Steam Sale Impulse Buys

Not only is this the holiday season, a time of merriment, gift-giving, time with family and friends, and the opportunity to spend some time away from work (it is all of these things), but it's also the time for the huge Steam sale. Tons of games, old and new, and ridiculously discounted prices. So far, i've picked up:

- Trine
- Lucas Arts Adventure Pack (2 Indiana Jones games, Loom, and The Dig)
- Braid
- Osmos
- Indigo Prophecy
- Oddworld Pack (including Oddyssey and Exodus)

I check back every day to see if anything new pops up that I just can't live without. Hopefully it will end soon, because I shouldn't be buying the games I have (even though I've only spent about $20 total). If nothing else, this should set me up for a while with gaming goodness, not to mention the fact that I've been hesitant to dive into Dragon Age: Origins because I don't have the time to commit to a real playthrough. It's a good time to be a gamer, just not so good for one that doesn't have a lot of time!

My Top 5 Games of 2009

Jumping back into the blogging thing, and onto the bandwagon of the innumerable 'best' and 'worst' lists that inevitably appear at this time, I've decided to put together my list of 'Top 5 Games of 2009.' This list is compiled with the understanding that I simply didn't have the time and/or money to really delve into the incredible amount of quality games that appeared on the scene in twenty-aught-nine.

So, without further ado, here are my choices for the 5 best games I played in 2009.



5. Retro Game Challenge (DS) - There's nothing I enjoy more than being reminded of the carefree days of my youth, rabidly consuming all of the NES games I could get my hands on. Retro Game Challenge scratched that itch incredibly well, with 8-bit style games, fused with 2+ of game design evolution. The developer's understanding of what makes a great game coupled with the desire to evoke the 'golden years' of gaming produced a loving trip down memory lane, even though none of these games existed back then.



4. Batman: Arkham Asylum (XBox 360) - I chronicled my journey with this game in some detail in previous entries in this blog. Multiple game mechanics, smooth melee combat, impressive visuals, and doing justice to one of the most maligned franchise licenses in gaming history makes this game worthy of anyone's year-end best list.



3. Shadow Complex (XBox Live Arcade) - This game stirred up a tempest in a teapot when it was released, because of the beliefs of the game's lead writer, but looking beyond this will find you looking at a game that plays like Super Metroid, powered by the Unreal Engine. Need I say more?



2. Plants Vs. Zombies (PC) - I arrived late to this party, but boy am I glad I came. Simple tower defense game mechanics made challenging and interesting, all wrapped in a well-written, genuinely funny and cute shell continues to suck precious time out of my day. The additional puzzles, challenge, and survival modes, combined with the expensive items in the store to save up and buy, give this game some serious legs.



1. Borderlands (PC) - Very good FPS mechanics, Diablo style loot system and a paper-thin story you forget about 5 minutes in? The perfect recipe for my top game of 2009. I sunk 30+ hours into this game, and enjoyed every minute of it. The need to find the perfect gun, and then when you find it, wanting to find the next perfect gun kept me playing for a long time. If Gearbox, the developer, can find a way to include more story into the inevitable sequel, it will be a monster.



Honorable Mention: Fallout 3 DLC (PC) - Another hit of my favorite gaming drug from 2008? Yes please. Wait, 5 more hits? Most definitely! The addition of the 5 DLC packs to Fallout 3 pushed my total game time to over 100 hours in the post-apocalyptic wasteland. I could talk about this game for hours, and regale you with stories of exploration and discovery. That's a good thing, because the original ending (and essentially its removal with the third DLC pack, Broken Steel) makes this a case of 'the sum of the journey is greater than the destination.'

So there you have it, my modest 'best of' list for the past year. 2010 is shaping up to be even leaner than 2009, considering that I now have 3 little ones vying for my attention, but I'll never give up the dream of enough money to pay for my gaming habit and enough time to play the games I want. It doesn't hurt to dream, right?

Family +1

It's been some time since I posted here, mostly because of the birth of our third child, Emily Michelle. She's a wonderful, healthy little lady, but she seems to enjoy the nightlife a bit much. Since I haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately, and can't seem to get the dull ache behind my eyes to go away, sitting down to write hasn't been a high priority. Soon I'll get back into a more regular (if I ever was regular, ha) posting schedule.

I can say, without hesitation, that Emily is a wonderful addition to the Grant clan, and there is one very proud big sister in the house, willing and eager to help in whatever way she can. Isabelle loves her sister, and is proving to be quite the mommy's little helper. Nick, on the other hand, thinks his new little sister is ok, but is a bit disappointed she doesn't have wheels (his favorite things in the whole world being cars of all kinds).

That's all for now, but I'll be back to my uninteresting babble about games and such soon.

Dollhouse Cancelled

I knew the reprieve last season was only postponing the inevitable, but today's news still made me sad. One of the few shows I watch regularly, Dollhouse has been cancelled.

Dollhouse is done. We knew this was coming—Dollhouse creator Joss Whedon recently posted on fansite Whedonesque.com that the writers were "not exactly saving all the good stuff for 14-22," but still. 'Tis sad.

The biggest frustration I have with the news is that show had so much potential for character development, plot twists and compelling story arcs, but just didn't have the time to lay the groundwork to take advantage of the potential.

You can read more about it here. (Thanks Laurie for the heads up on this!)

Hmmm...

Strangely enough, after waiting for the better part of a year for Dragon Age to finally be released, I can barely convince myself to play it. I don't know if it's the fact that I've been busy with work or that I've been extra tired when the opportunities to play have come up, but whenever I go to fire it up, something always keeps me from doing so. Another factor could be what feels like a very heavy and depressing storyline. After playing Borderlands and some Torchlight, shifting gears into the Dragon Age universe feels, well, dreary. It's not something that's particularly invigorating to me, when I feel like I could fall asleep at the keyboard.

I did start it up long enough to complete my original choice for an origin story, and as some reviews and commentaries on the game have pointed out, there are decisions in this game that, regardless of the choice you make, leave you feeling as if you just chose between kicking a puppy or throwing a kitten against a wall. Obviously neither of these options are appealing to me, but I had to pick something, so I did. I'm sitting here rather deflated and bummed out about my choice, but that could be a side effect of being in a 7-hour meeting for work today and having no mental reserve left for serious thought or contemplation. I'm intrigued about what will happen next, but I don't feel like moving the story forward this evening. Guess I'll have to digest this game at a glacial pace. Expect to see my post about completing the game sometime in 2011. :)

My Mea Culpa re: Dragon Age

So I'm only about an hour and a half into Dragon Age: Origins, for several reasons.

1. Tuesday evening (the day the game was available) saw me doing a lot of necessary housework to help my very pregnant wife. Instead of sitting down to play at 7pm or so, it turned out I was free to play around 9pm. That allowed me enough time to get my character (Raist, a human mage) to the point where he's been confronted with what (I think) is a very important decision. Since I don't do very well on not enough sleep, I decided to call it a night.

2. It was at this point I stopped playing and started thinking about how I would respond to the question. The gravity of the situation, and the apparent ramifications for both paths, seemed to be so weighty that I actually discussed them with my wife as we settled into sleep. I felt that her extensive experience with fantasy novels and the fantasy setting might lend to a different perspective on the decision. At this point, I think I've determined the path I'm going to choose, but it gives me no pleasure to make the choice.

3. While driving back from a jobsite and listening to a gaming podcast, the Borderlands conversation got me excited enough to jump back to Pandora for a while. Gaiden is now level 24 and has unlocked the New Haven area, with all of the quests and challenges to go along with it. After my latest adventure, it's clear that I need to get some Corrosive weaponry, because there are a lot of beasties with armored heads that love to charge me, and it would be nice to have something to weaken that.

4. My gaming ADD is kicking in even more, as I'm fighting the urge to buy Torchlight and load that onto my work PC. Since it can run on just about anything, it would be a great way to kill lunch hours.

All in all, it's not a bad thing, but there's some inherent guilt to not have more time invested in the game. Tonight is Friday night, so I'll try to stay up a bit later than usual to make some progress.

(If you're wondering why I feel guilty at all, it's because I like to try to keep up with the gaming community as a whole with some select releases, and it just so happens that all 3 of the game releases that I'm interested in this holiday season all fall within a 2-3 week span. There are worse problems to deal with.)

What the...?

Traveling through a town for a site visit today, I passed by the following street sign:

Viscoloid Ave.

