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. ;)

God I'm old, does anyone even remember those PSAs or even know what the hell I'm talking about?

Wow what a week that was huh?  I won't even try to write about it seeing as everyone else has done, and continue to do, great work on their blogs.  I will say that my faves were the Tony Hawk, Sonic, and Halo 3 trailers.  Of course the Tom Clancy stuff rocked, and my cur-"Wii"-osity was piqued by Red Steel.  Some great stuff went on.  That also meant I haven't had much time actually playing the 360.  I've picked up a few achievements on Oblivion, Uno, and Astropop.  Uno, btw, damn good deal for 400 points.  I also got some time in on Halo, GRAW, Uno and a couple of other games online, really didn't have anyone contact me about the whole Ambassador thing.  Either not that many people were on, or they just don't like me :(.  Heh, strange, but I'm not complaining.  But, I will complain about the giveaway.  Verizon, you suck.  The whole thing was screwed up, I never got in and when I did, it was over.  Why even bother?  Oh, there is one more thing bugging me...

 

 *gets on soap box*

I'll start by saying that I'm not even going to touch the immigration issue, that's complicated and there's no easy solution, I think Bush didn't really say much or resolve anything tonight, we'll see where it goes.  Just remember that not so long ago we had Japanese people locked up for no reason across the country, land of the free indeed...

Anyway, this is something that's been bugging me, and honestly I'm not sure if it's me being overly-sensitive at times of if people really are down right ignorant.  I live in a very diverse community, I work in a diverse environment.  I was brought up pretty well, I'd have to admit, and lucky enough to have friends and neighbors of every shape and color.  C'mon, who else do you know that grew up learning Spanish, English, some Tagalog and a little Assyrian.  At my current place of employment we have students from 59 countries speaking over 69 languages.  Long story short, I think I can honestly say I don't see color too often.  I see idiots, a-holes, and POS, but that's regardless of what color they are.  But I digress...

It seems that whether I'm on MySpace, LJ, MSN, or Xbox Live, whatever it may be, I've been running into a lot of racism lately.  Has the immigration issue ratched up this hatred?  Some of it might seem harmless, or like I'm overreacting but some would argue that racism should be fought in any of its shapes or forms.  I have a great quote about it somewhere that I can't remember right now.  Back on point, I'm playing Ghost Recon and people are like "let's shoot those Mexican's before they cross the border" or about not wanting to live in a certain area because it's full of "white trash and Mexicans".  I know, some of these people are kids, and I sure as hell am not going to try to be a parent or "treat" them online.   I'm not trying to get into an arguement over the internet with some 12 year old while he's owning me at Halo.  That's not my job, at least not when I'm off the clock.

Or is it?

Isn't it up to all of us to try to overcome prejudice?  I mean it's f'n 2006 and I know for a fact, that's it is not only little kids spouting the "N" all over LIVE.  I know that some of these people have kids of their own.  This is what they're teaching.  This is what their kids will learn.  I mean, a lot of us play these games online, on LIVE, to get away from the BS of our lives.  Work, school, parents, life, whatever's bugging you, it's supposed to be a nice getaway, it just sucks having to hear these idiots bring you back to the real world.

You are some of the people I am talking about.  You post your little bulletins, you forward your "funny" emails, you spread the ignorance.  I'm just not sure how to fight it.  Some of you are my friends, and maybe you don't mean it.  Or mean it like that.  How am I supposed to say, "hey that wasn't that funny", or that insulted me.  I'm not being sensitive, hell I'm not very PC my damn self.  So what's okay?  Where's the line?  I don't know. 

 

When I was pledging in college, I was the only  Latino in my line.  I got shit from a lot of my friends and from the Latino fraternities because I didn't join theirs.  I was cool with it, the particular frat I was joining was pretty much everyone I worked with.  They were easy going and fun.  Anyway, one day during hell week, we weren't allowed to sleep, if I remember correctly.  Well, the rest of my line thought it was funny to start telling jokes, I'm always going to remember how much that bothered me and how much of a wuss I felt like and still do, for not saying anything.  For just sitting there and listening to these assholes.  There's not much I regret, but that's one of the things I do.  Again, was/is it just me overreacting?  I mean everyone's either told one or laughed at one, what's the harm?

Anyway, this isn't a typical post, I just wanted to vent and maybe make one of two of you think a little before you tell that joke, forward that message, or say something stupid.

-ME

Oblivion ratings changed to M for gore and breasts

The latest best-selling game by Bethesda Softworks LLC will be relabeled with a new rating that prohibits sales to children under age 17. The game -- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion -- will now carry a "mature" rating, equivalent to an "R" rating for movies.

The Entertainment Software Ratings Board, a trade organization that reviews video game content, announced yesterday that it had discovered "more detailed and intense depictions of blood and gore" than it saw in its pre-release review.

The board also objected to a software modification that was circulating among gamers on the Internet that allowed players to create topless versions of female characters in the game.

Bethesda Softworks said in a statement last night that it would place "M" rating stickers on games already in stores but that the game would not be recalled. While agreeing to comply with the board's decision, the company disputed the rationale behind the higher rating and said it would not alter the game's content to keep a "teen" rating.

"We believe that this critically acclaimed game is not typical of Mature rated titles, and does not present the central themes of violence that are common to those products," Pete Hines, Bethesda's vice president of marketing, said in a statement.

When game publishers submit upcoming releases to the ESRB, they also must include videos of a game's most intense sexual or violent content. Because games like Oblivion can be played for dozens of hours without players seeing everything in them, the organization depends on publishers to send them the most potentially objectionable content.

The company said that it did not hide anything from the ratings group and that its pre-release submission on Oblivion was "full, accurate and comprehensive."

Bethesda blamed the partial nudity of some characters on tampering by third parties who have modified the game's art files and said it appeared in only Oblivion's PC version. The company said it did not "create a game with nudity and does not intend that nudity appear in Oblivion" and added that it was taking steps to protect the game's art archive from tampering.

Local game designer Brian Reynolds, head of Big Huge Games Inc. in Timonium, Md., said, "It would be a disaster for us" if the ESRB re-designated one of his titles after its release.

"That's something you never want to see, games getting pulled off shelves," he said.

Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, said pulling games and re-stickering them is an expensive process.

"Many people see the ESRB as a tool of the industry -- but, in fact, developers fear it," he said. "They are tough as nails."

Though it is rare for a game title's rating to be changed after its release, this is not the first time the ESRB has done so.

When a hidden sex game was discovered in the hit Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas last year, the board changed that game's rating to "adults only" from "mature" -- the equivalent of an "X" movie rating.

Eventually, the company removed the objectionable content and had its mature rating restored. But analysts said that the game's absence from retail shelves cost its publisher millions of dollars.