The First Droid Malfunction.

I was one of those who had to have the Droid when it came out (or the day after in my case). I get it Saturday afternoon, use all through the day, show it off at a party I go to, use it GPS myself home (Poughkeepsie to Branford, 2 hours) and everything else one would do with a new gadget. Then suddenly, out of no where, the screen stops working. I rip off the invisishield thinking it is the culprit. I was wrong, I try a hard reset (losing everything I downloaded in a 24 hour period, which wasn’t a lot). Did that, nothing. Now I don’t know if it was hardware or software related but what I do know is that Android still kicks ass. Why? Well, let’s continue the story. I bring it back today to Best Buy hoping to get a replacement. They had one and I got a replacement and another invisishield (i was assumed it wasn’t the invisishield). They set up and bim-bam-boom I’m out the door. On a side note, I once hated everything Best Buy, but after the awesome Customer Service in Wireless (North Haven Store) I’ve had a change of heart. Anyway, here’s where it gets crazy. I drive home, 20 minutes, with out really going through my phone. I check on it as I walk through the door and I stop dead in my tracks. My old wallpaper is in place (same as the banner at the top of my blog). Now remember, the new unit went from the box, to the BB guys possession, then to my pocket. I hadn’t a chance to change anything let alone switch micro SD cards. I go an check my contacts: they’re all there. My apps? There too. I didn’t have to sift through anything. My settings, probably the same but I was soo excited I decided to share this first. Basically, google clouds all my data. Everything from my contacts to my wallpaper. Android and Google is the closest thing to skynet today(no pun intended), but without the kill all humans apocalypse thing. So if you’re on the wall with Droid, I’d suggest getting it. I’ve come to the conclusion it was the software because while in recovery mode, it gave an error that had to do with its insides. So it’s not the handset, but something with Android 2.0, which could easily be fixed with future updates. Unlike faulty hardware (Storm? Tour?), the OS is fixable.

The most baffling point system devised by man: the SingStar Rap Meter

I’ve had singstar since it first appeared on US shelves a few years back and have purchased most of the volumes since then.  I’m not the best singer, but I do score in the 9500s frequently on easy and just break the 9000 mark on medium. But the one thing I (and many fellow players on the internet) have been utterly disgraced by is the whole rapping part of the game. How the hell is it done? I’ll get a good steak of 2 or 3 “good” and then suddenly without changing anything in my ‘rapping’, I get a dozen “awful.” Anyone who may come across this, please leave a comment with some insight on how to beat the rap meter. Please, I’m begging you all!

This is how I rap: Be on time with every word and verse and match pitch. Don’t talk the words but don’t sing them either. Pretty much do what you would do in the game and mimic the singer/rapper. But this doesn’t work all the time. Why? Damn you SingStar Rap Meter. Damn you.

Amon Tobin, why have you sunk so low?

So I haven’t blogged in a while. Anyway what’s up with the Cartoon Network using Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory music (which by the way was the best of the Splinter Cells)? During the Zathura and Star Wars Clone Wars commercials the play Amon Tobin’s “Ruthless (Reprise)” form Spinter Cell: Chaos Theory. Or was it “The Lighthouse.” It also could of been “El Cargo.” The reason I write this because I know there’s someone out there going, “What the **** is that song?!” Well now you know.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Boss Battles

Boss battles, everyone hates them. Some take brute force, others take cunning and wit. And others take 10 minutes online looking for the solution. I’m writing all of these about 4 days after I first beat the game (15 ish hours), so they aren’t too descript. So here they are, the boss battles, on Solid mode:

Warning: Contains Spoliers, kind of.

How to beat Laughing Octopus:

Easy. Equipped Rations + A4 / M60. Shoot her, throw grenades. Watch out for those little homing things. When her life’s low enough, she’ll start rolling around. Get on something high. There’s also a part where she disguises herself as Metal Gear Mk. II. Don’t go near it. You’ll explode (I learned that the hard way). At certain phases she goes stealth and you can barely see her. She’ll either be hiding in the outside halls against the wall, in front of the picture, on the ceiling, or in the MRI machine. For the first half, I ran around in the center shooting and retreating. Then spent the last part in a corner of the halls. After her exoskeleton is off, she goes all weird and tries to grab you. Kill her or knock her out with the Tranq. NOT killing her gets you a special face camo Laughing Octopus. That’s basically it.

How to beat Raging Raven:

This one was also pretty easy. Equipped Rations + M60 / A4. I ran to the top and just kept shooting at everything. You can hide in the center room when she and her drones start firing at you. I tried the RPG, didn’t work to well, didn’t use the Stinger but will try second time through. Human form same rules. Easy.

