Fallout Tres

A raspy voiced Ron Perlman starts off the third game with...

"War... War never changes."

A phrase that has been used to start off all of the previous Fallout games. I would be lying if I said the hairs on my neck weren't standing at attention. Kick in the scratchy recordings of The Ink Spots and Louis Armstrong and I'm yours. The Fallout series has been courting me on the computer since my sophomore year in high school. Truth be told I bought the game on a whim with money from my Grandmother because the box art looked cool.

The post apocalyptic theme mixed with 50's pulp was right up my alley. That was just icing on the cake to a story that felt very off the rails. There was not a ton of guidance from the creators as to where and what you should be doing and it was liberating. Want to spend your time in caves killing molerats go for it. Want to explore all of the side quest that could be a game in and of themselves be my guest. Eventually you could take steps to complete the over arching quest, but you did it at your own pace.

Fallout 3 seems (I'm about 6 hours in) to take that ball and run with it, but in its own way. There are defiantly hints of Oblivion style game play, but it is more of a cousin to Fallout then it is the child of it's engine. The side quest seem to chain for days and I have just now started to get back to the main task at hand. I could go on for reams about this game, but here is a brief list of my thoughts so far.

1. Playing from the first person perspective I feel like I am less aware of my surroundings, but more invested in the character.

2. There is tons to do, but I feel a little over whelmed at times.

3. I had planned to be evil, but I end up taking the good path more often than not. I've heard it described as "A dick with a heart of gold".

4. The combat feels a little scatter brained when you get rushed by 3-4 raiders and you are out of action points.

5. Why do my weapons have to break so quickly. Money is hard to come by early on and the selection available from the vendors I have met is limited.

Invincible Eagle Machina

Beware of the spoiler!

Eagle Eye
I was tentative about this movie from the first trailer I saw to the time I sat down Saturday night to watch it. It looked interesting enough, but the big reveal behind the trailers insanely quick hacking/tech manipulation had me concerned. Without spoiling the plot I will say that I had to put my "geek" brain aside to appreciate the movie. It is based in modern day America and should have had technology that was reflective of that time period. The film asked the viewer to disregard that notion and assume that the government could be hiding anything from us. Easy for middle aged diet coke drinking technophobes, but hard for a self titled geek to swallow.

Invincible
Having just finished the first Walking Dead trade I am on a Kirkman sugar high. The man writes rad ass comics. Invincible so far (13 issues) is the story of a teenager whose Dad is the most powerful being on earth (Omni-Man). Mark (Invincible) realizes his own powers at age 17 and starts to fight crime solo and with a teen group simply titled "Teen Team". All is well until the Guardians Of The Globe (think Justice League) are brutally murdered by Mark's father. This gut punch is a 180 degree turn that sends the story in a new direction as Mark leans the truth about what his Dad really is. I'm reading this story in hard cover collector's editions so it will be slow going I'm sure, but well worth it.

Ex Machina
This is not a book a I planned to read any time soon. A story about a guy who can talk to machines, turned super hero, turned retired super hero and now mayor of New York just didn't seem that appealing. Vaughan's amazing work on Y is the only reason I actually considered the story in the first place. It was on the bottom of my pile though. When the local comic shop's of Richmond have collections only a basement dwelling super freak could love you have to make tough choices. No Queen and Country, no Walking Dead, no Invincible and so on. So I picked up the first Ex trade and was pleasantly suprised, I'm four trades in now and really starting to dig the story and character development.

Braaiiinnsss.....

I spent the last two hours before sleep last night as a brain loving member of the living dead. The Lich King's assault on Azeroth has begun in what many might perceive as a benign nuisance. Plague filled crates have been anonymously delivered to Booty Bay and await the slightest touch from a player to deliver their payload. A disease, that if not cleansed in ten minutes will turn the host in to a member of the shambling army of the unliving. Well it is not so much an army yet. If you are on your own and away from civilization you will turn and end up shambling on your own.

You can start a recruitment drive for the Lich King though. Kill anything living, mangle anything living or corpse explode on anything living and in ten minutes it will no longer be "living". After failing to turn a few level 75 guards outside of Orgrimmar last night my friends and I started corpse exploding in the bank, in the auction house and on the battle masters. We got tells from players complaining about being infected and in general had fun causing mayhem in our own factions capital city.

