Games, Games, Games
I recently upgraded my PC to play Dragon Age: Origins by Bioware. Easily my RPG of the Year for 2009. If you haven't played it, do yourself a favor and get it. It rekindled my love for PC gamming all over again. I spent at least 160 PLAYABLE HOURS on this game and that was only 1 of 3 races (both genders are available per race) and each has it's own unique origin story. Bioware is leaps and beyond other game developers in my opinion. I was MORE than amazed at this product. This was my first PC game in a long while and I can definitely say, "It was worth the upgrade".
This prompted me to check out other titles by this publisher and I stumbled across their old claim to fame, Mass Effect. I ended up playing for 12 hrs straight almost (I'm on vacation) last night. Once again, I'm so enthralled with this game, much like I was with Dragon Age. The gameplay is smooth, and the controls just make sense. It's an RPG meets an action title (Think Gears of War for xbox 360) You have to duck behind cover as you're being ambushed by enemies and the combat system is all realtime. Since I played Dragon Age first, I call it "Dragon Age in Space". There are so many parallels with the story, and even some of the characters are alike in personality and skills.
Since I played a newer title first, I can see the improvements they made on the engine for Dragon Age, although most of what I loved about Dragon Age is in the engine for Mass Effect. Kuddos for actually LISTENING to what gamers like and not trying to change things that are already working as they should.
Here's an example of the gameplay for Mass Effect. (Skip to around 7:33 if you want to see an example of the combat)
Mass Effect Gameplay
Just as I'm getting into Mass Effect, I'm now learning that the sequel is coming out in late Jan (Jan 26). Mass Effect 2 is going to be leaps and bounds above anything visually done in gaming from what I've seen in the trailers. I swear there were a few times that I had to remember it was rendered graphics and not actual actors. This is amazing.
Here's the official site for Mass Effect 2. I'll be preordering but don't know which vendor I'm going to pre-order through considering you get different downloadable content based on who you order from.
EDIT: After seeing THIS video, I think I'll be getting my copy at Gamestop.. WOW!!!
That in itself, offering downloadable content to be used in the game if you purchase it is great incentive to get people to buy games, especially Collector's Editions. Getting a hardback copy of original art is great, but you give me a gun or armor that I can use in the game, that's going to go a LOT further to aid in my fun. Excellent idea Bioware (thumbs up).
Simply put.. "I can't wait..Gaming's getting good again."
Even Santa and Blitzen Have BEEF!!
These are probably some of the most entertaining MVPuppet commercials yet.. Nike is doing their thing.. KRS One appears as Santa and Lupe Fiasco is Blitzen.. This is great!!
These are definitely some of the best commercials out right now..
What Were You Thinking?!?! #2 (TrekStor)
TrekStor - You beat WHO??? You mean to tell me NO ONE in the marketing division caught this?
Trekstor iBeat blaxx portable media player
The comments are priceless.. My personal favorite..
They’re distributing a special edition iBeat blaxx in a big white tin through Kentucky Fried Chicken.
It’s called a Cool Clucks Can.
What Were You Thinking?!?! #1 (HP)
HP - To produce face recognition software for your webcams that don't recognize darker faces due to "lack of contrast" from eyes and cheeks? So our color is now referred to as "insufficient foreground lighting".... BWAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!! I'm sorry.. And all this time I thought I was black in any lighting.
HP Face Tracking Webcams Don't Recognize Black People
We are working with our partners to learn more. The technology we use is built on standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose. We believe that the camera might have difficulty "seeing" contrast in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting.
World’s Largest Image – Dresden
In order to truly appreciate this, you must read what it took to produce this 106 GIG (that's the file size, most images shot w/ a digital SLR are 2-4 MEGS) image..
That Robot took pictures of a Dresden panorama for 172 minutes straight, resulting in 1,665 photos. Each photo carried 21.4 Megapixels of data [by default, EOS-5D gives out 21Mpixel image i.e. 5616 x 3744 pixels - but A.F.B. media GmbH used almost all of 22Mpixels thanks to Full-Frame sensor, Ed.]. End result was 102 GB of images, stitched together on a heavy-duty quad-socket workstation packing 16 processing cores and 48 GB of memory. For this daunting task, it took 92 hours of full 100% CPU load across all cores but the result of this is a staggering image in majestic 297.500 x 87.500 pixel resolution - 26 Gigapixel.
Then check out the resulting image.. It's simply amazing.. Click on the squares below the main image and look at the depth of detail you gain as it zooms.
Based On A True Story
Have you ever stopped to think, "When does something become truth?"
