Final Fantasy XIII

This game was very pretty, and it had bad voice acting, and it was boring, and stupid. -Libby

One of my favorite parts of this game was that everyone wore the same clothes all of the time, for days on end. And this reminds me of how at the very beginning of Final Fantasy VIII you could change your outfit from a biker suit and a feather boa to a boring navy blue school uniform for no reason. But in that game, you could eat hot dogs, or read through text that had to do with hot dogs. Nobody ever eats or uses the facilities or does anything but fight, except for one strange spot in the middle when one character says for no reason that he is tired and needs a rest. But even in the flashbacks to days ago, everyone is wearing the same outfit, like I wouldn't be able to recognize who anyone was unless they had the same colored stuff on.
One of the most hurtful parts of this game came at the very beginning, when I handed the controller to Libby and watched her press the circle button through hours of the needless, unnecessarily simplistic beginning of the game, which split up what would have been a five minute tutorial into a stupid show where 1% of the gameplay was unlocked. "A Stupid Show" is a pretty accurate description for this game, seeing as how one of the half-dozen full cg sequences where giant cliche monsters from Final Fantasy fight each other is actually a laser-light show display for the thin hapless white people who live in the game. The lesson of this game is that it is okay to murder everything when something is at stake. The only problem is that it was never clear exactly what was at stake until the last minute and a half before the credits, after defeating the easiest boss in the history of video games. I spent 60 hours playing this game all together, at least 15 of which must have come from progressing through the computerized menu screens, which I had to visit every time I wanted to make my characters stronger, or get them stronger weapons, or try to figure out how to make them the strongest, so I wouldn't die. And I died a few times, because this game is merciless in its ambiguity and ambivalence. I found myself asking a few too many times, "What is going on? Where are we going? What is happening right now?" which should be fine in any other scenario, except here I was expected to piece together the previous 13 days of a story I had nothing invested in and couldn't understand at all.
There are a few breaks from the monotony of the action which just make this game absurd. One great example is when Sazh's baby chocobo chic bird baby gets lost three times in a row in a chocobo garden, or something, and I had to walk from one side of a tiny level to the other, three times in a row, to find it, which was the only way to advance the story. Another situation in which, after beating a big metal bulldozer suit type thing, I get to control it for 3 minutes in which I casually walk through the level, stomping on enemies I would usually have to fight, smashing them out of the way while a bowling ball hitting the pins noise comes out of the speakers. Why did these things happen in this game? Nothing ever comes of them, and maybe the bulldozer part is referenced one other time in passing. Nevermind that the entirety of the "side quests" of which I completed a few but am not done with consist of "go over there and fight this monster".
Final Fantasy XIII also suffers from the problem that the Star Wars prequels suffer from. It is supposed to be for children, like it has fighting and monsters and brightly colored stunning visuals, but why does one character have to make a gesture like he is about to commit suicide with a handgun by blowing his brains out? Is that really appropriate for anything, ever? The game has its most compelling moment wrapped up in this type of display. The young boy whose mother was accidentally killed by the recklessness of an older man who becomes his ally has a strong urge to kill this man in revenge. At the end of the game, the older guy's fiance comes back to life, the afroed suicide prone guy is happy to get his son back, the main character who has no emotions and looks like a paperclip gets her sister back, who is also that one guy's fiance, but the young kid has nobody and nothing. His mother died in the first 15 minutes of the game and his father is impossible to care about because you only see him once and are left to presume that he dies in the terrible disaster that happens at the end of the game.
This game makes me not want to play another Final Fantasy game again, ever. They turned the summoned monsters into transformers, so enough is enough. One day I will be bored enough to get back into the game and play through the extra missions. But until then I am going to be looking for a game that is actually compelling.

