hkellick | Recent Entries

So, we found out Wednesday Night, I guess, November 14, that Glitch was going down for good. I was all sorts of bummed, as I posted. Still am, because I really liked Glitch and I was really getting into the community, but.. at least the timing worked out.

I got paid on 11/15. WE got paid, both of us, on 11/15. We looked at our expenses for the month and it was agreed I could get *1* video game of my choosing.

So was it to be Guild Wars 2, which at least one friend was bummed to hear I didn't have yet, or Borderlands 2, which another friend is begging me to get. Decisions, Decisions.

Well, as you can guess by the title of the post, I got Guild Wars 2.

( Video Game Geeking Abounds )

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK

I'll use the Glitch Icon, but maybe it should be the Video Games Icon.

Glitch is closing. I've only been there.. what? a month? I was really into it though... It was fun. I met some really cool people I'd never have met before. Got to hang out with people I really like. It reminded me of.. places I've been in the past.

But it's closing. I guess they weren't as popular as they hoped to be. It's sad. I'm disappointed.

Before Glitch, I'd have been playing another video game. Skyrim, maybe. Or some Indie Game on Steam. I guess chances are.. that's what I'll be doing again, sooner rather than later. Maybe this is the time to look into GW2. At least, if I go there, I've got at least one cool friend there. And I did enjoy GW alot.

I guess I'm not sure I care enough to keep trying with a game I know will be gone before I even leave for Christmas.

Back to the Status Quo, I guess.

Current Mood: sad
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK

So.. *IS* there a Glitch DW Community for the many of us playing Glitch?

Seems the logical next step.

Current Mood: curious
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK

It's been a disappointing election season. And I honestly feel, for the first time ever, that neither candidate was the best each party could have run.

My opinion of Barack Obama has lost it's shine since I lost my job. For someone who is celebrated at being able to communicate well, he is, frankly, a lousy communicator. There was a time for him to get up on stage and say "I believe in the ACA and this is why" and he let it slide, allowing the press to just tally up all the Tea Party's complaints.

I guess that's really my biggest complaint with Barack Obama. Things happen and he.. doesn't seem to react. Not until he's had a good, hard think about it. And when something DOES happen, like Benghzai, he misses his moment of leadership. Honestly, I think he was only ready to act in that role for Sandy because there was advance notice.

I don't blame Obama for the economy, though I would have REALLY appreciated it if he could have had the Fed explain to us why a slow recovery is better, since all the articles I've read suggests that this is the recovery the Fed WANTED. I do honestly believe that a government doesn't create private sector jobs, only government jobs. I don't blame Obama for the issues he had trying to get things through the Republican Congress, though he did play his share of politics.

If the Republicans had put up any serious contenders, I might have voted GOP this year. The economy and my job security is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO ME this election.

And who did the GOP end up picking? The Etch-A-Sketch. And that's really what Romney/Ryan was. Given that never either gave any DETAILS about this wonderful plan that will slash the deficit, be fiscally neutral, give extra money to the military and cure cancer, it became dubious, highly suspicious. Because either they didn't have details or, more likely, the details themselves were highly unpopular, like the Ryan budget, which also never had any details.

Romney is, in every way, a blank slate. He doesn't care to give you details about himself because thsy may damn him with another portion of the electorate. So you see in Mitt.. what you expect to see, what YOU put in.

I have no problem with Mitt as a populist, sitting in the middle where the average of his electorate sits, but I had a big problem with a Mitt who was both for and against abortion, who would overturn Obamacare, but not all of Obamacare. I just always got the sense that Mitt would say anything to keep people happy and then do... well, I have no idea what, at all.

This was my big year to vote third party. After all, my vote for President doesn't count at all. I might have voted Green party this year. Except Oklahoma didn't have anyone but Mitt and Obama on the ballot.

So.. I held my nose. I held my nose and hope to god that Obama will learn from his last four years and maybe try to be a little bit more in front of the curve in his next four years, though I doubt it. And I do honestly believe that if Obama gets elected, he won't accomplish anything at all. We are becoming a country of idealogues, with very few people left in the center willing to consider that both parties may be right and wrong. Since the Republicans are not losing Congress, as a whole, Obama will accomplish nothing, except possibly avoiding the fiscal cliff, though I doubt even that much. After all, the current jerks in the GOP might hold their nose and jump the fiscal cliff so they can blame Obama for the economy tanking again. That's the kind of politics our congress plays.

