Episodic Gaming & Two week countdown

Anyone heard of this new game coming out called American McGee's Grimm? It'll be on Gametap next week sometime. Anyways, it looks fairly interesting. One episode released per week, you roam around turning a happy fairy tale into a dark depressing one, Katamari-style. That's my sort of game, short, fun, sweet. Like Sam & Max. Now there is a quality game.

And now I'm two weeks away from my last day here. I'm really excited to go back to school, don't get me wrong. This year will be awesome. But...this summer has given me a really unique experience. Besides the internship and the job and all that, I've gotten to taste what life as an actual adult is like. Living completely on my own, fending for myself, etc. I gotta tell you, it's rough. Besides having to learn to cook something other than pasta, living alone can drive a person crazy. You gotta make friends fast, because a weekend by yourself is just maddening and depressing at the same time. By Fridays I'm usually grateful to get some rest, but at the same time, I dread not knowing if anyone will be around. It's rough. On the other hand, having no one to answer to but myself is awesome. The only responsibilities I have are to take care of myself, and that's really an exciting thing. It's a cool balance.

That reminds me. Two weeks means I need to schedule Comcast to come out and pick up my cable boxes before I go. I really hope they can come out as late as possible, because being in my apartment without internet or TV might make me go nuts. Moreso. (Also, look Jackie! I mentioned Comcast!)

Oh, and I realized I don't actually know what classes I'm taking when I get back. I should probably look that up at some point. And I really want my OL group already. No nervousness this year. I succeeded beyond the call of duty last year, and now it's easy to duplicate that. I hope.

What to do about the Mole?

I've always loved the Mole. Instead of embracing the stupidity that is reality TV, this show actually requires you to think, and lets everyone at home play along as well. It's always been a favorite of mine, though I do miss Anderson Cooper dearly. So why is this season not as much fun?

Well, the simple answer is that everyone's figured out the right way to play the game. Sabotage a mission, and everyone thinks you're the Mole. Then they all fail the quiz and lose. Simple enough. The problem is, when everyone does that, they end up with no money. And so now the strategy has changed. It used to be "win the most money, figure out who isn't doing that." and now it's "Throw everyone off the right trail". This, in the end, means you won't make as much money as they used to, but it's now a Prisoner's Dilemma. If everyone were to agree to make the most money together, they'd be awesome. But there's a huge incentive for someone to sabotage it, so that everyone will vote for them on the quiz.

I'm not sure I like the new direction of the show, but it's really nothing a producer can control...once people figure out the optimal strategy, players are going to run with it as far as they can.

My current thoughts on the Final Four:

Craig - If he's the Mole, the producers must have been freaking out when he had to go to the hospital. What would've happened if he couldn't come back? Show's over! Not that this changes anything. Just an interesting thought. He could be, but it seems too easy of a choice. His natural inability to do anything physical caused a lot of money to be lost, but is that because he's the Mole, or because he simply can't keep up?

Nicole - She better not be the Mole. That's all I'm going to say. It was a woman Mole way too many times, we need a guy to do it.

Mark - I really hope he is the Mole. He's my pick, I suppose, but the only thing that's holding me back is that I can't find any evidence of sabotage. Can anyone name a game he took part in losing? And I'm not counting their "We're not going to play this one game" revolution. That was everyone's fault.

Paul - I would love for Paul to be the Mole. He's all talk, he's very strong in his personality, and I don't think anyone's ever thought it was his fault a game didn't go right. But his explosive personality might not have been the best choice for Mole.


Oh, and for those interested, I was pouring over Clay's math after last night's show, to figure out what the hell he was talking about. I got it. Clay said "1947-1492. Add 8 to 1492 to make it 1500, subtract that to get 447, then subtract 8 out of it, 439." That seems to make sense, but then you look at the problem again and see 1947-1492 clearly ends in a 5. So what happened? Well, when he added 8 to 1492, that was actually subtracting an extra 8 from the problem (subtracting 1500 instead of 1492). So in the end, he should have added 8 back in, not subtracted, giving you 455, the correct answer. God that was driving me nuts.

Monster's Inc Ride?

