emptying my brain onto the internet since 1998…
I actually posted this on the D*C MMO site a few weeks back, but I really wanted to repost it here. Â Do yourself a favor, switch it to HD and watch it in full screen.
EVE is a game I wouldn’t really recommend to most gamers I know. Â It takes a certain couple of specific mindsets to really get into the game (hint: I don’t play either), but you cannot deny that it looks good for what it does and any fan of spaceship science fiction has got to find the imagery breathtaking.
Ramona and Beezus:
Based on the Beverly Cleary book Ramona Forever, obviously this is a family film. Â From the trailer it looks to be fun and probably worth the trip to the theater with the kids.
Salt:
I really wanted to be able to come here and say you should run to the theater and see this movie. Â I wanted to, but then I saw it. Â Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t suck. Â It has some good action and the plot twists are kinda neat (if a tad predictable), but I’m over my “My god! Angelina is so beautiful! Lust lust lust!!” phase. Â Sometimes she is a good actress, and sometimes she isn’t. Â She just didn’t get me to care about her character one way or the other. Â On top of that, I’m getting to the point where I don’t buy her as an action star. Â It could be my aversion to ultra skinny women, but her lack of a substance, to me, hurts because I can’t really get behind her toting around big guns and simultaneously kicking the asses of a half dozen guys when I think the kick of the weapons would knock her down or that any one of those trained fighters she’s up against could overpower her. Â Anyway, if you don’t mind that and you just want to go see an action movie, this one is worth seeing, though I suggest going to an earlier show to get a cheaper price. Â If you don’t need to see the movie, skip it, and wait for the rental.
This month’s Gamer Banter: “How important is cover art to you?”
Back in the day, we’d go to the store as a family, and in the electronics section there would be the wall of Atari games. Â The cover art was pretty much always like a million times better than the actual game graphics. Â The art mattered, because that’s what got you to pick up the box and flip it over to see a couple of game shots. Â Even into the Nintendo and early PC eras this continued. Â The art of a King’s Quest box didn’t match the game, but it drew you in.
These days, I almost never go to the store to browse games. Â I check websites, I browse Amazon. Â I buy games there too, and the only time I ever see the game box is when I’m getting the disc out to put it in the 360 or installing the game on my hard drive… though Steam has pretty much ended the latter.
If I did, though, game box covers are like a movie poster. Â It’s art, meant to catch your eye. Â And much like movie posters the same layouts get used so often that I have become almost immune to them. Â They fail to catch my eye. Â And yet, now and then a movie poster comes along that I have to find and buy and I have to put on my wall. Â But game boxes are so small. Â Perhaps I might display a particularly good one if it was sold in a poster size, but so few are.
So to answer the question, the cover art is unimportant to me. Â I barely even notice it.
This post was part of Gamer Banter, a monthly video game discussion coordinated by Terry at Game Couch. If you’re interested in being part of this, please email him for details.
Other takes:
Silvercublogger: Don’t Cover The Art, Unless…
The Average Gamer: Cover Art
SnipingMizzy: In the eye of the beholder
Extra Guy: On Books and Covers
Zath: How Important Is A Game’s Cover Art?
carocat.co.uk: Cover art? No, thanks!
Pioneer Project: The game box’s big moment
Man Fat: How Important Is A Game’s Cover Art?
This weekend I finally turned the last page of Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker. Â It took me nearly two months to polish this one off, and I feel like I both enjoyed it and didn’t enjoy it at the same time.
First off, the book contains two elements I like: steampunk and zombies.  The story is thus: In 1880s America (or there about), Seattle has been partly/largely destroyed by an event in which a machine ran amok, dug a giant hole under the city causing the release of some weird gas that makes people sick and turns them to zombies.  The remains of the city are walled up and a small industry has risen from the distillation of the gas into other products (drugs mostly).  People still live in the walled city, pumping in safe air from high up (the weird gas is heavy and sits within the walls like liquid in a bowl) and using gas masks when needing to venture outside.  The son of the man responsible, having never known his father, enters the city to learn more, and his mother goes in after him.  Overall, a well formed world is crafted by Priest and the elements of the tale are interesting.  If you really love zombies or steampunk, I recommend the book.
On the other hand, if you aren’t hardcore into either or both, I might wave you off. Â Priest’s book is dense. Â She is working hard to craft a world here, and sometimes I felt like that got in the way of the story. Â Numerous times, for me, the book came to a halt while she took the time to describe objects and places and how things were. Â In stark contrast, her action sequences were quick and lively, and made the non-action seem that much slower. Â Because of this, it may not be everyone’s cup of tea.
So, I cautiously recommend Boneshaker. Â I enjoyed it overall, but at times felt like I was slogging through it just to finish.
