again....

Yet another reason why I hate IGN. There's nothing wrong with throwing a little bit of humor into your website, but why take potshots at your other game channels, and the other two gaming systems out there? The article sounds like something I'd see on a forum whipped up by a tired fanboy at 2 in the morning. How anyone can trust their journalistic integrity is beyond me.

Thank God its Finished

All nighters are curious events.... when they're over you feel like a king for getting everything done, and you feel strangely awake as well. Then the adrenaline wears off, you feel like crap, and a few days later all the lost sleep creeps up and bites you in the ass at the worst possible time. I suppose that's what you get for putting things off.

Anyway, enough of that. The weekend is here, Halloween weekend to be specific. Back in the day this would mean my brother and I would eat the candy bought for Trick or Treaters while watching Treehouse of Horror. In college it means the same as every weekend, only the day after is November and winter depression knocks on the door. Expect lots of angsty poems and lengthy dissertations about my emotions in the future (just kidding there folks. Winter sucks but I'm not a tool. As with everything in life you deal with it.)

In other news, Sony has announced and incredbly dirt cheap price for the PSP, roughly equivilating to $180 American. Apparently its just as I thought; they found a way to cut manufacturing cost to less than originally predicted. Still, they'll definitely be losing money for each unit sold. This could either be their final coup against Nintendo, or their greatest blunder.

Which leads to the Question of the Blog: Do you think the PSP will be the next Game Gear, or is the Playstation name the ultimate license to print money? Post your answers in the comments section. Oh, and Happy Halloween

The greatest of them all

The Red Sox, in four games, are the champions of baseball.

For one brief moment, all was right in the world.

Hypercondriosleepomaniaphiliac?

The strangest thing just happened. I was in the lab working on Statistics, feeling fine and dandy (I had an energy drink earlier in the day, got a decent amount of sleep). Then all of a sudden I'm asleep in the chair, rapidly dosing off. I kept trying to wake up; typing, staring at the screen, anything to keep me working, but my body refused to do anything but sleep. For the few seconds I could wrestle myself to consciousness I was in a halfe-awake at best, meaning my sentences made no sense at all. I'm thinking it was the heat in the room and the dead-quiet atmosphere. Like all college students my sleep leel is pathetically low, but not bad enough that I should be dozing off at random periods in the day. Hope its not one of those wierd diseases ....*snore*.

I finally bit the bullet and pre-purchased Half Life 2 over Steam now that a release date has been cemented and all the legal troubles between Valve and Vivendi won't prevent the game's release over Steam. This also means that have access to Counterstrike: Source, and yes, I have played it. But that's for another entry. Stay tuned

The Soul Still Burns

Wow, last night's DDR tourney was incredible. The turnout was huge, and everyone had a good time.... even people who never played before gave it a chance. The EGC will definitely be doing this again.

The highlight for me however, was playing some Soul Calibur. We had it hooked up to a small TV near the back, just in case someone got bored. To my surprise, a fair amount of people began to play, and of course, I challenged them all. The whole night I only lost 2, maybe 3 fights, and won a whole lot more to gain the best record of the night. The feeling of victory was indeed grand; Soul Calibur is my favorite game ever, something I play once a week out of tradition(as well as practice). Its also one of the few games where I actually care about winning. I know one day someone is going to destroy me, and I'll begin to doubt myself, but for now I am enjoying the view from the top.

welcome, to the stage of history

Finally, new, probably skilled opponents in Soul Calibur. In case you don't know, Soul Calibur for Dreamcast is my favorite game ever. I'll be back tonight with the results

Boston Wins the Pennant

Congratulations to the Boston Red Sox for making the World Series and history. My team may have taken it from you in '86, but this time I'm with you all the way. Win one for me too.

Random thoughts whilst coding

I dont see why everyone in Maryland is calling the weather "Crazy". Its the middle of October; its bound to get colder. Granted, this week has been a little too cold, but nothing to cause alarm. Try moving to my home, where the winter season lasts from November to April and a 75 degree week can be followed by snow a few days later. That, my friends, is crazy. The only thing I've noticed about Maryland weather is that the temperature is dropping a little faster than expected, but like I said, its October!! Its not going to break 70 every day. Did all you people from New England and New York forget where you come from?

