Gifts from the Video Game Gods!

 

This morning at 9:00 am kicked off the first day of the E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo held in L.A. (hence why it is called 'E3'). What E3 basically is is a trade show that lasts a week where video game developers all go to show off what their companies are currently working on. Usually showing off demos of upcoming video games, announcing release dates for anticipated games and informing attendees if a new video game console is being worked on by that company. For all the tech nerds out there E3 is looked forward to each year, because it usually offers so much information that developers usually save just for E3!

Being the video game nerd that I am (probably not so much as others though) I was excited all last week to see what is in store! Unfortunately instead of sitting on my couch with a large supply of snacks and a plan of doing absolutely nothing else besides watching the conference I am stuck at work, semi-happy that my DVR is hard at work at home recording every bit of new video game information! This year has been even more exciting as I have been waiting for any information regarding the release of latest chapter of the Legend of Zelda Franchise! The reason I'm sitting on the edge of my seat, biting my nails waiting for any news regarding the new Zelda Game, The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword is because in recent news it was announced that Nintendo is rumored to be working on a new gaming console, (at this point only referred to as Project Cafe) which they would be announcing at E3 and that The Zelda of Zelda Skyward Sword could be postponed for the Wii only to be released on the new Nintendo Console! The reason I would be angry about this is that it was already pushed back a year! (The Legend of Zelda Skyward was supposed to be release December 2010 but was postponed to finish up some loose ends) I bought the Nintendo Wii for the new Legend of Zelda game, and am sorry to say that since it has yet to be released my Wii has been collecting dust. Tuesday June 7th at 9:00am is Nintendo's press conference day, and day that is specific to Nintendo to show off all their upcoming releases. So Hopefully We'll know by Thursday whether or not The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword will be released this year or wait yet another year to be released in 2012 along side Nintendo's new gaming system.

Some other things to expect at E3

1.  Sony is probably going to apologize multiple times to its users for its month long Network hiatus due to Hackers infiltrating their PSN. (Playstation Network)


2. Microsoft and Nintendo making jabs at Sony for its month long Network hiatus.


3. A New Gaming System from Nintendo, that would most likely involve HD and a 6 inch touch-screen controller!


4. A tribute to the Legend of Zelda franchise being its 25th anniversary year!


5. Announcement of a Brand New Halo. 


6. Sony will unveil it's next portable device and show off some of the games


7. Lots of upcoming Microsoft Kinect games will be demo-ed. 


8. A in depth demo on Modern Warfare 3!


9. Announcment of the released date of The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword


10. Revealing of some of the "Project Cafe" video games, possibly even one that involves every ones favorite plumber!




What do you think? Would you go to E3 if you had the chance? What are you most looking forward to?

CEDAR POINT!!!

 Woohoo with the weather finally perking up a bit and looking a bit like summer (high of 88 today!) I'm very excited for the summer activities that I have in mind for Summer 2011! Starting with scratching one of my list tomorrow! Tomorrow Brian and I are traveling the 136.5 miles/ 2 1/2 hours trip to......CEDAR POINT! Cedar Point is located in Sandusky Ohio and has been voted The Best Amusement Park in the world the past 13 years in a row, with over 17 roller coasters! I love roller coasters and have been a fan since I was little, my first trip to an amusement park being Kennywood located in West Mifflin Pennsylvania. But to say I'm excited to an understatement. I cant wait to ride the Raptor with its 2 loop-de-loops and the Milliennium with its 30 story drop and my favorite the Magnum XL with its drop that makes you feel like your experiencing zero gravity! Although I am very excited to go, Brian isn't as excited. Don't get me wrong he is happy to be going but he isn't as thrilled about roller coasters as I am. Where I love the feeling of your stomach coming out of your throat when you hit that first dive, Brian hates that feeling. Where I love the 30 seconds of so of climbing to reach that first drop, Brian hates it. So it's always a trip that tests Brian's fears. Last year he did ride the Raptor which was a big triumph for him, so I'm hoping that he will be just as brave this year. Lol I'm sure that he will do fine! I'll keep ya posted on that sometime later this week, maybe even put a picture up! If you been to any amusement park what is your favorite ride?

