I Can't Believe It

I started to play World of Warcraft again. I think that patch 3.0 and being there at the live recording of the instance is what really encouraged me to renew my subscription. And, I have had a pretty good time playing it so far. The achievements have made this game a little more addicting than heroin. I've been running around revealing lots of parts of the map. Also, with all these achievements that came out, I realized how much I really haven't done in the game. I only have about 1000 points. I'm not sure the maximum that can be achieved, but I have about 93/750. That's a lot of stuff to do. I do have to take issue with some of the things that happened. I killed some of the bosses that it said I didn't kill. I have the t4 helm to prove it. Anyway, most of my work has been me running around exploring everything. And raping low level dungeons. With this release date and patch, the game is starting to feel like the end of high school did. Everyone knows the end is coming, but we are all still there. We are doing things as if they don't have repercussions. I bought lots of expensive gems for my ret set, which is something I wouldn't probably have done unless I had a lot of money. Everything is now a joke. We 5 manned Onyxia, and Kara groups are a dime a dozen. No one is taking this game seriously anymore, and I have always felt that games really become fun when the game isn't too serious. It's a thing that this game will have for a while. No raids will really exist until about next spring which might actually be a little to early. People will hit 80 soon, but enough people to have a reliable raiding guild is something that will not exist for a while.


Speaking of Warcraft, I've also been playing Warcraft 3. Just normal games online, with matchmaking. It's a really fun game. I remember everything that I liked about RTSs and I do like them a lot. I also played Starcraft recently and it is still fun and an amazing game. Games that good really transcend the age barrier. By that, I mean are immune to the passage of time when speaking of playability. I have also realized that I have played WoW since basically the beginning of the game. I started in 2004. I never got past level 36 but I was playing. I had my mage, then a druid and various other characters. I never really settled on a character like I have now. I do like my druid, but my paladin has everything that I want and it makes playing him a real joy.

I said earlier that Shawn Elliot left the brodeo and it spelled certain doom for it as a podcast. Well, he never really left. He will always be here with stories. Only this time they will be read by Chuff(Anthony Gallegos) and Babito(Robert Ashley). And now Ryan Scott will actually be able to talk. However, it would not surprise me in the least if they got Jeff Green or Shawn Elliot to phone in to the podcast using their fancy new ….phone in technology. GFW was my favorite podcast and it still is. I really like their random tangents but they usually have good insight. I hope that it wasn't just Shawn who had the insightfulness. Shawn Elliot is such an amazing individual and he will be sorely missed.
Back in the good ol' days.

I really like to write, I have realized. I like to flush out my thoughts and put them down on paper. I do have this blog, and I am trying to evolve this blog into a thoughtful, insightful place. I will, of course, just put random things on there, I.e.: hatdog, but I also want to try and put things that delve into the game theory. The problem is, I might be going into it already, but it lacks life relevence, so its going to be hard for me to really recognize when I do it. So, it is here I announce that I am probably going to write a back story for my World of Warcraft character, Akoris. Dun, dun daaaaaa.
Playlist:

1. World of Warcraft
2. Warcraft 3
3. Team Fortress 2
   

OpenOffice.org

This isn't really video game related, but I downloaded Openoffice.org 3.0. It's amazing. Its basically a free, FREE, competitor to Microsoft Office. It doesn't disappoint. It's amazing. It looks like office so everything is where is should be. And it runs naively in Mac OSX. win.
Playlist:

1. Team Fortress 2
2. Warcraft 3
   

Hi guyz

hi guyz!!
im hat dog!!!

Playlist:

1. Team Fortress 2
2. CSS
   

I just wanted to say this:

When in doubt, chuff it out.Which makes me think: maybe I should finish Crysis and Half Life 2. Just chuff it out and play them.

Playlist:

1. Team Fortress 2

Shawn Elliot leaves the Brodeo

I'm so depressed that he left. I guess everything is ending for me now that high school ended. But, high school ended and college began, so I guess that other things will too.

Shawn Elliot is a huge inspiration to me. He is not only a hilarious individual, but he is also a very insightful and intelligent one. I wish that I could poses his insight that he seems to have every week. I get a good idea maybe once every month. Plus his awesome stories are so amazing that I have started to amass stories that I can tell.
Playlist:

1. Team Fortress 2
   

BonK!

I started playing Team Fortress 2 again. It's a lot alotta fun. But, the question that has been pestering me lately is: why? Why is it fun? Humans by nature are pretty competitive creatures. We've been racing each other places since the dawn of time and wars simply come from competitions over natural resources. So, I doubt I am any different than those humans, despite my constant showering and my real lack of having to do physical labor. So I do enjoy competition. Blowing up someone with a sticky bomb you lobbed over a wall or cliff is extremly satisfying. As is throwing someone up in the air with a ocket launcher and then fataly shooting them again while they remain airborn. Is this fun because you beat another person? If I killed you once, then I am way better than you are. This statement is not valid, for in that game, random events can and do occur that resut in freak deaths, eg. rounding the corner into a crit rocket that someone shot at nothing. I think the real pleasure and the thing that keeps bringing my back is beating the other team. Working together with your teammates to defeat a common enemy is an incredably uniting experience, eg. World War 2 and us kicking the shit out of the Taliban. The great thing about that game is that somehow, situations can arise that leave both teams satisfied. I was playing dustbowl and we were holding the other team down for the entire match. And then, at the end of the match we all of a sudden all died for various reasons and the other team managed to capture the point and win. We know we were the better team, so we were not mad. And the other who pulled a miracle win was jubilant. Not many games are able to do that.

It's been a while since there has been a new class update. But, Robin Walker, blogger on behalf of the dev team, has been doing his job. Namely, blogging. His last blog was titled "Gentlemen" and his newest is entitled "Git along there, little doggies". These are some of the spy and engineer taunts, respectivly. This could point to a class pack release, maybe of both spy and engineer. This would be interesting because spies and engineers are basically enemies of each other. Well, not really. I think the engineer hates the spy, and the spy hates the pyro. The pyro in turn hates the soldier, who hates the demoman. The Demoman does not care for heavies or pyros. Heavies hate spies. Medics hate everyone, scouts are ignored by all and everyone hates snipers, who hates spies. That is why they should release a offense, defense, support pack. I would vote for soldier, demo, sniper. But that is probably not going to happen. I would be okay with engy/spy/offense. I enjoy both scout and soldier so I am okay with either. What if they released another pack for the already updated classes. Just add more weapons! that would be nuts.

Playlist:

1. Team Fortress
   

New layout

I just wanted to point out I put Twitter back on here. I update to say things that I'm doing. Follow me if you want. I'll probably follow you back. I also put a follow feature that's from Blogger. I'm not sure what it does. I also put up a new poll. I think its clever.

Playlist:

1. Team Fortress 2
   

I want to Post here

But I really don't have anything to say. Only, that in college, ive stopped playing WoW and am playing TF2. That's it.

Games of Interest

So, a lot has happened recently in teh gaming industry. Will Wright finally released his new pet project, SPORE, this past weekend. The game has been getting tons of positive feedback, allowing the user to personally tailor a universe. Starting from the cell stage, much like a point-and-click game, to the create stage, more like an rpg, to the tribal and then civilization stages, dumb downed rts's, to the space stage. Space is a combination of all of these and more. A world pissing you off - bomb its inhabitants, use a laser on the buildings. They launching interstellar warefare against you - sign their death contract with a simple click releasing the planetary bomb that explodes their entire planet. (I have yet to unlock this tool but I imagine it's amazing.) All-in-all, SPORE is a revolutionary game that will be the talk of the town for quite sometime.

On a different note, Blizzard Entertainment gave an official release date for Nov. 13th of this year, claimed to be "invading a store near you." I'm sure I am not the only one shocked to find out that Blizzard is on top of things, not pushing back the release date an entire year as was done with the previous expansion. Wrath of the Lich King is set to deliver an even bigger overhaul to the UI and gameplay then before, complete with a new hero class, the Death Knight, bringing more of the old Warcraft Lore, as well as the Inscription profession that augments the abilities of players in certain situations, and finally the increased level cap to 80 and the Northrend area to do it in. Many other additions have yet to be revealed, but the game is expected to have no real effect on the market. One critic was quoted saying that the game will "simply keep current players in the game, and those who would just begin the game out because of the gap between leveling and gameplay."

Things still on the horizon are the much anticipated FallOut 3, and Fable 2. I will be purchasing these games and recommend them to any person seeking intense rpg action, intriguing, depthful story lines, and creative ingenuity. I also recommend a trial of Mythic Entertainment's, those who brought you Dark Age of Camelot, Warhammer Online (referred to as WAR). Having participated in the Beta versions of the game, it leaves much to be expected. Whether due to WoW's near monopoly on MMORPG gameplay and creativeness or expectations, who knows. The game features a multitude of classes, in-depth storylines and quests, as well as something WoW has only recently thought of, siege-warfare. While WoW has their battlegrounds, WAR has full on castle assaults and siege equipment usage. WoW will be releasing these additions in Wrath of the Lich King, and some suspect WAR took this idea from them.

To conclude, it should be a very interesting Q4 for video games.

