The Paradox of Gainful Employment

Before, I had all the time in the world but literally no income. I played games I already owned, but was unable to justify the purchase of new games at full price. I was like a miser, eagerly awaiting Steam sales and price reductions.

Now, I have a great job that gives me a decent amount of disposable income with which I can purchase all the games my heart desires. (And I have a big heart, which has an equally big appetite for games.) Of course, this disposable income is due to my working all the time. In other words now that I have the money for games, I don't have the time!

Life is so paradoxical.

I finally finished playing the first Bioshock. It took me forever to finish it, but this was not by my design.

First of all, let me say that I purchased the original Limited Edition version of Bioshock for one reason, and one reason only: the Big Daddy figurine. I mean, sure, I had heard all the excitement behind the upcoming release and I love me a good FPS game, but (as previously noted) I tend to not purchase new releases.

Since I had it, though, I figured I'd go ahead and play it. Yadda yadda yadda, a few years later it was finally working... but after I had played a few hours I got side-tracked and it was another two years before I could finally revisit the game and put it to rest. I happened to beat it while Bioshock 2 was on sale, and figured that was a pretty good opportunity to continue my adventure in Rapture seamlessly.

Of course, I immediately had issues with trying to get Bioshock 2 working. This time, however, instead of a DRM issue the culprit was Games for Windows Live.

In theory, I like the idea of GFWL. Achievements are fun, and now that I own an Xbox 360 (yet another sacrifice I've made to help fight the recession) I enjoy the integration between the PC and the console.

In practice, however, more than 50% of my experience with GFWL has been with it as a gatekeeper, jealously preventing my access to the games I've paid good currency to obtain. But maybe that's a topic for a whole 'nother day...

Long story short: it took multiple reinstalls (which, in one of the few downsides to digital delivery, means several hours a pop) in addition to hours of consulting The Oracle, and finally an entirely separate download of the GFWL client prior to installation of Bioshock 2 before I could finally get it to let me play the damn game.

All I'm saying is: Anyone else nervous about problems getting Bioshock Infinite to install and run properly?

B-1: First Impressions

There are plenty of hardcore reviews out there with benchmark results and the like. Though I'm an avid gamer, I don't usually bother with that type of stuff. I prefer to focus on the more practical matters... I don't ever monitor my frames per second. I don't overclock my processor. I could go on, but you get the idea.

It isn't for a lack of knowledge, but more a lack of reward compared to time invested. I just want to play games, you know?

So, with that introduction, I give you my casual-user's first impressions of the Asus G73JH-B1.

The laptop is sleek and a pleasure to use. I'm not a big fan of mousepads, never have been, and as I've said previously this is my first laptop. I haven't quite gotten the hang of using it yet, but I won't hold that against this particular laptop.

One of the soft rubber supports that is glued onto the under-side of the laptop was apparently loose and came off the first time I set the laptop down. That was disappointing, though not a big deal by any means.

There are no lazy or dead pixels. Windows 7 is a bit of a learning curve, and already I've ran into some compatibility issues with older games. Bioshock (with the 1.1 patch) in particular seems to be unresolvable; after countless hours spent consulting The Oracle, I failed to find a single effective fix that didn't involve downloading and running myriad third-party software.

Still, that's an OS issue and is neither here nor there... Though I can't say I'm entirely surprised by Bioshock's cantankerous nature.

Windows 7 - early verdict

I hate this shit. It's not just that I loath learning new OSes, which I do, but the simple fact is a lot of my bread-and-butter games/programs are running into issues with Windows 7.

The Oracle suggests that I'm not alone, but surprisingly has no solutions that don't involve running a passel of third party apps and software suites just to get your games to work. I'm not trying to play dos games here, this is stuff from as recently as two years ago!

I'm exhausted, I worked all day today, I work all day tomorrow, and I'm officially giving up on the laptop until the weekend. When I next have free time, I shall spend it playing fun games on my old, slow yet stable Frankenstein rig.

Why is it that I'm always shocked when I pay for a "gaming computer" that can't play games? A bit unfair to Asus perhaps, but there it is.

Consumer Market

Youtube needs to enable a play-all function that just lets a user begin a continuous stream without being in a "playlist". I'd use it over Pandora sometimes if that was possible, but alas...

Reaping My Reward

Since I began my job, I've received two items paid for by my Unemployment Benefits. (That is to say "my pay-check".)

The first item was long overdue, seeing as how my last camera quit working about a year ago and I've been without one since then.

My second purchase was a bit of an indulgence, but seeing as how I'll be staying in hotels for a few weeks and then head down to Florida until Christmas, I felt like it wasn't a hard decision. I purchased the Asus Republic of Gamer G73JH-B1, which is a fancy shmancy name for "powerful gaming notebook", though its size and weight make it a "desktop replacement".

Indeed, my own Frankenstein PC cobbled together from cheap Chinese hardware purchased piece-meal in Den-Den Town was in vast need of replacing. It even lags when playing Bioshock 1!

Expect first impression reviews on the new stuff here in a few weeks, and more thorough reviews later on.

Meanwhile, I relish in my ability to join the ranks of the consumer. Spending money to help fight off the evil recession while simultaneously earning experience towards Journeyman Rank IT-guy; life is good.

Hiatus

It occurs to me that I must announce a hiatus. I'm going to hit the ground running, starting tomorrow. I'll be working locally for a few days, then off to Cincinnati, and after that I'll be down in Florida for eight weeks! Busy, busy!

Unfortunately, I don't yet have a laptop (though I plan to remedy that eventually,) so I suppose I shall have to cease updating for the time being.

I must pack, pack, pack!

Ciao, my friends.

The Process

I sit here in amazement, remembering what I felt after first hearing about a job what is, for this point in my life, literally a dream job. After applying for the position, I was so excited about the possibilities. I looked out the window and imagined how wonderful it would be if I could actually manage to get it.

Throughout the process of applying, interviewing, and verifying my employment history, there have been lots of ups more recently followed by lots of downs.

I'm incredibly happy to say that I managed to get the job. My dream job.

I am going to keep this short because there is a celebratory filet mignon that has my name on it.

Day Six: The End Is Near!

My grand isolation shall come to a close tomorrow.

I look forward to returning to my simple lifestyle as a gamer-gatherer. Coffee in the mornings, video games until the evening, then settling in to some family bonding before a return to gaming until I retire.

Ah, what a life I lead!

Now I must attend to my chores: there are still beers needing imbibed, and I hope to have a proper buzz before I watch WVU cream Marshall. Go 'eers!

Day Five: A Return to the Serene Siesta

Today is a day for great rejoicing! This afternoon there shall be friends over for a small cookout, though due to filial obligations they have to depart early, which happens to be perfect since tonight is Futurama Thursday!! And since I missed last weeks, I get to enjoy not one but TWO new episodes! Woo hoo!

I've had some good news regarding yesterday's crisis, and appear to be out of immediate danger (figuratively, of course) but still find myself navigating the shoals at night. We're almost to the safe harbor, so close, and my nerves can't take any more worry so I'm going to relax and enjoy life once more.

Shelby has got it in her head that she's a helicopter, and continually is shaking her ears in an attempt to lift off. It is hilarious to watch by day, but a bit disconcerting when one's attempting to sleep.

Day Four: Where our hero earns his right to a cold beer

I was awakened quite early by an errant phone call.

Little did I know that this occurrence was the least of the many bad things that would cascade into my life by noon.

I really don't feel like going into the gory details, but here's the abridged and nonspecific version:

There was some bad news in an email, followed by an outright crisis of my own careless making, followed by frantic damage control, lots of furious errand-running, emailing, and phone calls, which finally culminated in a sudden and anticlimactic finish.

Throughout this ordeal, I had the invaluable assistance of a dear friend to whom I am eternally grateful. Thank you. I'd also like to thank those friends who kept my spirits up through compliments regarding my rugged good looks. Less-than-three.

The time for panic is over. Now I simply sit here, experiencing a calm reflection that the storm has passed. Alea iacta est, there is nothing more to be done. I await my fortune.

If I were the type to believe in omens, I'd take comfort from the following event - I went outside to relax with a cigar. While standing on the deck, I saw an incredibly beautiful blue butterfly fluttering about, and I thought "it sure would be cool if it alights on my hand, like in the movies". And then it did just that.

Exile: Day Three

Well, yesterday was an experiment in extended drinking. I was able to nurse a buzz for over thirteen hours! Best of all, thanks to proper hydration efforts I awoke today with nary a hangover.

Today, unfortunately, has been a day of business. No time to take care of the beer that desperately needs imbibed until later this evening.

