As I was laying down last night, I couldn't decide when I wanted to wake up this morning. I knew that getting up at 12 would be too late, because I needed to freshen up my studies for today's midterm in sound design. Of course, 11 didn't sound too bad, but wasn't going to be a lot of sleep, as I usually prefer 8 hours to function right the next day. Neither of which really mattered, because I woke up at 10:30 this morning, sick as a damn dog.
I have felt ill all day. Not weak or anything serious, just really upset stomach, even for me. I didn't get the 8 hours of sleep I require either. Not a great start to my day!
-The Longest, Short Test Ever!!!
I had my exam first thing today. And I knew that I would get out early, which worked perfectly because I had to go to the park at 5 PM to meet my other professor for a field trip. I knew that if I could get the test done, get home, grab a small meal, and get down Spring St before traffic go too bad, I'd be ok.
Unfortunately that isn't how it ended up. My professor is possibly the longest winded individual I have ever met. When I got to class, there was a kid from his previous class still in the room, and he was sitting at my usual spot. So I acted like a nice guy and just sort of hovered until he finished doing his work. Well, he kept staying, and it went well into our class time, but my professor didn't seem to care. Then, when the kid was finally done, he turned to my professor and begun to strike a conversation with him. This went on for 20 or 25 minutes, and i started to get annoyed. I wanted to get the test over with and get out, not to mention my feet were starting to tire.
Finally, the kid leaves and I think we're going to start the test, but no. The man is also the easiest person to distract I've ever seen. Two guys in my class, who didn't know we were having a test today, managed to distract my professor for just under an hour of the class. First it was random questions about projects, then they got off on some tangent about movies, and finally it lead to one guy asking about black holes. It grew more and more obvious he was avoiding the damn test.
An hour and a half into the class, I finally get the damn test, and end up rushing over it. I find several tricky questions that do exactly what they are supposed to, and confused the hell out of me. My professor is like the really old, really weird guy who sits in a dark room all day, reading random books filled with vast knowledge of the world, and goes to work just so he can confuse people into picking the wrong answer, and then points and laughs at those people and tells them how awesome he is because he knows the real answer. Basically, he's Alex Trebek.
Where does SCAD get these guys?
-Are We There Yet?-
As I'm leaving the school, I text Richard to see if he was going to go to the park with me, like he has said on Monday. To my surprise, he responded rather quickly, but with the bad news that he was stuck at his parent's house. "No problem," I thought to myself. I called Matt to see what he was doing, and if nothing else, he could drop me off, so I wouldn't have to deal with finding a parking lot and paying out the ass for it. He says he's going to take a nap and then he'll let me know (they grow old, so fast).
Frustrated, and ready to stab myself in the eye, I turn to my one last hope. I call Adam and see if he wants to go, or if he'd drop me off. He asks me to wait until I got home and then he'd decide. I get home, he says he's hungry, and that we'd eat, and then he'd decide. Of course I agree to the plan, because I haven't eaten all day and I'm starved. We go out to eat, I get sick yet again, and Adam decides he's not going after all of it.
I rush back home, wake Matt's sorry ass up, and tell him to take me to the park. He slowly gets to his feet and gets dressed, we get all the way out to my car, and he realizes that he can just give me the cash to pay for a parking spot, just so he doesn't have to go. With a heavy heart and a headache the size of Texas, I take the money and proceed to drive myself to the damn park to meet with my professor.
By now, it's late, I'm sick to my stomach, there is a wreck that is holding up the already thick afternoon traffic, and I can't find a parking lot that costs less than $20. How awesome for me, considering I only have $15 on me. So I have to drive around the park in a giant, clusterfucked loop, to try and find a parking space. Finally I find one that is $10 and make my way inside. Turns out, there are two events going on in the park today, besides this little 6 person class meeting, so all the parking is jacked up and everything is busy as fuck.
I walk three blocks to the park, walk halfway across it to find the meeting spot, and finally come to half of my classmates who are standing around confused. Around 15 minutes pass before my professor comes walking up, just as confused. We all admit to it being too busy and not knowing about the two big events. My professor walks us around and talks about the plaques, memorials, and road signs that were put together for the park in 1996, and talks in depth about the layout and font used. This lasts for what seemed like forever, before he finally turned a corner, and revealed the meeting spot once more.
He looks at his watch and gasps, before letting us go and telling us to have an awesome early afternoon. I look down in surprise as well. It's only 6:05. I fought with my friends on driving me there, fought the traffic to get there, and then fought with idiot pedestrians to find a parking lot...just so I could walk around for about 45 minutes and talk about Helvetica. I was happy and pissed, all at once. At least I was free to go home and move on with my weekend, sweat soaked clothes and all.
-Is Yo Berfday!-
When I get home, I learn of plans to go out to eat. I don't like the plans, because I have food that needs to be cooked and I've already eaten out once today. But then I discover that it's Adam's birthday and that we're going out to celebrate. So of course I agree to it.
We went to a really nice BBQ place, got super stuffed, had lots of left overs, and managed to have a pretty good time. Adam unfortunately has to struggle with having fun and finishing his work that is due tomorrow afternoon. Either way, he's pulling another all nighter...on his birthday...poor guy...
-What Are We Going To Do? I Dunno-
When we get back from eating, I find myself exhausted, sleepy, and full of food. Naturally, all I really want to do is go into my room and unwind; maybe listen to music and photoshop some more. Matt and Richard are sitting around, asking everyone what they are going to do, which leads to us all making plans to do something together. I know how this game ends, I've seen it a hundred times before.
Instead of waiting for us to lose an hour of the evening, sitting around, shooting each other's ideas down, I jumped to the point and said "make a decision!" It worked, sort of. Richard and I wanted to watch Cyborg, a cheesy 1989 Jean Claude Van Damme movie that neither of us had ever seen, but bought on dvd cause it was super cheap. Matt of course hated the idea, and wanted to play Magic until our eyes bled (shocking, I know). I would have done that, but I wanted to watch this more.
To my surprise, Richard stood his ground, and put the movie in while Matt just shook his head and grumbled. Halfway through it, Matt ran off to bed (cause he's an old fart) and left me alone to rot in the mindless action left over from the late 80's. I love JCVD. He's my action man of choice, but this film was absolutely horrible. My brain felt so fucked after I saw this crazy film, all I could do was stumble into my room and suck my thumb.
Thankfully it's over and I can say I've seen it, but I will never waste my time watching it again. JCVD has made a massive assortment of movies in the past twenty years, some bad, some good, and I plan to watch all of them. I can only hope he doesn't have anything that can top this movie in outrageousness. I don't think my brain could handle it. At least I still have the original Street Fighter movie to make everything better, right?
~Jman
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Every Town, Has its Ups and Downs
I'm BACK!!!
I had this awesome idea the other day. There has been something missing in my life. It's something that everyone should have, but when there is too much can make you begin to hate it; routine. Starting tonight, and through the use of this awesome blog thingy, I am going to try my hardest to get more routine in my life.
To try and achieve this giant goal of mine, I am going to attempt to blog every night before bed. These blogs will be like journal entries, where I talk about things that happened to me through the day, and most likely go on long rants about nothing. We'll see if that doesn't keep this blog a little more active and introduce a little routine in my life.
Just a warning, before you get too involved in this idea of mine, remember that I get long winded when writing. You've been warned!
-Groceries-
I had one goal in mind when I woke up today. It wasn't something super important, nor was it something that was amazing cool, and it certainly wasn't something that lowers my current stress level. No. See, the one thing I had on my mind when I woke up this morning was food. Yup, it's that simple.
After finding Matt in his usual afternoon, passed out state, I knocked on Richard's door to see if he'd like to go with me to the grocery store. Turns out, he did. So after a few minutes of playing with the meanest, most adorable cat ever (Arnold), we loaded up into my car and went to Kroger.
Now usually this is a difficult process for me. I'm either short on cash, or can't find what I need, or I go at the worst time possible (ie: when I'm hungry). Most often, I end up with a small assortment of groceries that cost more than my spending limit which leaves me feeling like I might starve before the week is up. Fortunately today, everything went perfectly.
