3 posts tagged “xbox 360”

This weekend is shaping up to be an eventful time for me - J hasn't been around the place lately because of projects both at work as well as at the theatre, and I've been a terribly irresponsible dog-owner in that I've been shortening L's usual 45 minute walks down to less than half of that.

But my animal-abusive solitude has not been without personal gain.

A gamer friend of mine recently suggested that I take a gander at a new title that's been released on the XBox Live Marketplace: a pretty little something by the name of 'Braid.'

Braid

This wonderful piece of interactive artwork is the rare kind of thing that simultaneously induces in me both rampant admiration and suicidal levels of frustration.  Where I don't usually fall under the spell of your run-of-the-mill platformer, Braid focuses more on puzzle-solving than the usual Mario Brother knock-off.  Not only that, but the look, feel, and sound of the game is a fully immersive experience.  The central source of puzzle-building here is based around your ability to manipulate time, something that I thought would be easy to master early on in my experience with the game.
I was wrong.

Easily floating my way through the first few levels (available in the XBox Marketplace for free), I felt like I'd bested even the Prince of Persia in a 2D, side-scrolling world.  Then I promptly hit a wall.  As it turns out, the people designing the puzzles knew that I was going to be able to manipulate the flow of time.  And, like vengeful gods, the designers appear to have created one of the most torturous (and interesting) pieces of puzzle-based gaming I've ever seen.

I don't know whether or not you own an XBox 360 or if you have any interest in video games - hell, I don't even know if your reading this - but if you do, you really need to take the time to try this game.  And, if you get the chance, please tell me how to get all the puzzle-pieces in the fifth world.  I'm desperate.

Ms Pac-Man

I've never really been much of a Pac-Man connoisseur.  For that matter, I've never been much for Ms. Pac-Man, either.  Sure, her bulbous yellow mass and strangely proportioned legs might've given me lustful pause in previous years - but that's all a part of that awkward prepubescent stage, now long since past me.  Besides, back then I never really worked up the nerve to catch Pac-Man fever.  Things are different now, though.

When J and I got the XBox, we justified the purchase by saying that it would serve not only as a gaming console, but also our DVD Player.  And, to that end, it has served us well.  Only in the last couple of months, though, has it become a focal point on one of the strangest addictions I've ever had.

Growing up, my good friend Chris was one of those kids that could play a Pac-Man game for upwards of three hours on a single quarter.  This, of course, proved to be something of an awkward problem when it came to socializing at any one of the fine Pac-Man equipped establishments that we happened to frequent.  Granted, I was always mighty impressed with his boasts of having his initials in the number one spot on every Pac-Man machine within a hundred mile radius - but that awe rarely spread to anyone beyond our ever shrinking circle of friends.

Back then, being much less skilled than Chris left me far too intimidated to foray out into the world of blinking dots and multi-colored ghosts.  Things changed with the release of the Championship Edition on XBox Live.

As I recall, it was mere months ago when I downloaded the game when Chris was in town.  We spent the entire night playing, working out the necessary patterns to maximize our per-minute point gain.  After the first few hours, I'd caught the fever and, ever since, Chris and I have been in contact trying to determine the best strategies through which we might be able to conquer the leaderlist on XBox Live.

With that said, I've been trying to lay low with my addiction - I don't bring up in casual conversation the fact that the orange ghost, Clyde, tends to follow a set path instead of going straight for you.  Instead, I stick to normal topics like the weather and local football.
Ok, maybe not football.

And then there was that party last night.  J's future brother-in-law, Z, invited us over to his place for dinner and board games.  When we showed up, however, I found that the board games were relegated to the ladies who were attending while the gentlemen fragged each other on the 57' screen in the living room.  As the night went on, and the beer bottles emptied, Z broached the subject of Pac-Man CE.  He said that he'd noticed my high score on XBox Live and wanted to know how I got there.  Within minutes I found myself the center of attention as that blessed white controller was handed off to me.  Within mere seconds, everyone present (and still sober enough to keep track) was cheering me on as I wiped Z's former high score off the map.

I went to bed last night knowing what Sparticus must've felt deep in his heart as he saw his first domineering victory in the colliseum.

And now I must return to my couch where I will continue to fight my way toward the leaderboards, toward freedom.  Am I a nerd?  Maybe.  Is this the kind of thing that might suck the life out of me? Almost definitely.
But for one fleeting evening, I was a God amongst insects.  Drunken insects, but insects all the same.

(Woah.  This'll be embarrassing to read to myself later.)

I should be in bed at the moment, but, then again, so should my little brother.
Instead, he's one of the fools camping out in front of a Target in Herndon, Virginia tonight so that he can get his hands on a brand spankin' new Nintendo Wii.

I've been thinking a great deal on the latest round in the console gaming wars and I've been thinking that Nintendo stands to gain back some of that ground lost to Sega during the original battling.  You know what I'm talking about, when it came down to the Mario Bros and Sonic the Hedgehog.
And, yes, this is the second time that I've brought up the Mario Bros in the last two days.  Such is my love for them.

When J spent a whole day utilizing her coveted E3 '06 ticket, and all that she seemed to care about was the fact that she actually got to test out the Wii system while she was there, I started to get the hint.  But, after having read this article on good old Engadget, I took it as gospel: Nintendo may just have this one in the bag.  When you're talking about the PS3 system costing me the same amount as a full computer upgrade, there's no reason for me to even bother shelling out the cash for the console.  And I loved the original XBox, but when it costs another $50-$100 more for an XBox 360 (after already having been shipped to market for nearly a full year) than it does to purchase the Wii, I think the choice is obvious.  My prediction is that the Wii, while having the lamest name possible, is going to end up being the new NES standard system.

Ugh, time for bed.