T.O.E. Is Awesome

Rice Boy is all finished up. Go read it. I really enjoyed this series, it does a lot of unusual things, but the character of T.O.E. really intrigues me a lot. 

What are you still doing here? Go read Rice Boy.

Call to Action

So what happened to responsibility?

As my parents and I were leaving our local Grand Central Bakery we noticed that behind our car there was another car parked in such a fashion that it was impossible for us (and the two cars next to ours, as well as the three cars on the other side) to leave. Since this is very illegal, as well as a might annoying and dangerous, I decided to go back into the bakery and ask whose car that was.

Now I'm not saying that I wasn't a little angry, and I certainly wasn't the politest I have ever been, but I didn't yell and I certainly didn't swear. All I did was tell the lady who happened to own this vehicle that she needed to move her car immediately, that it was parked illegally and that it was a hazard. The employees of the establishment even backed me up and told the lady that she couldn't park there and had to move her car. Despite all of this, the woman said that I was a "bastard" and as she left she declared that it was, "people like you who are ruining this country."

Yup.

Everyone, please don't let people like this get away unopposed. If you see someone cut in line, park illegally, jaywalk, anything of that sort, please challenge them. Don't yell, don't swear, just tell them what they're doing is wrong and challenge what they are doing. Most of the time it isn't policeman that keep people from breaking the law, it's fear of social ostracism. Kids go tagging and breaking windows with their friends because they are afraid of being looked down on by their peers. Well guess what, it works the other way too. Don't let these people get away with their habits, go up to them and make them feel that there are consequences.

Hitting the Notes of My Soul

It has been exactly two weeks and one day since I returned home, but today was the first day that I have been able to listen to any of my music. For some people this may not be that big of a deal, but for me it's equivalent to being turned into a robot for two weeks. Something about music just fills me up, it makes me spark. I can write for an hour and get out one, maybe two pages if I'm lucky, but with music I can pump out ten pages of analytical academic writing with quotes pulled from relevant sources.

The reason why I haven't listened to anything is that I have to pump my music up so that it fills the room. I can't stand when music is going but you can still talk to people (a big problem at parties); my music has two volumes available, off and on. This makes it a bit hard to listen when there are people around.

So yeah, today was the first day that I've been, alone.

At all.

For two weeks.

That doesn't really happen to me. I finally feel like I have creativity again. Now if I could just get over this weird problem I have of not playing games when I'm home. I want to, and eventually I do, but it takes me a couple of months (and for those who think it's good because then I'm doing something else, they're wrong, I just sit around thinking about how I want to play games for hours).

By the way, here's three awesome video/songs that made me feel whole again today: 1, 2, 3.

P.S. I've got a new secret project that I'm working on. I don't have any details right now, but expect to see something pretty cool starting late September or so.

Memorial Day

To all those who died fighting, thank you.

To all those who served and survived, thank you.

To all those who are serving today, thank you.

Without you I couldn't do what I do today and I cannot thank you enough.

Fist, Gun and Whip

Go see Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull it's good clean fun.The movie doesn't preach at you (except get an education), it doesn't have a political message and it doesn't carry some ulterior motive. The only thing this movie does is let you have fun. Sure it's a little unbelievable at times, and it rushes through some of the character interaction, but god damn, it's Indiana Jones and he's punching people!

Between this movie and Iron Man, I'm starting to really like simple plots that don't get in the way of action.

Oh and a stellar cast playing at the top of their game doesn't hurt (seriously, this is the first time I've seen LaBeouf playing a character that isn't Shia LaBeouf).

The En...?