Found this post today. I sincerely hope it's true. With the opening of Pixar Place at MGM (well, it's not called MGM anymore but I refuse to call it "Disney's Hollywood Studios" because that's just dumb), all they have is one ride that just opened: Toy Story Mania. While I've heard it's awesome, it's obviously just one ride. So they're going to be building a Monster's Inc inverted roller coaster based off the awesome door chase scene at the end of the movie, set to open in 2011. The line will take you through the lobby of Monsters Inc, complete with interactive scream/laugh canisters that measure your lung power.

Also, if the rumors are true, they'll be updating the Honey I Shrunk The Kids playground to fit in with A Bug's Life, and there might be a Cars attraction as well. Just when I thought I'd be done visiting Disney for a while after this year...I guess I'll have to find an excuse to go back in two. AWESOME.

Failure to Addict

I have a problem sticking to a video game. It can be the greatest game in the world, but if I don't play it all in one or two sittings, I probably won't pick it up again, or if I do, I'll start over from scratch. Why is this?

Firstly, I love starting over. Playing the beginning of games is really exciting for me, and for some strange reason I love tutorials. I don't know. I guess I just like learning, even if I already learned the stuff. It's weird.

Secondly, I need a constant sense of accomplishment. I need little things along the way that push me to keep going. Achievements in Xbox games REALLY help with this, especially for the games that give you one for each mission you complete. Those games keep me going, at least until I get stuck. Then I'm done.

So, I enjoy sticking to short games. I've played Portal through at least four times now. It's always fun, always challenging, and the writing is still funny. It's a shame the sequel they just announced won't have any new story, just new puzzles. Yeah, we enjoy the puzzles, but it's the writing that made it what it was, I think.

There is a rare exception to this rule. I've stuck with almost all of the newest Nintendo first-party games. I know I went through my rant the other day, but I don't have any Zelda game I haven't beaten, I've completed all the Paper Mario series, Super Mario 64 and Galaxy, as well as the Wii's Metroid. Why? On the one hand, it's because I love those characters. But on the other, it's because those also have those small sense of accomplishment. Every few stars you earn in Galaxy, you unlock something new. Zelda, you're playing in order to keep exploring new places and unlock new areas, and try out new weapons. Metroid...well, it was just cool to play with an aiming device.

So, in short, I need to stop my gaming ADD. I need to pick up a good game, and play it. Maybe someday it'll extend to my MMO habits, and I'll actually be able to bring a character up to the maximum level. Haha, dream on.

E3 Wrapup (sorta)

I've finally had to come face-to-face with the fact that Nintendo doesn't love me anymore. Ever since my very first video game console (a Game Boy), I've stood by them through everything. People said the Gamecube was terrible, I bought it anyway. Their first-party games have always been the best, and I've loyally remained a customer even as they changed their focus towards including everyone in games with the Wii. It didn't bother me, because I don't consider myself a hardcore gamer. I'm pretty bad at video games in general, so I felt like the Wii was a chance to play games and have fun. And it worked. For the first time, I beat a Metroid game, I beat a Zelda game without looking up a walkthrough. It's always fun to play Wii Sports against my friends, and no one ever gets tired of punching someone in the face with a Wiimote.

But their presentation at E3 this week finally struck a nerve. They weren't there to talk to me. They were there to talk to their new audience. Games like Animal Crossing, Wii Sports Resort, and Wii Music were all moving towards "not games", and there was nothing there to appease me. This is the first time I actually feel like a different system.

I want my 360 back, so I can play real games. I see nothing in the future of Nintendo for me, and that is really disappointing to me. Sure, when some new first-party game comes out for the Wii, I'll be the first to grab it, but unless they can manage to wow me with a new generation of consoles, I think I might finally make a complete switch to a different company. I've always been curious about Playstation, maybe this is my chance to get one and see what all the fuss is about.

Spore Creature Creator

For all you interested in what I am doing in my spare time, check out the neat little widget at the bottom of my blog. It automatically will update with any fun creatures I make in Spore. Aren't they adorable?

Red Vs Blue is back!

