Mr PMS Blog

The Waiting Game

2011-02-04T04:33:00Z

Now I know that most of you are looking at this title and are instantly thinking "Yea, I hate waiting for new games to come out! Why is this game delayed! I would kill a man to get this game in my hands right now!"

This is not that blog.

The "waiting game" I am actually referring to is something slightly more complex, so let me just jump straight to the point. I've been waiting for Dead Space 2 since it was announced. I am a huge fan of the original and loved the demos that I did get a chance to play. Was the first game I preordered when I moved to a new state and went straight after work to Gamestop to pick it up the day it came out.

So why is it still sitting on my counter in it's wrapping still?

Honestly, I can not really give you a solid reason on to why I tend to do this more and more with the games I purchase. During the whole crazy black friday amazon deals, I picked up three games: Bayonetta, 3D Dot Hero and Enslaved. I played roughly three hours of Enslaved, about an hour of Bayonetta and Dot Hero is still in it's shrink wrap. And out of all the games I wanted to play the most after I purchased it, that was the single game I was more excited to play during the holidays. Same thing for God of War 3. I literally had it in it's wrapper for a good 6 months before I finally opened it and played it in November. Why I waited that long to play a game I payed full price for at launch is beyond me. And don't get me started on the 20+ odd games I downloaded on steam during their sale period which haven't even been launched yet.

The only idea I have is that my real life is slowing catching up to me to the point that playing a game on launch is not nearly as appealing to me anymore. It is not like I have a huge backlog of games that I am playing through before I play it either. I get home from work, I do some things around the house, and then I either jump on the interweb or turn on the tv. Currently the only game I have been playing is WoW since joining back, and before everyone and their mother goes "Well THATS the problem," I did not pick that up until near the end of December, so the only game that has any relevance to the topic is Dead Space 2. And even with that, I've honestly have not had the desire to pop in the game when I don't feel like playing wow, in which I have been opting to watch movies or tv instead.

Honestly I don't think I'll ever fully understand it myself. I still find myself waiting eagerly for the games to come out, apparently just not eager enough to play them.

The Most Popular Blog Ever?

2010-04-28T08:01:00Z

So out of boredom, I decided to check my older blogs and see what silly things I wrote. But as I was looking at them, I noticed something strange for one of my L4D ones.

Holy Crap! Apparently this single blog was viewed over 92k+ times! I checked to see if what similiar blogs might be, maybe it was a small number. Apparently number two is 32k+. Now, if you check most viewed for user blogs it wont show up because I am a moderator, but I still haven't seen a blog with that many views.

Apparently I write gospel when it comes to L4D strats...

A Tribute To The Greatest Man To Ever Live

2010-04-23T06:10:00Z

You will be missed you crazy old ***

What You Should Be Listening To: The Empire Strikes pinBack

2009-11-07T04:32:00Z

Hey everyone, sorry for the delay on this week's blog, I got to pay the bills afterall. But this band is one of my favorites and can't wait to share with everyone. I present to you....

Pinback

Pinback is a local San Diego based indie rock band. Not hugely known, for some odd reason, but really one of the shining jewels to come out of San Diego. Formed back in 1998, singer/songwriter Armistad Burwell Smith IV (also known as Zack Smith from Three Mile Pilot) and Rob Crow, their unique sounding music has captivated the city. They currently switch on and off between two drummers, Chris Prescott and Tom Zinser.

Zack is also known for his unique Bass style, in which he incorporates not only the standard strumming, but slapping and popping throughout his songs. Zack is the instrumental powerhouse of the band, while Rob writes the lyrical aspect of the songs.

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Fortress

The band is also very adamant about keeping the indie style to their music, refusing to go mainstream in fear of losing their unique sound to corporate pressure. They also give out limited EPs out during their concerts to their fans, which honestly is pretty *** cool if you ask me.

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From Nothing to Nowhere

So far they have released a four albums: This is Pinback, Blue Screen Life, Summer in Abaddon, and Autumn of the Seraphs. They are currently working on a fifth album to be released in 2010. Personally, Summer in Abaddon is my favorite of the albums.