Has anyone else noticed an annoying trend in movie and television writing lately? I swear, almost every movie or season finalé I watch these days has a cliffhanger ending. The movies have it a little less, at least the main villain is dead (well not in Eragon's case but that wasn't a very good movie anyways), but there's always some other, larger problem that remains unsolved. TV is worse though, like the CSI: New York season ender, which, I don't know, didn't end. They pull this cliffhanger and just expect viewers to sit with it until the next season starts? Some part of me has a feeling that people have been forgetting how to end stories, and especially how to conclude them. It used to be that an epilogue was a rare thing, but for the past few years I've been seeing them crop up left and right. And those little snippets that movies have after the credits roll, I remember when those used to come before the credits.

Really this is just a rant about me wanting a remake of FFVII on the PS3. Crisis Core was an amazing prequel (I can't believe I just put those two words together), it's story held on its own, but also deeply enriched the experience you get from FFVII. When they show that opening cinematic at the end of Crisis Core it made me want to pop in my FFVII disc right then and there. Only thing that stopped me was that the graphical downshift would have caused a nasty grinding noise and stalled the emotions that Crisis Core had built up in me.

If you are a fan of FFVII, or just want a fun (albeit easy) PSP game, I cannot recommend Crisis Core enough. Honestly, its the best game I've played on that system yet (also it has new game+ which every game with a good story needs desperately).

Good Riddance

I returned to Portland from school last Monday, but it wasn't until today that I finally felt at home. The day after I got back I got sick and on Wednesday my roommate showed up to crash at my place until his flight. This morning I finally took him to the airport and boy was it a relief. I like my roommate, he's a good friend, but I don't like hanging out with anyone for a week straight. About the only time where we weren't hanging out was when I was asleep. Add on that he lost his laptop's power cable so he was using my laptop and, well let's just say if he had stuck around for another day or two and he wouldn't be going back to Minnesota, ever.

What this means is I'm going to bed, and tomorrow I'm going to go get a job and start actually posting interesting things.

P.S. I still count this guy among my friends, it was just too much for too long to not start going a little crazy (especially with someone who likes to be entirely alone every couple of days).

New Idea

New Idea: Waterworld RPG and/or MMO. Great world prebuilt. Intriguing weapons. Driving purpose for story for dry land. Resource requirements/availability could make for an amazing gameplay system. 

C'mon, who doesn't want their own oil tanker battleship castle?

Return(ish)

Small post tonight due to various factors. Regular posting will resume tomorrow.

This game, Alter Ego, has apparently been around for a while. It's a very fun life-simulation game (which I adore), and it's text/choice based (which I also love). Go, play it, enjoy it, and wait for me to attempt my own half-assed version (though mine will resemble a card game and not be online, due to a complete lack of coding skills and such).

Seriously, it's a hell of a lot of fun once you get past baby stage, though I do wish it told you how many turns are left in each stage.

Edit: forgot to link it, now fixed.

Notice

Posts will be of the random and intermittent variety until the Sunday after next due to finals tension, relief, and a bit of partying. I will try to keep posting as normal, but I make no promises.

Vantage Point

It's amazing what a little music can do to your mood. Fifteen minutes ago I was ready to rant and rave about another news writer putting down video games without pausing to look at the facts.
Ten minutes ago I started listening to some music. Now I just want to lie on my bed and look out the window.

With this new mentality, I have come up with a new game, I call it Vantage Point. You'll need: calming music (no rap, no rock, soothing tones only), and the internet. What you do is put on your most calming music, close your eyes, and wait. Once you're barely awake, slowly open your web browser and go to websites that you hate. When I say hate, I mean the one's that really get you riled up, the ones that make you want to punch walls because of what the people are writing. Then read, remember to do so slowly, and just see how silly it is to get angry over these people. Look at how angry they are in their writing and compare it to your own peaceful state. It's a hell of a lot of fun.

Anyways back to finals work. Wheeeee!

Working Brain + Time = This

I knew I was going to have a unique day when the first thing I see on my computer was this. For the lazy people out there it's an article about a mom who bought her kids a Nintendo DS, which then turned them into cello-ignoring monsters. At first I took this article seriously; here was a situation where a video game system tore a family out of its natural rhythm causing a great amount of distress. However, I began to look deeper into the article and I found some pieces that didn't feel right to me. After a little digging, I found out that the article's writer and subject, Rosie Millard, was exactly the kind of person I hate.