Playlist: World of Warcraft, Team Fortress 2, Warhammer Online, Spore

Portal 2

Could this possibly ever be a good idea? It seems very unlikely that they could ever make a complete gaming experience as tight and compelling as the original. I only ask because I saw something about Gordon Freeman earlier today on some gaming sight, and I thought it said something about him at Aperture Science. I was wrong about that, though.


Playlist: Bionic Commando Rearmed, Madden '09, Final Fantasy VI

im so cool

So I bought the World of Warcraft soundtrack. And now I've been
listening to it when i play WoW. Sorta defeats the purpose right?
Also, the past two nights I have been up really late playing WoW, this
past night being up untill 5 30am. That is the point when it stops
being late and starts being early. I did not know a game could hold my
interest for so long and so intensely. And now I started a warlock
that i have to level. O man.

Working at the library tonight

Was incredibly boring.

Though I did read a very interesting book about Ayn Rand, Objectivism, Atheism and Rationalism.

My Mage (100th Post)

Well, I have a paladin, druid, hunter and a really low level mage. Now, I like my mage, but I always think that they are better than they really are. They really don't have enough health to stand up to anyone in a melee fight. They do have the power to kill people from afar but then they really have to rest after they kill anyone because of the large mana requirements of all their spells. I wish I could have all these guys up at 70, but I really don't have the time. I work all the time and I wish I didn't so much. I have worked constantly since two wednesdays ago. Wednesday through saturday, monday through friday, then i went to tahoe with my family until today. Now, this is a vacation but I like my house and I like my room and I miss it. I have all this stuff for a good reason, which is to use it. There was internet up at tahoe but it was slow and only available from the window sill of my room. There was the Hyatt across the street and I didn't want to go over there just to play World of Warcraft. I will also be working from wednesday to saturday it looks like. This bums me out a little bit. We are returning home a little early, which I am all for. I do want some off days though. I want to just sit around and play World of Warcraft. I also want to play through the new Team Fortress 2 achievements and test out all the new heavy weapons, which one of them seems to be a sandwich to regain health when you do not have a medic around. This is a good thing to put in there, allowing heavies to be a class that is good to play when you do not necessarily have a medic on your team.

I think that heavies are a class that really insights terror into the other team. When I as a soldier round to corner and see that ugly russian heavy visage, I turn and run right away. There is no way that I can take him on. I can take him if i get the element of surprise on him, because I can get at least 2 rockets at him before he can even start shooting me. The sandwich will not be in any way replacement to a medic. I am assuming that the sandwich is a single use thing that must be switched to use. This would stop the damage output from the heavy by a significant amount, first to stop firing, switch to it, use it, and then switch back to the minigun and start firing again. So this sandwich will probably just be a out of combat use thing that you use after a fight. Also, the new five maps will have to be played so that I can get use to them. I still think Goldrush is a thing of beauty along with Dustbowl and Badlands. I hope that the new payload map is as genius and fun as Goldrush. I do admit that I have not really played a lot of Fastlane and that other new one. Also, arena mode will be able to bring the strategy of Counter-Strike Source to Team Fortress. As it is now, there might be game plans, but they are only general strategies. There are no things that people do that are incredibly specific like in Source.

Speaking of Source, I have sorta taken it up on my free time. It's an incredible game. It's fast, intense and complex. My favorite map is definitely Dust2. It's evenly balanced, and small, allowing for quick transversals of the map. The thing that really makes me mad is when I die very quickly and don't even kill anyone, or even hurt anyone. That is one thing that Halo really hooked people on, is the ease of killing people randomly and not dying easily. You can throw a grenade and, if there are any people around at all, you can probably kill one. But, Halo also made it so that you could take a grenade and not die. It was the game for people who were new to shooters and it hooked them in for other ones. I do not particularly like Halo anymore, but I have many fond memories playing it with all my friends. It also hooked me in for games like Gears of War and Counter Strike.

This furthers my belief that what you like now is primarily a product of where you were. I first played Halo at Chris Clark's house and I was really bad at it. But I liked it and kept playing and got way better, eventually becoming the best of all my friends. I then learned about the video gaming center The Matrix. We went down there and use to pay $5 an hour to play the games on their high end computers. I use to play Counter Strike and Battlefield 1942. I eventually got Counter Strike on my home computer and played there and stopped going to The Matrix for I could play all their games. I then played Halo 2 a lot after it came out. I think the success of Halo 2 rested on the ease of play online and the fact that no other games for the Xbox came out at that time. There were games like Half Life 2 and Counter-Strike Source, but I didn't have the money to do computer games then. After Halo 2, came Gears of War, then Halo 3. I liked Gears a lot more than I liked Halo 3 I think because Gears was so different and a departure from the traditional run and gun gaming. But then, I started playing more and more computer games on my brother's computer, which reigned supreme over my eMachine piece of garbage. One day, I bought the orange box and played Team Fortress 2. That game was truly amazing and I remember the day I knew I would play it forever. I bought a BFC can of monster on a friday afternoon and played until 3am. That was last October. And I am still playing it. I did take a break from it for a couple months and right now am not playing it a lot, with WoW taking up most of my time. But I am not expecting to quit any time in the near future. There really isn't game on the horizon that has me very excited. I am very on board with World of Warcraft, its upcoming expansion, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike Source and Starcraft 2. Okay I lied, Starcraft 2 has me excited.

What does worry me is if World of Warcraft will get boring. The grind is pretty common in virtually all forms of WoW. Even with my level 70, I am still needing to grind rep in order to get those patterns. With Wrath coming out, all the factions that we grinded o so hard to get up will become useless because new factions will come out. Argent Dawn is not going to all of a sudden become useful again. If they do, they are rewarding old players and not encouraging new players to come in. That is the same reason that the Sha'tar will not be useful in Wrath. I think that World of Warcraft will end at level 100. By that time, levels 1-90 will be a breeze. It will fly and it will only demand about a quest or two a zone to level up. I also think that either 80-90 or 90-100 expansion will be the emerald dream. Maybe, in a bold move, Blizzard will make the Emerald Dream expansion a 80-100 expansion. Also, I think a very interesting idea would be that if you could start a character at level 60. All characters that went through the all 100 levels will be "true" level 100s but you can do it.That would allow people who want to play a chance to only have to level 40 times. That would devastate the old world and would make getting an instance group together for anything but 60+ instances impossible without prior planning. One thing that would also not surprise me is if Blizzard made every instance available in Heroic mode. If Razorfen Downs was a 80 instance, I might be encouraged to go do it. That is the only reason I am doing things like The Botanica and Ramparts. I might be able to experience Blackfathom Deeps and Maruadan and Dire Maul. Also, it would not surprise me if they tuned down Upper Blackrock Spire and Molten Core and other old raids and even Burning Crusade raids to 5-mans and made it a heroic. If Blizzard did those things, it might breathe old life back into a dead world.

on the road blog

now now now, what is there to do? well, i could write. but of course, what is there to write about?

Altophobia

Now, I usually right about things that are philosophical in nature, usually trends in video games that I see as troubling. But, I have exhausted tings to talk about for now, so I'm going to be a little more shallow and World of Warcraft related.

As previously stated in this blog, I have a level 70 Paladin, who happens to be Holy Speced (Healer) Paladin named Akoris. I do have about 20-21 days of play time on him and I still have a lot to do. I play him continuously because I need to do things that I can do without raiding. Namely, getting badges for my good plate healer belt, but I was able to pickup a blue healer belt for about 70g today on the AH. I'm also going for the best healing trinket in the game. I have a badge trinket that is very good and my other is just a philosopher's stone, making it better than my running trinket. I do miss my Nifty Stopwatch. It made getting away from a lethal fight a lot better. But, I need to craft my healing trinket, from alchemy. I did pay about 700g to level that up to 375, which is the max level. Now I have to get to revered with Sha'tar. I did recently get to honored with them and that allowed me to purchase the Heroic key for the Tempest Keep instance wings. Then, I have to make an alchemist's stone with the recipe I can purchase with the revered reputation. That will take a lot of money to do, but it will give me +15 to all stats, which will help. After that, I have to gain exalted with Shattered Sun Offensive, which I'm at about half way to. Exalted will get me the Redeemers Alchemist's Stone recipe, which will give me +115 to healing and mana potions become 40% more effective. It will also give me a good neck item that gives some pretty bonus healing. Then, I have some raiding to do to get some gear. I need a new chest piece, gloves, wrist and shoulders. My chest, gloves and shoulders are good because they are epics and have good stats, but they are PvP pieces of gear and are not for raiding. My gloves and pants are cloth and don't give enough armor, but will do because they are PvE pieces. 

That is stuff I have to do. That is a lot to do. I have a 36 Druid from my server Kil' Jaeden that I transfered to Kul Tiras. I went balance spec because I was bored with feral. I do like it actually. I heard that Moonkin form is pretty good, so I am excited about that. But, I don't want to play him when I have so much more to do on Akoris. I feel like I am not doing him justice or something. I feel I need to have someone good before I work on someone else. I also have a 21 hunter that I would to play some more of but I run into the same dilemma that I do with the druid. I get on them and realize that I have more to do with Akoris. I also immediately realize why I loved Akoris and why I played him all the way to 70. I really loved Paladins and I loved him so much that I played him constantly all the way to 67.  

