The ancient glacier of Canadian winter has finally released us from it’s torment and we are now existing peacefully under dark rain clouds. At least it’s a start.
I’m on the job hunt and things are finally coming together, I think. I am enjoying myself though, learning to cook new things, helping with yardwork, and all that stuff.
I’m trying to find things to occupy my time but right now the whole job thing is more important.
I don’t have much to say other than that. Although I did see the new multiplayer videos for The Conduit, and I am totally psyched. I’m hoping this game is as good as it looks because the wii needs some more hardcore gameplay going on. It all comes down to the waiting game though.
Another time,
Peter
I read an article about a particular group of people known as the NIMF. The National Institute on Media and the Family, that is headed up by some guy with a PhD, has declared their outrage in regards to a video game that has recently been released for the Nintendo Wii. The game itself has a laughable plot, black & white graphics, and so much blood it’s cartoonish. Just like every other game that’s been released in the modern gaming age it was released with a parental warning and rating on the package.
The NIMF claims that Nintendo has turned its back on the family unit by releasing a violent game that could possibly corrupt the children playing it. One of the biggest criticisms Nintendo has faced in the past 3 years by the gaming community was it’s focus on family entertainment, producing scores of video games with very little production value, appeal, or substance. These games aren’t worth buying not because they are focused on the family but instead due to the fact that they are poorly made. This year has been an interesting return for Nintendo because of the list of new games that are being released, most of these being aimed at the older Nintendo fan (who have been neglected by the video game giant). The argument the NIMF is making about Nintendo is fundamentally wrong. A game should be treated like a movie or even artwork. It can be controversial, it can be bloody, and offensive, but that is why we have ratings for entertainment.
If the people at NIMF watched what their children were buying or playing then they should have no fear of a title like Madworld, in fact it shouldn’t cause any problems at all. There is an ignorance towards the video game industry that is beyond biblical proportions. The sooner consumers and parents realise that video games have been violent and have expressed mature themes since the very beginning, they will not be so shocked when they blindly buy their 7-year old son a copy of Grand Theft Auto 4 and he in turn calls his mother a whore. At the crux of this rant, the true fundamental key of the entire conversation is that organizations like the NIMF shouldn’t exist because they are promoting their view of parenthood to a group of parents who should’ve thought a little harder about having children and how to raise them. Then again when society dictates that getting a job, getting married, and pumping out stomach parasites is the ultimate goal in life we must stand back and realize that unrealistic, pixelated violence is the least of our problems.
Pete
I write articles…nobody reads.
Anyways, I hope everyone who actually reads this had a good new year. I also hope that not too many of you are worrying over the sappy, overly sentimental idea that a new year is your chance to be reborn from the ashes of the old. Personally I think it’s garbage, new years is about throwing your inhibitions out the window getting drunk and possibly making out with people, unless of course you’re in a relationship then it’s definitely about getting trashed and making out with THE person. This new year’s was unfortunately lame. Tess had worked a lot so she was tired and I completely understand, but it was still a fairly “MEH” new years.
Enough of that refuse. I’m actually in a random assortment of people that may actually turn into a band. Not just that but I’ve actually created a couple song ideas (which is huge cause I can’t say I’m much of a song writer). So with some more practice with people and poorly done garage recordings (unlikely in this horrible weather) I might actually have something to put up on this site. Promises, promises.
I also have a few video ideas and such that I might work on. Other than that we’ll see. Anyways, I’ll talk at you another time.
-Pete
I will make no prediction about this election. A single day that has already etched itself in the records of modern history and this day has not yet come to pass. I have made my own predictions but those were just amusing “what-if” scenarios that won’t come to pass. There is no point trying to divine the possibilities of tomorrow when we should wait and see. The entire world is waiting with bated breath in the hopes that the victorious candidate will be capable of correcting the mistakes of the previous administration. An administration that has become legendary due to their exploits. A president who has been vilified across the world by protestors and even world leaders. He has been criticized as being uneducated, unintelligent, and incompetent. Some see him as the pinnacle of the anti-intellectual trend, and yet he ran for two terms as the President of the United States, an accomplishment that many intellectuals such as Al Gore and John Kerry were incapable of obtaining.
