2 Down! + Snowmobiling

Finished two games this weekend! Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles and Professor Layton and the Curious Village.

Layton: 9/10 (Based entirely on my comparison with other puzzle games)
Creed: 6/10 (It's a wanna-be platformer/slash-em-up {think God of Playground-fighting})

Layton had 135 of the coolest puzzles I've ever solved. I was actually able to reach 100% completion, which was fun. Not many games allow this sort of completion without hundreds of hours of searching.

Creed on the other hand was kind of a Game-sploitation of the console version of Assassin's Creed. However... it did explain who Adha was, and made for a pretty decent prequel. The gameplay was the worst part.... though not debilitating difficult. I'm very excited to see what time period the sequel takes place in. With the hundreds of clues throughout Assassin's Creed, I am willing to play just about anything to sink my teeth into more of the story.

In the meantime, I think I'm going to play through Mass Effect again as a wussy sniper or magic user.

Regarding things other than gaming, I just returned from Cle Elum Washington with Mark and Heidi + Family. First off - they are SUCH a wonderful group of people. If you're reading this, THANK YOU!! Within an hour of being at the cabin I had a snowmobile stuck on a 50-degree incline, and in eight feet of snow. A few minutes after that Mark had his machine rolled over 15 feet below me on the same hill. Don't take this as a bad thing... at least I gained a healthy respect for powered sleds while it was warm out. The next couple of rides were amazing. Especially the one at 10pm up to the 5k summit to drink champaign and bullshit next to a fire.

In addition to snow-sports I got to experience a pretty awesome bonfire, great company, several games of liars dice, catchphrase, and about 35 pounds of bacon, eggs, lasagna and chicken. Before leaving I introduced the kids to Skeet shooting and handguns. Sandy definitely has a Walther coming in March. ;) On the way home we passed through two semi-famous central Washington boroughs. North Bend (Twin Peaks) and Roslyn (Northern Exposure).

Heidi took a few great pics and videos. I'll post them as soon as I can!

Thanks!

-- T

Xbox 360 Part 2 (.5?)

I reverted back to using component cables, just to get my Optical DD5.1. I had hoped that a second issue I was experiencing would also be solved. However... it was not. I've since opened a repair order and will be sending my 'box back to the repair facility.

For those unaware of the issue, read about it here. I figured this was an HDMI handshaking issue. If the 360 doesn't see something on the end of the AV cable, it won't boot up. I never had this issue with my non-HDMI/non-Elite, so I assumed it was handshaking (component has no handshaking, instead it just completes a circuit - if the Xbox can't see that then I say it's busticated). Oh well.. I finished Assassin's Creed and got a few hours of Call of Duty 4 in before packing it up.

Unfortunately I also finished Uncharted: Drake's Fortune on the PS3 as well as Final Fantasy 1 on the PSP. Sandy picked up a new one for her DS called "Professor Layton and the Curious Village" that's promising. I borrowed it from her for a few hours, and the puzzles are a lot of fun. Layer 5 also made Jeanne D'Arc on the PSP, which I absolutely loved. Hopefully this will be as good. I suppose I always have good old Eternal Darkness to keep me busy. I guesstimate that I am about 60% through with it. The combat system is just so dated that I am having a hard time becoming super absorbed.

Now just to not jones for some Mass Effect while it's gone... and I'll be golden.