Jared Rea

A day later and I’m still trying to absorb Barack Obama’s “The American Promise.” It seems almost tired at this point to gush over his incredible speeches, but this is different. For as cheesy as this this sounds, I feel not only inspired to live up to a greater potential, but, for the first time in my adult life, a better American.

You know, whatever that means.

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Like a lot of folks out there, I can’t wait to get my hands on Fable II. Unfortunately, Pub Games is a bitter first taste as you can tell from my review at The Escapist.

Pub Games is a great experiment for Microsoft but it doesn’t seem to do anyone any favors. The games themselves don’t hold enough weight to interest those not already interested in Fable II and the pay outs aren’t big enough or frequent enough to be useful for those who are. Unless of course you’re totally cheating.

Still, this hasn’t stopped me from pre-ordering a Limited Edition, even when I originally opted for a standard copy. The power of the Chief compelled me.

After searching for what feels like an eternity, I finally saw The Machine Girl last night. Not like it’s rare or anything, but I’ve had just about the hardest luck in tracking it down. I randomly stumbled upon it while strolling past some DVDs at Amoeba, after having just searched for it where it should have been. I consider the great force of luck to be balanced.

So did it live up to the hype? Hell yes it did. Little thoughts and screencaps after the break.

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This week’s issue of The Escapist is up and it’s dedicated to Korean gaming. Having played just about every MMORPG on the market and tons of Pump it Up in my time, naturally, this was a perfect fit. So I went to San Francisco and checked out Aion: Tower of Eternity from NC Soft.

The current crop of Korean-developed MMORPG titles like Dream of Mirror Online, FlyFF and Rappelz are living relics of a time long forgotten. This is the climate facing Aion:The Tower of Eternity, the latest from the original Korean MMOG creators at NCsoft. Not only are they looking to wash away the sins of Korean MMOG hell with this new game, but their own distorted image as well.

If you didn’t catch the joke on the title, you should probably educate yourself on old Korean pride pop anthems. I felt it was totally appropriate.

I swore that I’d never change my Marty O’Donnell gamerpic, but after both yesterday’s video and a rousing speech by Senator Kennedy, I felt inspired to stand a bit taller. May the brilliance of his mullet shine upon those whose Xbox’s are deemed noble. Good night, sweet prince. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

The avatar swap was made as a show of support for Microsoft and MTV’s recent Rock the Vote collaboration (even if I still prefer the wonderfully ludicrous “Vote or Die”) which will not only provide streaming election coverage to Xbox 360 owners but more importantly, allow them to register to vote. Not that I enjoy the idea of your average Xbox Live citizen being enabled with the power of the vote, but I do appreciate the advocacy.

Whether these new voters go on to cast their ballot for Barack Obama, John McCain, or hell, even Bob Barr, I can only hope that this somewhat risky team-up inspires the youth of Xbox Live take a serious look at the issues and realize just how important this election is. I guess I have a somewhat selfish reason for wanting this, as I recall standing outside the voting booth in 2004, realizing that I was the only person under the age of 30 at my station. My generation simply can not afford to remain ignorant to the ever changing world around them.

This is about as far as a random joke on Twitter should probably go.

Much like how Rudy Giuliani became known for nothing more than a noun, a verb and 9/11 (By the way, I’m pumped for Biden), Senator John McCain has put himself in a position where he stands for little more than his time as a prisoner of war during Vietnam. When the Obama campaign nailed him for forgetting how many houses he owns, John McCain cried POW. When the fact that McCain was not in a “cone of silence” during the Saddleback forum came to light, McCain responded with POW. Even when offering up his wife in a wet t-shirt contest, the answer was POW. And these were just a few of the instances that a quick google search turned up. The google search necessary only because I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard this excuse in the past week alone.

John McCain uses his prisoner of war status as both sword and shield. It’s the entirety of his foreign policy experience and ultimate defense against legitimate questions and concerns rolled into a single onomatopoeia.

I wouldn’t have such a problem with this had he utilized his tragic experience in some sort of relevant way. For example, as an advocate for better care and rehabilitation for our troops coming back from the Middle East with post traumatic stress disorder and other conditions, as I’m sure he knows exactly what that feels like. Or how about shining a light on not only the veterans of our current wars, but those of past wars who had no home to come back to? I’d gladly accept his lame, “I lived in one house for five and a half years,” joke were it in that context. Instead, his experience has become just that: a punchline.

Typically, these sorts of opinion pieces are accompanied by a disclaimer. Something like, “John McCain is a national hero and deserves respect for his time as a prisoner of war, but!” The “but,” this time being that I don’t care for that disclaimer. Until John McCain shows some respect for not only himself but his fellow veterans by not trivializing something so horrible, I don’t feel the need to respect it either.

Despite owning The Orange Box, I never really got into Team Fortress 2. It might have something to do with the grudge I hold towards it stealing $5 bucks from me back in middle school (I pre-ordered TF2: Brotherhood of Arms at a Software Ect that eventually went belly up), but I doubt it. Valve’s knack for infusing more personality into inanimate objects than most human figures continues with Heavy’s new tool, the sandwich.

I now want to play Team Fortress 2 because of a sandwich. Well, that the Heavy’s nom-nom-noming of his lunch reminds me of Scooter with a bag of a chips. Is that a new class I just stumbled upon?

Now I’ve done it. I’ve kicked off my on-going series of Madden entries with my signature line of trash talk. All that’s left now is, you know, actual discussion. Yes, it’s another year good ol’ EA Sports football and I’m hoping that this year will be better than the last. I don’t mean the game itself. This years game is great! I’m talking about my performance. Despite playing some form of Madden or NCAA Football for nearly a decade straight, I still suck quite a bit. I throw more interceptions per game than John Madden downs hoagies per hour. It’s a sad sight.

Not helping matters is my choice of team: the Oakland Raiders. They’re tied for second worst team in the league this year with a pitiful score of 71, so once again it’ll be an uphill battle. Fortunately, it seems impossible to actually draw penalties this year, sparing myself at least one form of self defeat with my favorite team.

First up in my quest to be a Super Bowl champion was a rivalry game against the Denver Broncos. Welcome to the black hole, bitches.

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