I went into the situation with a maximum spending limit of $50-60 and the knowledge that I would be moving in 10 days. So I tried to get what I wanted, but not too much extra stuff. Rich and I went through the store, talking to one another, and gradually picked up everything we needed. I actually ended up with quite a bit in my cart, and put a few things back. To my surprise and excitement, my giant load of groceries amounted to $45. I was under my limit and had an amount of food that I felt comfortable with to get me through the next 10 or so days. Not only that, but Rich and I got to spend some quality time together, which doesn't happen often at all.
-The Beast Awakens-
After I got back from buying groceries, I found Matt up and about, cooking himself lunch. He graciously offered me some, and I excitedly agreed to the deal. While the food cooked, Matt and I got into a somewhat deep discussion about our futures and our lives in general right now. It sort of depressed us both, but I feel like I might have helped Matt out with one of his problems. I certainly hope so.
During our wonderful meal, both of us remembered that Watchmen came out today. So of course we made a Best Buy run to see what all was on the special edition Bluray set. I went in knowing I didn't have the money for it, and Matt went in with the idea that he wasn't going to buy, but rather talk me into it. We both stood our ground for about 20 minutes, until finally we both gave up and left the store without the movie. I really wanted to buy it, but I know right now I can't afford to toss out $20 for a movie that I'll watch once and then put away for months.
-A Heartfelt Moment-
On the way home, I really started to reflect on the discussion I had earlier and the idea of having to possibly move further west to get a good job and the life I want. By the time I got home, I had managed to depress the fuck out of myself and drained all the energy I had for the remainder of the day. At some point I decided to do some random internet searching to get my mind off of everything, when my mom called.
As a mother often does, she knew instantly that something was wrong. For once, I just decided to blurt everything out to her and tell her like it is. She did her best to help me feel better, but before we could walk away satisfied, she turned the situation on it's head to make me feel bad about her life (furthering my overall depression).
That's how it usually goes in this situation. She turns any problem I have into a contest of lives and reminds me of how much hers sucks. At the end of the day, I realize that the stuff I do puts her in a bind, and that if I wasn't in Atlanta, she'd have a lot more money to spend. Hell, I'd have a lot more money to spend! But the one time she was making me feel a little better about having to possibly move away to the other side of the country, she slips right back into her usual stuff. It's so frustrating! UGH!
-Adobe Makes Everything Better-
After a long, unwanted conversation with my mom, I knew I was going to have to do something to make myself feel better. The one constant in my life that makes me content with life and even excited at times is Photoshop. So naturally that is what I did. I opened that bad boy up and spent a good portion of my evening making logos for Matt (part of what he had talked about this morning and helping him feel better).
It was incredibly satisfying. I came up with 11-12 different logos, and of those, Matt enjoyed 3. Which in the designing business is about the right percentage. From those 3, we worked on the logos further and got some really solid ideas to work from. Richard stepped in and gave some offhanded advice, which made me realize a few things. The three logos we had were solid designs, but none of them matched Matt and his profession. Matt agreed and added that all of the logos look like something for a graphics designer.
This lead to me try and design a forth logo, one that follows closer to Matt's profession. It was honestly the hardest thing I've had to do in Photoshop in a long time. I didn't know it, but I'm graphically intensive in everything I do. I can't settle for simple and clean. I don't know how much of that is my instinct and style, and how much of it is the teachings that SCAD has given to me as a Game Designer. Learning things about yourself is the ultimate way to grow and become better at what you do. That makes me ultimately grateful for this experience.
We ended up with a forth logo that has potential (even if I hate how simple and easy it was). Here are the four logos we designed, with the last one having two variations:
-OMG!!! HE'S HUGE!!! AHHHH!!!-
Oh Richard, the excitement that you get from watching wrestling makes it ten times better than it actually is.
After the logo-fest (and dinner), Richard, Matt, and I sat down for our new favorite event of the week: ECW. That's right, I said it. ECW over the last three weeks has single handedly become the best wrestling show WWE puts out. Smackdown is still amazing, and I love the wrestling that is happening on Friday nights. But the superstars that they are introducing and beginning to build on ECW are jaw dropping.
If it's one thing that is obvious on Monday nights, it's that WWE is in serious trouble for Superstars right now. Sure, there are plenty of guys who can step into the spotlight for a little bit (hi Kane!), but there is a serious lack of top tier guys in the company right now. Randy Orton, whether you hate him or not, is the only wrestler in the last five years who has managed to fight his way to the top and make himself seem like a legitimate Superstar. Triple H has been at the top of the game since the late 90s, and John Cena has been shoved down our throats by Vince McMahon so that he can sell his merchandise and get parents to let their kids watch wrestling again. That's it. Those are the "top" wrestlers that RAW has to offer right now. That's just sad.
So what does WWE do? They bring in a bunch of new guys, throw them at the audience in a motley assortment of ways, and see which ones stick. To my surprise, there are several new guys who I could see going to the top very quickly. Best of all, they appear to be great heels, which the company really needs right now. It's excited to watch these guys week after week, to witness their growth and see them rise to the top. The young guys on Raw and Smackdown have been putting on some amazing matches and showing a style of wrestling I haven't seen in over a decade.
There are some amazing times ahead for WWE, but they have to be careful and push these new guys right. If they can manage to stay uninjured and drug free, wrestling is going to makes it glorious return in a few short years. Personally, I can't wait!
-The Interwebs, it's the Future!-
I finally started a project tonight that I've been wanting to work on for several weeks now. My portfolio turned out really sleek and was something I was proud to say was mine. However, like everything I do, it turned out a bit complicated. To remedy this, I've been plotting a second portfolio site that is a lot simpler and something I can show to future employers that they will immediately get.
More than likely I will have a splash page that lets you choose which design you want to view. That, or I will use the old portfolio site as a "look what I can do!" display of awesomeness. Essentially, making the old portfolio site, a portfolio piece, for the new portfolio site. Get all that?
I'm really excited about designing a new site. It truly is my one passion in life. Games, comics, wrestling, drawing...it's all fun and I couldn't live without those things, but when I'm sitting at a computer, with photoshop open, some music playing, a nice cold beverage in my hand, and I'm working on a layout...it's just feels right for some stupid reason.
I'll be keeping you posted on the new portfolio. Eventually this blog will be attached to it, for all the world to see. YAY ME!
~Jman
I had this awesome idea the other day. There has been something missing in my life. It's something that everyone should have, but when there is too much can make you begin to hate it; routine. Starting tonight, and through the use of this awesome blog thingy, I am going to try my hardest to get more routine in my life.
To try and achieve this giant goal of mine, I am going to attempt to blog every night before bed. These blogs will be like journal entries, where I talk about things that happened to me through the day, and most likely go on long rants about nothing. We'll see if that doesn't keep this blog a little more active and introduce a little routine in my life.
Just a warning, before you get too involved in this idea of mine, remember that I get long winded when writing. You've been warned!
-Groceries-
I had one goal in mind when I woke up today. It wasn't something super important, nor was it something that was amazing cool, and it certainly wasn't something that lowers my current stress level. No. See, the one thing I had on my mind when I woke up this morning was food. Yup, it's that simple.
After finding Matt in his usual afternoon, passed out state, I knocked on Richard's door to see if he'd like to go with me to the grocery store. Turns out, he did. So after a few minutes of playing with the meanest, most adorable cat ever (Arnold), we loaded up into my car and went to Kroger.
Now usually this is a difficult process for me. I'm either short on cash, or can't find what I need, or I go at the worst time possible (ie: when I'm hungry). Most often, I end up with a small assortment of groceries that cost more than my spending limit which leaves me feeling like I might starve before the week is up. Fortunately today, everything went perfectly.
I went into the situation with a maximum spending limit of $50-60 and the knowledge that I would be moving in 10 days. So I tried to get what I wanted, but not too much extra stuff. Rich and I went through the store, talking to one another, and gradually picked up everything we needed. I actually ended up with quite a bit in my cart, and put a few things back. To my surprise and excitement, my giant load of groceries amounted to $45. I was under my limit and had an amount of food that I felt comfortable with to get me through the next 10 or so days. Not only that, but Rich and I got to spend some quality time together, which doesn't happen often at all.
-The Beast Awakens-
After I got back from buying groceries, I found Matt up and about, cooking himself lunch. He graciously offered me some, and I excitedly agreed to the deal. While the food cooked, Matt and I got into a somewhat deep discussion about our futures and our lives in general right now. It sort of depressed us both, but I feel like I might have helped Matt out with one of his problems. I certainly hope so.
