10 posts tagged “game on”
Yesterday, I picked up Pokemon Diamond/Pearl for me and my daughter. It's pretty shiny. With the wireless trading and online play, I think it'll be a ton of fun. The only problem is that you need friend codes to get into the online portion of the game. I can understand that - Nintendo doesn't want their stuff devolving into Xbox Live and it's rather shady reputation for manners. All the same, I can remove someone's friend code, I'm sure.
Starting with Chimchar, I've caught so far a Starly, Bidoof (she's kinda goofy looking, but cute), Kricketot, Shinx, Geodude, and Onix. I need a water pokemon, and as soon as possible, I want to get my hands on a Pachirisu.
So, in the interest of Pokemaniac cooperation - I posted my friend code at www.animalcrossingcommunity.com - the place for people to go register and share codes from all their DS games. And in case someone just wants mine, shoot me an e-mail and we'll trade. Oh, and my user name in ACC is "Horatio", in case anyone is a user of that service.
I'm pretty sure that someone has already done something like this, but here's the idea I had after a rare nap.
I've been using twitter a lot lately (http://twitter.com/madpoet). And upon waking, I thought to myself "I never get a nap - I need to twitter this, but I need to make it fun". And because most of the people I twitter with are, well, a little geeky (with some notable exceptions), I came up with the idea to start twittering as though I was playing a CCG - a Collectible Card Game. CCGs include such games as Magic the Gathering, Pokemon CCG, and Yu-Gi-Oh. Most parents will be conversant with the idea, because their kids will keep begging them for cards.
So far, here's the cards I've come up with.
1) Nap. Status: Rare. Effect: roll 1d6=turns skipped. Add 1 happy token for each turn skipped. (I was really tired today).
2) Luby's. Draw and play 3 food cards. 2x penalty for dessert. +1 happy token.
3) Grump! Due to lack of sleep, you are easily annoyed. Happy token penalties are at +1. Countered by Sleep or Blow Stuff Up. (Both Sleep and Blow Stuff Up would also be cards I'd have in my imaginary game. Sleep is obvious, and ends the day's game, Blow Stuff Up would translate to the real world as a session of Supreme Commander - even though I REALLY need to upgrade my computer to get the most out of it).
It's been a long time since I've played a good First Person Shooter. I was at the computer store today, looking at F.E.A.R, which I haven't played yet, and decided my money was better saved for another month or two until I can justify Guild Wars: Nightfall. Besides, I haven't played my way through GW:Factions yet, and I've been playing a lot of old school GBA stuff lately. (Final Fantasy Tactics: Advance, at least my third time through it). So I couldn't justify the purchase. Instead, I went home and kicked up the Steam client, looking to play a little Half-Life 2, still one of the best shooters of all time.
And here's how I know that it's been a long time since I've played a good FPS.
It's making me motion-sick. I can take it for about 30-45 minutes, and then I have to quit to quell the impending queasiness. It's fun, but I can't do marathon sessions like I used to. I'll save the marathon gaming for WH40k:Dark Crusade, or GW:Factions. Now I've gotta go lie down. After Chinese food. It's my free day. Cereal for breakfast, plenty o'Dew, the Rockin' Tomato All You Can Eat Pizza Buffet, (where I didn't have All I Could Eat, didn't want to be sick, but did see some college women's soccer). Yup, once a week, I take a trip to CGNU. (Crazy Go Nuts University, home of the Fighting Dumples).
This was just too funny.
Today, Geek Survival Guide topped 100 subscribers. Yay!
So I treated myself to a Rudy's breakfast taco. Like I need a reason to do that. In other news, I'm planning on running a GURPS game for Claire. I think it will help with her reading, and her math, and her reasoning skills, etc., etc., etc. But I've never run an RPG before. So I'm hoping that she's willing to stick with it. I think it'll be fun, and I think she'll give it a shot because it's Dad time. And I'll let her pick the setting. RIght now she's into Mermaids, so we might be running "Aquagirl" or something like that. So, any ideas?
Of course, I'm also going to use it as an indoctrination technique. What happens when the other Merfolk are using drugs? What happens if she sees someone being a bully (Claire is particularly worried about bullies). And I think that putting her character into those situations and letting things play out will help her when that kind of thing happens in real life, also.
What was the last game you played?
Hmmm... seems to be the topic of the day, don't it? On the way to the mall tonight, Claire and I threw down in the car with a little Mario Kart. Dad, being a good dad, and wanting his child to continue to play with him, managed to pull a tie.
But it was hard to do - she's getting better.
And then after we got home, a little StarFox Command, where I got smacked around by people I don't know online. Isn't that just a metaphor for life.
In keeping with the prior post, talking about video game music, I thought I'd put up just a couple of links and clips. First, from Stemage, a metal cover of the music of Metroid, Super Metroid, and some tracks from Metroid Prime. Definitely good listening if you're either a Metroid fan or a Metal fan. The clip is a very short (29 seconds?) rendition of the intro music.
And being a Metroid fan, I can't help but direct people to OCRemix, where you can find remixes of all kinds of video games, old school (Pac-Man) to new school (Halo). But in particular interest to me are the full cd collections they've done for particular games. Relics of the Chozo (the Super Metroid project) is great, and Chrono Symphonic (Chrono Trigger) is pretty good. They also have remix cd's of the music from Doom 3, Kirby, and Donkey Kong Country. And the most recent one features music from Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo.
Meanwhile, I've been having my butt handed to me repeatedly at StarFox Command. Y Rank. Such is life.
Okay, one more Stemage clip...
Why are turnips so freakin' expensive?
Geek Survival Guide's listenership has jumped by about 80% over the last week. Of course, that's a jump from somewhere in the 30s to now just over 60, so it's still not huge by any stretch of the imagination, but it's getting bigger pretty quickly. It's encouraging. And a little bit humbling. And a little bit scary. My grandma and I were talking the other night about it (she sometimes listens in as I record an episode), and she was asking why I do it. Mostly just for fun. Partly because it's a creative outlet, and it seems to be somewhat upbeat, and people seem to enjoy it. She suggested that if some companies have their own podcasts, maybe it would be a good idea to contact some of the local businesses and start one of our own. My wife was saying it might be a good idea to contact someone like the SciFi channel, and see if it's something they might be interested in. I told them both that if I can hit 200 subscribers with GSG, I'd consider it. Heck, if I get that many subscribers, I'll get my own domain name for it. Over 1000, and I'll consider starting an actual business entity, probably along the lines of an LLC, and file for a copyright. Not that I'm making any money off this. And not that I'm anticipating making any money off this. I just don't want to lose my shirt if someone sues me for something. Not that I'm planning on getting sued.
Meanwhile, the short-term contract job I am at should be over and done with in about 48 hours. After that, I'm going to probably start the process of moving Lights Out Radio to new digs - at least the files thereof. With the free file hosting of Ourmedia, I won't have to worry about running out of space (the way I do with TypePad, more's the pity).
And in the meantime, I had a birthday, and splurged just a little. Got an older-style one for Claire too.
In addition to being a huge anime fan, I am also a HUGE video game fan. I recently finished Half-Life 2: Episode One, (twice - director's commentaries are COOL), and am looking forward to the next Episode. Looking up some news about it, I found that it's being bundled with two additional games -
Team Fortress 2 - something that I'll play and have fun with, and totally suck at. (My history with Team Fortress One being something of an indicator)
And this...
This looks like the most insane game I've seen in a long, long time. And it'll be included with HL2: Ep 2. I wonder if the price will go up from Ep 1. That was only $20.00...
