Hearts are stupid. They should learn to listen to brains. It doesn't even matter how much you try to reason with the stupid things. You thump your chest and say, "Listen mister! You stop hurting or I'll give you something to hurt about." But, you learn quickly that hearts don't respond to idle threats.
So, you live a life of distraction. You surround yourself with awesome friends to hang out with. The best thing is that you end up with many new awesome friends you didn't even know would be there for you. And, your heart celebrates this and it helps take away some of the pain.
You get to the point where you think, "Hey, maybe it's time to try my hand at the game of love again." You date some people. It's good. It's bad. You date someone you like. But, the whole time you're evaluating these new feelings. The last thing you want is hurt someone else, to rebound off them.
You're being a good person. You're letting yourself feel real feelings. You're letting go of the past. You're not latching on to the first person who comes along (for selfish reasons or otherwise). And, then you have a bad day. A bad, stupid day because it was a day that was important to the past you're trying to let go.
All you want is to stop feeling so miserable. You want to lash out at the person who caused the pain. You want to bury yourself in frivolous affections to forget how terrible you feel. But, you know it'd be unfair to act on these thoughts. So, you hold strong and wait.
July 9, 2009
July 7, 2009
Something Fun
I added another old tale of mine. It was something I typed up out of nowhere during a chat session many years ago. I was, obviously, quite bored and started typing a story into the chat. It was probably written in about a minute and I decided to capture it and save it to my computer. And, here it is back on the internet in full digital glory.
Tale Feathers of the Silver Chicken
The silver chicken peered down the dark alley. It took a long gulp and proceeded along with a clickity-clack on the blacktop. It was then a rat skittered out from behind a dumpster. Now while rats may startle you and me, to a chicken they're rather deadly. The chicken gave a little chirpy gulp and cantered down the alley with a quickness only seen in chickens that have lost their head.
The chicken was nearly home free when it heard the clackity sound of running feet becoming ever more noticeable. "I sure am running fast,” thought the chicken. But not a moment later the chicken realized the clacking was not his own feet. They didn't have that distinct metal sound. It was more like nails and hundreds of them. The chicken dared a glance back and saw a plague of rats nearly on his tail feathers. "This just won't do,” thought the frightened chicken; and he began to flap his wings in a fettered panic. In fact, the chicken’s panic was so great that most of the time it was running on air.
The rats were getting closer and closer, the chicken could hear them squeaking in delight of the expectant meal. It was then the worst possible thing happened, the chicken tripped on over it's own feet in mid-air. Somersaulted and landed flat on it's back. The rats swarmed the chicken and dove in to what was to be a great feast. It was then cries of pain came from the rats, for you see it was a silver chicken and they all had chipped their teeth on the wretched thing.
The chicken was nearly home free when it heard the clackity sound of running feet becoming ever more noticeable. "I sure am running fast,” thought the chicken. But not a moment later the chicken realized the clacking was not his own feet. They didn't have that distinct metal sound. It was more like nails and hundreds of them. The chicken dared a glance back and saw a plague of rats nearly on his tail feathers. "This just won't do,” thought the frightened chicken; and he began to flap his wings in a fettered panic. In fact, the chicken’s panic was so great that most of the time it was running on air.
The rats were getting closer and closer, the chicken could hear them squeaking in delight of the expectant meal. It was then the worst possible thing happened, the chicken tripped on over it's own feet in mid-air. Somersaulted and landed flat on it's back. The rats swarmed the chicken and dove in to what was to be a great feast. It was then cries of pain came from the rats, for you see it was a silver chicken and they all had chipped their teeth on the wretched thing.
June 23, 2009
House of Cards
Most days you pretend. You take another card from the deck and you put up a wall. But, they're not your average cards, they look just like walls. Your neighbors compliment you on "building a mighty-fine house."
On wonderful, rare days you put up a real wall. It's sturdy and you can lean on it. You lean hard on these walls. Your cards lean hard on these walls. "Yes, that's a sturdy house you're building."
Months go by and the house is bigger. "It's becoming a good, strong house." It's about this time the big, bad wolf of doubt comes along. Huff. Puff. The house collapses on itself.
You realize you've been fooling yourself. They're not walls; they're cards. Flimsy cards. Flimsy cards that made a mess of your house. The few walls left standing remind you of your foolishness.
You stare at your non-house. Your rubble of cards. Time to start again. First, clean up the mess.
