The Gaming Geek Post

One of my long time dreams is to go to a video game conference.  However, when I can’t, Nintendo Power does the work for me and puts out a list of upcoming games from E3 that made my inner geek drool, so here’s a post on what I’m really, really looking forward from what NP covered.

1. GOLDEN SUN DS!!! Oh man, I LOVE Golden Sun so much.  I never really had the game myself, but I borrowed GS2 from a friend and played it so many times that I eventually had the dungeons memorized and the characters up to some ridiculous level.  Then my sister bought me GS1 from China, and well …the game didn’t save if I saved it and turned my GBSP off (figures, it was from China, no offense), so I kept my GBSP on for a few days to finish the game.  I didn’t play GS1 as thoroughly as GS2, but I think you get the point that I am a big fan of Golden Sun.  Hearing that a new game (finally!) is coming out for the DS makes me pretty ecstatic.  Please get a Japanese ROM with english pack out soon?  Pretty please?

2. Scribblenauts – the concept just makes the game sound great.  Write a noun and have it materialize in game?  Add words together to make interesting things happen?  It all sounds pretty sweet.  I’ve actually been looking forward to Scribblenauts ever since it was first mentioned in NP (which was last month I think?  I can’t really remember).

3. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days just looks freaking awesome, not to mention I’m a big KH fan.  It’s actually been awhile since I’ve played KH…I should probably go back and touch on Chain of Memories.  However, I’m still really looking forward to 358/2 for the storyline and the gameplay.

4. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers – I’ll put it out there that I’m not the biggest Final Fantasy fan with the exception of Tactics Advance (particularly the first one; A2 never really appealed to me).  I guess I don’t really have the patience for turn-based RPG (yes, blasphemy I know).  However, there’s just something about NP’s description of Crystal Bearers that makes it sound like a Final Fantasy game I would enjoy.

5. And of course the oh so enigmatic new Legend of Zelda game.  Not Spirit Tracks, the big one for the Wii.  There’s something about its poster in NP that automatically attracted me.  Waaah suspense ;_;

Those are the games from NP’s “Best of E3″ article that caught my eye.  Of course everything looks good, and if I could I would try to play through every single game that was previewed, but I’ll limit myself to a select few.

…GOLDEN SUN DS PLEASE COME OUT FASTER!!

/endgeek

Cloud Computing Gaming

I came across a few interesting links today.  After looking at an article about the new Dragon Age game on GameSpy, I found a link to an article about cloud computing gaming, specifically a service being developed called Gaikai. Realizing that something like this is being developed made me extremely excited, especially after watching a video demo of Gaikai on GameSpy.

Basically, cloud computing, simply put, is where services and networks will be hooked up to the internet and accessible anywhere.  This takes away the hassle of downloading programs.  Cloud computing gaming is where MMOs will be able to be played in a browser instead of going through the hassle of downloading gigabyte files.  Here is a basic description of how Gaikai works from their site:

“We install the latest games on our servers in purpose-designed data centres. We worry about the cost of the latest 3D video card, the gigabytes of game files, staying up to date with the latest patches and drivers, and all the other headaches involved in modern PC gaming. Our high performance software takes care of turning the game output into a high quality video stream on the fly, ready for you to watch and play, in a few milliseconds. Your input – every keystroke, every mouse click – is sent back over an encrypted channel to the game.”
-http://www.gaikai.com/streaming-worlds/

When Gaikai is completed, it may be the next generation for gaming, which I am extremely looking forward to.

There is also another service similar to Gaikai called OnLive. Both seem like they’ll be equally great and innovative services.  We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

On a side note, Dragon Age looks like a really good game. I’m really liking the PC toolkit that’s being offered with the PC version of the game.

Half-Blood Prince Thoughts

Warning: this post has spoilers about the movie.  Yea.

—————-

After watching all the HBP trailers, I was pretty certain that it would actually be a decent movie.  Boy was that the wrong mindset to have while walking into the theater.

To sum it up, HBP sucked.  The movie was too centered around romance and had random plot points thrown in here and there to attempt to make a coherent storyline (that didn’t work btw).  There were too many parts that were left out that could have been kept in from the book (example: Dumbledore’s funeral could have totally replaced that wand holding thing).

