Games & Gaming Archives
Where it took about 4 hours for me to beat Guitar Hero III on Easy, Medium took a couple nights this past weekend - a couple of nights and something I call note triage - to pass. The most difficult songs for me on this level were Slayer's Raining Blood (which I skipped until the end) and Metalica's One (which I played for about 45 minutes straight one night before giving up) The next night I beat it on the first time through using my new strategy of triaging notes - or just choosing any three notes for the toughest sections of the songs and ignoring the fourth. You can do this on virtually any song (like Raining Blood)
Like Jason, I find that Medium is exceedingly difficult because of my pinky's level of coordination and uselessness. I don't think I can, or will be able to move up a level and play with any success. And while I felt a bit like that after playing my first two easy songs, I don't want to memorize the notes. My favorite song to play is actually one of the hardest in the game (and longest): DragonForce's Through The Fire And Flames. If you can fight through the fatigue that can set in it is actually pretty fun, despite it's cheesiness. This dude makes it look pretty easy - check his concentration!. Playing it on Guitar Hero is pretty impressive but check out the actual video of it being playing in "real life". And just look at all that hair. Dang.
On another GH3 Note: This hacked together "Scratch Blaster" is pretty cool - though it really should have a different game to go along with it.
It is surprising how much interest there is in this cake. Several photos are nearing or have surpassed the 25k view mark and there are 127 people who call one a favorite. I have seen this on Digg, Reddit, joystiq, and TotalFark.com, among many others. It really makes me wish I had done something more than snap some photos of this great cake. In case you didn't see it, this was made by Robin of Gateaux Inc. Hit her up for your next wedding cake.
I have posted 5 more photos that I took with a macro lens on Jesse's D70s (check his photos out for more wedding fun, including Mouser with a moustache and me on the verge of being milked). Enjoy.
At perhaps the best wedding (congratulations Brent and Annette) I have been to, there was by far the best wedding cake I have seen. Other people tend to agree as the photos have been linked to from Boing Boing and Wonderland to name just two. That explains how some of the photos have nearly 7000 views and over 50 people calling one a favorite.
UPDATE: The creator of this cake, Robin, from Gateaux Inc which is located in Plymouth, MN. "was amazing to work with and of course is amazingly talented" according the the bride and I can't say that I could disagree. Just look at some of her other work.
The cake toppers were very hard to find. The bride looked for months and months and finally found a set on eBay.com; they were from Japan's "Nintendo Club"
Here is the whole set (with more to come as I get some closeup macro shots I took, uploaded.)
Last night I played a rousing game of Werewolf, a game that attempts to explore and expose group dynamics, the wisdom of crowds and other social nuances. I was apprehensive at first but there were some interesting folks (begin namedrop now: Cal Henderson of Flickr, Ben Trott of Six Apart, Tom Coates of Plasticbag, among others) playing and so I thought I would give it a shot. First round I was accused of being a werewolf (but I wasn't) and it was because I had an air of confidence about me. I hadn't thought about it but I was calm and confident - until I was accused of murdering my fellow villagers. That accusation changed the whole game for me and put me on the defensive. I was able to fend off the mob for some time but was eventually lynched on suspicions of being a werewolf late in the game.
Here are a couple observations about this game:
1. I really didn't anticipate the strong feelings of anxiety and mistrust I would have during this game. Once I realized I was a target I felt flush, didn't know how to act to try to ensure my safety, and it inhibited my ability to read the situation.
2. Accidentally adding an extra wolf to the mix (more than the recommended ratio) make the game much harder.
3. Another thing that makes the game harder is if the seer doesn’t help the other villagers at all even when he/she knows the identity of one of the werewolves.
4. The game is fun. I regretted not playing a second game. I actually felt too drained immediately after the first game but by the time I walked back to my hotel I really wanted to play again.
The Korean company, Gamepark Holdings, makers of the GPX2 probably did not know that their product would catch on, as it has. Because it runs Linux, it is easy to customize, add to, and hack. And despite a slew of shortcomings (no wi-fi, lack of mainstream games, less-than-stylish design, and short battery life – rumored to be fixed), the GPX2 can do many things that the more popular Nintendo DS and Sony PSP cannot (support for many common file types – mp3, mpg, DivX, bmp, jpg, etc, the ability to emulate classic games) - all because it is open.