You start putting the cards back in the deck. You find old walls, rotted walls that you'd covered with cards. With all the cards put away, you notice the cracked foundation. You try to remember the old house. The house you thought could survive anything and everything.
The house you remember has cracks in the walls, flaking paint, and a leaky roof. You don't care. That dilapidated house was at least a home. You'd like to go home.
Most days you pretend. You take another card from the deck and you put up a wall.
On wonderful, rare days you put up a real wall. It's sturdy and you can lean on it. You lean hard on these walls. Your cards lean hard on these walls. "Yes, that's a sturdy house you're building."
Months go by and the house is bigger. "It's becoming a good, strong house." It's about this time the big, bad wolf of doubt comes along. Huff. Puff. The house collapses on itself.
You realize you've been fooling yourself. They're not walls; they're cards. Flimsy cards. Flimsy cards that made a mess of your house. The few walls left standing remind you of your foolishness.
You stare at your non-house. Your rubble of cards. Time to start again. First, clean up the mess.
You start putting the cards back in the deck. You find old walls, rotted walls that you'd covered with cards. With all the cards put away, you notice the cracked foundation. You try to remember the old house. The house you thought could survive anything and everything.
The house you remember has cracks in the walls, flaking paint, and a leaky roof. You don't care. That dilapidated house was at least a home. You'd like to go home.
Most days you pretend. You take another card from the deck and you put up a wall.
June 6, 2009
Jukebox Hero
So, just a music update. The two songs that etched themselves in my brain as a kid. I remember listening to a tape of these songs, which had been recorded off the radio, over and over. It wasn't until couple years later that I owned my first tape Def Leopard Pyromania which my sister Candy gave to me. I think I shortly after inherited Quiet Riot as well.
April 29, 2009
Whoa! Creepy Photo
What happened to the bottom of my photo? It's like a horror movie invited itself in. Talk about a weird digital camera glitch. If it turns out to be demons that swallow your soul when you view this picture on the internet, I'm really sorry.Oh, and I swear I did absolutely no photo editing on that thing. I didn't even notice the photo was funky until it was uploaded to blogspot. I think it's the result of capturing the pure evil of Bank of America on camera.
Oh, and click on it for a higher resolution version.
Bank of America Sucks
Apparently Bank of America has started redirecting the Countrywide traffic to their website. Being a Countrywide customer (now Bank of America customer) I have to say that Bank of America's online service is absolutely awful. Not get your monthly statement in the mail? Want to view a copy of the paper statement online? Tough shit. All Bank of America is going to show you is that a monthly statement was sent on a specific date.
Since you can see how much you owe, all that's really important is being able to set up bill pay, right? You have your account number, but where is that all important address information? Prepare to do some hunting through their site which is filled with pages that give ASP errors. Speaking of which, the link to print a payment coupon is one of these broken links. That's right, even if all you want to do is mail your payment, you can't get to the payment coupon so they can easily associate your payment to your account. Bang up job guys.
Bank of America really should've looked at how easy and user-friendly Countrywide's site was. And, until they got their site to that level, let the Countrywide customers use the Countrywide site. But, no, we get to use a barely working site and are forced to navigate through the dark like paraplegic moles.
Seriously, what jackasses are writing the code and where can I send the hate mail? Even more importantly, who is the idiot that designed this unfriendly abomination? Worst banking site ever!
Since you can see how much you owe, all that's really important is being able to set up bill pay, right? You have your account number, but where is that all important address information? Prepare to do some hunting through their site which is filled with pages that give ASP errors. Speaking of which, the link to print a payment coupon is one of these broken links. That's right, even if all you want to do is mail your payment, you can't get to the payment coupon so they can easily associate your payment to your account. Bang up job guys.
Bank of America really should've looked at how easy and user-friendly Countrywide's site was. And, until they got their site to that level, let the Countrywide customers use the Countrywide site. But, no, we get to use a barely working site and are forced to navigate through the dark like paraplegic moles.
Seriously, what jackasses are writing the code and where can I send the hate mail? Even more importantly, who is the idiot that designed this unfriendly abomination? Worst banking site ever!
April 25, 2009
Rhythm Heaven
I just purchased this 4 hours ago (so mostly first impressions), but this game is really fun. The simple mechanics of tap, hold, and flick to the music make for a great time. The remix levels are fantastic and the game has a good level of difficulty.My favorite game so far is the choir guys. I like how the other two glower at you when you're out of rhythm.
In this economy, you can't afford not to have this game.
