Today is our first anniversary. After 1 year of being together, I'm left with the notion that maybe it really isn't as bad as everyone says it is. Or something like that.
She's really a different breed of woman, and you'd never really know what I mean until you got to know her the way I do. Just the same, here we are, a year later, and looking back, it's been a damned good year. We've learned some more about each other. We've even gotten a little older (but don't tell anyone that).
About a week after we got married, we also bought a house. It's little, it's in a ghetto neighborhood, but it's ours and we love it.
But I guess the question is, after a year together. What do you take from each other? What is the most important lesson you learned?
She kicks in her sleep.
Happy Anniversary, love.
20 April 2008
12 April 2008
Some things never change
R.Gunz: I thought we'd try something a little different today. Gina and I decided to collaborate on a post. Maybe it would get her involved... since she never posts anyway.
G.Gunz: Hey, why would you say that? But I'm misses--- argh.... *sigh* *laugh* *silent whimper* *gasp* STOP IT!!! *laugh* Why would you do that? No one's gonna want to read that.
(silence)
R.Gunz: Back to the subject. More importantly, I feel like slinging a little mud. Since "Two Guys From Italy" opened in Apple Valley, the Mrs. and I have gone 3 times. Each time we've gone, the restaurant, while physically the same, has been vastly different. One thing hasn't changed. The food. It still sucks. Well, that was kind of mean, and unnecessary. It's actually not terrible, but if you get a bowl of just pasta, I could quote the Mrs. on saying that "It tastes like school lunch." The portions aren't a bad size, but the food is simply too expensive for what you get. I'm not a foodie, but I know that if something is too salty for me, that's really fuckin' salty.
G.Gunz: I think the ownership has changed a couple of times, and there was a span of a month where the restaurant was closed entirely. Originally, if you wanted to dine in, you would go up to the counter and order. I think they're trying to make it posher, because they now seat you and take your order like a real restaurant. Unfortunately, their waiters have received little to no training.
R.Gunz: You have a penchant for understatement. Our waiter today... Todd? Mike?? Dumbass? Might have gotten training on how not to be a good waiter... maybe on how to be a prison guard. The place wasn't busy, but that gives no excuse to "hovering" over us. It took twenty minutes to get the food, which at Applebees or the Olive Garden might have been acceptable, but considering the "buffet-style" kitchen, you'd have expected a faster turn around. Also, Shit-bird wasn't familiar with Pinot Noir. Nor did he ask for ID, until I reminded him. Not that it matters to me, but if you serve alcohol, I'd expect you'd rather not get busted for serving a minor. I hear it's expensive.
G.Gunz: I'm really not that picky. I'm a lot more understanding of poor service than Ron is. But when he arrived with my Pinot Noir, I was surprised! The glass he brought it in looked like a tiny dessert wine glass, and it was filled to the top (he also spilled a little, and tried to use a napkin to clean it up, but the outside of the glass was still sticky). And not that I'm a wine snob, but I believe red wine is supposed to be in a larger wine glass, so it has some room to breathe.
R.Gunz: You also would think that 6.50 buys you a little more than 4 ounces of wine, but I guess I'm not on the same level as these people. I gotta imagine that the place is a tax hole. There can't be much money to be made with the service and the food. I had the Chicken Saltimboca, which alone, isn't too bad. The marsala probably needed a bit more simmer to take the edge off of the cheap wine they used, but the chicken had good flavor, and the prosciutto was cooked well. The penne was insulting, though. I think there were 14 or 15 penne noodles, topped with this... catsup... or something. After all that, the meal was doused in salt. The portion wasn't too small, which is good for them, but it did leave you with a feeling of "That's it? I guess I could have eaten a little more." I'll take the positive side of that argument and say it prevented you from over-eating, but was probably designed to make you want dessert. In the middle of the entree, Big bird showed up and said "Is everyhing tasting good?" We said, "Yes, thank you." He took two steps away, turned around and came back. "Can I get you anything else?"
G.Gunz: No, we just wanted him to go away. And by the time he came back to ask about dessert, we were not interested. We wanted to go home. When I paid up front, I gave him my credit card. For some reason, there was no space for a tip on the receipt. I wasn't sure what to do, so I didn't leave a tip.
R.Gunz: Not that it matters, we aren't going back. I get better service by the 16 year old at KFC.
