bedeviled mojo slop

I finished Mass Effect last week. If you want me to cut to the chase and give you a rating, well then I'd give it a solid 8.5/10. There is a lot to this game if you want to explore all the optional assignments that augment the story from the main game missions. I think I played through about a third of the optional assignments.

A big gripe with this game was missions that used the Mako vehicle, which you used in a couple of parts in the main game missions, but used mostly in the optional assignments. I saw it mainly as a way to get from point A to point B quicker and as a place of refuge on planets where you couldn't hang out on the surface too long because you'd die from the atmosphere. It spawned a hatred I had not felt since the driving the Warthog vehicle in the Halo series.

If you're really into RPGs, I think you'll like all the ways in which you can customize your character and weapons. For me, I turned on auto-leveling and I was done with that mess. I just couldn't be bothered.

I haven't bothered to search the Internets for any gripes from other players around two plot elements:

• Rachni: Hmmmmmmmmmm, The Flood from the Halo series much?
• Reapers: Machines who want to turn organics into slaves? The Matrix? *sigh*

That being said, I'm more looking forward to the sequels to this game than say Assassin's Creed. *shudder*

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Through The Fire and Flames - DragonForce

See Angry-Fly.com's, Getting MySQL Preference Pane To Work In Leopard.

The article helped immensely now that I'm running Leopard.

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Broken Boy Solider - The Raconteurs

Raining Blood - Slayer

Palmcorder Yajna - The Mountain Goats

Soda Shop - Jay Brannan

The temporary loss of my XBox 360 has led me to contemplate one thing that has always puzzled me about how people have their machine. Why do people stand their XBox 360's upright and not have them lying flat?

The XBox 360 doesn't have a slot loading drive like the Nintendo Wii or your MacBook Pro. It has a tray that opens and closes.

Why, I mean ... why would you stand it upright?

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A moment of silence please ...

... thank you.

My XBox 360 finally fell victim to the Red Ring of Death. I knew when I bought the XBox 360 and took pictures inside that it didn't have the new heatsink or whatever. Each day I had with the XBox 360 was a little gift. And so now, the XBox 360 will have to be sent back to be repaired by MSFT.

As it happens, I was in the middle of shredding Through The Fire and the Flames on Hard. I was getting about 83% of the way through the song before epic FAIL! and this time through, when the XBox 360 RRoD'd, I think I was pretty on. I'm convinced the machine at that point became self-aware, knew I would finally best TTFaTF, and executed its self-destruct sequence.

Either that or crappy hardware

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Fault Line - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Scientists create world's blackest black v. Crayola Emo

I'm suspect that science can create a blacker black than "Tears of Midnight".

California Girls - The Magnetic Fields

Taos Ski Valley opens to snowboarders on March 19, 2008.

That leaves Mad River Glen, VT, Alta, UT, and Deer Valley, UT that still do not allow snowboarding at their resorts to preserve the "skiing experience". Pffft, whateva.

Burton is offering up $5,000 per resort poaching. Check that site!

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I got my 3rd purchased Wii in the mail today thanks to Wii Alerts.

Back in April, I actually bought 2 Wiis. I kept one for myself and sold one to a buddy in California.

Cut to the week before Christmas of 2007 and I decide that because my sister wants a Wii, that she shall have a Wii. And thanks to Wii Alerts, she'll have a Wii. If you haven't come across this service, the basic jist is that they'll txt message your cell phone when an online retailer has a Wii or Wii bundle available. I was lucky enough to score the Wii from Amazon.com.

I can only attest to this service by the fact that it worked for me and 2 colleagues. It's at least another avenue to explore than going to eBay and getting ripped off.

So, if you've used this service and you got your Wii or you already have a Wii, well then ... Merry Chwiistmas

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I had started Psychonauts before Assassin's Creed. At first I found the game annoying. The music annoyed me. All of the dialog cut-scenes annoyed me. And then I played and beat Assassin's Creed and came back to this game. It was like a breath of fresh air. I suddenly enjoyed it all.

It's really astounding how much they threw into this one game. The boss battles, the collectibles, the various psychic powers, etc. Assassin's Creed had a bunch of flags. I want to give Assassin's Creed the finger right now. Anyhoo ... Psychonauts is a hard to find title just like Ico (another excellent game BTW). But, spend the $12 and you won't be disappointed.

My one gripe with this game was they sort of ratcheted up the difficulty at the end of the game to some weird level. Don't get me started on the meat circus.

I'd give the game and 8.5/10.

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