SuperMary Productions!

It’s been a fantastically busy few weeks in this household, fortunately in a good way. My unbelievably stick-thin-skinny-ass sister left our presence this past Saturday after staying with us for a week. It was quite fun, and highly entertaining. The next few weeks are proving to be as busy with more visitors. I would complain, but I’m thoroughly enjoying the time spent with family and friends.

This Friday I will also find out if my random eye condition is alleviated enough to proceed with LASIK. My eyes don’t feel any different/better so I’m not too hopeful, but at least this way I won’t be let down - at most I’ll be pleasantly surprised. But considering the eye care place I’m going to only has once a month procedures, if this May doesn’t work out, I’ll probably give up and retry it again a few years from now. I can’t put too many of our plans on hold to make this work, and time needed for this is already “running out”.

But with this small break, I’ve hit up Rogue Galaxy again. It’s been a bit difficult to go back to a PS2 game (and I’m not a “graphics fiend” so that should say something), but I remember why I loved the game so much. Nothing in this game is absolutely outstanding, but everything is done well. Where most RPGs (or even games in general) have two or three fantastic aspects and then two or three things that suck majorly and are insufferable, Rogue Galaxy is an even level of awesome. If there was a rating system of one - five stars, it’d be a solid four or for each aspect. Again, nothing absolutely astounding, but overall, it’s just that solid.

Ya know, It’s amazing to me that a game that doesn’t upset or anger me at any point is considered “great” in my opinion. What does that say about modern gaming?

I do have a huge spiel about the gaming industry and how it’s been horrific financially for gamers, but it’s very long and very in depth. Dan has about perfected the “expand” feature I’ve been wanting to implement, and it (like my FFXIII) review, will be published once I get it up and running.

For now, here’s a video from Jen’s visit. At one point everyone around me got hit with a coma bomb, while I remained immune. This is my attempt at waking them up from the devastating attack. While there’s quite a bit of set up in the video, I recommend watching until the end.

I’ll have more pictures and videos to post later, but all the talk of Rogue Galaxy has my attention span wavering. Here’s one more video. 12 seconds of absolute hilarity and terror in my opinion.

Life, Video Games Rogue Galaxy

Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, some snags are being run into. I have a detailed review of FFXIII I’d like to publish (along with a few other topics), but the formatting I plan on implementing is in need of some elaborate testing. So let’s just talk nonsense shall we?

The title of this short was unappealing. But thankfully, it turned out to be awesome. I don’t know much about the current SNL show/cast, but I do enjoy some “The Lonely Island” and some hilarious celebrity appearances.

This is a bit older, but I was reminded of it when watching the above video. I’m not sure how many of you saw the “high five montage” or the series of variations on that skit - this is one of them with hilarious celebrity appearances.

You will watch that above clip and say, “That was dumb”. But later today, you might still be thinking about it and, like me, will probably look up the other variations on it. You’re welcome.

So, now to bore you.

Things are going well here. The biggest news is the potential for having LASIK very soon. There is a really excellent eye care service near us and, for once, I have insurance that actually does something. Obviously it won’t fully cover the cost of the procedure, but at least it’s better than nothing. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for about 15 years now (ever since my mom had R.K. done when I was younger). I’ve considered my eyes to be bad, but not horrible. Right now my prescription is -6.75 and -7.00, and apparently I’m an awesome candidate for it.

I was excitedly told I have “nice big and thick corneas”. It’s ok to be jealous.

I’ve never heard of a hospital staff being so anxious to fix me before now. I wish my family practice doctor was so anxious to help me get rid of my headaches and at-least-three-days-out-of-the-week nosebleeds. Unfortunately, I’m dealing with a minor eye infection that pushed back the surgery date to May (originally intended to be in two weeks).

By the way, you ever pay $80 for 1.5ml of eye drops? I have. It’s ok to be jealous.

Since there is a minimum two week buffer time needed without the use of contacts before the surgery, I’m using glasses that I believe are over 13 years old, so I’m not seeing too well. It’s not legal for me to drive, and I’m already a huge clutz when I *can* see, so it hasn’t been easy. Having to wait an additional month wasn’t an option with poor vision, so I had to use the insurance to get an updated prescription. It seems extremely wasteful for a months use, but it simply isn’t something I can deal with any longer.

Especially with my sister visiting in two weeks from now. Which will be awesome. It’s ok to be jealous.

As far as gaming, I was able to polish off a few games that I had been working on for a while. Dragon Age, InFamous, and FFXIII. I have good things to say about all of them, but unfortunately FFXIII’s “pro” list is much smaller than it’s “con” list. Beautiful Katamari is stealing more time than I intended… but addiction is a cruel mistress I can’t seem to overcome.

I’m trying to play more games on the PC than consoles recently, but it’s been difficult with how bad DRMs are becoming. I have a post to make on the issue. But this one is dragging on long enough. I’ll save it for another day.

