All of us find ourselves in a rut sometimes. I can be from exhaustion, disinterest, indecision, and number of things. I feel like I'm in a bit of a rut with this blog, and and calling out to you, oh faithful readers, for some advice. Or just a strong kick in the ass, your pick =)
This blog isn't going away. It'd keep going even if nobody read it, which is a statement I've made multiple times and stand behind, so don't think for a second I'm considering hanging up the blog. Won't happen.
When this blog started, it was just a personal outlet to discuss what gaming shenanigams I've been up to, and who I'm playing with. While I have no problem with people in the industry gazing upon this blog (with the understanding that it's an "off-the-clock" personal blog and I represent only myself here), I've never aggressively used it as an outlet to "advertise" myself to those people. I've written special topics, some fun things like my dream videogame, or various predictions of the future (which I intend to eventually revisit and see how they turned out). I've made some great posts and built a fair following, and I'm happy about that.
But let's not kid ourselves, little of any real importance has been said on this blog in the last three months. I know, I checked. I could have looked farther back, but I honestly cringe to do so. I'll be completely honest so you all don't have to say it: For the vast part of 2010, ThrawnOmega's Blog on the Gaming Life has been... mediocre.
So, oh faithful readers, my question for you is, as I look to invest more energy into this blog and reestablish it as a proud example of my writing, what would you like me to focus on the most? I offer here some suggestions and thoughs, but you may offer any advice or ideas you thing of.
Note that I have no interest in becoming your personal source of news on all things in the gaming industry. There's a thousand sites offering info on every new release, every trailer that's posted, every preview snippet, every list of what X games are being released released in Y month... I won't waste your time copy/pasting info you already saw elsewhere, unless I have some substantial commentary to add to it, where the news is really just there to provide context to what I want to say.
I have a decent catalogue of game reviews. Do you want to see me focus more strongly on game reviews?
Do I devote more time into interesting and/or random special topics? If you've followed most of this blog's history, you'll know this means general randomness and expanded opinions on a topic, not to be confused with serious editorials. Special features are meant to entertain, not really inform.
Do I become more serious and offer you my serious thoughts through insightful editorials on the gaming industry? These would be researched, thoughtful articles, but you're going to see less posts due to the time involved in making them.
Do I pursue relationships with other bloggers towards possible guest posting arrangements, where I post for their blog and/or someone else drops into mine?
SHould I stick my heels in deep and write this blog as if I was someone working professionally in the industry, and move this blog much more in the direction of a marketing tool for careers in the industry?
Some combination of all of the above?
I'd love to hear your thoughts. I've never been to proud to solicit outside feedback and use it to improve my work. For now, I'm keeping my own leaning of each of the offered ideas to myself for the most part, as I don't want to bias your thinking... except for that first item. I will not to "hard news." I won't churn out what other people are posting everywhere else around the internet, so if I can't make something uniquely mine, I'm not writing it. (No smart-a**es looking through the archives for any contradictions to this LOL)
Be vocal! Let your thoughts be heard!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Blacklight: Tango Down for $3.75
Blacklight: Tango Down is the PC deal of the week, so if you're looking to pick up a decent FPS for the PC, and you want to have 200 potential achievements to add to your gamercard, now is the time to do it. This DOTW expires pretty soon here. I've taken the plunge, and now own both the PC and 360 versions, for a possible 400 points (the games stack). Xylofreak also has the game, so I'm sure we'll be looking for people to play and boost with. Despite some issues I've had with the game in the past, it's still worth $4 to get for the PC. I just hope enough people have the game to make it possible to get into matches regularly.
If you decide to get the game, send me a message to let me know!
If you decide to get the game, send me a message to let me know!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Abandoned on Reach
You know, I'm feeling like the kid who always gets picked last for dodgeball here, and it's rather stupid. I, like pretty much everyone else on the planet with an xbox 360 and $60 to spare ($40 really if you buy from Walmart), picked up my copy of Halo Reach on Launch day.
I've currently spent more time in the multiplayer than the campaign. What? Seriously, I'm enjoying Halo's multiplayer. That's NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE. There's something different about this one, and now the admiration I've always had for Bungie's stat tracking and how they keep things interesting for their community is actually grafted on to a game I have been having fun playing online.
