Bully

Wow. Simply wow.

Ya know, I've wanted to post my impressions all weekend but have refrained until I felt comfortable with the amount of time I've invested. Now that I've put 10 hours into the game, I feel like I can give it the praise it deserves without steering anyone wrong. Needless to say, I'm hooked. Bully has taken me away from Baten Kaitos Origins (which I've also got 10 hours in), and is keeping me from two other favorite series games of mine (Tales of the Abyss and SMT: Devil Summoner). When I wasn't on my motorcycle this weekend, I was playing Bully.

Basically, if you like the structure that Rockstar implemented in Grand Theft Auto III and have a desire to play that in a prep school setting, then Bully is for you. The protagonist isn't the bully that the title (and perhaps even Jack Thompson) would lead you to believe. I've only played through the first chapter's main quests so far (there are tons of side quests, though) and I'm not really seeing that little Jimmy Hopkins is such a bad kid. Sure, according to the narrative, he has been thrown out of previous schools, arrested, etc. but when it comes to being a bully, so far I have not witnessed Jimmy beating up anyone who didn't in some way deserve it.

The mission structure may be set up very similar to GTAIII but it tosses in its own uniqueness to help gel with the school premise. You've got two classes per day that you can choose to attend or not. The first starts at 9:30 and the second starts at 1pm. By going to class and passing the lesson, you either gain new abilities or gain stat-building attributes to current abilities. I've already completed Chemistry (there are 5 lessons per subject), 3 lessons in English, Art and Gym, and just opened the ability to attend Shop and Photography classes. There are mini-games involved in the classes which make going both fun and challenging. And speaking of challenging... while the Chemistry class requires you to pass a timed button pressing mini-game, English class requires you to create as many words as you can from a handful of scrambled letters in a certain amount of time. And you have to meet a certain percentage or you fail. This class has been the most challenging and rewarding to me thus far. I'm actually having to work at gaining new abilities for my character! lol

All in all, Rockstar nailed the prep school setting, stereotypical characters and all. The voice acting couldn't be better. It is exactly what you'd expect depending on which kind of schoolmate you are talking to (this is where the stereotypes soar). The music (especially that chilling opening music - very Potter-esque) fits the mold perfectly.

The story starts out with Jimmy basically learning his way around (both physically around campus and interacting with his schoolmates). It's enough to draw you in, that's for sure. Maybe because it touches on something we've all experienced at one time or another (compared to the GTA series where we aren't all working for the mob, haha), but it's almost surreal how real Bullworth Academy is. It's a living, breathing school. Even with the not-too-surprising twist at the end of chapter one, the story is moving along at a nice pace and I can't wait to see where else is leads me.

1up's "10" for Bully caused me to have reservations at first, but after my time with it, that 10 isn't so far fetched. I'm not saying I'd award it a 10, but it's easier to swallow now that I've experienced some of the game for myself.

It comes down to one synopsis really. Definitely a rental; worth of a purchase. I am so very satisfied that I followed my instinct and took a chance on Bully. (Actually, Voodoo gave it to me as an anniversary gift, so I'm really glad that I spoke up about my interest in it.)

My .02? Opt for the $50 EB/Gamestop exclusive. The life-size (yes, it's an official playing size) dodge ball with the Bully logo on it is a very nice touch. And a fine collectible that I will proudly display.

PS3 + ebay = Capitalism

Yeah, I admit it. It pisses me off to hear or read "gamers" say that they plan to wait in line, in the freezing cold, for hours and hours, to buy a PS3 only to bring it home, take a picture of the box (if they even go to that effort) and put it on ebay for astronomical prices. Why does this piss me off? Because any real "gamer" would rather be playing that console than taking advantage of someone else's stupidity (or laziness). Of course, it is difficult to blame 'em for that; stupidity deserves to be slapped upside its head. But it is tough to swallow that the honest PS3 fan will be out the chance to get one while these other schmucks are only doing it to pad their pockets. But what can you do. Capitalism is the American way, right?

For the record, I will own a PS3 in the near future. Possibly next spring once all the hoopla has died somewhat. I could have reserved a spot on the reserve list yesterday, but elected to save my 100 bucks (and the other 500) for my motorcycle and the Wii.

Two Shadows

W00t! We did it. We upgraded to bigger bikes this past Saturday. Our Honda dealer made us a deal we could not refuse. Now I am riding a big girl's bike! LOL! It is buttery smooth, too. We went on a 75 mile trip through a nearby state park on Sunday and had the best time. The bike fits perfectly. And it's got much more power than the Rebel ever did. And even with the wider gear ratios, I have noticed a huge difference. Cruising at 45-50mph is smooth in 3rd gear. I had to be in 5th gear on that Rebel to ride 45 comfortably (what I thought was comfort!).

Here are a few pics. The first two show the bike the day we bought them (Saturday) and the last pic of mine shows my first mod (saddlebags).

Ice Queen - I'm considering this name for my bike. "Ice" is derived from the blue color and "Queen" came from my husband referring to it as "The Queen."




My husband bought a beautiful and badass 2007 Honda Spirit 750 in the Titanium color.


My first mod of many - Saddlebags


My dad (who rides a 2007 Yamaha V-Star 1100) and my husband have both riden my bike around the block a few times and both say the same thing I do.... that it's smooth as butter. It's nice to know I have the compliments of two people I respect so much. I couldn't be happier with it!

Free Spirit

Wow, it's been like... forever since I last updated. Two reasons: gaming, summer, and my new motorcycle. Ok, that's three. Sue me. I do a lot of gaming in my off time (I'm up to 26 completed games for 2006) and this past summer, my husband and I went to Disney World for a vacation. You don't have to be a kid to appreciate the magic of Disney. Anyone with an imagination can have a ball.

After our vacation, I got the fever. The motorcycle fever. See, I grew up riding dirt bikes, so I was bitten by the bug at a very early age. But it wasn't until this past July that the fever for a street bike set in. My dad bought a Yamaha 1100 V-Star during the summer and boy was I ever envious. But my husband has never expressed an interest in bikes, so I sort of ignored the green monster growing inside me. Actually, it wasn't necessarily envy; I'm just really into riding motorcycles and really wanted to be out there with him when I heard about how much fun he was having.

Well, long story short, my stepbrother's girlfriend had her bike over at my dad's one Thursday evening when I was there. It is a red 2002 Honda Shadow VLX Deluxe 600cc. And it was just my size! Needless to say, I was very anxious about telling my hubby that I wanted a bike. Basically, I was going to respect his wishes but I wasn't prepared to take 'no' as an answer. Imagine my surprise when I proposed to him two days later (I had to work up the nerve!) that I buy a bike and he.... was very interested!!!! As in interested in even getting his own!

So, that weekend we went bike shopping. By that Monday we were the proud owners of two 2007 Honda 250cc Rebels both black. We decided to go with smaller bikes since these were our first street bikes. By the following week we had our licenses and were out on the open road.



Fast forward to this past week. We've both got bigger bike envy. We are going this evening and possibly even tomorrow back to our Honda dealer to see what they can do for us. My husband has already talked to the salesman and he was very receptive to wanting to help. Hopefully Honda can do well for us and we can bring home two new bikes!

I'm looking at the 2007 Shadow VLX Deluxe in the light blue silver metallic color. It's gorgeous.