Friday, March 30, 2007
How'd I miss this?!
# posted by Chronodin @ 8:40 AM
Remember me saying something about the adventure game Bone coming to the Nintendo DS?
Well, I totally did, even if you don't remember.
And today, I came across this article, and I can't figure out how come I didn't hear of it 10 days ago when it happened, but there you go, and the truth of the matter is that Sam & Max will be coming to the Xbox 360 and, more importantly, the Wii!
I preach it nigh daily, but the adventure game genre is long from dead; it simply has fallen out of the spotlight... out of mainstream's ever-watchful eye, if you will. Hopefully what Telltale is doing will truly help bring this great genre back into people's homes and hearts (*dodges tomato*) and make more people aware of how great these games can be. To boot, and what really excites me, is that the Wii (and the DS, as I stated before) are GREAT systems for adventure games because they are, essentially, point and click. No viewpoint to move around like in first-person shooters, no steering or anything awkward like that. You point where you want 'em to go, you point what you want 'em to pick up, etc. If you've never played an adventure game before, it might sound boring, but trust me... the charm lies not in the controls, my friend, but likewise they don't get in the way.
And if you just need an introduction into adventure games, the new Sam & Max series would not be a poor selection of a starting point. You could either order the whole Season 1 (still cheaper than most games) or get GameTap and play them all within a month, saving yourself some moolah if you want to cancel before the next billing date and maybe playing a few other games while you're there. Either way, I doubt you'll regret it.
-Chronodin
0 comments
links to this post
Remember me saying something about the adventure game Bone coming to the Nintendo DS?Well, I totally did, even if you don't remember.
And today, I came across this article, and I can't figure out how come I didn't hear of it 10 days ago when it happened, but there you go, and the truth of the matter is that Sam & Max will be coming to the Xbox 360 and, more importantly, the Wii!
I preach it nigh daily, but the adventure game genre is long from dead; it simply has fallen out of the spotlight... out of mainstream's ever-watchful eye, if you will. Hopefully what Telltale is doing will truly help bring this great genre back into people's homes and hearts (*dodges tomato*) and make more people aware of how great these games can be. To boot, and what really excites me, is that the Wii (and the DS, as I stated before) are GREAT systems for adventure games because they are, essentially, point and click. No viewpoint to move around like in first-person shooters, no steering or anything awkward like that. You point where you want 'em to go, you point what you want 'em to pick up, etc. If you've never played an adventure game before, it might sound boring, but trust me... the charm lies not in the controls, my friend, but likewise they don't get in the way.
And if you just need an introduction into adventure games, the new Sam & Max series would not be a poor selection of a starting point. You could either order the whole Season 1 (still cheaper than most games) or get GameTap and play them all within a month, saving yourself some moolah if you want to cancel before the next billing date and maybe playing a few other games while you're there. Either way, I doubt you'll regret it.
-Chronodin
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Deja vu...
# posted by Chronodin @ 8:12 PM
Chaos Faction is a fun game that you should try, especially if you're a fan of Super Smash Bros.
The nice thing is that, while it's obviously inspired by SSB, it isn't just a rip-off and definitely feels like its own game with its own strengths and weaknesses.
And, heck, it's free... what have you got to lose?
-Chronodin 0 comments links to this post
Chaos Faction is a fun game that you should try, especially if you're a fan of Super Smash Bros.
The nice thing is that, while it's obviously inspired by SSB, it isn't just a rip-off and definitely feels like its own game with its own strengths and weaknesses.
And, heck, it's free... what have you got to lose?
-Chronodin 0 comments links to this post
Renaming
# posted by Chronodin @ 4:16 PM
So I'm thinking about renaming NerdCentral, with a possible slight redesign (nothing major, the basic format will be the same, for now at least).
Something a little more accessible... something a little less self-degrading...
Something people don't laugh at when you tell them what your web address is. >:(
But seriously... any thoughts?
-Chronodin 3 comments links to this post
So I'm thinking about renaming NerdCentral, with a possible slight redesign (nothing major, the basic format will be the same, for now at least).
