More Wii'ing (you probably had to be there)
So I brought my Wii around with me this weekend.
I showed Jenn's Dad (who creamed us at bowling)
And my Dad and Mom (who also creamed us at bowling)
It was really funny when my Dad got to serve in Tennis for the first time.
To start I have to explain that to play tennis, you just use the wiimote, want to serve, make it as if your throwing the wiimote in the air, want to hit the ball, use the wiimote like a racket, simple intuitive, and fun.
So not only was he slamming serves that my mom didn't have enough time to react to (the wiimote can determine acceleration/speed) , but his first serve, he was so into the game that he was taking his left hand, and trying to throw the ball up into the air (no wiimote in that hand)...
So he tried it once, (the guy on the screen didn't do anything)
Ok, better try that again... (still nothing)
At this point my brother Mark (who was watching Dad and not the screen like the rest of us) breaks out laughing, telling us what Dad was doing... Hilarious.
--Correction, Jenn tells me my Dad only did it once, but I think he swung the racket after tossing the imaginary ball up--
by request - Zelda - Twilight Princess Review
Preface,
I really enjoy RPG's, and adventure games like Zelda, I have played the first 3 or 4 Zelda games, I have not played Majoras Mask, but recently finished Windwaker after borrowing it from James.
So at this point I am about 10 hours ish into Zelda.
I am not really sure how far into the game I have progressed, but if I had to guess, I think I am less than 25% complete, I like to search around every nook and cranny to get 100% completion in games this can slow me down quite a bit. Usually I make up for it by putting crazy hours into a game, but with the DS hogging 1/2 my gaming attention this has not been the case so far.
On a side note, New Super Mario Bros on DS... awesome.
Brain age (Also DS) is edumacationalistic, I got my brain to age 20 last night, YEA!
Back to the review, I am really enjoying the game so far, I was amazed by the graphics, this is the most realistic Zelda I have seen, while Windwaker went for a more cartoony look and feel, Twilight Princess went for a much more realistic look and feel. It is well done, but naturally not really comparable to any of the high def games put out for Xbox 360 or PS3. Personally though, I prefer a cartoony look and feel in a game.
I have not really become caught up in the story like I did with windwaker, again I blame the DS for this, I would be much more into the game without it.
Controls,
Moving around is done with the numchucks analog stick, very easy, becomes second nature right away.
Swinging the sword is done by slashing with the wiimote, doesn't matter how you move the wiimote around Link is doing the same swipe regardless of how you do yours, it does not follow your movement.
Spinning sword to attack 360 degrees is done by shaking the numchuck, again same move for any shaking.
Shooting with the slingshot / boomerang, makes a much better use of the new controls. use the pointer, point at the screen, and move the cursor where you want to shoot, then press the B button (bottom on wiimote). Or you can skip the new way, and use Z locking (press Z to lock onto a target), much more fun to use the pointer though.
There is a neat fishing part of the game, but it seems like it was just thrown in because the controller can make it cool, it doesn't (hasn't yet) really been necessary for the game.
There are a few more controls I am going to skip, they are all pretty intuitive.
- SPOILER WARNING -
Storyline so far. (for some reason I want to type this)
You start out getting a basic, "learn your controls" tasks, with some storyline mixed in.
Your in a very small town, you don't seem to have any parents around, you have your own house, the town wants you to go to Herule (sp?) to deliver something. yada yada.
The first tasks are
go run up and find your horse.
go take the horse through town,
herd some goats,
jump some fences.
Talk to people around town, perform menial tasks.
So far the game has been very linear, you can't go flying around the whole world in search of Heart containers, but the beginning of windwaker was the same, so I might not be at that point yet. I like skipping the main tasks to go do other side quests. So far there have been no side quests to note.
About 4-5 hours in you get kidnapped along with the local bossy cute local girl, and some other little timid boy.
You wake up to find yourself alone and that you have transformed into a wolf, and you are chained to the floor, a very cocky magical female shadow kid comes to your cell, and helps you out, making fun of you when you do the wrong thing.
When you get out of the cell the shadow kid becomes your permanent side kick, riding you like a horse, then helping you jump to unreachable areas (as a wolf) while the level progresses.
You eventually find out that your in Herule (sp?), and that the entire place is covered in darkness, any people that were in Hurule have become spirits, the spirits don't know that they are spirits. You have Wolf senses, that you can use to follow scents, see spirits... Hum, yah that is all they are good for so far. You have to go into sense mode, where your vision is limited to a small area around you,
So the little shadow kid leads you to meet Zelda, Zelda is not a spirit, she is the .... dah dah dun duuuu Twilight Princess. She tells you the story as to why everything is dark... bad/dark people came in, took over the land by force, told Zelda to choose between death (for everyone) or darkness.
She also mentions something about a Dark King. Then we get rushed out of her room before the guard comes back.
