Wizzrobes and Warriors

Never Forget

2012-03-01T14:35:00.001-08:00

Never forget about food in the oven or it will burn. Also its good to remember you have a fancypants phone and can do things like upload two sentence blog posts.

Library Finds

2011-12-11T09:03:00.001-08:00

So the main branch of my cities free Library opts to not burn it’s excess books but instead it sends them to a building next door where they sell said books for $3 or less. Needless to say I was excited to hear this and I went and jumped on that. The bookstore isn’t huge but it’s spacious enough that it contains books ranging through many categories, from art to history, from Psychology to Saucy Romance Novels, this store has so many sections and so many books to sift through.

I’m certain by this point you are probably thinking “Whoa, back that train up Mike, since when did Libraries burn books?” The answer may surprise you, Libraries have been burning books for a very long time. Now the library isn’t just burning those dollar store romance novels, they are burning classic literature and books that have been around for almost a hundred years or more; the reason the library burns these books is that as time goes on less and less people tend to take these books out unless they are doing a project or something, so from a financial perspective by burning those books they make room for new journals and books to occupy those spots for college students or other specialized people who needs those books and come to the library frequently. The main reason lots of libraries don’t just make more room by expansion or by selling the books is that it would require money, and even if they did either of those things there is still a chance that either the books will continue to be shelved for all eternity or they will never sell if put in a book store. The Free Library of Philadelphia does well enough (aside from its many major budget cuts) that it can operate a book store and luckily sells quite a few books on a daily basis.

Now as for my finds, I happened to pick up thirteen books for the paltry price of $26 and all of them are absolutely amazing. I managed to get a hold of an old library bound biography of Thomas Jefferson, several books on Chinese History, a book on video game history spanning the 70’s to the 2000’s, a Super Smash Bros. Strategy Guide, Nintendo Action Games & Nintendo Roleplaying Games, and the Pokémon Trainer Survival Guide.

Still better then twilight.

I intend to go by this place at least once per month to get more books so that I can have a steady flow of reading material, if you are in the Philadelphia Area and more specifically the Center City area where the main branch of the Free Library is then hit up the “Book Corner” which is right next to the library, if has a massive selection of books both new and old and they are all cheap. So remember to support your local library, or something…

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Viewtiful Joe

2011-12-08T19:57:00.001-08:00

It also goes by the alternate title “Greatest Side-scrolling platformer in the universe!”

Viewtiful Joe is the loving creation by Team Viewtiful a group working for Capcom Production Studio 4. They later would become Clover Studios before being shutdown by Capcom and going off to form their own game making group Platinum Games, which have made quite a few modern gems (Madworld). Prior to production the game was intended to be a rush job in which they had no more than 12 months and a five man team to finish the game. However over time the team progressively grew in size and the finished product took 21 months to complete. This game was thought up by and produced by Hideki Kamiya. You may know him for his other games, Devil May Cry, Okami, and God hand. Viewtiful Joe was incredibly well received by everyone and won numerous awards over the course of its lifetime for its innovative design and both its quirky cast and story.

There are two versions of this game, the Gamecube version and the PS2 version. The Gamecube has nothing particular special as it was the original version, however the PS2 version contains several extra characters; they include Dante and Trish from Devil May Cry each have their own original stories as well. In both games you have the ability to play as quite a few characters though they need to be unlocked in order to play as them, each of the unlockable characters have their own respective stories adding a great deal of playability to both versions.

Cameo’s as far as the eye can see!

The game is a 2D side-scroller though it is nothing like its predecessors, Viewtiful Joe is something new, it combines beat em’ up action platforming with some simple and amusing puzzles. Joe can only move in four directions and back your enemies will come at you from all sides including the foreground and background. At your disposal aside from the typical punches and kicks are three abilities that you unlock throughout the game; the first is “Slow” which allows you to slow the passage of time to increase the damage of your punches or to effect your surroundings to fulfill a puzzle. The next ability is “Mach Speed” which speeds up Joe and his surroundings when using this Joe’s attacks are lightning fast and after a while of punching he glows red as his attacks gain fire attribute and he becomes immune to fire, it can also be used to move fast as the name would suggest. The final ability Joe gains is “Zoom in” while using it enemies on screen are stunned by Joe’s coolness, also Joe’s attacks become much stronger. These three abilities can be used in combination with each other to make strong combo’s.

Mach Speed in action!

This game stars Joe, an average fellow who happens to like super heroes, comics, and old movies. One day while going to see a special run of a classic super hero movie with his girlfriend Silvia tragedy strikes as a monster from the movies reaches out from the screen and snatches her away. From there on Joe begins an epic quest through Movie Land to save his girlfriend and all of Movieland from the evil Jadow.

Some people just don’t appreciate the classics.

Each level in the game is based off a certain genre of movie ranging from Horror to Sci-Fi. The Stages are beautifully done and work amazingly well with the Cel-shaded style of the characters and enemies. Viewtiful Joe is essentially Double-Dragon or River City Ransom mixed with the most iconic movies of all time and stirred together with several gallons of awesome creativity. Aside from the movie references rife in the stages there are allusions to famous real life personages and companies throughout the game. Just to make the game even better it has a great soundtrack with music ranging from rock to techno that always fits the mood of each level and changes to reflect what's going on.

Case in point; Hulk Davidson

Now to use these abilities you use your VFX gauge (pictured below). If you use up your VFX then Joe goes from being a Hero back to being Average Joe. The VFX gauge refills over time and once its recovered he transforms back into his Hero Self. Now the difference between the forms of Joe aside from the awesome powers is that Average Joe takes more damage and deals less, while Viewtiful Joe is the opposite. The VFX powers are all useful and are consistently used throughout the game to platform and pass through puzzles.

You can use them to kick butt. . .

. . .Or solve puzzles.

The story of the game follows Joe, as he adventures through Movieland after his girlfriend Silvia is kidnapped in front of his eyes during a date at the movies. Joe leaps through the Movie screen to try and save her where he meets his hero Captain Blue who tells him that he needs to unlock his secret potential and become the greatest hero ever, Viewtiful Joe! Joe then proceeds to travel throughout the entirety of Movieland fighting the forces of Jadow as he searches for Silvia. He fights Jadow’s many bosses and even the mysterious Other Joe. . .

DUN DUN DUN!!!!!!

After plowing through all the forces of Jadow and reaching the climax Joe fights the Evil King in Six Machine to free Silvia and save Movieland.

The story of Viewtiful Joe is a serious rescue the princess and save the world thoroughfare combined with a cast of characters who have original personalities and are rife with individual quirky humor such as a shark who has trouble remembering, a bat who talks to much, and a Thunder boy who needs to stop reading from the script. The fact that Joe takes nothing he’s doing seriously makes the game even greater as he catches all his foes off guard with his blunt statements and comic/movie logic he imposes on his adversaries. Also the consistent movie and television references add some extra fun to those who can identify them.

See if you can count the allusions to movies and old peripherals.

This game is loads of fun and is a gem regardless of what system you get it for, I would highly recommend this game to anyone who likes platforming and even more so to people who like characters that know how to be fun regardless of how serious the situation is. Also for those who liked the Devil May Cry series, there’s a certain character who will ring a few bells. . .

See what's in his hand? Yeah he’s the spirit in the sword.

You can read more of my reviews at Blog.Lukiegames.com

The Riddler

2011-11-28T19:24:00.001-08:00

Source

Part of a paper I did that I never really had to do…

2011-11-24T22:01:00.001-08:00

Have you ever thought you had to get a project done and busted your balls to get it done in a small time constraint only to find out that no such project was ever do? Well I had that happen to me earlier this semester as I believed that I had to do a response to the Trail and Death of Socrates and it was going to be due the next day. Naturally I busted my balls doing it and pulled an all nighter to make sure it got done, yet the spirits deemed it that no such paper was ever due and instead I just looked crazy. So here I bestow upon the internets the first page of this several page paper for all to bask in its Socratic glory. I’d advise plagiarizers avoid taking this as it will only possibly get them suspended.