Except that I'm the last kid picked for dodgeball. All of my friends are in full parties or in coop games with other people. Except for some limited time with Bishop, I've been playing solo (extended an offer to Xylo, who passed). I tried to join my brother for some Halo antics tonight. The kid should have been elated. When was the last time I VOLUNTEERED to play Halo? I'll give the audience a hint: I've never been to one to extend invitations or ask if I could join a game of Halo. Pretty positive tonight was the first time.
"Am I cool enough to join this party?" I asked jokingly.
"I don't know," My brother says, "I'll put it to a vote."
There's a moment of silence, then someone says "Nope, I don't think so." Silence. No confirming or denying response from the bro.
"Well fine then." I leave the party, figuring it's a joke and my brother would invite me back in and we'd game. There was no invite. There wasn't a message suggesting when would be a good time. Hell, he was even cooping with someone else last night, no invite or word of explanation. What the hell? I've been intentionally holding off on the campaign because I thought we were cooping it. That's what we've done for every single other Halo game (except Halo Wars... that one I just did with DarkTharen since I don't think my bro was ready or interested in diving back into it).
Am I being a drama queen and blowing things out of proportion? Probably. I mean, Halo Reach has only been out for just TWO DAYS. Still, playing solo with a bunch of silent idiots, or loudmouth assholes, just doesn't stay fun for very long. I'm sure I'm getting all male-PMS-y about it, but that rejection to join pissed me off.
If I can find a posse of people who want to play online and have fun, where we actually chat and play like a team, I'll be logging a good amount of hours into Reach. If not, I'll probably say f*** it as soon as I've squeezed the gamerscore out of it and go back to Starcraft II. Maybe sooner. I've enjoyed the game so far, but not nearly enough to spend time shopping Bungie's forums for people that I'd enjoy playing with.
So, who's in for some REACH?
I've currently spent more time in the multiplayer than the campaign. What? Seriously, I'm enjoying Halo's multiplayer. That's NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE. There's something different about this one, and now the admiration I've always had for Bungie's stat tracking and how they keep things interesting for their community is actually grafted on to a game I have been having fun playing online.
Except that I'm the last kid picked for dodgeball. All of my friends are in full parties or in coop games with other people. Except for some limited time with Bishop, I've been playing solo (extended an offer to Xylo, who passed). I tried to join my brother for some Halo antics tonight. The kid should have been elated. When was the last time I VOLUNTEERED to play Halo? I'll give the audience a hint: I've never been to one to extend invitations or ask if I could join a game of Halo. Pretty positive tonight was the first time.
"Am I cool enough to join this party?" I asked jokingly.
"I don't know," My brother says, "I'll put it to a vote."
There's a moment of silence, then someone says "Nope, I don't think so." Silence. No confirming or denying response from the bro.
"Well fine then." I leave the party, figuring it's a joke and my brother would invite me back in and we'd game. There was no invite. There wasn't a message suggesting when would be a good time. Hell, he was even cooping with someone else last night, no invite or word of explanation. What the hell? I've been intentionally holding off on the campaign because I thought we were cooping it. That's what we've done for every single other Halo game (except Halo Wars... that one I just did with DarkTharen since I don't think my bro was ready or interested in diving back into it).
Am I being a drama queen and blowing things out of proportion? Probably. I mean, Halo Reach has only been out for just TWO DAYS. Still, playing solo with a bunch of silent idiots, or loudmouth assholes, just doesn't stay fun for very long. I'm sure I'm getting all male-PMS-y about it, but that rejection to join pissed me off.
If I can find a posse of people who want to play online and have fun, where we actually chat and play like a team, I'll be logging a good amount of hours into Reach. If not, I'll probably say f*** it as soon as I've squeezed the gamerscore out of it and go back to Starcraft II. Maybe sooner. I've enjoyed the game so far, but not nearly enough to spend time shopping Bungie's forums for people that I'd enjoy playing with.
So, who's in for some REACH?
