This is unrelated to games, but until the music section is up…

BAM!

“Hold Still”, the debut album by Tim Franklin is finished and ready for retail! If you like rock music then go here to check out samples and buy it now! Also, be sure to check out the Memory Effect EP while you’re there. It features editor Will Kennedy.

In other news, I left a bottle of wine in the freezer last night and it froze and popped the cork right through the tin wrap! White Wine Slurpee anyone?

So I’m playing Castle Wolfenstein again and I get to this point where a zombie is made entirely of fire and throws the fire at me. I tried to kill him for 2 HOURS and not a dent. Am I missing something here. Any subtle hints would be fine. No outright solutions. I don’t want to feel like too much of a tool

Metal Gear Solid 12: Anachronox

Today is Sunday June 27th. After nearly 30 hours of game time I have finished Anachronox. Why haven’t I posted in the meantime? Because I couldn’t stop playing the game, that’s why. The only times I stopped were to refill my coffee or use eyedrops. After this haul I no longer fear Gran Turismo 3. Isn’t it great how I make playing games sound like it’s hard work? Playing…games…

The main character is Sylvester “Sly” Boots. He’s a detective who finds himself having to do that which we all must do at least once in our lives: save the universe. Throughout the game he meets up with six other friendly folks who join his turn-based combat wrecking crew. The turn-based combat was pretty rough by the end of the game with most characters’ special moves taking 15-20 seconds to execute. It’s cool the first time. After that you find yourself making sandwiches between turns. It’s a shame to be let down by this because the rest of the game is very impressive. You can tell it took a lot of development time and even more creative talent to make such an immense game world. Every time I thought I’d hit the wall, the size of the game doubled. The quality of the audio/music was top notch and the graphics were pretty hot as well. Even though the story is pretty involved there are some good laughs in this one too. It’s always good to see a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

I’m thinking 8 out of 10. Not bad for a title you can pick up for $9.99. And I think my eyes need a week without gaming to recover. Maybe I’ll work on posting my list of games for everyone to borrow. Maybe I could even go outside!

Click “Continue reading…” below to see more screenshots.
(Read on …)

Not necessarily game related but since it happened on one of my game machines.

I have experienced kernel panic’s in OS X, but this one is a first.

Here is another reason why I am the world’s most cynical Mac user.

Especially since I have never had a BSOD for simply closing a program that wasn’t doing more then it was suppose to be doing.

… the screenshots.

To celebrate the successful deliverance of my album to the duplicator, Jess and I got drunk and finished Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance. The ending came as a surprise. We were fighting through a big tower and being careful to carry only the most valuable items per pound so we could cash them in later and all of a sudden we were at the last boss whose name we had heard mentioned for the first time only a few minutes before. The plot seems like it’s being improvised. There’s no central antagonist to fight against, just a cast of evil entreprenuers. That said, it was a good 30 hours plus of two player co-op hack & slash excitement. I think we’ll tackle something else next like Return of the King or Halo, but I see Dark Alliance 2 in our near future.

On another note, I’m three hours into Knights of the Old Republic and playing a lot of palaak. Why doesn’t breaking and entering or stealing count towards your dark side? I’ve jimmy-ed a dozen doors and stolen from countless footlockers and I’m still above reproach.

Game three in my current gaming menage-a-trois is Splinter Cell which I got for my birthday. It’s amazing how dated the graphics look already even with my Radeon 9600. The gaming is relatively fun and engaging so far. It makes me look at pipes and alleys in real life and try to figure out how to get from one place to the other without using the sidewalks. I wish they had a point system at the end of each level that rewarded you for using more stealth than violence. It seems too easy to just shoot your way through the levels. Granted, I’m only though the first couple. I’m sure it’ll get harder.

Captain Jerome Fish-face

Want to know why I never finish video games? Because I play a different one every day of the week. About 6 months ago I had started playing Diablo 2. Shortly after that I had to rebuild the computer. I backed up my saved game but never reinstalled. Now it’s back and the madness continues.

Diablo 2 is a great piece of work. It’s got great monsters, great sound & music and above all nonstop murder. I have also realized that you can make this game last an eternity if you get greedy. If you worry too much about collecting items and money, you’re screwed. The best plan is to get together an inventory that works and then leave most of the crap people drop behind. I’m working through Act II and I’ve completed 2 out of 6 quests. Expected completion is July 2004.

Body Count: 12,503

I love the UT2004… But tough to find server runnign the mad mutators, I like…

The more the merrier.

Still i would like to see that Rave Mod.