Writing Prompts

Writing Prompts seem to be the silliest thing ever. I'll admit that I couldn't think of something to write, so I Googled "writing prompts." Do you know what results you get when you search for that? You get a collective of arbitrary ideas that have absolutely no cohesion. Some of these ideas are interesting, but a majority of them are just plain silly. Really... you want me to write about a tight-rope walking melon? What will happen to the couple in which the man just inherited a ton of money? I think it'll probably be what most people expect. Then again, I guess everyone thinks that those things will play out differently than I think they will... Whatever. I'll file that one under "maybe I'll write about it if there's ever a point at which I'm that out of ideas and hate my life beyond any reasonable doubt." I really hope that I don't become that bad.

Regardless, I do need to know what to write about. Maybe I should just write about League of Legends daily. I do play it daily. I would have great new stories every day. There would be one about how great friends Teemo and Blitzcrank are until Blitz accidently farts static electricity everywhere and Teemo can't eat his shrooms anymore because of the silence caused by the fart. Yeah, that would be high class.

I could write about a romance between Nidalee and Udyr, since they both love nature and looking like wild animals. The difference there, though, is that Udyr is a furry while Nidalee actually morphs back and forth. Dressing up in animal skins... High class once again Udyr. Good job saving me from that disgrace.

Okay. So, I hope you realize why I don't write about League of Legends every day. There would be no good way for me to take it seriously. I could rant about all of the stupid things that have happened to me in game, but that still doesn't hold anything more than a daily anger rant and I don't personally find that interesting, so I wouldn't want to write about it.

I want to get something started. I want to write some fictional pieces on this blog. I'm sure that it will increase my desire to write and give me many new topics to write about. I'm just not sure if it fits the current style of this blog. Eh... I don't really think that it matters. I currently have recipes, rants, and random plugs for things that I like. How could short stories not fit into this mix? I think I'll do those. They just take a lot more refining than any of my other posts.

So here goes the expedition. I've written a few fiction pieces, but I truthfully haven't finished any of them. As soon as I do, I'll start to place them up here. They might take time though, and they certainly won't come with the great frequency of my blog posts. (That was meant to be a humorous reference to the missing 5 months of posts on this site.) I suppose it will take some time to gain back the trust of all of my 3 readers, but I will definitely be able to soon rehabilitate my reputation if I actually stick to any kind of schedule. Is 3 posts a week good? Okay. We'll do that then. I'll try Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but I really don't know how well I'll be able to stick to that, being that I'm currently making a Thursday post that follows up a Tuesday one. Sorry for the inconsistency from week to week, but I hope that people will be able to show up on weekends, expecting 3 new entries from me. And I also hope that I deliver. Now I just need to know what to fill up 3 pages a week with...

Minecraft

Wow. What an interesting idea. This is probably the first reaction of anyone who is still playing Minecraft. Minecraft is one of those games that really lets you do anything as long as you have enough ingenuity.

So, Minecraft is an indie game. I just love it. Then again, what am I, if not indie? I've been described by some of my closest friends as "too indie." I find this a silly idea. Finding great things is not something to bemoan, but rather, something to celebrate.

I think in part it was the way I was raised. My dad said that Linux is great, so I tried it. I didn't get it working right away. No. I didn't really even get it working for a couple years. Now, I can't imagine not having Linux. It works much more smoothly than Windows. I don't know how to explain it to people who don't want to use Linux, but it just works really well. And for something that's free, that's amazing. Open source projects are amazing. In fact, most unpublished projects are amazing. I think it's great that they can work when they have no financial backing.

Minecraft is one of those unpublished greats. It's such a strong contender for the most simple game ever, but it has so much depth that some people would attack you for calling it simple. At it's heart though, that's what it is. It is a system that works on a very small scale, and yet, can create very big things. Without simple interactions between objects, there is no way that the system would be able to manage everything that is going on at any one time.