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Non Photo Blue

I've been listening to the band since '04, and totally fell in love with them instantly when they played live on a local radio station.

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AFK

So I hope you enjoyed my entry this week, at the very end of this blog will be more videos/interviews from Pinback. But as promised I will be taking another user's submission and adding it to this blog. There was confusion with the person's blog I was going to originally post, so made some last second changes. So without further adieu...

Arob777 presents.....

Working For a Nuclear Free City (WFANFC) is an Indie/Alternative rock band originating form Manchester, England. In 1999 they began as a studio band with Phil Kay on the keyboard (he also produced) and Gary McClure on guitar. After adding a full time drummer (John Kay) and bassist (Ed Hulme) in 2004 they began touring live around England.

Their first full studio album Working For a Nuclear Free City was released in 2006 in the UK only. The first American release was Businessman & Ghosts, a double album. The first half includes their entire first self-titled album, with the second half being completely new material. Their latest piece of music can be found at the end credits of the PS3 game InFamous (which is where I discovered them). It's titled Silent Melody and is available on iTunes. An interesting origin of their long obscure name comes from the bands MySpace page. "It was robbed of a Manchester City Council sign from the Cold War era. On entering the city the signs would read, Welcome To Manchester - Working For A Nuclear Free City."

Their main influences consist of Devo, The Grateful Dead and an English Electronic group called The Chemical Brothers. I find Devo and The Chemical Brothers to be major influences on this band as their sound is definitely electronically influenced.

After listening to the credit song of InFamous I was instantly in love, and bought the entire album that night. Here is the song from InFamous:

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This is probably the song with the most electronic influence, and since it is their most recent song it may be what we see on their future works.

The title track of a UK released EP. Good song, shows their acoustic side. Don't be expecting many electric guitars with these guys synthesizers, pianos and acoustic guitars will be the driving force of all you hear.

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Here are some more of their indie/alternative sides. These next two songs are probably my two favorites. Just click on the link to take you to a player which should play the song.

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England

Some of the bands more upbeat/electronic side:

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Innocence

Youtube videos are hard to find of this band, mostly because of their obscurity in America. At least that is the best explanation I have.

Here are just some more samples from youtube:

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Basically, I would tell you to buy the whole album. If you like what you heard you can't go wrong. When you listen to it front to back you want more. 29 tracks for $11.99 on iTunes is a great deal which is why I had to pick it up so quickly.

There are no plans for a follow up album, or at least nothing I could find, but I would bet one is in the works.

Thank you Arob for that selection, completely unedited (except for fixing the videos). I really enjoyed your selection and will definitely be checking them out more. Everyone else, be sure to send me your suggestions, preferably just like Arob sent me his!

More Pinback music/interviews

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What You Should Be Listening To: A Weekly Musical Blog - 1st Edition

2009-10-28T07:56:30Z

Hey Everyone

This weekly blog will feature Artists and Bands that you should be listening to, no excuses. This is an offshoot of Knuckle's Music Your Not Listening To (But Totally Should Be) , just on a larger, more detailed level. Each week I will tracking through an artist, their history and their albums. This blog will not be reduced to "This band is awesome cause I say so". Also not to be confused with Les Legions Noires' musically inspired blogs, my entries will be more Indie/Alternative music, opposed to his punk/metal blogs.

There is also one other difference with this blog: I will be asking and posting user submitted entries each week. One (or two) users will be selected based on their submission to be included in the upcoming blogs, though like I said, this blog will not be one sentence posts saying LISTEN TO THIS!!!!!!, so each submitter has to make a quality post detailing why this artist deserves to be featured. I will be accepting submissions through the Conversation feature, so please send all entries there.

But without further adieu, this weeks feature artist:

Florence + The Machine

Florence and The Machine is an indie/alternative band from London, England that came to be in '07. Florence Welsh's talent was discovered in the bathroom toilet, drunkenly singing Motown songs. Since then she started recording music and touring with friends and other collaborating artists. The current touring line up includes Florence (vocals), Robert Ackroyd (guitar), Isabella Summers (keyboard), Tom Monger(harp) and Christopher Lloyd Hayden (drums). Florence and The Machine have been dubbed "soul inspired indie rock".