On Euthypro

“Soc . Then, my friend, I remark with surprise that you have not answered what I asked. For I certainly did not ask what was that which is at once pious and impious: and that which is loved by the gods appears also to be hated by them. And therefore, Euthyphro, in thus chastising your father you may very likely be doing what is agreeable to Zeus but disagreeable to Chronos or Uranus, and what is acceptable to Hephaestus but unacceptable to here, and there may be other gods who have similar differences of opinion.” (11)

Socrates encounters Euthypro a religious zealot who is on his way to prosecute his father for neglecting a servant under him and causing his death. Socrates on the other hand is on a trial for corrupting the youth of Athens with his teachings. Socrates queries him on why it is that he is going to prosecute his father and Euthypro tells him that it is the best interests of both the gods and Justice so that he can fulfill his duties as a devout religious fanatic. Socrates on the other hand tells him that he should not prosecute his father because of piety but rather for justice and the sake of justice alone. To Socrates these two things should not under any circumstances be mixed together as both piety and Justice are two completely different concepts. Socrates uses the above quote as an example why Piety should be excluded from Justice as the actions one god would approve of another would disagree to. Euthypro however refuses to believe and claims that all the gods should prescribe to a universal code of what justice is.

Socrates doesn’t believe in no bullshit.

Socrates attempts to persuade Euthypro, who is part of a cult of religious fanatics some of which who are attempting to try Socrates, that a unanimous code of justice would be incompatible with the gods. Socrates also asks Euthypro to explain how piety and justice can possibly intermingle; this leaves Euthypro incapable of answering straight forward. Socrates proceeds to query the concept of Piety and Justice and how the two can be intermingled into a single entity; “In like manner, I want you to tell me what part of justice is piety or holiness; that I may be able to tell Meletus not to do me injustice, or indict me of impiety;…”(13) Socrates bring up the point of being indicted for either injustice or impiety as if both concepts were to be combined he could potentially be sentenced for that which he is not guilty of. Socrates also wonders what Piety in itself is, is it the maintaining of the gods and prayer, or is it a ministration in respect to the gods? The conclusion drawn forth is that piety is an ask and give affair where one requests something from the gods and gives offering as payment for said services the gods would offer.

Further delving into the concept of piety Socrates’ attempts to prod Euthypro into explaining to him the secrets of true piety and how it works, Euthypro leaves; “Another time, Socrates; for I am in a hurry, and must go now.” (17) Over the course of their encounter Socrates presses Euthypro for answers regarding the difference between piety and impiety and how it affects one’s relation with the gods and whether or not the gods Justice would be appropriate and similar. Through the interaction the difference between what is justice and what piety is drawn as Justice is assed to be the punishment in which one who commits a crime should receive and Piety is the prayer and offering one makes to the god for good standing amongst them. The entire exchange between Socrates and Euthypro is an example of how religion should not be used as a basis of justice and should when enacting justice be left out to better give an appropriate verdict.

Pimp.

How to obtain a free Xbox 360 Elite (Update; See bottom)

2011-11-24T21:44:00.001-08:00

Firstly one needs to understand that in order to get something like this for free one needs to have both diligence and patience. The process as a whole can take anything from one week to about a month, though over the course of the process you will not be obligated to pay any money out of pocket unless you choose to (I’d advise against this).

Now firstly you will need to make an account at the following Website.

From there you will need to scroll down and register for the site, for some background this is a website run by a company called Transcendent Innovations or Traiin for short, they are the oldest referral based freebie company on the net and have a fairly good track record for helping people get free things will little to no effort or cost. To register for the site look for the little box circled in the picture to the bottom right.

(Click on any given picture to enlarge it)

Upon submitting your email you will be presented with the option to choose between two account types, a referral type, or a points type. I highly recommend a referral type as it’s typically the easiest to use.

Next upon selecting your type if you have yet to select a reward you may want to select the “Rewards” tab at the top right, from there you have the option of picking from any of the bundles or a cash option.

Once you have selected whichever bundle you want your next step is to complete an offer; Of the offers there are a large number of ones which require you to pay, so I’d recommend you avoid them like the plague, instead I’d recommend that you go for the free credit one’s as they are generally all free and are easiest to get a pay out from.

WARNING! It is highly recommended that you use Internet Explorer with cookies enabled or Google Chrome for this, as Firefox generally has issues with the website for some reason. (Speaking from experience even with cookies enabled in Firefox you don’t always get credited.)

Upon Completion of an offer, your next task is to obtain referrals, this is done by copying your referral link and sending it to your friends and family, or by posting it on your facebook, blog, youtube account, or some internet forum. You can find your referral link in the center of your personal page upon logging into your account.

Your Current Referrals will appear below it with all the emails listed along with whether or not that have yet to complete an offer.

Once whatever amount of your referrals have completed an offer you will be able to order the reward you selected earlier. It will usually take about two weeks at most for whatever it is you chose to arrive.

Now to answer common questions,

1. I didn’t receive credit for the offer I completed.

Here is what you will have to do, you will have to wait seven days, on the eighth day you will be able to open a missing credit request. To do this you will need to go and click the “My Account” tab and from there go down to “Click History” and click it. You should see all the offers you ever click on displayed there, click on the one you wish to open a missing credit request for.

Upon opening up a missing credit request you will need to provide the confirmation email you received from doing the offer so make sure you keep/kept the email that you received. You will need to send the email along with any possible headers if you do not know how to do this the following websites can/will show you how.

Non-gmail email providers: http://www.emailaddressmanager.com/tips/header.html
For anyone who uses Gmail: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=22454&topic=43

Attack the email to the body of the missing credit report and in a maximum of ten days you will receive the credit you justly deserve.

Upon Completing this you can view the request from the “Missing Credit Requests” link in the “My Account” section.

2. I believe I was scammed/Conned by one of their offers!

This is serious so what you need to do first before you go and rage towards the conners is to open up a support ticket with them. This can be found in the “My account” section through the link “Support Tickets”. Once you click it you will be brought to a page where you will have the option of submitting and viewing your tickets. Write to them telling them what happened and within 24 hours they will attempt to resolve the problem. The staff are very helpful and friendly so don’t feel shy, if something happens TELL THEM!

If you fair reader have any questions regarding this, you can either ask me in the comments below or send an email to Traiin and they will respond in around 24 hours.

I know that most are skeptic of thins like this likening them to “madness” or skullduggery, however I can assert that this is very much true and very much a legitimate practice.

Update 12/03/2011: Just got the credit that I was missing from when I did my equifax offer. I'll keep updating this section as more happens.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

2011-11-23T10:09:00.001-08:00

As of writing this post I’m sure you have noticed that My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is garnering a huge audience, mostly of men. Now as I’m sure you (read: reader) may or may not have noticed this show was originally designed with a female audience in mind; so how is it that so many men all turned about and acknowledged the show as being both entertaining and worthy of a large cult following? I think the first and best answer to that is to look into who the creator of the show is and what brought about her creation of this show.

Lauren Faust, best known for her works on The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Lauren Faust was commissioned from Hasbro due to their interest in her Deviant Art account and her pictures of Ponies therein. Her early concept arts of the ponies which were based on the G3 ponies…

(click to enlarge)

As you can see from the above chart the series made a fairly drastic change from G3 to Lauren Faust’s G4. The show itself also changed as she brought over her quirky humor and character designs from her previous shows. Each character also received a defining characteristic that made them unique such as Rainbow Dash’s competitive spirit, Fluttershy’s shyness and ability to commune with animals. The characters have been greatly fleshed out as of Lauren Faust’s redesign of them and have all become quite well liked, spawning lots of merchandise and youtube videos of characters of particular interest.

Case in point Dr. Whooves.

