R.I.P

It just so happens that after watching the funeral procession for Gerald Ford, the football game was ready to come on. So to honor the man, I did what the Simpsons taught me: I watched football and ate natchos, and then I drank some beer.

Rest in Peace man.

Catcher in the Rye

So I read the classic Salinger novel recently. I think I'm the only person who skipped reading this in High School. I guess I'll throw some opinions and analysis your way. Warning: stuffy booktalk ahead.

First, I really enjoyed it. Even if it was written decades ago, the way people behave, and the social commentary is still pretty damn accurate. However, I don't at all agree with the idea that this is some grand novel that speaks to the alienated youth of the world, and that a person like Holden is some beautiful and misunderstood flower. Separating it from of his mental state, so much of his attitude is completely asinine. He hates phonies, but consistently acts like one, making up all sorts of lies. He doesn't like class, spends other people's money liberally, drinks underage. Basically, he acts like a spoiled schmuck that I might see on my own campus on any given day. The kind of person who doesn't want responsibility, and thinks they have some grand insight into the world without realizing their own hypocrisy.

Thing is, I don't blame Holden, because its pretty clear that the kid isn't right in the head. What's amazing to me is that the novel associates these qualities with a mentally disturbed teenager. I can't say how original it is as an interpretation, but it seems to me that Salinger is trying to make a point about how ridiculous, even pathetic, people are becoming in our society. This isn't not something we should equate with goodness. Its a problem, and we shouldn't let perfectly normal people get away with such ridiculous actions. It might not be easy, but there's a time when we all need to stop being kids. Why some seem to try and pretend that's not the case is beyond me.

Christmas Music

Thanksgiving is over. You know what that means? It isn't just time to do Christmas shopping: no, its also time for Christmas music.

I realize that for years, our economy has made us pretty much accept the fact that Christmas preparations can and will begin before Thanksgiving, to the piotn where Turkey Day has become marginalized to pretty much everyone but Macy's, grocery stores and the NFL. But this phenomenon with Christmas music came about even faster. A few years ago it used to just be that a few radio stations would play some holiday tunes around midnight after Thanksgiving as a joke, and then go back to their regular programming. Now we've got stations playing the stuff 24/7. This wouldn't be too shocking if it was December 20th, but when you start hearing this shit on November 20th, something is definitely wrong.

I actually like a lot of Christmas tunes, especially some of the classics from the 50's. The problem is that when you're playing them every hour for a month straight, you're going to run out of good stuff to play. Thus they subjugate listeners to really obscure (and really horrible) modern junk, as well as attrocious covers. I'll say it again: I don't want to hear any version of Jingle Bell Rock other than the original. Every schmuck who has tried it since puts in way too much fake flair and pizzazz that make it sound like crap. A lot of songs have been written for the season, but not enough to last for such an incredible length of time, and when the covers end up getting more play time, you begin to wonder who the hell is in charge.

Another reason why its such a stupid idea is that no one wants to listen to Christmas music so early. How can anyone get in the "holiday spirit" less than three weeks after Halloween? I just get the impression that they're really just trying to say "We're going to pound this shit into your mind until you have no choice but to force yourself into the mood, so then you go buy lots of stuff and our advertisers are pleased". I can't stadn seeing good music become whored out for the sake of another buck.

My final complaint is the most personal; Christmas music has never been the same since they destroyed 101 CBS FM in New York. The greatest oldies station always picked the classiest songs to play, and waited until just the right time. Now we'll never hear them again, now that JACK-FM has come along and killed good music.

Good thing the only Baltimore stations I know play classic rock, so the only time I have to be subjugated to the holiday sludge is on my way home. Still, I wonder when the Christmas rush will begin in full force before the end of October. At this point it isn't a matter of if, but when.

An Observation

Today I walked into Gamestop to pick up something cheap and used. Usually its dead quiet at my local store, but this time there was a cute little mob of 3 boys. They were likely middle school aged, and completely unsupervised, as is the case with most children these days. While I hate to sound crass and stereotypical, I wasn't shocked to find all three of them to be rather overweight. They were clamoring around the used games section, one trying to find Gamecube versions of a few titles, the other ones oggling some brand new 360 games while raving about how violent they were. One of them finds his purchase, but of course he doesn't quite have enough money for it, so he tries to peddle a few bucks from his friends. It isn't over then however, since the cashier tell him he can't buy this M rated game without an ID.

I have no idea what happened after that scene. It seems that they left (either with or without a purchase) while I was physically stunned at the $70 price tag on a new copy of Disgaea. I bought my own copy of Tony Hawk Underground and left. As usual, I inspeted the disc on my way out and found the bottom absolutely manhandled. It actually won't play right now, meaning I have to go back tomorrow and point out no employees asked me to pay for their little disc protection racquet and hope they have another copy. I thought my disks were sometimes in bad shape, but this thing makes them look immaculate. The first thing I thought about were those kids. "Someone like those punks probably owned this once. Why the hell can't they keep their shit in good order?"

Every serious gamer on the Internet thinks that the rest of the world is just like them. They think that all the bad press, all the political crackdown from Congress is completely unfounded and undeserved. After all, isn't the average gamer in their mid 20's? I'm starting to belive those reports are as accurate as the ones that claim more women play beause the researchers included Bejewled and Solitaire. I think the truth may really lie in those Gamestop kids. People who's parents can't bother to watch them, spending money they don't earn on games they shouldn't be playing, and treating delicate electronic equipment like playground equipment. The politicians always scream "Think of the Children!", and maybe they should, because for whatever reason, today's youth are an absolute embarassment. For every 15 year old I'd trust with GTA3, there are twenty I wouldn't even give a Sonic game to.

No wonder our industry is in so much constant heat. Young gamers are fucking morons.

Rant Space

I really don't like using my blog for discussing college related topics and opinions. While the internet, or at least this blog, isn't censored, the more I hear stories about employers and administrators scouring the 'web for opinions they don't want to hear, the more I worry. But this is just some plain discussion on a topic, throwing ideas around and whatnot. I think I'm safe this time.

The new issue of the school newspaper has a few articles on the possible smoking ban that may come to Baltimore. Its a hot topic to be sure, but so far I haven't been terribly impressed with the arguments laid out by anti-smokers. I understand their side, and their concerns, and of course a ban wouldn't make smoking illegal. Should it pass, people will just cope with it. What bothers me is the way they argue, the high and mighty stance the writers often take. For example, one writer states that "if you wish to fill your lungs with God knows what, then that is your choice". A good part of that sentence could have been removed, and the point would still have been made, in a much more civil way at that. But instead, they chose to insert that little extra bit of smarminess (I wont' say malice, because that seems far too strong a word) into it. I just can't see myself ever getting into a worthwhile discussion with this kind of person, one that seems to take a fair and balanced approach, yet make sure to throw in just enough words and phrases to give a clear indication as to what they feel, and more importantly, how they feel about their opposition. It is very easy to be objective and fair with a debate, but its even easier to be just a little nasty, and thus screw up your argument. Believe me, I've done it before, and have regretted it.

My other issue is with the complaints about how smoking causes some people to have be disturbed while going out to bars. I completely understand why a non-smoker is disturbed by a haze of smoke in their face. But I'll throw out this proposition; bars have been around a long, long time. Quite frankly, a lot of times they're pretty seedy places, where people drink, smoke, and indulge in vice. It seems odd to take that kind of avenue away from people. Why not just support the creation of clubs or bars that have no smoking, instead of wiping it out everywhere? I just think about these princesses that complain about smoking, and then dress up real fancy and take a cab down York Road to go to Craig's of all places. If they expect a clean and sanitary place to get shitfaced - no, wait, that's an oxymoron. Unless they want to go so some fancy and trendy club. That's an option too.

Smoking should go away from restaurants. It should probably be eliminated from sporting events. But bars? It just seems strange to me, and coming from Loyola students, it just seems like the voice of spoiled kids who expect everything to be nice and neat and on a platter for them, and get upset when this is not the case when they visit America's watering holes. If you don't like it, find somewhere else to drink. Same argument they used, reversed. Seems just as plausible too.

So there we have it. In the end, the ban will certainly come about. And smokers will just do what they can.

And god forbid anyone decry these people for their excessive drinking habits, and how I've seen this cause excessive noise, violence and property damage.

A picture

Awwwww!

Just goes to show you that despite all the corporate bullshit, software engineers are still people, and good people at that. Good to see some friendly, classy realtions between the Mozilla and IE teams.

First Linux zealot who chimes in with "LOL Microsoft" will make me sad.

Why we Play

Let's see here...

1) Leaves are turning colors

2) Crisp air

3) Cold, blustery evening with a snappy wind.

Yeah, its Fall alright. Or "Autumn" for the English majors out there. I feel too much like an asshole using that word. In any case, a new season is definitely upon us. Better enjoy it while it lasts, because winter will be upon us before we know it :(

But that's not the point of this post. Today I want to talk about gaming ruts. That is, when you find yourself in a videogame slump, when it seems that nothing can hold your grasp for very long, and you either switch between different games on an almost daily basis, or you just stop playing for a while. Right now I'm in such a rut, which may explain my slowness in creating new articles over at the Lamer. Almost every weekend I'm sitting down with something else in the pile of games the roomates have amassed, and I been able to see very few through to the end. It gets frustrating not because of a desire to finish anything and everything; if I don't beat a crappy game, I'm probably better off. The problem comes when I'm having troubles getting through something like Steambot Chronicles, a game I'm pretty damn sure I like. At this point the problem is with you as much as it may be with the games. The slump has hit, and its time to get out.

