Book Review Halo: Contact Harvest

This is probably my first Halo novel not featuring SPARTANs or Captain Keyes. So rather than a simply prequel, this was an extension on the Halo universe. By Joseph Staten, the book can be divided into four main narrations: For the Humans there's Avery Johnson (a key character from the video games) training and fighting with the Harvest militia, and Mack and Sif, two Harvest A.I.'s. For the Covenant there's Dadab and Lighter-Than-Some, a Grunt and Engineer respectively, and the politics of the Prophets on High Charity.
Avery is haunted by his fighting with the Insurrectionists and his decisions. Undoubtedly the stars of the book to me were Mack and Sif. Their bickering is humorous and their development as characters is fantastic.

Dadab and Lighter-Than-Some's segments are great too. It's amazing that A.I. which speak through text and Engineer which speaks through sign language are the most fascinating characters in the book. The Covenant segments are confusing until you get used to the names.

The politics with the Prophets on High Charity is about as interesting as it sounds. Of course you want to get back to Avery and Dadab, but it helps weave the back story together, so it has its place.

The fighting sequences are great and a joy to read too. Overall if your a Halo fan or not, the book is a great read. I definitely recommend it.   

 

Game Review: Turning Point: Fall of Liberty

Well I lucked out. The rental store I frequent had accidentally put this game as a used dvd and put it at $9.99 So I got a great deal.

I played at 6 o'clock and finished the game at 9:45 so it was pretty short. The game is riddled with bugs. One thing that pissed me off was at a latter portion of the game I was in a bridge that had xxx like supports, and when I tried to shoot through the middle it wouldn't go through, in fact it showed up as bullet holes! In mid air! BUT THEY COULD SHOOT ME THROUGH THERE! But for some reason I could shoot through the top part!

The game felt rushed. I know this because it seems like the final level had more bugs than the rest. One guy got stuck in a wall. Another got stuck in the wall and then when I tried to use an instant kill I got transported outside the map and fell to my death. Then there's the checkpoints which are okay at the beginning but again
(giving the feeling of being rushed) at the end they're a joke. Example:
I go up an elevator, go down a hall killing baddies. Go into a tough room and kill some baddies go over a gap and kill more. Go down a hall into another room and kill a guy then go up some stairs. Snipe 10 people from a door way then go through it into a big room. CHECKPOINT. I then walk down a stairway and die. Okay so that's not too bad. Oh wait THAT checkpoint wasn't there. Instead I go back to the fucking elevator! The game also froze on me.

The game was okay but the story which should be awesome, was quite bland. Think about it this way, Gears of War was a novel compared to this game. The graphics were passable but not good by any means. Not many weapons, about 10 by my count. The AI is stupid by all count. Mostly you just run up to them and shoot them with a shotgun and repeat. It's just bland. Standard Medal of Honour you're a God and kill armies with no problem.

Thank God they released a demo or I could have bought this at full price.

Programming: 5/10 : Unacceptable amount of bugs and stupid AI
Graphics: 6/10 : About as good as Medal of Honour (for the Xbox)
Story: 6/10 : There are some parts where the story shines through but then again this is a NAZI invasion of the U.S. how could this not have been great?!
Atmosphere: 6/10 : Horribly bland representation of 40s-50s New York and Washington
Control: 7/10 : You move too slow but it's passable.
Overall: 5.5/10 : They tried to reach Call of Duty 2 but fell to Call of Duty: Finest Hour

NXE

Well I just read on Xbox Fanboy that I should be getting... Yes here it is. I'm installing the NXE now... So since I signed up for the advanced 360 thing I'm getting it right now. Here we go!

System restarted and is updating. 2 minutes left.
It's done, welcome to the New Xbox Experience!
Me trying to get my camera to work!
Wat a useless pile of shit
Got it to work.
Watched the starting video! Awesome!
Creating an avatar
Cool you can create multiple outfits!
Okay I'm done my Avatar and I'm saving.
Wow the new Guide Button is fucking sweet!
Did is say fucking sweet? I meant MOTHERFUCKING SWEET!
You can open the tray from the guide. Need I say more?
Well then I will, you can close it too!
It's pretty easy to remove bars you don't need

When I went in the My Xbox area my Avatar said "Hard work bein' this good!" my motto. Awesome!
Playing some music.

Watching the community games video.