The fans have spawned many websites, most notably Equestria Daily, and Ponychan the latter being an imageboard devoted to My Little Pony. Though the fans are not limited to those two locations alone, there are sections of Youtube, and the internet as a whole that are completely occupies by these Pony lovers, who aptly address themselves as “Bronies”. These Bronies typically come under attack from large factions of haters and trolls who are prevalent throughout the internet community, however Bronies respond to these attacks with a response similar to what one of the shows characters would do, they respond typically with the response “Love &Tolerate” typically as an image macro.

Evidence is evident.

So lets review what we’ve just gone over, Lauren Faust is the director and writer of Friendship is Magic, she worked on two of the most popular shows of the 90’s and early 2000’s, Bronies are highly prevalent and are mostly male. So what exactly makes the show so good and so popular? Well I think it’s best that you, the reader, watch an episode to better gauge why.

I Personally find the show rather enjoyable to watch with easy to relate to characters and decent plot. What do you think about the series?

Ramble on racism, a racist ramble?

2011-11-10T12:31:00.001-08:00

40 Acres and a Mule, this phrase has been touted around for years, and yet I can’t even comprehend why it is that people harp about it. A long time ago in a country beset by civil war a gaggle of black people who had gained there freedom but had no idea what to do with it were following the union army around looking for handouts and direction. Naturally when there is a war an army wants to get rid of whatever it is that could possibly compromise their objective, for the union army it was these black people who incessantly followed the army wherever it was they went. For a brief period of time the army put up with it and shared their rations with them hoping that the civilians would go about setting up their new lives, this however was not meant to be as the persisted to follow the union army. So Sherman had an Idea, “I’ll lie to them to get them off my back”, so he told them that if they just sat where they were they would be given 40 acres of land and a mule. Now I won’t pretend to know everything, but last a checked a General does not have the authority to distribute personal property, nor does he have the power to make such grand decisions.

So why is it that people regardless of ethnic identity continue to purport that black people are owed? What makes it worse is that many subscribe to the grand assumption that a lowly general has the ability to just say “Hey, you want land? BAM! You can take all of that guys land, also here’s a mule because we know you’ll be needing one.” No general, EVER has that kind of authority. Decisions like that are to be decided by either the state or a governing body of higher position. This is one of the many myths perpetuated by people of disputable grounds that claim and point fingers at other people and state that all their problems are a result of that person or persons. These myths which to this day remain incredibly prevalent produce a disgusting sense of entitlement in many people; this sense of entitlement is not limited to people of a single ethnic background, all people are subjected to it.

This sense of entitlement is a poison that does nothing but harm, it causes people to become hateful and resentful. Much worse this sense of entitlement does harm to communities as the aforementioned people will demand to be serviced or be served whatever product they are purchasing prior to anyone else regardless of how long they have waited or if they have even paid for the service. Another problem is with entitlement is that it draws people to perform two despicable acts, stealing, and littering. Both of these things are brought upon not usually for survival purposes but because the person in question believes they are entitled to the item, or that they are entitled to use the world as a giant trash can.

I digress though, why is it that such falsities as “Education isn’t the great equalizer”, “All white people have it out for the black people”, and that “all business’s and institutions seek to actively oppress the black people”. These insane and completely groundless myths are incredibly prevalent especially in black communities. The worst part is that no matter how groundless the accusation the accusation none the less has enough weight to cause most black people to abandon their hopes and dreams. Naturally this naturally raises racial tension on the part of black people who become enraptured in the untruth that no matter how hard they try the “White man” will keep them down. This ideology is almost as insane as the original accusation, as there are plenty of black men and women who succeed in life by trying, there are lawyers, politicians, businessmen, and yet there are people with the gall to claim that black people are incapable of ever succeeding because some imaginary fat rich white man with nothing better to do then oppress black people will prevent them from ever succeeding.

What absolutely baffles me the most is where the original accusations come from, they come from radical civil rights groups such as the black panthers. Ironically these groups who so desperately want equal rights perpetuate racism more then they do anything else. I’ve noticed that they most recent bout of insanity they’ve come up with is the claim that “Black people cannot be racist, as they do not have the power to do so”. Naturally any history, sociology, and/or psych/philosophy major would tell you, that is not have racism functions. Racism is a prejudice, it is a prejudice enacted upon a specific group of people accompanied by action. To be prejudiced is something anyone is capable of, as it just requires you to have a bias, racism is a bias which is directed towards a group of specific ethnicity. Therefore, anyone can be racist.
Normally I’d include some pictures to make this post humorous but this post is serious business. >:(

Naw just kiddin’ dawg!

Advice for Flea Marketing

2011-10-31T08:29:00.001-07:00

I’ll talk about purchasing games today, now there are a couple of fairly important rules to follow:

ALWAYS check inside the case (if there is one). This is because sometimes the dealer will accidentally (or purposely) place the wrong game inside or just exclude the game altogether. So you must always check the inside of the case unless you want to risk paying money for an empty case of a game you didn’t want.
Check the condition of the disc or cartridge. Now this can be unimportant if you have a disc repair machine or if you are well versed in cartridge repair, but for anyone lacking those respects its best to check the condition of them. On the disc’s you will want to check for scratches (especially on black or blue discs as scratches on them will most likely effect gameplay. On cartridges you will want to check the contacts on the bottom of the game; you should look to see if they are chipped, corroded, or missing entirely. If any damage is done to the cartridges contacts then the game will most likely not play.
The final rule is to get a decent idea of what the average value of games is so that you don’t get over charged.

Now buying game systems at a Flea Market can be tricky as there is a chance that the system may not work. So these are the rules you should follow:

ALWAYS check to make sure the system has all the cords. Quite often dealers will sell systems without cords and sometimes the dealers will try to hide this fact by putting the system in a box filled with peripherals to hide the lack of cords. So always check to make sure they are there.
Ask if the system works, sometimes dealers will sell broken systems and treat them like they are gently used, generally you can tell how well it will work by the cosmetic damage but its always a good thing to ask. (Depending on what type of system it is, its quite possible to fix/repair it)
NEVER pay more than $40 for any system, unless it’s a brand new next generation system there is no reason to pay more than that. $20 is the optimum amount to pay for a system and less is even better.

So that’s my advice on how to go about shopping at a flea market. Tune in for when I eventually talk about other things.

Thrift store madness!!!11!1/?1!

2011-10-31T08:23:00.001-07:00

I don’t know about most people but I personally enjoy going to thrift stores, I mean I really really enjoy thrift stores. To me any thrift store is a treasure hunt as each holds the potential to house things from different eras in time. I personally only look for video games and children’s card games whenever I peruse the old wares in the stores (this is because they tend to not carry much in the way of men’s clothing, especially in my size).

So every time I stop by a Thrift store I first hunt down their electronic section. This is where the treasure hunting part comes in; a majority of thrift stores employee’s do not know the value of things and would haphazardly destroy a copy of Nintendo World Cup 1990 before they would destroy a tacky sweater vest. So most games are merely tossed aside and thrown in bins and generally are not treated very well. So the first thing I do is sift through the electronics till I find the location of the games, upon finding them you may find diamonds, or you may find steamy piles of shit.

Unfortunately the terms “pooping” and “diamonds” didn’t yield either of the terms searched.

One of the biggest boons to purchasing from thrift stores is that you are getting these games at generally ridiculously low prices. As of this month I’ve picked up the following games and here is how much I paid for them:

Donkey Kong Country $1
Golgo 13: The Mafat Conspiracy $1
Sonic & Knuckles $1
Super Mario Bros. & Duck Hunt $1
Super Scope 6 (no gun) $1
Jungle Strike $0.60
Tony Hawk Pro Skater $0.60

As you can see a few of these are really good games and I bough them at very low prices, this is a special boon that can only be found at thrift stores and flea markets. Now I don’t know nor do I claim to know whether or not there are flea markets near your location or the general availability of them in your local township or city, however I can safely state that thrift stores very often follow a formula like this:

The older a neighborhood is the more likely there will be a thrift store, and the worse off a neighborhood is the more likely it is to house valuable things at very low prices.