Life, Video Games Beautiful Katamari, Dragon Age, FFXIII, LASIK, The Lonely Island

I’ve been in hibernation, with some behind the scenes ideas on getting this site up to date and adding various features that may make it easier to read for everyone.

A lot of what’s holding me back from writing is a constant criticism that my posts are too long. I agree, I tend to ramble. I have many reasons on how and why I write to such lengthy extent, but that doesn’t matter if no one reads it. The biggest problem is that I have an inability to write something in shorthand. It’s really who I am. I’ve tried changing it for many years, but it leaves me dissatisfied. Since I pay for this site, I don’t think I should be dissatisfied ever here. So I have a compromise. I plan on implementing a simple “expand” feature to this site, and once I do, I have a few reviews to modify and create using this. If successful, it will give a better length for a casual reader, but provide in depth, and more awesome, statements at your discretion.

I have a lot to say and catch up on. There have been a slew of games I’ve finished and some personal news of sorts as well. Nothing overly exciting, but what’s else is new?

To make up for lost time, I’ll probably be updating in short bits for a while. This way I don’t spend a whole day writing one long post, and it’s easily digestible for any readers I might have. If there is a demand for it, I will also give scheduled updates.

Upcoming stories:
Will games stand the test of time?
Lasik and me, together at last (hopefully).
Bioware and Valve. Activision and Blizzard.
How Kotaku has restored my faith in the internet.
The death of logical debates
My favorite iPhone Apps.
RPG is Rock.
Bring back these games!
Pigs can fly! (We own a PS3)

Super Shorthand review of games I’ve played recently:
FFXIII : First Half: Great. Second Half: Nevermind. Pass.
Mass Effect 2 : Get it now. NOW!
Dragon Age: Fantastic
EQ2 : Dead to me
FF1 (for iPhone) : Updated FF1 releases have (overall) welcome changes.
Bioshock 2: Half way through the game, still not sure.

Now RUN PAC-MAN RUN!!!

Life, Video Games

This upcoming January (in theory) Bioware will release Mass Effect 2. It’s something I’m looking forward to, since I enjoyed the original game. That being said, there are some pretty critical flaws. Flaws I hope not to see repeated in the sequel. I realize that: A) Nobody really reads my reviews, and even if they did - Bioware is not among my readers; and B) It’s a little too late in production to change anything anyway.

But that’s not going to stop my bitc– I mean critiquing.

Yes, there are many things to love about Mass Effect. That’s why it won awards and there’s a sequel being released. While I’m still jaded that the game is defined as an RPG first and FPS second, that is more the fault of the cut and dry definitions in genres than Mass Effect. If you ask me, I very passionately argue that Mass Effect is FPS first and foremost, with RPG elements. Yes you shape your story and place skill points in trees, and yes you can pause combat and do actions - that is pretty much the game world’s definition of RPG. But, it’s not *really* an RPG. Honestly, the spending of skill points and managing of equipment is just a basic evolution of gaming. Leveling up has been around since the dawn of gaming, why FPS took so long to use it to advance character traits is beyond me. While you dictate how good or evil your character is, that is actually a mechanic that I find more in the Action/Adventure genre of gaming more than RPG. I guess where it gets blurry is the fact that RPG games stemmed from Dungeons and Dragons very early on. Currently tho, all games are pulling straight from DnD mechanics - but NOT from RPGs. Make sense?

Look basically, there’s just too much evolution of gaming to narrow down things so casually. It happened to music too, you’ve SEEN how big the Rock section is at stores right? But, what I’m getting at is that there is absolutely no way you should ever consider Persona 3 in the same category as Mass Effect, and the following year: Tales of Vesperia and Fallout 3 (I’m looking at you X-Play!).

So now that we’re past that (your angry “It’s a damn RPG game” emails I’m sure will be riveting), lets talk about what Mass Effect 2 needs desperately changed. What’s very funny about this, I’m taking a few pointers from RPGs. If Mass Effect really WAS an RPG, these things really would’ve been standard.

Standby Characters
The Good
Standby characters have meaning. It’s nice to see you get quests from characters chilling out by your car. It’s also really good to have those characters have issues that can’t be resolved by main plot lines, and above all, are optional. Yay for making your characters have personality.

The Bad
Really it just comes down to equipment and skills. I like to prepare, and even switch things up. I really don’t like Wrex hanging back with a “Lancer I” assault rifle, when I’ve got a “Hurricane IX” in my bags taking up space (subsequently taking up limited amount of slots). I also don’t like to land on a planet to put him in my party just to spend his unused skill points. It’s a small quibble, but honestly, it’s a very newbish mistake. To have your standby characters stats only accessible by putting them in your party adds up to annoying load times for no apparent reason. Why you can’t manage all your squad from the squad screen is a simple question. Also, the locker idea for managing equipment, while a valid attempt, only irritates the matter more. To literally divide every single member into their own locker is trivial and, again, waste of time. Why I can’t manage my whole party from the equipment screen, again a simple question.

