A good weekend of gaming was had by me

After watching a few episodes of 24 with Em on Friday night before she went to bed, I was able to get to get through the last chapter and a half of Portal 2 (excluding the credits). The credits finished playing just before 00:30 Saturday morning. I went to bed feeling satisfied, and in a good mood due to the humour of Portal 2, especially the ending.

The next day I played some Need for Speed: Most Wanted before Em and I headed out for a picnic with some friends. When we got back later that evening, we watched a couple more episodes of 24, and I decided I was going to try my hand at God of War II again. I'd been stuck in the corridor leading to the Loom Chamber since May. Between travelling up and down to Cape Town twice, Em's TV turning blue, and my trip to Europe, I hadn't actually had much time to play GoW II since May. When I did try get back into it a few days ago, I found I had forgotten the controls, and didn't get terribly far before dying and getting frustrated with the game. However after a few brandy and Cokes yesterday, I decided to take another swing at it. 

** here be God of War II spoilers **

It didn't take many attempts and I found my way into the Loom Chamber, after nearly three months. There were no hitches with game progression form then until I reached Zeus. The brandy must have been affecting my quick time event response times, as I must have died about twenty times during the final battle. Many of which I failed to hit the first button, resulting in Zeus splitting Kratos' skull with the Blade of Olympus. 

I eventually got it right, commanding Kratos to thrust the sword into Zeus, only to have Athena get in the way. Cue last cinematic, slightly disappointing ending (although somewhat expected due to the existence of GoW III), and roll credits.

** end of God of War II spoilers **

Over three months after starting to play God of War II, I finally managed to complete the game. On the same day I had completed Portal 2, none-the-less. Saturday night I went to sleep feeling even more satisfied, and in an even better mood after having kicked plenty of mythological creatures, and Zeus' arse.

To commemorate the weekend, here's a link to download the official soundtrack from Portal 2. Now to decide what to play next weekend; do I get stuck into God of War III straight away, or play one of the other first person shooter titles on my shelf? Or do I go the controversial route (i.e. old school PC gaming) and try and finish Diablo II: Lord of Destruction before the console release of Diablo III?

First person shooter poll results

The final result of the 'First person shooter poll' was really a no result, since nobody voted. So I took matters into my own hands, and bought Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition and Portal 2, neither of which were titles in the poll.

I played quite a bit of Borderlands on my brother's Xbox 360 while back home. It was amazingly good fun, especially when playing co-operatively.* The comic book graphics and dark humour are brilliant, and I really enjoyed playing as Mordecai. There is little doubt that I will eventually get the sequel too, but I'll hold out until I've finished Borderlands, or a Game of the Year (GotY) edition of Borderlands 2 is released.

I also ended up buying Far Cry 3 (which was one of the options in the poll) as the price was reduced by a further 25%. So from having no first person shooters a month ago, I now have three, even though Portal 2 isn't a conventional shooting game.

--
* Except when my brother (playing as Lilith) ran around looting all the chests, and scavenging dropped ammo from around me, while I was busy taking on various badass bandits, bruisers and psychos; or when he used phasewalk too close to me, inadvertently depleting my shield; or when he ran away from the conflict, waited for me to soften up a couple of the tougher opponents, then reappeared with his shotgun, killed everything with a single shot, and got the experience for doing so.

Harlem Shake Top 3

The whole Harlem Shake thing was introduced to me when my brother posted a link to one of his buddies YouTube videos. I thought it was pretty lame, because I had no idea about the the Harlem Shake meme just yet. So far I have come across a few more renditions of the video, which are incredibly well executed. I present to you my three favourites:

3. Ikey Harlem Shake: 

Not only does this video feature a giant white tiger, girls kissing, and one of the infamous dummies; but it also a pretty accurate representation of what student life at UCT is all about. As an alumnus of the university I've seen pretty much all of the above take place on campus, except for the letting off of a fire-extinguisher. Good times.

2. Portal 2 - The Harlem Shake




While I've never played Portal 2, I'm a big fan of the first game. Last time I saw robots like these they were trying to kill me. I like the dancing versions more.

1. Grooveshark does the Harlem Shake:



Grooveshark looks like the best company on Earth to work for! Which other office has an inflatable snowman just lying about?

I might add a few more videos to the list as I see fit. In the meantime, here is the full version of Baauer's Harlem Shake.