Older neighborhood-> Thrift store –> Worse Neighborhood –> Low prices & good stuff.

This theory may not apply to all places, for all I know you may live in the richest part of town and there may be 30 thrift stores, but what I do know is that if you are a collector these are places worse checking out.

What lies in wait?

On another note thrift stores aren’t just places to get vidya gaems, you can also find electronics, clothing, and even books. These places are where things from all era’s converge and is filled with history. During my last trip I happened across some of the old power rangers toys from my youth you know the ones where their special feature was the ability to change heads by pushing a button. I also came across some old printers/fax machines and vhs tapes. If one were daring enough to fight through the millions of racks of women's clothing you may also find clothing from times ranging as far back as the 60’s. Another thing of note is that most thrift stores seem to follow the trend of having very little in the range of men's clothing. If you have a Y chromosome then its best that you don’t get yourself to worked up over clothes shopping at a thrift store.

There are usually books, lots of books. Some good, most saucy romance novels.

Well that’s all I have for now on thrift stores, I’ll put up some stuff on Flea Markets in the near future.

Xbawks and getting free one's

2011-10-30T21:05:00.000-07:00

There is this website, it is part of a big circle-jerking advertising gambit. Essentially you join the website and choose between one of two account types "Points", and "referrals"; the main difference between the two is that a Points account requires to complete offers until you have reached the ultimate point requirement for whatever prize it is that you are trying to attain. A Referrals account requires that you complete one offer and then get a certain amount of people refereed and to complete a "offer" (i.e. choosing the free offers and avoiding the pay one's like the plague). The company which runs these websites is TRAINN a rather legitimate company which pulls in revenue through the advertising and referrals and uses a percentage of its earnings to give away things as incentive to continue doing what your doing. TRAINN gives away a broad range of things from PS3's, to Xbawks, Wiis, and Computers, so it's not a bad idea to attempt to give this a shot.

I personally am questing an Xbox 360 and require referrals, so if you are interested in this at all I would appreciate it if you clicked the link below and made an account through. Whenever I get my referrals and receive my xbawks I'll put up a post about it.
http://www.360Elite4free.com/index.php?ref=7037937

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2011-10-15T20:20:00.001-07:00

B̵̡̜͓̲͇̫͍̩̩̒͞ͅr̬̻̲̊ͪ͛͡å͔͛ͧ̐͗̕͟nͫͬ̄͏͙̮̗̥͙͎͍̫́,̨͗̊ͤ҉̟̻ ̹͖̥͕̈̾Ḭ̊̈ͬͧ͢͠ ̇́ͥͯ̆͋͑̇҉̠͍̯ṙ̶̷͇͕̙̼͘é̷͚̠̝͚̩̤͒͌ͫͫ͒͐q̸͖̙̻̘̲̯̎͛̈́ͫ́u̸̫̘̙̬̪ͯ̋̈̄̇̓̓̚i̻̞͈̗̖̖̖̟ͩ͛ͦ͐͌ͦͦͬ͘͞r̶̢̳̩͉̫͆͐̑̅̈ͨ͜e̵͈͙̱̘̼̼͗̇ͩ͒͊ ̢̼̱̫̟̍̂̑ͫB̺͎̺̥̞̥̙ͬ̀́ṙ͌̓͜͏̱̩̥͓̪̀ͅa̵̙̺̞̭̠̟͖̳̒̀͘n̶̳̝̟̗ͧͧ͢!̴̵̜̭͍̟ͮͩ
̣̻͎̹̳͓̫ͮ̽ͪ̊͞͡͞ͅͅ
̵̪̼̪̳̰ͭ̇ͮͧ͆̀T̡ͭ̂̎͏̦̯ȁ́ͬ̍͑ͨ̃͂͝͏͎̻̭͖͖s̛͓͉̼̤̤̠͍̝͂̒ͥ̀ͯ̀t̮̙̜͉ͦ̋͐̋̔̽̌y̷͎̪̥̏̽̑́̚͟ ̛̤̭͔̻͊Dͧ̐̅̾ͩ҉̧̳͚̩͉ȅ̷͇̫̙̪̂l̳̭̻̹͕̖̘̑͒͊̕͜i̤̠͕̙͙̘̔̂̊͑̅ͩ̇̒͜͞c̸͎͉ͭ̾i͍ͫͪ̃͐͑͆ͧ̀ö̴̦͉̩͍̗̩̦͕̠́ͥͥͫ͛ͨ͑̚͘u̲̘̪̻͌͂ͩ͠͠s̶̻̠̣̙̳̯̗̳̓̎̎͐͢ ̤̝̳͍͓̹͇̦̉͐̒̈́̓̈́̀ͅB̶̷̝̳̦̪̗̻̜̦͙̈͆͗̉̓ͦr̯̎̅̌͒ͥạ̺͕̱̝̣̥͌̇̎̏̋̔͛̉͟͝n̫̱̗ͮ̒̾̓ͣ́͢!̶̨̟͈͖̲̪͈̭ͦ̊ͪ̈́ͧ͐̒̓́
̷̘̺̞̤̣̣̦̘͒̆̒̏̓͗ͣͧ͜͝
̠̣̩̭̘̖͉͈ͭ̓̓ͪͥͧ̌̈́̎̀́B̨͓͚ͣṛ̤̳͍͌͌̚į͈̱͓̤̄͗̊̎͑̚n̡̮̟̭̭͊̓ͥ͐̊̋ͭg̈́̎̓̊̒͂̽҉̧͉̼ ͖̤̻̎ͫ̒̌m̴̷̧̪̫̠̹̤̭̉̆̐͌̈́ͣ̽ͭěͬͭ̑̋ͦͯ҉̵̳͕̫̳͎͕͜ͅ ̸̻̝̹̓̔̇̇̈́y̛̳̼̳͚͈̞͎͈͆͡o̢̒ͨ̑͗͐̃̉̒̚҉̴̬̳ͅu̫͖̙̙̟͊ͥ̂̓̄͝r̟͈̙̗̗̺̰̯͆̽̅̓͂̎̾ͯ͠ͅ ͍͉̟̱͕̳̫̥̰̓̐̊͂ͣ̄͢B̸̨̫̝̏̃̓̈́ř̡̳̩͖͓̳̘ͪ̓͗̚͡á̠͕̰̠͓̘̇͒̋ͦ̄́ͅn͍͈̩͖͙̰̳̗͆͋̂́͘!̐҉̖̱̠̗͔̬̫

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2011-10-15T12:11:00.000-07:00

H҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘Ȅ̐̑̒̚̕̚ IS C̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̚̕̚̕̚̕̚̕̚̕̚OMI҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘NG > ͡҉҉ ̵̡̢̛̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̿̿̿̚ ҉ ҉҉̡̢̡̢̛̛̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑ ͡҉҉
Z҉A҉L҉G҉O̚̕̚ Z҉A҉L҉G҉O̚̕̚ Z҉A҉L҉G҉O̚̕̚

9/11 and Diablo II

2011-09-11T15:07:00.001-07:00

So for a while now a friend of mine has demanded I play Diablo II. I’ve been on the fence about it seeing as not only have I just started classes, but I also spend most of my free time working on video game reviews to earn a living. Today though I broke down and as I’m typing this its installing to my computer, so in the future I will post about Diablo II and comment on whether I enjoy it or not. So yeah there’s that. . .

Clearly a children's game.

Now I’ve been told today is a significant day, and indeed it is, as it was on this very day that the Hope Diamond (the most valuable diamond in the world) was stolen along with the French crown jewels. Though luckily it found its way back into the spotlight as it wound up in America where it now sits in the Smithsonian Museum of History. Yep good times. . . good times.

Doesn’t look that great to me.

Oh wait, silly me there are much more significant happenings then that, The battle of Tuetoberg forest was much more significant. After all it was when the remaining Germanic tribes held back and defeated nine roman legions at the Rhine and permanently established a border between them and the empire. You can read more about it here at this fellows blog.

