~~The Green Dragon Inn~~

[legacyAccount]

I played Madden 09 for a while but finally stepped up.

The newer madden games lack depth in their single player modes, which consequently helped me write my research paper. Sales have been dropping every since they made a trash version of franchise and superstar mode. Remember when you had a pad and picked your parents in the earlier madden superstar modes? That was the ishh

 

[The_Dan_x]

Yeah, Gim. It baffles me as to why EA simply took the options out of the game. I could understand leaving them alone and doing nothing with them, but bastardizing them to the point where they are almost pointless (I'm talking mainly about the Superstar mode in this years version) makes absolutely no sense.

 

[legacyAccount]

It is very frustrating. The create a player modes in Mlb 2k10 and NBA2k11 are rich with detail. My girlfriend bought me the ladder for my birthday and I have not been able to put it down. It is nice to know you are actually accomplishing something game to game rather then just being locked on a certain player.

 

[eclectic77]

Hope ya all had a great Christmas!

 

[The_Dan_x]

I can't complain. I went into Tokyo and met a buddy of mine I hadn't seen in a few years. So that was cool. Other than that, I've just been taking it easy.

Anybody have any cool plans for New Year's Eve?

 

[legacyAccount]

My Christmas was good, I finally stepped up to HD. I'm probably just going to my buddy's apartment for New Years. I have work at noon the next day

 

[PippinRules]

The vast majority of my friends are either going to see Phish or Shpongle on New Years. However, I am poor and spent the only money I was willing to spend on Gwar. I'll probably be sitting around somewhere.

 

[SinisterAngel606]

The honor of first post of the new year on this board goes to me. Yessss!

I had a good Christmas by the way. Hope you guys did too. I didn't do anything special for New Year's though. I really didn't pay it the attention I usually do.

 

[The_Dan_x]

Yeah, New Year's is by far the most boring holiday of the year if you ask me.

Btw, my older brother bought me NBA2K11 for Christmas. That's one hell of a game! And the "My Player" mode is phenomenal. EA and Tiburon should take notes as Madden pales in comparison in terms of presentation and depth.

 

[loveisthemovement89]

Hello all. So, this is Ehhhh. Made myself a new username. I didn't have access to my old email after all this time, and customer service said they couldn't do anything. So here I am with a new username after like 7 years with my old one. Anyway, how's everyone doing? How's the Inn doing?

 

[ShirleyShine]

Hi, I am new here, having only played mainly the Bethesda Elderscroll games, I have been given LotR, Return of the King. Any advice for a newbie will be most appreciated.
Thanks.
Happy New year to all of you!

 

[TheSackofJohnMadden]

Hi, I am new here, having only played mainly the Bethesda Elderscroll games, I have been given LotR, Return of the King. Any advice for a newbie will be most appreciated.
Thanks.
Happy New year to all of you!

You playing Fallout, New Vegas yet? I just started a few days ago.

Ehhhhhhhhh, it's not the same seeing you on a new username. You need to put up more of a fight with customer service.

 

[loveisthemovement89]

Well, they say without the original email address they can't access it, and I don't have it. Plus, I had come to hate that username, haha. So it's fine with me.

 

[ShirleyShine]

Hi, I am new here, having only played mainly the Bethesda Elderscroll games, I have been given LotR, Return of the King. Any advice for a newbie will be most appreciated.
Thanks.
Happy New year to all of you!

You playing Fallout, New Vegas yet? I just started a few days ago.

Yes. Clocked a good few hours. Also playing Morrowwind. 1st time. Amazing game. Unbelievable that is is sooo old. The anouncement of Skyrim sent me rushing back to ES games. Am also doing a absolute no kill get to head of Mages Guild in Oblivion.
An o.p. on the Elderscrolls pages has done it!!!

 

[PippinRules]

Well, they say without the original email address they can't access it, and I don't have it. Plus, I had come to hate that username, haha. So it's fine with me.

Still sucks.

 

[loveisthemovement89]

What does?

