Assassin's Creed II

WOW. Great game so far. Massive, epic in scope. Lots to do. Controls very nicely. Addictive as all get-out. Terrific graphics, audio, voice acting and music. First rate all the way.

My Game Of The Year award is going to to be a heck of a decision. I have at least 5 worthy candidates as of right now. And that doesn't include Modern Warfare 2 and Left 4 Dead 2, neither of which I plan on getting.

Zach is on the road!

My son Zach passed his driving test this week and is on the road. It took a while - he's already 18 now - but all is well that ends well. He aced the test with a score of 91. I was as nervous as an expectant father while he was out there on the road.

That night he got to go out with a friend for some ice cream and go to work to pick up his check. Barb and I are very proud of Zach and the future is looking very bright for our oldest child.

Way to go, Zach!

Gaming stuff

-Picked up Assassin's Creed 2 today and played it for about an hour. Seems very cool so far. I am a bit confused by the interface once the game is paused; I'll have to read the manual more closely. But the game play so far has been enjoyable. I never got very far into the first one, but I hear this one is much better.

-Downloaded the Sgt. Pepper album for Beatles: Rock Band. I haven't had a chance to play it yet but I am looking forward to checking out some of the songs, especially A Day In The Life.

-Still enjoying NHL 10's GM mode. And looking forward to getting back into Borderlands at some point soon.

Random stuff

-Finally got to go out and celebrate Barb's being finished with school. Had dinner tonight with Barb and a friend from nursing school and her sweetie. Had a nice time visiting with them and you could tell what a relief it is for classes to be over. Now they are trying to get through their 16 12-hour shifts at the hospital and then it's off to the real world.

-Happy Birthday to good friend Dave Roland! Hope you a really good one and many, many more to come, buddy!

-Michigan lost again today in what has become another lost season for the Wolverines. Ugh. But it's not all bad because Notre Dame lost again and even more calls will be coming for Charlie Weis's head. "Decided schematic advantage" my ass. It just doesn't pay to be an arrogant prick, Charlie.

-Gaming news:

• Been playing a bit of FIFA 10, which is improved over last year's version but still needs some work. Fun game though and worth checking out.
• Still working on my 2nd play through of Borderlands which is just ridiculously fun and addictive.
  
• Still have not gone back to Dragon Age: Origins. Something just didn't click with me for that game. I will try picking it back up when I have a gaming lull.
• Started a GM Mode career in NHL 10. I had been playing exclusively with the Be A Pro mode, which is great fun, but I thought I'd try running a team. So far my Blues are 2-1-2 and it has been a great struggle in each game, each one a nail biter.
• The big game release this week was Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which I am not going to pick up. The first one was a great game, but just not something that kept me coming back for more, since it is really multiplayer centric. I hear that the sequel's single player campaign is even shorter. I am not much of a multiplayer gamer, so I will pass on this title. That will have to be taken into account when I do my end of the year awards.
• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band will be released this coming week for The Beatles: Rock Band. Needless to say, I am in.
• Assassin's Creed 2 comes out this week and I will more than likely be picking it up. The first one was neat but I didn't get very far into it. The sequel is supposed to be better in every way, so if the reviews are good I may pick it up.
  

Barb's last day of school!

Barb finishes up school tomorrow with 2 finals. Then it is onto her rotation of night shifts for a few weeks and then it is OVER. I can't tell you how proud I am of her and how excited we both are for her to be finishing up. She has done a tremendous job all the way around.

Congrats, Sweetie! I love you!

Quick thoughts on Dragon Age: Origins

-Massive game. Massive, massive massive.

-Why the hell does a game like this, which has so much to learn and looks quite complicated, not come with an in-game tutorial for the first hour or so? Unbelievable.

-As a lot of people have said, the graphics are pretty underwhelming. But the voice acting is terrific, as is the music.

-The story so far is good, the are characters even better. As usual in RPGs, leveling up and deciding what skills/talents to choose next is half the fun.

It's been fun so far and I haven't even dug into the more complex stuff like combat tactics. I did get the strategy guide today (on sale from Amazon.com) so that should help quite a bit. After playing Borderlands so much, the combat is a bit underwhelming but that is because this game is a completely different animal; it relies more on strategy and the RPG aspects of each character. I am sure once I get more into the game the combat will became awesome in it's own unique way.

News & Notes

-Barb has a killer sore throat. While we're glad she was feeling okay during hell week, this one is pretty nasty and we just want it to go away. There is so much stuff going around these days. It seems like at least one person in the family is always sick. I wish I could do more to help her but it's pretty much got to run it's course.

-Barb starts her series of nights tomorrow evening. Being sick isn't going to help that. Luckily my schedule works out for the next few weeks where it won't be a problem to be home with the kids at night. We caught a break there, though it would have been a lot easier had Barb been assigned days. It's kind of aggravating because she is one of the few people in her class that is married and has kids and yet she was assigned nights. You'd think they would try to make it easy on someone with a family to think about. But you'd be wrong!

-I finished Borderlands a couple of nights ago and I immediately started a 2nd playthrough with my character. The game is that good and that addictive. It is definitely gonna be in the running for my Game Of The Year award.

-Another huge game comes out tomorrow, Dragon Age: Origins. It is a massive RPG and the first of what is planned to be a trilogy. It will take a looong time to play to completion. That should keep me busy for a long while, which is a good thing. I still have yet to open FIFA 10 and I still have IL-2 Sturmovik to wrap up. I think I am gonna be trading some games in soon. They are really starting to accumulate and I like to get them traded in while they still have some decent value.

That's all for now. Work in the morning. School in the morning for Barb, then a quick nap and then work overnight for her. Poor thing!