Rise with the Early Bird

So this is an early post, and mostly because I had to work at 6 am this morning. So while work is exciting and I'm sure I can find something more productive to do rather then posting on my blog I had a very interesting chat with my boyfriend this morning via Facebook. Now my boyfriend is a silly guy and I love him bunches but he does some interesting things sometimes. One being photo shopping a picture of my favorite idol on a fake web-page (A CNN fake) saying he had to drop out with a case of bird-flu totally tricking me into thinking that Scotty Mccreery was going home. I'm embarrassed to admit there were tears.

So this morning when he IMed me asking me if he could interview me I was a little skeptical. Here's how it went.

Brian: Can I interview you?

Me: What for?

Brian: Its a secret..

Brian: When did you start playing video games?

Me: First Tell me why..

Brian: I cannot tell you

Me: Why not?

you know I don't like secrets

is it something silly that you are doing?

and why are you still up?

Brian: fine never mind.........you are no fun

Me:  ok ok

        I first started when I was 7

Brian: What was your Favorite Video Game Growing up?

Me: Zelda (duh)

Brian: What made Zelda so exciting for you?

Me:  The music is really good, always an adventurous upbeat tone to the dismay that Hyrule is having. The Characters and story lines are always unique. I also like the puzzle, they exercised my mind

Brian: You are notorious for hating "campers" and "newbtubers", why such frustrations?

Me: "noobtubers"

       It's just annoying, that's all I can say.

Brian: You are widely known for the expressions "I am the shit" and "You're a bitch". What is your go to chirp?

Me: I'm widely know for that?

       umm 'Oh Man' and 'Don't be mean' and when I'm really angry the "You Bitch" comes out.

Brian: Thank you for your time, before you go can we get your top 5 video game

Me: Ummmm

 Its gonna take a minute.

1. Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time

2.Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past

3. Resident Evil

4. Mario Brothers

and...hmmm

5. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2

Are you gonna tell me why now that I have complied to your interview needs?

Brian: nope love you bye

And that is how the interview ended. I will admit it was a little fun coming up with answers to his

questions, but I'm still curious as to why he wanted to conduct this in the first place. I guess I will

just have to wait and see, when I find out you will know!

What Happened to Goodbye?

  So I haven't written in a while, and of course today's post, the first in over a week, is one that hits close to home. Last Tuesday Sarah Dessen, one of my favorite authors since I was probably 14 came out with a new book called 'What Happened to Goodbye' and I just started reading it yesterday. If you haven't read a Sarah Dessen novel before you are missing out, but if you have you probably know she generally writes young adult novels about young girls who are caught at a cross-roads in their life. I think that being a young adult myself and having been at several cross-roads so far in my life it has been easy to relate to the characters that Dessen has written about, and no more so then her most recent character Mclean. From the first couple pages I have read, being sucked into the life of 18 year old Mclean I knew that this particular novel by Dessen was going hit close to home. 

In the story Mclean moves around from town to town with her restaurant consultant father after her mother gets involved in an affair with a famous basketball coach. In each place Mclean re-invents herself, with a new name and interests never willing to form any new attachments, until she moves to Lakeview where she falls into friendship and love- The parts in the book that tug at me the most are the ones when Mclean is battling with herself on whether to forgive her mother for tearing their family apart. Some parts Mclean is willing to forgive her mother and try to remember the way things were in the past, only to realize that these were long gone memories that she would never be able to have again. Other parts she is angry with her mother and wants nothing more then to have space from a mother who wants nothing else but to be apart of her life, and have her apart of her 'new' life. 

I felt a pang of remorse reading these parts cause I have been in the same situation and I know how it feels to battle with yourself over something so confusing. When I was 17 my parents got a divorce because of an affair and I didn't know how to re-act. I was so angry at one parent for doing something so hurtful and was siding with other parent because I knew how bad they were hurting cause I was feeling the same way. It was all confusing because I was close to both, my mother for obvious mother-daughter bonds and my father for the connection we had with sports. It was a different relationship with both and I felt it was all lost because of a decision somebody made. I didn't know what to feel, I wanted to be angry at my father for being so selfish and never considering what us kids were feeling but at the same time he was my father and I wanted him close by and wanted to still be able to do the things we did together. I felt like I was being riped down the middle and didn't know which way to go. Its been several years and I still haven't totally been able to come to grip with what has happened. My father and I didn't talk for a long time and even talking now is guarded because I don't know if I can entirely forgive him for what happened. Which is the confusing part, I want to go there but at the same time I feel like I would be hurting my mother. So when this story line became present in ' What happened to Goodbye' I knew it was going to be one of the better Dessen novels. I'm only about half way through and still have a ways to go but I think it will turn out good. 

