30
Jan/10
0

Gaming, gaming and more gaming…

Been playing a lot games these days and recently I have completed Dragon Age: Origins, Uncharted, and Infamous. I am slowly catching up on some the PS 3 exclusives as have only had my console for a few months now, otherwise I have would have a done an Uncharted and Infamous review ages ago.  I figured I do three mini reviews for each game to share my thoughts and opinions about them.

Dragon Age: Origins

I am not really a hardcore RPG fan, but occasionally there are few games of the genre that people say every gamer should at least play once; Dragon Age is one such game. At first I was kind of hesitant to get this game so I borrowed a copy for the 360.  I figured if I liked the game I’ll get my own copy, turned out I did, for the PC. I’ll explain why I choose the PC copy in a bit. Basically to some up Dragon Age it is basically Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KotoR) meets Lord of the Rings. If you have not played KotoR, that is another RPG that every gamer should play, if you have time I’d recommend getting the PC copy or if you  have a 360 just grab the original Xbox release as I am sure it is backwards compatible. (Though double check before you do buy it)

Dragon Age has all the staples of any good RPG with a very solid story, interesting characters and party members, and a diverse array of quests to complete leading towards countless hours of gameplay. However, the one thing that surprised me when I started my second play through was the fact that the game has multiple intros based on your character’s race and status within society. The first time I played the game I choose a human noble. This choice provided an interesting introduction to game as one of the most powerful races in the game world combined with a high social status. This choice granted me some cool perks such as war dog as a pet right from the start of the game. Throughout the game till the end as a human I earned more respect from the other races and characters

On my second play through which I am currently playing I choose an elf mage. In the game world the elves are the lowest race, scorned by everyone. Additionally elves and humans seem to have an ongoing rivalry, and with the humans being on top of the food chain of society they have elves as common help doing chores of cooking, cleaning, etc for them. Though the elves may be a lower caste in the world, one thing most characters in the game world fear is magic. The lore in the game describes mages as being a loose cannon who at anytime may fall to demonic possession through “blood magic” and thus must be watched at all times but simultaneously feared for their inherit powers. So being an elf who can do magic has made some interesting choices in terms of character interactions and quest choices.

Along with amazing character development Dragon Age offers to the player; the quests are also very diverse and detailed. At times one quest can overlap with another depending how the player interacts with the world characters and circumstances of the quest. I would like to describe some really cool examples of this but doing so would spoil the game if you have not played it yet.

Overall if you are looking for a great single player game with a high level of replayability and countless hours of fun then look no further and pickup Dragon Age: Origins. Now earlier I said I played the 360 first then got it on the PC.  The 360 copy was fun but in terms of party management, UI navigation, and controlling tactical combat scenarios it just did not feel right with a game controller. On the PC with a keyboard and mouse a lot of those issues seemed to be nonexistent.  For me, the difference between the two was mainly a usability issue more than a gameplay hindrance. So if you like console games and don’t own a PC or have a PC that is not powerful enough to play some of the recent releases then I’d say get the 360 copy. If you do have a decent machine, get it for PC it just “feels” so much better.

To conclude this review/summary I’d rank Dragon Age as a 9/10.

Uncharted

Just one word is needed to describe Uncharted and that is, awesome! Right from the start of the game the player is strapped in for a roller coaster ride of action and adventure as they step into the shoes of Nathan Drake, a treasure hunter. Similar to how Dragon Age combined KotoR and Lord of the Rings, Uncharted seemed to take the best of Tomb Raider, Gears of War and the Indiana Jones films (pre Crystal Skull that movie sucked…don’t get me started on that!)

From Tomb Raider, Uncharted has some interesting puzzles and exploration mechanics. From Gears of War, Uncharted adopted the cover system which works great. And lastly from Indiana Jones, the game has an excellent narrative based on treasure hunting, and like most Indiana Jones films there are always other parties after the same treasure!

Though gameplay and story are very solid the one thing that sells Uncharted is the world. At the time the game came out, next games seemed to have this crazy ass mandate that realistic scenes in games are portrayed with drab colors such as gray and brown. Adding high levels of bloom and HDR makes things photo realistic. Sure those games looked nice, but one look at Uncharted and you can agree that brown and gray don’t equal to realism.

