Lemons and Lemonade

This week has been a challenge for me. I *really* want to be playing Fallen Earth, Champions, and the new EQ2 game update, but this thing with my arm continues to plague me. I logged in to Fallen Earth on launch day and lasted maybe 10 minutes before the ache became uncomfortable enough that it forced me to quit playing.

So still no MMOs for me (in theory I could play Champions with the gamepad but when I tried I kept ending up back on the keyboard typing, which sorta defeated the purpose of using the gamepad). But on the bright side, I’ve been playing my consoles. I set up an elaborate tower of pillows on the couch and rest my arm on it ‘just so’ and I can play without any pain. In light of this, I’m changing some of my near-future plans. Games I was planning on getting for the PC (Borderlands, possibly Dragon Age: Origins) I now think I’ll get on either the PS3 or XBox.

So this week I’ve been playing The Beatles: Rock Band and Need For Speed: Shift on the PS3, and I picked up Halo: ODST on the 360. TB:RB I can only do for a little while because the aforementioned tower of pillows doesn’t work too well with a plastic guitar. But the other two I can play as much as I like.

So I think I’m going to start doing more write-ups of single player games here, since I can’t say too much about MMOs if I’m not playing MMOs. Plus there’re a lot of single player games coming out that I want to play. In addition to the two I mentioned, there’s Demon’s Souls, Brutal Legend, Forza Motorsport 2, Modern Warfare 2, The Saboteur, and I’m betting I’m forgetting a couple. It’s going to be a good season of gaming coming up!

6 thoughts on “Lemons and Lemonade

  1. The Champions support for the 360 Controller is IMHO really close, but not quite ready for primetime. It’s fun to play it via the controller but you definitely need your mouse and keyboard close by. And then once you do have your keyboard within range, it’s too tempting to just use that rather than swap back and forth.

  2. Yeah, that’s exactly what I ended up doing back when I was playing. And for whatever reason, I like the Y axis inverted with controller, but not inverted with mouse (or vice versa) so switching back and forth is confusing. I finally bound CTRL-[ & CTRL-] to toggle the Y axis inversion back and forth, which helped. But still, just like you say, once I’m on the mouse and keyboard I forget to go back.

    Good news is, I have a doc. appointment for next Wednesday, so maybe I can get this cleared up once and for all.

  3. @Rog

    Totally agree. For a game that was purportedly built with consoles in mind, you’d think the controller setup would be better.

    @Pete

    Sorry you’re having issues with your arm. I’ve been there. It sucks. I hope you get some good news from the doc.

    Jason (resident drunken idiot of Channel Massive)

  4. Aye, here’s hoping you get this cleared up with minimal fuss.

    Speaking of driving games, I prefer Burnout to NFS. I have B:Revenge and NFS:Carbon, and the former has definitely been played more in my home. It’s not that Carbon is bad, just not quite as much fun. *shrug*

    Still, considering my troubles with online gaming and my relative disdain for online game design of late, I’m also happily playing console games. Disgaea DS is the most recent drug of choice. Yummy, yummy tactical games.

  5. Sounds like you have bicipital tendonitis. It hurts like hell I’ve had it a couple of times.
    The tendon gets inflamed up by your shoulder but it hurts all the way to your elbow.
    See a Doc

  6. Jack — Thanks, that does sound like what it feels like… er, if that makes sense. Seeing a doc next Wednesday so hopefully he’ll be able to shed some light on the situation.

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