So, about an hour ago, I beat Dead Space. It was a decent game, though the use of a silent protagonist seems a bit far fetched due to the sheer amount of time you are supposedly in two-way communication with people (Incidently, the Wikipedia article on silent protagonists has been deleted due to the lack of scholarly work on the subject. I nominate Greg to correct this.). Dead Space did make me realize how influential System Shock 2 was on gaming, especially first person gaming. I believe such a point has been made by Yahtzee before, but it bears repeating.

Doom 3: SS2 with demons.
Bioshock: SS2 underwater.
Dead Space: SS2 with dismemberment.

Also, it is worth noting that I originally had problems with the game crashing whenever I went into submenus for any length of time. It turns out that my ancient Sidewinder Percision Pro joystick causes the game to spaz out. This is probably due to some mildly broken interface into the joystick system system as the joystick (even when not being touched at all) constantly generates events of various kinds. I figured out that this was the problem when I noticed the menu instructions freaking out and showing the "360 standard" controls flashing in and out along with they keyboard controls. Disconnecting the joystick resulted in zero additional crashes for the rest of the game.


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I took off this afternoon as sick time due to exhaustion. My sleep schedule has finally caught up with me. I seriously need to get back into a normal flow. This stupid 4 down, 3 up, 4 down thing is killing me.

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I have produced this easy to use chart to determine how much the EESA of 2008

        $700,000,000,000.    Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
    =================================================
          12,870,012,870.013    Barrels of Oil (as of 18 Nov 2008)
           2,800,112,004.480    Nintendo Wiis
           1,750,043,751.094    Xbox 360 Elites
           1,750,043,751.094    Playstation 3s
              65,783,291.044    Metric Tons of Nickel (as of 18 Nov 2008)
              65,005,417.145    Pounds of Gold (as of 18 Nov 2008)
              53,435,114.503    Minimum wage employees (per year)
              45,439,792.275    Honda Civic Sedans (basic package)
              31,818,181.818    Toyota Priuses (basic Package)
              16,164,788.472    Hummer H3s (standard package)
              10,000,000        GB Salaries (per year)
               2,333,333.333    One Bedroom homes in LA (~$300k each)
               1,093,750        Liebeck v. McDonald's Awards (post-reduction, pre-settltment)
                   9,070.882    Delta II Launches (FCA)
                   3,449.975    Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Endowments
                   2,535.654    Days in Iraq (~0.276 $B/d)
                   2,333.333    Boeing 747-8s
                   2,333.333    Space Shuttle Launches (in year 2000 dollars)
                   1,035.503    Hoover Dams (adjusted for inflation)
                     376.344    California Institute of Technology Endowments
                     243.309    NOAAs (per year)
                      40.462    NASAs (per year)
                      33.849    Sonys (by Mkt Cap)
                      18.970    Harvard University Endowments
                       9.044    Puerto Ricos (by GDP)
                       7.478    Googles (by Mkt Cap)
                       4.011    Microsofts (by Mkt Cap)
                       3.705    Israels (by GDP)
                       3.271    Indianas (by GSP in year 2000 dollars)
                       1.731    Egypts (by GDP)
                       1.275    US Defense Departments (per year)
                       0.386    Californias (by GSP)
                       0.339    Frances (by GDP)
                       0.314    United Kingdoms (by GDP)

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So, a few months ago I ordered copy of Watchmen. Unfortunately, when I did so, I ordered the hardcover edition which was a prerelease. I had forgotten about it quite completely until it arrived yesterday on my doorstep. It had been recomended to me by someone (I've forgotten who at this point) and I was suprised by its quality. It was good enough that I read through about 60% in one sitting (it was after midnight at that point and I had an 8am meeting) and finished the rest after work today.

What I don't understand is how anyone intends to make a movie of it. It seems as if having a big naked blue man wouldn't fit into the demographics that an X-men or Spiderman might target. Then again, maybe they're doing it as equal time for Mystique...

