Well, I'm back home from holiday (more on that later) and I discovered that home is mighty cold. This morning I went to my car to go to work, and my windshield was all icy! I grabbed the scraper and hopped out of the car. Two scrapes in and I realized that there wasn’t much ice on my windshield after all... at least not on the outside!! Turns out there must have been some condensation on the inside of the windshield right before it froze. So, here I am scraping the INSIDE of my windshield and all the ice is falling everywhere in my car. By the time I was done, it looked like it had snowed in my stupid car. I love you, Ford Tempo.
January 2004 Archives
Kara and I wanted to watch the extended versions of Fellowship of the Ring & The Two Towers before we went to see Return of the King in the theater.... easier said than done. First we thought we would just rent them, but Hollywood Video & Blockbuster each only had one copy which they said are almost always out... lame. So, we resigned to the fact that we would have to buy the dang things... again no such luck. Neither rental place had it for sale, and Circuit City & Fred Meyer both only had the extended versions of Two Towers but no Fellowship.
What the hell? Did I get transported to, like, the 1800's or something?!? Stores should have the stuff I want! Especially something as mainstream as LotR (wait, LotR is mainstream? Maybe I got transported to the 1800's of an alternate universe?)
The second term of my game development course started last night; this one is all about graphics. The last course was sooo crappy, but I really think this one is going to be good. The teacher is very knowledgeable and started right off in linear algebra (I love it, no effin' around).
Also, this time we won't be working with a crappy framework provided to us by the teacher. Throughout this term we will be building our own graphics engine from scratch. That's something that gets me excited, because I'll have something I can demo at interviews that'll be all mine. AND, we’ll be extending our engine throughout the next course as well (adding game logic & physics and whatnot). Very cool!
This weekend was video game heaven for me!! I haven’t been playing much (at least for me) lately, so my plan this weekend was to fix that problem. I bought a bunch of games that I wanted with some xmas money that I had: Beyond Good & Evil ($20), Space Channel 5: Special Edition ($20), Midway Arcade Classics ($20), Prince of Persia ($50), and Splinter Cell (free with PoP). I was pretty happy with the game to cost ratio... 5 games for ~$100 not bad at all.
Of the new games, Beyond Good & Evil and Space Channel 5 have been getting the most attention. Beyond is a fantastic action/adventure game that has been compared to the newer Zelda games. This game is critically acclaimed, but it did not sell well AT ALL. The game is only 1 month old and they had to drop the price down from $50 to $20 to get the game to move... poor UbiSoft.
Space Channel 5 is a rhythm/dancing game not unlike Parappa. It’s actually a port of an old Dreamcast game, and this “special edition” includes the sequel that was never before released in America. SC5 is a wonderful wacky Japanese-ish game that gives me a perma-grin while I play. You play as a sexy space reporter named Ulala that must fight off attacking, dancing hordes of aliens by repeating their dances back to them. Both SC5 games even have appearances by Space Michael (actually voiced by Michael Jackson)!
I suppose I should also mention that I beat the Age of Mythology expansion, The Titans, this weekend. Age of Mythology’s single player campaign was SOO good, and the expansion’s campaign is just as good (though maybe a tad short). The ‘moderate’ difficulty setting is perfect for fun but not overly challenging missions.
There was my weekend (with more than a few puppy clean-ups scattered in there to keep it interesting). Time to go to bed and get all ready for another exciting week of work...
Is it just me, or is the Planters’ Mr. Peanut seriously disturbing? I mean he has that icky bulge in his nether regions due to his peanut shape. And his legs are all womanly and it looks like he’s wearing tights. Throw in white gloves, a cane, top hat, and monocle and you've got a creepy mascot that isn’t appropriate for the general public.
I had very small plans for the xmas/new year’s holidays. I was going to spend xmas weekend in Portland, and then go back to work on Monday. Then, I’d take Thursday & Friday off for New Year’s and go to a party here in Seattle… that WAS the plan.
On the Friday after xmas, I was talking to Chris & Angela, and lo & behold they didn’t have to work all next week. Kara also didn’t have to work, so I didn’t want to be the only schmuck working! Right there in Roadhouse Grill we all decided that we should drive down to Las Vegas for New Year’s!
We left that night and drove straight through for 20 hours. We got there Saturday evening as tired as can be. We also discovered that we had reservations at a really crappy motel!! As soon as I got in the room, I started calling hotels closer to the strip. We found one closer that was actually cheaper than the dive that we were at! Of course, I made reservations at the other joint, and we only had to spend one night in the slums.
The next few days were spent doing the standard ‘Vegas’ thing. We walked a ton, looking at everything, gambling and drinking. As New Year’s Eve got closer, it became evident that there was some concern that Vegas was a possible target for a terrorist attack. A few days before, they announced that the city would be a no-fly zone for New Year’s and that there would be Blackhawk helicopters patrolling the strip! It made ya think, but then I wasn’t going to change my plans because of what some bastards might do.
