Betasim "heart"s Fable 2

Lol, I actually can hardly stand it when people (generally other girls) turn heart into a verb instead of just saying that they love whatever it is.

So, Fable 2 is utterly amazing. It's more or less what I'd hoped the first Fable would be (because Oblivion is what I was really hoping for--now I have both). I have to say, Lionhead puts out some pretty groovy stuff. I also love Black and White. But I digress.

The biggest problems with the original Fable was that the world was constricted and I felt that the fighting style was awkward. Fable 2 has remedied both of these--the world is larger and richer, and the fighting is a lot more intuitive.

Oh, and I doubt that it was a good idea to put the spell button where the cancel button would be. I kept hitting it at the wrong moment and scaring/harming townspeople. And I broke a window at one point, which caused a constable to come lecture me and charge me a fine. I came back later and the window wasn't fixed, which was kind of cool.

And last but not least, there's co-op play. One person loads up their game, and a second player can join in. If player 2 has a saved game, they can pick their profile and whatever alignment's avatar that they prefer and their abilities transfer over. And you can get experience. Everyone wins!

Oh, and you can play as a girl. That's a nice bonus. ...too many years of being forced to marry women in Harvest Moon.

Rumors...

Alpha sent me this link from Xbox fanboy about a rumor involving the Lego_____ (Lego Star Wars, Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Batman) series.  Lego Potter?  Something about blocky Hogwarts is amusing to me.

http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2008/12/01/rumor-lego-harry-potter-in-construction/

The real question is how to incorporate 5 (6 as of this summer and 7 eventually) movies.  I can't speak to Batman, but Lego SW and Lego IJ were broken up by movies.  There were 2 Lego SW for Pete's sake (and oh how I adored them).  I'm sure they would figure it out...providing that the rumor pans out.

Also, over Thanksgiving weekend I tried Spore, Sims2 Apartment Life, and Fable 2?  I'd give them all a thumbs-up (I happen to like creature phase and tribal phase so far in Spore.  The civilization phase is turning a little RTS for me).  Spore is creative but not quite what I had envisioned.  Apartment Life is more Sims, which is always appealing to me.  And Fable?  Ahhh Fable.

I'll leave my Fable 2 opinions for the upcoming post.

Too scientifically rigorous?

If you've not read Friday's xkcd, do so. I want to know what happens when she sees a half dozen of the non-control group.

This week Haley's been stabbed and Belkar uncursed (Oots), we've discovered the root of Cole's dislike for Max and made a discovery about Max in the process (Pvp), and I learned what a bank alt is (Flintlocke versus the Horde). Rather a productive week in the webcomic world.

Also this week Alpha's reviewed Fallout 3--http://e-aagh.net/fo3_review_pc.htm--so stop over and check that out. I learned a thing or two. And I also think that the building construction is quite a bit Morrowind-like. It's been given an overall 9.0, so it's worth a peek.

The Christmas shopping conundrum

Since we're approaching Thanksgiving, let's have a short chat about all the games that have either just come out or will by Christmas.

If you are a gamer that in fact has another gamer in the family, you may face the following conundrum.  Do you buy that person a game that you know they want but you would never play?  Say, for example, that you have a 10 year old kid sister or brother who happens to be a fan of Animal Crossing while you'd much prefer to play Need for Speed or Call of Duty.  Do you buy that kid sibling their Animal Crossing game for Christmas or compromise and buy a pg-13 FPS and tell your mom that it's to play together.

This of course assumes that you're not rich and haven't bought all of these before Christmas rolls around.

I can tell you for a fact that this situation plays a role in my Christmas shopping.  Generally I go for the first solution--give 'em what they really wanted, that's why it's a gift--but wonder how often people do end up with the compromise game.  I mean, being able to play with more people is a sure bonus but only if the game itself is decent.

I guess it also depends on how much you like your sibling, lol.

Pickle Death Attack!

Good morning...at 11:15am.  That's still morning, right?