Just look at that lush jungle! That’s more realistic than let’s say GTA 4 or Gears of War (both games are great for their own merits but seem to lack “color”)

Though one thing I hate in many action adventure games is jumping puzzles, they seems to be a corner stone in the genre but more often than not jumping puzzles suck donkey balls. Why? Well you jump; you miss your target, fall to a horrible death, and reload the level to try again to the same fate over and over till you get it right.  Uncharted did something cool which made jumping puzzles a lot less frustrating where it seemed the game kind of “snapped” you to where you wanted to jump to. Meaning if I had to jump across a gap, I do the jump and make it the first time! Not after my 50th attempt! The character just snaps to a ledge or a rock and successfully completes the jump. Excellent design choice! Keep the game fun; don’t let stupid ass jumping puzzles ruin it for the player!

My only gripe with the game is the fact that AI are kind of like bullet sponges, and I can see why. It’s a gamey element, the AI have hit points and it takes x amount of shots to bring them down. I usually went for the headshots and took the AI down instantly, so not really a fun breaking moment more just something you notice when playing the game.

I have heard from my co-workers that Uncharted 2 is 50 times better than the first game. Now I am scratching my head thinking how the hell Naughty Dog (devs behind Unchrated) out did shine their own game with the sequel! Well, I’ll find out this week as my copy of Uncharted 2 should be arriving in the mail anytime. Once I beat it I’ll post my thoughts on it.

My score for Uncharted is 9.5/10.

Infamous


This pun is totally intended, as Infamous can be described as electrifying. Giving the player the power to control electricity to kill AI enemies is awesome. Giving the player a world to explore to save or wreck havoc in is also awesome.  Much like with my experience with Assassins’ Creed 2, I could not let go of the controller when playing Infamous, it was too much fun.

The game offers the player choice to be the hero with their powers of electricity or be the ultimate badass who can kill anyone and completely abuse their powers for evil. So which path did I take you ask? The evil path, because some of the powers I could unlock were just so much better than what the heroic side offered in my opinion at least. Though if I have time I’ll go back and play it as nice guy and use my powers for good.

Anyways in terms of gameplay Infamous does have an open world, but the gameplay inside the open world is pretty linear. It is not like GTA where at one time you may have multiple missions from different characters.  The game does offer up side missions which may help you gain new abilities or help rid part of the city from control of various gangs. However, the more you keep playing you’ll see the side quests do become repetitive.

Like any open world game, Infamous has its share of collectibles scattered around the world. Collecting ‘shards’ around the world reward the player by increasing the total amount energy they can use for various electrical attacks. So in way it’s really not a random element like shooting pigeons in GTA 4 or collecting green orbs in Crackdown.

One thing about Infamous is that it has a doppelganger game, Prototype. If I recall correctly from my brief encounters of playing Prototype at trade shows or a friend’s house, is that Prototype like Infamous has a protagonist with crazy powers he can use for good or evil and use those powers in an open world setting. I can’t say if Infamous is better than Prototype or vice versa due to the fact I have not played Prototype start to finish. But from my short gameplay sessions it does seem fun and I’ll have to check it out sometime soon.

My score for Infamous is 8/10

I am pretty happy that the last three games I have played and completed were fun and highly enjoyable. Right now I am playing through Darksiders and I can’t say if I like it or not at this point. However, the more I play it I am starting to agree with Yahtzee’s review of the game. Once I beat it I’ll let you know if I agreed with Yahtzee or had a totally different experience.

Filed under: Misc
10
Jan/10
0

Top 10 Games of the Decade

Somewhere between 1998 and 1999 I turned into a “hardcore gamer”. If I recall correctly, in that time frame I got a new computer. A 333MHz machine, armed with a Voodoo 1 (or was it a Voodoo 2?) graphics card and I forget how much RAM but not a lot. With that machine I attended a lot of LAN parties with my high school buddies.

Those were the days…now that I look back since then till now I have played a lot of games over the last decade. At some point I moved from PC only to owning my first console since my Sega Genesis, by getting an Xbox. Later on I moved into the new generation of consoles by picking up a 360 and most recently a PS 3. Additionally over years I kept upgrading my computer to handle the new PC games that kept being released. Looking back over the last 10 years of my gaming career I realized I have played a lot of games. I’d like to take a trip back in time and highlight my top ten favorites. Some of favorites include entire series of games so I just counted it as one.

Unreal Tournament

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A high school LAN party favorite! My friends and I have clocked 100’s hours on some classic maps such as DM-Deck 16, DM-Morpheus, DM-Morbias, CTF-Facing Worlds, DM-Turbine, CTF-November, AS-Frigate, and our all time favorite, AS-Overlord. It was this game that got me into level design as I found the Unreal Editor, I made some pretty shitty maps back in the day but little did I know I’d make a living out of it in ten years time! This game had it all, great levels, cool weapons, and amazing AI for days when you needed to brush up on your shooting skills before the next LAN party.

