Diary of a Returning Gamer #9

Apparently, gaming is serious business. How serious? Serious enough for people to be dicks about it.
So my friend randomly posted her status, asking friends if they want to help her beat "The Lion King" game from Super Nintendo this upcoming weekend.

ReRave Review

Parappa the Rapper (1996) was not the first rhythm-based game, but it's credited as the first influential rhythm game with its core gameplay used as the template for various games produced since then (Dance Dance Revolution, Pump It Up, Guitar Hero, Rockband, Just Dance, etc). Despite waning popularity of the genre, advancements in technology kept gaming developers to find new ways to innovate gameplay for all types of games. On the line up of many touch pad games comes ReRave by Step Evolution.

Life Update

1. I tried. I even listened to it a few more times, but I just can't get into Justin's "Suit &Tie." Macklemore's "Thrift Store" is pretty catchy, though. It's about time this dude is getting airplay.
2. So I've been working for a little over a month now at the new job. It's early into the new year, so I'm slowly being integrated into the team to work on multiple projects. Currently, I'm mainly supporting one application at the moment out of 27. So, not bad.
3. I thought commute for me would be a pain, but not so much. Still, I get 50-60mins on the road one way on a really good day and between 75-90+ on a bad day (traffic, new drivers, trucks, etc). I used to get really pissed off on the road a few years ago, but

Assassin's Creed Series... So Far

I first heard of the first game in the series back in college. At the time, I was still gung ho about Metal Gear Solid (MGS) ... especially the 4th game: Guns of the Patriot (I still am, but I'm not hipster about it anymore). I viewed Assassin's Creed as just another game trying to clinch it's way into the stealth-action game genre like Splinter Cell did. I never paid much attention to Splinter Cell. It didn't help the fact that both this and Assassin's Creed were made by the same company. My initial reaction was "oh great, Splinter Cell couldn't beat MGS's dominance, so they make another stealth game and set it in the high middle-age era. How original." Five years have passed since then and I couldn't have been more wrong and stupid for judging a book by it's cover.

The series has won numerous awards in the game industry as well as being a successful videogame franchise. Many people are obviously in love with this game. I just didn't see it. Reading online reviews and brief summaries of the first three games have given me glimpses of the premise and storyline. Still wasn't impressed... until

2012: A Recap

Let's see... I accomplished 9 more on my 101 list this year.

• #02 - Finish a 2 pound (or more steak in one sitting: I ate at a restaurant inside the cruise last summer where they served all kinds of meat on steel skewers. I mostly got steak and I'm pretty sure I ate 2 pounds worth.
• #31 - Travel/Visit northern places (Alaska, Quebec, etc): The cruise went to Alaska and Victoria BC. We then went to Vancouver to visit my cousin.
• #42 - Visit Harry Potter Theme Park: I had extra credit on Southwest Airlines for my trip Seattle trip on the cruise to Alaska. I had to use it by January 2013. So I went to