Order of the Stick this morning was humorous again--Rich Burlew must be having a good week.  "Try the inside bottom (of the pickle barrel).  That's where they traditionally put the stats."  Ha.  My favorite part is the panel where the thief chick--that's not Haley--is pleased with herself after throwing pickles at Haley.

Oh, and make a point to stop over at www.e-aagh.net to check out the PREVIEW of the new Xbox console (Microsoft Miis and all) and the review of the controversial Wii Music.

Oh the hype hype hype

If the title makes no sense, the sound effect of a small dog barking (especially the pug, Oso, in Sheldon) has been compared to the word "hype".  Just go with it.

Anyway, for those of you who play WoW, y'all must be super excited that Wrath of the Lich King.  Especially those of you of high enough level to make use of the over-lvl-60 content.

If you've not seen it already, check the stuff that Scott Kurtz's been putting out on his two webcomics.  First, on pvponline we're reminded of the origin of Ding this week when Francis gets into a fight while waiting in line for Wrath of the Lich King.  He announces that he's the best undead warlock on his server and a rival paladin happens to be present.  "You're Kissybear?"

Also, Ding is being updated more frequently than it has been in months.  Kissybear, as a matter of fact, is doing a mock survival guide to the expansion pack.  I found yesterday's strip

http://www.crispygamer.com/comics/ding/Ding-2008-11-12.aspx

to be particularly enlightening.  Oh, people can't resist shiny new classes can they?  This strip actually reminds me of a scene from Life of Brian, "Yes, we're all individuals!"  Go watch it if you have no idea what I'm referring to.

No love for Wii Music

As Alphasim's commented on www.e-aagh.net there's been a disapproving buzz lately for Wii Music.  Okay, so it's not Guitar Hero, and it's most certainly not Rock Band.  It's just something else.  Can you record your own versions of songs on Guitar Hero or Rock Band?  I think not.  Are there 50 instruments on Guitar Hero or Rock Band?  Definitely not.  What I'm saying is, let Wii Music pick up the slack.  Miyamoto's come up with something original, yet again, so we owe it the decency to treat as an original entity.  If it'd come out before the era of guitar-shaped controllers, it's reception would've been totally different.

I mean, heck, people played Jungle Beat, right?

Also, Bethesda's Fallout 3 is out.  If you like guns and rpgs, go pick this title up.  There's an unprecedented amount of character development, especially for something with ammunition, lol.  If you're totally unfamiliar with this title, it's a semi-post-apocalyptic future where the first town you meet worships a big nuke.  For example, do you disarm it or do you let it go off?  Your game world will forever change depending on choices like that.

Alpha tells me it's got a little bit of Fable to it plus Bethesda's open rpg style because there's a Karma system that opens different quests.  No white hair results, though.

On the webcomics front, may I recommend that you stop over and see today's Order of the Stick?  The visuals are worth it.  Belkar's dreaming about Shojo giving him advice:

Shojo: 'The point is, if you laugh and spit in their faces enough times, they'll kick you out of the house--Which in this extended metaphor means killing you."

The power of metaphor, lol.

All is forgiven

Oh my gosh.  I don't have time to write you a full-blown post, but you simply must read the end of the hat-guy-for-internet-secretary saga (part 5) on www.xkcd.com

I...just...I love hat guy.

Time to draw the line.

Hey e-aaghers!

Like superheros?  Check out Evil, Inc.  www.evil-comic.com

Anything that goes under the webaddress evil-comic.com has to be good, right?  Or bad...whatever.

Also, the hat guy is being appointed to a fictional cabinet post.  I especially love Wednesday's strip where they're going through all the times he's been arrested.  Amazing.  (sorry, hat guy on xkcd if you didn't figure that out)

And then there's today's strip--just posted--Tron Paul!

I like how the hover-over-the-strip comment is simply, "It's time to draw the line"

Mr. Saturn lives

(...but you wouldn't want me to tell you where or when and ruin it now, would you?)

Today a comment on music in gaming.  While classic anthems like Mario's eternally reinterpreted theme (like this, 

Greg Patillo on the beatboxing flute) and Zelda's many themes are cornerstones to the gaming world, I find that rpgs continually supply notable original music.

