Looping the Hen

PrettyPonyLady to the rescue

I found this rummaging around a few weeks back, and saw it again today referenced on another site. Most people may not find it funny (or even understand it), but I laughed out loud the first time I read it.

Eve Rising

There is an interesting article about Eve Online in the Escapist this issue. Although some of the nuts and bolts are a little different than reality (according to the founders of ISS), it is mostly on target. I don't generally read the Escapist (though many regard it as a good e-zine) as I often find the writers much too fluffy and self-aggrandizing for my taste. This article though, and another I glanced through this morning, seem much less so than I remember.

Maybe I'll look at sticking around Eve a little longer; its average player count online at any one time is up almost 50% in the last 6 months, and it has received a ton of positive press in the last few months or so.

Update: I take it back. After reading the last couple of issues of the Escapist, I don't see any of the writing styles that drove me away from it in the first place. There are a lot of interesting and well-written articles. I'll keep an eye on it from now on!

I think its an income tax check I never cashed...cool!

I don't know why, but I went to Connecticut's unclaimed property website, and not only do I have something to claim, so do one of my brothers (Tom, if you read this, go check!), my father, and 3 things for a cousin!

Neat! Honestly, I think it is an income tax check that missed me because I was changing addresses, and it was a ton of work trying to find out where it was at. Woohoo, it's all of $92 if I remember correctly, but hey, I'll let ya know if I actually get something!

Did a quick search for Saint/Gibb and Jess, but didn't find anything in y'alls name, sorry!

I've been looking for a new addiction...

A gaming one that is. This Ebay search combines what I think my addiction should be with the realization that most people have the money management skills of gophers. (Actually, I shouldn't be that mean to gophers.)

Now if only I can find some folks to play with!

(Since the search won't last for more than another 14 hours when the auction ends, I'll summarize: person has bid an item up to $244 + 14.95 shipping, when the same item has been available since before the auction started for 199.99+$20.00 shipping or less. Also, anyone doing a search to find the first item should very easily have seen the 2nd. The reason I noticed it is because I bought the same item 2 weeks ago for $175 total. Go me! I'm planning to do a post on finding Ebay arbitrage (ie. free money) in a few days.)

Twitch 1, DDO 0

2. Combat – our system's action-oriented. Battles are a lot more dynamic than those found in other games. It's different than your traditional MMO. If you're looking for something out of the ordinary, you'll want to check it out.

Just for the record, we're not going all-out twitch with our combat -- this game isn't going to play like a first-person shooter. (To be honest, we're not too crazy about the term "twitch combat" in the first place.) Instead, what we're creating is a combat system that emphasizes both player skill and D&D rules. To give you a basic example, let's look at a simple melee combat -- a fighter attacking an ogre:

The pen and paper Dungeons and Dragons combat system, while always having been a little underwhelming in terms of complexity and possible options during each round, always seemed to me to be that way for a reason. The reason is while it is complex enough to allow some heroics, it is simple enough to not interrupt the role-playing part of the game too heavily. I remember G-Max and I trying to play Shadowrun at some point, and while I loved the setting, it (at that time, it could have changed) seemed we could roll 40 dice for one round of combat. A single short combat could take a full night of playing, while in D&D, my current group usually manages a couple of short melee's and one setpiece battle against a big baddie.

D&D was almost like 'Combat Lite' so it allowed more focus on the core game. In DDO, I have been overwhelmed even by the smallest of combat's. If the developers don't think they have a 'twitch' game on their hand, they are not playing the same game I am. What they have created has given those who are good at 'twitch' (1st person shooters) games a huge advantage. Good players will strafe-circle monsters, just like in a FPS, and avoid being hit by hopping, rolling and backpedalling. I, on the other hand, while pretty good in almost all board/turn-based combat games, am horrible at DDO. The real-time physics engine means if I can't see the monster, I can't hit it. So I have a choice, either I stand still and swing to try to kill something (allowing myself to get hit alot), or I run around like mad trying to avoid getting hit, but at that point I don't have enough control to actually make contact with a bad guy at the same time.