But in any case...
I hope 2016 is better. Because 2012 is a mess. A disaster. I don't feel good at all.

Current Mood: cranky
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK

I think it was Thursday that

kareila pointed out how she was getting into a cute little Video Game called Glitch and was looking for other friendly faces to play. So I tried it out, not being sure, since it isn't precisely my standard fare.

And it's cute. Very cute. Mostly, the game is wandering around the various lands interacting with the scenery, collecting quoins and occasionally chatting with another person. It's kinda like a massive game of Animal Crossing.

There's tons of crafting available in the game that you'll unlock through various Skills. You can cook, plant and sow gardens, mine, do alchemy, and even create furniture. The more skills you unlock, the more you can do, which is good, because while exploring IS interesting, it's not much of a basis for a whole game.

Everyone there has been very friendly and I think the game rewards acts of friendliness. In fact, my first couple of hours, some friendly person gave me a whole backpack full of stuff. I mean full of stuff. Some of it more rare than others. It was a very nice welcome.

If the idea appeals to you, I suggest you check the game out. But it is VERY addictive.

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK

I was originally going to post on the Chicago Teacher Union Strike and what appears to me to be a stubborn mayor butting heads with a bunch of stubborn public workers over.. well, mainly, I think Mayor Rahm himself. Oh, also on whether teachers should be judged based on standardized test scores or more grey-area judgments while the true people who suffer, the children, the teachers, the parents of the students all suffer because of these knuckleheads.

But then the consulate assault in Libya occurred and Romney put his foot in it.. again.

In a political campaign that I think was, by all means, going to be about how Obama has handled the economy,, Romney seems to continue to put his foot in it. And by now, it should be known that every time he does, the news will cover it. Every single mistake.

For a campaign that was supposed to be about "Obama mishandled the economy", it seems like it's been a campaign about pretty much everything else. And that's telling, because I think President Obama and.. well, really Ben Bernanke has totally botched the economic recovery. I've read numerous reports in Slate and WaPo from economists who all suggest totally viable ways to speed up the economic recovery and none of these suggestions has been listened to. So, yes, I do think Bernanke mishandled the economic recovery.

But that's not what this has been about. Instead, it's been about botches, about misquotes (and so many of the things this campaign have been about (You didn't build that) has been a misquote.)

And then there was the choice of Ryan for VP. I know Ryan excited the base who loves the Ryan plan, and Ryan is no Palin, but let's all acknowledge that by making Ryan VP, the campaign suddenly became as much about "How will the nominee handle the economy."

We all know how Obama will handle the economy. He'll let Bernanke keep screwing around. But what we don't know is what Romney will do. Well, no, Romney's made promises, but what he hasn't given is specifics. HOW can he give more tax breaks to the rich AND balance the budget? The closest to an answer we have is the Ryan plan which is really controversial.

And unfortunately, in the conventions, which people do watch, it's arguable how well Romney was able to, well, connect with anyone. As I've read the polls, there wasn't the post-convention bump you'd expect, the kind that Bubba (and, yes, I'm giving the credit mostly to Bill Clinton) helped give Obama.

I expected the Chicago Teachers Union strike would be a problem for Obama. It may still be.

But, man, when Romney gets on national television and makes an ass of him, stumbling and bumbling, attacking Obama for apologizing and sympathizing with radical Muslims, which he isn't .. he looks like an idiot. He doesn't look like Presidential. I wonder if the almight undecideds agree.

So, here we are.. two months before election day and Obama has a slight lead. Romney should be ashamed. If he'd stuck to his economic measure, he may have changed minds, won voters, but he mishandled his attack on Obama's mishandling of the economy. So...

I guess we'll see in 8 weeks, but from here, I'm no longer going to be surprised if Obama wins, even with terrible economic news.

Current Mood: sick
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK

Last weekend, K and I did date night: Burgers and Batman.

K's more of a Marvel Girl, but I think she has a soft spot for at least the newish Batman Trilogy. Actually, I guess I'd say the same about myself.. I prefer Marvel, but I always loved the Batman animated comics and have a soft spot in my head.. er.. sorry, a soft spot for Batman. ;)

The movie was intense! And good, but INTENSE! Not helped, I'm sure, that we decided to go see it on the IMax Theatre.

K gets out of the theater and says "Wow, I'm so full of adrenaline, I have no idea when I'll sleep." I blew her off because I felt fine.

Go home, pay the babysitter, get ready for bed, get into bed and.. nothing. Not tired.

