What's your name?

A far, far better Super Bowl

Let me tell you, my friends, the tale of two Super Bowls. I was invited to two events this year, and split my time between them.



The first took place on a remote island. I walked into the garage and was greeted by two dogs and two very large men. I had interrupted their game of Madden 2000 for the N64, but they didn't seem to mind. I put my beer in the snow out back. Inside, chicken wing dip and tacitos (sp?) were warming for our delight. We set up the table to play a drinking game they had made up a few weeks prior, which mainly involves the throwing of dice and the shouting of rude names. This was a grand time.



Back to the city for Super Bowl event number two. A walk up to the finished attic revealed three men dressed in black and seated in front of a very large TV, staring in silence. A table to the side had homemade guacamole and gourmet cheese to eat. The men drank cola, or mixed drinks. We watched the game, mainly making fun of the commentators, until about the end of the third quarter, at which point someone put a motion on the floor to break up the uncomfortable silence and change the entertainment to the Xbox. For the remainder of the night we shot the hell out of each other with great success. This, also, was a grand time.



And there you have it. A short trip down the highway between the two ends of the earth.

Cataclysmic Indeed

Went to install an old favorite, Homeworld: Cataclysm, on the new machine yesterday. It didn't work. I swore loudly. Downloaded a patch. It worked.



If you never played any of the HW series and are a fan of spaceships, you must give this game or any of the others in the series a try. First game to have 3D space strategy. The controls are surprisingly easy, the design is cool, and I do love the downtempo music. So go check out the demo, at the very least.



HW2 Downloads Page



HW:C Demo Page

So similar, and yet...

Watched a whole football game yesterday. Went to a friend's house with the intent of watching a football game, watched said football game, enjoyed the aforementioned football game.



My friend became embarrassed several times after screaming at the television quite loudly. I told him not to worry about it, that he had no reason to be embarrassed, that it's his place after all, etc.



Still he felt shame, until this commercial for the highly-anticipated Gran Turismo 4 for the PS2 came on, at which I point I began screaming at the television. A look of surprise and barely-concealed bemusement came over his face as he politely asked about the upcoming title.



After that, the TV began to whimper in anticipation of the no-holds-barred tongue-lashing it was going to receive for the next three quarters. The TV was last seen rocking itself to sleep in a corner, telling itself everything would be alright.

I was so close.

A clutch of my amigos (all of whom write for webshite, I believe) have

been sucked into a black vortex known as World of Warcraft. I do not

play Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games for a variety of

reasons, nor do I have any interest in high fantasy games, or mayhaps

I might have joined them. Fortunately for my sanity and carpal

tunnel, I did not.



I tried to explain MMORPG's to Her Worship the other day. It went

along these lines:



A: So, it's a videogame, but it's not linear or plot-driven. You walk

around and do whatever.



HW: And you can do whatever you want?



A: Just about. If you do anything too nuts, an admin shows up as a

god and smacks you around a bit.



HW: Yeah, yeah. But you can just wander around in the world?



A: If you want. Usually there's some kind of over-arching plot, but you can...



HW: Like Pern?



At this point, our hero starts to get grandiose ideas of getting Her

Worshipfullness into MMORPGs, of needing to buy a gaming rig to handle

the games, one of those hot Alienware PCs, and we'd spend nights

together in the gameroom, me on the Xbox, her on the ALX. And it

would be joyous.



A: Sure. So you would be a merchant or a dragonrider or whatever you

want. Just existing in the Pern universe.



HW: Can you imagine the time it must have taken to program all that?

Every person in every town?



A: Well, the people are other players.



HW: What?



A: Yeah, you know. People from all over, just like you, playing the game.



HW: Well, fuck that.

Unlabored Flawlessness

I have forgotten all in life that is not Ninja Gaiden. I will permit it to pass over me and through me, and when it is gone, all that is left wil be me. Until then, though, I am an automaton built for Gaiden and Gaiden only.



Like the original, good but hard. Once you figure out that they want you to use specific attacks, it gets a little easier. Not too heavy on the jumping puzzles, which is nice. A big enough world for exploration. And you're a goddamn ninja.

Everyone knows your name.

Sorry 'bout the dearth of posts recently. Been playing way. too. much. Ninja Gaiden. It's horribly embarrassing to even bring up the title. I mean, playing videogames is geeky enough, but play games with ninjas? Geez. If you need me, I'll be getting my lunch money stolen.