I bought a Xbox 360 for Rock Band. I'm a PC man until the day the format ceases to exist. Which is predicted every year by some gaming pundit trying to make a name for himself. The PC apocalypse never seems to materialize. If anything thing, the more pundits that predict it, the better the PC industry does that year.
As a PC gamer, I'm adept at mouse and keyboard. Don't get me wrong; I don't tear it up on shooters, even on the PC. But the control scheme is second nature to me, so much so that I can pick up just about any game on the PC and immediately start playing it reasonably well.
The Xbox controller? Not so much.
Even so, I've heard some hype about the upcoming Xbox exclusive title, Too Human. It's billed as an action/RPG, the same description as the Diablo series, so I decided to download it and give it a spin. Suffice it to say, my clumsiness with the controller impedes my ability to judge the game. I imagine I looked like a monkey trying to use a TV remote and not getting the channel he wanted. The Discovery Channel, I'm sure.
I think I did make it to the end of the demo. I made it to a boss, at least. Skullcrusher was his name. He reminded me a bit of Void Reaver, though a raiding party at my back was conspicuously absent. I got Skull down to half health, but after that my sword blows were damageless. After I died a couple of times, I tried some new strategies. One in particular, running behind the steaming machine and jumping, proved the right track. A tiny cut scene depicted me jumping on top of Skull's head; I looked like a was riding a mechanical bull. But when I started to mash some buttons in an ignorant attempt to spring an attack, I slid off harmlessly instead. I eventually got bored and quit.
The game shows promise though. I doubt it's anything I'll pick up. About the only Xbox game I'm thinking of purchasing outside of Rock Band 2 is The Force Unleashed. And even then I'm going to wait for some reviews first.
Monday, August 4, 2008
A Game of Thrones
After my brother finished Paolini's Eragon and Eldest, he was hungry for some more fantasy reading. He went to Barnes & Noble and asked an associate there if he recommended anything. The bookseller led him to George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones. I'm glad he did because my brother in turn led me to the series.
I had never heard of Martin or the Song of Ice and Fire series. My brother insisted they were good books and lent me two of them, though inconveniently not the first. I had to hit the streets and track down my own copy. Usually that's easy enough to do, especially with a book that came out more than a decade ago. But wouldn't you know, I couldn't find a copy to save my life. That was my first clue that perhaps I was about to read something great. I couldn't find the the book at Half Priced Books. My nearest Barnes & Noble only had the hardcover in stock. I finally found a paperback copy at a B&N some twenty miles away.
I finished AGoT this past weekend and am well into the sequel, A Clash of Kings. If you peruse some of the books' customer reviews at Amazon, you'll read some comparisons to Tolkien and the like. Ignore that. Martin's work bears little in common with Tolkien other than the characters share armaments and medieval technology. Other than that, the books are night and day to each other. I can best describe the series A Song of Ice and Fire as low fantasy with a historical fiction approach to plot, narrative, and character development. I've read little literary criticism of the series, but people have mentioned that the books political intrigue and warring houses is partly inspired from real history, specifically the War of the Roses and the Hundred Years' War.
Which is what makes the books so different from Tolkien and the hundreds of other fantasy settings inspired by him. True enough, Martin builds his own world. But the political in-fighting between the host of royal families fuels the narrative, not a single, epic quest. There's a hint of the fantastical. The book opens with a ranger party blundering into some viscous undead; the recon team fares badly in the encounter but I wouldn't exaclty say they "died." The book ends with a the rebirth of dragons, awe-inspiring creatures who used to support an entire ruling family but hadn't been seen for more than a hundred years.
But the fantasy element is the pinch of seasoning to the recipe that cooks up these books. The real driving force is strong character development. The individuals in the books have realistic motivations, most of them political. More importantly, they do the unexpected and they make mistakes. And they die. Martin painstakingly develops characters and then unceremoniously kills them off. It's shocking to be sure, but so rare these day in fantasy, it's the literary equivalent of traveling through a desert, throat wracked with thirst, and then stumbling upon an oasis. There's just something thrilling in the notion that any character may die at any time. Death is only a chapter away, even for a main character.
I don't know how Martin manages to weave so many character, plots, and subplots together in such a cohesive, entertaining way. But he does. As a result, he fashioned a page-turner. If you're a fan of fantasy, you've probably already read him. If you haven't, I highly recommend it. And if you're not a fantasy fan, this is probably the best vehicle for starting.
