Augmented Vision
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Aerothorn" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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08:13 pm
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IT WILL BE DONE
So I've been a slacker this summer. Even the small tasks I assign myself (finishing Gravity's Rainbow) are pushed off. And I've become distracted, haven't finished the Last Remnant, and this morning was thinking I wouldn't write the review. It's not worth the effort, I thought. No one really cares. I won't remember the game well enough, or have the passion I had when playing it.
This may all be true, but damnit, I'm doing it. I need to finish my projects, and I need to practice writing. So I'm going to make a serious effort to finish the game within the next couple of days and write a review soon after.
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07:44 pm
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Handlebar
So someone on TTLG recommended that with if you’re using Windows 7 and a widescreen monitor, it makes a lot more sense to put it on the side of the computer. And he’s right. First, it gives you more screen room (since the side the bar is shorter on the side) and second, most windows things (the internet, Word) are vertically oriented, whereas the horizontally-oriented things (movies, games) generally run in full screen and so the taskbar’s placement is irrelevant. But it feels so WEIRD. Like my right flank is exposed and the Mongol hordes are going to come riding into my desktop any moment…
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01:13 pm
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The Hair
My hair has grown way too long, partially because I hate getting haircuts and partially because everyone keeps telling me how much they like it long.
But it's getting in the way and annoying me.
The solution? A topknot!
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12:53 pm
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Curious Aero goes to the Symphony
So, last night I attended Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds at the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. My description of the event will be a bit lengthy, so I'm LJ-cutting it.
( Read more... )
Tags: final fantasy, games, music, social outing, uematsu
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03:50 pm
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Anticipation
Note: Sorry for all the gaming entries, it's where I'm at right now. I'm gonna start ccing these to my defunct Gamespot blog and they may migrate over entirely at some point, we'll see.
Note 2: Apparently I can't paste LJ entries into Gamespot due to a bug in the system. Hmmm. So: Should I start a seperate gaming blog somewhere, or keep it all here? Let me know!
So, back in 2004 or so, I did a list of games I was anticipating. I feel like doing another one. Too lazy to write up a description of all these games, so look em up if you're not familiar. Here we go!
( Read more... )
Tags: gaming
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09:50 pm
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You must disembark the failbout even if you're making a round trip
A few updates:
The Body
So my body continues to give me trouble. Feet haven't really healed, and am having to devote a good chunk of every day to foot exercises. Damn. Additionally, I had a nerve die in a tooth and have to get a root canal this summer (which immediatlly brings to mind Weird Al's Cavity Search). Finally, I have developed astigmatism in my left eye.
Now that I am done complaining, on to other things!
Gaming
Currently trying out EVE Online, which is interesting, and certainly a cut above the other MMORPGs I've tried, though whether it's good enough to be worth the time is still undecided. I've been listening to EVE Radio, a online radio station for players of the game. In one of those "small internet" moments, I discovered that FunkyBacon (an admin at Ye Olde Final Fantasy Alpha) has a show every Thursday. I plan on swinging by and saying hi.
More importantly, the first episode of Telltale's new Monkey Island series came out today. I'm trying to keep my expectations reasonable - this is not by Ron Gilbert or Tim Schafer, though Gilbert did consult some and Dave Grossman (who, along with Schafer, did much of the dialog for the original game) is involved. I'll let you guys know.
Time has othewise been spent trying to get my old computer reformated and prepared for donation to the WAIF Thrift Store (they need a new machine) but there have been a lot of complications which are too boring to go into here. So, no really interesting news.
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08:19 pm
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Marketing needs to stay away from subtitles
Update time!
On the game front, I finished Crysis, and will maybe post thoughts on that later (shooters aren't really my area of interest so I only have so much to say). I am very close to finishing The Last Remnant, and could do so except I feel this obsessive need to complete one sidequest which I must raise a bunch of money for. Yeah.
I started taking a few small notes while playing with the intent of writing a traditional review, but I decided not to. I'd just be aping a style that is not my own, and the best result would be that produced an equal to one of many many reviews that are already out there. So I'm going to something that's half review, half commentary/analysis. Should be fun. I'l try not to ramble too much, but the point is to get my thoughts out there on a lot of different gameplay dynamics and through doing so learn more about game construction; I'm not trying to get this thing published.
On the side, I'm playing Black & White 2 (which is interesting but slow, and I may or may not finished it) and Overclocked: A History of Violence (which features the most unnecessary subtitle since Halo: Combat Evolved, but is othewise good).
Outside of that, I'm now volunteering two days a week at the WAIF thrift store. I may increase my hours later, but this is a good start for now.
I'd also like to note that Sarah Palin failed to derail Michael Jackson: CNN was back to him within hours of her announcement. Sigh.
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02:32 pm
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Game Design Essentials: 20 RPGs
For those interested in the origins of RPGs and the split between Western/Eastern RPGs, check out http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4066/game_design_essentials_20_rpgs.php. Good stuff.
