Bullet Point Blog

Hey guys, Dan here with the first blog of 2010. I'm a little bit busy with other stuff right now, which is why there hasn't been much blogging activity on my part over the last week or so. Just so you're all aware that I'm not dead, I thought I'd write up a quick bullet point blog to fill you all in on what's been going down since I last blogged on Christmas Eve. So, here goes! 
 

• Christmas Day was pretty awesome. I got Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for my PSP (more on that in a second), stand-up comedian Russell Howard's new DVD, both seasons of Flight of the Conchords on DVD, an assortment of toiletries, money (which I've put aside for Uni living), and £30 worth of GAME vouchers (which I'm saving in order to put them towards the multitude of great games coming out in 2010). The day was spent entirely with family, eating far too much lovely food, watching awful TV and playing board games.
• Speaking of Christmas, sorry about the lack of a third part to the Christmas Mega-Blog. I intended to push it out Boxing Day, but ran into problems with structuring it and eventually just gave up.
• I did nothing special for New Year's Eve. Didn't even drink (incidentally, I've been teetotal for exactly two months today). Just chilled out with family, saw it in quietly and went to bed fairly early. Say what you will, but I enjoyed it a lot.
• I moved back to my flat in Essex last night. My parents sent me back with a metric ton of 'essentials'. Went shopping for frozen food and various other bits this morning. I bought a bag, which the sales assistant put into another bag before giving to me. Lunacy.
• Before Christmas Day I'd been playing a bit of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, but since I got it I've been playing Chinatown Wars almost exclusively. To date I've clocked up eight and a half hours and I'm loving it so far. I can't put my finger on the reason why, but I've found myself wandering off the beaten track a hell of a lot more than I usually would my first time through a GTA game. As a consequence, I think I'm only about halfway through the main story missions. The drug-dealing is brilliant, especially insofar as it largely lets you get as involved with it or remain as distant from it as you'd like. I've simply been buying up cheap drugs whenever I get the tip-off, sitting on the stash, and then selling them on when I find out they're in demand, and doing so has kept me pretty financially comfortable. Expect a more detailed blog when I finish it, but for now, all you need know is that it's awesome, and I'm loving it.
• Speaking of Crisis Core, I'm five and a half hours in and just finished the mission with Tseng in Banora. Still on the fence over the story, but it's early days yet. Gameplay sits very well with me, feels very Kingdom Hearts-ish which certainly isn't a bad thing. My sole gripe at the moment concerns the DMW. In a lot of ways I think it's great - the concept of luck dishing out buffs and limit breaks is a pretty nice idea and keeps things feeling suitably frantic. However, I don't like the DMW slots being in control of the levelling up process. I can't help but feel that it kind of kills some of the sense of progression that you usually get from EXP gain. On the whole though, pretty good so far. Just hoping it picks up as I move further into the story.
• In terms of holiday purchases, I have blown a whopping £3.98 in the Steam Holiday Sale. I shelled out £1.74 for the LucasArts Adventure Pack (consisting of The Dig, LOOM, and two Indiana Jones point-n-clicks), and I parted with £2.24 for the Max Payne pack (Max Payne and Max Payne 2 in one shiny digital package). Everything seems to run well on my laptop, so I'll probably end up playing them back here at University. I have a feeling the Max Payne games will be right up my girlfriend's street, so we may even end up playing through those together.
• While out in town, I got it into my head that I was going to impulse-buy Borderlands in the January sales. Turns out all the shops in town were sold out though. Talk about being saved from oneself.
• I did, however, give in to another urge and bought my first CD of 2010 in the form of Codeine Velvet Club's debut album. I've just finished listening to the self-titled effort and I'm incredibly impressed. I can only describe the sound as a fusion of rock, jazz and big band. Unfortunately, I don't think it sold well here in the UK on its release last week, as it didn't make it into the Top 40 album chart. Here's hoping that things pick up for them sales-wise, because I'd really like to hear more of this band.