Online Passes Suck. Seriously.

Turn your head sideways. WP wouldn't let me edit it.

I could be playing Batman: Arkham City right now, but I’m writing this stupid blog. Why? Because, I have to redeem a code to get extra storyline and gameplay content as Catwoman. It’s a code that comes with all NEW copies of the game (which I purchased) or for $9.99 for the cheapskates that bought used. “What’s the deal, Colt?” you might ask. The deal is that I have to wait about an hour for it to download because my network is crap.  Great. Awesome. I can’t play the SINGLE-PLAYER game in full as soon as I get home because I’m downloading content that was previously suggested to have been on the disc.

[Edit: I've actually written most of this blog in TextEdit because the Internet is completely gone at my house. Uploaded after it came back up.]

LA Noire & The Case of Moral Dissonance

I borrowed LA Noire from a friend the other day and I’ve been enjoying it for the most part. The performances are impressive, graphics nice, and the procedural investigation is a change-up from the usual mindless warmongering video games mainly consist of. It reminds me of an old point-and-click adventure game, but updated for a CSI-watching generation like us. The structure of the cases, so far, has been this: Cutscene of Cole Phelps (the main character and Ken Cosgrove on Mad Men) in WWII showing some aspect of his character, cutscene of the crime in question happening, drive to the crime scene, investigate by picking up random objects, drive to suspect’s house, badger them about the crime, drive to other suspect’s house or have a chase scene with prior suspect, and then finally end the case with a shoot-out in downtown LA. Now I’m stereotyping a bit, but that’s been the general structure for the 8 cases I’ve played so far.

Tags: Cole Phelps, CSI, L.A. Noire, LA Noire, Mad Men, morality, Nathan Drake, Uncharted, video games

A Nostaglia-Free Look At Harry Potter

***SPOILERS FOR THE HARRY POTTER FILMS FOLLOW***

It may come as a surprise to many people that a little over a month ago I hadn’t seen any of the Harry Potter movies. I hadn’t read the books either. Still haven’t actually, though I intend to. I realized at the beginning of the year that the conclusion to the HP film series was closing in. I didn’t want to be left out and I sure didn’t want any details to be spoiled, so I set a goal to watch the series in time to catch the movie on its first day of release. Thanks to Netflix I got “The Sorcerer’s Stone” on June 12th and my quest ended Friday at 12:30AM, July 16th.

Tags: Deathly Hallows, fiction, film, Gary Oldman, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, J.K. Rowling, Joseph Campbell, literature, Netflix, Prisoner of Azkaban, Ron Weasley, Snape, Sorcerer's Stone, Voldemort

Thoughts On Mobile Gaming

The other day I had one of those moments where technology blew me away. You know, one of those times when you’re suddenly amazed at how much technology and media has changed in our lifetime. The popular web-comic, xkcd, actually put it best in the way I look at it. All of this to say/type, I’m amazed at what mobile gaming has become in just the past 4 years.

Remember just a scant few years ago? The days before the iPhone? Back in those days I was perfectly fine with Snake being the only game on my phone. I said, “If I wanna play games on the go, I only need my Gameboy!” I didn’t understand the point of buying games for a cell-phone; none of the games seemed worth my money.

Then something changed…

Tags: 3DS, Angry Birds, Apple, Cnet, Cut The Rope, DS, Gameboy, gaming, iOS, iPhone, mobile, Nintendo, Tetris, Tiny Wings, Wired, xkcd

Real Life Pt. 1

It’s gotten to that point again where I start to feel guilty about not writing anything for this blog ever. No excuses this time. I’ve been kicking around ideas for content. I’ve got a ton of free-time now that I don’t have anymore homework ever. I’ve been really wanting to start some kind of video series. Either doing some kind of video blog or a Let’s Play series. A Let’s Play series being videos of me playing some video game with commentary; it’s a surprisingly popular thing on YouTube these days. Really though, I’m just writing this to do something new. I’m looking for ways to turn my degree and knowledge into a fun hobby and I think this is the way. Or a way. So keep checking back here for fun updates. I promise I’ll update with more content. Pinky promise, even.

Tags: guilt, Let's Play, video, YouTube

Lambuth.

I just want to take a moment and write about the tragedy that is Lambuth University closing. I feel strongly for the students and the employees of LU. I can’t pretend I’ve ever been in this exact situation before, but I can imagine what it feels like. 3 years ago a tornado ripped through my campus and caused millions of dollars worth of damage. In the days that followed, I was worried I wouldn’t have a school to go back to. It all worked out in the end, but the fear and confusion I felt then has to be magnified for the students of Lambuth right now.

Not only the students, but the faculty and staff have been placed in an awful situation. I can’t even begin to fathom how frustrating it would be to have this uncertainty about where your next paycheck will come from. I know a lot of these people have families, so I imagine it would be doubly frustrating not knowing how you can support them.

Finally, it makes me sad to see such a historical part of Jackson, TN go under like this. Lambuth has a 168 year legacy that is ending on June 30th. This cannot be good for the community of Jackson. I really hope that something good can come from this, somehow. I wish I could help in some way, but the only thing I can really do is pray. Pray for the students, faculty, staff, and anyone else that is affected by the closing of LU.

Tags: Lambuth University, LU

Since You Saw Me Last

So maybe I’m reeeeaaal bad at updating regularly. I would like to think that I’ve just been busy with my senior year of school. Yeah that’s it…that’s why I haven’t updated.

So last time, I mentioned I was reading Stranger in a Strange Land. Have I read anymore since my last update? Nope, sorry. One day I’ll post my thoughts on that.

Some things that I have been doing include: learning PHP, general homework, researching law, and playing bro-shooters online.

Tags: Call of Duty, PHP, Wikipedia