Stuff White Mages Like

The Complexity of Games

2011-11-21T10:52:00.000-08:00

Complexity of games can be a tricky thing for developers it seems. On the one side of the coin you have the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle. On the other side of that coin you can try and throw everything and the kitchen sink into your game. Two games that I've most recently picked up are practically at almost the extreme ends of this spectrum.

Recently I took up DC Universe Online, which is a fun title to say the least. Its a simple game play style, almost too simple in some ways. I sometimes often find myself wishing I had more info about the armor and stats on how they actually affect my game play than what is currently visible in the game. The game play itself is nice if you have a controller. If you don't have one though, it gets a bit more awkward trying to perform the moves with a mouse and keyboard.

I also picked up a copy of Skyrim recently. Again the title is fun, but I my biggest complaint about Skyrim will remain my biggest complaint about the previous Elder Scroll's title. Its too big and too complex. Especially given its scope. Don't get me wrong, I applaud the amount of work the developers have put into these titles. You can go anywhere in the game, and do anything, but at the end of the day given its scope the game just feels so dead and lifeless to me. The NPCs don't do much and I still feel like I'm inside some weird vacuum when I play it.

Somewhere in the middle of these two makes me very happy some times. Ironically Minecraft in all of its simplicity is very fun to play; with a server setup I don't feel like I'm living in a vacuum as well. So maybe that's something both Sony and Bethesda can learn from. Sony, lets get some more numbers, and maybe some crafting into DCUO. Bethesda, let me play with some of my friends, and maybe give me away to actually alter the landscape I'm playing in. (Housing? Castles? Siege engines?!)

Fun moments in computer support

2010-07-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

Nothing like the following to make you worry about the technical support you're getting from a software company:

"Does your software have any particular requirements for the processor? I'm having a problem with this particular processor and getting this error, etc etc"

"Yes, please see the following release notes:

* 32 bit minimum requirements:

686 processor

etc

etc"

"Uh, yea, you know a 686 covers everything all the way back to the Pentium Pro, right? Got anything more specific?"

I'm just going to leave this here...

2010-06-10T13:49:00.000-07:00

For a certain contributor to the blog (because they are not on chat at the moment for some reason...)

Not trying to give anyone ideas or nothing. :3

Final Fantasy XIII: 25 hours in

2010-05-19T06:11:00.000-07:00

Yea, I like this game. There's frustrating bits about it, but good elements can usually balance out annoying bits for me. In Resonance of Fate, the story eventually became bizarre and confusing, and I still don't understand all of it. But the characters were fun and the battle system was so enjoyable that I didn't really mind. In XIII it's a little of the reverse. The battle system and the level-up system are a little frustrating, but I'm enjoying the story. And god, the music in this game is great.

I figure one more post once I beat it, just to throw out my final thoughts.

Final Fantasy XIII: 6 Hours in

2010-05-13T16:00:00.000-07:00

This game is very strange.

That might seem like an odd thing to say about a game in the Final Fantasy series. I mean this is a series where the women are often more masculine, more mature, and emotionally more balanced than the men, eldritch abominations can be found in your back yard, and remakes with more faithful translations receive enormous backlash because they don't have the word "spoony". But yea, this game so far is just strange. Elements of it are good, while others are kinda idiotic.

The voice acting and dialogue are pretty good (first time I've seen both good at the same time), and yet while the story is fairly simplistic, there are a few aspects of it that cause it to be sorta confusing. It skips the usual buildup of your party by introducing you to all but one playable character by 30 minutes in, yet it tries to make up for this by repeatedly breaking up or re-organizing the party. It's irritating. Also, I find it amusing that at least half of the playable characters have completely forgotten how to simply wield their weapons (a consequence of losing their basic job class). Apparently becoming an L'Cie and gaining magic means you lose the ability to throw a boomerang or shoot a gun.

The level up system is yet another re-hash of X's sphere grid. It's better than XII's license system (which isn't saying much) since the characters have different classes available to them (at least so far). There also seem to be some minor differences in what certain characters have available even for the same job classes, so it at least feels a little more flexible. But the organization of the Crystarium is idiotic. It branches out in three dimensions for absolutely no reason, which creates a needlessly complicated camera operation and makes it confusing. And even if it's 3D, it doesn't matter, because your progression through a job is still 99% linear. So why bother? Also, you can switch between different characters in the Crystarium at any point with L1/R1, but you can't switch between their different job classes without going back to that character's main area? I mean c'mon, you couldn't just use L2/R2 for that?

You get the point, I think. So far everything that's good or interesting seems balanced by something mind-boggingly retarded. Time will tell if the good elements gain favor as I continue playing. I'm not far enough in for a genuine review, so I think I'll try to put up a few more posts as I keep going.

Oh, Really?

2010-05-10T07:57:00.000-07:00

I could almost cry. It is a little silly of me really, but this is just exactly the kind of thing I would have hoped for. The first game was such a giant leap in the right direction for gaming. I am a huge proponent of post-consumerism: it’s potential effect on the game industry, and espousing gaming’s role in defining the post-consumerism movement.

They claim this will be out in 2010. I will remain sceptical. If it is out by the holiday season, great. it would certainly make sense. This along with some other key franchises are due out for the holiday season so this ‘PS3 shortage’ is more than likely just Sony stocking up for an onslaught on Wii’s precarious dominance over the console (note, not game) market right now.

It is pretty clear Wii is preparing for this as well. I hardly even pay attention to what Xbox does, but no doubt they will be in on this too. Going in, we knew 2010 was likely to be a big year for gaming, and it has gotten off to a respectable if not modest start.

Even if this title gets delayed, I’ll be happy to see it come. The fact they are aiming to be backwards compatible is a nice touch.

So on the topic of this blog, I'm not really sure what is going on yet. I enjoy posting about gaming news and issues surrounding gaming and the gaming industry but it is a very crowded blog-space. I'm trying to find something a little more unique and value added. I've had a bit more luck on Tumblr, but that is on a totally different topic and tool. We'll just see what develops. I would not count on any more HSOTW posts though, not that anyone cares ;D

In a word: Exciting.

2010-04-19T10:05:00.001-07:00

To do: force myself to get back into posting to blogger, even if i have to do it by SMS while waiting for take-out. DONE.

It Is a Game You Can Play: Valkyria Chronicles

2010-02-02T21:37:00.000-08:00

So, I managed to find some time between games and Tumblr for a little bit of Blogspot. I keep thinking I'll get back to doing HSOTW, but I think if I do we will be dropping the "W" and just blogging individual discoveries as they come.

There are so many great looking titles lined up to come out this year. If this isn't the best year for gaming since 2006, well, fuck it. The roster is so promising that it has made me painfully aware of all of the titles I have missed in the past couple of years. Here is to hoping to catch up while still fighting Tumblr addiction.

With Valkyria Chronicles 2 set to come out this Summer for PSP, I wanted to review the original game since I finished it a couple of days ago. I have not gotten the DLC expansions yet, but I certainly plan to. Reviewing games is difficult, and my goal in starting this "It Is a Game You Can Play" feature on SWML is to take queues from some of the better gaming sites. I will not be "rating" games. I will be assessing them, clearly differentiating fact from opinion, and passing judgement with a simple criteria:

Own It - This game is definitely worth owning if it sounds like the type of game you enjoy.
Try It - This game might be worth owning, but you should probably hold off on sinking the full investment in a new copy until you do some more research and demo it, rent it, or borrow it from a friend.
Pan It - This game is probably not worth owning. Trying it out may not hurt, but don't expect much.

So with that in your pocket, let's look at Valkyria Chronicles.

My first impression of this game from preview trailers was that it was very heavily Anime influenced, and was probably trying to capitalize on traditional JRPG values. There is entirely too much JRPG-esque material out there. Fortunately Valkyria Chronicles brings enough originality to the table to deserve more than a casual consideration. For the most part, the game platforms off the better attributes of JPRG but do be prepared for some cliche. There is, in fact, a full season anime based on the game. US rights have not been picked up yet. Funimation was among the companies considering localization but so far no word on it.

Not cliche, anime...

Visually, the game is pretty, but does not come close to taxing the PS3. Despite this, there seems to be some lazy coders at Sega WOW. The only time I noticed significant frame lag was when too much tall grass came on screen, so clearly there was room for optimization. Fortunately this is a completely minor flaw since real-time action isn't the main focus of game play. The rendering engine features a neat shadowing effect. Combined with the crisp, clean cell shaded graphics Valkyria Chronicles produces the best executed comic style graphics I have seen to date.

Assuming you are a fan of anime, there is nothing much to complain about in the way of visuals. Valkyria Chronicles relies heavily on the comic metaphor. There is a significant amount of animation, but there are skimpy spots. While the game does not (thankfully) stoop to using actual comic panels, there are many scenes where action is limited to talking heads and off-screen sound effects. This is especially true in the side quest sections, a couple of which feel very lazily thrown together. Aside from this skimping there are plenty of spectacular real-time action cut scenes and pre-rendered cut scenes. For the first game from a new IP, this game has significant production values.

Tying into the comic book style, there is visual onomatopoeia all over the game. It is quirky and it works. Hearing and reading the "Boom" when your heavy artillery p0wns the enemy is very visually rewarding. Instead of over doing the comic book metaphor, photography and books are also used. The main navigation system of the game's features is a neat and effective book interface. The controller bumpers flip pages and sections. My number one complaint of the game, design wise, is the failure to stick with this metaphor which worked. When you go into the "Headquarters" section you are suddenly dumped into a non-book interface and this was entirely unnecessary. Not the kind of thing that ruins the game experience, just a missed opportunity.

The US voice acting is very good. There are a couple of places where the text translation was off, and the voice acting matches the error, but these are minor. Only two small mistakes stick in my mind, and I tend to be fairly critical of such things. I was very pleased to find that the original Japanese dialog is included too, so true anime fans can experience the Japanese audio and English subtitles.

For the most part, Valkyria Chronicles is a musical treat. There are some less memorable scores. The music is evocative, and appropriate. I tend not to dwell too much on music for a game. Either it is great, OK, or horrible. In the case of this game it is definitely somewhere on the great end of the spectrum.

The controls are mostly good. The analog detection could stand to be better because some actions require very fine movement and each step costs action points. Camera controls and movement get a little trickier for tanks, but are consistent once you get the hang of it. Valkyria Chronicles does a good job of mixing real time and turn based play. Each side in a conflict takes turns, but during each turn the opponent has certain opportunities to automatically react. This is reminiscent of AD&D's "attack of opportunity" mechanic. So long as you don't move into range of enemy fire, you have plenty of time to stop, look around, and plan your moves. This facility more than makes up for the limitation of a third person camera (which I prefer, I hate first person cameras).

Aside from being more historical-science fiction in theme than most fantasy JPRGs; there are classes, levels, experience points, equipment upgrades, and a lot of other JRPG staples in Valkyria Chronicles. All of these elements work well. None seem shoe horned. The game does a nice job of balancing diverse options for customizing your group without going overboard. There is a strong mechanical reason to always include certain main characters in your squad, and in some scenarios certain characters are not optional, but for the most part deployment is at the player's whim.

The classes feel well designed, though it can take some time before the value of each is apparent. It wasn't until the very end of the game that I learned (read, was forced to learn) the real strength of one class. A nice feature of Valkyria Chronicles though is that most battle scenarios can be beaten in a number of different ways, utilizing the strengths of different classes.

