Positive Experience #7

We've almost made it, the worst month of the year is just about over. I couldn't be happier! Due to the decreased sunlight in the winter, everyone in Alaska gets a serious itch to get the crap out of town and into warmer climates. This is why everyone who can afford to goes to Hawaii in March. I didn't get the luxury of travel this month due to the continued appearance of surprise medical bills, but I'm certainly feeling much better than I did last year, when I was learning all about the drudgery of clinical depression and not having a restful night's sleep in about a year. It wouldn't really take much to be better than that, but it's certainly been better, all told.

This past week I've been on call for the first time at work. This consists of being given a company cell phone and a mobile wifi hotspot and being the person that customers get forwarded to whenever there's no one logged into the phones at work (either because the person who is there is at lunch or there simply isn't anyone scheduled at that time). There isn't anyone scheduled from Saturday afternoon for about 25 hours until Sunday afternoon. This ended up being more of a hassle than I would have wanted it to be. However, I understand I didn't have it too bad. And Aubrey and I did some funny stuff to cope with it.

It was Aubrey's grandpa's birthday on Saturday, and he's going in for surgery this week, so she really didn't want to miss it. We drove down Saturday afternoon and had "ice cream cake" (which is more of a frozen pudding cake with a buttery nut crust) as it traditional for occasions with Aubrey's Grandparents. On the way back home, the clock struck 4, which meant that I would start getting calls, which I did immediately.

So we were driving up I-15 and I was on the phone and on my laptop in the passenger's seat taking tech support calls and typing up cases. It wasn't "fun" like doing something that is actually fun, but fun in it's own way, it felt pretty cool to be able to make it all work. Plus Aubrey thinks it's sexy when I take care of business like a total bouse. So win-win there! I also took calls at home (of course), in the Best Buy parking lot, and someone else that I can't remember. It was pretty fun times! And I event got paid for it. Everything we did turned into a "race against" time to try and get through something before the phone would ring. The best was definitely when we went out to dinner. There was some serious suspense, and we ended up never getting a call! That bread pudding we got for desser was a real shame though. That was an alcoholic sponge, not bread pudding.

The on-call ends tomorrow (which will be a relief). I'll have to plan something awesome to do with Aubrey since my schedule in the evening won't be all janked up.

Another positive thing: I caught a whiff of Breakup this weekend.

Let me explain, when I was growing up, there was a special time of the year (in April or so) when all the snow would really start to melt in earnest, and all of the grass and mud would finally be exposed for the first time in month and it had a distinct "melty" smell. (Sidenote: 6 months of frozen animal poop and garbage would also become exposed at this time, but we won't dwell on that.) And this triggered two things in my mind: Running and Heroes of Might and Magic 2. YEAH!!! I was on the track team in high school so I always get the itch to run in high school. And I played a lot of that game one spring with a friend of mine. So I did both over the weekend and it was awesome and I loved it! Actually, I didn't run, I did walk for a good time and difficulty on the treadmill though. I kind of need to work my way up. I've gotten totally fat and I still haven't really gotten used to the elevation in Utah. I'll get there.

But either way, things are looking up! I hope everyone has a great day!

Most Enjoyed: 2012

Sure, it's coming way after I promised it, but here it is none the less.

Mists of Pandaria - I'm currently taking a break from WoW because I'm tired of farming in games (ironically, I love the little farm you can get in the game now). But a great expansion! I'd be more interested if I had a good raid team/schedule, but in the absence of that. I'm ok without playing for now.

Starcraft 2 - I managed to get a feel of being more involved in the game this past year. Great game. Great community. Expect more great things to come.

Dungeon Defenders - I got freaking hooked on this for a couple of months! Still a great way to burn a few hours.

Guild Wars 2 - Content patches are coming out all the time for GW2. You should definitely take a look if you're in the mood for a good MMO w/o wanting to pay a subscription.

Age of Empires Online - Still fun, but after playing SC2 the gameplay itself feels slow and stale.

Punch Quest/Ski Safari/Road Trip 2 - I love these side-scrolling runner games. Extra props to Ski Safari for having the catchiest music.

Amnesia: The Dark Decent - Aubrey and I finally got brave and started playing through this game. And then we got a big tv. And then we played it on the big tv. And then we decided we were better off just watching Day9's playthrough.  By far one of the creepiest games I've ever played. Great mechanics.

Nastolgia:
Chrono Trigger/Majora's Mask/FF3(6) - Got these babies on the Wii Virtual Console and I play them on the treadmill. Great multitasking!!

Resolution: 2012

Back in January I posted about the games I was most excited about for 2012. Today we take a look on how that worked out.

Diablo III: Well, I got this for free with the WoW Annual Contract. In a word, Diablo III is OK. It's really fun the first time through, but the repetition is very rough over time (this is coming from a WoW player). Playing as a new class didn't seem to help that either. There was a huge fiasco about connectivity on launch day, but I didn't really care about that. I stayed in the hospital that night for a sleep study. Ha! This game is still pretty fun with friends and Blizzard's made some positive content updates. Still no PvP though....

Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm. Not out yet! There's a release date for march though, so not much longer to wait. I'm in the beta and that is a lot of fun. They've made some good changes and I'm excited to see how the eSports scene evolves. Can't wait for the campaign either.

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria: Excellent. It really is. I haven't played too much of it because I decided I needed to quit WoW to focus on other things, but the new content is fantastic and there's more on the way.

Mass Effect 3: Yeah, I never played it. Whoops!

DOTA2/Blizzard DOTA: DOTA 2 is pretty good. Really hard though. I've never been that good at MOBA games in the first place. Blizzard DOTA is still a work in progress. I've heard rumors that they're going to put more effort into it once Heart of the Swarm is released and out of the way.

Awesome indie games that came out this year: Um. I'm going to have to look these up. Ok...I haven't actually played any. I have Dustforce which is supposed to be really good but I haven't played it yet. Torchlight II is supposed to be great but I played enough Diablo to scratch that itch. I hear Journey is awesome but I don't have a PS3. I dropped the ball here this year.

And I did get and play more of all the games I mentioned at the end there. I have Bastion (and it's on iOS for only 99 cents now) as well as Trine 2. Both are great. I've gotten more Skyrim in but haven't gotten any of the DLC. The excitement on those keeps dying before it becomes available on PC. And Mass Effect...I think I spent a couple of minutes in there somewhere.

All in all it's been a great year in games. Video games continue to outsell movies and the eSports scene continues to grow in America and around the world. My Mom is still addicted to Angry Birds. If I can ever get my Dad to play Starcraft, all my Christmas wishes will have come true.

I'll bust out Anticipation: 2013 in a bit. Spoiler alert: Heart of the Swarm will be on that list too. I'll put together a most-enjoyed of 2012 as well.

Announcement!

I've always wanted to have guest bloggers on this site. I don't care who you are or what game or whatever as long as it's modestly well written and presentable. I don't think I ever put it out onto the blog, but I think it would be awesome to have several people posting on here.

We have a first guest post incoming shortly! My lovely wife, Aubrey, does some gaming in her own right. And she's volunteered to throw down a post! She hasn't actually written one yet, but I wanted to build a little anticipation and introduce her a little, as well as encourage others to contact me if they're interested in posting here.

Anyway, Aubrey.
Aubrey has been a gamer ever since she convinced her parents to get her a Nintendo 64 when she was in middle school. Her first gaming love was Donkey Kong 64 and Dr. Mario 64. Professionally, she has been teaching secondary English for just about four years. She loves, as you might imagine, reading and learning. We frequently discuss game logic and motivations and their implications in engaging students and enriching the learning process. She is also prone to approaching games with literary critique (which is why she really likes the show Metadating). Her favorite games include straightforward ones like Dr. Mario, Civilization, and Starcraft. Also she's hot.

We should have a post from her coming soon. I can't wait!

Anticipation: 2013

It's the end of the year and it's time to take a look into the future. 2012 was a great year for gaming, so I feel safe in assuming that 2013 will be great as well. This is my list of games I'm most excited for, followed by everything else.

Take off work excited

Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm - I don't think I need to elaborate. I want this bad. And I don't want to hear a word about the story before I play/see it myself.

Elder Scrolls Online - I covered my mouth an gasped when I saw the announcement for this. I'm super excited for this one. I just hope that (1) They do a no-sub premium model like GW2. (2) It doesn't suck or end up like SWTOR. and (3) That it's just as awesome as playing an Elder Scrolls game. The only thing that could possibly improve that series is multiplayer. Let's hope they pull it off.

Looking forward to

Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs - Aubrey and I had a lot of fun playing/watching Day9 play Amnesia. With an eager audience and plenty of funding, the sequel should be great!

A Skyrim DLC sale - Sorry, I'm not paying $15/20 a pop for DLC. I'm just not. Especially when I have to wait so long for it after the XBox 360 gets it. If history proves right, I'll just be able to buy a complete digital pack at the end of next year for $20 anyway.

More Dungeon Defenders DLC or equal - Yeah this is kind of a lame entry. But I do really enjoy this casual game.

Things I'll keep an eye on

Bioshock Infinite - You may ask why this is on the lower part of my list when lots of other people have been crapping their pants about it. I just never get that into first person shooters. I've played a little of the first one (which was great) but I look forward to an updated game made by the original production team. If it's good, I'll pick it up.

Destiny (Bundie game) - The first game made by Bungie in 10 years or something. They didn't even make the last couple of Halo games. There isn't a lot of info out about the project, but the team has definitely proven they can make a good game.

Tomb Raider - Lara Croft needs rebranding something fierce. This new game will feature her without the boobs and shorts and turns makes her more of a survivor. Could be just what the franchise needs. Plus I haven't been able to play any of the Uncharted games since I don't have a PS3 and I've been getting the itch for a good adventure game. I'll keep an eye on it!