Life with Games

Found this on some list on AOL News about “Ads people bitched about” or something:

Dunkin Donuts

The ad: Rachael Ray drinks a Dunkin Donuts Cool Latte in a brief online ad. She is wearing a black-and-white fringed paisley scarf.
The complaint: Conservative pundit Michelle Malkin likens the scarf to the keffiyeh, a traditional Muslim headdress worn by some Palestinian extremists, calling Ray to task for promoting terrorism.
The verdict: While the paisley scarf was not a keffiyeh, and in fact was chosen by Ray’s stylist, Dunkin Donuts pulls the ad.

Seriously? SERIOUSLY? Some idiot really believes that Rachael Ray, some cooking show whiney bitch-ass mom, is planning on running into a crowd of people strapped to a bomb? Better yet, PROMOTING others to do so?

I swear the world gets stupider every day, and these idiots love attention.

http://kotaku.com/5092565/frets-on-fire-for-the-blind

Probably one of the better ideas of the time.  Going blind for me would be the worst thing imaginable.  I’d lose my job, movies, video games.  I’m glad there are people out there doing stuff like this to allow the blind to play games.  I think it’d be great if this succeeded and you could play Rock Band with a blind guitarist or bassist, and hell, vocals too (if they know the song!).

Hope to see more of this eventually.

http://kotaku.com/5068014/gorgeous-gears-of-war-2-last-day-ad-sets-the-mood

http://kotaku.com/5065076/littlebigplanet-faces-worldwide-recall-for-quran-references

Can’t get more perfect than this.

This week I have to work at a client’s office in NYC for a couple of days.  My first work day in the city is almost over, and I have mixed feelings about it.

For starters, once I am sitting down and working, it is no different than anywhere else.  The ability to work is of no concern and does not change much.  The experience of getting here, going to lunch, and going home are the main concerns of the city.
Read more

God Bless America (and Japan)

This is what hell would look like for me.

The sad thing is, most of the people in North Korea have no idea that games have advanced so much further than what is in this building. To them these could be absolutely incredible. It is almost kind of amazing to think that we are so spoiled and demand so much from games now, meanwhile the less fortunate could very well be thrilled with 8-bit non-classic games.  It just goes to show you how fast technology has advanced in the past two decades.  What we see as “games of our childhood” could very well be the only games some people in third-world countries will experience in their entire lives, and that’s if they are lucky enough to play any games at all.

NPR is great, and this article definitely adds to it:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94884967&ft=1&f=1006

Just as movies distracted Americans during The Great Depression, video games now distract us from our apparent economic struggle. So basically, we are turning to virtual worlds to ignore the real world. Hmm, funny how majority of people used to make fun of my kind for doing such things. Now it’s all the rave!

Since my last bunch of posts, I have discovered and fell in love with the most delicious dessert on the planet. It has everything delicious: Oreos, vanilla ice cream, vanilla milkshake, hot fudge, and whipped cream. Once the shake is gone and there’s nothing left but chunks of Oreo, it is the most delicious pile of chocolate to ever slowly slide down into your mouth from the bottom of the cup. No matter what the hell has got me down on any given day, this shake could bring sunshine to a septic tank.

Picture stolen from Press-Enterprise

Long time no post. Apparently a lot of stuff happens in life and before you know it, it’s September and you have been playing so many damn games that you haven’t talked about, it’s a sin. This is the first of many, I hope. Unfortunately, this post is of a mediocre/terrible game. It has a fantastic story for the time between Episodes 3 and 4, the visuals are beautiful, and the physics and different engines Lucasarts used are amazing. There are a few other things that make the game interesting, but all of it is held down by the terrible gameplay choices Lucasarts decided to make. The best way to sum it up is, the first level is the best because you play as Vader, and all the power you have during that level is exactly what playing as a Sith warrior should feel like. That’s why I used that picture for the intro to this article, because it is the highlight of the game. But as soon as you are given the apprentice, stuff just starts to go downhill.
Read more