Before I get into all the bad things from the movie, let me try to think of a few good things.  Uhh…. well there was one particular line that was quite good only because it reminded everyone in GSET of an inside joke (“Indeed.” -Snape).  Slughorn was portrayed pretty well too.  I also really enjoyed seeing Quidditch again, even if it was extremely brief, though that’s probably my OQL geeky side coming out.  Luna was brilliant as usual (go Evanna Lynch!).  I also felt that Michael Gambon did a somewhat better job as Dumbledore this time.  He actually seemed a little more caring than in the previous movies (especially compared to OOTP).  …And I think that’s all I really liked.

The major issue I had with HBP is that everything was a plot point, except for the romance.  I know usually in the HP movies things are put in as plot points, but in HBP it felt like this aspect was extremely stressed to the point where there was nothing else in the movie except obvious plot devices and crappy romance.  Here everyone says “but the romance showed how they grew up, so it was crucial!”  Yes, there obvious was going to be some romance because it was also a part of the books, but there was too much.  Practically every scene included a hint of if not romance itself, and the emphasis of HBP was not on romance, but on Harry learning how to defeat Voldemort.  The memories and the cave scene at the end were both pretty well done (forgot to add that to my like list, oh well), but it didn’t really flow well with the rest of the movie because the rest of the movie was practically all romance.  Plus the Harry/Ginny kiss scene failed.  “Close your eyes” …..um yea ok, and I thought the Cho/Harry kiss was bad.  This surpassed it.

Don’t even get me started on the end either.  Could it be any more corny?  I know I have a biased opinion on the movie because I grew up being an HP fan, but still, EVERY single HP movie has probably ended with “we’re best friends, let us stick together!”  *epic facepalm*

Dumbledore’s death was ok.  I wasn’t excepting a lot because I knew the funeral would be cut out, but I felt they could have done a little more with it.  Dumbledore was a pretty important character who lasted for six movies; he’s supposed to be the greatest wizard, and he was such a key character in the series.  He could have been acknowledged at least a little more, but ah well.

The attack on the burrow was also eh.  It could have been left out, but I realize that it was needed to provide more emphasis on the fact that the wizarding world is in danger and sacrifices will have to be made.

I like how Draco always wore a suit.  And how Fenrir Greyback was never explained.  I heard several people saying how they were confused about him after the movie.

Oh yes, one more thing: Ginny kicks major ass in Quidditch.  Bonnie Wright is awesome.  Add that to the like list too.

Sorry that my thoughts are all over the place.  It’s 1:30 in the morning, and I’m pretty tired, but there you go, all my first impressions of the movie.  Overall I’d say it was an ok movie but a horrible adaptation of the book.  Too much romance brought down the movie in my opinion.  However, watching it with GSET was pretty awesome.

Note: This is all my opinion.  If you have a different opinion, feel free to post it.  I’ll gladly argue.

GSET List of Addictions

-Caffeine
-Orange Soda
-Sugar
-Orange Soda
-Fluffy animals
- ^^ Add cute to that
-Music
-Asian Dramas
-Orange Soda
-Milk Tea
- ^^ with bubbles
-Sleep
- ^^ or a lack thereof
-Did I mention orange soda?

FYI: If you haven’t been a part of GSET ‘09 you probably won’t get this post.

Summer Updates

So I’ve been here at governor’s school at Rutgers for about a week and a half now.  It’s been pretty much a blast; I’ve been having such a great time.  The classes are awesome, the trips are amazing, and everyone here is pretty damn cool.  I actually get the time to do things I want to do, since Pburg kind of fails at that with block scheduling and such.  The classes I have are biomed engineering, computer science theory, and hacking social networks, as well as physics and robotics which are mandatory for everyone.  The classes are really nice because there’s no real stress put into the class from things like homework or tests or quizzes.  It’s mostly just lecture about things you find interesting, which is a nice change from the hectic classes of high school.  I also think my huge procrastinating is getting slightly better.  I’ve actually been doing things on time instead of at the last minute!  And I’m getting my competitive spirit back, which has been absent for practically four years, ever since I moved in middle school.  It’s a nice change.  Plus, the fact that I’m so busy with my project group, robotics, and classes means I have less time to sit around bored and let my mind meander, which is quite nice.

It’ll be a big change once gov school ends.  It’ll be slightly depressing to be honest.  It’s an amazing change to be away from the boredom of home and be able to have freedom to do what I want with few limits.  It won’t be fun going back to a regular schedule.

Whatever.  I think I’ll just milk my time here as much as I can.