Rosie Millard is a moron.

Now I'm not saying that Rosie Millard lacks any intelligence, that she has not led a successful life, or anything like that. What I am saying, is the Rosie Millard lacks the ability to think ahead, to see potential problems in the future and to plan for them. Mrs. Millard bought a single Nintendo DS for the family to share, that's her, her husband, and her four children (although I really don't think the two year old should be playing anything with a screen). Now this Nintendo DS has twenty games with it, which is a very large number (even bargain bin DS games cost upwards of $10 when not bought from sketchy online sites in Hong Kong). So we have a lot of subjects wanting play time, a large number of games to play, and one game player. What these really means is that you have a very desirable toy with a variety of activities involved (so you don't get bored and do something else, you just pop in a new game) and a whole lot of people who want to play with it.

Let me put this another way. My brother and I, that's two people, fought constantly over who could play the NES and the two games we had for it. Less people, a worse system, less variety, and we still fought.

What was she expecting?

I wouldn't label Mrs. Millard as a moron for just this one offense. No, it would take something far more ridiculous than that. Something grand, something that just seems like common sense, something like this. 45,000 pounds in debt. Not college debt, not house debt. 45,000 pounds of >200 pound haircut debt. Yeah.

As my final piece of evidence, I give you Mrs. Millard's calls to higher authorities on the matter at hand. Mrs. Millard namedrops Dr. Susan Greenfield and Dr. Tanya Byron, the latter a name that many European gamers are very familiar with. Dr. Tanya Byron is the woman behind the "Byron Review", an independent review funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport that was looking into the potential dangers that video games and the internet held for children. Before beginning the review, Dr. Byron, a leading child psychologist, aggressively maintained that video games desensitized children to violence. After the review, Dr. Byron has declared herself publicly as an ally and friend of the video game industry.

Then we have Dr. Susan Greenfield, one of Britain's leading neuroscientists who recently began to investigate the impact of video games and internet on the brains of young adults. Dr. Greenfield theorizes that playing video games causes children to forgo identity building, so that in a few years we'll have a large population group that is having identity crisis'.

By the way, I love this article. The way the author describes Dr. Greenfield makes me feel like she's some kind of villain from Batman. My favorite quote from the article has to be this one:

"Her theory goes like this. The more we play games, the less time there is for learning specific facts and working out how those facts relate to each other."

Really? I mean really? So all those puzzles in my games were actually random? That my pressing a button had no correlation with what occurred onscreen? That knowing that my foe was using a fire attack meant that he would most likely be fire immune and would probably take extra damage from an ice spell?

Video Games are literally nothing but finding out facts and how they relate to each other. Even a first-person shooter teaches the player that their enemies will die a lot faster if you shoot them in the head than if you shoot them in the leg.

I'm sorry, but this is really one of the most laughable theories I have heard of in a long time.

Back to my point, Rosie Millard didn't do her research. Mrs. Miller was just looking at the Nintendo DS as a quick fix solution, to occupy her kids time with no repercussions. In essence, she was looking at the system as a magic quiet box that lets you have a few hours without having to deal with her children, and that's not what a video game system is. A video game system is a means of entertainment, like a TV or a book, and just like those two, parents should monitor their children's use with them. You don't want your child reading an inappropriate novel, or watch an adult program, and you don't want them to do either for ever. Every once in a while, you have to shut off the TV, close the book, and go for a romp at the playground.

And that is why Rosie Millard is a moron.

P.S. Dear Rosie Millard, while a video game system such as a Nintendo DS does contain a computer, a computer game usually refers to a video game made for a desktop or laptop personal computer. Handheld and console titles are usually referred to as such, or more commonly as just "video games". In other words, your title makes you look like an ass.

