phatal1ty's Blog - Apr to Jun 12 (205 followers)

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Yesterday was my version of whatever gift giving seasonal stuff people do.



Midday I ran out of the office like my undies were on fire and set off for the New Zealand Customs International Mail Center (what a mouthful!)



Lets pretend I didn't get lost since this place is less than 10kms from my office.... and I should theoretically know this area very well. The motorway keeps blardy changing and the road layout is confusing and bing map on my phone was confusing... okay maps in general... but specifically when it keeps trying to "upright" the map in my hand!

After what seemed like the longest wait known to humans I sped home with this box!



under the brown paper was this



The contents spilled out over my dining table and the gaming hurricane hit my house... I spent the first 25mins trying to put together the hunting party gun



Without instructions since those are for pussies... but then confused and knowing once I snap the barrel in to place there is no going back I quickly glanced over the instructions...



Success... next mini DIY project was a gift from Printmatic via PAX... this super cute and cool Castle Crasher Knight *ITS GREEN!!!!!!*



tease him out of his shell!



Under that was a few Kontrol Freaks and most awesome mouse in the world!! It makes tron noises and lights up!



I'm so in love with this mouse!!!



The next box contained all sorts of skylanders rattling about.... so I was quick to find a Tupperware container for all this badass crew... Stoph sent me one level 10 a few level 8's and a level 7 and the rest were basically unmolested.



And finally... the awesome mini tower of games...



I spent the subsequent hour and half reshuffling my bookshelf and singing the alphabet song... (don't judge me....) and making hard choices like... K for Kinect or R for Rush or D for Disney?

But the hardest choice of all was picking what to play... All those skylanders begged to be released from their earthbound prisons so I had to use the magic portal and free them and save the Skylands!

More of that tomorrow!

I've been expecting a big box of awesome this week in the post



ALL WEEK LONG.... and finally I got the letter to notify me that my box is at customs and its ready to be collected from the New Zealand Post Airport Oaks Depot.... No-one could give me a clear explanation as to why customs felt the need to tear it open and take a peek... I can wait an extra four days for them to deliver it to the PO Box or I can pick it up from the Depot today.... which is less than 10kms from my office. Those are life's tough choices!

I think a collectors favorite part of buying a new game other than obviously eventually playing it is finding a space for it in the right spot on the shelf or pile or wherever one hoards games.

In the mean time I've been playing a little clean up I managed to get two more levels of Velvet Assassin (JP Ver) done.... playing it right after http://www.trueachievements.com/50-Cent-BotS-JP-xbox-360.htm its a very stark contrast fiddy is very run and gun and explosions and loud rap and crazy stuff.... Velvet Ass is really the extreme opposite... a stealthy, slow violin pieces, sneaking, waiting for long ass conversations in a foreign language between bad guys and having to be meticulous about each kill.

I like that the shooter genre is so wide in variety and there is a shooter for just about any mood I'm in!

Seeing my TV watch list getting longer I decided to throw on some Just Dance Kids 2 and knock out the entire setlist.... again.... all 59 torturous songs, only stupid people do the whole setlist in one sitting... so I saved 19 songs to do this morning, danced with the xbox TV on mute... watching TV shows across the room on a separate TV. I kept a spreadsheet going on my net book to count down how many left to do.... its weird to see titles like "Are you sleeping, I'm gonna catch ya, Get your wiggle out, Hold Still, Something I Want" and then watching kids in pajamas dancing around.... WAY freaking creepier than any Japanese game.
All I need is some poor sucker friend to help me dance the ENTIRE SETLIST... again... twice... ugh... I noticed yesterday that Just Dance Greatest Hits is due out this week, with JD4 and JD Disney due out in October its a little bit overkill on the dance games... I guess I shouldn't complain... especially not the Disney one... it feels like a guilty pleasure just to be excited for it

In real life dancing stuff.... I use to do a little canine freestyle (or doggy dancing) with Kaha and we never did competitions it was more for something to keep his active mind busy more than it was for accolades or competitive spirit. The canine obedience scene is full of Border Collies and other "smart dogs" so when a "slower breed" like a Great Dane comes along it really turns heads... I've had the pleasure of meeting and doing obedience classes and Heel work with Hsin Yi who writes a great blog about her dog Honey here's a Youtube clip of them doing a routine

... I'm a muthafucking P.I.M.P



Over the weekend I started http://www.trueachievements.com/50-Cent-BotS-JP-xbox-360.htm I last played this game over two years ago... I got to play it co-op with TTerBNZ who was on a second set up at my apartment 6 feet away... which is HUGELY different from playing it co-op with StophJ who is 7000 Miles away.... It was still just as much fun!

Its a very basic linear 3rd person shooter its not bad for a budget title... it feels like a polished evolved version of The Club and on easy is an absolute breeze (Stoph and I took just over 3hrs to finish the entire campaign on easy) However a good chunk of the points come from completing the game on hard and that means getting the "optional" collectibles while there isn't a "get all collectibles" achievement you do get a HUGE bonus for getting all 10 per chapter.

I love the voice acting and dialog the most in the game... and subsequently spent the weekend trying to sound "bla'sian" which my friends found funny and amusing as I'm way to nerdy to pull off being gangsta... my version of rapping involves Will Smith.