For example, I've played so many hours of Oblivion, that when I finally started listening to the soundtrack (courtesy of Alpha) it made me feel like I was home.  It was a great feeling.  Maybe it has to do with emotional intensity.  *shrug*

So, when I say that the music in Mother plays a big role, it's partially this and partially an interesting facet of Mother itself.  Obviously the music from Earthbound--often reproduced in both Mother and Mother 3--is quirky and gives character to the series.  However, I've discovered that this third in the trilogy pulls a stunt that echoes the Mario RPG series:  there are timed attacks.

But they're not JUST timed attacks.  They're in time with the underlying rhythm of the battle (which you can hear if you put the baddie to sleep).  What's more, I'm told you can achieve up to a dozen or more attacks in the row if you take the rhythm into account.  I've still only managed three, but the damage stacks like this: if your original attack was 80, with an extra hit (two total) you could deal out 95 or 100 damage.  Just IMAGINE if you could rack up 10 hits.  You would own the enemies.  No questions asked.

But...I'm not sure how feasible it is.  I'm a musician and I'm having a hard time doing more than two.  I've done three, like, once or twice.

webcomics.com

Just as I've been taking a break from blogging about Mother 3, I've been taking a break from playing it.  This is partially due to being in a fire level that's handing my ass to me, and partially due to being busy in real life.  Oh presentations and critiques....

Anyway, on the webcomics front the halfpixel guys have started up webcomics.com (no www before it) as a center for articles about webcomics.  It's interesting--there's a bit of talk about making webcomics, specific webcomics, etc.  Apparently (according to Scott Kurtz) the Penny Arcade guys bought it and gave it halfpixel in the spirit of brotherhood or something.  How awesome is that?  It is, however, in it's infant stages as far as articles goes because it went up this week.  So, if you enjoy being among the first to enjoy a good thing, stop over there.

Their podcast, Webcomics Weekly, however is not new and you can now listen to it on the top of their homepage.  Good planning, methinks.

Furthermore, I've recently picked back up Fchords.  It's Kris Straub's other (3rd) strip besides chainsawsuit and Starslip Crisis.  I've read comments of his about it saying that it's kind of the strip he's always sort of wanted to make.  No surprise then that the main character, Ash, looks like him.  Quite a bit like him, lol.  Apparently he's a musician, too.  Explains a lot, that does.

Anyway, Fchords ( http://fchords.com/ ) is relatively new:  as of this summer or something.  It's about a couple of guys who record music for commercials but dream of making the big time.  Relatable, obviously.  (Ash:  "Please don't tell me I stole from Dido...I have a new idea!  Let's pretend this never happened.")

It's a Pig's Life in the Modern Army

(my personal homage to Monty Python.  If you get the reference, good for you.)

As you will discover by even starting Mother 3 (or watching the trailer on their website or youtube) there's a pig theme going for the bad guys.  *I* haven't even figured out why yet as I'm nearing the end of chapter 5.  In my brain they're all Pokey hiding under those masks.

And as a continuation to the animal theme, you save your game with frogs, and two of the playable characters are animals.

One of those animals is a monkey.  I feel that the monkey's chapter is something of an interesting directorial choice (if this were a movie) because for reasons I won't tell you, his story takes us behind enemy lines.  Unfortunately, the monkey isn't exceptionally strong himself, but they give you a non-controllable companion who keeps you from being a monkey pancake.  This also means that in the short spurts that you separate from this companion (such as running a *cough* errand) be extra, extra careful not to pick any fights.  Your little monkey friend doesn't deal out enough damage to be more than marginally effective by himself.

Now, if only your companion weren't scum....

Thieves and Ghosts

My favorite part of Mother 3 thus far is Chapter 2.  You get to play as a thief who's getting his first chance at doing real thieving.  His array of skill moves is pretty snazzy.

So where does this thief go to steal something?  An old, haunted castle.  Brilliant!  Some of the ghosts are actually friendly and I enjoyed talking to them.