Now everyone is saying its going to be a harsh winter. I don't see where its coming from. The fall has been great. I think its just the fact that every year a few people (like the Farmer's Almanac) predict a bad season, and everyone spreads the word just so they can sound smart, when in fact they wouldn't know either way.

Whatever happens, it won't bother me. Chances are whatever Maryland can dish out I've already seen before. For me, every winter is mild here!

Oh, and go Red Sox... If there's one thing a Mets fan hates more than the Yankees, its Yankee fans (yes I realize Boston fans aren't the nicest people, but they're the lesser of two evils, trust me). If Schilling can pitch the game of his life, we're gonna see a historic game 7. And who knows what will happen after that?

If you are tired of hearing the same bad pop on the radio (and listening to people who actually like it), I suggest you check out these videos. I can't say I agree with all the bands this guy has flamed, but its damn funny either way.

That gets me steamed... clean

I just went downstairs to grab my laundry, only to find that my laundry basket has been swiped. The general Loyola College population has been getting on my nerves as of late, and while this isn't the end of the world, the principle of it is the figurative last straw for me. If you are a student at Loyola College that I don't know personally, let me speak to you now (as personally as I can get):

1) You are not God's gift to the world. Everyone who tells you you are special is lying. If you are a beer chugging business major who skips two classes a week and complains about getting up at 10 o' clock, get in line. You are in large company (not good company mind you, just large). Why then you all seem to insist that I get out of your way when you fill the entire hallway, or hold the door for you when you never do for me, I have no clue. I don't know you, I probably never will, and you have yet to show me why I should feel sorry for behaving like a person rather than a servant.

2) It doesn't matter how much money your parents have: This is college people. While it is perfectly easy to spot all of you (what with the excessant Abercrombie and those nasty Uggs boots), that doesn't mean I'm going to treat you any better. If you want respect, you have to earn it. You may be used to things being different back at home, but this ain't Long Island. Here you are on the same level as everyone else. You have to clean up after yourself, take care of yourself and be responsible for your actions. Dont like it? Get used to it. One day those checks will stop rolling in, and you'll have to go into the "real" real world. And when you have no true friends and no clue what to do because you treated college like one big game back in the day you're gonna be screwed. And I'm gonna laugh. A lot.

So please. Get your noses out of the air (it smells the same at eye level folks, trust me), be respectful of others (and their stuff), and grow a pair and admit that sometimes, you just might be wrong.

In other news, my brother is insisting I put up some funny links for your amusement (or annoyance, take your pick). Here goes:

http://www.mysharona.com/
www.soundslikefun.com

Gone Gold

November 16th. Mark it

Warrior Within

By taking a look at the title, a smart gamer can tell I played through the Prince of Persia 2 demo.
Here's what I got from it:

1) this game NEEDS a controller. The keyboard didn't necessarily make things harder, but it makes it far more difficult to maneuver and attack with precision. Make no mistake: get this game for a console, or get a gamepad.

2) POP 2 is supposed to have a beefed up, "branching" combat system. From playing the demo I really wouldn't know; the tutorial tells you what buttons to press for different attacks, but not what you are actually doing. It appears as if there's a new "grab" style button that can be used in tandem wtih jump and attack, and creates some really flashy moves. It also seems that the moves can be linked combo style, but it may have simply appeared to be that way due to my incessant button mashing. The game is also supposed to introduce new ways for the prince to interact with the environment during combat. Other than the usual wall attacks (which seem to be even more important this time around), I only saw one new move in which the prince spins aroudn a pole, kicking and slashing his foes. Pretty cool, but I wanted to see more, which unfortunately the demo didn't provide. There is also two weapon fighting, which actually mixes things up a bit by giving you control over each weapon (as opposed to hitting attack and having the prince wildly slash). There are also different types of weapons you can hold, but I didn't see any differences in how they behave. To sum up the combat: At its very worst its the same as in the original POP, which is not a bad thing. There are certainly some new additions, but in honesty the demo could have done a better job at highlighting them.

3) The graphics are for the most part similar to the original. Textures on the PC version are obviously better, and there are some new touches added with the water and flame effects. Other than that, its looks a lot the same (which is still solid in my book).