How to beat Crying Wolf:

Just like Sniper Wolf, but with extra enemies. Equppied Rations and DSR / P90 and also used the M14 and A4 a lot. First I ran to a truck to the right and hid under there and shot at her and the Haven Troops. You’re also kind of safe from her rage attack where she drops those grenades. After awhile (at about 1/4 her health) she stops going over there. I moved to the Structure to the left that goes up high. and stood in the back, got down and saw her on the hill. Shouldn’t take too long. When it’s in alert, Wolf will set up ahead of you, so I’d try to get their attention by throwing grenades 100 to 200 meters ahead of me. Then human form, kill or no kill.

Vamp:

(http://ace4xtreme.wordpress.com/2008/06/13/how-to-beat-vamp/

How to beat Metal Gear Ray:

Easy. Strafe, shoot, kick( R1 when not holding L1) ,and button actions, repeat. Actually took me a second time. Don’t let Ray get into a combo, Raytakes more life away. Pretty much just shoot him before he shoots you. Takes quick reaction time. Kind of.
How to beat Screaming Mantis:

This takes some time. First you’ll need to inject your self with the syringe to escape her control. When she attacks and you get caught, just use it again. If the Haven Zombies get close, roll to get away. Then you need to shoot the string holding her dolls, when their shot off, collect them. There will also be a part where she has Meryl attack you (deja vu, i.e. MGS). Use the tranq gun. Once you have the dolls, use one of them (can’t remember now, but you’ll figure it out) and shoot her. Shake the controller and it should all be over. Then human form, same ‘ol dance. Then the boss battles over, really, it is.

How to beat Liquid Ocelot/Liquid Snake/Young Ocelot/Whatever:

Just fight. There’ll be points where you can do button commands. You can also CQC/Counter him, timing has to be on. The more he’s hurt, the harder it gets (duh), so use L1 + X + Direc to dodge.

Is that it? I think it is.

How to get South American Disguise

Okay, so it’s my second time through and I want get the second disguise for south america. Problem is, all the cheat sites don’t specifically state how to get it in the first area of South America. First I tried killing everyone. Then tried waiting until the militia was all executed. Third (and an hour and a half later), I decided to free them all. Turns out, that’s how it’s done. They unlock a shed to the right of the start point. Inside there’s a disguise and a double barrel shotgun (and other stuff). So yeah, that’s how you get it.

Oh yeah, in both the levels with militia, help ‘em out.

How to Beat Vamp!

So on my third try, I finally got it. How does one beat Vamp in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Easy. Use the syringe! Get him in CQC (I used the knife.) But first I got all his health and psych down to the last sliver, then worked on the Syringe. After that, you fight gecko’s and after the last self-destruct one is destroyed, Raiden kills vamp. It was one of the worst boss battles I’ve ever faced.

[EDIT]

Equipped Rations + A4 / P90 / M60 / Tranq Gun / Shock Knife. This is how I beat him, get both Vamp’s LIFE and PSYCH down to the last sliver (not killing him, just so the meter is very very small). Of course you have to dodge those damn knives, I usually run around in the rubble when he does that. Once you have Vamps meters down you have to inject the syringe. Equip the Syringe + Shock knife. Get in the lift where you begin. Run around rolling and evading (L1 + X + “Left Stick Direction” works good). When you get the chance behind his back, you have to CQC him with R1 (don’t throw him down). Get him in the head lock and then the Icon will pop up (Triangle To Syringe). Snake’ll inject Vamp and that parts done!

The next part is to take out the GEKKOs with the Rail Gun. Shoot the ones with red lights. They’ll Self Destruct if you don’t and you’ll lose. Kill the others if they get to close. Once the last one is destroyed, it’ll cutscene. Done.

[EDIT 9-1-08]

Some people are still having trouble with him while others say it’s easy. Well, it depends on the difficulty and the player. The only thing that will get you past part A of this battle is the syringe and don’t try to CQC him, attack from the rear! (that’s what she said).  So keep running and dodging. I think having his psyche low makes it easier to grab him, but I haven’t played it in a while so experiment. Have fun, and make sure you have plenty of controllers handy

In the summer time…

…when the weather is hot, you can stretch right up and touch the sky. Etc, etc. Freshman year at college is over, and summer has begun! These are some things I’m purchasing that will make summer awesome, and I suggest you get some too.

1) 25 mile range walkie talkies. Who doesn’t like walkie talkies? [got it]

2) New Bluetooth Headset. I lost my old one, somehow. This one’s a got a cradle, noise canceling and wind reduction! [got it]

3) New digital camera. Mine is currently 5.1 MP, I bought a 8.1 but was like, “That’s only 3 more MP, I need to double my megapixel count!” I’m getting a 10 MP. Cameras are a summer must.