During our wonderful meal, both of us remembered that Watchmen came out today. So of course we made a Best Buy run to see what all was on the special edition Bluray set. I went in knowing I didn't have the money for it, and Matt went in with the idea that he wasn't going to buy, but rather talk me into it. We both stood our ground for about 20 minutes, until finally we both gave up and left the store without the movie. I really wanted to buy it, but I know right now I can't afford to toss out $20 for a movie that I'll watch once and then put away for months.
-A Heartfelt Moment-
On the way home, I really started to reflect on the discussion I had earlier and the idea of having to possibly move further west to get a good job and the life I want. By the time I got home, I had managed to depress the fuck out of myself and drained all the energy I had for the remainder of the day. At some point I decided to do some random internet searching to get my mind off of everything, when my mom called.
As a mother often does, she knew instantly that something was wrong. For once, I just decided to blurt everything out to her and tell her like it is. She did her best to help me feel better, but before we could walk away satisfied, she turned the situation on it's head to make me feel bad about her life (furthering my overall depression).
That's how it usually goes in this situation. She turns any problem I have into a contest of lives and reminds me of how much hers sucks. At the end of the day, I realize that the stuff I do puts her in a bind, and that if I wasn't in Atlanta, she'd have a lot more money to spend. Hell, I'd have a lot more money to spend! But the one time she was making me feel a little better about having to possibly move away to the other side of the country, she slips right back into her usual stuff. It's so frustrating! UGH!
-Adobe Makes Everything Better-
After a long, unwanted conversation with my mom, I knew I was going to have to do something to make myself feel better. The one constant in my life that makes me content with life and even excited at times is Photoshop. So naturally that is what I did. I opened that bad boy up and spent a good portion of my evening making logos for Matt (part of what he had talked about this morning and helping him feel better).
It was incredibly satisfying. I came up with 11-12 different logos, and of those, Matt enjoyed 3. Which in the designing business is about the right percentage. From those 3, we worked on the logos further and got some really solid ideas to work from. Richard stepped in and gave some offhanded advice, which made me realize a few things. The three logos we had were solid designs, but none of them matched Matt and his profession. Matt agreed and added that all of the logos look like something for a graphics designer.
This lead to me try and design a forth logo, one that follows closer to Matt's profession. It was honestly the hardest thing I've had to do in Photoshop in a long time. I didn't know it, but I'm graphically intensive in everything I do. I can't settle for simple and clean. I don't know how much of that is my instinct and style, and how much of it is the teachings that SCAD has given to me as a Game Designer. Learning things about yourself is the ultimate way to grow and become better at what you do. That makes me ultimately grateful for this experience.
We ended up with a forth logo that has potential (even if I hate how simple and easy it was). Here are the four logos we designed, with the last one having two variations:
-OMG!!! HE'S HUGE!!! AHHHH!!!-
Oh Richard, the excitement that you get from watching wrestling makes it ten times better than it actually is.
After the logo-fest (and dinner), Richard, Matt, and I sat down for our new favorite event of the week: ECW. That's right, I said it. ECW over the last three weeks has single handedly become the best wrestling show WWE puts out. Smackdown is still amazing, and I love the wrestling that is happening on Friday nights. But the superstars that they are introducing and beginning to build on ECW are jaw dropping.
If it's one thing that is obvious on Monday nights, it's that WWE is in serious trouble for Superstars right now. Sure, there are plenty of guys who can step into the spotlight for a little bit (hi Kane!), but there is a serious lack of top tier guys in the company right now. Randy Orton, whether you hate him or not, is the only wrestler in the last five years who has managed to fight his way to the top and make himself seem like a legitimate Superstar. Triple H has been at the top of the game since the late 90s, and John Cena has been shoved down our throats by Vince McMahon so that he can sell his merchandise and get parents to let their kids watch wrestling again. That's it. Those are the "top" wrestlers that RAW has to offer right now. That's just sad.
So what does WWE do? They bring in a bunch of new guys, throw them at the audience in a motley assortment of ways, and see which ones stick. To my surprise, there are several new guys who I could see going to the top very quickly. Best of all, they appear to be great heels, which the company really needs right now. It's excited to watch these guys week after week, to witness their growth and see them rise to the top. The young guys on Raw and Smackdown have been putting on some amazing matches and showing a style of wrestling I haven't seen in over a decade.
There are some amazing times ahead for WWE, but they have to be careful and push these new guys right. If they can manage to stay uninjured and drug free, wrestling is going to makes it glorious return in a few short years. Personally, I can't wait!
-The Interwebs, it's the Future!-
I finally started a project tonight that I've been wanting to work on for several weeks now. My portfolio turned out really sleek and was something I was proud to say was mine. However, like everything I do, it turned out a bit complicated. To remedy this, I've been plotting a second portfolio site that is a lot simpler and something I can show to future employers that they will immediately get.
More than likely I will have a splash page that lets you choose which design you want to view. That, or I will use the old portfolio site as a "look what I can do!" display of awesomeness. Essentially, making the old portfolio site, a portfolio piece, for the new portfolio site. Get all that?
I'm really excited about designing a new site. It truly is my one passion in life. Games, comics, wrestling, drawing...it's all fun and I couldn't live without those things, but when I'm sitting at a computer, with photoshop open, some music playing, a nice cold beverage in my hand, and I'm working on a layout...it's just feels right for some stupid reason.
I'll be keeping you posted on the new portfolio. Eventually this blog will be attached to it, for all the world to see. YAY ME!
~Jman
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Where Do The Days Go?
So instead of a day or two passing, I let an entire week of my life fly by without blogging. It's one thing to forget that you have a blog, but like my last post mentioned, I had an incredibly busy week.
My mom was here from Saturday morning until late Wednesday. We had some pretty rough spots early in the week on Monday, but things got a little better on Tuesday. By the time she left, mom was in a much better mood. We didn't get anything we set out to accomplish done, but I have applied for an apartment. Now we just wait for the results, which I can only assume will be good.
Then I worked Thursday and Friday, while playing inFamous as much as humanly possible in between. I spent Saturday and Sunday in bed almost all day, just because I've been staying up super late for some reason. Maybe my body is rebelling against the idea of getting up retardedly early and going to work five out of seven days a week. Hopefully this doesn't persist for very long, I don't know how long I can go without getting burned out.
In the middle of all of this was the greatest time of the year for gamers, E3. I know I'm biased, and I know that a lot of the bigger things were leaked a week or earlier, but I really felt like Sony kicked some ass this year.
Microsoft came out of the gate with some decent looking games, a non-solid snake starring Metal Gear Solid that isn't exclusive, and the announcement of a motion control system that is still in production. No date, no real games. They did have a video of a virtual boy "interacting" with a young woman that seemed a little too practiced. Don't even get me started on the horrible "look at the bottom of my sneakers" goof that they had or the crappy painting program they came up with.
Nintendo did decent, but left me wanting more. They had some great first party games, as per usual. New Metroid done by Team Ninja? Mario Galaxy 2? Yes please! Even Wii Resort looks nice! I just wanted them to come out with some giant surprise that knocked everyone out of their seats, and it never came. Very little third party support, nothing for the hardcore gamer, and a lack of major announcements.
Sony blasted the roof off E3 from the get-go. They started by showing off a live gameplay of Uncharted 2, which looks simply amazing! They followed that up with a live play through of MAG, which everyone scoffed at last year, for seeming impossible and uninteresting. As a non-FPS player, I have to say I was very impressed. They did a full 256 player demo, with everyone on screen playing in real time. No pre-rendered videos in site. This was all live, and it was incredibly impressive. Then, out of nowhere, the guys who made Little Big Planet came out and showed off their newest idea. A do-it-yourself Mario Kart style game, where everything from characters, cars, and even tracks are fully customizable. It looks like another solid hit franchise for PS3 and I can't wait to see more from it.
Then Sony announced the already leaked PSP go! and it is even sexier than I had originally thought (especially in white!). The only let down was the price, which a lot of people feel could have been cheaper. I have to agree. There was a barrage of PSP and PS3 games on show. They had videos for both systems and were chock full of awesome games that I find myself wanting to play. After all that was done with, Sony brought out their own motion control system. At first I was embarrassed, because they were just coping Microsoft from the prior day's conference. But then they brought the guys on-stage and started showing off the software. Everything that Sony showed was live on stage. There wasn't a single video used to show off what their system was capable of. I was impressed.
