Liberty City April 30, 2008

Monday night we stood in line at midnight for the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. B loves the hype around game releases; we stood in line 8 hours for the Wii and about 2 hours for Rock Band. The people in line for GTAIV were an interesting bunch… but thankfully the line went quickly.

B has been playing while I’ve been backseat driving. “Turn left or you’ll lose him! Don’t shoot the stripper!” I would play myself but I actually have a really hard time being “evil” in a game. I couldn’t play dark side in Knights of the Old Republic, went Paragon all the way in Mass Effect, and reset the 360 anytime I accidentally did something bad in Oblivion. (Granted, in Mass Effect you’re not evil, you’re just a jerk.) I just feel too guilty.

So I’m interested to see what happens if I do try to play GTAIV myself. Would I obey traffic signals? Never get into fights unless I had to? I think if I don’t have a real choice in the matter — it’s not like I can be a good guy — maybe I won’t feel so bad. I have the same theory for The Force Unleashed when it’s time to pop that bad boy in. Unleash the Kelly!

San Fran-tastic! April 27, 2008

This weekend I went to San Francisco for a Star Wars Galaxies community summit. It was just an overnight trip, but I really had a fantastic time! I went to the summit with a few members of the dev team: Jesse, Matt, Travis, and Thomas. We met up with Lorin and Binky there.

I’ve never been to San Francisco before, so I was somewhat in awe when I saw the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz when we drove into the city. We were a little early so we couldn’t check into the hotel; we explored the Metreon area instead.

We wandered around taking pictures for a little while and then grabbed lunch with our team members from SOE and LucasArts. I caught a glimpse of the NFL draft while we ate. (Tennesee Titans, why didn’t you take Limas Sweed? It could have been the University of Texas at Tennessee!) I finally changed and hoped that I didn’t smell like airplane anymore, and then it was time for the summit.

When registration opened I ran up to say hi to a few familiar faces when they arrived. Hopefully I didn’t scare them too much when they looked up and saw me barreling at them! I love meeting the people in front of the monitors, so to speak, so I was really excited.

I thought everyone asked the SWG team great questions and I took notes to remember everything. (We’ll have a recap of all the juicy tidbits on the web site later this week.) The most exciting part of the talk for me was our announcement that the team is working on creating the battle at Echo Base on Hoth. I’m really looking forward to seeing it take shape.

After the summit was over, we finally made it to the hotel to check in and clean up before heading out again. We wanted to check out the Fisherman’s Wharf and get some good seafood, so we grabbed a cab to Pier 39.

We made it there before sunset so we caught a glimpse of a number of large and slightly smelly seals relaxing on the docks. Alcatraz looked so close from our vantage point; it didn’t seem real!

While walking around Fisherman’s Wharf we wandered into a penny arcade. (It must be our natural gamer instinct that led us inside. Or maybe the fact that Lorin had visited the night before. Either way.) The arcade had an odd assortment of games, from actual penny arcade machines to the original Star Wars arcade game. Lorin spent a quarter on a machine and we watched a tiny lumber mill come to life for just a minute. There were some really strange machines in there!

We found a place to eat dinner — seafood of course — and relaxed for a little while before heading out. We decided to take the trolley back to the hotel. After a long wait, we finally got on the trolley with so many people that it was standing-room only. The operator mentioned that the car was originally built in 1947! I saw Jesse at the other end of the car signal to exit on the next stop, so we all got off… except Travis. The door closed on him while I said, “Nooooo” (in slow motion of course). It turned out that Travis stayed on the trolley because he knew that it was the wrong stop, and we didn’t! We met up with him a few streets over but we were a little lost downtown. Lorin and the GPS on his Blackberry finally led us back to the hotel safely.

All in all it was really a great trip, and I’m happy that I had the chance to go!

Happiness is… April 20, 2008

Sitting in the Alamo Drafthouse, drinking a chocolate milkshake, and watching Jet Li and Jackie Chan fight in The Forbidden Kingdom. Mmmm.

Bo-bo-bo-boxing! April 11, 2008

Last night we got away from the TV/monitor screens for a change, and went to a cardio boxing class at a boxing gym near our house. I wouldn’t be getting hit, just hitting a bag, so I figured it wouldn’t be too bad…

During the class I confirmed my suspicion that I am a wuss. I almost didn’t make it out of the warm-up! I thought I was going to pass out so I kept sitting down. Eventually I made it through and got to the punching bag part, which was a lot of fun, even though I had to keep taking breaks. (Wimp is also a good description for my current fitness level.)

While I was resting I had a chance to look around the gym. There were some guys boxing, and fighters behind me wrestling. I watched them for a little while and realized that they could snap me in half.