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
An Interesting Statistic
I was randomly thinking about the videogames I've played, and wondered which game I've spend more time in than any other. Perhaps I was curious since Raptr is now logging all my game time. It didn't take me long to realize that Everquest II is hands down the game I've logged more hours in than any other.
Yes, there was a stint back in my college days, mostly before I had a 360, where I was an EverCrack "addict." While I no longer play, Sony Online Entertainemnt keeps that data saved, no matter how long you're gone, so you can return to that character should you ever come back. (It's been over 3 years, I don't see that happening) So, I was able to look up my main character to see his play stats (would have added in my alts too, but I can't remember any of them).
Between October 6th of 2005 (3-4 months after I graduated high school) and February 1, 2007 (my sophomore year of college), I racked up 34 days, 4 hours, and 55 minutes on my main character. Doing the math, that averages out to about 48 hours a month of EverCrack, or 1.6 hours a day. Damn that's a lot of playtime. Of course, any WoW player will probably look at that and go "pfft, that's nothing!"
I enjoyed my time in EQ2 and met some good people there, but the game was far too group-centric at the higher levels, and when it got to the point that you needed 6 people and 4+ hours to feel like you'd accomplished anything, I knew it was time to walk away.
At the end of this month, I'll be picking up Final Fantasy 14, which has me intrigued with its much more solo-friendly and casual-OK game style. I want to play an MMO where I can quest and progress on my own, but have a lot of other people around to game with when the mood strikes me. I don't want to feel obligated to party up to play 90% of the game (which is EQ2 after level 40), and I think this is the game to do that. No worries folks, I have too much going on to let it consume all my time, and I'll still be gaming on the Xbox and padding my Gamerscore.
Yes, there was a stint back in my college days, mostly before I had a 360, where I was an EverCrack "addict." While I no longer play, Sony Online Entertainemnt keeps that data saved, no matter how long you're gone, so you can return to that character should you ever come back. (It's been over 3 years, I don't see that happening) So, I was able to look up my main character to see his play stats (would have added in my alts too, but I can't remember any of them).
Between October 6th of 2005 (3-4 months after I graduated high school) and February 1, 2007 (my sophomore year of college), I racked up 34 days, 4 hours, and 55 minutes on my main character. Doing the math, that averages out to about 48 hours a month of EverCrack, or 1.6 hours a day. Damn that's a lot of playtime. Of course, any WoW player will probably look at that and go "pfft, that's nothing!"
I enjoyed my time in EQ2 and met some good people there, but the game was far too group-centric at the higher levels, and when it got to the point that you needed 6 people and 4+ hours to feel like you'd accomplished anything, I knew it was time to walk away.
At the end of this month, I'll be picking up Final Fantasy 14, which has me intrigued with its much more solo-friendly and casual-OK game style. I want to play an MMO where I can quest and progress on my own, but have a lot of other people around to game with when the mood strikes me. I don't want to feel obligated to party up to play 90% of the game (which is EQ2 after level 40), and I think this is the game to do that. No worries folks, I have too much going on to let it consume all my time, and I'll still be gaming on the Xbox and padding my Gamerscore.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Birthday Time!
Yes, it's September 12, my birthday. I don't make this statement in a bid for attention, I've just been thinking on the topic a bit lately. Really, this is the least interesting birthday I can recall ever having (granted, I'm only 5 minutes into it at this point), but it's arrived with no fanfare. I have no social plans. I'll probably spend my day leisurely cleaning up my apartment from the mess vacation packing created, watch some NFL football, go see Resident Evil: Afterlife, and play a shit-ton of Starcraft 2. Oh, I do need to finish my Hydrophobia preview, so there will be a small amount of "work" in my day, but I intend to relax and enjoy the fact that I don't have to work. I guess that ain't so bad, right?
x360a's GSL Season 9 has started, and I'm on the perfect team, i.e. the one that couldn't care less about posting big scores or winning. If I drop 5k over the course of the competition I'd be amazed. I'm just in it for the chance to party chat and hang out with a few new folks, and hopefully expand my gamer clique a little bit. My opening "salvo" of achievement points will come from Aliens vs Predator and Beyonetta, which I have from Gamefly. There may also be some Bioshock achievements in there and a sprinkling of other stuff (plus Halo Reach on Tues.) if I can tear myself away from Starcraft long enough to score anything. Seriously, Starcraft 2 kicks ass. Easily worth every penny of my $60, and I'm likely to long hundreds of hours in this bad-boy before all is said and done.