Goodbye GeoCities
Not sure if you know, but Yahoo! is cutting a few of their features. Among them is geocities, so while I realize geocities may be around a bit longer, I figured I'd make sure there was nothing I wanted to keep there. Plus, I wanted to give a nod to the original home of my rantings.At first I had the idea of moving my old posts over to blogspot, but most are info about what I was doing to the site or info about Baldur's Gate 2. In other words, I don't see any reason to move anything over. Instead I'm just going to keep a screenshot.
So, goodbye geocities. You worked good as a free home for 2000 to 2002.
April 13, 2009
Fish Story
This one time I was fishing, and I caught a mermaid. I was shocked, because not every day do you catch a mermaid. I mean, some people go all their lives without catching one, and here I was with my very own mermaid. Well, I dragged her up onto the shore. I figured, maybe her tail would turn into legs, but they didn't.
I thought to myself, "Mermaids are nice to look at and all, but you can't really take them out unless you pack a wheelchair." I tried talking to her, but all she did was gasp for air. I was like, "What's your problem, there's air!" Pretty soon her eyes were practically bugging out of her skull. It was totally unattractive. It's one thing to have an attractive trophy to take on the town, even if it can't walk; it's another to have some freaky fish thing with bulging eyes.
At this point, I figured I could make some big bucks off of a flesh and blood mermaid, even if she was dead. But, there was no way I was throwing her in my car. Get fish stink everywhere, no way! Besides, she wasn't going anywhere. So, I hopped in my car and drove like a madman until my cell phone picked up a signal. I then called every paper and TV station I could think of. I was going to get rich off this, right?
After the calls, I drove back to the place of the mermaid's body should've been. But, she wasn't there anymore. All that was left was a note that read, "It's over! I can't believe you left me here to go on a beer run! I went home with a stranger who actually catches fish." And, now I'm single because of a stupid mermaid.
I thought to myself, "Mermaids are nice to look at and all, but you can't really take them out unless you pack a wheelchair." I tried talking to her, but all she did was gasp for air. I was like, "What's your problem, there's air!" Pretty soon her eyes were practically bugging out of her skull. It was totally unattractive. It's one thing to have an attractive trophy to take on the town, even if it can't walk; it's another to have some freaky fish thing with bulging eyes.
At this point, I figured I could make some big bucks off of a flesh and blood mermaid, even if she was dead. But, there was no way I was throwing her in my car. Get fish stink everywhere, no way! Besides, she wasn't going anywhere. So, I hopped in my car and drove like a madman until my cell phone picked up a signal. I then called every paper and TV station I could think of. I was going to get rich off this, right?
After the calls, I drove back to the place of the mermaid's body should've been. But, she wasn't there anymore. All that was left was a note that read, "It's over! I can't believe you left me here to go on a beer run! I went home with a stranger who actually catches fish." And, now I'm single because of a stupid mermaid.
April 10, 2009
The Rabbit's Just a Chicken in Disguise
Not sure why, but I've been having a Marilyn Manson night. Mostly the stuff from the Nothing label - Portrait of an American Family, Smells Like Children, and Antichrist Superstar - though there are a few songs released on later albums that I've been listening to.
It's kind of funny to think back to 1995-1998 where I couldn't get enough of MM. I think I bought 6 or 7 different bootlegs of live sets and I have at least one CD from the Spooky Kids days. I even have the original version of Smells Like Children with the Willy Wonka samples and Abuse tracks. I'm pretty sure it's a bootleg, but nonetheless I thought it was cool at the time.
It's kind of funny to think back to 1995-1998 where I couldn't get enough of MM. I think I bought 6 or 7 different bootlegs of live sets and I have at least one CD from the Spooky Kids days. I even have the original version of Smells Like Children with the Willy Wonka samples and Abuse tracks. I'm pretty sure it's a bootleg, but nonetheless I thought it was cool at the time.
April 6, 2009
Another Prior Work
Added "The Sole Witness" to my blog. I wrote this back in like 1999 or 2000. It contains graphic violence and strong language. Enjoy.
The Sole Witness
“I can recall the murder perfectly, officer. The murderer, he was,” I exhale as visions of the murder dance in front of my eyes, “relentless. I still can’t believe it happened. The look in his eyes was, well, frightening.” A shiver runs down my spine at the memory.
Murder is not as clean as what the movies make it out to be. A person doesn’t die instantly or remain quite after being stabbed. They shriek, plead, and when death is near you hear this awful gurgle. Their hands flail about in an attempt to remove their attacker and block any incoming blows. It’s a horrible thing to witness, and something one does not forget.