Where Microsoft's Natal was used to make a crappy, bitmap paint style drawing, Sony's motion control system was capable of writing a name in real time, with incredible accuracy and ease. Instead of the rehearsed videos of a digital boy interacting with a bad actress, Sony showed a series of awesome possibilities on stage for everyone to witness in real time. It was incredible how much better Sony came off to me. They even took Nintendo's bow and arrow demo and made it work a lot better. Yet all the talk of the town since E3 has been the damn Project Natal from Microsoft. What kind of fucked up world do we live in?
Sony shows a highly accurate motion control system that is capable of doing everything the competition tries to do, but better and Microsoft's little digital boy gets all the press? Face and voice recognition is cool and all that, but if the games played using the technology is shit, then who is going to care past the initial "Hello John" moment? I'm just saying.
Anyway, I've gone on enough. I'll have more later because I have a lot more to talk about, but don't want to drag this post out more than it has.
Until next time.
~Jman
My mom was here from Saturday morning until late Wednesday. We had some pretty rough spots early in the week on Monday, but things got a little better on Tuesday. By the time she left, mom was in a much better mood. We didn't get anything we set out to accomplish done, but I have applied for an apartment. Now we just wait for the results, which I can only assume will be good.
Then I worked Thursday and Friday, while playing inFamous as much as humanly possible in between. I spent Saturday and Sunday in bed almost all day, just because I've been staying up super late for some reason. Maybe my body is rebelling against the idea of getting up retardedly early and going to work five out of seven days a week. Hopefully this doesn't persist for very long, I don't know how long I can go without getting burned out.
In the middle of all of this was the greatest time of the year for gamers, E3. I know I'm biased, and I know that a lot of the bigger things were leaked a week or earlier, but I really felt like Sony kicked some ass this year.
Microsoft came out of the gate with some decent looking games, a non-solid snake starring Metal Gear Solid that isn't exclusive, and the announcement of a motion control system that is still in production. No date, no real games. They did have a video of a virtual boy "interacting" with a young woman that seemed a little too practiced. Don't even get me started on the horrible "look at the bottom of my sneakers" goof that they had or the crappy painting program they came up with.
Nintendo did decent, but left me wanting more. They had some great first party games, as per usual. New Metroid done by Team Ninja? Mario Galaxy 2? Yes please! Even Wii Resort looks nice! I just wanted them to come out with some giant surprise that knocked everyone out of their seats, and it never came. Very little third party support, nothing for the hardcore gamer, and a lack of major announcements.
Sony blasted the roof off E3 from the get-go. They started by showing off a live gameplay of Uncharted 2, which looks simply amazing! They followed that up with a live play through of MAG, which everyone scoffed at last year, for seeming impossible and uninteresting. As a non-FPS player, I have to say I was very impressed. They did a full 256 player demo, with everyone on screen playing in real time. No pre-rendered videos in site. This was all live, and it was incredibly impressive. Then, out of nowhere, the guys who made Little Big Planet came out and showed off their newest idea. A do-it-yourself Mario Kart style game, where everything from characters, cars, and even tracks are fully customizable. It looks like another solid hit franchise for PS3 and I can't wait to see more from it.
Then Sony announced the already leaked PSP go! and it is even sexier than I had originally thought (especially in white!). The only let down was the price, which a lot of people feel could have been cheaper. I have to agree. There was a barrage of PSP and PS3 games on show. They had videos for both systems and were chock full of awesome games that I find myself wanting to play. After all that was done with, Sony brought out their own motion control system. At first I was embarrassed, because they were just coping Microsoft from the prior day's conference. But then they brought the guys on-stage and started showing off the software. Everything that Sony showed was live on stage. There wasn't a single video used to show off what their system was capable of. I was impressed.
Where Microsoft's Natal was used to make a crappy, bitmap paint style drawing, Sony's motion control system was capable of writing a name in real time, with incredible accuracy and ease. Instead of the rehearsed videos of a digital boy interacting with a bad actress, Sony showed a series of awesome possibilities on stage for everyone to witness in real time. It was incredible how much better Sony came off to me. They even took Nintendo's bow and arrow demo and made it work a lot better. Yet all the talk of the town since E3 has been the damn Project Natal from Microsoft. What kind of fucked up world do we live in?
Sony shows a highly accurate motion control system that is capable of doing everything the competition tries to do, but better and Microsoft's little digital boy gets all the press? Face and voice recognition is cool and all that, but if the games played using the technology is shit, then who is going to care past the initial "Hello John" moment? I'm just saying.
Anyway, I've gone on enough. I'll have more later because I have a lot more to talk about, but don't want to drag this post out more than it has.
Until next time.
~Jman
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Schools Out, Now So Am I
It's been a long day, all 24+ hours of it, but I'm finally done with this quarter. My final project for Studio II didn't turn out exactly as I had hoped it would. Richard left me somewhat stranded as my fears had predicted, but I bounced back with plan B and managed to get enough done to satiate my professor's needs. That is, despite my horrible run in with technology and printing.
My printer was running low on black ink (shocked, I know), and so I had to venture to Target when it opened this morning at 9 to purchase the ink required to print out my final. Got home, put the new cartridge in, set the printer to grayscale and began to print my work. Minutes later, out comes 32 pages of purple text and images. "WTF!?" you ask? That's what I said. So I tamper with the settings and finally give in and set everything to best quality (read: snail speed printing). This time, I get black on the first few pages...then dark green...then bright green...then LIME GREEN!!! Again, I look at the paper in disbelief and ask myself "WTF?"
Taking this little adventure to it's next logical conclusion, I yank out the colored ink and proceed to print out my project. Except, now the printer is mad at me for ruining it's fun and requests that I put in a proper working color ink cartridge. Guess what? I don't have one! APPARENTLY my printer requires colored ink to make a grayscaled print on paper. Go figure... So I went to class with a mixed bag of black, purple, and green pages from my project and managed to get my professor to laugh at my pain. Hopefully he understands enough to give me a B.
However, I more than made up for all this crazy technology trouble with my Portfolio. So in all it wasn't a bad quarter for me. The work wasn't terrible, at least not until the end, but that's always expected. No matter how ahead you are, no matter how confident you are that you can whip out the rest in forty-eight hours, there is always something that you will forget and have to make a mad dash to finish. This inevitably leads to a lack of sleep and membership to the dark circles club that all SCAD students join at the end of the quarter. Let me tell you, a more interesting and exciting set of presentations there is not! So full of life on the last day of class!
So now I can finally rest and enjoy the three weeks I have off, right? WRONG!
I have rehearsal tomorrow afternoon, then graduation Saturday morning where my whole family is coming up for 4 days, not to mention the usual distractions from normal life. I'd imagine about the time my family leaves, my boss will be calling me into work next week and I won't get any R&R until next weekend at the earliest. As is my life. I deal. I move on.
On a sad note, John is only going to be around for another week or so. He's hanging around to take care of Richard's new kitten, Arnold, while Dick and Jacob go to Italy for a cool contest thingy they won. Then next week he is going to start moving his stuff out. I sad. I'm going to miss the little guy and his random late night cravings for a snack. I hope we get to do something meaningful and cool before he goes home for good.
In gaming news, Issue 15 is on test server, and thus far it's...lacking. It's to be expected, so I can't complain. It's just frustrating to think about the long wait between this little update and the Going Rogue expansion which looks to kick some serious ass. Hopefully the Devs reveal a little something else about it to keep our appetites whet. I'll be around either way, enjoying my time with the BFF and our SG.
I have inFamous sitting on my desk, starring at me, taunting me to play it, but I have so much stuff to do over the next few weeks, I know I won't get the chance to start it. Something to do on my big break next weekend no doubt. I still have that and two RPGs to play. So many new games not getting the love. I've failed as a gamer. I have to remedy that over the break, I have to!
Luckily, there are only two hours left before the gang goes out to its quarterly "yay, school is over again!" dinner. Long Horn, Vortex, or the Highlander? Choices, choices. All of it sounds good to me. I honestly just love hanging with the guys for a nice evening of food together, talking about the last quarter, and our futures. We've grown so much over the last two years. It's funny to think about the first dinner we all had together and which faces have come and gone. College really is the best years of your life.