Something a little more accessible... something a little less self-degrading...
Something people don't laugh at when you tell them what your web address is. >:(
But seriously... any thoughts?
-Chronodin 3 comments links to this post
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Best. Tagline. Ever.
# posted by Chronodin @ 11:08 PM
Thanks to Googleshng for pointing this movie out to me.
This movie looks equal parts disturbing and hilarious. I must see.
-Chronodin 1 comments links to this post
Thanks to Googleshng for pointing this movie out to me.
This movie looks equal parts disturbing and hilarious. I must see.
-Chronodin 1 comments links to this post
My grammar are goodest
# posted by Chronodin @ 2:50 PM
I'm glad I have comments set to be approved before appearing, since someone thought it appropriate to share their unfavorable thoughts about Digg on our little slice of the web here.
And to make it even more lifelike, they began with the 'i' in Digg, so before their opinion on Digg was stated, we were informed that "igg suXX!!" That's right... it sucks so badly that not only was an x used, it was also capitalized AND repeated for added emphasis.
The grammatical capabilities of today's internet users is truly astounding, don't you agree?
Have some links to compensate!
.:[ Gaming Links ]:.
-Chronodin 2 comments links to this post
I'm glad I have comments set to be approved before appearing, since someone thought it appropriate to share their unfavorable thoughts about Digg on our little slice of the web here.
And to make it even more lifelike, they began with the 'i' in Digg, so before their opinion on Digg was stated, we were informed that "igg suXX!!" That's right... it sucks so badly that not only was an x used, it was also capitalized AND repeated for added emphasis.
The grammatical capabilities of today's internet users is truly astounding, don't you agree?
Have some links to compensate!
.:[ Gaming Links ]:.
- Guitar Hero-playing robot - I think this is awesome, not only in the fact that they made a robot that plays Guitar Hero, but the fact that it doesn't cheat... it actually reads the video signals from the PS2 and responds accordingly. And it makes me feel better about myself to know that I could whip this robot easily.
- Knowledge and Fear in Metroid II - I never thought of this game in such a way, but now that I look back on it, it WAS pretty nerve-wracking. I think the fact that it was black and white added to the effect.
- Final Fantasy XIII exclusivity "still in discussion" - Which means there's still a chance that it will be ported to the 360! That'll pretty much seal the deal for me.
- Sony exec opens his mouth again - Eventually they're going to wisen up and force Sony higher-ups to NEVER SPEAK. "Yeah, well... you just won't buy the PS3 'cause you're a poophead!"
- Regular Expressions! - I'm going to start doing that. The concocting of elaborate fantasies, that is, not the swinging on a rope.
- Blown Apart - Another comic from the same strip... I'm ashamed that I actually laughed out loud at this one. (Note: You're also as geeky as me if this comic makes you laugh)
- The Movie Timeline - Huh. Lots of stuff has happened. Someone needs to update those history books.
- Future Games - I want to play checkers over the radio!
- Line Rider: Mario Bros. World 1-1 - How people have the patience to make such things, I cannot comprehend.
- Awesome Rube Goldberg machine - I think I was hoping for something a little more at the very end, but the overall machine is really something else.
-Chronodin 2 comments links to this post
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Am I the only one who made this connection?
# posted by Another Click in the Hall @ 4:25 PM
By now I'm sure you've seen the latest Cingular/AT&T brand confusion commercial. It's pretty neat. If you haven't, check it out here.
It's a shame that AT&Tular decided to pick "Giving In" by Adema - a song about one's life getting destroyed by alcoholism. If that doesn't scream "great cell phone service," I don't know what does.
I hate it when companies pick songs just because they sound cool. 2 comments
By now I'm sure you've seen the latest Cingular/AT&T brand confusion commercial. It's pretty neat. If you haven't, check it out here.
It's a shame that AT&Tular decided to pick "Giving In" by Adema - a song about one's life getting destroyed by alcoholism. If that doesn't scream "great cell phone service," I don't know what does.