“I had just finished work, and was walking back to my car…” The night was brisk, and the smell of winter, of ozone, was in the air. There was a hint of something sickly sweet, like anti-freeze when a car over-heats and it bubbles out of the radiator. Cloud clover blanketed the sky, blocking out the moon. It wasn’t dark; lights from the city illuminated the sky, casting a sickly orange hue on the world.
“Upon reaching my car, I heard a solid thud then a pleading voice which climbed quickly into a scream. I thought it was a joke or a false scare as I glanced around the car lot for the source. I saw a dark figure, a man. He was tall, with a large build, with unkempt blonde hair. I would guess he was around six-five or six-six, about 275 pounds, maybe.
“At first glance, I thought he was alone. He had a dark, slimy object in his hand. From where I was standing it looked like a greasy pipe. It wasn’t until he dropped to his knees and jammed the object into the pleading and blibbering mass that I realized he was not alone.
“’Help me. Oh God, fuck! Oh God save me. Someone. Jesus,’ the victim pleaded as his hands flailed and scrabbled trying to block the blade from driving into his body. My breathing was rushed. ‘Was this really happening?” The exhilaration. The release! I would have to kill again for the pure joy of the act.
“Warm, thick blood spurted on my face and hands. It made the knife difficult to grip. I tasted the coppery film on my lips. It was an ecstasy of power to take everything from this pitiful wretch, this wretch whose sole task seemed bent on angering me.
“I let out a maniacal bellow of laughter as I repeatedly drove the blade into his torso. Blood covered my eyes making it difficult to spot my victim, my prey. I paused in my revelry. I needed a better look. Shutting my eyes, I dragged the sleeve of my jacket across my face.
“I tell myself that this has to be a dream as I open my eyes in horror of my attacker straddled over my body. ‘No more,’ I whimper in short gasps of breath. ‘No more,’ I cough as blood and spittle launch into my assailant’s face. My lungs burn and ache. I struggle for breath, but I know no amount of coughing will remove the blood that fills them. My arms lay limp at my side.
“I look up at my attacker hoping to see something human, some sign of mercy. All I see are his cold eyes. Grey eyes like two chunks of steel. Beautiful eyes, on a bloodied face, staring at me through a broken driver’s side mirror.”
Murder is not as clean as what the movies make it out to be. A person doesn’t die instantly or remain quite after being stabbed. They shriek, plead, and when death is near you hear this awful gurgle. Their hands flail about in an attempt to remove their attacker and block any incoming blows. It’s a horrible thing to witness, and something one does not forget.
“I had just finished work, and was walking back to my car…” The night was brisk, and the smell of winter, of ozone, was in the air. There was a hint of something sickly sweet, like anti-freeze when a car over-heats and it bubbles out of the radiator. Cloud clover blanketed the sky, blocking out the moon. It wasn’t dark; lights from the city illuminated the sky, casting a sickly orange hue on the world.
“Upon reaching my car, I heard a solid thud then a pleading voice which climbed quickly into a scream. I thought it was a joke or a false scare as I glanced around the car lot for the source. I saw a dark figure, a man. He was tall, with a large build, with unkempt blonde hair. I would guess he was around six-five or six-six, about 275 pounds, maybe.
“At first glance, I thought he was alone. He had a dark, slimy object in his hand. From where I was standing it looked like a greasy pipe. It wasn’t until he dropped to his knees and jammed the object into the pleading and blibbering mass that I realized he was not alone.
“’Help me. Oh God, fuck! Oh God save me. Someone. Jesus,’ the victim pleaded as his hands flailed and scrabbled trying to block the blade from driving into his body. My breathing was rushed. ‘Was this really happening?” The exhilaration. The release! I would have to kill again for the pure joy of the act.
“Warm, thick blood spurted on my face and hands. It made the knife difficult to grip. I tasted the coppery film on my lips. It was an ecstasy of power to take everything from this pitiful wretch, this wretch whose sole task seemed bent on angering me.
“I let out a maniacal bellow of laughter as I repeatedly drove the blade into his torso. Blood covered my eyes making it difficult to spot my victim, my prey. I paused in my revelry. I needed a better look. Shutting my eyes, I dragged the sleeve of my jacket across my face.