This bish is going to punish you.

My final thought on game play, while I would not call anything that the computer does "cheap", there are definitely some glitchy features in the game which can be frustrating. The scenarios can be punishingly hard at times. Most scenarios feel designed to be lost the first time you play through unless you fully know what to expect. In all fairness, I feel like the designers did a reasonable job building on the player's knowledge of what is possible. There will be WTF moments, expect these and just fucking deal with it.

It is a story about a war after all, just grit your teeth and bear through it.

If nothing else, you can save in the middle of a battle if you really don't like surprises. I never did this, but sometimes I wished I had. For the most part I feel like the game helped me learn from my mistakes which is good in a tactical game. One thing I have mixed feeling about was the fact that there seemed to be just as many player exploitable glitches in Valkyria Chronicles as computer triggered glitches. In retrospect it was actually fun to discover the shortcomings of the computer AI, sometimes glaringly stupid limitations.

Storywise this game shines, mostly. There are some moments that take some getting used to. Alicia's monologue early in the game didn't really work for me until it was revisited later in the game. It seemed very two-dimensional from the onset, but once I got to know the character it was just a reflection of her simple (but not flat) nature. For the most part the story is predictable, but unless you read spoilers there should be a few surprises along the way. I finished the game with a sense of closure and a slight desire to keep playing the after-game, the later of which is rare for me.

On the first play through I was not very happy to find out that most story missions cannot be replayed, but the limitation is removed on a player's second time through and levels and equipment are retained. The second go round is an extra special treat, which is nice fan service.

I also really liked some of the side-quest material. Mediocre JRPGs throw meaningless tasks into the mix, but most of the optional material in Valkyria Chronicles really added to the experience.

Given the features discussed for the sequel (such as more class branching/specialization) I'm really excited for the PSP installation to come out. I feel like Valkyria Chronicles would have made a better PSP title, but on the other hand there is a lot to be said for the clear and crisp high definition rendering that you just won't get out of the PSP. Even attached to a large screen, I don't think the PSP visuals are going to pack the same punch. They will probably be excellent for the PSP screen, and as long as it delivers more of the same fun to-go that is all I can really ask for.

So for Valkyria Chronicles, I can whole heartedly say Own It.

Yikies!

2010-01-22T13:23:00.000-08:00

We're overdue!

The latest buzz is the rumored Apple tablet, though I'll believe it when I see it. In the realm of more tangible items however, there are a plethora of new games slated to be released soon, so I hope you have your various consoles all in working order.

Meanwhile I shall be engrossed with my attempts at world domination in Civilization 4 which I have found can be purchased on Steam (along with its various expansions). Maybe I'll get my skill level beyond chieftain and move on to playing online, but who knows.

If a more passive form of entertainment is to your liking, I have recently found out that Hulu has some old classics such as Buck Rogers and some old 80's cartoons that I had forgotten about. (We shall not speak of the Zelda cartoon.... we shall not speak of the Zelda cartoon...)

That's all I can think of at the moment. Not as esoteric as You Are Truth's posts; but hopefully will wet your appetite.

Musing of the day.

2010-01-12T19:51:00.000-08:00

So, how to you spell STFU GTFO in fanboylish?

How about a Vanillaware 2D side scrolling MMO?

One can dream on. Right?

(And no, there is no plan for any such thing to my knowledge. It just came up in conversation the other day.)

New year, New attempt

2010-01-07T08:12:00.000-08:00

I suppose a new year is a good a reason as any to try posting regularly again. Games are what I speak of the most right now, so lets run with that.

* Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma (PS3)

Picked this one up on a whim. The online multiplayer is a nice option but not sure I'll ever get the chance to try it. I'd never played any of the current generation Ninja Gaiden games, so was curious about the insane difficulty that these games supposedly have. Well, after playing this game for about an hour, I'm going to say that it's not necessary hard, it's just frustrating, and on purpose. The control of your character is stiff and clumsy at times, and that seems like the major cause of any issues you might have. It seems either very difficult or impossible to dodge or move while you are attacking an enemy, and so I frequently find myself being stabbed in the back while I'm trying to kill someone. Had the controls allowed for a little more fluid transition between attacking, dodging, and defending, I think the game would still be very difficult, but in the sense of being challenging, not unfair.

* Borderlands (PS3)

Purchased at the insistence of my older brother and completely worth the investment. This is the first game that he and I have been able to play online cooperatively (mainly because he got a PS3 while I got an Xbox 360 intially).

Essentially Diablo 2 as a FPS, this game is a good deal of fun, and it does a good job of remaining challenging and enjoyable when played as either single player or multiplayer. My only major complaint is the final boss and the ending, which seemed to have absolutely no connection to the story or even to the setting of the game. No explanation or reasoning is given for it either before or afterwards, and that really bothered me. Others may not enjoy that the only replay value is either playing through again on higher difficulty or as a different character, but for someone that enjoyed playing through Diablo 2 (and other similar games) numerous times, I don't mind it.

* Star Ocean: The Last Hope (Xbox 360)

Ugh. I purchased this game way back in April or May of 2009 because I really wanted to play an RPG on the Xbox. A recent release, it seemed like a decent game based on initial impressions and some stuff I'd read. I had never really been that impressed with the Star Ocean series, but that was mainly due to an attempt to play one of the older PS1 versions several years ago. I figured it deserved another attempt. The later purchase of more coveted games later caused me to ignore this game for a long time until I at last picked it back up around November.

The biggest issues are the voice acting and the story. I don't mind English voice actors, but often times I prefer the Japanese simply because they're better at it and actually put effort into it. Sadly, this game was English voice only, and oh god, are they ever bad. The voices match the characters reasonably well, but the talent is lacking, and the cutscenes suffer for it. The lousy character animations don't help the cutscenes either. Movements are stiff and often comical.

The story is just rather blah, and the worst part is the main character is so utterly disinteresting that it's painful to watch. A typical young hero, typical sudden shove into a commanding role, typical heroic breakdown, and then his path/reasoning for getting out of that breakdown is so completely ridiculous that it just ruins it. I feel like if I had played previous Star Oceans that it would be more interesting because certain story elements obviously reference stuff from previous games, but overall the story is just poorly written and executed.

The battle system takes a good bit of getting used to, and honestly it's not that bad. A few minor changes is really all it would have needed to remove some of the minor frustrations. Other annoyances are the usual collecting/crafting/finding side quests and systems that nearly every game feels the need to include these days. Developing recipes for crafting seems very random, and actually crafting something often uses items that either require pointless grinding, or just aren't available until very very late in the game.

And final nail in the coffin? Late in the game on Disc 3, you have the ability to return to previous areas/planets to finish quests, find items, whatever. However, counter to all logic and precedence, going to a previous planet requires inserting Disc 1 or Disc 2. Yea, there's no chance in hell I'm going to start disc-swapping over and over just to finish a little bit of content. So that's the end of that.

* For the Future

* Re-visit games I haven't touched in several months for varying reasons. Mass Effect, BioShock, and Valkyria Chronicles are the major ones.
* May pick up Zelda: Spirit Tracks and Assassin's Creed 2.
* And hopefully I'll be able to get into the beta for Final Fantasy XIV. No idea when that starts, but my application is in, so we'll see.

Feh, I'm playing Valkyria Chronicles, what is your excuse?

2010-01-04T09:25:00.000-08:00

Not that anyone cares, but I have not exactly been on top of the Hot Shit posts lately. It isn't that I don't have stuff lined up, I'm just not sure how worth the effort it is. I might start posting HS in onesies as I find them/have time.

I guess I'm just getting old. Of course ever single game blog had their own "Best/Worst/Most Overlooked of 2009" posts but frankly I'm still trying to catch up with 2008. Right now I'm playing Valkyria Chronicles, and when I'm done with that I still have an unopened Muramasa to whip out. I just barely had time this holiday season to play through the Water + Pirates of the Caribbean Little Big Planet expansion.

I'm pretty happy with Valkyria Chronicles. When I first downloaded the demo I had a bit of failure in imagination to see the potential of the game. It is fairly low-key production wise. The production wasn't flamboyantly budgeted title like FFXIII by any stretch if the imagination, and it shows. There are dialog scenes where a lot is left to the imagination. The difficulty is also a little erratic (so far) from mission to mission and it can be pretty harsh/cheap at times. Over all I'm hooked and hope that the sequel for PSP and the Anime find their way to this region.

Maybe I need to bite the bullet and get Braid. Maybe that'll unlock some dormant ability for me to manipulate time.

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T12:46:00.003-08:00

Here's hoping everyone has a happy new year!

Stay tuned for more Hot Shit of the Week!

Twittering Towards Extacy: You Can Use Twitter For That?

2009-12-16T18:54:00.000-08:00

Technology is great, but I am a strong believer that what you do with it is much more important than what you use. I've been playing around with different innovative uses of Twitter, my latest experiment: see if I can utilize Twitter to use my ADD (no &) tendancy with D&D (with &) to my advantage rather than disadantage. The solution: a Twitter account for my character. It serves as both a game log and an outlet for my boredom... that is semi-on topic.

Introducing Oro Borios.

We'll have to see how it works out. I'll send an update eventually, but I think the page speaks for itself.

Hot Shit Of The Week - Eggnog Glug Glug 2009 Edition

2009-12-13T18:31:00.000-08:00

In between weekend parties I've been scouring the internets hard to find some really good stuff for this week. It takes a lot of deliberation to find just the right hot shit, and I'm still trying to find the right tone and voice for the feature. For the most part Hot Shit Of the Week stays on the up and up. It is here to show the best, not snipe the worse. Old School Hot Shit will be an occasional separate single post, probably mid-week. It is naturally snarky feature so Hot Shit Of the Week will be more positive from now on.

First Up: Google Reader

I am convinced that one day Google is going to turn evil, and while it is entirely possible that day has already come you can't fault a company for having good products, especially when those good products are buck naked free.

When it comes to technology, some people will say there are enthusiasts and luddites. I tend to think it isn't that simple. The choice of when to adopt any new technology isn't a yes-or-no-one-size-fits-all question. You can be way ahead of the curve, but a lot of the time that means you'll spend far too much time dealing with the early adopter's growing pains. RSS is one of those technologies where I was certain it was going to take root eventually, but didn't adopt until it had already gone main stream. I've used a number of RSS solutions, but Google Reader is the best compromise of features and simplicity I have found. It makes a great solution alone, or in combination with a good desktop application.

One of the things that was always a pain in desktop RSS applicaitons was keeping a collection of subscriptions in sync cross multiple computers. The better clients had export/import features, but with Google Reader that isn't neccesary. You can manage your subscriptions centrally and there is only one feed to configure on each client no matter where you go. The sharing and starring is also a really nice feature. Combined with some other hot tools I'll be talking about in future weeks, Google Reader is what makes Hot Shit possible. I can star something I find and then when I'm ready to complie a list of Hot Shit it's right there.

Next Up: Cute Overload

Who doesn't love good clean humor? Now maybe I'm just getting old, but I can't help but wince a little with the moden movement in humor. Sure rude, irreverant, and even sacrelegious gags are funny now and again but some where around 1997 things got a little out of hand and over a decade later they are just getting worse.