Really? Who names a street Viscoloid? Granted, it's a name that would be hard to forget, but can you imagine the poor little kids who live on that street having to fill out that name on the standardized tests. And what is a viscoloid, anyway?

TIME PASSES...

It turns out, after writing the first part of this post, I did some Internet research on viscoloid. It turns out viscoloid was a plastic used to make combs, toys and such in the early part of the 20th century, and the company that made these items was known as the Viscoloid company. Guess that answers my question. Oh well...

Anticipation

Currently, I'm sitting at work, trying to stay focused. There are forces against me, though. Those forces consist of the fact that I have Dragon Age: Origins preloaded on my PC at home, and it officially becomes playable at 3pm EST. The stack of drawings I need to review and edit? They hold no joy or interest for me. The e-mails I need to write? They don't hold a candle to the thought of playing a new Bioware RPG. Even the latest gaming obsession I find myself hooked on, Borderlands? It's going to have to take a backseat to DA:O, as all the cool kids are referring to it.

(Oh, and if you're wondering, I am really looking forward to the birth of our third child in a couple of weeks. It's just that thinking about, and getting excited about, video games is one way that I attempt to stay sane throughout all of the madness. Let's just say that 21-month old twins and a very pregnant and tired wife to come home to every day is not a good recipe for calm and peace. A video game that I can turn on and off as I wish, regardless of the potential gaming anxiety it may cause, gives me an illusion of control in the chaos that my life has become. I guess that's what 3 kids under the age of 2 will do for you.)

I now return you to your regularly scheduled day.

Gaming Anxiety

The title of this post isn't a life threatening condition, or an ailment that can be diagnosed, but simply a description of a feeling I've experienced a lot. The best way I can describe the condition is 'the buildup of intense feelings (pressure, dread, trepidation) experienced during a session of playing video games.' Trying to come up with the best way of fleshing out this idea led me to describe it using anecdotes from my own personal experience, which I'll share now.

One of the first times I truly experienced gaming anxiety was while playing through Bioshock. In this case, I think there were a multitude of factors that combined to create this particular version of gaming anxiety: the combination of the macabre setting and narrative; the mix of psychological 'terror' (i.e. hearing movements or voices somewhere, but not knowing when the owner of the voice would try to end my life) and 'jump you in your seat' scares; my relative inexperience with the FPS genre, creating real tension as I learned the controls; the fact I played the vast majority of the game at night in a poorly lit basement on a large TV with good surround sound. All of these contributed to the fact that I couldn't play this game for long stretches before my nerves would feel raw and frayed, I would be jumping at the slightest noise, from the game or within the house, and I would feel genuinely overwhelmed and shut the game off. It wouldn't be until the next day that I could start another play session, after all the perceived dread and excess adrenaline had drained away.

A second, and rather intense, case of gamer anxiety came about because of my desire to play through Half-Life 2. In particular, I vividly remember having a lot of trouble playing through the Ravenholm section of the game. The well-crafted atmosphere of the game, in addition to the enemy encounters and multiple 'jump in your seat' moments made it particularly difficult for me to deal with this part of the game. After that, I was always on the edge of my seat, waiting for the 'jump' moment in the excellent guided experience that Valve created, which added to the overall tension. Reflecting on this particular setting after completing the game, I did realize that it was one of my favorite segments, regardless of how I felt while experiencing it.

The next time I remember experiencing gaming anxiety came during my experiences with Fallout 3. In this case, the feeling of hopelessness, isolation and despair created by the good folks at Bethesda really got me thinking, with the added condition that my play sessions always occurred at night in the dimly light corner of the basement, adding to the overall ambiance of the situation. After an hour or two of adventuring, exploring old buildings and being jumped multiple times by enemies hidden around corners, all the while soaking in the atmosphere of the environment, I would have to stop playing and purge that experience with some lighter fare. Often I would need to read a book, watch something on TV or simply have a conversation with my wife, all of which needed to be about a lighter topic than what I'd been dealing with in the game. There were some nights when I wouldn't properly decompress after a game session, and those nights were often plagued by dark dreams or fitful sleep.

The latest experience I've had with gamer anxiety comes in the form of Borderlands. In this case, my lack of FPS skills combined with the game's atmosphere seem to be the biggest contributor to the intensity of the feelings I have after the game has been turned off. In fact, last night was a night where I didn't sleep that well, mostly because I didn't properly decompress after an almost 2 hour game session. That experience was the genesis for this post.

Not all games affect me in this manner. During a period in my life when I had far more free time, countless hours were spent playing round after round of golf in Tiger Woods PGA Tour '04 and '05 on the XBox and PS2. As a kid I could wile away entire days on NES games like Romance of the Three Kingdoms or Wizardry. I couldn't even begin to account for the time I spent playing the original Everquest, first in '99 - '00, and then later in '03 - '04. Nowadays, though, whenever I try to play a game with intense narrative and/or setting, or (more often) involving the first-person perspective, I succumb to the buildup of tension and anxiety and feel the need to step away for a bit and decompress.

Has anyone else experienced this? A cursory search on the internet provided no other relevant material, but if you're out there and have dealt with anything such as this, your comments, experiences, thoughts or observations are more than welcome.

More Borderlands

After 11 or so hours of playtime, my hunter (named Gaiden, because I had a copy of the DS game Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword on my desk while thinking of a name) is now level 21 and has completed a few quests in the Dahl Headlands. He's settled into a routine of using a sniper rifle, revolver and shotgun in a 3-weapon rotation. The sniper rifle has fire-elemental power (x3), which is great for added damage on fleshy beasts and raiders. The revolver has explosive ability (also x3) and a zoom feature, which is almost as effective as the sniper rifle at range. There's nothing more fun than headshots with a Dirty Harry gun from 90 yards. The shotgun is effective for really close range combat, meaning keeping skags at bay when they charge me.

One thing this game does very well is make you keep searching for that perfect gun. Every drop from a raider, every gun chest, every undigested bit of loot from the belly of a skag could be the ONE, the weapon that makes it all worth it. I've visited areas multiple times, just to try my luck at getting a decent drop. Right now I feel pretty comfortable with the loot I have, but I'm always on the hunt for a better shield. For some reason I have a requirement for healing in my shields, which doesn't roll around all that often, so I'm hoping for some luck in a drop or a vending machine soon. It must be said that I have transfusion grenades that, if used properly, could take the place of the healing requirement, thus allowing me to use a different type of shield. Too many bad experiences with no healing leaves me hesitant to pull the trigger on that one, but we'll see.

While I'm writing this, Dragon Age: Origins is downloading in the background. Between that and Borderlands, not to mention a copy of The Witcher I haven't yet started up, my winter is shaping up with lots of RPG goodness, in several different flavors. Last year at this time, my free time was consumed in Fallout 3, and this year looks like my attention will be split. It's a good thing, though, to mix a bit of high fantasy into my gaming, as Borderlands and Fallout 3, even though the stories are very different, share a somewhat similar 'feel'. The raiders in both games are reminiscent of each other, and the settings are similar (desolate, not a huge amount of variety, run down buildings, an atmosphere of civilization's decay), although Fallout 3 is a bit grittier than Borderlands, probably due to the art style.

Sick Day (and more Borderlands)

In between gulping down Alka Seltzer, sleeping most of the day and hiding the basement while my lovely and patient wife watched the kids so I could try to fend off the cold that's coming on, I played a bit more Borderlands today. Not too much, mind you, as I felt guilty about playing when i should have been resting or at work. Nonetheless, I succumbed to the temptation and jumped in for a bit. Between a little while today and an hour or so last night, the hunter I started is now level 13. There's a lot to like about the hunter, but he really makes for a somewhat difficult solo character. His primary weapon proficiency (sniper rifles) is good only for the first few shots, as nearly all the enemies charge directly at you once alerted to your presence. The secondary weapon proficiency I can have (revolvers) may just now be coming into play, as the first revolver in my game just dropped. That will warrant some experimentation and adventuring.

The game really has shifted into a higher gear. The main storyline, as well as at least one sidequest, has me going to the Arid Hills. These aren't your father's Arid Hills, filled with lots of very fast, very tough skags that cause me fits to try to take down before becoming dog chow. It's clear that the strategies that have worked up to this point will need to be 'tweaked', which is code for 'throw them out and start again'. I'm determined to make this work, however. There's a lot of satisfaction to be gained from a successful headshot with a sniper rifle and I'm not ready to give it up just yet.