I've gotta say, again, that there's a departure in feel from Earthbound in this area, but that there's some justification in the long term.  What this part does remind me of is Legend of Zelda when you're first sneaking into the castle at the beginning of the game.  Or maybe a little bit of Spike McFang.

This chapter also introduces the traditional Mother game zombies:  there were zombies south of the first city in Mother, north of Threed in Earthbound, and now north of the main city in Mother 3.  Ironically, there's a sign in front of the graveyard talking about how zombies are not allowed inside.  Oops!

Next time:  Monkeys and Frogs and Pigs, oh my!

Boing!

The English patch for Mother 3 came out yesterday morning.  Like normal people, I had to work, so when I got home I made myself a sandwich and sat down to play.  The hard part is deciding which of my many, many observations are important enough to share.

For those of you who don't know, Mother 3 is set up in Chapters.  Each chapter features a different main character whose special skills can be quite different.  Each chapter is also a relatively different flavor.

For example, chapter 1 features our main character's dad, who I call Damien, and their faithful dog, who I've called Puck like the character from Shakespeare.  Damien and Puck go out to deal with a suspicious raging forest fire.  Now, this takes place in a small village where everyone knows eachother's name and there's no such thing as money.  The original state of the village is an important factor, actually....but the thing is that it doesn't give you an Earthbound-y feeling.  In fact, it doesn't really until chapter 4 (where I am).  But, that has to do with a plot point, so I accept the original non-Earthbound-iness.

As to gameplay, the controls feel a lot like its predecessor.  There's a dashing feature (not dashing as in charming but dashing as in running) that's an interesting addition.  This means that if you plan it right, you can zip by certain enemies.  You can also ram into monsters that are too easy for you and insta-kill them (for no experience points).  It's especially fun to do in the Pork Bean or whatever it was called in Chapter 3.  But I digress....

To be continued:  Next time read about my favorite part so far!

So very excited...

...I don't know what to do with myself.  The Mother 3 fan translation project is done and they're releasing the patch by the end of the week.  I remember playing Mother 2 (Earthbound) the first time so many, many years ago (had to've been something in the range of a decade ago) and finding out that there had been a proposed sequel that we were never to receive.

And now we ARE receiving it.  Everything's come full circle.

To be fair, there are those who've been watching the translation project since it's beginning who deserve to be more excited than me, but I'm still excited.  So very, very excited.

Which means I ought to be careful not to have unreachable expectations.  Although, I've played half of the first chapter in Japanese and found it notably un-Earthbound-like, so maybe that means that my expectations are somewhat low.  I'm just excited on principle, methinks.

And when I say I played that half-a-chapter in Japanese, that doesn't mean that I understood bunches of it without a walkthrough.  Cut me some slack.  Considering THAT translation was very dry, maybe the official translation (by a professional translator who's a series fan) will put some of the Earthbound back into it.  Maybe.  *shrug*

Nook's political spin

Alpha recently sent me a video of the new Animal Crossing for Wii.  I must say, I have a love-hate relationship with Animal Crossing.  It's like Harvest Moon but with no farm and more furniture.  And giroids.  However, for some reason I still put in enough time on the original to pay off my house....huh.

That reminds me.  Chainsawsuit did an Animal Crossing reference strip a month back or so.  Let me see if I can find it... **time passes**  Ah, here we are:

http://www.chainsawsuit.com/20080819.shtml

I totally feel that way about Tom Nook.

After 5 years your town would also be the Congo because the massive amounts of weeds would form a spontaneous video game jungle.  Cause and effect, you know?

Perspectives on Reboot for the modern gamer

So Arthur in today's Sheldon asks a good semi-philosophical question.  He asks:  in the tallest building in the world, if there happens to be a bathroom on that floor, did someone bother to put in curtains?

My instant thought was, what about slightly deranged helicopter pilots?

Just a thought, lol.

And for those who remember Reboot (the show), might I recommend going back and rewatching some of the early episodes?  It's interesting to hear them talk clearly intending to sound cutting-edge ("Alphanumeric!" Enzo always yells), and to see the old-fashioned games.  Like, the user in Episode 5 is all blocky with a ponytail.  I mean, the main characters aren't blocky, but the user's character is.  Fascinating.  And it's interesting to think about all the games we've played (and hopefully won) and see how they would destroy Mainframe little by little.