Use what now?

I wish I played the drums. The drum set I use for Rock Band is used constantly and I am really getting good at it. But real drums are loud, noisy and you can't pack them away under your bed. Games today seem to like to add elements to add realism to our games. We first concentrated on graphics, then sound and now we are moving to the next sense of touch. The consumer doesn't know it, but they want to be a Guitar Hero, so Harmonix makes a game where you can play a plastic guitar and be good with no calluses and, if desired, no sound. This really isn't all that new except everyone with an PlayStation can buy it. Arcades have had race car, ski-do, snow mobile and pod racer simulations for a long while now. But now, we can set up our band in the living room. Then Harmonix broke new ground and made plastic, fake drums, which included real replicas of drum sticks.

Nintendo had tapped into this market now. Wii is an entire console based around touch and motion realism. Bowling, baseball, tennis and golf are games included with it and of course have the corresponding motions to go along with it. Then Wii fit game out, complete with a yoga mat and all. Let's run over the fake plastic stuff we have now: PS2 guitars, XBox 360 guitars, drums and microphone, and Wii mat, gun, racket and bat. And I don't really have a huge closet or anything.

That's all good because at least we can use them in future games, right? Apparently not. Guitar Hero 4, who is jumping the fake band boat, has announced it will have drums and microphone included. Of course, the Rock band drums won't work because the GH4 drums have a totally different layout. Rock Band 2 is also designing a new layout for it's drums, rendering it previous version a useless piece of earth polluting garbage. It is comforting that Harmonix recognizes this and it offering all Rock Band 1 songs as free downloadable content so that you can really throw away or long term store your fake drum set. Wouldn't both companies sell more game copies if they standardized the designs?

This trend might be a good thing. It does really make us feel like we are playing the drums and can help us feel as though we are playing tennis or at yoga class. But, as it is, because of multiple companies in the market competing, everyone will make their peripherals game unique and only for one generation will they be usable. If Company A stays with one design, Company B will innovate and they will get more sales revenue and the publishing company of Company A will yank the cord from Company A and those nice game designers will be out of a job. If my complaint is that all this junk takes too much space, Wii is really catering to me, for the controller and the num-chuck really have multiple uses. I think that this whole peripheral war was instigated by the government in an effort to get video game nerds out of apartment and into houses with bigger closets and garages. That might stimulate this housing market.

Depth of Interest

I know what it means to play a game for a long time. I currently have at least 634 hours of Wold o Warcraft. That's a lot of game time. On my character Akoris, my level 70 Paladin has about 20 Days of playing time. That is 480 hours of playing. It really says something about the game when it can hold interest for that long. But why do games strive to hold our interest for such a long time? For a game like WoW, there is a monetary incentive for it: the longer people play, the more subscription fees they collect. Yet that isn't the case with a game like Oblivion, which an entirely offline, single player game. There were times when Donkey Kong, a 2D platformer, was the pinnacle of gaming, being fun and easy to pick up.

Why do we strive for depth in our games? It isn't about just shooting people over and over and over. People enjoy novelty in games, which is why Geometry Wars can be fun. It is certainly different to fly around shooting shapes. Yet, that doesn't remain fun. The game eventually introduces different modes in the game, different guns and more shapes and more enemies. Yet that game looses it fun after a while because it is always the same. That is where WoW gets its fun. There is always more. More areas, more spells, more levels, more dungeons, more fights, more gear and more quests. Is this truly fun,. or is all this new stuff just renewed novelty? Is depth just renewed novelty? Just an effort to give us new stuff all the time? Maybe depth is just an excuse to not come up with something fun, just give us so much that we think what we do is fun. We are constantly impressed by all the new stuff that we are getting that we fail to realize that what we did wasn't fun. 

Depth might be good for players who really want to play and for people who are veterans to the game, but does it stop some players from playing? WoW is about to release the new expansion pack Wrath of the Lich King which raises the level cap to 80. 80! That is quite a milestone. For players at the current level cap of 70, that is only 10 more levels. But to a newbie, that is 80 levels. Blizzard did cut the experience required to get from 20-60, a process that seemed to have been largely ignored by the game's designers which is evident is the amount of ingenuity put in. But that is still a long ways to go and a lot of things to do. Is the amount of depth in a game like WoW a good thing or would it scare off new players? Team Fortress 2 is running into this problem. It gave players unlockables which rewarded players for laying well. But, all these new weapons and perks give them an unfair advantage over their lesser experienced counterparts. Could these barriers to entry be a reason that a game like Counterstrike:Source is so successful? It is still being played in record numbers today, with thousands of servers still up and tournaments being held around the globe. The money system in that game allows players to buy better guns, but that resets after every game. Pros and novices start out with the exact same amount of money in the beginning. Will Team Fortress 2 still be as popular 4 years from now? Or will these new unlockables keep piling up so much that new people will not want to start playing and experienced players will stop playing because things stop being new.

just awesome

Murder Suspect Too Busy Playing Guitar Hero To Notice Impending Arrest

My LAN party

I went to another AG LAN Saturday. Pretty good LAN. I played a remarkable amount of World of Warcraft for a LAN party. I played a lot of Team Fortress 2 as well. I punched out a lot more BonK members as a Heavy than I should have, namely 3. Sorry, I'm sorta blogged out for now. Read my post below to know why.

Playlist:

1. World of Warcraft
2. Team Fortress 2
   

The Good Story

I like science and programming. That is the reason I applied to college under that particular major. However, one part about me wants to be a writer. Now, I'm not talking about Stephen King or John Gresham or JK Rowling or Fyodar Dostoevsky. I'm was thinking more along the lines of a magazine writer for PC Gamer or EGM. The reason I didn't want to try and go to college for that specific career in mind is because I know how hard it would be to get that job. People stay at magazines for a while and they don't hire a lot of people. So, therefore being a software engineer would be a much more lucrative choise, as computer development is listed as on the most rapidily growing fields of work.

Working at a video game or computer related magazine would be an amazing chance because it would combine some of my favorite passions: video games and writing. I do like to write, but really only opinion pieces, ones that I have a chance to be funny or witty or what have you. I do fancy myself a person who is relativly persecptive and is funny so putting my speech into writing would not be that hard to do, especially on things I know a lot about. This is one of the reasons I started this blog. It is a place where I can write about video games and a place to practice writing. I don't really write anything of real importance here, mostly about what I have been playing and what is cool about it and what have you. I have heard that blogging promotes blogging and the more you do it, the more you want to. I also posed the question, is blogging about one or two sentences or is it about fully fleshed out ideas that read like Magazine articles.

Now, getting to my point. If blogs are about realized and interpreted ideas, what does one write about? I could come and complain that the reason I don't do the former is because there is nothing to write about. But that is clearly not true for the folks over at PC Gamer do it every month. So, maybe the key to being a good writer is finding those things to talk about. That stories and articles are the ones that no one has really thought about. If everyone has already realized why things are the way they are, we would be stuck thinking "That sky is blue". Instead, the truly writers are the ones out there pushing the bounds of human thought, thinking that the true meaning of exsistence is to be nice to each other and make humanity have a nice day. So, if I really want to be a writer I should find things to write about that are things that no one else has though about. I also suppose that sort of thinking is what makes is possible to get 5s on the English AP test.

hehehe

Al Gore Places Infant Son In Rocket To Escape Dying Planet

Playlist: Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, Rock Band

Best action RPG?

Fable or Oblivion?

Did I forget something? I know people are going to ask about Baulder's gate. Not in the same class, IMO.

Playlist: Mlb 2K8, Wii Sports, Wii Fit (!!!), Viva Pinata
(You'll notice that ever since I beat Oblivion, I've been more of a "casual gamer". That's Oblivion for you. That's about as hardcore as it gets in the world of one player RPGs.)

A shameful victory

I just defeated Beautiful Katamari. In related news, a sixth grader stole my lunch money today.

Playlist: I'm not saying, but it rhymes with heutiful satasari.

The server is down!

Watch this. It's long, but it's worth it. That's what she said.



Playlist: Street Fighter II, COD4, Oblivion (stupid DLC!), Wii Sports (still)

My Favorite Game(s)

What defines a favorite game? These days so many games are so different that comparing a game like Oblivion to a game like Team Fortress 2 seems unfair. So I'm going to give two favorites: favorite Single player and Best Multi Player.

Favorite Single Player:
This is a tough one. I would have to give this one to Bioshock. I beat the whole thing only one time and in basically one sitting. It was such an experience that was haunting and enlightening.
Runner-Up: Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 1

Favorite Multi-Player:
Another toughy, but it's easier than single player. I'm actually going to differ from what I though earlier today and say World of Warcraft. That game has sucked me in and kept me there for the longest amount of time and offers such an in-depth system of player interaction that I have to give it to it.
Runner-Up: Team Fortress 2

Playlist:

1. World of Warcraft
2. Rock Band
   

So I don't forget

http://wow.curse.com/c/daily-quest-guide/
amazing for dailies. all of them. Is a blog suppose to be a blurb, meaning 2 or 3 sentences, or a magazine article?
Playlist:

1. WoW
2. Rock Band
3. Team Fortress 2
   

No Comment

Playlist: Oblivion, um...

