Darkside of things

It's in all of us. the dark and the light. Lately, the dark seems to be winning. That pessimistic voice in your head that brings out the worst in human nature. Just get it done and over it. what's the point ?

Alone

to be truly alone. I don't think majority of people even consider what that is. On the one day that should be about family, what do you do when you don't have one. The one day you truly need someone to tell you everything will be okay and you end up being alone thinking of the dark things , oblivion. What's the point of moving forward when you no longer have faith or hope.

somebody above

after all the alcohol I consumed on friday, I shouldn't even be here posting this yet I'm still here. I know I've used up all of my lives and something just won't let me go. strange, but it certainly isn't fuckin GOD in whatever incarnation.

Penny Arcade

The latest Penny Arcade comic hit it dead on the nail as to how I feel about Gamestop and how they are ruining the game industry as a whole.

Past lives

In your quest for freedom, Sagittarius, you've been exploring the world for millennia. You may have crossed the country in a covered wagon or the ocean as a Spanish explorer. And, you didn't hesitate to invade and defeat the cultures you met to forge your new life. Perhaps you pursued a spiritual calling as a priest or evangelical missionary. Either way, you were often separated from your family and culture. You've become a budding planetary citizen … now your task is to put down roots and blossom.

explains a lot.

can't sleep

so I can't sleep tonight and I'm watching some movie trailers on Apple's website and the only movie that catches my eye is "come early morning". I definitely have some emotional issues of some sort. oh, ya and I cried like a lil girl too. issues indeed.

What is a blog?

A simple question with a multitude of different answers. It's an interesting way to vent how one feels. It can be a good outlet to convey volatile emotions, etc etc. It does something for everyone who creates a blog. Are bloggers losers? I think not.

charnag numl'esstu

It's always this time of the year that my mind retracts into it's own little world and my thoughts lean on the past more frequently then I want it to. I guess it's depression, but I have a hard time describing what it feels like. I guess it's like drowning except there is that loud static noise accompanyed by it. I want to make it stop but then everything would stop and I'm not ready even if my mind tells me that it's time.

New Microsoft Compatibility Update

Finally, Scarface, Mortal Kombat Armegeddon, Soul Calibur II, Dead or Alive Extreme all backwards compatible well as some other titles. Oops, forgot to mention "Psychonauts." One of the best games ever is also compatible now.

waele rath

it took me two aleves to even move today. I'm not one to complain about pain but this thing is mind numbingly painful. :(

expectations of PS3

This is a comment from the HardOCP forums about if Sony would be able to ship 750,000 units to meet their 1 million mark goal by end of the year in the next two weeks.

I suppose these are worldwide numbers they are talking about?

... well, that would require them to recruit Santa, the Easter bunny, *and* Chuck Norris to get out there.

Not NDA?

It's actually really interesting to me. It's sort of based on the research that's sort of happening now, about the fact that your genes might be able to hold memory. And you could argue semantics and say it's instinct, but how does a baby bird know to eat a worm, as opposed to a cockroach, if its parents don't show it? And it's about this science company trying to, Matrix-style, go into people's brains and find out an ancestor who used to be an assassin, and sort of locate who that person is.

Kristen Bell talking about Assassin's Creed. WTF?! Can she even talk about it like this?

kestal + eluith'orth

two words permanently out of my vocabulary.

Wii

SO FUCKIN TIRED of PEOPLE ASKING FOR IT AT WORK. Now, I don't want one.

kleel klezn dro

Alcohol and the free time to work on my art again. work? FUCK work!

Spike TV Game Awards

Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion takes 5 awards deservingly so and of course the Game of the Year award. Gears of War won a few also.

buying into the ulin

Sony saids 10 years of life on Playstation 3. Is this feasible? The hardware certainly is powerful enough but it's going to be all dependent on how the game developers take advantage of what the hardware can do. The next gen is all dependent on software, not the other way around.

t'puuli lauske

It should be any day now. I grow 1 year older on thursday and I'll probably start growing the silver/greyish hair I've seen the rest of my family get around their mid-30's. yippee. Lot of blah this week.. work = blah life= blah ps3= kinda blah Wii= blah

draeval p'los

you live on and try to forget the past. It seems so easy when you tell yourself that very thing but the reality of it is that it isn't so easy. watching someone die and being helpless to help in any way at all has to be worst feeling I've ever experienced. As the holiday nears closer, my mind is drawn closer to those past events. things will get better.. I've heard that often but will it really?

nibele xund

If the gamestop/EB Games merger and the change of how employees are getting treated is any indication of the future.. I really don't think I want to be a part of it. My interest in gaming has gone from hardcore to a casual game here and there.. As for work, it has become WORK, instead of a place I enjoy going to.