The gamerpictures don't have prices on them. That is gonna bug the hell out of me. It's cool that it has a little game profile for each game though.
I'm getting trial games of a bunch of community games right now
Marketplace is kind of slow, but probably better than the old one. The community games are pretty expensive though, 200pts each usually. The trials are small in size though usually only a couple MBs

I'm prolly gonna see if I can install 2k8 on my HD

I have 22 full Arcade games! Holy Crap! 7 were free though.
I'm installing NHL 2k8 right now. Lets see how long it takes
1:48 am
1:58 am so about 10 minutes
Wow it is indeed very quiet!
Load took about 20 seconds less
Scrimmage loaded fast!
A game loaded...holy shit fast!
If you have NHL 2k8 definantly install it.

Trip 08 Part 1 (UPDATED) SUPER VIDEO EDITION!

Well it's already Day 3 of our journey,

Here's our journal of stuff we've done,

Day 1:

I woke up, I don't know how but I did. We then got some Timmies, I had a Med. Ice Capp, Cream Cheese Bageland an Blueberry Fritter We finally got packed up and left, we got to Hamilton and stop at Costco.

We reach the border and get through okay.We stop for lunch and washrooms at a rest area. I get Fuddrucker's Manager's Special (Hamburger, Fries and a Strawberry Milkshake)

Yum!

We stop for gas, I grab a Dunkin' Donuts jelly donut.

Yum!

We continue into Pennslyvania, passing Scranton. We finally reach Tanglewood Resort. Checked out the rooms, very nice! After figuring out who's sleeping where, I set up my stuff. Xbox set up in 7 minutes flat.

While Sarah & Jamie & my parents go for groceries me & Jen try to get the Xbox working. I call the front office and find out that we need a converter. Me and Jen set out for adventure. We pick up Spencer and he comes along. We get the converter and I go back to our room. The Xbox works! GREAT SUCCESS!

We head out to the boat house to eat. After a bit of a wait (it's 11 people!)

We got some apps (mozz sticks & nachos) and I had some Lemonade to drink. For an entree I got the Linguini Margerheta which consisted of linguini, and cherry tomatoes.

Pasta Rating

Linguini Margerheta

Taste: It was good but wasn't great

Size: Huge

Overall: 8.0/10 Not as much taste as I would have liked. Plus eating linguini is hard enought, eating with tomatoes, even harder.

I had some carrot cake for dessert. After that we went back to my room and played some Scene It: Lights Camera Action (me and Tyson won) after which I introduced Jordan to the joy that is Grand Theft Auto IV. At about 2 A.M. I go to sleep.

Day 2

I wake up at EIGHT THIRTY! I grab some cereal then we go swimming. After that we go play some volleyball and then some tennis. We go back to my aunt and uncles room for some sandwiches. After that we play some Halo 3 and then go on a walk by the lake. We stopped for ice cream (I had Orange Blossom)

We come back and play some Halo 3 again before supper at Erhardts I had a Lobster Ravioli

Pasta Rating

Lobster Ravioli

Taste: F***ing amazing!

Size: Only 5 ravioli pieces, although large, wasn't enough even with some bread and asparagus. Rating: 9.0/10 One of the best pastas I have ever had in my life. Simply awesome.

I had some lemonade to drink as well.After that we went back to 125 (Aunt & Uncles room) for some cake (it's my mums b-day).It was a cool 4 in one cake that had carrot, red velvet, german chocolate and truffle. I had truffle.
Back to my room where we play some Scene It (I won both times)
Then to sleep.

Day 3.5

I wake up at about 10 (which is what I wanted) after a nice breakfast (pancakes, sausage, eggs and bacon) we went to my room. After that we went to the Bushkill Falls for some hiking. We went on the red trail. Which is 2 1/2 hours long. It was very scenic and tiring. We had some ice cream (I had Rainbow Sherbert).

We went back to my room. Right now Jordy and Jen are playing some H3 co-op and I'm typing this up. Now I have to go. I believe I have some of my sister's pasta with my name on it. Tomorrow we're going to Hershey!

Day 3 (cont.)

After I had my sister's pasta, we went to 125s for some Spaghetti and then played Family Feud and Cranium. We then went back to our room for some shut eye.

Day 4

We woke early for our 2 hour drive to Hershey. We got loaded in and set out. On the way we got gas and I got a Nestea. The rest of the journey was uneventful. We got to Hershey and we could see rollercoasters. YES!

We went in and it was a magical world. Everything smells good. I'm pretty sure I went on every ride possible, heres a list:
Storm Runner
Fahrenheit

The singing you hear in the background is actually park entertainment:

It was okay, and it got your mind off the heat.

