Game of the YEAR YEar Year year........

Well, today is the last day of 2008. It’s probably a good time to discuss some of our best of the year choices. I’m going to start the discussion for game of the year then. I’m not going to be able to say which I think is my favorite cause I may have a choice that is coming way out of left field. My top 2 are:

1) Fallout 3
2) Left 4 Dead

And the underdog! I haven’t played it enough yet because I just got it, but I love Banjo Kazoie Nuts and Bolts. I’ve been waiting for a great platformer for a while and Banjo definitely fulfills my needs. It may not be the classic platformer but it has all the basics and then goes off on this awesome tangent with its vehicle creation. I’ve only played for a few hours so far and barely scratched the surface of this game, but I have a feeling I’m just going to get more and more into it and I don’t want to make my pick without giving this game I almost missed out on a full chance.

Even without the wildcard coming out of nowhere this choice was going to be really tough. I narrowed it down to two a while ago. To me GTA was great and I enjoyed it a lot, but I played Fallout and it changed my world. Not because of the story or anything, but because the only RPG’s I have ever played in the past were the original Zelda and Zelda, Windwaker thingy for the DS. That’s it. RussellCrowe might remember…. When I started playing Fallout I was completely lost. I had no idea what to do or how to progress. After getting past that hurdle I was completely hooked. Usually I like to get the story done and beat a game as fast as possible. I’m not so much into the exploration. However, with Fallout, I found myself wandering around going from blank triangle to blank triangle just trying to get more pieces of the story. It was great. I can’t wait for the next installment for this awesome awesome game.

Left 4 Dead is also great. This game is the first game that we’ve played that has a chance to completely take over the place that Halo has held in JFT lore since the very beginning. Its insane to think of how many times we have played through the same 4 levels over and over and over again, and never once have I been bored. I want to play again. I’m pissed I don’t have internet in my new apartment yet because I can’t play co-op with you guys right now! Haha. This is the best co-op experience ever. No game has ever made playing together feel this good, or made it such a necessity. When I first heard about this game I was sold. I heard Zombies, and I heard Valve, and I was done. I knew it would be great. I didn’t know that this game would become the stable of JFT that I see it becoming. The online vs mode is great also. I don’t think I’ve ever felt better then when we beat the final chapter and climbed onto that helicopter with all 3 of us surviving after that one douchebag on our team died immediately.

So What do you guys think? Which is your favorite game of the year? And which game may be in your top list that no one else might be talking about?

Trying some zazz

I was just messin and added our bungie cards to the bottom of the page. scroll down to check them out and let me know what you think.

Background/Banner Possibilities

Oh man, I've got a treasure trove of good pictures we could put as backgrounds and whatnot. Lemme know what you guys think of these bad boys:

<----Best gaming setup ever. Chicken pot pies, game cube, water jugs, and a picture of the Nintendo president. How could you really improve on this?

<---Tell me this isn't sweet? MRMRGGMMGLLLMMRG!

<----Obviously a classic picture.

<---We all know this one. I always dreamed of scaling this thing. Too bad it'll never happen...

And last, but not least (for this post):

Needs more Zazz.

So guys, now that we all seem up and running, what kind of things would we like to see changed with the blog, particularly in regards to layouts. Leave your suggestions, MSPaint images greatly appreciated.

Ran across this awesome deal on an HDMI cable. Does what it needs to, dirt cheap, and right now has free shipping from newegg. Discount deals for purchasing more than 1 (I got two). In case anyone needs to get an extra one of these from after the holidays, or recent guinea pig attacks, etc. here is a good deal for you!

