyone. I hope everyone's doing well. I know I've been horrible at keeping this up, but I've been busy and maybe it's just me but these Spaces aren't very user-friendly. I've got an LJ and it seems to be a lot more accessible. Not to mention that it takes forever for MSN spaces to load lately, but I digress...
It's almost here everyone, yeah I'm talking about
GEARS OF WAR I tried not to get too excited about this title. After all, I'm not made of money damnit! I passed over Splinter Cell, and a couple of other titles I normally would have purchased. The trailers look great, the reviews have been good, and I'm hoping it lives up to the hype. I'm also considering taking a personal day just to play this, heh. Is it the next Halo? Is everyone going to be playing this? Will my phone and doorbell be taken out of commission? We'll have to wait and see.
I know what you're thinking, so what the hell have you been playing? (Actually you're probably thinking, who's this guy think he is? He thinks we think about him?) Well, try as I may, I couldn't pass up a good comic-book game. I've been having lots of fun with Marvel Alliance. Sure the gameplay's been done and the plot is pretty insane, but it's a fun game nonetheless. I mean who could stop Wolverine, Ghost Rider, Blade and Deadpool? The X-dorks? The Lametastic Four? The Wussy Avengers? No dice. The powers up, unlockable characters and costumes, and the fact that they stick to the comic books, for the most part, all add up to a fun game. You can just pick it up and play. My only regret, or complaint, or whatever is that the greatest Marvel Character of all time isn't available thanks to THQ. The Punisher, aka Frank Castle, is no where to be found. Damn licensing agreements, I'll just keep pretending that he's just too much of a badass to be in this game. Pfft...he ain't taking orders from that boy scout Fury...
Other than that, Dig Dug, Galaga and the other arcade games have taken up some of my newly found free-time. Speaking of, that new found free time will surely become non-existant later this month. What to do, what to do? I've been meaning to pick up a new DS game, I was going to ask what games you guys liked but I think I need to save as much money as possible for a couple of systems coming out this month.
I'm actually still debating the said purchase of these systems. Maybe I should just scoop up all the new games coming out on the 360 and pick one or two up for the DS. Maybe only buy the Wii? Who knows? I'm a sucker, if I can find it on launch day, I'll probably sell a kidney or take out a loan to buy the PS3. However, with the problems everyone's been reporting, as far as overheating and what not. Didn't the initial PS2 systems have problems too? Then again I've had my 360 since launch and it's been fine. Hmmm....decisions, decisions. That's why you've got to make them for me! Tell me what to do?! Better yet, buy me the Wii and PS3! Show me the systems!!
Okay, well I think I've wasted enough of both of our times. Until next time...
Same Fenyx Time, Same Fenyx Channel. September 27 If I was a dog, you would never neglect me like you did yesterday...I felt so guilty when I read that in my 360's blog. Heh, well like Lucy, I guess I have some s'plaining to do. Where do I begin?
This past summer was unusually hectic. I was running a summer camp with some other coaches on the westside, I became an uncle, I helped my sister move, I spent a week on the east coast, I got laid off from my job, and I got invovled in a psuedo-relationship. Not that you're all here waiting patiently for my next update, but I figured an explanation of some sort was due. Needless to say, gaming, and the Internet in general took a backseat to that sometimes annoying thing we like to call life.
I'm not sure if it was the exhaustion or the lack of titles, or just plain old burnout, but I stopped playing my 360. I never got around to finishing Oblivion, it just got a little repetitive. I even spent money on the downloads, but they didn't do much for me. I never finished Hitman, the problem being that I wanted to finish everything on the highest difficulty, what was it, Silent Assassin or whatever. Anyway, I soon got tired of playing the same levels over and over. Of course the stubborn part of me wouldn't allow me to play the game run n' gun style or at a lower difficulty level. I did get some enjoyment out of the Rockstar Table Tennis game, whatever it's called, and the arcade games have gotten some play. Galaga and Frogger were fun along with SFII. There just isn't enough time in the world, you know?