“I tell myself that this has to be a dream as I open my eyes in horror of my attacker straddled over my body. ‘No more,’ I whimper in short gasps of breath. ‘No more,’ I cough as blood and spittle launch into my assailant’s face. My lungs burn and ache. I struggle for breath, but I know no amount of coughing will remove the blood that fills them. My arms lay limp at my side.
“I look up at my attacker hoping to see something human, some sign of mercy. All I see are his cold eyes. Grey eyes like two chunks of steel. Beautiful eyes, on a bloodied face, staring at me through a broken driver’s side mirror.”
April 5, 2009
BIT.TRIP BEAT
If enjoy rhythm games (and electronic music), then buy this game. If you enjoy the old Atari 2600 Pong/Breakout games, then buy this game. If you have a love of retro games, then buy this game.
What are you doing still reading this? You should be playing BIT.TRIP BEAT!
I'm going to assume the reason you're still reading this is because you want to know why you should buy the game. To start off, the basic premise of the game is pretty simple. Bits fly from the right-side of the screen to the left-side, and your job is to knock them back with your paddle. Knocking back bits will play a note of the song. The game is presented in 8-bit glory both graphically and musically.
You begin the game in hyper-mode, and by returning bits, which fill the mega-meter, you will enter mega-mode. When in mega-mode another layer of the song is unlocked and there are additional graphical effects. In addition, you have a new meter to fill which can increase your bonus. By missing beats you will drop from mega-mode to hyper-mode and from hyper-mode to nether-mode. When in nether-mode there is no music, the Wiimote's speaker emits the only sound when bits are returned, the screen is black and white, and missing too many bits results in game over. Hitting enough bits back in nether-mode will return you to hyper-mode. So, during a game you could transition through each mode multiple times depending on how well you are playing during certain parts of the song.
I'll be honest, as much as the concept of this game had me interested, I was concerned about the paddle being tied to motion controls. But, Gaijin nailed the controls and when playing the game it feels very much like playing with a paddle (Atari paddle, not ping-pong). The tilting works great and allows for very precise control.
The chip tune music is great and fits the game very well. My only complaint is there are only three songs. The songs are fairly long, in fact I still haven't been able to get passed the second, but I feel six shorter songs would've worked better. Due to the difficulty, I haven't been able to play more than one boss battle; but these are extremely fun. And I think the difficulty combined with the awesomeness of the boss battles, is why I would've liked to see more songs.
In addition, the game features four-player multiplayer, but I haven't had a chance to try it. I have read how some people have decreased the difficulty of the game by playing it two Wiimotes (essentially having one giant paddle made from two).
My only complaint is that sometimes the bits and paddle are hard to make out due to the background effects. But, it's something that doesn't happen too often and by your second or third play-through of a level it's easier to track everything.
What are you doing still reading this? You should be playing BIT.TRIP BEAT!
I'm going to assume the reason you're still reading this is because you want to know why you should buy the game. To start off, the basic premise of the game is pretty simple. Bits fly from the right-side of the screen to the left-side, and your job is to knock them back with your paddle. Knocking back bits will play a note of the song. The game is presented in 8-bit glory both graphically and musically.
You begin the game in hyper-mode, and by returning bits, which fill the mega-meter, you will enter mega-mode. When in mega-mode another layer of the song is unlocked and there are additional graphical effects. In addition, you have a new meter to fill which can increase your bonus. By missing beats you will drop from mega-mode to hyper-mode and from hyper-mode to nether-mode. When in nether-mode there is no music, the Wiimote's speaker emits the only sound when bits are returned, the screen is black and white, and missing too many bits results in game over. Hitting enough bits back in nether-mode will return you to hyper-mode. So, during a game you could transition through each mode multiple times depending on how well you are playing during certain parts of the song.
I'll be honest, as much as the concept of this game had me interested, I was concerned about the paddle being tied to motion controls. But, Gaijin nailed the controls and when playing the game it feels very much like playing with a paddle (Atari paddle, not ping-pong). The tilting works great and allows for very precise control.
The chip tune music is great and fits the game very well. My only complaint is there are only three songs. The songs are fairly long, in fact I still haven't been able to get passed the second, but I feel six shorter songs would've worked better. Due to the difficulty, I haven't been able to play more than one boss battle; but these are extremely fun. And I think the difficulty combined with the awesomeness of the boss battles, is why I would've liked to see more songs.
In addition, the game features four-player multiplayer, but I haven't had a chance to try it. I have read how some people have decreased the difficulty of the game by playing it two Wiimotes (essentially having one giant paddle made from two).
