Games – what I’m playing: Breakdown (xbox) – interesting story, interesting presentation, entertaining one-on-one combat, horribly, horribly designed final battles that nearly ruin the game. Eyetoy: Groove (ps2) – basically, Samba de Amigo without the hardware, and with some interesting new moves. Only played it a bit so far, but it’s super fun. Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (xbox) – played almost none of the single player, but already gotten a ton of play out of the excellent – no – stellar multiplayer. Fight Night 2004 (xbox) – a great boxing game. I didn’t think I’d say such a thing, but it really is both fun, great to control, and it *feels* right, which is quite unusual. Changing from a button-based control to an analog-stick based control is, in this case, perfect. No button mashing boxing game will ever seem right again.
Yeah, that’s a lotta games – and it’s not even all I’m playing – also got some Need for Speed Underground and 007: Everything or Nothing in the mix. Seems like a lot of EA games, no? Guess that’s what happens when you can get ’em all at a company discount. I’m actually quite surprised by the increase in quality of EA’s games recently – and no, not because I’ve started working there. They’ve gotten the licensed product game down, far as I’m concerned – the LoTR games blow the Matrix games away. Sure, they’re somewhat less ambitious, but they’re also much, much better. EoN, for instance, feels legitimately like a Bond property, and not licensed dreck. So it’s a nice change, and I’m glad that I’m working at a place I can feel good about.
The job? Oh, it’s good. I’m having fun. Unfortunately, screwed up something this morning that basically killed my whole day, save for documentation, but I guess I’m making up for it by coming in on the weekend, alas. It sorta sucks – we’re held up by engine upgrade issues, but I suppose E3 waits for no one. *shrugs*
Right. House-wise? It’s still in the same state, more or less. The housemates have done a stellar job fixing up the kitchen, which is super-awesome. It sorta sucks – it’s in great shape for the first time pretty much ever, but I’ve found myself with virtually no time to cook, which blows. Gotta get a fence for the backyard, too, so that Mobius can run around. He knows where Raki (The neighbor dog) is, and how to get there, and so it’s easy for him to sneak out to go play. We’re gonna install a doggie-door between the two yards, though, once the fence has been put in, so basically, we’re doubling the space the dogs can play in, which is pretty cool. But I suppose that depends on first getting that fence in. Yack.