Soul Calibur IV

Soul Calibur one was called Soul Edge, and I only ever saw it in arcade form. Soul Calibur was the sequel, on the Sega Dreamcast, and one of my favorite games for a while. I would play it with my friends after school at this kid's house which didn't have a microwave, which everyone would use to make fun of him. We would try to push one another off the stage to get an automatic win, aka a Ring Out. In Soul Calibur 2, which I had for the PS2, Todd McFarlene thought it would be a good idea if you could be Necrid, but he was wrong. I spent a lot of time playing Soul Calibur 3 during my senior year of college with my housemates. It was the go-to procrastination distraction. But Soul Calibur IV, of the 4 PS3 games I own, I have played the least. It's incredibly fun with friends and other people, and not so much alone or in the adventure mode. But I am giving it a much needed spin right now.
The main difference between Soul Calibur and Tekken or Street Fighter is that SC has a block button. Just hold the X button to protect yourself, press X and down to block low attacks. (Blocking became such a problem throughout the series that the designers added a fail-safe mechanic: if you block too much, your opponent gets a one-hit-kill attack. This is not the best idea that has ever been added to a game). It's three dimensional like Tekken, but all of the characters wield insane, impossible, ridiculous weapons that would destroy any type of person in one hit, easily. This makes SC the most unrealistic of the fighting games, which is why players must bring the most suspension of disbelief. Ironically, the designers determined that it also deserved the most realistic graphics, and they are quite nice. The only problem is that the characters' faces are not as cartoony as those from SF and not as stereotypically japanese and soulless as the ones from Tekken, and most of them have blue or green eyes. They are eerie, scary, and they fall directly into the uncanny valley. This makes the game creepy and uncomfortable.
Alright, enough background, I have to kill two lizardmans so I can ascend the tower of something or other. I have to fight 2 per stage, for 3 stages. Not the most difficult task, but annoying enough. I have 3 full characters to use. I can switch between them instantly in the middle of the match! I even got a treasure chest for doing a throw. It has a Wonder Jacket. Yes, you can customize your characters in this game too, and they do look silly. Oh, it took me two tries, and I made 18500 gold.
If you haven't guessed by now, yes, Soul Calibur is made by the same company that makes Tekken - Konami. The two games even have a character in common for no reason - Yoshimitsu. One more thing for which there is no reason - in Soul Calibur IV you can be Darth Vader and Yoda. But you have to buy Yoda, for $15 green american. Weird, right? Just shows you how desperate George Lucas is. Playing this game helps me remember why I don't play it at all - it is truly awful. They took everything that was fun and interesting about the originals and got rid of it all. Wow, I need to play some Noby Noby Boy to chill out.

Tekken 6 - Part 2

The first time I played Tekken 6 with my girlfriend, in a smokey arcade in Osaka, she beat me. We sat across from one another at two large cabinets, not side to side like we would at a classic fighting game. In between the best of 5 games of the match, I would stand up and walk around the corner to make a face at her. She beat me by pressing random, frenzied attacks in a technique known as "button mashing" - the most valuable tactic for a new player who has no knowledge, and no interest, in what the buttons do or how the game is played. I had been playing fighting games for years and had a pretty good idea of how the Tekken system worked, but that did not matter at all. Even players who spend days mastering the intricate combination chains and juggle attacks still achieve records of barely over 50%. One time I walked into an arcade and challenged some elementary school-aged kid, and after losing, beat him without being hit aka "perfectly" twice in a row, before losing again.
Tekken 6 has a progressive adventure mode, where you walk down streets with your pink-haired robot sidekick, and kill whoever appears. The controls are terrible, because it has to adjust from running around to locking on an enemy, and the experience is largely pointless. For example, I just beat a level, and I got an item for Bryan: Skull Jeans & Boots (Blue). I also got gold, 159,003 gold to be exact, which is hardly enough to buy a single piece of virtual attire. Oh, I also got Hardcore Leather Vest (Black). Maybe I will look cooler if I customize my character and put these on. Oh I got a sword for his left side, now I have two swords that I can't use. On this level, at the end is a giant robot who I can't beat because he has too much health. I have to figure out how to hit him off the edge of the level, but I can't, because I don't feel like it. There are crates in some spots. Some have money, others little chickens that go "Bok-bok" when you get them. I don't know what the chickens do, but I am glad they are there. Other crates have machine guns, or a flamethrower. For beating Dragunov, I unlocked a trophy on the Playstation Network. These are arbitrary little rewards that a game will give you every now and then. When you find another player online, you can look at the trophies they have from all the games they play, if you want to wait three minutes for the trophy indicator to load.
Tekken 6 is a complicated game. In Street Fighter, there are low attacks and high attacks. Regular block works against high attacks, crouch and block to prevent a low attack. Not so in Tekken. There are high, middle and low attacks. Exactly how blocking against them works, I have no idea. It is quite technical, with all of the side stepping, the possibility of throws, The different ways to stand back up, etc. In this way, playing a human opponent in Tekken 6 is very psychological. What will she do next? Sometimes players just nervously go back and forth for a while, each trying to read the opponent.
Right now I am trying over and over to beat the giant ugly boss of the game, on easy mode, in best of 5 games. It is difficult, because I do not want to study combos or anything like that. One more try and I am done playing for today. Well, that was fun.