Movie Review: Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

I'm a big fan of director Danny Boyle (28 Days Later and Sunshine are two of my favorite movies), so I had really been looking forward to seeing his latest. Slumdog Millionaire is about a boy who grew up in the ghettos of India and now finds himself on the their version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?". The big question is: how can an uneducated young man from the slums possibly know any of these answers? That's just the setup. The beauty of this film lie in its execution. Each question (and answer) is a parallel for the main events that have shaped his life. It's brutal but beautiful, sad but uplifting. It doesn't get hung up on the politics of the region or make a heavy-handed statement; instead it just tells a damn good story. It's like City of God (maybe with a dash of Forrest Gump?) but with a touch more humor and a more developed love story. The montage over the ending credits threw me for a loop at first, but it's a nice little homage to Bollywood. Overall, it's easily one of my favorite movies of the year and I definitely recommend at least adding it to your Netflix queue.

4.5/5

Lump of coal: Watchmen maybe delayed??

Well here's some shitty Christmas news: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/business/media/25fox.html?_r=2

Apparently the rights to the Watchmen movie were just awarded to Fox (the movie is being made by WB). I knew there was a some issue regarding whether Fox actually owned the rights to a movie version of The Watchmen, but I never really gave it much thought.

Basically this means that WB can do whatever they want with the movie. Seeing that there is a ton of hype for the movie, I really see no reason why they wouldn't want to go forward with the release as planned. From what I hear, they had a pretty crappy year of new releases (as far as revenue is concerned), and this would be a good way to help balance the books. What I'm more worried about is whether or not the negotiations between WB and Fox regarding how to split profits, among other things, will push the release date back. I am hopeful that they will get a deal done quickly and the movie will be released as planned. I've already seen some people say that a delay is quite possible though.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see....







In other news, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Castle Crashers Fixed!

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/castle-crashers-patch-headed-your-way/708/

So Castle Crashers if finally getting its much needed patch.. err... i mean 'Title Update' tm. This is the much needed fix that should get rid of the stupid saving problems and the other glitchs that we experianced. This game is one of my favorites for the year, and is by far the best live arcade game out there, but isn't this a little late? I mean the game came out during the summer of arcade games or whatever that promotion was called. We played and beat the game a couple of months ago? Do you think this is going to make a differance. Were people putting off buying the game until this fix came out? This seems like something that should have been done months ago. Kind of dropped the ball i think. Anyways.. perhaps the online connectivity will finally work and we can try to play through on the harder difficulty?

On a side note... Iloved this game and can't wait for the next game by this developer. Would you guys like to see a new game or a Castle Crashers 2?

Calibrating your HDTV (oodah lolly!)

Reading various tech and HD related websites, one thing I constantly see mentioned is the importance of calibrating your HDTV. The TVs on display at Best Buy/Circuit City/etc always have their brightness, contrast, and other settings skewed to make the picture "pop" in the bright, fluorescent environment, and the stock factory settings usually cater to this. Needless to say, this does not necessarily make for the best picture in a normal viewing environment like a living room.

I've read some people make claims like "Buying an HDTV and watching it with factory settings is like buying a Ferrari and only driving it in first gear." This is a downright stupid comparison, and given the subjectivity of picture quality, there's a chance that the improvements made by calibration might not be that noticeable to the average joe (i.e. us). I've seen special calibration discs on sale at Best Buy that walk you through the process, but I have never bothered with it because I've always been happy with how my TV looks and I don't want to go messing around with settings I don't understand. Also, it's 25 bucks. Screw that. Anyway, I came across an article on Gizmodo (a good site btw), about an easy way to do a basic calibration on your TV. To avoid repeating what he says, I'll let you read it straight from the source:

How to calibrate your new HDTV (and not lose your mind)

I looked through my DVDs to try to find one with the THX Optimizer tool. I tried Aliens, but I couldn't find the option in the menu. I did, however, have luck with Toy Story. I went to the audio/video setup and clicked on the THX logo and it launched. It was pretty straightforward and easy to use. I only ended up changing a couple of settings by one or two, so the difference is not really drastic in any way, but I do feel better knowing I'm not missing out on a better picture.

