Oh, Hey, I Like Sports!

Hey, guys!

There seems to be a common misconception about me. It appears that most people (even those who know me) believe that I have absolutely no idea what sports are. Now, I'll be the first to tell you that I'm not exactly an avid fan of these so-called competitions and, as such, have very little knowledge outside of the basic rules for each of the sports I watch. And, make no mistake, I do watch sports...occasionally, heh. As it happens, I am a Chicago fan at heart; I love the Cubs, Bulls, and Bears (I leave out the Sox and Hawks because I'm a Cubs fan and I don't care much for hockey) but follow various other teams whenever my hometown doesn't make it past the regular season.

That said, I did watch the Super Bowl last night and, though the Bears were long since past the "well there's always next year" part of the season, I was prepared to enjoy the game, having picked the Colts to win based on a friend's unrelentless loyalty to Manning's team. And, y'know what, I did enjoy it. Though, in hindsight, I may have enjoyed it a little more had I chosen to stand behind the Saints, but, hey, what can you do? Besides, I'm still a little iffy on just how perfectly framed in the camera that final interception was...I mean, it was practically scripted. I'm just sayin'...

Well, aside from the come-out-of-nowhere destruction of the Colts, there wasn't much in the way of the usual entertainment for the evening's proceedings; i.e. Super Bowl commercials. With the exception of one or two (let's just go ahead and not count the E*Trade Baby as it would be unfair to put those gems in any category) the annually-anticipated line-up of humorous ads left a little to be desired. My personal favorite was the Doritos commercial with the little boy laying down the law--his 2 rules--for the guy dating his mother. Other than that, though, I didn't really spend a whole lot of time between plays laughing. Though, to be honest, I was glad to see that CBS had apparently opted out of showing the anti-abortion ad that caught some flak earlier this week when the aforementioned channel had turned down a gay dating service ad--a rather over-the-top skit about two opposing sports fans that culminates with a hilarious moment involving a third friend just off camera till the end.

Alright, well, that's all I have to say on the sports front. I didn't have any vested interest in the game as I'm not a "fan" of either team, so I don't have much to comment on the game itself. It was fun to watch right up until the last few minutes of the final quarter...and, then, well, even the Colts knew it was done.

In other "news," I beat Mass Effect 2 this weekend and simply can not recommend this game enough for anyone who has any sort of interest in a fantastic story set in a universe so deep and rich that one's head may explode were they to try and dissect any part of the creation process. Characters are so well fleshed-out that you actually form connections with them on a level I've never seen before; to the point that, should you make the wrong decisions in the end and any number of them dies during the dark third act, you may find yourself not just cursing the loss of a potentially potent party member but actually mourning the loss of a friend. A friend you've spent the last several days building and strengthening a bond of unbreakable loyalty. I actually felt a pang of guilt with every death, as if their lives were my responsibility; and, indeed, they were.

Of course, I then loaded up the last save and replayed the third act, making the right choices and, well, everyone survived. Ah, if only life were as easy as that, eh?

Now, I promised (several times) that I would do a complete review of the game upon completion. However, now that I've finished, I am of the opinion that to give a review of this game beyond what is said in the above paragraph is to do the game a disservice. It truly is an experience that is meant to be had on a personal level. Your choices mean something (well, sorta) and each playthrough is different--or different enough--for each player that the story you experience isn't necessarily the same one I did. Sure the overall plot is the same, but it's how you get through it that determines what you get out of it. Will you calmly explain to that merc that helping you is in his best interest and, thereby learning some details about the group that waits to blow you into the colorful clouds of the nearest nebula...or will you just say screw it and shove his stubborn ass through the window behind him? The choice is yours and it's one I implore you to make...Paragon or Renegade...so long as you make it.

On other, non-game-related fronts, my Neomyn project saw a huge bit of awesomeness this weekend when my long-time friend and some-time collaborator, Ruthie Collins agreed to take on the coloring duties (for those of you not keeping track, that leaves us with three total creators working on the project: I created story and wrote the script, Greg Woranchak is drawing and now Ruthie is coloring). A while back I'd asked her to do colors based on the flats--solid colors with no shadows or highlights--I'd laid out for her. This would have given the book that extra bit of polish that her trained and honed skill had over my meager self-taught talents. However, in the wake of our computer's recent death, Ruthie agreed to simply do it all from scratch. Ultimately, what this means is that she has agreed to taking a job that--under the previous agreement--would have taken her a few days to complete and willingly made it into one that'll take her about a month or so, depending on her infant daughter's desire to cooperate, heh. I am truly grateful for her help and now believe that Neomyn has the strongest chance it's had since conception to win the competition at Zuda.com!

To round out this week's blog, I wanted to give everyone an update of sorts on Jenn and the pregnancy. Getting her in to see the doctor is still proving to be a complicated process, but she should be in by the end of the month. From what we can tell--not being medically trained--is that she's well within the realms of what to expect in these early months. She almost immediately started to show--an adorable little bulge in her tiny little frame--and continues to develop outwardly as one might expect. She hasn't gotten throw-up-sick yet and we're both hoping she manages to dodge that altogether, though she is plagued with nearly constant indigestion and the standard discomfort and fatigue. We're both still ridin' the high of an expected pregnancy and very much look forward to welcoming the new addition to our newly forged family. Obviously it's too soon to know the sex, but we've recently taken to calling the baby Bean for various reasons--all of which fit.

