PixlBit

I have been bleeding Google Play dry with all the free music, and even got a free Elf movie from them, but I might need to download iTunes on my computer once again and see what I can get out of them. I should also find my old iTunes gift card, which may have something on it. Then there's the Steam sales. Man, I didn't think so much of my holiday would be spent shopping electronically!

Like you, I mostly relaxed and ate with family; I got a 360/PC controller, some money, and stocking stuffers for Christmas. I think they were right to deny you the Avengers scene, because that Santa on a dinosaur one looks awesome! By the way, I saw a trailer for The Winter Soldier when I saw Desolation of Smaug today, and it looks amazing. Love that Hulk ornament, too.

Nice gets on the gift cards, video games, and hoody, and that's cool your uncle and cousins are enjoying the games as well. 

I dug the songs you posted, too. Hope you have a great New Year, Chris!

Ok, that's what I figured was going on with Battlefield 4, but for some reason, wasn't quite sure. I sometimes read blogs in a very tired state. 

And yeah, ME2 gets a lot of praise from a lot of people, hence why I downloaded the demo, but I just couldn't get into it. If it offered controller support, I may have felt differently, but what can you do? I'm just not a keyboard and mouse person, unless it's a simple platformer. I know that sounds odd, since people swear by that set up for shooters, but I just don't find it as comfortable. 

I don't think I'd have my laptop if it weren't on sale this summer, but I'm glad I got it, and I was also mad at myself for not gaming on it, which the sale is also fixing. lol Thanks for mentioning that combo pack, by the way. I saw that, but figured I may only want Bioshock for myself, but I might reconsider. 

I got in shape this past year, but now I do feel like I need to get back in the habit after the holidays. Things that helped me are Noom Coach (Android app), ZuzkaLight, DavidtsFitness (Youtube trainers), and my friends used myfitnesspal.com when they were dieting for a competition, if you want to check that out. 

I still live like a bit of a hermit, but I do enjoy getting out. Only problem is I like getting out mainly to eat and spend money. lol 

I still haven't finished Mockingjay, which is the one book I said I would read and finish this year, so I am right there with you as far as needing to read more books. My excuse is all the reading I had to do for graduate school. 

And I bought a new laptop this year, an ASUS K55N-DB81 that was on sale this summer on newegg.com. I'd recommend them for deals on laptops; of course, you may have already heard of them, since they are a fairly popular name, but I hadn't used them before my purchase or since, so just in case, I figured I'd give that information to you. 

I hope you have a happy new year as well, and hope you have a good time achieving all your goals!

I hope everyone involved ends up alright. I've been sharing the info on my Facebook about free AAA tows on New Year's Eve. 

And I already planned for 2014 to be a fresh start, but it looks like there's even more reason to believe it will be now. Thanks for sharing that information, I did not know that.

Thinking back on your blogs, as well as a lot of others' when this game was being beta tested and released, I really should have guessed this would be your number one. 

I should get into an MMO some time. Then again, maybe not, I need to use free time more wisely as it is. lol 

I'd put this in the same category as Sims, Second Life, Farmville, etc. as a life simulator. Obviously, there are key differences between those franchises, but to me, they all appear to have a lot of the same core gameplay concepts and elements. 

If I had a 3DS, I'd likely be addicted to this game as well. Being a fictional mayor sounds like fun. Look forward to your #1 PICK

I love the Mario RPGs for the same reasons as well. Those timed-presses added in with the combat make it a lot more tolerable and enjoyable for an action-game type like myself. 

I'm interested in that theory about Microsoft. Although, I don't think they needed to enter the console marketplace to acheive that goal, necessarily, but hey, more power to them. I still don't think I'll buy an XBONE, but I do like playing games on my Windows laptop, so whatever. And maybe once I bite the bullet and download Windows 8.1, the OS will be better, too. 

And yeah, DKC has canopies, but that's a limited side scroller, I was thinking something more epic in scope. Like a Squirrel Skyrim where you never touch the ground.

