Chuckie's Journal

Sep. 11th, 2009

The Spiders on my balcony are getting ambitious.

I never thought it would come to this, the men of my council had satisfied my fears, and yet, the act of war has been declared. I write this to ensure my legacy survives:

A fortnight ago I peered out my chambers and noticed a strange eight legged beast. Foul looking I remained in my quarters and made a mental note of it. Having just seen my Creole Queen I was filled with such unabashed delight that I thought it may have been a slight delusion. On the other hand, what could a single eight legged beast do - to my kingdom?

On the following day after two men of my royal guard had jousted I over heard them mention this odd beast and refer to it as an Arachnid. That same day while Anderson and Afjei were enjoying their supper with mead I decided I should question them on this particular matter. They assured me that these beings were rare and meek, they never sought the blood of men, but simply the blood of creatures more pesky then themselves. With confidence I left the matter un dealt.

Another war had been raging to the North, a war that has been raging for 5 years, the scholars on my council insisted I defeat this country riddled with Sun Devils and Wild Cats. With victory within my grasp my attention had left the Arachnid. This would prove to be an error, for every few days I would notice it multiply. From 1 to 3 to 8 till 20 in my sights just days ago.

My men assured me once more, they were nothing, they meant no harm, they were simply unsavory to gaze upon. Foolishly at ease, I left to the land in the South, to visit my Creole Queen once more, when I returned I had forgotten about the creatures.

I recalled them abruptly last night when I noticed my laundry well was impossible to reach. The path from my balcony led to an army of black limbs belonging to dark shadowed eyes. With a chill, I slept leaving it till the morning to decide on how my royal robes would be cleansed. However, when I awoke from my slumber I noticed three red dots that matched the shape of their teeth on my hands, a warning that my throne would fall victim to their desires. A simple gesture that meant, “You will fall.”

No, not today, not tomorrow, tonight I sleep with an eye open. Tomorrow I rally the men. If it is a war they want, it is a war they will have!

Nov. 20th, 2008

BTW, I keep winning things.

In just the last 30 days I've won Infinite Undiscovery from : http://www.news10.net/life/entertainment/game-guys/default.aspx just for clicking on their "Win This Game" square and at http://www.escapistmagazine.com I've won a Gears of War novel. I guess I will pay attention to the story. The book is supposed to be a prologue.

Anyway yeah, this is a brag post, but also a Check these sites out post.

Peace

Posted at 11:23 pm | Link | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Share

Shifts

- I can’t complain about work. My eight hour shifts have at most about six hours of work. I have yet to use my additional 2 hours in which I’m still being paid to be productive to do homework or reading, but I’ll adjust in time, I’m sure.

-My sleep schedule like always is ridiculously off track. If a man representing normalcy was on a ship riding the currents of functional sleep, my man would have been lost at sea years ago, but now he’s entirely shipwrecked. A few weeks back I may have told people that my sleeping habits were awkward, but at least they were regular. I could account for my time based off of the day that had passed.

How glorious that sounds.

Now, I lose entire fucking grips of time. If I had such sands that could reverse specific moments, I’d be frightened to use a single grain. Who knows where I’ve been or what I’ve done. I’ve woken up to find strangers in my house. Strangers IVE INVITED!

Anyway, I’d use said sands to rewrite papers that were horrendous. I almost want to apologize to my TAs for having those papers thrust upon them, a poor reflection of not only my work, but of my being.

Grade wise I have a nice buffer of A’s in all my classes so I’m positive that unless I do equally poor on the final exams I can maintain them all and at worst forfeit a few to B’s. Regretfully though, my character has been tarnished.

But Seriously, some nights I get 4 hours, some nights I get two separate blocks of 4 hours in which I do Something in between, and about twice a week I get a nice 12-13 hour uninterrupted respite. I’m sure it “averages” to about 8 hours of sleep. So for those of you that wonder why I don’t answer the phone at 8pm or 2am like I used to, I’m probably asleep. And even if I’m awake, I’m actually asleep.

