I just got an email from Liberty Medical telling me that I need to buy diabetes stuff.
I didn't know it would be so soon.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Pictures
I really love taking pictures. I don't do it enough.
I think I am going to give myself the daily assignment of producing one image worthy of cluttering the Internet with. I've considered this sort of thing in the past, and I've always run up against a technology wall. I would have trouble deciding what program to store my images in, locally. I now have a netbook which should work in a pinch if nothing else will. It's also syncing with the "family Mac" which should make things easier (I don't have to only use the tiny screen). I haven't tried using the netbook to drive my desktop monitor yet. But that should work too.
I have the camera, and I have my own card reader... And I certainly want to take pictures. No more excuses.
I'm excited.
I think I am going to give myself the daily assignment of producing one image worthy of cluttering the Internet with. I've considered this sort of thing in the past, and I've always run up against a technology wall. I would have trouble deciding what program to store my images in, locally. I now have a netbook which should work in a pinch if nothing else will. It's also syncing with the "family Mac" which should make things easier (I don't have to only use the tiny screen). I haven't tried using the netbook to drive my desktop monitor yet. But that should work too.
I have the camera, and I have my own card reader... And I certainly want to take pictures. No more excuses.
I'm excited.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Beat.
Wow, this week has been tough:
Sunday: Mother's Day
Monday: Amy's Graduation
Tuesday: Baby Doctor Appointment
Wednesday: The House Attempts to Burn Down
Thursday: Ash removal
Friday: Work, then a rehearsal (duffyimages.com work)
Saturday: duffyimages.com wedding
Sunday: Well, I took it off. I watched TV. I worked on my own little projects. And I played video games.
Today I completed Two video games. There's two things of note in that sentence; firstly I did not use the term 'beat,' and secondly, Twice in One Day.
My Lack of 'Beat' is very intentional. To me, Completing a game is merely finishing it's main story mode. Beating, however, that's a different cup of tea. To beat something, one must do everything the game has to offer... collect everything, complete all the side quests, or whatever else the game does- and do it all on the highest difficulty and/or in the shortest amount of time possible. For more information on this subject see Advance Wars according to Sean Williams, or perhaps even Halo according to Isaac Titcomb.
I completed the main story on Ace Combat Zero, and it was Great. I loved the story. Did I beat it? Hell No. . . I don't think I even did a single mission above the Easy difficulty. I'm really not the type to beat a game into submission. In fact, it's downright rare that I even finish the story on games. I just don't put the time needed into them, and what time I do put in is usually not well focused (Don't ask me about my Oblivion save), so finishing a story is a big deal for me. Two in one day? even bigger.
Hence the entry.
The two games I finished today were LittleBigPlanet and Flower. Playing these games made Sean tell me I needed more explosions in my life. Finishing them, when I finish so few, is probably proof of his observation. Taking the time to brag about it on the internet is downright embarrassing. But hey, I'm already married and have children. I have proof that I'm not gay.
First off, LittleBigPlanet. LBP is not about the story. Not at all. It's about the relentless pursuit of the right side of the screen that we've found in every platformer ever, and that's enough for the game to stand on. It doesn't need a story, because it's a well-built, very customizable, highly entertaining run and jump game in the tradition of many very good games that have come before it.
That being said, the story is actually pretty good. It comes in short sound bites, and is, of course, totally irrelevant to the gameplay, but it's often witty and enjoyable while still managing to explain why the levels look different. Your travels throughout the game take you to many parts of the world which successfully walk the line between cultural theming and promoting stereotypes. The story develops characters in each of these areas of the world which you visit.
Then, suddenly- the Big Bad® appears. And the story starts to describe him, though not in much detail at all. He's known as "The Collector" and apparently he's been going around the world and collecting stuff, and, later on, the characters themselves that you've come to know in your previous adventures, to keep for his own. This is considered to be insane, despicable behavior, which must be stopped, with force, applied by you.
Now what's interesting here is that LBP is a collecting game, also. As you progress through levels your score is largely determined by the number of items you collect. These items are parts of the level that you can later use in creating your own LBP levels. That being the case, chasing someone called The Collector seems kinda ironic... in fact, at one point I was thinking that the boys at MediaMolecule (LBP's developers) were going to turn the story on it's head and have you come to find out that "The Collector" was simply the tag Fox News had put on You due to all of the reports of missing stuff. Therefore, it would have turned out that you were chasing yourself... would have perhaps been an interesting twist... but no.
