Self-Reliance

Recent events have opened my eyes. I think I’ve become too dependent on others. I use to pride myself on my self-reliance, my ability to depend only upon myself, no need for others. I’ve decided that perhaps I’ve lost something important, and I’m going to try and go back and find it. I’m rereading Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” and I think I’ll go back and get some cynicism from my old friend Nietzsche. Donne once said “No man is an island.” Well, we’ll see about that.

It’s also been said that one cannot evolve, become self-actualized, become fulfilled, without becoming dependent on another. There’s some hole in the soul that’s apparently filled by needing someone, and being needed in return. Those of you who know me know the unlikelihood of that particular scenario (a realization that’s becoming more and more apparent). Therefore, fuck it. Get a hooker, read some books, and find fulfillment in other places. I won’t pretend I’m “God’s lonely man” but perhaps if I explore that, perhaps I can transcend.

“Ne te quaesiveris extra.”

Legend of Zelda Movie Trailer

It’s April Fool’s Day, so most of you know that any and all game and entertainment news is a joke today. I do recommend a visit to Blizzard’s website, as their April Fool’s stories are usually the best. Best joke this year though goes to the guys at IGN and their fanboy cocktease.

from vids.myspace.com posted with vodpod

Quit Playing Video Games And Get Laid

Ran across this on random youtube surfing, thought many of us would get a kick out of it.

from www.youtube.com posted with vodpod

Doomsday 8.0 / 10.0

Keep in mind, I’ve never seen Mad Max, The Road Warrior, or Beyond Thunderdome, the films Doomsday is aping, so I can’t comment on how successfully the film homages Mel Gibson’s classics. What I can say is that the film is an absolutely blast. It’s good ole fashioned “doin’ shit cuz it’s cool” fun, and there ain’t nothin’ wrong with that. Senseless over-the-top violence, throw in a dash of gratuitous nudity, and some interesting chase scenes, and you got yourself a cool ride.

The basic plot is surmised in the trailer: in the near future, a plague breaks out in Scotland, killing quickly and spreading quicker. As a last resort, the Brits rebuild Hadrian’s Wall, but this time 30 feet high, made of steel and barbwire, with full automated machine gun turrents perched on it. The Scots are left to die, everyone hoping that containment will allow the virus to burn itself out. Of course, 30 years later, the virus has popped up again in London, so an elite team of badasses are sent back into Scotland to find survivors, because survivors = cure.

Our merry band of badasses are led by the no nonsense Major Sinclair, played by Rhona Mitra. The last thing I saw Mitra in was Boston Legal, where she was the lead character’s love interest in Season 1, so this it was a little jarring to see her channel her inner Milla Jovovich. She acquits herself well, pulling off the physicality of the role. I’m still not sold on her acting, since the role pretty much calls for her to scowl and look tough the entire film, but that’s all that is asked, and that’s all she has to do. The rest of the squad are pretty much redshirts who die in interesting ways (off the top of my head I remember a spiked club through a face plate; being roasted alive, then served to cannibals; crossbow bolt through the neck, and being shot in the back by bow and arrow in a scene straight out of the final minutes of Fellowship of the Ring).

Yeah, the violence in the movie is surprisingly visceral. The film definitely earns its R rating. Decapitations, dismemberments, burning alive, and lots of splatters on the the front grill of various vehicles are all appreciated. It’s nice to see a movie actually embrace this type of violence and not be a torture porn. Most of the deaths are visceral enough to warrant groans and grunts from the audience, but the movie doesn’t linger on it, it’s too busy trying to get to the next cool thing.

To call the movie fast paced is an understatement. The movie flies, barely stopping to let the viewer catch their breaths (or notice the gaping plotholes). There are a few moments of drag, the castle scenes in particular (yeah, eventually they end up at a medieval castle full of knights and peasants [dont' ask, the movie doesn't bother to]) but they soon ratchet things back up with a Rhona vs. The Black Knight, and off again we go to the races.

The movie is dumb, action-packed, violent, and unapologetic. As long as you don’t expect anything other than a rowdy good time, the movie is for you. This is the very definition of turn-your-brain-off moviemaking, and there’s nothing wrong with that. 8.0 / 10.0

Upgrading Computers

The following post is very tech heavy. Fair warning!

So, I’ve got my tax refund. Considering I used my profit sharing bonus to help pay off my student loans, I think I’m going to play with my refund. Most of you know I’ve in desperate need of a new comp. My current specs are:

AMD Athlon 3000+ (1.80 Gigs)
Chaintech VNF4 Ultra Motherboard
ATI Radeon X850
Corsair XMS DDR1 400 Dual Channel Ram (2 Gigs)
Western Digital 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 16mb cache

So yeah, basically teh suxor. The processor is really the biggest issue, and the mobo is a cheap budget one. The vid card overclocks great, but it’s still two generations behind the times. Basically, Crysis and Supreme Commander are big “Hell nos” and even Sins of a Solar Empire becomes downright unplayable if the armies are too big, even at the lowest settings.

So I’m going to fix this issue. You can see how here. Please feel free to post any comments or suggestions if you know of better buys, or know if I should avoid a particular part.

I’ve always been a loyal AMD system builder, although they’re beginning to try my patience. If I was going quad core, I would definitely go Intel, but if you go dual core, AMD is still the better buy hands down. Intel has the best processors, and AMD has the best bang for your buck (as far as Dual Cores). On the quad core side of things, Intel is kicking AMD’s ass no questions asked.

All of my research indicates that going quad core is just not worth it unless you’re either seriously multitasking while AutoCADing while programming in Maya while editing in Photoshop while video editing while listening to music. If you do these things, then quad core is mighty useful. But if all you do is game and surf the web (and not usually at the same time) then dual core will do ya, aye it will.