Maybe Alpha wouldn't hate losing as much if he realized he was just losing to a guardian protecting Mainframe.  Lol, then again maybe not.  And how would MMORPG's work in that visualization of the computer.  What if Bob got stuck in EveOnline, for example, he'd never, ever get out because you couldn't beat all the users.

And if the user (us) lost as often as the one in Reboot does, would they continue trying games?  That explains why they don't necessarily replay games during the series.  It's an argument for buying console games.

What happens when the user cheats?

Food for thought.  Watch Reboot on youtube and ponder. (Coffee tawk.  Tawk amongst yowrselves.)  Lmao.

The claw demands...a soda.

Feeling sick...can't write post....

'The claw demands blood!  Also a soda.'

And on today's Penny Arcade, they comment on the creator of Black and White and Fable's interest in creating a game that would interest non-gamers.  I mean, they poke fun at the idea, but isn't that what games like the Movies and Sims already do?  (I mean, besides drawing in the creative types and kid sisters?)

Ack...mocking...self....

Also, that's what Rock Band and Guitar Hero (and Wii in general) are doing, I think.  I've met people who don't game who love these titles.  Are we saying there's no hope?

V splits

Aloha todos, e-aaghers.

Just a note to remind you to stop over and read Alpha's comic, Gavalier's World of Warcraft.  The mafia makes an appearance in WoW and drives the plot, so it's definitely worth it.  Make sure you tell Alpha how much you like his work.  You can plaster him with comments on his blog.

On other fronts, if you've not kept up with Rich Burlew's OOTS, Varsuvius has recently vaporized a plot point, literally--to the reader's relief as he explains--but today he's parting ways with Durkon and Elan.  *gasp*  I wonder how many more years will go by before the group is reunited and Roy is resurrected.  2?  3?

Which reminds me, they ought to have a sequel to the Order of the Stick board game, which takes current events into account.  And makes the shortened version a little more...shortened?

Samba to Salsa

Well, Chicago has spent the afternoon living up to its windy, rainy stereotype.  Ugh.  And I didn't wear my rainboots.

Today's strangest-thing-I've heard-in-a-while goes hands-down to the latest Flintlocke comic on gamespy: http://pc.gamespy.com/flintlocke-vs-the-horde/episode-5-talkin-bout-locks/917205p1.html

I'm talking about the final panel.  Yeah, you'll figure it out.

And apparently Kris Straub of Starslip Crisis is offering his alterna-strip free to college newspapers so as to get the URL out there.  I'm referring to www.chainsawsuit.com .  So, if you work for a school paper, perhaps you should consider it, eh?

On the gaming front, I've been catching advertisements occasionally for Samba de Amigo for Wii that came out last month.  It seems like the modern day answer to Donkey Kong Jungle Beat.  I'm curious to see how difficult it is to differentiate between the 6 directions instead of 4, and there's a battle mode that sounds promising.

Here's Nintendo's site page on the subject:
http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/6Rvyqx9NL9d5BoF3PJxg7iV52PWyHbKK

Now, they just need to incorporate the balance board and call it Salsa de Amigo.

Not guilty enough

I killed an entire Saturday playing emulator games.  I feel a...little guilty about it.  Almost not guilty enough, lol.

What I discovered is that, one, it's a good thing I've never owned my own gba, because I'd be very broke.  Two, they used the same template to make several maxis games such as Bustin Out and the Urbz.  Three, no matter how old I get Harvest Moon has the ability to suck away my life.

Life minesweeper as I said before.  But I digress....

If you keep up with Sheldon at all, you'll notice that Shel's multibillion dollar company is in trouble, and he's going to Dubai to get a loan.  Dave Kellet always impresses me how he manages to take current events as inspirations for an entire series of plot points.  Now his crew is flying to Dubai and today's actually has Arthur and a plane stewardess discussing the $1000 bill they've given him for a napkin.  Lol.  I'd totally be like, 'Excuse me, I think I've spilled my drink all over myself.' and then suck it up and airdry.