The expeditions' spirits are still high, as of yet. We are in good cheer and although We miss the solace of community, We are able to fake it well enough by referring to Ourselves in the royal "We".

I shall keep thee up to date with further news, should it occur. Until then, drink a beer for Us?

Exile: The Beginning

Supplies were laid in, including that which is all-important: beer.

I've just returned from gathering supplemental provisions, and feel like I'm ready to settle in for my week's exile.

What's that? Oh, you haven't heard?

Yes, for crimes against hygiene, I've been sentenced to living one full week... completely alone.

Well, "completely alone" isn't quite accurate. There is my faithful companion, Shelby, whose chief distinction is a plaque that reads: "The world's most slobbery dog".

Worry not, dear readers; I shall faithfully record my experience for posterity. It actually began yesterday, and so far it has been blissfully smooth sailing.

For now, I must be off. It is the hour of the Vidya Game, and I am late for my labor.

The Churchmouse

I went for a bike ride this evening, and happened upon a cat that was chasing a mouse. The mouse eventually got away, claiming sanctuary on the holy ground of a Baptist church. I reckon the cat would have granted him solace, if only due to a strong fear of Cat Hell if nothing else... but just in case, I ran a bit of interference for the mouse.

And so I interfered with nature. I disrupted the local mouse genetics because if that mouse couldn't escape a fat lazy house cat in the first place, maybe it shouldn't be reproducing? The theory of evolution is based on changes resulting from genetic selection; whatever combination of genes are best at living long enough to reproduce, right?

I mean really, when you think about dog breeds or different types of crops, that's precisely what we've done. We selectively breed the plants and animals in order for certain characteristics to become predominant. So why is it that when you begin discussing the application of such practices on humanity, it suddenly becomes a terrible subject that should not even be considered? Eugenics seems like an idea that, at the very least seems worth discussing, in my opinion.

Controversy shmontroversy!

"These are the demands and sayings of Lee."

So I was chilling out, not really sure what I wanted to write about now, and then got caught up with the breaking news story occurring in DC about a gunman having entered the Discovery Channel building.

Apparently, he wrote a list of demands before taking his action, and published it at www.savetheplanetprotest.com. (The link's to the Google cache version since the original site is down.)

I started doing some digging and found this thread, in which you can see his extremist viewpoint being mocked by fellow conservationists who criticize him for being unreasonable and unrealistic. This was from back when he first got arrested for protesting outside of the building in 2008. His hatred seems highly focused on Discovery, and it is creepy and fascinating to see his anger displacement and fixation on the channel when

Very interesting how the internet has created a wealth of information that can be sifted through even as events unfold. If your google-fu is strong, it's amazing what you can find.


Craziness.

Homecoming

Gentle reader, please relax and allow me to regale you with tales of that Gotham jewel: New York City.

I arrived shortly after nightfall. Twas not my first visit to the Big Apple, so I immediately recognized the stench wafting in as the train's doors opened. My nose confirmed the conductor's announcements; I had arrived at my destination.

No doubt about it, New York is a huge city. Too big, in fact. I dislike how long it takes to get around, and how expensive it is, and how many people there are. And how dirty and stinky it was.

Don't get me wrong, though... It was lovely fun to visit, but I would very much prefer to not live there at any point in my future.

The week went by quickly. I engaged in various tourist pursuits, exploring Central Park, the Met, and the Natural History Museum. I visited Staten Island, saw the Statue of Liberty, hung out at 30 Rock, viewed the cityscape from The Empire State Building's viewing deck, and wandered the meandering streets of the Village.

I enjoyed traipsing around the city, despite the blisters on my feet. I ate delicious bagels for breakfast and dined on exotic cuisine by night. (Mostly Thai. Sooo good!)

All in all, it was glorious... and I am very pleased to be home.

"Better dead than red!"

Kotaku has a good little piece on Diablo III, if anyone's interested.

I'm getting ready to go to New York City for a week, so I'll not be updating. I'm looking forward to doing the tourist thing and getting my second glance at the Big Apple.

Travel is something I love to do. While I was living in Japan, I visited both China and Vietnam. I was very interested to see these communist nations, and was surprised to find that there really wasn't a huge difference in the city life compared to Western democracies. The lives that these commies lived actually seemed very similar to my own.

Nonetheless, this article is a good example of the potential downside of a "communist" government. (The article is from Game Politics, which is a really cool website if you're interested in that type of thing.)

If you are like me, a video game maniac who can literally play games for eight hours straight, then the article represents a horrible alternate reality. Vietnam's authoritarian government imposed limits on how much of one's free-time can be spent gaming.

I've heard of similar practices in China, as well. I can understand that they think its best for people to be productive and not waste their time on games, but it sure chafes me to imagine the government getting in my business.

Freedom truly is precious.

The other side of the coin (Making Excuses)

Back when West Virginia had its most recent mine disaster, I felt that the corporation responsible for operating the site was in the wrong. They were playing fast and loose with safety, they had been penalized for doing so in the past and had failed to fix things, and then we had the worst mine disaster in four decades.

Some people whose families' livelihood depended on those mine operations vehemently disagreed with this opinion, claiming that the miners themselves were more than happy with safety conditions and that it was all a big happy family. If the miners didn't want to work there they could always just quit, they suggested. I never did come to agree with such an opinion.

Now, however, I can perhaps see the other side of the coin. The Bayer Chemical Plant at Institute is phasing out one of their chief and most profitable items manufactured here in West Virginia. This could end up costing a lot of jobs in the local area, and might even affect some members of my family.

On the one hand, chemicals that cause health problems in children? Very bad. But part of me wants to rationalize; they may cause problems. If the application of such chemicals is carefully controlled, then the risk is minimal. And I could go on.

It is very interesting to see how easy and powerful one's ability to rationalize is, at least when something very important to the beholder is at stake.

A friend of mine has pointed out an entirely different concern about the article, however; if it is no longer being used due to unacceptable health risks, why on earth are they phasing it out? Why not shut it down immediately, and destroy the stockpiles?

I wish I could say I'm surprised by such lack of logic from a government regulator, but I figure it is just part of a government plea bargain with the Bayer corporation, and that's the best they could get so they'll take it.

Anonymity and the True You

One thing that both fascinates and horrifies me is the phenomenon of how easily people become total assholes when they are no longer under the constraints of society.

Take the internet, for example. We are virtual strangers on a digital frontier. Sitting in front of our computers, we have complete safety and anonymity; here you are truly free from the consequences of your actions.

Most people can easily become a bit of a jerk when they have a clear "enemy", such as while playing an online game against strangers, but aren't necessarily out to attack people otherwise. A few people, however, tend to revel in their freedom and go out of their way to be a jackass.

Often people claim to find humor in such behavior, termed trolling, and they do it because they find it funny or rewarding to get other people angry or upset. I have no clue what inspires such behavior, though I suspect it is linked to the "griefing" culture that has made me stay away from PVP servers.

I wonder what it is inside some people that makes them be so hateful when they are consequence-free. Regardless, after a few hours spent surfing the web, I often take a moment and marvel at how society is such a remarkably effective tool at curbing the baser aspects of human nature.

They say that you show your true self when nobody is looking.

Interesting.

Happy Friday the 13th!

Had a job interview today, and what a lucky day for an interview!

I guess America's latest folk hero is having an equally bad day, with lots of doubts being cast on his original story. The power and irresponsibility of the mainstream media really concerns me. People trust the media to bring them news, yet what the media really wants is ratings. In an effort to out-do their competition, they run stories that they haven't verified and sway public opinion before all events are known.

I for one greatly distrust the mainstream media, and hope that more Americans will start to do likewise.

America's Latest Hero

Move over, Captain Sullenberger! America's got a new hero of the skies.

I'm sure everyone has heard the news about that flight attendant who, after an excessively rude passenger cursed him out, got on the intercom and thanked those passengers who were not rude, then grabbed two beers from the galley and escaped through the plane's emergency chute. He was arrested "in a sexual embrace" at his home a few hours later.

When I first heard about that, I seriously thought "This guy is the man!" Apparently, so did most everyone else in America. Public opinion is overwhelmingly sympathetic with him, and I'm sure that this will factor into whatever punishment he ends up receiving.

I think that it was his grabbing two beers, reportedly saying "there goes 28 years" as he slid down the chute, and then being arrested in the midst of getting his last jollies before jail, that really makes this guy's story resonate with America. He may have lost his cool and flipped out, but he did it in style.


I for one love it, and hope he gets a very lenient sentence.

Update: Are things not quite as they first seemed?