I take half a Melatonin and go back to bed. Still nothing.

I get up, go into the computer room and, on a whim, I started watching a playthrough of Arkham City because I was kinda looking for a cool new game to get with birthday moneys and I only thought of that game when I got home.

I stayed awake past 1 AM. I, the guy who is usually asleep at 10 PM, could not sleep until 1:30 or 2:00.

There's a moral to this story, regarding being careful what movies you watch in the IMAX theatre before bed.

Thankfully, the boy slept until 8:00 or so, so I could cope, even though I was tired.

Oh, and yes, I did get Arkham City.

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK

My Birthday was... Quiet.

On one hand, that made me kind of sad. I have fond memories of days spent over at the local amusement park with friends and having small parties with a group of small, close friends.

On the other hand, it was gratifying. Weekend have become my mental deep breath before going back to work and feeling like I'm underwater again.

We didn't do a whole lot. We went shopping, Robert finally got Cars 2 (because he LOVES Lightning McQueen but I can not watch the Cars movie over and over or else I'ma kill someone. Probably the boy.

We went to Chili's for dinner. Which was nice, but a bit disappointing. The food was.. standard (ie not spectacular), expensive and they made me pay for Chips which just ticked me off.

I knew I wasn't getting much for my birthday: K got me my gift early (It was either Civ V or Lego: Batman 2. Let's say Civ V: Gods and Kings.). My father bought me my PE review books and I wasn't expecting anything else. But I did convince the wife to let me buy a $3 EP for Dungeons of Dredmor.

May I take a second to say that one of the reasons why I love Steam is Dungeons of Dredmor. Also Terraria. Two Cheap but hugely fun Indie Games that cost very little but give hours and hours of fun. Dungeons of Dredmor cost $5, has had one free EP and two $3 EPs, I believe, and I love love love that game and, if I gave it the kind of time I give Skyrim, could happily play for weekend on end.

Anyways. That was it. We ended the night by kicking Napoleon's Ass and Chasing Down Genghis Kahn and I can think of far worse ways to end a birthday...
Though... I do think ti would be awesome if I could get my friends down for a weekend and we could all kick Napoleon's Ass and chase down Genghis Kahn. That would be awesome. ;)

All in all, it was a pretty decent birthday weekend. Just couldn't help but compare, because that's the kind of dork I am.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK

I watched more of the Olympics over the last weekend than I remember watching in my life. I don't think I've ever gotten into the Olympics. We certainly ignored them 4 years ago, but K wanted to watch most of it, so it's just been on. Some of it was interesting. A lot of it was not, to me. I couldn't care less if America beats the Argentinian volleyball team.

Though it's nice to see people competing without obvious showboating.

Actually, I spent most of the weekend playing the beta of a new game: Path of Exile (Hereby dubbed PoE).

( On PoE )

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK

Two posts in one! Wooo!

Reflective Post:

I found myself poking through my old dw entries this Monday while I was waiting for someone to rerun HEC-GeoRAS (It's a work thing) and, long story short, ended up stumbling upon the ChaoticMUX website (which I assumed would be down, but apparently it isn't.)

I instantly felt that usual sense of nostalgia, about a place and time in my past where despite a number of crappy things going on (many of them mentally), I had a small place on the internet that felt like home, more like home than my actual home.

I think remembering those times, those important times in my past just sends me into reflection mode. I sit here thinking about how much I've changed (I have. If nothing else, I've been able to clear my headpsace and get my life together. And I've mellowed. Manic silliness is not my first gear when I hop on the internet.) and how much the people I know have changed.

If I regret any single thing, it's losing touch with many of the people I was friendly with back then, or pissing them off enough they have nothing more to say to me.

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Excited Gaming Post:

I've been looking around to see if there was a game, preferably a small, indie game (I get more bang for my buck. I can still get a great game, but half or a third of the cost) I was interested in for my birthday. I think I've settled on preordering Torchlight 2. i have the first one, and enjoy it, but the second one LOOKS even better, like they were taking notes when Diablo 3 news came out and decided to try to come up with something to match.

Torchlight is a dungeon hack and slash. Literally, you go deeper and deeper into a dungeon underneath the city of Torchlight and find bigger and badder and nastier badies to beat. The game features some of the original staff of Diablo 2 and you can tell. The game very much has a Diablo 2 feel to it.