-I’ve spent the majority of my gaming time on my 360, and I don’t know when my tastes shifted, nor would I have believed they ever would, but it’s jarring to acknowledge that the games I’m playing almost exclusively are western developed. Ubisoft’s repetitive sand box game Assassin’s Creed deserves most of the praise it was given. The “leap of faith” is awesome and the controls awkward at first, but logical and original in the grand scheme of things. With each of the 4 face buttons representing an aspect of Altiar’s body. The bottom button his legs, the left and right buttons his arm’s, and the top button for actions related to the use of his head. My only complaint really is that Jonathon Blow’s Braid gives us a longer experience. Although for the first hour or so I could make a case for AC being equally fresh.

Assassin’s Creed’s real down fall is that it should have been developed for another few months, maybe less then that. It’s just that each voiced dialogue from the NPCs in the city is exactly the same from the first time you are given the liberty to travel from one populous to another. Everything a character can utter in the game will be heard in the first 2 hours. From then on, you’re essentially hearing and doing the same exact stuff over and over. While the difficulty is increasing it never feels substantial. You never feel as though the game is forcing you to think of its mechanics differently. The only reason you can’t do the same moves you did in the beginning of the game (ignoring the prologue) is because the game artificially takes that option away from you. It gives you new skills as you progress through the story. I imagine the reason they don’t give you all the skills to start is because the players would realize how repetitive the game is almost immediately.

What makes up for all that though is that the game is fun. Most games are repetitive, but most at least force you to think differently the further you progress.

I’ve also spent a lot of time with Gears of War 2. I’m not really buying the whole, “no, seriously guys, this story is good this time around.” It opens nicely, but the actual dialogue during missions is disgusting. I’ll try to pay attention more to the story when I attempt insane mode, but really, you hide, you shoot stuff, you hide some more. It’s fun, but let’s accept what it is.

Matt, Trevyn and I just recently played the Left 4 Dead demo last night. Another game deserving it’s praise. I don’t really want to comment too much on it without playing the real game, but the fact that the simulator has a director that will randomize when players will be terrorized by a wave of zombies really makes the experience feel authentic. For those of you some how reading this far into my “game” section, but that still don’t know what Left 4 Dead is, it’s a "zombie horror survival simulator," essentially. Where regardless of the number of controlled players, there are always 4 characters in the game in which the player must cooperate with to survive zombie death. Cooperate is italicized because of people like Trevyn, who likes to set off car alarms to insure the death of many.

I’d advise people to read what they have said at RobotPanic.com about Left 4 Dead and to check out their weekly podcast, The Drunken Gamers. But I know most of you are lazy, so I’ll just insert what is the most acute reflection of my own personal experience/thoughts with the game. It comes from their post declaring it as the "best zombie game (ever)" with 5 reasons.

“2. It Let’s You BE the Character: That’s not me saying it gives you the ability to role play. Although you can do that if you must. What makes Left 4 Dead such a brilliant game is that it’s meant to be co-op and as such, takes what is often Xbox LIVE’s greatest detriment and turns it into an asset. We’ve bitched about the douche factor on LIVE for years. We’re not easy people to get along with in general over here and we’re often too easily annoyed by the slightest quirks in people. When it comes to online play, the anonymous nature of a headset and an avatar usually leads us far, far away from any interaction with strangers. But in Left 4 Dead, it works.

When you’re in a group with 3 other strangers, the weird ass quirky people actually work as characters in a zombie movie. You’re always going to have the “new kid” who’s doing this for the first time. There’s your noob. You’re going to have the experienced, hard as nails tough guy. There’s your expert, hardcore player. You’re going to have your strategist, you’re going to have a daredevil, and you’re going to have some crazy ass guy that’s a loose cannon and annoys the shit out of everybody. All the different personalities that you find on your favorite online service work very well in a game like this. Without putting on some fake story, or forcing you to do something to give the game a better narrative, the co-op nature of the game simply let’s everyone be a character. And with every “oh, shit!” moment, the nature of your companions comes through and makes it feel as if you’re really IN a zombie movie. This may be the first time that the fundamental nature of Xbox LIVE and Steam really become an integral, core part of the game. For my money, this is the first time the social element of Xbox LIVE really, really works.”

