How I get interested in any particular video game is a curious process. The goal of which, simply put, is to try quantify an unknown entertainment experience to determine whether or not my time and money would be well spent on this hypothetical experience. This is not an insignificant task.
There are several tools I employ to help mitigate the uncertainty. I read the reviews and opinions of those in the gaming field, assigning various internal "gravitas" values depending on how well their opinions match up with my own. I talk with friends who have played the game themselves to get an idea for what I'm getting into. When possible, I play demos of the game - kicking the tires and taking it for a test drive, if you will.
Trackmania, however, seems to be a horse of a different color. My interest piqued when I was happened upon TM-Tube, a portal entirely devoted to fan-made videos of TrackMania. While the game's gorgeous graphics, sense of speed and creative racing tacks are notable, the videos on this site may have sold me on the game. These videos look fun. The sheer number of them tell me there is a healthy user community having fun. I mean, how can zipping around on a stunt track like this not be fun?
You'll have to excuse the Youtube quality, I couldn't get the HD version on TM-Tube to embed. Needless to say, the graphics on the HD version are so much better.
Also, the older version of the game (TrackMania: Nations Forever) is free.
Will I have fun playing it? Can't really say. But if all the fun others seem to be having are any indication, yeah, it'll probably be worth my time.
Apr 9, 2009
TrackMania
Apr 8, 2009
Photoshop Flailing: What famous movie characters are up to these days
This week's Cracked.com photoshop contest asked readers what famous movie characters are doing today. I was happy to oblige, and was able to come up with the following. Click any of them for a higher res version.
This was the role Anakin Skywalker was born to play!
Wait until you hear him sing "It's a Hard Knock Life"!
Once a pirate, always a pirate they say.
Though sad that this form of piracy lacks the adventure of the good old days, Jack is warmed to the fact that he has access to limitless porn.
And lastly, I was thinking really hard on how I wanted to use Robocop in a photoshop. Suddenly, the answer dawned upon me like a zen master coming to enlightenment:
The only reason Robocop hasn't joined Daft Punk is because scientists are worried that the universe would then implode on its own awesomeness.
Apr 7, 2009
Toastmaster Speech: What I want to be when I grow up
Two things you may or may not know about me:
- I like to blog here about once every weekday as it keeps me actively writing and generally allows me to
be a giant assexpress myself creatively. - I am an active member of a few Toastmasters groups, where I write and deliver several speeches in an effort to improve my public speaking and leadership abilities.
It's posted, as always, after the break.
Click here to continue reading "Toastmaster Speech: What I want to be when I grow up"I never really understood the whole notion of "finding your calling". Certainly, people have natural predispositions and strengths that help dictate what someone may be good at. Someone with great interpersonal skills may excel and gravitate towards a career in coaching. Someone who has great analytical skills could wind up an actuary. But I'm under the impression that people more or less winded up doing what it was they were good at, not something that compelled and inspired their vocation.
Or rather, this was my way of thinking until about 2 weeks ago. That was when I realized I knew teaching was my calling.
The facts of the story were these: my girlfriend is a wonderful elementary teacher who is finding it, along with most of her fellow young teachers-to-be, difficult to secure a full time teaching position. This has more to do with the employment landscape and economy than anything else. Since she will need a master's degree at some point to get tenure, she decided to look into full-time masters programs about a month ago.
One such program, Boston College's Master's in Education, had really appealed to her. When she had contacted them, their deadline to apply had long since past. But with a little persistence, a lot of courage and an excellent personal background, she was able to convince BC to accept her into the program.
On one condition: she would need to take and report to them GRE scores. Their deadline: 3 week's time.
Now, my girlfriend is an amazingly smart and talented individual. She can write and manipulate language as easily as you or I could breathe air. And I have met very few people who have the ability to network and possess the interpersonal skills she does. But taking standardized tests and math in general (one major component to the GRE) are not among her strengths. Fortunately, they are among mine.
So we got Kaplan GRE preparation book, and made promises to one another. I promised to tutor and help her in any way that I could to prepare for this test, and she promised to give her very best effort.
Unfortunately, her schedule was complicated. She was teaching a classroom full time for a teacher on maternity leave. For those who don't know, teaching - at least at the elementary level - is a very taxing profession. I know first hand that a teacher's job is not done at the end of the school day. It requires lesson planning, preparation, grading, and dealing with children, parents and administration every day in ways that can border on chaos. So when she had some time to actually prepare for her GRE, oftentimes she was run down and wanted to sleep.
In preparing, for math, I helped re-teach her old concepts she'd long since forgotten, developing my own additional tests and practice exercises to further reinforce concepts. We took practice test after practice test to get her familiar with the format of the tests and the types of questions she'd be likely to face. We did this for as many hours as she was able, seven days a week, for three weeks.