Blizzard has hinted at upping the anti as the lead up to WotLK continues and I am all but willing to match their efforts. We have already joked about killing the horde leaders for the reverse achievement and a bear mount. You can't infect leaders though, we tried on Thrall last night, but his guards were a different story. Most of the NPCs in Shattrath appear to be immune as well so corpse exploding the battle masters there was a bust. We plan to experiment more tonight, but I am really hoping Blizzard expands this event to the scale of the beta closes. For the uninformed betas in the past have been closed with the spawning of end game raid bosses in capital cities. Essentially MMO armageddon minus Aerosmith.

All this talk of zombies and Halloween just a week away makes me want to get my hands on the first Walking Dead trade. I read the first thirteen issues of Invincible (expect a post) recently and the result was a huge man crush on Kirkman. My local comic shop looks at me like I asked where the frozen peas are when I mention either book, so I will end up having to order online. Which is cheaper anyway, but includes the wait for shipping.

Divine Storm

Patch day was last Tuesday and it brought with it a ton of changes and new features in preparation for the Lich King. Outside of the cries of "My modz dont work WTF" for the first 48 hours it brought a lot of cool stuff to the game. For instance, did you know that in Warcraft lore even the most inexperienced retribution paladin could kill his enemies in two to three blows? It's true, well at least based on what we learned from the patch. I saw a blue geared ret pally kill my friend's warrior that walks around in full season 4. Blizzard has taken steps to nerf them since, but even still they're a can of rape.

That goes for all DPS, everyone is hitting harder these days. It's because classes are balanced to level 80, but we are still level 70. Great for the pew pewers, but hell for a healer. I can barely keep up my dps friends against two targets. If there are three it is game over and this is in battlegrounds not arenas. It will be a long month till the expansion hits, but I'll be going elemental to level as a saving grace. In the mean time I have achievements to keep me busy and gold to make. Ah yes achievements, bane of my existence on Xbox Live. I have already spent a week running around Azeroth doing things I would have never done otherwise. In the end they are fun, optional and might get me a proto-drake!

Raiding got stepped up to the plate and took a hard swing with the nerf bat. Bosses have had their hit points dropped by 30%. Coupled with the increased DPS gear has been made less of a factor. If your team can coordinate on new fights expect some new kill screens on your guilds homepage. It's nice to see Blizzard taking steps to avoid what happened with Naxxramas. Meaning it came so late in the shadow of the expansion that a very limited number of the player base saw it. Hopefully more people will see Sunwell, but I wouldn't be suprised if it was a 10 man dungeon when we are all running around at level 90.

Albino Drake Update
My brother caught all the Pokemon he needed and got his Drake a few days after the patch dropped. The man is crazy and made even crazier in that he is now trying to get a skunk.

"B" Grade MMA for the Masses

This topic was sparked by the live Elite XC event that went down on CBS two weekends ago featuring Kimblo Slice vs Seth Petruzelli. Oh yeah, that internet street fighting guy and who? Seth "Failed in the UFC and then took a year off from fighting" Petruzelli that's who. Slice was originally supposed to meet Ken "Why isn't he retired?" Shamrock in what would be his fourth professional MMA fight, but Shamrock played to rough in warm ups and was medically disqualified for the fight. So in the the last minute facing what would surely be an angry crowd, Elite's officials came to Petruzelli to fight their rookie MMA cash cow (Slice).

Slice, a heavy weight street fighter, has supposedly been turned legit MMA fighter over night under the tutelage of Bas Rutten. Prior to the Petruzelli fight he had only fought tomato cans and over the hill legends. Shamrock was supposed to be at least a minor test for him on the ground. What he got out of Petruzelli was a rude awakening. A young guy with some technical skill, power and an unjaded hunger fighters from the old folks home can't muster. He dropped Slice in 14 seconds post opening bell. It was embarrassing, by the time Slice came to he was trying to double leg the referee and Petruzelli was celebrating on the other side of the cage.

While it was nice to see Slice get a slice of reality (Oh man that was bad), it was scary to think about the virgin MMA viewer mistaking this as the premiere offering from the sport. The CBS contract Elite XC scored means all kinds of fresh eyes are watching MMA now. Are they being introduced to the right kind of MMA though? It is like giving someone who has never had a steak a plate full of fat and gristle. It is not just the main events that are minor league, Jake Shields won his fight with a telegraphed arm bar that took near 10 seconds of squating to set up. The show is far less technical and just plain sloppy to be honest.