I hate it when companies pick songs just because they sound cool. 2 comments
Thursday, March 22, 2007
# posted by Chronodin @ 11:03 PM
I listen to the TWiT podcast quite a bit -- that's "This Week in Tech" -- hosted by Leo Laporte, of The Screen Savers fame, and they often have been referring to Twitter, which, oddly enough, has nothing to do with TWiT. Twitter is another one of those "Stalk your friends" sites, where you just update it to say where you are. It's kind of like updating your away message on AIM, 'cept in the way it organizes the updates. "This sounds kind of pointless," I said to myself, "Who needs another one of these?"
So I sign up for it...
Unfortunately, as of yet, I have no friends, which is oddly reminiscent of real life. So I haven't been able to REALLY have, one might say, "The Twitter Experience." Thus, I ask that if any of you use Twitter, find me and friend me. I think you can probably guess my name on there.
Oh, because it's kind of a pain to have to go to the site every time you want to update, there's a neat Windows application called Twitteroo that handles the task for you. If you're on a Mac, Twitteriffic appears to be the primary utility for that medium.
If you're on, either find me on there and add me as a friend (don't make me beg), or comment on here and let me know your user name.
And while you're at it, check out IGN's Ten Toughest Games to Beat list, courtesy of Tank. I actually beat Contra way back in the day, but Contra 3 for the SNES, in my opinion, was significantly harder. Maybe it's just me.
-Chronodin 0 comments links to this post
I listen to the TWiT podcast quite a bit -- that's "This Week in Tech" -- hosted by Leo Laporte, of The Screen Savers fame, and they often have been referring to Twitter, which, oddly enough, has nothing to do with TWiT. Twitter is another one of those "Stalk your friends" sites, where you just update it to say where you are. It's kind of like updating your away message on AIM, 'cept in the way it organizes the updates. "This sounds kind of pointless," I said to myself, "Who needs another one of these?"
So I sign up for it...
Unfortunately, as of yet, I have no friends, which is oddly reminiscent of real life. So I haven't been able to REALLY have, one might say, "The Twitter Experience." Thus, I ask that if any of you use Twitter, find me and friend me. I think you can probably guess my name on there.
Oh, because it's kind of a pain to have to go to the site every time you want to update, there's a neat Windows application called Twitteroo that handles the task for you. If you're on a Mac, Twitteriffic appears to be the primary utility for that medium.
If you're on, either find me on there and add me as a friend (don't make me beg), or comment on here and let me know your user name.
And while you're at it, check out IGN's Ten Toughest Games to Beat list, courtesy of Tank. I actually beat Contra way back in the day, but Contra 3 for the SNES, in my opinion, was significantly harder. Maybe it's just me.
-Chronodin 0 comments links to this post
Sunday, March 18, 2007
What? Why haven't you?
# posted by Chronodin @ 9:10 PM
Has anyone been watching The Dresden Files? Other than Mike, of course, considering we discuss it extensively after every episode. If you haven't, well, see post title.
Lucky for you, I found at least the first episode of the series on YouTube. Or you can just watch the promo here:
I'm sure I've ranted about it before, but it's based on the very excellent series of books by Jim Butcher. Reason I felt compelled to post about it tonight is that tonight's episode (Sunday nights at 9:00 and 11:00!) was the Storm Front episode, i.e. based on the first novel in the series. Find the first episode and start there, though; it explains things a little more gradually than starting with this episode, which was originally the first episode until they were reordered, would.
-Chronodin
Edit: Why the @#$% didn't I center that video the first time?
Another edit: How did comments get disabled for this post? Weird.
Has anyone been watching The Dresden Files? Other than Mike, of course, considering we discuss it extensively after every episode. If you haven't, well, see post title.
Lucky for you, I found at least the first episode of the series on YouTube. Or you can just watch the promo here:
I'm sure I've ranted about it before, but it's based on the very excellent series of books by Jim Butcher. Reason I felt compelled to post about it tonight is that tonight's episode (Sunday nights at 9:00 and 11:00!) was the Storm Front episode, i.e. based on the first novel in the series. Find the first episode and start there, though; it explains things a little more gradually than starting with this episode, which was originally the first episode until they were reordered, would.