RPGs - Part 2

Where did the weekend go? Time flies when you're house-sitting, I suppose. A long time ago, I posted my first entry talking about RPGs. Now the time has come to finish up my analysis of the differences between Western RPGs and JRPGs. In general, there are two major design concepts that set them apart: class definitions and how linear they are.

I find this a fascinating subject, because it really speaks volumes about the cultural values and expectations within our respect societies. The Japanese have a very rigid social hierarchy and everyone generally knows their role. Theirs is a highly defined society, with specific phrases that are to be used in specific situations.

Western countries, on the other hand, tend to value freedom of choice and individuality. We don't have specific roles rigidly assigned in any given situation. We tend to be more adaptable, and able to think outside the box a bit more easily.

Now of course, I'm speaking in gross generalizations and there will be countless examples that break the rules I'm portraying, but I still maintain that generally speaking these are hallmark traits of our respective cultures. And I equally think that our approach to designing role-playing games demonstrates this.

JRPGs tend to have classes, each with their strengths and weaknesses, which work together in their niche roles to defeat the Big Bad Evil Guy. Western RPGs tend to veer away from set classes and adopt a more skill-based approach, allowing the player to customize their own unique "class" that fits their preferred play-style.

As far as the continuation of plot, Western RPGs again value more of an individualistic approach which affords the player as much freedom as possible. The world is often open-ended and ready to be explored, with the only limiting factor being how fierce a region's opponents are. Japanese games are more like Final Fantasy XIII, which is very much set on railroad tracks with almost no open-ended exploration opportunities given to the player.

Western RPGs are like ordering a lunch at a restaurant, where you get your main item and two side items, plus a dessert, all individual choices to be made. Japanese RPGs are like choosing which bento lunch-box to buy, all prepackaged with a main item, two side items, and a dessert. The only choice to make is which prepackaged bento do you want?

Do you think my opinion is bullshit? I welcome you to tell me so. Poke holes in my argument, mention DA:O, rip on my lack of proof-reading. All comments are welcome :)

Civ 5 exlusively on Steam!

Short post today. I'm actually really quite busy; been applying to tons of jobs and trying to clean up my wreck of a room before I have to go house-sit for a week. (Nintendo Wii here I come!)

Anyways, I hadn't been staying up to date on Civ 5 and when I recently checked it out, I was surprised to see that it is apparently a Steamworks exclusive! That is a tremendous marketing slam-dunk for Steamworks, and as I'm already an avid user of Steam I don't mind one bit. I'll be interested if others aren't quite pissed off, though. I understood when Valve was making us go through their digital delivery service to play their games, but Civ 5 is in no way connected prior to this dark partnership.

If you want to read about it, here's an FAQ they posted.

In case you have a decent memory, let me just say I'm still planning on finishing my RPG post... someday.

Life in small town America

My parents moved to a new city while I was abroad, and I've been staying with them since I've come home. I grew up in the previous home, located in a town that wasn't incorporated. The traffic was terrible, there was no sense of community, and overall it just didn't feel like the small-town America I had seen on TV or read about in books.

That has since changed, as my new home is very much the picturesque slice of Americana that would make Mark Twain smile. Town hall, town police station, a community that rallies around the town's school sports organizations... I truly felt like I had arrived, and this in particular was the perfect salve for my homesick soul. I wanted more than anything to see small-town America when I got back from Japan, and now I had it.

I've taken to exploring on my mountain bike, just traveling all through the town as I learn the various roads and neighborhoods. I often will ride out to main street and watch the sunset, where they have some benches by the train tracks that run through our town. I like to enjoy a cigar while the sun descends, and just really relax.

Of course, on Monday while I was there, two police officers approached me. They told me that they had a call, that someone described me exactly and said I was selling narcotics. "Now why would they say that," the officer inquired. The tone was confrontational, and the onus of proof was suddenly on my head.

I am still amazed that anyone can just call in a report such as this. I was minding my own business, but some ultra-conservative redneck saw me smoking something that wasn't a cigarette and they instantly assume I'm a drug dealer?

Now, in all fairness: as soon as the police officers heard me deny the claim, and explain that I was just minding my own business smoking a cigar, they immediately dropped the confrontational tone and even apologized for wasting my time. "Welcome to a small town, it was probably just some nosy old person." In the end they introduced themselves, shook my hand, we made some small talk, and they departed while wishing me a good day.

Still, it was a jarring experience that has definitely marred my image of this new town as an idyllic American community. Irony is that I'm one of the devoutly law-abiding people, who strives to live up to Plato's description of a "virtuous citizen".

In other news, the (corporate) powers that be have agreed to some sort of net neutrality agreement, though critics say this would be a dangerous precedent suggesting that corporations can self-regulate, which may lend itself to abuse in the future. I can't decide how I feel either way, and am going to wait for more details before giving it any serious thought. Still, very interesting.

I promise: this is the last post about Starcraft 2 for a while

I finally beat the campaign, and it was a glorious ending! That sure was a tough final mission, though. I felt like the difficulty helped make it feel epic, and therefore fitting... but boy am I glad to finally have it behind me.

Now on to hard difficulty! Ugh, or maybe I'll take a few days off. Raynor's given his Raiders some R&R for a job well done. Maybe even more than well done... maybe burnt. Maybe even charred.

So, my final thoughts now that I've dabbled in the multiplayer and finished the singleplayer: Overall, the single player experience is a very fun and well-created campaign experience that would bear at least two play-throughs, and possibly more depending on your personality. Once you complete the campaign, there's plenty of challenge missions that help prepare you for multiplayer by familiarizing you with various units and counters, along with more advanced strategies.

When you're finally ready, you can hop into the beginner's league and play 50 unranked matches that give you a feel for how to play online. They include a very cool utility at the end of a match; you can see your opponents build order, along with income rates and troop production/army strength.

Players that actually care about getting better can reverse engineer a better strategy and incorporate it into their own. Even better, replays are very easy to save and watch now, giving you the perfect opportunity to study strategies that have proven more effective than your own.

Although multiplayer seems to be fairly well balanced, it is still the 90's insofar as actions-per-minute are what wins a battle. It is all about micromanagement, and that doesn't particularly appeal to me. I'll likely wile away most of my hours on Battle.net in the comfortable embrace of the use-map-settings category. Already there are plenty of impressive game-types, including tower defense and even a first-person-shooter mod!

Truly, what we'll see done using the Starcraft 2 map editor is going to be a veritable wealth of tangible fun. I can't wait to see what happens in the coming months.

Captain Malcolm Reynolds is Jim Raynor

One of things I really noticed about Starcraft 2 is how they created a very vivid theme. It is most definitely a Western, which may be what they were trying to do with the original Starcraft? Unfortunately, all I really felt was "rednecks in space" for the Terrans in the first game.

What I'm pretty sure is a violin, used to just set the tone of the adventure, occurs regularly throughout most of the campaign. It reminded me very much of Firefly. Several times, in fact, I very much got the feeling that the writers had at least seen Joss Whedon's Space Western. Not that I'm complaining, mind.

I think it works very well, and although I see a similarity it could just be the natural result of anyone who knows what a Western is, and then adapts it into a Sci-Fi adventure. In any case, it is a damn good theme and really creates an enjoyable and vivid video game experience. I'd truly liken it more to an interactive cinematic experience, as I said before.

The multiplayer, on the other hand, seems to be a bit lackluster as far as innovation goes. Then again, Starcraft didn't originally become the multiplayer RTS due to innovation; it was the perfectly calibrated balance between the units and teams that created such a legacy, and I have every confidence that they will continue their proud tradition.

Of course, success in Starcraft depends very much on the number of your actions per minute. In other words, it is all about the micromanagement... something I'm not a huge fan of personally. In fact, I've long maintained that the Real Time Strategy genre was a bit misnamed; seems like its mostly a focus on tactics, with minimal strategy necessary.

In any case, I love the theme and overall storyline to Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty, and I can't wait for the next installment in the series!

Now to try my hand (yet again) at the final mission of the campaign. Been stuck for days now! :(

Starcraft 2 - First Impressions

Having done little else for the past 36 hours, I thought I'd write a quick post talking about Starcraft 2. So far my experience has been quite fun! I've had three crashes, (two lockups requiring a restart, and one crash to desktop) so I feel like it is pretty damn stable for a newly released game.

The game-play is fun, familiar yet innovative. The storyline is amazing, in my opinion truly more like a cinematic experience than a video game story. The voice acting is superb, the animation is excellent, and the characterization is almost universally very well done.