These guys kicked the shit out of Roman Legionaries.

Oh and who could forget about the birth of Minamoto no Yoriie! Actually. . . yeah anyone could, he wasn’t that significant.

Oh and the twin towers were knocked down by an airplane. Kinda sucks too, I happened to like those towers. On a more serious note, today is the day in the US of A where the people all gather to mourn those lost a decade ago to a terroristic attack by the Taliban forces led by Osama Bin Laden. Unfortunately for the country the inept (or possibly brilliant) then president George W. Bush Jr. used the anger of the people to start two illegal wars against non-terroristic forces in order to gain a hand in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ironically he started off claiming he was instigating a war on “Terror” but quickly claimed he had no intention of going after the Taliban. Luckily though the people can rejoice as the current president (as of this post) Barrack Obama and his administration and the wonderful soldiers employed managed to find and murder the leader of the Taliban in front of his wife and children.

Good times… good times…

Well I leave you all with this fitting picture.

Can anyone provide me with a decent challenge!

2011-08-13T19:54:00.001-07:00

Source

So I play quite a few games both on my DS and computer and I always like a good challenge, so here I shall list friend codes and names for which you can challenge me if you feel the need.

DS Games:

Card games on Motorcycles!

Yu-Gi-Oh!! 5D’s World Championship 2011: Over the Nexus
0046-4987-9458 Dr.Wily

Mario Kart DS
1118-0323-2251 Dr.Wily

Phantasy Star Zero
5199-4064-8704 Dr.Wily

Pokemon Soul Silver
1119-2826-2459 Dr.Wily

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
1850-3851-3358 Dr.Wily

Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
3869-0197-6541

I also play Battle for Wesnoth and my name on that is “Orsted”. If you want to battle me in a round of the original Starcraft my name for that is also Orsted.

Leave a comment if you have any questions.

My Favorite Games

2011-07-19T19:23:00.001-07:00

I like any other gamer have a handful of games that no matter how much I play them I can’t get enough of them. Today I will tell you what they are and possibly explain to you why I like them so much. So lets start off with. . .

Majora’s Mask

Three more days. . .

The Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask is by far my favorite LOZ game. The reason so is because of the three days time system where as time passes the people in Termina go about preforming tasks and living their daily lives. I like the idea of a living breathing world where you need to be at a certain place at a certain time to meet up with someone or perform an action; I find this adds a sense of realism which makes the adventure more enjoyable. The game also has a wonderful story about a moon and a boy, and some kokiri that got lost in the lost woods, and found a mask containing unimaginable power? It’s a really good game and I’d recommend a play through if you haven’t played it yet, as despite it being a sequel to Ocarina of Time it can still stand alone without having played the previous game.

Next on the list is. . .

Metal Gear Solid (series)

Oh my gawd metal gear!!!!

I recall in my youth playing the first Metal Gear Solid on the PSX and being impressed with the games powerfully story based gameplay and the implementation of the concept of avoiding confrontation to achieve your goals instead of killing everyone in sight and advancing. This game left an impression on me and to this day I’ve played all the games aside from the PSP spinoffs and the final game Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots. :( This is a great series of games and I’d recommend them to anyone who values story over randomly murdering people.

Now onto. . .

Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front

Being that I am a big fan of strategy games and giant robots its no surprise that I would have Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front on this list. In this game you control up to three squads of three Mobile Suits and play from the point of view of a regular unit of Zeon soldiers who merely try to perform their duties and attempt to survive a war which they can’t possibly win. The game has a powerful story and a original cast who react to events fairly realistically.

Now we move onto. . .

Grandia

Grandia is quite possibly the greatest RPG in the world. Its an epic game with an expansive world and a plethora of colorful characters. The game is rife with hilarity and doesn’t force itself to be funny, all the jokes are pulled off marvelously. The game also has a powerful story of a boy who wants nothing more then to go on an adventure and the friends he makes as he pursues his dream. The game spawned a sequel and a plethora of other games in the series. This game has the capacity to make you both laugh and cry, and its scenery and musical score will move you. This is a game that I hold quite dear to myself.

We now move onto. . .

Final Fantasy III (i.e. VI)

This one is self explanatory, it’s the best Final Fantasy game ever. Its has a great story, a wonderful soundtrack and three-dimensional characters that are quite easy to grow attached too. Also Kefka is in it, and he is the only Final Fantasy villain to ever succeed in his ambition to destroy/rule the world. So yeah, it’s like the best game ever, if you don’t believe me then go play it yourself.

Finally we move onto. . .

Romance of the Three Kingdoms (series)

Part of Koei’s historical simulation series, ROTK is a turn based strategy game based on a book series and being that I am a major fan of the books these games are favorites of mine. The basic point of each game is unify China. You have the option of playing as any of the prominent warlords or making your own and forging your own crusade to capture the country. The series has gone through several variations one of these variations was an RPG where you could play as any character from history or your own and play as a vassal instead of being a ruler. All if the games have a lot of depth and allow you to customize the hell out of your created characters and make your own stories. This is my all time favorite strategy game and of all games the ones I play the most often.

. . . and these are a few of my favorite games, take it or leave it.

How to tell if a Game Boy Cartridge is a Bootleg

2011-06-07T21:59:00.001-07:00

I’ve noticed as of late that the amount of Game Boy bootlegs being produced has not yet tapered off with the advent of the DS and DS bootlegs. This is perturbing as no one wants to wind up with a bootleg after trying so hard to get a hold of a game they really wanted. So I’ve opted to explain to you (the reader) how to spot a bootleg Gameboy Game.

I’m not joking, look at these they’re terrible!

Now first I would like to explain that no USED video game store is free of bootlegs, they all have at least one. Bootlegs tend to be of more popular games, like Golden Sun, Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, etc. So when you go to purchase one of these games you need to keep your eyes peeled to avoid purchasing a bootleg copy. Now you might be asking “Why should I care if it’s a bootleg if it still plays?” Well I’ll tell you why, bootleg gameboy carts use very short lived batteries to retain their save files instead of having flash based memory as DS games do. So after a period of time the battery will die and you will lose everything on the game.

Believe me nothings worse then getting up to Zeromus and then having the battery crap out and losing EVERYTHING!

Now if you are an avid Ebay shopper like me than you should know that ebay is overflowing with bootleg games, most of them come in the form of incredibly cheap versions of popular games (as mentioned above). Now not all cheap games on ebay are bootlegs, but you still have to watch out for several signs:

1. Label Art – Quite often with bootlegs the label art will be different from the original. Things like the color of the label or the picture which is supposed to be in the background will be different from the original. Often times bootleggers will just put the box’s image on it and call it a day. Though in recent years bootleggers have upped the quality of their fakes and now some have their original label. So you may be ask me “If they have the original label image and text than how will I know its fake?” Well I would direct you to the lower right side of the label, if you see a set of numbers and and/or letters there if in the US it should start with AGB and end with USA, that means that its legit also look for the Nintendo Seal, which should read

“Official Nintendo Seal”

On the upper Right side of the label should be two sets of double digit numbers stamped into the label as well.

Can you tell me what’s wrong with this cartridge class?

2. The back of the game cartridge – The back of your game cartridge should have a Tri-Wing screw in it, these screws look like a “Y” and can only be removed with a special screwdriver. Some bootleggers will instead opt to use a regular Phillips screw which looks like a “+” this is a tell tale sign of a bootleg, as all Nintendo Licensed games use a Tri-wing screw. Another thing to look for is the where its made, bootleggers sometimes replace the “Made in Japan” with “Made in China”

3. Finally and most definitely is the contacts and board of the game itself. If you open up the game by taking out the screw you should be greeted by a regular board and DEPENDING on the game a possible battery with a red ring around it. A vast majority of GBA games do not use a battery for saves and instead use flash based memory which means it saves it directly to the cart itself. To my knowledge only the Pokemon GBA games use batteries and that is because they have a clock built in which requires it to keep it running. Also on the bottom of the board near the contacts in white lettering you should clearly see Nintendo, and a product number.

