Vista – I’m so glad the bitch is gone…

Well, was finally able to get Vista fully removed from my machine.

Decided to install Kubuntu 6.0.6. Amazingly, it didn’t fry the MBR during installation, but something else odd happened (Although, I now know why.)  For this particular attempt, I decided to install Linux over the top of the Vista install. After installing Kubuntu and rebooting, I was presented with the Linux bootloader (don’t recall whether it was LILO or GRUB, but it doesn’t matter.) So, I boot into Linux to make sure everything is working correctly.  After getting the networking set up, I reboot to check that XP works.

Here’s hoping that Street Fighter II sucks…er, doesn’t suck. Yeah, that’s it!

Okay – I had previously posted a rather snide comment about how I hoped that Street Fighter II for the 360 would fail miserably.  After rethinking my position, I don’t hope that it sucks afterall. 

Will I buy it?  Hell no. Do I think people are f*cking insane for being so excited for this game? Definitely.

After much consideration, there IS one good thing about SFII finally being released…

At least there will be one less thing for these people to bitch about in public forums.

Linux is pissing me off…

Well, attempted to reinstall Linux today, and guess what?  It fucked my MBR again(!) so now WinXP won’t boot anymore.  :::sigh::: And Linux supporters wonder why the masses won’t use it?  Could it be because of occurances like this?

Actually, it’s probably not Linux’s fault in this case.  It was working once before, but now, it refuses to correctly write the MBR.  If anyone has suggestions (real, legitimate suggestions, not smartassed comments,) please comment.

More Ranting… (Sorry, folks!)

Finally got to a quitting point in Oblivion.  179 hours, less than 10 miscelaneous quests left in the entire players guide list.  Completed “The Collector” and “Seeking Your Roots” too.  I can honestly say, I’m bored with the game. Probably won’t put it back into the console until either a.) a significant expansion comes out for it or b.) some hella-cool DLC from XBLMarketplace.

Was thinking back to the pre-launch hype of the 360 and how many of the honchos at Microsoft when on and on about “the best launch lineup of games ever” (or something to that effect.)  Let’s review, shall we?

1.) Perfect Dark Zero. It’s neither “perfect” nor “dark.” Guess what that leaves?  The single player sucks ass.  Although, getting the special edition for free at Gamestop makes it worth having, if only for the multiplayer.

2.) Kameo.  Not bad.  Pretty, but nothing to write home about gameplay-wise.  Solid, but not spectacular.

3.) Call of Duty 2.  The game rocks but it’s way too short.  Even on the harder difficulties, the list of objectives isn’t impressive.  Increasing the difficulty only increases the amount of times you die, and the length of time you have to hide behind cover while your comrades take out all (or at least a sizeable portion) of your enemies.  Finished the game on “normal” in a day.  Luckily, I don’t mind replaying this one.

4.) Quake 4.  Mediocre at best.  Typical iD game.  Shoot, run through the next door, shoot, run, shoot, run.  No real puzzles to speak of.  My opinion of this game can be summed up in a paraphrase from Jerry McGuire. “I like it for the game it wants to be, and for the game it ALMOST is.” Nothing special, but I’ve played through most of it.  When I feel the need to die in the same spot incessantly, I’ll fire it up again.

5.) Project Gotham Racing 3. A very solid game.  Pretty and fun, with a large amount of gameplay.  Too bad I suck at it, lol.

6.) NFS: Most Wanted.  I sure hope the full version was better than the demo.  I played the demo for all of 2 minutes before deleting it from the hard drive.  :::yawn:::

7.) NBA Live 06: See number 6.

Regardless, I don’t regret my 360 purchase. I’ve gotten tons of enjoyment from Oblivion, Burnout Revenge, CoD2, and PGR.  I’m digging on Uno, though frustrated as hell with Geometry Wars… Jesus, when did Asteroids become so freaking hard?

R

People piss me off…

::: begin rant ::: 

So, there's a blog done by a guy named Major Nelson who happens to be on the XBox Live team over at Microsoft.  In his spare time, he posts messages about when additional content is available over at XBL, or when new games are released, or when game updates are available, etc.  He also does a weekly podcast where he mentions the items above as well as interviews game designers, members of other XBox 360 teams, etc…  He does all of this in his spare time, for free.  Guess what the majority of the little bastards who read/listen to his blog do?  That's right, they bitch and moan about everything…  So, here's my top 5 list of most annoying traits/behaviors exhibited by people on internet message boards:

 5. People who post about different subjects in a specific thread.  Case in point: Some bugger posts a "Hey, if you want to play COD2 or GRAW online, send me a message or something. I won't be here from 9 to 5, because I'm at camp" message in a thread about an update to Oblivion. Damn, do they teach reading at that camp of yours, or are you riding one of those short yellow buses to get there? 

4. People who post the same damn thing as 15 other people in the thread.  Example: There are dozens of posts in the abovementioned thread about Oblivion who said something to the effect of, "Hey – the link you posted that tells about what's covered in the update is for the PC, not the 360." In this case, number 5 also applies to these losers, since the link they're saying is wrong actually says "for PC and XBox 360." Do us all a favor, and take the time to read, Skippy.

3. People who ask questions that the moderator has already said he can't answer. "When is Street Fighter coming out?" Well, dumbass, since the last time he mentioned a release date for a product and got ripped by the community when the release date slipped, he said he wasn't going to give out that kind of information again.  Thanks for nothing, you pathetic little ingrate.  Because of you and your whining, the rest of us are being punished. 

2. People who bitch about backwards compatibility.  I didn't buy a 360  to play original XBox games, I bought it to play XBox 360 games.  Any backwards compatibility you get is a bonus.  Get over it.  Hook your XBox up to your gaming rig, or get rid of those games. Shut the hell up.

1. People who mis-read (gee, we're back to the concept of "reading" again!) a quote and then go to an internet site and spout a bunch of bullshit. Example: At E3 2005, Microsoft said something to the effect of, "our goal is to have 100% of original XBox titles be backwards compatible." What did the whiny bastards hear? "100% of original XBox titles WILL be backwards compatible.  Now, there are some at MS who are saying that back-compat will soon come to an end.  Although, there are others at MS, (the back-compat team, specifically,) that say it's business as usual. Again, if you want to play original XBox games, plug your original XBox back in. Wait, you sold it when you bought your 360? ::: snicker :::  Sucks to be you. When you buy first gen of a new product, don't ditch what it's replacing until you're sure everything's cool. Let this be a lesson learned.

It's a wonder that people like Major Nelson, or any other enthusiast for that matter, bother to take the time to keep a blog or do a podcast when so many people are unappreciative. The thing that irks me the most, is that most of these snot-nosed bastards think they're ENTITLED to the info or that Blogger (insert name here) owes them everything they want. 

To those of you who selflessly give of your time and effort to make the 'net community better, thanks.  To those of you who bitch and moan and berate the ones who contribute, go to hell.

::: end rant :::