Raisins and xkcd

Leave it to raisins to be the only thing in my pantry with just one ingredient under the ingredient list:  raisins.  Also, I did a google search for uses of the word, definoodley, and only my blog popped up.  Hilarious.  :)

*cough*  Right, back to relevant topics....

Alpha telling me that they've recently added bejeweled to WoW when you're flying on a Griffin or whatever just to pass the time, and that you can play it whenever you want.  It's like they're acknowledging that sometimes you gotta wait a long time.  I'm not criticizing so much as observing.  It seemed appropriate, then, that today's xkcd is related to this topic:

http://xkcd.com/484/

The guy who started putting Minesweeper on Windows owes me months of my life back.

Office-less

To all the e-aagh-ers (I feel like that's potential for a nickname.  Hmm....) I'm Office-less (the show) tonight due to the VP debate, so I've fallen back to writing.  May I emphasize the Office-less part and make it clear that I'm rather sad about it?

Anyway, a couple of weeks back someone referred me to the-editing-room.com, and I'd recommend it.  Definoodley.  They do "abridged scripts" of well-known movies such as Indiana Jones and Cloverfield, which are pretty damn amusing.  Start here:

http://www.the-editing-room.com/thedarkknight.html

If you're a don't-ruin-it-for-me person, obviously websurf with discretion.  I'd never seen Cloverfield for example.  *shrug*  There are some movies that I'm more concerned about than others, you know?

And may I recommend today's Looking For Group?  Richard sings that boom de yada boom de yada song...sort of.

Peace, fellow e-aaghers.

Earthbound 0

Well, I spent this weekend playing Mother, the precursor to Earthbound.  You remember me talking about Earthbound, yes?  Earthbound is technically Mother 2, which is its name in Japan.  I've also found Mother under Earthbound 0, but that's just Americans trying to make it all work from our perspective.

Anyway, I wanted to comment on how obvious it is that Earthbound is the sequel to this game.  Although the sarcasm and color of Earthbound is underdeveloped in Mother, a lot of the elements started there.  The world of Magicant plays a big role, and you still have a house with a mom and a favorite food and (2) sister(s) who store you items for you and a dog.  Apparently in this game your grandfather studied psi powers, so you get his old notes to get you to Magicant eventually.

There's also a section of zombies in a graveyard encroaching on a town, and you can get attacked by a hippie as a random encounter to exactly the same music as in Earthbound.  A lot of the music is familiar, actually.

And I've already met a Starman Junior.

Also, whenever you fight a rat, he has an attack that lowers your "fight" or offense.  However, when he does so, the game tells you that the rat "uttered dirty words".  Lol.  That would raise my offense, personally.

I also looked into Mother 3's fan translation website, but that's another post for another day.

Breaking into Webcomics

So many webcomics, so little time?

So why bother?  Webcomics are worth it.  Not only are they entertaining, but they keep you with an ear to either the gaming world or pop culture or nerd culture.  I started when a college friend of mine introduced all of us to Nuklear Power 8-bit theatre followed by PvPonline and then Order of the Stick.

Strips that I personally follow in the order they appear my bookmarks:

Order of the Stick
Nuklear Power
Looking for Group
PvP Online
VG Cats
Starslip Crisis
Jumpleads
xkcd
Ding!
Penny Arcade
Chainsawsuit
Sheldon
Flintlocke vs. the Horde
Gavalier's World of Warcraft (Alpha's new webcomic)

If you're into WoW, check out Flintlock, Gavalier's WoW, and Ding!.  That last one is Scott Kurtz of PvP Online's newer strip.  It's not updated nearly as often as it ought to be, but WoW players would appreciate it.  Especially the alt-aholic.

If you're into Sci-Fi, start with Starslip Crisis for a humorous strip or Jumpleads for a slightly more serious (and British) strip.

If you were a fan of Calvin and Hobbes, try Sheldon.  The creator--Dave Kellet--was a huge Calving and Hobbes fan and from time to time it shows.