Get some rest guys, I know I will...eventually!
~Jman
My printer was running low on black ink (shocked, I know), and so I had to venture to Target when it opened this morning at 9 to purchase the ink required to print out my final. Got home, put the new cartridge in, set the printer to grayscale and began to print my work. Minutes later, out comes 32 pages of purple text and images. "WTF!?" you ask? That's what I said. So I tamper with the settings and finally give in and set everything to best quality (read: snail speed printing). This time, I get black on the first few pages...then dark green...then bright green...then LIME GREEN!!! Again, I look at the paper in disbelief and ask myself "WTF?"
Taking this little adventure to it's next logical conclusion, I yank out the colored ink and proceed to print out my project. Except, now the printer is mad at me for ruining it's fun and requests that I put in a proper working color ink cartridge. Guess what? I don't have one! APPARENTLY my printer requires colored ink to make a grayscaled print on paper. Go figure... So I went to class with a mixed bag of black, purple, and green pages from my project and managed to get my professor to laugh at my pain. Hopefully he understands enough to give me a B.
However, I more than made up for all this crazy technology trouble with my Portfolio. So in all it wasn't a bad quarter for me. The work wasn't terrible, at least not until the end, but that's always expected. No matter how ahead you are, no matter how confident you are that you can whip out the rest in forty-eight hours, there is always something that you will forget and have to make a mad dash to finish. This inevitably leads to a lack of sleep and membership to the dark circles club that all SCAD students join at the end of the quarter. Let me tell you, a more interesting and exciting set of presentations there is not! So full of life on the last day of class!
So now I can finally rest and enjoy the three weeks I have off, right? WRONG!
I have rehearsal tomorrow afternoon, then graduation Saturday morning where my whole family is coming up for 4 days, not to mention the usual distractions from normal life. I'd imagine about the time my family leaves, my boss will be calling me into work next week and I won't get any R&R until next weekend at the earliest. As is my life. I deal. I move on.
On a sad note, John is only going to be around for another week or so. He's hanging around to take care of Richard's new kitten, Arnold, while Dick and Jacob go to Italy for a cool contest thingy they won. Then next week he is going to start moving his stuff out. I sad. I'm going to miss the little guy and his random late night cravings for a snack. I hope we get to do something meaningful and cool before he goes home for good.
In gaming news, Issue 15 is on test server, and thus far it's...lacking. It's to be expected, so I can't complain. It's just frustrating to think about the long wait between this little update and the Going Rogue expansion which looks to kick some serious ass. Hopefully the Devs reveal a little something else about it to keep our appetites whet. I'll be around either way, enjoying my time with the BFF and our SG.
I have inFamous sitting on my desk, starring at me, taunting me to play it, but I have so much stuff to do over the next few weeks, I know I won't get the chance to start it. Something to do on my big break next weekend no doubt. I still have that and two RPGs to play. So many new games not getting the love. I've failed as a gamer. I have to remedy that over the break, I have to!
Luckily, there are only two hours left before the gang goes out to its quarterly "yay, school is over again!" dinner. Long Horn, Vortex, or the Highlander? Choices, choices. All of it sounds good to me. I honestly just love hanging with the guys for a nice evening of food together, talking about the last quarter, and our futures. We've grown so much over the last two years. It's funny to think about the first dinner we all had together and which faces have come and gone. College really is the best years of your life.
Get some rest guys, I know I will...eventually!
~Jman
Monday, May 25, 2009
Man I Suck...
Actually, before I go to bed...
"But Jman," you ask, "More blogging? Really? You leave for over a year and now you're posting two in a row. Weren't you going to bed or something?
I know, I know. I get started blogging and I post in twos, then magically forget about it for an entire year. *sigh*
Anyway, I was reading back over all my old posts, and I realized just how off I really am. Just about everything I posted that was an opinion on here thus far has been completely the opposite of what happened. How sad is that?
Soul Calibur IV ended up being an amazing game and the characters were super fun to play with. The opposing characters were later released on each system, but for a hefty price of $5.
HD-DVD did die, and Microsoft continues to look stupid as they refuse to comment on a possible Blu-ray player for the 360, but it hasn't helped PS3 or Sony one damn bit. The awesome games have all come out and the system continues to put out some amazing exclusives, but people just aren't ready to spend $400 on a console yet. I can understand, but they really don't know what they are missing. I love my PS3.
I was rooting for Champions Online!? REALLY!?
I should have been shot. At any given time, when I think of that damn game and it's horrid creator, I find myself thinking of how crappy it is and how it's going to fail. I can't understand why I would have ever thought otherwise. Having some friends who dared to actually beta test the thing only furthers my proof that it does, and will suck. Custom powers or not, the game isn't fun. City of Heroes just celebrated it's five year anniversary and I stand by it stronger today than I ever have. The game simply rocks my socks. Why? I don't think I'll ever be able to say for sure, but I don't really care either. It is what it is.
At least there is one good constant in my life. The BFF is still super awesome. Sean continues to be the one reliable source of happiness in my life. Not to say I'm depressed or have some horrid death wish. I just lack the ability to express emotions, and he is the only person I know who can really evoke them. I may smile or giggle throughout the day, but I genuinely laugh whenever I talk with him. He may have his issues every now and then, but the dude really is made of pure awesome sauce.
Anyway, enough of my banter. I just wanted to let everyone know just how wrong I am. As if you didn't already know...
~Jman
"But Jman," you ask, "More blogging? Really? You leave for over a year and now you're posting two in a row. Weren't you going to bed or something?
I know, I know. I get started blogging and I post in twos, then magically forget about it for an entire year. *sigh*
Anyway, I was reading back over all my old posts, and I realized just how off I really am. Just about everything I posted that was an opinion on here thus far has been completely the opposite of what happened. How sad is that?
Soul Calibur IV ended up being an amazing game and the characters were super fun to play with. The opposing characters were later released on each system, but for a hefty price of $5.
HD-DVD did die, and Microsoft continues to look stupid as they refuse to comment on a possible Blu-ray player for the 360, but it hasn't helped PS3 or Sony one damn bit. The awesome games have all come out and the system continues to put out some amazing exclusives, but people just aren't ready to spend $400 on a console yet. I can understand, but they really don't know what they are missing. I love my PS3.
I was rooting for Champions Online!? REALLY!?
I should have been shot. At any given time, when I think of that damn game and it's horrid creator, I find myself thinking of how crappy it is and how it's going to fail. I can't understand why I would have ever thought otherwise. Having some friends who dared to actually beta test the thing only furthers my proof that it does, and will suck. Custom powers or not, the game isn't fun. City of Heroes just celebrated it's five year anniversary and I stand by it stronger today than I ever have. The game simply rocks my socks. Why? I don't think I'll ever be able to say for sure, but I don't really care either. It is what it is.
At least there is one good constant in my life. The BFF is still super awesome. Sean continues to be the one reliable source of happiness in my life. Not to say I'm depressed or have some horrid death wish. I just lack the ability to express emotions, and he is the only person I know who can really evoke them. I may smile or giggle throughout the day, but I genuinely laugh whenever I talk with him. He may have his issues every now and then, but the dude really is made of pure awesome sauce.
Anyway, enough of my banter. I just wanted to let everyone know just how wrong I am. As if you didn't already know...
~Jman
Third Time's The Charm
Or so "they" say.
Whoever "they" are...
I never honestly thought that I'd be this close to graduating college. It isn't like I expected a mysterious death or some sudden end of the world to come and rescue me. I just never perceived it happening, so far ahead in my life. Now it's here, and I find myself questioning what to do next.
Don't worry, I'm not going to get started on that whole speech. I realize that I am more fortunate than most of the others I will be walking across the stage with. Who wouldn't love working for a gaming company before you even graduate? I just have to hope that it holds up for a year or so until I can get something better. And by better I mean more my style, because what I do isn't a bad job, it just isn't in my field of interest.
If I survive the final night, I will be left with only two hurdles this year. First off, I have to actually pass all three of my classes this summer and get the official diploma(all while working!). Then if I manage to crawl past that hurdle, I have to worry about moving. It's weird because all I've been able to think about for the last six months is getting out of the crazy, party ridden apartment full of roommates and finding a place of my own. It took me loosing my computer for two months to realize that they aren't really that bad. Annoying at times, and definitely too messy to live with, they are pretty cool guys.