Torchlight 2 is coming out.. soon. "Summer of 2012" says the website, though I'd assume if that's true, the game has to be going gold soon. So we'll see. It looks like more of the same, but with improvements. First of all, Multiplayer, which might be good. Second of all, the game is bigger, which is definitely good. And thirdly, the side dungeons are actually off the main areas and not some silly "Click the Mysterious Map Piece and see where you go" tricks they used in the original.

And I happen to love hack and slash. If Blizzard didn't keep fiddling with Diablo 3, I'd likely still be playing that. But they keep making changes and I feel like.. the game WAS amazing when it was released, but then they kept making changes and now it isn't, really. The game is worse than it was at release and since release was.. three months ago? I'm so unimpressed I can't bother to play.

Anyways, I've been watching the Yogscast boys playing the Beta of Torchlight 2 on Youtube and watching them, my thoughts are: GIMME GIMME GIMME! :D

Current Mood: excited
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK

The heat here has been so freaking awful. We've been under head advisory all weekend, extending through today, though the week doesn't look any better. High in the 100s all week.

We've tried to play it smart, and safe. We've taken to doing nearly everything that requires heat off until the morning hours: Cooking, Running the Dryer, etc. but sleeping is.. difficult. It is literally too warm to sleep. Even with the A/C (not that the A/C works great, stupid apartment), three box fans and all the ceiling fans on...

Realistically, I know that the ceilings are just moving the hot air around the small apartment and the A/C can't keep up...but moving air is still better than stagnant air.

Still.. I'm exhausted. I went to bed at a reasonable time, but I can't stay asleep because I wake up, sweating, overwarm and uncomfortable...

I'm glad I have a job. But I really really really hate living in OKC, where this is par for the course...

Current Mood: grumpy
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK

So, this past weekend, I ended up taking a 3 Day Weekend. I'd had to work some mad hours the week of July 4th and while I didn't actually work the 4th itself, since I'd worked 40 hours that week, I was allowed to postpone my holiday.

And while part of me feels I cheated the system, I did. And then took it last Friday, giving myself a three day weekend.

It was.. exactly what I needed.

On Friday, we swam. Our little waterbaby only had his third "swimming lesson" but already he's floating on his back (with a little help from momma) and kicking and blowing bubbles. He's really taken to the water. We'll have to get him to a splash pad soon and see what he thinks of that.

On Saturday, we went back to the Norman Library to drop off books and get new ones. And, oh, there's a cookbook sale going on. K and I left with 10 library books (I found 4 books, none of which I could put down.. :D ) and 3 cookbooks.

And we saw Transformers 3 on Netflix, which was absolutely awful.

We also ended up buying Civ V: Gods and Kings on Saturday. More on that in another post, I'm sure. :D Oh, and a friend bought two of "Frozen Synapse" on Steam and gave me a copy. So I got two new games for $27. Not bad at all. :D Wow, it just hit me.. on Saturday, I got three cookbooks and two video games for the price of a dinner out with the family...

Sunday, we hung out at home. Played Civ V. Got stuff done. Mostly, we chilled.

It was just nice to spend the time with my family without feeling wrung out and exhausted.

I don't work a 40 hour job. 45-50 hours per week is kinda typical. I get there early and leave late. And while I spend a little bit of time with my son and wife each day, it isn't much. (And sometimes that's just as well, because sometimes my little boy becomes a possessed hellion) and depending on how exhausting the day/week was, I'm already mentally checked out. Weekends go by quickly as I catch up on sleep and chill out time.

I need to plan to take some vacation time. Even if it's just a staycation. I have the time, god knows. And August is pretty clear, as far as my schedule goes.

I also need to get back to Buffalo. I feel out of touch with the rest of my family. I've usually been back to Buffalo by now, but with us down here, I haven't been.

In any case, it was a lovely three day weekend. And I'm sure R and K would agree. :D

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Current Music: Go West - King of Wishful Thinking

This week at work has been crazy. We finally are finishing the project of doom, but it's been crazy trying to complete it and Monday and Tuesdayjust left me exhausted and frustrated. My wonderful and awesome wife, who knows me, agreed that I could get Lego Batman 2. And so I did. :D

So far, I would honestly say I like this Lego Batman a great deal better than the last. The first Lego Batman was special. Unlike all the otherBatmans, it wasn't constrained by the plot of a specific movie or episode. Instead, it was a love letter to the Batman animated series (which Iwatched most of and loved. and PS Netflix, GET THIS AND I WILL REWATCH IT)

But, I also kinda felt like the last Lego Batman had the wrong pace. Instead, at the end of each level, you ended up in a fight with one of the more(or less) popular Batman Villains. And the end of each.. set of levels, you had the BIG fight with two of the most popular Batman Villains. But...even for Batman, it felt rushed. If this were an episode, it would be bland. Everyone escaped ONCE AGAIN from Arkham and Batman has to roundthem up and put them all back behind Bars. There was no detecting work, no trying to figure out WHAT the Joker or the Riddler or the Penguinwas up to, just stumbling upon them and capturing them.

