So much work

Behold a gift given from a friend returning from studying in Japan for a year. This is one roll of toilet paper I hope I may never be forced to use. I have been so swamped with work lately, odd thing is they are mostly papers. This is odd due to the fact I'm in engineering but I guess I had to suffer at some point along the road, figures it'd be in the last year.

Anyways, in the large span of time since my last post I have taken a bite into a couple games but haven't been able to beat any of them due to lack of free time. I started Condemned 2 and was enjoying the tweaks and refining of the first entry mechanics. This past weekend I finally got Lost Planet after having pined for it since it was first released on the 360. I said screw you to the updated release and bought a nice used complete collector's edition from eStarland when I was home (if you live in the Northern Virginia this store is awesome and pure quality). I have actually played 5 or 6 chapters into that game already, which as I hear is about halfway through and been loving it (I also enjoyed epic fights with the optional giant worm and giant moth kills for those achievements). Lastly, as I said I have been writing non-stop papers lately (I need to actually write something for a group meeting by 3pm so ugh) but I picked up Dead Space yesterday and it has been gut-wrenchingly painful to not throw that sucker into the system and give it a whirl.

Funny thing I noticed that really irritated me, if a game is supposed to be released on a Tuesday why is it not in the stores on a Tuesday. That was bullshit, although honestly I don't know if I would be able to play it any sooner, but that is besides the point. Also I tend to not follow games months before they come out beyond being aware that it is on it's way. If I did I feel like I would experience more anxiety than I really need to. The last week though leading up to the release of Dead Space has had me unable to sit still in anticipation. It's not that I have super high expectations for the game, it's more that I am pumped to play an awesomely atmospheric sci-fi horror game. I noticed it was getting fairly good reviews from some websites etc. etc. but honestly I just want to start spelunking around in some derelict ship. I mean, who didn't have this overwhelming feeling of "I WANT TO DO THAT" whenever they watch the Aliens series or other similar movie. The fact that the screens from Dead Space seem to capture the right essence of science fiction that I grew up with has me anticipating a delightfully nostalgic atmosphere.

So yeah, just wanted to say that hopefully I'll be posting some thorough thoughts on some games in the coming days as well as some issues I was thinking about. I read some article someone had written about before regarding overworld maps, and you see it often when reading reviews for more recent RPGs primarily about the lack of one. I for one really miss this feature, I mean come on. You're playing some epic game like FF7, Xenogears, Star Ocean 2nd Story, Legend of Legaia, etc. and you either load up some long lost save file of yours or just emerge from some dungeon and BAM! You're hit with some sweeping emotional score that makes you just swoon and wax nostalgic about all the great adventures you've had trouncing about on these vast open planes with your not-to-scale party indicator. So writing an entry about that would be cool, I mean I know they go for this whole "overworld that is seamless with the cities" shown in FF12, Star Ocean: TtEoT, insert other newer RPG but there's something cool about the overworld map.

Also as a random note I started watching/listening to Jaffe's video blogs on youtube and I am absolutely loving them. I have yet to play through any of the God of War games, and the only Twisted Metal I played was Black when the PS2 first came out (that game rocked) so I don't know him too well as a game developer. What I do know is that sure I agree with most of the things he says, but honestly he's just entertaining and interesting to listen to. I should start reading his blog, I know they've had it linked here since before I joined but I never went exploring those much O_O. Now to go write some more....

ughhh I wanna play Dead Space!