Internet's Down

Lot's of rain again last night and then tons of thick fog this morning when we woke up. It's really cool to see the fog so much this year, normally we don't get as much of it as we have and I don't think I will get tired of it anytime soon.

Charter Media

As of around 12:30 this afternoon our Charted Media hosted internet connection has basically been down. I mean it has been up but it's slower than the old days of 56k Internet connections using a dial-up modem. It's crazy and kind of sad actually how slow and awkward the day is without an Internet connection.

Without the internet we can't go online and kill time watching Netflix, can't listen to streaming music, and definitely can't check Facebook and content heavy things like that. Uploading photos is out of the question, checking YouTube is a pain in the ass and just times-out within just a couple minutes. At least I still have 4G, LTE, or 3G to get on the net somewhat, but for some reason that has even been slow today? I guess it's as good of a time as any to do more of the things I have been putting off because of the rabbit holes that I go down on the net normally.

Rocksmith XBOX 360

So about a week or two ago while at Best Buy and against my better judgment I went ahead and pick up the Rocksmith game for Xbox 360. All of the reviews I had read said that it's not worthwhile, but I figured for the bass guitar it might be better than the 6-string guitar and would be some fun at the very least.

I am saddened to say that after about an hour and a half to two hours of playing it is definitely not a good game. It ramps up much too fast, especially for someone that is new to an instrument. I have some time on my bass guitar and it was still pretty difficult to try and keep up with the game. The game tends to throw you into doing much quicker notes, combinations of notes, and jumping around on the fretboard within the first or second part of the game. I am not talking first or second part of the game meaning two hours later, I mean thrown to the wolves almost instantly.

Generally for a beginner this is something you would not attempt nor want to attempt for many weeks to months. What's even shxttier is that you are graded on how bad or good you have done each and every time you enter a level whether it's training or just repeating it to try and perform better. If you previously had a score of say 80,000 points and made some mistakes trying the song again and only earned 60,000 points then the only result you would see is your last score of 60,000 which would now be your current benchmark and level disregarding how you have done previously.

As a developer and someone that would like to learn to play the bass better, I have to say that making the game play this way is completely retarded! It does nothing to help you be a better player. In all honesty it only forces you to get pissed-off and want to throw the game across the room. Why would you ever show a worse score and erase the better score or not give the choice to try a level at a slower pace. Just because you did it once well, doesn't mean that should not continue to practice a song.

The other crappy part is if you want to play a level again to try to better understand it or perfect your playing you are stuck going through about a 5 minute process of ignorance. First you have to go through a menu system to get to the spot in the game where you can actually restart the level. Then you have to tune your instrument - every single fucking time try to go through the fucking tutorial, section or challenge you are required to tune!

Once you are finally through all of that bullshxt you have to listen to the same 3 minute intro again and every subsequent time. At least with the 3 minute intro you can skip it, but you are waiting for the level to load once again either way. Let's say you make a mistake and would like to start over - yep, you have to go through all of the previous bullshxt once again, fucking stupid!

All-in-all I should have just listened to my better judgment as well as all of the reviews online and steered clear of this stupid game. It has a lot of potential, unfortunately they have completely screwed the pooch with any possibility of potential going forward. If anyone is considering this game do your self a favor and run the other way or better yet, send me the $50 - you will be better off with nothing.

I think the developer based everything off of someone that is already a fairly advanced musician and went from there, fucking morons. You don't make a game that is supposed to teach you something and have it start at the most advanced intermediate level. Oh well enough on this topic I would just suggest strongly that anyone and everyone do not purchase the game.

If you want good instruction, actually fucking amazing instruction, go on YouTube and look for Dmanlamius or Finbarbass. These guys are the shxt when it comes to teaching bass guitar and the majority of it is free, although you can pay for specific lessons if there are songs or techniques you want to learn or improve upon. You can even donate if you want and I suggest that you do if you agree with me that they provide great instruction. In my opinion they work hard to provide us with relevant and interesting training material.

C-Ya

It's about time to wrap up this one, but don't worry there will be another entry sometime tomorrow. Today it's another nice Saturday to spend relaxing at home with the fuzzy kid and Cizzle. That is what I want to get back to, well at least until my Internet connection is working efficiently again! Enjoy your Saturday as well as your high-speed internet while you still have it.

Photo: Yesterday's Huevos Rancheros Skillet Breakfast At Pegs