Well, maybe for the realism of “you can’t give weapons to your friends hanging out on the ship while your mid battle on the planet”. Fine, that’s a realistic viewpoint. But it’s stupid. I still can’t SWITCH to the party member can I? So it doesn’t do me any good to give them something, other than to free up inventory. Freed up inventory - not overpowering. Or, if that was too much to ask, even having one equipment/status station for the entire party and not just one character at a time with a ridiculously stupid tooltip saying “(insert name of person currently on screen) Left Trigger”, Really? You have the toggle function telling me to toggle to the SAME PERSON on screen and even give me a cute error beep when I press it. I feel a headache emerging.

Also, say I wanted to use my 5 million spare credits to buy my backups some armor and weapons. I either have to take them to the merchant with me (6 spare members mean 3 trips), write down who has what on my own, or literally run between the vendor and the lockers checking each piece (counting on the fact the vendor even HAS something they want). This being a waste of time is a gross understatement. Why they can’t shrink down that huge vendor screen to make room for all your characters is, again, unnecessarily annoying.

The reasons these points are such a big deal: RPG element is a diverse party you can choose between members. If you’re going to give me people I can switch out, and then give me the wonderfully wonderful advantage of group leveling (everyone levels at the same rate regardless if they’re in the active party - LOVE it), let me switch out members more freely. Right now, spare party members get in the way more than anything.

The Dialogue
The Good
The wheel is a great design. In a simple and yet in depth way they managed to make in game conversations versatile and important. By also placing answers in specific locations, you don’t have to play a guessing game whether what you said is actually what you meant. After all, there are several conversations where the short statement I chose sounded nothing like what the actual reply is. But, knowing where the intentions lie on the dialogue wheel counteracts any negativity I feel about the misleading shortened statements. Honestly the dialogue in Mass Effect is a wonderful strong point of the game they did right. Except for one small thing.

The Bad
The role of X button vs. A button.
To engage conversation - A button (X does not work)
To skip lines of conversation - X button (A does not work)
To select a response on the dialogue wheel - A button (X DOES work)

*sigh* Bioware, you were so close. Why did you allow the X button to be a response button? What’s that? Why is that flawed? For those of those who have previously beat the game, or just turn subtitles on and skim, you like to keep pressing X to advance the conversation. Unfortunately, the dialogue wheel could pop up at any time during the last phrase. I’m not exaggerating, I’ve seen it pop up at the beginning, middle, and end of the last line of conversation. The problem with this is since you’re hitting X to advance the story, you will now CHOOSE a response. This has actually resulted in me leaning my analog stick up and to the left during each conversation, just in case. My thumb is tired Bioware. This is such a stupid bug that can be fixed by simply un-assigning X as a response button during a conversation. I’m not spamming the button, it’s just really bad timing or really bad programming (with the irregularity of the dialogue wheel popping up, I’m going with the latter). Again, small complaint, but when you factor in how many conversations there are in this game and how integral they are to the experience, it’s actually a pretty big problem. Ask me how many times I’ve accidentally gotten a hostage killed because of it.

Cutscenes
The Good
They’re normally short and sparse, with most of the game revolving around interactive dialogue prompts where other games would just show a cutscene. It really makes the whole experience way more engrossing and creates a great atmosphere where you honestly feel that you ARE the protagonist, not just playing some AI controlled douche you tell to be less or more douchey at times.

The Bad
They.
Are.
Unskippable.

‘Scuse me while I sob in the corner. I can’t tell you how terrible it is to put unskippable cutscenes in a game, but I’ll try. It is, in my opinion, the worst implement in any game. It really is SuperMary’s kryptonite. It lowers replay value and adds to frustration on failures. Considering Mass Effect has their few and far between cutscenes right before boss/difficult fights, I see these scenes a lot. It’s incredibly frustrating to be forced to watch, at first wonderful, but after the 5th time, boorish and idiotic cut scenes before being allowed to play.

Look guys, there are a million buttons on a controller (don’t call me a liar) there are so many ways you can ensure that people do not accidentally skip a scene. Easiest? Take it from Xenosaga - hit the start button, pull up a prompt “Skip cutscene? Triangle = Yes, X = No”! TA-FREAKIN-DA!! It’s practically idiot proof. Practically. If someone’s that dumb to screw it up, they don’t deserve to watch it anyway ok!?

Galaxy(Travel) System
The Good
Pretty. Pretty music, pretty colors, pretty amazing source of information of things you can’t even interact with 1/3 of the time. The system you worked out was eye candy with a great source of useless, but nifty, information. It’s just pretty nifty.

