I love technology, but I hate being fat. Those two statements go nearly hand in hand (except for you pretentious, skinny Mac apologists), which is unfortunate. We tech dudes have these brilliant minds, but our women become disgusted by us because we have become so fat that we are almost devolving into bloated masses that yap about how under-appreciated Linux is, or how humanity is utterly fucking itself by not being more aggressive with the space program, or how, deep in our overworked hearts, we know that Halo really isn't THAT great.
It's a tough balance, working in IT. While, generally, you are better than most people, it's hard to express that while they're staring at your hideous, jiggling, spherical form. I feel your pain, brother. You have so much to offer the world, but receive so little love. Your friends and parents 'help' by reminding you that you used to be a much better and more lovable person because you looked different than you look now, and your body shape was less embarrassing to them. Your wife suddenly develops a much greater interest in her nightly literature, and your penis, could you actually see it, now has cobwebs on it from disuse. You're not even entirely sure it's still there. Your children mock you and laugh at your immense girth.
It's time to make a change, bro. You're mad at all of them because the disdain and disappointment you see in their eyes is justified. You've failed. Every person's body is a marvel of organic technology, and you have been neglectful to your most important machine.
I feel your pain because I've failed in the exact same way. On my best days, I'm a fucking punchline to the worst fat joke you've ever heard.
Here's the good news: it's all in my control. I don't know if I just needed to get mad enough or what, but eating less has become much easier. The Bodybugg has been a tremendous help in tracking my progress, and giving me tangible goals, and a healthy dose of white-hot rage has definitely contributed, but I am the one who is making progress, I am the one who is limiting what I eat, I am the one getting on the treadmill when I need to, and I am the one who will reap the benefits of being athletic and sexy again.
What I'm really looking forward to is still being the super-smart, witty guy who's slightly technically inclined and very artistic, and then being a huge dick to people who treated me differently when I was 100 pounds overweight. I can't wait to be one of them, and then use it against them.
But, how to get there? How do we fat tech guys use our skillset to crush the skinny know-nothings under our Converse tennis shoes?
Well, here's what I've been doing.
First, you need a system. You should be good at this. Maybe use OpenOffice Calc or GoogleDocs to track your calorie intake. I've been using the aforementioned Bodybugg system, which is awesome since it attaches to my body and tracks my calorie burning while I enter my calorie intake, and also stores the values for any food I have to 'create' in the system (while it also already has a ton of existing foods).
Either way, design a system for yourself, but allow for some flexibility. Allow a system that is immediately challenging, but allows you some slack.
Let me put it this way. I initially started out by slashing my intake to 1000 calories and my activity to burning 3500. I knew that was an insane disparity, but it gave me a lot of room to ease into it. By honestly trying to limit how much I've been eating, and working toward that activity level, I've been able to hit an average of 3500 calories burnt per day, and have managed to come in it at less than 2000 per day, and the pounds have been coming off. Granted, this is for a very small sample size of two weeks, but I'm seeing more tangible results now than I've seen in any previous attempt at weight-loss. Every day, I am burning more calories than I'm consuming. Every day, I'm making progress.
The Bodybugg thing has been very helpful in getting it through my head that I can not only consume less than I burn, but that I can do so easily. I tend to shy away from things that take a lot of effort, and the initial pounds, because I'm so fat, have come off easily, which has fueled an even more fervent desire to shed even more pounds.
Additionally, I've worked hard to force myself to derive pleasure from things other than food. I think the main reason for my constant over-consumption is just that I enjoy delicious food waaay too much, and used it to self-medicate at times. By hammering at myself to stop counting on food as a pleasure source, it's decreased, and I do, honestly, enjoy it less. When I eat, I eat as fast as I can, to get it over with.
Back to the tech side, there's something about having to work with an interface several times a day that keeps me focused on attacking my fatness. My entering numbers and seeing graphs change, and moving sliders, I feel like I'm actively doing something helpful in regards to my weight.
Really, the Bodybugg has been fantastic and fun so far. What I'd do, though, if ya don't want to drop a bunch of money, is just aim for 1000 calories a day, but let yourself fail A LITTLE, if ya need. Just do that, and maintain your normal life otherwise.
The trade-off, though, has been my smoking. I was down to two smokes a day, but it's come back with a vengeance now. It's interesting to me that I never actually conquer anything. I always just shift the manifestation. Weird.
Also, to be a full geek, I love playing RPGs while I'm on the treadmill. It's perfect for turn-based RPGs like Lost Odyssey or any of the Final Fantasy games. I'm trying to get to a point where I only watch TV or play RPGs while I'm on the treadmill, but that's been hard on my knees.
Anyway, I'm six pounds lighter than I was two weeks ago, and plan on continuing the war. What about you? Are you a fat geek? What's your plan? Anyone out there actually recovered from their fatness?
Also, let me know if there's anything you want to hear about in regards to Writing Wednesday!
-Blaine
On sale now!