I almost went with an AM2+ slot instead of the AM2 in order to take advantage of DDR3 ram when it drops in price (right now its prohibitively expensive), since DDR2 ram will run in it just fine. However, I may never buy AMD again.

I’ve also always been a fiercely loyal ATI supporter. I bought an nVidia Geforce Mx back before I knew any better, and I just have never bought from them again. ATI always has better prices, and sometimes even better cards, but for the most part, you could always get more for your money from ATI, just not always the best. This recently changed with the nVidia Geforce 8800GT. The 8800GT is basically the best card you can get for the money. It’s an absolutely phenomenal card, especially in the $250 – $270 range. So I plan on buying 1 now, and buying a motherboard that will support SLI, and in the future buying another 1 and running 2 of these bad boys in SLI.

<Rant>
Yet SLI is an nVidia only thing (ATI’s version is called Crossfire). ATI and AMD merged a few months ago, which is all fine and dandy. But the newest AMD chipset, AM2+, will only support Crossfire, not SLI. This is fucking stupid. You’ll support 1 nVidia card, but if you want a dual vid card solution, fuck you and buy 2 Radeons! This is why mergers scare me, because this kind of shit hurts the consumer. I’m assuming this will backfire into AMD/ATI’s face pretty soon, as people wise up to it. As a system builder, I want choice, and I do NOT like my computer parts being cherry picked for me! If I wanted that, I’d just buy a damn Apple.
</Rant>

New Iron Man Trailer

Jesus Christ…I’ve been watching the 1080p version of this trailer on repeat for the last 10 minutes. I cannot wait.

from www.myspace.com posted with vodpod

Sins of a Solar Empire 9.5 / 10.0

In case any of you were wondering why I haven’t updated my blog in awhile, the reason is listed above. Sins of a Solar Empire may be my favorite game of the year, and it’s only February. Any of you who know my taste in games know I have a weakness for the strategy genre, particular the old-fashioned TBS (turn-based strategy). These games (particularly any Civilization game or the original XCOM) would see me playing them into the wee hours of the night, a helpless victim in the “just one more turn” cycle.

The rise of the RTS (real-time strategy) has placed a damper on the TBS games of old, with only a few of the flagship franchises still around (again see Civilization). The RTS is always a blast, and is still one of my favored genres, but my love of the TBS knows no bounds. It’s probably a good thing, for both my years as a student and my career, that not many TBS games come out, let alone are good.

Then came Sins of a Solar Empire. The game is the perfect blend of RTS and TBS. I know that sentence seems paradoxical, but hear me out. The game is, literally speaking, an RTS, yet it has the pacing and depth of a TBS. You manage your “planets” much like you would the cities of Civ, yet you build fleets as you would in Supreme Commander. The battles are not determined by who has the more powerful unit (ala Civ) but instead who has the most varied and adaptable fleet. Your fleet is primarily made up of frigates and cruisers, and a few Capital ships, which act like hero units from previous RTS games. Your capital ships level up, gain new abilities, and improve existing abilities, and losing one of them is a huge blow, which really makes you focus on their health. Sins also makes retreat not only possible, but a viable strategy. The end game is spent as two massive fleets play cat and mouse through each other systems, eventually cornering the other.

While the hunt is on, the players may place “bids” to a neutral pirate faction. Instead of the standard “barbarian” mechanic other TBS games use, Sins lets the players decide how the pirates attack. Every few minutes you may place a bid against one of your opponents. At the end, whoever has the highest bounty against them is attacked, and the larger the bounty, the larger the pirate fleet! This can be the most frustrating aspect of the game for new players, but once you learn how to manage the system, you can use the pirates to slow down your opponent, or let them attack you in order to raise your new Capital ship’s level.

The graphics are great. They’re not mindblowing, but they don’t rape my system requirements into submission either. The ship designs are cool, and the combat looks great. My only compliant is the ship explosions are a little underwhelming, but I suppose when you consider the since of scale the game offers, that is forgivable.

Oh yes, the scale. You’ll start the game off with a few ships fighting against groups of 7-8 rebels. The end games sees two massive fleets, each with 30-40 (maybe more!) ships fighting for planetary supremacy. Turn off some of the interface options, and you can really enjoy the show.

Basically, this game just tickles in me all the right buttons. Scif epic RTS battles with the empire development of a TBS. If you’re a fan of any TBS games, or a fan of Homeworld, then this game is pretty much must fucking have. 9.5 / 10.0

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Here’s the trailer for the new Indiana Jones movie. Really looking forward to this one, although I’m still not a huge fan of the title (City of the Gods was the original title, so much better.)

from movies.yahoo.com posted with vodpod

Where are the Tabletop RPG websites?

As most of you know, I’m a huge fan of the Warhammer 40K universe. The miniatures game seems too complex for my taste, and my complete derth of talent in all things artistic render the painting your own army portion completely unappealing. However, I find the universe a really interesting sci-fi setting, particularly given it’s Miltonian allusions, so it should come as no surprise that my first tabletop rpg purchase is Warhammer 4oK: Dark Heresy. I’ve been trying to find out more about the game by doing what I normally do when new games come out: find websites with reviewers and critics who have written about the game. Yet I am at a loss. There seem to be few-to-none tabletop rpg sites. Sure, there are official sites describing products, and online stores that sell them, but the only webpages I can find along the lines of Gamespot or 1up.com is rpg.net. Anybody know of any others? Even CCGs have Brainburst.com or starcitygames.com. Where are the tabletop sites?

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Here’s another film from the Judd Apatow and his crew (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad). Warning: NSFW, this is the red band trailer. Apatow & Co. have been batting it out of the park recently, so I have faith this’ll be a fun and raunchy ride.