So what exactly triggered Gaming Slump '06? A lot of it has to do with time. Whether it is class work, real work, or just being out and about, my opportunities to sit down and play are either infrequent or very small. Some games are just hard to get into for 20-30 minutes at a time, thus I never load them up for fear of going 1 or 2 hours straight when I have something else to do.

Part of it is guilt. I want to just sit down and stop caring, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I'm thinking about what many other things I could, perhaps should, be doing. Its hard to focus when you just know that working on that paper would be time well spent.

Finally, a lot of it comes down to displeasure with certain games. I load up Fable, find it kind of interesting for a while, and then find my first quest involves wasps or bees or something. I try Dragon Quarter and find I don't have the time to beat those long, incredibly hard stretches between save points. Jet Set Radio Future was poorer than the original, but still good enough, at least until I realized that every mission would be the same thing, and the game's music selection algorithms were getting on my nerves. Maybe my tastes are changing to suit my lifestyle, or perhaps I'm seeing game design differently than before. Either way, I'm finding myself getting increasingly bored with learning complex control schemes that use every button on a game pad. Tired of clunky AI, pointless challenges and heavy handed stories. More and more, modern games seem to be nothing more than very old concepts with extra layers of bullshit piled on top of them. And for some reason, the bullshit is taking over.

Okay, so that is quite an exaggeration. There are still a lot of great things coming out, and good ideas going around. Its just that I'm finding that the best way to get out of the slump is to avoid the things I don't like. That's easier said than done. These days completionist syndrome has infected many of us, to the point where any and all games have to be finished (especially if you can play them for free). Otherwise you're missing out on parts of the gaming spectrum. And how then can you call yourself hardcore?

Its simple; hardcore isn't measured by how many notches are in your belt. How many consoles you may or may not have. How much trivia you might happen to know. All these things may be factors, but in the end the most important thing is your passion for playing, for thinking and discussing the world of gaming. Hardcore means you love to play, no matter what.

So here I am playing again, this time going back to the modern classics. Resident Evil 4 still delights, especially the new missions on the PS2. Devil May Cry 3 still has some of the most visceral combat this generation. And its only after everything is unlocked that fighting games really show you what they can do. These games may not necessarily lead to 100% and Ultima Weapons or six alternate endings, but they don't need to. They're good, fun games that shun story and steep learning curves for pure enjoyment. It feels good to have that excitement again.

And don't worry. There'll be plenty of articles to write still.

Rain

I've been noticing a trend lately, though I'm not sure if it really exists or if it is just my imagination. Seems that every time I wake up in the early morn' for class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I'm greeted to a grey, cloudy sky. Then sometimes it rains. Kind of like today. Most of the time it clears up by afternoon, but it feels like I can set my watch to the gloominess of these mornings (if my watch wasn't dead). Not really a complaint as much as a simple observation; in fact, it actually feels very appropriate as I march towards the dungeon basement of Beatty Hall for my Cold War class. Its the closest you can get to being a real member of the proletariat.

There is a strange bug with the Windows port of GAIM in which the (empty) buddy list categories of other people who log into AIM on my machine pop up whenever I do. For the last one or two years I've had such (empty) categories as "Fallston Peeps", "Khadir", "Loyola Peeps", "Loyola", and the always classic "People I never talk to". It took just as much time to finally realize I can just delete these groups from my list, rather than having them sit around and take up space.

Don't judge me too harshly Internet. I'll be back later. I have some world premiere of Sam and Max to enjoy

Docs

docs.google.com is the home of the Google Spreadsheet and Word Processor, meaning I no longer have to write game review drafts in Gmail whenever I'm out and about. More importantly, this is beneficial for this blog. Updates have been slow as all hell since the semester began, and it isn't for a lack of things to say. No my friends, it is a simple combination of laziness and forgetfullness. The first one is pretty bad; how much easier does it have to be to write a blog entry? I think its just a fear of mine that if an entry isn't crammed pack full of juicy links I'll have some how let down the Internet, which sounds even worse now that I'm typing it. I mean, would anyone really care if I don't provide a link to some obvious and frequently distributed piece of gaming news? I promise to fully maximize the potential of the fifteen seconds it saves me.

The second issue is just plain frustrating. Throughout random parts of the day, I'll find myself reading some news, talking to someone, or just thinking, and BAM! Inspiration for a blog post. Then I never write it down anywhere, and it flies out of my mind as quickly as it entered. By the time I finally recollect it and sit down to write about it, it is so far behind the times that my Internet Lameness Index(tm) would skyrocket, and the entire weight of the Web would come crashing down to smother my ineptitude.

Now with Google Docs, I can get it down right away and cobble it all into a post later. Considering I'm never far from a computer, this works out quite well. We'll see what happens in the coming week!

Now on to things more fun:

- Sam and Max Episode 1 is out next week on Gametap. I plan on playing and reviewing it the day of or after release, in hopes of helping Videolamer get in on the early reviews that will pop up before the game hits general release. I have no idea what to expect from a Sam and Max game, but if the foul crying of fans watching preview clips, it will be "nothing at all like the comics". Good thing this means absolutely nothing to me. Excitement is abound!

- Fuck St. Louis. This isn't over yet.

- What happens when you run out of things to unlock in Tekken 5? You buy Tekken Tag, and find that people still want to play against you in both games. Here I am with a venerable arcade of fighting games, and the only one I'm playing is one of my least favorite. That, my friends, shows you just what actual competition can do.

Also in regards to Tekken, is this not the scariest character portrait ever?


Now I know that in anime characters always look a lot younger than they actually are, but come on Namco. I feel bad fighting her because it feels like punching a baby. One who isn't being a dick.

- It is definitely fall here in Baltimore. Fall is a pretty good season; one day the air is crisp, the leaves blow around on the wind and the sun has that late afternoon tint all day long. The next day the air is crisp, the leaves blow around on the wind and the sun is replaced with a grey, almost-winter sky. Can you tell I almost failed the poetry section of freshman english?

- People have been frequently coming into tutoring asking for help in Matlab, something I'm not at all trained in. By the time we're done they have a half written algorithm, and they think I'm a computer genius. Really, we'er learning together. How long can I keep up the ruse?

Tekken Stick

Today's post is all about photos. Of stuff. Let's take a look.

Anyone who's a regular Gamestop/EB customer may have seen the nifty Tekken 5 collector's edition that came out last year. For $100 you got the game, a special box, and a nifty joystick made with real Hori parts (the best kind of parts!). Now that this item is very old and taking up space on shelves, the price has been slashed to a mere $30! I serached in four different stores to find it, but to no avail. Understandable of course, since it came out in limited quantities over a year ago. But my last ditch effort to the local Gamestop rewarded me for my persistence.
Tekken 5 alone costs twenty dollars new. Instead I got an industrial strength arcade stick for ten bucks more, along with a crappy game I won't play very much. Sounds like a deal to me.

And then there is the DVD case they give you. It has places for you to store all 6 Tekken games that have been released, but instead I filled them up with other, better fighting games.

If you add up all the games on those discs, you've got five different Street Fighters, three King of Fighters, and four Tekkens. Still missing any Soul Calibur, but its still a Murderer's Row of fighting games. I think I value even this more than Tekken 5 itself, since its a great way to consolidate these games into a more portable package. Now I just need to get the campus Gaming Club to sponsor a tourney, though that will be harder than it should be...

That's it for now. Later I hope to write something a little more substantial than the silly shit I piss away money on. Cheerio until then!

Family Weekend

Haven't gone to sleep before 2 AM every day this week because of school work. AndI was sick a week ago. I don't think I've had a semester get into gear so very quickly, and its senior year!

I think I've fought back the beast, for now. Maybe I can get some posts in here more often!

Lots of things going on. Let's detail a few.

-Still coming out with 1 or two articles a week over at Videolamer. I forget which ones I haven't linked to, so just stop on over and look for my name. The most notable is a review for Half Life 2: Episode 1, which is as close to a proper HL2 review as I'm going to get. I know, I promised one two years ago. The game was too big for my tiny writing skills. Ep 1. on the other hand is nice and bite sized.

- I fixed a PS2. The famous Disc Read Error has an equally famous fix, involving a large white gear and a 1,000 screws to remove. I decided to attempt the repair on someone else's PS2 - mine is upstairs you see, while my roomate's is hooked up on the bottom floor where I live, and was so bad with reading discs that it could take an hour before you got to play (Guitar Hero, stangely, worked just fine). It was actually easier than I thought, and now I dont' have to wait forever to play King of Fighters 2006.

- Speaking of KOF, I'm glad to have picked up 2006 last week, since it seems to be a rarity in some game stores already. Its a fine game, one that I should be reviewing soon (a review for a new game, on time? Impossible....)