14 days 18 hours 47 minutes 20 seconds

14 days 18 hours 47 minutes 20 seconds. Has it really been that long? I don't regret a single minute of any of it. Many movies were watched and many podcasts listened to. It was enough time to watch Groundhog Day 200.06 times. And I watched it at least 20 times. It is truly an amazing movie. When ever I think back to my time of leveling, I will probably think of Un'Goro Crater whilst watching groundhog day. Even in my entire travels, I think that The Hinterlands is my favorite zone, followed closely by Westfall. I think Westfall only because it's got a sweet name and for nostalgia reasons. I think I watched almost every movie in my collection during my odyssey.

In case you missed it, that is my time it has taken to get me to 70 in World of Warcraft. I had doubts along the way. "Will I ever get an end-game character is any game?". My guy is level 52 out of 55 in Call of Duty 4. This was my first character to an End-game and now the game seems much bigger. When ever I'm in Azeroth, I'm sad. It's these zones that no one ever goes in, but which were once populated to the brim. Outland will soon be that way when everyone packs up and moves to Northrend. Azshara is a piece of shit zone, but it makes me sad I never see anyone there.

Well moving away from sadness and loss. Now that I have hit 70, there are a plethora of things to do. Right now, my main goal is to reach 375 fishing skill, so I can do dailies and make a fortune in conjunction with my cooking skill. I'm also doing some Battle Grounds, trying to grind for my Arena Season 2 gear, with is only honor points now. All of this before we go raiding. All of that is to help me make enough money to get my Epic Flying Mount. There is so much to do. It's almost overwhelming. I'm glad I have music I like enough to listen to for this whole time.

Playlist:

1. WoW
2. Rock Band
3. Team Fortress 2
   

I can post here now, and I'm going to do so

Everyone has a friend (or perhaps, as in my case, IS the friend) who plays the GTA games for hours, loves them, but only completes two missions the entire time the game is out and relevant. Yep, you're talking to that guy right now. I've owned every GTA game that's been released for the xbox, yet I've never gotten remotely close to finishing any of the games. Not close.

Here's why: Killing random people is the BEST part of GTA. Picking up girls and taking them places and watching the cutscenes with the blatant racism, blah, blah, blah...who cares! Kill people! Blow up cars! I try - I really do - I try to complete the missions, but I just don't care enough. It's just so hard to take freakin' Michelle bowling yet another time. It's hard to care about some stupid get-away van when you can find many perfectly not exploded vans everywhere in the game.

That's where the cheat codes come in handy. I assume a certain level of gamer readership on this site, thus, I will not deign to actually putting the codes on here. You know where to find them if you haven't already used them. As I expanded upon in my blog (shamless plug), dropping boats out of the sky onto cars over and over again is an inexplicable joy. Also you can get lots of weapons. And boats. The best part about dropping boats on people is that when they die, from the boat that just dropped on their head, no one knows that you did anything. The cops don't bug you. They just do their thing, and you can take all the money. It's a sweet deal.

Going over to my other recent obsession, Oblivion has destroyed me. I've played for close to 120 hours so far on this character, yet I cannot bring myself to do the last couple of things I need to do to complete the main quest. "Think of the gamer points!" I think to myself, yet a strong, more deeply-rooted voice tells me "Think of the side-quests!" Yes, I know you can do the side-quests after the main story has ended, but I want to be a beast when I defeat the game.

Playlist: Oblivion, Wii Sports, COD4, GTAIV

Ha

So I started playing WoW again. I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not. I started a Horde Mage on the server Velen, not that anyone really cares or anything. I don't know why I even play. There is no real fun factor in it. There is that momentary feeling of achievement when you level up, but then the feeling of helplessness sets in and you remember that there are many many levels left to 70. Are we playing for a delayed reward of being a level 70? Since when did we play Video Games for reward later? If we want delayed rewards, we do well in school or read. And Video Games is neither of those. In Team Fortress 2, you kill someone and you feel good. You succesfully beat someone else. In WoW, you can beat someone but how much of that is you being good and not just how much time you put in it for gear and how lucky you got in the ambush of them? But, Team Fortress 2, my rocket, even though it has 45 hours of experience behind it, it does as much damage as Logan's who has 0 hours play time. WoW, you grinded that sword or boots and so forth. I suppose that is what makes MMOs different than FPSs, eh?

Playlist:

1. Team Fortress 2
2. WoW
3. Sins of a Solar Empire

PS, Radon, if you want to write here, just ask.

Episode 2

In this episode we discuss the podcast names, Trials 2 Second Edition, COD 4, piracy and facebook stuff. Breifly of course.
Episode 2
Playlist:

Podcast?

Lol so Here is a test that I am putting up. It's a podcast about. nothing.
Episode Uno

1. 
   

Team Fortress MORE?!?!!?

ohmgee, I play a lot of Team Fortress 2. More and more, I've been experimenting with other classes and it has been pretty fun. I am trying out spy more and more and its been pretty fun for the most part. If I ever get more than 2 kills in thirty seconds, I literally laugh out loud becuase it is always some retarded people being retarded. One of the things that makes this game so amazing is that playing as a spy is almost completly different game from when you play as soldier. Same as when you play as Engineer. That is why this game has longevity and attraction. If you get bored with a certain class, you can switch to scout and play as some fast boston baseball fan.  

Also, I started playing Sins of a Solar Empire again. That game is sooo different if you play without just spamming units.


Playlist:

1. Team Fortress 2
   
2. Sins of a Solar Empire
3. Grand Theft Auto 4

Presentation

I gave a sweet presentation today on Team Fortress 2. I didn't explain it a lot because I didn't want to lose the class's attention. Radon marked me down for it. But anyway, I keep playing TF2 it continues to be fun. I'm not sure if it will keep being as fun. Im pretty sure that solider is my good class.

Playlist:

1. Team Fortress 2
2. Grand Theft Auto 4

Drinking for the Well of TF2

How did I even get title? I guess it just came to me. Anyway, to address the prompt. I started playing Team Fortress 2 again and again, wow. That's all I can really say. That game is just so good. I mean you can just play for hours and hours and hours. Every map has a much different feel to it that changing maps is almost like changing games. It's a true testament to the design of Valve. Every class plays so differently and yet so well. And every class works with every map.

Anyway, to the point of this whole blog. I read an article by Super Intern Norman Chan that I really agreed with. He puts forward that one thing that makes TF2 and UT3 and even Halo 3 so attractive is the lack of difference between the best players and the epic N00bZ. Norman Chan's rocket from the soldier does as much damage as someone who has started 5 minutes. The only advantage he has is that he knows where to shoot them. This is in contrast to a game like Call of Duty 4 or Battlefield 2, where the more experienced players are rewarded with better guns. This might encourage play to get those guns, but after you obtain them, where do you go? The game stops being fun. In Team Fortress's case, you have played for 100+ hours because you love the game. With the new achievements and unlockables coming out, I'm not sure that initial fun will stay.

First, it will the night of 1000 medics. Everyone's going to want to get their Uber-saw and we won't have anyone to heal or Uber. Second, we reward the talented medics by giving them better things to heal with? If anything, we should give the bad players an advantage, for they clearly need it more. This can be seen in true form in Super Smash Brother's Brawl. If someone is doing bad enough, they get a sympathy smash ball. This allows them to attempt to alleviate their losses. Third, after you get those achievements, will anyone want to continue to be medic?

My proposition is that you simply give the weapons to everyone. If people must work for them, it discourages new people from joining the game. If the weapons are initially unlockables, but then just given, there runs the risk of offending your loyal player base. The achievements are a fun enough meta-game to stand by them selves. No reward for achievements. When I was on my stint with my 360, I wanted to play to get the Achievement Points. I sat through Prey to get the 500+ points. Games stopped being fun, only something to be done to get those points. At one point, I had even asked myself, "Why would someone play any games on any other systems where there are no achievement points?". It wasn't a good thing, to say the least.
Playlist:

1. Team Fortress 2

And a year later

It's not all I have been doing, but I find it ironic that I'm still playing Oblivion. Granted, this time its for the best system out there, PC, but its still a two year old game. And it still holds up. With graphics ramped all the way up, I get 60 FPS and it looks gorgeous. Now, I'm gonna describe my character, because I'm lame. I'm a mage/theif. I have recently run into the problem of not being able to to get through any gates, for my unlock spell just goes right through them. And even with a large area spell, it doesn't unlock them. It's bullshit.

And Super Smash Bros Brawl is still a favorite. I have a feeling that it will be for many many years to come. My characters are (in order from best with to not): Pikachu, Toon Link, Captain Falcon, Kirby, Ice Climbers.

