My Rage (Game) Fiasco

    Hey, everyone. As many of you probably suspected, I bought the new Rage game for PC. I have never tried a PC game but I wanted this game so bad I decided to try it. I bought it off Amazon and they did a good job of having it here on the first day of availability.
    The first surprise for an elderly guy like me is that I have to have an account on Steam, a gamer's site, before I can even play this game. ???? What business is it of Steam's if I play a game at my home? So I get a Steam account which entails swearing an oath to their list of demands and allowing them access to my computer. Then I start to put the game on my computer and the codes don't work. There are three codes in the box and none of them work. Invalid. Cool, and so much fun, so far. I give them credit, though, they actually had a phone number on the flyer for tech support at Bethesda. Not toll free. The guy at Bethesda was courteous with me, as I was with him. But he wanted a list of things before he would give me the valid code which I had already paid $60 for. See the list on the e-mail above. Heck, unless I send an e-mail on my I-Pad I have trouble sending attachments. So I politely told him that I would be sending the game back to Amazon. He was surprised. Notice how shocking it is when the consumer fails to kiss sufficient butt to give business people their money?
     I am reminded of stores I've been in where they have people watch for shoplifters to the point where they run all their good customers off. The video game industry is so afraid of pirates that they would probably vomit if someone said 'Arrrgh'! I understand this a little since I hold the copyright on a bunch of novels and short stories.
     Let me put this in perspective for you. Last Thursday, I bought a great game for I-Pad called Shadowgun. It has fantastic graphics and game play. I love it. I sat in my recliner, read about it, tapped a button and bought it. Within a minute it was on my device and I was playing it. Without secret codes and agreements and veiled accusations of theft. I paid $8 for a wonderful game. I didn't have to make any promises to Steam or allow them to know when I play. Do we wonder why the I-Pad is so popular? Duh.
    Clearly, Bethesda could care less if some two-bit blogger buys their game. They will make millions anyway, and deservedly so. There will always be a market for the big budget games and the hard core gamers of X-Box will continue to enjoy that venue. All this is good. But the older crowd, and many others, will enjoy a more customer friendly gaming experience on the app store. Cheaper games, instant access and a minimum of red tape.
     Now I know why they call it Rage.

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Shadowgun: Crushing The Driller On Level 4

Hey, everyone. Let's talk about the game called Shadowgun, the I-Pad game with which I have a love-hate relationship. Most of you who made it past the evil Cyber Lobster are doubtless locked in a death struggle with the Driller at the end of level 4. At this point you have been in the cave for a long time. The Driller breaks through the rock wall and chases you through the tunnel as you try to shoot out the green lights which slows the Driller down. If you are slick enough to shoot out all the lights and emerge from the cave, a rolling door crashes on the Driller and crushes his aggravating carcass. I have tried and failed to beat the Driller at least 250 times. I hate the Driller to the heights and depths my soul can reach. I hate it like a plague. I hate it with intensity of feeling. I hate it like a rich man hates taxes. Excuse me, I got carried away. We had a big dinner here at the green retreat and my friend Trevor was ...

Faerie In a Glass Jar

Hey, everyone. Sometimes gaming can be high-pressure. Take tonight, for instance. I was playing the excellent puzzle game titled 4 Elements #2. I have already done a review of it so I won't attempt to do so again. You have to match symbols and use 'power-ups' to get molten lava to flow around a board and bring life back to a faerie world. Cool. That's what I do. I'm into it. There are also a variety of mini-puzzles such as hidden objects and even putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Hey, when I get in trouble I call Carley. Anyway, tonight, Carley wasn't around when a crisis struck. I was confronted with a faerie in a glass jar. She was crying for help. She said that she was running out of air. Every minute or two she would rattle the jar. In order to free her, I had to find all these objects and use them. Like there were some missing books. Then there was the pieces of a torch. When I found them I could light all the candles. I found the pieces of ...

You're Aiming the Missile Where?

Hey, everyone, out there in game-land. The number 1 game on the friendly neighborhood app store is Call of Duty: Strike Team . No wonder, because it is a terrific game. The farther I play, the cooler it gets. But before I get to that, what are all these numbers indicating on my gun? Has to be some sort of ammo indicator for the clips, I guess. either that or some of my compadres has trouble doing his math homework. Whatever. Hey. Check out the picture of me hitching a ride on an enemy truck so that my team can infiltrate a missile silo. Do you like the face mask? I bought it at a store called Fashions by Bane. Ha, ha. (Batman Reference) On this mission, my team was assisted by a Russian Spetsnaz squad. How's that for detente, comrade? These Spetsnaz guys make everything fun. What I mean is this. We shoot bunches of enemies and get into the bowels of the silo. We get to the gantry where the missile is (Pictured above) and we see that the rad...

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