If anyone's ever watched the RvB series, you'll know that they ended the first story at the 100th episode. Well, the new series started last week, and with the 2nd episode released yesterday, you can be assured that the show continues the humor. Everyone was really worried when the trailer was all serious, and when the first episode was serious. But finally we have proof that the old characters are coming back! It's a great series, I highly recommend watching it if you have some time: http://rvb.roosterteeth.com

A Self-Critique

I'm impressed with myself. Ever since ION, I've been posting here more than I've ever posted. And by the way, if you check out my early rant about things I hate, I still hate all those things. Even more so, if that's possible.

6 days till Seattle!

I won a giveaway!

I won a Massively giveaway...a free copy of Age of Conan is on its way to me! How awesome is that? I had a lot of fun playing the beta, except for the load times, which were terrible. And now that I've got an upgraded video card...who knows? Maybe I'll actually pay for some game time to check it out.

Beyond Good & Evil 2!

Ubisoft revealed the trailer today for BG&E2. I'm so excited. I still haven't had the chance to finish the first one, since I stopped being able to play the original after installing Vista, but once I upgrade my video card this week, the game finally works again, so I'm gonna have to go beat it in order to deem myself worthy to play the sequel. What a great game.

ION: A Retrospective (Sort of)

A good way into the MMO industry: The media. Become a member of the press, and you'll forge these great relationships with higher-ups in the industry. And when you're ready for a job, you ask. Only problem for me is that I don't want to be a part of the media. It's a rough job. So I'm going to have to find another way in. Like my summer internship, for example.

Meanwhile, I need to figure out how I can play PotBS over the summer. My laptop's a Mac, so that's out. It's looking more and more like I can't ship my computer, since it's too expensive. Renting a computer is possible, but nowhere seems to be able to tell me the specs of their computers, so I have no idea if they have a video card capable of playing ANY game, let alone PotBS. I mean, I need SOMETHING to keep me entertained on nights and weekends. I can't rely on my coworkers for that all the time. Oh, and I'll have no television, so that's out too. I'll keep thinking, I guess.

Also also, seeing Indiana Jones tonight. My expectations aren't high, but I'm sure even if it's not great I'll still enjoy the action. How can you not love Harrison Ford? Oh, also, I was at 30 Rock yesterday, and apparently he was just upstairs. Some of the tourists got to meet him. Not me, though.

Seattle Day Somethingth

Today I finally got to sleep in. That's a relief.

Last night was the party at the aquarium. It was great, a lot of fun, and I got the chance to meet some really important people and get their information. I'm really enjoying letting my friends drag me around and introduce to me to the higher-ups they know.

Today I relaxed, going to a few sessions, listening to the keynote which was the President of Sony Online Entertainment. To be honest, he's not a very good speaker. It was exciting to see videos of their upcoming games, but it sounded like someone else wrote his presentation for him. Plus he spoke for a half hour out of the hour alloted to him.

This afternoon I'll be going to Troy's panel on User Generated Content, and hopefully I'll be able to make faces at him while he talks. Tonight I'm not sure about. I may be on my own, but I'm still trying to wrangle an invite to a private Sony party at their offices in Seattle. My friends were all invited, so they keep trying to push for me to get in as well. Like I said, I like these people.

Sorry for the short update today. I'm still pushing new photos every day here. Check them out. I'm trying to take lots, because I have a bad habit of taking none. Anyways, talk to you all soon!

Seattle Numbah Three

I think I've written more on this blog in the past week than I have in the past 5 years. Anyways...

Today was the first day of the ION conference. I had to work it from 8AM-1PM, which was rough, but it actually was really cool rubbing elbows with people whose names I recognized, if not their faces. I got to hand out badges to everyone from staff on fansites, to people who work at Sony and Microsoft. The only person I did actually recognize was John Tynes, otherwise known as "Rev" in the Flying Lab community. He was the producer(?) at Flying Lab before the game launched, and now moved on to bigger and better things. He is extremely tall (like, 7 feet), which is how I recognized him. I think he was a little creeped out that I knew his name, but I explained that I was working for Troy, and he calmed down. I hope.