Playlist:

1. Oblivion
   
2. Super Smash Brothers Brawl
3. Guitar Hero

It makes me want to fight my freinds

Childhood conjures lots of pleasent memories: fresh cookies, Tag on the playground, naivity. But none of these are as current as Super Smash Brothers. You would sit down and have a good romp with your friends with your favorite nintendo and other cartoon characters. Then Melee came out, which was a fast departure from Original, adding lots more characters and a much faster pace. Now, Super Smash Brothers Brawl is upon us and it does not dissapoint. MY character is Picachu. He was joke that I played for one of the stages in story mode and I was good with him. Its ridiculous. Words can not describe the awesomeness of this game.

Playlist:

1. Super Smash Brothers Brawl
   
2. Geometry Wars

Geometry Wars

The need for my 360 has finally been quenched. I was able to procure Geometry Wars for the computer. This is also really gives validation to my purchase of the 360 controller receiver for my computer. I am using my controller more than ever. That game is basically an intense acid trip were you fly around and kill shapes. It's a trip.

I have also been playing a lot of Call of Duty 4 recently as well. I am currently level 48 and counting. I have all the guns to look foward to: the P90 and the M14. Well, I'm still waiting on the Barret .50 Cal Sniper rifle, but that's not as anticipated for. So now, I'm just going for M14 headshots. I am almost convinced that I like the red dot scope more than the ACOG. But, I'm going to play more and then we will see. I think it's because I can see more when I'm scoped with the red dot. I hated the iron sights for the M14. It drove me insane. When I hit level 55, I think I might just vagugly attempt to get all the achievments, you know, unlock all skins for all weapons and do all the challenges. But, not activly and not just for that. Otherwise, it would be boring. I have a couple hated maps: Bog, Overgrown and Downpour. I dislike Bloc and Wetwork, but there is not hatred there.
Playlist:

Nerdorgy

Whenever you talk or play about Sins of a Solar Empire, make there are no attractive, normal females around. Because, the quantity of the Nerdergy will be catastroophic. It is seriously that bad. But, if you can be nerdy, you can play this game. And what a game it is. Scalewise, everyhting is completly epic. I today just finished a five hour game that I have been playing for about 3 days. Yesterday, I stayed up untill midnight playing. I want to sleep now. I'll post later about it. To say something about it, its cool. Ships fly around and you blow up other ships. Economies are neccasary
but I feel that military teching does not produce a lot of benefit.
Playlist:

1. Sins of a Solar Empire (further to be referenced as SOASE)
   
2. WoW

How epic can one game be?

Sins of a Solar Empire is my latest addiction. Already it has sucked almost as much time as the entire single player campaign of COD4. It is too much fun and epic on a scale that it can only be compared with The Lord of the Rings and Jesus himself.
Playlist: Sins

The Real Modern Warfare

Is battling for time to really play Call of Duty 4. It's my recent addiction. Getting good is nice. I think that you really get into the game when you can have some influence on the game. Seeing your name at the top of the kill list is extremly satisfying. I'm level 39 (I think) and really feeling good about the game. I know that a silencer in theroy reduces your range, but if you are any good, you can easily extend your range by crouching and shooting in bursts. Speaking of not being good at games, Marc cheats. If he can't get the achievments then he makes a LAN game and kills mike. What the fuck. really. Hardcore is the best, for it is the most real feeling experience. It is a war when all you have is your sight and your gun in front of you. And, I turned the graphics up and it looks amazing and I am still getting 70 FPS.

In WoW I am level 66, putting in hours here and there. I recently starting playing Warcraft 3 again and I don't know why I never really got into it. It is a great game with a lot of different factions and with the RPG elements with the hero. And I really can't wait for Sins of a Solar Empire. It is Civ 4 in space. Huge planets that have distinct traits, and large intergalactic battles. I can not wait. It is like 45% done I hope.

Playlist:

1. COD 4
2. Warcraft 3
3. WoW

When a man loves a women

They defineatly do not play WoW. Thats probably why I am playing so much lately. I'm level 65 with my Paladin Akoris. I'm on the march to 70! I'm done with Zangermarsh. 
Finished! I already miss Terrokar Forest. I shouldn't though. Anyway, My dwarf hunter, my side
protoge is 15, just slowly creeping, I've reserved his play time for morning before school. A little, here, a little there, its's workin for me. I'm liking My boar that I tamed, with the charge and all. Witht he three people that read this, they are not hunters, so There are not any suggestions for any other good pets to tame. But, I'm looking towards some sort of DPS animal. I also set up a bank account. 200g bought me 11 neather weave bags and all teh slots in the bank. His name is Labanque and he is a half naked gnome warrior in Ironforge. 
I simply send all my want to be autcioned stuff to him, and he runs and does it. Saves time for having to go to major cities. Just saying. My goal is to be 70 and decently geared to go on the 
Tram (cross my fingers) to northrend. Dual screen really promotes Thottbot and Wowwiki searches.

I've been playing Call of Duty 4 multiplayer a bit too. I'm really liking the level ups, but it is not as big of a goal for as level 70 is. But, Just some time into it, makes the difference. I like the MP5 but nothing is as overpowered as the M4 Carbine.

Big TF2 news, however, huge new DL content coming out. Hopefully it comes out after I hit 70, because then I will be able to experience it with 
everyone else. But, the link the the new updates are here Here. I think that they might be taking cues from COD4, with the unlockable weapons. Also, i'm playing Track mania every so often and I'm sorta getting excited about Sins of the Solar Empire. Looks, interesting.

Playlist:

1. WoW
   
2. COD4
3. Team Fortres 2
4. TrackMania Nations

Dual Moniter Support

I set up Dual monitors for my computer. It's so sick. I play WoW in Windowed mode, maximized,
so I can instantly go to thottbot and WoWpro.

O, and I added Daniel and Marc to be authors to this blog, so it will be pretty more full, but probably not.
Playlist:

1. WoW
   

WoW: Blizzard Finally Showing a Firm Hand?

So I've been playing World of Warcraft for awhile now. Blizzard has always been a touch-and-go type of administration. They don't ever really seem to show any resolve or whatever. However, I was shocked to discover that Blizzard is going to implement an additional system to reporting afk players-deductions. Once a player is confirmed afk, if he or she does not show they are participating in the game, they will lose anything from honor removal, loss of marks of honor, or even destruction of currently held honor items/ compiled honor. Blizzard states that it is
wrong to have people take advantage of other players, and that hundreds of thousands of accounts or being monitored. In addition to the above, Blizzard will issue a one time Ultimatum warning: Once a player is reported afk multiple times, or finds a way to exploit this new system, tht player will be suspened for a period of one week, or banned from the game. Yikes, Blizzard's ugly side...

WoW

I'm playing WoW alot. I started a Horde on server kaegclos. It's a hunter. I have to say, I am really enjoying the pet thing again. I liked the lock who has a pet, but I got bored of it. In retro spect, I
probably get bored of this too. But anyways. I am playing that and Call of Duty 4. It's really addicting, the whole level and ranking up system. I enjoy just having to get that next level. I also like unlocking some new guns and new addons. Track mania also is taking up some time, just playing and stuff.

Playlist:

1. Wow
   
2. Call of Duty 4

What I like in Video Games

The major thing I am liking in video games right now is innovation and fun design. It really doesn't matter to me how great the game looks, as long as it is fun to play and keeps me interested. For instance, I really disliked Crysis, no matter how amazing it looked, it was a bad game. At the same time, Super Mario Galaxy was amazing because of the fun way it is played. Thats just my two cents on the way video games should be made.

Playlist:
1. TF2
2. WoW
3. Mario Kart 64
4. Guitar Hero 3

Guess what I have been playing

What the heck? My margins screw up, but then I erase everything and It goes back to normal? Intersting. Anyway, I have been playing Track Mania, World of Lolcraft and Team Frotress. They are the only good games that I see fit to play. Well, that and an occsional song or two on Guitar Hero 3. Speaking of which, on computer, Guitar hero is a crying shame. Well, maybe not, but it sucks. So, Latley, I have not been too interested in games. I have been more interested in like the computer programmig side. Like, for instance, got Linux to run on a virtual machine on this computer. There go my margins. what the heck? Well, wait, after saving as a draft and reopening, they work again. But I might just write in OpenOffice and publish from there. Continuing on my computer science rant, I enjoy just the part of discovering what I can do with the computer. I want to but my C++,Java programming to use, maybe build a good program that I can show off to companies that MAY want to hire me. But, I'm at a loss of what to build. No one said computer science required imagination.

Well, I installed UBUNTU, and don't know what to do with it. Probably build something.

Playlist:

1. World of Warcraft
   
2. Team Fortress 2
3. Track Mania Nation

Short Post

I have found my two games. They are all I play.
Playlist:

1. World of Warcraft
   
2. Team Fortress 2.

Writing

I have not been really inspired to write lately. I am not even sure why. Well, here it goes. I have been a lot more video games than usual lately. I should really start picking up running again. This conflicts because I really want to gain some weight, although running increases apetite. Well, with the added time, I have started playing WoW again. Pathetic? I am not sure. All I know is that when played occosionally, WoW is a lot more fun. Just playing it can be very boring and can even lead to hatred. I don't know what to write. Is that last statement too informal?  Lul. Lol has now become an adjective. I actually described Pirates of the Caribean as "lol". It's interesting to me at least.