And everyone should read xkcd.  I'm not quite enough of a math wiz or a programmer to get every little thing that they do, but 90% I get.  And it's brilliant.  Some of it's just lovely and wacky, like these:

http://xkcd.com/478/
http://xkcd.com/462/

There are many more, but you can read the strip for yourself.

I also used to read goats by Jonathan Rosenberg, but it's gotten so convoluted that it's hard to make myself read it.  And if you have to make yourself read it, you probably shouldn't.  I was with him up to shortly after the character Jon takes over hell.  That was this spring, I believe.  They have come up with some great catchphrases over the years though, I have to give them that.

Next time?  I don't know yet--you'll have to wait and see!

An Interlude

I know I promised you an entry on webcomics, but since I missed yesterday, you're getting this interlude first.

Last night I spent a good chunk of the evening replaying Earthbound (for, like, the third time).  My previous save had me just returned with Ness's girlfriend, who I call Skye, from Happy Happy Village.  So, last night I went and saw the Blues Brothers, um I mean Runaway Five, in Twoson before hopping their bus to Threed.  There I took down the Boogey Tent and laid out some Zombie paper before we went north to Saturn Valley with our third friend, Henry.  Oh, Ness is called Roger.  I decided to pick my favorite of their random names....

And then it happened.  Every time I walk into Saturn Valley I think to myself, SOMEone needs to make another rpg in this style.  It doesn't matter that the graphics are outdated--they were oldish when we first played the game.  I remember Alpha and I as late elementary-schoolers sitting on the couch lamenting about Pokey and wishing him an early death.

Anyway, it makes me wish that I had the resources and know-how to make such a game myself.  It would be just as fun to make as to play.

So, yeah, I defeated Belch and rescued the Mr. Saturns (I need a Mr. Saturn plushie methinks.  Alpha!  Christmas present!).  I went back to the relit Threed and caught a bus to the traffic jam in the desert where I met the monkeys before going to Fourside where I saved and called it a night.

To make a long story short, if you've never played Earthbound (aka Mother 2) go find a way to do so.  Grin and bear it with the graphics--especially if you're as omg-it-must-be-shiny as Alpha--it's totally worth it.

And if you HAVE played it, go replay it.  It's good for the soul. 

Beta out.

Gaming in Chicago

So, I moved to Chicago a year or so ago. When I arrived, I thought to myself, 'Ah, I'll look up a local gaming shop and get set up in my element.' Boy was I wrong.

What I mean to say is that Chi town is in serious need of a gaming revamp. (A geek revamp, if you will) There are always the standard places like Best Buy and Target to buy electronic games, but no specialty shops for the lesser-known stuff. Fortunately, most things can be bought on the internet, but that'll never replace the gaming shop experience.

To my knowledge the closest one is in a suburb an hour away. In a city this big, that seems incredible. There are comic shops--a few even deal in Warhammer materials--but that's the end of the line.

So, if you're considering what to do with your life and you have capitol and a geek streak, may I request you look into rectifying this situation? There are people to support that niche market, you'd just have to find them.

Until then, those of us living in Chicago will have to do without such things. Back to the internet...

Next time: Breaking into Webcomics

The one, the only BetaSim

No, not AlphaSim. BetaSim.

In this blog, you'll get a piece of my side of gamer and internet culture. I'm not a WoW player, like AlphaSim, so you'll get none of that from me. Most of you are saying, "Oh, well screw this, then." For the rest of you, come in. Make yourselves at home.

So why not WoW? I play computer games and console games and rp games (yes, DM/GM and all), but not WoW. I think it's partly because WoW ruined some of my other gaming experiences. For example, I used to play Mutants and Masterminds (a d20 game). One particular Saturday half of the players had their laptops there playing WoW, and the rest of us had to keep waiting for them to come out of their other world to join us in our other world. Call it a vendetta, but that's where it stands.

But, Alpha plays enough WoW for the both of us. And then sends me pics. 'Cause that's what siblings are for.

Stay tuned for my next post, 'Gaming in Chicago.'