I need games with such vast replayability, as I'm making an announcement: Until further notice, I am not buying ANY new retail games.* (DLC and XBLA titles do not apply. The other exception is Final Fantasy XIV which was pre-planned, and marks the cutoff). Within the last month, I've purchased a camcorder, new laptop, and $140 worth of new PC games. My "fun money" is tapped out for a while, and I'm limiting my entertainment budget to Netflix (3 discs + Bluray), Gamefly (2 games) and FFXIV's $13 a month subscription fee. When you think about it, that's still a hell of a lot of entertainment for about the price of ONE new retail game every month. I may be slimming down my budget (to pay off said big purchases and start saving up cash again) but I don't feel like I'm really giving up anything in this arrangement. I still have a steady pipeline of fresh games and movies.
If there's any other Starcraft 2 players who read this blog, search my character, conveniently named ThrawnOmega. I'd love to have some people to play with online.
x360a's GSL Season 9 has started, and I'm on the perfect team, i.e. the one that couldn't care less about posting big scores or winning. If I drop 5k over the course of the competition I'd be amazed. I'm just in it for the chance to party chat and hang out with a few new folks, and hopefully expand my gamer clique a little bit. My opening "salvo" of achievement points will come from Aliens vs Predator and Beyonetta, which I have from Gamefly. There may also be some Bioshock achievements in there and a sprinkling of other stuff (plus Halo Reach on Tues.) if I can tear myself away from Starcraft long enough to score anything. Seriously, Starcraft 2 kicks ass. Easily worth every penny of my $60, and I'm likely to long hundreds of hours in this bad-boy before all is said and done.
I need games with such vast replayability, as I'm making an announcement: Until further notice, I am not buying ANY new retail games.* (DLC and XBLA titles do not apply. The other exception is Final Fantasy XIV which was pre-planned, and marks the cutoff). Within the last month, I've purchased a camcorder, new laptop, and $140 worth of new PC games. My "fun money" is tapped out for a while, and I'm limiting my entertainment budget to Netflix (3 discs + Bluray), Gamefly (2 games) and FFXIV's $13 a month subscription fee. When you think about it, that's still a hell of a lot of entertainment for about the price of ONE new retail game every month. I may be slimming down my budget (to pay off said big purchases and start saving up cash again) but I don't feel like I'm really giving up anything in this arrangement. I still have a steady pipeline of fresh games and movies.
If there's any other Starcraft 2 players who read this blog, search my character, conveniently named ThrawnOmega. I'd love to have some people to play with online.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
To My Brother
This post is in response to his comment. How much did that computer cost? I got my model for under $850. I didn't want to break the bank, but I'm thinking my weaker processor will limit how long I'm able to use this computer as a modern gaming platform.
I have an i5 processor at 2.4 GHz, 4GB ram, 64-bit operating system, 500GB harddrive, NVIDIA GeForce 310M graphics card, 1080p LED backlight screen. It will run Starcraft 2 no worries, and can handle Final Fantasy 14 (though not at highest settings). I'll have to wait and see how it handles FireFall next year.
As to convincing you to get Starcraft 2 or Dawn of War 2, it boils down to how much you like RTS games on the PC, where the controls aren't an issue. STarcraft 2 has a long, 29 mission campaign, in-game achievements, and robust multiplayer and social networking obtions, making it totally worth the $60. Just try not to think of all the beatings I dealt you in Starcraft 64 when you make that purchase. You'll be happy to know that when you cry uncle from losing on multiplayer, there's plenty of coop action to be had, so we could play that way.
Dawn of War 2 I have barely played yet, so I can't offer a compelling argument there. You can find the base game and expansion for $40 or less.
I have an i5 processor at 2.4 GHz, 4GB ram, 64-bit operating system, 500GB harddrive, NVIDIA GeForce 310M graphics card, 1080p LED backlight screen. It will run Starcraft 2 no worries, and can handle Final Fantasy 14 (though not at highest settings). I'll have to wait and see how it handles FireFall next year.
