well well well, will ya looky here...

Hey, Crumples - back on the blog, been a while, hu?
I don't work now, so, you know, I don't have to fill my days with interwebs and small sculptures made out of paper clips.
I am fortunate enough to be ill. And I timed it nicely with Salems week off! So he and I have been eating corn fritters, smoking, and generally shooting the shit. That is when i'm not lying down in tiny agony from my freaking kidneys, this is when he trys to kill the robot, and guess what? he finally did it! Bravo Salem, bravo. Well, i think by the pain in my back, up time is over, i'm gonna go lie down with Snow Crash, probably fall asleep after 3 pages (damn it!) and wait till the beloved Kahn gets home and hugs me. YAY! Infact Frejak should hug me too. Not too low. Not. Too. Low.

He's not *quite* dead yet...

Believe me, this war is still raging even as we speak and even if we burn his corpse, he could still come back a badger. Hell, if one of his beneficiaries happens to find that 'Wish' scroll in his library, who knows how much more powerful he'll be when he returns?

-Salem
It's not over till Monte Cook says it's over, dammit!

He will be Critically Missed

It is with great sadness that I say goodbye to a legend. Gary Gygax was one of the co-founders of D&D rolled his last natural 20 on Tuesday. He retired Mordenkainen, Failed his save vs. death magic, went ethereal and has taken the first step to lichdom.

It truely is a sad moment to know this. Along with many gamers I just wanted to take the time to acknowledge Gygax and the fantasitc things he has done to unlock worlds of imagination for so many people like myself.

Every gamer owes him a nod a respect - and maybe every gamer should sit his or her best d20 aside at your next gaming session, let that best & most favored die belong to him for the evening.

Gary didn't make us popular, or make us fit in with the general mass population of our schools and neighborhoods. He didn't empower us to do great things to earn our way into those groups... What he gave us was exactly what people like us wanted. A way to come together and hang out with others that enjoyed the same thing. To tell hilarious jokes that no one else understands and quote monty python. To sink into a world of power, fear, imagination and stunning feats.

May Galstaff sorcerer of light guide you.

Please join me in 1d6 moments of silence



Image from www.penny-arcade.com

I am not the thief you're looking for...

Seriously, I'm not! I mean, I am a thief, but today, it's ok. Kinda like Robin Hood, I'm stealing from the rich (in this case Penny Arcade) to give to the poor (that would be myself and the limited number of people that visit this blog). What I'm stealing is a video that Tycho posted up and I think you'll like it. Take a look:



Wasn't that awesome? He has a good point about the 3D being far more immersive and for people like Frejak, this is exactly what we need! I would recommend taking a look at the guy's website if you're into your techno-fantasies. I say that not because his stuff is fictional, but because as much as I can see an almost endless string of applications for his work, I doubt we're lucky enough to live in a world where industries are willing to listen to independent ideas regarding their own equipment.

Damn you Nintendo! I know that it prints money, but you could be printing larger denominations!

Ahh well. Perhaps someday we'll see all the cool new tech being released straight away rather than getting held up for years by greedy companies that don't like letting the thousands of super-brains just do their thing and give us the kind of tech that we want instead of just having to put up with the simplest and most rigid applications that the companies let us have.

-Salem
Surely there's still hope...

American logic strikes again.

Here's an article that highlights why Australians have such a low opinion of Americans in general. I think you should read it very carefully.

Casino bans author of Word for being lucky

Submitted by Paul McNamara on
Thu, 06/07/2007 - 2:42pm.

Gambling is for suckers ... and I love it anyway.

But the truth of the first part is what makes this next part so unfathomable: The casino moguls at Harrah's Entertainment have barred Richard "Quiet Lion" Brodie - best known as the original author of Microsoft Word - from gambling in or entering any of its properties, including Caesar's Palace, home of the World Series of Poker.

Brodie's crime?

No, he didn't cheat.

He's been too lucky.