While I worked, I got to visit David Ryan Hunt's session. David Hunt, or "Taelorn", is Flying Lab's Game Designer. He's a really great guy, for the few minutes I spoke to him yesterday, and from what I've heard from other employees. Anyway, he talked about retention mechanisms in MMO's, that is, how to keep people playing a game forever. It was really interesting, and made me think about the mechanics of Pirates of the Burning Sea in a different way, complete with triangles, labyrinths filled with water, and cake.

Lunch was delicious. Supposedly they go all out with the food at this conference, and I can tell you from experience, it was amazing. Except that I found celery in my salad. I hate celery. Anyway, the keynote at lunch was about globalization for games...spreading a game into new geographic regions and so on. Not very interesting for someone like me, but cool to see that it is happening, even though cultures are so different everywhere.

After lunch my shift was over, and I desperately needed to rest my feet. After an all-too-brief rest, I went back downstairs to attend a session called "Managing Community Emergencies", which talked about how a community manager and their team works to keep players happy. It was extremely interesting, and really cool to hear panelists that I've heard of in the online world speaking to me about their experiences. I took a ridiculous amount of notes in that one.

Now I'm resting up for a little while before we go out to dinner. After dinner there is the ION Conference Party at the Seattle Aquarium, which hopefully will be full of fish. I heard that aquarium is amazing. So let's hope it's as cool as it seems.

Oh, and I got really excited today when one of the Flying Lab employees, Janice (aka "fraxl"), recognized me and pulled me aside. I'm glad to see I have a memorable face, and I think I may actually change my initial plans of hanging out at Flying Lab all day tomorrow in order to hang out with her at ION instead. She's fun.

Anyways, that's my report for the day. I think I'm still not adjusted to this time zone, which is weird since it's only three hours. Maybe it's the small time changes that are worse than the large ones. Whatever. I'll maybe get to sleep a reasonable amount tonight, since I don't have to wake up at 6:30AM like I did today.

Seattle Blog #2

Wow. This summer is going to be awesome. I am so excited! I feel like a little child, running around, giddy with excitement. I had so much fun today. The people I've met online are just as fun in person. And not as scary to meet as I would've asumed. I got to the office of Flying Lab around 11, and immediately recognized the tall man known as Troy. He's my boss-ish for the summer. After running me around the office introducing me to everyone, him, Theresa, and I went out for coffee and talked about the summer. The job is going to be ridiculously fun and educational. I'm going to be able to shadow the teams, I'll be able to sit in on some meetings, and I'll be doing lots of fun secret stuff on my own, too.

The office is awesome. There is crap everywhere, but I don't mean crap as in "random stuff thrown all over the place" or even as in "poo". I mean there are pirate ships all over, pictures, parrots, bobbleheads, board games, flags, t-shirts. There is so much stuff here that I could take it all, lock it in a room, and then I'd have the most awesome room ever.

I want to talk about Troy and Theresa, but I know they're reading this, so I'll have to be relatively nice. Like I said, Troy is tall. I mean, I know people said it before, but it's hard to believe until you see him. I mean, we're talking almost 7 feet. He's awesome. As much fun as he is online, it's even more fun in person, especially cause I can punch him if I feel like it, and he can trip me when we walk together. Theresa's adorable. I've voice chatted with her online before, which is good because if I hadn't, I probably would've been shocked by the sound of her voice. I mean, she's exactly what I know her to be.

I think I'll actually be working in the "Communicave", which is what they dub the small alcove of the office the two of them are stuffed into. I'll be taking up the endcap, it seems, so the cave will be a little more crowded soon. But it'll be overloaded with more fun! *gag*

Anyways, that was Flying Lab. I just kinda hung out there all day for no reason, listening to Troy ramble on about all the different parts of the business. He told me I could stay, and I liked being there, so it all worked out perfectly.

I stopped by my apartment today too. It's awesome. Very pretty. It was a little hot in there (no A/C), but with the outside door open you get a really nice breeze.

Also, if anyone is interested, Troy is deathly allergic to peanuts and body soap. So, you know, do with that information what you will.

Seattle Blog Part 1

This post was originally written on Sunday, at 11:20PM EST.

