The Streetcar Chronicles

The other day, I decided to sell the video games that I no longer play on Craigslist. I could take the games in to a retailer like EB Games or Best Buy, but they take a crazy amount of money from the sale/trade. With Craigslist, I could set my own price and cut out the middle man as it were. Craigslist had come in handy before, I got rid of my apartment; Franz tickets I couldn’t use and we’ve picked up some furniture on there too. It was as good a place as any to start out

I decided to post Heavenly Sword first to see if there was any interest. I tried several times to play the game, but just couldn’t get into it. The graphics were pretty sweet but the actual game play and the controls were brutal. The fighting sequences were long and drawn out and always involved the same moves. I know the game was widely publicized and acclaimed by gamers, but I didn’t find it to be very much fun.

I should mention that before posting the ad, I ran it by S. I felt a bit bad about selling the games since she had bought most of of them for me. She said she was okay with it since I don’t ever play with them, it didn’t really make sense to keep them collecting dust.

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I was on Amazon the other day looking for something, I don’t remember what, when I noticed the pre-order option for the new Uncharted video game, Among Thieves. The screen shots from the game looked pretty sweet so I started hopping from site to site looking for more information.

I knew the game was going to be released this month, but I hadn’t paid much attention as I knew I’d just rent it or wait for the price to be lowered before buying it. Then I saw this:

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I’ve never liked the X-Box. I’ve always thought the graphics were sub-par in comparison to the PlayStation consoles and the controllers just seemed a bit ridiculous. Then there’s also the fact that Microsoft charges gamers an additional fee per month for in additon to their regular internet fees. (Sony doesn’t charge for access to the PS3 network. )

An article over on Queerty today gave me more reasons why I will never purchase an X-box. It turns out identifying yourself as a lesbian in your gamer profile on X-box Live is enough to get your account suspended by Microsoft because it’s deemed offensive.

Microsoft has no problem letting underage kids play games like Call of Duty, Halo 3, Grand Theft Auto or Resident Evil. All games that are extremely violent and graphically explicit. Brains and blood splattering across the screen are perfectly acceptable. Allowing users to identify as lesbian or have the word gay in usernames is entirely too offensive.

I can understand if these folks were being harassed by other gamers. Cyber-bullying is commonplace when playing and interacting online. What else can you expect from a bunch of 16 year old boys spending eighteen hours a day playing games? Having Microsoft condone sexually explicit games and interaction on their network but ban people who’s profiles and usernames appear too sexual is hypocrosy at its finest.

I’m going to go hug my PS3 now.

I long for spring. This has nothing to do with the fact that it’s snowing outside right now. Or that I’ll have to shovel the accumulation of tonight’s snowfall tomorrow morning.

My longing for spring can be summed up in one word: Kratos. Who the frickin’ frack is Kratos? He’s none other than the God of War.

I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I’m a geek. Computer software, hardware, cell phones, PDA’s, MP3 players, all pique my interest. I’m also quite fond of video games. I started playing them way back when my brother bought his first console, a Sega. I’m not talking about the Sega Genesis – this was before that – this was the SEGA MASTER System.  Sounds mighty, don’t it? It came pre-installed with a motorcycle racing game that would make me dizzy and a ‘hidden’ maze game you could only get by punching the keys on the controls in a certain sequence.

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