Tekken 6 - Part 1

Tekken 6 is a serious video game. I mean that it is a videogame for serious people. I first learned about the Tekken franchise when I was very young, with Tekken 2, a videogame where you chose a character and tried to beat up another character until their health bar ran all the way out. Tekken 6 is the same game, but with 6 times as many characters to choose from. The difference between the Tekken 6 and games and the Street Fighter 4 is that while SF4 only lookd 3D, Tekken 6 actually is. This means you can go towards your opponent, or you can sidestep around them. Or you could just play it like it was Street Fighter, no big deal. I have a couple of wins under my belt in SF4, so I thought tonight, while I wait for some chicken to defrost, I would try my hand at Tekken 6 online.
In Tekken you can juggle your opponent. This means you can hit him into the air, where he cannot block, and then keep hitting him as many times as you can until he hits the floor and stands back up. Tekken is an unforgiving game in this way. I like to play with Bryan, who I customized to have green armor plates over blue jeans, and a white winter hat. My opponent is named Baek and we are fighting in an urban war zone. I have to do lots of cool moves if I want to win! I lose, perfectly. I never hit the ground. I can't be Bryan anymore because he is too slow. I will be Law instead, who is Bruce Lee. Hidden Forest, could it be? Lots of little sheep
bouncing around as we hit them. I do not stand a chance. I like the music though. Everyone who plays this game online does it all day. Nobody is a noobie (new player). Everyone has customized costumes that they earned by playing various modes for days. I guess I will be Anna, maybe she is wearing a red dress and I won't lose. Nope. I am going to make curry with that chicken, in case you were wondering. I guess I will try a ranked match, it can't go any worse than the last 4 I just played, or tried to play. Somehow I won one of the best of 5 games before getting perfected and beaten. I just want to win one match! The last player had 385 wins and 367 losses. With that character. I think I had what is the point of playing? That is the serious question that is posed every time to which there is still no answer. It is entertainment. I think it is because humans have become so disconnected, alienated really, from he processes and conditions that made us who we are. Tekken means 'iron fist' in Japanese. I think I just fought a polar bear dressed as a biker, with a fish on its back.
I finally win a match. Two games to zero. On a lucky kick. If you get within 1/10th of your health, you get much more powerful, for no reason. It doesn't count for anything, because it wasn't ranked. I win again, versus the same guy, who is playing as a character who has a big black wings and a shield. Now he changes characters.
I assume it's a male person on the other end of the line. He switches to the black ninja. I am Byran. I lose, and badly. I should be someone else, but who? Wang, the old Chinese man. I win against a black kickboxer, or something? It is all purely luck. I am wasting time with someone called ren-sho-toshie. I choose the question mark - random character. Christie, the Hispanic (?) dancer. Maybe Brazilian. I win the first game with a throw. It is almost time for me to eat chicken. He is using the devil guy again. Winning against this person makes me feel better. I guess I will be Bob, the morbidly obese blond American. Is there a strange stereo/archetype that isn't in this game? Bob has the best attack - a direct frontal assault with his enormous belly. I should add this guy to my online "Friends" of people I have only met in videogames. Maybe we would play later. Oh, his Bob has been customized with a sledgehammer that he cannot use. I just made a new friend who I know nothing about. Could be a computer program for all I know. I actually win a few times, it is kind of fun to win.
Connection to the opponent has been lost. Session disbanded. Returning to Lobby.

Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots Tactical Espionage Action

