dont tell me the ending.com

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  Phokal 10:21 pm on January 10, 2008 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bastard, bioshock ( 8 ), games ( 33 ), I'm Sander fucking Cohen!, Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?, progress report ( 6 ), story ( 3 ), the wrench ( 2 ), twist   

  Bioshock Progress Report #2

  Okay. I now have motivation. There was a great story revelation partway through. Bioshock has a PLOT and characters beyond what they initially portray. Sure, some aspects of it are predictable, but others most certainly are not. And the conversation with the twist revealed is excellently acted. The voice actor/s do an outstanding job, and the entire scene is just directed well.

  Anyway, the game is still easy, and perhaps even getting easier; it is hard to tell when everything dies with 2 hits of a wrench. Still, I am motivated to make it through now. They have gotten me interested in Rapture beyond looking at pretty architecture. I just hope the ending can hold up after such a cinematic chapter.

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    mattlindh 2:25 pm on January 16, 2008 Permalink | Reply

    A man chooses, a slave obeys.

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  Phokal 10:08 pm on January 10, 2008 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bookit, don't touch ANYTHING, games ( 33 ), mattlindh ( 3 ), movies ( 8 ), party, sceneit, there is no ending to ( 4 ), trivia, web comic   

  

  There is no ending to: SceneIt?

  There is no plot to spoil for SceneIt, only the questions. The movie selection is varied, with quite a few older Oscar-winning movies. “It won 13 Oscars?!? How have I not heard of it!” There is a nice selection of easy achievements, and a few trickier ones.

  Overall, it is a great party game. The buzzer controllers are fun to use and fairly easy to understand. They use a proprietary IR USB hub. This initially meets with a poor reaction, but they did take this as an opportunity to do something good for the consumer. You can use both a regular controller and SceneIt controller at the same time, letting up to 8 people play in teams of 2…. (More …)

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    jayskywalker 4:03 pm on January 11, 2008 Permalink | Reply

    Hey that’s short round from indiana jones TOD, and he was the 007 kid in goonies. I can’t say I know his name though haha. I like scene it, and just bought the tv edition. I have the original somewhere and i really only played it once. Anyway, I just posted a new blog if you want to read mine sometime: http://www.blogforheroes.com. Keep posting!

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    zazzman 5:05 pm on January 11, 2008 Permalink | Reply

    I love SceneIt and think it’s a well-done game, but having recently played with non-gamers, I have a couple of critiques. During our first round with non-gamers, it was hard for them to tell whether or not a set of questions were “buzz in” questions or “select the answer questions”. I think this could have been resolved with a simple “The next set of questions require you to buzz in” statement before the section started. This would be more helpful than those cheesy animated segments. Another gripe they had was about the use of colors to identify players. The in-game announcer always says things like, “Way to go green team” or “Come on red team, get with it.” Everyone that was playing would then say, “Who’s green and who’s red”. Yes, I know all the remotes are colored, but people just don’t make that connection. It would have been nicer if you could create a team name and have your accolades appear on the screen or something like that.

    Great blog! Keep up the posts and don’t worry about punctuation and stuff like that. As long as you get your thoughts out, I think people will forgive you if you forget an apostrophe here or a period there. Well, everyone except for Jeff will be forgiving.

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    mattlindh 6:14 pm on January 11, 2008 Permalink | Reply

    Why did you tag me?

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    phokal 10:00 pm on January 15, 2008 Permalink | Reply

    Zazz:
    It has to be easier than the board game equivalent of keeping track of players and buzzing in by pausing the game. They put the icon in the middle of the color. For quick Guests, this isn’t very indicative. But wherever I see Iron-Man, I know who I am. Helps that I always pick Red as well.

    It does stem from a board game. I think the issue isn’t remembering the colors, but that the interface does not draw enough attention to player input or buzzing. Too much of the screen is used for the question and fancy presentation, but not enough to show that YOU are the one that managed to buzz in. Subtle icons in the corner are not easily readable for the first-timer.

    matt:
    wrote your name down to keep track of it….now you are tagged. mwuhahahah.

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  Phokal 12:31 am on January 5, 2008 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: brains ( 3 ), comics ( 8 ), don't tell me the ending to ( 20 ), unfinished ( 2 ), walking dead ( 2 ), zombies ( 8 )   

  Don't tell me the ending to: The Walking Dead 

  

  Don’t tell me the ending to: The Walking Dead

  “Generic.”