Brodie explains on his blog:

On May 10, Harrah's sent certified letters to several high rollers informing them that their business was no longer wanted at Caesars Palace or any of the other Harrah's properties in Nevada, California, and Arizona. I was one of them. I called the office of Tom Jenkins, regional vice president, and got a call back from Terry Byrnes, the VP of customer service. He told me I was being 86ed because they couldn't figure out how to make a profit off me.

Now understand, the only games I play are poker and video poker. In poker, the house makes a 100% guaranteed profit straight off the top. In video poker, the house controls every aspect of the game: the pay tables, the amount of the house edge, and the promotions and incentives they offer. There is no way to use skill - or even cheat - to beat video poker. You can't count cards. You can't peek at the dealer's hole card. It's a machine. The best you could possibly hope for is to play computer-perfect, which I don't, and even if that were possible the machine still has a maximum theoretical payout chosen by the casino. The only thing the casino can't control is luck. One reason I like video poker is because you can get lucky and win. You hit a royal flush every 40,000 hands or so. If you're lucky enough to hit two, you're ahead! If you hit three, you're ahead for a long time!

Boy, have I been lucky at Harrah's.

I hit four huge royal flushes in the last year at three of the Las Vegas Harrah's properties. Not surprisingly, I'm ahead, although I've put 80% of it back. This seems to rub them the wrong way. But I have trouble imagining the thought process that would cause someone to decide that kicking out one of your most loyal customers is an appropriate solution to the problem of him having extremely good luck. If they think the machines are too loose, make them tighter. If they think they are giving me too much in comps, give less. They control every aspect of the game. Except luck. And kicking out players who have been lucky makes about as much sense as banning people from playing the lottery because they win it.

Doesn't make a lick of sense. Of course, it just goes to show that the private interests who control gambling in this country are every bit as unprincipled and hypocritical as the government interests who share that control.

You need to be a poker player to understand Brodie's anguish at being denied his seat at the World Series of Poker.

But you don't even need to be a gambler to understand the stupidity and injustice here.

And here's the source: Network World

Now, I understand that there are a few smart people over in the U.S. but this just grinds my gears. Don't mess with a guy that's got a spot at the World Poker Championship! Actually, just don't mess with people who play poker. It's just not right.

-Salem
Sore losers? Nah.... couldn't be. It's a casino, they never lose!

No Fishing

Every now and then, I'll come across a game that is a little out of the ordinary. I'm not saying that the disc will fly around the room or that the game has to be some spectacular feat of engineering that has never been seen before, it just manages to hit my game nerves with an intensity that seems to bend time. Recently, Zelda: Twilight Princess has done this. It's consumed around 45 hours of my life in the last week and when you think that most people spend that long at work, you can see why this is a nasty addiction.

I've enjoyed every moment of the game thus far, from collecting bottles to digging in the dirt. There seems to be no task too mundane to hold my attention. I'm what is known in gaming circles as a completionist. I will often latch onto a game and play myself into a coma in an effort to collect everything, unlock everything and kill... everything. The trap of this particular game though is the reel fishing. I could have run in and thrashed Ganon about 5 to 10 hours of gameplay ago, but the fishing... oh the fishing.

My name is Salem and... there's no easy way to put this but...

May the gods have mercy on my soul and forgive me for using the sinking lure just that one time.

-Salem
The Loach swims only among the lilly pads in the summer. Use the frog young padawan, use the frog...

Versatility Plus

To add to my last post, think on this. Recently, somebody converted an Xbox 360 into a handy lap-top style configuration. It's pretty nifty and is one of the more well known console customisation projects. Take a look, it's really quite interesting.

Pretty cool huh? I'd be stoaked to own one of these myself.

Moving on, what have the PS3 people got I wonder? Perhaps the first 3rd gen system that can fly you to safety in event of a volcanic erruption? No, they have something even better! They have... The Grill! Yeah, people were willing to pay a thousand bucks just to rip one asunder and implant a George Forman Grill into it. Nothing says 'Loyalty to my chosen system' more than trashing one and making a grill.