Gears of War

This game rocks! me and a friend finished it on hardcore yesterday. :) Now, it's time to play on insane.

Sigh

grrrr

WTF

You know you're either in the Twilight Zone or you've got something big on your hands when the black hole of creativity known as Electronic Arts says your product offers nothing in terms of innovation.

Full Text:

GOW? EA does not approve

Speaking at the Montréal Games Summit earlier this week, general manager for EA Montréal, Alain Tascan, expressed his disinterest in what Epic's latest title, Gears of War, brought to the table. "What is Gears of War? I mean, Gear of War brings nothing in terms of innovation to the shooter. Like, zero", said Tascan.

Tascan attributed almost all of Gears of War's popularity to its impressive visuals, pointing out the story is practically nonexistent and that graphics are still the most important contributor to a game's success. Making an uncomfortable analogy, he made the comparison of an attractive girl you might find in a bar and how intelligence -- in this case gameplay -- is really just a bonus.

"I'm just saying, when you go to metacritic and you see a 96 for Gears of War, then you read the critics saying, 'Okay, storyline - there's none, gameplay is not innovative...' Then I say, why did they give this 96? They were blown away by the high quality of the graphics. Myself, I prefer something more creative", said Tascan.

I think EA needs to learn how to shut the fuck up! This is one of those times. When was the last time they put out something innovative and fresh?

Interesting sites

I found two interesting websites today. One is called www.areyoumywife.com Rather unique way for someone to search out their spiritmate and the other is called www.choosemyname.com Look them up, quite fun stuff.

2nd 360

I'm on my second one since the first one only lasted a week. I got a 1 year product replacement on it and thank goodness I did. It's already locked up a dozen times during gameplay on variety of games. Xbox arcade, demo, to a retail game. This thing is a bit too pc like for me.. Hopefully the Wii and PS3 will not go the same direction.

dro

Quality of life. I spoke about this with a close friend of mine before she passed away. Somehow, I keep on mixing this up with faith, which I have none of now. Just an odd thought in my head. I must be going crazy.

Trojan Horse

I wanted to remind everyone that Sony is in the business of making money, and PS3 is definitely a trojan horse for the BD format. If given the choice of buying a $1000 BD player or a $600 PS3 that plays blue ray dvds on top of playing ps3, ps3, and ps1 games; which would you choose?

Systemax System Review

I'm reading this article on HardOCP today and they just happen to be reviewing a Systemax box.. They really didn't need to review it. I could have told them they sucked. lol

&%##@@@!!!!!

Ok, so I don't have a problem with overheating on the xb360. it's actually the fuckin power supply that is overheating or isn't getting enough ventilation. I was about to chuck Lego Star Wars II out the goddamn window too. Glad it's something simple. Maybe Microsoft should have put a fan inside this dog sized psu. Fucks!
and YES I have plenty of space around the psu so it can get air for those of you who were thinkin that. bastards!

Condemned 360

So I'm playing this game "Condemned" on the 360 and it starts locking the xbox up randomly and it reminds me why having a hard drive on a console isn't the best idea. The disc is a used one but the surface looks fine so I'm unsure why it would lock up but it seems like it's locking up on the audio. Yes, games load faster with a hard drive but stability seems to suffer with it. Was it such a great idea to have the next gen consoles use hard drives?

*update* My bad, the Pelican Fan Stand works as advertised. it's the fuckin psu on the xb360 NOT working as ADVERTISED.

Windows Vista 64bit RC1

Well, I'm going to make the jump to the Release Candidate of Vista. From all of the research I've done, it should be similar enough to XP with better stability and more toys built in. I'm mainly moving over to it to preview how it all functions , well as test game functionality since Microsoft is boasting about it's ease of use as gaming goes. we'll see. *update* I decided to wait til the retail product is available. I noticed that the OS has a pretty early expire date of June 07. Not sure if I want to move to Vista that quickly.. oh well.

