video game shenanigans

[orangerful]

So, I ran over to Gamestop after work today only to realize that the Kinect comes out Thursday. Who the heck releases anything on a Thursday???? And just to rub it in, the text from Gamestop reminding me about my pre-order came right as I was leaving the store. Ah well, at least I got my Rock Band 3 song code, which was missing from my original reciept. Time to play "Burning Down the House"!

Now - should I stay up super late tomorrow and go to the midnight launch of the Kinect or just pick it up after work on Thursday? Probably should go home Wednesday since I have Babies in Bloom first thing in the morning Thursday...but still...it would be cool to have it in my hands at midnight...but I wouldn't get home until 1am and I'd have to be up by 7...yeah, I'm thinking sleep wins over the Kinect this time. Plus it's sort of a reward for getting my lazy but out of bed on a Thursday when I usually get to sleep in...I always have coffee before a Babies program because I pretty much have to spaz for 20 minutes to keep their short little attention spans focused...now where was I?

Rock Band 3 is a lot of fun. The song lists was weird but they had to try hard to find rock songs with piano in them that were fun for everyone. I'm looking forward to the Billy Joel track pack scheduled for release later this month. But I think they tweaked the game in all the right places. It's so much easier to drop-in/drop-out when you're playing with a group and the fact that you can finally change difficulty DURING the song is brilliant. I watched Alan play the drums on pro-mode and it was insane! I started the pro-mode keyboard lessons but I keep wanting to use my left hand and as far as I can tell, you are only supposed to use your right hand (because the game guys at Harmonix really think I want to rock a Key-tar...and I just can't bring myself to do it). Right now I just set it on my lap and that sorta works. I managed to play on Expert last night, but it was only on "I Love Rock and Roll' and "Yoshimi vs the Robots"...

Have only played a little bit of Sims 3:Late Night but so far it's fun. Almost feels like a different game with the way the city is set up. I've got two Sims going right now, a brother and sister living together in an apartment, trying to make their way in the big city. Cyan and Stanley. Cyan is trying to be a movie star because her lifetime wish is to be a celebrity. Stanley isn't sure what he wants to do except date a lot of ladies (he has the heartbreaker lifetime wish). But I'm hoping he will be able to start his own band. He was rocking the bass at the night club and the ladies loved it, so I think he's going to start recruiting members.

ACK! Just looked at Xbox Live and the DLC on sale this week is all DragonAGE! Shoot. I haven't downloaded any of the DLC for this game - those of you that have (faeriesfolly), are they worth it? Or, let me say, which one is the best? I got Microsoft points burning a hole in my virtual pocket and with these at half off, it's hard to resist.

Civilization 5 still eats up a good chunk of my time because on of my library buddies has the game and it's a lot more fun when you play together. I've only managed to do a domination and time victory so far. I'm trying to get a cultural victory but you really have to plan ahead for that. You need someone to watch your back because you can't build soldiers AND culture at the same time if you want to win.

Speaking of which, I should probably eat some dinner before Tim logs online and wants to conquer the world! Cant' fight with Hiawatha on an empty stomach!

Comments

[ekaterin24.livejournal.com]

Wow, Burning Down the House and Billy Joel...Rock Band 3 sounds great!

Have fun playing Civ 5 with Tim!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I love Rock Band. I've already got 300 songs going, and I just realized that I don't think my Rock Band 1 songs transferred because that was on AD's Xbox account, so I have to do that. SO many songs, it really is the ultimate party game.

[faeriesfolly.livejournal.com]

I could have told you it was Thursday, because I'm working the release. XD What a first day back, eh? Should be interesting. We aren't having a midnight one at our store.

I have downloaded ummm...all of them except for the one where you are a darkspawn. I haven't played through Leliana's yet, but started it. And I haven't played Witch Hunt. All the others I had sometime during one of my playthroughs. Return to Ostagar, Soldier's Peak?, and the stone prisoner one. (I think that's it.) I need to check and see if I am automatically getting the signature edition for Dragon Age II because I better be. (The site says pre-orders before Jan 11, 2011 and mine is totally pre-ordered at Gamestop.)

I enjoyed all the ones I have played through and I plan to work on Leliana's soon. I started it, but am still close to the beginning.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

ah so tempted! Maybe I'll get a couple, I haven't finished my second play-through so there is still time for my dwarf girl to complete the bonus quests. None of the DLC seems as highly reviewed as the ME2 ones.

[marshmallow.livejournal.com]

Sims 3: Late Night really does feel kind of weird. It was especially jarring having to start in a whole new town to get rolling on the new content. I think I'm going to have to go back and do some razing on my old town to put up some apartments and clubs, because I miss my established families. :( And with the apartments set up like they are, it feels like the focus is really on not spending time or money on the Sims' homes, but rather on them being out and about, enjoying the Late Night shenanigans. Which is fun and fine, but again, something to get used to.

So tell me about Rock Band 3... particularly the peripherals.. did you get the whole big box set, or just a keyboard? Are there any changes/additions/etc. for the other instruments?

And all this Civ5 raving is making me want it! Curses!!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I agree with everything you said about Late Night. It is more like a new game and less like an Expansion. I mean, getting all that stuff going in your old neighborhoods is difficult. Or are there celebrities walking around the suburbs?

They didn't do a Special Edition set with all new instruments, just the keyboard boxed set. So I bought that because I had to have the newest one! Of course, they now have the pro-mode, but you have to buy the nicer equipment to pull that off. My friend has pro-mode drums and it's pretty amazing because he has to play the actual drums for each song. But he got the hang of it and seemed to really like it. The guitar pro-mode looks crazy from some of the videos I've seen online, but the peripheral hasn't actually been released so no real reviews. And the character creator is like Sims now, and you can tweak every little body party. I'll have to do a more in-depth post...

Yes...you want Civ 5 so you can play with me...dooooo eeeeet!!!!