And for those that can't get enough, there's a website devoted to this. I love the world in which I live.

-Salem
I really should see if there are any cool Wii mods out there...

A New Low

Just a quick one, a lot more information is available on Penny Arcade so I wont bother re-hashing however I did find this hilarious so I must at least express a little, Sony has been caught out. They have created several mediums where they pretended that they did not represent Sony and were just some randoms expressing how cool the PSP is. Here is a link to the blog they created http://www.alliwantforxmasisapsp.com/blog/default.aspx

On the blog you will notice that they have now apologised knowing that they have been caught. I believe it was the good people at somthingawful that picked it.

ROFL

-Kahn

MMO Update

Sorry if this is a little dry, it's a press release that I looked into after reading the latest Penny Arcade comic.

Multiverse and Fox Licensing & Merchandising to build online game based on popular Firefly television series
Massively Multiplayer Online Game to be Designed Exclusively for Play on Multiverse Network
BURBANK, Calif. – December 8, 2006 – The Multiverse Network, Inc., a company building the world's leading network of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) and 3D virtual worlds, today announced it optioned the rights from Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising to develop an MMOG based on Firefly, the science fiction television series created by Joss Whedon that has enjoyed a hugely popular and loyal following since its premier in 2002.
"Fox's Firefly series is set in an incredibly rich and exciting universe. It's going to make a very compelling and unique online experience filled with adventure, humor, and mystery," said Corey Bridges, Multiverse co-founder and Executive Producer. "It's our hope that Firefly's passionate and dedicated community of fans will enjoy the chance to become part of the story as they develop and explore the worlds of Firefly."
Fox Licensing & Merchandising selected Multiverse to lead the evolution of Firefly into an MMOG because of the technical strength and advantages of the Multiverse Platform and the vision both companies share for the future of online entertainment.
"One of the first meetings I had when I joined Fox was with Multiverse," said Adam Kline, Vice President of New Media Enterprises at 20th Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising Division. "We see virtual worlds as an extraordinarily promising new entertainment medium. This is a great opportunity for 20th Century Fox and for the fans of Firefly because Multiverse will deliver an experience that will remain true to the original series, while enabling a whole new level of personal involvement for fans."
Under the terms of the agreement, Multiverse will select and lead an independent production team to develop the project. Fox and Multiverse expect the offering to be available to the public through The Multiverse Network in 2008.
Bill Turpin, co-founder and CEO of The Multiverse Network, Inc., believes that the Firefly MMOG will create significant opportunities for other developers building games and worlds with Multiverse tools and technology.
"In addition to our world-class technology, developers choose Multiverse for our network, which lets them launch their games into a built-in market of consumers who are just one click away from any game on that network," Turpin said. "Firefly will bring in even more consumers, making the network that much more attractive to developers of other worlds."
Since its launch a year ago, more than 7000 customers—ranging from garage developers to Fortune 100 companies to Hollywood legends—have registered to use the company's platform technology. In addition, more then one hundred pre-qualified customers have already begun building MMOGs and non-game virtual worlds with the Multiverse Platform, currently in open beta-testing.

Urolagnia

If you're not sure about the title, I suggest hitting up Wiki for it. It's not pretty, but there you have it. I'm wondering if at some stage I'll be forced into that category as I have a nasty feeling that I've just become a Wii fetishest.

You go out and by a $400 system and you expect to get a bit of enjoyment out of it, but I never expected anything like that I got. I was up until 2am playing with my Wii (Ok, technically, it's our Wii as Kahn did chuck a number of games in for the trade). It's incredibly addictive and if there are any parents that think it will just keep their kids inside on the couch getting fatter... they obviously haven't done any research on the thing.

Kahn and I played about two hours of Wii boxing (along with many more hours of bowling, baseball, tennis and golf) and I kid you not, my two hours of Hwa Rang on a Wednesday is the only thing that has made me sweat that much since I stopped playing basketball back in high school. Talk about a work out! For Kallisar and Frejak, when you come up to give it a go, dress as you would for a gym session, even down to the sports bra because you're going to die if you don't.