I really enjoy the way the campaign is set up, too. It is very fun and offers some choices in way of how you proceed, as well as the order you take various missions and campaign-wide unit upgrades. There's a lot of small touches that make it really come alive, too.

My favorite thing so far is just the sheer number of different mechanics they built into the campaign. Most missions are so completely fun and unique that it is really an experience to play through them. I'm excited at the possibilities, and can't wait to see some awesome user-made custom maps.

All in all, if you were on the fence about buying it, I'd highly recommend it. Even if you don't like RTS games in general, there's a casual mode and the story itself is so good that it'd be worth it in my opinion.

And with that, it is past time I get back into the game and try to figure out a strategy that'll help me beat the last mission!

RPGs - Part 1

No, not that kind of RPG...

When I was a little kid, we had some table-top role playing games and some Nintendo cartridges. Do you remember the joy of the original NES games?

Blow on it, put it in, doesn't work, push it up and down repeatedly for twenty seconds, doesn't work, take it out and blow again, doesn't work, push it in and out five times, light some incense in front of Nintendo Power Magazine, say a prayer to the Game Master, turn it on, and finally rejoice! After 30 minutes of hard labor you can enjoy your video game of choice. Kids today are spoiled.

Anyways, RPGs generally had some basic elements: levels, experience, hit points, statistical values representing strength, intelligence, etc. They tended to be fairly linear, and usually involved an entire planet to explore.

Nowadays, the label RPG has evolved to take on a plethora of meanings. We have FPS-RPGs, Puzzle-RPGs, MMORPGs, Sports-RPGs, and I could go on. What ever happened to a good old fashioned game of Fighters and Red Mages who are trying to save the world?

It seems like the idea of what an RPG is continues to evolve. I find myself less interested in playing the latest offerings, such as Final Fantasy 13. I just don't want to feel like I'm on rails, watching a story unfold while fighting a bunch of bullshit random encounters in between cut-scenes. I'll watch a movie if I want to see a story unfold.

No, what I enjoy are games where you truly have choice. Where your actions impact the world. I'm a fan of the open-ended sandbox style of role-playing game. Apparently, there now exists two camps in the world of RPG creation. There are the highly linear, rigidly defined J-RPGs (so called due to the Japanese inception of this design), and there are the open-ended, loosely defined Western RPGs.

We'll take a closer look at the differences next time.

For now, I must go and prepare for the coming storm. Upon wings of liberty do Heaven's Devils approach.

Cable - Why Pay?

The guy who wrote this article is emblematic of what the future holds for entertainment. I for one will never pay for cable TV when there are so many free legitimate options on the internet. Many people follow the legally questionable practice of downloading TV programs through bit torrent sites.

The creators of South Park recognized that fact, and took control of their show's distribution by offering it for free (with limited advertisements) on the show's official site. This seems like a progressive move, and the direction that entertainment is truly heading.

Adult Swim likewise faced the inevitability of preventing free distribution of their product, offering episodes available to watch through their website. They embraced the idea of hosting a fan-community, integrating forums and web games into their site.

I can only wonder how long it will be before these practices are adopted by mainstream media across the board.

This is the future?

I remember growing up, and there being lots of talk from the late 80's through the early 90's about how crazy and different the world would be in the next millennium. Flying cars, teleportation, giant robots... turns out none of that came to be. Here we are in 2010, and we don't even have sexbots?! I'm disappointed in the glacial pace of technological growth.

Then again, I read this article the other day and feel like its pretty damn exciting! Now that is a crazy high-tech futuristic change to the world that I'd love to see become a daily sight.

What about you, my faithful reader-legion? What sort of technological advances did you expect to see by now? Will there any other near-future revolutions in our daily lives?

What can World of Warcraft teach us about the inception of society?

I've been perusing the pages of Jared Diamond's The Third Chimpanzee lately, and I will admit it has been a wonderful read so far. One of the things he touches on is how important longevity was towards the survival and increasing success of various ancient human tribes.

This was because of the phenomenal nature of personal experience in an era that predated record-keeping. From an example given in the book, let's say we have two hunter gatherer tribes. One has an average lifespan of 40 years, the other 60 years. They both inhabit a region in which food becomes scarce for a year.

The first tribe dies off due to not having enough nourishment. The second tribe has a few elderly members who recall a previous food shortage, and know that certain plants and nuts can be safely consumed for nutrition, in spite of their unappetizing taste.

And thus, longevity can literally be the difference between an entire tribe's surviving or dying off. Due to the simple ability to share their experience.

I often think about how powerful language is. The ability to communicate clearly and accurately to each other, to formulate plans and talk about past, present, and future. The ability to put emotions and feelings and other intangibles into symbolic form. Even the ability to just think is pretty much reliant on articulating your thoughts into words, no?

All of this came to my mind while I was learning some new raid encounters in ICC 25 the other night. For those of you who avoided getting hooked on World of Warcrack, basically there are "raids" where you join up with 9 or 24 other people, (there's two different sizes to every raid encounter,) and then you go in and participate in difficult "boss" encounters which are highly technical and require exceptional performance and communication from all members of the raid.

In order to learn these fights, we could go in and die 30+ times as we slowly learn the mechanics of each fight. That'd be a rough way to go about it, though. Instead, due to the power of communication, an experienced raider (elder tribe member) is able to explain the fight's strategy (strategy for survival) and prevent the inexperienced raiders from making mistakes.

Through the experienced person's communicating and sharing with the rest, we all are able to survive and prosper. Haha, probably a bit of a stretch as far as analogies go, but I enjoyed the idea when it first occurred to me and thought I'd share.

One last thing: I threw the word "inception" into today's title as homage; it is an amazing film, go see it if you haven't!

The shrieking of indignant internet users

I saw this post over at Kotaku about how Valve's gonna implement a totally optional software survey in the future.

Wait. Do you... do you hear that?

Listen.

It is the shrill sound of nerd rage.

Most responses to this news are from Kotaku readers indignant of the fact that Steam would dare to request permission to scan their Windows generated program list.

There's a lot of very impassioned claims that people would never let a friend snoop around their computer, let alone a corporation. Kinda makes ya wonder what these people are hiding, no?

I understand the desire for privacy, and I hate invasive snooping as much as the next guy. And don't get me wrong, I'm no fanboi. But I do possess a reasonable level of trust for Valve and have no problems letting them grab my installed programs list.

I figure they'll either try to sell me relevant products that I want to use and will gladly buy, and/or figure out what programs cause compatibility issues with various Steam games and hopefully patch a fix.

I mean, really, what's the worst that could happen?

Dick Pix

So apparently guys have collectively decided that the best way to a woman's heart is by taking pics of one's.. how should I say.. man meat, and then emailing it to one's target of romance. The only conceivable result is an instant swoon, followed by love ever-lasting. Amirite?

Now, I have been told by some well-meaning but clearly delusional people that this is, in fact, not so seductive... but I'm not really convinced.

In order to put my doubts to rest, I'd like to conduct a test. I've compiled some pictures of really big dicks, and would like to see if you, dear reader, find them arousing. Let the viewing begin:

Dick Pick 1
Dick Pick 2
Dick Pick 3
Dick Pick 4
Dick Pick 5

Well, what say you?

Serenade me with the song that will quiet my burning question: are dick pix truly an effective method to seduce a woman?

Why "global warming" is still controversial:

In this Washington Post article, Stan Cox supposes that we ought to all give up our air conditioning so as to help save the world from global warming. And of course when I say global warming, I mean the sort caused by the actions and machines of humanity.

This article is a pretty good example of why a lot of people are still ambivalent towards climate change and taking action to help protect our planet. People like Al Gore have spear-headed an extremist movement that ostracizes anyone who dares to doubt, doesn't welcome dialogue and debate, and is constantly pushing the doomsday scenario.

No matter how true this message may or may not be, a lot of people just won't buy into it when its crammed down their throats in such a ridiculous fashion. Calling on the average North American to give up our air conditioning is exactly the wrong way to go about achieving meaningful change in the world.

This is emblematic of the incredible miscalculation that was made by people like Mr. Gore who wanted to tell the world to change their ways, while he and the other elites are still flying around in their private jets and enjoying a lavish lifestyle.

If you really want to help encourage societal change, then here's a few simple steps:

1) Stop ostracizing anyone that has doubt. I constantly see people get called all sorts of dirty names for not instantly and whole-heartedly believing in man-made global warming. What the fuck? Its like an aggressive religious belief, and that further scares people away. Just say something like "I can understand your doubt, but you should check out the arguments for it. Besides, it wouldn't hurt to try and be more eco-friendly in our lifestyles, right?"