G.Gunz: Hey, why would you say that? But I'm misses--- argh.... *sigh* *laugh* *silent whimper* *gasp* STOP IT!!! *laugh* Why would you do that? No one's gonna want to read that.
(silence)
R.Gunz: Back to the subject. More importantly, I feel like slinging a little mud. Since "Two Guys From Italy" opened in Apple Valley, the Mrs. and I have gone 3 times. Each time we've gone, the restaurant, while physically the same, has been vastly different. One thing hasn't changed. The food. It still sucks. Well, that was kind of mean, and unnecessary. It's actually not terrible, but if you get a bowl of just pasta, I could quote the Mrs. on saying that "It tastes like school lunch." The portions aren't a bad size, but the food is simply too expensive for what you get. I'm not a foodie, but I know that if something is too salty for me, that's really fuckin' salty.
G.Gunz: I think the ownership has changed a couple of times, and there was a span of a month where the restaurant was closed entirely. Originally, if you wanted to dine in, you would go up to the counter and order. I think they're trying to make it posher, because they now seat you and take your order like a real restaurant. Unfortunately, their waiters have received little to no training.
R.Gunz: You have a penchant for understatement. Our waiter today... Todd? Mike?? Dumbass? Might have gotten training on how not to be a good waiter... maybe on how to be a prison guard. The place wasn't busy, but that gives no excuse to "hovering" over us. It took twenty minutes to get the food, which at Applebees or the Olive Garden might have been acceptable, but considering the "buffet-style" kitchen, you'd have expected a faster turn around. Also, Shit-bird wasn't familiar with Pinot Noir. Nor did he ask for ID, until I reminded him. Not that it matters to me, but if you serve alcohol, I'd expect you'd rather not get busted for serving a minor. I hear it's expensive.
G.Gunz: I'm really not that picky. I'm a lot more understanding of poor service than Ron is. But when he arrived with my Pinot Noir, I was surprised! The glass he brought it in looked like a tiny dessert wine glass, and it was filled to the top (he also spilled a little, and tried to use a napkin to clean it up, but the outside of the glass was still sticky). And not that I'm a wine snob, but I believe red wine is supposed to be in a larger wine glass, so it has some room to breathe.
R.Gunz: You also would think that 6.50 buys you a little more than 4 ounces of wine, but I guess I'm not on the same level as these people. I gotta imagine that the place is a tax hole. There can't be much money to be made with the service and the food. I had the Chicken Saltimboca, which alone, isn't too bad. The marsala probably needed a bit more simmer to take the edge off of the cheap wine they used, but the chicken had good flavor, and the prosciutto was cooked well. The penne was insulting, though. I think there were 14 or 15 penne noodles, topped with this... catsup... or something. After all that, the meal was doused in salt. The portion wasn't too small, which is good for them, but it did leave you with a feeling of "That's it? I guess I could have eaten a little more." I'll take the positive side of that argument and say it prevented you from over-eating, but was probably designed to make you want dessert. In the middle of the entree, Big bird showed up and said "Is everyhing tasting good?" We said, "Yes, thank you." He took two steps away, turned around and came back. "Can I get you anything else?"
G.Gunz: No, we just wanted him to go away. And by the time he came back to ask about dessert, we were not interested. We wanted to go home. When I paid up front, I gave him my credit card. For some reason, there was no space for a tip on the receipt. I wasn't sure what to do, so I didn't leave a tip.
R.Gunz: Not that it matters, we aren't going back. I get better service by the 16 year old at KFC.
06 April 2008
PIck a Card
One of my favorite authors is Orson Scott Card. I'm a huge science fiction fan, but there is something about the way this guy imagines the other worlds... or the future for that matter that is compelling to me. I bought a game (Advent Rising for the Xbox) that I can't even play (it's not on the 360 compatibility list) simply because he was the one who penned the story behind it. Between his writing and having once said that "Firefly" was the greatest Sci-Fi show on television, I'm willing to submit a petition for sainthood.
Now, I'm not a good writer, that much should be obvious, so I'm not sure what constitutes a good writer. I could tell you that I've certainly enjoyed more than my share of books by "bad writers" before. I could also tell you that I've had absolutely no interest in some books that would be considered that most important examples of literature during it's time, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
I could tell you that most Sci-Fi writers have absolutely no concept of what natural dialog sounds like, and Card seems guilty of that, but it's forgivable because the people he writes about are extraordinary and the times and places are different. What makes Card so different in my mind is the extent of the realization of his fiction, both in worlds and in characters. It's good enough that you find yourself making assumptions, and 9 times out of ten, you're right. The people are familiar enough that you'll recognize them as people in your life, which gave them a proper face.