Real.

Fake.

Now its kinda hard in this day and age to completely avoid getting a hold of a bootleg by mistake, as they become increasingly convincing even resellers become baffled. So what I’m saying is that the best defense against getting conned is to be educated on what your buying, know how to spot a fake label, know how to tell if it was produced anywhere but Japan, and understand the inner workings of the game your buying. Though if you don’t really care, than you probably won’t heed my words and you might not have even reached this point. All I can say in closing is that you should know what your getting before you get it, watch out for deals that are too good to be true and avoid American games being sold from China.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms and some other things.

2011-06-05T19:15:00.001-07:00

I’m a big fan of the series, and am an even bigger fan of the books. For those who didn’t know, Dynasty Warriors and the ROTK games are based (though sometimes loosely) on the books. The books however aren’t entirely factual as they were written in the 14th century by a man named Luo Guanzhong who was a traveling scholar. He wrote the book based on stories he gathered from villages, plays, and from excerpts from the Records of the Three Kingdoms. The book(s) is revered in China and considered almost completely fact, that’s how popular it is. I’d say the book is a must read for any fan of the games or of history, its very well written and each chapter comes with a cliffhanger ending.

Now you might be wondering why it has a cliffhanger ending, I’ll tell you; Originally Romance of the Three Kingdom’s was a set of individual manuscripts that was passed around and as such the cliffhanger endings were used for the same impact as the short cereal films in the 40’s and 50’s, to get people to see what happens next. Though regardless of the little cliffhangers the Chinese people of the time loved stories and I’m certain would have loved them regardless.

As you(whomever is reading) can probably tell I am a history nerd. I love history, I can’t get enough of the past, I find it fun to learn what happened in the past. Well anyhow I recently attained a contract doing reviews for Lukie Games on their blog. So for the time being most of my reviews will be going there. Back on the topic of history, if you are interested in anything concerning the Three Kingdoms Period of China (Late Han if you want to be technical) I’d recommend Kongming Archives for all your needs concerning the Three Kingdoms, and even most of the Dynasty Warriors games. They have a very comprehensive encyclopedia, and its run by a whole bunch of History nerds so you know its all quality.

Well I might talk a bit more about the book in my next post, and when I get the time to finish up Chibi-Robo I’ll totally post that up here.

Smash TV (NES Port) Mini-Review

2011-05-22T14:37:00.001-07:00

No TV’s were harmed in the making of this Review.

Money! Women! Cars! Toasters! These are what you’re working for in the game show game SMASH TV! This particular version of the game is a port from the Arcade version which was highly popular in the 90’s. The game also received ports to the two major systems at the time the SNES and Sega Genesis along with the Sega Game Gear and several home computers like the Amstrad CPC, and Atari ST. This particular port was of better quality than that of the Game Gear and the home computers but only paled in comparison to its 16-bit cousins the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis (Twice removed). The game was played from a top down perspective and it a shooter in its purest form. You blast enemies while trying to avoid their attacks all while grabbing fabulous prizes.

Off to kill hundreds to thousands of goons, tanks, and robots for fabulous prizes!

The game has no real story, but that’s easily forgiven based on its addictive gameplay, and surprisingly catchy soundtrack. The premise of the game is that you are a man who has been accepted to participate on the game show Smash TV, you must plow your way through hundreds of faceless goons, tanks, and strange machines to obtain the prizes and women you so desperately seek. The game comes in two flavors, Single Player and Multiplayer, exclusive to this port is the ability to use multiple controllers to control the direction you fire in instead of alternating between button A and B. You essentially use the control pad of a second controller to decide where you want to shoot, this makes it a lot easier to change firing direction but unfortunately demands the need for a multitap of sorts if you want to play with someone else.

“I’d buy that for a dollar!”

You are generally given free choice of what room you wish to go to as at the beginning of each level you are provided with a map with the layout of the rooms which tells you where the boss and treasure rooms are. The game only has three levels but don’t let the small number of levels fool you, they are each quite difficult and dying is incredibly commonplace.This isn’t a negative aspect as the difficulty of the game easily adds to its replay value. As only through replaying can you find the secret room and encounter the surprising final boss.

He prefers to be called a Mutoid American.

Graphics-wise the game is decent for a NES game. With some power-ups it’s hard to distinguish what they are on the ground, but after a few levels of blasting you’ll know what each one does. If you’ve been looking at the screenshots (See above and below) they are what to expect when playing this game. For the graphical purest this is not a game for you and is more for those who like games for they’re playability rather then their graphical capacity.

I just finished slaughtering people and destroying robots and now I’m going to Disney land!

All in all I’d highly recommend this game as it’s a tough, fun and all-around rewarding game to have. If you don’t like its graphics then pick up the SNES port of it which is the exact same game only with better graphics.

A short essay for Kristen

2011-05-04T17:57:00.001-07:00

Political Correctness is a tricky topic as it’s a concept that revolves around avoiding saying things that can be perceived as being Offensive. Some people believe the concept started being used around the 18^th century. On the reverse of the spectrum is the concept of Political Incorrectness which is where you one says things regardless of whether or not they might be perceived as offensive. Political Correctness is typically used as a political device to pander to people who feel that saying or using certain terms is offensive and that’s one of the reasons slang and Ebonics are frowned upon when it comes time to being professional. It is my belief that Political Correctness inadvertently perpetuates stereotyping and racism.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

When one is made to write or speak political correct it limits the persons capacity to facilitate ones ideas, while feeding into the notion that a term is offensive. Now political correctness is fine in limiting the use of blatant racist or derogatory terms, such as nigger, spick, gook, etc. Once it’s used to blanket over regular terms though it loses purposes and becomes a tool with which factions can point blame or attack another. Examples of this happening are the terms picnic, nigga(depending on use apparently), Dago, coconut, Terrorist, babe, miss, and cracker. These terms despite having no offensive background are considered offensive to certain groups. This is because those certain ethnic groups attach negative connotations to those words. At some point one person of a separate ethnic group makes a jab at said group and the group itself permanently attaches a negative meaning to whatever it was that was said, thus making themselves more ignorant.

Salted or unsalted

These same groups which state that these terms are offensive then use the terms themselves against themselves, but rationalize this as “It’s alright when ‘we’ do it”. This ironically causes the group to become its own stereotype. Constantly perpetuating and adding false meanings to words does not truly make them offensive, but to the group which hears it they use it as an excuse to attack whatever group is utilizing the term. An example of this is when Sen. Boxer attacked the one General for addressing her as “Ma’am”, or when urban youths toss the term “nigga” around.

Political Correctness is no longer the concept it once was where in official matters one was to refrain from using terms which could upset another party or group. Instead its just a tool used by groups to belittle and argue with one another. In this day and age political correctness is a pointless concept that cause irreparable harm and causes the people to become ignorant, through which they fulfill stereotypes and at times are inadvertently (or purposely) racist. Long story short, Political Correctness is stupid, and people who advocate it are stupid, and anyone who thinks we need to be more politically correct should go eat a dick. Also they should man up and stop perpetuating racism and get over all this stupid childish bullshit so I don’t have to waste my fucking time explaining to them historical facts and dictionary definitions because they’re too lazy to look anything up themselves.

A strange Dream

2011-05-01T07:34:00.001-07:00

So last night I had a dream about me and my girlfriend, it took place in Philadelphia in the current time period and made a time skip to some sort of dystopian future. It started with me and her attending a school taking an adventuring class (I assume that’s what it must have been) and traveling through underground caves. After doing that for a while the class is dismissed and we decide to go for a walk. While walking we meet up with a bunch of our friends and we all continue to walk, I noticed that as we walked we traveled through locations in the city familiar to me. I don’t remember clearly the interactions we all had, but after a while the sunset and everyone decided they wanted to go home. Quickly all my friends brought up cries of “We’re lost!” while I attempted to explain to them the route we traveled, soon all our friends ran away in a random car leaving us alone. We decided to keep walking, I believe there was some romance but things start to get fuzzy (as this was a two part dream and I woke up) until we wind up at a warehouse where we mess around with things. What happens next I don’t clearly remember but I do recall something happening to me, and waking up in the future.

