A Fantastic Little Corner

After a hectic week, I need to catch up on entries & comments, but I openly admit to being distracted atm: As promised, Halo 4 goodness!

gameinformer.com/halo4

^ More information on the new game can be found here. Game Informer got so much information from 343 about Halo 4 that it couldn't fit in one article. They indicated that they'll be releasing more info about the game on that site, and already you can learn more about Halo 4's new composer, read a brief article comparing Halo 4 to Halo 3, and watch a short interview with Frank O'Connor.

( On Requiem - The new campaign )

( The next generation of multiplayer: beam me aboard the Infinity! )

All in all, despite my reservations over the characters of Chief & Cortana, I think I'm willing to give 343 the benefit of the doubt. Making the Chief more human is a gargantuan task, but I have to say... I mean, looking at all the stuff they're doing, all the energy and care they're devoting to the other aspects of the game -As expected from Halo CE: Anniversary, the screen captures look stunning- I really think that Halo is in good hands.

There were aspects of the original Bungie Halo story arc that made me angry -such as humans teaming up with the Covenant despite the Arbiter's (one-off) story- and I imagine that 343 may do the same. But I'm admittedly a fan of fairy tales and happy endings: I expect a few disappointments in a war-torn sci-fi epic story. So I don't know if 343 will be able to pull of John's & Cortana's humanity, but I'm not gonna worry anymore. I think they've done enough to demonstrate that they deserve our support rather than fear and skepticism.

Oh, Call of Duty. What IS it about your ridiculously realistic and beautiful campaign modes that make me so nauseous? I had sincerely hoped I'd be able to play through this one, but alas.

In other news, the multiplayer mode is AWESOME! And I've only played 3 games! XD

SO glad I took a half day tomorrow!!

If you've ever entered the gaming community even casually, you will have undoubtedly have run into Clans.

Gaming Clans are, you could say, the gaming equivalent of LJ writing or art or icon comms. ... Except they're a little more...obsessive.

Long story short, I was playing with my friend last night, and we came up against this team whose gamertags all began with "PMS." We lost the game, because our other two teammates sucked and died something like 20 times with no kills before quitting. I, however, killed them 27 times. Johnathan got another 10 or so. We lost by 5 only because time ran out.

Now the language was what was so hilarious throughout - aside from the fact that they couldn't kill me, I mean. Oh, they were definitely girls and they hated me. "&@$!!! She just killed me AGAIN!" As much as I love bruising the boys' egos in gameplay, if there's another girl on the field, well... I need to prove myself to be the best of us!

After the game, I received a message inviting me to their PMS Clan. With no intention whatsoever of joining, I checked out their site... and laughed myself silly!

Trust me, guys: my obsession with video games is just a mild attraction compared to them!

The funniest part of this whole thing though? I recognized several of the gamertags on that site. While all of them certainly were not pushovers when I played them online, most of them were, shall we say, below my skill level. -At least in the games we played; there definitely are curves we all go through.

I dunno. I was amused; I certainly don't need to engage in 4-hr a week monitored practices to hand their controllers to them on a platter. Lol I'm not even sure what their purpose is in it all. So much structure... Gaming is stress relief and flat out fun. Clans pollute that purpose with their rules and structures. Like assigned essays.

... trevelyanl85a2 and shyrstyne are probably the only two who can follow this post, huh? I need more gamer buddies!!

I can't sleep. The pain pills aren't working, and I can't take anything more in preparation for the surgery tomorrow. Today.

Ugh. It's almost over.

Mostly, I'm playing Halo: Reach just to keep myself entertained and distracted. However, Ter and I played this awesome game together wherein we completely obliterated the other team.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Halo, the goal of the following game is to reach 50 kills first as a team. As soon as the 50th kill is reached, the game ends.

But occasionally, a multikill will take the score over 50. Like how Ter and I killed the entire Blue Team at once with 49 kills already racked up. The end result? 53-13.

But here's what I really want to show y'all, because I am greatly amused, but I can't laugh. So y'all must laugh for me! Check out this screenshot of the explosion!





Pffft! What are they doing?!! XDDDD

The Previous entry is public now, fyi. I wasn't able to submit it to the contest because they randomly ended it at the end of last month. ;_; It had been a weekly competition...

Star Trek comes out today!!! \o/ It will be one of the few movies I buy on iTunes!

Also, X-Box is going through some cool beans updates that will, among other things, include some pretty sweet Zune and Zune Marketplace connectivity features. I just can't see the whole renting my music thing; I'd be interested in a Zune otherwise. But Ter loves it, so it'll be cool to mess with it. Currently it's going through the update.

I rendered a new video from Halo 3 the other day - a short clip of a somewhat frenzied triple kill.

( Video behind cut )

I'm so excited! Bungie has finally released the ability to buy render minutes! - This means I can render more video than just 60 seconds or less. My favorite clips are a little longer than that.

Moving on from video games, it's finally cold in Texas! I dunno how long it will stay that way, though. Weather here has been crazy this year! It's like everything is a month or two off. We were still in the 40's and 50's in May, but then while we were still in the 70's and 80's in November, other places across the US were reporting the 3rd coldest October in recorded history. O_o We've had a ton of rain this year, but no tornadoes. What? WHAT?!

Texas, my sweet Texas, what's up with that? >.> It had better be cold for Thanksgiving and Christmas; that's all I have to say.

Well okay, I'd also like to request a snow day. If not on December 24 to give us a free day off, then some time in January. I mean, this year has been wacky, so if ever there was a year to have a blizzard on Christmas Eve, this is it; we Texans will completely understand, even if it ruins Christmas Eve shopping! We won't even complain about the snow still being here until the 26th! - That's an extra full day, you know, Texas. You know well how we are about snow lasting more than 24 hours... We can all benefit from this. - So uh... Yeah. Snow on Christmas Eve. With lots of ice on the roads. Lots of ice. >.> Or my job will still call me in. Please and thank you. -- Much Love, Jackie of Texas

Starbucks has the Peppermint Mocha back! \o/ Only they say it's here to stay!! Year 'round Peppermint Mocha frappuccinos! Also Smoothie King has their Pumpkin, Peppermint Chocolate, Peppermint, and Eggnog smoothies back until the end of this year! AND Seattle's Best has an amazing Pepperment Mocha Trio - ohhh it's so tasty hot. I haven't tried their gingerbread or sugar and spice yet, but... Oh, look at them:





Yeah. Who needs to EAT things this holiday season to gain poundage when you can drink yourself there?

GASP! O_O I just remembered. Mom made pumpkin pie last night! *is gone*