Lego Batman 2 has a PLOT. And what with the Lego Figures now talking, it's easy to follow. Oh, sure, in point of fact, everyone DOES escapefrom Arkham ONCE AGAIN (Seriously, is it me or is it too easy to escape from Arkham Asylum) and Batman DOES have to go and round them upand put them behind bars again (more on that later), but for the actual Missions, you'll follow Batman and Robin.. and a few other Heroes youlikely recognize as Lex Luthor and the Joker work together to.. well, I'm not gonna say. :) (Partly because I just don't know yet, though TakingOver The World does seem a logical guess.)

In recent versions of the Lego Games, you've been able to explore a saveable central hub. For example, in Lego Harry Potter, you've exploredHogwarts as you went, unlocking areas as you go and as you learn new spells. They went with that idea here again, in a HUGE explorableArkham Area. And I mean HUGE.

I joke, sometimes, that my favorite part of Grand Theft Auto 3 was stealing the cars and flying around the streets. And you can do this here too.Grab the Batmobile and go driving all around Arkham. There's much to see and lots of hidden secrets to explore. There's citizens to save, goldand red bricks to find and bad guys to put back in jail. Remember how I mentioned that the bad guys escaped Arkham Asylum? Once you get tothat point in the story, you'll find them all over the explorable Arkham. And WHEN you defeat them in battle, you can buy that character for freeplay.

So while the story's smaller than it ever has been before, there's so much more content in Arkham itself. It's probably about equal to the contentin Lego Harry Potter or some such.

By the way, back there when I said you could drive around Arkham.. you can do more, because there's one other part I hitned at. Where in theoriginal Lego Batman, the vast majority of the unlockables were Batman and Batman Villains only, they've expanded the cast for this one. Thistime around Batman has the whole Justice League (without the stupid Wonder Twins, THANK GOD!) on his side. In short order, you'll unlockSuperman. Once you've done that, you don't want to just drive around Arkham. You want to FLY around Arkham with the John Williams themeblaring at you as you go.

Get further in the story, and you may prefer zooming along Arkham as the Flash or flying along as the Green Lantern, or just playing as WonderWoman with her Magic Lasso. I'll admit, I haven't seen the Green Lantern yet, but I'm prepared to be disappointed. I'm a huge Green Lantern fanand I suspect all the ring will do is allow him to beat you with various green objects. Pity.

I'm only a little bit way in, but this is a GREAT Lego Game. I TOTALLY want to go zooming around Arkham as Superman (humming along to John Williams, because that's just how I roll, yo.)

And if they go this approach with Lego LotR, that will be a great (better?) Lego Game as well! :D

Dammit, now I wanna go home and play Lego Batman 2 and I can't., I have to work. :/

Current Mood: excited
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Current Music: The Superman Theme by John Williams in my head

Bill Clinton, I think it was, once announced that his presidency would be the era of big government is over. He was wrong, of course. But it's a line that gets thrown out a great deal.

One could easily take the failed recall vote in Wisconsin as a sign that the Union Man just doesn't have the power he used to have. And I do think that's a good take home message, though I do feel the failed recall vote happened for more reasons than just that.

But when you look at the fiscal cliff we're driving off of, there is one universal truth that needs to be mentioned. We are spending far more money than we have. We all know what the politicians think about this, which is garbage. The GOP want to cut spending but not raise taxes. They want Austerity, but Austerity is destroying the European Economy and it's a reasonable argument that it could have the same effect here. The Democrats want to keep spending, but increase taxes on the very rich. This is utter nonsense as well, quite honestly.

What's missing from the debate is any semblance of subtlety, any hint that there are other options.

Which brings us to the unions, specifically the unions for the public service jobs: The Teachers Union, the FIremen Union, the Policemen Union, etc.

Let's be honest. Unions theoretically work to make things better for the people they represent, but Unions are fallible and over the years, Unions have made mistakes and decisions that added to the problems.