One breath of fresh air amidst all these fart and Jesus jokes is Cute Overload. It's like Breaking Bad News With Baby Animals, without the bad news. Every day cute images come flooding in, some of which are also quite humorous. I can't say that they have ever made me ROTFL, but often a chuckle or smile. I'll take a guilt free chuckle over a cheap Lolercopter any day.

Moving Along: Bento!

Why should the Japanese have all the fun? If I did New Years resolutions, mine would be to make my lunch more often. I don't (do resolutions), but really do hope that in the future I do (make my lunch).

Not that I'd have time to be this creative with my lunch, pretty much ever, but the bento artist at Anna The Red's Bento Factory is a truely genious source of inspriation. You always have to wonder how edible some of the creations are. Some are totaly convincing.. others you just have to wonder what some of the detials are made of.

I'd also feel bad while eating it...really bad...as I ate the whole thing. I think the phrase, "Nom Nom Nom." is fitting.

Finally: Web Designer Depot

Now normally I don't go for sites like this and it is definately special interest, but I found this site through a friend on Google Reader and it is a good mix of web design showcase, web industry tips, and just generally interesting links.

The down side to Web Designer Depot is they tend to post very LONG articles. Sometimes they break things with their ginormity.

The semi-eclectic feel of this blog is great. It has a focus, but switches things up a bit each week. There is something to be said from following a formula, but I think we can all learn from a good directed sense of aventure in writing.

Hot Shit Of The Week - So it is December Now 2009 Edition

2009-12-06T20:51:00.000-08:00

With November, NaNoWriMo, and a heck of a lot of Turkey out of the way it is time to look towards the holiday season. While you're busy running around present shopping, or dealing with the other nuts out there present shopping please keep in mind that studies have shown materialism results in very poor satisfaction and quality of life. What does to lead to satisfaction? Research shows activities that generate life experiences are a significant contributor to feelings of satisfaction. That is what Hot Shit Of the Week is about, helping you find things that will help you create positive life experiences on a shoe string budget.

First Up: Print and Play Games

Board games are fun, and while a thoroughly tested and professional produced game can be great there is something to be said about free. Board game geek has a great collection of downloadable "print and play" games. They range from simple to involved, and players can simply use black and white print outs on cheap paper stock for some of these games. Others require a little more time investment. Any of the games using cards work better if placed in a plastic card sleeve (you can get hundreds of these sleeves for less than a couple of bucks from some merchants) and enforce with a playing card, or some other thick paper stock.

The boards might require glue, and for the more die-hard fans a color print out is nice. The nice thing about this return to home-made gaming is that players can put as little or as much investment into their playing sets as they want. Long live the days of house rules and creativity.

Next Up: Know Your Meme

I get told a lot by friends and coworkers that follow me on Twitter or that I'm connected to on Facebook that they often have no clue what the hell I am talking about. Sometimes it is just because I'm being random. Other times it is because I'm talking about something technical. More often than not however I'm talking in a totaly different language that looks like English, but isn't.

It's Inglish, the language spoken by leets all over the world that know a lot more about what is going on than most of you sorry people. Unfortunately there are no books on learning Inglish, it is a living and very fast moving language. Some sites like "urban dictionary" and "encyclopedia dramatica" are a good way to brush up on your Inglish but they are not for the faint of heart. Fortunately there is now a work safe site with quality controlled content to help you get ahead in life: Know Your Meme.

Now, I will say that no single web site is going to get you well versed in Inglish. You'd have to read the whole Internet to do that, and there are some pretty damned scary places out there. You can however significantly improve your cool factor, no caps lock required, and this is one site that will help you do that without permanently scarring your retinas.

And Before I Forget: Old School Shit - Fun

I have to say that things were starting to look bleak back in 2008. It was a horrible year for the economy, but it was an even worse year for gaming. 2009 has started looking up a bit. Still a lot of games with high-profiles have had one critical flaw: they lack fun.

Graphics are important, I'm not going to lie and pretend I don't totally spaz out when I see an awesome looking game. Graphics and sound play a very important role in keeping players engaged in a game. They are important. What is more important however is a sense of novelty and fun, and that can only be maintained if you properly apply challenge. With game companies laying staff off left and right, and the utter crap that has infested the game industry in the past few years one really has to wonder: "are these companies really getting rid of and hiring the right people?"

The differentiation of games by challenge level has become a bit of a theme in 2009, the most blatant example of which was Demon's Souls which touted a ridiculous difficulty level. A lot of other casual games, with either low challenge levels or a variety of challenge options have surged. It isn't enough for gamers to be fragmented by genre, they now apparently need to be divided by factors like time investment and willingness to hit their head against a wall.

The key factor here is enjoyment. Even my spouse, who really isn't a gamer, will play Farmville, Cafe World, and now Island Paradise for hours on end. Game makers are finding new ways to bring in non-gamers. That is great. I suspect we will see more of the same for years to come. NC Soft has a very exciting looking MMO in the works, Squeenix is working on their next big MMO, and pretty much every genre of game is making a come back as developers rediscover new avenues for old niches. The lines are blurring, this is an exciting time.

The biggest thing that I can't stress enough is stick to your guns when it comes to games. If it isn't fun, don't be suckered by anything else. Try games out before you buy them if you're not absolutely sure it'll be worth it. Don't reward game companies for delivering a polished turd unless that is what you really wanted.

Finally: Pattern Cooler

One of the nice things about slacking off (about posting to this blog anyway) for a whole month is that it gave me time to generate a nice backlog of links to work from. Some of the sites, especially ones that are aggregation of hot shit, cause my anti-virus software to be not too happy. Instead of sharing those directly I may start generating my own resources, but that is a project that goes a bit beyond simple blogging. Don't get me wrong, blogger is nice and all, but it isn't really the best tool for heavy duty finesse.

This week's final resource is one that didn't make my virus protection throw a fit, and it is a neat little resource for generating background images: Pattern Cooler. You can choose from a wide variety of starting patterns (166 currently) and alter the colors, alter the colors and zoom, and then generate your own custom background. Not as cool as being able to use desktop image applications to generate your own background, but some of the designs are neat none-the-less.

Prodigal Blogger Returns

2009-12-02T19:18:00.000-08:00

OK, so I am man enough to admit when I have fuxed up.

All November I could have been posting, but no. I decided I was going to NaNoWriMo. Well guess what?

Hell yeah. 50,000 words isn't anything to snuff at either. Now I am not saying that I have the next Harry Potter on my hands, but I think the manuscript has some potential. Granted, it'll take another month's worth of editing to get it to that point. Right now, I don't got that kind of time. I got a blog to run.

Hot Thanksgiving Shit of the Week

2009-11-24T14:44:00.000-08:00

Because I didn't want to leave our readers w/o any sort of shit to stew over for this week; I present a fun Will It Blend!?

Enjoy!

404 - Hot Shit Not Found

2009-11-15T21:06:00.000-08:00

No time to post Hot Shit of the Week now. Life is crazy and I'm trying to get caught up in my NaNoWriMo. Please accept instead this bouquet of pugnolias and my apologies instead.

Thx,

The management on the run from clowns that eat people with bad time management skills.

Hot Shit of The Week - Cold, Wet, Dreary November 2009 Edition

2009-11-01T18:49:00.000-08:00

With the holiday season fast approaching, it warrants note that for the most part HSOTW does not focus on commercialistic products. Sure, we will plug a really good deal from time to time, but "cheap/free" is one of our main criteria for hot shit.

Also, there won't (likely) be a HSOTW next weekend. I'll be at MACE, and you can bet at least one of the entries for the following week will be a board/card/non-electronic game of some kind.

A final note, we're going to drop one item from the weekly regiment. Five hot shits every week is just a little much considering all the disappointments out there. Some weeks will have an "Old School Shit" and others will have a "Moving Along" segment.

First Up: Library Thing

If you don't love books, there is something wrong with you. Sure, Kindles are fine. Ebooks... OK, but when it comes to books there is a clear distinction between the physical item and the electronic. Video media in its many forms illustrates this distinction quite well. It makes significantly less difference to many if they own the DVD, or get it through Netflix. If the content is available ownership often seems secondary. While it is sometimes the case that people will signify with their video collection, it is still quite a bit more common to see books performing this role.

Out of all of the options for online management of books, Library Thing has a number of features that put it a cut above the rest. It is highly portable and inter-operable, has tons of community features, and is the place-to-be for book lovers. The main reason one might pick a different locale to catalog their collections is the limitation on the free account. 200 titles is a bit of a show-stopper, but fortunately the site offers lifetime memberships and at really reasonable rates.

Next Up: Picture Is Unrelated

Of all the blogs that I frequent, few pick-up or ruin my day quite as much as Picture Is Unrelated. This site regularly features irregular images ranging from mildly perturbing to majorly disturbing. There does seem to be a little less emphasis at this site on "genuine" images, meaning those that are un-photoshopped, but the vast majority are either sincere or well done enough that they allow for at least a few seconds of mental breakdown.

For the most part these are singular rips in space a time, but some can be tracked via other sources to actual real world phenomena, such as the "telephone sheep" of this past week. Quick, easy, and usually painless: it is sites like Picture Is Unrelated that truly embody the New Internet.

Moving Along: Rather Good Stuff

On the subject of WTF, there are a number of rather good YouTube videos out there by Rather Good Stuff. When I say "out there", I mean it literally. These are the folks you may remember from a few years back with the oddly irritating Quiznos Commercials. Really, many of their videos are hit or miss and the content appropriateness is also all over the radar. Still, there are a number of videos they have released that are cute and broadly age appropriate. There are also a number of very un-funny duds.

If you need a few random videos to round out a party playlist (as I did) then you might just find what you're looking for here.

Finally: EyeMaze

It should be no secret I like indie games. EyeMaze however takes this love to a whole new level, and in part because the designer was doing it way before it was "cool". The Grow series of games at this site has been a shining example of simple game design. Always a welcome distraction, it is a happy day when a new game is released at EyeMaze. Fun knows no barriers here, not even language. Perhaps game publishers could learn a thing or two and stop trying to artificially divide players into locked regions.

Hot Shit of The Week - Unseasonably Hot October 2009 Edition

2009-10-25T14:34:00.000-07:00

It's been a great month and the hot shit just keeps on coming. To start out this week's post I thought it might be good to explain the process used to determine what constitutes hot shit. There are three simple rules:

No hype. To be hot shit worthy, something has to be substantially available.
Cool, Useful, Hilarious, Cheap/Free, or Entertaining: pick two.
It's only geeky if you're ashamed of it. It's only a fad if you stop caring about it.

Now with that little bit of administrivia out of the way I'm very excited to get started with this week's Hot Shit.

First Up: Hey Ash Whacha Playin'?

Love'em or hate'em, Destructiod has some pretty good content. If it wasn't such a chaotic site, Destructiod might even be a good alternative to the game-site-I-hate-to-use-but-pretty-much-have-to, IGN. Excessive poop humor and findability aside, Hey Ash Whacha Playin'? is a great video series starring an oppositionally defiant female gamer and her brother. If I thought my parents would buy me something from online, this would definitely be on my Christmas list.

