The Very Late VGA Trailer Breakdown

From time to time, I very much enjoy nerding out. Unlike the Hulk I don't have to get angry, but instead my interest must be piqued. So from time to time when this happens, I'm going to bring the nerd. Enjoy.

Couple weeks back, The Video Game Awards on Spike occurred, for lack of a better word, and though the show has been ripped on in the past, the trailers that emerged this year have brought much joy to gamers throughout the world. Or America. Anyway here are a couple of thoughts on some of the trailers.

Halo: Reach. Being a HUGE Halo fan - I've got the games, and the books. Yeah I'm hardcore. - The Reach trailer was much anticipated. It did not disappoint. The score, highlighted on Bungie.net, was excellent, and that little taste the in-game cinema gave left me wanting, neigh, needing more. Since I purchased Halo 3: ODST, I have my key to the Reach beta all ready and waiting when it drops this spring, but even the small glimpses of these new characters has whetted my appetite enough to know that whenever this game comes out, I will be getting it.

Batman: Arkham Asylum 2. Now, anyone that knows me, knows I love comic books, and those who know me well know I prefer DC over Marvel. So when Arkham Asylum 1 came out this fall, and it didn't suck like every game prior, I purchased it and I was not disappointed. The first game was stunning with the free flow combat, and excellent storyline and use of Batman's Rogues' Gallery. This new look at a post-first game Joker, and the Asylum in the heart of the City of Gotham, filled with mayhem and the possibility of sandbox-esque game play has left me with another 60 dollars owed to the proprietor of a video game dispensing outlet.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. I borrowed and played the first game almost a year ago, and being a huge Star Wars geek, was certainly satisfied with the game. The DLC that has come out since has almost convinced me into buying the Ultimate Sith edition, with all of it being included. It had new characters that captured my imagination, and reeled me into a new realm of the Star Wars Universe. That being said, with the end of the last game I thought my ride was over. With this trailer emerging, I am right back on board. How they'll link it to the last game? I don't know. But I'm sure the people working for George Lucas will figure it out. With no gameplay to faun over, I can only say that the idea of another Force Unleashed game has certainly sparked my imagination on where they will go, when it will happen and all sorts of other possibilities. Buy this, I will.

Tron: Evolution. Oh, Tron. Your 80's awesomeness still affects me to this day. With your new movie coming out I am certainly interested in this new story you're pursuing, but nonetheless I know how your games have done in the past (e.g. epic failure). So, yes, while your trailer is shiny and clean, I'll wait till I hear some more about the story and gameplay till I say yay or ney on this purchase.

Mass Effect 2. Another game I borrowed and played the original, but this trailer clearly has a little more of its story fleshed out. The cinematic trailer in full (as opposed to the first 3/4 shown at the VGA's) is a beautiful creation, and if I could buy tickets, and watch a movie filled with that kind of cinematic brilliance, I would have already pre-ordered them on Fandango. This game is clearly going to be epic storywise, and with the addition of new characters and worlds, and bringing in the decisions made from the first game (if you played it) this is definitely a must buy.

The few other trailers there were, were not enough to merit any paragraph writing, either because I haven't played the games prior, and thus feel unqualified to write upon them, or because they sucked. I'll bet you can figure it out if you take a look. This link here has most of the trailers mentioned above, with the others not mentioned above, but a simple Google search should be enough to find them on your own.

So thanks for indulging me nerding out for a bit, I'll be back to nonsensical amusement next time, I assure you! Bye!

End of Semester Wrap Up: Numero Uno

Now, I have no idea if there will indeed be a sequel to this post come spring, but I figure, Why not? Anywho, The Fall Semester at the Good Ole University of Massachusetts has come to an end. And what a semester it was. Filled with break ups, new relationships, new friends and new classes. Nice and corny right? Well with that out of the way, let me just say this; It was bitchin'.

One of the things I am most proud of is the success of my master plan to get through this semester without books. (Read here.) I haven't gotten all my grades yet, but for the most part I'm thinking I did pretty well. I'll update with that later. Breakdown!

• Food Science: Plan of just getting info from the slides in class worked pretty well. Anything I didn't learn in there was covered in my discussion section. Nothing in the packet would have helped that much, plus not having the packet was a great way to make sure I went to class, which was definitely a bonus. Besides being a bit dull, and sometimes a little gross at times, not too bad of a class.
  
• Greek Myth: That class was awesome. Hands down, best class I've ever taken. Dr. Tuck was a boss, and knew everything I could ever think to ask. I don't know what else to say, I mean I wanted to go to that class every day, and when I couldn't I made sure that I got notes, or worked hard to catch up. Didn't need the book once. I love Greek Mythology, I loved that class, and after I finished the final, I shook Doc Tuck's hand and said a hearty Thank You. Guy said thanks for taking the class, and I took off into the sunset. Okay, not really, but still. Fairytale ending.
• Anthro: Class still straight up sucked. Ended up getting an 86 on the final though which, I can assure you, nearly made me fall off of my chair. The lecture was hardly worth going to, seeing as most of the time I read a book, or did a crossword puzzle in the newspaper, and all the slides containing the minimal information presented ended up online. Only way I ended up doing well was going through the study guide (which was almost as long as the notes I had for the test) and filling in all the information from my words, and from the 20 some odd pages I photocopied out of the book. Seeing as I only needed the words out of the end of the chapters, I copied all of those, along with the review of the chapters, then copied the glossary out of the back of the book. Problem solved. 75 dollar book, meet 3 dollars worth of photocopies. Take that.
• Legal Studies + Honors Seminar: The rules ended up being: Honors Students take 1 of the 2 tests, write 1 of the 2 essays regular length, the other 2 pages longer, skip the final test all together and add 2 pages to the final essay as well. Got a 96 on the 1 test, wrote 1 3 page paper, 2 5 page papers, and showed up. That's it. As class was right before the seminar, I could just pay attention on what I was supposed to read that class, and talk about what we talked about in class after. Easy enough. Don't get me wrong, really interesting class with some cool insights on the Law, but for the most part, the readings were pretty long, we talked about it in class anyway, he gives you the questions for the quizes before the actual quizes, and I didn't want to buy the book. Whenever I needed the book for an essay, I just borrowed it from a friend, or if I had to, the library. (I didn't have to.)
• Astronomy: Not much to say. We just kinda sat there all semester. He talked. Other older kids asked really stupid questions, and every once and a while we went outside. Then we had a quiz on the entire semester at the end which acted as a final. It was 5 fill in the blanks, 8 multiple choice, 2 label the pictures, and 5 short answer.... Yeah. Not bad, but arguably not worth the effort to walk across campus every Tuesday night.

So that's the breakdown. 5 classes, 0 books. Go me right? I'll update this later with grades and stuff so you can weigh how I really did, but for the most part, I'm chalking this one up as a win here team. I urge you to follow in my footsteps, put the money you would spend on textbooks for something more useful, like food and video games. Send schools a message to lower their prices. Study hard, Party harder. Wait. Scratch that, reverse it. Thank you.

I'll update one of these days with my thoughts on some of those sweet, sweet trailers that came out at the VGA's right before finals kicked off, but until then, Merry Christmahanakwanzika and to all a good night.

Update: Got my grades (well most of them) so here's the breakdown for you to decide whether buying books or not is worth it.

Food Science: A-
Legal Studies + Honors Seminar: A
Greek Mythology: A
Anthro: B-
Astronomy: Still Unknown

Looks pretty damn good to me, but hey, you be the judge.