Idle Time Conversion Wizard

the great migration

2008-07-29T11:39:00.003-04:00

After some scrutinizing, I'll be moving the Idle Time Conversion Wizard over to Wordpress for my ponderings.

Blogger, I bid you adieu.

Photography shout-out

2008-04-15T10:06:00.003-04:00

Well, it's been a g-damn long time since I've posted anything... mostly because my "audience" (all 5 of you) is all connected by different means now.

But I felt this as good a place as any to give a shout-out to a fellow Pennsylvanian, a fellow photographer, and a fellow 'dubber. Arin Ahnell has been an inspiration to me since I first encountered his work on the VWVortex, and he continues to produce top-notch stuff.

Photograph by Arin Ahnell

For the full flavor, visit Arin Ahnell's Night Photography.

Enjoy.

Decisions, Decisions...

2008-03-10T09:57:00.004-04:00

I can understand that developers have a difficult time choosing a name for their games. Once you've invested untold amounts of money and time into a project, it's difficult to give it a label that will generate consumer appeal and reflect just how damn cool you think your game is.

However, developers, i don't think giving your game 2 names is the proper way to accomplish this. We need only look back to releases in the past 30 days to see concrete examples of developers having trouble picking a name:

Turning Point: Fall of Liberty
Viking: Battle for Asgard
Rocketman: Axis of Evil
Lost: Via Domus
Frontlines: Fuel of War
Conflict: Denied Ops
Commanders: Attack of the Genos

Editors note: a few of these examples had other titles in their series, such as Conflict: Desert Storm and Conflict: Vietnam, but I included that one simply because what the fuck is "denied ops"? Honestly... you've run out of conflicts, and these games are horrific. Stop it.

With that said, let's create some guidelines, shall we?

Unless your game is a sequel, you are not to use the "This is my title: this is my subtitle" format. It's cliché and immediately takes a full point off your review.
If you must use the "title: subtitle" format, the subtitle should not be another title. it should be a descriptive statement about the game. fine examples of this include:

Halo: Combat Evolved

this tells me exactly what i'm in for - futuristic combat

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

also a sequel, but not a proper sequel, and the subtitle explains this.

.... you have no idea how hard it is to find good examples of this. they're really all terrible.

I was going to try to think of some more guidelines, but in my quest for good examples, I could find only more offensive and ridiculous names that have instead driven me to provide some fixes:

Turning Point: Fall of Liberty

okay, this game is based on an alternate history where Churchill dies and the nazis invade America. Just call it Turning Point, or just call it Fall of Liberty. Neither of these, to my knowledge, are existing IP's, so why do you need two nondescript titles?

Egg Mania: Eggstreme Madness

yes, this is really a game. Xbox, 2002. Just call it "Egg Mania" for christ's sake... i'm pretty sure it'll still be the only one.

Azurik: Rise of Perathia

neither of these are real words. stop trying to make your fantasy adventure game sound epic by calling it "Rise of -insert made up word here-". Bunch of assholes.

Every Castlevania title following Castlevania: Bloodlines

unarguably one of the worst offenders of this horrible, horrible trend. Castlevania is on it's 24th iteration, including portable and mobile phone releases, but not including collections, etc. My guess is that after Castlevania IV on the SNES, they decided that either continuing with roman numeral iterations would make the franchise sound old, which it is, or that no future releases could possibly be worthy of being a proper sequel. Such is not the case, as some of the best titles in the series have come after the adoption of the ridiculous naming convention. Case in point: Symphony of the Night. To this, I say if you're worried about your game sounding old or dated, it probably is, and you're not fooling anyone. If you don't think the game lives up to being a proper sequel, don't fucking release it because we don't want to play shitty, improperly titled semi-sequels.

I have exhausted my efforts on this game industry faux pas... i know these asshats will never change, but i hope i can help others become aware of this growing epidemic. only you can prevent forest fires, people.

Lore reviews the Legion of Doom

2008-02-26T16:26:00.003-05:00

Lore Sjöberg, despite having a ridiculously sweedish name, is one of the funniest people I have never encountered. I know this because his article on Wired makes me laugh out loud. I rarely do this when reading, since it actually involves comprehension, and generally makes my brain hurt.

If you make use of a feed reader, I recommend a subscription... give it a month and if he doesn't make you crack a smile, let me know so I can forget I know you.

So too does the man who...

2008-02-25T11:33:00.001-05:00

Embarassm0wnd.

2008-02-20T11:07:00.005-05:00

Much as I love the 360, I love to laugh at Micro$oft even more... video taken at GDC 2008 in their own booth.