As with most web series the episodes are short and of variable length. Comedy is spotty, but they do a great job of building on the gags. Poop humor gradually becomes actually funny. There is an occasional dud, but my harshest criticism is over use of foul language which doesn't really do much to add to the comedic effect. Hey Ash is a charming and clearly an indie production unlike a number of other semi-/para-/quasi-professional web series out there.

The biggest challenge in being a fan of Hey Ash Whatcha Playin' is finding episodes and figuring out what order they are best watched in. Eighteen dollars seems highly reasonable for their DVD release, but not having purchased it yet I can't say that with any certainty.

Next Up: Fat Princess

While you might never see an Xbox exclusive game make it onto the Hot Shit list, that is not because there are no such titles that deserve it. It is because I don't own an Xbox, I'll never own one (unless someone is feeling generous), and I very rarely have the opportunity to play on someone else's. Techno-political issues and politically correct game concepts aside it is great to see developers that work really hard to provide a good online multi-player experience like the kids at Titan Studios.

Earlier this week details for the 1.03 patch were announced. This update comes almost three months after the US release and includes a number of attempts to fix social and technical issues with the online multi-player. Designing games with online competitive ranking is hard. There are always going to be rude-ocd-wankers out there that will use every cheap-ass bug in the game and play the system to boost their score while sucking the fun out of it for the rest of us. It is the kind of thing that impossible to eliminate, but Titian is doing a really good job of addressing it and some of their solutions are down right creative.

To boot the official word is that the 1.03 update will include, for free, the New Pork map which has set the Fat Princess community a buzz. There is still no word on when for-pay content will be added to Fat Princess, but this is a case where free is infinitely more fun than paid.

Fat Princess is currently one of the more expensive PSN download only titles at $14.99 US. It is however worth it. The solo play is very fun and disappointingly short, but provided you have a good Internet connection the online play can make it well worth it.

Moving Along: Passive Aggressive Notes

First oppositional defiance and now passive aggressiveness? This week's hot shit sure is chocked full of social disorders. Passive Aggressive Notes is another in a long line of recommended blogs you'll see here in Hot Shit of The Week. Some of the material there is weak, but it is a lot harder to prove a fake passive aggressive note (PAN) than a photo shopped image. The humor also often requires some shared social experience.

Passive aggressive behavior is much more funny if it relates to something one has dealt with personally. Most of the notes follow common situations: retail stores, roommates, dating. The real gems are the ones that make you wonder just how pathological people can be before they are labeled insane.

And Before I Forget: Old School Shit - Timing

It is critical in comedy, in business, in life: It's Timing. Don't be too early or you're wasting time and likely resources, but don't be too late because that is just a missed opportunity. Timing is also about appropriateness. If you start a slow clap at the wrong time, you're going to look like an idiot. You can't bring back old fads too early either.

Here are some things everyone can brush up on to improve their timing skills:

The running head start - People that try to go from zero to sixty instantly often wind up flat on their face. If you want to look like a pro, practice. The clever thing to do is find ways to practice in a value added way, without looking like a fool.

Know your windows - With timing there is a window of opportunity. Sometimes it is like Rock Band: the closer to optimum the better. Other times it is like Blackjack and you either hedge our bets or play it safe with good enough. More often than not however it is just better to make it somewhere in the window while balancing other commitments. Avoid sweating the details whenever possible.

Under commit, over deliver - It can be hard to sell a course of action that looks padded, but a good start is to hold your cards close. Don't give away all of the aces. Who ever it is you're trying to impress, they will be more pleased with a pleasant surprise than slipping deadlines. Without slack, there is no control over timing.

Finally: More Indies, Indies, Indies, Indies

There are commercial games, indies, and then Real Indies. Don't get me wrong. I am very exicted that full-scale indie-feeling games are being released commercially. It is like bread and butter: commercial games are the bread and indie games are the butter. When the two come together it is SOOOOO GOOD.

On the other hand, sometimes you just want butter. Free games are not indie games. Some of them are just commercial games that lacked that certain something or were made for the sole purpose of pushing paid advertising and drawing potential convertible customers. Real indies are a whole-nother innovative breed. Today I Die, and the other games at Daniel Benmergui's Ludomancy are a great example of really-really indie.

To add to this, it really feels like we are on the creative cusp where more people will be empowered to go from entertainment consumers to entertainment producers. It is a really exciting place to be.

Hot Shit Of The Week - We Survived Half of October, Where It My Candy? 2009 Edition

2009-10-18T10:52:00.000-07:00

Halloween is getting pretty close, not to mention the end of the year. It is kind of exciting to think about how things will go in 2010 what with people getting Google Wave invites and all. Few things are more exciting than watching people type to you in real time! You could be using that time to multi-task: either getting real work done or plowing your fields in Farmville. But hey, we all know how overrated multi-tasking it over rated. I think once I do get into Google Wave I'll probably type all my responses to people in a different window and cut paste, really blow their minds.

First Up: Making Anything "Micro"

So we've covered "micro-Blogging" with Twitter, but there are so many more things in life that need to be shrunk down because we just can't handle it: like the plight of people less fortunate than us. No more sending money to Sally Struthers for me! Now there is Kiva. This is a great way to help other people, and you get to keep giving because Kiva is a communal loan. The people you help get what they need and pay back the loan so it can go to help others.

And even better, you pick where it all goes. This is a convenient, online, non-socialist, and to help out people all other the world. And it real helping, not Farmville friend helping. Thanks Micro-Fairy, that is more more thing that can productively be integrated into my busy lifestyle.

Next Up: Raindropmemory

Here at SWML we are very proud of our month long tradition of pointing out some of the great creative talents on the internet. This week's Hot Shit includes a very talented graphic artist from Deviant Art: Raindropmemory. This guy is a great illustrator, but he's done some icon sets that are truly outstanding, including a fantasy/rpg themed icon set, Legendora, that quite frankly rocked my socks.

There is a lot of versatility in RDM's style. It is soft, warm, and friendly with a heaping spoonful of playfulness with texture. I'm definitely keeping my eye on this deviant artist. Hopefully there will be more great art and icon sets to come.

Moving Along: Hack A Day

There are lots of RSS feeds that people need to know about. Some of them are funny, some are informative, and some just have occasional jems that are just too neat. Hack A Day is one of the later. From old school to new wave, these guys are all over the technology map. The hacks range from emulation, to basic generation of electricity, and even things with no electronic parts what so ever. To top this off this blog posts multiple types a day typically so there is a constant stream of neat information.

It is not uncommon that they go on particular tangents from time to time, like RFID, or micro-bots, but most geeks can at least appreciate these even if they are a little less awe inspiring. Some of the things are practically do it yourself. Many are probably beyond the casual hacker's ability, and some are clearly "do not try this at home". All in all, Hack A Day is the coolest geeky how-to source.

And Before I Forget: Old School Hot Shit - Being On Top Of Shit

One of the great things about the Internet is people will practically read your mind and do what you want about 25% of the time. This saves a lot of time and effort, so long as you know how to use Google, or troll the right forums, just happen to subscribe to the right RSS feeds.... *wink*

You can imagine my delight when someone shared this gem: Dozens and Dozens of decent-to-good freeware games and links to many many more. We've all seen them, and most of us are lucky enough to have friends that share cool things like this with us. So if you want to be in the know, here is our SWML Twelve Step Process to never being bored again:

U need teh Internets. No internets? How the hell are you reading this blog?
Find a forum of like minded gamers. It is recommended that you avoid Digimon Cults.
Subscribe to some RSS feeds.
If you have real life friends, find out what online communities they go to and team troll with them.
Try to keep up. Most online forums have tools to help you track conversations and _search_.
Get smarter, learn the tools of your RSS aggregator. What? It is called Google Reader.
Google, also good for _search_.
Make sure you keep those connections with real life friends. What good is staying on top of trends if you can't show off at parties or other social gatherings?
Occasionally sluff off dead weight: sites/feeds/friends/interests that are just not cutting it any more. No matter how good you get you're never going to be able to stay on top of things if you get stretched too thin.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy getting almost everything online for free. This does not include downloading stuff illegally.
Pay bills, because if you don't there won't be any Internet. You don't want to be that homeless person that practically lives at the library because it is the only window into the ether.
Devalue anything/anyone that doesn't have a URL. Everything MUST have a URL, even if it is one you created.

Working your way up through these twelve steps you'll find life in the ether is much better than real life... that is until a power/network outage.

Finally: Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog

Ok, I admit this one is a bit weak. It IS funny in parts and it is a great find. Hulu is a great source for all kinds of things like this. Is has a good sense of meta-theatrics, it is cute, and it has Neil Patrick Harris so it has to be pretty good.... it's DR. HORRIBLE'S SING ALONG BLOG. There is a 90% chance this is well worth 45 minutes of your life.

And is if just me or is Doogie Howser getting OLD? I mean he's only 6 years older than I am so I hope I age a little better. Is he trying to catch up to House? The mind boggles.

So until next time, try to keep up! Hope everyone gets their Google Wave invites!

Hot Shit of The Week - Crap I Procrastinated Again October 2009 Edition

2009-10-11T22:31:00.000-07:00

This is supposed to be a weekend thing, but it is technically now Monday. Oh well. Life gets busy and shit happens. Even Hot Shit. A lot of our first posts are not very timely things. I'm hoping to make things more recent-only shits soon, but for now there are so many great things to catch up on, so here we go TRY TO KEEP UP!

First Up: Topless Robot

There are a lot of more well know blogs I follow, and at some point I will be posting about all of them, but I wanted to share a less well known but really entertaining blog first. Topless Robot is a daily dose of really geeky news, and they almost always post something really interesting at least once a day.

From cartoons and comics to sci-fi and fantasy, this is a throughly geek entertainment focused blog. It isn't too negative or angsty (unlike here) and it isn't too fan-boy. Nice, well rounded, all around nerdy.

Next Up: FUCKING TWITTER

I don't normally advocate a specific technology, and if there was anything as awesome in competition this would not just be about Twitter.

Now it isn't the 140 character, bullshit that I love. Sometimes I want 145 characters! or 148! What I love is the API and SMS integration. Twitter updates my facebook. I can track multiple twitter accounts with things like Gwibber and Brizzly (the jury is still out on Brizzly). I can follow the people I really care about on my cellphone, and even update my Twitter AND Facebook from my totally cheapass featureless cellphone.

Twitter has a ways to go to be really mass market friendly. It isn't quite an IM solution, and it isn't Facebook (thankfully). I don't buy into the micro-blogging notion. It is really more of a status-update-semi-public-chat system. I don't quite know what Twitter is, but I've been using it for over a year now and I LOVE IT.

Moving Along: Internet TV, esp. Fullmetal Alchemist

I told my mom (no I don't live with her, I visit monthly) when Funimation first started airing Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood episodes, online, subtitled, the same week they air on Japanese TV, that it was about the best thing that could happen to me. She thought I was either being silly or exagerating. I am full on serious. It is great that we are getting this pretty well done version of one of my top 5 favorite stories (and the number one on going story) so close to real time. It is an affront to so many things that I really don't like.

Granted, I am NOT A FAN of Funimation personaly. It is more of a love-hate thing. Funimation does things that are really dumb and piss me off, but it is clear they are trying to make fans happy in the process of taking their money hand over fist. So few companies even try. I am not, however a fan of modern fan-sub culture. I am also not a fan of the commercial ignorance that has lead to the wide spread success and dare-I-say neccessity of fan-subbing. Region controlled media is on its death bed. LET IT DIE. It is backwards. I lothe people that embrace the illusion of control. Demon be gone!

