Today is a new day. The sun is shining, the air is fresh and spring is in the air. It’s time to do a little spring cleaning.

1. I’m working on a new Things I Like Template.  It will have pictures.  Please keep the mass hysteria to a minimum.
2. I like Dante’s Inferno.  I disliked Darksiders.  *shrug*
3. I participated in a Game Dev MW2 tournament.  Lemme tell you, the guys from Neversoft are really good.
4. I’ve been busy at work on a super secret project that no one can talk about.

WoW Stuff:

1. I switched to Shadow.  I may write a couple shadow guides for the bosses in ICC I’ve dropped.
2. My offspec is holy.  Blizzard did good.
3. I no longer PvP.  Sad Panda.

STO Stuff:

1. I am having a lot of fun with this game.
2. This game is a big change for Cryptic Studios.
3. You can play it in bite sized chunks.
4. They need to fix their UI design.  It blows to put it nicely.
5. They need to fix their player training of the UI.  That blows harder.
6. They need to make more of the episodes open instance, seriously.  This will open up opportunities to create excellent single player content AND encourage people to play together.
7. They need to make the lower tier ships valuable.  I don’t know how to solve this issue but it’s there.  Currently there is no reason to use a lower tier ship once you rank beyond it.

Finally, they need to keep the faith.  They have a GREAT game.  This guy should be banned from posting.  Check out the section of Update 1, he basically invited people to stop paying and playing their game if don’t “get it”. I understand focusing on your core audience that will continue paying for your game.  That’s CCPs model, slowly building up your player base for the long haul.  What I don’t get is why he said it.  Elitist clubs may work in a real social atmosphere or even as focused groups within a games community.  I don’t know if that works as a marketing tool.

That’s all the updates I have for now.  More to come soon!

I could make arrangements to lend them to you if you like.  I have Hot Fuzz, but not Shaun of the Dead . Oh that would be cool if you don’t mind.  I’ve seen parts of SHAUN OF THE DEAD but nothing from HOT FUZZ.

I’ll get Hot Fuzz to you.  We’ll figure out how to get Shaun of the Dead to you as well.

On another note, Daybreakers was interesting.  The ambience and world were setup very nicely.  One of the first times where I actually felt uncomfortable watching the opening silent review of the world.  It was uncomfortable for its setting, not its delivery.

Unfortunately despite the artful representation of the world, the script was poorly written and unfortunately for the actors, poorly directed.  I don’t blame actors if the script and direction sucks unless the actors are horrible, which they aren’t.  It seemed to me that the actors did the best they could do given the script.  Well, this stands for everyone except Ethan Hawke and Sam Neill.  They both did exceptionally well with the script.

On another note, I’m not sure how I feel about FX guys making movies.  First the debacle that was AvP: Requiem and then Daybreakers.   I liked the former enough to shell out enough money to see a non romantic vampire flick.  I refuse to give money back to the AvP franchise unless someone reputable takes the reins again.  I know what you mean, reminds me of the movie SPAWN.

Exactly!  Except for the sound track, Spawn is utterly forgettable.  At least that movie had that going for it.

Of final note, the final action scene was an orgy of blood and body parts… in slow motion.  A complete deviation from the rest of the movies’ tone, which was conversational and a sort of the world will end if we don’t stop it kind of plot.  Sounds like the wanted to shoot their wad for the ending?  Was it like the shoot out in DUSCK TILL DAWN or the SILIENT HILL movie?

Neither.  The context for the final… well… I can’t call it anything except for an orgy(and not spoil anything in the process) is close to neither.  Mainly because not only are you, the audience, a passive participant, but also the characters with whom you have a mild emotional connection to are passively participating as well.  The entire scene is then ignore for the remaining 10 or so minutes of the film without remorse.  No reference, no closure and literally a western inspired ride out into the sunset.

Other then my criticisms, it is worth a watch.  Just one.  Not worth owning.  I would relegate it to NetFlix streaming should you have that service.

Oy, this was supposed to be a short email. *palm face*

I always preferred Chaos and the Tyranids.  For years I played Tyranids.  There was nothing quite like throwing 80 Hormegaunts from 2nd edition across the table towards whatever army I was fighting.  It didn’t really matter who they were in the end.  160 dice against any foe causes wounds.  My apologies readers if you have no idea what I’m talking about.