Comet (Wood)
Wildcat (Wood)

Sidewinder (The Bat from Canada's wonderland)

Lightening Racer (Wood)

Great Bear
I'm not sure of the Slooperdooper though

I also went on the Claw, Pirate and Kissing Tower
We stopped at Subway for lunch, I had 2 6" subs with a Pink Lemonade

We then went to the Hershey Museum and saw the Apstoleic clock which was cool. Then it was off to Chocolate World. (My girlfriend would have died to be here) It has a gigantic shop with every kind of chocolate available. We then went on a tour of how chocolate is made (which reminded me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). Then we went on a trolley tour of Hershey which was entertaining. After that we headed out to eat.

We ate at Villa Rosa's, an Italian resturant where I had Rosa's Darmagio a lasagna.

Pasta Rating

Rosa's Darmagio

Taste: Great

Size: Perfect

Rating: 9.0/10 A well made Italian dish.

I also had 3/4ths of Jens dish and we had Cannoli which was amazing!I had (unsweetened) Ice Tea and then Lemonade.We went home and then we slept at our rooms.

Today we rented a boat. I tried skiing but failed horribly and then did tubing, and well watch for yourself. (Note I knew going in that I would either go as long as I could or die trying)

Earth (Day or Hour?) and Betasized

First let me talk about the "Earth Hour". It's stupid. It is almost as stupid as the Live Earth crap. What a freaking waste. I'll be honest here's what I was doing for Earth "Hour".

1. Playing my Xbox 360
2. On my television
3. with my computer running
4. with lights on.

I know what this is. It is the same idea as that stupid turn off the television for a week thing. All this is, is the media using the bandwagon it created for this "Earth is dying crisis". And it's laziness! Earth already has it's own day why not turn off the lights for a day? Hell we're half way there since a day is half natural light anyway. And Earth Day on it's own is annoying, look at this ugly ass flag! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Earth_flag_PD.jpg That in my opinion is the worst image of the Earth there is. We are left staring at Africa's ass and Antarctica. Lame.

In other news I got into the Battlefield: Bad Company beta. And although it's pretty good it has its share of problems. This weekend I never got around to doing much of anything. On Sat. I went to eat at KFC and stopped at Blockbuster and got some good deals. On Sunday I turned on the tv to watch NASCAR and here's what happened (within 5 seconds):

• I noticed the race had already started
• I noticed a wreck was being showed
• I noticed Bobby Labonte was the main car of that said wreck
• ASS!

Other than that I did nothing productive by any means. Some time this week I'm going to go to the Housing place on campus, probably after I figure out where that is.

P.S. I had another McRib and apple pie on Sat too.

20/20,000 Spectacular Extravaganza Fiesta!

Well yesterday was the 20/20,000 Spectacular Extravaganza Fiesta! The 20 is representing the 2nd decade that I've been alive for aka my 20th birthday. The 20,000 stands for the fact that I passed the 20,000 Gamerscore point this weekend. Here is my present round-up:

1. Lotto Scratch Tickets which total $10 with a Keno coupon.
2. Lost: Via Domis for the 360
3. 2 Cookies 'n' Creme Chocolate Bars
4. 3 pack of Trident Splash
5. $50 Futureshop Gift Card
6. $25 EB Games Gift Card
7. 2800 Microsoft Points
8. DVD- Goodwill Hunting
9. DVD- Johnny English
10. East Side Marios $5 Gift Certificate

In addition to cake this weekend was great fun. Played lots of Call Of Duty 4 in glorious hi-def on the big screen television. (Halo monks are singing in my head). Watched t.v. with the fam., Started playing the Lost game. Played Scene It: LCA with the family. Watched NASCAR (Bobby got 12th) And that's about it. Good ole laid back weekend. Also there was a hurrendous storm this weekend.

Greatest Win Ever!

Two days ago I bought Chessmaster Live on Xbox Live Arcade. And although I enjoy playing chess, I'm terrible at it. So remembering back to a documentary about Deep Blue I saw and my personal experience playing computers I realized I could possibly do better by downloading program and having a computer give me an advice on what my moves should be. The first program had bugs and I lost 2/3 games because of them. I downloaded a 2nd program and it works so far. Well here's what happened,

I got a game with a guy who set it for 30 minutes (we both had 30 minutes). I waited a while and then he messaged me,

Him: Could you resign?

To which I responded,

Me: How about no.

I guess he thought I didn't get the first message so he sent a second,

Him: Could you resign cause I don't want to play a pushover. (His ELO 1100, mine 561)

Well that's not very nice, I guess he got my first message, his response which wasn't any better,

Him: Okay then get ready to get raped!

Now it's on. It's give and take for awhile and my time is getting less and less (I have to move on the computer, wait for the computer, then move on the game). At about 3 minutes the computer had a plan, then with 2:20 left in the game he resigned knowing that his next move would be checkmate. It was glorious.