So that's all for now.

Will the Wings Make it or Break it?

With the NHL playoffs getting closer and closer to the coveted Stanley Cup Finals I'm starting to shake a little in my boots with the horrible (and forbidden) thoughts that each game could be the last for the Detroit Red Wings who are now fighting for their lives, and their spot in the Stanley Cup Finals. Will this year be the year that the Wings bring the cup home for 12th time? Previously bringing home 11 Stanley cup victories, the last time being in the 07-08 season in a 4-2 series win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. But the real question being, will the Wings survive this current series against the San Jose Sharks?

To say that the start of the series with the Sharks was rough would be an understatement, I would have to say that it was downright brutal. Wings fans were out-raged and disappointed when the Sharks took an 3-0 series lead leaving the Detroit Red Wings fans wondering when they returned home to Joe Louis Arena would they play like the team who swept Phoenix Coyotes in round one. Where was that team when the Wings were now teetering on the edge of having that same fate as the Coyotes in round two? I was surprised (and still am) that we have allowed the Sharks to race ahead in such a great lead over us. Detroit swept the first round, and that was without 2 of our power players Henrik Zetterberg (out with lower body injury) and  Johan Franzen. But with both returning for game 1 of the series vs the Sharks didn't help much, losing to the sharks in over-time 1-2.

Killing power plays has always been a strong suite for the Wings giving up 22 penalties to San Jose, allowing 3 goals to be scored off of those in the last 4 games. Not horrible but not great when those 3 goals have been crucial in 3 San Jose wins. The Big question looming on all Wings fans minds is, Will this series be a repeat of last years series where San Jose eliminated Detroit in game 5? I guess all we Detroit fans can do it hope for the best from our team, hope Howard continues to play as hard as he has been playing and hope that the offense works the puck tonight like they have never done before. If Detroit can play like they did in game 4, in which a 360-spin from Todd Bertuzzi resulted in a goal for Detroit and the killing off of 8 power plays resulted in a win for Detroit, then possibly the Wings could come back. Find out tonight what happens, The game will air at 8 p.m eastern time on Vs.

2 Posts....One day ; ) Hungry for The Hunger Games

Wow my second post of the day, how very awesome for me and I hope awesome for everyone else out there. But I just couldn't pass up an opportunity to talk about something that has got my mind very interested! As you know, (if you read my about me) I'm very into books, and I am always looking for a interesting, edge of your seat, page turning book to read. Seeing as I just finished the last book that I was reading ( The Help by Kathryn Stockett which I will later post about.) I needed to find another and fast, before my brain went into melt-down! While browsing on a nameless quirky and blunt blogger (Herez Pilton ; ) @ http://perezhilton.com ) I came across a book called The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, which is being made into a movie in the not to far off future. Now I'm not completely living under a rock, I have heard of the book before and have harbored the idea of reading it. But with it being so popular and "in" with the younger crowd I headed the opposite way remembering a certain book about a sparkly vampire and an emo werewolf that went viral and became an annoyance years after I first read it. But looking into the reviews on Amazon.com today I'm seriously considering going out and picking up The Hunger Games as soon as I get off work! 

For those of you who are in the same boat as me and have yet to read the first book of the trilogy it focuses around 16 year old Katniss Everdeen who lives in Panem, A post-apocalyptic country that was once known as North America. Panem is run by a power hungry government called the Capitol that regulates everything that its citizens do. The Hunger Games is an annual televised event where the Capitol picks a boy and girl from districts to participate in a fight to the death. From what I got from the reviews its a very graphic novel, with romance adventure and suspense all wrapped in one. I for one like all of thee above! Big bonus is its a trilogy so if I do love it I basically have a super long book to read!

So what do you think? For those of you who haven't read it are you going to do the same as me and get your hands on a copy as soon as you can? And for those who have read it, was it as awesome as it sounds?