One of the few upsides about being sick at home was being able to spend a bit of extra time with the kids, who are also coming down with the same cold. It never ceases to amaze me that, aside from being a bit more grumbly or just plain tired, they have the same cheerful disposition they exhibit when completely healthy. Me, I'm miserable, and I'm not afraid to let anyone know it. Those little ones, aside from constant runny noses and a quicker trigger for frustration, are just as happy and curious and loving as always. There are days when I wish my life were as simple and innocent as theirs...

Happy early Halloween to all those who will be celebrating it tomorrow, and be safe!

Borderlands Impressions

Sometime around the middle of last week, the somewhat dangerous habit I've tried to quell known as 'impulsive game buying' reared its ugly head and convinced me to pre-purchase Borderlands on Steam. I'd been following the game for some time, prior to its major artistic change from more realistic to 'Concept Art', but considering that I will soon be attempting to guide the lives of three little children, the thought of actually consuming the game had been banished. Unfortunately (for my wallet) the impulse to have the shiny new toy and be able to relate with all the media buzz that has been generated by its release got the better of me, and here we are. As background, the following impressions come from a total playtime, over the past two evenings, of approximately 3-1/2 hours, while my character (a soldier) stands at level 10, and beginning the quests that will allow him to leave the starting town.

It has to be said that the tutorial section of this game was done with some character. The little robot that greets you as you get off the bus, Claptrap, possesses a charm that makes me smile whenever I see him (although I could do with a few less repetitions of his standard 'I'm standing next to the Bounty Board and need to sing and dance every time the character comes near' animations and voice). The game lays out the basic controls and mechanics in a way that feels relatively natural, while using it to lay the groundwork for some of the early quests. So far, the nameless woman who appears in your character's 'mind', giving you advice and talking about Pandora doesn't grab me. There must have been a different way to tell the story, rather than this.

Overall, the aiming and shooting mechanic feel crisp and responsive, although I have been frustrated at times when I miss a target that clearly is in the middle of my sights. It's moments like these that underline the fact that while it looks like a first person shooter, sounds like a first person shooter and may even smell like a first person shooter, at it's core the game is an RPG with better than average FPS mechanics grafted on top. This fact apparently hasn't bothered too many people, but to me it occasionally feels like Fallout 3 without the option of its VATS mode. Ever so frustrating are the times when an enemy is running toward you, your crosshairs are dead center on the target and you can see bullets ricocheting all around them, with the occasional hit. I've emptied entire clips trying to take down a charging skag, with an approximate 50% hit rate while the target never left my targeting reticle. It is a fault I am willing to forgive for a while, knowing that eventually my RPG skills will come into line with my meager FPS skills and everything will feel more natural again.

The RPG underpinnings of the game seem to be (from the short time I've interacted with them) fairly satisfying. Skill trees allow for some customization of your base character to better suit your playstyle, while the weapon proficiencies increase the more you use that particular style of weapon. Basically, in a manner similar to the Ratchet & Clank series, the more stuff you shoot with a particular class of weapon, the better you get with that weapon. Because I haven't had that much time with the game, I don't think I have the full feel for what all of the skills do, nor have I settled into a playstyle yet. Even though I chose the soldier class, the way I've been approaching battles leans more toward the hunter class. It may not be long before I start again and give Mordecai a chance, to see if his strengths fit more into line with my playing habits.

I won't waste time on the graphical presentation as it has been discussed and dissected ad nauseum. The overall visual effect makes me happy, as it does give a comic book feel to a game that could have been yet another muddy, depressing world in the vein of Fallout 3.

Oh, the guns! Even with my relatively meager experience in the world, the loot-whoring side of me has reveled in the amount of guns that are dropped. The system to procedurally generate the individual stats and bonuses allow for a nearly infinite variety of weapons, which makes picking up the loot that's dropped a lot of fun, because you never know when the gun with just the right bonuses is going to appear and make your character the talk of the wasteland.

Overall, my initial impressions of the game are pretty positive. I hope to spend a bit more quality time with the game, before my free time is reduced. I'd like to check back in later with some more advanced discussion after some time to really understand the mechanics and game better. If you have any thoughts, feel free to leave a comment.

Five Things I'm Pretty Sure I Think (Tuesday Edition)

It's another edition of everyone's favorite catchall! Yet again, I toss out five random topics that have been bouncing around in this head of mine, as a form of navel-gazing or simply to get them out of my head and clutter up the Internet a bit more.

1. The Canton, MA arm of the Columbia Falls Grants are now the proud owners of a minivan. To accomplish this feat, there has been a relative flurry of automobile dealing going on. Over the past 4-5 weeks, we have (a) sold our 2007 Toyota Corolla S, (b) sold our 2002 Toyota Highlander Limited, and (c) purchased a 2008 Toyota Sienna LE. From the previous sentence, you can correctly infer that we are both a Toyota family and an expanding one, as the van was needed to fit the inevitable third car seat. One thing you might not infer is that we are completely sick of the auto buying/selling process, and hope to not have to partake in it for some time. The purchase of the minivan does have its upsides, as it puts the twins in the 3rd row bench seat, which will make it more difficult for them to pelt Mom and Dad with french fries. I can also now affectionately refer to our vehicle as the 'family boat.' :)

2. It was a fantastic showing for the Patriots this past Sunday, returning to 2007 form against the hapless Tennessee Titans, 59-0. Brady had 380 yards and 6 touchdowns...after one drive in the third quarter. Needless to say he finished the game on the sidelines sipping hot cocoa and watching Brian Hoyer get some experience under actual game conditions. It's not absurd to think that the Pats offensive unit experienced more pressure in practice the week leading up to the game than during it. Now, let's hope that this was not just a fluke game against a terrible opponent, and that this is just Brady returning to pre-knee injury form and the rest of the team starting to click, not that this week will be any test either. They'll face the pitiful 0-6 Buccaneers in London before having a bye week.

3. Taking far longer than it should have, I finally finished Final Fantasy PSP, with liberal use of online FAQs and guides. At first, I felt bad about having to rely on them to make my way through a game that's older than my brother (who's 21, by the way), but it dawned on me that the game design was obtuse in such a way that it encouraged far too much aimless wandering. Sadly, with the amount of free time I now have, I'd prefer to spend it pursuing a concrete goal, and the guides allowed me to stay focused and finish the game. My party, a Knight, Red Wizard, White Wizard and Black Wizard, were level 46 by the end, and even then faced a tough test in defeating Chaos. Now it's on to Final Fantasy II, also on the PSP, which should be a bit more interesting for me, as I've never experienced this game before (I'd completed Final Fantasy back on the NES, many many moons ago).

4. Hanging my head in shame and defeat, I will admit to the fact that Arkham Asylum was shipped out yesterday (via Goozex trade) without actually being completed. After several failed attempts at the Joker fight, somewhere around 10-15, I had no desire to go back and try again. The overall game experience itself was still positive, but the design of the final battle still boggles me, and feels like a letdown after the high quality displayed by the rest of the game. Maybe someday I'll rent it and finish the game and the remaining Riddler challenges, but not right now. The game has been converted to 1000 Goozex points, which will help me net another few titles in the near future.

5. Last, but most certainly not least, the wife and I enjoyed a rugrat-free extended vacation last week, when my parents so graciously offered to take them off our hands. We met in the middle (we live 6 hours apart), transferred the precious cargo, and each party enjoyed a different experience from Friday evening to Wednesday afternoon. My wife and I reconnected as a couple (read: we didn't kill each other), and my parents soaked up some grandkid time. The kids probably benefitted the most, as they were able to spend time with people who weren't beaten down by life and the grind of parenthood, but were energetic, excited and ready to spoil them rotten. I took some time to indulge my gaming hobby, at one point playing for 4 hours straight with no guilt or neglecting of family duties. It will be some time before this happens again, but I certainly appreciated it.

Titan Quest

I currently find myself dabbling with Titan Quest, a nice-looking Diablo clone released a few years ago by Iron Lore Entertainment (a now-defunct developer, sad to say). My journey to this game is not typical of others. There's no stories of playing countless hours in Diablo II multiplayer for that one rare drop. Actually, there's almost no Diablo II involved in this story at all. Having spent a fair amount of time playing the original Diablo on the PSOne, but not following the franchise further, I did purchase the Diablo II battlechest and loaded it onto my PC. Unfortunately, every time I've tried to sit down and play through it, the low-res graphics just look muddy on my newer monitor and cause me to not want to play it, even though the underlying concepts, mechanics and (most important of all) loot-whoring are all there. With that being said, the game still sits on my hard drive, and there's a faint hope that these negative feelings will fade and I will stick with a playthrough, if only to experience what countless others have.

