My BMW is running fine for now. I’m still contemplating on getting rid of it…

I forwarded my BMW complaint to The Consumerist…unfortunately, since an intern acknowledged receipt of the email last 11/22, the story is still not posted and i have not heard anything…so…suffice to say that they’re not interested in running my story. they’re more interested in running a story about overpriced Harry Potter DVDs–a trap which any person who can read wouldn’t actually fall for. pity.

On the bright side, I got a new MacBook Pro. Schweet.

Popularity: 13% [?]

If you happen to stumble to this review accidentally throught the magic of the intarwebs, you’re probably aware already about the mixed reviews this game is getting. After playing through the game from beginning to end, I cannot disagree more with the negative reviews.

The most common complaint I’m reading is that the tasks are “repetitive.” You go to a town, climb a viewpoint or two, save a few citizens, eavesdrop, beat up somebody for information, pickpocket…kill a few guards…then assassinate…rinse and repeat for 9 times.

I don’t get it: THAT IS THE POINT OF THE GAME. By that definitiion, we have “Gears of War” that’s even more repetitive: kill some bad dudes…go to a different brown setting and kill more bad dudes. How come we don’t hear anyone bitching about that?

Now, I can’t say I blame those naysayers about the game: the sandbox design of the game makes it easy to dismiss the game. To really give justice to the game…you should really play through it, and not just make the minimum number of tasks to finish an assassination target.

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Assassin’s Creed, in my opinion, boasts a number of features not found in a lot of games:

- FANTASTIC ANIMATION. I cannot stress enough that this game beats even Metal Gear Solid in terms of animation fluidity INCLUDING TRANSITION ANIMATIONS. Watching Altair run, fight, and scale buildings is a sight to behold: one is lead to believe, there is inertia and gravity in this game. Using Havoc certainly helped.
- AMAZING DRAW DISTANCE. And with virtually no slowdown.
- GREAT SOUND and VOICE ACTING. Well, minus Kirsten Bell.

That being said, this game also has a LOT of problems:

- ATROCIOUS LOADING TIMES.
- CUT SCENES you can’t skip. This is stupid.
- BUGS, BUGS, and MORE BUGS. Through my entire game, it froze on the load screen 3 times. and twice the whole game just froze…prompting me to reset the PS3! Unacceptable
- No variety in saving the citizens. Same crap over and over…gets tedious…towards the end I just ignored them.
- CONFUSING STORY. Especially the ending.

In the end, this game is really good. And I’m looking forward to the sequels.

Score 9 out of 10.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Yesterday when I swung by Best Buy (hey, that rhymes!) to buy (OH snap!) “Assassin’s Creed” and “Silent Hill Origins,”  I was greeted by a red steering wheel icon light on my dashboard.  I would have ignored it except the damn car wouldn’t start.  After 10 minutes of struggle, I opened the manual to check what the hell that red icon means: basically, it means it had problems with the electronic wheel lock mechanism and that I need to take it to the nearest BMW service center ASAP.

I called Princeton BMW service center to ask about this and the Service Agent (SA) basically said…”well, it’s the steering wheel electronics problem…or it could be something else…”  Wow, way to narrow it down, genius.  “You gonna have to call BMW Roadside Assistance to tow the car here.”

I called the Roadside Assistance…and after about 20 minutes of waiting, I got impatient and tried to start the car again.  Luckily, I was able to start it and went to Princeton BMW right away.

Hopefully, they will be looking at it today and should let me know what the problem is.  This service center will be put to the test again…if I don’t get my car by today, they should either provide me a loaner or I should be able to get a rental and reimburse it through them.  We’ll see…

Oh, as for the complaint about the tires…I’m typing up an email to tips@consumerist.com…

Update 1: I am about to pick-up my “fixed” car tomorrow. I’m not sending out the email to Consumerist until I get my car back…In the meantime, check out this page…and the plot thickens!

Popularity: 14% [?]

So BMW finally responded to my complaint about the tire problem I have.  Some representative named “Nellie” gave me a call this morning which I knew from the beginning was not going to end very well.

She basically said reiterated what the Princeton BMW Service Agent told me, and I responded back by saying what good does it do to me?  I already knew THAT.  And I asked bluntly if they’re going to do anything in my favor.  When she said “No” and started justifying why BMW is acting like a dick about this whole thing, I did what a civilized human being would do: hang up the goddamn phone.  Man, I felt so satisfied about doing that, I didn’t eat anything for a whole hour.

To BMW of North America: Your continued display of arrogance on this relatively small thing will eventually hurt you in the long run.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.  My case is not isolated and there is a number of BMW-specific forums from users airing the same complaints.

The ball is on your court.  At this point I hope BMW USA office just burst into flames and crumble. 

Popularity: 11% [?]

To determine the number of shutter clicks (actuations) for you DSLR, there is a free EXIF viewer called Opanda IExif.  Open your latest in-camera JPG file (i.e., do not use Photoshop to convert a RAW file to JPG).  Towards the end of the list of image data you will see “Total Number of Shutter Releases for Camera.”  That’s your camera mileage.

Popularity: 20% [?]

For someone who almost lost his job playing the original Guitar Hero day and night, this installment of the franchise has been a major disappointment.  I’m gonna make it short because right now I still could not believe I paid $100 for this piece of crap of a game.

• The song selection.  The sub-title of the game is “Legends of Rock.”  The song list is laughable.  Some of the bands…never even heard of.  The game becomes increasingly difficult very quickly.  I’m playing this game on Medium…and I’m telling you this is HARD.  There’s no way a casual user can finish that battle with Lou on MEDIUM on less than TEN TRIES.
• Graphics suck.  I’m not a graphics whore…but there’s just no reason for these developers NOT to go 1080p with those simplistic polygonal characters.
• The Guitar controller suck.  There’s always a delay no matter how many times you calibrate it; the tilt is overly sensitive.  It gets VERY ANNOYING when doing battles…you will find yourself screaming “OMGWTFBBQ!!  I DID NOT WANT TO EXECUTE THAT BATTLE ATTACK YET!”
• Sound.  It’s not on all songs…but sometimes there’s no STRUM SOUND!  WHAT THE HELL?
• It’s TOO EXPENSIVE.  OK, so they made the thing wireless. BFD.  It’s not even Bluetooth on the PS3; you have to use some stupid dongle…and they packed AA batteries instead of rechargeables…what a bunch of cheap bastards.  Compare this with Rock Band that will sell for about $160.  Yeah, I know…HUGE RIP-OFF.

I’m so glad I pre-ordered Rock Band.  I should have never bought this game.

Score: 4 out of 10.

Popularity: 17% [?]

…and I cannot wait to write here that the “Bee Movie” is the stupidest movie I have ever seen.

Popularity: 10% [?]