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Category Archives: gaming

fun games! whee!

Fiesta open beta begins

28-Aug-07

(yesterday)

I hopped in again, started 3 new ppl. all the classes are belong to me. but am I going to level them all? hell no. am I going to level one back to the level I had my Closed Beta 2 mage prior to it’s envitible demise? Maybe. so far I’m liking the Cleric class the most.

if you don’t know wtf I’m talking about, here’s a good starting point Outspark’s page.

and fyi - I applied for a job there this week. the game seems to have a lot of potential, figured I’d love to get in on dat action while the gettin’ be good. the company is HQ’d in SF… so, if I actually did get a job there, I’d probably move closer. who knows though. I probably won’t even get an acknowledgement e-mail.

cest. la. ve.

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Fiesta initial review

02-Aug-07

outspark.com’s mmorpg game Fiesta is fresh and pretty cool. I registered about a week ago and received the invite to the “Closed Beta 2″ today. after which, it was downloaded (rather quickly, 800kb/s+) and played a few hours. my level 8 mage is humming along.

so far it is extremely reminicent of Ragnarok Online. not to say this is a bad thing, in fact, if you were to combine Dungeon Runners and RO you’d get the hybrid, Fiesta. silly name yes fun nonetheless.

the anime style npc characters are clean and well drawn. the base classes are: mage, cleric, fighter, archer. the learning curve is about ~15 minutes til you’re hack n’ slashin’ slimes and mushrooms. leveling is a fun and anticipated occasion. not only does your character’s power grow rather quickly, but NPC’s seek you out - that is, when you go back to town to talk to them, they will offer you quests that will give you minor loot, money, and exp. the usual questish rewards really but so far it is kind of fun.

apparently, cleric and fighter are the most “over-powered.” anyone who’s ever played WoW or any other mainstream mmo knows how relentless people harp on the nerf/overpoweredness of certain classes versus others.

there seems to be quite a buzz on servers; there are some long time players that are “hardcore.” this of course, is to be expected as many of our kind prefer to immerse themselves in virtual creation than furthering their own pathetic lives. these people are to be ignored.

in short - this game has potential as a major time sink (for better and worse.) I will be playing another few hours at least, splitting my time (as it were) between dungeon runners and fiesta. my thoughts will (probably) be posted here. as well as some screenshots, laziness aside.

thank you for throwing yet another productivity detraction in my path.

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playstation 2 outsells playstation 3

03-Feb-07

…in weekly sales in japan. go sony go - out sold by your own system.

I figured this was true in the states too so I went and checked amazon.com sales just for kicks.
as of the time of this post, similar trends indeed:
Sony Playstation 2 Console Slim PS2 is #24.
Sony PlayStation 3 (60GB) #40.

however it may not be all that accurate considering amazon doesn’t sell ps3’s itself.

the original article here: Playstation 2 surpasses Playstation 3 in weekly sales

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old school Dungeons and Dragons commercial

19-Dec-06

D&D huge nerd alert!!!!! (weeeoooweeeoooweeeooooo)
thank you people of youtube for the much needed lol.

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play guitar hero with your fender guitar (mod)

14-Dec-06

oh the humanity… these mod crazy foos reconstruct an innocent fender squire guitar into a wireless guitar hero controller.

the fender gh controller
is there a market for this? probably.

the culprit blog: toolmonger - how to build your own wireless guitar hero controller

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cables matter - the overlooked PS2 component cable factor

13-Dec-06

naraku presents: a brief homage to the wonders that are component cables; a side-by-side comparison to composite cables; a ps2 component cable review.

I had a problem with my Playstation 2 on my 42″ Westinghouse LCD: using the composite cables included, it looked like utter shit! …I almost broke down and hooked it back up to my 27″ CRT. fortunately, there is a (relatively) cheap and effective way to recover lost quality due to stretched resolution issues from using a big screen - component cables.

using component cables, the color reproduction is increased an (arbitrarily biggish) factor of 7. there is a small downside however, where blur was with composite cables, component now shows you crisp pixel edges often called “jaggies”. in our humble opinion, the jaggies are far less annoying (by a factor of 38) than the blur. see for yourself.

here are some shots of my TV playing Final Fantasy XII that acutely demonstrates the dramatic improvement component cables make on image quality.

(before)
using composite:		 (after)
using component:
composite - vaan component - vaan

read on for more sample shots… no spoilers here, promise.

More…

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addictive tower defense gameplay

08-Dec-06

my buddy abram told me about this game a few days ago. I asked him not to send it to me. yesterday I broke down and searched for it on digg… found it and blew a few hours out of my day strategizing and getting utterly (and consistently) destroyed around wave 60+ (personal high score 67 - the creator says he got 90).

this type of game is intensely fun and addictive. the strategies employeed are simple to execute but require much calculation to be effective. basically it comes down to - finding the best location for each type of tower, build them, upgrade them according to best cost versus damage output and/or build additional towers nearby to achieve the highest concentration of damage. it’s pretty unbelievable how fun it can be, and how frustrating it gets.

games that have similar levels of challenge/reward enjoyment by means of this sort of gameplay are reminicent of starcraft (broodwars) and warcraft [some of my favorite games of all time].