With 4th and 5th edition I became increasingly interested in Chaos.  I never liked Nurgle and I always thought the history of the Heresy to be quite dubious.  I believe it resonates with my lack of understanding of Fanaticism.  So imagine my surprise when I’m in a local book store and I see a novel titled Fulgrim.

I immediately picked it up, read the back cover and a flipped to a random page to see the quality of the writing.  I was confronted with nouns, characters and settings in Pre-Heresy 40k.  I was in heaven.

Each book paints the pre-Heresy Imperium in a very interesting light.  Almost each new planet must negotiate with super warrior who arrive and basically say “Well you were once human from Earth so we own you.  Follow us or die.”  Yeah, fanatics.  Even the good ones are still… ridiculous.  Moving on.

I’ve devoured each book and I’ve increased my scope and knowledge of the 40k universe.  Of note would be the Emperor’s last execution of a major religious leader on conquered Earth, Uriah Olathaire to be exact.  It is detailed in Tales of Heresy.  Fantastic story.  The Emperor is quite a fiend.  I suppose there is always the argument “The ends justify the means.”  I will leave you the readers to find that novel.  If you are a fan, you’ve already read them.

Which brings me finally to my dislike of the Space Wolves.  I dislike them.  Maybe its the models.  Maybe I just don’t like Vikings, or whatever culture the SW are based on.  What I’m particularly latching on to is the statements in this video.

The tension between the Space Wolves and the Thousand Sons has been set up for about 2 books now, Tales of Heresy and the Battle for the Abyss.  If, as the authors suggest, the Thousand Son’s were turned to chaos because of a betrayal by the Space Wolves, it will solidify my dislike of that legion forever.

Yesterday my blog went to the default wordpress blog.  It was a nightmare.  I have to thank the entire Bluehost support team.  Whenever I have an issue they fix it right up for me.  Which is a boon since I blog to write, not to maintain a website.  This is the second time I’ve asked them to upgrade and restore this website to its useful state.

Thank you Bluehost.  Forever I will be suggesting your services to my friends and relatives.  Thank you again!

Here are my reactions:

1. Does Sex = adult content?  Will I have the choice to not mate with the women in my party.  Can I just mate with all of them at the same time?
2. Does blood and violence = adult content?
3. What kind of moral choices will I be making?  *eagerly awaiting the response to this one*
4. Will it ultimately matter?  *damn well better.  The choices I made in Mass Effect had little to no effect on the game world.*
5. Is it a matter of killing or not?
6. Will the thoughts and feelings of the inhabitants change by way of my actions?  Or will NPCs just be missing from the world because I killed them?
7. What kind of character can I make?  I already know that I’m apart of an organization that saves the world all the time anyways.  Well, at least I’m not androgynous with blue hair this time.
8. Will the story be as… awesome as Mass Effect?  I liked the beginning intro to the Reaver tech universe and the ending exposition by the former races hologram… that’s about it.

Most importantly, how will the story be told?  Will I have to spend a boring 1-2 hours in the first hub world gathering information and listening to exposition or will I get to make the story as I go?  Which style will Bioware choose?

At least I only have to wait about 2 months to find out!

At work we use scrum.  Its not news since many IT companies use scrum in some form or another.  What is important is that lately more and more producers are carrying around net books.  I recently purchased a net book as well, I love it.  For many moons I’ve been requesting the Johnny Lee Setup in each room.  I regularly hold conversations with my co workers about the wonders of a touch screen monitor as a white board.

Need to hold a brain storming session?  Use the “white board” then email yourself the image or text.  Need to organize scrum tasks in a way that doesn’t use a bazillion stacks of paper?  Use a touch screen.

The above isn’t necessarily about persistence directly.

Today, a new path was taken.  A new branch in the virtual white board space also known as virtual reality was championed.  Today, my lead engineer brought up Minority Report.  He brought up creating, not using, the virtual 3d interface used by Tom Cruise.  I fire off a comment that it will take slightly more technical expertise than I currently possess.  What happened next floored me.