I'll end with a plea to Martin himself: please don't kill off Tyrion.
I had never heard of Martin or the Song of Ice and Fire series. My brother insisted they were good books and lent me two of them, though inconveniently not the first. I had to hit the streets and track down my own copy. Usually that's easy enough to do, especially with a book that came out more than a decade ago. But wouldn't you know, I couldn't find a copy to save my life. That was my first clue that perhaps I was about to read something great. I couldn't find the the book at Half Priced Books. My nearest Barnes & Noble only had the hardcover in stock. I finally found a paperback copy at a B&N some twenty miles away.
I finished AGoT this past weekend and am well into the sequel, A Clash of Kings. If you peruse some of the books' customer reviews at Amazon, you'll read some comparisons to Tolkien and the like. Ignore that. Martin's work bears little in common with Tolkien other than the characters share armaments and medieval technology. Other than that, the books are night and day to each other. I can best describe the series A Song of Ice and Fire as low fantasy with a historical fiction approach to plot, narrative, and character development. I've read little literary criticism of the series, but people have mentioned that the books political intrigue and warring houses is partly inspired from real history, specifically the War of the Roses and the Hundred Years' War.
Which is what makes the books so different from Tolkien and the hundreds of other fantasy settings inspired by him. True enough, Martin builds his own world. But the political in-fighting between the host of royal families fuels the narrative, not a single, epic quest. There's a hint of the fantastical. The book opens with a ranger party blundering into some viscous undead; the recon team fares badly in the encounter but I wouldn't exaclty say they "died." The book ends with a the rebirth of dragons, awe-inspiring creatures who used to support an entire ruling family but hadn't been seen for more than a hundred years.
But the fantasy element is the pinch of seasoning to the recipe that cooks up these books. The real driving force is strong character development. The individuals in the books have realistic motivations, most of them political. More importantly, they do the unexpected and they make mistakes. And they die. Martin painstakingly develops characters and then unceremoniously kills them off. It's shocking to be sure, but so rare these day in fantasy, it's the literary equivalent of traveling through a desert, throat wracked with thirst, and then stumbling upon an oasis. There's just something thrilling in the notion that any character may die at any time. Death is only a chapter away, even for a main character.
I don't know how Martin manages to weave so many character, plots, and subplots together in such a cohesive, entertaining way. But he does. As a result, he fashioned a page-turner. If you're a fan of fantasy, you've probably already read him. If you haven't, I highly recommend it. And if you're not a fantasy fan, this is probably the best vehicle for starting.
I'll end with a plea to Martin himself: please don't kill off Tyrion.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Layla Kayleigh Has Fake Boobs!
I stole G4's own subject heading because there just isn't any other way to say it.
Oh Layla, say it isn't so!
Oh Layla, say it isn't so!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
New Content Available for PC Mass Effect
The update is called "Bring Down the Sky" and is free for registered owners of Mass Effect. Just head over here to snag some sweet content.
Hellgate: London Back from the Brink
1up reports that Hellgate: London may have been bought out by a Korean company, T3 Entertainment. 1up isn't basing this on an official announcement but instead infers it from recent job opening postings on Gamasutra.
I guess this is good news. What choice does the game have? It's either go belly up or get taken over by company best known for its dancing MMO. Dancing?
Oh sweet Jesus, this game is screwed.
I guess this is good news. What choice does the game have? It's either go belly up or get taken over by company best known for its dancing MMO. Dancing?
Oh sweet Jesus, this game is screwed.
The Joy of Home Ownership
We returned from San Antonio yesterday to a house atmospheric temperature of 95 degrees. The furnace fan was blowing, but only warm air flowed from the vents. I checked the condenser outside and it was turning but obviously not doing anything else of worth. Usually I can trip my breaker and reset everything, but repeated attempts were fruitless.
So I called some AC dudes. They came out, examined the condenser, and declared it DOA. Irreparable even. It had to be replaced.
Wifezilla and I have known for more than a year that we needed to replace not just the condenser, but the entire heating and cooling system. The furnace and blower are original to the house and our overall air flow is limp at best. The problem is that we've spent consecutive summers financing high-cost repairs to the house. Two years ago we replaced the roof and upstairs windows. Last summer we resided the house. Even though we knew the condenser was groaning ominous death-rattles, we had hoped it could hang on at least another year. But no.