This preparation was grueling - she was often exhausted when trying to learn materials. The practice test scores kept coming in much lower than we both had hope, which were particularly demoralizing for her. She would question why it is she's even bother taking a test she believed she wouldn't do well in. But I kept cheering her on and she persevered.
Test day came and it was the moment of truth. She went off to take her 4 hour test, and I was anxiously waiting for the result. When the phone rang, I heard a smile in her voice. Her scores were way higher than we had expected. In a test who's maximum point score in any given area is 800, similar to the SATs, she improved 80 points over her best verbal score, and 140 points over her best math score.
When she told me this, I was driving at the time, and had to pull over to the side of the road - the tears that were welling up in my eyes made it too difficult to see clearly. What came out of both our mouths for the next 5 minutes were a mixture of shouting, expletives and joy. I had never felt such pride for accomplishments that weren't my own.
I knew, then and there, that teaching was for me. It was then that I was confident that my decision to go back to school this fall to ultimately teach at the college level was the right one. I guess every now and then people really do find their calling.
Apr 6, 2009
BRB, getting dunked on by Patrick Chewing
Patrick Ewing FTW! Being born and raised a New Yorker, he was my childhood sports idol and makes this commercial all the better. It inspired me to buy a Snickers bar. Patrick didn't dunk on me, though.
:(
Apr 3, 2009
OMG Omegle
Reading up on a few other blogs from around the interwebs, a site called Omegle has recently popped up onto my radar. It's a site that connects you to a random, anonymous person for some one on one chatting.
On the surface, this would be an ideal service for meeting new people online in a direct, yet safe way. In reality it is a magical place that turns people into incoherent imbeciles (I hope, and I'm not immune). The imbeciles then get together and have conversations much like these:
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
You: yo
Stranger: not you again.
You: it's always me
You: STRANGER DANGER! STRANGER DANGER!
Stranger: so did you figure it out?
You: maybe
Stranger: tell me.
You: I already did
Stranger: wait a sec
Stranger: i feel...
Stranger: *farts*
Your conversational partner has disconnected.
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Stranger: DEPECHE MODE?
You: SURE, WHY NOT?
Stranger: W3WT
Your conversational partner has disconnected.
As a point of reference: these were some of the more intellectually stimulating conversations I had. It's kind of difficult to believe that this is the end result of eons of evolution and millennia of human progress.
And yet, much like a trainwreck, I just can't seem to look away.
Apr 2, 2009
April Fool's Day, crusher of dreams
The internet has always been a scary, yet wonderful place. This only gets amplified on April Fool's Day. Of course, you always see or hear a few elaborate pranks that really amaze. But there are other pranks, ones that are played on you, the internet surfer, that I feel are truly malicious.
At first glance, many of these pranks seem real. You might even want to take them at face value because you desperately want it to be true. But then, at the moment where you've truly become excited or interested in something, your hopes come crashing down on you:
- Such was the case with the "announcement" of a new class in Diablo 3, the Archivist. I'm hungry for any details, Blizzard, why do you do this to me? The description they have is tongue-in-cheek, and the videos are of some variant of Deckard Cain feebly hobbling through levels. Stay (there) awhile and listen.
- Valve possibly teased at what the next class due up for a weapons pack might be (the Sniper), but did so in a way that calls into question it's validity. Jarate? Throwing jars of urine on your opponents? Come on, Valve, this isn't South Park for the N64...
- And lastly, when I first saw this, part of me kinda wanted a USB Pet Rock. But then I realized it was a prank and that I already have better technology sitting outside my front door (those rocks are wifi).
Apr 1, 2009
Ed McMahon rapping
I don't care that this is a thinly-veiled marketing ploy by FreeCreditReport.com. In fact, I don't even care that this is done by FreeCreditReport.com, who I don't care for because they charge you (and aren't actually free). What I do care about is watching an iconic 86 year old man gangster rap, because that just makes me happy.
Oh and there's a part 2.
Mar 30, 2009
Star Wars Minis
I've resisted to almost a fanatical, zealot-like level anything that smells like Dungeons and Dragons for most of my entire life. It's not that I don't respect the game, or the people that play it, I just have fundamental differences with the system itself. I know part of it has to do with my objection to having a human (susceptible to all of man's motivations and flaws) be the supposed objective dictator of a game.
But the biggest issue I have with it is the dice rolling. I hate dice rolling. Hate it hate it hate it. It introduces an element of randomness that has never seemed to click with me. After all, most tabletop games, even many video games (think %hit in Diablo) all require some kind of randomness to make the game enjoyable. But in many such cases, the randomness is streamlined or handled behind the scenes and you're left to focus on a fun - if challenging - gaming experience. The die, to me, just serves as a physical reminder of how little control you have over things despite any preparation or forethought you put into your actions.
Why do I ramble on about this? Because I think I've found a game with some of these elements that I've grown rather fond of: Star Wars Miniatures.