Too much has already been said about this game, but I will add anyway. This game is terrible. In addition to that, it is aware that it is terrible, and uses this self-knowledge to make a spectacle of itself. I am playing through the game for the second time. I can get new cool weapons this way, even though I was told very early on in my mission that engaging with the enemy is to be rejected in favor of sneaking around, crawling on my belly, in the shadows, blending in with the environment, and putting bad guys to sleep with tranquilizer guns. Right now I am trying to avoid being detected in a rebel base, because I haven't found the rebel uniform yet, which will confuse all of the rebels into thinking I am one of them. I have to play a little further to meet Drebin, who is a blonde haired black man who sells and "unlocks" guns and has a monkey that wears a diaper, drinks soda and smokes cigarettes. Once I get to Drebin I think I can buy guns at any point in the game, which is important because I want this one stun gun that is also a sniper rifle. I will need this if I want to beat the game without killing anyone, which is I think what I am trying to do. It is very possible that I only got noticed once and killed no people so far. I don't think I have the shotgun I want? I also don't remember how to choose the right ammo. I am just going to try to sneak through here without getting caught now. Ah someone saw me. It's ok I put him to sleep with the V-ring shotgun ammo. See, he has little Zzzzs he's not dead.
Okay, so right now I am in a cardboard box. This is where I am most comfortable. 55 Seconds until I am out of caution mode and I can keep going. Someone saw me. It was a mistake. Wonderful, I forgot I had the Middle Eastern disguise the entire time! Will these guys know I am Old Snake? "oh, you again," he says to me. All of his comrades are asleep in the other room because of me. Maybe they are up by now. Since I beat the game already, I have the formal suit and tie. The tie has a little tie clip on it. Can it be Drebin time? His big armored car says "EYE HAVE YOU" for no reason. This almost-pun is repeated throughout the game. Now I am watching a "cut-scene". This is where the vast majority of this game spends its time. I can skip it, but there's plot! And dialogue! And maybe momentary flashbacks to one of the other 3 Metal Gear Solid games that I can see if I press the right button at the right time!
Pause. Skip.
What's your take on him, Otacon?
Otacon is the biggest joke in the game. I hate him. The less said about him, the better. Skip.
Pause. Skip.
Now Loading...
At last, the gun I have been waiting for. The Mosin-Nagant, a modified sniper rifle that can make people Zzzz instead of die. It's blue so I know what's up. I buy it. I should buy some Emotion Rounds too. These are emotional bullets that can make my enemies do weird things. This game is weird, okay? And not that good.
Oh, the guy shitting his pants scene. This guy is a major part of the plot. Seriously. And don't think that him shitting his pants all the time is a running gag. It only goes on for 75% of the game.
Save.
Turn off system.
I have to wait 24 hours to check my playstation account again, since Sony's customer service people told me I was locked out.
A little more about this game, I guess. It was the only time I have ever been playing a game and thought, about a cinematic cut-scene, "Wow, it would be cool if I could play a videogame like that." This makes it a postmodern masterpiece of BS. I read this somewhere and it stuck with me. Now supposedly in the next game, you get to play as Raiden, and it's no longer Tactical Espionage Action but instead Lightning Bolt Action, and do stuff like this, but it's a prequel, so who cares?
MGS4GOTPTEA is constantly making fun of the player, and by that I mean me, personally, for having bought it and for devoting time to it. It is everything a game can be but nothing that it should be. If you watch the video in that last link, you should be aware that this game has something in common with Super Street Fighter IV (4): it is mostly about thighs. Huge, bulging, impossible thighs that can only be imagined and constructed with polygons by the most state of the art technology from several years ago. If you watch it to the end, you will also hear and read what is one of the best lines in the game and quite representative of the entire experience:

"He needs a blood transfusion....
No, an infusion of artificial blood...."

It should be no surprise that this game is considered one of the best titles for the PS3. There are people who get paid to play games all day and write about them who have put together more than a few lists which even fairly recently declare this to be the #1 best game for the platform. Keep in mind that this is the 3rd sequel to a game that is a generational followup to a series of games that is literally as old as I am, and that if you aren't a dedicated follower of the storyline throughout each single game, you will not only have no emotional investment in the trials and tribulations of the bland, silly characters, you will have no idea what is going on at all.
But it looks nice.
It looked, well, crappy when I had to just play it for a half hour, because I was underground or in a collapsed building and the only way to know where I was going was to use the Ultraviolet sensor, which made everything that wasn't a wall look like a giant white glowing shape. But that is part of how Hideo Kojima, the bastard who made this a reality, has his tongue permanently adhered to the inside of his cheek. Metal Gear Solid 4 is a five day joke without a punchline. Actually, the punchline has to be that you just sat through a week-long joke.