So, I figured I'd post this since I *think* you guys are probably in the same boat. You might not get a huge change either, and it might not be as thorough as using the special disc or getting a professional to do it (yeah people can actually be hired to do it) , but I'd say it's at least worth Netflixing a movie with the Optimizer tool and doing it for yourself. At least if you ever come across some electronics nerd (even more so than me) you can say you're cruising in like third or fourth gear.


**EDIT**: Scratch what I said about my settings not being changed much. I just checked it again, and there were a couple settings enabled to auto-adjust color/brightness. Make sure you pay attention to that part of the walkthrough. My contrast was actually way higher than it needed to be.





I hope you enjoyed my first post. I feel that random technology-related posts are something I can bring to the table.

The 2010 Shall End!

First off, I didn't write this. I don't even know who did, but I thought it was odd enough and amusing enough to share with you all. I added a quick picture to give you some insight into what we're looking at here. I'm so....startled.
-------------------------------
Dear replacement inventory,
With much hesatation comes this heavy time to see the finally expedient removal of the Bush. Unfortunately for you who are to be damned by the coming snowman destructors of the damned and their close compartiet of the robot overlord force comes the Omaba. Even now the snowmen appear on the television devises to announce they bragged about celluloid telephonic devise.
Did you know the Omaba plans to remove the television devises in his first week number 4? Of couarse you didn't because you are stupid. The Omaba will next sell you the controler box to watch the television devises and that's how they get you! I have the proof. Don't be fooled! I am currently working on a devises to counterremand the affects of the Omaba devises. Every human who wants to live to fight and die against the aplocolaptic snowmen destructors take my advises and buy today an fan and an hot air dryier. I will soon in time provide the instructions my researches have determined to use thse devises to create the necessesery controlled tornadoe in which many will fail and die.
My friends, do not be fooled by the Omaba. Do not be fooled by those who destractionate against the Omaba. 2010 has been a unusual year but I assure you that if you follow my directives 2011 will be better except for the many who will die. My researches have shown that neither the snowman and nor the robot can distinguish between the human races. Black, white, woman, catholic, it makes no difference. The snowman destructor and the robot overlord sees all of these races and does not see. My researches says that is their advantage and that is their unadvantage. When the raccoons join us we will not fail. The few of us who live will be grateful for your sacrifise. The dandies of rank in silk and velvet and the dandies of no rank in rags and tatters will soon perish on a spiked wall twenty into the sky as the robots and snowmen mingle in indiscriminint merriment and laughter which will cede only to as a warning to all those who follw sir walter hayden into the abyss.
Soon the Jefferson will dispatch to me the orders to enjoin the Drouillard and the Clark and the dog Merriwether on the spy mission to the great western expanse. I will face meny journeys on this long hardship but do not distress! There is a string of wooden light bulbes but one is missing. We will discover the reason. We will convince the raccoon to revolt the pagan oppossom. If any of you are must to live to buy your grizzled rice to cook in your hovels at night then that will happen. I will not let you down again as i will before.

Farewell, Sir:

Crazy Dave, as we called you. You were a good guy. You tried hard to fit in, yet never quite seemed to get there. You made inappropriate comments about people's race, sexuality, gender, and yogurt choice (and how that implies a certain sexual preference) to name a few things. You wore shirts with a plethora of different stains on them, be they chocolate, mustard, blood, dirt, and (?). Your face was always eagerly shining throughout the day with the fresh blood that only a vigorous morning shave could give. Your shirts were, more often than not, untucked and exposing the midriff of an overweight aging man. You called me Jared after I had worked one cube over from you for 3 months, and had worked on a few projects with you during that time. You offended, harassed, and otherwise alienated countless people that worked in your department...and yet...you will be missed. For you were the one true "character" of our department here. When people discovered the department I worked in, they would know I was in the company of a hero - a man not bound by rules of political correctness and respect for different lifestyle choices. This is a tribute to the man who is the driving force of all stories "actuarial" in my posession. Take care.

Videogame Reviews 8.6.. More Like 9.4!!!

Hello there team.