Showing posts with label Final Fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Final Fantasy. Show all posts
20090929
20090612
Frakkin' Friday
I've been underground all week, working on actual offline, book-ish writing, so that's why I haven't posted. I've been editing one large piece, and writing something all-new, which has been invigorating.
On Writing
I'd never written a masturbation scene before, let alone one that goes badly, but it was actually a lot of fun, even if it did try to make me a little self-conscious, which is the death of any writer. It's probably the filthiest thing I've ever written, but it's not gratuitous, and the extreme of the activity in the scene contrasts nicely with the outcome. I was pretty pleased with it, but I think, tonally, it's a little too oppressive and dark, so I may need to go back and pepper the first chapter with a little more humor.
Editing, though, is tough. There's one section left in the other book that I'm still trying to elevate to the quality of the rest of the book. What's funny is that it's my favorite section, and it is the one that is most lacking. I love the actual story in this section, but the writing is kinda juvenile and crap (most of it is from 10 years ago, so I gotta spank my 20-year old, immature self at times) in some parts, and the tone just doesn't fit with what's happening to a character, and the transformation she's going through.
Man, I can't wait to be able to be more specific about all this. Soon, I hope.
On Exercising
So, I had never been to a YMCA before our dance class last Friday (and, yes, I really enjoyed it, as it's a fascinating challenge to me), so I had no idea that it was a place that you work out. I had always assumed it was a place that homeless Catholics stay and teach weird shit like the rumba, which we're learning now. My assumption had been that it would be some derelict building, covered in rot and pro-hate Catholic messages.
I was wrong.
It's a beautiful facility, first. Second, its sole purpose seems to be fitness. I don't know if that's normal or not, but I've had a lifetime membership for a while, and had never used it before last Friday night, when we went to our first dance class.
Since then, we've been back every other day to work out, and it's been great. They have a bunch of cycles there that I really like, and I've been doing 4-6 miles each time while either rocking out on my iPod, playing my PSP, or chatting with my wife, who is always on the stair-thing next to me. Gonna try reading on it soon, too.
What's nice about the cycle is that it doesn't murder my knees, which I ruined while playing catcher in baseball in high school. Every other exercise machine I've tried just kills my knees. I think I can stick with this.
Oh, and the on-site child care is awesome.
My goal is to drop 100 pounds in a year, and to stop being the punchline to the great American joke.
On Reading
Inspired by Trevor's recent post over @ 1UP, I thought I'd take a moment to share what I've been reading.
I've been kinda slumming it lately with my books. I've been reading a lot of Star Wars/Warhammer 40k fiction, but most of it has been surprisingly good. In particular, I really enjoyed the Star Wars: Legacy of the Force series and the Warhammer 40k: Horus Heresy series.
This is speaking as someone who tends to look down his nose at crappy novel cash-ins for established sci-fi franchises.
Legacy of the Force is a nine-book series set about 25 years after Return of the Jedi, and follows the rise of a Sith in the unlikeliest of places. I tend to despise these spin-off books, but this series is actually really good. The movie characters actually speak and act the way they should, which I find is the thing that bothers me the most about novel tie-ins to these kinds of series. It features a lot of the familiar characters from the classic Star Wars trilogy, as well as a lot of cool, new characters.
Horus Heresy is the origin story of the Warhammer 40k universe, and it's told through an interesting and fragmented structure throughout the books. It's cool, because the first 4-5 books tell a central story, and then the subsequent novels show the fallout of that event all over the galaxy. Warhammer 40k has always had a cool fiction behind it, even if it gets a bit derivative at moments. The presentation and execution has always been pretty solid.
To satisfy my obsession with all things war/political, I've been reading William Manchester's WWII memoir, Goodbye Darkness, and just finished it last night. It was FANTASTIC. His account of Okinawa is one of the most harrowing things I've ever read. The book is incredibly gripping, and Manchester, truly a wordsmith, held me rapt as he retraced his steps through the Pacific Theater of Operations in WWII. At times it was laugh-out-loud funny and other times I was so sickened by the conduct of the Japanese that I wanted to punch somebody. Ultimately, though, Manchester transports you there, and puts you right next to him as he gives a very frank account of his thoughts and experiences.
The book starts out very slow, and will have you wondering where it's going during the first couple of chapters, but if you stick with it, you will be swept away to another time and another place.
Otherwise
- played some Jade Empire: Special Edition and Company of Heroes; both games still rock my world
- watched Fanboys and LOVED it; great for anyone whose taste is good enough to allow them to love Star Wars
- I am SUPER-hyped for True Blood to return Sunday! Best new show of last year!
- I downloaded Final Fantasy VII, Medal of Honor, and Medal of Honor: Underground on my PSP this week; GREAT memories from my late-teens/early-twenties; should be perfect for the cycle at the Y
- gonna grab the new map pack for Call of Duty: World at War today; double XP weekend this weekend, too; I actually really like the multiplayer in this game
- gonna jump back into the Uncharted 2 beta this weekend, too; tried it when I was fucking hammered last weekend, but really liked it; wanna try it sober
How is life for everyone else? What do you have going on this weekend? Anything gaming or anything exciting in the meatspace?