Explanation

No post today or last thursday due to recuperation from final-type things.

Ack!

I completely spaced writing a post for yesterday. I blame evil wizards, or more accurately, the paper I was finishing up since I'm heading to Portland for an emergency dentist appointment today.

Anyways, GTAIV came out yesterday, it looks good and I can't wait for the weekend to come so that I can actually have some time to play my copy (which currently lies unopened). I'll be too busy for the rest of the day for another post, so I'll see you all on Sunday when I might actually have time to think for once in the past three weeks.

Fin

I take back everything bad I ever said about Assassin's Creed's story, because I just saw the last four episodes of Escaflowne.

I was enjoying Escaflowne before, it wasn't exactly genius in the writing department, but it was watchable, but in the last four episodes the writing took a turn for the "amazingly terrible". New plot points and characters are introduced, only to be solved in the next episode. The main character seems to have forgotten everything she has seen and heard up to this point. One of the major plot points is ignored as if it had never occured, and then there's the dialogue, which became cringe-worthy. The real topper though was the ending. I'm not going to spoil anything here, and I don't know how to make a jump, so I can't say my real thoughts, but I can tell you that it is bad. The ending is bad enough that if the rest of the series had been good, and those last four episodes hadn't been terrible, the show would still be terrible. It was bad enough that I wanted to physically harm the writers of the show.

For those of you who don't know me, I really like endings. I like it when things end, and I really like good endings. Good endings can improve a show/game/book's quality in my eyes several fold. On the other side of the coin, a bad ending can ruin a masterpiece. This is probably why I hate most books in the literary canon that everyone seems to love *cough*Hemmingway*cough. I seriously considered not finishing Persona 3 because I was afraid it was going to have a bad ending, and I didn't want to ruin that game.

When I say bad ending I don't mean a sad ending, a depressing ending, or even an ending that isn't an ending at all. A bad ending is one that leaves me not with contentment, excitement, depression, or any other single word feeling. A bad ending leaves me saying, "What the fuck was that!?"

I just don't understand how a writer can get through a series, a game, a book, and keep my interest until the end, and then write at their worst. The end should be when the writer pulls out all of their tricks, and you should be left amazed at what they did. However, I find it is all too common to have endings that just kind of slump over and are done. Even some of my favorite games fall into this category. I loved Dark Cloud 2 to death, but it had one of the worst endings I have come across. I mean really, the final boss didn't even have a unique song!

I wonder if the writers who make bad endings just don't know how to do it. They've been writing for so long, they don't know how to stop. So, rather than taking the time to really think it over and craft a finale, they just stop writing and call it good. Dang, now I'm really curious what the hell the writers and translators of Escaflowne were thinking.

Thank God For GTA (Good design That's Awesome)

First things first, watch this: Bad Design.

This is some of the worst design in a game I have ever seen. On a PC, which the version of Assassin's Creed that the video shows, you want to be able to get in and out of programs at the click of a mouse, and it is an industry standard to have a quit-to-desktop choice from the first time you ask it to quit. This design flaw is pretty bad by itself, but there are other reasons why I find Assassin's Creed a study in bad design.

-Give everyone localized accents except the main character.
-Give your worst voice actor the role of the main character.
-Make your main character an assassin who reveals his secret with five minutes of questioning.
-Make your main character, essentially, emotionless.
-Hide your invisible walls with giant blue clouds that clash horribly with the landscape
-Have a plot that a fifth-grader could have written
-Add a sci-fi twist to that plot that gets revealed in the INTRODUCTION.
-Give players the ability to run up walls, but make it slow and not fun
-Give players the ability to kill anyone, but hurt them for killing most
-Getting hit by a retarded person reveals that you are an assassin
-Running into a wall makes guards attack you
-Use four mission types over and over and over.
-Make a combat-system that doesn't take advantage of the ability to run around like spider-man
-Loading screens every eight seconds.
-Have loading screens for loading screens.