You could argue, as Scott Walker argued, that that's true in Wisconsin, that the civil servant unions have been part of the problem. I think he's right, to some extent. When things were good, I don't think there's any argument that we should be putting so many dollars into such and such a union's retirement fund, or that such and such a public sector jib needs this number of days off. But when things are bad, and they are, exactly what have the Unions done to say "We recognize that things are tough. Here, let's help you out."

Of course, the people that the unions represent are real people with real needs, financial and otherwise, but when things get bad we ALL need to shoulder the load, no matter who hires you. For most of us, when things get bad, we just consider ourselves lucky enough to keep our jobs, forget get additional leveraging power.

And that's really what was at the heart of Scott Walker's laws. The Unions still exist, but they're lives are just much closer to the rest of us. I read somewhere that in 2012, only 11% of workers in the United State belong to a union. The other 89% of us don't. When things get tough and we don't get the raise we hoped for, we don't strike. We don't walk out. We just thank gods we still have a job to call our own.

The union has been in decline for a long time. Maybe that's a bad thing. I'm sure some will say it is. But,..

When Walker instituted his rules, the Unions warned of of things going off track in Wisconsin, that taxes would need to be raised, etc. But that didn't happen, 16 months later. Walker found a way to tighten the budget and I guarantee you, others will follow.

And so I say, with no doubt I'm wrong, the End of the Era of the Big Union is over. Kaput. Gone.

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK

Two Nights ago, I was playing Diablo 3. I had to stop because it started hailing and our power flickered. I logged off in a hurry and shut my computerdown, and the computer stayed off due to the violent thunderstorm we HAD Tuesday Night and were supposed to have last night.

This morning, three hours ago, after losing another bout of insomnia I logged on and was.. confused. My character was back in Act I and he hadnothing. No weapons. No armor. Nothing. And there was nothing in the stash.

I checked. Same with K's character. But one of my characters who I started to play and abandoned had some of his stuff. Was there a glitch? Whatdo I do?

So I asked the public channel and got clue by foured. I'd been hacked. FUCK!

I'm not an idiot. I don't generally fall for phishing scams. I don't open attachments, as a whole, i'm not expecting. I try to play on the internet safely.How they got my password, I'll never know. K thinks it may have been weak, and she may be right.

I'm really really annoyed. K and I worked hard for that stuff. That stuff represents two weeks of hard play by K and I and someone took it all. And for what? Well, for some real money, probably, once the auction house is up and running again.

I'm trying to relax. I know it could be a lot worse. I mean, it's just a game. Of all the things they COULD have hacked, a video game is hardly the worst thing. It wasn't my bank account or my financial stuff or my ID. it was a video game.

And it looks like Blizzard keeps backups, so I'll be able to get all my stuff back.

But it boggles the mind why someone felt the NEED to steal my virtual stuff. I mean... seriously, it's virtual stuff. It's worth maybe a few real dollars. What type of person feels the need to steal this stuff?

it does make me question Blizzard's judgment, allowing people to sell virtual stuff for real money on the auction house. Someone somewhere should have realized, I think, that this would be impetus enough for hackers to keep hacking. Because now it's worth real money on a legitimate Blizzard Website.

So whoever you are, thanks, i guess, for not locking me out of the account and I hope that it was worth it for you, stealing our hard-earned stuff.

Current Mood: angry
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK

I want to write a post about actual gameplay/review of Diablo 3. But that will likely be another post.

For this post, I want to write about why video game companies suck and why users suck even more. As any good gamer will know, playing a video game on release day is about as risky as using the newest version of Windows the moment it comes out. There's bugs, there's issues, and the issues WILL affect how your video game performs.

For Diablo 3, as far as I can tell, it was the servers. Blizzard made the decision (largely panned, and I agree this is a bad decision) that Diablo 3 must be online and connected to battle.net AT ALL TIMES. Even the single player mode. That's so, at a drop at a hat, I guess, you can go "Say, this is an interesting piece of equipment I have! I'm gonna auction it!"

So Blizzard made the decision Diablo 3 had to be online at all times. Can you guess where this is going? That's right. Massive server issues on release day.

I stayed home yesterday, in part to catch up on sleep and family time, but in part to play a game I was extremely interested. So imagine my annoyance when the server was down for "Emergency Maintenance" for *5 HOURS* (and then, I guess, crashed again sometime last night while I slept.)