See ya on Monday!
-Blaine
On Writing
I'd never written a masturbation scene before, let alone one that goes badly, but it was actually a lot of fun, even if it did try to make me a little self-conscious, which is the death of any writer. It's probably the filthiest thing I've ever written, but it's not gratuitous, and the extreme of the activity in the scene contrasts nicely with the outcome. I was pretty pleased with it, but I think, tonally, it's a little too oppressive and dark, so I may need to go back and pepper the first chapter with a little more humor.
Editing, though, is tough. There's one section left in the other book that I'm still trying to elevate to the quality of the rest of the book. What's funny is that it's my favorite section, and it is the one that is most lacking. I love the actual story in this section, but the writing is kinda juvenile and crap (most of it is from 10 years ago, so I gotta spank my 20-year old, immature self at times) in some parts, and the tone just doesn't fit with what's happening to a character, and the transformation she's going through.
Man, I can't wait to be able to be more specific about all this. Soon, I hope.
On Exercising
So, I had never been to a YMCA before our dance class last Friday (and, yes, I really enjoyed it, as it's a fascinating challenge to me), so I had no idea that it was a place that you work out. I had always assumed it was a place that homeless Catholics stay and teach weird shit like the rumba, which we're learning now. My assumption had been that it would be some derelict building, covered in rot and pro-hate Catholic messages.
I was wrong.
It's a beautiful facility, first. Second, its sole purpose seems to be fitness. I don't know if that's normal or not, but I've had a lifetime membership for a while, and had never used it before last Friday night, when we went to our first dance class.
Since then, we've been back every other day to work out, and it's been great. They have a bunch of cycles there that I really like, and I've been doing 4-6 miles each time while either rocking out on my iPod, playing my PSP, or chatting with my wife, who is always on the stair-thing next to me. Gonna try reading on it soon, too.
What's nice about the cycle is that it doesn't murder my knees, which I ruined while playing catcher in baseball in high school. Every other exercise machine I've tried just kills my knees. I think I can stick with this.
Oh, and the on-site child care is awesome.
My goal is to drop 100 pounds in a year, and to stop being the punchline to the great American joke.
On Reading
Inspired by Trevor's recent post over @ 1UP, I thought I'd take a moment to share what I've been reading.
I've been kinda slumming it lately with my books. I've been reading a lot of Star Wars/Warhammer 40k fiction, but most of it has been surprisingly good. In particular, I really enjoyed the Star Wars: Legacy of the Force series and the Warhammer 40k: Horus Heresy series.
This is speaking as someone who tends to look down his nose at crappy novel cash-ins for established sci-fi franchises.
Legacy of the Force is a nine-book series set about 25 years after Return of the Jedi, and follows the rise of a Sith in the unlikeliest of places. I tend to despise these spin-off books, but this series is actually really good. The movie characters actually speak and act the way they should, which I find is the thing that bothers me the most about novel tie-ins to these kinds of series. It features a lot of the familiar characters from the classic Star Wars trilogy, as well as a lot of cool, new characters.
Horus Heresy is the origin story of the Warhammer 40k universe, and it's told through an interesting and fragmented structure throughout the books. It's cool, because the first 4-5 books tell a central story, and then the subsequent novels show the fallout of that event all over the galaxy. Warhammer 40k has always had a cool fiction behind it, even if it gets a bit derivative at moments. The presentation and execution has always been pretty solid.
To satisfy my obsession with all things war/political, I've been reading William Manchester's WWII memoir, Goodbye Darkness, and just finished it last night. It was FANTASTIC. His account of Okinawa is one of the most harrowing things I've ever read. The book is incredibly gripping, and Manchester, truly a wordsmith, held me rapt as he retraced his steps through the Pacific Theater of Operations in WWII. At times it was laugh-out-loud funny and other times I was so sickened by the conduct of the Japanese that I wanted to punch somebody. Ultimately, though, Manchester transports you there, and puts you right next to him as he gives a very frank account of his thoughts and experiences.
The book starts out very slow, and will have you wondering where it's going during the first couple of chapters, but if you stick with it, you will be swept away to another time and another place.
Otherwise
- played some Jade Empire: Special Edition and Company of Heroes; both games still rock my world
- watched Fanboys and LOVED it; great for anyone whose taste is good enough to allow them to love Star Wars
- I am SUPER-hyped for True Blood to return Sunday! Best new show of last year!
- I downloaded Final Fantasy VII, Medal of Honor, and Medal of Honor: Underground on my PSP this week; GREAT memories from my late-teens/early-twenties; should be perfect for the cycle at the Y
- gonna grab the new map pack for Call of Duty: World at War today; double XP weekend this weekend, too; I actually really like the multiplayer in this game
- gonna jump back into the Uncharted 2 beta this weekend, too; tried it when I was fucking hammered last weekend, but really liked it; wanna try it sober
How is life for everyone else? What do you have going on this weekend? Anything gaming or anything exciting in the meatspace?