At launch, I was a big fan of Free Realms. Â It was a nice looking, well crafted game, and it was free. Â I played it a few hours a week right up until they moved the velvet rope. Â Originally, some professions were fully open up to level 20 and other professions were closed unless you paid. Â I really liked this because it allowed you to see the game from the bottom to the top, at least in part. Â The new model allows you to get up to level 5 in every profession, with further advancement behind the pay wall. Â Because of the switch, I quit shortly thereafter, because frankly, even though I was enjoying it, it wasn’t worth $5 a month to play.
Right now and until August 2nd, SOE is running a special, $30 lifetime subscription for Free Realms. Â Due to a few freebies and other gifts I’ve gotten over the last year, I had accumulated 2800 Station Cash points, and the store said I could buy the lifetime subscription for 2999 points. Â I cracked open the wallet, bought $5 worth of points and bought my lifetime membership.
Sadly, this means that Free Realms technically doesn’t belong in the Freeloading category anymore, so this will be my last post on this game under this heading.
I think the game is totally worth $30. Â Especially if you have kids. Â Sure, there are still many items in the cash shop, and so your spending days may not be over, but the game will have no fixed costs, which is nice. Â And you can always dole out Station Cash as allowance and/or rewards. Â Personally, I like the game for the same reason I still like Puzzle Pirates – I like short arcade-style mini-games, but I love that doing them contributes to an overall game and world. Â Sure, I could play Bejeweled or other matching games over at Popcap or on Facebook, but they don’t earn me anything. Â In Free Realms, when I do well at mining I get ore which I can smith into weapons that I can use in my fighting professions and so on. Â Plus, I like running around in huge worlds and seeing stuff.
Now, the only issue I have with Free Realms is their silly 1024 x 768 minimum resolution limitation that prevents me from being able to play on my 1024 x 600 netbook. Â Puzzle Pirates is still the winner on that device…
Standing Ovation:
If you like those Disney movies about singing kids, you’ll probably like this too, and so will most kids. Of the three opening films this weekend, this is the best one for families. Â Not really my cup of tea, though it is highly likely I will see this some day after it shows up on Netflix.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice:
I am a sucker for magic and fantasy. Â And despite him being quite awful in a number of films, I always find myself wanting to like anything that Nicolas Cage is in. Â The special effects look great, and the trailer has me hooked, and even Mr. Cage appears to not be awful. Â If I go to the theater this weekend, it’ll be either to catch up on an older film I missed (damn you free passes that excluded the first couple weeks of release!) or it’ll be to see this movie.
Inception:
But really, the only reason The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is at the top of my list is because I’ve already seen Inception. Â I’m going to try do describe this movie without spoiling it. Â Have you seen the movie Dreamscape from 1984? Â In that film, specially gifted people could enter the dreams of others and try to help them defeat their nightmares. Â How about The Cell from 2000? Â Here, a woman who enters dreams to help people takes on the task of going into a comatose serial killer to locate his final victim before they die. Â Inception has its roots in the same ground. Â The mind and dreams are important. Â In this case, Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb leads a group of people who are thieves. Â They call it extraction. Â They enter the mind of a dreamer and get at the secrets he holds. Â But they are hired to do something different this time, to plant a new idea into a target’s mind. Â The movie is almost two and a half hours long and I’ve just described the first, maybe, twenty minutes, in broad strokes leaving out the juicy details, and that’s all I can really say. Â That’s all I want to say, because you must see this movie. Â I can’t even tell you why you should see it without spoiling the film. Â Visually, the movie is stunning. Â It is fabulously paced, and there isn’t a single bad performance by any actor, though in my opinion Joseph Gordon-Levitt came out on top. Â Totally worth your hard earned ticket money this weekend.
The other day, I went to tour a colocation facility. Â For the uninitiated, it’s a place to put your business servers so you don’t have to house them yourself (and maintain UPS and generators and other things like that). Â Outside this facility were some protesters. Â They had signs about unfair wages and other stuff. Â I found out from the employees that the reason for the protest was thus: this company decided to expand, took bids for sheet rock work, and accepted the lower bid, a company with a higher bid didn’t like it and claims the only reason the other bid was lower was because “that company doesn’t pay a fair wage”, but it turns out the upset company is a union shop and likely pays more due to contract not because it’s “fair”.
That’s fine. Â I understand, company upset, protests. Â But the kicker is, the protesters are not employees of that company or members of that union. Â The protesters are homeless people that the company is paying (well below the minimum wage) to stand there 24/7. Â I know, I asked, and protesters, when approached, often ask if you know about the protest and offer to give you details, they don’t usually ask for cigarettes and money – homeless people do.
Look. Â If you don’t care enough to do your own protesting, then I can’t be bothered to care about your protest. Â And the ironic part of paying people an unfair wage to protest unfair wages is not really helping you.
Besides, have you been inside? Â Their setup is freakin’ sweet!