I believe the developers really were trying to come up with something cool, but I'm not sure how well they've succeeded. It is neat and interesting that if you see a big monster winding up, if you're quick enough you can dodge out of the way. However, most hardcore D&D players are now my age or a little older (I would guess), and I'm not sure we're famous for our skill at twitch games. It seems to me if it were truly like PnP Dungeons and Dragons, my 5th level Cleric should be able to kill your 2nd level rogue. It's a good thing there is no PVP, because in this game, people would be able to run rings around me and pick me to death 1hp at a time.

The combat is really the thing that will keep me from playing DDO. I could get to 10th level and still be useless to a party because I can't hit the broad side of a barn, and we're only talking about kobolds and bugbears at the level I am at.

I don't know why, but this post reminded me of a game I really liked, though was (for the reasons above) never really good at. For those who like the Medieval genre and FPS, Die By The Sword is a treat, and as far as sword and shield combat, is as good as has ever been made for the PC. It can be picked up for a few bucks on Ebay or Amazon, though there might be some issues getting it to work on brand new machines if other older games I have tried to install are any indication.

Anyone with any other recommendations for combat type games that aren't blindingly hard to play, please let me know!

I'm not quite there yet...

I hope he wore kneepads!

Best satire humor site on the net...

Scrappleface.

"A spokesman for Microsoft said it would phase out of the television news venture in order to focus on its core business of providing free security patches for its popular Windows software."

(Truth in advertising...I think he's center-right to mid-right...doesn't make him any less funny)

Holy Robotics R.A.M. Batman!

Well, I had intended a 2nd part to my D&D post, but got swamped with Eve orders! Will do that tomorrow, honest! They had a 10 cent sale on placing orders at Ebay yesterday, and I went nuts and placed up for auction around 10 times what I normally have out there. To be honest, I should have been out of this racket in the last month or so, but an ingame price spike on something I had a huge inventory of literally raised its value by over 2000%, leaving me with another $1000 worth of credits to sell.
Damn, its such a cool game and has been a lifesaver for my checkbook, I hate to give it up! Its just so hard to compete and make money without being in a corporation ingame, and I just, well, hate most people.;) To be honest, most of the billions I made was darn near luck. I just happened onto a single type of item that almost noone else wanted, I bought it like crazy, and literally pushed everyone else out of the market for it. I got into three price wars at one point that I almost went to real in-game fighting over (not good for me and my corporation of, well, me), but managed to make the margins so small (or non-existent for one 3 day period or so) at one point the competition ended up bowing out and leaving me the market.

Most (99%) of the item (R.A.M, as per the title) I only sold for about 3 times what I bought for it...this last push took me by huge (but pleasant) surprise.=) If I had held onto all of it, I could have made over $25,000...oh, well, no way I could ever have known that! Plus I wouldn't have made everything I did moving along, so if I hadn't done it all along, I would most likely not be playing now anyway to take advantage of a short term spike.

Weird, its almost like...life, ya know? To be honest, some might want to look at Eve, its one game that keeps growing, and its more interesting than any of the hack and slash games out there. We broke the 19,000 simultaneously player barrier on Sunday. (there are no shards on Eve, its all one big universe) Not another game on the market can say anything close!

Yes, it surprised me too!

I played in the 2nd Dungeons and Dragons Online Stress Test two weeks ago, and got into the Beta finally as a result of it early last week. I downloaded the 1.6gb client and started playing it Tuesday or so after work. So having 4 straight days off to play a game this past weekend, one would have expected many late nights of kobolds and magic missiles. Instead, I played 4 hard days and nights (being sick helped this along) of...Morrowind.