-Chronodin
Edit: Why the @#$% didn't I center that video the first time?
Another edit: How did comments get disabled for this post? Weird.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Sights and sounds
# posted by Chronodin @ 9:19 AM
Oy... I truly am sorry about the lack of posts. To make up for it, I've got a nice set of links submitted for your approval. AND... a new video of Super Mario Galaxy!
It's kind of a shame this won't be out until, oh, probably close to Christmas. Nothing official, but that's what the rumors have been saying.
I was also directed recently to the weekly column of Robert X. Cringely. You know this is something I'd have to post here, considering at the top of his page he has the phrase, "Survival of the Nerdiest." How could I resist?
In the latest edition of his column, he discusses Apple's (alleged) plans to start including a video decoder chip to all their computers. Why is this relevant? Cringely points out that the reason playing a DVD can really slow your computer down is that computers have to use software decoding to do so, i.e., the processor is decoding the video, not the video card. Notice that El Cheapo™ DVD Player from Wal-Mart can play videos just fine. That's because of that chip that it has and your computer doesn't. I'll let Robert talk about the rest of the details, but it's intriguing, to say the least.
He also brought attention to a little service called NetTunes, which is based on the idea that it's legal to share a CD, considering only one person can play it at a time (it's NOT legal to copy it, but you can back it up to your own computer, as long as you aren't playing your backup when someone else is using your original... something like that). My understanding of it is that you share your music, and then when you want to listen to a song, it finds someone sharing that song and allows you to listen to it, but ONLY you. So if you're sharing your awesome Castlevania remix by Chronodin, and someone comes along and listens to it, nobody else will be able to until the first person's done listening to it.
Clear as mud, right?
It's an interesting concept, and kind of a loophole, but it does seem to be legal... for the time being, at least. You know the record companies will jump on it like sharks in a feeding frenzy and do their best to shut it down, but that's yet to be seen. Registration is free for the time being, so it might be worth giving it a shot, though I've registered and the library doesn't seem terribly extensive just yet.
Right, then. To the links! And be certain to check out the Remix of the Day... you won't want to miss this one.
.:[ Gaming Links ]:.
-Chronodin 2 comments links to this post
Oy... I truly am sorry about the lack of posts. To make up for it, I've got a nice set of links submitted for your approval. AND... a new video of Super Mario Galaxy!
It's kind of a shame this won't be out until, oh, probably close to Christmas. Nothing official, but that's what the rumors have been saying.
I was also directed recently to the weekly column of Robert X. Cringely. You know this is something I'd have to post here, considering at the top of his page he has the phrase, "Survival of the Nerdiest." How could I resist?
In the latest edition of his column, he discusses Apple's (alleged) plans to start including a video decoder chip to all their computers. Why is this relevant? Cringely points out that the reason playing a DVD can really slow your computer down is that computers have to use software decoding to do so, i.e., the processor is decoding the video, not the video card. Notice that El Cheapo™ DVD Player from Wal-Mart can play videos just fine. That's because of that chip that it has and your computer doesn't. I'll let Robert talk about the rest of the details, but it's intriguing, to say the least.
He also brought attention to a little service called NetTunes, which is based on the idea that it's legal to share a CD, considering only one person can play it at a time (it's NOT legal to copy it, but you can back it up to your own computer, as long as you aren't playing your backup when someone else is using your original... something like that). My understanding of it is that you share your music, and then when you want to listen to a song, it finds someone sharing that song and allows you to listen to it, but ONLY you. So if you're sharing your awesome Castlevania remix by Chronodin, and someone comes along and listens to it, nobody else will be able to until the first person's done listening to it.
Clear as mud, right?
