Does 'Rhythm' contain a vowel? Oh, "Sometimes."

I live a tough life. I spend all day working for The Man and all night taking care of my family. Then, with the few moments I have at the end of the day, I become Anguissette on the PlayStation3. The above paragraph is not true. I enjoy working for The Man and my family enjoys playing PlayStation with me. So, I have been playing a lot of Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour. (I play my M games after everyone is in bed.)

While on guitar, I can play any song on Medium. I just can’t get down to the orange button. So my fingers stay on green, yellow, red, blue and I play whatever they throw at me. Many songs I would complete 100% if I was not trying to manage my Star Power (Overdrive). I’ve basically finished both games. (I am not going to play the Endless Song List 2 on RB2 – six hours without pausing, no way!) I’ll probably fill out a few trophies on RB2, but since I am not going to Expert, I won’t get them all. I have not played the on-line format - you can play with others or against them. None of my friends seem to be into Rhythm games. (You are? Then send me a PSN invite. PSN ID: Anguissette.)

I’ve discovered that playing with others is a ton of fun. I’ve had guests over – many with kids – and we all play. The adults seem to come out of their ‘proper’ shell and let it loose. From alternate lyrics (“Excuse me while I kiss this guy”) to drum solos – I’ve seen a stuff that will turn you white: Mr.P, I’m thinking about you singing "Eye of the Tiger" . I’ll probably pick up another guitar before the next ‘budding young rockers’ come over. I’ve had trouble with the GH4 drum set: the red pad does not work. To Red Octane’s credit, they did send me a MIDI to USB cable. I tried to adjust the sensitivity, but that did not help. I’m going to try the return-defective-equipment route before attempting the ‘internet fixes.’ I’ll let you know how it works out. Until I get a replacement, we simply use Lefty Flip so the red does not come up that often.

I could not pick a favorite song – I enjoy so many. Paramore, The Killers, The Who, A7X, GnR, and Kent (VinterNoll2) are what I can remember. Not only is a good song important, but also how the game play translates: you need to feel like you are really playing along. So many other songs feel like the Simon game – just follow the lights. If I practiced my real guitar as much as I’ve played Guitar Hero, I’d have millions of dollars and hot-and-cold running chicks.

What to buy in Sinapore?

While in a mall called Vivo City this past Sunday, I happened into an electronic store. There, on a 42” LCD, was Killzone 2.

“That’s right,” I thought, “It came out this week!”

I quickly scanned the shelves: No KZ2. I looked for more games: No KZ2. I asked the chubby (very rare) salesgirl: “Not yet, only the demo. Maybe in a few weeks.” The energy drained from me; there went my idea of owning a Chinese copy of Killzone 2.

The next day (Monday), I went out in the evening with a fellow gamer. Karen owns a PS3 (a white one!), but plays very different games than I do. She likes Final Fantasy and RPG style games. She took me to Sim Lim Square: 360,000 square feet of electronic stores! We looked through the whole place and found only one copy of KillZone2: at the Sony story. So, for S$80 (about US$54 – no bargaining with a new release in the Sony Store) I purchased the English/Chinese version of KillZone 2. (I used my PlayStation credit card.)

It’s still in the shrink-wrap sitting in my hotel room – mocking me. I told myself I will not open it until I get home (I want to surprise ElMico). My plane is scheduled to arrive after 10 PM Friday night (06Mar2009), then I will join Alpha Team and teach the Helghast how to hold a StA52 Assult Rifle!

Anguissette in Asia

While here in Singapore, I had the awesome privilege of having dinner in a coworker’s home. I enjoyed a wonderful ‘Northern Chinese’ meal. And my coworker’s wife, Linda, was a pleasant hostess and a beautifully charming woman.But why am I telling you this in my PS3 blog? They also own a PlayStation3. It had been over 17 days since I last played my PS3 (no, that’s not 100% true: I played briefly at a duty free shop in Sydney airport). My fingers were itching to get back to the action. First let me tell you about a difference I found. The actions of the X and O buttons were switched – most notably in the XMB. This drove me nuts because I had to think rather than zip through choices by instinct. It also appeared in all the in-game menus – Select and Back were swapped. It must be a difference between the USA and Asian builds of the software. I began playing Little Big Planet. I introduced another co-worker to video games – she claimed to have never played them before. Starting with a cute game like LBP was the right move; very soon she was in full control and navigating through the beginning levels. Thank you ShuYun for letting me introduce you to the joys of gaming. Everyone in the room was laughing at the antics and actions of Sack Boy and Sack Girl. We made it through 2 ½ continents before switching to the more mature Call of Duty: World at War. My co-worker – who is farther than me in story mode – had never played multi-player online. I only played two games of DeathMatch to introduce him to the concept; then we moved to split screen co-operative mode. The violence, foul language, and subject matter did not have the same crowd-pleasing effect that LBP had. (LOL) We quickly switched to passing the controller around while playing some arcade classics. What a fabulous evening of food, fun, and friendship. After laying siege to North America, “Anguissette” has gone multinational from Singapore. Gamers are the same wherever you find them – except for that X and O swap.