 

[PippinRules]

Having to make a new one so now everybody (unjustly) thinks you're a puss with no posts and a recent join date.

 

[marhari]

Ehhhh, I remember you telling me (many moons ago) how you came up with that name...some kid in your school made a sound like that right??

Couldn't you make your name like Ehhhh2 or something lol?

 

[marhari]

Yep, we're old now Ehhhh.

I'm sad to see that most of the boards I used to post on are now dead...at least there's always some familiar faces in this thread.

I just found my first ever post, Ehhhh it was in your "Name that movie quote" thread.   Damn, that was over 6 years ago!

 

[eclectic77]

Old people! <3

Hey Shine. Gotta say ROTK is still my fav LOTR game. Been a while since played, but holler if ya need a hand.

 

[marhari]

Hey eclectic!Omg you just reminded me that I haven't played ROTK in ages. Excuse me while I go relive some childhood memories!

 

[PippinRules]

BFME II is still ze bests

 

[eclectic77]

Childhood memories?
...now I feel old...

BFME II was ok. I have to admit the only reason I touched it was because it was LOTR. Generally I'm not much of a strategy game person. I like the mindless hack/slashin.

 

[duke_of_the_dance]

ROTK was awesome! I loved being able to swap the character branches, and take people such as Faramir with the Hobbits, or Pippin with Gandalf in multiplayer. So much fun.

EDIT:

Been playing DC Universe Online for PS3 lately, but I'm gonna go full Marvel vs Capcom 3 next week. Super-Skrull, Akuma, and Albert Wesker are waiting for me.

 

[PippinRules]

Childhood memories?
...now I feel old...

BFME II was ok. I have to admit the only reason I touched it was because it was LOTR. Generally I'm not much of a strategy game person. I like the mindless hack/slashin.

Bah, I still play BFME II sometimes. I only get to play computer games when I'm at home (not at school, considering my laptop is a Mac) and have extra, extra free time, and I tend to play the Total War series, but I still bust out the BFME II (especially when my friends come over since we used to play it all the time together). Ain't nuffin like defending Helm's deep with nothing but a handful of Mirkwood Archers and a couple of heroes.

 

[marhari]

Hmm yeah I should really try BFME one of these days. I've never been much of a PC gamer though. I'd also like to try Civilization V and Tropico 3....heard good things about these games.

 

[marhari]

There were times when I couldn't check this thread fast enough to keep up with the conversation........sigh.

 

[PippinRules]

Yeh surriously. I didn't post in here for the longest time cause I was too intimidated.

 

[Chris_The_Morgoth]

I remember those days. This is crazy, it took 15 mins to navigate here, ign sucks. Btw, anyone into civ let's play! I've got Civ Revolution 360 and Civ III for the laptop, it's the most captivating game ever besides the GTA series. Fav thing to do, roll in with tanks and planes on someone who is still using bows and arrows as a fun surprise.

 

[PippinRules]

Yeah I have no navigate here through stupid ways where I have to go through mad pages. Lamer than my grandpas legs.

 

[SinisterAngel606]

Morg! How the hell are ya?

 

[eclectic77]

Hey all.

Must beat DA1 so I can play DA2... *sigh*

Hope you're ok over there, Dan.

 

[SinisterAngel606]

Yes. I hope you'll let us know you're alright Danny boy.

 

[legacyAccount]

Message soon please dan!

 

[TheSackofJohnMadden]

Dan the man, add me to the long list of people who are hoping you're okay. Can't wait to hear your story.

::buys everyone a drink on Marhari's tab::

 

[PippinRules]

Speaking of drinks, anybody here ever play in an Irish bar band? Sh*t's ridiculous. You get free drinks all night and $100 or more per show. And I'm not even Irish.

 

[TheSackofJohnMadden]

You must really be looking forward to St. Patty's Day.

 

[marhari]

Slow down guys, I can't keep up!


I'm now bumping this thread until Dan responds! Of course, given the lack of activity here, he might be perfectly fine but still not post for months...