On religion 'n'at

2008-02-20T09:30:00.003-05:00

I have a lot of thoughts about religion, beliefs, and the like... I'll try to vent them individually and over time so no one has to read 12-page ramblings about organized religion and fanaticism.

The big debate in Florida now is whether to teach evolution in public schools. Of course religous people don't want this scientific mumbo jumbo clouding up their kids' impreesionable young minds.

Why are the parents of these children so concerned that their kids might lose faith in religion if they weren't losing faith themselves? Why does anyone in this world want to just believe closed-mindedly rather than accept truth for what it is and maybe reconsider how their faith plays into it?

What I love is that the "compromise" reached on the issue of teaching it in public schools was to throw "The scientific theory of..." in front of it. That makes everything OK to you Intelligent Design folk? Your scientific ignorance is rivaled only by your lack of comprehension of a child's understanding of what they're taught in school. When was the last time you heard a 9-year old say "Yeah, but it's only a theory..."? Darwin wins. 1-0.

Who thought this would be a good idea?

2008-02-19T14:20:00.002-05:00

Wired blog repost of a review of the new Knight Rider. Yes, you read that right... this is a 3rd degree blog.

Shamless remakes should only be done in the name of comedy.

For Your Ears

2008-02-12T15:17:00.002-05:00

Photo by x442x

Thanks to last.fm, an internet radio site that allows you to customize your own radio stations, i came across this (apparently) oft-overlooked awesome band from VA:

Strike Anywhere

This style of music may not be everyone's cup o' tea, but if you're into Good Riddance, Rise Against, or pretty much anyone that hates Dubbya' and wants to tell the world about it, these guys are right up your alley.

Ben Croshaw's OTHER entertaining stuff

2008-02-11T09:57:00.000-05:00

Anyone with a pulse (and most certainly the half-dozen people that will ever see this blog) should aready know Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw for his hilarious game reviews over at the escapist.

What you may not have ventured far enough to find is Yahtzee's own website containing other forms of hilarity, such as his essays.

In case the word "essays" contradicts the idea of humor in any way for you, here are a few title excerpts:

'RUNAWAY TRAIN' BY SOUL ASYLUM IS ACTUALLY ABOUT A MAN BEING ABSORBED INTO THE VAGINA OF AN EVIL SHAPESHIFTING ALIEN

CAN NINJAS CO-EXIST WITH PIRATES?

(of course, click through for the full monty.)

Xbox 360 Elite... Laptop.

2008-02-06T10:17:00.000-05:00

Three things come to mind:

1) This guy has too much time on his hands.
2) This guy is crazy.
3) This guy is my idol.

Also, props are in order for the sweet Bioshock homage.

I'm not fooled

2008-01-29T08:32:00.000-05:00

Anyone who watched the State of the Union last night may have noticed that W. (dubbya) was more assertive and take-charge than his usual "my fellow 'mericans, our country is good" self.

I, for one, am not fooled by Bush's bold and blatent calls for change.

It was an obvious last-ditch effort, as the NBC anchors correctly pointed out, by a lame duck president to make his efforts feel honest and heart-felt. Regardless of what W.'s intentions were over the past 8 years, no uppity speech will make up for the shortcomings of his presidency.

I believe the underlying intent of this address was to make the almost certain future successes (I say this because anything done after Bush leaves office will be a relative success) appear as if they were triggered by the Bush administration. As I understand, it's a tactic employed by many presidents as they leave office, but never has it seemed so painfully obvious as when a 7-year-do-nothing starts calling out everyone around him to step up and change long-term governmental policy.

Did Assassins' Creed deserve better?

2008-01-08T10:23:00.000-05:00

So, a few days ago, I finished my play through of Assassins' Creed. Since the game was released over a month before I got it, I had plenty of time to read through reviews and find out what people really thought of the complete game. These thoughts stuck with me through the game, and upon reflection, I feel like AC may have gotten a raw deal from the gaming community...

Complaint #1 - the fighting system.
A few reviewers out there referred to the fighting system as "hack'n'slash" or "button-mashing", which came across in a negative tone. I don't doubt that you can survive throughout the game by simply treating the fights as hack'n'slash mini-battles, but i think if you do this, you've missed so much of the beauty of the game.

For one, the chase/escape system was designed to be able to avoid fights like this altogether. Yes, some fights are unavoidable and sometimes you'll work yourself into a corner or get knocked off your planned escape route by an enemy's arrow or thrown rock, but how can anyone not appreciate the dynamics and sandbox elements of the game. You're ultimately given the choice to stay and fight or get the hell outta dodge. If all you choose to do is fight, so be it, but don't blame the game for not forcing your hand.