When will device manufacturer's learn that opening up their products will make them infinitely more attractive to, hackers and developers at first, but then later, as more hacks and mods are available, to the mainstream market? Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, and mobile phone makers should be embracing freeness and openness as a means of being more profitable. Stop the arrogance (of thinking you can do it better) and start the acquiescence (and yield to the open movement).
"John Gibson of Fox News says that Karl Rove should be given a medal. I agree: Rove should receive a medal from the American Political Science Association for his pioneering discoveries about modern U.S. politics. The medal can, if necessary, be delivered to his prison cell.
What Rove understood, long before the rest of us, is that we're not living in the America of the past, where even partisans sometimes changed their views when faced with the facts. Instead, we're living in a country in which there is no longer such a thing as nonpolitical truth. In particular, there are now few, if any, limits to what conservative politicians can get away with: The faithful will follow the twists and turns of the party line with a loyalty that would have pleased the Comintern."
- The Polaroidonizer - I think this is pretty neat - give any image url to the Polaroidonizer, adjust some settings and it cranks out Polaroid® looking image complete with drop shadows and tilting like the image at right.
- James Mathias is The Shavior - Mathias' experiment in facial hair aside, the rest of his site is pretty good and so I am going to be adding it to my rotation.
- Kick Ass Kung Fu - I want this - Use your own body - both movements and likeness - in a game where you can kick the collective asses of whomever is loaded in. Video games and fitness you say?
- File Me Away - Another nice looking site, added here for diversity.
- HousingMaps.com - what do you get when you combine housing listings from Craig's list and Google Maps? HousingMaps.com is what.
- Zombie dogs - Despite the sensationalistic title and terrible photo this story actually shows some promising developments in science aimed at treating critically injured people by replacing their blood with icy water. Seriously.
- Power Failure - A look at how the proposed energy policies by the GOP fall far short in their dealing with issues of oil.
- Virus present in 80% of the population kills cancer cells - Why is a potential "cure" for cancer such a under-reported story?
What follows are a list of actual update notes for the latest patch to the MMRPG World of Warcraft, to which I am thoroughly addicted.
Kardris Dreamseeker is now being addressed properly as a female, rather than a male.
Bloodvenom Post - Crossroads (Horde) no longer flies you through a tree. Sorry for the scrapes and bruises.
Cairne Bloodhoof is now a little more talkative.
Town Criers in all the major cities now have basic gossip text.
There is no longer a floating tree in Westfall above the defias tower.
There are no longer fish flying around above the water line in Silverpine Forest.
Female orcs no longer get stuck in scaffolding in Lost Rigger Cove.
Players can no longer kill creatures with ranged attacks while the mobs are unable to damage the player when standing atop the cauldrons in Eastern Plaguelands.
Closed a hole in the world in the Searing Gorge.
A tree located too far above the ground in Feralas has been "replanted".
There is no longer water missing from the pool by the Grimtotems in the Lower Wilds of Feralas.
A rock that was sitting above the ground at the top of one of the falls in Nighthaven has landed.
The Dry times in Ironforge have ended and the Stonefire Tavern in Ironforge now has alcohol again.
Mizzle the Crafty in Dire Maul shouldn't be so repetitive in proclaiming a new king if the player cycles through gossip too quickly.
Williden Marshal's gossip text has been polished.
EA Sports is going to air a 60-second spot previewing their Madden franchise for the next generation of game consoles, during the first hour of the NFL draft. Now I have a reason to watch other than to see how the Vikings decide to embarrass themselves this year.
The screenshots for the next Madden games look amazing!
Jason posted a
link to a NY Times article on the origins and evolution of religion, which fit in nicely with the book I am reading:
A History of God, by Karen Armstrong. In this book Armstrong puts down the results of her research of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as well as, and to a lesser extent, a few other religions and ideologies.