4) When I say looks the same, however, I only mean it from a purely technical standpoint, as the art direction is completely different. The original POP could best be described as having an ancient egypt/persian style that makes you think "Arabian Nights". For the fun, but not ultra serious adventure that it was, the setting was perfect. POP 2 goes in the completely different direction. In order to match the game's theme of death and destruction, this game is dark, brooding, almost depressing. When I first learned of the game I agreed that this was the best direction to take the series in; it not only makes for strong character development, but sets up the Prince for even greater conflicts and makes him more human. The fact that the game is getting an M rating also made me believe that Ubi Soft was more concerned in making the game they wanted to make than getting the coveted extra sales a Teen rating provides. Instead the demo makes me believe that the "mature" content is there in hopes that the excessant violence and gore will help boost popularity like it has in GTA, Silent Hill and (probably) the new Bloodrayne.

First off, there's blood everywhere. The logo, the loading screen, the character deaths.... you can't even walk past a wall without seeing a blotch of red. I know they are trying for a darker, morbid tone, but it gets a little ridiculous. Second, the monsters are still generic demon/sand monster types. The orignal POP had some clever designs with its sand monsters, but I want something a little different for the sequel. Instead we get what seem to be either holdovers from the orignal, or creatures we've seen before in a thousand other games.

Also, what's with the rock music? I always figured a game like this would go great with an epic muscial score. Instead we get Godsmack-esque rock playing during fights. At first it seemed to go along well, but after a while it almost felt cheesy and innapropriate. There's only one reason I can think of for its inclusion, and that's for an added "cool" factor.

One last note: the demo was somewhat buggy at the end. The final boss got stuck on things often, and couldn't be injured. I actually couldn't beat it because of this

Conclusion: I am going to own Warrior Within eventually, if not at launch then when it goes down in price. I enjoyed Sands of Time too much not to own its sequel. As with any good game, however, one always hopes the sequel will be even bigger and better, while retaining the things that made the original so great. The POP 2 demo proved the game should be just as good as its predecessor, but I was hard pressed to find anything that proved it would go above and beyond. Indeed, it actually made me concerned that Ubi Soft, dissapointed with the poor sales of Sands of Time, are going to concentrate on making the game cooler-than-school in order to better attract the mass market (those ads on the internet with "uncut footage" are sure to entice 'em) rather than continue to build upon the great gameplay formula they started. Only time will tell.

done and done

Perhaps the biggest assignment I had this semester is finished and handed in. That's not to say there's more work to be done, but getting through that has lifted a lot of weight off the proverbial shoulders.

Time to sleep now... After tomorrow its a four day weekend for me.

New Look... Same Great Taste

So the blog looks different, but don't worry, its still the same damn thing. I realized the other style was just a bit too busy, and the mix of colors a little too juvenile. I'll probably be keeping this setup for a while, then.

Not much to type right now. Classes are of course busy, which makes me college student #445, 516,123 to say that phrase. As for gaming, I've become addicted to Fire Emblem in the last few days, but more on that later.

The first entry in Bits and Blue Chips, my planned series of discussions on gaming, is almost ready to go, and will be the first update to LC1201 in over a month.

I really need some feedback from any possible readers out there. Keeps me motivated.

Anyway you want it...

The above title is an homage to the song by Journey, featured in the classic Caddyshack starring Rodney Dangerfield, who passed away this Monday. An incredible comic who even today is remembered by many. Rest in Peace Rod; you now have the respect of the world.

For some unknown reason I was browsing IGN today. Something inside me keeps thinking that out of nowhere the site is ging to come back to its once former, pre-Insider goodness, even though I know, not think, know the place is going to be even worse. I guess I like pain or something.

Anyway, there was a top 25 feature on the greatest sports games of all time. Usually all time lists suck, because they are so subjective, and the pool of possible entries is just too mammoth to get them all down. IGN proved me right with the first 10 entries of their list. Either it was an ancient relic from the NES or Atari (the only two I could pick out was Double dribble and 720) or EA titles that were less than a year old. Now last time I checked, something on an all time list had to, um, stand the test of time, unbested by competitors, or at the very least still be fun. So how are Madden 2005 and NFL 2K5 on the list? This isnt' even a judgement I'm making on my own opinions (which says that neither has changed that much in five years). IGN themselves have rated both games in the 9.0 range, with the reviews getting better each year. What happens when 2006 comes out? Are you gonna redo the list? I doubt it. There's no way a sports franchise that has yealry updates should have the most recent entry on an all time list, because the next one is just going to replace it. If they put the original Gameday for Playstation, or the first NBA 2K I might agree, as these games really shook up the scene. But no way should five of your first ten games on your all friggin time list should be less than three years old.

