I broke down and bought Guitar Hero 2 for Playstation 2 yesterday. I played GH 1 from beginning to end and it was a blast — I checked out GH 2 and, while the single player is basically the same (a little harder on “Hard” and “Extreme”), the multi-player is where the game really outshines GH 1. GH 1 had the lame “first you, then me” battle mode. GH 2 has a few different modes — The lame mode (see previous sentence), co-op with one player doing lead guitar and the other player doing either rhythm guitar or bass, and then one where you’re both battling by playing the same song at the same time (not back-and-forth). So pretty toight.

I’ve also picked up (or dropped down as the case is) DDR Extreme 2 again. I used to play DDR with Liem a lot but since I moved away from San Diego there was really nobody to play with. In Pittsburgh I lived above a woman and her kid, so there’s no way I’m going to be stomping on her ceiling for hours a day… Now that I finally have my own place with a basement it’s back on like Donkey Kong baby!! I’ve been going through Dance Master mode (where you start at the beginner level and have to work your way to becoming the DANCE MASTER!!) and it’s aight. The problem is, to unlock certain areas you have to hit a goal above and beyond the goal to clear the stage. Normally I’d be all over that! But in DDRx2 you sometimes have to do less than your best to unlock the areas. Like for an area where you need to get a Grade C or above, if you get a Grade C right on the money that unlocks a certain stage… and there’s no way to know these things unless you either look on the Web or unlock the hints in-game that tell you what you need to accomplish. Meh, it’s cool — I get a pretty hard workout and have to challenge my brain at the same time so I guess it’s ok, but the less-than-perfect challenges kind of irk me.