The Bad
You have this huge Codex full of insignificant yet available knowledge - and didn’t find it necessary to give a list of what planets are in what nebula/clusters and what nebula/clusters are in what systems. Look, I get you want people to explore, but sending me on these wild chases skimming all these planets in different systems gets tiring. When you can really only interact with one planet/ship/asteroid/etc in a system, its pretty aggravating to try navigate after a while. “Somewhere in the Argos Rho system” Really? Couldn’t narrow it down? I mean it’s not like this is the future where we have logs of everything and everyone everywhere. I get loosing Saren, even tho he has this ship that kinda sticks out and everyone you meet has seen him before. Sure I can get that, but you can’t find a little harmless researcher in a some dig site in one system? Those archeologists sure are elusive with their huge mining facilities that stick out almost to space.

Just put the Codex to more use, I don’t need some narrator telling me about the usefulness of Omni-tools, but I do need to know which nebula/cluster and system the planet “Amaranthine” is on ok?! You already have this tree system embedded into entries in the Codex, it’s perfect for this sorta thing.

Mako
The Good
I get a car. It’s got rockets. It can run over things. Hell I can run over people and that just never gets old. Never. Nothing like hitting a guy going top speed, watching him fly like a rag doll, and a minute or so later you see him hit the ground while your experience window pops up with a sweet chirp. Ahhhh.

The Bad
It drives like shit. My 92 Geo Metro handled better than this. The steering handles like a cross between racing game controls and boat controls. If you’re outmaneuvering rockets, expect to take several hits. Not to mention the irregular geography from planet to planet. Some planets you can practically Spiderman up any mountain - almost scaling ceilings like Spiderpig. Other planets, if there is a slight bump Mako either spins uncontrollably or just can’t handle it and slowly slides back down to the bottom. I get that there are a lot of factors into why, I’m sure they developed it so well that some planets have rocks with less or more traction or wind may even play a factor. Very realistic. But quite honestly stupid. All of the plants basically look like a copy, paste, and resurface from each other, so no, I don’t give a rats ass about which rock holds better traction on what planet. I just want to get to the other side of this damn rock and you won’t let me without spending 10 minutes trying to drive straight uphill. Have you seen how advanced my ship is?! Where’s my damn hovercraft!? I mean come on - there’s wheels on this primitive thing, what year is this, 2120?

The Worst of the Worst : Equipment/Inventory/Vendors
This is the crux of my problem with Mass Effect. The whole system is terrible. Not bad, terrible. Most of my gripe with this game is dealing with an inventory system that feels dated and bloated.

Towards the end of the game, if you sneeze on a bug, you get 5 things in your inventory. It’s really sweet, but after a while I cry. The amount of time sorting through inventory is flat out ridiculous. The scroll speed is painfully slow. I mean slooooooooooow. Information on items is either too much or too little. I don’t need a paragraph explanation for a +110 shield mod, but gee I’d love to see how many mod slots the gear I’m currently wearing has when buying/selling. Look the whole thing is trash. The fact I have to painfully slooooooooooowly scroll through a list of “Polonium Rounds VII” (totaling to 10), just to get to the bottom of the list is terrible.

The fact that each item you blow up (reduce to omni-gel) results in only 4 omni-gel, no matter how good or bad it is, is at first a blessing (make use of items that don’t sell well). Yet, at the end game where you only get expensive items, it hurts to know you only get 4 out of it. Each time I have to repair Mako I weigh if 15 omni-gel is worth it. I mean, I’m only at 96% hull damage with no shields… I’ll be fine. Speaking of omni-gel, if I failed the bypass storage locker mini-game, it’ll take 25 omni-gel to open it now. I don’t think I’ll get 7 items outta that chest, so it won’t be worth it, reload save game and try again! It’s also ridiculous how they apply a manual bypass to everything. I mean everything. I had to shut something off and it required that button pressing mini-game. Pull the damn cord out of the socket.

And vendors? It’s so cute you separate out your wares into “Standard/Non-human Armors/Upgrades”. And by cute I don’t mean “girl on the Windows 7 commercial talking about happy words” cute, I mean “Progressive Insurance lady trying to be funny” cute. Cute as in “knock it off”. It’s confusing on why only some merchants use it and when you do have them separated out, you have to actually exit the shop and re-enter dialogue cues just to see the other stuff. Why? Really, honestly, why?

So here’s where we take a tip from the RPGs you claim to be brothers with, they’ve been using this system for decades. You take the vendor, squish down that excessively bulky vendor screen to show only essential information (after all, you do have a “Hit Y for more info” button you could use more efficiently) and, like I mentioned earlier, show all party members in the comparison screen. Add the mod slots as essential information to be shown on currently equipped gear. Change your equipment AND vendor views to be tabbed. One tab for each different weapon, each type of mod. It’s called organization. Also, STACK similar items, so I don’t have to painfully scroll the excessively bulky nameplates of the 8th “Shredder IX” mod, and give me an option to alphabetize them or something of the sort. And damnit, don’t lock me in a slower than molasses scroll speed. You’ve got 10 different versions of nearly every weapon and mod in the game, and the current system you have of mixing it all up and sorting by highest grade is primitive and poorly done. The amount of time spent simply organizing inventory is just boring.