- Giants are 1-2. Mets pitching looking iffy for the playoffs. This will be a testing time for New York sports. We must all remain optimistic however. If there was ever "the year" for the Mets since 86, this is it.

Wii are all stupid

Hey! I'm back! My schedule's finally settled down, meaning more chances for blogging. And lots of Nintendo Wii news to talk about, so I have a reason. Actually, I'm not here to comment on the news itself; there's plenty of that all around. What I want to talk about are the ridiculous comments spreading thanks to the wonderful hivemind of the Internet. Let's all jump aboard the stupid train.

First off, the complaints about the price. I don't get it. The only rumors that said that it could be around $200 were the most wild and unconfirmed, many based purely on the hope of fans. The most legitimate claims and comments said nothing more than "Under 250". Now I know that $200 is under $250, but so is $249.99. And if you have any knowledge of business (meaning if you've ever shopped at a retail store), this price should make perfect sense in relation to their comments, much in the way Sony is able to say the PS3 is under $500.

Now if you're just upset that its not as cheap as you'd have liked, that's fine. I'll just point out the fact that its still half the price or a little less than the competition. But if you expected two hundred bucks, then I have some swamp land in Florida you might be interested in....

You know what else costs the price of a Wii? A mid-range iPod. Betcha weren't bitching about that one, were you? And don't you dare complain because they'll be making a profit on the console right off the bat. This is a company. They want to make money. Sony and MS aren't Jesus sacrificing their cash reserves on the cross. They're big corporations making big gambles that could very well blow up in their face. Nintendo doesn't want, or have to do the same.

Next they'll bring up the argument that "By the time I buy a flash card, and a game, and....and....and some other stuff, the price difference is gone." First, let's throw away the flash card argument. Those things are dirt cheap, far easier to find for $20 or less than a memory stick for PSP. That is, if you don't have one already, which most people with a camera or PDA do. After that, we've got games. Yes, that's another $50 bucks, but they make it sound as if they wouldn't be purchasing a game with the PS3 or 360 (and with the Wii, you don't have to buy a game right off the bat if you're content with Wii Sports). Next they'll bitch about a second controller. If they're buying one for Wii, I can imagine they'd be buying one for the other two consoles. So basically all the things they'd "have" to go out and buy for the Wii, they'd be buying for the other two guys as well. Meaning those prices are pretty much negated, and Nintendo's system is still cheaper. This argument is retarded on multiple levels. Side note: Anyone remember the old days when you lugged your own controller to your friends' house to play 2-player? Imagine the hardship...

Another complaint: The controller + nunchuk costs $60. We still have to see how many games outside of FPS need the nunchuk. Unless Wii Sports or a good portion of launch games make it clear that the Wiimote alone isn't enough, this is a silly point. Wait and see.

I personally can't wait for this shit. It should be a very fine launch indeed, and once again the Internet amazes me with its logic. Or rather, a lack thereof.

First Senior Post

Couple of observations I've made sine I got back:

- I need to buy some posters, or something to decorate the place with. Waay too much space than what college kids should have, but I have to do something with it.

- At a Nationals game, Corona and Dos Equis are cheaper than Bud and Miller by about fifty cents. How does that work out?

- I need to get better still at Guitar Hero, for my lackluster performance causes people to leave.

- Waking up at 7:00 isn't as bad as I thought. I thought college mode would kick in and completely overwrite any progress I had made this summer getting up early for work. Maybe that won't be the case. Its still too early in the year to make guarantees.

- Things are looking good so far. Very good.

Here I come

Boy its early. Its...about 6:40, and I'm getting ready to leave. Again. Only this time, it will be for the fall semester, and thus for a very long time. The week went by more than quickly, but I still managed to do all my shopping (hooray for new socks), and got to see some family members that I haven't visited in ages. The only sour note of my time home was the fact that I couldn't order textbooks early. Seems there weren't any professor's names on my schedule, and after some manual digging was unable to find a syllabus for anyone. Guess I'll have to rely on express shipping and possibly the library if I get any early assignments.

But that's just one item on the usual list of business to take care of at the start of the semester. I've been doing it for so long that I've gotten used to the drill, so no harm and no stress. Right now I'm just looking forward to getting back and starting what should be another fantastic year. Don't start the party without me. I'll be back in a few hours.

Let's do this.

Home Sweet Home

As expected, it was a very long drive from Colorado back to Pennsylvania. Its over now, and after all the stress I'm finally home. I have to say, it feels really, really nice. I've don't think I've ever been so happy to feel humidity.

-I've got five days to take care of quite a few things. I've got some shopping to do (aside from new sneakers, I might have to shop for some appliances and whatnot for the room, as well as get some food, since I won't have my car right away). I need to visit my grandmother before she permanently retires to Florida, and visit my brother at his first apartment. Gotta shop for as many textbooks as I can, and get my car into the shop to get the paint and door finished. Oh, and I need a trim at the barber too. Those sideburns are getting a bit scraggly. Should have enough time if I get up each day and be active, though lord knows I want to sleep until 11:00 each day and do nothing. No time for that though. My relatives in Colorado would be sad to hear if I'm not constantly active :)

-I have a bunch of photos to upload to Flickr tomorrow. Most of it is pics of Denver itself and the Colorado wilderness. I promise to stop taking pictures of me. So many oppurtunities, but I can't become a Narcissist. My schnoz alone makes that illegal.

-But, I still will prob. take another self photo tomorrow, because I finally have my hat! Its...just barely a perfect fit, probably could be a bit wider. Its...bigger than I expected! I think it has the potential to either look real good or real goofy, depending on when its worn and what it is worn with. You can all be the judge!

-I should crank out a review this week. Yeah, that sounds good.

No title necessary

It took a bunch of phone calls and a whole lot of pressure, but I got my car back. I'm leaving tomorrow, two days ahead of schedule. I'll get home Monday evening, and have the rest of the week to myself. This is quite an outcome; it seems that in this whole incident, a bit of luck was on my side.

Anyway, I'll be offline for the next three days, and I might be on only sporadically throughout the week, unless I hook up my computer (I don't think I will). In any case, I now have enough time to prepare, have a working car, and will be able to get back to school on time. Now I just need to actually get my ass home. As Sam Jackson taught me, "Things are starting to look up already."

Thanks to everyone who's had my back through all this shit. I'm truly blessed you know.

See you in September....

Honest to god, Mookie Wilson gave me the Gol' bol, in my hands, in 1974.

Yea...

Apologies for the lack of updates. The last week of work was a doozy, and to make things worse, I had a car accident the day before I was to depart for home.

So, for now, I'm stuck in Colorado, and will either be coming home late next week with it fixed, or late this week with a check from a totaled car. Its put me in a sour mood, so for right now I'm completely dark on AIM. No away message, no ignoring people; I'm off until I get this figured out and I'm safe at home. Until then, you can still get to me through email and Google Talk, and I've promised to keep updates here as frequently as I can. Sorry for the inconveinence everyone, but my own damn personality makes AIM a bad thing for me right now. I'll be back within a week.

So yeah, right now I'm waiting to see tomorrow what they want to do with the car. The damage isn't horrible, but just may be enough that they choose to total it. That would be two totals in a row for me, and the first that would be my fault. Guy can't get any luck can he? In that case I'd be paying a decent chunk of change to fly home on Thursday, shipping most of my personal items home. The other option is they go with the repairs, in which case I just have to wait until they fix it. As long as that gives me time to make it to college on Sunday, I would like to take this option, even though staying here for another week would suck rather hard. Still, it'd mean I have a car...

I'll post tomorrow with the results, if they come in. Until then, wish me luck.

Weekend

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen, time for the weekend news.

-Peta is demanding that a Florida Animal Control officer should see criminal charges after a dead raccoon was found in the woman's truck. The officer was on vacation when a coworker discovered the dead animal in the cargo bay. No one knows if this is a case of animal cruelty, or if the stupid thing got in there on its own, but I think we can guess which one it is. Hmm, Peta fighting about a dead animal. Maybe that South Park episode was telling the truth. That raccoon could have been someone's wife!

-A man in Sacramento prevents a store roberry, only to come back sometime later to steal some cash out of the register, leading to his own arrest. Normally this is something that people would list under "Stupid Criminal Stories". I see it as a fella trying to collect on his reward for a job well done. Though next time, I suggest he ask first.

-About a thousand Girl Scouts in Virginia might have been infected with rabies after several possibly infected bats might have bit them in their sleep. Some of the girls also touched some bats that were captrued by counselors. Great, a couple thousand shots in the stomach because of a small lack of precaution.

Seeing that this is the Girl Scouts, I feel dirty making a joke about "always wearing protection", but I will say this. Girls, don't go around petting random animals. They're not all cute and fuzzy. Some of them just want to kill you.

-And our Miracle Baby, former college football star Maurice Clarett, who was arrested after a police chase when the cops uncovered a loaded pistol under his feet, and AK-47 in the passenger's seat, and several more guns in the back. When police tried to use a stun gun, they foudn it worked to no avail, since Clarett was wearing a flak jacket. This on top of a case of armed robery. Folks, I've got nothing for you on this one. What the hell was he doing...