One of the things that annoys me, is the group of people that follow Minecraft. This doesn't mean all of them, but the loudest ones. It's the same for the Call of Duty crowd, and the Whedonites. I love most of what Joss Whedon creates. I just don't like accepting his work unconditionally. This goes the same for Minecraft. Minecraft is a clone of Infiniminer. I didn't know this until I looked up Minecraft on the Wikipedia. It was inspired by an earlier game that had similar things set up. However, Infiniminer had the advantage of being a team based game. I truthfully want to see Minecraft have a team based mode. The game would become a lot more interesting if there was a multiplayer challenge aspect. This is what draws me in League of Legends and Team Fortress 2. Both of these amazing games truly deserve to be looked at and given a chance, because they are amazing games.

Anyways, play minecraft. There's a free version, which is fun, and a version that cost only ~18$ which is even more fun. Yes, it's not the most original, but that doesn't make it less fun. Play it. You'll thank yourself for doing so. And even if you don't like it, then you won't have wasted anything other than 5 minutes, and you can always go right to LoL or TF2 afterward.

Kirby Superstar

I feel able to review this game because I've played through it in its entirety at least 3 times. I love it. There's something about power stealing that just draws me. It's there in the Megaman games too. However, the way that this game does it kind of floors me. It has several games in it, and though power stealing is in all (most) of them (not the minigames), it's represented differently in every single one.

Truthfully, this game has many games in it. They all play similarly, control wise, but they all present them differently. Spring Breeze is what you think of when you hear Kirby. It plays how most Kirby games do. Dynablade has levels. You can go to whichever level you like and carry powers between them. The Great Cave Offensive is one long expansive world with only doorways between areas. There are boss fights and checkpoints, but no over world map. If you want to get back to the beginning, then you have to play through it until the end, or start a new game. Revenge of Meta Knight plays like a Mario game, in that every level has a timer that you race against. Then lastly, my favorite game in the collection is Milky Way Wishes. You can pick any power at any point, but only once you collect the statue for that power. I think this is the best way to put powers into a game, since you can play whatever you want whenever you want. This is how most Megaman games operate, which is why I'm a fan of those as well. Though, I've been liking Megaman Zero more and more these days. I think that I just enjoy having multiple different ways to kill people at my disposal.

I also liked how Kirby Superstar allowed co-op in a game that used to be built for only one person. Your helper would take on the presence of one of the enemies of the power he was using. This meant that helpers using the plasma power don't have to touch the ground. They could fly wherever they like. Also, the wheel helper could actually be ridden by Kirby. This interaction added something to SNES 2 player games that I hadn't seen before Kirby Superstar. Donkey Kong Country 1, 2, and 3 were all great games, but they failed to provide the second player with anything to do while they waited for the first player to die. Kirby Superstar also provided a way for the second player to catch up to the first without things like the bubble in the recent New Super Mario Bros. The bubble worked out, but sometimes I found it easier to ignore than and let it find me, rather than going out and grabbing it myself. The recall feature in Kirby Superstar was much easier to use. It also came out over 10 years earlier... Games don't always progress as time goes on.

Another great thing that Kirby did was that it had very brightly colored maps. Some people don't like this, but I personally found many Donkey Kong Country stages to be very dark. However, Donkey Kong Country did have very beautiful graphics. Also, for those of you who think bright or light colors are bad, please play Yoshi's Island. This game was full of pastels, but the detail put into every single stage really shows that impressionist painters deserve much more credit than they are often given. Pastels and surrealistic shapes can also be incredibly detailed and shiny. I use the term shiny here to mean very nice to look at, rather than having a high spectral reflection value. I know that isn't really the definition, but I like it none the less.

Regardless, back to Kirby Superstar. This is one of my all time favorite Kirby games. It even has one of the best selection of powers. The only one that I can think of that has more powers is Kirby 64, but most of those powers seemed to be filler, rather than fun to use. I think they were running out of ideas on how to use those power combos at some point. Though I do really like the curling iron power. Ice and stone are not particularly fun alone, but together they make a ridiculously strong power. I think there should be more power combination games. I enjoy those.

So to sum it up, this is a great game. I've loved it enough to play through it multiple times, and still have the original cartridge. This makes me feel less bad in downloading ROMs to play on my laptop. If you can get a (legal) hold of this game, then I strongly suggest trying it out. I've enjoyed it on every single play through. It's even one of the few platformers that becomes more fun with friends. (In my opinion, NSMB did not become more fun with friends. At least, it wasn't because of the game that it was more fun, but because of having the friends around, which I could have with a single player game too.)

