Weekend Warrior: Holiday Edition

With Christmas less than a week away we here at Nerd Appropriate are more busy than Phillps (…zing). I had plans to write a few breathtakingly long intellectual articles filled with factoids and quotes from interesting people, but I figured I’d spare you all for now and just tell you what I’ve been up to this weekend.  Welcome to Weekend Warrior ™.

FRIDAY

• Party Time : Went to a friend’s holiday party and ended up sitting outside for hours talking about video games and electronics with a bunch of engineers.  I was amazed to discover another group of individuals that loves Mass Effect just as much as we do here at the site.  I Also played a tabletop game called “left right center” that involved losing money and dancing.

identities protected.

SATURDAY

• Batman: Arkham Asylum –  Trying to beat this one before Christmas arrives .  Great game, but the platforming elements during the Scarecrow segments are unwanted.  The game really needs to be open-world/ sandbox.  I’ve also gotten good enough with the combat system to pull off some jaw dropping combos.  Did I mention that I love that they used the classic voice actors from Batman: The Animated Series?  Awesome!
• Wife levels up – At her own request, my better half got her own X-Box 360 and gold account. Unlike myself, my wife is incredibly competitive, and now appears to be plotting ways to top my gamerscore.  Does this make us the nerdiest couple on Earth?
• Doritos: Crash Course – Our Friends at Giant Bomb (It’s a one sided friendship, they have no idea we exist) mentioned in their podcast a great little platformer that is currently available for free on the XBL marketplace.  Doritos: Crash Course uses your Avatar to run through a series of side scrolling adventures that are akin to a Ninja Warrior style obstacle course.  It should be noted that some of Crash Courses’s maps are blisteringly difficult.  How difficult? Vintage Megan Man difficult.  So prepare for frustratration.  When its all said and done Doritos: Crash Course is a whole lot of fun.  The best part is that you can squeeze 200 gamerpoints out of Crash Course without squeezing any money out of your wallet.

Fun for free?

• WOW: – Woke up early and messed around a bit with the Goblin Starting zone for WOW: Cataclysm.  I have to admit the quests are much more entertaining and actually have decent stories attached.  The usage of “phasing” is remarkable and really immerses you in the world like never before.  That being said, I have zero desire to play the high end content and immerse myself back into the “world” Of Warcraft, but I must admit that the low level horde zones are a total blast.

Always better with friends.

• New Router: –  How long has it been since you’ve looked at or replaced your router?  Well for myself it’s been over five years.  Five years in the world of computers is like 100 years in the regular world, so we replaced our old Linksys with a nice new Belkin N600 optimized for gaming.  Maybe now I won’t get weird CODBLOPS lag?

SUNDAY

Christmas Lurks like a naked Yeti in the night : As I type away, decorations are being placed upon the tree while the Rat pack serenades me with songs of myrrh and gay apparel. In a few days my career will grant me the best gift of all, two weeks off. Hope that you all had an action packed weekend as well!