You know, there's a couple of things I could talk about, but I'm not going to deviate from the main story.
During Christmas time, I like to go do stuff. It's actually quite cold out which is nice. I decided to check out that old mall arcade (old Daytona 2 place) to see what's up. I went alone since TBQH, my family is a bunch of duds when it comes to going places. So anyway, they have Crazy Taxi there which is a miracle as far as I know. And seeing that I just got some practice on the Xbox 360, I played it four times (50 cents a game).
I think when you go from a console to an arcade cabinet, there is an increase in difficulty. The cabinet's bigger, it may be broken or defective, less decisive controls, you need to exert more energy turning the wheel and so forth, you can't tweak the settings in your favor, it costs money per try, and there's no restart button so you screw up and you have to live with it until it's over.
Before I mention how I did, it's worth noting that there was one glaring flaw--the seat kept moving around. It wouldn't lock into a certain position so it was a pain in the ass. Oh yeah, and the best that I did was $7,000 with Gena which I'm not too pleased with. Other than the seat shaking, I couldn't get the timing on the limit cut down. Not sure what the heck's going on there. The timing window when you shift just feels off for some reason. Hey, it's not like pressing a button on a controller so that's a disadvantage.
I must be the only person in this arcade that has ever seen the credits (make over $5,000). In all seriousness. People just don't take these games seriously anymore. Oh, correction--the only exception is DDR and maybe Street Fighter, but that's it. Doesn't help that you got this Fast and the Furious crap everywhere.
...Boy, I tell you what. I talk about all these great games on my blog and I practice and have fun, but I never reach that "one level of achievement." Like I wish I had a real knack for this stuff, but I can only do well enough to get by. And this doesn't get me much social clout either--like if this guy can't play for real, then get the hell out of here. You know I wish I were better at a lot of things, but I won't bog you down with this right now.
So while I'm out, I go venture around the mall. Boy, this is an old mall. FYI, it's Northshore Square Mall in Slidell, Louisiana. I've been here for years. It's not a "crap mall" but it's just a one-story middle-class establishment. It's in a major commercial zone with Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Home Depot, all the fast food places, and a highway on-ramp so it's not like it's isolated from the public.
I know it's a Tuesday night, but it's the Christmas season. I just don't see a whole lot of anything going on. Like I looked to see what happened to the old Babbage's (game store like GameStop) which closed up years ago and there's this antique/house decor store instead. I sat there, eating my Auntie Anne's pretzel and just thinking about what the heck I'm doing here? The arcade has hardly anything going for it, I don't have anything to buy, and no one wants to go here with me. Maybe I just showed up on a bad day, I don't know.
When I drive to and from the mall, I play the Daytona 2 soundtrack (with the windows rolled up, I'm not one of "those people") hopefully to impart some good will on the place and put my mind to rest.
Oh, and I saw a Now Hiring sign at the arcade. I wonder what a job there would be like. I have plenty of time this upcoming semester for a job. I would rather work in an environment like that than some place like McDonald's where it's easy to screw up. I'll give it a shot if the sign's still up in a few days.
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