Can’t wait for that to arrive in the mail.

Hope that wasn’t too long.

I can’t seem to post as often as I’d like,.

Who’s to say whats to blame?

Extra Interests:

-Cooking Mama and Vegetarians Unite!

-People may be forced to be less offensive, lets cross our fingers!

Posted at 04:46 pm | Link | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Share

Nov. 9th, 2008

The End of a Blog Hiatus

It happens from time to time, that we gain access to something we don't normally have, whether it's something that we want, or something we would have preferred never having been apart of. I'm not even talking about theories of art or where people get the idea for the creation of art, instead I speak of experiences more visceral, more concrete. For example, the month that I joined a Christian youth group was also the same month that I experienced the look and smell of weed. My resulted experience clearly deranged from my intended one.

I say this because I've recently been kicked from an Eden of sorts. A paradise would be an exaggeration, but the fall, relatable. I was in a relationship (not to be confused with a relationship, implying a further degree of intimacy) that I enjoyed and consequently destroyed, which is probably why I don't have nice things. I really am a nice guy though. At least most of the time.

Anyway, my hiatus from blogging has come from the fact that my life used to be exciting, I used to meet people, I used to be involved with people and I certainly didn't used to study or game as much as I have. As of late. I've actually been playing a number of games, to the point that I've taken notes of games to make sure that I remember certain things, but I'll honestly probably never use them. So it's no surprise for those that know me, that I'd change something to ruin my life's consistency. If there is anything I've learned, it's hard to write when you're not doing anything. It's also hard to write about games when people do it before you, and when people do it with games more relevant. Also when people's comics do it better then anyone.

So my life has been re-wired.

The last two weekends prior to this one I've spent drinking heavily with strangers. Talking to girls out of my own persona. People do this all the time. This is fairly regular for people to do. Italicized, because I'm clearly not said people. Not that there is anything wrong with people, but c'mon, I rarely know what people talk about. At the parties I was confused ½ the time as to what people were saying, hitting on girls wasn't an act of bravery, but an action taken to avoid in-action. I didn't focus or succeed on achieving numbers, but it's more the practice that I'm after.For anyone that knows Trevyn, they must assume that he did succeed. And they'd be right.

I've also re-realized what I've already known, which is that I've gotta learn to drink beer, because although it's gross, thats what people drink.

So my weekends have been filled with parties, and Smash, while my weekdays from now on are to be filled sitting at an office. The work isn't as exciting as it is to say that I work in an office. That's exciting. I work with people that accomplish things. Vicariously I feel as though I do. Verily I know my job would be accomplished by programs if such programs could exist.

I work for the department of Engineering at ASU. The department of online classes. Monday-Friday I watch our email account and make sure that no students are having problems with submitting or receiving their graded and ungraded homework/exams. It's also part of my job to make sure that I call students that haven't submitted exams, reminding them that perhaps they may want to, you know, not fail. I won't go into the specifics, but know that I spend the entirety of my 8 hour shift in front of a computer or scanner. Hardly exhilarating, but for close to 10 an hour, I can't complain. The people around the office seem nice and I get my 1 hour lunch respite when I please.

I've also started working at my old job as a waiter again on Saturday nights, which is worthwhile most of the time, but what it means is that between school and work the only day in which I have neither is Sunday. My 3 days to focus on homework have been obliterated. Leaving 1 day in my week for homework.

I have yet to adapt.

So...that's whats going on with me. Here are few more random links of stuff that people might care about:

-Bjork explaining that you “shouldn't let poets lie to you,” and that Danish books are truth.

-Shin Megami Tensei Online MMO, seriously if anyone is playing this, or has time to play this, tell me how it is.

-DS GTA game to have the option of buying/selling drugs. Reminds me of a certain TI Calculator game I'm pretty sure everyone I knew was obsessed with.