PSN users saddened by 9 days of shutout from Playstation Network

If your a gamer then I'm sure you are aware of the current annoyance that PSN users have recently had to endure. The Playstation Network is coming up on its 10th day of it's recent shutdown due to a breach in its networking because of a hack from an unknown source. After discovering the breach Sony shutdown the network completely cutting off online interactions to all PSN users, stating that the system had been hacked and users' data could have been stolen. Over 77 million users are currently registered to the PSN and because of the breach could have had their names, address' and possibly credit information stolen.

"Gamers are angry that Sony's CEO hasn't come out to explain the situation and investors are disappointed over the company's corporate governance," said Michael Wang, manager of overseas funds at Prudential Financials in Taipei, which owns shares in Sony.

Sony brings in an estimated $500 million annually in just the Playstation Network alone (including the fact that it doesn't charge for online access, unlike its competitor Microsoft Xbox Live), which includes access to movies, online gaming and music. Many users are outraged that their personal information could have been accessed by hackers, stating that the network should have had better security measures for situations like theses. The PSN being down means that many games are unable to access the online multi-player feature for which many games such as the Call Of Duty and Halo franchises are popular for. As of right now there is no word when PSN will be back up and running.

What will you do until then? Thanks to www.betanews.com here are ten things you can do until PSN is back up!

1. Read War and Peace. Hopefully Sony will have PSN back up by the time you finish. C`mon, after 8 days down, do you really believe the promise of partial PSN restoration by next Tuesday?

2. Watch the Royal Wedding. Who else is up at that hour of the night?

3. Dig out dad's "Dungeons and Dragons" game. Hey, analog role playing is better than nothing.

4. Go to a 3D movie. While you've been playing non-stop for the last 3 years, there have been some amazing tech advances. Oh, yeah, ask your friends to explain what an iPhone is.

5. Become a day trader. The highs and lows can be as exciting as interactive game playing, except you make (or, gulp, lose) real money rather than spend it on virtual goods

.

6. Check your email. Sony would like to explain how it lost all your personal information, including precious gamertag ID, password, birth date, security questions and much more. Ah, best check credit card activity, too.

7. Update your Match.com profile -- remove MAG, SOCOM 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops.

8. Visit your mom. Her door is on the other side of the bathroom.

9. Change your passwords from "password" -- or "123456789." Hackers have it now.

 

10. Take a shower. You need it.

Or if you are smart you wont have to worry about when PSN will be back up and you can stop reading this now and go boot up your XBOX, go kick some butt online in COD Black Ops and laugh at all the PSN users who are wishing they had gone with Xbox Live.  ; )

Water For Elephants

The movie adaption of the book Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen came out last weekend (April 22nd) and I still have yet to see it, but this basically is my own fault. As great as the movie looks I was hesitant to go see it opening weekend because of one reason, Rob Pattinson. I know everyone thinks hes hot stuff and I have been to see those twilight movies and from those movies I have learned how annoying screaming girls at a movie can be. So as cute as Rob Pattinson is, I did not want to pay $10 to hear a bunch of screaming girls, but it does look like a good movie

    Basically what happens is the story revolves around Jacob, a veterinary student who drops out of school  and decides to join the circus where he falls in love with Marlena (played by Reese Witherspoon), the star performer of a circus set in the 1930's. Amidst all the excitement of the circus life and Marlena's over bearing and dangerous husband a lifelong love is formed. VERY EXCITING! Plus it has a cast of great actors including Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Bastards), Reese Witherspoon(Walk The Line), and Hal Holbrook(Into The Wild).

( Courtesy of 20th Century Fox )
Well what do you think, Will you see Water for Elephants?

Stranger Things have happened.

   Well world here I am, starting a new blog for all to read, if anyone reads it. If you do happen to look it over or stumble onto by chance Thanks for reading! This is probably the 6th blog that I have started, all of which have ended with me losing interest and forgetting about them. But I  intend to do the opposite with this one and actually keep it going.We will see how that goes. Basically this blog will be about anything and everything that I'm interested in ( see insert = ] ) So sit back and enjoy. Leave a comment if you find something funny, or if you don't like what I said about something!