That's it for this week folks. Dragon Quest 8 is your review for the week, and boy is it a doozy. Take it easy.

Weekend news later tonight...

Nap now...

So you wanna be a rock superstar?

And live large? But seriously, what the hell? Gamedaily's Chris Buffa posts a whole bunch of honest critiques of gaming journalism, and how much better it can get. He points the fingers not only on the rest of the web, but on himself and his own site, and has repeated that him and his colleagues are not perfect, but trying to be better every day. This is some of the most genuine writing I've seen from an industry writer, and he makes some great points.

Tell that to 1up. Once again a few of their cocky, wannabe rock star journalists have responded. The word?

waaaaaaaaa!
and
WAAAAAAAA!

Apparently these hotshots have taken Buffa a little too personally. These people who say they are proud of their work, and have been in the industry for years, decide the most professional thing to do is to attack the man with silly names and swearing. If you're so content with your work, if Buffa is a nobody, why are you giving him the time of day? Did he attack your momma? your family? Not that I saw.

These chumps know that Buffa has a point. Games journalism is in sorry shape, and no one wants to notice. And all the "fuck yous" and "I don't give a fuck"'s in the world aren't going to change the minds of me and anyone else with half a brain.

Really, this kind of reaction is 100% typical of an internet society with no balls. Everything about Buffa's article was criticism. Nothing more. But as the 'net has proven time and again, we cna't take criticism. No, we have to whine and cry and lash out because someone doesn't like us. Since when was this ever a bad thing? When was it ever an insult? Look at anyone who ever runs around with writing/pictures/photos askign for concrit. Then look at the responses. They're all half assed "suggestions" made by people who don't wish to offend, who are afraid of speaking their minds.

An english teacher I had once read a paper of mine, and said this of it:

"There's absolutely no reason why these paragraphs need to exist."

This was followed by a talk on which they elaborated. I took it as criticism, some good solid advice and an interesting perspective. If it was on the internet, it would probably go something like this:

"Um, well, it was really good! But, well, maybe you could get rid of that paragraph. I mean, you have to, but I you said everything so well in the rest of it! kthxbye!"

If I read that, no way in hell I'm changing a thing. After all, it was really good! But this seems to be all I ever see. That, or spewing 1up style vitriol. What's even more interesting is a point made by a 1up commenter; these guys slander Buffa and defend their own works, but never do they mention when Dan Hsu calls out the industry for bad practices, while not naming names (which contained some direct, honest to goodness accusations of wrongdoing. Buffa was just throwing out ideas). They don't mention how their DOA4 game guide showed some pretty clear evidence of plagarism. Their own site has done some pretty shady shit in the past, but they choose to cover their eyes. After all, if there's no irrefutable proof, it didn't actually happen, right? Bunch of hypocrites. I can't wait for Ziff Davis to sell their media division, and for 1up to crumble as they continue to screw up and people lose respect for them. Then maybe some real writers will be able to come in and show us how it done.

Don't like that? I don't give a fuck. You've got every dimwit, as well as IGN "writer" Jess Chobot sucking your cock. Sounds like a good place to curl up into a ball and cry.

P.S. - to all the commenters on that site - why are you spending your college time and money trying to become a games journalist? Don't get me wrong, I love to write about games, but never as a job. Dont' let 1up's horrible image cloud your minds. There are so many better things to do with a real journalism degree.

Weekend News

Welcome back ladies and gents. Time for the Weekend News.

-Tropical Storm Chris has come and gone, and won't be bringing a hurricane to the Caribbean. I finally get a storm named after me, and thankfully it didn't cause any widespread destruction. Though this is the perfect oppurtunity to make some sort of lewd joke about me usign words like "fizzling out" and being a "drop in the bucket". Go on. Be creative.

-A minor league baseball teamis having a special "Britney baby safety night", in order to teach parents proper child/car safety, while mocking a moronic celebrity for endagering her child. I'm very much looking forward to next month's event, titled "Dumpy, whiny celebrity who has her husband whipped and fires Jack Lalanne's son" night.

-A bar waitress in Ohio checks a young woman's id, and finds out it is her own stolen license being showed to her. The thief is charged with identity theft, and what's worse is that she happened to be 23 years old, and thus legally of age. So answer me this; if you can drink, why are you using a stolen ID? Even freshmen aren't that dumb.

- And our Miracle Baby, the State of Kansas. A bed and breakfast owner in Kansas is facing severe reactions from his small town, after he hung up a rainbow colored flag. To the couple, it is a simple souvenir from their child, but to others it is a symbol of gay pride and support. The preacher has threatened to arrest them, and the radio station wanted to pull their ads unless the flag was removed. Business has also suffered due to the boycott. Of course, no one in town made the association until a few loudmouths wrote about it in the paper, and one man is quoted as saying

To me it's just like running up a Nazi flag in a Jewish neighborhood. I can't walk into that establishment with that flag flying because to me that's saying that I support what the flag stands for and I don't

Yes folks, someone just compared the symbol of the Nazi regime to a flag bought at a Wizard of Oz museum. If I ever have to go to Kansas, remind me never to stand under a blue sky and yellow sun, with red shoes and a plaid shirt on, while watching the Olympics. Somone funnier than me needs to make a joke tying this with "Intelligent" Design.

That's it for this week folks. I leave you off with this wonderful quiz testing your video game knowledge. I got a 90%. Can you match it?

random late week post

This post was originally going to be filled with frothing, ridiculous rant, after a couple of topics caught my attention yesterday and immediately drew my ire. Then I had a few beers, wrote a little bit, and realized that while they might be worthy of discussion, it was nothing to be worked up over. For instance, I finally discovered that Firefox does indeed have glaring memory issues, and that this is likely the cause of some of the slowdownd I've expereinced in both XP and Ubuntu. I had a rant all ready, calling out the hypocrisy of Open Source zealots I know, who call from the mountains for people to convert to OSS (and make smarmy comments and jokes about these people on the side), yet never seem to notice or complain when their favorite software might have a problem. But that sentence covers everything that needs to be said. Plus I can still switch back to Opera whenever I want.

I wanted to rant about some of the "girl gamer" stuff that has popped up quite frequently in the last month or so. But then I realized that links and tirades only gives it more attention, and makes the problem worse. Also, I can't really blame a bunch of attractive looking women for using their looks to exploit stupid, horny men (and to those guys out there; shame on you). There are a lot of women gamers out there who actually participate, and know what the hell they are talking about. Its no coincidence that these are the people who aren't jumping on the internet in order to try and grab some attention. They're too busy actually playing.

Of course, I was also frustrated to see the Yankees take the AL East lead after heroics from newly acquired Bobby Abreu. But the American League is a tough place to play, and the Mets are still playing top quality ball. Yes, its possible the teams could face in the finals and the Yankee Magic(tm) could cause certain doom. But its even more likely they are elminated early by a better team, while the Mets fight for the pennant. Things are still looking good in baseball land.

Here's a fantastic interview about Bioshock, which looks better and better every time I see it. The guy from Irrational makes a great stab at the horribly black and white moral choices that most games are content to present to us. Irrational, I wasn't huge on Freedom Force, but I have nothing but respect for you now that you've let an employee bitch slap the entirety of post-Baldur's Gate Bioware and Knights of the Old Republic.

Some serious trouble over in the land of Ziff Davis. Looks like the entire magazine division is up for sale, which doesn't seem like a good thing. I remember when Imagine Media turned into the Future Network, and let's just say one of the strongest names in game magazines is a shell of its former self. If someone ponies up, it'll be interesting to see what happens to EGM and Computer Gaming World.

Actually, scratch that. Its only a matter of time before CGW burns to the ground. The mag has been renamed to Games for Windows, and is now a joint venture between ZD and Microsoft. Now they say this is because of MS's new dedication to games on Vista, and that their contract makes it illegal for them to influence the content of the magazine. It still sounds fishy as hell. You don't join into a partnership like this so you can leave the magazine alone, and something called "Games for Windows" sounds far too consumer friendly for the very unorthodox style that CGW has created over the years (gotta love no review scores). Microsoft is going to do more than just give the writers free PC gaming rigs. While they might not have the ability to directly change the content of the publication, they can make some very strong, um, "suggestions". I expect nothing more than the fanboyish and sensational journalism of any "official" console magazine. A sad change to be sure.

I now give you all the Biggest Pussies in Gaming Journalism. Looks like some kids got burned by Game Revolution for their useless, homophobic flamebait rant, so they reacted by crying a bunch and running home with the ball. Remember folks, "If you are making a harmless joke (Non-derogatory) than it is OK, but ONLY if you contact the other site to let them know, and have the time to make a harmless quip in return."

Who the fuck with a pair of balls ever does that? There's no question that this kid hasn't hit puberty. Unless he's a man-child, which is even worse. Someone get these guys a box of tampons. Until then, maybe the writer should get some practice before writing anything else on the internet. I promise it will help.

Tony Bennet had his birthday today. Let's listen to some great music from a time long ago...

