Toy Story 3

Oh yes.

When I was a kid I used to watch Toy Story almost every night while falling asleep.

Cake Day

I’ve been getting back in to console gaming in a big way lately.  Everyone at work is always talking about these really fun console games that I’ve never played, asking each other for their gamertags, and comparing gamerscores, etc.  And with PC gaming in the drought that it’s in, I figured now was the time to give it another shot.  Rented a few games, Wanted, Dead Space, etc.  Got my Gamerscore above 10,000 (my gamercard can be seen on the right, under ‘Gaming’).  And yesterday one of the guys at work was selling off a bunch of his 360 games for cheap, so I ended up getting 6 games for 70$, some AAA titles in there too!  All in great condition.  Got Devil May Cry 4, Dark Sector, Beautiful Katamari, Bioshock, Bourne Conspiracy and Stranglehold.  70$!

One Friday a month is Cake Day at Bioware, which is when we take the last 2 hours of the day off, everyone in QA goes down to the second floor break room and we eat cake, socialize and play games.  It’s for everyone who’s birthday is that month.  So yesterday was this month’s Cake Day and we all headed down and had a good time.  Reid brought Soul Calibur and him, Dave, Andrew, Mike and a few others got into a Winner-Goes-On tournament.  Dave was kicking ass and actually drew a crowd.  I didn’t play, because these guys were serious about it, and I’ve never really gotten in to the Soul Calibur franchise.  If it’d been Dead or Alive, I’d have been the one kicking ass.

Yesterday was also the last day for a few terms with shorter contracts.  Martin, a really cool guy from our office, had his last day.  Really sad to see him go.  Makes me dread the day my contract is up and I have to take those 3 months off.  God that will suck, and also be really weird.  I can barely conceive of the idea of working at some job “just for the money” anymore.  If I ever manage to get full time, I can honestly say it will likely be the best day of my life.

Last night I started playing Stranglehold, working my way through the first of my 6 new games!  Today I believe I’m hanging out with Dann and Melissa, probably gunna wander around Whyte Ave since it’s so beautiful outside.

My Life Is Average

If you’re a fan of F My Life, here is another great site: My Life Is Average.  It’s like a cynics take on cynics, or some other Escher loop.

E3

Here’s our offerings at E3 2009!

Video Games | Dragon Age: Origins | E3 09: Exclusive Opening Cinematic

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

 

This one is Dragon Age, the game I’m working on.  Very cool opening trailer, though the use of Marilyn Manson has been a controversial choice.  And for you Mass fans:

 

Video Games | Mass Effect 2 | E3 09: Exclusive Teaser

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Mirror’s Edge, A Test Of Faith

Ok, I may catch a lot of flak for this, but I beat Mirror’s Edge last night, and have to say…  I think this was one of the most over-rated games I’ve ever played.  After all the hype from the demo, which for the most part was only bolstered by the retail release, I was expecting to have some fun with it.  I bought a copy, along with a few other games, before moving to Edmonton with the hopes of it getting me through the first few lonely months. 

3 chapters in and I couldn’t stand it, and put the game down.  Months later I’ve decided to come back to it, partially to give it another fair shake, partially to try to get my money’s worth, and partially for the achievement points…  I was still not impressed.  It had one or two cool parts, and I definitely have to tip my hat to the developers for trying something new.  And I think that may be what all the hype is about, the fact that it’s something new.  Some are classifying it as a new genre, First-Person Platformer.

I’ll agree with all that.  In today’s economy and with the cost to a studio to develop a game, it was very brave of DICE and EA to take a risk on an idea like this, and that has to be applauded.  So in that regard, I’m happy it was successful because it shows studios the consumers are still looking for new ideas, but when I bought it I was expecting to have some fun.  And I did not.

When I first started my job at Bioware working for QA, my cousin told me one of the downsides to the job was what he called “The Matrix Effect”.  Once you’ve seen behind the smoke and mirrors, and know how to spot bugs and design shortcomings, you can’t turn that off.  Gaming as a hobby becomes a challenge, since gaming is also a job.  And Mirror’s Edge really brought that statement home.  The trial and error approach of finding the right way to go, but never being able to truly rule a path out due to the possibility it was just collision detection preventing you from taking what was meant to be the right path after all, the die die die die checkpoint, die die die die game design…  Well it felt a lot like troubleshooting.  And I get enough of that at work.

When I play a game I have no problems with it being challenging, but it should still be fun.  And many games accomplish that.  Bionic Commando was great fun, not the perfect game by any means, but it was fun, even though it was quite challenging.  Every time I died, it only encouraged me to get back in there and try again, try harder.  Mirror’s Edge I just found discouraging.  It grated at my soul…

So when Mirror’s Edge 2 comes out, which you can be sure it will after the success of the first, let’s hope DICE doesn’t take the success of the first to mean they shouldn’t fix what isn’t broken.  That’s not an approach you can take when you’re building something new, because you can’t break what has yet to work.

Ki

Love, love, LOVE the new Devin Townsend (“Proiect”) album, Ki.  Took a while to grow on me at first, as his albums usually do, but I love it.  Somewhat more minimalistic than I’m used to.  I don’t know if I’ll be able to fit any songs from it into a playlist.  My playlists are usually indie with a bit of electronic pop, and I’ve generally been ignoring my prog/metal/orchestra side since it’s so much less accessible.  But I may attempt a playlist with the likes of Devin Townsend, Porcupine Tree, Dog Fashion Disco, Opeth, Pain Of Salvation…  Or not.  No one but me would listen to something like that (but I’d listen to it again and again and again).

Also, the new Dredg album seems like it has potential, though I haven’t been listening to it enough since Ki has been on repeat most of the time.

Well, back to setting up some Xbox360 Demo kits for E3!

Not In Winnipeg Anymore

I just said “You got it, Park Pontiac!” and no one knew what the hell I was talking about…