The debut album, Lungs, was released in July 2009, which stayed in the number 2 position for five straight weeks in the UK, right behind Michael Jackson. Their debut single "Kiss With A Fist" was also part of the Jennifer's Body soundtrack. A deluxe version of Lungs can be found on iTunes for a total of 19 songs at the mere cost of $13.99, or less than a dollar a song for great steal.

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Live version of "Dog Days Are Over"

Other notable singles are "Rabbit Heart (Raise Up)", "Cosmic Love" and my personal favorite "Dog Days Are Over".

I discovered Florence and the Machine through Last.fm's recommended station that was tailored for my taste in music. After hearing a good portion of their album I started to look up more of them through youtube and quickly feel in love with them. Their music is very similar to other notably great artists: Feist, Eisley and Yeah Yeah Yeah's Karen O.

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"Kiss With A Fist"

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"Cosmic Love"

That is it for this week's edition of What You Should Be Listening To,and I hope you enjoyed this week's artist. As I stated before, I want submissions from you guys so I can add them into each weekly blog as contributors. So send me your music via conversation and I'll try to add it in.

And now for some random videos and interviews:

Interviews: (Please visit the site to view this media) (Please visit the site to view this media) (Please visit the site to view this media)

Other notable songs/covers: (Please visit the site to view this media) (Please visit the site to view this media) (Please visit the site to view this media) (Please visit the site to view this media)

All pictures courtesy of Last.fm, videos via YouTube (duh).

Leaked Left 4 Dead 2 trailer

2009-10-23T03:06:04Z

Dear Lord it is beautiful.

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A GI Public Service Announcement: How to Protect Your Children on the New Site

2009-10-12T07:32:54Z

Hello again everyone, how are you doing? Good? Well that is fantastic.

Today, I would like to bring up a very important public service announcement to all the GI users, old and new. One that I know will tug at the heartstrings of many of our users:

CHILDREN

After you are done going "Awwwwwwww", lets discuss how being a good member can protect your children and the children of others.

You should be right about now going "Bwah? Protecting my children? What ever do you mean Mr PMS?!".

Well the truth is, us mods and staff members have more power than you can possibly imagine. We are like He-Man and Voltron put together. Yea, I know, pretty badass. And with this great power, we have to ability to do great things....and horrible things.

What horrible things you might ask? Well let me show you!

THAT IS RIGHT! I CAN DELETE YOUR CHILDREN AT MY LEISURE!

Ahem....

But I digress, I do not enjoy deleting generations of children. It is all pretty messy and frankly alot of people stop inviting me to their ice cream socials. But look on the bright side! Atleast I am sending you a notification that I have deleted your spawn.

So how can you avoid such a fate?

It's quite simple! By being a good user! Do not troll, post horrible, horrible things, or steal another man's wife and everything should be fine!

Seriously, it is no fun when I have to look at this and check the box.

It really brings down my day. Unless they are crying like this, but louder. Then I delete them twice as fast and call it a day. The other Mods and I rather not have to make a "Baby Deletion of the Week" thread, but will if duty calls.

So there you go folks!

Be good users and your legacy might one day grow up to resent you and wreck your car.

Left 4 Dead: How To Not Work As A Team And Win

2009-10-12T07:32:35Z

You might be looking at that poster, either thinking two things: My god that is ***! Or, why is that studmuffin Rambo on my L4D poster? Well yes, it is ***, and there is a reason he is there.

Rambo is the style of successful gamemode in Left 4 Dead that has received praise and infamy among people. 50% of the time, it works 100% of the time.

To properly explain how to Rambo, you need to think about how to play Left 4 Dead. Now that you have that thought, please proceed to throw it out the window. Your pitiful ideas of "teamwork" won't help you here.

The wussy way of playing L4D. Also comes with a mommy to hold your hand.

You are now John Rambo incarnate. One man army? Check. Total ***? Check. Makes everyone look like a girl scout? Checkity Check Check.

The only person that you should rely on is yourself. The thing you should care about is getting to the saferoom. You have one objective: Make it to the saferoom as fast as ***'in possible. See pills in the other room? DEATH TRAP! Better weapon off the beaten path? CERTAIN DOOM! Bill is down screaming for help? NOT MY PROBLEM!