I love airplanes. I don't know what it is about them. The entire experience, from the airport, to the tiny bathrooms with the really scary flusher, are all fun. I get stuck in airports for three hours, and I love it. It's one of the best places to people watch. You know the scenes that open and close "Love Actually" in the airport? Those are awesome.

If all goes well, I have about 40 minutes left in this flight. One of my friends from Flying Lab is picking me up at the airport. She goes by Danicia, and is probably reading this right now (Hi Dani!). As much as I love having all these "imaginary" friends online, it sorta is a bit weird meeting these people in person. I've only met one online friend ever, Maia, and that was lots of fun. But it's different when I'm meeting an entire company that I've hung out with for a year. I feel like I know so much about these people, but face-to-face is still really strange. How do I refer to them? But their real names? I can't imagine being referred to by anything other than "David", but that's not the name they know me by. So this should be interesting at the very least. Whoops, landing time. Later.

How to Tell a Story

Watch LOST. Seriously. It really says something about the writing for a show when the plot comes to involve time travel, electromagnetism, talking dead people, and a monster made out of smoke, and yet nothing's ever felt more real. Last night's episode was one of the more ridiculous ones, and yet I think it was one of the best so far.

ForumWarz

I discovered the CRAZIEST game today. It launched online a month ago, and I was laughing out loud for much of my experience with it today. I direct your attention to www.forumwarz.com

ForumWarz is basically a self-contained internet simulator, where the object is to "pwn" forums by attacking them with dumb comments and bad code. It's much more complex than that, obviously, but the whole presentation is just brilliant. From the IM simulator called "sTalk", to the online search engine "Septillion", everything is a parody of something elsewhere on the net. One of the best parts of it is that you jump into it without having to register, and only after you complete the first 10 minutes or so do you have to register, in order to save your progress (and earn a cash reward). The game is hilarious, and definitely not safe for work. In fact, in order to even start playing, you must type into a box "I am not offended easily". And believe me, you WILL get offended. Go check it out.

Redefining "Friend"

I noticed something interesting today. "Friendships" have taken on a new meaning with the onset of social networking. Now, clearly this isn't breaking news. Everyone knows that a "friend" on Facebook is not necessarily someone you even know. If you've ever played any of the Facebook app games like Battle Stations, you'll notice that friends help you get ahead in the game. Playing that game caused an influx of 20-30 friend requests per day. Initially, I accepted them all with a Limited Profile limitation on them. Then I realized that was stupid, and I removed them all. Now I'm proud to say that my Facebook friends are only people I actually know and have spoken to, whether in person or online.

So why do I say that the definition changed? Well, today, I spoke for a while with an online acquaintance of mine. She had recently been hired by a gaming company, and we spent much of the day talking at random points about random things. I had known who she was before this job, and I had definitely taken a liking to her, but not until today did we actually speak one-on-one, instead of through a public forum. Anyways, tonight I received a friend request from her on Facebook. I accepted it without thinking twice, and before I realized what I was doing, I switched over to LinkedIn to see if she was there, and if I could add her there as well. It seems that we now have this duty to make sure that any form of social networking site we're a part of knows that we've made a new friend. There's no reason why I should have been jumping from site to site making sure my new friend was added on all of them. But somehow, I've now been trained to think that that's the proper thing to do. It was a weird experience, that's all.

Improvised Improvisation

So, I've told this story so many times that I just want to post it somewhere so I never have to tell it again.

This weekend, we went to the TBA party at Sam Roos and Mike Martin's house. There were WAY too many freshmen there. I have nothing against freshmen, mind you, I'm just bothered when my friends make a party, and there are more people we don't know than those we do. But, whatever. The points is, at 12:30, when TBA was going to do their improv, there were so many people that we didn't even try to go downstairs and watch it. Instead, about 10 of us stayed upstairs and did our own improv show for ourselves, and those 15 minutes were better than the entire rest of the party. We had fun, we were funny, and we just enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Why can't all parties be more like that quarter of an hour?

Testing, 1, 2, 3

This is just a test. Does this weird extension I have work? Let's find out.

EDIT: Ah! It works! Seems like this may be the place to be next year :)