So I had the AC dudes give us an estimate to replace the whole shebang. I've heard other estimates for this kind of work and though theirs was a bit higher, they offered a free year of financing and a life time warranty on both the furnace an the condenser. Best of all, they slapped the condenser in last evening so we could sleep under livable conditions. By five o'clock the house temperature had risen to 101 degrees. That's with all the windows open. It was actually cooler outside than inside our house. It took until midnight for the house to get back down under 80 degrees.
The crew returns this morning to replace the furnace, blower, and duct work. I guess the original furnace's installation was done half-ass, so they're going to fix that too and bring all the lines upstairs up to code.
Houston's forecast today? Sunny, with a high of 100 degrees.
So I called some AC dudes. They came out, examined the condenser, and declared it DOA. Irreparable even. It had to be replaced.
Wifezilla and I have known for more than a year that we needed to replace not just the condenser, but the entire heating and cooling system. The furnace and blower are original to the house and our overall air flow is limp at best. The problem is that we've spent consecutive summers financing high-cost repairs to the house. Two years ago we replaced the roof and upstairs windows. Last summer we resided the house. Even though we knew the condenser was groaning ominous death-rattles, we had hoped it could hang on at least another year. But no.
So I had the AC dudes give us an estimate to replace the whole shebang. I've heard other estimates for this kind of work and though theirs was a bit higher, they offered a free year of financing and a life time warranty on both the furnace an the condenser. Best of all, they slapped the condenser in last evening so we could sleep under livable conditions. By five o'clock the house temperature had risen to 101 degrees. That's with all the windows open. It was actually cooler outside than inside our house. It took until midnight for the house to get back down under 80 degrees.
The crew returns this morning to replace the furnace, blower, and duct work. I guess the original furnace's installation was done half-ass, so they're going to fix that too and bring all the lines upstairs up to code.
Houston's forecast today? Sunny, with a high of 100 degrees.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Mr. Pickles
A strategically placed Sanrio sucked us into its mercantile black hole yesterday. Hallie browsed stoically but I suspect she's getting too old for the store's wares. Claire, on the other hand, wasted little time returning with a handful of these, all differently flavored. At first I denied all requests; the girls have so much crap at home, Wifezilla literally has to fill garbage bags of toys and stuffed animals for donation. On a yearly basis. But for some reason, something about the frog made me chuckle, that permanently etched smile on its face perhaps. How very optimistic of it.
When we returned to the hotel with the bagged bundle of joy, Hallie examined him more closely, noting that he wore a name tag. "Hey, he's got a name! Mr. Pickles."
I instantly broke out laughing. Mr. Pickles has to either be the greatest stuffed animal name ever or the best cover name for a recidivist pedophile. I grabbed the frog to verify the tag myself. Hallie had read it wrong. It didn't say "Mr. Pickles," but "Pickles the Frog." A small error but a vast difference.
I note the correction to the entire room. Hallie and Claire both revert to the frog's intended name, but immediately I regret my interference. Mr. Pickles rolls off the tongue and turns an innocent frog into a rogue amphibian. I imagine the difference to be akin to that between Mr. Rogers and Chris Farley. I attempt to turn back time by constantly referring to him as Mr. Pickles. The girls resist, sometimes shouting Pickles the Frog back at me. Wifezilla rolls her eyes. But I press on, inserting Mr. Pickles into the conversation whenever the plush toy is mentioned.
Someone has to fight the good fight.
When we returned to the hotel with the bagged bundle of joy, Hallie examined him more closely, noting that he wore a name tag. "Hey, he's got a name! Mr. Pickles."
I instantly broke out laughing. Mr. Pickles has to either be the greatest stuffed animal name ever or the best cover name for a recidivist pedophile. I grabbed the frog to verify the tag myself. Hallie had read it wrong. It didn't say "Mr. Pickles," but "Pickles the Frog." A small error but a vast difference.
I note the correction to the entire room. Hallie and Claire both revert to the frog's intended name, but immediately I regret my interference. Mr. Pickles rolls off the tongue and turns an innocent frog into a rogue amphibian. I imagine the difference to be akin to that between Mr. Rogers and Chris Farley. I attempt to turn back time by constantly referring to him as Mr. Pickles. The girls resist, sometimes shouting Pickles the Frog back at me. Wifezilla rolls her eyes. But I press on, inserting Mr. Pickles into the conversation whenever the plush toy is mentioned.
Someone has to fight the good fight.
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