Appart from the epic amount of fun that Wii sports provides, I was really impresed with the system. I have to admit that in the raging storm of interest generated by the Wii-mote, I hadn't checked out much else about the Wii before I got it home last night. Turns out that if I had, I would have been even more psyched about getting one than I already was (and let me assure you that it would have been difficult to be more excited than I was). The less publicised things are quite stunning.

I knew that it was going to be a smaller system than the mighty 360 (which I still love dearly), but that it was litterally only a few millimeters larger than your average PC DVD drive kind of shocked me. With some carefull shaving of a PC case, you could most likely install it right into one of the drive bays. Next was the wireless networking. It comes bilt into the Wii and if you want to hook it up to a wired network, that's when you need to get an adapter. The inclusion of an SD slot was a pleasent supprise, as was the built in memory. I knew they were going to have a marketplace similar to Xbox Live, but I guess that internal hard drive hadn't really sunk in.

Other little bits and pieces that I enjoyed were the creation of my 'Mii' character and the suprise that the Wii-mote itself has it's own memory storage capacity (although I don't know how much space it has yet). You can transport your Mii from your Wii to a friends Wii via the Wii-mote so that you Miis can hang out with their Miis. How delightfully cute is that?

The sensativity of the Wii-mote is stunning too by the way. Again, I was suprised when I got lazy and propped my Wii-mote hand on my knee to see that the on-screen pointer rotated to the now 90 degree angle at which I had my hand. Statements such as 'Cooler than my Baretta for the xbox' spring to mind and I didn't think that it was possible for anything short of a real baretta to inspire such thoughts!

On the whole, I'm dead tired and my shoulders ache from boxing like a crazy man, but you know what? It was SO worth every second. It's just a crazy amount of fun. I can't wait to get 'Red Steel' in a week or two so I can start cutting down ninjas with my Wii-mote controled katana!




High Game in bowling: 189
High Game in Wii Bolwing: 186
Scarry no?

Wii Moment in History

For those of you who know me you'll know that I like a bit of gaming. I'm far from the biggest gammer, but I do love to sit down and enjoy a good bash/shoot/hack/plot every now and again.

As such I remember a fair number of systems through the ages, and very little in there progression has ever suprised me. Don't missunderstand me, Xbox 360 is awsome and when I see the improvements in graphics, game play and mechanics I nod, smile (sometimes even drool a little) and say to myself, "here it is, the new benchmark. If the next FPS hasn't incorporated at least some of the new cool that Gears of War has shown us, then they're just not trying." But as impressive as these improvements are, they're not surprising, it's a natural progression to improve.

Then along came Wii. I was on the floor, or more accuratly for the first time, I wasn't on the floor. I was standing, I was swinging, I was sweating! And I loved it!
The name aside, and the hours of amusement I have already had making Wii jokes, this system and the way the games have been designed around the IR of the nunchuk (thats what they call the controller) are suprising, there is no other word for it. I had heared how it was going to be set up. I had seen jokes and comics of how it's played. Let me tell you now YOU ARE NOT PREPARED FOR THE COOL!!!

Above all to me its the finer details that they are able to pick up now from the remote, there is full giroscopic awareness. This adds a level to the most basic of games, so that a simple baseball game, is hours of entertainment, gets you actually up and working a sweat (at least if you are as unfit as i am) and gives it more replayability then that first porn video you managed to stash under your bed as a teen.

I love this system, purely for its fun unique game play. I'm not even going to go into boxing (MAX FUN TO THE EXTREEM) or the benefits that perents will see with a system that will make sure that there little kids get the fun they're after without becoming as round as they are tall. I'm just going to say "Congratulations Nintendo", once again they have furthered their niche market by bringing something new to the market that is both fun and unique.

-Kahn