I first read "Ender's Game" when I was in 7th grade, as a reading assignment from my teacher who'd been teaching long enough to recognize me for what I was: lazy and disinterested. I've made it a point to re-read the Ender Saga once a year (and the Bean Saga, now that it's been released and completed) because it seems that there's something to learn every time I read the books.
I recall that when I first finished "Ender's Game" (it didn't take a couple of days, that's how excited I was), my train of thought was related to how children/adolescents are just as capable of accomplishments (like saving the world and commanding battle fleets). Every year I read the books, I learn more about the positions taken in the book. And what the annihilation of a species actually means. It seems like the lesson I've learned to take from this is that innocence is the real difference between being an adult and a child.
Does that suggest that the children today have a terminal lack of innocence? I know that isn't the intention, but think back and remember what things were like when you were in elementary school and remember now that when a little girl kisses a little boy, that's now a suspension under the zero-tolerance sexual harassment policy.
You think about that while I crawl back to my hole in the shame of having admitted to reading "Ender's Game" after turning 15.
Now, I'm not a good writer, that much should be obvious, so I'm not sure what constitutes a good writer. I could tell you that I've certainly enjoyed more than my share of books by "bad writers" before. I could also tell you that I've had absolutely no interest in some books that would be considered that most important examples of literature during it's time, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
I could tell you that most Sci-Fi writers have absolutely no concept of what natural dialog sounds like, and Card seems guilty of that, but it's forgivable because the people he writes about are extraordinary and the times and places are different. What makes Card so different in my mind is the extent of the realization of his fiction, both in worlds and in characters. It's good enough that you find yourself making assumptions, and 9 times out of ten, you're right. The people are familiar enough that you'll recognize them as people in your life, which gave them a proper face.
I first read "Ender's Game" when I was in 7th grade, as a reading assignment from my teacher who'd been teaching long enough to recognize me for what I was: lazy and disinterested. I've made it a point to re-read the Ender Saga once a year (and the Bean Saga, now that it's been released and completed) because it seems that there's something to learn every time I read the books.
I recall that when I first finished "Ender's Game" (it didn't take a couple of days, that's how excited I was), my train of thought was related to how children/adolescents are just as capable of accomplishments (like saving the world and commanding battle fleets). Every year I read the books, I learn more about the positions taken in the book. And what the annihilation of a species actually means. It seems like the lesson I've learned to take from this is that innocence is the real difference between being an adult and a child.
Does that suggest that the children today have a terminal lack of innocence? I know that isn't the intention, but think back and remember what things were like when you were in elementary school and remember now that when a little girl kisses a little boy, that's now a suspension under the zero-tolerance sexual harassment policy.
You think about that while I crawl back to my hole in the shame of having admitted to reading "Ender's Game" after turning 15.
31 March 2008
It's nostalgia all over again
It's gotten to the point where I've run out of things to complain about. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but it's been fantastic for my blood pressure (not that I've actually got problems with my blood pressure or anything). With that in mind, whenever I think about "Stealing Drugs" anymore, all I really think about is my past... or my childhood if you will. I don't really see it as a problem, but then again it's my blog. I suppose if you don't like it, you'd stop reading, wouldn't you. You probably already have.
I touched briefly on my tepid obsessions when I get involved in some game series, or other IP. Wing Commander was a fantastic example of this. Final Fantasy was another, completely unintended one.
I've spent hundreds on making sure that I obtain every last copy of a series of games, so as not to feel like I was missing out on something. Not that it mattered much, because I would have no intention on playing the game later on. My PS2 game collection was almost 100 games at one point, more than 60 of them were unopened. It was quite embarrassing, actually.
If you look thru my collection, you may still find one unopened for posterity.
The problem remains that some games cross platforms. The Resident Evil series is such a perfect example of this. Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, and Resident Evil 3 all saw their first releases on the Playstation, but the original was also released on the Sega Saturn, PC, and the Nintendo DS. It was also remade for the Gamecube. Then re-released for the Playstation. Twice. For crazy people like me, who can't stand not to have every version of something, that's 5 different versions of a game to purchase.