Deus Ex

Dxcover

What can I say about this game that as not already been said over the past decade. This game is flawless, and was one of (perhaps still is) the best single player games ever made. With its engaging story and varied paths of gameplay Deus Ex offered a level of replayability unseen in many single player games during its time. I think the last time I played this game was last year and each time I play it I always find new areas I never knew existed. If you have not played Deus Ex you are seriously missing out on one of the best games ever created in the industry. Stop reading and go get yourself a copy!

Command and Conquer Series (Tiberium Sun, Red Alert 2, and Generals)

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In any sort of packaging and theme, Command and Conquer has always been fun. The entire series as a real time strategy game offered a level a plausibility in the unit types offered. However, what made the game fun aside from the fact of commanding your own army was when the crazy units were unlocked. I can’t recall them all but the ones that stood out where the Titans (Tiberium Sun), Attack Squids and Tesla Tanks (Red Alert 2), and finally the Toxin Tractor (Generals)

Grand Theft Auto (GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas)

256px-GTA3boxcoverVice-city-coverGTASABOX

GTA 3 exploded on to the gaming scene with its open ended sand box gameplay allowing players to wreak havoc upon the citizens of Liberty City. There was never a wrong way to do any mission in GTA 3 or in the entire franchise. If someone tells you to kill a rival gang leader, you could go up to them and shoot them in the face, hit them with a car, or fire a bazooka from a few miles away. The possibilities were endless! Vice City is probably my favorite of the three, just the whole 80’s vibe made the game even more fun that it was in GTA 3. San Andreas has mixed feelings from gamers, some who love it and some who found it to be too much with a much larger world to explore than Liberty City and Vice City combined. Whatever your opinions are about San Andreas, there is something to be said about a game which allows you to use a jet pack to fly around the city and cause chaos to your heart’s content!

Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR)

KOTOR

I was never really into RPGs (Role Playing Games) until KotOR. The game had a slow start I can agree to that but once you got your light saber, the fun began. KotOR had some really great characters and an amazing story. During gameplay your actions, dialog choices, and force power selections, lead you to either the lightside or darkside of the force. I played the game twice to experience both sides, and I found darkside to be more fun. Again like Deus Ex, if you have not played KotOR go play it, you won’t be disappointed!

Half-Life 2

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Back in 1998 the FPS genres of games became more than just shooting anything that moves. Half-Life gave gamers a compelling story as they played the silent protagonist, Gordon Freeman, trying to escape the Black Mesa science facility. Half-Life 2 brought back the silent hero once again, and along with him new characters were introduced to help the player on their journey through City 17. For an FPS game Half-Life 2’s story was very compelling just like its predecessor and added a lot of depth and emotion as the player interacted with the other characters within the world.

Supreme Commander

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This game is the offspring of a fantastic game entitled Total Annihilation. What makes this game standout for me was the sheer fact that the game offered an almost unlimited unit cap, unlike other RTS games where after a certain point no more units could be created. The sight of seeing hundreds of tanks, jets, and ships move across the battle field was sight to see. Also this game required the use of tactics.  Sometimes a direct assault on an enemy position would result in the slaughter of your forces. Thus it required some thinking to wage war with the right units, almost like a game of rock-paper-scissors. Not only did one need to fight with the right units but directions of attacks mattered a lot. A direct attack usually would end with epic failure.  This game also required some physical stamina as a single mission could easily last up to three hours!

Gears of War (1 and 2)

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This is probably the definition of solid third person combat as Gears of War offered a very fluid and easy to learn cover system. The presentation was also well done with the idea of ‘destroyed beauty’, something very cool yet morbid about fighting through a war torn world.  Some may argue me on this but Gears of War had some very creative weapons such as the machine gun with a chainsaw bayonet. All of them seemed plausible but had a touch of science fiction added to them, making them work inside the universe of Gears of War. Along with the cover system and weapons, Gears of War offered some very intelligent and brutal AI.