So it comes to some surprise when we see that this 2008 election is truly about one man. President George W. Bush, soon to be former President George W. Bush has become the most influential man in modern American history. No one in that nation has the ability to inspire others like this man and you only need to look at this past year to understand everything he has done for his country in the past eight. In 2000, many were worried about the Bush the Younger becoming president over the democrat Gore, and by 2004 people from across the world were horrified that he was re-elected. The opinions of many, as represented through text and the internet, stated questions as to why the American people were so politically lazy. In actuality the American people were taking a break, they were tired of being a politically savant nation during the periods of January 20, 1993-January 20, 2001. They needed an eight year break, they needed a man who could speak to all people in their nation, a man who could inspire patriotism, brotherhood, hate and anger. While so many were banging their heads upon the proverbial wall for the past eight years they finally looked up from their self-flagellating protest to finally admire the greatest gift a president has ever given their country. He has inspired a nation of approximately 300 million people to excercise their right to vote and also to join in a grand political conversation. The Boy Blunder of global politics has inspired the American people to forget about everyday distractions and to join in the great political debate that affects not only themselves but others around the world. While George W. Bush isn’t on the ballot he has forever marked himself upon three federal elections and maybe countless future elections as well.
I like reading IGN for info about games and reviews and all that stuff. Soon after making the last post on this site I found an article written by one of the IGN staff about things that could be improved upon with Zelda. Not everything I mentioned was on this guy’s list but he understood the fundamentals and what’s currently wrong with the LoZ series. At the last E3 Shigeru or someone representing him stated that a new Zelda was underway, it sounds like they aren’t going fullblast yet because it’s still in the early planning stages. They know that a new Zelda is due and it’s good that they are working towards it.
This article written on IGN did go over some major points, storyline, artwork, style, gameplay and all that good stuff. They brought up questions like “Why can’t we have a more complex and involved Zelda game?” as well as “Do we need to save the princess again?”. I personally believe that these are some of the most important questions to asked of the new game. the Zelda series has stumbled upon this fantasy adventure theme within the past decade or so involving musical instruments and epic stories. Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages (I believe that’s what they’re called), these are all Zelda games that use a fantasy setting and for some reason musical instruments play key roles in the whole thing. Why aren’t we using the wii remote with the new instrument? Why aren’t we using the wii remote like Retro Studios did with Metroid Prime 3. In MP3 Samus had to physically turn the levers, type in codes and scan computers to open doors. This level of physical immersion into the game was brilliant and it already added a great feeling to an already amazing and beautiful game. Maybe the next Zelda game should have these things, wii remote gestures to break pots, open doors and windows possibly even cast spells (if the new game will have a spell system like OoT). What about picking up a torch and lighting cobwebs or other torches? Adding this would really draw the player in to the game and the environment like nothing we’ve seen before.
While I could go on and on about gameplay I think one thing must be taken into account, the direction of old games that have been renewed and revamped for the modern day. I’m of course talking about Prince of Persia, the new trilogy of Prince of Persia was well accepted. The Sands of Time is a classic game, the sequel had some fun points and a deep story but overall had it’s flaws, and the last game was the big clencher creating a fight between an old enemy and within the prince himself. Now we are set for a new game and possibly a new Prince of Persia, something we would never imagined. Unlike the semi-realistic style of the trilogy the new game will have a mix of a gritty dark style added with an interesting cell-shaded cartoonish look. This allows a great style for setting mood but also brings about a stunning visual experience. This series is almost as old as Zelda (7 years younger than LoZ I believe) and yet it is being completely redesigned to produce the best possible story and visual entertainment. My question is: Why can’t Zelda do the same?
People want an older, teenaged Link. Give them that, but give him more, make it gritty and a little dark, and the cell-shading that Windwaker attempted but tailor it to an older more complex Zelda game. Give us something that really immerses ourselves in Hyrule and the story overall. There is so much that could be done for this game but I fear we will have to wait sometime before we even see a glimpse of the new adventure. Until then I’ll be playing my way through the previous games and hope that I won’t be let down in the future.