I won't bore you with the details, but this is not an isolated story. A good portion of the games are this way.
Wing Commander was this was, as well. And for some reason, I just have to have all the different versions.
Or, at least, it used to be that way.
I met Gina, and things changed. I imagine that there has to be some sort of psychological void that buying all the different versions of a game had filled. I still have yet to figure out what that is.
Or maybe I'm just growing up.
Yeah, right.
I touched briefly on my tepid obsessions when I get involved in some game series, or other IP. Wing Commander was a fantastic example of this. Final Fantasy was another, completely unintended one.
I've spent hundreds on making sure that I obtain every last copy of a series of games, so as not to feel like I was missing out on something. Not that it mattered much, because I would have no intention on playing the game later on. My PS2 game collection was almost 100 games at one point, more than 60 of them were unopened. It was quite embarrassing, actually.
If you look thru my collection, you may still find one unopened for posterity.
The problem remains that some games cross platforms. The Resident Evil series is such a perfect example of this. Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, and Resident Evil 3 all saw their first releases on the Playstation, but the original was also released on the Sega Saturn, PC, and the Nintendo DS. It was also remade for the Gamecube. Then re-released for the Playstation. Twice. For crazy people like me, who can't stand not to have every version of something, that's 5 different versions of a game to purchase.
I won't bore you with the details, but this is not an isolated story. A good portion of the games are this way.
Wing Commander was this was, as well. And for some reason, I just have to have all the different versions.
Or, at least, it used to be that way.
I met Gina, and things changed. I imagine that there has to be some sort of psychological void that buying all the different versions of a game had filled. I still have yet to figure out what that is.
Or maybe I'm just growing up.
Yeah, right.
30 March 2008
Accidental Childhood Tangent
I must have been 14 or 15 years old when I rented a copy of Wing Commander III: The Heart of the Tiger for the Playstation. I know that's not very "hardcore PC gamer" of me, but at the time, outside of downloading the occasional rom, piracy was something way over my head. (Also, please remember that this was a time when CD burners were 800 bucks, not something I could afford after having spent 1200 bucks on the compaq (yeah, I paid for it) computer sitting in my room.
I actually rented the game because nothing else in the "Playstation" section caught my eye, and this being the year after we received the Psx for Christmas, the bombardment of the "URNote" campaign drove us in to a fervor, as the appeal of the games we were given during Christmas "Battle Arena Toshinden" and "Warhawk" had slowly wore away after completing them more than our share of times (I still have both, in case you were wondering).
We used to make the short walk down to the SuperAmerica (where one could rent games and movies) because it was only about a block away from where we lived. Interestingly enough, it's about two blocks away now. The prices were right (free) and the walk wasn't punishing like the one to the Blockbuster, which wasn't so bad, as long as you were willing to almost get run over in the predeveloped Apple Valley south.
A note about the prices being free: My dad was working for SuperAmerica at the time (not in that store), and we were in good with the manager of that store. The terminals had a cute flaw that allowed you to back out of the fee processing for the title when you scanned it in, leaving it in the checkout list, but removing the price from the transaction. SuperAmerica later put a stop to this, but I was invited by Rich to spend a few minutes looking for another flaw (during my already budding career as a computer whiz). I did in fact find another flaw that if you scanned the one you want to rent as a check in and pull up the account, scanning other titles would add them to the account. All this fun free renting ended when Heath (a friend of my half-brothers when he worked at that store) helped his friend out with free rentals in front of a district manager.
When I was about twelve, I lost 40 some hours of my life to Final Fantasy III (or 6 if you're going to be anal about it, but we're not in Japan, jerk), and lifetime, more than a hundred hours. From then on, I was careful not to rent any RPGs, as they were detrimental to my social life (or what there was of one) and caused largish late fees. This, and a lack of interest in sports titles (with racing as an exception) forced me to look at a game whose cover design was just slightly far enough on the cheese-o-meter that I would have skipped it without a second thought on any other day.
