I have friends in Boston (and Maine, of course), and I've been to New York City three times now. As far as the West Coast goes, I've traveled the entire length of I-5 from the Mexican border in San Diego to the Canadian border in Washington. At some point I would like to move to California, it's an amazing place.
Yeah, it's cold. Not quite as cold or snowy as New England, but it's still cold for someone used to 60-70 degrees this time of year. :)
Hey, now, in our defense, it's still a much shorter drive from MD to Maine than it is to Florida (even to Jacksonville at the FL-GA border), and Baltimore is a part of BosWash, after all. And while it isn't near as snowy here as it is in New England, it's still never been above freezing since I got here. :)
Besides, our perceptions of "west" have changed, too. When the Constitution was ratified, the "western frontier" referred to the Pittsburgh area, after all. They weren't even thinking about places like TX, AZ, or CA back then. :)
It's a new experience for me, living out here. I've visited the Northeast quite a few times over the years, but it's still a lot different than what I'm used to from places like Oklahoma, Arizona, or California. Sure is pretty though.
Cost of living is kind of a wash in a lot of ways. Housing is cheaper in Oklahoma, but Maryland is actually cheap compared to other Northeastern areas, which isn't bad for it being the wealthiest state in the country (most of said wealth being concentrated in the counties near DC, of course). As far as gas, Oklahoma has the cheapest gas in the US by quite a margin, but since I did a lot more driving in Oklahoma than I'm doing in Maryland thanks to Baltimore being less sprawling than Oklahoma City/Norman, I spend less on gas in MD. Food is actually somewhat cheaper in Maryland. Oklahoma not only has one of the highest sales tax rates in the country - the state rate is 4.5%, but the cities and counties impose their own taxes and the actual sales tax rate ends up being 9-11% - but they also tax groceries, while Maryland exempts most groceries and has a 6% sales tax rate. The auto insurance was the one big case of sticker shock I've had since I came here. Oklahoma is actually one of the more expensive places to get auto insurance thanks mostly to the weather there - tornadoes and hail are a big source of claims in OK - but 15 years of being with the same State Farm agent plus a good driving record netted me a pretty low insurance premium there. My rates doubled when I came here. I found out later that Baltimore is one of the most expensive cities for auto insurance. Oh well.
I forgot I contributed something to this.
Bayonetta 2, although Nintendo published that one. Resident Evil Revelations. Deus Ex. Shantae on the Wii U eShop (the Miiverse community for that game is so completely fucked up it's hilarious).
As a rule, I don't go chasing Trophies or Achievements. Most of the requirements for them are boring as hell or require you to start the game from scratch because they're one-time-only deals.
Yeah, I remember Duck Hunt. My NES-owning best friend back in 1987 (I never owned a NES myself) got the set that came with SMB and Duck Hunt. He also got Gyromite used but never had a R.O.B, so we took turns operating the pipes on controller 2.
Light gun games can be a lot of fun in small doses but they all get repetitive after awhile. Duck Hunt was no different. That dog pissed me off to no end, and almost everybody I knew who played it took a few frustrated shots at the dog with the Zapper. Later, I learned that the arcade Vs. Duck Hunt actually did allow you to shoot your dog during a bonus game when the dog would be leaping into the air trying to flush out ducks. He'd hobble on screen with his face blackened like a Tom and Jerry cartoon, sporting a leg cast and a crutch, yelling at the player. I can imagine that Nintendo didn't want to court more controversy than video games in general were already getting by allowing you to shoot the dog in the NES version, even with the Looney Tunes/Tom and Jerry cartooniness.
My favorite light game of all time was Battle Clash, a Super NES Super Scope 6 game that pitted you against mechs. You'd use repeat fire to fend off enemy attacks and charged single shots to the enemy. It had a catchy soundtrack composed by a female composer named Yuka Tsujiyoko, who is the main composer for the Fire Emblem series. I hope Nintendo considers releasing that on Wii U VC. I also liked a couple of machine-gun light gun games made by Midway, Terminator 2 and Revolution-X Featuring Aerosmith.