 

[TheSackofJohnMadden]

CNN kept touting an exclusive interview with an American survivor, and I watched hoping to see Dan's beautiful face:

[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v379/The_Dan_x/IGN%20Board%20Profile%20Pics/Danx.jpg]

Unfortunately, it was some other guy. Someone should contact the press and tell them the Green Dragon Inn is in search of a regular.

 

[marhari]

Damn, oh well good try Sack. Let's keep watching the news just in case.



"Oh Danny boy, the Inn, the Inn, is calling!
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you sooo!"

 

[PippinRules]

St. Patty's Day was rough. I got a stomach virus two nights before and was still feeling the effects. Didn't drink a thing and spent the entire show sweating my nads off.

 

[The_Dan_x]

*hobbles into the Inn*

I'm fine, just fine, guys! The earthquake on the 11th was pretty hellacious, though. Thankfully, the area where I live here in Japan (Kuki City, Saitama prefecture) wasn't effected nearly as bad as the places up north. Also, with me living pretty far inland, I didn't have to worry about the tsunamis.

When all of that happened, though, I was just finishing up the work day at the school where I work. As I was sitting at my desk working on some lesson plans, everything just started shaking. At first, I didn't think too much of it because there are earthquakes here all the time. But it just kept on going. And going. It probably went on for nearly two to three minutes straight (at least! Maybe longer!). I'm a good distance away from where the epicenter was, but crap, those few minutes seemed like an eternity. After it stopped, we evacuated all of the students and stood around on the school grounds, which are away from anything that could potentially fall on us. But yeah. That was that.

The radiation, on the other hand, is the next real issue here. There are tons of foreigners that are leaving the country out of fear of the radiation. I, however, do not intend on leaving anytime soon. Why? Well, from everything that I've seen on the news, the radiation poses little threat to people living as far away as I am from the reactor (I live something like 250 miles away). From everything I've seen from Western media, I can't believe the amount of misinformation that is being crapped out. All it is doing is creating panic and fueling ignorance. A lot of the stuff you might see is f-ing BS.

But I'll stop with that right now. It's just good to stop by the good 'ol Inn for a pint.

*orders drink*

[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v379/The_Dan_x/Random%20The_Dan_x%20stuff/HorseWTF.gif]

 

[TheSackofJohnMadden]

Yes, yes, yes!

::cranks up music, turns on disco ball, makes it rain::

Dan, I'm glad you're safe and sound. How many calls did you get from family and friends after it happened?

Interesting what you say about the western press. What pieces of news would you identify as misinformation, aside from the radiation?

 

[The_Dan_x]

Sack, here are a few...how should I say..Not so true articles:

[link=http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3473142/My-nightmare-trapped-in-post-tsunami-Tokyo-City-of-Ghosts.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=News]Starving Brit Keely: My nightmare trapped in City of Ghosts – Tokyo[/link]

The story behind the above link is basically a woman and her kids who are in Tokyo last week during the power outages and such. Maybe I'm being insensitive, but this woman seems to be like the most irresponsible mother I've ever heard of. And saying things like, "I'm scared, and shaky with hunger and really, really tired. I've got two hungry children and just a few crisps, oranges and a can of tuna...I've had some juice today but I'm saving the rest for the children. There is no petrol, no water, no food." Dude, it is a bit hard to find food, but it's not impossible. Epic fail for not looking hard enough.

[link=http://www.observer.com/files/full/nydailynews-march16.jpg]"Japan Nuke Disaster"[/link]

[link=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1367309/Japan-earthquake-tsunami-Tokyo-ghost-town.html#comments]Dark Days in the Ghost Town of Tokyo[/link]

Nobody is walking the streets of Tokyo during the blackouts because most places are freakin' closed! I can understand possibly wanting to get some exercise or something, but other than that, what the hell would be the point to go and walk around there?

Those are specific examples. I have just seen a lot of things out there that are simply not true and people who are just generally confused. The power outages aren't fun, but places like Tokyo are far from "deserted." As far as I know, most people in the Kanto region (area around Tokyo) probably aren't starving. It's true that store shelves aren't as stocked as usual (you can thank that to people panicking and buying up all the stuff...And also, I have no idea why, but you can hardly find any toilet paper at stores anymore. Why in the world would people buy so freakin' much?).