The second appeal was Mark Hamill. Mark God Damned Hamill. You know him as Luke Skywalker. I know him from the endless amount of B-movie tripe that the Sci-Fi channel used to buy up and throw out on Sundays for godless people like me who had no ambitions for an organized religion to fit in with. And I know him as Luke Skywalker. And was that the guy from A Clockwork Orange? And the fat guy from Indian Jones? I would have jumped at it if it weren't from the damned lion on the front cover. See what I mean:
When I got it home and popped the disc in sometime after dinner. My excitement was waning as the introductory movie cropped up. One of the things I appreciate today is that they made no attempt to tell you what the hell was going on. You just had to figure it out for yourself, or the play the old games. Or in some cases both (there were gaps between games, that could be explained by expansion packs and semi sequels that didn't see large releases). The movie they play you before you even hit the goddamned start button is something like 12 minutes long. Oh, and there were real people in it (a hallmark of the generation).
Here it is for your enjoyment:
Wasn't the soundtrack fantastic? All in all, the midi soundtrack does nothing to impress, but the fact is that if they had spent 100 thousand dollars in getting a real orchestra to play this music for them, it would have been quite incredible. But you take what you can get.
The acting... seems off doesn't it?
That's because the entire game was shot with a green screen background. It wasn't the first "interactive movie" game, but Wing Commander III has the pleasure of being one of the few successful interactive movie games.
The actual space combat gameplay was relatively tame. You "fly" from waypoint to waypoint and shoot bad guys. An interesting thing about this game: the controls were heavy. Usually, if you port a title like this, you cut some of the controls out, or automate some of the features to reduce the amount of complex button commands. They didn't do anything of the sort here. If you wanted to play this game, you'd better damned well learn how to use the controller.
Tell me if they make sense to you (from wcnews.com)
Wing Commander 3 Playstation
Thanks to Kristofer Bengtsson for supplying these controls.
Action Button combination
Afterburner L2 + R2
Fire guns Circle
Fire missile Square
Accelerate Triangle
Decelerate X
Full stop X + L1 + L2
Cycle weapons L1 + Square
Cycle guns L1 + Circle
Cycle targets L1 + X
Lock targets L1 + Triangle
Autopilot L1 + L2 + R1 + R2
Comms select Select + Left/Right
Nav Map Select + L2
Eject L1 + L2 + R1 + R2 + Select + Start
Cloak L1 + R2
What? You mean you have to press all 4 top buttons to get autopilot? What if I just fly my ship directly to the way point that's something like 200,000 kilometers away? Well, at the maximum non-afterburner speed of the fastest ship of 520 kps. Due to the fact that the distances were to scale, this would take you approximately 6.5 minutes to complete. Really? Fly 9 and a half minutes? The slowest ship without afterburner traveled at a sluggish 320 kps and Guess what... I did it the first time. And you know what happens when you get to the way point? You can fly right by it. Nothing happens until you hit autopilot. And thank god, because if I hadn't known that, I would have stopped playing if each mission took more that 45 minutes to fly.
Combat itself was a hodgepodge of interesting and uninteresting ideas. Like most space simulators, distance really has no meaning except your relation to the target and the dogfighting itself is more like you turning the whole of the universe around your ship while trying to align your targeting reticle with the enemy ship. The morale of your wingmen and of your enemies had an effect on their ability to combat each other, and the weapons had a nice strategic finesse to their usage. This is not the reason to play the game.
No, the most interesting thing is the acting, and the story. And the characters... including Tom Wilson (you know him as Biff from Back to the Future).
Here he is in an annoying interview about Wing Commander 4.
I couldn't remove myself from my seat, it was nonstop excitement. I wanted to know what happened to the characters. To the Confederation. The cast had some superb actors, and some sometimes superb acting.
This spawned an unhealthy obsession with the books and the other games, including Wing Commander IV and Prophecy (the final official retail game of the series).
The sequel to III ended up with a budget of 8 million dollars (unheard of in 1996), over runs pushed the budgets to 10 million, making it the most expensive computer game of all time until 1999's Shenmue crushed the costs with a 20 million dollar budget.
Today, I look back at the games with a light hearted disposition. I know that if I ever play them again, I will have to play the whole series, but I remember it all fondly, so I can choose not to.
I think, however, that everyone who has ever finished Wing Commander 3 has been mentally conditioned to like the Wing Commander movie, no matter how atrocious you acknowledge it to be. I'll tell you more about it...
When my head stops throbbing.
I actually rented the game because nothing else in the "Playstation" section caught my eye, and this being the year after we received the Psx for Christmas, the bombardment of the "URNote" campaign drove us in to a fervor, as the appeal of the games we were given during Christmas "Battle Arena Toshinden" and "Warhawk" had slowly wore away after completing them more than our share of times (I still have both, in case you were wondering).