Gametap

If you read Penny Arcade, you might remember that Tycho recently signed up for Gametap. Turns out I did the same thing the week before (great minds think alike?). Admittedly, I was a bit skeptical of Gametap when it first came out. I loved the idea of a digitally distributed, all you can eat gaming service, but the games list didn't look too appealing at first, and considering it was owned by Time Warner (usually one of the more bumbling fools in the realm of conglomerate media companies) I didn't think it would get much better. Apparently I was dead wrong. There are a couple of minor issues with the service which most uber geeks will certainly cry foul over. For all of you normal people, read on to hear some of the more important questions about Gametap, and what I think of them so far.

How often does the games library update?

I have no idea how they did it at first, but as of now Gametap updates with about 7-10 new games every Thursday. That's far more frequent than I expected, and it amounts to a pretty sizeable stack of new stuff to play every month.

As for the selection of new releases, its hit or miss. I've only seen three weeks worth of updates, but its obvious that some will be better than others. For example, last week we got Contra: Hard Corps, Castlevania Bloodlines, Frogger, the two Time Pilot arcade games, and an old PS2/PC game called Shadow of Destiny. That's two Genesis classics, a legendary arcade game, two obscure schmups', and a decent little adventure game. The list next week contains some educational software, a Carmen Sandiego game, and Bust a Move. As you can see, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the updates; my guess is they release whatever is ready. However, it seems that there's at least one good, older game to play each week. If they can do that and toss at least one recent game to me every month, then the service basically pays for itself.


What kind of variety are we looking at here? Are there actually good games, or just a lot of "classics" that haven't aged well.

I'm shocked at how robust Gametap has become. Just about every genre I can think of can be found on Gametap. The weakest links are easily new spots games and RPGs, though I don't care much for those. If you are a gamer of many tastes, who appreciates classic gaming, then step inside. Gametap has games from the arcade, DOD, modern Windows, 2600, Genesis, Dreamcast, Neo-Geo, C-64, Intellivision, Game Gear, even the friggin' SG-1000. Of course, this does mean there's some true crap. I can't think of one thing that's good on the SG, but the mere fact that they include it blows me away.

At the same time, it seems that every time I traverse the list of games I'm finding something new that I had no clue was even offered. In less than two weeks I've manage to play Pandora Tomorrow, Riven and Myst, 1942 and all its sequels, a smattering of obscure capcom fighters, and a smattering of other classic arcade games. And I still haven't gotten to Rayman 3, the Ultima games, Kizuna Encounter (how the hell did they get such an obscure SNK game?) , Baldur's Gate, Commandos 3, Uplink, Landstalker...shit, I could go on. They really have done a good job of getting some solid modern games, some great old games, and a lot of really obscure stuff that I'd never dream of seeing here. Suffice to say I have a lot of catching up to do, aside from the regular updates. There's also some original G4-esque TV shows and some cartoons to watch. Haven't tried those out.

Did I mention that some games have multiplayer, and you can upload high scores in certain arcade games? I'm hoping that one day, I can meet Tycho in Uru Live.


How nice is the client?

This is where I think a lot of people might complain for no reason at all. Here's a nice little screenshot of the interface. As you might have guessed, its all slick and shiny for today's modern internet user. All that shit animates when you click on it, meaning its a bit sluggish at times. Also, the options and TV menus are a bit cluttered. At least getting to the games is easy enough, what with all those categories and a search to choose from.

Anyway, as you can also see, each game has a nice little image, and when you wish to play a game, it pops up with a window detailing its premise and instructions, some gameplay tips, and sometimes even some historical information. Whoever writes this stuff is a god. Rather than flinging around tons of silly gamer slang and cheesy jokes, these descriptions are helpful and informative, as if someone who knows something about gaming wrote them (the entry for Xevious is what really sold me). Sometimes you can also grab a PDF of the manual. My only issue with this part is that sometimes they don't give you the full scoop on how to operate a game. For instance, I still don't know how to quit out of Ultima 1.

When you want to play a game, you download it locally to your harddrive, and can have up to three games dl'ing at once. It works rather quickly, and overall the only suspicious slowdown I've seen was during the Splinter Cell cutscenes (the game itself ran smooth as butter). I also saw slowdown with some old arcade games, but I had quite a lot running in the background. I like the idea of it downloading rather than streaming, as it means performance is solid. Yet Gametap needs to do something about getting rid of the games. You can delete them any time you want, but it requires hunting a bit through the storage options. A button for deleting them right at the game menu would be a little easier for most players, otherwise they may find themselves with a full harddrive! My other complaint with the downloading is that if your internet connection dies (like my wireless does daily), it often has problems with a download. Sometimes it resumes, sometimes you have to start from scratch. This is offset a bit by relatively fast dl speeds. There were a few instances early on where I had mysterious download errors with no explanation at all, but I'm certain it was my conection, since they haven't returned.

Being that this is a Time Warner service, you can bet your sweet ass that AIM Triton makes an appearence in Gametap. What is amazing is that they never force it on you. You can use AIM to message buddies and hook up for some multiplayer on GT, but it only exists as a little button in the corner. Don't want to use it? You don't have to, and that's that. I've also checked process manager and see no spyware or other shit snooping around when the service is running. So far this is turning out to be a very un-Web2.0 experience, in a good way. Nothing is pushed on you, and you don't have to jump through hoops to get what you want. Okay, so that's not 100% true; when you're dl'ing a game, or look for TV shows they like to show you video clips advertising some of the stuff on the service. However you can disable them during the download, and the TV clips stop the moment you navigate the shows. A minor annoyance, but one that goes away easily.

So there you have it. Like I said, there is going to be a contingent of people who'd rather run the thing from the command line, or hate the idea of not owning the games (despite the fact that its only ten bucks a month to play all this shit legally, and owning some of them in cart form would be crazy expensive). I however am more than impressed with what they've come up with here. A few minor annoyances aside, I'm finding myself logging on at least once a day, either to chug my way through Riven, or to blast through a few quick credits in Galaga. I still can't believe they have all these different consoles and games working so well. The fact that the Sam and Max episodic content will appear on Gametap just seals the deal. Give it a shot if you're curious. I think you'll find something to like, and if not, the staff behind it seem to be working hard enough to make sure that eventually you will.

Weekend News

Welcome back everyone. Time for the Weekend News.

Piece 1

Cigarettes may be getting even pricier in California. To me this makes perfect sense. Tobacco has been around a long, long time, and probably hasn't been trendy in ages. By raising the price on such an unwanted item, club drug makers can slash prices and increase their profits, while crack dealers may finally be able to get a healthier chunk of the market. Its economics folks.

Piece 2

Honda is going to manufacture planes. In fact, the article quotes that they wish to make the "Honda Civic" of planes, specifically for business jets. This is exactly what I hoped to hear. If my guess is right, and I know it will be, look up the next time you're near BWI or Denver International. You'll be able to catch a Honda plane taking off, being piloted by a trust fund baby flying off to a meeting for his new job, AKA daddy's bank. The craft will contain spoilers on both wings, a cheap paint job that shows spots of the old color beneath it, and the landing gear will always be down in order to show off the K-Mart rims. On its way it will be flying towards a small white suburb in order to pick up "easy chicks" while blasting "Lean Back" from a set of speakers that are dangling out of the cargo hold, with the bass up so high you can't hear the words. Also, there will be no autopilot, because "Automatics are 4 fags!", and there will be a class action lawsuit when several planes crash after the pilot tried to drop from "fourth to neutral".

Piece 3

A former Christian Radio station in Fresno has now changed formats to Porn Radio - all sex, all the time. In addition to playing songs like "Sexual Healing", the station adds moans and groans to their tamer songs in order to enhance them. While no one is sure if the station will remain this way or not, there's little doubt that sooner or later a good religious family will tune in one Sunday afternoon only to hear the Devil Music. Maybe then they'll actually have to explain to their children what sex and love is, instead of constantly sheltering them from the facts of life. That, or they'll burn the car for purification purposes. Expect many calls to insuracne companies in the next month.

Piece 4

Speaking of oversensitive conservative types, we can once again thank their efforts against the Janet Jackson Super Bowl scene for screwing the rest of us over. Thanks to stricter FCC sanctions, Public Television statements are worried whether they can show "The War", a new WW2 documentary by Ken Burns, because it features stories from soldiers that may include profane language or grotesque depictions. So apparently it is more than okay to show "Two and a Half Men" on network television, and "Sex and the City" on basic cable, but god forbid if someone tries to educate the public on one of the most defining, horrific, and important moments of our nation's history. Now I'm only waiting for the ultra liberals to accuse the conservatives of hiding the facts of war in order to send their children off to fight their battles, resulting in an even bigger headache for me. Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. And they say they're thinking of the children...



And our Miracle Baby... Society

According to this About.com article, some "video game research" paper claims that not only are the ESRB ratings innacurate, but that the game Pac Man is "64% violent". I guess that means that an ancient game about a man eating (already dead) ghosts is overly violent for children, but football, Nascar and hunting are perfectly fine. Oh, and apparently we can assign a percentage of violence to a game. This sole number proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that this and any other study like it is conducted by paranoid, insane people who are as afraid of a new medium as their parents were of Rock 'n Roll. Pleasant dreams to all the researchers, politicians and "concerned people" out there. I hope it isn't too uncomfortable sleeping on that straw man of yours.