Of course, it's not like I have all the answers. When I see articles like those above or hear people say things on Facebook like, "The mushroom cloud from the reactor is coming our way!", I just want to puke.

But oh yeah. I had plenty of calls from family and friends back home. After the earthquake, I made it a point to call my mom just to let her know I was alright before she started to worry.

Let's keep the music and the disco ball rolling!

*sits back sipping on drink*

 

[marhari]

Hallelujah he is safe!


Dan, I totally agree with you about the 'sensationalist' media and I'm not even in Japan! Much of this actually reminds me of the whole Swine Flue 'epidemic'. Not to say that the situation isn't troubling over there, because I'm sure it is, but when I read stories about people on the west coast (of the US) freaking out over radiation reaching us I just have to shake my head.

And Dan, I haven't posted here a lot lately, but from what I gather you're teaching English over there, correct? Sorry if you've been asked all this before but: How long have you been there? How do you like it? How much longer are you staying? Are you there through JET? If not, which program (if any)? My cousin is heading to South Korea in a few months to do the same thing, and I might be interested myself. Any stories/advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[PippinRules]

Damn. Sh*t's whack.

 

[eclectic77]

Glad you're ok, Dan!
Bet it was pretty scary. Never experienced an earthquake myself.

Hehe, well I think the government and people on each side each has their own opinions on the matter, thus you get the varied stories.

 

[The_Dan_x]

Ec, definitely. But I think sometimes fear mongering plays a huge part in some of the media. Definitely not everything, but there were way too many incorrect articles and information out there. Oh well.

Marhari, I was working for a private company as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) up until yesterday. My contract just ended and I've been hired on directly by the city where I work (which means more money and better benefits for me! And doing the same exact job!). I'm not a part of JET, and from what I understand, I think the JET program is scaling back a bit. It's pretty expensive for the cities and possibly in the next ten years or so, it's possible that it may be no more. Most cities and board of educations are turning to private companies for ALTs and also hiring people on directly. Honestly, if you were looking to come to this part of the world to teach English, Korea would probably be a better choice salary-wise. But, if you're interested in Japan, there are tons of ways that you can get in. The private companies are constantly looking for people, though there are certain times that are better than others (a hiring season, if you will). Seriously, if you want some more info about it, just say the word, and I can hook you up, man.

By the way, completely different subject, but last month, I started working for a Nintendo based website called [link=http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/]Nintendo World Report[/link] (formerly Planet Gamecube). I'm a "Japan Correspondent," but also get a chance to cover stuff from the US as well. They're sending me out my first review game now (Tiger Woods 12 on the Wii) and yeah. Should be cool. I wrote up a bit of 3DS coverage last month after picking one up at launch here and also did a bit about a Wii RPG called [link=http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressions/25450]The Last Story[/link], which is probably one of the best things I've ever written in my life. It's a free gig, but I think it will help open doors in the future for writing jobs and such...There. There's my shameless plug!

 

[marhari]

Yes Dan, hook me up with that info!

Nice, yeah I've been to that site a few times. I read a few of your articles...good stuff.

Now it's been few weeks...what's the situation/atmosphere like over there now (in Japan)? It's not headline news anymore over here, so I haven't been following it quite as much as I was.

 

[The_Dan_x]

Things here have calmed down quite a bit, thankfully. We have the occasional aftershock here and there, but generally things aren't too bad. Obviously people in the earthquake/tsunami/radiation effected areas have tons of work that still need to be done before things can return to normal for them.

Marhari, do you have an email address or something? I could send you all of the information via that as opposed to posting walls of text on here about it. PM it to me or something, or just email the email addy I have listed in my profile. I check that everyday, as opposed to every few days with the boards here.

How is everyone else doing? I'm going to have my first full week of work in two weeks starting tomorrow. Yahoo.