I Read Stuff!!

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Lucky Us

Our essential guide to the area pointed us to an In-N-Out near our hotel, but first we needed to park. You can imagine that parking in the City is as much fun as driving there. We had been forewarned about the meters on the street, but it's still disconcerting to see a quarter grant you a measly 6 minutes.

This is when our amazing vacation luck started. I'll try to point out all the lucky things that occurred, but at this point assume that if there is a deal to be had, we got it. Our first taste of luck was the ridiculous parking spot we scored. It's Saturday, on Fisherman's Wharf, and we roll up and park across the street from In-N-Out. It was such a nice park we didn't even have to parallel park to get in it, and it was right in front a funny little café called Pergamino. There was a silly sign above the store that said World Famous Breakfast. We figured we'd call them on that bluff tomorrow.

We stepped into the burger place and ordered our food. Notice I didn't say we got in line. Another benefit of the vacation luck was that we were on a different time schedule than everyone else. We were two hours ahead of everyone else, so invariably when we arrived anywhere we were immediately helped. As soon as we were done there would be a line out the door.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Vacation, the San Francisco Treat

And I'm back. It was a hell of a trip. A guy here at work phrased it as a "Vacation of the Fittest". We did a lot, and we just scratched the surface of the City. To cover it all, I'll be dolling out the details over a few days and multiple posts to help those of you who like things in bite sizes.

Saturday (Day 1)

The flight was pretty great. No airport horror stories. This was my first flight on Midwest, and my first post airline bankruptcy flight. I mention it because we had to buy our lunch on the plane. They had these little boxed things for 5 or 10 bucks. Not a lot of food, but at least it tasted decent. Of course we also got our in flight cookie that Midwest is so famous for.

We landed and picked up our Kia Rental Van. Let me take this time for a Public Service Announcement. Kia Sucks. The Van had 5,000 miles on it, and bounced down the road like we were seated on a trampoline. Reports from the backseat also indicated that taking turns was equivalent to a 3 ticket carnie ride. I guess their 10 year warranty guarantees that it's a piece of shit, and will continue to be a piece of shit for the full 10 year.

We left the airport and began to learn about driving in San Francisco. Now this truly was a treat, because contrary to popular belief, the left turn doesn't exist. If you insanely decided you needed to go left, you must properly execute the 'cisco maneuver. This entailed driving past the street you wanted followed by 3 right turns. Now throw in the occasional one way street, construction, our amazing bouncing clown van, and trolleys... so here's a tip, they have amazing public transportation. Use it.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Fun With Wiki

Lore had a contest on his blog for the Least-Notable Article in Wikipedia. It's basically who can find the most worthless knowledge that is recorded and accepted as established in Wiki.

The results came in today, and they are pretty ridiculous.

1. Pumpkin-Headed Deer
2. Cone Cow

Other Awards
Least-Notable Place: Lime Village, Alaska
Least Notable Fancurft: Niners
Most Interesting Least-Notable article: Radu II of Wallachia

My favorite article has to be the Niners because of how Lore described it.

Niners, a baseball team that appeared in one episode of Deep Space Nine. They played in the holodeck, so this is an entry about an unofficial sports team in a fictional universe playing a simulated game.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Assassin's Creed

Creating a movie trailer is a real art form. As evidence of this you can compare Harry Potter trailers as they progress from bad to exceptional.

Game trailers, on the other hand, have really been little more than glorified tech demos. However, this trailer that Tim posted seems to be a step in the right direction. It's still basically a tech demo, but at least they got real music and proper editing.


Wednesday, May 02, 2007

A Whole Box of Q-Tips

Action Button prides themselves for being Game Critics instead of Game Reviewers. The difference is subtle, but important. A Game Reviewer plays a game and tells you how much fun can be gleaned for your $50. A Game Critic plays a game and tells you if culture has been improved by the development of this game.

For example, Traffic is an excellent movie from a Critics standpoint. Crash, Babel, The Aviator, are all examples of critically acclaimed movies. After watching these movies, odds are you will feel worse than when you started. This is a good sign that you've been 'cultured'.

Now that you and I are on the same page, I’m going to point you to an article by Action Button. This is a critics review of God's of War II. It's a long article chalk full of vulgar language, but it's worth the read.

Here's a snippet:

"This isn’t fun. It’s a nervous tick. It’s a bad habit. It’s obsessive compulsive behavior. It’s going through an entire box of q-tips in a day, because rubbing the inside of your ear feels so good the first time that you just can’t stop..."

Ultimately, Mr. Toups is drawing a line between a game and interactive media. He's claiming that skill and strategy are a key part of games, and without them you really are partaking in an elaborate Choose Your Own Adventure novel. It's an important distinction that both designers and consumers need to understand.


Games
GameInterestRelease Date
Civilization IV1
C&C 31
Company of Heroes1
Half Life 21
Half Life 2: Episode One1
Supreme Commander1
Call of Duty 22
Darwinia2
Dungeon Runners2
Dungeon Siege II2
Far Cry2
Galactic Civilization II2
Hitman: Blood Money2
Jade Empire2
Neverwinter Nights 22
Prey2
Psychonauts2
Sam & Max: Episode 12
Titan Quest2
Dark Messiah Might and Magic3
Defcon3
Heroes of Might and Magic V3
Indigo Prophecy3
KOTOR II3
LEGO Star Wars3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance3
Space Rangers 2: The Rise of the Dominators3
STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl3
Stubbs the Zombie3
War Front3
Warhammer: Mark of Chaos3
Infernal35/8/2007
Shadowrun25/9/07
Pirates of the Burning SeaM6/1/2007
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars?6/5/2007
Two Worlds?6/26/07
Sins of A Solar Empire?8/1/2007
BioShock18/21/2007
Mass Effect19/7/07
Age of ConanM10/30/07
Crysis1Fall 2007
Elveon?Fall 2007
Half-Life 2: Episode Two1Fall 2007
Portals1Fall 2007
Spore1Fall 2007
Stranglehold?Fall 2007
Tabula RasaMFall 2007
Team Fortress 22Fall 2007
Dragon Age?Winter 2007
Fable 2?Winter 2007
Field Ops?Winter 2007
Halo Wars?Winter 2007
Gods & Heroes: Rome RisingMWinter 2007
Haze?Winter 2007
Hellgate: London1Winter 2007
HuxleyMWinter 2007
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men?Winter 2007
Left 4 Dead?Winter 2007
The AgencyMSpring 2008
Empire Earth III?Spring 2008
Guild Wars 2 MSpring 2008
Jericho?Spring 2008
Sacred 2?Spring 2008
Savage 2?Spring 2008
Time Shift2Spring 2008
Universe at War: Earth Assault3Spring 2008
The Witcher?Spring 2008
CellFactor?2008
Darkest of Days?2008
On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkeness: Episode 122008
Warhammer OnlineM2008
Alliance: The Silent War??
Alone in the Dark??
Assassin's Creed??
BioWare MMO??
The Crossing??
Dungeon Hero??
Fallout 3??
Lego Batman??
Mythos??
Overloard??
Space Seige??
Culdcept SagaPC??
Gears of WarPC??
God of WarPC??
Beautiful KatamariPC??
OkamiPC??
Resistance: Fall of ManPC??
Odin's SpherePC??
Castle CrashersPC??

1 - I will buy it
2 - I'll buy it at discount
3 - Other people think it's good, but I wasn't interested when I first heard about it
M - Mainly Multiplayer. See if friends get interested.
? - Find out more about this game
PC? - Will it be released on the PC?