That's it for today ladies and gents. Feel free to check out my review of Frequency, and drop a line if you're so inclined. Enjoy the weekend.

Updates

New Review! It is for Devil May Cry 2. Come to think of it, I never linked the one for DMC1! I'm getting awfully forgetful with a lot of the things I want to post in this space, mostly becuase when I think of it, I'm at work and can't go to Blogger. I should just jot all ideas down in a Gmail draft and use them later on. Still, enjoy!

So last week I went to the New Belgium brewery in Fort Collins, Co. These folks make my favorite Colorado brew, and it was great to see the place and sample some very unique drinks. Pictures over at Flickr.

I know the Tour de France has been over for a while now, but I'm saddened to see that another American wins, and no one cares because his name isn't Lance. The man is a hero, and a great athlete, but gosh do I hate sports bandwagons. They show so very well how shallow and false people can be. Still, congrats to Landis. He won, and really that's more improtant to him than anything else. Edit: Aw crap. There goe sthe neighborhood.

I'm seeing a lot of poor reviews of Lady in the Water. With the one exception of Unbreakable, I've found all of Shyamalan's films to be pretty crummy hack jobs. I got so much flak when I first saw the Sixth Sense and didn't see what the big deal is. I've just never found the silly twists, whispered dialogue and general sluggishness of his movies to be enjoyable, and somehow I was labeled a cretin. Now the man makes a film in which he not only inserts himself, but creates a ridiculous story in which he whines about his enemies and puts himself on a pedestal, and no one is biting. If he thought pushing this script was hard enough, we'll see what happens to the next one...

And finally, after my little weekend news segment, here's another little idea of mine. Blog mini reviews. Two or three paragraphs on old games that you probably don't care about. Our inaugural game is Myst. Feel free to skip over silly discussion on one of the most talked about games ever. I won't feel offended...


Hey, its Myst! Everyone knows Myst. I bet you've even played it. I never did back in the day, due to crummy PC hardware and a general fear of the game thanks to its stigma as an interactive slideshow. Still, I suppose getting to it twelve years later is better than never, eh?

So what is there to say about an ancient, legendary game that sold millions? What the hell else could I add? Not much I suppose. What I do know is that the game is indeed something of a strange breed, what with all the pre-rendered slides, which often make navigation a bear. I also agree that the puzzles are indeed grounded in logic, but that doesn't mean some of them aren't ridiculous. This is because it is hard to see real world logic in a fantasy game. For example, we know that steam pressure can lift or lower an object, but who the hell expects to use this to manipulate a giant tree? Who listens closely for four sound effects and relates them to the cardinal directions? Why is a compass divided into 32 sectors of 11.25 degrees? Things like this are what make some of the puzzles a little more of a hassle than they should be, and its easy to see how people got frustrated back in the day. Unless you're really looking, you're probably going to miss out on a clue. Guess that's why there's a solutions button just in case. The aged graphics also lead to some hassles. I guess they looked damn good back in the day, but a lot of visual clues were difficult to spot thanks to the horrible lighting and lack of fine detail. Several buttons or trapdoors are nigh impossible to see in the dark crevices of the world, and simple little cues like power cables snaking from a lighthouse to other areas aren't readily visible. Overall, the puzzles themselves aren't terribly mind bending; its the hunting of doors/switches/doohickeys that becomes difficult thanks to the controls and graphics. But again, hint system works well there.

Ultimately, the strangest thing about Myst is how gripping it can be. No, it isn't high literature, but it manages to tell a simple, sound story without butchering the gamepaly, nor does it leave you confused by the end. There's something about exploring these empty, peaceful worlds and slowly piecing together the situation at hand, knowing you can do it all at your own pace with a few subtle (or not so subtle) nudges in the right direction. Myst was a decent little romp to spend a day with, and I'm somewhat eager to play some of its sequels. I don't believe it lives up to all the hype and praise it received for years, but it established an interesting spin on the adventure genre. We'll see if Riven manages to build upon it.

P.S. - Must insert obligatory artsy/deep analysis: All the Ages involved lots of water and/or islands. Symbolic of the player's solitary and isolated state, or did the creator's just run out of ideas?)

News

This is a little idea I'm trying out, inspired by my favorite Denver radio station. A little bit of comedic news that hopefully manages to have some humor. Not sure if I'll do it every Friday, but I'll give it a shot for now.

Piece 1

Wal Mart once again tries to use every avenue possible in order to bolster their sales by opening a MySpace-esque "social networking" site called "The Hub", where teens can create their own pages and upload videos of themselves. Of course, the entire operation is really just a marketing scheme, a way to get kids to film personal videos to make into commercials, as well as an oppurtunity to gain precious market research. Too bad it is all done in classic Wal Mart fashion. Content is screened and censored, users cannot email each other, and the entire site is a white businessman's attempt at "cool". It is unsurprising that Wal Mart would fail to see why this is the wrong way of doing things. After all, sites like MySpace are popular because of their wealth of lyrics, tons of free music, and sexually explicit/incriminating photographs. Nor is it a shock to see the entire project is a giant advertisemnet. What is a little strange is that the site contains such lines as "I'll school my way by looking hot in my Wal-Mart clothes to school to catch a cute boy's eye. ..." Ignore the fact that the sentence isn't gramatically correct, and realize that Wal Mart is trying even harder to align their clothing with the hip and coolest of kids. I guess no one in the company read the bottom line of this article which describes a 14 year old girl blowing her monthly $150 clothing budget at Abercrombie, which of course is only practice for four years from now, when she'll spend triple that amount on alcohol, cigarettes and birth control.

I predict the Hub will die after September and will never return. The floor is open for betting folks.


Piece 2

Denver and surrounding areas are choking on smog. Oh sure, it may look like pristine mountains and plains surrounding the city and its neighboring towns, but it looks like they're about break the record for summer ozone alerts. It just goes to show you that Denver can try all they want, and suceed, to ban smoking in public areas, yet they're still all going to die. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

Piece 3

Australia is facing a massive surplus of grapes, resulting in huge amounts of unsold wine, with a liter being sold for cheaper than water. Anyone who goes or went to Loyola College knows how strong our study abroad program is, but this news will send it right down the crapper. Upon returning in the fall I expect no emails to study abroad, only ones with the subject "get loaded in Melbourne", as half the campus ships out for the same country. As for the rest of us, we will remain in Baltimore laughing our asses off, because Natty Light is still cheaper.


And today's Miracle Baby....

An ex Navy Quarterback is accused of rape, and the man's defense was that it was "sex gone bad". After the carnival that was the Duke Lacrosse trial, this is the kind of story where you can't be sure which person is telling the truth. Guess we'll have to leave it to karma. If he's innocent, may he get through unscathed. If guilty, then it won't be long before he heads to jail and sees what "sex gone bad" really means. Never in my life would I have guessed that a college kid would use a joke college euphemism in a court trial for rape. Crazier things have happened I suppose.

Gotta Love Valve

First off, a few words on Pirates 2 can be found deep within the crevices of LiveJournal. Their whole "hide blocks of text behind a link" thing makes it easy to hide spoilers, so jump over there if you're curious.

Valve software has announced two amazing new products. Team Fortres 2 is back, and this time its real. The one screenshot of the character models is enough to get me excited. A lot of people pined for the old, realistic military fashion, but that's been done a whole lot since the game was announced years ago. This cartoony, goofy look fits well with the over the top gameplay of the series, and hopefully the maps, gameplay and presentation compliment the new style.

Then there's Portal. Watch this video trailer, and its hard not to drool at least a little bit. Portal is like the newly released game Prey, in that it focuses on strange portals that warp you to different parts of a the map. The difference is that in Prey, the portals are scripted, pre-determined events. Portal gives you a gun that allows you to create your own portals, on the fly, in order to interact with the level in ways never seen before. It is a far more interesting technology showcase than Prey's, and if Valve can use the concept to create an interesting demonstration, this could be the new trendy technology of the industry. Also, I hope they keep the sense of humor that the trailer conveys. Good stuff.

Well, Shit

And now for sports...

-Screw the American League. Can't give the NL one lousy all star win. I'm telling you, its the Yankee Magic. Even in a game like this they sprinkly it on the bloody field for clutch performance. I really, really, really wanted NL homefield this year more than ever. Nothing, and I mean nothing could happen in my Senior Year of college that would be better than a Mets championship 20 years after their last. Well, maybe sex every night, but that won't happen, so I'll stick with gunning for my team.

-Isn't it sad that the Tour de France is going on and no one in America gives a shit now that Lance isn't in it? I'm actually following it closer than usual now that I don't have to hear about him every 10 minutes. A great athlete to be sure, but our nation's bandwagon culture was smothering the media with him to the point of cheapening the man.

-Speaking of ruining things, a plea to the Internet; stop it with the Zidane headbutt. One of the most badass moments in sports is being ruined because 4chan and the rest can't let up on a good meme. I have seen exactly two mock ups of the clip that were funny. Two. Out of the whole Web. Let it go, so we can look back at it five years from now in something other than tired disgust.