  • - tower defence - the addictive browser, non-flashy graphics, version perfect for spare 10-20 minute mental breaks at work.
  • - master of defense - an amazing 3d implementation of the same concept that I just found - where have you been all my life? ;)

warning - ignore the above links if you must be productive. seriously, it’s bad news bears.

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quit one to play two!

29-Nov-06

so, earlier this month I canceled my WoW account (for the 2nd time) due to (renewed) lack o’ interest. I wrote previously about when I reactivated it. for the past few weeks, I couldn’t be happier about not having the WoW because I have my lovely bunches of fantasy (amongst other as-of-yet undisclosed fun.)

final fantasy three
…for DS. I’m digging it. it is a traditional an rpg as you can get and the graphics+sound are just good/bad enough to fall right in the niche - think (SNES) FF6 gameplay + (PSX) FF7 system capabilities. I’ve played about 4 hours scattered across nearly a week. the great thing about it is it is easy to pick up, fight a couple battles and put down again without fear of losing your gamestate before an area where you can save (world map) - the quicksave option is nice in case of low battery.

my biggest complaint is the load times are frequent and slightly-sluggish: between battle&worldmap, shifting between your guys and actually fighting in battle, and (most annoying of all) “party menu” get in the way a bit but what can you do, it’s not a deal breaker.

 rating so far: 4 out of 5 twinkley Nater-stars.

final fantasy twelve
takes up near all my free time off work, off gym, off watching tv while I eat, and off the phone. it is fun as hell and intricate enough to blow hours away without really progressing through the plot much - though the more time you spend preparing, leveling, gearing up the more fun your story progression is (imho.)

the story is pretty grood; while a little tedious at times, the characters generally make it worthwhile - I actually care about them! the graphics+sound are stunning for a playstation 2 title. I couldn’t be more impressed at the near lack of load times. sure, it’ll take a bit before a FMV but it’s worth it, the cutscene movies are also fantastic.

 rating so far: 4.75 out of 5 twinkley Nater-stars.

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games of greatest gravity (on me - part one?)

20-Nov-06

top 5’s of all time - impressions of these games were made generally when they were released, so I’ve tried take that into account as best I can recall.

the Final Fantasy series games originally Square, and now Square-Enix (Squeenix) are loved by me immensely.

1.) I heart Final Fantasy 3 (US)
- “How ’bout a little magitek mayhem?” -Kefka
- “Uwee hee hee! Don’t tease the octopus, kids!” -Ultros
- “Mr. Thou! Mr. Thou!” -Gau
- “In this world there are many like me who have killed their emotions. Don’t forget that.” -Shadow

2.) FF VII - “My mother is Jenova. She died right after she gave birth to me. My father… ha ha ha…” -Sephiroth

3.) FF X - “Outside the dream world, life can be harsh–even cruel, but it is life.” -Auron

4.) FF IX
5.) FF XI

FF XII is fastly moving up this list though I will not place it until I finish it. I expect it to end up between 3 and 7… I doubt anything will topple the effect FF III had on me the first time I played through it, but it is too soon to call!

* Dragon Warrior 1 (2 and 3), Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross deserve honorable mentions (at the very least) while I am on the topic of Squeenix.

Blizzard (North) games:

1.) Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction  World of Warcraft
Diablo II (LoD) / World of Warcraft

2.) Starcraft (Brood war)
3.) Diablo I
4.) Warcraft 2
5.) Warcraft 1

this one was tough. I was obsessed with these games and owe a great deal of my years (15-25) engrossed in these extremely addictive games. WoW and D2 tied, though this may change with additional forthought. each are cause of a significant portion of joy and depression (time laden.)

WC1 outed WC3 because of the time I was in it. it was the first computer game I could really play, at school mind you, as a TA long before I had a PC of my own capable of … well, anything fun.

this list inspired by my buddy abram who’s put up his:
“My most memorable video games.”

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screw you blizzard

17-Oct-06

to blizzard support:

for some reason, you *still* can’t get this shit (routine maintance?!) done on time. after nearly 2 years of running this game, and an near infinite amount of money to keep things moving forward, why can’t you bring servers back online ON TIME on a regular basis?!

your developers and artists are incredibly talented. the vision of the world and its implementation are astounding and revolutionary. I am only pissed off you’ve stolen so much of my life once in awhile.

so, OK, you have 4+ million subscribers, it’s a huge load; but that’s A LOT OF FUCKING MONEY. you could hire 4 million monkeys to do the same job your support staff does now. I’m sure there ARE exceptions, but WTF: your forums and your web servers go down when your game servers aren’t back up in time. there are a LOT of pissed off people wanting answers and rarely are they provided.

are you so greedy and inconsiderate that making deadlines is like a reward to your loyal subscribers? do we not pay you $13-$15 contractually such that you provide us a service? I feel like you nickle and dime us by constantly missing “deadlines.”

you are a drug dealer with all the supply in the universe; does this increase in temporary demand by pushing people to the ends of their patience actually provide benefits? if so I can’t imagine what sort.