4) A GPS. Even though I know how to get to anywhere I need to go, sometimes. Anyway, they are fun to have.

5) New sound system for the car. Because mine are starting to crackle.

6?)Maybe a drum set. I already bought a lot of new Zildjians, but I need a new shell pack. Especially the ban.

I think that’s it. With my fun and easy jobs, it shouldn’t be too hard.

I’m looking for a song…

Okay, so this song has been around for a long time. I think it’s from an opera. It’s an aria, male bass, I think. The mood is like something terrible is about to happen. That’s all I can come up with. Oh it’s not figaro and it was featured Camp Lazlo, when Lazlo wants Gretchen “Taken Care Of.”

MGO Online Beta! But not for me.

Okay, first off let me say that I absolutely love the Metal Gear Solid Series (that means starting from the Solid, not the first two, I never played them). Second, I reserved and are still planning on getting the Special Edition MGS4. But as for the beta they promised us reserve-rs, they royally suck. So let me tell you how this went. I woke up the day of the DVD release, I didn’t expect a huge line but I wanted it down by class my first at 1:40. The guy told me to come back after 3:00, so I did just that. As soon as I got out at 2:55, I drove SAFELY back to my local GameStop, got my copy and darted—I mean SAFELY drove back to UNH. I showed my friend in class and watched the entire DVD all through class. Who needs Java anyway? But upon opening my package and looking at the code, I noticed something very strange. The code was 9 characters long. A normal key code for stuff is 12, 1234-5678-90ab., or a multiple of 4, I think. I said to my self, “That’s odd, well maybe it’s a konami thing.” Download day arrived and I go to put it in and it gives me an invalid code message, so I try all CAPS. No luck. I try filling the empty spaces with 0s. Nothing. I was royally (warning: expletive) pissed. I went on line and googled MGO Beta Code. And got a hit saying many codes were invalid, like 3000 or something. I emailed them and didn’t get a response from the first time. I find out May 2 that you can email their code to them and get a working one or something. I did that the next day, May 3. This was my response (with my included reply):

ME: “WHOA! I sent the email Saturday. I didn’t find out until Friday from a friend that I could email it you and you failed to email me back with instructions. I should be able to download it like whenever I want. I even reserved the special edition. This is how you treat your customers?”

On May 6, 2008, at 5:34 PM, MGO Beta Support wrote:

Dear Konami Customer,

Thank you for contacting Konami Support.

We regret to inform you that at this point it is no longer possible to use your unique voucher code to participate in the MGO Beta.

The Download period closed on Monday May the 5th.

Thank you for your interest in our products.

Regards,
Metal Gear Online Customer Support
mgobetasupport@konami.com

What is this malarkey? The first time I emailed them, they should have emailed me back saying I could send it in and they’d send a new one. But they didn’t. This poor customer service to the max, like HP customer support or Windows customer support, but, just, yeah, I can’t even find the words. How could they do that to one of their loyal fans, who’s been there from the Solid beginning. I’m still getting the game though, and I feel this’ll never get resolved, but If you are reading this Hideo, tell MGO support and Konami to get their acts straight. This is like the Rock Band / Guitar Hero 3 guitar debacle.

pce

Ace

Cartoons

Okay, so I’m about to go to work now, and thought, “Hey I haven’t blogged in a while.” So let me catch you up to speed. There’s a big Frisbee tournament this Friday and I have responsibilities! I get to get Gatorade, a camera, some other stuff. I’m movin’ up in the world. I just recently failed a exam I just had. So, yeh, that wasn’t too exciting. But the band will be together again. It’s been like 2 months.

Here’s something else some of you may find interesting. The voice of Spongebob, Tom Kenny, is like a voice on almost every major cartoon on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. He’s also the voice of Lumpus and Slinkman form Camp Lazlo, Jake Spidermonkey from My Gym Partner’s a monkey, and probably others. I’d check but I have to leave soon. So are a lot of voice actors. Deputy Garcia from Reno! 911 is the voice of Clam and Lazlo on Camp Lazlo. IMDB has like everything you’d need to know about actors, as in what they’ve worked on. It’s pretty informative. I suggest you readers surf it sometime. If already haven’t figured it out all I watch is cartoons. Aside from that I’ll watch my occasional sporting event, whatever’s popular. Discovery channel, food network, science, and the best of them, Seinfeld (and some time Everybody Loves Raymond). Comedy is the best genre. Ever. You heard it here.

pce

Ace