Rule of Eight

I thought this was really obvious, but after talking to some of my friends, I found it's not quite as well known as I thought it was, so I figured I would bring light to the situation.

Nintendo likes eights. Actually, it's more than just Nintendo. Many games for the original Nintendo console used eights even if they weren't Nintendo made. My first and foremost example is Mario. When was the last time you played a 2D Mario game. Did it have 8 main worlds? Of course it did. They all do. Even Super Mario World, where there was no distinct world breakup, had 8 castles. If ever there was a 2 dimensional Mario game made that had any number of worlds that is not 8, then people would be confused. They would look left and right and wonder where the missing one is, or which one isn't really considered a world.

The legend of Zelda is similar. It also has 8 recurring throughout. There are 8 dungeons in many of the 2D Zelda games. Even the 3D Zelda games work with the number 8. Majora's Mask had 4 dungeons. This was split up into getting to the dungeon (which was still a considerable amount of work) and then defeating the dungeon. To me, that is 8 chunks of separable information for a walk-through or guide.

Then, even non-Nintendo companies started to pull from this numerical motif. All Megaman games all have 8 bosses through X8, except for the first. The first only had 6. However, when it was redone, they added 2 new bosses for good measure. They made it 8 again. They actually retconned an 8 into their work.

There are tons of other examples of 8 in the Nintendo era of gaming. The system was even 8-bit. I actually think that's where this fascination with 8 came from. I think 8-bit inspired 8 distinctions within the games.

I suppose I'm exaggerating the actual expression of 8 within Nintendo console video games, but I truthfully don't see any other number more often. Then again, I do know that when you look for a specific number you see it way too often. I suppose it is unimportant, but I found it interesting and I hope you do too. I hope you notice the 8's in your games and feel free to show them off to those around you while you're playing.

Mischief Makers

I wasn't kidding when I said my game reviews would be really late. This is for a system three generations old, but still stands strong to this day.

Mischief Makers is a game for the Nintendo 64 and was one of the first few games to feature 3D models on a 2 dimensional playing field. This was surprising, as many developers were trying to move into 3D at the time, and showing you had the ability to, without harnessing the potential felt very awkward to quite a good chunk of people. Many developers were also trying to follow in the popular footsteps of Super Mario 64 by making their own 3D platformers. One of the few that succeeded was Banjo-Kazooie. It tried to build itself into an individual game that happened to be a 3D platformer, instead of trying to ride on the tail of Super Mario 64's fame. Many developers tend to do that, trying to make money off of a simple Nintendo game clone. It happened when Pokemon and Metroid Prime came out as well. I suppose this has nothing to do with Mischief Makers though, since the first 2.5D game they made was Yoshi's story (unless you count the Virtual Boy game Warioware, which had 2D sprites in a 3D landscape) and that came out much later in the life of the N64.

I used to go to a video game rental store every Monday night. My brother and I got to rent 2 video games. He would either get Mischief Makers or Pilot Wings and I would either get Wave Race, Space Station Silicon Valley, or Blast Corps. I loved all of these games, but Mischief Makers is my focus right now.

Mischief Makers used the D-pad. How many N64 games used the D-pad? I'm guessing that number is about three, and the other 2 sucked something fierce. The analog stick was so new, and many developers thought it would add so much to their games. They were right. Still, Mischief Makers was smart for sticking to the d-pad. In true 2D platformer spirit, there is no reason to even have 8 direction, let alone 360 degrees of movement. This meant that the game would have been suited for play on the Super Nintendo, had the 16 bit graphics been up to par for this game (which they wouldn't have been).

The mechanics of this game still shine through the years. The movement is very similar to Megaman games, pre-wall slide. You can dash and dash jump. You can dash before jumping, while jumping, or both. You can also dash in all directions, though down is not useful when on the ground. Actually, a down dash while on the ground does a roll. Anyways, this is turning into a summary when it should be an analysis. The most interesting movement aspect was the up dash. It didn't make you fly much higher, so could only make you reach places you were almost already at. Mostly it was useful when I needed to stay in the air a little longer. puzzles that made the up dash useful are what this game is all about. Small little quirky ideas build a great game.

