welcome. everything I write here is something I felt to be important to some degree; game reviews, life updates/vents, and philosophical musings. I do my best to make my statements truthful. everyone is welcome to post comments, provided they are relevant.

12.25.2006

Christmas goodies

Stolen, SiN (my pc struggles a bit on this one, but it's playable), Tomb Raider: Legend, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (my friend got me this), GTA: Liberty City Stories, Elite Beat Agents (I love this game), New Super Mario Bros., Clerks & Clerks II, also Clerks: Uncensored, Firefly, MI:III, 750g Toblerone, and $50 Wal-Mart gift card Final Fantasy XII from uncle Doug and aunt Helga

12.17.2006

response to intelligent design

go to this link.

I should link all the webcomics i read, because that's a big part of my personal entertainemnt.

12.16.2006

Rayman: Raving Rabbids on PS2 - 5/10

if you're familiar with the Rayman series of games, I advise you to forget about it. There is no real adventure here, and very little action. This one is all about mini-games and multiplayer.

The game starts with Rayman enjoying a little picnic with the Globoxes, when suddenly the little guys are yanked underground by some of the most bizzarre-looking rabbits you'll ever see. Rayman is then dragged off by a giant black rabbit and tossed into an arena with four open paths and a gate, surrounded by an angry audience of rabbits. After completing three of the four challenges, the gate opens to a final challenge, where you can win a ... plunger. you're then escourted back to your cell.

multiply that by 15, and you have the entire game. how a bunch of plungers help you, well, I don't want to spoil the whole plot... >_>

Despite the lack of depth, it has entertainment value in the simplicity and absurdity of the games. while most of them involve abusing bunnies to some degree, each stage features a 2-button rythm game of increasing difficulty (my favourite kind). the biggest drawback in the entire game is the LOAD TIMES, at least on the PS2. it is my understanding that the game is available for all systems in some form. Gamespot confirms my suspicion that it was made for the Wii - the controls kinda suck, but it's still enjoyable.

12.06.2006

rawr

lots of stuff going on here it seems...

the van is on its last legs; while still operational, the engine temperature readout is unreliable, as is the heater (kinda important for a Canadian car). We'll be getting a pre-owned Toyota RAV4 in its place, since we don't really need 7 seats anymore. It's comfy, so I don't have any problem with it.

I just switched the kinda shitty futon L-frame I had with an older but less-shitty L-frame with arms. It should work nicely with the chair I was using as an end-table for my laptop, though it won't actually fit at the end because of the arms. I just have a few more piles to clean up before I can open Okami without reprisal from my mom.

I'm going to take a cake in to work for Thursday (technically today) and ask my boss if I'm going to have a job in January. The timing is purely coincidental, I swear.

12.03.2006

How to Practice The Way to a Meaningful Life

This book, written by the Dalai Lama, is probably the best book ever, just for how important the stuff he talks about is. This guy knows what he's talking about. The book itself is pretty cheap, so GO BUY IT.

birthday (soon)

December 7th. no plans. maybe Montana's for dinner. going to take a cake to work sometime this week.

FFXII, LEGO SW2, and some stuff

So i tried FF XII. It looks pretty darn good for an rpg, but tbh that whole genre isn't grabbing my interest lately. some flaws: main character's voice actor. WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN SO MUCH? Curse you, Sqare Enix! There is a new way to improve your characters, allowing you to make them highly specialized or utility characters depending on your play style and time spent hacking at monsters. I don't know how feasible character maxing is though. You can move around during battles, which do not require load times, but it's not usually possible to dodge attacks in that manner. I did find it very cool to have some monsters wandering around that you cannot beat at all early on... there is a small T-rex that will take your party members down in one hit each, and eats other monsters to gain strength. (attack: 0 dmg, me:"OH SHI--!!!") When I get back into RPG mode, I'll get this game.

LEGO Star Wars 2 on the 360... not much different than the other systems, aside from achievements. However, I might be crazy, but I'd swear that it's harder. I seem to die a lot more, making the "undefeated" achievements a real headache. Things are a bit shinier, but otherwise not worth the extra $10 or whatever it is compared to PS2 price.

EVE-Online got a big gameplay and content patch a few days ago. The empire factions are either at war or soon-to-be at war, so I expect more missions will have a stronger impact on faction rating. What interests me more is the new rigging and salvage features, allowing you (with the right skills) to make special improvements to your ship (similar to implants for your clone), and get special components from wreckages. I still have a week before i can use the salvager module though. One other thing; it's now possible to warp within 1km of landmarks like stations and jump gates instead of forcing 15km of travel, which is a huge bonus for slow ships. This was implemented so that we can delete our "instant bookmarks" and clear up space on the database, drastically improving performance. I know I had about 400 of those bookmarks... they were both a pain in the ass, and extremely handy. there's also new ships available, but none i'm interested in.

I went christmas/birthday game shopping with my mom, so I won't need to buy anything new for a while. we got: New Super Mario Bros., Elite Beat Agents, Okami, Tomb Raider: Legend, uhh... crap, I know there was something else. guess I'll get a surprise after all...