From there we go back to our town (the shadow kid can teleport us around), and proceed to find the shattered light and return it to a light protector god type thing. Which returns the light to the little town, and surrounding area.
When the light returns, you return to human form, and walk around as the towns folk ask you to go save the children (all the children got taken away by the darkness).
So you return to the darkness (and back to a wolf), and try to return more of the light pieces (light bugs actually).
That is where I am now.
Overall a good game, being the first game I have purchased in quite awhile it seems unnecessarily expensive, but a great game none the less, it's a must play game for those who like RPG/Adventure games.
Oh, and if your reading this far, go get yourself a Wii
Gaming OVERLOAD!
So I have the Wii, and it's all it's cracked up to be and more.
And today my lazy ass eBay guy finally got me my Black Onyx DS Lite. HURRAY!!!
Now what do I do? Play Mario Kart DS or Zelda Twilight Princess,
If I could only play both games at once...
lol, damn floor hockey tonight
Can I get my friend code without an access point?
Wiieeeeeeeee 4
So I guess this all starts with games night at my house (Board games night).
This is the day before the Wii launch,
Oh by the way, Mike I just tried the leftover pineapple meatballs yesterday... any chance there are more, mmmmm.
Ok getting sidetracked...
Games night ends around midnight, but I don't realize how late it is until Jenn tells me the time.
My plan is to hit Walmart at 4AM, and get up at 3AM to do it.
So my head hits the pillow and the alarm clock seems to go off right away, look it's 3AM already.
I get up right away, and start getting ready, chair, warm clothes, gloves, book.
I get everything in the car and head off, I hit Walmart a full 1/2 hour earlier than I expected.
Drive into the Walmart parking lot... everything looks good, I don't see any people.. am I the first one here, that would really suck.
I drive over the speed bumps in front of the entrance, so the other doors are visible...
HOLY CRAP look at the line, the first thing I think of is, this reminds me of my cottage parties, everyone sitting in camp chairs, a tent setup... it looks like a lot more people than I have had at a cottage party though, am I going to get a console?
Well might as well get in line and figure it out.
I get in line and the guy 2 ahead of me tells me, that I am around #41, and that he counted heads and empty chairs when he got here.
There also seems to be a consensus in line that there are 63 Wii's.... Whew.
There are a few people that say there might be 30, but those people tend to be the kind of people that don't really look like they know what they are talking about, or so I choose to believe.
So I am sitting in line for 3 1/2 hours, it was cold, and I wish I had thought of wearing ski pants, but the time went pretty fast.
So around 6:00 the crowd starts getting more excited, the tent is gone, most of the chairs are also gone, and the line has... condensed, everyone is much closer to the doors, there is one or two random people in line yelling things like, "let us in", "Hurry up", but otherwise the line was very civil and orderly (unlike any of the US news reports about the PS3)
Also, at 6:00 my lovely and gorgeous girlfriend Jenn got out of bed to bring me a coffee and bagel from Tim's :-)
Jenn shows up around 6:40, people are getting excited, the line compacted some more, still lots of elbow room but if I stuck my arms out and spun I would smack a good 3-4 people. At 4AM I would have missed everyone and just looked like a crazy person spinning.
A few Walmart employees come out and start telling people, some rules, like "no running" it is impossible to hear exactly what they are saying at the front.
Then they ask everyone to get into a line, and everyone not buying a console to get out of line.
We each get a ticket with our number in line on it (I end up being #38).
They let 10 people in at a time, to get their console / games / controllers. so that the first people have first bids on extras, Walmart managed the line really well.
The electronics section could have been organized much better, but with only 10 people at a time it wasn't that bad.
I get my Wii, Zelda and another Wiimote, and what I think is the last numchuck.
Yay, Wiieeeeeee 5 and sleepy Matt coming soon to a computer screen near you
Wiieeeeeeeee 3
Looks like getting a Wii won't be anywhere near as difficult as getting a PS3 would have been.
My first thought was, hey, I should buy this at some abstract location.
So I call the Great Canadian Superstore on Richmond, near work.
They tell me they have 6 Wii's.
I bet next to no one will be at the superstore 3 hours before opening.
Then I figure I should find out how many my second alternative has Walmart.
I call the Kanata Walmart and find out how many they have.
Around 50! :-) awesome.
So as long as 50 people don't show up at walmart 3 hours before it opens, then I am set.
The electronics lady also told me that they would have no problem getting more before christmas.
She also told me that the PS3 release they only had 10, and they sold out in 10 minutes.
And they seemed to have a very good handle on the waiting line, telling everyone else to go home before the store opened.
Wiieeeeeee can't wait.
Matt vs. Nintendo DS Lite
Well I have gone all out and decided to splurge on not only the Nintendo Wii next week, but the Nintento DS as well.