See ya on Monday!
-Blaine
20090604
Some E3 Commentary
So, yeah, I've been a bit blog-shy this week.
Part of it has been that I spent Monday overloading my brain with press-conferences, and then Tuesday was a total clusterfuck. First, I was working my real job while streaming the Nintendo conference, then my stream collapsed in on itself during the Sony conference while I was still working, then when I was off-work, I lost power.
Summer storms in St. Louis are nothing to fuck with. We'll get hit for an hour with end-of-the-world weather, and in the past, it's left the city without power for weeks. We're right at that point where the Gulf Stream hits those northern bursts, and every summer, we get nailed at least once.
I remember, back in 2006, after that monster storm, spending my birthday trying to save my restaurant's food from going bad by loading up a U-Haul with all my food and running it to a buddy's store that had just gotten power back.
Anyway, Tuesday, my family and I, assuming it would be a few days 'til power was restored, holed up at my parents' house, which, despite being a rather castle-like structure with any amenity one could crave, is so remote that it has satellite internet, and is not the kind of place from which one would desire to download video.
Wednesday, I found that Ameren had actually restored our power overnight, and we moved back in. I was pleased to note that all of our trees actually stayed up this time, with minimal branch loss (we once had part of a tree fall on a neighbor's house, and the branch loss is usually so bad that we fill our entire front lawn with branch debris for pickup by the city), and no visible damage to the house.
One last thing about the summer storms here.
It's interesting to see my neighborhood during our 10-20 power outages a year, as that's when a lot of us seem to finally come out of our houses and share a laugh or give each other a hand. My super-cool neighbor, who's close to my age and has a wife and son, as well, and I went down to the playground a few doors over, and cleared some of the debris off the playground so that access wasn't restricted. We took our boys down, talked some E3, then got into a fascinating discussion about gaming shows in general, as he works for a company that helps game developers in the late stages of products or demos. He works on physics engines, and actually has some serious development cred. I haven't asked his permission, so I'm not gonna reveal his identity here, or what he's worked on, but suffice to say that some of the projects he's worked on have left me jaw-dropped. Basically, he's one of the guys who gets called in when a project needs to meet a deadline and isn't going to, whether it be a game or a conference demo.
So, yeah, it was an amazingly enlightening discussion about the game industry, and how much goes into just showing off a game that isn't out yet.
Anyway, having neighbors that pitch in and help is awesome.
That E3 Thing
So, I just wanted to talk a little about the motion-control outbreak that's happened.
I'll start with the Wii, since that happened several years ago.
I love the motion-control possibilities of the Wii, but have yet to see them implemented in a truly meaningful way. I don't understand why the Wii Motion Plus is a $20 fix instead of something that shipped as part of the final controller. I know that the fact that it's a GameCube with motion control was an effort to keep price down, but the games look like ass now. Since it's not totally relevant, I wont bring up the abomination that are Friend Codes.
Now fast forward to this year's E3.
Microsoft, after a really solid showing at their press conference, closed with Project Natal.
What's interesting about Project Natal is that it's basically stereoscopic cameras doing mo-cap on YOU, instead of a controller. That opens up a lot of possibilities.
Fighting games, provided you can clear out enough space in your gaming area, are the first thing that come to mind. Shift to a first-person perspective, get your reflexes ready, and you've got the makings of a bad-ass bare-knuckled brawler.
If you can scan in weapons, a first-person Soul Calibur could be awesome, assuming you can leap 20 feet into the air.
The Sony 'wand' thing is pretty neat too, and I really dug the sword-and-shield bit. For some reason, I actually feel a little better about having to hold something, since I worry about things like triggers and minute inputs.
That being said, I'm going to go back to my original concerns about the Wii, since they still hold true for the MS and Sony implementations.
There's no resistance when hitting a ball or an enemy, and you can't truly move infinitely in a 3D space.
What that means is that if I'm locked in combat with an opponent, and they score a blow, I'm not knocked off guard, or if they block a blow, my forward movement doesn't stop. It's still a fairly empty experience.
Also, if I'm playing Doom 4 on my console of choice (the one with acceptable visual capabilities, not the Wii), I'm having to use a stick to move my character, instead of capturing that intense need to creep through the halls. Yeah, I can still make him creep with the stick, but how much more intense is it to capture that movement yourself (if you've ever played Paintball, you know what I mean. I won't dishonor our troops by comparing their life or death experiences to a game of Doom), and pop around that corner to catch an enemy unawares?
I know I'm throwing a fit that we don't have the holodeck yet, and I understand that this a natural step in that direction, especially if they can combine this with 3D tech, but I'm just pointing out why I'm a bit skeptical.
I am very curious to try out both PS360 setups, and really what it comes down to is SOFTWARE. If the software is there, then so am I.
