PlayStation Notwork

Pardon the incredibly lame pun.

I am rather annoyed at the whole situation, annoyed at both sides of this ridiculous battle and the consumers who just wanted to enjoy their copies of some big titles that saw release. I bought Portal 2 after a rather hefty price slash across several retailers across the board, including Amazon; the same with the new Mortal Kombat (I ordered the Xbox 360 version). Hell, this should have been the time for SOCOM 4 to bring down the PlayStation Network servers, not a bunch of hackers who have it in their heads that they’re doing something right in the name of one of their own. When that affects consumers who wanted nothing to do with this argument, and can’t get the full service that they paid for with their console, all that goes out the window.

Of course, Sony has fumbled around, running like chickens with their heads cut off and not keeping anybody updated right away. I’m addressing this now as there is now rumor of yet another attack. Honestly, as an Xbox 360 owner the Sony issue didn’t affect me too much. I am in the camp that extensively purchases the Xbox 360 version of games with a co-op or competitive mode, but the whole Steam connect is what drew me to the PS3 copy of Portal 2. Now that I am technically now affected by this outage, the attacks, the nonsense on both sides, I just want to yell for everyone to get their act together. I have little sympathy for Sony, to be honest, but the hackers acted as if their actions weren’t going to have consequences in the end and negates their cries of “We never meant to hurt the users.” Yeah. Great ball-handling there and astuteness of seeing the big picture, you idiots.

Ridiculous. All of it.

Pokémon: Black Version — Stop the madness now.

I debated, honestly, whether or not to even write about my experiences with Pokémon Black. It is the newest installment in the franchise, and I am playing it never having finished last year’s installment SoulSilver. Part of why I am even able to talk about Black is that this is honestly the only game I am playing at the moment, while everyone else enjoys their copies of Mortal Kombat and Portal 2. Truthfully, I am not even here to discuss the game in full. I have invested an estimated 35 non-consecutive hours to this game, capturing close to 70 Pokémon species, training six of them like mad, and fighting for seven of the eight gym badges that I need to take on the elite trainers in the next phase of this journey.

I am enjoying the game far more than I expected. Although, in its core, it feels like yet another coat of paint, I applaud the developers’ attempts to make the game’s world feel lively. From my own experiences and memories, most towns were small suburbs and quiet villages. Here they are bustling, busy cities, fast-moving villages, each with their own theme and motif (Icirrus City, home to the gym leader specializing in ice type Pokémon, is practically a Christmas village without Santa Claus). The season changes are an interesting addition, although I’m not sure I want to experience a virtual winter in this April humidity and rain. The design feels straightforward this time. Maybe I finally have the right team this time. I actually really like every single Pokémon I’ve used in my party, and they’re all equally trained, but if it weren’t for the Lucky Egg and Experience Share items, I would probably have found the process a bit grueling as grinding in RPGs tends to be. I love unlocking new moves, watching their evolution processes, and whatever else helps my party feel stronger.

The journey of a lifetime.

Despite how much I am enjoying Pokémon Black, however:

- Fuck you, Elesa, and your Emolga that spams Double Team and Volt Switch.
-I still hate any move that makes my Pokémon confused. I know I’ll end up hitting myself during battles 90% of the time, but should I use the move, all opponents snap out of it in a turn of two.
-Horn Drill. Fuck that shit.
-The encounter rate is through the roof. Literally one step after a battle, you will enter a new battle in the wild. I’ve spent so much money on Super Repels, it’s ridiculous.
-Your character’s buddies/rivals. Bianca and Cheren? Most annoying characters in a videogame since Herbert Moon from Red Dead Redemption.

So far, so good.