Oddball Update – Page 33 – Chief Oddball writes about tech, games, cars and family life

PC Game Review: F.E.A.R.

November 4, 2005October 2, 2011 Chief Oddball 9 Comments

They say PC gaming is dying, and never have those cries been louder than now, during the impending release of the Xbox360, our first next generation game console. Hell, I myself have proclaimed my imminent retirement from the genre. Whether or not you believe this to be true, however, I believe that agreement will be virtually unanimous on this point: As PC games go, F.E.A.R.

Watching From Afar

October 23, 2005October 2, 2011 Chief Oddball 2 Comments

So here we are, in Detroit, watching on TV as Greta van Susteren stands and delivers from Naples, FL. She is using her trademark maundering style to tell us all that Florida is about to get “punished” and asking weirdly paranoid questions of her weather expert guests about how long she has until Naples becomes ground zero.

Escape From Naples

October 20, 2005October 2, 2011 Chief Oddball 3 Comments

…Not starring Kurt Russell. Well, rather than risk unnecessary damage to ourselves, we’ve decided that we are going to leave the area before Wilma shows up. We were thinking about taking a little week-long trip to Michigan this fall anyway, so we decided to just turn this whole damn thing into a vacation.

With His Fate Sealed, He Tasks Me

September 29, 2005October 2, 2011 Chief Oddball 5 Comments

Decided to take the WS6 out for a drive today. I don’t drive it too much anymore, maybe once every week or two, since I’ve been working at home full time. Since this is also the slow season at Apple’s restaurant, she doesn’t work as often either, so usually when I want to go somewhere I take her car.

Restaurant Cheapskates

September 29, 2005September 29, 2005 Chief Oddball

My wife Apple works at a restaurant, so of course there are always plenty of comedy bits to hear about when she gets home. Tales of stingy customers, drunken fools, employee drama, etc. are always entertaining, sometimes maddening. I heard a story last night of a party who was determined to get their coupon’s worth no matter how they had to go about it.

On The Cusp: Retiring From PC Gaming?

September 26, 2005October 2, 2011 Chief Oddball 2 Comments

I haven’t played a game on my PC in quite a while. The last thing I played was the F.E.A.R. demo. I’d really like to get the full version when it arrives next month, but the truth is, that kind of stuff doesn’t feel like a priority anymore.

Blitzball: An Exercise in Frustration

September 23, 2005October 2, 2011 Chief Oddball 9 Comments

Last night, for the first time, I got pissed off at Final Fantasy X. It all began with the championship Blitzball game at Luca Stadium. All throughout the beginning of the game, the player is taunted with the concept of Blitzball, a sort of combination of football and basketball that’s played underwater, and was the former professional sport of choice for our main character, Tidus.

This Is Why I Suck at RPGs

September 19, 2005October 2, 2011 Chief Oddball 4 Comments

All right, let me explain why I have never been, am not, and probably never will be good at role-playing games. Because I ALWAYS CHOOSE THE WRONG DAMN OPTION. Yesterday afternoon, for old times’ sake, I decided to break out Final Fantasy VII.

So, Why Choose the GTO?

September 9, 2005October 26, 2011 Chief Oddball

GTO with Sport Appearance Package I don’t post anything on this site for nearly two months, then I show up out of nowhere and proclaim that I’ve ordered a Pontiac GTO as my next new car. So what happened? A few months ago, I was proclaiming proudly that the GTO sucked and I was gonna be getting my hands on a new Shelby GT-500.

Cassette Digitizing At Last

September 8, 2005October 7, 2011 Chief Oddball 5 Comments

Well, it’s only 2005, but I’m finally getting around to digitizing at least some of my vast library of audio tapes. Or, as Pastor John C. Mills would say, “tape cassettes.” (Is that guy still alive?) I’ve done this before, usually small pieces at at time, with mixed results.