Like I mentioned earlier, RPGs have dealt with this system for years and they do it this way because it works! Yes your screen is very pretty and shiny - I don’t care. I want efficiency. If you’re going to throw items into my inventory every other half second, you have to provide an easier way of distributing, equipping, organizing, and selling them.

Phew.

That was fun. Sorta.

Now, yes, that’s a lot of critiquing. But, Mass Effect does have great things, besides those half paragraphs I mentioned earlier. While I really believe the negative comments up above are serious and I hope they are addressed before the second game, there are some really great things I hope stay the same.

The Story
It’s not revolutionary, but no space story ever will be - it’s all been done. But it is good damnit. It’s enjoyable and the interactivity takes it to a whole new level of play. I’m really excited to see how well it translates into the next installment. Of all the games that just clone themselves and put out a shiny new UI on top and call it new, Mass Effect is the only one that I find myself fully accepting as valid. I’ll be honest, I didn’t look much into what is planned (then again, not much information really is available still), but the fact they simply do not pretend the first game didn’t exist is what I’m looking forward to next. The choices I make affect more than just the single inclusion of Mass Effect 1? Spectacular.

Hard Choices with No Right Answer
In depth story doesn’t mean squat if everyone walks away with no emotional trauma. Winning means that much more when you’ve lost something along the way. No words can really emphasize sending a team member of yours to their death. The entire experience of Virmire was one of my favorites, I found myself really connecting in that moment of the game. I really felt the pressure and excitement during that mission, it was enthralling. Oh and for the record, I always send Ashley to her doom - she’s a damn racist.

Integration of Biotic and Weapons
The ability to pause the game and position your teams abilities to target specific enemies has made an impracticable system useful. My first playthrough I didn’t even realize you could pause the game in this method, so damned if I ever used biotics (beyond Unity to revive my suicidal teammates), but this time around I find them intriguing enough to make my next character a biotic.

Achievements Meaning Something
The gaming industry calls achievements “bragging rights”, but I haven’t bragged yet. I still try to complete them for personal accomplishment, but I get irritated by the fact achievements have turned games into jobs. But Mass Effect’s achievements are all worthwhile. They do something not so crazy but not widely practiced - in game rewards. It can increase the amount of health or shields you have, or encourage attachment issues you may have with a particular weapon. 150 kills with certain weapons unlock the use of that weapon with any future characters you make on that profile. Same with biotic abilities, use it enough and you can carry it over to your next character. It really increases the replay value if you’re someone who sticks to one style of play. For instance, I love my shotgun. I’m not so hot on biotics as much, but if I had a shotgun with my biotics, you bet your sweet ass I’ll give that a whirl. My only problem with this system is you only get one perk per new character. Granted it’d be extremely overpowered to give you them all, but maybe allowing one weapon and one biotic would be a better reward for the dedicated. But the tally for each achievements carries through all characters on that profile, so it encourages a more casual gaming approach. All-in-all it’s a great rewards system more games should adopt.

That’s it for now. Gonna play some more. Hopefully will get to catch up on other games later this week.

Video Games Mass Effect

To family and friends:

As some of you may have guessed, Dan and I are currently vacating our plans to have an official/formal wedding. We’ve been giving it a lot of thought for over a year now, and for many reasons, it isn’t in our best interest to have a ceremony. Dan proposed last August, and on our 9 year anniversary a few weeks later, we decided to have a small legal ceremony for many reasons (mostly because it has already been 9 great years). We immediately decided to try and have a formal wedding this past August on our 10 year anniversary and have that be the “official” wedding date. Unfortunately, as you might have guessed, it didn’t work out for several reasons. Primarily, it was extremely difficult to plan for an event when the majority of the guests are all out of state, and asking friends and family to fly in during this time in our economy didn’t seem to be fair for anyone. We tossed around ideas of having a separate reception in different areas, but time and money soon became a pretty big factor we couldn’t accommodate.

Dan and I plan on starting a family relatively soon (soon as next year or two - don’t get too excited), and it is apparent that it is wiser to invest the time and money we have now into our future family. A nice formal wedding was actually something Dan and I were both looking forward to, but we realize it’s not something we necessarily need. We’re really excited to be planning a family, and we still have a lot of projects to do around the house to get ready for these upcoming changes, and are already making steady progress in that area.

We’d also like to spend this time to thank those that have helped out by giving us donations even though we didn’t provide an event for you to enjoy. The money we’ve received was extremely helpful in acquiring some key items our house has been missing. I made an Amazon wedding registry soon after the engagement, and am using it still to acquire many necessary improvements/additions to the house. The projects we have scheduled for the next year or so are big ones, so to say your help is appreciated is an understatement. Thank you!

So, with the “officiality” finally being… official, I will be very soon (sooner than babies - next week or so) changing my name to Mrs. Mary Kate Joyce (and that is the first time I’ve used that full name). Thank you all for being patient, support, and understanding during this time. It’s been great seeing a lot of you this past trip to Illinois (and Kansas), and again thank you for all the love and support.