Think about it.. At what point are you fed information and it becomes "truth". Can you spot truth and point it out in a crowd? Do you only believe what you see with your own eyes? How do you validate truth or do you just take someone's word for it? Is everything outside of the truth a lie?
What qualities does information have to have for truth to occur?
Believeable Story - What makes a story believeable, if it's not TOO outlandish and makes you wonder? Something that provokes a reaction? Something you "could" believe based on a person's character or preconceived notions?
Credible Source - If 9 times out of 10 you get a story that is true and can be proven, but then on that 10th story, it is absolutely false, does that source then lose their credibility? Does who you hear a story from make the story credible? If a loved one told you something rather than hearing it from a well-reputed outlet does that make it more credible?
Think about where we get most of our news from, media outlets. Do you for one second think that every story that we're fed is ABSOLUTELY true? Do you not think a media source is above elaborating on the truth in order to stand out among competition? We refuse to say that media outlets lie. We call them "angles" and "media twists". We hear of it time and time again that the media doesn't report EXACTLY as they find, but they add 'color' to it and then print a retraction later.
Where is the next most likely place to get news, family and friends. I'm sure we've all told a lie in our lifetime, or elaborated on a story, or simply gotten the details wrong of a story that was relayed to us. This should affect our credibility as well, but it doesn't.
Are we as a society so rooted in entertainment, violence and scandal that we don't even really care about the truth anymore? Do we think the truth needs "color" so, "Based on a true story" is good enough?
The media's main priority is selling news. In their eyes, the full truth IS boring. They're in the business to make money, and with the internet, competition has grown by exponential bounds. Think about it, you're on my blog reading my thoughts RIGHT NOW. I'm keeping you from another would-be media outlet as we speak (you can thank me later).
One of the driving motivational elements is to be the first to market, or the exclusive outlet with the story. That being said, care isn't necessarily taken in all cases to ensure that the FULL truth is found before it's reported. Expediency is normally the most influential motivation, not truth. Stories are "rooted" in the truth, but that's not all that you're getting. Think of the lies (er. "color", yeah, we'll say color) that the media adds as the "special sauce" on your big mac. Don't really know what it consists of, don't really care, but it sure makes it better.
Next time you pick up an article and read it, try to discern whether the story is true, or just "Based On a True Story. "
It’s Been Proven, iPhone Users Are Delusional
I KNEW IT!!!
How could you justify and DEFEND having a phone that doesn't even have a removable battery? This report states that iPhone users are certified DELUSIONAL.. HA!!!
Study: iPhone Users Are Delusional
This is great.
CNet reports that Strand Consult recently did a little research into the average iPhone user and found that they'll defend the device because they're delusional. In fact, the folks at Strand even went as far as to liken iPhone-users' behavior to that of those suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. Strand found that iPhone-owners have "accepted and defended" the iPhone's technological shortcomings even though these shortcomings can result in limitations in users' daily lives.
I get so tired of seeing the "We've Got An App For That" commercials as if other phones and operating systems don't have apps as well. I give it to Apple for marketing, because people don't know what they don't see. They focus so much on what they can do, that owners completely ignore, or justify what it can't do.
Blackberry is my phone of choice because it just WORKS, but I don't assume that other phones don't work because I have a blackberry, nor choose to ostracize any other usergroup of phones. Apple is just superior at spending marketing dollars for their apps as well as integration with their other products.
I'd personally rather have a phone that could keep up with me speedwise and not affect my productivity. Which iPhone can do neither with it's limited 3G locales (forced to use AT&T as of this writing) and inability to multi-task. Before I went with Blackberry, I was with Windows Mobile for 3 years. That phone and OS I can honestly say was a good phone (for my purposes) until it started having memory issues and it's technology became outdated.
What Apple would have you believe is that other phones can support apps or have just as many USABLE apps for their phones as well. I haven't thought of an application that I've wanted and it wasn't created in some respect. In both Windows Mobile phones and Blackberry you can also create applications if you know the programming language, just like iPhones as well.
Go For the Jugular!! Tiger Used HGH Too!!
Now they're angling to try to discredit Tiger on the course as well? This is really getting out of hand.
Doctor being investigated in PED probe
A doctor that treated Tiger Woods after his knee surgery in 2008 was found w/ HGH (an admitted user himself for 10 years) and Actovegin was arrested in October for having it in his bag at the US and Canada border.
So of course now an investigation is pending and guess who's involved.. "Tiger Tiger Woods ya'll." Man the media is really angling on this one. They're trying to systematically bring this man down and ruin his image. He got too successful, too fast.