Secondly, I'm forced to question how much of the game the reviewers actually played if they consider the fighting a thoughtless hack'n'slash process. I won't disagree that it started out that way when you're stripped of your abilities, but each mission completed adds a weapon or fighting ability that changes the dynamic. Again, if you choose to stick with your sword and rapid-fire on the attack button until you wipe out the enemies, that's your decision, not the developers'. With the accumulation of the short blade, throwing knives, parry/counter, dodge, and grabs, how someone could continue to just throw the typical timed combos is beyond me... I eventually found that staying on the aggressive and throwing down combos in between actively defending myself from enemy attacks to be the most effective way to go, but at no point did i feel like the fighting got monotonous like i typically associate with the hack'n'slash label.

(Spoiler within.) I will admit that the final mission turns into your typical corridor-style action game, a la Ninja Gaiden, but the combat itself is still dynamic and exciting.

Complaint #2 - the modern story line.
any people have indicated that they feel the game would have been more "complete" or immersive if the story had not strayed outside of 1191AD. While I agree that a stand-alone 1191AD assassin's tale would have been pretty cool, I can understand the decision to make this a larger, arcing storyline. This day and age, developers have to think "Franchise" when they have a great game design, and I applaud Ubisoft Montreal for doing so up front, rather than making a would-be classic game and trying to follow it up with an ultimately disappointing sequel. Think "The Matrix" versus "LOTR". Heck, even think "Bioshock 2". Granted, it will probably be a prequel, but they're going to have to try their damnedest to make it feel like it's not just tacked-on.

My stance on this one will be subject to the quality of the future of the franchise.

Complaint #3 - the ending.
(May contain spoilers)
This has been the biggest complaint about this game throughout the gaming community, and I can't completely agree with the legions of haters on this one. Again, it closely relates to my feelings about the modern story and franchise (see #2), but I enjoyed the cryptic ending.

I am a fan of all the Divinci Code-esque scrawlings and the hidden messages and I feel Ubi has put together a pretty cool base for a storyline with Warren and Alan's emails regarding the old relics. It should be stated that I'm an avid follower of biblical and other cultural beliefs, so this stuff is all right up my alley. The best part was that I wasn't even expecting this kind of depth in the story when i picked the game up - I just wanted to kill some people.

If you haven't read any explanations regarding the emails and the end of the game, you should really take a look at this blog article. They do a pretty good job breaking down the cryptic messages throughout the closing sequences of the game and it really made me look forward to where the next game(s) may take us.

NOW, all that said, this game isn't without fault. I won't argue that the missions are a bit repetitive and that certain things in the game feel tedious, but that's par for the course with action games. For the 12-14 hours that the action lasts thorughout the story line, I just don't think there's so much repetition that it takes away from the core of the game or the overarching story.

For an interesting counter-point to this blog, read on...

Who Deserves Your Vote?

2007-12-20T12:40:00.001-05:00

So, I've been involved in many discussions regarding the upcoming election, and I have come to realize how blindly partisan people can be, so I'm encouraging friends, colleagues, and pretty much any American over 18 to do your homework.

I don't care what side of the ticket a candidate falls on... as the American public, our decision shouldn't be influenced by who has the campaign money or who our parents voted for. These simple little quizzes have you answer questions based on the 'hot topics' on the political scales, and tell you which of the candidates agree with you.

In my opinion, the USA Today one is probably the best I've taken, though it's a little short and doesn't hit every topic important to me (like the rising price of oil), but it allows you to rank the importance of issues once you've answered all the questions and it shows you how that influences your potential candidates. This is a bit nicer touch than SelectSmart's quiz, which allows you to rank the issues, but only during the survey, and does not show how this impacts your match.

USA Today Candidate Match Game

VoteMatch 2008

SelectSmart

In the interest of the sole purpose of this post, I'll refrain from listing my candidates, but I will say that I was surprised. SelectSmart and the USA Today quiz results matched pretty closely for me, while the VoteMatch had my top 3 candidates correct, but in a different order.

Halo 3: Team Doubles

2007-12-12T10:03:00.000-05:00

As of late, Halo 3 has gotten a little boring. I don't know if it's the same old games over and over, or if it's just the glory that is COD4, but i haven't had the same old desire to play...