Super Street Fighter IV

I just tried to download the Resurgence map pack for Modern Warfare 2 and it didn't work so I am going to play the pixel junk shooter demo that I downloaded yesterday instead. Today's experience is going to be about Super Street Fighter IV. The third level of pixel junk shooter is where I am. I know that games like this start simple and get harder with each level, it is the designers' way of lulling the audience into a false sense of complacency, after which very tricky situations are presented which I should know how to deal with them already. In this game I have to fly around a 2 dimensional cave world and rescue trapped minors, kind of like West Virginia in space, only there are laser turrets and weird creatures trying to kill me. I have to shoot them with my guns and missiles, but if I kill an innocent miner, it's just too bad for that person's family, I guess. The game is only interesting because of how strange the controls are. The right analog stick controls where my offense fires, but it only jerks around in random spins and never really goes where I want it to. I will play this game until I get frustrated and die. Oh great, giant crab spider monster. Do not get hit by the spider's leg and do not go into the lava. To be continued... It was only a demo. I think the real game is $5. So let me try to buy the map pack again, and then I will stand up to physically place the SSFIV disc into the PS3.
An error has occured. (80023102)
My first encounter with such an error. Very damaging to my faith in the Playstation Network, which so far has been very kind to me. The funds could not be added to your wallet. This is just as if not more frustrating than any actual game could be. I am using the PS3's internet browser to search for the error it gave me, and of course, the PS3's internet browser cannot display the Playstation Network's own message boards. Kind of like how Google's browser, Chrome, can't display embedded youtube videos, even though Google owns youtube. Oh, Here is a story from May, when the first map pack came out, about how heavy traffic broke the Playstation Network's online software store and produced this error.
Okay I have my Ritz and cheese and water. I am ready to play a videogame. Now I am using a big "Fighting Stick 3", which an arcade-style joystick and 8 buttons instead of a little controller. I should practice a little before I start doing anything serious. The intro cinematic is playing now, it is 2 grown men fighting eachother and there are black and white wavy lines flying all around them. One is American and blond, the other is Japanese and he has dark hair. The only strange thing about what is going on here is that these two men are clearly fighting by a beach, or outdoors, and not on the street. I am not good enough with Sagat, which is a shame because I wish I was.
I was wrong. This game is the most frustrating thing in the entire world. The small number of "Battle points" that I remember accumulating from my one online win are totally gone from constantly being depleted after too many losses. After a little bit of training, which is attacking a lifeless opponent, and some trials, which is inputting a series of, at first easy but increasingly impossible button combinations, I try to play online versus other people who either do this all day or are beginners like I am. I lose two street fights by an invisible amount of health with Sagat. I try to play against someone from Greece. You can see where your opponent is located via a little flag next to their name. Mine says I am from the USA even though I am in Japan, because my account is registered in the USA. I need to choose a new character. I choose Sakura, who is a girl in a high school uniform. Her skirt is very short and you can see her thighs. Her thighs have thighs. Thighs are the main point of this game. I am fighting Juri. Juri is evil, you can tell by her outfit and mannerisms. People who play as Juri are too. I do a super move. No an ultra. These change the camera angles and are extra dramatic. Just getting it to connect is enough for me, but I lost, badly. I had poor timing and I misjudged when my opponent would stand up. This next person is from Hong Kong. Now I have to fight Ibuki who is a ninja girl, in West Asia, on the street. I have absolutely no skills. People get points for beating me even though I have none. Now I have to fight T Hawk, who is a racist idea of a native American. Each round I unlock a new costume color or taunt. This person is from France. I can't be Sakura. I have to be Dhaslim, the Indian Yoga master. Another Juri. I win one game. It doesn't matter. It's the most demoralizing thing a person can do - play this game alone, by myself, in my house, against someone else, who is also alone, who I can't interact with at all. I only bought this game to play with my girlfriend. It's much more fun to sit next to someone and play.
I am waiting for my American opponent to start a game. He doesn't so I try to find another. I want to win at least 1 match. Now a Japanese player. He chooses Ken, the blond character from the opening. Why am I still being Dhaslim? He is the slowest character in the game. Back to Sakura. I am fighting someone from the UK who is playing as Guile, the American soldier with a blonde flat top haircut. I am hopeless. I must have plaid ten matches, without winning 1.
Yes finally I win a match versus a Ken, who is from Japan, with an ultra move. It took all of my aggression and frustration to get here. +70 battle points and +75 player points. The key is to stay very close and never get too far away. Maybe one more. Fists will fly at this location. Pointless. Most people take this game very seriously. I do not think I am one of them. But I wish I was.
I try to buy the map pack and game that I want, called Infamous, from the Playstaion store. It doesn't work.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2