One of those small things that was expanded into a game defining mechanic was the mixing system. You really don't know what you're missing until you understand that shurikens and boomerangs are both made out of flowers. In fact, there are no ingredients in a boomerang that aren't flowers. How cool is that? The mixing used the game's signature "shake shake" to power itself. This shaking could change many numbers of things. Shaking people made them drop gems or items. Shaking bombs made them tick faster. Shaking poles could extend or retract them and shaking some balls could reorient gravity. Basically, the game inspiring picking up and shaking everything they wasn't hinged to the floor.

The story was weird. I still don't understand it fully. They steal your grandfather because... they want to distract you, so you don't save the world? And then you try to rescue him anyways. You do math because... the townspeople are having a carnival. Wait... your grandfather is the 1st place trophy... Yes, this plot totally makes sense. Still, the game is intense fun, and I'm sure you could understand all the plot once you beat it once or twice.

Unfortunately, the emulations of this game aren't all perfect, so I can't actually get to the end. I own this game so I have no qualms downloading the ROM, which is much easier than would be finding my N64 and hooking it up. However, the ROM has one major flaw. There are several other flaws in the ROM that are little enough to overlook, but the big one is the invisible boulder in later levels. The sprite file must be missing. This sucks because I can't dodge a boulder if I can't see when it's going to fall on me.

Yes, the difficulty does get progressively harder, but that shouldn't be a problem since it starts out at such as easy level, and only gets more interesting level designs as the difficulty ramps up.

I would suggest going out and getting this game right away. If you don't have an N64, finding one for cheap on eBay would totally be worth it (especially if you grab other N64 games I will inevitably review later). If you can't, please find some way to contribute to the developers who are so great before you go out and download it (in the most legal fashion as I assume you all to do. Some places say it's legal for 24 hours before you have to delete it. I'm not sure if this is true).

All in all, I give this game a great out of 10. It is immensely fun and has kept me engrossed for the greater part of a decade.

Alien Swarm Review

So let's look at this thing. It came from Valve. This is usually a good sign. It has 4 player co-op. Whether or not this signals good or bad, this has been done well by Valve is the past, so I say it bodes well. It consists of fighting off hordes of enemy creatures with a large variety of weapons. Three pluses on that mark. It's free. If that doesn't excite you I don't know what will. This game looks great on paper.

It also looks great on an LCD Panel. The graphics were built for the source engine, so I already expected great things, but it still looked good. It beats Half-life 2 by a good margin, and I think it outpaces Team Fortress 2 as well. I can't wait to see what Portal 2 does in Source.

So, this game looks pretty, but does it play well. I would say yes. I would say yes many times in a row and still be underplaying it. This game takes the teamwork aspect of Left 4 Dead, and seems to make it more interesting. You never rely on a specific class, unless you need a Tech. They can hack doors and arm bombs, so if there is a mission objective requiring hacking, then a Tech is required for that one mission. If you get infested, you better hope you have a competent medic. I like playing the medic because truthfully I don't really trust anyone with my character's life. I just played a game in which the medic rarely dropped health packs and everyone ran into the infesting aliens like they were warehouses of ammo. The last mission, I was the only person to make it out alive and our medic died half way through the mission. The worst part is when the people who needed health the most ran away from me while I was the medic. It was not an enjoyable experience. So, I'm glad that this game isn't as teammate dependent as Left 4 Dead, when teammates don't know how to work together.

The leveling system is also nice. There's more incentive to keep playing it. I don't know why I'd want to start a zombie apocalypse, but enticing aliens to eat my brain doesn't sound like a bad idea if I'm going to get a flamethrower out of it. Also, I'm sad to say it, but the weapon variety here is larger than it is in Borderlands. Alien Swarm has the shotguns, SMGs, pistols, sentries, assault rifles, and flamethrowers that Borderlands does. Wait... Borderlands doesn't have a flamethrower? Well, I was going to say that Alien Swarm also has the medic guns, freeze grenades, and Mini-guns that Borderlands seems to be lacking.

