Friday, December 31, 2010

Ümloud 2010

Ümloud! One of my favorite events from 2009 returned for 2010 and it was better than ever. I'm confident in saying "better" because this year my friends and I took the stage as Supercollider. The experience was well worth it. We all had a blast, and the event raised more than $11,000 for the Child's Play Charity. Supercollider is myself, James, Rick, Mario, and Alice. Bask for a moment in our awsomeness. Big thanks to Tyler Winegarner photography for the images.













Thursday, December 23, 2010

The Future Is Bangin'!

I'm going to see Tron Legacy this weekend, and lately I've been thinking about how many science fiction movies, or just nerdy movies feature a girl with black bangs. Check out Olivia Wilde with her black-banged bob:


Sunday, December 5, 2010

/love. You Love BlizzCon

I'm putting up today's post with the assumption that it's not too late to talk about BlizzCon. Just like it's never too late to start playing StarCraft or World of Warcraft, BlizzCon has remained topical in my circle of gamer friends months after the fact. Now with the glow of Cataclysm peaking over the horizon, it seems that 2010 has been an excellent year to be a fan of Blizzard.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Death Of A Thousand Pricks: Unboxing Dead Rising 2 Zombrex edition

I love Dead Rising, and I'm making the responsible choice to protect myself and the ones I love, so that I can continue on with the sequel.


Sunday, September 12, 2010

PAX 2010 Infodump

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to PAX Prime in Seattle. I had some expectations, which were quickly shattered, and some apprehension, though the people and atmosphere soon put me at ease. I felt familiar among strangers. I took many pictures during the three-day pilgrimage, and I think a NSF56K show-and-tell session is the best way I can share the experience. I'll try to keep things together as best as I can.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Xbox Live Price Hikes/Is Live The New Cable?

Yesterday came the announcement that the price of an Xbox Live Gold membership is going up. The new pricing schedule takes effect November 1st, with a 1-year membership growing from $50 to $60. Nerd rage was quick to bubble up across the net, some of which I believe is justified.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Gravity Hook HD

This morning I downloaded Semi Secret Software's latest offering for iGadgets, Gravity Hook HD. I hadn't played the free Flash version of the game, so I was pretty much going in sight unseen. Still, coming from the creators of Canabalt, I was eager to see what new challenges they had cooked up. I made the right choice.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Mmm...Donut Games

So yeah...definitely haven't been here in a while. Plenty has happened in games in the past few months and I just haven't nutted up to comment on any of it. My bad. I do have some chewier topics I want to post on soon, but today isn't the day. Sorry. I'm also starting to thing about PAX 2010 on a daily basis; I have my 3-day passes...do you have yours?

I've been stuck with a lot of mobile gaming lately, but that's being made all the better by the offerings from Donut Games. They publish on the web and iGadgets, and since Cat Physics went free as part of Free App A Day, I've really been digging Donut's style. No matter what the game is about, the developer has a unified style in the menu design that always makes things easy to navigate. I love the graphics, too. Donut Games always has a 16-bit sprite-based graphical style, as if everything were running on a SNES. Even their menu font looks like the font from Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past. It's a retro-game veneer on games that are fun, quick, challenging, and perfectly designed around the iPhone/iPod Touch interface. I don't always focus on mobile games, but Cat Physics and its brethren have sucked me in for hours at a time.

What I'm Playing:
  • Main Campaign: Torchlight
  • Side Quest: Cat Physics, Castle Smasher, Traffic Rush

Sunday, April 4, 2010

First Cosplay/BONK!

I have a friend Mario who is deeply geeky, like myself. He is way into conventions like BlizzCon and such. Besides the usual trappings of these events like group panels, stuff to buy, and gaming events, he is also way into cosplay. He's at a level of proficiency that requires tools, skill, garage space, and a dedication to the craft. He and his girl, Alice thought that this weekend's Wondercon in San Francisco would be a good chance for me to get into it as well.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Road Guards, POST!

