PixlBit

First of all, during the Eagles game, NFL analyst Chucky (Jon Gruden) dissed Geno's and that's just not right. Pat's and Geno's are both great cheesesteak places in Philly and actually right across the street from one another. This was during the Philadelphia Eagles vs. Carolina Panthers game tonight on prime time Monday Night football. What a scandal! Not really though. It's about all I can complain about since the Eagles completely blew out the Panthers who looked like deer caught in the headlights of a double semi tractor trailer.

After the game, I caught a little bit of Halo Fest on Xbox Live, the presentation leading up to the release of The Master Chief Collection. I saw the trailer for the game and a little bit of the program before the feed timed out for the second time and I quit. Major Nelson was the host along with two people I didn't know and Freddie Wong, who I know from youtube and Video Game High School. There was a guy in a Master Chief outfit and a real life warthog too. I got kinda excited about it and toyed with the crazy idea of going to the release and getting a copy even though I don't have an Xbox One yet. I heard that you can create play lists of the campaign levels that run through all four Halo games which is a fantastic idea. I also want to play Halo 2 Anniversary really badly. But . . . I wasn't so crazy for it that I wanted to spend $400 for the game and system. That'll have to wait for Crackdown.

But I should talk about the gaming I did today alongside a lovely cheesesteak (not from Geno's or Pat's) with onions and mushrooms.

                          

It was more Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, a game that is eating my time like a football fan eating Cheetos in the fourth quarter where his team is down by a field goal and they just got a first down on the opponents 40. Yea, that's a lot of Cheetos and a lot of time. 

My friend Mark and I were playing co-op on True Vault Hunter mode and doing the usual: completing missions, leveling up, and studying gear stats. The game is just as fun the second time through and, of course, harder. We played the Shock Drop Slaughter Pit, a kind of hoard mode arena within the main game, and got to wave five before the game really gave us something to think about. Several reshufflings of my gear later, we finally beat it.

I've pretty much given up on judging gear by their rarity. It doesn't seem to help very much as some less rare weapons are actually better. Now I've got to look at gear very closely and try and figure out how the various stats can help me with my particular strategy. I didn't want to get so mental about this game, but it has forced my hand, and now I have to do my homework or get beat.

I also set myself some goals from the challenge list. One was getting electrical damage kills during Fight For Your Life, that mode you get into when you're down but not out and can barely move. I did everything imaginable to try and get this and came oh so close many times. Eventually it was hurting our progress in the game, because I would die a lot trying, so I gave it a break. I think I just needed some better electrical damage gear, and so far I've been getting nothing but ice damage stuff.

So I went back to my wintry mix. It was really fun to freeze enemies over and over then rush them and melee them until they shattered. I used a shield and class mod to boost my melee damage. I also used a sniper rifle with ice damage, and once I made an enemy freeze solid, who was flying with a jetpack really high up. He fell, as a block of ice, all the way down into a lava pit below and exploded - very satisfying.

          

You really have to think about all four weapons, your shield, your grenade mod, class mod and O2 kit to really get good at this game. That's eight different items, each with at least five attributes plus some other bonuses to consider. Going back to Concordia, the hub town, was like going back to a school. My buddy and I would sit there and study gear stats, grind better weapons, sell ones we didn't want, and unlock more Shift Keys to open the golden key weapon's chest. This would take a while and then we'd be back doing a mission and gathering more loot.

This game is alot of fun, and I'm always finding new things and new strategies to employ. Looks like this game is going to go to a hundred hours or more before the year's out.