My only complaint is that sometimes the bits and paddle are hard to make out due to the background effects. But, it's something that doesn't happen too often and by your second or third play-through of a level it's easier to track everything.
March 29, 2009
Bugger
If you'd have asked me a year ago whether Lindsey and I would ever get divorced I would've said, "No way!" Even nine months ago I'd have been certain everything was going to be OK. "We're just going through a rough patch."But, it seems, hurt leads to hurt leads to more hurt. And, it's not as though we were at each other's throats. We got along and still get along well, which I think makes this all that much harder. I think it'd be much easier divorcing someone I hate.
What option do you have when you and your spouse's life goals don't match up. And, the ugly result is that your heart breaks a little bit every time you're together. Yet, you don't want to and don't know how to be without your spouse.
When she moved in with her parents in November, I think my heart hopped out of my chest, grew legs, and followed her there. For months I've been hoping somehow things would work out. (I think that's why I haven't really told most people that we were having problems, let alone that we were probably going to get divorced.)
So, I sit here with a computer screen to talk to. "Hello computer." (Makes me think of Star Trek IV, when Scotty tries talking to the computer.) So, I'll throw my thoughts out into the ether. Maybe I'll be lucky and they won't come back, instead of going over and over them every night. Some nights I think it's enough to drive a person crazy. And, perhaps I'm there as I'm now talking to illuminated text.
March 22, 2009
A Need for Nina & Trent
Alright, so I'm going against my word a little by putting up a playlist. I started off with Nina Simone singing Ne Me Quitte Pas; but it wasn't enough to express how I was feeling. So, I followed it up with Trent Reznor singing an amazing, raw version of Something I Can Never Have.
Oh, I also fixed my playlist so that it doesn't show the horizontal scrollbar. It's bigger than I'd like, but oh well.
Oh, I also fixed my playlist so that it doesn't show the horizontal scrollbar. It's bigger than I'd like, but oh well.
March 15, 2009
Deadly Creatures
While I haven't completed Deadly Creatures yet, I have to give a shout out for this Wii game. The game is animated beautifully and very fun. As you traverse the desert in chapters you battle insects, spiders, scorpions, lizards and a variety of other desert creatures. The boss battles are enjoyable and the combat is satisfying.
The controls for Deadly Creatures are pretty solid and make good use of the motion control. Both characters, the spider and scorpion, play a little differently. With both, the control stick is used for movement, A is used for a weak attack, and swinging the remote is a strong attack. The scorpion, which is the tank of the two, can guard against attacks. But, the real joy of the scorpion is in the finishing moves when an enemy gets low in health. You initiate these moves by pressing C and then completing a series of motions and/or button presses. The spider has more mobility as it's faster, can jump, and eventually can shoot webs to reach places. The price of this mobility is that it can't take as many hits and must avoid attacks rather than block them.
The game is probably going to clock in around 10 hours based on how long each chapter is taking me. But, there's replayability with a higher difficulty and replaying missions to collect all the grubs. As you collect grubs you unlock artwork.
In the end, it's a worthy title that anyone who enjoys action titles and owns a Wii should play. And, I would love to see the concept revisited as a sandbox title. Climbing along the walls and ceiling to explore the giant world as the spider would be fantastic.
Hahahaha! Brilliant!
The controls for Deadly Creatures are pretty solid and make good use of the motion control. Both characters, the spider and scorpion, play a little differently. With both, the control stick is used for movement, A is used for a weak attack, and swinging the remote is a strong attack. The scorpion, which is the tank of the two, can guard against attacks. But, the real joy of the scorpion is in the finishing moves when an enemy gets low in health. You initiate these moves by pressing C and then completing a series of motions and/or button presses. The spider has more mobility as it's faster, can jump, and eventually can shoot webs to reach places. The price of this mobility is that it can't take as many hits and must avoid attacks rather than block them.
The game is probably going to clock in around 10 hours based on how long each chapter is taking me. But, there's replayability with a higher difficulty and replaying missions to collect all the grubs. As you collect grubs you unlock artwork.
In the end, it's a worthy title that anyone who enjoys action titles and owns a Wii should play. And, I would love to see the concept revisited as a sandbox title. Climbing along the walls and ceiling to explore the giant world as the spider would be fantastic.Hahahaha! Brilliant!
February 15, 2009
Bit.Trip Beat
It takes a minute before the video gets to any actual gameplay, but how can you not be excited for a game that is rhythm-based pong in all it's retro glory!? The game looks like a blast to play. joystiq.com has a great gameplay video that really shows off the game. I really like how the "boss" battle is breakout.