As to convincing you to get Starcraft 2 or Dawn of War 2, it boils down to how much you like RTS games on the PC, where the controls aren't an issue. STarcraft 2 has a long, 29 mission campaign, in-game achievements, and robust multiplayer and social networking obtions, making it totally worth the $60. Just try not to think of all the beatings I dealt you in Starcraft 64 when you make that purchase. You'll be happy to know that when you cry uncle from losing on multiplayer, there's plenty of coop action to be had, so we could play that way.
Dawn of War 2 I have barely played yet, so I can't offer a compelling argument there. You can find the base game and expansion for $40 or less.
Thrawn's Desertion
First off, let me apologize that getting up the Youtube videos of PAX items is taking Sooooo long. I keep forgetting I need to chop the important ones into less than 15 minute pieces, and I have not yet figured out how to do it yet on my brand new laptop. Right now, the most realistic timeline is sometime between Sunday and Tuesday of next week. Sorry for the delay. Over the next few days I'll be hanging out with my friend Stefan, and I have some writing left to do for x360a, so those items take priority over wrangling with Youtube.
My first PAX preview, for Portal 2's coop, is done and will be posted after it's been reviewed and any necessary revisions have been made. Tomorrow I aim to finish Comic Jumper before heading off to Wisconsin. Stefan is on notice though that we'll have to take some breaks in our chilling so I can spend some time writing features. Since he has nursing liscensing exams to study for, it'll just be like the old college days when we both had homework.
I finally bit the bullet and purchased a new computer, and this is the first post to come from it. This computer is about 100,000x faster than by dying Gateway. I got 5 years out of that machine, so it had a good life, but it's performance was beyond slow, and I don't think any amount of tinkering would fix it. Plus, I really wanted a rig that could run Starcraft 2 and Final Fantasy XIV anyway, so I'm trading up. I still need to extract valuable data from the old computer, so it's not gone yet.
While typing up the Portal feature, I was installing the initial complement of games for my new PC, and updating Raptr with my new accounts. For some reason though, my PC hours are coming up as raptrguest6553209 for the profile, and not ThrawnOmega. Is there any way to fix this?
I now have the following games for my PC:
Starcraft 2: I LOVED the original, despite constantly losing online. The sequal has some amazing social options, looks to have a robust multiplayer (haven't tried it yet), and has about a billion achievements. Sure, they won't pad my gamertag, but achievements are achievements. I'll eventually go for them, but for now I'm just starting to enjoy the campaign, as I'm a fan of Starcraft's story.
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II (Gold Edition): I got the game with its expansion, for a potential 2,000 achievement points that WILL show on my gamercard. I'm going to dig into the RTS genre more as I enjoy them, but not on consoles (exception Halo Wars).
Sins of a Solar Empire: I hear great things about this RTS and its epic scale. It's a steal at $20.
Quantum of Solace: I got this as PAX swag, and it's 1000 achievement points, and can stack with the 360 version. So, if people need to do the MP for the PC version, I'm an eligible candidate.
Sword of the Stars: Ultimate Edition: Got a code to download this game for FREE as more PAX swag. Haven't tried it yet. It's another RTS.
Deus Ex & Deus Ex: Invisible War: I downloaded these two titles off of Steam for a total of $20. The first is perhaps my favorite game ever and I've never yet had the chance to play the second. Despite not getting achievements for them (yes I'm actually gaming without any regard for getting gamerscore!), I hope to have both completed before Human Revolution releases. Deus Ex is pretty fugly by modern standards, but the gameplay is as solid as ever.
Vampire: The Mascarade: Bloodlines: I loved this vampire-themed RPG, and have played it several times, though never quite got to the end. It always chugged alon on my older computers, but now I have a rig that can run it easily. This time I should get to see how it ends. GREAT storytelling, and how quests and the story turned out depend on the choices you make. Looking forward to diving back into this one as well.