Jacob is a bit goofy, and does some silly things from time to time, but he has been legitimately funny as of late. Part of it are the jokes he makes, but a good 50% of the hilarity comes from the shock that it came from his lips. Now if he could just learn to be a cleaner cook.
Adam can be an awesome friend when he wants to be. It's so crazy how we can connect and think on the same wavelength at times, only for it to be siphoned from him and turned into...something else. Everyone knows why the change occurs, even him. It can't be helped, and we've all learned to live with it.
John is actually the perfect roommate. He cleans up after himself, he's quiet, he isn't ever around on the weekends, and he likes Street Fighter! It's a shame he is so interested in moving back home.
Speaking of Street Fighter IV, my love/hate relationship with this game is beginning to get to me. When I first got the game, I was pretty damn happy with it. Then I sort of fell out of love with it when Sean stopped playing me and my roommates thought it'd be a good idea to beat it with everyone without me. Then when I began playing online, I found a whole new level of love and appreciation for the game. It was fun, challenging, and a whole new experience for me.
Then all the twelve year olds learned how to throw a fireball and suddenly thought they were the end-all-be-all fighting champion. Without rhyme or reason, these idiot kids starting hopping online, talking some big shit, and winning tons of matches by throwing fireballs all day. It not only infuriates me that they lack real skill, but the fact that they are getting better ratings than I am is just ridiculous. How is something like that even fair?
If it isn't these little lucky bastards, it's some asshole who has no life outside of playing Xbox and Playstation online all day. These jerkoffs spend countless hours practicing their 10 hit combos and unblockable tech moves so that they can win matches in five seconds and fell like something special for once. It's so damn annoying when all I want to do is sit down and enjoy a challenging, but fun fight with some people online. I'm looking for a friendly, honorable confrontation, and all I've been able to find in the last two weeks are these two groups of people. What sucks the most is that I'm back to not wanting to play anymore, and I was just beginning to get good. What do you do?
It's late. I think I've talked enough.
Hopefully I can keep blogging this time. I so want to get into this little hobby...
~Jman
Whoever "they" are...
I never honestly thought that I'd be this close to graduating college. It isn't like I expected a mysterious death or some sudden end of the world to come and rescue me. I just never perceived it happening, so far ahead in my life. Now it's here, and I find myself questioning what to do next.
Don't worry, I'm not going to get started on that whole speech. I realize that I am more fortunate than most of the others I will be walking across the stage with. Who wouldn't love working for a gaming company before you even graduate? I just have to hope that it holds up for a year or so until I can get something better. And by better I mean more my style, because what I do isn't a bad job, it just isn't in my field of interest.
If I survive the final night, I will be left with only two hurdles this year. First off, I have to actually pass all three of my classes this summer and get the official diploma(all while working!). Then if I manage to crawl past that hurdle, I have to worry about moving. It's weird because all I've been able to think about for the last six months is getting out of the crazy, party ridden apartment full of roommates and finding a place of my own. It took me loosing my computer for two months to realize that they aren't really that bad. Annoying at times, and definitely too messy to live with, they are pretty cool guys.
Jacob is a bit goofy, and does some silly things from time to time, but he has been legitimately funny as of late. Part of it are the jokes he makes, but a good 50% of the hilarity comes from the shock that it came from his lips. Now if he could just learn to be a cleaner cook.
Adam can be an awesome friend when he wants to be. It's so crazy how we can connect and think on the same wavelength at times, only for it to be siphoned from him and turned into...something else. Everyone knows why the change occurs, even him. It can't be helped, and we've all learned to live with it.
John is actually the perfect roommate. He cleans up after himself, he's quiet, he isn't ever around on the weekends, and he likes Street Fighter! It's a shame he is so interested in moving back home.
Speaking of Street Fighter IV, my love/hate relationship with this game is beginning to get to me. When I first got the game, I was pretty damn happy with it. Then I sort of fell out of love with it when Sean stopped playing me and my roommates thought it'd be a good idea to beat it with everyone without me. Then when I began playing online, I found a whole new level of love and appreciation for the game. It was fun, challenging, and a whole new experience for me.
Then all the twelve year olds learned how to throw a fireball and suddenly thought they were the end-all-be-all fighting champion. Without rhyme or reason, these idiot kids starting hopping online, talking some big shit, and winning tons of matches by throwing fireballs all day. It not only infuriates me that they lack real skill, but the fact that they are getting better ratings than I am is just ridiculous. How is something like that even fair?
If it isn't these little lucky bastards, it's some asshole who has no life outside of playing Xbox and Playstation online all day. These jerkoffs spend countless hours practicing their 10 hit combos and unblockable tech moves so that they can win matches in five seconds and fell like something special for once. It's so damn annoying when all I want to do is sit down and enjoy a challenging, but fun fight with some people online. I'm looking for a friendly, honorable confrontation, and all I've been able to find in the last two weeks are these two groups of people. What sucks the most is that I'm back to not wanting to play anymore, and I was just beginning to get good. What do you do?
It's late. I think I've talked enough.
Hopefully I can keep blogging this time. I so want to get into this little hobby...
~Jman
Monday, February 25, 2008
Spewing ChO-bits
I realize now that my last post was majorly long. I tend to get long winded, but I'm going to work on that. Wouldn't want anyone to lose interest in what I've got to say.
So, day one back and I'm already posting twice, not a bad start. Who knows, maybe I can do this whole blogging thing.
It's been a pretty crappy day thus far. I got too much sleep the previous night, fully knowing that it would keep me up late, but not caring. So I wasn't shocked that I was lying in my bed at 3AM this morning wishing I could just sleep. That isn't all too different from most of my Sunday night routines. Class at 8AM on Mondays after a weekend of late nights just doesn't work. The real bane of my existence is the addition of a major stomach ache that has loomed over me the entire day.
The whole thing started with a normal feeling of gas on my chest, furthering my lack of ability to sleep. So I get up and take some Gas X to alleviate the problem and hope that I can get in around four hours of sleep before class. Unfortunately, I would roll over onto my stomach 20 minutes later and discover that gas was only the beginning of my problems. An hour later, I'm stumbling out of the bathroom with some major stomach problems and a rather sore bottom.
Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep. On top of that though, the problems persisted throughout the day. So now I'm sleepy, cranky, and sick. I spent the entirety of my first class walking to and from the bathroom. It was embarrassing and frustrating. Then, I start thinking I'd leave before my second class and just come home to die. But no, my professor gives me the "you're here, fight it out" speech. Which of course I take in stride and agree to, only to learn that he wants to drop a huge chunk of homework on us for next class (way to make me feel the love there Spencer).
I'm finally free from the horrid school, and I think I'm feeling better. Maybe with a little power napping I can get back up to a decent speed in time for some CoH time with Sean just before RAW. However, I must first discuss something else on my mind. Lets see if I can't make this a more positive post, shall we?
The news I wish to discuss is of the recent announcement of Cryptic Studios doing a second comic themed MMO. No, I'm not talking about the late and now-confirmed-dead Marvel Online game. This is something entirely new and much more interesting. I'm talking about Champions Online (Does that make it's abbreviation ChO? or CO? or maybe Champ-O!), the newest endeavor from the former studio who brought me the precious world of Paragon and City of Heroes
I saw the official site and the trailer on IGN late last week and admit I was slightly curious. However, it wasn't until I got a hold of my newest issue of Game Informer today that I really started to take this project serious. Reading over the article, I was floored by some of the ideas and promises that Jack and his crew at Cryptic are promising (Power customization you say? For real this time!?). More over, I was shocked to learn that not only was this whole new world taken from an old (albeit still kicking) P&P board game, but Cryptic had actually bought the whole thing.
In old articles and interviews for CoH Jack had mentioned his love for Champions and how it was the game him and his friends played instead of the classic D&D game. He had expressed a great respect for it's gameplay and the ability to make up these wonderful comic characters that were larger than life. Skip ahead four years and now old Jack has just straight up bought the damn franchise for his own means.
Immediately I'm thinking this man has sold off his only IP to-date to it's publisher (thank god!) in NCsoft and taken the money from that sell out to finance his own boyhood dreams. He's making CoH 2.0, but with the title and world that apparently he wanted to have the first time around. I draw two conclusions from this bit of news that actually gives me hope for this new series.