2) Come up with practical solutions, not these pie-in-the-sky ridiculous notions that would completely transform society overnight. We're not going to give up air conditioning, and we're not going to transform our economy to alternative energy sources without a lot of baby-steps. Propose something plausible and you'll get a lot more support.

3) Drop the extremism do-or-die mentality. It doesn't work. You tried it, and I can't fault you for it. We've only got one planet, and there's plenty of examples of past societies going extinct due to lack of environmental management. This is serious shit, admittedly, and precisely because of that we can't afford to lose our cool; if one strategy (the bat-shit crazy religious-like fundamentalist approach) fails to win enough support, let's have the wherewithal to adopt a new strategy with a better likelihood of success.

I apologize if any of this sounds too reasonable to hardcore environmentalists, but really I just want humanity to take better care of our "island" and not go the way of Easter.

Wife Aggro

So recently I've begun playing World of Warcraft again, and one of the common reasons that people end up having to stop playing before they're good and ready is the dreaded "wife aggro".

Now at the risk of sounding sexist, I've truly never heard of a case wherein the wife is playing and the husband is angry at being neglected. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I've never seen it.

So, what do you do when you have wife aggro? If you're a lamer, (or care about your marriage,) then you'll log off. But let's explore some alternative choices before we do anything as drastic as leaving your raid early!

1) One word: Chloroform.

2) Work out a barter system. If she leaves you alone on raid nights, take her out to a romantic comedy (or whatever it is she personally would enjoy.)

3) Subtly encourage her to find a boyfriend on-the-side. With you seemingly ignorant of her indiscretions, she'll either be out enjoying herself or home and feeling so guilty that she'll let you play in peace.

4) First of all, it is imperative that you have two WoW-capable computers in your household for this to work. Create a level 1 character, then approach your spouse while she's in a good mood. Ask her for the favor of watching over your character while you run out for a few minutes. Show her the basics, then leave for thirty minutes. Come back home and she ought to be well hooked and ready to have you install WoW on the second computer! And the best part: an X-53 Touring Rocket!

5) Should your wife prove resistant to everything else, then just how compatible are you two anyway? I mean, on the one hand you have a living breathing human of the opposite gender who is apparently attracted to you. On the other hand, you have pixels that, if you sink hours and hours into the game (and get lucky), will start showing purple and give you a sense of achievement. Tough choice, I know...

And that, my friends, is sound advice on how to handle the inevitable "wife aggro" problem. Hopefully Blizzard's working on a patch to address this issue, but until then feel free to bookmark this post.

The fight has begun!

As I previously stated, Arizona's new law targeted at curtailing illegal immigration has now become a battle over states' rights verses the federal government. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I really do believe we Americans have a lot at stake regarding states' rights.

Should the feds steamroll a state's ability to govern itself without undue federal interference, then I truly believe it might create an actual secession movement. And the last time that happened, a lot of Americans died.

And really, no matter what your opinion is regarding illegal immigration and the potential for discrimination and abuse, it is an important precedent that has long-reaching consequences completely unconnected to the issue at hand.

The fact of the matter is that illegal immigration is a problem in Arizona, and the federal government was not enforcing the laws they have on the books. What Arizona did was simply create a state law to allow them to enforce federal laws that aren't being enforced by the feds themselves.


To me, this is a clear case of the federal government's failing to protect a state, and then trying to prevent the state from protecting itself. A dangerous precedent, indeed.

Modern politics has become so mired in retaining popularity for one's future political career that nobody has the willingness to make the right choices, regardless of how unpopular they are. What I would give to see a government full of men who truly wanted the best for their nation, and not just for themselves and their wealthy elite allies. But alas, that is a dream that neither elephant nor donkey could fulfill.

The Perils of Summer? The only danger was to my wallet.

Steam's sale is coming to a close here in a few hours. The end result is that I spent $95 on various games, buying 24 different titles. There were maybe 15 more that I was on the fence with, but I had to keep telling myself that even though I could save $2 here and $3 there, it would ultimately be better for me to just play through the games I already own but haven't beat. Speaking of beat, there's a really fun game you should check out if you like music. And who doesn't like music?

I wonder if other gamers had an equally hard time of resisting Steam's wicked temptations? I suppose I'm safe until next year's Christmas season, at least... which happens to be less than six months away! Is it too early to start preparing for the Yuletide celebrations?

Oh, the weather outside is broiling...

Exhaustion

Just got in, spent all day on the road. I'm exhausted, good night.

Standing at the edge of endless oblivion

Yesterday evening, I was wading in the surf at high-tide. The sun was setting behind me, and I stood before an endless stretch of water. Its untold murky depths inspired my thoughts to wax philosophical for the first time in all of my visits to the beach. To borrow from Calvin & Hobbes, it made me want to go inside and turn on all the lights.

It is interesting to have lived abroad and now be home again. Occasionally I still get culture shocked. In these situations, I feel like a tourist visiting a foreign land, here to observe the American people and their way of life. I can't quite decide if this is annoying or wonderful. Often times I find myself enjoying the ability to see things through a different viewpoint, but just as often I find myself a little bit scared that I have forever lost my ability to just be an American in America.

Last night, there was a huge storm front about 50 miles inland. It provided an amazing electrical show that was as entertaining as any fireworks I've ever seen. I enjoyed it, along with a cool night-time beach breeze, while I smoked a cigar. Sometimes there are sublime moments where you are completely at peace and content with life... I savor such fleeting occasions. Last night was one such time, and it was delicious.

Vacation!

I'll be going to the beach this week, leaving here in a bit... I might not get a chance to post while I'm out of town so consider yourself warned, faithful reader.

Did I use singular case because I only have one faithful reader? No! It was... it was just a thematic choice. That's all.

Anyways, beach ahoy! I'll make sure to report on any oil if it happens to appear in South Carolina.

Perils of Summer!

I was feeling ill last night and had a hard time going to bed in spite of how exhausted I felt.

In the middle of the night, I woke up soaked in sweat and shivering, with stomach cramps. I had felt feverish before so I'm thinking the fever must have broke and long story short, I had a rough night and feel pretty sluggish today. My reflexes are slow and I'm feeling like a zombie.

Just in case anyone's interested, Steamworks is having a huge summer sale (like as big as their Xmas sale) from now until the 4th of July. There are daily specials as well as a ton of games with a reduced price for the whole duration of the sale. Check it out every day and you're bound to see a great deal on a game or two that you'd enjoy.

A short post today.

This is really cool. Check it out!

Shogun 2: Total War

So E3 revealed that the next title in the Total War series will be a remake of the first TW game. Shogun: Total War was originally released a decade ago, in June 2000. I didn't really notice it until two years later, when I was at the beach and had just been introduced to James Clavell's epic novel Shogun. Seeing a game called Shogun: Total War in a bargain bin at the Colonial Mall, I immediately picked it up. I hadn't heard of it previously, but the setting was the same thing as Clavell's story, so I figured it was worth checking out.

It quickly became one of my favorite games ever, in spite of how horribly buggy and unstable it was. (Even fully patched, the game was notorious for requiring constant saves to guard against the inevitable crashes.) In fact, I never once got to see a siege fight, because for some reason trying to render a castle would always cause a crash on my PC. Regardless, I adored the game and I'm super pumped that they're re-releasing it.

And if you haven't read Shogun, buy and read it. It is such a cool story of political intrigue and cultural differences. In fact, it is directly responsible for my living in Japan for three years. Now, I know some people just don't enjoy reading, and if that is how you feel then I would strongly recommend the miniseries as an alternative.

In the meantime, let's just say that this is the most excited I've been about a Total War release since Rome!

Six Months Later: An Xmas Update

Last Christmas, I got a new LCD monitor for my computer.

Well, after I had resolved the initial stuck pixels, I was pretty happy with the monitor. Until early April, that is; a line had appeared on my display, going the full length from top to bottom, on the right-hand side of the screen. It was only a single pixel wide, but still quite distracting. It would be a random color, usually somewhere between white and blue, often teal.

I was busy with my college courses at the time, so unfortunately I couldn't just immediately send it in for repair. And so more lines appeared. One at a time, at first, but eventually two or three new lines would appear, marching across my screen, destroying my ability to read or see anything on a two-inch block of my LCD. Quite annoying.

Turns out it was what they call a tab fault, and was easily fixed when I sent it in after classes were over. I was a bit miffed that the replacement I was sent had a dead pixel (not stuck, truly dead) right in the middle of the screen, but to Samsung's credit when I called to complain they were very apologetic and immediately authorized my sending it back to receive a new replacement.