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02:32 pm
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Mini-Review of Tropic Thunder
( Read more... )
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11:48 pm
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Thoughts on Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer
( Read more... )
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09:04 pm
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Mini-Reviews of Light Sleeper and Millennium Actress
Figured I’d start with mini-reviews of the last two films I saw. These are more “thoughts on” pieces than actual reviews, so don’t expect objective professionalism or anything. ( Read more... )
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06:01 pm
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Productivity
So over the course of this summer I’ve been worrying about productivity. I think relaxing to a certain extent is fine: but the fact is that (barring massive failure on my part) I am graduating college in two years, and I need to build up some skills. I think I am a very good reviewer – but I do it all in my head and don’t put it on paper, because I lack confidence in my ability to write good reviews. But the only way to get better is to write them, so here is my pledge: for every movie, book and game I complete, I will write a review in this journal. For time and interest reasons most of these will be mini-reviews, not the kind of sprawling thing you’ll find at DVD Verdict or IGN. But occasionally I might write a moderately lengthy review. I am thinking of doing a “real” review of The Last Remnant when I get around to it – it’s not that remarkable a game but I think I could easilly write about it and use it as a jumping off point for a conversation. I’m currently playing NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer, but when I’m done with that I’ll get to TLR. This pledge is not binding retroactively, but I will probably give a few thoughts on the things I’ve been viewing in my next entry.
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12:16 am
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Why is the US lagging?
Ever since its launch, The Escapist has looked like an excellent publication, taking game journalism to new frontiers and writing about the medium and all its facets rather than simply providing industry news and reviews like every other major game site. I’ve never really gotten around to reading it, however, because there was SO MUCH to read. I was also thrown off when they switched from the PDF Magazine format to a more traditional web design in 2007; it took me a little while to realize the magazine is intact. This summer, I’m going to try to start regularly reading it. I started with issue 203 - “The New School” – because gaming academics is of particularly interest to me. One article – titled Games Dev 101 – was written by a game design instructor in the UK. Talking about the high-schoolers present at a conference, he writers: “They are pioneers too, because until very recently, any young adults that wanted to study videogames had to wait until they reached university to do so. Undergraduates across the U.K. are offered a bewildering array of games-related courses, from Games Technology to Digital Art for Computer Games. At last count, there are over 300 degree-level courses that pertain to games design. Yet young people who were passionate about the subject found themselves waiting around and taking other courses until they made it to university. “ I did a double-take when he read this. I thought they were pioneers for being interested in game academics. But no! Apparently this field is widespread in UK higher education, and is only new and unusual in high school. This surprised me. Game academia essentially doesn’t exist in the USA. Of the thousands of colleges and universities in the USA, I know of only two that have game design programs: DigiPen (here in Washington) and Full Sail (in Florida). Normal schools simply don’t teach games. The only example I’ve found was a course taught last year at Duke University. Why is it that the UK – a country that is considerably smaller than the USA, and by extension has a much smaller community of game developers – have so much more game academia? Is UK academia just generally more progessive? Does this have to do with the government recognizing the game industry as something of economic importance? I have no idea. This is something I plan to investigate when I reach London.
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07:56 pm
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Another 50
So while I meant to cancel my eMusic subscription before it re-upped (as I find music very slowly), I forgot to, so now I have another fifty songs to go through. Any music recommendations? Keep in mind that (until July) eMusic only does independent stuff, so nothing from the big labels.
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02:28 pm
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Why gay pride parades are perhaps not the best idea…
http://theroot.com/views/where-s-pride-pride-parades
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10:22 pm
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It’s your loss, Galactic Empire
So today, I received in the mail the Tie Fighter Collector’s CD-ROM. For those who don’t know, Star Wars: Tie Fighter is the 1994 sequel to X-Wing, the first DOS Star Wars game. Tie Fighter is considered a significant improvement on its predecessor, and I have communicated with people who consider it to be the best game ever made. Unfortunately, it is DOS, and so I figured I couldn’t run it on Windows 7. Wrong! With the help of DOSbox, I got it running fine…except that the joystick was all screwy, because any joystick that has more that two axes confuses it, and while there is a patch for this I couldn’t figure out how to apply it. Using a front-end just made things more confusing. I spent over an hour working on this but it was no use. It *is* playable on Vista, and therefore probably 7, but I just don’t have the technical/DOSbox know-how to do it. I think I’m gonna try and run it on my XP Laptop and see where that gets me. I *really* want to play it.
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01:02 pm
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One Evaluation
I actually got two evaluations this past semester – one from my EPEC and one from my Narrative in Video Games course – but the former has not made it onto The Hub. Bummer. So, in keeping with my commitment to post all my evaluations on this thing, I’ll post the NiVG thing now and try to get the EPEC one later.