This brings me to Titan Quest. The game was only $5 during a recent Direct2Drive promotion, so it could be fairly characterized as an 'impulse buy' on my part. Having read so many positive reviews and comments about it since it's release in 2006, the expenditure seemed safe and justified. I was immediately struck by the stark contrast between this game's graphics and those of Diablo II. The clear increase in visual fidelity and overall 'lightness' of Titan Quest's setting really won me over, but would the main draw of these games, the loot system, quench my thirst for unabashed loot-whoring?

I'm happy to report that it has, at least so far. I'm currently near the beginning of Act VII, somewhere around 10-12 hours in. My conqueror (warfare/defense masteries) has served me well up to this point, and the plot and setting keep me coming back. The endless mouse clicking to kill enemies, mixed in with some hot key presses on occasion, can get repetitive at times, but it's the loot gathering that steals the show here. Clearly the game is meant for multiple playthroughs and extensive multiplayer sessions, as the truly rare items drop infrequently enough to realize that accumulating a full set of one of the named rare armors would take significant time. The only fear I have for this game is that it will get lost in the shuffle of the two new releases I've been waiting all year for, Borderlands and Dragon Age: Origins. Those and the fact that my wife is going to give birth in a month to our third child. :)

Until then, though, I will most likely be found in the basement, clicking away on my mouse, hunting for the next rare drop. Or until the wife needs me to drive her to the hospital...

My Thoughts on Dollhouse

I like Dollhouse, but I don't love Dollhouse. It makes sense, of course, that I would like it. What's not to like about beautiful people, such as Eliza Dushku, Dichen Lachman, and Miracle Laurie, having the opportunity to be all different types of people in outrageous situations, and often kicking ass at the same time? Toss in the fact that the show is created by Joss Whedon, a pop culture and geek icon, and it's the perfect recipe for a great TV show. If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend finding the first season on DVD (it's currently airing the second season on Fox, Friday nights at 9pm EST) to catch up. I also recommend that you stop reading this now, because everything I discuss from here on out is definitely spoiler territory, and won't make a lot of sense unless you've been watching the show.

With all that said (here I come to the fly in the ointment of this whole conversation), I'm having a tough time throwing myself behind the show and the direction being taken in the second season. There are so many great characters and opportunities that they seem to be missing. Let's start with the likes in this second season, in bulleted form and in no particular order:

• Paul Ballard. I wasn't sure where the writers would take him entering this season, after all that transpired at the end of the first season. However, considering his position and the ability he's shown in the situation, it's hard not to root for him, even with the understanding his intentions are to bring down the Dollhouse. It's also interesting to watch him struggle with his feelings for Echo, even as he tries to remain detached and professional. There are a lot of options for them to take at this point, and they all appear promising.
• Echo, specifically that she is retaining the knowledge of all of her assignments. This particular twist was probably inevitable, considering that Echo had all of her previous assignment personalities pumped into her brain at once in last season's finale. There are several directions where the writers could take this, not all of them good. I hold out hope that they are building up to something interesting with this turn of events.
• Dr. Saunders and Topher. Even though the interaction lasted basically a third of an episode, it's intriguing to think where that relationship could go, and I hope it is explored further later in the season. This is, of course, assuming that Dr. Saunders comes back, since she decided to go for a joyride and hasn't returned.
• Mellie. Miracle Laurie's character made a brief appearance in the second episode, as her original personality. I hope that they somehow bring her back onto the ranch and have her as an active again, and soon.

Now for some of my dislikes, again in bulleted form in random order:

• The entire 'remote wipe' debacle of the third episode. It's understood when watching a show such as this that you have to check your disbelief at the door, but when they pulled out this stunt in the third episode, even I had to groan. It might not have been so bad if they didn't reduce the result to the ridiculous scene at the nightclub.
• The lack of an obvious recurring subplot. The first season of Dollhouse had Alpha's shadow over the organization at all times, culminating in the season-ending two part episode. The only storylines introduced so far that have the potential to become larger are the chances that Ballard will figure out a way to take down the Dollhouse, and Echo's self-awareness. While both have potential to become greater than they are right now, neither seem to have the same haunting quality as Alpha in season 1. While the writers took great pains to make the viewer feel like Alpha could rear up and wreak havoc at any moment, that thread hasn't appeared in the episodes so far, which leaves me feeling like this season is just a bunch of relatively disjointed encapsulated stories. More common thread and strong undercurrent of a story, fewer ridiculous one-off stories.
• Not enough Boyd. It's disappointing to me that they went to such great lengths to develop the Boyd character as Echo's handler, to then relegate him to a 'back office' position in the Dollhouse. He is strong enough as a character, and the actor clearly has enough to pull him off, to devote more screen time and story to the previous "I hate what the Dollhouse stands for, but I'm going to work for you anyway, while I come up with a way to bring you down." Ballard picked up that mantle and has run with it admirably.

Hopefully it's obvious that I enjoy this series enough that I'm not giving up on it. Hell, I took the time to write all of this, didn't I? To be honest, it's one of the few things that my wife and I watch together (Monday's comedies on CBS being the others), so I don't want to lose her as my watching partner. It's close to happening, especially after last week's serial killer episode. The show has such promise, and a premise that hasn't yet begun to be mined for ideas, while the characters all have room to grow, even considering that most of the main actors play a different part every week.

If there's anyone out there who is watching Dollhouse as well, and has opinions on this, please leave a comment. I'd love to hear more from fans and where you feel the series is heading. You can be sure I'll be watching until they take it off the air!

What a Goal!

This is one of the coolest things I've seen on hockey ice. It makes me proud that the kid who pulled it off is from Maine. Apparently this was being filmed for a Bruins special segment. It's definitely worth a watch.

Five Things I'm Pretty Sure I Think

Here's another installment of the Five Things I'm Pretty Sure I Think:

1. Psyched that the Patriots won this week against a very tough Ravens team, but I was disappointed in the officiating. The roughing the passer penalties were just ridiculous, and that's coming from someone who's team benefited from the calls. It's a shame when (arguably) the outcome of the game was affected by questionable calls. It's far better to win or lose based on talent and execution, as opposed to needing the ref's whistle. Here's to hoping the frequency and accuracy of these calls improve.

2. Haven't yet completed Arkham Asylum, because of my frustration with the final boss battle. Considering how great the game to this point has been, the tone of this encounter just doesn't fit with the rest of the story and atmosphere. This probably isn't the case, but considering that the mechanic is very similar to other boss battles (the swarms of thugs to fight through) and that the tone feels out of step with the rest of the narrative, this particular sequence feels rushed and not very polished. I'm going to give it another shot this evening, and hopefully put it behind me. Definitely looking forward to going back through and solving the Riddler challenges.

3. Finally moved on from being 'stuck' in Final Fantasy PSP (just plain stupidity on my part, nothing else), and made good progress over the weekend. Sitting at level 30, having completed the class change quest, getting the airship, and now moving on to lighting the other three crystals. After this, I'll move on to Final Fantasy II PSP, in an incredibly slow but dogged attempt to complete all the major numbered Final Fantasy games, with the notable exception of XI, the MMO entry. I just received an e-mail from Goozex that Final Fantasy III DS is in the mail. I own IV already (on GBA), I have requested V through Goozex, and have VI on SNES. I also have other games for the PSOne and PS2, but I do have some holes to fill in the catalog.

4. I started Dragon Quest V on DS a couple of days ago, before being consumed again by Final Fantasy. This game has a lot of promise, just from the couple of hours I've put in already. The game displays a refinement from its predecessor, which I played and thoroughly enjoyed, and the combat mechanics 'feel' good. I'll have more to say on this one as I progress further into it.

5. Though I don't normally talk about it here, work has been an absolute bear over the past few weeks, cutting drastically into my time for anything else. I think there's a light at the end of the tunnel which is encouraging for me, considering my 20-month old daughter's favorite phrase appears to be, "Bye Daddy!" Makes me proud and sad at the same time. One of my goals is to be there with them every morning when they wake up, and be there to help read stories and put them to bed every night. It makes putting in the extra hours at work a challenge, but I hope the results will be kids that know and love me, and see me as a part of their lives, instead of an outsider looking in.

That's all for now. Talk to you all again soon. I'd love to hear from you (if there's anyone out there reading this), so please leave comments if you feel so inclined.

