Day Two Hundred Sixty-eight: Evening of April 30th 2010

Splinter Cell: Conviction has been played through, and I was wrong about Sam Fisher's Third Echelon tech contact, Anna "Grim" Grimsdóttír. The designers did a nice job of misdirection. Sam would talk to Grim and the next thing you know enemy operatives were all over the place. It seemed like she would always send him into the teeth of the storm. Of course, it might be the fact that I don't 'sneak' well, but still it seemed strange that I wasn't able to find the path of least resistance. Oh well, it's done and I hope to return and try it at a higher level of difficulty, but I have other games to explore and test my skills.
Speaking of other games, I played Dead to Rights: Retribution for about three hours and the there were times when I was having fun, but then I would have trouble figuring out what I should be doing. I could check the objectives but they were broadly painted and weren't much help. So muddling through would occur, and I would be happy that I was playing on the easiest level of difficulty. I think that I'm about halfway through, but I can't be sure.
I want to get back to Army of Two: The 40th Day and finish Chapters of Deceit on the PS3 and I've forgotten about Bioshock 2. It not as engrossing as the first installment but still a good game and I'm going to have to have the manual open to refresh my memory regarding button assignments. Hopefully, it will come back to me quickly.
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
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Day Two Hundred Sixty-seven: Evening of April 29th 2010

Time consuming activities (not negative, just time intensive) and plumbing damage control were the key elements of today's twenty-four.
I did manage to check out the copy of Dead to Rights: Retribution that I received yesterday before I left the house. I spent a little over an hour and a half of running, punching, shooting. I began playing as the hero's canine sidekick. That was a first for me, and was fun most of the time. I hadn't learned the controls, but I enjoyed running through some of the bad guys.
Playing as the lead character, my initial objective was to save the employees at a large media corporation. This scenario introduced the key combat components of the game. One component that is explained is called 'focus' which is Slo-Mo view of the action. It can only last as long as an indicator show it can, and not only acts as an offensive bonus, but your defense is improved. I don't recall any other game that I have that offers this feature, but I'll check somewhere down the line. It does add a bit of control in a hostage situation. I'll probably play a bit more tomorrow, but I'd like to get back to Splinter Cell: Conviction and finish that one.
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
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Day Two Hundred Sixty-six: Evening of April 28th 2010

I was going to write about accessing the downloadable content, Chapters of Deceit, for Army of Two: The 40th Day. Something came up as I was about to start typing out the entry.
Earlier in the day, I received the camera adapters for the iPad (USB port and SD Card reader). So, before typing the intended entry, I tried importing photos from my iPhone to the iPad via the USB adapter. I selected a small set of photos on my iPhone, hit the sync, and it worked. It worked too well, I accidentally sent duplicate images to the iPad. When I opened the Photos app, I discovered the duplicate images. I highlighted one of the duplicates and the word 'Copy' showed but that was all. What happened to 'Delete'? I plugged in the iPad to my Mac Book Pro, opened iTunes and tried to find the photos on the device - No Luck. I went online and searched to find how I might be able to delete the doubles. The forum that I hit said to do what I just did. Right now, I'm not sure what to do, other than go back online and do a deeper search. Hopefully, I'll be able to find a solution to this problem.
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
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Day Two Hundred Sixty-five: Evening of April 27th 2010

Last night, just before slipping off to Nod, I reached the big battle in Splinter Cell: Conviction before the final scene (I hope). I'm basing this statement on the intensity and difficulty of the fire fight that developed. I have had the most trouble moving through this scenario. I have moved through the banquet room in variety of ways, without success. Once or twice I've come close to clearing the room, but have failed because I tried to take on the remaining enemy fighters head on. I should know better, but I still don't sneak well. Somewhere along the way I'll figure it our. I'm to close to quit.
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
-- Post From My iPad using Pages

Day Two Hundred Sixty-four: Evening of April 26th 2010

"Hold down the left trigger" - That is the action needed to take advantage of cover in Splinter Cell: Conviction. Now I just have to implement this when needed, but it's going to be hard because I've developed some serious bad habits, and I'm homing in on the conclusion to the game (I think).
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
-- Post From My iPad using Pages

Day Two Hundred Sixty-three: Evening of April 25th 2010

I've notice that I have developed a bad habit in Splinter Cell: Conviction of jumping out in front of the enemy soldier that I'm trying to take out using hand to hand combat. Part of the problem is patience. I need to wait until the soldier has walked past my hidden position. And I still don't quite have a handle on the directionality of my character. This is most apparent at corners. I thought that holding the 'A' button would flip my avatar in the correct direction, but I haven't been very successful with using it. I'm going to have to pull the manual out and double check what the correct button or button combination is.
On the plus side, I figured out how to move to the next part of the mission that I was stumped on last night. Of course it was right in front of me, and how I missed it, I don't know. But I found it and moved on.
I think that I'm very close the the final mission. There is a character that is leading me on, using lies and misdirection to move me forward. So I know that there will be a serious settling of scores with this character in the near future. The question will be what that character's motives are. I hope that I can discern what those motives are.
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
-- Post From My iPad using Pages

Day Two Hundred Sixty-two: Evening of April 24th 2010

So I managed to play about two an a half hours of Splinter Cell: Conviction. I played until I hit a stump point and then a dizzy spell.
The 'stump point' occurred when I finished a hold a place mission and now have to move on to complete the primary mission. I spent about twenty running up and down stairs, climbing through windows, moving along ledges, shinnying up and down pipes, and not finding any avenue of escape. I'll try once more before I call up a walk through.
The 'dizzy spell' happened because of all the spinning around. This usually happens when I play first person shooters, and I move around in a dark closed in spaces. That pretty much describes the area that I'm in right now. What this means to future game play? Simply put, I've got to get out of the situation as soon as possible. If not, I'll be repeating the 'dizzy spell' again with an increase in the frustration level. That is something I'm not looking forward.
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
-- Post From My iPad using Pages