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So, all of the ads for Fallout 3 made me want to get some retro-futurism going. This led me to playing through Bioshock again. Since on my previous trip, I had been good, this time I decided to be evil. It turns out that the game isn't particularly different, though it is very easy to purchase whatever upgrades you want. Since the whole game can be beaten without ever really using much more than the lightning plasmid and firearms, I suspect that it would be possible to even try beating the game while being ambivalent to the little sisters. If I ever play again, I will save exactly one and kill exactly one little sister and see what ending it gives.

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Ninja Gaiden Sigma is excessively difficult. The game is hard on easy mode. The difficulty of the game is not the main problem, however, it is its completely unforgiving nature. Gameplay wise, it is quite similar to the Devil May Cry games. Unlike the DMC games, NGS makes gameplay decisions the explicitly frustrate. Example 1: In DMC, if you die you can (usually) start from the beginning of the room that you're currently in. In NGS, you can continue, but you reset to the last safe point you used. Compounded with the relatively rarity of save points, there is much backtracking. Example 2: In DMC, there are enemies that do a fair amount of damage. Single enemies may do up to 10% of your health per hit, but you're given temporary immunity after being hit so that you can recover and counter attack. In NGS, basic enemies that show up in chapter 3 (of 19) can take 1/3 of your health or more in a single attack. Enemies are also capable of juggling you successfully while you are generally incapable of juggling them. Example 3: DMC has almost universal access to the in-game store. In NGS, there is no access to the store for the last 6 or so areas unless you're willing to backtack through a huge distance. This is bad gameplay design.

I beat NGS so that I could say that it didn't beat me.

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Dead Rising is an amazing game. It turns out that running headlong into a swarm of zombies swinging a chainsaw does not get boring. Neither does picking up a bunch of orange safety cones and stuffing them on the head of zombies. Driving a car through an underground tunnel filled with zombies? Always awesome. Shooting a zombie with a nerf gun is also awesome unless you intended to stop it from biting your face off. And of course, the best thing is to pick up one zombie and then use it as a missile weapon to destory a small crowd of zombies. If you have a 360, you should have this game. It is essential. Also, the plot is rather interesting too.

Apparently there is also a Wii version. I can't vouch for it as I haven't played it.

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Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is the archetype of the average game. Its story is average. Its gameplay is average. Hell, even its acting is average. On the PC, the controls are lousy (due to it being built too cross-platformy and not really being optimized for keyboard and mouse). It has several of the major flaws that show up in the more "Japanese" action games. Most noticable of these is its tendency to explain things to you (with a narrator and everything) rather than allowing interesting things to be revealed in more natural ways. It also commits the sin of having a plot that is wholely divorced from the levels being played.

It is like PN03 only less fun and with no RPG elements. It is like Oni only without an interesting plot or fun shooting/fighting elements. It is just plain mediocre.

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Crysis: Warhead is more Crysis. The game doesn't particular add anything, but it is more fun in the Crysis universe running around and shooting people in the face with a shotgun while cloaked. I could spend a fair amount of time doing that without getting bored. It also ran somewhat better than its predecessor on the same hardware which I consider a nice added bonus. I could barely get 30fps during the outdoor winter scenes in Crysis, but was able to get somewhat near that in Warhead.

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I'm now playing Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. The most interesting thing about the game so far is the realism in characters' facial gestures. This game probably has the best facial movements that I've seen since Half-Life 2 and may well be significantly better.

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So, over the past year, I have slowly been getting to work later. When I first started working, I was starting at 7:30. By last week, I was getting into work at 8:30. This had been fine because it was still light outside at 5:30, so biking home wasn't an issue. Yesterday, however, was the first day that I worked after the revert from daylight savings time. Unfortunately, the shift caused it to be just shy of completely dark out at 5:30 when I left for home. This is problematic.

In summary, fuck daylight savings time.

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