I found it rather ironic that the 50 cent denomination in the states is more commonly referred to as a "half dollar" and seldom called a 50 cent coin, its also not accepted by most vending machines and is in very low circulation. In New Zealand we have a 50 cent coin which is common, and its the largest sized coin in our currency (we also have a $1 and $2 coin which is common place too)

6 years ago our coins got a huge face lift due in large part to the 50c coin weighing in over 13.61 grams and over the course of four months the old coins were phased out and no longer legal tender



The rest of our money is brightly coloured plastic polymer banknotes with a see through window



Its much easier to tell how much money is in your wallet when its brightly coloured and the size of each denomination is varied.... That way when you're wanting to make it rain dollar bills and you pull out the Benjamins you know right away.

In other blog-worthy stuff I got a Rawr Society6 Teeshirt yesterday YAY! its printed on an American Apparel tee and a SharkJ vinyl sticker which is going on my PAL xbox



Peace out homies

Last night I blew the dust of the kinect... and got in to some http://www.trueachievements.com/Your-Shape-FE-2012-xbox....htm



Been sitting around forever... and dreading the look of the 200,000 Calories burned and another monotonous grind it never got a chance.... Until last night, desperate for a dose of Kinect, I decided to work off that tiramisu from the night before (even though the calories didn't count, since I didn't see the food... real dieting rules)

I was actually pleasantly surprised how good this installment of Your Shape is! there are plenty of mini games and most of which are pretty awesome and the leaderboard tracking is so much WIN! the gratification of topping my friends list on my first attempt of some of the mini games was worth the price of admission.

I know if I show my dad this game I might have to buy another copy so I'm going to try and finish it this week.... and perma-loan it to him.
The sound of 13 achievements popping one after the other for 120 points having imported my save from the previous installment http://www.trueachievements.com/Your-Shape-FE-xbox-360.htm was enough motivation to shake out any doubt I was in for a fun night, I managed to get about 3 hrs of actual game play before I settled in for some battleship on the phone hiding behind my curtain/fan rig



The game had a whopping 5mb title update and I guess that gave the kinect a bit of a stabilization reading the player making the calories a little harder to burn using trickery... I will be clearing my cache after I play out the rest of the other achievements and setting up the curtain to give me the points offline while I play on another xbox or phone games.

(edit: this game has some seriously stupid DLC..... four packs for a whopping total of 1440msp... and the gamerscore... 50gs... not each... TOTAL! there are two 320msp dlcs for 10gs each and two 400msp packs for 15 gamerscore... oh and the best part.... both of the 400msp packs are play three times a week for four weeks )

Staying trim over winter is never easy for me I love to comfort eat when it gets cold... but finding good snacks is key... I've been keeping lots of almonds and pistachios to nibble, my Dad bought some yogurt for the office fridge and for some reason he switched up the brand but I dig it!



Even if it is marketed towards men.... It assures dudes who are scared to be metrosexual that eating yogurt doesn't revoke your man card as long as its quote : "made for men by men" to me that's a little gay... (you know when a guy overstates the obvious making one second guess the statement... ) but I'm here to judge who's fudge they want to pack.



and has man-code rules on the side... it was funny and I enjoy clever packaging .... in all seriousness I loved this yogurt was it was packed full of real fruits and nuts... and no we're not talking about marketing to men anymore... it had chopped walnuts and pine nuts, sunflower seeds and added a hearty texture which was really yummy and unexpected.

I pretty much took the night off last night from gaming to enjoy a Movie at the theater



Seldom do I go, but when I do... I do gold class or when I'm lazy.... La Premier (as that's closer to home) I tried to take a picture but my stupid camera does terrible low light shots... so most of them a blurry mess *I stole this photo from the internets*



But basically its a small intimate theater seating 24-38 in recliners serving alcohol and meals during the movie and wait staff ready to serve using a call button and a private lounge / cafe / bar area to hang out pre / post movie THIS I an adequate photo of



With my Diablo posse we saw Prometheus which I enjoyed... but the religious overtone was not to my tastes, Sci Fi in general should stay clear of religion it just doesn't mesh well... I had to suspend belief a bit more than I would prefer but all that aside I would recommend it.



I had cup of tea before the movie and during the movie a glass of wine with tiramisu which was YUMMY I have no idea what it looked like... and learning to eat in the dark with cutlery isn't something I'm very good at.... I know better than to order messy stuff... I ordered a pasta once that ended up all over my shirt and noone bothered to tell me it wasn't till I got home and caught myself in a mirror. Guy friends are awesome like that...

With all those liquids a bathroom pit-stop before jumping in my car was necessary and I can't pin point when I became a bit of a germ-a-phobe but the whole no air dry... towel only option was a bit gross to me...



I know these are prob washed in hot water and tumble dried but its still as sanitary as Hotel linen... which I find about as appealing as someone rubbing an open wound on my face. I was rather thankful for the one use take home 3D glasses which weren't terrible quality I threw them in a semi permanent place in the car so I can be green and use them next time I see a 3D movie.

I did manage to start this weeks phone offering Battleship (WP) and its polished and kinda fun... I never liked battleship as a kid... growing up an only child there are very few board games that are fun to play alone... battleship isn't one of them.
The MP while works is a bit slow and very grindy.... the notification system works sorta....

To wind down after the movie I popped in a little Rock Band 2... someone messaged me earlier this week that made me miss playing music games... and boy... I'm rusty... hard is too easy and is rather boring at most I miss 2 or 3 notes but expert use to be fun and relaxing now I'm playing a little tense and not doing as well as I know I can... and my wankers wrist was awfully quick to appear... I think I'm going to play lots of *good* music games this weekend to keep sharp... there is no desire to work on Rock Rev or Power Gig... even though I know I ought to... but that feeling of obligation is something I'm learning to shake.