"He HAD to have an advantage right? I mean, he couldn't have just been THAT good right?"
Give me a break.. Give HIM a break.. What is the media really after? Do they want to see this man committ suicide or something? That's where you're pushing him.. You've already successfully helped rip his family from him by trying to unearth and listen to ANY woman that has said she had any kind of relationship with him. Ok, so he cheated, the only thing you're accomplishing now is making it more impossible for him to rectify his mistakes and salvage any kind of relationship with his family. That is not the media's place. They are to inform, not investigate and ostracize. And it's not society's place to pass judgement on his personal life.. Enjoy how he plays golf, and leave the rest up to him to sort out.
You should be ashamed..
Favorite Movies of ‘09
My friend on facebook had an excellent question, guess I'll ask you guys.. What was your favorite movies of 09.. He asked for 3, but I can't do that.. Movies are too different, and I like them for different reasons, so I had to make categories..
Movies still to watch (could affect ratings)
Sherlock Holmes
The Men Who Stare at Goats
9
I WILL get up the nerve to watch Saw VI as well
both Twilight movies..
Action (not CGI based):
1)The International/Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
2)Taken
3)Inglorious Basterds/Taking of Pelham 123/Crank: High Voltage/Gamer
Sci-Fi(includes apocalypse)
1)Knowing
2)Angels and Demons
3)2012
Based on a True Story:
1)The Soloist
2)Defiance
3)Notorious/Tyson
Fantasy (movies based on books or comics):
1)Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
2)Xmen Origins: Wolverine
3)Underworld 3 Rise of the Lycans
Computer Animated:
1)UP
So I ask you.. What were your favorite movies of 09?
First Michael, Now Tiger?!?! When Will It End?
Ok.. I wasn't going to get involved with the whole Tiger Woods thing, but THIS??? THIS RIGHT HERE?!?!?! I don't see where this congressman gets off removing his support for passing legislature to give him a Congressional Gold Medal because of his private life mistakes. He's DEFINITELY not the first to make mistakes and be backed by Congress.. Um, I'd say 100% of Congress themselves did something shiesty to get where they are.
Check this out..Congressman drops effort to honor Tiger Woods
And I quote:
Democratic Rep. Joe Baca proposed legislation in March that called for the golfer to be recognized for promoting good sportsmanship and breaking down barriers in the sport.
Baca said in a statement Wednesday that “in light of the recent developments surrounding Tiger Woods and his family,” he won’t pursue legislation this session to give him the award.
Um... Ok.. I understand that he supposedly cheated on his wife with an alleged 11 women, but how does that affect the sportsmanship that he's shown towards other golfers, OR the barriers that he's broken for the sport? He should still get his award. Are they going to force him to return the trophies he's won since 2007 as well? This is getting rediculous. Now every woman that has brushed up against him in passing is saying they had a sexual encounter with this man. If you were a white female in Vegas during 2007, you probably had a sexual encounter with Tiger Woods at this point. COME ON. "I ain't buyin it..."
First Michael Jackson was denied, and now Tiger Woods.. The reasons they are thought to be nominated for the awards have NOTHING to do with why they are denied. Imperfect citizens have won this award I'm sure. Can someone say ELVIS PRESLEY, who they used to call the DEVIL himself for his dancing, and he had alleged romps with minors as well. FRANK SINATRA was allegedly tied to the MAFIA. JOHNNY CASH was a known drug addict. Can someone please explain this to me?
Here's some info for those that would argue with me..Congress Disses Michael Jackson, Lets Elvis Slide!
Makes you say "hmmmmmmmmmmmm" doesn't it?
I GUARANTEE, the next time he's on ANY channel people are going to watch him play, whether to root him on, or to see if he fails. Personally, I hope he goes back to the Tiger that was whooping folks by 15 strokes. That was HIGHLY entertaining to see all the other golfers on the cards frustrated because they knew they were playing for second place.. When have you seen galleries as large in golf EVER? Jack Nicolaus, the greatest EVER (even Tiger's idol) never drew crowds as large as he does. People that don't even understand the rules love Tiger Woods.
The thing that I've said since this started is I sure hate it for all other golfers in the world.. Because when an elite athlete such as he has something like this happen, they come back 50 times stronger in their sport. Look at Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Shaquille O'Neal, Dwayne Wade, just to name a few. They are told to stay out of the media and not draw attention to themselves, and focus on playing their games. If they're as good as they are with major distractions, once those are removed, and they're focused on their sports and nothing else.... "Beast mode activated."