First off, the love that Jack has for this universe of characters may help him stay interested in the project and make him pay closer attention to the mechanics used. Secondly, the man may not know how to run a game (see CoH and it's multitude of nerfs in it's first 2 years), but he has the experience of producing the first and ONLY comic MMO in the industry. I can only hope that this means he will know outright what he did wrong the first time and make good use of those experiences, applying them to this project.
A lot of people, myself included, have concerns about Jack's mentality of what is "fun" and "balanced". In order for this game to work, Jack is going to have to show us that he can find a "balance" on what he thinks and what his player base thinks the definition of "fun" is. I think that there is a lot resting on the shoulders of this project in regards to the future of Cryptic Studios. A lot of us aren't going to give Jack more than one chance to make up for all the crap he put us through as the head designer for CoH. The moment he starts saying "oops, my bad, we need to nerf this" or swinging around his trademark "3 for 1" rule, a lot of us are going to pack up and leave him to it.
At the end of the day, I really want this game to succeed. I've been looking for a new MMO experience, but I'm not willing to jump on the whole WoW thing. This could prove to be my one opportunity to jump ship and try something fresh without having to give up the genre that I've grown to love. If not, then oh well, I guess there is always the hope of a REAL CoH 2. Until then, I'll remain happy with the four year old game that has continued to keep me entertained.
~Jman
So, day one back and I'm already posting twice, not a bad start. Who knows, maybe I can do this whole blogging thing.
***
It's been a pretty crappy day thus far. I got too much sleep the previous night, fully knowing that it would keep me up late, but not caring. So I wasn't shocked that I was lying in my bed at 3AM this morning wishing I could just sleep. That isn't all too different from most of my Sunday night routines. Class at 8AM on Mondays after a weekend of late nights just doesn't work. The real bane of my existence is the addition of a major stomach ache that has loomed over me the entire day.
The whole thing started with a normal feeling of gas on my chest, furthering my lack of ability to sleep. So I get up and take some Gas X to alleviate the problem and hope that I can get in around four hours of sleep before class. Unfortunately, I would roll over onto my stomach 20 minutes later and discover that gas was only the beginning of my problems. An hour later, I'm stumbling out of the bathroom with some major stomach problems and a rather sore bottom.
Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep. On top of that though, the problems persisted throughout the day. So now I'm sleepy, cranky, and sick. I spent the entirety of my first class walking to and from the bathroom. It was embarrassing and frustrating. Then, I start thinking I'd leave before my second class and just come home to die. But no, my professor gives me the "you're here, fight it out" speech. Which of course I take in stride and agree to, only to learn that he wants to drop a huge chunk of homework on us for next class (way to make me feel the love there Spencer).
I'm finally free from the horrid school, and I think I'm feeling better. Maybe with a little power napping I can get back up to a decent speed in time for some CoH time with Sean just before RAW. However, I must first discuss something else on my mind. Lets see if I can't make this a more positive post, shall we?
***
The news I wish to discuss is of the recent announcement of Cryptic Studios doing a second comic themed MMO. No, I'm not talking about the late and now-confirmed-dead Marvel Online game. This is something entirely new and much more interesting. I'm talking about Champions Online (Does that make it's abbreviation ChO? or CO? or maybe Champ-O!), the newest endeavor from the former studio who brought me the precious world of Paragon and City of Heroes
I saw the official site and the trailer on IGN late last week and admit I was slightly curious. However, it wasn't until I got a hold of my newest issue of Game Informer today that I really started to take this project serious. Reading over the article, I was floored by some of the ideas and promises that Jack and his crew at Cryptic are promising (Power customization you say? For real this time!?). More over, I was shocked to learn that not only was this whole new world taken from an old (albeit still kicking) P&P board game, but Cryptic had actually bought the whole thing.
In old articles and interviews for CoH Jack had mentioned his love for Champions and how it was the game him and his friends played instead of the classic D&D game. He had expressed a great respect for it's gameplay and the ability to make up these wonderful comic characters that were larger than life. Skip ahead four years and now old Jack has just straight up bought the damn franchise for his own means.
Immediately I'm thinking this man has sold off his only IP to-date to it's publisher (thank god!) in NCsoft and taken the money from that sell out to finance his own boyhood dreams. He's making CoH 2.0, but with the title and world that apparently he wanted to have the first time around. I draw two conclusions from this bit of news that actually gives me hope for this new series.
First off, the love that Jack has for this universe of characters may help him stay interested in the project and make him pay closer attention to the mechanics used. Secondly, the man may not know how to run a game (see CoH and it's multitude of nerfs in it's first 2 years), but he has the experience of producing the first and ONLY comic MMO in the industry. I can only hope that this means he will know outright what he did wrong the first time and make good use of those experiences, applying them to this project.
A lot of people, myself included, have concerns about Jack's mentality of what is "fun" and "balanced". In order for this game to work, Jack is going to have to show us that he can find a "balance" on what he thinks and what his player base thinks the definition of "fun" is. I think that there is a lot resting on the shoulders of this project in regards to the future of Cryptic Studios. A lot of us aren't going to give Jack more than one chance to make up for all the crap he put us through as the head designer for CoH. The moment he starts saying "oops, my bad, we need to nerf this" or swinging around his trademark "3 for 1" rule, a lot of us are going to pack up and leave him to it.
At the end of the day, I really want this game to succeed. I've been looking for a new MMO experience, but I'm not willing to jump on the whole WoW thing. This could prove to be my one opportunity to jump ship and try something fresh without having to give up the genre that I've grown to love. If not, then oh well, I guess there is always the hope of a REAL CoH 2. Until then, I'll remain happy with the four year old game that has continued to keep me entertained.
~Jman
Adjusting and Excuses
So I've been away for over a month after only making a single blog. Looks like I may have jumped the shark in thinking I could continually keep a blog updated. Like most projects in my life I start, I come out of the gate with great ideas and goals, and then somewhere in the random chaos that is my life, I lose time or interest.
However, I'm not quite ready to give up on this whole blogging idea. That's why I've changed the name and general idea of this blog. I am taking my initial idea and I'm streamlining it. Instead of making it Press Start centric like everything else I've done in the last five years, I'm making this blog more about me and including games as a side note. I'm mostly happy with this change because it allows me to use black and blue instead of the original red color, which I hated. Blue FTW!
So now that that explanation is out of the way, I can commence with the blogging.
In the time that I've been away, some amazingly awesome things have happened; both in my personal life and in the gaming world.
The major thing that I have to talk about is the recent announcement by Toshiba in regards to their production of HD-DVD discs. As of February 19th, Toshiba will no longer be generating any HD-DVD products, giving up the next generation of DVD wars, and in-directly declaring Blu-ray the winner. This is simple awesome news. Not only does this mean that the few blu-ray discs that I've purchased won't end up as bad reminders of a failed project that I was attempting to back, AND it means that PS3 will now see an amazing increase in sales.
Marketing people tell Yahoo! News (and subsequently me) that the PS3 should see an increase in sales by as much as 10% almost instantly. I'm not a huge numbers guy, but to me that sounds pretty good. I think that this victory for Sony will allow the PS3 to make more sales, and become a much more serious contender for the console market. When combined with the strong sales of Devil May Cry 4 (which friggin rocks, if you didn't know) and the forthcoming release of Metal Gear Solid 4, I think Sony finally has a legitimate system on their hands. Like I said...Blue FTW!
In other news, I just came off one of the coolest weeks of my life. My bff for life, Sean, got to come up and visit with me for an entire week. I went home last weekend and waded through the horrors of my hometown life for a few days, and then finally headed back to the ATL on Sunday with Sean in tow. We had a pretty awesome four hour ride back to GA where I had a minimal stress level and lots of laughing was had.
Throughout the week we played games, drafted the new magic set, made brownies (that were consumed MUCH too fast), and had an all around amazing time. The only real problem we ran into was that his inflatable mattress that he brought with him had a hole in it. So he'd start out comfortable at night and then wake up around 9 AM to find himself lying on the floor in a deathtrap of air that surrounded him. It made me feel kind of guilty to be resting on my comfy bed with him down in the floor. Fortunately this was lessened by the the fact that my bed couldn't contain both of us, that I offered for him to sleep on the couch (which is surprisingly comfortable), and the simple act of him waking me up every morning, bright and early, due to his own inability to sleep. I'd say we broke even.