NCAA came along and I played that for a season, I screwed up my recruiting for the second season and lost interest after that. I was proud of the fact that I took NIU to a bowl game and I had them ranked at #1 for part of the season. Around this time the abortion known as MADDEN 07 hit stores. Although the mini-games are fun, and the game has improved since last year, it's still not on par for what I feel a good Madden game should be. The menus are insane, the whole deal with the Hall of Famers getting unlocked sucks, the profiles get all screwy and to top things off. I can't play online! Madden is probably the number one reason I have LIVE. I got to play once and now everytime I try to log on to the servers it gives me a message that I have to sign into my LIVE account. All the while I'm already signed in and I can see my friends jumping on and off. Not to mention the fact that I can play every other game I have just fine. I've looked on the Xbox boards and EA's and I haven't been able to figure it out. Again, time being a factor, I don't have all day to try to fix what's wrong. So I go to the next best thing...
Saint's Row. Now, this is a fun game. Sure it's a carbon copy of GTA but it also has a few upgrades. The GPS type of maps, the side missions, the online play, good stuff. Yes, it sucks we can't fly planes, and ride bikes or whatever. And yes, your character is like a deaf/mute who never says anything but tell me that customizing him didn't kick ass. You didn't have to run around as CJ or Tommy or whatever, that's got to count for something.
Anyway, I guess that's about it for now. My football season is halfway through and the NFL is underway. Baseball's about to get good again and Ben Wallace will debut for my Chicago Bulls in about two weeks. Oh and how 'bout them Bears!! So, eventhough a lot of things have sucked lately, it seems that all is right in the world for the moment.
I'll try to update more and play some more as well. Those of you that haven't forgotten me, and even those who have, I hope you're all doing well and look forward to catching you guys on here or on LIVE. (just not F'ing Madden) Take care and see ya around.
~Gil
PS-that Wii is looking better and better the closer it gets, heh. July 01 D'oh!What's up everyone. I've been slacking as usual, the sad thing is that I'm not even working, it's just errands and odd jobs that have been keeping me busy. That and I've just been enjoying the summer, it's limiting my 360 and internet time. Thank God for the DS or I'd be gaming even less. So how the hell is everyone?
Speaking of the DS...I'm semi-addicted to Brain Age, I just can't stand the thought of disappointing the Dr. and I love how he gives me props for stopping by everyday, heh. Anyway, in the interest of science, I tried playing last night while I was under the influence, and I figured I'd be all over the place. Was I mistaken, I got one of my best scores ever while doing the calculations and tied my high score in low to high. Heh. Go figure.
Of course I've been playing New Super Mario Bros. on and off and I finally got the astropopper or whatever acheievement in Astropop. Basically I flipped it (flipped it, who says that anymore, I guess it's kind of obsolete since you don't "flip" games so much as finish them these days, I'm showing my age) by reaching level 32 with each pilot.
I've played a lot of games lately but nothing with too much intent, just passing time really. I got another achievement in Bankshot Billiards 2 and I think I got 47 kills in Hitman, but that's about it. I'm slippin' in my old age! Everyone's catching up or passing me in gamerpoints. They'll all be at the 10k mark soon enough. Hitman's fun, especially after a long day, it's nice to let out some rage by putting bullets in people's heads. (All in good fun of course and on the 360, I do not condone, advise, or promote the actual placing of bullets in real people's heads)
I also got some G.R.A.W. in this past week, it's always fun playing online with people you know, UNO as well. It almost feels like you're just hanging out playing cards. Oh and ICandee next time I'm on Ghost Recon I'll pwn someone for ya, heh. Guess that's about it, lots of games coming out this month, still not sure if I'm going to keep buying games or start using Gamefly. I'm with them but I just haven't been sending my damn games back, I think I'll be getting Tomb Raider soon so that should be fun.
A few days back I spent hours playing friggin' Gauntlet. I figured I could beat it, my cousin was over and we started out strong enough, but we both faded around level 50. How the hell did I spend hours playing that as a kid? The things you'll do when you're bored...
Oh one more thing, I'm sure most of you know it but I was, I mean "someone" was watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles this morning and they showed a promo for a Viva Pinata cartoon coming soon. I guess they're launching a cartoon as well as the game. This might be the next Power Rangers/Pokemon/Digimon type of craze to sweep the nation.
Or it could suck.
Anyway, take care everyone, have a great weekend, and an awesome Fourth to my fellow Americans.