Thankfully, third LCD's the charm! All pixels are working correctly and I have no complaints.

In other news, it is only six months until Christmas is here once again. I'm excited for another holiday season here in the States!

What does the future hold?

On October 29th, 1929, Wall Street was shocked by a complete collapse of prices on the stock market. The plunge continued for a full month, and thus began the world-wide Great Depression.

This directly led to the rise of extremism throughout Europe, with fascist groups taking over in Spain, Germany, and Italy. It also was responsible for the military coup that took control of Japan.

The rise of extremism in various countries eventually resulted in World War II.

Now we have the so-called "Great Recession". It certainly has created a great deal of unrest, some of which is dangerously reminiscent of the past. Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, gave a very stark warning about the potential for the democracies of Greece, Spain, and Portugal to collapse under the current economic strain.

Revolution can occur when people lose faith in their government. Kinda like what happened in Okaloosa County, Florida. The county commissioners voted to take action without regard to the red-tape filled chain of command that exists through state and federal governments. They're saying that the government isn't working; it is neither efficient nor effective for their needs. And they're willing to go to jail, if that's what it takes.

I wonder if this isn't an isolated case. It certainly seems like a lot of people, all around the world, are fed up with what they see as government that just doesn't work.

May we live in interesting times, indeed.

Web Security 101

As some of you may recall, my WoW & gmail accounts were hacked a while back. Recently, I've also heard of a spate of email and facebook accounts being hacked. Just about anyone can become a victim now.

Especially with sites like facebook out there, which may have less than adequate privacy measures, it seems that a person's information (and even one's identity) is less safe than ever. (By the way, if you use facebook you should follow the instructions on this site to make sure your information is secure.)

Not a week goes by that I don't hear about one of my friends or acquaintances being the victim of a hacker. The days of lax web security are over.

Let's review some basics when it comes to web security. Passwords should always contain both letters and numbers. Have a different password for every account you have; you don't want all your eggs riding in one insecure basket, no?

Also, try to make your passwords not be a single word, and not be a logical association of words. "God" is a terrible password... extremely easy to guess by a hacking program, and statistically this is a common password. "GodIsGreat" would be another bad choice... a logical association, and no numbers. "GodTaco164Cheetah9" would be a wonderful password, though it might be a bit too long for some accounts. Regardless, you get the idea; random and illogical = secure.

Also remember to be extremely wary of seemingly legitimate messages, even if it appears to be from people or websites that you know. Many times, people can fake who it appears to be sent from. (This is called "spoofing".)

The official-looking email might ask for your account information and password, or perhaps your credit card number. Often they will threaten something if you don't respond quickly. If there is a harsh threat included, be extra careful... that's almost a sure give-away that it is a scam email. (This practice is called phishing.)

Often times, suspect emails will include a link to the official website. You might click on it, and it certainly appears to be the legitimate website... but appearances can be deceiving. What you need to do is be very careful about trusting links. Compare the web address from a link with the one you have bookmarked. Often, though the sites look identical, you can spot a minor difference in the web address. Instead of www.yourbankwebsite.com it might be www.youbankwebsite.com ... which of course would lead to your account information being handed over to hackers if you tried to log in at the latter site.

Remember, some virus programs are even able to send you email from your friends computers (if they've been infected) or else appear to have been sent from someone you know. You must always be very vigilante if you get an email that doesn't make sense, or only contains a line of text and a link. "This is hilarious: (link)", for example, would be very suspicious and I wouldn't click on it until I contacted my friend and confirmed they really did send it.

One last tip: make sure your web browser and operating system is fully up-to-date. (In case you don't follow, a web browser would be Internet Explorer and an operating system would be Windows XP, for example.) Often times, updates will repair some flaws in the security of these programs... so you always want to have them completely updated.

The days of being able to keep your head down and remain lax about your internet security are over. Make sure you're not the next victim!

Piracy Isn't Hurting Any Companies!

At least, that's what 45% of the GameFAQs community believes.


Recently, their daily poll featured this question: "Do you believe piracy is a real problem for the video game industry?" Over 31,000 responders feel that piracy is OK because "they're still making billions". Another 6,000 feel that stealing games somehow makes the victim-company more money than if their product wasn't stolen. I can't say that I'm surprised, given the human capacity for rationalizing something that we want to believe.

Smaller developers can suffer and even go under if their games are pirated. Furthermore, even if the bigger companies won't be hurt too bad by piracy, rampant theft of their product only encourages them to come up with increasingly more draconian DRM measures... this ultimately hurts legitimate customers. That's right, piracy doesn't only hurt the developers and the publishers... it hurts your fellow gamers.

Sure, we can bitch and moan and say that the big companies shouldn't treat their legitimate customers like the enemy, (and I will no longer buy from certain companies precisely because of such an attitude,) but at the same time I don't think its entirely fair to get mad at a company that's just trying to protect its product from being stolen. The responsibility rests with those who steal.


The poll results can be seen here.

The ills of technology

I found this article very interesting. Its about how constant multitasking can rewire our brains, and gives an example of a young tech guru who has lost the ability to focus his attention on any one thing. He's constantly looking for "something else" to the detriment of his family-life and even his work.

Now, I do believe that this family represents a good example on the extreme end of things and I fully admit that heavy use of technology can rewire a person's way of thinking. I have no particular beef with the findings of this article whatsoever.

On the other hand, it seems like they got a really dysfunctional / scatterbrained married couple who just happen to be heavily into technology.

That said, some people will read an article like that and think "technology is bad". Maybe people like these parents who are upset about how an educational video game is being used in New Mexico schools. The game is successful enough that the kids actually want to play it, even though it requires the understanding and use of mathematics.

"We are feeding the addiction of these children to video games," said parent Marlene Perrotte. Indeed, we should abandon an incredibly effective tool that actually gets kids excited to learn about math. Because, as Marlene so eloquently put it, "We are feeding the addiction of these children to video games." I shudder.

And before you go, make sure to check out this test to gauge how well you can filter out distractions. Even though I would be considered a high multi-tasker, I scored perfectly. This just furthers my belief that this article took an extreme worst-case example family just to make the story sexy.

Replay Value

Replay value is generally thought of as a good thing. With that in mind, my obsession for 4X sandbox games means I'm an incredibly frugal buyer. Three years later, I still play Civ4 regularly. That's a good investment!

This does have a side-effect, however. It leaves me with very little time to explore more traditional "play until you complete the story-line" games. Throw in my having recently fallen off the griffin, and I barely have time to sleep! (Yes, that's right, I'm back on WoW these days.) I purchased Tropico 3 recently and have really enjoyed playing it when I get the chance, but I just can't seem to break away from the endless replayability of 4X games.

Which brings me to the question: To a hardcore gamer, is "replay value" actually a misnomer? I have plenty of free time and yet constantly feel like I'm growing even more behind on the list of games I mean to play.

This list... it includes PS2 titles. And even one or two PS1 games! So let me tell you, I am seriously starting to shy away from games that are said to contain "high replay value". Of course with me not having a job, I'm also shying away from games that cost more than $5.

Ah, the troubled life of a hardcore video gamer with too many games and too little time. Some days I can't even manage to get out of bed in the morning.

Luckily, my computer is right beside my bed, so that doesn't cut into game time!

Sixty-six years ago today...

Today is June 6th, 2010. It is now a little after 11 in the morning.

Sixty-six years ago, today, a young man from West Virginia such as myself might not have just finished enjoying a Tudor's biscuit and coffee for breakfast. Instead, he might have already spent more than five hours on a beach in Normandy, France, as part of the largest amphibious assault landing in all of history.

Here's an excerpt from the speech read to all the troops involved in the D-Day operation.

"You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you."

It was written by General Eisenhower, leader of the Allied armed forces. You can see the full speech at this website. If you're interested in knowing more about the actual invasion as told by the men who were actually there, I encourage you to check out this wonderful website put together by the United States Army.

I can't imagine what the world would be like today if those brave men hadn't fought and died in order to secure liberty for their sons and daughters. Nor can I imagine how terrible the atrocities would have been if the Nazi regime been allowed to remain in control of Europe. We already know that in the short time they were in power, they left a terrible legacy in the Holocaust. How much worse might it have been without the ultimate sacrifice given by many young men around the world?

Today is a day of remembrance. Today is a day to honor those who laid down their lives so that you and I might live in freedom.

Concise.

I don't normally do this, but I'm feeling very worn out and I really found today's Penny Arcade comic to be hilarious. So, please enjoy.

