I’ve been on posting hiatus because work is gearing up for the end of the quarter. It’s been slightly crazy at the office, and free time is at a minimum at home too.
But just a quick update, I did pick up the iPhone 3GS on launch day. Or rather, it was delivered to my house in an unmarked brown box by FedEx. AT&T did not have their shit together regarding communication, which is strange because they’re a telecommuncations company. I was told the phone would ship Wednesday and arrive Friday, but I hadn’t received notification of shipment until Thursday. Even then, I didn’t get a tracking number until Friday, so imagine how insane I was clicking the refresh button for nearly 18 straight hours. The phone was only a hardware upgrade for me, since I had the 1st Gen iPhone, but I was very eager to put hands on it.
So far it’s been great. Obviously the OS is nothing new to me, but the speed they talked about at WWDC really does work. Pages load faster (obviously because I’m now on 3G too), apps load up WAY faster (Peggle took 15 seconds with the 2G iPhone and right at 5 seconds on the 3GS), and all the new bells and whistles are great. It was a $200 upgrade for me since I grabbed the 16GB phone. No need for 32 GB here, since I use my iPod in my car and don’t listen to music anywhere else. I unlocked my 2G phone and now my wife is “testing” it to see if she wants to use it on her T-Mobile network. She needs to buy a data plan to take advantage of the major features, but right now it’s her new toy.
On a gaming note, I’ve been tearing through my unplayed games list, and I’m now down to 2 or 3 out of the 8 or 9 I had a couple of months ago. Viking is very repetitive, but entertaining in chunks. Tomb Raider: Underworld was actually really fun, if not slightly frustrating at times. Far Cry 2 was terrible — the difficulty is so impossible on Normal, and I couldn’t finish the first real mission outside of the training section. Prey was interesting, but not stellar. Condemned 2 gave me quite a few scares, and was definitely worth the $10.
I started PGR4 last night, and I was a little rattled at first because I was constantly using the handbrake to turn. I thought it was all about the Kudos, but it looks like there’s a little more skill involved in this game and actually requires using the footbrake to win. I’m no racing games connoisseur, but in my experience the handbrake is how you win. Or maybe I just need to stick to action/adventure games. I’m having fun with it anyway.
So now on my “need to play” list is Crackdown and The Club. I also have a few unfinished games that I’ve had for nearly a year — Dead Rising, Assassin’s Creed (way way repetitive), Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Prince of Persia. I know I have a couple others, some of which I may never play again (Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom).
My list hasn’t grown though, since I haven’t bought a game in a long time. I always keep my eye out for bargains and discounts, because $60 a game adds up very quickly — like on the second game.
Anyway there’s a quick update. I’m working on a couple of other things too, I may be freelancing for a startup game blog in the near future, so definitely looking forward to that!