  This zombie story is as cliche as they get. It also in a very well done way. I’ve finished reading Book 1, and cannot wait to see what happens next.

  The story centers on the characters, and what they go through, rather than trying to scare or show off interesting zombie designs. As old characters go crazy under the circumstances or are eaten by zombies, new and interesting characters are brought into the story. When surprises are used, they always appear on the left page, so you have turn the page in order to see them. The Art style is well done and while on the unrealistic or cartoon side still makes the characters feel more real and grounded with costume design and expression. One other word can be used to describe The Walking Dead:

  “Great.”

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    jayskywalker 12:40 am on January 5, 2008 Permalink | Reply

    hey great blog. i just added you to my B-roll. I think you would like mine to. http://www.blogforheroes.com I’ll check back and see what else you got going on! Judging by your icon, you might like my latest post!

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    zazzman 5:08 pm on January 11, 2008 Permalink | Reply

    I’m envious! I want to be reading this series also. I’ve only read a few pages of Book 1 and yes, it does some pretty cut and dry zombie stuff (maybe that should be cut and bloody or cut and squishy…ha ha!). But there is something about it that just makes me want to read more. It could be the fact that I absolutely love good zombie stories.

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  Phokal 12:19 am on January 3, 2008 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bioshock ( 8 ), don't tell me the ending to ( 20 ), games ( 33 ), irony ( 2 ), pandora's box, progress report ( 6 ), the wrench ( 2 ), vegas   

  Bioshock Progress Report #1

  I got past the Vegas sequence. That lasted a bit longer than I would have liked, but at least I was collecting something more interesting than chemicals. My character’s wrench is a bit too powerful. With stacking plasmids, my wrench does far more damage than my fully upgraded shotgun at close range. I don’t even have to use any shock+smack combo; the smack kills them in 1-3 hits. The game’s plot is picking up again, but I know I can’t be that close to the end yet.

   
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  Phokal 1:06 am on January 2, 2008 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: call of duty ( 4 ), die a lot, don't tell me the ending to ( 20 ), games ( 33 ), hard ( 2 ), ninja gaiden, really hard, terrorists   

  Don't tell me the ending to: CoD4 

  

  Don’t tell me the ending to: CoD4

  I know. I’m supposed to be playing Bioshock. But I picked up CoD4 for $37 recently and one of my friends wanted to know if he, too, should pick it up. Well, there is only one way to find out: I put the disc in and boot up the game on the hardest difficulty.

  It is definitely worthy of the Game Of the Year Runner-up moniker… (More …)

   
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  Phokal 12:23 am on January 2, 2008 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Country, don't tell me the ending to ( 20 ), movies ( 8 ), non-spoilers, not seen, Old men, poetry, timelapse   

  don't tell me the ending to: No Country for Old Men 

  don’t tell me the ending to: No Country for Old Men

  My friends have all seen No Country for Old Men. Some recommend it, some do not. I still need to see it.

  I know very little about the movie going into it, but it is apparently hard to follow without some previous knowledge. I’ve found that the lower my expectations and the less I know of the movie, the more I can enjoy watching it. I have also learned that a certain base knowledge, or non-spoilers, can help understand scenes and dialog that might otherwise have lost its meaning. So how much should I learn before I go into this one?

  Below are some non-spoilers, but knowledge that people have passed on to me so that I may enjoy/understand the movie during my first viewing: (More …)

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    zazzman 5:12 pm on January 11, 2008 Permalink | Reply

    “It is apparently related to a poem, whose contents help understand the movie’s plot and subject matter.”

    Whaaa? I don’t understand what “it” is.

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    phokal 9:54 pm on January 15, 2008 Permalink | Reply

    it = the title of the movie => a line in a poem. That’s what mattlindh said, anyway.

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    mattlindh 5:15 pm on January 16, 2008 Permalink | Reply

    This is correct. The title of the movie comes from the first line of Yeats’ poem, “Sailing to Byzantium,” which not-so-coincidentally starts with: “That is no country for old men.”