Better than a pipe bomb

"So wait.. I am not suppose to help people in trouble?"

Yep.

"But.."

No buts! Bill is taking one for the team! Wait, why are you even noticing that Bill is down!? KEEP RUNNING STUPID!

Example time!

Francis is out in front, talking about the things he hates, and BOOMER! Francis is in the corner crying like a baby and all you should be thinking is JACKPOT! With Francis distracting the horde, you should have no interruptions as you run past them. But as Francis goes down like a drunk prom girl, the AI director will not be spawning much resistance for you in path in front of you.

The game has set amount of zombies that will appear in the level. The game always feels like endless waves only because we are blowing off their heads, thus sending another one to zombie heaven. But zombie heaven is pretty full (and boring), so the AI director puts that zombie back in the world further up the path. So, if Francis is hogging all the zombies for himself, then there will be no zombies that will be reincarnated and the path is about as empty as a Heavy's head.

The same could be said for someone caught by a smoker or hunter in the beginning. A smoker takes forever it to kill it's prey, while a hunter still takes a good 30 seconds or so. Think about how far you can run with little common infected resistance across a map. Sure, you might run the risk of them teleporting to you, but usually you have a better shot (and score) by then.

Real Rambos also only use a pistol. A single pistol.

There is also another overlooked mechanic of the game. Healing. Each time you heal, you have a chance to lower your score. The more damage the enemy can do to you, the less points you will get. The easiest way to explain it is that you start out with 200 points. Each time you get hit, you lose points. Now, if you are already at minus 80 points, and you heal, you give yourself the chance of losing twice as many points. The only time you should heal is that you are 100% certain you can make it to the end of the level with minimal damage between the time you heal and the time you get to the saferoom. If you go down, you go down. You are now the pipe bomb for everyone else.

The final dynamic, especially when competing in Versus mode, is that the faster you get to the saferoom, the less chances you have to be attacked by them. If you kill one on your way? Perfect, they have even less time to stop you before you make it to the end!

And this is how you start to win without teamwork. By running ahead, there is a very good chance that one or two people will make it to the saferoom, or atleast close enough to get some extra points. Sure, you wont be rolling in the points, but you will give yourself enough to survive till the finale. Now, the infected dont do much damage, its a fact and the survivors are perfectly equipped to handle everything. But when people are working as a team and slowly moving across the map, it gives you more chances to slowly dwindle their health and their points. If I can down the same guy twice in a map, not only will I be slowing the entire team down giving my teammates a chance to attack, but I am lowering their overall health bonus score (and making the person on the other person tighten his grip on mommy's hand). Versus mode is not set to expert, you can take a hit or two or ten before you start to limp. Why go through the map slowly, giving me more opportunities to actually split everyone up and kill them. Sure, I'll probably lose someone through Ramboing, but we died like men! Alone and not bringing the rest of the team down!

So by now, you should be growing hair on your chest and wanting to test out this awesome playstyle for yourself. Which brings me to SUPER RAMBO FINALE

A real man's finale

You see this picture? It is the corn field in Blood Harvest. Remember the tractor? That is your standing ground. For Super Rambo Finale, you and whatever survivors are left, fight the entire finale in the cornfield. Like real men would do. Now grow a pair and fight with the odds against you. It's what John Rambo would do.

And Now For Something Completely Different

2009-10-02T05:09:39Z

So here we are, trying to brave a new website, figuring all the quirks and hidden little features. Frankly I've been on the site for the last two hours and still have not accessed everything I possibly could. So Kudos to Nick, Andy, Jeff and the rest of the crew for making a very engaging website. It is spiffy and very shiny.

The amount of customization for the users is absolutely fantastic, and I do see this place becoming the premiere gaming community in the coming months/years. Its like facebook and the old school forums made out drunkenly one night, made some mistakes and now are the proud parents of this lovechild. It truely is fantastic.

So Kudos to you guys for making a great site. And to everyone on the site: THERE IS NOW A SPELLCHECK FEATURE! F'IN USE IT!