I got back up and hit the bag for a little while longer. It did get a little easier as the class went on and I ended up having a great time! I have to decide soon if I want to sign up for the boxing gym or go to a regular gym, and it’s going to be a really tough decision.

Incidentally, One Pound Gospel… this is all your fault! *shakes fist boxing glove*

Working on Collections April 7, 2008

This weekend I played my entertainer in Star Wars Galaxies and worked on a few collections. I completed the new Chapter 9 entertainer collections, and finally had a chance to craft a valahorn!

I’m very excited about the valahorn because it’s sort of named after my forum handle (Valara). I wanted to tell my parents how excited I was about it, but I have a hard enough time explaining what I do for a living, much less trying to figure out how to explain an in-game instrument. Ah well, I know they’d be happy for me anyway!

Bring Down the Sky April 5, 2008

I’d downloaded the first downloadable content for Mass Effect a while ago, but because I had already completed the game, I wasn’t really motivated to play it. Since I just finished Lost Odyssey, and I had some time to kill (my computer is being persnickety), so I started Mass Effect again.

I had to play a little while from the beginning to get to a point where I could take on the new Bring Down the Sky mission. I can understand why the content takes place in the middle of the story rather than after; most players are still working on the story and not finished. I still hope that some of the later downloadable content takes place after, though! But playing from the beginning again wasn’t too bad, since your items, skills, and levels carry over after you complete it.

The new mission was definitely worth the time and points, so if you don’t mind playing through the beginning again, I would recommend it. And it has its own achievement, which never hurts!

Lost Odyssey April 4, 2008

I finally finished Lost Odyssey last night, after 70 hours! It is very similar to a Final Fantasy game, especially considering that it was produced by the creator of the original Final Fantasy. It was also scored by Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu. Just those two facts alone convinced us to buy the game, and I wasn’t disappointed.

The similarities to a Final Fantasy made it very easy to play, and the skill learning system added a nice twist. The most original part of the game is the 1000 Years of Dreams. I’ve seen most game reviews focus on the dreams as a negative, but I thought the dreams were a beautiful addition. They were completely text with just music in the background, but the tales were moving… quite a few made me cry.

If you’re a fan of Japanese RPGs, I highly recommend Lost Odyssey — if you have 100 hours or so to spare!

Man vs. Rooster March 31, 2008

Last night we put Shaun of the Dead on and settled in for a nice, relaxing zombie movie. Suddenly there was a loud sound from my left, just outside the window, which I assumed was the surround sound picking up a zombie noise. My, I thought, that’s realistic! That sounds just like a zombie at the window! B looked at me and told me that he thought that actually came from outside. We walked to the back door and flipped the light, and a rooster standing on the porch stared at us like a… rooster in porch lights.

We’d actually heard the rooster crowing the morning before so it wasn’t too much of a shock. I wanted to let him do his rooster thing and he would leave the yard eventually, but B decided to take matters into his own hands. He picked up a golf club and stepped into the backyard. B then grabbed the cover to the firepit (covered in soot, mind you) to use as his shield. Brandishing his sword and his shield, he charged.

I had no idea roosters could run that fast!

He eventually chased it out of the yard and down the street. Although I have a mental picture of him screaming and waving his golf club, in reality he just calmly after it. I like my mental image better than reality… that’s often the case, though.

We went back to the movie finally and went to bed. I was a little worried about having nightmares about zombie roosters, but the night passed without visions of undead fowls scratching at the bad door. Okay, wait, I don’t like that mental picture better than reality. I take it back.

New Frontier March 28, 2008

Last night we got to watch Justice League: New Frontier on BluRay. It wasn’t quite what I expected but I thought it was good! It’s always odd to hear a different voice for Batman (Kevin Conroy is just so perfect), but all of the actors were fantastic. If you’re not familiar with the DC universe, this might be a good movie to start with.

Trip to San Diego March 17, 2008

At the beginning of March, I flew out to San Diego for work to hang out with Star Wars Galaxies players. Here’s the write-up on the official SWG web site that I put together.

I was so hoping that I wouldn’t get seasick on the whale-watching trip! But when the boat stopped to stalk the whale, the rocking up and down finally got me. Urp! Thankfully I didn’t throw up, but I sure wasn’t any fun to be around. Coyote of Ten Ton Hammer took extra care to talk to us while we were sick, pretending to not notice the shade of green we were slowing turning.

The trip really was a lot of fun. We stayed in a super swanky hotel; in fact, I am positive that place is full of the most swank I have ever seen. I hope the players had as much fun as we did!