Civilization Revolution

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Civilization holds special place in my gaming career as during middle school I rarely at lunch. I would spend that time in the computer lab with my mates playing the original Civilization every single day of the week. The game was quite complex but I got the hang of it pretty quickly. There were several iterations on the PC side over the years with part two, three, and four which are all great games. But Civilization Revolution on the Xbox 360 was just something else. At first I thought there is no way such a complex PC game could work on a console.  I was proven wrong! Civilization Revolution was built from the ground up for the 360 and made all the elements of micromanagement irrelevant and kept the core gameplay loop of making the best damn civilization on the face of the earth fun with a game controller!

Left 4 Dead (1+2)

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Shooting mindless zombies is fun. Doing it with four of your best mates even better! Getting yourself and seven of your other buddies for a game of humans vs. zombies, an absolute blast! This is Left 4 Dead, Valve’s co-op shooter. Nothing says teamwork more than helping your buddy up as they are injured and having your other friends back you up as they shoot up hordes of incoming zombies! Versus mode allows you to turn the table on your friends and take control of one of the many special infected zombies! This game is just the definition of fun, Valve made a game that is never the same no matter how many times you play it. This because their AI director makes a new scenario for each session of Left 4 Dead. Sometimes the AI director can create a fun scenario and at other times it can make the most diabolical scenario sending hordes of zombies and special infected at the player. But with the team work of four player co-op, nothing is too hard!

There you have it, my top 10 games over the last decade.  However, making these choices was not easy as I had a long list of games I enjoyed over the years. Here are the runner ups for my top 10 games:

  • Quake 3
  • Unreal Tournament 2k3/2k4
  • Warcraft 3
  • Unreal 2: XMP
  • Jedi Knight 2:  Jedi Outcast
  • Jedi Academy
  • Brothers in Arms
  • God of War 1+2
  • FEAR 1+2
  • Saints Row 1+2
  • GTA 4
  • Fallout 3
  • Crackdown
  • Burnout 3
  • Plants vs. Zombies
  • Ninja Gaiden 2
  • Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
  • Street Fighter 4
  • Team Fortress 2
  • Batman: Arkham Asylum
  • Borderlands
  • Dragon Age
  • Assassin’s Creed 1+2
  • Shadow Complex

I am really looking forward to what the next ten years has in store for gaming and the gaming industry!

Filed under: Misc
4
Jan/10
0

Drum Covers

Happy 2010 everyone! Thanks for visiting my site for the past three years, I really appreciate it, almost up to 20,000 visitors!

Over the holiday break I recorded some drum covers of some songs on my Tama kit. None of these are perfect by any means, I just did them for fun. Feel free to leave comments on the videos and please try to be constructive if you have suggestions or feedback. Enjoy!

Iron Maiden-Wicker Man

Dethklok-DethHarmonic

Megadeth-A Tout Le Monde

Doom Remix Project- E1M1

Filed under: Misc
1
Dec/09
0

Unskippable…

This may be old, but just stumbled upon it while watching Yahtzee tear MW 2 a new one. Pretty much like rifftrax for game intros..

Filed under: Misc
15
Nov/09
0

Modern Warfare 2: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly.

Word of warning spoilers ahead if you have not beaten the game stop reading now!

This review is focused on the single player accept of the game. No offense, but if you are waving the flag stating “multiplayer is what MW 2 all about” put it down now.

I believe that games which feature both single and multiplayer gameplay should strike an equal balance of polish across both modes. Favoring one over the other just leads to one of those modes sucking and if by chance you played the mode that got the least attention, as gamer your reaction to the product may differ from those that played the good part of it.

This leads me to my review focused on the single player elements of Modern Warfare 2.

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

First off I was not too happy with the decisions made on PC version of the game as some folks already know so I won’t beat that dead horse anymore. Gist of it is MW 2: PC is pretty much boned when it comes to online play.

Nonetheless as a designer it seemed compulsory to play one of the biggest game releases for this year. Thus I borrowed a copy for the 360 and played through the single player campaign. Below are my thoughts about the good, bad, and ugly elements of Modern Warfare 2. I’ll keep this short as I fear that I may over rant about this game.