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  Phokal 12:05 am on January 2, 2008 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: assassin, assassin's creed ( 2 ), beggars, conspiracy ( 2 ), creed, finished ( 3 ), games ( 33 ), I finally beat ( 17 ), no empathy   

  I finally beat: Assassin's Creed 

  

  I finally beat: Assassin’s Creed

  This was a flagship, high profile game; it was met with mixed reviews. This has confused a lot of people, and caused those people to start defending one perspective or the other. I would like to address some of the common things I’ve seen, and some aspects that no one seems to discuss. (More …)

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  Phokal 8:35 pm on December 29, 2007 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: conspiracy ( 2 ), finished ( 3 ), I finally watched ( 11 ), Luke Cage, movie ( 9 ), movies ( 8 ), National Treasure, Nicholas Cage   

  

  I finally watched: National Treasure 2 – The Book of Secrets

  I saw a movie recently. It was still in theaters. In fact, it is even new. It’s a shame I didn’t like it more.

  (More …)

   
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  Phokal 1:38 pm on December 28, 2007 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: avatars, do as I say dammit, FAQ ( 2 ), links   

  Avatars

  Quick Post:

  On the right side you should see a quick link to Globally accepted Avatars offered from http://site.gravatar.com/

  While I would recommend creating a wordpress.com account and logging in, this is another way to “pretty up” the comments area. Just a one time thing: associate your email with an icon and you are done.

  It certainly isn’t required, but would be nice.

   
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  Phokal 10:14 pm on December 27, 2007 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bioshock ( 8 ), don't tell me the ending to ( 20 ), games ( 33 ), RPG, steampunk ( 3 ), unfinished ( 2 )   

  don’t tell me the ending to: Bioshock

  I’m part way through Bioshock. It is starting to get a little dull with some fetch quests. At the same time, it is becoming a bit too easy.

  This is a problem many RPGs face. In order to give a sense of progression, your character must gain new abilities and become more powerful. Despite new trials arising to challenge you, your character steadily becomes better than these enemies to instill that sense of progression. This leads to the game becoming easier the longer you play, without needing to increase skill. Combined with learning a combat systems patterns, this can turn a game into almost an automated process. Most great RPGs make this progression very slight, almost unnoticeable. They also have excellent presentation, to make sure that as the experience transitions from a game you play to a game you watch, it becomes more interesting to watch.

  Bioshock so far lacks the extra “umph” other RPGs express by making you look extremely cool while you bowl over the average bad guy. The extra abilities are fun to use, but are not exciting to behold. Instead, it is exploring the exquisite, changing environment and engaging characters propel you forward. While that is certainly enough, I have played RPGs that have gotten all of these aspects correct <cough>Baldur’s Gate (2, especially)</cough>. Missing any particular part of this equation (exploration/environment + story/characters + progression/combat) will stick out.

  One aspect I should mention is I love the steampunk influence on weapon upgrades. A new weapon upgrade sufficiently increases its visual appeal even if its actual use does not. I find it fun to simply look at a recent upgrade’s idle animation awhile.

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    zazzman 10:42 am on December 28, 2007 Permalink | Reply

    Without giving away too much, where are you in the game? I’m just curious because I would like to know, more specifically, what you find boring.

    I finished Bioshock and absolutely loved it. I didn’t find myself getting bored anywhere in the game. For me it was quite different from what you said in your post. I found that as my abilities expanded it became more challenging to figure out different, sometimes more efficient (sometime not), ways to eliminate my foes. With there being so many options for weapons I didn’t actually get close to using all of the different combinations. With all these options, I don’t quite understand how you are bored. Please enlighten me, sir.

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    phokal 1:19 pm on December 28, 2007 Permalink | Reply

    I am currently in “vegas” about to meet a new character. And I’m not “bored.” Just a particular aspect of the overall experience is boring.

    Specifically, it is the combat. New abilities open new strategic ways to confront enemies, but they lack the visual punch necessary. An upgraded wrench hit decreases from a life bar until the life bar is empty and the enemy falls over.

    Action Games like FEAR, Half-life, Gears of War give new weapons that pack a large visceral impact, while increasing the skill needed to survive your encounters.
    RPGs like Final Fantasy begin by making the attacks look more powerful and spectacular as you level up and progress through a story (either linear, or by your design).

    Bioshock does not require more skill as you progress. The once deadly enemies begin to fall with ease after you’ve acquired offensive and defensive boosts.
    My fully upgraded shotgun hits enemies the exact same way as it did unaltered early in the game; it just decreases their life bar a little faster.

    It certainly isn’t a bad game. It is still easily game of the year material. It is, however, certainly not perfect. I will probably go into greater detail on what I liked after completing the game (the story is still on going). These are just initial impressions and nagging aspects as I’m playing.