Also, unlike in Borderlands, the classes actually seem to matter. They aren't significantly different. Only the weapons that define the classes get locked to other classes. Only Medics can use healing items and Weapon Specialists are the only ones with the big guns (Miniguns). Being a Tech is fun too. The hacking is much quicker and fun than in Bioshock (and there aren't any luck based puzzles like in Bioshock) and it actually feels like hacking, unlike Bioshock 2. Hacking also adds another team play mechanic. You need people to defend you while you're taking down a computer's security or the aliens will overrun you.

So I beat the first campaign. Unfortunately it's the only campaign, but I expect community content to follow soon. Still, it's a lot deeper than it looks at face value. Playing it over again will allow you to unlock more weapons until you have the set-up of your dreams and if you pay enough attention, you can find PDAs scattered all over the game that give you an idea of what life would be like on a remote colony of Earth. Spoilers: half the data on the PDAs are spam e-mails. The alien extermination really need no plot, and it's easy enough to ignore if you don't care about plot, but it's there and is actually half decent if you listen. It is as little cliched as possible for an alien invasion game and really adds more reason to game than does the plot of L4D.

The game is beautiful and plays great for the price it costs (nothing, if you forgot). I don't see why everyone shouldn't give it a shot. It will also allow you to play any Source games you please as the game runs on that engine. A wonderful free Valve giveaway and all the Source mods you can play at an additional no price. There is no excuse for any of you to let this deal slide. That would be like not grabbing the free Half-life Death-match deal or ignoring that Portal was free for a week. Read: It would be a stupid thing to do.

Go out and show this game the love it deserves as the first good and free combination of Left 4 Dead, Bioshock, and Borderlands (In third person).

Valve, you are my friend

I got into PC gaming when Team Fortress 2 came out. I had played PC games before that, like Starcraft, Diablo, and Tribes 2, but TF2 was the first PC game I bought for myself. This revolutionized my idea of games. Finally, I saw a reasonable way to have a healer class in a first person shooter.

Since I had to buy Team Fortress 2 in the orange box (in order to get it on launch day) I also got Portal and the entirety of Half-life 2. I blasted through Portal and found it amazing. Then I played Team Fortress 2 for hours upon hours. I couldn't get enough of it. I was an amazing game.

And it only got better with each update. First, there was the medic update, which was beautiful since at that point I played medic much of the time. Then the pyro update came out. I tried out the pyro and loved it. Airblast made the class viable for me. Instead of being a close range class, he became an anti-explosive class. Consistently, Valve made me love each class more. Because I am better at anticipating movement than I am at aiming where the player is, the huntsman made me levels better at sniper and the dead ringer just made spy fun. The scout update brought the sandman and FaN for making the hit and run tactics I already use more efficient. Basically, I use all the items that people constantly complain are cheap (except the backburner, which had no excuse until it recently came into use as a half decent weapon by getting a damage buff). Then just a week or two ago Valve came out with an update to the last of their 9 classes, and their still gonna release a new weapon pack in a little while.

I guess I'm trying to say that Valve is amazing, and I've only talked about 2 of the Valve games I own. Half-life 2 has a story that rivals most novels and controls so tight that they puts Halo to shame (and have been since Halo came out, which was after HL2). So needless to say, Valve makes great games. Then on top of that they released their game engine and have allowed people to build mods in that engine. They've tried to make modding as simple as possible, and as a result there are tons of source mods available, some at or above average standards for video game quality.

Now, Valve is not one to let good enough alone. They are still producing more great work in order to keep me coming back forever. Currently they are enticing me with Portal 2. They said that they hired the team that made Tag. I was amazed because I played this game when it was released on the Digipen gallery and I loved it and because Valve hired a team from Digipen for the first Portal game. If Valve keeps this up I might have to go to Digipen myself. Here's to hoping that Portal 3 uses mechanics from Dreamside Maroon.

So I'm anticipating great games and have been getting constant free update to great games I already own. Now what? Valve is releasing a game that new employees created to prove they are Valve material, for free. Wait, what? Free. They are giving away a source game (presumably with the engine), in an effort to prove how badass their developers are. I think they win. They absolutely succeed in their attempted goal and I love them as people. What other company would just release a game for free? EA did with battlefield heroes, but only with the intention of charging people for customization. Sony did the same thing with free realms. There is no doubt in my mind that Valve is one of the most consumer friendly companies in existence, especially in the video game industry. What boggles me is that Valve can stay in business. And then if they can, why can't other companies do similarly?