No, definitely not.
I can say that MediaMolecule's writers are certainly from America- because LBP's ending comes with a heaping supply of Extra Cheese.
When you get to The Collector's area, the icon to start his level is a dark face with two glowing eyes. The music is ominous. The entire world is scared of this guy. Soldiers wish you luck on your way in. It's time to go be a hero and take this guy down.
So who is The Collector? He's a Fucking Egg sitting on a hoverround. The entire world has been terrorized by a geriatric humpty-dumpty. Seriously.
In hindsight, I suppose this isn't too far from the real world... Bin Laden being on dialysis and all. But the point still stands.
While chasing Humpty through his maze you release the characters from the other parts of the world from their cages. Do they come help? No, but that's not too surprising considering that they were imprisoned by breakfast-on-wheels. When you catch up to him, he throws some machines at you which you defeat. He runs off one screen to the right and you follow him, and find him trapped.
At this point you could... well, step on him. Or perhaps push him off the edge of a wall. Instead, everyone you released shows up, and through a useless dialog convince him that he can share everything he's collected with the LittleBigPlanet community, and that is a much cooler thing to do than keeping it all for himself. The Sun comes up, the end.
What a let down. There are so many better ways to end a platform game. Let's reflect on some classics:
The Princess is in another castle (actually, it's this one, just pallet swapped).
Ok, do it again, but the enemies will be twice as hard!
Ok, do it again, but do it in under 47 minutes!
Ok, do it again, but do it as a different character with half of the abilities you have.
Great! Now you can go back the way you came and re-explore everything. Oh, by the way- The Castle is Upside-down now.
You know, maybe the ending wasn't that bad.
Flower, on the other hand...
Flower is an interesting game. It really plays on your emotions. The use of shapes and colors and wonderful use of audio effects and score create moods as you progress through the game. There are no words. There is a story, though I imagine that story will be mildly different for each person who experiences this game.
And it really is an experience.
The second to last area was especially difficult for me. It was dark, confusing, easy to get lost in. I felt like I had a challenge in front of me that could not be met, not just because of size but also my inability to make any progress at all. It was just dark. The only time there was light was when there was lightning.
The transformation that happens through that level and the one that follows (the last level) provided one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever gotten out of a video game. And I'm at a loss for words on exactly what I mean by saying that, or how it pulled it off.
So there you have it. Story with words, and story beyond words. LBP can live without the story, and therefore will get plenty of more play time. Flower would be useless without it's story, but thankfully it's story is strong and uniquely told.
Good stuff.
Good Sunday.
Sunday: Mother's Day
Monday: Amy's Graduation
Tuesday: Baby Doctor Appointment
Wednesday: The House Attempts to Burn Down
Thursday: Ash removal
Friday: Work, then a rehearsal (duffyimages.com work)
Saturday: duffyimages.com wedding
Sunday: Well, I took it off. I watched TV. I worked on my own little projects. And I played video games.
Today I completed Two video games. There's two things of note in that sentence; firstly I did not use the term 'beat,' and secondly, Twice in One Day.
My Lack of 'Beat' is very intentional. To me, Completing a game is merely finishing it's main story mode. Beating, however, that's a different cup of tea. To beat something, one must do everything the game has to offer... collect everything, complete all the side quests, or whatever else the game does- and do it all on the highest difficulty and/or in the shortest amount of time possible. For more information on this subject see Advance Wars according to Sean Williams, or perhaps even Halo according to Isaac Titcomb.
I completed the main story on Ace Combat Zero, and it was Great. I loved the story. Did I beat it? Hell No. . . I don't think I even did a single mission above the Easy difficulty. I'm really not the type to beat a game into submission. In fact, it's downright rare that I even finish the story on games. I just don't put the time needed into them, and what time I do put in is usually not well focused (Don't ask me about my Oblivion save), so finishing a story is a big deal for me. Two in one day? even bigger.
Hence the entry.