For those people curious, I'm currently playing:

-Gears of War 2

-Dragon Quest 4

-Rock Band 2

-Guitar Hero: World Tour

-Assassin's Creed

-Dragon Quest Swords

-Mega Man 9 (As Protoman)

Posted at 04:02 am | Link | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Share

Oct. 22nd, 2008

Sorry for the lack of updates.

But...for those that don't have myspace or facebook.

Party at my place on the 25th, message me for directions or text me. 520-403-2589.

Dress up if you can, expect a lot of drinking, expect some Rock Band 2, and expect for people to shame themselves in their Halloween attire.
Everyone is invited!

Oct. 1st, 2008

Breaking Wallets

It's late August, early September, it's that time of the year where really awesome things start to come out. Rock Band 2 is already out, Guitar Hero World Tour is on it's way, Mirror's Edge, will be here in November? Not to mention Gears of War 2 and a Halo 3 “Expansion.” I don't actually own anything related to those last two, but I certainly plan to in the coming months. Not because I think they're anything revolutionary or even great games in their own right, simply that they give me an excuse to play games with people in other cities and they are pretty good.

Mega Man 9 just recently came out on all platforms. PSN, XBLA, and WiiWare, the most awesome people bought the WiiWare version, but I side track to be an ass and an elitist that is over joyed by being able to play a new NES styled platformer with an NES styled controller. However what I do want to say about it, is what the Penny Arcade people have already - out of necessity, - captured in their most recent comic.

So instead, let me say this: Don't be fooled into believing that nostalgia alone carries the title, while it certainly empowers it with some kind of emotional energy, it's a different kind of pleasure for the uninitiated. In a way that I believe Portal was for me. Mega Man 9 takes the basic Mega Man formula and difficulty then finds ways to make expected obstacles more interesting. In one stage it takes the basic principles of moving platforms, but then rotates you and the platform, so you're not simply timing your jump from platform A to B horizontally, but also making sure that Mega Man is right side up as he rotates on the platform so you're paying attention to your location vertically. If the platform gets to the end of it's path while rotating you below it, jumping will force you to fall straight down, so you have to wait for both the platform to be at the right spot and for Mega Man to be above the platform. It adds a dynamic that doesn't necessarily make the game harder, but it forces you to pay attention to 3 things instead of 2.

The game has the old school learning curve philosophy of preparing the player to die his first time through a stage/boss, but then, in that same vein, the philosophy allows an observing player to run through a stage flawlessly on his second encounter. The difficulty seemed perfect in this regard in that I never felt too punished for death, because I knew every mistake I made, was avoidable with mental preparation 2nd time through. Including Wily's castle.

The game does have a number of “nifty cool” shenanigans for Capcom's worshiping followers. I'm thankful that they kept the game as old school as they did without leaving in anything obnoxious like passwords, they did however, maintain the belief that Wily's castle deserved to be played in one sitting. Which i guess is kinda fair. Poe felt the same way with his stories and poetry, maybe their is some logic to it.

Didn't really plan to say so much about Mega Man 9, but I love the game. It's fucking great! I want to keep playing it to unlock the in game achievements that the Wii version has, but I don't want to absorb too much of it's greatness before trying out the XBLA version that I know I'll be playing in Tucson.

2007 may have had a number of awesome titles released on the shelves, but 2008 has had so many impressive games released through online networks that I can't help but feel as though my wallet is already too far gone for whats going to be released in October. Forget about November or December.

Links of stuff I'll probably forget to talk about:
http://kotaku.com/5051178/prelude-proves-portal-is-still-alive - Unofficial Portal Prelude Trailer

http://www.gamesradar.com/f/mega-man-week-150-exclusive-custom-wallpapers - Awesome Old School Mega Man Art

http://kotaku.com/5053402/obama-or-mccain-+-whos-leading-in-xbox-live-survey - Go Obama!

Posted at 11:31 pm | Link | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Share

Sep. 26th, 2008

New Survivor

Survivor Gabon has begun and I've missed it. The details for missing it I'll probably mention at a later time if it ever becomes essential, but I've been looking forward to this season since it was spread throughout the Smash community that “Sephiroth Ken,” would be one of the contestants.