The Good:

  • For some of the short comings which I will talk about later the game did have some interesting sequences. Such as the many chase sequences like the snowmobile, jeep, and raft chases.
  • Level design was really cool. My favorite level in terms of visuals and presentation was the Gulag. The geometry, textures, lighting and effects really sold the idea of prison built within an old castle in middle of nowhere.
  • Attention to detail was great. In many of the levels I noticed many small elements that belonged in the world. For example in the Rio slums I noticed some crushed soda cans littered in the alleys. Another good example was in the airbase, where in the interior sections there were heaters which had neat “heat wave” effect. It almost felt warm due to that effect.
  • I’ll give props to Infinity Ward for making the “controversial” airport level, where you step into the shoes of a terrorist and mow down every unarmed civilian in sight. Was it disturbing? It was, but as I have told people I have done far worse things in GTA or Saints Row, and someone mentioned that the Postal franchise had some sick shit too. Why I give props, is that Infinity Ward could have cut that mission for fear of public backlash, but it seems they had the balls to just do it and push the limits of what can be shown and done in mature video games.
  • The UAV missile launcher of doom was awesome.  I had a big smile as I fired a missile at a single enemy AI hiding behind a crate, who happened to be grenade spamming me (more on that in a bit) Basically it was the I win button, just say fuck you AI I am so going to kick your ass right now, how do you like them apples!

The Bad:

  • The story was pretty weak; honestly Modern Warfare 1 was more cohesive start to finish. Plus the ending of the game just felt bad ass. MW 2 ending really just made me curse out loud and I’ll explain why in a bit.
  • From what I understand the story is basically some old fart wants to be a war hero so he starts a war between Russia and US. Shit goes down, old characters of MW 1 come out of the woodwork, and the truth comes out that the old fart was behind it all along an needs to die. Sounds like a bad season of 24 ( actually someone else mentioned that it was like 24, but I tend to agree)
  • There was absolutely no pacing in this game. You start in the training camp and shit hits the fan till near the end of the game. At one point you get breather for a short sniper mission near the end of the game, but that too was short lived as it turned into super high action packed sequence.
  • Seriously, anytime there was a cool vista or location, you got slapped on the wrists not to enjoy it and to focus purely on keeping your ass alive.
  • Was it to hard to have some pacing to allow players to enjoy the pretty levels, or get a breather from the 20-30 minute long  fire fights?
  • Perhaps too much dialog? There were times in a few missions where people would not shut the fuck up. Okay radio chatter is cool and all but seriously some missions had nothing but constant radio chatter. Give it a break and let me focus on the mission at hand.  Perhaps in real war there may be a lot of radio chatter, but this is a game, and realism should stay far away from it.
  • So the ending of the game was pretty lame, why? Fucking button masher sequence. I hate button mashing sequences. I have to spam the X button really fast to dislodge a knife stuck in my gut.  Okay God of War did it, and it works for that game but every fucking game does not need that mechanic from God of War!
  • Once it is out a cut scene shows me throwing the knife right into face of the old fart (the one that started the war). Sure it was kind of bad ass but the button mashing sequence really killed it.
  • Modern Warfare 1 was better, with the whole gun tossing and shot to face to kill the bad guy no button mashing required, just pull the damn trigger.
  • Shit, now that I think about it I guess Infinity Ward enjoys killing of the bad guy by some attack to the face.

The Ugly:

  • The combat sucked. I hate to say this but the game should have been called Modern Grenade Spamming Warfare.
  • If you guys recall the frustration of the silo mission in Modern Warfare 1, that level of frustration and poor combat design was littered through out the entire game of Modern Warfare 2. I find that mission was warranted for the first game as it was the last mission but that kind of difficulty for the second mission and rest of the game of MW 2 was uncalled for.
  • Seriously the amount of grenades you need to throw and the amount thrown at you is ridiculous, practically a game of hot potato.
  • I played the game on normal and the AI were just brutal. I like to call them AimBots, as they could pick you off with a clean head shot from miles away.
  • Technically all FPS AI are AimBots but these things were assholes, like the ones you would find trolling a Counter-Strike server.
  • Other times the AI would “magically” be closer to you and fucking melee your ass to the ground before you can find the melee button first.
  • Some checkpoints were poorly placed. I have only been doing professional game/level design for about four years now and  I know well enough not to put the save point in the middle of fucking fire fight.
  • Countless times I would die in a fire fight, reload the level to find myself in the exact same spot I was in before and die within seconds of reloading.
  • Spawn and die, is not a mechanic or a feature, it’s just frustration for the player and I am surprised some of the designers at Infinity Ward, which I assume have more experience than I do in the biz deemed it fitting to have poorly placed save points throughout the game.
  • Having a save point not to far form a fire fight is okay, allowing the player a little time to ramp up and try different tactics, but loading right in the middle of it all gives the player no time to react or plan different attacks to get to the next save point.
  • Oh the quotes, I don’t want to read some philosophical bullshit when I die. How about some tips on how not to die!