360 Games

I've been spending some time playing through the 360 content. As non arcade games go, I've tried Full Auto, and also Ninety Nine Nights. They both look great and to a certain extent, play well but It just doesn't seem to keep my interest for too long. They felt as if it's made for people who are simply trying to get achievement points so they can boast that on Xbox Live. I found the Xbox Arcade games to give me more fun and longevity in the gameplay. Zuma and Gauntlet being good examples of this. Graphically, the 360 is on the right track, the gameplay hasn't changed much at all. Is it worth $400? I don't think it is. If the system was $249.99 , I think it would be a winner financially but as it is right now, it is really feeding on the absolute hardcore gamers.

Ok, I caved in

I finally sold my psp,etc etc and got a xb360. Pretty cool toy but still not quite there to PC, especially in the controls department.. I've never been fond of game controllers. The two analog setup to move/aim is not the optimal choice. I wish they would add in the optional mouse/keyboard support.. Heck, it already supports a keyboard.. why not add mice?
*Update* I guess my gaming takes priority over art. My tablet will have to wait a bit longer.

Archlord

I really wanted to like this game but in it's current state, the game is extremely rough. Enemies are simply there for you to grind and dialogue in the game encourages grinding and does not really have a storyline to speak of. The environments for some reason would not anti alias in 1600x1200 mode , so I had to play it on 1280x1024 but even then the graphics were nothing extraordinary. I believe Lineage II has better atmosphere and landscaping then this thing.. I thought things couldn't get worse after playing RYL months ago but this game is unfortunately reminding me of RF Online which had great potential but hampered by the mouse clicking movement scheme, well as lack of animation in the character models.. Sorry, Codemasters but I think it's time to go back to the drawing board. This game will not overtake wow.. actually it won't even take Everquest, the first one.

Walking around Best Buy

So I walked into the local Best Buy today with a friend of mine, and he was getting a Xbox 360. I was glancing around the Computer department and see this 20.1 Samsung open box LCD monitor for $248! I Jumped on it. it's so bad ass.. of course, I will now have to wait to get my tablet but it was so worth it. omg, playing Titan Quest, even Diablo II is amazing on it.

Real Zombies

There has been a small outbreak of “zombism” in a small town near the border of Laos in North-Eastern Cambodia.

The culprit was discovered to be mosquitoes native to that region carrying a new strain of Malaria which thus far has a 100 percent mortality rate and kills victims in fewer than 2 days.

After death, this parasite is able to restart the heart of its victim for up to two hours after the initial demise of the person where the individual behaves in extremely violent ways from what is believed to be a combination of brain damage and a chemical released into blood during “resurrection.”

Cambodian officials say that the outbreak has been contained and the public has no need to worry.

General Ary Serey had this to say, "We have obtained samples of this new parasite and plan to learn how it starts the heart and other major organs of the deceased. We intend to use this to increase the quality of life for all."

US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice opposed the plan saying that the Cambodian government holds a great biological weapon and should destroy it immediately. Cambodian officials have yet to comment.

A United Nations team will be dispatched to Cambodia to confirm the safety of biological research in Cambodia.

Kaz Hirai Sony had this to say.

When asked to clarify whether that meant gamers will have to wait longer than five years for the PS4, Hirai replied: "I can't speculate on when we might come out with a new console after PlayStation 3. But my message is that once you become a family in the PlayStation family of products, you become a family member."


He makes it seem so much like being in the mafia or yakuza. lol

Well, there goes Duke Nukem Forever

Developers confirmed to have left 3D Realms since last December include Scott Alden, Will Bate, Brian Cozzens, Kyle Davis, Andy Hanson, Keith Schuler, and Charlie Wiederhold. Some of the former employees headed up crucial game systems such as physics, animation, and rendering. Notably, Schuler is a sixteen year veteran of Apogee and 3D Realms. Our sources indicate that while the game's team has reached a size of about 24-28 developers, recently it has been closer to 18, meaning these current departures may actually comprise a majority of the team. Several sources have indicated that further information regarding these matters is expected next week.

3D Realms' George Broussard, who heads up the Duke Nukem Forever project, is known to hold a perfectionist attitude towards the game, which is in large part responsible for its many delays. The game has been revamped with new engines multiple times, further prolonging development time as game assets and levels have had to be rebuilt. Some sources speculate that, unless major changes are made to the development process, the game may never see the light of day. A Prey-like rebirth under a new developer supervised by 3D Realms may be a potential consideration, but descriptions from those close to Broussard suggest that he would be unlikely to approve such a direction.