I have had two LAN's that I have not talked about. The Vets LAN was a great success. 8 people for most of it. Mike was a goof and left early. But, after that we played mostly either TF2 or Supcom. We played a remarkably small amount of WiC, which is wierd. I suspect that at Winter Wonder LAN it will be epically epic! The ThanksLANgiving was not as big. I had 4 people for most of it, since Daniel couldn't come. Nick, wanted to sleep, Tyler was visiting his mom in the hospital and I didn't invite TJ, for Logan was there, so TJ couldn't play the good game of SupCom. But, it was allright, with us clocking 9 hours of Supreme Commander Forged Alliance.

Well, now to move on to what normally appears here: Video game talk. I played BioShock all game. And all Thanksgiving Day. Good game. Twist was also good. Mr. Radon said it was a epic twist but not untill he explianed all of his reasoning did I see his point. I have been playing Crysis, but its frustratingly difficult. The excellent phyisics sometimes betray you, like you punch something random and you die. What gives? Anyway, Rock Band, or Cock Band as Cory calls it, is also freaking awesome.The joy of having four friends all together playing in front a screen is 
something unmatched up to this point. And now, the margins expanding. 
This is really wierd. Length of the post? I'm not sure. 
What was I talking about? O Cock band. Ya, its fun. 

I am thinking of applying for the internship at PC Gamer. 
Unfortunatly, I am a little too far away and busy to do it, but I am thinking of 
saying I am planning to go to CAL, and to just read this blog. I doubt they will. 
No one reads this. 

Playlist:

1. WoW
   
2. Team Fortress 2
3. Crysis
4. Supreme Commander

Crysis

Best things to ever do in it:

• Throw a Grenade into a house and then watch it explode.
  
• Ambush a truck with a rocket launcher and watch it flip
• Throw a guy through a house and then watch is crumble
• Punch a hole through a roof
• Drive into a tree and explode
• Blow up a gas station

In case you can't tell, I love Crysis. You could even say I <3 Crysis. Yet, I have only played Single Player. I am also playing TF2 alot as well. I played Rock band today and its pretty sweet as well.
Playlist:

1. Team Fortress 2
   
2. Crysis
3. Rock Band

Konami says no console is dominating

Konami sees this next generation consoles war a lot more balanced than the previous one, where PS2 practically killed the competition with its staggering success. Still, to say that no console is dominating…hello! Anyone remember the Nintendo Wii?-[Thats why you get a computer]

read more | digg story

Digg

I joined Digg, and its really neat. I particularly enjoy that I can put what I "digg" onto the side bar of this blog. Also, I blog things that I find of interest. It cool.

Playlist:

1. Team Fortress 2
   
2. Company of Heroes
3. Counter-Strike Source

Reviewers Not Sure If Assassin's Creed Is Good

[Some give it around a 7 and some give it a low to mid 9, so who’s telling the truth and actually played through the entire game?]Ed's note- I'm still excited

read more | digg story

Keyboard

I had my LAN yesterady/today. Ill talk about that later maybe. But I want this keyboard:
http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod/cykeyv2.htm. 
When it comes out, I'm gonna buy it. Its 1337.

Playlist:

1. Team Fortress 2
   
2. Supreme Commaner: Forged Alliance
3. Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
4. Guitar Hero 3

Scared

My xbox 360 just red ringed. I mean, I have heard it happening to other people, but never expected it to happen to me. This happened to me before, when I was using this cooler. So, from past experience, just unplugged the power cord, and plugged it back in. Guess what? It turned on. I didn't test it, removing the game, then turning if off. If this happens again, I am going to Best Buy for my warranty.

Playlist:

1. Team Fortress 2
   
2. Guitar Hero 3
3. Supreme Commander
4. Starcraft

Opera

I am not sure if this qualifies as video games, but I am putting it here.
Opera is the alternate to Firefox, IE7. I am personally a fan. It's ridiculously fast and is very secure. Also, no one uses it, so there are no viruses yet.

LAN Party update

Attendees:

1. Curtis Wright
   
2. Logan Wright
3. Marc Frelier
4. Mike Frelier
5. Cory Boyd
6. Daniel Rodriguez
7. Tyler Schwitzer
8. TJ Kelly

Ya

Computer

Here are Pictuers and Specs of my computer:



Specs:
Motherboard
     ABIT IP35-E LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
     http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813127031

Processor
     Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor
     http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819115003 

Video Card
     EVGA 256-P2-N761-AR GeForce 8600GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP      Ready SLI Supported Video Card
     http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130084

Power Supply
     APEVIA ATX-CW500WP4 ATX 500W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, CSA, TUV, CE
     http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817148027

RAM
     CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual      Channel Kit Desktop Memory
     http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820145034

Hard Drive
     SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series HD501LJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s      Hard Drive
     http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822152052
DVD burner
     Sony NEC Optiarc Black 18X DVD+R 6X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 18X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW      12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 18X      DVD±R DVD Burner, OEM Version
     http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16827131047

Operating System
    Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD
    http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16832116202

Wireless Networking
    LINKSYS WMP54GS IEEE 802.11b/g 32-bit PCI Interface Wireless-G Adapter with     SpeedBooster Up to 54Mbps Data Rates WEP key bits: 64Bit and 128Bit WEP and WPA
     http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16833124139

Heatsink
   COOLER MASTER RR-CCH-L9U1-GP 92mm Hyper TX2 CPU Cooler
   http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16835103031


My favorite thing about my computer has been Crysis demo. Least favorite is my heatsink falling off.

Playlist:

1. Guitar Hero 3
   
2. Team Fortress 2

Crysis

Where did you come from? I want you so bad.
November.16.2007

New computer

So I am sorry I have not updated my new computer status yet, but I have
been too busy playing it. I might post pictures soon. But here is what
i think about it. It is awesome everything works very well together
and vista runs very smoothly. I installed the crysis demo but have not
had a chance to play it. I also downloaded age of empires three, all
expansions. I have not played them yet. I am having a guitar hero
three party today, which will not go long. Guitar is three is very
hard game. I cant even beat it on hard. I'll post specs and pictures of
my computer later.
Playlist

1. Team Fortress 2.
2. Guitar Hero 3
3. Supreme Commander
4. Starcraft

Guitar Hero 3

On the eve of the arrival of my computer, I have been playing Guitar Hero 3. It is different from Guitar Hero 2 is about graphics. I think there is some difference if hammer ons and pull offs, but I really don't know All I know is that I am good on it. And Raining Blood by Slayer is just unfair. I will have a larger post either tomorrow or the day after detailing my computer and everything.

I have been playing TF2 quite a lot. That game is a lot of fun and I love that the Achievements don't mean anything. Thats how I am playing all games from now on: for fun and not achievements.
Playlist:

1. Team Fortress 2
2. Guitar Hero 3
3. Starcraft
   

Updates of sorts

Ok, well, taking a break from Java programming, I'm here blogging. Here are some things that are important to video games:

1. Guitar hero 3 comes out in 10 days. Thats less than 2 weeks. I can't Wait to rock Knights of Cydonia, Miss Murder and Before I Forget.
2. My new computer is in the latter stages of being purchased. I think I know my lineup for it, which includes the Nvidia8600 Gts, Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, 2GB Corsair RAM, DVD burner and Seagate 500GB hard drive. And of course Vista. It should rip the shit out Logan's computer.
3. LAN party update. Here is the list of the current attendees: Me, Marc, Mike, Daniel and Cory. Hopefully, and probably Tyler should show up and then I should ask him if he wants to brings friends, by friends I mean 2 who have the games we are going to play.
4. Directx 10.1 is retarted. We should not have had to rebuy GPU for some stupid things that should have been included in Directx 10 from the beginning.
5. Well, being incredibly jaded to video games is really a bad thing. I just wanted to play Halo 3 and it was pretty fun. Having friends to play with really makes a difference. Just assuming new games that come out are stupid, thats not so much a good thing.
6. Team Fortress 2 is quite an exquisite game. I am a very talented sniper and a good medic. I love just headshotting everyone.
   

Playlist:

1. Team Fortress 2
2. Garrys' Mod
3. Halo 3
   

Team Fortress 2

With the purchase of the Orange box, I have only really been playing 1 game, Team Fortress 2. The game is so much fun and demands so much strategy. I am a terrific medic and a adept enigineer. I have realized the best way to build a sentry is by contructing a dispenser first, so you can have a infinite amount of metal flowing in. As a medic, I am often the only one being a medic. I have gotten the team doctor award already and am very good at not dying. Nail gun is good at close range, though don't expect to charge in and take out a heavy, which I did incidentaly. I do dislike that most people on my team are always spies, snipers or scouts. You need some firepower to win matches, not just speed and stealth.

I have not had a chance to play Portal yet, though I hear it is a terrific game. I do not have a cross-country meet this weekend, so I expect to either have a fun night out and a fun night in. Fun night out, probably Saturday, since Logan is gone on Fridays to Magic. I have not played a lot of counter strike, but I have been playing some Garry's mod and supreme commander. I am getting good with all races, though they really all play the same. I hope the SupCom expansion changes that some.