Logan is excited when you ask him about it but, otherwise, I'm not sure he gets it entirely. He's not around constantly--as I share custody of him with his mother--and has never really be exposed to pregnancy in any real way. I'm sure when Bean starts getting big enough to show through Jenn's belly when she kicks, he'll start really getting it. And, of course, I have no doubts at all that he'll be totally in love with his new sibling (who he has expressed a hope for it being a boy named Matt) and that he'll want to spend as much time as possible with the little newb. Hopefully that is a desire we'll be able to make a reality soon enough.

That's about all I've got today, guys!

Later!

SexBox and PorkStation?

Hey, guys!

In an effort to maintain my writing regularity (i.e. keep me writing as much as possible) I'm going to update this blog at least once a week. This means that I'm going to have to shift the focus from strictly reviews of gaming, movies, and books to a broader spectrum of my brain dribblings. Or, in other words, turn it into an actual blog.

So, first off, today, USA Today (which doesn't include the parental accounts of the situation like the other articles do) has recently reported that sexual predators have "officially" migrated from chat rooms to gaming. Which means, ultimately, that Chris Hansen is going to have to open an account on World of Warcraft or perhaps start an Xbox Live account (his gamertag could be iCatchPervs). The fact of the matter is that this isn't really "news" and the article--and the few others I've read like it--come off as yet another attack on gaming in general.

The sad truth of our world is that anywhere you have a group of people (predominantly between the ages of 10 and 30) you are going to have any number of perverts swimming through the anonymity like sharks...great whites with leather chaps and a giant rubber ball between their teeth. It's inevitable. But, that said, there are steps you can take as a parent to prevent the sort of devious activities these men (and I say men, because, let's face it, how many 10-year-old boys are going to complain about a hot chick sending them screen-caps of their "bewbz"? Shit, most of the time, their the one's asking) are looking to perform. The problem comes from the fact that most of these so-called parents are more worried about using their kid's gaming as a way of keeping their demon spawn out of the way. They'd rather buy their kid a nice LCD and an Xbox or a new PC and a WoW account and put them somewhere dark and forget about them and then run to the nearest camera crew when they walk in to tell them their mac & cheese is ready and see a giant cock on the screen than actually be proactive about preventing that kind of thing.

Now, I'll be honest, I'm guilty of using my Xbox and Wii as a babysitter once in a while. That said, though, I limit the amount of time my son holds a controller and, since he's six, he's never played anything online. But, when he does get old enough to engage in the teabag-fest that is online gaming, I will take those steps I mentioned to keep him from being exposed to that giant cock. Though, I am smart enough to know that he will be exposed to somethings I don't necessarily want him to be exposed to; he will see a naked woman far before he knows what to do with one. It happens. But, instead of running to a lawyer and news station and throwing all the blame at Microsoft of Blizzard, I'll make sure I've done everything I can to prepare him for it. I have faith in my ability to teach my children the difference between right and wrong and the dangers of believing every line of text from "MyJugzRNyce".

And, Logan, if they really are, you should share with Daddy.

Seriously, though, I find it hard to believe that there's a parent alive today who doesn't get the inherent "dangers" of allowing their children to partake in online gaming. I mean, hell, half of these people are probably the mom's and dad's responsible for that angry f-bomb dropping, prepubescent, racist asshole I run into every time I log on, anyway! Maybe instead of suing Xbox or whatever it is they want to get famous for, they should do what this kid's mom did. Your kid's not a saint, lady. I'm just sayin'...

Anyway, Mass Effect 2 is rapidly shaping up to be the greatest game of all time. Well, of course, that is strictly my opinion...which, of course, is the only one that matters here. :P

(in my best Magic Johnson voice) Naw, but seriously, though...it really is a fantastic game that improves 100% on what the first one started. The textures are far more detailed, the conversations are cinematic, even the side missions are improved (dropping you on a fully rendered world each time instead of shitting you onto yet another mountainous bland planet). Truth be told, this game is so good that it has shown me just how flawed the first one was. But, again, I'll do a full review when I'm done.

In other gaming news, IGN gave a review of MAG that pretty much mirrors my opinions of it. The game is nearly perfect; marred only by the fact that S.V.E.R. is ridiculously overpowered. Yet, the game's core mechanics are so good that I still have a blast even when that loading screen shows up and the Wolf's Head logo of S.V.E.R. is mocking me from the bottom right hand side of my screen. Sure we're going to get our asses handed to us, but that just makes every enemy kill that much more exhilarating! In fact, I experienced my first Zen Gaming Moment while playing against SVER (you guys don't need the periods, do you?):

I had managed to stay alive--ducking in and out from behind a deserted building near our spawn--long enough to run out of ammo for my AR. Not wanting to purposely die and give them the satisfaction of yet another kill, I switched to my practically useless sidearm and began taking potshots from my safe little corner. It was with this single-shot peashooter that I managed to wrack up my highest score against SVER to date and ended the match with 8 pistol kills and 3 AR kills. The game really is a lot of fun and, unlike when I played CoD:MW (1 not 2) and Halo's 2 and 3, I really don't care about losing so much as I do the next kill.

Again, if you have a PS3 and 60 buck to spend (and aren't busy being seduced by a over-weight 30-something from his mom's basement) then you need to pick up MAG and look for me. My PSN username is the same as my Xbox Live Gamertag: Neomyn

Well, that's pretty much it for today. More on Jennifer and the Bean when we get her to the doctor--a process that's been nothing short of complicated given her lack of insurance. But, she should be in by the end of the month. Also, I'm finally writing a novel and have finished the first chapter and part of the second as well as contacted a graphic designer to bang out some designs for me to work with. That, however, is all I'm going to say about it since it seems the more I talk about a project, the less I work on it.

So, for now...

Later!