This is where I tell you about myself, when I feel like it; rant, when I feel like it; and post random silliness, when I feel like it. I also post the occasional review, but that's mostly about games everyone has already played to death. I might put up some pretty pictures sometime, and maybe give this bad boy a header, but that's not my biggest concern.

• 18Nov 09

  Purchases

  Activity again! But it's nothing major, unless you like reading about what other people buy. I went on my yearly(?) buying spree not long ago and picked up a bunch of stuff, much of it used games. First of all, I picked up a DSi, which I'd been planning on doing for months but had never worked up the nerve to shell out for one. I also picked up Sonic Rush the same day. Fun stuff. I feel like doing the rest in list form, mostly because I'm lazy and have stuff I need to take care of (Contradictory, but oh well.).

  1. Metroid Prime Trilogy: I wanted to upgrade from plain old Corruption, which I'm mailing to a friend of mine at some point. Haven't gotten the chance to play it yet, but the packaging is spiffy.

  2. Hotel Dusk: Room 215: I haven't ranted much about this one, but I love this game. And with the recent announcement of a sequel, I'm pretty pleased. I got this one used, but the Club Nintendo code was unused, so that was a nice bonus.

  3. Elite Beat Agents: Better than Ouendan. Deal with it. Is the track list all that great? Well... It could be better and more expansive, but it's fun, and the story has a good sense of humor to it. Also used, but the Club Nintendo code was used (though it was left in the case...).

  4. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars: Surprisingly very good. I'm impressed with how smoothly the game runs. I'm not all that enamored with the camera setup, but I can deal with that. At times, the dialogue is a little clumsy, like Rockstar tried to think of some of the most awkward places to cram in the F-word, but I can forgive it. It's weird, because I'm having more fun with this than I did with GTA4; maybe a heresy, but this one seems more concerned with enjoyment than realism. There's probably a very late review on the way...

  5. Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days: Awkward title aside, this one is pretty fun. The battle system feels familiar, though in a good way, and the level of character customization you can achieve by the end of the game is really nice. It almost feels like they took the Element system from Chrono Cross, decided to make it govern your entire character (as opposed to just techniques), and mashed that up with Kingdom Hearts. Like I said, fun. There isn't a whole lot in terms of new content, and the Disney worlds feel pretty bland, but it's otherwise pretty enjoyable from start to finish.

  6. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story: Great stuff. If the other M&L games are half this good, I'll need to check them out. Haven't finished it yet, but the art direction and battle system are great, and the writing is charming and hilarious at once. Worth a look, whether or not you've played the others. Probably a review for this on the way, eventually...

  7. The Bourne Trilogy: I guess there's really not much to say about this. Probably my favorites from the action thriller genre. The only problem is the shaky cam in the sequels, which can occasionally really detract from scenes. Otherwise, great storytelling and fantastic action sequences.

  8. "And Another Thing...," by Eoin Colfer: I'm a sucker for the inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Trilogy (now on its sixth book out of three), so I had to pick this up when I heard they were continuing the story. I have to say, I'm really impressed with how well Colfer keeps to the spirit of the original Douglas Adams books. It's not spot-on, but it's about as close as you can get without raising Adams from the dead and telling him, "Write another one!" Consider it recommended, if you're into science fiction/comedy.

  9. "John Dies at the End," by David Wong: I've been on about this one on multiple occasions. It's one of my favorite books, largely because of how well it blends elements of Stephen King's horror and tone into the comedy elements of Douglas Adams and then throws the mix into a big bowl of Lovecraft. It's a very strange, ridiculous adventure into the hellish realms to which a drug central to the book's story exposes those who take it. (That sentence was awful, but I'm too lazy/busy to correct.) The new edition released in September and if you look at the Amazon reviews... Well, you'll notice people like it a lot. It's worth a look. Check a library.

  10. Charlie Wilson's War: Tom Hanks womanizes and fights communism. What more do you need? Philip Seymour Hoffman? Okay, you got it. Watch this movie or something.

  11. 007: Quantum of Solace: It's not quite as deep and brooding as its predecessor, Casino Royale, but Quantum of Solace delivers all the snark and action of the first with a lot more tension. The intrigue of Casino Royale is largely gone, and you'll be lost without having seen it, but Quantum of Solace is a satisfying followup. If you saw Casino, check this one out.

  • Posted Nov 18, 2009 6:39 pm PT
  • Category: Games
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• 17Oct 09

  On Plato and Beyond Good & Evil

  This isn't exactly like any blog I've done, and for most it probably won't be very interesting. But I took a philosophy course at my last school (the Art Institute of Pittsburgh), which I left roughly two years ago, and in it I learned a bit about Plato. One concept that stuck out to me was his Allegory of the Cave; it was significant to me because I noticed a lot of parallels between it and Beyond Good & Evil, a game I'd played not long before. It's not a perfect parallel, but the similarities are uncanny.

  My Intro to Communication professor asked us early in the semester to write an informal essay about a piece of media that held some significance for us. Informal being sort of a skill of mine, I seized the opportunity to ramble on about Plato and Ubisoft's cult hit. I figured I'd post it here, for anyone bored or interested enough to check it out.

  ---

  Ubisoft's "Beyond Good & Evil" was released in 2003 for GameCube, PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The story follows a futuristic alien world called Hillys, which is under attack by an alien race known as the DomZ. A military organization called the Alpha Sections arrive around the same time. They claim to be a group dedicated to fighting the DomZ, and on the surface it seems as though they are.