"May you live in interesting times"

The title of today's post is an ancient Chinese curse. You see, to the Chinese "interesting times" meant a lack of stability. In other words: chaos, starvation, sorrow, and death.

As a child, I would always love to watch World War II movies with my dad. I grew up on stories about the war as told by my grandfather, a veteran who fought under Patton in the Third Army. Even as recently as high school, I recall thinking to myself about how amazing it must have been to live through such momentous events as those that transpired from the Great Depression up through the Cold War.

Of course, I started to reconsider my opinion that I would never experience anything like that shortly after 9/11.

Nowadays, with North Korea and Iran developing nuclear weapons, the former's increasing saber rattling, and Israel losing Turkey's good will (not to mention the increasing loss of world opinion) along with America's purposeful backing away from staunchly supporting Israel... let's just say I'm no longer convinced that I won't live in equally monumental times of change.

As a side note, I think this woman is the perfect example of what I hate about modern litigation. I think that even though Google is providing directions, it still falls upon the user's shoulders to use some common sense.

It is a tragedy that she got struck by a car, and I don't even particularly mind that she's suing the person who hit her (though I don't necessarily believe she ought to win... if she was walking on a road without a sidewalk, it might be her fault,) but to sue Google for "careless, reckless and negligent providing of unsafe directions" is beyond ridiculous.

Happy Memorial Day!

I'm going to celebrate today with lots of hotdogs, hamburgers, and movies!

Hope everyone does the same :)

The Bachelor's Life

Ah, yes, the single life. As a guy, I've set up a nice bachelor pad and enjoy hanging with my buddies. Sometimes, though, I ponder my circumstances and wonder if I couldn't be doing something more to meet a nice girl?

I've given lots of thought to this lately, since one generally doesn't meet eligible partners of the opposite sex (or same sex, whatever you prefer) in one's mother's kitchen.

Yes, I've pulled the timeless classic; as an adult, I have now moved back in with my parents. My bachelor pad happens to be the spare bedroom.

It is a temporary arrangement as I hunt for a job and start saving up some cash now that I'm back State-side. (At least, that's what I reassuringly tell my parents. Personally, I wanna live as long as I possibly can! I cite Failure to Launch as a personal inspiration.)

This situation does, however, present a considerable amount of problems when it comes to dating.

Nor does it help that I don't actually have a cell-phone. So I give out my parents phone number, right? And when girls call, invariably during the one hour a week that I'm not actually in the house, playing video games, they're always confused by the answering machine which fails to mention me.

Oh, and I don't exactly have a car, so I'm always like "could you swing by and pick me up?" And as I mentioned before, I don't have a job yet. So like, I always have to make sure the girl is willing to pay for me. (I'm a modern man, freed from outdated concepts of gender roles!)

If things work out well, the lucky gal and I can come back to my (parents') place and sit on my bed, watching TV. Of course, the door has to stay open - house rules. "Aren't you 26 years old?" Yes, well, when you're not paying rent, you have to roll with the punches.

Most of the time, I get bored of TV and try to show them World of Warcraft. Which of course, by "show them" I mean "ignore them for". More often than not, when I log out for the evening they're nowhere to be seen. Mysteriously slipped off during the raid, apparently. Again.

Yes, life as an eligible bachelor is pretty sweet. I just wish I had more opportunities to bump into women in my daily life. You know, women who didn't give birth to me.

On Gaming Addiction

I first started hearing about video game addiction back during the early Evercrack days. It was blamed for at least one suicide, for countless divorces, and for several child neglect cases.

I was just a teenager at the time, and since I didn't venture outside of the family computer room very often, I wasn't particularly wise to the ways of the world. I didn't realize that everyone was looking to blame their problems on outside factors, and not on their own dumb-ass choices. What I did know was that the media seemed to be unfairly blaming a video game that had no undue influence over my own life.

I had arrived at the right conclusion by faulty reasoning. The way I saw it, there couldn't be an addiction because I myself had not been addicted. I would eventually learn about how different people do have addictive personalities and can indeed get hooked on video games.

But I was dead right on the media's unfairness. The ratings-mongers saw a sensational story in video game addiction, and they set about demonizing it as a threat against the nation's children! What's so effed about this is how video games are far less addicting than cigarettes, alcohol, gambling, and most illegal drugs.

It just depends on the personality.

I am happily blessed with a personality that allows me to play games that I love for 12 hours a day if I have nothing better to do, but at the same time if I have a social life (which, at this time, I do not) or a job (nothing happening there either) then I could easily control my gaming so that it wouldn't prevent me from having fun, hanging with friends, or getting enough sleep to feel well-rested the next day. (I mean, 100% experience bonus? Totally worth being well-rested!)

Speaking of WoW, I started playing again recently, and it has caused some of my friends (who had also quit) no small amount of strife. A few of them have become worried that they might be lured back as well, and they apparently lack that control which helps regulate how much time one chooses to spend with a particular vice.

How about you? Are you in control of your gaming, or do you have an addictive personality type such that you have to carefully avoid playing games that are "too fun"?

Lost Series Finale (Spoilers a-plenty!)

Well, I watched the Lost series finale! It was pretty amazing and I felt really happy with how it ended. Not everyone agrees with me, but I felt like it was a great ending to a great series.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!




So basically, not every question was answered. In my opinion, the show was never about the mysteries as much as it was about the characters. And in wrapping up the story about these people, they did a very good job.

I love how the alternate time-line worked out. I love the overall realism inherent in the depiction of the way things are, and how they managed to make it optimistic at the same time.

The recent episode that gave us the history of the Man in Black and Jacob was one of my least favorites. I don't care about those characters, and I don't care that much about the island's mysteries. Things are the way they are, and it takes the fun out of something when you go and explain it all. In fact, that's probably the thing I liked most about that episode; the lack of clear-cut explanation.

I find it very interesting that all of my friends are split pretty evenly about their enjoyment of that episode. Some loved it for providing many answers, and others (like myself) didn't care about it because we want the story to keep focusing on the characters we know and love.

Kind of like how a lot of people were getting upset with Robert Jordan, may he rest in peace, for continually introducing and developing new characters in his Wheel of Time series while not advancing the well-developed characters' various plots. (Nonetheless, still an amazing series and perhaps my favorite. I highly recommend you get started if you haven't read it thus far!)

It will be interesting to see if approval for the series finale follows along the lines of love/hate for the MiB/Jacob episode, but with opposite representation.

Now I suppose its time to start watching one of the new series that people have been recommending. V, perhaps? (Gotta love anything with Morena Baccarin in it!)

Playing God

I woke up this morning thinking "What on earth am I gonna blog about?"

Of course, as soon as I went online I was bombarded with the news about artificial life actually being realized.

Huh.

Well, I will say that I'm not the least bit surprised at all the hullabaloo. I am a bit surprised at the Catholic Church's reaction, with a cautious approval given the appropriate constraints. That is far more progressive and forward-looking than I've ever come to expect from the Vatican.

On the other hand, all the uproar from various groups claiming that this is Pandora's Box... well, I will grant that it very well could be. There's always that possibility. But I'm just not as worried as they think I should be. Call me a Modernist, but I put more faith in humanity's capacity than most groups would like to believe. Especially the religious types, who believe God, in his/her/its divine wisdom, created human beings to suck. Awesome.

I don't think progress happens without taking steps towards the future. This seems like an appropriate baby-step into the world of genetic engineering. And given the political fallout, I feel like it had to come from a relatively independent scientist. Hopefully from now on, it can be regulated and become mainstream, with the end result being a capacity to cure genetic diseases.

Or maybe it'll be with a small terrorist group able to wipe out the human race.

Either way, I feel like Earth will be better off for it. :)

Gamer Skills

So, as I said last time, Mom's learning to play a new type of game. The experience of helping her learn the controls and all has really brought to my attention the vast amount of worthless skills I've picked up in my lifelong career as a dedicated gamer.

It also reveals to me why the industry tends to be rather unwelcoming of newcomers. Almost all games are designed with an assumption that you know the basics. Sure, they always have that introduction of the key binds in the opening level, but nonetheless if you have never played that type of game before, the learning curve is steep!

I never noticed this myself, because I'm already equipped with the skills necessary to start playing just about any game and intuitively understand its controls due to my vast experience in almost every genre.

I also enjoy games such as the Grand Theft Auto series, where you have a world to explore. Learning to find my way around such games has, I sincerely believe, helped me to develop a better sense of direction.

Playing Everquest through high school and early college helped me to develop my typing skills; I can type over 90 wpm nowadays!

What skills has playing video games given you?

Video Games and Mom

Although this is over a week late, I thought that in honor of Mother's Day I might share the tale of my lifelong efforts to get my mother involved in video games.