The Practice is really starting to try my patience; if it weren’t for Spader’s Alan Shore, I’d be seriously considering dropping the show from Tivo. Kelly’s writing has gotten SO preachy that it makes the show irritating to watch. I swear he brings up the Patriot Act in every episode, even when it has nothing to do with what’s happening (Ok, David, we GET it, you don’t like the Act, tell it to someone who cares).
The last two episodes had the most convoluted plots and neither of them worked. Last night’s episode required Jimmy & Jamie to act like COMPLETE idiots just to let the story progress (I saw where the whole thing was going, before the first ‘surprise’ happened... LAME!) Even Shore’s story in this last episode was unfulfilling; he’s best when being sneaky, when he’s full out bad he just isn’t interesting.
I've been really busy this whole week at work and with my homework (which I didn't get finished by the deadline, even). So, I won't be able to write much here from Jan 19th 'til now... just to let you know...
By some miracle I was able to assemble my old game group over the weekend! Phil was up visiting for a few days, and I got Nolan over here as well (he actually has his own car now, so he could drive himself!!) We started off with a classic game of Settlers of Catan (no expansions) for old time sake; I won. Then we moved on to Acquire, quite possibly the best American board game ever made; I won. We ordered pizza and started playing Alhambra, a game I fell in love with at The Gathering, and took a break when the pizza showed up (we actually ordered anchovies on 1/2 of one of the pizzas… don’t think I’ll be ordering anchovies again anytime soon). After the pizza was eaten, and a quick commercial free episode of Most Extreme Elimination Challenge was watched, we were back to the game table to finish up Alhambra... this time unfortunately I didn’t win, Phil did (but I got second, so there!) We had one more game in us, so we pulled out another ‘old’ favorite, The Traders of Genoa... This game is a lot of fun, but we’re always a bit reluctant to bring it out, because it’s a longish game, and you have to be active the whole way through it… you’re constantly vying for attention, even when it’s not your turn. It was as good (and not as long) as I remember, but again I only got second, Phil took home first prize for the 2nd time that night.
After we were done with board games, we switched over to the Xbox, specifically Halo. Now that I have two Xboxes (yeah, I know I still have to post part 3 of my mod story) we were able to split up on two TVs. Kara and I took the upstairs TV, and Phil & Nolan got the big baby downstairs. I was the clear Halo winner for the night, winning nearly every game… and KILLING on a 25 kill slayer game with no shields and only shotguns (named “Micah’s game” on my Xbox HD, because Micah was the one that introduced it to me).
It was a really fun night, but alas not another one for probably a looooooooong time; Nolan is moving away from Seattle within the month, and Phil went back home to Kalama today. I mentioned my board games to some coworkers a few days ago in hopes of recruiting a new game group, but (as expected) they didn’t seem too interested. Back to the games that require no fellow gamers… video games :|
I watched a bit of the Golden Globes tonight, and was overjoyed to see The Office win two globes! My British coworker, Ritchie, introduced me to the show a while back, and I quickly watched up every episode made (sadly, there are only 12 episodes… EVER!) Ritchie let me borrow his Office DVDs, but I had to do some hardware hacking on my computer to even watch them (since they’re British DVDs, the region encoding isn’t compatible with American DVD players). If you haven’t seen this show, you owe it to yourself to watch it; they’re still airing reruns on BBC America if you get that channel, or they’ve since released an American DVD of the first series (what the Brits call a season).
Ritchie also lent me two DVDs of another British show called Spaced. This show is very funny, and has TONS of movie, TV, and video game references. I became hooked on this show as well, and quickly watched up all the episodes (this show had two series of 7 episodes). This all happened quite a few months ago, but recently Ritchie and I were talking about a few funny moments of the show, and I realized how much I miss it. So, I did what any good capitalist would do, I went to Amazon UK and bought the two DVDs (my recently hacked Xbox is now a region free DVD player, so I’ll be able to watch these region 2 encoded DVDs on a TV!)
When I was placing the order for the Spaced DVDs, the total came to 31.61, including shipping, which I thought was VERY reasonable. Deal done… then I receive the email confirmation the next day (saying that my DVDs have been, not shipped, but ‘dispatched’… those Brits and their fancy words). The email confirmed the price at £31,61… how could I have been so stupid?!? Of course… the cost was in POUNDS! Actual cost to me: $57.71. Ouch! But after I got over the sticker shock, I realized that I’m still happy I ordered the DVDs. The show is so good, it’s worth $4 an ep!
I'm sad... I beat Beyond Good & Evil on Sunday night, and MAN that was a good game (note, it's been replaced on the left by Prince of Persia). As I mentioned here, critics agreed that the game was good, but it just didn't sell well. This game had one of the coolest stories I've seen in a long time, and there's even a surprise ending (after the credits) that could be considered as a hint for a sequel. That should make me happy, but since this game pretty much bombed, I'm guessing that there's a melt-able item's chance in a hot place* that a sequel will be made. Sigh...