...and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is pretty cool too. I am really hoping that we are not headed for a grind-filler fest. The pace is slowing. I can FEEL it. I have charted the time line between the anime and manga in my head. I dread it.

And Before I Forget: Old School Hot Shit - Check Your Shit

Let me just say that I am fully glad to live in these complicated times. Sure it is a bloody violent world out there, and people all over the worlds are total douche bags, but there is one thing that makes me very happy: AUTO-SAVE and ONLINE BACKUPS. If you are a programmer, or involved with any kind of "product" you need to CHECK THE FUCKING SHIT YOU ARE SELLING/PUSHING and make sure it is Y2009 compliant. If you won't have auto-save, you are an ass wipe.

Now my friends at Blogger and Google, THEY GET THIS SHIT. They have auto-save, and they do a pretty damned good job of letting me know when it IS and IS NOT working. I have sadly been using some other programs for things like E-mail and Blogging because either my job doesn't give me much choice, or I'm trying to be a good boy and play ball with other people.

I've also been having a hell of a time trying to keep my shit in order. I love using Tomboy, but the syncronization feature is just plain gimped and lame. A friend of mine('s husband) suggested Dropbox and OMG, it is spot on. It is Lots of Copies Keeps Things Safe (LOCKS) done right! I fully expect that I will be getting the paid version with more quota one day, but the free version has made me a very happy person.

Finally: Hot Topic

Yeah it is a bit cliche, but these guys have the best tee shirts and occasionally other novelty wear. I will buy cool things online when I don't have a choice, but I guess I am one of the few ~~people~~ guys that dislikes shopping online, but they have a pretty kick-ass online store too.

Hot Topic Link. OMG PLEASE TOTALY IGNORE THAT NEW MOON CRAP ON THE FRONT PAGE> SRY! Also please ignore the stupid Java technology they use to run their store front. Yikes, someone needs to learn how to properly configure Tomcat.

Virtual shopping hang ups aside, a few months ago they had really awsome gothy kilts for guys. There is a constant supply of video game and cartoon related merchandise as well. This week the big find was Battle Toads! Sadly they have a ~~better~~ more awesome selection for the girls than for guys, but stalking their clearance rack is my second favorite shopping activity next to Target's clothes and electronics clearnance.

Until next week, keep it hawt!

Cold Shit of the Month

2009-10-08T10:29:00.000-07:00

Because I never come up with interesting topics (or that often)....

Following up on You Are Truth's post about avatars, it would seem that you may have to follow a dress code for your avatar when at use in the office.

I suppose this isn't to be unexpected; especially if you consider the kinds of things that some people will pick for their icons. Lets just hope that the various companies out there recognize that there's a degree of creativity to them and are designed to represent that individual's tastes.

I had heard long long ago (well maybe not that long ago) that there were some plans to try and make avatars able to cross more boundaries. In other words you're avatar designed in WoW would be able to interact with one in Second Life, or IMVU.... Scary thought, maybe all those 3D modeler's out there will be able to freelance work out to design your unique look.

Just some food for thought!

Hot Shit Of The Week - Kicking Off October 2009 Edition

2009-10-04T08:56:00.000-07:00

Each week, Stuff White Mages Like endeavors to link you the hottest things you may not know about, but probably should. These discoveries run the gamut of geekdom: games, trends, merchants, and intertainment (internet/entertainment). We tend to focus on things that are free or significantly under hyped. If you find something that is Hot Shit, we'd like to hear about it.

First Up: Downloadpedia

Need to find a particular piece of FREE software, but don't want to stare at a billion ads for sponsored commercial software you definitely DO NOT WANT? Downloadpedia is one such source. They have a large repository of links to genuinely free software and include good commercial software, but don't push it.

As with any *pedia you have to consider the legitimacy of any community submitted information, and as with any software downloading anti-virus is a must. For those that want a quick searching experience, there is always Google. For everyone else wanting a little more certainty and third party opinion in their initial result set, there is Downloadpedia.

Next Up: Cloud

No, we are not talking about cloud computing. This is the spiritual predecessor to the PS3 hit Flower, developed by the same core team prior to their contract with Sony. Cloud is a free windows game download that takes you on a short adventure up into the sky. It is pretty easy to see where Flower got a lot of its style and ambient feel from. The cut-scene visuals and music are highly reminiscent (or technically preminiscent) of the more well known title.

Cloud does have its quirks, namely the mechanics and control scheme are not as smooth as Flower. It is also quite short with only four story mode levels. The games mechanics are more involved than Flower, but not completely explained to sufficient clarity within the game. There is a lot of potential in the mechanics, but they are not as rich as one might expect from a commercial game and not a simple as in Flower. It does have an edit mode, and the level data saves to a reasonably clear XML file format, so there is definitely cult community potential (though admittedly low due to the aforementioned shallowness of mechanics).

Moving Along: Ubuntu

So, I do apologize to the multitudes of people out there that know of or use Linux. This isn't exactly news to many of you. Sadly there are too many people out there who have only vaguely heard of this "Ubuntu" thing, so please allow me to enlighten. Ubuntu is a free operating system that includes a wide variety of free software packages to do all the things many people just assume you have to pay for. It is not the only free solution, it is quite simply the solution that I have found to most consistently work for me out of the box or with the least troubleshooting. Out of all of the flavors of Linux, Ubuntu has caused me the least frustration.

That having been said, free is not for everyone. I also have a (1) Windows computer because there are just some things a guy needs Windows for these days, unfortunately, such as gaming. Sure, I could fight endlessly with emulation to play games made for Windows on Linux, but that is a level of obsession I'm just not at. I also have an (1) Intel Mac because I have yet to find that single piece of software that can do what Omnigraffle does as well for Linux. Rest assured, the day will come when those computers too will be formatted to install Linux, hardware life-span permitting. The real strength of Linux is it gives new life to old hardware. If you bought a computer for Windows XP and you're frustrated because it runs Windows 7 ridiculously slow, you might want to consider: a new computer for Windows 7, installing Ubuntu on the old computer, or both. The computer will likely feel faster on Ubuntu than it ever did with any Windows product.

There is a new version of Ubuntu coming out this month. I would personally recommend not downloading it the first day, or week, or even month later. Get the current (9.04) version if this is your first Linux experience. For many of the things most people want to do, Ubuntu has very easy GUI interfaces: Installing additional free and community supported software, system configuration, and security updates to name a few. Ubuntu can dual-boot, but there is always the risk that it will hose an existing boot configuration or will be hosed by something Windows or Mac OS does.

Linux has long been lumped in with DOS and Unix as a technical person's operating system. To a waning degree, it still is. Modern Linux is highly graphical in nature and it is increasingly becoming user friendly. I know people that have run screaming from Linux back into the folds of commercial software, but I've heard many more success stories than failures. It is mostly about finding the arrangement that is right for you. Likely, quitting commercial software cold-turkey isn't a reasonable expectation for most.

And Before I Forget: Old School Hot Shit - Plays Well With Others

One of the things that gets deemphasized a little too much these days is Multi-player. This is true in video games, but I'm also speaking metaphorically. Now it is also the case that relying on multi-player too much is equally lame. MMOs where you can't solo are a prime example. There is something to be said for self-sufficiency.

It is important not to lose touch with multi-player in everyday life. There are some really bad technologies and social constructs out there that try to force people into solo play. Don't let it happen, LFG (look for a group). When people are not cooperating, someone is going to have to take the initiative to start a group effort. Game Theory shows that these acts of leadership, which can be costly to the individual, are essential to improving long term success.

Finally: Face Your Manga

This one certainly isn't new, but I have yet to find a better source for an online face-proxy avatar. Sometimes you just don't want to use your real face. You could 'fair-use' someone's copyrighted image. If you're talented enough you could even come up with your image. For everyone else, there is Face Your Manga. This quick and easy Flash application will produce an anime looking face for you in no time, and send it to you in e-mail. I'd certainly recommend having it sent to an e-mule account since there is no telling what they do with the e-mail addresses people give them.

Face Your Manga is built on real proven technology. People respond better to cartoon images than most semi-realistic 3D renderings of the human face *cough second losers*. If you want to avoid that uncomfortable uncanny valley, a cartoon image is what you want.

Tuesday Lunch Fun With Anagrams

2009-09-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

This week: The News and Observer :D

Bad Never Worsens

Bad Verses Renown

New Snore Adverbs

Brave News Drones

Ow, Never Send Bras

Owns A Verb Sender

Never Warned Boss

Never Adorns Webs

Never Bored Swans

Never Browned Ass

Sends One Verb War

Adverse Newborns

Bored News Ravens

Warns Bee Vendors

Red New Snobs Rave

but my personal favorite:

Rewoven Drabness

Hot Shit Of The Week - Wake Me Up When September Ends 2009 Edition

2009-09-26T13:56:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting at home, trying to save a bit of money when it occurs to me there are probably a lot of people out there doing the same thing. Being the considerate person I am, it seemed only logical to share the best things I found this week before going off and playing Champions Online.

First up: Droplitz on PSN (for PS3) temporary price cut to $4.99

For the price of two slices of pizza, you could be enjoying a NON-FATTENING game. Droplitz is YATLG (Yet Another Tetris Like Game) where you spin tubes to conserve water. You have to connect downward facing water sources at the top of the screen with upward facing receptacles. As time passes your water supply depletes, as you progress the depletion happens faster. When connections are made, more water is earned. Extra points and additional water are rewarded for making multiple connections.

The game debuted on the Play Station 3 this summer, and while it may be worth the regular price of $9.99 it is most definitely a bargain while this deal lasts. The only complaint I have with this title is the disappointing lack of any multi-player. It does lack a sense of purpose, but then again it is YATLG. Kind of goes with the territory.

Next Up: 8 Bit PWNY Club

This is shaping up to be a rather amusing nugget from the fertile grounds of Weebl's Stuff. There are two episodes now, and assuming Hot Shit Of The Week takes off you'll see more posts of this show in the future. Pixelated characters are all the rage right now, and this show is hosted by 3: Daze, Spader, and Cookie. The first episode explores Toilets in Gaming History, the Top 5 to be exact. Sadly, as with everything these days when they say "Gaming" they mean only Video Games. That oversight aside it is a very amusing show and I look forward to future episodes.

Moving Along: The Guild

Is heating up in its 3rd season. While I am a little disappointed that Microsoft appears to be a sponsor, the show is none-the-less amusing and has evolved quite nicely from the rockier first season to a very well done second season. The episodes are short, in the time it takes to watch a whole commercial laden TV comedy show, you could be watching a whole season of The Guild.

Codex, AKA Cid, is a socially-challenged MMO player with strong ties to an equally challenged Guild of fellow players, Knights of The Good. Drama runs rife in this band of geeks. It's quirky, amusing, and an odd mixture of professionally produced entertainment with a non-traditional format.

And Before I Forget: Old School Hot Shit

Each week, I'll also be sure to include something Old School. This week it's MANNERS. Now, we live in an incresingly multi-cultural world. With that in mind it is extremely important to not jump to conclusions with interacting with other people.