SO, I forsee a lot of PC gaming in the near future. Of course, I won't be completely abandoning my 360. I just rejoined Gamefly in an effort to reduce my game spending in the long-term (by renting instead of buying as much), so I'll have games to play from them, plus there's arcade games like Comic Jumper and Hydrophobia to look forward to. Oh, and that Halo game that's coming next week...
Over the next month, it'll be interesting to see how my gaming trends change, add in the fact that I'm going to get more forceful (as in trying a lot harder, not being a pushy douche) in my efforts to break into the game industry, and I have no idea how my gaming time is going to be effected. Expect to watch my completion percentage drop even further into the toilet (not that I care very much) as I just jump from game to game, playing whatever strikes my fancy at the time.
In other words, I'm about to turn into Silva...
My first PAX preview, for Portal 2's coop, is done and will be posted after it's been reviewed and any necessary revisions have been made. Tomorrow I aim to finish Comic Jumper before heading off to Wisconsin. Stefan is on notice though that we'll have to take some breaks in our chilling so I can spend some time writing features. Since he has nursing liscensing exams to study for, it'll just be like the old college days when we both had homework.
I finally bit the bullet and purchased a new computer, and this is the first post to come from it. This computer is about 100,000x faster than by dying Gateway. I got 5 years out of that machine, so it had a good life, but it's performance was beyond slow, and I don't think any amount of tinkering would fix it. Plus, I really wanted a rig that could run Starcraft 2 and Final Fantasy XIV anyway, so I'm trading up. I still need to extract valuable data from the old computer, so it's not gone yet.
While typing up the Portal feature, I was installing the initial complement of games for my new PC, and updating Raptr with my new accounts. For some reason though, my PC hours are coming up as raptrguest6553209 for the profile, and not ThrawnOmega. Is there any way to fix this?
I now have the following games for my PC:
Starcraft 2: I LOVED the original, despite constantly losing online. The sequal has some amazing social options, looks to have a robust multiplayer (haven't tried it yet), and has about a billion achievements. Sure, they won't pad my gamertag, but achievements are achievements. I'll eventually go for them, but for now I'm just starting to enjoy the campaign, as I'm a fan of Starcraft's story.
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II (Gold Edition): I got the game with its expansion, for a potential 2,000 achievement points that WILL show on my gamercard. I'm going to dig into the RTS genre more as I enjoy them, but not on consoles (exception Halo Wars).
Sins of a Solar Empire: I hear great things about this RTS and its epic scale. It's a steal at $20.
Quantum of Solace: I got this as PAX swag, and it's 1000 achievement points, and can stack with the 360 version. So, if people need to do the MP for the PC version, I'm an eligible candidate.
Sword of the Stars: Ultimate Edition: Got a code to download this game for FREE as more PAX swag. Haven't tried it yet. It's another RTS.
Deus Ex & Deus Ex: Invisible War: I downloaded these two titles off of Steam for a total of $20. The first is perhaps my favorite game ever and I've never yet had the chance to play the second. Despite not getting achievements for them (yes I'm actually gaming without any regard for getting gamerscore!), I hope to have both completed before Human Revolution releases. Deus Ex is pretty fugly by modern standards, but the gameplay is as solid as ever.
Vampire: The Mascarade: Bloodlines: I loved this vampire-themed RPG, and have played it several times, though never quite got to the end. It always chugged alon on my older computers, but now I have a rig that can run it easily. This time I should get to see how it ends. GREAT storytelling, and how quests and the story turned out depend on the choices you make. Looking forward to diving back into this one as well.
SO, I forsee a lot of PC gaming in the near future. Of course, I won't be completely abandoning my 360. I just rejoined Gamefly in an effort to reduce my game spending in the long-term (by renting instead of buying as much), so I'll have games to play from them, plus there's arcade games like Comic Jumper and Hydrophobia to look forward to. Oh, and that Halo game that's coming next week...
Over the next month, it'll be interesting to see how my gaming trends change, add in the fact that I'm going to get more forceful (as in trying a lot harder, not being a pushy douche) in my efforts to break into the game industry, and I have no idea how my gaming time is going to be effected. Expect to watch my completion percentage drop even further into the toilet (not that I care very much) as I just jump from game to game, playing whatever strikes my fancy at the time.
In other words, I'm about to turn into Silva...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)