I've had sparse interactions with Ken, a few tournament matches, his presence when I took HugS' name at Pound, but what I remember most is when he tried to pick up on my girl Michelle from New Mexico. He was socially awkward and even in a friendly match he didn't let a girl beat him. Yet, He was trying to lay down some game, like he got game.I think Michelle enjoyed the attention (who doesn't), but thought he was weird. I remember the incident, not only because he was trying to put some moves on my lady, but because I enjoyed watching the best smasher in the world transform into an impotent ghost. Some how, it felt like an ethereal lesson.

So it's strange to know that a guy I've met, a guy that knows me, knows my first name and smash name, would be on a reality T.V. show. I've always had a sense, no a belief, that no one I knew would ever really be a contestant to any show that I watched regularly or had watched. It's not that I'm pessimistic, simply that there is some kind of sanctity to what I watch on television.

To be clear, I don't watch a lot of television, so what I do watch is either things I care a lot about, or things that are purposefully distractive (I made it a word). People say games are a form of escape, I've rarely used games in that context since high school, but bad television, bad television seems designed for this. I used to lay around on the couch and watch the Real World, Blind Date or Girls Next Door, simply to maintain a nice relaxing vegetative state. I still do this, but it's for when I don't want to do shit or think shit. Theres a time for everything, right?

Anyway, knowing that Ken would be on a show that I had loved years ago was pretty eventful, I've been looking forward to seeing how he would represent gamers in a non-gaming setting.

How confident will he be? how capable will he be, will he interact with everyone, will people like him, how long will he stay in the game?

Essentially, do competitive gamers have something to offer and is the fact that he's a competitive gamer even relevant?

I have yet to hear anything about the season premier, but I imagine someone would have texted me:“LOL Ken is out already!,” if he wasn't still in the game. So I'm writing this with the assumption that he still is.

I'll be watching the season premier one way or another in the next few days, and I'll cross my fingers that Ken doesn't disappoint, how can he, he's got mind games.

Season Opener: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6YNzvnefn0

About Ken: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor/bio/ken_17/bio.php?season=17

Posted at 01:25 am | Link | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Share

Sep. 19th, 2008

Quickie: Consolation prize: Games = Art

I wanted to write a blog I promise, but I instead stayed up all night playing Melee and doing extremely well, which hasn't happened in a while so I was into it. Anyway I still have a paper to work on, but I needed to read something to get me in the mood of writing and I saw a thread about a cliche' question about games. Are they Art? Of course they are, but I figured instead of writing a unique blog about my life or about a game I love I'd just write my reply to that thread. Yeah I know, I'm a bitch, but sometimes people have to be bitches. Anyway here you go:

Here are 2 Reasons that games aren't considered art.

1)People like the ones in this thread that go to a gaming forum and still don't think games should be art. I don't know about you guys, but if I let my life be consumed enough by something to go to a forum dedicated to that something I'm going to at least take it seriously. Otherwise why am I wasting my time with it and not doing something more productive?

It's like playing something competitively, but not caring if you win or lose. Then why bother? (I'm not saying you need to win, just that you should care one way or another.)

2)The peak of interest vs the amount of time it takes to get into video games.

I have a number of non-gamer friends think games are art and a number that don't, but whenever I show them a game they think is interesting the controller is just to foreign for them to get interested to the point where their interest out weighs that level of worry from the unknown.

Why Games will eventually be art:

1)I think it's impossible for many of it's parts to be art and yet for a game itself not to be art.

People keep saying that games need a good story to be art. That is one path, but gaming is such a powerful medium that it has more then just one. Okami didn't blow me away with its story, it blew me away with it's artistic direction (Japanese water color aesthetic) and atmosphere. The story was simply adequate. Braid is art because of the poetry, the paintings/backgrounds, the music and the game play closely tied to the rest of those things.

2)Because of people like Jerry Holkins, Mike Krahulik and Jonathan Blow.

They understand how games can influence, express and reflect aspects of the human condition. We simply need the people creating them to be more like them. Look at Miyamoto (creator of Mario/Zelda), his games are based off things he did as a child. When the ratio of flashy games to meaningful games begins to be the same as books or movies, games will be an art form.