For gaming news, Next Gen.biz has an interesting new feature where they ask people behind particular games to comment on choice quotes from reviews. Here's one from Sony about the Advance Wars ripoff Field Commander on the PSP. This is one from Atlus USA about the wonderful Steambot Chronicles. Our friend at Sony replies with the usual script about being "more mature" and how certain issues are really features. Right.

As is typical with Atlus, we get an honest and human response about Steambot, filled with swearing, admittance to certain problems and good old smack talk. The best quote?

"The Trotmobile controls work well when you're exploring and fighting low level enemies, but fail miserably when you have to take on boss characters and the plethora of Trotmobile gladiators in the town arenas. You'll be out maneuvered time and time again due to the sluggish controls, floating jumps, and the multitude of uncircumventable projectiles aimed at you by your foes. As the game progresses, you'll learn to cope with the controls, but the feeling of sluggishness never really goes away." --GamePro: 3/5

Atlus USA: We'll give 'em that the controls weren't perfect, but to quote one of our in-house peeps, "the control scheme is similar to that of Virtual On, and nobody bitched about that." Honestly, it's nowhere near as bad as the GamePro graf makes it out to be. (A GamePro editor messaged us after receiving a review build, asking about nonexistent "bugs," so we were prepared ahead of time for an iffy review.)

Also, about those "uncircumventable" [sic] projectiles, you don't need to dodge 'em; that's what the block function is for. Someone didn't play through the tutorial mode...

Owned? Most definitely. Read the rest of the Atlus remarks if you have the time. Few people in the development side of the industry act so frank and sincere. If more people responded like this maybe we would see some game journalists grow up a little and take their jobs a little more seriously.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a well earned 12 pack of Summer Ale to put a dent in.

Heart of Darkness

Review is up. Go.

More post later

Super Post

Saw Superman on Saturday. I'm mixed on how I feel. They did a good job of paying homage to Reeves and the original films, while fusing modern day effects with an old fashioned looking Metropolis. All of Superman's big scenes were also effective in portraying the idea that he is indeed the Man of Steel. Despite what I've heard, I believe the acting was also good enough.

So, my problems. The film was trying to do both character development and action, and even in a two and a half hour movie there wasn't enough time for both of them. We have the perfect set up for some interesting conflicts with these classic characters, and by the end nothing really changes. Yet the fact that the tried to go somewhere with it meant that the film was a bit skimpy on action. Supes saves the day in a whole lot of brief clips, but that wasn't enough for me. This big, ambitious movie left me wanting more of everything, and not in a good way. I'm hoping they make a sequel however, since I believe that if the crew had the oppurtunity to make their own film, rather than such a big huge Superman homage, they could create a fantastic story.

Plus I thought they handled his Kryptonite weakness in a rather silly way.

I was going to continue this post by discussing traffic in Denver, but I realized its not only boring as a subject, but its probably the same everywhere else. We'll move onto some news and links

-Japan. Korea. Pre-emptive strike. I guess it was only a matter of when, not if, we would see the giant robots and psychic schoolgirls. And you thought I'd be giving you deep political commentary. That's funnier than my lame joke.

-Someone stole my article! Okay, so its pure coincidence that a 1up editor does a piece on Bemani and Guitar Hero shortly after I did, but still, now no one will care for my shit now that someone bigger and professional has done the same thing. Still, I agree with Rea's opinion on thie newfangled Guitar Revolution from Konami. I'd really like to see them bring the heat to Harmonix. The boys over there have no one to compete against, and they're still working damn hard on Guitar Hero 2. Imagine what they could produce if Konami made a real solid product. This probably won't be the case however. Rea confirms what I had guessed; the U.S. Bemani division is in shambles. I wouldn't be surprised if this game is nothing more than 3 key Guitar Freaks from years ago brought over with a half baked song list (ala Beatmania U.S.). I hope I'm wrong, but it doesn't look pretty based on past efforts. Suggestion for Konami; you'll do well not to fill it with tons of J-Rock, unless its the Pillows.

-Tomorrow's article on Videolamer is my weekly review, an article about a year in the making. A few major rewrites, one lost draft and a few bad cases of writer's block have hampered it along the way, but its finally done, changed from a forthing attack full of vitriol into a concentrated critique of hopefull quality.

Yes ladies and gents. Tomorrow is Me Versus Kingdom Hearts. I'm expecting a lot of flames, maybe some insightful commentary. Maybe nothing at all (no, that won't happen. Its impossible with Square fans). Will you be there? Link tomorrow.

Another Post

I'm starting to not want to use attunes anymore for playing back my music. I mean, its snazzy and feature rich and, at least for my needs, but I'm a little tired of its sluggishness on startup up and closing (note its never slow while playing anything). More importantly, I'm sick of it enabling the iPodHelper whenever I update. I don't have an iPod, probably won't for a while longer, and I don't need a process sucking up resources just so it can sit there waiting for me to plug one in. No thank you.

Furthermore, I might get rid of it for Ubuntu's sake. Under Linux I can listen to all the tunes on my Windows partition, but can't move them over because I didn't give Ubuntu enough disk space. On the other hand, the way iTunes organizes its music is really only good for itself. Trying to manage playlists in a Linux media player when all the music is divided into such specific folders isn't easy without a lot of time and patience.

I would have never switched from Winamp if my first experience with it wasn't so bad. Every time I made a playlist it would vanish the next time I started the program. Not cool at all. Definitely going to poke around with this stuff later this weekend.

Looks like there are some rumblings over at good old Rockstar games, in the form of several people leaving the company. Our friends the analysts believe this is simply a set of cost cutting measures, due to the fines and pressure that are still being leveraged on them and publisher Take Two after Hot Coffee. A possibility to be sure, and the analyst gives some good reasons. Most of the positions are the fluffy sounding BS marketing positions that make you scratch your head as to their purpose. Still, analysts often impress me in their ability to stay employed by making obvious and/or random guesses, and the fact that one of the leaving members is the VP of development/cofounder Jamie King leads me to believe that the other possibilities might be valid. Let's look at some of them that were brought up in the article....

1) The employees were fired because of poor reviews for their new game Table Tennis: This one seems a little out there, but then again, this is Rockstar Games. Their ego befits their name; all of their games, even the non GTA ones have a habit of doing impressively well in sales and scores. Table Tennis receiving an average grade of 85% is something most smaller guys would kill for, but for Rockstar this may not be up to par.

2) They left, being unhappy with the direction of the company: I'm personally leaning towards this one, but what do I know. There are several reasons why I believe this could be valid. For one, as was stated before, Rockstar is still getting flack for Hot Coffee, and in some cases it looks like it might actually get worse for them before it gets better. Millions of copies of GTA help a whole lot, but there is only so long that you can last when getting hit with litigation and heavy fines.

Then there are the games. I really don't believe we would have seen something like Table Tennis if Rockstar wasn't getting pounded by Capitol Hill. Yes it looks good, has great physics, and is overall well made, but come on people. Its fancy Pong. Hardly Rockstar's style. However, it was probably cheap to make and is selling well enough. Its the perfect way to make a quick buck.

And what about GTA? I'm not seeing good things for it in the future. Hot Coffee showed that these guys were ready to break the rules and push the boundaries in the absolute most immature way possible. I'm not personally offended by Hot Coffee; in fact I wish the friggin Puritan values of this nation allowed someone to do something more tasteful and mature with sex in games. However, it wasn't allowed in an M rated game, much like it isn't in a rated R film (well, some sex is, but it really seems to depend). If anyone else has played Liberty City Stories (I am), you'll see that Rockstar is continuing to push the envelope for crudeness. Some of the things that happen in missions and on the radio are crazy. Pedophilia, slaughtering animals, cannibalism, underage sex, and a horrible attitude towards women are commonplace in LCS, and honestly make me feel more uncomfortable than any half porn minigame in San Andreas. Its one thing to be a little crude, have a little satire, but there is really no reason for any of this other than Rockstar is running out of steam and gags, and now has to resort to the lowest common denominator in order to get gags.

I really have no idea how GTA 4 will fare, but I don't think it looks good. Will we see any major improvements over the current gen GTA games. Better graphics yes, but more interactivity? Dynamic stories? All possibilities, but the series is incredibly stale these days and still selling. They could churn out a whole lot of bullshit on the 360 and still make their millions. Not to mention the watchdogs are just waiting to pounce on them for doing something even more stupid, and it looks like they aren't going to learn their lesson. I'm not sure if that's a development house I'd want to stick around with, especially when I could most likely find another job in the industry fairly easily.

If you ask me, let Rockstar burn in hell. Let them fold for all I care. Yes, I can't stand the politicians and interest groups that have made gaming their new strawman, especially over something as dumb as Hot Coffee. But you want to know why its gotten so bad?

Because Rockstar lied. They lied about Hot Coffee, and still won't take responsibility for it. They're as mature as the gamers who keep them afloat, and it sets a horrible precedent for the industry. Its done far, far more harm than any "freedom of speech" and "sticking it to the man" that people credit them with. Let them go away, and let the ESA and others put their foot down and tell the rest of the industry how its going to be done. As long as the most powerful game series in the West involves bad gangster cliches and comes from a bunch of kids who can't man up to their mistakes, that just isn't going to happen.

