My GRAW disc doesn’t work. Yesterday it did. Fuck.

This is a completely out of the blue, late night post, so I’m not gonna go into too much detail, but I’ll have you know that I take care of my games to the point of obsessiveness, and the fact that GRAW won’t load, ESPECIALLY after I dropped $15 for Chapter II, infuriates me. DOA4 works, but not GRAW. Thanks Ubisoft.

Update: So I basically have a $103 copy of GRAW now. I went to EB, where I was told that I could trade the game in and get $32 store credit, and then rebuy the game with the credit. I rebought it simply because I just bought Chapter II on Live.

G.R.A.W. (initial purchase) $60
Chapter II $15
G.R.A.W. (again) $60
Subtotal $135
Store Credit -$32
Total $103

Not really. I did give it a four, or something. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t infuriate me, however. The game basically has the most infuriating A.I. ever slapped into a racer, turning the 360 controller into a very throwable projectile.

Where should I begin? First off, it’s bullshit that the A.I. has seemingly infinite nitrous in every single race. Yes, even in the no nitrous races. I was once told on GAF that this was a sort of preparation for online mode, in which everyone constantly uses NOS from high-speed drifting. That, my friends, is a total copout. The rubber-band difficulty doesn’t help. Perhaps with the upcoming PlayStation 3 Ridge Racer 7, Namco can bring out a game that actually requires skill over luck.

It also must be of note that during the later sections of the World Xplorer mode, the racing strategy comes down to little more than holding your maxed-out nitrous until the end of the race, at which point you unleash it and smoke your remaining [3 or so] opponents during the last few seconds. Sometimes this strategy simply won’t work. Random glitchiness occurs and the A.I. magically pulls some NOS of its own out of its ass, or maybe it’ll impossibly swerve in front of you.

We all know how that works in a Ridge Racer game. The bump automatically decreases your speed by about 10%, giving the other racer a speed increase of equal or greater value. Honestly, it seems as if some of the races have an opponent specifically designed to be an asshole. Usually strategically placed in the middle of the pack (read: 6th or 7th place), this opponent will do everything it can to be a jackass with NOS, or simply block you. Wide drifts are the name of the game with this racer.

Needless to say, I’m at 80% completion in the World Xplorer mode, and I am furious.

As a side note, The Clipse’s long-awaited first single in a long time, “Mr. Me Too,” is officially out on iTunes. Get it now. It’s awesome.

Now Listening: “Mr. Me Too” The Clipse

Ehhhh… It’s been a while since I last blogged (40ish news posts before and during E3), so what better time is there to update than on a slow Sunday afternoon?

My post-E3 “Most Wanted” List:
PS2: Okami / Final Fantasy XII (tie)
GCN: Zelda: Twilight Princess
360: Gears of War (Mass Effect seemed fine, but I’m just not that excited about it)
PS3: Virtua Fighter 5 / Final Fantasy XIII
Wii: Wii Sports
PC: I have no idea
DS: Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
PSP: MGS: Portable Ops
Mobile: Final Fantasy

Without a doubt, Microsoft and Nintendo stole the show, with Sony trailing far behind. Microsoft showed off plenty of compelling stuff, most notably Gears of War. Mass Effect drew a lot of hype, but I’m personally not very interested. Xbox Live was kicking ass in full force, Lumines Live being my favorite title. Nintendo easily had the most entertaining press conference; instead of focusing on the technical prowess and HD mumbo jumbo, they really focused on showing off just how fun the Wii will be.

Besides MGS4, FFXIII, and VF4, Sony really didn’t show anything to get me truly excited, and none of those games are at launch. Maybe I’ll just save myself the trouble and get a PS3 post-Christmas in order to focus on Xbox 360 and Wii stuff (w00t for the Wii60!).

Since 2006 will be such an insane year in terms of gaming, I have made my definitive list for what I’ll be buying this year (on my site, “incoming”). So far, it looks like I’ll be spending $1,345 in November alone, assuming I get a PS3. That’s not even including random impulse buys with the Wii, like Super Mario Sunshine and Wind Waker. I don’t own a GameCube, and I never have, so I’ll be playing catch-up with the Wii’s BC abilities. Hopefully I’ll be able to save my games on the Wii’s flash memory.

At the moment, I’m playing Kingdom Hearts (gotta catch up for KH2, right?), Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (finally getting back into it), Burnout Revenge 360, and Monster Rancher Evo for review.

As a side-note, I’ve been blogging at 1UP for just over a year now! It’s the best of the “big three” by far, and with the 1UP Show and 1UP Yours, it just keeps getting better.

Now Listening: “Why You Wanna” T.I. King