Borderlands 2 Farming

I got a shiny new toy!

Play XBLA Contact Fail

6/22/2013 - TheGrannyBomb is a winner!

So, I'm playing Happy Wars this afternoon on XBOX Live, minding my own business, when this little shithead, TheGrannyBomb, sends me a friends request.  Declined it, he sent it again, so I accepted to see what he had to say.  Fucker insults me.  Gave him a nice simple answer.  Now he is famous on the Internet.

I heard a rumor that TheGrannyBomb once fucked his dog up the ass and it died.  True story.

Wil Wheaton is Dumb

I don't care how many times he saved the Enterprise from destruction, he should know the difference between Geometry and

Snack Time

MMMMMM..... Bacon Flavored Popcorn! What snacks are you guys sporting?

Lady Death's Rocking New Year's Eve!

Ok, you know what time of year it is, time for making plans for my annual trek to New Jersey for Lady Death's always out there New Year's Eve Party. You don't need an invite, just show up at his apartment, come one, come all!

Check out my video from last year's party!

I've got a new friend!

Hey, I have a new friend on 360 Voice, he thinks I should be nicer to him. So, if you're reading this, drop by his blog, leave him a Free Microsoft Code, he was begging for them in the forums last week. Something like this:

ZOMBI-ESGET-NOFRE-ECODE-TODAY

HOWYO-ULIKE-MEBEI-NGADI-CKNOW

NEWBI-EDONT-BEGIN-THEFO-RUMS1

Stop by his blog, but he does not seem to have comments enabled. Funny.

http://360voice.gamerdna.com/tag/HERETICZOMBIE

8:05 PM - UPDATE! How I love updates! This guy is like the Energizer Dummy, just keeps spewing stupid. Guess he doesn't know I can quickly zap any comment from my blog. BTW - Still has no comments enabled on his blog.

Quake 4 Pyramid Fun

Picture by The Dren, pyramid by Marv Mitts, Sith Rick, B8TINGU, Fafhrdd, PYR0LYZER, Mr Explode A Lot.

XBOX Live Dumb Ass Of The Day

Wow, out of the blue, what an interesting message to send to a total stranger.

Found An XBOX Live Cheater!

Playing with this guy tonight in The Outfit, kept killing me with one shot with ANY weapon. Stupid cheater.

Product Review - Death Grips

A few weeks ago I received an invitation from a new company called Death Grips to try and review their new product for XBOX gamers. I checked out the Death Grips website and decided the product looked interesting, so I accepted their offer.

A few days later I received a box in the mail from Death Grips. Their concept seemed simple, make the XBOX 360 controller easier to grip, thus better to use, I liked this idea a lot. One of my favorite things about the original XBOX was the "Duke" controller that shipped with the unit. I never cared for the S controller that was much smaller, and was disappointed with the 360 controller when I got my first 360.

So, I was pretty interested in this product.




Out of the box, the product is fairly simple, you get two grips, with pre-stuck adhesive strips, extra strips, and some fairly straight forward instructions.




Here you can see the grips with their pre-installed adhesive strips, installation was pretty simple, but the backing can be tough to remove. I found a set if tweezers made it easier to pull up once you got a corner started. I cleaned the back of my controller with the included cleaning pad, and in less than 5 minutes I was up and running. My wife and kids were out of town for the weekend, so I was ready for some serious testing. 12 hours of straight gaming with these things. Playing Blur and Bioshock plus some arcade games. How were they?

At first the grips were a little uncomfortable, they push your hands to a slightly different grip. But after about an hour they got very comfortable. But the best part was when I quit playing after 12 hours, MY HANDS DID NOT HURT! Ever since I got my 360 I've had issues after long gaming sessions over 4 hours where my hands just ache when I am done playing. But using the Death Grips, I didn't have this problem.

I did the same thing the following day, with the same results. No pain, and I was more comfortable than I've ever been playing my XBOX 360. These things are great.




This pair of photos shows my black controller with Death Grips, and my white controller without. You can see the slight difference in how my hands sit on the controller, even though it is slight, it makes a really huge difference in how things feel.




After about 2 weeks, the left side adhesive gave out on me. Considering I play 2-3 hours per day during the week, and 4-8 hours on the weekend, these things saw some heavy use the first two weeks. Close to 80 hours I believe. So I looked at how the adhesive was originally applied and noted that the grips came off at the top and bottom first. I then used the extra strips supplied by Death Grips and created my own pattern you can see in the photo below. I've now been playing for about two more weeks, and the grip is holding steady, so this seems to be a better layout for the grip adhesive.



In conclusion - this is a great product, it makes holding the controller much more comfortable, improving your overall gaming experience. These retail for just $9.99, a very reasonable price to make your gaming experience better. If you are a frequent gamer, give these a try.