-Peter
It’s been a while I know. I’m a little sick and a little tired. Of course most of that is all my fault and if I went to bed earlier it would be probably help. But I’m also sick and tired of other things like video games. Or should I say video game companies. As a video game geek I like playing a lot of games, hell I even play older ones when there’s nothing new that is worth playing. The only game I’ve been anticipating for some time (The Force Unleashed) is out already, I beat it unlocked most of the stuff and had a fun romp through the multiplayer. Now I’m bored and so I turned to my old stand by of A) trying out older games I loved or B) old games I’ve never tried before but always wanted to.
So I immediately jumped on the Wii shopping channel and decided to spend some points on a classic game. An iconic piece of gaming history that reminds us of those halcyon days. To completely dead pan my previous two sentences of flowery prose I will simply say this: I downloaded Zelda: A Link to the Past. The controls were simple and yet if you’ve played other Zelda games they were in some way very familiar. It just felt right playing a game this old, and the truth was I enjoyed it. You have the standard story, the harrowing adventure and hell the opening of this game has you storming a castle and absconding with a princess right under the very nose of an evil wizard and his brainwashed soldiers. The story is fun and so is the gameplay yet as simple as it is there was still some level difficulty to it. The amount of items you can collect in this game is astounding when you compare it to the modern sequels of the series. A Link to the Past takes up a miniscule fraction of hard drive space that say Windwaker or Twilight Princess does. Sure the newer graphics and game engine makes up for everything, but if we are going to be gung ho about that then why not double the amount of items you can collect just for the fun of it.
A Link to the Past has four different swords in the game. FOUR! The Master Sword ranks in as the third most powerful of these. As much as I like other Zelda games I don’t recall any of them having four swords that you can collect and use. I believe that this strikes at the core issues of the gaming world. Developers are so worried about physics and graphics and artificial intelligence that they only make slightly better looking games but there’s nothing of substance. I don’t want quasi-realistic facial expressions exuding the utter torment and pain they are experiencing as I’m repeatedly smashing them in the face with a hammer. I want fun. The gameplay, the story and the excitement knowing that when I beat this game it will be worth playing it again.
You can only imagine how let down I felt when Nintendo made a big announcement that they’re going to be making a big announcement. When that day came they released information about a new DS with camera on it. If I cared about portable video game systems capable of taking EMO pictures of myself in a washroom so I can put it up on facebook I’d become an Apple fanboy foaming at the mouth about how awesome I think the iPhone is. I wanted Nintendo to come out and tell us that our fears can be assuaged because we can look forward to another Zelda game,another metroid game or even a completely new series. Instead we get an iPhone knockoff that doesn’t look better than the previous unit and doesn’t offer much else.
Yours surly,
Peter
My friends like hosting “Nerf Warfare” once in a while and I never bought a gun to really participate in the whole thing. Sure I borrowed an extra here but it just wasn’t the same. I found a really nice gun ( a new model called the CS-6 Recon), it’s a modular rifle that can be broken down into separate “modules”. The main device consists of a beefy sized pistol that has numerous attachments. A butt-stock, extended barrel, flip-up sight, a laser light and a scope. Most of the accessories are crap (which may be reworked into something useful) but there are some essential pieces that are just very good. One of the best parts is the pistol grip. It’s shaped so a left-handed or right-handed person can use it comfortably, being that I’m ambidextrous I’m quite happy with that feature. Other than just buying a nerf gun though I wanted a project and sure enough I found a few modifications that could be made. For now I’ve only made a few changes to the gun. I removed the back cylindrical shroud covering the plunger, I removed a safety feature that prevents the gun from firing better, and I painted it.
The paint the job isn’t great but I’ll be sanding it down and applying a second coat before looking into more detailed painting. So far the performance mod has impressed me; It really increased the range and power of the pistol which will hopefully be an advantage in combat. As for my ideas for the accessories I’m thinking of turning the scope into a mounting socket for a flashlight, the laser sight will actually have a real laser pointer in it and the flip-up sight will probably be set up with two small mirrors for looking around corners.
Either way I have a lot of things to try out on this thing before I’m through so now I have something to update the site with! Talk to you soon.
Pete.
P.S. there are some pics uploaded in the gallery. They were taken using a cell phone so not great quality but you get the idea.