That’s about it in terms of what I have to say about Modern Warfare 2. Was it the greatest game of 2009, for me it was not. I was excited for it before but seeing the mistakes they made on cutting features for PC multilayer and overall presentation of the game along with piss poor combat I really did not enjoy this game. I have no desire to replay it as I do with many of the games in my collection. I am sure my reactions may fall on deaf ears as this game is being hailed as the second coming of Jesus or something getting 100′s and high 90′s across the board. Hopefully people will soon see through the hype machine and see the flaws which inherently exist in this game.

When I saw my co-workers play this game and curse at the screen and having desires to toss the keyboard or controller down the hall, I can agree with them. This game was truly frustrating, a nice middle finger to player. Challenge is one thing in game design, fucking with player is just simply fucking with the player. Brutal game play is not fun, neither is die and try, especially for normal difficulty. Shit like that should be reserved for hardcore levels. I am not going to bother with it but I am sure Veteran mode for MW 2 is just a fancy word for saying we hate the player so let’s kill them when they spawn.

To conclude, I’ll say this. I consider myself to be a hardcore gamer. I enjoy games; I’ll replay games that were fun and bump of the difficulty for the challenge. Most games that I have played have a decent difficulty curve and pacing to give the player a sense of empowerment and joy when they reach the end. For example, Gears of War 1 I beat that on insane, on my own ( I had some help in co-op for the final boss but everything else I did myself). Even though it was hard I had fun, the game was well balanced for insane mode and overall the pacing provided highs and lows to keep me playing. Similarly the Half-Life series, has excellent pacing, even on harder difficulties, it gives you the player a sense of accomplishment at the end. But with all the skill I presume to have as a hardcore gamer Modern Warfare 2 on normal mode was by far the most frustrating game I have ever played.

Will I play Modern Warfare 3 ? (The way part 2 ended and the amount of cash it raked in, it would be stupid of IW not to do it) of course I will. But hopefully the third part will have a better single player game featuring better pacing and improved combat other than just using iron sights and grenades for five hours straight. Or perhaps this is just wishful thinking on my part and MW 3 will be again the “definitive online multiplayer shooter for the 360″ :(

Filed under: Misc
13
Nov/09
0

Throwing Knifes…

Epic knife throw win in Modern Warfare 2!


I am sure this has made its rounds around the net but still, that’s awesome.

Filed under: Misc
25
Oct/09
0

In Texas Now.

Well I just moved to Texas and tomorrow is my first day of work at Gearbox Software! Yeah, the same company that just released Borderlands, which I can’t fucking wait to play tomorrow night! It’s out on consoles but waiting for the PC copy to be unlocked on Steam.

Anyways I am going to be doing some level design work, for what project I have no idea and even if did know I can’t share it (yet), the power of NDA’s is to be feared and respected.

Only thing I am bummed about is tonight in Albany is the most brutal concert and I am not there. I had to sell my ticket for the Mastodon show featuring Dethklok, High on Fire and Converge. I am fan of Mastodon but was really looking forward to see Dethklok live. Oh well, I guess I’ll see them whenever the tour for the third album is on.

Filed under: Misc
31
Aug/09
0

Skydiving

A bunch of us from work went skydiving yesterday.  It was a great day to do a 14000 ft jump! All of us did a tandem jump with a pro skydiver. Check out my jump below:

My only “oh shit” moment was when I actually left the plane. Before that I was relaxed and as I was falling I had a blast, major adrenaline rush!

I got to do this again sometime.

Filed under: Misc
22
Jul/09
0

Gastronauts

At work a few co-workers and I do something known as “adventure lunch”. An adventure lunch is basically a trip during our lunch break to random restaurants in the Albany area. Some of these trips are good, others ok, and some cause one or two members of the crew become sick. Which is rare but makes the lunches that more adventurous! For a while our crew was thinking about documenting these adventures and now it has finally happened. Thanks to Dave we finally have our own site, http://gastronaut.us/. The most recent adventure has been posted but stop on by more often as we continue to document our weekly adventures. For convenience the link to the site has been added on the right panel. Now go to the site and read up on the tales of Gus’s Hot Dogs.

Filed under: Misc
17
Jul/09
0

Site Upgrade

It’s been a while and some change was needed. This new design is from Andrei Luca, which I got from the main Word Press page. A nice clean design, props to Andrei for sharing it with the wordpress community.

On a completely different tangent,  prank emails, http://www.dontevenreply.com/index.php

Some really funny stuff on that site. Thanks to ilkman at Beyond Unreal for that link.

Filed under: Misc