Sincerely,
Mr. and Mrs. Dan Joyce (I don’t like that one)
Mary and Dan Joyce (that one works)

Life Life

Here’s some high quality photos of our EQ2 Guild Hall on the Mistmoore server. All of the designing was done by myself and Dan. It’s an extremely custom layout and I’m very proud of the design. All of our guild hall NPCs are a tribute to guildies we had in EQ1.

I tried dealing with low quality screenshots but with as many objects in the hall, it just blends. Click on the pictures to see a larger fuller quality version.

The customized sections of the guild hall

The banker and broker area

The vendors and mender.

The harvester area. Small area but took hours of work to get the layering job done just right.

The druid area is the first area I ever made, and is by far my favorite.

The strategist area.

The stage - revamped about 8 times but finally just right.

Dance floor (disco ball above), stage, and those posh high class bar seats.

The poker side of the bar.

Bar with the view of kitchen.

Kitchen area.

The banquet table - all mugs come with a set of shot glasses (sake bombs baby!).

One side of the 4 sided bar.

The other side of the 4 sided bar. Yes it is natural for a pink elephant and lizard thing-a-ma-jig to serve you drinks.

Cudget’s office (hidden behind the bar).

The other side of Cudget’s office.

Our trophies.

The obstacle course! Entrance is at the ground level banners, wraps around through the air a few times.

The final steps of the obstacle course. Where you see the purple hearts is the end.

Left side of the arena.

Right side of the arena.

From the back of the arena.

The actual arena.

Right side of tradeskill area.

Left side of tradeskill area.

The NPCs!

Broker (Auctioneer): Yilelien
Banker: Domaris
Signet Peddler (Status item vendor): Wizarddude
Goods Exporter (Vendor): Felonyx
Mender: Diefenbaker
Miner: Tumpy
Harvester: Maevenniia
Hunter: Herlino
Druid (Ports): Avriana
Strategist (Sends to a guild rally point) : Vato
Collector: Kolen
Achievement Counselor (AA respec): Dalik (love the hat)
Creature Conjurer: Rony
Fuel Merchant (Tradeskill fuel vendor): Kinsonn
Rush Order Agent (Tradeskill quests): Iife
Research Assistant (Upgrades spells): Fimb

Life

My eyes are pleased with the “nom nom nom” goodness. *burp*

Life, Media Tron

…On this bill thinly veiled as a failed scapegoat for youth violence.

Now, along with California’s Psychiatric and Psychological Associations, Yee has filed an amicus curiae brief with Court that elaborates on the reasoning behind the law. Within the brief (PDF) are some interesting quotes: “Parents can read a book, watch a movie or listen to a CD to discern if it is appropriate for their child. These violent video games, on the other hand, can contain up to 800 hours of footage with the most atrocious content often reserved for the highest levels and can be accessed only by advanced players after hours upon hours of progressive mastery.

This is bullshit. I’m sorry but this is complete and utter bullshit. Name me ONE game that had a pre-tense of innocent and childhood fun until several hundred hours in and goes “SUPRISE! I’m bloody and gory!” One. Find me one. And 800 hours? To say that’s a stretch is only barely covering it. Most games are hard pressed to give you more than 10 hours of gameplay, a rare game can keep it going for 100 hours or a bit more - but 800? No. That again - is bullshit.

Guys, this is purely about pointing fingers. It’s scare tactics at the most insulting levels. If a parent is concerned about what their child is playing - play it with them or watch them as they play. Too busy? What, watching TV? Get a DVR. Working on paperwork for your job? You can do it in the same room as your child playing the game. I promise you, you do NOT have to keep your eyes fully peeled and never blink to know what a videogame has in store. There are no hidden shots of people having sex or random decapitated bodies only the person with the controller can see. There aren’t (if you bring up the incredibly over-hyped and flawed argument of “hot coffee” - I’ll smack you). Christ people this isn’t some magical machine where only some people know how to “really” work it. It’s just a damn video game. Interactive media. Not friggin hard to figure out what your kid is playing - open your eyes!

If you really really really really REALLY want to make sure a violent videogame doesn’t appear in your house, you have to take initiative. Do NOT make the government be your nanny. It will solve absolutely NOTHING and make situations worse. Read reviews - there’s several hundred reviews of video games out there. Look at the DAMNED RATING on the DAMNED BOX. But don’t… DO NOT for one second leave it up to someone else to regulate what you and your family should be watching or playing.

Game developers are NOT crack dealers. They don’t get their rocks off tainted the youth. They’re making entertainment for all of us to enjoy. These people work so hard to give you great entertainment experiences. If you don’t appreciate it, that’s one thing. If you honestly believe that violent videogames have a negative influence on your kids - that’s fine too. YOU take care of YOUR family then. But don’t even try to tell ME that what you want for your family should be required for everyone’s families. Video games do not cause youth problems despite what you want to believe. I can point you to more accurate studies that show that statement couldn’t be farther from the truth. Hell, you can even read a book from two authors who spent TIME on their violent video game research, and who also weren’t funded by organizations who were looking for specific results to prove something that isn’t even true!