Loser of the night!

Out of the blue, this loser sends me an FU message. Filed a complaint, hope he enjoys his night off from Live in the near future.

Man, the poor guy has a really low gamer score and a poor completoin percentage, check him out:

http://www.trueachievements.com/GREENIVI0NSTER.htm

I added him as a friend, turns out I'm his only friend on True Achievements. Go figure.

Then I sent a message on Live, pointing to this post, and telling him to enjoy his suspension for the complaint I filed.

He went on to prove his Loser of the night status with this reply:

Apologies... I've ben really busy...

And I forgot to post the video from Lady Death 13's New Years Eve party. So, here we go, party was great as ever...

Leroy Jenkins

Ok, so we've been playing Rainbow Six Vegas 2 the past few weeks, and I keep refering to playing "Leroy Jenkins Style". So for everyone that has no idea what I have been refering to, here we go:

Silverstone Wirless - Dishonest Retailer

Last month I had some XBOX 360 256MB Memory Cards ordered through BUY.COM from one of their partners, Silverstone Wireless. These were supposed to be Brand New cards for $9.99 each with $3.99 each shipping and handling. I thought this would be a great deal for a discontinued product. Boy was I wrong.

Here is what arrived in the mail:



I paid $3.99 per unit or $7.98 for shipping and handling. Didn't get a padded envelope, didn't get anything better than First Class Parcel shipping, and the units are missing their protective carrying cases which Microsoft normally includes with every unit they ship. Clearly not brand new units.

Below is the packing list sent from Silverstone Wireless, clear stating NEW as the condition of the units.



So, I contacted BUY.COM, but they stated that they are not responsible for the veracity of what their embedded shops do, and would offer me no help with this issue. So, FIRST WARNING - DO NOT BUY FROM BUY.COM sub vendors, you have no recourse with BUY.COM, and they DO NOT CARE if their vendors rip you off, it is not their problem.

So, next I contacted Silverstone Wireless, let them know what happened, and asked what they would do for me. Their offer is below:



That's right, if I lie, and say their store is great, they will give me $9.99. So, SECOND WARNING - DO NOT BUY FROM SILVERSTONE WIRELESS, and DO NOT TRUST THEIR ONLINE REVIEWS, THEY PAY FOR THEM. That's right, if they are willing to pay me for a good review when they didn't do what they advertised, it is a safe bet I'm not the first person to be made this offer. Who knows what has been reviewed on their site under such a plan.

So, how do I know that these are really used and not new memory units? Check out this screen shot from the contents on one of the units:



Yes, I now have a copy of the Gamertag profile "SW", and a game save for Medal of Honor for that Gamertag. THIRD WARNING - When you sell something that has memory, game console, computer, camera, etc. WIPE THE MEMORY BEFORE YOU SELL.

Here are a list of Silverstone Wireless Stores to avoid on the web:

http://www.silverstonewireless.com/

http://stores.ebay.com/Silverstone-Wireless

And here is a list of posts from other, dissatisfied costomers:

http://somedirection.com/2007/10/16/silverstone-wireless-craptastic-customer-service/

http://www.ripoffreport.com/computer-stores/silverstone-wireless/silverstone-wireless-on-ebay-o-7pabd.htm

Lady Death's Rockin' New Years Eve Party

Just a quick reminder, if you're going to be in New Jersey this weekend, Lady Death 13 throws one HELL OF A NEW YEARS party. I'm personally driving up from Texas this year, the party is JUST THAT GOOD!

Don't believe me? Just check out this video from last time I went to his party...

A Special Video For Lady Death 13

Just wanted to do something special for finally unlocking the 10th Prestiege on Call Of Duty: World At War. So I made a special video message for Lady Death 13.

The Dren's Douche Of The Day

Now with Video!

Met the loser in Call Of Duty: World At War tonight.

How to keep your 360 Voice Streak

OK, I'm in third place for streaks at the 360 Voice Blog site. And I get a lot of questions, or see a lot of questions about keeping streaks alive. So, I thought I would share a bit of what it takes to keep a streak going, mine is now at 1025 days, the last time I didn't play was the day my twins were born, and the following day, June 26 & 27, 2006.

I've kept my streak alive through business travel, leisure travel, a hurricane that left my power out for 7 days, Internet connection interruptions, 3 failed XBOX 360s, and working 70 hours a week for a year at a start up company.

And let me just say, that the number one, most important thing about keeping my streak is a very understanding spouse. Second is a very supportive extended family.

This installment will cover my backup/travel rig. I've got some other cool toys and tricks I've used in a pinch, but I'll save those for another time.