I woke up this morning ready to enjoy another 2 hour commute sitting on the back of an old, overflowing with people bus; driven by a man who randomly slams on the break for absolutely no fathomable reason. Seriously, I think this guy listens to the radio and drumming on the steering wheel and every once in awhile he accidently hits the bass pedal too hard and we all stumble in the aisle as the bus is so full most people are standing. Normally, I’m fine with the situation cause the guy is nice and who doesn’t go a little drum crazy while driving, but when you are driving over sheets of compacted snow the whole random brake tapping thing isn’t so much funny anymore….

Anyways, I digress…. I made it to work and immediately started surfing the internet for the latest videogame info. I came across this great discussion about videogame reviews posted by Shawn Elliot of 2k Games. Anyone interested interested in videogames should check this out.
http://shawnelliott.blogspot.com/2008/12/symposium-part-one-review-scores.html

I find reviews of media to be fascinating. One man’s favorite movie can be another man’s Indiana Jones KotCS. The perceived quality of a product depends so much on a person’s taste. For example, I loved Star Wars Force Unleashed. I have no problem admitting that. It. Was. Awesome. But I can see why it got moderately bad scores in most online reviews. The game plays terribly compared to most games of its type. However, I’m such a huge nerd and a fan of the Star Wars universe that I was so distracted by the great story and the fact that I was pulling Tie Fighters from the Air and throwing them at stormtroopers that I couldn’t stop playing the game.

So my point is; don’t look at the score, read the review. Ignore the ___ out of 10 bull shit. Read the review and you’ll see that even if the score isn’t very high, the game may sound interesting. Its just so sad that people get so caught up in arguing over the scores games receive that they miss the finer points of the review that could actually be helpful. The comments under reviews always say 9.5 is way too high, or this game deserved more then a 8.6. No one ever says, “Hey I disagree with your critique of the graphics on page 2 of the review. I think the ice effects were way too shiny and it made the world look cartoony and fake.” Scores are worthless. The content is way more important. Unless the game is Left 4 Dead…. Come on IGN, 9.0? Please…. Try 9.6.

SNOW

So...apparently it snows here in the northwest. Totally did not think it would actually even hit Bellevue. Well, I get in to work and nobody is there in my department except Nick and I and one other...my BOSS. Of course right? Anyways, I asked if I could use a vacation day and leave for the rest of the day and if that'd be a problem because in my mind vacation days were days you could take off without anybody questioning you. Well apparently that's not exactly how it works. She essentially told me that I shouldn't and that I could use two half-days between today and tomorrow instead. Long story short (ish), I didn't have to take any time off because the office was closed down right around 2.
Nick was stranded here in Bellevue so he came over and hung out and is now sleeping on the couch. We played through some Left 4 Dead and then watched Collateral after having gone to the mall for dinner at Taco Del (short for delicious) Mar.
Left 4 Dead, as I'm sure everybody reading this knows, is amazing. It's amazing because it takes coordinated teamwork. Very few games seem to get this right. In Left 4 Dead, if you run ahead or are too far behind, you're screwed. The zombies will pick you off and tear you apart. It takes a cohesive group to get through unscathed - not that we have ever gotten through a level unscathed yet...someday perhaps. I am not known for my teamwork expertise, but I am hoping that through this game, I may be perfecting it.
In other news, I FINALLY WON A DUEL IN WOW! Against Lee no less! And we proved it was no fluke when I did it again immediately after. To be fair to Lee, if I am playing my class correctly I should win about 90% of the time, so it is through no fault or lack of skill on his part.
First post of mine! Where you at, Timbecile and Danimal?

Left 4 Dead - Initial Thoughts

Here is my quickie:

Pros:
I get to be a zombie.
I get to kill zombies.
I get to play with my friends.


Cons:
Glitches with physical objects blocking pathways.
Maps get repetitve after a while (but still addictive at this point, DLC though would be nice)


In short, if you were a fan of Dead Rising and any good FPS, get this game. Great solo play + addictive and dynamic multiplayer = awesome awesome game.