“Naw.  It’s all about persistence.”

No judgement.  No problem solving.  No pie in the sky.  Not even a “Get your heads outta the clouds.”  Just a gentle, “You could do that if you wanted to.  You just have to want to.”

I immediately wrote it down.  Immediately my mind began to possibalize.  Normally this wouldn’t be significant, unless you happen to be Meditating in the Gap, Learning about the Secret and generally creating a space for possibilty in your life.

In one instant I was waylaid from multiple angles.  Flooded by my accomplishments, lessons learned, past history, future wants and the immediate present.

“It’s all about persistence.”

3 years and 3 months ago I chose to follow a dream.  I dreamed, since playing Battle Chess, that I wanted to create video games.  For 3 months I researched, pursued, had a burning desire with all my heart to create video games.  For 3 months I turned off all my video games and devoted myself to game design. I saw myself walking to work making video games.  I dreamed about making video games.  I devoted myself to absorbing everything I could from the interwebs about creating games.   Designing games and learning about game mechanics.

3 years ago because of that burning desire, I interviewed and was offered a position as a Game System Designer.  3 years ago I took the first step into the world of my dreams.

“It’s all about persistence.”  “You can have it if and only if you really want it.”  Emphasis my own.

What could I persist in accomplishing?  What could you?  Where would you go and what would you do?  Equally as important is where would I go and what would I do!

It’s all about persistence!

It comes as no surprise then that with the introduction of heirloom items that indeed, they are items.  Blizzard never disappoints!  They scale and allow for a low level character that can’t find a regular instance group to gather necessary equipment.  Since the leveling speed has been increased, the lower level areas are almost completely devoid of life.  It’s nothing like it was 4 years ago.  I would suggest anyone that began WoW post Vanilla, IE BC or Wrath to try an mmo they find interesting when it launches.  I wonder if the denizens of Shattrath or even Hillsbrad ever get lonely?  Remember those times when you spent countless hours at those locations?  I certainly do.  Those two locations were densely populated for roughly 2 real world years!  I bet they do and they’ll never show it!

While reminiscing, it came as a surprise that I came home one day to find my baby playing on her shiny white mac.  While macs reflect the sun, the screen reflected the World of Warcraft world.  “O Rly?” I asked.  “Ya srsly!” She replied.  And so I sprinted to my PC, logged into my main, purchased a bazillion heriloom items, 3, weapon, shoulders, bow and created a hunter.

After numerous gaming sessions I’m realizing that my reward for the above isn’t one available through Blizzard.  While they may be involved by the sole purpose of providing the arena, they aren’t reponsible for the adventure my baby and I are experiencing.  Blizzard isn’t sitting next to my baby and training her on MMO terminology and game mechanics.  Mmos are renown for not training players.  Even I remember the first time I learned about “aggro”, “tanking” and DPS.  Another useful lesson that came way to late; leveling a cleric in EQ meant that I should try to find a group and not solo!

Back to my baby!

They don’t even get to watch her freak out every time she has to kill a spider.  While cute, on occasion a jump, “WHAT THE FUCK!”  Followed by “EWWWYW EWWYWY EWYEWYY EWYEYWE”  And then “GROOOSSSSS!”

No, my reward from leveling with my baby are different.  They can’t be summed up with any heirloom item transferable amonst X characters on my server.  They can’t be displayed in a title over my head.  They can’t even help me level.  No my rewards are memories and bonding.  Now that’s leveling with my baby!

Bring on the fun times!

As a social experiment I’m going to twitter during my raid time.  With that in mind, starting at 8:45 EST PM Tuesday and Wednesday I, Green Text on Black will twitt.  Why might you ask am I twittering?  Excellent question!  I was inspired by Tony’s blog post about twittering on Zappo’s website.  I figured why not!  WoW has a great community and live posting seems an interesting social experiment.

Disclaimers:

1. I play a Disicpline Priest
2. I don’t really know how to use twitter
3. Follow me here or @GrnTxtOnBlk
4. I am well geared.
5. I will not be sharing my guild name
6. I will not be sharing my characters name
7. With a little work, you can already find all that information

Here’s looking at you twitt!