*Here at Less Than Me, we try to avoid stereotypes. It's clearly harmful to suggest that all snowballs face eternal damnation in the lake of fire (when in actuality, only the yellow ones do).
A couple of site updates... Firstly, the title banner now has a quaint little saying, and my name is going to be a link to an about page (currently it’s just a link to the homepage). Also, I’ve made the side bar persist through to the archive pages (in preparation for the about page). That’s all for now, but I guess I should stress how awesome Movable Type is. It’s so easy to use once it’s installed, and it’s VERY customizable.
A few weeks ago, my coworker Aldo told me about GamingFM.com, a site that hosts a few streaming stations that play only video game music. Geeky? perhaps, but I’ll walk (or cross) that geek line if I can get my daily dose of game music. I usually listen to the complete station all day while I work, and now I’m severely addicted. I’ve started hunting down these songs to add to my own collection, and Phil (another fellow video game music connoisseur) pointed me to this site. If you scroll to the bottom of that page, you’ll find the last section (CD3) which is the New Japan Philharmonic performing impressive renditions of songs from Super Smash Bros. Melee (if you don’t know what this game is, it’s basically a party-ish fighter containing most of Nintendo’s famous game characters). Anyway, if you think videogame music is only bleeps and blips, download ‘Smash Bros. Grand Medley,’ and expect to be enlightened (this song is a medley of a bunch of classic Nintendo game songs; see how many you can recognize).
I have had one bad experience with GamingFM however, (actually, no fault of the site) allow me to explain... (or don’t, by leaving). With the number of games I buy, it’s nearly a necessity that I sell back some games once I beat them (so as to make space in my cabinet, as well as keep the overall cost of my gaming addiction down). If a game really wow’d me, I’ll hold on to it, but if it was just OK and I can still get decent money for it… it’s gone. So far, I haven’t regretted selling any of my games… until now. I was listening to GamingFM a few days ago, and they played a song from Skies of Arcadia… I had flashbacks to the game, and suddenly I was flooded with feelings of guilt for selling that game. I had turned my back on Vyse, Fina, & Aika after spending so much time with them, fighting the evil Imperial Army of Valua! Now I’ve got to decide whether I’m going to buy back the game, or face the consequences of my actions… Eh, I’ll just ask for it as a b-day or xmas gift, and at least I won’t have to buy it twice!
So, there’s this game for the Game Cube called Viewtiful Joe, and if you believe what you read, it’s perfection in a videogame… I beg to differ, sure the graphic style is neat, and a return to old school side scrolling action is also nice to see... But this game is hard… and I mean %@&#ing HARD! See, even Penny Arcade agrees with me! In fact, I've had this game for a few months now, and I haven't touched it for quite a while. My renewed hatred for it was triggered by my ol' friend Phil. He was up visiting for a few days, and while I was at work, he played it. He got further than I had gotten, but couldn't get past the 4 bosses in a row section (as described in that Penny Arcade link). I was already fed up with how hard it was (especially the boss battles) so finding out that I have 4 bosses in a row to look forward to just pissed me off. I’m seriously contemplating selling the game, because I’ll just get FUMING mad when I try to play it again… I mean, aren’t games supposed to be fun?!? And if I just get angry every time I play, I’d say that it’s failing the ‘fun test.’ Capcom, you suck… You took my 40 bucks and gave me a bundle of frustration.
I recently found out that my company hired Ricky Gervais, star and co-creator of The Office to make an MS training video! The video, titled “I’m back, and this time it’s personal-development,” was made sometime last year, but it hasn’t been available to view in the states. They’re pretty tight on security when it comes to the videos they make for their employees, so they never make videos available for download. However, Ritchie forwarded me an email a couple of days ago that said that sometime soon, they’re going to stream the video on the internal net for those who want to see it! WooHoo!
Finally the weekend, I’m going down to Portland this morning, so Friday night was my only good opportunity to play some Prince of Persia. After reacquainting myself with the controls (it’s been over a week since last I touched it) I started making headway in the game… until something bad happened. I was fightin’ some dudes and all of a sudden the camera plunges deep into a wall, never to return. All I see is black, and all I hear is the wooosh sound effect the camera makes, over and over and over… I do the classic button mash, the menu pull up, nuthin’. Then, all of a sudden the game over screen pops up and gives me the option to retry. I do, and it starts me a few rooms back, but all is not well… The prince has decided to get jiggy which consists of him waving his arms around like mad and hopping on one foot down the hall. He does this for maybe 30 seconds, and then the game over screen pops up again. It looked so funny that I grabbed my video camera and recorded some mpegs of it… I then spent the last hour or two editing it together and setting it to music. The movie is unfortunately 11 Megs (the crappy program I’m using HAS a size/quality slider, but there was no size difference between normal and low!) I promise you it’s worth the download.