Sleepy

I came home today feeling not so much tired as worn out. Then I fell asleep for an hour and a half. No wonder I didn't get much work done today. Is this what I get for waking up before 6:00 again? I thought after three years of college my body would be used to lack of sleep, but apparently it still goes numb on even six hours of sleep. Kind of annoying after a while.

Videolamer has a huge dump of Street Fighter Alpha reviews I did. You probably won't be interested in them unless this niche genre appeals to you, but its there regardless.

So Gamespot has a new video feature in which they tell you how to beat certain difficult game bosses. Now the typical geek response would remark how stupid this is, since "all those bosses are easy", or something else equally silly. I've actually fought all four of them, and while I consider two of them to be fairly simple, the other two can be quite a challenge for anyone without master skills or patience (or in my case luck; I dont' know how I beat Ninja Gaiden's Alma in two attempts). So I think that the program is a good idea, but in usual Gamespot fashion, they screw it up a bit. Howso? Bad acting. These people are game journalists. Understandably they're not professional actors. But have they seen how silly they sound when they try and play out these ridiculous scripts? Just be yourselves and it will sound a lot more convincing and natural.

Regardless, I thought this would be a pretty stupid feature at first, but except for the tips on Agni and Rudra, they actually give some of the most important tips on how to fell the bosses, and watching battles on video may help some gamers actually see what it is they have to practice. So I apologize GS, you did better than I thought. Just...stop with the cheeziness.

So in my personal life, I've been living completely alone since the Fourth of July, as my relatives went on vacation. And when I say alone, I mean it. I have to tend to the house, go to work, buy my own real, nourishing groceries to feed myself with. Basically what I'll be doing for real a year from now. Its interesting...while it gets a bit quiet, I've always being on my own as much as possible, a sentiment that a lot of folks my age probably wouldn't agree with (who can say "I bring my clothes home for mommy and daddy once a month" at Loyola? Quite a few I imagine). Plus I know the sting of a large grocery bill will be lessened when I'm making more than an intern's wage, though when that comes around I'll also have bigger bills to tend to. Post college life should be interesting indeed.

Today at work I noticed that the Coke I was drinking had two columns of Nutritional Information, one for the drink, and one for a "Standard" 8 oz serving. Since when was a standard serving ruled to be 8 oz., and why would someone need to compare it to a 20 ounce bottle? If you're health conscious, just buy Diet. And to think that for half an hour I thought I had some bottle of magic Super Coke that had more sugar and calories.

Ch-Ch-Changes

-I finally got around to going into the blogger template and changing some things around. I've already been using this blog for a year give or take, and I don't see myself leaving it any time soon, so it was time for some customization. Some nwe links on the side, a new banner. If your name is Fifthturtle, you might think I ripped your style off. Any you would be right! Consider it the sincerest form of flattery old chap.

By the way, that banner image? Took me over two hours of playing with Photoshop and Firewokrs MX in order to make it. A lot of that time was fumbling around with another design, but still. I'm that slow.

I might look into more custom stuff in the future, but that is going to require learning some CSS, as well as thinking of some actual, worthwhile changes. For Comp Sci student, I don't know web-related coding for the life of me. That can change!

-I got a digitial camera today. First one in my life even. Its a nice little Samsung, 5 megapixel, small, zoom, uses AA batteries. Just right for a rookie like me. I'm getting carried away with the whole picture taking thing. For all the ones I've uploaded to my new Flickr account, there are even crappier ones I had to dump. Maybe by the end of the summer I'll actually get better at photography.

Also, I need to actually get out more and see some Colorado sights worthy of pictures. So far I've been afraid to venture away from the house/area around work unless I'm with my relatives. I should probably fix that; I've only got a month and two weeks remaining here. How did June go by so fast?

I'll start tomorrow, by taking the highway in the opposite direction, towards Denver. I need to go see Superman, as well as find a Circuit City so I can raid their huge game clearence. I can't do either by going towards work, so its time to buck up and do some exploring.

-I beat Devil May Cry 1 on Hard mode, and found myself unsatisfied. There were some tricky spots yes, but I think I did better overall than I did on normal. I guess there's still the Very Hard mode to tackle. Speaking of DMC, expect a review of it and its sequels sometime soon, either this week or next. It seems Jay has been struggling to get some articles from other Videolamer staff members, so I've been trying to step it up and get him some more content (without losing quality of course). So far its been working out rather well. Maybe my plan to become the next big thing in New Games Journalism will actually work. Or maybe I'll just wallow in the indie game site world for a while. Either way, I'm pretty happy.

It seems that my DDR series was one of the most popular things on Videolamer in quite some time. How do I try to top such a ridiculous work? By doing something even more stupid; reviewing Killer 7. Its up for you to read. Try not to laugh too hard.

I went to another Rockies game this weekend. This time I took pictures. Lots of them. Hopefully I can get them on Flickr or something by Wednsday, otherwise I'll have to wait over a week to get access to my relative's camera. Hopefully by Friday I'll have my own one of those, which will save me quite a lot of hassle (fun fact: This will be the first camera I've ever owned in my entire life. Most high schoolers would laugh at me for that. Talk about anti social).

Being a hopeless gamer who loves things shiny and rare, as well as a fighting game fan who couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag, I went out and bought one of those Street Fighter Anniversary 6 button game pads. I tried to justify the purchase by telling myself it would actually improve my game. Turns out it actually did! I can actually combo a jump-in into a super, and do most special moves on command without screw ups. Not much to brag about in reality, but its still progress. Plus I can actually play King of Fighters games the way they were meant to be played (even fireball motions don't register well on the dual shock).

So far it all comes down to the circular d-pad, which might not be as precise as a stick, but won't destroy your thumb like a dual shock. You can actually spend long periods of time practicing without any discomfort. I've also learned to hold the controller differently. It sits on my right leg, and I rest my entire hand above the six buttons, for instant access to any move. Its actually easy to adjust to this type of play, and now I can't see how I did so well hitting attacks with just my thumb.

The controller also happens to be a spiffy package for just 20 bucks. The box is sturdy, with some beautiful artwork on it. Inside is a certificate of authenticity, and a mini Street Fighter comic book. The controller itself isn't too shabby; light without feeling cheep, with very solid buttons. The colors are a little garish (mine is the red and yellow Ken version), but I'll live with that. In fact, I might go back later this summer and pick up the only reamining Ryu version, even if it has a broken box.

Some links are in order methinks:

Warren Buffet is giving away more money than you'll ever see to Bill Gate's mega charity foundation. The amount of good that they can do with this kind of cash is staggering, and the fact that Bill is taking off to work on this full time is actually pretty exciting now.

What is sad, however, is the amazing number of Slashdot geeks who are finding ways to put this event in a terrible light. "Rich people donating their money at the last minute means nothing". "If they didn't have the money, then it'd be in all of our pockets instead." "The money is being wasted. We should devote more of it to things like AI research"

I just can't comprehend how self centered and bitter these people are, just because they had a few bad experiences with Windows products. Too bad MS is not the same as Bill's foundation. And AI research? What the hell? I can see hte argument for connecting third world children to the internet, but AI? Just, no... these are geeks wanting money for their pet projects, too far removed from the world to think about starving children and cures to deadly diseases. This one slashdot comment actually says it best:

"Great, then please go ahead and do that: earn your own billions to spend on your own monumental projects.
To impress future generations, make sure to engrave your achievements. Something along the lines of:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
While you're doing that, I'm glad someone is humble enough to spend resources on mundane problems like world pandemics, disaster prevention and recovery, ineffective education systems, and other issues that cripple long term development (economic and otherwise).
You know, the kind whose solutions will be required to make the achievements you propose into sustainable contributions to the advancement of humankind, instead of an excercise in the comparative studies of metaphorical male genitalia."

Discovery Channel news says that university life nad increasing years in college is creating adults who lack mental the true mental maturity of adulthood. I would happen to agree. In college I've learned to do a lot of things in order to take care of myself. But if I'm going to graduate, get a job and live completely on my own, I still have a lot of things I need to learn, and actions to take care of on my own without fear of the consequences. While I know I'll fare better having gone to college than if I had not, the sheltered, "bubble" atmosphere and lessened but still present help from home can slow down one's ability to take care of themselves or others, and to be socially and morally responsible. I'm still amazed at how many students are more concerned with short lived trends and reality tv than with their own education or finding a job. I particularly like the part about academics and professors sometimes being the same way. It is interesting to see the contrast between profs. who have been in academia most of their lives giving lectures and doing research, and the ones who do the same, but come from a backround in business and industry. I can't tell if one is better than the other, but both sides can have some intersesting differences.

Lots of flooding back in the Maryland/DC area. To all my friends out there; donate some H20 to the Rocky Mountains. I've had 3 straight weeks of 90+ degree weather and sun. It is dry as a bone in Colorado. Just once I'd like to walk out into the rain and get a good, cool soaking. Help a brother out?