I decided to get L4D2 on the 360 when Amazon put it on sale. I hope it’s good. I also made my first purchase from steam yesterday, oddly enough, and was slightly perturbed when they dropped the price to 2.50 today. But it was only 10 bucks and I was willing to pay for the game a second time just for the experience of getting to play it on the PC. If you don’t have Knights of the Old Republic you should check it out for only 2.50.

So, completely unrelated, but have you seen this?
http://www.thelastairbendermovie.com/

I saw the trailer on some DVD not that long ago, and I think you liked the anime, no? I was really surprised to see that they were making a live action, and by M. Night Shyamalan, no doubt. He’s very hit or miss for me (and usually miss), so it will be interesting to see how he does it–though the preview does make it look pretty epic.

I’m also guessing they dropped the Avatar title because of the James Cameron film coming out.

Hmm….

I wanna wander around a mall in a game…I think that’s why I started liking Persona 2, lol, because the setting was modern!

That cake bank is really cute <3

AOClaus

Doh… I had no idea that Knights of the Old Republic was on sale during their Black Friday sale. =( Now it is back to being $10. I think I’ll wait and see if they do another Steam Store sale for Christmas.

AJ

I don’t watch that cartoon or know anything about it so I’m not really looking forward to the movie. All I know about it is the controversy over white kids being cast for the roles of Asian kids.

Avatar on the other hand I have heard of and I am looking forward to seeing, simply because it is a James Cameron film. I think that the “photorealistic” world and characters look more like videogame FMV though. *L* I don’t see it being the big holiday blockbuster that he envisions it to be either. I was under-impressed by the ship and robotic suit designs and the world itself looks like it has all been done before. I’m sure I will enjoy it nonetheless, simply because it is sci-fi and a Cameron film.

Ethabella

Ohh I love the Persona games! Especially Persona 2.

Wandering around the mall is pretty fun if you can ignore the zombies. XD

Sounds like a good way to spend Thanksgiving…that is, if you’re a complete shut-in. Keep it up, though, as online friends and imaginary relationships are critical to maintaining your little pink fantasy land.

Personally, I think that trolling someone’s personal site is more proof of being a complete shut-in and a judgmental asshole with a personality problem, but that’s just me.

Did I beat you too many times in Scavenge or something? Why so much anger over how an absolute stranger (me) spent some of their holiday playing a videogame?

I do in fact have a real family and real friends who I enjoy spending real time and enjoying real hobbies with in real life. How much or how little of that I choose to share on a site which people as rectally-cranium inverted as yourself are capable of accessing is my decision.

You were nice enough to say you would have bought me TF2, I should have considered doing the same for you with KOTOR. That Lucas Arts pack as a whole though was steal as well.

As for Maybelline, it’s actually well documented that online interactions/friends are every bit as important, healthy, and worthwhile to the human mind and body as any “real” friends.

AOClaus

Haha if we’re both lucky they will be marked down again for Christmas anyways. =P I remember buying TF2 when it was on sale last year and only 20 days later they had another sale where it was even less.

There are some friends I’ve met/made online whose friendships are just as meaningful to me as those I have IRL. Since I live in the middle of nowhere it is easier to meet people with similar interests online than offline. For example, most of my RL friends are girlfriends who prefer WoW or horseback riding to playing FPS games. I bought TF2 for one of them at retail price and she only played it for 20 minutes before deciding that it wasn’t for her and never playing it again. D= So, I’d rather buy stuff like this for friends who would enjoy and appreciate it. Whether I met them online or offline doesn’t matter.

Oh, and just what is wrong with the color pink anyways?! I like pink!

Wow, haters again? There’s just no end to them, is there? *facepalm*

Okay…so maybe Rachel stayed indoors for a few hours of Thanksgiving. Let’s take a step back for a sec. Look at the colors used on this weblog. If this blog is Rachel’s “fantasy land” it seems to have more orange and brown (the colors of TF2, as well as Thanksgiving, coincidentally) so there must be more to her fantasy land than just pink.

Additionally, some of the real-life pics I see posted on the blog from time to time often have girly pink objects like ponies and purses. But these are simply pictures of real-life objects that Rachel possesses…thus, those particular objects are not online fantasies.

It would be a stereotypical statement to say that this “fantasy land” of hers simply contains pink girly cuteness and nothing else. In fact, I don’t see only “cutesy sweetness” when I look at Rachel’s blog… I see a mixture of feminine opinions and ideas, sensitive thoughts, musings, and dreams, as well as some heavy artillery and fun, exciting, bloody and gory (but fictional) game worlds. Small Girl with a Big Gun, right? I think this name shows quite a bit in Rachel’s personality.