"The human idea of God has a history, since it has always meant something slightly different to each group of people who have used it at various points of time. The idea of God formed in one generation by one set of human beings could be meaningless in another. Indeed, the statement 'I believe in God' has no objective meaning, as such, but like and other statement only means something in context, when proclaimed by a particular community. Consequently there is no one unchanging idea contained in the word 'God'; instead, the word contains a whole spectrum of meanings, some of which are contradictory or even mutually exclusive."
She takes a pretty pragmatic approach at looking at how religious beliefs have formed and changed throughout history. It seems that humans may have always had religious feelings - an idea that may even be central to how we became human. This sense of spirit or connection with something larger than us has always driven us to wonder, create, sing, fear, and ultimately evolve our society into what it has become today.
It seems too, that religion is highly pragmatic. "...it is far more important for a particular idea of God to
work than for it to be ideologically or scientifically sound." The last quote brings to a point the problems I have always had with religion. I have always been very interested in proving that an idea was thoroughly sound before "putting my stock" in it. Much less important to me is how a particular view could make my life better, a way of living that could help me achieve greater piece. Maybe what religious folks call
faith is actually just the ability to give up on finding proof and just selecting a set of rules that you can live with - perhaps not the perfect set of rules - without flaws, but a set that will no doubt lead to greater satisfaction.
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I have always thought of video games as more or less consumable goods.
Some people would obviously disagree, ahem,
Brent
Just because I happen to be packing my home office up in preparation for yet another move in a month or so, and I am going through all my computer games and game boxes, I decided to make this list of my 10 favorite games (ranked primarily by number of hours spent playing them). I have lumped like games together for ease and clarity. Here goes:
- Pool of Radiance
- Diablo I & II
- Tetris
- Myst, Riven
- Pirates, Pirates Gold
- Baldur's Gate (and subsequent spin-offs and expansions)
- Sim City, 2000, 3000
- Ultima Online
- Madden Football (all the versions)
- Civilization I, II, & III
Honorable Mention:
Neverwinter Nights and three old Apple IIgs games: Ultima IV,
Defender of the Crown, and
King of Chicago.
Please not that this list is based upon the hours I have played each game. I may, at some point, come out with a list based on what I think are the "best" games ever at some point soon.
A game that takes more than 5 years to make, has been shown at the last 3 E3 conferences, debuted at Gen Con in 1999 and promises to bring the power of a game story developer to every person that buys it is 6 days away from shipping to millions of people around the world. I am one of them. I preordered this game months and months ago in the hopes that I could be one of the first to play it. What game is it? I have posted about it before. It is
NeverWinter Nights and it is one of only a few games that has ever made me this excited.
Here are some recent reviews of it:
Games Domain and
Game Banshee.
I had just talked myself out of getting Grand Theft Auto III for Playstation 2 when I read Cam's review of it. I sucked it up to get it for an upcoming trip I am taking. My personal expense budget for the remainder of the month: $0.
This brings up a interesting question however. My
lil' brother would love that I got a new game but I am not going to let him play a game where the objective is to steal cars and elude the law.
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I don't think enough press is given to how cool Microsoft Windows XP is. There is much ado about Mac OS X and rightfully so, with its Unix under the hood, but from an interface and usability standpoint, XP has a slight edge on X. Before you jump down my throat, consider this: XP has the best context-sensitive information and menuing display of any OS bar none. Combine that with the fully integrated multimedia capabilities and powerful multi-tasking that Windows has been known for, and you have a helluva operating system.
I have half-finished posts that never were to see the light of day and I thought, hey in the spirit of reduce, reuse, and recycle I could clean out all my old draft posts and turn them into some lazy Saturday afternoon reading. Enjoy.
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I stumbled across this
page of old maps of Minnesota and found them very interesting. Some of the maps show growth by area withing the Minneapolis St. Paul region while another show the burgeoning transit system in the area. The last map, dated 1935 shows a city planning map of downtown Minneapolis. Areas are marked by what was found there or who lived/worked there - Lower middle class, Workingman's homes, Slum, Middle class residential, etc. There is even one area marked "Negro Section (Largest in City)". I believe that to be much different to city planning maps of today - but I wonder how much different mindsets are.
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Also in the How to Piss Me Off curriculum: Tell me that part of the land I just bought actually belongs to you.