Waking up I found myself in the backyard of my dads house, but it was run down looking and there were cars flying. I attempted to enter the house through the backdoor only to be rebuffed by a stranger who apparently was living there. The man told me this was his house, and I replied by telling him that I was a former resident. Another person appears from the house this time a girl and she tells me that they have lived there all there lives. I was baffled by thins as I assume this to have been nothing but a short time skip. I ask them what year it is and they tell me coolly 3526. I didn’t react well, as I began to worry that being so far in the future everyone I knew was dead, though the first question I asked them in my panic was if they knew my girlfriend was alive. Mentioning her name actually produced a result as they claimed she was part of a gang of people who terrorize the city. Still frazzled I attempted to get as much information as I could from them, but all they did was try to console me about my losses. They next thing I did was try to find a way past my old house as they claimed that the entire front of the building was sealed so I couldn’t just walk through it. My answer? Catapult. I catapulted over that shit.

As I landed over it I began to wander the city again, the settings were similar but all were rundown to reflect the time (In retrospect they shouldn’t even exist by this time period). After a while of wandering and questioning whether this girl was the same girl I had loved and how it was that she could still be alive I was accosted by a bunch of future gangsters. Unfortunately they weren’t what I expected.

What I hoped they would look like.

They took me to the old warehouse which was nothing more than a shell of its old self, literally as the entire insides of the building had crumbled away and a giant gaping hole in the center made noticing it very clear. After bringing me there they began to question me about where I had come from seeing as they had never seen me before and that this was there gangs turf. I told them about my time warping and they were skeptical. Once I mentioned their leaders name however they were a tad more believing. So they ran off to gather their leaders of which there were three, some Ninja Robot guy, a business man, and my girlfriend who was wearing an outfit similar to what Mad Max would wear.

Without the dog naturally.

They all begin to question me about who I am and when I state that I was her boyfriend that prompts her to fly into a fit of rage and disbelief. She transforms into the Godzilla from the 1998 movie Godzilla, but human sized, I’d say about 8 feet tall. She lunges at me and I try to explain what happened, insert a bull riding scenario.

No comment.

Things get fuzzy around this next part, but I somehow wind up in the warehouse and I find my body prior to the time warp laying amongst a pile of rubble. This was disconcerting but I picked myself up and brought it out to the enraged lizard. Upon showing it to her she instantly changes her tune from that of being enraged to what appears to be grief. Everything gets fuzzy at this next part but I know it ends with me holding her and attempting to comfort her while the other two guys walk away.Then I woke up, to the sounds of the dickheads in my dorm using the broken clothes dryer which doesn’t dry clothes but instead emits a load metal on metal screeching groaning noise. The for some reason purposely choose to use that one over the working one above it, every single day.

So yeah, this was an odd dream, normally my dreams are reminiscent of exploding penguins; or fighting hordes of zombies. So in its being weird I figured I write it down so that in the future I can examine it before I forget about it.

Oh poop.

2011-04-28T18:04:00.001-07:00

Looking over these past several posts has made me notice how atrocious my grammar is, I guess its no small wonder why I’m not an English Major. So I’ve gone back and corrected any errors I found, of which there were quite a few. In the future I’ll try to grammar check my posts… starting with the post after this one naturally. I’ve found that the more I try to rush a post the more errors it will inevitably have. So from now on I’ll write up the post, then proofread it, then post it and hope you all don’t notice any glaring grammar errors.

Blah Blah, Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah, Blah.

In non grammar related news, I’m moving in two weeks. Where to? One might ask, well the answer is frightening to say the least. I’m heading back to Philadelphia. This is due to my scientific findings related to the south:

1. Its very hot

2. Fire Ants that will kill you dead

3. Overreliance on religion

4. Its HOT!

This is fairly representative of what I deal with everyday.

There are also some socioeconomic reasons but they’re not nearly as funny.

Also there seems to be a lot of talk about Princess Diana of Wales again. Which is nice, seeing as she was a pretty cool dudette, and totally helped charities all over the place. My only problem with all this talk of her is that its only being spurred because her son is getting married, sure that cool and all that there is going to be a Royal Wedding; but why is that the only reason we talk about someone as impactful as Princess Diana? For those to young to remember Princess Diana (I would be to young, but as a history Major I’d be a disgrace if I didn’t know at least something about her), she was a woman of disputed royalty who believed that it was the job of the rulers to be in touch with the people. Some examples of this mindset are her numerous appearances at charities and hospitals to talk to the people and help them. She even became president of the Ormond Street Children’s Hospital and frequented it regularly. She on many occasions crusaded against AIDS and held talks and conferences about it. She kept doing all this throughout her life until she died in a car accident in 1997.

You may mostly remember her for her nose, or her guest apprearences in cartoons of the period

You can read a more about her at her wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana,_Princess_of_Wales

Or through his article written by the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/diana/stories/glamor0901.htm

Now in game related news I have been playing some Earthbound (known as “Mother” in Japan) lately, and in my opinion it’s a damn fine game, damn fine. I’ve only just arrived in Twosun, and already I’ve encountered quirky enemies and bodacious music.

I don’t believe a comment is needed.

Earthbound is a great game, but I haven’t made it far enough to do any sort of review. So lookout in the future for an Earthbound Review!

Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII

2011-04-19T19:31:00.001-07:00

Bravery is Blue.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII is a strategy game produced by Koei and is the eighth installment in a series of eleven games based off the book of the same name. Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII is a turn based strategy game where you play as a Ruler, Vassal, Brigand, or a wanderer. The game is fairly open as it allows you to switch roles as you please, one day you could rule an entire province and the next day up and leave for the life of a wanderer. As a wanderer you can form “Bands” which allow you to raise your own little army with a group of people you have befriended in game or out of game if you have other people playing with you. Another thing of note is that the is multiplayer as prior to each scenario you are given the option of picking up to 8 characters to play be they your own custom created characters or historical ones. The character creation is fairly open and allows for a great deal of detail into your characters personality and stats.

These stats are the most important though, you’ll want to train them.

The games story is another thing; it starts off in 180 during the Yellow Scarves rebellion and ends around the fall of Shu. A new addition to the game is the ability to pick individual years meaning you don’t have to just start at 180, but you could choose to start in 185 which allows you to jump into the action during whatever year you personally find to be best. Throughout your playing you will encounter “event stills” which are little story events or events praising you for achieving something or giving an indicator of what the people think of you. These events vary from the Peach garden oath, to the people giving you an offering of gold for being a cool dude. There are a lot of events in the game and some you can only get by being really evil and others you can only get by playing as a certain character, this allows for a good deal of replay ability. Gotta’ See em’ all!

Oh He Jin you silly bastard.

This seems familiar.

When it comes to character creation you are given the options of choosing different personality traits and beliefs, you can set people you like and your family, and you roll your stats and starting skills. At first when you roll your character he/she/it may seem weak, but while you play the game, almost every action you do gains you experience in a particular stat. You can also gain skills by befriending the people, and you can learn tactics from other officers or mystics. There are also a plethora of items which add points to your stats. So while you may start our weak, as the game progresses and your character matures so will his/her/its stats and ability.

The perfect horse for disrespecting emperors!

There is also a “like” and “dislike” system based around your characters personality compatibility. A good example is Ma Chao dislikes Cao Cao, but likes Liu Bei, so if your character has a personality similar to Cao Cao Ma Chao will most likely not like you and will ignore you given the chance, however even if a character doesn’t like your personality you can still attempt to bribe them with gifts and invitations to banquets. This element of the game plays a lot of importance when it comes time to plot or perform diplomacy. Underneath this original system is another “loyalty” system which determines how loyal they are to the ruler they serve, this is just as important as their like and dislikes as it determines whether or not a character would consider defection in a ploy against you.