At the end of the day the UFC, WEC and maybe Affliction seem to be the only legit games in town. If they plan to grow outside of their current markets, which they are doing slowly, they may need to land more high profile TV contracts. Sure the WEC has Versus and the UFC has Spike, but a network deal would mean a big boost in viewership. I'd like to ultimately see a sustained model that did not include any pay-per-view events. One because I hate paying for them and two because new fans won't know the difference otherwise. It is that or the unwashed masses can keep thinking Taco Bell is authentic Mexican food and I'll keep palming my face.

That There is a Baby

Seeing Crystal's stomach get a little bump hasn't really made ze baby seem real for some reason. It could be because she is just starting to put on weight after dropping 21 pounds in her first trimester. That or the last time we saw our child to be it was a gray oval with a heartbeat. In any case the baby we saw last Thursday and seen above looks just like a miniature human. No more tadpole alien for us. That thing has a nose and five fingers, click it for a bigger view and see for yourself.

We took our first steps toward baby prep over the weekend by making our way to Babies"R"Us. Surprise, there are lots of babies and baby related items there! I am sure I will have intimate knowledge of this fine establishment as they drain my wallet for the next two years. Baby paraphernalia is ten kinds of expensive. Does bargain shopping for your heir make you a bad parent? I hope not. I also hope that our bay wants for nothing.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
In semi baby related news, Crystal was feeling well enough to attend a moving picture show this weekend. An event we have not partaken in for what feels like ages. Unfortunately we saw a film that could easily be saved for DVD release or even skipped if you are cynical enough. It wasn't horrible by any means, but mediocre is mediocre. The characters and writing seemed almost too life like and by extension a bit mundane. Regardless of how plain the movie felt, I also felt a bit too old to be watching it. Like the target demographic was 16-23 year olds and we slid in the back door undetected. I guess being awkward around girls and not knowing what you'll do after high school aren't really topics that speak to me these days.

Site Watch
I usually like my online comics funny and well drawn, but I'll make an exception for super funny and lazy stick figures. As long as the funny is super of course and that is were xkcd exist. The tech, math and science jokes are usually right up my alley, but can occasionally go over even my geeky head. Monday's comic was particularly good.

House of True Ash

Crystal is recovering at a rapid pace these days from first trimester woes. She is not out of the woods yet, but the trees are becoming less dense every day. A by product of all her down time was an opportunity to watch television. Not a hobby I care for usually, but I discovered a gem and polished the dust off of an old favorite.

True Blood
I like vampires and HBO makes good shows, that was the simple thought process that went through my head when I decided to sample True Blood. Alan Ball's work on Six Feet Under and American Beauty helped too, but the series is five episodes in and already standing on its own. The back story is simple, Japanese scientist invent synthetic blood and vampires reveal themselves to the world now that they are no longer forced to feed on humans. The shows story focuses on a small southern town and how they deal with the new addition to society. It is humorous, on occasion a little spooky and deals with vampires in a similar manner to civil rights and gay rights. A good mix of character development and mysticism, defiantly worth your time if you are already paying for HBO.

WoW: Ashbringer
The World of Warcraft comics have been largely a disappointment to date and would have been dropped by now if not for a saving throw from the lore nerd in me. So I was not expecting much from the Ashbringer origin mini series. What I got was mediocre sure, but it was better than the on going books. Not a stellar review I know, but if you play WoW and the back story interest you at all it is worth reading. At least the comics are bringing some loose ends up to date for the coming WotLK release this fall. King Varian is back on the thrown and Ashbringer is cleansed and in the hands of Tirion Fordring. Oh nerd alert on this section, but I guess it is too late for that.

House
Crystal has been on to this series from the start and I only started watching last season. I often refer to it as "The best show on TV" now, as I feel it is the best show on TV. Simple enough right? I think what draws me to a hospital show like House and pushes me away from a show like Grey's Anatomy is the tone and focus of each. House is a mystery first and a character drama second. The case the staff is working on trumps their own issues and drives the show forward. Grey's on the other hand focuses way to much on the insignificant personal drama of its characters and near ignors the medical cases. My technical mind will always have a penchant for a good mystery over peoples petty shit I guess.

Return of the Hammer

Hammer flew into Richmond this weekend to game and hang out with us, in what may be turning into an annual event. After he was not skinned and made into fleshy wallets last year, I guess his wife let him back on the plane. Given Crystal's recent sickness we did not play host this time, but I showed up to chill regardless. Friday we hit Starlite in a group of eight that I'm sure was plenty loud, but bought enough food and drink to compensate.

