Thursday, October 30, 2008

Update #2



The great news: I've finally gotten a handle on my Computability class. It took a new book from the library and a few hours reviewing an old proof, but I think I understand whats going on at a deeper level.

The good news: Halloween is tomorrow. I'll be going to the parade with Alicia, but we didn't manage to figure out a costume. We've been thinking about it since September, but nothing came to fruition.

The bad news: Guitar Hero: World Tour isn't great. GH:WT is the newest Guitar Hero game, and it expands the game to include drums and vocals. I was really upset with Guitar Hero 3, so I rented GH:WT. While things have improved significantly, the game still gets tedious. By that, I mean:
  • It seems the makers make music harder than it should be.
  • There are some bad choices of music included in the game. Songs like "Beat It" by Michael Jackson are fun, but not good for a music game (the notes just repeat over and over... it gets boring).
  • There's in game advertising. Nothing upsets me more than when I see a billboard for AT&T Wireless in my video game. It's distracting, and it makes me wonder why they still charge full price. I know it is inevitable that advertising will creep into video games, but I don't have to like it.
  • The characters are butt-ugly.
  • Alicia says the singing is bad. She's an excellent singer (She's about as good as it gets on Rock Band), but Guitar Hero: World Tour says she is failing on songs she knows. What this tells me is they didn't perfect the singing part of the game.
  • The loading and saving still sucks. After each set list, saving takes what seems like more than a full minute.

What I've thought about: Internet radio. I've always listened to Minnesota Public Radio over the internet, and I've always enjoyed it, even here in New York. But now Alicia is working at a computer for 8 hours a day, so she's using internet radio, too. She says New York Public Radio is good as well. So now I feel obligated to try it out.

What I've enjoyed: Cost Co. I found out there is a Cost Co. in Brooklyn, so I made my way there (I have to take a subway, walk two blocks, take a second subway, walk two more blocks). It was initially worried that it wouldn't be worth my $50 for membership. My worries were eradicated when I saw the food section. Holy cow. SUCH GOOD FOOD! Meat and vegetables are much nicer than my neighborhood grocery stores. I can buy great frozen food that is much cheaper than eating out. I think I'll be saving a ton of money now.

2 comments:

Nicole said...

I can't remember if we've discussed this or not, but on the topic of internet radio -- have you tried pandora.com? You type in the musician/band or song you like and it plays an endless stream of similar music. I'm in love with it. Yes, love.

Two weeks from tonight I'll be rocking NYC! Fall break, wooooo!

Brian said...

I haven't actually. I've been a big Live365 fan, and recently Last.fm.

I also just use MPR's internet stream through iTunes.

I checked out Pandora, but it wanted me to register. I wasn't happy, so I haven't been back yet. I'm probably just cranky!