I only hope this game is successful as the developer has mentioned making other retro rhythm-based games.
January 28, 2009
Toxic Themed?
Looks like my page was going for a blue theme and then was hit with radioactive vomit. The dark green areas are simply contaminated and the bright green are toxic. Hopefully your mouse doesn't mutate and end up with two balls. Or for the optical mice, two laser-eyes. Trackball mice are freaks and any mutation can only be for the better.
Icky Thump
I realize this song's been out for a couple years, but I love the riff-tastic goodness of it. White Stripes' Icky Thump, NIN's Metal, Ozzy's Perry Mason, and Incubus' Megalomaniac are, for whatever reason, my music picks at the moment. Apparently, I'm all over the place musically the past week or so.
Well, this is mostly just an update of the track to play on my page. Sorry, no linky to a free download this time. But, I think the Hustle Simmons song is still available for download; if you like rap you should check it out.
Well, this is mostly just an update of the track to play on my page. Sorry, no linky to a free download this time. But, I think the Hustle Simmons song is still available for download; if you like rap you should check it out.
January 20, 2009
Auto-Play
While I understand people really, really, really want to share their music with others via the internet; I have to say that it's extremely annoying when music starts playing once the page finishes loading. It's even worse when the player is hidden (whether actually not on the page, or difficult to find), cannot be paused, the volume cannot be modified, and/or the player is so shoddy that pausing doesn't work.
And, it's not just that it's annoying. If I'm listening to music on my computer ( whether streaming online or playing local content), my music now has to compete with yours. And, if I'm singing at the top of my lungs then this can ruin the whole pretending to be a rock star experience.
But, the biggest reason I plead with you to stop is because when I'm done being a rock star I don't always turn the volume down. So, let me paint the setting. I'm sitting at my desk surfing the internet. The only noise is the low hum of the computer, an ocassional click of the mouse, and the rare zipping sound of the scroll wheel as it clicks 3-4 times in rapid succession. Then I go to your page and a cacophony of sound erupts from the speakers causing me to jump and scaring the piss out of me.
So, please, please, I beg you, let me keep my piss until I'm ready release it. Just turn off the auto-play. That way, when should I decide to visit your site I have the option to listen to your music. Not only that, but if you blog about how awesome the song is (instead of forcing me to hear the first 30 seconds before I find a way to stop it playing), I might actually feel like giving it a listen.
I know, I'm a jerk. But, c'mon, I can't be the only person who feels this way. Can I? (Feel free to tell me off in the comments.)
And completely off-topic, do you know how hard it is to go from double-spacing at the end of a sentence to single-spacing at the end of a sentence?
And, it's not just that it's annoying. If I'm listening to music on my computer ( whether streaming online or playing local content), my music now has to compete with yours. And, if I'm singing at the top of my lungs then this can ruin the whole pretending to be a rock star experience.
But, the biggest reason I plead with you to stop is because when I'm done being a rock star I don't always turn the volume down. So, let me paint the setting. I'm sitting at my desk surfing the internet. The only noise is the low hum of the computer, an ocassional click of the mouse, and the rare zipping sound of the scroll wheel as it clicks 3-4 times in rapid succession. Then I go to your page and a cacophony of sound erupts from the speakers causing me to jump and scaring the piss out of me.
So, please, please, I beg you, let me keep my piss until I'm ready release it. Just turn off the auto-play. That way, when should I decide to visit your site I have the option to listen to your music. Not only that, but if you blog about how awesome the song is (instead of forcing me to hear the first 30 seconds before I find a way to stop it playing), I might actually feel like giving it a listen.
I know, I'm a jerk. But, c'mon, I can't be the only person who feels this way. Can I? (Feel free to tell me off in the comments.)
And completely off-topic, do you know how hard it is to go from double-spacing at the end of a sentence to single-spacing at the end of a sentence?
Game Publishing
As a gamer, one thing that always sucks is hearing about an awesome game that can't find a publisher. You read the interviews and watch the videos and the game sounds awesome. But, because there's risk involved no publisher will touch it and the game becomes the dreaded vaporware.
The Idea
There needs to be a publisher that's funded by gamers. I know, you're saying that all publishers are funded by the gamers because the gamers by the games. This is true, but I'm thinking of a system where the gamer ponies up the doe before the game is completed.