I am not aware of any cultures where it is considered appropriate to DIG IN YOUR PANTS while someone is trying to have a conversation with you, most specifically in the professional setting. I think that it is great for people to be themselves, but there has got to be some line drawn somewhere. Please take a moment to reflect on your interactions with other people. We all have room to grow.

It is also important to overlook things. We all make mistakes, and it can be hard to see our own shortcomings. If you want the people around you to have better manners the best you can do is set a good example. That and leave fun passive aggressive notes.

Finally: My Crooked Smile

This week's music suggestion is Samm Neiland's My Crooked Smile. I especially like Superhuman and Crooked Smiles, but overall there is a lot of promise in his music. It is a little edgy, and not pretentious. There isn't much to go on with just four songs and certainly has room to grow, but let's hope there is more from this artist to enjoy in the future. It is really refreshing to be able to find genuine talent outside the force-fed commercial sources. Yay Internet.

Until Net Week:

If you find anything HOT, please share. Comment here, or send a Twitter D-or-@ message to YouAreTruth on twitter.

Exploring the ZEN LIKE DETACHMENT to my life.

2009-09-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

So,

I renewed my paid live journal account for another year. I'd like to think that eventually I will find a way to justify the cost. I've been using another blog place for more work/discipline related entries. Posting there is also sporadic, but more consistent than at Live Journal. Part of the issue is again spreading myself too thin (multiple blogs), but also not having a clear idea of what I want to accomplish with that blog.

So, among other things, the reason I'm posting today is I went to visit my uncle in the hospital this weekend. He had an aneurism almost two weeks ago. No one bothered to tell me, until I called a couple of days ago to let my parents know I was going to visit this weekend. I made as minimal a deal as minimal a deal as I could about the lack of communication. I think that this clearly illustrates where I get my challenges in being a thoughtful and proactive communicator from. (That would be my family).

We go to the hospital last night and the parking deck at Duke has the FULL sign up. My dad didn't see the less than obvious signs directing us to overflow parking so I had to try and point those out and convince him that might be the way to go. It didn't help that some jerk in a Taxi was sitting in the only unblocked-off entrance. Had he not been there we might have discovered that we actually could have gotten in, and allowed my dad to drive around hunting for a spot as he is so fond of doing.

After some frustration I managed to direct him to follow the signs, but the overflow parking involved a little too much walking for his taste, so he apparently decided visiting my uncle was unattainable at that point and proceeded to take us to dinner instead.

Now my parents know that I don't like Barbeque all that much, and by "know" I mean they have a completely inadequate understanding of the complex nature of my like-dislike relationship with pork. My dad is someone with very polar likes and dislikes, and my mom has dealt with that for so long that she has forgotten that not everyone is such a picky eater. It doesn't help that my brother too is a bit more like our dad than he likes to admit. I have been working to improve my relationship with food for a while now. I try new things unapprehensively for the most part. I liked food a little too much for a while actually. I am at the point were it is hard for me to have a true love-hate relationship with anything because that would require caring more than is neccesary, and I've learned not to do that so much these days.

I actually do like non-pork Barbeque, and in the past year I have even been known to like Eastern North Carolina style pork Barbeque if it is fixed right. My parents don't really get this concept and since communication isn't a forte in our family I am not going to even attempt to explain to them the complexity of my preference, since the preference is highly inconsequential. My mom was worried that I wouldn't want to eat where dad was taking us and I figured it would suffice to say that it was 'fine'.

So we got to this place, which is actually a highly reputable Barbecue hole-in-the-wall that many Durham, if not North Carolina natives will be very familiar with. There was a bit of a line to get in, but nothing outrageous. We sat down and I couldn't find an option on the menu that included their Barbeque with other things I wanted to eat, (I am still not fond of most North Carolina "Slaw", which is a popular side with Barbeque) which I thought would be a good way to demonstrate that I will eat Barbeque/pork to my parents. I got a different combination plate, and I will say that the food was sufficiently mediocre to put me off. Apparently my parent's dinner wasn't up to par either.

But it was edible, so I ate it.

We went back to the hospital and had better luck with parking, much better. The signs were still up, but no morons blocking the entrance. Of course, we arrived just as Duke was having their "Quiet Time" by the time we got back. I had brought my laptop to get some work done while my parents drove over and in the even there was waiting. My step-aunt was holding out pretty well. On the up-side I got nearly a full hours worth of work in and I got to scoff at the content of a "Wed Development Professional" magazine that was there in the lobby.

My uncle was doing well considering. He wasn't completely lucid, and couldn't respond to introspective questions. He did recognize people. This is where my Zen like attachment kicked in. I realized how much more I look like my dad's side of the family when I am clean shaven. Normally I attribute my appearance mostly to my mom's family. I could totally see myself in the future, laying in that hospital bed after having a stroke, or aneurism, or something similarly severe. I'm totally OK with that. It is going to happen, assuming I don't die from what sent me to the hospital to begin with.

This isn't the first time this uncle has been in the hospital. He had a heart-attack several years ago. We'll just have to see how he recovers.

Of course last night I had an odd dream, the only part I remember clearly about it was the part where I was looking at this large grid of squares. Some were empty and some were things I had done, or were things I am apparently supposed to do in my life.

For the rest of the weekend I get to try and ignore the Nascar my dad has going on the TV, and try to figure out the best way to use live journal to who knows what ends. All while I work on other things, which are progressing slowly, but well I suppose.

Breaking Bad News with Baby Animals

2009-06-25T15:54:00.001-07:00

Favorites

2009-06-09T19:28:00.000-07:00

So roughly a week ago I picked up Chrono Trigger DS. I had avoided getting the game for a long while for the simple reason that I had played and beaten it so many freaking times that it seemed silly to re-purchase it. But buyer's impulse + I'm-never-going-to-hook-up-my-SNES-again combined (insert Dual Tech joke here) to get me to pick it up.

It's amusing and yet also disappointing to play this game again. And ironically, it's both for the same reason: I have played and beaten this game so many times I know it near exactly by heart. So on one hand it's funny that even after all these years I still recall every strategy, every chest location, every puzzle solution. However, on the other it does take some of the enjoyment out of it. Hell, I can recall where every enemy encounter occurs.

The game does have some new content, though it does fall short a little. Easily the best part of the new content is the final boss fight that is unlocked after completing the second optional set of dungeons. It is a) surprisingly difficult compared to the rest of the new content, as even with characters in the late 60s the boss was doing significant damage (and he's fast too), and b) makes a very clear connection to Chrono Cross. Hell, Square-Enix even created some new sprites for the final boss and the scenes before and after, which is nice considering all the other "new" enemies are simply re-colors.

Overall? Well it's still Chrono Trigger. Nothing's going to cause it to be bad, that's for damn sure. The new content is mostly a "do once, never do again" type of thing, but since the replay value of CT is mostly the extra endings, that's not a big deal. Ultimately I can always have the unrealistic yet somewhat pleasant hope that this is just one more sale that might convince Square-Enix to give another thought to Chrono Break (or whatever it would be called).

This Is the New That, Everything You Know Is Wrong, Things Are Completely Different Now Because We Say So, and Other Such Popycock

2009-04-22T16:50:00.000-07:00

Today I went to a presentation put on by two very intelligent and well meaning industry professionals, arranged by similarly intelligent and well meaning coworkers, and was completely disappointed. It is hard to say exactly when things went wrong, but sometime before Y2K hit it seems like a particularity insidious strain of nonsense took root.

Things are constantly changing. I get that, but when exactly did it become news? As I was sitting through the presentation, on Search Engine Optimization, I got an odd feeling like I knew this material. On the bus back to main campus it dawned on me that it seemed really similar to a web strategy proposal I had written for my previous employer over two years ago. None of the ideas were new, and yet these "gurus" were spouting the same things off to a reasonably captivated audience like it was leading-edge information. I twittered about it, and later when I went through my old files I found that I was right. Several of the attendees tweeted about how "interesting" it was. I don't know if I was the only cynic, but on the surface at least I think everyone else was at least putting up a good front unless they really bought it.

Given the time frames, the ideas are at least three years stale. My proposal was from 2007, and I'd started working on it in late 2006. Very few of the ideas put forth were original, they had been gleaned from more groundbreaking work which had to have been at least a year in the making when I found it. Change is not profound, let it go.

I try to not encourage my own ego too much, but if I'm that far ahead of the curve then clearly I'm in the wrong group of peers. I've been working really hard to curtail my judgmental nature lately, but there are days when I feel like I am back sliding... like when I describe a person as "being like a puppy". You know, the puppy you think you want until he chews everything up, and you realize they don't come pre-house broken. I know that I make mistakes too, but cleaning up after other people constantly is bound to make one cynical at some point. Its kind of hard to be an IT Rockstar when you're also having to be an IT Janitor.

So if you find yourself in a meeting and wonder why people are so amazed at the most obvious thing, don't feel alone. I'm sure there are times when I find things to be totally and indescribably awesome when in fact they are really nothing special. I'll just try to keep smiling when other people are impressed and not ruin it for them.

Thank you for calling. Good Bye. click

2009-04-06T11:08:00.000-07:00

The state department aggravates me. I applied for a passport over a month ago, the check has cleared the bank, and yet, I still have no passport. According to all of their automated information it should take "7 to 10 business days" for the application to show up online. After about two weeks no information about my passport shows up on their website, 4 weeks later, their website is "temporarily unavailable due to routine maintenance," and has been for the past week...... Beg your pardon? A week for routine maintenance tells me that there's something else going on guys....

But of course that's not the worst part, you're instructed to call them if you don't see your passport show up after two weeks, when you call you of course get harassed by the automated system at least twice (possibly more often) to check things online (which are down), and after navigating the fun maze of menus, you get to wait about for a customer service representative. I have yet to speak to one of these alleged humans at the other end of the line; shortly after being put on hold (about 5 seconds), you are told that "all customer service representatives are busy assisting other callers, please call back at a later time." *click*

AGGGGH!!!! That's more frustrating than waiting on hold! You might as well have told me that everyone else that did manage to get through (if that's even possible) are more important than me!

12 years, 4 versions, one thin shred of patience

2009-03-27T07:48:00.000-07:00

It's interesting sometimes the complete utter nonsense I find myself doing in my job. And I don't mean dealing with retarded problems or stupid customers. Stupidity and nonsense have a complicated relationship that even imaginary mathematics could never properly illustrate, but that's not to say that one cannot occur without the other. They can. They do.

When you're accessing four different machines from your own, that's a kind of nonsense. Funny nonsense, but still nonsense. When you experience running a virtual machine from another machine that you're accessing over remote desktop connection from your own machine, then you'll know nonsense. It's a moment where you sit and the only thought in your mind is, "what the hell?" And it's not like dealing with stupidity or even nonsense born out of stupidity. That sort of thing makes you mad, frustrated, or even just numbs you. Real nonsense is that moment of clarity where you realize that whatever you're doing or just did is completely absurd, and not because of something you or someone else did. It just is.

My current foray into nonsense-world is what inspires the title for this post. Consider the following:

1) A license manager software that is 10+ years old and made for Windows NT Server and Windows 3.11 and 95 clients, being set up for 2) the latest version of a particular research software, released in late 2008, installed on 3) a virtual machine running Windows Server 2008 4) that I am accessing by Remote Desktop Connection, 5) and which requires a USB license dongle 6) that is connected to a completely different server 7) located in a different building on a different campus 8) that I am accessing over the network 9) via a piece of software that creates a virtual USB hub and shares the dongle to that virtual hub.