You would think a company like Blizzard, with experience with World of Warcraft, and Starcraft 2, might have expected high volumes, but.. well, I don't know what they expected, but they look like morons.

Cue the forums. I hop onto the forums to figure out what this error "317002" is. I was annoyed, but, as I said, this is not my first rodeo and my experience tells me most video game companies are never really READY for release. I remember the same server issues the day I got Spore.

But, oh gods, the NERDRAGE!! I was annoyed, but the crazy in that room was enough to scare me a little.

Blizzard owes us money for it's outage.

Blizzard owes you nothing. Not a working game. Not communication. Nothing.

Blizzard, if you don't get the servers up soon, I'm gonna cut myself!

Ye Gods. It's a video game. I want to play it too, but COME ON!

So here's my thoughts. If I'm shelling $50 or $60 for a game, I expect it to work. I expect the bugs to not be game-killing and I expect that if you make a decision that the game HAS To be online, you make damn sure the servers can handle the traffic. I expect you to communicate effectively when issues happen, about when the server will be up or when the game will be patched.

These are my expectations. This is what *I* think my money is supposed to buy me.

For the record, K and I DID get on in between server outages and we're both happy. So my next post will likely be about the game itself, and not just my annoyance at Blizzard and how scared I was at some of the crazy in the forum.

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK

So, some time ago, I got conned into a Gamestop points card. I never use the card, as I very rarely buy at Gamestop nowadays (Mostly I use Steam.) but I DO like the magazine, which gives previews and reviews of up and coming games for all game systems.

I'm reading through the magazine last week and I see a preview for an up and coming expansion to Civ V. Civ V came out.. two years ago? And I admit to being bitterly disappointed that the only thing that had come out since was some DLC (Downloadable Content.)

The expansion looks interesting. I LOVE Civ V and think they did a really good job on it, but I, like many, mourned losing Religion. And Spies. Corporations, I was glad to lose. They were annoying. But Religion! What is Civ without Religion! And Spies.. the other Civilizations overused/misused Spies in Civ IV, but there's something to be said about having a spy creeping around a civilization you're interested in (to size up or to go to war with) and something more to be said about them putting a monkey wrench in the other civ's works. ;D

Getting excited about the new expansion made me realize it'd been a LONG time since K and I played Civ. We definitely played it a bit when it first came out, but not really since.

I suggested it. K, who is a certified CivAddict, agreed. And so we started.

I had INTENDED to be Russia/Catherine the Great, but when I picked her, K asked to be her, so I agreed and took England/Elizabeth, since I'd never been England but the idea appealed a bit. I wanted to do something else besides Rome, even though Rome kicks ass.

K and I typically play as part of the same team. This is to avoid both our tendencies to be overcompetitive. Also, it's just much more fun to destroy France and the Aztecs than it is each other.
And thank goodness, too, because I got the raw deal this game. When we play as part of the same team, we both end up on different continents. That might be fine, except that England, amusing, is stuck on a small continent with little room, the Aztecs to the north and no Horses or Iron. That is.. a very bad way to start a civilization. If I'd been playing on my own, the Aztecs probably would have run me down by now. As it is, I'm surviving by occasionally begging my wife to send me horses and iron.

Under other circumstances, I'd have restarted the game by now, but I'm trying to make the best of it and have fun. Wish me luck. I hate losing and I hate being at a major disadvantage the way I am in this game.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK

Twas a good weekend. What with K working the $[Oil and Gas Company] job Friday night and Saturday (thus, me hanging out with boy Saturday) and just being exhausted after a VERY long month of March, I took the weekend off.

Saturday with the boy was fine. We played with his train set (He got a wooden train set for Christmas and dad got him add on parts. K and I are having as much fun building the tracks, I think, as R is having playing with the trains on them.) We went to unpluggits. It was good daddy/boy time. And K came home, exhausted and achy and took a long, long nap.

Sunday, we did some errands, a little cooking, and I played my new game: Kingdom of Amalur - Reckoning.

When we got our tax rebate back, the bulk majority of it went to debt, but a little went to fun money. I spent my fun money on the game, the first DLC (Legend of Dead Kel) and the strat guide.

I'd heard good things about the game and I have good things to report. The game is some cross between Dragon Age, Diablo and Skyrim. I don't have time to do the part where I explain how the game works, and such. Maybe later. I'll say this..

