Time to get Anti-Social!

A couple weeks ago I started working on a blog post that I never finished (big surprise there from the Queen of Procrastination).
As usual it was a rambly mess but the broad strokes were about our current need to share everything.
Aw hell, I'm just gonna go ahead and post here what I had written and go from there because thanks to Microsoft and the Xbox One I have more to add to it.

When I go out for a smoke I get bored easily. I'm a slow smoker. Takes me like 15 minutes to smoke a cigarette. Those are my 15 minutes of quiet time in a house full of chaos. To fill those minutes I usually take one of the following:
A book, a DS, PSP, Vita or phone.
Lately my phone has been winning. What do I do while on my phone? Why play Candy Crush Saga of course.
If you don't know what Candy Crush Saga is, its a match three type game where you match little candies in increasingly shitty game boards with a limited number of moves. When you run out of moves and lives you have the option of buying more or asking your friends on Facebook for more moves.
I'm not going to go into the whole pay to play thing at the moment, what I wanna talk about is the whole "bug your Facebook friends for more moves" aspect, just not in the way you think.
No, I'm not gonna talk about how no one wants those stupid requests clogging up their feeds, lets talk about the whole "social" thing that those requests are a part of.

Let me back it up a bit more though...

Long Long ago, before the internet and during its infancy we played video games and as long as we've played games we've been competitive.
Whether you were leaving your initials next to your high score at the arcade or laughing at your friend sitting next to you on the couch because you got farther in Mario Bros. We've bragged, we've shared, we've tried to outdo each other.
Being competitive is part of our nature, being social is part of our nature but in this day and age we've gotten hooked on sharing and bragging about the completely unnecessary.

Don't think I'm saying this as someone above it all. I'm just as guilty as the rest. This isn't a condemnation, but more of an observation and i'll be sharing some of the moments where I have caught myself in the midst of that ridiculous need to show and tell. (not talking about the time I felt the need to share my Shamrock shake, moments even more ridiculous...if that's possible)

Today I got Thor God of Thunder in the mail (I have an unhealthy obsession with Loki) and what did I do after ripping into the packaging and removing my loot? I took a pic and posted it on Instagram and Facebook to share with the world.

So where I was going with that is that much like everyone else these days I'm a social media attention whore.  Thanks to all these sites and smartphones we share everything from new games to our fucking lunch and its getting ridiculous. When I turn my Xbox on it tells me how many friends are online and what they are playing.   When I log onto an MMO as I'm playing I get pop ups on my screen telling me "chubbo the lonely just created the gloves of greasy doom +5" even though I have no fucking idea who that is or why I should care.

There are a billion sites dedicated to sharing your business and specifically for gamers to share their business. I'm a member of a few...Raptr, Playfire, Metagamerscore, Trueachievements...probably more that I joined and never go to.That isn't counting the fact that consoles allow you to see your friends stats, send messages etc. Plus these sites link up to facebook and twitter and instagram and all sorts of other shit.

But, do we REALLY need all this?
Do you need to know that my kids and I watched 64 episodes of Invader Zim?
Do I need to know you unlocked an achievement for 100 headshots?
Do we need our entire lives chronicled and shared 24/7?

As I said, we are social creatures and we like sharing but...have we become obsessed with it? and is that healthy?

So, the new Xbox was revealed on the 21st.
I will start this by saying... DO NOT WANT.
I have a billion reasons for this but that's not an issue at the moment. Well, most of it isn't.
The one thing that IS relevant to this topic is...well most of the reveal.

Some things that stood out were the requirement for the kinect at all times, the requirement to be always on and before you jump down my throat about how it doesn't need to be ALWAYS on and only needs to connect once in a 24hour period..that's just splitting hairs. That is basically needing to be connected always, and the one that really gets me...Trending.

Trending...we already have this everywhere, including the current Xbox. A place we can see what's hot, what people are playing, watching, doing. Its spread out through the different areas of XBL but its there and I don't care for it.

I'm gonna say it right now, Most of the time, I don't give a tiny rat's ass what the fuck other people are doing and I don't think they care what I'm doing. Do we need an entire area of this consoles UI dedicated to shit others are doing? Do I need my console reporting to Microsoft and the world every little thing I do? Does the Kinect really need to be plugged in all the time? How do I know that shit isn't gonna watch me while I dance naked with a mop?

We share too goddamn much already. This blog itself is a study in attention whoring to the max. Its all about me, me, me and more fucking me.

