Sentimental Sunday: Gaming & RC Cars

I have this old remote control car that has been in my possession for a while and I am sure that you have seen it in some of the photographs I have taken over the years - at least some parts of it, specifically, the remote controller for it. If you ever wondered about the reason for me owning an RC car, well, today is your lucky day because I am ready to reveal that dirty little secret to you.

The sticker on top says "Hot Rocker". Feel free to use your imagination.

As you can see, this is not a part of those special edition gaming blunders, I mean, bundles though its origin is definitely gaming related. You see, when I first dated the spouse, apparently my obsession with gaming - though it was something that I immediately shared with everyone I dated because, you know, I didn't want anyone to be surprised by it - was not that clear cut of a hobby for some reason. This RC car was a gift I received back then by the spouse who thought that it was something that I would appreciate because I was a gamer. I did appreciate the gift because well, it was from someone whom I thought was very special even back then but yeah, it's not related to gaming whatsoever. Still, even to this day, I always make sure that the RC car is displayed out in the open for me to see, something to remind me of how lucky I am to have met the love of my life. It's definitely an object that I revisit often, even more so these days. Gaming isn't everything in my life, especially when it leads to hurt. Every time I step away from gaming, suddenly my life isn't all that lonely anymore.

iOS Gaming: Big Screen Venture

I was browsing through my Game Boy Advance library tonight when I stumbled into the Digital AV Adaptor for my iPad 2. I probably had this thing not too long after I first acquired my iPad: I believe the spouse actually picked it up but never used it and I just went ahead and stored it away, coincidentally alongside my GBA games. So for the first time ever, I decided to check out how my iPad games fare on my big screen display. I wasn't that enthusiastic about trying it because I figured it would be hard to look at the big screen when these games are touch based but surprisingly, they didn't play so badly. I tested out my iOS shoot-'em-ups and they were a lot more fun on the big screen for sure.

Works great when you don't have to touch specific areas of the screen.

I can definitely see the visual advantage of playing some of these iOS games on the big screen, not to mention the improved audio as well. I could even stream my gameplay on my Twitch channel if I wanted to. This has definitely reawakened my interest in iPad gaming and I am ready to even invest on a long HDMI cable so that I can be seated appropriately on my gaming chair. Not only that, I am also going to move ahead with the acquisition of the Ion iCade Core Arcade Game Controller, especially since it's so very cheap right now at 80% off! Hopefully, this will all work out for me when that controller arrives.

Steam: Love Can Wait

You can probably tell from the previous post that I am still bitter about a lot of things and that I am still in the healing process of my psychological trauma. Well at least Steam made me feel a lot better today with their super manly, let love be damned weekend sales promotion:

This really makes me want to spend but... Only 50% off?

Now don't get it all twisted. I do love my spouse but when it comes to the gaming part of my life, something that is for the most part very separate from that, there is a lot of loneliness and depression to be found. I am getting better I believe but the whole League of Legends Valentine's Day cards thing did bring me down a notch... It's as if Valve knew that there are plenty of people out there who need a gaming fix that is not anywhere associated with sappy gooey love to celebrate tomorrow's smooch fest. Well, they could still do the whole love thing tomorrow but I have faith in you to keep the war theme going Steam!

Gaming Couples' Valentine

When I logged in to the League of Legends client tonight on the Personal Computer, I saw a really cute link to some free printable Valentine's Day cards featuring three hot champions from the game. I personally would have been very happy and definitely excited if I got one of these cards from the spouse. Then it hit me. Gaming couples must have a lot of fun celebrating not only their daily gaming with each other but other events as well where they could infuse gaming references into every single thing that they do. If you are one of these gaming duos, consider yourself very lucky. Maybe luck didn't have anything to do with it. You are probably just good at playing the game.

I didn't fancy the past Valentine's Day skins but this one, I may have to get it....

Dark Souls II: The Power of Hype

I liked Dark Souls on the PlayStation 3. I loved it and played it even more on the Personal Computer, despite needing to use a mod to improve its graphics. From Software has always been making weird games with highly complex and challenging mechanics but by some odd chance, the Demon's Souls series got really, really popular. Popular enough that the Collector's Edition for Dark Souls II that will be available for the console versions is priced at $119.99. Yes, you got it right. One hundred and twenty freaking dollars.

Worth the price? You got to be insane if you said yes.

You can check out the picture above to see what you get with the Collector's Edition: Display box? Cloth map? Art book? A cheap figurine? These things should cost you nothing more than the overpriced $59.99 that they would like to charge for the game in the first place. Seriously, are there really crazy people out there who would pay $120 for these things? Yes, unfortunately. Why did I even bother asking that question? And why is the PC download cost $49.99? You know it's a direct console port so $39.99 would have been a fair price for this game. I will give it to Namco Bandai though, they sure know how to milk something and turn it into a highly profitable venture. It does seem like every time they do it, they keep increasing the price higher and higher. I am sure soon we will see a Collector's Edition priced at beyond the $200 range from them because well, people keep buying these extravagantly priced things.