My brother canceled our scheduled Titan Quest Immortal Throne night yet again. Claims his Internet wasn't working. Bah!

Thus, I had time to finish up Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways. I liked it a lot, would recommend to any fan of RE4 (Ada Wong is HOT). I played it 3 or 4 months after originally playing RE4. Glad I waited because I remembered enough about playing the game but, not enough where it was boring. I definitely think playing through it after just finishing RE4 would be a bad idea, it's very very similar to the original game. However, it is much more action oriented. No puzzle solving, no upgrading weapons, etc. In the end, it doesn't explain much about what's going on in RE4 and why. Glad I played it though.

Manufacturer:
Custom/DIY
Processor:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6400+ 3.2GHz
Memory:
4GB DDR2 800 RAM
Hard Drive:
80GB 10k RPM OS, 300GB RAID1 Data, 300GB Games
Video Card:
ATI Radeon HD 3870 Series
Monitor:
Dell 24" Widescreen, Dell 20" 4:3
Sound Card:
Realtek HD Audio
Speakers/Headphones:
Klipsch 5.1
Keyboard:
KeyTronic DESIGNER-P2 Black 104 Normal Keys PS/2 Standard Keyboard
Mouse:
Wired Logitech G5 Laser
Mouse Surface:
Razer eXactMat and eXactRest Bundle - Mouse Pad and Wrist Rest
Operating System:
Windows XP SP3 MCE 2005

Manufacturer:
Custom/DIY
Processor:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6400+ 3.2GHz
Memory:
4GB DDR2 800 RAM
Hard Drive:
80GB 10k RPM OS, 300GB RAID1 Data, 300GB Games
Video Card:
ATI Radeon HD 3870 Series
Monitor:
Dell 20", Samsung 17"
Sound Card:
Realtek HD Audio
Speakers/Headphones:
Klipsch 5.1
Keyboard:
KeyTronic DESIGNER-P2 Black 104 Normal Keys PS/2 Standard Keyboard
Mouse:
Wired Logitech G5 Laser
Mouse Surface:
Razer eXactMat and eXactRest Bundle - Mouse Pad and Wrist Rest
Operating System:
Windows XP SP2 MCE 2005

I spent about 10 hours slogging through Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb. It is an original Xbox era game. From the same Developer, The Collective, that made the very good Buffy the Vampire Slayer game for the original Xbox.

There are all sorts of annoying problems with the Indiana Jones game for the PC. Controlling the camera with the mouse was the most annoying part. This was a "pre Xbox 360 Controller for Windows" game, so the control pad didn't work so well. It wouldn't move either the X or Y axis of the camera, I forget which.

It's plagued by horrible jumping puzzles and Xbox/PS2/Gamecube era console save system. Meaning you have to play at least 15-30 mins before you get to a save point. If you die 15 mins into a "level" then you have to do all 15 mins over again.

The last part of the game had tons of annoying logic puzzles and jumping puzzles. The beginning part of the game has Indy fighting lots of Nazis. Suffice to say, the end of the game ruined the whole game for me. Killing Nazis and fist-fighting (remember, this is the engine from Buffy) was the best part.

The only redeeming thing about the game is the plot. Well, more like when it is set in the Indiana Jones plot-timeline. This game happens right before the beginning of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It has lots of crazy "para-normal" and "netherworld" stuff not really explored very much until 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I think it's more like that movie than any of the "original" three movies.

Usually plots and characters found in officially licensed material from Lucas has to get approval from him. I wonder if Lucas read or came up with ideas or themes in this game that then morphed into the aliens found in Crystal Skull.

This game is a prime example of when/if people will look back at the era of games from Xbox/PS2/Gamecube and realize older doesn't mean better. The graphics are passable, especially at PC's 1600x1200 but, the...

I finished Doom 3's expansion pack in about 6 to 7 hours this weekend on normal difficulty. At first, it makes you jump a lot by spooking you. After 1 or 2 hours of this, you realize what each enemy can and can't do, so they become less "scary".

The game suffers from "enemies hiding in a closet or hidden wall scenarios" that Doom is famous for. Whenever it happens, I think "how did a zombie get in THERE?"

I completed the original Doom 3 years ago when it first came out. I remember getting Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 at the time to stress a new computer I had recently put together.

It's hard to ultimately find any actual fault in Doom 3 though because it's like a fair sci-fi movie. Mars, weapons, demons, hell, zombies, technology, big boss monsters. It can be boring at times but, I'd still rather play a game like Doom 3 more than watch most movies.

I have been replaying Starcraft. I never finished the expansion pack (Brood War) and the announcement of Starcraft 2 renewed my interest.

Overall, it's still a fun game. There are these levels/missions in the single player though that I find HIGHLY annoying. Its the ones where you start out with a set amount of units and you don't actually build a base. It's basically a maze (only one way out) and enemy units attack you every once and awhile. They are annoying because the Zerg and Protoss ones involve attacking and then waiting for the Zergs to regain their health or the Protoss shield's to recharge. I quickly learned to turn the game speed all the way up while you wait. You also end up saving about 15 times per level, one after each encounter, because you can't really afford to lose many troops since you have a finite amount per maze.

I REALLY hope they don't include these types of missions in the Starcraft 2's single player. Or, at the very least, re-work them to actually be fun!

I have never tried World of Warcraft, so I figured I would try the 10 day trial to see what all the fuss is about. It took hours to download and patch the game to the latest version. I started by creating a Tauren Warrior and then killing 7 chickens for their feathers and meat. FUN.

I'm having problems with the Xbox 360 Wireless Controller for Windows and Receiver for Windows on 2 out of 3 of my computers. I can't get a controller to "sync" up with the receiver. My guess is RF interference? It sucks.

Update: I figured it out, the Xbox 360 Wireless headset was connecting to the Receiver. Not sure why but, as soon as I turned off the headset, the controllers had no problem connecting to the receiver. This was hard to figure out because my Xbox is on one "level" of my house while my computer is 2 "levels" higher! Wireless is convenient but sucks!