The two games I finished today were LittleBigPlanet and Flower. Playing these games made Sean tell me I needed more explosions in my life. Finishing them, when I finish so few, is probably proof of his observation. Taking the time to brag about it on the internet is downright embarrassing. But hey, I'm already married and have children. I have proof that I'm not gay.
First off, LittleBigPlanet. LBP is not about the story. Not at all. It's about the relentless pursuit of the right side of the screen that we've found in every platformer ever, and that's enough for the game to stand on. It doesn't need a story, because it's a well-built, very customizable, highly entertaining run and jump game in the tradition of many very good games that have come before it.
That being said, the story is actually pretty good. It comes in short sound bites, and is, of course, totally irrelevant to the gameplay, but it's often witty and enjoyable while still managing to explain why the levels look different. Your travels throughout the game take you to many parts of the world which successfully walk the line between cultural theming and promoting stereotypes. The story develops characters in each of these areas of the world which you visit.
Then, suddenly- the Big Bad® appears. And the story starts to describe him, though not in much detail at all. He's known as "The Collector" and apparently he's been going around the world and collecting stuff, and, later on, the characters themselves that you've come to know in your previous adventures, to keep for his own. This is considered to be insane, despicable behavior, which must be stopped, with force, applied by you.
Now what's interesting here is that LBP is a collecting game, also. As you progress through levels your score is largely determined by the number of items you collect. These items are parts of the level that you can later use in creating your own LBP levels. That being the case, chasing someone called The Collector seems kinda ironic... in fact, at one point I was thinking that the boys at MediaMolecule (LBP's developers) were going to turn the story on it's head and have you come to find out that "The Collector" was simply the tag Fox News had put on You due to all of the reports of missing stuff. Therefore, it would have turned out that you were chasing yourself... would have perhaps been an interesting twist... but no.
No, definitely not.
I can say that MediaMolecule's writers are certainly from America- because LBP's ending comes with a heaping supply of Extra Cheese.
When you get to The Collector's area, the icon to start his level is a dark face with two glowing eyes. The music is ominous. The entire world is scared of this guy. Soldiers wish you luck on your way in. It's time to go be a hero and take this guy down.
So who is The Collector? He's a Fucking Egg sitting on a hoverround. The entire world has been terrorized by a geriatric humpty-dumpty. Seriously.
In hindsight, I suppose this isn't too far from the real world... Bin Laden being on dialysis and all. But the point still stands.
While chasing Humpty through his maze you release the characters from the other parts of the world from their cages. Do they come help? No, but that's not too surprising considering that they were imprisoned by breakfast-on-wheels. When you catch up to him, he throws some machines at you which you defeat. He runs off one screen to the right and you follow him, and find him trapped.
At this point you could... well, step on him. Or perhaps push him off the edge of a wall. Instead, everyone you released shows up, and through a useless dialog convince him that he can share everything he's collected with the LittleBigPlanet community, and that is a much cooler thing to do than keeping it all for himself. The Sun comes up, the end.
What a let down. There are so many better ways to end a platform game. Let's reflect on some classics:
The Princess is in another castle (actually, it's this one, just pallet swapped).
Ok, do it again, but the enemies will be twice as hard!
Ok, do it again, but do it in under 47 minutes!
Ok, do it again, but do it as a different character with half of the abilities you have.
Great! Now you can go back the way you came and re-explore everything. Oh, by the way- The Castle is Upside-down now.
You know, maybe the ending wasn't that bad.
Flower, on the other hand...
Flower is an interesting game. It really plays on your emotions. The use of shapes and colors and wonderful use of audio effects and score create moods as you progress through the game. There are no words. There is a story, though I imagine that story will be mildly different for each person who experiences this game.
And it really is an experience.
The second to last area was especially difficult for me. It was dark, confusing, easy to get lost in. I felt like I had a challenge in front of me that could not be met, not just because of size but also my inability to make any progress at all. It was just dark. The only time there was light was when there was lightning.
The transformation that happens through that level and the one that follows (the last level) provided one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever gotten out of a video game. And I'm at a loss for words on exactly what I mean by saying that, or how it pulled it off.
So there you have it. Story with words, and story beyond words. LBP can live without the story, and therefore will get plenty of more play time. Flower would be useless without it's story, but thankfully it's story is strong and uniquely told.
Good stuff.
Good Sunday.
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