E3 Games
If you've followed my Twitter, then you have pretty good idea of what games have me stoked.
It seems like we're gonna choke on a glut of games again this fall, as I'm slated to snag NCAA Football 10 and Madden NFL 10 this summer, followed by Alpha Protocol, Dragon Age: Origins, Modern Warfare 2, BioShock 2, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Heavy Rain, and Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days. Those fall games are all in less than a 2-month span. That's crazy.
That's not even touching the stuff that's not out 'til next year. If all the Q1 2010 games actually release in Q1 2010, we're gonna see a busy January-March, which could be kinda weird.
Oh, and I want/need Final Fantasy VII on my PSP NOW! Ooh, and the original Medal of Honor is available for $6? Man, they're really starting to make some headway with the PSP downloadable market. If I can get portable versions of every PS1 Final Fantasy released thus far, I'd be thrilled. Between my DS Lite and the PSP, I'd have FF1-9 portably. Really, I'd love a portable version of FFVIII, one of the only Final Fantasy games I've never finished.
Okay, enough blabbing. What's got you all hot and bothered @ E3? I'll be back to my regular blogging schedule tomorrow. Also, we're recording the second E3 2009 Untitled Podcast either Saturday or Sunday.
So, yeah, like I was asking, what are you happy about from E3? Did you listen to our PRE3 Untitled Podcast: Special Edition episode? What'd you think of it?
Cool. I'll be back tomorrow. Peace out.
-Blaine
Part of it has been that I spent Monday overloading my brain with press-conferences, and then Tuesday was a total clusterfuck. First, I was working my real job while streaming the Nintendo conference, then my stream collapsed in on itself during the Sony conference while I was still working, then when I was off-work, I lost power.
Summer storms in St. Louis are nothing to fuck with. We'll get hit for an hour with end-of-the-world weather, and in the past, it's left the city without power for weeks. We're right at that point where the Gulf Stream hits those northern bursts, and every summer, we get nailed at least once.
I remember, back in 2006, after that monster storm, spending my birthday trying to save my restaurant's food from going bad by loading up a U-Haul with all my food and running it to a buddy's store that had just gotten power back.
Anyway, Tuesday, my family and I, assuming it would be a few days 'til power was restored, holed up at my parents' house, which, despite being a rather castle-like structure with any amenity one could crave, is so remote that it has satellite internet, and is not the kind of place from which one would desire to download video.
Wednesday, I found that Ameren had actually restored our power overnight, and we moved back in. I was pleased to note that all of our trees actually stayed up this time, with minimal branch loss (we once had part of a tree fall on a neighbor's house, and the branch loss is usually so bad that we fill our entire front lawn with branch debris for pickup by the city), and no visible damage to the house.
One last thing about the summer storms here.
It's interesting to see my neighborhood during our 10-20 power outages a year, as that's when a lot of us seem to finally come out of our houses and share a laugh or give each other a hand. My super-cool neighbor, who's close to my age and has a wife and son, as well, and I went down to the playground a few doors over, and cleared some of the debris off the playground so that access wasn't restricted. We took our boys down, talked some E3, then got into a fascinating discussion about gaming shows in general, as he works for a company that helps game developers in the late stages of products or demos. He works on physics engines, and actually has some serious development cred. I haven't asked his permission, so I'm not gonna reveal his identity here, or what he's worked on, but suffice to say that some of the projects he's worked on have left me jaw-dropped. Basically, he's one of the guys who gets called in when a project needs to meet a deadline and isn't going to, whether it be a game or a conference demo.
So, yeah, it was an amazingly enlightening discussion about the game industry, and how much goes into just showing off a game that isn't out yet.
Anyway, having neighbors that pitch in and help is awesome.
That E3 Thing
So, I just wanted to talk a little about the motion-control outbreak that's happened.
I'll start with the Wii, since that happened several years ago.
I love the motion-control possibilities of the Wii, but have yet to see them implemented in a truly meaningful way. I don't understand why the Wii Motion Plus is a $20 fix instead of something that shipped as part of the final controller. I know that the fact that it's a GameCube with motion control was an effort to keep price down, but the games look like ass now. Since it's not totally relevant, I wont bring up the abomination that are Friend Codes.
Now fast forward to this year's E3.
Microsoft, after a really solid showing at their press conference, closed with Project Natal.
What's interesting about Project Natal is that it's basically stereoscopic cameras doing mo-cap on YOU, instead of a controller. That opens up a lot of possibilities.
Fighting games, provided you can clear out enough space in your gaming area, are the first thing that come to mind. Shift to a first-person perspective, get your reflexes ready, and you've got the makings of a bad-ass bare-knuckled brawler.
If you can scan in weapons, a first-person Soul Calibur could be awesome, assuming you can leap 20 feet into the air.
The Sony 'wand' thing is pretty neat too, and I really dug the sword-and-shield bit. For some reason, I actually feel a little better about having to hold something, since I worry about things like triggers and minute inputs.