Battles take place on a field where your objectives are to either defeat all the opposing units, defend for 30 days, or capture the enemy stronghold. Battles have an almost chess like feel to them as each unit performs better against another,

Infantry>Archers>Cavalry>Infantry>etc

Stats also play a major role in battles as high War stats determine damage In battle, and intelligence determines whether or not a character will fall for a ploy or tactic. Battles can also be autoplayed by the computer which more or less decided who has the most troops and automatically calls them victor.

Most battles will look like this.

The game also has Duels, which are fairly simplistic as you choose between two attacks “Small” and “Large” and a few ploys such as making your opponent mad, or “Overawe”ing them. In duels the War stat is pivotal as it determines how many hits and how much damage a character can do.

Example: Lu Bu has 108 War, Zhang Fei has 103 War

Lu Bu>Zhang Fei

Sometimes its difficult to decide on an adequate physical policy, as the other party will always find something to complain about.

In assuming you’ve played any of the previous games I will skip talk of being a Ruler as things haven’t made any dramatic changes, instead I will talk a bit about bands before wrapping this review up. Bands are essentially small little groups of mercenaries you can form with characters who are friendly with you. Being the leader of a band is similar to being a ruler, with the only major differences being that you do not have to pay your bandmates(?) and that you do not have to help the economy of a city you are stationed in. Another thing you can do is move your band from location to location (so long as the rulers approve of you entering their territory). Your band can also claim territories that are not being ruled. Naturally your band can pillage and go to war with other people.

Long story short, this game is awesome, you should play it.

Bonus Picture time!

If you decide to play as a Ruler you will see this screen quite often, it’s the selection menu for the military phase of the game which is when you are able to invade territories and enact diplomacy.

This is the screen you’ll see most often, it’s the selection screen for the civil phase and provides you with a plethora of options for what you can do.

This is the Tactics screen, you set your battle plan here.

. . .

This is the basic information screen for any city, you’ll want to look into these quite often if you are a ruler.

What I’m currently Playing: Chibi-Robo!

2011-04-14T11:35:00.001-07:00

Admit it the cover is adorable.

I am currently playing one of the creepiest if not cutest games around, Chibi-Robo Park Patrol. I haven’t beaten the game yet but I’ll tell you what I currently know. Essentially you play as a small robot called a “Chibi-Robo” and its mission is to transform a park which has fallen into disrepair back into a flower and fun filled place for humans to enjoy. Your enemies are these things called Smoglings which I guess signify pollution or something in that vain as they romp around your park and turn your flowers black(which makes them die once night comes). What I find interesting is that the smoglings come out of holes in the ground you would expect something with “smog” in its name would come from the air or something, but I digress.

Dawwww how could such adorable things do anything but bombard us with cuteness?

Chibi uses his mad dancing skills and his cool tunes to help flowers produce seeds, and then use a little squirt gun to cause the buds to bloom. Wash, rinse, repeat. An interesting thing I found that you can do is clip the flowers and take them into town where you can exchange them for “happy points”. Happy points are the reward you get for doing things (i.e. planting flowers, helping people, donating flowers, etc.), these points are then transmogrified into “watts” which are Chibis power source and a form of currency. I find it a tad odd that the people of this universe so willingly demand Chibi-Robo’s life force. I’m certain if Chibi-Robo was designed with feelings he’d feel a great deal of animosity towards most people.

Bitches don’t know.

He carries everything in his head, EVERYTHING!

Along with planting flowers you have “Park Projects” which more or less seem to terraform the earth to suit your needs. You can make sand into soil, you can build paths, repair things, etc. Though to do this you not only have to pay in watts, you need to have friends who are willing to perform the work for you. These friends you find by adventuring through town, and fulfilling small quests. The only friend I currently have is Francois who is this Puppet who longs for freedom from his strings and produces this noise, all I can call it is a noise, it’s a noise that is so haunting and creepy I don’t understand why they would put it in the game. That aside, Francois is a magicians and plot wise he is the first friend you make.

I believe nightmares are made of him.

So that’s all I currently know of the game, I’ll talk more about it when I’ve finished.

Plants Vs. Zombies Test.

2011-04-03T19:11:00.001-07:00

This post is a test to see if I can upload posts via Microsoft Word.

I think the cover art was the main draw in. look at that Chili pepper! Its like he just wants to explode in some sort of fiery line or something!

As I grow older I find myself inexplicably drawn to more casual games. I blame this on my lack of time due to my collegian life style. So a while ago (about a month ago) I discovered a game called "Plants Vs. Zombies"; being the avid zombie fan that I am I couldn't help but pick myself up a copy. Once I popped that baby in I was brought through the usual cabaret of company names, and then a lawn appears and a piece of turf unfurls to reveal several flowers popping up, Awww I first thought, then out pops a zombies head. I found this incredibly amusing, especially for a title sequence. The rest of the game is just pile of pure win in my opinion. The zombies little letters they send to you, Crazy Dave, and the ending, pure hilarity.

I mean look at him, what not to love about Crazy Dave?

I wondered where such a magnificent game could have possibly come from, and much to my surprise it came from popcap, a website which makes little niche casual games. I found that popcap had originally released the game on the PC back in 2009 but ported it over to the consoles and DS recently. My mind was blown as I had never considered it possible that such a game with Zombies and Plants could even exist. I personally can't get enough of this game and it stands up there with Harvest Moon and Tetris as one of my all time favorite casual games.

I think the zombies had something to do with the games placement. Just remember; its purely coincidental.

This has been a Test of the post testing test of posting.

Edit: Pardon the poor quality, this was after all, a test. A decent post will be up sometime in the next day or so.

Katamari Fever?

2011-03-02T18:09:00.000-08:00

A couple of years back I was introduced to Katamari Damacy, a quirky game about rolling a ball around and picking random objects up to form a larger ball which will then become a star. These things generally consist of people, homes, and occasionally a giant sea turtle or two. When I first got my hands on this game I was instantly hooked. I believe it was a combination of the King of all Cosmos, the incredibly upbeat music, and the concept of just rolling stuff up, this was all like crack for me as I couldn't put the controller down until I had beaten the game and even then I still played it with my friends in multiplayer. The picture below is a fairly good example if of a typical level, only include upbeat music.

This is the intro to the first game,

Its amazing non? Admit it, you loved it. Come on you can tell me, after all it'll just be between you and me.

Anywho earlier today while I was in class and having a discussion on how not to be unhealthy I noticed two gentlemen rolling rather large man sized balls around the hallway. Now I know what some of you may be thinking, "So what? They're just big balls." That may be true, if you haven't been addicted to a game that involves rolling a ball around and picking things up. Well when I saw this my basic instincts took over and almost forced me to run out of class to roll balls with my fellow students and possibly attempt to pick people and objects up at the same time. Honestly my entire body became tingly over the concept of being able to do such a thing, and it took every fiber of my being to keep me in my desk and focused on class.

So Yeah, I have a secret desire to roll a large ball around and pick things up. Katamari Fever?

Exhilarating! First post Ja?

2011-03-02T15:58:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my Blog, I'll start off by telling you the basics about myself, my name is Michael and I'm a Philadelphian attending college in Savannah Georgia. I am a History major and self-styled Horticulturist. My hobbies include playing Video Games, reading books about history and/or plants, and gardening. Now I'm certain your wondering why my blog is called Wizzrobes and Warriors, well I'll tell you, I named it such as I am an avid Legend of Zelda fan, and a fan of battles throughout history. . . I also love alliteration.

You lucky people will find this blog to contain video game jokes, reviews, stories about my life, and some talk of historical topics. So once again welcome to Wizzrobes and Warriors, I hope you enjoy reading these posts as much as I enjoy writing them and thinking that they are actually funny. On an ending note I will leave you with a song from my childhood.