No, I won’t stop giving you my money. Yes I pre-ordered your fucking collectors edition Burning Crusade expansion. I am simply disappointed in your irresponsibility to adapt, or at the very least, inability to be more upfront and honest with those who love you.

I pay and therefore I have the right and the privilege to bitch. *PLEASE* FIX YOUR SHIT BEFORE THE EXPANSION.

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south park in the WoW

05-Oct-06

first off, I was pretty stoked they were doing something so contemporary, very few shows these days do something so offbeat as this; though it’s only a matter of time before the simpsons does something similar - even if they seem to be stuck in perma-90s.

here’s a little blurb about the ep, if you haven’t seen it.

I thought it was pretty crappy. so many things in the ep aren’t even allowed in the game - trading equipped gear to other players, killing boars for xp lvl after lvl after lvl, pvp in elwynn, out of touch parents playing…. I doubt they have played it at all and were just going off of the hype and blizz went along for the ride for the extra publicity, and why not. also disappointing was the entire ep taking place in elwynn forest with the short stint in arathi (boooring..)

however I did like the fluidity of the SP boys’ wow avatar’s gestures/movements, that was neat; oh and the sword thingy was cool lookin’ too (specs hilarious). besides that, I’ve seen a lot of SP’s that were actually funny, this was contrived and pretty piss poor in comparison. sure it had it’s moments, but I wanted more. it was obviously written from and by the perspective of a newb (or noob, nub) despite the boys eventual hardcore antics.

at least in a superficial sense, I, and many others like me, look fantastic in the real world compared to what stan,kyle,kenny,cartman turned into after playing for weeks on end. it was disgustingly humorous, especially the part with cartman - “mom, bathroom!!” “ohh what a big boy..”

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wow pvp omg wtf <3 bbq yay!!!!!

29-Aug-06

since leaving my friends in the dust as far as leveling goes, I’ve picked up pvp as a pasttime (until they catch up.. hopefully). I’ve always enjoyed it to some degree, but never as much as now that I’ve found the warrior class to be freaking awesome. while sadly I lack the ability to be a flag carrier, I am superb on defense, especially when paired up with some hunter(s) and or mages. I can take down single targets like no tomorrow.

as an aside, pvp on the whole is annoying, frustrating and full of childish bickering. alliance loses so very often, and makes me miss horde at times but all in all it’s the same BS on either side.

last night, 5 minutes before server shutdown I hopped in a AB game… it was full of 49s - a rarity in itself - all of high(er) rank. we won AB by capturing all locations within 4 minutes. it was absolutely astonishing: the victory screen followed immediately by “disconnected from server.” for the alliance indeed!

let me back up a bit - I’ve been playing WSG primarily, to earn this which I did a few days ago. but lately I’ve been hopping back and forth between AB and WSG. a lil variety in an oft frustrating as hell horde pvp dominance.

here’s some far and few between victory screenshots - this one from an absolutely exhillarating come-back win from a seemingly enivitable loss at 2-0, to 15 minutes later rejoicing in 2-3 - can you tell I was on defense? ;)
wsg last night

this next one was from a few nights ago, one of the 2 out of 8-10 AB games lately that we actually won. I did not die until I noticed I was up to 14 killing blows and got cocky. :) good times.
ab few nights ago

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wow for lyfe?

09-Aug-06

after my first year, I had some major disagreements w/the guild I was in at the time - my after-work investments for the guild were insufficient so I was booted.  I was still putting in 15-20 hours a week… so I took it as a sign to quit and did so.  it was very liberating… for about 6 months.

thank you for posting your insight Tom, and inspiring me to write a bit myself.  I had been a WoW’r for about a 1.3 years, beginning when the game came out nov of 2004.  after getting two entirely separate characters to 60 and finally getting fed up with “drama” - I was able to quit…. for 6 months. I went back last month (July) when a couple real-life friends con’d me into it.  I was resistent at first but have been enjoying “the grind” all over again.  but even in spite of enjoyment, I disdain it - I relate strongly to the terms “time sink” and ’stolen creative time’ … I feel hopeless to change this at present.

I’m worried about it and constantly feel as if I do not have enough time in my day… do I call for help or make yet another run for that shiney blue plate chest piece? the latter so far continues to triumph.

hooyay non-productive feelings of productivity!

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tyrael

28-Jul-06

Dur.. Diablo II! jeez… of all the time I spent in that game, it didn’t even occur to me unconciously that I chose a name I already knew.

I was trying to get Tyrian (or Tyrion) - the dwarf from A Game of Thrones, but they were taken. So I constructed Tyrael from much trial and error. and now, I love the name.

shit! I bet the bastages at blizzard will make me change my name if they ever notice…
help me come up with a replacement name…something close to this, in case they do.

what’s in a name…

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