Short version, I'm installing a 12 year old license manager on a Windows platform that is ~4 versions beyond it on a machine that technically doesn't exist using a usb device that technically is not connected to it.

...the hell?

Pointless to complain

2009-03-15T19:22:00.000-07:00

but...

In a way it's bad enough eating a chocolate rabbit. But today I saw a chocolate cross. And somehow that just seems really weird, if not somewhat wrong...

Dancing that fine snarky line.

2009-03-02T20:49:00.000-08:00

So tonight I got an e-mail from a self-professed "thought leader", you know, one of those "professional bloggers". This is someone who was in some way-shape-or-form upset by a post I made in response to a post on their blog. Not a comment on their blog mind you, a post in a totally different space on the Internet. It is always fun when random personalities on the Internet collide, kinda like a really no-hold-barred Brownian Motion. One of the nice things about being human is you get to deal with all kinds of people, people with very different values than your own.

My post was mildly snark and mildly serious, and pointed out the very subtly snarky nature of this contractor's critique of certain academic web sites. Apparently my meta-snarkiness was not well received.

While people are learning whole new ways to be ashamed of their fellow man on the Internet, WRAL.com "user comments" (or any just about any "news" site's comments for that matter) being a prime example, I am finding new way to appreciate and celebrate the diversity of our species. My primarily medium is snarkyness.

Van Gogh had oils, Michelangelo had stone, I've got snark. One day I hope to hone it down to a fine point, the mightiness of which the pen nor the sword has ever known. From the early days as a Monkey Island playing tween, the application of wit to social interaction has fascinated me. I think I still have a long way to go. The Internet is a crude medium still.

Snark and anonymity do not go hand in hand. If you have no credentials, best not to waste your breath. That having been said, snark is a lot a lot like lighter fluid. You'd better know what you're doing. Practicing under the veil of anonymity is probably best. When the time is right, like any artist, you need a proper Coming Out.

I am just finally at the point that I think I'm ready for my coming out. I've long stated that one of my career goals is to become a quirky campus personality. I consider my participation in a formal diversity training program to be my "finishing school". This isn't South Park. Snark as a career has to be brandished like the Bushido blade. If you fuck up, it's seppuku for you! I think snark has been used for enough evil on the Internet and in popular culture. Time for it to be used for some good.

Through grinding on a few of these "professional bloggers", the kind that like to use track-back like it is some sort of lame weapon of shame, I've gained a couple of levels in Snark Knight. It makes a particularly brutal combo with WHM sub-class. A few more levels won't hurt though...

Trip the stupid fantastic

2009-02-21T17:12:00.000-08:00

I don't really get mad at Microsoft much anymore, because honestly it's not worth the trouble, but...

You take an Xbox 360, and a Windows machine with Windows Media Player 11, and you can share media from your computer to your Xbox. Music, movies, and so forth, and you're pretty good so long as the 360 can recognize the file format. And a kudos to Microsoft, because in one of the more recent Dashboard updates, they gave the Xbox the ability to play .mp4 files, which can be used for HD quality! Alright!

Oh but hey, Windows Media Player CAN'T! So since Windows Media Player is sharing your .mp4 files, it can't share what it can't recognize! Fantastic!

But ok! Supposedly Zune software can do it. So, I download! I install! I try!

FAIL!

Hell, Zune software can't share anything! Not even the .avi files I was sharing with WMP11. Oh yea, that worked great. So, back to Google. I search, and with luck, I find another answer. And I try it, and hey! it works! By a small tweak, Windows Media Player is able to share .mp4s to my Xbox. And how, you ask, is this possible?

FILE.mp4 => (rename!) => FILE.wmv

Bloody fantastic Microsoft. Great job.

Deep and Pretty Things

2009-02-14T14:10:00.000-08:00

By now, most serious gamers have at least HEARD about a game called Flower. It's just under $10 on the PlayStation Store and I must say it has got to be the best $9.99 I have spent in a while, much like the LittleBigPlanet MGS Level pack was the best spent $5.99 and Linger In Shadows was the best spent $2.99.

The basic jist of the game is you're a flower petal blowing in the wind. I know, it sounds a tad lame. The fact of the matter however is this is one of the most deeply impactful games I have played. It is relaxing and surprisingly engaging. There is a however a hitch. Flower has a twist, and giving it away ruins the effect.

While Linger in Shadows is fun experience, but more fun to share with other people, Flower is the exact opposite. It is a little too involved and personal to simply hand the controller over to some one and watch. I can't write the words DEEP and PERSONAL enough times in this post. Oh yeah, and PROFOUND.

With Nobi Nobi Boy, and some other really promising releases on the verge for PSN, Sony is looking like a much stronger contender in 2009 than 2008.

On the one hand, what took you so fuqing long Sony? On the other, I'm glad Sony and it's third parties are finally ready to start representing. Welcome aboard.

Flower is not a technically mind blowing game. It has excellent graphics and a great sound track, but the underlying mechanic is so remarkably simple that one might wonder why in the world it took so long for the game to come out. It has been in production since at least before TGS in 2007.

The reason is, Flower's merits lie in a carefully crafted experience. Like writing a truly profound book, these things take time.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance for getting this game it you have a PS3. Granted, there are going to be some people that are terribly unimpressed with it, but for the most part these are people with some level of severe brain damage and a two digit IQ.

PS. WHY THE HELL IS BLOGGER DELETING MY PERIODS?

World of Ubercraft

2009-02-07T11:42:00.000-08:00

When they're not busy saving the world many White Mages love to sit back, relax, and perhaps dabble in the creative arts. Crafts are not only a good way to relieve (or sometimes relive) stress, but they can be lucrative too.

Whether your goal is recreational, or sensational there is a craft out there for you. Crafts can be practical. They can also be works of art.

A special shout out goes to Geek Central Station, for inspiring this post.

Reasons to hate Adobe

2009-02-04T13:37:00.001-08:00

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Adobe! The only software company on this earth that can create a program that has the following issue:

Dreamweaver CS3 crashes after Daylight Savings Time ends

Alright! Congratuations Adobe. You managed to make a piece of software that potentially screws up when a user's clock goes back an hour. And to make it better, it doesn't crash until you highlight text/code!

Yea, that's right. A clock change causes a crash when you highlight text. I don't think the stupidity of it can really hit you until you actually try it. So go on, try it, highlight this sentence... no, I'll wait... There, see? You would have just crashe

This post has terminated unexpectedly. A damn stupid thing happened and it's all your fault. Contact your system administrator.

I don't write blogs....

2009-01-24T13:26:00.000-08:00

I suppose it could be considered weird that as much as I like technology I don't spend much time with blogs. Don't get me wrong, I think they are wonderful things in general, but I never could bring myself to update one.

I have two other blogs that I try and update with any regularity, but I just can't find the time/energy to ever do so. Why? I suspect that much of it falls under my lack of creativity to figure out anything meaningful to blog about. People have told me that I should just write about anything, but really, it just seems so uninteresting to write about non-sense that's going on in life, and seriously, my life is pretty dull.

B4 + Aftar (a new regular feature)

2009-01-24T11:06:00.000-08:00

Photoshopping is in*. Blogging is also in. Two great tastes, taste great together:

Before

After

*(please note, I happen to prefer Fireworking)

Ego stroking. We <3

2009-01-21T15:48:00.000-08:00

There are few things a true altruist likes as much as ego stroking, and White Mages are NO EXCEPTION! I've been visiting the GayGamer's forum the past few weeks. I had intended to get into it a while back and had a false start or two. IMVU proved to be my ultimate undoing, but I'm over it now, so nothing is stopping me!

If there is one thing I am proud of, it is my opinion and the internet is great for honing and sharpening one's wit. GayGamer has had a podcast for a while and just recently they have started a new feature where they discuss a thread on the board in the podcast. Much to my surprise their first thread of choice was one I have been quite vocal on and a couple of my posts (not my favorites) were quoted.

For the record, on GayGamer as with elsewhere on the Internet, I am in the continual process of retiring the screen name "Boogiepanda". I'll probably be doing that through the next decade.

Demos

2009-01-21T10:13:00.000-08:00

Some thoughts on some demos I recently downloaded off XboxLive...

Lord of the Rings: Conquest

OK, so could Pandemic Software's little movie for themselves be any longer?
I really hope they change the voice for the narrator/guide, or make him talk less, or something. He is extremely annoying. I only got to play as the Army of Middle-Earth, and I have to wonder if the guide for the Army of Mordor is any worse or better.
Different classes, different abilities, marginally different roles. At least in single-player. In the multiplayer I'm sure it works out better. But in single-player I don't see it making a great deal of difference what class you use unless the game forces you to choose one like it does during training. The general purpose is the same: kill things. Just how you actually do it that changes, and by consequence the game is pretty flat in single-player.
I really hope objectives in future missions/battlefields are a little more clear on certain things. The training mode turned me into a mage and then basically told me nothing. I fought orcs for maybe 20 minutes with no end in sight until it then just suddenly did end. I'm still not sure what I did, but I think it was because I had tried using all my abilities. Which means that apparently it considered a mage's Guard as an ability, though it didn't bother telling me that till after I'd used it.
Not terribly impressed with hero characters. Gave me a chance to be Isildur, who turned out to be nothing more than a pumped up Warrior class. And I still got my ass handed to me by Sauron, so I don't really see the point.
Overall the game is interesting, but I think the main draw is going to be the online multiplayer. If I recall, that was the only saving grace of the Star Wars Battlefront games as well, of which this game is basically a LOTR version. Need to try the multiplayer to see if this game would be worth buying at all...

Legendary

Oh yay, another FPS on the Xbox360! I'm terrible at controlling these things on a controller.
This may be unfair, but really the game strikes me as Bioshock shoved through a mythology filter. At least just in first impressions. Probably no comparison in stories. Legendary certainly seems harder though.
It does control well though. I mean, I suck at aiming in console FPSs, and that's always my major issue with them. But beyond that, the controls are not complicated and are well laid out. My only complaint is that I wish when you were throwing a grenade it gave you some idea of distance or something.
You know, if you're making a demo to show off a game where your character has mystical abilities, maybe you should consider showing off more than one of said abilities? The Force Unleashed demo gave you lightsaber throws, force lightning, and combos that you don't start out with normally. And this demo just gives you the ability to heal yourself. Well... yay! Sorry guys, implying that I get different stuff later on doesn't exactly hook me.
It looks like this game is coming to PC as well, judging by the "Games for Windows" tag. Think I'd prefer playing it on there. Well no, I know I'd prefer playing it on there...
I like the concept that after I kill certain enemies, I have to behead them for them to actually stay dead. But, I don't like that they can die in such a way that their head is in a place that I cannot actually strike. Like, oh say, inside a wall!
Overall, eh. If I see it for sale on Steam, I'll consider it.

Esunaga FTW

2009-01-08T18:00:00.000-08:00

Hope your holiday was great. It is nose back to the grind stone here at SWML. In case you didn't notice, it is no longer 2008. Feel free to spit on the grave, no one liked that year anyways.