While the rules are a little complex to comprehend at first, once you get the hang of it you're left with a relatively simple, yet maddeningly deep, gameplay that requires good squad building, good field tactics, and yes even a little luck to win.
The characters span the entire Star Wars timeline, and you build a squad within one of 9 different factions: Old Republic, Republic, New Republic, Rebel, Sith, Mandalorian, Imperial, Separatist, and Yuuzhang Vong. There are "fringe" pieces that can be added to any faction. Each piece has a point cost, and squads are built to meet a certain point limit. Better characters, like Darth Vader, typically cost more points than weaker characters, like a plain old Stormtrooper. After that, you play the pieces on a game map and fight it out.
And come on... this is Star Wars here. I'm no fanboy, but what man honestly didn't love the movies? Well, episodes 4, 5 and 6 anyway...
The game plays like a cross between Magic: The Gathering and D&D - while only retaining the best of both. Building a good squad is key and requires much of the same thinking needed in building decks for any collectible card game. You try to combine pieces together in a squad in such a way that it maximizes the strengths, while balancing out the weaknesses.
Dice rolling does happen a lot over the course of a game. However, the impact of the randomness is severely lessened by the sheer depth of the game mechanics:
- Commanders have effects that help boost the odds and probabilities of a favorable outcome.
- Force users have the ability to actually re-roll a die they're not happy with (by using some of their Force).
- Even tactically, certain matchups naturally favor one side or the other; Jedis, while generally fantastic in melee combat, can't shoot and can have a tough time getting across the map if a squad of good shooters is gunning them down.
Though I've only scratched the surface of it, with this depth you really do get the sense that if the win/lose outcome of a game comes down to a long-odds dice roll, your squad was either outmatched from the start, or you played a solid hand badly.
Great game, and a lot of fun.
Click here to continue reading "Star Wars Minis"G.I. Bunnies
God bless the Japanese.
I really had no idea what the heck this was when I first watched it, but I was intrigued. After about 5 minutes of Wikipedia research, it's an animated series based off of a Japanese Manga called "Cat Shit One" (which was changed to Apocalypse Meow here in the states). The whole series is a Vietnam war story, only instead of people there are animals.
It's both cute and disturbing at the same time - which is about par for the course in Japan.
Mar 27, 2009
The Legend of Princess
Courtesy of VGCats, I found this fan-made 2D arcade Zelda remake, The Legend of Princess.
If you liked any of the Zelda games, this is a must play. The sprites are well detailed, the music is a fresh remake of the classic Zelda melodies, and the gameplay is just fun. Think Zelda 2 (NES) on super steroids. And while it's only one level (of decent length), you can change the equipment you roll with each time - varying the strategies and difficulty each go.
Mar 26, 2009
LED Sheep(le)
You know what they say about farmers and shepherds who are bored and lonely...
...they make epic LED sheep projects. Right?
In a fantastic display of patience and creativity, the Baaa-Studs - their name, not mine - went to Wales to herd sheep in really cool ways. Knowing firsthand how difficult it can be to get even two seemly-rational humans to agree on something, I'm incredibly impressed at how well these guys coordinated the animals' movements (especially in the dark).
Mar 25, 2009
Photoshop Flailing: Fun with Chuck Schumer
I was turned onto an article by my one of my friends over on Twitter, that had an unintentionally humorous photograph of Sen. Chuck Schumer. The article can be found:
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2009/03/schumer-flips-on-gay-marriage.html
So I thought it to be my civic duty and mess around with the photo - take a look below at what I came up with. Click on any of the images for a higher res version.
Mar 24, 2009
I WANT TO BELIEVE
...THIS IS A PHOTOSHOP:
Click for a larger view of this monstrosity.
Mar 23, 2009
Best minute I've spent watching Youtube EVER
Kill Bill volumes 1 and 2, while not cinematic masterpieces, have all the makings of a classic "guy movie" - babes, fights, blood, swords, ninjas (kinda), and David Carradine. Like my teacher always said, you write what you know... and Tarantino knows campy guy movies.
But what happens when you condense all of it into a one-take, one minute synopsis? Well, it translates pretty well, actually. You lose some of the sass and that awesome, gratuitous fight scene with the Crazy 88's, but you also cut out a lot of the BS. See for yourself:
Mar 20, 2009
The many skills of Napoleon Dynamite
Numchuk skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills... and social networking skills? One delusional hippy person seems to think that Napoleon Dynamite is wiser than most when it comes to social networking.
http://thetalentbuzz.com/2009/03/social-media-blog-gosh-napoleon-dynamites-guide-to-social-networking/
Taking the Napoleon Dynamite angle (which seems admittedly a little forced) out of this article, it does have some great tips on how to get the most out of social networking services that are out there. Simple, common sense stuff that many people either forget or choose to ignore - like showing genuine interest in others, being interesting yourself, and making sure social networking doesn't take over your life.
Well, 2 out of 3 for me ain't bad at least.
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