I play, every day. The picture below is my main XBOX 360. It is less than a week old. It's brother was killed by a lightning storm last weekend. It was replaced on Monday at Best Buy with the extended service plan I bought. $40 well spent. Last Sunday night I had to swap it with my backup 360 to play and keep the streak alive. Barring this, there is a 24 hour Wal Mart less than 2 miles from my house, I would have gone and purchased an Arcade version if needed to play. This main unit is a Jasper MB Pro unit with the 60GB HDD. It also has the very limited edition PGR3 faceplate. I don't like to move this box around, so it rarely leaves the entertainment center.



This is my back system. It consists of a 20GB Falcon MB 360 system, a Lenovo Ideapad Netbook, a Sony Portable DVD Player that can also function as a video monitor, and a Blackberry with Bluetooth tethered Internet. I also have 2 150W DC to AC Inverters that I can use to power this system from a pair of cigarette lighters in a car or truck. All I need to play is gas in the tank of my car, and a cell signal and I can play to keep my streak alive.



Here you can see my secondary Live! account, Evol Dren is logged into XBOX Live! I have two friends online, and I'm ready to play. Profiles for this box are stored on a 64MB Memory card. I also have a Datel memory card reader so that I can regularly backup my profiles. Don't want a lost profile ruining my day.



Here you can see my Verizon Broadband connection, shared with my LAN port. I know a lot of people like to bridge with a laptop, but many providers are blocking this technique. I've found using Windows XP's built in Internet Connection Sharing" to be a much more consistently effective way to connect to live. You can do it with either the dial-up connection, or the WiFi connection when you are on the road, or visiting with friends.



The pretty orange cable is an Ethernet Crossover Cable. I also carry a standard cable in case I can plug directly to the Internet. The little black thing sticking out of the Netbook is a mini-USB dongle for the Lenovo mouse.



Here you see my Verizon Blackberry Storm, the WORST Blackberry ever made. At least it's G3 Web Access is very fast. It is tethered to the Netbook via a Targus mini Bluetooth dongle. One less cable to carry on the road is great. You can see the mini dongle on the front left corner of the Netbook.



The final picture if a view from the backside of this mess. I carry a 7 outlet power strip that has a 7 foot cord whenever I travel, never assume there will be enough outlets to plug things in the way you want. I use the video cable that came with my pro box, it can do both regular TV out and HDTV out. I've actually stayed in some hotels now with HDTVs where I could get to the inputs and play in HD on the road. I currently don't have a modulator for TVs that only accept an antenna input, instead I carry the DVD player, it can function as a monitor when I need, and it will plays DVDs on the plane or back seat of the car while traveling. A bonus in my book.



So, if you want to keep your streak going, you are going to have to plan, and be ready for things to break. Have a backup plan, and be ready to make it a priority when things fail. Things will fail.

Hope folks enjoyed this, hope to see you here in another 1025 days.

Whiney Bitch Of The Night

Didn't think I was going to have a thing to post about today, then I met my new friend, AC Kills. He is a very special friend. He bought the copy of Call Of Duty: World At War that didn't come with tanks, or the weapons that can destroy tanks. I owned his team. Had more points than the first four of them combined, and I was only third in scoring that round.

He started crying after the round, "you guys suck..."

"Yes," I retorted, "I suck, I have more points than the first four members of your team combined. My strategy is terrible, yet my team won."

He says, "You guys were using tanks!"

"Sorry," I said, "I didn't buy the whiney, bitch ass version of the game that came without tanks. You should have done the same. Hey mommy, those men are shooting me with tanks and stuff!"

He didn't say a word after that, just left the room. Then he sent me a whiny XBOX Live Text Message:



Yep, not man enough to stand his ground in the room. For this, I sent him back a message with the link above and awarded him the Whiney Bitch Of The Night Award. Then thanked him for shopping at Dren Mart.

So, after that he sends me back the following message after I had already gone offline for the night:



So, I sent back the following:

I'm an asshole, and I approve this message. Tell your mom I said "Thanks for breakfast."

He replied:



Dude is seriously owned and clueless.

Don't be a Douche

Ok, so tonight I'm playing my usual COD:W@W. I'm up in the top of a building sniping the other team as they arrive. Dude shows up next to me, he's on my team. Is he here to help? No, he is here to shoot and stab me till we both die. Yes, this is a teriffic strategy. Then he sends me this message:



So, I sent him back, a link to the photo on TWITPIC, wtih the message, "How about you won an award?"

Haven't heard back from him...

new gamer pic

i need a gamer pic from us go i can add it to the 360V pic, please???

Check out 360 Voice!

Hey, check me out at 360 Voice, if you have an XBOX 360, it will write a blog about your gaming exploits each day.

The Dren

Call Of Duty W@W New Maps

Listen up soldiers!