Wanna see how I spent my day today? Here ya go:



An honorable Guardian in Coast Guard MSST 91103, serving in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, contacted me a week ago. He asked me to make him a truck themed after his unit that he could drive in Forza Motorsport 3, and I obliged. I made all of the logos from scratch, as well as the desert camo paint job. His unit patch alone contains 325 shapes, and I think I reproduced it pretty darn well. Here's the original for reference:

I am a paint editor god. In all, the theme took around 8 hours of work, including my own fretting over what shape to use, at what angle to set it, and making sure it all looked straight. If you'd like to download this or any other of my Coast Guard-themed Forza Motorsport 3 designs, come visit my shop! If you search "coast guard semper paratus" you should find most of my stuff. I also take requests for particular cars or paygrades. Semper Paratus.

What I'm Playing:
  • Main Campaign: Final Fantasy 13
  • Side Quest: Forza Motorsport 3

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Rez and Playing Around

Some time ago I got into an argument with another Internet writer about how games can distinguish themselves from other forms of art (or media, if you prefer.) I concluded that where stories are told, photos are seen, and movies are watched; following that, games are played, and that play is required for the full experience. When it comes to sex, most video games are still stumbling over how to show and tell the act. Few games are able to approach sex as a part of play; one unique game that has is Rez.

Rez is a shooting game that takes place in a fantastical cyberscape filled with flying ships made of colorful geometric shapes. The player controls a wire-frame humanoid who soars through this neon-lit battlefield. The player floats their targeting reticule over the geometric ships and presses a button until the ships explode, and everything is set to a thumping techno soundtrack. Nothing about Rez is outwardly erotic, but within its layers is the concept of synesthesia, a blending of sensory inputs, and this cocktail of stimulation is enhanced by Rez's approach towards games and touch. Enter: Trance Vibration.

The notorious Trance Vibrator peripheral shipped with the Playstation 2 version of Rez. It is the key that unlocks the sexual potential of Rez. As the levels and the music in Rez grow in intensity, the Trance Vibrator quietly trembles along with the action. The game's designers may have claimed that the Trance Vibrator provides a great foot massage, but as cell phones, electric toothbrushes, and dodgy washing machines have proven, anything in this world that trembles will eventually wind up caressing one's moist n' tenders.

Thusly, Rez is able to introduce sex as a game mechanic. Instead of trying to awkwardly play out a pre-fab sex scene with video game mannequins, Rez can offer a gentle touch as a reward for playing well. When games try to show explicit sex they run the risk that the player might get distracted enough to stop playing and...do something else...that requires their hands...and they can't continue with the game for a while. Rez's sexuality is subtle, yet intense, like a thigh massage in the dark. The only way it succeeds is with full participation from the player (or players, in the case of couples.)

Games still have a way to go in showing sexuality, but I'm interested to see how they can include sex as a part of play and not just show and tell. Rez, almost 10 years old, is still ahead of its time in how it lets you play with sex. It's comfortable in being a fun action game, but the invitation for a little more is always open, if you're willing to join in.

What I'm Playing:
  • Main Campaign: Final Fantasy 13, Heavy Rain
  • Side Quest: The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Furniture Hack: AK Rock Box/USB Hub

Finally! I've finally gotten around to a little project that I'd been wanting to do since I moved to my new house. Since I love Rock Band, I knew I wanted to add the superb AK Rock Box to my living room. It's a great piece of gamer-centric furniture, and now I've done a mod that makes it even more useful.

I bought the big-box version of the original Rock Band when it came out, and it came with a pretty disappointing 4-port USB hub to support all the instruments. I never liked having to set up that hub with its 6-inch cord and 3-foot power cord behind my TV setup, adding to the wire spaghetti in the back. Now with a little work to the Rock Box, I don't have to.



Neat, huh? The mod is very simple. I figured out where I wanted the wires to go and slit a hole in the fabric lining above and below the ottoman's floor. I drilled a hole in the wooden floor and threaded the USB hub's power cord and a 10-foot USB extension cable through it. Then I slit the fabric again on the high part of the wall and stuck the hub to the wooden wall with Scotch recloseable fasteners.

The USB extension easily reaches my systems and lets me plug in four devices without getting up from the couch. For those like me who are still using corded Rock Band controllers, this cuts living room tripping hazards by up to 75%, and makes it so I can still play with a Dual Shock 3 while it's plugged and charging off its laughably short cord. The ottoman's lid can even close when devices are plugged in.

Ah, domestic gaming bliss.

What I'm Playing:
  • Main Campaign: Batman: Arkham Asylum, Modern Warfare 2
  • Side Quest: Soul Calibur 4, Rock Band 2