Playlist

1. Team Fortress 2
2. Supreme Commander
3. Garry's Mod
4. Counter-Strike

P.S. Where did Halo 3 go?

LAN party!

Playlist:

1. Halo 3
2. Garry's Mod
   

Lan party ideas

Due to recent, unsuccessful lan parties, i am going to throw out some
ideas for a good one: 1 have it planned in advanced. Make sure
everyone can come. 2 have everyone rsvp 3 have a list of planned
games

Halo 3 and games to come

Yes, Halo 3 is pretty much taking up all of my time. I am playing it non-stop. Yet, for some reason, it is boring right now. I attribute that to the lack of people to play WITH. I think playing with friends makes the game so much more enjoyable and hope that it is the case. Its either that, or its because that is all I have been playing all day. I am leaning towards the latter.

I was thinking recently, and this is going to be a fantastic holiday season, for two reasons:
1. Great Games

• Mass Effect
• Guitar Hero 3
• Halo 3 ( already out)
• Grand Theft Auto ('08)

2. I have money
I really think that one of primary factors of why many kids don't play MORE video games, is because of money issues. Which, is ok, because once the kids have money, they are obviously working hard enough to play less, because they are busy making the money.

Playlist:

1. Halo 3
2. Counter-Strike Source
   

Halo 3

well this is from my cell phone and if this works it is cool. I got halo 3 and its awesome. I did something are, like jump onto a scarab with a mongoose. O and because of halo 3, i have stopped playing guitar hero 2

Playing:

1. Halo 3
2. Halo 3?
   

Lul

Video games have taken a back seat to running and homework and stuff. So, at most I play 30 minutes a day. But, I have had a pretty long day today, playing Shadowrun, Halo 2, Guitar Hero 2 and maybe Gears of War. Halo 3 better be better than Halo 2, which is laggy and unresponsive. It is worse than Shadowrun, which is an average game. It has been updated and now, it does not take a million years to find a game. I cant beat Freebird on hard, but I beat all easy songs with 5 stars.

Playlist:

1. Guitar Hero 2
2. Shadowrun
3. Halo 2

Days til Halo 3:
9

Test

This is a test on publishing via email

School

School has started. So, in lay man's terms, it means that I will not have much time to be playing video games. But, I have been playing. I tried out Lost Planet, and I am disappointed. It really wasn't that good. Well, also, of course, I have been rocking out to guitar hero and doing some other small computer game stuff, nothing major. I'm also thinking of buying Garry's Mod.

I redid the blog to show the number of times I have talked about the games, not that anyone reads this anyway.

1. Guitar Hero 2
2. Free Cell
3. Counter-Strike Source
   

My 360

What is there to do with my 360? I am not even sure. I am thinking of playing Oblivion, but....idk...I'm gonna play some Counter-Strike Source. Thats a fun game.

Playlist

1. Counter-Strike Source
2. Freecell?
   

Guitar Hero 2

I have now graduated into Hard difficulty. I am on level 5 on hard, and the only song that I really had trouble on was woman. Man, that solo is hard. So, the game is a nice flow of achievements points, and so those are climbing. I am hoping to get to 3000 some time soon, before I lose all video games in 2 weeks.

Playlist:

1. Guitar Hero 2
2. WoW
3. Counter Strike Source, Dragonball Source
   

O wait

I also added this neat thing where your Xbox 360 blogs! It's sick. It makes stuff about what I did with it. A blog that I do not have to write. Link on the side. I am also downloading Civ 4 exp. And converting Grandma's Boy so I can watch it on the 360.

Guitar Hero

My good friend Aaron allowed me to borrow his Guitar Hero 2 game and guitar so I am basically just playing that. It's the epic. Thats all.

Playlist:

1. Guitar Hero 2
   

[S]ummer[s]LAN

[S]ummer[s]LAN is a LAN party that is suppose to be like 150 people and 28 hours in San Fransisco. I recently attended this event and I really enjoyed it. For like 26 hours, we sat and played games. The sad part is that we typically didn't play one game. I am going to suggest that we have some sort of agenda were we put out what game we are going to play. Like include it into the package they give you in the beginning. Just a thought.
Link: http://www.ascendancygaming.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Well, as most LAN parties entail, I got a lot of games. I managed to get: Battlefield 2, Unreal Tournament 2004, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Caesar 4, Call of Duty 2, and Star Wars: Empire at War. I also got some movies: Grandma's Boy, Spider Man 3 and Beerfest. There were millions, but I really didn't want any others. Battlefield is awesome, as also UT2004 is. HP disappointed me, so I trashed it and am waiting for the torrent to finish. COD...idk about that yet. Star Wars is good, but EPIC!!!. I am just waiting for SupCom to eventually make space battle.

They also had a nice large raffle and practically every one won something. I won a Computer Case, A Zboard Fang Gamepad, 2 USB powered lights, a case fan and UV cable raps. That Case was definably a good thing, because I'm building a new computer and a case is like $100+. That is some good money saved on purchase cost, taxes and shipping. I am gonna put in an e6600, a nvidia 8600 GTS, 2GB of Ram and 400GB hard drive. Its kinda pricey, but you get what you pay for. I am still wondering if I should get a laptop for college. If I hold out for before I go, I should find some good deals. But I am just looking for a simple, not too good laptop for word, excel, powerpoint and FREE CELL!!!!!

Playlist:

1. WoW
2. Battlefield 2
3. Freecell
4. Solitaire
5. Counterstrike Source

Days till Halo 3
1 month and 25 days

I can Never think of a good title

I have started playing WoW again. Amazingly, its a really fun game. A good computer really helps it out, but playing is not a job, but fun. I think that the key there is if you cant always play it, it becomes a gift when you find time to. I'm playing my Paladin Akoris, of the server Kul Tiras. He is pretty good. I'm debating whether to keep him a twink, or to play him. I'm leaning towards the latter because I don't have any high level characters, so No time like the present to change that.

I have also just finished torrenting Civ 4 and it's expansion. It's a good game. Unfortunately, it's a pretty hard game to just pick up and play. There is no tutorial, unfortunately, and you just have to start playing. I have figured some stuff out. It's not like a RTS, because if you set up a line of guys, the enemy can just run right through you. It's difficult and takes some getting use to.

Xbox 360 is really shaping up to be the console to have this holiday season. With so many games coming out, it will be ridiculous. Madden 08, Halo 3, and GTA IV are expected to take up 1/3 of all games sales. Also the games Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, Viva Pinata Party Animals, Rock Band, Guitar Hero 3, Splinter Cell Conviction, Bio Shock, Call of Duty 4, PGR4, Blue Dragon and many more are all coming out this holiday season. That's a lot of games.

Playlist:

1. World of Warcraft
2. Civilization 4: Warlords
3. Shadow Run
4. Solitare

Days till Halo 3:
2 Months 9 days

Gamerscore:
2450

Games

I have been playing Roller Coaster Tycoon 3. It's so much more fun now that I know the hot keys. It's amazing how important that is to playing the game. I tried to play Supcom about half an hour, but when I started up the game, the internet cut out and the game was lost. Maybe its a sign?? Anyways, I was actually going to play Gears of War. It sounds alluring. Shadow Run is fun, but I think I need a break. I am going to a LAN party tomorrow and will play many a game. LATERZ

Playlist:

1. Roller Coaster 3
2. Gears of War
   

Tycooning and Running

Well, if you can't tell, all I really have been doing is playing two things. One is obvious top those who look right now at the Xfire profile. 28 Hours of Roller Coaster Tycoon 2. Yes. 28 hours. that game is the poop. I tried number 3. I don't know what I don't like, but it is not as fun as number 2. Maybe it's cause it doesn't run as fast as RCT2, or maybe it's because I don't know the keyboard shortcuts, but it's just not as fun. Granted, the AI is a million times better in RCT3 than RCT2, seen in customer purchases and Janitor patrols.

The other game I've been playing? Shadowrun. That game is so addicting. You don't want to play cause you've played it for 2 hours, then 2 hours later, you're playing again. It's insane!

Playlist:

1. Roller Coaster Tycoon 2
2. ShadowRun
3. Roller Coaster Tycoon 3

P.S. What ever happened to Supcom?

So

Wow. That is all I am going to say about ShadowRun. That game is the poop. It is so addicting and fun it is ridiculous. I just wish that Fasa Studio had some sort of statistics to show how many games I've played and how many time I've killed each race and such. They don't like it that it might not be conducive to being competitiveness. I wish it counted the number of hours I played.

Apparently, I've started playing Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 again. It's NICE!

Playlist:

1. ShadowRun
2. Roller Coaster Tycoon 2
   

ShadowRun

So, I think that I just bought ShadowRun. I got it from K-Mart. Kudos to Tyler for giving me the Employee discount and for making 97 years old. I played it and I love it. It's basically, Counter-Strike meets UT2004 meets Halo. Its awesome. Everything is well balanced and its takes a blizzard Starcraft approach of separate but equal. Every race had different strategies that you utilize to win.

So on Logan's computer, TrackMania Sunrise works perfectly. So I'm playing that as well. Also, Supcom is still being played to death. I've been working on the Gears of War Campaign on insane in Tahoe.

