Thanksgiving in a nutshell
So I've been off the grid for a while during Thanksgiving. Overall it was a great time, especially to get back to the usual routine for a week. There are a few things during my travels that are worth a note however.
The Travel
Going through aiport security on the way back home was quite interesting. It turns out that you are now required by the TSA to take video game consoles, in addition to laptop computers, out of your carry-on baggage to place in a separate container. Lesson learned I guess, but it was quite irritating to dig my Xbox 360 out of my duffel bag when it is packed tightly at the bottom not to mention all of the people behind me that were held up because of all the stuff I had to dig out of my bags in addition to taking my shoes, belt, wallet, and coat and placing them in separate containers. Despite the inconvenience it wasn't all that bad, I got through security without issue in a good 6 or 7 minutes (including the time I had to wait in line).
he part I enjoyed throughout this though was going through security on my return flight. I packed accordingly this time by placing the console at the absolute top of the duffel bag so it wasn't really an inconvenience. However, the interesting part was the TSA sign indicating the need to take all consoles out of baggage actually had a picture of an Xbox 360 console sitting in one of the gray containers. It wasn't a generic console, a Wii, or a Playstation 3 but rather an Xbox 360.
The Games
The other noteworthy part of the trip was a little Thanksgiving party I had on Thursday night. We had Rockband, Guitar Hero 3, Call of Duty 4, Halo 3, and Scene-It setup on a myriad of TVs and computer monitors. Rockband, Guitar Hero 3, and Scene-It were a hit amongst everybody although Rockband was what everybody wanted to play. I will say just about everybody was very disappointed with the guitar that comes with the game. It may not make as much sound as the Guitar Hero controllers, but it was also very inconsistent with strumming. While playing most people were forced to strum upwards because the guitar started malfunctioning after only a few days use. The Guitar Hero controllers on the other hand however feel so much more sturdy and well-constructed than their Rockband counterparts.
Still, despite the issues with the guitar, Rockband was insanely fun to play. Hitting the fretts on the pseudo-frett-board was a little more difficult than Guitar Hero 3 due to the markers on the frett board being significantly smaller but it was still pretty easy to pull off consistently. The drums were suprisingly a lot more difficult than I had thought it would be. Even on easy I found it pretty difficult to hit every single note, but compared to medium it was still playable. Despite being so difficult, the drums are still insanely fun to play. The singing was probably the worst part of the game however, not because it was incredibly difficult but it's incredibly easy to show everybody present how much I suck at singing.