Here is that free steam game, which is called Alien Swarm. The only requirement for getting it is that you have Steam (which is also free an you should have already if you are in any way a PC gamer).

Valve, thank you for all that you have done for me, for being with me through highs and lows, and for caring about me even though you have never met me and do not know my name. You are my friend.

Interests

Do you know what frustrates me? My friends frustrate me. It isn't that they are annoying or that they try to spite me, but that they just don't seem to care about me. When one of them tells me something is good, I generally show some strong interest. Ben likes Borderlands and I actively tried to level my character so that I could play with him. It was me spending my own efforts to play nicely with others. Then I got Bioshock 2 and GTA4. I played them some, but went back to TF2 and League of Legends rather quickly. You know why? Because I wanted t play with my friends. Ben got Prototype and then played that for a good chunk of time. He only went back to TF2 when the engineer update went live, and I don't know how long that's going to last. I can't play single player games anymore because I feel bad when my friends are playing multiplayer games and I'm not. I don't know why I should but I do.

Now, this is great. I play what my friends suggest (not always, but a good chunk of the time) and I enjoy playing with them. However, when I find something cool or fun, it is not often that they enjoy playing that with me. In fact, often they won't even try it. I've been noticing this more and more with my college friends, but it actually started with my brother. I was always disappointing that my brother was so presumptuous. Now, I couldn't help that he was my brother, so I would just go play on my own or with my friends. Now that I'm having the same issue with my friends, I don't know what to do. If my friends really just assume that they don't like what I suggest to them, then I don't think I want to hang out with them quite so much. And on top of that I like hanging out with people who share my interests.

It extends to more than just games too. In food, they will not try things I say I like. I don't mean that they've tried it before and I'm trying to make them give it a second shot. I mean that they've never tried it before, and they really aren't going to change their minds no matter what I say. This means I end up always going where they want to go, eating what they want to eat, and doing what they want to do. I wonder if I'll ever be able to enjoy myself when hanging out with them. I mean, even when we all decide we want to play TF2, we play on the maps they want to play on. Chelsea won't even try new maps now that she's found the ones she likes and Ben finds excuse in the fact that he's playing a map that's on my favorites list. I think they don't understand that I like variety. Just because some map is on my favorites list doesn't mean that's the map I want to play right now.

There's yet another thing that bothers me. They don't like variety. Once they've found something they like, they stick to it. I'm not saying that determinism is a bad thing, but try new things. That's how you might find something better than what you had before. So what if it's bad? Then you know not to try that next time. I certainly hope they aren't opposed to change. Wait, that's silly. They are opposed to change if they won't try anything new. This means that Joss Whedon will always be the best TV script writer ever. This is just not the case. He is very good and may be one of the best for a very long time, but nothing guarantees his position for all of time. Trying new things is incredibly important. That is how society advances. Would you all still be thrilled if televisions were still in black and white? Would the world be dandy if no one ever thought to make a video screen because we already have the radio? Be happy with what you have, but aspire to greater things. This aspiration is what improves. It makes things better.

Then the worst part is that my friends either push these few things they love onto me, or they don't even mention them. I want them mentioned, but I don't want to feel forced. What would happen if I don't share your love? Would you be upset? I know I would. However if you introduce them to me then I might share your love. I can't if you don't let me try. Unfortunately, I don't see my friend's thinking or feeling that way.

So there they are, set in their solid paths, which is by no means a bad thing. And I, though not of the most friendly nature, am the outgoing one. I'm the one that is pushed to try new things and to force my friends to share them if I even want them to try something new. Or if I myself want to try something new, since I'm always persuaded to their will.

Christmas List

I have one! This is exciting to me because for as long as I can remember I had to think of things when people asked me what I want for a present. I would usually tell them to surprise me, but people don't like this approach. On the other hand, I do like surprising them, and I do think I do so well often.