We used to make the short walk down to the SuperAmerica (where one could rent games and movies) because it was only about a block away from where we lived. Interestingly enough, it's about two blocks away now. The prices were right (free) and the walk wasn't punishing like the one to the Blockbuster, which wasn't so bad, as long as you were willing to almost get run over in the predeveloped Apple Valley south.
A note about the prices being free: My dad was working for SuperAmerica at the time (not in that store), and we were in good with the manager of that store. The terminals had a cute flaw that allowed you to back out of the fee processing for the title when you scanned it in, leaving it in the checkout list, but removing the price from the transaction. SuperAmerica later put a stop to this, but I was invited by Rich to spend a few minutes looking for another flaw (during my already budding career as a computer whiz). I did in fact find another flaw that if you scanned the one you want to rent as a check in and pull up the account, scanning other titles would add them to the account. All this fun free renting ended when Heath (a friend of my half-brothers when he worked at that store) helped his friend out with free rentals in front of a district manager.
When I was about twelve, I lost 40 some hours of my life to Final Fantasy III (or 6 if you're going to be anal about it, but we're not in Japan, jerk), and lifetime, more than a hundred hours. From then on, I was careful not to rent any RPGs, as they were detrimental to my social life (or what there was of one) and caused largish late fees. This, and a lack of interest in sports titles (with racing as an exception) forced me to look at a game whose cover design was just slightly far enough on the cheese-o-meter that I would have skipped it without a second thought on any other day.
The second appeal was Mark Hamill. Mark God Damned Hamill. You know him as Luke Skywalker. I know him from the endless amount of B-movie tripe that the Sci-Fi channel used to buy up and throw out on Sundays for godless people like me who had no ambitions for an organized religion to fit in with. And I know him as Luke Skywalker. And was that the guy from A Clockwork Orange? And the fat guy from Indian Jones? I would have jumped at it if it weren't from the damned lion on the front cover. See what I mean:
When I got it home and popped the disc in sometime after dinner. My excitement was waning as the introductory movie cropped up. One of the things I appreciate today is that they made no attempt to tell you what the hell was going on. You just had to figure it out for yourself, or the play the old games. Or in some cases both (there were gaps between games, that could be explained by expansion packs and semi sequels that didn't see large releases). The movie they play you before you even hit the goddamned start button is something like 12 minutes long. Oh, and there were real people in it (a hallmark of the generation).
Here it is for your enjoyment:
Wasn't the soundtrack fantastic? All in all, the midi soundtrack does nothing to impress, but the fact is that if they had spent 100 thousand dollars in getting a real orchestra to play this music for them, it would have been quite incredible. But you take what you can get.
The acting... seems off doesn't it?
That's because the entire game was shot with a green screen background. It wasn't the first "interactive movie" game, but Wing Commander III has the pleasure of being one of the few successful interactive movie games.
The actual space combat gameplay was relatively tame. You "fly" from waypoint to waypoint and shoot bad guys. An interesting thing about this game: the controls were heavy. Usually, if you port a title like this, you cut some of the controls out, or automate some of the features to reduce the amount of complex button commands. They didn't do anything of the sort here. If you wanted to play this game, you'd better damned well learn how to use the controller.
Tell me if they make sense to you (from wcnews.com)
Wing Commander 3 Playstation
Thanks to Kristofer Bengtsson for supplying these controls.
Action Button combination
Afterburner L2 + R2
Fire guns Circle
Fire missile Square
Accelerate Triangle
Decelerate X
Full stop X + L1 + L2
Cycle weapons L1 + Square
Cycle guns L1 + Circle
Cycle targets L1 + X
Lock targets L1 + Triangle
Autopilot L1 + L2 + R1 + R2
Comms select Select + Left/Right
Nav Map Select + L2
Eject L1 + L2 + R1 + R2 + Select + Start
Cloak L1 + R2
What? You mean you have to press all 4 top buttons to get autopilot? What if I just fly my ship directly to the way point that's something like 200,000 kilometers away? Well, at the maximum non-afterburner speed of the fastest ship of 520 kps. Due to the fact that the distances were to scale, this would take you approximately 6.5 minutes to complete. Really? Fly 9 and a half minutes? The slowest ship without afterburner traveled at a sluggish 320 kps and Guess what... I did it the first time. And you know what happens when you get to the way point? You can fly right by it. Nothing happens until you hit autopilot. And thank god, because if I hadn't known that, I would have stopped playing if each mission took more that 45 minutes to fly.