At a tender age, I got Dr. Mario for Christmas (at my excited and persistent request.) Of course, I just thought it was another Mario game... not realizing this was more akin to Tetris. It turned out to be far more more fun for my mother than it ever was for me, and she began enjoying the occasional use of video games.

Flash forward to a summer during my college years, where I was having one last hoorah with Civilization 3 before Civ 4 was released. She expressed the tiniest glimmer of interest in what I was playing, and without wasting any time at all I promptly installed it onto her laptop and showed her how to access the tutorial.

Needless to say, the jump from simple-puzzle game to complex-turn-based-strategy wasn't an easy transition. She had me sit and help her play through a few maps, and she took copious notes. I discovered these notes tucked away in the Civ 3 instruction manual the other day, as I was sorting through some old stuff in the attic. I fondly remembered my mother's brief foray into the world of gaming, and thought "it is a shame she gave up."

Then, a thought popped into my head: "Isn't Portal free for the month, to celebrate Steamwork's Mac release? And doesn't my mother have a nice Mac?" So I told her if she wanted, I could download a free game for her and she expressed interest. Thus began my mother's journey into the realm of nausea and motion sickness that prevents her from playing more than 90 minutes at a time. Haha, but to her credit, she's doing extremely well for someone unused to the WASD/Mouselook movement schema.

I have to say, I'm proud of my mother's propensity to give my favorite hobby a try, and hope that this time I can entice her with enough easy puzzle games that her new hobby sticks.

I think I'll save Civ V for after she masters the basics, though.

How far is too far?

This here is a bit old, but I've been meaning to mention it.

In April, a militia-group was rounded up and placed under arrest for planning to shoot up a bunch of police officers. There was a debate over whether to release them or not, since their case was mostly based on speech alone, with no definitive plan of action to show intent.

On the other hand, if you arrest a group of radical militants that meet together to talk about how the government holds tyranny over their lives, and that the only way to stop it is to become martyrs in a grand gesture of multiple murders, then you let them go free briefly before their trial... does this not give them incentive to believe their views and furthermore give them no reason to not act on them?

I believe in the protections of free speech, and I don't believe in locking people up for no good reason... but I also recognize a need for public safety.

I just don't know how to think on this one. What about you?

A rant on American Judeo-Christian extremism

After watching last night's episode of LOST (whew... intense!) I thought this would be funny to share. Press The Buttons seems like a fun site, I'd encourage you to check it out if you have some time to kill. And you obviously do, because you're reading my useless drivel! ;)

If you're less into video games and more interested in scary political realities, then maybe you could waste some time at the Texas Freedom Network instead. Texas terrifies me. They are seriously re-writing history under the guise of correcting a liberal bias, and their public school textbooks will now be ingraining generations of young Americans with highly slanted, politically conservative views on history. I don't identify myself as "right" or "left," "Democrat" or "Republican", and I personally hate hate hate the two-party system and how it polarizes Americans. It seems like a castration of the brains.

Every time I see "straight party vote" options, I rage. There is such a huge range of issues that everyone seems to ignore.

There is so much demonization of the "other side", whichever side you're on. People that disagree with you about what's best for our country are obviously trying to attack you and your way of life. It is so ridiculously divisive, and splits people fairly evenly into two equally stupid camps of fanatical extremism.

I wish I could believe that a wealthy elite enclave that rules from the shadows created this system to make people easier to rule over... but sadly, I'm convinced that it is truly just an ignorance developed by ourselves, with no grand Sith Lord's manipulations that brought about such a state of affairs.

In any case, let me say that I hate extremism on both ends of the spectrum, but the recent Texas decision regarding their public school text books seems like something Orwellian. There is no real "debate" about America being founded on secular principles, most especially the separation of Church and State, by Deists. They weren't Christians, and they didn't want America to be a Christian nation. There's no debate.

Anyone that says otherwise is perverting historical fact in order to push a religious agenda. Doing so seriously threatens the very freedom that America espouses as sacred. Yet they can't see their hypocrisy, nor envision why it would possibly be a bad thing to force Christian mantra as a State institution. Sheria Law is a lot harsher, but at the same time it seems to me like a slippery slope.

I might just go back to Japan if this type of religious extremism continues to spread.

Nintedo's Next Big Thing

When I saw this article in the Japan Times, I knew I wanted to share it with my vast legions of readers.

I've previously written about my views on piracy, as well as a treatise on Nintendo being the only true innovator in the gaming console industry, so I'm aware that I'm in danger of repeating myself.

I merely offer this under-development hand-held featuring 3D capabilities (which do not require special eye-wear) as further proof that Nintendo is the only company that's doing any real innovation. The others merely continue to make consoles more graphically powerful, but for reasons unknown do not seem to possess the creative spark necessary to do something meaningfully different with subsequent generations of their products.

As far as the undisclosed anti-piracy measures they mention, I'd say that makes a good deal of sense. Outside of the States, there's an incredibly popular underground product called the R4. It is a small DS-game-sized cartridge with a slot for a micro SD memory card, and includes a USB port for the memory card. You download pirated DS game roms, transfer them onto the memory card (which also contains the R4 firmware), thus enabling you to play whatever games you want without having to go through the trouble of actually paying for said intellectual property.

It is big business in Asia; I recall street vendors in Osaka selling them every few blocks in the electronics district. They used to be widely available in actual stores, but they've been driven underground due to a crackdown by Nintendo. Supposedly they're a big ticket item in Europe as well. I'm not surprised that Nintendo views this as a major threat to their revenue, and it does seem rather unfair that the developers of the R4 are making a tidy profit by selling a means to easily steal the hard labor of game developers.

I vaguely wonder if human morality will catch up to the concept of intellectual property at some point during my lifetime?

Nostalgia: Exosquad

I'm not sure if anyone remembers Exosquad, but it was one of my favorite TV shows as a child. It dealt with a lot of mature issues, including: the ethics of "playing god", racism and the fight for acceptance, death and loss, working hard towards your goals, perseverance, teamwork, religion, and politics.

That's a lot to throw into what is nominally a kid's show, eh? But I remember it resonating within me, because even as a kid I got the idea that the world wasn't as rosy as the other kids' shows would have me believe.

One of my favorite things about Exosquad was how it avoided painting a simplistic "good verses evil" schema; they went out of their way to show that the "bad guys" were actually treated very poorly and were unfairly oppressed when they rose up to fight against humanity.

I'm sadly not familiar with modern day kids' cartoons, but I hope that there's at least one similar show out there that can help the young'ins get a head start on understanding and being ready to deal with so many heavy issues.

If you're interested in watching it, either for the first time (bear in mind it is a kids' show and furthermore its from the 90s...) or else for nostalgia's sake, you can find them here thanks to Hulu.

On a different note, we have yet another "my hot beverage was hot" lawsuit, this time against Starbucks. I swear, historians will refer to our time period as either the age of liability or the age of entitlement. Either way, I find it kind of embarrassing.

I'm off to my last undergrad final ever!

Cinco de Mayo

A Californian columnist thinks that Americans should stop celebrating Cinco de Mayo.

I completely disagree with him.

Don't get me wrong; I have no illusions that when we celebrate Cinco de Mayo, it has anything to do with a Mexican military victory against French imperialists.

We just celebrate it because its fun. In the same vein that we celebrate St. Patty's day, even though most of us aren't Irish. Or how many non-Christians celebrate Easter & Christmas. And many non-pagans celebrate Halloween. And on, and on, and on.

Holidays are about having fun, and one thing I love about Americans is that we don't really need much of an excuse to create a very in-depth holiday replete with very specific traditions and ways to celebrate.

Anyways, this Gringo's off to enjoy some drunken revelry at my local Mexican restaurant!

Early May already?

Well, I'm afraid that my post on procrastination will have to wait. I've been consumed with writing a research paper for over a good 72 hours straight now, and am very nearly finished.

In order to not offend your sensibilities of fairness, I shall try to offer this tidbit; Greece's financial meltdown might just result in a civil war. I figure its either that or the rise of an ultra-nationalistic fascist government.

Disagree? Chime in with your own predictions.

Also, I found this bit of news to be not at all biased! I've always been quite skeptical of the supplement industry, myself. It seems like most Americans think they can eat McDonald's three meals a day for seven days a week, but as long as they also take Echinacea that their health situation should balance out.

I remain unconvinced of the claims made by the supplement industry, especially when compared to the facts presented by a more reputable source.

Speaking of Mayo: I'll see you on Cinco de Mayo, my faithful readers.