The whole thing proved that we really are like peanut butter and jelly, that we could be around each other for more than 48 straight hours and not get sick of each other, and most importantly, live together with few (if any) problems. The boy needs to get his ass in gear and apply to SCAD so that we can live like that all the time! He's an amazing guy and too fun to have in my life to live four hours away. Hopefully something will come to fruition soon for him. He needs to escape the horrid life in small-town Alabama, especially now that he knows how awesome the big city life is.
Definitely a history making week if you ask me. Now that I have things rearranged and in a more streamlined manor, I am going to attempt to post at least a few times a week. My goal is to actually post once a day, if not more. We'll see how much of that is possible with my crazy lifestyle. Until next time...
~Jman
However, I'm not quite ready to give up on this whole blogging idea. That's why I've changed the name and general idea of this blog. I am taking my initial idea and I'm streamlining it. Instead of making it Press Start centric like everything else I've done in the last five years, I'm making this blog more about me and including games as a side note. I'm mostly happy with this change because it allows me to use black and blue instead of the original red color, which I hated. Blue FTW!
So now that that explanation is out of the way, I can commence with the blogging.
-----------------------------------------------------
In the time that I've been away, some amazingly awesome things have happened; both in my personal life and in the gaming world.
***
The major thing that I have to talk about is the recent announcement by Toshiba in regards to their production of HD-DVD discs. As of February 19th, Toshiba will no longer be generating any HD-DVD products, giving up the next generation of DVD wars, and in-directly declaring Blu-ray the winner. This is simple awesome news. Not only does this mean that the few blu-ray discs that I've purchased won't end up as bad reminders of a failed project that I was attempting to back, AND it means that PS3 will now see an amazing increase in sales.
Marketing people tell Yahoo! News (and subsequently me) that the PS3 should see an increase in sales by as much as 10% almost instantly. I'm not a huge numbers guy, but to me that sounds pretty good. I think that this victory for Sony will allow the PS3 to make more sales, and become a much more serious contender for the console market. When combined with the strong sales of Devil May Cry 4 (which friggin rocks, if you didn't know) and the forthcoming release of Metal Gear Solid 4, I think Sony finally has a legitimate system on their hands. Like I said...Blue FTW!
***
In other news, I just came off one of the coolest weeks of my life. My bff for life, Sean, got to come up and visit with me for an entire week. I went home last weekend and waded through the horrors of my hometown life for a few days, and then finally headed back to the ATL on Sunday with Sean in tow. We had a pretty awesome four hour ride back to GA where I had a minimal stress level and lots of laughing was had.
Throughout the week we played games, drafted the new magic set, made brownies (that were consumed MUCH too fast), and had an all around amazing time. The only real problem we ran into was that his inflatable mattress that he brought with him had a hole in it. So he'd start out comfortable at night and then wake up around 9 AM to find himself lying on the floor in a deathtrap of air that surrounded him. It made me feel kind of guilty to be resting on my comfy bed with him down in the floor. Fortunately this was lessened by the the fact that my bed couldn't contain both of us, that I offered for him to sleep on the couch (which is surprisingly comfortable), and the simple act of him waking me up every morning, bright and early, due to his own inability to sleep. I'd say we broke even.
The whole thing proved that we really are like peanut butter and jelly, that we could be around each other for more than 48 straight hours and not get sick of each other, and most importantly, live together with few (if any) problems. The boy needs to get his ass in gear and apply to SCAD so that we can live like that all the time! He's an amazing guy and too fun to have in my life to live four hours away. Hopefully something will come to fruition soon for him. He needs to escape the horrid life in small-town Alabama, especially now that he knows how awesome the big city life is.
-----------------------------------------------------
Definitely a history making week if you ask me. Now that I have things rearranged and in a more streamlined manor, I am going to attempt to post at least a few times a week. My goal is to actually post once a day, if not more. We'll see how much of that is possible with my crazy lifestyle. Until next time...
~Jman
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Soul Wars IV: A Lost Hope?
So I just received the news last night that Namco has decided to include guest characters in Soul Calibur IV. Much like Soul Calibur II, this was probably done to help increase sales. However, unlike SCII they have decided to bring in a group of characters that have absolutely no place in the Soul Calibur world...Darth Vader and Yoda.
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/844/844634p1.html
That's right! Star Wars has invaded the Soul Calibur world. My immediate reaction to this news was disgust. I hated it when they did it for SCII (mostly because Spawn annoys the shit out of me) and I absolutely hate it now. Don't get me wrong, I love Star Wars, I love me some Darth Vader and Yoda, and I love me some Soul Calibur. But, they DO NOT go together!
It makes absolutely no sense! Sure, they have weapons, but in case you hadn't noticed, they are from a different universe that just happens to be set in the far future. Ancient Samurai and Jedis don't mix! It's like putting peanut butter on a pickle! If you've seen the pictures it's obvious that they stand out next to the rest of the characters. It just looks weird and it angers me to even fathom why Namco did this.
I know what you're thinking... "Jman, this is friggin awesome! It's friggin Star Wars! How can you go wrong!?" Well, let me just tell you...
See, it isn't bad enough that Namco has to blatantly scream "We sold out to make more money." They have made the ingenious decision to separate Vader and Yoda into EXCLUSIVE characters!!! Yeah, they aren't even in the same damn game! PS3 gets Vader and 360 gets Yoda. How fucking stupid is that? Not only do I have characters in a game that they don't belong in, but now I can't even have my friends join me in fantasy fights between Yoda and Vader.
Good job Namco! Not only have you sold out and deliberately attempted to raise your revenue in the worst way...but you may have just taken the Next Gen war to a whole new level! Star Wars fan around the world will drop their heated arguments over which movie sucked the most and whether or not Luke wants to bang his own sister...no, now they will be fighting over which system is better based on the fact of which character is on what console...BRILLIANT!
At the end of the day, I will still purchase this game, because like all full blooded Americans I enjoy seeing bouncing breast in HD. The game does look amazing and as much as it hurts me to say, the shots of Vader are quite impressive. Unfortunately my love for this game has fallen some and my respect for Namco is weakening. Hopefully this game is just as fun as SCIII and all will be forgiven.
Some birthday present this has been...
Oh well, back to playing City of Heroes!
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/844/844634p1.html
That's right! Star Wars has invaded the Soul Calibur world. My immediate reaction to this news was disgust. I hated it when they did it for SCII (mostly because Spawn annoys the shit out of me) and I absolutely hate it now. Don't get me wrong, I love Star Wars, I love me some Darth Vader and Yoda, and I love me some Soul Calibur. But, they DO NOT go together!
It makes absolutely no sense! Sure, they have weapons, but in case you hadn't noticed, they are from a different universe that just happens to be set in the far future. Ancient Samurai and Jedis don't mix! It's like putting peanut butter on a pickle! If you've seen the pictures it's obvious that they stand out next to the rest of the characters. It just looks weird and it angers me to even fathom why Namco did this.
I know what you're thinking... "Jman, this is friggin awesome! It's friggin Star Wars! How can you go wrong!?" Well, let me just tell you...
See, it isn't bad enough that Namco has to blatantly scream "We sold out to make more money." They have made the ingenious decision to separate Vader and Yoda into EXCLUSIVE characters!!! Yeah, they aren't even in the same damn game! PS3 gets Vader and 360 gets Yoda. How fucking stupid is that? Not only do I have characters in a game that they don't belong in, but now I can't even have my friends join me in fantasy fights between Yoda and Vader.
Good job Namco! Not only have you sold out and deliberately attempted to raise your revenue in the worst way...but you may have just taken the Next Gen war to a whole new level! Star Wars fan around the world will drop their heated arguments over which movie sucked the most and whether or not Luke wants to bang his own sister...no, now they will be fighting over which system is better based on the fact of which character is on what console...BRILLIANT!
At the end of the day, I will still purchase this game, because like all full blooded Americans I enjoy seeing bouncing breast in HD. The game does look amazing and as much as it hurts me to say, the shots of Vader are quite impressive. Unfortunately my love for this game has fallen some and my respect for Namco is weakening. Hopefully this game is just as fun as SCIII and all will be forgiven.
Some birthday present this has been...
Oh well, back to playing City of Heroes!
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