Full disclosure - I own stock in the company that is responsible for call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I thought that the new map pack, priced at $15 for five maps, two of which are refurbished maps from older games and three of which are new, was coming out today, July 6th, for the PS3. But probably because I am in Japan I am going to have to wait until tomorrow. So I won't be able to play on the new Resurgence maps, but I will get to play on the last Stimulus Package pack, because I bought that one a few months ago when it came out. I like to play online multiplayer deathmatch.
Right now I am second prestige level 70, which means I went through all 70 experience levels and started over again at 0, just for the heck of it. I could restart again now for my "third time's the charm" but I don't feel like unlocking all of the weapons again. I want to get as many titles and emlems, little graphics you identify with in game, as I can right now. For example, right now I have Stunner Veteran, words over some gray smoke and two skull profiles at the ends of a long rectangle as my title, which I got for getting 75 kills while I was stunned by a stun grenade. I'm having trouble choosing an emblem. What little colorful picture, indicating something I have unlocked, looks the best with this title? A knife with red lines coming out at various angles. I think I got this one for ending a game, getting the final kill, with a throwing knife, which was difficult and took multiple failed attempts and a lot of timing.
Let's find a game already. Mercenary team deathmatch, so teams can't gang up on me. Oh Scrapyard, I like this level, it's not too big or small. I want to kill people.
oh thank goodness we won, 7500 to 6700. It was neck and neck the entire time. Most headshots, longest distance traveled, and most flashbang hits for me. 8 kills and 5 assists, 14 deaths. Whichever team gets the most kills wins. If you get killed, you just respawn at the other end of the level and try again until on team gets 75 kills or time runs out. Usually it's 10 minutes, I think.
Videogames use the word 'respawn' incorrectly. Fish go to one end of a river to spawn, to mate and lay eggs, right? in videogames, when you die, you respawn, you are born again.
I quit that game room because there was a sniper who I didn't like. This game is on terminal, the airport level. We won again, 7500 to 4700. The other team only had 4 people, 2 must have quit or something. Most assists, Most avenger kills (when I avenge a teammate) and most paybacks (when I kill someone who just killed me). Wingman, Avenger, Vengeful. These add up every time you play. It's my 75th Avenger accolade. I should just be running around stabbing people. But I want to get more colorful icons and titles.
I like this game because it is cinematic and exciting. Someone runs around the corner and just as he about to shoot me to death, someone on my team blows his body across the screen with a grenade. I walk into an empty room only to find a claymore mine, which *tick*s and then kills me. I use my Last Stand perk to stay alive on the ground for an extra moment and defeat my enemy with my handgun. Now we lost. I got annoyed at my entire team standing around. So I antagonized one teammate sniper by standing in front of him and harmlessly shooting. Friendly fire is off on these games. Should I keep playing? I need a drink of water.
At some point I unlocked a new scope for the rifle I was using. I need 116 kills, 8 shot down planes or helicopters, and 11 near death kills for the achievements I want. I should be able to get the 116 in the next few days, before I have to give this game back to my friend who lent it to me. I am looking foward to that, so I won't be able to play until I buy it for myself and access my player profile again through the Playstation Network. I get a cup of water and turn on the voicechat volume, which I never do, to see what people are talking about. It's just too stuffy in here, so I turn on the AC. I am not playing well. Turned too many corners only to get stabbed. As an excuse, I didn't like that map. It was too big and overgrown with vegetation; hard to see the enemy. Well, the name of the map is Overgrown.
When my team loses it's never my fault, it's always everyone else on my team who refuses to play. I don't know if I am playing with 7 year olds or seasoned veterans who do this all day, or 7 year olds who also do this all day. Now I have to set a goal for myself, something immediate so I can know when to stop playing. 9 more kills with the new rifle scope, and I unlock the thermal, and that's enough for today. I didn't notice that I have a missed call. If it's important, s/he will call back. I've been playing for an hour and change. Airport level again. Okay that one was kind of fun. I hid behind a lunch counter and tried to stay alive. I lasted about four minutes and got five kills without dying. Fewest deaths, most headshots, killed entire enemy team. 3 more kills. Thermal Scope unlocked. There is no such thing as a fair game. Either we are short a player, or they are, or they are all seven year olds, or everyone on my team is. And if things are evenly matched all the way to the end, one team gets that extra kill slightly sooner by total luck. Nobody is talking about anything. One person hisses into the microphone. Revenge, Marksman, Blinder.