I have friends that won't play certain PC games because they don't offer achievements on Steam for them to show off.
I have friends that won't play Ps2 or other older consoles anymore because they can't show people what they are playing or how many hours they've put into a game.
Since when did gaming become more about showing off than it did about playing games for entertainment and enjoyment?

This new Xbox is perpetuating and encouraging this kind of shallow attention whore behavior and we're all buying into it. We are cheerfully handing over our privacy and even compromising our own self and personalities (how many times have I heard people say "oh I won't watch/play that because I don't want it coming up on my feed where other people can see it" even if its something they want to watch/play) just for the hopes that someone will think we are cool because of what we play/watch/listen to.

Worst part is, we are ALL buying into this over-sharing society, even me, I don't count myself above it all or whatnot.
I'm not really sure where all this is going but its not going anywhere good. We are changing in subtle ways, seeking approval from others more than before, giving away our individuality and our privacy gladly and while it seems so trivial now, where will it go?

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go post a pic of my breakfast on instagram, I'ms ure others are DYING to see my cup of coffee and Nutragrain bar and can't find  meaning in their day til they have seen them.

Been working on something but its not done yet so enjoy this instead

So, I recently bought Thor God of Thunder, you know, the movie tie in game to Thor. Reviews say its utter and complete shit.  Gave it a 2.0. blah blah.
I don't listen to reviews.
But it is a movie tie in game so its probably gonna suck.
Started playing it last night.
Really fucking enjoyed it. Color me shocked.

So today, thanks to Raptr and Playfire and all those other lovely social sites everyone knows I played it. and everyone is telling me it sucks. And I'm fucking sick of it. Because well, who are they to tell me what to play or not play, like or dislike?
After I ranted on FB about it, I decided to check out my collection of games for other  crappy games.
I posted this on fb and now I'm posting it here.



So, I decided to browse a bit of my game collection see how it rates. Most of the shit on my collection is so not popular it was never reviewed by like Gamespot or whatever but there's plenty of 4.0 and below.
Lowest rating:

Thor (of course) at a 2.0
Xena Warrior Princess 2.8

Xena was pretty meh. it was a really really bare fighting game...I loved the shit out of it back in the day, cause.. Xena...FUCK YEAH!

Soul Calibur Legends 3.5

I almost dislocated my fucking shoulder swinging my Wiimote playing this. Good times. I can't tell you the story...I totally skipped all the talking cause it was lame. But the flailing like a retard was super fun.

Lux Pain 3.5

LOVED this game so much. I actually reviewed this on my blog when it came out. Its got some bad things but overall, its so worth playing.

Dynasty Warriors 6, Warriors Orochi, Warriors Oroch 2 4.0

Yeah...well these are love or hate from what I've seen. I love em.

Gauntlet Legends, Gauntlet Dark Legacy 4.3

I can't begin to tell you how many damn hours I spent playing Legends on N64 and later Legacy on PS2. Can't decide if I hate the Ice or Poison world more and Fuck you Chimera!

Blade Kitten 4.5

I
Love
This
Game
I suck at platforming but I don't care. I love everything about this game and I'm pissed that it sold badly because I need the next episode!
Kit is adorable, the game is adorable, it was fun as hell thought sometimes it made me cry and it took me forever to figure out how to fight the final boss but I did it and I finished the damn thing!

I could go on but that's enough.
I have plenty of high rated games too, and they're great. But that doesn't mean that anything scoring lower than a 7 is terrible or that reviewers are infallible.
Everyone has different tastes and my taste might suck but its mine and apparently they make shitty games just for people with bad taste like me.

I don't go tell you that what you play sucks whether I think it does or not, so, don't do that shit to me.
You wanna discuss and debate the good and bad points of a game, sure, no problem.
You wanna be a dick? move along.

This is gonna be all over the place

So, I don't have the brain power to write one coherent post about anything so, I'm just gonna blab about whatever for a bit.

Been playing mostly Vita lately, I really love that damn thing.

So lets see, I stepped away from Persona 4 for a bit, though I love t he hell out of that game. I'd seriously be hard pressed to say who my favorite character is, I love em all...except Rise, she fucking irks me with her cutesy slutty ways.

Tried the demo for Sumioni...its quite pretty but, I feel I need more hands. Way too much shit going on. move with the analog stick or d-pad, X to attack, slash the screen to draw ledges, press the little water symbol on the corner to turn the ink into water to then touch the screen and destroy projectiles, press L to switch to the magic screen and then slash the screen to then hit L again so that the ink becomes fire...Fuck that shit, I'm too damn awkward and spazzy to do all that. so, thinking I'm gonna have to pass on it.