Essentially, the gamers would be "shareholders" in the game. They would pay $10 for a "share" in the game plus $5 for S&H. For each share, the shareholder would receive a copy of the game once development was completed. One possible benefit of this would be additional sales could be split between shareholders as credits to invest in new games. This would allow the gamer to obtain discounted or possibly free games from good investments.
A Safe Bet
Gamers wouldn't simply be throwing their money blindly. If only 50 people were interested and willing to pay for the game, it'd suck for that money to disappear because not enough funding was obtained. Instead, the money would sit in a pool (sans a 10-15% publisher fee) until either enough money to develop the game was obtained or a specified amount of time elapsed. So, if the goal of $500,000 for development was reached, development would proceed. If 6 months went buy and not enough money was received, the gamers would either be refunded their money (sans the 10-15%) or allowed to invest in another project.
Funding the Publisher
I know the inability to refund 10-15% seems a bit harsh, but there has to be people working to ensure the developers are meeting deadlines. Someone needs to be working with the developers so that there's a game to play when all is said an done. There would be no greater crime than for you to put your money into this system and receive nothing in return because the developer doesn't have the game in a completed state. Think of it as someone ensuring there's a return on your investment.
There's always the possibility of a worst case scenario where the game is incomplete and all that can be provided is the latest build. In these situations, I think it'd be great if the gamer was able to receive a free copy of any completed game. Essentially, it'd be doing what was within the publisher's means to ensure the customer remained happy. Since this kind of system would require gamers constantly funding new games, it would be in the best interest to keep them as happy as possible.
The Hard Part
When you consider it'd take about 60,000 gamers interested and willing to "pre-order" a game to fund a $500,000 project (remember the 10-15% to the publisher) there's a definite question about whether enough funds would ever be obtained. When you consider even the online petitions are lucky to receive that number and they're free, it'd be pretty hard to get the first game off the ground.
Once the publisher had two or three games under their belt, I think it'd really start to gain momentum. There'd be proof that the games will be developed. The games would be extremely cheap for the gamer, but there is the risk that they wouldn't be good. And, the gamer would have a say in what games they want to see. I think it'd provide known developers with a means to develop the riskier projects.
The Idea
There needs to be a publisher that's funded by gamers. I know, you're saying that all publishers are funded by the gamers because the gamers by the games. This is true, but I'm thinking of a system where the gamer ponies up the doe before the game is completed.
Essentially, the gamers would be "shareholders" in the game. They would pay $10 for a "share" in the game plus $5 for S&H. For each share, the shareholder would receive a copy of the game once development was completed. One possible benefit of this would be additional sales could be split between shareholders as credits to invest in new games. This would allow the gamer to obtain discounted or possibly free games from good investments.
A Safe Bet
Gamers wouldn't simply be throwing their money blindly. If only 50 people were interested and willing to pay for the game, it'd suck for that money to disappear because not enough funding was obtained. Instead, the money would sit in a pool (sans a 10-15% publisher fee) until either enough money to develop the game was obtained or a specified amount of time elapsed. So, if the goal of $500,000 for development was reached, development would proceed. If 6 months went buy and not enough money was received, the gamers would either be refunded their money (sans the 10-15%) or allowed to invest in another project.
Funding the Publisher
I know the inability to refund 10-15% seems a bit harsh, but there has to be people working to ensure the developers are meeting deadlines. Someone needs to be working with the developers so that there's a game to play when all is said an done. There would be no greater crime than for you to put your money into this system and receive nothing in return because the developer doesn't have the game in a completed state. Think of it as someone ensuring there's a return on your investment.
There's always the possibility of a worst case scenario where the game is incomplete and all that can be provided is the latest build. In these situations, I think it'd be great if the gamer was able to receive a free copy of any completed game. Essentially, it'd be doing what was within the publisher's means to ensure the customer remained happy. Since this kind of system would require gamers constantly funding new games, it would be in the best interest to keep them as happy as possible.
The Hard Part
When you consider it'd take about 60,000 gamers interested and willing to "pre-order" a game to fund a $500,000 project (remember the 10-15% to the publisher) there's a definite question about whether enough funds would ever be obtained. When you consider even the online petitions are lucky to receive that number and they're free, it'd be pretty hard to get the first game off the ground.
Once the publisher had two or three games under their belt, I think it'd really start to gain momentum. There'd be proof that the games will be developed. The games would be extremely cheap for the gamer, but there is the risk that they wouldn't be good. And, the gamer would have a say in what games they want to see. I think it'd provide known developers with a means to develop the riskier projects.
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