  However, something more sinister is going on beneath the surface. The Alpha Sections do seem to fight the DomZ invaders off, but they're actually a false flag used by the DomZ to catch the people of the worlds they invade off-guard and lull them into a fake sense of security.

  As photojournalist Jade, you're tasked with aiding the rogue organization known as the IRIS Network, whose goal is to expose the DomZ-Alpha Sections conspiracy to the people of Hillys.

  Tyrone Miller, then public relations manager for Ubisoft, described the title as conveying a "need to investigate beyond the superficial facts of what is good and what is evil." Toward the beginning of the story, the main protagonist believes the Alpha Sections propaganda, but as she progresses through her own investigation Jade uncovers for herself the true nature of the DomZ invasion and aids the IRIS Network in revealing the conspiracy to the public.

  "Beyond Good & Evil" presents an interesting parallel to Plato's Allegory of the Cave. In this allegory, prisoners are bound, limbs and all, to the floor of a cave, held in place and facing a flat wall. These prisoners know nothing but this cave and the pictures they see on the wall, projected there by firelight. The pictures are shadows cast by statues that are in turn manipulated by men standing on a raised walkway in front of the fire.

  The prisoners of this cave remain as they are for their entire lives, unless one should somehow escape. When this escapee flees the cave he or she sees the world for what it truly is, instead of the moving pictures of the reality once shown to them. They may at first be unable to accept this, but should they return to the cave, their former home, they'll find it to be unreal or lacking.

  The old saying, "You can never go home," comes to mind.

  At that point, the escapee has a choice: he or she can either return and attempt to set the other prisoners free, or remain where they are. Should they choose to return and set their brethren free, the others may react violently or calmly accept their new reality.

  The IRIS Network serves as the prisoner. Recognizing Jade's photojournalistic skills, they decide to free her next, testing her skills with a mission before showing her the truth. When Jade decides to join IRIS Network and out them to the people, she learns the horrifying truth behind the invasion. As the game progresses, more people start to question the DomZ propaganda and believe the IRIS Network reports. By the last act of the story, the entire planet is allied against the DomZ and Alpha Sections due to an attempt to kill Jade.

  The world of Hillys, then, is a parallel to the imprisoned. When the game begins, they see only what the DomZ, through the Alpha Sections, want them to see. As Jade's exploits continue, they come to see the situation for what it is, actively protesting against the Alpha Sections.

  The DomZ and Alpha Sections are represented by all things projecting images onto the cave wall. They manipulate the statues and images by directing the Alpha Sections, who are in turn supported by the majority of media at the story's outset. They're the gatekeepers, allowing very little that questions them to slip through to the public.

  • Posted Oct 17, 2009 9:24 am PT
  • Category: Games
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• 19Sep 09

  Like a Fox! (Top 5 Most Annoying Commercial Mascots)

  Some commercials are memorable because they're good. Unfortunately, it seems like most are memorable because they're horrible. Here's to those commercials that are bad because of annoying mascots.

  5. Taco Bell Chihuahua:

  The embodiment of two things that annoy me: Taco Bell and chihuahuas. If you disagree on either count, you're wrong.

  4. Max Aroni

  Don't remember this guy? I'm not surprised--I barely remember him myself. What I do remember is one of the most asinine commercials to come out of the late 90s. Picture a bunch of kids, shoveling some kind of grey stuff into their mouths in a grade school cafeteria. The lunch ladies laugh insanely as the children slowly poison themselves. The principal stares on with cold indifference as a child contracts malaria and dies on the spot. ...And then some annoying cartoon kid bursts into the cafeteria on a skateboard and starts rapping about mac & cheese, concluding his song with a triumphant shout of "MAX ARONI!" ...What. (Yeah, I know, the first part of the commercial wasn't nearly that cool, but just roll with it.)

  3. Crazy Fox... Fox

  This guy's pretty obscure, only appearing on G4 (to my knowledge) for a while. The Crazy Fox advertises those "get rich quick" schemes (under multiple domain names, though Crazyfox.com seemed to be the longest-running), saying that you'd have to be crazy to call to find out more--crazy like a fox! His catchphrase was annoying, sure, but it probably wasn't the worst part. To me, the worst part was the terrifyingly bad animation of the CGI fox. It's really something you have to see for yourself, and it's still probably something that might not bother you.Actually, I lied--the catchphrase really is the worst part.

  2. The General

  Auto insurance? Why not? I debated putting The Money You Could Be Saving With Geico up here, but it didn't annoy me nearly as much as this cornball. Why is he around? And why is he such a badly made 3d model? (The model itself is okay-ish, but it looks beyond outdated in the commercials.) There were better-looking CG characters in the 90s. Maybe someone's looking to save some money--And don't even get me started on his little poem he says at the end of every commercial.

  1. FreeCreditReport.com Band

  The single most annoying "mascot" is actually more than one person. It started off with a simple country song about selling fish to tourists in t-shirts, and then it snowballed into one of the most horrific and infectious advertising campaigns of all time. Once you get one of those awful songs in your head, there's no turning back--it has you, and it's never letting go.

  • Posted Sep 19, 2009 7:55 pm PT
  • Category: TV
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