Next I started Uncharted Fight for Fortune, if you've never heard of it, well not surprising. Its a card game. I ain't got no game! I seriously have ZERO strategy at shit like this yet I found myself really enjoying it and playing for a while. Probably play a little more today.

Because PS+ put SC Broken Destiny up free I decided, hey what the hell and downloaded it. Man I had forgotten what utter shit that game is. No actual story mode, just challenges which I suck at because I button mash or quick matches. Not to mention how absolutely hideous the game is. Even the original SC on XBL looks better. Its just one blurry pixelated mess. I actually thought maybe my screen was dirty at first, but no, the game is just fugly. Oh well, I could use the space, my memory card is almost full so, time to hit delete on that.

Also tried playing some AC Liberation. Its a pretty game and the action is good enough but...so far I can't discern any story whatsoever. I also have a big problem with the whole costume change mechanic. On one hand, its pretty cool, different outfits to get you into different places. On the other hand its an utter pain in the ass and feels likes its only there to pad out the game. Do something as the lady and my notoriety goes up, but unlike say AC 2 where I pay heralds and rip down posters to lower it I have to instead run around town shanking witnesses, but not as the lady cause there are ALWAYS witnesses around so I have to do it as the slave, then the slave notoriety goes up, so then I have to run around ripping down posters to lower that. Too much time running around lowering notoriety, not enough time actually forwarding the story, well if I could find a story. Also, I cannot stand the French and Spanish accents. I LOVE playing AC2 cause I love the Italian accents going on but...this game...a "Spanish" Captain was talking to a French Governor and I wanted to stab a pencil in my ears. Thickest Spanish accent I can think of is Antonio Banderas and his accent isn't a third as painful. I mean seriously we do NOT roll our damn Rs THAT hard.

what else...Oh yeah, I got Soul Hackers for DS, haven't played very much of it yet but so far I dig it. While aside from 3D its pretty much a direct port of the game it still looks pretty decent and I'm already interested in knowing wtf is going on with the story so yay. Hopefully I'll get to put a bit more time into that soon. Still haven't gotten back to Mirror of Fate either.

Played some Dynasty Warriors Next as well. I really love all that wholesome DW hack n slash. Just slaughtering a shitload of dudes with a damn fan or whatever. What I DO NOT like is the Duel mechanic on the Vita. So, every so often you run into an important officer and you have to engage in a rubbing match.
you slash the screen this way and that trying to land a hit or break their guard, you hold down a finger on the screen to block and when you beat them down enough you rub the screen furiously back and forth til you fill up the gauge and then lay the smackdown on their candy ass and...it seems there is no rhyme or reason as to what your character will do. Some times I just slash away til their dead, sometimes I can't catch a break and they just smack me 3 times in a row and I'm dead. There's no way to skip the duels or control them any other way beyond furious slashing on the touchscreen. It ruins a perfectly good game. To make matters worse if you play the campaign every so often you'll get a random ass duel challenge from another player and you can't opt out of that shit you have to do it. Really kills my buzz when I'm just trying to get my damn conquest on.
On that note I tried Warriors Orochi 3 finally this weekend, I had forgotten I had bought it a month or so ago. I didn't play much because I was getting bombarded with texts and shit from people (yeah the one day I decide to play a game I become popular. most of the time people don't even know I exist.) I have to say I did not like the bit I played and I love the shit out of the series. I've played 1 &2 both on Xbox and PSP. The whole 3 character switching hacky slashy goodness was there but the very first map I had to fight a Hydra...WHAT? Yeah well I got my ass beat down. Then they added that whole camp/hub thing from Strikeforce. You know the place to go to talk to your officers and to upgrade your weapon and such. I don't know, I'm just not feeling it. I quit right after I got to camp, but I'm sure i'll try again at some point.

I tried to play Assassin's Creed 2 some more but I didn't make much progress, its just too much fun running around finding treasures and doing assassination side missions to bother with the main story yet. I skip the races and shit though cause I fucking suck at them.

After finishing Bioshock I went on over to Gears Judgment just to try and knock that outta the way but...I hate that game so damn much. I just can't get over my dislike of...well everything about it. I don't know, I don't think I'm gonna be able to finish it.

I've also been attempting to get in a bit better shape by playing Dance Central 3. Ok, make fun of Kinect and DC all you want but that shit is FUN. Seriously fun. Its also exhausting, I'm half dead by the time i finish my playlist and damn if I'm not sure as hell the next day. Guess its working.

I'm sure there's a ton of other shit I was gonna say but I'm tired and old and I forget things. If it comes to me I'll post it later.