Weekend Update

Well a lot happened this weekend in JoBildo-ville. For one, yours truly is now engaged. That's right, call me crazy (for I likely am), but back in the beginning of the summer I met the most amazing woman and against her better judgment she fell in love with this dork. December of next year, I'll be Mr. Murphy again... wait, I don't think I get how the last name thing works. In any case, she said yes when I proposed to her in a pumpkin patch over a warty pumpkin and now she's set to live with a nerd by her side the rest of her days. Brave girl. On a serious note, I never thought I could feel this way about anyone. Especially after what happened to me with the she-devil I was attached to before. But if I've learned anything in my short life, it's never to turn away a good thing out of fear. I'm one lucky bastard, and I can't wait to see what our future holds.

In gaming, I spent a lot of time with Champions Online this weekend. I'm desperately trying to get ahead in this game, as I'm eager to see what the Nemesis system holds, but it's a surprisingly slow crawl through the teens. Not a grind, but since it's the first time I've done these quests it feels like it's taking longer than it should... a clear indicator in my head that I've played too much WoW and expect to know the location and route to finishing every quests. Champions is the first MMOG I've played since my brief foray into Lich King at the beginning of the year.

I did do one fairly ridiculous and therefore awesome quest in the course of my leveling spurt. I don't have pics (I'm sorry, but I just got back into blogging and I'm still re-learning the tricks!), so feel free to stop reading if you need shinies to entertain your eyeballs.


Foxbat is a rather comedic villain in the Champions Online universe. Dude's main weapon is a gun that shoots ping-pong balls at high speeds. He's prone to bouts of inane rambling (like me!) and one of his official powers on the Champions Online website is listed simply as "Awesomeness". He's probably the coolest villain in the game, to be honest and I hope the quest I did surrounding him yesterday isn't the last time I see him. His awesomeness is that great. True story.


Foxbat apparently took over an entire news studio in Millennium city, presumably so that the arrogant and crazy bastard could put himself on TV. I had to fight off a bunch of his henchman outside, which were a mix of robots that did things like shout disco music at my face or mesmerize me with a video-camera that stroked my ego and made me pose heroically, and also some snotty teenagers with foam fingers and Foxbat t-shirts that called themselves Fanboys. Like I said... ridiculous.


Once inside the studio I was treated to a cutscene of Foxbat holding a Ron Burgundy-alike hostage. Ron's doppleganger even said something along the lines of "How dare you do this to me! I have many leatherbound books and my condo smells of rich mahogony!" I had to take out a bunch more henchmen on my way through the studio, while saving the rest of Ron's news-team in the process. Brick, Champ, Veronica, and Brian Fantana were all there with appropriate pseudonyms.

Once I made it to the soundstage, I beat the ever-loving crap out of Foxbat who got a few good shots in on me himself... I think he actually dropped a cartoon One-Ton weight on my head at one point and shot me with cream pies from his gun. But he fell in the end, and I saved the day. That quest was easily the most ridiculous thing I've done in an MMOG, and also probably one of the more memorable.

Champions Online is a pretty decent game, all things considered. The combat is a ton of fun. The PvP is a hectic blast, and the missions are really pretty entertaining, and run the gamut from the typical kill quests to the more unique scripted encounters like the one I've just described. I'm loving my first hero, and wish I could make another, but I've got a guide to write up for TTH that requires me to reach level 25 and begin the Nemesis stuff.

Currently, Wolfenstein is my main character. He's currently spec'd out with mostly Supernatural powers, and some Strength. Though I think I'll probably retcon to something else when the Celestial powerset drops in November. I love the way that Cryptic's set up the Celestial powers as having dual functions. Check out my latest article at TTH to see what I mean. I'll use some of the healing/support powers from that set, and probably something like Claws or another Martial Arts set for more direct damage dealing skills since I have most of my stats in Dexterity which is the key component of a lot of Martial Arts skills.

Anyway, that's it for now. Brutal Legend comes out today. If I had $60 I would pick it up tonight. The demo was just that hilarious/awesome/badass. If you're a fan of things Metal or of Tenacious D, or just of good games with a lot of character (Tim Schaefer's a creative genius) I would highly suggest picking it up.