What lies in wait for 2009? More Full Metal Alchemist for one thing. It likely won't make it to the US until 2010 in any commercial sense, but you can it'll be on Youtube like glaze on a doughnut.

Another, not so hotly anticipated sequel is Patapon2. I'm excited, but I'm probably the only one.

We might actually get some decent games for the Wii as well. Fracture is set to pop any day now in Japan (the 22nd, incidentally the day that Littlebigplanet DLC is to resume) and one can only hope this will be the start of a chain reaction to reverse all the damage done by the piles of utter crap released for the system in 2008.

As with any new year, our enthusiasm follows the proximity to cat model:

So let's make 2009 a year to remember, like the release of Sega in India. Who needs a Bollywood version of Memento when you have commercials like that?

& WERE BAK! + Antics

2008-12-15T14:27:00.000-08:00

So things got quiet all of a sudden. No, it wasn't a dramatic pause. It was the HOLIDAYS.

Good news is that they are rapidly approaching and I get two weeks off for good behavior and living in a totally hypocritical country. Really, our church and state are about as separate as the protons and neutrons of an atom.

2009 is totally around the corner. EXPECT BIG THINGS.

As for antics, It is great having a cheeky co-worker. I know the budget is tight and I know I am really low on the totem pole, but when I switched workplaces I brought certain expectations with me. One of those what that I would be kept in the technological life style I had become accustomed to.

Not so much as it turns out. I have to fight tooth and nail for everything, and pretty much lose most of the time. I do finally have a laptop on which to do development and testing, but only because I scrounged up 3+ year old laptops that no one wanted because Winbloat runs slow. Ubuntu + 3 year old laptop = pretty decent.

Unfortunately, because these were older laptops our stock of power cables was rather low and of the two that I was able to acquire, one now has a short. I try to keep exactly two for a very good reason: plugging, unplugging, wrapping, unwrapping, packing, and unpacking tends to wear them out over time. I like to have one cord for the desk so it is tucked away and convenient, and other in my bag. It IS after all a laptop.

I know I give my coworker flack, and it totally isn't her fault that she has difficulty procuring what I need to do my job. So after I asked her last week to order me a replacement power cord, I got the following IM this Monday:

Cheeky Coworker In Charge Of Supply Orders
hey! Remind me about your need for the power adapters

Me
you mean give a justification?

McCheeky
yesh

Me
formal or informal?

McCheeky
for me
informal

Me
BECAUSE THEY HAVE A SHORT THAT IS PUTTING OUT HEAT AND COULD BURN DOWN THE LIBERRIES
i.e. they are unsafe
and we don't have any others
and that is my development environment
so if you want me to code, and not burn down the library it is kind of crit

It is a good thing my department head has a sense of humor, because she saw fit to share this exchange with him verbatim.

I fully expect my replacement cord soon.

Unedited

2008-10-07T06:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Sci Fi Channel

Honestly, I don't really care anymore when anime gets edited or censored, so long as it's not excessive. I can understand alot of stuff. Really I can. But your crap with Gurren Lagann is just ridiculous. The cuts that have been done to the English dub showing on your channel are beyond the scope of stupid. Now I could be saying this because the cuts hurt the flow of the episode, or because they have - on several occasions - removed important moments or dialogue. But here's the bottom line:

You idiots are making cuts to fit in more commercial breaks.

No one can tell me otherwise. I refuse to believe that there could be any other reason for the cuts to the dub. The cuts certainly can't be done for violence or sexuality, because if you were actually concerned about that, you wouldn't be showing Gurren Lagann in the first place. If you idiots are really so desperate to get extra time to advertise your own shows, why do you bother showing the opening? Why not cut out the 2-3 minute recap that occurs at the beginning of nearly all the episodes?

I'm just glad the DVDs are already out. Yay for unedited, subtitled-only DVDs. In the end, I hope this isn't going to be the norm for your anime block, SciFi. But then, judging from your promos for it, I'm getting the impression your idea of cutting-edge anime is stuff that was produced back in the 90s. So I don't exactly have high hopes, but who knows. All I know is that if you keep making unnecessary edits just to stick in another commercial for your crappy made-for-TV movies, then I'm not going to bother watching.

A reason for using vacation time!

2008-09-17T16:28:00.000-07:00

http://www.ffxifestival.com/

Very happy to see they are doing this again this year. Was getting late enough that I was worried it would not happen. And Hollywood is a definite improvement over last year's choice of Anaheim.

Everything you wanted to know about the Bible,

2008-09-05T12:45:00.001-07:00

But didn't care enough to spend more than a minute to learn:

Is there a White Mage in the house?

2008-09-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

Maybe someone should tell him that TV Marketing isn't in the prerequisite chain for the Samurai job class...

http://failblog.org/2008/09/02/samurai-fail/

As always, the Failblog continues to be a valued source of lolga for the entire party.

niki niki waki waki

2008-08-28T14:41:00.000-07:00

Gotta love streaming video to your XBox 360. Been using it to watch subtitled videos of Jyuken Sentai Gekiranger (Super Sentai series from 2007) and it works like a charm. Fantastic series too, and I may try getting GoGo Sentai Boukenger (2006) too, as it looks like a good one as well.

Omnigraffle, and the history of JOBS

2008-08-21T18:35:00.000-07:00

Job Ontology Boundary Systems, JOBS for short and Jobs to avoid annoying ALL CAPS, have been around since the first multicellular organism. In the early days the "Us vs. Them" approach worked pretty well, but as soon as life forms had more than one type of cell it became problematic. As is apparent by the abundance of multicellular organisms, this new trend of "differentiation" was a hit and thus the Heteroparty Superiority Complex (HSC) was born (and continues to persist to this day).

Thanks to the technical marvel of Omnigraffle, we can now illustrate the history of Jobs through the ages.

The origin of Jobs is intertwined with the origin of life itself. Living things do stuff, and in the beginning everyone pretty much sucked the same amount. At some point, a mutation occurred and some one sucked just a little less than the rest. Thus the Superiority Complex was born. Obviously, it went right to their head and ever since the strong have attacked the weak, the weak died, those that didn't die sucked less, creating a vicious cycle.

It's not all bad though, at some point the weak decided to join forces and thus the Party System was born. These early parties, called Homoparties were comprised only of organisms of the same kind. None of the party members did anything special, but power in numbers proved to be a powerful tactic.

Then at some point a Party formed with one member slightly different than the others. This was perhaps the biggest single evolution that would happen until years later, when someone dropped a Bagel in Cream Cheese (BCC).

SO, with the evolution of Multicellular organisms, different cells were better at different things. Even though some cells made out like bandits, while others got the short end of the stick despite superior merits, the arrangement was sufficiently mutually beneficial that the status quo continued for quite some time.

The next major change in Jobs didn't occur until the Male Mutation. While the Job system was a hit at the cellular level, multicellular organisms were just not getting the hint that Jobs worked on multiple levels. Then Man Happened. Counter to the popular trend, Man sucked more than everything else at the time. By cruel fate, or perhaps shrewed observation it had become apparent that aptitude (sucking less) didn't actually guarantee success in the party system because of the Short Stick Effect. One party member always gets to mooch off the hard work of other party members, and usually reaps more benefit than the hard working members.

For whatever reason, Woman bought it hard. Not really her fault, years of experience with the party system taught her that different is good. While Woman was better suited for practical things like art, communication, and resource acquisition, Man was mostly good at useless or counter productive stuff like games, wasteful demonstrations of physical or mental prowess, blogging, and war. Not long after this first differentiation at the macro-level, other Jobs emerged. Some Men realized the superiority of Woman, and formed the early predecessor to the modern day Drag Queen job class, Slag Queen (the tools and skills required for a proper Drag Queen would take centuries to refine). Similarly, early Feminists started out as Tom Boys, because they didn't really have a reason to hate Men just yet.

Meanwhile other more productive Job Classes also came about, such as Hunters and Gatherers. Superficially, these might seem like to very different job classes, but they are actually the same thing. Gatherers are obviously the more effective of the two, producing more food with less effort. Hunters were none the less a more prestigious class because, let's face it, meat is Teh NOM (not an acronym).

Over time the classes branched out and specialized. Gatherers begot other effective job classes: Healers, Craftsmen, and in time various forms of Defensive Types. Hunters further devolved into less useful classes such as: Traders, Leaders, and later a variety of Offensive Types.

Not long after that, a Job Class Boom (JCB) occurred. During the time of magic, (the start of which probably coincided with BCC) the major division between classes transitioned from Useful vs. Ineffectual classes to Magic vs. Non-Magic classes. Once magic became extinct this distinction didn't make much sense any more, but fortunately people realized that the Job Class system itself as a means to stereotype people was pretty ridiculous. It works pretty well at the cellular level, but most people are more sophisticated than a cell, and the definition of their aptitude and abilities pretty well defies simple classification.

Still, Jobs provide a convenient way to think about related skills sets, and to a large part still exist today. With the loss of Magic, some White Mages returned to their Healer roots with professions like Doctors, Candy Stripers, and Baristas while others moved on to other social support functions such as Social Workers, IT Support Staff, and Librarians.

Sure, most people defy strict definition into one Job Class or another, but Jobs are more than just about segregation. They are an affirmation of the human spirit, the drive to work towards a goal until either one reaches it, or gets tired of it, or decides it is just too hard, or finds something better to do. Without jobs, we'd all be the same single celled organism. Here's to Jobs, and the pursuit of trying to suck less than everyone else.

Senseless violence

2008-08-20T06:48:00.000-07:00

Rather reluctant to admit this, but I have to say that I actually enjoyed Death Race. I was expecting an absolutely awful movie, but it surprised me by being pretty enjoyable. Of course it is still a bad movie, but it's a fast-moving, death-filled guy-flick of a bad movie, so overall I would say it's worth matinee price.

The very attractive leading lady certainly helps, of course.

About: Face

2008-08-19T13:21:00.000-07:00

Pretty good avatar generator. Much better than Yahoo's

http://www.faceyourmanga.com/

Procrastination

2008-08-16T15:31:00.001-07:00

OMG, can I get a Time Mage to case Haste on me? Easier than Slowga on the world.

Anyway, I did finally figure out blogger templates, at least enough to restyle the CSS.

One thing I'm pretty sure White Mages like is Lolcatz, aka Icanhascheezburger. Especially true when said lolcatz are wearing the official garb of the profession.

Premonition of Death

2008-08-11T13:53:00.000-07:00

Something I'm sure any FF job would dislike. Checking out a webcomic when suddenly the page changes to a yellow pages type search for tombstones of all things.

So yea, totally thrilled to have the internet just randomly give me local listings for funeral homes...

shiromadoshi suki ja nai

2008-07-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

Definately more inclined to Dark Knights...

Final Fantasy IV DS
Progress:
- Tower of Babil, first time

Current Thoughts:
- Doctor Lugae is a total cheap-ass...

Blogger Templates....

2008-07-25T07:59:00.001-07:00

One thing I'm pretty sure white mages don't like it blogger templates ._.

Still trying to wrap my brain around it, but maybe this weekend I can replace this converse sneaker wanna be look with something more appropriate.

Candy with a toy inside on the other hand, is something white mages most definitely like! Looks like they have been hitting the Ethers a little too hard there.

All aboard!

2008-07-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

Inaugural post. Let the inappropriateness begin!