New conflicts are on the horizon for Call of Duty: World at War! We're pleased to introduce the contents of our first Downloadable Content (DLC) Map Pack for World at War, which includes three new Multiplayer levels, as well as an additional level for the ever-popular bonus Co-Op mode, Nazi Zombies!

3 Multiplayer maps: Nightfire, Station, Knee Deep
1 Nazi Zombie level: Verrückt (Zombie Asylum)

Click here for more details regarding these maps!

The team has been very quiet regarding details of our DLC until now, and we're so excited to let this content loose. DLC Map Pack #1 is due out in March of '09 for the Xbox 360™, Playstation®3, and PC platforms. More details are soon to come, so be sure to check out CallOfDuty.com for all the latest news and updates regarding CoD:WaW!
Unsubscribe instantly if you don't want to receive future Call Of Duty : World At War announcements.

Check out exclusive content, boards, and news and all things Call of Duty at CallofDuty.com

Legal Disclaimer
© 2008 Activision Publishing, Inc. Activision and Call of Duty® are registered trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Entertainment Software Association. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.

Superbowl

That was good game yesterday, but I got bored and swapped to the Call Of Duty World At War double XP event in the third quarter.

I saw a bunch of funny ads, but this add was really funny. For some reason, when it gets to the part of "and this guy sits in the cubicle next to you", I just thought of Lady Death 13.

Jasper is in the house!

Monday was my birthday, and I got a new XBOX 360 Pro. Not just any Pro, I hunted with my wife for a new Jasper Motherboard Pro unit. It took several days, we went to every Best Buy, Game Stop, Game Crazy and Circuit City in the area. When we got to the last Best Buy on Monday, I was resigned to getting an Arcade and the 60GB HDD kit. They had 10 Pros, and the 10th was a Jasper MB. Woot!

What makes a Jasper a Jasper? Check out Benjamin Heckendorn's information on this great new XBOX 360 Jasper Motherboard.

For those of you in the know:

Team: FDOU
Lot: 0845X
MFR Date: 11-6-2008

Now, I'm in the middle of having the house repaired from Hurricane Ike, so I can't even use the thing yet. Hopefully things will be done around here next week and I can play with this beast.



I'm ordering the Data Transfer Cable from Microsoft today too.

Here is the back of the unit where you can see the 12V rail is at 12.1A.



At one of the Game Stops we stopped at, they had the Microsoft Arcade game disc from the current Arcade bundle for $4.99, so we went back and got that too. Can't beat 5 games for $5.

the ultimate music game instument collection .....

yes, everyone it is very, very expensive to get the one star music badge on 360Voice.

but well worth it :-)

from left to right, Jammin Josh TF, Ben Jammin TF

Merry Christmas From The Gang!

Ok, I grabbed the Avatars from all our members, so here we are wishing everyone out there in XBOX Land a Merry Christmas.

WTF Microsoft!!!!

Well here is an interesting story that took place this evening....

I tried to email this to Microsoft, but could only send a condensed version as you are only allow 500 characters. What BS!!!!

Here's what happened.....

REF# _________In Nov 2007 we got the 3 red lights issue & called xbox & were told that our xbox required repair. We recd a REFURBISHED xbox360, from Microsoft. Now a year later we got the same 3 red lights. I spk2 a rep, Brye, who transfd me to a supervisor, Jeff C. He said due to microsoft's "tampering policy" (tampering policy? WTF does that mean?) we are unable to have our REFURBISHED xbox360 fixed. Jeff did not give an explanation of the violation. Serial# is: __________. Reference# ________ recd 11/25/08
My wife & I use this xbox360 & have been loyal xbox customers since 2002 including 2 live accts & numerous games.We have spent thousands of dollars on a console that we love. So I'm sure you can imagine how upset we are to hear that we are being accused of "tampering" with something on our xbox. We definitely do not appreciate being accused of something we did not do. Our xbox 360 is in need of repair &again, is a REFURBISHED xbox360 provided to us by microsoft. We have NEVER used any non-xbox/microsoft items on or in our xbox. So again, until someone can explain to me what exactly my wife and I are being accused of doing, I will expect this xbox360 be either repaired or replaced as we have done nothing wrong. Serial # on the REFURBISHED xbox360 is: _______. The Reference# _______ recd 11/25/08. I would appreciate it if someone would contact me to discuss this issue.

I was so mad that before I hung up the phone I told the customer service rep that I was going to smash my xbox and mail it into little pieces to Don Mattrick, not that she even knew who I was talking about. ARgh!!! Can you feel our frustration??? And after all of that we still don't know exactly what they are saying we are in violation of...And their customer service is HORRIBLE.

How to ruin XBOX Live for everyone!