If this bill passes, it will be the first of it’s kind. Remember almost 20 years ago when Schwartzy’s own movies were under fire and they wanted to pass a bill to make it illegal to sell violent movies to minors? It didn’t pass. More importantly, the world didn’t blow up. So if this passes, video games will be the first media source to be viewed by the public as harmful to society. It’s just not true. It’s bullshit.

Travis linked a really great video by Penn and Teller recently. I thought it was pretty awesome, and right now I think everyone who wants this terrible bill to pass should be required to watch it. Language in it is brutal - but the message is crystal clear. 30 minutes long, but it’s all more than worth it for the last several minutes. It’s a really great video.

Watch this

Video Games

Yes I know what you’re thinking, “But Mary, you just posted yesterday! What could you possibly have to say today?!” And the answer is not much. Well, at least “not much” by my standards.

I did get Worms Armageddon: 2 on XBLA yesterday and am very happy with that purchase. There seems to be some lag issues (waiting seven seconds or so between turns - not counting the additional five second at the “Are You Ready?” prompt) and it’s not as complex as the original Worms Armageddon got, but I wouldn’t expect it to be on XBLA. Quite honestly I’ve never had as frustrating as a time with controller sensitivity before. Despite all that (and an AI that’s even MORE superhuman than the original), great game! If you liked the first, get it. Hell, it’s worth it for the addition of screaming the worms do as you drop a mine or shoot a bazooka right over their head. Oh is it worth it.

Also, Dan and I just (and I mean *JUST*) got done watching Dark Knight. In a nutshell - two thumbs up. By far the greatest movie I’ve seen in a very long time. It was hyped quite a bit and I found that I still was in awe of the great movie it was. I think recently people give too much credit to explosions and not enough to collisions. There were more than a few moments I found myself “OH MAN!” at the impacts that were occurring that didn’t include fire and smoke. I even gotta give props to the sound guys. I don’t just mean the booms and what not, just the suspenseful and dramatic music/effects going on in the background of about every single scene. I just can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a movie where sound drastically integrated with the emotion and feel of a movie, it really drew me in to the experience.

So finally, I’ve been stockpiling a few clips for a while, but I like sharing videos. So here’s a few that make my pick. First off, Total Eclipse of the Heart done right. While it’s not put out by dustfilms.com as one of their own literal translation videos, this is the first I’ve seen by others I’ve loved just as much. Thanks to Travis for sharing.

Next up - Wierd Al’s Hardware Store done to WoW footage. While you all know my feelings of WoW and how I never want to play it again… I won’t deny it’s influence (and very fluid animations that make for great videos). This thing is old, but pretty cute (I got a good laugh outta the guild chat part)

And finally, a very adorable video I found today that shows not all people on the internet fail. These guys pass. Very pass. Multi-pass. Big bada boom! Oh sorry… was sidetracked. Anyway, this video is a joy to watch.

That’s it! Continue onward with your day kids!

Life, Media, Video Games Worms Armageddon

Been a while eh? Well, you see kiddies, when I get behind on posting it’s bad. As you can tell, I like to write very long posts even without much to say. So, when I have a lot to say, it turns into a day project to make one post. Kinda dissuading.

So I’ll try breaking it up into smaller posts over the next bit. I should be doing that anyway. I’m gonna go get some Cocoa Krispies first. BRB.

Ahhh, that’s better. I love me some Cocoa Krispies. I don’t know about you guys - but all the cereal I loved when I was a kid I just can’t eat anymore. Either too sugary or it tears the crap outta my mouth. But not Cocoa Krispies. They treat me good. But now they’re getting soggy. Just a sec.

Ok there we go. Wait a minute - I grabbed a Pepsi instead of a Dr. Pepper. Gah! Look, clearly this isn’t working out today. We’ll just pick this up tomorrow.

.
. .
. . .
I’m just kidding.

OK, so first things first. Transformers 2 is not a movie I’m going to see. It’s hard enough to convince me to see the Star Trek movie, while I kinda want to - I heard that there are some crazy plot holes or just a lack of plot altogether. I will see it eventually, but the plot issues are holding me back. Big-bada-booms aren’t enough to sell me on a movie. Unless is Milla saying Big-bada-boom. But bay’s bada-booms are fails in my opinion.

So needless to say - Bay’s latest vomit he calls “work” has sparked 0 interest for me. That being said, doesn’t mean you can’t get a few good laughs out of it right? First up - Transformers 2 trailer done accurately (no spoilers).

Next up (and by far the funniest thing I have read all year) a review done by Topless Robot. I want to thank Travis for showing me this, this past weekend. THIS HAS SPOILERS A PLENTY so you’ve been warned. But if you have no interest in seeing the movie or have seen it and weren’t amused, or hell, even if you loved it:

Read this! I can’t stress enough how hilarious this review is.