We can speed up the process though, simply by saying that they are "undeniably art."

So yeah.

Where have you been?

Games are Art.

Sep. 8th, 2008

Quickie: The more you know -----> Star

Yeah I've been trying to reply to some messages recently, but my computer has this wonderful infection that keeps it from you know, being useful. *sigh* I wish it would decide to work or not to work so I could decide on what to do with it. Been running the despicable culprit through the gauntlet of spy ware protection programs. I've got three that I run almost every day and they all tend to find an "Extremely High Priority" Bug that needs to be removed immediately, but you know, after about an hour or so of use, my computer is mysteriously running slow again and must be restarted.

So yeah, no fun.

Starting tomorrow I'll either be enrolled in six classes for 18 units. Scary! Or I'll be dropping Spanish for a student run creative writing magazine for ASU. Not sure yet because for now the schedule for the internship seems very loose, possibly requiring me to be somewhere on Wednesday at 3:30 which would create a conflict and thus two possible scenarios in which to resolve it. A)Splitting myself in two, one half attending my Spanish class and the other half at the internship or option B) Being whole at my internship. I haven't yet mastered the art of functioning as two separate entities, so I'm thinking I'll end up choosing B.

Looking for a job has led me no where, my current schedule has me only going to school on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Wooo! But students in my position have already found the jobs I need cause they're whores! So when I apply at places and get interviews, they're like, “yeah, we already have students working on Tuesday and Thursday so we need people for MWF.”

Still functioning on loans, but with Rock Band 2 coming out I'd kinda like some kind of dependable income.

P.S. Happy Birthday Omar!

Sep. 1st, 2008

First Week of School:

I've never been a "good student." I've been adequate. I've met basic expectations, I've completed assignments in the allotted time frame in which they are assigned, but very rarely do I go above and beyond what is expected of me. Not to say that I've never done so, but it's a rare occasion.

The last two semesters I've managed to make the Dean's list, something I would never have envisioned myself ever accomplishing. I've always scrapped by, sparks splashing, shards flying, as I've skitted over the line of "success." However if the graph was flipped, "failure" would have always been in arms reach.

I've thought about the changes in my attitude and habits that may have created this new buffer of success, but have yet to pin point it, leaving me to believe the answers lies in a number of places then any thing specific, but I'm living in fear knowing that school has restarted and I've only started doing homework yesterday. Thank god for Labor Day. Perhaps my buffer is luck.

Praise be to Yevon that most of my classes seem alright. British Literature and Shakespeare come off like exercise. I often hate the idea of doing the reading for them, but when I'm finished I can't help, but feel as though I've learned some valuable Truth. Magazine Writing and Poetry are both leading me to expect great things, and my poetry teacher reminds me of myself when he talks about the "Forms" and their distinction from "forms" of poetry. He also doesn't accept the author of any work to be the soul owner of what it is that they wrote. So I know will get along.

My Fifth class is Spanish 202 fulfilling a requirement I had already met while at the UofA, but their department doesn't compare '203' to '201 and 202' instead their native speakers must take '211 and 212.' So that was extremely frustrating to discover, but my teacher is so extremely flamboyant and dorky, that it almost feels as though Derek (H) is teaching me Spanish. So I don't mind.

Other then school I've spent a lot of time just buying things I've always wanted to have, but could never afford. I bought Mike's California King Size bed from him and I've never owned a bed larger then a twin so it's like, BOOM! I can lay on it from head to toe in ANY direction. I also bought myself a digital camera because I really don't have that many pictures of myself or my friends other then what I've posted on my MySpace or that they've posted on theirs. Picked up a copy of Wii Fit that I've only played twice, shame on me and then about $450 on text books, probably another $100 on school related supplies.

So yeah, I'm doing well, the quality of my life is significantly higher then it's ever been and I'm looking forward to people visiting me. I really should get to the books though, just figured a blog hadn't been posted for awhile. Really trying to get better about it, but life slips by.

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