This isn't even mentioning the fact that most of those "old" games aren't really that good anymore. I don't know anyone, even old grognards that remember Atari baseball. There's a difference between classic and old, and only two titles were actually classic.

What am I trying to get to here? Basically, the list is some bullshit they threw together in a day in order to impress and attract the coveted casual gamer demographic. By including recent games the list includes things these gamers know, and by throwing a bunch of old names into the hat that Joe Six Pack probably never heard of, it creates the illusion that IGN is knowledgable and "hardcore" about their games. Someone they can trust. Yeah right. I've seen a lot of shaky reviews and fanboy-ish diatribes at IGN, but now I can be assured that I wasn't crazy. They really are a bunch of tools.

My football team is 3-1 (here's a hint as to who it is: I bleed blue), and everyone is jumping up and down. I can only imagine what the callers on WFAN back in NY are proclaiming. While I'm glad to see the Giants in such a good early position, I'm gonna hold my breath about the future of the season. They haven't beaten any really good teams except Green Bay, and they were without their QB. If the Giants can take out Dallas and their next opponent I might tend to agree, but for now its too early to celebrate. Whatever elation you get from a 3-1 record won't be there if they're 5-11 in the winter. We'll see though.

Bits and Blue Chips

After many talks with my good friend Kyle, I’ve decided to write a series of articles on gaming. I know that doesn’t sound very interesting; when have I not written something about gaming. This time, however, I plan on getting a little deeper, more serious about innovation, the business of the industry and commenting some more on classic gaming. Once I get a few done these writings will be placed somewhere on LC1201(its not exactly blog material).

Now its time to get writing.

Doing it right ways....

So its Family weekend at Loyola College, the time when kids go home or have their parents spoil the hell out of them like they were back home. That, or get high school siblings drunk. My folks are here, or at least in a hotel for now. All I know is that I have to be up at school time on the weekend for some awards processional. I don't know about everyone else, but I'm not too big on awards. Seems that America loves to pat itself on the back for everything they do. the average celebrity probably earns about 20 awards a year. In the academic world, it seems even a sneeze is enough to get you a certificate or something. Its as if doing anything is not justifiable without a piece of paper and random applause from an audience just trying to be polite to accompany it.

Now, I don't want to sound as if I'm ungrateful. I simply don't see the need. My award is for the research I did during the summer, but to me, that was just work. Nothing special. Maybe it will lead to something great, but for now there are far more people who have done far more important things than me who aren't getting any sort of recognition at all. The respect of my peers and family is all I really need, and even if I didn't have that, the feeling of a job well done works just fine.

Speaking of research, today was the Hauber poster presentation. I've done these poster things quite a few times during high school, and it was always the same; spend over two hours printing graphs and huge paragraphs of text that no one usually reads, making sure its all nice and neat. Spend a few hours explaining your project to bewildered parents and professors that scare the crap out of you. Finish it all up, and after a year no one remembers. I was relieved then when I was told not to stress out with this one; keep the thign simple, and back it up with words is what they told me. Not to mention that computer science research doesn't exactly include large amounts of charts and graphs. The final product consisted of three pages glued to poster board. Not much but it would get the job done.

Apparently though, quite a few students and professors were taken back at just how poor it looked. Here they were spending all their time making theirs look presentable, and I walk in with an embarrassment of a poster. I'll admit that I could have put some more effort into the glueing and scissoring. But the simplistic design was deliberate. When people look at these things, they don't want to be staring at 9 paragraphs at 12 point font from the stuffy lab report you wrote for your professors to read. They won't understand, or they'll get bored real quick. Neither will they care for some fucked up graph you drew. Its all Greek to them. My page of code and two diagrams didn't look like much, but it was all I needed (along with my knowledge) to explain everything the audience could possibly want to know about my project. No one walked away from me confused, and some even asked more specific questions to get a better understanding of things. Mission complete if you ask me.