Not to diminish Morrowind in the least as a game that should have been 2nd fiddle. It is a testament to a 3 or 4 year old game, although it is an odd testament. I've 'played' Morrowind about a half-dozen times now, stopping and starting as the mood struck me. Each time I get back into it, I have to remember where I am at, what quests I am working on, who I like and who I don't in the game and how to use the rather clunky control setup.

Still, I've come to realize that Morrowind may be the best (even better than Baldur's Gate 2 or Fallout 2 I am starting to think) computer role-playing game of all time. It has everything my tabletop D&D games try to (and yes, sometimes fail to) have. Huge world? Check. Tons of quests and possible quests? Check. (holy mackeral check) Interesting character building? Check. (this is something I've always prided myself on...letting the characters in my worlds build fun, balanced, and interesting characters that fall way outside the boundaries of the regular classes) Spells? Not a huge variety of different effects, but more than most will need. And the good part is Morrowind lets you mix and match all of them any way you pleased. Want a spell that creates light and heals you as it shoots a lightning-damage fireball? You can do that. Check. A gazillion magic items. Yep. Alchemy? Yep. (Potion-making is pretty addictive once you get the hang of it!)

Check. Check. Check. It has almost everything, and almost all of it well-done.

What I find disappointing is the one or two things DDO does well, Character building (as far as it goes) and Dungeons, just don't seem like they will be enough to hold my attention for long. And I've been dying to like it! Some may say that is because it is still in beta. To be honest though, the game is basically done, and ships at the end of February. With the world and quests they created, I *might* shell out $50 if it were a standalone (or networked/internet multiplayer) game. But as a MMOG, it will come with a $15-$20 monthly fee attached to it. So for a year, that would be $230 or so. Worth it? Not right now.

There are only a few things wrong with the game for what it is (though what is wrong, to me, is very wrong). It is beautiful. Character creation works almost identically to 3.5 edition D&D (although there aren't as many feats). You can do a half-dozen quick quests in a couple hours if you're just time-killing. (A godsend for people without a lot of time, or kids) It is easy to find groups to play with. Still, those don't make up for what it is lacking.

The overarching problem, as I see it, is they did not need to create a MMORPG to play with the content they've provided. They are going to charge a fee for a game where a Battlenet type shell a la Diablo/Diablo II (or a Battlefield type 32 or 64 man player-owned server setup) would have been sufficient. There is no crafting in the game, and no in-game market. There is no PVP (nor will there be it sounds like). 99% of all dungeons and encounters are instanced, meaning every group of adventurers gets its own little 'world inside a world' to play in. So I don't understand why I want to pay $15 to play online, when I really will only be playing with 10-20 (30 or 50 even) other players. To be honest, my perfect game would be G-Max, his brother, Gibb (and Roach if we could get him to play), myself and a few of my local gaming buddies. And most PnP (pen and paper) players probably feel the same way.

To be honest, I was a little shocked at what I found when I first started playing. Basically (no joke), the game consists of Create Character, gather quests, enter and conquer dungeons, sell loot (the loot system is pretty good), gain level so I can go to a different part of the city, gather quests, enter and conquer...etc. Part of why I still play Eve (not that I play it really, I'd call it monitoring) is that I can fight if I want, trade if I want, craft if I want, or fly around and see some of the best scenery in a MMOG in a massive universe.

Wizards and Turbine say they are trying to 'stick to D&D'. Well, to me (and I hope to those I've DM'd over the years), D&D was always about limitless possibilities, not the very limited box they are putting the online game into. In all my years, Dungeons have played a part around 5% of the time, and the rest was spent wandering massive cities, politicking across continents, and exploring vast worlds. Dungeons, honestly, were the smallest part of it.

Will I play it? Sure, if I can get those listed above to play it with me. I don't mean to sound quite so harsh on it, I just think it may be a huge flop with PnP D&D players, especially those who have created and adventured in their own worlds.