(Nearly) Final Arkham Asylum Thoughts

After a hellish couple of weeks working far more than desirable, I carved out some time on Sunday to sit down and experience more Arkham Asylum. The pacing continued to be fantastic, and I really enjoyed the fact that, if I wanted to, I could meander through the environments after clearing them to search for the Riddler challenges. The combat, while at times aggravating if I lost my timing, was a lot of fun when I got the rhythm down, countering at the right time and keeping long combo chains alive. It was easy to appreciate the way the developers doled out the story and kept me interested in what was happening throughout the game. Overall, I can say, I've truly enjoyed it.

There is one particular aspect of the game that I wanted to highlight, and that's the sequences involving Scarecrow. Even though they were quite similar in mechanic, I enjoyed the buildup to each one (through the use of hallucinations on Batman's part), and the maneuvering through strange dreamscapes while avoiding the giant Scarecrow's gaze provided a nice break from the rest of the game's scenery and strategy. I particularly enjoyed the fake 'system glitch' and subsequent reimagining of part of the game's original intro sequence; I found it to be clever and well-done. For some reason, even though these sections of the game used the same movement mechanics as the rest of the game, I found them to be more entertaining than some of the other sections. It could be that they were just more bright and colorful than the rest of the environments, and just the aesthetic changed my perception. Regardless, I count these sections as some of my favorites...

Now, I can't say this is a game without flaws. While the Killer Croc lair section of the game was inventive and mildly entertaining, it felt a bit too strung out and overly long, and it is one of the very few areas of the entire game that felt, well, gamey to me. If Croc really is an amphibious beast, and just as comfortable under the water as above it, why did he have such a hard time finding me? I mean, I'm no part crocodile, part human homicidal maniac, but I certainly feel that I would have zeroed in on Batman a lot faster than he did, especially after getting hit in the face by batarangs every time I popped out of the water. I would have made damn sure that I was close enough to Batman to just reach up and rip his arms off before he could throw anything at me. In this game though, Croc kept popping up just far enough away to get knocked off the floating platforms by a batarang. The whole segment felt a bit too contrived and didn't fit in very well with the rest of the experience. This observation could also be clouded by the fact that the final portion of this area was incredibly anticlimatic. Maybe Batman wouldn't have stood a chance in pitched battle with Croc, but at least make it more interactive and less sudden than what does occur.

The relative lack of variety in the boss battles was also disappointing. I don't have the total count of boss battles in front of me, but it felt like the vast majority of them involved one or two Bane-type characters with or without waves of extra normal thugs to muddy the waters. Don't get me wrong, the first experiences with them were challenging and fun, but after dealing with them several times, it became rather rote and uninspiring. I haven't yet tackled the game's truly final encounter, although there is a twin Titan battle just before it, but it appears to be more of the same with possibly some slight variation.

My last criticism of the game, and I may be the only one to have this criticism, is that it really irked me how none of the game's iconic villains actually died in this game. It seemed a bit too obvious that the developers were making sure that any and all of these supervillains could (and probably will) make an appearance in the future. It aggravated me on the same level that a movie does, when it clearly wants to leave the story open for a sequel, in case the movie makes enough money to warrant one. Overly dramatic 'death' sequences abound in this title, where Batman never really sees any of his named villains perish. At first, it seemed obvious to me that because there was no real resolution with these villains that they would appear later, but after several super baddies were defeated but not eliminated it was clear that this was the order of the day. Granted, it's good to keep options open for future titles, and most likely DC didn't give the developer license to kill a major villain, but still...After the first 3 or 4 of these, it felt incredibly contrived.

Again, even with these criticisms, Arkham Asylum is the frontrunner for 'Game of the Year' right now in my book. It is a great package of action, exploration, collection and story. I may pop in with any leftover observations after I finish the last boss battle, but for all intents and purposes, I'm nearly done with Batman for a bit. I'll probably try a few of the challenge levels, just to get a feel for them, but they're not really calling out to me. I'm not good enough at the game's combat to excel at the combat sequences, and probably not resourceful enough to be able to quickly dispatch enemies in the predator levels, so the appeal isn't there, but I'll try them nonetheless.

And with that, it's off to finish my lunch and get my head back into work. Leave a comment if you have thoughts on Arkham Asylum, as I'd love to hear them.

Five Things I'm Pretty Sure I Think

(Title is a modified version of the fantastic segment in every week's Monday Morning Quarterback column from SI's Peter King, who is one of the best, and most prolific, sportswriters I've ever seen).

Here are a few of the things I think about during the course of an average week. The subjects may vary, based on whatever is going on, but the common thread is this: if my brain were to devote as much time to useful pursuits as it does to useless knowledge, questions, fantasies, etc., maybe I would have contributed something useful to society by now. But, since I don't, you're stuck with this...

1. Listening to the Out of the Game podcast today, Jeff Green mentioned that World of Warcraft's gaudy subscriber number of 11 million. Is this number the number of paying customers of the service? Does this number include lapsed subscribers, such as myself? Does this number include the ridiculous number of trial accounts set up by people who never subscribed, or those accounts set up by gold farmers for the sole purpose of spamming ads for their services? Maybe that information exists somewhere, but I'm fairly certain it's not available for public consumption.

2. Is there such a thing as 'too many games coming out'? As a father of two, and soon to be three, there just aren't enough hours in the day to sleep, eat, work, spend time with the family, do chores, and experience all of the games that interest me. As an example, Braid is only $5 on Steam this weekend and I should buy it. It was one of the best games of 2008, and I still haven't tried it yet, which makes me sad. I like to think of myself as up on all things video games, but because of time constraints, I don't often get to experience what I listen to or read about firsthand.

3. I don't like first person shooters. There, I've said it. Now all I have to do is keep repeating it, so I don't convince myself that the Next Big Thing(TM) will be the one that I like. There are so many games I've bought and played, only because everyone in the gaming world was raving about them. Halo 3? Check. Played a little bit of multiplayer with coworkers, and sucked. Didn't get past the first mission in single-player. And yet I still feel guilty for some reason that I don't like it more. CoD4? Fortunately haven't spent the money on it yet. Left 4 Dead? Got it from Goozex a few weeks ago, thinking that I would play it with friends, and so far it hasn't found its way into my 360. It's time for me to realize that it's ok to not like the genre, and that it doesn't make me a bad person.

4. I may have screwed myself out of about 7 hours of progress in Final Fantasy. After releasing the earth crystal from the Lich, I immediately went to the Earthgift shrine, and currently have a save game (my only savegame for this adventure, sadly) on the deepest level of this dungeon. The problem with this scenario is that all of the exits appear to be guarded by boss creatures scaled for at least 10 levels higher than my current level (24). Does anyone know if I can leave this place, or am I stuck here and have to start over? If I have to start over, it probably will spell the end of my quest to complete this particular game, since I don't have the time or patience to go through all of this again.

5. As I'm sitting here writing this, I probably should be getting back to Arkham Asylum. Still haven't touched it since midweek last week. Also, I finally got Lost Odyssey in the mail from Goozex. When I played it the first time, it was on a whim from Gamefly, I enjoyed it enough to put it on my Goozex request list and send back the Gamefly copy. Now I can continue on with that story, which was entertaining enough for me to want to know what happens.

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully I'll get the chance to watch some football (it is the opening weekend, after all) or some Red Sox baseball (second game of a doubleheader vs. the Rays), but the wife is playing a mean round of 'Flip TV', so that may not happen. See you next time!

TGI Flippin' F

This week couldn't have ended soon enough. Several nights of working until 10, my lovely daughter deciding that sleep was optional for her, and the fact that I suffered with a random night of complete insomnia makes me hope, nay pray, that this weekend is quiet and restful.

Oh wait, I have 19-month old twins. Scratch that. Let the chaos begin! :)

There will hopefully be a moment or two where I can get back to fighting crime in Arkham Asylum. I'm itching to beat a bunch of anonymous thugs senseless, or string them up from a gargoyle, or something like that. You get the picture. It's been hard working so much, knowing that the game is just sitting, lonely and unloved, in my 360. Soon we will be together again, just a few more hours...

On the upside, at least the large amount of time devoted to work allowed me to 'make some hay' in the large backlog of billable project work staring at me. It also seems that I'll be transitioning into more of a project lead, while supervising the work of at least one or two other people. Could be interesting, could be terrifying. Only time will tell, but it feels like the right move considering the direction my career is going.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Gamespite Quarterly Issue #2

Just received my copy of Gamespite Quarterly Issue #2 from FedEx today. I've only gotten through the first couple of games so far, but it's clear I'll be reading this until it's finished. Not sure what I'm more interested in: their comments on games I'm familiar with, or learning about games I've never tried before.