...however, Mill (mxadkins) and I carry on playing just about every day at lunchtime, and sometimes in the evenings. If there's anything that can rip away the desire to play even further, it's constantly losing... and not just straight-up losing, but being BY FAR the best two players on the losing team, and often one of us being the MVP of the game, even from the losing team.

Then, like a freight train, the idea of Team Doubles hit us yesterday on the ride home for lunch. Holy shit. Where was this grand idea two weeks ago? Since yesterday at lunch, not only have we enjoyed Team Doubles enough to play 16 games of it, but we've also gone something like 13-2-1 in those 16 games. Proof.

In related, and equally exciting news, I have gone from having zero killing frenzies (10-kill streaks) through 300-some odd games to now having 3 frenzies in just those 16 games. Visit the Apoc112 Medal Chest.

Now they just need to update the playlists to include the new maps, and all will be peachy.

The New (Old) Racer in Town

2007-12-06T09:25:00.000-05:00

In light of the new PC, and Elizabeth's decree pertaining to the purchase of new video games (long story, short: I can't buy a game for 18 months.), I have taken up one of my old pastimes... Live For Speed.

If you've never played it, its about the most basic racing simulation out there, but therein lies its brilliance. It's not about how pretty the environment is, it's not about real-world sponsorships. It's about accurately simulating racing, and it's VERY unapologetic about it. The game is brutally realistic, and insanely fun. It's also a plus that this game could run on practically ANY machine... my roommate is currently running 40-50fps on a 7-year-old dinosaur of a computer with a GeForce 5900GT. He's limited only by the processor, which is a PIII 1.0GHz - that thing could barely run DOS.

Hell, even if you're a graphics whore, the game is extremely simple to modify... and all the hard work has already been done. LFS Database has a wealth of texture packs to modify cars, environments, and your driver to look pretty damn good in all their hi-res glory.

I highly suggest that you at least try the Demo, which gives you an unlimited amount of time, online and offline, with a few select cars. VERY worth your time.

If you're already a Live For Speed junkie, check out The CTRA for some competitive, fair, and über fun racing action. Look for me in the Single Seater 1 server!

December 5, Day of the Ninja

2007-12-05T11:09:00.001-05:00

How better to commemorate the Day of the Ninja than by sharing a video that combines two of my greatest loves... video games and humor.

Dude, I got a Dell!

2007-12-03T14:49:00.001-05:00

5 years ago I would have laughed at the prospect of getting a Dell, simply because I've always built my own systems, and Dell was the enemy. However, my resolve has gone soft, and I'm no longer a PC gamer, so i went shopping for a good deal on a desktop system to replace my 3.5-year-old laptop.

Despite all my other familiar avenues of computers and PC components, i couldn't beat the deal Dell is currently running on their Inspiron 530 systems... it was a considerable step above the system i had set out to buy, but when all was said and done, i ended up with the following:

• Inspiron 530,Intel Core2 Duo processor E6550 (2.33GHz 1333FSB) w/Dual Core Technology and 4MB cache
• 3GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
• 500GB Serial ATA II Hard Drive(7200RPM)
• 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT- DDR3
• 22" Samsung SyncMaster 2220WM Widescreen TFT-LCD Monitor

...plus various goodies, like Dell's 13-in-1 internal media card reader w/ bluetooth, all for $1186 (after PA sales tax).

After my few experiences with new Dell systems at work, i had made up my mind that i wasn't even going to let this computer boot up in Dell-factory form... I put the Vista CD in and did a full partition-delete, format, and re-install right off the bat.

Overall, I'm extremely pleased with the deal i got and the performance of this system. Out of the box, it has a Vista Experience Level of 5.2 (processor-limited), up from a staggering 1.0 on my laptop (everything but RAM limited).

As I said, I'm not much of a PC gamer these days, but i do Live For Speed. While this isn't exactly a system-benchmarking game, it certainly gave me a little perspective over my old laptop. The laptop was never meant to be a gaming rig... 1.5GHz Pentium M, 2GB RAM, 60GB HDD, and a GeForce FX 5200Go graphics chip... it chugged LFS along at questionable-quality graphics settings (1024x768, widescreen effects enabled, medium graphics settings) at a solid 30FPS, so long as there weren't more than 3 other cars on the screen. By comparison, LFS runs uninhibited at 1280x1024, 4XAA, all graphics on the highest settings with no texture compression, locked at a user-limited max of 100FPS, all with 31 other cars on the screen in the most taxing of environments.

That said, I'm happy.

Sick MTB Video

2007-11-29T15:04:00.001-05:00

I envy these kids... mountain biking at its finest:

More at 970biking.com or at mtbmovies.com