Anyhow, I'm off and back to Morrowind and my newly crowned Arch-Mage (how is that for possibilities!?!); I'm dedicated to completing the main story arc someday (4 days straight and I'm still at least 20-30 hours away from completing it I think)!

Flux won't make you sick, promise

Aeon Flux is an interesting post-apocalyptic flick with strong (if not breathtaking) visuals, decent acting, and a deep, if convoluted (and not necessarily coherent), plot. To be honest, I am not sure what the deal is, as it has tanked even further at Rotten Tomatoes, often a decent judge of films. For those who thought the previews were good, they were indicative of the film, and it is not one of those where they show only the best parts.

Flux was better than many of the last several years' big-budget sci-fi flix, including Van Helsing, Underworld and Hellboy. Sure, there were times where Theron looked a tad uncomfortable, but in no way did it sound like she was 'on 'ludes', as one of the Tomatoes reviewers put it. Although I have to say I thought she looked hotter
in The Italian Job.

Most of my friends like similar movies (at least in this genre) as I do. For those into the genre, don't go to Flux and expect a masterpiece. However, don't listen to the hype of how bad it is supposed to be either. It is a solid piece of entertaining filmmaking. Lots of interesting outfits, kung fu style fight scenes, and at the end, a fairly cool gun battle.

Go Me!

I didn't hit my goal of 26:24 (I don't think, will know tomorrow when they post official times), but I came darned close! I think I clocked in at under 27:00 on a course with a pair of hills (not as bad as I had heard, but still), one light and one pretty steep. In 30 degree weather. In the dark. Wearing an Enhanced Santa hat. (Thanks to the very artsy and talented AKBar!) And three layers of clothes.

Thanks goes to three very cool ladies from work. One who helped me step up my pace on the first big downhill, which gained me a good 15 seconds over just jogging it down. The other two helped me finish much stronger than I would have. We were at about 2.15 miles and I was already burnt (out of 3.11) when the first passed me, and then about 30 seconds later the other did. The first was about 5 seconds overall up on us at that point. I wasn't sure I had it left in me, but I pulled into pace with the 2nd, ran with her for about a minute, then pulled and passed the first one also. I even had enough to outkick 3 people at the end. (was a good sized race of about 900-1000 folks) I think they may have beaten me time wise (They started after me; people run with 'chips' now that track when you cross the start and finish, so it doesn't matter if you start at the back of the pack (other than trying to get through the crowd)), but they definitely pushed me to a time 30 seconds to a minute better than I was headed for. Go competitive nature!

I read an article in Runner's World a few weeks back that said runners always beat themselves up after a race, no matter how they do. I don't think that's right. I ran a pretty good race, even if I did get passed by 3 Santa's, 5 girl's with antlers, and an elf (ears and all), but still I am extremely happy with myself, unlike my last two races. I held in check one of my bad habits, which is to save too much for the end, and I crossed the line wobbly, crispy and out of breath like I should have.

The only complaint I have is the brand new $50 piece of cold weather Under Armor I bought this afternoon. I wore it and a medium piece of cold weather gear from New Balance and felt like I was buck naked. The workout pants from New Balance were fine for my legs, two pairs of standard athletic socks for my feet were good, and my $4 Enhanced Santa Hat kept my head cooking. My solution for the rest of me? I added a standard WalMart t-shirt into the mix and I was good as gold. All I can say is I am not too impressed with Under Armor. i will read up on it some and see if I used it wrong or something, but barring some major screwup on my part, I won't be buying any more.

Anyhoo, I am off to see Aeon Flux (though the early verdict is it is horrible), hope its better than the reviews! Will report on the lovely Ms. Theron in the AM. Night!

Update: Can't get much closer than that! My time came in at 26:30. Whee!

Liking Lolita does not make me one...

...no matter how much the new 'men-are-all-predators-and-can't-be-trusted' movement will try to make you think it does.

Just unbelievable.

Don't believe for a second it couldn't happen here.