That being said, I'm going to go back to my original concerns about the Wii, since they still hold true for the MS and Sony implementations.
There's no resistance when hitting a ball or an enemy, and you can't truly move infinitely in a 3D space.
What that means is that if I'm locked in combat with an opponent, and they score a blow, I'm not knocked off guard, or if they block a blow, my forward movement doesn't stop. It's still a fairly empty experience.
Also, if I'm playing Doom 4 on my console of choice (the one with acceptable visual capabilities, not the Wii), I'm having to use a stick to move my character, instead of capturing that intense need to creep through the halls. Yeah, I can still make him creep with the stick, but how much more intense is it to capture that movement yourself (if you've ever played Paintball, you know what I mean. I won't dishonor our troops by comparing their life or death experiences to a game of Doom), and pop around that corner to catch an enemy unawares?
I know I'm throwing a fit that we don't have the holodeck yet, and I understand that this a natural step in that direction, especially if they can combine this with 3D tech, but I'm just pointing out why I'm a bit skeptical.
I am very curious to try out both PS360 setups, and really what it comes down to is SOFTWARE. If the software is there, then so am I.
E3 Games
If you've followed my Twitter, then you have pretty good idea of what games have me stoked.
It seems like we're gonna choke on a glut of games again this fall, as I'm slated to snag NCAA Football 10 and Madden NFL 10 this summer, followed by Alpha Protocol, Dragon Age: Origins, Modern Warfare 2, BioShock 2, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Heavy Rain, and Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days. Those fall games are all in less than a 2-month span. That's crazy.
That's not even touching the stuff that's not out 'til next year. If all the Q1 2010 games actually release in Q1 2010, we're gonna see a busy January-March, which could be kinda weird.
Oh, and I want/need Final Fantasy VII on my PSP NOW! Ooh, and the original Medal of Honor is available for $6? Man, they're really starting to make some headway with the PSP downloadable market. If I can get portable versions of every PS1 Final Fantasy released thus far, I'd be thrilled. Between my DS Lite and the PSP, I'd have FF1-9 portably. Really, I'd love a portable version of FFVIII, one of the only Final Fantasy games I've never finished.
Okay, enough blabbing. What's got you all hot and bothered @ E3? I'll be back to my regular blogging schedule tomorrow. Also, we're recording the second E3 2009 Untitled Podcast either Saturday or Sunday.
So, yeah, like I was asking, what are you happy about from E3? Did you listen to our PRE3 Untitled Podcast: Special Edition episode? What'd you think of it?
Cool. I'll be back tomorrow. Peace out.
-Blaine
20090430
Installing and Wine-ing and Random Shite
First, check this out if you didn't last night. Very education, no matter which side of the political fence you sit on. Whether you be a citizen of Gondor or Mordor, you will get something out of this.
I'd advise just to let that run while you read on or open a new tab and surf the net. Seriously, it's good stuff.
Random Gaming Musings
Here's some of the stuff that's come out over the past few days that I thought was note-worthy..
- the PSP's got some exciting stuff going on; I like the redesign, mostly. I wish the internal storage was upgradeable, and I have concerns about them being able to provide their entire library for download. Otherwise, if Disgaea, Final Fantasy Tactics, and FFVII: Crisis Core are available for download, count me in.
- I don't think it's a smart move for Squenix to limit Final Fantasy IV: the After Years to WiiWare. That's not their target demographic for the game, and never has been. Final Fantasy IV came out in 1991, which was before most Wii players were born. I think the smart money would be on releasing it on PSN for play on both PS3 and PSP, and making it so the two systems could share a save. An XBLA version definitely wouldn't hurt, either. I think that quite a few Final Fantasy fans happen to also own a Wii, in addition to their actual gaming consoles, and thus there will definitely be takers on this potential purchase, but not nearly as many as if it were spread across multiple consoles.
- A Mass Effect shooter on iPhone? Pfft. Yuck. Way to start sullying the franchise, guys.
- I gotta say, I am really looking forward to Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny on PSP. However, I guess I'm gonna hold off on buying it until it's available for download on PSP, since I don't wanna buy it twice. Regardless, I've always really enjoyed Soul Calibur, and the PSP actually seems like a good platform for the franchise. I was thinking about the controls for past entries, and this seems like it would translate well, and there wouldn't be the option for the cheesedick button-mapping of throws.
- my favorite NCAA Football feature finally returns in NCAA Football '10: school/team creation. A bunch of my friends and I all went to Columbia College Chicago (an art school) for our undergrad, and I used to always make us as a school/team in NCAA, and then go on to make a horribly obscene stadium, uniforms, players, and on and on. I'd drop us in the Big 10, since no one gives a shit about that conference (as opposed to the Big 12), and then I'd bump someone bullshit (like Northwestern) from the conference to make room for the Columbia College Chicago Killa Beez (no shit, that was the school "mascot" at the time.) Anyway, this feature was stripped from the PS360 versions, for whatever reason, but is returning this year. However, what's cool is that it's all PC-based, so you'll be able to work on your school/team whenever, and then upload it to your actual game. The team editor is supposed to be available starting in June, so that your team will be ready to humiliate the rest of the NCAA when the game ships in July. I am super, super pumped, as I used to go wild with this feature, and having it as an online app could, if properly implemented, open up all kindsa possibilities. Read about it here.