Well, this pretty much puts the last nail on the coffin for Duke Nukem. *sigh*

Madden and Lack of posts

Everyone seems to be rather neutral about the new Madden game. I guess EA didn't take enough feedback after all. No half-time show.. sheesh. Even NFL 2k1 for Dreamcast had that but not Madden. Anyhow, I haven't been posting much lately.. I've been thinking about rejoining the military, now that the age limit has been pushed up to 42. I'm not sure if I want to take that path since I want to involve myself in Art again. I've been restless, and dreaming about strange things. Not too sure on what it's trying to tell me but it keeps me awake at night and makes me wonder what I should be doing next.

tablet

Well, it looks like I'll be going back to my ART roots. I'm ordering a tablet soon from Newegg. I decided to go with the Genius Art Pad which is a 11x19 pad with 1024 pts of sensitivity instead of the Wacom 6x8 pad with half the sensitivity which happens to be the same price. I think I'll like the larger surface area better, and not only that, The Genius pad comes with Adobe photoshop elements for free. Very good deal. In turn, I'll be able to buy Corel Painter for under 100 bucks with the savings. :)

The Area Manager

So this guy spells like he is in fourth grade. I'm trying to give him the benefit of a doubt but it's hard for me to respect someone who sends out emails that look like it was written by someone who is 6 years old. I feel bad since I think a 6 year old child has better spelling abilities then this man. lol

Titan Quest Update

This game is rather addictive, moreso then I first thought it would be. I almost have to say it is more addictive then Diablo II. I feel so guilty for saying it but it's true. Definitely a more immersive experience then Diablo. WOW is taking a backseat to this game which speaks much volume on how much fun it is.

Dark Messiah

If you have a fileplanet account, ABSOLUTELY download Dark Messiah of Might and Magic being published by Ubisoft. It is an intense hybrid First Person based RPG/Action game and it's tremendously polished for only being a beta build. There are so many different ways to play this game even in the game, it should suit all tastes of gamers that enjoy FPS. I have to say this game impressed me like F.E.A.R did when it released late last year.

America Offline

For anyone who is interested in getting an extra email address or simply want to try out the AOL interface and service can now do so for free , long as you have DSL or Cable internet already. They actually do have some useful tools, including spam filter, firewall, antivirus , and other tools which are either reskins of Mcafee Tools or commissioned software from that company for AOL. Not too bad at all, although the chat functionality was disabled in the version I downloaded. I'm wondering if that will ever be available as that is easily one of the outstanding features of the AOL service.

what's on top of your pc?

There's a spawn figure behind those animals.

Titan Quest

This is a rather addictive game by Iron Lore. If I remember correctly, some of these guys previously worked on Diablo II. The gameplay is rather similar to Diablo II , and Sacred but the graphics have been bumped up to the new standards, well as the voice acting and a physics engine which makes some kills rather amusing to watch. If you have a fairly decent pc, I highly recommend you try this game.

N'SYNC

I see a pop up ad with the guys from N'SYNC and it asks "which one is gay?" I can't help but to notice they didn't have a "ALL OF THE ABOVE ."

Art Tablet

Once upon a time, I drew a lot, an unhealthy amount and I felt good about it. It was something that I had some talent in. I'm not too sure if I want others to see what I see but it's something that feels like it's been missing in my life. It doesn't hurt that it's half the price it was 6 months ago. :) It's gonna be nice to go back to something I'm familiar with, even if a bit depressive or a bit looney.

Dark Knight

WTF! Additionally, Christian Bale will resume his role as Bruce Wayne and Heath Ledger Academy nominee has been cast as The Joker. The announcements were made today by Jeff Robinov, President of Production, Warner Bros. Pictures.


Heath Ledger as Joker? What kind of drugs is Jeff Robinov taking? ! I just can't see this as a good move.

Competition is good

AMD picks up 25.9 % of the server market which is essentially good for everyone in the server business. Competition between Sun, Intel, AMD, and a few smaller semiconductor companies lead to better prices, and accessibility for businesses, especially small businesses which in turn helps those businesses be more competitive in whatever market they might be in.

Something to think about

We were all beginners once, but it's easy for experts to forget how much they didn't know at the outset of their journey.