( Read more... )
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06:47 pm
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Purgatory is a nice computer at a tiny desk
So, technical stuff first. I got the new CPU heatsink/fan in. It was extremely difficult to install and I ended up needing another pair of hans but it worked. I set up my computer again….and the noise continued. It wasn’t the CPU fan. ARGH. It would not be accurate to say that I wasted $27 on this, since it’s a much better cooler that will probably be better in the long run, but it was obnoxious. But, in a boost to my pride, I was able to figure it out. It was the graphics card fan. There is a wire that runs from the fan to the base of the card, and due to poor card design (coupled with my ignorance of this design flaw) the wire ended up IN THE PATH OF THE BLADES. So the awful sound was the fan chopping away at its own wire (a sort of twisted electronic suicide, if you will). Fortunately I caught it in time – the wire casing was damaged but no actual wire damage so the thing runs fine. So – for now – everything is hunky-dory on the hardware end, though I’ll want to redo the wiring later. Anyway, Windows 7 was a breeze to install, and so far I’m very impressed with it. Admittedly, I never used Vista, so some of the pretty UI stuff probably comes from there (though I also know that some of it is new). But apart from (so far) running incredibly smoothly, it’s notably easy to use. No longer must you have specific knowledge to change settings in the machine. It will walk you through various components and explain what the options mean. For instance, you can take an “ease of access” survey to determine what access settings you should use (and there are a lot of them, for everything from blind people to people with dysgraphia). Also, going really shallow here, but the default wallpapers and themes are very pretty. One nifty little feature is that there is a large number of sound libraries you can switch between at will, so I can use Cityscape or Garden sounds instead of the default. The Games section is also pretty nifty, auto-updating whatever games you have installed. I’m not a tech writer, so it’s difficult for me to explain in words all the things I like about the OS, but suffice it to say that I’m glad I’ve used it. Currently playing the PC version of The Last Remnant.
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03:33 pm
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Go Go Junkie Shivers
So towards the end of the year I was eating way too much at school, because I had a large appetite and I'm not used to having to control it. Upon returning home, my appetite has pretty much disappeared. This has resulted in me regularly skipping meals. Doing this too much is bad for me, but fortunately my body won't let me get away with it. Last night I didn't eat dinner, and today I wasn't going to eat lunch but around 3:00 I started feeling really weak and getting muscle spasming/shivering so I made myself a hearty lunch.
Whidbey is an incredibly calm place and I am so wonderfully laid back right now, very stress-free. Unfortunately anxiety tends to be my motivating factor, so this has led me to being incredibly lazy with the various tasks I should be doing, whether it's actually finishing Gravity's Rainbow, calling WAIF, doing computer stuff....
Speaking of which, I had to fight with my computer for a while to get the heatsink off, as it clipped on REALLY tightly. Finally did, though I'll need to use some acetone or rubbing alcohol to clear off the dried thermal paste on my CPU before I apply new ones - and wiping liquids on the CPU scares the crap out of me. I'm *really* hoping that a misapplied or defective cooler was the cause of the crazy fan noises; someone at Tom's Hardware suggested that it may have be an issue in the BIOS where it thinks my CPU is running far hotter than it actually is. We'll see on Monday...
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08:34 pm
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Gaming Snobbery
Fun bonus of my day: Seeing that the GameFAQs Poll of the Day graphic featured a modified tagline from Army of Darkness:
"Trapped in a poll. Surrounded by fanboys. Low on votes."
Anyway, lemme tell you somethin'!
So James pointed me to Overclock Remixes' Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream. Only listened to a bit of it but it's quite good so far.
Today I explored the archives of Overclock Remix, and while a bit more diverse than GameFAQs it is still heavily oriented to console games, and JRPGs in particular. And this got me thinking about JRPGs and people who game exclusively on consoles.
Observation 1: JRPGs are like soap operas (in ways other than the obvious). The people who watch soap operas, by and large, really like soap operas. Everyone else doesn't watch them. There are few lukewarm soap opera viewers. The same seems to be true of JRPGs. Most people who play them play a lot of them, and cite them as one of their favorite genres. Everyone else avoids them like the plague. I think this is because JRPGs ask a lot of the player: they ask you to accept all sorts of contrivances and archaic gameplay conventions - you need to be a BELIEVER before you can enjoy one. That, or a nostalgia seeker.
Observation 2: I tend to judge people's actions based largely on how well the individual can justify them. If you're just a casual gamer who grew up on consoles and wants to stick with familiar territory, I understand not playing PC games. But a true gamer - one with a serious interest in the medium and all it has to offer - has no excuse for not playing PC games. The same goes for people who only play PC games, though by my estimation they are a significantly smaller group.
One argument I've heard is a cost one: a lot of people can't afford fancy-schmancy gaming computers, and so have to stick with consoles. I accepted this in the days of the $1500 computer. But now I can build a relatively fancy gaming rig for $600 - and the PC has by far the largest gaming library, so it's probably the most cost-effective. What's more, there are TONS of free indie PC games and mods, which is not at all the case for consoles.
I know it's snobbery, but I can't help but look down a little on self-professed game aficionados who limit themselves by platform.
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