Combat itself was a hodgepodge of interesting and uninteresting ideas. Like most space simulators, distance really has no meaning except your relation to the target and the dogfighting itself is more like you turning the whole of the universe around your ship while trying to align your targeting reticle with the enemy ship. The morale of your wingmen and of your enemies had an effect on their ability to combat each other, and the weapons had a nice strategic finesse to their usage. This is not the reason to play the game.
No, the most interesting thing is the acting, and the story. And the characters... including Tom Wilson (you know him as Biff from Back to the Future).
Here he is in an annoying interview about Wing Commander 4.
I couldn't remove myself from my seat, it was nonstop excitement. I wanted to know what happened to the characters. To the Confederation. The cast had some superb actors, and some sometimes superb acting.
This spawned an unhealthy obsession with the books and the other games, including Wing Commander IV and Prophecy (the final official retail game of the series).
The sequel to III ended up with a budget of 8 million dollars (unheard of in 1996), over runs pushed the budgets to 10 million, making it the most expensive computer game of all time until 1999's Shenmue crushed the costs with a 20 million dollar budget.
Today, I look back at the games with a light hearted disposition. I know that if I ever play them again, I will have to play the whole series, but I remember it all fondly, so I can choose not to.
I think, however, that everyone who has ever finished Wing Commander 3 has been mentally conditioned to like the Wing Commander movie, no matter how atrocious you acknowledge it to be. I'll tell you more about it...
When my head stops throbbing.
29 March 2008
28 March 2008
"Things Just Ain't the Same"
Since meeting Gina, anyone you'd talk to would say I was a different person. Don't get me wrong, I'm still an asshole. But habits changed. I did my own laundry, I cooked, I cleaned. I didn't go drinking as much. It wasn't reallly her influence, it was just like something snapped in my head and these things became things that I did.
Since we got married, one thing I've tried to hold on to has steadily declined. I simply don't play games as much as I used to. Before we met, I'd play games online, on the PC a total of 40 hours a week. Like a full time job. After we met, I was stoic in my addiction, carrying on playing games on my laptop, or the PSP (which I eventually traded in for my 360). Before we married, I was still doing 30 hours a week, most of which happened in the days we didn't spend together, and the late night/early morning hours. I would sleep less than 5 hours a night. I didn't need more than that.
I have plenty of opportunity to play. I also now have a huge TV. Gina encourages me to play, especially if she's busy with something (probably to keep me out of the way). But I simply don't play more than 5 hours a week anymore. There are exceptions to that rule. Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 managed to make release last week and has scoured about 10 hours of my time this week. When Metal Gear Solid 4 comes out, I may not see the light of day until I finish the game, some 12 to 20 hours later. But otherwise my interest simply isn't there.
The thing is, I like playing games, but I don't know if that change is related to the fact that I'm married and something is different now, or if that change is related to the fact the games industry hasn't really done much to keep my attention.
Or maybe she's using some osmosis therapy to slowly stop me...
Shhh... here she comes. Act natural.
Since we got married, one thing I've tried to hold on to has steadily declined. I simply don't play games as much as I used to. Before we met, I'd play games online, on the PC a total of 40 hours a week. Like a full time job. After we met, I was stoic in my addiction, carrying on playing games on my laptop, or the PSP (which I eventually traded in for my 360). Before we married, I was still doing 30 hours a week, most of which happened in the days we didn't spend together, and the late night/early morning hours. I would sleep less than 5 hours a night. I didn't need more than that.
I have plenty of opportunity to play. I also now have a huge TV. Gina encourages me to play, especially if she's busy with something (probably to keep me out of the way). But I simply don't play more than 5 hours a week anymore. There are exceptions to that rule. Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 managed to make release last week and has scoured about 10 hours of my time this week. When Metal Gear Solid 4 comes out, I may not see the light of day until I finish the game, some 12 to 20 hours later. But otherwise my interest simply isn't there.
The thing is, I like playing games, but I don't know if that change is related to the fact that I'm married and something is different now, or if that change is related to the fact the games industry hasn't really done much to keep my attention.
Or maybe she's using some osmosis therapy to slowly stop me...
Shhh... here she comes. Act natural.
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