Stormblade's blog

So, the Assassin's Creed Ezio Collection is being released soon (Nov 15) on XBox One and that other thing from Sony. It will be remastered for next-gen consoles (i.e. pretty). It will include all single-player content from AC II, AC: Brotherhood and AC: Revelations, but none of the multiplayer. It will be CAD $80. Gulp.

For a few years now, Prof3ssorM and I have been collecting Nerf paraphernalia. A piece here, a piece there. Mainly to inflict foam hell on each other and, as often as possible, on Graybush and his brood. At Christmas, Prof3ssorM asked me if we could transform his closet into a Nerf storage facility. I looked around at options and finally decided that IKEA had the least expensive and most effective solution.

What I did not realize, until I was done, was that we had SO MUCH STUFF! I thought I had picked up enough bars and hooks to allow for the collection to grow but apparently I cannot estimate. There was still too much stuff when I was done. I will have to look into what other types of racks I could put in there to hold more stuff.

If this makes me a bad parent, I blame Graybush. He started it.

More pictures after the break:

In 2011, the RevolverMaps widget was installed on the site. At that time, the site was already 4 years old and was the mainstay for everything that had to do with our ... um ... er ... special (yeah, that's it!) group of clan members. Individuals have come and gone. Some have died and been reincarnated (sorry) several times. The core has been around for the duration and it's been a fun ride.

I've been playing Star Wars Battlefront, on my own, for the past few days. I have been running around Hoth, Tatooine and Endor, fighting off Stormtroopers, AT-STs and drones. I have flown X-Wings, snowspeeders and speeder bikes. I have wrapped tow cables around AT-ATs and bring them down. I have fought Darth Vader (and lost, obviously).

And where the HECK are ALL OF YOU?!? This is Battlefield meets Star Wars. This game was MADE for HoC.

Who are you people?!?

No. 1 - Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate

TaDa! I know, I know, you’re all surprised. Me choosing an Assassin’s Creed game as my number 1 most anticipated game. Although it is rather obvious, it wasn’t necessarily a slam dunk. Assassin’s Creed: Unity was a major disappointment. Oh, I played it all the way through and enjoyed it for the most part. Unfortunately, I had HIGHLY anticipated it, especially after loving Black Flag. AC Unity was so broken at launch it was unplayable. Also, the idea of cooperative assassins missions just never resounded with me (and I was not alone). My son got it for me for Christmas 2013 and I didn’t actually play it until this past Spring.

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Honourable Mentions

I decided to enhance the suspense of revealing the No. 1 pick by listing some games that didn’t make my list, but will probably end up in my collection anyway. Of course, the only way you don’t know what the No. 1 game is would be if a) you don’t know anything about me at all and b) did not pay attention to the game box covers in the banner. Whatever, going for suspense anyway.

There are so many games coming out in the near future, it’s easy to feel like a kid in a … er … ebgames shop. Here’s four that just fell short of my list.

No. 2 - Star Wars: Battlefront

I have not been this excited about a Star Wars games since ... oh man ... since X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter. That was 18 freaking years ago!! (pauses to contemplate old age...).

That being said, it was a great game. It felt like you were in the Star Wars universe. Or at least the part of it I enjoyed. I have never been that keen on being a Jedi. It was always the epic battles that I thought were cool.

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No. 3 - Rainbow Six Siege

In a simpler time when cooperative video games were fun and the Herd of Cats always got along, some of the most fun we had playing together was playing Rainbow Six Vegas. Okay, it's possible we didn't always get along, but we really did have fun playing Rainbow Six Vegas.

In fact, if you look through the Lexicon of Death, many of the phrases listed there came from our days playing R6V. This was during the heady days of the initial CoD games, which were the cause of one of the most dangerous mistakes in R6V. This was to 'mistakingly' throw a grenade when trying to crouch. The reason this was a problem was in Rainbow Six, friendly fire was on. One had to pay attention for single word phrases like 'crap!', 'dammit!', or 'oops!' and then one had to run. Fast. The fact that we were able to get anywhere in this game with friendly fire on is still amazing to me today.

No. 4 - Call of Duty: Black Ops III

There is only one reason Call of Duty: Black Ops III is on this list. It's been a long time since I have been a fan of multiplayer in the Call of Duty franchise, so that is certainly not the reason I am anticipating this game. I am also not particularly interested in the single player mission, although I will probably play it through.

No, there is only one word to describe why I am anticipating this game and why it ends up number 4 on my list. That word is: Zombies. Treyarch's take on zombie multiplayer has no equal. Ever since it first appeared in Call of Duty: World at War, the zombie maps have been the reason that I have remained loyal to the Call of Duty franchise.

This will be Treyarch's first attempt at zombie mode on the Xbox One and it's exciting. Bringing in new maps with new characters as well as reintroducing old maps with our favourite Nazi Zombie hunting quartet, elevates this title from a resounding ‘Meh’ to an eagerly anticipated game in my eyes.

There are a bunch of games coming out for the Xbox One over the next few months that will hopefully rid us of the drama of the last couple of weeks. It will be nice to finally have games available to us that we can play together and that don't suck. I'm really hopeful on the ‘don't suck’ part.

I decided to make a list of the games that I am most anticipating so that everyone else knows where I stand. I hope some of these games will also appeal to other clan members, but these are games I will play anyway no matter what the rest of you do.

Without further ado, on to number 5:

I figure, on Day 3 since the Destiny launch, I can provide some initial feedback. My first impression is that this is a very good game. Is it fantastic? It's too early to say and there are irritating parts to it. But I have enjoyed it and it has already strained my relationship, which means it must be pretty good. Read more

Since my birthday is coming up (coughfridaycough), I decided to get myself an iPad2. And of course, it needed to be to be personalized properly

My son has gone back home and I am now free to terrorize the site once again. I've had a few stories building up, so I will unleash them on you poor, unsuspecting souls over the next few days. MMMWWUUUUHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

So when I went to pick up our freezer from Revek (see here), he told me he had a house warming gift for us. I thought wow, cool, here I abuse this guy incessantly on the site and he's still kind enough to get us something. That Revek is a good guy.

He walks into his dimly lit garage and hands me a quite large box with a picture of a handy toolkit on it with all the basics. I was impressed. He says "Take it into the light." I do, and I see this:

The Pink Toolbox™

Hey gang, how's it goin'? I'm back! I'm sure you missed me. I could tell by all of the pining and mourning on the site while I was away (did you notice I was gone at all???). Read more

I was a little bored last night and decided to play a little XBox. Unusual, I know. No one was online, so I looked over my collection (which depresses me since I have upwards of 60 titles now) to see what I would like to play. I have been playing Borderlands a lot, but I am at a point where it is really no fun single player. Read more