Feb 6th, 2009 by Edward Pollard
I hate to just copy along someone elses content but this one is important. I come from a place where I feel relationships like this would be equally frowned on. What a shame. Lets fight that kind of thing together. (It’s a video, so facebook users need to bounce over to my blog or go here )
Jan 22nd, 2009 by Edward Pollard
So do you know what I get to look forward to next week?
32!
That’s right - I’m getting old! I do hope someone gets me a walker for my birthday as really it’s getting to the place where I can’t really live without one.
Since new years I have undertaken a new perspective, a plan to do something radical with what is, really, my thirty third year on this planet. And that is to do the things that I want to do. So many things are on this list that remain undone as I have had a fairly consistent system to talk myself out of doing them. I know I’m not alone in doing that - I see people do it all the time. I’ve always wondered what they were thinking, without dodging the irony of avoiding thinking about my own predicament.
Jan 8th, 2009 by Edward Pollard
Direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JImcvtJzIK8&fmt=18
Dec 31st, 2008 by Edward Pollard
Oh wow, for once I can add something useful to the internet!
For Christmas I received a number of Blu-Ray movies that bragged incessantly about the FREE digital copy that was included, redeemable via Windows Media Player or iTunes. However, during my attempt to copy Mama Mia! into my library, I incessantly recieved an error with code “-50″.
Since Googling this brought be no useful closure, and I’ve since figured out what the problem, allow me to share this discovery. Continue Reading »
Dec 30th, 2008 by Edward Pollard
It has come to my attention that I am the best video game reviewer that ever was. Sure, most of my reviews are no longer available online as the site I wrote for has since gone under. And sure, I may now be employed by Electronic Arts and thus feel somewhat obligated to not provide reviews (I may be contractually obligated, I don’t know I did not read the contract). But in 2008 I played two old, highly reviewed, classic entries in established franchises that were total garbage yet got 85+ on Metacritic.
Clearly we can see that mainstream game reviewing is totally in the pocket of the industry and I, myself, am the best reviewer ever.
Over the holiday break I have been putting hours into a game that I found incredibly problematic to track down - Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops (no not the Plus edition, the original). A month or so ago I broke my “don’t use eBay” embargo to snap it up, which resulted in a copy of the game and a reinforced desire to never use eBay. I had to nag the shipper constantly and the postmark on the package was 2 full weeks later than when he said he shipped it. Thanks you jerk.
Anyway, this game is ridiculously terrible. It has a very trendy and intriguing graphic novel approach to non interactive cinematics that is keeping me playing, but all the game play in between is total garbage. You quickly recruit enemies that can go “chameleon” and then pretty much only use them - not Big Boss - to achieve objectives as they don’t have to use stealth gameplay in the levels that are clearly not designed for stealth in any way. Get detected? Just run for the objective you are looking for. If you make it, its just as good as if nobody ever saw you.
60% - barely.
I said two games, so I’d best mention the other one…
Earlier in the year Sebastian and I made a pact to complete Final Fantasy X together. It was a pact we kept, even though it almost ended up killing us. This game was a dreadful abomination of challenge free grinding followed by leveling up using the most obscenely user-hating system in the history of games. Occasionally the sphere grid lets you do something really interesting, but 90% of the time its only function is to make leveling up 10 times longer than it needed to be. Seriously. 10 TIMES. The guy who made this needs a bunch to the face. And the balls. At the same time.
Early on Auron becomes really strong and you use him to strongarm through everything. The only battles that are at all difficult are the ones that debuff Auron, but that just means the fight is longer and more tedious.
The only thing this game had going for it was looks. It looks great. It looks beyond great. It looks amazingly awesomely great. Oh, and it has that one piece of music that people go crazy for. I used to love that music. I hate it now. I hate it by association to one of the worst JRPGs I have ever played.
55% - any yes I was being flippant above but I am totally serious here. (Would you like to know more about the shoepuff?) Seriously, this game is good looking garbage.
Dec 3rd, 2008 by Edward Pollard
People who think a coallition is undemocratic
You are proving your ignorance and nothing more. Unless you dropped out of high school this is inexcusable behaviour in anyone who would consider themselves a responsible citizen. Non-Canadian readers can go here to see what the hell I am talking about.
PlayStation Home Beta
I do not understand what anyone would use this software to do. I logged in tonight and was greated with plans for an upcoming bowling tournament. Oh yay! Circling that on my calendar. Seriously this is the most useless - to me - thing I’ve seen from the current generation.
I think I sat for 5 minutes straight trying to imagine a person whose life would be enriched by this. I failed.
Oct 30th, 2008 by Edward Pollard
Thank you, pumpkins, for your noble sacrifice.
Oct 13th, 2008 by Edward Pollard
Corporate America occasionally does something really stupid. I am taking it as a given that you know what I’m talking about as I’m not going to point fingers or name names unless the audience at large proves surprisingly oblivious to this point. Sometimes the quest for profit stomps all over things like decency.
I’d like to nominate a new candidate for a classic example of this, from the “Commercial ideas best killed in concept development” category with this doozy from Energizer that I ran across in the middle of the The Office. I was not able to find any copy of it online already, so I grabbed my video camera. Sincere apologies for the quality.
Oct 7th, 2008 by Edward Pollard
Just in case you’ve forgotten what kind of world the west can be sometimes.
Sep 15th, 2008 by Edward Pollard
This weekend I purchased a fancy new 32″ Samsung LCD TV for the living room. This meant I really needed to get rid of the 27″ Panasonic tube TV.
Via the magic of Kijiji I managed to turn this…
Into a case of 12 of these fine beauties…
I call that a win.