This past month or so has been all about personal accomplishments big and small. I was really happy with myself to have done Muse - Hysteria on bass while playing vocals on expert level. It wasn’t pretty but I didn’t come close to failing out at all. It definitely isn’t the hardest song on Rock Band 2 but it keeps ya busy - so *pats self on back*.

This isn’t me on the video but here’s the expert track part.

All while doing vocals. *flex*

Also saying that EA Sports Active has been working out is an understatement. I’m not going to lie, there are some bugs/flaws with some workouts (which will be covered in my review that’s already a novel before getting into the actual exercises), but overall this is solid. I’ve never felt more accomplished and better from any other workout I’ve tried. My endurance has skyrocketed - to say the least and overall my energy level is higher than it’s been in years. I didn’t expect to see any results besides this, but I’m already looking at a 5 pound loss in weight (already factored in daily weight fluctuation). I managed to get two solid workouts made… one cardio with upper body and one lower body with heavier cardio (I really need the cardio), and the default workout schedule they have is two days on and one day off, so this works out great. It’s been almost two months since I bought it, and I still feel like I’m just getting warmed up. So again *high five*.

Finally, not so much a personal one, but it’s a pretty big accomplishment - Outcast Adventurers is going strong. Our guild on EQ2 is growing, and the quality of players we’re recruiting is looking top notch. As some of you may know, running a guild takes a hefty amount of time and energy, so that’s some of the reason I’ve been held up. That and Fallout 3 *cough*.

Yeah so I beat Fallout 3 about last week, but I’m still playing it. They chocked this game full of content just like Oblivion. I think my play time is past 90 hours or so at the moment, and I feel halfway done (before even touching the expansions). You know what is my favorite aspect of Fallout 3? Having 100 sneak. That means, planting grenades in people’s pockets. Here’s someone’s montage:

I personally favor planting them in Super Mutant’s pockets. They say “GONNA BLOW!” and “TAKE COVER!” in very Warcraft orc fashion. Shame I can’t find videos on those. Zug Zug. Biggest problem I have with Fallout 3 is that it only plays half of my playlist on my Ipod connected through my Xbox 360. Not sure why that is, but if I want to listen to artists I-Y I gotta start the music playing on the dashboard. Otherwise artists #-H will be the only ones I hear. Radiohead is on the latter half, I tend to use that part. Still odd that happens tho, haven’t noticed that in any other game I play on the 360 (including Oblivion). Other than that, the game is great. Wonderful - all things good. And Ms. Jaxxy Vindalooooooo- please be sure to let me know how you do on playing evil >:D

It’s been a paragraph since I posted a video. And I really want to share the Fumbles experience. Because it’s Fumbles, it’s always been Fumbles.

And finally, some music. I use to be big into metal - and still am with the classic metal. The newer stuff I have a problem with. It makes me sound old, but I don’t enjoy music where you can’t decipher the different instruments. Where it seems the guitarists and drummers want to hit as many things as possible - not make notes, riffs, or even music. That doesn’t mean the music has to be boring - it just has to have style.

So I’m enjoying Mastodon. They’ve been around for a while and I’ve heard a song or two occasionally - but this song Oblivion has really stolen my short attention span. It’s heavy but melodic, and damn good. Video’s wierd… but it’s a metal video, so duh. I downloaded Crack the Skye album and thus far, very good.

And now - a mash up of gaming news at it’s finest failure.

Fitness Hero and Workout Hero have been trademarked! You know what I love? A franchise that exploits the consumer by refusing to eliminate disc swapping (and then later re-releasing the same songs again to make more money) to handle my workout routine. Because Wii Fit releasing a whole new game for an expansion pack/patch worth of updates wasn’t bad enough - Activision has to show them how it’s done.

Starcraft 2 won’t support LAN! That’s right! Talking about biting the hand that feeds - dismissing the thing that made you what you are, is the epitome of fail. Blizzard - your merge with Activision has been for the worse. You guys need to get a whole new “business ethic” committee. This is the last straw, separating Starcraft 2 out to get more money was bad enough - you guys lost my pre-order and support. Go to hell.

Thankfully - within the same day a petition already reached 6k signatures. I don’t have much faith in petitions, but good luck guys. Even if you win, they still lost me.

Activision you suck. Did I mention that? If they didn’t do enough dickish moves for you already - don’t worry, there’s more! Just look at how they handle Brutal Legend. First they drop it, then when it does GREAT at E3 they say “but it’s ours!!”

Finally, China bans gold farming! In a country were freedoms run free this comes at a shock *cough*sarcasm*cough*. While I’m not a fan of how much China bans, I’m not really opposed to this. Gold farms are running like sweatshops (and not to mention annoying with spam).

That’s all for now. I leave you with my new desktop background.

Life, Media, Video Games EQ2, Fallout 3, Mastodon, Robot Chicken, Rock Band