A dash of this and that!

What have I been up to you ask?  Gosh, there are so many different things I’ve been up to lately that I have even found it difficult to write on the blog – there’s just not one particular thing that jumps out and me and demands that I write anything thought provoking.  Graev decided that while he really enjoys TF2 on the Xbox360 it wouldn’t hurt to pick up another copy via Steam so that he could play with me.  Today we spent many hours playing together shooting our way through Dustbowl and our other favorite maps.  The general consensus is that (like we said in the podcast) TF2 looks great on both systems, runs well on both systems, but if we had to choose one as being ‘better’ then it would be the PC due to more players per game and less chance for lag.  The Xbox360 sorta lives up to it’s reputation as having a jittery lag at release of online shooters.

Other than TF2 I’ve been chipping away at Half-Life 2 and it’s definitely living up to it’s name as one of the best single player shooters experiences out there.  The game performs well on my system and has a really nice physics system along with the best AI I’ve seen in a while.  I’m impressed with the constant ‘in your face’ experiences that they seem to throw at you almost relentlessly.  And not to beat the Orange Box topic to death – Portal has been loads of fun and I’m working my way through the puzzles one at a time.  I think I’ve found my “mess around for an hour” game.

As for MMOs I seem to be in a slump.  Lord of the Rings Online is losing it’s appeal that it had restored a few weeks ago and I fear without the patch I might cancel soon.  My friends have all but quit and as usual when faced with the decision of playing alone (not really alone… I have a guild but… yeah..) I usually cancel my account.  Other than LOTRO I tried to get into Tabula Rasa but there was simply no hook for me.  The game’s general idea and my ‘keen’ curiosity got the better of me so I gave TR a try.  Playing for about 15 minutes I knew the game wasn’t a match for me.  I played a little more and decided to simply uninstall the beta; which I have 4-5 invites to for some reason…. how have they invited me this many time?  So without the chance of an invite to Warhammer Online I am simply left waiting for either LOTRO to pick back up again or for another MMO to spring up out of the woodwork.

On a completely different note, I’ve been getting into the idea of starting a little Pen and Paper gaming club with my online buds.  We’re debating the use of either Open RPG or Fantasy Grounds.  Anyone had experience with either of these?  Fantasy Grounds requires that you buy a license and Open RPG is completely free… tough choice when the one that costs $$ is much more catered to what we’re looking at doing.  So to pay $30 or not to pay… that is the question.  Anyway, the idea of P&P style gaming sounds fun right now.  A little oldschool imagination in a world created by one of us could have some interesting possibilities.  I’m toying with the idea of some bizarre combination like Gnome Ranger… that could be cool.

I think that’s really all I’ve been doing gaming related.  Lately my interest in Star Trek: The Next Generation has prompted me to watch the movies and the series on G4.  There’s something so incredibly good about TNG – maybe it’s Patrick Stewart (who is an amazing actor) or Brent Spiner as Data that keeps me watching.. they’re both awesome!  Now I’m all psyched for Star Trek Online. :P  In our Podcast this week Graev and I discussed a few of our ‘hope for’s’ in STO.  We want to be able to crew a galaxy class ship or something close to it with a group or guild.  If we’re limited to small little single person ships that act as our avatars there’s going to be a great deal of angry Trekkys.

Alrighty, that’s my ramble for the evening.  If you don’t happen to get lost and find yourself at our blog I hope you have a great weekend!