New Games
I've got a bad feeling about this year, guys n' gals. It's gonne be another crazy back-loaded year for releases. This year, I've gotten a handful of games, like Resident Evil 5, MLB09, Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II, Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor, but almost all that was in February and March. Looking ahead, I know I'm getting NCAA Football 10 and Madden NFL 10 this summer. This fall and winter, though, will feature BioShock 2, Disgaea 2 (PSP), Modern Warfare 2, Dragon Age: Origins, Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny, as well as whatever else is coming out that we don't know about yet. I know early 2010 will also see Final Fantasy XIII, Mass Effect 2, and Star Trek Online. Additionally, there are titles like Star Wars: the Old Republic, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Final Fanatasy Agito XIII, Parasite Eve: the 3rd Birthday, Again: Eye of Providence, Alan Wake, Heavy Rain, and Guild Wars 2 that just don't have release dates yet, but could drop in the next year or so.
The point is that, once again, despite a few publishers pledging to break the cycle, we're gonna get 80% of this year's games that are worth owning all within a 4-month span. Bad. Just bad. August through November is gonna be crammed full of games, and some really worthwhile titles are gonna get crushed underfoot, especially since the Dubya Depression is really gonna limit how much cash we all have to spend on games.
This is stupid. Why not release some of these over the summer, or next summer? It seems like this time of year is totally barren of releases, and would be a great time to position a game for success. Actually, this time last year, GTA4 dropped, and I heard it did okay.
Lame. Just lame.
Open Source FTW
I reinstalled Ubuntu on my main desktop again, and as usual, it went all nice and smooth. I've been an Ubuntu user for about 3 years now, and I really gotta give 'em props and how nicely Ubuntu 9.04 handles drivers now. It used to be a bit of a challenge, at times, getting everything to work drivers-wise, but now ya just boot from a disc or a flash drive, and BAM! Everything installs, and you're ready to rock n' roll.
During that install, I was trying to install OpenSolaris on my second desktop, which has been stuck on Ubuntu 8.04 for what seems like ages. Every time I've tried to upgrade from that release, it's refused to boot afterwards. Every time I've booted it into another OS with a disc, it's started to install, then just hung. The OpenSolaris install was no different, which is unfortunate. I've been a big fan of Sun Microsystems for a long time now (OpenOffice.org and Netbeans FTW), and I like playing with Unix, and I really want to learn more about maintaining a Unix server, but the fucking machine refuses to let me install anything else on it. This is the weirdest issue I think I've seen in ages. I'm gonna play around with it a bit, and see if I get any different results when I boot from a flash drive.
Gaming on a Linux Machine
After installing Ubuntu, I proceeded to blow out a lot of the Ubuntu-provided software (I hate waiting on Ubuntu to get my updates for Firefox, OpenOffice, etc.), and then install the non-Ubuntu versions of Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice, Netbeans, Wine, etc.
After I added the Wine repository, I installed Steam and XFire, then initiated the download for Quake Wars and Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II.
I haven't tried Dawn of War II yet, since I can already predict some problems getting that to run on Linux. x
I fired up Quake Wars this morning, and it actually managed to not crash during the DirectX install. It made it all the way through the install, which was shocking, then actually started to load the game, when it seized up during the UI loading process.
So, yeah, I'm back to messing with Linux gaming, since everything runs beauuutifully on the new laptop.
Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow with more foolishness.
What's up with you guys? Anything new? Anything ya wanna comment on?
-Blaine
I'd advise just to let that run while you read on or open a new tab and surf the net. Seriously, it's good stuff.
Random Gaming Musings
Here's some of the stuff that's come out over the past few days that I thought was note-worthy..
- the PSP's got some exciting stuff going on; I like the redesign, mostly. I wish the internal storage was upgradeable, and I have concerns about them being able to provide their entire library for download. Otherwise, if Disgaea, Final Fantasy Tactics, and FFVII: Crisis Core are available for download, count me in.
- I don't think it's a smart move for Squenix to limit Final Fantasy IV: the After Years to WiiWare. That's not their target demographic for the game, and never has been. Final Fantasy IV came out in 1991, which was before most Wii players were born. I think the smart money would be on releasing it on PSN for play on both PS3 and PSP, and making it so the two systems could share a save. An XBLA version definitely wouldn't hurt, either. I think that quite a few Final Fantasy fans happen to also own a Wii, in addition to their actual gaming consoles, and thus there will definitely be takers on this potential purchase, but not nearly as many as if it were spread across multiple consoles.
