Sunday, January 29, 2012

Corn Syrup

Why must everything have corn syrup in it?  BBQ sauce?  Fine whatever, but soy sauce?  Worcestershire sauce?  Someone explain that to me, please. 

Kiss my ass, corn industry.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Too Old-School/Cheap?

I had a conversation with a co-worker the other day concerning the  Steam Holiday Sale.  I was spreading the Steam-love, telling him some of the great deals I had seen online (specifically Dead Space 2, Avadon, and the GTA Bundle).  He looked amused at my glee (I love spreading cheapness) and replied, "gravy, you're too old school, man."

This surprised me.  "What do you mean?  Most of those games were released this year"

"But they are all played out.  You've talked about both Skyrim and Saint's Row 3.  Why don't you just get one of those?  And Avadon?  A turn-based game?"

This required a bit of thought.  "If I wait I can get them cheaper.  By this time next year Saint's Row 3 at the very least will be $15 on sale, and if Skyrim doesn't some out with an expansion pack it will be too.  Also, back off of Avadon.  If you tried the demo you would see why I like that companies' games."

"So you're just a cheap-ass, then.  You don't want to support a game while it is hot."

"A cheap-ass?  No.  Yes.  Let me explain: I am both old school and a cheap-ass, I don't see the value of jumping into a game at a $59 price point.  That doesn't mean I'm not supporting the game (it's not like I'm buying them used), but I like to put more value on my money."

"What about the multiplayer component you are missing-"

"I don't care about multiplayer.  Get back to work."

I don't care about multiplayer.  I haven't cared since I took advantage of a 48 hour Gold Pass on Xbox Live and was asked nearly continuously if I was a "Nigger", a "Spic", and a "Faggot", all because I was actually competent at the game (which was the original Saint's Row, by the way).  That was enough for me.  Ever since voice chat has become a norm in multiplayer games it I've been turned off by what I've heard.  My coworker doesn't see this, as he is a professional gamer (on the side) and generally only practices and competes on closed servers, so any verbal jocularity he experiences in these environments can be put down to verbal sparring, instead of a hate filled rant because I played better than my opponent for five minutes.  At this statement many would no doubt berate me, saying that this is how things are now, so I need to cheerup or piss off.  I've opted to piss off.

And old school?  Proud of it.  The day I can no longer play a game for the old school content that it offers, be it story, gameplay, controls, or graphics, is the day that I tell the whole gaming world to piss off.

Steam Holiday Sale Finale

Last night I was able to make a decision on game purchases for the Steam Holiday Sale.  Having a spending ceiling of $30 ended up forcing my hand, with the final list being:
  • Dead Space 2 - $9.99
  • Oddboxx (all four Oddworld games) - $3.74
  • Portal 2 - $7.49
  • Avadon - $4.99
  • X3: Albion Prelude - $9.99
  • Terraria - $2.49
 Unfortunately, the last sale included Portal 2 75% off, so my hand was forced.  Avadon and the Oddboxx fell by the wayside again, primarily because I couldn't pass up such Portal 2 at such a great price.  Sorry, guys, better luck next time.

Finally, since the Steam Sale is nearly at a close (it concludes at 1pm EST), the Epic Holiday Giveaway is at hand.   All the prizes look tasty, but the one I'm looking at (and every other hopeful) is the Grand Prize: Every single game on Steam!  Man, that would be hardcore.  I could officially retire from looking at sales for the next few years, along with deleting quite a few games from my wishlist (which starting to get ridiculous).

Good luck, everyone.

UPDATE: Ahhh!  Don't forget to touch-up your Wishlist, as the first and second prices coincide with the top ten and five games (respectively) on your wishlist.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Steam Sale Reconsidered pt 1

No sooner did I hit the "Publish" button did my wife walk into the room and ask about the Steam sale.  Apparently, now I can get "something" from the store.  The only problem is there is less than fours hours left in the sale (though on the Steam frontpage the countdown timer says "New Deal Starts In", which is maddening).

When I purchase games, I tend to spend more time (and frankly, have almost as much fun) mulling over my choices, adding and subtracting from my cart innumerable times.

This is going to be a long morning.

"Gaming, Art, and El Shaddai"

Just wanted to share this great article crafted by slackur down at RF Generation.  It's an interesting piece on, well, slackur's views regarding videogames as art.  Some of what he has to say is a little controversial, but it is both well written and well defended.

While you're there, why not check out some more of slackur's articles.

A Sad Time To Be Broke

This past week has seen some of the best sales for digital games in memory.   Period.  Are you an iOS gamer?  Pretty much every game that is worth buying in the Apple App Store (with a few notable exceptions) has seen some sort of discount, from the drop of recent release GTA 3 ($4.99 to $2.99) to the $.99 sales seen at Gameloft and EA.  The real deals, however, are on Steam.  The Steam Holiday Sale is in full swing, and since it has started we have seen some excellent deals that just couldn't be passed up.

Unless you are me.  Sigh.

Well, it's not like I planned on this.  True, I knew exactly when this was happening (I bought a small, yet quite enjoyable gaggle of games last Holiday Sale), so I have no excuse there.  I just ran out of money, I guess.

Sigh.

I think for next year I might just add about $100 to my Steam Wallet (something I didn't know about until recently) so that next year my pity-party won't be as grand.  End of complaining.

This day marks the last day of the Steam Holiday Sale, so if there is anything you want, I suggest you do it.  Vamanos.