I love ridiculous sayings generally born from the net or more specifically from lolcat captions. Of course this is not what I’m writing about. I’m writing about some awesome stuff I’ve come across the past few weeks and how people should check it out. First I finished reading the book Good Omens written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It’s a hilarious take on the apocalypse and what would happen if certain key events went awry. Another Gaiman work I’ve enjoyed recently was a graphic novel titled ‘Marvel 1602′. Gaiman created a book where key Marvel figures were within England under the reign of Elizabeth I. What I love the most, being an amateur secret service buff, was the position the character Nick Fury held as the leader of Elizabeth’s spy network in Europe. Though some may not know this Queen Elizabeth I did have a spy network running within England and throughout Europe. I find this historical fiction melded with Marvel heroes rather awesome. Maybe that’s just me but I find it amazing. Speaking of Gaiman he has also been asked to write some stuff for Marvel concerning some new movies, for those of you who haven’t seen Ironman and the little video at the end of it then you probably don’t have a clue as to what Gaiman is working on. For those of you who do we all know it’s going to be amazing.
With that said Marvel released info on upcoming plans on movies featuring three of the most famous non-x-men Marvel heroes, Thor, Hulk and Captain America. Rumour has it that Kevin Mckidd (who played Verenas on Rome) is playing Captain American. If these upcoming movies are going to be crafted with the same quality as the Ironman movie then we will be in for a great series of flicks. Asides from geekdom I can say nothing fantastic has happened. My computer decided to give up the ghost a few weeks ago and only got it up and running recently due to my bro’s expertise. It’s funny how I was recently thinking about my comp and how long I’ve had it. It’s been three and a half years and I realized I hadn’t gotten it for strictly gaming. I bought it thinking I would use it write and record my own music. It was exactly that day when my bro was setting up some software for the purpose of recording music that it died on us. I don’t believe in fate but you have to admit that that was an interesting set of circumstances. Almost like the computer got the last laugh screaming down to hell while flashing me the bird. Anyways funny stuff to think about. It’s late, I should sleep, I’ll be back later.
Peter.
So everything is going well, lots of of school work unfortunately but I am bursting full of ideas which I may add to the site. We shall see how it goes. Also this is a birthday post I’m now 22 years of age. Had a great dinner with the family and I got some interesting gifts. One of these being some special pipe tobacco that I’m extremely interested in trying but alas my birthday is a winter birthday and that’s a pain when it comes to smoking of any kind. Speaking of which there is a crazy freaking cult of pipe smokers on youtube, there is this cult of not just pipe smokers but fans and admirers of pipe smokers, who I have to say judging by the comments they leave are also very sexually repressed. Then again maybe I’m jealous, maybe I need to get a silent video of myself with my mantastic prettiness and a freshly lit bowl and then I too can enjoy the numerous accolades and statements of being a ‘sexy pipe smokin’ daddy’. No? Well it’s worth a shot.
In any case I have some film ideas that might actually pan out and this could turn into something worthwhile. But it is getting late and I need to get some sleep. Until next we meet.
Pete.
Two whole months roll by before I update. I won’t even attempt a sarcastic remark here. I am terrible at this. Enough about my abilities and performance. I am in a three day gauntlet of exams that ends with a three hour torturous test that includes a full essay. How do I get myself into these things? I don’t know and I don’t care. I think that’s my key to handling difficult situations, when I stop caring about the consequences I tend to focus on the task at hand. Apathy as a key to a work ethic. Interesting idea, no?
Besides that though I have been absorbing some interesting materials. Literature, a spectacular television show and a few epiphanies. One such burst of insight has lead me to discover that I use words before I know the definitions for them. Just now, this last paragraph and a half I have used two words that I needed to search up their meanings while writing this. I’m supposed to be a writer when I grow up. Interesting. Nonetheless I have been doing a lot of reading, thinking and most importantly questioning that has lead me to new answers. I can only hope that when this harrowing ordeal is over I will be free of all responsibilities and allowed to explore something completely new. Here’s to new horizons.
Cheers,
Peter
Uncategorized | peter | 
May 6, 2009 2:11 pm | 
Comments (0) 
Subscribe