It was a decent end to a long day. It seems like every day I go to work, a new project is dropped on my plate. While I really look forward to working on all of these different jobs, I'm running out of work time in the day to get everything done. All in all, it's shaping up to be an extremely busy September. On the upside, the fact I'm busy translates to job security (I think).

Happy Labor Day!

As any good American did, I celebrated Labor Day...by going to work. It makes sense, right? At least it was only for a few hours, and it allowed me the opportunity to escape the bedlam of the house and gather myself and my thoughts after a LONG, draining week of family drama, culminating at my brother-in-law's wedding on Saturday. It's over now, and the only hope is that things will settle down from here on out. There's trouble on the wind, though, which may cause this to be more than a one-time incident. Time will tell, and it may not be a pretty story. At least there were some attractive ladies in formal wear there, enough for me to deem the event worth attending. You have to take the little victories when they come...:)

Because of the wedding and the visit to my mother-in-law's house on Sunday (so my wife could see some of her family staying there before they departed for home), I haven't spent a lot of time with the electronic entertainment this weekend. When I could, I grabbed some time with Arkham Asylum, and in the evenings after going to bed I would wind down with some Final Fantasy PSP. Batman continues to impress, and I'm seriously considering buying this one, as it looks to have some replay value. Final Fantasy PSP is just a nice trip down memory lane, except for the fact that I played the original version of this game too long ago to really remember. :)

As I sit in the basement, sipping a Cap'n and Coke, I wish everyone a great holiday and hopefully your long weekend was much less stressful and drama-filled than mine was.

Family Drama

What is it about large gatherings of family (weddings, funerals, etc.) that cause such drama to occur? My wife's family should be celebrating the wedding of the last sibling to get married, but instead the drama is flying. Makes me wish I could just run away from it all.

I guess it's like the old saying, " You can pick your friends, you can pick your seat, but you can't pick your friend's..." Oh wait, wrong saying. You know what I mean.

Arkham Asylum Thoughts

Was up way too late last night playing Arkham Asylum, and for good reason. The game just keeps you moving forward. I'm not sure if I can put my finger on what's drawing me in so much, as I'm typically not very good at this style of game. The combat feels fluid, even though I know I'm not taking advantage of half of the available moves and combos. The choreography of the combat, the visuals, the fluid way your Batman character moves from punching one goon in the face to swinging an elbow to catch another goon coming up behind you...It all melds together into a beautiful, smooth violent ballet. In the hands of someone with more skill it would be a masterpiece, worthy of Baryshnikov. With me, well, it's probably after school recital material, but since it's playing out in my living room and no-one's watching but me, I can pretend. :)

I particularly enjoyed the sequence involving Scarecrow in the morgue. The drug-induced fantasy scene, where you had to maneuver through a bizarre terrain, avoiding the Scarecrow's gaze to get to a Bat signal light to defeat him, was a lot of fun, and a nice setpiece to contrast with the rest of Arkham. I won't mention how many times it took me to get it right (somewhere around 6-8), but even factoring that in, I couldn't help but smile the entire time.

Probably the most surprising thing to me is how much I'm enjoying the stealth action sequences. The design of this, while pretty unrealistic, gives me a sense of what it is to be Batman. Sitting on top of one of those ever-present gargoyles, watching gun-toting goons wander around below me, I get a thrill as I determine the perfect moment to pounce. With a light swoosh, I glide down with a vicious kick to the head of an unsuspecting baddie, wind up a ground strike and quickly fire my grappling hook to ascend back into the shadows of the ceiling before his buddies can figure out where I went. It's this particular part of the game that, I feel, really embodies the Batman seen in the comic books and the movies. Add to that the fact there is a real sense of urgency to this, because one bad guy with a gun can dispatch Batman pretty quickly, and it adds up to me enjoying a stealth mechanic for the first time in a while.

The one downside to this entire concept is that the AI of the goons leaves some to be desired. In one particular sequence, I took down two consecutive goons below one specific gargoyle, mostly due to the fact that the room geometry allowed that location to be somewhat isolated from view of the rest of their compadres. After each takedown, the remaining baddies would run over, look at their buddies unconscious on the floor and wonder aloud where I was. The first time this occurred, I could understand their confusion, as I might have swooped away in any direction. But when the second goon fell mere inches from the first, wouldn't one think about investigating the entire area, including looking up at the gargoyle where I'd been sitting the entire time, watching this ludicrous scene play out? Oh well, this is a minor quibble in a sea of what has been an overall fantastic experience.

One thing I do appreciate, which I touched on in my last post, is how the story of the game is conveyed. I haven't tired yet of having Joker pop up on random monitors throughout the asylum to taunt me and point me toward his next overly dramatic and ridiculous trap. Add to that Oracle popping in on occasion to update important strategic info, and the game continues to give me information to further the story without breaking the immersion of the surroundings. Hopefully the quality of this delivery maintains throughout the experience...

On a shorter note, before really delving into Arkham Asylum I did manage to complete Shadow Complex. This is a game that I'll definitely revisit soon, as I'd like to claim 100% completion at some point. It feels doable for me, even considering the time constraints I play under. Oh, and I'd like to be able to say I completed it in a difficulty higher than 'casual.' :)

Arkham Asylum, and the Weekend That Was

I've gotten only a little bit of time to play games this weekend, thanks to family commitments and trying my hand at some minor home projects, but that time was well spent trapped in Arkham Asylum. From what I can tell so far, all the hype and internet love is justified. The game's aesthetics are incredibly appealing, I really enjoy the combat mechanics and slowly getting a grip on the stealth mechanics, but what I've really enjoyed so far is how the game advances the plot. It's hard to get tired of the Joker's insane ramblings over the intercom, Harley Quinn's videos, or even Oracle's popping in over the radio on occasion to keep ole' Bruce up to date on the happenings. The story itself is one that I can really appreciate and get behind, and I look forward to discovering all the different surprises that are in store later on.

Still working my way through Shadow Complex, and contemplating if I should try to get 100% completion on this playthrough or simply finishing the game and starting a second attempt. Like a wuss, I played this one on casual, but will obviously bump up at least one difficulty level, and possibly two for the next attempt. The one thing I can't seem to get that could cause some frustration is getting the last weapon, located near the last boss (I think). It involves activating a lever, which opens a door and me rushing back to try to get to that door before it closes again. If anyone has a suggestion about how to accomplish this, I'm all ears.

Other than not having much time to play games, it was a great weekend overall. Not being lucky enough to have the handy gene passed down from my dad, I managed despite that fact to replace a bathroom light fixture without dying tragically with my foot in a sink and my hands wrapped around live wires. Hey, I take the small victories where I can. In the 'I can't get this time in my life back' category, the wife and I watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Even knowing how badly this movie was panned when it came out, I really wanted to like it, if only because it was another Indy movie. Alas, it was more hokey and unbelievable than even I could handle. Seriously now, an alien skull? C'mon...

Fallout 3 (some more)

Revisited my on again, off again relationship with Fallout 3 this week. For some reason, no matter how many times I think that I'm finished with this game, the siren song of unexplored areas calls me back. This time it was to fully explore the Point Lookout map. In completing the main storyline of the game, I basically followed the yellow brick road and bypassed the tantalizing arrows for new locations on the compass. The ridiculous enemy difficulty (seriously, how many hillbilly mutants that look like they watched way too much "Deliverance" can take multiple plasma rifle shots to the head without going down? Geez...) turned me off to just wandering around the map, seeing what there was to see. After a few weeks away, I got the itch to give it another shot...

This time I loaded for bear. Realizing that I was saving the condition of all the uber powerful special weapons for nothing, I grabbed the gauss rifle and the Fat Man, and made the trek through the swamp. I wished I'd grabbed a screenshot of the pair of creeper legs that were left upright and minus the rest of the body after a near-direct mini-nuke hit. And, exploring some of my relatively newfound sneaking abilities, I discovered that I could blast apart creepers with one sniper shot from a gauss rifle while hidden. i can't imagine what was going through their minds as their buddies vaporized around them. "Gee, uh, um...Doh!"

It's probably an inevitability that I'll get Mothership Zeta at some point, once the call of the completionist draws me in once more, but for the time being, Fallout 3 is safely back in the recesses of my interests.