~Gil
PS-if you're ever really jonesing for a Fenyx fix hit me up at myspace or at fenyxrising.com. ;) June 19 I'm still here...Wow, time flies huh? Over ten days since my last update, well, I'll get right to it since I know you're all on the edge of your seats...
First the good news:
I finally got my very own
DS LITE!!!
I have to say that I'm very satisfied with it. Dare I say, pleased. New Super Mario Bros. rocks. There's just something to be said about a game that takes you back. Don't get me wrong, I'm an Xbox man, but there's just so much history, I mean me and man Mario go way back. Did I mention the old dog's got some new moves. Well, not new per se, but new to a SMB adventure. Anyway, long story short, it was nice to be controlling the plumber in red and blue once again, and battling the all too familiar Koopas. It's funny because my brother still actually remembers where they're from and what they do, hahaha. I just remember they're all named Koopa-something or other. In addition to NSMB I also procured...
BRAIN AGE
Okay, so this game isn't for everyone, and truth be told I think I picked it up because A) I read something about it online and I think on Angel's space and B) because Gamecrazy was full of these tattooed hip looking ruffians and some hot chicks and I was too embarassed to ask for Nintendogs which is what I really wanted to try out. Hahahahaha.
This is especially amusing because I happen to be tattooed and kind of rough looking my damn self. But I digress. I'm glad I picked it up. For the most part the training excercises and programs are pretty entertaining and are just enough to keep me interested for minutes a day, like it promises. The Sudoku puzzles are an added bonus seeing as I can whip out my DS and complete a puzzle or two while waiting in the car or any other random place. The touch screen works incredibly well and the voice recognition is pretty decent. With the exception of the word blue. Blue! Bluuuuuuuuuu! Blew! English muthaf***er do you speak it?! For some strange reason it doesn't hear the word blue too well, and it's not me, apparently this happens to everyone.
Anyway, these two games and my DS have kept me from playing my damn 600+ system. Heh. I guess it's somewhat like the arcade, I can play Brain Age or Mario for a little while, unfortunately I don't have the time to invest in the bigger games at the moment. Not to mention that I'm kind of just burnt out on Xbox at the moment, speaking of, now the bad...
Xbox.com
MS and Xbox are starting to annoy me. It's not the system, I love my 360. The games are equally great. However, a couple of things are disappointing me. First of all, I love how the Street Fighter game came out on the marketplace on time. Oh wait, it didn't? That's a first. Oh and where are the freebies? Gamerpics, themes, everything costs points. Yeah, I know, no one is forcing us to buy them, but give a dog a bone y'know. The Oblivion downloads, etc. I guess I'm being nit-picky but it's kind of turned me off the marketplace, for now.
Now what about the Backwards Compatibility list? How's that working out? Granted, it's nice that they're even working on it, after all this time, but there are a lot of games that still haven't been made BC. If you're not going to come out with new games for us at least let us play our old ones. Yes, I still have my old Xbox but who wants to connect all those wires. (Ok, so I'm lazy)
Finally, and this is probably my only legitimate gripe, check this forum out. A while back I came across a thread named the "Official Stuck at Work Thread". It was a great thread to check out while at work on break or before clocking in. Some time passed and it was closed, for spamming or some reason. However, the thread lived on in the "Son of the Official Stuck at Work Thread". It was marvelous. I made a bunch of friends in that thread and we kept it on topic for the most part. Sure a few of us did some stupid things, but for the most part our conversations were about upcoming games, meeting online to play, and Xbox in general. A little over a week ago a few things went down and we felt the fury of the MODS. Our thread was closed and every attempt at making a new thread was deleted. What happened to a warning? Or to just deleting the offensive content and/or banned the offender? Our thread made up a HUGE percentage of the traffic on the forums, you can see it for yourself. Anyway, the end result was that myself, and a whole lot of other gamers are now posting and playing in the Sandbox.
So much for community. I just hope nothing like that happens on the Spaces, like I've said before, I'm happy to be making new friends. Whenever I find the time I'll be on to get my arse owned by most of you. Until then, I'll be dropping in on your spaces and lurking around as usual.
Keep up the good work,
~Gil
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