And yeah, I don't know what ticket prices are like, since I got in for free, but if they're too steep, I'll have to stay at home myself. 

Borderlands 2 is one everyone seems to love. I have no plans to play it, since I'm not much on shooters or RPGs; if you believe it, while I definitely enjoyed it, I decided not to hop on a Mass Effect/2 sales on Steam after downloading the demo for 2; but it's cool that so many people enjoy that game. 

I need to play MGS3. I've only played the first two MGS titles, the Twin Snakes Gamecube remake, and the first few frames of the NES games online. Which is a shame, because I often hear 3 is people's favorite, but alas, it came out around the time my older brother had moved out and taken his PS2 with him. 

I would have downloaded Bioshock Infinte on Steam if I had the recommended CPU. In fact, for anyone reading this, there's a flash sale on Steam for Bioshock Infinite right now: 75% off, or $9.99. I bought Tomb Raider with a lower grpahics card than was recommended, but I can live with running games on low settings; not so sure I'm willing to risk my processor not handling things. I do have the original Bioshock on my wishlist, though, and will likely download that before the 2nd/end of Steam sale. If you can't tell, I am far behind. I owned no consoles or handhelds this generation, and only this summer did I buy a laptop that could run games, and only just now have I bought any games for it. 

I wasn't quite clear on what the issue with Battlefield 4 was. So are you saying it glitches at the 50-75% point in the game? Glad you were able to trade it in for something you like better, in any case. 

As for Skyrim, you are making me jealous, because no way in hell is my laptop running that thing on "Ultra" settings. lol I have the minimum video card required, though. Maybe it's for the best, though. Like you, I prefer some story and mission-incentive to my games. I just don't get the same kick out of aimlessly wandering that other people seem to. 

I'm not into zombies, but this TellTale game could be an exception, since I do like games with hard decisions, or at least I think I would. I actually bought Deadlight today on Steam, but in my opinion, that doesn't count, cause it looked more like Contra than a typical zombie game to me.

Sonic Racing looks fun; I was bummed I didn't have the CPU for Generations. That game looks great to me. I only got into Sonic starting with the Adventure games, and I loved the Sonic portions of those games; they'd be great without all the baggage characters, I think. 

And as you can tell, Steam has impacted my wallet as well, lol, although I am still well below the $50 spending mark. That will change, though. I need to buy Super Meat Boy as well, before the sale ends. 

Well, if you're worried, it's on nintendo8.com for free (streaming, no download required), so you could try with a keyboard before buying. I personally don't like it, because ... for some reason it kind of confuses me a bit. The popping up on different sides of the screen by walking far enough in a certain direction is fine, cause it's mostly clear you're trying to ascend, but there are rooms in the game that I have no idea what I'm supposed to do in, and I get stuck. 

Granted, while it's not as confusing, I find the original Metroid overly frustrating thanks to its enemies that like to spontaneously respawn and pass through doors, and I can't say I've played too much of the original Zelda; and though I enjoy what I have played of it, I am definitely not in the "pro Zelda II" camp; so the problem just might be that I am not a "hardcore" enough gamer to get into this stuff. I played NES and SNES growing up, but I don't know that I ever actually beat any games on those systems, except perhaps Toy Story, and that ending level was a bitch, I think.

You might like it though, Aaron. It certainly gets a lot of praise from the older generation who had their own NES, and weren't relying on their older brother's like I did. 

And I think I may actually like the sequels, so I'm off to see if nintendo8.com has the Game Boy version. 

Yeah, it was at least difficult enough for me to write a giant end-of-year blog because it cracked my mind, but to be honest, a lot of it was self-inflicted in retrospect.

And yes, I can imagine you'd be busy. Oddly enough, this seems to be a slow time for my dad, but then he works in pharmaceudical delivery, so that's a bit different than gifting. lol

I imagine those backed-up orders on UPS' part didn't help much. Glad you're still alive.