Playlist

1. ShadowRun
2. SupCom
3. TrackMania Nations
4. Gears of War
   

So uh

I have found some cool old games. Those are such as Counter-Strike, Starcraft and Maybe even WoW. I'm not sure about that last one, cuase I have a Game Card but I'm not sure I want to Use it yet. Anyway, Counter-Strike is awesome and Starcraft is so much fun. 20,001 Hydras=win. So Um, I drank coffe, so I'm wired. I'm still playing Supreme Commander, but Logan is making it hard to play.

Playlist:

1. Supreme Commander
2. Starcraft
3. Counterstrike
4. (maybe) WoW
   

LAN Party

Is where I am right now. I actaully got the computer back at the end of school (June 6). I am currently waiting for S.TA.K.L.E.R. in install and this is sorta passing the time. Well, I have found Supreme Commander tournaments, and they are pretty fun. Well, player that and Armagetron when I'm waiting for shit to happen, such as this. Armagetron is free FYI, so you can download it.

Playlist:

1. Supreme Commander
2. Armagetron
   

Video Games

Are gone :(. They are gone from my house untill the end of school, for sure. It is unknown after that. I got caught doing something bad. Anyway, I'm getting off easy, and I deserve it, so, whatever.

Starcraft 2

So, Blizzard finally admitted to making a second Starcraft. Finally. My reaction was that of the picture of Blizzard: Hell it' about time. Ya, they don't have a release date yet, but that is expected. So, still playing Supreme Commander like crazy, as you can see in my xfire profile. It is an awesome game. Try it if your computer can handle it. Gears of War I was playing and I got two achievments: Like a spider and Pistelero. So the achievements pool dwindles.

Playlist:

1. Supreme Commander
2. Gears of War
3. Company of Heroes

Gamerscore:

2150

Days Till Shadowrun:

8 Days

Days Till Halo 3

4 months 4 days

SupCom

Is the greatest RTS ever, am i Right?!!?!?!?
Ya, well I play, unfortunately, the games take forever. You spend like 30 minutes building your economy, at least I do. I always have less points, then eclipse everyone in the end. Artillery FTW. Aeon FTW.

Playlist:

1. Supreme Commander
2. Company of Heroes
3. Gears of War
   

pwned

Is target. I got Supreme commander and Medieval total war from there. I haven't played either of them yet. I am actually installing SupCom right now. I intend to play it, and if not that Gears. I played CoH (Company of Heroes (Coh=City of Heroes)). I suck, but I like it. I should play it more, but not as much as Gears.

Playlist:

1. Gears of War
2. Company of Heroes

Gamerscore:
2100

Days till Shadow Run: 13

Days till Halo 3:
4 months 9 days

New Stuff, Same Games

My brother was generous enough to let me bring his computer into my room. So now, I have a relatively good computer to play. I was playing company of heroes and it worked well. I really liked the game. Even though I lost, and died, I had fun. I really liked the aspect of like an FPS into a RTS. It was a lot of fun. I am still playing Gears of War all Crazy , trying to get achievements. Actually, I'm playing right now, and not doing well. Maybe I should actually play.

Playlist:

1. Gears of War
2. Company of Heroes
3. WoW
   

New Format

I changed my layout. New colors and some additions to the side bar. I found this thing called twitter. Talk about constant updates. O, and I added my Games News/Reviews site. Check it out.

http://games4005.tripod.com

Playlist:

1. Gears of War

Update

Yes, it has been a while since I lasted posted. There was nothing to really post on, so why even post right? Well, last night I finally got my chainsaw achievement on Gears of War. That is all I have been really playing. Just Gears. Occasionally, I will play Rainbow Six Vegas, but most of the time it's just Gears. Well, track is almost over, so that means, a lot more video games! Ha ha, that but also more library time, for homework, ya know?

Playlist:

1. Gears Of War
2. WoW
3. Rainbow Six Vegas
   

New Game

I just bought Rainbow Six Vegas, as you can see from the new games I added to the games I own list. I actually have not been able to play it yet, because I was at a track meet yesterday and really didn't feel like playing it that night. I am going to probably play it tonight, online because I hear great things about it's online play.

I realized something about Gears of War, you must have even teams, especially with Annex. Its just too hard to hold with one person. I played this new Arcade team, which was fun, but it's a hard puzzle game. I had this weird thing happen to me on Dead Rising, where it was unable to recover my save file, but I still had the same level. Weird. Wow, I shall resume playing when Marc gets his computer back.

Playlist:

1. Obilivion
2. Dead Rising
3. WoW

Accomplishments

Well, I have been playing Oblivion a lot lately. I am now the head of the Theives Guild and the Mages guild. Thats a lot of Achievement points. So, all i have left to do is become the head of the Dark Brotherhood. After that, it's time to beat the main story. Then, the random quests, including Shivering Isles, and Knights of the Nine.

Playlist:

1. Obilivion
   

It's Friday

I have way too many games to play. I just borrowed Dead Rising from my friend and I still am playing Obilivion like mad. I also still have Prey, which I feel like I am cheating on it by not playing it. I have read great reviews of it, but I have not been able to pry myself away from Obilivion and Dead Rising.

Dead Rising is an interesting game. I like it, except for one thing. The combat system is really weird. You are prevented from attacking by every little thing, but no one else is. I was shooting some guy for like 30 seconds, but then he just decided to shoot me, so he did and stopped my shooting. Dumb. An the fact that everything breaks gets annoying. I know it's realistic, but, it could get really annoying. Other than that, its great. The cinematics are well rendered, with good graphics and physics. And, you get to kill Zombies.

A new Gears of War playtype was also just released. It's called "Annex" in case you have not heard. Wait, who is you? No one reads this anyway. Well, I am still going to type, cause I like it. Annex is basically Halo 2's Territories. But, it's Gears of War. Respawning, and actaul holding on ground. This makes it seem much more like war. Also, you have to be good, not lucky. People can get lucky in their kills and win matches, but in Annex, you can only get lucky for so long. Eventually, the better player will win.

Playlist:

1. Obilivion
2. Dead Rising
3. Gears of War
   

Virginia Tech, another Jack Thompson stepping stone

The smoke had barely cleared from the horrific scene at Virginia Tech University, and already attorney Jack Thompson pointed his finger at violent videogames.

As the nation mourns the death of 32 students and faculty, killed Monday in the largest mass shooting in U.S. history, it's important, more than ever, to keep our eye on the ball. The killer, identified as Cho Seung-Hui, purchased a Glock 9mm pistol in March for $571. The 23 year old answered no to a series of simple questions, used a credit card, and walked away armed.

It doesn't matter how many games Cho played in his life. He pulled the trigger. He is accountable.

Just hours after the shooting, Thompson appeared on Fox News and claimed that killers in past school shootings have used violent games such as Doom and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to effectively "rehearse" their own crimes. Many of these shooters played games, yes, but their problems ran far deeper.

Yesterday, school-shooter Evan Ramsey blamed videogames for his own violent crimes. In 1997, then 16, Ramsey killed a student and a principal at his high school in Bethel, Alaska. In an interview yesterday with CNN, Ramsey told Anderson Cooper that he didn't understand that if you shoot someone, "they probably won't get up." Videogames, Ramsey said, taught him that people do get up.

Cooper did not disclose Ramsey's well-documented history that his father went to prison when he was 7, his mother was an alcoholic, he was sexually abused and spent much of his childhood in foster homes. Again, his problems ran far deeper than playing violent videogames.

The common denominator for Ramsey, Cho and Columbine suspects Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris is not videogames. It is serious emotional distress. It is the being able to easily obtain firearms.

My thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims at Virginia Tech. In the meantime, Thompson will use this tragedy to continue his crusade against violent videogames. I only wish Thompson were as opposed to current gun laws as he is to videogames -- maybe he can help. It should take a lot more than five minutes and five hundred dollars to buy a gun.

Source: http://blogs.ign.com/MillaTimeIGN/

In France

I didn't play many video games
only DS, so I really haven't had a chance to play many video games lately.
I have only been playing Harvest Moon. Unfortunately, I suspect that it's glitched. Whenever, I try to build a building and go to bed, it refuses to come out of sleep. It dumb. Also, I can't get the mine trigger to happen. Maybe a new game would fix that little problem. But anyways. Harvest Moon, is just one of those games that if you stop and think about what your even doing, it sucks. But, just playing, its a blast! watering gardens, and picking up stuff. I should try to get animals, shouldn't I?

I managed to convince some guy at K-Mart to sell me an M rated game(gasp!), so i got Prey for $10. GG

Anyways, Playlist:

1. Harvest Moon
2. Obilvion
   

Obilvion

It's the first blog of the new month! And I've stopped playing video games. J/K April Fools. Oblivion. It is what my life is becoming and it's what I'm playing. Getting mad that my guy sucks at lock picking. O well, he rapes with blades. I got this sword and it just kills everyone in one swing. Maybe I should arena it. I have completed the fighters guild and am currently master! I am now thinking Mages guild. Any suggestions?

Playlist

1. Obilivion
2. Gears