However, there is one person I don't know how to surprise. That would be my girlfriend. I don't exactly know what she likes and in the things she does, I am not exactly well enough versed to make a solid decision. I know she likes certain TV shows, but would she like a boxed set of DVDs? I'm guessing no. How about a video game? But which one? She likes platformers, but only 2D platformers. Then again, she has no problem double jumping around in Team Fortress 2. So a shooter? No. She already has the only shooter she'll ever need. What do I do? A book? I don't know how to find an interesting book without her help. How could I suggest one to her? She's already told me explicitly to never get her jewelry. Why not? I think I have a good sense of what would look good. I almost find this insulting. Eh... I don't know what to do. Fortunately, that's a topic for another blog post. This one is about me.

I know what I want. I have 3 things in mind right now. One of them is quite expensive and I don't really want to buy it for said reason. The Archos 5 internet media tablet. I don't mind waiting before buying one because I'm sure Generation 8 will be out soon. Some rumors say it will have 3G, though I'm not sure how important that is since the monthly subscription will not be something I would love to pay for. This device would allow me to watch any video or listen to any music I have in any format. I wouldn't have to deal with any of apple's silly conversions. I would basically use it to fill walking time and other times when I'm bored. I would just pop on headphones and be gone.

This brings me to my second wish list item. Grado's SR60i headphones. These are supposedly the best headphones you can get in their price range, and that isn't a bad price range. Considering these would cost more than my speakers and headphone quality is generally rated higher than similarly priced speakers, these would increase the sound quality of my music by multitudes. I would cherish these, though still not as much as an Archos 5, if I were to get one.


I would also like a drawing tablet. I have found drawing and painting to be fun. I have found art in general to be fun. I just suck at it. This tends to be the case because I erase and redraw so often. If I were to draw on a medium for which complete erasure is an option, I'm sure my art would improve and I would be less frustrated, allowing me to draw more and have my art improve even more. This medium would be computerized drawing. However, drawing with a mouse is quite difficult. Drawing with a tablet is not nearly as bad. I know that Wacom makes the best drawing tablets on the market, but I'm not looking for the best. I'm looking for good enough at a price that doesn't make my wallet cry. For this I have seen something called Kanvas. They are a company who are trying to make cheaper, but still high quality, drawing tablets. They make other products too, but this is the one I'm interested in.

As for other wish list items, they are mostly generic items that suit my indie gamer style. I still want a decent computer game pad for emulators and maybe a nice library of games that even I wouldn't have considered. Other than that I wouldn't mind some nice mystery or comedy books. Books in the same vein as the TV shows Monk or Psych. I also have a list of games that only ever grows larger. On that list now are The World Ends With You (DS), Dragon Quest 9 (DS), Soul Bubbles (DS), Puzzle Quest (Or I hear there are sequels) (DS), Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS), A Boy and his Blob (Wii), Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii), The sequel to Kororinpa (Wii and sorry for the vague description), No More Heroes 1 & 2 (Wii), Red Steel 2 (Wii), Mad World (Wii), Braid (PC), Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PC), and Batman: Arkham Asylum (PC). And as always, any suggestion for music to listen to will be appreciated. Still, I would much rather have the above 3 items than I would any of the things on the list in this paragraph.

P.S.
This double post day is to make up for missing one yesterday. I apologize to all my 2 regular readers and hope you can forgive me.

Addiction

I don't know why, but I get obsessive. I quickly become entirely entranced in one subject, and don't waiver for quite some time. Then, once I see the next piece of cool, I immediately drop the last. I obsess over specific games, game genres, recipes, TV shows, music, and tons of other arbitrary little things one after the other, but rarely get good at any particular one.

Recent obsessions are Buffy (which I finished yesterday), pita sandwiches, and voice changing software. I've obsessed over voice changers before but obsessions are not one time deals. They ebb and flow, deciding for me when I like them and when I don't. I've been obsessed over the Archos products for about 5 years now, but I saw them first when I was in about 6th grade and didn't really think about them much between 2 years ago and 1 year ago. I find them awesome even when I don't obsess about them, but it brings a whole new level to it when I look for news all over the internet.

My biggest current obsession is Monster Hunter Tri. That game is amazing. To me it feels like PSO, but with much better controls. I love the crafting because I love hording loot and being able to make the weapons I currently own do much better, rather than replacing them. However, I did just get a new weapon because I wanted one of a different type. Today marks the acquisition of my first bowgun. It feels completely different than the swords or hammers. It almost plays like a new game. The movement are still the same, but the aiming that replaces the chaining and combos really makes a difference. Also, the quests are all very similar, but all fun to me, especially when they help me fill out the Hunter's Notes log.