I found an eBay auction I liked with a good selection of games included (this is the actual ebay picture) .
Hopefully it will arrive before the end of the week, and I can take it with me to Toronto this weekend.
How do these friend codes work?
Kerazy Weekend Part 3
Alrighty, last part.
(make sure to scroll down and read parts 1 and 2 first)
So Jenn and Jenn's Mom dressed me in my costume.
The costume involved a painters smok thingy with hood, gloves socks, some wrapping stuff (I don't know what it was) and uhm.. hot glue. Everything was stained with tea (except the glue), to give it an old worn look.
The costume dressing was... interesting, it involved me getting wrapped from head to toe with this white wrapping stuff, using hot glue to stick it in place. This is not the first time I have had Jenn's mom getting all up close and personal wrapping me with stuff. Last time was suran wrap...
I was not very... comfortable with all the places hot glue needed to be applied, but it all finished eventually.
So everyone finishes their costumes, and we head off (thoroughly late) for the party.
I have heard a lot of hype about this place prior to today.
- The garage is used to store a large car collection (including 3 porches)
This place is HUGE, driving on their street I say something like "Is that the entrance" as I motion to a very large Soprano like metal gate. Jenn says "No we are going to the other entrance"
We drive by what seems to be parking attendants, and park the car on the road along with the other 40 - 50 cars already on the road.
We walk through the second set of gates to the property, and have to walk to the front of the "garage".
This garage is about the size of 2 - 4 large barns, it's dark out, so it is difficult to get a good look at it, from what I can see it looks very new (as it should).
Mr Lee greets us around the side of the building dressed up as a war general. (I didn't know this initially, but Mr. Lee is the host)
We walk inside the garage it is reminiscent somewhat of a stag party. The place is the size as I am used to in carp and kinburn community center halls, except is it 2 stories high.
Rubberish floors (heated I am told).
There is a large number of people dancing in front of a stage, very nice looking stereo equipment that looked very new. A lady at the front takes our picture with a digital canon SLR, I spot no less than 2 other people with expensive SLR cameras taking pictures around the floor (ie professional photographers)
The (open) bar is setup to our right with 2 people handing out drinks from under the tables.
From the looks around the place there was a lot of time spent on decorations.
The place was amazing, the pictures will have to show you the rest of the place as I can't do it justice.
Unfortunately Mr. Lee is a big leafs fan, and has a stanley cup winner, banner, like you would see at the hockey arena, hanging from the ceiling, (It is strung up so as not to touch the floor, it is that big)
There is a loft type area above with TONS of hockey jerseys hanging from the ceiling upstairs, I spot 4 gretzky jerseys, I presume from all the teams he was on.
I get introduced to many of Jenn's relatives, her cousin Chris (baseball player she mentions frequently), her Granny, some cousins, and cousins children, etc...
Me and Jenn's Dad eventually wonder into the back room below the loft, this is the shop / game area, and it is cool, there are 2 lifts, with 4 cars off to the right we go and take a look. Apparently the car under wraps is an older Porsche 911, I don't recall what the cars were on the lift, but the other car seemed to be purely bought to collect, it still had plastic on the seats, and the factory sticker in the window.
Back in the main area, there are a few bikes that are roped off, a harley, a very large honda bike, and a bike with the coolest bike rims I have ever seen.
Enough of the ambiance again. Jenn wanders around and plays with some of her cousins, I have a couple beer, and meet some more relatives, when we are told from the MC on the stage that the garage doors are going to open and we are all to follow the ghouls into the house.
What's this? As we are walking in, I think we came to the conclusion that we are getting a tour of this new place. (this place has just recently been built, it is too new to be furnished, but looks complete otherwise.
The front doors are two huge solid wood doors I would expect to see on the addams family.
The great room we walked into was breathtaking.
Stairs to our left have cast iron banisters, lots of wood, a fireplace (which, I didn't get a great look at). We were among the last people coming in, and it was difficult to take it all in, there were so many people around.
Mr. Lee greets us at the front of the room, and welcomes us into his house, then another person walks forward from behind him talking,
blah blah, some greeting then "Only part of this is a costume, I am actually a priest."
What? Why are you here? This is a pretty big party, he even invites his preist wow.
Jenn's cousin Chris and Laura (fiancee) are called up to the front?
They walk up, but have changed costumes.
It becomes apparent now that this is a surprise WEDDING!
Both sides of the immediate family are called to stand up front. (forgetting the actual order this might have happened earlier)
Everyone seems to have the same reaction, "What? Really!? This is CRAZY! Wow".
Now to step back and give you a better perspective, everyone is still dressed up in Halloween costumes. Even the immediate family, all of them really good. The funniest of which was Laura's brother who was dressed as a slutty female (or prostitute), with makeup, uber short skirt, and some very skinny tube top thing. The crowd as well all dressed up, attending a wedding.