As for “spending holidays on the computer” (a practice that might have been unheard of 10 years ago,) do note that many times and traditions have changed with the emergence of improved communication technology. Some people talk to friends and even family members online if they can’t be at the same place on a given day, for another reason such as distance (which, when you live in the middle of nowhere, it often is a good reason, especially when you’re on a budget and/or have other obligations at home, and thus you cannot afford to travel.)

It’s also worth mentioning that holidays can be stressful. I actually spent Thanksgiving away from my family this year to avoid stressing too much and possibly ending up in a mental hospital (please note that stress levels can vary from family to family.) But I think things have cooled down for now so I’m doing better. I kept in touch with the family via phone, and I talked in person with my mother late on Thanksgiving night, when most of the stressful situations were already over and done with.

Hmm… say, Rachel, if you want, you could probably approve a few more haters’ comments if there are others that you’ve been moderating. Sometimes I actually find it fun to rip into their words and expose them for their very negative commentary, which often ends up being judgmental and/or incoherent. Just as long as it doesn’t get out of hand, of course.

I’m sorry to hear that you had to spend the holidays away from your family this year, Des. I can understand wanting to avoid that kind of stress around exams though. I think everyone in university has at least thought of doing the same at one point or another, because even the most well-intentioned family gathering can make school life stressful.

I approved this person’s comment because it made me laugh. *L* I normally don’t approve those types of comments though because they contain all kinds of expletives and vulgar remarks.

Ah, don’t worry about it, Rachel. Christmas will be better for me, because my exams will be done by the middle of next week. I’m past the difficult one anyway, get this: I pulled an all-nighter Tuesday night to complete 7 chapters of homework which was due by the end of class on exam day. Turns out I got all of it done, despite not sleeping, and then I made a 98 on the final. It was easy stuff for me in terms of academic difficulty, but it was still very time-consuming, which was unfortunately the stressful part.

I can understand not approving comments that are too vulgar. It is your blog, so it’s your decision in the end anyway, but I agree: I’m sure that could get out of hand if we let inappropriate rants through. Basically, I meant that if haters want to hate, I want to see them try to face us with some intelligence, not with the same profane words over and over, that they probably felt they were awesome for knowing back in 2nd grade (and maybe still today, ahaha~!) Otherwise they probably aren’t worthy opponents for debating against, until they graduate from grade school that is… XD

Just a quick question – I simply can’t believe you beat Expert through a non-coordinated game (as in, 4 random people join up together).. I bought L4D2 recently (I finally have some time to try it), and for the past couple of days I’ve been attempting expert through multiplayer, and I’m always stuck with awful, awful players. They either run off, get themselves killed, or start doing friendly fire, and in both cases they leave right away.

I had one that was looking good in Dark Carnival though, but that ended quickly as well. Are you a pc or 360 gamer when it comes to L4D2? Because playing on a different platform could answer it I guess, but damn, I have an easier time beating expert with bots.

Hi N.C.,

I play L4D2 on the PC (Steam). Since beating Dead Center I’ve beaten Dark Carnival and Parish on Expert and also gotten The Real Deal (if you don’t believe me, you’re able to see the progress on my my L4D2 stats page). Dark Carnival was beaten in Realism-Expert with strangers. One of them came up with our strategy for the end stage, which took us only two tries.

I just need Hard Rain and Swamp Fever now, but I haven’t tried doing them because of the Christmas season. I know from seeing how people act and behave towards each other in Scavenge that I probably wouldn’t fair any better finding people for an Expert campaign. There are a lot of bratty, bossy, and obnoxious teenage boys who got L4D2 for Christmas and they are as inept at listening as they are incompetent at playing a cooperative game. This could be part of the reason why you’re having such a difficult time finding the right people to do Expert with in a public game.

One of my Steam friends has a group that organizes Expert games regularly. If you would like to find competent people to play Expert with then you might want to see about joining them. The guy who runs the group is one of the best L4D2 players I’ve played with in Realism-Expert.

Maybe it’s not so much that I can’t believe it, rather I have a hard time believing it! But what you said may be true, a lot of people have likely gotten it as presents. Sadly the holidays are the only time where I truly get to spend a couple of hours playing games. As my studies and work simply will not allow it during the off-season.

You’re probably right, regarding teens getting the game as presents. Last night I actually had one that went out of their way to tell us how poor _we_ were, when he had just managed to get himself killed twice. Ah well, I’m not that bothered about beating the game on expert, I play it as a challenge, and if I do beat it eventually, that’s just great. :p

I’ll be sure to check that group out though. Thanks!