I could go on. Despite all of this, however, Assassin's Creed is pretty fun for a couple of hours, but I'm still glad I didn't buy it myself. What makes Assassin's Creed design hurt me so much, is that all of these things are blatant and easily fixable design flaws (for the most part). Heck, if they got rid the sci-fi twist about half of my complaints would be nullified along with it. Ubisoft had a great premise and I'm excited to see how the sequels turn out.

Also, I've been reading this webcomic all day. I really would love to see more games with the same kind of imagination that this comic has. I take that back, I would really love to see more
people with the same kind of imagination that this comic has.

So Wanna Say, But Really Shouldn't

Alright so I had an absurdly awesome idea for a game today and I really wish I had a development studio at my fingertips so that I could make it. Sadly, I do not have a development studio at my beck-and-call, but I still really like the idea, which is why you won't hear too many details from me (I'm kind of paranoid). Why I think it's a good idea is as follows:

It has a pretty and varied landscape.

It has very few, but extremely unique enemies. Similar in fashion to Shadow of the Colossus there are no enemies besides the few boss fights. This focus on single opponents allows for a lot of depth and detail in each of these enemies, and unlike Shadow of the Colossus, these wouldn't be the same kind of fight over and over with a slightly different puzzle each time. Each of these bosses are very different from one another, and the ways to defeat them are extremely different (think platformer versus fps different, or chess versus freeze-tag).

There's a story based around mystery and interpersonal relationships, like Lost, but I know what the hell is going on (seriously I haven't seen the invisible polar bear/t-rex in ages, where did they go, did they explain that on an episode that I missed?).

A defined area for the game world, as in I already know how much space is necessary and where everything should go. Also includes natural barriers to avoid the "invisible-wall" effect (and no, making the invisible walls visible a la Assassin's Creed does not count).

Online Multiplayer that works gameplay-wise (whether connections could handle it or not is something that I don't know enough to answer).

A gameplay experience that would change every single time.

A game world that continues to run as you play, so a second boss could run into you as you fight the first (though that shouldn't happen unless you've done something really bizarre with the first boss to change his location).

I could go on, but this is a really solid idea I feel (wish I could describe it more, but you'll have to talk to me in person for that, plus I really like it). I think the most interesting thing is how full of an idea it came to me. The gameplay, the world, the story, the characters, all of these came to me at the same time, which never happens. Oh well, if all goes according to plan, expect to see this game within ten years, until then, just try to imagine what I've got cooked up.

-1+2=0!?

Unfortunately it appears that I guessed correctly yesterday. Worry not though, I will be back tomorrow with actual things to say and time with which to say it!

ZZZ...

Spent most of today sleeping to make up for all-nighter and so I can do slightly more than just try to survive the rest of the week.

In other words I completely forgot about a post today. Expect similar results tomorrow unless I somehow manage to crush that 2 hours make-up for every 1 hour lost rule.

I Am Never Writing A Paper On Anything But My Mac Again

So... started the week off by pulling an all-nighter.

Yeah...

The worst part was that it wasn't even because I had that much work to do or I put it off that long, I was just having an absurd number of technical problems. Basically every time I tried to scroll down on my paper, there was a 1/12 chance of the program locking up and requiring me to force quit. I finally walked into class half an hour late because just as I was printing out the final copy my printer ran out of black ink, ran around looking for my spare cartridge that has learned how to become invisible, ran down to the library to print it out there only to find out that they don't support whatever crazy format I had my paper saved as so I had to run back to my room, change all of the black text into red, then run back down to the library so I could three-hole-punch the paper. From there it was a simple walk across the entire campus as the library and field house are at exact opposite ends, and voila, I was done.

All on no sleep.

For a couple hours there I was ready to kill someone with my hat, and I know I scared some people when I burst into the library the second time. So yeah, there's your post for today, not much, but I have to go do my homework for tomorrow.