One other tidbit

I've been linked several times by other websites to Armor Games, a browser-based game site. The site seems to offer a plethora of games designed to suck away your free time and desire to work.

One of those games, Crush the Castle, kept me entertained for a bit. The entire point of the game is that you have a trebuchet, and you hurl different types of ammo at different castle structures with the goal of killing all inhabitants inside. There are physics to take into account, as well as different materials of construction for the walls, while the different ammo types have different effects on the building based on configuration and material. I've linked to a speedrun for the entire game, just so you can get a feel for the game.



The premise is simple, and the game is just fun. I highly recommend taking it for a spin.

Shadow Complex

I had the opportunity to play this some more last night and, at least for me, the game is living up to the pre-release hype. One of my favorite games of all time is still Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and this game borrows heavily from that game's design philosophy, along with Super Metroid. I'm going to hang my head in gaming shame and say that I haven't spent much time with Super Metroid, and after this experience it's clear I'll be finding a copy of that in my near future.

The graphics are great, the action is a lot of fun (without being difficult to pick up and play), and the story is believable enough to make me want to know what happens in the end. For a collectophile like myself, there are many weapon and health upgrades to search for and collect, some involving backtracking through already explored areas.

I've embedded the E3 trailer for the game, to give anyone not familiar a flavor of the game.



I dare say that, if the game continues to impress me the way it has, I may actually start up a second playthrough, which is unheard of in my gaming world. If you're playing (or already played) this, feel free to leave a comment in chat.

Also, I found this post on Jostiq that discusses a bit about Metroidvania games and provides a link to a picture history of other games that use similar mechanics. I was impressed to see several NES games, which I had played and enjoyed.

Monkey Island Final Thoughts

I'd love to be here, professing my undying love for Monkey Island, pining away for LucasArts to greenlight a remake of the second game. This reaction feels right, considering the outpouring of support the game has received from the enthusiast press, and how much the game is revered by those who played it when it was originally released. I want to fall in line with these people, who've forgotten more about games than I'll ever know...

But I can't. While the writing was spot on, even laugh out loud funny at times, and the voice acting in the remake was perfect for the script, the adventure game mechanic just didn't do it for me. This has the feel of a medium that overcame technical limitations back in the early '90s, which doesn't fly as readily here in twenty-aught-nine, when we can have 3D spectacles like Crysis and Bioshock, or 2.5D fare such as Shadow Complex. Take a script such as this, package it with game mechanics and an experience that utilizes today's tech, and...you have Brutal Legend. Maybe. That's the buzz going around, and Tim Schaefer, who worked on Monkey Island, penned Brutal Legend as well. Here's to hoping.

Anyway, in the eyes of video game snobs, I'm now one to be shunned, because I don't hold what clearly is a classic in the same regard as they do. However, I feel this is yet another example of how strongly nostalgia can impact one's opinion of things. We all have these feelings about something, whether it be a book, a movie, an experience, something. Our strong feelings that we experienced years ago continue to color our perception of the thing, long after everyone else has moved on.

But hey, that's why the retro game market continues to flourish, right? If you have an opinion on this, I'd love to hear it.

JRPGs and Monkey Island

Made some progress in Lost Odyssey over the past few days, to the first 'boss', Gilgram on the mountaintop. Disappointed that it seems I'll have to grind a few levels to be able to survive the encounter. Otherwise the game is really working for me. I'm probably in the minority, but I'm digging the story cutscenes that pop up here and there, and I can't get enough of the dreams. Well-written, and really flesh out the main character in a way that games often can't. Hopefully I'll be able to get past the current bottleneck and enjoy some more.

Still plugging away at Final Fantasy PSP. Currently in the dwarf tunnel, and looking for Nerrick, who needs the Nitro Powder for some purpose. This is a great distraction for me at lunchtime, a way to turn off the work part of my brain and enjoy some geeky pastime at work. Playing two games at the same time that involve random battles (considering that Lost Odyssey was made by Mistwalker Studios, a team whose pedigree include several of the early Final Fantasies and Blue Dragon) gets a bit monotonous in today's age of seeing your enemies and often having the option of avoiding conflict, but the story of LO and the nostalgia of FF should keep me coming back.

Which brings me to Monkey Island. I'm sad to say that I think this game plays far more off the nostalgia of people who really enjoyed them back in the day than still being a great game nowadays. Don't get me wrong, the writing is fantastic, and it's clear that the developers had a sense of humor that translated well to games. It's just that some of the puzzles, while far less obtuse and downright ridiculous than those in the Sierra games of nearly the same vintage, just seem a bit silly. At this point, because I didn't play the game when it was first release and have none of the warm and fuzzy nostalgia that many have for it, I'm going through the motions and using the hint system a lot to keep moving forward. Blasphemy, I know, but to each their own.

Really looking forward to Shadow Complex tomorrow. This game scratches an itch that I definitely have, which is the entire 'Metroidvania' experience, harkening back to Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night in spirit and function. There will be more discussion about that game in this space, you can be sure.

One final random aside. While serving as designated driver for my brother-in-law's bachelor party this past Saturday, I found out that prostitution is legal in the state of Rhode Island while indoors. Before anyone jumps to any conclusions, let me explain...Every 'lady' at the establishment we visited would, at some point during their talking to me, would slip in the fact that there was more available than the usual lap dances, and they would be happy to show me. For an exorbitant fee, of course. After about an hour of trying to hide from as many girls as I could, getting one dance, and several $4 diet sodas, I retired to the minivan while the rest of the guys enjoyed themselves. Note to self: I need to make sure that I'm far more intoxicated before setting foot in a place like that again. Live and learn, I guess.

Final Fantasy I (PSP)

Gotta say that I'm really enjoying the experience that is Final Fantasy I on the PSP. I haven't thought about this game since I completed it well over a decade and a half ago on the NES, so the story is new all over again. The relatively simplistic RPG concepts, combined with modern day conveniences (indicators to show how weapons and armor compare for each character in your party, save anywhere) really make for something I can play while listening to podcasts. It's been a while since I've had this much fun grinding levels. :)

If you have the PSP and a soft spot for RPGs from days gone by, I don't think you can go wrong with this one.

Random Question (Game Culture Related)

Why is it that gamers feel like every game that's made should be made especially for them, and deride games that they're not interested in, calling them 'baby games' or worse? For example, I have no real interest in the 'Imagine' series of games from Ubisoft, but they're not being marketed toward me, now are they? That doesn't make them bad games necessarily, just a type of game that I don't feel the need to play. Clearly they're doing something right, as they've sold millions, and created countless spinoffs, copycats, etc. I'm not going to insult them or even worry about them, and that's ok. I can go and enjoy RPGs, adventure games, and the occasional shooter as well, without stooping to the level of belittling a genre for which I have no interest.

Is it because, as a medium, gaming is young? People in general tend to accept the fact that there are types of books that they have no desire to read, or movies that they don't want to see, but it's acceptable that they're made. I'm not a particular fan of horror movies, but that doesn't mean I wish that they were never made. The same goes for romance novels; I find them pretty much useless and would rather read the instructions on how to put together a 493-piece article of furniture from IKEA (useful, yes, but particularly interesting or thought-provoking, no) than spend time with the latest bodice-ripper, but I respect the fact that 50% or more of the fiction sold in the US are romance novels. It's just not my bag, baby.

I don't have the answer for this question, and if I did, you can be sure I'd be getting paid to answer it, instead of writing a (probably) grammatically poor blog post during my lunch hour. It would just be nice if gamers could realize that all games aren't made for them personally, and that it's ok for games to cater to a wide variety of ages and interests. If anyone is reading this, and has an opinion, please leave a comment.

Ok, back to your regularly scheduled lives. I'm going to spend the rest of my lunch hour playing Final Fantasy, thank you.

Gaming Pet Peeve (Fixed Save Points vs. Save Anywhere)

While starting Lost Odyssey this evening, I was confronted by one of the most irritating gaming conventions that I can think of: a save point. As a responsible adult and one that often has to abandon my gaming at odd times, having to make a set amount of progress before I can save my game is aggravation. With today's modern systems and forgiving game styles, why does this exist anymore?

As an example of the opposite of this, I recently started up a game of the Final Fantasy remake on the PSP. While the original game allowed you to save only at inns, and only if you had the money to stay at the inn, the remake allows you to save anywhere. Admittedly, this could create a slightly easier experience, as anyone so inclined could save every few steps and reload whenever a battle doesn't go their way. But for me, who often has just a few minutes to game before being called to do some random chore or another, the ability to save anywhere encourages me to play more. I don't have to worry about losing any progress because I have to leave in a hurry. I can just save and come back later.