So, you can see how I get when I'm obsessed with something. I was the same way for Borderlands until the game actually came near. When I heard the news that all the guns were bullet weapons I was upset. There was so much promise for random alien weaponry, but all of the innovative weapons were really terrible. I could create better weapons than those developers did. And I did. I went into my save file and built a shotgun that could drop in the game, but had league of power beyond any other gun I had seen before it in the game.

Once again, how I get with obsessions. I have said many times that I'm addicted to addictions. I fall into things completely until I have something else to put all my efforts towards. I guess the current one is blog posts. I hope I will keep up with them, but so far only my weekday posts have any consistency. At least I'm trying. And at this rate my writing skills should just sky rocket. I can see it now. This time next year I'll have a novel to my name and everyone will love it. Unless they have eyes...

Well, I do hope you enjoy reading and I hope you continue. And tell you friends I need more readers. I do love readers. They make me happy inside.

Gamers

What defines a gamer? Someone who plays a lot of games? Someone who is very good at games? Some people can be very good at gaming while never playing it and some people can play a lot without getting good at them. I tend to be pretty good without too much play, and play quite a bit. I think it is because gaming skill is fairly transferable from game to game. Playing so much over so many years makes picking up a game quite a bit easier. Still, skill and playtime don't always go together.

One thing that is upsetting is the fact that either your friends get better than you, or you get better than your friends. Both scenarios suck. On the one hand, it's no fun playing with them because they kill you so often, or you feel like you are always letting them down. On the other hand, it's no fun playing with them because you're always covering for them and assuring them that it's still fun to play with them no matter what their skill level is.

So here is my definition of a gamer. It's a person who enjoys playing games. It doesn't matter if they play often, as long as they've played. It doesn't matter if they're good, as long as they try. I don't like people who complain and rage over games, but that doesn't mean I would say they aren't gamers. I know that games frustrate me too. I just try not to complain to friends, yell at random people online, or take any aggression from the game with me into real life.

So here I am, complaining about my friends who are better and friends who are worse. I'm raging about games over the internet. I'm doing all the things I said shouldn't be done. But it's okay, cause at least I bottle it up. It's all good if you just don't tell anyone.

So off of that sidetrack. Games are fun! Play with friends. Don't mind their skill level and hope they don't mind yours. If you enjoy games, then be a gamer. And be proud of it. It doesn't matter the game. Even farmville works (even though most people who identify as gamers hate that piece of trash). Play what you love and love what you play and everyone can find a game they like. Everyone can be a gamer.

Games you should know and play

You've all heard about Okami, Ico, and Shadow of the Colossus even though very few gamers have played them. There are countless other games in this category, but I'm here to shed the light on the ones you guys don't know about.

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Lukas. He bought all the handheld games his brother bought so that they could play them together. His Pokemon blue to his Pokemon red and both of them with copies of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. However, there was one game that had good enough excuse for them to both buy a copy, yet no one has heard of it. Metal Walker, is the name of the game. The player's pet can be customized, but no too greatly. There are many enemy types, but not as many as in Pokemon. All in all the game feels like a stripped down Pokemon until the kids take one more thing into account. The battle system.

It was called flipping. I suppose it still is if anyone still actually plays the game. You aim your pet and press the a button. Then a meter starts sliding back and forth. Most try to hit the a button again at full power. A select few try to guesstimate exactly the amount of force necessary to hit the enemy and get themselves out of harms way. Even the items in the battle system were interesting. You couldn't just use them. You had to drop them on the battlefield and them "flip" into them. It changed the strategy even more because you could carry items that lower the attack or defense of the monster that hits it, and then flip the enemy into the item. This battle system was very unique and few games have done anything like it since. It made for a great game. Maybe not great enough to justify the Pokemon length story, but great enough to justify buying the game twice for two kids.

Overall rating of the game. It's a simplified Pokemon sort of deal and Pokemon is always good, but the battle system is something everyone should try at least once. It's addictive, requires more skill than Pokemon, and doesn't bore quite as quickly. This game is definitely worth a look even if you decide not to play it for more than half an hour. In the end, Lukas was happy with his purchase.