It's an interesting concept, and kind of a loophole, but it does seem to be legal... for the time being, at least. You know the record companies will jump on it like sharks in a feeding frenzy and do their best to shut it down, but that's yet to be seen. Registration is free for the time being, so it might be worth giving it a shot, though I've registered and the library doesn't seem terribly extensive just yet.
Right, then. To the links! And be certain to check out the Remix of the Day... you won't want to miss this one.
.:[ Gaming Links ]:.
- Pirates of the Burning Sea interview - An interview with the producer of this pirate-themed MMO that really looks like it could be great.
- Sonic and the Secret Rings impressions - Looks like what could be the first really good Sonic game in years.
- The top 10 unanswered questions in the world of gaming - Huh. I never knew about that Mario 64 one.
- Miyamoto on Violent Video Games - Interesting to see the Godfather of gaming's viewpoint on this issue.
- Clover vets reunite, form Seeds - Considering some of the games that came from Clover (such as Okami), this should definitely be something to keep our eyes on.
- Myst Online goes live February 15 - I didn't even realize this game was being made.
- 14 Gaming Myths Exposed - Okay, well, most of them focus on TV resolutions and technology, but a neat read anyway.
- Guitar Hero 360 Interview - They say it'll have "more online content than anyone has ever seen."
- Info on Metal Gear movie - If done right, this movie could be great.
- $10 Wii Component Cable - Seems to be quality, from what I've read.
- Communist Mario - Fair warning, a little bit gory, but if you don't mind that, it's pretty... well... interesting.
- What if Pokémon were real? - Apparently, everyone and their mother chose to Photoshop Rapidash.
- Bone coming to the DS - This is exciting news just because it's a point-and-click adventure game coming to the DS, a system that seems PERFECTLY suited for those types of games. Why nobody has LEPT at the chance to port games like Monkey Island, King's Quest and NUMEROUS other adventure games of the same vein to the DS is beyond me... the system is really the best non-mouse-using gaming medium for those types of games. In fact, it's probably even better than a PC because you just, literally, point and cli- er, tap. I wish someone would tip Vivendi and Lucasarts off.
- Impressive Warcraft cake - But how did they have time to make it when they should be busy camping for m4d l3wt!11 ...Ok, I'm sorry. It IS a very cool cake, though.
- Super Mario Snow Art - Beats the heck out of snow angels.
- What if video game bosses were REAL bosses? - Heh, very amusing.
- Great Metroid fanart - Really cool, check it out.
- LittleBigPlanet - Wow... finally, something REALLY worth looking into on the Playstation 3. Definitely give this one a look.
- New Earth photos from space - I don't THINK I posted this before... there are some really cool photos in this set.
- Ice Storm photos - And this is why an ice storm is some dangerous stuff. Beautiful, but dangerous.
- Keypad Kaos - Kinda neat game testing your ability to use your number keypad.
- Bobby McFerrin Concert Solo - If you haven't heard Bobby McFerrin before, don't wait... what he can do with his voice is amazing.
- Drawing a perfect circle - This guy, well, draws a perfect circle. It's pretty impressive when you think about it, even moreso if you try it yourself.
- Hexaflourid - This gas is more dense than air, so you can float stuff on it like water.
- Gigantic flock of starlings - This video is pretty incredible... the sheer number of birds is impressive enough, but then consider how well they still stay in formation and the different shapes they make. Just try to ignore the woman talking throughout the whole video.
- How to install Vista upgrade without a previous version - Pretty easy workaround to save you some money. I wonder how long THIS will last...
- Fox News' new "comedy show" - Ha... ha... ha... let the hilarity ensue.
- Teen Girl Squad parody - Audio from Strongbad's Teen Girl Squad with video from some live-action Sailor Moon TV show.
- Foxit Software: Faster PDF reader - You have to admit... Adobe Reader has gotten pretty slow over time. This reader is definitely a faster, more efficient way to read PDF files. You should absolutely give this one a try.
- The Host trailer - This Korean movie opening soon in the United States looks pretty darn awesome.
- Reebok "Glow" in action - These shoes are pretty nifty!
-Chronodin 2 comments links to this post
