We just got back from our 1st vacation in a couple years and I wanted to make a quick post regarding the resort that we stayed at and the service we received. Normally when you hear an article starting off like this you immediately think that something terrible must have happened, because why else would someone else take to the internet if not to bitch about something… Well I assure you that our experience at the Aventura Spa Palace in the Riviera Maya area of Mexico was anything but terrible and I just wanted to take a minute to post about our wonderful experience.

When we first started looking at resorts in the area we only had a few stipulations; had to be all-inclusive, there needed to be a direct flight, and it had to be adults only (gf’s choice, I didn’t really mind either way at the time). We didn’t want to stay in Cancun because we’re not 18 anymore and I didn’t really want to go to Cabo and my girlfriend had just been there last year anyways, so we knew that the Riviera Maya would be a good choice, but we had no clue how to pick from the hundreds of resorts in the area. We did the normal research, trip advisor, expedia, etc, to try and find a good deal and a well  reviewed place, but it seemed like people had gripes about every place we looked at. We finally ended up going over to a travel agency in town and talking with them about what our options were and what our best bet was and it was there that we decided on the Aventura Spa Palace.

The ‘Palace’ had everything that we wanted, it was an hour south of Cancun, Adults Only, All-Inclusive and there are plenty of direct flights out of O’Hare to Cancun. The only thing we were a little worried about was the price, it was a little more expensive than some of the other places in the area. This actually wasn’t a problem though, after we discovered that the resort includes a “Passport” deal where a bunch of excursions are included in the overall price whether you go on them or not. So while we would have paid upwards of $100 per person to do the ziplining tour and the Mayan ruins at Tulum, through this resort we paid nothing extra. So that right there sealed the deal, we booked up through the travel agency and awaited our departure. (click through the jump to read the rest).

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DVD & Blu-Ray Releases For March 9, 2010

Here are the DVD and Blu-Ray releases for Tuesday March 9th, 2010. Notable releases for this week are Old Dogs, Planet 51, Up in the Air and Precious, all of which I have not seen so I can’t make recommendations. However, I have seen Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day and while it doesn’t stand up to the original at all, it’s still entertaining. I don’t know if I can recommend it as a ‘buy’ for those of you that aren’t hardcore fans of the movie, but definitely check it out.

DVD Releases

It seems that this blog attracts quite a few Modern Warfare 2 players (probably because I write about it so much), so since that seems to be the core audience here I wanted to post this and get your ideas of what some of the problems with Modern Warfare 2 are. Over the past few weeks all I seem to be reading on Twitter (#mw2), Buzz and other blogs, is how Infinity Ward should fix the game before even thinking about releasing DLC or expansion packs, and my question is, what problems are you people referring to?

Sure, when the game was first released there was the big issue with the lack of dedicated servers on the PC version and the smaller game sizes. Whatever, the servers is not a game play issue, get over it. You knew that there was not going to be dedicated servers before buying it, it made major news outlets (which seems weird to me) so it’s not like Infinity Ward straight up lied and said there would be dedicated servers and then changed their minds at release time. There may have been rumblings early on in production about dedicated servers being there, but it was a well known fact long before the release that they would not make it to the final product.

Now for the in game glitches, mainly multiplayer. I see a lot of people upset that there are so many glitches and they are blaming it on the fact that there was no public beta for the game. They say that if there was a public beta, many of these things would have been discovered before the game was released. I’m sure some of the stuff would have been figured out, but majority of it would not have. IW has a slew of in house testers that are paid to sit around and try to break the game, but when I say a “slew’ I mean it’s maybe 30 people (I really have no idea how many testers they have), but when the game is released, how many people bought it? Millions! So therefore, obviously millions of people are going to be able to find things that the 30 or so in house testers happened to miss. And to be honest, I think Infinity Ward has been doing a pretty good job of getting patches out there to the consumer.

The first major glitch that was discovered was the javelin glitch that allowed you to become a walking bomb. When you would die your body would explode with the radius of a javelin missile, destroying anything around you, it was quite annoying and eventually Microsoft stepped in and started banning people from xbox live, which they have every right to do since it’s part of the ULA you accepted when you signed up for Xbox Live. The next big glitch was the unlimited care package glitch which was a bit more of a problem. There were a couple methods for pulling off this glitch, 1 that was pretty easy and another that was more difficult. IW went ahead and patched the easy method, but the harder method still existed causing them to pull back the initial patch from MS approval and fixing it once and for all (it took a little longer to push out the PS3 version, PC was pretty instant I believe). But in the end it was fixed and as far as I’m aware there is no method that still works (until someone finds one). The other glitches were fairly minor like being able to place a sentry gun inside walls so that it could shoot out, but you couldn’t shoot in and same with player collisions and objects. I’m sure some of these still exist, but they have always existed in games for those willing to seek them out. There are also some elevators that they patched, but there  are still a few of them that are accessible in the game. For those that don’t know, elevators are glitches that allow your player to basically float way up into the sky and shoot down or access places they shouldn’t be able to.

So in my eyes the major GLITCHES were fixed. There were some other issues that people had with gun balance that were also changed around, in particular the range of the Model 1887 shotguns, but I don’t consider those glitches or an issue really. I never had a problem killing people that were running up on me with the Model’s. Sure I’ve been killed up close by them many times, but they are an up close weapon. I understand the issue here was the range and power, but I never found it to be an issue. Same goes for the complaints people have with Marathon, Lightweight and Commando. Sure it’s annoying to be killed by one of these guys, but it’s also not that hard to kill them. In my eyes the problem here is skill, there are some good players online in Modern Warfare 2 and if you can’t kill the guys running around like this, you obviously aren’t as good as them. Personally my only issue with the game is those damn thermal scopes… but it’s not a problem with the game itself, it’s just the fact that I still get killed by them… oh and noob tubes also… haha.

I know there are also complaints about the lobby times and getting booted out of games and I’ll agree that sometimes it takes a couple minutes to get into a game, but it’s not a ridiculous amount of time… And at least when the host of a game leaves it usually tries to find a new one, I know it doesn’t always work, but at least it tries which is more than I can say for CoD 4. And I know there are also some hacked lobbies with super fast movement and stuff like that, but I have yet to run into one of these lobbies and, as sad as it is, I usually play for a couple hours every day (Xbox 360), so I don’t know if it’s just a PC issue, but I have yet to run into one of these “hacked lobbies”.

So I’m curious as to what everyone’s problems are with the Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer? Why all the hate towards Infinity Ward? I know it comes off as if I’m trying to defend the game as a whole, but I’m actually just curious as to what problems other people have with the game since I don’t seem to have any… I really just want some new maps!

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LOST: Season 6 – Sundown (3/2/10)

Below is the synopsis for this week’s episode of LOST. As you know, I usually come back the next day with thoughts, easter eggs and theories, but we’re headed to Mexico in the morning so I may not be able to post an update. I’ll try to do it tonight, but that probably won’t happen. So if you notice anything or have any theories regarding the episode make sure to come back and post in the comments.

Sundown

Sayid must make a difficult decision, while Claire has a warning for the temple inhabitants.

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DVD & Blu-Ray Releases for March 2, 2010

Here are the DVD and Blu-Ray releases for today, March 2nd, 2010. Looks like the big release of the day is 2012, which was pretty terrible so I wouldn’t recommend picking it up. Other smaller releases include the original Clash of the Titans and Bitch Slap.

DVD Releases

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