The visuals are.. cartoon-realistic. Not uberrealistic, but pretty nonetheless. Special attention has been drawn to making your fighting visuals pretty. You'll ooo and aaah as your Chakrams go flying all over the place destroying baddies left and right, you'll smirk as you sneak up behind that guard and assassinate him, as he crumples to the ground and you cover his mouth to keep his death screams quiet, you'll be amazed as your longsword cuts hither and dither destroying all in front of you.

The background music is decent. And the voice acting is superior. I don't know if everyone involved in the project lent their voice, but I don't think I've CLEARLY heard the same voice over and over again, and that's special. Many of the natives have plenty to say, when prompted, and none complains about an arrow to the knee in passing.

The actual gameplay.. I'm playing on normal and I'd say it's sufficiently challenging. The normal "yellow" baddies are relatively easy, unless I'm getting swarmed, and the bosses are definitely a fight.

I haven't gotten far enough along to really comment on the story. But there is a metric ton of quests: the main quest, quests for each of five guilds you can join (and no issue, so far, with joining all of them.) and some sort of overarching quests for each of the main area: a town under attack by a plague brought on by boggarts, a town at the mercy of an evil witch and her trained army of spiders (No, I am not kidding. And, yes, the witch is named "The Widow". And yes, she is a Dark Elf.) and, in the last mini area I was in, a lovelost fisherman taunted by a "water nymph")

The enemies are varied. Most of them are fae. What strikes me is they make a point of differentiating the summer court and the winter court, so why am I fighting brownies, pixies and boggarts which are typically considered summer court?

All in all, I like this game and I'd recommend it.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK

Hi, my name is Howard and I have sleep problems. I don't have a reason for it, only the acknowledgement that my sleep schedule goes off-kilter ever once in a while.

Case in point, after about a week of going to bed early'ish (9 or so) and wake up early, last night, I feel like I never slept at all. Like I never needed to. So, at 12, despite having only gone to bed two hours ago, I was up, for nearly two hours. I tossed, I turned, finally I got up and poked online until I was feeling tired again.

It usually autocorrects, but I think I sometimes half-suspect that my mind is so well-trained to being on eastern time, that it absolutely refuses to get onto Central Time, so I end up awake at too freakin' early AM.

There isn't really a point to this post, so much as complaining slightly because I've been tired and off all day. Hopefully I sleep tonight, instead of being up at way too freakin' early again.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Current Music: They Might Be Giants - On the Drag

So.. two things.

1) Streaming the superbowl was a total disaster. If I needed to watch the game, without the.. superbowl experience, it was OK, I guess, and the game WAS decent, but..

A) They played the same FIVE ads over and over and over. If I had ANY interest in Call of Duty, it's been sapped from me after seeing that ad at least 50 times. And don't get me started on Samsung or GE.

B) They didn't play the half-time show. K and I had to find it after we watched the commercials. It wasn't much to see, mind you, but it's part of the experience and I was pissed that NBCsports.com didn't stream it.

C) So.. there WAS a way to see the superbowl ads, after it aired, but NOT while they played those same five ads, over and over. That is.. I was locked into seeing the streaming ads, but if I wanted to miss the game for a minute, I could see the superbowl ads.

So... yeah. Total disaster. Never doing that again.

Though, having seen the superbowl ads now, I thought some of them were cute but most of them weren't great this year. My favorite was the Met Life ad, though, with all the WB and Hanna Barbera cartoons. That was cute. :) I wonder why Disney didn't say yes to that...

I didn't care for the "Ferris Bueller's Day Off Remake". It was... more strange than amusing.

2) Totally new topic.

The time came this weekend to face the music. Yes, I'm working overtime. Yes, it will help once I finally get that money. But.. chances are, we're still drowning in debt. So.. K is officially looking for a job again. More on this to come...

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK

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The color of infinity inside an empty glass

The random insanity of your not-entirely-typical geek

Guild Wars 2 (GW2)

Status Quo

Glitch Community?

I have never been so disappointed in an election.

Curse You kareila

Romney was a poor choice for Presidential Nominee

ADRENALINE!!!

The Older I Get, the less a big deal my birthday becomes...

Olympic Weekend and Path of Exile

Chaotic and Torchlight 2

Ugh. Someone just kill me and send my body up north.

3 Day Weekend

Lego Batman 2

The Era of Big Unions is Over

Diablo 3: HACKED!

Diablo 3 and NerdRage!!!

A post about something else besides work...

Good Weekened / Kingdom of Amalur - Reckoning

No Subject

Superbowl and.. well, then

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April 2024

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