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A
hoax was reported by Salon.com over a year and a half ago about an apparent suicide due, in part, to the most popular online game
EverQuest and the addictive way in which it affects many players. The
EverQuest online community claims that people with addictive personalities can become addicted to anything and that the game is not inherently addictive. But isn't it? I have only played EverQuest once for a total of about 10 minutes, but once spent many, many hours playing
Ultima Online, another (PSW) Persistent State World where things are constantly happening even when you are not logged in. You cannot just save and expect everything to be OK. Your home (which you really need to save money up to purchase) can be broken into when you are offline, your treasures could be stolen, and entire storylines, quests, and news can pass you by. In this way you are compelled to stay online as much as possible. Plus you "know" people online. There are often tens of thousands of other players online at once and you get to know them - you join guilds with them, or go to war against them. There is so much at stake (literally months if not years of time spent playing and accumulating goods) that you can sometimes forget that none of it is real. If you were then somewhat less stable then the average bear, I see how it would be possible to get very depressed about losing everything. Especially if the only thing you looked forward to in your real life was your fantasy life.
The suicide reported in November of 2000 turned out to be fake, however last November's
suicide by a Wisconsin man was no joke and is bringing back the questions about these types of games and has prompted a lawsuit by the man's mother against Sony (who owns and runs EverQuest.)
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On occasion I have had the opportunity to meet someone of the Mormon faith or a Jehovah's Witness and I am, each time, astounded that they are the most upbeat and optimistic (if not also somewhat naive and innocent about the "ways of the world") people I have ever met. This holds true for Mormons and JW's that I have been exposed to via TV and magazines. They all just seem so damned nice and content. (of course
I could be wrong)
Don't get me wrong, I tend to be pretty optimistic in general and some who know me call me content as if they we're hurling an axe at me, but these Mormons and JW's are just too content. Without getting too much into where that feeling comes from, I can only say that they seem at peace while the vast majority of us are in various stages of turmoil throughout our lives.
As Jena recently said to me, "All I got from being brought up Catholic is all this crappy guilt. I wish I was a Mormon!" after coming to the realization, yet again, that Mormon's are always happy people.
I find myself envious of them too. I would love to be at peace with questions of who, what, where, why, and when of my place in this world and the next. We both have said we wished were were born into a family of Mormon's or Jehovah's Witnesses. But we are damned. Damned to always doubt and damned to never know what it truly is like to be content.
I have
posted before about real economic markets being created from the virtual worlds created in today's multi-player games like, Asheron's Call, Ultima Online, and Dark Age of Camelot. A recent email pointed me to
a post on /. that describes the circumstances of a lawsuit filed by BlackSnow Interactive, owner and maintainer of
CamelotExchange - "an online auction site for the exchange of in-game items, money, and characters/accounts" against the makers of
Dark Age of Camelot,
Mythic Entertainment, stating that Mythic is violating MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) player rights.
The ensuing discussion is very interesting with topics ranging from the taxability of realized gains of this sort, to the rights of free speech, et. al. in these online worlds. With all this disagreement about who owns the fruits of virtual labor it was only a matter of time until
this happened - a game where you pay real money to acquire goods and services and can make real money in the same manner.
Similar stories have been written about online gaming and real world money, but
this one about EverQuest had some interesting statistics, like:
"Players earn an average wage of $3.42 for every hour they play the game and collectively produce annual gross "exports" of more than $5 million."
"Its per-capita gross national product would be $2,266--comparable to the 77th richest country on Earth and ranking it between Russia and Bulgaria."
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The
Modern Humorist has a very funny
Foreigner's Guide to America available on their site, including a
snippet on my own home state, Minnesota.
...Microsoft's game-box revolution takes the path of mediocrity ... and that will make all the difference in the war of the latest game consoles.
Has the Xbox already lost?
This Salon article believes so: "But the war of ideas is over, too -- and on that front, the one that really counts, Microsoft has lost, almost utterly lost. Gone is the bold promise to innovate and revolutionize gaming -- the chance to create a brand so daring and unique, it would finally seize gamers' attention away from Japan."
If you are looking for a winner in this war, you need look no further than the Playstation 2 - it was and is the best system built. [
Camworld]