Just a random observation...Do any of you feel the same way?

Monkey Island

Judging from the discussions being held on podcasts and messageboards these days, I must be the only person to miss playing the Lucasarts games when they first came out. I did play Maniac Mansion, but only because it was on the NES. That was a game I really got into, from its strange story to quirky sense of humor, it was something that taxed my brain and tickled my funnybone at the same time. Hearing about how much everyone loves the recently released Secret of Monkey Island: SE, I decided that I'd jump in and test my adventure game abilities...

...Only to find out that I'm an idiot. It must be all the years of being spoonfed game content, or maybe it's because I have two young kids, a job, a wife, a house, etc. to worry about, but the puzzles that I think I could have figured out pretty quickly when I was 14 now involve me beating my head against a figurative brick wall until I give up and hit the hint button. I'd like to think that I'm starting to get back into the state of mind and thinking required to solve the later puzzles, but if my performance so far is any indication, I'm in for some trouble.

Don't get me wrong, the game is fantastic so far. I'm currently about 20% through the game, according to the handy dandy progress display on my latest save game. The writing is sharp, witty, and laugh-out-out funny, something that today's games (for the most part) lack, while the voice acting is spot on for the tone of the lines being conveyed. I just wish I could better grasp the puzzles without feeling like such a moron.

I'll continue to struggle with this game (which is a testament to its quality), and if I sense any improvement in my brain function, maybe I'll dive into the Telltale epsiodic experience, or possibly hunt down the older sequels to the original. I should ask my 18-month old twins to help me with it, as they probably would have more insight into these puzzles than me. :)

Fallout 3: Losing its Luster?

I think I may finally be finished with Fallout 3.

"Of course you are," you're saying. "We all are. Clearly you downloaded and ran through the last DLC, Mothership Zeta, just like the rest of us Fallout addicts, and now you're whining because there won't be any more new content until the New Vegas game next year."

Actually, no, Mr. Smartypants, that's not what I mean at all. In fact, I've only just finished the Point Lookout expansion last night. The main storyline, incredibly involving a brain in a jar and a pissed off ghoul, wasn't bad. It's definitely not something I expected. The reason why I bring this up is that, after nearly 80 hours played (according to my save file) I think I'm ready to leave this world behind. The thought of trudging through the swamp, fighting off mutated hillbillies to see all of the unique locations and sidequests that Point Lookout has to offer holds no real interest to me. This is coming from someone who discovered and explored every single point of interest on the main area map, before any of the expansions came out.

Trying to come up with a rationalization as to why I feel this way now, one point continues to jump out at me. If someone can tell me exactly how a mutated hillbilly, who runs as if he's got a stick caught in his behind and carries nothing but an axe, can take 6+ headshots from a Plasma rifle and still be standing, I'd be really appreciative. Or, how does same stick-in-bum hillbilly hit me with an axe, while I'm wearing fully repaired Enclave Hellfire Armor, and knock my health down by a third or more? Seriously? Call it a small quibble, and I can even see why this would happen from a game balance perspective (this is the 4th expansion of a game catered to a fanbase that's probably well past the intended level cap, so Bethesda had to amp up both the health bar and damage potential to create any form of challenge), but still, c'mon people...

Obviously, this outcome was inevitable. There's only so long a game can hold your interest, right? (Sit down, all you WoW players and your years played on one character; I'm not talking about MMOs here) I guess I'm just sad that the game that has provided me so much enjoyment, surprises and genuine fun since last October no longer shines like it once did in my mind. Maybe I will play through Mothership Zeta, just to see all the content that Bethesda has produced. I'm really wavering, though, and that may be the most telling sign of all.

So, what's the next shiny penny I should pick up and play with for, oh, 50-60 hours? I hear that The Witcher is now on sale on Steam, complete with free nudity. Hmm, maybe I should check that out. It has to be better than staring at deformed chicks with mohawks and shotguns, right?

What DO I Do?

Today I had the opportunity to talk with a college sophomore who was spending time in our office, learning about what each of the different areas of our company really does. He was brought to my cube, we were introduced, and he sat down, waiting expectantly for me to impart my wisdom.

And then it hit me: What the hell do I do anyway? I like what I do, I think I do it pretty well, but for the life of me I couldn't explain to this young man what I do for a living. As I tried to explain to him what I do, I felt like Lawrence from Office Space explaining his job to the consultants. It sounded hollow and useless, and at that moment I wanted to curl up and cry.

Well, it wasn't quite that bad, but unlike Lawrence I don't have my very own "Jump to Conclusions Mat" to fall back on. :)

Blast from the Past

Today's theme at work is: let's have you do something you haven't thought about since college. For me, this consisted of calculating the heat loss of sodium hydroxide out of a storage vessel, and then attempting to design an insulation and heat trace system to compensate for these losses. Just for the record, I graduated from college 11 years ago. Digging up and dusting off that knowledge from the inner workings of my twisted brain was painful to say the least.

None of the answers to the equations I worked through turned out to be 42. What a bummer...

Talk about headache inducing, but the masochistic thing is that I've enjoyed the exercise. I know...weird, huh?

Back to your regularly scheduled lives.

What I Did This Weekend (in checklist form)

Let's see...

- Play Bookworm Adventures, Volume 2 demo. Check. (Seriously considering buying this)

- Patch PC version of Fallout 3, so it doesn't crash every time I close out the game. Check.

- Inspired by release of Mothership Zeta on Monday, finish Fallout 3: Broken Steel DLC. Check.

- Download and start Fallout 3: Point Lookout DLC. Check.

- Spend time with wife and kids. Check. By far the highlight of the weekend.

- Foist kids off on their aunt and uncle (to go see farm animals) and spend a nice quiet lunch with wife. Check.

- Assemble used plastic jungle gym for kids, and discover strong animal urine smell. Check. (Note to self: clean jungle gym after work on Monday)

- End the weekend by getting puked on by overtired, overexcited 18-month old. Check.

All in all, a good weekend!

Upgrade Complete

Upgrade Complete is a fantastic little time waster, a must-play for those people who get a kick out of the upgrade mechanic in games. It's better to just let you experience it, rather than trying to describe it.

Thanks to Adam "The Fly" LaMosca over at Gamers with Jobs for pointing me in the right direction.

Gamers with Jobs post can be found here.

Weekend Movie Reviews (short version)

Made of Honor - Fairly entertaining, wouldn't have watched it if I wasn't married.

Next - Absolutely abysmal, stopped watching it around 40 minutes in. Lamenting the fact that I can't ever get those 40 minutes back.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - Pretty decent, but I didn't appreciate the added plot just for the sake of the movie. Would have been better if it were 30-45 minutes shorter.

As you can see, having kids delays movie watching by 6-8 months, minimum.

I Love this Story

I just can't get enough of the story. Being an avid fan of sports, I love to see when human decency crosses onto the field and 'the right thing' happens. My hat is off to everyone involved.

Trine

Just gave the Trine demo a shot, from Steam. The art style and atmosphere of the game are top notch, and I think I could really get into this game. The only problem I had, from a 30 minute run in the demo, were the mouse and keyboard controls really didn't do it for me. I would have loved to have a controller in my hand while playing it, but otherwise I thought it was a well worth my time. The physics in the game appeared to be quite good, and the amount of manipulation of objects in the environment was substantial. I also liked the fact that there were multiple approaches to take to solve each puzzle situation, allowing for unique replays later.

Still making my way through Fable II as well. This game has captured my attention more than any other since Fallout 3, which reminds me I still need to complete the Broken Steel expansion. I'm not as excited about going back to this since it causes my PC to crash every time I exit out of the game.

Fable II

Been playing a fair amount of Fable II the past week or so, having just gotten a new XBox 360 (I gave my original 360 to my brother when my twins were born). I'm really enjoying the game as a whole, with the writing and humor being highlights for me. The social interactions are interesting, but obviously a system that could use tweaking to become more realistic. As an example, whenever I fast-travel to Bowerstone Market, I appear on the screen and there are immediately 6-10 townspeople who are in love with me, to the point where all I'd have to do is give them rings. One would figure that with so many suitors, both female and male (my hero being a male), there would be some animosity between all of these people. Wouldn't it be great if a random brawl could break out in the mosh pit of adoration, possibly represented in a whirlwind of dust, limbs and randoms symbols hanging over the entire scene, like the cartoons I watched as a kid? :)

Just a thought...