- A Mass Effect shooter on iPhone? Pfft. Yuck. Way to start sullying the franchise, guys.
- I gotta say, I am really looking forward to Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny on PSP. However, I guess I'm gonna hold off on buying it until it's available for download on PSP, since I don't wanna buy it twice. Regardless, I've always really enjoyed Soul Calibur, and the PSP actually seems like a good platform for the franchise. I was thinking about the controls for past entries, and this seems like it would translate well, and there wouldn't be the option for the cheesedick button-mapping of throws.
- my favorite NCAA Football feature finally returns in NCAA Football '10: school/team creation. A bunch of my friends and I all went to Columbia College Chicago (an art school) for our undergrad, and I used to always make us as a school/team in NCAA, and then go on to make a horribly obscene stadium, uniforms, players, and on and on. I'd drop us in the Big 10, since no one gives a shit about that conference (as opposed to the Big 12), and then I'd bump someone bullshit (like Northwestern) from the conference to make room for the Columbia College Chicago Killa Beez (no shit, that was the school "mascot" at the time.) Anyway, this feature was stripped from the PS360 versions, for whatever reason, but is returning this year. However, what's cool is that it's all PC-based, so you'll be able to work on your school/team whenever, and then upload it to your actual game. The team editor is supposed to be available starting in June, so that your team will be ready to humiliate the rest of the NCAA when the game ships in July. I am super, super pumped, as I used to go wild with this feature, and having it as an online app could, if properly implemented, open up all kindsa possibilities. Read about it here.
New Games
I've got a bad feeling about this year, guys n' gals. It's gonne be another crazy back-loaded year for releases. This year, I've gotten a handful of games, like Resident Evil 5, MLB09, Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II, Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor, but almost all that was in February and March. Looking ahead, I know I'm getting NCAA Football 10 and Madden NFL 10 this summer. This fall and winter, though, will feature BioShock 2, Disgaea 2 (PSP), Modern Warfare 2, Dragon Age: Origins, Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny, as well as whatever else is coming out that we don't know about yet. I know early 2010 will also see Final Fantasy XIII, Mass Effect 2, and Star Trek Online. Additionally, there are titles like Star Wars: the Old Republic, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Final Fanatasy Agito XIII, Parasite Eve: the 3rd Birthday, Again: Eye of Providence, Alan Wake, Heavy Rain, and Guild Wars 2 that just don't have release dates yet, but could drop in the next year or so.
The point is that, once again, despite a few publishers pledging to break the cycle, we're gonna get 80% of this year's games that are worth owning all within a 4-month span. Bad. Just bad. August through November is gonna be crammed full of games, and some really worthwhile titles are gonna get crushed underfoot, especially since the Dubya Depression is really gonna limit how much cash we all have to spend on games.
This is stupid. Why not release some of these over the summer, or next summer? It seems like this time of year is totally barren of releases, and would be a great time to position a game for success. Actually, this time last year, GTA4 dropped, and I heard it did okay.
Lame. Just lame.
Open Source FTW
I reinstalled Ubuntu on my main desktop again, and as usual, it went all nice and smooth. I've been an Ubuntu user for about 3 years now, and I really gotta give 'em props and how nicely Ubuntu 9.04 handles drivers now. It used to be a bit of a challenge, at times, getting everything to work drivers-wise, but now ya just boot from a disc or a flash drive, and BAM! Everything installs, and you're ready to rock n' roll.
During that install, I was trying to install OpenSolaris on my second desktop, which has been stuck on Ubuntu 8.04 for what seems like ages. Every time I've tried to upgrade from that release, it's refused to boot afterwards. Every time I've booted it into another OS with a disc, it's started to install, then just hung. The OpenSolaris install was no different, which is unfortunate. I've been a big fan of Sun Microsystems for a long time now (OpenOffice.org and Netbeans FTW), and I like playing with Unix, and I really want to learn more about maintaining a Unix server, but the fucking machine refuses to let me install anything else on it. This is the weirdest issue I think I've seen in ages. I'm gonna play around with it a bit, and see if I get any different results when I boot from a flash drive.
Gaming on a Linux Machine
After installing Ubuntu, I proceeded to blow out a lot of the Ubuntu-provided software (I hate waiting on Ubuntu to get my updates for Firefox, OpenOffice, etc.), and then install the non-Ubuntu versions of Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice, Netbeans, Wine, etc.
After I added the Wine repository, I installed Steam and XFire, then initiated the download for Quake Wars and Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II.
I haven't tried Dawn of War II yet, since I can already predict some problems getting that to run on Linux. x
I fired up Quake Wars this morning, and it actually managed to not crash during the DirectX install. It made it all the way through the install, which was shocking, then actually started to load the game, when it seized up during the UI loading process.
So, yeah, I'm back to messing with Linux gaming, since everything runs beauuutifully on the new laptop.
Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow with more foolishness.
What's up with you guys? Anything new? Anything ya wanna comment on?
-Blaine
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