Author Archives: TheUser

Game-Boyz Reviews

I was asked recently to review iPhone games and hardware for Game-Boyz. It seems that the owner of Game-Boyz must have liked my GameFAQs reviews, because he contacted me at the e-mail address I use there. In exchange for writing reviews, I get to keep the software for free. For hardware, I’ve been informed that I can keep cheap hardware for free but not expensive items. I’m very excited about writing for Game-Boyz!
I think it’s important to note that I’m receiving the games for free. I’ll link to this post explaining the situation in future posts regarding the reviews.

Goop

Dear Internet,
Last night there was a power outage. When I started my computer today, my HDD was making bad clicking noises. I wanted to confirm that it was the HDD and not the DVD burner, so I hit eject on my drive. The DVD that was in there was covered in some kind of goop. It looked like honey but smelled like nothing. The computer itself doesn’t have anything on it. Still, it seems like something must have dripped into the drive, but I’m not sure how it made it into the drive without me noticing anything on the outside of the drive or on my case itself. Anyways, I removed my DVD drive for now, and then started the computer again.
Yep, the HDD is still making bad sounds.
Your friend,
Peter

Video Games, Robots, Soda and More

Last night I actually went to bed at 10 and got 10 hours of sleep. I don’t know what made me go to bed so early, but I had some interesting dreams.

 
First, I was in some video game in which the red team was playing against the green team. There was a score at the top, and the first team to reach a predetermined number of points would win. I don’t know how the score was on the “top” because I was in the game; there was no screen. Anyways, you got points for making kills, getting people to enlist in the military, and causing explosions (with cars, I think). There was also some way to get combo points if you cause an explosion correctly and then get someone to enlist.
First, I managed to get somebody to enlist. Then I continued walking. As I walked from town to town like in Pokemon, I came across a place with lots of videogame themed stuff. In the RA’s (yeah, I don’t know) window were Mario toys. Then I found the town’s video game archive. It was huge! I remember specifically seeing the entire Diablo series and Earthworm Jim, although I remember being impressed they they had every major release. After talking to the person who ran it, I found that I could sign up to play and borrow the games without living in the town. I was excited!
In my next dream, Robert, the older brother from Everybody Loves Raymond, was a robot. He was kind of dumb and incompetent, so the woman who owned him wanted to upgrade/fix him. This reminds me of Gir from Invader Zim. She upgraded him, and then he made her some tea. She was worried that he might be evil now, so she asked him to try it first. I guess robots can drink and be poisoned. He was standing on the opposite side of a pit. Both sides had large rails. He extended his robot arms across and took the cup of tea. Then the cup was absorbed into his arms. His arms retracted, and then the cup emerged. He drank it an was fine. Then it was discovered that the computer that reprogrammed him was evil. We needed to destroy it! Apparently it was a video game. I went with Robert to kill it. The fight was a light gun battle with the computer plugged into the tv. I had the Super Scope. Robert was worried that he didn’t have a light gun. After I told him to concentrate, his hand turned into an NES Zapper. Somehow the computer was able to shoot at us through the tv. Luckily, we defeated her. Robert and I were very excited! Also defeating the “boss” unlocked additional modes for Antonio. It was here that Robert turned into Antonio.
In another dream, I was with my dad at a convenience store attempting to buy soda and some sort of creme pie snacks. Outside of the dream I also want to buy both these things, so that must be why I was dreaming about it. I couldn’t find the snacks, and they didn’t have any of the sodas I wanted. I was looking for Cherry Dr. Pepper, Cherry Coke, Cherry Pepsi, Pepsi, Coke, or Dr. Pepper (my priority was cherry), but they didn’t have any.
In another dream I had two different Starbucks locations in my phone for some reason. There was also something about going back to a hotel/restaurant I had been at before because they remembered me. My mom thought this was a good idea. Then she wanted to know where I wanted to be dropped off, and I said that Carl’s Jr. would be fine.
Okay, that’s all I can remember now.

Secret Scarlet Monastery Room Dream

This morning I had a dream in which element of World of Warcraft existed in real life. I was exploring SM with gem when we discovered a secret door. It took us to a new part of the dungeon. It was a very large room with smaller rooms inside. The large was the size of a convention hall, and the smaller rooms were sort of like cubicles. It was really scary, but I’m not sure why. There were large doors/furnaces all around. There was some sort of creature that could possess the doors/furnaces and reach out from them. It could only possess one at a time, and it was looking for us. gem wanted to stay, but I was scared so I ran out and dragged her with me.
Later I had trouble looking for my car, and Antonio agreed to drive me to my car. We talked about the dungeon I found, and he said it was a secret dungeon and that I could have solo’d it.

Gaming Update

Wrath of the Lich King got so great! I did the Wrathgate event, which was wonderful. It was one of the best chains in the game. I then headed into Icecrown. I dinged 80 off of a level 12 quest that I turned in to Thrall! Lately I’ve been playing a lot of BGs, doing some arena, and running ToC. I’m almost done getting all my honor gear! I also joined the ChEeSeaNaTers!

 
On my iPhone I’m still playing Mafia Wars. It’s not really a game in which one can spend a lot of time. Activities in the game use points that regenerate in real time. It’s fun, and I enjoy checking it throughout the day even though there’s no real point.
I’ve also been playing Sol Free Solitaire. I had a game of the same name on the Palm. I wonder if it’s made by the same company. It has Baker’s Game (normal and easy), Klondike (draw three and one), Demon, and Spiderette. I’ve never played Demon or Spiderette, and they’re very interesting! I’m not very good at them yet. Sol Free Solitaire keeps track of lots of gameplay stats as well.
A Quest Of Knights Onrush is another very fun iPhone game. It’s a brawler (similar to Castle Crashers) and is based on Knights Onrush, an iPhone defend-the-castle-from-waves-of-attackers game. Sorry, I don’t know the name of that genre, but it seems to be a popular type of Flash game. Anyways, while I already compared it to Castle Crashers, it’s a little different because there isn’t an ending to reach. The point of the game is just to see how far you can get as enemies get stronger. It’s really fun! I should add that all of these iPhone games are free.
I’m still working on inFamous. Getting through the story is difficult because I’m drawn to all the side missions! I wanted to beat it before Uncharted 2 released, but I didn’t make it. I’m looking forward to that, but haven’t played it yet.
Someone on SelectButton wanted to do an SB Game Club of one of the games in the Donkey Kong Country series. I starte the first one, but it seems people weren’t really interested. Some people wanted to do Donkey Kong ’94, which I also had, but nothing became of that.
Lastly, I’ve played Harvest Moon DS a little bit. It’s fun, but I’ve effectively stopped playing.

UCI Zombie Invasion 2009



UCI Zombie Invasion 2009, originally uploaded by theuser.

Today a horde of zomies attacked UCI! There were about 15 people in the
group, with 5 or so in zombie make-up. They came up the stairs at the
front of the school and lumbered to the Langson Library. They walked
in, crowded around the elevator, and began to bang on the doors. When
it opened, they yelled, "brains!" and began to push into the elevator.
Two girls ran out, laughing but obviously a bit startled. I heard them
mumbling "what the hell are they doing" and similar things, but then
they said "let’s stay and watch." The zombies waited for another
elevator to come for a couple minutes before one yelled "stairs!" Then
they all began yelling "stairs… stairs?" It was obvious they didn’t
know where the stairs were. One yelled "stairs!" and pointed, and then
they lumbered towards the stairwell. I had to leave to go to class at
that point, but I heard startled yells coming from the stairwell as I
left.
The organizers want to make this a yearly tradition. I hope they do!