Saturday was a LAN party out Mechanicsville way with a big showing of 19 players and the walking corpse reborn of COD 4. The game is just a month shy of its first birthday and it is still relevant. The graphics still kick, the gameplay and balance are still solid and there are more custom maps than you can shake a stick at. Playing at the LAN rekindled my interest in the game and hopefully the next game in the series. Although the return to World War II and WW2 Japan at that are unwelcome changes. Jungle maps are just not as fun as urban ones. It is being built on the COD4 engine though, so maybe there is hope.

Outside of the gaming there were burgers and dogs on the grill and snacks galore. My LAN Hangover was in full effect Sunday. There should be mandatory two hour physical activity breaks at every gaming engagement and a nun with a ruler by the cookie table. I guess for now it is on me to self regulate, kind of like Wall Street, but we saw how that worked out.

I Raided
No, not the cookie table mentioned above. Sunday night I got a guest pass with my pro raiding guild to visit Mt. Hyjal. Something they have done a bazillion times, but was extra special to me. At this point I know I'm not going to be geared to see BC end game content as it winds down before WotLK. So it is nice to be carried through by a crew that doesn't even need loot from the instance anymore. Even still I was out rolled on the T6 helm, meh.

C.asuals R.ule E.verything A.round M.e...

C.R.E.A.M; get the money; dollar dollar bill y'all...

The Wu assuredly had no clue what an MMO was back in 1993, because the internet as we know it didn't exist. They knew their video games though. I spent my summers in high school playing the Dreamcast/N64 and watching hip hop artist play the same systems on MTV (riveting television I know). They also knew about the power of currency, hence cash ruling everything around them. Blizzard got the same memo, as they have been making money hand over fist for going on four years.

It wasn't a difficult formula that made their first swim in the MMO ocean such a success. Take all the good things about old MMOs, drop the annoying parts, reward instead of penalize and polish to perfection. They didn't foresee having the population of a small country playing their game though (...Tunisia, WoW, Hungary...). So the initial product offered slower leveling, 40 player raids and an honor grind fit for a pimple faced shut in.

Burning Crusade brought faster leveling, 25 player raids and a more casual honor grind. The development focus for end game content still seemed to be hardcore focused though. Now Wrath of the Lich King is coming in a month and every raid will have a 25 and 10 player version and they are nerfing B.C. raids before the release. The game is leaning slightly more casual, but no were near what it should. Well according to the numbers at least.

World of War put up an article comparing the number of active players to ranked players to end game raiders yesterday. It is some back of the napkin math for sure, but roughly 1.5% to 2.5% are seeing the end game content Blizzard is building. That means at best 97.5% of WoW players aren't seeing all of Blizzard's hard work. There are some carrot on a stick shenanigans involved, but Blizzard seems to be waking up to their larger audience. Not on a Nintendo scale, but I'm sure hardcore raiders will need a box of tissues the first time Arthas gets ten maned.

Returns and Other Bits

No, not my return. Granted my blogging schedule has been a little off for the past two to three weeks, but I've still been here. I'm sure my schedule will not settle until Crystal does, but I will do my best to post at least two times a week. In other news...

The Dark Knight Returns
Frank Miller is fucking rad. Who cares that the new Spirit movie might suck terribly based on the newest trailer. The man can write a comic. That may have been apparent to all who have read Sin City or 300 post film debut, but after reading Year One and Returns I am prepared to bestow the title of the best caped crusader writer on him as well. I get what the hype surrounding this book is all about now. It is another ground breaking comic from the 80's a la the Watchmen, but this book is actually still good and disturbingly relevant today.

Albino Drake Nerf
Yeah, so Blizzard seems to be taking the casual road every time they come across the fork these days. The achievement requirement of 75 mounts in exchange for an albino drake I posted on the other day has changed to 50 mounts. Considerably easier given the number of mounts currently available and also those available at launch (WotLK). It still requires some work and dedication to complete, but they will be far less rare now for sure. I wanted a proto-drake anyway, so meh.

Honor Flip Flop
Honor and marks are being wiped, oh happy day I can buy some pvp mounts in preparation for my albino drake. Cha-Ching. What honor is not being wiped and my marks are still matter? Oh thanks, I guess it is time to freaking grind again.

R.I.P iFanboy Mini
I told you to watch this show and then it was canceled. My apologies to anyone that was instantly hooked by it (doubtful). I will morn the loss though. The mini was a great way to get snippets of comic discussions that are otherwise only covered in articles on their website. The weekly audio and video cast are here to stay, but I will miss the mini.

Site Watch
Haven't done a site watch in a while, but I heart street art and the Wooster Collective has it. Check it out, they have graffiti too, yeah I know that is technically considered street art.