The wedding progresses with everyone in shock, I am taking pictures like a madman.
There is a loft area above, I try and scoot up to take some pictures to find it completely barracaded with people. Then I jump back down.
All my pictures unfortunately are from the same angle.
The wedding finishes and they go up to sign the wedding registry thingy. And the whole mass of people swarm to the front. I stay back where I am, and take some more pictures, and eventually find myself talking to Jenn's grandma.
I am chatting and snapping pictures, when I spot Jenn trying to get my attention, and motion me over... then I realize she doesn't want me, she is trying to get her grandma up there. I follow granny into the swarm, and we end up on opposite sides of the family huddle.
Some people with masks still on, Jenn, Jenn's Mom, Chris' Mom, etc...
Then someone motions to the masked people, who promptly remove their masks, to reveal Jenn's relatives from the states, exactly where they are from I am not sure, but I guess further south from the accents. They have been inconspicuously partying with everyone for hours prior.
At this point as well Jenn's Dad has called Jenn's sister multiple times, I assume to say things like
"Hey, uhm ya... your missing Chris' surprise wedding", and
"Guess who just popped out of masks after the wedding"
"Get your ass down here"
"Did you ever pick the wrong party to miss"
etc...
So as the wedding crowd slowly dissolves, someone gets on the microphone to encourage us to head back to the party. And we head back down, still in shock and awe (shocwe) of the ... whole thing.
The Chris and Laura get back down, and have the ritual first dance, as husband and wife, then the other dances.
We find out from Jenn's relatives (the ones that unfortunately live down in the US) that they have known for about 2 months. To which Jenn's sister says something like "If someone would have told me I would have come...". lol
I play some foozball, take some pictures, Jenn's sister shows up eventually.
The party continues, there are some random speeches, and the party winds down slowly.
We stayed right up to the last song and headed back to Jenn's parents.
The next morning, we go and do some shopping at white feather, to get some chicken breasts and perogies, and go visit Jenn's sister.
Later in the evening Jenn decides to stay another night, and head back Monday morning, so she can spend some more time with her US relatives, so I take off to get back home.
The drive again is wet but bearable.
That was the weekend in a nutshell,
I am sad I missed my grandparents 60th, but heading up to Oshawa turned out to be a great alternative.
Hope everyone enjoyed the wait. ;-)
Oh yea, here are the pics.
Part 3 soon
I have to take off for floor hockey and am forced to put what I have finished into a draft.
Like I said it is uncannily long.
I hope to finish it tonight.
M
Kerazy Weekend Part 2
FYI, you might want to read Part 1 first (below)
Well I lost most of my first attempt at Part 2 :-( So here is my second attempt.
So we get back to my parents place around 2:00AM like expected, I quickly move my stuff from the van to the car, and head back to my place. I get there around 2:30AM and head to bed. Still up in the air over which party to hit, thinking more about going to bed than anything else.
I wake up in the morning around 9ish. Now is the time to decide.
Duncan's Party
- Close to home
- Good friends at party
- I know it will be fun.
- Easy to get home.
- Must get ready last minute (costume, booze, transportation, etc.)
Jenn's Party
- Already packed
- Catered
- Huge garage with lots of hype
- Open Bar
- Have costume in mind in Oshawa already (Fernie Fest Sumo Wrestler)
- Other sappy reasons
- More driving (through the rain)
I decide I will head to Oshawa provided there are no issues going.
So I call Jenn to see if I can even make the party on time, make sure showing up is alright, check if going to the party without rsvp'ing is ok, see if there is anything I need to bring etc... Everything ok... so I am heading to Oshawa
After surprising Jenn with my news, she told me that they will make me a mummy for the party, and that they would start getting the materials together. So, I hoped in the car and headed off for the ~4 hour drive to Oshawa.
The drive was pretty uneventful, it was very wet, the roads were fine to drive on (partly due to my amazing tires)
Got to Oshawa pretty hungry, Jenn and her mom were out picking up Halloween costume stuff, and showed up about 2 min after I got there. We went inside for a little bit, talked about costume stuff, got a few of my things from the car inside, and headed off to Arbys... Mmmm Arbys... wish still had one in Ottawa.
After food we went out to a few placed to get more costume supplies.
Then we headed back to Jenn's Parents to start getting ready.
Jenn's costume - Evil Queen from Snow White
Jenn's Mom - Morticia Addams
Jenn's Dad - Dark faceless thing
Me - Mummy
Jenn's sister decided to skip the party, I know I don't know all the reasons she didn't attend, but I think her fiance unable to walk around (broken? sprained foot?? or something similar) was the main reason. Although I hear she was hounded quite thoroughly by her aunt earlier in the week.
despite not going she showed up at Jenn's parents to put makeup on everyone (myself included).
A long Part 3 coming soon to a computer screen near you!!