AMD + ATI

So this merger leaves Nvidia alone to take on rival ATI who now has the full backing of AMD. Life just got more interesting in the hardware scene.

Finally a good TMNT game?

Apparently, Ubisoft at some point grabbed the rights to the TMNT franchise and it looks like it's a very good thing, since the game in progress looks fantastic , well as the gameplay looking to be fun! I'm waiting for Ubisoft to overtake EA in position of influence since they seem to experiment and allow their people the freedom to be creative and innovative. That is something the game industry lacks in right now, although Nintendo is breaking away from the standard videogame fare as of late. :>

The CPU War begins again

Market sources, compiled by investment bank Fubon Securities, have indicated that AMD will not only attempt to match Intel's new price levels for its processors, when it reduces prices on July 24, but the vendor also plans to offer steeper discounts. AMD originally planned to reduce prices for its dual-core Athlon 64 X2, Athlon 64, and Sempron by 40%-50%, 20%-50% and 10%-20%, respectively, on July 24. Now, the price reductions have been enlarged, with a price drop of 50%-60% for the Athlon 64 X2, 40%-60% for the Athlon 64 line and 20%-30% for the Sempron series, according to the sources.

originally at digitimes.com

NCAA Football 2007

One of my co-workers confirmed my suspicions about the XB360 version of the game. It's been cut down to size for the 360, just like the Madden 06 was. I just don't understand why they didn't have enough time to learn from their mistakes.. I'm beginning to wonder if Madden 07 is going to end up in the same situation. Maybe, EA Sports should have not bought the NFL franchise rights and given consumers a choice.

Forest Gump

What a wonderful movie. :)

Nintendo Wii???

Well, this certainly looks like the Nintendo Wii, eh?
Although, this pc equivalent is rather powerful.

Specs:
Intel Core Duo T2400 (1.83GHz), Mobility Radeon X1400 (128Mb), 250GB of SATA HDD, 512MB of RAM (Max 2GB), DVI & S-VIDEO, Wifi a/b/g...

Not a bad system at all. It might even make a decent media center pc.


Note: The pic is from VR Zone.

Silly article

sheesh.. The comparison is ridiculous considering how long the AMD 64 FX-60 chip has been out on market.

Silly Article

Titan Quest

This game feels very close to what Diablo II felt like. This is not a bad thing but the game has some serious memory leak issues somewhere. The patch that was recently released made this problem worse then initial release. I could play for about 30-45 minutes before the game started to hitch, and now I can only play it 15 minutes before it starts acting up. The only solution I've found is to reduce all of the graphic settings to medium and set the shadow settings on low which is ridiculous considering the hardware I run. *update* OMFG, Here I am running on 4 gig of ram and this game is still hitching after the same amount of time. wtf.

Heroes of Might and Magic V

Am I the only one who thinks this game is obscenely hard? I had to actually set the game on normal to get past a level and now I'm stuck on the level right after the one I was stuck on. grrrr!!

So much creativity at EA, NOT

So EA announces that they are releasing new games for the Nintendo Wii. The only problem about this so called announcement is that they are rehashes of games they already have. Madden, Harry Potter, SSX, blah blah blah blah. I can't wrap my head around what the developers over there are thinking.

Night Elf vs Troll

Something seems a bit out of whack. It took me a total of maybe 2 hours to hit level 9 with a night elf character vs the 2 days(total of 6 or 7 hours) to reach level 9 with a troll character. WTF.

Horde or Alliance

I had a chance to speak to my fellow co-workers today and they really want to try out the Alliance side since the Horde side is not too appealing to them. I'm somewhat used to playing a Nightelf so I don't mind so much but having a completely tauren party would be fun too.. Maybe , we can try a bit of both. At least, I can help them more with the whole night elf thingy. :)

EB and Game related stuff

I guess the whole point of the blog is to post some of the silly things people ask about at work, and of course to discuss games! Also, not a bad place to vent a bit about some of the stupid stuff that happens at work.

Tattoos

The thing about tattoos are that they are really addictive. I'm hoping to get a few more in the future. I got this one after I had been in the Army for two years.

Pic

Back to WOW

I had forgotten how addictive WOW was til one of my co-workers got me excited about the game again. Thanks, Perplexity! :P This year has certainly been a more positive one compared to the years previous. My last blog wasn't the most positive perspective of the world but then again, I had some serious potholes on the road along the way.